Knitting Battlemaidens

Testing Testing 123!

Got an iPhone for my birthday and am checking out how the Typepad app works!

To-do List

Well, now that the baby boy is getting a bit more independent, I've had time to do a bit of knitting again.  I recently finished another Trellis sweater, and am making good progress on brooklyntweed's Girasole shawl.  I have a pile of other projects that need to be started once the shawl is done, including a pair of Aran Isle house slippers from the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2008 issue, the Lizard Ridge afghan, a pair of socks, the Knit Picks Kimono-styled Sweater (still needs half of the body and another sleeve done), a few knitted mice that need felt ears and eyes attached, and Sheldon with some of his costumes.  Oh, and there's the Shetland lace shawl, which is creeping along at a snail's pace.  I am beginning to think I'll be lucky to have it done in time so that it can be wrapped around me when I'm laid into a coffin.

Here are some pics of the latest baby sweater.   The buttons are my new favorite: thin pieces of deer antler.  They come in light or dark colors, and I get them at the Weaving Works in Seattle's U-District.

S

The Ultimate Knitter's Christmas Present

You really can't top this.  My husband made a cedar chest for me for Christmas.  What's cooler than that- it's all recycled materials.  The chest is constructed log cabin style of stacked 2x2 cedar rails that came from some remodeling that was done to our house.  The old, weathered outsides were planed off, revealing beautiful salmon/toffee colored wood.  The darker stripe around the side is purpleheart that was from an old fence.  The lid and bottom have wider cedar planks, which came from an old telephone pole.  And the two rose colored strips on the lid are from a wine vat.  I believe all the cedar is local Western Red Cedar, as it grows to massive size in this area.  I'm surprised at how strongly the wood smells, for having been previously out  in the weather for years.  I wore a scarf the other day that had been in the box for three days, and it took hours for me to figure out that the soft cedar smell that I kept getting a whiff of all day was the scarf around by neck. (No- I'm not slow.  We live in a cedar-sided house in the northwest, start fires in the wood stove with cedar kindling everyday, and do numerous crafts that involve hording interesting pieces of wood in our home, so there's a lot of it around!)  After winter is over, I always wash all of the hand knit mittens and hats to store for the summer, and the box is plenty big for all of it.   -M

Babies "R" Us

So, I acquired two nephews and a niece this summer (thanks for doing your bit, S!)  And, since I spent so many hours of my pregnancies sewing tiny clothes, I still get the urge to dust off the old Brother sewing machine when I see little ones.  The Brother sewing machine is from the late sixties, or as far as I can tell from the style of the illustrations on the manual cover.  I received this one free from a neighbor, and asked at the sewing store if they were good machines.  The guy asked, "Is it heavy?" "Yeah, weighs a ton." "Then it's a good one!" I guess that the quality has gone down over the years, but luckily mine appears to be solid steel!  I do oil it up every time I use it after ignoring it for months.  So, here's some pics of cute bibs.
 

I also made a cute set of bibs, burp cloths, and a matching polka-dot blanket, but of course didn't get a photo of any of it.  Unfortunately there are no photos of any finished knitting items, as school sucks up all of my "free" time.  Hopefully I can turn something out during Thanksgiving weekend, as I huddle inside with the curtains drawn on Black Friday.

-M

M is on etsy!

My talented sister M is now offering her woolen goodies for sale to the world.   Check her out!

Sasquatch Fiber Arts, an etsy shop.

- S.

November? Seriously?

S-

You have a newborn to excuse your absence, but I had no school or work all summer and still didn't post a thing.  Yes, the last time I posted was November.  Unfortunately, I don't have a whole stack of sweaters to show for it.  But I dug through the closet and came up with some FOs (dating back to summer '07) that I haven't blogged about yet.  Every summer I think I'll get so much knitting done, but the truth is I only knit while watching movies, and only about half the time.  So, with daylight lasting from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm, I'm to busy to sit and knit.  There are still more items that I made and gave away without photographing (I'm the type who darns in yarn ends in the car on the way to the party).   I'll post some more as I track down people and make them pose.

First, the Jamison gansey from the last two Christmases, actually finished in time for the last one.  It looks pretty lifeless on that little hanger, as the recipient has broad shoulders and fills it out perfectly.   

On the right is the Anthropology Caplet, in bright blue shade of Berkshire Bulky that is unflattering to my complexion, "Light Blue" I believe.  I like the quick little pattern, though, and ordered more in "Stone Blue" -  a toned-down pale grayish blue.   I really am pleased with the Berkshire Bulky.  It is a very even bulky singles of alpaca and wool that makes a great substitute for Rowan Polar.  I'm also adding a lacy crocheted border to this next one instead of the ribbing, to make it a little dressier.  I'm still not sure if boleros/ caplets are a good idea for me, as I have a flat chest and high, square shoulders.  On me they tend to say "football player" instead of "sexy."

