WIP Wednesday - Something New

I've been working on something new, at least for me. I've been writing out some of the patterns I've created! I have designed a few patterns when I couldn't find one I liked. I usually source stitches from 96 Stitches: Knit Stitch Guide by Rita Weiss, a small book I picked up from Michael's last year. And I also reference Youtube videos to watch someone actually making the stitch.

I found a free Pattern Template that I use on my Word-like program. And it has been set up so I really can't forget anything: tools, gauge, abbreviations, photos, charts. Everything is accounted for.

Mostly I'm writing  to track what I've done and figure out where some refinements can be made. It's kind of fun, actually! Some of my patterns have worked out really well and some, well, let's just say they need refining. So, Shelagh or I may reproduce the pattern to make sure it works.

So far I haven't yet created anything very complicated, so my patterns are generally only one page. I've written out three patterns so far, including one for boot toppers, pictured above. I've made a couple of pairs of these, but I need to re-create it to find the best yarn to use. But I've got high hopes for it!

Have you ever written out a pattern for sharing? What info should I make sure to include?

WIP Wednesday—Well, Sort of. . . .

I don't actually have a new project on the go at the moment--the Spring Greens Shawl is still on my needles, patiently waiting for me. However, what I have is a couple of skeins of amazing yarn I've been itching to get my hands on!

Back in April, Shelagh and I a a few of the Knit Night Ladies went into Toronto for the Knitters' Frolic. It was heaven for anyone who loves working with fibre, including us. It was there I purchased some beautiful yarn from Fleece Artist, a lovely blend of superwash Merino wool and Tencel, which she refers to as "tree wool." It is a pretty blend of matte and shiny, with the shininess coming from the tencel. I've never worked with that fibre before, and Fleece Artist's spun and dyed yarn really caught my attention because of the sheen, the softness, and the name: Beach House. Isn't that perfect?

So, for World-wide Knit in Public Day this past Saturday, I thought I'd do a little test swatch to check what it's like to work with and, more importantly, how many stitches and rows per inch I will get from the yarn. 

I do have a project in mind, but it is from a magazine so uses a more standard yarn. You can see what I've completed of my swatch so far, but I wait to share the pattern until I know for sure it is the right one for this yarn.

What's on your needles?

WIP Wednesday - I Have a Bias for the Sea

You may recall I was working with a gorgeous cotton/rayon blend yarn from Blue Heron Yarns back in April. At the time, I was struggling to find a pattern and had tried making something on my own. I had a vision of a summer wrap, but it just wasn't working.

Then, one of the Knit Night ladies from our LYS commented on my post: she thought she had just the pattern for the yarn. Suzanne lent me her Spring/Summer 2011 edition of Vogue Knitting that showed a couple of gorgeous skinny summer scarves. I picked the one called "Bias Lace Scarf" and began knitting. . . and promptly fell in love with it! The cast on edge is a pretty lacy pattern--my one adjustment was to cast on with a larger needle size than the pattern called for. Then, as you can see in the photo above, it's mostly stockinette with a little garter and yo, ssk thrown in to break it up.

Currently I'm about 75% complete. And I'm really looking forward to the cast off because the pattern calls for a picot edge, something I've never done before. I love that each edge will be different. So cool!

Oh and the name I came up with for this scarf? "I Have a Bias for the Sea"? A big part of the pattern is the decreases on one side and increases on the other to create the bias look. Matched with the yarn name, Deep Blue Sea, I think it is the perfect name! 

WIP Wednesday - Spring Greens Shawl

Confession: Although I purchased a fair bit of yarn at the Toronto Knitters' Frolic on April 25, I had already purchased lots of yarn on April 1. No joke!

I couldn't help myself--about one week prior to April Fool's Day, one of my favourite indie dyers announced a sale. So on the morning of April 1, I signed in to the Georgian Bay Fibre Co. site and bought some yarn. Those four skeins at the top of the page are what I was able to get . . . man, they moved fast!

