The Brooklyn Tweed Striped Scarf

Here it is done in Noro Silk Garden...a Christmas gift for my husband...



I made every effort to finish the thing by Christmas Eve (to the point where I was knitting it while sitting less than a foot away from him...but he has become oblivious to my knitting, the ubiquitous lump of yarn and clicking needles almost always on my lap when I sit down to watch t.v. at home: he HAD NO CLUE)

And so, it was not done for Christmas morning, but he was as pleased as could be and surprised to receive it 2 days later - just in time for him to take it to Georgia for the winter....but that's a story for another time...

...back to the project at hand. This is an easy yet interesting 1x1 ribbed pattern using 4 skeins of Noro Silk Garden: 2 the same, worked throughout, plus 2 different skeins which are alternated with the main to form the stripes. This sounds MUCH more complicated than the actual project, I promise!

Sue and Shirani both have made this scarf more than once, and I know a lot of customers have been in to pick up the yarn for it. There are so many interesting color combinations in the Silk Garden line, every scarf turns out uniquely beautiful!! It would also work nicely with Noro Kureyon on larger needles over fewer stitches.

Check out the pattern here. Shirani has an awesome supply of Noro so stop by this week and you'll have the scarf done by the end the weekend!!

Yours in Noro,
Claire

Rita's Masterpiece

We've been keeping this little beauty a secret from the blogging world, but now that Christmas has come and gone and the yarn's "out of the bag" so to speak, I can share these pictures of the LOVELY sweater Rita lovingly knit for her daughter Kelly!





Isn't it amazing?? Our Purl's been wearing this since Rita finished it earlier this Fall, so if you were in the shop at all in November and early December you've probably seen it up close, and have been able to appreciate the softness of the Debbie Bliss yarn and the beauty of Rita's skillful stitchery in person. These photos don't really do it justice!










The pattern is from one of the Debbie Bliss books, sorry that I can't recall which one right at the moment...the sweater design is incredibly creative - it's begun in the center and is worked in the round so that the center back forms out of a sort of sunburst. Really quite remarkable!







I stopped in the shop this morning and heard from Rita that it fit Kelly like a dream and she loved the gift! We of course had no doubt!! Rita is a terrific knitter and a sweet and irreplacable member of the Cultured Purl family!

Happy New Year!
Yours in knitting,
Claire

I should have listened to Shirani...

Shirani introduced me to this adorable Fake Fair Isle hat pattern. My daughter has been asking me to knit her a hat and this seemed the perfect, knit-in-a-weekend project. But....I didn't REALLY listen when Shirani complained that the pattern seemed small and I should use bigger needles. I mean, being the loosest knitter on the planet, I NEVER use bigger needles!

Well, wouldn't you know it...it's a little too small, yet oddly floppy and loose around the brim.

My daughter is so sweet, she's trying desperately to make it fit. But..it just is not going to cover her ears...

So...i'm going to run back to Cultured Purl in the morning to get some more blue yarn, tweak the ribbing a bit, go up in needle size, and mostly I'm going to remember this the next time Shirani gives me some advice!

Yours in yarn,
Claire

A Rock is not a Stone...

...but knitting is still knitting whether one does it Continental or English!



I'm making this top-down raglan sweater, from the Fitted Knits book, for a class this winter. It's done in Cascade's Pastaza yarn - a luscious blend of llama and wool. It's lovely shape is derived from the COPIOUS use of 2x2 ribbing. Simple enough, but hard on the wrists...

I'm finding the wrist strain from the alternating knits and purls is greatly diminished by throwing in a row or two of Continental knitting every so often. Although I'm somewhat of a slow poke with this method and I have to work harder at maintaining an even tension, I must admit that the relief to my wrist when "picking" makes the snail's pace worth it!

We're such an opinionated bunch, us knitters... proponents of both methods can get rather hot under the needles when defending the merits of their preferred technique. But really, in the end, all that matters is that it looks nice!!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Finally...something besides that Jack o"Lantern!!

It's been busy around my house...
since Halloween, the addition has moved along nicely. The guestroom is just about done, although probably won't be inhabitable when my sister's family comes for Thanksgiving...but at least the new bathroom will be functioning!

