Sniffle, sneeze...

We interrupt the nothingness that has been happening here to assure you that we are still alive, however we are sneezing like crazy and sniffling and have watery eyes and kind of feel icky. We assume we have a cold, however we also went out last Saturday and spent a good many hours at a very smoky bar, which we haven't done in a long, long time, and we think that might have something to do with our current sinus issues. And we are not sure but somehow it seems this current head situation has impinged upon our ability to write about ourself in the singular. So. Hm. More later, when we can function without a box of tissues at our side.

The start of something beautiful...

The lovely Malabrigo from the last post is becoming...


...Cosima, a Berroco pattern I've been ogling for a while now. It's on the cover of the Fall '08 Cuzco & Peruvia Quick booklet, and I just think it is so pretty. It's simple but not too plain, and it looks like it could be worn with a lot of things.

I hadn't been able to find Cuzco (for which the pattern calls) at any of my local shops. I did find it at one shop in Florida last November, but they did not have enough of any of the colors I liked (natch). I wanted something very soft, and Malabrigo is definitely that, and I'm apparently still in my teal phase, because of all the colors I could have chosen, I landed on this pretty blue-green (why it is named "Emerald" is beyond me, because I think of emerald as being far more green, not so much blue.)

Anyway, Malabrigo is a little lighter weight than Cuzco (aran versus light bulky), but its close enough for me (she says in her usual caution-to-the-wind way). I'm knitting it on US10s, which is larger than I'd usually use for this Malabrigo, and it is creating a lovely, drapey fabric while still maintaining the integrity of the lace pattern. I'm making a size bigger to make up for the gauge discrepancy. I think I'll be fine. (She says hopefully, her face bright with the optimism only a stubborn determined knitter can muster.)

I am hoping this sweater redeems my Berroco-pattern-knitting experiences after my less-than-stellar experience with Paley last year. Argh. Now that I think of it, I took similar caution-to-the-wind liberties with Paley as I am with this sweater, at least with regard to yarn choice and sizing. But Paley was of a completely different construction than Cosima, and I think that will make a big difference. Huge difference. All the difference in the world. (Please just nod and smile.)

In FO news, we have the February 09 Charity hat...


I enlisted the less-than-enthusiastic 14-yr-old boy child for modeling duty this time, as I think this could pass as a man's hat, even though I used the leftover yarn from my mother-in-law's sweater.


Pretty much my usual, basic hat recipe. Nothing fancy, but it will keep someone's head warm, and that's what counts!

Emerald...

Oh, lovely Malabrigo worsted in the Emerald colorway...how beautiful you are! May your finished product be equally enamoring!