As soon as I received the package, I knew I wanted to start making something with these gorgeous yarns! I talked to Shelagh about a shawl--something I don't have a lot of experience with but she does--and she showed me a bunch of patterns she had. And when I saw the Sunray Shawl from Ravelry, I knew this would be it!

So, I picked the green yarn--a lovely blend of BFL and silk-- and I started on the shawl. I've renamed mine "Spring Greens Shawl" because of the lovely soft shades of green in the yarn: it really looks like fresh shoots of green seen everywhere in the Spring. And the light airiness of this wool makes me think of Spring and Summer.

Starting with a garter tab cast on, the eyelet details in this shawl lead out in a "ray" pattern.

WIP Wednesday - Summer Wrap

I know, I know! It doesn't even feel like Spring and I'm working on a summer wrap. Well, I can't help it . . . the few sunny / warm days we've enjoyed just make me so happy. As does the beautiful yarn I bought last year when Shelagh and I visited The Frayed Knot yarn store in Savannah.

The yarn is 630 yards of gorgeous cotton rayon hand painted by Blue Heron Yarns out of Maryland. It's got a lovely shiny and matte look to it. And the colour is called Deep Blue Sea. Cotton. Aqua. Deep Blue Sea. Summer, right?

But what to make? In my mind I picture a lovely summer shawl, a wide rectangle in waves of blue to throw over your shoulder when the air conditioning is a bit much at the office . . . or out at dinner. And because it's cotton, it could be wrapped like a scarf over a bright white T-shirt with a pair of comfy jeans. Something lacy but not too precious.

After looking for patterns in stitch guides and online--I even started a few rows of the ubiquitous Seafoam pattern--I finally found this unnamed stitch. The site considers it to be part of the lace family. I've done a few rows and I really like it . . . but should the entire wrap be done like this or maybe break it up with some stockinette to show all the lovely qualities of the yarn?

I'm going to do a few more rows like this and then decide, but I'd love some feedback: knit an entire wrap like this or add some stockinette to break it up? I'd love to hear from you!

Here's the openwork stitch. Can you see an entire wrap done like this?

WIP Wednesday - More Yoga Socks

You're probably wondering why I've posted a photo of pretty autumn flowers when we are still looking forward to any sign of Spring here in southern Ontario. Well here's the story. My new friend Wendy has inspired me to take on another pair of yoga socks. She has begun working on a pair for charity and asked me to help guide her through the beginning stages. Just getting that yarn on the needle reminded me of all the sock yarn I have in my stash: sparkly wool, calm blue bamboo, stretchy pink. Although I don't love making socks, I am itching to use up this yarn. And I seem to get a positive response on the yoga socks. So, hey, why not give them another go.

So, Saturday night I cast on my Berroco Sox Metallic. It's superwash wool and nylon--Warm! Strong!--with a metallic thread running through it--Oooh! Shiny!

Once I had been working with the yarn over the course of Sunday, I was reminded of a photo I took back in September 2012. Wow! Another inspiration! Now I am really enjoying working on these yoga socks. 

Manic Monday: Or, Why I Can't Get a WIP Going?

So why is today a "manic Monday"? Well, the last few weeks I've been trying to start a project, but every time I do, I end up frogging it. I just can't seem to find a pattern I like that shows of the gorgeous Madeline Tosh yarn in Jade colourway that I purchased a while back from our local yarn store, Soper Creek Yarns.

I wanted to make a scarf that would look great on a young man and could be "borrowed" by his girlfriend. Something not too girlie, not to masculine. None of the patterns I looked at seemed right, so I started looking through Stitch Guides.

First was a Mock Cable with broken rib between the cables. Nah! The edging doesn't look right and you can't really see the cable. But the broken rib part looks great! So. . . .

How about a scarf that is completely broken rib? Below is a photo of the back, which I love. In fact, it looks good on both sides, which is perfect for a scarf. But now I was worried I was making it too wide to make a long enough scarf. So I'll just start again with fewer stitches.

