Icelandic Sweater on the Most Beautiful Girl in the World

My lovely daughter got her senior pictures taken recently. I brought along my most recent knitted project and she agreed to model it for me.  This is something she would not normally wear. In fact I made it for myself and I'm much taller than her. It's a little big for her but she looks as cute as can be. She's the most beautiful model ever!

The design came from a pattern call Afmaeli that I found for free on Ravelry. It's a basic Icelandic pattern that I modified into a long sweater that buttons up. The pattern was in the round so I had to do some math to get it right. I added a button band and big black buttons.


The photographer can  be found here: http://www.naissancestudios.com/

Backcountry Knitting

Packing as light as possible, I took a little knitting project on my backcountry trip. Size 2 bamboo needles are very light as is the alpaca/silk blend that I just spun.  Although it was not raining, the foliage was so wet I was soaked by the time I got off  the Huckleberry Creek Trail.  My knitting stayed dry in a plastic bag. After hiking for 6 hours up hill we reached our camping spot at Forest Lake in Mount Rainier National Park. By this time it was late and we set up camp. I was cold and sore and had a horrible night's sleep.

The sun was out in the morning so we dried out our wet clothes. I sat in the sun and knitted for a few hours before hiking back down the hill. It took 5 hours to get back to the car.

This was a "test-run" since I'm new to backcountry camping. Lessons learned: pack more rain gear and polar fleece. Next time I'm planning an easier hike with more time for knitting.

Wool in August

Working on an Icelandic sweater in August seems crazy. It's in the upper 80s and I have to have a fan blowing on me while I knit. I know I should have some kind of "summer project" but I've been obsessive about getting this sweater coat made.                                                                                                     

I've been keeping busy these last few months with some major knitting projects (to be unveiled later), but I've done very little spinning and absolutely zero blogging about fleece. I feel change a comin'. I feel like getting back in the saddle. I feel like giving some attention to my blog again. More to come.

knitting

I'm still here... knitting.

Arctic Diamond Stole

 This pattern is from a 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.  It's called Arctic Diamond Stole by Donna Druchunas. The yarn, as I had mentioned before, is alpaca from Peru--something from my stash. I just recently started knitting lace and I'm learning as I go. This time I learned that I should invest in some blocking wires. Using pins did not give me a straight edge.

 This project had a mistake right in the middle.  I guess I dropped a stitch.

 I did a little creative repair, making one stitch and weaving in both ends.

It actually worked! You can't even tell it was there.

Arctic Diamond Stole

One of my friends went to Peru a few years back and brought me back two large balls of Alpaca yarn. One  ball is white and the other is a dusty cream color. I packed them around through several moves and then finally decided to knit something with them.  I chose the dusty cream color and a pattern from my stash. I have a Winter 2006 Interweave Knits magazine in which there's a pattern called Arctic Diamond Stole that fit the bill.  I've been working on it for a few months now.  I'm down to my last repeat of the pattern---I had to add an extra repeat because it didn't seem big enough for a shall.  Soon I'll be blocking it and hopefully wearing it this winter.

Hand Spun Romney Sweater

 So much for my "slow clothes" idea.  This knitted up fast.  I started on Monday and was done by Friday.

I used a pattern called Bulky Neck Down Cardigan for Women by Knitting Pure and Simple. 

It's the warmest sweater I have ever put on.  I'm ready for some snow now.

Busy Knitting

 Although I haven't been blogging, I have been busy knitting.  First I made the Basket Weave Cowl out of a two ply hand spun.

 Digging through my yarn stash I found a 3 ply yarn that I died with Cochineal.  I made up a cable pattern and knitted a little hat. 

 This floppy hat is made from hand spun hand dyed merino.  I used the basic beret pattern called One Day Beret Recipe and modified it with rounds of purls to make a little ridge every so often. 

 Using the same beret recipe, I've started another hat.

 A few months ago I got this half-made hand knit sweater at the thrift store.  It still had the knitting needles in it!  I ripped it out with the intent of recycling the yarn.

