Follow up from last night's post

I was hurrying to post last night to get all this stuff out I wanted to say without taking up too much knitting time. So what was I knitting that was so urgent. Well, it's not so urgent but I was just starting the edge on my Victorian Lace Today stole. I've never made an edge like that before and it was a new experience for me. It was exciting to see it 'grow' on the side of the stole. It was also challeging because it took be about 10 repeats to remember it compared to the center pattern, which only took me 1-2 repeats to get it down. I like it better than I thought I would (the edge pattern that is). I was contemplating changing it but I decided just to do it first, which proved to be complicated enough. After about 5 repeats I was starting to learn part of the pattern and got overconfident and ended making a mistake and having to rip and it was hard to find my place again. There is a small flaw in the edge, which I can identify very easily but I'm counting on others to overlook it.

I buried up the sewing machine I tested. It's Janome Jem Platinum 720.

The connection with Persia was repeated in the Folk Mittens book as well. So I felt confident that it was plausible. I think it's mostly the 8 corner star that is the connection.

Lots of misc. knitting news

There is a lot I want to share, but at the same time I really just want to knit. So I'll be brief.

Starting with a book I got at the Ohio University library. It's called Scandinavian Knitting Designs by Pauline Chatterton and was published in 1977. It talkes about the origin of knitting in Scandinavia (I didn't know it came from Persia through Finland) and consists mostly of two color stitching patterns. There are some patterns mostly sweaters, blankets and pillows. Yes, pillows. They are actually really nice and make good use out of the stitching patterns. What cracks me up about this book is that every single pattern specifies acrylic yarn. Acrylic! No Scandinavian with any sense of dignity would use acrylic, especially not for clothes and blankets. The knitting culture there is a total opposite from the knitting culture in America. Here people use acrylic specifically for babies and children, but in Scandinavia you would never dress your child knowingly in acrylic. If someone in Iceland gave my children cloths made out of acrylic I would be offended. Seriously, it's that big of a deal. Of course in Iceland cloths will have to keep you warm in cold, wet and windy weather. But I would much rather perfer cotton to acrylic if I lived in a warmer climate, like in the southern part of the USA.

Ok, I was going to be brief. It's not working. I have days of suppressed blogging.

Yesterday there was Final Friday in Nelsonville. That means galleries and businesses in downtown Nelsonville are open until 10 PM and have demonstrations and stuff. This includes both the knitting store and the quilting store. I went there after the kids were sleeping and went straight to the knitting store. There I looked over the yarns. They have a nice selection, especially for a small southeastern Ohio town. I especially like the lack of novelty yarns :) I met a nice lady there, who was there with her husband and two boys. We got a long very well and it seem like I have a new knitting friend :) I also learned that there is a group that meets on Thursday evenings at the knitting store. I have to check that out next week.

I also went to the quilting store. There is a lady who works part-time at the Corrosion Center and shares an office with me. She also works part-time at the quilting store so I went to meet her. I almost shouldn't have, he he. I haven't been in a quilting (or fabric) store in a while and now I want a sewing machine. I sold mine before moving to the US so I need a new one. The owner showed me a machine, which is so cool. Instead of using a foot pedal, you just push a button and that starts the machine. It's like cruise control but for a sewing machine. You can adjust the speed how ever you like. It also finished the thread for you (ties a knot) that's also something I hadn't seen before. So now I want to sew again. I've always wanted to sew more than I have been doing so it wasn't hard to be tempted.

Finally I have to tell you that today I took the girls to the library and actually got a library card this time. You need to have both a picture ID and a proof of residancy and I haven't manage to have both with me before when I've visited the library. The kids played and had fun and I found two nice knitting books (they had more nice books but I only grabbed these two) Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush and Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I'm sorry for lack of links, but I really want to get back to my knitting rather than to find links. I especially like the folk mitten book because I've been wanting to knit mittens and it does have some great patterns that I want to try.

For those of you waiting for photos, I have to disappoint you. We've lost the memory card for our camera. It's not american (Ricoh) so I'm not expecting to find this type of a card here. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows.

Travel knitting

I did get a lot of knitting done on the way to Norfolk. I finished a part of the afghan/blanket I talked about in the last entry. I will knit it part of it in stripes and one stripe is like a giant scarf. The main color is red (Clint insisted on red) and the second color is a golden color, not a solid and not a variegated but consists of golden, black, white and even some red strands. This yarn is not spun, but consists of many acrylic fibers loosly held together. This means that the yarn comes loose as soon as you cut it.

