Category Archives: Knitting

Family, Knitting

Mail Call

Posted on by Jean

Weeeee!  Look what came in the mail from Knit Picks last night:

That’s the Andean Silk and it’s destined to become a Clapotis.  It’ll be a couple of weeks at least before I can get to it, but I’ll keep you posted on whether I fail or succeed.  I loved that colorway the second I saw it on Kary’s (sheep at the beach) blog.  Now the pressure’s on. Here’s hoping the color wheel and book help me with my color problems.  I’m color deficient.  My dad is completely color blind.  I have the hardest times with colors that are similar.  You know the little numbers in the dots color test?  I flunk it every time except for the green and red.

Speaking of the Clapotis… I just found out how to say it this weekend from Erica (knittin mama).  It’s much more elegant than the Clap-OTIS that was spewing out of my mouth.  Probably why I haven’t been inclined to knit it yet.  Who wants to knit something with such an ugly name?…. “oooh… that’s so pretty! What are you knitting?”  “Why it’s the Clap-OTIS”  “Oh…. okay.”  You see what I mean?  lol.  French is the one language that I’ve never been able to even fake while reading it.  Not that I knew it was a French word.  What?  You mean I should have gotten that from the very obvious description in the pattern?! Ya.  I know.  Welcome to my world. I don’t do obvious. I swear I gave up a little piece of my brain with the birth of each of my four boys.  Either that or I’m going senile already.  Can that happen at 42?  I sometimes wonder.  It’s scary.

I’d say that I need to “brush up” on my French before our trip to visit Nilda (Waltzing Natilda) in Brittany next month but there’s nothing to “brush up” on.  I’ll leave the par-le-vou to Nilda and her hubster.  They could kick us out of the country the way I butcher their language.

So, I got to meet up with Kathleen (Knits Well With Others) and Erica (knittin mama) this weekend.  We had a BBQ at Kathleen’s just north of Nürnberg on Sunday.  It was a lot of fun.  Very international.  Kathleen had friends from every country on the globe there it seemed.  We brought a taco dip (YUM!), hot dogs with American condiments and the ingredients for S’mores.  About five minutes after Erica left, Kathleen and I realized that we didn’t take any pictures!  Bad…. BAD bloggers.  It seems that Erica caught a most flattering shot (snort) of Kathleen and I chatting.  It’s posted on her blog for all the world to see.  Sneaky, sneaky, Erica!  😉  A good time was had by all.  Can’t wait to do it again girls! 

Luckily we had great weather that day which is more than I can say about the weather we’ve had since then or are supposed to have for the next week.  Cold and wet.  I checked the weather in Garmisch (where we’ll be next week) the other day…. SNOW!!! And Monica was worried about the place we’re staying having a pool. Sure.  That’s great if you’re a penguin!

I can’t believe my SIL and crew will be here in a little more than 48 hours!  I’m out-of-my-mind excited!  They are in London right now, but will be heading for Paris and Normandy today.  They landed in London on Tuesday morning.  Dan calls the hotel that night (they were taking a nap before dinner), takes on his best British accent and this is how it went (Hotel name and room #’s have been changed to protect the innocent) :

Dan: Yes… um… ‘alo mum.  Is this room 654?

Monica: No… it’s room 635 (great! My SIL is giving her room number out over the phone! That makes me feel secure about their safety.  She “claims” she was just half asleep. lol).

Dan:  Yes… well…I’m sorry ’bout that mum. This is the front desk.  We’re ‘avin a wee get together down here for our new guests and we’d like you and your family to join us.

Monica:……….silence……… Now????

Dan and I were about to pee our pants we were laughing so hard.  It’s the only reason she figured out it was her brother.  Monica, Monica, Monica.  Who loves ya baby?

So then he calls his mother to let her know that Monica, Peter and the boys arrived in London and are fine.  Same British accent:

Dan:  ‘alo mum.  This is the Grand Hotel in London.  We do the service of letting family members know when  their loved ones have arrived safely at the hotel ‘ere in London.  Monica, Peter and the boys are up taking a wee nap right now tuckered out by their travels.  We’ll make sure to take right good care of them for you.

MIL:  What a wonderful service!!  Thank you so much for letting me know.

OH MI GAWD!!  LOL!  Please, God… don’t let my children be so gullible.  What makes this funnier is that Dan does this every single time he calls home except it’s usually in Spanish… posing as an old woman looking for charity.  My MIL falls for it every time. Scary. 

Have you all seen this baby set? It’s adorable and the pattern is free from Opal.  You can find it on the PT yarns site.

