And we are back...

...to our regular knitting content.

First a bit of blatant self-promotion. Interweave's Color Style should be coming out soon and I noticed that they have my mitts on a sidebar in the preview. Therefore I can now show you one of my FOs from last year. I will tantalize you with close-ups so you can see the finished object in the official pictures.
The mitts are made with 4 colorways of hand-painted yarn (3 multis and a solid) and the effect is that of color that is splashed on. They blend quite seamlessly and you can't see where one colorway begins and another one ends. They are knitted in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn.This is a photo of the top of the mittens and shows the pattern a bit more clearly. That is the end of the self-promotion.

My daughter just returned from a winter in Argentina. She brought back some lovely alpaca knits (sweaters and chullos) for others but I got natural alpaca yarn. She even had it wound for me. The colors are all natural shades of the alpaca. I think this will become a nice warm shawl to remember her winter visit there. The yarn is very lustrous and soft, which I think is a characteristic of the undyed alpaca. I noticed that with the black alpaca yarn I used to make the shawl/wrap for my SIL. It feels very different from the dyed alpaca I have used.
I have been knitting, and knitting, and knitting away on my Wild Apple. One sleeve is almost done. I am at the cuff. I need to do the little colorwork I am adding to the cuff and then the hem. I took the colored yarn with me on a trip last week but I forgot the chart. So I broke off the yarn, put the sts on a small circ and started the other sleeve. I'll finish the second sleeve and then do the colorwork on the first cuff. I can see the end now though it may take a couple of weeks. The pictures don't look any different so I'm not posting them.

Instead, I am going to talk about thoughts going through my head regardin another design. As you remember, I won yarn at Camp this year. I want to make an Elizabeth Zimmerman design to honor the fact that I won the yarn at Camp. The Hand-to-Hand Aran came to mind as knitting a hand-painted multi sideways makes vertical stripes. I was also inspired by one of the coats in the Japanese book that I talked about a few months ago. That coat is done in a variegated yarn with tiny cables that disappear into the fabric but affect the colors in a subtle way and add a hint of texture.
Of course, I am not doing an Aran. I don't have enough yarn and the patterning would be lost in a multi-colored yarn like this. I am just using the concept and the construction to create my own version. The yoke will be textured and the body in lace, which will enable me to eke out the yarn a bit more. Also, that way I can go up a needle size or two in the lace and make it flowing and drapey without compromising the structure of the sweater. The weight of a sweater hangs from the shoulders so making the shoulder area too loose causes the sweater to droop.
I swatched and came up with a combination of cables and background that I liked. Here's the swatch.
When I was on one of my trips this summer, I had some problem with the Wild Apple and couldn't continue. So I started on this as a stopgap. Since the Hand-to-Hand begins with a sleeve, I started a sleeve in the pattern above. But after knitting for a few inches above the ribbing, I realized that I really liked the plain purled fabric between the cables. Since I only have 1000 yds, I decided to eliminate the cables. I re-started the sleeve.
This makes a nice fabric. I like the way the colors play on the surface. However, I am getting 6.8 sts to the inch and I'm wondering what would happen if I went up a needle size and got closer to 6 spi, which is what the ball band recommends.

I am really in two minds about this. A tighter gauge, like the one I have above, will keep the sweater from stretching too much. I tend to prefer the tighter, denser gauge for wearability, especially in sweaters. But I've been told that my gauges are bullet-proof and maybe I should loosen up a bit. Maybe I'll start another sleeve in the new gauge and compare the two and then frog the one I don't like. Decisions, decisions...

For now, this is on hold. I'm working on the Wild Apple till it is done and then I'll start on this again. I love the colors in this yarn and I can't wait to work with it.

My Vegetarian Hundred

I am going off on a fun tangent this week.

One of my favorite blogs is Tigers and Strawberries, which I found when I was looking for recipes for my CSA produce. Barbara, the author of the blog, did a post on the Omnivore's Hundred from Very Good Taste, a UK blog. Then she created a Vegetarian Hundred which is more interesting for me.

Therefore, I present my responses to the her Vegetarian Hundred.

