Everglade or my baby poo hat !

One of the ladies in our knit and chat groups started knitting this hat, 'Everglade' by woolly wormhead which  immediately drew my attention. A nice wide rib hem and a little slouch on with this half leaf intermittent stitch pattern I was wanting to try since the free Ginko shawl started circulating about.

A very quick and easy knit which was knitted leisurely in one cold February weekend. I used one of my past knitspot club yarns. -Andrea Mae DK, 100% superwash merino by Studio June yarn, hand dyed in Kalamazoo, MI. The colour 'Beligian wheat' appealed to me but what I saw as a lovely dull yellow darkened slightly by murky grey was picked at my knitting group as a baby poo color .. One of our ladies given birth recently and her lovely baby girl attends our meeting on a regular basis- hence the color inspiration :-D
I don't really mind that, I do love my yellows- they make me happy !

 

Portage !

Portage is one of those patterns that commands you to drop everything else on your needles and frantically go stash diving or web browsing for the right yarn. I had the perfect yarn for it but just under right amount. It didn't deter me from casting on. Do I ever learn?
I used 5 skeins of Hedgehog fibres , Blue faced DK in Ferrum- a lovely color which can described as olive green mingled with brown. Those 5 gorgeous skeins were the cyclist knitter's discards which I happily scooped away..

There are some very attractive details here. The back is textured with hundreds of tiny cables that you are strongly advised to knit without a cable needle. The pockets are created by extending and shaping  the bottom bit of the shawl collar, folded backwards on itself and carefully sewn on to the cast off edge and sides. I love the extra long sleeves with the ribbed cuffs folded backwards for extra warmth and stability. I also applied tubular cast off to the ribbed hem - that edging always make me happy and worth all the extra work.

All was well up to the garter shawl collar which consumed scary amounts of yarn. I knew I wont have enough for it and the pockets. Hedgehog notified me that the blue faced dk base won't be in stock until March but 2 skeins of ferrum were up for sale in the states. I bought them but for my dismay they were totally flat and dark sludgy brown. I persevered with 3 balls knitting in stripes to try to blend the colors together and it worked ! I love it and well please with it.

 

Only couple of modifications here first a shorter hem to try to save yarn and it still look generously long overall. Secondly I had to enforce and tidy up the pockets top edges with single slip crochet because of the 3 balls knitting.

 

 

Totally recommend the pattern- go and make yourselves a portage !

shaken and stirred

This is a shaken or stirred by Tea Colman. An attractive top down, shawl collared cardigan with some colour work and nice details.

Some people have a strong eye for colour, I'm not one of them but once I see a colour combination in front of me I just know if it goes. So I picked dark grey and orange for the stripes, knitted the body and hem, cast off and then paused. I was not convinced. It looked too childish and too busy so the body was frogged and reknit. I left just few stripes at the bottom and made it longer. Simple but classic.

I always coveted the luxurious madelintosh pashmina but I'm afraid it was the wrong yarn for this project. I should have picked something a bit more bouncy and less drape-y. Here is a close up of the shoulder shaping and stitch detail- lovely .

 I've discovered Robin Hobb and totally engaged in her books. It doesn't help with my knitting though. I do envy those who can knit in a car (as a passenger of course) and I wish I knew how to knit and read at the same time.  Happy holidays !

Marin Shawl !

The 2nd travel project I took to New York was the Marin shawl.

Again I'm in awe of Ysolda's design prowess. The shawl is cleverly knitted so all those placed cables at the edges that creates the edging curves and the cables that make those beautiful 'X's are totally reversibly. Beautiful use of garter and rib here. The shawl was designed to be symmetrical, knitted from side to side although one side of mine is longer than the other as I wanted to use all of the precious cashmere.

close up of cable in shape of 'X'

Close up of cable that helps create an edge curve.

short rows that make the extra fabric that curves around the shoulders.

The yarn is Cashmere lace from Hedgehog fibres which is held double knitted in 3.5mm circulars.
I have purchased it few years ago in a 'Copper penny'. The name very much fits the colour. Rusty copper with teal/green bursts. Look at the close ups and marvel at the dye work.. Caroline knitted hers also in hedgehog cashmere- isn't her colours just striking?

 

 Totally recommend the pattern- it was a joy to knit.

The New York Crow Watlz !

The crow waltz shawl was in my queue as soon as it appeared on Loop's site. I even bought some old maiden aunt to knit the shawl version in purple and brown.

Loop's sample

This summer I went to visit a good friend of mine and going through her stash ( yes , this is what good friends do !) I noticed two gorgeous woolly skeins and could not ignore the call. Things could not get better when my friend wished her skeins gone from her stash :-)
 The more variegated one called metallurgy -greys blues and rust ,but I have no name for the grey with light purple tones. I could just envision how beautiful they would look together..

www.skeinyarn.com

I think the linen stitch pattern for the body of the shawl is perfect to use with variegated yarns. you get a woven effect, almost tweedy. The trick is not to knit the shawl too tight and in fact for all the rows that you slip stitches with the yarn at front you use larger circular needle than the one to purl the wrong sides. The fabric is airy and drapery as a result.

The lace edges are knitted first. I knew they are going to be a pain so for about a month I just knitted couple of repeats here and there. I knitted two bands and then grafted together to created a symmetry. I used 4 ply yarn and not sport so I added about 6-7 repeats more on each side to compensate. Then it is very easy to pick all the stitches through the slipped stitches of the lace repeats and knit and decrease until reaching the 'base' of the triangle .I took this shawl to New York and this was my easy project.



wrong side facing

Am very please with it- success !! 

New York and Rhinebeck 2014 !

 

 Here are few snapshots of my trip to Rhinebeck and New York;

 The trip to Rhinebeck was organised months ahead. We took the train line- metro north from Grand central New York to Poughkeepsie which was the last stop. Stunning views along the Hudson although autumn colours were less pronounced comparing to two years ago. Ran like mad to get places on  the shuttle bus and planned to reach our favourite dyers first. So did hundreds others :)
Queues were unbelievably long so I left my Miss Babs goodies only to encounter another massive queue in dragonfly yarns stand. Not willing to let go this time, I withstand sudden showers and cuddled my skeins for extra warmth and protection. A steaming lamb and barley soup lifted up my spirits and I was reunited with the glass needles stand and moving mud buttons. Expensive but ever so pretty and regal.

 

 Here is Caroline with her stunning monomania. We happen to see quite a few of those. This is one of my favourite photos of the trip.

The journey back to New York wasn't that comfortable. The shuttle bus was late to leave the show grounds and we arrived to Poughkeepsie, literally a minute before the train left the station. I felt sorry for the elderly who could not run as fast as us. Alas, the train progressed for couple of minutes and then stopped - some technical failure. We had to walk in a column back to the beginning of the track and join a different train. Couple of stations later and we were packed like sardines without much leg room  as everybody it seemed was carrying either bags full of wool or apples. The train was moving incredibly slow- the locals were eager to inform us about this incident where the train derailed into the Hudson and people were being killed as a result!! We were so tired once we reached the hotel we didn't even meet for our customary show and tell.

This trip was such an indulgence for me. No kids and husband tugging along, lots of yarn fumes, girlie laughs and chats, long walks, nice food and shopping galore!

I even got to learn  some basic spinning from Jill my lovely room mate..

I had to take this shot of a sweater by Stella McCartney - A three (or four?) sleeved top anyone??

Two shawl projects were taken to this trip just in case I ran out of knitting - what was I thinking ??
but that is to a later post..x