More knitting!

First and foremost....

mmmmm.....lace.
A delicious purple mohair by Brooks Farm Yarns (thank you Lynn!!!) in the Cozy pattern from Knitty. I'm going to pick up around it and add a border as soon as I can figure out what I want...





Next...a better pic of the Llama and wool sweater:



...and a Pastanza (same llama / wool yarn) felted cloche.



There is a pair of alpaca fetching gloves somewhere in the house...but they've run off with my Folk Shawls book, apparently. I think they've gone to live in Canada because they're disgusted with the presidential candidates. Just my theory, though. I'll get pics if they decide to come back home :)

Here is a sweater that I did for myself years ago...it's out of Vogue Magazine and also in some alpaca blend yarn. I love the crazy cables.



A ridiculously cute pair of socks that one of my students brought me :)



And finally...Piffles the Elf!
Beckie Bullard knit him for me and we named him after a book that Dr. Dave is writing right now...

A Real Knitting Blog?

No, that isn't what this is...a real knitting blog has updates and details on patterns and yarns and all sorts of other stuff. I'll see what I can do, but no promises!

Here comes a barrage of photos...I've been busy. There are more things to photograph, too. Let's get started :)

Here's my girl Sophie, looking absolutely adorable in her little fair isle sweater


I think the pattern was Dogs in Knits, though I've seent the same pattern advertised on Knitpicks. Yarn was one partial skein of cascade 220 and lots of scraps. I think most of it is Paterna Wool (disc), Lamb's Pride Worsted (by Brown Sheep) and the soy-wool blend from SWS Trading Company who's name is currently escaping me.

Next up! Two of the fifteen million scarves that I made for people for Christmas. More pics of the rest coming, I promise.



This one is a soy-wool blend by Patons. I'm not usually a Patons fan, but this yarn was perfect for this. Pattern is here. By Urban Tribal Wear



A short row scarf from Lamb's Pride Bulky. The pattern is another freebie by Karen Baumer.

Socks!



These were actually in my mother in law's stocking last year, but I forgot to photograph them. Pattern is my own. Yarn is Lamb's Pride Worsted.



Barefoot Sock Yarn by Mountian Colors. Basic sock pattern with a little twisted stitch added in....you can't really see it, but I had fun knitting it! I love these socks...they're so warm and comfy!!



The twisted stitch that you can't really see...

Sweaters!



This was our present this year to my wonderful Mother in law. The yarn is Cotton Fleece by Brown Sheep Company. I'll have to look up the pattern, but I highly recommend it!





And finally....a quickie sweater for me!



This was fast and easy, though I did have to take it apart and add some shaping to the body. The pattern is out of Yarn Girl's Guide to Beyond the Basics. The yarn is Cascade Pastanza (Llama and Wool - I LOVE this yarn!) and Mountian Colors held together to get the really, really big gauge. Please excuse the terrible photo!

More later....

I did the first of these ages ago....

and now there are two :) I wish I could put up pictures of everything else I'm knitting right now, but it's all for Christmas...you never know who might be looking!

A Sweater for Sohpie

I have been knitting...I swear!





also working on finishing a pair of kilt hose for Dad, a double knit jacket (which will take FOREVER) and a couple of Christmas presents :)

ps...

That picture of Kathy just seems to be sideways no matter what I do....sorry!

Hiatus

First from knitting....then from Life in General. And it was great! I spent a week at the John C. Campbell Folk School taking a class in Double Knitting. Here are some of the people, some of the pics, and some of the projects!

The class:



Our final table!



Jaqui (the teacher) and Anita (the troublemaker...who we loved!)



Happily knitting away...we couldn't talk. It was too easy to make mistakes!



Jean working quietly



Veronica



Kathy showing her project!



There are plenty more pictures, but it may take me a while to put them all together...

Progress is slow...

So here are some past projects :)

Christmas Sweater for Kathleen:


Prayer shawl for a friend:


Baby layette:


Laura's Purse:



...and Morgan's Hat!

Just a few quick pics...

of the Shetland Shawl. I really am knitting on it, I swear! This is repetition 12 out of 17 (I think) and then I'll add the border. I love everything about this....so much that I'm really, really tempted to find some cobweb weight yarn and someday knit this again :)

also on the needles....a Christmas scarf, the shetland shawl is creeping along, and the striped baby raglan that I keep putting off finishing..

slacking....

