Good Morning from Pittsburgh! I have an update on my Summershine Top knitting and a major book haul to share with you.
Knitting
I will start off my update with my current progress on my Summershine Top in Organic Cotton Sport.
I am still on the back piece, where I have reached the underarm bind-off and shaping. I had yesterday and today off so I hope to finish this part soon and begin the front.
Mini Break Between Festivals
So, as I said in the opening of my post, I am currently in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Creative arts Festival. I was in Allegan, MI last weekend for the Michigan Fiber Festival. That festival was wonderful as always. The weather was mixed between rain and sun. We had a good turnout and fun was had by all.
I drove from Michigan to Pittsburgh on Monday. Since I don’t have to set up the booth until Thursday (tomorrow), that gave me two days off. It goes by pretty quick and it has been nice to just hand out with my knitting and books. I am very easily entertained. :-)
Book Haul
Speaking of books, there is a Barnes & Noble just a few miles from my hotel. So, of course, I had to pop in on Tuesday. There is a big book haul sale going on. How could I resist that, I ask you? Recently I did some culling of my book shelves in my office. I am pretty sure I just refilled a bit of that space. ;-)
I have read all of these before with two exceptions. The book on the top of the stack, Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts, intrigued me with the cover art. I love the ocean, and whales. I picked it up and read the summary. It is based on a spin off from Moby Dick, one of my favorite novels. I was ALL IN at that point. I have already read the first chapter and I like it so far. (No affiliation, just a book-lover who likes to share)
The other one that has some stories I haven’t read yet is the Great American Short Stories collection. I have read probably at least 30-40% of the ones contained in the volume. I am excited to dip into this and just read whatever one strikes my mood.
I will start off by showing you my knitting progress on the Summershine Top. I only worked on the Organic Cotton Sport one lately. I finished knitting and blocking a sleeve in this yarn and in the Linen/Cotton one. After checking for gauge on both and they looked good, I cast on the back piece in the Organic Cotton Sport.
organic cotton sport sleevecotton linen sleeveorganic cotton sport sweater back piece
Over the weekend while I was in Charlotte, I got about half of the back piece knit. I haven’t measured the length but I think it needs to 15″ or so before beginning the armhole shaping. It looks like around 8″ maybe.
I haven’t worked at all on the Veritas Shawl since the last post. No brain space for that one right now.
Festival
Now on to my festival update. I returned yesterday from the Southern Comforts Fiber Market in Charlotte, NC. This was the fourth year for this show and it is growing nicely. I was excited that there was a noticeable increase in the customer attendance this year. We had a great show and I am looking forward to going back next year.
hand dyed yarn displayhandcrafted yarn swiftshand crafted darning eggs and nostepinnes
I don’t often get a chance to do much shopping while I am vending. I planned, however, to make a visit to Brick House Fiber Arts booth and pick up a few sets of my favorite needles. I am slowly collecting a set of all of my most used sizes and lengths.
What I love most about their knitting needles are the cables. They are wonderful and drapey. No coiling at all! The needles themselves are perfectly sharp and friction-less. I highly recommend!
One of my vendor neighbors had some lovely bags. I had been thinking lately that I could use a new, larger, main knitting bag to hold my supplies and extra yarn that won’t fit in my project bag. This is especially handy on longer trips, which I will be on his coming week. More on that later. Anyway, I fell for this beauty.
I have moved in and I absolutely love it! It is nice and roomy. It has several pockets and a holds quite a lot. What I really like is that it folds in and looks smaller than it is. When you open it up, it is very expansive. When you are carrying it though, it doesn’t feel huge. The maker doesn’t have a website but her business name is Yours By Design. I think she’s on Instagram. Wait..I found her Etsy shop.
Where I’m Going Next
Before I close this post, I will mention where I am off to Wednesday. I will be going first to Allegan, MI for the Michigan Fiber Festival. After that I will be headed from there to Pittsburgh, PA for the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. I will have a couple days off between, so if I don’t post before that I should have time to post then. See you soon!
May has been quite a busy travel month. This weekend is the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, IN. We have a long history with this show beginning in 2008, which was the year of the Flood. If you were there, you know what I mean. That year, Friday was epically rainy but the turn out was pretty good, considering the weather. Saturday morning it was STILL raining and things were looking dire. Roads were closing due to ponding and about midday we were told we would need to start loading up because a nearby dam broke. It sounds scary, but really the biggest problem was finding a route out of the area when roads and even Interstate 65S was closed for a time. We made it out fine. We did, however, have to take the long way home via I74 East through Cincinnati to Louisville.
