Nesting

The weather is getting warmer here in Maine; the grass is a vivid, emerald green (thanks to the rain of the last few days), the spring flowers are popping up everywhere, and, in hope, I have begun wearing sandals every day (even if I really shouldn't). But, even though we're moving towards spring, my crafting dreams recently have been about the perfect things for a midwinter night: bulky, colorful knit blankets, and jewel-toned handmade quilts.

When the Mitered Cross Blanket pattern came out, I loved it, but was initially dubious about the amount of Noro it needed. While I love Noro, the stuff ain't the cheapest, and a blanket's worth seemed a little extravagant. So the pattern sat on the backburner for a while, until I remembered the yarn I had dyed using Leethal's long-stripe dyeing with recycled yarn idea, where, instead of unraveling the thrifted sweater and then dyeing it, you dye it in stripes while it's still in pieces, like a sock blank.

I'm planning on pairing it with a deep cocoa-colored natural Irish yarn from the erstwhile Irish Ewe. Of course, it may be a long time until I actually get around to knitting it. . .

The other project I'm actually working on is a quilt based on the color scheme and lay-out of this pattern:

(from imagingermonkey on Flickr)

I grew up in a quilter's household, surrounded by my mom's fabric stash and tools, so it was a delight to come back to that world. About half the fabric in my quilt is actually from my mom's stash, and it feels wonderful to put all the eclectic pieces together into something beautiful.

I spent a great day over at Leah's house this past weekend working on it and hogging the ironing board, and while there's still a lot to get done, it's amazing to get back into this world and play.

As for things that I'm actually getting done, rather than just dreaming about, here's a sneak peek of the cowl pattern that will be coming out in September:

Stay tuned! In the meantime, I'll keep nesting and dreaming of chilly days, scented by woodsmoke, where I'll get to wrap up in my cozy quilt and blanket with a cup of tea and daydream.

Back in the Saddle

(The title is a hopeful reference to my horrid blogging habits, but since there wasn't really a saddle to begin with, the metaphor may not be apropos. Any suggestions?)

We're just going to ignore the fact that I've been gone for two months. The cool things in that time?

• there was over $800NZ raised for Red Cross NZ Earthquake Relief through the sales of the Christchurch Shawl. Knitters are awesome.
• I have knocked out all but two WIPs on my list--the socks for my Sock of the Month Club that I started in August (oops), and the socks that were one of my brother's Christmas presents (double oops). But! Since the last blog post, I've finished: 2 vests, 1 camisole, 1 shrug, 1 tee, 1 sweater, 1 cowl, 2 warps (1 scarf and 1 couple of rugs) and 1 pair of socks. Fear my productivity!
• Unfortunately, most of that knitting is secret. Well, internet secret. So I can show you pictures of. . . the socks! And that's about it.

These socks have been on the backburner forever, which is a shame, since they're awesome and I've rarely taken them off since I finished. My basic sock pattern, knit on size 2s in 4-row stripes (as per usual). I spun the yarn prior to my second Tour de Fleece a couple years ago, and it's amazing what those twenty days of concentrated spinning did to my yarn quality. While this is soft, squishy, and lots of fun, it was pretty underplied and uneven. However, the socks are holding up like steel, so who knows? The fiber was hand-dyed from Fat Cat Knits, in the colorways Brutus and Raja. Ravell'd here. (Incidentally, eagle-eyed readers of the blog will recognize this combination from the first pair of socks finished in New Zealand. I am glad I get to keep these!)

There's lots else going on, but we'll see if I can spread it out and actually have some consistent blog content. Plus, the laptop battery's dying. Priorities!

Christchurch

Well, I had hoped that my next blog post would be a joyous happy one, but I've been glued to the news for the past few days, watching the crisis in Christchurch unfold. I have never had such feelings of helplessness and sadness, and while I've donated (Red Cross NZ), I wish there was more I could do. So here's what I can do. 90% of sales of my Christchurch Shawl will go to the earthquake relief effort in New Zealand. You can buy the pattern on Ravelry here, Etsy here, or in kit form from Little Country Wools here. Every little bit counts, and hopefully us knitters can do our part!

