What I Do For Fun In Winter

Besides knitting, of course.

Every summer we spend at least one month on the Maine coast. What does this have to do with winter fun, you ask? Well, we always make sure to visit "I'm Puzzled" in Nobleboro, Maine during our summer vacation, to stock up on jigsaw puzzles. It's a tiny little place on Route 1 not too far from Damariscotta, owned by Bob Havenstein, a thoroughly charming gentleman who also sells kites and lobster. The first time we stopped there, we were astounded by the sheer number of jigsaw puzzles - thousands of puzzles ranging from easy children's puzzles to 10,000 piece juggernauts.

Half a year later, there comes a day when I start to come down with cabin fever: I've done all the laundry, read for 4 hours, knitted for 7, and finished cooking. What to do but go to the puzzle closet?

Here's van Gogh's "Sunflowers" - a 1,000 piece puzzle I just finished a few days ago:

van Gogh's Sunflowers

"Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, 1845" by Franz Xaver Petter

Just started this lovely still life - another 1,000 pieces. It seems easier than the sunflowers - more color variation, I guess. It's funny - I'm doing these puzzles on the living room floor, which could never have happened when Owain the Corgi was still alive - he would have come trundling over and stretched out contentedly right on top of the pieces!

Ada Lovelace sock detail

Of course, there has been some progress on the knitting front. I started the first of a pair of "Ada Lovelace" socks from a Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club kit I received last May. Finished the first sock on Tuesday, but only after deciding I really didn't like the fancy lace cuff - thus the simply 2 x 2 rib. Haven't started the second sock, because my guilty conscience caught up with me and forced me to recommence knitting on "Brea", Rowan's cabled pullover. Almost done - just one more sleeve to go!

Ada Lovelace sock #1

Brea Pullover - just one more sleeve to go!

Snow Day

Bright Socks for a Winter Day

February 1, 2011 - the sixth snow day of the school year - all since returning from holiday break. It looks like tomorrow, Ground Hog Day, may be the seventh. Sigh. One can only hope that it doesn't turn to ice. Roofs are sagging, icicles are nearing the ground.

Bright Socks for a Dark Winter

But all this snow does provide time for knitting, thus another pair of socks - the 3rd pair in 2011 - has been finished. I call these "Bright Socks for a Dark Winter", because the colors, and the fact that they seem to be mismatched, cheer me up. Plus, they're stash-busters! What could be better?

Speaking of stash busting, I've joined several "Stash Control/Stash Knit Down" groups, in an effort to get a handle on just how much yarn is upstairs, waiting for me to knit it into something. Or things. And I would have been, until 2 days ago, PROUD to claim that I haven't added new yarn to the stash this year. But.

On Sunday, January 30, 2011, I purchased 1608 yards (8 skeins total) of Quince & Co. yarn from the KnitWit yarn shop in Portland, Maine. Listening to Paula, of the Knitting Pipeline podcast, sing the praises of this new yarn line, started by Pam Allen, I simply couldn't resist. So, I bought 4 skeins of Chickadee, a sport weight wool, in "Petal", a gorgeous pale pink. It will become the Kilkenny Cowl (a Quince pattern). I also succumbed to the temptation of Tern, a wool/silk fingering weight blend. 4 skeins of Tern, in "Seaweed" will turn into the Bellefleur Shawl. Kudos to KnitWit for being the first (and only) yarn shop to carry Quince & Co. yarns  - and to the very friendly woman there who helped me with my purchase.

Quince & Co. Tern

Quince & Co. Chicadee

 

Bonnie Bishoff Shawl Pin

I also purchased, because I could not resist the loveliness of it - a shawl pin made by Bonnie Bishoff.

The good news - not that acquisition of more yarn is "bad", exactly - I've used up 3122 yards of stash yarn so far this year. That number will continue to rise, as I forge ahead on "Brea", a Rowan cabled pullover (I'm almost half done!), and I cast on today for a new pair of socks. I'm thinking I'll start one of the kits from BMFA Rockin' Sock Club. I subscribed to the club last year, but have not renewed my membership - I simply cannot justify a second year of shipments when I knitted only 2 of the 6 kits I received in 2010.

Now - off to cast on some socks!

I Love Saturday Mornings

The sun streams in through the front window, so brightly that I have to shade my eyes when I look outside. Icicles sparkle, snow gleams, and stray snowflakes drift by. I can hear a junco calling - one of the few animals brave enough to be out and about. I'm certainly not going out there: the deck pops and groans in the cold, so why should I risk it? I'd much rather sit here in the sunshine with my laptop warming my - what else? - lap!

