Intrepid Fiber Wizard

A fabulous Yarn

Sooooooo soft

“Don’t squeeze the Charmin”

“Take me away Calgon”

Yup.. these old commercials continue to pop into my head as I knit with this new fabulous yarn. (I really like it).

 Just to recap – Allison, owner of Simply Socks Yarn Company, commissioned a few of us to periodically test knit new yarn lines for her shop. She sends them out to us sans labels, only noting the yardage, yarn content and washing instructions. It’s a wonderfully fun adventure to knit them for her.

 

This yarn arrived here on July 10^th, and by July 18^th, I had knit the pair. It was difficult to put down (grins)

Specifics: 

3 ply fingering weight

Springy, well prepared, in a compact little skein of 360 yards.

Content: superwash merino, cashmere and nylon. (machine washable cashmere…. Sigh.. be still my heart)

Knit on size 1 dpn’s

 

It was tied off a teensy bit too tightly, making me nervous to cut the ties at first. But I quickly overcame my sensitivities and cut. I was at my office, and couldn’t wait until I went home to fetch my ball winder, so I draped it over my knees and wound away. Not a tangle nor misbehaved moment occurred, and I was off and running.

 

  I chose the Artichoke Sock pattern, thinking it might best show off the sweet short color runs. And it does. The colors practically dance around the sock. There was no pooling around the gusset and instep. The yarn is wonderful. No knots, no pulls, no frays, no weak spots. Perfect (which is unusual in this day and age of commercially prepared yarn blanks). The stitch definition is great -  And the yarn works well with the pattern design.

Want to see what it might look like in stockinette? Let's peek at the feet bottoms, shall we?

About every 50 yards or so, there was a small bit of fluff attached to the yarn, reminiscent of the cashmere goats from which it is made. This fell off easily, and the yarn remained in tact underneath it.

 

Speaking of cashmere goats, this yarn might be a tad bit pricey (I do not know the cost of it yet). Some of you might not know it, but there was a time that I helped to raise a few cashmere goats. They are not easy to process. Timing for the shearing (which happens only once per year in this region) has to be precisely managed. Too soon, and the fiber staple is far too short. A few days too late, and the goats will have begun shedding (which then requires the shepherd to walk around the field, collecting stray fluffs of fiber off various trees and fences). Once the goats are shorn, the fiber must be processed, and the long coarse guard hairs removed. Which leaves the shepherd with only a small amount of usable fluffy fiber from a year’s investment in the animal.

Cashmere is truly a labor of love.

 

I was a little bit concerned at having only 360 yards in the skein – and so I knit the sock legs only 6 inches long instead of my usual 7 or 7 ½ inches. As it turns out, I need not have been concerned, because I had 48 yards left over, after knitting both socks for my very average sized woman’s foot. 

I tossed them in the washing machine on cold, with a regular load and waited to be sure they would survive the tumble. The yarn remained true to its claim – and the socks emerged from the laundry looking fabulous.

 

And so, viola.

Fini. 

I love them.

 

And my only request is:

May I please have another?

Swing Top Fini

Premiere Swing Top is off the needles - and today was a perfect day to wear it (many grins)
The temperature is finally up to where it should be for this area (about 80 degrees) and we are all reveling in it.

I grabbed my camera on the way out the door this morning, in the hopes that I could persuade someone who works in my building to snap a photo or two - success. (I love it when a plan comes together) One of my neighbors was walking out of the building as I was going in (and yes, she's a knitter too!) She was so excited about my newest completion that she could hardly stop checking out the design long enough to snap a photo (so sweet).

pattern: Classic Elite Premiere Swing Top

source: CEY Summer Book 1

yarn: SWTC Craft  color "martha"  organic cotton & milk fiber

5 1/2  skeins

needles: size 6 & 5 (US)

Despite my "issues" with this yarn, I am totally pleased with the finished product. The top fits exactly as shown in the pattern book - it was a charming knit; just enough pattern detail to be interesting, not so much to be impossible.

Wanna see closer up? of course you do. (another grin)
   

Getting close

It's been another "crazy" week here in wizard-land. A long floor-set at the store, which involved four very long nights of working until 2 am, and then back to my office during the day - (snoooooze time now). I am so grateful that it is the weekend, and it is sunny! (and finally above 48 degrees!)

