Author: Abbie

Seems like lately all my knitting time has been taken up by my family — or more specifically, my parents.

It started simply enough. At Rhinebeck this past fall I picked up a magnificent skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight, in Loch Ness. My mom is of Scottish descent, so as soon as I saw the colorway name I figured that one Christmas present was done.

Yes, I cheated. I didn’t even bother wrapping it. I just threw it in her stocking, which actually turned out to be hilarious, because when she picked up her stocking on Christmas morning, she turned and held it out to me. “I think this one is yours.” Everyone else already had their stockings, myself included, and I pointed that out to her. She sat down with it, looking confused. “But there’s yarn in it.”

After I stopped laughing, I made her read the label, and she somehow managed to see everything else on the label before she finally came to the color — and then it all came together. I told her it was her choice what she wanted me to make her, and that just opened the floodgates. (In hindsight, perhaps this was a mistake…) A scarf? Or a small shawl? Or a hat, or gloves or mittens or socks or a scarf or… It took the better part of a month before she settled on gloves.

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Pattern: Basic Glove Pattern, from Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: BMFA Socks that Rock Lightweight in Loch Ness
Needles: my trusty US1/2.25mm bamboos
Notes: These turned out adorable, if I may say so myself. Mom’s hands are pretty much exactly the size of mine (that is to say, very tiny) so these were a nice fast easy knit, and I could use myself to judge for size, which helps tremendously in speeding things along. As always, Ann Budd has made my life a million times easier by having numbers right there for me so I didn’t have to stop and constantly check to make sure I hadn’t suddenly started knitting something elephantine. Her pattern book is probably the most-consulted book in my knitting library.
I’m also very happy with the way the colors worked up; the little bits of pooling (literally, in watery blues) have a nice shape and seem to float along the fabric. I have quite a bit of leftover yarn so we’ll see what else we can eke out with what’s left.

It doesn’t end there, though, since then Mom decided she wanted a hooded scarf, because her hair doesn’t tolerate hats well, but her ears still get cold, etc. etc. Since she asked so nicely, how could I say no?

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Pattern: Mimi Hooded Scarf from verypink.com (pattern found thru Ravelry)
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Amber Heather, with edging in Lion Brand Polarspun, understandably discontinued
Needles: US7/4.5 mm circular (used my KP Harmony interchangables) and an H (5.0) crochet hook for the edging
Notes: Fun pattern that wasn’t as tedious as I’d feared to knit. The scarf did stretch on for just about forever but the basketweave pattern kept things interesting (although it took me a few repeats before my clever self figured out which side was actually the RS). If I made this again, I would pick up stitches for the hood and knit it directly up from the scarf rather than doing it as a separate piece and seaming it. Worked out fine, looks great — I just abhor seaming.
I used Polarspun to single-crochet the fluffy edging around the entire thing. The original calls for some Italian yarn I’ve never heard of, and the Polarspun’s been living in my stash ever since I picked it up at a Smiley’s hotel sale a couple of years ago, and there was no sense in buying something new when I had a perfectly good yarn in the stash. Well. Let me tell you how amazed I am that anybody would ever use this yarn for a full garmet. It catches on itself and sticks and pulls and is generally just a pain in the ass. That’s not to say it doesn’t look and feel amazing, because it does. But I wouldn’t want to have to use this for anything other than an accent. It’s just too frustrating to work with.
I’m happy with the overall effect, and it looks great on Mom — so warm and cozy, in fact, that I’m contemplating making one for myself. I’ll probably even use the Polarspun — after all, I still have two and a half skeins of the stuff in my stash!

I figured that would be that and I could get around to ripping out my February Lady sweater, which I have finally admitted, after a month of knitting, is just…too…big. (Don’t ask. I am currently conducting a cold war with my gauge.) But no! Dad decided he was being left out, and insisted on some Fair Isle mittens for himself. I handed over my Selbuvotter book and he found a pattern he liked, informed me precisely which shades of grey and red he wanted, and sent me on my way.

Well, I’ve shown him. I cast on for a hat for myself first! So there, family.

