Tales from the Stash
Tales from the Stash
It had to happen sometime: my stash has taken over my life. And now its on the internet.
On the Needles
Lotus Blossom Shawl
Fiddlesticks
Colinette socks
Adapted from Widdershins.
Fair Isle Vest
My own design out of Rowan Tweed 4 ply and Jamison’s Shetland Spindrift
...and a lot of other things. Yarn just seems to leap out at me and grab me by the needles.
Plus...
The Manresa Legwarmers(Knitty, Summer 2006)
... which turned into
Manresa Sleeves!
And a sweater body that I’m FINALLY happy with.
Bonnie BlanketRYC Classic Weekend
Long Term - Its a BLANKET for crying out loud!
Finished Objects
(a selection - Those I have photos for!)
Ene’s Shawl
Evelyn Clark
Scarf Style
Swallowtail Shawl
Interweave Knits
Fall 2006
Diamond Fantasy Shawl
Sivia Harding
Trapper Hat
Vogue Knitting
Winter 2006
My First Sock!
from the Handy Book of Patterns
Edgar Scarf
Knitty.com
Rustic Vest
Roxie from Not Your Mama’s Knitting
Mini Trapper & Scarf
Cotton Baby Set
My Own Design
Shetland Triangle
Evelyn Clark
Wrap Style
Blossom Vest
My Own Design
Lurking in the stash
Faroese Sweater
Fishermans Sweaters,
Alice Starmore
Lily of the Valley
Fiddlesticks
Pomatomus Socks
Knitty.com
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Getting back to normal
...or what passes for it in my world :)
Budget season is finally over. Interestingly, I’m not working any less. Hmmm...ought to have a word with the boss over that.
So the latest project round up. Yes, there are new projects. Just because I’m writing a $6 million dollar budget from the ground up doesn’t mean the knitting compulsion in any way decreases. In fact, I rather think I’ve been stepping up my game of late.
...Pictures will be forthcoming.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Confession Time
Yes, its time to list ALL the projects I’ve got on the needles at the moment. Scary, eh?
Update : Its taken me so long to complete this entry that I’ve actually finished some stuff! Its been a great kick in the tukus to get moving on a few of these.
All included project count: 15
of which three are on ‘long-term hiatus’ (aka to be worked on when I run out of other yarn).
Project: Iro Vest
Yarn: Noro Iro, Colorway 63 and Jo Sharp Mohair
Comments: Woohoo! I finished this one last Tueday so it doesn’t count anymore! Sweet :)
Project: The Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding
Yarn: Great Adirondak Yarn Company, Soxie in Nantucket Blue
Comments: One of my all time favorite yarns for lace. No knots, no snags and the colour repeats are short and subtle so the lace is never overwhelmed by the variegation in color. I hear it makes for great socks too but I haven’t tried it yet.
Update: All but the top border and bind off done.
Project: Zig Zag knee-high socks
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, Pinstripe Colourway
Comments: I’m so bad. I ‘helped’ a friend reorganize his stash- read forced him to so I could stroke his yarn- and confiscated this stuff. What !?! He had like a dozen skeins of sock yarn and he’s never even made a pair. Whatever. Don’t judge me.
Project: Manresa Sweater
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Chunky in Purple and Green
Comments: *sigh* I’m stuck on the last sleeve. Then I just need to do the yoke which will take no time at all. Yes, yes, I’ll get to it.
Project: Noro Shrug
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, Colourway No.
Comments: A design of my own. Really simple. I started at one wrist with a lace pattern, increased to the upper arm, switched from size 8 needles to size 11 for the back, switched back to size 8 and am heading down to the other wrist. Then I’m going to pick up around the opening and make a big collar that will allow the shrug to function as a jacket. I used a latice lace pattern from Barbara Walker vol. 3 which is very symmetrical and works beautifully going up one sleeve and down the other. Also drapes well across the back.
Update: Finished the body and have begun the collar. See above where I’m sniffing it :)
Project: Peacock Shawl
Yarn: Schaefer Yarns, Anne in Blue Violet
Comments: Here’s the trick. Its EASY. But lace always looks so difficult. Plus the yarn is so sniffable.
