More Knitting

It's been an exhausting hectic weekend with plenty of time for knitting. My lovely Middle School mermaid had her first year round swimming meet this weekend and boy is there a difference from summer, which is mostly fun and games with a little swimming and a race or two thrown in for good measure. My girl woke up at 5 am both Sat and Sunday to warm up and swam 6 events, including 100 yds of breast stroke, 200 yds of free style, and,most shocking, 50 yds of butterfly. With out complaining, with a big smile on her face, and her only comment was that the meet was "killer". Who is that child?

No, she didn't win, didn't even drop her times from summer swimming much, but i can't begin to describe how proud i am of that child. A true mermaid, she is. After finishing her races on Sunday, she showered, dressed, and sang in the choir at the 10:30 service.

Luckily, they don't have meets every week, as they are a total family commitment. The rest of us had to be up at 6:30 to get there in time to see her swim at 7:30. It was worth it, though. As there was plenty of time to knit between races and soccer games, i completed the first sleeve of the Sideways Sweater and got knit half of the second one. It is now time to begin thinking about buttons. I'm not good at finding just the right button and this sweater deserves good buttons. Can't figure out if this is the sweater for beautiful moving mud glass buttons, but then, what color? Not to mention, I have no button holes. I plan to sew the sleeves and decide on a collar and then, figure the buttons out. Maybe pewter buttons? I'd make my own if i could just figure out what they need to look like.

The Cotton Fleece raglan cardi is waiting in the wings for me to finish the first sweater. There are decisions to make there as well. Buttons? What sort? Where to put them? And how many? Or do i skip them completely and use hook and eye closures. I'm not a fan of toggles so they're out. And what sort of collar to compliment the scoop neck, which may be the most flatering neck line of all on me.

There are other sweaters waiting in the queu. The beautiful aran sweater for jack. I have processed the fleece from scratch and have made about three pounds of woolen spun worsted weight yarn, thinking I was making a particular pattern from Knitting Nature. I realized halfway through the spinning that the pattern actually called for a sport-weight yarn. Ouch! I love Jack more than i can express but that is a crazy lot of knitting, not to mention spinning. After showing him numerous gansey and aran sweater patterns, I learned that he really wants the j. Crew sweater he already has. Knit all over again. So, aran sweater designing I will go.

Luckily, I have already designed a cable and lace sweater for Deb Stoller's next Stitch and Bitch. So, i know that all i need to do is pick some motifs that i like, swatch em, and cast on for a simple drop shoulder sweater. I'm thinking some lovely celtic cable up the middle, or perhaps a cable diamond, and some rope cables. I like honeycomb stitch as well.

I was just searching the net for pictures of cables i like to show you and was reminded of all sorts of terrific sources, such as Janet Szabo's book on aran sweater design and the lovely Celtic Memory Yarns blog (she lives in rural southern Ireland and the pictures are indescribable, not to mention the knits and yarns. Oh yeah. And she has a dog named Sophy Wackles; how cool is that?).

So as soon as i finsh the two current sweaters, I'll be swatching with my Barbara Walker treasuries in my lap. I have somehow wound up with my mil's copy of Alice Starmore's Fisherman Sweaters, so i will have that with me too. Although i must say, I have become fascinated with St. Enda, thanks to Jo. Also, Elizabeth Zimmerman's Fishtrap Aran from Knitter's Almanac. I actually have this lovely book and, most importantly, he likes it, picky one that he is.

My fleece addiction and other stories

Gryphon, Lia, and I did indeed do New Jersey a couple of weeks ago. It's not a particularly big show, but we sold a few things. Well, Gryphon sold a little more than a few and I sold a few, but as she points out to me, my sales in a proportion to hers are the same proportion as the amounts of what we brought. Sorry that sounds unintelligible.

We had a lovely time. We met some great people, talked to some marvelous animals, and touched some yummy yarm and fiber. I forgot to charge my camera, though, so i have no actions hots for you. Go see Gryphon's though, cause Rosy the pig is very cute and so friendly.