But, I digress. Hoosier Hills is the last festival on our schedule from the first half of 2024. I am setting up the booth in a few hours from now. The market hours are 10:30-5:30 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday. When I get home on Sunday I have a break from traveling. I have got more yarn ordered to dye over the summer break. It is arriving in a week or two.
Great Lakes Fiber Show 2024Great Lakes Fiber Show 2024
Here are a couple pictures from The Great Lakes Fiber Show last weekend. We had a really wonderful turn out this year. The weather was nice for the most part, except for Friday, which was set up day for vendors.
Knitting
So, as I mentioned above, I have been busy. I am working on my two projects but not as much as I would like.
Miss BB Left frontSampler sock
Miss BB is coming along. I completed the left front piece but I didn’t have time to block it yet.
My other knitting project is my sock in Classic Merino Bamboo. As you may recall, this was originally Stephen West’s Mingling Daisies Socks. That is no longer the plan and let me explain why that happened.
I began the pattern stitch section after the ribbing, which started with the Daisy Stitch. I remember that when working this on the shawl it was a bit fiddly until the fabric grew. The fiddly bit is worked on the wrong side and is done by working P3tog, leave those on the left needle, YO, P3tog again into those same three stitches. It got easier as the fabric grew.
The problem, for me, was that with the socks it is done on the right side. So, that means that you are working in the round (for me on DPN’s) on 2.25mm needles and doing the stitch pattern as K3tog, YO K3tog. Oh. My. Goodness. That was so slow and aggravating to me. AND, you have to shift the beginning of row every other row. UGH. I worked a few repeats and I hated it. I also promptly trashed any plans for making the companion sock pattern that was ALL Daisy stitch.
So, the 2.5″ ribbing was knit. I ripped back to that and got out my stitch pattern books. I decided to pick 2-3 out and make up a sample sock pattern. I looked for ones that were multiples of 4 or 8 since I have 64 stitches. I am using one called Swedish Check, the Broken Rib that was in Mingling Daisies, and a lacy pattern called Little Frogs. I just finished the gusset decreases last night.
I think that’s enough for today’s post since it is getting close to time to go set up the booth. See you again soon!
If you take a look at the projects that I currently have on the needles, it looks like it is a year of knitting for me. I haven’t done this much in the last 18 years. It is mostly sample knitting in my knitting bag, but at the moment it’s all “just because” knitting. Let’s get to the details.
Sweater Knitting
I shared with you in my last post that I am making Miss BB in some stash yarn. I like using natural colored yarn every now and then. I also like working with non-superwash wool for outerwear. It has a nice woolly feel and smell. I also appreciate the structure of a seamed garment. The knitting is easier on my hands because it is made in pieces which means that you don’t have the full weight of the garment as it gets nearer to completion.
I finished the back piece and have washed and blocked it. I prefer to do this as I go so that I can get straight to the seaming once all the pieces are done. Another advantage is that I don’t have to have the whole thing in my project bag when I am traveling, like I am right now. I left the finished back at home. More on that later in the post.
I have completed about half of the left front of the cardigan. It is going rather quickly when you consider my limitations on knitting time each day.
Sock and Other Knitting
I am normally project monogamous, but I am breaking that practice just because I feel like it. I have cast on for a pair of socks, plus I have two other small projects that I will cast on this week.
On the left is the start of my Mingling Daisies Socks in my Classic Merino Bamboo in Midnight Blue. I enjoyed making the Mingling Daisies Shawl, so I hope these will be fun to make and wear. I have never made a pair of socks for myself from this base, and I am interested to try the results. I often am asked by customers how they wear for socks and now I will be able to answer more accurately. I am using this color for the whole sock instead of the three colors Stephen uses for his sample. I don’t care for changing colors in socks because one color means only two ends to weave in. :-)
The middle yarn is going to be the other Year of Socks 2024 May release, Lazy Daisy Socks. I neglected to mention above that the Mingling Daisies Socks were also from the May release. I am having a lot of fun doing these this year. I haven’t made a few of them, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get to them at some point. The yarn I have wound is some stash yarn I bought from Webs in 2010. It is Kollage Yarns Sock-a-licious in Stormy.
