Happy Independence Day!

My mother loved the 4th of July. Every year the Buffalo Philharmonic gave a free concert in the bandshell at Bassett Park. Everyone in Williamsville went. Bassett Park is small, and traffic and parking were a nightmare, so we (and most people) carried our lawn chairs or a blanket and walked the mile and a half to the park.

After my parents divorced I made it a point to be in town on the 4th of July, so I could go to Bassett Park with my mom - even after I moved to the Midwest. It was a little tradition.

It's been almost 21 years since her death.

I miss you, Mom.

Color Fix

Yesterday I met Nancy for lunch at her favorite haunt. Afterwards we wandered down to One More Stitch for a little retail therapy. If you haven't visited OMS since it moved from its old location at 1609 Madison Road to the new location at 2030 Madison Road you should. (Both locations are in Cincinnati OH.) The old store was dark and crowded. The new store is light and airy.

Brenda, the owner, carries a wide selection of Rowan yarn and other "sweater" yarns such as Nashua.



She also has a wide selection of novelty yarn.






Brenda was busy finishing a sweater for a customer. If she wasn't so camera shy, I would have asked her to allow me to get a better photo of her Rowan Denim pullover. It's really gorgeous.




I succumbed to temptation and bought some Rowan Summer Tweed. This colorway should satisfy my color craving. It's sitting on the coffee table where I can see it while I work on the linen jacket.

Below is the beginning of the second sleeve of the linen jacket. If I stay focused, I might finish it by tomorrow night.

My son, John, is coming up tonight for a visit. That could be a distraction.

Monday, Monday

Actually, this is not a typical Monday. Last week I realized there was a major lull in my workload, and it was sure to yawn into this week. I've been needing a vacation but haven't managed to plan anything. Dave took a week-long sailing course in March and he's short-handed at work, so he doesn't need a break as much as I do and really can't get away for awhile. On Thursday, I decided to take this week off.

Dave was off for the weekend. He was on one of his "let's pack every second with fun" kicks, so we were BUSY. If it weren't for the America's Cup, I probably wouldn't have gotten much knitting done at all. On Saturday we rode bikes along the river from West Carrollton to Miamisburg and back - 19 miles roundtrip. We usually see a Great Blue Heron fishing at some point, and this ride did not disappoint. 'Made my day.

Yesterday was cloudier but windier, and we headed for the marina. Other sailors had the same idea. At one point there were four other sailboats on the lake. The fishermen were out en force, but the water was choppy. They congregated in the no-wake zone at the north end of the lake. Very few of them roared by, and there were only one or two jet skiis on the lake.

I tried to get pics of the other sailboats, but our boat was heeling quite a bit and the waves made it a challenge. It was hard to keep them in the frame. I got the following shots, and then...

I got busted!

Dave and I don't know that couple, so we don't know if our photo's going to pop up on someone else's blog.

Owning a boat is much like owning a house. There's always a list of improvements we'd like to make, and there're always headaches. When we cast off from the dock, it's my job to sit on the bow and hold a line that's looped loosely around a cleat on the dock until Dave signals that he's ready to back out of the slip. The past couple of times I've been up there, I've noticed a wasp going in and out of the finger-hole on the cover over the space where the anchor is stored.

Yesterday Dave took a look and discovered a wasp's nest on the anchor. (It's the fist-sized thing that looks like a ball of mud.) He pitched the nest into the water without getting buzzed or stung. However, it wouldn't surprise either one of us if there's a new nest in there when we come back.

There is progress to report on the linen jacket. The back and both front panels are finished, and the first sleeve is well underway. It's still linen-colored and not very exciting to look at, but I'll include pics tomorrow.

Color Craving

This morning I finished re-knitting the first front panel of the linen jacket. I'm not including a photo because I don't consider it blogworthy right now. The linen in the "natural" colorway is beginning to get to me. I'm starting to crave color. This is a bad sign so early in a project. (Of course, if I'd gotten the front panel right the FIRST time I'd be ready to cast on the first sleeve, but going there is NOT helpful at this point.)


