Answer to Shalom Question

Anonymous asked if I had published the directions to the Shalom cardigan on my blog. I didn't design it, but you can get the pattern here. It's by Meghan McFarlane, and has been modified many times by many others. The photo is of the original, borrowed from Ravelry. Meghan's blog, Involving the Senses, has a collection of ideas on it, too. My knitting friend Nancy the Quilter has made an especially lovely one with long sleeves. Maybe if she reads this she will post a link to a photo of it. She based a lot of her changes on ones by someone named Ishi--here is a link to her Ravelry page listing them. If you are on Ravelry, just type "shalom" in the patterns area and you will find the pattern, then you can look at all the lovely variants. It's really popular!

My next "really popular" pattern may well be the one everyone is liking so much in the current Knitty, Decimal. But I am not supposed to be starting new things when I have that queue awaiting me! I do have yarn I could use for that one already, another colorway of the same yarn I am using for Bridget!

Speaking of which, time to go work on my knitting. I hope that helped, Anonyous! And you readers are welcome to ask questions at any time!

Babies and Buttons

I have to admit that I spent most of the weekend running errands and working on my slightly knitting-related project, but I did get some knitting done, as well. On Saturday, despite mis-reading the chart and having to rip out 12 rows, I got through Chart B on Flit ‘n Float. Now, I realize if I just worked on that, and didn’t do all these pesky errands and typing tasks, I’d be done already. But, really, kids, let’s remember that knitting isn’t a race! I have to remind myself of that occasionally, too. I am really enjoying the Nyoni yarn, so there’s no harm in taking it slowly as long as I do keep going. I’m in the thicker section, and I like how this is going to be a more sturdy version than many of the others I’ve seen. That’s why I am going to make it a bit longer, so I’ll have a warm and wearable scarf.

As if helping my students, chatting with friends and meeting nice new folks isn’t enough of a reward for going to the yarn shop on a Saturday, we also got to enjoy the new Yarn Shop Baby for quite a while. Little Abigail is very beautiful and has so many nice, hand-knitted things! Pat and I both got to hold her for a while and were trusted to watch her while her mom made daring runs to the grocery store and pizza place in the shopping complex. Even 5 minutes away seems long to the mother of an 11-day-old baby!


During my brief knitting time on Sunday, I worked on the late, lamented Bridget’s phoenix-like reincarnation. It’s coming along splendidly, and I am enjoying doing the body all in one piece. I got up to the first buttonhole, so that’s some progress in a garment with very long rows!

Speaking of those buttonholes, here are the Bridget buttons that I’ve been meaning to show you. Aren’t they beautiful? Each is hand-made by Georgia Morgan, my former knitting mentor. What a nice thing to have for your sweater—buttons with sentimental value! Since the yarn is from Texas sheep and hand-dyed in small quantities, and I am, at least so far, the only person on Ravelry to knit this pattern, it’s going to be quite the original. I hope it resembles the original—I am thinking of doing the sleeves in the round, too. That way the only seams will be at the arms. Woo hoo, I hate seams. Of course, arm seams are my least favorites!

And look, I have more buttons! Lee and I went to the JoAnn Fabrics store and found these big, sparkly buttons to put on Itchy Shalom. As a bonus, we ran into Cloth Lady Suzanne there and got to catch up with what’s going on with her since she left her church job and because head of cashiers at that store. She has been spinning a lot, so I hope to see some of her work when she gets a chance to visit the yarn shop!

I have noticed that my shoulders hurt less when I don’t spend 3-4 hours a day, every day, knitting. I guess this is telling me I was going a bit too strong the last few months, trying to churn out all those gifts and such. That’s another reason to slow down and enjoy my projects a bit more. I hope I can take my own advice, but I must confidentially say that I look forward to a LOT of knitting tonight.

Keeping My Bargain with Myself

I am proud of myself. At the beginning of the year, I said I would complete a work in progress for every new item started. I also vowed to try to use up my stash. And lookee here. I finished the Itchy Shalom sweater that I started back in September, thereby removing another item from the WIP list. And it used up my Brindle Hill Leicester Longwool stash, too. The colors are beautiful, aren't they? They do sort of remind me of Red Hat Ladies, but those dears don't own the colors red and purple, do they? I'd be scary if I put on my red cowboy hat with this, though!

As you can see from the back view, I did not put any sleeves on it. I have a little yarn left, so I may tighten up the sleeves a bit. But, I ran out of yarn right where I'd hoped to end the body of the sweater. Nothing left for sleeves.

