Cottage46 Knitter

Oregon!

Yay!  Oregon is finished and I'm wearing her right now.  She's very comfy and light and warm. 

I noticed once I saw the photographs that my motifs don't quite line up on the front.  I think I just need to move my buttons a little to bring things into alignment.

Pattern: Oregon - Autumn colorway
Yarn: Hebridean 2-ply from Virtual Yarns
Needles: US3
Comments: This is the first time I've used this type of yarn.  The colors are nothing short of stunning.  (Next up is Abalone in Spindrift; I'm looking forward to comparing the yarns.)  I did run out of Golden Plover and ordered another ball.  I know my gauge wasn't spot on throughout the whole sweater.  I'll order the next size up next time. 

The pattern says to trim steeks to 2 stitches.  I did that on the armholes, but it seemed a little close so I didn't do any trimming on the front steeks other than trimming off the dangling ends.  And I think the buttonholes are little close to the edge of the neck band.  Next time I'll move them back a couple of rows or add a couple of rows to the band.

Overall, I'm quite pleased.  I'm trying to decide how often it is socially acceptable to wear it.

Lost on Sleeve Island

One sleeve done.  One sleeve to stub length.  (And the trees are not upside down this time.  I checked.)  Despite all the snow we've had, there was one clear spot on the deck.  Go figure.

I finished my TKGA master knitter swatch resubmits and mailed them off yesterday.  Hopefully by this time next week I'll be starting Level 2. 

When I was buying Malabrigo for Christmas presents I bought myself a skein (purple of course) for a cowl.  Now I'm ready to make the cowl and I. Can't. Find. The. Malabrigo.  I intend to conduct an indepth search tomorrow, but if you hear weaping and gnashing of teeth from the Midwest tomorrow, you'll know I didn't find it. 

Just so I have a 2-picture blog post, the socks I've been working on.  Grumperina's Roza's socks from an IK issue that I can't find right now.  The pattern makes a nice snug sock. 

Does anyone else think this winter has been a bit... much?  If so, enjoy the following.  A Texas friend of VK's sent it to him, hence the Indiana references.  Insert your favorite cold weather destination.

65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Indiana plant gardens.

 

60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Indiana sunbathe.

 

50 above zero:
French & English cars won't start.
People in Indiana drive with the windows down.

 

40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Indiana throw on a flannel shirt.

 

35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Indiana have the last cookout before it gets cold.

 

20 above Zero
People in Miami all die.
Indianans close the windows.

 

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Indiana get out their winter coats.

 

10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Indiana are selling cookies door to door.

 

20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Indiana let the dogs sleep indoors.

 

30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Indianans get upset because they can't start their snowmobiles.

 

40 below zero:
All atomic motion stops.
People in Indiana start saying, 'Cold enough fer ya?'

 

50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Indiana public schools will open 2 hours late.

Oh for Pete's sake

Here's the first 3 inches of my first Oregon sleeve.  Notice a problem with the !@#$% trees?

Oh yes!  They are upside down.  I've already even woven in some of the ends!  So Oregon is going to be on a brief time-out. 

I did manage to finish one moose mitten.  I duplicate stitched his eye and you still can't see it very well.  I don't do well tensioning yarn when there are big blobs of color like a moose body.  Had the same problem on the sweater.

  

And I finished an uninspiring pair of socks that I started... wait for it... in May. 

I also managed to finish and mail my Master Knitter Level 1 binder today.  Woot! If levels 2 and 3 take as long as level 1, I should be a master knitter in 8 to 10 years.

I really need to post more often

I have been a knitting machine.  I have a little break in the indexing schedule so my spare time is all about the knitting.  In Christmas knitting there has been another Birthday Cowl (which looks a lot like the other Birthday Cowls) and a nice Nordic hat in Telemark that I forgot to photograph before I sent off.  Speaking of photographs, pardon the badly lit pictures to follow.  It's winter and I only see the sun on weekends. 

There was a February Baby Sweater in Galway for a new member of a friend's family.  Are those buttons to die for or what?

And on the recipient:

Of course no winter would be complete without a moose project.  Kevin is getting moose mittens for Christmas from Selbustrikk.  (Oh yeah, just went to Nordic Fiber Arts to get that link and saw about 4 more Nordic booklets that I need.)  Anyway, I have lots of Falk left from the moose sweater.  There's a rumor that Kevin is dreaming of a moose ear flap hat too. 

There has also been Oregon progress.  I'm always a little surprised at how fast this sweater moves along.  The body is done.  Perhaps some of you heard me swearing last night when I realized that the shoulder seams won't line up.  Forgot to consider armhole steek placement.  I'm planning to add a row of Selkie like Anne of Geocaching Knitter did to separate the mismatched motiffs a little.   Live and learn.  I'll know better next time.

Speaking of next time, Abalone yarn has arrived!  Look at all those lovely purples and teals.  I'm forcing myself to wait until Oregon is done to cast on.  This is not easy. 

