Fantasizing about Closures

Well, that title should get me some interesting hits.  I have been home sick for the last few days - and in fact, have been sick on and off for two weeks. It is a very good thing that Mucinex DM is non-habit forming, because I have been living on the stuff.  I wish I could be back at work but when you provide customer service all the time, coughing like a TB patient is not attractive and probably not good for business.

So. I have been finishing up projects here and there. Currently I am ribbing my brains out on a little short sleeve cardigan.  Because I modified it to fit me I was giving some serious thought to how I want the cardi to close.  Being big busted makes those casual open-cardigans slightly impractical.  The fronts just don't lay correctly when there is a lot of terrain to cover and no way to lock things down.  So I started thinking about large coat hooks & eyes like these to make the front edges meet up. Then I wouldn't have to do a buttonhole.

But then I got to thinking about seeing Andrea a few weeks ago.  She is a rep for a number of lines, but in this case, she reps for Jul.  She showed me the new Jul french curve closures.  They are leather paired with the brilliant pedestal button so that you can close just about anything WITHOUT a buttonhole or sewing. Oh glory be!

JUL product catalogue page

My sweater is a beautiful rusty color in Plymouth Tweed 5313, which now appears to be alarmingly discontinued.  Really? These are the colors Plymouth are keeping? Are they HIGH?*  Ugh. Guess I better finish this puppy up fast if I need an extra ball. There aren't THAT many left at Woven Art.

So I am trying to figure out, do I want the chocolate, black, or chestnut French Curve? (I am not a patent leather kinda girl, so that is out.)   I think the chocolate might go best, but that chestnut gives me heart palpitations. Am I the only one who had a thing for Oxblood Docs back in the early 90s?  Loved them so much. Be still my heart.  So my guess is actually the chocolate might go best, the black would be the most practical (boring!), and the chestnut might make me incapable of looking away from my own front for any length of time.

What are your thoughts?

*Apparently not high, just discontinuing the yarn. Double ugh.

Inspiration Notebook 2

Alex Katz, Big Red Smile

Pearl Grey Kusha Kusha Scarf

Apparently I have been holding out on a project that I thought I had documented back in July.  Oops!

I have wanted to do a Kusha Kusha scarf for several years - basically since I realized I had access to Habu yarn at Woven Art (before I even worked there!). I didn't want to buy a kit mostly because I wanted to replace the Habu Fine Merino Wool with something a little thicker. Above were the three color choices I came up with. The three balls are Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace, paired with the Habu Silk & Stainless Steel cones.  After much hemming and hawing (and a Facebook consultation) I decided on the middle color combination.

The pattern is very easy - and is a great introduction to the Japanese style of pattern writing.  Not entirely intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it is no big thing.

Pattern: Kusha Kusha Scarf, kindly available on the Purl Bee website

Yarn: 1 skein Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace, 460 yards, 2 small cones Habu Silk and Stainless steel in grey

Needles: US 3, 4, 6, & 8.

Mods: I lengthened my scarf a little bit through the area of the scarf where you hold yarns A & B together.  Before felting the scarf measured 60 inches long, with a 43 inch section of yarns A + B. After felting the scarf measured 50 inches long with a 38 inch section of yarns A+B. I wish I had bound off with the size 8 needle, but I think I used the 4. 

The last section is quite challenging - knitting with just the tiny Silk & Stainless steel yarn on size US 3 needles? Yeesh.  It is hard to maintain tension. I found I had a much easier time just giving up on tension and just knitting.  This also could have been just project fatigue - I was really ready to be done with it. 

I lightly hand felted the Silky Alpaca in my kitchen sink. I may felt it a little bit more, but I enjoy seeing some stitch definition.

This was NOT a stashbusting project - I bought both yarns and I have a good portion of my second cone of the silk & stainless steel left, plus a nice bit of Silky Alpaca remaining as well. Maybe I will swatch with these to come up with another project.  Although I REALLY want to knit another Kusha Kusha scarf with Elemental Affects  lace and Habu Copper Bamboo. Sigh.  But I am back into working on my stash for the winter, so no new yarns for me for a while.

Inspiration Notebook 1

Greens, yellows, & browns with a bit of orange

Van Gogh, The Church at Auvers, 1890
Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Orange, brown, & periwinkle/grey

Gustave Baumann, Cottonwood Tassels 1943
 woodcut

Gold, chestnut, & black

Fayum Mummy Portrait, 2nd century

Dark plum, gold, jewel tones, and pearl.

Empress Theodora mosaic, 6th century
Basilica of San Vitale

Clockwork

While traveling to and from Rhinebeck I did have a slightly larger project with me than just two hats.  It was my Clockwork scarf, and it provided the exact amount of attention/inattention I wanted for lots of travel time. The tons of garter stitch were perfect for touch-only knitting - especially important if you happen to be the navigatrix from time-to-time, and then small amounts of increasing and purling just to keep you on your toes.

By finishing up Clockwork in October, I have now worked through 11.5 skeins of sock yarn in 10 months, and that is a great feeling.  My sock yarn stash is quite large, and could use a bit of cleaning out. Each skein I counted was based on a 100g weight, and so those 50g skeins counted as half, hence the peculiar number.

Pattern: Clockwork by Stephen West
Yarn: Pagewood Farm Chugiak, in Fruit Freeze, and Claudia's Hand Painted Yarn in Black Walnut.
Needles: Addi US 5 lace needles
Mods: None.

