Not So Fancy Nancy

Tweedy Aran Cardi, Heather Bailey Friendship Braid, Heart Quiltlets & a Spring Forward Sock

When you can't sit, you don't waste time on the PC. There has to be an upside to a bad back doesn't there? So while I've not read blogs or posted here, I've been trying to stay creative while walking, standing or lying down.

Socks are good for knitting while flat on your back. Fell in love with these tiny needles. Cherry Tree Hill merino and the Knitty Spring Forward pattern. One down and one to go.

 

This yarn is a little heavy for this pattern, but nice and springy, so these will be good Birk clog socks. I'm also not a big fan of varigated yarn with lace patterns and this is a bit too much big pooling for my taste. Still, already had the yarn and my knitting group was doing a KAL, so here I am. I've had fun so far and now that I know the pattern I think the second will go much faster.

Before my back twanged out I was sewing this Friendship Braid quilt from Jelly Roll Quilts. I had fat quarters from an old Heather Bailey line, but I liked the pattern with these prints so I cut the strips. This will be a housewarming gift for my SIL, so I must finish it in two weeks before we visit her. The backing arrives today so I should finish in time.

Had to put it aside after piecing, so I'll have to re-iron -- that's the only reason I'm letting Miss Raven have her way here.

I'm in a 15" x 15" quiltlet swap group on Flickr and my partner's been very nice about waiting for her quilt. I had the design and fabric organized early in the month, but again had to put it away until I could sit at the machine. The theme was hearts, which I must admit pushed me out of my zone.

Then I got Julie's, which is so colorful and well sewn and quilted that I felt even worse about my lame idea and the delay. I really like how she did a kind of bargello/watercolor effect with the little squares. It glows in natural light, especially a bit of sun. Full sun doesn't photograph well, so you'll have trust me.

Thanks Julie. It's beautiful.

Lately I've been attracted to patterns that use triangles, so I thought this would be a chance to play with traditional blocks in a miniature format. The tic-tac-toe idea just jumped in my head and every block has triangles, so that stuck. I had a little pack of valentine themed fabric from way back. Also wanted to play with my new EQ6 design program, so I searched for X, O and a heart blocks, sized them, built the quilt design and printed cutting guides. When I'd finished piecing the quilt was good in that all the seams were straight, etc, but it was boring. I was happy for the education of cutting and piecing tiny triangles and I took my time learning to handle them. I really enjoyed that process, but didn't want to continue on the safe road with ditch quilting.

 
Leafing through Cloth/Paper/Scissors and Quilting Arts magazines has left me itching to do something more experimental, so I went out on a limb and did wild, no-mark free-motion quilting. I know I'm not that good at that yet, and to be honest, I'm really not sure I improved the piece and probably to some of you I flat out ruined it, but I did have fun.

 

I told Julie to feel free to line her pot drawer with it. When I do bed quilts or throws I consider what looks best and will please the user, so I usually stay on the conservative side. I'm a very precise cutter and piecer, so free-motion quilting is still very hard for me because I don't want to "mess up." Trying to break out of my self-sealed box, but that tape is strong! So, what you're reading here are the words of a conflicted artistic perfectionist.

Started this sweater about a month ago, but found I couldn't do cables on my back, so it got put aside. This is Norah Gaughan's Tweedy Aran Cardigan from IK Winter 01/02. I've got the magazine, but they also sell the pattern PDF on line now.

The yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed that's been stashed forever. Picked it up again this past weekend and am finally getting the rhythm of the cables. No rest for the wicked on this one -- the wrong side has lots of through-the-back-loop stitches to keep you on your toes. I'm thrilled to be making a smaller size because I've finally started to lose weight -- almost 15 lbs since the beginning of July! Because of this I"m rethinking sweater WIPs. More on that as I decide.

Well, time to stand up before I seize up. Still don't like bucket seats (the car's the worst), but have found a lumbar pad helps. We took the girls to the last Padres game this past weekend (horrible season, but beautiful day) and I added to my Lizard Ridge pile. I get the pitch-n-stitch thing now - the knitting covers all the dead time - but I could still skip the baseball part of it.

 

We have cast on

I'm alive, somewhat well and once again knitting.

The jackhammers and stone saws finally stopped two weeks ago and I got cast on fever. Have been intending to blog ever since. But I couldn't focus on the screen (drat turning 41) and a new prescription was required. Then there was a four day weekend to Portland OR with art friends (photos upcoming). Then the medicines I was taking for my back conspired to rip out my stomach lining (feels like it sounds), which required dr visits, etc. Then I came home to discover our painfully shy kitty had disappeared while I was gone, which means my nine year old with whom he slept had a very rough week (lots of tears all around). Add to that housekeeping and gardening and you get the picture (which is good since I'm out of parentheticals for now). When I finally found a chance to blog this weekend Time Warner was having issues. Brenda? get on the ball woman.

The CO fever started with a nice little email from Chic Knits. Might I be interested in Ariann, Bonne Marie's new cardigan pattern? Oh yes.

Just so happens one of the those industrious little stash swatches reveled that Jo Sharp's Silkroad DK Tweed (colour 404 Boheme) had the right gauge. I could see this pattern worked in a more fluid yarn, but I like the rougher texture too. It is a little slower going across the needles though. 

Hum, that's a nice cardi, but what about a pullover for more casual wear? There's that green Noro Silk Garden (#203) feeling kind of lonely in my closet.

