Cashmere Love

This weekend I finished the red cashmere scarf I had been working on. As I mentioned before, it's a Jade Sapphire pattern that has 7 different patterns to knit with their lovely worsted weight cashmere. I chose one with a pattern of multiple wraps.

Same Picture as Last Entry

I reposted this so you can see the pattern. Here's what it looks like with me wearing it:

Finished scarf with fringe on it.

I decided to add fringe. I am going to separate each strand into the plies the yarn comes in, since each of those three plies is two-ply, if that makes sense. I also used fabric glue to tack down the ends I wove in, since the yarn frays into the three plies so easily.

The project ended up 80" long, which is longer than the instructions said to make it but will allow me to loosely wrap it and drape it nicely. Now my only issue is that it is a blue red and my trench coat is more of a cherry red. I will pretend it's on purpose.

Clash between coat and scarf

Back to Snoods

I started a white snood yesterday, and did not read my own instructions. Because of that, it looks different, rather ruffly due to extra increases. So, I may keep this one for myself and make another one for my friend Ann in North Carolina. I wanted hers to be a light tan anyway, to match blonde hair. I just have to find the right yarn. The white I found in my own stash is nice but perhaps too white. I did find, at the grocery store, some of the thin hairbands I wanted to try to use for the elastic bit of the snoods. Of course, they came in a set with some weird thicker ones, but at least I have a couple I can use for the next snoods. I am enjoying the experimentation.

There is a new yarn store in the town where I live. I sure hope they do well. I will not be volunteering to help out, though. I couldn't even bring myself to do the yarn crawl this year. I sure got burned last time, sigh. But, the two people I taught to knit at work are really enjoying their projects, and I have local folks to help. That's just enough for me. It will be nice to visit a shop, but I think I will wait a while before formally teaching or anything. I don't need to be made fun of or talked about behind my back anymore. Things are good now! They will stay that way!

Back to making my fringe. Enjoy your own knitting, crocheting, and whatever.

Other knitting fun

The reason I didn't blog anything all month until yesterday was that I spent most of the month on a work trip to Toronto, Canada. September is a great time of year to go there! Of course my luggage contained a lot of yarn!

I got to the halfway point on my Unleaving scarf, but then I set it aside, because carrying the pattern around and marking every row made it not as portable as I'd like. I'll finish it off soon, though--it's pretty.

Unleaving, halfway finished

Naturally, on a trip to a new place one visits yarn shops. Not having a car meant I couldn't go as many places as I normally would, but it turned out my hotel (the venerable Delta Chelsea) was not too far from Kensington Market, where Lettuce Knit, made "famous" by the Yarn Harlot, is located. So, I took a taxi there and spent my first Saturday afternoon in Toronto happily ensconced at their table, knitting away. Here's a shot of one of the new owners and the shop interior, which is brimming with Canadian yarn.

Lettuce Knit--very scenic! (and that is my cool Canadian cardigan on the chair)

One of the things I'd vowed to do during my time in Canada was try to buy things made there. That was no problem in this yarn shop, since the new owners are trying really hard to have mostly Canadian products there. Other than a few "standards," the store was brimming with Canadian fiber products, including some really cool stuff.

My Canadian yarn stash

Here's what I ended up with. The sock yarn, which is mostly brown, is Indigo Dragonfly (where artistry and attitude collide, according to the label), and a cashmere wool blend. The colorway is "Captain Tightpants" because all the colors in the collection have a Serenity/Firefly theme. Mmmm. Captain Mal. Oops, that gets me all daydreamy about romance on his current show...oh never mind.

As for that orange yarn, it is less intense than the photo indicates. And it is totally SPECIAL. It is InfiKnit One of a Kind 100% silk laceweight. It's all thick and thin and really amazing in texture. The label says "yarn softens dramatically with handling." I can't figure out what to make from it. The young woman (my kids' age!) working at the shop was making a very lightweight cardigan out of it, but that takes two skeins. Maybe a shrug? I still like those even if they are not in fashion. I will think on it.

