Rhinebeck 2009

and a little knitting...

First the knitting: I've been making a lot of progress on the Stor Rund Dug shawl. It suits my mood - a little complex but not too complex, light, and wonderful tactile experiences. The silk/wool is heavenly in the hands. I am on the last set of pattern rounds but I have 48 repeats of each section so it is not a rapid knit. Each round takes appreciable minutes to complete.

I have been having fun looking through my lace pattern books for an edging. Currently, I have decided on the Alpine edging from the second Walker treasury. It is also in Sharon Miller's Heirloom knitting. It seems to complement the triangles in the body of the shawl. Let's see if I change my mind by the time I finish the remaining pattern rounds.

Now on to Rhinebeck. I am sorry I didn't post last week but it was such a grey day on Sunday and I was tired from all the Rhinebeck excitement on Saturday. I wasn't sure the colors of the items I bought would show up correctly in the photographs. So I waited and couldn't find a time during the week to take the photos. But today is a nice sunny day and so here they are.

This is an electric blue roving from Gale's Art. I think this will perk up a winter's day beautifully.

This lovely mix of reds, a little blue and some tawny shades is from Stony Mountain Fibers. I think it is called Mohave Sunset. I love the colors and waited in the most amazingly slow line to buy it . I was only the 3rd person in line but the guy doing the checking out was such a slow mover that it took forever. I think that is a demonstration of my love for the roving.

Lastly, some mauve roving from a Verb for Keeping Warm. Mauve is one of my favorite colors and I haven't found too many that I didn't like. Do you see a pattern here? Roving, roving, roving and no yarn so far. That would make sense if I actually was spinning. I bought some spinning oil and I plan to start again but the knitting is attracting me so much right now that I don't feel like spinning.

I bought this the day before Rhinebeck from the Woolen Rabbit. She wasn't a vendor at Rhinebeck but had some leftover yarn in her car as she was on her way back from another fiber festival. This happened to come home with me. It is a luscious merino, cashmere, nylon mixture that I think will become a shawl. Lastly, see what arrived in the mail! I had preordered this Shetland combed top from Schoolhouse Press when I was at Camp. I had forgotten all about it. I have one more color coming. This is the top that made me want to learn to spin. It is absolutely gorgeous and the colors have so much depth. They are all natural shades.

I think there will be more knitting before there is spinning but I see a lot of spinning in my future this winter.

Scarf angst

I finished the scarf in 4 days of actual knitting. It is a pretty easy pattern even though I had to stop and fix a few errors here and there. But I didn't enjoy knitting it. Scarves do that to me. I get bored knitting straight up and down for such a long time with no increases or decreases and the rows are so short!

I also don't like wearing scarves - I don't like things around my neck. So generally, I knit them for others or for classes - like this one. I am pleased with how it turned out though.

There it is, all blocked and hanging! I didn't pin it. I just washed it and patted it out to dry. You can see the slight waves in the sides but I think this adds to the charm.

A close-up that is not fuzzy! You can see the beads and how they bring out the green in the yarn. The yarn is lovely. It is very soft and quite durable. I am lazy about breaking the yarn and stringing beads. So I strung 4 tubes at first. Then the remaining 6 tubes after that. I had to move the beads down slowly at first and faster after there were fewer of them.

I used a Russian join when I had to break and join the yarn after the first set of beads ran out. This eliminates any weaving in of ends at the join and is also invisible. It is the only join I ever use in lace.

This last photo was to show the ends and the right and wrong sides. There are just a few rows of garter st at the ends. I think the scarf will curl as there are only 4 sts in garter st at each side. We'll have to see. I've dropped it off at the yarn store to use as a sample for the class so I won't have a chance to check that out for a while.

One other tip: I was 8 beads short for the last repeat. I wasn't going to go out and buy another tube of beads for the lack of 8 beads. I adjusted the beads in the last repeat so that I was able to divide up the shortage among the rows with the least amount of impact. If you look carefully, you may be able to see the difference between the first repeat on the left and the last repeat on the right. Or maybe not!

I am back to knitting the Stor Rund Dug shawl and I am really enjoying it. The yarn is light and silky and the lace is so engaging that it is fun to knit!

Lace beginnings

Thank you for the lovely compliments on the gansey. I am very pleased with it. There is a grace and subtlety about those old gansey patterns as well as the connection to our knitting foremothers that creates an instant bond with ganseys. Plus, they are incredibly practical garments and so easy to knit. But I was tired of texture. I am like a butterfly in my focus, I flit, I float, I lack commitment to any style of knitting. I wanted something light and airy after the weight and solidity of the gansey. I had thought about doing a Bohus and that is still on the schedule but I am taking a lace vacation.