As you can see, I made it shorter than the original. It looks funny on the bottom because I haven't blocked it yet. That's next on the agenda.

I am waiting to get buttons for it, since week after next I am hoping to go to Old Oaks Ranch as part of a Hill Country Getaway with Lee. They say they have lots of buttons there, so I wan tto check that out. I am holding the sweater together with a hair clip.

Speaking of hair, yes, it is a different color. But at least you won't have to look at my gray patch for a while. I have job interviews coming up, so I want to look young-ish.

Now that I have made two of these sweaters, I will give them a rest. Everyone I know seems to have made one since my original last fall--the ones with sleeves have been very nice, so I am kind of tempted to get enough yarn to do that...at the same time there are so many other options for patterns that I hate to repeat the same one over and over!

I have started my next "new" project, the Flit 'n Float scarf that Birdy designed. I will share my progress on that one with you tomorrow. For my next "WIP" project, I will re-start Bridget with larger needles and more stitches. That's one I can work on without too much thought, so it will be a good carry-along project.

The sock is moving along a few rows per day. It'll move along faster next week when I have waiting to do and can't carry the big bag around.

I hope you had a good weekend!

Days to Celebrate! Yarn to Salivate...over

My personal knitting is not very exciting right now. I am heading up the leg on the Charybdis sock, and it is a fine looking sock. Everyone said “ooh” and “aah” when I tried it on yesterday. And I do a few rows on Itchy Shalom each day—that’s as much as I can handle of the slippery yarn plus slippery needles combo. Mostly I am concerned that I won’t have enough yarn to put any sleeves on it. And I don’t think I can integrate any other bulky yarn I own into it, because nothing at all has a similar texture. But, I have a candidate or two, and may have to give it a try!

Celebrations

I usually get a lot done on Wednesdays, but yesterday I chose to chat and mingle during Chicks with Sticks, rather than sitting and knitting. There was a lot to talk about! One of our most regular readers and commenters, Katie G., had her baby on Tuesday, so there was a lot of talk and excitement on that topic. We can’t wait to see baby Abby, though I am trying to leave the family alone, and know they have tons of visitors as it is. There will be lots of visiting time soon enough!

And yesterday was the 4th anniversary of my local yarn shop, or shoppe, as they spell it. I showed up right on Day 1, and have been there at least twice a week most weeks ever since then! It’s a little home away from home. In these rough economic times, it really pays to hug your LYS owner, and to remember to buy something! (Heh, after spending my wedding gift certificate, I think I own all the yarn I will ever need from there, but I am sure I can be persuaded to change my mind.)

Note that today's photo (from July 2007) combines both exciting events. There's Pat staffing the LYS cash register, and Katie long before baby Abby was an imminent presence. Glad we still have both Katie and the shop to enjoy!

Tonight some friends and I are trying out a new tea shop in Round Rock, whose owner said she’d welcome knitters. That sounds good to me—the menu has delicious sandwiches on it, and I hear there are really nice couches to sit and knit on! I will report on this tomorrow!

Cool Yarn

I’ll end on a cool yarn alert: Dena bought some Araucania Ruca yarn in her travels over the weekend. This is 100% sugar cane derived! Finally, sugar that won’t make me fat! You can’t see it in the illustration on the link, but it has a lovely sheen, slightly “sugary” even. It feels very good, dry like cotton, but not harsh. I gots to get me some of that! They say you can make socks out of it, though it is DK weight. I’ll get at least two skeins, so I’ll have enough for socks or a scarf, but I’ll probably wait until my job situation settles out (and I have some prospects, so there’s hope I can smoothly transition from my current contract to something else!).

Feeling Knotty

Knotty sounds a lot like "naughty," and that's how I feel based on the knitting, or lack thereof, that I have done this weekend. Other life events came up, what can I say? But I did stop and smell the flowers, and look at the butterflies, a bit, as evidenced by this image from the amazing garden in front of our church (where my musical partners for the morning were stuck waiting for someone to come unlock the building).

Anyway, my fine excuse yesterday for not knitting was that I went down to New Braunfels to look for a wedding dress at a very nice bridal/formalwear shop there. Katie from the comments/LYS took me there, since apparently every formal item ever purchased in her family came from there, and they sure know her! We had a blast, and I got a lovely dress in the exact color I wanted, and one I can wear my wedding shawl with --I am so glad I found one with sleeves but not a jacket.Don't worry, I will post a photo when the time comes. Katie kept asking me if she was pressuring me, but no, I do like the dress, and I feel much better knowing I didn't have to decide what to wear all by myself. This is the fanciest dress I ever owned: I never went to prom, have never been a bridesmaid, and got married last time in a suit. This is my big moment! Since I drove, I didn't get to knit until I got home in the evening.

