Knitting

On the Mend

Posted on by Dan

I haven’t been forthcoming with much detail on my hip problem (not exactly scratchcrafty news), but since I’ve mentioned it, I feel like I should at least say things are, as far as I can tell, clearing up. (It’s hard not to be a little skeptical at the process of elimination that is often used by the health care industry in trying to determine a diagnosis, but that’s a discussion for another day–or not.)

At any rate, I must have been channeling some healing vibes (or maybe it’s the thought of approaching springtime), because I made a few more happy-go-lucky felted friends. I think it’s important to be reminded every once in awhile that we should not be taking life too seriously. Having a couple of these guys in strategic places around the house provide a subtle reminder of that.

Felted Swinging Bears

Now that I’m back at work, my spinning production will decrease a bit. I did manage to finish another 4 oz. of sock yarn. This 3-ply yarn (yielding about 300 yards) was spun from some superwash colonial wool that we dyed last summer. It’s always satisfying pulling out and using stash that’s been sitting around for awhile.

Handspun - Superwash Colonial

And, Virginia is back at making socks. She finished this pair a week or so ago. It’s her own pattern, knit using KnitPicks Essential.

Sock #35 (52 Sock Challenge)

Log Cabin Blanket

Posted on by Dan

Several years ago I thought it would be fun to give Virginia the gift of the Palette Sampler. I can’t remember how many balls of yarn they included in the sampler, but I think it was one of each of their colors. It just so happened that one of her friends decided that this would be a fun gift, too. Suffice it to say, she had to do some major rearranging to accommodate this sudden (and large) influx of yarn.

Some of you may remember the Fair Isle sweater she created with some of the yarn.  As exciting as it was to design and knit a sweater like that, she could have knit another 20 sweaters just like it, and still have some of that yarn left over. No doing.

Thus was born the Log Cabin Blanket, a garter stitch extravaganza using the fingering-weight yarn doubled.

Log Cabin

Two years in the making, this blanket has seen a lot of television. I believe it made it through PBS’s entire Jane Austen series last winter, not to mention a collection of several complete seasons of shows like, Flight of the Conchords, Jeeves and Wooster… now that I think about  it, the blanket may have actually witnessed Mr. Darcy’s penetrating looks several times over the course of its creation.

Log Cabin

The final push came this weekend. The last row had been picked up (all 250 stitches of it) and all that was required to move it from its basket to the bed was several hours of heavy knitting (and some crochet around the edges).

It’s done. And, now that KnitPicks has refined their color palette to more heathery and somewhat more sophisticated colors, Virginia has (not surprisingly) opened herself up to the possibility of trying something like this, again. Until then, it’s nice to have some space back, and a significant chunk taken out of her stash.

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Cable Sweater

Posted on by Dan

Virginia loves Rowan’s Scottish Tweed Aran, and lucky for me she found a sweater pattern (from Rowan’s “Knitting for Him,” by Martin Storey) that provided ample opportunity to work with the yarn… both ample in time and yarn. I think she’d be able to make two sweaters for herself for every one she makes me. So I doubly appreciate it when she does make one for me.

Cable Sweater

This is also the start of her renewed goal of finishing a big project a month. This counts for January.

Cable Sweater

I love the cabley texture. It’s also the perfect weight for me–not too bulky, not too fine.

Cable Sweater

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Rainy Day Fingerless Gloves + Mitts

Posted on by Dan

Rainy Day Fingerless Gloves

After making a pair of these fun hand-warmers for a friend, Virginia decided she had to have a pair herself. She modified the pattern to be a fingerless mitten (instead of glove) so she didn’t have to worry about her ring(s) getting caught up in the fabric.

Rainy Day Fingerless Gloves

Both pairs are made with bits of worsted-weight alpaca yarn (a few different brands). And, technically, these are more “cloudy” than “rainy” and the apple trees have all be picked clean. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, you’ll have to see the original pattern by Elli Stubenrauch (Elliphantom Knits).

Rainy Day Fingerless Gloves

Still plenty cute.

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Up a Notch

Posted on by Dan

It’s a new year, complete with resolutions and renewed resolve for cultivating our creative outlets. And, I’ve taken steps in providing better photos for sharing some of the results. A better camera does not make a better photographer, but it does help in providing more tools and control for capturing images in an interesting way. What’s exciting is that I can dust off the old lenses I had for my first SLR, a Pentax K1000 that I bought 17 years ago. And, I’m happy to report the ol’ lenses work just fine with the new Pentax digital SLR (a brilliant decision on their part). The following photographs were taken with a completely manual 50mm lens. There is something satisfying about meshing old and new technology and coming up with good results.

Kalanchoe

This Kalanchoe, a new year’s gift (thank you!), was just waiting to show off a little.

Quilt - detail

This is one of Virginia’s quilts she made a number of years ago (yes, she does other non-knitting activities).

Sock #32 (52 Sock Challenge)

And, since you are so used to seeing socks on the blog, I didn’t want to disappoint.

Sock #32 (52 Sock Challenge) - detail

Virginia knit these using Trekking XXL (Turtlegirl, you might remember swapping this yarn with her), and modified a cable sock pattern by Nancy Bush.

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