To Felt or to Weave

To felt or to weave .....that is the question, but it wasn't a dilemma for me. I decided to do both these last few days. The bag below made out of New Zealand Charisma felted verrrry quickly; thankfully I took Sue'a advice and checked it often. I must say it made me smile. I need to consider what type of button to use. Should it be an understated button that does not compete with the colors or a knitted /crocheted button. Time will tell.



I had a much better weaving result this time with the table runner project below. I hope the recipient likes it as it's a special gift in exchange for the antique wheel he gave me. Scroll down this page to see the wheel.

Warping All By Yourself

I've begun my next weaving project today. After reviewing my copy of Warping All By Yourself, I managed to dress my ridged heddle with the help of DH to tension the warp.

We were in our hot dining room while roasting a piece of pork in the kitchen all the while trying to tension the warp...... trying not to swat each other. "Pull it tighter...no... you haven't tension every bit of the warp." On and on we went until voila it came together. I spent a few hours after dinner happily weaving. This time I used wool and silk for both the warp and weft.


I did manage to weave about a foot and a half; I'm happy with the results so far.

Also this weekend I managed to finish knitting a bag that I'm planning to felt soon. I do love the way the colors pooled. I used a pattern by Farmhouse Yarns called the Cape Cod Bag. I knitted it in Charisma a wonderful New Zealand Wool that I purchased from Sue at RI Handspun.

Weaving Shots

I'm posting these weaving pics at Vanessa's request. I absolutely love her Alice Starmore Cape Cod sweater. If you haven't seen it go here; you won't be disappointed.

This morning I finally got around to washing this table runner made with rayon and wool and silk. It's drying on a rack in my driveway.

You know it occurred to me this morning that my neighbors must think I'm strange. Some days I have skeins of freshly spun or dyed yarn swinging from my driveway lights...not to mention this table runner flapping in the breeze. I try to dry fleece in the backyard for fear they'll think I've skinned an animal....ROFLOL.





Obligatory Knitting Progress: I have finished one of the two baby surplices I'm knitting for twins. I've begun a new project a felted bag made out of variegated Charisma yarn.

Spinning: I'm still toiling away at flicking a gray fleece for a gift of handspun yarn for a friend.

Knit In at Sue's: We had a good time last night. Gail and her daughter, Patty, Paula, Sue, Carol R and Marisa and I were in attendance. Gail was working on a lovely red and yellow cotton hat as well as an Italian pink wool surplice. Her daughter was knitting a perfect blue shawl that just happened to match her blue eyes. Paula was finishing a wonderful dark red pullover. Patty showed us her green and creamy white Opal thigh- high stockings she wears for spinning demonstrations at Coggshell Farm in Bristol, RI. She is now knitting another pair in blue and white. Marisa thought she came to knit, but decided to unravel her latest sweater in Debblie Bliss Soho because it was too big for her. We all helped to unravel and ball the yarn. She began anew...this time knitting it in a the smallest size.

Carol R brought her Einstein sweater in a rich, red Rowan Magpie. She was sewing the final seams in mattress stitch. It is lovely!!!! I tried it on, and ,of course, I want to make it!!! When will the coveting of sweaters end?

Sue was a good girl...resting her arm by not knitting!!! It must have been hard for her...I can only imagine being not able to knit. We missed Judy and Barbara!!

Lace Challenge Finalist!!!

What do you know! I made the finalists for Amazing Lace Challenge #5!!! I'm surprised about making the finals. It's a hoot.... Check out the different finalist pics...you'll enjoy them.

I finished two projects this summer. The first below is Tivoli by Grumperina which I made in Debbie Bliss's Cathy yarn. I have to say this yarn is wonderful for a summer knit. It feels so good to knit and wear.


The next finished project is a red linen lace stole in Feather and Fan pattern. I finished this due to the Amazing Lace contest. Thanks, Rachel and Theresa for the inspiration. It was easy to complete once I put my mind to it.

I've begun to finish a second lace UFO due again to Amazing Lace. I'll post pictures if anyone wants to see it. It's a neat feather and fan triangular shawl knitted in Icelandic and silk two ply on size 3 needles.

Last but not least hubby has been playing with his hobby as you can see below. His Angelfish have been growing by leaps and bounds.


Mittens Abound: I've been thinking about making some mittens. Sandy has been working on a lovely pair from Folk Knitting in Estonia that have inspired me. Then, of course, Dave has started the Bitchin Mittens project. Hmmmmm....I'll have to think about this. I do have some fingering weight alpaca in black and white I could play with.....

