A Case of Unmistakeable Identity

As I sat in my doctor’s waiting room the other morning, I was knitting on my Margot sweater. A man came in, took a seat across from me, and said, "I'll bet you're the person whose car has the I'd Rather Be Knitting sticker on it." I laughed and said, "How'd you guess?"

Not only was I knitting, I was wearing my Tangled Yoke sweater and some hand-knit socks too. Lying on the chair next to me were a project bag, my felted Brown Bag purse, and my new Farmers Market Mitts. I hadn’t thought about it until that moment, but everything about me said, “Knitter!”

I finished up the mitts early in the morning, before going to the doctor. They kept me distracted from the fact that I couldn’t have breakfast or even coffee until after my blood test.



Pattern: My own—basically Garter Stitch Rib, a 6-st buttonhole for the thumb, and a pretty bind off (borrowed from my Alpine cardi).
Yarn: Louet Eastport, a DK weight alpaca/merino blend, in sea glass green; the alpaca comes from Owl Acres Farm in Granby, Massachusetts.
Needles: US 3 dpns until the last 8 or so rounds, then US 2.





For once, I don’t altogether hate my buttonholes—they actually came out looking not too bad. (The tips in Maggie Righetti’s Knitting in Plain English help a lot.)



There was some sort of delay at the doctor’s office and I had a long wait for the lab. Did I mind? Of course not—I got several rounds done on Margot. Also, turns out I was wrong about the coffee. I asked my doctor about it, and she said, black coffee is OK before a blood test.

I squeezed one last little FO into October yesterday - another motif from Edie Eckman's Beyond the Square book:



Pattern: Motif #122 from Beyond the Square: Crochet Motifs
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy
Hook: Size D/3.25mm

I'm not sure if I'll use this one for my laptop cover or do something else with it. I keep looking at it envisioning more of them connected to one another in a widening circle.

Hope you had a fun Halloween yesterday. It was warm here, and muggy, with rain showers now and then and lots of wind blowing leaves to the ground. It felt too warm for October and I actually wished it were a little cooler! The day was perfect for a visit to the Book Mill, where I worked on a design project that I'll be posting about in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday's gray light made the bright colors of the fall foliage seem even brighter. I find myself looking at leaves with more urgency now, because it won't be long before they are all gone.



I love how each leaf is unique, a work of art unto itself.

Pumpkins and a Do Over

There's pumpkins galore every fall at Atkins Country Market in Amherst, Mass. I drive by Atkins every day on my way to work. Seeing the pumpkins always reminds me of a fall day many years ago when my sisters and I took Mom and Dad to Atkins when they were visiting from Florida. Jackie's boys were very little--Cal was only 2 or 3, I think, and not much taller than some of the pumpkins. Between the pumpkin display, the legendary Atkins cider donuts, and other Atkins bakery treats, we all had a good time.



There's something festive about the way they're lined up on the stepped terrace. They look like spectators gathered for an athletic event or a parade.

In knitting news, I frogged my Kushu Kushu Scarf and started again. I decided it was too narrow, so I cast on more stitches this time. I also didn't like the way the random yarn overs I was doing looked, so now I'm working it in straight stockinette. This super-skinny stainless steel and wool Habu yarn demands that you give up any desire to control it. You've just got to sit back and let it do its own thing.



Happy Halloween!

Stash Enhancement in Hartford and South Hadley

I've got one word for Stitches East: overwhelming! The event moved from Baltimore to Hartford this year, which made it easy for me to get to. My sister Betsey and I took a daylong class in pattern writing. But we were also drawn like bees to honey to the Market Hall again and again. There were so many things to see--lots of lovely hand-dyed and handspun yarns, shawl pins, beads, buttons, needles. Thankfully there were plenty of tables in the concession area at the back of the hall, so you could always find a seat when you needed a break.

We restrained ourselves and bought only a few special yarns--ones that we can't get at our local yarn stores. Like this:



That's a silk/yak laceweight from Skaska Designs. I absolutely loved their booth--so many beautiful Orenburg lace shawls to look at. I don't have a particular pattern in mind for this yet--maybe I'll design something for it. It's very fine--makes other laceweights seem almost bulky!

My favorite booth of all was Habu Textiles. Their unusual yarns made of paper or steel wool, as well as "normal" fibers such as cotton and wool, were like miniature works of art. The same was true for the garments and scarves hung up around the booth. I could not take my eyes off them and wanted to stay a long time studying their perfection.

