MD Sheep and Wool Festival!

The MD Sheep and Wool Festival is just a few miles down the road from my house, so of course I got the boyfriend to drive me out! He was SO surprised at what a big deal it is! I knew if I went with my knitting friends instead of him I'd spend my whole bank account, so he kept me on track :P
I was going to take pictures at the festival, but when I got there I found out we left the memory card at home! So all I have is pictures of my finds!

My absolute two favorite booths were Tess Yarns http://www.tessyarns.com/ , whose website does them absolutely NO justice. They had some of the most beautiful yarn I have ever seen! Gorgeous luxury fibers, silk and merino and cashmere oh my! In the most stunningly vibrant colors. I wanted everything, but the one thing I couldn't live without was a skein (200yds) of the Cultured Wool/Silk in a color that looks like spun spring! It looks to be about a heavy-worsted weight. It will be a luxurious scarf for ME to go with my new Bittersweet Orange canvas peacoat for fall :) I really really wanted the silk boucle too, but at $30-50/skein I had to refrain.

Here's my silk and wool!


Next I bought some interesting fiber to play with on my drop spindle. I don't feel quite comfortable enough with it to buy a lot of anything, but I like trying out different fibers and textures. Soon I hope to learn how to ply, but I may need to get/borrow a wheel.
From Misty Mountain Farm http://www.mistymountainfarm.com/ (the text on their site doesn't show up well for me). I got some Merino-Tencel roving that is softer than silk, but may be hard to spin. It has a lovely metalic sheen to it. I got dark teal and silver:


And I got some very affordable angora-wool-silk blend dyed and combed top from Wild Meadow Angora www.wildmeadowangora.com
Hopefully I can spin this separately and ply them together:



We then went and viewed all the differnt kinds of sheep, and went on a quest for Lamb, Lemonade, and Llamas. While I stood in line for Lemondade (the line for lamb was way too long), Joe went off and found the Llamas! (and Alpacas). There were at least 6 long-necked domedaries at the festival, and we were happy to see their cute furry faces :).
While walking back in the direction of the car after visiting the llamas, The Brooks Farm tent caught my eye.. and held it for the next 15 mins or so. It would have been longer if Joe wasn't starving and bored. They had some of the most beautiful colorways I have ever seen! And the yarns themselves were amazing! Mostly mohair and blends, which I don't usually like, but I fell in love with one :) The tent was suitably crowded, and once I had decided on my treasure (a $35 400yd hank of mohair and wool/silk called Harmony) it took me another 10 minutes to check out. They're stuff was totally worth the wait though, I wish I could have spent a lot more time and money in their shop! Too bad they're in Texas! Good thing you can now order online! http://brooksfarmyarn.com/cart/



Overall a successfull trip, without breaking the bank :) I will be dreaming about Brooks Farm and Tess Yarns for days to come though!

FO Leaf Lace Scarf

This is the Leaf Lace Scarf from last summers Vogue Knitting, with some minor alterations:
*I used a bulky instead of DK weight yarn (I used KnitPicks Decadence 100% Alpaca), and so only did two pattern repeats across instead of 3
*I joined the two halves at their cast-on edges instead of at their ends, and did fancy leaf-points ends instead of straight ones.
I used 2.5 skeins on size US 10s, and it's QUITE long, and wide. It's very soft, but doesn't hold it's shape well and still kinda smells funny (from the mill), even after I washed it. I'll air it outside before I send it.

It's for my boyfriends mother as a Thank-You-Gift for sending me ALL her mother's old knitting needles and notions and a bunch of yarn!

Now the Pics!
Blocking with cat (she's an Alpaca-whore, just like her Mum ;) )


Flash used to show texture:


and of course, on me, to show the pointy ends :)

Sci-Fi Knitting!

So last week I went to this crazy Sci-fi Theme night at Nation in DC
called TRONIK, and I wore this awesome silver vinyl outfit with a
bright blue wig. To tie the wig in with the rest of it I knit matching
armbands, a necklace, and laced some of the ribbon through my
fishnets! It was soo much fun! :) The yarn is a nylon/metalic ribbon called Ritz. They were just garter stitch rectangles sewn together. It was really slippery and a bit of a pain to work with, but it was worth it.
Here's one while we were getting ready (me on the left, of course)


and one at the club where you can see the cool glow-stars on my back :)

General Update!

Sorry I've been inactive for so long!

