Duster Redux

Just in case you were waiting with bated breath, here is the finished Tilted Duster. I call it a success, especially considering the disaster it almost became.

SP12 Again!

The new question is: "What is your favorite supper for a hot summer evening?" I guess my favorite is one I don't have to cook! But really, for summer? I love fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, vine ripened tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil. A cold plum soup or mango gazpacho beforehand would be lovely, too.

Unfortunately, it's not hot here! Not at all!

Now, on to more important things, like my new spinning wheel! Here she is:

I have never spun on a wheel before, so I just jumped in with both feet (pun intended) and spun some really bad yarn! But amazingly enough, I love it anyway. It is soft and smells nice and I like looking at it. Here is the first 65 yards or so of very bulky corriedale:














And one more thing, a fun one, for fans of Firefly -- or not -- Ben's Jayne hat!
This was so much fun and such a quick knit, that I already made another one. Not sure who's going to get it, either Dalya or me. Photo to follow soon....

SP More Questions!

What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/
vacation? Well, I never seem to pick just one project! Of course, socks are a must. They are probably my favorite things to knit on planes because they'll fit into any carry on bag, even my laptop bag. Then I usually pack something in my checked luggage that I can work on for a longer time, because I'll probably finish the socks. Maybe a sweater or a complicated pair of gloves or mittens. I might bring lace, but if I do, I'll be sure to bring something else really easy to knit in case I mess up the lace and have to really concentrate to fix a mistake. I also pack my interchangeable needles because I will almost certainly buy some yarn and want to start a new, unanticipated project and I'm tired of buying needles I already have. (At last count I found I had seven Addi turbos in size 5.) Crazy!!!

If you'd like to share a story…Tell us about a time that you packed too much knitting or were stranded without knitting.Well, I always pack too much knitting, in that I almost never finish everything I bring along. Ok, here's a story. I wanted to knit the Leaf Lace sweater (I think that's what it's called) from Loop d Loop. I ordered some pretty celery green yarn from Knit Picks and packed it up to go on a trip. When I took out the pattern, yarn and needles, I discovered that I had somehow stupidly bought the wrong weight of yarn, so I could not start the sweater! Of course, I rushed out to a lys and bought yarn in the correct weight. You can see the sweater on ravelry; I think it's entitled "I must be crazy".

I guess that's enough for now. Tomorrow I will try to post the finished Tilted Duster.
Good night!

Fessing Up! For SP12

I have been remiss, and I apologize! Here are answers to both last week's and this week's questions:

Yarn that would make my stash complete: Well, I don't know if it could ever be complete, but I have never used and would like to try Socks that Rock and Malabrigo sock or other Malabrigo yarn. I think the flat feet look really fun, too!

The yarn I never want to be without is Cascade 220, which I'm sure I use more than any other non-sock yarn. I'm just finishing up that tilted duster, and of course, I used Cascade 220.

This week's questions:

Favorite place to vacation: either New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. I love big cities more than anything. Little ones, too, like Boston ;)

Where I'd like to go: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Africa. And Herrang for Swing Dance camp, even though the mosquitoes are rumored to be the size of pigeons.

Hey, I made Ben a hat from Wooly Wormhead's book "Going Straight" It was so fun and easy to make! All these hats are made on straight needles with short rows. Brilliant!
I also made Ben a cute washcloth with a skull on it. I found the pattern on ravelry and I'll post a link when I photo the washcloth. He likes it!

Duster Disaster/Miracle

I hardly know where to begin, so let me start by saying that Norah Gaughan is divine. I'm a huge fan, as the drool stains on my copy of "Knitting Nature" can attest. We've had a very cool spring here in the Pacific Northwest so I got a jump on making her Tilted Duster so I'd have it for autumn. I was thrilled to finish the skirt and even though it was supposed to be 90 degrees yesterday, I decided to knit the collar.

Oops. That's when I saw the unbelievably stupid and huge mistake. Take a look:

Do you see it?

No?








Have a closer look:


Yes, I had carefully attached the left and right front bodice pieces to the wrong sides. Now, I have been knitting since I was seven and sewing since I was eight. I know how garments go together, so how did this happen? Well, I have ADD, and I didn't read one little phrase in the pattern carefully enough. When making the right front, just prior to binding off for the armhole, it says "Mark beg of last RS row completed with removable m or scrap yarn (to mark armhole)."

