Planned Purlhood

Before I was a Knitter, Spinner, or Weaver, I did quite a bit of needlework:  cross stitch, embroidery, needlepoint, etc.

Lately, I’ve been getting a bit burned out on the Big String Thing (i.e. knitting) and turned back to my “roots”, so to speak.

This past couple weeks, I’ve been working on embroidering flour sack towels.  My town’s new “fabric & more” shop got in some nice flour sack towels worthy of embroidery.  Here’s a sample of the set I’m working on for my kitchen:

It’s covering a batch of whole wheat “no knead” bread.  Recipe is here.

There’s been more crocheting happening here than knitting, and mostly in the form of potholders.  Nothing fancy, just worsted weight cotton yarn and the “potholder” stitch (single crochet through back loop and previous row’s unworked front loop) with an I hook.

I did start “Traveling Woman” last week, but since that’s still in the plain stocking stitch section, I’ll spare you the photo.

One skein of yarn for Ravelympics.  100% superwash merino from a etsy seller who’s shop closed.  ”Embers”, my bog-standard 2-ply sportweight spun long draw.  Approximately 300 yards per 4 oz.

I leave you with Bunny Buns.

I thought I’d better do a Faroese shawl as a test run to make sure I’d want to invest the time to do a Sheep to Shawl in that style.  Mucking up “Laminaria” helped some, too.

Stage 1:  7 February 2010, 00:44 PST

So I started Laminaria on the 3rd,  and I’m in about 3000 stitches to the first section on Saturday night when shit started hitting the proverbial fan.  First I was off by one stitch on one side, then I counted ALL my stitches to confirm my place in the row count.  THAT didn’t line up with the spreadsheet.  I look at it very carefully and see that stuff isn’t symmetrical.  I counted one side vs the other side.  I was off by four stitches in a way that couldn’t be “fixed” without ripping it all out and starting over.

I’m one of those people that if I don’t get it bang-on right the first time (and I usually do), it gets tossed aside and addressed later.  If I feel like it.

Stage 2:  7 February 2010, 01:18 PST

Frog Laminaria.  Note the plant’s interesting medical usage as a cervical dialator (and pregnancy inducer) and move on.

Stage 3:  7 February 2010, 01:42 PST

Recover enough to hit the Ravelry Pattern Database to find inspiration for what else to do with 1300 yards of alpaca laceweight.  I look at Irtfa’a a bit, look at the designer’s other Faroese shawl(s) some more.  Realize I have Myrna Stahman’s shawl book.

Stage 4:  7 February 2010, 02:40 PST

Discover that I’m going to have to knit a sw*tch and do a style of shawl never done before (by me).

Stage 5:  7 February 2010, 02:41 PST

Hyperventilate into paper bag.

Interlude:  02:58  PST test of all-call phone startles me into reality.

Stage 6:  7 February 2010, 04:00 PST

Swatch half-assed-ly, decide it’s close-damn-enough.  Cast on for The Real Thing.  Get a few rows done before it was time to go.

This is where I left off yesterday morning.

16 Rows:  As you can see when spread out, it pretty much maxes out the cables.  I’m thinking I need to get a longer circ…

And this is where I’m leaving off this morning.  The sun is up, and it’s past my bedtime.

than a lace knitter with equipment failure

I was knitting right along on the border of my latest shawl when the sodding Knit Picks cable comes flying out of the metal fitting and drops a good 30+ stitches.

This could be the last straw for Knit Picks products. There’s a reason they’re inexpensive.

I’ve actually got some decent knitting done the past couple of weeks. I started and finished another Swallowtail Shawl. The first one only used about 360 yards and came out quite small. The first is a shawlette on a petite woman (~5′ tall), but not more than a kerchief on myself (nearly 6′ tall). I wanted to maximize the 440 yards in a skein of Knit Picks Shadow (their merino laceweight) and did just that.

It blocked out at ~65″ x 24″ and used just over 440 yards. I had to use a wee bit of handspun to finish the last 20 stitches of the bind off. It’s large enough to not look silly on myself.

