i am knitting a shawl

no…. not for my grandmother.

it was a self-discipline failure.

i found this single skein of undyed 100% superfine alpaca. sadly it was pricey~ but this is an 8oz skein of 665 yards of fluffy softness.


i could use it to brush up on my lace knitting skills before i tackle laced leaves cardi by carol feller?

humph. but why i don’t knit shawls and wraps is the enormous number of stitches to keep track of~ who needs to recount 3,000 stitches to confirm what row you are on or worse, what place you are in the lace pattern?

so i begin my first attempt. the only true inspired moment i have had was to choose a pattern that starts with a minimal amount of cast on stitches and increases to the nightmare number of stitches where i will no doubt loose track of where i am and give up on the project out of frustration.

pattern details:
seafoam shawl by sarah barbour

on another note… i hit 3 ½ miles of semi paved scenic footpaths up hill to knitting etc. yarn shop. (the iphone gps app really should have topography information)

worth the exercise, i take the bus back to town to admire my new stitch markers from the comfort of my hotel room with my feet up.

outdoor ithaca & thier civil war cemetery

i am in love~ or will be soon….

i am in ithaca and should be working on my ithaca laced leaves with the wonderful angora i bought from vancouver but i am so close to having completed my vancouver project.

here is the update:

to compensate for the fronts being too large, i decided to cast on 24 (not 34) stitches (ok so in terms of sizing i am playing with loosing 4 inches in the front!!!!)… well sadly i am not in need of the 4 inches…

i altered my increases so that when i came to shoulder shaping i ended up with same amount of stitches as i did working the back. it was a temporary plan but i stuck to it.

when i finished all of the pieces i found myself off to find a wool shop to purchase a similar color yarn. my savior of the day was homespun boutique~ a mere block away from the hotel. i couldn’t work with the cashmerino astrakhan for seaming….. very frustrating. then i needed to work out the whole crochet thing…?... nightmare.

at homespun i found an almost exact color match with ryc cashsoft dk (kingfisher)

seaming went much quicker with the cashsoft. once i did the single crochet around the outside i could not find where the loops were to pick up for crochet so i took it out and used the cashsoft dk & cashmerino held double for the crochet edging. whew. all done but the sleeve trim!

i had a try on… this yarn is wonderful.
i think i am in love.

sunset with mother seagull

why knit when you can buy yarn?

money spent in a wool shop equals many hours of browsing entertainment.... who could ask for more?

well today it sort of all came together....


today's formula: 2 skeins @ $20 per skein/3 hours = $14 per hour.... a little more expensive than the movies.... but look at what i came back with~

this is a hand dyed fluffy angora goodness called 'peter rabbit' which i found in point grey village at this 'worth the 40 minute bus ride' yarn shop called urban yarns.

two stores down from urban yarns is~ the cloth shop which sold these wonderful vintage style small people patterns from oliver + s, this beautiful book cupcake!, and amy butler fabrics.

and to top it all off this neighborhood had a sushi restarant & a cheese and wine bar, oh my...

blue top and a salty sea breeze

well, i heart sunny and much cooler (than texas) vancouver. even better, from where i am currently sitting i can see large (!) furry baby seagulls wandering about. with luck they will get close enough for a picture but i am not hopeful, i have been watching them for a while and they seem to like the "just out of my lens distance."

~ camera shy big furry babies.

i have been working on the short sleeve top. i have finished the back and the size looked right so i started working the fronts (working both at the same time) and about 4 inches in~ decided there was no question it was going to be too big. i need to run out today and buy a tape measure to work on adjusting the measurements because mine did not find it’s way into my travel knitting bag.

(mental note for travel... a place where one can buy a tape measure is not the sort of vacation attraction i prefer to spend my time hunting down....)

what i have noticed with this yarn is that the hardest part of working with it is the cast on. if you pull the stitches tight it tends to separate and bunch the strands and for me i ended up with a inconsistent loose edge. i can’t be bothered with finding a solution because this pattern has a crochet edging that i hope will hide it.

i was surprised that it was easy to rip out the front pieces with out any problem though. so far i have not split any stitches (silent sigh of relief) which is common complaint with cashmerino astrakhan…..

motoring on

our little malnourished dehydrated stray boston terrier

meet the new member of our family.

homegrown figelettes

yes these tiny little almost immature fruits grew from a tree in our yard.

…… even better we decided to sauté them with simple syrup and cointreau with a bit of nutmeg.

tasty……

projects to come...

i have been searching for a project that i will take with me to vancouver. i really had been looking for some time when i found this pattern in an old(ish) vogue knitting magazine i had in my fairly large bookcase(s) of patterns that may or may not be knit someday.

pattern: short sleeve top vogue knitting spring/summer 2005
pattern #05 by gabrielle hamill

yarn: karabella yarns empire silk

as you can see the pattern is written for a tall skinny nicole kidman… which i am not. my idea is to make something that would not have the v-neck down to my belly button and not to emphasize my petite upper proportions.


my solution begins with a nubbly bouclé yarn and an empire waist.
more details to come…..