woolythyme

photoshoot....

Hi, my friends.

Freddy here.

I'm exhausted.  I just finished a photoshoot for my mom.  

I'm actually feeling just a tad piqued.  After my last post....I had a really bad fall outside.  (Mom was in the shower and missed all the drama.)  Dad had to pick me up; I was crying (and you know, I don't make many sounds....I'm the handsome, silent type), and I sort of messed all over myself.  When Daddy brought me inside....I messed all over myself again.  I was mortified.  But, I was hurting big time.  

I've rallied, though.  My back left leg isn't good at all.  I personally think I need a hip replacement, but I might be too old to tackle such a thing.  I just wish I could be more careful, but you know how excited you can get when there is the possibility of a cookie in your future.  And when you HAVE!TO!TRY!TO!JUMP!ON!THE!SOFA!OR!CHAIR!!!!  (but sometime miss).

Life goes on.

Mom finished the Kauni vest

She asked if I could give her a hand with the photoshoot.  I took a couple pictures of her shoes at first.  (I'm short.)  But I finally got on the sofa and did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.  

What do you think?

I'm ready for her to move on to a new project.

I ate the ballbands on this project years ago.

 

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Several people have said it is very difficult to comment now that we've  switched typepad platforms.  I think the easiest way to comment would be to make yourself a typepad account (which is free) and then use that as the comment platform.  I know a couple people have done that, and it seems to work just fine.  We love you for it.  Mom may stay pretty busy in the course of the day, but since I'm pretty much a stay-at-home-pup now....I truly live for your comments.  I read them all.

 

 

solveig....

Hello.

My name is Solveig. 

I just got my innards and hair last night.  I dreamed of being a redhead, but short of having to have a real honest to goodness dye job, that wasn't going to happen.  I'm actually sort of glad I didn't have to settle for lavender hair. It was close.  I don't mind being a Scandinavian blond.  Just don't tell me any blond jokes.  I'm actually very intelligent.

Now that all my parts are in order, I can concentrate on finding a way to stowaway to Iceland.  I have a mission.

You see, the love of my life, Lars, was separated from me when I was just a pile of spindrift scraps.  How I miss him.  I think we might have some kind of an Icelandic connection, and I intend to find out.   Eeep!  The plane leaves in less than three weeks!!!  And somehow, I'm going to manage to be on it.

Please note:  I'm wearing a wedding cap!!!

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

 

Ast,

Solveig  

(I'm practicing my Icelandic!!)

following my mojo.....

 

I've come to the conclusion that my mojo has simply moved north. 

Neither of us wants to knit with cotton.  Or linen.  Or make sleeveless anything.  I've tried to be practical and knit appropriate things for my climate...and I'm not a happy camper knitter.  Of course, being practical and logical are not my strong suits....so I've decided to follow my mojo instead of trying to lure him home.

The two of us are much happier.

We're starting out slowly.

This was fun (it actually sort of matches a few things I own)....so we did another...

which pretty much doesn't match anything I own other than the mitered square blanket from which I robbed the yarn.  I don't care.

 

•  fair isle
•  wool
•  quick
•  portable
•  attention to detail

What's not to love?  Kate Davies' WWWWW #1 headband.  Lined.  Lovely I-cord edges. Extra warm.

 

Next up? 

I think I'm going to download Kate's Carbeth.  DK yarn...held double.  A sweater so heavy, I'll never wear it here.

Can't wait to cast on!

Surprise!

I'm actually still knitting, and if you knit enough, occasionally you'll actually finish something.  My 'something' is Amazing Day by Joji Locatelli.  I love everything she designs, so I was looking forward to this little project.  I bought it as a kit.  It was going to be the happy, mindless knit that was going to lure my mojo back home.  

As expected, the pattern was lovely and well written.  The colours were somewhat out of my comfort zone, although if you look closely, you WILL see grey in the mix. (I was trying to expand my knitting palette.)