I've just about driven my builder to a Home for the Hopelessly un-Hinged by taking SOOOOOOOOO long to make the sun room flooring choices and then, when I finally did decide....it's turned out to be a floor from Spain which will take ages and ages and ages to get here... plus there are some installation issues because of the type of stone it is...so now I'm thinking it would be really nice to have the sun room done by Christmas.



And then the other big thing of course was Beauty & the Beast at McDowell High School. Here's my very own personal Chip(ped) tea cup!! :He loves being on stage and had a blast with all the high school theatre arts kids, but we were all pretty done in by the intense rehearsal schedule and run of shows last weekend.

But



despite all the distractions,

I have managed to make some progress on my knitting projects and even teach a few classes.
Here are the ladies working on Fair Isle hats. They're using Debbie Bliss Rialto, DK or Baby Cashmerino which all feel like butter, and everyone was pretty focused on getting down the technique for working with 2 strands of yarn at a time. I love all their color choices!

I also have a Mitten class going on, and the 2 lace shawls, plus another Intarsia Bag class, and it looks like there's enough interest in an evening Oops class to schedule something for December or early January. So it's looking pretty busy.

Shirani has turned the shop into a Holiday Wonderland of gift ideas, kits and beautiful new yarns, so stop by and take a look.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Happy Halloween!

The kids elected to carve a scary jack o'lantern this year...

I've been sneaking candy out of the bowl all night...and now I'm too shaky and sugared-out to knit. So I'm posting a picture of our pumpkin instead.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Just one more...

Okay, three more...but they go SO FAST!!!!!!!



I'm in a huge state of denial about all the knitting I really have to do very very soon.... I keep telling myself, I'll just finish this one Lizard Ridge block and then I'll get to it...but then I can't wait to cast on another skein because it's so TOTALLY COOL to see how the waves will work up!!!! And anyway...knitting should be about calm, not about guilt! So while watching an unbelievable run of scary movies on (I think) American Movie Classics, - whatever channel 26 is... - I've managed to whip out 3 blocks. I've come up with a method of knitting them which will enable me to make all the blocks unique using only 5 colors of the Silk Garden.

This project is extremely portable -
I've taken it to riding lessons, the last of the outdoor lessons for this year maybe, considering the change in the weather this weekend...





And I worked on it while driving down to Cornstalking USA, at Buffalo Nickel Farm in Edinboro which, if you haven't been, is worth the trip. It's a corn maze in the shape of Sponge Bob and Friends. At the start, you're given a page with a grid of characters. As you proceed through the maze, you find stations with the character's pictures which you tape onto the grid. The pictures are actually bits of a map of the maze.
Here we are about to get started...We began the maze as a group, but almost immediately disagreement on strategy and the general competitiveness of the group led us to split up...



We met up briefly to compare notes... The girls had gotten off to a good start and were 4 or 5 characters ahead of us at this point,

However, my son was on a mission...at about the hour mark, we found the last, trickiest character, hidden in a corner of the maze, and after a mad dash through the twists and turns, we got to the finish less than a minute ahead of the girls!!!!




The maze is open till, I think, November 10th and is a ton of family fun, regardless of age and interest in Sponge Bob.

In the meantime, stop by Cultured Purl and check out the Silk Garden and Kureyon and see Shirani's blocks. They're lovely.

Yours in yarn,
Claire

So much yarn; so little time....

I am plagued right now with project-guilt...all together too many pending projects when all I really want to do is work on Lizard Ridge... (As a total aside here - I could have easily typed "alot of projects on the needles" but as my sister called to point out to me last night: "alot" just isn't a word... Susan doesn't very often take the time to read this blog, but she was so mortified by my error, that she searched on "alot" and was horrified to find 4 instances of it in my writing...As I pointed out to her, there are just as many occurrences of "a lot" as I do, in fact, know it's two words. I type fast, however, and tend to rely on Blogger's spell check which, it turns out, does NOT recognize the error of "alot". My sister did go on to say that maybe I rely a little tooooo heavily on this phrase, spelled correctly or not, and so, in deference to her, I wrote instead, "all together too many." And there you have it Susan!)

