Tag: laceknitting

What a Week

It has been a full week around here. We finished the yarn dyeing on Monday. That day we dyed greys and teals. It was a half days work.

220 skeins

After we were all cleaned up for the day we got a text from the Ford dealership where we were looking into getting a new truck for me since my beloved 2014 F 150 has 120,000 miles on it now and Jerry wanted me to get a new one. The sales guy had one with the specs we wanted but it had some transportation damage that needed repaired. We went out and took a look and agreed on our terms for the purchase. From there it as a few days wait for the repairs to be completed.

In the mean time my mother, who had rapidly declining health and was in a nursing home took a down turn on Wednesday. We went out there and sat with her for awhile but she was totally unconscious. She passed away later that night. We knew it was coming and most of the arrangements were already taken care of. In a way it was a relief and probably was to her as well since her quality of life was reduced so much in the last two years. I am hopeful she is reunited with my Dad and happy for the first time in I can’t remember when.

Anyway, so around this time I got a contact from the alpaca mill I do dyeing work for that they had work for me. That was delivered to me on Thursday. We also got the call that the truck was ready so we went and finished that purchase. So I have a new ride.

We got the fiber order dyed today and can now get back to work getting all the yarn labeled.

Oh, I almost forgot! I am so close to finished the Midlothian shawl. I haven’t had much knitting time this week but as soon as I can devote a couple hours to do the picot bind off, it’s done. Maybe by my next post I will have a finished project to show you.

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Two Things

Good morning! Over the weekend I bound off and blocked my Debussy Shawl. I wore it this morning too while I had my quiet time with my coffee and reading. It was still a bit chilly this morning but we are in for some warmer, brighter days this week. Spring is coming soon!

I ended up doing only one extra repeat of chart 5 for a total of 8. The medium size has 7 and the large has 10. I weighed my remaining yarn between the end of the 7th repeat and the end of the 8th. I found that I used 35g for that repeat. I determined I would need at least 25-30g to do the final edge chart and at that time had 51g, so clearly there was not enough yarn to do anymore repeats of chart 5. I proceeded with the 18 rows of chart 6 and I have 21g left over.

I measured it this morning after being off the blocking pins for a little while. The long side, which is the diagonal edge is about 69″ and the shortest side is 41″. The measurement down from the top (longest edge) to the point, if you were wearing it like a triangle shawl is about 30″. So all that means it is pretty close to the largest size in Dee’s pattern even without the other two repeats. It’s a nice size but not huge.

I got straight to work on my gansey design after finishing the shawl. I decided to use my Classic Merino Superwash Sport yarn. I then decided that the Earl Grey would make a nice color that I hoped would show off the stitch patterns well. I know that traditionally ganseys were made with dark blue yarn and I did consider using my Midnight Blue, but I could see it in the Earl Grey in my head and went for it. I dyed 10 skeins, figuring I will probably use at least 6 for the 42″ sweater I am planning.

I worked up a stockinette swatch on size 4US needles and got a gauge of 5.5 stitches and 8.5 rows per inch. I used a remnant of Emerald for the plain swatch while waiting for the grey to dry. I spent some time perusing and selecting a stitch pattern arrangement. I graphed a portion for swatching and used the grey for that. I ended up making a minor change after knitting a few rows. Maybe you can see in the swatch that the ribbing between the double moss at the left side and the chevron in the middle. I changed that vertical column to seed stitch so it wouldn’t recede so much.

I like how the elements look next to each other. I began knitting the bottom welt last night. I am using size 3US needles for the garter welts and will do that for the definition ridges in the body and sleeves as well. I am doing the bottom welts separate for front and back and will join to work in the round leaving them separate but with a slight overlap at the side seam point. I did go with the channel island cast on for it. It’s a bit fiddly at first but not difficult once you get the rhythm down and it looks nice. I knit a 2″ long welt because I don’t like a welt that flips up.

Okay, that’s it for now. I should get the second welt done today and have it on the circular needles working the main body very soon. I am excited!

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Favorite Socks

I just love these socks! They are so comfy and warm. The fit is perfect and they are definitely my new favorite pair of hand knit socks. I’m not sure if it’s the pattern or the yarn. I’ll probably be making this pattern again though. It as fast, interesting and easy.

