MDSW 08!

What is baby goat for welcome to the farm???



This year's trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was wonderful!
We were really fortunate to have such great weather. Saturday's crowd was intense. Being from the city was a big help in keeping sane in such a situation. There were a couple of times though in the barns that I felt there was no way out of a vendor booth. Merchandise and shoppers were jammed up everywhere I turned!
Being around cuties like these certainly helped to lower my blood pressure in all the excitement.


They're what it's all about at the festival. Sheepy goodness.

Here's the obligatory new stash shot. Not much compared with previous trips. I am very thankful for the strength to resist going overboard. There was soooo much yarn to choose from. Even though this was my fifth trip to one of these types of events, I was seriously overwhelmed!

As a novice, I am being purposeful to try new fibers. This undyed cormo top from Stony Mountain Fibers made me particularly giddy. Looked for processed cormo last year at Rhinebeck but found nothing. The braid of Wensleydale in periwinkle and gray came from Flying Fibers. Last, but not least in fiberous entertainment, the intoxicatingly purple "Crazy Ball" of roving was from Spinner's Hill. (I cannot tell you how happy I am that my camera is finally showing purple so close to the actual color.)

This time around I didn't have any real mission in terms of things to buy except for the book Spinning for Softness and Speed and a heavier weight 3 inch spindle. This is my second Bosworth in a canarywood that resembles carmel fudge swirl. Yum!

That's all folks! Until next festival, the end .....

Finished Kepler

Finally, a finished project. Kepler was a challenge because I am new to cables. It was good practice. Other than that, a joy to knit. The yarn is Frog Tree Merino. It is oh so soft to knit AND to wear. I present to you, Kepler. Welcome to the wardrobe!

What had happened was...

So, the holidays are well over and New Years resolutions have come and gone.

I counted myself as one of the rank and file knitter elves, dutifully churning out gifts and resolving to clean up all the WIPs from years past. Knit I did, too. The WIP list was treated as public enemy number one. One after the other I tackled, or in one case frogged, the most urgent items (among 17).
Among them, I finally, finally finished Klaralund! After much grief, I am very pleased with the results.

The yarn used was Artyarns Ultramerino, color way 214 using Ernst glass sized 7 circs. Between my camera and dimly lit apartment, it's hard to see what the true colors are. This is photo is from an older post. See, the colors are much brighter!

There were a few modifications to the pattern. Sleeves were lengthened and fewer body garter ridges were knit. Most significantly, I felt as though the garter pattern that lay on the upper arm made me look like an armadillo. Instead, stockinette was knit up to the top of the shoulder.

Lessons learned? a) varigated yarn will give a whole different look to a striped pattern sweater, duh. b) do not be cheap. Always buy more yarn than the pattern calls for. c) if you make modifications, for the love of craft, mark your changes EVERYWHERE.

Really, it was an easy pattern. I just seem to specialize in rookie mistakes. :)

Now that was all the pleasant stuff, but what had happened was in all the knitting like a machine that I did over the holidays, I developed a pinched nerve in my shoulder. It's been a month and a couple of my fingers are still numb. Can you imagine an entire month of not being ABLE to knit?! Please, I beg of you to get up and stretch. Do arm circles or something to break up your knitting time. Pausing to read blogs doesn't count. Get up! Go for a walk. Your body will thank you for it.

It's Easy Being Green

I present to you, The Peapod Baby Sweater:

This is the serendipidous gift that I mentioned last post, sans buttons. I loved this yarn at first sight when I saw it at Webs during Stitches East in October. The color seemed perfect for this IK pattern. Typical me, I grabbed the worsted instead of DK weight. Playing fast and loose with gauge did not work. I may have to submit to the rules from now on. Any way, I'm hoping that it's newly intended recipient can fit the sweater this winter. It's about a 9 month size with the gauge of the yarn and having knitted some elements from the 3 mos. and 6 mos measurement or stitch count.

The pattern...pretty as punch. When I picked it out I was hoping for a mindless and quick pattern. IMHO, it should have been. Wasn't. Grrrrrr. I was able to follow the leaf chart just fine. The bottom rib was another story. Between it's chart and the written directions, I couldn't follow either. I felt abandoned after the first row reading "...continue in pattern...". Uh, huh. Pattern my eyelets. Maybe it's me. I do like things spelled out for "quick" projects, but it was just not very clear. After much novice knitter mojo, I came up with this for working the bottom rib section:

Row 1 K2, p1 (*p7, k2, p1)*

Row 2 P2, (*k1, p2, k3, p2, k2)*

Row 3 (*p2, k1, y o, k1, p3, k2, p1)*, k2

Row 4 P2, (*k1, p2, k3, p3, k2)*

Row 5 (*p2, k3, p3, k2, p1)*, k2

Row 6 P2, (*k1, p2, k3, p3, k2)*

Row 7 (*p2, [k3rd st, k first two sts tog, drop all three], p3, k2, p1)*, k2

Row 8 P2, (*k1, p2, k7)

I worked it out on a scrap swatch and it definitely looks like the photo.

Sigh. Now that I've gone through pattern grief, I can definitely say that I'd like to do it again...

with the correct weight of yarn.

Verdant Baby Gear

I seem to be drawn to the color green for baby gifts.
Nature, vibrant, fertile -green.

Here's a little cardigan from the Minnies pattern book by Jil Eaton.
This 3 month size was knit up in Classic Elite's Angora Lush. How spot on are it's Beatrix Potter buttons! Rabbits...angora... What a match!