And that knitting involved unraveling my second Shalom to the top border and starting it again. Why? Because wow did I misread the instructions. I am making this, because I am naughty and couldn't stop myself once I realized I had enough of this really weird yarn I got from the place that sells discontinued yarns to make a Shalom. This yarn is Leicester Longwool (an heirloom sheep) in a red and purple colorway. It feels, um, interesting. It is both slick and itchy. And let's not forget hairy. And heavy. The texture is quite different, to say the least. I had wanted to make something out of it, but only had 400 yards. That's enough for a Shalom! The yarn is so slippery that the first ball flew out of the yarn winder and I had to mostly do it by hand. I went slowly with the second one but wow, did it make a BIG ball of yarn. Anyway, I did get it started, but because I had made the first Shalom without the patterning, I hadn't paid a lot of attention to how it worked. I missed a couple of rows and had the twisted stitches on one side in the first band of increases and on the other side in the second. Oops. Ah well, this afternoon, while watching my son sand his Ebay pine guitar body, I got well into the third tier of the yoke, and I think it will be fine. My son has declared I will need to wear a thick long-sleeved shirt under this one, though! Photos to come!

I won't get much knitting done over the next few days, due to more rehearsing and singing, but after Wednesday, I'll be a knitting machine, I hope! Today's music went well, so I have high hopes for Tuesday. Nothing's wrong with having more than one hobby--and music and knitting go together real well.

Thanks to those of you who signed up as "followers;" it is fun to see your tiny faces. I mostly read blogs using Bloglines, so let me know if you get a follower indicator on yours, and I'll sign on so I show up!

It's a Simple Shalom Sweater!

Shalom Sweater
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Well, that went quickly, did it? Especially considering I didn't work on it at all on Tuesday or Wednesday. I am not terribly thrilled with how the last skein of yarn was such a different color from the others, but people say that makes it look "natural."

After I finished it, I took it to the LYS and consulted with Andrea, who is the best seamstress I know, about how fat the arms looked. She agreed with me that it would be a good idea to stitch the armhole down a bit and make it smaller. I took an inch off each side, and it came out SO much nicer. Now it is a very handsome sweater vest. I think it really looks good from the back--it is a length I like. I can't believe something I made so fast came out so nice. The "I'm Allergic to Wool" yarn knit up thick but not as heavy as I feared. It will be warm, but not too warm in the fall/winter. I actually wore it in the yarn shop today and was not hot.

I also got a really good button for it. It's one of the Crone Art fimo buttons they have at Bluebonnet, and it really brings out the subtle colors in the yarn (there are touches of blue and brown). I considered an agate button, but we thought it might be too heavy.

Today has been a good knitting day. The hurricane Ike did not affect us here much at all--just some wind. But we had a lot of people at the LYS, some refugees, others just needing to get out of the house. I got to teach someone to crochet and to do "lace surgery" on a friend's MS4, which had experienced a dropped stitch. It is VERY easy to "miss" one of the stitches in a K3tog, and that is what had happened. I honestly can't believe I fixed it, because I thought I had just put it together a bit and she'd have to re-do it. But nope, while it was not 100% perfect, my repair sufficed! I was so glad to be able to help, and to look at the pattern, since I won't be making that until a long time from now, given the size of my queue!

I decided to make a simple scarf after giving a new knitter the idea to make a K1P1 scarf out of self-striping sock yarn. I got my former student going on one out of Odyssey, which changes colors really nicely, then I decided to buy some of the new Encore Sock yarn the shop got in, and make a K1P1 scarf for Lee in the reds and blacks colorway. I like this pattern, because the way the ribbing contracts, you end up with what appears to be the knit side of stockinette on both sides. This DK weight self-striping yarn, by the way, would make a great hat and mittens set, too. It's machine washable, so it would make a good gift for a teen.

OK, back to knitting! Just had to share my finished object!

Knitting through Frustration

Shalom Cardigan
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I had a lot of frustrations over the weekend, so was glad to have my knitting. Had some difficulties on the band bus (I think my bus kids didn't do anything awful, but had to deal with a pissy bus driver), the power went off for hours on Saturday, the cable went off later so I ended up missing BOTH the Gators and the Longhorns play football, and on Sunday I scheduled a rehearsal for the wrong time, so I missed most of the Cowboy game! Gee. Not my weekend for football. I mainly love football because I get a lot of knitting done when it is on, you see!