I have been wearing my hand knit socks a lot this winter. I tend to wear them only when I am home for the winter since it’s hard to properly wash hand knit socks while traveling. I just save them up for the week and then just throw them in the sink with some shampoo to soak for awhile. When they have finished their bath I toss them in the washing machine for a rinse and spin cycle and lay them out to dry on the dryer or a table in the work room. Easy enough at home but more challenging in a hotel room. :-)

I have only one project left going at this point. I’m plugging away on my DeBussy shawl and have switched over to a longer needle. I have completed 4 of the chart repeats and joined on the second skein. I will see where I am on yarn supply and size when I complete the minimum of 7 repeats. I am thinking I would like it on the large side and I would rather use as much of the yarn as possible, so I may be going for the 10 repeats if I can.

I haven’t forgotten that gansey I want to start, so that may be happening soon now that I have only the one thing going.

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Startitis

I have been stash diving this week and it appears that I have a bad case of startitis. This is a rare affliction for me. I am typically project monogamous. The other notable change is that none of these are booth samples. I know! It’s been awhile since I just knit some stuff on a whim, and it’s pretty fun actually.

So here’s what’s on my needles at the moment. Riveting, I know. :-)

First up is Debussy, which I have knit before as a booth sample in my DK weight Merino yarn but this one is just for fun in some Cestari Wool/Cotton blend that has been in my stash for about 10 years. It’s slightly rustic looking which I think will make a nice all-season wrap.

Next up is a pair of socks. It’s been too long since I made any socks and I wanted a variety to switch back and forth on. I decided to make a pair of Gridiron Socks, in another long marinating yarn. The story behind this yarn and the one in my other project below goes back to 2009. I was in a online group, I think it was on Ravelry originally, with a handful of other hand dyers. We decided to do a collaboration yarn club. I think we called it Fiber Baristas? Anyway, we each were dyeing up a unique colorway for one of the installments and agreed to send a skein to each other as well. It was fun and I am finally getting around to using a couple of mine.

This last project is a cowl pattern my second daughter wrote for me using my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn about 10-12 years ago I think. It’s called Spiral Effect Cowl and I have made it a couple times before as a booth sample in that yarn. This one is made using another indie dyed yarn from the above club though. The cat (Mimi) is a bonus today. :-)

Oh, and I almost forgot! I finished my third booth sample I was knitting over the weekend before the stash dive. I think I will save that for another post after I can get a chance to get some better pictures maybe. Here’s sneak peek though.

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Presenting…

Honeydew Lace Square all blocked and posing for the glamour shots.

This color is very hard to photograph because it really is a bit of a chameleon which changes due to light source. It is the Classic Merino Superwash Sock in Lavender. As I mentioned last time I used 4 skeins with 5g leftover using US4 needles.

Here is the original lace weight version along with the new version for fingering weight. I spent all of Saturday afternoon and into the evening editing and updating the pattern to include the new fingering weight instructions. I also made some corrections to the border charts and stitch counts for that section. The updated pattern is listed on the website and on Ravelry. If you already own the digital pattern, you will have gotten an update pushed to you. If you bought a print version at a festival and would like the update via email, please let me know and I am happy to send along the PDF. Contact me at knittingnotions@gmail.com.

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Wood Bowls Now Instock

Small sampling of the available wood bowls on the website

I spent a couple days last week getting the wood bowls added to the website. We have a lot of different sizes at the moment. They range from larger ones at the $55 price point which are big enough for holding a full ball of yarn down to some mini bowls ($20) which are perfect for holding small items like beads, stitch markers, coins, etc.

We will soon be bringing back some other wood tools we have not had in stock for quite a few years. Jerry had some big logs of walnut and cherry that he hadn’t had time to process. Well we have time now, so he started working on that this week after we returned from a little trip to the Smokies for Mother’s Day weekend. I’ll tell you more about that next post. :-)

After trimming up to turn-able size pieces
Nostepinnes in progress

He is making some Nostepinnes at the moment and some of this will also be Darning Eggs.

So while this is keeping Jerry busy, I am planning some new yarn colors for 2020. I have decided to add six new colors to my palette. Here is a sneak preview.

I have made some more progress on the Honeydew Lace Square in Superwash Sock Yarn.

I have added the 4th skein and hope it will be enough to finish. I am almost to the halfway point on the edging.

