A View from Sierra County

WIP Wednesday + FO

Time for a project update!  As you already heard, we made it out the other side of yet another major storm system and resultant power outage, which led to some knitting time, but no hat steaming.  Today was a fabulous spring day, and after working all morning, DD and I took a drive over to the South Fork of the Yuba (flowing high, strong and serpentine green!) and hiked along one of the trails.  I also gathered some oakmoss lichen, which I will be steadily collecting all spring for my CSA shareholders.  So, here's where the major projects stand in my life:

Carnivale and Gone With the Wind

Both hats are languishing, since the power returned just in time for my work week to begin as scheduled.  I expect to spend time with the hand steamer over the weekend, shaping and blocking each, then doing the wiring process.  I posted a photo of the unblocked Carnivale in last week's Wednesday update.

Garter Rib Sock

My sock got lots of attention during the power outage, and then last night at Knit Night.  While chatting away, I started my toe decreases, only to come home and realize the toe was too pointed... I didn't have my usual instructions from Sharon on drawstring toes (which I really like and which have been hole-free for her over the years) and hadn't shifted to decreasing every row at the right point.  I printed off a new copy earlier this evening, quickly re-worked the toe and have one whole sock and the second cast on and ready for knitting.  I am pretty excited about this, as regular readers will probably note that my sock mojo took an extemely long sabbatical, and only returned when I promised to make sport weight and worsted socks before tackling the smaller needles again.

Here's a photo of sock one earlier in the week; we figured out how to keep our phones powered up while the electricity was off, so I did take a few project photos to share.

I wish that I could more easily locate Grayce's wonderful yarns; I want to make more socks in this lovely, soft yet rugged, yarn.  Anyone want to keep an eye out at fiber festivals for me this year?

The garter rib does an excellent job of turning the multi-colored yarn into a tweedy look rather than striping or pooling, and I am quite happy about the whole process.

I have another pair of socks waiting in the wings, a worsted weight kit from Morehouse Merino, gifted to me by dear friend Ruinwin, and will have a few pair of handknitted boot socks to help launch me into the hiking season.  Then, Steph pointed out to me last night that we can get a sock pattern along with our Irish Mystery Shawl KAL (which starts in just a week!!), also done in worsted.  The love story/mystery behind the KAL has our heroine making a pair of men's socks from her beloved's sweater that she unravels.  There is still time to participate in this KAL that Meggie Ryan of the Ravelry Ryan Eejits group has put together.  Besides the KAL excitement, she is matching all the pattern fees collected and donating the funds to victims of the Japan earthquake/tsunami.

Ragtop Mitts

Since the weather was soo nasty and cold, and I had already fallen in love with Margene's warm, high-top mitts, I decided to spend a day and a half of my storm-induced down time making Susan's terrific mitt design.  This is the best-designed mitt I have made to date, with a great, fitted thumb.  I chose to use some lovely Nature's Palette Green Organic worsted (Columbia sheep!) in a cherry red that probably contains cochineal.  I bought this yarn last month at the sale when Fibers was closing the shop, and am pretty excited to be using organic wool naturally dyed by Darlene Hayes less than 100 miles from where I live!  If you get a chance, please support this small, woman-owned yarn company.

I have worn my mitts daily since completing them, as the weather is still frosty-cold in the mornings, but now I can hear birds before dawn, and frogs this evening!  I can't begin to tell you how exciting this is... this year's winter has been long, wet, dark, cold, etc., etc.  I am NOT complaining even one bit, but can say that seeing the light returning and feeling the warmth is wonderful.

Fairwind and Kaellingesjal

Both didn't get much attention in the past week; I did commit to finishing my sweater... sometime this spring, and also managed to put a few rows more in on the shawl, though there's still a lot of stockinette knitting to go.  Last night, Steph and I put our heads together and figured out how to use a Mc Morran yarn balance (calculating whether she had enough of her chosen yarn for the Mystery Shawl) and I realized that I would have plenty of my chosen heather green yarn to help me fill in, if I run out on the K shawl... all will get done in good time.  The only question I really have is why I knit shawls so compulsively!  I am already so excited to see that Romi is teasing us with another new pattern, that I will be pawing through my stash and eager to start on it, later this spring!

