Finishing is fun

I have finished another project that was cast aside last summer! My satisfaction with Soleil led to my finishing of this: It started out as Tempting from Knitty but quickly morphed into something different. I hate knitting ribbing so I chose a cabled rib pattern to jazz it up. I don't know if it was because of the cables or if I miscalculated last summer but when I picked it up a few months ago, I realized that I didn't have nearly enough yarn to knit the sleeves. I looked in all the Portland yarn stores but couldn't find the yarn. Of course I no longer had the labels and I don't remember what brand I bought. All I know is that it's 100% merino. I narrowed it down to 2 brands and considered ordering the closest color of each to see which is the match but it all seemed like too much work, so back in the basket it went. I finally decided to just finish it as is, which means it's a tube top! I wove some brown ribbon around the top to make it prettier and I really like it! I also really like that it's no longer in my knitting basket haunting me. I wan't super excited about a tube top because I've never worn one before but I have 2 strapless dresses that I like so this shouldn't be any different.

I am now knitting the "modern bustier" from Alterknits with Main Line from Knitpicks. It's a new yarn from them and it's 75% pima cotton, 25% merino and it feels lovely! I don't have any pictures yet but it seems to be a quick knit so check back soon for an update.

In non-knitting news, I present my letter G for the ABC-along. G is for Garden, and since my vegetable garden isn't growing yet, I am showing you my cactus and succulent garden. I used to think that crowing cacti was a stupid idea because they're all prickly and not very touchable. Then my great-aunt Amy died. I couldnt go to Colorado for her service but my mom told me that she had a huge cactus garden in her yard and that at her memorial service, all her friends brought a plant to add to the garden. My mom was telling me about all the interesting plants people brought and it made me look at them in a new light. Then in May, Mike and I bought a house and it has a great enclosed front porch with huge windows and we wanted to fill it with plants. I decided to make the porch my cactus garden and that expanded into a cactus and succulent garden because there are some cool succulents out there! It makes me think of Aunt Amy and, in a way, my grandma, who was her sister. This one reminds me of seaweed, though it also looks exactly like the things that come off the heads of the Snorks. This is a string-of-pearls and is my most special plant in this collection. My grandma (other one-not Amy's sis) gave my mom a lot of plants when she moved into a smaller home. My grandma had a lot of really unique plants and the string of pearls was one of my mom's favorites that she got from her but my mom wasn't able to keep it alive. This was all before I was old enough to remember but I heard the story. I saw the plant in a nursery while I was on vacation and really wanted to buy it but I couldn't. Two Christmases ago, Mike found some at a nursery and bought me 2 little plants. It's not thriving the way I would like it to but it's a really slow-growing plant so I'm being patient. It reminds me of my grandma and I love it.


Some of you may have noticed (although you probably didn't) that I skipped the letter F. I just wasn't feeling inspired so I skipped it. Maybe it'll make a surprise appearance later but don't hold your breath. Blogging should be fun, not forced.

Hurry up spring weather!

I finished something! I started knitting soleil last summer and just now finished! I didn't quite finish it last summer when the weather started getting cold so I put it away until now. In honor of project spectrum, I decided to finally finish it. I thought I had a bit more to knit on the straps but when I pulled it out of the basket a few days ago, I realized that all I had to was graft the straps together and crochet around the edges. Why couldn't I have quickly done that last summer? I figured I'd have it done in 1/2 hour or so but three evenings later, I was still crab stitching around the edges! I do not like crab stitch but it did turn out nicely. Here's a close up of the lace edge.
Here are the details for all you detail lovers:
Pattern: soleil, from knitty. It's a great pattern.
Yarn: Bamboo from southwest trading company. It's really shiny and has a really nice drape. This yarn feels a little rough but it's nice to wear against the skin. I guess rough isn't the right word. It just has some texture to it that is really interesting. I think it'll be great in warm weather- I just need that warm weather to get here!
Modifications: I made it about an inch longer than specified and I think it's perfect!

In other news, I'm behind in the ABC-along (again) so here is my F photo. F is for Farm Fresh. I belong to a CSA, which stands for community supported agriculture. In my case, I'm a member of the 47th Ave Farm in Portland and every 2 weeks inthe winter months and every week in the summer months I get a bunch of seasonal, locally grown, organic produce. Here is part of today's share.
Clockwise: Sprouting broccoli florets, rosemary, broccoli raab (actually not related to broccoli!), the prettiest head of cabbage ever, an entire salad bowl of kale and purple broccoli. We also got potatoes, onions and parsnips. I love veggies!
Support local farmers and get organic veggies by finding a CSA in your area!