During the symposium, I knit a skein and a half for the French Market Bag the first day. I was going to start the next stripe for the blanket the next day but I forgot to pack the knitting needle (I always knit with circular needle (and dpns) even if I'm knitting a flat piece). I got a little knitting done on the way home but we decided to take a different route, Route 50, which goes from north of Virgina, through West Virginia, Maryland, West Virgina, Ohio and all the way to our house! It seemed simple enough, but took a lot longer than we anticipated, plus I couldn't knit because the road was too winding and going up and down mountains (the Appalachians). In return we got beautiful landscape and pretty towns to admire so it wasn't too bad. We didn't get home until midnight, this alternative route took about 3 hours more.

Knitting plans

On Monday we are going on a road trip (we being me, my husband and 2 daughters). We are driving to Norfolk, VA. So why are we doing this on a Monday? I am going to be a surrogate speaker for my director at an ASTM symposium. So Clint and the girls will have fun at the beach while I'm stuck in a conference room for two days. No, it'll be fun, some of the biggest names in Corrosion will be there, so it's a great opportunity for me.

Since we are driving there I'm hoping to get some knitting done on the way. Hoping, because I tend to be carsick, but on an highway it shouldn't be too difficult, unless it's sunny. So we'll see.

I have one repeat left on the center panel of my 'Victorian Lace Today' shawl. Of course I ran out of yarn with one and a half repeat left (out of 36). This knitting has been smooth, right until I hit the 30 repeat mark, then I kept making mistakes and having to rip back and fix them. This is so much fun to knit and I just started my fourth skein (out of 5). So I should have enough for the edging. What's preventing me from finishing the last repeat is that I have to practice for the presentation I'm giving on Tuesday.

I'm becoming more and more American. I'm actually considering knitting out of an acrylic yarn! The yarn in question is Homespun from Lion Brand. The thing about this yarn is that it comes in beautiful colorways, is super-soft and bulky weight. So it's the perfect candidate for a blanket!

I had a great idea for a design. Last night I was drawing and calculating all night and didn't get any knitting done. I finally came up with the perfect design. It looks simple but it was difficult to get the right sizes. Now all I have to do is to swatch to see my gauge so I can figure out how many stitches to cast on and how many rows to knit. The blanket is made up of panels and I'm not going to knit it in a 'logical' order. Let's just say that it is a Mason-Dixon inspired blanket.

Hopefully I'll have everything sorted out before our road trip. If I run into problems I always have my faithful French Market bag. It's at the stage where you just knit around and around, so it's a good traveling piece.

Not your granny's crochet!

Check out Patricia Waller's artwork.

I just can't pick a favorite. Crochet pig's head meal or crochet bicycle accident, how about crochet crocodile accident?

Hmm....

Berroco

I haven't paid much attention to Berroco before but I just learned that Nora Gaughan, yes that Nora Gaughan, it the new design director there. Why didn't I know about this before? I immidiately signed up for their KnitBits. There are some great patterns there. Go take a look.

I want this:

Except for sock needles (dpn) and not straight. I can't think of a better useage for cables, can you?

Samprjon2 dagur5

Sama og i gaer nema...

Thegar komid er ad sidustu umferd (litur 1 yfir allar lykkjurnar) tha er bara prjonad eina ferd og fella svo af. Sauma saman uppfitid og affellinguna og thid erud komnar med hufu. Thessa her: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTtychus.html

Samprjon2 dagur4

Sama og i gaer.

Samprjón2 dagur3

Sama og í gær.

Samprjon2 dagur2

Haldid afram thar sem fra var horfid

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 20 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna fram og tilbaka yfir allar lykkjunar

Samprjon2 Dagur1

Þegar skipt er um lit er ágætt að vefja gamla litnum framyfir þann nýja og leyfa þeim að ferðast þannig upp stykkið.

Notið tvo þræði af lit nr. 1 og fitjið upp 38 lykkjur á prjóna nr. 5,5 (eda tha staerd sem passar best m.v. thad garn sem thid voldud).

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 20 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna fram og tilbaka yfir allar lykkjunar (38 lykkjur)

Yummie wool

I had two SAL (stitch-a-long) going, but for all of April I didn't even touch them. We had visitors and then I was sick. The visitors also brought yummie wool and it's pretty hard to resist knitting with it. I made the EZ baby sweater with part of it and now I started a rectangle shawl (langsjal) from Victorian Lace Today with steel grey kambgarn (Icelandic sport weight wool). Soft and beautiful. It's a dream to knit with. The center pattern (diamond pattern) ONLY has 36 repeats (of 10 lines). Although 36 sounds like a low number, now that I've knit 1/4 of it (and how many repeats are that? he he) I realize it really IS a large rectangle. The name of the pattern is 'Large Rectangle with diamond center pattern' (p.20) go figure.

It knits up like a dream though and is intoxicating. Having 36 repeats helps too, because it sets up more landmarks on the way. First passing 1/9th the way was nice (4 repeats), then 1/6th (6 repeats) and now 1/4th (9 repeats). Next landmark is 12 repeats (1/3rd).

