Woolly Mutts

On the needles

Along with movies and work and still feeling crummy (along with the majority of the Midwest) there has been knitting.  Currently on the needles:

Basic feather and fan comfort shawl using some stash Silk Garden.  Colors are a bit more intense than in the pic.  Love the pattern and how fast it grows, but not sure I'm completely in love with the colors.  Don't hate them enough to quit.  Great tv and movie knitting as the rows are getting long and only one in four require any sort of thinking. Hope blocking defines the pattern a bit more.

Boheme for baby CJ as a Valentine's Day gift using Briar Rose Grandma's Blessing. Last year's V-day included the very first knitted gift to a newly preggers mommy to put away for baby to come.  Cambria has already out grown them and a tradition of knitted offerings has been established.  Boheme is a sweet little baby vest that I'm hoping will fit now.  Sizing begins at 6mo so I went with smaller needles and a prayer of success to get something closer to a 3 mo size.  Nice pattern, especially after I figured out that YF is the same as YO.  Only had to rip back 3 rows.  I think I'm cruising along well now.  

I'm really trying hard to knit mostly from stash and it's easier than I expected. I still lust after the new and wonderful and plan to do some damage at Sheep in the City come February at the Briar Rose booth, but overall there is no reason I could not knit for years to come using only what is stored in the yarn closet. 

Contemplating making a purchase of a set of interchangeable needles and am leaning toward the Addis. Anyone have an review of them, or any other set, they would be willing to share?

Still in love. (With my husband and Minnesota.)

Greeting from glorious, if slightly damp, Grand Marais, MN.  Since most of you follow me on facebook, it's no surprise that we have again made our way to the north woods for a few days of escaping reality.  The fact that I have managed to catch some one's cold/flu/whatever is a small bump in the road, but even if all I do is sit in this fabulous room, knit, read, and watch the waves roll in, I'll be perfectly happy.

We arrived Sunday late in the day and stayed one night in an upper level room that was lovely, but I had a small wish list (tv in bedroom, bathtub) and when we asked if any such room was available we were escorted to the room that we will now ask for each time we come.  Room 108 at East Bay Suites is my new favorite place in the world.  The view is not quite so spectacular as the higher level rooms, but to be able to just walk out our door to the rocky beach is pretty fantastic.  Add a Japanese soaking tub, kitchen, washer/dryer, fireplace, king size bed....oh...dishwasher...I am loving a dishwasher..I could be happy here a long time. 

Due to my meh-ness we haven't done anything much other than drive a few back roads and a bit of shopping.  When next I post I will wax poetic on the fantastic yarn store they have here. 

Even the rain in Minnesota is beautiful.

Serendipity

During our quick trip through the Stitches market several weeks ago I made a local discovery: Carol Sunday. Seeing that she was located in Roscoe, I stopped in, said hello, and instantly fell in love with her pattern for holly mittens.

(I have borrowed these images from Carol's website and please go there and view all of her beautiful designs.)

Having a name like Holly makes one pay attention to holly items, and perhaps also makes one VERY picky about said holly items.  These mittens are just divine and presented themselves at exactly the perfect time since I am just about ready to jump into the wonderful world of color work.

So, back to our story, I purchase the kit for the mittens and she tells me that, regrettably, she does not have the kits for my chosen colorway, but can send them to me.  I reply that I would be pleased to drive up and pick it up when ready to save her the shipping fees.  We agree that she will phone me when it is ready.  Last week the kit was ready, driving directions were given, and on Friday morning I headed the short distance north to pick up my kit.

Carol and her husband Robert live down an idyllic, tree lined road in a 160 year old stone house that I fell in love with the minute I saw it.  As soon as I pulled in the driveway and had a chance to take in the wonderfulness that is the Sunday home I wanted to wrap my arms around it and give it a hug.  For me, who is admittedly quirky, it was perfection. 

Carol was kind and welcoming and allowed me into her studio (again with the perfection) where I picked up my kit.  She was even kind enough to give me a tour of the inside of her home.  After this lovely meeting I bid her farewell, went back to my car and discovered...

.....that my keys and cellphone were locked inside.  Grrrr.  I hate when I'm stupid.  Luckily Amazing Husband was working from home and Carol kindly allowed me to use her phone to call for my rescue.  While I waited Carol offered me tea, but I was feeling terrible taking up more of her day since she was preparing for a show that she was leaving for in a couple of hours (if I could get my stupid, locked car out of her way), so I asked if I might walk around her property.  "As you wish" was her reply, which made me adore her even more. 