I went up to Vermont this past weekend to visit my baby sister, who is finishing up school at UVM. (I might be having some issues with the fact that my baby sister is about to finish school. Just a few.) Since it’s a bit of a ride (seven hours, give or take traffic…) I had plenty of time to knit. So I did.

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Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket; Christine’s Stay-On Baby Booties by Christine Bourquin
Yarn: Koigu PPPM, colorway P511L, picked up from a Rav destash
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm) and US 1 (2.25mm)
Notes: I love this pattern like crazy, and it’s always fun to knit up. It also makes great traveling knitting, since it’s all one piece of fabric: nothing to drop or lose or have get stuck underneath the seat for two hundred miles. A million people have waxed rhapsodic about this pattern so I will just say that it’s my stand-by for a good reason.

I love these booties possibly even more than I love the BSJ. I refer to them as moon booties, and I think they look adorable on and off baby. They are also easy to memorize (I haven’t looked at the pattern in, oh, five pair or so) and and I have yet to hear of them not living up to their name. The blockiness matches the square lines of the BSJ well, and together they make a nice little layette.
This particular pair is heading off to an old coworker expecting next month, and I hope her baby wears them in good health and happiness.

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While up in Vermont, I prevailed upon my traveling companions to stop at one of my favorite yarn shops anywhere, Kaleidoscope Yarns. The shop is in a lovely little house in the middle of Essex Junction, notable for a large intersection (the Five Corners) and swift responses by AAA. (The car battery died. It was totally not my fault.) Retail therapy is a beautiful thing:

I was going to stop at the Piece of Vermont bamboo sock, but then I spotted the Starmore book, and by then I’d walked past the wall of Koigu three or four times, and then it occurred to me that buying Euculan in person means that I’m not shelling out for shipping, so there you have it.
If Kaleidoscope were any closer I’d be in real trouble. I am pretending they don’t have a very efficient and wonderful website, but if you go look I won’t tell.

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While putting my new yarn away I decided it might be a good time to skein up my first attempts at a drop spindle, which have been sitting on said spindle, for, um. Months. It’s hideously over/underspun (depending on where you look) and broke several times, and is generally pretty wretched and unknittable. I really don’t care. It is my first yarn, and I’m calling it artistic and letting it live in its skein.

It’s not exactly fine fiber (actually, it’s scraps that I picked up cheap at Rhinebeck) but for a first attempt it’s really not half bad. The real question is, how will my second skein look?

I returned home from a trip to Disney World last week, which was a wonderful opportunity for regaining my sanity, post-thesis-meltdown. I love Disney, and there’s really very little I’d change, outside the ridiculous amount of walking in Animal Kingdom. Really, the only thing Disney doesn’t already have is yarn! Perhaps in the UK pavilion in Epcot, I mused. Or maybe yarn in every pavilion, for a little international flavor. Canada could stock Koigu and Paton’s, the UK could stock shetland wool and Rowan, France could stock…well, whatever the French are knitting these days. I honestly can’t name a single French yarn off the top of my head — Italy and Germany are easy though, with all those Filaturas and Sockengarn…

And Norway? Well, that’s easy, right? Dale of Norway. So imagine my amusement when my friend grabs my arm as I’m admiring one of the (very expensive) Dale sweaters in the Norway gift shops, and hauls me over to see THIS:

Yes, Disney now sells Dalegarn Learn to Knit kits. In the event of a fiber emergency, Disney is now equipped. Truly, the perfect vacation.

I found some other adorable and vaguely fiber-related amusements, such as this little yarn Mickey keychain:

He’s all wrapped string, right down to the tail. They also had Minnie, Donald, and Jack Sparrow, all from wrapped yarn. I wavered and almost got Donald, but in the end I’m a Mickey sort of girl.

I also found, in the China pavilion, this marvelous recycled cotton tote bag:

I saw it, walked on, and went back five minutes later. The idea of carrying this around fiber festivals was just too good to resist. (I am not actually born in the Year of the Sheep, but that can be our little secret…)

And after I came home from Disney? I finished up a hat that I’ve had on my to-knit list for a year now, and I’m super happy with the results.

