I finished both mittens last night and did an embellishment that I think took the mitts to the next level (of Dante’s Inferno?!?). They are done, and now I can move on to other knitting. I plan on working on Oregon this afternoon, as it has been neglected terribly the last few weeks. I am so close to the armhole steek that it is a shame not to press onward.  I will post some pics soon. We have not had any long posts or pictures in a while!
 to Sterling today :).
Knit Out 2006 is history and what a fun day it was!! As Patsy Fisk (the main organizer) put it, on a scale from 1 to 10 it was an eleven! Patsy worked tirelessly to make the event a success. Brookdale staff went out of their way to be gracious and accommodating. The rotunda has a huge dome which brought in a lot of natural light. There was a lot of foot traffic and many curious passers by.Â
Most of my pictures did not turn out, but here are a couple more:
This is a picture of the Yarn Garage Booth. They were the only shop that brought their wares, and I do think other shops made a mistake by not having a presence at the event. They had so much fun stuff to look at and buy. Very creative people.
There were fashion shows on the hour and thank goodness Lori Ihnen took the reins and handled that part of the program. Here is Lori modelling Sally’s Debbie Bliss “Lara” cardigan:
It looked great on Lori — she added the knitted flower. The coral color of the shell she was wearing made the Lara cardigan pop. Very nice! You may know Lori’s name because she is a published author and knitting designer.Â
I don’t have her book (yet) but I know it is wonderful. I’ve seen the trunk show.
Emily M. of our Thursdays at Four knitting group won the fastest knitter contest — way to go, Emily!! She won a free Knitters Guild membership. Her “picker” opponent was a very young and talented girl named Maddy. She may have been all of ten years old, but she beat out the other pickers! She was thrashed by Emily in the stockinette round, however. Good job, Maddy — maybe work on your purling for next year.
Other Thursdays at Four attendees included Birthday Girl Linda, Deb, Lynne, Mary, Idonis, Barb, and Deirdre — I hope I did not leave anyone out :(. We were also joined by my St. Paul knitting peeps: Julie, Mary and Marilyn. Plus many other familiar faces, old friends and new. It was a wonderful day of networking and basking in the warmth of the knitting community. Wow!Â
See you next year!!
One of the advantages of having an embarrassingly large number of projects already on the needles is that you can go back to them months or years later and feel as if you’re starting something new, but that you have a head start. Nina, a sweater designed by Debbie Bliss, is one of those projects.
I liked the notched front of this sweater/jacket and its length. When I started knitting it, however, I ran into several obstacles. First, I could not get the recommended gauge (nor am I sure I would have wanted to). The sweater was designed in Bliss’s Alpaca/Silk, which has a usual gauge of about 17-18 stitches over four inches using a U.S. 7 or 8 needle. According to the directions, the gauge for Nina was supposed to be 20 stitches over four inches of pattern using a U.S. 8. The pattern is a kind of “false” rib; K1 p1 on the right side and purl all of the stitches on the wrong side. In my experience, this pattern does not draw in the way ribbing does. As I swatched, I was getting closer to 16 stitches over four inches, even using a 7. I decided it would be difficult for me to get 5 stitches to the inch, and I was concerned that the fabric might feel too heavy and dense. There was also a second problem: the length, according to the directions, was only 24 inches. Say what? Is that model extremely short? To me, this sweater was going to have to be at least 28 inches long in order to have the “look” I wanted. That meant — given the gauge issues and the difference between how the sweater looked and how the directions were written — that I would have to rewrite the entire pattern. I would actually have to think, especially given that this sweater is knitted from cuff to cuff (sideways).
So, I knit one sleeve and then abandoned it until early this week when I remembered how pretty the yarn is. I made my calculations and forged ahead — and it felt “fast” since I already had the left sleeve finished. Here’s a photo. The color does not resemble mine in the least. (My camera is having “issues” and I used my husband’s.) The true color is a deep steel blue. I’ve finished the sleeve (note the strand of Koigu yarn running up and down one side to mark the increases) and cast on what will become the side seams. I used a provisional cast on (that’s the red yarn you see) so that I can either graft the live stitches later or do a three-needle join at the side (the way you would knit together a shoulder).
Here’s another view, which I’ve included because the color is a little bit truer.
I just have a few more rows to knit before I’ll start some shaping for the back neck. My only fear now: running out of yarn.
Q: Can you name this afghan from Knitters Magazine?
A: The Great American Aran Afghan
It started out as a contest in the summer of 1999. Sister Sally kept telling me that my idea would win, and even though I didn’t believe her, I entered the contest anyway. The first squares came out in the Winter, 2000 issue, which hit the newsstands in fall of 1999. Because I had not heard anything one way or another, I assumed my square had not been chosen. Au contraire. I had actually won the contest. Sally was right again! I found out that I won when 20 skeins of Encore yarn was delivered to my doorstep in a large Kellogg’s Raisin Bran box — “Knitters” did not contact me until a few weeks later.
