Love-Hate Sweater, V. 4.0

I can't believe I've already been back here for a week. Leaving home was bittersweet this time, as it's the last time for quite a while (indefinitely?) that I'll be home during the summer, or for any considerable length of time. That's alright, however, because it was quite clear to me this time that life is changing for so many of my peers who now have jobs, spouses, babies... and that going home isn't quite the same any more. It's making me feel like I should feel like an adult (I don't, I'm just excited to be starting grade 19 in the fall).

I thought I'd throw a picture of this sign in for fun: I passed it on a bike ride last week, and it makes me laugh every time. It's on a small island in Lake Ontario, right by the customs office at the ferry crossing to New York state. It always makes me wonder who in Ontario is taking action to actually make me feel incredible...



Anyhow, I digress. Mostly because I'm procrastinating talking about this sweater, as I have with pretty much everything else concerning it. Sometimes I feel like this blessed sweater will always be a pox on my body of knitting... it just won't end.

Version 1.0 occurred back in January of 2006, over the course of a week. I loved the yarn, but wasn't impressed with the sweater. The button band rolled in, the neckline was weird, the rolled edges were much more exaggerated than in the pattern's photo, the shoulders were lumpy, and the whole thing looked boxy and short despite having added waist shaping and length. Long story short, I never wore it, but kept it in the closet anyway because it was hand knit, and the color was nice.

Version 3.0 - still blech!

V 2.0 happened sometime in 2008. I took the arms off the sweater, and decided to rip out and re-knit the neck. It didn't work. I felt stupid for (maybe?) misreading the pattern twice. V. 3.0: fall of 2008 to spring 2009. I ripped out the entire body, added a seed stitch button band, made up the neckline, added more waist shaping. Things looked a bit less bizarre after that, but it was still boxy, and the two times I wore it I couldn't stop fuming over my dissatisfaction with how it turned out.

So, earlier this summer when I had nothing on the needles and a severe case of knitter's block, I started V.4.0, with a totally new pattern (Fireside Sweater by Amber Allison), mostly because the pattern called for the exact yarn I had (Valley Yarns Berkshire). I'm not convinced that I'll wear this sweater, but at least it *should* look a little prettier sitting in a heap in my knitting basket, and it may provide amusement along the way. However, I'm not totally convinced the curse is gone, as I've already managed to lose the pattern (and my place) a few times. I think my gauge is off, and I'm quickly realizing that I'll need to order more yarn. What are the chances that the colorway will still be close after almost 4 years?




Oh, and in an act of lazy defiance I'm knitting it straight from the old sweater. We'll see how that goes!

Sew Fun

In a last-minute scramble to finish up a few projects before leaving home for the fall, I decided to make my sister's Christmas/birthday gift. When we were kids, she had a thing for vintage paper dolls, and now she's all about vintage-retro clothing. Her room is full of bright oranges, reds and fuchsia, so when I stumbled across this fabric I knew it was perfect for her. Here's the result:

Fabric: Snippets by American Jane

The throw pillow was fun to make; the pattern was improvised using bits of different tutorials. I love this fabric! While I don't find the process of sewing all that fun (there's a machine in the way!), the fabric choices and creative possibilities are quite enticing...

Paper dolls on the back!

Another project finished up: two of my dear, sweet friends are getting married to each other today. I had no idea what they needed, so I made them some cheery dinner napkins. Off to the wedding!

Whales and Tails

With great summer weather out in full force and the company gone, Mom and I decided to head off to Grand Manan island for a day of fresh air, hiking, and of course some bonding over the new Interweave and our knitting. I managed to get this done:

Ishbel by Ysolda Teague, in Malabrigo Lace Velvet Grapes

I've wanted to make mom a shawl for some time now, but couldn't picture her wearing something large or elaborate. The Ishbel pattern provided just the right amount of lacey goodness for her to drape around her neck come fall/winter. I've pretty much knit exclusively on this project for the last few weeks, and am pleased with the result - now it's back to some other neglected projects!

Thanks to my sister for modelling!

The yarn is Malabrigo Lace, in the color Velvet Grapes. It is so, so, soft and buttery to the touch... although I'm a bit wary of how it will wear being a single ply and all. In real life, the color is a bit darker and less red than photographed, and the variegation is more subtle. I knit the large sized stockinette portion of the pattern, and then did the smaller sized lace repeat. There was a fair bit of yarn left over, so I'm left wondering if I actually could have done the larger lace repeat, but I didn't want to risk running out!

