Knit in public day was today

and I missed it! Darn!

Blog buddies

Ok, I really need to update the link list here on the right. I need to add the blogs of all the fabulous knitters in Garnaflækja, a virtual Icelandic knitting/craft group I belong to. I also need to go out and dig up some more yummy knitting blogs to read in my spare time (or during work time, as it were ;))

My first Zimmermann

Maltese_4_30%
Originally uploaded by herdis2002

Do any of you recognize that hat on my head? It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Maltese Fisherman Hat, from the book Knitting Almanac. I love the shape of the hat, it reminds me of medieval times and chain mail armour and fair ladies and whatnot. Although I doubt that's what the Maltese had in mind when the original was designed. Anyhow, this was my first ever EZ project and I love it! This was knit a few months ago, while we still had winter in Ithaca and holding a little bit of wool on your lap didn't cause near-fatal complications due to overheating as it would now.

The yarn is a heavy worsted weight something I bought a long time ago at the Ithaca Farmer's Market. It's really "raw" in a good sense; you can sort of feel the sheep's presence as you're handling the yarn. I like that :) I bought one skein (made immortal in a previous post about center-pull hand-wound skein) and I have just about half of it left! I still don't know what to do with it, maybe another hat??


Maltese_3
Originally uploaded by herdis2002
One of my favorite things about this hat is the neck shaping. It's so nice to have the back of the hat hug your neck like this one does, especially since I HATE getting cold gusts down my back in the winter. There's just something about this hat that I absolutely love. And it's dirt quick to make, too. This one took me about 2 nights and that included deciphering the instructions as well and the knitting and finishing.

Maltese_1
Originally uploaded by herdis2002

Now I'm totally enamoured of EZ's designs and general attitude about knitting and life in general. I already knit a copy of her Baby Surprise Jacket but I'm not blogging about it until the recipient has received it! I'm also planning on knitting two of her Tomten jackets this summer, for my niece and nephew. For last Christmas I knit each of them a scarf and I still have lots of leftover yarn from that operation which I plan to incorporate into their Tomtens, so that they may all match up and look fabulous!

Speaking of fabulous, isn't that knitted fabric in the hat just amazing? *sigh*


One thing I'm NOT impressed with is the "blog this picture" feature in Flickr. Or how blogger handles it. I can't get these pics from Flickr to look good within the text *darn* Any tips or suggestions??

Coffee time

This is not strictly knitting related, but I'm hoping some of you may be able to help me out:

I have some natural yarn that I want to dye and I want to dye it with old coffee grounds. For the past few weeks I've religiously put the used grounds from my espresso machine into a glass jar, where they usually manage to dry pretty well out before the next batch is added (usually the next day). A few days ago I noticed some mold in the lower reaches of the grounds pile and when I poured it out of the jar I saw that there was quite a lot of mold growing in there.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to dye with moldy grounds, so my question is: What's the best way to store the grounds between brewing and dyeing?? Should they be spread out and allowed to thoroughly dry or should I brew a giant pot of coffee all in one go and use the grounds for dyeing immediately after they've been used for brewing? Or should I do something entirely different??

My knitting, month by month

I participate in a blog called Stashalong, where yarn maniacs like myself band together to get our fiber addiction under control and use up some the the yarn we've accumulated. The following is my progress post for April (my first month on the Stashalong). Since I've been one lazy knit-blogger during April, I thought the post belongs as well here as it does on the original blog. Pictures will hopefully soon follow:

Progress on April goals:

- Start and finish EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket. Done.

- 5 pattern repeats in the Justina Skirt Done

- One basket weave chart repeat in the Hanami stole. Done

- Finish the Orphan Pullover (only things left: Kitchner stitching of the sides (a first time for me) and picking up hem and neckband). Not done

- Finish the Jilly cardigan (only need to do the seaming and knit a neckband. Not done

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the result, especially since I also knitted the body of the Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style (from stash, of course) and started a Norwegian Baby Sweater (from stash, of course) for a class in steeks at my LYS. I do need to get my act together on seams, though.

New goals for May:

- Finish the Orphan Pullover and Jilly cardigan, as well as the Retro Redux Shrug
- Work on Justina skirt (up to woven band)
- Stay on schedule with Norwegian Baby Sweater for class

During April I used 4 skeins of Noro, 3 skeins of Knitpicks Swish and ~8 of Knitpicks Andean Silk = 15 skeins. I bought one skein of yarn for the NBS class, but I later found yarn in my stash to use instead so I'll return the skein next week. The net stash decrease during April: 15 skeins, or ~ 1.4 km/1500 yards.

