Prep and Landing

Don't you just love that cartoon at Christmas?  It makes me laugh every time I see it.  But, I think it is a good title for a blog post as well.    I signed up for Denise Bell's Class at Stitches Midwest, The Unst Effect: Shetland Shawl.  Denise goes to Knit Camp and I have known her for a couple of years.  Not only do I super love her yarn Lost City Knits, but I super admire her shawls that she has designed and knitted.

I've had a couple of Shetland Shawls on the needles for awhile, so it seemed like the perfect class to take and well, since, I know the instructor, I thought it would be super fun to take a class in an avenue of knitting that I am really interested in.  One of the pre-requisites for the class is that you have some experience in knitting with lace yarn.  Now, I am not sure if icelandic lace weight really qualifies (not that it isn't lace, it just has a different feel than your typical soft laces) so I decided to do a bit of prep for my class this Summer.

I started out by hauling some of my books that have Shetland in their name.

And then I found more.

All of the new finds were books that I have collected from Schoolhouse Press every year at camp.

Sharon Miller's Heirloom Knitting  is chock full of information.  It may take me awhile to absorb it all.

There were so many possibilities out there that it was time to consult the experts and write some thoughts down.

I did a bit of swatching on Denise's Lost City Silk.  I consulted with Denise via Facebook, and probably about the time she was responding, I decided the silk needed much more than garter to show it off.  Denise was of the same opinion.  It really needs some lace to do it justice.

That and a size 3 needle and all that garter might take a year or two to get the center square done.  Back to prepping and perhaps landing something later.

Bucket List

Do you have a bucket list of places you would like to go?  I do.

Hawaii - I want to get a condo by the beach so I can get up in the morning and watch the waves roll in while I drink my Kona coffee and knit.  I want to take walks on the beach, venture out and sight see, have lunch out and come back and have dinner cooked for me and watch the sun go down with a nice glass of wine.

I want to attend every knitting event on my calendar.  I want to have the money to attend all of the events that are on my calendar.  LOL.

Ireland -  I want to see the green everywhere in Ireland.  I want to buy Irish knits, sit in an Irish pub and drink Irish brew.

Norway - Since a child, I have always wanted to go the country that is shaped like a spoon.  Since marrying into a family of Norwegian decent, I've wanted to go there even more.  I'd like to learn how to speak Norwegian too.

The Faroe Islands - This makes the list just because of the shawls.  I love the way these lay over the shoulders.  Marilyn van Keppel turned me onto these  at knit camp.  She throws one of these babies over her shoulders and looks so elegant in just a simple outfit.  Cheryl Oberle kept it going with three designs of Faroese Shawls and a couple of others from her Folk Shawls book.  And then last
September, Meg featured one in Wool Gathering, of course I had to cast one on.   With this many cool shawls, who wouldn't want to go and see the land and the history they came from.

The Shetlands - my latest entry on my bucket list.  This group of islands north of Scotland has me so intrigued.   I want to knit every shetland shawl I see lately.  I am reading about sheep and knitters and the dialect.  I am obsessed with this latest bucket list entry.

Does it seem odd that my bucket list revolves around knitting?

Happy Birthday!

To Baby Boy A (right) and Baby B (left) on your 32nd Year, we love you!

Where Have All the Fours Gone? (to be sung to the tune of where have all the flowers gone)

Long time passing, long time ago….

I take it as a sign that I should not be casting on anything new if out of three sets of needles I don't have any in my Knit Picks Caspian set.

None in my worm bag that houses the fixed Chiagoos and  other loved fixed needles.

And none in the red lace Chiagoos Interchangeable set either.  I swear I have at least two size four needles (I bought an extra sometime ago because I was always using them.)

Fours must be my new best friend.

Wednesday Website

Shetland Sheep - The Beginning of A Blog Series

This will give you a bit of a picture as to some things I want to incorporate into my knitting in the next few months.  And if nothing else, the pictures are adorable!

So This Is What I Did

After spending a half of a morning and a half of an afternoon, surfing Ravelry and my patterns, I wound the skein back up.  Put it with it's siblings and put it on the shelf.

