Just in Time

I got this neck warmer finished in time for Pete to wear before the ski season ends. I used GGH wollywasch in navy and light blue...the Maine Black Bears colors. It is a basic k2p2 ribbing, size 3.5mm Aero circulars.

It looks like he'll keep his neck and chin warm while whooshing down the slopes of Sugarloaf.

(By the way, Maine Black Bears are going to the Frozen Four. I'm not a hockey fan, but the regional semifinals and finals were exciting. Go, Black Bears!)

Also, the socks and the mitts from a few posts ago went to Pete's wife, Allison. They fit her perfectly. I like it when people fit into my knitted items. :)

Snow storm...last week

Well, we had a loverly snow storm on Valentine's Day. I have pictures to show you.


This is what I drove through to get back home from work. Yes, I was going slow enough to dig out my camera from my bag.

This was about a mile away from my home. I couldn't tell where the road was.

I'll have knitting stuff next time. Aren't you surprised that I have two posts
this month already?

Happy New Year!!!

From Little bit of...

This is my "little" niece, born 15 January 2007. I knit her the Baby surprise jacket in Lorna's Laces Tuscany. I had enough left over for accessories. She was 8#7. Two of the newborn hats I knit her were too big. I'm going to revise so that she'll be able to wear them at least for the next few months. As Dominique was born before the Chinese New Year, she will NOT be a PIG. She will be a DOG! I don't think she cares very much about that.

From Little bit of...

New Year, new FOs

I did start the new year off with several quick projects.
On New Year's Eve day, I was at Ellen's for the Football Widow's knitting Club. Melissa (of Loose Ends Farm, Brunswick, ME) walks in with her usual one or two skeins of hand dyed, hand spun loverly yarn. It is customary for the "football widows" to each handle, sniff, rub, pet the yarn and pass it around. Occasionally, one of the skeins will not make it all the way around the circle of friends. Well, when this one came in, it was tossed to me (I caught the pass) and it came home with me. The colorway is Flames. Ellen has a more flashy version of Flame, but this was just orange enough to grab my attention. I usually have to stew about yarn before buying, but I could not let this go. Well, when I got home, I HAD to wind it into a ball and get started. I looked around the house for just the tight pattern. I found it in Cat Bordhi's Treasury of Magical Knitting. It is the Lotus Blossom. It has patterning that allows one to wear either side and it looks great. I used a little over 50% of the 5.1oz. skein. I did not have enough for a second hat, so I knit up a mistake rib scarf. Just the right amount of yarn. The photo is rather pathetic, but there you have it.

I started the hat when I got home from Purl Diva, while watching the Packers beat the Bears, then on New years Day, watching the Rose Bowl, I finished the hat and knit the scarf. It was the fastest I've knit in a long time.

I then followed the crowd and knit the Misti Alpaca Chunky scarf. You know, the one with the ruffles at the ends? It's a free pattern from the yarn company. It's easy to do.

I've been working on a sweater for the last two months. The end is near. I've finished all the "parts" and I have to put it together. I seamed the shoulders and I am working on the collar now. I'll have pics soon. It's mohair. It's very pretty. It will be extremely warm, but very light weight.

In the mean time, I've cast on two more socks, one lace project, started a baby blanket, ordered and received the "Wedding Ring Shawl" pattern from Sharon Miller. It is no longer available. I think my copy is n.476/500. I also need to finish the edging on Shetland Tea Shawl, get back to the Frost Flowers and Leaves, finish baby sweater for my sister's newborn who is due to arrive this month, finish baby blanket for said baby. I truly do not have time to start any more projects!!! What do I do with the newly wound cakes of Merino Oro, on in navy and one in white??? OK, I gave in. I started the Print O' the Wave stole with the navy .

catch-up time

Well...all my hopes of being a better blogger is slowly fading. It is already half way through the month of January and this is my first post. Blechh!

