Shetland Triangle in North Ronaldsay Yarn

After lusting over Brooklyn Tweed's Shetland Triangle shawl last week, I dyed some North Ronaldsay yarn to knit Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A.Clark.

My friend, Paula, graciously bought some of the Liz Lovick's yarn for me while in Scotland this year. According to Liz's website she says: "The yarn comes from the herd of North Ronaldsay sheep which live on the beaches of the Orkney island..." They eat seaweed and produce a soft fiber.

Liz is also presently hosting a Gansey workshop called Traditional Knitting in Yahoo Groups.

I've Been Spinning

I'm spinning.......

this............

It's Mohave.........I'm in a red mode lately. I'm working on the red Everyday cardigan....sleeve island as they say.

A Rhinebeck Confession

I know ...I know...I said I wouldn't buy anything at Rhinebeck!!! I said I would only indulge in the foods. But I couldn't help it. Carol M, Marva, Muriel and Sandy encouraged me. Richard showed me his purple and blue fine Rambouillet and silk so I had to buy some :) And Judy showed me her Ellen's Half Pint Farm sock yarn before the trip to Rhinebeck.....

Below is a pic of the finished Fetching wristers. I will make changes to the next pair. I will lengthen the hand and use a regular cast off instead of the picot cast off in the pattern.



Isn't this bootie darling...made with leftover sock yarn using the Pattern a Day 2006 calendar baby bootie pattern.

bootie

Saturday Sky at Rhinebeck

Here are pic of the glorious day at Rhinebeck. The ride there provided much beautiful foliage and knitting time thanks to Sandy C, our driver. Muriel, Marva and Carol M were on board as well.


You can see that the blogger meetup at 1 pm went well. Laurie and I walked to the meeting place after I remembered that is was time to seek out our fellow bloggers. There were too many for me to remember to list here; but some of the bloggers that I recognized were: Margene wearing a lovely Fair Isle vest, Maryse wearing a wonderful scarf from Scarf Style, Cosmicpluto wearing a Lopi styled sweater of her own handspun and design and, of course, Judy wearing Ribby in Noro. Linda, Judy's sister, was wearing a lovely scarf made with Judy's beautifully dyed merino and silk. I also spoke to Beth and got to see her lovely sweater in person while she was spindle shopping. Sadly, Sue from RI Handspun could not join us, but she was there in spirit as we made several purchases for her.

I was so happy to see Vanessa and her beautiful Marina. She graciously allowed me to take a pic....

Then, of course, I met David of Sweater Project. He hails from San Antonio, Texas. He was wearing a wonderful kilt complete with his handknitted kilt hose ; he gave me the pattern after I swooned over the kilt hose. It's here if you want it as well.

Naturally....I had to succumb to buying fleece....some lovely cormo. Lest you think I lost my head...I'm splitting this haul with Marva and CarolM.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll show more of my Rhinebeck goodies as well as give an update on my FO's.

I'm a Square!

I'm looking forward to visiting all the vendors at Rhinebeck. There will be some vendors I want to be sure to visit like Frelsi Farm for their wonderful icelandic laceweight yarn. I love Hatchtown farms needle cases; the woods are so beautifully turned.Little Barn always has some great prices on fiber...seems to me I should hunt in my stash for last years purchase :). Tintagel Farm in Barn 21 has by far the best dyed fiber in my humble opinion...they have some mohair/alpaca/wool mixes that are unspun eye candy.There are many more vendors I could list. What are your favorites?

Fetching Casanova

As you can see I've been taken by Fetching Handwarmers from Knitty. It's all Sandy's fault for knitting them and posting about it today. I decided not to add to the stash, but use some of my merino handspun yarn from my early days of spinning some 10 years ago....talk about well aged stash LOL....I doubled the yarn to get gauge as they say and I'm enjoying the knit...a break from the stockinette back of Everyday Cardigan. I'll be starting the front soon.

If I finish the handwarmers, I'll wear them to Rhinebeck. Speaking of Rhinebeck ...I can't wait to eat the Taste Budd's chocolate chip bars and scones. No diet for me!!!

Here are more wrister patterns to add to your pattern stash! Or match your Clapotis! Or to match your Pirate Arrrrgyles

Oh yes....Casanova...I almost forgot. If you haven't seen Masterpiece Theater's first fall offering. Check it out on your PBS affiliate. It's excellent. Peter O'Toole stars as the older Casanova who recounts his life to an innocent girl.