Dragon Scarf News! The pattern is in the editing and test-knitting phase. I was recently contacted by the Orphan Foundation, who informed me that my scarf inspired them to start The Red Scarf Project! Awesome! So I think once I have the scarf ready to go, I'm going to sell the pattern as a kit, and donate part of the procedes to the Orphan Foundation!
Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I want to get all the pieces in place before I release anything :)

In other news, I've been teaching a lot of classes lately and LOVING it :) I really wish I could do it full time. My two newest tutorials from my classes are up, please check them out and learn a new technique!

My Rogue sweater is almost finished. I put it aside for most of February, but I finished the body, except for the hood, and am almost done with the sleeves! Haha i'll be finished just in time for summer :P It's still wearable now though, and will be till about June.

Entrelac Tutorial!

Sorry this is so late and I haven't updated in Forever! I haven't had much internet access lately!

Entrelac Tutorial:
This tutorial was written for an Entrelac class I did last week. To get the best effect I suggest using a varigated yarn with long color changes so that each row (or each block) is a different color. Yarns like Noro, Karaoke, and Teseo work well for this.

Entrelac uses a technique called short rows to work small pieces of a row at a time, creating a woven-looking fabric. It is comprised of 3 basic parts: base triangles, corner triangles (right and left), and rectangles (right and left-leaning).



Abbreviations used:
CO: cast on
RS: right side
WS: wrong side
K: knit,
P: purl,
S1: slip one stitch from the left needle to the right needle as if to purl, with yarn in back (RS); or as if to purl through the back loop, with yarn in front (WS)
P2tog: purl two stitches together as one (decrease)
K2tog: knit two stitches together as one (decrease)
SSK: slip two stitches as if to knit, re-insert the left needle through the front of the stitches, and knit them together (left leaning decrease)
PU: pick up stitches
M1: make one stitch by picking up and knitting through the back loop of the stitch from the row below

This tutorial will make a swatch with blocks that are 5 stitches across. Once you get the hang of it you can make your blocks are large or as small as you like.

Cast On 20 stitches. Your swatch will be 4 blocks wide, 5 stitches each.
Turn your work at the end of every row unless otherwise noted.

Base triangles: (only one set of base triangles are needed )
K2
S1, p1
S1, k2
S1, p2
S1, k3
S1, p3
Sl, k4
S, p4
Sl, k4, place marker, DO NOT TURN;
First base triangle finished. Repeat, beginning with the next two stitches. 4 triangles total.


Left corner:
Beginning with WS facing.
P1, m1 (lift stitch from row below and purl through the back), p2tog, turn
S1, k2
S1, m1, p1, p2tog
S1 k3
S1, m1, p2, p2tog
DO NOT TURN


Right-leaning rectangles:
PU and purl 5 stitches along the downhill slope of the base triangle.
[image of how to pick up and purl]

*S1, k4
S1, p3, p2tog with next live stitch from the next triangle, to join them.
Repeat from * until all the live stitches from the next base triangle are used.
[image of p2tog with next live stitch]


Repeat for the rest of the base triangles. You have now reached the end of the row.


Right Corner:
Beginning with RS facing
K1, m1, ssk, turn
Sl1, p2
Sl1, m1, k1, ssk
Sl1, p3
Sl1, m1, k2, ssk
DO NOT TURN


Left-leaning rectangles:
PU and knit 5 stitches along the downhill slope of the rectangle below.
*Sl1, p4
Sl1, k3, ssk with next live stitch
Repeat from *.
[image of how to pick up and knit]

Go back to Left Corner.
Continue with the corners and the rectangles until the desired length is reached, ending with right-leaning rectangles.

Bind off:
Do right corner as usual until 4 stitches are on the left needle. Then Sl1, m1, and bind off one, and continue binding off across the row until the last stitch of the triangle.
PU 5 stitches along the downhill edge as usual, you now have 6 stitches on the right needle.
S1, p4, turn. Slip 1, bind off
K3, ssk
S1, p3, turn. S1, bind off
k2, ssk
S1, p2, turn. S1, bind off
k1, ssk
S1, p1, turn, s1 bind off
ssk, bind off,
repeat until the last stitch of the last rectangle. Knit the last stitch and bind off.

Double Knitting

I Taught a class in Double Knitting on Tuesday and figured since I made up the whole tutorial I may as well share it!

