New Pair of Socks on the Needles

It has been a long time since I knitted a pair of socks. The last pair was knitted more than 18 months ago. So, I thought it is just about time to get to work on another pair. This time I am using a pattern out of Cat Bordhi's e-book, Cat's Sweet Tomato Heel Socks. The pattern is a lace sock in fingering weight yarn called Minnesota Moonlight. I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and have used it in prior socks and basically bought the book just so that I could get the instructions on how to do the heel! But I have never done any of Cat's actual sock patterns. So of course I start with a lace pair!

The yarn that I have chosen is Crystal Palace Yarns - Mini Mochi (80% merino wool and 20% nylon) in color way "Beach". Shell pink, sky blue, sand beige, and green water is nice and summery for a pair of light summer socks. However, I fell in love with the color, before I thought about the yarn's construction. There is quite a bit of fuzz and a lack of twist in the yarn and this makes the yarn rather "splitty" and hard to knit itty-bitty stitches on US size 1 needles.

I am hoping these socks end up thin enough for me to wear in dressier shoes. All of the other socks that I have knit worsted weight socks, so these will be the first sock weight socks.

Happy knitting!

Spring Colors Are A'coming

The days are getting a little longer; today's temperature was significantly above freezing; and baseball spring training has started. That means that the trees should begin budding and my tulips will start to show themselves any minute now.

My little lace project that I started a couple of weeks ago using my hand-dyed, hand spun and plied yarn is going well, I have had to stop and ply additional yarn once and may need to do that again before the end of the week. The yarn is knobby and varies in thickness to give the lace a rustic look, but the BFL wool is soft and the yarn will feel nice on my neck when wearing it. I'm looking forward to finishing this one.

Happy knitting!

What Should I do with Left Over Yarn?

I completed the knitting on Jacklyn's Ginkgo yesterday evening. Before blocking it and to get an estimate of the yardage used for the shawlette, I weighed the remaining ball of yarn.and there is 47 of 100 grams left. Nearly an entire ball of yarn for some varieties that are only 50 gram balls. So, what to do with the left overs? I thought about knitting a set of matching lace wrist warmers, but I didn't know if that wide of a lace pattern -- 15 stitches across would look good on such a small object. Also figuring out how to center the lace panel so that it looks good on the back of the hand. . . A HAT! A slouchy-lace-beret-type hat. That was just the ticket.

So, I began researching the construction of slouchy hats by looking at patterns on one of my favorite resources: Ravelry. There, I found a few hundred free patterns using the term "Slouch Hat" and 34 in a fingering weight yarn. So I started reading patterns.

I am such a skeptic and sometimes it is hard to trust what I am reading. The shawlette pattern is a repeat of 15, so I decided to cast on 120 stitches; however, when I got to 120, I looked at it and said to myself, "you'll never get a head in there!" and cast on 30 more. Wrong, wrong, wrong! After 2 inches of a 1 X 1 rib, it was obviously too big for any head and I ripped out and started over with my original 120 stitches. (Lesson Learned.) But this time since 120 was a multiple of 4 I went with a 2 X 2 rib. After 2 inches of ribbing, I can tell you all those people who have written patterns for fingering weight yarn knew what they were doing when they cast on ~120 to 130 stitches.

I have finished the ribbing, knit one row and then increased the stitches to 150 by k4, m1. I will knit about 4 to 6 rows of stocking stitch and then start the lace pattern. Hopefully, this time will be the charm!

I have some knitting to get through.

Happy Knitting.

Preparing for Jury Duty

I remember the last time I was called for jury duty. It was several years ago when I still lived in Florida. I got a lot of knitting done on what turned out to be the ugliest sweaters I ever made. But several hours with nothing to do but knit sound wonderful! So, I am planning to take a three different projects with me. That way if I get tired of knitting on one project I can switch to something else.

