Category: knitting

It’s February and we’ve got snow! Admittedly it is a few degrees warmer than it has been, but there’s still plenty of time to knit things to help us stay warm.

Bruce got his mittens a couple of weeks ago and I finally finished my “Hedgerow” socks today.  I am very pleased with how they came out.  There was one potential crisis yesterday – with just 17 rows to go (in the section where I was shaping the toe) I ran out of yarn!  Help!

Here’s how close to being done I was when I ran out:

Now what?  Went to the closet to see what I had that was the same weight of yarn and might not clash too badly and found another ball of the exact same yarn!  I had bought it quite a while ago and totally forgot that I had bought two balls!  Saved!

So, I was able to finish these off without further incident:

I look forward to trying them out in the next few days.  But, what to do next?  On the keeping warm front, my office is on the notoriously cold side of the building (which just so happens to be the notoriously warm side in the summer) so I’ve taken to wearing fingerless mitts while working at my computer.  The only pair I have is actually one of my first knitting attempts – a pair of reddish brown “Fingerless Garter Mitts” from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford.  I feel a bit like Bob Crachett whenever I put them on – just give me a green eyeshade and I’m ready to go!

Apparently, it’s time to upgrade to something a bit more elegant.

I bought some black fingering weight alpaca off the clearance rack at Stitches & Scones a couple of months ago thinking I’d use it to make a wrap or shawl but it’s perfect for the pattern I’ve selected – Alexandra Brinck’s “Linda K’s Yummy Mummy Wristwarmers.”  I’m 6 rows in and, so far, so good!

This seems like a perfectly ironic time to talk about the wonderful time we had in New Orleans over Christmas! Not only was it amazing to tour the city but we also had to opportunity to find some very cool caches. Two of particular note were GCGFHX – Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen and GCE02C – View Carre’.   The first is a virtual in St. Louis Cemetery #1 – not only did we find the needed information for the cache but we also spent a good while exploring and photographing this wonderful, historic cemetery.  The other is the one cache in New Orleans that I’d say is an absolute ‘must do.’  Not to give too much away, I’ll just say that it will give you a unique ‘vertical’ experience.

Before we left home I did check if there were any knitting or needlework shops in the area.  I discovered the Garden District Needlework Shop wasn’t all that far from where we were staying!

The day we visited, there was a fair amount of traffic in the shop, which was quite large.  Housed in an old building in a quaint shopping and dining area, Garden District Needlework consists of one large room with areas for sitting and shopping.  There is also a smaller room up front dedicated to sale merchandise.

The shop is a combination of knitting and embroidery (focusing on painted canvas) so I set right to browsing through everything!  As painted canvas has never been a particular preference of mine, I went through the embroidery section fairly quickly but did pick up some Caron Watercolors in a fun Tahiti colorway (on sale, too!) that I think I’ll use for the Hardanger amulet bag from the EGA State Day and two skeins of Pure Palette silks in shades of green.

On the knitting side, they did have a wide variety including many of the ‘staples.’  I focused on the sock yarns as I believe they’re easiest to buy while traveling.  Oops, I may have gone a teensy bit overboard here!  I got JitterBug in a beautiful pink that will most likely end up as a scarf and also in more ‘manly’ colors for socks for Bruce.  They also had TOFUtsies in a black, tan and cream combo that had Bruce’s name written all over it.

Finally, I found some Muench Cleo in the sale room.  This metallic & viscose yarn should make a fun scarf for the office – it’s a silver around a core of Mardi Gras colors – a terrific souvenir of this trip!

All of this new yarn is patiently waiting to be used because I’ve been focusing on the black, blue and purple projects this week.  Bruce’s mittens should be done tonight so I can post photos in a day or two.  My poor purple socks are sitting with one done and one left to cast on.  They’ve been put aside so I could use my blue yarn to make some small items to help the monkeys get in the spirit for the big game tonight!  Mongo has some socks and Cecil, despite what he says in the comic strip, is pleased with his new hat and scarf.

No, no, no I’m not bruised.  Looking at my current projects I realized that I’ve got one purple, one black and two blue!

Remember me saying I had too much yarn? Well, the purple is the only one that came from my stash. Yes, I went shopping!  But it was for a good reason.  Guess I better explain.

The purple project is a pair of socks in a pattern called ‘Hedgerow’ by Jane Cochran.  The first one came off the needles last night and I’m very pleased.  Now to cast on #2 so I can start to wear them!

The black project is a pair of mittens for Bruce.  I was looking on Ravelry a week or so ago and saw this new pattern called Troiclaux by Kim McBrien.  They’re perfect for Bruce!  I’ve got the first one cast on but I’m not going to post any photos so you can all try and imagine what they will look like!

Over the weekend I learned about a program called ‘Super Scarves‘ – an effort to produce 8,000 hand knit scarves for the volunteers for the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis!  I figured I should do my part and make one so I picked up the necessary blue (and white) yarn at Stitches & Scones last night.  While there I did also get a skein of Colts Blue for myself and am trying to decide what to try and finish before the Big Game on Sunday!  One suggestion has been some socks for the new monkey . . .

Earlier today I took some photos of purchases from shops I plan to review and I realized something – I’ve got a lot of yarn!  Too much?  Well, can you really have too much?

On top of that, I got a package from KnitPicks yesterday with the kit for a week’s worth of socks – I do love the colors but don’t quite know when I’ll get to them!

What all this tells me is I better get knitting!  Fortunately I’ve got a pair of socks on my needles.  Hope to have enough progress for photos soon.

Ok, ok, I need more needlework or knitting supplies like I need a hole in the head – but that certainly doesn’t in any way mean I shouldn’t visit new shops when I travel!

Last fall, when I went to the EGA National Seminar in Pittsburgh, I was able to stop at Ewe Can Knit – a shop within a shop (417 Wood St, Pittsburgh). Housed in an historic office supply store, the knitting shop takes up the entire balcony while office supplies are sold down below. With the age of the shop, the balcony was lined with gorgeous wood cabinets that housed the fibers. Looking over the railing, you could even watch all the action of the customers and shop cats down below while you shop. After looking at all the offerings and coveting several different things, I restrained myself and left Ewe Can Knit with a skein of Trekking Hand Art, a hand-dyed sock yarn, in bold blues, yellows and greens called Brazil and a box of note cards featuring monkeys!

While not the largest shop, I would definitely make a return visit if I were in Pittsburgh.

And, yes, this yarn is still in my stash waiting for the right pattern!

There are several other shops I’ve visited recently but those are for another day.

This week I finally cast on for the Hedgerow sock pattern that I’m doing in purple – not enough progress for photos yet, though. It’s good to have something specific on my needles after working on small things over the holidays! Back to knitting . . .