luxurious baby blanket

I started my first baby blanket last week! I bought this gorgeous yarn to make a "baby sack with hood," but quickly realized that a better (i.e., more likely to be used more often), item to make with such a luxurious yarn (Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk) would be a blanket. I briefly considered making a sweater with this yarn, but decided against it because I was worried about the yarn stretching and growing.

Before starting, I knitted a very small swatch using 10 yards of the yarn. After crunching some numbers based on this swatch, I decided how many stitches to cast on. I'm aiming for the final result to be an approximately 30 inch x 30 inch blanket. In reality, as long as I can use up all 13 balls of this yarn and the length and width are within 10 inches of one another, I'll be happy!

Cast on 130 stitches. Work 5 rows in garter stitch. While maintaining 5 edge stitches on each side in garter stitch, start basketweave stitch (k5, p5) on 6th row. Work in this pattern for 5 rows before switching (k on the ps, p on the ks).

Babička's mitts #2

Late on Thanksgiving Day, less than 48 hours until my grandparents were to head back to the Czech Republic, my babička said she would love another pair of fingerless mitts in a lighter color. She has been wearing the black cable twist handwarmers that I made for her back in October a lot and thought another pair in a lighter color would go better with some of her clothes. I hope I am that fashion conscious in my 70s!

No worries, I thought. I would add this to my list of holiday knits (pretty short right now - February Lady Sweater for mom, hat for Pappy, and scarf for Jari) and just put it higher in the queue so I could ship it overseas in time for a pre-Christmas arrival. Well... then I got ambitious. While I was at work on Friday, I remembered the Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK yarn that I bought at Stitches. Perfect color based on my babička's description of what she wanted: neutrals, tan or brown, perhaps with some tweed for interest. And DK weight yarn knits up faster than fingering weight yarn. But then I thought, what pattern would I use? Hmmmm... And, more importantly, could I pull it off before they left for the airport? Maybe...

Much to my surprise, I did it!!! I didn't cast on until almost 8 PM on Friday night, but I stayed up until 1AM knitting away. At that point, I had 1.5 mitts done. I woke up at 8AM to finish up. By 10:30, I was getting dressed to deliver the mitts. Given that I took some breaks, I'm estimating that this was a 7 hour project.

Pattern: Improvised. Details below.
Yarn: Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK
Yardage: 1 skein = 147 yards
Needles: Size 5
Gauge: 20 stitches for 4 inches

I looked at some of the fingerless mitt patterns on Ravelry that use DK weight yarn. None of them were exactly what I wanted, so I improvised. Here's a quick and dirty version of my "pattern":
Left mitt:
- Cast on 43 stitches. Join for working in the round.
- *k2, p2* 7 times, k4, p1, k4, p2, k2, p2
- Con't in pattern for 3 rounds total.
- Forth round: con't in pattern, but instead of the k4, cable right over the first k4 stitches, and cable left over the second k4 stitches.
- Repeat the cables every 6th row after the initial cable cross.
- At approx. 6 inches, begin thumb gusset. (In my case on the 8th cable row.) K in pattern to the 21st stitch. Place marker. M1. Place marker. One stitch increased. 44 stitches. 1 thumb gusset stitch.
- Next round, con't in pattern. When you reach the first marker, sm, m1l, knit the stitch you made in the previous row, m1r, sm. Two stitches increased. 46 stitches. 3 thumb gusset stitches.
- Next round, con't in pattern, no increases.
- Next round, con't in pattern. When you reach the first marker, sm, m1l, knit the stitch you made in the previous row, m1r, sm. 48 stitches. 5 thumb gusset stitches.
- Next round, con't in pattern, no increases.
- Repeat these last 2 rounds until you have 13 thumb gusset stitches.
- Next round, knit to marker. Remove 1st marker. Place 13 thumb gusset stitches on scrap yarn. Remove second marker. Con't in pattern. 43 stitches on needles.
- Knit until mitts measure approximately 8.5-9 inches or your desired length. Bind off loosely in purl.
- Place the 13 thumb gusset stitches on two needles. Pick up 3 stitches for the back of the thumb. 16 stitches. Knit 3-6 rounds, depending on the length you desire. Bind off loosely in purl.
- Weave in ends.