Last week, in a moment of weakness, I ordered more Callista. The more I wear the Moroccan Blue Callista tank the more I love it. It's so airy and comfortable, and I like the fit and the drape. However, the new Callista is in the Copper and Cafe Creme colorways. Neither of which are likely relieve my sense of sensory deprivation.




My next project needs to be summery or at least lightweight. I'm sorely tempted to buy some yarn, but there are lots of colorful options in my stash.

A while back Nancy sent me some yellow and orange Berocco Pronto. There's not enough for a tank, but it could make a cute summer bag.



Below is some Elann.com Baby Silk. There's enough of the peridot to make a small shawl. There's enough of the blue to knit up a shawl with doubled strands, a la Brooklyn Tweed.

I was on a Malabrigo kick for a while. Back when you could buy a skein of 950 yds of lace weight merino directly from handpaintedyarn.com for less than $8.00, I sort of loaded up. (Not all at once, though.) Clockwise from the top left, there's a hank of Azul Bolita, Azul Profundo (a teal, really), Jacinto (I have a certain fondness for periwinkle), and Oceanos.

There is more lace weight merino Malabrigo in my stash in reds, pinks, and even orange, including this hank of Amaroso. Somehow I see this Amaroso as a Diamond Fantasy Shawl someday, but that could change.

One of the jewels in my stash is this leftover cake of Sundara semi-solid lace weight silk in Periwinkle over something. (Did I mention I like Periwinkle?)

I used part of the Sundara silk to make the Scarf with No. 20 Edging from Victorian Lace Today.

The scarf/shawl is gorgeous. Unfortunately, I didn't make it quite long enough. (I stretched and stretched it during the blocking process, and I think it's 56 inches long now.) The pattern has you knit up one side, then pick up stitches along one edge to knit the middle from end to end, then knit down the other side. (I'm not sure this description will make sense to you, if you don't have the book. Sorry about that.) I measured the first side before I stopped adding pattern repeats to lengthen it. However, it's hard to tell with lace how big it will be after blocking. Unblocked and on the needles the shawl easily stretched to 70 inches. But I did not remember that once it was pinned out width-wise it might not stretch so far length-wise. A rookie mistake.

When the shawl turned out to be too short, I would have had to rip back one whole side plus the middle to make it longer. Instead I decided to live with it the way it was. So there's enough leftover silk to make a small triangle-shaped shawl.

It's a good thing Sundara's on vacation until July 9th. Before I made the Scarf with No. 20 Edging, I knit a Swallowtail Shawl with Sundara semi-solid silky-merino sport weight yarn, and it turned out to be one of my most favorite hand-knitted garments ever. (My poor photography skills could never do the rich colorways of Sundara yarn justice.) I'm completely smitten with the Sundara yarn. I've been wanting to buy more ever since.

But I really should knit from the stash and stay on my yarn diet, right?

Lesson Learned

To continue the saga of the linen jacket... In yesterday's episode I completed the first front panel, then discovered the seed stitch hem was noticeably narrower than the seed stitch center border.

Yesterday, after consideration of several options, I decided to pick out the cast on and knit the hem down to make it long enough to match the center border. (Experienced knitters may see disaster looming here.) This is where I learned an important lesson: seed stitch - at least the way I knit it - is interlocking. Once you pick out the cast on, you will NOT be able to pull the stitches out by tugging the yarn. After several unsuccessful attempts to pick up stitches, I consulted Teresa, who gently gave me the bad news. I wasn't going to be able to pick up stitches to knit down, and I couldn't repair the cast on either. Bummer.



The front panel I spent all day knitting on Sunday is ruined.

Last night I faced the music and cast on another front panel. I did not have the heart to rip back the original. That will come in time.

Hazards of Designing on the Needles

This weekend was rather quiet. Dave had to go out of town over night Friday night. The trip took a lot out of him, so he was low energy all weekend. The weather was gray and overcast. The America's Cup yacht race was on TV. In short, it was the perfect weekend to do nothing but knit. I loved it.