I bought a few cones of the merino wool and stainless steel. I've started a scarf with it, a heavily improvised approximation of the Kushu Kushu scarf:



In case you're wondering, the holes are purposeful. I'm working yarnovers randomly, also purposely knitting more loosely here, more tightly there, to encourage irregularity.

Betsey got some very cool Habu yarns to crochet with, along with sample bags that had 5-6 skeins each of a wide variety of yarns. Here she is playing with a couple of skeins during a break from our class:



She brought her recently completed Toast mitts along. They are her first project knitted on dpns and came out just perfect:





Recognize the sweater she's wearing? It's my Alpine. I've never really enjoyed wearing it because it's too short for me and the sleeves are uncomfortably tight. However, it fits Betsey just fine--the positive ease works great with this pattern--so clearly it was destined for her.

Last but not least, last week I made a little splurge at the farmers market in South Hadley. It's a small, new market that's right across the street from where I work. All summer I eyed the lovely yarns at the Owl Acres Farm booth and finally decided on a skein of sea glass green Louet Eastport, a heavy DK/light worsted alpaca/merino blend made with alpaca from their farm. I'm making these fingerless mitts with it (my "take along" project for Stitches East):



This yarn feels heavenly, and sturdy, too--I have a feeling these are going to wear very well. The design is simple: just garter stitch rib, a 6-st buttonhole for the thumb, and contrasting hand-dyed Ultra Alpaca light at the top. I knit the last few rounds on a smaller needle so that the mitt fits a little more snugly at the top and keeps cold air out.

All I want to do today is stay home, knit, and rest. I woke up with a sore throat, headache, and congestion. I hope I didn't pick something up at Stitches East!

Reasons to Learn to Crochet

Reason #1: Use up scrap yarn to make cute little motifs (and learn new techniques in the process):



I bought Edie Eckman's book Beyond the Square: Crochet Motifs earlier this year and this weekend finally dove in. I'm starting with hexagons made with various blue yarns from the stash. From left to right, those are motifs #40, #36, #41, and #43; the yarns are (from left) Louet Merlin, Classic Elite Classic 150 (teal) and Ultra Alpaca Light (fennel--a sadly discontinued color), Berroco Inca Gold, and Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere.

Eckman's instructions are easy to follow. Everything's clearly explained, so that even a beginning crocheter can pick up a hook and get started. For a couple of unfamiliar techniques, I also consulted Nancie Wiseman's Essential Book of Crochet Techniques, because sometimes a different explanation or illustration is helpful. Between these two books, I had everything I needed to crochet these motifs, and I'm itching to try more. Eventually, I'll use them to decorate a sewn cover for my laptop.

With 144 motifs, the book will keep me occupied for a long time. Even if you don't crochet, buy it because it's so darn colorful. Just flipping through it brightens the spirit:



Reason #2: Make new jewelry at little cost of either time or materials:



Pattern: Coral, a freebie from Berroco
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy
Hook: Size D/3.25mm

Easy, easy, easy. If you learn to crochet today, you could be making this necklace tomorrow. Seriously.



Don't worry, I still knit. I finished up a hat this weekend, one I've been meaning to make for some time:



Pattern: Meret, a free pattern by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Needles: US5 for the brim, US6 for the body

The pattern gives you lots of options for the brim and the degree of "slouch." I went for medium slouch, working the lace chart three times, and worked a 1x1 twisted rib for the brim (k1 tbl, p1 on every round). When I finished, I blocked it using a dinner plate and vase:





As it was drying, I kept looking at it and wishing the crown were different. It seemed a little too flat, ending with a whimper rather than a bang. So I undid my carefully woven in end, ripped back to the final few stitches, and worked an I-cord for a little bit. Then I folded the cord over and fastened it off on the wrong side. Voila, a cute little nub for my Meret:



A happy ending! Sometimes if you're dissatisfied with the way a piece turns out, there may be good reasons to let it be and accept it just as it is. But other times a "do over" is the only way to go. This was one of them, and completely worth the extra little bit of work.

C is for Claudia and Cinquefoil

Pattern: Cinquefoil, by Mary Jane Mucklestone
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette
Needles: 2.50mm

Mary Jane Mucklestone's Cinquefoil caught my eye immediately when I saw the fall patterns from the Twist Collective. It seemed like just the ticket for the colors of Knit Picks Palette that my sister Jenny gave me last year. I haven't done any colorwork in ages and was looking for an appropriate small project. Cinquefoil was too pretty to pass up.

