MA Sheep & Wool

Another MA Sheep & Wool Fair has come and gone. I love this fair. It isn’t very large (compared to Rhinebeck, it’s tiny), but it has everything a good sheep and wool fair should have: sheep and llamas and bunnies, sheepdog trials, knitters and spinners and weavers, and plenty of opportunities for stash enhancement. It may not be one of the bigger events, but the vendors who come bring the most amazing fiber, and I always manage to find one or two things I can’t live without.  This year was no exception.  I may have to make a rule that I have to knit everything from this year before I go to next year’s, but I think I’m already too far behind.  I still have yarn from 2 fairs ago. I guess it’s stashbusting time.

Dead Blog?

OK, so I’m not coming around as much as I thought I was in my last post. My knitting time has been drastically reduced the last few weeks, not for any catastrophic reason, just life in general being busy. There hasn’t been a whole lot of blog-worthy knitting going on. I do finally, however, have a couple small finished objects to show off.

This is the Knit-round Scarf from Sally Melville’s Knitting Experience Book 1: The Knit Stitch:

I have had this project on the needles for over 4 years.  I started it while I was living in Japan (and the yarn is a very Noro-esque yarn called Diadomina.  I wish I had bought boatloads more).  I’m not sure why it ended up hibernating so long, it really is an easy knit, and the yarn is wonderful, and I’m very happy with the finished object.  I think the endless rounds just got a little boring there, and it got pushed aside.

I also knit up a Mitered Dishtowel from the 2nd Mason Dixon book, in keeping with my dishcloth addiction:

There are a couple ladies from my LYS who are knitting Clapotis as a KAL.  The idea is we’ll all knit one and then go out to eat croissants somewhere wearing them.  I really enjoyed knitting the first one, so I’ve decided to join them.

I’m also still working on the Jane Thornley Feather-n-Fan wrap, which means I now have a small pile of WIP’s all within easy reach of my corner of the sofa.  Not to mention the days are getting longer, and I have a bunch of DVRed House episodes to watch, so the knitting should be good.  Plus the MA Sheep & Wool Festival  is this weekend, which always improves my knitting energy.

Hibernating

Has it really been over five weeks since I last posted? I guess I’ve been in winter hibernation mode. It’s been a very long, very cold winter, and even my urge to knit has refused to come out from under the covers.

I think I’m coming around though. A new round of Project Spectrum has started, and I always find it inspiring.  I love seeing how other people interpret the themes (and this years incarnation leaves plenty of room for interpretaion), and playing with color. The Flickr group has some great projects up already (and of course there is a ravelry group). I was motivated enough to cast on yesterday for a Jane Thornley wrap. What better way to get the knitting mojo back than pulling a pile of yarn from the stash and casting on for something fun?

 

Blog Award

This little surprise was left for me in the comments to my Frivolity post by Valeria.  I have to say, I am unreasonably happy about it.  This blog doesn’t get a ton of traffic outside of family and friends, so it was quite exciting to be recognized by someone outside that group.  So now I get to pass it along to seven other “Kreativ Bloggers”.

In no particular order, my nominations are as follows:

Lolly  always has great projects going, and beautiful photography.  She is the creative mind behind Project Spectrum, and this year’s incarnation is fantastic.

Claudia is another great knitter/photographer. Hers is one of the first blogs I ever stumbled across when I was new to knitting and living in Japan, where help was difficult to come by. If it weren’t for bloggers like Claudia (and others) I might never have realized that frogging is part of the knitting process, and might never have progressed much past the garter-stitch-scarf phase.

Jane’s website is an open invitation to creativity.  Her free-range approach to knitting, and her wonderful use of color and yarn make for knitting that is a work of art.

Jen dyes gorgeous yarns, bakes yummy things (I’m always hungry after reading her blog), and knits cool things.  She’s also the founder of the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary group on Ravelry, which is one of my favorites even if  (especially if?) it gets a little bizarre and off-color at times.

I found Janet’s blog on the Tawashi group on Ravelry.  She’s a bi-crafter who crochets cupcakes (and crochets/knits other lovely things) and lives in Texas.  I liked her immediately (hubby is from Texas and we lived there for a few years.  I really loved it).

Christine is another fellow raveler whose blog I ran across while avoiding housework admiring projects.  Her blog is full of gorgeous socks (and other knits) plus other creative craftiness.  She also likes knitting dishcloths, which clinched it for me.

Chris’s dynamite cowl was what  first caught my eye (I’ve been thinking of making that pattern one of these days). When I also realized she has WIP’s (and posts about them) that have been on the needles for a long time, I knew she was my kind of knitter.

Tawashi

 

I’m still busy knitting mindless, fun things. As I was browsing Ravelry looking for fun dishcloth patterns, I stumbled across a couple of tawashi patterns. Tawashi essentially means scrubber in Japanese. Now, I lived in Japan for a couple of years, so I’m very familiar with both the diversity of their cleaning products (seriously, they have a separate brush or sponge for everything), and their craftiness. I spent many hours in Japanese bookstores admiring their knitting and quilting books. I have no idea how the tawashi patterns escaped my notice. Maybe because they are mostly crochet; which I don’t know how to do, but am becoming crazily motivated to figure out due to the cuteness of the patterns. The first one I tried is a knit pattern called Tawashi Blossoms (ravelry link), and I used Peaches & Creme yarn for it. Apparently  inexpensive acrylic yarn makes for some of the best tawashi for cleaning dishes and things because of the scratchiness of it, but I have miles and miles of dishcloth cotton, so I just used that. There are quite a few other patterns that I want to try, and it seems that these fit in nicely with my dishcloth obsession.