Next is Ysolda's Cloud Bolero (slightly modified) in discontinued Jaeger Chamonix on the left and Alchemy's Ingenue (please don't be scared by the model or the description, the pattern is quite innocent- is that a snarl?) in Classic Elite Premiere on the right.  They both have shedding problems, though.  The Chamonix isn't bad for an angora yarn, but the Premiere annoys me.  Little fibers rub off on the waistband of my pants when I were this top, and a  cotton/ tencel yarn just shouldn't preform like that.  I can't find any real pills on it, and it is as soft as butter, but I have to be careful what I wear with it.  I will definitely knit this pattern again, but maybe picking a smaller size with no ease.

Later I'll post some sewing projects I did this summer.

-M

March? Seriously?

Has it really been that long since either of us has written anything here?  Life has a way of getting in the way of our precious crafty time.  I have a bunch of half-finished projects to show for my half-hearted efforts over the spring and summer and fall...some mouse-shaped baby toys that still lack ears and eyes, a Baby Surprise Jacket that needs to be seamed and I can't figure out the best way to do it, 3/4 of a cabled sock, half of yet another Trellis sweater (this time it's for MY kid and I'm not giving it away to a friend), several inches of border for the Sheelagh shawl (boy was I optimistic about getting THAT done this year...what was I thinking?), and an almost-there Kimono Sweater. 

My problem is not a lack of time or motivation, but that I have not yet mastered the fine art of knitting while holding or nursing a new baby.  I can manage to get only one hand free at a time.  Perhaps I should stick with crochet...?

S

Gladys Amedro's Sheelagh Shawl

This week I finished yet another baby sweater and matching hat - the sweater had been languishing unseamed and without buttons in my to-do pile for months.  Now, with most of the half-finished projects cleared out of the basket, I was ready to tackle the next beast - making a Shetland lace shawl for the eventual baptism of the bun in my oven this fall.

I looked through several pattern books before I found the right piece; here are the books I consulted, which, though they didn't contain the winning shawl, did have lots of helpful advice:

• Sharon Miller, Heirloom Knitting
• Meg Swanson, A Gathering of Lace
• Martha Waterman, Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls

There are plenty of other books out there containing sample lace stitch patterns, but since this is my first project I wanted toa full pattern with lots of guidance.  Maybe after this one I'll be brave enough to try putting together my own mix of patterns.

So the Sheelagh shawl I picked is from the now out-of-print and hard-to-find Gladys Amedro's Shetland Lace.  The book contains both shawl patterns and basic stitch patterns, all written in the traditional Shetland knitting abbreviations (e.g., T = k2tog or ssk, c = YO).  I prefer to work from charts, so I not only had to translate the Scottish symbols into English/American, I also had to plot everything onto charts.  It's not the most user-friendly book in the world, but I actually enjoy charting because it forces me to read a pattern all the way through before starting and helps me puzzle through the structure of a new pattern better than if I just started knitting from a chart someone else made.   I made all my charts in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, which I'll post here if I can figure out how to do it.

One tricky part of that charting project was that Shetlanders apparently use the symbol T for both k2tog and ssk decreases, leaving it to the expert knitter to figure out which way the stitches should slant.  I had to refer to a few other books to learn what to do for the Print o' the Wave pattern.

I ordered a bag (ten 25g balls) of Jamieson's Cobweb Shetland 1-ply wool, undyed cream color, from Schoolhouse Press.  I had never seen this type of yarn before in any local stores and was surprised by just how thin it really is - it is like knitting with heavy sewing thread.  It appears to have been slightly starched before being wound into balls, because it feels a bit stiff - this is a great benefit because it keeps the knitting from collapsing into a mass of fluff, and helps you feel like you're holding something more substantial than a thin thread.  Working with it does take some getting used to, because you must hold the knitting loosely.

So, with all that preparation done, I finally cast on for the Sheelagh Shawl this week.  The pattern requires that you first knit a loooooooong strip of border, and then pick up stitches to knit the shawl's innards in the round.  The pattern calls for a basic pointy edge plus a repeat of Print o' the Wave, so it works out to about 34-37 sts per row.  A full repeat gives four waves plus three  pointy edges, 48 rows total.  And I have to do 40 of those!  So far I have, um, two repeats done.  Let's see - baby is due end of July, and I have 126 days to go before he arrives.  If I average a repeat per day, that will take 40 days, then I still have to do the monstrously huge center of the shawl.  Perhaps I need to pick up my speed and try to get two repeats done per day.  I think I'll set a goal of being done with the border by the end of April; that will give me May, June, and July to finish the rest of it.  Now I just have to figure out how to block this thing when it's done - should I get my husband to make me a frame like this?