Zig's on the couch under the afghan I knitted for his 40th birthday. That afghan is now 13 years old (Zig's 53rd birthday was the day before yesterday), but still keeps whomever it covers toasty and safe. "Weekend Edition" beams sanity into the living room, and I'm about to resume work on the first of a pair of stripey socks, using Koigu and Shibui Sock yarns. The socks are part of my effort to use up stash yarn - I've got enough sock yarn to knit up AT LEAST two dozen pairs of socks, whether they be top-down, vanilla, stockinette workhorse editions or toe-up, Cookie A./Cat Bordhi nouveau-construction-technique works of art. I have, after all, been a subscriber to several years' worth of Redbird Knits SOTM club (12 kits each year), and last year I subscribed to Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club (6 kits) AND Crown Mountain Farms "Knitting For Fun" Club (another 6 kits). Rather than assiduously keeping up with each shipment, I've allowed the kits to accumulate, unknit, to such a degree that I've lost count.


Yesterday afternoon, in between spates of shoveling, I started, but quickly frogged, the "Bunny Hop" sock pattern from Redbird Knits. I didn't care for the angora fuzziness, although the base yarn, Casbah Sock from Handmaiden Fine Yarn, is gorgeous. I'm thinking I'll save it for one of Romi Hill's small shawls - it's much too pretty to be hidden under jeans.

Handmaiden Casbah Sock Yarn

Also finished and blocked the "South Seas Table Runner" from Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark. I used Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy yarn rather than Euroflax Linen as called for, and I'm happy with the result, although I made some mistakes in the piece, so it's not good enough to give to anyone. I'm thinking I'll sew some beads to the four corners to give it some weight...

South Seas Table Runner

South Seas Table Runner detail

January 18, 2011

What should have been just another day at work morphed into a summer vacation day, courtesy of snow followed by sleet followed by freezing rain, followed by rain. Seems like the entire state of Connecticut had the day off; at least the public schools did. What's a woman to do, but stay at home, where it's safe and relatively un-slippery, and knit?

Husband's new Market Bag

This safe, dry knitter finished the second of two market (aka string) bags, using up virtually all of some unidentified hand-dyed cotton boucle´ for which there is no other aesthetically pleasing purpose. The first of these bags is going to the safe, dry knitter's husband, who is in dire need of a new (well, replacement) string bag, as he (the husband) trashed another string bag (just how does he DO this? how do you unravel a string bag with grocery items?) that the safe dry knitter had graciously knitted for him last year.

The second string bag is going to the safe dry knitter's father for his 84th birthday. The safe dry knitter is not quite sure that the octogenarian dad will know what to do with the string bag, but the octogenarian's wife will, so that's okay.

Dad's Market Bag

Now to summarize the other knitting that's happened since the Tucson post. After finishing the Pimpelliese scarf, I cast on for the famous "Citron", using Sanguine Gryphon's Sappho I lace yarn. I finished that on the plane from Tucson to Chicago. I'm please with the finished product, and look forward to wearing it one of these chilly winter days.

Citron Shawlette on the blocking board

Detail of Citron Shawlette

 After casting off Citron, I began Romi Hill's Merope, the first in her 7 Small Shawls to Knit booklet. I used Swan's Island Sock Yarn in a lovely, subtle ice blue color. That shawl screamed on the needles, at first (it starts with 3 stitches, so of course it's fast!), knitting up so quickly that I was on Row 70 before I knew it. The finished shawlette gave me my first experience at blocking lace, and just as every lace knitter has ever explained, the process seems magical - you start with a lumpy bunch of stitches and end up with a crisp, defined piece of art!

Merope on the blocking board - pinned to within an inch of its life!

Detail of Merope

Merope

Merope after blocking

Merope Shawlette

Edge detail of Merope

Interior of Merope shawlette

After finishing Merope, I cast on a pair of vanilla socks for Zig's birthday. Yes, he's already gotten several pairs of socks from me, but you can never have TOO many pairs of socks, right? Right?

Horned Lizard and Sock

Zig's Vanilla Socks knit in Opal yarn

Well, I began this post 3 days ago, but life interrupted, so I'm posting on January 21st, 2011. And guess what? It's ANOTHER snow day (which is why I have time to write) here in northwestern Connecticut. It's lovely as it falls, covering the old, dirty snow with a layer of lacy white, but shoveling awaits, when and if the storm stops.

