sweetgeorgia

Your mileage may vary.

Last week, the frenzy surrounding Stephanie’s Knitting Olympics got me thinking — what would be challenging for me to knit in 16 days? And really, the answer would be “anything”. Even a single sock would be challenging for me to knit in 16 days — the challenge being finding the time to do it.

But during my decision making process, I considered knitting up Starmore’s Grant Avenue… which led me to consider buying the Virtual Yarns kit from Alice directly… which led me to thinking about buying yarn for Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Fair Isle Yoke Sweater (from the Opinionated Knitter)… which led me to think that I really (really, really) should knit something from my stash… which led me to pick up the Fair Isle Cardigan that I’m already working on.

Is it depressing when your mileage is measured in millimetres per hour?

No, no, not depressing at all. I love making each and every stitch, spreading them out on the lovely ebony Holz & Stein circs and watching the colours ebb and flow. The cardi is nearly 300 stitches around, so yeah, it’s going to take a while. But no rush. No 16-day deadline.

Keeping Warm. Keeping it Simple.

It’s getting cold in Vancouver. I know, I know, “cold” is relative since it’s not cold like Vermont… but hey, I just got back from sunny California. My hands and feet freeze up in my office because I’m mostly sitting at my computer, moving at the absolute minimum, typing away. Last week, the handspun yarn that was sitting in my office with me was taunting me, “I’m warm, you know? You could knit something from me and you’d be warm…” So I pulled the Blueface Leceister handspun from the shop and knit this:

It’s basically 56 sts on 10.5 mm needles, knit for 6 inches, then decrease every other row (i.e. Row 1: *k6 k2tog, repeat from *. Row 3: *k5 k2tog, repeat from *. etc.). The ultimate no-brain knitting (NBK). I knit the entire hat in about two episodes of “House MD”. And I love this hat. So warm. I wore it out grocery shopping and looked at every person on the street not wearing a hat and thought “You don’t know what you’re missing!”

Here’s the start of Ron’s Animal Cracker Hat:

Again, super simple. 56 sts on 10.5 mm needles, 4 rows of 1×1 ribbing in dark green, 2 rows of stockinette in lighter green, 2 rows of white and then a little zig zag pattern in fair isle. Knit for 6 inches and then decrease as above. I’m wondering if I should do the ear flaps and make it more “authentic” a la movie costume. I kind of like it without the ear flaps. Simple.

And oh, BTW, has everybody rushed out to see the new Harry Potter movie yet? The DH and I saw it at the Metreon on San Francisco on Saturday night — waited in line for 1 1/2 hours for the 9 pm show and got out at 12 midnight. Love love loved it and I’m going to see it again this weekend!

End of Electra

What can I say? This vest was fun, fast and easy to knit. I’m wearing it today and just love it. Here are my finishing photos:

This is the top edge of the vest — I didn’t bind off just yet. I just strung the stitches onto some waste yarn so that I could sew and cut the steeks first. You can see the stitch markers indicating where the steek stitches start and end.

Yeah, there were a ton of ends to weave in, even with knitting in the round. But maybe a quarter of the number of ends compared to knitting flat and then seaming. Whoohoo.

Just like with the baby norgi, I machine stitched down between steek stitches 1 & 2 and 3 & 4. Then again down the middle of stitch 2 and 3…

Then I cut straight down the middle between stitches 2 and 3… Easy peasy.

I couldn’t resist the lovely window light coming through the sheers in our bedroom. The vest is kind of cropped, so there’s a bit more shirt sticking out than I’m used to. But I love it!

Electra Vest from Rowan 38

• Pattern: Rowan 38
• Yarn: Rowan Kid Silk Haze, Felted Tweed and Yorkshire Tweed in the specified colours
• Needles: US 7 / 4.5mm and US 3 / 3.25mm Addi Turbos
• Changes: Rather than knitting flat pieces, I knit this in the round and steeked the neckline and armholes. I added 4 stitches for each steek. The shoulders were joined with a 3-needle bindoff. Yippee, no sewing!
• Finished Measurements: 34″ size

Would you like some dryer lint with that?

Why yes, I do knit. But I’m feeling pulled in all directions — should I knit something for my dad’s upcoming 60th birthday, or all those friends and colleages who are newly pregnant, or be selfish and knit for myself? Well, let’s see…

I’m knitting for myself. Awful, aren’t I?

I started the cover vest on the new Rowan 38. It’s a simple fair isle vest with a combination of Yorkshire Tweed DK, Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze. Of course, Rowan has written the pattern as two flat pieces to be seamed later, but the rebel in me is knitting this gasp in the round. And I’m going to steek the armholes and front neck opening.

We’re not going to talk about how the colours in the printed Rowan magazine are totally and completely wrong. But I will say that when I pay an arm and a leg for Rowan yarn, I do expect to see nice and well-made yarns. I think that’s pretty basic. But this Yorkshire Tweed? Can you say “got VM?” Every foot or so, I’m picking out pieces of straw! And the yarn itself? It looks like rocket pop coloured dryer lint exploded on my knitting… but in a good way, I guess. The grist/weight of Yorkshire Tweed DK and Felted Tweed are different, so the fair isle comes out a little bubbly looking. Hopefully a good swish and block will make it behave.

And finally, I had a chance to update the shop with some new yarns — here they are for a group photo! See the new stuff here…

There’s one skein of sock yarn inspired by Firefly, plus another that’s inspired by Pumpkin Spice Lattes… speaking of which…

Fall is on its way…

Another day, another stash acquisition! Mmm, that’s right, I’m stashing for Fall projects now…

Little Knits is closing out their Cascade yarns, so I broke down and bought a pack of Cascade 220 for my St. Brigid… It was wonderfully priced at $4 something per skein. Funny, Cascade 220 isn’t sold at any of the LYSs in Vancouver, but it is available in the middle of nowhere. These availability issues, I just don’t understand. Anyway, here’s the colour I picked… plum. I originally wanted something heathered looking, but decided to go with this nice solid colour…

Also as a result of Wendy’s needle quest, I found myself ordering ebony needles from Susanne in Germany. I bought a set of 2.5, 3.0 and 3.25 mm Holz & Stein ebony circulars that I’ll be using for my fall Fair Isle projects. Yay.

On a quick detour after a client meeting Richmond, I picked up last fall’s Japanese knitting magazine called “News Style of Heirloom Knitting”. Very cute patterns throughout — there are at least three projects in each traditional knitting style: Fair Isle colourwork, Aran knitting, and Shetland lace. Beautiful and inspirational photos of knitted colour swatches… it just seems to exude the luxury of time. Ah, to be able to sit and slowly decide on colourways or textures…

Anne at SheEweKnits has the new Jamieson’s Shetland Heather Aran in stock, so I’ll be ordering the yarn for the DH’s Na Craga sweater. I’m excited to use this yarn and pattern — it was kind of a jaw-dropping experience when I first opened “Aran Knitting” and I’ve been dreaming about it ever since.

And finally, I have a bunch more stuff on order: the multitude of yarns for the Rowan 38 cover vest, Rebecca 30 magazine, the new RYC Classic pattern books, a Schacht Dizzy Gauge (I can’t believe this thing is $16), and a yarn meter. I think my wallet is tired now.