I'm myself again

All last week I felt as if I as in a daze or a fog. I had no energy what so ever. It was a struggle standing on my feet in the morning and to do my job. I've never experienced so much loss of energy before in my life. I was a lot better last Monday but on Tuesday morning I realized I wasn't getting any better and went to see a doctor. So now I'm on antibiotics and they took their time working.

This weekend I spent mostly in horizontal position. I can't just be in bed doing nothing, so I was relieved to find out I could prop me up in the sofa and knit! I made Knitty's Calorimetry on the Saturday. I knit it from the giant hat I made the other day (about a month ago) with Patons SWS soy-wool yarn.



I took the progress photo because it was fun to knit from a hat, rather then the usual skein or ball of yarn. My last project was actually knit from a plate of yarn (the unspun) so I guess I have a theme going!

On Sunday I finished the Mid April Dishcloth KAL.




I love this pattern because it's lacy or what it's called when you do yarnovers and decreases on both sides of the fabric. This is a first for me and a good practice for further lace work, perhaps on of these. I took the photo without any sunlight whatsoever so I wonder if you can see the traveling stitches zigzagging up the dishcloth? It's beautiful. I'm glad I went ahead and did this one. The May KAL will start tomorrow and I'm in the mood for more dishcloths, thankfully since I still have lots of this stuff.

I got a nice surprise at work today. My co-worker got some of her friend's knitting needles and gave me some duplicates. These are vintage needles, unused and all. All of them are sock needles (dpn) and 4 in a pack from Susan Bates.



The consist of one size 0 (2 mm), one size 1 (2.25 mm), two size 4 (3.5 mm), two size 5 (3.75 mm) and one size 9 (5.5 mm) needles.

A Quick Blog

Here is the sweater unwashed and without buttons. I washed it already but discovered that I have no white towels, only blue, so 1) I have to buy white towels so I can take picture of knitted garments and 2) you'll have to wait until it's dry and the buttons have been sewn on for a photo of the finished sweater. It wouldn't look much different though (excluding the buttons).

I wanted to wash it with a conditioner to make the sweater as soft as possible, but discovered I didn't have a clue how to do that. I failed to ask my Icelandic online knitting group (like I planned) so I had to just wing it. I'm not all that good handwashing wool to begin with. There is no 'dear mamma' here in Athens. I have a confession to make. I've always asked my mom to wash my wool until now. I guess I'll have to learn to stand on my own two feet, knitting wise.

At first I tried to apply the conditioner as you would on hair, but it wouldn't spread so I ended up squeezing it lightly and using way more than I ever would use on my own hair. It doesn't seem to have felted at all. I had to rinse it twice because the color bled a little bit. Then I put it on a towel, folded it up in a circle to get as much moister out as possible. Right now it's drying on my bed.

I'll have to write more later. I'm too tired and I'll have to go to bed.

The nicest baby sweater

I'm loving my current project so much I almost feel like I'm having an affair. Ok. That's maybe a bit of a overstatement. This is the EZ (Elizabeth Zimmermann) baby sweater from the February chapter of Knitter's Almanac. It was also published in Vogue Knitting and I have the pattern in a collection: Vogue Knitting: American Collection.

When I moved I actually tore out EZ's chapter in the Collection and threw the rest away. They were 90's patterns, and not at all something that will work today. Every single one of EZ's patterns in the book do work today, even if the Tomten jacket is a bit 70's.

You should be able to see some of other peoples EZ baby sweaters on flickr. It's knit from top-down, with garter stitch edges. When you are done knitting (I have 1,5 rows left on the bottom) all you have to do is to sew up the arms (which are quite small.

The lace pattern is very nice. It's called a gull stitch. I like it so much I added a repeat both for the arms and the body. My excuse was that baby's grow so fast so you have to make things a little bigger, but the real reason was that I just couldn't stop knitting ;)

This making cloths a little bigger makes me want to tell you a story. In my mother's side of the family we are 11 grandchildren and I'm the only girl. Not only were there 10 boys, but 9 of them where BIG boys. When Kamilla was born (first child to be born in 12 years in my family and first girl since I was born 28 year earlier) everybody gave her cloths big enough so she wouldn't grow out of them in couple of months. The problem was that she was a petite baby (in Icelandic terms, quite average in American terms) and most of the cloths she got at birth didn't fit her until she was a year old. This continued and she always got clothes that she couldn't wear for a year (for her birthday or Christmas). This wouldn't be too bad if Icelandic stores had good customer service, but no. I rarely was able to exchange for a smaller size, so normally I just kept it and often I forgot about the clothes until they were too small for her :( She still wears a rainsuit she got when she was 6 months old (at the time she was to young to play out in the rain anyways) and she's just now big enought to wear a sweater knitted for her when she was a newborn (supposed to be 9 month size but got a little bigger). She's also to skinny to wear cloths that are too big so that doesn't help.