Project: Camo Knee Highs
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, Pinstripe Colourway
Comments: Size one needles. Just not feeling it at the moment. Plus, totally not in a skirt sort of place so what’s the point.
Project: Ene’s Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Rowan Lambswool Donegal 4 ply in Pickle
Comments: Vintage. Discontined. Rowan. The trifecta of lust yarn as far as I can see. And the shawl is lovely. So lovely. I love Evelyn Clark. That is all.
Project: Zanziba Skirt
Yarn: Colinette Zanziba
Comments: This I started and wanted to finish in one day. And didn’t. So its sitting on the needles. Its a steel blue short skirt. But I’m so NOT in a skirt mood these days so, again, its languishing. Maybe I’ll rip it out and make a sweater. I’m more in that kind of space anyway.
Project: Nantucket Jacket
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran in Hemlock
Comments: What have I learnt from this project? I hate making things in pieces. Really. I’ve got the back and about half a front. I love the yarn and the pattern- Norah Gaughan is a genius- but its slow going for that reason.
Update: Maybe I’ll rip it out and do a gansey instead. Never done one of those and I have Beth Brown-Reinsel’s book
Project: Pomotomas Socks
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM
Comments: I cast on for these on the way to Rhinebeck. Yes, Rhinebeck. I’ve turned the heel on one and have one more repeat on the leg of the other. Its lovely and I’m using two colorways of Koigu and I really need to get back to this one.
Project: Picovili Tee
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay in Eau de Nil
Comments: This one is holding my size 5 Addis hostage. Its just so much freaking stockinette. I think I’ll insert some lace once I get past the bust decreases. Slowly, slowly, it’ll make itself up the queue
Project: RYC Weekend Mitred Square Blanket
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky
Comments: Okay, no blame here. Its a BLANKET. Its gonna take a while. I’ve been making the squares out of the RYC Weekend book which has these super cool mitred squares that end up looking like squares within squares. The thing is that, having done a bunch, i think they’re going to look stupid when I sew up the seam. Cashmerino Superchunky is really chunky. It doesn’t sew up well. So maybe I’ll go back and redo the blanket in strips or all in one. Maybe. Or not. I’m considering my options.
Project: Fair Isle Socks
Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply in Feral (brown) and (green)
Comments: I made up a fair isle pattern and put it into a pair of socks. They’re lovely. But that they’re not for me. And I’m awful. Terrible. They were made for a friend originally but I didn’t finish them in time and they’re too big for me so they’ve been sitting there. I should just finish them and give them to my brother.
Project: My Dad’s Sweater
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Worsted in Marigold
Comments: Less said the better. ‘Worsted’ weight yarn that’s barely 5.5 st:in on size FOUR needles. Cast on too many stitches in the ROUND so I need to rip close to 400 yds of freaking yarn. The one and only time I’ve ever been tempted to burn yarn. Blech.
...Still, my dad did buy me this computer so he deserves something. But no one deserves a sweater born from this much suffering
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Are you a small to medium sized war- torn African country?
If so, hire my mom. Seriously. She’s SO BORED with retirement. And she has a small tear in her miniscus so she’s also housebound and there’s only so much PBS and CNN a person can watch in a day. For the love of god, she steam-pressed my TOWELS last week.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Swallowtail
Ah Evelyn Clark, how I love thee. This shawl was so easy. It looks complicated and fancy shmancy but is actually the first shawl I never had to rip out three times before I got the lace pattern down right. I’m already planning another one. Perhaps some Schaefer Anne from my stash.
Vital stats on this Swallowtail: exactly one skein of Great Adirondak Yarns’ Soxie in the most gorgeous variegated green and pink colourway. My digital camera is crap so I’m going to try and beg some decent photos off a friend at some point and re-post.
But first I have to block it. Blocking, for the non-knitters among my readers- what !?! Ravi has friends that don’t knit!!! - is the process of stretching a lace piece, or indeed any knitted garment, to its required measurements. I’ve never wet blocked i.e. soaked a shawl, pinned it and let it dry. Life’s too short. I may have to reassess if it means even more gorgeous Swallowtail to wrap myself in.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
A Little Jerkin Around
Wow that was a terrible title for an entry :)
Seriously though, I think a friend had it right: there’s a certain rustic, medieval feel to this garment, accentuated by the wooden toggle buttons at the bottom. I used a single skein of Schaefer Yarns’ Elaine in the Indira Gandhi colourway.