Here are her instructions followed by my annotated list.

"If you want to play along, here’s how you do it: copy the list, including my instructions, and bold any items you have eaten and strike out any you would never eat, and then post it to your blog. If you want, you can leave a comment here, linking to your results, or you can link back to this post so I can try and keep tabs on what folks have eaten and not eaten. Finally, if you think something else should be on the list–feel free to add that to your post, and add any comments you like to your own posting of the list. I am just as curious to see what people have to say about food as whether or not they have eaten them."

The Vegetarian Hundred

1. Real macaroni and cheese, made from scratch and baked
2. Tabouleh
3. Freshly baked bread, straight from the oven (preferably with homemade strawberry jam) - I've eaten the two separately but not together.
4. Fresh figs
5. Fresh pomegranate
6. Indian dal of any sort
7. Imam bayildi
8. Pressed spiced Chinese tofu
9. Freshly made hummus
10. Tahini
11. Kimchi
12. Miso
13. Falafel
14. Potato and pea filled samosas
15. Homemade yogurt
16. Muhammara
17. Brie en croute
18. Spanikopita
19. Fresh, vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes
20. Insalata caprese
21. Stir-fried greens (gai lan, bok choi, pea shoots, kale, chard or collards)
22. Freshly made salsa
23. Freshly made guacamole
24. Creme brulee
25. Fava beans
26. Chinese cold sesame peanut noodles
27. Fattoush
28. New potatoes
29. Coleslaw
30. Ratatouille
31. Baba ganoush
32. Winter squash
33. Roasted beets
34. Baked sweet potatoes
35. Plantains
36. Chocolate truffles
37. Garlic mashed potatoes
38. Fresh water chestnuts
39. Steel cut oats
40. Quinoa
41. Grilled portabello mushrooms
42. Chipotle en adobo
43. Stone ground whole grain cornmeal
44. Freshly made corn or wheat tortillas
45. Frittata
46. Basil pesto
47. Roasted garlic
48. Raita of any type
49. Mango lassi
50. Jasmine rice (white or brown)
51. Thai vegetarian coconut milk curry
52. Pumpkin in any form other than pie
53. Fresh apple pear or plum gallette
54. Quince in any form
55. Escarole, endive or arugula
56. Sprouts other than mung bean
57. Naturally brewed soy sauce
58. Dried shiitake mushrooms
59. Unusually colored vegetables (purple cauliflower, blue potatoes, chocolate bell peppers…)
60. Fresh peach ice cream
61. Chevre
62. Medjool dates
63. Kheer
64. Flourless chocolate cake
65. Grilled corn on the cob
66. Black bean (or any other bean) vegetarian chili
67. Tempeh
68. Seitan or wheat gluten
69. Gorgonzola or any other blue veined cheese
70. Sweet potato fries
71. Homemade au gratin potatoes
72. Cream of asparagus soup
73. Artichoke-Parmesan dip
74. Mushroom risotto
75. Fermented black beans
76. Garlic scapes
77. Fresh new baby peas
78. Kalamata olives
79. Preserved lemons
80. Fried green tomatoes
81. Chinese scallion pancakes
82. Cheese souffle
83. Fried apples
84. Homemade frijoles refritos
85. Pasta fagiole
86. Macadamia nuts in any form
87. Paw paw in any form
88. Grilled cheese sandwich of any kind
89. Paneer cheese
90. Ma Po Tofu (vegetarian style–no pork!)
91. Fresh pasta in any form
92. Grilled leeks, scallions or ramps
93. Green papaya salad
94. Baked grain and vegetable stuffed tomatoes
95. Pickled ginger
96. Methi greens
97. Aloo paratha
98. Kedgeree (the original Indian version without the smoked fish, not the British version with fish) - I've eaten khichdi, but I'm not sure that is the same thing.
99. Okra
100. Roasted brussels sprouts

That is pretty good, I think.

