Tiny Purple Hats

My friend and knitting guild colleague Jeannie is involved with the Purple Hat Project at our local Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. Mary Bridge has a program to help prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome. The parents of every newborn will receive a DVD and a book that explains this very difficult time for new parents. And, with help from local knitters, each new baby will receive a purple hat to reinforce the message. Jeannie is collecting hats sized for preemies and newborns in any and every shade of purple. Hat do not have to be solid purple; they just have to have some shade of purple in them somewhere. Size does not matter too much; there is a head for every hat, as the saying goes.

At a recent guild knitting retreat, we were given some new yarns to play with. I chose Cascade Pacific, a blend of superwash wool and acrylic, in lavender. Truth told, it is not my favorite yarn to knit with; it feels plastic-y in my hands. That said, it is very soft and washes up well, so it is good for baby clothes. I actually made four hats from one 100-gram skein but already gave the first one to Jeannie.

I hope some baby likes his or her little hat.

Off Topic

Periodically I veer away from knitting to something else. Last week was wine.

First, Chilean Pinot Noirs and Syrahs. My husband, a wine economist and blogger, was invited to participate in an online discussion of these wines. You can read about it here. Our cat, Mooch, figured out that Jeni was going to be his new best friend. Fortunately, Mooch does not mooch from the table and was perfectly happy to sit in Jeni's lap and be petted.

The second event was Malbec World Day. During our visit to Argentina earlier this year, we drank some fabulous Malbecs. Making a selection from our cellar was difficult, as you can read here. But I was happy with the choice (but I would have been happy with any of the options).

My next post will have some knitting it in. Promise.

Knitting But Not Finishing

So it has been a while since I have posted a finished project. That's because I have not finished a project recently, other than a log cabin wash cloth. I learned that technique at a recent retreat of the Puyallup Knitting Guild. One reason that I have not finished something is that I couldn't resist starting a couple of new projects

However, I have been looking through some knitting books, some old, some new. One of my favorites among the new books is Margaret Stove's Wrapped in Lace. The beauty of this book is not just the patterns — don't get me wrong, the patterns are gorgeous — but the information about techniques, design processes, traditions, conservation, and more. This book, like Margaret Stove's other books, is for the thinking knitter.

I also have been looking through a classic, Knitting Counterpanes by Mary Walker Phillips. While I am unlikely to knit a bedspread, the elements of the counterpanes can easily be used in other designs. This also is a book for the thinking knitter who can admire the designs of earlier knitters and adapt them to contemporary knitting.

Milana Scarves

While traveling in Buenos Aires, I visited a lovely yarn store called Milana Hilados and met with designer Joji. For reasons I can't explain, I was immediately attracted to yarns that are very far from my usual fingering weight and finer. These are big, fat, beautiful mega-bulky yarns, which are a signature design of the shop.

I think this yarn is called Florcitas. It is is super bulky wool roving with felted flowers. The blue one, at 146 grams, is 5 inches wide and 76 inches long. The white one is 156 grams, 4.5 inches wide and 61 inches long. The white roving is heavier than the blue, which accounts for the difference in finished size, even though both are garter stitch on 7 stitches. Both are knit on 19mm (US35) needles, which if I never use again will be just fine. Give me my 0000s any day.

Nevertheless, I like the scarves and I think they will make nice Christmas presents for [fill in the blank].

Knitting and Art

Salentein winery in Argentina's Uco Valley includes an art gallery, mostly featuring work by contemporary Argentinian artists but also a few European artists (the winery owner is Dutch). Among the paintings is this:

The painting is by German painter Hans von Bartels (1856-1913), and it is titled "In de duinen," ("in the dunes"). Note the sheep in the background. It also looks like she is knitting in the round on three, maybe four, needles.

For more about Salentein winery and our travels in Argentina, select Travel in the Other Interests section on this blog's menu.

I am not getting much knitting of my own done during our travels, but I am not sorry about that.

On the Road

I am not knitting much or writing about knitting much during my travels in Argentina. If you want to read about our trip to Argentina, click on the Travel link under Other Interests.

