Gansey Saga, Part III

Progress is slow but sure. It is getting heavy and hot but I like the way it looks. I think I am going to make plain sleeves because otherwise it will be a very heavy sweater. I like the Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran yarn a lot. It feels almost cotton-y. Very soft and yet seems durable. I am about half way to the shoulder. I am sorry that I took this photo on the carpet. There is not enough contrast between the background and the sweater but I think you can see it.

This was a good mail week. Colourmart UK had a good deal on some yarns. All their yarns are good deals so this was an even better deal. 3 cones worth of yarn for the price of 2. So I bought 3 cones of linen/silk spun up to a heavy DK. From left to right, they are dark lime, turquoise and dark purple. The purple is very cool. It is like a shot color - with tones of magenta and purple. The others are solids. The colors came out quite true in this photo.

I think I'm in a color rut. After buying this yarn, I realized I had some Cheryl Oberle chartreuse laceweight in alpaca, and a denim and a purple in Joslyn Fiber Farm's Shine which is a wool/silk. Very similar in color to these. You would think I'd be knitting lace with all this laceweight yarn!

I also received my copy of Knitted Gifts. It is a very nice book. There are a few things I want to make from it - something I rarely think when I get a new book. I tried to take some photos to share but the flash is causing a reflection and it is too dark to take photos without a flash right now. So that will have to wait till the weekend. Maybe the next post will be devoted to my plans from Knitted Gifts. Back to the gansey for now.

Catch-up, an announcement, and contest entries

I am sorry I didn't post last weekend. I went to a wedding, and while I did take my laptop and my knitting and my camera, I didn't have time to create a post. But I am making up for it with a lot of content this week!

First of all, let me announce the availability of Knitfinder. My friend, Thérèse Shere, has created this marvelous site with indexes to Knitty, Interweave Knits magazine and the Alice Starmore patterns. She is a professional indexer so one can search by any number of criteria. She has also compiled a great reference list of web-sites, all indexed by type. It is a great resource for knitters and will be a go-to place for years to come.

Now, on to my activities. I spent a few hours yesterday at the Harney and sons tea store. They allow you to taste 4 teas that they are brewing along with one of your choice. Since there were 5 of us, we picked a few different options and tasted each other's individual choices. It was a lot of fun. I am trying to switch from coffee to tea as it has less caffeine.

I got this lovely mug to keep at work.

It comes with a stainless steel infuser and a lid.

Isn't that cool looking? The black band is a soft, squishy rubberized fabric to assist with holding the cup. Oh, and I bought some tea: a green, a white and an oolong.

I also promised to show you some of my Camp contest entries. Here is one. It is a bottle cozy made out of the leg of a sock where the foot has worn out.

Next, we have a mug cozy with a built-in coaster.

It fastens with a button recycled from an old winter vest. Here's a very blurry view of the bottom, showing the coaster part. I found it very difficult to shoot up while holding the cup steady. If you can't make it out, let me know and I'll take a better picture. This one uses the leg portion wrapped around the cup sideways, with a button band and a buttonhole band added to the top and bottom of the leg. I cut the sole between the toe and the heel to form the coaster and sewed it on with embroidery floss and buttonhole st to keep it from fraying too much.

I'll show you another version of a mug cardi next week.

Lastly, here is the measly progress on my gansey. I am up to the armholes. I hurt my right wrist last week and so have been on a mini knitting hiatus. I hope to show you the completed front and back next week!

The Gansey Saga Part II

I am making a lot of progress on the gansey. I love gansey patterns because they flow so well. I don't have to look at a chart or a pattern, I can see what I need to do based on what happened in the rounds below. If I make a mistake, it is a simple matter to drop down a round or two and fix it. For example, I didn't center one of the central diamonds in one of the repeats and discovered the error about 4-5 rounds later. I just moved the entire diamond 1 st to the left by dropping down sts and reworking the seed st. I can see how these sweaters were knitted on the go by the fishermen's wives and other women involved in the fishing industry.

I will post Camp photos in dribs and drabs so that I can make the experience last as long as I can.

Vanessa asked to see the spider but I thought I'd start with a moth. Here is a lace moth. Cute, isn't it? Better than any other kind of moth.
And here is the eight-legged Shetland spider. I don't think I'll ever make one of these but it is nice to know how to in case I want to be biologically correct.

Casting on - Knitsarina style

I always seem to cast on 3 times for anything. Mostly it is because I
am a Goldilocks when it comes to the tail of a long tail cast on. It
must not be too long or too short. It must be just right.

However I rarely cast on twice making the mistake I made today. I
misread the calculations I made and cast on twice the desired number
of sts! Something didn't seem quite right but I did not figure it out
till after I had cast on 416 sts TWICE!

True to my usual experience the cast on tail was perfect the 3rd time,
when I only needed to cast on 208 sts. Whew! Glad I figured it out
before I knit too far on the larger number of sts.

Heading home

All good things must come to an end. We had a ball at Camp yesterday
with mini workshops on speed swatching and jogless jogs - both for
fair isle. We also had a long discussion on necklines of various sorts
and saw the lovely sweater which will be in the next Wool Gathering.

We had our annual Raffle and contest which are always exciting. Lastly
we hung out in the classroom till late at night stretching out the
Camp experience. Today was a sad day. We had to pay the piper -settle
our bills with Schoolhouse Press and stop drooling over the books and
yarn. We had a goodbye breakfast and shared hugs and farewells before
packing and checking out.

I am at the airport on my way home now.

End of day 2

Time sure flies by when you are having fun! Today we had a mini
workshop on double knitting from M'lou Baber (author of the latest
double knitting book from Schoolhouse Press) and a number of really
spectacular show-and-tell items. We had market day in the afternoon
and I snagged some gorgeous laceweight from Cheryl Oberle as well as a
shawl pin. I also got a cute mug from Jenny the Potter. Pics when I
get back. I practiced my spindling for quite a while this evening.

End of Day 1

Today we had mini workshop on making an 8 legged lace spider from
Bridget Rorem, discussions on sleeve shaping, Japanese short rows, and
other deep knitting discussions.

I exercised, showered and am ready to go out to dinner. Then back to