 Project one is my Haruni, Grandmother's Wrap. As long as the lighting is good where potential jurors wait, I should get some lace work done. I worked on it for awhile on the train on Friday, but I will have to tink back to get rid of two extra yarn overs that I put in the wrong place. I would try to just slip them off, but they are 2 stitches apart and I know that they will leave the knitting in that area a little too loose. I know lace is supposed to have hole in it, but not big enough to drive a truck through! The blue headed pin marks where the extra yarn overs are.

Project two is Jacklyn's Ginkgo which I started just a couple of nights ago. I am still in the early part of the pattern which is basically just stocking stitch. This will be a great project to work on when my eyes tire or my patience wears thin on the intricate lace of the Haruni.

Project three is yet another Southern Lights Chullo this time for my husband. Charlie's Chullo is in a brown, black and orange color combination of Noro Hitsuji. The colorway also has a lime green in it, but I am cutting that out so that it will be closer to the Black and Orange of his favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants. Don't worry, the lime green won't go to waste -- I will have enough yarn left over to make me another hat with lots of green in it! My plans are to make similar modifications to the pattern as I did to my daughters: more coverage on the back of the neck as well as a swap of crochet spirals (on right) instead of pom poms.

A little light reading may be in order -- especially since Saturday saw the arrival of my latest used book: In Sheep's Clothing, A handspinner's Guide to Wool by Nola Fournier and Jane Fournier. This book looks at a hundred breeds of sheep and the characteristics of their wool. I am looking forward to digging into this classic.

I would like to take my spindle and some roving with me too. That will get me through a few more grams, but I am not sure what kind of room in us captive jurors will be kept. I guess I could take some with me anyway, maybe I will meet a fellow spinner and make a new friend!

Happy deliberating!

Grandmother's Wrap Update

After a long Thanksgiving vacation, I went back to work today and back to my commuting project, Haruni by Emily Ross. On the way home this evening, I completed row 28 of Grandmother's Wrap which is 3/4 of the way through the 1st repeat of Chart A. It is looking good and you can see the leaf detail clearly, but there is a long, knitting way to go. I am so glad I got the Addi Turbo Lace needles -- they have really made a difference.

Girly Girl Tunic

I am working on a baby sweater for an upcoming baby. I am not sure what baby yet, but as there are 5 expectant parents in my office right now, I am sure that one of them will be a girl -- hopefully a girly girl! The name of the pattern is Frills by Yarn Madness. I found the pattern when searching on Ravelry for a  lace baby dress. This can be a sweater or a dress with minor modifications. The pattern has been quick and easy to do so far.

I am excited about this sweater because I have never done a raglan top before. I am not sure why -- it has just never happened. But I really enjoyed the process of the increases -- it is very similar to increases in a couple of things that I have knitted recently. So maybe I will have to put a raglan sweater on my "to knit" list for me!

The yarn is Yarn Bee's Rainbow Wool. It is machine washable, which I think would be important to your average new mom. It is a bit scratchy, but I think that it is soft enough to wear in cold weather. I only bought one skein of this the other day just to try it out -- but I had no idea what I might knit with it. Now, I may have to run out tomorrow and see if there is any left. The pattern calls for 200 yards for the 3 month sized sweater and the skein has 204 yards. If I get a second skein, I will have plenty to finish it safely and I could even modify it to be the dress. That is what I get when flying by the seat of my pants.

Happy knitting!

Latest Lace Project -- Song of Songs

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. I am actually past the second corner and at about the 10th row on the 1st repeat of the body. I am knitting the True Love Stole from the book, Wendy Knits Lace, as my current lace project. I have to admit, it is harder than anything else I have ever done. I have trouble concentrating enough to get through a row sometimes. In fact, I am also knitting a sweater for my dog when I haven't the patience to knit --  which with this lace project is often.

I am using Silky Alpaca Lace in Pixie Pink. I like the yarn. It is smooth and beautiful, but it does not take a lot of abuse. There have been a couple of rows that I have had to knit and tink and knit and tink and knit again. Hopefully, I do not have too many rows like that as the yarn shows the wear. At the rate that I am knitting this, I will be posting pictures of the finished project at Christmas.

