I finished my vest over the weekend. The steeks weren't as bad as I thought they would be. The yarn I used was slippery, so I had to take the extra step of doing an overcast stitch on the cut edge. I don't know if that will help anything or not, time will tell.

Now I'm back to working on a sweater I started in July.

Since my DH has been goose hunting since Wednesday, I've had a lot of knitting time. I started a fair isle vest from an old Knitter's Magazine. This vest will be my first experience with steeks. I'm using Peruvian Alpaca yarn that I purchased from Elann quite some time ago. See, I said I would start using up my stash...

My little foray into weaving was short-lived, not that I haven't enjoyed learning something new, it just isn't the same as knitting.
So, in my effort to clean up some of the UFOs, I have finished my black flower basket shawl.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to report in the knitting department. My 93 year old grandmother was moved into assisted living on August 1st and we've been cleaning out her house ever since. You know those news stories you read about people having a house so full of stuff that a person can't even sit down? That's my grandmother's house. We have filled 5 20-yd dumpsters and will probably need at least one more before we are through. It's been fun in a lot of ways, kind of a treasure hunt, but we are all ready for it to be completed. On Thursday Aug. 24 we are having our second estate sale, since we couldn't put everything out during the first one.

She has an old floor loom in her basement which she said I could have. I don't know anything about weaving, but she also has a table loom that I'm going to use to learn. She was a knitter, but did more crochet than knitting. And she embroidered a lot of linens and added crochet edgings. She had a large stash of yarn, but all of it had to be thrown out because it wasn't stored properly. I have a small stash and will definitely be thinking twice before I make another yarn purchase.

I'm satisfied with the size, I thought it might be too small before I started the final chart.

Kiri is done except for weaving in the ends. Here's a close up which shows the colors more accurately.

I'm still knitting kiri. It takes about two hours to knit 10 rows, so it will be awhile before it's finished. I purchased two skeins, but I think I'll use only one and make it smaller. Since I'm using size 4 needles, the pattern is tighter than the original pattern and it's one of the reasons it's taking me longer to finish.

Blogger is misbehaving. I posted something yesterday and it shows up in the archives but not here.

I started another flower basket shawl using black fingering weight yarn. The shawl is almost done, but when I received my order from www.handpaintedyarn.com


I had to start another shawl. I love the vivid colors! This is lace weight wool, a little on the scratchy side, but I don't mind it, quite a change from the soft alpaca, though. I'm making the kiri shawl, which is very much like the flower basket shawl. At first, I was hesitant to make the kiri because I thought I would get bored, but the colors keep it interesting.

Like usual, I'm late to the party. Here's my Flower Basket Shawl from IK Fall 2004.


I knit this with KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud on size 6 needles. I added one extra repeat of the lower basket pattern, but it was still a little bit smaller than the shawl in the magazine. My blocked shawl was 52 X 24 inches.

If I want to make that bolero, then I'm going to have to buy more yarn because I can't get gauge with the yarn that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. So I started knitting a vest with that yarn, but it was so ugly I had to rip it out. I don't like the look of garter stitch as the main stitch in a garment and this pattern was almost all garter stitch. I had the back completed and the left front was almost done.

I think I should do some knitting for the Dulaan Project. Mossy Cottage has organized some knitters to contribute hats, mittens, scarves and sweaters to the project.

Ballet Neck Cardigan by Annie Modesitt



This was knit using Schachenmayr Micro, a soft, slippery acrylic mircofibre. I made only two modifications, smaller bobbles and I-cord instead of the twisted cord. I haven't blocked it yet, so hopefully the edging will stop curling after that is done. My next project was going to be a bolero, but since this is much like a bolero--size-wize, I might knit something else.

I'm still working on my cardigan, in spite of all the little mistakes I'm making, I think it will be done this week. I bought some yarn yesterday to start making a bolero from Vogue Knitting. While perusing Cast-On at the bookstore,I saw a cardigan that I really liked, but refrained from buying the magazine. I have way too many knitting magazines as it is.

An FO Yay! It's too late for the baby shower, though. But I can still give it to her when the baby comes.


Now I'm making Annie Modesitt's Ballet Neck Cardigan from IK Spring 2004. I'm hoping to have it done to wear to a wedding on the 7th. I should know better than to set a deadline because I almost never get them done in time. This project is going quickly though, so there is hope.

This purse was made with Clip from Klaus Koch Kollektion. I first made it in sections, front, back and gusset, but when I sewed it together, it looked terrible. If not for the cute dragonfly button, I probably would have abandoned it all together.


I ripped it apart, then knit the bottom, picked up stitches all the way around, then knit it in the round. I made a closure at the top for the button to go through, but it didn't work right so I just sewed the button on the front.

This purse is smaller than my other purse, so it's going to take awhile to get used to it.

Ene's scarf is finished!


I don't know why I can't get a good photo of her, not even in the natural light. Knit with knitpicks alpaca cloud, I think the color is mist. As lace knitting goes, I would say that it was an easy pattern to follow. The only thing I don't like about it is the 8-stitch garter stitch edging. If I had gone down a needle size or two I think that edging would have looked neater. The photo in the book doesn't show that edge very well, but what I can see looks like the stitches are tighter. The yarn in the photo looks heavier than the lace weight that I used.

I'm thinking about trying the new cotton yarn knitpicks is now offering. I bought the new VK and there is a bolero jacket with lace edging I would like to knit--just have to decide on a color.

In the meantime, I started knitting a purse from some scrap yarn. Every time I go shopping I look for a new purse, and haven't found one I like so I'll knit one instead.

Sorry about the poor quality photo of Ene's Scarf.


