Yarn Along: new treasures

I am still listening to Outlander and knitting away on my owls cardigan. I have finished the second sleeve and the body is well on its way. 

And since none of that is news, I wanted to share some exciting additions to my stash.  Pete recently had a long layover in Iceland and found these treasures for me there.

Six skeins of Unspun Icelandic, three skeins of Létt-Lopi, and some lovely antler buttons that compliment the Unspun Icelandic perfectly.  I love him so much!

I've been plotting a sweater that will do them justice.  Souvenir sweaters are my new obsession.  I mull over all of the possibilities endlessly.  All the places we are planning to visit, yarn that epitomizes a given location, designers that use their surroundings as inspiration, and sources for local buttons.  And if all else fails, there is so much to inspire me in my own backyard.  There will be lots of NY state sweaters in my future, I hope, complete with local buttons.

Yarn Along: Stashdiving

When packing for this trip, I went a little crazy.  I just finished a big project, so I had to quickly figure out what to make next.  I wound up bringing yarn and matching buttons for three hypothetical sweaters--one for myself and two for Lucy.  More knitting than I would ever need, but it was so reassuring to have options.

The buttons were the real inspiration.  I purchased them at a craft fair almost exactly a year ago and rediscovered them while Lucy was sorting buttons for me.  It seemed like such a shame to leave them languishing, so I hunted through my stash for complementary yarn.

I've been sitting on another treasure.  A sweater's worth of handpun that Marty, who runs the local spinner's guild, gave to me.  She hand-processed it. spun it, and then knitted it into a cabled sweater for her son, who promptly moved to Arizona.  So after several years went by, he returned it to her.  She frogged the sweater, skeined up the yarn, washed it, and swatched with it, only to discover that knitting with it aggravated her arthritis.  I have been giving a lot of thought to what it ultimately should become.  I finally settled on owls, by Kate Davies.  It will be very similar to the first sweater I ever knit, but I'm planning to steek it into a cardigan this time. My handspun owls is well on its way, with the ribbing for the body completed and an entire sleeve finished already.  With all the traveling we have planned in the coming month, I hope to keep the momentum up.  I've also been listening to Outlander, which is great for those long drives.

RHINEBECK!

I wanted to do a quick Rhinebeck recap as well.  Because Sebastian is so little, I wasn't sure if I would make it this year.  But as it turned out, taking a tiny baby there is a breeze--especially when you can leave your toddler at home and bring a sister!  Juliana wore Sebastian the entire time and I was free to wander and find a few treasures.

I vowed not to buy more sock yarn--but couldn't resist stopping by the Socks that Rock booth.  I found some fabulous polwarth roving from Blue Moon Fiber Arts there.  The colorway is so linked to Rhinebeck and this time of year in my mind.

I also picked up a couple of KNIT and SPIN bumperstickers.  Now to convince Pete that they belong on our car…

Cirilia Rose's new book is really exciting.  I can't wait to read her comprehensive essays.

And I grabbed a couple of bobbins for my ladybug.  I can't wait to try 3- and 4-plies!

Yarn Along: victory lap

I finished both Sebastian's baptismal gown and Emily's Quest this week.  Lucy and I blocked it yesterday. She is a master at the salad spinner stage of the process.  Now to wait for it to dry and sew on the buttons.

In the flush of victory that followed binding off, I decided to use the leftover yarn to make a matching hat.  I'm using Thorpe, Kirsten Kapur's free pattern, as inspiration. It calls for bulky yarn and is meant for adults, but I think my worsted weight yarn will yield an infant-sized hat with the same numbers.  If not, it is knit top-down, so I can easily make adjustments.

I attempted I knit this pattern years ago but gave up after struggling with the cast on. It's very fiddly to cast on 4 stitches on DPNs and join them to knit in the round. It feels really good to have conquered this technique, especially now, as I am sleep-deprived and not feeling especially capable in general.  I watched a video that really helped, but I just had to buckle down and try a few times in the end. It isn't perfect, but I am looking forward to using this technique again when my deadline isn't so tight.

Speaking of which, I am struggling to come up with a concrete plan for what to read and knit next.  I have a giant squishy skein of Miss Babs and some matching ceramic buttons that are clamoring to be made into a cardigan for Lucy.  Any pattern ideas?

Yarn Along: Knitting Wrathfully

This week I finished both Lucy's Rhinebeck sweater and Emily Climbs.  There was a fabulous passage in it about Aunt Elizabeth knitting wrathfully--while Emily wishes she had her knitting too because, "It was nasty to sit there, unoccupied, and wonder what was coming."  Haven't we all been there--in both their shoes--at some point or other?

I've gone back to working on Sebastian's baptismal gown. It's nearly to his feet now.  And I'm already halfway through the final book in the Emily of New Moon series--Emily's Quest. Has anyone seen the miniseries based on the books?  Is it worth tracking down?

Yarn Along: Knit 2 Together

I'm still enjoying Emily Climbs and knitting away on Sebastian's baptismal gown and Lucy's Rhinebeck sweater.  Unbelievably, they are not only knit from the same pattern but also from the same set of numbers.  These two projects are great examples of the versatility of this particular pattern.  It is a blank canvas that really lets your yarn and button choices shine.

I had so much knitting time this weekend.  We drove down to visit my family in New Jersey, by which I mean Pete drove and I knit for over four hours.  Heaven!  

We arrived in New Jersey, where there were so many loving arms waiting for us--ready to hold Sebastian and play with Lucy and cook and hug endlessly.  So I knit still more--sometimes next to my mother, who was casting on her second Shale Baby Blanket.  

Her first one, in lovely soft grey, is snuggled around Sebastian in this photo.  Her current work in progress, in golden yellow, is for his cousin who is due in January.  Incidentally, Juliana also caved to peer pressure and cast on for a simple hat while we were there--in spite of her aversion to knitting in general.  I may have gloated just a little.

Yarn Along: Progress!

I'm reading Emily Climbs, even though Dean is making me suuuuper uncomfy as he bides his time waiting for fourteen year old Emily to come of age.  As my dear friend who recommended the books to me pointed out, L.M. Montgomery understands human nature so well!  His manipulative and overbearing behavior is common even today.  Put in that light, I think I can get past those passages that bother me and just see how true to life that character is.  I do love how Emily becomes indignant whenever he gets possessive of her.

I have made so much progress on Sebastian's baptismal gown.  I finished both sleeves and knit down to his belly.  I couldn't resist trying it on him a couple of days ago.

Speaking of which, here he is in the sweater I made for him to wear home from the hospital.  I couldn't resist pairing it with plaid and posting it for the Outlander KAL on Instagram.  He will probably kilt me when he grows up, but it will be worth it…