Adventures in Wooly Boarding - maybe we can make this an Olympic Event? After years of lusting after a wooly board and a few attempts at making my own, I finally went up to Halycon Yarns in Bath, Maine today and bought one. Beautiful wood, smooth, perfectly made joins, well varnished to resist water damage. Had to treat the DH to a Chinese buffet for lunch for riding along with me but hurried home as quickly as possible.





The original washing/blocking for my blue Aran FLAK sweater was on towels on the floor and I was never happy with the way it dried as the ribbing ruffled. FLAK is re-washed, spun dry in the washing machine and now drying on the wooly board. Poor cat sort of backed out of the room when she entered and came face to sweater with something standing there.

Don't know why I waited so long for a board but know it will be well used for many years. It's also finally cooling off a bit so let the knitting resume!

Anne

Finished the first pair of socks out of "The Sock Calendar" by Catherine Wingate. The socks are called "Ahoy! Socks" and are in DK weight knit on US size 4 Brittany wooden sock needles. They have a knotted cable and a plaited cord rib and were a lot of fun to knit. Best thing about the socks is they are the same size and they fit. It's just too hot to work on a big sweater though I've been plugging away on the sleeves for Erin.

Janet Szabo's new book "Cables: Volume 1: The Basics" has arrived and been devoured. Having knit Aran cables as long as I have, thought I knew all there was to know - wrong! This is an excellent book on how cables are made, how to change them and how to design new ones. Good book to add to the design library.

I've made myself promise not to start a new sweater until what is on the needles is done, washed and blocked. Right?? OTN isn't too bad right now - 1) Erin, a fair isle cardigan 2) Shirt Tail Hem fair isle pullover 3) Joe's all over rib raglan 4) Hemsdale - Dale of Norway cardigan 5) Spring Forward Aran cardigan. 1,2,3 and 4 are all at sleeve stage. 5 may be ripped back to begin the fronts again. At least I know I'm not alone as a knitter with dread of sleeve finish.

Erin's sleeves are progressing - slowly but in 85-90+ degree heat with high humidity, lucky I'm touching wool at all. Finding that making both sleeves at once, doing one chart on the first sleeve, same chart on the second sleeve, second chart on the first sleeve, etc. my interest is higher. I'll have this one done to wear this fall - if cool weather ever comes again. Really interesting to knit the charts upside down but that way when the arm is beside the body, the mythical beasts will all be the same side up. Brilliant pattern writing by Alice Starmore as always. One day I've got to play with one of her patterns to see if I can make the sleeves set in a bit so they aren't so droopy on my shoulders.

The gardens are spectacular this year with not a lot of maintenance. They are now in their 5th year and so "English style" that the weeds don't have a chance to grow except at the edges. Our first plantings were from White Flower Farm, a mail order nursery in CT.






http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/ . We bought a mix of colored lilies, not knowing what we would get. Each year they suprise us with the brilliance of their colors and how much they have spread.

Bee Balm is one of my favorite garden plants. Yes it gets powdery mildew but the color and smell is just devine and worth putting up with the mildew. This photo is of one patch of bee balm with the back of the house in the background.

Everything has grown well this year as we have had lots of rain and hotter days than usual. The iris were tall and colorful, the deck plants growing well. Always a trial to finally pull them out of the deck pots when fall comes and the frost kills it all.

We are up in Prince Edward Island, Canada on an RV trip and guess what I found today. A WOOLEN MILL!!! I just about fainted when I saw MacAusland's Woolen Mills by the side of the road. Screeching halt in the camper and out I popped to go see what was there. It is a working mill with women tending the yarn as it moves from fleece to yarn spun out on big fat cones. The thinner one ply is used for weaving blankets. The 2 and 3 ply is sold as knitting yarn mostly. I had SWORN that I would not come back from Canada ever again with yarn. Hey nobody but me heard that promise right?



I did manage to get out of the mill with only one sweater worth of yarn - but the info pack with samples was put in with the yarn. I bought 2 ply in a heathered teal. The weight is going to be perfect for an Aran. It is a heavier 2 ply but the knitted samples showed stitches beautifully.