I used the recycled yarn to make a hat and a pair of fingerless mitts.

Back to Knitting

I'm back to knitting due to the incredibly sore lower back that I've acquired. It started at work, but has worsened from weaving. The giant loom is sitting there half-warped and taking up space. It's so frustrating that I can't weave, but bending down to tread the heddles will send me over the edge.

The last chance I have to go to a Sounder's game is on Oct. 31st. Since I'm a fan without "gear" I've decided to knit up some Sounder's colored accessories. I've started a hat then some type of glove or mitten will follow. I'm pretty much making it up as I go.
My other knitting project involves a yarn that I made several years ago. I had bought a whole colored fleece and washed and spun it into a 2-ply. I actually didn't get all the grease out but it feels okay. The strands are too thin so I'm knitting with a double strand. The sweater is definitely home-made looking. More photos to follow...

Danish Shawl

A while back I saw a pattern in Spin-Off for a traditional Danish Shawl. I finally got around to knitting it. I used hand-spun yarn from my stash and chose non-traditional (not Danish traditional) colors. The edging took the good part of a day to crochet.

what I'm doing on my summer vacation

I'm taking a break from work and enjoying the summer. I took a trip up to Vancouver Island and Vancouver (the city) last week. I figured I'd be blogging more, but I haven't actually sat down to focus on this yet. I've been doing a little bit of everything in regards to crafts. My knitting project is a Danish Shawl. This project seemed like a good one for using up my vast collection of hand spun yarn.
My spinning project is the wine-colored batts that I dyed and carded last summer.
When I went back and looked at my blog to see what the fiber was (I didn't record it), I noticed that it was exactly one year since I made these batts. I started spinning them on July 25th. They are spinning up nicely even though the fiber only had one pass through the drum carder and then it was stored in a plastic bag in the closet for a year.
Of course my weaving class has been keeping me busy. Soon I will have to produce projects for the class and I'm thinking that I'll have to give all my free time to that. For now we are just trying out different patterns for our homework.

More Baby Caps

Here's the recipe: Cast on a number of stitches divisible by 11 (Some hats I cast on 55, others 66). Connect and (Row 1)knit in the round. I use dpns. Row 2:purl, Row 3:knit, Row 4:purl, Row 5:knit, Row 6 change color if desired and purl. Then knit in the round until you want to make a purl stripe. If you are using a second color, work that in the purl round so that it creates that contrasting stitch look. When I felt like adding a purl row, I did. At the top, when you are ready to reduce: Row 1: k9, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 2: k8, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 3: k7, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 4: k6, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 5: k5, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 6: k4, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 7: k3, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 8: k2, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 9: k1, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row10: k2tog to the end. Leave a 10" tail and break the yarn. With a needle on the yarn, slip it through the remaining stitches and pull in through the inside of the hat and weave in the end. Weave in any other ends.

Baby Cap in Greens

I've gone on a baby cap kick. I'm not sure which little heads they will end up on, but they are fun to make with hand spun scraps. There is no pattern--I just make it up as I go.

One for now, one for later

The new baby will have a tiny green sweater waiting for her when she is born. When she gets a little bigger she will get to wear the orange Baby Boy 5-hour Sweater. The green one really did take about 5 hours. Both are made from top that I spaced-dyed and spun into a 2 ply on my Ashford Joy. The funny thing about this pattern is that there are no buttons. I'm not sure if I'll leave it like this or add some kind of tie closure.

What the Easter Bunny is Bringing

Some friends of mine are probably adopting a baby soon. (I say probably because you never know for sure how it will all play out.) It's going to be a little girl, they say. With adoption there can be less time to get ready. They only found out about this baby a few weeks ago and now the birth mom is due in a month. I decided to make the baby a sweater. I'm using a pattern called the Baby Boy 5-hour Sweater that I found for free on Ravelry. It's taken about 6 hours so far and I'm almost done. Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day knitting and watching lame TV shows.



My husband is hilarious! He hid chocolate eggs amongst my clutter this morning.