The pattern is Y772 from Noro Book 20. If you don't want to click, imagine an entire ribbed, funnel-neck pullover with these color blocks.

This may sound perverse to some of you, but I hate knitting rib stitch and only considered this pattern because of the intarsia. All those color changes makes the tedious front and back switching of the yarn worthwhile. Yeah, perverse. This color section had eight balls going across the row. Just finished this section last night - I'll get another section going before I take more pics.

Very pleased to report that this is the Silk Garden I love - no sticks, no excessive funky fibers, silky wool feel on the fingers and of course, those colors that keep you knitting just one more row to see where they're going to go. Bought it at Sophie's Fine Yarn the last time I visited Louisville, so I still wonder if there's a difference between what gets dumped on ebay vs what gets delivered to a LYS. Maybe it was just a production glitch that one year? Anyone with info - just for curiosity's sake?

So, two sweaters in process - very good. Still, I needed a travel-worthy absolutely mindless, alcohol-induced-dropped-stitch-proof (ok, resistant) project for going to Portland. Add that the two hanks of Brooks Farms Primero I got at Rhinebeck last year were calling me. A thousand yards of pure mohair goodness that's so soft and silky ... words fail me. This is wonderful yarn. I love the colors and wanted to keep it simple. The original Pi Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac fit the bill with instructions that fit on a 3x5" card:  Cast on and knit forever with occasional YO rows.

This photo is from the transfer between 16" and 32" circs. Now it's in pouch form until cast off. Got the rough gauge with US8's Certainly easy as pi ... after that nasty CO. Was going a little crazy until I googled the Emily Ocher CO to find it's universally a DP-throwing, curse-word-muttering PITA, especially with silky yarn. No single bit of info I found on line turned on the lightbulb, but all together it got me there and I found it very reassuring to know I wasn't totally crazy, completely inept or both. Of all the knitting techniques I've ever done, this is the one that I would most recommend being shown in person. I got there, but precious knitting time was wasted. If you ever need it, find the nearest knitter who knows how.

So, now I'm really back. With some consistency I hope. I've found I missed reading blogs and writing mine, which is kind of nice. This is not an obligation but a pleasure. I appreciate all of you who've dropped back by 'just in case' and want to extend my thanks for the emails of support over the last three months. There are a couple of you I still need to answer. I will be forthcoming with more landscaping photos, Portland photos, knitting and quilting updates. Just wanted to get the ball rolling today. Here are a few pics of my one semi-planted bed.

Dahlias, switch grass, caryopteris (out of bloom) and sedum.

Verbena, penstemon and orange sedge in the background.

As soon as the plants arrived we had bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, song birds a lizard and a frog. The next shot was a lucky surprise I found staring me down from my PC screen when the photos uploaded.

Knitter's Eye Candy

Granfalloon :  "A granfalloon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings." --Kurt Vonnegut

Finally met another blogger in person! Jen and I thought Knit in Public day was a perfect reason to have what turned out to be a gabfest on Saturday. I think we both about collapsed from unrecognized hunger, but we got to knitting and the time flew. Sorry, no pics, but we did make progress. She finished up a bag to be felted and worked on the teeny tiniest Clapotis (US #2's) I've seen which will look beautiful on her and is the perfect weight for a scarf here. I got through 14 rows of Deli (fronts and back).

I've been making progress on Pi too, but nothing much worth blogging ... so ... I thought I'd entertain myself by photographing my latest stash enhancement and maybe you will be entertained too.

People (who don't blog) ask why I do it. What can I say, cheap thrills. And the chance to share my fiber highs and lows with the only other people in the world who truly understand. My DH calls us a grandfalloon. We knitters are a proud bunch, but I don't think this tenuous association via the net is meaningless. But maybe I'm too close. Hum, too deep for today. I'm declaring Mondays visual and practical days - a day of rest for my brain. I've re-potted and watered plants, done laundry, played with my child and photographed yarn. Good things.

Like this:

Jo Sharp has a cabled pattern for this, but I'm not sure yet. I've been eying it since it came out so I had to grab some on Elann.

Grabbed some of this too (hey, it was at Elann prices - what's a knitter to do?):

Going to make this sweater with it:

And what's the bit of crocheting on the right??? Thought it was time to learn. Found this on ebay in exactly the color I wanted at a great price.

That's my new favorite pot behind the yarn - I love those colors. Here's what's inside and below the pot:

 

The dried blood/pink one has eight bloom stalks growing - unbelievable! This will be blooming all year. Yeah, getting a little orchid fever around here. They're so cool that it's worth figuring out how to keep them happy. I need another obsession like I need a hole in my head, but it's my nature and I've given in.

Finally, my cherry on the virtual cake:

This is three skeins of Estelle, sportweight 100% Italian Cashmere, in the Highland colorway so lovingly dyed by Ms. de Sauveterre, aka Two Pointy Sticks. She shows her French heritage with her beautiful tags and packaging - so chic and tasteful - very worthy of the beautiful fiber wrapped inside. It was like opening a present. The yarn is a bit brighter than the photo of the colorway on her blog, but I love it. I accept color variations as a part of buying hand-dyed yarn on line as long as the tones and overall vibe are captured. I wanted something to brighten my wardrobe of solids. I think this will work! Yes, it's going to be Clapotis III.