Since there's minimal chance that I'll post again before Christmas, I'll wish all my bloggy friends a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with good yarn and beautiful projects.  I truly appreciate the friendships I have in blogland and Ravelry-land and in LYS-land.  I've learned so much about the traditional knitting that I love and every time I see Kevin wrapped in his Blanket of Hope, I'm reminded of how valuable these friendships are.  (He's doing very well healthwise, BTW.) 

A surprising amount of progress

Especially since I don't feel like I've been knitting much at all.  Perhaps I finally have learned to knit in my sleep.  All my spare time seems to spent obsessively checking pollster.com and political blogs.  Election day cannot come soon enough.

I've finished one repeat of the 2nd chart on Oregon.  My Knit Picks #3 circular broke last night as I was spreading stitches out.  (!!!)  Saved by sticky Shetland wool.  The stitches were quickly recovered onto an Addi Turbo 40" needle which is actually working better because the KP was a 32".  It sounds a lot less dramatic than it seemed while it was happening. 

I started a stockinette v-neck cardigan adapted from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.  I'm using Stonehedge Shepherd's wool which is deliciously soft.  (Sorry, no links.  I've been editing an index all day and REALLY want to get to knitting.)  Anyway, it's navy blue, it's stockinette, boring but satisfying.

My meeting and webinar project has been this lovely pair of toe-up socks in Online Supersocke cotton.  Since Indiana revamped librarian certification, I've become a slave to LEUs (library education units), hence my attendance at lots of webinars.  I guess a lifetime certification for $1 with no continuing ed requirements was deemed insufficient. 

And I have a pair of 9 to 5 socks ready to start the heel.  These have completely stalled since I have 3 stockinette projects in active rotation and never really feel like concentrating on a heel.  Or even a heel flap. 

Here's Zoey willing the door to open so she can get back in on my chair where she belongs.  Between Zoey and my hormones, I am never cold.

A little Oregon progress

I've gotten through the first chart on Oregon. 

For mindless knitting I started a stockinette v-neck cardigan in navy blue Shepherd's Wool from Stonehedge Fiber Mill.  No photos yet.  Just picture 3 inches of navy blue stockinette.  The yarn is merino and very, very soft and wonderful.  I knit a few rows on Must Have last night.  I thought I was still on the first front side but discovered that I already completed one front side, and I'm actually on the second one.  Glad I discovered that before I started the shaping. 

The weather is cooler this week finally.  I got to wear Rogue out in the wild today when we went to the post office and the vegetable stand for pumpkins, Indian corn, and squash.  The lady at the veggie stand did not comment on my very cool hand knit sweater and I was very disappointed.  ;o)  It's turning out to be a busy fall again as far as indexing.  I had to turn down a project from a publisher that I'd really like to have as a client because I'm booked up.  That's never happened before!

I swatched.

And I love it.

Now I need to do some indexing.

God bless AS for thinking I'm a small!

There's no evidence of it yet, but cold weather is surely coming.  So I knit some mittens. 
Actually I finished mittens that I started in December 2006.  I knit a cuff and then was evidently distracted by a shiny object or something.  When I returned to them I decided my corrugated ribbing could probably be improved so I didn't even use the 2 year old cuff.

Pattern: Nordic Mittens by Beth Brown-Reinsel in Interweave Knits Winter 2004
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport
Needles: US #1
Comments: I love them and they fit perfectly.  My other mittens are a little too long and I feel like I'm wearing flippers.  These are just the right length.

Look what came in the mail today!!!!  Ahem.  My first Hebridean yarn.  All I can say is Wow.  These colors are amazing. 

I mean really amazing.  Anyway, the yarn is wound and swatching will commence this evening.  I'm so excited! 

I'm still working on Must Have cardigan #2.  The back is done and I'm about 1/3 of the way up one side of the the front.  It's good to have cables and colorwork going at the same time. 

I have to give a huge thank you to Lorraine at Sheriff of Knittingham for nominating me for the I Love Your Blog Award.  Totally made my day!

My nominees, in no particular order.  Well, actually alphabetical order by blog name.

Carole at Carole Knits who is a librarian and just today posted a yummy recipe that I'm going to try.

Cindy at Knitting Park who completely rocks at cables.

Karen at Musings of a (mostly) Self-Taught Knitter who was one of my first blog friends and who is raising  awareness of diabetes and money for a cure. 

CarrieK at My Middle Name is Patience who knits lovely projects and loves books and TV as much as I do.  She's also talked me down from at least one knitting-induced panic attack.

Rebekah at Rebekah's Yarn who stopped blogging for a while, but she's back!  I'm glad because I missed her and Abner, Basil, and Django.

Lorraine at Sheriff of Knittingham whose lace projects blow my mind and who may have the coolest blog name in blogland.

Marina at Stranded on Fair Isle whose stranded knitting is gorgeous and has perfect shoulder seams.  An astonishing body of knitted work.

Twig at Twig's (mis)Adventures in Knitting who knits very cool projects and is a doggie lover.

Jessie at What Housework who has the most interesting farm adventures and hand-dyes gorgeous Vermont yarn.

Brigitte at Wrapped Around My Finger who has the most entertaining Little Dudes, knits fantastic projects, and totally calmed me down when I found out my iron was way above normal. 

Thank you, ladies, for brightening my days and providing endless knitting inspiration!