Yet somewhere in the midst of all those crazy hours, I stumbled across a few minutes to knit on the very gratifying "Premiere Swing Top" by Classic Elite.

   The pattern design is marvelous - and I enjoyed it immensely.  It specifies that it should be blocked before assembly, and this makes total sense to me (as it is easy to overstretch cotton yarn)

Speaking of cotton: I really liked the feel of the SWTC organic cotton-milk fiber yarn in my hands. It was soft, not harsh. It feels wonderful.
What I didn't enjoy was the zillion and one knots in every skein! (truthfully, there were "only" about 3 knots per skein) sigh. This is one of my biggest pet peeves... One knot in a skein is one too many (just sayin')

there is just no need for knots in any skein of yarn (well except that the producer  is 'cheap' and doesn't want to waste any lengths of yarn -  What it translates to is that the knitter ends up "wasting yards and yards - as I did. I had to tink back to one side of the project when I discovered a knot in the middle of a row. Cotton is very unforgiving when you try to weave in ends in the middle of a row - and invariably, you will end up with a telltale "bump" in your project where there should be none.
The sad thing about this discovery is that I 'know' the owners of SWTC, and they are fabulous people. It's a shame that these skeins do not represent who they are as people. Do I love and support their company? yes. very much so. Did I totally and completely complain loudly to myself about all the knots in these skeins - absolutely!

I will be weaving in all those loose ends and sewing together the pieces soon :-) and maybe it'll even get warm enough here to actually wear this little beauty -

Lacey Small Shell Cowl

I finished the small cowl in record time. Only two days!
This is such a fun gratifying little knit - and the perfect neck warmer, replacing the bulk of a huge scarf.

Yarn: Bunny Patch Merino- Angora Rabbit (80/20) approximately 200 yards, 2 ounces
Fine Fingering Weight yarn (18wpi approx)
Needle size 8, 16" circular

I am including the pattern I adapted for it - I used a stitch design from 365 Stitches, yet pretty much any lacey pattern would work.

Lacey Small Shell Cowl 

CO 98 stitches loosely place marker for beginning of row. Join in a round, being careful not to twist stitches (unless you want a mobious, of course!)

Knit two rows of K2, P5

Begin shell lace pattern as follows:
row 1: knit
row 2: knit
row 3: *K2, YO, P1, P3tog, P1, YO* repeat to end.
row 4: knit

Repeat shell lace pattern until you are almost out of yarn, then
Knit two rows K2, P5 and bind off loosely, and block.

The finished size of my cowl was 12" wide and 13" tall.

Cowls are a great use of that single skein of yarn that you fell in love with at a fiber show and just had to have (grins), or a unique hand spun yarn you have made.

The yarn I used for this cowl was made by my friend Cheryl, and she will soon have an Etsy shop up and running. In the meantime, she will be sharing a booth  with Duncan Drum Carders at Black Sheep Gathering (in two weeks). The yarn is hand dyed, and hand spun and sells for $28.00 per skein. If you cannot make it to BSG, then email me and I will let you know how to get in touch with her to buy some.

Thanks to Cheryl for giving me the chance to test knit her brand new line of yarns. It was delightfully soft, and feels luxurious to wear.

Here's a couple more photos (one, of course, being silly with it up over my nose, as all of us want to do with these things!)

Everybody's talkin' 'bout it

The word is popping up all over...
The patterns are emerging on Ravelry and blogland...
It's enticing in its all encompassing ability to be a one-size-fits-all-perfect-gift...

It's a stash buster... it's a new look.. it's easy...

it's a cowl !
And yes, I'm hooked!

I was recently asked by another friend if I would test knit a new yarn line for her - it's a combination of merino - anogra rabbit (think sooffffffffffttttt) Yes, it's super soft. It is hand dyed, hand spun. It's heavenly.
She sent me a skein of about 200 yards - and so I began testing out the cowl theory.
Here's a sneak peek at my progress today (yup.. just one day.. it is indeed fast.. that is 5 inches worth!)