When I decided to change projects, I tried to start my Latvian mittens. However, the 00 needles I brought still didn't give me the gauge I wanted. So, I put that away and will try again on 000s now that I am home. I next broke out the cashmere. The Jade Sapphire 7 Gorgeous Scarf Patterns kit I recently bought. I am making the Anya option in the most beautiful shade of red, which is not as bright as the photo below.

The scarf went everywhere with me. Here it's on the GO train to Pickering.

I got well into the second skein of the scarf on the trip, and today I just finished the third skein. It's 60" now, but the instructions said to make it 74" so I will. This photo shows the color more accurately:

Current state of Anya scarf.

I am enjoying that it's an easy to remember pattern but looks interesting. The yarn is fascinating in its construction. It is made from three strands of two-ply that are twisted around each other. It unravels into the three strands very easily, which makes me think a fringe would be really pretty. It looks like I will have a skein left over. I doubt it, but it would be cool if that was enough for a small, warm hat. I saw this pattern on Ravelry, the Almond Hat, that I would love to try. It has a short version.

I had a great time in Canada. My only regret is not getting to see all my friends there--I only ended up seeing one of my friends (we went to Niagara Falls and saw a LOT of vineyards and grapes). I did have a beautiful view out my hotel window.

Non-knitting content. I could also see the CN tower, to the right of the giant Charlie Sheen and buildings.

I guess that sums up my September knitting. I am sitting here wearing the snood I made yesterday. I think I will have trouble giving it away. I definitely want one of my own, and judging from my friends' reactions, a lot of them want one, too!

Knitting Inspirations

Not only did I actually go to a genuine LYS the Friday before New Year's, but I also got some other new yarn in the past week, one as a gift. I have been trying to knit from my very copious stash this past year or so, since I have been in the throes of my "knitting identity crisis," but like the ones I mentioned yesterday, these "spoke" to me (or showed up!).

I have been wondering if I'd ever get to write this blog post, though--ever had one of those days when technology hates you? Well, all of my various technologies for getting photos onto blog posts broke this morning, and I got a bit frustrated. Finally I found a cable, dealt with some issues on the phone and the computer, and was able to copy all my recent photos onto my computer. WHEW! Still not sure why I can't upload photos to Facebook today, but I will live. I can at least blog now!

First I wanted to show you this very interesting yarn that I found when Jody and I were shopping. I know it looks like a bit of a mess, but I saw it knitted up and woven (that was lovely!) and I really liked the tweedy effect it made. The yarn is called Mericash Thousand Colors and it is from Punta Yarns in Uruguay. Of course, it is no longer being made, sigh. It's a merino cashmere blend with 3 strands that each change colors. My plans for this are to knit it tightly and make myself a pair of warm gloves. I LOVE my very old cashmere fingerless gloves, so I predict I will like these.

Mericash Thousand Colors

And look, I found PhotoShop so I could crop pictures.

Next is yarn I ordered from the blog's old friend Ray Whiting at Knitivity. I was really intrigued by both of these. The one on top I am totally in love with. The colors are so subtle and muted. I realize I am on a real tear with hand coverings, but I really, really want to make another pair of mitts in this. I have a simple pattern with cute edgings in mind. I may have enough left over to make a matching hat and/or headband, too. The bottom skein reminds me of blue and white china, even though it has pale orange or cream color in it. It will probably be socks, if I ever get back to those. I am suddenly getting holes in my socks, some newer ones. No moth signs, but it makes me hesitant to make more.

Sock Yarn from Knitivity

And next is yarn I received as a Yule gift from my friend Diana, who went to Ireland and thought of me when she saw this yarn there. As you can see, it's a boucle yarn, in a lovely reddish purple-y color. It feels oh so soft. I wish I knew what the yardage was, because there is a pattern in Vogue Knitting this month for a very simple sweater with a twisted front that would look cool in this knitted very loosely--it would be more of an overlay than a sweater. I may have to get one of those things that measures how much yarn you have! I think this is a goodly amount, since it is thin yarn and tightly wound. it's surely enough to make a very simple shawl that would showcase the yarn.

Lovely Irish Mohair

Diana also sent me a really lovely mohair scarf or wrap that was hand knit in County Clare near the Burren, one of my favorite spots on earth. I love the very simple pattern used.On larger needles, this could be done in the boucle.

