Come to the Flower Faire

Well, she’s gone and done it again. Laura has designed a stole and scarf version of the Garden Party shawl, and has named it Flower Faire. I was lucky enough to also be asked to test-knit this shawl and since there are 3 sizes to choose from in the pattern, I requested the wide scarf size.

Pattern: Flower Faire by Laura Patterson
Pattern Source: Fiber Dreams / Ravelry
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in Ruby (500 yards)
Needles: US size 5 / 3.75 mm Knit Picks Options (Harmony)
Finished Size: 12.5 x 62 in. (32 x 157 cm)

My Ravelry page

After looking through my laceweight yarn stash, I realized that not only do I have a very small laceweight stash, but that the JaggerSpun Zephyr that I used on my Garden Party shawl was the perfect choice. Since I was using leftovers from a previous project though, my only concern was that I wouldn’t have enough.

All sizes are knit in the same manner from the center towards one edge from a provisional cast on. After completing the first side, you pick up the stitches from the cast on chain and knit the second side exactly as the first. Easy peasy.

If you prefer to use a heavier lace weight or fingering weight yarn, then the narrow scarf version will work perfectly for that. If you want your stole or scarf to be longer or shorter, it would be quite easy to modify the pattern to either omit or add extra repeats of the different motifs.

I can usually tell when I’m going to run out of yarn when knitting socks, probably because I’ve knit so many of them, but laceweight yarn seems a bit trickier for me. As I neared the border on the second side I repeatedly asked DH if he thought I had enough yarn left, or if I should omit a repeat. He said “you’re fine”. “How would you know”, I inquired, “you don’t knit”. He responded with the obvious “Then why are you asking me?”

I fretted and debated during each and every row if I should omit a motif repeat before the border, and as I looked at the dwindling yarn ball remaining, I was sure I didn’t have enough. DH tried to reassure me that I had plenty of yarn, but I kept ignoring him thinking he didn’t know what he was talking about. I remembered thinking at one point that it would have been wise to weigh the first half of the completed scarf and then the remaining ball of yarn to know for sure.

I finally decided to omit one pattern repeat of the last motif and knit the border. As I bound off the last stitch of the border, I looked at the ball of yarn remaining and gave myself a swift quick in the butt. I not only didn’t need to omit the last repeat of the motif, but I had to tell my husband he was right. I hate it when that happens.

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What’s Old, What’s New, What’s Happening

There are quite a few things in process right now, and all are so close to being complete, that there “should” be a lot of FO’s to share with you over the next 2 weeks. Notice how I said “should”. I quite frequently “should” all over myself, so one never knows. First up ……

Look at what has finally been given a bath. It’s actually already blocked, and dried and waiting for buttons.

You don’t recognize the black blob in the sink? Well, neither would I. It’s the Tangled Yoke Cardigan that I completed in November. Since this is my first sweater, I think I’ve been afraid to block it for fear that it wouldn’t turn out. Either too big, or too long, or whatever. I decided that there was no need to worry about it until the blocking was complete, and I tried it on.

Next up is another test-knit for my girlfriend Laura of Fiber Dreams. The pattern is named Flower Faire and is written with 3 design options. You can either make the stole size, or a scarf in fingering-weight yarn or laceweight yarn (as I’m doing). Obviously it’s just a blob now, and I’m only halfway, but I suspect much gorgeousness when it’s complete and blocked. Does the color look familiar? It’s the leftover yarn from the Garden Party shawl I posted about last time. By the way, Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits is currently knitting up that pattern as well and I can’t wait to see what hers looks like when it’s complete.

Thanks to Lynda and her blog post showing off her wonderful felted clogs, I felt inspired to finally felt mine. It also helped that Lynda was kind enough to send me an email explaining the best way to felt them. Since one of my slippers was bigger than the other, it had to felt longer and I did think it was tricky getting them both the same size, but I think I was successful. I’ll have a FO post about these as soon as they are dry.

Then we’ve got the Clapotis. When I saw that Jillian had knit one in a solid black, I just knew I wanted one in a solid colorway as well. I dug through my stash and found 2 skeins of Brooks Farm Acero sitting in my stash. I’m in the decrease section so I hope to be casting-off and blocking by the weekend so I can take it with me next week to Stitches West.

