Goodbye Summer

Lake Madeleine, Adirondacks.

Very soon I am going to have to face the fact that I need to rake. Instead I keep casting my mind back to this perfect day on the lake with P and Zeby.

Two Millend Hats

In Northern Michigan you can find Stonehedge Fiber Mill, a wonderful mill that produces three types of commercial yarn: Shepherd's Wool, Shepherd's Wool DK, and Shepherd's Wool fingering. They also process for ranchers and spinners.  When Deb doesn't have enough yarn on one cone to complete a skein for a dyelot she makes millends skeins. Like snowflakes, no two are alike.  These crazy and unique skeins are a lot of fun to work with.

For the Mid-Mitten Shop Hop this year I designed two millend hats that use two simple color techniques; striping and slip-stitches.  For added interest I cast-on with the Channel Island Cast-on. If you know how to do a long-tail cast-on you should have no trouble picking up the Channel Island.  The technique gives you a picot edge that is great to use with knit 1, purl 1 ribbing.

L: Multi Stripe Hat R: Dashes Hat

For each hat you will need a skein of Classic Elite Lush and a single Stonehedge Fiber Mill millend. The millend will make several hats, but you will need a new skein of Lush for each hat you do, unless like me you make a bunch of them, in which case you will eventually be able to put all your Lush scraps together into another hat. (!!!)

The pattern is $5 and includes written instructions, a chart for the Dashes Hat, and the instructions for the Channel Island Cast-on.

June House

My childhood home in Connecticut.

Bronze elephant bookend

Mini quilt by Mom

Dad's ship building hobby from the 70s

Stamford Connecticut, December 2010.

Greta Van Dyke

When I was a little girl my favorite toy - my comfort toy - was a stuffed animal named Blue Cat.  I didn't realize that there was actually a Blue Cat I and Blue Cat II until I was in my teens when my parents told me that BCI had to be tossed after a childhood hospitalization.  Very Velveteen Rabbit-esque. 

Blue Cat II is still with me - she lives on my bureau. And sure, now she is grey, she has no face, and all her fuzz has been loved off, but I still have a thing for that stuffed cat. She still smells like my childhood and brings back memories of eyelet cotton sheets and a blue gingham coverlet.

Dulce-cat is not impressed with you.

As it happens, one of my nephews is totally obsessed with cats. He won't be able to have one because of family allergies, but he has met my cat, Dulce.  And I am told that he talks about her frequently.  Since Dulce is a tortie I thought it would be nice to knit Lucas a tortie cat of his own.

The only thing is, I don't know if I can give Greta I to my nephew. I have kinda fallen in love with her. Would a four-year old treasure her forever and ever? (Possibly.) Would she be loved as much as I love her? (Doubtfully.)  So, I think there will have to be a Greta II that can go live down in Virginia. Greta I is going to hang out with Blue Cat II.

Pattern: Greta the Captivating Cat, a Dangercrafts Pattern
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK, Van Dyke Brown, 1/2 skein. Purchased at Woven Art
Needles: US 4
Mods: Vintage buttons for eyes from my extremely large button collection, and a dusty peach embroidered nose (too subtle for my camera to really capture).

Yup, Blue Cat and Greta are going to be fast friends.

Vacation Photos

Tibbett's Point Lighthouse, Cape Vincent, NY

Handweaving Museum, Thousand Islands Art Center, Clayton, NY

Island cabin, St. Lawrence River, NY

Lady's Walk, Adirondacks, NY

Weathervane, Adirondacks, NY

Area rug, Adirondacks, NY

Handknits, Harper's Weekly, 1862, Adirondacks, NY

Boys' naptime, Adirondacks, NY

Library, Adirondacks, NY

'Canoo', Old Atlas, Adirondacks, NY

French Ships, Old Atlas, Adirondacks, NY

St. Lawrence river, Clayton, NY

Stephen West Mystery Shawl 2011: Earth & Sky

Finished and blocked in August, my new shawl is waiting for the cold weather and the autumn leaves! Knit almost exclusively in the Adirondacks and Canada (in the car) it was a perfect combination of mindless knitting, with little bursts that required attention.

Pattern: Westknits Mystery Shawl Knitalong 2011: Earth & Sky

Yarn: A: Grey, Koigu KPM, 2 skeins, 175 yards each. B: Chartreuse, Koigu KPM, 1 skein, 175 yards. C: Tomato, Madelinetosh Sock, 350 yards.

Needles: Size 4 Addi lace clicks

Mods: None! Since this was done during the knitalong I made no changes.  I did choose to knit the Option 2 border instead of a plain garter-stitch edging.

Notes: I had less than 5 grams of chartreuse left, and a small amount of grey and tomato.

I usually tend towards more subtle jewel tone colors, but I couldn't resist putting these three together.  The grey and chartreuse Koigu came out of stash (the grey was purchased in Maryland, the chartreuse came from Hill Country Weavers in Austin, when I visited my best girl Jenny a few years ago) and the tomato was purchased especially for the project.  I was considering only two other possibilities, a natural white, and a turquoise blue.  I am glad I went with the red!