Happy Birthday, Auden!

My niece, Auden, turned 5 today. Last year she and her family left Juneau, after a wonderful visit with us, on the morning of her 4th birthday. That's the last time I saw them and I am SO looking forward to seeing them all on our family vacation the week after next. Naturally, I've been thinking of her a lot today, and it just dawned on me that I could use this as an excuse to go photo-archive diving and show you a pre-KnittingWeather knit.

I loved making this sweater for her. I started planning it as soon as word arrived that a girl was expected. I had knit welcome sweaters for both of my sons and Auden's older brother and it was such fun to work on something a little bit girly.





It is evolved from a Debbie Bliss pattern, Guernsey with Bobble Edging, from "Family Knits." I simplified the pattern and took out the bobbles and replaced some of them with beads.

Never was a sweater knit with so much love. Happy Birthday, Sweetie! See you soon!

Monkeying Around

I don't know if it was the desire for an infusion of color, or just that twitchy finger need to cast on something new. Whatever the source of my latest urge, before I knew it I had cast on for a pair of Monkey Socks ala Cara. You've gotta love that picot edge!

Close Encounters Of The Ursine Kind

We found this when we stepped outside yesterday morning. The remarkable thing is not that a bear wandered through our yard and took a dump, but that our family beast slept through the whole thing. This is a dog that barks at her own shadow; I have no idea how she missed a black bear visit.




It's not all about the wildlife around here though; I also have some knitting show and tell. While at Article Pract in Oakland several weeks back, I was seduced by some Malabrigo Lace Yarn in "Tortuga."


It's mostly solid appearing in the skein, with wonderful greyish-purply/greeny variations that almost but not quite are done justice by this photo. I'm thinking scarf, though I haven't picked out a pattern yet.

I decided I had to jump on the Monkey Sock bandwagon about the time that I found this Koigu:



I'm hoping Hilary is going to jump with me so we can Monkey-Sock-Knit together in Virginia Beach next month.

No better time to segue into a shout-out to "anonymous" whose name I think is Wei-ming. (Am I even close?) We met on my last visit to Article Pract. I love bonding in yarn stores with fellow knitters. Thanks so much for coming to visit me here. How are your socks coming along?

And finally, time to show an in-progress photo of my Leaf and Trellis Stole, from Victorian Lace Today. This is 5 repeats in to what I think will be between 30 and 40 repeats total. Lots of time for progress shots, I know.



Ignore the funky pink provisional cast on. I'm using JaggerSpun Zephyr wool-silk. I know it looks sort of whitish here, but it's in a color called Mushroom. I'm using a much smaller needle than the pattern specifies, so I've added an extra 43 stitch repeat to make it wide enough. I'm using Addi Turbo Lace needles (3.25mm) for the first time and they are all they are reputed to be: Pointy enough, smooth join, not too slippery, lovely to work with!

The Colors Of Spring In Juneau

The weather has been quite lovely since I got back. There's been more dry than wet and a fair amount of sunshine. So we took a walk up Montana Creek Road the other day, and I couldn't help but notice that the lupine blooming amidst all that green reflected the colors of my baby sweater.

First Grand Niece/Nephew Baby Sweater

Pattern: EZ's Surplice Baby Jacket from VK Spring/Summer 2007
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool DK in Avocado (~2 1/4 x50 gram balls) and Navy (~1/3 x50 gram ball)
Needles: US Size 5 Knit Picks Options
Finished Measurements: Approximately 10"x10". I knit to the smaller size, but my gauge didn't match precisely. The joy of baby sweaters, for me, is not worrying about getting an exact size. Sooner or later, this will fit.


This was another clever and fun recipe from EZ. I followed the optional guidelines for longer ribbed cuffs and added contrasting I-cord. I also incorporated the suggestion to purl the "marked" stitches on the wrong side to produce a pronounced knit diagonal.

There's No Place Like Home

I recently returned from another medical sojourn in California. I'm feeling great and it is wonderful to be home. I was met at the airport by Nick and the boys who seem to have grown more, while I was away for 5 weeks, than my knitting did! Max is towering above me and all of Toby's pants are suddenly clam-diggers.

When last you heard from me, I was impatient to begin a lace project. It was duly started and provided some soothing knitting therapy for me whilst I was away. But then we got the call that all was well with our niece Julia's pregnancy and I was overtaken by the allure of baby dud knitting.

So here is an in-progress shot of my EZ Surplice Baby Jacket:



Lace beginnings and yarn purchases to be documented soon ...