This technique creates a thick, double-sided fabric with two “Right” sides. It is usually used to do double-sided stockinette, especially in contrasting colors. Applications include reversible scarves and blankets, hats, and lined mittens or socks. In the picture, the back side looks just like the front except the backgroud is red and the heart is gray.


Double Knitting was used to create the Checkerboard Rhino Scarf as well.


For this class you will need two balls of worsted weight yarn in contrasting colors (Main Color (MC) and Contrasting Color (CC)) and size 7 or 8 straight needles.

Basic Double-knitting technique, using this heart chart. To read the chart, read from the bottom right to left on odd rows, and left to right on even rows:


Cast on 9 stitches using the long-tail method, holding both strands together as one.

Set-up row: On the next row use the right needle separate the MC loop, and knit it with the MC working yarn. Move both strands between the needles and purl the CC loop with the CC working yarn. Repeat for each stitch, separating the two colors for the rest of the row. You should now have twice as many stitches, and they should alternate MC, CC.



At the beginning of each row, twist the MC yarn behind the CC yarn for the first stitch. This ensures that your two layers are joined at the sides:
(the Red is the MC in the photo)


Each square of the chart represents TWO stitches, one on the front and one on the back. The color shown is the color you knit when you are on the RIGHT SIDE. MC is the background color, the first stitch of the row, and CC is the motif color. When you change colors, you must keep the stitch-pairs together, for example, row 2 (on the WRONG SIDE) goes (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (KMC, PCC), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc), (pmc, kcc).
Continue this way, following the chart.


Double-knitting Bind off: Slip the right needle through both loops of the first stitch, the MC and the CC and k2tog. Knit the next stitch the same way, then bind off. Continue the k2tog bind-off across the row.


Double-knitting benefits from a good blocking after you're finished.

The "Suits-Anyone Fits-Everyone" Hat Pattern

Now in .pdf! I'm doing a beginner hat class next month and re-wrote my basic hat pattern. Now you can easily save it to your computer to use later!
I developed this pattern so I could make fast, easy, hats for everyone in the family I was living with in Japan. The brim is very stretchy, and you can adjust the fit by increasing or decreasing the length of the hat body.
The "Suits-Anyone Fits-Everyone" Hat:



Also known as "The Monk Hat"




Suits-Anyone Fits-Everyone Hat Pattern

Holiday Knitting

I did not commit to knitting so many things this year, and really only made two hats and a scarf. I made one of my Monk Hats (with the same yarn even) for my Dad, who hates xmas, but loved the hat, and I made a really pretty tam out of Filatura di Crosa Muschio that I got on super sale in Japan, with the same brands Dali on the brim. Unfortunately though, I wore it to work on a cold day, and when I warmed up and put it away in my bag it must have fallen out along my walk! I was heartbroken :( I was late for work because I walked halfway home looking for it, then my boss who was out doing errands drove up and down the road looking for it, and I even went back with Joe in the car to look for it, but it was nowhere to be found. I think (hope) that someone who needed it picked it up, and that it went to a good home. That left me minus-one present for my mother though, and I didn't feel like scarmbling to make her something else, so I bought a little snowwoman ornament and left it at that.
The one big thing I made for xmas was the rhino scarf I put in my last post. That thing took soo loong. I love double knitting as a technique, but it takes forever! The recipient loved it though, so it was well worth it :)

I'm declaring January to be Selfish Knitting Month! I am not going to knit anything for anyone else in January, and have already knit myself a hat/handwarmer set with yarn I got from the boy for xmas :) Can you believe I've made close to 20 hats and didn't have a single one for myself? I have an abnormally small head, and so buying hats is always hit or miss with me, so it's nice to have one that I love that fits! And I loved the yarn, I used DiVe "teseo" held with a strand of Plymouth "baby alpaca brush"and it was just lovely!

With the yarn left from the hat I was able to make a pair of fingerless handwarmers I can use as knitting or typing gloves. I went home to NY for xmas and it was FREEZING so I didn't take them off the whole time :P

I also bought myself some GORGEOUS sock yarn from Fleece Artist. I've been eyeing their yarn since I started doing socks, but it's soo expensive that I haven't been able to get any till now. Also, I've decided that I don't really like knitting socks, but a pair for myself I think I could handle, and this yarn was too beautiful to put down.


