My husband and I had a lovely drive through Algonquin Park on Saturday on our way to Barry's Bay so that I could teach a Top Down class at the South of 60 Arts Centre. A terrific group of knitters came out. Within the group there were a couple knitters from 4 different knitting circles active in that area. I was totally impressed at the level of activity in the area, wonderful.

I've not been good at taking photos lately and when I'm teaching I totally forget about it so no pics of the students. We talked about top down knitting and some of the alterations that can be made to get a better fit.

I took along several of my latest experiments in that direction. In this top down I shaped the bust by decreasing at the sides very quickly and then worked increases at the sides at a slower rate to A-line the top. I think I could have worked the A-line increases much closer together to get a wider flare. Next time I'll be a little braver.

-Deb.

Saucy Girl

Just got back from the cabin, leaving Deb up there. Really, really, didn't want to leave as the weather was amazingly good for the May 24 weekend. Last year it poured!
Before Mom went off to the cottage (for the summer) she dropped by in her Cabin Fever T-shirt. Here's a snap of Mom in her saucy T:

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather!
- Lynda

Thought it was time I made a couple of sweaters for myself. So now I'm working on a T-shirt.

I'm not sure the new neckline is going to hold up. It's a little ruffly which was on purpose but it doesn't look 'on purpose' enough if you know what I mean. So it may get changed once I'm done. I'm at the great divide here and it seems to fit well. Nice fast easy knitting with a linen/cotton/acrylic blend on a larger than specified needle. It's a yarn we're trying out to see if we like it. The jury is still out on that.

And my summer sweater is done!

Well, except for sewing in the ends and sewing on the buttons. So, technically it's not really done, done but it's so very close. Don't you love the safety pins? Stunning I thought.

I'm very pleased with it but it's going to need some more work if I want to write it up. The lace pattern is a 10 stitch repeat which is really hard to accommodate for many sizes. So I'm going to need a smaller lace pattern, although I like the vertical look to this one.

Time to get out a stitch dictionary or five. Tough work but someone has to do it, Ha!

-Deb

Updated Web Site

After a fair bit of work we've just re-launched our web site (yesterday). If you're interested, go have a look.

Our designer, Melissa, has been wonderful and endlessly patient. We've very pleased. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know at info@cabinfever.ca - http://www.cabinfever.ca
-Lynda

Ahh, it's so lovely to put my feet back into wool socks. This is Fleece Artist merino sock yarn in pale pastels, very nice. First pair of socks for the new sock book, done.

I had a whole little talk worked up about how good it is that my feet aren't the same size because I can never manage to make my socks the same length and you might guess which sock is the shorter one, the second sock of course. But I can't believe it, they are exactly the same size! I have knit pairs and pairs of socks and I think this is a first for me. Yay, maybe I can call myself a sock knitter after all. Onward.

-Deb

I finished my first Sock 101.

I'm testknitting so as I knit the sock I ask myself questions which I imagine a first time sock knitter might ask. It's an interesting process to put yourself back into the position of being a beginner.

Today I am tackling the second sock syndrom as I sniffle away with a spring cold. Yucky and difficult to keep my eyes open. I expect to take about 3 naps today and then be back on my feet tomorrow.

-Deb

The Teen book has hit the streets and the questions about sizing it up are coming in. So far the Cardigan (bottom left corner photo) is the sweater which has caught the eye of adult sized knitters. I'll be crunching numbers on my calculator to get some larger sizes done. At the moment it goes up to a 40"/102cm sweater at the bust. 

I'll be starting there and size it up to around 50"/127cm. This is sounding better and better because I would like one for myself.

The second request was for sleeves on the Tunic (photo on top row, far right). That will take a little bit longer to work out. But I'm on it.

-Deb

P.S. Samm, did you enjoy the Spring Frolic? For those of you not local to southern Ontario, Spring Frolic is a knitting show put on by the DownTown Knit Collective in Toronto, ON. I meant to tell you I wasn't coming and I apologize but Lynda was very pleased to meet you. I was coping with anticipatory stage fright.

