Both Lismore and Shalor are progressing. The colors in Lismore are just beautiful and are working out well. They remind me of standing on the rocky coast of Maine in the fall - ocean and leaves. The white line at the bottom of the ribbing is just a cotton yarn backstitched on to keep the ribbing flat until it is blocked.



The sleeves on Shalor are almost ready to put on a holder thread. They will be put aside until the back is finished. Then I'll string them all together on a long thread and try it against Joe. For some reason the sleeves look too wide but I have to remember it is a raglan and the sleeve top is part of the upper body.



We've been discussing yarn storage on the Ravelry groups especially in the Starmore Junkies section. When we finished off the room over the garage, we built in wooden storage bins to the slope under the eaves. The top serves as great storage for books and some baskets of yarn, needles, etc. The bins were built to accomodate big tubs for quilt fabric, yarn, batting, etc. In my usual OC mode, I put everything on a spread sheet so I could find it by looking at the index rather than having to go through each bin. Cascade 220 in red in Bin 1, Blarney Spun in Bin 2, etc. The hardest part now is keeping the spread sheet updated when I use something.





The Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarns plus a lot of the stash already dedicated to projects are stored in canvas bags I got at Christmas Tree Shops. Very inexpensive but they still stack well. The boxes contain the yarn for the project, copy of the pattern, notes, etc. I have a large stash, but nothing like some of the Ravelry folks. This will last me way until heaven - or I'd better save some of the thinner stuff to knit if I end up in the other place.

Catching up on what is on the needles and in progress:

DH's "Shalor Pullover" is on the second sleeve which is up to the elbow. I can knit on this while watching TV in the evening including shows like "24" and "American Idol". Those are pretty mindless, just background noise, so don't have to reference the charts very often.

Below is the progress on "Lismore" which I'm doing in J&S jumper weight yarns, not in the original Rowan yarns which are long gone. The chart is 50 rows and is like popcorn - hard to stop at "just one more row". The white thread at the bottom is just a cotton yarn sewn on to keep the bottom from curling. The top photo shows the pattern better but the colors are washed out; the bottom shows the true colors a bit better. This is a stranded work with bands of horizontal colors but has enough vertical patterning so that it doesn't appear to be juts going round and round.





I remembered starting Starmore's "St. Brigid" before the holidays but couldn't remember where it was. I'd stopped to do some holiday gift knitting. Found it today and remembered that I'd substituted one of Annie Maloney's cables in place of the generic horseshoe. It's now moved out of its hiding place and out where I can easily reach it. I like having more than one project and different types of projects going at one time.

Below is a photo of two corrugated ribs, both of which show the little blips of color that occur when you first start the ribbing on the purl stitches. I’ve read every where I can on how to prevent this but closest I can come is Meg Swenson’s PWYC (purl when you can) method. I’m probably not understnading something as I cannot figure out how to prevent those little blips of color when you change from one purl color to another.



I've started "Lismore" in Jamieson & Smith colors. The top rib is the start of Lismore. Still working on laying out a more vertical stranded sweater but it isn't as easy as I thought it might be. Lismore is large charts so doesn't look as horizontally striped. This photo is my internet knitting friend Junie's Lismore from a few years ago. I won't make the high turtleneck and my colors are a bit more muted but the design charts are the same.

Time to start a new stranded project and I've been searching for a panel type (vertical) instead of horizontal bands. There are some excellent examples of knit designs on Ravelry plus I've been pulling out all the design books and magazines for ideas. I want a pullover but one where I can hopefully create a modified set in instead of a drop shoulder. Don't need all that bulk under my arms as I'm feeling shorter all the time.



Here is one I'm previewing since I'm trying to use stash and not buy one single solitary skein of yarn for this. The larger photo in the book does not look quite as horizontal stripe. Recently all the skeins and balls of Jamieson & Smith, Jamieson and Harrisville in two ply jumper weight were laid out on the floor and sorted by color. I kept one skein of each color out and put those in a canvas box like you would for a box of crayons. Easier to see the colors this way rather than have to sort through tubs of yarn looking for similar blues for example.

One of the better examples of a stranded work that looks vertical is "Whalsay Jumper" out of Ann Feitelson's "The Art of Fair Isle Knitting - History, Technique, Color & Patterns". When I first bought this book, this sweater was among the ones I liked the most and I had collected the browns, tans and peachy/lavender colors for it. Even though my hair is getting grayer all the time, it's basically brown and I would have washed out in this sweater.

