Fiberphile

Back from the holiday

Wow, it feels a little weird to be sitting in my office again, given that I haven't been at work for a week now! Thank goodness I'm taking a vacation next week! (hee, hee, hee... I'm leaving for Costa Rica on Dec. 4 for an "Adrenaline Tour". But before you wonder if I'm working at all this month I'll tell you that I'm working on call both over Christmas and New Year's holidays.) Anyway, today I'm feeling all fat and happy from the loads of turkey consumed over the weekend. I hope everyone had a nice holiday.

On the way to the beach we took the opportunity to visit a couple of NC yarn stores. The first stop was in Chapel Hill, at Knit-a-Bit in the Village Plaza Mall. The shop was just so-so for me. They had lots of acrylics, a few nice wool staples (Reynold's Lopi), but not much in the way of exotics or luxury yarns. The one that I did hold for a while was some Cascade Indulgence in a gorgeous red color, but I left it there, in an unusual display of restraint. Across from the yarn store was a great fabric shop, called the Cotton Boll. This place made the stop at the Village Plaza more than worthwhile. They had more buttons than I've seen together in one place, maybe ever. (Granted, I've never looked for buttons in, say, NYC or some similar city, but there were lots of buttons in the Cotton Boll). And they were good buttons, and in collections on cards. I bought 3 sets: one for the diamond seed baby cardigan I'm working on, one for another baby sweater I started many moons ago, and one just because they were too cute. I don't have pictures of these today, but I'll get myself together to get some soon.

We left Chapel Hill and headed east, with the intent of stopping at Great Yarns in Raleigh. We called the shop to find that they had closed. Darn. Plan C. We called Shuttles, Needles, & Hooks in Cary, and they were indeed open. That place was a blast. It's in a little house on Chatham Street, and every inch of it was full. I mean totally packed to the gills. Almost claustrophobically so. The nice thing about that was that there was something that was bound to appeal to just about anyone.

I did leave a little of my money behind there. I bought some Adrienne Vittidini Natasha in mauvewood to make this cable and rib pullover from the Fall 2003 Book 21 collection. I am so in love with this sweater, but I'm afraid I'll have to wait until after Christmas to start. I also picked up a copy of the AS Celtic Collection which I've been thinking about ever since seeing Rachel's Cromarty. After flipping through the pages though, another of her designs has really gotten to me. More on that later...

Live from O.I.N.C.

That's Oak Island, North Carolina... and I'm in my favorite spot here for wireless internet at the Flying Pig Coffeehouse. I had a great Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, and I've spent the past couple of days just hanging out and not doing much of anything. There has been some knitting... I decided that there would be a few knitted Christmas gifts after all, and so this was deemed the weekend to start them. I finished one pair of thrummed mittens, and started another. These are gifts for the two school friends that I still exchange gifts with. The completed pair is made from Manos del Uruguay and are a bit less stuffed than the first pair I made, since my mom insisted they looked too much like boxing gloves. They're also made a little bit smaller, with 36 stitches cast on for the ribbing, and 6 stitches increased for the body of the mitten. The general pattern is still based on the Yarn Harlot's instructions that can be found in her September archives. This was the first time I'd used any of the Manos in my stash, and it is pretty nice stuff. Very soft. :-)

I've also cast on and started a baby cardigan from the latest Interweave Knits. I'm using Wildfoote sock yarn in Pine Tree for it, since I didn't like the colors of baby yarn that were available to me. This will be a nice substitution for the fingering weight yarn the pattern calls for, and will be machine washable. The recipient of this sweater is about 4 months old now, so clearly I'm running a little late with this gift. I absolutely have to get this shipped off before my ski trip at the end of January when I'll be seeing Alexander's parents, but I'm hoping to have it done for Christmas.

I'll leave you now with a picture I took from our porch at dusk on Thanksgiving evening. The moon was full, and looked huge to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, I know I'm a bit early with my wishes, but my Thanksgiving holiday has begun since yesterday was my only workday this week. Tomorrow I'll leave with my parents to head to the beach where we'll have our turkey dinner. That means that I have a whole day here at home to do with as I please... I love days like this!

