Icarus II and a Mystery

Another Icarus shawl from the summer 2006 Interweave Knits. The yarn is dark, dark blue sport-weight wool. It feels like superwash wool.

What it is beyond that is a mystery because it came on a cone from a thrift store. The cone itself says Mondial Brescia-Italia, which means the cone, if not the yarn, is from Italy. A label on the cone says "Made in U.K. Distributed in the USA by Aurora." Under that label is another, mostly obscured, label in Italian; the bits I can see say "Lane (wools) [illegible] Decati Rocche" and some more words obscured by the Aurora label. Both labels indicate dye lot 55. The major inconsistency is where the wool was made — Italy or U.K.?

I knit this on US6 needles and did one less repeat of the top part than the pattern calls for. Because this wool was so dark, I decided it needed more than one bead on the points, so I made an "icicle" of clear, sparkly beads. I weighed out the beads in advance and decided they would not be too heavy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in Tacoma was wet, wet, wet. But we still had a good time. Our friend Debbie shared the day with us. Debbie is a brand-new knitter (you will assimilate, resistance is futile). These slippers are her very first FO (finished object). Pretty cool, huh?

She also is a great baker. Her pumpkin cake is extremely yummy.

We had other visitors for Thanksgiving, but not for turkey. The juncos, bushtits, finches and chickadees celebrated Thanksgiving with sunflower seeds and suet. We also had a rare visit from a woodpecker — either hairy or downy, but I can't tell which is which unless they are together and I can see which is bigger (hairy). I think this one is downy. You can't see his red spot in the picture but it's there.

Did I mention that it has been raining? And raining. And raining. All November. It has been one of the rainiest Novembers on record. We have had light rain, medium rain, heavy rain and even a little sleet, hail and ice.

Another Doily

I was so pleased with my green variegated doily, I decided to try a purple one with some vintage Royal Society Cordichet, size 30, thread on US0 needles. This size 30 thread felt thinner than Cebelia size 30, for some reason. This is project #12 in Lavori Artistici #11. And how cool is this system to block a doily? Thanks, Pat S. — you're a genius!

I think that variegated thread can work well on a doily, with the right colors and the right pattern. On colors, I think thread with various shades of the same color works well; I'm not sure thread with many color would work. On pattern, I think a pattern with a lot of solids shows off the colors well.

Doily Education

I learned a thing or three on this doily, which is item #38 in Lavori Artistici #11.

• Check how much thread you have. This is a vintage Clark's Big Ball thread from a thrift store. It has 250 yards. This is a 100-round doily. I was able to finish 76 rounds, which seemed to be a logical stopping point. Had I been paying attention, I would have selected a smaller doily.
• Experiment with needle size. Normally on size 30 thread, I use size 0US needles. This time I used a size 1US. I like it.
• Variegated yarn can work on a doily, at least in my opinion. I think the solid areas help, and I like that the pattern creates a wave effect.
• When a pattern says to work a knit and a purl in a double yarn over, do so. Don't substitute a knit and knit through the back loop. K-P twists the thread in the double yarn over. K-Ktbl does not and looks funny.
• Remember the ILF (it looks funny) rule. If it looks funny while you are knitting, stop. It won't look better if you continue.

Silk and Ivory

Last May, when I was in the Richmond, Virginia, area, I visited Holly Spring Homespun in Powhatan. I was taken with the shop's Silk and Ivory, 50 percent silk and 50 percent merino yarn. This color is Spring Meadow. I wish you could feel how soft and silky this scarf is.

The pattern is the Knotted Openwork Scarf by Wannietta Prescord, on the Canadian Knitwear Designers & Artisans Web site. This is a great pattern to use for a small amount of yarn (this skein was 200 yards), especially to show off color.

The Grand Champion

How many times is one person likely to win Grand Champion at the Western Washington Fair? Maybe not so many. So I framed my ribbons: first place, best in class and Grand Champion. Several people have asked if I am going to frame the Grand Champion shawl. No, I'm going to wear it.

So far, I have not been able to take a good photograph of the shawl. It's mostly black, and I'm having difficulty finding the right spot with the right background and the right light. The photos here are inadequate. They don't really show the colors properly. You can see the red but you really can't see the purple. You'll have to trust me that the shawl is lovely and fun to wear.

In case you are wondering, the shawl is Triangles Within Triangles from Heartstrings Fiber Arts and the yarn is from Heritage Yarns, one strand of Days of Wine and Roses and one strand of black.

