Fading Memories...

This post is way overdue. Back in July, I promised that I would let you know how I fared at our Moebius Knitting Retreat on the shores of Lake George. As it gets colder and darker here, I am happy to remember those warm halcyon days of summer...

To recap: My two sisters and my s-i-l (and our non-knitting husbands, and our children, some of whom DO knit, but not moebii) gathered for a week long family reunion in Ticonderoga, NY. We stayed in a lovely house right on Lake George and it was the perfect venue for our First Annual Knitting retreat.

My sisterly patience made up for my lack of teaching skills; everyone had a moebius cast on by the end of the first full day and knit diligently ...

and happily...

and even giddily...

until they were finished!!

Follow this link for a close up of Hilary's beauty!

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I have been knitting too. Slowly making my way through a shawl and ready to embark on a pair of mittens. I will try to be a better blogger. I miss all of you!

As fall arrived on Monday, so did the snow on our nearby mountains. We're waking up to crispy mornings and the urge to knit wooly things is strong ..

Well Situated Soccer Fields

I've been gone so long I hardly know where to begin. I've spent large chunks of the summer away from home, and though I've been knitting, I haven't been inspired enough to share anything in the short time I've been near my computer.

But we returned from our last planned trip recently, and as I face the end of summer I'm drawn back to my blog, and the blogs of others (I have SO much to catch up on!!).

Our most recent trip was to Fairbanks for the annual State Cup soccer tournament. I did my research before we went and on our first trip to the soccer fields I squealed with delight as I noticed we were crossing Peger Road, the street on which Inua Wool Shoppe is located. I managed to get there twice in six days - pretty good stats I think! (The boys were 1 in 3; same ratio, but they were less happy with their results.)

I bought hat yarn on my first trip. I was aiming for warm and cheery, whatta you think?

A Hat For Rene

Pattern: Basic top down hat. I increased 8 stitches every other row for a rounded top.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK , 100% Superwash Merino. I used just over one skein of the blue, and not very much of the green.
Needles: US #5

I made this for a friend, but Toby was my gracious model.

Summertime And The Blogging Is Iffy

Back from a wonderful long weekend in beautiful Kelowna, BC where Max was playing in a soccer tournament. It was HOT, brutal for the soccer players, and a little bit much for the spectators, but a nice change from our cool Juneau weather. Kristie in Kamloops directed me to a GREAT yarn store, Art of Yarn. (Thanks, Kristie!) It was well stocked with lots of nice yarn, but I was suffering from my usual indecisiveness and left with nary a skein.

It might be just as well that I showed yarn-buying restraint as I will soon join my enablers family for a visit and we are sure to do some yarn store visiting. Anytime we gather, there is a frenzy of knitting related activity. This usually includes actual knitting as well as future project planning, yarn buying, helping - you name it!

This year, we going to be more directed; we're going to have an official knitting workshop! Other years I have encouraged my sisters to start projects, only to leave them on their own, with unfinished projects and great anxiety, at the end of our vacation. This year, I picked a project that could be completed in one week. I'm going to show them all (two sisters and a sister-in-law) how to make a Moebius Scarf a la Cat Bordhi. I'll share highlights of our Ticonderoga Knitting Retreat when I return.

In th meantime, I'm nearing the end of my top-down Tee shirt. It should make for good, mindless, travel knitting.

I hiked my shorts up so that this wouldn't turn into a midriff shot. At this point I probably still have 5-6 inches to go. But I'm ever hopeful that it will be finished soon!

A Well-Traveled Sweater

After dawdling along forever on my Minimalist Cardigan, I finally got into high gear a few weeks back. I was spurred on by the wish to have it completed in time for my trip, last week, to my hometown, Rochester, NY. And I did it!! It turns out, if you really sit and knit, instead of just talking, blogging and reading about it, you can accomplish quite a bit. Who knew?

With just hours to spare, and no time for photos, I finished the finishing, packed it in my bag and headed east. A week later, before I began my westward journey home, my brother took a few photographs for me.

Minimalist Cardigan

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum
From: Interweave Knits Fall 2007
Yarn: 2-Ply Morehouse Merino/~ 6 skeins in Olive
Needles: KnitPicks Options US size 4
Size: I was aiming for something near 39 1/2"
Modifications/Notes: I used sport weight yarn instead of worsted. Rather than rework all the numbers, I did a swatch, took a chance and simply followed the directions for the next size up, taking care to work to the lengths for my true size and not the larger size. I think my only other modification was to short row the shoulder shapings and seam them with a three-needle bind off. First I worried it would be too small, then I worried that it would be too big. In the end, I'm pretty happy with the fit and the overall look.
My Favorite Part: Wearing it for the first time to the opening of Will's photography exhibit, which was the culmination of an extraordinary year-long project. Never has a sister had a better reason to kvell over her little brother.