I reversed the pattern for the right mitt so that the cable would be on the top of the hand. What I mean is that after casting on, I started my first round as follows: p2, k2, p2, k4, p1, k4, *p2, K2* 7 times. The thumb gusset stitches will be between created between the 22nd and 23rd stitches on the right mitt.









In other news this week, I did some holiday cooking and baking on Tuesday. Pumpkin pie from the CSA pumpkin that I boiled and froze in October, apple crumble (a modification of Jamie Oliver's recipe), and mashed turnips (my friend Jen and I had to use up all those CSA turnips that have been collecting in our fridges!). I don't have pictures of the pie or the crumble, but both turn out fabulously, even though I was a little stressed that the pies would be too runny after seeing the consistency of the batter.

But I do have pictures of the turnips. Jen, oh so clever Jen, suggested that we use the apple peeler/corer/slicer contraption to peel the turnips rather than peeling them by hand. We tried to take the "corer" part off the contraption, but neither of us were strong enough to turn the wing nut that held the corer part in place. The result: cored turnips! No matter, though. We mashed 'em in the end anyway!

Coring turnips!


Here are some of the turnips right before we boiled them with bay leaves and salt. Don't they look silly as curly qs with cores??


All this, not to mention work and Thanksgiving day with the family, and I managed to squeeze in 21.6 miles of running and 2 yoga sessions this week. A productive week overall. One more reason to be thankful!

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we're off to get the Christmas tree!

Three FOs in one day!

It’s true! On November 2, I finished 3 projects in one day and I’m pleased as punch with myself. It really was the last ends of each of the projects, but nonetheless, it felt great to get them all done. I really wanted to finish these projects before Stitches East (on November 7) and I did it! I have completely slacked on blogging about them, but here they are, almost one month later.

Pattern: 103-1 Jacket in Eskimo
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed
Yardage: 6.75 skeins = 735.8yards
Needles: Size 11

After the hours of CPH seaming, I wasn't looking forward to the seaming this jacket. But, like knitting with bulky yarn, seaming with bulky yarn is pretty quick, relatively speaking. Since my row gauge is rarely the same as row gauge in the pattern, I appreciated the fact that the decreases (i.e., shaping) for this jacket were spaced by inches/centimeters rather than in rows. The instructions for the collar (stitch increases) were a little confusing in my opinion, but looking at close ups of FOs on Ravelry in conjunction with the pattern, I was able to figure out what to do.







Pattern: Reversible baby hat by Debbie Bliss (from the Essential Baby book)
Yarn: Kollage Yarns Hope
Yardage: .75 skeins = 120 yards
Needles: Size 2

This is leftover yarn from my Aleita Shell and I thought it would be perfect for a small baby knit. I liked the simplicity of the reversible baby hat pattern. I only made one of the two hats (the 3 x 1 rib, not the 1 x 1 rib). I also modified the pattern slightly to work in the round rather than back and forth and seaming. Who wants to seam a hat??





Pattern: basic garter stitch
Yarn: Shoalwater Bay Natural Dyed
Yardage: .75 skeins = 258.8 yards
Needles: Size 7

This was the souvenir yarn from Seattle (Bainbridge Island's Churchmouse Yarns and Teas shop). The woman that dyes the yarn is located in Washington state and only distributes in that area. I had a hard time taking pictures do the yarn texture or color any justice. Perhaps I will try again. This yarn is not warm, but will be a great early fall accessory.

CSA Extended Harvest 5: November 19, 2008

The last CSA pick up for this year. :( I still have enough veggies for the next two weeks (at least... there are still a few items in the freezer too), but I'm sad that I will actually have to pick up my own veggies at the market soon.

A little surprise in this week's veggie stash: cilantro. Who knew cilantro was still growing? I think I'm going to add it to a rice dish.

Thanks to TeamKnit and evergreenknits for your advice on the kohlrabi I got last week! I ate them raw and they were delicious! I got a few more this week and can't wait to eat them!!