I haven't had to time to work on it much because I have to have a baby blanket done by Sunday.

I've really enjoyed working on this pattern. I used size 6 needles with the Alpaca Cloud and I think I could have gone down a needle size because when I look at the photo in Scarf Style, my scarf looks more loosely knit than their photo. It also seems that their scarf is larger than mine, but that might be because theirs has been blocked.

One thing that put me behind is that I hadn't worked on it for awhile and lost my place and I couldn't figure out which row I was on until I ripped back a couple of rows. I can't wait to get it finished, now that Spring has finally arrived I will be able to wear it!

I've been working on a UFO baby surprise sweater that I had started last summer. My niece is expecting a baby and her shower is in April.



The baby surprise is fun to do every once in awhile. I'd also like to knit a smaller lacier pink sweater since she's expecting a girl. The babies in that family tend to be bald, so lots of pink might save some well intentioned admirers a little embarassment.

Finally, a few photos to show what I've been knitting these past few weeks. First is a necktie that was made with a ladder type yarn, I think it was made by Berroco and even though I just made it two weeks ago, I can't remember what pattern I used. I know it took less than 100 yards of yarn--one skein.



Now that I think about it I may have found the necktie pattern at Crystal Palace. I wore it loosely tied around my neck with a white shirt and blue cardigan.

Here is Ene's scarf using Alpaca Cloud. I've knit through Chart 1, which is the edging and am ready to start Chart 2, the body.

I started Ene's scarf from Scarf Style and I love the Alpaca Cloud yarn. I wound two skeins into balls and neither had any knots or flaws of which I was aware. The yarn is so soft, it's a dream to knit. The scarf has 375 stitches so it's taking a long time to knit one row, but since it's triangular, I'm decreasing stitches on every row. By the time I get home from work I have only about an hour to knit before I'm too tired to concentrate, I hope to make some progress this weekend.

I bought five skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, 2 of Mist, 2 of Stream and 1 of Midnight, all destined to be shawls or scarves.

I also bought 12 skeins of the Wool of the Andes, I don't have a pattern picked out for it yet, and haven't even opened the plastic bag it came in.

The felting fiasco I was mentioned in the last post was in reference to the Gansey from a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, I haven't really recovered from that mistake.

After the felting fiasco, I needed some immediate gratification and bought a skein of ladder type yarn to knit a tie--bought it Saturday, finished it Sunday. I like it and wore it with a white blouse to work. Since then I've been working on the cabled turtleneck, so close yet so far away because I ordered some of the knitpicks yarn everyone's talking about, and it came in the mail today. After winding two of the skeins of Alpaca Cloud into balls, I cast on for Ene's scarf from Scarf Style by Pam Allen. Some day when I get home before dark I will have photos.

I really should show some discipline though and finish that turtleneck...

Okay, I've recovered from yesterday's mishap. I did actually wear the sweater for about 5 minutes before it went in the washer. I haven't ordered any yarn yet because I can't make up my mind about what I want to knit. For now, I'm working on the maroon cabled turtleneck that I started last winter. I think I can be trusted with washing that one--it's 75% acrylic.

Remember that Gansey that I posted about a few weeks ago? Well, it's had a very tragic accident. I had it completely finished, put it through the washer for the slight felting that's called for in the directions, but it was still too large. So, I put it through again, this time with hot water and let it agitate longer--BIG MISTAKE!!!! It's now small enough to fit a small child.

I think I'll go order some more yarn to console myself.

Perfect knitting weather today--as soon as I get my housework done. This afternoon we are expecting blizzard conditions with 40 mph winds. Living 4 miles in from Lake Huron, we are also getting some bonus lake effect snow. The best thing about it is that it's the weekend, I don't have to go anywhere!

Poor St. Francis...



I guess I should have knit him a sweater, too.

My mitten is now wound into two balls of yarn, it was just a bit too snug. That's okay though, Knitting in Estonia came in the mail today and I can try a different pattern.

Working at a seasonal job has a lot of advantages, but the biggest disadvantage is that I don't feel like knitting at night. So, instead I go internet shopping. Yesterday I ordered Nanette's Stranded Knitting book. Maybe I should read it before I start my next mitten. ;-)

The body of the Old Way Gansey is almost completed, I am shaping the neck and ready to start the first sleeve.

In the meantime, I was seduced by a Latvian mitten. Actually, I was curious as to how to make the braid. So I searched through pattern books and magazines until I found Latvian Refinement in Knitter's Winter 1997. My mitten is a conglomeration of a few patterns but I'm using the chart in Knitter's. The braid is from a sock pattern in Folk Socks



Initially, I didn't think there was enough contrast between the gray and the purple (Lavold's Silky Tweed) because of the tweed. Now that I see it in the daylight, I'm pleased with it. I was madly knitting these because it is downright frigid and I didn't think I had any mittens, but in cleaning out the coat closet today, I found a pair of felted wool mittens I made last winter and had forgotten about.

This is the Old Way Gansey from IK Winter 04. It's knit in the round and I'm about 4 inches from finishing the body. I had to run to Mary Maxim yesterday (yes, Mary Maxim does carry a limited amount of wool yarn) to buy another ball of Brown Sheep Nature Spun, because it looks like 5 skeins isn't enough. I'm hoping when it's finished it will fit me, it's knit a little large then run through the washer two times.

I am already thinking about knitting my next project--Latvian mittens. I almost ordered a pattern book, but I found a mitten pattern in an old issue of Knitter's Magazine. I bought Silky Wool in purple and gray and will do a swatch to see if it's suitable. The pattern calls for 00 needles, but the smallest I have is 0.