I also uncharacteristically broke my "no more than three WIPs at a time" rule and cast on a sock. It just felt wrong not to have one on the go, especially since everything else I'm doing at the moment requires reading a chart. The yarn is Fleece Artist Merino Sock, which has been sitting in my stash for a while. Looking at the skein, I wasn't sure how the colors would work together, but as soon as I wound the ball everything clicked.


And... because I love New Brunswick so much, I thought I'd share a slice of Grand Manan (a fishery-based island off the Fundy coast). NB has unfortunately earned the nickname "the drive through province", because often people coming for vacation from outside the Maritimes will drive through it on their way to Nova Scotia and PEI. However, there is so much natural beauty and history to be found here as well! Consider Grand Manan: going there is like stepping back in time, to a simpler, untouched place. Although the trails are less well maintained than in provincial and national parks, there is ample scenic coastal hiking dotted with friendly handmade signs. It's a place that feeds the soul.

Old Smoke House, Seal Cove

Hike from Southern Head to Flocks of Sheep

Sunset at The Whistle, Grand Manan NB

Alpaca 101

Dad and I recently returned from a camping trip in Maine. I love the East Coast, love Maine, and will miss it all when I go back to Ontario, so it was great to have a few days of fresh air and hiking. Our first stop was Acadia National Park. It was soooo crowded with tourists, but once we got out onto some of the trails, the scenery was awesome.

Acadia National Park, ME

Our next stop was Recompence campground, just outside of Freeport, ME. It was a pleasant surprise- a quiet, peaceful campground nestled between a farm and Casco Bay. But perhaps one of the best surprises was the Alpaca farm we found just down the road!

Casco Bay, ME

Indulging my someday-fantasy-mini fiber farm dream, we visited the farm, and the very welcoming farmer obligingly fielded my many questions about alpaca rearing. It was an educational visit, and left me feeling like it's not such a far fetched idea after all.



Tripping Gnome farm specializes in alpaca breeding services. They also focus on keeping their yarns and fiber products 100% alpaca, which has not proved easy when trying to find a place to get their fleeces mill-spun. It was so neat to get such a friendly tour of the farm, and to talk about how they got started, and what's involved with the whole process. I don't know what it is about farms, but they have some sort of intoxicating effect which always leaves me daydreaming and yearning for a simpler life. Maybe it's the quiet, fresh air, natural beauty, animals... sigh.

Snippets

While walking home today, I ran into the librarian who taught me how to cross-stitch in the seventh grade, and she asked me if I was still at it. I no longer enjoy the process of doing cross-stitch, but last year my mom put me on to embroidery via Sublime Stitching. It's perfect when you're in the mood for something quick, different, and instantly gratifying, or need something mindless to do while chatting. I did this bib for one of my little cousins who's visiting.

The patterns are quirky, retro, and fun. Whenever I start one of these projects I find that I can't put it down until it's finished, probably because finishing it in one sitting is somewhere in the realm of possibility (unlike with knitting where I'm usually resigned to the fact that it won't all be done then and there!). Plus, the stitching reminds me of surgery...

This tutorial for box pouches caught my eye, and I decided to give it a whirl. I liked the way they turned out, so I made another longer one to replace my ratty old dollar store pencil case. I'd been lovingly saving that piece of brown fabric for about 10 years, and now it will make going to the library that much more exciting!

Homework Happiness!

There is still knitting going on here, partly the same old stuff, with a new project or two. Now it's off to Maine for some outdoor fun, and hopefully a farm visit:)

New projects, TBA!

Excursion Around the Bay

I have an aunt (and several other relatives) visiting at the moment. She's a brand-new knitter, and mom and I are so proud of how she's caught the knitting bug. She's lost her taste for acrylic novelty yarns, and is hardly seen to be sitting still without whipping out her project. Since Fredericton lacks a good yarn store, as does the city she's coming from, the three of us decided to take a road trip to Black's Harbor, NB, home to Cricket Cove yarn store.

I had only heard of this store before, but didn't imagine it to be as incredible as it was. Black's Harbor is a tiny community (pop. 950), where you'll find the Brunswick Sardine packing plant, the ferry crossing to Grand Manan Island and surprisingly, a store full of high-end, hard to find, and unique yarn. While the internet makes it possible to get your hands on just about anything, there is nothing like spending a few hours in a good yarn shop petting all of the yarns you hear about and read about in knitting books and magazines.

