Well, it's been a while. Over a month since my last post. I recall this happened last year. Just lost both knitting and blogging mojo for while.

Something about summer and they way my schedule goes askew. I need external commitments to get me up in the morning. Daughter is at summer camp, my husband was out of the country for over three weeks. So, no one to manage my time but me. That's hard to do all of a sudden.

It won't stop raining here. While we are not having disaster floods, it's swampy and mushy and just hard to move most of the time. Plans for anything outside are on hold, because of the thunderstorms that show up, just when you think you are ready to go out. One of our big trees fell over, and had to be removed. That's the third one to fall over since we moved here almost seven years ago.

So, I've been dropping off and picking up at airports and summer camps. Knitting a bit here and there. Getting wet.

I finished the Waikiki tank. It fits, and it's cute.

I started a top using pattern #2 of the Vogue Summer magazine as a guide. It's an open mesh top, shown as a bathing suit coverup. I'm using multicolor Brilla rayon/cotton. I tried this yarn for a top several years ago, and it turned out awful, so I ripped it apart, and it's been bugging me ever since. The strong vertical line of the mesh pattern seems to be strong enought to not get lost in the multicolor.

I've got the sleeves done, but they seem narrow. I'm working on the body, and it seems wide.

I need to figure out what the deal is, but my mind just doesn't seem to want to go there. So, I'll work up the body, figure out if I need to rework the sleeves when the body is done.

I think I've worked on Fern some, but it's been in the bag a while. Something about wool when it's 90 degrees outside doesn't work for me now.

So, that's the update for July. Maybe I'll get it together in August.

I'm back to two projects on the needles. One sort of complicated, and one very simple.

Neither are very photogenic, as they are on circular needles, and sort of squashed.

Fern is one an 1/2 skeins into the body. I had a bit of trouble on the twist stitch diamond pattern. So, I had to pull that section down, and re-do it. I decided to work the body in the round. So, it will be a few weeks before the front and back are separate, and a nice picture that shows all the pretty stitches can be made.

I spent a lot of time last week swatching the last of the Mothers Day Waikiki. I learned that this yarn does not like smaller needles. I tried some slip stich patterns, but the companion yarn took over the Waikiki, so the effect was dull, or in some way compromised the yarn. Some of the swatches look nice in the picture, but they didn't really show off how pretty the yarn is on it's own.

So, I started in on a tank top in plain stockinette. Just a tube, with a little shaping. Starting at 36 inches on the cast on, and increasing to about a 40inch bust.

It's sort of hard in the photograph to see the pretty colors. It's a blend of teal, magenta, purple, with a bit of tobacco. The colors are all about the same value, so the puddling that happens with multi colored yarn isn't unattractive. I wasn't thrilled about the brown at first, but now, it is my favorite effect. Again, not very photogenic as it is squashed up on a circular needle.

On with the finishing frenzy. The last of the part about to be off the needles is here. That would be the second sleeve for Fern. Here they are for a group shot.

So, fussy finishing is over for a while. I will knit on Fern for a main project.

There is the "Mothers Day Binge" situation. I have two more skeins of a multi-color mohair mix. That, I think will make a nice baby sweater.

Then, there are six skeins of Crystal Palace Waikiki, in a darker teal/purple/tobacco brown colorway. Just beautiful, but also multicolored, and textured, and not enough for a tank top. I've got plans, and some yarns that co-ordinate to work with. Maybe next week, there will be a plan for it.

Houston, we have finished Hardangervidda. Just in time for the swampy, hot summer.

To Review

I used 10 skeins (150 meters/skein) of Norweigian Sport Wool, purchased from Elann.com. I was going to use Nature Spun Sport, but backed out as I felt that I would run out of yarn. If ball bands can be believed, the NatureSpun has more yardage per 50 grms, so I should been able to do it. Live and learn. Contrast colors were stash NatureSpun in Creme, and stash Alpaca in black.

I, of course, changed the pattern some.

