One stitch at a time - while dry - saves work when wet!

But why slave over a wet shawl with a gazillion pins when you don’t have to?  Once again, it’s a lifeline to the rescue.  All I did here was run a long cotton lifeline through every single point in the exact same part of the point stitch.

When you’re

Connected and ready to go

finished, you have all of your edge stitches connected through one lifeline with very long tails.  (The long tails are key ~ remember, you’re going to be stretching the piece significantly.)  Off to the warm bath with you!

At blocking, I

Simmer Dim - the whole shebang

usually start by marking the center of every piece with a wire spine.  It helps me keep things even, whether it’s the depth of the piece on either side of the midline, or the length of the “wings” or any other measurement.

Here’s where the lifeline magic

Let the lifeline do the work

comes in.  Because all of the points are connected by an inelastic thread, I don’t have to pin out every. single. one.  Sure, there’s some adjustment along the way.  (I’ve always maintained that blocking lace is a process of adjustment, not absolutes.)  But moving four pins around sure beats moving 40!  And the lifeline keeps all of the points within a section at pretty much the same depth.

A fine point

48 hours later, this is what you have.

So here is the official 411:

Yarn:  Knitting Notions Classic Merino Superwash Sock in the colorway Atlantic found in the KR Retreat Stash Lounge in 2010.  Thank you to the kind knitter who left it there.  The color was inspiring.

Pattern:  Simmer Dim by Gudrun Johnston (currently only available through Ravelry)

Gudrun is a terrific designer who writes clean patterns that practically knit

No socks out of this sock yarn

themselves.  I know when I choose anything of hers, I’m in for a thoroughly pleasant knit.

Pattern modifications:  None, other than blocking more aggressively than many others did.  I suppose I could have gone up a needle size since I used less than

Summer's gone, Simmer Dim is left

2/3 of the skein, but I’m happy with it as-is.  The depth at the center point started at 12 in, but post-blocking, grew to 18 in.

Project marriage score:  9  The yarn performed what it was asked to do nicely.

So back to where I started, yes, I finished knitting this in July.  It has waited patiently over the seasons while other projects have commanded my knitting attention or the guest room I needed to block it properly.   As I pinned it out the other day, I was reminded of a knitter Ann Budd told me about, who has a trunk full of unblocked shawls.  She loves knitting lace, but hates blocking.  So she knits them and tosses them into the trunk.  That struck me as terribly sad.

I greatly enjoy the blocking process.  It’s just my small house is making square inches challenging, more so since Santa’s last visit.  With a family trip coming up, nothing else will get blocked for awhile.  The guest bed is needed for suitcases.  But I’ll have a new shawl to pack.

My Targhee Groves

Pattern:  Grove by Jared Flood / BrooklynTweed

Yarn: Sweet Grass Wool 2-ply Targhee, colorway Brilliant Blue.  Or what’s left of it.  Which is still mighty blue.  Again, a heartfelt thank-you to the knitter who left this in the 2010 Stash Lounge at the Knitter’s Review Retreat!

I thoroughly enjoyed this pattern, other than needing to blow it up about 200% to make it readable.  The only reason these sat forlornly waiting for thumbs was my foreknowledge that I’d have to deal with massive color bleed in finishing.  It was reasoned procrastination.

Project marriage score:  10

Matching up pattern and yarn doesn’t get better than this.   Boy, are my hands glad today!

Grove mittens

This pair of Grove mittens has been waiting ever so patiently for thumbs since … well, probably since last February.  That’s about the time I finished the first pair and experienced the extreme dye run-off from the otherwise utterly wonderful Sweet Grass 2-ply Targhee. The dye did crock on my fingers while I was knitting with it, so I expected the same thing, to happen when this pair got wet.  I consulted with Dye/Fiber Oracle Shelia January and textile maven Crazy Lanea in advance and thought I knew how to beat this batch.