My final soon to be project is Veritas Shawl. There is a story for how this got into my queue. I was at the Midwest Fiber Festival a couple of weeks ago. A fellow vendor friend who has her first grandchild on the way, saw that I had a retired baby sweater sample for sale. She asked if I wanted to do a trade for it since she is short on knitting time. I agreed and the yarn on the right was what I chose from her booth.
The yarn is a very lovely hand dyed dyed skein of Leading Men Fiber Arts Monologue. I am linking to Ravelry because it is a discontinued yarn. I did a pattern search on Ravelry for something to make with this one skein since I didn’t want to make socks with a single ply yarn. I found the above shawl, which I am very excited to begin. I think this will be a nice scarf type shawl and I love the color!
Travels
So, as I mentioned above I am on the road this weekend. I drove to Beloit, Wisconsin on Wednesday and stopped for the night. On Thursday I completed my drive to Hudson, Wisconsin which is just a couple of miles from the Minnesota state line. Here is a view from my hotel room window at the Wisconsin country-side. That’s my rig in the parking lot. :-)
I am going to be setting up the booth later today at Shepherd’s Harvest Festival. I really like doing this show. It’s a bit of a haul to get here, but it is always worth the trip. I first discovered it 13 years ago, in 2011.
I love the atmosphere of the festival. There’s always a nice turn out of fiber enthusiasts but it’s not overwhelming. There are lots of great fiber vendors, food vendors, and live music. Sometimes the weather can be a bit cool, to me anyway, coming from the south, but this year looks to be in the low 70’s and 80’s. That’s pretty warm in my experience. I am also glad that the rain, which had been forecast for today, seems gone and set up should be much more pleasant.
I will close this post for now since it’s getting close to the time that I need to head out for the days work. Thanks for reading!
I have a new booth sample finished. There is a bit of sock knitting going on when I am able.
Dora Cardigan and Other Knitting
I am so pleased with the new booth sample for my Dora Cardigan pattern. I made the updates to the pattern for all three sizes. I will be altering the other two samples to match the changes soon.
As you can see, I have been knitting the second Glittering Snowscape Sock. I am almost to the heel flap and turn. As I am knitting this, I find myself with the idea of reviving this discontinued color.
I am considering using it as a replacement in my palette for Cerise. The Cerise is a much less muted cool red. The above color is a deep rose pink. The dark rose might fit more into my palette. If I do that it will be this summer. I will probably tweak the color mix a bit, so it may be a different version of this color. Here’s a picture that compares the two:
The Dark Rose is on the far right
Shop Restocking
Speaking of dyeing, I spent about five days this past week getting all the fresh dyed yarn labeled and stored. The website inventories are all updated also.
On the heels of that task, came the new Darning Eggs. Jerry has spent the past several weeks working on more Darning Eggs. On Thursday, we applied the first layer of linseed oil. Yesterday, after that had time to cure, I applied the wax coat. Then got them all labeled and added to the inventory.
We have more Cherry, but we replaced some other woods that have been out of stock for a bit. These include, Mahogany, Maple, Oak, and Walnut. I love them all, but my particular favorite is the Mahogany ones. I love the rich color and the interesting grain. They feel as satiny as they look.
I will have a full selection of these in my booth at Greencastle Wool Show next weekend. I will be in the Community Building in booths 135-136.
The rest of the yarn dyeing is done and I managed to make some knitting progress too.
Yarn dyeing
Thursday was set up day, and Friday, and Saturday were the Middle Tennesse Fiber Festival, as I told you in my last post. We had another fabulous show! It was great seeing all the attendees enjoying the day and having a blast.
I took Sunday off to re-cooperate, but we were back out at the dye pots on Monday and Tuesday. We got all of the remaining yarn dyed. We had some wet and windy weather on Monday and early on Tuesday. We were able to work because of the covered area we built but we had to forego drying the yarn until late Tuesday and Wednesday. By yesterday afternoon it was all dry and ready to await labeling.
I spent some of yesterday and today working on labels and updating the inventory. I still love my office space!
Knitting
I got some knitting time while in the booth over the weekend. I tried to work a bit in the evenings too, but some nights I was too exhausted. Nevertheless, I finished the first Glittering Snowscape Sock. I am very happy with the fit. I like lacy socks and these are going to be fun to wear!