Last scarf of the season

This winter knitting season, Mike has gotten a sweater and now a scarf. He's made out better than I have and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Actually, I have really enjoyed getting in touch with my inner gift-knitter this last fall and winter. Thinking about all my thousands of stitches keeping a loved one warm and oh-so-stylish makes me feel about as warm and fuzzy as wearing my own hand-knits does. Here are the details of Mike's latest accessory.

Yarn: Rowan felted tweed. I used 2 strands held together. I really, really like this yarn. It's not the softest yarn for a scarf but Mike picked it out (he wanted tweed or nothing) and he's really happy with it. If it weren't so expensive, I would knit myself a sweater out of this yarn. Every picture I take makes it look like a different color but this picture is the best (color-wise). It has flecks of white, light blue and dark orange which really gives it a lot of depth and interest. Needles: Size ? bamboo (I set them down and now they are lost)
Pattern: My own. It's a saxon braid cable with 5 stitches of garter stitch on each side. Here is a picture that shows the cable pattern clearly.
All in all, I am really happy with it and, more importantly, so is Mike. I'm also happy that my next project will not be a scarf.

As I've been knitting this brown scarf, I've been very envious of all you project spectrum participants and your lovely pink and red eye candy. My next project will be red and just to prove (mostly to myself) that I am participating in project spectrum, here are my favorite pink and red things from my house. The first is Cradle. She is a fairy and was named by the artist I bought her from because she looks so comforting and watchful. Like she's cradling the viewer. She's really big- about 3 1/2' x 4 1/2'- so it really is like she's watching over us. It's actually dark pink fabric that was marked off with tape and the negative areas were bleached lighter. It's very cool and I love her. Here are some other things.

Pink, Red and the letter E

E is for evergreens and emerging life.

One of the great things about my job is that there is a trail through the woods on the property. I love the evergreens for their height and beauty and I get to look at them all day. When not looking high in the trees, though, the trail hasn't been very pretty this winter. With the coming of spring, I have been discovering life emerging from the seemingly dead vegetation. It takes some close inspection but things are starting to grow and emerge from the bare branches. I thought I'd share some of my pictures with you because I love this time of year!
(If you're just here for the knitting-I've got that covered! It's after the nature pictures)

I wish I could tell you what all these plants are but I really don't know. I'm pretty good at identifying trees but that's about as far as my plant knowledge goes. I wish my backyard were looking this pretty and full of life. It's a mess of weeds, bare ground and a lumpy lawn but I need the rain to stop before I can fix it!

This isn't on the trail through the woods but I thought I'd include the flowering cherry tree because it's pretty and pink and it's pink and red month at Project Spectrum.

Speaking of Project Spectrum, I have some knitting to show you! I finally finished my red Cascading Leaves sock. I finished the 1st one right after Christmas but then I got sidetracked by other projects so it's been sad and alone- until today! I love, love, love this pair of socks because it's the first pair I've ever knit for myself! The yarn is sock garden from knitpicks and it's so soft and snuggly on my feet. Look how nicely they fit my feet! The only drawback to the sock garden is that it's 100% merino -that explains the super softness but it also means they won't be the most long-lasting socks unless I treat them very carefully.
I used this pattern to make my mom some socks but I didn't really like how square the toe was on her pair, (sorry, Mom!) so I changed it on mine. I'm looking for a new sock project now! Now that I have 1 pair, I think I need some more. I don't want my 1 pair of handknit socks to be lonely in my drawer. What is your favorite sock yarn? I've only used the sock garden and Lorna's Laces shepherd sock which is lovely but a little pricey.

D is for . . .

. . . Done!!! I finished my River stole with suprisingly few difficulties! I finished the knitting on Thursday and I blocked it last night.Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, color is called jelly.
Pattern: Rowan mag #38
Changes to pattern: I knit it with #9 needles, not the specified 10.5's. I also purled all wrong side rows, making a stockinette lace pattern because I thought the garter stitch looked sloppy.
Finished size: 16 x 66"Look at the miles (okay, feet) of lace I knit! I pinned the edges out to form little points and it turned out really well. The picture in the Rowan mag is so bad that I can't really tell if the edges are straight or not but I like my pointy border.

It's so light and airy and I love it! I really like the Kidsilk haze and I didn't find it difficult to knit but I don't think I love it the way many of you out there do. I would use it again, though.