Anyhow...

Shirani and I were just agreeing today that Lizard Ridge really is our favorite thing to knit on these days. The yarn is wonderful, the blocks are manageably small, the pattern is simple, yet the short rows keep it interesting...just an all around satisfying project!!

The guilt though...there's that Sock It 2 Me class project...


meeting tonight so I REALLY need to be farther along on that...

Then there's the Lace Triangle Shawl that I'm knitting along with my students. It's a Christmas gift, but more importantly, how's it going to look when my class is leaving me in the dust?

And then of course - George's Mitered Blanket...if it weren't for all those bloody tails I might be nearly done with it. The class is around the corner (can you believe November is almost upon us????? WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?


I cannot be alone in this kind of project guilt, can I??

So tonight, I am really really really planning on getting those miters out the back of the linen closet...I'm just going to do a couple more short rows first!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Ooops!!!!

Daren drew my attention to a small boo boo in the Lace Triangle Shawl pattern. I'll contact everyone officially on Monday, however I'm hoping I might get to some of you sooner if I post the correction here.

Rows 35, 43, and 51 on Chart 2 should have "(R/L)" next to them. The chart itself is correct, you just need to move the marker 1 stitch to the right (before the centered decrease) on the first half, and 1 stitch to the left on the way back.

Sorry about that oversight; I hope it didn't hold many of you up.

Let me know how it's going. Good luck!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Ann's Afghan

We're just about to wrap up another 7 month long afghan class and one of my star pupils finished her project ahead of schedule!



Everyone in the class is doing a great job. I've loved our meetings and it's been really rewarding seeing the group's progress over these months. This project really increases confidence! All that's left now is the seaming ladies!!

Yours in knitting,

Claire

Lizard Ridge

The Lizard Ridge Afghan, pictured here on Knitty, is so beautiful that the stash of Noro at Cultured Purl is disappearing like hotcakes! Shirani's midway through knitting up a small throw out of this totally cool short-row pattern. It uses Noro's Kureyon or Silk Garden yarn and 1 skein works up to be about 1 square. For a while now I've been sneaking peeks on the sly at Shirani's progress and I just couldn't take it anymore, so....

I picked up a few skeins of Silk Garden and decided to jump right in the deep end of the pool with another new project!

These are the colors I've chosen for my throw - all pretty bright and similar in tone so I think the overall effect will be nice.

And while it might seem INSANE for me to have purchased more Noro, considering how much Silk Garden I have in my stash, my logic here is that it would be really great to make two: one colorful, one more soothing in muted golds and teals (the stuff in my stash from last spring...) Yes, I could have gotten started on the yarn I already own...but I am really in the mood for some color and didn't quite think I could face muted gold this week.




Here's my progress to date...

The colors blend nicely. I love the richness and depth of Noro's colorways. And the Silk Garden softens beautifully when blocked. (I had to block right away to convince myself that the rather odd, udder-shaped bumps caused by the short-row technique would, despite initial appearance, wash out...and yes they did...)

I would have gotten more done this week, however...

what used to be my deck,




became,

almost overnight (not really because it was 2 years in the planning but it did seem to all-of-a-sudden go from "thinking about" to "OHMYGOD there's so much mud..."),

this...

--

that's my friend and builder extraordinaire, Tim Colvin, in the middle of the big mud pit!---


and then just as quickly
(his guys EJ, Doug, Richie, Bobby, and Jake, really are amazing!)

it became...





THIS!!!!

so....I haven't been doing alot of knitting, because this project has CONSUMED ME!!!! (but in the nicest way possible, there's not a nicer builder on the planet...)

for now though, it's back to LIZARD RIDGE..

We're talking about getting a knit along going. So stop by and take a look at the Noro before it's all gone!!

Yours in Silk Garden,
Claire

What a cute hat!

Rita knit up this adorable little hat that Leo is modeling...You can't see in this picture, but there's a little green leaf and stem at the top, making it a pumpkin... (Although I suppose it also works as a tomato!)

Stop by the shop and see it in person. There are several varieties of fruits & veggies included in the pattern.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

A Confession...