And, as you can see, a lot of knitting was done on Shalom. It is somewhat more attractive than it appears to be in the photo. The super bulky yarn makes for a thick fabric, so I think it will be like one of those vests you can wear for warmth, not just decoration. Looking at how the arms are done (which is an interesting way, I think--creates cap sleeves), I am not sure if I will be able to add sleeves to it or not. My other alternative is to lengthen it. I see by the thousands of Lucky Magazines that have come to my house in the last few weeks (I got a free subscription when I bought some shoes online, and they sent the first three months one per week) , long sweater vests are in fashion. We'll see what I think when I finish knitting skein #3, which I am about to start on as soon as I am not working.

I had to go to the Big Fancy LYS south of the river to buy a new, longer size 8 needle for when I was working on the last part of the yoke. Actually, the main body section barely fits on those needles, and with such sturdy yarn, stitches do try to pop off. They don't squish up like a wool would. And, heh heh, since I was at a yarn shop with different stuff from the usual yarn shop, I had to get some sock yarn. I completed my "Panda" collection by getting two balls each of Panda Soy and Panda Wool. I mainly got the Panda Wool because Beccano loved the colors. He wants a hacky sack ball made from it. I don't know if I can part with it (and yes, the photo is blurry, oops).

I did a bit of work on the Maelstrom on Saturday, but when I was wandering around town doing fun stuff, I mostly worked on the Stripey Chevrons socks. It seems like I didn't spend all that much time on them, but I did make some progress. It's a simple pattern but I keep YO-in in the wrong places. Grr, I hate it when I do that!

Other than the usual fun with the usual folks at the usual yarn shop Saturday morning, there's not much other knitting news to report. I'll check in with you later in the week, I am sure.

A Simple Shalom, Y'all

Shalom
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I have been wanting to knit something with this particular yarn ever since it came in to the shop early in the spring. It is a very bulky, lumpy yarn in mottled grays that look a lot like the river rocks and the lovely smooth stones on the Irish coast where rivers join the sea. I just couldn't find anything that was right for it, pattern-wise. Plus the yarn is really expensive (even with discount). It's Farmhouse Yarns "I Am Allergic to Wool" and is mostly cotton, but a strand of shiny acrylic gives the yarn its texture and just a little (not too much) zing. I just fell for that yarn. Totally not my usual thing, but so what?

On Wednesday or Thursday I literally stumbled on the Shalom cardigan while staring at something. Maybe it was the Lime and Violet Daily Chum, which has lots of inspiring ideas in it. It is that shape I like so much and called for bulky yarn, so I figured I was all set. I bought 4 mega-costly skeins of this yarn and set out to make yet another overly expensive shrug-like item. I can't help it, I like them.

So far, my issues are:

• I have to use size 8 needles to get close to a right gauge, and this yarn would prefer a 10 in my usual gauge (calls for 11 on the label). So, wow, it takes some effort to make the stitches. I do think it will actually end up the right size, though.
• Also, the patterning on the yoke of the sweater will not show up in this lumpy yarn, which I could have guessed. That does save me hours of knitting and purling through the back loop with inflexible yarn, so yay to that "problem."
• It is my hope that the sweater doesn't end up too big. It is quite a flexible pattern, so I am not too worries. I am thinking it will go quickly, too. That will mean I can keep on with Maelstrom.

I have a photo of my newest socks, too. Always have some socks going! This yarn is really nice, and is self striping, but randomly so. I have been going on about my love of bamboo for quite some time now, and Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! stuff does nothing to change my mind at all. Such lovely colors that blend in and out! And they don't hide the patterning, as far as I can tell (I only have one pattern repeat done, though, since I have been concentrating on the shawl mostly).

Maelstrom is going fine, but not fine enough to merit another photo. Maybe after the weekend, when I don't have too much planned other than knitting and watching football. Too bad this week it's the funny Manning brother on, not the extra cute Manning brother, who was on last night (I loves my Mannings, but that is not a knitting topic).

I look forward to tomorrow, since I know I have at least one student, and hope another one or two show up. There's one (hi to her if she is reading) who I have really been enjoying the progress of. Everything she has made has been so pretty--even her first scarf! She has such great taste in yarn that I know she will be scary in a few months when she has all her learning curve completed!

I'll probably be back on Monday, so until then, keep up the knitting, and say hi if you feel like it!