I will eventually block it out so that it will be much more lacey looking than it appears right now, and I will be sharing the pattern in the future, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can see her (and buy some of this divine yarn) at Black Sheep Gathering. She'll be at the Duncan Drum Carder booth in the middle building. Her name is Cheryl, and you can tell her I said hi :-)

On the personal front, I have had a couple of lovely afternoons off over the last week (a delightful treat) and I have gone exploring around this great little town I live in (Olympia).

About ten minutes from my home, there is a pier called Boston Harbor. On that sweet little pier, I found out that I can rent a sailboat! (I am in heaven!) Take a look see as to the bay that I will have a chance to sail in (very soon I hope).  (click to make bigger) You can see the Olympic Mountains in the background.. sigh..

A 25 foot catalina. Sweet.

There is just nothing quite like the soft jingle of sailboat rigging in the air. I am so delighted about this.
I had spoken to a dear old friend last February about wanting to find a place to sail - and here it is, so very close. .... so come on out - don't let the "liquid sunshine" of Washington scare you off (it never stops any of us.. nothing ever has a "rain date" scheduled)

Typical Pac NW residents go out rain or shine... and I'm going to be sailing. photos will be coming
as soon as I can wrangle a full day off.

And finally, just because they make my heart sing, here are some more photos from my garden.. these are for Jane ('cause she loves them too!)... a few of my Columbine.
It's almost summer!  

Premiere Swing Top

I have been avidly knitting along on the Premiere Swing Top from Classic Elite Yarns, and am almost finished with the back.  Only a couple more inches ! (see earlier post for info on the pattern and yarn)

I am so completely enjoying this pattern that it is difficult to put down.

Last night I found a teensy error in the pattern for size medium, and emailed the company about it right before going to sleep that night... much to my wonder and amazement, I had an answer awaiting me when I logged on this morning - talk about fabulous customer service! I am truly impressed.
The Technical Editor herself for Classic Elites yarns sent me a personal email, explaining in great detail an answer to my quandry, and then let me know that they would be posting an errata to clarify things better.
what grand people :-) With this kind of fabulous customer service, I will gladly knit more Classic Elite patterns.

For those of you who might be knitting along with me, the question I had was at the point of beginning the decreases in the lace panel section. As a result of fiddling around with it awhile, the conclusion I arrived at was that for size medium, there is only one row of decreases in the lace panel section AND you begin the stockinette stitch in the left and right lace panels on that same row. (once you read the pattern, you'll know what I mean. If this is clear as mud, please feel free to email me with questions) The technical editor clarified things fro me, and indeed I had done it correctly.

The top is sailing right along now !

P>S> many other typepad users have complained about dilemmas with links etc..... but mine seems to be working fine tonight. (go figure) Although I have not 'updated' to any new versions yet... (and perhaps will not, given all the comments out in blogland)

Summer is for Swinging

It's a perfect spring day here - about 70 degrees, big poofy clouds in the sky, a slight breeze ruffles the curtains every now and then - dinner (a yummy pot roast)  is happily simmering along in the crock pot and I was knitting along on the miles and miles of ribbing on the blue turtleneck tube top.. when my mind began to wander to new projects (funny how a long stretch of 3x3 ribbing does that to us, isn't it?)

I am so enjoying the SWTC Craft yarn, that I purchased some more from Klaus over at CMF. This cotton/milk fiber blend feels delightfully soft on my fingers, and the colors choices are such fun.
This time I picked out some buttery yellow cotton (colorway: Martha...... can you say Maaaah-thuh? - giggles). It is even prettier in person than it looks on the screen.
I found yet another great pattern from Classic Elite Yarns, called Premiere Swing Top. It is in the CEY Summer Book 1. Of the ten patterns in this little booklet, I am dreaming of knitting at least 6 of them. It's a great purchase.

The combination of lace and sections of purl creates a charming leaf like stitch up the front and back of this summer top. I am knitting it on US needles 5 & 6.

This pattern requires an enormous amount of concentration as I begin, so most likely I will be taking breaks and switching back and forth between this and the tube top ribbing (gratefully)

I hope that you are enjoying this long weekend. So many new blooms in my garden, I just have to share.

