Madrona report and knitting

I'm sorry I didn't post last week. To make up for it, I am posting a very, very long update this week.

First of all, we went to the glass museum in Tacoma. To access it from the hotel where the fiber arts retreat is held, you walk across a bridge of glass. One side of the bridge is lined with a gallery of Chihuly glass objects called the Venetian Wall . Here are some of the items showing how they are arranged. The light coming through the back is daylight. This section is open to the air though the objects are inside cases.

These photos are taken with my cell phone camera so they aren't the best. I forgot to take my real camera to Madrona.

Another section of the gallery.
A third section. The objects are amazing.
These glass block towers are at the end of the bridge, showing a promise of things to come. Another section of the bridge is covered. The ceiling is filled with Chihuly glasswork that makes it look like a coral reef.
More ceiling.

We spent 3 hours at the museum in the Hot Shop watching Lino Tagliapietra making gorgeous glass objects. His specialty is balloon like glass objects with lots of color and long trailing ends. You can see a bad photo of two objects on the table below. Again, I blame my cell phone camera. You can see better photos at the link above and here. At Madrona, I took a stash busting scarf weaving class. The yarn I brought with me was too fragile for the warp so I borrowed yarn from the teacher, Syne Mitchell. Syne is the author of the Weavecast and is an amazing teacher. We used a rigid heddle loom and completed this scarf in a day. I am very pleased with mine. It looks very Indian to me. I braided the fringe.I bought these persimmon dyed skeins. Chris Conrad uses a Japanese method called Kakishibui to dye these. The lavendar grey comes from iron and the golden color is the natural color from the dye. These are skeins of tencel. They will become a shawl but I don't know what kind yet.

I also took a class from Janine aka Feralknitter. As I was knitting the swatches in class, I realized that I had almost no yellow in my small collection of Shetland at home. So I invested in 5 skeins of yellow Shetland.

I also used a coupon to get a discount on these skeins of Mini-Mochi sock yarn. I love the colors.

Lastly, I finally finished the Lorna's Laces sweater after much ripping. I had to re-do the hem twice. The first time I went down a needle size without thinking and the resulting hem was too small to go over my head. A few minutes of thought made me realize that for a lace pattern that stretches, with a garter hem, I needed to go UP a needle size, not down. Since my size 8 KP Harmony needles had the same problem as my size 7 ones, I decided to use the size 9 and make a split hem. So 2 bodies and 3 hems later, it is done.
Here is a close-up of the body pattern. I used the coin lace pattern without any bordering twisted stitches for the body. You drop the stitch in between the coin lace to create the lacy effect. I get the vertical lines I wanted and the color of the garment below breaks up the striping.

I also pulled out my copy of Spinning the Old Way and started reading it. I am determined to practice my spinning. I thought I would do it every Thursday but last week I had to go grocery shopping and was too tired to spin after. But my resolution is to spin at least once a week.

That is all for now. I am starting a modular sweater for a knit-along but I'll save that for later.

Madrona, here we come!

I'm sorry! I made a mistake and took the completed socks to the yarn store without taking their portraits. So while I finished the socks, I have nothing to show you. I promise I will photograph them and post the photo the next time I go the yarn store. They are for a sock knit-along so I wanted to get them there as a sample.

In the meantime, I've been getting ready for the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat. It starts this Thursday and runs through Sunday in Tacoma. Last year was my first year and I had such a good time that I decided to go back.

First, I had to find a way to transport my spindle because I am hoping to practice my spindling when I am there. There are lots of superb spinners there and I need help desperately. After much searching, I found this tin at the local wine store. It is cute.

It makes a good spindle transporter because there is room to package the spindle in bubble wrap and it is rigid.

This is my spindle with the pathetic amount of yarn I have spun on it over a couple of years. It is a lovely Bosworth spindle that feels gorgeous so I want to spin some more on those days when I am brain dead and can't knit.

I am taking a weaving class and this is the yarn I've put together for the class. They are all laceweight singles from Morehouse Merino. I have to finish winding the remaining skeins tonight before I pack.

The other class I'm taking is from Feral Knitter who is an amazing fair-isle designer. She is going to teach us how to pick colors for fair-isle. One of her designs is in Sweaters From Camp and I've seen her lovely designs at Knitting Camp each summer.