I'm guessing that the yarn was Miss Babs' as the pattern states, although it was pre-measured without labels or ball bands so I can't be sure.  (so sorry, Freddy) The yarn was soft and knit up nicely....

BUT.... (you knew that was coming, didn't you?!)

The main colour was not colour-fast and every time I knit with it, my hands immediately turned dark navy blue.  Now that it's finished....a quick bath with a little white vinegar will most likely take care of any future problems, but believe me, it WAS a problem (for me) while knitting.  I hate blue hands.

I like to take my knitting with me.  At the coffee shop...it looked as if I hadn't washed my hands in weeks.  (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who actually noticed, but it still made me feel icky.)

All of my upholstered/slipcovered furniture at home is WHITE.  I was sure I would inadvertently touch it and have to tear the slipcovers off and wash them...which is almost as bad as making a top bunk (which is another post for another day....and that happy task is how I'm spending my afternoon, thank you very much!!!  So much to look forward to today!)

I did have a bit of an allergy attack one afternoon, which left me with a rather Smurf-like nose until I spotted myself in the mirror.  Fortunately, I was having a stay-at-home day.  This could have happened in public.  

Of course, this is not the first time I've been dealt non-colorfast yarn.  I have some nasty looking blue-tipped bamboo circulars from some long ago and now forgotten project.  The project is history....the needles still haunt me.  

Blue.

Note to self.

No More Blue. 

(Those fish in the Pinterest feed in the sidebar are pretty darn cute, though, aren't they?!? and they are the same colour as the shawl.  And I have leftover yarn.  HMMMMMMM????) 

 

Mojo....I'm not sure it's safe to come back quite yet

sad summer sweater.....

An FO.  I know.  I can't believe it, either. 

Especially since it's knit with probably the worst fiber I've ever knit with. The end result....a sweater that I swore I was going to rip out at least two dozen times.

Let's talk fiber first.

Many (many many many) years ago a friend called me and asked if I wanted to go to a moving sale that one of our lowertown artists was having.  She had heard that there was yarn.

Sure.  (Just what I need.  More yarn, right?)

There wasn't anything I was interested in......this artist was a former weaver-turned-potter who had lots and lots of coarse, chunky fibers that she had used for utilitarian weaving projects.  Rugs, placemats. Bright colours.  Not me.  (This was back in my 'brown' days....which preceded the current grey phase.)  But stuffed in the way back of one of the closets, I spotted this lone cone of lace weight, sand coloured linen/rayon blend.  Yardage was a mystery, but it looked like a lot.  It was fifty cents.  Last of the big time spenders here.  It came home with me and got stuck in the back of another closet.

When my knitting mojo left, apparently so did my knitting common sense.  I resurrected this yarn, my tried and true featherweight cardigan pattern and decided that even though I didn't need a fourth featherweight cardigan....nor did I need a cardigan in this sandy-ivory colour, that this was just the perfect summer knitting project.  

Go figure.

Before I had knit two rows, this is what I was dealing with.

Seriously....and I do mean s-e-r-i-o-u-s-l-y......over spun yarn.  Kinky, twisty, awful.  I should have stopped immediately and tossed the cone in the trash.  But, because I'm me....I thought I'd knit just a bit more.  

Rarely, I'd come across a bit of yarn that was OK.  And then it crimped up again.  And again.  And of course, we all know what happens when you knit with over spun yarn, right?  No amount of blocking is ever going to get that biased business straightened out.  

I think if I had ANYTHING else I really wanted to be knitting on, this would have been trashed, but (sigh) it's such a good summer project....in spite of the fact that it is totally crappy yarn and (for me) an unwearable colour.  So I kept going. 

To the bitter end.

Biased?  Of course.

Look at those sleeves twist!

(Yes.  I know.  I should have photoshopped the wrinkles out of that shirt.  I certainly wasn't going to get the iron out!!!)

But overall, it's not awful for a fifty cent, throw-on summer sweater.