1) I reversed the "block Rib, so that the blocky side was on top rather than the ribby side.
2) I used a Shetland steek method, rather than machine sewing and cutting for the armhole. This is really not anything anyone would notice, and since I did make a facing one would have to cut the sweater apart to see.
3) I modified the neck, making it smaller. My husband likes his necks snug.
4) I modified the neck, using a repeat of one of the small diamond pattern with the contrasting stripes rather than the block rib.

And a picture of the "private side" for those of you who like to look. This would be the inside of the join between one arm and the body. Whoopy dooo.

We are well into June, and in a finishing frenzy here in Swatchyland.

Last week, I finished up the Elegant Diamonds sweater. This weekend, much work on the Hardangervidda. It is still not done, but the neck is in, and I like it quite a lot. Still grafting, and sort of anxious about it. I see a distinct line where the grafting was done. You can sort of see it in the photograph. I'm hoping it will go away when the sweater is washed and blocked. If not, I'll tear it out an try again - once.

Any wisdom?

Oh yeah, I also finished a scarf. This represents skeins 3 and 4 of my 13 skein Mothers Day yarn binge. It is a garter ladder pattern from the first Barbara Walker Treasury of knitting stitches. I'm usually not one to post pictures of yarn, I think that pretty dopey. However, I have a big problem with this multi-colored novelty stuff. I find it hard to get a fabric that represents what the skein looks like. I think in this case, the stitch pattern worked well. What say you?

Happy June.

I finally got out my tapestry needle and finished E.D. See?

She's soft and pretty, with one issue that is not her fault. She fits a version of me that is probably 20 pounds lighter than the version that is currently present.

Yes, I'm another one of those folks struggling with weight. This summer, perhaps some will go away. My my blood pressure has been creeping up, and doctor says that it needs to go down, or I go on drugs. I've repeated this enough that my husband is supporting the effort as well. We will be consistent about exercise, and better food choices for a few months at least.

On with the knitting.

Since the tapestry needle was out, all the hems and facings for Hargandervidda got sewn. I also, (horrors) separated the top and bottom, so that I could add those two inches of length. We drove to a nice area to bicycle ride on Sunday, so that's done. The neck has been picked up as well. No pictures, because he is so embarrassed about being in pieces again. Maybe next week, he will be in a better mood.

Happy Memorial Day.

It's rained the whole weekend here in H-town, and is muggy as well. We've been able to do some bicycling in between the showers, and I've been enjoying the long weekend by sleeping a lot, and trying to put some projects on the "finished" list. Mixed results.

Confession.

The Mothers Day sale at the LYS was too tempting. I mentioned it to my husband, the great enabler, and he packed me up, and drove me over. Lots of pretty novelty yarn, the kind I said I would never buy again on sale 40% off. Some jumped into a basket. I was planning on dear husband to make the purchase, so I could rationalize it off as a gift. But I walked up to the counter myself, and did it.

So, I suppose that I need to use it all up before the end of the year. The goal is to end you year with a measurable amount of stash reduction.

So, here is the start.

Two skeins of Waikiki, in a blue/teal/purple colorway that reminded me of my Sister in Law. It is nasty stuff to figure out. Not only is it a multicolor, but it has hunks or wads that are thicker to add more interest. I tried a lot of stitch patterns, and ended up with this garter lace pattern, that I sort of made up. All done, and ready to be mailed.

I'm working on some Lang Venzia now.

Now for Hardangervidda. The sleeves are attached, and the insides are cleaned up. I need to tack down the armhole facing, and hems, the add the neck.

Almost done.

Except

I had the intended try it on.

It's too short.

I'm going to have to do that snip, and knit another two inches and graft it together thing before I can call this one finished.

And E.D. is still waiting to be cleaned up.

