Off The Needles

The Haiku Textured Scarf - blocking.


The Clapotis does not need blocking. This silk cashmere blend yarn drapes beautifully. I don't even have much curling on the edges.



I have reached color #5 in the Koigu Charlotte's Web. I was hoping to get further along on that one this weekend. But the knitting is slowing down now that I am at 251 stitches.

Quick Update

I finished the Clapotis Wednesday night. I love it so much, I will definitely be making another. I am back on the Koigu Charlotte's Web. I finished the transition between colors 3 and 2 and I have 14 more rows of just color 3. I want to finish this one this weekend so I can focus on the Socks That Rock Charlotte's Web. I would like to finish that one before the Ravelympics begin. I am dying to cast on some socks, but I know I won't be able to put them down once I start them. That Happy Choices has me very curious. I am going to make the Lillebror socks , and I want to see how working from - basically a scarf of yarn - works. We'll see how it goes. Ciao for now.

Clap Clap Clap

I worked solely on my Clapotis last night. I am starting the decreases, section 4. The scarf is so soft and I am using much less yarn than I expected. I love it. I will definitely be making another one if these in the future.

This and That

I cannot say enough about Jayne's yarns. The colors are unbelievable. Each skein comes with it's own matching stitchmarker. How cool is that?!?! If you read my sidebar at the end of last year you might have noticed that I like the TV Series DEXTER. I have all 3 seasons on DVD and I have also read most of the novels. This Dexter Yarn from Jayne's knits is perfect, blood red. I don't know how she did it.



The apple green is very Granny Smith. Jayne is a super talented dyer, check out her etsy shop.


The rest of my Blue Moon Socks That Rock Came. The fall colors are so similar they are practically begging to be another Charlotte's Web. I must find another blending shawl to make with Autumn, Basan, Gail's Autumn Joy, The Witching Hour and Strange Brew.



I made myself a cute little black hat for this stormy weather. There was a Tornado in our area Saturday - very strange. We don't have basements, so I just nestled into my yarn stash and kept knitting. Rowan Cork in black. Simple Short Row hat by Caroll Duvall. I added a 2 inch ribbed brim to keep my ears and forehead warm.


My Ravelympics Project Bag
I am on the Starmore WIPdown Team. This bag is big enough to hold either of my sweater projects and the various colors of yarn. The outside zippered pocket is big enough to hold the pattern charts.

In With The Old In With The New

More yarn, yep I am on a binge. I am having so much fun!!! I am trying several new yarns and I have been able to get some of my old favorites. My order of Blue Moon Yarns that are being taken out of rotation came, more on them over the weekend.

NEW: I had to get this one, they named it after me 8-)
NEW: I received a pair of sock swap socks made with this yarn once. LOVED THEM. So I finally bought some, and I am going to make a pair of Cookie A socks in it. Royale Navy.
OLD: Lorna's Laces Black Watch. I was so happy to get some more of this. I made one of my early pair of socks in Black Watch and have been trying to get more of this colorway ever since. I may be mistaken, but the blue doesn't seem as dark but I still love it.
NEW: Rowan Cork. Very different. I have started a short row hat with a ball. Final review to come.
NEW: Jitterbug in Velvet Olive. This was on sale - can you believe it? I got it 40% off, the last two skeins. I am going to make a shawl.
NEW: Indie Dyer is another new one for me. This is Gulf Water. I am making a pair of Pomatomus socks.
NEW: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Taupe. I want to make a hat - I don't quite have enough for the hat patterns I have in my little project folder, but I'll find something.
OLD & NEW: Speaking of Projects. I have a bag full of projects ready to go. Some socks, some shawls, a couple of hats.

OLD: The Clapotis after I have dropped 3 stitches on the straight section.
OLD: The Haiku textured shawl. Originally I was going to make a scarf but I want to use up more of this yarn. This is just one ball so far, and I have six.
NEW: I started the Koigu Charlotte's Web. I am on the 3rd color. This is going to take some serious blocking. It seems so little. I should have gone off pattern and used more of the first two colors. What am I going to do with the leftovers? I can tell you, I don't like this yarn much. Maybe some "gift" socks, or something.
NEW: Socks That Rock Charlotte's Web Shawl, I am starting color two. I like the feel of the heavier yarn. This one will only need a light blocking. Color #1 Jade is transitioning into #2 County Clare.

