NYC Report, Part I: The yarn and knitting

The cats were glad to see me when I returned from a trip to NYC with my mom this weekend. They were so relaxed that they allowed me to pose them with my new yarn and knitting projects. Above is my haul from Habu: some of their soft wool in the approximately 12 epi gauge, some nubbly fine brown wool that they kindly wound double for me, and that golden yellow skein is 2 ounces, approximately 250 yards, of handspun Curricula silk. That is its natural color; it's enchanting.

Here is a new jacket design that I began on the bus ride down. It's made of 2 strands of Evilla Vorgarn held together. Yes, I did order from Wollsucht... I made a BIG order to make shipping worthwhile. I know German, so I didn't have any trouble, but I've heard from others that it is also easy to order in English. If anyone in the Boston area wants to order anything, let me know and perhaps we can make one big order. I'm working from both ends of the round, so the varregation of color is subtle. The pattern will be very simple and clean, since the yarn itself is the focus.

Finally, I began the Waterfall Socks from my Woolgirl Sock Club membership. The yarn and design are from Miss Babs, and WOW, is this yarn squooshy. I've used many, many hand-dyed sock yarns, and this one is a standout.

Tomorrow: NYC Report, Part II: What Mom and I did for fun.

I Run! I'm a Runner!

Here I am after the Tufts 10K for Women yesterday: a finish in under 55 minutes! I haven't run a road race since 2001, when I ripped some calf muscles apart training for a marathon, but setting up challenges like this for myself keeps my fitness, and my life in general, interesting. No one is allowed to get too complacent around here!

An equally exciting event from this past weekend: A finished Neiman from Gitte! She substituted DK weight wool yarn for both the silk and the wool cotton suggested in the pattern, and is already planning to make another in red and black. If anyone else makes this pattern, please send me photos or links to photos! I'm so impressed with her version, and she told me that it fits perfectly. Even though her blog is in Danish, check it out for her lovely knit creations and adorable family.

Finally, I completed my bigass scarf Saturday morning, intended as a Christmas present but more and more unlikely to make it to its recipient. It's made of a few skeins of Big Wool and some leftover bits of my own handspun, and fringed with a skein of Ozark Handspun. I only used a little over half the skein of Ozark, and highly recommend it for finishing touches on your projects. I'll probably be making a hat pompom with the rest of my skein, or fringing another scarf.

Maybe a gift scarf. Maybe.

Cheap Reward

Not much knitting going on that I can share, and a lot of bait-and-switch and more empty promises at Jobjob. However:

Here's a hat I finished for my grandma's Christmas present. The pattern is a modified Odessa, with no beads and a different gauge and with the decreases spaced differently, so, well, I suppose it's just a spiral hat, a la Odessa, or le Odessa, for those of you who may be familiar with the question of Davidic authorship of some of the Psalms in the Bible.

I made it from less than one skein of The Fibre Company's Savannah, purchased at Purl Soho. The softness of the fibers and richness of the colors are stunning.

And now, LONG WEEKEND. Next week: TWO AND A HALF DAY WEEK! RUN AWAY FROM JOBJOB, on this note from Elvis Costello:

Lip service, that's all you'll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I'd take you seriously?
With your cheap reward, your blackmail and your comical rage

Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage!

Loom teaser and Operation Toto Hood

This is what I did this weekend (aside from working on learning the breaststroke at the YMCA, watching The War on PBS and other crafty pursuits). It's part of a costume for my friend Sara's 4-year-old niece, who has insisted on being Toto for Halloween this year. In her mind, Toto is a vague, amorphous, grey, furry creature (remember, this is the mind of a 4-year-old). I used some grey fur I purchased at Sew-Low Fabrics, lined it with some Dorothy-esque gingham from my Nana's fabric stash, and attached brown velvet ribbon ties.


There was weaving, yes there was. This is a table loom that my weaving teacher has provided for me to use, not my actual loom, which will make an appearance on this blog soon. In progress is a sampler, not meant to be anything at all. I'll begin planning out my first goal-oriented project tomorrow night, and it will involve Habu textiles to be purchased while I'm in NYC with my mom in two weeks.


To round out the Fiber Arts weekend, here's some Spunky Eclectic roving in Chocolate Covered Cherries spun up as a chunky two-ply. Soon it will be in the mail to a knitting friend.

Whew!

Did you see me? I'm a weaver. I weave. I'm WEAVING!!!

So if you haven't seen the film What About Bob you probably don't think the title is particularly funny, but the point is that I have fully embraced my name and have begun taking weaving lessons in preparation for work on my giant estate sale floor loom.

