KnitCrit

Knippets VI

Here’s another installment of my Knippets – snippets about knitting and other things.

1. I finally finished my Blooming Kudzu shawl and I really love it. The color is so deep and rich, while the drape of the cotton and bamboo yarn is perfect for this very long semicircular shawl. Although the pattern is rated as Experienced, I would probably rate it intermediate. Even though each row has many stitches – close to 600 by the end – there are not any complicated stitches that would be challenging for someone who has knitted other lace shawls. 
2. My friend Donna’s birthday gathering was last weekend, and I realized that I had never knit her anything; a situation that had to be remedied. So, I took some beautiful Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran from my stash and cast on the Malabrigo Hand Thingies Mitts. She loved them! 
3. Yesterday, I visited the new yarn store in Fredericksburg – Old Town Yarnery. What a nice store! While she will be gradually adding more yarns, I especially like her vast assortment of Cascade 220. What’s funny is that I have never knit with that yarn, but that will likely be changing, soon. I did purchase 3 skeins of Debbie Bliss’ Eco Baby to knit a cardigan for a friend whose baby girl is due in June.
4. Recently, my primary pattern lust has been Bedford, a cabled pullover in Brooklyn Tweed’s Fall 11 Collection. Today, I have decided that I’ll use some Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd’s Wool in the Frosty Blue colorway for it; and cast it on in the next day or so!
5. This pair of eagles has been hanging out regularly on my neighbor’s dock. Each time I look over and see them, it makes me smile. 

Knippets V

If you are new to my blog, you don’t know about my Knippets. It may be obvious, but they are snippets about knitting – comments that, by themselves, do not have enough content for a full blog post. In fact, they are sort of like Tweets, although I began posting these before Twitter was a household word. I hope you enjoy these!

• I have been on a search for Classic Elite Bazic Wool yarn, now, for days. It was discontinued last year. There are two sweaters’ worth of it in my stash, and now that I’ve cast on a sweater with one of those, I crave more. I LOVE this yarn, and I cannot find a substitution that I like as much as the Bazic. 
• Can you believe it? I was in Old Town, Alexandria for three days and did not go to Fibre Space. In fact, the two projects I cast on last Friday were both with stash yarn. Yippee for me!
• Knitting podcasts are a favorite form of entertainment and knitting information. I can’t synch them to my iPhone because I have misplaced my cord. I am sad and sort of lost. Two more days and my cord will be back in my possession. 
• On Sunday, I was in my sister-in-law’s house; looked down, and there was a basket with a knitting project in it. That made me smile.
• At the same gathering, I gave my father-in-law his 80th birthday socks. They were knit in a sport weight merino/ bamboo blend – soft and oh so warm. I think he liked them! 
• Another knit linen face cloth with a lovely bar of soap is in my plans for the next few days. It makes a wonderful birthday gift – personal with a hint of luxury. 
• For Maryland Sheep and Wool, four of my friends from here are traveling with me.  They are all MSWF virgins, so I’m having a blast planning out our itinerary. Latest added event: Guido’s after party. 

Knippets IV

Jeesh, how in the H*** can it be mid-February?  So far, this year has been spent doing way too much work. There's also been pretty much knitting; an absolute necessity to offset work-related stress.  Now to share some Knippets.  

• At a New Year's Eve party, my BFF's BF teased me about not having any socks knit by Martha.  That has now been remedied - a gift for his birthday. 
  
   
  
  
• I happily joined the Vest-uary group on Ravelry.  Thank you to Sarah - PrairiePoppins - for the great idea.  For a very long time, I have had SUMO in my stash; an ArtFibers yarn that I picked up during a trip to San Francisco a couple of years ago.  The pattern is the Boogie Vest from Knitty-Spring 2004.  After knitting on the vest quite a bit in the last few days, I should be able to finish it by month's end.
  
   

• Speaking of San Francisco, today is a Federal holiday - President's Day - so I am home.  That means I got to watch the Tour of California bike race, live.  The riders started today's stage with a ride over the Golden Gate bridge.  Just typing this gave me chills all over again.
  
     

• This past weekend was spent in the Atlanta area.  While there, I was able to go to Knitch.  What an amazing yarn store!  The space is so open and the selection is simply overwhelming.  It was my second visit to the shop and I hope to return when I am back in the area in May.  I so wish we had a LYS in the DC area that had such the perfect combination of space and selection.  While there, I picked up the perfect button to a cardi project that I am working on.  Isn't it exhilerating to find the perfect button?
  
  
  

• I joined Twitter as mrhulse. Those who I am following are no surprise - a combination of cyclists and knitters, with a family member thrown in, here and there.  I'm enjoying following everyone, but I must admit to wondering why so many people care what others are doing 24/7.

• In just 12 days, we leave on our Cayamo cruise.  It is called "A Journey Through Song" and many of the musicians/singer-songwriters are favorites of my husband and me.  I was drawn to the concept by the many positive blog posts I have read about knitting cruises.  On our cruise, I hope to get a lot of knitting done, too; as I sit on the balcony and look over the lovely Caribbean waters.  Can't wait!

Knippets for (K)November

November has been a month of finish-itis for the KnitCrit, but I suppose I am not alone as we knitters (and other crafters) prepare for the holiday season.  Other knitting and non-knitting related thoughts and experiences have occurred that I will share here, also.

• A couple of years ago, my tea swap partner Melissa sent a skein of Painted Skeins superwash sock yarn.  Today, the yarn is knit up in some simple socks to be given to my BFF for Christmas.
  