Oh, well, Happy Knitting!!!

A (Finally) Finished Product

Finished size is 74 X 47.
Knit Picks Shadow Golden Glow Tonal -- 91 grams used -- approximately 800 yards
US 5 Needle
US 9 Needle for cast off

Buying yarn is one of my favorite things.

Two trips to the yarn store netted me some yummy yarn.

Two weekends ago, I bought three skeins of Silky Alpaca Lace by Classic Elite Yarn in Pixie Pink. I have already picked out the pattern to knit with it. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I bought the book Wendy Knits Lace, by Wendy D. Johnson and I have decided to knit the True Love Stole. I can't wait to get started. This yarn is really soft and smooth with a 30% silk / 70% alpaca blend.

Lucky for me, when I bought the Silky Alpaca Lace, I crossed the points threshold necessary at my LYS, Wool and Company, to get a gift certificate worth $15.00! Of course, almost immediately, this small piece of paper began burning a whole in my wallet. So when my knitting sister came for the weekend (see previous post), we HAD to run by the LYS to spend it.

Look what I got!!! YUM! Cascade Yarns Alpaca Lace in colorway Garnet. It is 100% baby alpaca. I got two hanks with 437 yards each, so that should be plenty for an average shawl or stole. I haven't got a project picked out for this yarn yet, so it will go in my stash for future use.

Knitting Sister bought some yarn, too. It isn't what I would have picked out, but I took pictures so you could see how bright it is. She plans to use it to make a long shawl made with a wrap stitch pattern. The yarn is called Peace Fleece and is a worsted weight 70% Merino / 30% Mohair blend from Casa de Karma Yarns.

Buttons for her almost finished sweater was the last purchase of the day.

Happy Knitting (and yarn shopping!)

Update on Alexandra Gold -- and a Humble Stitch

I have just started the 19th row of the 5th chart of Dee O'Keefe's Alexandra. Now that I have hit this mark, the  number of stitches in each row is well over 300 -- and growing with every row. Some of the rows seem to go much faster than others. I don't know if it is the specific pattern of stitches or my frame of mind that makes some rows so much more difficult than others. But the process is definitely educational as I have learned a lot about how to fix errors as many as eight rows below.

Now I know you must ask "Ledra, how do you get eight rows before discovering an error?"

"Well, I have to tell you that some errors are easier to find than others."

Specifically, errors which are not missing stitches, but misplaced stitches. Take the above picture. Until I mentioned error, did you see the one in this picture? It is there, I noticed it after I took this picture and I am not going down after it at this point. I will just consider it my "humble stitch" and move on.

What is a humble stitch, it is a stitch that keeps you humble. In quilting there is a myth that Amish women purposely made a mistake in one of the blocks of every quilt that they do because only God is perfect. I know quite well that I am far from perfect as I have never had to intentionally make a humble stitch or a humble block -- they are naturally in every knit piece and quilt that I make.

Happy knitting!

2 Corinthians 12:9

Buying books . . . again.

I did some on line shopping! Since I am currently into lace projects, I did a little shopping and found this excellent book, Wendy Knits Lace, by Wendy D. Johnson. Some books that you look at (buy) may only have one pattern that you would be interested in doing. Out of the 20 patterns in this book, I can honestly say that I could see myself knitting at least 12 of them.

The patterns range from the very simple "Light as a Feather Smoke Ring" Cowl which looks like a fast knitter could do this easily in an after noon, to a pair of lace knee-high socks, "Vintage Kneesocks". One of my favorite patterns is the "True Love (Scarf or) Stole". I think that this will definitely be on my to do list. However, I have to say that this is not a beginner project. This beautiful stole combines lace and short rows to make mitered corners. It took 4 reads of the directions before I started to grasp the way this pattern works. This project can be worked as a narrower scarf or a wider stole.

There are a total of 8 lace neckware items to be made. With my new found love of knitting lace, I'm going to be a very busy girl.

Stay tuned for information on the other two books I bought. (Who can read just one?)

Happy knitting!!!

