I’m ba-a-a-a-a-a-ck!!  And not sure how or where to begin.  It seemed like a very different experience to me this year.  An emotional roller coaster.  Of course, there was the sheer bliss of reacquainting oneself with friends made last year, and the unbridled joy of being immersed in HOURS of knitting every day.  But there was also a somber mood that hung over this year’s Camp for several reasons.

Last year we lost Joyce Williams and her presence was felt at every turn.

The contest this year was “Knitting under the Influence” and it evoked many touching stories (many about Joyce) and the important people who shaped our [knitting] lives, as did the annual “show-and-tell.”

R. moved us with a story about how much she misses her homeland.  S. is a very talented local knitter whose work is exquisite.   I was geared up to see her beautiful work, but instead she told us that health issues had intervened and she lost her knitting mojo.  Completely.  And so it went.

But it was not all sad!!

G. told about his father’s farm and how he is knitting socks for his dad with handspun yarn from the descendants of his own favorite ram (he even had a picture of himself as a child riding on its back!). The winning contest entry was the cutest vest ever — a portrait of Elvis in shadow knitting. WOW — and quite subtle 😉 .

The knitting was truly inspirational and we laughed ourselves silly over dinners and late night knitting.  We forged some lasting friendships and bonded like sisters!  I am already looking forward to Camp next year.

I bought a very tiny amount of yarn (really!) from Jeannette and George of Sun Valley Fibers, which will reveal itself in due time.  And an FO will be revealed this week that I absolutely love.

Kim and I also discovered these — Brigid was wearing them.  Dansko patent leather clogs in a style called Funky Knit.  We both bought a pair on our way home — could not drive to Schuler Shoes fast enough!!  All knitters must own these…

A Final Thought
While at Camp, Kim and I found out that a dear friend from our knitting group, MM, lost her husband quite suddenly while travelling.  We are heartsick and in shock for M. and her family.  M. is one of my favorite people — she loves and supports me in all ways and I am so sad.  M. is one of the pillars of our group and was there from the beginning.  This news weighed heavily on Kim and me, and I really appreciated the comfort that being with the other Campers provided.

M. you are in my thoughts!!

Tomorrow morning I will embark with friend Kim on our second annual Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp – yay!!

It is such a fun trip — Kim is a great travelling companion!  It is all knitting, all the time (except when we’re eating!).  What could be better?  More to report later…

First, the good news: I have my power back, and we really didn’t suffer as much as some of our neighbors. It is still very hot here in our nation’s capital — it may get up to 105 tomorrow — so I truly feel for those whose electricity is still out. It was a freak storm. Dead calm, and then winds up to 60 or more mph followed by the most incredible lightning I’ve ever seen. But enough of that.

You may remember that in June I got excited about knitting The Whiteness of the Whale, a design by Ann Weaver. My plan was to knit it out of the new linen yarn from Shibui Knits. As I noted in a prior post, the yarn is (in their words) “fine linen strands in a chain ply structure.”

I started knitting. It was a bit tricky because I wanted to convert the pattern into a contiguous pattern (knit from the top down with set-in sleeves knit simultaneously). In other words, I had to think. I started it once, made some calculations, re-started. Yes! It was working! I knit merrily along. And then disaster. Instead of yarn, I had thread.

This went on for several yards. It destroyed my confidence in the yarn, and so with heavy heart it was back to the drawing board. Le sigh.

My new yarn is Astral Bath’s Vesper (70 % Bluefaced Leicester/20 % Silk/10 % Cashmere; 440 yards per 100 grams) in the color Circe, which is a sharp, acid green. (Side note: I was already well underway with my new Whale when Susan finished her Daydreams in Lace. It looks so nice in a bold color that I sort of wished I had saved this yarn for that project. But too late; I didn’t want to start over. Again.)

I am just about down to the waist. The conversion to contiguous worked well. I love the color, although I have never had as much rowing as I am having with this project. Is it me or the yarn? No idea. I do hope it blocks out.

The color in those photos is fairly true, although I think the yarn may have a bit more of a yellow cast to it. It’s very soft, and despite being a hand dye, the skeins are indistinguishable.

So far so good.

