That was then but this is now...

The Gift for the Girls blanket is coming along...half way into #6 of 9 skeins, two more to go in the main colour before the final ball in dark green garter edging.

Casting on, the colours looked like the British Racing Green and tan of a classic MGB Roadster.

Now, all I see on my needles is something akin to muddy greyed brown.

Switching from wooly wool to superwash at the outset was the right thing to do and knowing that made me confident in the switch.

Still I can't convince my hands to stop balking at the feel of this superwash yarn.

Starting/knitting the first half felt like a grand gesture.

This second half now seems more like a sacrifice.

Sometimes, even as a project moves along, the further and further it feels like it is from ever being finished.

Gift for the Girls

The wedding gift blanket is progressing.

Meanwhile I mourn the blanket that was to be but won't (at least not immediately).

Darling Daughter says the current one is just exactly what  the recipients will like/relate to so I need to focus on having that vs. something for me. (This is so much harder than it should be for an otherwise mature adult hmmmm...)

I've finished knitting three of the nine balls so I'm 30% in and feel like that's a decent head start.

A week and half working loooong rows has been hard on my hands and caused no end of knotting up across my shoulders so I'm switching up how I knit row by row.

On the straight knitted rows I'm working Continental style.

Purls rows; throwing with my hand atop the right needle.

Combination knit, purl rows; throwing with my right hand in a pencil grip.

Plus I'm making a point of getting up/moving around more aiming to knit just one ball per week into the thing.

At that rate it will still be finished before summer/weeks before the wedding.

Meanwhile I'm hatching a plan to make a spot for some kind of commemorative label in the final garter border. It could be something I knit into it or something maybe felted and applied or maybe hand embroidered/duplicate stitched.

It could include simple graphics copied from the wedding invitation or a heart with initials, the date of the wedding?...not sure yet. Still lots of time to think on that.

Little amusements all..."small things for small minds" they say.

Buenos Aries Throw FO

Last post for this one - I promise!

Pattern: "Bulky Throw" by Heidi Gustad

Source: Free Ravelry Download
Size: 45" x 52"

Yarn: Natural Argentinian Thick and Thin Wool Yarn

Source: Buenos Aries Yarn District November 2015

Colour: Natural, Undyed Cream

Needles: 15mm, 47" Circular

Start: December 29, 2015 Finish: February 27, 2016

Modifications: Added randomly placed rows of Reverse Stocking Stitch

This single ball of locally produced roving would have been a great souvenir for me of our visit to Buenos Aries last autumn but with My Beloved's encouragement (and the extra bag he tucked into his luggage to accommodate a larger yarn purchase) I brought home enough authentic, local yarn to make even better souvenirs we can all enjoy for years to come.

I hesitated to knit the yarn for this bulky throw right away as I loved just looking at it rolled in huge balls...

Then, after knitting the first couple of balls I let the project linger again as I enjoyed the sight of it in another room, tumbling out of this rustic basket...

When I finally knit it up the combined size of needles and yarn meant moving my whole arm from the shoulder for every stitch but the airy lightness of the yarn meant it wasn't as tiring as stitching Briggs and Little "Super" into a Double Knit Dog Mat.

It sure yielded something a whole lot loftier too!

Every step in the process was pure pleasure. Now, all finished, I couldn't be happier with the result. I love the way it looks.

'Had to encourage him to lie on this, then tell him to stay. It probably makes him feel hot just looking at it.

Everyone in the house loves the way it feels - like it has some kind of internal power source kicking out heat. I'm predicting arguments over who gets to use this one on cold winter nights!

The Amazing Stuff that Covers Sheep

I subscribe to the Yarn Harlot's view of blocking - that finishing a piece of knitting demands...

• Removing dirt and oils the fibre accumulates through handling/selling/storing/knitting.
• Setting the stitches to look uniform and even.
• Shaping
• Stretching to correct size.

This big throw felt deeply cozy, round, and ready to snuggle down on the couch with even before it was off the needles.

The thick-thin-crazy of the yarn and the fact it's a throw meant uniform stitches, exact shaping and sizing weren't an issue but I believed it would be better if it also felt finished. So over the weekend I filled the tub, poured an alarming amount of Eucalan into it (lots of water demands lots of wool wash) and laid the throw onto the surface of the water. I planned to wait for it to sink to the bottom as a sign it was completely saturated.