There are some things I would add to the list:

1. Rasam or sambhar vadai: vadas or vadais are lentil fritters which are soaked in a South Indian curry, either rasam or sambhar
2. Freshly made idlis: light as a cloud
3. Freshly made phulkas: Phulkas are a kind of chapati, made without any oil, and puffed up before being put onto your plate
4. Sugarcane juice: In India, the cane is crushed with a half a lime and served up straight or over ice. It is very dangerous to drink it as it is not cooked and can be contaminated but there is nothing more refreshing on a hot day.
5. Alfonso mangoes
6. Chikoos

I'd love to hear your thoughts on both the Omnivore's Hundred and the Vegetarian Hundred.

Knitting Progress Report

Thank you for putting my acquisitions into perspective! There is also a good reason why MaggieB's purchases were similar to mine and Maggie knows why. She and I travel to Camp together and sit next to each other (or close enough) that we can be enabled by each other's decisions. We definitely brain-wash each other with our purchases. Or maybe it is a keeping up with the Joneses sort of thing.

In the interest of knitting up all this lovely stuff, I present to you today my progress on the Wild Apple. These photos were shot early in the am using a flash, rather in daylight without the flash so the colors are bit off. But you can see what I need you to see.
I am about half-way down the first sleeve. I consider it halfway as the lower part of the sleeve is smaller than the upper. Instead of a ribbed cuff, I am going to do a set of the apples in colorwork on the cuff and then do a turned hem.I did a turned hem on the bottom of the body. I split the front and back at the side seam and knitted little facings. I spent a lot of time imagi-knitting this section and debating exactly what I was going to do. My concerns had to do with ensuring the edges didn't curl and reinforcing the split point which is typically just a running thread between two stitches. I remembered that Beth Brown Reinsel had suggested adding an extra st to the front and knitting it together with the first st of the back in Knitting Ganseys. She also had the front slightly wider than the back so the slit wasn't exactly at the side seam. The idea here is that you don't get that flare where the split is right at your hips on the side. It moves slightly to the back, not visibly so, but enough that the gap isn't exactly at the side. I used both of these techniques quite successfully in a gansey I knit a couple of years ago.

I moved the split 3-4 sts towards the back. That is about a half inch at my gauge (9 spi). I didn't have extra sts to knit together as I was knitting downward. So I just did a twist at the split, crossing the front st over the back. But as I knit the split sections, I noticd that the split was pulling apart. More thinking and imagi-knitting.

I was also concerned about the side edges of the split rolling. So I knew I had to do a hem there also. My first thought was to knit the hem the full depth of the split so I could sew the sides also. But I wanted a fairly deep split of 2.5" vs the 1" I had originally thought I was going to do. I also didn't really like knitting the split sections. I had 2 balls of yarn and was knitting them both together as I didn't want to have to count rows/rnds and make them match. I also don't mind purling but this wasn't just purling. I had to turn the sweater in opposite directions to avoid twisting the two yarns and to avoid having to lift and turn the sweater after each row. I also had to end in the middle of the front or back as it is difficult to tell where to start if you end at the side seam. For some reason, I don't like that. I like to stop knitting a row, as opposed to a round, at the end. I don't care where I pause on a round, for some reason. Weird, isn't it?

Anyway, I quickly realized that I didn't want to knit 2.5 more inches for the hem. So I came up with the idea of just knitting little side hems. In the process, I realized that I could also reinforce the split at the same time. Those tails are a bit longer than the 2.5" of the split. So after I sew up the sides of the split, I will sew the ends of the tails together above the split and hem it to the body at the side seam. That should provide enough reinforcement for those delicate threads at the split point. Stay tuned to hear if it all works out.

How did I have so much opportunity to imagi-knit? Think about all those rounds and rows of stockinette I was doing at 11 rows per inch. Plenty of time to try out all sorts of ideas and reject them. Also, you heard about imagi-knitting here first. I got the idea and the term from Kurt Fowler, a regular on the Sweater Wizard discussion group. I am a big-time imagi-knitter. I visualize what I'm going to do and how it might work out or not in my head. This allows me to anticipate and prevent major problems while also allowing me to decide between various solutions/options without wasting time knitting them up. It doesn't help with problems that were caused by inattention, stupidity or mis-calculation, but it helps me see when a technique might be a problem or not the correct solution.
Here's a shot of the waist shaping. It isn't entirely accurate because the armhole and hip width are the same. It looks as if the hip is wider in this shot. I must not have pulled out the armhole and positioned it correctly.

