back to work

Cabin Fever has been closed for 2 weeks and now it's time to get back at it. I have a list of patterns to write up.

The Swirl Sock.

The Double Cross Sock has to be reknit with some small changes but it's close to finished.The Tuxedo Jacket for babies still needs some work on the side panels. Not quite sure if it's ready quite yet.

The Cross-Over jacket which needs some work.

The Pine Cone Sock which has test knit but I still have to redo the toe. It's almost there.

This summer top is further along than this so I should write it up before the snow flies. But FIRST on the list is this one. I finally convinced Bernice that we must have an adult version of the Baby J and Junior J (www.cabinfever.ca/P420.html and www.cabinfever.ca/P421.html), both of which she designed. So last week, after lunch in our favourite fish and chip place, we worked out the plan for the sweater. I will be writing it up and then we are both going to knit it at the same time. That's a double check on the pattern. It will be a great knit for the fall.

I have my work cut out for me for the next month. The summer is speeding by.

-Deb

cool enough

How is your summer weather? Here it's not too hot and sometimes even unseasonally cool but great weather for knitters. I have progressed on my pullover.I've started the waist shaping which won't be much because I run out of room between my bust and my waist pretty quickly. I have a very short torso, being short all around, so I'm decreasing 2 sts at each side (where the imaginary side seam would be). Then work 1" and decrease 2 sts at each side again for a reduction of 8 sts which will bring it in about 1 1/2". Then I will start to put in paired increases to take to out again and then some. I'm making the hips at least 2" wider. I have tried it on about 4 times so far and it's looking good.

I have added several more repeats to my scarf (http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/butternut-scarf-p-124.html) pattern by Anne Hanson.I'm not anywhere close to finished yet, possibly one third done. This pattern is easy to memorize and I am finally getting used to the lace weight yarn. Yay. Makes my worsted weight yarn for the sweater seem thick and fast, fast, fast.

-Deb

Long, long weekend

It was the big weekend of the year here in Orillia. Mariposa Folk Festival (http://www.mariposafolk.com/) started going up on Thursday. It's amazing that it ever gets off the ground. It takes 500 volunteers to do it and somehow out of the kaos rises a miracle of music and good will. We started our weekend on Thursday with the launch of ArtsU, an arts school funded by Mariposa and located at Lakehead University (http://www.mariposafolk.com/index.php?show=artsu). It was a smashing success. We started small with 6 classes offered and we needed 30 registrations to carry it, we got 76 class sign ups. Yes, we did it. Now we are on our way. Next year a tiny bit bigger and a tiny bit better. That was my volunteer work for Mariposa and the weekend was free to enjoy.

There were lots of people there (this was taken through a fence while in line for dinner at the tent behind the stage).

Our friends Don Bray and Alyssa Wright, The Brights, played (http://www.thebrights.ca/). Isn't it a thrill when you know the people up on stage?And what festival would be complete without the dancing celery stick!

I did some knitting. When I got home and was functioning on Monday I tried it on. Hmm looks a little big but if I knit one more row that will fix it. Tried it on again and guess what, still too big. Took it off, ate lunch, tried it on again and as I was now revived by food, could admit that it wasn't a little big, it was a lot big. I measured it and I now have 6" of ease, yikes. Measured my gauge and sure enough it was off. This is not unusual for me. I never knit to gauge unless I really work on tightening up. As soon as I relax I loosen up and the result is 6" of ease. That is why swatches don't work for me. I pay attention to them and then they lead me down the garden path.
But ... I am knitting top down and can correct this on the fly. I ripped back to the divide where I had put the sleeves on a string and originally cast on 14 sts for the underarm. I can adjust the size there.

I now cast on only 6 sts at the underarm. That eliminates 16 sts from my body and now I should have 2-3" of ease which is what I wanted. I will continue merrily on my way with my relaxed gauge.

-Deb

P.S. Hi commenters: The yarn is Perfection a new yarn from Kraemer (www.kraemeryarns.com) but I see it's not up on the site yet. The colour is gorgeous.

