Friday, October 31, 2008

Le Slouch F.O.


Happy Halloween!
No pumpkin, but a seasonally appropriate F.O.: Le Slouch, a tres chic (and free) pattern from Wendy Bernard. Stats: used a little more than half a skein of Dream in Color Classy in Chinatown Apple. Sizes 8 & 10 needles. Slouched for 7 inches, blocked on a dinner plate, and voila!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Stash Enhancement; Happy Birthday to Me

Well, now I have no excuse to acquire yarn for awhile (not that not having an excuse stops me). I did a kind of whirlwind tour of Rhinebeck since the non-knitting friends I was with were poky, and we didn't get there until around 3:00. S'OK; they paid me back with birthday yarn:



stash 002



750 yards of lovely scrumptious Riata from Brooks Farm (it's actually a lipstick red, not the pinkish in the photo). It hasn't decided what it wants to be yet--not enough for a sweater, and I'm kind of overflowing in scarfs--ideas welcome.



On the other side of the justifiably crowded Brooks Farm booth, I picked up 4 skeins of this:



stash 003



More Four Play=another Clapotis. I cannot stop.


It was packed in the A building and I felt rushed, so I made a quick stop over at the Spirit Trail booth to say hi to some of the folks from Knitters Review: Jen, Lanea (who gave me a birthday hug :=)), Beth and Martha ("how do?"). I was going to hold off from buying anything until the Knitters Review Retreat coming up in November, but this lovely laceweight leapt into my hands:

stash 001

Atropos, 500 yards of silk goodness in the most amazing deep brown color ("Wet Bark").

I missed the Ravelry meetups and decided to forgo the party, since it didn't seem very nice to say to my friends "Hey, thanks for hosting me for the weekend but I'm ditching you to go hang out with my other friends". We ended up having my birthday dinner at The Rhinecliff Hotel, a really lovely place on the banks of the mighty Hudson.

And to make a nice weekend great, I got home to find I had won MORE YARN from a contest over at Tamara's blog. And all I had to do was post about why I love October. Yay me, and yay Tamara--look what she sent:

spincerely yours handspun singles

The most gorgeous handspun singles in a "Rosy Sweet Jade" colorway, and:

spincerely yours hand-dye fingering

Amazing hand-dyed fingering weight merino that will be perfect for the two socks on one needle I'm going to learn how to knit at the aforementioned Knitters Review Retreat. Plus, cool swag from a conservation expo she went to earlier in the month. Check out Tamara's etsy shop, Spincerely Yours: wonderful stuff. Thanks, Tamara!

All in all, a good haul, and a very happy birthday to me.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Quartet of F.O.'s

Well, I figured I’d better update the blog before somebody hijacks it. A few finished objects to report since the Ravelympics:

Obnoxiously Cheery Ballband

Obnoxiously Cheery Ballband, a palate clearer to be housegifted to friends who somehow manage to remain relentlessly cheery without being obnoxious. The colors remind me of those ceramic chickens in granny kitchens. Mason-Dixon Knitting again (by the way, make sure to check out the new book!); pattern modification: cast on 33 stitches for a smaller cloth. Leftover Sugar ‘n Cream cotton, size 6 needle.

clapotis rerun fo

Clapotis Rerun, my second in what will no doubt be a series since I am kind of obsessed with this pattern (I need one in a black-based yarn, but I also need a black-based yarn with enough color variation that I won’t go insane. Any ideas?). This one in the dreamy Brooks Farm Four Play I got at Maryland Sheep and Wool. Knit to pattern on size 8 needle; used just under 3 skeins. Came out very wrappable: 22” wide x 72” long. Love it. C’mon winter!

airy scarf 002

Claire’s Airy Birthday Scarf, a present for my friend. Pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, no mods (except I think I skipped a repeat by accident. Doesn’t matter since it’s more of a scarflet: 7” wide x 32” long). Yarn: some stashed Kaalund Expressions (a discontinued laceweight kid mohair); size 10 needle.

lace ribbon fo

Grapes of Wrath Lace Ribbon Scarf. Finally. This sucker took forever. Great pattern, though. Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy (fingering weight merino), just under a skein. Size 3 needle. Size: 8” wide x 80” long.
Random Notes: Set up: Color code chart for easy reading until you get used to the pattern. I cast on 44 sts. to make it a bit narrower and conserve yarn. Knit two rows before plunging into the lace ribbon chart (not in the pattern, but will make more symmetrical ends and reduce curling). Place markers for each nine-stitch repeat (use different color marker for end sections). Do not check your work until one full pattern repeat is done…it will look wonky and you will be disappointed.
Worked 20 repeats of the 24 stitches, still had enough yarn for probably one more round of repeats but couldn’t take it anymore. Smooshy is interesting stuff–FO was only 58” long, but with a wet block (just soaked for a half-hour or so and patted it out without pins) it came out to 80”!

On the needles: Wendy Bernard's Le Slouch in Dream in Color Classy. Pix with progress.

This weekend: Rhinebeck!