Whoosh...

WARNING: Embrace the Lace Spoiler

July flew by in a flash. Here are some highlights:

My brother-in-law, James, got married to Liz, a longtime family friend.

When they were younger they referred to each other with such affectionate names as “little bother” and “big blister”. Liz has been like part of the family for so long that it’s a joy for us to officially welcome her as one of our own.

Less than a week later our daughter, Jessica, celebrated her 24th birthday.

The very next day she was excited to learn that she had successfully landed the new job she had applied for. If her first shift yesterday is any indication, she is going to love it. We couldn’t be happier for her.

Last week our household was reduced by one, when our youngest son, Colin, moved into his new condo.

It is strange to see his room so empty (and clean!) and know that he will not be coming home to stay, only dropping by now and then for a visit. But he hasn’t gone far—just a few blocks—and any feelings of sadness we have are far outweighed by our sense of pride at his accomplishment.

By far the highlight of this July was the celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary.

In some ways it feels like we’ve been together for only a few years but in others like we’ve been together forever (in a good way!). The best part is that we both love and like each other after all this time and truly enjoy spending time together.

We just got back from a few days away. We spent the first night in a luxury cabin on a golf course. This was the view from our deck.


We didn’t want to leave and checked out at the very last minute.

From there we drove to Kelowna where, despite some record high temperatures, we enjoyed a great round of golf on Saturday. I also checked out the city’s two yarn shops and made some souvenir purchases.

We spent the final night at our family cabin near Clinton, where we celebrated my dad’s birthday a few days early.

There were no big knitting highlights in July. I only managed to knit one complete pair of socks (Journeyman Socks) and finish up a couple of others.

I am looking forward to a much quieter and more productive August (at least as far as knitting is concerned). The day we left for holidays the latest shipment of the Embrace the Lace club arrived with a pattern and yarn for a triangular shawl (in addition to other assorted goodies), which I’m itching to cast on.

Since returning home a few days ago I’ve been almost exclusively occupied with the knitting of the Secret Garden mystery shawl, a KAL offered through The Unique Sheep. I’ve now finished Clue 4 and have another week to go before the final clue is revealed.

I also cast on a couple of last minute projects for SKA’s July sockdown and am working my way through the Pink Ribbon socks and Marie Antoinette.

I’d attempted both patterns before but didn’t have good luck with my choice of yarn; I’m happy to report that they’re working out better the second time around.

If you don’t hear from me for a while don’t worry. I'll be in a corner somewhere getting my knitting fix before crazy starts all over again in September.

6-Month Check-up

With the year half over, this seemed like a good time to review my knitting goals for 2009 and see how I’m doing.

1. Knit two pairs of patterned socks per month, at least one of which will meet SKA’s monthly challenge. Both pairs must be knit from stash.

I think I can safely say that I have met the first part of this goal, having knit sixteen pairs of patterned socks (and several pairs of plain) so far this year; of these, eleven were for SKA. I initially thought that I had failed miserably at my goal to use only stash yarn but in fact ten pairs were knit from yarn I already owned before January 1st. Grade: A

2. Make the Great American Aran Afghan for my parents for Christmas. Knit the border as I go, one section for each square.

Although I’d hoped to be halfway done by the six-month mark, I am not that far behind, having completed the eleventh of twenty-four squares just yesterday. I initially knit a section of border immediately after I finished each square as planned but have put that on hold until I make a final decision on how I will assemble the blocks. I will probably arrange them four wide and six long but I have also been mulling over the idea of knitting an additional square and making a 5’x5’ afghan like I did for the Great American Afghan. Once I decide I will know where to place the corner sections in the border. Meanwhile, I would like to average a square a week from now on so that the afghan will be finished in plenty of time for Christmas. Grade: A-

3. Knit one new sweater for myself from stash. To be determined.

I haven’t knit a complete sweater since January but I did finish a vest (which has since been frogged) and recently completed my February Lady Sweater, barely begun last November. So far I have cast on two sweaters this year and hope to see them through to completion by the end of the year. Grade: A-

4. Knit more lace. Even though I already have a good selection of lace yarn and patterns, after much consideration I have decided to sign up for Embrace the Lace, a yarn club featuring eight lace projects over the course of a year. With any luck, receiving new yarn regularly will help me to meet goal #5.

I have definitely been knitting lace, finishing up old projects (Muir and Nightsongs), starting some new ones (Silver Birches and Aspen Grove), and whizzing through entire projects (Aeolian and Heart to Heart). I look forward to receiving future Embrace the Lace shipments and will be beginning a mystery shawl KAL next week. Grade: A+

5. Cut back on my yarn purchases and knit from stash. Notice I did not say eliminate yarn purchases. I am a realist, if nothing else.