I’m 3/4 finished spinning the Kool Aid wool.  I want to finish it today or I never will.  I’m one of those spinners that has to be able to finish the entire process of one skein of yarn in one sitting.  I spin the singles, wind it off on the ball winder and then ply from a center pull ball.  I hate having little bits of singles left over and I hate having to try to get my ply twist right when the singles have been sitting on the bobbin and have set.  As I ply I check the twish of each legnth by letting it hang before I let it wind onto the bobbin.  Probably takes me twice as long.  I really wish I could be more carefree about it but I guess I’ll always be a little anal about my spinning.

UPDATE:

Just a few moments after I posted this post I got a Fox News bulletin about the bombings in London.  I immediately called the hotel but Monica and Peter had checked out at 9am… just a few moments after the first blast.  Because I’ve been to London a few times I could map out where the tube stops were, the hotel and Waterloo (where they’d be headed for the train to Paris).  I was pretty sure they’d take a taxi and they’d just miss everything.  It was a scary few hours but we just got a call from Peter and they are in Lille, France and fine.  He’d gotten my cell phone message and called wondering what the problem was. They were just minutes ahead of everything but had no idea what had happened.  I was telling them on the phone and they were relaying it to other passengers.  Luckily, I found out they were okay just about the time that our families in Texas were waking up so I could tell them before they saw the news.  I want to thank those of you that emailed your prayers.  My heart and prayers go out to all of those effected by the tragedy in London.  I think I need a shot of tequila now.

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.

Knitting

Duck Tape Fix All

Posted on by Jean

So I love to knit socks for my grandfather because he loves them.  He even requested a pair of socks to be put aside for his burial.  He believes in being prepared.  lol.  I knit those with fine charcoal alpaca.  There’s no better way to get a knitter to knit for you again than to love her gifts and wear them so much that you wear them out.  I was talking to my Gram the other day and she informed me that my grandfather is in dire need of new socks.  He has taken to duck-taping all of the socks I knit for him so they won’t wear out any more! lol.  I swear he’s a completely sane, very intelligent even, man.  Okay, okay Gramps.  I got the hint.  More socks soon.

For the second year in a row I bought “Odessa’s” fleece from Whitefish Bay Farm.   I’ll post a picture on the first sunny day when I can take it outside and spread it out.  You can see the variation in this swatch.  I’m telling you… it’s the most stunning, soft, clean fleece.  It goes from silver grey on one end to a charcoal grey on the other.  CLEAN!  Ahhh… heaven. I got the idea for this swatch from one of the spinner’s I met at the Spinning Retreat in Scotland last Summer, Freyalynn Close-Hainsworth.  Her gorgeous Misty Mountains Shawl was in the Fall 2003 issue of Spin Off and was the winner of the 2002 Majacraft International Competition of Fiber Innovation.  She used Vivian Hoxbro’s Domino Knitting for the knitting of the diamonds in the shawl.  The beauty of it though is the way she carded and spun the wool.  She kept the dark and light locks separated and the result was diamonds that blended like this little rectangle I did with Odessa’s fleece.  She even knit beads into it.  Gorgeous shawl.  I still want a pair of Viking Combs after watching her use them in Scotland.

Knitting

Gomer Pyle Said it Best….

Posted on by Jean

Guess what this is:

In the words of Gomer Pyle,

“Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!”

It’s my new favorite knitted baby gift.   Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Baby Surprise  Jacket.  Way too much fun to knit.  I had just enough of some of my hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn to knit it with too.  I have to find the perfect buttons and stitch it up for a new baby boy.   You can find it in The Opinionated Knitter and Knitter’s #56 (Fall ’99).

I had such a good time knitting it (great mindless TV knitting), that I’ve already cast on another in cotton for the baby my brother and SIL are adopting.   They live in Arizona, so I think wool would be a bit unwelcome, don’t you?

Knitting

Humpty Dumpty

Posted on by Jean

I couldn’t resist the Humpty Dumpty in the new Spin Off.   When I was a little girl I had a big Humpty that I slept with.  In my mind he was big but I was about four then so who knows.  I was living with my Gram in New Hampshire at the time and I remember Humpty being an issue with my Aunts because he took up too much bed space.  It was usually my Aunt Ruthann that let me sleep with her.  Don’t know if it was because she was so kind about it or if it was because she was the youngest of the girls (she’s only six years older than me).   Probably a little of both.  At the time my Grandfather was the Fish & Game Warden in Center Ossipee.  The house was at the top of the hill and at the bottom were the large tanks for the fish that he used to restock the lakes and ponds.  I think my Humpty was drained out of one of those tanks many years later.

My new Humpty looks a little more like a huge Smiley face with arms and legs but I like the little bow tie he’s sporting.