And I also like the wide neck. I really was looking for a collar that stood up and this appears to have the intestinal fortitude to do that so far.

Stretch

I got it blocked after washing the dishes and vacuuming the floor which was all worth it. It measured 18" long down the centre back and 18" from the centre to the outside point before I soaked it. In it's blocked state it now measures 25" long down the centre back and 26" wide from centre to outside point or 52" across the neck edge in total. Wow. I didn't expect to get that much extra.

I thought that the elongated leaves would show better then they do. Even at an angle they are not as noticeable as I had hoped.
But they do break up the diagonal line of the diamond leaves. It may be more effective when off the blocking wires.
I started a new sweater for myself. It's my party and I'll knit what I want to . . . it's my holidays that is. I'm testing out a new yarn we have been given. Nothing like doing a very large swatch to wash up.
It's a pullover top down and if it turns out I'll write it up. Does the neck look a little big?
It has ribbed sleeves which I think will look good. It's Mariposa Folk Festival weekend here and this is my project to take with me. Nice easy knitting as I listen to live music sitting in my lawn chair under the trees.

Gotta run, I'll do a catch up next week.

-Deb

Slowly

I don't have this lace weight figured out at all. Every time I pick it up it's a struggle for the first several rows, then I seem to settle down for a bit but not for too long before the unease sets in again. I am using metal needles and I wonder if they are too slippery?It is getting a little longer, though slowly. And my shawl is done, yay. I don't have any problem with the fingering weight most of the time and this went fairly quickly for me. And now that it's off the needles I can see where I elongated the leaves. I couldn't see that while I was knitting it. Now I can't wait to block it. Oops there is a counter full of dishes to wash before I can get near the sink to soak it. And then I suppose I should vacuum the living room floor before I have to get down on my hands and knees to block the shawl out. That's a better reason than most for getting it done I guess.

-Deb

morphing

I am working on my shawl and decided to have some fun and morph the diamond shaped leaves

into elongated leaves...

by working the second last row of the repeat 2 times more. I don't think I worked it correctly at the edges but I figure that blocking will take care of that. I have to look at some more shawls and figure out how much more to do. I must be close to the end by now.

-Deb

Dilemma

The alpaca is a pet no longer. It is the beginning of this scarf http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/butternut-scarf-p-124.html from knitspot. I love it because it is reversible with another pattern on the wrong side which makes wearing it, or rather arranging it around your neck, easier.

This one is also quite easy to memorize after a couple of repeats. I'm not especially good at this when knitting lace so was very careful to pick one I thought would work well for me. This is the reverse side. It works doesn't it?So now to my dilemma - what does the working knitter do for a holiday. We take the first 2 weeks of July off every year. And since knitting, designing and editing is my job and I would like to have a break from my job for a bit, what do I do with myself? Is it possible not to knit for 2 weeks? NO. So I have decided to knit patterns not connected with cabinfever. The scarf above is one and this shawl is a second one. It's a combination of the Forest Canopy shawl http://knittingasfastasican.com/forest-canopy-shoulder-shawl/ - really lovely and easy to knit, and the Evelyn Clark's book Knitting Lace Triangles http://www.evelynclarkdesigns.com/portfolio.html .
All this seems like good summer knitting. How is your summer knitting coming along?

-Deb

Commenters:

If you are looking for alpaca from http://www.gatewayfibreworks.com/ you could contact Gail through her website. I don't know if she sells online or not but I'm sure you could work something out. Right now she stocks alpaca from Peru.

I will go up to Gravenhurst and take some pictures of the mill when it is running. I would like to see the alpaca which will be coming out of their operation. They are not using a Mini-mill as far as I know. They have bought equipment and had a millwright rework some of it for alpaca.

And yes, Jed, I do need to pay more attention to getting my camera out. You won't believe it but I actually had it with me in my bag. I was probably distracted by the thought of going for ice cream after the tour. Wool and ice cream in the same building - yum.