Sally was planning on writing a post, but got waylaid from having no power and being surrounded by chaos!  She is in the heart of the storm that struck the east coast this weekend.  They are struggling with record heat and no wi fi!!  Ouch!

So blogging is left to me.  I did just finish a project.  One that I have been working on for months.  Partly because of the scale of the project and partly because of yarn “issues.”  Yes.  Handpaints.  The yarns we love to buy and then love to hate.  My Daydreams in Lace is knit out of my “crack du jour” Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in color Midnight Pass — a color that truly eludes capture.

Here is my finished Daydreams.  An amazing feat because it actually fits.  You know how much I hate being photographed, but here I am – bad hair day and all – to prove that it is possible to knit something that fits.  I was worried because it is an unusual garment.  But because it was knit from the top down, I did feel pretty confidant all the way along.  The pattern calls for laceweight and Tosh is heavier, but I did see that some other knitters had used this yarn and their projects were gorgeous, so I forged ahead.

My Mods:
First, I cast on provisionally.  I knew I did not like the 1×1 ribbed neckline, but did not know what I would end up doing.  I finally decided on a 3-row reverse stockinette roll (4 rows with bind off) — after adding about 4 sts per repeat to keep the opening size large enough.

Next, I increased my needle size as I worked the body of the garment: from a US 4 at the yoke, to a 5 and then to a 6 to give it an A-line shape.  On the sleeves I reversed the sizing, going from the Size 4 to a 3 then a 2.

I added the bottom border from the Percy Shawl (free pattern!) after seeing Catherine’s project on Ravelry.  The sleeves were finished in a modified feather and fan of my own devising.

About the yarn: a stunning color, to be sure.  EVERYONE who sees it says, “Wow!  I love that color!”  And it is true.  But as we know, there is variation among these handpainted skeins.  The first three skeins were dead on…very little variation.  I finished the entire body with those three skeins.  Then on to the sleeves.

As I started knitting, I could tell the color was very pale and washed out.  Bummer.  So, I started knitting with my 5th skein to see what would happen: very noticeable line.  As luck would have it, Sally was arriving for Yarnover, so she brought the remaining yarn she had from a project yet to be named 🙂 .  I made her buy it because the color was so beautiful!  The color in her skein seemed much more tonally varied: the dark was darker, the light lighter.  I contacted A Good Yarn in Sarasota to see if they had any more, thinking I could buy a few skeins and see which one matched the best.  They had a new batch (? would it even remotely match the old?) but only give store credit for returns.  Hmmm.  Bummer.  So, I used Sally’s partial skein to transition from the body to the sleeves and then finished the sleeves with my darker skein.  Overall, I think it is hard to see the difference.

So, monkeying around with the different skeins slowed me down a bit.  Plus, I think I did too much knitting.  It is hard to tell how much additional length you’ll get from blocking lace.  I did a LOT more knitting than called for in the pattern (I am the big one after all), but maybe too much.

Grade for Daydreams in Lace = A+
Pattern: A+ (and free besides!) — apparently there is errata but maybe not for my size
Yarn: A (it would get an A+ except for the trials described above!)
Buttons: A+ — Irridescent blue glass – stunning
Fit: A- (I am never 100% sold on how things look on me!!)

I may knit this again in a very different color, and make it shorter — more like a regular sweater length.  I really enjoyed making this.  If you have any interest in it, I say, go for it!!

Just a note: we have not died or fallen off the world.  But, it is summer and things are very busy for both of us.  Hope your first few official days of summer have been splendid.  It has been quite beautiful here the last couple of days and my DH is out there digging in the dirt like a 3-year old!!

So why the title “Quasi-mood-o?” You may recall that I was working on a vest called Vintage Mood.  It is a cute vest with a big problem.  A Quasimoto problem!  Several knitters complained about the hump at the base of the back of the neck.  I myself described this problem when I first posted about the project.  A fellow Raveler read my post and asked me what I had done to fix this.  I told her my plan, though I had not actually completed the repair.  I did so last night and thought I would share it.

Upon examination, my Vintage Mood had  ~3 inches of excess fabric at the base of the neck.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the hump before the fix, but you can see a smaller “pouch” here.  I thought through what was needed and came up with a step-by-step solution:

Step 1.
Put on the garment and mark the width of the back neck edge. Count these sts and make sure they are centered to the center back neck.

