Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Vacation and Knitting

Last week I went on my annual family vacation to Lake Tahoe and had a great time. I always enjoy getting to spend a week with my family, smelling the pine trees and gazing out at the beautiful blue waters of the lake. I was especially excited to go this year because my fiance got to go with me for the first time and I got to spend some time with my two year old neice.

As usual, I took some knitting with me. I fell in love with the Essential Cardigan from the Summer 2010 issue of Interweave Knits, so I found some stash yarn that would work (Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool) and brought it along. I thought this would be a great vacation project because of all the mindless stockinette stitch, with the end product being a beatiful and classic cardigan that I could wear for years to come.
I was not smart and decided to wind up 1000 yards of yarn on my ball winder the night before I was leaving. I had quite a sore arm the next morning when we left at 6:00AM, but it certainly didn't prevent me from spending a big chunk of the car trip knitting.

During my trip, along with trout fishing, walks along the beach, and playing in the snow, I managed to visit a yarn store and a craft store and added to my already huge yarn stash. I first went to The Wool Tree and found a great selection of worsted weight wools, sock yarns, Noro yarns and a few mohair yarns that would make lovely lace shawls. I even saw a 100% cashmere yarn that I was very tempted to buy, but I resisted and stuck with some Louet Gems in a periwinkle blue, Cascade Heritage Paints in shades of green, Trendsetter Yarns Tonalita in blue/purple/pink, and Noro Kureyon in a bright rainbow shade.

Later in the week I went to Craft Market in Carson City. It is a small craft store hidden away in a corner that I would have never found if my dad hadn't seen their bright yellow truck with a big logo on the side parked by the roadway. They have a pretty good selection of yarns ranging from Cascade to Lion Brand to novelty yarns that I have never heard of. For the most part, the yarns are arranged by color so it is like walking through a fuzzy and soft fibery rainbow. I ended up buying Knitting Fever Whispers in an interesting colorway of grey/orange/sage green, Kertzer Ovation in a bright sunny yellow, and Lion Brand Amazing in fuschia/orange/yellow. I had never seen Amazing before, it is a variegated yarn with long color changes that would be perfect for entrelac.

After a few days without computer access I started to get a little antsy about checking my email.  I found that my dad had a Blackberry so he let me borrow it to use the internet.  Being in a somewhat remote and moutainous area, the connection was lousy and the only way I could get a signal was to stand outside waving my arm around over by the fence.  But I finally did get through, and it was much worth the effort (and even a few mosquito bites) to find an email from the editor of Knitscene.  I will have a pattern in the upcoming Winter/Spring 2011 issue!  Yay! 

All in all, it was a very relaxing week and I was sad to come home. I just love the Tahoe area, I still can't believe how blue the skies are up there. Some day I hope to be able to move away from the big city and live a bit closer to nature.

By the end of my trip I had finished the back of my Essential Cardigan and have now moved on to the fronts.  It is working up pretty fast, this might be the quickest sweater I've made. 


Sunday, June 6, 2010

Aster Vest Pattern now for sale!

I am happy to announce that my Aster Vest pattern is now available for download.

Aster Vest is a lace vest with long fronts that come to a point and a shorter back. The back is worked from the center outwards in a large flower motif then continued straight for the upper back. The fronts are worked on the bias in a lace pattern and then worked straight from the chest up. A lace edge is knitted on after sewing the side seams. The armholes are finished with a band of garter stitch. The vest is worked in a bamboo/wool blend yarn that is very drapey and soft to create a fluid silhouette.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Chest Circumference: 33 (37, 41, 45) inches
Length: 24 (26, 28.25, 30.75) inches

Skills needed:
Ability to read a chart
Working in the round
Basic knowledge of lace knitting



collage

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Aster Hat Pattern now for sale!

I am very happy to announce that my Aster Hat pattern is now up for sale!

Aster Hat is a slouchy style hat worked in a lace pattern. It is worked in the round from the center out in a large lace flower motif then into a smaller lace pattern for the body of the hat and finished with a rib brim. There are two versions, one for aran weight yarn and the other for sport weight yarn. The aran weight version has a more slouchy fit than the sport weight version.

Skills needed:
Ability to read a chart
Working in the round
Basic knowledge of lace knitting

Yarn:
Sport Weight version: 180 yds of sport weight yarn
Aran Weight Version: 150 yds of aran weight yarn

Needles:
Sport Weight Version: US 3/3.25 mm circular needle
US 4/3.5 mm circular needle and set of double pointed needles
US 7/4.5 mm circular needle
US 8/5.0 mm circular needle and set of double pointed needles



bothstyles copy