Designs and donuts

An eventful weekend has come and gone. The weather cooperated fully. Saturday morning saw my lovely red bicycle loaded and ready for the 20 mile round trip to a friends to make homemade apple cider donuts! Doesn't your mouth just water thinking about tasty fresh donuts.

Following the success of Saturday I attended a new knitting group on Sunday morning with a friend of my new roommate. The people were amazing! A diverse group of fiber enthusiasts, people knit, spun, crocheted, and just came for the talk. Plus, any group that gets together on evenings to watch doctor who or swaps vegetables for canning supplies - they're shiny.

On this particular Sunday I had extra cause to be joyous. The first version of Tettegouche is finished! (Not blocked). Without blocking the lovely blueberry stitch and wavey edging aren't that easy to see: but they are there!

With the first knit off the needles I'm beginning to refine the charts (make sure there are no mistakes) and, more excitingly, hunting for the next yarn for the final sample knit. I'm torn between more Madeline tosh light and this lovely dream in color smooshy. I think Steven Be is in my future. Perhaps for some slate, blue grey yarn. I think that will be right color.

 

Adversity leads to creativity ...

Last Thursday I came down with the crud. Probably the flu. Whatever it's name it laid me flat and stomped all over my poor respiratory system. I spent several days on the couch and bed, eating soup for every meal and pounding more tea than humanly possible.

Today, I've finally recovered enough to work and write.

With the prolonged periods of couch time I spent some fruitful hours working on the much neglected Tettegouche shawl pattern. Pouring over books and knitting swatches I finally came up with an edging I like.

Behold!

It's a really bad photo taken on my lap, but you can sort of see the undulation of the edge. And you can definitely see the lattice like formations between the body and edge. It will look sweet!

In my mind, I see this shawl also in a silvery green/blue color. Like slate. The color of the rocks up on Lake Superior.

Now to try and find that color to knit this shawl again as a test of the pattern and create a solid colored piece for photographing for the final PDF.

My new self-imposed deadline is to start testing mid-October. Interested?

Also, if you know of a lovely wool yarn in a slate green/blue that isn't too dark and would show stitch defnintion really well, please!

 

Be excellent to each other!

 

I think I can ... I think I can ...

Two + years and counting. The galadriels mirror shawl has been on my needles for two plus years. I wrote about this shawl last time, how I was going to finish it, how it was beautiful, how it was terrible for my tendonitis.

It is terrible for tendonitis.

The twisted stitches are brutal, the k2tog twisted stitches are the speed bumps in my knitting road.

And it is still unbelievably gorgeous. I've been knitting every few days for a few weeks now, and it feels as if I have been 10 rows away from the end for the entire time. The photo was taken two weeks ago, and it still looks like that today. I've knit tons of rows.

Someday it will be done. Someday I will bind off and then find somewhere to block the enormous 80" shawl (I'm guessing, but I think it will be that big).

When I finish I will finally return to the shawl I am designing name Tettegouche. When I finish I will ice my hands for a week and stow this shawl away for the MN state fair creative arts competition next year. When I finish I will applaud every other knitter who has finished this amazing pattern. And then I will spend the next month only making dishcloths - before I decide to tackle another amazing and complicated pattern.

 

Packing the knitting

We're moving! Everything gets packed.

The other day all the knitting said goodbye to the light of day.

The sad part of this story is that the knitting is going to live in these containers when we move. We will have slightly less storage space and space overall. So my lovely shelf, upon which all the yarn didn't fit anyways, will now be used for linens and the yarn is going to live in the dark, under the bed.

At least it will have the knitting machine for company. And sometimes the cat. He likes to sleep under the bed.

Happily, I found a project that I had hidden at the bottom of a project basket. It is Galadriel's Mirror by Susan Pandorf.

This project has been in progress for two years. It is an exquisite design ... But unhappily for the tendonitis knitter it involves twisted stitches, wrapped stitches, and bobbles/nupps. Both twisted stitches and bobbles/nupps require working on the wrong side as well. If you don't twist the twisted stitches on the WS too they look funny. But bobbles are tedious. But I cheated and did nupps, which create five new stitches in one. And then on the WS you purl all five stitches together creating a lovely rosette looking bobble. And I cheat further and use a crochet hook to gather the nupp stitches which make them lean left instead of turning into a rosette. But at least my hands aren't so badly abused.

Also, never ... Never ever use any sort of cotton blend for a large complicated shawl if you have terrible hands problems. Never ever. That is half the reason this shawl was difficult. The yarn has no bouncy give. Nothing. But it does look smashing in person. Lovely cotton/silk blend of Lyndon hills Bristol yarn gallery in grey. Lovely in person.

My hands were mostly abused when doing the main body. Which is why this lovely shawl has been sitting in the bottom of a basket for a solid year. Poor thing. It is now in the light of day, and I've finally reached the knit and purl edge section that occasionally has knit togethers and yarn overs for shaping. Moving along slowly, but ... This year ... This year it can be done.

So, fair warning. Go slow tendonitis knitters. Use stitch markers. And most important ... Do not shame yourself, feel badly, or bemoan those projects that languish under the basket of other pretties. Sometimes they just need a bit of time to percolate, and think about how badly the non-springy yarn treated your hands.

 

Be excellent to each other!

 

Creation green stuff ...

Theme of the week is green! Or it was two weeks ago and then life happened. And the theme was no longer green but brownies and dinners and parties!!! But two weeks ago the creation theme was green. I have photographic evidence.

Husband and I went to the farmers market on a Sunday to procure some basil and other fresh produce. Basil was by far the most abundant thing we purchased. I believe my scale registered over 400grams. By the way, that bowl is 12" wide or more.