The next 20 or so minutes were so beautifully spent that I almost believe that powers beyond me were at work to make them happen.  I walked up and down the dirt road as leaves fell around me.  I saw geese fly overhead, absorbed the cool breeze, and made the acquaintance of several of the resident kitties.  Carol came back outside and we visited a few more minutes before AH arrived to unlock my car and send me on my way.

I do believe that occasionally, if we are lucky and open to the possibility, serendipity happens and we make discoveries that feed the soul.  I do hope you'll visit  Carol's website and see her beautiful designs and fiber.  She is a talented artist and a genuinely nice person.  I'll keep you posted on how the mittens turn out.  I also purchased a kit to make the Sunday Scarf which makes very creative use of short rows.  Carol also has a designer page on Ravelry.

Knitting for the wee one.

Just in case anyone was concerned, the knitting is still happening here in Muttville.  I finished a little pair of socks to match the beaded hat and let me tell you that I am DONE with knitting with beads for awhile.  The hat was bad enough with endless (ok, I'm being dramatic here. It is only a baby hat.) stockinette stitch and those gall darn, beautiful, sparkling beads to contend with.  The socks went fast and I just plain gave up on trying to keep all the beads on the outside.  Rav page here. I was considering ordering more yarn and doing a matching sweater, but then I reconsidered and went with more sanity and less beads.

On the needles now is an adorable little layette set using Berocco Comfort DK. Click to embiggen, as always.  The book is "little sweet peas" by SIRDAR and the pattern is design A.  (Catchy title, huh?) This was my first experience with a SIRDAR pattern and I had to do a little research to discover that yfwd is the same thing as yo.  Live and learn.  It is a well written, easy to follow pattern, but I wish the lace pattern was charted.  Does anyone know of a program that allows you to type in the written pattern and then charts it for you?  

 

The body is completed and I'm working on one sleeve now.  The pink is so sweet and delicate, perfect for a newborn.  Every since I used the Berocco Comfort for THE blanket I've been a convert.  I have not been a fan of anything with even a whisper of acrylic in the past, but Comfort has won me over.  The DK is no different, soft, easy to knit with, washes up like a dream.  It is my new go-to baby and child yarn, and I may even make something for myself using it. 

This weekend is the Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair.  Will I see you there?  Trina and I are going on Saturday.  Chris (from Briar Rose), can't wait to see you!!!!!

Yarn people

Yesterday AH and I took the hour long drive, in glorious weather, to Madison to visit our favorite yarn people, Briar Rose Fibers.  The Madison Knitting Guild was hosting a Knit-In (featuring the Yarn Harlot as guest speaker) and Chris had a booth in the vendor area.  She was kind enough to set aside a few yarns that would work for the NEW BABY!!! and I never pass up an opportunity to fondle the Briar Rose goodness.  There is no question that I am romanced by yarn, my house will attest to that, but purchasing yarn from wonderful yarn people is as good as it gets.  I adore Chris and her hubby who stands by patiently while Chris and I hug and gush.  I decided on a lovely green/rose combination because we both agree that the baby will be a girl.  If not, I will save it for the next girl in line.  I also snatched up some Celebration, Wistful....and....this wonderful colorway of Grandma's Blessing.  I took about 20 pictures to come up with a good representation of the colors in one skein.  It reminds me of the twilight sun shining through a northern pine forest.  Now that Serenity is complete (more on that later) I am going to take this lovely Grandma's Blessing (so LOVE the name) and knit an easy shawl for myself.  The first ball is wound and I will cast on today.  After going cross eyed with charts on Serenity, I am ready for a little simple knit and purl. 

And there she is, Serenity, all finished and blocking.  Hard to see a cream blanket on a white blocking board so click to see larger.  I realize that blocking an acrylic blend is a lesson in futility, but look how fabulous it is!  I keep going down and touching it and gazing in amazement.  This is, by far, the best thing I've ever knitted and the project I am most proud of.  I am a little sad that, being an acrylic blend (Berocco Comfort) it won't block out the detail, but I fully intend to make another. There was nothing about this project that I didn't love.  The yarn, which does tend to split, was soft and a joy to knit with and the pattern could not have been better.  Well written with fabulous charts.  I used stitch markers to help make the pattern repeats easy to see and placed the pattern in a plastic cover using a wide strip of blue painters tape to keep track of what row I was working on.  Can't wait to take all the pins out and see what happens.  The waiting is the hardest part!

Final, after blocking picture.

New year, new project.

I've been at a loss for the past couple of weeks.  All holiday knitting was completed and then the yarn room was dismantled and trying to find a pattern and fiber needed was a lost cause.  Yesterday, as I settled back into a routine, I made the choice of a new knitting project; Obstacles Shawl by Anne Hanson.  I had purchased this pattern, and the fiber needed, several months ago and after some Ravelry  research it was time to cast on.  The fiber I'm using is Briar Rose Legend in this really amazing grape purple color with little hits of blue and green.  I've never met a Briar Rose fiber I didn't fall instantly in love with and such is the case with Legend.  Click picture to see it bigger.  It's beautiful yarn.

