Around and around

Thank you all so much for the kind words on the little bit o’Lightweight Tweed. I’ve continued moving around and around down the body, and am just about the start the 4 inches of ribbing at the hem.

Still life with sweater, kitty, and shoe.

I’ve been able to do much more knitting in the last week thanks to being completely recovered, at last, and work getting back to normal, at last. Whee! Although sometimes those busy/sick/icky periods are good in that they make one appreciate when things go back to being all good.

There’s a smattering of patterns, pages and other knit news to share, that I’ve squirreled away, like this boy and his peanuts:

This is a brave boy we call wily squirrel, as he seems wise and wily, and cautiously takes (unsalted) peanuts from our hands. N and I love squirrels, even when they are messy and destructive. Big time animal lovers. Heck, there’s even a black widow in the bird seed container that we can’t bring ourselves to dispatch. It scurries off to the side whenever the box is opened, but before it gets bigger or lays eggs we should really do something.

On to knit matters!

Obviously, at the top of the pattern list on my mind is knitbot’s Lightweight Pullover. Stephen West (westknits) is on fire these days, currently having the 4th and 5th most active recently published patterns on Ravelry! Recently I mentioned the Daybreak shawl and Botanic hat, and he has since published the beautiful Herbivore and Colannade shawls. A few other new to me patterns are the Caera hat by a black pepper, the Molly hat by Never Not Knitting, and knitbot’s Zip Up Cardigan.

Melanie Falick Books/STC Craft has published a page of great free patterns, in PDF, from various books on various crafty endeavors.

IK Weekend is out and it’s a good collection, I think. A nice variety and timely but accessible styles. I passed on picking it up, though, only because there weren’t enough patterns that I liked, that were vastly different from something already in my collection. I find this is the case more and more. Though I do like this issue, I have to ask what in the world is up with the Champagne Fizz Hat? Thoughts? I am looking forward to the preview of the Gifts issue.

There’s a new online magazine called Tension, that is currently working up it’s premiere mini-issue. It looks like each issue will have a theme (the mini-issue’s theme is cocoa!), and will include crochet patterns for sale, this issues patterns look promising, plus recipes and editorials. I’m digging the Mexican Hot Chocolate recipe!

Ysolda is in the process of publishing patterns from her new collection, Whimsical Little Knits 2. Not unsurprisingly, her new shawl pattern Damson is at the top of the Ravelry charts!

Chic Knits’ Bonne Marie Burns has a fantastic Fall 2009 collection, including Miss BB, Mondo Cable Cardi, Mondo Cable Pulli, and Sandrine.

Speaking of patterns, I had a couple requests for my notes on the “Meander” cowl I made for our group swap, blogged here. I meant to write it up more formally and perhaps try different yarn weights and also make it use just one skein of Silk Garden. But Murphy’s Law being what it is, I then proceeded to have the craziest month in a good long time.

So here’s the pattern/recipe, thrown out into the world straight from my notebook. Go and be free cowl pattern! I may yet write it up and link to Rav, but for now I wanted to stop shirking those interested in the deets.

Meander Cowl Pattern

• ~135 yards dk or light worsted weight yarn, pattern knit in 1.2 skeins Noro Silk Garden col. 269
• US8 needles, or needles to obtain a gauge of about 18 sts/4 inches (looser than suggested yarn gauge to encourage drape)
• Size ~ 24 inches circumference

Pattern stitch is multiple of 12 with a 12-row repeat

Rows 1-2: Knit all stitches (K)

Row 3: *C8F, K4; repeat from * to end (C8F = left crossing 4 over 4 cable)

Rows 4-8: K

Row 9: *K4, C8B; repeat from * to end (C8B = right crossing 4 over 4 cable)

Rows 10-12: K

Pattern

CO 108 (or repeat of 12 to suit your yarn and gauge)

K 4 rows (2 garter ridges, or more to suit your taste)

Begin Row 1 of pattern stitch

Continue pattern stitch to desired width, ending with Row 8 or 12

K 4 rows (2 garter ridges, or more to suit your taste)

Bind off

Enjoy cowl!