What's next for knitting? I just finished the South Seas Table Runner - it's soaking before I block it on the board. Still working on Rowan's "Brea", a pair of "Tree of Life" mittens, and Robyn Gallimore's "Bunny Hop" socks. More soon on all of these projects!

Tucson Knitting, So Far

It's pretty obvious that I have more time than is usual. It's a rainy day here - VERY rainy for the desert - and we're all just hanging out for awhile before venturing out and about.

Pimpelliese looking purple

I cast on for Pimpelliese last Thursday at Bradley Airport while waiting for my flight to Chicago's Midway en route to Tucson. At the time, I was battling (and losing) an attack of stomach flu, so I didn't get very far. But I've since gotten better and have completed this lovely, simple, easy-to-memorize shawlette. It used less than 1 skein (100g) of YarnAddict Easy Care Merino sock yarn (sorry, it's been discontinued) that I received as a prize from Rachel of the Knitcents podcast. Thanks, Rachel! The color is a lovely variegated orchid, but it has a way of looking either very pink or very purple in these photos.

Pimpelliese looking pink

After completing that shawlette, I immediately cast on for the previously-viral pattern, Citron (from Knitty) using Sanguine Gryphon's Sappho I lace yarn in the "Bright-Voiced Nightingale" colorway, purchase in October at Stitches East in Hartford. I'm about 25% done - seems like more, but it grows exponentially as it's knitted. Never thought I'd succumb to the virus...I still haven't knitted a Clapotis, and it seems like I'm the only Raveler who hasn't!

Citron in Sappho I (sorry for the blur)

Citron in Sappho I - what is it with these weird color differences? I'm not changing any lighting or camera settings!

When (if) I finish the Citron while still away from home, no worries - I brought yarn and the pattern for Romi Hill's Merope shawlette from her Seven Small Shawls To Knit booklet. Here's the yarn - it's Swan's Island Sock Yarn in a lovely ice blue.

Swan's Island Sock Yarn for Romi Hill's "Merope" shawlette

That's it for now. No plans to visit any Tucson LYS's while here - there's no room in the suitcase for any stash enhancements.

The Christmas Season

It's been a tough - and very weird - autumn. My sister was dangerously ill in October (thankfully, she's much better now), and ever since then I've been under the weather myself, hit by a variety of ailments, the latest being a nasty stomach flu that I fell prey to on the very day I was scheduled to fly to Tucson for the holidays. Needless to say, the flight was a horror. But that's all over now, and all I'm contending with today is a chest cold.

Christmas has come and gone, and with it, a plethora of knitted gifts. As always, some were appreciated more than others. That's why I find myself knitting fewer gifts each year - if they don't get it, they don't get it! Get it?

Here are a few of the things I knitted:

Ornaments

I downloaded a pattern for Christmas ornaments knitted with sock yarn. Dug out scraps of sock yarn - mostly Koigu - and found some sparkly silver novelty yarn for the "sockets". These came out pretty well, and I gave them to friends.

 

The trick is stuffing them evenly so they don't look all lumpy.

The biggest Christmas project was a tree skirt that I designed myself. I had intended to surprise Zig with it, but it was too big a project to work on only when he wasn't home. I hoped that he would be his usual unobservant self, but one evening he asked me what I was working on, so I told him. He was really pleased, and loved what I'd done thus far. I finished it with time to spare, and it looks fantastic under the tree, even if I do say so myself!

 

 

Fair Isle Christmas Tree Skirt - not a great photo, but our old laptop (the one with all the good pics of the skirt) - was stolen.

Jess and her stocking along with a horrible pic of Stu - nice shorts, son.

I knitted Stu's girlfriend Jess a stocking this year. She was really happy about it. I also gave her a pair of self-striping socks, and the "Lena" scarf knit from yarn purchased at Stitches East this year from Kitchen Sink Dyeworks.

Jess and Penelope with the Lena scarf!

Johanna's Coffee Press Cozy

I gave both of my dear friends Pam and Johanna  a French coffee press with a "snuggly" or cozy:

Pam's Coffee Press Cozy

 

 

 

 

Pam's was knitted from String Theory sock yarn; Johanna's from Lollipop Cabin sock yarn (both with doubled strands).

 

 

 

 

There was other stuff, too - I used Mason-Dixon's pattern for felted Christmas trees and knitted a small forest to surround my cottage tea cozy - but again, the pics were on the stolen laptop. I do have them on CD, I think, but that's back in Connecticut.

"Snotlings" Stitch Markers. The name belies their incredible cuteness.

Last but not least, my son Abe presented me with the world's coolest and most unique (uniquest???) stitch markers!