will you be my sweet [potato]?

I had a small panic attack in Joann on Sunday afternoon (not uncommon for me in a big-box store like that but anyway) when I saw all of the Valentine's related craft ... stuff.

For my hometown compatriots who are not so familiar with this phenomenon, here in the US preschool and primary school children are, ah, expected to bring a valentine to give to each child in their class. Many purchase commercial cards, covered with licensed characters and many attach crappy compound chocolate to them which I then spend the next few days trying to discreetly dispose of. Valentine's day - love it.

Anyway, for miss bear and I that meant producing 21 cards. One potato + card stock already in the craft cupboard, originally purchased at the thrift store + some kids' paint = hand-made cards. Love it.

road blocks

Just as was the problem with my Faux Prussian Stole at one point, I think that what has been holding me back from my Baudelaire socks is uncertainty about where I am up to and a kinked-up circular needle that made for uncomfortable knitting. Knitting is my treat, my indulgence, my reward - I should not be uncomfortable. Admittedly, both of these dilemmas are a direct result of years of being bundled up in a project bag - it is my own fault).

I applied myself the other day and in good bright daylight took a good hard look at them. One extra row at the heel and a humble set-up row and I am ready for the leg of the second sock. I also took out that nasty needle and put the sock on some bamboo double-pointed needles.

Haven't knit another stitch yet, but I do feel better about them.

black coffee

... love's a hand-me-down brew ...

I really wax and wane between cast-on abstinence and cast-on indulgence. At the moment I'm indulging - things that I've had in mind, things that I want to try, things that I want to use up.

Despite not being a coffee drinker, that's what I am indulging in right now, Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Note in colourway Black Coffee No. 9. I bought it last year at Rhinebeck, yes, Rhinebeck. Did I forget to mention that last October I went to Rhinebeck, the Rhinebeck, in Dutchess County, New York? I stayed in Manhattan for the weekend with a wonderful friend who had recently moved there and went to Rhinebeck.

I was on a quest for the perfect warm brown/purple grey blend and this one is lovely. I've cast on there above for Veera Välimäki's 'Line Break'. It's an asymmetrical triangular shawl, knit in garter stitch with eyelet rows. I like the appearance and feel of garter stitch but am not that fond of knitting it, so I also tried a stocking stitch version from the other end of the ball.

Not entirely sure how to proceed. Probably with finishing Winnowing and Andrea's Shawl, ha ha.

on geometry

I finished the striped portion of my Andrea's Shawl last night. I must admit that I kind of chickened out on my chosen decreases, that is, sssk and k3tog on edges and a decrease either side of the central stitch on every third row. I only did this for 21 rows stripes, then switched to regular shawl edge decreases (ssk and k2tog) but stuck with the central decreases every third row.

And I ended up with this:

Hmm, not at all a triangular shawl. I was hoping while I was knitting that any extra volume created by changing the decreases could be taken up with blocking. Really, really hoping.

And look what happened:

Hard to believe! This is just an initial blocking to see what I could achieve with that top edge. My next dilemma is the picot edging - brown or red?

2012 manifesto

Now really, before the year gets too old.

- read at least one book each month
- craft mostly from stash (I aspire to 'only from stash' but then, I'm also realistic)
- finish things

My eyes have been way bigger than my stomach for craft supplies here in the US and really, all that stuff sitting around, just becomes a psychological burden. Thankfully, most of it was purchased at the thrift store, which is where a lot of it will find is way back. I really want now to have a project in mind, and then buy supplies if necessary, rather than endlessly purchasing potential and the feeling as though I'm drowning in it.

On a similar note, there are so many unfinished projects floating around here also weighing on my conscience. Speaking of which ...

... perhaps 2012 will be the year that I finally get (a pair of) hand-knit socks?

kool

What is the difference between these two balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze?

Two packets of grape flavour KoolAid. I got two balls of that painfully insipid pink in a stash swap because, well, it's Kidsilk Haze which is one of the very first cult yarns with which I became acquainted so I can't pass the stuff up. And 48 cents (plus tax) of KoolAid really helped it along. I like the way that the silk didn't take the dye as much as the mohair.

Only problem is, cult yarn or not, I don't really like the stuff. I'm going to give it back to the original owner in its new form and see if she wants to knit with it.

back to the present

My knitting is all over the place at the moment. After desperately trying to finish things and reduce the number of works in progress, I indulgence cast on for a pile of things. This is one of them, Andrea's Shawl by Kristin Kapur of Through the Loops.

