why do my fingers ache for the cold?

Here's some actual knitting for the knitting blog.  When I stumbled upon a skein of the Plucky Knitter's much-beloved and now-discontinued Well Read colorway, I couldn't help but finally knit something for someone who has been pestering me for handknit goods since, oh, approximately our fourth date.   Knitting for him does, of course, break all of my rules about who I'm willing to knit for: he isn't another knitter, a small child or an elderly relative.  (Truth be told, he did briefly learn to knit so that he could gift me the world's most ridiculous scarf and then declare that he was now a knitter so he fit within the categories of people I was willing to knit for.  But I had a hard time thinking of him as a knitter when I couldn't get him to start a second project.)

However, he has made up for it by showing a degree of appreciation that I never expect from people who don't fall into those categories, and, until we hit a spell of 80-degree weather, was pretty much wearing this hat every day.  Even if it made him look a little bit crazy, it did mean that I got to look at this pretty yarn every day, so I didn't argue.  And when he brought the hat back out for our trip to Madison last week, I realized that I had missed seeing it a little bit in our unseasonably warm weather.  (I know, I know, I could still live on the East Coast if I wanted to have snow showers over Easter.)

It's the One Bourbon pattern from Thea Coleman, knit with six pattern repeats rather than seven, and ravelry details are here.  Here's hoping that you all have non-hat-wearing weather soon!

change in the seasons

When this is the view from my window

(bedroom window)

(kitchen window)

is it any wonder that my knitting has also turned to fall colors?

(still on the needles)(off the needles but not gifted yet)(waiting to be wound)(next on the needles)

spring planting

This is really the only knitting that I have to show for the spring. An Elm Row scarf in Plucky Knitter Classics Silk Merino Fingering, Container Garden colorway, for a belated birthday gift for my grandma. I knew as soon as this yarn arrived in my mailbox that it was meant for my grandma, and I'm hopeful that she'll like the scarf enough to make up for its belatedness.

I never managed to memorize the lace repeat, so I had to carry the directions around with me, but each row was relatively logical so I could spot mistakes quickly. The only real problem that I had was that there are two rows (of the ten row repeat) that result in fewer stitches than the rest of the rows. Since I assumed that all rows would maintain the number of stitches that the pattern started with, I frustratedly frogged those rows many, many times before I bothered to do the math and figure out that I was supposed to have fewer stitches. After that, it was smooth sailing.

Not having much time to knit recently (as I have whined about a number of times), I had to be a little creative to squeeze this project in. I wish I had a picture of my knitting while sitting on a cardboard box, saving an empty parking space outside of KZ's old apartment while her father went to get the van before we loaded it up and moved her out. I almost got two repeats in.

Here's a picture of it while blocking:
I knit it on US 6s, and only knit three lace panels instead of four as the pattern was written. No other mods than that. Rav deets here.

an inch here or there

As you all may have guessed from my relative silence, there hasn't been a whole lot of time for knitting lately in the HartBeat. And, unluckily for me, all the projects I had going were fairly complex. So even when I had some time to knit, I was too exhausted to think about trying to work out what was going on in those patterns. (A few times, I picked them up, only to fall asleep before I'd figured out where I was in the pattern.)

Finally, I forced myself to take the time to wind up some lovely Plucky Knitter cashmere lace and am now using it to knit a cowl of my own design. This turns out to be a pretty good solution because the cowl should be relatively simple to show off the yarn, and if I pick it up and don't know what to do, I can make up a new "design feature." I've got a couple of inches done and am hopeful that it will tide me over until I have the time and energy to return to my more complicated projects. (Here are the Rav deets.)

I do have one other project that's very nearly ready to be blogged: a scarf for my grandma that just needs to be blocked. Hopefully in the next day or two!

sending out an SOS

I really want to be done with these gloves (rav link) so that I can wear them, but am super overwhelmed by the number of ends to weave in.
Any suggestions on how to get my finishing mojo going?

not the baby blanket

Okay, so, for some reason, I really wanted to post on leap day. But I don't have time to take pictures of the previously-mentioned blanket. So here's a project made with some leftovers from the blanket: the Nanya Mittens.I learned from my sister-in-law that my nephew's obsession with the orange sweater I knit was real. Apparently, he will dig through the hamper and insist on wearing it, no matter how dirty. And then point at himself and say "nanya" (his word for orange). I thought she could use a little bait-and-switch routine, and had some of that same orange yarn leftover from the blanket, so I whipped these up. They were super quick. And would have been quicker if I hadn't accidently made the first one large enough to fit me. They knit up a lot faster once I got the size right. Unfortunately, they're cotton, so not the most practical for the Wisconsin weather that my nephew faces. But maybe he'll wear them around the house.