I fretted about uneven tension while I was knitting it, but in the end it didn't come out too badly. In fact, I like it so much I decided to blog about it before it's even dry!



My other FO is a lacy crochet scarf:



Pattern: Claudia Scarf by Rebecca Jackson
Yarn: Schaefer Anne, a fingering weight blend of wool, mohair, and nylon, in the Margot Jones colorway
Hook: 3.5mm (E)



This scarf is started in the middle; you work it until it's about half the length you want, then go back to the middle and crochet in the opposite direction. Mine came out longer than I anticipated - after blocking it's 7.75 inches wide by 82 inches long. Even for me, that's a little long! Blocking dramatically improved the lacey look of the stitch pattern though, so I'm not going to complain about a little extra length.

It's great to have another fall scarf in the wardrobe, especially one with all the rich colors of autumn:



We'll soon have these reds and oranges all around us here in New England. Can't wait!

Ladybug, Ladybug Fly Away Home

Purple coneflowers were purple no more at the Brookfield Farm yesterday. Sunflowers that just last week faced the sun are drooping now and the bees are passing them by.



All over the farm things are ripening, swelling, fading. Great quantities of squash are replacing great quantities of corn. Even as new seedlings sprout in the greenhouse, it's time to straighten up, squirrel things away, and get ready for the cold months ahead.







For the past few weeks, my last stop at the farm has been the raspberry bushes--I snack on a few before taking my veggies and flowers home. Yesterday I wondered if there would be any left. Luckily, there were--in fact, lots!




The chill in the air makes me want to knit, knit, knit. So I cast on for a hat (more on that in a sec) and also decided to start a fall sweater. There were two requirements: I wanted to knit something top down, and it needed to be made from stash yarn. First, I swatched for Bramblewood, a very cute cabled vest in the fall Knotions. But I wasn't able to get gauge with the yarn I wanted to use. Then, I decided to swatch for Bonne Marie Burns's Mondo Cabled Pulli--I have some Ultra Alpaca that I think will be perfect for it.

Then the new Knitty came out. I knew instantly I was going to make Margot. I love this pullover's classic look and clean lines, and the way it showcases the two building blocks of knitting, stockinette and garter stitch. Best of all, my swatch (I'm using Berroco's Inca Gold) had exactly the right gauge after blocking. I wasted no time getting started, and when I tried it on the other day all seemed well.



For the hat, I decided to challenge myself with colorwork. I don't do colorwork often--I think the last time was a child's hat four or five years ago. I loved Cinquefoil in the fall Twist and thought it was just right for the Knit Picks Palette in my stash (gifted to me by my sister Jenny). I'm well along the way with Cinquefoil--and the good news is, it fits! My tension is a little uneven, though. I think it's because I'm trying so hard to avoid puckering that I'm veering in the opposite direction and getting lots of loose stitches. But I'm not going to fret about it. I'm hoping a good blocking will turn my ugly duckling into a swan, or at least an OK-looking duck.



I have two FOs to show, both crochet. My sister Betsey recently designed a very cool wrist cuff called Comet. I first made one using Knit Picks Cotlin. It came out pretty well, but I felt the yarn was a little too heavy for this pattern.



So I went to WEBS and the WEBS bead store and got some slate blue Hempathy, a blue-grey ring, and a silver button. I also carefully studied Betsey's tutorial on crocheting Comet's edge. Comet No. 2 came out just great:




Now the question is, what to do with the rest of the skein of Hempathy? Any ideas? I'd say there's perhaps 125-130 yards left.

Last but not least, I need to announce the winner for the skein of Handmaiden Mini Maiden. Congratulations to Otter! The yarn will soon be traveling across the Atlantic to join her in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Thanks to all who left a comment last week. I enjoyed reading everyone's descriptions of their first lace projects and hope you did too.

Something Corny, Something Free

The new Knitty is here, and in it you'll find my latest pattern, Kernel.



Kernel is a rectangular lace scarf knit in fingering weight yarn. I used Handmaiden Mini Maiden, a hand-dyed silk/merino blend. The design is symmetrical: you cast on and work the scarf from one edging through a long central panel; then, you make a second edging and graft the two pieces together. The grafting is worked within a beaded garter stitch band.



The lace motif in the center part reminded me of ears of corn, so that's how the scarf got its name. I made my first Kernel in the colorway Amber, then knit up a second in Peridot. To say I'm smitten with this luscious yarn would be a serious understatement.