WIP Wednesday

I haven't written much lately about what I am working on... that tends to happen when I can't get good photos of my WIPs.  It has been a long, dark and stormy month here at Slate Range Camp, and indoor photos in low light just turn out so un-inspiring!   Here's the current, and mostly picture-less list:

Carnivale

This hat is the one that I have finished to date, at least the knitting portion.  I have only rave reviews for my knitted millinery class, and if you are interested in expanding your knitting skills, and know some basic sewing, you can succeed at this too.  The class site is very well organized, the videos clear and so helpful, and Annie is a witty and encouraging teacher.  I hope to meet her in person one day!

I was going along great guns on my other hat (see below), when I ran into a snag and gauge challenges.  In true procrastinator's fashion, I pulled out the 2nd Time Cotton I had purchased when I first started working for Fibers, back three years ago, and got the first edition of Annie Modisett's Knitting Millinery book, and started a second hat.  Carnivale is done in worsted weight and just about flew off the needles.  In fact, the hat laid around the house for a week while I waited for millinery wire ordered online to arrive.  Then, I stumbled upon a small, hand-held steamer at the thrift store last Friday, and trialed it over the weekend. 

The first time I plugged it in, I was pretty sure it didn't work, and struggled to shake all the water back out... I did decide to give the steamer a second chance, which was good.  I plugged it into a bathroom outlet, and left for over a half hour to return to steam wafting out!  I was shocked, and am not certain I shouldn't just keep the new model I had ordered earlier in the week, a larger Conair steamer with a bigger water tank.

However, I don't intend to make that many brimmed hats per year, and believe in being frugal, re-using things, etc, etc.  So, I probably can just be patient enough to wait for the steaming element to warm up on my cute little travel steamer when I have the rare finished hat to steam.

This photo is a bit dark, but it does show the stitch detail of the Cable and Horseshoe pattern.  The hat is sitting on my faux hatblock, described in the millinery book, though I still need to fully steam the hat, turning over a second bowl to make a stand and elevate the hatblock.  I also might need to add more padding (several kitchen towels stuffed into a pillowcase) to the soft portion of the block, which you can see peeking through the hat, to get the proper head circumference.  I hope to be able to show you a wired hat by next week!

Gone With the Wind

This is the 'class' pattern, and my variation is a solid pink, to match an outfit I wear to officiate weddings.  I don't have an updated photo, but am almost done with the knitting, only needing to finish the patterned tip (that portion on top of the crown where the decreasing takes place).  Knitting should finish tonight and hat-steaming should be in full swing later this week, followed by hat wiring.  It is a great, intriguing process, and I am loving the connection to milliners of past generations.

Kaellingesjal

This is a pretty darn big shawl... I have completed the bottom borders, which are each as long as my wingspan, picked up and knitted the intriguing stockinette and reverse stockinette borders that are in the initial decreased shaping of the shawl and moved on to the long stretch of simple stockinette.  I am finding it much easier to be decreasing towards a point of the last five stitches, rather than steadily increasing and seeing each row grow longer and longer.  However, I began to be worried about running out of yarn!  The pattern calls for approximately 900 yards of DK weight... I am using a light fingering, and decided to add an interesting stripe pattern to the middle section of the shawl, which will appear as chevrons when worn, since the fabric is diagonal because of the steady center back decreases, and save the last 100 or so yards of my deep green for the top border.  I have a feeling this shawl has a long, long ways yet to go.  It has been accompanying me to meetings and Knit Nights since plain stockinette, even with a striping pattern is so easy to keep track of, but there's a lot of other knitting to be done, so the poor shawl only sees part of my attention.  I am sure I can have it finished by next fall's Celtic Festival to wear with my costume, but that is the only deadline for it.

