Cottage46 Knitter

Norwegian Stocking progress

I'm loving the Fair Isle! Can you spot the glaring error? (Hint: XOXOXO) I'll do it on the other one and wha-la: it's a design feature.

I'm saaaaailing!

Do you remember in What About Bob? when Bob is strapped to the mast of sailboat, joyously shouting, "I'm saaaaailing"?

Well, I'm Faaaaair Isleing!! There is definite uneven-ness, but it's going much more smoothly than I anticipated.

This was going to be the 1st great outdoor weekend of the summer, full of kayaking, hammock lounging, etc. But it's really humid and my sinuses and allergies are in full revolt. So it's the great indoor weekend at cottage46. Guess I'll have to knit. ;o)

Ahhhhh... the great American long weekend

Love the 4-day weekend! Most of the time I love like my job, but I got to attend 2 meetings last week meant to educate us about just how bad our financial situation is going to get. Property taxes are highly unpopular in Indiana right now, and property taxes are the main source of revenue for local government, libraries, and schools. So as the legislators try to respond to the property tax furor with tax credits and cuts, there's nothing replacing the lost revenue. My library budget is cut to bone now and there's potential for more substantial cuts coming. In order to sleep at night, I have to tell myself that our community will get the library they pay for and I can only do what I have the budget for. When services get cut, they'll have to call their state legislator and complain. Anyway... that is why I'm so loving this long weekend.

I finished the Rib & Cables socks.

Pattern: Rib & Cables socks by Nancy Bush, from Interweave Knits, Fall 2005
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Vinca Minor
Needles: Addi Turbo US2
Cast on: May 3, 2006
Finished: May 25, 2006
Comments: Nice, easy pattern. The heel is a little droopy; I should have made the heel flap a little shorter. The decreases for the toe are done with p3tog to make a little chevron pattern. I could have lived without that. By the time I finished an evening of p3tog I was in what VK calls my "Pissy Sally" mood. But like childbirth, all is soon forgotten.

I'm now entering my Fair Isle phase. Here is the extent of my FI experience:

So clearly I'm well-prepared. I cast on for the Norwegian stockings and I made it through the ribbing with no problems. I've done the first row of FI patterning without incident. And no, I'm not being paid by Dell for product placement, I was just too lazy to go outside for the picture.

The fiber festival last weekend was very spinning-oriented. Lots of roving. There was some handspun yarn, but overall a little disappointing. There's a huge fiber festival in Michigan (Michigan Fiber Festival) coming in August. I'm already saving my pennies. I did buy this lovely basket and 2 hanks of alpaca that is deliciously soft, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.

Gratuitous daisy picture:

Have a great weekend!

Yarn Focus Challenge: Blown.

I. Have. No. Self. Control.

Hmm... black, white, a bit o' red... Could this be yarn for this?

Why, yes it is! I'm going to do the Norwegian socks from Folk Socks. This will make 4 projects on the needles, 3 of which are not simple. Interestingly, the "simple" project (Rib & Cable socks) is the one I'm currently stuck on. I'm ready for the heel flap and am having issues with translating the pattern to magic loop. Just need some time to concentrate and figure it out, but that's not what I expect from a sock pattern. That's supposed to be the mindless project.

The Spring Forward cardigan has grown a few inches.

And, at long last, may I present the finished Must Have cardigan:

A word about the top button. I love the round silver buttons, but they are too small for the buttonholes. My issue is should I try to find a similar silver button that is larger? Or use the square buttons? Here's a close-up.

And here's the back:

The details:
Pattern: Must Have cardigan from Paton's Street Smarts leaflet
Cast on: Sept or Oct 2005
Finished: May 8, 2006
Yarn: Cascade 220 #8911 Grape Jelly. I've never taken a picture that accurately shows the color. Here's a picture of the yarn from the web. It's much closer to grape jelly than the hot pink that it appears in pics.

Needles: Addi Turbo US7
Comments: This is my second sweater, but the first that's wearable. I loved the pattern. The cable patterns were easy to memorize and it was just a fun knit. The only change I made was to add some stitches to moss stitch panels to account for boobal real estate. I'll do a modeled shot once I get the button thing figured out.

We saw this family of swans today. Sorry for the swan butt. It was quite a lovely family portrait until Mom or Dad swan decided to dive.

Spring Forward!

Ok, the title may be Spring Forward, but the weather is more like winter. Seriously, it's raining and 40 degrees. Ugh. But in spite of the dreary, I cast on for the Spring Forward cardigan from Twists and Turns.

I'm enjoying a 4-day weekend (just because I want to) so I should make some serious progress.

I also cast on a pair of Rib and Cable socks from Nancy Bush (Interweave Fall 05). Sorry for the blurry picture. Sadly, it was the best of several attempts.

The Must Have cardigan is done except for sewing on the buttons. Woohoo! Finished just in time to put it away for the summer. FO post next week if the sun ever comes out again.

I think my cable phase may be waning because I just bought these:

OK, yes, the middle one is all cables, but the other two are mostly colorwork. Like these:

And the amazing Ingeborg:

I've been following Bowerbird Knits Ingeborg progress. Oh yes, I feel a color phase coming on. The one tiny little problem is that my only Fair Isle experience is one tiny little swatch. Almost a potholder, but not quite. So I'm thinking I'll try one of the wonderful mitten kits from Nordic Fiber Arts.

I've been enjoying all the blog posts about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Well, next weekend we have the Salomon Farm Fiber Arts Celebration in Fort Wayne. I think this will be the 3rd year for it, but I wasn't able to go the first two years. But I'm definitely going this year. Unfortunately I've already used my May free-to-buy-yarn day . So I'll try to maintain focus, but who knows. There's always patterns and knitting needles to buy!

I'm here! I'm here!

Long time, no post. Long time, no knitting progress. The Must Have cardigan pieces are blocking and will be sewn up this weekend. I've vowed not to milk that poor sweater for any more blog pictures until it's an FO.

But I did finish the Jaywalkers.

Of course since it rained that last 2 days there was water seeping into my socks as I stood there. The daughter of friends of ours once said to me, "How do you stay so white?" Now I know what she meant.

The details:
Pattern: Jaywalker
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Blue Jeans
Needle: Size 1
Cast on: hmmm... sometime at the beginning of April
Cast off: May 1, one day late to be my April socks for the Sock of the Month club (dang)
Comments: I have a fairly sizeable hole at one heel corner and not at the other corners. I'm not sure what happened, but there were dropped stitches and such after I picked up the gusset stitches. I like my socks snug, so this is a good pattern for me. And Lorna's Laces rocks.

Randomness:
VK has been turkey hunting, but hasn't gotten one yet.
Yarn is on the way from Webs for the Spring Forward Cardigan along with 2 Dale of Norway pattern books.
That was my April free day for the Yarn Focus Challenge.
I think I'll use my May free day to pick up some yarn this weekend at my LYS for a summer sweater.
I'm casting on tonight for a pair of socks in Wildfoote. Still deciding on the pattern. Either one of the ribbed patterns from Knitting Vintage Socks or an Interweave pattern.
We picked up some flowers but haven't planted anything yet. The nights are still pretty cold.