The sleeve is going along swimmingly. I did a provisional CO a la Barbara Walker aka the eensy-weensy spider CO and then used the same cotton thread to hold the sts for the sleeve. This kept the gapping at the armhole to a minimum and I only had to pick up a st or two to prevent a gap between the underarm sts and the sleeve sts. Remember my gauge. A st is nothing.

I am also using safety pins to count the decreases (as I did for the raglan increases and the waist shaping. This means I only have to count 4 rows at a time by holding the sweater up to the light and counting 3 holes above the pin before I need to make another decrease. Counting rows is difficult in this yarn, gauge and color. The yarn is fuzzy, the sts are tiny and the color doesn't reflect enough light. I put a pin on every decrease st.

I think I have made most of the decisions needed for this sweater. So my mind is moving on to the next one. I will have more on that next week but I thought I'd share some other thoughts related to last week's post.
This is the mitten from the Latvian Mittens book that I want to knit. It has 3 colors - a black background, a blue main design color and a purple complementary design color. A few weeks ago, I told you I was playing around with the yarn I bought at Camp for a chu'llo and a pair of mittens. This is what I came up with for the mittens and after a few weeks, I still like it. I have to see how it knits up. of course.
The main color is at the bottom. It is a heathery mid-brown from Harrisville Shetland that I bought from Elann. That will replace the black in the mitten. The light blue will be the main design color and the magenta on the right will replace the purple. The effect will be a bit different as the contrast and main design colors are similar in the original color scheme with the background being darker in value. Here the contrast design and the background are similar in value (though widely different in hue) and the main design color is much lighter. We'll have to see how that plays out in the actual knitting.

Next week I hope to show you some of my experiments with designing a sweater with the Lorna's Laces yarn I won at Camp.

Pretty acquisitions

First of all, let me welcome Terry to the readership circle. She is somewhere on a boat on the Pacific coast of Mexico. I've sat next to her at Camp for 2 years and missed her this year.

As promised, this is all eye candy. First, the yarn I won and am currently knitting. I don't normally knit yarn as soon as it is acquired. But I brought this along as a backup to the Wild Apple and I've had to put that aside for now due to some recalculation of numbers that is needed. I've started the sweater I have planned with this yarn twice and am thinking of re-starting it again. I have 1200 yds and I want to see if I can make the sweater I want in this yardage. It is a challenge. The yarn is mill-ends of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Motherlode. Secondly, Cheryl Oberle's hand-painted lace weight alpaca. It looks as luscious as it feels. The hand-painting/dyeing has caused some of the dye to split so there are shades of purple (for example) although the overall effect is that of the chartreuse that is the main color.
I also bought a random selection of brights in Jamieson and Smith jumperweight Shetland. This, combined with some Harrisville Shetland I got from Elann a while ago, is for my chu'llos and Latvian mittens.
I blame Colleen for this next lovely. She had one the last day of Camp and I fell in love. I paid for it and asked Michelle to pick one out and send it to me. Isn't it gorgeous? It is a nostepinne...
and it is a knitting stick. You can insert a needle into this hole and tuck the stick into your belt for fast and furious knitting. However, I don't have the long double points needed to use it. But I can use it as a nostepinne.
I went to Camp with the intention of buying the Knitting Workshop DVD. I did. But I also bought the new reprint of Mary Wright's guernsey book...
and the Faroese colorwork book...
(a peek at the contents)
and a lovely book in Latvian...
Don't ask me what it is all about but it is filled with fabulous photos of sweaters like this.
And last but not least, Liz Upitis's Latvian Mittens book. This is the mitten I am going to make first.
Whew! Isn't that quite a haul? Why do I succumb when I have way too much yarn, a great knitting library and everything else I need to knit?