Other than that, there’s a completed pair of socks which will get it’s photo shoot tomorrow, and then they’re off in the mail to mom.

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Bad Blogger

I can tell when I’ve been a “bad blogger” and haven’t posted for awhile because I had to log in to blogger to write this post. Can I use a family visit last week as an excuse? Today I thought I’d share with you all the projects (I’m willing to admit) I have on my needles.

I’ve realized that since I’m going to freezing cold southern Idaho for a week in December, I may need some real winter knit-wear. So, I decided to design a scarf for myself. This is the Cable Wave Scarf and I’m using Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Prairie Fire although I’ve also test knit it in Malabrigo Worsted. I’ve *got* to add more of that to my stash!

My sister’s birthday is in December and she requested a pair of fingerless gloves that convert to mittens. The pattern I’m using is Urban Necessity from MagKnits Sept. 2005, but honestly I’m not in love with all the yarn end weaving that this project entails. I do love the Cascade 220 superwash wool though so that definitely helps. I must admit though that after trying these on multiple times, I think I need to rip these back and make them larger. Drat.

I’m unsure why I was so excited to cast on for these Diamond Waffle Socks when I saw them in the last Knitty issue, but I think I cast-on in haste because I’ve not liked knitting these at all. I thought they’d be perfect for DH, but I’ve not liked the yarn (Cherry Tree Hill Supersock) nor the pattern and once I completed knitting the heel, I disliked the particular heel in the pattern, ripped them back, and threw them across the room. They’ve been sitting in time out ever since. Normally I love CTH Supersock, so that’s odd, but maybe it’s a bad combination of yarn and pattern. Regardless, since I’ve already done so much work on them, I’m going to pick them back up soon and maybe DH will have them in time for Christmas.

Tangled Yoke is completely knit and ready to be blocked. This is the first cardigan I’ve knit for myself (or anyone else for that matter), so I’m excited to almost have it finished. I suppose I should also be concerned about getting buttons too. Hopefully the next photo of this will be me wearing it.

I’ve had the Drunken Bees socks in my queue ever since the day I saw the pattern on Domesticraft’s blog site. Finally I received the perfect yarn (Shibui Sock) and cast on. Can I just tell you that both the pattern and the yarn are exceeding my expectations. I’m in love!

I’m test knitting Laura’s South Seas Stole and loving every minute of it. In fact, all the above mentioned projects have been sitting in limbo since I cast on for the stole. I already had the yarn in my stash which I coincidentally purchased from Laura a few months ago. I’m not sure what the yarn is comprised of, but it has very little, if any stretch to it, so I’m suspecting there is no wool. Maybe an Acrylic blend? I have no clue, but the finished fabric is beautiful. Finding the correct sized beads though that complemented the color was quite tricky though and luckily I’ve discovered (after 2 other stores failed to “wow” me) a wonderful store right by my house called Brea Bead Works.

I’ve knit the entire length of the stole and am now working on the border, but have discovered I’m running out of yarn. Hopefully Laura has more I can sneak away from her while I distract her with a German beer and deli sandwich from Mattern’s deli.

Thanks again for everyone’s comments. If I didn’t get to yours or your blogs recently, I’m sincerely sorry. My sister’s family was here visiting last week and my fibro wasn’t cooperating, so computer time was limited. Since this big desktop system won’t fit on my bed or my comfy knitting chair, I think it may be appropriate to start researching laptop computers.

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Tuesday This ‘n That

Labor Day was fairly uneventful around here, since it’s honestly too hot to do anything. If you read any blogs from others Californians, then you already know that we’re having an extreme heat wave. For example, last night at 7pm it was 90 degree INSIDE my home and I’d had the air conditioner on since 8am that morning. In addition to the hot weather though, my health has taken a turn for the worse and in addition to my normal Fibromyalgia symptoms, I’m battling the return of all my Epstein-Barr Virus symptoms. Supposedly it has returned because my immune system sucks, so I’m attempting to remedy that with a 30-day trial for what I hope to be “miracle” vitamins.

Laura recently asked me about the sock I was designing to see if it were complete. I’m on the verge of posting about it, but not today, so here’s a sneak-preview photo.