This morning I accepted the fact that I have an awful lot of yarn...




maybe more than is normal...





probably more than can be knit in a lifetime...





So, with the kids back in school, and in the spirit of getting organized, I decided to take a serious look at all the yarn I have tucked around the house. Admittedly, this urge to do some housekeeping didn't wash over me till quite late in the afternoon so I only really had an hour or so before the chaos of the children's return from school descended upon the peace and quiet...I should have known better...

As you might imagine, what started out sort of leisurely, ended up kind of frantic, compounded by the realization - once I'd actually dragged out my piles and piles and piles and bags and bags and bags of stashed yarn and really saw what I had - that my husband was just going to freak if he walked in and saw the state of things...



This is sort of how things looked at about the time I realized the kids were going to walk in the door at any second and maybe my husband had been right about there being an awful lot of yarn in the house and did I really need to EVER buy anymore?

Those big plastic tubs on the left there are the ones with the yarn I really like - the yarn I really intend on using because it's either a project for a class or something I promised I would make for someone, or well it's just so gorgeous how could I not use it... (This is technically only a small portion of "The Stash" because there are already 4 tubs in the basement that I'm sort of in denial about: yarn I can't believe I ever liked, projects that I hated almost immediately upon starting, and maybe worst of all (this is part of the confession - the secrets nobody really needs to know about me) stuff, maybe even nice stuff, I ripped off the needles midway through because I needed those needles urgently (?) for something else and the tangled mess left behind was too hopeless to ever sort out but the guilt kept me from throwing it away...)OHMYGOD what a run-on...

That basement stuff really never enters my mind, so I don't realistically, or maybe optimistically, consider it part of the problem.

Anyway, back to the task at hand, that drawer on the right was my allotted space for yarn (what could I have been thinking. Now that I've moved tons out of that drawer and into the bins, I can not only close the drawer, but I can see at a glance the sock yarn I have available should the urge to start another one strike.

Now that's a nice variety!

Also visible in that drawer are a couple of my many knitting bags (and by many I mean it's almost a sickness) that are holding the various works-in-progress that I'm going to need in the very near future for a class. Other knitting bags are holding works-in-progress that I'm not really in the mood for but think I might get back to some day...haha...they are now tucked up in the really really really high cupboards in my mudroom that I need a chair to get to but mostly I just feel better because they're out of my sight - more denial??

It took me somewhat aback when I really thought about it and looked behind every chair, in every closet, under every bed, EVERYWHERE, and there was always another bit of yarn. I'm not going to tell you how many of those plastic Cultured Purl bags I found, still with un-touched yarn in them, because you wouldn't believe it and it makes me a little sick to think about it. Then, just when I thought I had found it all, I remembered the hoards and hoards of that lovely green alpaca I got to make that seed-stitch car coat AGES ago and well, Rita, it's just NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. So I got that out from it's hiding place behind Nana's very large empire dresser in the corner, and hid it at the bottom of the bottom-most bucket. There's that handy denial again!



Here it is, hidden well, by all this beautiful yarn. Aren't the colors and the textures just the prettiest thing you've ever seen? See, looking at this, I just want to keep this all out because I really should be able to something wonderful with it. You know what I mean?


So, I had started out thinking I would actually sort the yarn and label it, organize it, store it sensibly so I could find it later....(....she pauses to consider just how optimistic to the point of ridiculous that sounds knowing herself as she does)...then reality set in (and the clock was after all ticking away) so it all just got pretty much STUFFED in bins and stacked in a dry and well-lit corner of the basement,

leaving

only

this....



sort of prettyish little wooden bowl holding a reasonable, sensible, normal amount of yarn...

The amount any normal person would expect to see in a the home of a friend who knits!

And so, having confessed to my gluttony, and having subsuquently hidden pretty much all evidence of my vice, I can go back to my one, neatly organized, knitting bag, waiting patiently beside my chair in the front room, and knit a few rows on my tablerunner, feeling completely unencumbered my all the other yarn and projects I no longer have to look at!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Knitting Lace with Crochet Cotton

Chris K, who loves lace but isn't that keen on knitting a shawl, got me thinking about other project avenues waiting to be explored as I forge ahead on this lace journey of mine! This is the start of a table runner done in some ecru cotton that Shirani had in stock at the shop. (Not being skilled at crochet, I've never really paid much attention to it before.)

