Finished Project: Scotch & Soda
Project Specs:
Pattern: Scotch & Soda: a single-malt scarf with cabled bubbles by AnastasiaKnits-Yarn Cocktails
Yarn: Suri Merino by Plymouth Yarn in color 402
Needles: US 8 rosewood straight needles
Pattern Alterations: Oops, there’s one bubble that is two rows short.
This is a scarf for the store. Once I finished it and noticed that it was getting too long, I realized it probably would have been better knit down a needle size. And with all of the alpaca in the scarf, it has a lot of drape. It was an easy cable pattern to memorize.
Yes, It’s Another Clapotis
But I have this really nice yarn, and the dropped stitches look like so much fun in the Clapotis. So I couldn’t resist. And I’ve told myself that I’m not going to buy any new yarn at Rhinebeck this year if I don’t use up the yarn I bought there last year first.
So, here’s where I’m at so far using US 7 Addis.
Poolside is a nice way to work on the Clapotis. We had a lovely mini-vacation in the Berkshires this week. We need to do more of these this summer.
Not Quite Ready
Over Memorial Day, I received Barbara Walker’s Learn-to-Knit-Afghan Book from Johanna. I’m STILL contemplating yarns for the afghan. I’m not making a final decision until I check out one more superwash worsted wool. We figured out the dimensions of the final afghan if we used worsted weight yarn, and this thing is going to be huge. So I might consider a DK weight yarn instead since huge is not what I’m looking for. Something for the sofa is really what I want. But how would I figure out the amount of yarn I would need. The book calls for 80 oz of worsted weight yarn. What would be the equivalent yardage in DK weight?
I know I’m not going to treat this thing gently and would ideally like to be able to machine wash it. So just for fun, I threw in one of my Cascade220 swatches into our front loader just to see what would happen.
Yep, it felts. But even though you lost a lot of stitch definition, there was still enough there to be interesting. And so many of the squares in the afghan are high contrast two color pieces, I suppose those would look kind of interesting too. I also liked the feel of the felted swatch. Maybe I could make a washable DK afghan at the same time I’m making a Cascade 220 afghan, one for cooler weather, one for freezing weather. I’m also curious how the squares would felt together, since there are so many different sorts of stitch patterns. Would it get all wonky? Or could that be interesting in its own way?
And then of course there is the color issue. The book calls for four colors, two light and two dark. But really, I could do anything I want to do. I’ve been loving watching the progress of these two creations. The greens are working for me.
Hmm, decisions, decisions. At any rate, Johanna and I are starting our afghans mid-July when we’re at the beach together.
Tempting Candy
I have a few projects on the needles now that I haven’t mentioned. The first one is Tempting II which I’ll be making along with a bunch of other sexy knitters.
The knitalong starts July 1st, so I haven’t started the sweater yet. But I have swatched for it using Artful Yarns Candy. I’m using the Fireball color that you see in the ball, not the swatch color.
This is not a yarn that would normally catch my eye. But I had knit a swatch for the store and really liked how easy it was to knit, the elasticity, and the feel of the knitted fabric. So when the yarn was on clearance, I bought 7 balls of the Fireball. The Sour Apple color was already gone.
I’m a little concerned if this pattern will actually work for my body. Jenna and I don’t exactly have the same shape. I’ve already tried one of her patterns and gave up when I didn’t like the photos of finished sweaters from more shapely women that I was seeing. Can I add a little waist shaping to a 1×1 rib pattern? Or will the finished fabric be so stretchy that I won’t need to worry about the fit? Also the neckline looks like it’s nearly falling off her shoulders. I’ll need to be particularly careful when picking up stitches for the neckline and to use small enough needles so my row gauge will work.
I think I will also make the sleeves longer for Tempting II, like you see in Blaze.
Finished Project: River Shawl
Project Specs:
Pattern: River by Sharon Miller from Rowan Magazine 38
Yarn: Rowan’s Kidsilk Night in the Starlight color
Needles: US 13 and US 10.5 Denise needles
Pattern Alterations: I used a knitted cast-on with the larger needle size. And then there was the mistake on the other end with only one row of yarn overs.
My Blog Links: Upcoming Projects, Cast On Lace Method, Matching Lace Bind Off, Emerging Pattern, New Summer Project, Tedious Beads, Finishing Up Projects, River Mistakes and Do-Overs
Wendy seemed to love her shawl. And it was a chilly day in Minnesota, so the shawl turned out to be practical too. Once the shawl was draped over her shoulders, you couldn’t even notice the mistakes. I did redo the donut with skinnier elastic and that worked out better. And there is enough yarn leftover that I could make something for myself sometime. Maybe a sparkly little scarf?
Best of all, Wide Load Ma’am had a little reunion and the shawl got to rock out!