Simmering, not felting

“Thought” being the operative term.  I started with a simmer.  A nice long simmer in vinegary water to try to set the dye.  There was no apparent loss of color in the just-short-of-boiling water.

Digression:  Yes, this is 100% wool, and yes, it can and will felt (beautifully).  But not if temperature remains constant and agitation is kept at a minimum.  Don’t let anyone tell you that you can only wash wool in cold water.  It’s simply not true.

The run-off begins ...

I placed the mittens in same-temp water with Eucalan woolwash to rinse the vinegar – and saw instantaneous, massive color run-off.  Look at the color of the water.  Holy Synthrapol, Batman!  This time, I know what needs to come next.

As blue as the Aegean ...

It’s time for Synthrapol.  A nice still-pretty-darn-warm bubble bath.   If you work with yarns that are hand-dyed, or you like blue or red yarns that are hand-dyed, it’s a good thing to have on hand.  The water turned cobalt.

Let’s rinse them, and try it again.

How much dye ... ?

Somewhere the Yarn Goddess has her head thrown back and is having belly-laughs at my expense.   Come on, already!

This is insane!  How can there still be color left in the mittens???

I won’t torture you with more pictures of the same.  Suffice it to say that on the third wash, I left the mittens to sit a good while, removed them for a rinse, and then gave up.  I will not use 50 gallons of water to rinse a pair of mittens.  That’s just silly.

Look - it's only swimming-pool blue!

Time for one last dip in Eucalan to remove any remaining really-not-good-for-anyone chemicals.

Progress!  At last!

Suffice it to say that if my mittens should turn a snowman’s head blue, I shall live with it.  And if they turn my fingers blue, I’ll manage.  (The inside of my winter jacket is bright blue anyway.  I would even scoff at the Yarn Goddess if I did not know that retribution would be swift, painful and utterly out of proportion.)  The yarn, left by a generous knitter in the Stash Lounge at the KR Retreat in 2010 is wonderfully perfect for New England winter.

I do wonder what the green skein will do, though.

I did.  And in the space of 3 days, here is my first FO of 2012.  The pattern is Rosebud from the out-of-this-world BrooklynTweed Fall 2011 Collection.  I knitted a one-skein version of it on smaller

Rosebud, unblocked

needles as a charity hat.  The yarn is Berocco Blackstone Tweed from our Knitter’s Review Retreat swag bags in 2010.  I thoroughly enjoyed knitting with this blend of wool, mohair and always-loved angora, and knew it (desperately) wanted to be on a bigger needle.  The pattern was fun and thoroughly addictive.

So at this year’s retreat, I watched the Stash Lounge in the hope that other knitters might destash their skeins.  Lo and behold: Two in the same dyelot!  Bingo!

Since Christmas, I have been trying – really trying – to finish up some UFOs that have been waiting patiently on the back burner.  But I need someone clever to explain to me please how it can be that I can knit for three nights on the same sock cuffs and still NOT have achieved the last half-inch before the heel flaps?

Confronted with that physics problem, I did what any smart knitter would do:  I put down the socks for some instant gratification.  Rosebud.  With two skeins, for the full-sized slouchy version to cover my noggin and head o’hair.   Still needs blocking and modeling.

Back to the UFO parade for me.

And to see if those little sock legs (on US 0 needles) might have knitted themselves while they sat in Time Out.

One can hope.

With all of that unwanted drama, my knitting output declined significantly.  (So did my yarn purchasing.  I know you don’ t believe that, but it’s true.)  Still, I’m really proud of some of the things I did this year.  A complex

There's my sweater! I knitted that!

sweater executed on tight deadline in 2010 is featured in Craft Activism.   I’ve never had my knitting published before.  Even better: Some very kind designers have seen my interpretations of their patterns online and took the time to say some terribly nice things.  That amazes me.  Good fodder for bad days.  Or for when I look at the numbers and feel like I may have underachieved compared to last year.  But each year is different from its predecessors.