Wendy wrote a post last month regarding this light tent. I’m feeling tempted into purchasing it. Although my photos are alright, I would love for them to better. Also, with this tent, maybe my photo assistants wouldn’t steal my props. Currently I photograph everything outside by placing a few sheets of white tissue paper on my backyard patio or walkway, and I keep it from blowing away with a few rocks stolen from the base of my water fountain. Unfortunately, my golden retrievers think they are my photo assistants and just for giggles they like to steal the rocks off the tissue paper when I setup between photos.

All setup and ready for it’s picture

Kya nonchalantly standing near the photo setup acting all innocent

The little thief stealing the rock from the bottom left corner

The yarn in the photos was recently acquired from Jenny of the Stash & Burn podcast. She was doing a de-stash and I decided to pick up these two skeins of Lamb’s Pride Worsted in the Prairie Fire colorway. I’m considering using this yarn to make a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. They’ve changed the guidelines this year to sending in a maximum of five scarves and they need to be received by October 15th, but they are also recommending no mohair scarves. There is 15% mohair in this yarn, so do you think it would be alright to use this, or should I find something else?

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Cup a what?

DH: That is beautiful honey, very nice work.
ME: Thanks
DH: What’s that called again?
ME: (I think I’ve told him a million times this is called a Clapotis)
DH: Cup…a…..
ME: (Did he say cup?)
DH: Cup a tea?
ME: Did you say cup a tea?
DH: uhh.. yes
ME: BWAH HAHAHA!
DH: What? (looking at me wondering what’s so funny) What’s it called?
ME: (still laughing) Clap-o-tis
DH: Well I don’t know, wasn’t I close?
ME: You’re *so* getting busted on my blog for this.

So, I’m not calling it the Clapotis anymore, it’s now the Cup-A-Tea.

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Source: Knitty.com Fall 2004 issue
Yarn: Brooks Farm Four Play (2 1/2 skeins)
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 8 US
Finished Dimensions: 22″ x 59″

Notes: I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of knitting this. It was fun to watch two stitches grow into 107 stitches, and dropping a line of stitches after a 12 row repeat never got boring to me. It was also my first time using more than four stitch markers on one project and thankfully I had 18 jump rings hanging around here in my beading kit. The needles were good for this project, but right now I’m all about the yarn. It was HEAVEN. There are not enough adjectives in the world to describe how absolutely fabulous this yarn is. Next time I’m around Brooks Farm yarn though, I may just blow the bank! Their prices are very reasonable and now I’m especially glad I purchased the Acero yarn to try.

By the way, am I the only person who doesn’t get the email adresses for those who comment on my blog? In my email inbox, it shows this:
“Commenters Name” noreply-comment@blogger.com
How in the world can I respond back to new comments if I don’t know their email address? Did I set up something incorrectly on blogger?

For those of you new posters/de-lurkers to my blog, thank you sincerely for your comments about my toe up pomatomus. I sincerely appreciate it and if you send me your email address, I’ll keep it on file so I can personally thank you whenever you comment.

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I’m off to see the knitters….

I’m leaving for Stitches West in about 3 hours, then you’ll have to put up with another post or two about it, and then I’ll try to stop talking about it. Now I understand why you guys talk about Rhinebeck to death! It’s very exciting to be attending one of these events & since it’s my first, I have lots of anticipation!

And now…. presenting … my extremely belated Christmas gift for my mom.

Pattern: Forbes Forest by Kathy Zimmerman

Pattern Source: Scarf Style from Interweave Press

Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style; Nutmeg colorway; 5 skeins

Needles: KnitPicks Options size 5 US

Finished dimensions: 9.5″ wide by 60″ long

Notes: In making this scarf, I learned how to make cables without a cable needle and make bobbles without turning your work. The yarn was so inexpensive that I don’t dare say anything bad about it. It was pleasant enough, but not anything to go on and on about. The pattern was well written, but I was unable to memorize it. If I were to knit this again (and I might), I would change the pattern to omit one of the two knit “stripes” before the center panel & one of the two knit “stripes” on each end. Personally, this scarf is too wide & I calculated that if I omitted these knit “stripes”, it would cut the width by approximately 1.5″ thereby making it the perfect width.