We go to quite a few house concerts (folk music presented in someone's home - it's lovely because it's up close and personal). And usually this is me at a house concert.

In the audience, knitting a sock. And I'm quite happy to be doing exactly that most of the time. But . . . I have expanded my role and Saturday night had my debut on stage as the drummer in a band. Yikes.

That's me in the back, drumming on my cajon and singing away. Not the greatest picture but evidence none the less.

And I brought my own fan club with me. They even made band T-shirts. We had a great crowd of music friends and family. Phew, I made it through and even enjoyed playing in the show. I might try this again but I'm not going on the road and dropping my knitting career yet.

Happy Mother's Day everyone, especially my mom.

Deb

The Teen booklet  is just out but there is no standing still. I'm starting a new venture, a sock book. But not just any sock book. This is a booklet by Brenda based on workshops where she has taught knitters to knit a sock without a pattern. Cool, eh?! We are setting it up so that all of her tips and experience run along-side of a straight forward sock pattern which I have started knitting.

With this booklet a knitter will be able to knit a sock in any weight of yarn from sock yarn up to heavy worsted/aran weight yarn. It's going to be fun.

And so I am looking at a summer of sock knitting. I went to bed the other night with this in mind and woke up knowing I had had a dream about this summer project. The image that stayed with me in the morning was of a horse grazing under a large tree. Does this sound like sock knitting to you? anyone? It was calm and that's about all I can get out of this weird dream. So with that in mind, we are proceeding to make a sock booklet. If you've been following here on this blog you know that booklets take quite a lot of time before they are actually booklets. A lot of patience is required, including on your part as you read about this. I don't want to be responsible for anyone holding their breath all summer. I will be testknitting socks most of the summer so that in September we will have a new book. I will have lots of socks, Brenda and I will have put a book together and anyone who wants one can have a sock primer to knit many, many socks into the future. OK, now it's in writing, you are my witnesses, it must be done. Here we go.
-Deb

I have totally lost track of where I am in my knitting projects. I hate to look at my basket of UFOs, it's starting to overflow. I usually can keep all of the projects I'm working on in some sort of order in my head but it seems that that is overflowing too. So one thing at a time is the way to proceed.

My aran weight cardigan is almost finished. It's interesting working with yarn with a gradual colour change. With every new ball I was trying to keep the colour sequence going. It makes for several small balls cast aside as I draw out yarn to find the right place in the sequence. It worked pretty well I think. But now I am at the cap sleeve ribbing and I'm trying to go through the little balls to find the right amount of yarn in the light green, otherwise my caps won't match, oh no!

-Deb

You know those questionnaires that ask 'What activity makes you forget about time?"? Do you have one activity that when you look up you realize that hours have slipped by and you didn't notice? And I don't mean sitting in front of your computer which we all know can take out several hours at a time without you even knowing. For me, it's setting up a new pattern and working it out for 5 or 6 sizes. It's fun, a little frustrating and just when I think I've got it just like I want it I find some little glitch and I have to start part of it again, it means lots of erasing and I love it every time. I would say that of everything I do it is the most satisfying. So as soon as I finished up those couple of projects (see past posts) I got out my paper, pencil, large eraser and yarn and started again.

This is a fairly straight forward ribbed collar (obviously) cardigan in Aran/Heavy Worsted weight yarn (18 sts = 4"/10cm) from the Top Down. I got this bag of yarn out of a remainder bin in a shop. It's Gedifra, Fashion Trend Color. So this sweater will be as long as the yarn holds out, part of the mystery.

I put in Short Rows to raise the back of neck and therefore lower the front of neck.

Many more rows are worked across the back of the neck and very few rows are worked across the front of neck. This technique still kills me. I find it so amazing. It never loses it's elegance for me.

-Deb