 But it just didn't look right . . . and it started to curl in a way it hadn't when it was wider. I think I'll make a cowl with it. Now if only I can find a pattern. . . . Any ideas?

WIP Wednesday - Road to Fangorn

"He led the way in under the huge branches of the trees. Old beyond guessing, they seemed. Great trailing beards of lichen hung from them, blowing and swaying in the breeze. Out of the shadows, the hobbits peeped, gazing back down the slope: little furtive figures that in the dim light looked like elf-children in the deeps of time peering out of the Wild Wood in wonder at their first Dawn."  

JRR Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings
Part II. The Two Towers

Shelagh and I purchased several yarns from Amanda at Serene Fiber Arts last November. I was drawn to the one Amanda called "Fangorn" because I loved how the shades of green looked online. But I also loved it because I loved reading The Lord of the Rings--yes, this girl loved the books before the movies came out. What can I say? I was an English major and I "had" to read them in high school and again in University.

If you are familiar with the stories, you know it is a quest tale: the hobbits must venture out of their comfortable lives into areas of their world they do not know in order to save this world they do not know. The hobbits must travel through part of Fangorn forest, an ancient woods seemingly older than time. Think of the redwoods or the Brazilian rainforest in our world. The colours in this yarn show off beautiful shades of green. They range from rich Blue Spruce blue-green to pale aqua green. All are set off by shades of bark brown.You can see most of the colours in the photo above--aren't they lovely?

I searched for a pattern and when I found this "Cobblestones" hat pattern by Susie Gourlay on Ravelry, I knew it would work. Even the name tied in perfectly with the quest idea. Although I doubt the hobbits walked up to Fangorn on cobblestones, I liked this connection and came up with the name "Road to Fangorn."

And because Susie showed a variegated yarn in the pattern, I knew the yarn would work really well. It's a straightforward pattern and, so far, it is knitting up like a breeze. I just have to decide if it should be a beanie or a slouch hat; Susie has provided options for both.

Oh yes, and the yarn is soft and warm and colourful. Perfect to wear on a quest.

WIP Wednesday - Looking forward to 2015 with a Half Moon Scarf

Don't you love these gorgeous purples and pinks and blues in this aptly named Nova wool?

This is a belated WIP Wednesday. I realize that Shelagh and I haven't posted in a while . . . I think because the last few weeks have been busy for the holidays and the beginning of a lot of first anniversaries: the first day we found out Irene's cancer had returned. The day she went into the hospital. The first Christmas without Irene at the table to share dinner. Needless to say, it was a quiet Christmas.

And there will be more firsts as the days of this new year move on. (Don't the days just go so much more quickly as you get older?)

But, one of the my accomplishments in the last few days is organizing my yarn stash and projects! To the point where I was able to start a lovely new project. As you know, way back in November, we ordered some lovely yarns from Serene Fiber Arts. The lovely Amanda is an incredibly talented indie spinner and dyer, and Shelagh and I had fallen in love with her yarns. Nova is the name of the one I loved--and still do now that I'm working with it!

I knew it would be perfect for a scarf, so looked everywhere for a neutral design that would work for a man or a woman. I couldn't find one, so I searched my Stitch Guide and thought I'd try a lovely stitch I'd fallen in love with: Bamboo Rib stitch.  And it is working out so beautifully: this stitch creates a lovely "firm" and flat fabric when knit up. Paired with this yarn, the stitch is pretty without being fussy and sturdy without being severe.

And I've decided to call it the Half Moon scarf. Why? Well, several reasons. First, with a name like Nova (using those interstellar colours), I think of the universe, the heavens.

Next, this bamboo stitch in this Merino wool connotes earthiness.

And finally, the Half Moon pose is a difficult (for me, anyway) balancing and heart opening pose. One balances on one leg, the other extended parallel to the floor (like the yarn over stitch you see). In the pose, one turns the torso / pelvis and raise one arm heavenward, the other reaches to the earth.