I really liked this shawl as soon as I saw it quite some time ago, the way the edging sits, the stripes, the embossed leaves but I was put off by its triangular shape. Every now and then I look at the project galleries in Ravelry for designs that I like or have queued up to knit and I saw a lovely example of this shawl knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, of which I just happened to have six balls in stash just waiting for a project. Aha, inspiration moment!

Many have remarked that this shawl comes out very small so I am making the largest size, in a dk- instead of sport-weight yarn and on 4.5mm needles to boot. As shown above, I've started on the striping and am really happy with how it is looking.

I am going to endeavour to modify the triangular-ness of it somewhat, though, and to this end did some test knits as to how decreases affect shawl shape. I did them in some spare candy floss pink yarn and show them here not for your viewing pleasure but to share my new found knowledge with the world at large. (These are all shown with the cast on edge at the bottom of the picture.)

These are typical triangular shawl decreases - a centred double decrease and paired edge decreases (ssk and k2tog) worked every other row. Interestingly, it doesn't actually give a very flat edge across the top, that comes with blocking.

If you only work the centred double decrease every other row you get this shape above.

And this if you worked only the paired edge decreases.

This shape is produced by knitting the centred double decrease on every row and the paired edge decreases every other row. As you can see, it produces an even pointier triangle (and I could not work out how to do a cdd on the purl side).

And when you work the centred double decrease every other row and the paired edge decreases on every row, which is something more of the shape that I would like to achieve, a shallower triangle.

2011 reflections

So, I was a bit disappointed the other day when I tallied up what I had produced in 2011 - it wasn't as much as in 2010. But then it's not a competition and I certainly worked on a whole lot more than I actually got finished.

And there were some real highlights:













Creating beautiful things from recycled materials which absolutely express my design and craft aesthetic.

Completing something which, at a few points, I truly feared that I would not be able to.

And doing some knitting that I never thought I would tolerate (namely stranded colourwork), as well as working with my own sense of colour, trusting that and being really pleased with the results. That was a big leap of faith in myself and such a reward.

And finally doing some screen printing again.

So, a very good year.

january reading

The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin and The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch. Great and good read respectively. I'm just sorry that so many people have to be (fictionally) murdered for my reading enjoyment.

2011 revisited

Here's what I made:



These were my aims for 2011:

Twenty-eight completed projects, of which 18 were knit, four crochet, and three sewing; and I managed some jewellery and printmaking this year.

I made seven hats, nine shawls/cowls/scarves, two adult garments (that's twice as many as last year!) and six baby/child garments. Thirteen things were for me (although I subsequently gave a few away), four things for my children, two for my husband, seven items were given away and three were for good causes. Stash/recycle content was included in ten items (I do wish it had been more).

Here is what I had intended for 2011:

- read at least one book each month
- complete knit projects that are more than one year old: diamond mittens, faux prussian stole, baudelaire socks
- complete sewing projects that are more than one year old: doily quilt
- a garment for Tim
- craft from stash and use recycled materials

How did I go? I didn't actually manage to read at least a book per month although I did manage to read 18 books altogether. I dealt with those terribly old knitting projects by: frogging, finishing and ignoring respectively. The quilt got pinned together ready for quilting and Tim got his first garment. Not nearly as much was made from stash or recycled materials as I would have liked but there's always 2012 ...

november and december reading

You know, like those magazines that publish a December/January issue ...

Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids by Julie Salamon - ok, so I didn't actually read a book in November, this one dragged on into December. And yeah, it dragged. It was an impulse grab off the shelf and once I'd started of course I had to finish and ... whatever. I need to avoid books written by journalists.

And then within a matter of days I polished off The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb. I have really been enjoying these Ballad novels, this one was good but I think that She Walks These Hills has been my favourite so far.

backlog

Oh dear, time has really gotten away from me. What started as just a few days break has stretched out to a month. And it's not for lack of something to say or show, rather the opposite and a very busy brain.

Just to start, I must address:

- November and December reading
- a 2011 overview (what. you say everyone did that three weeks ago?)
- a 2012 manifesto
- knitting updates, there is always knitting here

happy new year!

We, of course, were in bed and asleep way before any fireworks. These ones are from a 1961 publication, The Dragon Who Liked to Spit Fire by Judy Varga. Awesome illustrations, entirely in black and white, purple and orange.

going loopy

Looped picot bind off on my Cladonia shawl - it's pretty tedious. There's the casting on and the casting off and more casting on and more casting off. More casting on, even more casting off and you are four stitches along. Over the course of 310 stitches you can see how this could get a tad brain numbing.