I've been working on a sock while we are RVing and am pleased so far. Using Encore DK and size 4 Britanny wooden sock needles. Won a book on Ebay called "The Sock Calendar - Socks for All Seasons" by Catherine Wingate. I'm making the May sock which is called Ahoy! Socks. Nice cabling and the DK weight is perfect for size.

MacCausland information is
MacAusland's Woolen Mills Ltd.
Bloomfield, PEI
COB 1EO Canada
Toll Free: 1-877-859-3005
web site - www.peisland.com/wool
email - macwool@pei.aibn.com

Our RV travels are at http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com.

The Fair Isle tam is done and stretched out on a 10" plate to dry. It was a fun and quick project and a great way to use up some odds and ends of J&S jumper weight wool. I'm not sure how the final shape is going to look or if I will like wearing it. Here in Maine we generally need something to cover ears in winter, not just perch on top of our heads!

Now back to Erin and Shirt Tail sleeves. Fall isn't that horribly far away and those two sweaters are perfect fall weight to wear without a coat.

Sunset Tam - Helen (BlueDragon) of the online Yahoo knitting group "Mara" has challenged us knit a tam using sunset colors. Maine rarely has the gorgeous sunsets we see in photos of out west in the USA. My inspiration for the tam colors came from the library book cover of "Obsession" by Jonathan Kellerman. Blues, golds, oranges and a tiny hint of purple were in that cover sunset.




I'm using very little yardage of a lot of Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarns. This is a learning process for me as I'd not made a tam with the double decreases in the crown. The pattern I'm using is from Alice Starmore's "Book of Fair Isle Knitting". The photo of the tam and the pattern don't match, with the written instructions having more areas of plain knit than the photo. Doesn't matter as I always change patterns as I go along anyway. Fun to knit and light weight during these days of higher than usual heat in Maine. If my relatives lived anywhere but in the deep south, they'd all be getting tams for Christmas as this is a fun knit.

The Fair Isle knitting doesn't seem as smooth to me as usual but I don't usually use a 20" circular and carry colors. I think it will block out okay. Also need to find out how to do a jogless color join as the dark to light joins show rather abruptly. The photos are of the tam with the lid of a basket stuffed inside to spread it out.

I'm using all Jamieson & Smith yarn with one exception noted:
Dark blue - 135
Medium blue - FC49
Light blue - 14
Purple - Jamieson 133 Mauve Mix
Dark pink - Salmon 129
Medium pink - 9144
Light pink - 95
Pale pink - 101
Dark yellow - 90
Medium yellow - 207
Pale yellow - 96

Just too hot to knit anything large. Wool yarn just sort of sticks to you and itches! I've been trying to teach myself to knit socks. All kinds of great books out there plus web resources. I splurged a while back and got "Favorite "Socks - 25 Timeless Designs" from interweave. While in VA last week helping out mom both in the hospital and back at the assisted living center, I managed to finish one sock and get a good start on the other which I finished up on the long drive home. They are basically the "eesti Trail Hiking Socks" by Nancy Bush with a different rib top. The yarn is Schoeller superwash Limbo in color 2528, a variegated blue green with some rust in it. They were knit on Brittany 3.5mm double points. I live in a cold climate and want warm feet in the winter. I'd use the Limbo again. The socks are actually the same size - success! but are not blocked yet. Hopefully they won't change size much after washing.





If it ever cools down a bit, I'm going to pick up the second sleeve on Erin. A fellow knitter suggested having both sleeves going at once - do a chart repeat on one sleeve, do the same repeat on the second sleeve. For some reason that really clicked in with me and seems like the answer to having a hard time finishing sleeves. I sure do have enough circular needles to keep two going at once.


The gardens continue to bloom something new daily. The Wigelia is stunning this year. We got home just in time to cut both dark pink and white peonies. The smell is so sweet is almost overwhelming. Missed most of the iris but the yellow loosestrife is in full bloom. Lots of work but the rewards with color and smell are worth the weeding time.

Erin's body is done! I will set it aside to work on the sleeves of the Shirt Tail Hemmed Fair Isle that has been languishing for no reason for a year. I seem to have developed an aversion to sleeves.