The Dora Cardigan is getting so close to the finish line that I am expending all my knitting energy on it. I was not totally sure that the color would show the lace but I like it. It’s the Classic Merino Superwash Sport in Damson Plum.
I am also getting to the part of the pattern that I will be revising. It will be easier than I thought to make the changes I want to make. I may also end up re-knitting part of the other two sizes after I make the changes so that I know they work and to update them to match the revisions. I can unravel the top of the yokes and just re-knit that part I think. That is the plan, anyway.
I think I may have this finished by my next post. See you next time!
I have been back home from Raleigh, NC for more than a week. I have tried many times to write a blog post with knitting and dyeing updates. Today is the day it worked out.
The festival was wonderful. We had a great turn out as usual and much fun was had by all. I am already looking forward to next year. I am sure I am not alone in being excited about the date shift which will mean we won’t be sharing the fairgrounds with the dog show. It will be nice to have easier parking access in the future.
Knitting
I was pretty busy the festival weekend and since I have been home, so the knitting has been less than I like. I do have some progress to share.
My first Glittering Snowscape Sock is almost done. I only have the toe to knit. I am glad I decided to make these in just a single color of Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn. I love the look and the textures. The three gradients look nice but it’s more work to change colors and these look fine with less fuss. There will only be two ends to weave in. I love that about socks.
I like the garter stitch heellook at that texturelacy Dora Cardigan body
I am about halfway up the lower body of the Dora Cardigan. I haven’t touched it since I got home though. Once I got close to finishing my sock, I gave it all my attention. I am planning to get back to the sweater as soon as the first sock is of the needles.
Yarn Dyeing
I received most of the yarn order I was waiting for on Thursday. I spent the days leading up to that getting the dyes mixed. On Friday, I got all the yarn prepared for a day’s dyeing. Saturday was Day One dye day. We will have two more dyeing days next week.
There are two reasons that we have to delay the rest of the yarn dyeing until next week.
One reason is that we are still waiting for one of the yarn bases to arrive. It is delivering tomorrow. I will get that yarn prepared for dye Day Two when it arrives. I already have all the dyes and the other three bases prepped for that. I would probably be doing that on Thursday and then the Day Three dyeing on Saturday. The reason I can’t do that is because we have a local festival this coming weekend.
We will be at the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival in Dickson, TN on March 22-23, 2024. On Thursday afternoon I will be setting up the booth. This is a Friday and Saturday show. The hours are 10-4 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday. We weren’t given our booth numbers yet, but I think I will be in the same place I was last year. If you are in the area, please come say hello!
As I was having my coffee this morning, some strong storms were rolling through, bringing cooler weather in its wake. It was good to have my knitting to calm my slight anxiety that storms can bring to me now. I used to enjoy stormy weather, as long as it wasn’t too scary. They all make me a bit edgy since the tornado in December.
Knitting
I am just a few rows from finishing my Sorrel. Okay, there is also grafting the underarm stitches and then applying the button loop and button. But that is probably, altogether, about an hour’s worth of effort.
I am going to try to get back to my Spiral Splash Sock, but there is also another booth sample I want to start.
I designed Dora about 7 or 8 years ago. I want to make a large size, which I have not knit before. When I do that, I think I am going to revise the neck shaping a bit. I am planning to use Classic Merino Superwash Sport in Damson Plum to make it. I like the idea of having both a light and dark color example of this in the booth. I have the small size in the same yarn in Lichen. I have the medium-sized sample in the natural color Organic Cotton Sport.
Dora Small Classic Merino Superwash Sport LichenDora Medium Organic Cotton Sport
Festival Season
It is almost time for our first festival of 2024. I will be in Raleigh, NC, March 6-10, for the Carolina FiberFest. We have gotten a lot of the preparations done. I have been packaging new Shawl/Hair Sticks this week. They are on the website, and I added the singles, which is new. We used to only have those at shows. Since we have over a hundred now, I decided to go ahead and list them online as well.
As I am writing this post, the storms have passed. I should probably get my day’s work started. I should have a finished project and a new one cast on soon.
What do you think about the MKAL trend? I have never been a joiner and thus far have not paid much attention to the MKAL thing. I did join one or two about ten or fifteen years ago, before they were as popular. I had mixed experiences and figured they aren’t for me.
