KnitCrit

Makin’ Hats

I’m a big Patty Griffin fan, and one of my favorite of her songs is Makin’ Pies. So, recently when I’ve been knitting several hats at once, I thought of myself as “makin’ hats.” None of them are for me; all of them are for charities.
These two green ones are for a silent auction for The Haven, which operates the local domestic abuse shelter. Their St. Patrick’s Soiree is coming up, and these his and hers hats are part of my donation of a “Winter Green” basket which will be filled with a variety of green items to “soothe away the winter cold.”  



The third hat is also for charity. Local knitters and crocheters donate handmade items to From the Heart, a Richmond organization that collects these to distribute to those in need, for a variety of reasons, from preemie babies to those suffering horrible diseases.
Fair Isle knitting was the last topic of study for my fiber guild study group on color knitting. This hat was selected for that group’s final challenge – to knit a Fair Isle baby hat to give to From the Heart. It had been awhile since I had done any stranded knitting, so this was a good way to get me back into the swing of it.


It was my own self-inflicted deadline, but I wanted these hats finished and off the needles by the end of January. So, Tuesday night, I was frantically knitting the final rows and weaving in the ends, when Bruce commented that I was a “desperate hat wife.”

Now, it’s time to cast on a few new projects and see what I’m able to accomplish in February. 

    Happy Groundhog’s Day!

The Bay Window Knitters

The Bay Window in Irvington, Virginia, is my LYS (local yarn store). When I moved here full time last year, I began going to their Tuesday and Friday “Sit and Knits.” Before long, I had made many friends; friends who share many a passion with me.
When The Haven, our local shelter and support organization for victims of domestic and sexual abuse, asked for donations to their Adopt a Family program this Christmas, I knew those knitters would help out. And help out they did! We adopted a family with two children, a 6 year old girl and an 11 year old boy. Their wish lists included books, bicycles, toys and clothes. Their mom requested gas cards.The outpouring of support was overwhelming and touching. Yesterday, I delivered the items to The Haven. Look at those great bikes, and the toys, and the books! See those cute clothes! There are gift cards among the gifts, too!



At the same time as the adopt-a-family program, this same group of knitters knit booties for Knitting for Nutrition. The program provides an incentive for women in Burkino Faso, Africa, to attend important health and nutrition training for their young children. The mothers will come to the training, knowing that there is a cute pair of hand-knit booties there for their infants. Magical!



I am so very proud and thankful for the generosity of my knitting group.

Socktoberfest and NaKniSweMo

I tend to be a joiner, enjoying the camaraderie that comes with sharing what I love with others who love the same activities. I prefer group rides to solo ones and will drive many miles to attend a knitting group.
Ravelry has numerous group knits. There are KALs (Knit-alongs), swaps and theme based challenges. It’s the latter that I enjoy the most, particularly Socktoberfest in October and NaKniSweMo in November.
Socktoberfest, begun in 2005, is touted as a “celebration of socks.” While it is not a race, I am not alone in using it as a challenge to knit a pair of socks in a month. The prize: a nice message from Lolly (Lauren), the creator.
This year, I cast on and completed mine in October. They were knit in the Olympian Socks pattern with Anzula Yarn’s Suishy, a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend. These are great socks; soft, comfortable and fit perfectly!



NaKniSweMo is an offshoot of NaNoWriMo, in which players write a 50,000-word novel in a month. Brainchild Knitgrrl (Shannon) created NaKniSweMo as a means for we knitters to knit alongside novelists, knitting a sweater with at least 50,000 stitches in a month.
On November 1, I cast on the Charcoal Ribbed Cardigan pattern for Bruce, using some Foxhill Farm Cormo Cross that I purchased at Rhinebeck a few years ago. He has wanted  me to knit him a cardigan for 10+ years, and this pattern and yarn combination were exactly what he had in mind.
On November 30, I gave him the finished sweater, which fits perfectly!



I may not know much about what I will be doing in 2012, but I’m pretty sure that I will join in a Tour de France knitting or spinning challenge, as well as Socktoberfest and NaKniSweMo. They are so much fun!