Italics mine. Yup, I saw that marker when I was putting my my pieces together, and figured it had to be there for a reason. To mark the armhole! So, against my initial instinct I sewed it up as you see above, picked up the stitches and knit the entire skirt.

When I realized my gigantic mistake, the first thing I did was go on ravelry, to the Norah Gaughan group and share my tale of woe. I swear that within five minutes, the amazing Ms. Gaughan herself responded! Here's what she told me:

I think I understand what you are saying. I’ve had to face a lot of these kinds of emergencies in my career.
I think you should bravely clip a thread of the pick up row on each front and, stitch by stitch, pull out just as much of that row as you need to in order to free the fronts from the skirt. If you’ve used peruvia or another wooly yarn, the loops of the skirt won’t be going anywhere. After switching the fronts You then can graft the skirt back onto the fronts - or join yarn, bind off and sew them back on.

You can do it!

With words of wisdom and encouragement like that from the Divine Miss G, I had to push through and do it.

I never cut a piece of knitting before.

Avoided steeking all these years.

I had to do this, not because I couldn't frog the whole skirt and knit it again, but because frogging would have been the easy way out. I know how to frog! Done it many, many times. But this "surgery" was a knitting challenge. I wanted to prove that I'm smart enough to cut and reattach pieces of knitting.

So, I did it. The first "cut" was not great, and had to reknit the right front, but the second cut was right on. Have a look:

Here's the one that I "goofed" on, but still, the skirt is saved, so far!

I cried only once. Well, maybe a few times. I yelled at my kids a couple of times when they had the audacity to try and talk to me. I played with these circular needles again and again until I knew where and what to cut, and what to do next.

Deep breath.

Here's the skirt, liberated:

And here is the left front, ready to reattach.


















And finally, here are the photos of he deed, done. Today I knit the collar, tomorrow I block.

When everything is smooth and dry, I'll attach the sleeves. Stay tuned for final photos. Oh, and I still need to find the perfect buttons. Maybe I'll hunt them down later today. I hope this encourages anyone who makes a mistake to take the plunge and fix it. And frogging isn't the only way.I still can't believe I did this. Stay tuned for the finished photos here and on ravelry. And again, Thank You, Norah!!!!

the "Perfect" Stash?

First of all, please forgive my recent silence.

When I was a little girl and I was feeling sad, my mother would say "You look like you lost your best friend." That phrase rang in my ears again and again this week upon hearing that my dear friend, who I've known since high school, Robin lost her long battle with breast cancer. So I've been sad, and quiet, but I have many, many warm memories.

Just last month, I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Robin's daughter Jessie Here is a picture of Robin and me at the wedding.

I have learned much from my dear friend, and she has always been an inspiration and role model for me. Robin lived life better than most; I always felt she had a better handle on being a grown up then I ever would. I miss her so much. In the coming weeks, I will post some more photos and share more memories.

Now, as to the question of a "perfect stash". Well, if it were perfect, it would be like this:

• Take up no more space than I could fit comfortably in my yarn bin system.
• Hold yarns of every hue, value and tint, organized according to the color wheel.
• Each yarn would come in lace, sock, dk, worsted, aran and bulky weight.
• The fiber content of each yarn would magically change with the seasons as well as my mood. On hot summer days, I could find a lace weight, or cool bamboo, silk or rayon yarn, but as the days draw closer to fall, I'd find wool, alpaca and maybe even cashmere (hey this is perfection, right?)
  
• There would be no acrylic yarns or ugly colors.
• Each yarn would have the exact yardage (plus a little extra) for whatever I felt like knitting at any given time.
  
• Each skein would have it's label intact and legible.
  
• My stash would automatically repel moths and dust.
• If I had to move, my stash would pack itself up, compress into portable dimensions and teleport to my new destination.

Perfect enough?

Summer! ???

It hasn't been anything like summer here this year. In fact, it hasn't been anything like spring, either. Apparently, this is the worst "sprummer" weather the Puget Sound region has seen in a long time. It's June 18th and the temperature is now 49 degrees.

SP12 wants to know: As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

I was never much of an outdoor kid, so what I looked forward most to was having unlimited time to read, knit and crochet. When I was outdoors, I was usually riding my bike, making sidewalk art with chalk or playing elaborate games of hopscotch. (Anybody remember hopscotch?)