I kind of had to buy the yarn. I mean, she’s definitely the Indian I most resemble aside from my grandmother. She- IG, not my Naani- was the closest India ever got to a dictator. Quite the lady. I could tell you about how her policies are the bedrock upon which India’s current relative economic health is founded but I think we’d all probably rather talk about yarn.
So, Elaine is a think-and-thin chunky weight yarn that I knit up on size 11 straight Ebony Lantern Moons that I bought in a fit of extravagance but have come to treasure like you wouldn’t imagine. Well, except if you have Lantern Moons. Anyway, I used the ‘Roxy’ top down raglan pattern in Heather Dixon’s FABULOUS book ‘Not Your Mama’s Knitting’.
Seriously, its a great book for knitters of any level. It even has pictures of how the stitches are supposed to look in the intro section! How useful is that? I despise books that give these bizarre written instructions for how to hold your needles and your yarn and blah blah blah but don’t actually show you what the end product is supposed to look like. Also, the patterns are designed to encourage modification which I certainly did.
I used yarnovers to do the raglan increases so i’ve got pretty eyelets, made it sleeveless to suit the amount of yarn I had and did crochet loops as edging cum buttonholes up one side. And, best of all, NO SEWING. Sweet.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
How Bored Is My Mom?
Well, she’s knitting. Given that it was some sadistic nuns who beat the knowledge of it into her, she’s pretty damn bored.
I made her a hat last winter that she really loves. I made a blue one for a friend and she loved it so much- she put it on and started dancing around the house- so I made her one in a tweedy bright red- Tahki Donegal if I remember correctly. She’s been wanting a big scarf and I thought Noro Silk Garden in colourway 84- a gorgeous variegated red with some green.
And then, she drops the big bomb- she wants me to set her up for a scarf. Just a simple 2x2 rib...but its Noro so its gorgeous. And she’s knitting away. She’s onto her third skein already and- get this- she’s using circulars! I’m so proud.
I think I sold her on knitting with the possibility of always having something to do. Is there anything more terrifying than being idle?
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Socks That Will Not End
This seems to keep happening to me. I’ll start a project and it will just take over. I have leg warmers that turned into sleeves on a massive Fair Isle sweater, a shrug that keeps wanting to turn into a sweater- no, no, you are not a sweater, a shrug is a perfectly decent thing to be- and now these socks that seem determined to become proper stockings that end somewhere around mid-thigh!
All I wanted was a nice toe up sock that would use up a whole skein of yarn so I don’t have these pesky miniscule left over bits of yarn. That’s all. Instead, they just keep going and going and going. I thought a nice textured pattern of Danish stars would help eat up some yarn but to no avail. They’re almost to the knee as it is!
Gotta love Lorna’s Laces. Soft as silk, gorgeous colors and the yarn just keeps going and going. More pics and pattern info as I figure out my digital camera.
Monday, December 4, 2006
Pre-Cleaning
Pre-cleaning? What’s that?
Well, as some of you may know, I’m staying with my mom these days. She’s retired recently- its mandatory at 60 at the United Nations- and boy is she bored!
Pre-cleaning is what I discovered when I got home tonight. She’s having the cleaning lady come on Wednesday so she worked in a two day lead time by dusting and straightening my room on Monday.
I considered getting pissed off- she moved some yarn- but, honestly, how bored must she be that she preps for the cleaning lady? *sigh*
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Mean Mr. Man
Driven out of his senses by a recalcitrant bit of alpaca, Doug takes his shears and viciously attacks the fair isle monstrosity whose finishing had proved too much for his sensitive nature.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
My Dad’s Big Ass Sweater tm
So, yes, I am knitting a Big Ass Sweater. For my Dad. Greater love hath no knitter than they make a sweater with a 50 inch chest in stockinette.
All I can say is, he better not be expecting grandchildren after this.
That’s a big old pile of yarn, eh? Best get back to it then.