My problem with it really is that once I've done a dozen or so of these picot-adorned loops, I decide that I'm not actually happy with the previous rows and rip it all out. My first problem was with knitting the eyelet bands and lace border in two different colours. It didn't work and I didn't like the grey-brown (Truffle Hunt) next to the lavender (Blanket Fort).

I didn't even make it to the looped picot bind off that time. I frogged all the way back to the stripes and knit the eyelet bands and lace all in the lavender. Then, to hold the whole thing together I knit an extra garter stitch band in dark blue before starting the edging in lavender.

And knit about a dozen of the bind off loops before deciding, no, not right, and ripped it. No photo. Then I repeated this, knitting instead two extra stocking stitch rows in the dark blue so that they would recede between the garter stitch rows. Made it through about half a dozen picoted loops and, no, not right, it's the dark blue, too obtrusive. Ripped that back.


















So yes, now I'm considering knitting that extra two rows of stocking stitch in the grey-brown (even though I'm not fond of it next to the lavender it may be the subtlety that's required) and then proceeding with the looped picot bind off. If you happen to have persevered in reading this far, any opinions?

brooklyn tam

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Autumn Tam by Sandy Blue from Simply Shetland.
Size: One size.
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Loft in colourways Truffle Hunt, Stormcloud, Nest, Pumpernickel, Meteorite, Barn Owl, Blanket Fort and Old World. There is really good meterage in this yarn - from 50 gram skins after using just a little bit, I still had 51 grams left ...
Needles: 2.75mm and 3mm.
Start to finish: 7 to 16 December 2011.
Stash/recycle content: Ah no, none whatsoever.


















Comments: So much to say. First of all, the most wonderful thing that happened to me today with this hat. I went to Churchmouse Yarns and Tea on Bainbridge Island where I bought the yarn and the pattern a few weeks ago. I was delighted to be able to show my finished version to the employee there who had helped me and she proceeded to show it off to the other staff. It was very well received. Then, just as I was getting ready to leave another woman told me how much she liked my colour choice and that woman turned out to be Sandy Blue, the hat's designer! Extremely gratifying and lovely to meet the creator of such a wonderful design.

I was never really attracted to Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter, perhaps because it is worsted weight. But when this fingering weight version came out, with extra colourways, I was intrigued and made my way to Churchmouse to buy some, some eight skeins. I had been thinking about doing some stranded colourwork in browns and this yarn was just the thing. I hadn't actually decided on a pattern until I got there and saw the lovely Autumn Tam exemplar and pattern.

The Autumn Tam actually asks for ten different shades and I only used eight so there was a bit of substitution (detailed on Ravelry) and shuffling and ripping back when I just got it wrong. When I looked at the other projects for this design on ravelry I saw that someone had taken a year to knit it which I thought to be perfectly reasonable - it's complex. Well, once I got going on this, I could not put it down. Stranded colourwork would seem to be my metier at the moment; the thrill of seeing how every next row comes out, how the colours will work, how they will develop. And a tam is the perfect size to do this. Thrilling knitting!

Verdict: Wonderful and so warm. Also a surprisingly quick knit which really gives me occasion to think about my languishing projects. I clearly am able to power knit my way through something when I want to!

naruhodo

I knit my hado from Noro, a Noro hado, naruhodo (Japanese for 'of course').

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Hado Slouch by Olga Buraya-Kefelian.
Size: I knit the 23" ribbing. There are two smaller ribbing sizes but note that the crown is the same size for all three versions. I've been wearing it for a bit now and could probably have done a smaller measurement for the ribbing.
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock in in S233; 0.55 skeins. Is it possible to be in love with a skein of yarn? I am in love with this yarn, specifically in this colourway. Just love it. Want to swathe myself in it. I used it in my Daybreak shawl as well and had/have some other plans for it as well. As with so many Noro colourways, there is a shade or two in there that I either don't like or feel doesn't fit well; but as soon as it's knit up, the colour genius is unmistakeable.
Needles: 2.75mm and 3.25mm needles.
Stash/recycle content: Yes, I had this in stash. I have a few balls of this in stash ...
Start to finish: 28 November to 3 December 2011.

