Monthly Archives: May 2005

Knitting

More Photos

Posted on by Jean

Still working on my Finished Projects Album.  I added these today:

This is the Scalloway Yoke sweater from Ann Feitelson’s The Art of Fair Isle Knitting.  I love this just about everything in this book.  It not only has beautiful patterns… it’s a great reference book to have on hand.  I think I’ve worn it once.  I want to make it into a cardigan.  I’m almost positive I still have the main yarn left to do the button bands with.  It would get a lot more wear as a cardigan.

There’s also the Fridarey Vest in the photo album from that same book.  It was knit in the round with steeks for the center front and armholes and then cut and finished.

Next up are two cardigans that I did using Meg Swansen’s Lupine Cardigan Details pattern from Meg Swansen’s Knitting.  The first is just as it was done in the pattern.  It’s knit in mule spun yarn and one of those sweaters that’s like an old friend come Fall.

They are knit in the round with steeks and then sewn on a sewing machine before cutting the center front. 

I used this pattern but changed the yarn color and chose a different pattern and knit this cardigan:

One of my favorite sweaters is this one:

It’s Classic Elite’s pattern #807, but I used Naturespun Worsted for it.  It’s soft and cozy and I always get compliments when I wear it.   The trinity stitch was time consuming, but worth it.

Dale of Norway’s Thunder Bay pullover for Dan.  This one sat in the knitting basket for months after I realized I’d forgotten to do the neckline shaping.  I realized this about 20 rows too late.  That’s over 400 stitches, in color work *times* 20.  I literally cried.  Then it sat for months while I hoped that the knitting elves would fix it for me.  Didn’t happen and I cried again as I frogged those rows and redid it the right way.

Blackberry Ridge socks from the first Sock of the Month series.  I finished these within 12 hours of giving birth to Joseph so that I could wear them during labor.  The nurses were so afraid of messing them up. lol.  They kept my tooties nice and warm while I gave birth to my last baby… all ten pounds of him.  😉 

I think that’s all of the items I’ve knit that I still have on hand.  There’s lots of gifts out there that I wish I’d taken pictures of and there are some of the boys’ baby stuff that’s in storage in the States.

Friends, Knitting

More Knitting Memories

Posted on by Jean

Still trying to update the photo album.  Here’s what I added today:

This is Daniel’s guernsey that I knit from Debbie Bliss’s Classic Knits For Kids.  I knit it around 1997 in hand-spun Falkland wool.

I knit one for Joseph using store bought yarn a few years later.

This is the first Elizabeth Zimmermann sweater I did.  It was knit in 1995 using her percentage system which you can find in just about any of E.Z.’s books. It’s knit with Jamieson & Smith’s jumper-weight wool.  I love looking at this sweater and remembering how much I love knitting after I discovered the knitting list and Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Ahhh… the Tomten Jacket.  Again… Elizabeth Zimmermann.  Catching a theme here?  This one was knit for Daniel and he wore it for about three years and Joseph wore it for a couple of winters.  I can’t remember the wool I used.  I think I knit it in 2000 also.  This pattern can be found in The Opinionated Knitter or Knitting Workshop.

I met the woman with a ponytail at a spinning meeting I went to a year ago at my friend, Elke’s, house.  Elke and I met through Spin Off magazine when we were up in Kitzingen last tour.  She and I used to only live 20 minutes apart.  She has a great little farm.  They are renovating her home and the upstairs is her studio. It’s gorgeous.  She even has a dyeing kitchen up there.  Now we live about an hour away and it’s been hard to get up there to see her.  I need to make a point of contacting her soon. 

Animals and Nature, Family, Knitting

Lace and Socks….

Posted on by Jean

I’ve been working on my photo album of finished projects for the past week or so.  It’s funny how you think you’ve done much less than you have.  There’s tons more that I never even took pictures of. 

Jayne commented that she wanted more lace…

This is the shawl that I knit about six years ago for Joseph’s Baptism.  I bought the pattern and yarn in Lerwick, Shetland.  I tried to find the pattern online, but couldn’t.  It’s Paton’s booklet 8008 for Fairytale 2 and 3 ply – 1985.  I knit it with jumper weight wool from Jamieson and Smith’s.  Not sure if I actually got the pattern there or not.

Finished my Gramp’s socks up this weekend.  I was going to get the soles at the yarn shop in our Marktplatz, but it’s closed today due to a German Holiday.  Figures.  At least I know they’ll be done in plenty of time for Father’s Day.

My favorite plain vanilla sock pattern is from Pricilla Gibson-Roberts Simple Socks Plain & Fancy I always do them from the toe up so that if I’m using handspun and I’m cutting it close, I can do each one separately until I run out of yarn.  It also makes it easy to try it on as you’re knitting the sock.

