Ah, The Scent of Wet Wool!

At last! I have blocked the Pastiche Shawl that I finished knitting in March. And it came out rather larger than expected, 76" wingspan and 36" down the back. It's going to be nice and cozy when the cold winds blow. Behold the classic wingspan pose.

And the blocking was a breeze. For two reasons: 1) a dandy bar-height countertop between the living room and the kitchen, and 2)a Pattern Cutting Board acquired from Joann's (for a mere $10). Actually I bought two of the boards, 'cuz they're only medium-thick cardboard, and put a beach towel in between. Here's the set-up.

And after a carefree session of pinning while standing -- let me just repeat here -- STANDING at the counter, here is Madame Pastiche all blocked out. Despite being folded in half she dried quickly and was ready for her glamour shots the next day.

It's always fun trying to take pictures of yourself. I did the mirror maneuver . . .

and the "perch the camera on a barstool, point it at the wall, and set the timer" maneuver

As you can see, the shawl coordinates nicely with denim, my favorite fashion fabric.

Prepare to Be Bored

I've finally completed the first repeat of the Celtic Knot Stole. How long has it been? Three weeks? Four? Anyway, here it is --

As you can see, these are not teensy tiny repeats. Each one is almost 100 rows long, and there are four of them. I don't expect the next three to take quite so long as the first. The knitting goes faster as I become more familiar with the pattern and the thread (oops, sorry, yarn). And hopefully I will not again need to tink 15 rows of laceweight. That was soooo not fun.

But still . . . I don't foresee any stimulating and exciting blog posts in the near future. In two weeks or so, if I'm lucky, there will be the halfway point, and then we have the thrill of the third repeat, and, well, you see where this is going.

The borders should be interesting though. That's where we take those invisibly caston stitches that have been vacationing on the cable and do fun stuff ("fun" being defined as "something I have never done before and don't know how to do").

In the meantime, however, take a seat on the Ho-Hum Express and fasten your seat belt.

Invisible Cast On Conquered

I've been eager to start my next lace shawl, because this is the first with actual "laceweight" yarn. (Y'know that skinny stuff you can barely see?) I'm using some Fiddlesticks Zephyr Wool-Silk that I purchased back in February as a happy-birthday-to-me present. The color is "Basil," and it's one of those shades that are near impossible to capture well with a digital camera.

Deciding on a pattern took a good long while. My Ravelry queue is bursting with wonderful designs for triangular shawls, but I wanted this one to be a stole. So, of course, I had to peruse every single stole pattern in existence. (In the process, I turned up more nifty triangles too. The queue needs to go on a diet.) The final choice was the Celtic Knot Stole.

One of the delightful features of this pattern – aside from its beauty – is that it forced me to learn a new technique. I've seen the words "invisible cast on" mentioned here and there, but never understood how to do it or why one might use it. Fortunately one of the Ravelers who knit this shawl included a link to a how-to video in her comments. Blessings upon her.

Even with the video it took five or six tries to get it right. There's this little mantra you recite – "in front, behind; behind, behind." Sound familiar? The difficulty arose when attempting to get from the end of the mantra back to the beginning. But eventually I figured it out. Instead of waste yarn, I'm using a cable from my Knitpicks Harmony set so that I can attach a needle point and proceed directly to knit in the opposite direction when the time comes.

I attached some blue yarn and knit the stitches from the cable. It should be no surprise that following the directions produced the desired result. Still, there's a slight aura of magic. It works! It actually works! The directions do mention that every other stitch on the cable will be twisted, and this is true. One merely knits the twisted stitches through the back loop and all is well.

With this successful experiment behind me (kindly note that the number of stitches of each color is the same – a huge accomplishment), I cast on with the Fiddlesticks. Before proceeding any further I counted the number of stitches on the cable THREE times to verify that it was the same as the number on the needle. Yay!

This next pic is about 10 rows into the knitting. Amazing how the laceweight scrunches up to almost nothing. No problem fitting it all onto the needle.

I'm toying with the idea of knitting the first border quite soon, perhaps after I've settled into the pattern. It seems preferable to having that cable dangling off the end the whole time I'm knitting the stole.

My Latest Accomplishment

I've never made one of these before. Although there is some knitting involved, most of the work is strategizing (dare I call it designing?) and assembling. Here is the finished result, doing what it's supposed to do, i.e. protect my bony butt from the hard surface of an ancient Hitchcock chair.

The pattern, a free download from Ravelry (perhaps from elsewhere too), is called "Attractive Cushion Cover." It is NOT a modern pattern. What does this mean? It means no tutorials and minimal directions. No problem if you are already adept at short rows and have had experience casting on, binding off, and grafting an object that is short-rowed around in a circle. Fortunately the Arbacia Hat incorporates all these features, so I have already served my apprenticeship.

