Lace is coming up all over!

Now that I’ve decided I’m not too afraid of lace (and have knowledge of my limits)  - I’m knitting lace everywhere.  I tried out the cute Little Girl Shrug #288 with the lace panel at the bottom.  I did it with a yellow DK yarn my Mom bought in Chile on her last trip there.  It is very soft wool, and an soft kind of yellow.  It goes really well with my little one- and as soon as it’s blocked, she’ll be wearing it!  It took only a few hours to make (over the course of 3 or 4 days)- so it would make a great little gift.  Now what to do with left over yarn?  Ii don’t know how much I started with so I know even less about how much I have left!

Spring Cleaning the yarn stash

Now that it’s looking like maybe it might possibly be spring after a few fake outs here in Seattle- and yes it was sort of snowing this morning on top of our flowering trees-  I’m doing my best to think about spring cleaning.  We’ve only been in this house a few months but there are things we can at least move around to make better use of them or the space.  So I’ve started my yarn spring cleaning- and doing mini-yarn swaps with friends of mine.  There’s nothing like new yarn to also get me inspired to knit new and wonderful things, and also to go ahead and face that some of those UFOs in my bag aren’t going to be finished.   At least I’m clearing up my head a bit from guilt for not finishing all those good intentioned garments, but there will be others.

Shetland Triangle and lace

I have a hard time with lace.  I have to rip out at least 5 times before I can really get going on the project, and even then it’s hard to not make a mistake.  I hate it… and I love it.  It’s addictive.  Why do I torture myself??

But I’ve made a new discovery!  Lace looks great when done on bulky yarn.  I saw the Shetland Triangle in Eco Wool and had to have one.  It just happened we’d just got Eco Wool into Hilltop Yarn, so it was destiny.  It took me a week to finish it because, of course, it flew on my hands, and before I knew it I was giving the finished shawl a good blocking.    I loved EcoWool-  it is soft and fluffly (THICK!) and knit up beautifully.  i will be knitting with his yarn again and again and again.  I can’t wait to go back to the shop!

Stash busting

I’m now working at Hilltop Yarn in Queen Anne in Seattle.  It’s a great place to work and to covet yarn… of course, I’m surrounded by yarn, and my yarn cupboard at home (no small thing) is ready to burst.  So… Mom if you’re reading this… you’re getting fingerless gloves for Christmas, you and everyone else I know.  I’m using up all those one skeins I’ve bought because I fell in love with the yarn- but never used because I never had enough.  So all those Noro skeins… mittens, fingerless gloves and hats,  and that lovely wool/silk, already on the needles…

I finally finished the Shetland Triangle, and right away gave it to Carol since she was leaving the next day.  I hardly had time to block it, let alone photograph it properly which is a shame.  It came out very nice though smaller than I intended.  I used Handpainted Misti Alpaca Lace yarn, and have about 1/2 a skein left of it.   I loved knitting with it, and after blocking I could feel it getting soft and fluffy- and warm.  Maybe I’ll do a small lace scarf for my little one- it would look adorable on her.

December is the time to think about 2009 project- and get rid of the old projects.  I seem to be in a finishing mood.  I’m picking up all those projects still on the needles and finishing them or frogging them… sort of project spring clean.  Though I think I’m more motivated by all that gorgeous yarn in Hilltop that I see and pet everytime I go in- and all those patterns everywhere.  I think I have my projects picked out for 2009 and 2010.

November weather

In England we’d of had 2 months of dreary weather by now.  Here in Seattle the sun was lovely and bright today.  Of course, it’s cold- so that really pushed me to go ahead and finish Keld- which has been hanging over me for some time now.  I loved the pattern, and I loved the yarn- the colour is gorgeous and it is very warm.  I am very happy with the way it came out.  BUT I am not happy with the way it looks on me.  I should have made a shorter garter stictch part to have the waist shaping actually shape my waist.  It was a miscalculation on my part.  Also the round collar in general is not flattering on me (busty and small waist)- so it doens’t look that great on me.  However, it does fit well- the shoulders the arm lenght is all perfect and it keeps me really warm, the whole point of making it in the first place.  So I’m keeping it and wearing it proudly.  Today I got lots of compliments while I wore it around the shop (my new workplace- Hilltop Yarn), so that’s got to be something.

What I did to Keld- the main change was the gauge- since I was using Peace Fleece.  I used size S for the lenght in the pattern and size L for the width and stitch count.  It worked!  Except I wished i had done less of the garter stitch part- about 4″ less!  I also shortened the sleeves - I made them about 6″ shorter and then started the bell of the sleeve.  i have short arms- and I just kept measuring them on my arm until I thougth I had enough lenght.  The sleeves are the perfect lenght now.

So now on to another project to finish!! I really want to get the Clapotis done so I may wear it in this weather.  In the meantime I am exploring the world of toddler mittens- so far Natasha has about 5 mittens- all different sizes and shapes.  I think I have the final ones now- pattern from The Knitter’s Handy book of Patterns by Ann Budd.