It's a long and rather wide scarf - both of mine blocked out to 65-66 inches and about 9.5 inches wide. I like long scarves because they are easy to wear "French style," which is my favorite way to wear scarves.



A nice long scarf gives you lots of wearing options . . .







My sister Betsey once said (when she gave me a scarf for my birthday), "A girl can never have too many scarves." I must say, I completely agree. So I gave the amber Kernel to Betsey as a thank-you for her patient modeling. A big, big thanks to her and to another sister--Jackie--for all their help. (There are more photos, if you're interested, in my Flickr photostream.)

And now for the "something free" part of the post. To celebrate the publication of Kernel (which is my first pattern in Knitty!), I'm giving away a skein of Mini Maiden:



This skein is a little more brown than the one I used for Kernel - it's more of a toffee amber than a golden amber. To have a chance of winning it, just leave a comment sharing what your very first lace project was and whether you made it for yourself or as a gift. (If you haven't yet knit or crocheted lace - no problem - leave a comment about why you haven't.) I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner from among all the comments left by midnight EST on Monday.

The winner will be announced in a future post. In the meantime, have fun browsing all the great new Knitty patterns and queueing your faves in Ravelry. And may all your knitting journeys this fall take you to new and interesting places.

End-of-the-Season Baktus Scarf

Pattern: Lacy Baktus by Terhi Montonen, a variation of the original Baktus by Strikkelise (both are free patterns)
Yarns: North Loop Yarn Silky Merino Sock Yarn and a small amount of Dream in Color Smooshy
Needle: US 3/3.25mm

Baktus starts on 4 stitches and grows gradually in width thanks to an increase every few rows. When it's about the width you want, or you've used half your yarn, you begin working decreases and it dwindles back to its original few stitches. The pattern is simple to work, easy to memorize, and amenable to endless variations.



Most people are using fingering weight yarns for Baktus. I worked the lacy version with a lovely green merino and silk sock yarn from North Loop Yarn. Though I weighed the skein beforehand and stopped increasing when the scale said I'd used a bit less than half, towards the very end I ran out of yarn! My solution was to knit the final bit in some Chinatown Apple Dream in Color Smooshy. The color combination reminds me of the way leaves are just now beginning to change color, so I'm calling it my End-of-the-Season Baktus.



I worked mine somewhat differently than Terhi Montonen's lacy version. Hers "grows" leftwards, which works fine but felt backwards to me; I wanted mine to grow to the right. If you're interested, here's how I worked it (though the last few inches were plain garter stitch, due to the aforementioned running-out-of-yarn problem).

Set-up (work twice):
Row 1: k1, kfb, k to end
Rows 2, 3, 4: knit all sts

Lace pattern, first half of scarf:
Row 1: k1, kfb, k to end
Row 2: knit all sts
Row 3: k2, (yo, k2tog), rep (yo, k2tog) until last st, k1
Row 4: knit all sts
Row 5: k1, kfb, k to end
Rows 6, 7, 8: knit all sts

Repeat rows 1-8 until half the yarn is used or scarf is half the desired length. I increased until there were 80 sts, then began the decreases.

Lace pattern, second half of scarf:
Row 1: k1, ssk, k to end
Row 2: knit all sts
Row 3: k2, (yo, k2tog), rep (yo, k2tog) until last st, k1
Row 4: knit all sts
Row 5: k1, ssk, k to end
Rows 6, 7, 8: knit all sts

I almost wore my Baktus this morning, but it didn't quite match my outfit. It also felt like a bit too much scarf for early September. Instead, I chose my Honeybunch, which is knit in some gorgeous Jade Sapphire Silk/Cashmere. Nothing like a bit of cashmere around your neck on a nippy morning--it's the perfect way to start the work day!

A Year in the Making

Pattern: Mimosa, a square lace shawl by BadCatDesigns
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr in Ruby
Needles: began with 2.75mm dpns, changed to a 3.00mm circular, then later to a 3.25mm circ; bound off with a US6
Dimensions: 41 inches along each side of the square (30 inches before blocking)
Modifications: did not twist the knit stitches; worked one extra repeat of Chart A; to get deeper scallops, I worked last few rounds differently than in pattern and bound off with a US 6



I started this last summer on an impulse. And what a good impulse it turned out to be! As soon as I saw the pattern on Ravelry, I bought it and cast on. I knew it was what the cone of ruby Zephyr in my stash was meant to be.