Comments: This hat is designed to be knit in stripes of four different colours, breaking the yarn every three rows and weaving in the ends to make the hat reversible. Stripes in four different colours? Ha ha, that’s what Noro is for. I don't know that the effect was as, well, effective but I do like the finished product. I didn't account for the shorter rows when I did the crown decreases so the dark section there is very wide. Design feature. Oh, and I actually blocked my hat out on a dinner plate for some extra slouch.

Verdict: Fun to knit and to great effect. If I were to do this again, I'm not sure that I would bother with the reverse stocking stitch welts and would just do the whole thing in stocking stitch.

i wrapped a hula hoop

Miss bear made the gingerbread house.

two (part two)

Sunday was 'goggie'.

finally five

Miss bear's fifth birthday coincided with the end of preschool and the beginning of elementary school (that is, it was three months ago). We had a mini-party at preschool, we had cupcakes at school, we had cupcakes at home. But we never had a family-shared birthday cake that I had made.

And then baby b turned two and I couldn't make a cake for him when I hadn't made one for her and I had to make one for him because that time of the year is fast approaching and I didn't want his birthday celebration to blend into those festivities and ... last weekend we ate cake:

Saturday was flamingo.

black walnut clemence

I actually finished this one before reclemence.


The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Clémence by Katya Frankel, available for free through Ravelry.
Size: cast on 90 stitches.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica in an unknown colourway; 0.8 skeins.
Needles: 4.5mm.
Stash/recycle content: 100 per cent; I purchased this yarn at Value Village in Redmond. It had no ball band.
Start to finish: 24th to 26th of November 2011.
Comments: This was one of those burning-a-hole in my cupboard skeins of yarn, just needing to be used. So I did. I'm not sure if that forced approach to pairing a yarn with its destiny is ever really a good idea. My problem is mostly with the yarn - there are some beautiful shades in it but it's all so patchy that the beauty is lost. Ever heard that about variegated yarns before? Ever heard that here before? Yup.
Verdict: Stay away from variegated yarn, even if it is a super cheap steal of a thrifting find.

that time of the year

When priorities go awry, weekends are overbooked, schedules are chock full, appointments are unavailable, tempers are fraying, drivers are impatient, et cetera et cetera. And all because it's 'that time of the year'.

Don't worry, knitting continues unabated.

reclemence

I recently ripped out the Clemence cowl that I knit in June last year. It was really sad to do this because I loved it but it was even sadder that I wasn't wearing it because it was too loose. So I reknit it with one less repeat width-wise and on a smaller needle.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Clémence by Katya Frankel, available for free through Ravelry.
Size: I cast on 63 stitches as I was using a heavier yarn than that which the pattern calls for.
Yarn: Noro Transitions in shade 21 purchased at Lake City Way Value Village.
Needles: 6.5mm.
Start to finish: 26 to 27 November 2011 and then wove the ends in the next day.
Stash/recycle content: Yes!
Comments: Great pattern, easily memorised, great for a self-striping yarn as the combination of increases and decreases every row really breaks up the chunks of colour.
Verdict: It is lovely again. Actually, hard to discern from the original but I hope that I'll wear this more often.

loft

It's a full week ago, but allow me to report on my trip to Bainbridge Island to buy some of the new Brooklyn Tweed yarn, Loft. It really is lucky to have one of the only ten or so brick-and-mortar stores that stock the stuff right here in the neighbourhood because it is so lovely to look at all the colours together and touch them and hold them against each other in different combinations.

I purchased (clockwise from top left): blanket fort, barn owl, pumpernickel, storm cloud, truffle hunt, nest, meteorite and old world. Just one skein of each, yes 'just' as I have many plans for them. I want to knit a striped version of Cladonia in truffle hunt (possibly my favourite shade) and old world, using blanket fort (which is actually a light purple) as a contrast in the lace.

I also want to knit a stranded colour-work tam in all the brown/grey shades, using blanket fort and old world as the highlights. I'm considering the Autumn Tam pattern which actually calls for ten shades (I only have eight) so that will take either some working out or two more skeins ...

And then I'm wondering if I were to hold the yarn four strands together whether I could use it to make a very earthy pair of Little Duffers for my baby b whose birthday is rapidly approaching. He's getting a big kid bed so that would fit nicely with the bedtime theme.

riding the wave

So now that I have some screen printing under my belt I'm gung-ho to do it all over the place. Miss bear was not prepared to wear this blue fine wool t-shirt when it was 'clear' (her term for plain), she wanted it fancy so we printed the waves/clouds patterns onto it in silver. It came out reasonably well. She is yet to wear it but hey, I made the effort. The t-shirt is a thrift store purchase.

handprinted: catching the wave

Well phew, I didn't drown! Actually, these look more like clouds don't they? I have been thinking of them as crashing waves, like really rough surf. perhaps because I had a pretty rough time getting these done.