Weaving Progress: I get by with a little help from my friends!!! Thanks Sue and Carol M for helping me to warp my ridged heddle loom last Saturday. You'll both be glad to know I finished weaving the piece today. The down side is that I am not pleased with the weaving, but I have used this project as a practice session, and I plan to warp the loom again this time using wool and silk. I'm inspired !!!

Where's Waldo?

In compliance with the Amazing Lace Contest I have created a second post today.....here is my entry. Where is the lace?

Sunday Eye Candy

This morning this lovely Hibiscus flower greeted me! What a great smile it produced which is especially needed when doing the bothersome chore of weeding.

Last night...I needed a new activity to break the boredom of knitting Picovoli so I made a pair of sterling silver earrings to wear. It all began when Sue and I made a trip to the East Side to visit some of our favorite stores. We began with lunch at the new sandwich store which replaced Daily Bread then we went to La Strada...I was bad and bought a lovely pair of sandals.

Next was a visit to A Stitch Above where I purchased three skeins of Lorna's Laces which may be used for a baby gift for twins. Can you knit bloggers make some suggestion for what to knit for twins. It's a challenge given you need to knit for two of them so choosing something small to do is twice as important.

Stormy Clouds

Last night provided a cloud show for our area. The steamy temperatures in the 100's of course produced the wonderful thunderheads you see above. They are both awesome and fearsome. They brought very little rain to our area, but wrought havoc for others.

Knitting news: Very little to report here. I worked on Picovoli and I am past the waist decreases. I'm also coming down the home stretch with cashmere sock number one.

Spinning news: Spun some red merino fiber called Mohave purchased from RI Handspun so that I can fill a second bobbin for a two ply destined for shawl knitting.

I've been reading Too Much Wool and she's inspiring me to take out my inkle loom one of these days. She's also been trying some card weaving which has piqued my interest as well.

The Foster Fair and Flowers

What a weekend at the Fair. As you can see below there are some wonderful projects. Upper left is Carol M's beautiful blue ribbon Aran sweater. Upper right shows my blue ribbon prize winning skein of wool/mohair and angora. Bottom left is Paula's Best of Show handspun shawl and my blue ribbon Opal socks. Bottom right is another of Paula's blue ribbon entries.


Of course....I had to post some garden shots! I'm in love with my Casablanca lily. Too bad I can't smell its lovely fragrance due to my head cold. I'm totally enjoying the Hibiscus bud and flower pics as well.

What Does a Gal Need?

What does a gal need when she's had a tough week with the darndest *&*#*### head cold in the world? Especially when she's missed out on her Tuesday night knit in at Sue's and a workshop with Candace Eisner Strick on Thursday. Well...of course, she needs yarn and more!! Kristen of Audioknits fame so sweetly mailed me my gift for winning her blog contest to commemorate a rather special birthday. You know the one that scares the living daylights out of all of us, but also frees us to do what we all damn well please..... Happy" do what you please" Bday to Kristen!!!!

Thanks, Kristen for the Opal yarn and new knit accessories bag as well. They're lovely!!!



Tomorrow....I'll post about the Foster Fair, knit and spin projects and my Casablanca Lily.

Picovoli and Nalbinding

The hot weather has been keeping me away from wool so I've managed to get some of Grumperina's Picovoli done. I must say I love working with Debbie Bliss's Cathy. it is very soft and I'm loving the color. I'm sure the monitor colors don't quite get the color right, but trust me it's a lovely gray-blue. I am not too happy with my increases so I wrote to the Techknit list for advice. They are always willing and eager to help and the email traffic is very low. One of the listees suggested I knit into the back then the front of the stitch instead of the other way round to get a better looking increase. I will try that technique soon.....

It's a joy to work on this shell pattern because there will be no sewing up to do since it's knit in the round.



Today I spent a good part of the morning organizing my stash. Believe it or not I removed most of my new yarns from the dining room corner to some plastic boxes in the basement. Now....you all know this is dangerous! If that dining room corner is empty, you can guess what I'll do......fill it with more yarn!!!! When will it end? At least DD is a knitter now and can benefit from my acquistions :).

While surfin' the web I found some interesting articles on Nalbinding....knit and crochet's cousin.
Enjoy the Links!

It Was a Ten!!!

Yesterday was so beautiful! DH and mom and I took a trip to the beach. What is it about the shore that intrigues us and draws us there? The water's calming effect, the birdlife, the boats or the salt air? It's all of them for me. We like to park at Galilee renamed Salty Brine Beach a few years ago. We left home at 8 am stopped for "coffee and" and arrived at 9:15 to park near the rocks to take in the view you see in the pics below. Naturally I took my knitting along. I've finally begun Grumperina's Picovoli at long last. I bought some Debbie Bliss Cathy in a lovely gray blue and began in earnest. Sadly, I didn't read the directions carefully enough and wound up ripping it out last night. I restarted immediately and I'm on track and loving the softness of this yarn made of cotton, silk and microfibre.












