Forest Path

If a shawl is blocked in an apartment and no one is there to see it, is it really an FO?

My Forest Path Stole has been waiting a long time to officially become an FO. It began it's journey at Logan airport as I waited for a flight to take me sailing in the Caribbean. I worked on Forest while aboard the boat, and on the flight home. I worked on Forest for months here, in Boston. The knitting was complete in July, but I didn't feel like blocking it. Finally, on Thanksgiving day Forest was blocked. If you aren't familiar with the pattern it is from an old IK, Spring '05 perhaps, but don't quote me on that. It is an entrelac stole ith 3 lace motifs.

One motif is has six leaves to it.

Another had bobbles on it, this was my least favorite motif as I hated knitting 5 or 7 or how many stitches together to form the bobble.

The final motif did not photograph well, but it too formed a few leaves, but in a different way than the motif on the left. The border is simple seed stitch. Over all the effect is entrancing. The different motifs meant I remained interested and didn't become bored with the pattern. I used Jaggerspun Zephyr to knit this, and let me tell you, Zephyr is fabulous yarn. I definitely recommend it.

On to today's flashing, December 6th:

Today I have no clients to meet, no courts to visit, just a phone call and a brief to write. I have a little cold too, so cozy was what I wanted. Today I am wearing a stole instead of a sweater. This is an IK pattern whose name I forget. I knit it using Berroco Pleasure, and yes, the yarn was indeed a pleasure to work with and to wear. This stole is like wearing a warm blanket wrapped around you. What I remember about making this is that it became hot outside as I worked on it and it was awkward to keep having to move the long rectangular piece every time I switched from a WS row to a RS row and vice-versa, so I decided to teach myself to knit backwards to avoid having to move and turn the piece. This method worked very well, and I now know how to knit backwards (taking stitches from the right needle instead of the left). I don't use this technique often though because it slows me down.

Hello, it's knitzalot now, and I wanted to share my FO for December 6th. This one was sort of a disappointment. It's my Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I made it using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, which is a really nice yarn. It also means it is a really expensive sweater. However, I had only the variegated on hand because I had purchased it for another project. I'm not a fan of how variegated yarn knits up, so that's my first complaint. I



also wasn't thrilled with the fit. I added short rows for the bust, which worked out fine, but the neckline is so huge that it falls off my shoulders. To fix it, I pin the sweater to my bra strap, but that's awfully fiddly. The result is that I don't wear this sweater much. It is really soft against the skin, but I don't feel that it's flattering. I really, really want to make this pattern again someday. Another blogger out there did a really gorgeous version of this sweater, so I might want to do something like that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I write this I am sitting at home sipping tea instead of running around trying to leave for my bus in five minutes. It is Thanksgiving. I am a vegetarian so a big turkey dinner isn't my thing. I do enjoy most of the side dishes that are served for Thanksgiving, but I don't feel any special pull of this holiday. I haven't had Thanksgiving dinner with my family for probably 8 or 9 years. I am happy with a quiet and often non-traditional Thanksgiving. What Thanksgiving means to me, this year, is 4 days that can be pretty much devoted to knitting. Admittedly, I have some work to do, something to file in Boston tomorrow and a brief to write, but neither activity will be particularly taxing. My brief isn't that complex and the filing should take 15 minutes.

I mentioned a little while ago that I was working on some small projects while waiting to start my next sweater. Well, I have started my next sweater, so the little projects may not get the same devotion (ok, to be honest, there is no way they will get the same devotion/attention they got before). I thought I would share a couple of them today. You probably won't hear them mentioned again until after Autumn Rose is done.

I don't know how much knitting for Christmas I will do this year, but this (on the right) small project is a Christmas knit. I have decided to give one of my Grandmother's a mini-Clapotis which I am knitting with SeaSilk. This has become my travel project (Autumn Rose has too many color changes for me to be able to knit it on my bus).

Another small project that picked up steam was my knee high Millicent Socks from Cookie A. I have one sock done and am at the heel flap on the second. I am doing the heel flap in the same color that I used for the top cuff. This sock was put on pause because of that color change. To be honest, most of this sock was not knit after I finished my cabled cardigan, but during the playoffs and World Series (the cabled cardigan seemed to be a jinx). I didn't have the yarn with me when I was last out knitting with it and then became engrossed with another project, which I am not showing here, instead.

While writing this post I paused to finally block my Forest Path Stole. I finished knitting this some time over the summer but for some reason could never quite bring myself to take the time to block it. (ETA: I was just going around adding labels to old posts (sorry that I republished a bunch of them, didn't realize there was a different way) and noticed that this shawl was finished in July, JULY!!!! I posted that I finished in on 7/17/07, I can't beleive that I took so long to block this thing!)

Finally, progress shots on Autumn Rose:

One of the advantages of living in New England is that a weekend jaunt to a foreign country is not only possible, but is easy and convenient too. While a This past weekend I took a jaunt up to Montreal. weekend jaunt to Europe is both financially and practically out of the question for me, a weekend jaunt to Montreal is easy. I brushed off my very rusty, and VERY elementary French skills and drove the 5-7 hour trip through New Hampshire and Vermont to arrive in this very European city during their Just For Laughs Festival, of which I don't have any photos. The weather was mostly lovely, the city very walkable, the people friendly, the food eclectic and good, and the beer (Maudite) was very good. Despite traveling with a fellow knitter, no yarn shops were visited. We spent most of our time walking around the old city.

I managed to get some knitting done while in Montreal, and after returning home. The Forest Path Stole is now finished. Well, the ends aren't woven in yet and it isn't blocked yet, but those things will happen soon. This means that I now have 2 shawls to block.