I used a size 5 on the budding lace charts and switched to a size 7 needle for the rest. I think I would have been ok on yardage if I had tightened up my stitches on the size 7′s. They were pretty loosey-goosey in the Lily of the Valley section.

Another quick project is a wee fulled bowl made from Knit Picks Memories “sock” yarn. This is a fingering weight 100% merino space dyed (faux handpaint). You use a double strand of it with the color progression matched up between both strands. Two trips through the wash and I have a nice little wool container!

I cast on for the second shawl of 2010 early Sunday morning, and its moving right along.

When one gets out of the habit of thinking about blogging, one definitely doesn’t blog much.  Oh well, there’s no rule on how many times one has to push “publish” in order to be considered a blogger.

Since the last post, not a whole lot has gone on.  Some knitting done.  Some spinning.  Some knitting with handspun.

This is my second “Habitat”.  It’s definitely a pattern that needs a multiple-plied yarn.  Singles yarn need not applied.  One of these days I’ll post a picture of the first one done in Malabrigo worsted.  ”Subtle” doesn’t quite cover it.  This yarn is a woolen,  spindle-spun & plied fine-wool blend that I carded from some handpainted top from Abby’s yarns.  It took about 12 hours of knitting over 3 days.  A “regular” hat usually takes me about 2 hours w/ worsted weight wool.

There’s another pair of sock on the needles for J.  His request, not mine.

There was also a pair of mittens in Silk Garden Lite.  I’m never buying Noro yarn again.  This stuff actually gave me a splinter from a bit of wood that was spun into the yarn.  Sorry, there’s “rustic” and there’s “bullshit”.  I can spin a perfectly rustic yarn, without having to cut bits of tree out of my cuticle with a scalpel.

There could have been so many witty post titles I could have used, such as “How I Shacked Up with a Nearly Complete Stranger for Three Nights”, or “OMG Fangirl”, or “Fiberholic Exhibits Restraint in the Presence of Too Much Fiber”.

Rabbitch and I had decided we were going to go to Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival this year.  Originally we had planned to have a vendor’s booth, but when those plans fell through (no room at the Inn), we decided to just go and Have Fun.  Of course, having a pre-paid hotel room booked helped in the decision process.

So, after working a 60-hour week (actually, it came out to 70 hours if one counts my commute), I staggered out of bed Friday afternoon, “packed” my bag and stumbled out the door.  Portland is normally a 3.5 hour drive, 4 with potty breaks.  It took me no less than six hours to get to Wilsonville due to Portland Rush Hour traffic.  Honestly, I think if I had the money, I would have flown.  $150 round-trip airfare would have been a small price to pay for not having my bladder trying to explode on me while stuck on the I-5 interchange.  Even then, I managed to beat Rabbitch to the hotel (she was slammed with Seattle traffic).  The kindly folks took pity on me after Rabbitch called to ask them to let me in the room.  I was able to get some Decent Coffee and a wee kip before meeting her.  I was rumpled and exhausted and a bit unstead on my pins, but I wil never forget her crossing the parking lot laden with wine, fruit, cheese, and about 3lbs of roving (she calls it a bribe) for me.  We settled in to the evening with aforementioned repast.  I think we got to bed about 1am (we’re both night owls, so getting up “early” can be interesting at best).

Morning came, breakfast was had.  I discovered that I packed rather poorly.  The only shirt I had was the one I was wearing when I got there.  The jeans I chose were on their way to being too big; by the end of Saturday I was desperately trying NOT to have a wardrobe malfunction.  We went to Target hoping for some inexpensive basic clothing.  Wow, total fail.  Never shopping at Target again.  Not a single pair of trousers or jeans to fit me (they were either too short, way too short, too small, or too large), and the tops were sleazy at best.  I picked up a basic t-shirt in the men’s department and called it good.