I was not going to make the afghan, but everyone in my knitting group (which had just started at the time) told me I had to make it, and that they would all make one, too. Note to self: don’t believe everything you hear at knitting group! I’m still the only one who finished — mine is made out of Cascade 220:
The Mini-Sweater square is mine:
My favorite square to knit was the Janet Martin Fish-in-Net Square:
This is ancient history, so why do I bring it up now? I found a large hole in the thing! Major bummer. And, what caused the hole is still to be determined. There are no visible signs of vermin, but??????
I am going to try to fix it. Wish me luck.
Jump Ahead in Time Several Hours
The hole is gone.
 
And though it looks like a perfect repair, I did indeed cheat. Miraculous as seems (and if you knew my house and my “organization methodology” you would know that the word miraculous is not used lightly), I found both the leftover yarn I used for the edging AND the instructions I had written out for myself. So, I re-knit the entire bottom eyelet edge. I did not want a crummy-looking repair job on this because it was SO MUCH WORK!!!!!!! Really, one of the biggest projects of my knitting career.
The original pattern edge was created by Rick Mondragon, Knitters Magazine Editor, and took 3.5 skeins of yarn. It is a lovely braided edge that goes around the entire afghan, but I did not want to add that much weight, plus I did not have enough yarn in the right dye lot. As you can see, my edging is a much simpler style. I have placed it under “Free Patterns” if you ever consider making this project. I used all 24 squares in my afghan, whereas in Knitters they held out four squares and made two pillows.
Though a lot of work, you really learn a lot about cables, gauge and intricate grafting. Now can I go out and knit?
I don’t have a whole lot going on, but thought I better write something anyway. Sally is again on the road (or plane, as it were), so I am the Lone Blogger. I have been working on a couple of WIPs — the Woman’s Continental is progressing at a turtle-esque pace. I have the back done, both fronts and the start of one sleeve. All the fun stuff with this project is at the end so it will start to get interesting soon. Oregon is languishing for the time being.Â
I also started a small project just because. Here is the newbie:
This is the Pure Silk from Debbie Bliss. It’s very hard to get a good picture, but you can kind of see what it looks like and you can definitely see the luster of the yarn — wow. I love knitting with silk, but it isn’t looking that good in terms of the evenness of the stitches. I hope blocking helps :).
The other fun thing I did this weekend was teach a couple of knitting classes. On Saturdays I’m teaching a class on the Rogue Hoodie from Girl from Auntie at Amazing Threads in Maple Grove, Minnesota. What a fun project and a bit challenging — you graft the hood together at the top across all the cabling (see photo in Susan’s Gallery for detail). It was my Olympic Challenge project from February of this year. The knitters range from “this is my first sweater” to “been there, done that.” The newbie knitter is absolutely darling. Her mom is taking the class with her and is a fabulous knitter.Â
The other class is another of my favorite projects: the Market Squares bag from Knitters Magazine.  The students are my knitting peeps from Thursdays at Four — we meet at Panera’s (quelle surprise ;)). It is like a 2 for 1 special because I get an extra “knit night” per week. This may become a habit! There are pictures of both of these projects in my “Susan’s Gallery.”Â
That’s it for now.
As promised, here are some photographs of one of my other Starmore sweaters in progress. This one, called Lismore, is from her book The Celtic Collection. She has reworked it in her three-ply yarn, which is what I am knitting it in. Although the pattern itself has not been changed particularly, she uses fewer colors in this version.
Here is a photograph of the original design:
You can purchase yarn and the necessary amendments to the original pattern here, but you will need a copy of the book.
Anway, here are some photographs of my Lismore in progress. The color looks a bit faded in these pictures for some reason; in person, this is a very striking and rich looking pattern.
I stopped working on it temporarily because I think the large turtleneck called for will be a bit overwhelming on me. I’m deciding whether I want a simple scoop neck with a band or whether I want to keep the ribbing but do more of a stand up split neck.
Some loyal readers may recall that when I finished my Hanne Falkenberg Ballerina I was shocked that the sleeves went from being 5″ too short before blocking to the perfect length after blocking. Woo Hoo for me — project finito. Well, today I decided to wear Ballerina and BUMMER: the sleeves are too short by about 2″. It just feels skimpy. So I must go back to the knitting grindstone and knit a cuff onto the sleeves. The pattern calls for a 2″ cuff on the sleeves, so I my jacket will actually look more like the original. I don’t know about you, but I really do not like to go back to a project even though many would benefit from some kind of redo.