I think it was the unusual stitch pattern that prompted me to make Mimosa. It's not a difficult pattern to work, in fact very pleasing. The only reason it took me a year to finish is that it was my "back burner" lace project.



I let the shawl soak in Eucalan and water for nearly an hour before blocking it, as I wanted the yarn to stretch as much as it possibly could. In the pattern, the shawl has gentle, rather shallow scallops, but I wanted dramatic, deep ones.



Of course, Ida did her part. Blocking just isn't complete without a cat to help out! (Sorry about the dark blocking photos - the light was waning.)



About the shawl pins: The straight(ish) one comes from Patternworks. The smaller curved one comes from South4th Woodcraft.

Rising Fog

The fall issue of Knotions is live! My newest lace design, Rising Fog, is a featured pattern.







It's a beaded rectangular stole/shawl with two identical edgings. For symmetry, the second edging is knit separately, then grafted to the body of the shawl. If you are nervous about grafting, don't let that step prevent you from giving the pattern a try! The grafting happens within a garter-stitch band and (trust me) it is not hard to do, especially if you practice on a swatch first.

I knit the shawl in Classic Elite's Silky Alpaca Lace, an incredibly soft alpaca and silk laceweight. The shawl took most of two skeins, so you should expect to need around 900 yards. You'll also need plenty of beads (303, to be exact). I used pale pink glass beads from the WEBS Beads Store. Here's a detail shot showing the placement of beads on the edgings:



The shawl was partly inspired by the wisps of fog I often see rising above the Pelham hills just east of where I live in Amherst, Massachusetts. I haven't got any good pics of the hills I see every day, but here's one of fog rising over hills in another part of western Massachusetts. It's a view from Kripalu, a yoga retreat center where I spent some time this week:



I did a lot of yoga at Kripalu--and spent a lot of time in the whirlpool too. What a relaxing place! I only brought easy knitting, such as this sock, which I knit on while walking the outdoor labyrinth:



Like my Emily's Firmaments Shawl, Rising Fog has an Emily Dickinson connection, which you can read about on the pattern page. I do wonder if the beads might have been a little too fancy for Emily, but well--I liked the way they suggested droplets of water, so there they are! If you detest beading, of course you can leave them out.

I've been on the computer so much today that I'm beginning to worry that the kinks I worked out of my neck and shoulders at Kripalu are going to come back. So, best to step away from the keyboard and take a break. But not before extending a big thank-you to my sister Jackie for modeling Rising Fog. We had some trouble finding a day last May when we were both free and it was not raining (it seemed to rain almost every day that month), but in the end it worked out fine. Thanks again, Jackie!

Psst!

The Knotions fall preview is up! You can get a sneak peek at my Rising Fog lace shawl and other new patterns here.



The issue goes live on Tuesday - lots of photos and more info then!

It's a Family Affair

My sisters and I are having a Baktus Scarf knitalong. Two of us live in western Massachusetts, one is in Boston, and one--Jenny--is in Missouri. But the distance doesn't matter, thanks to Ravelry, where we can easily share our projects and progress.

Here are (left to right) Betsey's, Jackie's and mine:



Betsey's using Berroco's Seduce, Jackie's using Berroco's Comfort Sock (very soft by the way!), I'm using North Loop Yarn's Silky Merino sock yarn. Jenny--who's furthest along--is using Jojoland Melody. Here she is modeling her Baktus in muggy Missouri:



I love how this pattern allows for such individuality on the part of the knitter. Every Baktus looks different, and it's fun to look at all the colorful versions on Ravelry. It's an easy pattern, which makes it just right for Betsey, who only started knitting earlier this year, and Jackie, who learned to knit just a year ago (for Ravelympics).

My mother is up for a visit from Florida and the other day we showed her our scarves, over at Jackie's house...




When I was a child, I thought I had the most beautiful of all the mothers I knew. And I still do! Mom, I hope I look half as good as you when I am 80!



Mom was very taken with the Bunny Nugget I made not long ago, and requested one for herself and one for her hairdresser Sue (who was nice enough to take Mom to the airport last week). Request granted! Two more Bunny Nuggets have entered the world:



I've received some lovely fiber gifts myself in the past few days. As a thank-you for TigerCare (looking after her cat, Tiger) while she and her family took a road trip to Cleveland, Chicago, and Toronto, Jackie gave me this gorgeous skein of Handmaiden Casbah sock yarn:



It has cashmere in it! And see where she bought it? Lettuce Knit, the Yarn Harlot's LYS in Toronto! I am so jealous that Jackie was there. Rumor has it there will be another Sock Summit in two years--in Toronto--so maybe I'll be there before too long. (I'm bummed that I wasn't able to go to the Sock Summit, but it's been great fun reading everybody's blog posts about it.)