First up on my to-do list is to get a little close to completion on my tie-waist raglan (what an unwieldy name that is to keep typing...). Yes, I thought I'd have it done over the weekend, but it took longer to dry from its blocking than I thought it would. Last night I seamed up the raglans, picked up stitches at the neck and started its mock-turtleneck. Here's what it looks like this morning:

I just want to comment on how well the Zara blocked out. Pre-blocking, it was looking like a squishy sweater for someone of Gumby proportions, but now it looks like it really will be a finished size of 35", and the ribs are stretched out a bit and you can now see the texture between them. Here's a closer look at the eyelets around the waist that will hold the tie. There were directions for manually twisting the yarn on itself in the pattern, but I used my Spinster, a cool little device that will make rope much more quickly. I initially bought it a couple of years ago to make a cording to go around some cross-stitch ornaments I made one Christmas. I bought mine at a local quilting supply shop, but I've found one here if you're interested in seeing what it looks like and can do.

Next on my list is to make some cranberry relish, my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner. I used a great recipe fromEpicurious.com last year, and I've been asked to make the same one again so I guess it was a hit. Actually, it was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself, even on Friday's turkey sandwiches. If you don't know about Epicurious, you should. It is an online compilation of recipes from Gourmet and Bon Apetit magazines, and you can search for just about anything your heart desires.

Third on the list is to get the cat to the vet. Shhhhh... I haven't told her yet!

And that's enough for a day off, don't you think?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

New Knitter's

I just read Queer Joe's rant about Knitter's and decided to wade my way into the website and find the preview of the upcoming winter issue. And yeah, it wasn't instantly intuitive to find it, so I offer a link here.

Knitter's is definitely not my favorite of the knitting mags, despite the fact that I'm currently working on one of their patterns, but I don't want to be quite as harsh as Joe was. The sock scarf is pretty hideous though, as is this wad of fluff. Most of the other things are relatively non-offensive to me, although they don't offer much style in general. I do like the men's vest, and I've suggested that to my dad since he's set his sights on knitting a vest after his scarf project.

Speaking of my project, I finished up the knitting on my Tie-Waist Raglan, and the pieces are blocking now. The Zara yarn is very springy, and that fact combined with the ribbed pattern made for some really skinny looking body pieces. I hadn't planned on this being a body hugging sweater, and I was starting to fear that it would be. I'm happy to say though, that the blocking really seems to be taking care of that. The pieces are nearly dry and seem to be holding their shape well. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the seaming done, and finishing on the neck. Perhaps a new sweater for Monday?

Me and Match.com

So I've found myself hanging out on match.com again, just to see if any of the faces have changed. And I went ahead and posted my profile again. It's kind of like dangling that fish hook into the water, wondering what kind of bites one might get.

I just have to share part of an email I got- I totally cracked up while reading it! Mind you, this guy is really not the person I'm looking for, for several reasons that I won't go into here, but maybe I should give him a chance? He does make some convincing arguments...

..."But what makes me unique is that I am the "Penultimate Man." So what is penultimate you may ask. Penultimate is the one BEFORE the ultimate. But what does that have to do with dating? Well, I have been the last man to date a woman before she met the man of her dreams 22 times and counting. Yes, this is a remarkable record as I have come to understand it (and one I only recently began to claim). But it is true. The women that date me find the man of their dreams-you must admit it is inspiring.

"One was 33 and had never been married. Two weeks after we agreed not to get serious she reacquainted with an old friend from San Francisco and in one year she was married with a child on the way. In another case, she was a twice divorced career woman who swore she would never marry again. We dated for a year and then, boom married in 6 months. One was a 39 year old ambitious professional woman committed to single life and one week after we called things to an end she was on course to wed in 8 months. I have done it in as few as one date and I have done it long distance. Think of me as a golf tee or the hand that stretches the rubber band of the sling shot, all creating the potential energy to launch you into your future life of relational (marital) bliss.

"Now, it doesn't always work immediately or every time (it is magic after all), but it is pretty consistent as things go (approaching 80%). Thus the way to view me is NOT as the potential man of your dreams (who must be over 5'10", attentive, witty, smart, charming (and rich, let's fess-up)) but as the pathway to the man of your dreams. In the meantime, while we are waiting for Mr. Right to show-up we can have some good fun knowing it will all come out OK in the end. Then before you know it you too will (like so many before you) call to say: "you won't believe it, but I just met this great guys and I believe he is the one.." So let's have some fun waiting for Mr. Right."

Uh... ok...

Fluted FO

Happy Thursday to everyone... the weekend is just one day away, and I for one am really looking forward to it. I had the hardest time getting out of bed this morning. I've had some of the crud that's been going around, and sleep has been hard to come by for me this week.