Happy Crafter

I am really happy with my little projects. The Clapotis is going fast I am on section 3 and dropping stitches (on purpose 8-}) I cast on the Socks That Rock Heavyweight Charlotte's Web Shawl, my first color is Jade. It is so cool and relaxing. The stitch definition is so fine and since I am using US 9 needles the fabric is growing fast. My new office chair came from Brylane Home, I will pause the knitting bliss Saturday to put it together and wrangle the old chair into the guest room. I found a new show through Netflix, Intelligence. Life is good.

I've Got Mail

Right to Left Row 1: Jade, County Clare, Mr Green Jeans, Melusine, Jengu, Gail's Autum JoyRight to Left Row 2: Spinel, Lapis, Lagoon, County Clare x2, Strange Brew

My Electric Ball Winder
This is the extra large spool for heavyweight and bulky yarns. There is a second spool for light weight yarns.
The Fake Cable Cap, so nice and warm.

Qiviut Complete

I finished my Qiviut fake cable cap last night. At first I loved working with the 100% bulky Qiviut, but by the time I finished I did not like it so much. The yarn is very splitty - as it is 8 ply. Also it developed a very oily feeling. The Qiviut lace weight blended yarn I have has a much different texture and feel. I think I like it blended with something else better. The hat is very warm and I look forward to getting lots of wear out of it.

I am still working on the last Textured Scarf in Haiku, the yarn is so fine that the scarf is growing slowly. I am at 239 stitches right now. I have finally reached the last section - the garter stitch section. This will be my mobile project for now. I cast on the Clapotis last night and I am sure I will be spending exclusive time with it this week. My first box of Socks That Rock is in Oakland, Ca which means I should get it TODAY. Knowing me, I will not be able to resist casting on the Charlotte's Web. Can you blame me? The swatch came out gorgeous.

I am going to start munching at my Cookie A patterns, one at a time. I have completed the 52 Pair Plunge, but while I was working on it I downloaded and also purchased a bunch of Cookie A patterns. Mona, Twisted Flower, Stricken, Mingus, Millicent, Rhiannon, Thelonius, Pomatomus, and Flicker. I want to cast on at least one pair of these socks and have it as a escape from lace and fair isle projects. I have two more telemark colorways to swatch. Carin's Mom made her a beautiful shawl out of Wollmeise, I think the Okzident colorway, it is called Gail. I have added it to my queue. I think it will be a good project for the 10 shawls in 2010 KAL.

Lots of knitting to do.

Garnet Heather in Telemark
Kay Meadors Square Shawl

Delft Heather in Telemark
St.-Denis Green Mountain Shawl

Socks That Rock - 5 colorways for Charlotte's Web
#1 Spinel
#2 Ms LaRock
#3 Mr Greenjeans
#4 County Clare
#5 Jade

nevermind

. . . apparently the photos from previous years are NOT missing, I just cannot see them using the browser at work. Some kind of blockage going on there. Thank the doG. I can reminisce at my leisure, with pictorial accompaniment. In other words, I can still see what I'm saying.

. . . back to swatching and scrolling.

Antique Tapestry Swatch

This gorgeousness will be my Clapotis.

Gone But Not Forgotten

I was reading Pencraftco's blog and she was reflecting on how her posts have changed over time. I went back to my first year of blogging to look at some of my first posts and discovered something devastating. I have destroyed my blog. Yep, I greedily bought about a dozen audiobooks when iTunes had them on sale for $6.95. When I was about 2 hours into importing Roots by Alex Haley, read by Avery Brooks - I got a message that the import could not be completed - I was too low on memory. So I swept through "My Computer" and got rid of old video, audio and photo files. YES - PHOTO FILES. I removed photos that were linked to my blog pages. So ** my posts make little or no sense throughout the previous years, because you can no longer see what the heck I was talking about. Cici I was going to re-post the picture of my electric ball winder, I will have to take a new photo. Okay, I did nab some great audiobooks, but really folks. I LOVED my blog back then. It was all so NEW!!!!