Here's another garden pic! Any ideas about what I could name it? Interlocking Echinacea?

Baby Hoodie is Finished!

My daughter, Marisa, finished knitting a sweet baby sweater for her friend's baby shower. The sweater will be much appreciated I'm sure. It's so soft and a great color for a boy or a girl. Best of all she tells me she will be free to knit whatever she wants now. Deadline knitting can be trying as we all know. She used a free pattern from Bernat.

All in a Day!

What a wonderful day in pictures! Below you see DH's prized plecostomus. To be precise a Leopard Pleco ~ Sailfin Plecostomus (Adult) Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps.


Of course, I'm happy to have finished my Opal tiger socks. Hmmmmmm....time to begin another pair of socks. Perhaps I'll consider the new Knitty when I choose a new pattern. It's called the extremities issue!!

My purchase at Tranquil Lake Nursery paid off. Below you see Numinous Moments. She bloomed in all her glory yesterday morning. I have another that is to die for. I will be posting that pic soon.

Here you can witness my Echinacea plant in two stages.........

Challenge # 3 Amazing Lace

The Red Shawl

Red linen loops
Formed on smooth pointed sticks
Cheer its creator
Knit a row
Purl a row
Yarn over and knit together
A purposed balancing act of more or less
Makes undulating fabric beneath her fingers
Shoulder decoration.

Saturday's June Spin In

It's such a joy to spin at Sue's RI Handspun on the last Saturday of each month. As you can see Carol M was present to model her lovely Inishmaan sweater, one of A Starmore's beautiful aran designs. Carol made it from yarn that was purchased in Ireland.



Here you can see a close up of the shoulder detail. Maryann, I know you'll appreciate these photos of Carol's work.....



Below we have a Navajo spindle in use. Can you guess who it is?


I spent Saturday afternoon spinning some gray mystery wool on my Ashford Joy. I even was able to stretch and align some locks to ready them for the hackle. This technique perserves the color variation. I will post a pic of a finished skein if anyone cares to see it.

Bolstered

Why have I neglected posting a second time this spring? I have a good reason.....

As you all know I have hinted that I have been working on a test knit project designed by Gina Macris. Last Monday I had the distinct pleasure of finishing it! Although there was the challenge of knitting with hemp on size 3 needles and the creation of many bobbles, I learned much from this project.

I learned how to knit the bolster shape in one continuous piece which begins with the circular end of the pillow. This was accomplished with circular needles and increases to make the circle grow. The addition of knitted staggered bobbles on the straightaway of the pillow made me understand and appreciate their amorphous nature. I found making knitted bobble buttons a clever addition to the pillow. I think I will use them on a future sweater.

Below are two pictures of this pillow pattern that will appear in the spring release of one of Gina's new knitting pattern books that will feature accents for the home. Late fall is the planned release date for her pattern book on accessories. One of her books called Start to Knit: From Casting On to Binding Off is posted at Amazon with a five star rating.

Finally, I learned what it means to test knit a pattern for a designer!!! It means tweaking a pattern and being prepared to rip back if necessary. I'm glad I was willing to persevere; it was well worth the effort!





I'm back to the amazing lace project which is growing. I've also finished spinning one skein of variegated gray yarn. I began by washing one of my gray fleeces, then using a hackle to open the locks. It spins like a dream on my Ashford Joy wheel. I will post pictures soon.

Springtime Blooms

I've been remiss. I haven't posted in weeks! There is so much to tell you about starting with my garden. I am enjoying its blooms daily. Here are some pics to enjoy. I'll share more about my knitting projects in the days to come. Particularly a test knit I'm doing....

Amazing Lace : Meet the Team

Here you can see the circuitous teammate otherwise know as a Lady Gray Susan Bates jockeying in position with white place markers. The markers separate the eighteen stitch repeat of Feather and Fan Stitch, or Old Shale taken from another prominent team mate called Barbara Walker. She illustrates this pattern on page 205 of A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.


The strongest teammate is the cranberry linen which interprets the pattern deftly. Notice how she holds the hills and valleys of the old shale course. She is sadly nameless due to her humble birth. She was found among many lonely cones of yarn at PASA yarns in Uxbridge, MA. She's been jostled about by other brand name yarns in my stash for years crying out to be a team mate for some time now. I've decided to give the unknown a chance to perform and I believe she's doing admirably.









Don't be scared away by her length; I still need to add three feet to this growing project and my teammates are up to the challenge!!! Keep in mind I am an experienced knitter who hopes to finish this project and move on to another lace project this summer.