Impulse

Last weekend, I did an impulse cast on. So fun! So freeing!

Hannah Fettig’s (knitbot) Lightweight Pullover:

I’m subbing Rowan Felted Tweed at a larger gauge (22 sts v. 24 sts). Can’t wait to block this, the yarn softens and blooms into this drapey ethereal fabric.

Much as I like how the Kimono Cardi is coming along, the pattern is a bit fussy. And sometimes that’s a good thing. But I needed a break with something simpler, something cozy. I think because it’s been a tough month, physically. Work craziness, travel, viruses (both N and I) and then a fibro flare to round out the month. I didn’t even pick up the needles week before last!

I saw this on Hannah’s site and cast on the next day! It’s quite a therapeutic knit, I can work round and round only paying partial attention, work on it when tired.

Have some other new patterns I’ve nabbed lately and some miscellaneous links, that I will post about soon, next week.

For right now, I must resume this lovely Sunday – finally not feeling ill, relaxing, and looking forward to grilling hot dogs. We even got chip and dip, oh the indulgence.

Hmmm, N just got excited because a Fletch movie is on Erwin Muhutmah Fletcher. Think I’ll go watch too. Happy weekend!

Slow on the knit front

What a busy couple of weeks! It remains crazy at work, and I dashed off to Indiana for almost a week to visit my fam. During the trip, mostly on the plane, I managed to knit one front of the Kimono Cardigan:

This and a dozen rows on Featherweight is the sum total of my knitting activity of late.

Then, I picked up a head cold, I suspect on the plane, that reared up yesterday afternoon. As I write this, I am in a cold medicine-taking didn’t-get-enough-sleep daze. Just popping up to say hi Going to resume vegging on the couch now.

Power schmower

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of hosting a wee gathering, with Amiee, Julia, Lori, and MJ. Shan and Kat, we missed you! (Next time!) Yesterday also happened to be my birthday, but this gathering wasn’t meant to be a bday party, per se. At our get-together a couple weeks ago, these fabulous gals decided to have a “sew-in” to show me the ropes when I expressed that I thought I wanted to try sewing. This day was good for everyone, and then when I said it was my birthday too, it was sealed and the date was set!

Now that I have a dining room, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to entertain, creating a small snack buffet and drinks at the ready in the kitchen. Like, I Martha Stewart enjoyed it. Just looking at this picture makes me happy. Is that so wrong?

Amiee was first to arrive on this day, and we got right to the business of sewing. We were at it an hour or so, I was learning SO much, then around 6pm the power went out. And didn’t come right back on, as it sometimes does. Hard to sew without power. There went that plan.

It was pretty funny, actually, we didn’t notice the second it went out. We were ironing (Amiee was showing me how to make bias tape, whee!) and we realized the iron was not, well, ironing. I leaned back into the kitchen to look at the microwave, and “I’ll be darned, the power’s out”.

By 7-ish, it was darkening and cooling off. Opened all the windows (thank goodness to air wasn’t too bad) and lit a bunch of candles. We sat down to food and drink and got to gabbing with nary a bump, though all plans were out the window:

L-R: MJ, Amiee, Lori, Julia, me

Thanks to MJ who instructed me on manually setting the shutter lower, and then we all sat perfectly still for 2 whole seconds to get this great shot. I can’t believe how well it turned out, being so dark. And, it’s sappy, but I’m so happy to have a photographic memory of the birthday/sewing party that went lights out. It was charming and fun, but would have been weird if we had done it on purpose, know what I mean?

Here’s a another pic that isn’t as bright but that I love anyway because we weren’t as still and some parts are clear and some are blurry, and it sort of captured the mood of the evening because of this:

I noticed looking at this picture that everyone sat in the same seats as the last shindig here. Funny. Like assigned seats.

In addition to sewing lessons from the group, MJ gifted me with gorgeous fabric (way to enable) and a handmade scarf!

I love them, thank you so much!!