Yarn used in 2011: 7619 yards = 1.4 miles

Finished objects:  17  ~ 2 hats, 2 sweaters, 2 cowls, 2 pair of mittens, 1 Christmas stocking and 8 shawls

One-skein projects: 10

Fibers first used this year: Romney and Finn   The former is pretty common in this neck of the woods, and I enjoyed getting to know it on the needles.  The Finn I used was actually a Finn/angora blend.  While I liked it, for purposes of the monthly Knitter’s Book of Wool wool-along, I learned that I prefer to use the straight stuff so as to have a real feel for the actual wool without the additional fiber that changes its characteristics.

WIPs /UFOs remaining: 14  shudder  Okay, to be fair: two of these are waiting to be blocked, a third needs some pictures taken, and a pair of mittens needs thumbs and a good simmer in vinegar to set the dye.   I have two (ancient) sweaters with identical yarn shortage issue that arose on the sleeves.  These need to have sleeves knitted in from the top down so they are of equal length.  I can do this – it will just take a little time.  And I will pick up another skill.  That will cut into the number.  I did frog a project, too.  That felt REALLY good.  I highly recommend it.

Designers I enjoyed:  Sivia Harding, SusannaIC, Gudrun Johnston, Ysolda Teague, Jared Flood

Favorite yarns I worked with this year:  Spirit Trail Fiberworks Nona, Sunna, Holda, Birte, Verdande.   Berocco Blackstone Tweed.  BrooklynTweed Loft ~ which I haven’t gotten on the needles yet, but know I will enjoy.  Interestingly, without a LYS to call my own, my yarn acquisition was almost exclusively a yarn club, travel/souvenir purchases and yarn/fiber festivals.

Priorities I had for the year:

• Geodesic Cardigan – stalled temporarily
• Grove mittens – check!
• Holland cowl – check!
• Woodruff mittens – More Jared Flood mittens coming soon in Shelter when I can decide on a colorway.  Yeah, I’m ummm, deciding on a colorway.  Because somehow there are more colorways at my house than there used to be.  (See favorite yarns above.)
• Bristol’s Cowl – I’ll get there.  Really.  If nothing else, because more people have read my posts about Quince & Co. Chickadee than anything I’ve ever written here.  I can only imagine what happens when I write about Puffin.

Priority from 2010, finally achieved: I knitted a sweater for myself.  And I love it.  Still need some pictures and I’ll show you here soon, but it is done.  All it took was a major power outage and hours of knitting by candlelight.

Other things I’d like to do in 2012:

• Play with beads:  I’ve started to mess with them in my lace.  They are fun.  Doubtless, they slow me down some, but a little can go a long way in making a piece into a show-stopper.
• To frog or to finish:  Attack some of those very old WIPs.  We’ll see how that goes.  I have turned from owl to magpie when it comes to shiny new objects (read patterns/yarns) and my attention span may be devastated.

If I seem uninterested in goal-setting, it’s because I sometimes have to remind myself this really is my Zen thing.  My knitting is my own journey and I find it far more interesting to let it lead me wherever it wants to go, than to stick to a prescribed path on the map.  Because at the end of the year, I think it’s kind of fun to look at what I wrote and where I went instead.  It’s all about the trip.

Salut 2012!

Another. Shiny. Object.

Done.

Finished.

Over.

Dratted colorwork Christmas stocking #4 was finished and blocked in time for Santa.

I am a knitter without a deadline until April.

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

As a rule, I don’t mind knitting on deadlines.  The sample work I do allows me to test-knit yarns at no cost to me, and often, to be among the first to try them out.  That’s fun.  I’m not talking about deadline-knitting.  Obligation knitting ~ that’s another story entirely.

And as of now, my only knitting obligation is a new pair of socks for Darling Bebe.