A Day in the Life of Retreat 2.75, Part IV

This is the last of the behind-the-scenes at Camp photo essays. Today we will look at the last morning. In past years, we had the contest and the raffle on Monday morning but this made for a very hectic, even frantic morning. We would be rushing around trying to say adieus, do the contest and raffle, check-out and leave. So Schoolhouse Press decided to move the contest and raffle to Sunday and leave Monday for a nice leisurely breakfast and farewells. I thought it worked very well.

Nancy commented that it was a good thing I was dragging this out. Thank you Nancy! I am enjoying reliving the very short weekend that is Camp. It is really a long weekend but it feels shorter than usual because there is so much happening. Monday is for farewells. There are lots of hugs and chats. Some of us get to the room early and finish packing up or just sit and knit. Others come just in time for breakfast which is in an adjacent room.
It is also the last opportunity to take photos of really amazing things. Marilyn Van Keppel is modeling her winning contest entry - the Heere Be Dragone shawl.
Linda Lutz and Cheryl Oberle were busy during Camp tying knots in knitted fabric to make lovely shibori-dyed scarves. Linda had done a mini-workshop on this technique, and it is fascinating. But their tied scarves had a weird sort of textural aspect to them that I tried to capture. We decided the tied sections looked like multi-colored intestinal villi. The finished scarves are quite spectacular and not at all like villi - real or imagined.We wait in line to hug and say 'see you again!' to Meg.
We take lots of pictures. They have to last a whole year at least. Not everyone will be at next year's Camp. Camp seats are given out by lottery and so there is no guarantee we'll be back. Then there is the personal element. There are other things in life that may interfere with people coming back.
Everyone tries to say 'see you next year' to everyone else. Sometimes you meet up with someone on the last day without having chatted with them over the weekend. I try to move around the room and chat with different groups of people over the course of the weekend but sometimes schedules don't always enable me to talk to everyone. When I'm in the room after or before class, they aren't. Or they are deep in conversation with someone else. I make sure I at least wish everyone a good year on Monday.
Lastly, there is the Schoolhouse Press group. Meg and Michelle are wonderful and patient. They are always smiling and make Camp such a warm experience.
Monday is also settling-up day. The Schoolhouse Press staff is set up in the lobby and we get to finally pay for our purchases. From left, Michelle, Tami, Amy, Joyce and Eleanor. This is the time when reality hits home - "Did I really buy all that?"

Next week I'll show you what I bought - some impulse and some planned.

Edited to replace all the 'goodbyes' with other words per Nancy's comment.

A Day in the Life of Retreat 2.75, Part III

Today we will look at some special events that happen during Camp. The first is Market Day. On Saturday, one of the adjoining rooms is set up as a market. Vendors consist of both Camp attendees and non-attendees. I didn't take a photo of the market itself while it was happening as all you would see were bodies. This is the tail end of market.
There's fiber and yarn hung on racks.
Other goodies are spread out on tables. There is always a run on hand-painted yarn. This year, additionally, there was a crowd around a vendor selling hand-made wood objects and Jennie the potter, a Camp attendee. There are T-shirts, soap and spinning supplies.

Another important event is the contest on Sunday. Each year the campers suggest and vote on a theme for the following year. The theme this year was Mythical Beasts. Entry is completely voluntary and not everyone enters every year. Each contestant gets up and describes their entry, which is assigned a number. Once all the entries have been described or demonstrated (some are performance art), they are put on a row of chairs in the center of the room along with their numbers. Campers walk around and vote on their top 2 entries.
That is one side of the row of chairs with an entry on each one.Here you can see campers milling around the center examining the entries. It feels like musical chairs without the music as everyone shuffles around the chairs making up their minds on their top 2 entries.This is the other side of the row of chairs. You can see 'Mythical Beets' (a play on the theme) and a unicorn shadow knitted into a vest.

Another special event on Sunday is the raffle. There is a scholarship fund in Elizabeth's name to help deserving campers attend Camp without having to pay. I think there was enough money collected last year to have a scholarship winner at each session this year. Retreat 2.75 campers have a raffle to raise money for the scholarship fund. Many campers bring donations for the prizes. I need to remember to do this next year.