I so wanted to post that I had the red Hardangervidda off the needles last Thursday, but it wasn't. There have been other accomplishments, however. Our new little boat is sailing. My husband and I are certified to use enriched air while SCUBA diving. My daughter has had braces installed. The dog has been to the vet. Yes, I still work most of the day, and I'm doing a lot of internal presentations, which has generated more work, which is good, but limits knitting. I had a near disaster on Friday, spilling a drink on my laptop. The keyboard went wonky, and I recovered somewhat by finding an older keyboard from a previous personal computer. I also spritzed and paper toweled the damaged keyboard, and the laptop keyboard may be back in working order. Hurrah for me.

I also find that I am looking too much at my page stats again. I made this blog for myself, and I keep telling myself that it really doesn't matter if I have 2 hits, or 20 hits per day. I should just stop looking. I did for a while, and was a lot happier.

But, this is a knitting blog, and back to Hardangervidda. The project had moved so quickly through the boring center section, and the delicious yoke pattern. Then, the last bit of block rib seemed to take forever. It didn't help that the neck placement didn't please me. My husband likes necks that fit closely, and this one looked way too big. Then, the section for the armholes looked small. I set a steek at the beginning of the yoke pattern, because I don't trust my sewing machine skills at all. Thus, I had to keep working until I had enough armhole. Not a problem, it only took two extra sets of block rib. As far as ending dimensions, this is fine as well. My husband has a long torso, so the extra inch in the body will be just fine.

I'm getting tired of this project, now that it is so near to completion. Lots of fiddly finishing work to do, and I still have all the ends to work in for the Elegant Diagonals sweater. I need some quality time with a good audio book, a thunderstorm, a tapestry needle, and scissors.

Happy Blog Anniversary to Swatchy.

Enough of that.

Observant reader Elizabeth has correctly identifying the mystery sweater as Fern. Way to go Elizabeth, and thanks for leaving a comment. Now I know they work. Elizabeth, if you wish to foward your address to my email ( see side bar ) I will send you a present.

Last Thursday, I posted, then took off to have a molar extracted. Yuck. This was the result of a root canal gone very bad. I was fortunate about not being in pain, and not having to do this in an emergency situation. Now, I have about a year of bone growth, and implant baloney before I can get a crown in the spot where that tooth used to be.

My dear husband kept me iced and down on Thursday, waking me up to give me more Demerol. Friday, I was on my own, but very very stupid. It took me maybe two hours to set up the pattern section for the yoke of Hardangervidda. But once it was started, whoopee, what fun. So much fun, that a week later, I find myself done with the complex pattern section, and at the neck decreases.

I have made some more pattern changes. I'm not big on the neck zipper, so I'm going to make a regular neck. I'm planning to knit the little diamond pattern around the neck, then make a turning row, and tacking it down on the back, rather than rib. While examining the pattern, I noticed there was a slight difference between the front and back yoke pattern, and I liked the back pattern better. Thus it is on the front as well.

GingGong is not impressed.

Well, I'm a little dopey on Valium. I am having a tooth extracted in a few hours, and the preprocedure Valium is kicking in.

It's Thursday, and I have some stuff to show off, so here we go.

I finished my first sleeve. Now, I was trying to encourage some comments when I asked for a guess on the pattern. Surely, you anonymous people who are looking at my work would know what this is. I may send some mohair and instructions for a fluffy brioche scarf to someone who identifies the new project.

About the yarn. This was a most excellent eBay score. I have a sack of different colors of this same brand, but over 14 2 oz skeins of this same color and dye lot. The sleeve took just less than 2 skeins, so I'm comfortable that I have plenty.

It's wonderful to work with, and as I recall, quite a value.

Hey, by the way, I noticed that this blog will be having a birthday next week. 4 years of knitblogging. How about that?

Well, watch Hardangervidda grow, will ya?

Both sleeves are done.

The body is about an inch from the underarm, where the two color action will begin again.

In the mean time, I still am troubled by this beautiful multi-colored Brilla that I bought from Elann a long time ago. It is cotton/rayon, shiny and slick. I tried a pattern with it, and it just wasn't right. I was so frustrated that I swatched it every which way. It was not speaking to me. I put it in the closet. That was 2004.