The swirl

Finally, finally! This things had been languishing in the UFO pile for months, if not years, because I lacked the courage to sew it together. What whimpiness! See how cute it turned out:



The seaming ended up taking something like 10 minutes, but I then spent the rest of the evening (and half a skein) making the dense pom-pom. I'm pleased with the outcome and might even make one for myself. This one is sized for a toddler and will go to a little guy living in Eugene, OR, for whom I've never knit anything.

I went totally nuts photographing this thing. For more pics, check out my flickr site. For the Stashalong project (which I haven't really started contributing to... yet): This project used up 101 grams of my stash.

Update on old/new yarn

The red sweater in the last post is now transformed to 6 skeins of yummy wolly goodness.

Which brings me to a digression: What's the difference between a "hank" and a "skein"?? A quick Google image search will show you that people use these words completely interchangeably, i.e. some will call a hank a skein and others will call a skein a hank. Or... gee, I'm confused!

So, let me use "loop", ok? It's a pretty non-negotiable word in this context, right? And therefore, I now have 6 loops of yummy red wool, waiting to be would into center-pull balls using my newly-acquired technique. Urchins... aaahhh, I'm looking forward to knitting you all!

You deserve a picture:



Aren't the wrinkles awesome?? I love how yarn is all crumpled up after ripping out a knit item! The picture was taken minutes before the yarn was soaked in Eucalan (no-rinse wool soap) for an hour (the white yarn strands hold the loop together during the soaking). I then dried the loops on coat hangers:



and used my (by now impressive) collection of high heels (the Austria gang should recognize some!) as weights to smooth out the wrinkles:



Easy as pie, really. And I'm glad the heels are getting some use :)

P.S. The color isn't as blue as the first two pics would have you believe, whereas the last picture captures the color pretty well. It's a deep burgundy-ish red with almost no blue at all. Won-der-ful.

New yarn, still old

I am slightly weird. After making a pledge to myself that I'd finally start using my stash and ONLY my stash, I lost it at the Salvation Army and got meself 3 knitted woolen sweaters to recycle. Finding recyclable woolen sweaters at places like the SA turned out to be harder than I imagined: It seems that most of the woolen sweaters for sale there were given away because they got (accidentally, I presume) felted. As all yall know, it isn't exactly easy to rip out a felted woolen garment. Thus, the choice last Saturday was rather limited. But, never one to give up, I plowed my way through what felt like kilometer of rack space to find these three... ehemmm... beauties:

The first one is really some sort of a mohair/nylon mix, intended for a yummy and hairy creation, such as the Ice Queen:



The next one is a well knit but (in my opinion, at least) fairly hideous cardi in fairly hideous colors that might however work well in different combinations:



The third one has already been taken apart and partially ripped out. It's made from 100% bulky (thick and thin) wool in a deep ruby red color and I absolutely love the yarn. I think it might be prime Urchin material:



All this yarn I got for the astounding sum of (3.99+2.99+3.99*0.5)*1.08 =... somewhere around 10 bucks. Not bad for almost 3 sweaters' worth of yumminess, huh?

Center-pull

Recently I taught myself (with expert assistance from "Þríhyrnur og langsjöl", a.k.a. "Three-cornered and long shawls") to wind a hank of yarn into a center-pull skein by hand:



(See these wonderful heathery flakes of blue and pink? This is one yummy yarn, which I got fresh at the Ithaca Farmer's/Farmers' Market (I never know) last fall).

Even the bottom came out pretty flat:



I´m pretty excited about this technique, since I a) hate having balls jumping all around the room when I'm knitting and b) don't have a "real" ballwinder (hint hint). Hopefully I can get the time it takes me to wind up one of these down to, say, less than one full evening, and then I might even use this technique exclusively!

The Bubble, in action

The Bubble looks (IMNSHO) great ! when washed and worn:



I really love this sweater and I wear it all the time. The fit is just perfect and I like how it's really feminine without being cheesy or sentimental. The yarn is holding up to wear really well. It's really interesting that the ribbing on the sleeves (knitted with Clover bamboo needles) does not look nearly as good as the ribbing on the hem and cowl, both knitted using Lantern Moon ebony needles. That tells me that Wendy, the owner of Yarns2Ewe in Houston where I bought the LM's, really was right when she told me that knitting with LM needles was going to have a huge impact!

Fieldwork knitting

Well, not much has been heard from me here lately. I've been knitting, just not so much as usually, because I spent a month out in the field collecting water samples. Driving in (well, being a passenger in) jeeps and vans on gravel roads in crazy traffic one doesn't get a lot of lace knitting done, I should have thought of that before I chose the Hanami stole as my field knitting :)

In any case, here's where I'm at at this point:

FOs of the old year

Late December saw the finishing of the two sweaters I started while in Houston, i.e. Beth (which I call Beta, according to Icelandic naming conventions):



and the Bubble Pullover:



I'm very happy with how both of these turned out. The very deep V-neck (or neck opening, I should just say) on Beth was a concern, though, it makes the sweater look like it's too big and creates these pretty ugly bulges where the sleeves meet the body. I fixed it using a... erm... næla... a brooch (I guess) to hold the nech opening together.