It calls for J&S in these colors. The color names are Feitelson's but they give an idea of what the color looks like.

143 Chestnut Brown
80 Dark Brown
72 Light red heather
134 Maroon
1281 Yellow-orange heather
1288 Red-orange heather
1289 Orange heather
FC45 Medium dull gold
133 Medium Red-violet

Had all in stash except for 1281 and FC45 but, with help of the color card, came fairly close with FC50 and 78.

Here are my substitutions in J&S but in the green and blue color ways rather than the brown and orange-purple. These color names are mine for description purposes. The top row in each color is the original called for, the bottom row is the substitution.





143 = FC48 Deep Ocean Blue
80 = 21 Dark Navy
72 = FC24 Lightest green/gold heather
134 = 58 Dark Green
1281/FC50 = FC62 LightGreen/bluish heather
1288 = 29 Medium green/goldish heather
1289 = 1293 Darker green/goldish heather
FC45/78 = FC37 Medium blue/purple heather
133 = 1295 Darkest green/goldish heather

Since I'm also a quilter I had a set of the red and green colored squares to look through. These take out the color and leaves just intensity (darkness/lightness). These colors match up quite well in intensity. Since my favorite colors are blues and greens, this just might work.

Swatching next?

Town & Country is finished! It came out the right size from measurements taken with sister this Christmas. All that is left is to wash and block and send it off. Very happy with the color, the Cascade 220 wool and the finishing. Here's hoping she gets a lot of use out of it before hot weather hits Virginia.





Not sure what is next for knitting. I'm slowly working on Joe's "Shalor" but I think there is a problem with the sleeve size. Might have to rethink how I'm approaching that one.

Also anxious to get another stranded work on the needles and am looking at "Lismore", a Starmore pattern. I managed to pull all the J&S substitute colors from stash so maybe that is a sign to go for it? My colors are a tiny bit more subdued in the reds but I haven't swatched yet so not sure if my reds will go in there or not. This photo is of Junieanne's Lismore in the original Starmore yarns and colors.

This Cottage Craft Black Cherry yarn sure is sturdy! It's been ripped and ripped again and again. The top down raglan with the big swinging cable didn't work because it should have been all purl with just the cables instead of a line of purl to start the cable. Didn't look right and never would have. RIPPPPPPP

Restarted Shalor with the Black Cherry and the original patterns. Joe asked where the V shapes were. RIPPPPPPPPPP. Out come Annie Maloney's cable chart books and there were the right shapes. #95 is the cable to the far right. Parts of #71 make up the V shape. The Black Cherry is showing the cables, the gauge feels good on US#5 needles and the sweater is finally a go. This is part of the sleeve which I keep trying up against his arm. Looks big but so far it fits well.

The Cottage Craft Black Cherry is not going to work for Shalor. I went to "Sweater Wizard" and got the dimensions for a simple raglan top down that would give a finished chest of 54". Of course I cannot leave anything simple so am seeing if one of Melissa Leapmann's "Continuous Cables" will work on the front and back.



I may have to put this on a long cord and wash it to see if the division between the knits and purls where the chart starts will lay flatter. If not, I'll rip back to there and just do some vertical cables. The purple "Town and Country" sweater is going well. The back is almost done so time to decide on how to do the sleeves - top down or as designed.

Lots and lots of snow lately. Last one was 18" and as you can see, it's getting a bit deep!

Cold? You betcha ya'll and it has a long way to go before it bottoms out. Got probably 18" of snow settled on the ground but more coming. 10F here now but it was 22F this morning and the wind has picked up and here comes the Alberta Clipper. House is staying at its usual 63F but you can hear the oil burner kicking in a lot. So the remedy is hot soup and knitting.

The purple Town and Country is proceeding well and I really like working with the Cascade 220. It will be finished long before our next visit south. The sweater in the round is done to the armholes, right front is done and the left 2/3 done. Next will be the back and then deciding how to proceed with the sleeves. I'll probably try knitting the shoulder saddles and then picking up the stitches for the sleeves. I do much better with sleeves top down.