Knitting the little circles with leftover yarn was the easiest part. Thirty-six stitches gave the 15-inch diameter I wanted, and turning every three stitches made the pie slices a nice size. And grafting the beginning to the end Lucy-Neatby-style is super easy with this thick yarn. Also having done it once, I knew that it was best to tighten up the work as I went along. Once finished, it's nearly impossible to distinguish the grafting from the stitches.

I thought the teensy hole in the middle would look better covered, so while the pieces were blocking I strolled over to Alamitos Bay Yarn Company (Have I mentioned that I absolutely love living a short walk from a marvelous yarn store?) and procured some cute buttons. The two tones of silver on the buttons perfectly match the two shades of gray on the cushion. Button perfection has been attained.

I used a strand of each yarn to sew the pieces together, so the cranberry and gray would mix and have that "I meant to do it" look. I think this is called Whipstitch, but I couldn't swear to it. My hands often remember how to do things that my brain has long since forgotten.

I finished most of the sewing and then began stuffing, only to discover that the cushion did not look quite right (no pic of this phase). I had fastened each button to its appropriate side, but in order to get the depression in the middle I needed to fasten the buttons to each other. A little stuffing removal and fishing about inside to hitch up the two button shanks with a bit of yarn took care of that problem.

And so we have . . .

A dark gray side

And a light gray side

The coolest thing about this "pattern" is that you can use any weight of yarn, any number of stitches, turn on whatever number of stitches gives a wedge size you like, and use however many colors you want. Perfect for leftovers.

This Just Might Work

When I cast on for the Dovetail Pullover I began with the front. Why? Well, I was determined to make a V-neck, rather than the ribbed boatneck shown in the pattern. The boatneck looked tricky to execute and not at all flattering. If the V-neck didn't work that would be the end of Dovetail. No back, no sleeves, just rip and start something else.

I think it's working out. See --

I haven't completely finished the front, just took it along far enough to be sure that the neckline would be okay. I don't typically plan or design anything, or (heaven forfend) make a drawing or chart; it's more a process of coming up with a vague idea and then noodling around to see what works.

Comparing the knitted piece with a V-neck pullover that fits well, I got to a point where it seemed a good idea to start the vee. I knit each of the two middle purl stitches together with the traveling knit stitch to its right (or left, depending) and then did a K2tog or SSK on every right side row. This follows the way the cables were developing, but has a different slope, since the edge is only moving over one stitch at a time instead of two. It would be nice to be able to decrease all the way over until the edge of the vee meets the side of the cable section, but that might make the shoulders too narrow. Time will tell.

For now, the front looks good enough that I have embarked on the back. It's coming along nicely too. Sort of like knitting the second sock – all the decisions have been made (exactly where to place the waist shaping, when to start the armholes, etc.) so the knitting is completely mechanical . . . and very restful.

Semi-Annual Spinning Report

According to my Ravelry project folder I've been spinning this same eight ounces of superwash merino since June, 2008. Rather a long while and it's not done yet. Not even close. Here's where we are –

There is fiber, yarn in two flavors (singles and two-ply) and everything in between.

After messing up the two skeins of laceweight singles by heating them to the point that the green overdyed the white, I decided to return to a more traditional process. I wound my singles onto the nøstepinde (love that word, even though the winding is not so fun).

Then I plied the yarn using the inside and outside ends. The nice thing about this approach is that it does not waste a single inch of yarn. I like the look of the plied yarn; it's not the best job of plying ever, but the colors blended well.

So . . . plied yarn is waiting on the niddy-noddy for the dreaded finishing step (this time I intend to be super careful), more singles have been wound onto the nøstepinde and are waiting to be plied, and yet more yarn has been spun as singles and is standing in line waiting for the nøstepinde. And -- I try not to think about this part – there are three more ounces that have not even been touched.

And The Winner Is . . .

Yes, I have finally acquired a new vehicle. After shopping every smallish hatchback/wagon style and nearly every dealer in Southern California, I settled on a cute little Honda Fit Sport Automatic with tinted windows (so no-one can see all the junk I keep in the back).

Blessings on the wonderful Internet. Once I had narrowed my choice, all negotiating was done by email and phone. I didn't actually see the dealer with the best quote until I went there to pick up the car.

And should you ever be shopping for a Honda in the Los Angeles area I highly recommend these folks. They consistently had the lowest numbers through several rounds of quotes. And the customer service! Food and beverages while doing the paperwork, special coupons for free oil changes, etc., multiple thanks by email and on embossed stationery.

My bike fits nicely in the Fit, so it can go everywhere with me. If the bicycle looks a bit odd, that's cuz it's a folding bike. The wheels are full-size (unlike most folders), but there's a hinge on the crossbar that allows it to fold in half, thus taking up much less space. The handlebars can detach and drop down too, but I usually don't bother. I had intended to buy a small-wheel folder, but when I saw this one (Dahon Espresso), I fell in love.

So, that's an end to shopping for things with wheels (hmmmmm, except maybe for the spinning kind). We will now return to the customary fiber frolics.