awol interrupted

Since I started rock climbing a few months ago I've been too distracted to focus on much else, but I've been sidelined with a shoulder injury for (hopefully only) a couple weeks so now I can catch up on this blog. I recently completed a Citron shawl with the Jojoland Melody I bought at Stitches last year. I highly recommend this fun and quick project. But be forewarned, it is a lot of stockinette...I even added an extra section to make the shawl bigger, so there were 636 stitches by the time I got to the final ruffle!

In less happy knitting news, I had to frog the Eve shawl I had been working on. The beautiful and soft Malabrigo Lace was just the wrong choice of yarn for the pattern. As you can see from the photo, the stitch patterns are obscured, especially in the Indian Cross Stitch section at the top. I couldn't even frog past that point because the yarn had felted together completely. Another lesson learned!

happy friday

photos courtesy of paula mcnamee

My friend, Paula, was kind enough to stop by the knit not war exhibit and send me photos. I just love seeing all the cranes displayed together - such lovely colors. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

knit not war

200 cranes in spring

photo courtesy of Seann McKeel

Hey Portland-area friends and visitors, the cranes I knit almost three years ago are finally going on display in an art installation at the Ace Hotel, so check it out if you have the chance (and please send me pictures if you go!) Here are the details:

knitnotwar 1,0o0: a public art installation displaying a thousand knit cranes, celebrating the quiet logic of peace. More than a hundred artists contributed to knitting one thousand origami-style cranes which will be displayed through the weekend of June 3rd, 2010 in the lobby of the Ace Hotel at 1022 SW Stark in Portland, Oregon.

See the installation and join us for green tea and snacks in the lobby of the Ace Hotel on First Thursday, June 3rd from 7-9pm.

The origami crane is an international symbol of peace, due to the hopeful and heroic story of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako died of leukemia after exposure from US atom bombings of Hiroshima in 1945. Believing a Japanese legend that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish, Sadako hoped to get well. She completed over 1,000 folded cranes before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of 12. Thousands of artists, children, religious groups, and other organizations commit to folding strands of a thousand cranes every year to express their commonality in belief of banning nuclear weapons-- their solidarity for peace.

my first laceweight project

yarn: Malabrigo Lace - Stonechat colorway

needles: size 3 Knitpicks circular

# of stitches cast on: 363

Oh boy, this is going to take awhile. I've completed 8 rows but it's barely 1/2 inch long...why, you ask? Because it's double knit lace. I guess I should have read the pattern more closely before I purchased it. Luckily there are several stitch pattern changes throughout the wrap to keep me somewhat sane!

a great start to the new year

Sock designer and author Cookie A came to teach at our LYS Common Threads last week, and I volunteered to put her up for a few nights. She's as cool and fun as you might imagine and I learned a lot from her class - highly recommend it and her book, Sock Innovation: Knitting Techniques & Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks. It was really nice to be able to spend an extended period of time getting to know her. The first night, we had a fabulous dinner prepared with some knitting friends: Nancy and her mom Caryl (who both own and run Common Threads), Kelie, Rebecca, and Shelly. The next day was Cookie's top-down sock design class and then dinner at a restaurant - no photos of that because it was too dark. Before she left town to attend TNNA, Cookie was kind enough to invite me to lunch with knitwear designer Anne Hanson, Anne's husband, David, and their friend Kim. Anne took some pictures at lunch but I was too shy to ask her to send me one - luckily, she posted it on her blog!

hello again

Really have no good excuses as to why I haven't posted since August. I won't bother giving any except to say that other things have preoccupied my mind and time. I'm actually only here now because I was just given a one-day reprieve until our holiday visitors start arriving, so I thought I'd squeeze in some long overdue blogging.

My latest knitting projects include a pair of mittens for a Facebook Pay It Forward project, a Shalom cardi-vest shown below still wet on the blocking mat, and Silver Streak, a cardi-wrap still in progress.

Last month, some knitting buddies and I went up to the Torrance Fiber Fest and I cheated on my yarn diet to acquire some gorgeous Malabrigo Silky Merino. Kelie has more photos of our road trip here.

And just a few days ago, our weekly knitting group held our annual White Elephant and I ended up with some lovely Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.