This olympics thing has been fun and I really like the challenge to finish something in a timely manner but I am more than ready to get back to my usual multiple project self.

Speaking of multiple projects, I have branched out beyond knitting! Kirsten and I took a drop spindle class today! It was so fun and the teacher was great and we made yarn!!Check out my first yarn! It's so pretty and even and not lumpy like most people's first yarn. It's not spun perfectly, though, because it doesn't hang straight. It twist on itself a little. I feel like I should knit something with it but it's such a small amount that I don't know what to do with it. Any ideas? Lest you think I'm over here gloating over my pretty first-yarn-ever-made, let me show you what I did next. The whole reason I want to learn to spin is because I want to spin the fur from my angora bunny, Phoebe, that is starting to pile up in my basement. So, when I came home from the class I decided to spin her fur. It's is a lumpy mess!I must point out, though, that's it's the softest lumpy mess that I have ever touched! Angora is slippery and has short fibers but I am determined to spin it well. I owe it to Phoebe to make something pretty out of her lovely fur. I am encouraged that although much of my mini-skein looks like this or worse:there are some short sections that look like this:Do you see the perfect twist and the smooth edges? It can be done and I can do it!

Goodbye sweater

My most loved sweater has died. It's a heather grey v-neck sweater that I bought from J Crew almost 10 years ago! It has long been relegated to the wear-only-around-the-house-or-to-work category (I have one of those strange jobs where I wear my nice clothes on weekends and my grubby clothes to work) but I'm still sad to see it go. It spent a month backpacking through Europe with me, studied abroad with me in Spain and has been a really good sweater so I'm pretty attached to it. It has stretched a lot and is now pretty baggy and shapeless. For the last several years, I've had to fold the cuffs back so they don't cover my hands and they've worn thin at the fold. Here's what happened on Friday.
That's the right hand. Here's the left:That's Ramona, my cat who only likes me if I'm knitting. I didn't mean to get my pets in the picture but they were all enjoying the litle bit of sun that was coming in the window. About the sweater- I was htinking of cutting off the ripped part and hemming the sleeves since they're too long anyway, but then I noticed that the elbows were about to wear through as well. So I had to say goodbye to the sweater. It is going to be reincarnated, though, so stay on the lookout for it's reappearance.

On the knitting front, I have my handy olympics countdown timer from Anny on my sidebar. It's even adjusted to my time zone so I know just how much time I have left to knit River. I'm onto my second (and last) ball of yarn, so I'm right on track! Here's a picture of the halfway mark. A Team Portland blog has been created for the knitting olympics. If you're curious what some other Portlanders are knitting, here's your chance to find out!

Last but not least, here's a token food picture. I love food pictures, a trait I must have gotten from my dad. To use up some random leftovers. Mike made the best egg dish for dinner. It's basically scrambled eggs with leeks, asparagus, wild rice and swiss cheese. I thought it might be a little weird, but it was an excellent dinner.

Olympics are 30% over!

The olympic knitting continues. We're over 30% through the olympics and amazingly, I'm over 30% done with River! I had a minor setback when I had to tink back 3 rows but that little problem of an extra yarn over has been fixed. I knit a ton on Monday because I had the day off and Mike worked so I had nothing to take my attention away from knitting. Even the dog left me alone because he was tired from our hike the day before. This week has is pretty busy, though, so I don't know if I can keep up this quick knitting pace. Here is River so far:The weather is again conducive to knitting. It actually snowed at work yesterday! Last weekend I had a hard time knitting because it was sunny and beautiful. How quickly the weather turned! Here are some pictures from my hike on Sunday. I hiked with Mike and some friends in Forest Park, the largest wilderness park within city limits in the U. S. (Conversely, Mill Ends Park is probably the country's smallest park-a mere 24 inches! I encourage you to look at the link, it's quite entertaining!) We hiked up to the Pittock Mansion which none of us had ever been to before. I was excited to see my first flower of the spring. It's not spring yet but don't tell these flowers.It was so beautiful and clear that we could see Mts. Rainier, St. Helens, Adams and Hood as well as the whole city of Portland. It was amazing! In this picture you can see Mt. Hood.On our way up to the mansion, We hiked through Balch's Canyon, named after the guy who used to own the land and who, interestingly, was the 1st person to be hanged in Portland. Apparently he shot his son-in-law. L-R: me, Bradley wearing his doggie backpack, Amber, Noel, Laura and Andrew.(You would never know it, but River is actually neatly stowed in Mike's backpack, just in case there were a few moments to knit. There were not.)

