Camping Shawl

While I was camping with GiGi this summer, the main project I brought with me was a simple garter stitch shawl.  The yarn I used was a lovely, warm angora, wool, and silk handspun that Athie gave me for Christmas last year. 

While this may seem like a wonderful idea, the family was looking at me like I was crazy because it was a hot, steamy week in Arkansas in June when we went camping. 

I had actually started it near the end of May in NYC which, as some of you may know, can be nice and cool.  But it was one of only two projects that I'd brought with me to work on at GiGi's house and I'd finished the other one on the flight in. 

Yet, as it turns out, I barely worked on it while I was there.  GiGi had a friend that she wanted to give a lace shawl, but she's not that fond of lace knitting (crazy, I know!).  So we bartered a trade. She offered to knit a long overdue item that I'd been meaning to make (as a thank you gift for someone) on the condition that I would knit the shawl for her. 

How could I say no to that? I'd been putting off knitting that hat (yes, I said hat) for over a year.  So she gave me some yarn (100% Silk, Pingouin Pure Soie) and one of my own designs to knit. 

The Ceuta Shawl is the second shawl design that I published when I was starting out, so it had been several years since I had knit it.  I really enjoyed knitting it and it only took me about four vacation days to complete. 

 

It wasn't until after I got home (and into the air conditioning) that I finished the angora Camping Shawl.  And I almost immediately cast on another one.  That one is knit in a Merino and Silk hand dyed yarn. 

Unfortunately, the dyer has since stopped dyeing.  (I hear it's the only way to live.)  The colorway is called Canned Peaches.  I call it 'Wow-that's-a-fabulous-orange-yarn.' 

The yarn was also given to me by Athie (for a birthday during her pre-spinning days).  She has fantastic taste in yarn, doesn't she?  It also seems that she knows my color preferences a little too well.

Not that I'm complaining,
Joyce


P.S. I forgot to mention that the Camping Shawl is free on Ravelry.  It's knit side to side in garter stitch and is great for restful knitting in between big, complicated projects. download now

Birthday handspun yarn

I received some beautiful handspun yarn from Athie for my birthday this weekend.  It's absolutely beautiful (as is all of the handspun I've received from her, I gotta say.)

The colorway is called Mina.  It's a wool, silk, sari silk blend from Enchanted Knoll Farm.  And, yes, those are sparkles!  Somehow Athie has tuned in to my secret (or perhaps not so secret) love of sparkly things.  Yay for sparkly yarn!

The big skein is over 700 yards of a two ply.  The little skein is just over 100 yards of a 3 ply. 

I think the little skein would make a perfect hat for the baby.  The big skein, however, is going to make a beautiful shawl for me.  (Sorry GiGi!)

Is anyone else thinking about Dracula now,
Joyce

Baby sweaters and bibs: or what I did on my summer vacation

I am pleased to say that I that I managed to finish the sweater and bib for Athie before the baby was born.

And by pleased I mean shocked that I finished it before the baby was born.  Partly because I'm not good with deadlines but mostly because it, like most of my sweaters, stalled on the sleeves. I am aware of how ridiculous this is because it's a baby sweater. Baby sweaters are easy to make, so it's not like I'm going to have to spend months knitting intricate cabled long sleeves for a man's sweater. It's a baby sweater.  But it's finished now (with short sleeves).

It's also the first time I've sewn buttons on a sweater.  Yes, there are at least five buttonless sweaters out there just hanging open and unable to meet their full warmness potential because I'm a lazy finisher.  But not this one, by golly!

In addition to the sweater, I also knit Athie a bib.

The bib is more of a gag gift than a baby gift. You see when Athie told me that she was having a girl, she forbid me from making her something in what she called 'baby pink'. Athie is not fond of pastel colors. She is very into the earth tones and deep saturated color. So the sweater I knit for the baby is in a warm yellow with slight shades of green and red. The bib however is in baby pink (the picture does not do the color justice). Those of you that know me, and after several years of friendship Athie should, are aware that expressly forbidding me from doing something in like waving a red flag in front of a bull. So of course when she said "Don't give me anything in baby pink." I had to make something for her in baby pink. So I got some Sugar-N-Cream cotton and improvised a bib for her. I'm going to give that one to her first and then the sweater second. I cannot wait to see the look on her face.

Hopefully she doesn't kill me,
Joyce

Semi-Precious Shawl

My friend, Athie, is a very talented woman.  She has spun great yarn out of the amazing fiber she's acquired for the nearly two years since she started spinning.  And, much to my joy, has given some of that yarn to me. 

You may remember the skein she gave me for my birthday last year.  Beautiful magenta colored yarn spun from 100% Targhee from Enchanted Knoll Farms.

Also during the last year she has given me several other skeins, but each skein came with a condition. "If you want to keep getting my handspun, you must design a shawl with some of the yarn I've given you and submit it to KnittySpin."  I have to admit that could just be the way I heard it.  She may have said something along the lines of, "You know, you could use some of my handspun to design something for KnittySpin."  I guess it's just a case of she says potato, I say "mmm, french fries!"

Regardless of wording, and considering how much I love her hand spun yarn, I got right on it.  I'm happy to say that not only was I able to design a shawl for the lovely handspun yarns that she'd given me, but it was released in this season's (Deep Fall 2011) KnittySpin!

The Semi-precious Shawl. 

The Magenta Targhee version. (I'm thinking Amethyst.)

The Wood Elves wool and silk version. (I call it Jade.)