Just in case anyone is worried that I’ve abandoned all “normal” knitting, I did finish these:

This is the Sherbrooke Cowl, knitted with Moda Dea Vision, and I really like how it turned out. It’s a nice fit, not too loose and not too “chokey”.

This is the Child’s Rainbow Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, knitted in Kathmandu Aran, and Noro Silk Garden. It’s been on the needles for a long time, so I’m happy to have it done. I’m contemplating knitting a matching hat, and I think I have enough yarn left, so we’ll see.

Frivolity

There’s nothing like knitting a pattern just to make yourself smile.  I ran across this dishcloth pattern on Ravelry and couldn’t resist.  We have had endlessly crappy weather, and more snow than I’ve seen here in the past 3 years:

 

This was the view out my car window last Sunday.  I gave up trying to drive in it and went home.

This is the Azalea bush in front of my house.  Yes, those are icicles on it.  Yes, I’m sick of winter already.

So when I ran across the Cupcake Dishcloth (Ravelry link), I couldn’t help but cast-on immediately.  It went really quickly, and it just made me happy.  I think this might become an obsessive knit though, because I’m half-way through a second one,  and my other projects have taken a back seat to playing with color combinations.  It wasn’t a completely frivolous knit though, because it does use a provisional cast-on, which I’ve never done before, so I learned something new.  And if all it takes to get through the winter is a few silly dishcloths and some kitchen cotton, then I’m not going to complain.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone is on the verge of having a very merry Christmas.  Or whatever holiday you celebrate.  This blog has been neglected for the simple reason that I’ve barely done any knitting.  Life has been so busy the last few weeks, I just don’t have the energy at the end of the day to do even a few rows.  I’m pretty much planning to spend most of the day after Christmas knitting.  My WIP’s are alive and well, and I’m starting to miss them:

Plus I have some other projects (perpetually) I’d like to be able to get to.  But for today, I still have some wrapping to do and some cookies to bake.

Cowls

The weather has turned cold, and  I’ve been on a cowl kick.  I don’t even know whether or not I like wearing cowls;  I don’t really like things around my neck for very long.  I don’t own any turtlenecks, and even necklaces bother me by the end of the day.  I usually stick to scarves in the winter.  They keep you warm, but don’t have to stay on all day.  However, knitting them can seem endless, and there’s always a point in the middle where you become convinced you’ll never be finished.  Cowls are definitely faster to knit.

This is the Lichen Cowl from Lolly Knitting Around.  The lavender yarn is Bernat Glow in the Dark yarn because I had some on hand and thought it would be fun.  The blue yarn is Patons Classic Wool.  I think it turned out a little too bit to actually keep me warm, but if I double it, it’s a little tight so I don’t know how much use I’ll actually be getting out of it.  Son #3 and I are going camping with the Cub Scouts this weekend (we’ll be camping here), and the temperatures at night will be freezing or below, so it’ll get a test run then.  I want to see if it keeps me warm and also if it actually glows in the dark.  I do plan to bring a nice wool scarf (and hats, and gloves)  as well, just in case. 

The second cowl on my needles is also from Lolly.  It’s her Sherbrooke Cowl and is turning out very nice.  It looks like it’ll fit a little closer, which I think I’ll like better.  The yarn is Moda Dea Vision.  It’s a wool-acryllic blend that feels very nice, and I love the color (Forest).  I may have to get more to make a hat out of it.

I’m enjoying this knit very much.  It’s an easy pattern to remember and produces a very pretty texture.  It’s going pretty quickly, too, but I still don’t think I’ll finish it before the camping trip.   I’ll bring it with me though, and maybe get it done while we’re there.  If it’s not too cold to knit, that is.

Rhinebeck 2009

I spent last weekend in Rhinebeck, NY for the Sheep and Wool Festival.  It’s the second year I’ve gone, and it was only slightly less overwhelming than last year.  There was a ton of people, and more yarn and fiber than is possible to take in, plus sheep and alpacas to visit, bunnies to pet, sheep dog trials to watch, and fair food to eat.  I went with my husband and youngest son, and they were perfectly happy watching the antique engine display (old-fashioned versions of wood-chippers, and rock crushers, etc.) and eating Italian Ices while I perused the fiber.  The weather was pretty close to perfect with blue skies and sun, but a little on the cool side so folks could show off their knitted masterpieces (so many pretty shawls, I really must make one.  Or several). 

I bought a few things too:

       

Now I have the fun of going through some of my patterns and patterns on Ravelry to see what I want to do with all this.  I have a pretty good idea of what I’ll do with most of it, (the Brooks Farm Acero is going to be a Cheshire Cat Stole someday, and the BMFA Leticia will be another hat), but there are a few skeins in there that I bought without any clue what to do with them.

Not Just Dishcloths

 

I think I might actually be burned out on dishcloth knitting, at least for now.  But since I have the world’s largest kitchen cotton yarn stash I’ve branched out to some other things that use it.  The tea cozy is a free pattern using Lily Sugar ‘n Cream, and the rug is from Hollywood Knits Style.  I still have some ends to weave in on the rug and the fringe to add, but I like how it turned out.  Finally, I have a doormat that’s exactly the colors I want, yet still washable.