Yarn Along: Holy/Bright

It's been a beautiful week.  Late on Saturday night, I took my knitting and notions out of this trusty basket and replaced them with this:

We went to the midnight Liturgy, which was so rich and rewarding.  Jordanville truly felt like home, perhaps for the first time.  We have been savoring the feast ever since--and will for weeks to come.

Another long-awaited moment: my preordered copy of the new Alabama Chanin book finally arrived.  It was dinged up pretty badly, so I decided to exchange it, but I couldn't resist looking through it for a day or two before I sent it back.  I am eagerly awaiting my new copy so I can delve into the techniques inside.  I have a few skirt ideas I want to get started on, plus some embellishments of existing pieces.  My sister pointed out that this notebook would be the perfect place to plan out my handmade wardrobe.  It will definitely help me be more cohesive in my fabric and yarn choices.

I finished the left front on Peter's vest yesterday.  The buttons also arrived!  I need to power through the back as quickly as possible, since the deadline is fast approaching.  I may be the only one in this area to be praying for just one more cold day in a week or two so he can wear it before next fall.  The crocuses are finally emerging, just in time for bright week.  Christ is Risen!

Yarn Along: chain knitter

I realized after hitting publish last week that I had neglected to mention Middlemarch.  It drew to a close this week.  I have been wandering around bereft ever since.

I also completed my second Kate Davies mashup sweater.  

The whole thing came together in just under two weeks.    

 I finally feel truly comfortable with simple color work charts, trapping the unused color behind the work at regular intervals, and knitting with one color in each hand--all skills that used to completely mystify me.

It juuuust barely fits Lucy, and she is getting lots of use out of it in these final frosty days.  By autumn it will be on her brother's back, no doubt.

The yarn for Peter's vest arrived the day that little sweater came off the needles--and I immediately cast on with them while they were still warm, like a chain smoker.

Late last night I finished up the right front and began the left.

In a stroke of genius, I also worked up a little buttonhole swatch, which helped me choose the proper button size well before they're actually needed.

As I tear through this vest, I have been catching up on episodes of the Woolful podcast, but when those run out I want another giant classic to tackle.  Any ideas?  I'm hoping to finish up Women and Men in the Early Church and Knitting Yarns before I launch into anything else, but I want to have the next book queued up.

Yarn Along: grey gardens

I'm knitting nothing but grey right now.  The ground is still covered by a few feet of snow.  It's always winter and never Pascha...

And yet there's nothing like a ring of plump sheep to cheer me up, however grey they are.  My second Kate Davies Mashup is nearly complete.  Unfortunately I have a sinking feeling it will be a little small on Lucy, but that's what second children are for.

I'm so excited to be test knitting Pete an adult version of this little vest, which Ashley of Woolful and   Little Woolens designed.  After mulling it over, he settled on this cast iron colorway of Shelter.  Try as I might he was not remotely interested in a vest made out of the gorgeous red Long Johns colorway or Old World, with its multicolored specks.  I did find the perfect horn buttons already, which consoled me somewhat.

Image courtesy of loopyarn.com

Image courtesy of fringesupplyco.com

As I wait for the proper grey to arrive, I'm swatching up a skein of Shelter from my stash to get some idea of my gauge.  It's such a satisfying yarn to knit, no matter the color.

Yarn Along: waiting in the wings

In addition to savoring Middlemarch, I've spent this past week poring over a book full of Icelandic patterns that I checked out of my parents' library. It has been a tremendous inspiration. I find it strangely difficult to imagine the various patterns in alternate color schemes, but that's where Ravelry and Instagram come in. I am plotting lopapeysas for all and sundry.  

It seems I am always one sweater ahead of myself. I finished up Lucy's pickled beets cardigan, complete with ideal buttons from my visit to Twist.  

While putting those finishing touches on it, I couldn't help but daydream about making another Davies Mashup out of what remains of my Ecological Wool. 

Yet as soon as I cast that on, I began planning how to best use the Lopi my husband brought me from his fortuitous layover in Iceland. 

With the help of that book, I've got a pretty clear picture of how to use it, supplementing with a skein or two of contrasting color. Lucy would love a cinnamon sweater and I think Pete will look great in this oatmeal unspun wool. I am turning color combinations over in my mind as I churn out another sheepy yoke sweater. Does anyone else daydream about what's next on the needles while knitting away monogamously?

Yarn Along: dwindling

I finished the body of Lucy's pickled beets cardigan and wove in the ends, even though I still have to knit the second sleeve.  Lucy brought the scraps of yarn outside and sprinkled them around for the birds to use in their nests.  She wore this sad much mended cardigan outside that has somehow both stretched out and shrunken in the two hard years of use since I made it.  I want so badly for her to wear this new one that I don't mind wrestling with it a little longer.  In the meantime, let the quest for the perfect buttons begin.

Middlemarch has been keeping me occupied.  It has so many amusing moments.  George Elliot is a master of human nature. I'm on Chapter 37 (of 86) and already started pinching what's left and wondering how long it'll last, as though it's my final ball of yarn.

Yarn Along: pickled beets

I'm happily listening away to Middlemarch, which means this giant tome is going by surprisingly quickly.  I'm on Chapter 20...out of 86.  Never mind.

At least my knitting is flying by.  My Kate Davies mashup sweater was completed in only 10 days from start to finish.  

This was my first real color work, so there was definitely a learning curve, but toward the end it had a wonderful rhythm to it.  I instantly started planning on a second version, with the colors inverted, for my daughter.

Unbelievably, this one fits both Lucy, who wears size 3T, and Sebastian, who wears 6-12 month clothing.  Lucy insists it is the baby's sweater, though, and then goes to get one of her too-small cardigans to wear instead.  

Seeing how shabby they are has made me want to concentrate on her new cardigan before I start any more sweaters.  I'm nearly done with the first sleeve.  It feels good to go back to this luscious color after so much grey.

This color no longer reminds me of raspberries, but rather pickled beets. She loves them more anyway. Let's hope this yarn is better at hiding the stains than her other handknits have been.

Yarn Along: double duty

I'm still reading Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting and I just started Middlemarch.  Pete gave me the audiobook on our anniversary and my friend Joanna gave me a copy of the book for Christmas.   I'm going back and forth between them, depending on the situation.  The Audible gal is truly excellent, and I take back my reservations about her.  When a few characters debated the proper way to store papers, I had a good chuckle, since that has been a preoccupation of mine lately.

I've added a few stitches to Lucy's raspberry cardigan, but most of my week has been spent on whipping up a pullover for Sebastian out of leftovers from Pete's sweater.  I intend to add a little herd of sheep around the collar in a pale grey.  I'm doing a mashup of two Kate Davies patterns--owlet and Sheep Carousel.  

A couple of years ago, I knit Lucy an owlet out of this yarn in the 12 month size, with a couple of extra inches in the sleeves and torso, just right for my long, lean baby.  That owlet fit her until just a few weeks ago, when I plucked it off her and immediately put Sebastian in it.  He is much more roly-poly than his sister was, so it's more of a tunic on him at 5 months, with the sleeves rolled up.  

Thanks to EandKVloggers for this picture!

For this new sweater, I wanted to see if I had enough yarn left before embarking on the project, so out came my trusty kitchen scale.  I weighed the finished sweater against the grey wool, which wasn't quite enough.  So I'll just knit the sleeves and body as written in the pattern.  Though that will mean he won't get as much use out of this rendition of the sweater, his baby cousin will profit from my yarn shortage.  We'll happily pass this sheepy sweater on to Sampson when the time comes.