I just wish it was grey.

a knitter's spring cleaning...

First up, is this cowl that has spent much too long in an unfinished state.  It's actually not really finished now, but it's done.  By that, I mean...I decided it was time to end this project.  First of all, it is very, very wide....and it's knit in the round, which mean that you have a double layer of wooliness going around your neck.  To make it a reasonable width, I have to fold it in half.  So...that's like having 4 layers of wooly wool going around your neck once.  Had I continued to the stated length in the pattern, not only would I have been knitting sometime into the next millennium, but this lovely monster could easily have wrapped my neck at least 3 times...doubled over, that would have been an even dozen layers thick?!?  Unreasonable.  It's done.

Rill is also finished.  It had been hanging out almost as long as the cowl in a partial state of un-doneness.  Now it's done.  Thank you German short-rows.  I love you.

One short sock is finished. I apparently put it in a good safe place, because I couldn't find it for a photo op.

A couple more hexagons are off the needle.  I've 'stored' the finished ones in a basket on a really high shelf.  I toss finished ones up into it (my version of knitting basketball) and I'm such a lazy-butt it's been probably close to a year since I've counted how many I've done.  I still have worsted weight yarn left, so I guess I'm not done yet.  And here's a mystery for you..... how have I accumulate so many odd skeins of WORSTED weight yarn----and in colours, yet!!----when I really only knit with grey fingering or lace weight yarn? 

Speaking of which...

I needed a mindless project, and I really hadn't started anything in quite a while (which may account for my recent knitting malaise), so I started this Polka Dot scarf by Churchmouse Yarns.

I'm a sucker for polka dots...of any kind.  These are big holes, which will need a nice blocking before they show up well.  This is EASY...mindless...and lovely.  I hesitated actually buying this pattern...how hard is it to make holes in knitted fabric?  But like all Churchmouse patterns, the attentions are in the details, and the details in this one  will make it a very classy, very well finished scarf.  The yarn was in the stash.

And it's grey. 

And it's lace weight. 

What's not to love?
 

Rill...and rill again

Aibrean is finished.  It still needs a vigorous washing and an aggressive blocking to soften the linen, but I think it will be fine.  Do you see the three sleeves? No? Good.  I knit three.  The first was way too wide, so I aggressively narrowed the next two, and they seem fine. 

Aggressive?  Fine? 

I like this sweater, but it will probably not ever be my favorite.  My 'style' (and I do use that word lightly, because I am probably the most unstylish person you will ever meet) is looser and boxier; this sweater is not that.  It's more traditional.  Fine for summer.  See? Fine.  If I manage an overly aggressive blocking...I might elevate it to pretty fine.  We'll see.

Aibrean had been languishing in the UFO pile since last July.  It felt so great to click the finished button in Ravelry, that I thought I'd dip into that same UFO pile for something else.  

Hello, Rill.  It's been in the pile since....July 2016.  This is a second go round with Rill.  Here is the first version...

which I have loved, and not just because it's grey.  This one took over two years from start to finish.  I remember tangled lace weight yarn and maddening short rows.  Once the tangled yarn was sorted out...and I discovered German short rows, it pretty much flew off the needles.  

Another knitting love must have dropped into my world, because this one had neither the massive mess of yarn nor the German short row learning curve to overcome.  Of course, it's not grey.

Question.  How did you learn to do short rows?  w&t?  Me, too.  If you've never done German short rows, please do yourself a favor and give it a try.  My favorite tutorial is here.  Totally changed my short-row life.  They are almost invisible after blocking and so intuitively easy.  Unless a new shiny thing comes into my magpie knitting life...this might actually be done sometime THIS year.

Little Miss Dotty....

Hello world.  My name is Dotty.  Am I cute, or what?!?

 

oops.  Excuse me.

My new furry friend, Freddy...knocked me over....and my bloomers and bunny tail are showing.  Please note.  That IS a bunny tail.  I'm definitely a bunny.