Cotton is entirely different from wool and I have to admit it's taken some getting used to. It's a beautiful fiber, with a great sheen and smoothness. It's quite tightly plied and cord like though, making it not as soft as the silky wools I've been working with lately.

Still, its firmness and slight inelasticity make it the perfect choice for tablecloths and runners. I'm pleased so far with the way it's turning out. I'll let you know how it goes...especially once I get to the blocking!

Yours in yarn and those wonderful Addi lace turbos,
Claire

Blocking Wires

Yes, those are my toes in the corner of this picture...I uploaded it without really taking a close look at it. Anyway...




This is the "Autumn Leaves" Shawl done in Lorna's Lace sock yarn. I have been off socks lately and totally, and with abandon, engrossed in lace. So what better way to deal with the pressure of the MOUNTAINOUS sock yarn stash than to knit a shawl with it!! Okay, as a total aside...I'm am writing this from my husband's new laptop, and I am having some trouble getting used to the flat mouse, not to mention the flat keyboard, so it's going r e a l l y r e a l l y s l o o o o w l y... but isn't technology cool? Thanks to the Geek Squad, we have a network in our house and all the printers talk and the pictures on the desktop can be viewed from this laptop wirelessly and can be uploaded to the Internet in pretty much the blink of an eye...In truth though, Vista is a big mystery to me and I have accidentally left this post and mysteriously gone to various Internet sites or random places on the laptop about five times since starting this post,, so it's going a little slow...but still cool!

Okay so getting back to the point, Sue and Shirani are selling these really useful blocking wires which make blocking something as large and ungainly as a big lace shawl very easy. The trick is knowing where to insert the wires.




Here you can see that I inserted the wires into the main body of the shawl and then used T-pins to pull out the points of the edging. That edging, by the by, is the beautiful and timeless Van Dyke Edging from the Shetland Islands. I have been reading alot about vintage knitting techniques and some things are too lovely to ever go out of style.

The shawl is on display at the shop and the blocking wires are in stock also, so stop by and take a peek.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Tofuties Boot Camp at Cultured Purl!!

Shirani wanted me to let you know that it's Boot Camp this week at the yarn shop. Wednesday, August 22nd, through Saturday, August 25th, Cultured Purl is hosting a sock trunk show.

Stop by the shop and try out samples of Tofuties great sock yarn. Be sure to bring your favorite sock needles with you so you can knit up some swatches. Anyone purchasing the new yarn will also be entered into a raffle for a cool new sock tote.

So stop on by!!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Blocking the Triangle Shawl

We're back! And of course, despite all the unpacking we have to do, I couldn't wait to block the new shawl.


I used JaggerSpun's beautiful Zephyr: a lovely blend of wool and silk which is easy to knit with and blocks into something almost more ethereal and gossamer than what is implied by the term "lace".

Here you see the shawl pinned out on my bedroom floor. I had soaked it for a good long while (to remove the tell tale campfire smell!) in this really nice product Shirani has started carrying:


I used the citrus scent and while there was a bit of bleeding in the sink (funny that the water turned RED from this taupe colored "suede",)it didn't seem to affect the loveliness of the yarn.

Now the trick is to leave the thing alone so it can dry completely. I'm SO IMPATIENT!!

I'll bring it into Cultured Purl so you can take a peek.
Yours in yarn,
Claire

Camping as our Forefathers Did...

NOT!: starting the campfire with a propane blowtorch...

That's Dad, starting the morning fire - truly my favorite part of camping : no bugs, I survived another night, the coffee's steamy hot and soothingly fragrant, and there's a cool, crisp promise in the air reminding me that life is good.

Sharon, it's raining! POURING in fact, and yes I was able to bring both project bags AND a sock. So, unlike the rest of my family who are grimacing at the threatening inclemency and going a bit stir crazy, I am calm, collected and even comforted by the pitter patter of drizzle knowing there are needles and some wool awaiting my attention!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

I opted to bring the shawl...