Somehow, this yarn, this stitch, together, are the perfect balance. And, as always, it is knit with thoughts of love and good wishes for the wearer. A lovely, lovely way to close out a year of massive change for Shelagh and me and welcome with open hearts the adventures 2015 will bring our way.

Thank you to all our family and friends who have been so supportive this year. Best wishes for joy and happiness to all of you in 2015 and beyond.

WIP Wednesday - Yoga Socks and Me

This is not a typical Work in Progress posting: this one is special. I have been feeling a bit down the last few weeks and I know One year ago today, I was released from the company I had joined 28 years before. Actually, it was exactly 28 years and 3 months to the day.

Notice I said "released." Yes, I was let go (one of two dozen that week) and, yes, I was surprised. However, I did feel released as I drove home that day. My position hadn't been quite a comfortable fit for a while, and I had been trying to figure out how to fix that. Being released with a (fair) package meant I could now pursue other things.

Of course, I had no idea that three weeks later my youngest sister would enter the hospital having learned her breast cancer had metastasized into her lungs. So whatever sense of release I had was immediately kicked aside and replaced with the worry and pain and joy of spending time with Irene, our sister Shelagh, and her husband Vrej.

When one door closes, another opens, as the saying goes. I was released so I could spend almost every one of Irene's last days with her.

Since Irene's passing, though, I've been trying to regain that sense of release and opportunity I initially felt that November day. That feeling had also been tempered by my time with Irene: I knew I wanted a to live a different life.

One joyous outcome of the three sisters spending time together was our renewed pleasure in knitting. Shelagh and I spent so much time together that a plan was hatched: selling our knitting. We talked about it with Irene, too. (We wrote about it in our first post.) Since then, we have loved every minute of figuring out our business and spending time together.

But something else was pressing on me. Something I had been talking about for a few months before November 2013. Becoming a yoga teacher.

I had a wonderful personal trainer named Kat. She helped me get into shape and she also taught yoga at my gym. Through our many sessions, I grew to love her knowledge, her passion, and her personalized care of me. I knew I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. She told me about her yoga teacher and urged me to contact her. So this summer I did. And I was accepted into the Fall yoga teacher training class.

I have been attending class--and trying to keep up with the reading!--since early October. I love every class: Ruth is an amazing teacher. I am struggling to get back into student mode--I haven't studied in about 30 years! But I am so happy when I am in that class.

So how to thank Kat for helping me, leading me to this next stage? Well, she asked me for some yoga socks, so that's what I am making. Yoga socks are the perfect combination of two things I love to do.

Now this is not easy: I had tried my hand at making yoga socks earlier this year but didn't enjoy making them: 3.25 mm needles are not the size I like. After looking for other patterns, I finally decided to make up my own using 5 mm needles. And they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Sure, I know where I purled instead of knitted one stitch. And I should have started decreasing the K2 P2 to K1 P1 over more stitches. So, yes, they are less than perfect.

But so am I.

And the pattern is a work in progress.

But so am I.

However, they are being knit with love and thoughts of blessings for Kat.

And I am working on sending myself love and blessings. But today, I will mourn--and acknowledge my feelings about--that closed door. Tomorrow, I will walk wholeheartedly through the newly opened one.

WIP Wednesday - Jamie Crescent Shawlette

I enjoy making shawls but as you know from my post about my first shawl, I have always steered away from shawls that start at the top. There is something about casting on over 200 stitches that usually makes me turn away from a pattern. So when my husband brought me back a few skeins of wool from an Ottawa business trip (yes, he's well trained and he's mine, ladies!), I knew I had to "get over" my aversion because some of the yarns were perfect for a shawl.

One of the skeins he brought me was Baby Boo Lace from Turtlepurl Yarns, which is a 2-ply 80% Merino and 20% Bamboo. It is a lovely gradient of aqua blues to green and suits the name "Wanna Go for a Swim?"--don't you love some of the colour names? This Baby Boo Lace has 875 yards, so I can actually make a couple of small shawls or triangle scarves. And being Merino and bamboo, it's so soft and just eases through your fingers onto the needles.

