Hip to be square

I got the formerly too-tight stranding on the squares within squares hat sorted out: had to work it inside out and put on less dramatic TV to accompany the work.

Pattern: own (5-stitch squares with 3-stitch squares in them)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Country Classic Worsted, 100% wool, .4 skein color R-60 (Saddle Brown) and .25 skein R-110 (Kiwi)
Needles: US size 7 for ribbing and size 8 for body
Size: adult
Started 1/21 and finished 1/27/2013

It doesn’t pucker anymore when lying flat but in the close-up shot on Don’s head you can see some of the stitches are distorted where it’s stretched over his ears:

Over my ears the stitches don’t do this, presumably because mine are slightly more flexible than Don’s are. Or perhaps I have a more femininely dainty head (ha! mine was second-largest at my knitting night when we passed the tape measure around the table). All in all, I find this design has a nice modern look but the top decreases need a bit of tweaking next time around. Eventually I’ll make another in different colors.

The frill of it all

On a whim in November I bought two skeins of a yarn that makes huge frills, aptly named “Frilly.”

The first go was not so good: the instructions on the ball band say to knit into every other hole and I thought I was; however, I was indeed hitting every hole. The yarn was really putting up a fight and it was obvious I would run out before the scarf hit even 3 feet in length. I worked on the first scarf for several days and could not believe the accounts I read on Ravelry of “2-hour project” or the numbers of knitters who have made a couple dozen of these so I tossed it aside in a huff.

Once I figured out what I was doing wrong, I made both scarves more quickly than I had the pitiful half-scarf initially. The fellows look so fancy wearing them:

Pattern: cast on 2, increase to 4 and then to 6; knit into every other hole on the edge; decrease back down to 2 before sewing tail tightly into place with sewing thread
Yarn: Schachenmayr SMC Frilly; 97% acrylic, 3% polyester; color 00088 (black/gray/white) and 00085 (red/orange)
Needles: US size 9
Started 1/27 and finished 2/2/2013

The yarn is slightly sparkly on the ends and is an economical choice: $5 per skein!

Sunday night scramble is ahead for a project for the bus tomorrow. I admit I am reluctant to go to work at all: my office moved over the weekend so I will have to spend a huge chunk of the day helping users get their computers sorted out before I can go to my desk to unpack and untangle my mess. It will all sort itself out, I know.

You are so reticulated

The Alpaca Ranch Retreat I went to in December was also a Kira K Designs trunk show and after having seen the Reticulated Mitts in person, I bought the pattern. Pretty mitts, and they have been keeping my mitts toasty warm since I made them!

They look good flat, too:

Pattern: Reticulated Mitts by Kira K Designs
Yarn: .75 skein Black Diamond Alpacas Sport Weight Alpaca, 100% alpaca (what else?), color: Victorian Red
Needles: US size 1 for the ribbing and 3 for the rest
Started 1/12 and finished 1/16/2013

The tight gauge combined with the twisted stitches must keep this yarn in line; the mitts haven’t sagged at all with the usual alpaca droop. They also didn’t felt when I had to scrub out pine sap after snapping the photos (camera and elbows were propped on a felled tree). Again, perhaps the gauge was helpful… maybe it prevented the fibers from moving around enough to felt?

The pattern is meticulously well-written and the stitch pattern is charted as well as written. If you’re new to twisted stitches, this is a good one to start with.

Another April 9

Today is Mr. MmmYarn’s birthday. Or is “was” the right word? I’m never sure; I guess it still is, regardless whether he’s here. I pre-arranged for the day off work and went to the Conservatory of Flowers this morning to admire the current blooms:

The valley’s latest planting is in full glory and it was about 70 degrees out so after my time inside I sat on the grass outside a while and worked on the baby cardigan I started Saturday morning. I should have gotten out the proper camera for this shot but you get the idea:

Walked more and went out for an ice cream float for lunch (hey, it’s a birthday!), then came home and watched a movie while knitting more. The cardigan just needs a buttonband and ends woven in at this point. I haven’t made a layer cake in yonks; today was a good day for it despite the warm temperature. While the layers cooled I made turnips with their greens for dinner, then made blue frosting. Bad photo, good cake:

I used the devil’s food recipe from “Tender at the Bone” (adapted: didn’t have enough baking cocoa so made up the difference with regular cocoa and less sugar; didn’t have sour cream so used yogurt) and the 7-minute frosting from “The Gourmet Cookbook,” both by Ruth Reichl. I may not sleep well tonight due to sugar-induced dreams after eating a giant slice of cake at 9:30pm but it’s so very tasty that it’s worth it. Happy Birthday. I wish you were here.

Spinning in the great outdoors

The weather was warm enough and only a light wind today so I took my new little spindle and Corriedale with me on my walk in the park and sat on a newly-installed bench on the island and watched. Watched the birds and turtles doing their thing, and the people in rowboats and pedal boats, and the spindle going round. Here was the view:

That’ s my giant knee. I had the Joby tripod balanced on my leg and set the camera for a 10-second delay.

Then came home and vacuumed, which was less fun but very necessary. I despise the time change, makes me sleep poorly for days.

Spray paint would have been faster

Sock yarn is usually pretty great for baby sweaters but I seriously wasn’t in the mood for something so fine in December so I held the sock yarn doubled to make this sweater:

Pattern: own
Yarn: 1.4 skeins Zwerger Garn Opal Graffiti, 75% wool, 25% nylon, color 5225
Needles: US size 5 for the body, 4 for the ribbing
Size: 12 months
Started 12/1 and finished 12/31/2012

Not quite the speed of a walk-by act of graffiti but it went quickly enough. The little red and yellow buttons worked out perfectly: they fit the buttonholes (always so very important) and contain two colors that match colors in the yarn, something I’m rarely able to find.