MSWF 2011

Yes, I have attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival for many years. I’ve missed one here and there, but it is a priority on the calendar. One year, we delayed our departure for a vacation to Arizona until Saturday evening; just so that I could go to Sheep and Wool in the morning. After my new yarn purchases sat in our car for a week at the airport, our car smelled like its own wool festival.
This year’s trip was special because I attended with four new knitting friends from my new Virginia hometown. I love to plan and this trip was no exception; filled with activities. En route on Friday, we stopped for lunch at a new favorite spot at the northern end of the Northern Neck: The Art of Coffee, in Montross. From there, our next stops were over the Harry Nice Bridge and in LaPlata. A large quilt store (Material Girls) and a nice LYS (Crazy for Ewe) are located a couple of blocks from each other. All were careful to curtail any major purchases at these places, though, knowing that later that evening we would be visiting Fibre Space, the LYS in Alexandria.
Fibre Space is a good preparatory yarn store for anyone going to MSWF since it, by itself, is overwhelming, with its selection of luxurious yarns in a plethora of colourways. There, I bought sock yarn in dark green tones – a merino/cashmere blend from Squoosh Fiberarts – because I recently discovered that my handknit sock collection lacked a pair of green ones.
We left Fibre Space just in time to walk several blocks to the tapas restaurant, La Tasca, where we had reservations. Two of the women had not experienced tapas dining before, while another one speaks fluent Spanish. That combination, along with some wine and delicious food, made the restaurant a big hit. Some more walking around Alexandria and then a return to our apartment, via Whole Foods, completed the evening’s activities.
Saturday, our plan was to arrive at the festival in time for the noon meet-up. As we drove up the road approaching the fairgrounds, I saw that the field across the street was being used for overflow parking. Yikes!  But, by the time we got up to the parking patrolman, a better decision was made; to open the back gate to the fairgrounds. Yay! We parked just a few yards from the gate, and entered just as people were gathering for the noon meet-up. There, I got to see several of my close Maryland knitting friends – what a treat.
Soon, my small group of friends were ready to get started, and we entered the main building. About two hours later, with everyone having made at least one purchase (for me, a skein of fingering weight yarn and three skeins of cotton yarn for weaving a table runner), we exited and went to the outside booths. This included Brooks Farm, where I purchased yarn in a silk/wool blend, to be knit into an afghan for our house.
This was one of my two MSWF goals, the other one a pottery knitting bowl. Brooks Farm was next to Tess Designer Yarns, another favorite MSWF vendor, and just up the hill from two other local Maryland favorites – Dancing Leaf and Kiparoo. Dalis, of Dancing Leaf, has an incredible color sense, so not only could I not walk away without a skein of her “Sock Hop,”
but I encouraged others in my group to buy from her, as well. From there, we headed to the barns. My focus was on finding “Jennie the Potter” because she is known for her pottery knitting bowls. Once there, though, they were not only a disappointment, but they seemed excessively expensive. Not much later, however, I reached the Greenbridge Pottery booth and there it was – the bowl that I had been envisioning.
Perhaps I had seen theirs in my mind since we have other 
pieces of pottery from there; we like the simplicity and colors of her creations.
By around 4:30, the crowds had really thinned out, even making it reasonable to stand in line for ice cream. At 5:30, we returned to the main building, only to find it 
practically deserted. For the last half hour, we wandered around, speaking to the vendors and having a clear view of the products in their booths. I think that I will arrive around the same time next year, knowing that by day’s end, I will have the space to concentrate and shop the way that I like.  
We, five exhausted souls, arrived at our dinner destination in time for our 7PM reservation. What a delicious meal we had, which rejuvenated us for the last event of the day – The After Party. It was great to see more old friends from my Maryland knitting groups, as well as meet new knitter friends. This is what is so fabulous about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival; a combination of the new and the old, the beautiful and the outrageous, the delicious and the quenching.
On Sunday morning, we all slept in, and after the coffee and tea brewed, held our own “show and tell.” A couple of the women still had funds left in their MSWF budget, so off we went on a return trip to Fibre Space. More yarn was procured, as well as my own purchase of patterns.
No less than an hour later, we were on our way. After a stop for lunch at National Harbor, we headed southeast, back over the Potomac, and home; thereby ending my Maryland Sheep and Wool adventure for 2011.  

New Skills

I have just completed two mornings of classes with Edie Eckman, a teacher, designer and author of both knitting and crochet. These were offered through my fiber guild, the Five Rivers Fiber Guild. Yesterday was Fun with Intarsia. Today was Crochet for Knitters.

Intarsia is knitting with more than one color, where separate bits of the colors are worked into a particular section of the knitted object. It might be just a few stitches in any one of the colors, or it may also be large blocks of colors. The key is that the yarn is not carried, or “floated,” at the wrong side of the fabric. Each color change requires a new section of yarn. Because the yarn not being used is not carried at the back, the resulting fabric is not strengthened or stiffened by the double layer of yarn, as is the case with Fair Isle, another color work technique.
I have used Intarsia here and there, but I have never knit an entire project that required it. In fact, it has never been my favorite technique, and frankly, the class did not change my mind on that. Since the color changes each requires a new bit of yarn, there are many loose ends, and I find that managing those is fussy. This morning, I created a search on Ravelry of projects that are garments for women and use the Intarsia technique. The results were not impressive. Thus, while I am happy to be much more educated, with great tips and tricks to use the next time I am faced with Intarsia, I will not be changing the priority of projects in my Ravelry queue, with new Intarsia projects to be knit, anytime soon. Watch out, though, next winter. I envision lots of knit hats with snowflakes, hearts and maybe even a squirrel. Well, maybe.