Last week, feeling the need to handle some fabric, I tried my hand at the no-sew braid scarf tute from Pickles. And I love it! So fast, easy, wearable and pretty.

I used some plummy pink bamboo jersey that I gladly inherited from Lori as part of her great pre-move clean-out. That is almost the same color as the scarf in the tutorial! What are the chances?

I had a heck of a time getting even remotely straight cuts with my scissors. But the beauty is, when worn the edges don’t really show! I made mine more petite, in a few ways. Mine is about 8 feet long, before braiding, rather than 9 feet. The tutorial doesn’t specify width, but mine’s less thick when wrapped at about 16 inches wide. Finally, I made the braids a little shorter, and the fringe also shorter.

If you don’t know Pickles, get to know Pickles. I only recently discovered them. Look at all the crafty tutorials on the left!

On the knitting front, I hope to bind off the back of the Kimono Cardi today, and cast on for a front. Slow but steady on this one.

Also, it seems as if BL is friends with my feed again! Just as soon as I rant about it, it’s OK. Way of the universe, no?

Baby got back

Back.

Hey, I’m talking about knits here!

I fibbed. I thought I was going to work on Featherweight, but quickly realized I was still jonesing for heavier yarn, a little stitchwork. Much as I love Love, it didn’t cure the jones.

Then I remembered that I started a Sweaterbabe Kimono Wrap waaaay back in January. Heavier yarn, check, stitchwork, check. Perfect!

It’s not the fastest knit, but I am motoring up the back:

This is the biggest “piece” on this cardi, and the one with the most going on at one time. Three different stitch patterns, plus waist shaping on the lower half. It’s a good kind of knit-workout. I did goof the cables and I’m not ripping to fix it. The line of two smaller cables beside the center cable, near the top. See it? I don’t think anyone but me and possibly another knitter will notice. However, I am keeping an extra eye on that now.

Smoke.

Lots of smoke in the air these past few days. And now a heat wave. I was hoping that the unseasonably cool summer would bode well for fire season. No such luck. Wednesday morning I opened my eyes and smelled smoke. Woodsmoke, the smell of a forest burning. Sadly, I now know exactly what this smell is. It never occurred to me the house was on fire. That smells different. This is what is looked like on the way to work.

That’s not fog.

Yesterday was clearer, oddly, though a second fire had started the day before, even closer to the Pasadena area. We could see the smoke plume from the office, an ominous mushroom shape.

And this morning:

Not good. I’m asthmatic, and took the precaution of walking to and from the car with a bandana over my nose and mouth most days this week. I’ve only had to do that once before. I am incredibly thankful that I have AC at work and at home, and the filter on my home system is better than I realized because there is no smoke smell. I had been leaving it off as much as possible, only using it when temps were above 90, but not this week!

I am in a constant state of crossed fingers, so to speak, wishing for those whose homes are burning or are threatened. I am almost afraid to check the news.

Feeds.

Something else I wanted to mention, not nearly as serious but more irksome in its way, is Bloglines. I’ve had a few peeps let me know that BL was no longer picking up my feed. I contacted BL customer service via email. Waited almost 2 weeks and never heard back. I checked in with WordPress, who responded in about 5 minutes, who determined my feed is valid (even providing a link to where this was shown) and that there was nothing I could do on my end. Contacted BL again several days ago, still not a peep.

Either they don’t care or they simply don’t deign to answer service requests. I know BL is notorious about this, and it’s part of the reason I switched to Google Reader a good while ago. When I noticed BL had dropped a feed, I would unsubscribe and re-subscribe. This often worked, though sometimes I had to do it more than once. The lovely Amanda tried this on my feed, though, and reported that it didn’t help. So I really don’t know what else to do.

I had noticed that my readership and comments were down, and I figured it was because I wasn’t posting nearly as often as I used to. But maybe it’s in part because of this. I feel quite helpless. I mean, I write a blog to connect with all of you, out there. I started the blog as a way to document my knits, keep track, maybe make some knitty connections. But now it’s different. I feel like there are relationships that have been cut off and there’s no way to fix it. Argh!