A Good Snow Storm

It's never the wrong time to prepare for a good snow storm, right? Somewhere in the world, it's winter (I think it's the midst of winter for my friends in Australia)! And soon enough, our short summer will be packing up the picnic basket and trundling southward. So I have begun preparing already!

Last winter, we had such desperately icy temperatures that dog-walking was actually painful. So I've started with Balaclavas.



I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts mediumweight Socks That Rock in the colourway, Manly, But I Like it Too. It turned out nice and squishy and stretchy and fits the recipient perfectly!

This is the pattern that I was following, Balaclava by Nanette Blanchard:



and even though my own balaclava photo looks somewhat unprepossessing, I can assure you that it looks just as neatly snug, and fits just right over the chin and nose, when it's worn!

I'm now going to make one for myself and am trying to decide what colourway to use. I'm seriously considering this one, a STR Rare gem acquired in a trade...



or this one, with its little bit of green (my favorite colour):



Or perhaps I should really break out and make something that can be seen in the dark, like orange or red! No, I'll probably stick with my muted colour palette, but maybe I should make colourful hats for the dogs!

Rose Petals and Gingerbread

We had a chance to visit the Portland yarn store Twisted a couple days ago. It was a long ride on the MAX and then a long walk down Broadway, but so worth it! If you have a chance when you are in Portland, you really should go. It was probably the friendliest, most welcoming yarn store I’ve ever been in. We were there for a couple of hours, had tea and ate peaches for lunch at their table (which they were fine with - they have a big washroom so we could make sure our hands were clean for browsing afterward), talked with both of the ladies there about all kinds of things - not just sales talk, and looked at everything in the store 2 or 3 times. It was relaxed but they are seriously FULL of yarn and patterns. I don’t know how they get so much into their space. It’s very pretty too with lots of comfortable chairs. When we left, a book club was on the couches discussing their latest read!

I got several skeins o yarn - all from local dyers, including of course Blue Moon Fiber Arts. These are Gibson (the top one) and Gingerbread Dude... aren't they perfect fall colours?



I also got skeins from Black Trilium Fibers, and Indigo Moon...

There are so many rose bushes in people's gardens in Portland. Whenever we walk, and we walk a lot, we stop a million times to smell the different rose petals. Some smell like strawberries! On 23rd St in the Alphabet District, we stopped at Alotta Gelato and I got Rose Petal Gelato!



It was wonderful.

I turn to the right...

Blue Moon Fiber Arts has done it again = captured my pure mood in colour:



It is the latest ...and first... offering from the Sock Club for 2009

My Blue Heaven <-- Listen to the Smashing Pumpkins sing this...

Day is ending
Birds are wending
Back to their shelter of
Each little nest they love

Nightshade's falling
Lovebirds calling
What makes the world go round
Nothing but love

When Whippoorwills call
And evening is nigh
I hurry to my blue heaven
I turn to the right
A little white light
Will lead you to my blue heaven

You'll see a smiling face
A fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest
That's nestled where the roses bloom

Just Molly and me
And baby makes three
We're happy in my blue heaven

You'll see a smiling face
A fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest
That's nestled where the roses bloom

Just Molly and me
And baby makes three
We're happy in my blue heaven

We're happy in my blue heaven


What will I knit with this? At the moment, it's a mystery...

The Flash

When I was a kid, I used to lie out on the sloping back lawn of my best friend Susie's yard and read through her vast collection of comics. One of them, a low-budget take-off on Superman, featured "Flash Kelly, Ace reporter". Flash was a particular kind of super-hero... smart, humble, helpful, and idealistic, able to leap small building with a single bound the help of a jet-pack hidden in his portable type-writer case...

Now I know my own Flash Kelly, and I've made him a pair of socks, size 10.5.



These socks are knit from a single skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mediumweight on size 2 needles. They are toe-up and I made up the pattern as I went along. It went something like this...



Cast on 12 stitches and proceed with your favorite toe-up method until you have 17 stitches on each of 4 DPNs. Moss stich on instep only for 4 rows. Continue in St st for 6 inches, then decrease one stitch on each side of instep. Continue in St st until approx. 2 inch from end of foot (for the 10.5 size, this would 8 and 3/4 inches). Then, increase one st every other row on back two (heel) needles only until each of the heel needles has 27 stitches. Form gusset by knitting across 31 stitches, k2tog, K1, turn, Slip first st, Purl 10 st, p2tog, p1, turn. Knit across to one st before gap, k2tog, k1, turn. Sl first st, purl to one st before gap, p2tog, p1, turn. Repeat these two rows until all heel stitches have been used up. Knit two rows, closing up any gaps in the ankle stitches. Continue up leg with an interesting modified rib as follows:



Row 1 - K3, P1, K1, P1, repeat around
Row 2 - K3, K3, repeat around

Repeat these two rows for the desired length of the sock, or until you run out of yarn. I like this modified rib, because it's stretchy and has a nice ribby appearance, but it doesn't pull in the way the usual K3 P3 rib does. And I think it has a nice sort of masculine look, too.

