Illegal Aliens

I don't normally get political on this blog but this struck a chord with me.  As someone who entered the US legally, filled out all the forms, paid the fees and the lawyer, and proudly earned my citizenship, I resent someone getting a shortcut because they broke the law. 

Travel Afghan - Block #51

My Travel Afghan is inching towards completion with another block completed.  This block represents my trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was easy to find a suitable yarn this time.  Tutto had yarn that was dyed specifically for them in Southwest colors.  I bought 3 skeins, each one different.  Slowly I'm collecting yarns for a future Southwest project.  I don't know what it'll be yet.  Time will tell.

THE DETAILS

Pattern:  Rambling Rows Afghan from Cottage Creations

I started with 40 stitches for my small square

Yarn:  Tutto Santa Fe Hand Dyes

 100% Merino

Color:  Blue Yucca

  Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

 

 

Notes:   I also bought a skein of Silk Merino and a skein of Baby Boucle in the same colorway for a future project.  There are 4 blocks (3 rectangles and one large square) and a border left to finish on this afghan.

Friends' Weekend

Without reservation I would call the Cinco de Mayo weekend a perfect weekend.  It was a combination of a great location (Santa Fe, New Mexico) + wonderful friends + excellent conversations + sightseeing + shopping + perfect weather + good food + knitting.  How can you top that?

The weekend was so good, in fact, that I often forgot to take pictures.  Does that mean that I should go back again one way, hopefully soon?  I think so.

One of the most spectacular things that we saw was The Loretto Chapel with its magnificent staircase.  What makes it most impressive is that it was built without the use of any nails...only pegs, by an unknown carpenter.  I suggest you click on the link and read more about this special place.

Now, this is a coincidence:  I flew from Calgary to Santa Fe with a layover in Denver.  While in the Denver airport I checked my email and there was an invitation from artist Faith Welsh to all her friends to come and see her exhibit which was the next day in Santa Fe.  I was lucky enough to meet Faith and visit her studio in Taos last fall.  Of course, I wanted to go to see her, and another friend, Ricki Darbee.  It was so nice to see them again and this an unexpected bonus during this trip.

Of course, no trip is complete without a stop to a yarn store and we found a very nice one, Tutto Santa Fe.  I like this shop a lot.  The owner was welcoming and we spent quite a bit of time looking at every ball or skein of yarn, every button, book and notion.  We all left with "souvenirs"!!  I wish I'd taken pictures.  I saw yarns that I'd never seen before:  Isager, Marion Foale, Simply Shetland and Geilsk to name a few, as well as others that I'm familiar with and like.  I found yarn that was dyed especially for the shop in southwest colors for my Travel Afghan.  More about that in my next post.  I also bought a book of patterns and articles that was made for and by Tutto, called Tutto a mano.  All of us were quite taken with a cabled sweater in the book (in the middle picture, below) and one of us bought the yarn for another sweater (the black and white one in the top left...but she purchased stunning black and turquoise colors).  I can't wait to see how it turns out.....Pam.  Another coincidence..... I ran into another friend, Sam from Denver, as we were leaving the shop.  She was just arriving!

As often happens with good vacations, the time went by much too quickly and it was time to go, but with talk of doing this again next year, possibly going to Northampton, Massachusetts to Webs for their annual sale.  It doesn't matter to me where we decide to go as long as we can hang out together again.  But a yarn sale?  Hmmmm......  nice!

Santa Fe airport from the plane.  It was clouding over on the day we left.

Zappa Mother's Day

Time Flies

Today Eric Burdon, singer with The Animals and with War, is 72.  I saw The Animals in concert when I was about 16.  They shared the bill with Herman's Hermits.  My Mother thought "Herman" was cute!  I saw War (without Eric Burdon) when I was 27.  While it doesn't feel like it was only yesterday, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, either. 

Their music sounds as good to me now as it did then.  I still enjoy "House of the Rising Sun" (1964), "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (1965) and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (1965) and others.  The songs and Eric Burdon's bluesy voice make the songs ageless for me.

Allmans & WInwood

There was no blog post last weekend as I was in Santa Fe, NM enjoying a fabulous weekend with friends.  I'll post about that this weekend, assuming of course that I can stop jumping up and down.  Why am I excited you might ask? 

I'll be in the front row for this concert in Charlotte, NC.  The Allman Brothers are one of my favorite bands and I've only seen them once.  I can't wait to see them again.

Now...I must plan a visit to a local yarn shop as well!

Another FO

It feels good to be putting my mind to working on projects and bringing them to a conclusion.  I've finished the Malabrigo Linen Scarf, worn it, and am thinking of making another some day in the future.  Next time I'll likely make one with yarn that I already have as it's such a good stash buster.  .

I also picked up another project that has been languishing for a while, the Damson shawlette.  When I set it down before moving to Calgary I only had a few rows done in the garter stitch section.  This week I found that it was a good knitting-with-hockey project and I'm now about 95% finished.  It's been working up quickly - only 5 more rows to go, plus the bind off and blocking.

And....I'm ready to start a new from-the-stash project:  the Sprössling Cardigan by Anne Hanson.  More of these last two projects later on.