I started two projects this week, very unusual for me. They are not quite in order here. The second project was the Undulating Waves scarf by Laura Nelkin. I am knitting it in the called-for yarn - Heather - which is a superwash merino, silk and nylon blend. It would make a good sock yarn. Unlike many of the projects on Ravelry, that use coordinating beads and therefore create a more subtle effect, I went for splashy. I am very pleased with the result because the lime green beads bring out the green in the colorway. For some reason, this photo is out of focus but it shows the pattern and colors rather well. It is a reasonably engaging knit. The pattern is easily memorized but keeps one's interest. I did 7.5 out of 19 repeats yesterday.

Here is a photo of the entire length I finished. I think I'm going to do a gentle block to keep the texture and curl in the scarf.

I needed to get beads mid-week, so I started this last weekend and am at rnd 50 or so out of 129. Of course the rounds get larger and larger as one goes along. It is Stor Rund Dug from Yarnover. Instead of making a circular shawl, I started with a magic cast-on putting half the sts on a cable instead of knitting up around them. I decided to skip the initial set of yarnover decreases where one doubles the sts every round or so. I cast on 96 sts which I thought was sufficient to go over one's head on a US size 7 needle. But to hedge my bet, I also knit back and forth for the first few rounds to create a small placket which I can sew up or finish if I need the extra width.

The cable is visible at the bottom of the knitted piece. I'm hoping the end result will be like a Mananita by Meg Swansen. You can see it on the cover of the Knitting Lace DVD on Schoohouse Press's home page. That way the lace is all visible, the shawl stays on one's shoulders and leaves the hands free to do whatever.

Better photos to come in the weeks ahead as the projects get bigger. Have you noticed a similarity (beyond lace) to these two projects?

The countdown to Rhinebeck has begun. It is 2 weeks away. The excitement around here this weekend is the opening of Walkway over the Hudson. It used to be a railroad bridge but has been converted into a pedestrian walkway with incredible views of the Hudson river. You can see a live feed of the opening ceremonies here. I haven't gone to walk it yet because I'm waiting for the crowds to thin. But I will be there soon. I went part-way on the old bridge before it came down and the views are spectacular!

Gansey Saga, Finis

The gansey is done. Today, I thought I would spend some time describing some of the design details that one has to consider when creating one's own designs. First of all, the bottom border. The pattern of the sweater should flow from the bottom border. I tend to vacillate between ribbing and carrying elements of the design into the border. In this case, I opted for the latter but I still planned the ribbing so it would line up with the pattern elements.

The ribbing matches the vertical lines in the pattern elements so that a vertical knit line doesn't flow from a purl st in the border. To do this, I had to put 2 purls next to each other below the garter ladder.

Another element to think about is what happens at the neckline. The front neckline is especially critical because it is right in front of a viewer's eyes. The pattern must end appropriately at the neckline: Either a full or a half pattern repeat can work depending on the pattern. In this case, I could have succeeded with a half diamond but not a quarter or a three-quarter diamond. As you can see, I was able to end with a full pattern repeat at the front neck.

At the back neck, I was off by 1 row. I could have done one more row but I decided not to as it looked OK. The back neck isn't as critical as the front neck but an obvious fraction of a pattern that doesn't look complete can be quite noticeable.

Also watch out for the pattern at the neck shaping. I was able to hide a couple of decreases in a cable cross which allowed me to cross the cable almost all the way to the end so it didn't suddenly become a stockinette column. Some amount of fudging is sometimes necessary. Aesthetics are more important than being true to the pattern!

I also lucked out at the armholes. I hadn't planned it and was planning to wing it when I got there. I could have converted part of the pattern into a stockinette section but I found that my diamonds turned into waves as half of them vanished into the armhole but the other half remained. That worked out very well but is also something to think about as you design.

I put the design on the sleeve right at the point where the diamonds would fit exactly into the sleeve width. I could have put it lower down also as there are multiple places where the math works out. But I decided to put it at the first place where the sleeve width was an exact multiple of the diamond pattern center. I then backed up to the beginning of the motif and calculated where I would have to start it to place the center at the correct round.

I also think about the types of decreases/increases I want to use. I tend to prefer fully fashioned decreases/increases - where they are placed a little inside the seam and pointing into the seam rather than parallel to it. In this sweater I used fully fashioned decreases at the armholes and sleeve seams but ran them parallel to the shaping at the neckline. It is knitter's choice but decide which one you like and stick with it.

Finally, the back of the completed sweater. I gave you a lot of frontal angles while I was knitting it so I thought I'd end with the back.

I hope you have as much fun as I did designing and knitting a historical gansey design. The yarn is wonderful - it is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran. I love the hand and the stitch definition but it is a heavy sweater. It was difficult doing the neckband with the entire weight of the sweater on the needles.