I didn’t worry about where the two skeins lined up except to check they weren’t lining up exactly because I wanted blended rather than exact stripes. Success! Off it goes into the box of finished items to await the wee person who will wear it someday.

Aurora borealis

Seeing the aurora borealis is on my list of “someday” travel dreams. It’s only been on the list for a year and I didn’t actively pursue it once I thought it up because brrrrr, the weather is usually on the cold side once you’re far enough north to see the lights. However, I could make it up in knitting: Revontuli, the northern lights shawl, has been on my mind pretty much since I first spotted it on Ravelry and in December I made it.

The barrier is made of a grabby type of stone (sandstone, perhaps?) that is wide enough to accommodate shawls and holds them in place while you photograph them. I’m sure this is exactly the purpose the parks department had in mind here.

The pattern uses increases and decreases to create the zigzags. I made it nearly one pattern repeat longer than written and used size 11 needles to work a suspended bind-off in knit on the last row. Despite the long rows to purl back, I made this quickly because I liked seeing the stripes appear.

Pattern: Revontuli-huivi/Northern Lights by AnneM
Yarn: 2 skeins Lang Yarns Jawoll Magic Dégradé, color 85.0025
Needles: US size 9
Size: 64″ across top and 28″ tall
Started 12/8 and finished 12/28/2012

This is souvenir yarn I bought in Bad Sooden-Allendorf last fall when I stopped for lunch on my way elsewhere. I knew Lang Yarns in general are available in the United States but I really liked these colors so snapped up two skeins because I had the opportunity.

It’s big enough to fit the lion sphinx.

I’ll have to wear it whenever I do make it to the far north in honor of the occasion, probably over something else so my neck stays super-warm.

Loot, v 2013

Here’s a peek at what I bought at Stitches West on Friday:

Top row, left to right: Corriedale fiber from Fun Fibers for Hand Spinners; Greensleeves Spindles 18g spindle from Carolina Homespun (which went for a test drive immediately); Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball (my stepdad wants “crazy socks” and I hope this fits the bill); Watermelon Sock Kit from Knitter’s Brewing Co.; 10 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool for the stash

Bottom row: sport weight alpaca from Black Diamond Alpacas; worsted weight superwash merino from Oink Fibers in “Goldfish Bowl”; orange cashmere laceweight from StitchSisterz; Valley Yarns Superwash DK (wee sweater-to-be); Bugga! from Cephalopod Yarns (so. very. purple.); Creating from A Verb For Keeping Warm; 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon

I like going on Friday. It’s less crowded than Saturday and less picked-over than Sunday. Using a vacation day from work is worth it! Six of the items were on my list, including the spindle. It’s the same weight as one of my other spindles but with a considerably smaller whorl so it will fit in a purse or backpack far more easily. The bright yellow alpaca is a color I saw everywhere in all kinds of yarns and kept picking up so I decided to buy it. No idea yet what I’ll make with it, just had to have the yellow. My major splurge was the Bugga! in such a lovely, vivid purple that I’m going to have to admire it for a while before I start thinking about what to do with it.

I wish I had gone back to Shaky K Fiber to buy one of their skeins of terrifically bright sock yarn. They’re not in the Showbook but they were in row 100. I’ll add them to my list for next year, or purchase mail order since I’ve already handled the wares. I also missed Brooks Farm, who did not go to Stitches West this year.

Acquisition: 7117 yards (4.04 miles).

See how many miles you can knit in a year, then try to beat that record

Mid-February is a strange time to post about the previous year’s accomplished knitting, as opposed to the first week of January, but here we are in February. Tonight’s Stitches West Eve (a west coast knitterly holiday, ha!), and it reminds me that it’s high time I did a quick little 2012 sum-up.

I made 74 items last year:

• 1 felted wallet
• 14 hats
• 2 shawls
• 2 pairs of wristlets
• 10 scarves (9 knitted, 1 woven)
• 3 adult sweaters for me
• 2 baby sweaters
• 5 pairs of adult socks
• 6 fruit socks
• 24 pairs of baby booties
• 4 cowls
• 1 headband

All in all, I knit up 18,457 yards (= 10.48 miles)* and 68.75 skeins of yarn. It’s the most miles I’ve knitted in a year since I took up this hobby. I wonder if I’ll beat this number in 2013…

I also spun up 2.33 pounds of fiber, adding 1500 yards of yarn to the stash. It was a productive year.

Must now go decide on a walking-around-the-Market-at-Stitches-West-on-Friday project. Hmmm. Likely it will be a rice stitch hat.

* Yards used includes only finished projects. Things like my mom’s sweater body that I knitted and unraveled twice didn’t make the annual tally because it’s not finished.

So very bright

This is the Switchback Cowl that I started on a beautiful sunny day at the Alpaca Ranch Retreat on December 9. The yarn is very bright:

The stitch pattern is an easy, intuitive repeat. I could tell which round I was on by looking at the previous round. I recommend this design if you’re new to knitting a lace pattern. The cowl is quite puckered when you’re working on it and flattens out after blocking. Here’s a comparison, pre-blocking and post-blocking:

Pattern: Switchback Cowl by Kira K Designs, worked as written except I think I added a repeat
Yarn: nearly a full skein Fearless Fibers Superwash Sportweight Merino, 100% superwash merino wool, color: Kildare
Needles: US size 6
Started 12/9 and finished 12/10/2012

The cowl is big enough to cover one’s head, should one need an impromptu hood:

That’s it for cowls at Mmm… Yarn for a while. This week I appear to be obsessed with making hats in rice stitch. Work is incredibly busy and rice stitch is about all I can wrap my brain around by the time I get home.