Woolythyme

Ta-Dah Tuesday....

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Volt by Grace Anna Farrow from her self-published book, A Fine Line.  

Knit with Isager Strik Spinni.  

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This is the second shawl I've knit from this book....there are at least two others that will most definitely be knit sometime.  Lovely patterns, but I think Volt is my favorite.  The colors?  Most likely.  It's a deep rectangular shawl, so when it's not being worn as a shawl, it could double as a lap blanket.  It might have some airplane traveling time in its future.

The Spinni is a coarse wooly wool....the shawl is WARM.  The only thing that would have made this knit better was if I hadn't had it in time-out for so long, and had finished it in November instead of May!

Ta-Dah---Ta-Dah!

Not tons of knitting time last week, but enough car-riding time to finish dots-2.  

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Dots-1/Dots-2....alike, but different.  Just like those little baby boys will be!

Spot on.

 

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Pretty much everything I had hoped for.

Pop Spots by Juju Vail in Tvinni wool.

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joining Linda at Natural Suburbia for creative Friday.

Yellow....!!!

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In the midst of all the crazy starting.....I felt guilty enough to actually finish a couple things.  Triangle-edged baby cardigan  (Debbie Bliss) was started just-because the yellow was in the stash and it was such a happy spring color.....and finished because it really is a very quick knit.  Knit with Tiara, a mercerized cotton, with vintage Czech buttons.  (Don't the little points sort of remind you of the sunflower??  I always think of sunflowers as summer flowers, but there they were in the grocery store.  Couldn't resist.  Love them!)

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Citron was started with Lent as a charity knit for our church's shawl ministry.  I finished it Easter-eve.  I love this pattern.  The plain ruched body of the shawl just appeals to me......as does the crazy little ruffle-y edge----not quite as ruffle-y as that daffodil, but close!  

all my bags are packed....I'm ready to go....

leaving on a jet plane......

 

 The boys (PapaGeek and Freddy) are bach-ing it for a week.  GIRLFRIEND trip!!!  

 

The knitting was packed over a week ago. ( Didn't want to be tempted to work on it. ) But I've had a real struggle with what to take to read.  There are piles around here to pick from.  It shouldn't be this hard.  Audiobook? Kindle book?  Real book?  

 

Tonight---Problem solved. 

 

The finale of the One Book, One Campus, One Community read  was tonight at our community college.  

 

I downloaded Half-Broke Horses when it was first announced as the community read this year, and started it but got distracted along the way and put it aside...probably because it was in an e-book format.   I simply LIKE holding a book.  A real book.  With pages.  And a bookmark.

 

Jeannette Walls spoke tonight--about her books, her life, her family, her 'stories'.   What an inspiring person and stellar storyteller.   Her emphasis was on the stories--hers and ours; to look for stories and the lessons and opportunities they afford us.  I can't wait to read this---even in its e-book format.  

So, in the carry-on it goes.

And where are we going?  

Want a hint?

 

We've planned a little fantasy visit with Dame Judi and an Audience with Dame Helen.    

 

one more hint???

 

Pattern:  basic vanilla sock pattern

Yarn:  Trailing Clouds, Mind the Gap 

Color:  LONDON UNDERGROUND!!!!!!!  

 

Off to make stories. 

 

Cheerio!

WIP Wednesday and yarnalong.....

Like Dragon Tattoo?  (Stieg Larsson) or Snowman? (Jo Nesbo).  The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen--a page-turning mystery crime novel set in Copenhagen is another Scandinavian goodie.  Carl Morck got himself 'kicked' upstairs (to the basement actually) to head the newly formed Department Q (consisting of himself and his Syrian assistant, Assad) dealing with Copenhagen's coldest of cold cases.  His first case:   a liberal politician who vanished 5 years ago---presumed dead....but, is she?......

Speaking of lost causes....one of these booties was hidden among the dk wt yarn in a bag of odds and ends.  Don't know what it was doing there since it obviously was knit from sock yarn.  I've pulled most of the bits and pieces of sock yarn together for the mitered blanket---and, ta-dah.....there was the missing yellow yarn.  So the booties got finished.  I think I remember ordering a bunch of wildfoote shortly after Nancy Bush's Folk Socks was published (in 1994!!!)  A lost cause no more.

 

That odd ball bag of dk also had hidden 3 skeins of Tiara !!!!  ....enough for something besides booties and hats!   I cast on Debbie Bliss's triangle edged baby cardigan, mainly because it has a rather large section of stockinette stitch on the body of the sweater---and I can keep turning those pages.  Now if I could just run out of book and run out of sweater at the same time!

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joining Ginny for yarnalong and Tami for WIP Wednesday

Storm warning....

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Storm warning in Beaverslide 80/20 sport/fingering with gunmetal grey beads.

This is a long, rather narrow shawl so it's one of those versatile knits that can be used as both a shoulder wrap shawl or wrapped as a cowl.  As a shawl, it forms a little self-collar (guess that's why they refer to it as a shawl collar!  duh!); it's long enough to tie so no shawl pin is needed.   As a 'cowl' or scarf, it's plenty long enough to wrap around the neck several times.  The wool/kid mohair is cozy soft.  (I've often said that I'm not a fan of mohair---and I'm usually not, but just this tiny amount---and kid mohair at that!! makes this pretty darn wonderful)

Beading always slows a project, but you gain a certain rhythm after awhile.   The cabled, beaded edging was worked with the body of the shawl, so when you are finished with the body---you really are finished!  I worried that the beads weren't going to hold out---so many were too small to accommodate the crochet hook.  What was to worry??  I had 18 left over!!!!

a serendipitous knit

ser-en-dip-i-ty:   making fortunate discoveries by accident; good fortune, luck 

 

I was wanting some fingering wt grey yarn---a pretty grey that would go well with pink.  A trip to the local yarn shop....and they had ONE skein left.  What luck!  And--according to the pattern---there was plenty of yardage.

 

oops.

 

I was within about four rows of switching back to pink, when I ran out.  I knew there was no more to be bought, so I got on Ravelry to see if by some miracle I could find someone who had knit something from this and had just the teeniest bit left over.  

 

And what to my wandering eyes did appear....(I really felt like I was in the Clement Moore poem....) but my co-worker (who obviously even had the same dyelot!!!).  She had just finished knitting the teeny bit she had leftover into a scrappy blanket--but it was on the end, and she unravelled it for me.  (What a friend!  but, then, she IS a knitter, and totally understood.)

 

 

 

Since I had a 'free' evening--waiting for the grey yarn, I decided to knit some booties which I may or may not have thought to knit.  Who knows?  Serendipitous.  

Lucky thing, 'cuz, of course, we girls all know----

 

the shoes make the outfit!

 

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(the date on the little card of buttons I used on the booties is 1919.  The sweater buttons are also vintage, but weren't dated)

 

 

joining  Linda at naturalsuburbia for creative Friday.

1/2 of a Ta-Dah!!

 

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I can't decide if twin blanket #2 should have scattered blue dots with most of the dots red (reverse of this one)----or if I should keep most of the dots blue and scatter a completely different color.  Any opinions???????????

(does this really matter? or is it a good excuse to take a break from mitering?)

Ta-Dah!!

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Ta-Dah!!

Solo L1; Shibui Linen

 

 

Someday I will  learn that the simplest knits are my favorite ones.

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joining Linda at Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday!!!