Today’s class on crochet techniques was tremendous. My ventures into crochet have been quite limited. A good friend and crochet/knit designer, Amy O’Neill Houck, used to tease me about my inability to crochet. When I attempted it, I was all thumbs; not able to hold the yarn or the hook or the fabric in any way that I felt comfortable. With Amy there, I didn’t need to, as she kindly blew through my single crochet edges when I needed it. No more wimping out for me, now!
As a student, I could tell that Edie’s real love is crochet. The class began with basic crochet stitches, giving us students ample time to move from one to the next. In addition, she taught how to round corners on edges and how to single crochet a seam of two knitted pieces; these being the two techniques that I primarily took the classes in order to learn. Beyond that, we were introduced to reading charted crochet patterns and some more advanced stitches. I was so motivated that I walked away with three of her books: Around the Corner Crochet Borders, The Crochet Answer Book, and Beyond the Square: Crochet Motifs.

All in all, I would highly recommend her classes.  Not only is she extremely knowledgeable, but her love of these fiber arts comes through in her presentations. The handouts for both classes were also very well done – thorough, but concise and to the point, with very nice illustrations. I am sure that I will refer to them often. The crochet class, especially, has certainly led to a modification of my fiber priorities.
In fact, at this moment it is raining. Now, for the first time ever, I will use this phrase:
Gotta go. I am going to crochet now.  

Not a Towel Holder

I seem to be on a constant quest to find knitting related uses for everyday home tools. Many solutions are those that I learn from knitting blogs, podcasts and my own conversations with knitters. Every once in awhile, I actually come up with one on my own; or, at least, one that I have not heard about elsewhere.

This is not a towel holder, it is a Cowl Holder! I had thought about this some time ago, but found myself at a big box store this week, where I went searching for a paper towel holder that would serve my purpose. This one I selected cost a little more, but the bottom of the base is covered in felt so that the holder won’t scratch the wood furniture on which it sits.  

Another favorite solution is for storage of interchangeable needle tips – several colorful toothbrush traveling cases and a marker pen, and voila!  When I first did this, I thought that I was being original, but I’ve since heard others suggest the same solution.  All of those lovely sewn cases are beautiful, yes, but this is an inexpensive way to organize my needle tips. They stack nicely in the bookshelf with my knitting books, too.

Like many knitters and crocheters, I also enjoy decorating with leftover sock yarn. I find that the blending of the colors adds vibrancy to an otherwise dull décor. A pretty crystal bowl and lots of leftovers, and it makes for a pretty tabletopper.
If you have ideas to share, please post them as comments to this post for us all to learn.

A lesson?

Grrrr.  Last week, I cast on the Madeline Tosh Honey Cowl.  In my stash was a skein of the lovely Helen yarn from Spirit Trail; perfect for the pattern.  This would be a great basketball game and knitting group project - interesting stitch pattern but I didn't have to pay total attention.  I cast on all 220 stitches onto a needle that had been in its case for awhile.  Did I take the time to steam the cord so that it wasn't twisted?  I did not. Last night, I looked down and there it was - twisted. Ugh.  Why didn't I take the extra few minutes to steam the cord so that it wasn't so hard to keep the stitches untwisted at cast on? I could pretend that it was a design element, a mobius, but my little "must be obedient" brain won't allow that.Soon, I'll rip it out and re-cast on the stitches; onto the cord that is now straight from all the knitting on it. 
In a similar situation, one of our cats is a nighttime terror.  She's just so cute, that

it's easy to forget that she can be such a bad girl. If there is anything loose sitting around- a pen, a key, a paper clip, jewelry - she will knock it down and play with it. I have been locking her in my bedroom at night, until last night.  What was I thinking, or not thinking?  This morning, a close call.  A favorite pottery bowl was on its side, teetering on the table's edge.  The lightbulb that had been in the bowl was nearby, on the floor, certainly a play toy during the night while I slept.

Will I learn from these situations? Don't bet on it. 

 

Anticipation

Carly Simon sang about it.  Merriam-Webster lists a few definitions of it.  The definitions that are most relevant in the context of this post are: (1) a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action; (2) the act of looking forward, especially pleasurable expectation; (3) visualization of a future event or state.