The Erin swatch looked fine, the dark red at the bottom of the mythical beast not being out of proportion to the other three reds to oranges. In the entire sweater, the red is WAY too dark and creates a line through the sweater that is distracting. Sometimes swatching just doesn't work right. The button is a blown up photo of the perfect button for Erin. Central Yarn Store in Portland, ME is about the only store left that has a large button selection. Fortunately there were 14 of these buttons so I have a spare. The white going down the front button band is thread set where the buttons go.

Long time since I blogged on this blog but we have been travelling in the RV. Recent trips at http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com/ Can you believe that we made a 3,500 mile trip and never set foot in a yarn store? Too tired at night from all the day activities to knit so not much was done though I did have the Shirt Tailed sweater with me. Also had Joe's all over rib ragland since I can knit on it without watching. Well I should have been watching as the sleeve ragland is a lot smaller than the body raglands. Rip it!

Gardens are spectacular this year and not due to extra attention. They have been established now for six years and the perennials are so massive they choke out the weeds pretty much on their own. So nice to go sit on the deck off the sunroom among the flowers and just enjoy the warm weather and all the bird songs. Even what weeding we are doing is enjoyable.

3 Needle bind off is done on Erin but not without a few rips and reknits. The photo shows the shoulder seam and how the Chart C does not line up.





The front and back are not reverse images so no way they would ever meet up. I decided to do a few rows of Chart B at the shoulder. It is such a simple pattern it lines up. Kept dropping stitches during the 3 needle bind off which is why there are still safety pins on two stitches to go back and pick up - again. Neck stitches are picked up and ready to go for the neck ribbing.

The closeup photo shows how even the edge is when you crochet the steek. It takes a long time to do the crochet but, to me, it is worth it. The steek will be folded under when the edge stitch is picked up to be knit for the buttonhole band.

Erin is a joyous knit, it just flies along. Started this sweater on April 5th, just over a month ago. I'm 6 rows away from the neck shaping and thoroughly enjoying this sweater.

The fabric is so smooth. Perhaps this is due to the number of rows that go by without color changes. Most of the other Fair Isles I've knit changed color about every third row; this one can go 6-8 rows before change. Or perhaps it is smooth because I've finally gotten two handed, two color knitting so it is second nature. As always, this pattern of Alice Starmore's is so well written there is no doubt on the next step. My row gauge is a bit long but that is okay since the body of the sweater as designed would have been too short for how I like to wear my sweaters. If you see black spots on the sweater it is probably just Miss Boots, The Cat's hair. She also likes this sweater and, if allowed, will burrow into the body opening. Bad cat Boots, bad cat.

Spring is here in Maine at last. It was summer actually today with 83 degree temps, blooming forsythia, jonquils and the grass was finally long enough to cut. Wonder how much knitting I'll get done tonight while watching American Idol? Hands hurt as we washed all the second floor windows inside and out, put on the screens, took everything out of the garage, cleaned the garage and put it all back in - and weed whacked two of the long stone walls and cut the grass. I seem genetically incapable of sitting quietly without my hands doing something. I'll try to knit slow.

Check http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com for our RV travels. Hopefully we will find some more of those tiny tucked away yarn stores that are so much fun to explore.

Erin progresses. It is difficult to photograph and is much more colorful than shown here. The darkest red is not that glazed looking and the blue/turquoises don't jump out at you in person. There are actually two orange/reds in the mythical beast's head area. The white line across the ribbing is a basting thread to hold the ribbing from rolling until the sweater is blocked.

I am truly enjoying this design of Alice Starmore's in "The Celtic Collection". That book is one of the few still in print and fairly easily available. Lots more in the book I'd like to eventually make. It (for me) is one of those have to own books.

Today we finished de-winterizing the truck camper and loading all the gear for this season's travels. Went through the canvas bag holding the "Sweaters from Camp" Shirt Tail Hemmed Fair Isle pullover and made sure the pattern, all balls of yarn, needles, notes, etc. were in there. That project and one pair of socks with Socketta yarn are what will be worked on in the camping evenings. This sweater is going to get finished!

Erin progresses and probably will a lot more over the next two days if this huge Nor'easter storm is anything like it is predicted to be. All the storm supplies like candles, Coleman Lanterns, flush water buckets, generator etc. are all tested and ready. If we are lucky the storm will blow past us and out to sea. If we aren't lucky, we'll get slammed with 4-8" of snow with heavy rain on top of it. At least most of the ice is out of the rivers and streams so flooding might not be a problem. We live by a very pretty babbling brook but it would have to come up 12-15' to get anywhere near the house. Roof is clear of snow so no ice dam problems with edge of roof leaks.