It was impossible to get a good picture (for me, anyway) of my progress, but shown is one full pattern section.  As with all Knitspot patterns, the instructions are clear and the pattern is easy to memorize and fun to knit. Anne is really an inspired designer.  Can't imagine how she comes up with all those lovely ideas.  The dark color doesn't show off the pattern to it's best advantage, but I'm still happy with it.  The stitches create a really cool sort of structural texture.  A good start to another year of happy knitting days.

Still waiting for book suggestions.  Come on Schmidts, I know you're out there.

Stitches - instant replay

We came, we saw, we purchased, and we left, all in less than 2 hours.  Am I good, or what?  For those of you readers that are not fiber inclined, you might want to pass this one up.  It's going to be somewhat lengthy and filled with yarn.  Just saying.

Stitches Midwest was held in a new venue this year and what an improvement!  We arrived around 10:30 on Saturday morning and found decent parking, which in itself was somewhat miraculous.  Since I had purchased our tickets online we walked right past the ticket sales and directly into the show.  The room was large, the aisles wide and I had already scoped out who I wanted to visit and what I wanted to purchase.  The first thing we saw as we entered the room was a very muscular, shirtless dude standing by the SWTC booth handing out rub on tattoos and bookmarks.  Interesting marketing.  AH and I were somewhat amused.

We hit WEBS first and fought the crowds to see if they had enough of what I wanted.  No luck (I was looking for multiple skeins of Malabrigo or Donegal Tweed) and even though they do a great job of setting up and making it clear where to find things, the crowd was just too much for me.  MUCH easier to just order online.  I did spend quite a bit of time looking at the Rowan Colourscape  Chunky (the Kaffe Fassett line) and as lovely as it is, I just couldn't find a colorway that really spoke to me.  I walked away. 

After WEBS we walked up and down each and every aisle and I have to admit that I'm in a yarn rut, or maybe I just know now what I like and stick with it.  I spend the majority of the time and my budget at the Brooks Farm booth.  They have a line of superwash wool called Solona that really spoke to me so I bought enough of this to make the Babies and Bears Sweater. I also bought a few other skeins of different colorways to make myself a beret and mittens. It reminded me of Dream in Color with the squishy soft feel, but the color selection was more varied. Brooks farm never disappoints when it comes to yardage and price, not to mention color. 

The one thing that I did buy that was on my list (lists, why do I even bother?) was a Carolina Yarn Bell. You can see it there in the background.  I had been eyeing them in magazines for awhile and decided to give it a try.  It certainly isn't the most portable knitting accessory, but we have a cat that loves to drag off my working yarn and I think this will keep her from doing that.  And, it's pretty.  I'm a sucker for pretty.

Speaking of pretty, the other yarn purchase I made was from the Hand Painted Knitting Yarns booth.  This one really snuck up on me, but i can't wait to cast on.  I bought a giant bundle to make a shawl (pattern included) that was featured in a Knit N Style recently.  I remember seeing the shawl, but not being familiar with the creators of the yarn.  Rex and Bjorn were a hoot and super helpful. It looked like they had a good selection of other yarns as well, so I'll have to put them on my list of vendors to check out at other shows. 

On the way out the door I stopped at the HUGE Yarn Barn booth and grabbed a few back issues of the Rowan magazines and a pair of Lantern Moon rosewood needles, which, btw, I LOVE, and we headed out for lunch at CPK and a stop at LUSH before going home.

Overall, this new venue is much easier to access and a better feel.  The room was large, but it seemed like there were fewer vendors this year.  Might just have been me. A very large area was available with tables and concessions, which is a plus if you're spending the day and need to have a sit and think about a purchase. Though there was a decent bunch of people, it wasn't so crowded that you couldn't see things, with the exception of a few uber-popular booths.  I would have purchased a pair of the new Signature needles, but you couldn't get near the place.  If you are going with something specific in mind and especially if you need multiple skeins, Saturday is too late.  There were already shortages of many of the newer yarn lines and limited color choices.  WEBs especially was pretty picked over.  I can't imagine what was left today.  Even so, I had a lovely time, saw some beautiful yarn and will go again next year. 

Midwest Fiber and Folk

On to something a little happier than my employment status.  Everything went as expected, btw.  No drama of any kind.  I am officially a free agent, woo hoo.  On Saturday BFFs Trina and Nancy went with me to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Festival.  I had gone last year and was very, VERY impressed with this show so despite the threat of rain and lung clogging humidity we hit the road in search of fiber inspiration.  This year the location changed from a park on Crystal Lake to McHenry County Community College. I think I loved the previous location more, but the new location had much of the marketplace indoors, which was a plus.  The vendors were spread out through the building in a somewhat confusing way, but we found who we were looking for and had a lovely time. 