And some of the leaves were really really huge!

 

 

After remembering to purchase walnuts, pesto was made! I consider 200grams to be one batch.

I used:

- basil, from plants that have not yet flowered (didn't do that last year and it made sour tasting pesto)

- extra virgin olive oil

- walnuts (toasted or not depending on time)

- parmesean

400 grams of basil leaves made approximately 2 pints of pesto which I put in sandwich bags and popped in the freezer for later use. Mmm!

Staying green I kept practicing with the knitting machine (and used greenish yarn, hence green theme).

I finished the second of the striped socks, which looks like this (see left photo). I also made one in a teal color. The second knitting adventure was rounded off with testing whether I could adjust a pattern to work with different sizes. And also make something wearable.

I cast on 64 stitches across the machine bed.

Knit 20 rows. And turned a hem. Knit 6 more rows.

Create short row heel across right side 32 stitches.

Knit 62 rows along all 64 needles.

Create short row toe across right side 32 stitches (rational is that when you seam the toe that seam will now happen on the top of your foot, not the bottom).

Knit 6 rows with waste yarn.

Crochet to seam the toe and side. TADA!

1st ankle sock on knitting machine. IT FITS!

Be excellent to each other!

 

Expanding the collection...

Let me introduce the newest member in my knitting family...

No given name yet, but called a Brother K840

I haven't named it yet, but it will be the stallion in my herd of knitting accessories and machines.

The decision to buy a knitting machine percolated for years before the capital to realize my dream materialized. My desire for this machine is driven by two forces: first, the knowledge that tendons in my hands are damaged and only capable of so much fiddly work (damage which cannot be undone only managed and improved somewhat). Second, that the small budget of a budding designer does not include sample knitters and the first samples must be made by me. Also, that it is possible to have more ideas for designs than time in which to finish them all. The large stockingette chunk of sweater can be designed in two seconds, and knit over a week or more on needles. Presto machine, now stockingette sweater is done in 30 minutes! (Or more, this post does not presume to give accurate details on the time and energy involved in machine knitting.)

Ideals aside for a moment, I'm pumped about learning this machine. For the first time while knitting I am taking lessons ... Which are prompting me forward through these new techniques must faster than anticipated.

Second little learning sock on machine, first of the pair in this yarn.

To the right is the second sock (little Christmas ornament sized sock) made on the machine. The first was in an awful, or awesome, hunters orange. The mate to this lovely little sock is waiting to be seemed (something I also learned to do using the machine). The whole sock probably took an hour, including seaming. And the second went faster.

The real learning curve, for me, isn't the pattern directions or the techniques. It is the mechanics of the machine. Suddenly, there are moving parts and wand looking things instead of two straight sticks. Tension is controlled by something that looks like bug antenna, and it must be right or the whole thing gets gummed up.

On the second sock I learned how to pick up dropped stitches, fixed an improper crochet seam and hide my mistakes.

Some people think this machine will help me use more of my stash to make more things.

Some people didn't quite understand that now cotton yarn is needed to make dishcloths. I'm going shopping this weekend!

Oh, and advice: if you plan to buy a machine - read everything you can find first, buy used, and if possible buy from someone in your area that might have other services like lessons or repairs too! Even if you think you know everything, there is still so much to learn!

 

Be excellent to each other!

 

Yarn at altitude ...

My husband and I just returned from our summer vacation. We drove for 16+ hours to Grand Lake, CO; which is located right next to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and 1 hour from Estes Park. As my first time west of Fargo, ND we made sure to take the scenic route through Colorado, along US-34 through Roosevelt National Park, into Estes and then along the Trail Ridge Pass through RMNP.
I give you these details because they bear upon yarn related topics.

Our entrance to the park began with the daily crossing of the bighorn sheep. They cross the highway every day at 4-4:30 pm. The park rangers are always there with their stop signs.
These will be my future heard.

My new bighorn flock.

View from Rainbow Pass.

To go along with my new flock, and all the yarn I will have to make from their fleeces - there were some really spectacular views ...

Of course little photos don't convey the full scale of these peaks, which aren't even the highest in the Rocky Mountain chain.

Elk in the tundra. A male is leading the herd.

We reached an altitude of approximately 12,000 ft. That altitude is the elk's living room. They were grazing on several slopes along the Alpine Pass.

After climbing the Alpine Trail to a peak - and drinking water and breathing - we gazed at the splendor of the mountains, seeing many trails calling our names. Next time.






 More photos:

Wildflowers of the tundra. Yellow is the common yellow monkey flower and blue is Mountain Fringed Gentian.

View from the peak of the Alpine Trail. Over 12,000 ft. Oh, and in case it seems too epic, you drive up to 11,500 feet and walk a short trail the rest of the way. You still breathe incredibly hard.

Baby marmot.

In the Kawuneeche Valley a cow and calf graze by a stream (which might be the beginnings of the Colorado River).

Elk grazing in the early morning light. There were larger males in the tundra lazing on the slopes.

Wildflowers by the beaver ponds, they are Little Elephant Head.

A little tired, and definitely feeling the altitude I spent my last day in Colorado relaxing. I worked on a Calypso sock being done in knitpicks chroma fingering - all done english style! It gave my poor trigger finger left index finger a much needed break.

While knitting the sock, ideas for new designs floated through my head - ideas like Monkey Flowers (yellow flower) and Little Elephant Heads (pink flower). A whole new set based on RMNP.
Plus, I'm learning how to use a knitting machine this week! After my three lessons and some assistance I hope to be churning out a few sweater designs!

Be excellent to each other!