And then Wendy gave me this beautiful Araucania Ruca that she picked up during her NYC trip. It's made of 100% sugar cane - so cool and so perfect for my inner pastry chef - love it!

Well, I should really stop procrastinating and get back to getting the house ready for our houseguests. Happy Holidays everyone!

various states of incompletion

After my last post and promises to start blogging anew, I came down with a terrible cold which, along with the heat and humidity, put me out of commission again. But I'm back now with photos to share! I finished my Swirl Shawl and started blocking it. The one set of mats I bought from Knitpicks isn't enough to accommodate the whole piece so I'm having to do it in stages.

Swirl Shawl in mid-block

In preparation for Stitch and Pitch last month, I started a cotton camisole so I would have a small item to work on instead of the above unwieldy shawl. Kelie has some photos of our group at the game in her post here.

Victoria Tank from Interweave Knits Summer 2004

In a fit of A.D.D. and to give my wrists a break from knitting cotton, I also started a small shawl/scarf (sharf? scawl?) yesterday. I highly recommend Malabrigo Sock yarn - it's so soft and squishy and a joy to knit. The pattern is Springtime Bandit but I'm changing it so it's mostly stockinette, inspired by two other modified projects I saw on Ravelry, also here and here.

my bandito sharf in progress

resurfacing

It's been a bummer of a couple weeks, culminating in my grandfather's passing. I have been in too much of a funk to post anything for awhile but finally am starting to snap out of it. More photos of Paris and my creative endeavors to come - for now, here are some bits and pieces that have helped reinvigorate my spirits lately...

ingenious cardboard spinning wheel

free printable affirmations by kind over matter (isn't that the BEST name?); check out their other great freebies, too (esp. love the garden and quotation cards)

free pattern by spud & chloe for a knitted cupcake pincushion

antique keys made of quilling paper

a great reason to add to your yarn stash

amazing embroidery sampler by amy of inspire company - look closely for the fabulous marie antoinette!

french musician named claire denamur - I heard one of her songs on a commercial recently and then came across this music video (she's not on US iTunes yet but I put in a request to add her):

swirl shawl

I dipped into some of the yarn I bought at Stitches West and have completed half of the Swirl Shawl I started a few months ago. It's been an easy knit, though not completely mindless because there's a lot of counting to keep track of. It's not obvious in the above photos but I wasn't loving some of the sudden color transitions (due to poor yarn manufacturing) so tried to piece together different skeins of yarn to get better blending. I think I'm just going to have to accept the wabi-sabi aspect of this project so I don't drive myself crazy. :)

one down

Here's one completed Bacchus sock in all its unblocked glory. As you can see, it's a little big...I probably should have gone down to a #1 needle but I'm OK with it as is (i.e. there's no way I'm going to reknit all those bobbles!)

functional

SWTC gave out free 1/2 skein samples of this yarn at a knit night they held at TNNA 2009. The colorway is not my favorite but they work fine for pedicure socks - I won't have to worry if I accidentally spill nail polish on them because it will blend right in. Note to self: for self-striping yarns, use a short row heel. A heel flap breaks up the stripes too much.

bacchanalia

We went up to LA for a short getaway last week and I finally went to French General which I've been wanting to visit for years. It was so fabulous and I wish I had photos of the cute little store to share with you, but I just did not have time. I had to move quickly so we could get on the road and beat traffic. Just trust me and go if you have the chance. The owner, Kaari, is so nice and her shop is the best...check out her blog and website to get a feel for her impeccable style. The store is currently only open Fridays from 11-4 and I suggest calling ahead.

Just started these Bacchus socks from the Fall '08 issue of Interweave Knits and it's fun so far. At first I wasn't sure when I saw all the charts in the pattern, but they are actually easy to follow. I need to work on making those little bobbles more consistent though. The yarn is Nature's Palette fingering and the colorway is Zinfandel - perfect!

prismatic scarf finished

In the second photo, you can see where I started a new skein of yarn...this is what happens when one is too lazy to alternate knitting from two skeins.  It's not as obvious in person and I will be wearing the scarf doubled over, so no big deal.  I really loved the Malabrigo and think it would be great knitted into a cozy sweater or blanket.  It's not even very itchy against my sensitive skin - I highly recommend the yarn!

extreme knitting

Talk about serious potential for a giant tangled mess of yarn (I can barely keep two skeins straight!)...