Step 2.
Pinch the “hump” together to see exactly how much extra fabric you need to get rid of — probably 2-3 inches. Measure down from the collar and mark the row at that depth.

Step 3.
Take the number of sts from #1 above and divide in half. Center these sts to the center back neck.  Place a piece of waste yarn through these sts (I used knitting needles).  The markers in the ribbing above are lined up with the first and last live sts that they will be grafted to to make sure the centers are lined up.

Step 4.
Snip the yarn below the ribbing and place the sts between the neck markers on a holder.  Snip the yarn from the row above the sts on the piece of waste yarn (#2) in the middle — pull the ends out through all the held sts from the center until these sts are held by the waste yarn or needles alone.

Step 5.
Using waste yarn, “draw” outline where the collar needs to be sewn down on either side of the center sts (shown in green below).

At this point I cut the excess fabric down the middle to make it easier to work.

Step 6.
Graft/sew the body of the vest back to the neck — make sure to line up the live sts center to center with the neckband sts. Ease the area that is being sewn to the live neck sts.  I grafted as stockinette on the body sts and ribbing on the collar sts.The distance along the green waste yarn is much longer than the number of sts in the collar would accommodate so I really had to pull it in to make it work.

Step 7.
Machine stitch along the inside edge (along the sewing line in Step 6) and then cut away the excess fabric. When stitching, be sure to stitch down the cut yarn ends from Steps 3 and 4.

Okay, that sounded easy enough…but when I got done, there were little pointy areas located at the spots marked as the neck width in Step 1.  It seems that I should have gone beyond the very back neck, farther into the front.  SO, I just machine stitched little darts on the inside and cut the points away.  At some point you say enough is enough!!

The result?  Quasimoto has left the building!!

PS: Julie asked if I would be able to describe what should be done while KNITTING the vest to fix the “hump” problem.  As I responded to her, I do not have the mental energy or motivation to try to figure out the changes that would be necessary in the pattern to fix this.  I think this is something the designer should be expected to do.  Maybe this is not a problem shared by everyone, but it does seem to apply to many and maybe warrants a re-look on her part…but mine is done and I do not have the desire or will to spend more time on it!!

PS to the PS — check out the comment from Sivani about using short rows to fix the problem.  She put in a lot of detail.  If anyone uses her method, let me know!

PS2: Trudy called me “fearless” but I am not.  This is a very expendable project — if it worked, great.  If not, no big deal.  The outcome did not matter one way or the other.

Thanks all for the wonderful birthday thoughts and wishes.  I really did have a great day.  Last night I went out to a lovely dinner with friends I have known for almost 40 years (play dates were tough in the womb!! 😉 ).  We dined outside, which we really appreciate in Minnesota.  It is a special treat with a small window of opportunity.  They got me the Shades of Grey trilogy — which after the hype, I’m a little afraid to read!!

My husband bought me a new camera for my birthday.  Okay, I bought a new camera and told him it was from him!!

I had a skein of yarn in the store with me and I told the guy — get me a camera that can take a picture of this.  I would show you a picture but I don’t quite have the hang of it yet!  I think the learning curve will be pretty steep for me…

Yes, the wondrous day that only comes round once a year:

SUSAN’S BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday to my big sister!

It’s the big one we like. It’s true. Susan is my best friend, my mentor, my therapist, my expert on all things mathematical and technical. We talk FOR HOURS on the phone virtually every day. I don’t know what I would do without her.

For her amusement (although I know she has already seen one of these), I am sharing videos of two Star Trek themed birthday cards. Star Trek reruns were one of our guilty pleasures in college. The original series now streams for free on Netflix and I occasionally watch episodes as great knitting tv. Susan and I can still recite some of our favorite lines by heart. “I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer.”

Please join me in wishing my sister a very Happy Birthday. (I won’t tell you how old she is because I am right behind her!)