Credit Where Credit is Due

I jumped on the band wagon and made some pedicure socks. It's kind of funny because I never actually go out and get a pedicure, I just wish that I did. These have been on my to-do list since I saw them in Knitty 2006 as Pedicure Socks by Ruthie Nussbaum. In my attempt to link to the pattern, I searched on Ravelry only to find that there are several versions on Pedicure Socks. Hmmm...really? It seems like Ruthie Nussbaum made these up. Even Patron's has a version, but I couldn't find the copyright date as proof that the Knitty pattern came first. Instead of the Knitty pattern, I used a sock making guide that I've had around. However, Ruthie Nussbaum gets credit because her pattern was my inspiration.
I actually used an old Family Circle article that I've had for years. I have no idea when it was published. This article is what I used when I first was learning to make socks. It's been years since I've made socks, and I wanted to review turning the heal, so that is one reason why I made the Pedicure Socks.
The yarn used was from the Hand Dyed, Hand Carded, Hand Spun Tarhgee that I spun in January.

Keepin' it Warm

This is my new design: Oxygen Tank Cozy. It was created out of necessity. Now that I'm living in such an urban and densely populated area, I'm experiencing parking troubles. I'm constantly stressed out about finding a parking spot. The neighborhood is packed with cars and there's new condos going up all over. There are no parking spots and I find myself driving around and around looking for a place to put the car. Being that I'm a home birth Midwife, I need to be able to get in my car with all my equipment and go fast. I figure there are Midwives in Manhattan, so they must know how to deal with these issues. I've decided to consolidate all my birth bags into one huge birth bag for easy traveling.

The problem that arose with my new system was that the Oxygen Tank would slightly rattle around in it's new container. Problem solved: it get a sweater---or "cozy". The other benefit is that it looks kind of covered up when it's in peoples homes. The typical home birth aesthetic is that the medical equipment is "out of sight, out of mind". The tank usually is set aside with a baby blanket over it; covered, but easily accessible. Now after it's unpacked at a home birth, it can look friendly and warm in it's sweater. I know, I know...it sounds silly, but home-birthers don't think of birth as a medical event. If it means putting a sweater on the medical equipment, so be it.

The Oxygen Tank Cozy was knitted with a solid colored yarn and a self-striping yarn. Both were hand spun left overs. Knitting in the round, I alternated the solid and the self-striping every two rows to get the effect.

Baby Belle

It's done. Sewed the buttons on last night. I'm going to wait to do the next baby sweater when I get to Seattle and get to my stash. I have some hand-spun with me in Great Falls, but no contrasting yarn. The ruffle took quite a bit of yarn so I had to make the cuffs shorter than the pattern called for.

Knitting Projects Update

I'm still in Great Falls and I'm still waiting on a baby. I made these mittens out of some of the solar-dyed roving from last month. They are so soft and I love the colors. I just made up the pattern as I went and they fit snugly. It was a good project to do while watching movies and passing time.

I'm back at Hastings. Free wi-fi, Woo! Last night I started the #13 Lace Beret from the Fall 2009 Vogue. I'm using some hand-combed, hand-spun natural Shetland that I made a few months ago.

Yesterday I blocked Baby Belle and it dried very quickly because it was in the 90's in the shade. I bought some little buttons today and I will sew them on soon and take a real photo for the finished piece. August was suppose to be spinning month for me, but it turned into knitting month.

Something Red and lots of TV

I've been knitting and watching TV for several hours each night for the last few nights. I watched Talk To Me, Brokeback Mountain, Hairspray (the new one) and Man Vs. Wild---the Siberian episode. I loved that episode---didn't know that you can get frost bite in your lungs once it gets down to negative 40 F. Good to know since that's actually possible around here! Maybe tomorrow night I'll put the knitting down and actually go out for a New Year's cocktail.
I just spent the last 1/2 hour trying to put a youtube video up on my blog but I couldn't figure it out. Put down your knitting and watch DRUNK HISTORY!