Geogradients
This is the first time since then that I have felt drawn to participate in an MKAL. It has been a fun change of pace. I am not a big fan of the constant changing of colors and weaving in the ends. It is otherwise entertaining and I love how it looks. I have been working on my Geogradients shawl exclusively when time permits. I am halfway through with Clue 3 at this point.
End of Clue 2Halfway through Clue 3
I do love how the colors look together. This is going to be a spectacular shawl! I saw a knitter wearing one this past weekend at the East Texas Fiber Festival. I wish I had thought to ask for a picture of hers because it was beautiful!
Travel and Knitting
I should have a lot of knitting time for the next couple of days. I am camped out in a hotel this week in between festivals. As I mentioned above, I was at the ETFF last week and I will be vending at the NWA Fiber Fest this coming weekend.
I drove straight to Fayetteville, AR from Texas yesterday. I am comfortably settled in at a hotel with a full kitchen so I did some grocery shopping when I arrived. I will definitely not starve, LOL! I think I may have over bought. It’s still hard for me to shop and cook for one after all my years of cooking for a crew. No worries though, I can take anything I don’t use home. I am glad I don’t have to venture out each day to get restaurant food. It’s okay to do that occasionally, but it gets to be a chore when it’s a daily necessity. I doubt I will even leave my room until Thursday when it’s time to set up the booth.
East Texas Fiber Festival 2023
NYE MKAL
So, getting back to the MKAL topic, I have another one that I am sort of involved with. I may not join in on the knitting this time but I have been invited to provide Yarn Sets for the NYE MKAL. Hilary Latimer of Criminal Knits is putting on her annual NYE (New Years Eve) MKAL with the theme of Postcards from Abroad. The idea is to imagine your dream vacation destination if money and time were no object. She is launching the pattern clues on NYE, but signups are open now. She hosts her signups and discussions from her group on Ravelry. If you are tempted by the prospect of knitting a big, colorful shawl this winter, go check it out!
Here’s a sampling of a few of the Yarn Sets that I put together. Click the link to all view twenty-one sets. :-)
My quick update today is mainly about my knitting progress on my Geogradients MKAL shawl.
Knitting Geogradients MKAL
I have been focusing all my knitting time to this project since my last post. My poor Mingling Daisies shawl (Ravelry) has had no progress this week. I am enjoying the pattern for it’s variety of stitch patterns and I will get back to it soon. I am a bit obsessed at the moment, with getting caught up with the clue releases on my Geogradients shawl. (Ravelry)
It also is perfect for booth knitting. I took this picture in my booth at SAFF this past weekend. The colors are more true here than in the next one below. At this point I was almost finished with clue 1. I am using the “updated” clue 1 because I joined late and missed the chance to use the original clue 1. I saw a couple of versions over the weekend that were knit with the original clue 1. I liked how they looked and saw nothing offensive about them, but this is what I have and I’m not starting over. It’s fine this way too, I think.
This is where I am now, at the beginning of clue 2. I apologize for the slightly washed out colors here. I’ll try for better lighting when I post the next update. I think clue 2 will be a quick knit. I saw some of what clue 3 looks like and it gets really interesting. That is a great motivator to make quick progress so that I can see it in my colors. If only I could knit all day! Sigh.
SAFF 2023
As I said above, Geogradients is great for booth knitting. I was in Asheville, NC for the Southeast Animal Fiber Fair aka SAFF, this past weekend. We had good weather and a nice turnout. There are usually lulls between talking to customers, and having an easy project to work on at that time is perfect. I was able to show it off to lots of knitters, and many shared their project progress with me too. I love that!
You may notice that my Flames and Lace Shawl enjoyed a prominent place in the booth. It got a lot of attention and I sold a good amount of the Classic Merino Bamboo in the Ironstone color, for sure. So, it is earning its keep already. I wore my Saltarello (Ravelry) all weekend and it received many compliments as well.
Home Time and Knitting
I have only two more festivals this year, in November, but I have the next two weekends at home. I plan to help in the shop when I can as well as some home making tasks. Knitting on my Geogradients and Mingling Daisies shawls is my end of the work day relaxation and recharge time. I hope to make it all the way through at least clue 2 and start clue 3 by the time clue 4 comes out. I’ll let you know how that goes next time.
