Jackie's Second Acorn...

So much has been happening I haven't even been able to keep up with it! And tomorrow we're scheduled to have something like 26 inches of snow (16 during the day and another 8 - 10 inches tomorrow night). Knitting has been happening, some out of necessity....

I finally wrote up the pattern for Jackie's Acorn - the winter dog-walking hat that I made for myself with Noro Silk Garden that my friend sent me from Seattle:


And no sooner had I done that, when I lost the hat! I think that it was in my lap when I slid out of the car last Saturday in front of the lower door to Macy's at the big Mall, because that's the last time I remember having it. When I went to use it that night, it was no where to be found. But, sadly, no one at the Mall customer service had seen it and one of the wonderful people from the Manchester Knitting Group even drove by the parking lot to try to find it...

So, I had to knit another this week; Jackie's Acorn Two:



Of course I like the first one best, especially since the yarn was a gift from a really good friend, but its great to have a hat again after a week of cold ears! The skein of Noro that I got for this was unfortunately flawed - it was knotted right in the middle of the skein with no regard to the colour sequence. So instead of the light brown to mid brown to deep chocolate brown, I got one 3-row stripe of mid brown and then right back to the grey again. You do take your chances with Noro!

The Socks That Rock KAL for Leyburns (on Ravelry) is still going strong (I think we have 200 people in this knit-along) and I've finally finished mine! (well, they're actually for a gift)



This yarn is BMFA Socks That Rock in Petroglyphs, lightweight, on a 2.5 mm needle. I knit them toe-up, with a gusset heel (no wraps) and used a shell picot bind off that I made up on the spot because I couldn't remember how to do the one I was thinking of at first. It turned out to be a nice stretchy edge...

Here's a good look at the colour and the heel:



Now I am finishing up the foot on a pair of fancy long 16th century stockings for Plimoth Plantation. If I end up staying home tomorrow because of the snow, those will be finished too!

Cold Heart

...just so you know, my furnace died at 10 pm last night - the coldest night of the year so far - and the friendly furnace man just installed a new motor in it right now at 8:30 this morning. It was so cold that the butter froze to the counter and a thin glaze of ice formed in the kitchen sink. Even the fireplace made only limited inroads on this bone-cracking cold.

Right now, the heat is slowly (too slowly) rising, and I am huddled on the couch wearing a cashmere sweater, a flannel shirt, a down vest, a hat, a heating pad on high, a down blanket, and a cat (a very cold, unhappy cat!). and drinking hot, hot, hot chocolate!

I'm here to tell you that I now know why knitting wasn't invented by the cave men. It's not possible to knit when your fingers are frozen to each other. All I can think about is eating because my body is in desperate survival mode all focused on keeping the cold heart beating!

But, interestingly, a new design idea has popped into my head for a sweater/vest called Cold Heart. I even have the yarn for it already. I can't take a picture of my design for you, because I left my phone cable at my boyfriend's house. And that's the same reason that I can't show you my beautiful copy of A Stitch In Time, or show you which designs from the new Rowan I want to make, or display my newly finished Leyburns (which, sadly, were also left at the bf's).

The good news: I cleaned, from 6 am to 8 am, because that was the only thing that warmed me up! Now I'm off to make a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast. My body tells me that this is good food when you are frozen.

Thank you!

I received an award! Wonderful Ziarah, who is both a blog friend and a Ravelry friend, gave me the Kreativ Blogger award:



This makes me so happy - I like to think that people enjoy reading my ramblings.

I love blogs myself. I hear a lot of people say that they don't read them anymore, but I do. If you follow someone for a long time, its like a novel - a story of their life and interests. And so many people are so interesting and creative!

I'd like to give the Kreativ Blogger award to two bloggers:
Briley and CanarySanctuary - because they both are always designing wonderful things! I don't know how they are so productive in the midst of such busy lives, but they are! Briley designs for a yarn company, too, and teaches classes and workshops, and dyes his own yarn! Canary's designs are on Ravelry and are all so cute and wearable! I have a goal to make some of their designs this year...

Unraveling a winter day....

This is what the world looks like today - my small part of the world, anyway...



Pillows of snow have fallen during the night and now, in the weak sunlight that is struggling to lift its head over the covers, sounds are muted, colours are weak, and a kind of small silence has enveloped this neighbourhood.



I imagine everyone cosy in their houses, performing little domestic tasks in warm kitchens: eggs scrambled for the little boy visiting his great aunt on the corner; my near neighbour having a second cup of coffee at her kitchen table, the Sunday newspaper propped against her sugar bowl; on the other side, my far neighbour weeping as she scrubs the dishes, grieving for her girlfriend who stormed out yesterday with cardboard boxes of possessions;
...on the next block, even the churchyard is quiet, as few people brave the 6 inches of soft slippery snowflakes on the roads...

In a minute I'll be in my own kitchen, in the back of this old rambling farmhouse, making tea and reading mysteries... preparing to frog what was meant to be a Christmas sweater gift...



and perhaps later in this snow-deluged day I'll transform its awkward lines into something soft and comforting, like THIS.

progress....