Box-The-Compass

Someday I want to make a totally perfect sweater; one that is the right size and style for me, faultlessly crafted, and unquestionably beautiful. I finished my Box-The-Compass Sweater yesterday. It isn't perfectly perfect, but it's perfect enough for now. I made a few mistakes, I dithered over the yoke, I was impatient with the finishing. But in the end, I'm quite happy with it.


I am also agog anew over the brilliance of Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swansen. This pattern is actually from Meg's book, but she writes "The Box-The-Compass design is the result of a collaboration between Ma and me." You can not work one of these wonderful recipes without learning an enormous amount and feeling hugely accomplished when finished. I'm a believer. I want to go knocking on doors, handing out copies of Knitting Without Tears and spreading the word about EPS. Amen.

I knit the sweater in sportweight because I wanted a lightish weight wear alone sweater and not a heavier outer layer sort of sweater. I was determined not to make it into a boxy shapeless schmata reminiscent of most of the items in my closet. Because I planned this to be a wear next to your skin sweater, I worried/obsessed/fretted a lot about what yarn to use. I finally settled on Morehouse Farm Merino, after first ordering their sample notebook. This yarn is luscious. It was wonderful to knit with. It is absolutely soft enough to wear against your skin. You'd never know from the palette I chose, but it comes in a huge array of gorgeous colors. I'm starting to dream about a colorful stranded/steeked/cardigan ala EZ.

Box-The-Compass

Pattern: Box-The-Compass Yoke Sweater from Meg Swansen's Knitting
Yarn: Morehouse Farm Merino 2-strand sport weight
Needles: US size 4 (mostly) I used US size 3 for the hems (I also inadvertently used US Size 6 for a time. I'm not proud of this, but I didn't rip it out when I discovered it.)
My Favorite Parts: The hems. The faux seams. The fact that it fits like it's supposed to. The yarn.

I Know It's Finally Spring Because ...

This is all that is left of my lovely SnowKnitter:

And because I am almost finished with a wool sweater. It seems that I am always a season behind with my knitting. But I am closing in on the end of my Box the Compass sweater..stay tuned!


And it is my first blogiversary! I have really enjoyed adding this component to my passion for knitting. Sharing images and capturing knitterly moments in words, exchanging thoughts and ideas and support with fellow knitters - I'm looking forward to seeing what Year Two brings!

Happy May Day!

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.

Virtual Knitting

As you might imagine, I've experienced a fair amount of stress and anxiety during the past month. What you might not guess is that, in the moment at least, my cancer diagnosis was not the worst of it. No, my friends, it was not until my surgeon casually mentioned that she'd like me to have an MRI that I totally and completely became unglued.

I received this news on a Tuesday and the MRI was scheduled for the following Monday so I had a good long time to fret. I talked to everyone who would listen and accepted any and all (music, drugs, visualization techniques, more drugs) encouragement and suggestions, but I seriously did not know how I was going to get through it.

It was Hilary who suggested I pick a complex pattern to "knit" during the MRI. In my anxiety I hadn't even remembered that I once used this technique to distract myself during an unpleasant procedure years ago. Brilliant! But what to knit? Pattern? Yarn? Needle size? Virtual or not I found I could still obsess over these decisions. (Hmm .. maybe this is what Hilary was thinking all along.) I needed it to be complex enough to distract, but simple enough to memorize. Would it need a garter stitch edge to reduce curling? Did it even matter if an imaginary knitted swatch curled in the MRI machine? On the day before my MRI I took out some scrap yarn and worked up a simple swatch:


Row 1: K5, yo, k1, ssk, k3, k2tog, k1 yo, k5
Row 2: K2, p15, k2
Repeat 2 row pattern as long as necessary.

I loved that this knitting distracted me in the days leading up to the MRI, that even a virtual knitting project could get the obsessive juices flowing. I found it calming to knit up the actual prototype. But in my heart, I knew that it wasn't going to conquer my Extreme Claustrophobia. For that, I took two Xanax. I did manage to knit somewhere into the 3rd row before I lost my place, or dropped a stitch, or started a new project .. I can't really remember what happened. I only remember that I didn't care.

Two days later when I was anxiously awaiting some pre-op tests I discovered I had the wrong needles with me and couldn't work on my sweater sleeve. Desperate for a distraction I used a crochet hook to hold some stitches so I could free up a dpn, and pulling yarn from the other end of my ball I began to work my MRI pattern. It saved me again.

THANK YOU to all who left such kind comments, words of encouragement and virtual hugs after my last post.