So I have complete knitting freedom.  In fact, on the ride home from my parents’ on Christmas Day, I knitted on not one, not two, but THREE different projects.  Because I could!  (Note:  One of those projects included DB’s socks, of course.)

Generally speaking, I am fairly monogamous in my knitting.  I’ll be actively working on 2-3 projects at a time, mainly for reasons of portability, complexity and convenience.  Some lace charts with beading are not made for the dentist’s office; some cowls are too sleep-inducing for companion late-night PBS viewing.  And you know that those owl hours of the night are when I execute my best work.

An obligation takes all the fun out of it and puts all the other projects in Time Out through no fault of their own.

Not anymore!

Spirit Trail Fiberworks Holda - Fortune's Red

Instead, I can feel the tickle of the most severe case of start-itis coming on.  There is the adorable hat promised for a young lady with yummy yarn from my unexplained fall from grace.  And the Rosebud  hat for me after I made one for a charity project (and forgot to

Long Ridge Farm Silk Lace - Pewter

photograph) and enjoyed the knitting and the FO.  Because I do need more hats.  It is winter in New England.  And those Fallberry Mitts I want to get on the needles before December ~ and Cotswold month ~ is over in the woolalog.  And the new Spirit Trail Holda cowl for me in that zesty Fortune’s Red (above).  And the incredible Long Ridge Farm cobweb silk beaded project on deck for a special friend …

Well, you get the picture.

Just call me giddy.   Breathlessly giddy.  Yarntoxication at its best.

Oops.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

If nothing else, I am predictable.

Here I sit, with more than one work all-nighter logged of late, a publishing deadline looming, and days since I touched my needles …

… I really did. not. mean. to open that email.  Not when I know Nutmeg Owl’s Theorem of Yarn Acquisition has yet to be proven wrong.

But I somehow opened the email from Jimmy Beans Wool when I meant to click on the one from Quince & Co. with the new collection of patterns.  The one I opened had madelinetosh Vintage discounted for the skeins being 10 yards short – but still with perfect yardage for hats and mitts.

Someone with a better sense of humor would joke that I found a “short sale.”  Only this short sale has been consummated.  Unlike the other one that will drag on into a new calendar year.  ~  S i g h .

I “need” more yarn like I need more holes in my head.

I knew this as I clicked and clicked and deliberately placed my order.

It didn’t stop me for a nanosecond.

But really, I didn’t mean to do it.

*  For those who track my knitting deadlines better than I do:  I have turned the heel and moved to the instep of Dreaded Heirloom Family Christmas Stocking #4.  NO MORE COLORWORK and T-minus-six days to finish and block it.

Darling Bebe's Sleepin' Sock

Re-entry after the retreat is never that easy.  Mine was fraught with this knitting irony.   I knitted a pair of socks for Darling Bebe at last year’s retreat, figuring it a great exercise to use the 2-at-a-time toe-up method I had just learned from Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  Little did I know they would become the Most. Cherished. Knitted. Objects. Ever.

The child has worn them to bed every night except for when they were in the wash.

So much for toe-up

And then, it happened.  While I was gone, blissfully charging along on some lace in pure ignorance, the child blew through the toe.  More like, she rammed every little piggy through.

This requires more than just darning ~ and I doubt I’m up for

Sleepin' Socks II - Yarn Love Juliet

the task.  So all other knitting had to go on hold so that Mommy could solve a Sleepin’ Sock Emergency, again 2AAT but top-down.  And with purple yarn this time, according to Her Nibs’ wishes.  Somehow I knew there was a reason I should not destash the Yarn Love Juliet in “Blackberry Jam.”  May the nylon in this yarn, absent in the originals, help with durability.  Then again, the child’s feet did grow enormously.