There's some progress on my Leyburn socks, (STR Petroglyphs colourway, 2.5mm needles)though its not a very good photo:



When I got to the point where I would start the heel, I took a second set of needles and started the second sock from the other end of the skein. I did this for two reasons - The pattern has been a little bit fiddly, and I was worried that when I finally got finished with the first sock, I would lose motivation....

and, with a toe-up sock, I wanted a way to make these as long as possible while making sure that there would be enough yarn to make the second one just as long. By knitting from both ends of the center-pull ball at once, I can just keep knitting until I meet myself in the middle! (how zen)

I'm now ready to start both heels. Its so fun that when I'm finished, I'm finished with both! I think I'll do this from now on...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the Vintage side, here is some information that might be useful for those of you who knit and crochet from vintage patterns. Below are three pictures of Nun's Nomotto yarn - the three types of Berlin wool. This was a commonly called for in vintage patterns, so I thought it was a good place to start:


This is called Berlin Wool. It's 4-ply and seems to me to be about DK weight.


Here is Berlin Baby Zephyr Wool. It is 2-ply and fingering weight. It looks just like baby weight wool that I see in the LYS - like Baby Ull.


This is called Berlin Zephyr. It is single ply and very soft and fluffy. It's lightweight fingering, and looks just like my lightweight sock yarns in thinness, although it's single ply and not tightly wound like most sock yarns. It might be easier to find a match for Berlin Zephyr in current lace yarns, which may not be as tightly spun as sock yarns...

There you have it - I hope to post pictures of more vintage yarn samples in the future...

It's cold here! Is it cold where you are?

Traveling Sophia

I've been at a conference: Boston!



and this is what I did there (while listening with half my attention): Doodling!







These are either patterns I want to add to my queue, or designs I am creating for 2009... Of course they'll probably morph greatly by the time I actually really do something with them...probably....maybe...

This bottom picture starts with my two Petroglyphs sock pairs. One in the Leyburns of course, and the other - a light sport weight - in the Thuja pattern perhaps... colour matched socks for my sister and her boyfriend. Then, the lovely cardigan from the recent Knit1 magazine - I already have the Manos silk & merino yarn for this in a deep blue. The next is Liesl, a sweet sweater pattern by Ysolda, that I've waned to do for a long time. I've considered various yarns, including a new silk yarn in an Owly colourway that I got from an infrequent yarn shop on a business trip... and finally, another pair of the 16th century stockings, this time in a very soft Lorna's Laces grey fingering weight.

Who knows what will really result from my knitting plans? I just got the new Interweave Crochet and there are at least 3 sweaters I want to make from that - especailly the cover sweater!

The 1930's Family

I'm in heaven at the moment! Why? Because the postman brought a package today - a vintage knitting book!

The 30's Family Knitting Book by Jane Waller. This is the same woman who wrote A Stitch in Time so I know her choices are so wonderful!



This book was published in 1981, so the cover shows a typical 80's family in retro-looking knits. But when you open the book, the patterns and photos are directly from 1930's British sources! What a find!

Here are some beauties:


The typical 30's blouse


A stylish 30's woman's underpinnings...


The most beautful sweater!! Imagine it in powder blue cashmere!


...and a useful sweater for the Army woman...

I have to make some of these this winter!

Now I must go and warm up. I've been outdoors in the snow and I can't stop shivering and shaking!

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!!

How I spent my time...

For the last several years, at the end of December, I take stock of my knitting and crocheting life and review what I've done, and what - sadly - I've left undone.

Here is 2008, in order, with clickable thumbnails leading to the original posts and some with patterns:

January:



February:







This year as I searched through past projects and designs, I realised that I had completed fewer projects than in the past 2 years. As many as ten fewer. It was also clear that my projects were both more professional, and more complex and that I had designed more.
March:



April:


One thing I really regret is that, although I took really good notes, I have not typed up many of my designs of this past year. Designs that I love, like Guinevere's Wedding Stockings, the Sensitive Man Socks, Jackie's Acorn Hat, To Sleep, and Scarlet Woman.

May: Nothing!

June:


July:




August:



September:



Because I was designing more, I also some design failures that were never recorded in my journal. One is a soft bulky cardigan that was meant as a gift, but is now headed to the frog pond... Another failing that has contributed to my shorter project list is that I've started several projects and not finished them. Just in recent memory there are two pairs of socks, one Lumpy Bumpy scarf, and Jewel, from Kim Hargreaves...
October:

November:

And, finally, my list of this past year's projects is scattered across 3 computers and two flash drives, so I may discover some more to add to this list in the next couple of days....
- Malabrigo, black, not posted to blog
- Malabrigo, black, not posted to blog

Lumpy Bumpy Scarf - Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy hot rose (not photographed)

Lumpy Bumpy Scarf - Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy red & green (not photographed)

December:




My resolutions are for more completed projects and more formal pattern-making of my original designs in the coming year. (But I've never been very faithful to New Year resolutions...)
Happy New Year, friends!