I have been knitting and watching the olympics. In my last post I talked about Kirsten and Lisa's party and their lovely country flags. She posted a great picture of us and our flags. You may remember that I chose Japan and lastnight I had my 1st opportunity to see a Japanese athlete compete. It was a speed skater and he won his race but I don't know if he got a medal because I didn't stay up to see the whole event. I was very ecxited to see his race but Mike is still waiting for his 1 Venezuelan dude to show up on NBC. I have a feeling he may have to wait forever.

The olympics have started!

Oh, the fun has begun! Mike and I went to an opening ceremonies party last night hosted by the lovely Lisa and Kirsten and I made a great start on River. You can't tell in this picture (Mike, the photographer, stood in the wrong spot but that's okay) but there were two other knitters and a crocheter present as well as Kirsten who didn't actually knit anything but tormented us fiber lovers by sharing the new and fabulous yarn she has gotten recently. Mike even played the part of a good knitter's husband and tried to steal Kirsten's beautiful Vesper sock yarn for me. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful. I may have to buy my own. It was a fun night and Kirsten and Lisa painted flags and we all got to pick one to cheer for. I picked Japan and am pleased that they have a fair number of athletes so I will probably get to see some of them compete. That's probably not the case for Amber who is rooting for Kenya- they only have 1 guy but I do hope he wins something (although winning isn't everything). Julie was disappointed in Germany-her chosen country-because their opening ceremony outfits were so ugly. Hopefully their athletic skills will make up for their outfits. I was hoping that Japan, with all their uber-trendy fashion would be wearing something interesting but they went with boring white with a splash of white. (Speaking of outfits-did anyone else notice Belarus' scarves? They were so pretty! I want to knit one.) It was really fun and I loved having the flags. It really made us all pay attention to more than just the US. There are those commercials that say that during the olympics we are all rooting for the same team-the US- but we are a country that has people of all races. As Kirsten put it- Go team world!

Back to the knitting- check out my River! It's looking good and even though I had two drinks lastnight, I found no mistakes this morning. It was kind of daring of me to try to watch the opening ceremonies, knit lace and drink at the same time but I'm here to tell you that it can be done.

Lat night we all thought the opening ceremonies were too long and we were almost asleep by the time they ended but I must say that the lighting of the torch was really worth staying up. It was really cool looking and there's something so great about the tradition.

Is anyone even reading this or are you all too busy knitting?

Catching Up

B is for . . . Bradley and his Blue Bone. The blue bone is his favorite toy. He got it a year ago for Christmas and it is still remarkably in pretty good shape. A goofy dog with a blue bone hanging stupidly out of his mouth is a common sight at my house.

B could also stand for broken computer. My laptop is broken so my posts have been a little sporadic lately. I've wanted to post more often but I just can't.

C is for . . . Cables!! I have postponed my second red sock in order to knit Mike a scarf. I know I said I was done with gift knitting but he's been wanting a scarf forever and after the fun I had knitting my backyard leaves scarf, I decided to do it for him. He picked out the yarn- Rowan felted tweed- because he had to have tweed even though it's not the softest yarn ever. He also picked out the cable pattern. Sorry about the slightly blurry picture. I had a hard time getting the cables to show up with the lack of natural light to help the camera out. This is the best one I got. The color is a pretty chocolate brown with little flecks of white and light blue. So far he really likes it but I'm not going to finish it for a while because the olympics start tomorrow! Good luck everyone!

I broke down and did it

First things first. I have been totally slacking as far as the ABC-along goes. I have not posted a single photo and we are quickly approaching the letter D. (Imagine Big Bird doing a little dance here.) So, in an effort to catch up, I present my letter A:

A is for . . . Apple green yarn. Kidsilk Haze to be exact and the color is really called "jelly" but who has jelly this color? It looks like a granny smith to me. This leads to my title. "Did what?" you may be asking. I broke down and joined the knitting olympics and this apple green yarn will be my main (only) event. I have swatched and frogged anout 5 times and cast on for real and frogged 3 times so I'm hoping that if I put it down and knit it during the olympics, the moral support will help me actually knit it. What is it, you're asking? I have decided on the River stole from Rowan # something-or-other.
Since you can't really see the pattern in Rowan's picture ( I hate it when they do that!), here's a link to Diana's very pretty finished River.

