Summit

A few days ago I finally was able to arrange a photo shot with Mom to take pictures of the Summit shawl. Even though this project is very repetitive I didn't find it boring at all. I still have yet to cast on the red Summit due to other more important projects. I hope that I'll have it done for vacation.




Specs:
Pattern: Summit Shawl from Knitty.com by
Yarn: Tess' Designer Yarns Raw Silk Silver
Needles: 4 Addi Turbo Lace
For: Mom
Started: April 5, 2010 Finished: May 11, 2010

Mods: I knitted thirteen repeats instead of the original 15 worked in the pattern. No other modifications needed. This design is true genius.

Dye Day Revisted

Several of the dye day participants brought their yarn to the guild meeting tonight. It is always amazing to see the difference drying makes.


Nova used Raspberry, Deep Pink and Desert Rose for her handpaint.

Millie used Terra Cotta, Slate and Deep Violet for hers.

Eliza used Turquoise, Turkey Red and Pumpkin.
I finally blocked the Summit Shawl. Only in blocking does it show its' true beauty. I've been showing it off today but the pictures will have to wait until mom returns from Las Vegas.


I was seriously considering not making the other two that I bought the yarn for but the red silk will be the next in line.

I am almost finished with the front of the Circles and Butterflies sweater. I am having fun with this project and loving the results. I can't wait to dive into the stash for the next design. I'm finally going to be able to use some of the yarn that I couldn't find the right pattern to knit. Next I'm going to have to devote some serious time to the Master Knitting program.

Old Habits Die Hard

Last Saturday I went to the market at Stitches South in Atlanta. I made a short list of what I intended to buy. It didn't work.

I was easily seduced by the abundance of yarn, patterns and other knitting-related goods. The fact that I was traveling with the great enabler aka Mom didn't help the situation. My favorite purchase is the yarn bowl. I put it to use immediately in the hotel that Saturday night.


We met up with two of our Palmetto Purlers, Millie and Brenda, and some of our Greenville knitting guild friends. Needless to say we had a blast. I also took a continental knitting market session and have been practicing regular since then. I was having a problem with the purl and tension but have worked both of those out since then.

Shirley Paden the author of Knitting Design Workshop is doing an online workshop in the form of a KAL for her Ravelry group. She gave us a stitch pattern which we are to use as the basis for a sweater or scarf. I've elected to do the sweater and this weekend did my swatch.


It is Circles and Butterflies. I'm using Katia Austral from the stash in a nice rose color. I bought this when it was discountinued at my lys several years ago. I've been waiting for the right project and this is it. I still need to have my measurements taken so that I will be ready for the next session in which will be calculating all the parts of the sweater based on our individual measurements. I'm really excited about these workshops and hope that I can use them to work up some of the yarns I have in the stash for which I haven't been able to find that perfect pattern.

I'm so close to finishing the Summit Shawl.


It seems that I'm never going to finish the little ball that is left. I haven't been working on it regularly or anything else for that matter. I've been trying to bring some order to the craft room. It was out of control before I went to Stitches. In order to tame some the of the chaos, I created kits using the yarn already stashed and some that was acquired prior to Stitches (couldn't resist the Webs sale). There are sweater, sock and shawl kits. I like the idea of just walking in and picking something out of one of the bins to work on. I was getting overwhelmed and I think this will eliminate some of that.

Shawl Fever

My Charlotte's Web Shawl is blocking...


I have Summit on the needles ...


and my Aeolian is in temporary hibernation. It seems that I'm hung up on shawls for the time being. I've made two already this year. I love the look of shawls and they are perfect for my office which is always too cold. When I wear one I find that I don't have to run the heater as much.

I made another visit to my favorite online store Webs. I've had the "Best of Lopi for several years so I finally broke down and bought the Lopi to make the sweaters I marked when I first got the book while it is still on sale. Some of this is backordered so I'm not sure if they will hold it or ship. I had to call them today and replace one of the colors since it had been discontinued. These sweaters are part of my plan to start my cold weather knitting now.

Basketball is over but one of my favorite shows is back on tv. I love the Top Chef series and once again it is the masters. It's been over a month since I watched my regular shows which has resulted in a total disruption of my viewing schedule. I was glued to ESPN or CBS with an occasional foray to the SYFY chanel (hate that name).

I'm trying to organize a dye day for the guild. I sent out a survey yesterday so I'm waiting to see how many responses I get. This will be the first time that I've done something like this so I'm trying to make sure that I cover all of the bases. It won't be anytime soon because everything is covered in green pollen. Because we haven't had any rain it is horrendous. I don't recall it ever being this bad. Hopefully the rain that they are predicting will come through.

Time to go rest the shoulder and neck. It's been acting up again so I have to treat it with a little extra tlc.

Yarn Love

My order of Koigu arrived Thursday. It is gorgeous!!!


I've never had this much Koigu in my possession at one time. Of the colors I purchased two where really suitable for my Charlotte's Web shawl. One had more green and the other is a darker variation of the color I used for the fourth color change. I used the latter and am now debating as to how I shall finish it. This was a stash project until I needed an additional color. With all that Koigu calling for a new home I couldn't help myself!

Margaret Fisher taught Brioche knitting in her workshop "A Sampling of Stitches". I fell in love with the stitches and purchased Nancy Marchant's Knitting Brioche. In addition to containing a wealth of stitch patterns it also contains some beautiful projects.

Webs is having their Anniversary sale. I purchased yarn for two Brioche Knitting patterns and ChicKnits.com Cerisara. I received the announcement of the new Cerisara pattern by e-mail and immediately purchased it. The pattern has a three-quarter and sleeveless version. It is an open front cardigan with lace yoke accent. You can allow it to hang open or close it with a decorative closure. I will make both versions.

I am also working on Nina from the Debbie Bliss Prima Collection. I'm using Cotton Cashmere from the stash. My original goal was to knit a skein a day. At that rate it would have taken me 11 days to complete the actual knitting. Due to the arrival of the extra Koigu I've deviated from that schedule but I plan to pick back up this week when the shawl is finished. Since it is stockinette it will be my main travel project.

I've been giving serious consideration to changing my knitting plan. I typically knit heavier weight garments during the fall/winter and lighter weight garments in the spring/summer. This year I'm planning to knit more heavy garments during the summmer and vice versa. I hoping that this will allow me to get more use out of the seasonal garments. Since it gets so hot down here I'm not sure how this will work out but I'm willing to give it a try.

March Madness is almost over which means a significant portion of my life will get back to normal. I'm going to miss the games but there is a lot that I need to get done. It's time for spring cleaning and planting the vegetables. The latter may have to wait until more of our yellow-green storm (pollen) calms down.

Taking a note from some other Ravelers and bloggers I have started creating project bags. I'm sure this will help in the stash management. Since a lot of my yarn is in sweater size amounts I've started looking for patterns that will match the yarn and recording the info. The plan is that this will aid me in deciding what to make since I will know in advance what pattern to use. The jury will be out on this for a while so I'll have to see how it goes. In the meantime I'm going to work on finishing current projects and wips.

If you haven't already checked out the new Knitty. The Summit. This is a genius pattern. I have already ordered and received the yarn and cast on this pattern. I opted for the exact yarn used in the pattern Tess' Designer Yarns Raw Silk. At first I thought I wouldn't like it. The colors didn't appear to be what I wanted but once I started knitting I see that it is perfect.


It is truly great to live in an era of such inspired knitting.