I've finally put the finishing touches on my fluted bannister socks and they've made their official debut. Here's a pic of them on my feet. I decided that I really love the Koigu KPPPM that I used for these, and there will definitely be more Koigu in my future. I liked this sock pattern a bunch as well, although they're just a little loose on me, and I think next time I'd cast on 60 rather than 70 stitches to snug them up a bit. They'll be great with my clogs though, and the colors will match just about anything in my wardrobe. To repeat the specifications, this was the third (but my first) pattern from the Six Sox KAL. I knit these up using a 40" circular US 1 Addi Turbo needle with the magic loop technique. I really love the single circular technique for knitting small things like socks. To me it just seems so much less cumbersome than using DPN's, but then again, I've not used DPN's much. (I even used the magic loop for the sleeves on Blaze.) I'm sure it's just a matter of what you get used to.

I've also picked up my Tie-Waist Raglan again from the latest Knitter's. I don't usually like many of the patterns from that magazine, but this one I really do like. I had previously finished the sleeves, and now I'm done with the back (boring picture here), and I've got about 6" done on the front. I'm thinking this might get finished over the weekend...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the great comments on my Blaze! I really wasn't expecting to hear such wonderful things about it, and I thank you all for the feedback! It made its debut out in public this weekend, and I'm happy to report that it is a lot of fun to wear and that it looks pretty good with my pooling colors scarf and a jean jacket.

Tanya asked how much of the Miracle I used for Blaze. To tell you the truth, I'm not absolutely sure. I had a bunch in my stash that I had originally intended to use for Rogue. I've got 5 skeins left, and I've found 7 unclaimed ball bands. I have to assume that I used 7 then (really 6 1/2 because I've got a good portion of a skein left). It makes sense that I would have bought 11 skeins for Rogue because my size called for 1100 yds, and a skein of Miracle is 108 yds. But, in her pattern Jenna suggests needing 861 yds for the smallest size. I made mine just a little bigger than that, and if I only used 7 skeins then that would be more that 100 yds less than what was called for. Long story short (too late?) I'm guessing 7 skeins, but may have used more if I lost a band. Oh yeah, and I live in Abingdon, not too awfully far from Salem... let's hear it for SWVA!

I'm sorry I've been so delinquent in posting since I finished Blaze. I needed to take a little break from knitting, since it had been such a consuming project with the constant cabling. That's not to say I haven't been knitting, but the things I've been working on have been pretty boring, particularly from a picture/blogging standpoint. I've picked up my Chicknits Eyelet Cardi again, and have actually been enjoying the long expanses of stockinette on it. I did finish the second fluted banister sock for Six Sox, but I need to redo the toe on it. I made it a row too long... can't have that!

In lieu of posting any of my own pictures today, I thought I'd show off my dad's recently conpleted first FO. He started knitting over the summer, mostly in the spirit of if-you-can't-beat-'em-then-you've-got-to-join-'em, when my mom and I would have some knitting get-tegethers. (He has previously become an accomplished cross-stitcher for similar reasons.) For his first project he chose Alan's Pashmina Muffler, from Simply Beautiful Sweaters for Men. It was definitely not the easiest thing for a beginner to tackle with its12x12 ribbed cables. He used 3 skeins of Mountain Colors "Mountain Goat," a 55% mohair/45% wool blend. Now the interesting thing is that despite the fact that all skeins were from the same dyelot, once he finished the scarf and laid it on the table you could definitely see where each new skein had been added in. This picture pretty clearly shows the difference in the two ends. He's not particularly bothered by it for a scarf, but I guess you've have to alternate between skeins if you were making a garment. I remember reading about the problems some people were having with Koigu Kersti at one time, and I guess it's just the nature of handpainted yarns not to be ruled by things as trivial as dyelots. Regardless, it is a beautiful scarf, and I'm amazed and proud that he finished it (but not without the occasional cry of "Oh fie!). Next up for him is a vest with yarn from his stash (yes, my father has a yarn stash!).

Maybe next time I post I'll have something interesting of my own to show.

Blue Blaze*

Woohoo! I finished up Blaze last night and have some pictures to show you.

Blaze, relaxing on my stepping stone in the morning sunlight. Don't let the sun fool you, it was frickin' cold this morning in southwest Virginia...

Here's the modeled shot of Blaze with my head cut off since it added nothing to the photograph. (I was post-run, with a zit on my chin. Trust me, it wasn't pretty.)