Mmm... tweedy wool. Top: Cricket Cove wool, Bottom: Briggs and Little Heritage

My aunt had a true knitter moment when, for the first time, she spotted a pattern from a book knit up in the wild. It had been a while (maybe a year and a half?) since I had purchased yarn, and I came away with some heavy fingering weight tweed wool (it had no label, so I'm assuming it's their own line of yarn) destined to become Selbu Modern, as well as some Arequipa sock yarn.

We were going to drive to St. Andrew's as well, but the pea soup fog convinced us to head home. On the drive back we randomly decided to stop at the Briggs and Little outlet/mill, in Harvey (yet another small town with a big yarn). The mill only runs during the winter, but the shop was full of dirt-cheap Briggs and Little. I picked some up to make a pair of thrummed mittens for a friend. I love this wool... it's tweedy, rustic, and smells like lanolin.

Traditional Thrummed Mitts at Briggs and Little

I asked the lady working there where the sheep were that supplied the mill with fleece. She told me that they need about 26,000 sheep to meet their demand. This all happens through the Canada Wool Grower's Association, so the sheep are scattered all across Canada. Briggs and Little happens to be the biggest buyer from them.

Briggs and Little Outlet Store, York Mills, NB

The car ride gave me time enough to finish off Nanny's Lorna's Laces socks. I really wanted to get these done, because I find the colors quite garish. This pair used exactly one skein, so much for getting it out of my stash! She will love them, however, so they're off to the gift pile until Christmas.

Anklets for Nanny, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock

Diversions

I've got quilts on the brain. Let me preface this by saying that I am in no way a sewer! The extent of my past sewing experience pretty much involves making my own hair scrunchies back in the seventh grade (hey, it was the nineties, they were still cool!). I'm always impressed and awed when I see beautiful handmade quilts posted on other people's blogs (check out these adorable potholders!), and wish that I had the same talent.

So, since there is an overabundance of rainy days and I've got the free time right now, I decided to work on a few projects.

Back in high school I made a t-shirt quilt as a semester project. Essentially, it was a solution to the problem of having many many oversize t-shirts hanging around, that I never wore but couldn't get rid of because they came from an event or had sentimental value of some sort. I wanted the quilt to take with me when I started university, and it sat happily on my dorm room bed for four years.

A few years ago I decided to make a second one, and got as far as piecing the front panel together. Admittedly, I did a sloppy job of the whole thing, mostly because I bought the wrong type of interfacing, and didn't have a rotary cutter or good way of cutting the pieces evenly. It's been sitting in my closet for three years now, waiting to be finished... mostly because I wanted to track down the rotary cutter and mat that I had borrowed in order to cut the strips for the binding. I gave in and went to Fabricville today, and bought a cheap mat/cutter set (hopefully it works and I won't regret skimping!), so I no longer have an excuse not to finish this!

The store was also having a very good sale on some of their fabrics, so I picked up some material to make a few knitting needle holders. I made one for myself and one for my mom several years ago, and was quite pleased with the way they turned out. The lady at the store commented that I must like muted tones, and that the fabrics reminded her of Little House on the Prairie. It's true, no matter how hard I try to like the bold, fun fabrics, I'm always drawn to the more earthy and natural tones (case in point - the last four things I've knit have been green).

Prairie-esque?

We shall see how this goes, this time around I vow to read up on proper techniques instead of just trying to do things right off the bat!

Picking up the Slack

It finally feels like summer! Today was hot and sunny, and since I'm done work I had the luxury of sitting out on the deck to knit for the afternoon. For the last two weeks, work had pretty much drained me of any motivation to do anything at the end of the day other than sleep and study, so knitting took a bit of a back seat. However, having just spent the weekend at a wedding and family reunion in Maine, I had the time to finish up one of Nanny's socks.


This yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock) has been sitting in my stash since early 2006. I had meant to use it to make the Dublin Bay socks, but the pooling had been so bad that I frogged them not far into the project. I was weary of pooling this time around, but it hasn't been too bad other than around the gusset. The yarn does have a smooth drapey feel to it, however!

There are so many lace shawls that I would love to be knitting right now... so many that I couldn't make up my mind as to what to start. I had been planning on knitting the Waves of Grain scarf as a gift for someone, so I decided to get that out of the way. I had some Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace on hand, in a color that reminded me of the intended recipient.

I think I need to invest in one of those magnetic chart holders! While the lace pattern itself isn't difficult, the whole process of threading tiny seed beeds onto the stitch with 32-gague wire slows the knitting down considerably. I don't mind for the moment, as I'm enchanted with the whole process and love the subtle way it looks!

