I have an FO to show today.  Yesterday, I dug it out of my WIP bin where it has languished for the last couple of months and took a long look at it. It really was all but completed so I bound off, made a decision I’ve been see-sawing on for weeks and finally, at about 11:30 last night, finished the last stitch.

With great pleasure, may I present:

Thank you, Stephanie, for such a lovely pattern and for sharing it with us :)

And thanks to Laura, who finished the one she was making for her mother (and a beautiful job she did, too!) and thanks to Barb who kept asking me what had happened to the periwinkle shawl :) Heheh, now you know!

It was the edging - actually the idea of picking up umpty-zillion stitches for a knitted edging that made me feel faint.  But while I was looking around for ideas yesterday, I remembered the “ruffles” discussion we’d had a couple of weeks ago and besides that, Barb had mentioned a ruffled scarf that she had just completed.

So the idea was born.

I had worked the shawl on size 10 needles so I dug out a size 10 crochet hook and crocheted dcs all the way around (with extras at the point).  Next row was 2 dcs in every dc of the first row.  The third row was crocheted even - 1 dc in every dc.  The last row was a pdc in dc, 2 dc in next dc and repeat ending with a pdc (picot double crochet - dc, ch 2, sc in tip of dc).  The picot is intended to be subtle, I didn’t want anything big hanging off the edges, so that’s why it’s only two chains long.  Those four rows took at least eight hours to do and used every bit as much yarn as the body of the shawl did.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am with this.  I look at it and can’t believe it came from my needles (and hook).  It does still need to be blocked as the i-cord bind-off has an unfortunate tendency to roll.  If blocking doesn’t do the trick, some more crochet may be in order :)





Unlike the Landscape shawl that I did last year, this one is both wide enough (I haven’t measured it but probably around 80") and long enough so that I don’t feel that it’s skimpy.  That really doesn’t have anything to do with the pattern though, that was just me, determined not to stop until I was sure it was going to be what I wanted.  It is exactly what I wanted and I keep looking at it and petting it and not quite believing it :)





On to blocking :)

Last night I worked up the other two samples.  I know, I know - this is getting ridiculous :)

This is the Merino Style DK from the Knit Picks samples.  This is my favorite of all the yarns - lovely to work with and an almost satiny feel to the finished piece - the stockinette, of course.  The seed stitch is supposed to feel bumpy :) I cast 9 stitches onto size 5 (US) needles and did 4 rows of seed stitch, switched to (RS) K1, P1, K5, P1, K1 and (WS) K1, P1, K1, P3, K1, P1, K1 for several rows and then worked another four rows of seed.  Then the piece was folded and sewn and the double cord attached with a lark’s head knot (like you would attach fringe).





This is what got me to stop biting my nails which I had done viciously ever since I was very small.  Through my teens I had thought it would be nice to wear rings, but my fingers were so ugly that I didn’t want to draw attention to them.  Around the time I was 20 or so, a friend showed me one of these things that she owned and I spent a long, leisurely afternoon eating pizza with her and learning how to put the thing together.  Once I had gotten that, I just had to have a puzzle ring of my own.  Before long, and I don’t remember it being a conscious effort either, I had stopped biting my nails.  I have had one of these rings ever since.





This was made from the Andean Silk (Alpaca/Silk/Merino blend).  I’m not a fan of navy blue, but this color seemed so rich and alive I swear I could almost see it breathing.  This is a worsted weight yarn and it worked up easily.  If the rest of the colors in this line exhibit the same kind of intensity and saturation, this yarn will make some really spectacular pieces.  Curiously (to me, anyway) despite the fact that this is only 23% silk, the yarn felt a lot more like a plant fiber (little spring or stretch).  That’s not a knock though - I love cotton and work with it often.

The bag started as 1 stitch cast on to a size 6 needle.  K1, YO, K1 into the stitch.  Turn and K3.  Continue doing a double increase into the middle stitch and knitting the following row until you just have enough left to bind off.  Knit half the stitches, fold piece so that the right sides are facing and do a three-needle bind-off.  Run cord through the stitches around the opening.

This stone is star diopside and almost certainly came from India.  It is not uncommon and not expensive and it has a wonderful trick.  It exhibits asterism!

Doesn’t that sound pompous?  Heheh....  All that means is that when a sufficiently bright light source shines on the stone, it produces a four pointed star which you can see in the above picture.  Star diopside is always cut as a cabochon (the un-faceted, domed shape of the stone above) so that the star can be seen.  Many minerals show stars on occasion, even ordinary quartz does it.  Probably the most famous though, are the star sapphires and rubies.  Their stars have 6 legs.  In fact star diopside is the only stone with just four.

It looks like the sun’s struggling to come out and I hope it makes it.  We don’t need any more rain for a while :)

Have a wonderful weekend, folks!