Joe threw me a loop today and asked for a cabled sweater. This from a man who has not worn a sweater in our 26 years of marriage. Same person who can usually go one day on a flannel shirt in the winter before it really needs a wash. Fantastic man, love him immensely but does this sound like a wool Aran in his future. ????? Joe is 6’2” with a 52 inch chest (not a big belly) and long arms with a line backer football player neck.

The other day he found me with books, pamphlets, patterns, charts all over the knit room and got really interested. He picked out 3-4 he really liked and then pointed out things he liked and didn’t like about each one. He says due to the house being kept a lot cooler and his “age” he’s not as warm as he wants to be. Does he realize by the time this is done, it will be July?

The one he likes the best is Shalor by Penny Straker.


This is an older pattern, recently updated with more cables on the sleeves and larger sizes. It is a raglan that would be knit in pieces and sewn up. He likes the honeycomb front but doesn’t like the “O” between thin lines on each side of the honeycomb. He thinks it should have a “V” instead. The side and sleeve heavy cables he likes a lot.

Couple of years ago we had picked up some Cottage Crafts 2 ply light worsted weight wool on one of our RV trips up into New Brunswick. I'd started a raglan then but never finished it. I've been ripping it out, re-skeining the Medusa looking curled yarn, washing and then re-balling. Nice wool and worth the time to do it.



I've been making a good sized swatch so that the cables can be individually measured for size. I'm substituting two of Annie Maloney's cables, #117 which is called Celtic Cable and a smaller #84 V shape. At first I didn't think the cables would show up well in this Black Cherry color but it does. Phew or I would have had to order more yan. What a shame that would be right?

We're back from Christmas with family and had a wonderful time. Mom was able to participate in a lot of events, meals and travelling a bit while we were there. She really enjoyed being out of the assisted living center and with all of us. Sure wish we lived closer.

The sweater for sister was way, way, way too big for her. It just seemed to keep growing in length as well as the sleeves being monsterous. I've reclaimed it for myself and started adjusting by taking 4" off the bottom and knitting tighter ribbing andthen taking about 3" off the sleeves and making tighter ribbing there. Last was to rip the rolled collar and put in a graduated ribbing to tighten up the neck.



Not sure what to do about the underarms near the body but am thinking of basting a curved line from the elbow to 2-3" down the body to see if that will get rid of some of the bulk. If it does, will machine sew and then cut out the excess. At least the cables look good.

I've started "Town & Country" from Lisa Lloyd's book "A Fine Fleece" in purple Cascade 220. That will be her very late Christmas present. And yes we remeasured her to be sure this one fits. The yellow one was in too heavy a yarn (Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride) and it dragged the sweater too much to hold it's shape. Oh well!

It's done! Sister's sweater is drying on the wooly board. It turned out larger than I wanted as my gauge changed part way through the bottom. Oh well - if she doesn't wnat it, I'll take it home to cold, winter Maine. I doubt she will pass it up as it will make a great outdoor VA winter sweater.



Met up with friend Shirley and her DH today for lunch. She gifted me with a gorgeous pair of mittens and a bag of home made ginger snaps. The mittens will be well used.







The next project might be another stranded/fair isle sweater. I went stash shopping today and pulled every single of the 20 colors for Lismore, an Alice Starmore design from "The Celtic Collection". Here is a link to another knitter's photos in progress to see the basic colors - http://theraineysisters.com/?cat=19 . The original pattern called for Rowan yarns, long out of production. An internet friend who is a master AS fair isle knitter sent me her yarn conversion list to Jamieson & Smith jumper weight yarns. I changed out a couple but mostly liked what she had done. I'll leave them laid out for a few days to see if they grow on me or not as this will be a very long knit and I've got to really like it.

Snowed again today but the temperature keeps going up and rain will follow. The roof ice dam electric cables worked well so maybe we can prevent ice dams this year

Racing to the end of the yellow sweater. Not a great photo but it shows the bottom down 10". Hope I'm not knitting on the drive to mom's for Christmas.



First good sized snow storm supposed to come in early next week. We've finished and wrapped holiday gifts. A few will go into the mail today. House is decorated in the minor manner we do so all we need is a bit of snow to get into the mood.

Winter keeps trying to come but, here near the coast, we keep getting inches of rain. Suppose that is a good thing rather than feet of snow. Not to worry - our turn will come and probably a lot sooner than we think.