Raindrop Lace socks

This is my new project which is going gangbusters. It is enjoyable knitting. It requires some thought and attention but not much.

Here's the pattern. It is an Evelyn Clark design by Fiber Trends.

Here's a close-up of the stitch pattern. It is a very simple 4 row variation on Feather and Fan. I love Feather and Fan variations. The needles are my very favorite Rhodo-Cristal Nacre needles. I bought them at Patternworks when I first started knitting socks and I love the slickness of them and the pointy ends. Pony Pearls are just not as slick or pointy for me. The yarn is Claudia's Hand-painted Yarn in Country Kitchen. It is very soft and I'm not sure how well these socks will last given the looser gauge (7 spi vs my usual 9 spi) and the merino. But it is a pleasure to knit with and the socks will be lovely to wear. I just have to be gentle with them.

I am past the heel gusset on the first sock. I should finish it in a day or so. The leg looks a bit long and skinny but it is extremely elastic and as it becomes wider, it shortens. It should be fine once worn.

Here's a view of the stitch pattern once it is stretched out. Isn't it pretty? I love the way the handpaint looks in this pattern.

More knitting fun next week!

Moving past mittens

I finished one mitten this week and delivered it to the store as a sample for the class. It turned out well. I will make the other one at a later time when it isn't such a stress on my hands.

Here is the mitten on my hand. Since it is a right hand mitten, I was trying to take a pic with my left hand and so it is a bit out of focus. But I wanted to show that since the other two photos look identical.
This is the back of the mitten. Once blocked, the fringe no longer curls up. I was worried about that but it blocked out nicely.
This is the palm. If you look carefully, you can see the thumb. I am very pleased how invisible it is because that is the way it is in Liz Upitis's book. So now I feel as if this is authentic.On to a simple pair of socks for another class. It is an Evelyn Clark design and I'm using Claudia's handpainted sock yarn. I'll save photos of that for next week.

No further mitten progress

My hands have been bothering me. I have carpal tunnel syndrome as well as some inflammation in my elbows and shoulders. For some reason, it has been feeling worse the past few weeks. The mittens seem to make things worse.

So I am not knitting. I also started acupuncture for the problems. I will make progress on the mittens slowly but I may start knitting something at a larger gauge.

Therefore, this is a very boring post. There is nothing to report.

Off to a slow start in 2009

The mittens are out of hibernation but I didn't knit at all this week. On Sunday, I undid the top of the mitten and fixed the problem of the sts that were just dangling there. I also picked up the thumb sts and put them on a needle. You can see the mitten here. It is looking good and I should be finishing the thumb but somehow I wasn't in a mood to knit. Maybe this week will be different.
Here is a full view of it. They are looking good, better than I expected. Now to finish this one and start the other one.

End of year finishing binge

A very happy New Year to all of you! May 2009 be a wonderfully happy, healthy, prosperous and fiber-filled fun year for all. May we see more peace and less strife and hatred in the world. 2008 was the first full year for this blog and I think I have developed a rhythm and a voice in that time. At first I was unsure of what to write about and whether I could come up with enough to write about each week. Now I find I almost always have something to say, whether anyone cares or not!

This is a finishing binge for me. I rarely finish a couple of items in a week because I am usually working on only one item at a time. The headband is done. This is the outside. That pattern is supposed to be a snowflake. I am very proud of the seamless nature of the construction.
This is the inside. All smooth and nice. It is very warm and thick and soft. I think my daughter will enjoy wearing it.I also was not in the mood to pick up the mittens yet. So I finished a garter st scarf that was a 'learn to knit' project for my daughter. It is at least 5 or 6 years old. I took it to a New Year's Eve dinner at my sister's and finished it except for weaving in the ends. I did that on Jan 2nd.

One of the things I realized was how much my finishing skills have improved over the years. I taught my daughter to weave in the end as she went when she finished the first skein. When I added others, I left the ends dangling and just duplicate stitched them. The latter makes for a more reversible fabric than the former. Oh well. One lives and learns.
Today it will be back to the mittens. I hope to undo the top and get the sts onto needles today and then I'll work on finishing the first one without mistakes during the week. Wish me luck! Thank you for your commiseration on the mittens. I love them, I really do and they will be nice and warm but I hate fixing this sort of thing.