The update and the news

In the end I decided that I was going to Southern Texas where it was still 75 F  in the shade, I wouldn’t need that much clothes, so the yarn took up prime space on my bag.  I also braved the feared “traveling thorugh airport security with knitting”- a small lace project on circular Addi Natura needles.  No problems at all with security- with my daughter thought….  Here’s a thought- if you’re traveling to the other side of the country with a toddler, try to start the travel in the morning.  She was an angel from Seattle to Houston- where I wished I had my knitting, and a devil from Houston to Seattle- where I did have my knitting and didn’t have time to even think about it because I was busy with the little BabyBee.

Now I’m back in real Autumn weather wishing I had finished Keld- but with my in-laws visiting from Spain, knitting time is almost nill.  I am considering frogging the sleeves… oh dear… I hate sleeves, they always take me a long time to finish, but I’ve increased the sleeve width too quickly…  I’ll have to think about it — very hard.

On to other news news.  Tonight  I spent a lovely night tonight not thinking about anything but knitting in my soon to be place of employment- Hilltop Yarn in Queen Anne!  I met future work collegues and got to eat buiscuits and drink tea- and knit knit knit-  almost heaven…  then I stepped out into the freezing cold…

To ship or to take?

My mother has been building up a stash of her own apparently, and is very happy to unload it onto me upon my next visit- in about a week from now.  She’s developed a wool allergy and can’t knit with most of what she’s got.  Since I prefer wool and alpaca,  she’s giving me all of her wool in exchange for most of my cotton and bamboo and anything else I might have in my stash she can knit with.   I pulled a very large bag for her, and now I have to decide whether to try and pack it along with all my other stuff or just mail the whole thing to her… but it’s heavy.  Will it cost me more to put it in the mail?  I think I’ll have to find out.

Of course, I’ve been obsession over what to take on this visit to my mothers.  She’ll be in the hospital for a bit and I’ll be waiting for her in the waiting area, so I’ve been thinking that I might actually be able to do some of the lace I’ve been wanting to do but never had the odd spells of long time to concentrate.  Still, I’m not sure I’ll be in any state to concentrate if I’m waiting to hear my mother’s made it out of surgery!

Unfortunately I’ll be leaving behind Keld and Thwaite because the yarns are quite heafty and take up loads of space.  Keld is almost done!  I’m starting on the sleeves.   still I’ll be southern Texas, where there’s not much call for wool at the moment- thought my Texas friends say it’s actually cooled down a bit.  I just hope I don’t get caught up in some hurricane or other.

Knit Stress

For several days I thought that the one box that held about 1/3 of my stash was missing.  In this move we’ve managed to get almost everything that we had packed away three years ago in England.  All of it has made it and in excellent condition.  It’s almost as if we’d packed it the day before (and if we had done such a thing we’d probably would have left about 1/2 of the stuff- why did we bring all those little knick knacks?).  Yesterday I found the yarn box- and managed to stuff my entire stash into what is now the yarn cabinet.  My yarn will now live in the living room/sitting room.  I’m not happy about this arrangement, but that’s for another blog post.  For now, i am arranging and rearranging my yarn- admiring it and wondering why i have so much yarn.

going round

I can’t help think that I would have avoided a whole LOT of frogging if I’d decided to do this coat in the round… BUT I do love knitting Peace Fleece on my rosewood needles- and although I also love my Addi Turbos I don’t love them with the Peace Fleece… The CHP flew on the rosewoods, but not that much on the turbos which was a big suprise.  Maybe it’s personal preference…

Note to self: MUST consider doing sweaters and coats in the round before I simply start knitting with the nearest needles to hand… in other words, don’t fall in lust with yarn and pattern and jump into knitting - THINK before you KNIT…

It’s almost like marriage, no?

Keld Coat frogging.. and more moving

This weekend in the big moving weekend… We signed the papers (all the 40 papers or so) and in the next few days, the owners of the house will be signing the same amount of papers- and at some point Saturday, the house will be ours.  On Sunday, all our things from all parts of the USA are going to converge in our new house, and we’ll probably have just enough time to think about cleaning before the movers arrive with our stuff.  To me that means I better get some knitting in QUICK!!!  I will barely be able to find my stash and knitting, much less find time to knit something.

I’ve been busily working away of the Keld Coat, which I love so far… I’ve loved it so much I’ve just been knitting away not realising that I’d made a very fundamental mistake.  I have made the left side shorter than the back- about 10 rows too short- since I’d miscounted as well on the neck line, I thought I might as well frog the whole left side and do it again- do it proper…. I hate having to frog… HATE HATE HATE… but I hate more knowing I’m wearing something that I knit wrong.  I though I might actually get most of the coat done before we move (Peace Fleece is so quick to knit and addictive), but no chance now.  I’ve been pretty monogamous to Keld, which is rare for me.  I usually have several projects on the go at once, but the same happened with the CHP- I couldn’t stop.  I have knitted a few rows of the Thwaite in the yarn it was meant to be in - the British Breeds Sheep Collection Wool- and it is also somewhat addictive.  I’ve come to realise that knitting with wool is what I prefer (at least this year).

I got to wear my CHP yesterday when the weather turned from gorgeous sunny to drab and cold.  I wore it while it rained and I didn’t feel a drop!  I love my CHP!