Well, I did it.  The amazing thing is it took all evening to do!  First:

This is the Andean Treasure (heathered baby alpaca) that came in the yarn samples I wrote about in yesterday’s post.  Although it seems to be just a tiny bit splitty, it’s as soft as a cloud to work with - just wonderful!  As a rule, sport weight yarn makes me a little nervous because I can’t imagine how long it would take me to knit something with it!  But this stuff feels so nice (and worked up nicely too) that I think I might take the chance someday :)

The bag was made by casting on 5 sts (size 4 US needles) and working back and forth until the base was roughly square.  Then stitches were picked up on each side (5 sts per side) and the bag was worked in the round to the top where I used a picot bind off.  I had about an inch and a half of yarn left, so I used the fuchsia cotton for the tie and tassel.  The bag is about 1.5” tall and about 1” in diameter.

The pendant is an amethyst, probably my favorite stone.  It’s not a particularly splendid example as the color is light and there is some zoning.  Also the cut is very slightly off-center.  On the other hand it wasn’t expensive either and despite its flaws, is a very pretty piece.

When I had finished that, I started on this:

For this, I used the Wool of the Andes on size 6 (US) needles.  I cast on 10 stitches and knit in stockinette until the yarn ran out.  Then I crocheted an edge all around with the fuchsia cotton, crochet-seamed the sides and did the flap and loop.  It’s about 2” wide and about 1” tall.  The “button” is simply four beads tied together on a single strand of the cotton and then sewn on the front.

The wool has a slightly rough feel, but when I held the swatch to my neck it didn’t feel scratchy or itchy.  It worked up nicely, wasn’t hard on the hands and seems to be fairly sturdy stuff.

I got this bracelet years ago for no more than a song.  It had been marked down several times because of it’s size - it’s a little over 8” long which is much bigger than most women want.  I (of the big bones), on the other hand, have a hard time finding nice bracelets that fit and this was perfect for me.  The stones are what’s referred to as white or silver topaz because they have so little color.  They do have a bit though as I noticed one winter day when I could see the bracelet against the snow.  The stones are very faintly blue-green but unless you hold them up against a blindingly white background, you’d never notice.

So now I’ve got two samples left and I’m playing around with what to do with them :) Waste not, want not!

My mother would be so proud :)

Ugh - between setting the clocks ahead last weekend and having to be up early yesterday morning, I felt like I hadn’t slept in a month.  I was a real zombie-girl yesterday, saying “Hunh?” every time someone said something to me and falling asleep anytime I sat still for more than 30 seconds.  Or stood still either…

I did manage to get a good night’s sleep though and feel quite a bit more chipper this morning - at least like I have a chance to stay awake until I get this post written :)

I admit I’m in a bit of a knitting funk at the moment.  It probably has everything to do with the upcoming trip (I’m leaving on the 25th) and my mind is sorting through what to take, how to pack and so forth.  I can’t seem to focus on any of my projects even though I like them and want to see them finished - everything seems boring.  Feh - I’ll get over it, I always do, but it’s annoying as hell, you know?

On the up side, I got this in the mail yesterday:

The new yarns look even more scrumptious than they did in the first catalogue and I’m more than ever strongly tempted to try some of them out.  But, as if the price weren’t enough to provide more than adequate temptation, there was this enclosed with the catalogue:





Starting at the top left and moving clockwise:

1.  Wool of the Andes - 100% wool - worsted weight in Evergreen.
2.  Andean Silk - 55% Alpaca, 23% silk and 22% Merino wool - worsted weight in Navy.
3.  Andean Treasure - 100% Baby Alpaca - sport weight in Wild Rose.
4.  Merino Style - 100% Merino wool - DK weight in Iris.

Is this a neat marketing idea, or what?  The big question for me has been “What’s the yarn like?  What does it feel like?  What kind of quality are we talking about for those intriguing prices?” And this gives me an opportunity to find out.  I do think I’ll be placing an order with these folks - probably not until June (more’s the pity) but definitely soon.  The catalogue indicates that there’s enough of each of these samples to knit a small swatch.  I’m thinking I may make little, bitty bags for jewelry or something.

You can request a catalogue of your own at the Knit Picks site.  This will also put you on their mailing list.  I don’t know how many of these they have (the ones with the samples, I mean) but it couldn’t hurt to ask.

Her bossiness, Jade, was completely in my face this morning as I tried to take pictures.  Figures - any other time I’d call her and she wouldn’t twitch so much as a whisker and look at me as though I were an exceedingly low form of life - if, that is, she deigned to turn her head in my direction at all :)

I’ve sometimes wondered about teaching her to knit - just to keep her out of my hair. 

But I’d hate to have to share my stash :)

It was a very lazy sort of weekend during which very little knitting was accomplished.  It teemed rain from Friday night through Saturday and we are now under flood warnings.  The Merrimack River is as high as I’ve ever seen it.  Living, as we do, at the top of a hill at nearly the highest elevation in the city, we have nothing to worry about, personally.  But those homes and business down near the banks are going to be watching things rather nervously for the next few days.