That's my sister holding the finished product (so it's a darn good thing I found that stash of sock yarn and tucked a skein and some double points in my bag as I finished loading up the car.) That's my husband, the master firestarter waving in the background. It's about 7:30 and we're gearing up for the daily campfire and an evening filled with family stories (more like myths & legends I think sometimes), lots of laughs, and of course the point of camping in the first place (at least according to my children): The Making of the S'mores...

But there's still a bit of daylight left, so I think I'll cast on for that sock.

Yours in knitting, from the pristine shores of Androscoggin Lake,

Claire

Knitting on the Road

It's time for our annual pilgrimage to the wilderness of the Northeast corner of our country, the Pinetree State, "Vacationland" (as stated on their license plates.) Maine: Where we camp under fragrant pine trees, listening to the music of the loons and the soothing sounds of a babbling spring-fed creek, falling asleep under a million sparkling stars set in a deep, crystal clear, non-polluted sky...(I thought I'd begin with that wonderful image instead of describing the dirt and the bugs that are also such a part of camping in the Big Woods!!)

Anyway...I'm getting packed - and although the car is ABSOLUTELY STUFFED TO BURSTING with a BIG tent, 5 sleeping bags, 5 air mattresses, 5 suitcases, a cooler, 5 chairs, cooking supplies, 3 bike helmets, a scooter, a bunch of fishing poles, a tackle box, my watercolor stuff, a medical kit, 5 beach towels, 2 lanterns, many flashlights, a portable fan, the hotel bag for tomorrow night, my bag of shoes (yes, I take tooooo many for a week in the dirt), the bird book, binoculars, (although Maine has a tick problem too so I don't know for sure...), 2 portable DVD players, my purse, a snack pack, 5 pillows, 3 kids' worth of blankets, backpacks, iPods, Nintendo games, and stuffed animals, 2 umbrellas, and an assortment of CD'S and books on tape...- I've still got to decide on which knitting project to bring.



A dilemma: the big bag with the diamond shawl design which I am chomping at the bit to finish... or the small bag with the quickie little ella rae purse project. Note here that this would have been a conundrum or even possibly a quandary if I could have put my hands on the MULTITUDE of sock projects I have going on right now. Yes Rita, you're right, a sock would be the perfect thing to take, BUT OHMYGOD, I can't find where I stashed them all when I started the shawl project...I had to hide them you see so I would feel guilty about all the unfinished things I have on the needles...

So it is, after all, just a dilemma.

I will let you know tomorrow what I decided to take. You see, I am hoping to blog as I go from my Treo and my digital camera! Wish me luck!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

A Lifeline is a Lace Knitter's Best Friend

A lifeline is a length of yarn, threaded through live stitches in a work in progress, and then left in place to act as a sort of base point in the unfortunate event that the work must be ripped back.



I use them extensively when designing, as you can see in this picture of the shawl I am working on. When I want to try out a new section of lace, I place a lifeline. Then, if I'm not happy with my design choice, I simply slide the work off the needles and rip back with abandon until I come to the stitches held securely in place along the lifeline. This length of yarn, always a different color and preferably a smooth cotton, locks the row of stitches in place, and prevents the work from unraveling further than I would like.

This tool is particularly handy for lace knitting, as the blend of yarn overs and decreases makes picking up a row of live stitches tricky to say the least. However, I recommend it for any type of knitting that would be a hassle to take back or would be heart breaking to unravel too far.




For the lifeline to work properly, care must be taken to thread the scrap yarn through EVERY stitch on the needles. Notice in the picture that I am avoiding running the yarn through my stitch marker.


Once the lifeline is through every stitch, (and I should say here that you would only put the lifeline in after checking that the work knit to that point is error free and the stitch count is correct, etc) make a note of what row the lifeline is running through, so that if you do have to rip back, you'll immediately know what row is next!

Now, press onward with the confidence that comes from knowing if you make a mistake and feel compelled to tear it out, you can rip fearlessly and with abandon because you'll stop at the row of YOUR choosing, and all your correctly knit stitches will be laid out nicely and in order along the length of your lifeline, just waiting to be slipped back onto your needles!