I’ve been having fun playing with the camera, but I need a lot of lessons and practice.  Anyone know how to put a frame around your photo in Typepad?  I know it’s something simple, probably staring me in the face, but I can’t figure it out.  I’d appreciate some help.  Here’s a picture I took of Bailey.  Such a sweet girl.  She got tired of me chasing her around with the camera.  It would have been perfect if she hadn’t been under the coffee table:

Knitting

Lacey

Posted on by Jean

Something’s going on…  First it was Nilda (Waltzing Natilda)…  then Annie (Knitty Gritty) pointed us to Carissa (Knitting Maniac)…  Lace is definitely in the air.  It is the perfect warm weather knitting project.

Nilda was asking me about Spanish lace knitting patterns just a couple of days ago (if you have any info, please contact her!).  I have quite a lace library because I was really into it a few years ago.  I met Katy’s (Katy Knits) mom, Sue, on the Lace List.  So anyway… I go looking for my lace knitting books and German lace magazines for Nilda and I can’t find them!!!  Then I’m reading my bloglines this morning and Annie had posted about Carissa’s beautiful lace.  Now my fingers are itching.  Did I mention I can’t find my lace stuff?!  I’m in a semi-panic.  I still have a box to check in the garage, but I can’t imagine me leaving knitting things in the garage!  I’ve done weirder things, so who knows….

I knit this one about five years ago.  It’s in serious need of blocking.  I just found it in my china hutch. It’s the same one that Carissa is working on, the Madeira!  Too funny.  I don’t remember where the pattern is… probably in one of the magazines that I can’t find….  Anyone??

I used to volunteer to order the Diana lace magazines from Germany for the lace list so that we could all split the shipping from Germany.  Eugene Beugler (yes, the same one that designed Dayflower Daydream from Best of Shawls and Scarves as well as other gorgeous creations – very nice man, by the way) contacted me when we were stationed here the last  time asking for help in obtaining some German lace patterns and was the first to tell me about the Diana magazines.  I haven’t seen them since we got here a year and a half ago.  Crocheted lace seems to be big here now.  At any rate, as a thank you gift, Eugene knit this gorgeous doily for me out of a tencel thread.  It’s as gorgeous to the touch as it is to the eye and one of my most prized possessions.

Dan made a trip to Russia for a Personal Security (think body guard) mission for Cohen was he was the Secretary of Defense (around 1998).  While there, he found a small shop that sold the Orenburg shawls.  He called me that night to tell me so I got him to go back to the shop to buy some for other lace-listers.  I don’t remember how many but it was at least ten.  There was an old woman in the shop actually knitting the shawls.  She hugged Dan with tears in her eyes when he came back and purchased the others.  Dan learned some Russian courtesy of the Army and he still remembers how to say Orenburg Shawls in Russian. lol.  I have a black one and a white one.  Here’s a close-up shot of the white one:

Knitting

And you thought I wasn’t knitting

Posted on by Jean

Lots of knitting going on around here.  I cast on a pair of socks for my Gramps for Father’s Day.  These are getting leather soles so he won’t have to use duct tape on them!  Let’s see you put a hole in these babies, Gramps!! 😉

I showed you the Online ladder yarn I bought the other day.  I did a very simple garter stitch scarf on large needles.  If this picture doesn’t prove how badly I need a new camera then I don’t know what will: (hint Dan… birthday… two weeks… hint…)

It’s hard to see, so you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you it made such a cool fabric.  All slinky and silky and gorgeous color.

I’m just about to the underarms of Dan’s raglan.  I’m doing it in the round so the sleeves are next.  I’ll show you when I attach them.  Then it’ll be time to pull out the reference books since I’m not following the pattern.  Who wants to knit a raglan flat with all that seaming.  “Not I”, said the wise knitter.

We watched Raising Helen with Kate Hudson the other night.  Very cute movie.  I love her.  There are times when you forget she isn’t Goldie.  Joan Cusack is preggers in it and knitting on the sofa with her husband one night.  She makes a remark about how interesting it is that a lot of celebs are knitting now.  Funny moment that no one else, but a knitter, will appreciate.  Now I’m hooked on John Hiatt.  I love the song they played in the movie, “Feels Like Rain”. 

Knitting

お手持ちの商品をで売りませんか

Posted on by Jean

I think I’m turning Japanese… I really think so….  okay… that song’s going to be in my head all day.

For three days now I’ve been trying to place an order from Amazon Japan for some cool felting books.  I was a Czech and Spanish linguist for the Army so I’m not usually deterred by languages.  But Japanese?! Ha!  I’ve almost got it figured out though… I think.  There are a couple of links where it’ll translate into English and then it leads you into a dead end.  It takes me forever to find all the ones I want and then it empties out my shopping cart.  I’ll let you know what books I bought once I’ve figured it out.

Another Baby Surprise done.   I wish we had feel-o-vision.  This cotton yarn is one of my faves at the local yarn shop here.  That’s saying a lot because I’d far rather knit with wool than cotton.  It’s SO soft.  It’s for my new little nephew-to-be in Arizona.  My brother, Danny,  and his wife, Maricela, are adopting a baby boy this summer.  This little jacket should be just the thing to keep him comfy next winter.  I just need to find some buttons for this and the hand spun one.