Garter Rib Sock

I know you won't believe it, but there is a sock on the needles!  I got some lovely Grace's Yarn several years ago, and actually cast this sock on last year around this time, but took it up this week and have about 5 inches on the leg of the first sock done.  It will probably be a travel-along project until completed.  I am using the formulas from Sensational Knitted Socks for the pattern.  Photo to follow!

Fairwind

This cardi is our Knit Night's knit-along... I haven't touched mine in several weeks.  This really IS a beautiful sweater, and my group is planning to have a fashion show of our efforts in June, so I better get to it!  To make matters even worse, Stephanie sucked me into another KAL, which will start in early April, to make the Irish Mystery Shawl.

There are a few other items in my queue, including this cute pattern for my dear granddaughter.  I actually have some Frog Tree Picoboo to make it up in, and expect I will cast on and make it in April, once the hats are finished.  I also want to make a sleeveless top for when warm weather finally, finally gets here.  I already have appropriate yarn for this tank, but favor this design a bit more.... decisions, decisions.  What are you up to?

WIP Friday

I seem to always be running on my own, not-quite-parallel track, to other knit bloggers, so why not offer up my WIP update today?  I am happy to say that knitting is happening, and crocheting, and even some jewelry-making.  I have an order to fill later today, and Friday has become a 'work for myself' day in my life, maybe permanently as an entrepreneur, or at least until I can obtain more hours at my present job or a different one.  Sigh, the woes of the economy.  OK, that was the limit of my self-pity!  I am excited to have an order for three Tree of Life pendants to fill, as well as a sample of one to make up and send out to a fellow crafter to take with her to fairs in another part of the country.  A fifth pendant will end up on Etsy by the end of a month, also as a display model.

Sweetheart Mittens

I have talked about these a few times on the blog, which means they aren't getting done!  I have to admit that I fell in love with Kristen's pattern when I saw her one red mitten on display at the LYS, and even knowing that crochet hurts my hands more than knitting, had to buy some Frog Tree alpaca sport weight to start a pair.  I can't remember where I heard the phrase, "you can tell a knitter by what she's wearing... none of her accessories match", but it has been haunting me the past six months or more.  I decided to choose this lovely, natural medium brown shade mainly because it matches my favorite winter hat!  How novel of me, eh?  Well, alpaca will also make for very toasty-warm mittens, however the yarn is rather splitty, and the pointy tip of my Brittany birchwood hook is catching on at least a fourth of the stitches each row!  The going is a bit slow, but as you can tell, the mitten is carefully designed to fit well.  Mitten #1 can be finished this coming weekend and #2 started!

Fairwind Cardi

My Knit NIght group meets every two weeks and we started this lovely sweater as a KAL, with most of us participating.  Of course (in the 'what were we thinking' department) we started in November, just as we were all getting geared up for gifting, and a few were busy doing shows to sell their crafty wares!

I haven't felt that bad tabout what little progress has been made, after all I was busy!  Except when I pulled the sweater out of my basket to photograph it this morning, I had one of those aha moments... I have been deferring this because I am all through the yoke and in my first repeat on the lace, which I messed up big-time.  It all started with talking and knitting (and a bit of tea-drinking) and getting to the too tired point.  Then, when I realized the next time I sat down with the sweater what the problem was, my repair efforts just made things worse!  I am a patient person with lace, one of my great loves in knitting, however, an entire evening didn't fix the problem and major ripping back and re-working will need to take place to get through those first few repeats.  This is not a particularly complicated pattern, but it can be when you miss your mistake and then try to repair it from a few rows above.  Look for a more positive update soon!  The yarn is Classic Elite Magnolia, and is just beautiful... the color has been hard to capture, either photographing too orange-y or too pinkilish (one of my chlldrens' invented words, which has stuck in our family's culture!).  It is actually a very lovely warm shell pink.  I know I will adore wearing this sweater through the spring, which will come sooner than we think, so plan to spend some time tonight fixing my mistake and getting back on track.