I’m taking my laptop and camera with me to Stitches so hopefully I’ll remember to take photos. I’m always horrible about having my camera with me and not snapping one photo. What’s with that? Tonight is two blissful hours of shopping at vendors booths, Friday morning is my 3 hour “Pattern Customization” class from Gwen Bortner and then Friday afternoon I meet up with Lain (who has been commenting on my blog since I started it a year ago) for more shopping! I’m so excited!

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Insert Clever Title Here

I’m a bit upset with KnitPicks. Of course I tell you last time that I’m happy with their customer service, but then they go and screw up all that goodness. I decided to purchase some circular needles for my little sister so she can knit up some socks. Currently she only has size 2 needles which won’t work for the sock yarn she has in her stash. At 11:00 pm PST I placed the order with KnitPicks. At 11:02 pm PST I realized that I ordered the 16″ cables instead of the 24″ cables. DUH! Of course, they are closed. The next morning at 9am PST (only 10 hours later) I called KnitPicks to have the order corrected.

KP: Sorry, but we can’t change your order.
Me: Why? I just placed it last night. It’s for the same size needles, but just a different cable length and it’s the same exact price.
KP: Because the order is already in the warehouse.
Me: Can’t you send the warehouse a change order?
KP: We don’t do that, but you do have two options. You can wait until you receive the needles & then mail them back to us for the exchange, or you can place another order now for the new needles & then when you receive the incorrect needles you can mail them back to us.
Me: Can I just cancel the original order?
KP: No, because it’s already being processed in our warehouse.

Now people, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it normally take KnitPicks FOREVER to process an order? For heaven sakes, I just checked online and I placed the original order on February 15th & the status still shows pending. They couldn’t have cancelled the order? I think it’s just poor warehouse management in my opinion. I’ve worked in the warehouse and distribution industry in the past and at each of the companies I worked for there was an order cancellation and order change policy within the first 24 hours of the order being placed. Am I being unreasonable?

In other actual knitting news, the Forbes Forest scarf and We Call Them Pirates hat are both finally blocking, and my Pomatomus socks are now getting heels! I’m unsure how much further I’ll get on the Pomatomus since I leave for Stitches West on Thursday & I’ve got a lot to do before I leave. Thankfully there will be FO’s to post with details as soon as the scarf & hat dry … assuming they will dry since we’re having rainy weather (which I love since it reminds me of Seattle).

And now completely off subject, my little sister made me cry yesterday morning with this beautiful post she wrote about me. I feel like the luckiest big sister in the world!

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Scarves, Scarves

First of all, let me say that I should’ve posted about this FO the first week of January when I could have had it finished. And in all truth it was finished except for the blocking. So when I removed the last few stitches from the needles & bound off, I stuffed it into a ziploc bag where it spent over two weeks suffocating & gasping for air!

And why?

… because I was dreading the blocking. Sad, pathetic, and all true!

Thankfully I came to my senses & spent some time huddled over a bed layered with two beach towels, a tape measure, a container of pins, and the scarf which was painstakingly pulled & poked at until it submitted.

Pattern: Argosy by Vyvyan NeelPattern Source: Knitty.com Winter 2006 issue

Yarn: Rowan Tapestry (70% wool, 30% soybean); colorway Pot Pourri

Needles: KnitPicks Options size 6 US

Notes: Since I couldn’t get the Noro Silk Garden at my LYS in any decent colorways, I opted to use the Rowan Tapestry. It was wonderful to work although I would have preferred if it had striped in the same way that the Noro does with larger color blocks & more color changes. The only part I disliked about this was blocking. I’m sure the lace blocking wires would’ve helped me keep the points straighter, but I just couldn’t justify the expense right now so I sufferred through with the tape measure & the pins… UGGH!

Today you can find me at the post office to finally mail the scarf I knit for the Red Scarf Project 2007. I posted about it originally here when my fat self modeled it, but because it couldn’t be mailed until January, (and I had to wait for payday) it’s getting one last mention on my blog before it’s on it’s way!

Goodbye red scarf. May you keep a college student warm enough to get through the rest of the school year.

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