Goings On at the Purl...

First of all, I cannot let another second pass without sharing this photo of Daren and her Peasant Shawl...didn't she do a LOVELY job!!!! I love that this is done in sock yarn. But most of all, I love the easy repetition of the leaves and the way the edging emerges out of nowhere (practically) and makes the shawl into something more than just rows of lace - it becomes something lovely and ethereal: equally pretty over jammies in the morning, a black strappy dress at night, or just a pair of faded jeans and a favorite old t-shirt.

Good job Daren!!!!!!!!


Also,
I got a chance to stop by First Friday last week, and there was

quite

a

lively

crowd...

Chris was hunkered down in the back working on her very pretty toe-up sock design...

I believe she's calling it

"Wysteria"











And that's about it for Cultured Purl photos. I haven't done a lot of knitting lately. The design for the Fair Isle back is coming along slowly. Not the kind of thing that I can work on in a noisy chaos or surrounded by children, or while worrying about

THIS...



Yup. My pathetically pained puppers had her spleen removed. And it probably goes without saying that a 75lb moaning, hot-nosed, furry creature and two-stranded knitting just don't mix.

But she's a bit better now: sans staples and cone and eating like a trooper again. SO it's back to the bag for me.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Happy Easter!

Kind of a random, catch-all sort of post....

My sunroom is DONE!!! I've waited until the furniture arrived (or was relocated from other places in the house) to publish this picture. You can't tell from the photo, but the stone floor warms up to heat the room. It's tumbled soft but still retains it's organic, natural imperfections and feels wonderfully cozy to walk on. I love to sit out here in the mornings with my coffee and the paper. Now, if I just had woods and a babbling brook in the backyard, life would be perfect!

I finished my socks in the knick of time and my husband LOVED THEM!! The pointed toe fits the shape of his foot perfectedly and the Fortissima is soft and comfortable to wear.


I am making NO progress on the sweater project I'm working on with Shirani in the lovely Noro Kochoran, but I have been knitting socks LIKE CRAZY! and I am well on my way to meeting my goal of 12 pairs in 12 months. My next yarn review will be what I used for these: (and I promise when I do the review I will remember the exact name of the yarn I used...)My notes are over in my knitting bag by the sofa :)


I stopped by Cultured Purl Saturday and took some pictures of the Sock Club, hard at work on the St Patrick's Day sock. I love the color of the yarn!! Look for pictures later this week...

Well it's our spring break this week. Not exactly Spring outside but at least it's not FREEZING! I'm off to get the children organized for an outing to the movies.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

A Minor Bump in the Road

That mess of yarn in the picture is the disaster I just had to rip out - hours of work done late last night (it really doesn't pay to knit when tired...)

I picked up the second sock this morning, well passed the gusset and midway down the foot, only to discover I had dropped a stitch off the end of my in-step needle TWENTY EIGHT rows ago...OHMYGOD...

I always keep a crochet hook nearby so I calmly began picking up the stitches. I'd have to say the first 8 rows were easy; the next 10 were tricky but managable; the last 10, however strained the boundaries of reason and sense. I did manage to get that last loop back onto my needle without breaking the yarn-how I don't know- but the result was impossibly tight, hideously ugly, and promised to be too uncomfortable to wear. So.........

Out it all came...plus and extra few rows because my frustration caused me to rip out with such abandon I couldn't quite stop where I had planned to.

Lesson learned- avoid knitting when bleary eyed; stop and admire your work frequently; and accept the fact that, at least with sock yarn, picking up a dropped stitch that's run down more than a dozen rows or so, is probably not going to look good enough to warrant the trouble. Sometimes ripping back is the only choice!

Yours in a mess of tangles,
Claire

I'm halfway there!

Well, actually MORE than halfway because I had started the ribbing for the second sock on another set of needles. I'm Sooooo glad I did that because now I'm facing only a couple inches of wrist breaking ribbing instead of 8...

I decided to try the Pointed Toe as I think it might be a better fit for my person's long toes. So here it is- a modified pointed toe, adapted from the very wonderful Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. It's worked over slightly more rows than the Basic Sock toe, otherwise known as the classic French toe. Also, it does not call for the Kitchener, so if you don't especially like grafting you might want to have a go at this technique!

Well it's back to ribbing for me.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

The Worst Thing About Socks...

For me at least, the worst thing about socks isn't that after all the work of knitting one you've still got another one to do. It's the thought of all that bloody ribbing.

I decided on a whim two days ago, to knit someone a pair of socks by next Saturday. Yup, 30,000 stitches in 10 days. I knit EVERYWHERE!!
In PTA meetings, in the car waiting for the kids dance classes to end, sitting in the exam chair at the eye doctors, begging to not have my eyes dialated because I'll lose an hour of knitting time... I even had the sock in the car yesterday morning when I drove the girls to school- prompting my daughter to roll her eyes and wonder aloud what I possibly thought I'd get done on it in the 5 minutes it takes to get there and back. But, it was a snowy, icy mess outside and I knew if I ended up in a ditch I'd be really really calm because I could get another inch out of the way while I waited for a tow truck!