  
  
• At the Virginia Fiber Festival at Montpelier this year, I was introduced to the new colourways from Dalis at Dancing Leaf Farm's yarns.  The fingering weight Sock Hop is the perfect yarn for cowls. Cowls are my new favorite quick, lovely gift knits.  I finished one in the Wavy Feathers Wimple pattern           
  and cast on another using the Good Luck Cowl pattern. 

• Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I hope to also finish Katie's shawl.  It is Evelyn Clark's very popular Flower Basket Shawl. This is for my son's bride to wear at the rehearsal dinner on December 26th.
  
    

• Recently, I attended a memorial service for a former next-door neighbor who had been very instrumental in the development of a project called the Grandmother Project. Their mission is to utilize the strengths of a grandmother's leadership role in the family and therefore, the grandmother's ability to increase the health and well being of their grandchildren's generation.  I was touched by this project; particularly the extent to which it relates to the core of so many knitters' stories of how they learned to knit and what it means to them. Oh how much I wish I'd known about Don's involvement in this, but I intend to find out more about the organization and how I can volunteer.

• When the time changes and I can no longer run or ride my bike before or after work during the week, I turn to our basement.  There, we have an elliptical trainer, a home gym, a weight bench and a cycling fluid trainer.  I'm such an outdoor person that even with all of this equipment, I get bored quickly.  As I worked out on the cycling trainer this week, I realized that since I used my iPod Touch to listen to music, I could also login to Ravelry!  What a discovery!  Since then, twice again I have worked out on the trainer while perusing Ravelry.  It's a knitter's workout heaven!

• I leave you with a photo of the beautiful red/orange sunset on this lovely Thanksgiving evening on the Northern Neck of Virginia.
  
  

                            Happy Thanksgiving!

More Knippets: New ... Hats ... Boys

These little Knippets have captivated my blogging attention, ever since I first posted them.  So, here are some more ideas and thoughts and things to share:

• My neighbor, just three doors down the street, messaged and friended me on Ravelry.  This wouldn't be such a big deal except that we've never really met one another before now.  She read my blog and Ravelry posts, put two and two together, and sent me a message.  A new knitter friend - squee!
• And speaking of new, I have a new knitting and spinning room.  What was once the guest bedroom is now "my" room.  Well, my husband is "allowed" to share it with me for playing his guitar and banjo. 
  
• Barbara, my best knitting friend, gave me the cutest soap for my birthday.  Can you see the mold of a ball of yarn?  
• I'm a huge fan of the Stash and Burn podcast.  So far, I've knit one hat for their 7 Long Project.  I hope to get another hat knit before the October 1 deadline.
    
• And speaking of hats, I finished "The Boy Hat" for my oldest son's 26th birthday.  It was a nice gift check container, too.  Here's the hat and the boy modeling his hat: 
                  
• The other boy passed a teen milestone yesterday.  He got his braces off!  Here are the before and after shots:
                  
• Now I'm off to plan my knitting for our 16+ hour car trip tomorrow through Monday.  Should I pack the shawl that needs a gazillion stitches picked up?  Probably not.  But yes to two of the sock projects, and yes to the Sausalito jacket, and this will be a good opportunity to start Katie's shawl (as soon as I decide which pattern).
  
• Until next time.... 

Knippets

Allow me to introduce "Knippets," the newest segment of my blog.  The idea came about over the last few days as I struggled over my next post.  I have finished several projects in the last few weeks; ones that I will eventually post for pattern critiques.  But, I have just not been in a creative writing mood, at least not what is required for a pattern critique.  Meanwhile, there have been so many ideas and thoughts running through my mind to blog about, but not a single one worth an entire post.  Hence, "Knippets" was born.

They are simple one to three sentence thoughts of my fiber world at that particular moment in time.  I'll throw in a photo here and there, and some cycling, too.  I plan to post more Knippets as time goes on, so let me know what you think!

(Oh, and I Googled "Knippets" and it seems that this is the original debut of the word.)

Here goes:

• I need to remember to pay closer attention to garment length.  Two of the sleeveless projects I finished recently are really too short.
• The look of my blog is in desperate need of some upgrading, so I have to set aside some time to do that in the near future.
• I bought a wheel, took lessons, but haven't focused on spinning yet.  I want to.
• Jenny and Nicole of the "Stash and Burn" podcast have a charity project going on for the benefit of kids on the oncology ward where Nicole works.  I think I'm going to knit some hats for that.
• I broke down and bought more buttons for the Sonnet cardigan.  The ones I bought in California have disappeared.
• I want to join the Five Rivers Fiber Guild, located near the Northern Neck.
• Barbara attended the Golden Gate Fiber Institute in California and boy, was I jealous.  The good news is that she brought me back a present - yellow yarn!
• Stockinette socks - I need to always have a pair on the needles and in my purse. With my DC commute, they're good for stopped-at-stoplight-and-in-backups knitting.
• A new knitting group in Chevy Chase?  That would be cool.
• Hopefully, I'll get the rigid heddle loom warped soon and get the table runner done. I need Bruce's help for that.
• Today I spent many hours sifting through my stash and better organizing it through the use of Ravelry.  This is definitely my favorite use for Ravelry.  Thank you Jess and Casey!
• I'm so excited that Lime finally came back to do a podcast with Violet.  I haven't listened yet because I'm saving it for the perfect time and place.  I am SUCH a groupie!
• I miss Amy O.  Thankfully, I can keep up with her and James and the kids through her blog.
• There was a time when I read one to two books a week and now, with knitting, I just don't read very much.  I have a stack of books by my bed that call to me every day; the stack keeps growing.
• I have been taking a "Boot Camp" fitness class and wow, has it improved my cycling!  I had an awesome ride today, keeping up with (3) guys who were fast!

I'll close with some pictures of my stash and other miscellaneous pictures from our Northern Neck vacation: