American Beauty

Bad Cat Designs
Great Adirondack Yarn Co Petite Silk Noir
Color: Cranberry Bog

Following Hey Teach this shawl jumped on the needle even though I have other things in the queue as well. This was another KAL that took place from Feb 15 through April. Charts were provided almost weekly and off the group went to knit.

For this shawl I knitted charts in order A, A repeat, B1, B2, B3, A repeat, A repeat, C, D, bound off as directed and blocked.

Finished size: 72” diagonal x 36” center height

Still have plenty of yarn left to do something else small.

Walkame Tunic

Angela Hahn, Interweave Knits Summer 2008
Tilli Tomas Fil de la Mer
Green with Envy

Talk about a fun knit and yarn that is just simply divine to work with and you have this wonderful tunic. After playing with different shirts to wear under this I have come to the conclusion a deep navy shows this color and its beautiful lace work off to its best advantage.

This sweater was started back in mid October 2008 where I had finished the bottom section and had knitted up to the point of dividing for front and back. This pattern has you knit the sleeves with the body and then seam the bottom side and 3-needle bind off the top.


This sweater then sat in time out while I finished a shawl, 2- scarves, a hooded scarf and the Hey Teach! In February I picked it back up made the divisions added an additional 21 stitches to the arms (one additional pattern repeat) to make them long enough and proceeded on.


While almost finished with the front section I began questioning whether I had enough yarn to finish this project. I was right that I was going to be short. Thankfully, kpixie contacted tilli tomas on my behalf and the company was most gracious in working to dye up another batch of this yarn so I could finish my project. Not expected but awesome outcome. Dyed yarn was a perfect match.

Girasole

Jared Flood
Pattern
Cascade Yarns 220 Heathers
Color: 2445

I have wanted to make this blanket since I first saw it on Jared’s blog back in December. So once all my other projects were finally completed this little number jumped onto the needles. Talk about an easy knit and the final project is just awesome. I would definitely recommend this as an easy knit for the beginner lace person. The only challenging aspect is the cast on which I understood where it was going but couldn’t quite get my brain and hands to complete. So used a similar method and continued around like knitting a sock. Then I threaded the yarn end around the loop a couple of times to close the center. Perfect.

Color on the Mountain

Last weekend I attended a spinning/knitting/crochet workshop in Monteagale taught by Lynne Vogel where we looked at spinning up colored roving and how color can be used. We also played with knitting/crocheting energized singles to see how this type fabric behaves. It’s really elastic and tends not to drape the same as a balanced yarn would.

Additionally, we spent some time with long draw singles. The class I took last Spring also discussed this technique but I could only manage a modified version of this. The cool thing is Lynne Vogel brought her quill wheel with her and let us try it using the long draw technique. All I can say is wow, I really can spin long draw with this thing. So this week I ordered the attachment for my Suzie Pro. Guess there is some long draw spinning in my future.

The long draw single that I spun

2-ply items completed in the class

Energized Single Fingerless Mitts

This is what I made during the Hands on Color class with my energized singles. The pattern was a simple cast-on 40 stitches on size 2 knitting needles and work stocking stitch with garter until the piece fit around my hand comfortably. With a 3rd needle, I then picked up stitches across the top and did a triangle edging across to the other side. With the 3rd needle I then picked up 40 stitches on the other edge and did a 3 needle bind off; using a 4th needle to hold stitches where the thumb bind off needed to happen. Then I did a simple crochet pattern to edge the bottom of the glove. To use this technique you need to use your spun singles within 3 days of creation.

Both completed

Rainy May Day

For this installment I had wanted to post some of my most recent finished projects but the weather had other ideas. While we were supposed to have rain most of last week it held off until Friday where it began raining and hasn't stopped. In my garden we have had over 6-inches and let's just say the blooming roses are just not happy.

Without sunny weather this time of year, taking photos in the house is hard to do unless I use the dining room table where we have halogen lighting. Right now this table is full of tools and molding that has been cut and is in various stages of waiting to be affixed to the cabinet project. I was able to block one of my projects during the period the table was clean so we could affix the laminate to the plywood backing.

So for this rainy weekend we went to see X-men wolverine which was a decent flick in my book and well edited. There were no points in the movie in which I wanted to get up and go do something else which is my other criteria for a good movie. We also finally checked out the local Melting Pot restaurant and it was just as good as the one in Birmingham. This chain started over 30 years ago in Florida and has finally started expanding. We are so glad to have one local. If you do go on Friday or Saturday be sure to call ahead for reservations, and for us one entree with the four course meal is more than plenty.

Can you smell spring...

Lady Banks

The first rose of spring is usually this cheery yellow lady banks rose. Each rose is about the size of a quarter and it blooms in these beautiful clusters. This rose throws canes and really appreciates a structure to ramble from. That structure is the one thing I am still working on as it tumbles down the hillside making it hard to keep this area mowed. It is thornless which is a plus. This rose is also really a zone 8 rose so being that we live solidly in zone 7 means that it is pulled into bloom sometimes too early and the blooms get zapped by a freeze.

Marie Pavie

Perl d'Or

Both of these roses are in the China rose category which is a parent that provides hybrid teas with remontancy. They are quick bloomers in clusters and have a light fragrance. They tend to have fewer fungal issues for most SE gardens which is a bonus.

Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot

This is a large flowering tea rose that is classified as a house eater. It is a once bloomer that owns its own pergola and was purchased on a whim for the blooms. Yes I didn't realize I was getting a climber just saw tea rose and that class is generally more mannerly. Although it is a once bloomer, this rose bloom show lasts 4-6 weeks and longer if spring is a cool one.

If you are going to grow roses in the east know what Rose Rosette Disease is and looks like. Protect your rose investment.



Other flowers in the garden that are coming in to bloom at this time

Otherwise Friday and Saturday were conducive to getting the garden pots ready for another year. Tomatoes were purchased at the local botanical garden plant sale and potted up. I also got one of my raspberry pots split, something that needs to be done every 5-7 years for good berry production.

Have a good week and stop and smell the flowers!

Spring is Here

March rains and warmer days yielded these blossoms just in time for the first day of spring.

Raptors

Friday was my day off from work so I took my father out to see the big birds of prey, the raptors. They were brought up from Auburn University to the local gardens for two showings. We caught most of the first show, toured the gardens and then caught the second one which this time we knew where to stand to get decent shots of the birds.

Barn owl


Ghost owl


Horned owl

Falcon


Red Tailed Hawk


Black Vulture


Bald Eagle


Golden Eagle

In other news the last fish in my tank a cherry barb finally passed on. I got him around 8.5 years ago with another 17 to keep my Pleco company. The other fish in the tank passed about 3-4 year ago. So now the tank is empty.

Argh!

So I have been working on the Walkame Tunic by Angela Hahn, which can be found in the Summer 2008 Interweave Knits magazine. I ordered the Tilli Tomas Fil de la Mer from kpixie since they are the only ones in the US that carry this yarn in the quantity needed plus one. The yarn is just a dream to work with and the color Green with Envy is working up quite nicely in this pattern. The sweater is knit in the round up until the split for front and back where the back is worked first and the sleeves are cast on in 16 stitch increments over 10 rows. It is when I get to row 72 and need more yarn that I begin to realize that I am going to be a skein short. First brush with denial I go and look at kpixie and discover they have no more in this color way. No problem, Google search and Ravelry search for another skein reveals nada. So look at the Tilli Tomas site and yes this color is no longer in the line-up. Ok I think if I can make it to the end of the back with 1.5 more skeins I should be good for the front. Never mind that I can knit 24 complete rows per skein (300+ stitches per row) and that will leave me 2.5 skeins to do the front. Second brush with denial at row 66 on the front section, 6 rows less than the back side I come to the realization that I still had yarn left at the divide and so made it farther. Doing the math there is no way I can finish the front even with dividing for the neck since I still have seems and the neck edge to finish. So I’m thinking this ‘sucks’ and how do I want to work this: One, Go all the way back to the divide and make the sleeves shorter since I did add 21 additional stitches to make them longer. Or two, I could maybe go back to row 50 and use another skein color that works with Green with Envy to alternate rows and finish this.

This morning I sent an email to kpixie to see what they suggested I do or if they might even have the skein sitting around that I needed. I know a long shot but I’m desperate since I am sitting at row 72 of 105 for the front. The finish line is taunting me. Surprise! This afternoon in my email box was a note from Jessica of kpixie and she had talked to the manufacturer and they said if I could send them a yard of the yarn they would dye something to match. So Monday I will be packing up my sample and crossing my fingers that we can make this happen so I can finish my project. I really didn’t expect this since it is not anyone’s fault that they are out of this color but I will definitely consider using them again in the future as they went beyond what I was expecting!