I might look just a teeny bit like some other critter..a mouse with big ears maybe?  But I'm not.  I'm definitely a bunny.  I'm definitely a girl.  I'm most definitely pretty darn cute (so says my new mom who made me).  

She's already warned me that I will most likely be adopted someday, but until then, I'm going to enjoy my new surroundings and maybe beg for a couple more dresses.  It's Sunday, so I'm in my Sunday School best dress, but this isn't going to cut it if I go outside later to play in the mud.  I could probably use some overalls. 

Hint.  Hint.

 

                                     * * * * * * * *

If you haven't had a chance to try one of Julie Williams's toy patterns you are in for a treat.  They look somewhat daunting when you print them out.  14 or 15 pages of the MOST meticulously written pattern you will ever encounter.  This is my second....boy elephant was my first and he's incredibly cute, too.  (He's still here...I can't seem to give him up for adoption even though he'd make a really cute gift with a Babar book!)

Last week I got a Ravelry update for the girl bunny pattern...new faces and a little facelift, so guess what?

Dotty will soon have a friend.

a warm wooly hug....

It's warm.  It's wooly.  It's done.  And it fits.  Sort of. 

It's big, like a big, warm, wooly hug....and I'm sort of OK with that.  Should I ever knit it again (which I probably won't) I would go down a needle size and a pattern size (could this have been an error in gauge reading or simply a lack of doing a gauge swatch in the beginning?...you decide.  hee hee). 

Yeah.  It's that big.  BUT....I have options.  It's extra long, so--because it's knit in 100% wool---I could slightly shrink it and if it shrunk overall, it would probably be about perfect.  Except on the days that I really want the big oversized hunk of wool around me to layer over....well, layers.

The verdict is still out...not sure if it will stay 'as is' or become something more fitting, but in either case, the pattern  (FLET by Olga Buraya-Kefelian) was really quite nice.  And easy. 

Try it...you'll like it!! 

snowy, icy, snuggly kind of week...

 

We got snow.  And ice. And COLD.

And it totally 'counted'.  (If no sign of grass is visible...it counts as a real snowfall.)  We measured about 8" in the end.  Temps dipped into the single digits. It totally 'counted'. 

Everything shut up and closed down all over town.  Schools were closed all week, including the community college where I do what hubby tongue-in-cheek refers to as my 'post-graduate work in photography'. 

Did you know that bubbles freeze in single digit temps?

(Bubble-soaked wet fingers also freeze in single digit temps.  The tutorial failed to mention that.)

 

I need a good snowfall every once in a while.  A little 'Buffalo, NY' lingers in my soul, I guess.  And you really must be quick in enjoying it when it comes, because....

it's going to be in the 60s today....   

 and we're in the midst of a massive meltdown.

 

Of course, there was also knitting.

Antarktis is finished.  (Antarktis, why are you blurry?  I'm not giving you a retake, sorry.)

A little lace, a lot of garter stitch.  It also left a nice little ball of leftovers to be added to the mitered square blanket, which was the reason it got knit in the first place.  Win-win.  And another win.  It will go in the gifts-to-be-gifted pile.  For once, I'm ahead of the curve in that category.

And shortly after that...off popped...

Liten-kofta, a cute little pattern I found stuck in a pile of what I thought were 'things-I-want-to-knit'.  I knit it.  Turns out, it was in the 'things-I've-already-knit-and-need-to-refile-the-pattern' pile.  Actually, more specifically....according to Ravelry, it was in the 'things-I-started-but-didn't-like-and-frogged' pile.  It apparently wasn't working well in lovely, luscious madelinetosh....but turned out quite nicely in yucky 100% baby yarn acrylic (which obviously is a much more practical fiber for a baby knit).  Another win-win knit.  A little sweater for the 'to-be-gifted' stash....and an acrylic elimination from the stash.  

That lovely, luscious madelinetosh?  Yep.  You guessed it.

It's now the Antarktis.  

I love when things work out.