See the stitch markers in the top right corner? That is the half way point. When did I start this thing anyway? Oh, wow. Ravelry says Jan. 06, 2020. Sigh. Perseverance is a virtue right? :-)

Okay more on our mini vacation next time. :-)

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Quarantine Life

How are you all doing today? We are getting through alright here. We are excited to report that we found actual toilet paper for sale in Kroger on Thursday! We were allowed to purchase two packages. My faith in civilization was restored just a little bit. LOL!

Making bread today

So, lots going on here at home to share with you this week. First of all we were notified that Jerry’s truck damage from the tornado was deemed a total loss. We thought it was going to be repaired all this time but the repair shop discovered after they began working on it that nearly everything was worse than they could determine at first. Mostly it was due to glass, probably not the glass from his truck but flying in the atmosphere. There was a huge debris ball and I suspect that was the culprit. Fortunately his truck was worth more than the payoff so we were able to get a replacement. He decided to go with something a bit different. He likes it a lot. It has a pretty awesome sound system!

2019 Nissan Frontier Pro-4x

I have made some progress on my Honeydew Lace Square fingering weight edition. I have five more rounds of the inner border and then it’s on to the edging.

We are trying to make the best use of our time during this quarantine/safer-at-home time. Jerry has been out in the shop a lot in the last week. He did a lot of tidying, re-arranging and de-cluttering. After that he got back to work on a big batch of Yarn Boxes that were all ready for sanding. We have some available on the website now if you were planning to pick up one at a festival this spring.

sanding, sanding, and more sanding

I have not been idle either. I have been cooking and baking more lately as is evidenced by the bread baking above. I have also been out at the dye pots a couple of times this week. New Era Fiber Mill has been keeping my busy (gainful employment which is appreciated more than ever about now). Here’s a batch I did the other day using my new work space, which I love, BTW. Did I mention my husband is amazing? Because he is. <3

Okay, stay well, and safe everyone! Make good use of your time and search for the silver lining! There is always something to be thankful for.

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Glad to be Home

I returned to Nashville this Monday after two wonderful festivals in Virginia. I am glad to be home for a couple of weeks before the last three shows of this year.

The weather turned cooler finally for the Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia and even here in Nashville the heat has finally broken.

I bound off Delmare on Sunday night. I drove all day Monday and have had a couple of busy days putting my house back in order after my absence for almost 2 weeks, so I just got around to blocking my shawl yesterday.

Rare self modeled picture

The link above is for my project page on Ravelry where you can purchase the pattern. If you are inclined to use our yarn to make one for yourself or some lucky recipient, you can find that on our website. I used about 366 yards of the main color (Earl Grey), 237 yards of the Fern and 138 of the Midnight Blue. Thanks!

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Checking in from Pittsburgh

Good Morning! I arrived safely in Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon. I am here for the 15th annual Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival AKA Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival now, since it has been expanded to include all kinds of needle arts. We are expecting an exciting year, with lots of fun activities in the new Green Tree location. I will be heading over to set up the booth at noon but wanted to use part of my free time this morning doing a quick catch post for you.

As you see I didn’t quite get my Holbrook finished for the show. I am about 70% done on the border. The biggest set back was due to coming down with some cold/mild flu thing on last Wednesday night. I had a large mill dyeing order that I was trying to get done that I had picked up on Tuesday. I went out Wednesday and did prep work for that and got 4 of the 12 batches dyed before quitting for the night. After a light supper and bath I felt a fever coming on and went to bed early. Thursday morning it was clear not work was gonna get done that day. I was down with a fever off 100. I so didn’t have time for this. UGH. I was not able to get that work done until Sunday due to continual fever. I did manage some less strenuous tasks from my to-do lists that were mainly printing patterns, and other computer oriented stuff. I didn’t even feel like knitting the first two days. I am fine now, just have a bit of a lingering cough.

I did manage to DRAG myself out to Best Buy on Friday when my pre-ordered Samsung Galaxy S10+ was ready for pickup. I tried not to breathe on anyone, LOL. This is the first time I splurged a bit and went for the Plus. It was mostly the 4100 mAh battery that I wanted it for. I love it! I hate taking selfies as a rule but I was playing around with the camera in my room last night and took a couple for experimentation. I was surprised that I managed to not totally hate the results, LOL.

Okay it’s time to get to work. See you soon!

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