What will the Emerald become? I'm casting on today...stay tuned!

~~~~~~~~~~

Before they get lost in the detritus that accumulates on my computer, I wanted to share the photos of the yummy things I picked up last weekend at the Pittsburgh Knitting & Crochet Festival...

This is a milk protein/sea cell/merino roving from Creatively Dyed, and it is without a doubt one of the softest things I've ever felt in my life! It reminds me of the white, downy fibers in a milk weed pod. I've never spun with milk protein or seacel before, so it will be a new adventure!

This lovely fiber (also very soft) is from River's Edge Weaving Studio and is a merino/seacel blend (part of their collection that they lovingly refer to as "surf & turf"...LOL).

I wasn't going to buy yarn, just roving, but...well...you know how that goes...


These four skeins of hand dyed yarn come from Brooks Farm Yarn and were purchased for the specific purpose of making this very cool shawl that they had on display. It reminded me of an old-fashioned granny square afghan in its design, and I am a sucker for a good, old-fashioned granny square. LOL (The pattern is knit, not crochet, just to be clear.)

Lastly...


Cashmere. Need I say more?

Rivolo

Here she is...my finished Rivolo...

Rivolo, pattern by Anne Hanson @ Knitspot; yarn spun from Briar Rose Fibers, BFL.

I am so very pleased with how this turned out! I wasn't sure how well it would translate in this handspun yarn (the rather overspun handspun, if you recall). All the way through it, I just kept doubting it would really show off the pretty pattern as much as it should. But after a good blocking, the pattern just opened up and...well...I'm thrilled with it! I feel like this is a major accomplishment. :)

This picture shows very well, though, how the one end of the scarf is more green and the other is more reddish brown due to my inexperience in dividing up the fiber for spinning. That also had me worried, thinking it would look funny, but I'm actually pretty pleased with it. Now that it's blocked, the color changes seem to flow much more subtly than they seemed to when I was knitting it. (Who'da thunk blocking could work such miracles? LOL)

Between the coloring and the texture of the yarn, the scarf seems to me to have sort of a rustic look about it, which I think contrasts in a complementary way to the elegance of the pattern.

And speaking of handspun, here are the finished hanks of the mohair/wool I spun from slowCOLOR...


This started out as a "sampler" box of fiber (my "roving sushi"), if you recall. There was only 1/8 of an ounce of each colorway, so my big plan was to just spin each one, alternating light and dark, and using some undyed roving between each colored segment. I had no idea what I'd end up with, but I can say with assurance I did not think it would end up looking this cool! The colors are just so crazy fun the way they went together...total serendipity. (The only color combo I'm not wild about is that green/yellow segment in the far left hank...it just doesn't seem to go with the rest of it, but we'll see how it plays out in whatever I decide to make with it.) It is not a particularly soft yarn...well, it is soft but a little scratchy, thanks, I think, to the mohair, maybe? It's definitely got a rustic look and feel to it (are we detecting a theme here? LOL). But I like it! There is just over 200 yards, so I'm thinking...scarf? (How many scarves does one person need? Really? But they are so much fun to make!)

What day is it?

Today is Saturday, but it's felt like Sunday for some reason. I think the power being off for nearly two days messed with me, mostly because I spent so much time at my in-laws' house, and I'm usually only ever there on weekend days, not mid-week.

Anyway...the power is back on here at Chez Beamer, to which we all shout a hearty huzzah and woohoo! The power company's recorded message promised it would be on by 6 p.m. Sunday, so I wasn't really expecting it to be on much before that. Thus, it was a pleasant surprise to have it return mid-afternoon Friday. 

So life is mostly back to normal. Whatever that is.

I finished knitting my Rivolo scarf yesterday. It's soaking now and I'll block it overnight, and then I'll hopefully get a decent picture of it. 

Today I went to the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival. I've never been to it before, and going this year was kind of a last minute decision. I swore to myself that I would not buy yarn, only roving. Of course, I lied to myself. I bought some of each. But oh my...there was so, so much pretty stuff there! I'll take some pictures of my goods soon and share. :)

Also today, I finally plied all of the wool/mohair that I'd spun a couple of weeks ago. I'd been procrastinating on plying it because I wasn't 100% sure I knew what I wanted to do. Since it was mainly a collection of little spun color samples interspersed with natural-colored wool, I wasn't sure what it would look like if I plied it together, mixing the colors together. It had the potential to be, well, weird and/or ugly, I thought. I considered spinning an equal amount of white roving and then plying the wool/mohair with that, but honestly? I wasn't into putting that much time and effort into this particular spinning project. I thought of Navajo plying the whole bunch of it to try and maintain the integrity of the colors as I'd spun them, but the fiber was fussy in spots and spun rather lumpily at times, so I wasn't sure a three-ply would be a good choice.

In the end, I just plied the bobbins together, letting the colors randomly meet up, and...wow! It looks awesome! The color combos look far more subtle than I thought they would, and the natural color mixed in helped soften it all even more. Its still a wild, rambly collection of color, but in a good way. And again, pictures will be forthcoming soon!

Checking in from the dark abyss...

Thanks to the crazy windstorms we had two nights ago, our power has been out since 1 a.m. Thursday. We live in an all-electric house. That means no hot water, no heat (other than what our wood stove can produce), no light (other than what candles and lanterns can provide -- and man, let me tell you...those pioneers? They had to have horrible eyesight after a lifetime of doing anything by lantern light!), and most notably -- no computer!!!

I've been updating my Facebook status via text message (my little lifeline to the world), but otherwise I've been disconnected until now when I brought the kids to Panera so a) we could eat something (since all food in our house seems to need to be cooked in some way, and I haven't broken down and pulled out the Coleman stove yet) and b) I could download e-mail/look up addresses for two things I needed to mail today/get a brief Internet fix. 

You know, it's amazing how much we rely on electricity but don't realize it until we don't have it. And the computer! I can't believe how often in a day I just automatically get online and do things without even thinking of it, and then when I can't, I'm left at a loss for how to satisfy my brain. LOL

So...at last check, the electric company acknowledged "many outages" in our area, saying they are in an "emergency situation" and that they hope to have power fully restored to our area by "6 p.m....Feburary 15th." 

Sunday. Goodie! Two more days of having to run to the in-laws' to shower. Guess I should be thankful to have that option!

A Tale of Two Projects...

Once, there was a knitter who was working on two projects at once: a pink afghan square and a mossy green scarf. The afghan square was being worked on 51 stitches, the scarf on 50 stitches. Both projects were lace, and each had an eight row repeat. Neither was particularly difficult. In fact, the scarf pattern was easily memorized.

It was this knitter's habit to end each knitting session of either project after working the eighth row of its respective pattern, making it easy to know where to pick up the next time she sat down. One day, however, the knitter was running short on time, needing to leave for an appointment and thus had to finish after row six instead of finishing the full eight rows. Knowing how easy it is to forget where one has left off, the knitter had the forethought to jot down a note, "Start on row 7," and sat it on the table next to her project. It seemed a foolproof way to avoid an error.

It was the next day before the knitter finally got back to her knitting. She picked up the afghan square and remembered her note, so she prepared to knit row 7. It was the wrong side row of the lace pattern, so she purled the whole way across. Then she moved on to row 8 and worked it from memory. But as she got to the end of the row, she realized she had a problem. There was an extra stitch. She held up the square for inspection and noticed that her lace pattern was suddenly looking very wonky -- clearly an issue beyond an extra stitch! After unsuccessfully discerning her error, she dinked back the two rows she'd just done and set out to begin again.

Suddenly, she glanced at the table next to her and saw her scarf. And she saw her note. Her note was sitting there on the table, next to the scarf. The afghan square had been sitting on the ottoman, not on the table next to the note.

Duh.

The knitter learned a new lesson that day. When working on two lace projects, each with eight row repeats, be sure to specify WHICH project you need to begin on row 7 instead of assuming the difference of one stitch per row will be enough to clue you in to the fact that not only are you starting on the wrong row of the wrong project, but you are working it in with the wrong damn pattern! 

Again...duh.