 

Surprising knitter friendly places

Gust came off the needles, and I came to the keen awareness that I needed blocking wires asap.

This is a rectangular scarf, and should have straight edges, with no ripples from pins.

After chatting with a few on line pals about it, I realized that there might be a less costly solution to the $25-$30 + shipping blocking wires kits.
My friend Lisa pointed me in the direction of Heartstring Blog, and I read about Stainless Steel Welding Rods.
Such a clever gal. thank you.

So fortified by my current mission, I braced myself to enter the testosterone charged environment called "Lowes" (bless them).  I considered practicing my best pirate aargh sound to inflict on unconscious employees, but swiftly cast this errant thought aside. (they might well not appreciate my silly sense of humor)

On most occasions when going to Lowe's, I head straight for the garden section (which is blissfully outside) thus avoiding the high shelves lined with all sorts of boxes and contraptions designed to confound the non-mechanically inclined, humiliate the most astutely educated females among us, and mesmerize the male species of our planet.
I braced myself to enter this predominantly "male" domain, preparing to be totally ignored, avoided and generally treated like a second class citizen. I was pleasantly surprised.
I walked up to the customer service desk and asked - which isle has Steel welding rods? they directed me to isle 72... I hiked the seemingly endless steps across the entire building to isle 72, as I blithely ignored the ceiling high piles on boxes on my left,  and searched  on aisle 72 among heavy equipment (which all required hoods and torches and nothing even remotely like a 'rod') until finally a delightful gentleman of about 102 yrs old (grin) came along with a young crony of around 35 and they spoke with me. "What'cha need darlin?" the older gentleman asked sweetly (and not at all demeaning). I decided to courageously bare my knitterly need, and said... "well, I am knitting lace, and I need some long, thin strong tube-like things to hold it stretched while it dries... and someone suggested that I could buy stainless steel welding rods instead of spending $30+shipping to buy a blocking kit"
This kind older gentleman gave me an enormous grin (obviously comprehending what lace knitting and blocking was) - his wife must KNIT! he nodded wisely at me, and said.. "but of course! on isle 3, we have exactly what you need. Can you believe that anyone would pay so much for plain old steel rods? I hate it when they do that to women. Come with me, dearie, we'll get you fixed right up"
And indeed he did!
I bought 4 four foot stainless steel welding rods for a grand total of $11.72 ! woo hoo.

And while I might well need a thinner size in the future, I know exactly where I will go, and which kind gentleman I will look up to assist me once again. (hooey to it being a "male" domain! Lowe's is knitter friendly :-)

What never ceases to amaze me is how lace can go from this:

to this: 

Now I just need a nice local knitter to show me an easier way to thread all those teensy stitches onto the blocking wires.. (grin)  I actually had to get out my reading glasses to thread this onto the wires (hahahah)

Gust - knit in Dicentra Designs   hand dyed Lace weight Alpaca 

Lisa's subtle color changes in her semi-solid hand dyed yarn are amazing. I love knitting with it.

one final curiosity now that I have pulled it off the blocking rods, is how do you avoid stretching the edging stitches? I have ended up with some small loops where flat stitches should be.. thoughts anyone?

Yes, Virginia, there is some knitting

A few of you, whose blogs I normally comment on, might have noticed a short hiatus in my presence... well, you see there was a computer crash, meltdown, fritz, smoosh, bump, and eventually a fizzle. It wasn't pretty. What began as slow subtle grinding type of function, eventually ended in a grand halt...and there might have been a couple of less than lady-like words resounding through wizard-land... (as well as gratitdue for typepad's ability to have pre-written blog posts with future publication dates, and public access to answer emails.... you probably didn't even miss me! heh heh)
I kept trying to do as our famous fearless leader does, and "make it go", yet alas, it was totally kaput-ski.

Thank the skies for some dear friends who quickly built me a a spiffy gently used system, then delivered it  a little while ago. There was, I admit, a bit of breath-holding on my part as they transferred almost 2300 photographs (ahem.. yes, I like pictures just a bit), assorted documents, programs etc, and then cloned hard drives (sounds rather ominous doesn't it ? ). And then ultimately the moment arose to take it off the umbilical cord to the old hard drive, and let it run on its own.
I climbed into my wizard chair, and away we went! It worked, it did its thing - all systems go Scotty - warp drive please.