I have no idea how this year’s purchases compare to last year’s but I do know that I have talked myself out of many a skein. I’ve made a conscious effort to reduce the number of impulse buys and mull over my shopping cart, sometimes for weeks or even months, before I press “Proceed to Checkout”. Grade: B+

6. Continuing in the same vein, take a realistic look at my stash and UFO’s. Frog anything I don’t plan to finish and get rid of yarn I don’t see myself knitting.

I finally got around to this job about a month ago. I frogged a number of UFO’s and took stock of what I had. There are some yarns that I may eventually destash but I’m holding on to them for now. Grade: A-

7. Finish three WIP’s, including the Garter Stitch Jacket that’s only missing one sleeve. Anything else is gravy.

Mission accomplished! Grade: A+

8. Make at least one blog post per week, even if it’s just a photo.

Er, not so much. While I frequently think about blogging, the truth is I’d usually rather spend my time knitting than writing about knitting. However, when I finally get around to it, I tend to do several posts in a short space of time because once I start writing I realize how much there is I want to talk about. I’ve never been a consistent journal writer so it’s no coincidence that I’m also an inconsistent blogger. But I’ll keep writing if you keep reading. Grade: C+

9. Enjoy my knitting. Avoid overcommitting to gift knitting and set reasonable goals and deadlines for myself.

So far I’ve done a good job of limiting my gift knitting list to the GAAA and about six pairs of socks. Whenever possible I am coordinating gift socks with SKA challenges in order to provide some extra motivation to get them done. Most importantly, I am spreading out the knitting over the course of the entire year so that I won’t feel overwhelmed as birthdays and Christmas draw near.

Even so, I have to admit that there are times when gift knitting and KAL’s get in the way of my knitting enjoyment. These deadlines, though they are self-imposed, sometimes add an undesirable element of pressure to my knitting life. Grade: A-

10. Feel free to revise my goals at any time. See goal #9.

Generally speaking, I am very pleased with my progress so far this year but there are a couple of goals that need some consideration. First, I’ve come to the realization that I am not a once-a-week blogger and will simply write when I have something to say and try not to feel guilty about prolonged silences. And second, I’d like to increase the enjoyment of my knitting by reducing the amount of pressure I put on myself to meet deadlines. I still want to knit the items on my gift list but while I will continue to take part in KAL’s such as SKA, I will try not to get too caught up in the excitement and cast on more deadline projects than I can handle. I want to knit on whatever catches my fancy without constantly feeling like I “should” be working on something else. After all, knitting is my hobby and it’s supposed to be fun.

I’m afraid this long post with no pictures hasn’t been too exciting for you to read but it has been a very useful exercise for me. I am amazed at how much I’ve accomplished in just six months but I’m afraid there is no denying my addiction to sock knitting! Although I will continue to knit socks like a fiend from here on out, I would like to spend more time on other types of projects like shawls and sweaters.

On another note, today is our nation’s 142nd birthday. Happy Canada Day!

Getting It Right

Carrying on with yesterday’s theme, there are times when matching up the perfect pattern to your variegated yarn seems effortless. I’ve had several recent successes.

Conwy.

It helped that I used the same yarn as the pattern called for, only in a different colourway. I had tried this yarn with several other patterns in the past, with no luck.

Anastasia.

This was one of those times when I saw the pattern and instantly knew which yarn I’d use. They turned out exactly as I had envisioned.

Copper Penny Socks.

Another pattern from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns (have I told you how much I love this book?). I wasn’t sure at first which pattern this yarn wanted to be but as soon as I cast on 63 stitches on a 2 mm needle I knew at the very least that I had found the right combination of needle and stitch count. When the beautiful striping continued as I began to work the lace pattern the deal was clinched.

One of the potential trouble zones of socks made from hand-dyed yarns is the heel. When you work a traditional heel flap and gusset you disrupt the flow of the yarn, first by working back and forth to create the heel flap, and then by knitting a greater number of stitches around the gusset. Sometimes pooling occurs in this area and even when you have returned to the original number of stitches after working the gusset decreases the yarn does not always behave in the same way that it did on the leg. While I did not encounter any problems when working the heel flap and gusset on Conwy, I was unhappy with the pooling and pattern disruption that did occur on the Copper Penny Socks.