Time passed.

Last week, was visiting our LYS, to pick up some needles. I seem to be missing my #1 circular, and needed another long #2. I saw the new Vogue Knitting. I saw the number two design; a mesh bathing suit cover up. It's not on the preview page, so interested readers will have to go look at the magazine. I found Brilla. I swatched. The Brilla spoke to me. This is what it wants to be. How about that?

I'm finishing up my five day conference tomorrow, and the evil plan has worked well. I completed most of the pattern section of my Hardangervidda sleeve on the car ride to the meeting. I didn't grab some extra white, so I ran out, and have to set the piece aside until I get home.



I'm motoring up the stockinette section. I astound my peers as I don't look at my hands, and can concentrate on the speaker. I've even had a few conversations on the difference between Norwegian and British style designs. Technical people are fascinated by the charts.

In the mean time, my new project. Can a reader id this one? It's easy.

The Azaleas have bloomed and pooped out, and now we have some winter back. I've been meaning to wash all my sweaters so they can be put away for the summer. But just for Easter weekend, we got some winter back. Go figure.

Chris asked about the pattern for Elegant Diagonals. It's from Interweave Knits Spring 2000. I've still not fixed the collar, but thanks for the complement!!


With the rainy weather, we had a bit of a movie marathon. I upgraded our cable subscription so that husband could get his Speed channel. That upgrade came with some movie channels, and I've not checked out what was showing until last week. There were some ones I wanted to see, so I set up the DVR, so Saturday we had quite a few to see.



We started with a Korean film that my husband and daughter recorded called "3 Iron". They both said it was good, and have been bugging me to watch it. They were right. Yes, it has subtitles, but the main character does not speak in the entire film. The lead actress has maybe three lines. It's about a young man who breaks into and lives in houses and apartments while the owners are away. While he is there, he does their laundry, cares for the plants, and fixes things around the place. He breaks into a home with a battered wife, and the story goes on from there.


I knit up to the beginning of the top sleeve pattern section on Hardangervidda. Must put it away for my trip next week before I do any more.

and

another brioche scarf was finished.

and

I choose a new project.

Question for you stash knitters. Do you ever find yourself thinking about "getting rid of" stash, as opposed to simply "using" it? I don't want to think about projects made with discarded material, or leftovers. Although, quite of lot of my stash is yarn that others have "discarded". Vintage yarn from eBay that was never used by the person who purchased it originally.

Sometimes, I drive myself into a frenzy, trying to figure out an acceptable way to use some yarn purchase mistake, so it will no longer be in my closet. Then, I think, yikes! I have all this other beautiful yarn, what am I saving it for?

I purchased a large lot of this Bear Brand wool and Shetland wool. Enough for an entire cabled sweater. There is a certain pattern I've been wanting to make for a long time. The swatch worked out. Here we go.

Mission Accomplished.

Hardangervidda is up past the lower pattern section for both the sleeve and the body. Now, 12 inches of stockentte before the action starts again. I'm bored already.

Well, I'm ready for that conference week after next. Maybe I'll work on the sleeve some. I have a three hour car ride there and back so some pattern work could be considered.

Hey LOOK!

Another fluffy brioche scarf. This one is red and black, as you can see. How many is that now? I'm losing count.

Well, here is the plan.


I knit Hardangervidda second sleeve past the lower pattern section, and have eight or so inches of plain stockenette. I cast on the body, and plan to knit past the lower pattern section there as well. I'm most of the way through the texture section, about to start the last bit of two color pattern. Then, set aside, as I have a large conference to attend mid month. Having a stretch of stockenette to whale on during that meeting will help me not go crazy.

Miss GingGong has not been featured on these pages for some time. I noticed her monitoring the front driveway her perch on the top of the Miata. It's a good place for a kitty to sit; she can see all that comes and goes, and it's sort soft, and doesn't get too hot. Much better than a regular car top.

Good Morning.

