Quick Update

I've been super busy, here are a few shots of what I'm doing right now.

Plain sock, knit with colorful yarn and contrasting heels and toes.

These were my train knitting, brainless and entertaining.

Now I'll have to come up with something else simple to work on while traveling.

I just started a swirl scarf, from the Swirl Shawl pattern that Mom gave me.

Knitting these little hexagons is probably not the best train knitting. They're easy enough, but don't seem like they'd be good for frequent stopping and starting.

Hat and more of the Mittens

I have decided that I need a hat that won't clash with my Bohus Mittens.
I started playing with excel, and have cast on for a Bohus inspired hat.


Knitting close up.
It will never be as delicate, or look as blended, as the true Bohus. This yarn is heavier (though still fine at 7 stitches to the inch) and doesn't contain any angora.



The yarn, the chart, the knitting.

I'm reworking my charted ideas as I go. Some things that looked great on paper just don't seem right in yarn. I was going to try a tam type of hat, but then I decided that I shouldn't mix colorwork and major shaping in my frist color design. So it's slated to be a basic beanie style hat, with colorwork going around the side, one color ribbing, one color top.


And, a mitten update.


Close up of pretty cuffs attatched to mitten hand.



Left hand progress, hand is done, thumb is almost done.



The two in-progress mittens together. Phase one is almost complete, just a little knitting to go on the left thumb. Next I knit the flip top part of each hand. Then I'll work on the lining.

Then I can wear them.

More Mittens

I started the mitten part of my mitten last night!
Still obsessed.

Mitten number one, thumb gusset created & held on thread untill I can come back and knit it. Hand progressing nicely, almost time to work on the flip top that I'm planning. These are mittens for a girl who needs to use her fingertips in a cold, cold city.

These are also mittens for an ambitious knitter who thinks the mitten part of this pair needs to live up to the cuff part of this pair. They must be fancy with couture details, just like a Bohus sweater.

Sunday's are for Spinning?

I'm copying the Yarn Harlot's idea that one day should be for spinning, so that it doesn't get taken over by the knitting. And we all know that I let things get taken over by my knitting.

So this is what I worked on today.

It looks better in person.

This is the roving I haven't spun yet. It's so pretty.

It's a merino bamboo blend called Galapagos. It's super soft. I can't wait to ply it and make something, maybe a hat.

More Secret Knitting

Secret knitting for Sandy's birthday!

I designed a hat a mittens with matching cables. Designing the cable took a minute, but I really like how it turned out.

This is a close up of the cables on the hat.

And the set.

They are made from Malabrigo, a super soft merino yarn from Peru. I have it from the birthday girl that they are "so soft!"

Bohus Stickning

My current obsession.
Blue Shimmer wristlets and the alpaca blend I bought to turn them into mittens.

Mom and I took Susanna Hanson's Bohus Stickning class at Stitches Midwest. I am completely in love! I love the geometric designs, I love the subtlety of the fine color patterns, I love how the angora blooms and makes it even more blended, I love how the angora feels. (Mine haven't really bloomed yet as they're still beeing kept in a plastic bag)

A close up of one wristlet. The red thread at the bottom is a provisional cast on and will not show in the final mittens.


Susanna told us about the history of the Bohus Stickning company/movement. I imediately grabbed the Poems of Color book from the library and started obsessing. I really want to get one of Solveig Gustaffson's kits. She is meticulously recreating the dye formulas from the original sweaters. Look at her site and drool a little. I have been. Mostly over the Wild Apple, the Egg and the Forest Darkness.

Paraphrasing Susanna:
Bohus Sticking began as a way to help out an economically depressed region of Sweden. It was a coture design house, retailing sweaters for hundreds of dollars. About a third of the profits went back to the knitter (not the percentage usually paid to textile workers). The company closed it's doors when the demand started to die off in the late 60's, not wanting to sacrifice construction methods or materials to bring prices down.

Secret Knitting

I have been doing a little secret knitting.

I designed a little cozy for the teapot that Sandy & Derrick wanted. Sandy liked a teapot with a little leaf detail that Derrick wasn't so into. They opted for a simpler teapot, I put leaves on the cozy.

Great little fabric buttons.

And their tea tray. You can barely see the tray because our table is almost as dark as the tray. That scone mix is my all time favorite, super easy and always delicious. I like to add things like dried cranberries or almonds, but it's great plain too.