Ready for fall

This vest is a first place, blue ribbon winner from the 2006 Western Washington Fair, a gift for my husband and model. It's made from Cascade 220. One of my husband's colleagues once complimented him because his sweaters and vests fit. Well, duh. One of the beauties of hand-knit items is that they can be custom fit. A bespoke vest. I'm not making him wear the blue ribbon, but I thought about it. This is the cable pattern:



On an unrelated topic, the Yarn Shoppe in Boise was collecting candy corn hats for distribution to Boise children and sold small kits to make a preemie-sized hat. I plan to give it to a colleague who is a great fan of candy corn, although I think my Bennie Bear looks quite dashing. Bennie has a zipper because he is a jewelry store gift-delivery mascot; the gift giver places the precious gift in Bennie's tummy for delivery to the deserving recipient (that would be me) .

Back from Boise

A week of lace knitting. With a group of talented knitters who will share their successes, knitting questions, tips and tricks. Does it get any better? That's what Myrna Stahman's lace knitting retreat is all about.

Although we were physically in Boise, we took a world tour of lace knitting:

• Donna Druchunas, author of the wonderful book "Arctic Lace," described her research into the Oomingmak lace knitting of native Alaskans and how she translated native designs and symbols into her own lace patterns.
• René Wells, a brilliant teacher, taught us Japanese knitting techniques and how to read Japanese patterns even if you can't read a word of Japanese. Some of the stitches are lovely, but the bobbles — no, I don't think so.
• Myrna took us on a knitting tour of Shetland and Orkney, and showed us the stunningly beautiful knitting she acquired.
• Myrna gave us a brief tour of Albania through the socks she purchased on her visit to that country.
• I showed the shawls I purchased in Lithuania and the gloves from Latvia, along with the Turkish slippers from my friend Ferdane.

Retreat highlights are the show-and-share times when each knitter shares her work. Below are just a few of the items knitters brought with them.

A few of Myrna's Shetland treasures:

Iloise and Pat model Judy W.'s knitting; the designs are by Sivia Harding:

LeAnn is one of the most prolific knitters and has a great ability to match color and pattern:

Sherie made a luscious alpaca shawl from a doily pattern:

Judy G.'s marvelous doilies:

Did I sign up for next year? Yes, yes, yes!

Boise Bound

Myrna Stahman's lace knitting retreat is Boise has become an annual favorite. It's a whole week of lace knitting education and fun with a wonderful group of creative knitters. Many of the participants are also the teachers, which makes for a great atmosphere. One highlight is the ability to admire the lovely work participants have done.

How intensive is the knitting? This intensive: I'm taking two suitcases: a big duffel with knitting supplies and a smaller backpack with a week's worth of clothes.

Peacock Feathers

I started Peacock Feathers as a travel project for this past summer's visits to Riga, Vilnius and Prague. I did not count on 90+ degree temperatures, which made working with Misti alpaca, even laceweight alpaca, less than ideal. Probably working with any alpaca would have been uncomfortable. Our hotels had air conditioning, but not the bone-chilling, icicle-forming air conditioning that Americans are used to. Knitting in outdoor cafes while enjoying a fine Latvian, Lithuanian or Czech beer, respectively, wasn't much of an option either; it was still to hot to knit with alpaca. I made a little progress while traveling but not much. I finished it back home.

It's knit on US4 needles. I used two full skeins plus about 20 yards of a third skein.

How swift is this?

I finally purchased a yarn swift, the exceedingly clever Mama Bear from the Oregon Woodworker. It's perfect for my needs and it packs up for neat storage. If you ever played with Tinker Toys, you'll know just how this works. The pieces:

The set-up:

Beginning knitters

Two women I know recently started knitting. One is my friend and work colleague Debbie. The other is my cousin Sarah. Both are intelligent, talented, vivacious electrical engineers. Coincidence? I think not. It will be interesting to watch them learn to knit.

Landscapes

I have knit the Fiber Trends Landscape Scarf more than any other pattern. I like everything about it.

• I like being able to make it in any yarn — especially variegated, handpainted and multicolored yarn — for any season, in any size.
  
• I like that it doesn't take much yarn. Most of the Landscapes below used between 200 and 350 yards.
• I like the way it fits. It doesn't bunch up on the back of the neck.
• I like the way the selection of yarn and adornments can make a dress-up scarf, a work scarf or a casual scarf.
• I like that you can tie the ties in front, fasten them with a pin or just let them hang.
  
• I like being able to adapt the stitches used. I usually alternate between garter and stockinette in the sections; the original is garter, moss, stockinette, seed and reverse stockinette.
  
• I like the variations: I have made it with and without picots, with beads along the edges, with beads on the points, with tassles on the points and with tassels and beads.
  
• I like that it's easy enough to be good travel knitting or when you need a project that doesn't take a lifetime to finish.
  

