But First, Another Hat

The year is off and galloping already. This past weekend we had a massive amount of snow coupled with cold, cold temperatures. The forced down-time was the perfect reset, allowing for relaxing, reading, cooking, and knitting. I'm reading The Mirror Visitor quartet. Not my usual genre, but the female lead character is holding my attention so far.

I have a half dozen projects to finish, but this pattern popped out at me. I had a souvenir skein of sock yarn from a trip to Montpelier, VT ready to go. The hat was a good knitting start to the new year. I have never knit a hat in sock yarn, which took a long time. But the result is deliciously soft and surprisingly warm. Now back to the regularly scheduled sweaters and some knitting repairs. Stay warm and safe!

Spoils of the Season

My favorite gift this holiday season was a complete surprise! The Farmer traveled to Amsterdam last October. I jokingly suggested that he pick out something fabulous at Stephen & Penelope for me, thinking he could not be bothered to find the shop and pop in to look at yarn. I was mistaken:

Not only did he stop by, he engaged the staff to help him find a shop sample that he liked and then find the yarn and pattern for it! Apparently it took three staff members and an hour of time, to everyone's delight! I will enjoy knitting with these beautiful skeins.

Over the break, we spent a day in Washington DC looking at all the monuments. I had never done this activity in spite of many trips to the area. The afternoon was very enlightening.

In other news, we are celebrating New Years Eve with a cheese plate and chili on a very cold and snowy evening tonight. Here's wishing friends and family a wonderful new year. Happy knitting!

Transitions

After many years of talking about it, we finally spent all summer in a different city, Milwaukee. My last Thursday, I visited an up and coming neighborhood called Bay View where i stumbled upon a sweet little used bookstore with resident cats, Fiber Fever yarn store, and an old fashioned habidashery. It also looked like one could eat yummy things here, but time was not on my side.

Bookstore with funny cats!

Handmade hats, new and restored, made on antique equipment.

The souvenir yarn from Fiber Fever yarn store is worsted weight from a Shetland sheep named Flora, who lives on the Rose Boulder Farm in Wisconsin.

I transformed the yarn into a hat using the Mossy Lane Hat pattern two weekends ago on a trip to New Jersey. (I used size 4 & 6 needles.) Its a perfect way to transition from a lovely summer to leaf peeping this fall.

After a long and early cold snap at the end of August and drought conditions, many trees are changing color early and shedding their leaves already. Enjoy the last day of summer, and of course, the delightful return of cool weather in the fall! Happy knitting!

A Whack of Washcloths

And as summer rumbles to a close, here is my very distracted collection of washcloths that I made. The project is a combination of trying to knit up stray balls of yarn, travel knitting, and of course needing a few new washcloths. 

The first one was knit on a mini road trip to Turkey Run State Park with my work friend who was driving. She drives a little too close to other cars, so, nice distraction! We had an amazing hike in this wonderful park and ate ice cream at a locale called Gobbler's Knob: Eats Sweets & Mercantile. I mean, you have to!

The next day, I made another while trying to calm down after the airline canceled my flight to Vegas. Lucky me, I was able to get another flight on a different airline later that day. The Farmer and I went to see Dead and Company at the Sphere. We also saw Absinthe, which featured stunning acrobatics and many adult jokes. The shows were both astounding, but let it be known that will my only trip to that town.

Then I was clearing out a box of yarn when the yellow yarn fell back into my hands. I knit my niece a cute sweater with it in 2012. It's so soft and makes an awesome cloth as well as sweater.

I happened to bring the last of the white ball on my flight to Texas. We spent a week in Levelland at Great Plains College for Camp Bluegrass. We met amazing people, had great teachers, and heard some wonderful live music. And since we had to bring all of our bedding and towels, we didn't have enough. So the washcloth was pressed into action as a face towel immediately!

I'm hoping to ramp up knitting production as soon as school routines gets reestablished. I need to knit a cowl for a good friend, finish up some projects that have been laying around forever, and using up some more stash. 

Enjoy the end of summer! I'm not going to lie, I am ready for sweater weather!

Progress!

Fall Break was such a great time to refocus on this yarn beast! With relatively little ado I had this project back on track. The final triangle down the middle is nearing completion quickly as the rows are ever getting shorter. 