Anyway, what should I make with that Casbah? Any ideas?

I also received this lovely needle case, crocheted by Betsey:




Isn't it too pretty for words? I think I will use it for my sock dpns. Betsey is so generous--she also gave me that crochet hook, too (because she doesn't like the shape of it). Details on the yarn, pattern, etc. are on Betsey's Ravelry project page.

Despite the heat, and malfunctioning AC in my car, the last few days with Mom here have been so much fun. I can't wait to see her again later today when she comes back from Boston with Betsey.

Hope you're having a good weekend, too. Pretty soon I'll be able to post about two new lace designs, and I can't wait to share them with you. One will be in the fall issue of Knotions, and one in Knitty.

Just in Time

After weeks of rain and unusually cool temps, summer has finally arrived in New England. Just in time I've finished a summer garment: Norah Gaughan's lovely Mitered Top, from the spring/summer 2009 Vogue Knitting.



The pattern was written for Berroco's Mica, but I subbed Classic Elite's Classic Silk, which was on sale this spring at WEBS. I'm pleased with how it came out - color, fit, drape, everything - but I'm especially pleased that I was inspired to make a brand-new design, got the yarn for it, and actually finished in the current season and not a whole year later, like I usually do.







Pattern: Mitered Top by Norah Gaughan, from Vogue Knitting, spring/summer 2009
Yarn: Classic Elite Classic Silk, color 6905 Old Lilac
Needles: US3 for the ribbing, US4 for the stockinette, US2 for the neck and armhole edgings
Modifications: Knit in the round instead of flat pieces; worked a hybrid of two sizes for a custom fit; omitted the sequined yarn at the neck and armhole edges
Necklace: by Betsey

I guess I shouldn't complain about all the rain we've had this summer, because it was thanks to staying indoors during Sunday's daylong drizzle that the top went from this:



to being finished and worn. And today - sunny, 80s - is the perfect day for wearing it.

The next FO I'll be posting about will be the Mimosa Shawl - only about 6 rounds left to go!

Crafty Doings behind the Barn

This little penguin was just one of the many cool things for sale yesterday at Art Behind the Barn. I bought it for my sister Jackie. Ever since she and Andy got married at the New England Aquarium--right next to the penguins--they have received their fair share of penguin-themed gifts. I couldn't resist this, made by one of the younger artisans.

Art Behind the Barn is an annual sale of creative goods by shareholders at the Brookfield Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts. I participated once before, three years ago. It rained cats and dogs the whole time, which of course kept people away. To describe attendance that year as "abysmal" would be generous.

So I was a little downhearted when I arrived to set up my table at 7:30 am. The skies looked like this:



We vendors all reassured each other that it would clear up. Luckily, the sale happens under a lean-to behind the barn, so nobody's wares get wet.



This year, we were lucky! Before long, the rain stopped and we had the kind of skies everybody likes to see:



My table got a good number of visitors and I had fun answering questions about knitting and felting. I asked almost everyone who stopped by if they knit or crochet, and nearly all said they had learned long ago but didn't anymore. One mother, however, proudly pointed to her son and said, "He's learning to crochet!" It was hard to tell from his expression how he felt about that--it looked like he was proud of the crocheting, but maybe not so excited about his mom broadcasting it.

"Here we are again at The Fuzzy Table," announced a little girl who visited me umpteen times throughout the morning. She was a captive at the sale, because her mom was selling jewelry a few tables away. She and her friends came by often to pet the leaf earrings and iPod cozies and make sure my flower pins were artfully arranged.







Attendance was good, sales were good, and sitting at The Fuzzy Table for five hours straight made for lots of prime crafting time. I decided to go public with the bicraftual thing and both knit and crochet, working alternately on my Baktus and Claudia scarves. Baktus grew quite a bit, in fact:



All in all, a fun event. I'm glad I gave it a try again. I'll sign off now with a teaser, a detail of a new beaded lace piece. I am incredibly excited about it, but I can't blog about it just yet. I can only say I have two new lace designs coming out this fall, and I can't wait to share them with you!