Amy does a fantastic job describing the prizes in glowing words. We decide on the value of a ticket and then buy as many as we want. The items are put in the center of the room (no chairs this time) and bins are put next to each one. We drop as many tickets into each bin as we want, with zero and 100% being acceptable numbers.Here you see one of the most valuable prizes in the foreground. The daughters of one of the campers embroiders a set of dish towels every year. Everyone wants to win them.Campers walk around and inspect the items and decide how to spend their raffle tickets above.While the raffle is going on, Christie counts the votes for the contest. Some of us spend a lot of time deciding what to vote on or what to compete for in the raffle and others decide rather quickly. The quick decision makers hang around in the back chatting.

There will be two more parts to this series. Yes, I am dragging it out because I am enjoying reliving Retreat 2.75 as I write this little diary. Also, there are so many photos that it is better spaced out a bit.

I want to welcome Terry and Dot Com Mom as readers. Thank you for your comments.

Nancy, I will be letting you in on the color scheme I'm currently considering for the mittens. I think I need more colors for the chu'llo but we'll see. Colleen, cool hats are always welcome, even if Waltham is not the frozen tundra. I see people wearing hats in the summer! And last but not least, Laura, I enjoy posting about Camp as much as you seem to be enjoying reading about it. And yes, everyone has a gorgeous lace shawl or an even more gorgeous fair-isle that they are modeling. It is a good thing the room is usually cold!

A Day in the Life will be right back after...

a short break for some knitting news.

I have been knitting quite regularly, maybe inspired by all the lovelies at Camp. First of all, I finished the socks I started back in February at Madrona. I've named these Boysenberry Waffles. You've seen them before. Here's the pair:
A close up of the broken rib pattern.
A closer look at the heel. You can see the little gussets I make so that I can work eye-of-partridge st on the heel and make it deeper. I purled the gussets so I didn't have to keep track of them. You just increase till you have the correct number of purled sts and decrease till all of them are gone.
I also made a beaded beret in Rowan Wool/silk in the Bramble colorway. I thought I would knit this at Camp and I swatched for it there but I didn't have enough beads. This is for a class where I'll be teaching two different beading techniques. My usual beading class involves about 10 different techniques but that involves just a sampler. Students wanted a real project so I came up with this. The brim has the beads threaded on and that was why I couldn't start without all the beads on the yarn. I use a Big Eye needle to thread beads as some of you may have seen when I was making my necklace. One can also use a floss threader but I find it too floppy to pick up the beads. This is a close-up of the finished brim with the shadowed diamonds pattern that I designed. The blue diamonds have a green shadow.
On the top, I put the beads on the st via a crochet hook. The crochet hook that fit the hole in the bead was too small to grab the yarn without splitting it. So I struggled with fixing the splits. I remembered that vanessa had mentioned that Oral-B Superfloss could be used for the same purpose. So I went out and bought some and voila! it worked beautifully. The Superfloss is not as fast as the crochet hook when it works well , but much faster than fixing a split st when it doesn't work as well. Yes, the photo is out of focus. But you can see the result. I'll take a better picture next time I pull out the camera.

I'm working on the Wild Apple. It has been slow going because I am increasing after the yoke. That means the rounds are getting longer and longer. I am up to over 500 sts between the front, back and two sleeves. But I am almost done. Once I divide for the underarms, the body is one long mindless knit. I knit really fast when I'm just doing mindless stockinette so it doesn't take as long as it might for others.

I don't win things. Or so I said till I went to Camp last year. I won two raffle items last year, a lot of vintage Rowan yarns and the Natural Knitter by Barbara Albright. This year I won some lovely skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Mill-ends in Motherlode. Frequently, folks bring items they've knit with winnings and prizes for show-and-tell. The vintage Rowan is very precious and I want to do something really beautiful and unique with it. However, I have a plan for the Lorna's Laces.

I am debating whether the Lorna's Laces project or a pair of mittens from Latvian Mittens or a ch'ullo inspired by Andean Folk Knitting by Cynthia LeCount is going to be my next project. I am failing miserably at coming up with a color scheme for the chu'llo (more in a future post) but I think I have a good one for a pair of mittens. So one of the first two will be next.

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled programming...