Finnish with Sewn Bind off.

...and there you have it - socks just like Flash Kelly!

The first new project of 2009

Somehow I injured my back sliding on the ice this past week, or maybe having too much fun over the holidays, and have had to spend a lot of time laying flat. This has actually been good for my knitting!



I started my socks for the Socks that Rock Leyburn Socks Knit Along on Ravlery! I'm using BMFA STR in Petroglyphs.



After these few rounds on DPNs, I decided I wanted to switch to a small circular needle. At the LYS, I discovered this lovely Pagewood Farms sock yarn sitting innocently and unsuspectingly at the counter. It hadn't even been entered yet in inventory when I scooped it up to come home with me....The light green is Yukon - Merino, Bamboo, and a touch of nylon in 450 yards. The dark green one is Denali - a very soft and cushy Merino and nylon; again in 450 yards. More socks! Socks for Everyone! Hurray!!

The knitting was hung by the chimney with care....

My final secret holiday knitting project was opened last night by my friend, so I can now reveal it here.

Raven's Wing



This shawl was knit from Blue Moon Fiber Arts lightweight Socks That Rock, 1 skein, in the Raven series Rauen. It is a deep black with flashes of deep red. This yarn is such a pleasure to work with!

I started with a US size 6 circular needle (32 inch) and used a regular neck-down triangle shawl construction from Cosmicpluto's Simple Yet Effective Shawl without the stripes.



After a few inches, I switched to a slightly larger needle - size 7 - because the shawl was becoming very dense and heavy. While I liked this cosiness around the neck, it wasn't the effect I was going for in the body of the shawl. This shawl uses garter stitch so I just knitted on and on and on. It was great take-along knitting and I got a lot done while at Thanksgiving Dinner at my boyfriend's parents' house!

As I got toward the end, I started contemplating a lace edging that would really have the wing-like effect of my imagination. I switched to a size 9 circular needle, and started the edging chart for the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style (a book I recommend). I started running out of yarn on row 12 of this 14-row edging, and was able to complete a loose bind-off just in time!



Wet blocking had an incredible effect on this shawl. Remember, it was mostly garter stitch, so it was crimped-up and small when just off the needles. I worried about plunging it into a sink full of tepid water - afraid it would bleed or pill - but it came through famously and only looked better and smoother! The shawl blocked out so large that it overflowed the edges of my long dining room table! I used blocking wires for the first time with this shawl.

One of the things that made me most happy, besides the deep, soft yarn and how it looked knit up, was that it really did look like a Raven's Wing - just the effect I wanted.

and my friend liked it.

Now, I am really in a knitting funk and can't figure figure out my next project. Any ideas?

blogging Ravelympics

At 8:08 on 8/8/08 I cast on the my Ravelympics project: the Laceweight Longjump:

This is 20 rows of the Shetland Shawl from Wrap Style in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock yarn, lightweight, Smokey Topaz....



Now must rush to get to work (late - yikes!)...

Tea with Lenore

If you squirm at the Conqueror Worm,
This is no place for thee.
Or if you fright at the mere sight
Of the corpse of my Annabel Lee.
If you fear there's something you hear,
A heart beating under the floor.
Still your heart, there's no need to start
It's just me having tea with Lenore.
~Tea with Lenore



Well, not tea with Lenore exactly - Lenore is only available to those who signed up for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Club....but there is more, much more, that is on offer for the knitting hoi poloi like myself.

Yes, I'm talking about yarn! Specifically, the Socks That Rock yarn in the beautiful Raven series of colourways! This yarn went on sale last night at about 8:15 pm EST and by 8:35 I was the proud but breathless owner of 5 skeins... I bought Pallas Athena, Haida, Rauen, Ravenscroft and Thraven, and in STR lightweight. Others of braver tincture bought these shades in "laci," the $50 a skein lace-weight beauty... But I am going to stick with the safer dark kisses of obsessive sock knitting rather than venturing in the full-blown lust of lace knitting, at least for now...and while the credit card is recovering.

and still, I can't wait until the year is up and I can have the Lenore yarn, too. How crazy is that???