A few examples from the past two or three years include:

Vintage Villawool Tivoli, cotton-linen-viscose, about sport weight.

Socks that Rock lightweight, color Carbon Dating, with picots. I love this yarn .

Willow Creeek Farm in Roy Washington, Lincoln wool, worsted weight, with tassles wrapped with wire and with a leaf-shaped bead, thanks to the helpful folks at the Bead Factory in Tacoma. Selecting beads can be as mesmerizing and selecting yarn.

And, finally, a laceweight merino-tencel blend from Spor Farm in The Dalles, Oregon. Perfect for summer.

7-11

This is doily number 7 in "Lavori artistici a calza 11," knit in Cebelia 30 on US0 needles. The book is in Italian but the charts are very clear and a little online research can decode most of the symbols. The objet d'art next to the doily is a painted glass piece that our friend Daniela from Romania gave us last year. (Sorry about the flash; without the flash the color of doily faded from the light sage it is supposed to be to gray.)

Not Our Cat

This is Coco. Or Cocoa. Or Koko. She is not our cat so we don't know how she spells her name. She lives next door but she visits regularly, mostly to roll around on the concrete patio and collect dust, leaves and twigs in her fur.

Some people think they should have an emergency backup cat. We are Coco's emergency backup people. (We'll call her Coco just to pick one.)

Do the Puyallup

The Western Washington Fair in Puyallup was good to me this year – Grand Champion! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

The pattern is the Heartstrings (Jackie E-S) Triangles within Triangles shawl. I knit it on US6 needles with Heritage Yarns tencel: one strand of a color called Days of Wine and Roses (black, purple, red) and one strand of solid black. I did extra repeats to make the shawl bigger. I estimate that I used about 1,100 yards of each color.

But wait! There's more! I won a blue ribbon for a vest for my husband. It's made with Cascade 220. The cable is 16.8 in Harmony Volume 5, "220 Aran Stitches and Patterns."

I also won two more ribbons: a second place for a doily and a third place for a scarf. The doily is Christine Duchrow 87-3, found in the third volume of the Lacis collection of Duchrow patterns. What's interesting about this doily is that is has a cable in it! A cable! Thanks to the talented René for charting this doily. I knit it with Cebelia size 30 on US0 needles.

The scarf, if you could actually see it, is Fiddlesticks Knitting's Rippling Waters Scarf knit in Habu tsumugi silk.

Finally! Some knitting!

It has taken some time to find the right time and light and location to take some pictures of recent finished objects. One is the Icarus shawl from the summer 2006 Interweave Knits. The yarn is 2/18 New Zealand wool in a color called Santorini, knit on US4 needles. I finished the points with small clear beads to add a little sparkle and to keep the points pointed.

This picture doesn't really show off the shawl but I like the way it looks in front the the Dale Chihuly glass at the University of Puget Sound.

This is the Kaleidoscope doily from the Coats Patons (Canada) publication "Dazzling Doilies." Kaleidoscope also appears in Coasts & Clark's Book No. 111, "Priscilla Doilies to Crochet, Knit and Tat," published in 1959 by Coats & Clark, New York. Knit on US0 needle with Cebelia size 30, sage green, 12+ inches across.

One of the pleasures of Labor Day weekend is tomatoes from the garden. The little gold Sunspot tomatoes are the best for eating just like candy.

Still no knitting pictures

But a picture of our "neighbors" at our cabin near Tahuya, Washington. Yes, that's a doe and three fawns. This resting spot isn't really as exposed as it appears in this picture. We're the only ones with a straight-on view of them. They are hidden from two roads and several people-neighbors. They will watch us for awhile but generally aren't as interseted in us as we are in them.

Last knitter with a blog

I've surrendered to blog-dom. I enjoy many other knitters' blogs. I created a travel blog for family and friends on recent travels to Riga, Vilnius and Prague. So now, I have my own knitting blog. But my first photos will not be my work, but some shawls I bought from Liudmila in Vilnius. Liudmila, who is Russian and does not speak English and not much Lithuanian, sells hand-knit and machine-knit (clearly labeled) shawls from a table in the outdoor market that lines the main street that runs between the cathedral and Town Hall in central Vilnius. She knits some shawls herself and has a coterie of Russian knitters. She has pictures of goats, which suggests to me that the yarn is mohair but I know neither the Russian nor Lithuanian word for mohair.

Liudmila knit the triangle shawl and someone else knit the stole.

The Vilnius market also offers myriad knitted socks, mittens and hats.

My friend Ferdane gave me some beautiful slippers from Turkey. What's interesting to me is the similarities between Turkish and Scandinavian designs.

My next post may include some of my own knitting.