The lone lighter skein (it doesn't looks so light here, does it?!) became part of a swatch.  Yes, I swatch big.  Yes, I soak and let it dry.  And then I measure it for my sweater.  I did an extra big swatch, since part of the pattern is garter and part is stockinette.  That way, I'll know if I have to change a needle while knitting it.

  I ordered the Sea Salt Colorway that I really wanted.  And reminded myself, that if i needed a project to work on at the shop I have my Churchmouse Yarns Scarf that really could use being finished ( it is a year old almost after all).

And I have this little shawlette in progress that could use some more love.

The End!

On Not Settling

So I settled for this yarn a couple of weeks ago at the shop.  It is not what I wanted, but the consensus was that I could get some more to add to it.  The color of this Madtosh is White Wash.

I figured it would be a good project to knit at the shop when I was out there (you know how I like to knit on yarn from the shop I am taking up space up on Saturday mornings.)  What I really wanted is the color way similar to the actual picture of the sweater I want to knit.  (The shop only had one skein)

One of my knitting friends had bought some White Wash for a shawl and she thought she would have an extra skein left from a shawl she was knitting.  Mine is on top, hers is on bottom.  Both are White Wash. (I know I could alternate skeins, but I don't wanna, (she says with a whine in her voice).

So, I cast on another Wool Peddler's Shawl this morning for Hospice, thinking I'll change this one up a bit at the bottom.  (Cause I've knit a few of these triangular shawls).

Oh, but wait for it!  Today at lunch I was a bit chilly, even though it is drop dead gorgeous outside, inside it is a bit cool while sitting still.

Soooo, I threw on my Birds Nest Shawl while I was eating lunch. I think I might like these wraps a bit.       

It covers my arms and comes around in front to keep me warm and snuggle in.  The only thing I might change up on one is to make it a bit wider so it comes further down over the back just a bit further and not quite so long as to come down to the patient's knees.  I won't use the same lace pattern for the Hospice Shawl, but I think I can find something fun and fairly mindless that can be knit at the shop with.

I think my yarn now wants to be a wrap  and I am now free to head over to the internet and buy the yarn I really want.  Moral of the story, again, do not settle for what you want!

Sharing Something Special

Of course, I know St Patrick's Day was about a month ago.  But, I can now share our card that we got when we were visiting the kids last month.  (Even though, I am not putting it out there in any other social media for now, I'm letting the kids have that when they are ready to announce).

To say we are over the moon is an understatement.

Due date early October which means I'll have to miss Yarn in the Barn.  There are some things I'll give up knitting things for.

Wednesday Website

http://www.knitmoregirlspodcast.com/2015/04/directors-cut-galina-khmeleva-2010.html

I've been listening to this episode of the Knitmore Girls Podcast to and from work the last couple of days.  I love listening to Galina speak and talk about knitting and her life.  If you have a bit more than an hour, give it a listen.  What I really took out of it is that I want to knit an heirloom…It may take me a while but thats what I want to do.

Whats On Tap This Week?

Ok, lets be clear, I don't plan on finishing all of these projects this week, they are rather where I am concentrating my knitting right now.

First is a Lang Pullover that has been on the needles since last Spring.  I used three needle bind off on the shoulder seams yesterday.

At first on Saturday night, I did the bind off as the instructions said, and even started sewing them together, but just was not crazy with the look.  I need to pull out the hints that I have filed away somewhere about dealing with these stair step bind offs and how to cure it.  I was just too impatient to do it this weekend, maybe next time.

The pattern had the sweater being knitted in pieces, but I've converted it all to in the round until the splits.  I started picking up the sleeve at the armscye and intended to knit it top down, but  the purl row was going in the wrong direction in comparison to the sweater body.  I ripped it out and cast on at the cuff and am going to knit in the round to the split at the underarm.  The sleeve is taking more time than I thought it was going to, but it should be some great knitting in public knitting this week.

My ongoing Faroese Shawl needs to be ripped back again.  What is it with me and this?  I seem to be doing a bit of that lately with this shawl.  It is going to be my before bed knitting project, you know with the t.v. off and just relaxing before going to bed.