This brooch started life as a decoration on a pin used by some Bolivian chola (indigenous lady living in the city) to keep her shawls from slipping off her shoulders. I bought it during one of my trips to Bolivia and had it converted to a brooch when I came back to Ithaca. I love it and am happy to have found such good use for it.

Also, I made my boyfriend Shan a Koolhaas hat:



(modeled on your's truly, who is at home sick with her nose stuffed and bones aching. ARG!!)

Yarn overload

I finally got around to entering my stash (well, most of it) on Ravelry. Guess how many kilometers of yarn I have... seventeen!!! Yes, if it all were strung out, it'd take me about 5-6 hours to walk from one end to the next. That's just absurd!

Next knit?

I have a luxury problem coming up:

December has been a pretty productive month in terms of knitting - I started and finished my Beta, I'm almost done with the Bubble pullover, I knit a Koolhaas hat for my Shell adviser Andy and I'm halfway through another of those for Shan. Last but not least I finally finished the second Droplet hat (my long-term bus knitting project), which I gave away to my friend Paula. Now all I have left of my WIP's is to finish Shan's Koolhaas and finish the Bubble... that is, attach the sleeves and buttons. This should take about a day or two, or a return car ride to NYC to celebrate New Year's.

The impending problem is, of course: What do I do next???

Being the over-analytical person that I am I start to think, why do I like knitting so much in the first place?? Why can't I just stare into the middle dimension like normal people while sitting in the car or sipping a latte at the coffeeshop? Why isn't it enough for me to rest my hands idly while reading a book (yes, I knit while I read. A lot) or watching a movie?

Well, I like the practical aspect of things here: Knitting helps me converting otherwise useless time into useful time. I also enjoy the creative aspect: In this useless turned useful time, I can create something. Granted, as long as I'm using patterns I'm not the "real" creator, but you catch my drift. Also, I'm learning something and, very importantly, connecting to an ancient skill that wasn't so much a skill as a vital necessity for my foremothers (and for the odd egalitarian forefather, I hope).

Where do these musings leave me in terms of my next knitted project?

I think I'll focus on the foremothers and learning for my next cast-on. For Christmas I got a wonderful book full of patterns for traditional Icelandic shawls, mostly made from Icelandic lace-weight wool. Anticipating the gift, I bought several skeins of this wool last time I was home. Judging from the yardage given for the projects it seems that this wool multiplies while in the skein - it's amazing how you can make these things from virtually no yarn! So, I plan to knit an Icelandic shawl (gosh, I wish my grandmas could see this!) and in the process, do my first-ever lace project. Ihaw!

Bubble - progress

Although I can't possibly contain myself to just one project at a time (I've three in progress at the moment), I am making some headway into the Bubble Pullover:



The perspective may be a bit odd but trust me, if you rotate the picture by 180° your head will positively spin! The cowl neck has grown to measure 8.5" now, and since I may be short on yarn for this project, I´m putting the cowl on hold for now.

The sleeves are already 10" long, only 8" more to go before the armhole shaping:



Once the sleeves are done, I plan to make the bottom ribbing and then use whatever leftover yarn I have to lengthen the cowl neck to the full 10" specified in the pattern.

Beth

For the longest time I've had a few skeins of Rowan Ribbon Twist in my stash, not really knowing what to do with it. It's a glorious, expensive and now sadly discontinued yarn, and I didn't have the guts to blow the bucks on enough for a sweater. However, the patterns in the Rowan RT Collection, all by Kim Hargreaves, are just too beautiful to pass up, so I finally bought some more of the yarn online and set out to knit "Beth":



The extra skeins I ordered online are, predictably, from a different dye lot, and the difference in color is very large; the older yarn (of which I have three skeins) being much yellower than the new. I'm tricking my way around this by starting each "bottom" part of the sweater using the old/yellow yarn and letting it then be gradually replaced by the whiter one. It seems to work just fine on the body of the sweater so I'm hoping it'll come out ok on the sleeves as well. My progress to date:



If you look carefully you can see the color differences between the two dye lots in the lowermost part of the body, above the garter edge.

If I recall right I started this about a week and a half ago - this yarn knits up FAST! I remember a one-hour car ride when I actually got about 30 cm of body done!! I've modified the pattern to be knit in the round/one piece as much as possible, I think that speeds things up considerably.