I like the colors I'm using for Erin. Major blind trust to use the turquoise colors as they looked so bright in the skeins but they are really pretty knit up. Finally can see the mythical beast in the FI pattern. It is hard to spot on the chart but fairly easy to see in the colored knitting. I'll finish Chart C and then knit 2" on the Shirt Tail Hemmed Cardigan. Alternating is the only way to make myself finish the Shirt Tail Sleeves. I'm also actually reading the manual for the Stitch Motif software and will be working on charting out my own Aran design. I'd like an Aran in one color to knit while RVing this spring and summer - if those seasons ever show up!

Chart A of "Erin" shown. I'm much happier with the slate blue background color than the teal blue originally chosen. This is a simple knit so far. Most of the Fair Isle work done to date had color changes about every two rows. This one is every 8-10 rows so a lot less spit splicing. There is probably too much contrast in the bottom red to the rust but I like the colors so will continue.

My time with making Fair Isles isn't long enough to have stood the test of a lot of wearing and washing. So far so good with the steek stitches holding up crocheted. I never knot or tie on. Instead I spit splice so there are no ends hanging ever. The splice ends up being the yarn that is used up while knitting the steek. First steek I ever cut was on a sweater purchased at GoodWill and cut up for practice. Sure took some of the terror away over cutting a sweater you worked on for months.

Good explanation of spit splice with photos at http://morcatknits.typepad.com/spitsplicing/2005/03/or_how_to_join_.html

Even better would be working a Russian Join. See http://www.knittinganyway.com/freethings/russianjoin.htm I haven't tried it yet but I wonder why you couldn't prepare the yarn for a Russian Join like you do for spit splice and then fold them back and spit splice instead of sewing with a needle. I'll have to try that.

I do nine stitch steeks with the colors arranged like this with 1 being the pattern and 2 being the background

First row - 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

Second Row - 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2

Third row - 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

Fourth row - 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2

See how the center three stitches always have the background on either side of the center patten color? When you crochet half of the 3rd stitch to half of the 4th stitch it is easy to see which stitch you are using because of the alternating colors. Same when you crochet half of the sixth stitch to half of the seventh. The middle fifth stitch is the guide line used to cut the steek after the crochet is done.

The photos show the steek I'm working with now and also a finished crocheted steek on the Marina sweater both on the front band and inside the armhole. I tacked down the front but not the armhole which lies flat.

The joys of Maine in the spring!! Just when the iris start coming up on the south side of the house, we get a foot of snow. It's April 5th and we get a FOOT of heavy wet snow. Good day to stay in and knit.

Erin's ribbing is much better the second time around. Switched to a US #2 circular and also using a cinammon type brown that was a little bit warmer. Sure am hoping I like the main background color better this time.

Facings on the body of the Dale of Norway Hemsdale cardigan are made and all sewn down. I'm glad the decision was made to use loops for the buttons instead of buttonholes. That is one thick front face with the front edge and steek stitches all covered over by a knit strip in the back. Doubt the button holes would have lined up anyway. The front doesn't look like the motifs line up but they do.

Sleeves are close to done except for their turn under facing. Might wait until next week to see if this sweater fits my taller daughter. If so, will knit the sleeves to fit her much longer arms and gift the sweater. She lives in NC and could always use it on a rare cold winter day for a coat.

All is ready to knit "Erin" along with the rest of the KAL and see how my color substitutions work out in Jamieson and Smith. I've wanted to make this one for a long time. Picked up a good Addi US #2 1/2 circular to try a swatch. I know I get 7 to 7.2 stitches to an inch in J&S on US #3 after washing and blocking tightly. I'd like to get closer to the 8 stitches to an inch gauge called for since I don't want to swim in this sweater. Pretty colors and who knows if I'll actually use the chenilles or not.