Looking Back, and Looking Forward

After coming home in the wee small hours from a lovely New Year's party with wonderful friends, I finished the last few rows of ribbing on a sweater, and thought about what a momentous year 2010 had been for me.


(waist decreases and increases in a pattern modified from a vintage Swedish cross-stitch book, in hand-dyed Brown Sheep Naturespun and a hand-dyed vintage farm yarn. I'm nothing if not an over-achiever.)

From my last six months in New Zealand, to moving into my own place here in Portland, to trying to make a go of it in the fiber and yarn industry, to putting my knitting patterns out there for the first time. . . I've hypothesized that the '0 years (1990, 2000) in my life were the big ones, and this year has definitely lived up to it.


(pre-blocking, mid-snow)

I honestly couldn't tell you what 2011 will bring for me. Rhinebeck? SOAR? Back to Grinnell for Reunion? Saying, "screw it all!" and jumping on a plane to South India to intern at a textile center? Spontaneous dinners with friends, bad movie dates, tons of cooking, baking, knitting, weaving, spinning, making meep noises at the cat, and goodness knows what else? All I know is that 2011 will be a good one. And I hope it's a wonderful one for you, too.



If nothing else, 2011 will definitely be full of me making goofy faces while trying to model a sweater in the middle of a cemetery. (Ravell'd here.)

It's underground knitting time here right now, as I frantically work on half-finished Christmas presents and try to figure out the most attractive way to package them still on the needles. But one of the cool things I've been working on at the Fiber Gallery is rehabbing an old Macomber 32" loom that my boss picked up a couple weekends ago. She's a beaut! Dark, luminous mahogany wood, quirky brass pivots and fittings, and a great sense of history.

She's also got this one fantastic detail:

Serial number 1. How cool is that?

We're still waiting on a bunch of parts from Macomber, but I jury-rigged it and threaded a simple diagonal twill in merino/tencel, with a hand-dyed cotton warp. The one problem?

Yes, Ms. Cleaver, it's pink. Sigh.

p.s. still looking for a Christmas present for someone obsessed with yarn and fiber? I've put together a collection of my fiber photography into an adorable desktop calendar. It's basically a beefcake calendar, but with fiber instead of naked men. I promise there are no naked men.

Earl Grey

I spent the Monday after we got back from Rhinebeck not wanting to do anything. (Except perhaps add up the amount of money I spent on pretty, pretty fiber there, and shudder.) My wrists were killing me from some hardcore computer work I had done the week before, and from a nutso idea I had to spin, design, and knit a cabled sweater in what amounted to probably a two week period. I had also just gotten my hands on the DK weight farm yarn we had had spun for SuriPaco, a gorgeous 75/25 blend of domestic alpaca and Maine wool that made me swoon. So, the combination of apathy, hurty wrists, and pretty yarn?

The Earl Grey Mitts. A simple, gentle, comforting knit, with a clean and tailored aesthetic, just like a good cup of tea. (I'm addicted to Earl Grey tea. It's a bit of a problem.)

These are knit in stockinette in the round, then flipped at the end to show off the reverse stockinette side. The yarn, spun on Bartlett Yarns' wonderful old mulespinning machinery, is nubbly and rustic, and works wonderfully with the purl side of the fabric.

Available as a free download over on Ravelry!

Another Introduction!

Okay, at some point I promise to have actual content on this blog, but, introducing:

Bristol's Cowl! (Note: I promise I am not narcissistic enough to name this after myself! I had called it the Cathedra Cowl in proofs, but I bow to higher judgment.)


(photos by the lovely and wonderful Carrie Bostick Hoge)
This cowl is knit from just one skein of Quince and Co.'s Puffin, a lovely, lightly spun bulky single in the most gorgeous colors. The lace lets you play with a couple different techniques on a large scale for instant gratification! Plus, the one skein requirement lets you try out a great yarn with minimal investment. It would also be awesome for that skein of Lopi kicking around, or that bit of bulky handspun you've not found a use for yet. . .


Check it out at Quince and Co. here, or on Ravelry here.


And up soon on the blog (I promise): can I design and knit an entire Fair Isle sweater in the month of November? Well, not if the yarn's still drying! (Which it is. Eek.)