The Mango Lassi wool and silk version. (A little gold to accent the jewels.)

I'm not much into jewelry (don't get me wrong, I'm a girl so I still like to look at it and watch it sparkle, but I don't really wear it).  These pieces, however, I would happily wear (except the green one because I'm going to give it to Athie for Christmas, but that's our little secret.  Right?). 

Hooray for fibery friends,
Joyce

P.S. All three colors of fiber were produced by Enchanted Knoll.

Sunnyside

My lovely friend Athie is having a baby next month.  It's her first and I'm super excited for her.  So much so, in fact, that I'm knitting my first ever baby sweater for her baby.  (I would have made baby items for GiGi's kids, but I wasn't a knitter when they were born.  Those were tough times, I tell you, tough times.)

It's Sunnyside by Tavis Lavallee.  The pattern is well written and easy to follow.  Plus it comes in boy and girl versions.  I decided to make it short sleeved because I was running a little short on yarn.

I figured that three inch sleeves should be long enough.  Fingers crossed.

It's knit in Opulence in the Tupelo Honey colorway from the Woolen Rabbit.  The yarn is really luscious and makes me wish I had enough for a sweater for me. 

Prior to this the only baby item I'd ever knit was a Brain Slug hat for my niece's baby boy.

Luckily she understands my twisted sense of humor,
Joyce

Visiting GiGi

I'm at GiGi's this week.  We are camping which I enjoy (except the heat).  Given that I'm an entomologist, I actually like bugs so they don't bother me. (Except ticks and mosquitoes. I'm not that crazy!)
 
While we camp we do lots of athletic things like hike, swim, and bike.  (This is my visiting GiGi bike.  She stores it for me during the eleven months and two/three weeks I can't ride it.  She's cool like that!)

But, during our rest times (which really don't come often enough for me), we knit. This week I'm playing with shapes.  I have been experimenting with the side to side garter stitch shawl.

This one will be parallelogram shaped.  It's knit in Knit Picks Stroll Sock Bare that's been dyed in Strawberry Kool-aid. 

This one is an elongated half oval.  The yarn was handspun by Athie.  It's merino, silk and angora.  The colorway is called Rose Garden and it can be found at Crystal Creek Fibers.  I love love love this yarn.  It's soft and shimmery and just plain gorgeous.  (And I'm not just saying this because I'm trying to persuade Athie to give me more.  But if it helps...)

Is it time to knit yet,
Joyce

Goodies

I’ve recently taken up biking.  For those who know me, please stop laughing.  Let’s just say that I don’t have the best history with bicycles.  So much so in fact, when I called GiGi and told her that I was biking she laughed and asked if I remember what I’m like on a bicycle.  Apparently my sister thinks that circus bears are better cyclists than I am.  I’m afraid she might be right.  But I have my trusty helmet, a bike shop nearby for repairs (to the bike), and a hospital about ten blocks away (for repairs on me), so I think I’m ready.

On the knitting front, I finished and blocked the green shawlette.  It's called Troy's Folly.  I hope to get the pictures of it taken this weekend.  Until then, a small teaser:

Of course, once the green one was finished, I immediately cast on a purple version for GiGi. 

It’s in MadelineTosh Merino Light Magenta.  Such a fabulous deep purple and incredibly soft.  Plus it’s got a great price for the yardage.

I heard a rumor  (ok, so I read it on Ravelry) that my favorite knitting store ever, Knitty City, got another MadTosh shipment in yesterday.  I wasn’t planning on going into the City today, but given that incentive, I may not be able to resist.  Must. Have. Delicious. Yarn.

My friends and family gave me some really great birthday presents. Both fibery and non-fibery.
The non-fibery...
Hubbie got me a Kindle!

It's amazing! Since I started back to school, I've been carrying what felt like a ton of paper (mostly journal articles about weevils. Yeah, I'm one of those crazy insect people) in my bag.  It was fighting with my travel knitting for space, and starting to win!  Happily, those papers are now condensed into a cool gadget that is only the size and weight of a small novel.  Woot! Awesome!

Elle gave me a pendant that appeals to my inner (but not so hidden) geek. 

She got it from JannellyBeads' Etsy shop. The quote is from a video game called Portal.  Hubbie plays it and I love it (but haven't played it because my brain doesn't work that way).  The game is really funny.  Thanks, Elle, for helping me fly my geek flag.

Let's talk about the fiber...
TK gave me some beautiful salmon lace weight in cotton/silk/cashmere from School Products Yarn. (Unfortunately, it's not available on their website.) 

She gave it to me on the condition that I make something for my self with it (a yarn gift with strings).  She's great that way!  (The condition probably had something to do with my comment that the color would look great on GiGi. :-D ) I can't wait to make something with it!

Athie finally yielded some of her lovely handspun (fingering weight, 450+ yards of Targhee wool) to me. 

I've been drooling over her stuff for months now.  Athie is an unabashed yarn snob, and it extends to her fiber for spinning.  So anything she spins in bound to be fabulous. (Plus she's really good at the whole spinning thing.) Sadly, for those of you that don't know her, she doesn't sell her hand spun. (Booyah, score one for me!) (I'm sorry, did I say that out loud? ;-D )

Lastly, I got myself (really, everyone should get themselves a little something for their birthday) some Manos del Uruguay Lace (Ravelry link) (alpaca, silk, cashmere). 

So beautiful, so soft, so calling me to knit with it!