Yarn Day in Buenos Aires

Through the miracle of Ravelry, I "met" Marcela, who lives in Buenos Aires. She recommended a yarn shop called Milana Hilados and "introduced" me to Joji, who works there. Fun, fun, fun!

I looked at a number of other yarn stores on Scalabrini Ortiz, but Milana was by far the best. The others had too much acrylic and bulk commercial yarn, while the yarn at Milana is high quality and creative.

All of that yarn shopping was so exhausting, we needed coffee to restore ourselves.

Loooooong Scarf

I am a big fan of Jared Flood, and not just because he has local roots. This is his Woodsmoke Scarf from Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman. I had several balls of assorted colors of Knit Picks Palette. Palette colors are more vivid than the original colors of the design, but it still works, I think.

The details:

• Pattern: Woodsmoke Scarf by Jared Flood.
• Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, Blue and Lilac; I used almost a full skein (231 yards) of each.
• Needles: US5
• Finished size: 6.5 inches by 89 inches (probably the longest scarf I have ever knit)

The surprise in this scarf is that it is incredibly boring to knit but the final result doesn't look boring. The center panel is straight garter stitch. The eight-row lace edging is easy to memorize. Because this was such a long scarf, I had to knit a lot of edging.

That said, I started another one with some more random balls of Palette. Sometimes boring is just right.

On the Edge

Last October I took a class on edgings. I knit my edging some months ago but procrastinated when it came to sewing it on. Knitting is more fun than sewing those tiny little stitches.

I knit this edging with Cebelia size 30 on US0 needles. The pattern is part of a collection I have from the early 1900s that I hope to publish someday.

Glass

This post is a diversion to my interest in glass. One of the benefits of membership in Tacoma's Museum of Glass is the opportunity to meet and watch amazing artists. Last weekend, Preston Singletary was working in the Hot Shop.

Another member benefit is the monthly drawing. Every time you visit, you can put your name in a glass bowl and have a chance to win a prize. My husband was December's winner! The prize was a lovely glass bowl that artist Michael Sosin calls Wabi-Sabi. It's a very exciting addition to our glass collection.

I have said before that the Museum of Glass Hot Shop is one place where I cannot knit. Not because I am not allowed to knit, but because watching the artists takes up all of my attention.

Things I'll Never Knit

Add this to the list of things I'll never knit.

Saw this photo in the New York Times on December 12. It's from Dolce & Gabbana. The whole outfit — body suit, coyote fur boots, and crystal goggles — will set you back $3,810. Plus tax. Scarf may be extra. There also appears to be a matching bag.

Now Fair Isle is not my favorite technique to do. I love the way it looks, but it is not an enjoyable knit for me.

And that is all I have to say about this.

Cowl

Since I knit Ice Queen last year, I've become quite attached to cowls. Apparently I have become attached to green cowls, since my Ice Queen is mint green, but that may be another story for a later time.

The yarn was a gift from a year ago. It took that long for it to tell me what it wanted to be, after several false starts.

The details:

• Pattern: Diamond Leaf Cowl by Darlene Joyce, offered as a freebie by Mosaic Yarn Studio. The pattern called for four repeats; the yarn allowed me four and a half.
• Yarn: Tilli Tomas Fil de la Mer in in Olive; 70% silk, 30% seacell; 140yards/50 grams; 2 skeins. This is amazingly soft and luxurious yarn. 
• Needles: US7
• Finished size: About 13 inches tall.

I am likely to knit this again; it really shows off relatively small amounts of luxury yarn.

Knitting in Circles

A friend knit and wore this little shawl and I loved it. It is one of those patterns that did not make complete sense when I read it, so I just started knitting. And, never one to leave well enough alone, I changed the edging.

The details:

• Pattern: Spiral Octagon Shawl by Selma Miriam, Interweave Knits, September 1998. I substituted the Hilton Lace edging for the designated edging, which involved small bit of fiddling but nothing serious. I even was able to Kitchener without my normal level of aggravation.
• Yarn: Nature Spun sport weight in Snow. The pattern calls for a fingering weight but this yarn worked for me.
• Needles: US3 (3.25mm)
• Finished size: Approximately 14 inches back neck length.