This Post's for Mom

Just checking in, Mom, so you can see the latest silliness two of your daughters are up to!



P.S. A new knitted drawing's up at Quotidiart.

Pattern Release, and an Invitation

A little something to liven up your mid-summer knitting: my new Squash Blossom Bookmark pattern. It's now available in my Etsy shop and as a Ravelry download.



It takes a small amount (far less than one skein) of two colors of fingering weight yarn. I used Knit Picks Essential Kettle-Dyed sock yarn, in Grasshopper and Gold. But of course you can use any colors you like--you could make a Goth squash blossom in purple and black, or a wintry one in white and gray. Techniques include working in the round on small dpns and knitting an I-cord, making it an intermediate or advanced beginner pattern.

The Squash Blossom Bookmark will also be available in the 2010 Knitting Pattern-a-Day Calendar, where it will be the March 31 pattern. You can get the calendar later this year at your favorite LYS or bookstore, or--if you like to take care of things well in advance--you can preorder it now at Amazon.com.

And here's the invitation: This Friday, July 10, there's an opening reception from 5 to 7 pm for the Works on Paper show at the Northampton Center for the Arts. My knitted drawing Cloud Frock is one of the artworks by 40 or so local artists in the show. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hello! The exhibition runs from July 10 through August 8, and summer gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, 4-7 pm. (Click the link for directions to the center.)

The reception is part of Northampton's monthly gallery walk, Arts Night Out. One of the other shows you can see that evening is "I Heard a Voice: The Art of Lesley Dill" at the Smith Art Museum. I've seen the Dill show twice already and plan to see it at least once more--it's that good. I highly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of Emily Dickinson's poetry.

An Addition to the Family

You know what they say about rabbits . . .







Bunny Nugget, a free knitting pattern by Rebecca Danger

Today's Horoscope

I'm taking a vacation day today. And my horoscope is just perfect:

"You're officially off duty now. And after everything you've been doing lately, even someone as hardworking and diligent as you are wouldn't be able to think of a single reason why you shouldn't be entitled to some serious, guilt-free time off. Now that you've actually been given a chance to sit back and relax, don't mess around. Do it up right. Get yourself a few movies, a pizza and some ice cream -- oh, and company. You'll probably want company."

I will definitely do my best to "do it up right." And for company, why I've got Funny Bunny, who I made last night while watching Harold and Maude:





Pattern: Bunny Nugget, by Rebecca Danger
Yarns: Leftover Berroco Peruvia and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted Multi
Needles: US5 dpns

I discovered this cute little pattern thanks to my coworker MJ, who recently made Penelope, the Empathetic Monster, another pattern by Danger. You can get the pattern for Penelope and other awesome monsters at Danger Crafts.

Happy 4th of July to my American readers! I hope your holiday includes some time for knitting. Funny Bunny and I hope the rain stops soon.

Death by Poisoned Oysters

Every weekend for the past couple of months, I've had a long "to do" list, all the way up through yesterday, when I taught the last session of my lace class. I'm so tired of waking up each Saturday and immediately thinking about how to make time for the art, knitting, design, etc. projects I want to accomplish before I go back to work on Monday.

Today I said "to heck with all that." I hopped in the car, headed up to the Montague Bookmill for a bagel and coffee, and began a totally freeform day. I read the paper, I knit, I watched the sky cloud up, then clear, then cloud up again.

I always feel very grounded at the Bookmill, which strikes me as strange given that when you're there you're not on the ground at all but perched above a rushing river:



I discovered that the best time of day to get a seat in the cafe is early in the morning. If you know the place, you know what I mean--on summer weekends it's generally overrun by the Laptop Army, with no seats to be had anywhere, indoors or out. This morning it actually looked like this:



Imagine! There was only one other person--a writer seated at the table behind me. He was writing not on a laptop but with ballpoint pen on looseleaf paper.

From there I drove from Montague through Leverett and up Richardson Road, where I lived for four years, many moons ago. It's a steep dirt road winding through the woods. When it dead ends it meets up with the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. I used to hike the M&M in all seasons; it was especially beautiful right after a snowfall.







I don't know why, as a Midwestern girl, I feel so at home in the woods of New England. I love the smell of pine needles, the calls of jays and chickadees and woodpeckers, the thrumming of bullfrogs in summer, whipoorwills singing at dusk, big heavy hemlock branches weighed down by snow in winter.