We finally made it to the Clackamas County Fairgrounds at around 1pm. We went into the animal barn first.  Not five minutes and we found some lovely alpaca 2nds (neck wool) for $5 a bag.  Score!  I haven’t worked with alpaca much, and since I’m finding commercially processed top a bit of a disappointment (there are exceptions to this), working from raw product has been the way to go lately.

We wander some more amongst the sheep & goats & alpacas.  Oohing and aahing over the longwool breeds.  They had Lincolns, Wensleydales, Leicesters of all sorts, and Gotlands.  OMG, the Gotlands.  Massive silver curled rams.  Simply gorgeous.  There were Ouessant sheep which were pixie like compared to the 300lb Ram in the neighboring pen.  Spirited & sweet shetlands; a few even from the flock where my Shetland fleeces were obtained.  One of the shetland ewes REALLY loved having her jaw scratched.  I think I stood there for five minutes giving her lots of  love while she chewed her cud.   Navajo Churro and Jacob were well represented as well.  I was able to meet the Shepherdess from Kenleigh Acres from whose “Chevelle” produced my beloved lilac Jacob fleece.  It was really wonderful to meet the other people on the end of splendid transactions.

Typical alpaca pose:   food hanging out of mouth.

Big Romney Ram

Wee little Ouessant sheep

Another big Ram – this one’s a Gotland Cross (IIRC)

Then, my phone rang.  It was Franklin Habit.

I’m totally NOT joking.  See, Rabbitch & Franklin are friends.   I squeaked and handed the phone to Rabbitch.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around with Franklin and Kristin Spurkland.  Kristin is a lovely knitwear designer from the Portland area.  Her most recent book is “The Knitting Man(ual)”  I think I may have to get a copy, since I live with a Man who likes handknits.  Seems appropriate!

We sat and knat and spun and had a wonderful time.  I met up with one of my local knitting group friends (Hi Linda!) and I was sucessfull in locating a Kundert Spindle for her.  They are my hands-down favorite affordable spinning tool, and I wanted her to start out right, and for less than a tank of gas.

I didn’t do a whole lot of shopping.  There were only a few things on my list:  Lisa Souza, a full sized Jenkin’s Turkish Spindle, some brown corriedale top, and a fringe twister.  The last on the list can wait, as it’s pretty low-priority.  I’m probably going to pick one up in advance of the Holiday Weaving I have in mind.

I got meet Lisa Souza AND pick up two bumps of some gorgeous SW BFL in “Chaparrel”

Sunday was pretty low-key.  My breakfast made a hasty exit about 30 minutes after ingesting, and the last two days was catching up with me.  Sciatica’s a bitch, let me tell you.  I found the brown corriedale at Crown Mountain Fibers.  It’ll be blended with some handpainted corrie.  Think of it as “cutting” the good stuff with filler.  The filler is just as nice, but just not flaming orange.

I seemed to take many pictures of goats.  This fellow has had his picture splattered all over the internet by OFFF attendees.  It’s kind of funny seeing all his pics around.

This fellow was so beautiful, I would love to have fiber goats some day (it would be another life, as I bought property inside city limits…)  Or perhaps just some goats I can visit often.

I leave you with one of my favorite pictures from the weekend:  Franklin testing out some glass knitting needles w/ handspun.  Probably doesn’t get much better than that!

A lot has happened since signing the closing papers. It took about 13 days to move, as J had to drop everything for about three days to work. In his business if you turn down work, you may not get any more in the future.

I’m still unpacking, slowly. My sciatica flared up on the 7th, and I’m just now NOT hurting all day/every day. I’m still trying to find the good shower head, but I suppose that will show up eventually. The kitchen has been a bit of a struggle. In the apartment, I had a pantry and a tiny galley kitchen. Here, I have a large galley kitchen and no pantry. I’m praying to the Kitchen Gods of Organization that everything will fit. If not, I may have to get creative with some shelving in the basement.

I’ve created a new blog, New Owner – Old House, over on Blogspot to chronicle a new home owner’s “adventures” with buying an Old House.