Through The Rabbit Hole .. And Back

I made a conscious decision, when I began this blog, to stick mostly to knitting content - with just an occasional glimpse into life and family in Alaska. But the past several weeks have been too big and Alice-in-Wonderland-ish. I can't possibly just resume my customary knitting chatter and pretend it's life as usual around here.

A routine mammogram in early February was questionable. A follow up was considered "suspicious." So I flew to California for a biopsy that I WAS CERTAIN would have benign results. Wrong again.

If you are still reading and you are due or overdue for your own mammogram, get up from your computer now and go make an appointment. I'll wait. GO NOW.

My planned 4 day trip morphed into 3 1/2 weeks. The wonderful friends with whom I was staying graciously embraced this turn of events. Other wonderful friends wined and dined me. Everyone supported and encouraged me in every way possible. Nick flew down for a week to shepherd me through the lumpectomy and yet more wonderful friends welcomed our boys into their homes in Juneau. It has been one of those life events that starts out feeling devastating and ends up making you realize how blessed you are.

And lucky too. The cancer was caught early. Stage I. Prognosis: Many more years of knitting. More on that .. soon.

Did Someone Say Baby?

My son came home from school a few weeks ago with the news that his teacher's wife was about to have a baby. I turned on him like he had just told me he was flunking out of 7th grade. "What do you mean?" "He just told you?" "When is she due?" "Boy or Girl?" Poor kid. He just doesn't understand the effect those words have on me. My fingers begin to twitch. My brain goes into inventory stash mode. My heart skips a beat.

Late last week he casually mentioned the baby had been born. A girl.

So this weekend I took a little break from my endless black stockinette..


Baby Hat
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine in sport weight
Needles: US Size 3 Addi circs and Susan Bates DPNs
Pattern: Basic hat pattern with a rolled edge followed by two color ribbing and raglan shaping. My favorite detail is the bi-color I-cord knot at the top.

Just another "Knitting Weather" Day ...

Hemming and Hawing

My Box-the-Compass sweater is underway. The cleverly constructed contrasting hem is behind me and now I have miles of plain black stockinette ahead of me. I'm finding it very soothing right now. I'll let you know when I'm ready to poke myself in the eye with a knitting needle.

The hem was enormously satisfying to work. What a wonderful detail. I chose the knit together as you go option seen here and how to'd here, rather than the add on at the end and sew up option. I'm pleased with my results.

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As always, thanks to everyone who leaves me such nice comments. I do love comments, and I would reply to each and every one, but often cannot because I have no way to reach you. Blogger doesn't provide me with commenter's email addresses. Feel free to email me (my email address is available in my profile) if you want to hear back from me.

Mail Call

I've been on a bit of an ordering binge lately. I believe it's a method of retail therapy designed to beat the mid-winter doldrums. Nothing like having goodies arrive in the mail to bring cheer to a gloomy day.

Yesterday afternoon's mail brought the much anticipated Morehouse Farm Merino 2-Ply that I finally settled on as my yarn of choice for my next sweater project.


This yummy stuff's destiny is a Yoke Sweater a la Elizabeth Zimmerman, though the pattern, Box-the Compass, is actually from Meg Swansen's book.

I have dutifully swatched,

and I am ready to cast on ..

You Like Me, You Really Like Me*

I’d like to thank The Academy. I also want to thank my one and only, Cascade 220 in Natural White, without whom I never would have passed TKGA Master Hand Knit Program Level I!!!

I did it! I reworked and resubmitted my tension challenged swatches and they passed. I heard via email last Saturday and my swatches were returned in today’s mail.

To celebrate I ordered some beautiful yarn from Morehouse Farm for a sweater for ME. I also ordered the Level II instructions from TKGA (In for a penny, in for a pound), and they arrived in today's mail as well. (Daunting . . but here I go ..)

To distract myself from all of this waiting, I embarked on an immediate gratification knit: a Sally Melville Shape-It Scarf. I love these simple scarves not only because they are quick to knit, but because they are the perfect shape for scarf-challenged-people. (Read: ME) It doesn't require any sort of fashion sense or artistic flare to get these babies to fall into pleasing folds and drape cleverly about one's neck. I have never been a "scarf person" before. But since our move to Juneau, it suddenly all makes sense - a bit of soft woolly goodness wrapped around your neck really does keep you warmer!

