For the beautiful yarn that Adrienne spun, I turned to one of my all-time favorite patterns from Candi Jensen’s book Knit Scarves. The Woven Knit pattern uses slipped stitches to form a fabric that looks, well, woven.

I like both sides of this scarf. And need I say more about the colors? Adrienne tells me the roving is called “Alpine”, by Mountain Colors.

Many thanks to my amazing nephew Neil for taking these photos. If like photography, you can check out Neil’s Flickr photostream. You’re in for a treat!

Adrienne can be found on Ravelry as Truffle. I feel lucky to have such a talented, kind and interesting friend as a co-conspirator in all things knitterly!

There’s nothing like a good challenge to spice up life! I had a blast (in panicky sort of way) participating in Ravelry’s knitting mayhem otherwise known as Ravelympics 2010. Thousands of knitters make projects with the idea of casting on during the Olympics’ opening ceremony and being done by the closing ceremony. Knitters can choose different events to “compete” in – hats, afghans, sweaters or dozens of other categories.

I, of course, had to choose the Designer Biathlon. I love the biathlon events in the real Olympics, and I love to design. But here was the challenge -  to cast on, design a project, write the pattern for it, photograph it, have it tech edited, and then publish it during the allotted time. Whew!

Here’s the result!

I chose Cascade 220 as the yarn, since it comes in so many great colors. The braided cable cuff is made first. I include instructions for grafting stitches together in pattern. When the hat is complete, the cuff is folded up. The circumference is about 20″, which will fit most women.

You may download the pattern for free here:

It’s done!

Photo by Neil Kronberg

I’ve learned a lot from my first big lace project. It all started a couple of years ago. (Yep – this is my longest-running UFO ever.) For my birthday, my friend gave me the fabulous book “Victorian Lace Today” by Jane Sowerby. I took a lace class at my LYS, made about a dozen swatches (and you wonder where I get the nickname Swatch Queen), and settled on a yarn I liked. I commenced to knit the Leaf and Trellis design… some would say obsessively. I was really getting the hang of this lace knitting thing! I completed the center and got a good start on the border.

Then I put it down for about a year, as I allowed Life and other projects to divert my attention. Big mistake.

When I picked the project up again, it was as if I’d never laid eyes on it, let alone contributed countless hours to its existence already. I studied the diagrams. I looked at my previous work. Still, the squiggles on the charts meant nothing to me. I previously thought that after knitting about 16,000 of the same stitch, I would never have to look it up again. But no. And I kept forgetting the silliest things, like doing the “pass over” part of “psso”.

I discovered some nifty techniques along the way that I thought I’d share with you. Maybe you’ll find them handy too!

One thing that helped me get back on track was my own chart I had created (and even saved – yay!) right in the beginning. I used Stitch & Motif Maker to replicate the chart from the book. As you can see in the photo below, I put little numbers in the stitch squares before a long-ish series of knit stitches. I did this because I found that when I’m following a chart and run into a series of blank squares representing knit stitches, I get hung up having to think about how many stitches are coming up. I can glance at any chart and my brain immediately registers seeing one, two, or three stitches in a row. But any more than that and I have to mentally pause, especially when it gets to be six or seven. Which is it? Six? Seven? Four?  The little numbers I put in the squares tell me “knit four” or “knit seven” – whatever the case may be. One glance and I can chug along without pause.

Another thing that made it well worth the charting effort is that Stitch & Motif Maker puts the stitch numbers along the bottom of the chart. Unfortunately, the charts in Victorian Lace Today do not include the stitch numbers. To me, it makes it cumbersome to keep track of how many stitches I should have on the needles at any given point. Making my own charts allows me to quickly see the stitches I should have; considering how frequently I make mistakes, this is a very good thing!

By making my own chart I could also make it plenty big enough to see easily. I print it on cardstock paper so it doesn’t slide around in my lap. The post-its I use to mark my place stick better, too.

To keep track of which stitches are to receive double and triple joins, I put two different colors of  removeable stitch markers in the stitches. I used turquoise to indicate a double join, and orange to indicate a triple join.

I’m determined to get this shawl completed before my next birthday, which is right around the corner. (Honestly, without deadlines I’d atrophy altogether.) With luck, I’ll be wearing this to my birthday dinner!