What good friends we have from the Truck Camper travels. Mike and Cathie T from Peabody sent us a gorgeous LL Bean Christmas wreath as a thanks for their recent visit. Quite the extravagent gift and well appreciated. It's hanging with pride on our entry door and should last well into the cold season.



Sister Mepes sent me a fall arrangement of fresh flowers for my birthday and our Thanksgiving as she has done for many years. This year they were especially beautiful and are lasting well. I used to have to keep them high to keep Patter Cat from chewing on the flowers but sadly this year he's not with us any longer. I still miss him a lot. Miss Boots The Cat doesn't eat flowers, just my house plants!

Racing along on the yellow sweater gift for Christmas. Figure I have 60 more rows in pattern and then some way to end it. I don't think a rolled rib will go well on the bottom but not sure how regular rib would look since the neck and sleeves are rolled. I know what I'll do !!! I'll ask the Ravelry group. They can answer anything.

We're all ready for Thanksgiving and have a lot to be thankful for even with the horrible economy. Still glad we retired earlier than we could have and that our hobbies keep us busy. We miss the camper and the friends/travels of a bit warmer weather.

The yellow gift sweater is progressing. Look what I found today? See the cable to the left of the safety pin. It's crossed incorrectly but no way am I ripping out 6" of knitting in the round. I'll try a couple of the online tricks for repairing a cable by sewing over it with yarn in the right direction. No one else but me would ever see this mistake but I want the sweater as perfect as I can get it for sister.

11/19 Second sleeve is done! Why are they so slow? Body stitches picked up and ready to race to the bottom. Sleeves will be adjusted when sister tries it on. Now the race is on to finish before Christmas. Desperately trying not to work on a Shedir cap in Alpaca Twist and a pair of socks in Rio de la Plata. Both yarns were bought during a recent trip to Halcyon Yarns with camper friends. Put it down Anne and walk but to the Christmas present.



History of the sweater to date.

9/10/08 Designing cable sweater using Annie Maloney’s “Knitter’s Guide to Stitch Design” and “The Cable Knitter’s Handbook” and Barbara Walker’s “Third Treasury”. I’m using Janet Szabo’s “Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong” (FLAK) method of top down knitting starting with saddles. First attempt was totally ripped. Last three photos show what was ripped. Center cable is #115, side is “Windblown Cable” from B. Walker #3.

9/24/08 Second attempt is much more flowing and am happily knitting along. Side cable is “Dancing Ribbon” from B. Walker #3, next is part of Annie’s #62, center is Annie’s #115. Second from bottom photo shows cable crossed incorrectly - right at the start of the back. Think I’ll be cutting this one as too complicated to rip back.

10/1/08 ripped the entire thing and started totally over again. using Annie’s #31 full size for the saddle. Sweater reads right to left - Dancing Ribbon, 4 stitch braid, half of Annie’s #62, all of #115 and then reversed. Flows much better. Actually done back to armhole and front of pullover to 3” depth. Hard to rip almost an entire skein but so glad I did.

10/4/08 Visiting my mom in her assisted living center is giving me lots of time to sit and knit. We talk, she sleeps, I knit. Top two photos show that the front is almost to the length of the back. I want to pick up one sleeve before starting that long drive back home. Pretty cable dense sweater but it is what I wanted.

10/10/08 After the drive home, I had completely knit a ribbed collar BUT didn’t try it on as I knit. Proved too tight, puffy and just didn’t flow well with the sweater. Ripped and did a simple rolled neck which is what Sister wanted to start with. First sleeve is down about 3 inches from the body add on.

10/31/08 First sleeve finished. Second sleeve started and down about 3”. Still like this project.

Sweater is progressing well. I'd knit an entire neck ribbing, running the cables up into the rib. It looked okay but was a bit confusing with all the cable bulk below. Decided to go simpler and make just a rolled ribbing. MUCH better (or at least I think so). First sleeve is well under way after adding 2" width to the body.

Gorgeous fall weather here in Maine. Leaves are the prettiest they have been in years and we'll go out for a ride today. Fall garden cleanup is well underway with many of the day lilies and hostae cut back and mulched. Torn leg muscle is hindering long work sessions but a little at a time and it will get done - eventually.

Knitting is coming along on another FLAK style sweater. If any of you who read this blog do not have Janet Szabo’s directions for this way of knitting top down, you have to. Go to and look in the patterns section.



