Cashmere & Alpaca

I got to knit these scarves with fabulous yarn.  The long scarf is for my brother Mike for his 50th birthday and it is knit with Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande Paint in color #8815.  This stuff is thick, soft, luxurious, cuddly... you get the idea.  The whole time I was knitting the scarf I kept stopping to fondle it.  I even made Paul & Mike & Julie fondle it so they would understand my idiosyncrasies ;)  The cute little neckwarmer is for Julie.  She saw the scarf at Island Wool in Friday Harbor and fell in love with it.  How could I say no when she offered to buy the Classic Yarns Cashmere Tweed if I would knit it for her.  I never say no to cashmere! Her color choice was Sisal and it will look great on her.  

I knit Mikes scarf on size 10 (US) turbo addis and it is a simple rib pattern:

row 1:  *k3, yf S1PW yb, repeat from*, end with k3

row 2:  k1, yf S1PW yb, *k3, S1PW yb, repeat from *, end with k1

b/o on row one in a k3, p1 patten

This pattern is know as Eve's Rib

For Julie's scarf I used the same rib pattern.  For the ruffles on the ends I c/0 60 and then k2tog for the first 2 rows to end with 15 sts for the length of the scarf.  A couple of inches into the scarf I did a one row button hole over 9 stitches.  At the end of the scarf I k1f&b of each stitch for the last 2 rows to end with 60 sts and b/o knitwise.   This is a free pattern that I got from Island Wool in Friday Harbor.  I took Mike & Julie in during our island vacation and let them pick their own yarn.  You have to admit...  they both have VERY good taste!

Finally thank you very much to Julie for sending me the picture of her and Mikey wearing their beautiful new scarves.  I didn't get them finished before they had to leave and go back home to Pennsylvania so I had to mail them.  

Real Men Love Handknit Socks Too

How irresistable is he?  My brother, Mikey, was admiring these socks again while I was finishing them during his recent visit from Pennsylvania.  Mike & I saw each other in Florida in September where we met up with our other brothers for a wake...  our dad passed away on September 2nd.  I miss him every day.  These socks were the project I took with me on that trip.  I needed something portable and mindless for the plane and while I was there.  So Mike saw these socks on my needles in Florida when they were just a few inches big.  I didn't get very far with them on the trip because I just couldn't stay focused.   When he admired them again as I completed them I had him try them on and they fit perfectly and he was so nice with his compliments and seemed to REALLY like them.  So of course I had to give them to him. Doesn't he look adorable?

I knit my standard plain sock on size 2 turbo addis with Paca-Peds alpaca blend superwash in color #604, fireside.  This beautiful yarn was a gift from my knitting buddy, Claudia.  You can find her at A New Yarn in Seattle.  If you haven't been there and you're in the area go check it out....  you never know what treasures and fab deals you might find there.  

My First Handspun!

Needless to say I am VERY proud of myself!  I spun this lovely yarn from Teeswater & Cottswold roving I bought from Marilyn Lucero of Black Hills Woolies in Custer, SD.  She doesn't have a website but you can email her at mclucero@gwtc.net   I found her at The Black Sheep Festival in Eugene, OR last summer.  I spun it with my spindle from SpindleWood Co.,  I plied it using my Katie a-Go-Go, I wound my skeins using my Nancy's Niddy Noddy then I gave it a bath in Eucalan, whomped it and wound this gorgeous ball.  I think I have enough to make a very cozy pair of fingerless mitts for myself.   Since it is my very first handspun I've promised myself not to give them away...  I'm always giving my stuff away, but a girl's gotta keep some history for herself.   I think I'm just going to keep this ball to gaze upon for a while though...  I can't bear to part with it.  

Fisherwoman Socks

You may recall from an earlier post that my friend, Jean, gave me some gorgeous Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn in the Wildflower colorway.  Well Jean likes to fish so I designed a pair of socks for her with a fish scale lace panel down the front of the sock.  I am very pleased with the outcome and Jean loves them too.  You can find the fish scale lace stitch pattern in the "365 Knitting Stitches A Year" perpetual calendar.  It is the May 31st stitch.  I knitted a 60 stitch sock on size 2 turbo addi circulars.  The stitch pattern is knitted over 17 stitches  so I decreased one stitch after the 2x2 rib at the cuff on needle #1 (the front/top of the sock) so that I would have an even 6 stitches on either side of the pattern.  I added the stitch back to knit the toe.   Other than that the pattern is just my generic top down sock.  Even so I think this means that I am a sock pattern designer now :)  I like my design so much that I am going to make myself a pair too.

Jenny's Purse

As I've said before, Jenny is the owner of many of my knitting projects and this Noni Bag is one of my favorites.  This was an easy project to knit but of course when the knitting is done there is still plenty to do: felting, adding reinforcement to sides and bottom of the bag so it stands up nice, making a lining and attaching the cute little feet & handles.  It was my first time at making a lining of any kind and I found a VERY helpful tutorial on Noni's site.  I used the recommended Cascade 220 colors called for in her pattern because I loved everything about the design.  My only difference is I ended up using one large flower because I liked the way it looked.  I'm working on another Noni bag for myself and I am changing it up a bit to put my own spin on it. It's kind of on the back burner though because I keep getting sidetracked by other things like mittens, socks & spinning ;)  I promise to get to that post about spinning soon!  

Bird in Hand Mittens

As you can see I finished Jean's mittens! I had a knitting quota every day of my vacation last week and I got them done a day early...  thank goodness because it took 2 days for them to dry after their Eucalan bath.  I am very happy with the way they turned out and I think Jean really likes them too :)  I love Kate Gilbert's Bird in Hand pattern. It was a fun knit and I will make another pair for myself some time.  I did have trouble getting gauge with Cascade 220 Superwash but when I switched to the 220 Quatro I got the gauge I was looking for with US size 2 Turbo Addi circulars.  Knitting worsted weight on size 2 needles was very fatiguing for my hands so it will be awhile before I go back for seconds.  My hands were so tired by Saturday that I've had to take a break from knitting and save my hands for work :(  I'll do a few rows on my Fisherwoman socks tonight to get a little knitting fix and if that doesn't work I can always spin a little ;)    

On Vacation...

We're on vacation this week... a whole week at our little island house. Paul was sitting in his rocker on the porch having coffee this morning and he looked up to see this deer out near the barn having a morning snack. He quietly went into the house and got his camera and the deer hung out long enough to have her picture taken. When I woke up this morning the picture was waiting for me on the desktop of our computer. Even though I missed it I still got to enjoy the view :)

I am finishing up Jean's birthday present today. I can't wait to show you (so beautiful!).