So I found a pattern that was not an overly large shawl: the Jamie Crescent Shawlette designed by Julie Farmer courtesy of Red Heart, which I found the pattern in Creative Knitting of Spring 2013. It is the Easy Everyday Openwork & Lace pattern.

A couple of starts, a 243-stitch cast-on, and 10-stitch markers later, the cast on row is done and the shawl is under way!

Funny thing is, this pattern does start at the bottom, as most of my favourite shawl patterns do, but because this one is crescent-shaped (rather than a triangle) the wide bottom means I have to cast on a large number of stitches.

Unfortunately, so many projects on the go means something's gotta give. So, birthday knitting, consignment knitting and finishing other smaller projects have taken my time. But I will get to this eventually. I have to because it is sitting in my knitting room looking at me when I am working on other projects! It keeps saying, "What about me?" and making me feel guilty me when I pick up another project!

WIP Wednesday - Monet's Garden Angora Scarf

This past Saturday, Shelagh and I took the train into Toronto to check out the Creativ Festival. When it first started back in 1988, it was known as the Creative Sewing & Needlework Festival; currently the Festival is held twice a year.

Did we really need to visit the Festival? After all, we had attended the Festival back in April (in Mississauga), picked up yarn at many yarn shops since then, and even had a successful visit to the KW Knitter's Fair just this past September. But this is a family knitting adventure and we're trying to find our place in this vast and welcoming knitting community. We figured this would be a kind of "intelligence-gathering mission" because we didn't really need any yarn.

The festival is home to many types of needle arts, including sewing, quilting, needlework, crochet and, of interest to us, knitting. It's great to visit vendors' booths to check out hand-spun and -dyed yarns as well as shops who sell yarns we don't see it our local yarn shop. We always learn something new while chatting with various vendors and other attendees!

Did we pick up some more yarn? Well . . . yes! Of course! If you knit, you know how hard it is to leave a shop without something! Here is some of what I purchased:

Left is the 100% angora I picked up, I mean, I had to get it because I fell in love with the softness when I first held the skein. Then Shelagh said the colours reminded her of a Monet painting. That sealed it. I purchased two skeins of it and knew I had to make something I'm going to call Monet's Garden.

On the trip home, Shelagh and I wound the two skeins into balls, which led to chuckles from some other women on the train. But, it didn't take us long and I was able to try a couple of different stitches before settling on a very simple moss stitch. I liked this because the purl bumps look like daubs of paint, really highlighting the gorgeous blues in greens you might see in a Monet painting. Here's what I've done so far. What do you think? Does it remind you of a Monet painting?

WIP Wednesday - Mean Tangerine Infinity or Cowl

You might remember my post "Which comes first, the yarn or the pattern?" posted on October 8. Well, I have begun work on what I think will be a cowl in the gorgeous yarn I purchased at the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair.

As I mentioned, the yarn is 100% Merino in a gorgeous variegation of oranges that just sing with happiness. After trying two different patterns and not liking either one, I decided to try a test swatch of a stitch I quite liked, called Tweed Stitch.

So, I knit up a test swatch on the needles I'll be using to make this lovely scarf to figure out the gauge and ensure I have adequate yardage to complete the project.

My test swatch sitting atop the photo of this glorious stitch pattern. Isn't it pretty?

I know I've made the right choice because I'm absolutely loving how this stitch is working with my yarn! A perfect balance of interesting stitch and gorgeous yarn.

After I did my test swatch, I figured out number of stitches per inch, tore out the swatch, measured the number of yards, and worked out how long and wide I could make this scarf based on that information.

Who knew I'd need arithmetic after all these years!?!