"Anticipation" is an accurate description of what my thoughts are consumed with recently.  All of the definitions listed fit nicely into each of the areas of my life where I am anticipating something; these areas touch my work, my family and yes, my knitting.

Later this week, the new President/CEO of the organization where I work will start.  While the most recent months without a CEO have been difficult, they have been somewhat predictable.  Predictability is now replaced with anticipation, as I visualize her tenure with great optimism, as opposed to anxiety.  Those feelings are based upon considering prior experiences where similar circumstances had positive outcomes, and extrapolating them into this one.

My fifteen year-old son is away at boarding school for the first time.  He will be coming home for Spring break, his first trip home in seven months.  I envision days and hours of happiness and enjoyment with him while he is home.  Meanwhile, my thoughts are on how to make the week special.  No doubt; I am looking forward to the week in April, with pleasurable expectation!

Before a knitting project is cast on, a lot of time is spent visualizing the finished project.  It's an integral part of the creative process.  Like all knitters, I see the pattern on someone else in a magazine, book or website, and then consider what it will look like on me or for whomever I am considering the project.   I compare yarns; their color, fiber content, drape and weight.  I look at the pattern schematics or measurements, as well as all the examples that I can find of the project on others.   The anticipation of casting on that project overshadows all reasonable and unreasonable thoughts for hours; sometimes days.  Yet, I never think too hard about how long the project will take to complete.  I don't pay very much (enough) attention to the pattern details at this point, either.  Instead, my mind is on one and only one thing; knitting that project.  Forget reality.  Forget responsibility.  Forget time.  Forget competing priorities.  I am anticipating the finished object.  Period.

C-C-Cold Country Tour

Traveling Dilemma...with a Happy Ending

Here I sit in the airport in Charlotte.  There is a woman sitting in the next aisle who is  knitting a beautiful purple sweater.  Although I am beginning this post from here, it is likely that I will finish it at my destination - Asheville, NC.  There won't be any pictures, though,  since I forgot the cord.  The purpose of this Asheville trip is to attend a two-day workshop, and I think that I will be able to knit through most of it.

This whole story began a couple of weeks ago, when I decided to knit a hat and scarf for my boss who has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.  So, how hard can it be to select yarn and a pattern for something so simple? 

First, I searched Ravelry for yarns.  My goal was something soft and warm.  I figured that a nice merino would be right for this.  After a lot of time spent searching online, I decided to save this purchase for my trip to the Virginia Fiber Festival in Montpelier.  Barbara and I made the annual trek there (and not to get side-tracked, but I did not enjoy the festival as much as in prior years) on a beautiful October day last Saturday.

At the very end of my perusal of the vendor booths, I discovered the perfect yarn; Merino Classic Worsted by Knitting Notions.  Inasmuch as I work for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the marigold colorway was an easy choice; very "Marine gold."  Even better; the yarn was on sale!

All that remained was to determine which patterns to knit.  My first idea was something with cables.  I thought about the Irish Hiking Scarf and the matching hat.  Then I moved onto a matching cable hat and scarf from Cables Untangled.  Several other cabled hat patterns from Ravelry were considered before I decided against cables; maybe too much to think about in the workshop.  During this time, I so happened to listen to Episode #61 of Stash and Burn; the one where they discuss all the free hat patterns on Ravelry.  I went back to Ravelry, in case I had missed something.  After two weeks of searching for a dang hat and scarf pattern, and after deciding on a simple Mistaken Rib pattern scarf, I returned to Ravelry for a matching hat.  With a shake of the head and a couple of "craps," I broke down and paid $6.50 for the Wildflower pattern for a Mistaken Rib Hat and Scarf set.  Phew!

Final preparations for the trip included winding the yarn on the swift and taking time for a gauge swatch.  That was followed by organizing everything into a Zip-lock bag to be packed  into my carry-on bag.

So, here I was this morning, sitting on the plane awaiting take-off, knitting away on the hat, when it hit me.  It's too big.  That gauge that worked yesterday isn't working today.  Damn.  Not only could I not knit on the hat, but the other project I packed wasn't in my carry-on.  So was my pen, so I couldn't complete the crossword or Suduko puzzle.  The Sky Mall catalog became my only entertainment; and entertainment it was!

Now I am settled nicely into the hotel room and just finished the first two inches of the hat.  Needles?  I discovered a lovely yarn store here, Yarn Paradise.  I was planning to go there anyway, but it took on an elevated importance and was the first stop after lunch.  There was a wall of needles, with the largest assortment of Addi needles I have ever seen.  It was meant to be; the needles AND the 2 skeins of Malabrigo lace in black that left with me.