Ramping up for knitting down

December 1st marks my participation, along with several other Ravelers, in a knit-down-a-long (KDAL). We are playing through May 2009 (MD S&W purchases don't count!!). Each participant must knit more yards than she acquires each month to stay "in" the contest. If she breaks even, she can stay in. But, if she acquires more yards than she knits, she "out." The winner gets a free skein of yarn, paid for by the other contestants. In the event of a tie (i.e., more than one contestant standing when we get to the end of May), the person whose "yards knit" minus "yards acquired" is the greatest, wins.

So, as a result of this "contest," and even though Stitches East was just a week ago, I felt the urge to buy. more. yarn. Must. get. more. yarn. before. 12. 1. I picked up a few goodies today and I'm officially ready to hunker down and knit down. Here's what I got today. And now that I've got it out of my system (I hope), game on, ladies!

Here's my new skein of Shalimar Yarns (hand dyed superwash sock, 405 yards). I love this semi-solid colorway! It will be perfect for a baby knit!

I also purchased 4skeins of Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria in beautiful neutral and green colorways today. 116 yards in each skein. The two greens are the same "color" (203), but they don't match identically, which is fine. I can alternate rows and give the knitted piece a rustic look!

Rocky got a special treat today too. His doggie friend Luna turned 2 last week and was kind enough to share her banana cake with Rocky. Happy birthday, Luna!

Patiently waiting for a bite.

Wait...


Yum!

In other knitting news, I cast on for a pair of socks on the way home from the hockey game last night. I bought this yarn (Spirit Trail Fiberworks "Alexandra") at the Takoma Park yarn party in the spring. It feels heavenly knitted up, and I'm happy with the way the colorway is looking as well. I chose a simple pattern (Charade by Sandra Park), since there's a lot going on color wise in this yarn.

Speaking of the hockey game, it was too warm to need our Koolhaases last night, but we snapped one shot with them on anyway. Once we got through the traffic to get to the game, a good time was had by all!

Better Koolhaas picture

While it's not a "knitting in action" shot, I have better lighting in this picture than the weird lighting in the car... so excited to wear my hat to the hockey game tonight!

Koolhaas mich!

Yippie! I'm done. Here's a crappy picture I took today (in my car at a stoplight). So excited to wear this to hockey game tomorrow. Better pictures to come!

CSA Extended Harvest 4: November 12, 2008

I am absolutely amazed at what is still coming out of the ground in this cold weather! The leaves have mostly fallen off the trees in Maryland, but the greens are still coming.

The Red Wiggler staff is more and more bundled up with each pick up... hats, gloves, boots... I'm so grateful for all the hard work they do to bring delcious food to so many tables.

One more week of veggie bliss and then I have to buy my own veggies. Not looking forward to that. I like having my greens forced on me. It's definitely getting me to eat plenty of them!



I'm excited to try out the kohlrabi this week. We had it once before in the spring as a "bonus," but I had no clue what to do with it and gave it to my mom. This time I will try to cook it up myself!

Kool for me

I'm going to a hockey game on Friday. I'm not a huge fan of any sporting event that doesn't rhyme with "soccer." Well, okay, and "Olympics." But, I'm excited about this outing because it will be some good family bonding time.

And then yesterday afternoon I decided I needed a new hat to wear to the game. So, I cast on for my second Koolhaas. I'm using leftover yarn from my CPH (Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed in blue) my Celtic tote (just the cast on row in a pretty chocolate brown). Yay, stash busting

Now, let's see if I finish on time! Two repeats down, two to go plus the crown.

Febuary lady, February baby

I've already made two February baby sweaters. They were so fun to knit that I was sure I would make another one or two or more at some point. I've also been meaning to cast on for the February lady sweater, which will be a Christmas gift for my mom. These projects seem to go hand in hand, so I decided to cast on for both this weekend.

I swatched for February lady last weekend on size 7 needles. I'm using Valley Yarn's Sheffield, the same yarn I used for the gallery jacket, in black. Sherbert (named after the error message Sherbert on Ravelry), my trusty sheep tape measure, told me that I have about 16.5-17 stitches per four inches using the 7s. The pattern calls for 18 stitches per inch. I’m liking the drape of this yarn with the size 7 needles, so I’m not going to go down a needle size, I’m going to knit the smaller sweater (35 bust) instead.

I worked the first button hole this morning using the button hole instructions in the back one of my Interweave magazines. I think this method is similar to the method the pattern recommends, but I find the Interweave instructions easier to follow.

As for Feruary baby: I bought this Araucania Magallanes yarn in 2005. Way before Ravelry, that's for sure. I have 2 colorways: this one with whites and browns and another one that has blues, burgundy, and black. I tried to make a ribbed scarf (k1, p1) with the blue colorway a long time ago. I didn't like the look and kept starting over... again and again... using different basic stitch patterns (1x1 rib, 2x2 rib, garter stitch, etc.). I finally gave up and threw the 10 inch scarf and the ball of yarn into my stash bin. Yesterday, when I was organizing my stash, I tried to frog the beginnings of that scarf, which has been rolling around in my stash bin for a few years. It was nearly impossible to frog. The yarn seems to have almost felted to itself at the end of each row. After trying to unravel and untangle for 20 minutes, I finally have to give up and threw it away. The sad new is that I still have about 3/4 of the blue colorway, which I really hate. Now I have no idea what to do with it!

The reason for that little detour is that I realized yesterday that one of the main reasons I didn't like the results I was getting with this yarn (other than the colors!) was because the thick/thin aspect of this yarn was really obvious on the needles I was using (6s? 7s?). So with the FBS, I am using size 2 needles. Much smaller than what is recommended, but I am loving the results because the thin parts aren't too thin. And the fabric, surprisingly, isn't too stiff. Now we'll see if I have enough yarn to finish the sweater. I might have to add a little of something else at the bottom, but that will be a game time decision. I plan to work the entire sweater in garter stitch because I believe the gull pattern and this yarn would not look good together.

As a side note, I cooked up some delicious lentil curry with brown basmati rice tonight. I served the curry with yogurt. I also brew some delicious earl grey tea this weekend, adding mint leaves and dried lavender for fun. I think the idea of lavender mint tea idea steeped (pun intended!) into my unconscious from the DC knitting meet-ups at Teaism.

Coincidentally, I found a great website for cooking times for whole grains. I bought the basmati rice in bulk, so there were no cooking instructions. But, no fear, the Internet to the rescue: http://www.grandtimes.com/Whole_Grains.html

Stitches East

Yesterday, I took the day off to go to Stitches East. The festival is moving to Connecticut next year, so I thought I had to seize the opportunity while this it was local.

Here are some pictures of the fiber goodies.

The only thing missing at Stitches are the animals, alpacas, sheep, etc. The MD Sheep and Wool festival has plenty of animals, which adds to the atmosphere. I did manage to find a sheep puppet at the Malabrigo tent. I think I look a little crazed... I call this look "fiber overload."

"Suecrafty" was tempted by the fun fur, but we managed to talk her down from the ledge. Her little one, sleeping peaceful for almost the entire time and adorned in his knitted goodies, stole the show. The knitting ladies were cooing over him everywhere we turned!

So, what did I buy?? Here are the latest additions to my stash!

Hand-dyed yarn from the Serendipitous Ewe


Shalimar Yarns Honey Worsted

Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK (dumpster diving at Woolstock! 1/2 off!)

Valley Yarns Huntington (This one is for a stranded mitt KAL scheduled for the new year. WEBS had a great mitt knit up in this stuff! And, I figured I’d try a less expensive yarn for my first stranded project… I’m thinking I’m not going to be a very good “strander”.)

All that shopping and beautifully arranged yarn inspired me to organized my stash. I decided to put in an empty under the bed storage container. This is much better than the large plastic tub I used to have my stash in because now the skeins/balls are only 1 or 2 layers deep. Before I would have to dig for what I was looking for, creating a mess in the mean time. Not everything fit in the under the bed storage contain, so some of my worsted weight leftover ended up in a shoe box.

CSA Extended Harvest 3: November 5, 2008

My half of this week's share (the other half already with my CSA "partner"). I am loving fried green tomatoes, so I was excited to see more green tomatoes this week. I still have 2 peppers from last week so I wasn't sad to see only one green pepper this week. The greens have been wonderful... I'm going to miss them 3 weeks from now!