So now I've cast on the number of stitches I think I'll need and begun knitting what should be an infinity scarf . . . assuming my arithmetic is correct. I'll just have to see how it works out! I'll share soon on an upcoming FO Friday post. 

WIP Wednesday - What to do next?

I don't actually have a work in process right now. And neither does Shelagh. And we don't like it. But I thought this might be interesting to write about: how do we decide what to work on next? 

For me it starts with the yarn. Sometimes I look at my stash--or my sister's stash!--and fall in love with a particular yarn all over again. That rush of excitement when I look at the colour and feel the squooshy texture and I remember why I bought the yarn. I have a couple of cakes of yarn that do that for me and the one I'm looking at right now is "Mean Tangerine," a sport-weight yarn by Waterloo Wools I purchased at the KW Knitter's Fair back in September.

Mean Tangerine is 100% Blue-faced Leicester (BFL) wool yarn in a wonderfully happy variegation of oranges. It's so bright and cheerful--and so unlike my usual preference for blues and greens. When I saw it, I absolutely had to have it. I know I want a pattern that will show off the beautiful shades of orange and I think a simple stitch pattern will do the trick. Oh, and I have 250 yards.

For me, and I think I speak for Shelagh too, the process is falling in love with the yarn and then looking for a pattern that will highlight it. We have been purchasing a lot of artisanal yarns lately, yarns spun and/or dyed by very creative women, and I--we--want to continue that creative vision by choosing exactly the right pattern.

So far I've tried two different scarf patterns, knit about 1-1/2" and simply knew each one wasn't working. Ugh.

I did look for more patterns online and in magazines, but I just couldn't find something I liked. So I started looking through my Stitch Guide. This is a handy and really inspiring little book. It's so inspiring that I sometimes get carried away and start thinking of other yarns when I look at some stitches. And sometimes that isn't good because I feel like I'm cheating on my current project or yarn. Is that weird?

My cake of Mean Tangerine on my Stitch Guide. What you don't see are all the flagged pages for stitches and yarns!

So, I have found a beautiful stitch that I think will show off the various orange colours of this yarn. Next step: test swatch and working out the number of stitches and rows and creating my own pattern. Send your positive vibes my way: I'm hoping third time is the charm!

WIP Wednesday: Bridges Infinity Scarf

This is an interesting one, at least to me. I had some leftover yarn I wanted to use in . . . something. It was a fine yarn, meaning that small needles were required if I knit it alone. I don't really like small needles: too finicky. But I love the colours in this yarn: purples, blues, pinks, golds, and grays all spun together with a very fine metallic something that gave it a nice sparkle.

If you look online, you can find all kinds of patterns that are “stashbusters,” which means small projects that will use up the odds and ends a knitter often has once the original project is complete. But this beautiful yarn was way more than a small odds and end piece: there was still quite a bit left.

With all that in mind, I knew I wanted to use it along with another yarn to make something lovely. When I visited one of my favourite yarns shops, I found the perfect yarn: Classic Elite Yarns' Magnolia. On the way home I began imagining exactly what I wanted to created with these two yarns, picturing the finished piece and hoping the warm brown would pair as well as I thought it would. And when I got home, whew! They paired up beautifully! The brown of the solid yarn grounds the sparkly multi-coloured yarn; and the sparkly yarn glams up the brown. Perfect!

I started knitting right away.

Sparkling colours and chestnut "girders."

The pattern—my very simple pattern—is designed to let you see the combined loveliness along with just the brown. The reason? That brown yarn is a luxurious mix of merino and silk and looks like what it is named for: chestnut. As I worked through the pattern, I kept thinking of both the Forth Bridge in Scotland and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. You know those rusted-looking girders? That beautiful, reddish-brown? Well the garter stitch in this pattern, using only the Magnolia, reminds me of the girders that sturdily hold up bridges. And the stocking stitch portion of the scarf makes me think of the sparkling water over which both these bridges span reflecting lights in the dusky darkness.

I'm a little over halfway finished and I'll share the finished version on a FO Friday soon.