The specs: Blaze from Knitty. The yarn used was Classic Elite "Miracle," a blend of 50% alpaca and 50% tencel fiber, in Fundy Bay Blue, an icy pale blue color, and I used US 5 and 6 needles as called for in the pattern. The alpaca makes this a slightly itchy sweater, but I think with a silk camisole underneath it should be tolerable. I modified the number of cast-on stitches slightly to get a bust size in-between the XS and S size. I cast on 198 stitches for the body, and used the directions for the XS sleeve. I thought this was a well-written pattern and easy to follow. Skills I've picked up include cabling without a cable needle, and I extended my knowledge of the Kitchener stitch.

Now I've got to decide what to knit next. Last night I looked upstairs in my "project room" at the "table of knits past". That's a pile of black Silky Wool for the Chicknits eyelet cardi, the skirt of hush-hush, and two sleeves for the Knitter's Tie-Waist Raglan. Of course there's the mate for this sock, which hasn't been started yet, and the mate to this one, which has been started. And I have considered doing some Christmas knitting, and even have yarn for some. I have two friend from medical school with whom I still exchange presents, and I'd thought of making them either a pooling scarf, or some thrummed mittens and matching hat. Or I could do what I usually do, and send them a Christopher Radko ornament. I've got a few of those stashed in the attic from an after Christmas sale a few years ago...

*The title may seem somewhat random, but is actually pretty significant to me as my favorite bicycle outfitter for heading up to the top of the VA Creeper Trail. Ah, good times!

TGIF

Hi all! First I wanted to say thanks for the comments on my Blaze progress and the koigu sock. I still feel like Blaze is going slowly... it takes me a good 5-10 minutes to do a cable round, depending on what else I'm doing at the time. I've just been very persistent with it. It's sitting next to me at work again today, and I'm hoping to get a few more rounds in before I go home.

Lauren asked me if I reinforce my Koigu socks with anything. This is the first time I've used Koigu for anything. I briefly considered it before I started the heel flap, but I live in podunk-ville, and the nearest resource for finding some reinforcing nylon is a 45 minute drive down the interstate. I didn't have the patience to do that, let alone order something online and wait for it to come in the mail. I may live to regret it, but I thought I'd just see how these socks wear. Next time I'm in a real live yarn shop (which will actually be tomorrow, if all goes according to plan) I'll probably look for something I can use. I've got some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn that also does not have any nylon content, so I think I should really find something. Anyone else out there have suggestions or comments?

So tonight I've got something a little different happening at my house. (Mom, you can just skip to the next paragraph, okay?) One of the technicians from my office is hosting a Passion Party. And I'm providing the venue, since my house is the most convienent to the office. Think Tupperware party, but for the bedroom. Should be interesting.

The rest of the weekend involves a little road trip up I-81 to Winchester to visit a friend from medical school that I haven't seen in ages. On the way up the road on Saturday I'm planning on stopping in at Orchardside Yarn Shop in Raphine. This is a must-stop for any yarn lover passing the exit on the interstate. The drive out to the store winds past some beautiful farms, and the shop itself does not disappoint in its offerings. And they've got the friendliest shop poodle ever. Maybe I'll have to take some pictures to show on Monday. It was my very favorite yarn shop ever until I discovered Knit n Purl in Knoxville, TN, but it still ranks right up there. (I've not yet had the pleasure of visiting Knit Happens, so that's why it hasn't made my list yet.

Have a great weekend!

Moral values

Just one question for my political commentary and then I'll move on... How moral is an unjustified war? And that seems to be less important than what people are doing in the privacy of their own bedrooms? I just don't get it...

Anyway, knitting.

Yes, I have been.

I finished up both sleeves on Blaze and now am knitting the yoke. Boy, I thought it was slow going on the body piece, but now... well, Blaze is not exactly blazing. It's more like smoldering along, but it is my main priority right now just because it feels like it's so close to being done (even if it isn't). I spent a good part of my spare time at work yesterday doing the grafting on the underarm seam because my only stitch holders are gigantic and were getting in my way. I tried to graft in pattern, and I was mildly successful I think. It's not a perfect job, but it is the armpit afterall. No one's going to be scrutinizing it except myself. And I guess I'm letting you all do it too...

And last night I finished the first of my fluted banister socks. I had just a little koigu left from the first skein, and could have probably done one or two more repeats on the leg, but I'll leave it as it is. I really like it quite well. Now to start the second one...

That's it for today!