  First stop, Briar Rose Fibers.  Let me count the ways I LOVE Briar Rose Fibers.  Wait, I can't.  There are too many.  Chris is just a sweetheart who always remembers me when I enter the booth and who I really wish lived closer to me because I just know we would be great buds.  Briar Rose has a pretty amazing selection of fiber weights and her colorways are so lovely.  Earthy and vibrant and yummy.  Fabulous prices for such generous yardage amounts.  From her I purchased a fun kit to make a knitted fabric tote.  Rustic Tote Kit, to be more specific.  The fabric is cut into strips that you need to connect (using a genius knot technique) and wind into a ball before beginning.  I started knitting last night and am IN LOVE.  My fabric stash has new meaning now.  Also purchased from her was two skeins of Abundance to make the Totally Autumn Throw.  Picture in no way depicts the fabulous green/gold/brown colorway that will be perfection for my family room.  Planning to cast on for that today (since I'm all free as a bird and all.).  I'm already looking forward to seeing Chris again at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson.

   Next up was Brooks Farm.  The first encounter I had with Brooks Farm was at Stitches where I couldn't even get near the booth. I didn't get it then, but I sure do now. Brooks Farm has a HUGE selection of fiber.  Their booth took up one whole end of the outdoor tent. From them I purchased a couple of skeins of Duet to make another Clapotis. (Again, rotten pic. Morning light is BAD for picture taking.) I know everyone and their mother has one, but I also know why.  It's a fairly quick, really fun knit that produces a shawl/scarf/stole that is versatile and beautiful.  I wear mine frequently in all seasons.

I had done my homework before I went to the show and may I take a minute to sing the praises of Ravelry yet again?  I went to the show website and picked a few of the vendors from the printed list.  Then I went to their websites and found the names of the fiber.  After that I went into Ravelry and searched the yarn names to see what other knitters had to say about it.  I came away with a great list of fiber choices and ideas for projects so instead of wandering the show aimlessly (which is also ok and loads of fun) I went with a plan of attack.  Thank you Ravelry!

  We browsed a bit more and then headed home for an early afternoon viewing of Mama Mia!  What a fun day.  Friends, fiber, food, movies....FABULOUS!

Yarn Shop Shout Out!

I would like to give a big, happy SHOUT OUT to Flying Fingers Yarn Shop in Tarrytown, NY.  On Thursday I frantically searched for an online shop that had 2 skeins of Colinette Tagliatelli that could get it to Illinois FAST.  I wanted it to arrive quickly enough to take with me on our trip north on Tuesday.  Flying Fingers had what I wanted, shipped it super fast and even included a nice hand written note.  That kind of customer service deserves mention.  Dig this pic of their "Yarn Bus" (that I snagged off their website.) which transports happy yarn shoppers to and from NYC.  If I ever make it out east again I will be sure to make a stop at Flying Fingers.  Thanks for helping to keep a yarn search from becoming a yarn crisis.

Mom update:  Thanks to all for the kind phone calls and emails regarding my mother and her little scare last week.  She is much improved and hasn't seen anything that wasn't really there since Friday night.  We are all breathing a little easier.   

Back to the land of fiber.

Today I go back to work and I'm a little nervous.  When I decided to take a few months off I had good reasons and some of them have not been resolved.  For the most part, though, I think truth has been spoken and there is at least a chance that the train is back on the track and heading in the right direction.  My job will have changed a bit and a special new staff person (my dear friend Trina) has been added so I think I have reason to feel positive.  Still, I've got a few "here we go again" butterflies. 

Working again will mean a couple of things for this blog.  First, my time will be more limited, and since I am not one of the lucky ones that can blog from work, posting might be a little more sporadic.  When there is posting, it may be a bit more fiber related.  For those knitters in my readership, I'm sure that will be a nice change.  For those family members that could not care less if I knit with Malabrigo or Red Heart, I apologize.  My blog is about my life, such as it is, and I write as I think.  I will strive for a nice happy medium.

Going back to work also meant finding a knitting project that I can work on during the quiet moments and pick up and put down without too much thought or pattern to follow.  I decided on "My So Called Scarf" using size 11 needles and some Wool in the Woods Sophie that I had in my stash.  It's 50% wool and 50% llama and is lovely to work with.  It has a mohair like halo, but no shedding. The stitch pattern is deceptively easy with a complicated looking result.  I am most pleased. 

So, off to work I go.  Wish me luck. :-)