Cuff-down command performance

All other knitting is in time-out, that is, except for this little project.  Yep.  Duty knitting, pure and simple.  Duty knitting on deadline no less.   And it’s another sock.  Obviously I dreamed up this pattern (loosely adapted from the Chubby Sock on the cover of the Interweave book Christmas Stockings) when I was a new knitter ~ and before I had an inkling that my sister would have four children who would need them.  Of course, sibling greased the skids last year by giving me Signature circs in all of the available sizes for Christmas ~ so I never had any real choice about executing this last one.

Acquaintances have a common misperception that I am organized.  My real friends know: my yarn is organized.  In fact, I am so utterly pathetic that one friend five states away had a note in her calendar in July to remind me to start the dreaded thing.  Back then, I had deadlines for Rhinebeck knitting …  sigh.

It is fair-isle AND intarsia.  Worked upside-down.

Will someone please stick pins in my eyes instead?

Will someone please teach me to hold my yarn properly for stranding?

At least when I am past the big intarsia motif, I can join it into the round and triple my speed.   At least it’s on worsted-weight yarn.  And then I can go back to Sleepin’ Socks and knitting anything at all I want, with no deadlines and no duty.

They grow them blue here, apparently

The location:  Canandaigua, New York.  The Inn on the Lake to be precise, for my sixth Knitter’s Review Retreat.  Four days sans lunches to pack, calls to field or Sesame Street songs to hear.  (The part about disconnecting from work didn’t quite happen at the beginning, as early-morning server failure forced a few minutes of work on arrival, but then, complete and total severance from the World of Work.)

Ten years of KRR

It doesn’t matter whether we are at Jeronimo Resort, the Seven Hills Inn, the Williams Inn or the Inn on the Lake, what matters is that we are together.  Me, world’s-best-roommate KnittingKittens, Luann, Bullwinkle, Lanea, Jane, Marfa, Jennifer, Rosi, Nancy, Nanci, Tree and more, led, of course, by Clara, who makes all things possible.  This being the tenth anniversary year, the Oscar-worthy swag bags got awfully swanky ~ an official logo and even zippers on top!?!

Oscar-worthy swag

As for the contents, they could make a knitter’s knees go weak.  Knitter’s Pride needles, books, journals, patterns, buttons, coupons, a commemorative coffee mug, and yarn.  So much yarn: Classic Elite Kumara, Berocco Comfort Sock, Rowan Sweet Harmony, DirtyWater Dyeworks Julia.  At dinner, our plates were graced with even MORE yarn – laceweight Filatura DiCrosa Nirvana, too.

But all that stuff is just ~ stuff.  I go to see the people who sustain me the other 361 days of the year.  To scooch over on the couch and knit side-by-side instead of conversing in front of a monitor.  To touch fiber and compare pattern notes and wonder whether you have enough yardage to make one.  To eat a meal in each other’s company.  To laugh and laugh and laugh some more.

Knitters, knitters everywhere

In a room so full of knitters, some absences weighed heavily.  How I missed SandyT and her good sense and laughter.  And HappyStasher’s boundless enthusiasm.  It’s not the numbers in the room, but the people who make up those numbers that make this gathering what it is.  People who care about each other, brought together by a craft.  True, we can be rather goofy.  At least one new attendee was a little thrown to be asked, “What yarn would you marry if you could?” but it was all in the spirit of good fun.

Certainly a legend, never a diva

One of my delights in attending each year is the opportunity to spend time with the knitteratiwho have been so important to this craft.  This year, I was tickled to spend my weekend class time with the incomparable Ann Budd.  She has forgotten

Now you see argyle ...

more about knitting than I will ever know.  She also has a better sense of dry humor than most people inhabiting the Earth.

We started on Friday learning the fundamentals of shadow knitting.  It’s not the easiest thing to photograph, but in essence, it allows for all sorts of interesting colorwork to appear (and disappear) based on alternation of colors in two-row sequences of garter and stockinette stitch.  Those of faint heart with charts, you might want to skip this technique.  Or be sure to bring those

... now you don't!

cheaters and highlighter tape with you.  It was illuminating to see how different color combinations were easier and harder to see – stark contrast versus tonal versus complementary.