Kaellingesjal Shawl

I have a small tradition of staring a shawl on New Year's Day, and this year was no exception.  It may not really count as a tradition until I have lived a few more decades, but at least a few of the ones I have made in recent years were started as part of bringing in the new, and this year's choice is a re-construction of a historical piece, the pattern unearthed on Ravelry after having been lovingly deciphered by Mette Rorbech.  The original was made in 1897, and lives now at the Vendsyssel Museum in Denmark.  Isn't this world at this time such an amazing place for us fiber-loving fanatics?  I will probably never make it to Denmark to the Vendsyssel Museum to view this shawl in this lifetime, and the odds would have been against my stumbling on an article in a print magazine two or three decades even describing it, or offering a pattern!

Luckily for me, this wonderful shawl is now available to me, a lover of all things Victorian and Elizabethan, who can now create something to wear with the costumes I end up donning several times a year for re-enactment events. 

I am using a heavier laceweight from my stash, from the Wooly Wonka lace club a few years back.  I loved the deep green color and always wanted to save it for this purpose.  I also adore how this shawl was designed to be tied in the back, a true working woman's shawl!  The pattern is a bit more of a recipe, but having been a big fan of Elizabeth Zimmerman's work over the past few decades, that does not appear too daunting, at least not yet.  So far, the bottom edging I am working is only a foot and a half, and needs to be my wingspan, then a corner for the bottom shawl point knitted, and then another wingspan's worth for the other side!  I believe this will be a long, leisurely and loving knit!

Lastly, an update on the Flora dolly, from my DDIL, who interpreted FO as follow-up, providing a new view of how Flora is faring at their house:

"Ok, heres my own FO! lol. Odessa LOVES her dolly now!!! She totes her all around the house. I keep her in her toy hanger on her crib and every morning when I go in to get her she has pulled her out and has her in the crib with her! So don't... worry, your efforts are very much appreciated! It just took awhile or her to bond with Flora, thats all! Hehe. Also, I have worn my necklace like 4 times already since Xmas...and considering what a ridiculous amount of jewelry I own, thats HUGE!!! I love it soooo much!!! As for the "precious metal firing," are you referring to art-clay?? This is something I am HUGELY interested in, so if thats the same thing you're referring to please feel free to foward me any info you find!" 

Now don't you just bet that MADE my day?!

Yes, I Still Knit!

I know it has been a long time since I posted about anything but my Fiesta Friendship shawl (link to last time I posted a photo).. in fact there has been very sparse knitting content, period!  It has been a consuming project, and now that I am about 3/4ths of the way through, there's not a lot to show that doesn't look suspiciously similar to the last time I posted about this project.  Hard on the motivation to share with you.  However, since today is WIP Wednesday, I am going to let you in on a little secret.  I have been making something else...

Now, I still am working, a handful of diamonds a week, to get that really big shawl completed.  I even sorted out the gift yarns from many of you, as well as the fingering weights that I had in my stash, and have two smallish bags ready to pass along to someone else who wants to make either a diamond shawl or a full-on modular, patchwork blankie.  All you have to do is let me know.  Oh, and enter my birthday contest.  A smallish collection is going off to Cynthia, a loyal Fibers customer, but that will still leave lots of yarns that I have used a few times in the shawl already, and need to pass along to the next intrepid knitter.  I have a particular pink for the last of the large diamonds (coming in the next several days), then need to fill in on either side with more small diamonds, and finish off with a row of triangles at the top.  Rowen contributed some yarns a week ago that should help me make it through to the end, with a bit more variety.  I will see the end... sometime before winter ends!