Back in business now (with only a few more gray hairs).

In the meantime, there has been progress on all knitted objects in this dwelling.

Gust is almost complete   (only about 7 more rows - woo hoo)

knit in Dicentra Designs Lace Weight Alpaca..

This amazing lace weight hand dyed alpaca yarn can be purchased on line here at CMF

more details when it's complete very soon..

Socks on the needles (but of course, 'my dears)

"Go with the Flow" by  Evelyn Clark from Favorite Socks 

Knit in Fleece Artist Merino

Polar Sea colorway

Purchased at Simply Socks Yarn about a year ago

This yarn is so deeply saturated with color that it almost squeaks! I love it.

Hedgerow Socks - designed by my friend, Jane Cochran - a free internet download

knit in Claudia's Handpainted Yarn

(which was a gift somewhere awhile ago from a sock swap pal.. muchas gracias)

And finally,

Turtleneck Tube Vest from Fitted Knits

(oh how I love me a clever pattern like this one!..more on that soon)

Knit in Craft Yarn by SWTC gifted to me by Klaus over at CMF  (another thank you !) I think he still has some in stock if you contact him fast

This yarn was originally seen in a project that got frogged last year, but those details will all be explained in the near future. I'll get specific on each project (or write me if you want to know more right away)

I just noticed as I wrote this post that I am on a "BLUE" kick. How funny.

So here's to computer-wizards everywhere, and thank you to my friends Kara and Michael (you totally rock).

Now I'm off to attempt to catch up on all those blogs......

Double your fun

Remember that old Doublemint gum slogan.. and the goofy ads that had the identical twins? heh heh. (I know, I'm dating myself here - but it still amuses me)  they always made me laugh.
Anyway, as I finished not one pair, but two pairs of socks this week, and that goofy slogan was all I could think of while finishing. go figure. (silly, but true)
Hot off the presses, we have:
Primavera Socks (a free pattern on line)
Yarn: Chameleon Colorworks Footsie
color: Lime and Violet
knit on size 1 needles
only changes I made was that I knit my standard heel.

love the pattern.
the yarn was a wild stretch beyond my normal 'tolerance' for yarn that pools, but my flowers and I agree that it is very fun. They fit like a dream - and I will definitely be knitting another pair of these in the near future..... could they possibly be the 'new monkeys?"

Next up, we have Waving Lace from the book Favorite Socks.
again knit up on size 1 dpns (my fav size)

a fabulous little lacey sock pattern - comfortable and soft, fits the foot well.
I knit these up with some panda wool yarn that I hand dyed a year ago. and would highly recommend this yarn.
It is soft beyond describing.
What I noticed the most was that when I was alternating between the two different sock yarns (while knitting both pairs the same week) was that the panda yarn was so soft that I wanted to just knit on it forever.
amazing.
The bamboo content in this yarn will make them incredibly durable and strong against the normal wear and tear of sock use.
Check out the following couple of links to potentially find some hand dyed panda wool yarn.
Woolen Rabbit

Simply Socks Yarn

A Piece of Vermont

Ball and Skein

They have all had this yarn at various times, and most likely will again. I am not going to be doing any yarn dyeing for a very long time (sad to say, yet true) so hop on over to one of these  and grab some wonderful hand dyed yarn. You won't regret buying this blend. It is soft yet sturdy.

So what did I do upon finishing these socks??? need you ask?

 

cast on for some new ones of course. (grins) The first pair I began was some Hedgerows - another free pattern, written by a friend of mine, Jane Cochran. Here's the link... it's  a lovely pattern, makes a nice   snug sock, very portable project. I had some yarn that I purchased a couple years ago at Stitches West from Ellen's Half Pint Farm - in this amazing neon color... well, here, you can see it: 

Jane's pattern is lovely. The yarn combined with it, not so much.

so here it is now:

yup. frog pond.

This pattern deserves a yarn that works better with it. And so I cast on yet again with another yarn, and knit along for a few inches... but wait, that's a post for this coming week.

will there be socks on the needles? will Hedgerow find the perfect yarn? stay tuned.