All I could think about was how hard it must have been to photograph all the samples for Vivian Hoxbro’s book, much less knit them all!

As always, it seemed like we were fed endlessly, moving from one buffet to the next.  I love how the tables all fill in at mealtime, allowing for new friendships to take root even as old ones are reaffirmed.  There is always room for one more.  And always time for one more row between courses.

Ann conquers kitchener

On Saturday, Ann took on the challenge of 30 students and the oft-dreaded Kitchener Stitch.  Having taught it before, it’s amazing how intimidating some knitters find it.  While I have my own way of teaching it, Ann had some utterly common-sense suggestions that had even the most experienced knitters in the room saying, “How did I not know that?”  That, my friends, is the mark of a great teacher.

Spirit Trail Holda in Spice and Chipotle

Later, I got to help plan out some upcoming sample knitting, setting up the Spirit Trail Fiberworks booth and setting aside what I will be working on in some of the months ahead.  Let me tell you know that Holda is not to be missed.  This is yummy and cozy:  80% Lambswool / 10% Cashmere / 10% dehaired Angora.  It knits up and fills in deliciously at 18-20 st/4 in.  There is a largish cowl in the works.

Spirit Trail Fiberworks Verdande - Tuareg Blue

In addition, Jennifer brought out some new colorways in one of her other new yarns, Verdande.  V is the most substantial of the now-four sisters with the same fiber makeup – 75% Merino / 15% Cashmere / 10% Silk.  (In order, they are Nona, Sunna, Birte and Verdande.  If left on a desert island with any of them, I could hardly be disappointed.)  Verdande is 4 plies versus the 3 in  Birte, and she feels more substantial and “rounder” on the skein. This new colorway is called Tuareg Blue and it is utterly dark and rich.   There are other new colorways this season that are equally lovely – Chipotle (seen in Holda photo above), Kismet (green), Winter Solstice (midnight blue), Fig (purples).  Catch them while you can.  Provided I left any.  Cough.

Fit for a Queen Bee

This being the Big 10 event, a mere sparkly tiara simply would not do.  So the powers that be made sure that Queen Bee Clara had appropriate headgear for a night walking down memory lane.   It was a quick and fun journey, particularly seeing the four earlier years I did not attend, before the retreat moved far enough north for me to not be afraid to go.

Work and play are one and the same

Through it all, everywhere you looked, there were busy hands, working quickly, some picking, some throwing, some Continental, some English, some something in-between.  There were even some secret projects, but more on those when it is allowed.

And then it was time to leave.  All events come to a natural stopping point, and KnittingKittens and I knew instinctively when ours was.  A picture texted to me of  Darling Bebe on a playground waiting for me was tugging.

Time to return to my other life, and make this one “virtual” again. Until next year’s homecoming, wherever it may be.

The car is half-packed with  yarn to destash, tools and class materials for not one but TWO sessions with the delightful legend Ann Budd.

FOs are labeled for those who want to know yarn and pattern details.

Yarn is wound to start something new.

Last year’s New Beginning’s project is packed for “recommitment” or another try in the event I am not distracted by some “shiny” new thing, like the newest Spirit Trail Fiberworks, Briar Rose Fibers or String Theory offerings.

There’s half a case of Diet Coke in there, too.

I have completed an unexpected after-hours project for a client ~ one I neither wanted nor needed tonight ~ because it was the right thing to do.

I have fired off the last eight memos to take care of items dangling in my absence. This will allow me to ignore the dreaded BlackBerry for four whole days at the Knitter’s Review Retreat.

I will try to post from there.

A new location this year, a much longer drive, and some dear friends who won’t be there this time leave me feeling a little jumbled. Or maybe it’s sheer exhaustion.

One thing stands between me and sleep: packing Darling Bebe’s lunch.

In a mere few hours:  Road trip with KnittingKittens.