I have a sneaking suspicion that this will become a tedious project when I reach the middle section, so while I'd like to have it done by the fall I'm not going to pressure myself to work on it!

I've finished up another project, which you can see over here (Ravelers only, it's a gift!). I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, so it's off to the closet until Christmas time!

Green Sleeves

It's Saturday, and despite the fact that it's now July the sun has yet to come out, and it's cold enough to curl up with tea, wool socks, and a sweater. While I'm frustrated with the endless rain, it is a good excuse to hunker down to read and knit. I feel particularly bad for the farmers around here who are having a hard time with their crops because of it. Sun - please show your face!!!

Enough about the weather...it stopped raining long enough for me to finally snap a few outdoor photos of my finished Gathered Pullover. For the last few weeks I had been feeling a serious lack of knitting motivation; the endless stockinette of the pullover's sleeves was boring me to tears, and I couldn't figure out what project to start next. Now it's done, and I love it!

Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason, Interweave Knits Winter 2007

A while back Whitney posted about the sweaters she's knit (I love her taste in sweaters), and which ones she wound up wearing. What she said rang true with me- the sweaters I'm apt to wear will probably be the simplest ones, which I also don't like to knit as much. Finally I've managed to knit a sweater that I think I'll wear often, which I can't say for the other four knit tops that sit in my closet and never see the light of day.

Mmm, cozy long sleeves

I love the simplicity of this pattern, and the ease with which it can be modified. Being a longish gal, I added quite a bit of length in the body and arms. A sweater that's too short is irksome, and I enjoy having sleeves long enough to tuck my hands into when it's cold and I'm hibernating in the library basement. I also left out the bust increases and decreases, and widened the shoulders a bit so that the V-neck wouldn't be quite as wide and deep. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, in the color Peat Mix. I love the deep, heathered green, and soft feel of the yarn. It's lightweight enough to be worn comfortably indoors.

No rain, for the moment!

This was definitely a project that I knit more for the finished product than for the actual enjoyment of making it, but I like the sweater enough that I would do it again!

Lies and Ties

When you were a kid, did you ever accidentally break or lose something of your parents, grandparents, or friends, only to not mention it in the hope that they wouldn't notice it was missing? Tonight the truth came out, and I had a good laugh over it (maybe because today was the 16th straight day of rain we've had, and I'm starting to feel stir crazy). My grandparents were visiting, and Nanny was gushing over how she adores the little ankle socks I knit her a while back. I hauled out my sock yarn stash (it is a bit of a beast) so that Nanny could pick out some yarn for a future pair of socks. Grampy was examining the yarn, and inquiring about washing directions. Mom was explaining how some yarns can go in the washer/dryer while others can't.... and then looked guiltily at me.

Nanny's choice

Last year I had knit myself a pair of plain socks out of some light blue Koigu. I loved them... and then, they dropped off the radar. As it turns out, mom had done some laundry while visiting me last fall, and had accidentally shrunk my socks. Shrank them so much, in fact, that they wouldn't have fit a little kid (and I have BIG feet). She felt so badly that she just didn't mention it, until it leaked out tonight! I had a good laugh... moral of the story being that Koigu does not do well in the dryer!

And now for a final bit from the farm...
Chris is really into natural dyes. She has a dye "kitchen" in the back yard, where she holds workshops and dyes her yarns. One afternoon, she was running a Shibori workshop for a local weaving and knitting guild. Shibori is basically an ancient Japanese form of tie-dying, in which fabrics are stitched, tied, and folded to create a resist, and then dyed with indigo. Indigo is the only naturally occurring blue dye, and has an interesting mechanism of action. Indigo "vats" have to be reduced using something like uric acid. When an item is dipped in the vat and then removed, the dye becomes oxidized, and the molecules form a mechanical bond with the fabric. The fabric comes out looking lime green, and then transforms into a deep blue over then next minute or so. I tried to take a video of this happening while remaining unobtrusive...

Untying the goodies

Finished silk scarves and fat quarters

There is also a lot of interesting folklore surrounding dye vats. In some areas, fertile women were thought to be able to 'spoil' the vat, so only women past childbearing age were allowed to tend to it. Anyhow, the workshop was fun, and I got a neat wall hanging out of it. Honestly, however, I don't really have the patience or interest to get into the dyeing end of things... but it was educational nonetheless. We dyed some merino roving with the leftover vat, and I was able to spin 100g.

Wetting the roving before dyeing

Fresh out of the vat

Conditioned roving, waiting to be spun!