I’ve been through one flood, in Kansas City, MO in September of 1977.  Brush Creek overflowed its banks and took out a great deal of the Alameda Plaza shopping district.  A friend and I were trapped in an apartment building where we had been visiting, while the basement and first floor completely filled up with water.  I remember standing on one of the second floor balconies of the building and watching the cars floating down the street. The Bennett Schneider bookstore (which is where I was working at the time) was utterly ruined, all the glass broken out and most of the books washed away except for a little case of paperback science-fiction which was angled just right to avoid being touched.

Once was enough!  I’ll take the high ground from now on, thanks :)

As I was working repeats on the Dulann scarf I realized something that really should have been clear to me before.  I’ve been doing the inside of the cable in plain stockinette instead of switching to reverse stockinette as is standard with cable work.  I would very much like to tell you that it was intentional and that I used it on purpose to give the cable unit a bit gentler look that would otherwise be the case - but I’d be lying through my teeth :) It wasn’t intentional and I didn’t even notice it until yesterday.

But it doesn’t look bad; in fact it looks rather nice.  That said, there’s no earthly reason you couldn’t use reverse stockinette if you wanted - or garter or seed stitch if you preferred.  In fact, I’ll probably work up a swatch with all three and take pictures to add to the pattern post.

Another addition I’ve been considering adding to the pattern post is a chart.  I’m at the point where I can work comfortably with either written or charted instructions (assuming the chart is large enough to read comfortably) but many people are strictly one thing or another.  Would it be useful to you to have the pattern charted?  Let me know.

And have a lovely Monday!

I have made a correction in the Dulaan scarf pattern.  In line 13 of the instructions, I had the cables reversed.  That has been fixed now.

I must have known, somewhere in the depths of my subconscious that there was an error because I have not been able to stop obsessively going over the pattern.  Finally I found the problem :)

Now, maybe I can go to sleep!

We’re going to be silly this morning.  If you fell out of the wrong side of the bed, you might want to stick around. - this could help!  If, however, you feel that the matter of life should be attended to with diligence and gravitas, well, perhaps skipping this blog entry would be a better idea.

Myria has periodic cereal cravings - like I might have an occasional ice cream jones.  For me, a hot fudge sundae (with either coffee or peppermint ice cream) will do the trick.  For Myria…

Well, preparations have to be made.  Because of her substantially Native American background Myria is lactose intolerant.  That means that we have to have some of those pill thingies that help break down lactose in those systems that can’t break it down for themselves.  Never having had the problem myself, I can sympathize, if not really understand.  I kind of envision this as a scene taking place in a 1930s era prison flick, where prisoners wore striped uniforms and spent all day wielding a sledge hammer.  Only instead of a number, the prisoner’s sign says “Lactase”.

Guard: Your job is to break big molecules into medium-sized molecules and medium-sized molecules into small molecules and small molecules into atoms.  DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Prisoner (under his breath while nodding vigorously): Lousy screw…

Now the hunt begins.  The cereal aisle is traversed several times and preliminary choices are made.  After some consideration, these are winnowed down to three or four primary choices.

Once home, a large bowl is procured and some of each type of cereal is poured in, mixed around and then covered with milk.

Aside: There is much to be said for the cereal mixing process which I had never run into before meeting Myria and which she says she learned from her father.  While some combinations could be perfectly revolting, some can be, well, seriously cool - such as cocoa puffs combined with banana nut fruit and grain.  Yes, we do watch cartoons too :)

One of the products that came home with us last night was this:

Now I don’t know what things were like when you were growing up, but in my house, pre-sweetened cereal was considered to be a very bad thing and was only permitted on extremely rare occasion.  This was unfortunate because it’s that type of cereal that’s most likely to have a free toy nestled in it’s sugary depths. And free toys are...well, they’re cool!  As adults, of course, we can have whatever kind of cereal we like and this one is a product that Myria enjoys.  I didn’t notice the free toy promise until we’d gotten it home - though it’s right there on the front of the box.

This is what we found inside…

I was instantly 10 years old again as I puzzled out how to put this together and make it work.  At first I thought it would require a battery, but there wasn’t any way to open the handle; it was all of a piece.  I could see a red button, but nothing happened when I pressed it.  Sigh…

Ah well, when all else fails, RTFM (read the instructions).  In print so tiny as to resemble ant tracks, it was explained that the bowl should be placed onto the handle.  I did that - it fit into place with a satisfying snap.  Then the switch at the base of the handle should be flipped into the “on” position.  Switch?  Ahh - got it!  Then, whenever the red button was pushed (I already knew where that was), the spoon would light up.  Really?!?!?

And finally…





That’s my binoculars case behind the spoon because I couldn’t take a picture in which the light actually showed up until I tried using a darker background.  I tried to get Jade to volunteer but she was more interested in nudging the spoon than posing or (God forbid!) sitting still.

Whee!!

I haven’t dared to try eating anything with this.  I’m a bit nervous that the red light shining and reflecting on whatever food is in the bowl of the spoon would make it look like I’d been scavenging in an abattoir.  Nononono… This, of course, is what gives me away as not being a true child.  A true child would use the spoon to eat anything at all regardless of (or maybe because of) what the light made it look like.

But it’s still cool :)

Have a great weekend!