Steeks are sewn and cut on the Dale of Norway Hemsdale sweater. I kept the neck decreases as live stitches and will pick them up as the front bands and neck are finished. The colors in the photo look muddy. They aren't really but are more rich especially the gold and the red. The sleeves are already knit to about 3/4 of the length needed. I'll three needle bind off the shoulders tonight and then pin the sleeves in to see how much longer I want them. This sweater is more a coat and is quite heavy. It will be welcome next winter or as a gift for someone for Christmas. I'm going to have to go in a quiet room and read the instructions on the front bands. I thought I'd be picking up from the bottom right, up the front, around the neck and back down the other side. Might do it that way any way as the sweater is written for loops and buttons instead of buttonholes and I like the holes better. Do we ever leave sweaters alone to be knit totally as written?

It's been a fun knit and of course it isn't finished yet. Next up is "Erin", an Alice Starmore Fair Isle and to finish up "Shirt Tail Hemmed" cardigan.

P.S. to this post. It's later this evening, the three needle bind off is done on both shoulders. I also picked up stitches up one side front and am actually following the directions. Front bands are done separately, then neckband is picked up including the stitches on top of the neckband. No button holes, will use loops as called for. See!! I can follow directions.

Dale of Norway "Hemsdale" sweater is racing along. Yesterday was a nasty weather day with 12" of snow topped by sleet and freezing rain. Fortunately we snow blowed right ahead of the rain so didn't end up frozen in until June. Most of the day was spent knitting and watching old movies. I'm up to the back of the reindeer with about 60 more rows to go for the body. Sleeves are 3/4 done and length will be adjusted depending on how far the shoulders drop. It's been a fun knit but the Heilo is not as pleasing to the hand as the Shetland wools. It will be a warmer sweater though.

Miss Boots the Cat has blossomed since Patter passed away. She has become the constant companion that he was and has started to be very vocal. She snuggles in beside me when I'm knitting and doesn't chew through the yarn like he did. Fun cat. Wish I understood what she was talking about.

I'm also knitting ten rows on the Sweaters from Camp "Shirt Tail Hemmed" sweater each time I sit to knit. Don't know why I'm having to force myself on this one other than it is sleeves and sleeves are not my favorite. The colors are so pretty and the pattern is exceptionally well written.

Other thing I did yesterday was to get out most of my Aran books and patterns and go through them looking for a cardigan that called to me. I want to use Janet Szabo's book as a guide and design my own. So many beautiful cables out there and so far, I'm trying to get too many complicated ones in one sweater. This will be a long thinking project.

Living near LL Bean in Maine has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is being near the outlet store and being able to pop in from time to time to see what is on sale. The disadvantage is almost always finding something and spending money! My winter parka was not very long, only barely longer than waist length and with the brutal cold and winds lately, the coat wasn't doing a good job. Popped into the outlet store and walked out with a Thinsulate thigh length yellow winter parka with detachable hood and sleeves that didn't fall to my knees. $169 coat, marked down to $89 and on the sales rack at 50% off. With a coupon I paid $31 for a perfect winter coat.

So.... why is this on my knitting blog?? Because now I have to knit a hat and gloves to go with the coat Was thinking of a fair isle tam but tams sit on the top of your head and don't do much for your ears. If you do pull the tam over your ears the hat just looks silly. Out came lots of knitting books and I found the "King Harald Street Hat" in Ann Feitelson's "The Art of Fair Isle Knitting". The hat is designed to pull over your ears and help combat our current 9F degree temps with 25 mph winds. One of the joys of having both reference books and magazines and a stash of Jamieson and Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper is pulling colors in the warmth of your own knitting area. It's such fun to move them around until something potentially pleasing appears. If you don't have the Feitelson book, it is almost a must have if for nothing else than the discussion of color in fair isles.

I'm starting with these colors and will do a quick swatch. Only change might be to a J&S dark blue and medium blue instead of the Jamieson greens. The coat does have a blue lining. Jamieson Dark Pine Green #234

Jamieson Ivy Green #815

Jamieson Rust #578

Jamieson Mustard #425

Jamieson Yellow Ochre #230

Jamieson Buttercup #182

J&S Light Yellow #96

Spread against the coat they look good for contrast and liveliness. I'll skein off, copy the pattern for a working copy and put all in a canvas bag with needles. During our recent trip to VA to help mom with health issues, I didn't have a small project and missed one.