Swallowtail

So the stashdown is not going exactly as planned. As of February I have increased my stash by 191,969 - 191,682 = 287 yards. Now, when you take into account that I acquired TWO sweater's worth of yarn in January, it's clear I actually moved a lot out of my stash, to only increase by 287 yards.

Also, I should point out, I didn't pay for any of the yarn. One sweater's worth was part of my birthday present from Ryan. The other was purchased by my dad because the sweater will be for him.

One of the projects that helped me move some yardage out (about 500 yards) was my Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A Clark. I loved every minute of making this.

I mentioned before, the first time I made this pattern early in my knitting career, it was a bit too hard and I found the experience unpleasant because I was making so many mistakes and having to tink back hundreds of lace stitches fairly often.  This time it was completely smooth sailing. 

Forgive my bleary face, I had just woken up.

I prefer to wear this pinned with one of my shawl pins. The one in the picture is my favorite. It's from Plover Designs, a local Portland craftswoman. I have several from her. 

The yarn I used is Malabrigo's new Rastita line. It's made the same way as their super chunky Rasta, but in a DK weight. It's a 100% merino wool single ply, but the single has been slightly felted to cut down on fuzziness and make it a bit stronger. The color I used is called Cereza. It was a complete joy to work with. 

Now I'm working on a heavily cabled cowl. It's slow going because of all the cables, and also not going to move that much yardage out of my stash, but after it's done, I'll be starting a sweater and that should clear a good 1,200 yards. On the other hand, our Madelinetosh order is due in at the shop any day...

Braids

When we were trying to decide on the winter class schedule at the shop, I pitched a series of classes that we are calling the "Heritage Series." Each class focuses on an design element or traditional knitting style from various regions around the globe. Think Irish cables, Estonian lace, Andean colored hats, Norwegian Selbu styles, Swedish bohus designs. One of the coolest things about it is that there are thousands of potential class topics.

My first class in the series is coming up this Thursday, and it is going to focus on knitting traditional Latvian braids. The project for the class is Simple Braided Mitts by Nicole Clark. Mine look like this:

The braid is cleverly constructed by twisting your yarns around each other on the outside (right side) of your work. I love that they look nothing like "normal" knitting. I have been wearing them around the shop a lot and get tons of people asking me if I braided it and sewed it on afterward. 

I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in colorways 340002 and 340039 (I hate it when colors don't have actual names.) The yarn is a nice blend of 55% wool, 33% microfiber, and 12% cashmere. If you dislike working with splitty yarns, this is not the yarn for you. It will split if you don't watch it vigilantly. I didn't mind it, but I think I have a very high tolerance. I also work with Spud and Chloe Fine a lot which is frequently accused of being splitty. 

My mitts have fuzzed up a bit with the constant wear they have been getting lately, but nothing that I would call actual "pilling." I made the size small, which in hindsight was a mistake. The sizes are listed as S, M, L. I have very small hands for a woman, so I made the small. I think in reality the sizes are more in line with "Child, Woman, Man." When I bound off, the entire mitt fit in the palm of my hand. Thankfully I had used a ver stretchy cast on and bind off, and a VERY aggressive blocking rendered them wearable. 

I did find a few math errors in the pattern. It's a free pattern and the errors were easy to spot, so I am forgiving. There are incorrect numbers in the pattern concerning the thumb. If you do as instructed to increase the thumb gusset, then all of the numbers in the “Set Thumb Aside” section should be increased by one: they should be 6 (7, 8). All of the instructions for the thumb should have the same changes. The final number of stitches for your thumb will be 14 (16, 18).

Overall, a very enjoyable knit. It only took me about 3 evenings to whip these puppies up and I have enough yarn left over to make a second pair. (I won't, because I don't like making the same pattern twice, but I could.) If you're in the Portland/Beaverton area and want to learn how to make Latvian braids, there are still a few spots in the class. 

Iced Hat

I couldn't quite muster the oomph to blog yesterday. I was doing too much actual knitting. I have four sweaters at various stages in progress right now and I'm trying to bust out the bulky one. It grew by 5 inches yesterday.  Bulky yarn is my friend.

But that's not what I'm here to tell you about. Five inches of stockinette is not that interesting. Cables are interesting and boy do I have some cables for you.

That, my friends, is Iced Hat by Irina Dmitrieva. I bought her whole Cabled Hats 3 collection the minute I saw it. They are all lovely cable-y  masterpieces. So many cables, some rounds have as many as 36 cables per round.