Finished indigo skein

I have a FO and a new project to show... maybe tomorrow!

You Spin Me Right Round

So finally I've mustered up the energy to document my spinning journey on the farm! Chris wasted no time getting me started with spinning. She was a spinner first and a knitter second, and enjoys spinning immensely. She sells some of her handspun, from her own animals' wool, in the Joybilee store. The rest of their fleece gets sent off to be mill spun, after which Chris dyes it on the farm.

The Dalziel's son is a professional sheep shearer, and had sheared all of their animals last fall. The fleeces needed to be sorted and cleaned to be put in the shop, so I got to learn how to tackle a raw fleece.

First, the fleece is unrolled and placed on a wool sorting table (basically a wooden frame covered with chicken wire). The goal is to identify the neck wool and bum region. The neck wool has a really fine crimp and a different feel to it (it was traditionally used in Shetland knitting), whereas the bum region has lots of "dags", which are basically clumps of poo. The fleece is then "skirted", which involves separating off the edges with dags. The midline, which corresponds to the back of the animal, is usually covered in chaff (bits of hay and dirt that have been dropped on the animals); this is removed as well. The remaining fleeces is bounced on the wire table so that short "second cuts", where the shearer has passed over the wool twice, fall through and are separated out. Any large bits of vegetable matter are also removed. We wore gloves to do this, as the wool has a lot of lanolin and dirt at this point. It feels greasy and wet, and has quite the odor as well! Once the fleece has been skirted, it's ready to be weighed and washed.

Chris and Sarah skirting the fleece

Leftovers make good puppy toys!

Chris very generously gave me my own fleece (!!!), from a Romney cross sheep named Platinum. I washed the fleece at the farm, which was quite the process. I didn't realize how much work went into this! I used a double sink filled with extremely hot water (it should be too hot to touch). One sink serves as the washing sink, the other as the rinsing sink. A handful of the fleece is plunged into the washing sink along with a good dose of dish soap. It is left to soak for about 10 min, so that the dirt and lanolin can come loose. You can swish it around a bit, but I started to run into problems with felting the fleece from handling it too much. It was hard to strike a balance between getting the tips clean, but not felting it! The fleece is then transferred to the rinsing sink, which should be of equal temperature. The wash-rinse cycle is repeated 3-4 additional times for each handful of fleece. It took 5 long, patient hours to get the whole thing washed, and mine was a small fleece. After it has been washed sufficiently, the handfuls of fleece are left to drain in a colander. It was then spun dry in the washing machine, and left to dry further in wicker baskets.

My fleece before washing

I'm sure there are many ways to wash fleeces (Chris sometimes also does each lock by hand, which takes much longer); this was just the way I was shown. Before spinning it, I'll have to hand-comb each lock with my dog's old flicker brush - an acceptable substitute if you don't want to buy a hand carder. Spinning my fleece will be a long-term project, one that I probably won't get going on for a while.

After washing!

Chris started me off spinning with some white wool roving on an Ashford drop spindle. First off, take a look at the living room- what fiber artist/knitter/spinner/weaver wouldn't drool over this? I made myself a little nook on one side of the room, with a basket Chris gave me to hold my fiber. She taught me the park and draft method of spinning on the drop spindle, which I found to be quite hard on my back and shoulder. If I do keep spinning on a spindle, I'll likely look for another method to try.


Soon after, she had me going on the Ashford Kiwi. It felt quite awkward at first, but as soon as I felt more comfortable with the mechanics of it, things went really quickly. I was amazed at how fast yarn can be made - much more instantly gratifying than knitting, and so meditative as well! In a few days I had spun two bobbins of worsted singles. Sarah then showed me how to ply on the Lendrum wheel (which I found much more difficult to use). We wound it on a niddy-noddy, and then washed the skein in lukewarm soapy water.



A few days later, we dyed some roving with indigo (more on indigo dyeing later), which I then spun. My main problems were with having too much twist in the yarn, and then when I tried to correct it, winding up with singles that just fell apart. My final plied yarn wound up fairly well balanced (this is measured by holding up the skein and seeing if it twists one way or the other). The blue skein is finer than the white, but I'm thinking that I may still knit them up together.

Too twisty...but less lumpy

Overall, I loved spinning and would really love to have a wheel. It will be hard to go back to a drop spindle after the ease and speed of the wheel, but that's where I'll be for a while yet. I'm very grateful to Chris for her generosity, and love the idea of bringing a fleece from the raw product to a finished knit item! This could be another fiber addiction coming down the road... danger!