I was going to knit a different pattern(s) but I didn't like it and then I was going to knit the main River pattern but add my own border but I think now I'm just going to knit it like Rowan designed it. Except with smaller needles and in stockinette and not garter stitch. Oh, and a different color.

It was nice of Lolly to delay the beginning of Project Spectrum until March, well after the Knitting Olympics craziness. I am really excited about the project. I so often focus on patterns and ideas and not so much on colors. It will be fun to see what examples of the chosen colors people come up with. Since March is red/pink month, I was thinking that would be a good time to finish my second red sock since the 1st sock is getting really lonely. Now that I can't (re)start the river stole until next week, I need something to knit until then and the red sock is it. It won't be hard, though, to find something else red or pink to make in March!

All for me!

I finished my backyard leaves scarf and I love it so much!
Pattern: Backyard leaves scarf from Scarf Style
Yarn: 3 balls Cascade Yarns "Cloud 9" 50% angora, 50% merino 50g/109 yards
Needles: size 7
Finished size: 72" long- 6" shorter than the pattern states, but plenty long for me-it almost reaches my knees when it's just around the back of my neck! I only have a few yards of the yarn left, maybe enough to do 1 more repeat on one side, but then the 2 halves would be different lengths and that would have bothered me. I'd say that my guesswork meticulous yardage calculations gave me perfect results.Here's a close up of the pattern for those of you who haven't seen it. It's so pretty and a lot easier to knit than it looks. I just couldn't knit it while watching 24 on tv. I tried but it didn't go so well. The only flaw I found was the directions for joining the 2 halves. The cast-on edges were shaped oddly and didn't seem to fit together and there were some weird yarn-overs that confused me. Other bloggers got them too, so it wasn't my mistake. In the end, I just seamed to the best of my ability and this is what it looks like. It's not bad, but a picture in the book would have helped, or at least eased my perfectionist mind. If you've knitted this scarf, is this what you ended up with too?I love this scarf! It's soft and warm and soft and pretty and soft. Oh yeah, did I mention it's soft? Scarves always make me feel warm and safe, like a little kid all snuggled into bed. What is it about something wrapped around one's neck that feels so nice? I think it's that it's something 'extra'. Most people go out into the cold with a sweater, jacket, maybe even gloves, but a scarf isn't a 'necessary' thing for many people. A nice, beautiful but functional scarf seems so perfect and almost indulgent. Maybe it's that I didn't grow up in a really cold place (Northern California) and have never really lived in one. Maybe you cold-climate folks see scarves as essential as wool socks but not us west coast people. Anyway, I love my scarf so much that I wore it before I blocked it because I was so excited about finishing it. (The picture of me wearing it is post-blocking)

Because I'm on a scarf kick, here's a photo of the 1st scarf I ever made. (That sounds like I've made a lot. No, only 3). It crocheted because I am one of those knitters who converted when I realized crocheting was very limiting. A crocheted sweater? I don't think so. It wasn't for me, anyway. I love this scarf and crocheters always want the pattern but hell if I remember it. I don't even remember how to crochet. The yarn is Plymouth Encore which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. I don't knit with acrylic anymore, but for those of you who like it, this is a really nice yarn. I've had this scarf for almost 10 years and it's held up really well and it's really soft.

I was going to give my 2 cents about Lolly's project spectrum but I'm tired after all the scarf blogging so that'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'll just tell you to go check it out, it's cool.

I'm done with gift knitting!

Well, for a little while at least. My mom's socks were finished, mailed and recieved so that was a success.
They turned out really well and they are SO soft! I used Knitpicks sock garden and I recommend it. After finding a pattern that didn't result in horrible color pooling, I really enjoyed knitting it up. The colors are really pretty and 100% merino wool always feels so nice! The only downside it that they are not machine washable so if you don't want to handwash your socks, don't use this yarn.

The pattern I settled on (for those of you that missed it in my previous posts) is Cascading Leaves from the Towsend socks knitalong yahoo group. I changed it by making the ribbed section at the top longer, making the leg of the sock a lot longer that the original pattern, and by extending the pattern down the top of the foot. I think it makes for a much prettier sock. The only thing I'm not 100% happy about is how square the toe is. It rounds out nicely when the sock is being worn, but I prefer the look of a rounder toe so I think I'll modify that when I finish my own pair. All in all, I find this pattern really fun to knit, which is good because I still have to finish my own pair!

1st in line for finishing, though, is my backyard leaves scarf. It's almost done so I'll post an updated picture soon. I didn't think I would be this excited about a scarf but I simply can't wait to wear it!