I'm teaching a whole series of classes at For Yarn's Sake about hats that feature different techniques. This was the project for Hats: Cables. There will also be Hats: Color, Hats: Short Rows, and Hats: Lace. (Can you tell I like hats?)

I made mine out of Rowan Felted Tweed in the color "150". Felted Tweed is 50% merino, 25% alpaca, and 25% vsicose. It's a little crunchy when you're knitting with it, but it softens up SO much when you wash it. It also weighs next to nothing. Each 50g ball has 198 yards! I got the whole hat out of one ball.  It's light and airy to wear but still nice and warm because of the merino and alpaca.

I blocked mine around an 11" dinner plate to get a nice beret shape. Looking at the projects on Ravelry, it looks like quite a few people have left it in more of a beanie shape. It looks cute both ways. I've had it done for about 3 weeks and I've worn it about 15 times. 

I am still dutifully reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell but I've thrown in an audiobook of Black Sun Rising by C. S. Friedman to give myself something a little more exciting. It's the perfect sort of blend between Science Fiction and Fantasy, if you're into that sort of thing. 

Skew

For a while I was knitting Skew by Lana Holden. I've loved the pattern ever since I saw it in the Winter 2009 Knitty. I especially love the versions that I've seen in self striping yarn.

When a Skein of Cannon Hand Dyes Jane Self Striping yarn in the colorway Love's Labor Lost came into my possession via the awesome Laurie, I knew it would become Skew eventually.

Eventually, has turned out to be right. Since September I'm....

That far. Which is to say, not far. As a bouns, on my left foot you can see my icky surgery scar from the 2008 osteotomy (aka the Great Foot Straightening), and on my left foot you can see my hairy big toe. Sexy Lady. 

An interloper (or several) came between me and these lovely socks and I haven't made it back to them. Also, since I've been working at the yarn shop during the regular sock hour, I don't have that time set aside to dedicate to them anymore. I really do need to give my neglected WIPs some love. They're all projects I like. I'm just... easily distracted.

Speaking of easily distracted, on the reading front I'm STILL reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke. I do like the book, I really do, but I keep putting it down for sexier, flashier, quicker reads. According to Goodreads, I started reading this in March... and according to my Kindle (which I have named Anthony because it's fun to call things by a proper name) I'm only 40% through. Now it's about 1,000 pages so 40% is like reading two little books, but still... Also, the last 10% or so of the book is footnotes, and I've read a lot of the footnotes already, but they don't count in the 40% since it measures from the page you are on looking back. I like it when I flip to the footnotes and it tells me I'm 96% done. A girl can dream. 

Gloves

These are gloves:

I guess I should say that is a glove. Since there's clearly not two. I've reached the rows of my swallowtail that have nupps and suddenly each row is taking forever! Purl 5 together... brutal. This is my distraction. Simple 1x1 ribbing on nice pointy signature double pointed needles. 

It's OK. You can call me fickle. I can take it.

Elektra

Remember how I mentioned how once the knit a longs are over, I tend to not focus on the projects so much, in favor of new exciting things... Meet exhibit B.

This is what I have of Elektra by Romi Hill. It's from her Year One collection of 7 Small Shawls. I really love her year one and year two. Year three is about half released so far and I'm not loving it so much, but I'm very glad to have the first two years. 

It's a generously sized beaded shawl. It's written for fingering weight yarn, but I'm using Dream In Color Baby which is a heavy lace weight. I'm using the baby because it's easier to get the beads on the slightly finer yarn. See the beads?

This one is in deep storage for a while (which is a shame because it's on my size 4 signature needles.) I just have quite a lot of projects that are more important than this one. I'm sure I'll get back to it someday...

Wildflower Cardigan

I love the monthly knit-a-long we do at the shop. The ladies are great, and the projects are always something I wanted to make anyway. That being said, the fact that they move on to a new project every month has left me with quite a few knit-a-long victims. Projects that I started, and worked on dutifully for the month, only to drop like a sack of potatoes when the next month's project came along.

Meet one such victim.

That is a completed back, completed sleeve, and partial sleeve of Alana Dakos's Wildflower Cardigan from Coastal Knits. 

It's a very lovely sweater, but it's 99% stockinette and done in sport weight yarn. It's boring. I need to line up some really exciting movies to watch while I work on it. About the only "fun" part is the scallop at the bottom of all the pieces. 

It only takes four rows though, then it's back to the stockinette. There will be a few cables and bobbles when I get to the pockets on the front, but they will also be over quickly. 

I pick this up for a few rows now and again, but it's seriously slow progress now that the knit a long is over and there's no incentive to show progress each weak.