Red Sweater KAL

How fortuitous for me!!! I had just begun Everyday Cardigan in a wonderful red....a red with blue...a dark red when I discovered that Anne and Laura began a Red Sweater KAL. Just what I need to keep the needles clicking.

This morning I had DH snap a pic of my latest finished sweater " Durrow...er...Furrow". The yarn is scrumptious Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed. The pic does not begin to show the flecked color and the softness of this yarn. I hope that Margene,Syl, Judy, Laurie and Beth enjoy the pic!

Latvian Mittens

This is stunning......2,250 pairs of Latvian mittens prepared " as a gift for the NATO Summit guests coming to Riga for the summit in November." Here is a list of questions and answers about the project. Be sure to scroll to see the information.

"Hundreds of women and men ranging in age from 30 to 86, have been knitting throughout the summer, turning 190 kilos of Latvian wool into the first 2,250 pairs of mittens, knitting an average of three pairs per knitter. The massive knitting project will be completed by mid-October when the NATO Summit Latvia Task Force receives the remainder of the 4,500 pairs of mittens coming from the Vidzeme, Zemgale, Latgale and Kurzeme regions of Latvia.

Women from the rural association called "Akorande" will knit mittens with the ornamentation of the Kurzeme and Latgale regions, and the handiwork company “Ramid” will knit mittens from the regions of Vidzeme and Zemgale. "

Here is a book I own on Latvian Mittens that is very informative. This site has pictures of some the designs. Here are some charts.

Durrow....er....Furrow is Done!

Behold a sweater finally finished!!! I'm blocking it as I write this entry. Generally I'm happy with the sleeve pattern changes, I was not so happy with the join at the curve or the saddle. I fiddled a bit with the seam and I think I'm happier with the result. I also reknit the neck with a smaller circular needle and for 2 inches instead of 1.




I 'm having big problems with uploading to Blogger with Hello. But what else is new.......grrrr.
I should know better than to upload at mid morning.

The Last Rose of Summer

The Last Rose of Summer is a tradition at my home in the fall. Every year when rose blossoms begin to fade from the garden landscape, I declare one rose to be the last of summer. When my DD lived at home I would present it to her personally often placing it in her room.

Thanks to the wonders of the blogosphere and digital photography I present her with the last rose now.......

Ribbons and Sleeve Island

I forgot to post about the Big E awhile ago. I'm especially happy about the blue ribbons for the seasoned spinner category as well as my Opal sock knitting!



Below you can see that I'm still on sleeve island for the Durrow pullover. Of course....I changed the sleeves considerably; the reverse staghorn cabling is a successful design change that is making me happy. I hope to be able to wear this sweater at Rhinebeck!

Eye Candy Friday

What a glorious fall day with my mom and aunt picking Macoun and Cortland Apples!

Goodies from Across the Pond!!

What a lovely surprise I received in the Knitters Tea Swap 2 exchange yesterday!!!! Thank you so much, Ruth, for such generous gifts! I drank some of the Japanese Cherry tea this morning;it's wonderful. The sock yarns are lovely...not to mention the chocolate covered ginger cookies and organic cherry chocolate. It's so special to get tea goodies from the UK. And if that is not enough Ruth also sent me some adorable tea stitch markers that she made herself. You can't see it in the pic, but she also included a special sock pattern as well. I am so fortunate. ....thank you soooo much.

What We Make

Consider this excerpt from The Root of Wild Madder by Brian Murphy, it reveals what we all understand is important about what we make. This book is an excellent read for lovers of Persian carpets and the work that goes into what makes them beautiful. It recounts a journey made by a journalist through Afghanistan and Iran in modern times after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan at the turn of the 21st century.


Here the journalist is hiding under a carpet with an Afghan family during a sandstorm. The owner of the carpet named Rahmin says: " I think what we make, what we say, what we do are all little parts of our soul. We leave things for others to find and collect. This carpet was from my grandmother's hand and her mind. It is now with me and my family. My wife has fixed the rips. She has beat the dust out and cleaned it and let it dry in the sun. I carried it to this camp on my back as if it were a sick child. Life is in this carpet. So why is it wrong to believe that my grandmother is not still connected to this carpet she made; that she can feel the love we put in keeping it clean and repaired?"

Yes...this passage rang true for me. We are what we make; we make what we are.


Above in the collage I have managed to photograph the sleeves of Durrow. I was not happy about knitting the Celtic pattern in the sleeves so I changed the pattern and added a Reverse Staghorn Cable. I'm hoping to finish it in time for The Gathering the first week of November.

Anyone out there planning to attend?

I also took a pic of some additions to the stash!