I went to Virginia for new years and got a fair bit of work done on my Rogue sweater in the car and while sitting around with Joe's friend's family. It's been neglected since I cast-on and finished the hem! I've had to teach myself how to cable without a needle, since the first time I brought it out to knit I didnt have one with me, then I accidentally left my favorite one at our friend's house :( I've had so many other things to do. I plan to finish that this month, and do my socks, and start on one of my polar sweaters!

Checkered-flag Rhino Scarf!

A good friend of mine who does snowboard racing wanted a red and black checkered flag scarf, so I figured the best way to do that would be to use double knitting so it would be pretty and patterned on both sides. Unfortunately it took forever though! It's a little shorter than I would have liked but i didnt have extra time or yarn. I added the little reversible rhino at the bottom because Ryan's nickname is "Ryan-oserous".

it was done with just one skein of each color of cascade 220 on size US9 needles. It blocked out to a little over 5 ft long I think.




rhino back

Trigger Finger Mitten Pattern!

By Popular Demand!



If you have any questions feel free to email or comment to me.


Materials: One skein Lambs Pride Bulky, 2 balls (about 60grams total) of Belangor pure Angora (any weight angora would work for this. You can probably get away with 50grams, but it would be pushing it).
Set of 5 Size 10 dpns

Using wool CO 24 stitches, work 1in 1x1 ribbing. Join Angora and kf&b of each stitch EXCEPT KNIT FRONT OF EVERY ST WITH WOOL, AND BACK OF EVERY ST WITH ANGORA. Your stitches should now go wool, angora, wool, angora etc. W=wool, A=angora
For the rest of the mitten I hold the wool english and the angora continental.
Work another inch of ribbing. For doubleknit ribbing kW, move W in front, kA, purl W, kA, move yarn in back, kW. remember to keep the angora loose so it follows the gauge of the wool. If desired, knit a longer cuff. I like shorter-cuffed mittens



Switch to Stockinette. (doubleknit stockinette=kw, move yarn in front, kA, move yarn in back,*)
Increase one stitch at the end of each needle. For the rest of the pattern One stitch=one wool AND one angora. So to increase one stitch you need to make one of each. (28 stitches)
Every other row I slipped the angora instead of knitting it to make it go further.
Knit 2 inches, increase again (32 stitches) For smaller hands ignore this increase.
knit 1 inch. Total inch of mitten=5inches

Left thumb gusset:
On needle 2 knit 2 stitches, then knit the next 5 or 6 stitches with waste yarn (knit the wool and angora together). Slip waste yarn stitches back onto left needle and knit them again with the working yarns, holding them together as one yarn(only for these 5 stitches). On the next round separate yarns in those stitches again.

Knit 10 more rounds.
If dividing for trigger finger on the left hand, slip the last 5 stitches of needle 2, and the first 5 stitches of needle 3 onto waste yarn. Continue knitting remaining finger section until piece reaches the top of your pinky. For rounded mitten top, k2tog the first 2 stitches of needle 1, and ssk the last 2 stitches of needle 4 EVERY 3RD ROUND three times (3 decrease rows total). Use a 3-needle bind off to close the mitten.
If Left mitten is intact (no separate finger) work decreases on both sides of mitten: end of needle 1 k2tog end of needle 2 ssk. Beg of needle 3 k2tog, end of needle 4 ssk. Repeat every 3rd row 3 times as above.

Thumb: remove waste yarn and pick up 10-12 live stitches around the hole. knit to 1/4 inch below the top of the thumb, k2tog every st, then run working yarn through all remaining stitches and cinch tight.
Finger: Follow directions as for thumb.

Right Mitten:
Follow as for left except:
Thumb Gusset: on needle 3 knit 1 st, then knit the next 5 or 6 with waste yarn, slip back onto needle, knit again with working yarns.

Subi Kitty!

WE GOT A KITTEN!!!!!! eeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

A friend of mine needed to find a home for her and we fell in love with her! We named her Subi (sue-bee) :) She's 13 weeks old, very affectionate and sweet, and she doesn't make me sneeze!
Also, she uses the litterbox fine and doesn't claw stuff.



phew! it'snice to have a day off! It's been a while, over a week.. the next 3 weeks are going to suck soo much. I'm working 9 or 10 hour shifts at UPS, plus my regular hours at the yarn shop. Oh well, I need the cash.

Polar!