The next in line for Hospice Prayer Shawl/Blanket.  In prep for knitting at the Hospice Home this Thursday.  An easy blanket to knit in public too.

I need to swatch my Madelinetosh this week so I can block it and cast on for a sweater to knit on while at the Knit 4 Together this week.

Slowly, but surely the Addicted to Pi Shawlette is coming along.  I have another shawl I am dying to cast on, but I have made a deal with myself, I cannot cast on it until this one is at least ready for blocking.

Rustic Beauty for the Hospice Home is finished, but waiting for blocking.  I dislike blocking so much.  I wish I could find someone to send mine to that would block for them for me.  I'd pay for that!

And finally, Twister has the knitting all done.  Now, it has to be lightly blocked and sewn together.  I'm going to have to make myself do this now.  As indicated above, I dislike blocking…and I am not a real fan of sewing up either.

Thats quite a bit to concentrate on, but I really feel like I have a focus now on what I want to be knitting on right now.

On Not Calling It Quits

I've been searching for something for about a week.  All I could come up with is this single skein of yarn in a basket waiting.

I looked at my list of projects in these bags and did not see it on the list, so I figured it wasn't there.  Last night I went back to the bag tree and thought I put my hands into a couple of bags and see if I could feel it.

The second one I put my hand into had just what was I was looking for.  In my defense, the bag is from July 2014 Knit Camp and it never made it to the list.

The sweater in progress, the pattern and an extra skein of yarn was in the bag.  (At least I was smart enough to circle where I was at on the pattern.

I had great intentions to knit on it today while I enjoyed the me Saturday.

But, I decided that first I would finish the back to Twister out of Berroco Linsey.  The knitting is all done, and tomorrow I am going to lightly block it.  Normally, I would do a full fledge dunk, but I really do not want the pieces on this one to stretch.

I am kind of liking this finishing stuff and putting some needles back in their place!

Why I Am So Giddy!

It's the little things.  I got off a whole hour and half early.  We got groceries, had dinner before the news was even over.  I have two days and no where to go.  If I play my cards right, I'll have most of the laundry done before bedtime.  Downside, we celebrated Easter and birthdays last weekend so we'll not be celebrating, but that is okay, I'll call up Mona Lisa on Sunday and we'll Skype.

The Tall Guy has his projects this weekend, which also has put the rocking chairs out on the front porch, so we can enjoy the weather this weekend.  It is supposed to be gorgeous and I am going to take full advantage of it!  It's not been half bad today after the rain and gloom came through earlier today.  There is so much Spring popping up that it just makes me feel good, doesn't it you?

Trees in our backyard today.

Trees  a week ago.  You can see why I am a little giddy, blue skies and buds!  The Tall Guy dislikes all my plants and trees at the new house, but I love em, so you know who is going to win this battle.  Kristen over on Knitionary  (if you don't follow her blog, you should) turned me onto some gloves that I ordered so I can take care of my pretties this year.  Last year, I didn't have to do much because the owners of the house had kept it up pretty well.  This year, it will be my responsibility.

Isn't this a perfect time of year?  And best of all, I think I know where the Easter Bunny spends his off season!

What The Mailman Brought This Week

I super love this fabric!  I just wish that I would have ordered a bigger bag that a sweater would have fit in.  But, I'll find something to put in it.  From https://www.etsy.com/shop/littleskein

And the latest book from Amy Herzog  to add to the library. Amazon shipped mine so I actually received it on the release date.  I was so excited when I opened the box and saw it, so much that I am actually reading it from the start rather than skipping around. Here is Amy's link the day of the release.  http://www.amyherzogdesigns.com/2015/03/31/knit-wear-love-release-day/ As the Knitmoregirls said on their podcast when they reviewed it last week, it is a good companion to her first book.

I think I may spend this weekend reading it more and getting some ideas for Spring sweaters.  Let the sweater knitting begin!

Wednesday Website

The Great Closet Clean Out

As Spring is here, finally, I am thinking about doing this as I change over my closet this year.