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Pattern: Northern Lights Tam by Mary Jane Mucklestone, Interweave Knits Holiday ’07
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette
Needles: 3.0mm for the ribbing and 3.25mm for the colorwork
Notes: I loved this pattern from the moment I picked up the first IK holiday issue a year and a half ago, but not the colors — they were too bright for me. I went with the following: Nutmeg, Apricot, Tan, Sunlight and Peach for the greens; and Blue Note Heather, Iris Heather and Clematis Heather for the Reds. I’m very happy with how they all came together. I also went up from the recommended needles sizes, as the pattern says it’s for a 18″ head size, and…well, my head’s bigger than that! I was guessing and was too lazy to swatch, so I’m very relieved that the sizing worked out.

I have a ton of yarn left over and there are visions of matching mittens dancing in my head, which I think I should start working on post-haste, because it’s awfully cold out there!

(PS…If anyone’s interested, I have a ridiculous amount of pictures from Disney posted here.)

So. Christmas is over. My thesis has been handed in, my presents were (in the nick of time) completed and wrapped (rather at the last minute) and everyone seems pleased with everything! In addition to some hats and scarves, I had some fun with Christmas this year, making everyone in my immediate family some stockings:

In order, we have:
– Donna Kay’s Victorian Christmas Stocking, from IK 2002 (and Interweave’s handy online pattern shop), knit in Knitpicks Palatte Garnet Heather and Sunlight, given to my Mom
-Nancy Bush’s Village of Kirbla Estonian Stocking, from IK’s Christmas Stockings book, knit in Knitpicks Telemark in Bayberry, Cream, Rosemary, and Northern Green, and given to my Dad
-Nancy Bush’s Village of Tallinn Stocking, from her Knitting on the Road book, again in Telemark in Garnet Heather and Cream, with the leftover Rosemary for the cuff; presented to my sister R
-Lisa Carnahan’s Snowy Night Gansey Stocking, again from IK’s Christmas Stocking book, done in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Iron Ore, given to my brother
-Kate Gilbert’s Fireside Stocking, from IK’s Holiday ’07 issue, knit in Telemark Cream, Brass Heather, Persimmion Heather, Flame Heather, and Garnet Heather, and given to my sister E.

I tried to match patterns and colors to personalities, and I think it all worked out rather well. Every one of these stockings, to me at least, very clearly announces who it belongs to. I’m really happy with the finished objects, and very gratified that my father immediately announced we’d be using them next year. (Which means I should get cracking on my own!)

I also knit a quick Clementine Shawlette for my great-Aunt, and previously-discussed bed socks for my grandfather, and a hat for my young cousin, who was happy with it for a moment, concluded it was too big, and put on the engineer’s hat I had also gotten him instead. Then he gave me a huge hug. Twice. I am not complaining.

But now…now I can knit for myself again! I have an almost completed shawl that’s made very beautiful use of my Koigu mill ends, and yarn all picked out for a hat, and so many socks to do — my new skein of Silk Garden Sock, which was waiting for me under the tree, wants to be turned into something pretty…

This month is disappearing out from beneath me. Perhaps that draft of my master’s thesis that I handed in this week has something to do with it… perhaps, perhaps. That would also explain the INSANE STARTITIS I am battling. I have piles of projects around, and yet I want to cast on a million more things.

The other cause of all this startitis are the impending holidays. Even Rockerfeller Center is starting to get ready:

so I am working like mad on Christmas knitting:

I can post these because they are the Grandfather Socks (hopefully they will help combat the chilly toes from poor circulation). Poppop’s level of technological use is the TV remote, so I have no fear he might somehow accidentally surf here and spoil the surprise. The rest of the family, however, are much more technologically literate, so those projects will all have to wait.