Well, I do have FOs to show you. On the left is a pair of Trekking socks that I finished early December. They are leaving me to be gifted.

I used 2.25mm needles, toe up with short-row toes and heels. The cuff is 2x2 ribbing. I cast off using knit two then knit them together. It is one of the most elastic cast off I've tried.

This is a one skein scarf using the lace pattern provided by the label. It is Portrait Mohair. I knit this as a shop model for Purl Diva.
The mittems are make from yarn by End of the World farms, located in Maine. These are 100%wool hand handpainted. I thought they were a bit too scratchy for my feet, but sturdy for mitts.

The background quilt was made by my MIL. She found a magazine with patterns from Korea, so she designed her own version of it. It is very pretty AND I am allowed to use it. :)

This hat is a "Prime Rib" hat knit using Elizabeth Wimmerman's recommendations in "Knitting without Tears". This is hat no.2. Hat no. 1 is mine and the picture of it can be seen here. They are both knit with Sheep Shop Yarn's Sheep 2 and size 11 needles. I did mine in the greenish colorway, knit flat. This turquoise coloway is knit in the round. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be knitting brioche ribbing in the round.
This one has been gifted.


Finally, but not the least: I have photos of the Mystery Shawl 3 that I finished a while ago, but did not have the time to block. It has been sent away as a gift, as well. She wrote that she'll wear it for Christmas. I think she likes it. It is Zephyr, Jade, size 3.75mm KA circular, pattern here from Bo Peep's Wool Shop. It was originally a mystery shawl knit with a Yahoo! group.

Well, that's it for 2006.

There are other item that did not get finished, but that's another story .

ooops!

For those who have left comments in the past: I am so sorry that you did not get posted. I JUST learned how to let comments to post and to get notified. I'll be a better blogger in 2007.

Finally...

I finished something.

I knit up a garter stitch scarf out of Rio de la Plata hand spun, kettle dyed yarn. One skein pink carnation (A21) and one skein begonia pink (A50). Remember the movie Steel Magnolias? ... pink and blush.. anyways, this scarf will be donated to the American Cancer Society. They will be able to use it for fundraising. It is supersoft and currently, taking a well-deserved soak in Eucalan. Part of the scarf was knit while I participated in the Making Strides Walk sponsored by American Cancer Society.



This Flower Basket Shawl went to a young lady on her Bat Mizvah in August. It is knit with Schaefer "Anne", one skein.



I just finished my second Flower Basket Shawl. It (seen above) doesn't have an owner, yet. I used one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Silken Mohair. It is a shop model at Purl Diva. A single skein produced a blocked shawl measuring 66" across and 32" deep. I used size 10 needles.

The shawl formerly know as Mystery Shawl 3 is blocked and waiting to be photographed. It will be a gift.

I knit a second Baby Surprise Jacket with Lorna's Laces sport in Happy Valley. It was given to my friend, Kim, who just had a little girl. I cast on another one, which will be for my sister's baby who is due to arrive in mid- to late-January.

I promise more pics on the next post. In the mean time:

Late September on a beach in Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Wow...time flies

It has been two months since I posted. In my life October tends to be a very busy month. I hope November is quieter.

In the knitting front...I finished the "Mystery Shawl 3" two weeks ago. It is finally blocked. Photos...later. I did start a few other projects. I have a Flower Basket Shawl and Fir Cone Shawl started.

I'll update with photos later this month.

Here we go again!

I've cast on the Trellis Scarf. I have knit two border lace patterns. I'm continuing with one then will graft the second border onto the finished length rather than knitting the reverse pattern. I wanted to maintain symmetry.

Surprise!

The EZ baby surprize jacket is finished! The photo on the left is taken, I think Tuesday afternoon. The completed photos will come later due to poor lighting. The rain is nicely and softly coming down, causing much greyness. It was supposed to be a knit-a-long, but I got carried away and started it last Sunday. It took just a few days to knit this. The Spun-Out pattern was easy to understand; however, the written pattern left some calculating and planning on my part. Ellen calls this reconnaissance knitting. I've made some notes, so that anyone else kniting this with the knit-a-long can have detailed knitting instructions. The general idea is the same, but I've made very slight modifications to fit my needs. I hope others might find this helpful. I WILL be knitting this again, soon. I'll probably start the next one with the knit-a-long.

I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Tuscany. It required just over one skein. The total weight of the jacket came out to 2.85 oz (each skein of Lorna's Shepherd Sport is about 2.5 oz). I may knit my next one using Harrisville Shetland. I happen to have 2 skeins available, in natural and dark grey. It'll look nice striped.

I am heading back to knitting the Wing of the Moth shawl. I hope to have that finished this month, along with the myster shawl 3 (square shawl). I have a recipient lined up for this shawl.



Guess what I got in the mail?? My friend, the Spinner, sent me 2 4plus oz skeins of handspun Finn. It is gorgeous!! I'll be swatching soon. Did you hear that? Swatching! Yes, I will do this the traditional way: swatch, then get a pattern together for the mittens that these are destined to be. The spinner will be receiving the Trellis Scarf, as soon as I've cast on and knit it. (Did you hear that strange sound? oh...it was me laughing!)

another shawl?

Since I finished the FBS, I couldn't help but think about the Wing-of-the-Moth Shawl, so I asked my DH to buy the pattern for me (he has a paypal account). So he did the dutiful thing and got it for me. Lucky for me, while I was at the Commu-knitty night last evening, Ellen showed me lovely mohair lace from her personal stash. It was perfect! Lorna's Laces Heaven in a discontinued colorway that was just the thing for the wing-of-the-moth shawl. I wound it into a ball and cast on the shawl right there and then. I'll have photos later of the progress. There's even a race going on! Check this out.

By the way, check out the pretty picture of my FBS modeled by lovely Purl Diva.

I'm still plugging away on mystery shawl 3. I'm on the final chart/clue. I hope to be done by the end of this month. It'll be sock season soon, so I need to finish some socks I've started last month. So much to knit, so little time.

Flower Basket Shawl finished

FBS finished004
Originally uploaded by Mary in Maine.

Here is the blocked shawl. It came out to 78" across the top and 36" down the center. The superwash wool blocks well. The mohair gives it a halo.
Details:
Schaefer Anne, one skein, 120gm.
US size 8 (5.0mm) Addi Turbo needles
Total of 12 repeats of chart 2 (275stitches last pattern row)
Will definitely knit it again.

A shawl is born...

It is Evelyn A. Clark's Flower Basket Shawl. I started this August 10th. As it is to be a Bat Mitzvah gift next week, I was on a tight time schedule. I was cutting it close on the yarn. I used Schaefer Anne in purplish colorway. The ball weighed in at around 120 gm when I started. I weighed the remaining ball of yarn after each repeat of chart 2. I was bold enough to get total of 12 repeats of chart 2. I did get nervous when I realized a very small ball of yarn left as I cast off. I have 2 or 3 yds left of the yarn (Whew!).
The pic was taken after about 1/3 of the cast off was done. Right off the needles, the measurements were 55"x25". It is happily blocking now. Picture will come later as the rain began last night causing this morning to be less than desirable for picture taking.

I still have quite a few shawls on needles.
1. The Shetland Tea Shawl is on the last pattern chart before the edging.
2. The Frost Flowers and Leaves Shawl: it's been so long I don't know where I left off.
3. Mystery Shawl 3 has been progressing as I've designated a deadline for next month. I am half way through the second to last chart.
4. Moebius lace scarf. Maybe I should just rip this out...except it is Kid Silk Haze, so....

Then there are the non-shawl items. I'll discuss them later.

Whoa!!

I'm just dipping my toe into blog-land. Let's see how long this lasts.