Heavy sigh, some of the pictures are in Flickr, from 2007 forward there are quite a few in Ravelry, and I removed them to CDs and DVDs so they can be retrieved - AFTER - I have listened to all of the books I bought. By the way, iTunes audiobooks are MP4 instead of MP3 which is what my archiving software SONIC handles. If y'all know of another good software to archive files to discs that handles the new mp4 format please let me know. You can pm me at
paletpc@mindspring.com - you may want to leave a comment to let me know a message is coming though, my spamblocker is set pretty high and grabs everything.

In other news my SABLE just got an infusion of SEX. For the Muggles out there, I speak of my Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy being greatly increased due to a recent Stash Enhancement eXercise. I received a box of yarn from the Loopy Ewe yesterday, and a huge box of yarn from Knit Picks today. I have two shipping confirmations from Blue Moon - whoohooo.
I heart my yarn collection.

I wound up the five colorways I wanted to make the Socks That Rock Charlotte's Web out of and as I said I had one ugly duckling. So I dove back into the stash and pulled hanks, ignoring weight. I found the perfect set, but alas I had mis-matched weights. I had already ordered medium weight skeins in the two missing colors I originally chose for the shawl. What to do??? One of the colorways that make the set sheer perfection is Ms LaRock, which is no longer available. So I put together two sets of 5, for two Charlotte Web shawls, one in medium weight the other in heavy weight Socks That Rock. I cannot wait to knit up the swatches. The colorways look completely different in the hank versus in the ball. I would suggest balling your yarns before deciding on a STR CW set.

In yet some other news, I signed up to two new Ravelry Groups. 10 Shawls in 2010 - I mean really, have you looked at my queue? I was so there already, now I am not alone!! I also joined the 2010 Clapotis KAL, you would be surprised how many of us still have not knit one yet - I was shocked. So we are on the way to correcting that. I will be swatching for that tonight, with something from the Loopy Ewe package.

Yeah, I know there are still those same 4 projects on the sidebar being completely ignored. Not a stitch to be knit. And here I am all caught up in Charlotte's Web and the Clapo. I leave them there to try to guilt myself into paying them some kind of attention - futile, totally futile. I think I will take them off until I actually start working on them again.

Arachnophobia

Yep I HATE SPIDERS. My Sister used to walk 5 blocks to my house to kill them for me when we lived in San Francisco. My Mom refuses to oblige so I have started vacuuming them up myself. Yuck - hate them. This all stems from a 1960's horror film with a giant spider living in a cave that the local teens decided to explore. Needless to say, they were eaten alive, kicking and screaming. Ron Weasley - I feel you.

BUT, I do love webs, since I read Charlotte's Web in elementary school. I have dusted off, photocopied and colored in my Charlotte's Web pattern and I am going to make a couple, or three shawls. I have two sets of 5 in the Koigu colorways. I bought the first set at the TKGA/CGOA Conference in 2006 from the Foxyknits booth. They helped me pick the colors and explained how to make the shawl larger. In 2008 I pulled it all out and looking at the colors I did not like them "at the time". So I went online and ordered a different 5 colorways from Patternworks. By the time my order came I was deep into the 52 pair plunge and set everything aside. As I mentioned in my previous post, Carin on Round the Twist with Carin, has peaked my interest in the pattern again. The Socks That Rock version in particular. I will never use this Koigu for anything else, so I am going to knit both of them and probably gift them to someone. I am going to make a STR version for myself. I started Stash diving last night looking for the medium weight I want to use. Mr. Greenjeans, County Clare, Lucky and Jade all look like they will transition well. But the Lapis is the ugly stepchild - I don't think it will work after all. There are several greens in it, that I really liked in the socks I just finished. But I don't think there is enough green in the lapis to transition well. I have already placed my BMFA order and will probably just use four colors, unless the skein I receive is heavy on green. I also pulled out 5 colorways in Heavy Weight that would make a gorgeous throw in the Charlotte's Web pattern stitch. I wonder if anyone has tried a square version, perhaps I will be the first.

Swatching - remember my pledge to swatch? There are several reasons I will be swatching for all of the above. The most important one is wrong color order. There are almost 500 finished CW Shawls on Ravelry and over half of them have at least one bad color choice in them. I don't want to go there - so I am going to swatch for color coordination. I will knit 5 or six rows of each color, 2 rows of the next color, 2 rows of the previous color then 5 or six rows of the next color. Mini-transition pieces of the finished version. I don't want to get into color 4 and regret having placed color 2 where I did. More on that later - with photos. For now I have lots of yarn to ball-wind. I think it's time to pull out the electric ball winder again. I did one set of Koigu by hand last night, because the skeins are relatively small. The the Socks That Rock will definitely be done with the electric winder. I like the bricks it makes, nice and flat on the bottom.