 2 hours later it was still afloat with some sections still completely dry...

Pressing it down to the bottom of the tub helped - for a few minutes - but 'next time I checked it had bobbed back to the surface again...

The demonstrated power, in that stuff that grows out of sheep, to repel water and retain air was really something to see right there in our bath.

More pressing was required to keep it at the bottom where it sat for a while to really soak. Then almost 4 hours after dropping it in the tub I saw the reverse of wool's ability to stay dry and hold air...its capacity to hold water and be wet...

After lots of pressing to expel excess water before lifting it from the tub...

It took a full laundry basket of bath towels to squeeze the piece into dampness but as I carried it to the blocking board it honestly felt only just the slightest bit damp again - almost as if it had never been thoroughly wet in the first place.

I pinned it out in the breeze of a small fan late Sunday afternoon and by first thing Monday morning it was dry.

As I'd hoped, the drapier, cleaned, truly finished knitting is quite superior to its pre-blocked self...

Blocking has given it softness so it can lie close to the body. Of course its still fantastically textural but luxuriously so rather than purely rustic.

For decades now I've loved working yarn into visually entertaining patterns/textures but stitching this hefty stuff in simple stockinette and seeing it behave through a thorough soaking/drying, I feel newly schooled in wool's amazing properties...

Spring

Around here snow on the ground doesn't always equal winter. Hudson and I were out for 2 sun drenched hours yesterday morning trudging through in a fresh snowfall that made me and apparently everyone we ran into feel like Spring is in the air.

I'm not saying it wasn't cold...I was bundled up in wool and down and wearing windproof pants over my clothes...

Looks like I was going for a Michelin Man look and nailed it! Hudson was of course wearing nothing but his collar. Dogs really are superior creatures in many ways.

Anyway...

The sun was high and strong.

The snow in the shadows was a violet-blue you don't see in winter.

Best of all there was lots of springtime birdsong filling the air. What a treat!

While the change feels hopeful and fresh it's sure not close to warm out so it doesn't make you want to veer away from wearing or knitting warm woolly stuff. Its the stuff of a perfect knitting season.

I've been working on a few things as I try to follow my post op instructions to "take it easy" (2 hour walks over hill and dale were a bit much and I did "pay" for the exertion later. "Lesson learned" as they say but it was too beautiful out to spend the morning inside!)

One of the projects had an almost medicinal affect. (Okay, maybe the drugs I was on brought that feeling to the "party" but I really enjoyed knitting this stuff.)

Lofty-soft, thick and thin worked to the hollow clunking sound of the 15mm wooden needles it demanded and now...

...the unbelievable heft of the pre-blocked piece. I think it could use just the slightest drape to make it feel a bit more refined and finished so I've got a soak in the tub and gentle stretch planned for it.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Receiving Blanket FO

Pattern: Based on "Reversible Blanket" by Debbie Bliss

Source: Debbie Bliss Magazine Fall/Winter 2009

Yarn: A Mystery found in My Late Mother's stash

Needles: 2.75 mm circular

Start: August 2012 Finish: May 2014

Modifications: Used the diamonds of the Bliss pattern  but worked at a much smaller gauge with finer yarn and did not work a second blanket to facilitate reversibility.

Dirty Blankie is no more but in its place I've "found" a sweet little (clean!) receiving blanket 25"x28".

The bath (and I do mean a full-on wool washing - not an easy little "Soak") did the trick on the dirt, grime, sunscreen and even chocolate smears that adorned it in its WIP phase.

A basic little raised diamond pattern "moving" the right side purl nubs on both sides of the work yielded a piece that "ticks all the boxes" for what I consider ideal in a receiving blanket.

• The soft creamy colour will allow the real star of the show - the infant - to be the centre of attention rather than having a visually bossy yarn demanding the spotlight.
• The blended yarn will be serviceable. (Those wee babies tend to "leak" so many liquids - wash ability is a must.)
• Its not so big or thick as to overwhelm a new baby's little body
• The fingering weight yarn knit on a 2.75mm circular creates a soft, drapey piece that will easily wrap arms and legs in tight for a great sleep-inducing swaddle

There's four balls remaining of this yarn - not enough for another blanket but I could probably get one of those impossibly tiny newborn-sized cardigans out of it!

P.S.

Should have included a pic of "Dirty Blankie" the other day...