There hasn’t been a lot of knitting being done, due to the House needing lots of attention.  However, I did start (and nearly finish) a sock this weekend.  Here’s a preview of the cuff to gussett:

It’s “Sunday Swing” from the Summer 2009 Knitty.  The yarn is, I think, the last real yarn purchase I made since going on The House Diet.  It’s Crystal Palace “Panda Wool” in “Basil Curry“.  That line of yarn has since been discontinued/replaced with a superwash version in the same colorways.  I actually got gauge of 8 stitches per inch with this yarn.  I’m using a US size 2 kneedle.  Evidently, I’m a tight knitter.  Ravelry Link.

I haven’t been able to do any spinning yet.  The stash is still packed.

Pendleton has an active knitting group!  They meet on Mondays at the Public Library from 6pm to 7:30pm.  I finally was able to attend (only 2nd time since they started meeting in November) tonight and had a great time.  There were at least 10 people there, with a good mix of skill levels.

Note to self:  leave the lace at home.  I can’t knit that stuff and talk at the same time.

Just assure any remaining readers, that YES this blog has content.  I know I’m a bad blogger, but its mostly because I just don’t have much to say.  No, really.

I blog so infrequently, that most times there is a new WordPress release that needs updating.  Rather annoying, especially this last time.  gFTP kept going poof while doing whatever it wasn’t doing, so I had to find another FTP client.  There doesn’t seem to be that many available for Debian, but the new one seems to work much better.

So, back to the subject at hand.  Blobs.  I has them.

First up, Lily of the Valley Shawl by Nancy Bush from “Lace Style”.  Sister Unit #1 is getting hitched this year, so I figure that’s a good enough reason to knit lace for her.  I just passed the half-way point on the center panel (~46% of entire stole).  Rav link.

Heartland Lace by Evelyn Clark.  I’m doing this in Silky Wool – an awesome yarn for larger gauge lace knitting.  I love it lots.  Good economy, too.  I’m ~38% complete and haven’t yet started the second skein of yarn. Rav Link.

Some gorgeous handspun from Jennifer in VA (swap partner) finally told me what it wanted to be.  It’s knitting up beautifully on size 7′s for a “New New Shale Cowl”.  Rav Link.

Two other projects that I finished this month was the repair/reknit of my first (I’m sure there will be many more) Swallowtaill Shawl.  It broke during blocking.  I had to rip back about 8 rows and pick back up.  That was not as traumatic as I thought it would be, mostly due to the wool not getting all crazy on me and dropping stitches.  The other was a feather & fan shawl done in worsted weight acrylic/wool blend.  That one is for work, where the competing HVAC and wall-mounted air conditioning/heating systems tend to freeze me out all year round.    I’ll post photos once they are blocked.  I can’t stand taking any more Blob Pictures.

In the kitchen, I’ve tried two new recipes this week.  In my seemingly unending quest for decent sandwich bread out of my Cheap Ass Bread Machine, I tried the “Ultimate Sandwich Bread” recipe.  So far, it’s the best looking loaf that my CABM has turned out.  I proofed the yeast in the sugar water before chucking in the rest of the ingredients.  I had a slice of it toasted for breakfast, and the flavor & crumb were excellent.  Tomorrow, we shall see how it stands up to curried chicken salad sandwiches.

Cook’s Illustrated online has been teasing me with a decadent photograph of their Braised Beef Spare Ribs or weeks, it seems.  So, I made them.  OMG are they delicious.  Definetly get a robust red – the Merlot I used was a bit wimpy.  I think the only thing that could improve on the recipe is more carrots (almost better than the beef itself) and a heartier red wine that what I used.  This is NOT a recipe for a light supper; it’s very much stick-to-the-ribs winter fare.

I seem to be on a lace kick.  So much the better – I don’t have to worry about it “fitting”!

This is lace project #3, concurrent with #2 (which is the Goddess Mystery KAL…plodding away on Clue #4 – that one will take some serious time).

No mistakes!  Yarn is Knit Picks Gloss (Wool/Silk) and size 8 lime green AB beads.