My two impulse-bought-bags of Rowan Polar came in today, and far from being humbled by it, now I want every color they make :P I got them here at this evil evil store who's selling it at half retail with FREE SHIPPING!!! I got a bag in Lettuce and a Bag in Dark Truffle.. ok ok, i'll borrow other people's pictures to show you:
Lettuce, yeah it's fuzzy, i didn't take the picture. It's also greener and prettier than that...

Lettuce will be the lace leaf pullover, and the Truffle will be a raglan turtleneck of my own design.

here's the truffle, which is really more of a warm dark chocolate, plus the other two colors I really want now: Jaffa (which is a bit more orange in person) and smirk, which is a bit more pink. I think they took these pictures on a cloudy day, but hey, they're from England, I hear real sun is a rare commodity :P




haven't gotten to swatch them yet, and I may try to avoid that as my Rogue is still in it's baby-phase and I want to work more on that. The best idea I think is to find it a good hiding place

Trigger Finger Mittens!

My boyfriend goes deer hunting every year in Wisconsin, and he asked me to make him some mittens. Not just any mittens, Custom WISCONSIN-WINTER-TRIGGER-FINGER-MITTENS!
It gets pretty damn cold in Wisconsin in November, so I made them out of tightly-knit Lambs Pride Bulky, and lined them with Angora, which is supposedly 8 times warmer than wool, and super soft too :)
Because mittens are warmer than gloves, he insisted that only the mitten on his left hand (he's left-handed) have the index finger free (so he can shoot stuff).
I told him not to get any deer blood on them.

by the way, No, that is not his deer-shooting-rifle.. it's just his new toy he's very proud of.




inside the mittens. I double-knit them


Also, I'm a little out of the loop. I JUST learned that Rowan Polar was discontinued, and that was my first venture into the wonderfull world of natural fibers and I love the stuff, and my LYS (where I work) doesn't carry Rowan... So I bought 2 whole bags of it in Lettuce green and dark truffle on ebay for less than half the retail price! Green will be the Lace Leaf Pullover, and brown will be the most luscious turtleneck ever. I'm so weak.. and poor..

Spinning!

(Because I need another hobby :P )
At the Knit Out last month I learned how to spin with a drop spindle, and came home and ordered a whole kit from This Seller's ebay store. For some reason paypal diverted my order from my normal mailing address to my old address (my moms house), but since i'm having my mail forwrded from there back here it eventually found me after all YAY :D So I got my big bag of wool and two drop spindles yesterday!


And here's my firt real attempt at spinning! haha it's all super-chunky.. I haven't quite got the hang of keeping it even yet. I wish I could brush it all out again and start over, but I think I'd need carders for that.


and here's a closer look at some of the lovely stuff I hope to be able to do justice someday!

Adding more life-stuff to the knitblog

I have another journal, on Livejournal, it's linked over there *points to sidebar* but I figure that I like reading knitblogs with a little more life in them, so I'm going to start adding more to mine, even if sometimes I might x-post from LJ.

The weather has been gorgeous here! Sunny, warm with a breeze, and all the leaves are turning now. What a nice fall! I was worried the leaves would just turn brown and fall off like they had been doing, but I guess fall just takes a little longer here.

Saturday Joe and I slept in and lounged around most of the day. I finished the 6th Harry Potter book (I think so far the 3rd and 4th are my favorites) and mostly-finished the first of Joe's hunting mittens for deer season in Wisconsin. They're black Lamb's Pride Bulky with pure angora double-knitted as a built in liner. He decided he wanted mittens out of that after we learned that Angora is 8 time warmer than wool! He doesn't like how fluffy it is, but since it's on the inside it's ok. I'm thinking of douplicate-stitching skull and crossbones on the backs hen they're done. If I have time maybe. I have two weeks to finish the second one, but since they're double-knit it's like knitting two mittens at once. takes longer.

We went and saw the movie "Jarhead" last night, with Jake Gyllenhal (sp) in it. It's by the director of American Beauty, based on the book by a marine who served in "Desert Storm". It was really good, the filming and direction was great, and so was Jake (little Donnie Darko's all grown up :P ). It's not a war action movie, especially since they didn't really get to fight, but more a drama about being there. I enjoyed it.

I work at the yarn shop today, working 6 days a week , but i don't mind being there. Tuesdays are going to be especially long: 4 hours at UPS followed by 4 at the yarn shop. I guess most people work 8 hour (at least) days, but it's different when you have to be in more than one place, and I'm not used to it anymore.