However....the wrist strain is starting to kick in. 11,000 stitches of 2x2 ribbing. The Only Time I Regret Being a THROWER and NOT the time to convert to picking.

I had originally thought to start the ribbing on both socks so when I finished the first I wouldn't be so overwhelmed confronting that other 8 inches of cuff. BUT, my wrist pain makes it so going.

So at this point, I've got about 2 inches of that second cuff and I'm focusing instead on the pleasant ease and monotony of the stockinette foot, enjoying the BEST part of knitting socks- thinking with much love and affection of the person they're intended for!

Wish me speed,
Yours in knitting,
Claire

Ellen's Shawl

Didn't Ellen do an AMAZING job with the Lace Triangle Shawl!!!!!!!!

This is by far my most advanced design and Ellen's finished project is absolutely gorgeous - pictures just don't do Zephyr justice. You have to feel it to really appreciate its ethereal beauty. Her stitch work is lovely!

Although not the first of my students to finish this shawl, Ellen is the first to stop by the Purl so we could see the finished work!. I'm hoping to see the rest of the class soon!!

Great job Ellen!!!!

Yours in yarn,
Claire

Happy Valentine's Day

Knitting for Charity

Thanks KnittyGirl, for asking about charitable knitting. What a great idea for those of us with the time and means to make something beautiful and useful for those less fortunate than ourselves! Here are a few of my favorite charities:

Afghans for Afghans is a grassroots, humanitarian, people-to-people project that sends hand knit (and crocheted) blankets, sweaters, socks, and other necessaries to the beleagered people of Afghanistan.

Binky Patrol provides blanket and quilts to sick, abused, or needy children across the country.

Chemo Caps is an effort begun by the mother of Heather Spol, who passed away in 2000 at the young age of 25, to provide comfort and warmth to cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.The website has patterns and information on finding local branches.

Operation Homefront has patterns and information about knitting wool helmet liners for our troops stationed overseas.

On a local level, there is of course the ongoing blanket project at Cultured Purl, knitting premmie hats for area hospitals, and I believe children's mittens are always welcome at the Neighborhood Art House.

Also, there are dozens of other projects online which can be found by doing a Google search of "Knitting Charities". And readers, if you have a particular favorite, please let me know and I'll add it to this list.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Online Supersocke 100 sock yarn

As I embark on this mission to knit 12 pairs of socks in 12 months, it occurs to me that it might be useful to review the yarns as I go. There, now it seems a more productive and less frivolous use of my time, although is a handknit pair of socks considered a frivolity or more a lovely way of life!



I asked my nine year-old, who's modeling the February socks, if handknit socks are better or is it just that he loves them because I made them for him. He replied, "well, yes, there's that, but it's just no ordinary sock."

I think I'll ponder that awhile. In the meantime, here's the review...

Online Supersocke 100 Highland Color
100gr/420m
75% superwash wool, 25% polyamid
made in Italy

One skein knit up a pair of child's (shoe size 2) socks with plenty of yarn to spare. You can easily knit a pair of women's or men's regular socks out of just one skein.

I used a set of US 1 1/2 (2.5mm) double points. However I am a very loose knitter and I would imagine most people would use a US 2.

The yarn is smooth and even in its thickness. It doesn't have much of a twist, and is rather loosely plied, although I didn't have any problem with the yarn splitting. There is a certain scratchiness to the material which made it less of a pleasure to work with than Cherry Tree Hill or Lorna's Lace. My son, who always watches my progress eagerly and wass quick to pull them on the minute they were finished, found them cozy but way too itchy to wear until they were washed. I ran them through a warm water machine cycle then let them air dry and they softened up enough for him to wear them to school with no problems at all. They blocked well and seem to be holding their shape nicely. I'm seeing very little pilling.

Supersocke 100 comes in a variety of colorways and I absolutely love the striping pattern. There is a definite repeat to the stripe, so that it's easy to make a matching pair. I have to tell you however, that mid-way down the cuff of the second sock, there was a break in the yarn which had been tied to a different section of the pattern. While the two pieces were close in color, they were different enough to cause the pair to be slightly mismatched. Despite this, I will happily use this yarn again.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Socks

In the spirit of Shirani's Year of the Sock, I've decided to knit a pair of socks a month...I normally wouldn't put this kind of pressure on myself, but it just dawned on me today (about 30 seconds before I set my goal) that it's only mid January and I'm all ready half way through my second pair - thinking of it that way makes it seems a little more reasonable.

So here's sock number two - technically February's sock- done in a really cool striped Online yarn.

Yours in yarn,
Claire

I've run out of sock needles...

Not that I don't own plenty of size 0 double points...it's just that they're all holding unfinished projects...

All beautiful yarns that I had great plans for. It's been so long though, that when I dug through my sock stash this morning, I couldn't for the life of me identify the yarn, or remember who each sock was intended for. Except for that whitish Lorna's Lace (i think) in the middle...that one is the second of a pair I used in a class and had promised to my daughter who wears a lot of that color. And last week I jumped right into that second sock only to realize to my horror that I had misplaced the first...

So, I am ready to start her a new pair, out of that gorgeous new Noro sock yarn (up there on the right) only what to do for needles....

Yours in mountains of sock yarn,
Claire

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