Scarf I got as a gift.

So, these are all the things that are inspiring my knitting these days. Now I need to write one more blog post and I can knit! It is SO nice to finally have a relaxing weekend.

In Love with the Ultimate Gift

Another day, another no job action, and I got tired of knitting on the shawl (it's in a light section now), so was reading my email, when the Knitting Daily for the day came. As a good little email marketing sucker, I of course clicked on a link in the article about what men like about sweaters (really good discussion of survey results, too: men like plain dark sweaters--huh!).

The link took me to the sweater depicted in the illustration, which is called The Ultimate Gift. Click that. See its beauty. Give them a happy click-through and forward rate, go on. Now, is that NOT a lovely thing? Cables, cashmere, interesting shoulders. It would make even knitting something navy blue fun! I want it in Suna size.

What's that, Suna? You live in Texas? It's 62 degrees out on January 11? The sweater would roast you? Well, poo on you! I'll have you know I wear my silk cardigan top-down sweater when it gets cold inside or out, and it feels toasty (at times, roasty). Yeah, I've worn it three times this year! Well worth the cost of ten balls of Silk Garden and two of Cash Iroha (you do the math, bearing in mind I did get a discount).

So, even if it might be a wee tad bit warm, I printed out that pattern and will save it to drool over, and put it in my Ravelry queue, and if I ever finish the other clothing items I already have yarn for AND get a paying gig, I may well make a me-sized version (because no man in my family would wear a warm cabled pullover, even in a nice, dark color).

Birthday Shawl Beauty

Birthday Shawl Border
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Important note! I did not knit this shawl! The lovely and talented Jody (Killerpeach) did it as a birthday gift to me (birthday was in March, but we haven't seen each other much lately). Whoa, what a gift! I have a picture of it spread out, and a close up on my Flickr pages. The yarn is a slightly vareigated silk/wool blend that is light and warm (so I can take it in to work and wear when I get cold--it matches my cubicle decor better than my purple and green mohair one).

The pattern is Sivia Harding's Shetland Garden Faroese shawl. It has some nice shaping that makes it hang very well (when not serving as a headscarf). I want to make one of these shawls, too--maybe someone else wil have to be the lucky recipient!

Today we had a really fun day, Jody and I. Jody met me her LYS (the one in south Austin) and looked and looked. While waiting on Jody, the sales staff there were very helpful and I think among three of us, we finally figured out how to do the corner on the Cherry Leaf shawl (yay). They all agreed they are very unclear directions, though, which made me feel better. It's not that I am slow or anything!

I purchased some yummy yarn. I tried not to. But...well...there was stuff they don't have up in Cedar Park...

First is some pale blue (skydrop) Voile de la Mer yarn from Tilli Tomas, a silk and seacell blend. Face it, I just wanted some seacell. I'll make the little dragon scale wristlets in the knitting pattern a day calendar out of them, probably knitting two strands together, because I got the thinner yarn. It really doesn't smell very ocean-y. But it is shiny and soft.

Next we have some Koigu KPPPM sock yarn. Can you believe it, I never bought any before??? They said they had finally gotten in some new colors, and they were flying out. For some reason I didn't get purple (which was very nice), Instead I got some very dark blues and turquoises.

And last in the yarn dept. is Graceful Lace from Yarn Place. It's a laceweight (duh) with very long color changes, 100% wool. The colors are muted greens to purples, violet...very hard to describe, because the colors are subtle and grayed, not vibrant. It's one of those yarns that if the label didn't say so, you would not believe the skeins are the same colorway. I think it would look really interesting on a round shawl, and I want to make some round ones.

(It won't be the next one, though, because I want to make the snowdrop shawl in Lace Style out of some yarn I hope gets dyed this weekend by Ray).

THEN, Jody talked me into buying some roving. Because she thought I should learn to spin. Well, it was pretty inexpensive, so I got some. And we went to her house (after margaritas), and she set me up with a drop spindle. I was predictably awkward at it, but was getting the hang of it by the time I went home. I came back with a borrowed spindle and an instruction book. We'll see how I do!

Must go play with my toys now...