I was so inspired when I became aware of this fabric swap - oh and an apology to my swap partners or Leslie the organiser if they happen to be reading this, the responsibility for taking this on was completely my own and I was delighted to participate but do have to be honest about the process - and jumped right in without really thinking what it would be like for me to have a deadline. Now I know - not good.

When it's up to me I work furiously on things for a few days, or even weeks if I'm lucky, then let them lie fallow until the creative spirit moves me again. This can take a long time. I also make my stuff at home, by myself, no requiring any technical assistance which is why it can also take a long time if there's a thread colour I need, or a type of ink. Needless to say, this style of making stuff is not really compatible with a deadline and a screenprinting project that was really beyond my at-home resources.

First of all, I had to burn the screen, that is use a light-sensitive photo emulsion to create the screen image ready for printing. No, first I had to buy the screen, a big one to make a fat quarter size print. And for that I went trekking across town, kids in tow, to an industrial screenprinting place that sold me a used one for $15, once I found them in an old building in Interbay, down a flight of stairs and through a door, and down a hallway. Actually, that bit was quite fun - I enjoy exploring.

Then I bought the photo emulsion and a pouring device and the light bulb for the exposing and then decided that I just couldn't face it and booked in some time at the Vera Project's silk screening studio. That didn't turn out so well - apologies now to the Vera Project in general because I think they have a great facility and programs going there - but the day that I went in the guy 'helping out' in the silkscreening studio was a total ... if I used the same language that was in the music that he had playing in the studio, I would have to rate this post 18+.

I mean, the screen got burned fine (although not large enough so I didn't manage to print fat quarters) but I found the whole experience incredibly demoralising. Perhaps it was just my own self-consciousness about being there (which was sky high), that I wanted to ask them to turn off the insulting music but didn't dare and then was frustrated with myself, didn't really know what I was doing and wasn't getting any help - whatever. Anyway, I felt really old.

But, I got four pieces of re/upcycled linen printed with the image of a block print that I made, taking the design from the end papers of an old book. They are not great - the printing is not great, they are not large enough - but they are done and I am happy with the visual effect and I stayed true to my values by using recycled fabric. I particularly like the slightly offset version where I used the black and silver. And I got awesome swap fabrics in return (more on those next time).

turn a square

Sometimes unique names for my projects come to me, and sometimes they don't.


The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Turn A Square by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed; available for free through Ravelry.
Size: Just the one size.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Walnut and Plymouth Boku in 5 Plum Forest.
Needles: 4 and 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 7 November to 8 November 2011.
Stash/recycle content: All from stash; the Cascade 220 was leftover from Jarrett and the Boku from a very scary crochet project.
Comments: It was fun to learn the jogless stripe technique and reassuring that there is something to be done with self-striping yarns (sometimes I do despair).
Verdict: Great knit, quick, easy, fun to see how the colours emerge in the stripes and great to use up leftover worsted-weight yarn.

putting it all together

I have started to seam together squares for the Babette blanket. It's going well and not nearly as onerous as I expected. Just like the crocheting of the squares themselves, it's exciting to see which squares end up where, which colours end up against each other.

I have been using mattress stitch through the back loops of the edge stitches which is giving a very satisfactory result. Once this stage of the project is finished, I'll have to start thinking about the border - which yarn/s to use, how deep to make it. I'm afraid that the finished product is not going to be as large as I had hoped for, so a good border may be in order. Once it is all pieced together I expect that I'll have a better idea of whether the blanket needs anchoring with a darker border or a lift with a brighter border.

handprinted

A while back, quite some time ago, ok about three years ago I did some screen printing - a quick afternoon class at Pratt Fine Arts Center, an introductory course at the Vera Project. And my silk screen equipment has gathered dust in the basement ever since.

But the spark of interest didn't go away and flared up again when I saw this intriguing button on Di's blog - 'handprinted: a fabric swap'. Ah, just what I need, I thought, to give me reason to get back to it. Yes, just what I need - juggling baby sitters and open studio session times, feverish child, frantic thrift store visits for fabric to print on, frantic art supply store visits, cancelled studio sessions and a deadline.

Yes, I'm really having fun.