Now go crazy. Weaver! Weaver weaves! Ann Weaver is a weaver! I'm a Weaver! I WEAVE!

Now that that is out of everyone's system, I'll be able to post about it this weekend. Today, I'll update the knitting content aspect of this site. First up, an entrelac scarf that will be a Christmas present for someone worked in Friendz Blendz two-ply mohair/merino blend that I purchased at New Hampshire Sheep and Wool this year.

Look at that striping! Those angles! I swatched and swatched and played with this yarn, trying to figure out how best to show off the colors and then THIS! I am ENTRANCED! It's Peanut Butter and Chocolate, Wurst und Kraut, Wine and Cheese, Vodka and all the Things That Go With Vodka. Stripes and Entrelac. And the halo that mohair give that royal blue, well, it's hard to convey in the photo.

I'm also almost finished with the most adorable baby hat ever. It's for the child of one of my mom's friends. Here, one of our plaster cats (this is half the pair; my grandpa made this great find years ago at a yard sale and I ended up with it at Christmas) evaluates my work:


It's made from a skein of Spunky Eclectic Super Sport in the color "Bird Face." This was in a sale bin at the Maine Fiber Frolic because it was alone and not quite enough for a pair of socks. I could not be happier with the way the yarn is striping . Okay, I could be happier, see above re: the Stripes and Entrelac, but not about this project.

And, finally, two more pairs of baby shoes, made from scraps of MaxiRingel, now discontinued (if anyone has some I will buy it from you), and Socks that Rock. They're for baby showers that my mom will be attending over the next few months. That is all with the knitting. I am also beginning to search for a new Jobjob in earnest. Hooray! Photos of the weaving soon. Stop chuckling.

You know you wanna.

Here's the back, and here's a shot of me as I was dressed riding Chris' single-speed to the subway station this morning:Chris has noted that I seem to be taking over this bicycle, but I let him know that I wouldn't consider it "mine" until I had lowered the seat about two inches. Easily done!

In any case, Mermaid is fantastic, and I anticipate wearing it all the time, as a jacket now and as a sweater under a jacket when it gets colder. What did I learn from making it?

Even tension in a small gauge in garter stitch will create something that will astonish your coworkers, weaving teacher, and random people at bars. Very few people will believe that you made it, and everyone will look at you differently after you insist that you did and they look more closely... and they realize that they've seen you knitting portions of this at work/in the bar for months.

Also, the sleeves and body both grow several inches in length with a soak and moderate blocking. Really, about 3 inches.

Oh, remember this?I'm teaching a class at Yarns in the Farms during which we'll make this! It's only $45, and includes the pattern and two Saturdays of fun and ice cream from Captain Dusty's right across the street. And let me tell you, Yarns in the Farms is the most comfortable, homey, friendly yarn stores I've ever visited. We're talking couches covered with handknit throws and such. Oh yes. You can see more photos on my right sidebar. Contact Yarns in the Farms to sign up, or just contact them because they're just so fun and have an excellent selection of hard-to-find yarns.

Slap-Happy Friday!

It's been a long, long week for both Chris and me, can you tell?

Mermaid is almost done, lacking only the i-cord edges on the sleeve cuffs and, as you may have noticed, one sleeve set in. And a good soak and wet blocking, since I've heard from everyone who's made it that both body and sleeves grow quite a bit in length, which is good news for me, since right now these sleeves are about 2 inches short, and the waist sits a bit higher than I would like.

And hey, Mom's birthday present is DONE and will be in the mail tomorrow. Some of you knitters out there may know what the blue thing in the photo below is, but Mom doesn't.

Finally, thanks to everyone for all the compliments on my Neiman sweater. I am really, really excited to see what others do with the pattern, so please, send photos! Email questions! I though of a few substitute yarns for the Wool Cotton, and was given some suggestions by others interested in the pattern. Here they are:

1. Jaeger Matchmaker DK: Itchier and warmer than Wool Cotton, but a bit cheaper, very durable, and has a matte finish that would contrast nicely with the silk.
2. Rowan Calmer: oooooh yeah. For all of you out there who don't want wool.
3. Rowan All-Seasons Cotton would also be nice, I think.
4. Elann has a new DK weight superwash wool that looks good, it's called "Peruvian Luxury Superwash," but I haven't tried it yet; love some of the colors, though, and it would be very reasonable.

I think these yarns would maintain the overall look of the sweater very nicely. However, think of how it would look in a tweedy yarn, or something with a bit of color-on-color dye action. Or with Artfibers Regal Silk in a varregated color or something exotic like Alchemy Silken Straw (saw this at Purl and have it on the brain) for the yoke detail! I know I'll be making another one soon, and plan on a little experimentation.