Here's a link to a first hand account about a new female Shearer trained with the help of funds from Shepherd and Shearer. Seem's they're planning a second go around of the Shepherd/Shearer program this year!

Have you seen the new Spring issue of "Wool People" from Brooklyn Tweed? Here's the super fun teaser video. Here's the actual collection. An ingenue and a more mature woman modeling. I love many of the patterns but only the ones on the younger girl. Happy coincidence? Wishful thinking? Denial? A bit of both?!

I attended an Afternoon Tea yesterday - beautifully executed with lovely little tea sandwiches, fresh baked scones, clotted cream and berries and vanilla tea that was the perfect accompaniment to everything. Look at the lovely little personalized gift bags at each of our places!

Will do my second sowing of peas today and will start some pole beans in pots for transfer when/(if?) it warms up out there.

Every day this week, including yesterday, MAY FIRST, I had painfully cold hands while walking the dog - being optimistic and wearing gloves instead of wool mitts! MAY FIRST! At least it makes getting back into my regular knitting habit easier! (As do Raptor's playoff games - WE THE NORTH!)

So despite the ice going out the other day at the lake we won't be opening the cottage for a while. We're hearing there is still a lot of frost in the ground but where its melted the soil is saturated with water that can't run off through the surrounding frozen land so cars and especially trucks/SUV's are sinking into gravel cottage roads/driveways/launch ramps etc. up to their axels. We'll wait until things thaw and dry out a bit.

'Not like I can't amuse myself around here anyway! (Is that Deco calling my name?)

Finally, lest I've led you to believe Hudson's trims make him too "precious" to go out and just be a dog everyday - this is the typical "look" he sports after an afternoon romp with his pals if the weather is at all damp. Here he's demonstrating his "On the Mat!" trick where he stays by the door until I've cleaned him up and released him to race about checking the house for any new developments that may have occurred while we were out.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Wild Week

Unloading photos from the camera, just realized why I failed to post last week.

There was a birthday (celebrated twice!)...Skiing...A screening of the Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts...A Pancake Party...Valentines Day...A Black Tie Event...Sniffling people staying home with colds...Beethoven's 9th at the Symphony...The Auto Show...Number One Son (with laundry) arriving home for Reading Week....Multiple subway trips downtown and back and then yesterday, the Family Day Holiday.

None of this was good for Ranger. It did, however, provide an excuse to work up my own DK version of Veronique Avery's Fingering Weight Pinion mitts almost to completion (you called it Mary!)

And add a few inches to my subway travel receiving blanket.

Back onto Ranger now enjoying the looooong straight rows. Lovely and so cozy draped across my lap, its going to be a light, warm cardigan. Immediately ahead are the second set of 10 short rows adding length to the back then the decreases will start as I head for the collar - 30% or so of the knitting is all that remains - the end clearly in sight. My Beloved will have it on in no time (she types optimistically!).

The plan for the dark and dreary day ahead is a bath, blow dry and scissoring for a certain creamy white fellow I hang around with. (Start to finish its probably a 4 or 5 hour event!)

Then tonight its still all Hudson all the time as we head off to his Obedience Class. I hope to start Obedience Trials with him next month. Its something I've always wanted to do so we didn't stop with basic puppy training classes, we've kept up weekly lessons for the last couple of years. He's really gaining control of himself now - undoubtedly the hardest "trick" of all - so its time to put that "steadiness" to the test by putting him through his paces in an arena filled with a couple of hundred other dogs!?! (It will be the first Trial for both Hudson and ME! I'm working on my "steady work" because the speed with which my energy travels down that leash to him has to be seen to be believed!) Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer says "... you don't get the dog you want to get the dog you need." Interesting to think of it that way!

Thanks for dropping by and catching up!

Garter Rib Baby Blanket by Orange Flower FO

Pattern: Garter Rib Baby Blanket by Orange Flower

Source: Free Ravelry Download

Yarn: 4 Balls Remnant Moda Dea Washable Wool(Yellow) 2 Balls Diamond Luxury DK (4995 Lt.Blue)
Size: 32"x25"

Needles: 5mm (Yellow Section) 4mm (Blue Section Yarn held double)

Start: June 30 Finish: November 18, 2012

It was bitter sweet knitting with Moda Dea the first time - 'loving the unique braided texture even as I cast on while knowing it was discontinued so there would likely be no "next time" knitting with it. I bought extra "just in case" yarn  then didn't end up even using as much as originally planned. This left four balls remnant - enough, in fact, to afford a "next time" after all!