It's been a few years since I last hiked here. Today the pond was swollen by all of our recent rain; sometimes I had to bushwhack where water overran the trail. I reconnected with familiar landmarks:





That stone marker indicates the town line between Leverett and Montague. There was evidence all around of busy beavers:







I took lots of photos of the colors and textures that caught my eye:





After I left the M&M I headed to the Leverett Coop for a quick bite to eat. I couldn't resist photographing this inexplicable string of rubber ducks hanging outside:



Not sure what they were all about! Then I drove at my leisure through Shutesbury all the way to Route 202. Heading south on 202 towards Belchertown, I passed Packardsville Road and suddenly remembered a cemetery there, where I once found a very cool letterbox. I turned around, found the cemetery, and without much trouble located the Oyster Tombstone Letterbox. What a blast from the past! I was the first person to find the box - on October 4, 2003:



The original logbook is still in the box and in good shape after six years. I amassed an impressive collection of mosquito bites on my ankles while I sat on a stone wall and flipped through the book. But it was totally worth it, just to see this unusual tombstone once again and ponder the lives of the people it mentions (click to embiggen and more easily read the story):



Seems like a Stephen King story waiting to be written, doesn't it?

Speaking of Steeking

I am living proof that even at the age of 52, one can learn new things, even potentially scary things like how to cut your knitting. Last weekend I took a workshop on steeking at WEBS, taught by Annie Foley. As it turns out, steeking isn't scary at all. In fact it's kind of fun.

We had to knit up a 72-stitch tube in advance of the class. Here's mine, made with Vermont O-Wool:



We made a little steeked neckline on one side of the tube by placing some stitches on scrap yarn, knitting around and casting new stitches on over them, then working neckline shaping for about 6 rows. We secured stitches on either side of the center with contrasting lighter weight yarn and a crochet hook. And then - we cut! It really was not that big a deal.

After picking up stitches, we worked a couple rows of garter stitch, bound off, and then on the wrong side whipstitched down the folded-over steek. Here's how mine looked on the right and wrong sides:





After that we went around to the other side of our tube and secured stitches from top to bottom, as if for the front of a cardigan. And then once again - we cut. I was surprised at how neat and tidy the steek looked:



Is there more steeking in my future? Time will tell - maybe a Fair Isle cardigan?

I have two itsy bitsy FOs to show. The first is knit with some Valley Yarns Goshen that my sister Betsey gave me last winter (left over from an awesome shawl she crocheted). For her recent birthday I gifted some of that Goshen right back to her with Eunny Jang's Lacy Sachet, a free pattern available at Knitting Daily:





The second FO is a swatch of Quilted Lattice from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I made it for the Walker Treasury Project using Valley Yarns Colrain, a worsted-weight 50/50 merino/Tencel blend:





Walker comments that this stitch pattern is fun to knit, and I have to agree. And it goes lickety-split thanks to the large number of slipped stitches.

The best news of the day is that we had sunshine all day long and no rain! After work, I picked strawberries at the Brookfield Farm and took my sweet time, lingering as long as possible in the marvelous sunshine. I picked some snow peas too, and had a delish simple supper of steamed snow peas mixed with brown rice and a little butter. Mmmm.

Last but not least, I must give a shout out to Kristin, who recently finished her second Emily's Firmaments Shawl. I love the beautiful summery green she chose. As you can see from her Ravelry project page, the woman is a lace knitting powerhouse.

And now, time for more strawberry snacking . . .

Starting Stuff

What better way to deal with stress than casting on? Of all the memorable things Elizabeth Zimmerman said or wrote about knitting, my favorite is: Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises. My way of dealing with stress and unwanted change at work this week was to cast on a Swallowtail Shawl.

I had promised myself I would not start any new lace projects until Mimosa is finished. But Mimosa is almost done. This morning I begin the last chart--22 rounds to go!

I also started this today:


Those are a couple of "babies" from my mother-in-law tongue plant. I repotted them this morning and will take them to work. My office has no natural light, but this is a hardy plant that isn't terribly high maintenance. So maybe they'll be alright.

It's a gloomy Sunday here in western Mass. Cool and rainy. Can't be good for the strawberries - I think yesterday was the lone sunny day in the entire past week. But I'm finding today's gloom soothing. I love looking at the fog rising over the Pelham Hills:



In art news: I've posted a new knitted drawing at Quotidiart. Check it out!

Now, time to work on Mimosa while listening to Sticks and String.