I often find that substituting a short-row heel for a traditional heel flap and gusset is a satisfactory solution to these problems but even so, the colour distribution on the foot will not always match that on the leg after the heel is worked. I never thought of simply knitting the heel with yarn from the other end of the ball until I heard Gigi speak about it on the Knitmore Girls podcast. What a concept! When I reached the heel I joined in the new yarn, worked a short row heel, then carried on with the original strand for the rest of the sock, without disrupting the colour flow at all. Depending on the sock, an afterthought or a forethought heel may be more visually pleasing (ie. If you want a bull’s-eye effect) but I prefer not to deal with provisional cast-ons, grafting, or cutting my knitting if I can help it.

Size Matters

If you have followed my blog for any length of time you will know that I am a huge fan of hand-dyed sock yarns. However, I am not such a huge fan of pooling and flashing so I am very particular about pairing up the right pattern with the right yarn. If the yarn isn’t behaving I won’t hesitate to frog what I’ve done and try again. Sometimes it requires multiple attempts to get it right, switching needle sizes, varying stitch counts, or trying two or three different patterns before I’m satisfied.

Here is a perfect example of how gauge and stitch count can make the same yarn behave in different ways.

This is my first attempt at the Rib Fantastic Socks (Ravelry link).

Because Handmaiden Casbah tends to be on the heavy side of fingering weight I chose to knit the 60-stitch version on 2.25 mm needles. Note how certain colours cluster together and spiral down the sock. Now, while I don’t mind striping I am not too crazy about spiraling so I thought I’d give it another go. I picked up the second cake of yarn and cast on again.

This time I changed everything: needle size, stitch count, pattern. I cast on 63 stitches for the Braided Gem Socks (Ravelry link) on 2 mm needles. The results (not pictured here—I didn’t know that it was going to turn into a blog post) were somewhat better. The greater number of stitches meant that the colours were not stacking up on themselves quite so much but I quickly concluded that while I want to knit this pattern one day, this was not the time or yarn for it.

Well, they say three times is a charm. Now, having experimented with smaller needles and a higher stitch counts, I knew that a) the yarn did not feel like cardboard when knit at a tighter gauge and b) the colours were more evenly distributed when knit over a larger number of stitches. I decided to try Rib Fantastic once again, this time casting on the 66-stitch version on 2 mm needles. Voila!

No flashing. No pooling. No spiraling.

The moral of this story? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If your variegated yarn does not initially appear to be compatible with your pattern of choice, try tweaking your needle size or stitch count or both. Sometimes, of course, no amount of experimentation will yield the desired results and then it’s time to consider a different design entirely. I believe that for every skein of hand-painted yarn there is a pattern out there that will show it off to its best advantage; sometime it just takes a while to find it. I have several skeins of my own that are patiently waiting in the stash, dreaming of the day they meet Mr. Right.

A Cause for Celebration

Warning! Embrace the Lace Spoiler Alert.

Mmm, the smell of chocolate is wafting through the house.

Why would I even think of turning on the oven on a day that promises to reach 33 degrees Celsius (about 96 degrees Farenheit)? Because it’s my son’s birthday and he deserves cake. Happy 22nd, Matt!

There was yet another cause for celebration this morning. My second Embrace the Lace shipment arrived. This time the theme is “Charity” (with a particular focus on Autism Speaks) and the colour is blue-green. The package contained some beautiful cashmere laceweight hand-dyed by Mama Llama to knit the “Heart to Heart Beaded Scarf” by Sivia Harding, along with a Gabrielle Lace Keeper knitting pouch from Julip Bags and various other goodies.

My fingers are itching to cast on but there a few other things to take care of today first. I’ll just have to settle for the occasional pet or admiring glance until then. While I was very satisfied with the first kit, the project was more suited to Jessica than me so after knitting one pattern repeat just for the experience, I passed it along to her to finish and wear. This time, however, the pleasure will be all mine!

Untangled

Remember this?

It now looks like this.

But no worries. With the addition of a few more balls of yarn it will soon be making an encore appearance as this.

The Washington Square Vest is not the only victim. I recently pulled everything out of my knitting chest and took a good, hard look at all the things I have on the go. Some, I had to admit, were never going to get finished for one reason or another so to the frog pond they went. It was actually a very liberating feeling to turn the ball winder and watch the knitting come undone, stitch by stitch. No longer is there a feeling of, “Oh, I really should finish ________.” Instead, I now look at the long-buried treasures I’ve unearthed and think, “I can’t wait to work on ________ again.”

And that’s what knitting should be all about.

There and Back Again

We came.

We saw.

We conquered.