I was able to finish the back of the linen jacket and knit one front panel. The MaggiKnits linen ball band does not provide washing instructions. I once tried to block a seed stitch swatch of the linen with terrible results. This time, I emailed Robin of "Ballinadee Cardi" fame to get her advice. She said not to block the garment, and to have it dry cleaned. She cautioned me again about the linen's tendency to stretch. (Robin - Thanks so much!)

Last night, I pinned both pieces to the bed just for picture-taking purposes.



I was feeling pretty good about everything until I noticed that the seed stitch center border is wider than the seed stitch hem. I set out to design this garment largely on the fly. As I knit the back, my first decision was to make the seed stitch hem 2 inches, primarly because seed stitch is not as rhythmic as other stitches, and I got bored with it. All was good until I unwisely decided to make the center border on the front panel 3 inches wide. Of course, me being me, I didn't realize this was a problem until I finished the entire front panel. When I laid it out, the difference was noticeable. To my eye, the garment looks goofy. R.A.T.S. (Actually, I said something stronger than "rats" at that point. In fact, I may have made several stronger comments.)




That leaves me with 4 options:

1. Carry on and make a garment that will be proportioned a little strangely

2. Frog both pieces and start over

3. Pick out the hem and try to pick up stitches to knit the hem downward on both panels

4. Re-knit the front panel and make the center seed stitch edging the same width as the hem


I get the feeling knitting this garment is turning into a saga.

Confessions of a Lazy Knitter

(We'll save Confessions of a Crazy Knitter for another day.)

Once the Moroccan Blue tank was on the blocking board I started swatching with the MaggiKnits linen - and swatching, and swatching... It took a while to find a needle size that would give the fabric a nice hand. The ball band suggests US size 8 needles. Size 4 worked best for me. I'm making a cardi/jacket, so I wanted a fabric with a stiffer hand.

When Maggie Jackson came to town, she was wearing what I think is probably her signature jacket, because she hasn't published a pattern for it. It was linen, had tassels, and was fabulous. I've been wanting to make something like it ever since. (Maggie has since published a pattern for a jacket with tassels in Book # 13 The Romantic Look. However, the design of that jacket is far more elaborate than the simple jacket Maggie wore or the one I have in mind.)

In Maggie's Ireland I found the pattern for this skirt and shrug with tassels. The directions for adding tassels to a garment look pretty straightforward, so I'm using that as a guide while I design my linen jacket/cardi on the needles. This pattern and most, if not all, of Maggie's designs for linen garments use a seed stitch border. I plan to use that design element, as well. However, this pattern led me astray initially. It gives gauge for stockinette stitch, but does not give gauge for seed stitch. Presumably, once you get gauge for the stockinette stitch, the directions for the seed stitch border will automatically fit the garment. WRONG. I soon discovered I needed to swatch in seed stitch in addition to the stockinette stitch swatches.

Robin's blog has a photo of a great Ballinadee Cardi she made with MaggiKnits linen. She commented that her cardi stretched after awhile. So I scaled down the pattern size to allow for some stretching.

In addition to the Maggie Jackson design elements, I intend to borrow a design element, namely a collar, from the Vera Jacket designed by Mags Kandis of Mission Falls fame. (This is where I get lazy.)

I've made the Vera Jacket (sans stripes) a couple of times using different yarns. I've also worked the collar design into other jacket/cardis I've designed on the needles. It's easy to knit, always fits properly, and lends the finished garment a kind of jackety look. In the past, I've worked button holes into the design, but this time I plan to take an even easier approach. I've noticed that Talbots is selling a lot of sweaters and jackets with hook & eye closures instead of buttons. The front pieces meet in the middle without overlapping. I like the look and plan to incorporate it into the linen jacket, as well.

I took the below photo on Monday, thinking I could get a post together before now. In that photo, the waist shaping on the back panel is about complete. It doesn't look very impressive at that point. (My poor photography doesn't help much.) I've since completed the armhole shaping, and it still doesn't look like much. We'll have to wait and see what develops.