My Smock Top Sweater design, originally published in Knotions, is now available here. And its free!

The traditional style lends itself well to dressing up (maybe with pretty black slacks?) or dressing down (paired with jeans for cozy fall and winter gatherings). Its versatility makes it useful in a time when we are all trying to get the most out of our garments.

The sweater features a form-flattering ribbed body topped by feminine smocking. The turtleneck is knit with ever-increasing sizes of needles to drape softly at the neck line.

Knit from the bottom up, the body’s 2×2 ribbing flows seamlessly into the smocking pattern that adorns the chest. At the top of the smocking, the ribs flow up to match at the shoulder, making for a pretty join.

And now for something really fun….

I know I was a little intimidated the first time I tried to knit smocking. Like a lot of seeming challenges, once I tried it, I nearly laughed at how easy it is. I’ve made a YouTube video demonstrating how to make the smocking, in case you’d like a little guidance.

The updated version of the Smock Top Sweater pattern includes corrections, clarifications, and the addition of metric measurements.

The Smock Top Sweaters that I knit for myself are made from the yarn called for in the pattern, Rowan Classic Yarns’ Cashsoft DK. I adore this yarn! It’s soft against my skin, and the bit of cashmere  content gives it warmth without excess weight.

I caught Stella (my dress form) wearing it early one morning, hanging out by the last of my dahlias.

I hope everyone’s New Year is off to a great start. Happy knitting!

I adored working on the Beaumont Tam. Here it is, all done:

This is  Jared Flood’s pattern from his delightful book Made in Brooklyn. Jared’s amazing eye for design made the fair isle a lot of fun to knit. As I went along I’d happily (ok, and somewhat enviously) marvel at his genius for design.

I used the Classic Elite yarn Fresco as called for in the pattern. I had only three colors available to choose from, so I ended up with the brown and yellow. The yarn’s lovely to work with – very soft. The slight fuzziness caused some consternation when my hubbie took the photographs – he thought his pictures were out of focus. (The poor guy – he’s valiant for making forays into the yarn world.)

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad…

I started feeling kind of bad the other day when trying to finish up my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I got stuck at the point of knitting the buttonband.

I don’t know about you, but when I find a pattern I like in a magazine, I tear it out and put it in an overflowing, stuffed-to-the-gills binder full of similar aspirations. Then I toss the rest of the magazine away.

I got to where the pattern called for making the buttonband, using the Glossary to make the button holes. Uh-oh. The Glossary had long ago been pitched along with the rest of that issue. Normal knitters don’t feel panicked at the idea of figuring out how to make button holes from any of a slew of reference books sitting right on their shelf. Or they could even ask for help. I know this.

Me, I panicked. I wanted to know exactly what that missing Glossary would have instructed me to do. Evidence to the contrary, I seem to think that the path to eternal bliss is to do Everything Just Right. So I had to make THE buttonholes as called for in the elusive Glossary.

Interweave Knits to the rescue! Did you know they offer CD’s containing their magazines? I happened to have the 2007 volume on hand. The Tangled Yoke Cardigan appeared in the Winter issue that year, so I was able to print the missing glossary page. Ahhh. The buttonholes are all done – just the way the instructions call for. Which makes me very happy, and qualifies the CD as one of my Favorite Things.

I’m still on Ohio time, apparently. My body (mind?) can’t seem to figure out its back in California. So here I am, wide awake and making coffee at 3:30 in the morning. The upside is that it’s raining and oh-so-peaceful. Perfect time for a fire and some uninterrupted knitting.

I’m on the home stretch on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan, one of my all-time favorite projects. I’ve picked up the stitches along the neckband base and marked where I altered the pattern a smidge to put a couple of decreases in that will (I hope) encourage the neckband to lie a little flatter. (You pick up the best warnings about these things on Ravelry!).

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Yesteday, I read Jared Flood’s post on his BrooklynTweed blog in which he talks about how long-duration projects remind us of where we’ve been as we’ve knitted them. He says each project has its story. My Tangled Yoke Cardigan’s story is interwoven with my mother, as so much has been this past year….

I started this sweater in North Carolina, the start of September ‘08. My husband and I took my mom to the Biltmore for her 80th birthday. It was one of those “whims” otherwise known as intuitive thoughts. Or nudges from a higher power.