However, in the past month, it has been All Odessa, All The Time (and can you blame me!).  Odessa got undershirts.  Odessa got a baby hat to go home in.  And now that the weather has turned blustery and cold... Odessa is getting her first grammie sweater (ravelry link).

This is a really terrible photo as far as definition goes.. you can't actually tell that the back and the two fronts are done and pinned together.  One sleeve was finished this afternoon, while it poured down rain and the house was being hit with high winds... sleeve #2 will be finished tonight.  Check out the link above, which shows the sweater off better, and the cute little hat that mama Dawn has requested as well.  I hope that baby Odessa likes it as much as we big people do.

The yarn I am using is Plymouth's Sara Superwash in a stunning raspberry tweed, which is a very nice yarn, but not exactly the same gauge as the one called for.  We are not worrying about such complicated matters here at Slate Range Camp, though, since babies grow so quickly that anything you make them will fit at one point or another!  And, as you can tell from this photo of DD Nikki holding Odessa at my birthday party... this is a grrl who needs a sweater and soon!

Nikki hosted a wonderful birthday barbeque at her house for me on Sunday, and luckily just ahead of the big storm.  All of my growed-up kids were there, but DH was away, on yet another fire.  The storm put an end to it and he arrived home late today, bringing me a great Pendleton blanket as a gift.  Our family group helped me enjoy the day even without him, and he was delighted that we could send him a phone-photo so that he could feel like he was part of the party... the wonders of technology!

Jesse and Dawn got me a lovely Catherine Popesco locket (which resisted photographing this afternoon, in the dull storm light) so that I can put a picture of my baby grrl in it, and Nikki got me one of my favorite plants, a miniature rose.  Come to think of it, all of my potted roses came by way of Nikki - what a sweet daughter!

The real gift, of course, is having such a wonderful family to spend time with, and so many great friends near and far to send me greetings! Life is truly good.

One of those friends, Carrie, together with the sudden change in the weather, has really stoked up my knitting mojo, by showing me these.... when I went off to Knitty to peruse the pattern and contemplate making myself a pair, I was also inspired by this and then this!   All of this inspiration led to my being even more inspired while waiting in line at the local JC Penney sale on Sunday... I spotted the perfect larger knitting bag, for only $4.99 (marked down from $55 and returned by someone who didn't like it when she realized that the flowers were actually peace signs, LOL... just waiting for me, I guess!).  Plus, it's water-repellent whereas my favorite basket only goes out on dry days:)

Unfortunately, my personal, real-time queue here at the old Camp is pretty darn backed up! I have promised DH that he will get to wear his felted vest (Ravelry) this cold season, and dragged it downstairs to do the finish work that will allow me to throw it in the washer and felt it. 

While cleaning out my studio, I did decide to unload some stash that will never turn into FOs in my hands, and to also take stock of what I have and what it can become in the relatively near future. I do not have yarn for Girl Friday, but I work in a yarn store, and suspect I can have the yarn by the time I have cleared the decks to make it... it is definitely top of my list for 'next sweater'.  

In the meantime, I plan to finish my Mendocino vest (Ravelry) this fall, and to start on my Bohus sweater (Ravelry- though I will do a cardi version) later this winter, as well as come up with uses for two really nice yarns marinating upstairs in the studio.  

I also have plans for three small handspun projects... one is a pair of thrummed mitts, another a little stuffed rabbit from some lovely handspun angora from Amy, and the third is a fair-isle inspired beret using my white Rambouillet paired with some lovely rose shades of roving (yet to be spun) that I got from my fellow guild spinner, hand-dyer and shepherdess, Sue Flynn while at the Celtic Festival last weekend.  Those small projects might take until winter is over, but will also give me something to enter in next year's county fair display, a long-range concern of being a good and upstanding fiber guild member.  Then, there's holiday knitting to be considered.... hmm, maybe I should start shopping for those gifts.  

What about you, where do you stand on holiday knitting this season?