This is probably a prototype model to see if I could make the pattern work. I can, so I am likely to knit this again — maybe in a dark color to wear over a white shirt?

Selma Miriam also designed the Kousa Dogwood Shawl, which has been on my to-do list for some time.

Textiles on the Road

Recent travels to Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., provided opportunities to see some lovely (Richmond) and fascinating (D.C.) textiles.

First, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has an exhibition of quilts from the Winterthur Collection.

I am not a quilter, but this collection showed the art and skill of the quilters. Beautiful!

Equally fascinating is the Crochet Coral Reef at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. Though the reef is almost entirely crochet, I did see bits of knitting, lace, and other textile arts in the displays, along with plastic bags, pull-tabs, and other debris that does not belong in the ocean. I still don't understand hyperbolic crochet, but I appreciate the art in the exhibit.

The two displays have something in common: The more you look, the more you see and the more you appreciate the craft and art involved.

Very Pink

It's pink. Very pink. I found three skeins of this yarn in a thrift store and a little more than two of them went into this shawl. It cried out for beads.

Details:

• Pattern: Haruni by Emily Ross, free on Ravelry. I added an additional repeat on the leaf part.
• Yarn: Mondial Prestigio Super Kid Mohair, 80% superkid mohair, 20% nylon, 245 meters/25 grams.
• Beads: 8/0 silver-lined champagne
• Needles: US4 (3.5mm)
• Finished size: 26 inches center back

Wine and Yarn

This has been a summer and fall of wine tourism, which also means yarn tourism. Fortunately, the two are compatible.

One trip took us to the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, source of some terrific wine. At Robert Sinskey Vineyards, where we found some lovely organically grown wines — and skeins of wool! The Sinskey people use sheep to help mow and fertilize the vineyard. The tasting room/gift shop sells hat kits plus single skeins.

According to Debbie, the vineyard manager, the sheep are mostly Romney crosses, CVM and Lincoln/Corriedale crosses. In 2009, they used a Leicester cross ram. All of this crossing produces nice wool.

I used my 132-gram skein to make a scarf.

• Pattern: Double Cable Scarf, part of the Rib and Cable Quarter in One Skein by Leigh Radford.
• Needles: US6/4mm
• Finished size: 4" wide x 43" long

Earlier this month, we went on a wine-tasting tour the the Okanagan Valley in southern British Columbia. Again, very good wines. I visited two very different but lovely yarn shops in Kelowna. I can recommend both Art of Yarn and Kelowna Yarn and Needlecrafts. I bought a skein of lace-weight alpaca at the first stop and thread at the second.

Lace Knitting in Boise

One of the great pleasures of the year is a week of lace knitting and lace knitting education at Myrna Stahman's annual lace knitting retreat in Boise, Idaho.

This year, among the things we learned were how to incorporate beautiful edgings on towels and hankies.

We admired participants' beautiful knitting.

And we shopped.

Great fun all around. It was a joy to spend a week with such talented knitters and teachers.

Finally, A New Doily

I have not knit any doilies for a while, so it was time to knit one that I have been thinking about for some time.

The details:

• Pattern: Adonienieroschen (I have no idea what this means) from Old World Treasures by Gloria Penning. Perhaps this is a Herbert Niebling design? The ribbing in the center flower gives this doily a lot of great texture.
• Thread: Cebelia size 30
• Needles: 2mm (US0)
• Finished size: approximately 16 inches diameter

This Made Me Laugh

Knitted bacteria!

Fair Time!

One of the pleasures of the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup, Washington, is seeing the beautiful needlework. And taking home a few ribbons. I had a good year.

First place and Best in Category in the Lace section for my spiral doily.

First place for another doily, also in the Lace category.

In the Knitting category, I have second place for a scarf.

Third place for a shawl.

And honorable mention for a hat.