So, cut a couple lengths of leftover cotton yarn, tuck them in your gadget bag with a tapestry needle, and knit, knit, knit!

Yours in knitting,

Claire

ella rae bags

Rita knit up this lovely little felted bag (in about a minute) from the Ella Rae Bag book eight.

I loved it so much I immediately purchased enough Cascade 200 to make a pink bag AND a teal bag! It's such a quick and easy pattern, I knew it wouldn't take me long...then reality set in and I knew if I didn't get to work on the rest of the triangle shawl it would never be done in time for the October class...plus there was the need to reread all six Harry Potter in preparation for midnight on July 21st - when we finally find out HOW IT IS ALL GOING TO END!!!!

Plus the birdwatching thing...we saw a bald eagle, a great blue heron, about a billion red winged blackbirds and a yellow warbler. However, I also found a tick crawling on me in the middle of the night which freaked me out enough to seriously consider limiting my future birdwatching to whatever I can see from the relative safety of the very comfy chair next to my front room window...

Regardless, the ella rae bag in waiting patiently in the "on the needles" hide-away for a less busy time. But you can at least enjoy this picture of Rita's nice work!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

10,000 Stitches

There are 10,000 stitches in an average woman's handknit sock. A staggering amount when you consider that there's still another one to knit...

"10,000" pops up all around us:

There are roughly 10,000 minutes in a week; 10,000 lakes in Minnesota; 10,000 days in the Vietnam War;

It's the number of seconds it takes to repair a heart valve; it is the number of other neurons in our brain that each single neuron touches; it is the number of steps we should aim to walk in a day to maintain a healthy level of fitness.

It's the name of a band - 10,000 Maniacs; the name of an album - 10,000 Days; the name of a song by Bob Dylan - 10,000 Men.

It is the collective name (The Year 10,000 Problem ) for all potential software bugs that will emerge as the need to express years with five digits arises; it is the size (processor speed) of the enormous Linux computer NASA built; it is the name (Powers of Ten Thousand) of a technique for browsing a very large space using a macroscope.

It is the number of yards from my house to Cultured Purl; the number of meters in a HECTARE; and, the metric length of my husband's favorite competitive road race.

It is the value of the US Treasury note featuring a picture of Salmon P. Chase (US Treasury Secretary under President Lincoln); and,


bringing us finally to the point of this post (!),


it is the number of known bird species in the world:

10,000 different kinds of birds...I've just finished a book about the "Big Listers", those very driven bird watchers whose goal is to see every bird on earth... Only a baker's dozen or so have managed to see 7,000. And 2 have made it to the 8,000 mark. An inspiring story...one of those 2, a woman, had been an avid birder for some time when she received an imminently terminal cancer prognosis. Rather than quietly succumbing to the disease, she decided to spend what little time she had left traveling around the world seeing as many types of birds as she could. 17 years later!!!, she had listed nearly 8,500 birds - a world record...

There are roughly 900 species of birds in North America. And interestingly enough, about 320 pass through our very own Presque Isle each year! Who would have thought, tucked away up here in our little corner of the world, there'd be such a plethora of feathered delights. So, I have been trying to persuade my family (even one fellow avian sleuth would be nice company) that birdwatching would be an exciting and fulfilling hobby to take up, considering how one of the busiest bird sanctuaries is a mere stone's throw away from our house. so far no takers...my husband did raise his eye brows a little when I said all it really takes is a good pair of binoculars and some time: asking, when did I think I would knit...

so, it's looking like I'm on my own with this one. But if any of my knitting friends feel like putting the needles aside for a bit and strolling around the peninsula, let me know!

Until then,
yours in yarn,
Claire

The Gossamer Beauty of Blocked Zephyr

Here's that sample bit of the Triangular Lace Shawl. It's hard to get a sense from this photo of the wonderfully whispery, ethereal quality of the fabric. It has the most amazing drape and feels beautiful against my skin.

Shirani will be ordering this soon, so stop by the shop and check out the beautiful range of colors that are available!