I've been slacking on the posts lately...but here is a finished sweater! It's for my friend Amanda, who just had her baby girl. It's deliciously girly (I think so, anyway) with as many purple ruffles as you can stand! Here are a couple of photos before I send it off.

Time is Precious!

...and there hasn't been much of it for knitting this week. We were out of town over the weekend (judging a harp competition) and things were a little crazy. Usually the drives to and from these things are great for knitting, but this time I couldn't seem to do anything but sleep. However....the girly version of the baby raglan is well underway and I should be able to finish it soon. That's good. I miss my lace!



and another shot....

A new type of knitting!

I don't think I ever knew knitting could be this frustrating. I don't think I knew knitting could be this rewarding. I'm pretty much a practical knitter. I knit things that are useful and I use yarn that (if it's taken care of) should last generations. A lot of the new novelty yarns make me cringe! If I'm going to spend weeks out of my life making something for someone then I want their great-grandkids to still be wearing it. I know that most of the people I knit for probably don't think or feel this way about it, but I can maintain my illusions and keep my pretty scrapbook filled with pictures of yarn and sweaters and the people they were knit for. My point is, that for the most part, I've knit bulky warm scarves and warm sweaters and practical baby clothes and blankets. I don't think I've ever before chosen to knit something just because it was beautiful. It'll be warm, sure....but I don't really care about that. It's exquisite. It floats...and it's lace. I'm almost a third of the way through the main body of this shawl and I'm totally in love. I curse at it, reknit row after row (because for some reason, I can NEVER get the right number of yarn overs in there) but it's going to be worth it. Absolutely. Here's what it looks like so far...



When it's done, it will be about 20 inches wide (lace stretches a lot, plus there's a border to put on it). I'm knitting both halves of it at the same time (which is probably one reason why it's so frustrating), but they will be joined end to end when I'm done.




It's going to creep along for at least another week or two, and besides another baby sweater or two, I'm really not going to work on anything else, so I'll be posting up some projects from the past year that are now happily living with their new families.

Finished Lace!

Here's the first counterpane...I think I could do better about controlling the tension on the yarnovers, but in general, I'm pretty happy with it! It ended up being exactly 12 inches square and I ought to get 3-4 of them out of one skein of this yarn (alpaca-silk from knitpicks.com) Turns out I was having both problems the other night...there was a mistake in the pattern, but I had made one too. :)



I don't know if you can see the flower in the center with it all stretched out to block, but it came out well.

Cotton Sweater

OK, the third time's the charm, right? I've tried to post this a couple of times and given up. Here is the cotton sweater I was working on. I'm not completely thrilled with it...it's just ok. I rebuilt the neck twice and it's still too big. I can't decide if I'm going to go for a drawstring or put it in the Christmas drawer for someone it suits (and fits) better. Here it is!

too tired...

I know better than to work on lace when I'm tired...I needed a break from the Tunisian lace (which is still coming along) so I decided to try this quilt square. It's a beautiful counterpane and I'm doing it in lace weight alpaca and silk. I like the way it's turning out, but there's a problem somewhere about half way through and I can't decide tonight if it's the pattern or if I made a mistake. I'll look at it in the morning...

Also OTN: a baby raglan for my cousin in the same colors as before, but stripey this time, the Tunisian lace scarf, and cotton pram coat. Oh, and I finished the cotton sweater for myself! I want to wash it and then I'll photograph and post pics tomorrow.

creeping along....

on the lace. It'll get there. It would help if I'd learn to count! I finally last night had a brain storm and took a set of highlighters to the chart. What a difference! You'd think since I spend all day long trying to find easier ways for other people to learn things that I'd apply it occasionally in my own life. Apparently not often enough!

Lace

I've knitted lace before, but always in worsted weight (or close to). I ordered this beautiful lace weight alpaca from Knitpicks in a dark blue and decided to give some real lace knitting a try. I'm making a lightweight scarf for myself. Here's the pattern I chose. It's called Tunisian Lace and it's going pretty well. Here are the pics so far...



and here's a close up of the lace pattern. So far, so good!

The whole set!

Here's the whole set and finished and put together. I think it worked pretty well! I've got enough yarn for one more set, but it will be striped. There's not enough of any one yarn to make it solid colored.




I'm swatching out a pattern for a lace scarf right now. Here's a picture of the first run-through. This is just some scrap cotton, the final thing will be in lace weight alpaca. This is a vintage lace edging pattern, so I need to rewrite it so that it looks less like an edging...it's hard to tell what it is right now, but I'll keep posting as I figure it out.