My mother’s an amazing, very accomplished woman, fit and smart and lively. It was a challenge to keep up with her as we hiked miles through the woods – and keep in mind this was in the Olden Days when my husband and I were runners. Little did we know that 11 months later would find Mom unable to even stand or speak.

The North Carolina trip was filled with the awe-inspiring interiors of the Biltmore House, long walks through Olmstead-crafted gardens, the tastiest birthday cake we can remember, laughter, story-telling, and horses. I’m so grateful for the time we had together before the stroke stopped Mom in her tracks.

Happily unaware of what was coming, and a fine argument against omniscience, I think I finished half the body and one sleeve of my sweater during that trip. Flash forward a year plus some, as I finally get around to the Tangled Yoke neckband, I’m glad Mom’s back in her home after months of rehab from her stroke. I’m glad I was there to intercede when she was given the wrong medicines. (Dope up my mother??? No way!) I’m glad I have the great good fortune to be able to make sure she has good care. I’m glad she has fabulous friends who come to see her all the time, braving the frustration of one-way conversations. A step at a time, Mom can navigate her hallway if not the wooded trails. Her spirit is phenomenal. A gift to her daughter.

Run, Mama, run.

Toward the end of November I found myself  home in California (finally!) long enough to take two classes from Jared Flood, also known in the knitting community as Brooklyn Tweed. Besides Thanksgiving, Jared was one of the reasons I came back from Ohio at all. (Don’t tell him that – he’ll think I’m stalking him or something.) Jared was hosted by the fabulous Santa Barbara yarn and tea shop called Loop & Leaf.

The first class I took included  colorwork instruction using the Beaumont Tam/Beanie as the project. This is a lovely stranded pattern from Jared’s book Made in Brooklyn. Using Classic Elite’s Fresco, it has a slightly fuzzy look thanks to the yarn’s bit-of-angora mix. All I can say is that I feel like “AudKnits, Home of the Wonky Stitches” every time I knit stranded patterns. Including my own. I have to have faith that blocking will work its usual magic on my tam. Despite this photo’s depiction, the hat pattern is gorgeous – you can check it out in the book or among the projects on Ravelry.

The second class was based on Jared’s pattern Girasole. Described as “A traditional lace shawl”, the pattern is stunning and can be made up as a blanket, rather than a shawl, by using worsted yarn. I’m trying it in Cascade Pastaza. Jared explained that the llama content in Pastaza will make this a heavy blanket. (Sounds just right for Ohio winters.)  I’m making it in a rust color I never would have chosen except for a certain friend who (correctly) chastised me for being so predictable in always going for greens and blues. So there.

The coolest technique I learned in the Girasole class was the circular center cast on for Girasole. That and the various ways to put a lifeline into the work.

This thing is going to be huge when it grows up! It looks square now just because it hasn’t graduated to circular needles yet. Do you think I should aim for the next World Series as a completion date? Knitting blankets while my husband watches baseball seems to be a tradition now.

As it cools off here in Cleveland, I want to make sure my Mom has something warm on her hands when we take her outside. I had a blast making these mittens for her. The color looks great with her bright blue eyes.

I often wear my hair in a braid down my back. By using the braided cable in the mittens, I’m hoping she’ll be reminded of  how much I love her when she wears them.

Because of Mom’s stroke, one hand has problems with swelling. We couldn’t get commercially-made mittens to fit over that hand. I’m grateful I can knit, so I could make the mitten for that hand wider. A nice custom fit!

In the process of making these, I found another handy use for lifelines. I’ve used them in lace projects, but it only now dawns on me that they’re a good way to mark the beginning of shaping for mittens’ tops and socks’ toes.  I put the lifeline in when I thought the mitten was long enough, then proceeded with shaping the top. The mitten was still too short. I measured the deficiency so I’d know how much extra knitting would be needed. Fixing the problem was a simple matter of ripping back to the lifeline, knitting the extra length that I had already measured, then shaping  the top again. Perfect!

I used Rowan’s Lima yarn. It’s mostly baby alpaca, with some merino wool and nylon mixed in. I liked the yarn’s woven construction.

One of these days I’d like to make a simple turtleneck from this yarn. It’ll help me make that mental shift from California to (brrr) Ohio!