Credit where credit is due: This photo by Nick

I Know The Rule: Don't Hang Sweaters!

But sometimes a rule just needs to be broken..

I saw Jared's sweater ornaments a few days ago, and could not resist casting on for my own. And then I made another for a gift.

So here I am making Christmas ornaments, even though I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Christmas trees. I grew up NOT celebrating Christmas, but since my husband did, it has become part of our family tradition. And a big part of that tradition is: The Tree. I enjoy other people's trees, and I like ours when everyone else has gone to bed on Christmas Eve and I am alone with it as I stuff stockings and perform other elfish duties. But by the light of day on the 26th I'm ready to shove it out the door. This has worked well for us in past years as we've hosted the holiday at our home away from home. We've arrived right before the holiday and left shortly after. Not a lot of tree-time. This year, for the first time since moving back to Alaska 2.5 years ago, we'll be staying put for the holidays .. specifically Christmas.

My meager ornament collection is thousands of miles from here, but I'm thinking simple white lights and a hand knit sweater. This just might be my kinda tree.

Sweater Ornaments

Pattern: I followed Jared's instructions, more or less.
Needles: US size 5 dpns
Red Yarn: Tahki, Chelsea Silk. I've had this yarn FOREVER (20 plus years, anyway.). Much of it is in a never to be finished vest, long out of style. The yarn is a little musty, and I've been reluctant to reuse it. But my washed ornament seems fine. This little sweater has provided the added bonus of uncovering some lovely yarn for a new project.
Brown-multi Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, of course.
My Favorite part: I love everything about these, but I'm especially smitten with the tiny hangers I fashioned.

Harry Potter And The Knitting Progress Not Made

As is my wont, I optimistically packed more than enough knitting for our week-long stay at Virginia Beach. Compounding my natural inclination to over pack yarn was my complete denial about the Harry Potter Effect.

Although I wasn't in the first wave of readers, which comprised the dads and the youngest HP fans among us, I soon got my hands on a copy. It is hard to admit, as this is, after all, a knitting blog, but knitting paled by comparison while I was immersed in this final Harry Potter installment. It made for wonderful beach reading and I had just enough left to occupy me on the long flight home.

As a result, only a smidgen of my planned knitting got knitted, but with four established knitters and one nascent knitter in residence, there was no shortage of knitting conversations, knitting planning sessions, and knitting advice bestowed. Knitting vibes permeated the place. I did work on my second Monkey Sock, and I cast on for a Malabrigo scarf, but neither is yet photo worthy. My biggest knitting accomplishment was deciding on colors (I consulted at length with the other knitters who were more than happy to vicariously spend money on luscious yarn) for a fair isle sweater and placing a telephone order for some Morehouse Merino. It has not yet arrived, however, so photos of that will have to wait as well.

Some people stuck to their knitting despite the lure of Harry Potter (and the beach, poker games, and cocktail hours ...). Hilary finished off a beautiful pair of Monkey Socks and Auden took to her Knitting Mushroom like Harry once took to his broom.


My sister, blogless Beth, worked diligently on an exquisite baby blanket and I've her permission to show it off, in progress, here:


It was over all too quickly. I can only hope I soaked up enough sun-filled memories to get me through another Juneau winter.

Back To The Important Stuff

Slow knitting progress around here lately, and now that spring is springing, it's hard to muster enthusiasm for a wool sweater - no matter how lovely the merino yarn from which it is being knit. It's also hard to make black stockinette blog worthy. I'm at the point where no matter how much I knit, it doesn't seem to grow.

I keep thinking I'm ready to attach the sleeves and then I re-measure and find I'm not. I'm not even sure the sleeves are long enough yet. Sigh .. I'm SO ready to begin the yoke. I have faith that once I begin the yoke I'll be spurred on to just fly through the rest so I can move on to THIS:


The next project in the queue. I can't wait to begin another lace project!

There are some around here who think soccer is the Important Stuff. And so we traveled to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory last weekend so that both boys could participate in a soccer tournament. It was a great weekend with many games played and some knitting accomplished. I took along my poor neglected sock that has been on the needles forever. Here's my traveling sock photo, ala The Yarn Harlot. It seemed only fitting to pay her tribute while visiting Canada. My son is holding up the sock for me. The other guy was outside of our hotel.