 I had a moment of terror when I saw how extremely bright the orange yarn is. But my eyes have settled down to enjoy the brilliance. Perhaps I’ll be able to wear it for Thanksgiving… We’ll see!

Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻 

JUST KNIT THE HAT!

I’m struggling a bit: new routines, putting down the phone, getting all the projects launched this fall. So when I couldn’t stop dreaming about making a hat with my most recent souvenir yarn, I knew it was time to wind the skein and get started. At least I’d be doing SOMETHING, and make shake some of the lethargy loose. 

I hate to admit it, but I was not in love with my souvenir yarn this year. I was in love with the idea that it was only available at that specific Black Mountain, NC yarn shop and that it was inspired by Appalachian sunsets. Therefore I was simply delighted when the yarn cake showed me that the colors would be changing as I knit!! I forgot that Spincycle dyes in this style. 

And the knit yarn does look like a sunset!

I am determined to use every inch of this yarn. I’ve already re-knit the top twice. I’m going to rip back one more time. It will be worth it. 

Souvenir Sweetness

Nothing is quite as amazing as a local yarn shop in an artsy town you are visiting. I spent a week in Black Mountain, NC going to fiddle camp earlier this month and barely had time to dart in to make a selection before our last concert down the street. 

 

This shop was extraordinary, and I regret not taking pictures of entire walls of some of my favorite yarns by Brooklyn Tweed, La Bien Aimee, LITLG, and others.

The shop owner suggested an item that could only be acquired in her store: a special color way dyed only for her shop by Spincycle. The colors reflect the colors of a sunset in the mountains and is just lovely! Five years ago my souvenir yarn was also by Spincycle, and I made THIS cowl with it. I added a shop tiny stitch marker to my purchase because I love their logo.

Looking back at my previous souvenir projects, I predict another cowl or hat for this lovely skein!

Happy Knitting!

One of Three

Another quick update on the Frank Shawl! One triangle of three is complete and awaiting friends. 

Mere seconds after putting the triangle on the floor, our favorite cat made himself at home. I had been mindful of not letting him near it to keep the knitting free of cat hair. 

Alas, sometimes you have to enjoy the cuteness!

 Yarn is Shady Grove Alpacas The Eleven lace weight held double and Life in the Long Grass (LITLG) singles in fingering weight. 

 

Frankly

Frankly, I have a lot on my plate right now, so this one will be short!

Frankly, the Frank Shawl is the right pattern for my souvenir yarn from Amsterdam with a little special treat from Shady Grove Alpacas The Eleven lace weight held double. Winning combo! 

This shawl been a nice way to reduce screen time in those short moments where I just need something mindless to do. Or those long moments where I am chaperoning a class trip to Kings Island. Miles of garter stitch to the rescue!

More fun non-knitting news soon! Happy Spring Knitting!

Maybe Not

My knitting year has had more fits than starts so far. I bought what I thought was a gorgeous combination of yarns last summer, but they don’t want to cooperate in the shawl I selected for them. I still love the yarns, but this is definitely not the shawl I was envisioning. This is the start of Shawl B by Letes Knits.

After I hated the brown/cream speckle combo, I tried out the orange/cream speckle and the brown/orange to see which one was the best. 

Orange and cream speckle won and look much more appealing, but then the next section is brown in lace and it is a hard no for me. It looks so dingy.

Back to the drawing board for me. Perhaps the yarn will look better in The Frank Shawl? Time will tell. Enjoy the knitting season!

Orange Creamsicle Hat

After finishing the Artesian shawl and another project in short succession, I was really excited to get another project “on the needles.”

Enter: vacation yarn from Swaledale sheep! I decided to use both of my England yarns knit together. I had just knit a swatch for another project in seed stitch and thought it looked fun for a hat. I cast on an odd number (81) using size 5 needles and off I went.

When I ran out of the orange yarn, I was able to split the white yarn and knit with 1.5 thickness. It worked well. I started five decreases per round and stayed in pattern as best I could. When twelve stitches were left, I finished with the tapestry needle.

My niece was nice enough to model it, but the intended recipient was my sister-in-law. Her favorite color is orange, and she had been extra sweet last year at the holidays. 

Sadly, life shifted back to high energy busy-ness shortly after finishing, and my knitting has been taking a short hiatus in the last month. Hopefully the weather turns cooler soon, and life settles into a routine as well. Happy Back to School to all who are going back this fall!

Yarn Haul

Vacation yarn souvenirs are some of my favorite items to collect. I had some excellent adventures this summer, but it so happened that I was also able to sneak in an impromptu pilgrimage to a yarn store that I have admired for a few years. Let’s all dreamily stare at the front window of Stephen and Penelope Fine Yarns in Amsterdam!

More importantly, let’s admire the vast and gorgeous yarn selection! I spent several hours on two different days drooling here. Don’t worry, I swallowed the drool!

I eventually chose some skeins from this section of the store. Have I mentioned that I am a fan of orange?

I really like this wooden display holders and think I will try to make a few for the day that I start selling Shady Grove Alpaca yarn at fiber fairs…

Violá! Three coordinating skeins in orange plus a branded project knitting bag to keep them safe. Watch out for those crazy bicycles in Amsterdam!!

Prior to Amsterdam, I had the opportunity to visit England and purchased some Swaledale sheep yarn (white) and some sock yarn dyed in the same neighborhood. More on the sheep of England in an upcoming post.

Final picture of entire yarn collection, including four skeins of sock yarn that I purchased at the request of my parental unit. It’s her favorite, and it came in some lovely colors!

And finally, some fiber whimsy brought to you by local knitting and sewing artists who decorated this bridge in the town of Melk, Austria. More on that trip in a later post as well!

Stay safe and happy knitting! 🧶 

 

Souvenir Yarn 2021, and Accompanying Destinations

I was judicious in my vacation yarn purchasing this summer - only one skein. But I visited quite a few places over the course of several weeks. We headed to Ohio to see my mom, motored to NH to vacation with my in-laws, side trip to Acadia to see a friend, tour of Vermont (Montpelier, Burlington, and Stowe), and finally headed to my brother's farm and B&B in the Adirondacks. A second trip took us to OH and PA to help our parents with a variety of chores. Enjoy the tour!

Notion Fabric and Craft, Montpelier, VT. No project for this yet.

Acadia National Park - one of many carriage road bridges

Summit on Sargent Mountain

Carriage road

Formal gardens near Asticou Inn

Local fare: popovers with blueberry jam 

More good eats: FRESH lobster roll!

On the deck of the pod near Asticou Inn looking at the ocean

Hunter's Beach, rocky and iconic Maine coastline

Fun tree

Lost River Gorge, NH

Waterfall in the Lost River Gorge, NH

Lady Slippers in Lost River Gorge

Founder of Littleton, NH farmed down the road from our VRBO

Cog train on Mount Washington

Seats on the cog train on the way up. The angle helps you stay in your seat on the steep grade. (They flipped the other way on way down.)

Cog rail

On top of Mt. Washington. A neighboring mountain still has SNOW in mid June!

Cairns on the Crawford Trail, Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington has recorded the fastest wind on earth. Buildings are chained down here to keep them from blowing down/away...

Maple syrup farm near Montpelier. No one has to carry buckets here: sap flows downhill in the tubes!

Capitol building of Vermont - not open to visitors yet

Nearing summit of Mount Hunger, VT

Summit of Mount Hunger. You either step up or step down the ENTIRE time you are on this trail.

Geological formation in Lake Champlain

Carlton's Prize Island

Motoring in to Burlington

Burlington harbor

Sunset over Lake Champlain

Covered bridge in Stowe, VT

Did you remember that the Van Trapp family settled in Stowe, VT? The youngest son brews Austrian ales. This tavern - still owned by the family - serves Austrian food and beer. Just up the road is the Van Trapp Lodge.

Sacher torte!

Sunset at my brother's farm

Sunrise and a peek at Lake Champlain at my brother's B&B

Fast forward to end of July - kayaking on Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines, PA

Handsome fellow in the Poconos

Good eating while helping the in-laws: eggplant steak 

And so I don't forget, HERE is the recipe for the most delicious rhubarb tart I made for the trip. (Rhubarb is one of my least favorite foods, but this recipe is YUMMY!) It has been a delightful summer of seeing family and visiting new places. Many shops and restaurants still have limited hours due to the worker shortage, but we're used to cooking most of our meals at this point! Hope all of you are safe, healthy, and vaccinated.