I can share this one, though, which I did tonight over three hours of procrastination brainstorming:

These are for my old boss from my college tutoring job. His folks live in the Midwest, and they lost their home in the flooding last spring. Their home…including all the Christmas ornaments. Harry wrote a note about it on Facebook, and talked about how his mom would retell the story of each ornament as she put it up every year, and I teared up right away, because my mom does the same thing. There’s lots of history tied up in those decorations and ornaments, and the idea of losing ours made my heart seize up for a minute. Harry asked if we could help him create a new collection for his Mom, new ornaments and new stories. So I found some appropriately-colored yarn scraps and made a little pair of stockings for Harry’s Mom’s tree, and I will write a little note to go with them, to tell her about how I used to knit in the Writing Center in between sessions. I hope it’s a new story.

I also think I’m knitting more of these little socks, because they’re adorable and fast. I used the Bitty Hat and Sock Ornament (socks only, obviously) from Interweave’s holiday pattern freebie, available from Knitting Daily, and just finished the socks off instead of doing the little toothpick-needle finish. It’s adorable, but it probably wouldn’t ship as well, and I have no Elmer’s around to make little yarn balls, and I really kind of like just a finished mini stocking. I think everyone’s getting one of these this year!

The arrival of the holiday season has all sorts of harbingers: digging out the holiday music (check), the Hershey’s Kiss bell commercial (omgcheckyay!), the arrival in stores of Stella D’Oro Pfeffernuesse (where is it already?) and me, starting to obsessively bake. Check, check, CHECK:

They were really good. What thesis?

I had a bit of frustration earlier today trying to prep for a midterm when I discovered my college’s Blackboard site had a broken database: instead of seeing lecture powerpoints I was getting strings of code and pages that would not load.

I decided that torturing myself was useless, so instead I went and stuck pins in things. It was very theraputic:

Both the sticking pins in things and knowing I’m finally going to be wearing these three projects. In order:
–My So-Called Scarf, knit in Manos Silk Blend in Violets, an impulse buy from Purl Soho.
–Anemoi Mitts, knit in Koigu PPPM (green) and Knitpicks Palette (white).
–Branching Out, knit in , an amazing gift from Rebecca and Melanie from their SF trip earlier this year.

I also debuted my Harvest Shawl this past weekend:

Pattern: Clementine Shawl, from Interweave Knits Spring 2007 (also available for purchase on Knitting Daily)
Yarn: http://www.dyeversion.com/Dye-Version Bamboo Sport, Harvest Colorway, purchased as a birthday present for myself from The Purple Purl in Toronto.
Needles: Size 5 (I used my Harmony interchangable set).

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This pattern was an easy and enjoyable knit. While I did have to glance at the chart every so often, I wasn’t tied to it, and it moved along very quickly. I added one extra repeat for width, as I saw several people suggest on Ravelry, and it was perfect. However, it gained just enough length in blocking, so that the ties fall in a rather awkward spot now, but if worn straight, it looks marvelous. It also works as a scarf, so this is a multi-tasking FO.
The yarn was a new one for me, and I love love love it. Dye-Version is a local Ontario dyer, and I hope she starts selling online sooner or later, because her stuff is amazing. I manhandled most of the available skeins at the Purl when I visited it in August, but I kept coming back to the Harvest colorway, in the Bamboo — the colors were far more vibrant in the Bamboo than any of the other available yarns (even if the scent of the milk fiber was absolutely fascinating) and it has a wonderful silky feel and scent. I don’t know if it’s the bamboo or the dyes or what, but there’s a delicious scent to this yarn, not quite silk, but close, that I have grown rather fond of. There will be more Dye-Version in my future!

I wore this, as I intended when I picked the pattern, to a dinner celebrating my uncle’s wedding last weekend. The ceremony was in Dallas so my family wasn’t able to be there but we had a lovely dinner on Halloween night. Turns out, the shorter “shawlette” length is perfect for dining — no long awkward ends to get caught on chairs or trail in one’s plate. I’m extremely happy with this FO, and I’ll be repeating both the project and the yarn.

(PS — see those little ghosties in the window? Bernat Glow-in-the-dark yarn! It’s a trip. Excellent for all your Halloween crafting needs.)