Well almost...

Within a few days knitting of casting on the remnant yardage yielded a (pre blocked) 22" long panel - waaaay short of the 32" I was going for. I planned a gender-specific contrast coloured panel to complete the project to the requisite length once I had a recipient in mind and set the whole thing aside.

My Beloved's niece delivered an adorable little boy "recipient" a couple of weeks ago so I went looking for either a blue or cream yarn and decided on this lovely soft light blue DK.

The blue dk, lighter than the yellow worsted, demanded I hold the yarn double and move down to a 4mm Addi circ from the 5mm Bamboo I used with the yellow yarn. This took some fiddling around to get right but yielded a nice matching appearance and texture.

The doubled section was naturally a bit stiff but a Eucalan bath and slightly aggressive blocking created a heavenly soft, cozy cover with beautiful drape - perfect for tucking around a swaddled wintertime infant!

I have to say though my favourite feature of this blanket are the garter ends knit in even more remnant worsted.

These are woolly wool yarns - my current rage - each a bit darker/richer in colour than the sections they each terminate.

I love how they turn the practical necessity of the bi-coloured blanket into looking like an aesthetically planned pattern!

And speaking of the pattern...I could see this becoming a favourite baby gift to knit. Lovely mindless knitting yielding something modern and practical. It also does great justice to the look and feel of superwash yarn - especially when its hand dyed. Check out "Sketchbook"'s version on Ravelry. It makes me want to knit lap-sized one up for myself!

When knitting works out it's such a rush isn't it? Non-knitters can't appreciate that notion at all but I'm sure you'll agree that power of the rush helps keep you going through the tough moments that are (at least for me) always inevitably ahead.

Thanks so much for dropping by! Its such fun to share an FO!

Summer Square #2

'Found 12 hand wound balls without labels among my mom's stuff. A burn test indicated a blend with some wool content so I thought I'd at least give it a try.

I  played around with EZ's Square Baby Shawl Pattern from Knitter's Almanac but the yarn wasn't nice enough to make the piece work. So I ripped it out and started cruising around for a baby pattern that would suit.

Debbie Bliss, my go-to gal for baby knits had a good concept in one of her magazines.

The pattern suggests two contrasting blankets whip stitched right sides together to yield a two-sided, heavy weight piece of bedding.

I decided to start with one side, see how far the yarn takes me and if I get to a good size within the first half of the yarn I may work the second design.  I may or may not then attach it to the first.

Meanwhile the whole thing (swatching, starting the EZ version, ripping, trying and sticking with the DB pattern) all happened during the intense heat wave we had in July. I was putting sunscreen on almost before I got out of bed in the morning and reapplying often through the day. I never touched this white yarn without sun screen residue on my hands. Never. So the bottom section has a distinctly grimy tinge I'm hopeful will wash out.

In the meantime its an easy, self evident pattern that's great for knitting on the road/subway/waiting room etc. No rush, no hurry just nice mindless knitting in nice, looooooong rows. Ahhhhhhh!

Summer Squared

This summer was to be a relaxing time (versus the unrelaxing first half of 2012) But Summer 2012 had its own ideas for me/us and so, with a brain too busy/exhausted/distracted to work on challenging knits I started knitting rectangles.

First rectangle to hit the needles was this baby blanket...

Starting with a garter edge of fuzzy, felt-ready, deeply golden Sheppard Classic Worsted I switched for the body of the blanket to remnants of Moda Dea superwash with clean braided form, modern,  fuzz-less texture and a cool yellow hue.

My plan was to knit the Moda Dea to depletion and then insert a stripe of some other worsted, finishing with  golden Sheppard Classic edge for a kind of graphic effect. So off I went just knitting away on autopilot...

...K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3P3K3...

When my 3 remnant balls of yarn were consumed a few days later I took a long look at the thing for the first time and was shocked to see it was super wavy - my tension, as my father used to say, was "up and down like a toilet seat".

Steaming killed the waves but the wonky stockinette stitches sprinkled here and there stubbornly remain.

Too bad. I'll insert the new colour that's yet to be determined, finish off the second edge and see whether its giftable or too wonky for anything other than the "For Family" box.

Sometimes its okay to just get a grip and say "good enough...'could be better, but doesn't need to be this time".

I do so love the colour though...now what to put with it? Hmmmmmm...