More (what else) baby sweaters

M,

Three more baby sweaters to report.  The first is a Dale of Norway cabled sweater (like the one I made for some friends here) in a rustic tweed wool.  I found some lovely deer antler buttons that work well with it.  I think I'm keeping this one, in case the bun in my oven turns out to be a boy.

The next is a mini version of the Tulip Cardigan I made for your daughter.  I used alternating stripes of blue and green, and found a cute hook clasp for the neck instead of I-cord ties. 

The third sweater is actually a matching set - I have two former co-workers who are both expecting girls in the coming months (the same two who had boys at the same time and received these - their wives must be secretly coordinating the timing and genders of all this babymaking).  I wanted to make sweaters that would work in spring and summer weather, so I picked a recipe for a yoked lace sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac.  I decided to use the handdyed handspun yarn you gave me for my birthday this year, since you had given me about 6 oz and EZ's sweater recipe called for 3 oz of a Shetland or baby-weight wool.  I made a  modification to EZ's recipe ("Baby Sweater on Two Needles, Practically Seamless") because it originally called for knitting the sleeves flat and seaming them, but I knit them in the round and made the sweater truly seamless.  It's a cute pattern, and you can crank out a lovely baby gift in a few hours with a small amount of yarn.  I'm definitely keeping it on my short list for when I'm desperate for a gift idea.  I still haven't figured out what to do for a clasp at the neck - I omitted the buttonholes and figured I'd look for delicate silver hooks like the one I used on the mini-Tulip.

Next on my list, after EZ sweater No. 2 is done this afternoon, is to start on a long-term project. I ordered a large batch of Jamieson & Smith cobweb wool and plan to start Gladys Amedro's Sheelagh Shawl to use during the bump's eventual baptism this fall.  The pattern is in her out-of-print Shetland Lace book, which I scored at a used book store a while back.

S

Valentine's Day love letter to my Knit Picks interchangeable needles

How do I love thee, my interchangeable needle kit? Let me count the ways...

When I started knitting a few years ago I quickly accumulated an unmanageable collection of different needles: bamboo, old aluminum hand-me-downs, Addi turbos, cheap cables, double-points in different lengths and materials.  Every time I started a project I had to run to the store to buy the right sizes, and I could never remember what I already had or what brand I had bought and liked. 

After a particularly expensive trip to the store to buy some Addi cables, only to find out after swatching that I needed to go up a size and buy yet another pricey needle, I decided to invest in the Knit Picks Options interchangeable needle set.  I instantly fell in love - the needles are sharp and pointy, the joins with the cables are smooth, the cables aren't too tense or curly, the set is easy to use, and it is SUPER CHEAP to add to it with new needle tips or cable sizes. 

I ordered a starter kit that came with a black Daytimer-type zipper notebook to fit everything into.  I think this kit configuration has now been discontinued and you will instead receive a clear zipper pouch, so you'd have to order the zipper notebook separately.  I have managed to pack all my tools and needles (except for the 8" double-points) into this one notebook, and wanted to share some pictures of how I organized it all - in case anyone else out there wants some ideas!

Here is the organizer zipped up.  It's bulging a bit with all the goodies inside, but the zipper seems strong and hasn't popped on me yet!

In the inside front cover there is an open pocket and a pouch.  I keep a needle-sizer in the pocket and some random tools (scissors, needle-tip-changing pins, a stitch counter, small stitch holders) in the zip pouch.

The first "page" in the notebook is a three-part divider that contains some tags (useful to mark what size needle you were using if you move the needle tips off a cable mid-project to use them on another project), my bamboo cable needles, and a little Clover Chibi container of yarn needles.

The second and third pages are two-part dividers that contain a measuring tape and the little stoppers that you can screw onto the cables when you remove the needle tips (so the cables can be used as stitch holders) , and then two packets of different stitch markers.

   

The next few pages are three-part dividers that contain my needle tips.  I used a Sharpie marker to write down the US needle size and the measurement in millimeters on each pocket, so I know where to return the needles when I'm done with them (three pages like this, needle sizes US4 to US11).

The next pages are single large pockets that contain spare cables in different sizes, again written in permanent marker on each pocket (ranging in size from 24" to 60".

Two three-pocket pages hold the non-interchangeable smaller-sized cable needles (all in 24" size), ranging in size from 0 to 3.  These are long enough that I can't zip up the pocket, but they still fit into the organizer just fine.

The last page is a big pocket that holds all my crochet needles.  I have one set of small Boye steel needles for lace crochet, plus a lightweight set of Susan Bates Crystalite hooks in sizes G-P.

Last thing packed in the back cover is a pouch of Knit Picks 6" double-pointed sock needles (sizes 0 - 3).

Amazing that all this stuff fits into one little packet.  I love it - I have taken it camping, on long car rides, on airplanes.  It's great to have a portable kit and to know that everything I could possibly need is right in one place.

S