I was knocked out most of the weekend with nuclear allergies. What a waste. I thought I was getting away with something by being out of town two weeks of the big spring bloom, but Thursday, the pollen overcame my Allegra, and I was mostly out of commission for three days. Whatever it is, it has receded some, and I'm back in the game. I still have itchy eyes, a headache, and upset stomach. Ewwwww.

But hey! I finished another brioche scarf. This one is hot pink and yellow, but from a distance comes off as almost orange. The pink was a one skein wonder, I think from ArtFibers in San Francisco.

If anyone is counting, that is 7 brioche scarfs, and over 1 pound of stash mohair devoted to 2007 holiday gifts.

For some reason, this one photographs nicely close up to show the fishtail effect I so enjoy. The other side would show yellow knit columns with pink fishtails.

On Sunday, when I started feeling better, and the snot stopped leaking out of my nose, I found some special time with my tapestry needle, and E.D.'s pieces. It took me a few tries to get the pieces to fit nicely. The neck edge is an extension of the button band ribbing that needs to be stretched a bit then sewn down. I apparently haven't stretched it enough, as it looks all wavy. There is still the matter of all those ends to deal with as well. So, there is still some work yet to do before she is done.

Back from holiday, but too busy with laundry and old e-mail to post.

We had some issues with our outbound flight. First, there was a smoothie spill from one of the early boarders. Then, when the entirely full plane was settled in the seats, the pilot announced that he had found a leak, and we had to swap aircraft. I was quite pleased that the pilot was so attentive, as I prefer to be late to my resort than not arrive in one piece.
The airline was able to steal another airplane and had us reloaded in less than two hours. I thought that was pretty tight. I also finished this black and white scarf.


Before leaving, Hardangervidda was at a point where she needed a lot of plain knitting. Even with her relatively small gauge, it was a snap, even when knitting drunk to get to the top of the sleeve. Then some fiddling to set up the top pattern, and Viola!

Now that I'm home, I've started the second sleeve, but it's been a busy week.

Hardangervidda is back

While I had three projects on the needles, and was making myself crazy, one of the things I did was explode my yarn stash. There, I found 14 110meter skeins of red Norwegian wool. Yes! I don't know why this pattern has such a grip, but now, the grip is on the needles, and on it's way.

I'm 13 inches up the sleeve, and it seems like I can do the sleeve in two skeins and maybe a bit more than that of the red. Plenty of material. Notice also, that I reversed the texture section between the two pattern segments, as the last time I tried this pattern, I thought that the backside looked better.

Oh, and the next brioche scarf is coming along. I'm off again out of town, so no updates for a week or so.

Oh look. The raspberry and pink scarf is done. A little early as I ran out of the lighter pink yarn. It's only 62 inches; I go for 74". Yet, it still doubles around my neck, and has an acceptable tail.

What a surprise. Another is on the needles already. This one is black and light grey. Knitters who remember the hand knitting boom of the 80's may recall Sisi from a company Chat Bot or something. Chat is french for cat, but I don't have the label, and can't remember. That's how old the black is.

E.D. is in a heap waiting to be seamed and finished. I currently feel little motivation to do this. Not sure why; just too busy getting put away from last week and ready for nex.

I get to go an ANOTHER vacation next week. Mexico - whoo hooo. That's probably a good thing for people at work, as I have been terse and grumpy. Seems I have limited tolerance for people who won't read instructions. One fellow said there were too many words, so someone had to show him how to do everything.

Eeech; I'm outta here.

Been on vacation the last ten days. That meant travel, and travel means knitting. Before I left, I finished and gave away the Blue/Purple scarf. Here is my back porch modeling it.

I took some one skein wonders with me, and finished a yellow scarf, that reminded me of popcorn and butter.

I'm more than half through of a pink scarf that reminds me of raspberry sorbet. The green marker is the half way point. I do that so I don't have to carry a measuring tape around.

I also finished the knitting of Elegant Diagonals. Have some sewing to do, but here is how she looks right now