Progress for Alexandra Gold

I have made some progress since the last time I posted about my Alexandra Gold shawl. I am currently on the second repeat of Chart 3 -- row 7. I really like this pattern. Like Dee O'Keefe's Ashton, the Alexandra is really fun to do and much easier than Summer Nightsong or Fall Colored Ginkgo. I highly recommend this as a first lace shawl. That is not to say that I have not had to "tink" any rows. I have -- several. But it is more due to trying to knit the lace while too tired or too distracted.




The color on the above photo is washed out. The actual yarn is much richer in color, but I have the old style iPhone camera without the flash. The yarn that I am using, Knit Picks Shadow, is a nice yarn, but it has its problems. It tends to be really sticky. Even tinking only a couple of rows back, I found that the fibers had already started to bond to each other which makes me think that this might be a good yarn for felting, but not for a heavily used item that you don't want to felt. I have read a few on line reviews of this yarn by knitters who sat that this yarn pills, but I have not had the same experience. I did buy 1000 yards of the lavender tonal at the same time to do another shawl, so I will have plenty of work with it to be able to form a solid opinion myself!




Happy Knitting!!

Another lace shawlette finished -- Summer Nightsongs

Wow, I thought that I would never finish another project. Summer Nightsongs just seemed to take forever. Yes, I was sick; yes, I had a baby quilt to finish; yes, I was trying to work on two projects at the same time. But regardless of everything that was going on, this project seemed to take longer than sweaters I have made. For some reason, I had a really difficult time with this pattern. There were a couple of rows -- 9 and 11 -- of the edge chart that just about finished me!

But that does not mean I am finished with lace knitting. No! Actually, I would try THIS pattern again! And I would make it much larger for a full sized shawl. Besides a change in the size, I would also knit it in a solid color or tonal so that the pattern stands out more than the yarn. As you can see from the picture below, the pattern is lost a little in the stripes.

By the end of the project, I was much happier with the Crazy Zauberball yarn than I thought I might be. While I loved the softness of the yarn right from the moment that I picked it up, I was afraid that it would split a lot as it was knit. But the yarn held up surprisingly well considering how many times I ended up knitting some of the rows.

I made fewer repeats than called for in the pattern. Using a spreadsheet, I calculated out how many stitches were in each row, then, being the accountant (read: "nerd") that I am, calculated out what percentage of the pattern that I had completed for each row. As I finished every couple of rows, I weighed the remaining ball of yarn and it seemed as though I was completing a smaller portion of the pattern than I was using up the yarn. So, when I was at the point where I would have had to make another repeat, I started the edge row. I did end up with 28 grams of 100 left over. I might have had another repeat worth of yarn left -- but I might not have either!

The author of this pattern, Jane Araujo, links to some good tips from other knitter from the pattern's Ravelry page. You will do well to read them too. I ended up following the pattern modifications suggested by fascine.

Well, I am on to finish the Alexandra that I tried to do simultaneously to this shawl. We all have to learn from our mistakes!

Happy Knitting!

Alexandra Gold

I have started another of Dee O'Keefe's beautiful patterns: The Alexandra. I am doing the full sized shawl version as opposed to the shawlette size that is also included with the pattern. I am using Knit Pick's Shadow tonal in Golden Glow. It is a lace weight yarn in a beautiful pale yellow with peachy tones. However, I seem to be having a dickens of a time getting started. I think that I have been very distracted and seem to start and stop and tink and reknit over and over again. Although I took this picture several days ago, I have not gotten much farther than this. 

I like the yarn. It is soft and the color is wonderfully rich. However, it is a little "sticky". When I have had to go back and tink something that I did the prior day, it seems to have already settled in and stuck together. I imagine that it would be a very easy yarn to felt.

I am doing some work on my other project Summer Nightsongs. Maybe that is part of my problem, I keep switching between the two projects and it is messing with my rhythm. For the last few months, I have been trying to stick to working on just one project at a time. Maybe that has made me a better knitter because I learn the pattern easier. Too late now!

Happy Knitting!!!