Knitter's Tea Swap 3

I managed to sneak in to the third Knitter's Tea Swap just under the wire. This go round things were arranged a little differently with participants being assigned a partner to swap with. My swap partner is in Singapore, and on Tuesday I received my wonderful package from her.

I received a beautiful big tin of loose China White Tea, some tea biscuits, dark chocolate, a skein of Koigu, a skein of cotton yarn, some handmade stitch markers (lovely), Inox knitting needles with long cables (though they are not circular needles), a buffalo horn incense holder, incense cones and stick's, a leafy green bag, a tea strainer, a tea cozy, then as an additional gift I received a copy of the Spring Things Shawl pattern (which I will probably be starting very soon). When I opened my package I felt like I was reaching into a bottomless bag, it was stuffed full with wonderful presents, each of which delighted me.

In knitting progress news, despite the lack of photos on this blog, I have continued to work on the Forest Path Stole. Yesterday I finished up the body of the Stole. I did not do as many tiers as the pattern suggested, but I think that my stole will be plenty long enough. Since I have finished the tiers, I am now left working on a seed stitch border. I find seed stitch to be extremely tedious, so I may end up repeatedly setting the stole aside, on the other hand, the fact that I am close to finishing may be just the push I need to get through miles of seed stitch.

Finally, here is a photo of my finished Whiskey back. I know it isn't vastly different from the last photo that I posted, but this one is done and the last wasn't. My plan is to start the first sleeve next. The hitch with this plan is that my size 2 addis are being used by Forest Path. I am about 1/2 way finished with Forest Path, assuming that I don't do the full length of is (a safe assumption since I have used the first skein of yarn and only had 2 skeins!). I know that I could buy another pair of addi 2s, but I just don't want to have 3 sets of size 2 needles. The other pair of size 2s that I have is tied up with Season of Darkness.

Despite my mistake with Forest Path, it is moving right along. I am finishing the 9th tier today, and it seems to be a decent length (or that it will be). I am guessing that I will do 13-15 tiers then start the side border. I was able to do nearly 8 tiers plus the bottom border with one skein. I still have the side border to do and I don't know how much yarn that will require. I would buy a 3rd skein of the zephyr, but I am a bit concerned about dye lot problems. I still love this pattern and this yarn. I think the key to my lace enjoyment is mixing things up. When I did the shetland tea shawl the change of lace motifs kept me interested, anticipating the next change. Ethereal Fichu bored me because it was monotonous. This should be tedious since there are only 3 motifs and since each tier uses all three in a regular and specified order, but for some reason, I am not bored. I haven't completely memorized each of the charts, and I think that helps keep my interest. I don't have to look much at the charts, but each time I start one of the three I have to double check how it begins. 2 of the 3 I have no issues with. I do anticipate the side border driving me mad, it is seed stitch, rows and rows of seed stitch, which I despise, but fortunately, that is still a ways off.

Finally, in an attempt to gear up for bike commuting, which I hope to begin soon, I bought a laptop messenger bag. It isn't pretty or stylish, but it will secure my laptop when I am riding and will give me space to carry my necessities (like work clothes, though not suits). Now I just need the weather to get at least a teeny bit better. :-)

Disaster Struck

On Wednesday during s'nb I had a major problem with my Forest Path Stole. I did not take photos of the disaster, so you will have to trust me that it was badness. Somehow or another I dropped a few stitches. I tried to fix my mistake without frogging the shawl, but, alas, I had several large wholes after my attempted fix. Several of my group knitters tried to tell me that the wholes were noticeable (liars!), but I knew that I couldn't live withe them, so I tore. When E saw that I was going to tear she asked where my life-line was/is. Honestly, I am not sure how much help a life line would be in an entrelac piece, but even if it was the most useful tool in the galaxy, I wouldn't have used one. I am apparently too arrogant for such trivialities, and as a result, had to tear out 2+ full entrelac rectangles and one seed stitch triangle.

I am not yet back to the point I was when the mistake happened, but I am getting closer...

Over the weekend I had finished the back of my whiskey sweater, unfortunately, in my rush to leave my apartment this morning (I had a real estate closing at 8:00(I didn't actually have to be there until around 8:45, but still...) I forgot to take a photo. One will come soon...

Knitting Progress?

Right now I am juggling 3 active projects, 2 sweaters and one lace shawl (I, of course, have several projects that are languishing for now). The biggest needles that I am using are Addi 3s. I am enjoying each of the projects, but it doesn't feel that any of them are moving very quickly

When I am at home, in my apartment, I am generally choosing to work on the sweater to the left. This is a Reynolds Whiskey pattern being made with Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight yarn. This isn't very portable because the main color is on a cone. This is my first sweater cone experience, and so far I am enjoying it. I love the fact that there won't be many ends to weave in. One thing that surprises me though is that despite being nearly done the back, I don't feel that I have made a dent on the cone.

For my commute to and from work I have Jezabel, being made with Freedom Spirit, DK, Air colorway. You may remember that I am going to be modifying the pattern so that it has a V neck instead of the high mock turtle neck. I am nearly at the point where I will be dividing the front to make my V, only about another 3/4" of to go!

My final active project if my vacation lace stole, the Forest Path Stole. I haven't abandoned the project simply because I am home. This isn't commuting with me, and has to compete with the Whiskey sweater for home knitting attention. It fairs relatively well in that competition, I do start to get tired of Whiskey, and the lace is a perfect foil for the colowork. I actually feel like I am making decent progress with this. I am completely enjoying combining entrelac and lace work and I can not repeat often enough that I LOVE the yarn. I am not looking forward to the seed stitch border, but I will choose not to think of that right now.