All the work from previous blog posts was ripped out. Saddles were too narrow and short and the cable layout just wasn't working. The layout is now double moss side, one K1B stitch, a simple 4 stitch braid, Barbara Walker's "Dancing Ribbon", half of Annie Maloney's cable #62, all of her cable #115, other half of #62 mirrored, mirror of Dancing Ribbon, mirror of braid, moss. The saddle is Annie's #31. I'm so much happier with it now and have worked a lot on it this past week. Twelve more rows to go to have front and back even and a start to the first sleeve. Hopefully I'll get the sleeve picked up before the drive back to Maine.

This is for my sister as a Christmas present. I wanted it to be a suprise but didn’t have her FLAK measurements. Since I’ve been spending time with her in Virginia this week, broke down, showed her the sweater and got her exact measurements. Fingers crossed it will be done to use as a gift but it is really flying along.

Design work in placing cables for sister's sweater is done. Knitting has started and it is working out well. The color is actually a sunny yellow in Brown Sheep Nature Spun worsted. Double click on the second photo to see cable detail.

The right outside cable is "Short Swing Braid" from Barbara Walker's Third Treasury. Left outside cable was reversed to mirror. Second cable from right is a simple four stitch rope. Third cable from right is part of Annie Maloney's #62 from "The Cable Knitting Handbook". Center cable is used exactly as Annie designed it, #115 from "The Knitter's Guide To Stitch Design". I absolutely love these books!





Both sides mirror into the center. This is being knit top down starting with shoulder saddles per Janet Szabo's "FLAK - Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong" method. Hard work is done in deciding which cables to use and making the math work. Fun part is started - the knitting!

We've had so much fun this summer camping that my knitting is getting WAY WAY behind. Holiday gifts that were once a breeze to finish are now looming much closer.

This is the swatch for a gift for my sister. It's in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, being knit top down FLAK style and using many of Annie Maloney's cables from her books "Cable Knitting Handbook" and "Knitters Guide to Stitch Design".



Of course I've changed a few things since the swatch but it is now underway. Someone on one of my knitting groups asked about how I handle large cable charts. I take the books to the photocopier and blow the charts up so these aging eyes can see them better. I used to tape the charts together and put them on a metal cookie sheet with magnets. However Miss Boots the Cat likes to lie down and sleep beside me and she was always in the middle of the cookie sheet. Can't see through a cat! I've now switched to a plastic standup cookbook holder with clamps to hold a piece of cardboard just above the row I'm knitting.



This works well since it is up out of her way and now I can knit in peace.

On a recent trip up to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, I stopped in at Cottage Crafts yarns. Picked up eight skeins on one ply, one each of the colors I liked. It is similar in weight to Jamieson & Smith jumper weight but not as hairy. Will be good for hats and gloves.

The winter hat made with left over VY yarns from the Oregon sweater is done. This is a hat not a tam so the top of the hat is not made to lie flat. Seeing me in a tam is a hysterical sight. I made one once and promptly reverted to hats. Besides, tams don't stay on in snow storms!

The bottom of the hat is the corrugated ribbing and six of the leaves from the Oregon charts, knit in the original chart colors. The top is an adaptation of the trees. I lightened up the colors at the top using more of the golder yarns.





This was my Ravelympics project so the team has one hash mark on our score board. I've now gone back to knitting on Fulmar which will never be finished by end of Olympics but at least some work is getting done on it. My hands sure can tell when working on US#2 needles and gansey yarn. They ached this morning or is that just from the month of rain we have had - and are still having!

Need to take a photo of the winter cap made with the left over yarns from Oregon Autumn. It was my Ravelympics project and knit in about a third of the time I thought it would take. So to keep going with the Starmore theme of Team Starmore Junkies, I hauled out Fulmar. This is such a beautiful design. Don't regret changing it from a bottom up in pieces sweater to a top down knit as one piece via Janet Szabo's FLAK method. However it is a long, long knit as it is in Wendy Guernsey on US#2 needles.



Last night I picked up all the stitches across the front, back and under both arms, putting them all on a 40" circular needle. There are 488 stitches and it is slow going. Only knit three rows last night but at least it is underway again. headed for the goal line of the waist ribbing. No time limit on this one as it is for me - for a change!