Yours in yarn,
Claire

Achieving a Loose Bind-Off

Bind-offs have a tendency to be too tight, even for those of us loose knitters who have to go down (a minimum of) two needle sizes in order to get gauge. Maybe it's knowing that the goal of the bind-off is to keep all those precious stitches from unraveling, or maybe it's just a by-product of the exuberance one feels knowing the end of a project is just a row away. But regardless of the reason, most of us are guilty of it at one time or another, and a tight bind-off can just plain RUIN a beautifully knitted garment. This is particularly true of socks, and especially true of lace.




I just blocked a draft of the triangular shawl I'm designing for a class this fall. Here, I've pinned it into shape and left it to dry. This is a lace weight blend of 50% silk and 50% wool, worked on a US3 needle, and blocking will grow it by about 50%. (That needle size, by the way, is for the elusive average knitter. I being perpetually & hopelessly loose, had to use a 1...)







If I had bound off tightly, I could never have gotten the edges to stretch wide enough to accommodate the beautiful openwork of the lace.




The bind-off that I chose here is nicely loose and elastic enough to allow the edges to stretch. Notice the edge between the two T-pins: it lies flat and the stitches are big enough to allow the yarn overs along the edge to open as widely and nicely as the yarn overs throughout the rest of the sample. The bind-off I used is the "Decrease Bind-Off" and it is one of my favorites.

It can be worked as either knit stitches or purl stitches. Each method will give a pretty, decorative, nicely stretchy edge.

For the knit bind-off: *K2tog, slip the newly formed knit stitch from the right needle back to the left needle; repeat from * to end.

For the purl bind-off: *P2tog, slip the newly formed purl stitch from the right needle back to the left needle; repeat from * to end.

In both cases, loosen the newly formed stitch as you slip it back to the left needle, and resist the urge to tighten it up again when you work the decrease.

The decrease bind-off, in either form, is frequently recommended for lace knitting, so much so that it is also known as the "Lace Bind-Off". It is also particularly nice in ribbing.

When working any bind-off, the looser you are able to work it, the prettier and more elastic it will be. One tip that works well for me when using the basic chain bind-off (where you work 2 stitches then pull the 1st stitch over the 2nd stitch and off the needle) is to use a needle 2 or 3 sizes larger in diameter than the needles used for the rest of project. Give that a try and see if it loosens things a bit for you too!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

It's been a slow knitting week or two (or three)...

Yes, I'm back. (Linda thanks for noticing!) I have to tell you that it's been a rare break from knitting for me. I knit pretty much every day of my life, so to go a couple of weeks without working a stitch is a little weird...

First it was the big BIG dance show...



then Mike and I took a quickie but action packed trip to Chicago...

the highlight for me was the marvelous shopping... and Mike did pretty well with that too, however I think a close second was our visit to the kinda-freaky-quirky-weird International Museum of Surgery:


Not sure photography was allowed, but I snuck ( or is it sneaked...) this one of an old iron-lung, just looking at it kicked in a little claustrophobia attack...but really the coolest thing there were the ghastly old surgical knives and the preserved skulls with huge holes drilled in them (sans anesthesia by the by) to release the evil spirits...


and,

we ate really well at lots of cool places like RL, Ralph Lauren's restaurant...




After Chicago, my husband did have another (almost unheard of) SECOND WEEK OF VACATION, so we took lots of day trips with the kids, including our favorite: a trek into Cook's Forest.

4 miles down the Clarion River...








followed by an hour on horseback through the forest.





this was a particularly momentous moment for us... prior to getting on this horse, my son had watched his sisters ride for all nine of his years but had always REFUSED to even entertain the idea of getting up in the saddle...





so all that, plus, between the two girls, a seemingly never ending schedule of EYSA soccer games...


has sort of kept me away from my knitting. (I should note here that I did take my little woolly Ella Rae project to this game, however it was about 90 and the sun was beating down, and the wool was DRIVING ME CRAZY...so I gave up)



and just took pictures.







But....



it's the start of a new week, and I have just knit the ruffle of that baby hat in preparation for teaching the class in July... so I'm back in the saddle so to speak!

Yours in knitting,

Claire