Purple Cables

One of my husband's finer qualities — among many fine qualities — is that he likes wearing hand-knits. This one is the British Schoolboy Vest from Cheryl Oberle's "Folk Vests." It's a handsome, traditional vest that I knit in a non-traditional color — purple.

The specifics: Wool Pak 8-ply wool in color Plum (it really is the color of a ripe Italian plum) knit on US4 and US2 needles.

I've made several of the vests in "Folk Vests." It's a great book.

Marguerite Shimmons

I've never met Marguerite Shimmons, but I know people who know her. And I've seen her breathtaking knitted lace work in person. Those who know her say she is as elegant and refined as her work.

Now others can see her work and art. She donated several pieces to the Lacis Museum in Berkeley, California. See them here. Lace lovers of all sorts are fortunate that she decided to share her amazing work.

If the United States had a program to designate Living National Treasures like Japan does, I would put Marguerite Shimmons on the list.

More Garden

I have had a few requests for a detail photo of the Shetland Garden shawl with its mirror decreases, so here it is (I hope the detail is visible; clicking on it will make it larger).

And, the shawl is 27 inches long down the center back, which is a good size for me.

A Stroll in the Garden

A Shetland Garden, that is. Specifically, the Shetland Garden shawl from Sivia Harding. The yarn Nature Spun fingering weight, one of my favorite, all-purpose yarns. The color is Hurricane Seas (our sailing friends Michael and Nancy don't understand why one would deliberately choose anything hurricane-related but I seem to be in a turquoise phase). Knit on US5 needles. The shawl took only three skeins, about 930 yards.

The main body of the shawl — the daisies, ferns and leaves — is written with all of the single decreases as right-leaning (k2tog). With this yarn, I chose mirror left- and right-leaning decreases (k2tog and ssk). For most of the double decreases, I used the designated left-leaning decrease (sl 1, k2tog, psso). However, on the leaves, which have stacked double decreases, I used centered double decreases (sl 2 tog, k1, psso).

The rose trellis section is written with left- and right-leaning decreases.

This was a fun pattern to knit and, like other Sivia Harding patterns, is clear and easy to follow.

Baaaaaa! Bleeeaaat!

After I look at the knitting at the Western Washington Fair, I head for the sheep barns, especially the wool sheep (rather than the meat sheep). Unless you are holding some food in your hands, most of the sheep aren't interested in visitors. But it's interesting to see the critters that provide us knitters a lot of beautiful wool.

This little lamb wasn't at the fair. It was a birthday present earlier this month. He doesn't have name yet. In fact, I only recently decided he was a he. I'm open to suggestions for names.

Fair Time

Five entries, five ribbons — one first, two seconds, one third and an honorable mention in the knitting and lace categories. I am delighted with my results at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup. The surprise to me is how the awards sorted themselves out:

Blue ribbon in the lace category for doilies smaller than 12 inches in diameter. This entry was almost an afterthought. I was playing with variegated threads to see if the widespread belief that "variegated threads don't work well with doilies" was true. Apparently it's not. The pattern is from Lavori Artistici #11, design #12, knit in vintage Royal Society crochet thread, size 30.

Second place in the lace category for doilies 12 inches in diameter and larger. This is a possible Niebling design called Arum Flower, knit in size 30 crochet thread.

Second place in the lace category for a knitted garment. Fans of Donna Druchunas's Arctic Lace will recognize her Skeleton Scarf pattern. It's knit in a very fine merino wool of unknown provenance.

Third place for a man's vest made in Knit One, Crochet Two's Paint Box yarn in a color called Tandoori.

And, finally, an honorable mention for Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy shawl knit in yarn from Black Bunny Fibers.

One of the pleasures of the fair is seeing so much beautiful knitting, and to watch other fairgoers admiring the work.

Alaska Rainforest

Last October, I attended a class where we explored fagoting stitches and experimented with many cool things one can do with fagoting. Then in June, while traveling in Alaska, I purchased this lovely hand-dyed yarn from Rabbit Ridge Designs in a coloway called Rainforest.

The fagoting lessons came to mind while I was considering how to best show the lovely Alaska rain forest colors. Simple design, beautiful colors — it all worked (in my opinion).

The specifics:

• Yarn: Rabbit Ridge Designs DK optim wool, two 50-gram skeins, 154 yards per skein
• Needles: US 8
• Finished size: 7.5 inches wide by 92 inches long
  

Thread Stash

Some days you just get lucky. A recent trip to a local thrift store resulted in a purchase of I'm-not-saying-how-many balls of Cebelia DMC thread, size 10, in four different colors, at 30 cents each. 30 cents! Most of this will end up at an upcoming knitting retreat.

Yes, I left some at the store.

Really.

I did.

Hail to the King!

In this case, hail to king bolete, Boletus edulis, commonly known as porcini mushrooms. A friend who is a devoted mushroom hunter found a lot of porcini at a secret spot that he will not reveal. We are fortunate that he kindly shared two porcini with us. These, he said, are two of the smaller ones.

Earlier this year, we found morels in our front yard. Sometimes we find chanterelles at local farmers markets.

Good eats!