I had 19 balls of the yarn and I ended with 2 partial balls - one of which was used for the swatch and the other for the neckband. I was pleased with that.

Next up is lace. I cast on for Stor Rund Dug in Joslyn Fiber Farm's Shine yesterday. I am also planning a Schaefer Undulating Waves Scarf which is for a class I'll be teaching. More on those in the weeks to come.

Gansey Saga, The End is in Sight

I don't have any photos to post this week but I wanted to share the fact that the gansey is almost done. I just bound off the second sleeve. All I have left to do is the neck band and weaving in of a few ends.

I have been playing with my wheel. I went to a spinning guild meeting on Friday where I learned to spin a bit. I came home and played. I don't have anything exciting to show. I wanted to finish the gansey so I put it aside and continued knitting.

My fall classes start on Saturday and I have to work on the class materials. My next couple of projects will be for class. A shawl and potentially a scarf. After that it is time to Bohus again.

Photos of a finished gansey are forthcoming!

Gansey Saga, Part IV

Before I start, I owe Bridget an apology. I accidentally called the spider a Shetland spider when it is a Bridget spider. It bears no resemblance whatever to a Shetland spider except that they are both lace. The Shetland one is an insect with 6 legs, not a true arachnid with 8 legs. Mea culpa, Bridget!

Now, onto the gansey. I have been knitting as much as I can all week between playing with spinning. I am at the cuff of the first sleeve. This is taking a long time. I was sure I'd be done with the sleeve by this time.

That is an overview of the sweater as it stands. I repeated the diamond lattice in a band on the sleeve just for some variety in knitting. Plus I love that kind of gansey design. The original sweater had the body designs repeated on the sleeves as far as I can tell from the photo. The author of the book sketched the sleeves as having the diamond lattice all over on the sleeve but I thought that looked too busy. So I modified it to just have the band which is very common in ganseys.

There's a close-up of the band. I accidentally used 2 more sts in the diamond on the sleeve but I don't think it is noticeable. I counted the sts in the panel on the body while conveniently forgetting that the panel has 2 plain knit sts that set off the diamond. Oh well.

Another look at the armhole and sleeve. It is not a traditional gansey in that I've done a set-in sleeve rather than the usual drop sleeve. However, I did pick up the sts and knit the sleeve downward so it is traditional in that sense.

Next week I hope to have it done! I am in a lace knitting mood so this sweater is now starting to pall. The design thinking is over and now it is just a matter of executing and that is the uninteresting part.

A new acquisition and a new book

I promised to give you a taste of my plans from Knitted Gifts. But before that I have exciting news. I bought a spinning wheel. It is a Majacraft Little Gem, a deliciously portable folding wheel.
You can see how small it is fully assembled below. Once folded, it fits into the silver bag in the background - the one that doubles as a tin foil hat to communicate with the aliens.

In celebration of the wheel, I have made plans to join a spinning guild and actually learn to spin. But first I had to find some tools to tighten up the crank arms under the treadles so it would spin properly. It seems to be a tad loose. You can see the lovely tool kit I found in the basement also in the background. It wasn't the set of allen wrenches that I was looking for but it had the right sized one in it so I was in luck.

Now on to Knitted Gifts. This is a very cool book, not because it contains one of my patterns but because it has patterns in it that I want to knit. This is a very rare occurrence. Usually I prefer to knit my own but this book made me sit up and say 'ooh! I want to make that' quite a number of times.

The first one that caught my eye are these ballet flats. Yes, they are intarsia but very little of it. I think they are gorgeous and I plan on making them some day.

This is also a neat pattern. It is a big cylinder with a draw string at one end. you can wear it many ways and it is a quick mindless knit. It will be just the thing to pick up and take on a trip.

But this is the most exciting thing in the book. Felted oven mitts that have a doubled section at the hand. You know why I love these? Because I can customize them for me. You see, I am a klutz of the first order. I have matching burn marks on both forearms just where the commercial oven mitts end. I reach in and grab something hot and before I know it, my forearm makes contact with the oven door, or the rack or something equally hot and I have a bad burn. Right now, I have a V-shaped scar on my right forearm from two separate burns.

So I can make MY mitts up to the elbow and then I don't have to worry about my forearms! Wait, you say, what about your upper arms? Hmm... maybe I will have to make them up to the armpit! But I can! I have lots of Lopi and other yarns that would be perfect for this.

Aren't they adorable? Another great travel knitting project that will get rid of leftovers. One can even double yarn and make them. Who wants to gift these away? I want them all for myself.

Over and out till next week and I promise I will post weekly. I meant to post last weekend but somehow the entire weekend vanished into a haze and I have no idea what I actually did. But I didn't post.