I ran out of orange for the cord, but luckily (as you'll hear when I finally do post about that blanket) I've got a boatload of green.

stuck in hartford hat

So, it turns out that it's not that easy to leave Hartford when it's snowing. I learned this the hard way last Friday. Trains are pretty infrequent and they sell out quick when the buses and planes shut down. Luckily for me, I had a small knitting project along to keep me company. Even more luckily, it was a hat, which was great because I had run out the door with only a scarf (ask me why I'm never ever ever counting on New Haven cabs ever again). It only could have been better had it been socks. (After trudging through about 4 inches of snow for about 4 miles in pantyhose and ballet flats, I really wished that I was sock knitter.)
The pattern is the Odessa hat, modified for thicker yarn (instead of 110 stitches, I cast on 70). I also omitted the beads, figuring that the many shades of pink were girly enough. I used this cashmere yarn from the Purl sale bin, and it is lovely. I've never knit with 100% cashmere and it's so soft that it almost made the Hartford train station seem cozy. And, at 40% off, I can almost convince myself that it was a worthy splurge. But what do we think about using cashmere for a hat? It seems a little wasteful to use the softness on something that will mostly only ever touch my hair.

I still haven't decided if I like the fit; the brim is a little floppy for my taste, so I might frog to reknit on smaller needles. But it does allow my ponytail to fit neatly under the hat, so I may leave it as is.

I have too many things on my needles right now and not enough time to finish any of them. Next up will probably be the baby blanket that has convinced me that I'm too stubborn for my own good...

Christmas Projects

I made several Christmas scarves inspired by the yarn I bought at "Faulous Fibers" in St. Michaels, MD, and the "Feather and Fan" pattern Hannah found for me.

First I made two scarves, one skein each, with Filatura Di Crosa "Fancy" - multicolor yarn of 60% mohair and 40% acrylic. Each only took about one week - knitting on the metro during my commute and a few hours of television. I used two repetitions of the motif, with two edge stitches on each side, as the pattern suggested. The scarves are pretty short, but they fit around the neck with just enough to hang down on each side and fold across, but not enough to tie a knot. The color changes in the yarn were fun to observe, but I had no control over them. The two skeins weren't exactly alike. The lace pattern automatically makes the ends curvy.

I had bought two hanks of Blue Heron yarn - hand dyed in Easton, Maryland - 89% cotton/11% Nylon,/367Yards each, but hadn't decided what to make with it. After the success of the Fan and Feather pattern, I decided it might work for this expensive cottony yarn and decided to make a shawl for Emily, thinking the colors were kind of African, and it might work for cool nights there, or she could use it as a throw on her couch. When I was partway into it I decided it would be too short, so I added a band made with leftover cotton yarn I had (Marks & Kattens, Camomille/ 100% mercericzed cotton). I tried knitting it double to match the weight of the Blue Heron yarn, but it didn't look right. Then I bought some hairy (feathery?) yarn called Fizz/ 100% polyester, from Crystal Palace Yarns, in a marigold orange and knit it together with one strand of the Camomille. It was perfect. I knit one band on each side and a wider band at the center with the contrasting yarns. For the width, I knit four repetitions of the Feather and Fan pattern and doubled the number of edge stitches. I was really pleased with the result.



Imade one quicky scarf for a friend that only took about 3 hours. I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it. But it was made of one skien of "Mystery" by Artful Yarns - 40% wool/25% cotton/20% acrylic/15% nylon. 98 yards. (Much thicker than the mohair I used for the other scarves) The pattern was on the label - size 9 needles - cast on 16 stitches and knit one row. Then the pattern is a three row repeat:
Row 1: K wrapping yarn twice. Row 2: K, dropping extra loop. Row 3: K. Repeat, ending with row 3 with about 18" remaining to bind off.
The dropped loops result in very long open stitches. The scarf was plenty long enough, but pretty narrow.

Finally I was inspired by all that lace work to make a hat for Emily's African roommate Glory, who is a seamstress, and is always asking Emily about her mother. Emily says she likes hats. This is the first thing I ever designed entirely by myself! I based it on a pattern for a simple round hat in stockinette stitch with a rolled edge. It called for casting on 99 stitiches. Since I was using finer yarn and smaller needles, I figured I could start with more stitches. I found a motif in a knitting design book called "fern" with a 29 stitch repeat, so I decided to use 4 repeats and cast on 116 stitches. I used more of the leftover Camomille cotton yarn. When I did the decreases for the top of the hat, I followed the natural divisions in the patterns to make it symmetrical. I should have realized that the lace motif would make the rolled edge curvy instead of straight, but it didn't occur to me. I do like the effect, though. The hat is a little small for me, but I have a big head and Emily says Glory doesn't, so I hope it will fit and she will like it. I want to make one for myself later. It only took me one week from start to finish - and it was after I went back to work after the holidays so I was only knitting on the Metro and in the evening.

I have finished my first sock with self striping yarn I received for Christmas and am working on the second, hoping to make it the same size! I discovered the second ball of yarn was wound in the opposite direction, so the colors are in reverse order.
At the same time I'm working on a sweater made of a luxurious yarn "Starlights" by Ironstone Yarns (hand dyed in New Mexico) (Mohair/wool/rayon/nylon) I'm hoping to finish while it's still cold enough to wear it this year. I've finished the back and started on the front.

I don't think I've ever knit so many items in so short a time. This blog is inspiring.
I even got up my nerve to take my knitting (Emily's shawl, and the mystery scarf) to an off-site work retreat. When my boss saw me knitting she got out hers! One of the younger male managers pondered whether he'd have to take up knitting to get ahead in our agency! He said it used to be enough to play golf with the guys, but now he might have to learn to knit.
Knitters Unite!