I Need an Intervention

Somebody stop me!!! I have been in a yarn buying, pattern buying, book buying frenzy. As previously posted I bought a skein of 100% Qiviut Bulky from the Oomingmak Coop in Anchorage Alaska, I also bought a Nachaq Smokering. Granted I did get a nice little year end bonus - but really I have got to stop. Uh Hmm as soon as I order some County Clare for my STR Charlotte's Web Shawl.

I signed up for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts 2010 Takin' It To The Streets Sock Club. It has been awhile since I did the BMFA Sock Club thing, so I am looking forward to it. I skipped one year because I was doing a Year of Lace with Make 1 Studios. I skipped the next year because I got into the Wollmeise Sock Club. So now I am back for my 3rd Rockin' Sock Club.

The Loop Ewe
Yarns:
Schaefer Heather Chocolate Buffet (1)
Hand Maiden Mini Maiden Salt Spray (3)
Hand Maiden Mini Maiden Ivory (3)
Spirit Trail Sunna Fiberworks Antique Tapestry (4)

Knit Picks
Patterns:
Cafe Slouch Hat
Fox In The Snow Hat
Learn to Knit Gloves

Yarns:
Habanero City Tweed DK (1)
Hazelnut Wool of the Andes Bulky (2)
Tabby City Tweed DK (1)
White Gloss DK (1)
Delft Heather Telemark (14)
Garnet Heather Telemark (14)
Grass Telemark (14)
Tidepool Heather Telemark (14)

Books:
Knits From a Painter's Pallette
Knitty Gritty Knits
Swedish Knits

Patternworks
Books/Pamphlet/Magazines:
St-Denis Fall/Winter 2009 Magazine
Design It Knit It by Debbie Bliss
Tweed Collection 2nd Ed. Stacy Takhi Charles
Uptown Knitting #9084 Classic Elite
9 to 5 Booklet Patons

Yarns:
Schaefer Nichole Peter (1)
Schaefer Nichole GreenJeans (1)
Schaefer Anne Bugs (1)
Melody Superwash #MS11 (2)
Melody Superwash #MS29 (2)
Melody Superwash #MS16 (2)
Happy Choices #2 (1)
Happy Choices #6 (1)
Happy Choices #9 (1)

Barnes & Noble
Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan
Loop-D-Loop by Teva Durham
Tips for Knitters by Debbie Bliss

Patterns:
Mabel's Scarf by Larissa Brown (Ravelry)
March of Fibres Sweater by Elizabeth Lovick (Ravelry)
Frost Tapestry by Robin Melanson (Twist Collective)

I know I shouldn't go back over to BMFA site alone, I know I need supervision, but I really want to start that Charlotte's Web shawl (thanks Carin of Round the Twist 8-/)

. . . undoubtedly, more to come . . .

Off The Needles (& Hook) ~ On The Needles

On the blocking blocks - Michael's Scarf and the Sundara Tiger Eye Scarf.

Final version of the Textured Scarf in Haiku Cashmere Silk blend. SOOOOoooo SOFT! Still on the needles.

Indy's Sweater, left over Knit Picks Telemark - from the Aguona laptop bag kit. He loves it.
Close up of Michael's scarf.
Karabella Aurora 8 Merlot Textured Scarf blocking.
Karabella Aurora 8 Blue Textured Scarf - my improvised garter stitch version.
Oh my goodness, I love the Multnomah Shawl pattern. This is mine in Socks That Rock Raven Collection colorway Lenore.
Single Crocheted scarf in Lion Brand Chunky USA for John - colorway Denim.
Long color block scarf in Coffee and Buff Red Heart Classic, trimmed all around in black. A second scarf for John. I did not like the drape of the Lion Brand scarf so I whipped this one up as a fall back. I gave him both of them though. I love the speed of crochet!!!

Lots of stash enhancement going on. I still need to take photos. One item is this kit from Oomingmak Qiviut Coop. I have cast on the False Cable Cap. More exquisite softness.


Full photo spread in my Flickr photostream and my Projects Folder in Ravelry.