From Susan:
I just got back from my brief visit to DC. If you’ve been reading our blog you know that Sally had recent bunion surgery. She is getting along pretty well but can use some assistance, and it was a good excuse to get together.
Thursday
First order of business was cooking — I was asked (ordered, directed, instructed, forced??) to bake both a “Cockeyed Cake” and a “Twinkie Cake.” These time-honored recipes are family favorites (esp the Cockeyed Cake, which originated as either a Depression era or WWII cake). After that I made tacos, homemade pizza, and shortbread cookies. And then a second Cockeyed Cake!! When did I knit? In between batches!
Friday
We had lunch with Wendy Johnson of WendyKnits fame. She is a world-renowned knitter and published author. We had a great time! It felt like I’d known her for ages because I start every morning with her over a cup of coffee (reading her blog) – she treated us like old friends. With knitters you always have a lot in common. I have been inspired and humbled by her so many times and learned so much reading her tips on making socks, Norwegian knitting, etc. Â
Thanks, Wendy, for a great time! Hope we can do it next time I visit. I did present Wendy with a small gift.Â
The pattern is one I wrote up for a class I teach occasionally here in the Twin Cities and is based on a fairly standard amulet bag design — though I did use built in i-cord this time on the flap. I certainly cannot take credit for the method — check out any antique store and you will probably find a purse knitted with this style of beading. It has been around quite a while and is a fun break from most of the knitting I do.
Saturday
Sally and I worked on stash enhancement. We visited a couple of nice stores in Maryland.Â
We both fell in love with two patterns in this book and of course, silk is to die for. Mine is the silver and Sally’s the pale green.Â
From Sally:
Yes, my sister waited on me hand and foot. What about it? The cake requests were from my children — I guess they’ve been deprived of sugar during my convalescence. I insisted on the shortbread cookies, even though the recipe is right here waiting on the blog. With my husband bicycling in Italy and my children both back in school (college and high school respectively), it was really nice to have adult companionship and some help. A big thank you to my big sister.
The yarn shops we visited were Woolstock in Glyndon and All About Yarn in Columbia. Both shops are fun places to shop and they both carry beautiful yarn. We were especially taken by the buttons at Woolstock and by the beautiful silk yarn at All About Yarn.
When Susan was allowed out of the kitchen, we sat in my library and watched movies while we knitted. A favorite was the classic film noir Double Indemnity. Barbara Stanwyck is bored with her husband and reduced to knitting (the horror!) until Fred MacMurray comes along. Yes, those insurance salesman are SO much more interesting . . .
Ahem. Let’s move away from the sock monkeys, ever so briefly, and start talking about knitting again. I wanted to show you some photographs of one of my favorite Fair Isle sweaters: Henry VIII, designed by Alice Starmore. I realized that I don’t have a good “distant” photograph of it that shows the whole sweater and I just can’t hobble up the stairs again to find the sweater, lay it out, and take another photograph. Instead, I’ll post these photographs of her slightly reworked version of the design.
If you own the book Tudor Roses, and feel adventurous, you can purchase this as a kit at Virtual Yarns. She and her daughter Jade have many other lovely designs available there as well.
Anyway, I knit this sweater for my husband. Fortunately, I can wear this one too — it’s somewhat “big” for me but I’m willing to make the sacrifice.
Here is a detail of the neck:
Here is a closeup of the main part of the pattern:
Finally, because you know how much I like to look at the inside, here is the reversed stranded design:
I always have at least one Starmore project going. (Right now, including ones that have been “aging” a bit, I have four on the needles.) The most current one, which I expect to get back to very shortly, is Rosarie, which was designed by Jade Starmore. Although I don’t usually go for vests, I really loved this bold design and just had to work on it.
I haven’t had a chance to do to much knitting on it. Here is my one photo in progress.
This Fair Isle has only 5 colors in it, whereas there are fourteen in the original version of Henry VIII. (I haven’t checked on how many there are in her revised version.)
Here is the sweater I made for my niece. I knitted it out of Cascade Etoile in color Iris — very soft: 70% kid mohair and 30% acrylic, 164 yds/50 gm. Probably similar to Kidsilk Haze but bigger. The gauge on the label is 5 sts/inch on a US 7. I used a size 6 to get 5.5 sts/in.Â
 
Here is the pattern. It is a bolero style from Sirdar. I made a size 4 because everything I have ever bought her is too small. I hope she’ll get to wear this some day! I love the picot edging, but I would have done it differently if I had had time to think. They picked up the edges after knitting each piece and then did a picot bind off — I would have done a picot cast on and saved a step. The pattern shows the collar in 1×1 ribbing, but I changed it to reverse st st due to LACK OF TIME!
 
It looks very different in the yarn I chose but I think it turned out pretty cute.
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