End of story. Sorry about that. Back to knitting.+

The EZ sweater is intended for a friend of mine, what just had a baby last month. The yarn is very coarse (Icelandic wool and all) and I will wash it with a conditioner to make it smooth. I can't wait to see how it will turn out.

I'll keep you posted.

I bet you think I haven't been knitting

Well you're wrong :) He he

I've been making the Monthly Dishcloth KAL patterns and only missed the April one.



I made mittens for Ása Sóley



I started them at the end of February, just before we moved from Concord, CA to Athens, OH. I used leftover yarn, the brown was a little thinner than the green so I used it doubled. The left mitten looks bigger - it isn't. I had kept them one inside of the other and it stretched the left one out a little.

I only finished them couple of weeks ago. Ása Sóley wasn't terribly interested in using them (until she saw how interested Kamilla (big sister) was in them) and I was focusing on other projects. We had a cold spell and they came in handy.

They are knit with two circular (3.5 mm) using a pattern from Lopi 25.
__________________________________________________________________________________

So what do you think I do with all the leftovers from the dishcloths?

Well, mitered squares of course.



I made all of these before we moved from Concord. So that's in February. Only one more and I have a towel for the kitchen.

Last week I finally soaked my dishcloths in water and vinegar to set the color. This yarn has very bright colors, but it bleeds like crazy. So I can finally use them.

Plötulopi

I'm still knitting the plötulopi. I only knit it in one strand, but usually it's knit in 2-3 strands held together. This yarn is very much alive. It's unspun, so there is nothing holding it back. It has surprised me that it hasn't been breaking as much as I thought it would. Those sturdy Icelandic fibers are really doing a good job holding the thread together. I want to take a picture of the WIP and the lopi. I'm not up to much these days. I have an earache and at first it lead to my teeth and I thought I had a bad tooth. The pain was throbbing. Now it's mostly in the ear itself, which is a relieve. I can't bend down or lay on my right side, but this is so much more manageable. I don't use pain killers that often and when I do I only do one at a time but on Thursday I took 2 ibuprofen every 2 hours, that's how much it hurt.

BTW If you were wondering, the Secret KAL was this: Quickie Baby Sweater.

Most people made it through, while other had a slight mishap. I'm one of those. There is a section of increases that I could not get right. Once I fixed one row it was time for another row of increases and I messed up again. I've ripped back about 4 times and probably have to do it once more at least. But it is a quick knit so it´s not hard to rip back and knit again.

I started a French Market Bag a way back, thinking it would be a perfect travelling project. It is, but couple of days before our trip I lost it! I lost the project. All I remember was that I put it in a good place. How typical.

Our trip was a roadtrip to Lake Erie, where we spent couple of nights at a cabin. We drove through Amish country (I managed to find some antique quilts). We visited Put-in-Bay, on an Island in the Lake and on the way back we went through Cleveland and Akron. We live in South-East Ohio, so it´s a quite a big distance away. My dad and stepmom are visiting us and it was a great opportunity for them to see the country side and the state of Ohio (and for us too). Two days was really too short time to visit that area, but since the tourist season hasn't started yet and things are pretty much closed (including Cedar Point) it worked out fine.

So before I left I had to find a project to take with me on the trip. I needed something where I didn't need a computer (most patterns I work from are in the computer and I don´t have a printer) so none of the projects I was currently working on fit. I ended up starting the EZ baby sweater with the plötulopi that my stepmom brought me. It is in the most beautiful light green color. Plötulopi is unspun wool and it breaks quite easily but it's as easy to put it back together (wet the ends and roll them together). The fiber is fragile but the knitted fabric is very sturdy and strong. I don´t think I can rip it back though if I needed but I can unknit it, go back few stitches without problems.

Now work - later yarn shops in Columbus.

Samprjon dagur5

Næsta umf. Endurtaka 8 umf.

Næsta umf. Endurtaka 9 umf.




Næstu 4 umferðir slétt (slétt á réttu og brugðið á röngu)




Næsta umf. Prjóna 3 l.sl. *Taka 2 lykkjur saman, bregða garni yfir prjóninn, endurtaka frá* enda á að bregða garni yfir og prjóna 4 l.sl.

Næstu 3 umferðir slétt (slétt á réttu og brugðið á röngu)

Fellið af og notið endan á garninu til að falda stroffið (picot)

Samprjón1 dagur4

Endurtaka síðustu þrjár línur (frá því í gær) fyrir 22 l. hinum megin á stykkinu.

Byrjið að prjóna hægra megin af stykkinu og prjóna þvert yfir [83 l.]
Prjónið slétt (skiptast á sléttri röð og brugni) í 12 umf. með fyrstu og síðustu þrjár lykkjur í garðaprjóni.