I’ve been feeling pretty meh about my knitting lately. It seems the wrong season to knit much on my Milkweed sweater/coat, and nothing much has caught my imagination. I’ve been working steadily on an odd little garment that’s almost finished — a kit that I purchased at Yarnover. I can’t tell whether I love it or hate it, and it’s a race to see if I will run out of knitting before I run out of yarn. I’ll post about that once it’s finished and the love/hate verdict is in.

In the meantime, I’ve been wanting to knit something out of linen. I don’t always enjoy knitting with linen, but I love the results. The particular linen I’ve been fixating on is from Shibui Knits. Instead of the string-like fiber I’m used to, it is (in their words) “fine linen strands in a chain ply structure.” I’ve been intrigued for some time, but just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. As we all know, however, the right project surfaces eventually. This time, what surfaced was The Whiteness of the Whale, designed by Ann Weaver.

I need a light, breezy cardigan and I love the back detail. My whale will be more Blue Whale than Moby Dick, though:

Here’s an attempt to show the chain-like structure (reminiscent of Rowan’s Lima yarn):

I will make a few changes (longer, slightly wider sleeves for example) but the main change will be in construction: I want to knit this as a top-down contiguous sweater. The pattern is already written as a top down in sections, so it should be relatively straightforward to convert.

As long as I’m blathering, I’ll point out my wooden “Yarn Marley” in the photograph of my yarn. Technically, it’s called a Yarn Buddy and is a wonderful lazy Susan for a yarn cake or pull skein. I love it.

But I lovingly — LOVINGLY — call it a Yarn Marley because I sometimes drag mine behind me from room to room. You remember Marley from A Christmas Carol, don’t you?

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?”

My Marley is made of Canary Wood. I bought it at Yarnover from Sun Valley Fibers. Jeannette and George of Sun Valley Fibers are, hands down, two of the nicest persons I’ve ever met. My sister will concur. Their Yarn Buddies/Marleys were so beautiful that people were buying them before they could even be put out for display. I had a terrible time choosing which one to buy, and I may have George make me a custom Marley out of Purple Heart. If you’ve ever been tempted to buy one of these, stop resisting. The photos of George’s work don’t do justice to the beauty of the woods he uses. Their yarns are gorgeous, too. They are one of the most dangerous vendors for me to try to walk past at Yarnover.

Anyway, off to swatch with my linen chain. Wish me luck!

Add on from Susan — I, too, fell for the Great White Whale myself, but no yarn yet and two projects to finish first. I did happen to see the Shibui Linen tonight at my knitting group. Kathy had a skein of it in “Apple” and it is really, really lovely.

Wow. Talk about a blast from the past! I forgot I finished this a while back and did not post about it. Remember the steek cutting and color commentary from a month or two ago? I did go on to finish the project: Taiga Cowichan.

It fits and I like it and I have even worn it. I was pretty pleased with the whole thing until I went to DC in early May to visit Sally and saw HER Taiga. Her yarn is SO MUCH NICER!!!!! I felt sick. Mine looks like a POS in comparison. Her yarn is softer, smoother, prettier.

I knit mine out of the yarn that was used in the original: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed. Sally used Blackstone Tweed Chunky. Just. So. Much. Nicer.

I did make some mods: the first of which I already wrote about – the steeking of the colorwork. The interesting thing is, the front band is bulkier where I picked up sts than where the steek is located.

I did a couple of inches of stockinette on the sleeves before starting the ribbing. I also wanted to make sure that the neckband fit like a mock turtleneck. It really wanted to slide down into crewneck territory. So I made a crochet chain and wove it into the inside of the collar. When I put it on, I pull up on each side and adjust it to fit. You can’t even see it from the outside, and the nubby yarn keeps it in place.

PS: Barb asked for a picture of Sally’s — this is from a former post! Hers is not yet done.

When I first saw this book, I thought, “What a nice assortment of classic designs.” Upon closer review, I realized that there is more here than meets the eye.

Wearwithall is the collective effort of The Yarnery’s talented staff. The book provides some basic patterns as the starting point for your creative touches. They give you ideas and direction, but of course you control the results. Very nicely done!

This beautiful cardigan is knit in Kidsilk Haze, so c’mon!! What’s not to like!! I saw it in person at Yarnover — simple and quite fetching!!

There are socks, hats, kids’ designs, items for the home…all the essentials that we love to knit and gift.