More scarves

Just after I arrived in Houston my blog-pal Mike, who is an amazing photographer, sent me one of his beautiful photos, hand-picked (by moi!) and framed and all, to brighten my day at the office. I felt like returning his generosity, so I knit a scarf for him to make the Ohio winter a bit more bearable:


This was my first time knitting the "mistake ribbing" as the ladies in my Friday night knitting gang call it (basic ribbing that's consistently offset by one on one side). It's an amazing effect for little effort :) When I make one of those again I'll make sure to cast on an even # of stitches (for a 1x1 rib) and not odd as I did this time.

Yarn used: 2 skeins Paton Classic Wool in brown and 3 skeins Paton SWS (Soy Wool Stripes) in ... forgot. The yarn is held double the entire time, with one strand from the Classic Wool and another from the SWS. I think I knit this on 6.5 mm needles.

And now there's nothing left for me to do but hope that Mike enjoys it!

Scarf time

The scarves for my niece and nephew are ready. My niece gets the green/Hawaii-pink one:

and her brother gets the brown/Kunterbunt one:

Lilja's scarf is made from ~ 1 skein each of Nashua Creative Focus Chunky in colorway Grass and Naturwolle from Black Forest Yarns in colorway Hawaii. Tomas' scarf is made from 1 skein each of Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Chunky in colorway Sable and Naturwolle from Black Forest Yarns in colorway Kunterbunt.

Both of these are worked on 6 mm needles, 160 stitches for ~30 rows. This yields a scarf that's ~50 inches long and 4 in wide. The random number generator dictated color choice every other row.

I absolutely l-l-ll-l-love how the scarves came out. I love it so much, in fact, that I picked up another skein of Hawaii on my last trip to the LYS and plan to turn it (together with the leftover skein of the NCF) into a scarf for myself :)

Bubble Pullover half done

Here's what the Bubble Pullover from Knitting Nature looked like this past Thursday:



and here's what it looks like right now:



and:



Am quite pleased with how it's turning out. Yesterday I got these exquisite ebony needles in 4.0 mm to knit the sleeves and cowl neck and the bottom rib and I think I'll cast on for the sleeves tomorrow.

These pics are taken, as usually, with my cell phone camera. Sorry for the poor quality (which I still think is pretty good for a cell phone!). The colors in the last two photos is crappy b/c the pics are taken inside - but the color in the first picture is very true, at least on my monitor.

Baby Cardigan done!

baby-cardigan8
Originally uploaded by herdis2002

Finally finally!

This has been on my needles for half a year now, and I finally cast off the last stitch last night. Tonight was spent seaming and fastening buttons. Let me share the joy with you.

First, what the jacket looked like this evening when I got back from work. No buttons, no sleeve seams.

Then I set about seaming up the sleeves and fastening the buttons, all the while watching a show on PBS on a beauty pageant on the Navajo reservation. Apparently Miss Navajo has to not only look good in tiara (they didn't say anything about a bikini...), she also has to be able to converse in Navajo, make traditional Navajo bread and, most important of all, she has to be good at slaughtering sheep. I wonder if they plan to introduce any of those in the Miss Iceland pageant. Could be interesting. "So, how are your Icelandic conversation skills, young lady? And while you're telling us, geturðu nokkuð reddað mér smá heimaslátruðu??"

baby-cardigan13
Originally uploaded by herdis2002

But, I digress. After all the sewing and fastening I was left with this stunner (pardon me for being pleased with myself, it is such a rare feeling for a grad student...):

This is by far the most involved knitting project that I've ever done. Not that I realized that when I started, it actually seemed pretty simple at the time. Now however I know where all those four difficulty bars on the pattern come from: Front placets and collar. OMG. It took me four tries for EACH of the front placets before I got anything resembling the correct combination of # of stitches and gauge, and the buttonholes (EZ's one-row buttonholes from Knitter's Almanac) were a real puzzle and took me forever to figure out. The collar suffered from problems of in- and decreasing - not that hard unless you get all the arithmetic screwed up in your head and at the same time forget how to count. Which I did.

baby-cardigan9
Originally uploaded by herdis2002

But, in the end it all came together just beautifully. I'm very happy with the finished product (although I kinda wish I hadn't chosen the red apples... green ones would have been better...) and I can't wait to see the little man wearing it. Yes, the recipient's born and he's almost a week old by now :)

For the detail-oriented among you: This is pattern nr. 1, called Hermine if I recall right, from Dale pattern book nr. 124. I used the yarn the pattern calls for, which is Dalegarn Babyull. It's a superwash wool which I knit using 2.0 and 2.5 mm needles.