Delicious Pasta

From the fantastic Smitten Kitchen site. Thanks Sandy!

My pasta shells.

Home made roasted red pepper vinaigrette (in the jar the roasted peppers came in) with the snow peas.

My peas, I did not buy fresh and shell them, I defrosted them.

And voila! The lovely pasta salad, not a nicely photographed as the original, because I was hungry and impatient.

More Baseball

Baseball

Sweaters

See this sweater that I am knitting, see how far I am?

I am going to rip it all out.

It was going to be like this green sweater... Very cute, right? Good design, nice shape, flattering on the model. Only problem is I'm not built like the model. And my yarn is a bit bulkier than called for, making the sweater even less drapey than the original. Not good.

The February Lady by Flint Knits.

See this sweater? (Tiny picture I know) It's made from a yarn as bulky as the red yarn above. It's also pretty cute, good design, etc... And I think it will look much nicer on my figure than the green one.

Carmela's Cardigan by Patton's Design Team.

So I am ripping the sweater, to use the yarn for a something I'll actually wear. Maybe I'll try the green one again some day.

Beauty Shots

The hand painted sock yarn that I took with me to knit a wrap while on vacation.  

The two colors of tweed yarn that I bought at This Is Knit in Dublin.  

The roving and drop spindle from the Handweavers Studio in London.  

Silk top also from Handweavers Studio.  

Eggplant colored wenslydale wool from I Knit in Waterloo.  

Hand painted roving, also from I Knit.  

Silk lace weight (yes it's from Habu, but I never see Habu here in Chicago), also from I Knit.  

Lovely soft merino cashmere blend that I bought at Loop in Islington.  

And lambswool, also from Loop, that I have now seen all over Chicago!  Oh well.  

One of my yarn buying goals was to try for things that I can't get here in the states.  

New Favorite Yarn

I ordered this blue green yarn from an online shop.  It is super soft, very cushy.  I made everyone pet it.  

I think I'm going to use it for a gift though, so I hunted online and in real life for more.  

I bought this at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and I'm going to order some in a pale pink from e-bay.  Yum.  

A Little More Detail

All cell phone photos, sorry for the crappy quality.

Josh, on the plane.


First sight of Ireland.

First pints, Bulmers.

Saturday morning.

And 5 minutes further down the street.

The Bride! This was very late and we were all quite drunk.

Salamanca, a lovey tapas place where we all met for dinner the day after the wedding.

Trinity College.

My peeps on Grafton Street, no family discount.

Delicious kebabs from Zaytoon's, highly recommended post pub.

Pints at O'Neil's.

The Guinness Storehouse, completely overrated, even when we were in the mood for touristy schlock. I say wikipedia how beer is made (if you aren't already aware) while you grab a pint somewhere else.

Josh, on a bus, whizzing past Christ Church. We did go in, another day.

First sight of London.

Parliament.

Dr. Laura Miller, my cousin, knows how to show a girl a good time.

Mr. Toby Joe, best dog of the trip!

Pigeon wanted in at Tate Modern.

Josh, pretty much how he looked the whole trip. (Camera to face)

Harrods.

Regent Street Apple Store.

Need I say more?

Our last look at Dublin.

My Loot!

Irish yarn purchased in Dublin at This Is Knit.

My new drop spindle, handmade on the Isle of Wight, with a little wool I purchased to play with, from the Handweaver's Studio in London.

Silk for spinning, also from the Handweaver's Studio.

Cashmere Merino blend, so soft, from Loop in Islington.

Lambswool, one of the softest things I've ever touched, also from Loop.

Reddish silk from Habu on a cone, a braid of hand dyed roving, and DK weight Wenslydale in an eggplant color (it just looks black), all from I Knit in Waterloo.

And on our last day Laura taught me how to crochet! She also bought me a wonderful little book, so I practiced all the way home on the plane and was able to complete my very first granny square. Yarn is GGH something or other purchased at Loop solely for the purpose of learning to crochet.   

The whole trip my travel knitting was the Clapotis Wrap knit out of a Cascade hand painted sock yarn. I got this far.

I actually ripped out the entire thing tonight. I had started it a little skinny, hoping to get by with one skein, I realized that that wasn't going to happen, so I bought another skein and am starting over, full sized. Why knit it skinny when I now have enough yarn?