Finished Project: Astrakan Scarf
Project Specs:
Pattern: CO 20 sts, knit in garter stitch until it’s long enough.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakan, color 10
Needles: US 6
Size: 5″ x 70″, nice and long
I wanted to try out this yarn before jumping into a jacket that I was considering making with it. I also wanted to get better at English style knitting so Faire Isle would be easier. Ah, but silly me. I couldn’t tell at all how my English style knitting was coming along with this highly textured yarn. So I quickly gave up with that and switched back to my left hand.
I love the finished texture of the yarn. But every ball had a knot in the middle, and it may be too bulky for my taste as a jacket. So this is the end of the line for Astrakan and me.
But I do have a new long, soft scarf for the fall. That’s nice.
Focus on a Cool Dad
In the latest issue of Cool Mom Picks‘ newsletter was an article about Ella & Bill’s radio show. They make me proud.
Special: Focus on a Cool Dad
Bill Childs
Every working parent’s dream: A job that allows you to bring your child with you. Bill Childs has just that, or at least he does once a week. He’s a law professor Monday through Friday, but on Saturday mornings, he and his 7 year-old daughter Ella co-host cult radio show favorite, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child on WXOJ in Northampton, Massachusetts.
One-time violinist, former college radio DJ, and ex-indie record store owner, it was only natural for Bill to start seeking out great kids’ music when he became a parent. Thanks to an open slot at a community radio station, Bill was able to parlay his passion into a volunteer job and soon had a regular show.
If you have listened to the broadcast then you know that Bill and Ella are quite the team. They work together to pick out the music–kid stuff as well as kid-appropriate grown-up music. Ella does almost all of the engineering, which has been a lesson in patience for Bill. (A dad giving up control of the electronics? Sounds like an urban legend to me.) But overall, they have fun dancing in the studio together, interviewing in-studio artists, and enjoying each other’s company on and off the air. In fact, the commentary is just as entertaining as the music they play.
The radio show is not limited to musical artists. Bill has taken the show “to the next level,†inviting Ella’s first grade class to read their poems on air. He’s also started connecting with local artists as well a possible collaboration with the Eric Carle Museum of Picturebook Art.
And don’t be fooled. This isn’t something Bill drags Ella to do on every Saturday. Aside from her favorite tasks, including “pushing the buttons and talking and playing the music,†Ella said that working with her dad is decidedly “fun.â€
Based on what we’ve heard, it’s fun for us too, Ella.
You can listen to Spare the Rock live on Saturdays from 8 to 10am at valleyfreeradio.org, or download podcasts of past shows at sparetherock.com.
Traction Man Is Having a Bad Day
Even Traction Man’s trusty sidekick Scrubbing Brush knows the knitted romper doesn’t work.
River Mistakes & Do-overs
In my last post I pointed out the row of missing yarnovers in River. But there are two more mistakes that I didn’t notice until I was at work looking at the photos. Can you find the two misplaced yarnovers? What happened?
Fortunately when the shawl is not on the blocking board, you really don’t notice them. And they’re too far into the middle of the shawl to go back and fix them. I’m still waiting to decide if I’m redoing the row of missing yarnovers.
So while waiting to decide, I finished the donut. Isn’t it the cutest little thing?
But the size elastic the pattern asked for is way too strong to use in such a delicate thing. I can get the shawl through the donut hole, but it’s a big pain in the butt. I would never end up using something that is that annoying. So…I’m going to try to make a new donut before Wednesday, this time using much less substantial elastic. I like the idea of the donut, and with the shawl as short as it is, it would be nice to have this fastening option.
Now I’m off to work. And all the way from Australia, Jo Sharp will be in the store today.
Finishing Up Projects
It’s been a couple of busy knitting and blocking days. First there are my swatches for my Stitches classes. Today is my evaluation and they’re all labeled ready to go.
Next I cruised through River, jumping from 140 rows to the final 230 rows in a few days.
I picked up a set of blocking wires to help out with blocking River. Theses are great. Weaving the wires along the edges was easy. But the best part is that if I wanted to adjust the length or width, I only had to move a couple of pins holding down the wires rather than a whole side of pins. I’m blocking River to just past the pattern measurements, but I still wonder if it would be too small. I’ll try it on once it’s blocked to see if it’ll be enough. If not, I can always block it to be a little bigger. There’s still a lot of stretch left in the fabric.
But there is one problem I discovered while blocking. Take a look at the two ends and see if you notice the problem. It’s not subtle.
Hmm, I don’t know what to do about that. I missed one whole row of yarn overs. Once it’s blocked I’ll see how it looks while wearing it to see how noticeable it is. Then I’ll decide if I need to redo that end. I already had to take out the bind off once, and it wasn’t that much fun.
Then all there is left to finish is sewing up the beaded donut. That’ll be a quick job.
And then, I can start any knitting project I want to. So many possibilities, so much yarn.