For now....here are the details for today's FO:

THE DETAILS

Pattern: Malabrigo Linen Scarf

Kit purchased at The Yarnery

Yarn:  14 colors of Malabrigo Worsted
Some were variegated, some solid

  Needles: US 11 / 8.0 mm

Notes:  When the kit arrived the first impression I had was that it didn't look like much yarn.  As it tuns out, I was right.  I ran out of yarn on a number of rows and found a knot on the yarn for the bind off row.  On one of the rows I ran out of yarn with only 8 stitches left to do, plus the length needed for the fringe.  On another row I ran out with 36 stitches left.  I found this to be very frustrating.  True, it was easy enough to splice yarn left over from other rows (and there wasn't much left over), but it shouldn't have been necessary.  I've read various posts that this is a common problem with these kits.  Other knitters seemed to be okay with the shortages and the need to splice the yarn.  I think that the kits should have been stocked with enough yarn.

I did the two-color cast on, so that's not why I was short on yarn.  The fringe is 8” but I admit that it might have been 8-1/2", maybe even 9" in places.  I would have gladly paid a little extra in order to have the peace of mind that I wasn’t going to run out of yarn. By the way, my gauge is correct. 

I did the bind off in rib as I thought it looked tidier.  I finished the fringe a little differently than described in the pattern.

I twisted one single strand, then a second, and then tied them together.  Since there was an odd number of fringe ends, one of the fringes on each end of the scarf has 3 strands and it blends right in. You wouldn’t notice it unless you were looking for it. This method gave me thinner fringes and more of them, which is what I was going for.

All in all, it's a good pattern and the colors are beautiful.  If I make another Linen Scarf in the future I'll use stash yarn, or share skeins of Malabrigo with friends in order to keep the cost down.  However, I won't be buying another kit.  The frustrations with yarn shortages diminished the enjoyment of what is a very nice project.

Wacky Wednesday

I've been enjoying Pinterest lately.  It's quite addictive.  I'm finding things of interest, of great beauty, of inspiration.  Here are a couple of weird things that I found this week.

This was photographed on a fashion show runway.  Doesn't the model look thrilled?  Could you say that your UFO is an FO?

Even if I knit every last thing on earth and was struggling to find a new project, I still wouldn't knit, or crochet, this.

I wonder if these guy ever looked at themselves in these outfits.  Horrors!

Struggling With ADD

My major knitting goal (I don't do resolutions!) for 2013 was to finish up some languishing projects, ones that have been sitting around for more than a year.  I don't always remember why I set these aside.  It wasn't because I no longer like the project because I love them as much today as when I started them. 

I think that the main reason was ADD.  No, not the medical diagnosis.  ADD is Another Darn Design.  For a while I was seeing so many intriguing projects and I wanted to do them all.  I gave into temptation and started some.  For the rest, I would bookmark the pattern for later.  I have lots of bookmarks.

Since these would be considered major projects, I'd be very happy to finish 3 before the year is out.  More than three....bonus!

"Large Lace Collar" - a Bohus sweater.  I have more completed than you see in this picture.  The rest of the sweater is only black, no colorwork, so that may be the reason I set this one aside.  I'm very anxious to finish this as there are other gorgeous Bohus designs that I'd like to make in the future.  I worked on this project with a group of friends, each making her own favorite Bohus sweater.  It was great to see so many Bohus designs "in person". So many temptations.

The cardigan you see on cover of Jo Sharp's book is called "Tashkent".  I taught a class at A Knitted Peace on working intarsia and this sweater in particular.  When the class was over, I set this sweater aside, can't remember why, maybe preparing for another class.  I love all the colors and the design. 

This is "Whistler" by Dale of Norway and another sweater that I started for a class that I was teaching.  The picture is one I found online.  I don't have a photo of my unfinished sweater.  I wanted to finish this in time for the Olympics in Vancouver, but obviously that didn't work out!

It's a good thing that my taste in sweaters hasn't changed over the years as I purchased the kit to make this at the TKGA conference in Branson, MO in 2007.  Once again, I started it to teach a class.  It's time I finished.  I could have been wearing it all these years.  I call it the "Orange Sweater" from Poetry in Stitches. 

 

This is the last project on my short list and I do remember why I set it aside - I was moving from Denver to Calgary.  It's not exactly a carry-along project.  This is Kaffe Fassett's "Triangle Squares Cushion".  The cushion is about 1/4 finished, as you see in the picture.  This is what it looked like when I put it away.  

So, I have my to-do list.  There are other projects that I want to complete but these are at the top of the list.  When these are finished I'll start a whole new list.  I'm still struggling with ADD!

Travel Afghan - Block #50

I can't believe that, after all these years, my Travel Afghan is so close to the end.  Of course, it'll probably be another year or two until it's totally finished but it's at the point now that I can curl up under it.  Block number 50 is finished, out of a total of 55 blocks, plus a border.  Just in time, too, as I'm heading to Santa Fe in less than three weeks for a girls' weekend.  All five of us are also knitters so it should be a blast and it will be so good to see my friends again.

THE DETAILS

Pattern:  Rambling Rows Afghan from Cottage Creations

I started with 80 stitches for my rectangle

Yarn:  Copper Corgi 100% Organic Merino Wool

  Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Note:  I chose this yarn for the Savannah, GA block as it was dyed by Sarah, the owner of Copper Corgi, who lives in Savannah.  I like her yarns a lot and have used them often.  The color is "Spanish Moss", which is something you see hanging from the trees all over the area.

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah