We're on a truck camper RV trek out west and was able to meet up with an online knitter friend in Fargo, North Dakota. Here we are in her favorite local yarn shop, Boucle Yarn Studio. It is a fabulous shop and I wish I were about 1,500 miles closer. Maureen is on the left, I'm on the right.



Of course I didn't get out of the shop without a book and yarn. The project I'd brought with me to work on isn't doing what I wanted. I now have "Guy Knits" an XRX Best of Knitter's book and some luscious Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I've started the "Kangeroo Pockets" men's sweater for Joe and it is working up wonderfully.

Thanks Maureen for taking the time to meet up. If anyone wants to follow the adventure it is at http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com.

These kilt hose were fun! Here is a pair of really handsome legs showing off the cuff and start of the leg. I think Joe would win the ugly knee contest but he enjoyed trying on the hose as they were knit. These are "He' mo Leanan Kilt Hose" by Anne Carroll Gilmour of Park City, Utah. My uncle in South Carolina has received them, they fit and he will wear them to a pipe band concert on Memorial Day.





I've not really been missing - just camping again. We had another truck camper RV rally near Sturbridge, MA. Lots of fun though rainy and cold for four days. Lots of knitters there and we sat under a big party tent and knit sweaters, socks, etc. I even had a friend Kitchner the end of the second kilt sock.

I wrote asking for the Dragon Boat pattern which has been long out of print



and got the PDF back the following morning. This pattern so looks like a jacket to me I might knit it in Lion Brand Fishermen yarn in brown and white. I get 7 sts to an inch on US #2. Nice tight fabric that would be very warm. I've also been working on the top down raglan in Cottage Crafts worsted weight (see the blog post of April 7th). Top is all done in a basketweave down to the start of the sleeves which are now on a thread. Body is started with big wide flat cables. I tried it on and it will fit though a bit big. I bet it will block smaller.

We're going to take another long RV trip this summer, going out to Glacier National Park. I've got to figure out a fairly easy pattern to take so I can knit at night. I'm not taking Henry VIII so I won't start it early!

Henry VIII was waiting in our mailbox today when we got back from errands. I ordered the kit from Virtual Yarns, Alice Starmore's company in Lewis, Scotland. It came in a good size box that stuck out of the mailbox. Fortunately it hadn’t started raining. Amazing I didn’t have to sign for the box.



The box is heavy cardboard, carefully wrapped in brown paper with royal mail stamps and customs voucher. Inside the yarn is wrapped in tissue paper and has a Starmore seal holding the tissue paper closed. The yarn has an AS lable on each group of colors. There are many different sizes of skeins with no indication of yardage or weight.

The colors are just glorious with intermixed flecks of color in each skein. As a super treat to myself, this is worth the price for the kit. There is also a heavy stock paper pattern card in color with all sizes.

Is it mid September yet when the KAL (knit along) is going to start? I will try very hard to not even wind a skein because once that is done, I'll start to swatch and once I swatch, I'll start to knit. Henry's been put into a cloth box and set on the bookcase, in sight but out of reach - for now.

Long time since I've caught up on the blog. It has been a sad time in our family but in addition to mourning, we celebrated the life of our mother. Mom passed away on Sunday, April 19th after a good life of 89 years. April 9th, we had traveled to Virginia for a visit with her and family and spent five days taking mom out of the assisted living center. The stand out was Easter dinner at brother's home where we shared a meal with family and got to sit out in the very warm southern sun. We took her to several of her favorite places for seafood lunches, a drive through some of the national civil war parks and, best for me, a ride across the ferry at Scotland Wharf to Jamestown, VA. Mom seemed to get stronger every day, more talkative and physically stronger. We left for the Mid-Atlantic Truck Camper Rally at Tall Pines Harbor in Sanford, VA telling her we would see her again in about ten days. After three years of declining health, she just passed in her sleep on the 19th after a last great day out with my sister. She was an amazingly strong woman who loved life, the sunshine, her native VA and her family. She is missed.



The extended family came in from Maine to Florida for the funeral. The gathering gave us the opportunity to talk about mom's life from childhood to her working life to her older years. Her two sisters who are 70 and 90 years old, cousins and friends all shared many stories of our VERY large family going back to great-grandmother times. The funeral service, burial and church reception were attended by many family members and friends. The old southern traditions are very comforting.

Rather then continue with our camping trip, we chose to return to Maine. We've been clearing up winter yard debris, getting the camper and truck cleaned up and ready for the next trip.

I knitted quite a bit while on this trip. The mindless top down raglan with a basketweave design is close to the division for sleeves. It wasn't totally mindless as it got ripped often since I kept forgetting the increases.

My uncle from SC came for the funeral so got to try on the kilt hose himself. The measurements were right on and he was quite pleased with them. He'd love to have them for a bagpipe concert Memorial Day but the first one is not even done yet. Great pattern, fun knit and I've learned a lot. Doubt I'll get the DH to wear a kilt but he'd look "cute" in shorts and kilt hose.

You know how sometime you just need a really easy project? I've always kept a list of projects to do one day and ran through the list looking. In Knitter's Magazine #57, Winter 1999, there is a cabled sweater called "Dressed Alike Cables" by Traci Bunkers. Sweater is sized for both kids and moms.



This is an easy set in sleeve pullover with big flat cables to the armhole and then an easy V gansey type pattern at the top. I went through every one of [mzannieknits](person) books, all the other design books and the web looking for something a little more interesting for the cable. As designed it was an eight stitch cable
crossed every ten rows. I've substituted "Double Twisted Cable" from "The Harmony Guide - 440 More Knitting Stitches" as it had a bit more interest. the double twisted is over 8 stitches, 22 rows and has triple crosses with 13 flat rows in between. I'll be able to knit this one without looking at cable charts - just what is needed for knitting around the fire at nights.

I'm using some of the [Cottage Craft](yarn) in Copper. Swatch looked good for fabric feel and I got the gauge I wanted. I'll convert it to knitting in the round up to the armholes - unless I decide to further change the pattern and knit it as a raglan top down. Can't leave anything alone can I? At least I can attribute the idea to the author.

Also working on a more complicated project called "He'mo Leanan Kilt Hose" by Anne Carroll Gilmour. My sock knowledge is low but since my cable skills are high, this is a great learning project. The cuff is made first and the sock is knit down from the cuff. Here is Joe modeling what is knit to date. These hose will go with us camping this summer but will need some attention paid to the charts. These are being made for Uncle Wayne to wear while he is pipeing in the bag pipe marching band. Hope they don't turn out too hot to wear

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.