I really love the combination of these two sock yarns - the Berry Freeze varies from a lovely deep red to a slightly orange color, the Black Walnut moves from a red-brown to a deep charcoal grey. My art history training often plays an important roll when I start playing with color. This time I was thinking of the Flemish painters, like Jan van Eyck, and the rich, dark colors they used.

Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a Man in a Turban, 1433
National Gallery, UK

I love how the brown of his fur collar emphasizes the deep red of his turban.

All-in-all a really successful project, one that I am sure to enjoy this fall!

Occupied

This year I am dividing my charity hat knitting into two camps: Occupy Wall Street, and a local outreach program.  Woven Art (my LYS and place of employment) is now collecting hats for Occupy Wall Street protestors. In fact, I boxed up our first shipment to their Fulton Street address - 28 hats went out just in time for the winter snow.

My three hats will go out in the next shipment, which may go to our local Occupy Lansing protest at the Capital Building if they are needed or may head out to NYC.  Either way, I hope my hats will help keep someone warm.

Occupy Hat #1

Occupy Hat #1 was started in my tips & techniques class to show how to do the Channel Island Cast-on.    This used up a good portion of my no-name Chinese lopi-esque yarn (I used a lot of it last year, but not all!)  It is an retina-searing blend of bright red and hot pink, and has been in my stash since....2004? Certainly before 2006.  This was a totally made-up on-the-spot pattern, and was finished in the car on the way to Rhinebeck.

Occupy Hat #3

Occupy Hat #3 used up the last of the lopi (huzzah!) and used the last of my leftovers of Mission Falls 1824 wool in grey, and a bit of some Dalegarn Free Style. This hat was knit when I was recovering from  my first winter cold, which may have been Strep.  Using up the last of my MF 1824 was painful. I loved that yarn.

Occupy #2

Occupy Hat #2 was an actual pattern! (And, on a side note: I was so excited to find my alma mater sweatshirt in my winter storage drawer - I wasn't sure it survived last year's clothing cull. This ragged baby is over 15 years old, but still nice and comfy on a cold Saturday at home.)

Pattern: Belugah Slouch Hat

Yarn: Khroma in Aegean. 50% Merino, 50% alpaca by The Fibre Company (now discontinued)

Needles: US 4, 9, 10.

Mods: I worked the pattern as written, then after working with the US10s for a while, I decided I wanted to make the hat a bit warmer, so I went down to a size 9. It was a simple and fun pattern, and I also finished this hat in the car on the way to Rhinebeck.

My next few hats will be for a local charity.  I would really like to donate them to the Greater Lansing Food Bank, but I am not sure they want knit hats.  Guess it couldn't hurt to ask!

Returned from Rhinebeck...

...and holy COW do I have a lot of yarn.  I got a lovely variety of things, and I will even admit to standing in the crazy Sanguine Gryphon line Saturday morning - my wait was only about thirty minutes. My favorite yarn purchase?  Probably the sweater's worth of Green Mountain Spinnery 'Green' yarn.  No pictures this year, unless I snag some from friends - I was more interested in my experience than documenting it this year.  I saw a variety of bloggers and other knitterati I recognized: Yarn Harlot, Jen of Nipperknits, Ann of Weaverknits, Stephen West, Casey and Jess (and Eloise) of Ravelry, Ysolda Teague, Clara Parkes, Steven of Bitches Get Stitches, among a variety of others! I went with three Michigan (and former-Michigan) friends, and it is always fun to watch Rhinebeck through another knitter's eyes.

Pre-ravelry dinner was fantastic at Ric Orlando's New World Home Cooking. I had Jerk Chicken, which at a hot-factor of '6' was just about right for me, but could barely finish it because of the portion size. If I get to go again, and if I order the same dish I might bump it to a '7'. The food was very good, the quantities were a bit much for me, but for a burly guy I am sure they would be satisfying.  Our large group was easily accommodated with reservations.

On Saturday my mom drove up from southwestern Connecticut to spend some time with me, which was fantastic. She braved the crazy mid-morning Rhinebeck traffic, and was greeted with a skein of Sanguine Gryphon yarn I bought for her.  We then went yarn hunting, and I introduced her to Miss Babs - one of my favorite indie dyers. Mom had fun looking through all the colors before making her selections.

Saturday night was my choice for dinner, and I took the same large group from Friday night to Another Fork in the Road in Milan, NY - my favorite low-key, fantastic-food restaurant in the area. (BTW, Milan is not pronounced Meh-LAHN, but MILE-an). My choice off their ever-rotating dinner menu was Hen o' the Woods Risotto with nasturtium pesto. YUM!

I will briefly admit to also going to Another Fork for breakfast Sunday morning. Can't. Stay. Away. Fried egg sandwich with pancetta and swiss. The only bit of improvement that I could offer their way is the tea selection was disappointing. Twinings? Really?

My haul:
* a sweater's worth of Green Mountain Spinnery 'Green'
* several skeins of Sanguine Gryphon
* Miss Bab's
* Bartlett
* Briar Rose
* Fiber from Spirit Trail

SO. Starting November 1st my coldsheeping odyssey begins again.  I will be knitting only from my stash until May 2012.  During that time I would like to use up six skeins of sock yarn, knit a sweater's worth of yarn, and knit at least one project from my own handspun.  My overall goal for coldsheeping is to improve the quality of my stash, rather than the quantity.  Although I would be really happy if I manage to reduce the quantity as well!