We had a jolly time, although we missed our third fate very much. Come back soon from Afganistan, ok? I bought 4 oz of bfl/mohair/angora roving from Maggie's Farm as a treat for myself to spin with my drop spindle at our booth.

It turn out so pretty, I bought a pound to spin up as a thick and thin single that i can knit into an oversized funky vest. The rest will be spun on my Lendrum wheel, however.

Now, the best part of the New Jersey show are the quantities of excellent and affordable fleeces. And the show is so small, that you can really hang out with the shepherds and sheperdesses and talk sheep. I bought one grey shetland to share with Elizabeth (Eutrapelia on Ravelry) and Gryphon and I bought her one very lovely and clean Cheviot cross named Precious at auction. last year, I had Crumpet from the same farm and have loved her. Gryphon is, in fact, processing Dora as we speak. Go see, very nice.

But then, there was the fleece auction. They hold that very scary event toward the end of the show, when your resistance is down becasue you are so tired. Most bids start off at $2/lb. compare that price to the $12/lb you'd pay at the larger shows, like Rhinebeck and MDSW! It is so much fun to hang out and touch and talk fleece, staple length (the length of the lock from "butt" end to tip), microns (measure the fineness of the fleece, the lower the number the better), crimp, grease, and scouring (fleece washing) techniques with other similarly obsessed people. Not to mention, have you ever won a bid? So Much Fun! It's amazing how many unnecessary objects one can buy during an auction. Last year at the Maryland sheep and wool show auction, I bought a warping board (woo hoo!) that I don't know what to do with and a beautiful little antique spinning wheel. That I don't have space for and don't use. But it's beautiful, and I won it!

The auction is where i scored the magic fleece. Look at that color!

And to be honest, i was so in love with this fleece, that I paid $12/lb and split it with another fiber freak. Kat was modest in her fleece purchses this year, holding them down to a very manageable 13. Last year, I believe it was 27.

I'll admit I'm weak. She's a Romney crossed with a few other breeds and has fabulous crimp and body. I've washed some and plan to spin her straight from the lock. Can't wait.

Now, Trudge presents the sweater update!

His angelic face belies the fact that he'd been viciously attacking my knitting moments earlier. This bit of knitting is a top-down raglan cardigan of my own design. Because I understimated its size before dividing for the sleeves, I placed darts at the waist. The lower half swings out at the hips to allow plenty of movement. An inch and a half wide "button band" will add some room at the top where I need it, although I probably won't use buttons. I don't seem to choose them well. The yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, which gets its fabulous drape from it's 80/20 cotton/merino content.

I have bound off the hem of the body and am about to start the sleeves, which I will pick up from live stitches waiting on waist yarn. Sleeves should go quickly as I have already knit the caps. Top-down raglans really do seem to be the one of the world's better feats of engineering, along with toe-up socks, of course.

Finally, the body of the sideways cardi is complete as well. I have begun a sleeve and continue to enjoy the heck out of this knit and this yarn. It inspires me to again offer a Dragonfly Sweater yarn, perhaps in semi-solids? Better get busy if I want to be ready for Stitches. See you in Booth 154, back by the concessions.

I've been Loopied!

In case you didn't know, Gryphon was in the Loopy Limelight today. Congratulations, Gryph.

You have to go see it at least for the belly dancer picture (of Gryphon, not me, thankfully:)

She very sweetly mentioned me, with a picture of me practicing my favorite addiction (that fleece problem that was going to be the title of this post) and a link to me shop! A quick click on the link reveals that i had nothing but a few wonderful batts in my shop. eeek!

So, the long and short of it is that I've updated. Go see. There is much more that i have, but it is a Gryphon's house, bound for Stitches.

Back to the previously programmed post later. Come back; it has fleeces, and spinning, and knitting. Oh my.