Warming a Cold Shoulder

How do you warm a cold shoulder? With a shoulder shawl. This one is the Gracie pattern from Myrna Stahman's "Shawls and Scarves." I made it with about 600 yards of hand-dyed worsted-weight yarn on US10 needles. It came out 18 inches long down the back.

Shoulder shawls are the perfect solution when you need a little warmth on the shoulders but not too much.

Yes, the lawn is brown. Water is for the tomatoes. The grass will revive on its own.

Wool and Wine

Oregon's Yamhill Valley has much to offer, especially for those interested in wool and wine. Start with Woodland Woolworks in Carlton for all things knitting, spinning and weaving. Yippee!

Then the wine areas, such as Domaine Drouhin Oregon's manicured vineyards.

The tasting room manager gave us an informative tour of the vineyard and winery, which concluded with a comparison tasting of the winery's Oregon and French wines. Our friend Michael took very seriously his job as wine taster and research assistant.

At the Carlton Winemakers Studio, we tasted one fabulous wine after another from several wine makers. A dinner at the studio featured J. Daan wines, made by the young and talented Justin Van Zanten and his wife, Megan.

A Shocking Pink Skeleton

The first time I saw Donna Druchunas's book "Arctic Lace," I knew I would have to knit her Skeleton Scarf, but I knew it would not be in qiviut.

For me, this scarf screams, "Drama!" What's more dramatic than bright pink? The yarn, from deep in my stash, is wool, very fine. It's a deeper pink than the photo shows, almost a shocking pink or darker hot pink. US3 needles. I made two changes from the pattern: I used centered double decreases instead of left-leaning, and I knit four pattern repeats instead of three.

Landscaping

Last night, the charming and talented Sonya from Yorkshire Yarns invited me to talk about my favorite pattern, the Landscape scarf from Fiber Trends. Little did she know that I can talk about this pattern for a long time. I've blathered in the past about how much I like this pattern, and welcomed the opportunity to blather to a new audience at Sonya's Monday night knitting and crochet group. Fortunately, Sonya's shop offers a stunning selection of yarns suitable for this pattern.

In short, I like the flexibility of this pattern. I've made it with lace weight, fingering, sport and DK; with solids and variegated; with wool, cotton, tencel and blends. I've made it with as little as 250 yards and as much as 500. I've made it with and without picots. I've made it with beads instead of picots. I've made it with tassels.

The scarf also offers an opportunity to shop for beautiful and complementary shawl pins to fasten the tails in front.

Bagel Day

Nancy and I made some dough on Monday — bagel dough. We made 4-1/2 dozen bagels — plain bagels, onion bagels, garlic bagels, sesame seed bagels, poppy seed bagels and sourdough bagels. We made them the way bagels should properly be made, with a yeast dough, then boiled, then washed with egg, then baked.

Bagels do not have blueberries, cranberries, jalapenos, sun-dried tomatoes or pumpkin. You're welcome to mix all of those things with dough and shape it like a bagel. I'm sure it's very good, but it's not a bagel.

Our bagel-baking with a success. We enjoyed them at dinner with lox and cream cheese, then again at breakfast with butter or cream cheese and homemade jam.

Our next team baking experience will be Italian crackers called streghe (witches).

Nancy for Nancy

Friends Nancy and Michael spent the last 17 years sailing around the world — real seamen. So who better needs a seaman's scarf? Nancy chose the Nancy pattern from Myrna Stahman's classic, "Stahman's Shawls and Scarves."

Yarn: Jamieson's Ultra, Natural White
Needles: US5 for pattern tails; US4 for ribbing

This Way Lies Madness

Two thousand yards of cobweb. On sale. How could I refuse? I didn't. Still contemplating what to knit.

This way lies madness.

Glorianna

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been knitting while traveling and hosting house guests; I just haven't been finishing.

But here I am with Glorianna, one of the trio of scarves in JoLene Treace's Elizabeth I pattern. The particulars:

• Yarn: Haneke Select, 75% merino, 25% alpaca, 2-ply thin spin; 2.4 ounces (440 yards).
  
• Color: Deep-Deep Brown (Dk jewels). It looks brown from a distance or in dim light, but close up in good light you see many shades of brown — sort of brown that has exploded.
• Needles: US4.
• Finished size: 9 inches wide by 50 inches long.
• Number of pattern repeats: 24.

Qiviut on the Hoof

The Large Animal Research Station in Fairbanks studies musk ox and caribou to protect the animals and their Arctic environment. This bull is one of the "greeters" at the station. The little guy is one of this year's babies.

The facility also sells qiviut, made from the undercoats of the station's musk ox population. Yummy stuff, qiviut.

Oomingmak

No trip to Anchorage is complete without a visit to the Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers' Co-Operative. Beautiful work made with the incredible qiviut yarn. I haven't made any qiviut purchases — yet.

Yarn Shopping in Anchorage

It took less than a day to find and visit a yarn store in Anchorage: Far North Yarn Company. Great shop, great people. This beautiful yarn is from Rabbit Ridge Designs in Anchorage. The color is Rainforest, with rainforest colors representing the water, trees, lichen, moss and forest floor (at least that's my idea of a rainforest).