This particular scarf is made out of approximately 2/3 (or maybe 3/4?) of a skein of Colinette Jitterbug. This yarn is lovely to work with, soft and beautiful. I have just one complaint. There was a knot in this skein. I'm always peeved when I come upon knots in skeins of fine yarn, but this one was especially irksome. A few rows post knot, I could no longer deny there was a distinct change in the variegated pattern. What had been very, very subtle was now a busy, bright yarn. Clearly, two different dye lots had been joined into a single skein. If you look closely, you can see for yourself:

Still, it's a fun scarf and I can live with its idiosyncrasies.

Jitterbug Scarf
Pattern: Shape-It Scarf by Sally Melville
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug (colorway, Toscana/100 g)
Needles: US size 10 1/2
Notes: I increased the stitch count until I had 119 stitches (this should be a number divisible by 3, somehow I came up one short) and then cast on 45 stitches at each edge for 209 total stitches. I worked these even until they were wide enough .. about 3 1/2 " in this case.

* What Sally Field almost said when she won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1985. The real quote is here.

So Much Sock Yarn, So Few Socks

Sock yarn. You've got to love it. Beautifully colored, tightly spun, smooth and lustrous. Self-striping, variegated, nearly solids - I like it all. I like that when you find some you can't resist, you know how much to buy, and it doesn't have to be much. And I love wearing socks I have hand knit. But the truth is, I'm not passionate about knitting them.

Are you still there?

Oh, I like knitting the occasional sock. I loved knitting my Olympic socks (in spite of the questionably dyed yarn), and I loved knitting these that were on deadline for a birthday. But so often when I have a sock on the needles as backup knitting to grab and go, instead of getting up and going, it languishes and progress is barely discernible for weeks on end.

But still I can't ignore the Call of the Sock Yarn. So periodically, if I'm not knitting socks, I have to find another use for it.

What we have here is the same blue sock you've seen before. This is still the first sock, even though I love the yarn and can't wait to get it on my feet. It's just taking its time. Clockwise from there is the square I couldn't resist knitting for this knitalong. It just seemed like a fun thing to do and I had left over Koigu from last winter's Mitten Period. And rounding out the trio is a Sally Melville Shape-It scarf. I never used to be a "scarf person," but that's another story ...

Skier or Snowboarder?

Uh, mm , knitter?

I have no desire to pay a lot of money to hurtle my body down a steep and slippery slope, risking life and limb and great humiliation, but I am happy to sit in the lodge knitting while my boys do. So on Saturday, I filled my knitting bag and we headed up to Eaglecrest.

I needed a quick fix to fill the gap between Ene'’s Scarf and the yet to be determined next big project. I'’m not a hat person, but the ears do get cold, so I thought I'd give the Drops Design Headband that has been making the rounds a chance.

Just in time, too. Temps are 15 degrees colder today than yesterday and my headband made it's debut as we shoveled last night's snow off the driveway.

Pattern:Drops Design Headband

Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 in cotton. I knew I shouldn't make it out of cotton, but I had it on hand, I liked the color, and it was the right weight. It's working for now and when it stretches out and falls to my knees, I'll make another.

Needles: US size 6

Auspicious Beginning

I finally finished my Ene's Scarf on New Year's Day night. I seem to have been the victim of reverse, reverse psychology on this one. I was SO sure beginning with many stitches and working my way down to few would go faster than working few to many. I expected it to practically knit itself, but au contraire - it seemed to go on forever. However, done it is! Soon it will be on its way to a most special woman, a second mom to me, and one of my first knitting mentors.

Shawl for Pam

Pattern: Ene's Scarf by Nancy Bush.
Yarn:Drops Alpaca ~3 1/2 balls (50 grams each)
Needles: KnitPicks Options, us size 4
Finished size: 65" across the top (56" before blocking)
33" from point to top (30" before blocking)
46" along diagonal edge (40" before blocking)
Started/Finished: 10/28/2006-1/1/2007

Happy Holidays

I'm quite certain that all seven every one of my regular readers is already well-acquainted with the Yarn Harlot, but on the off chance that you've landed here on a google search gone awry, please check out this post. Dontcha just wish you could vote for Stephanie for President???

There's been a knitting funk and an impending-holiday angst happening around here lately, and there's about to be a trip Down South to keep me from this here blog, but I'll be back. I look forward to being refreshed and maybe even ready to show off some finished items or yarn purchases or promising swatches early in 2007.

Best wishes to all for a Joyous Holiday and Healthy New Year!

Patent Pending

This was all Toby's idea. He wanted a hat with a secret pocket, kept hidden by a giant pom-pom. I didn't get it completely right, but it's right enough and he's being terribly gracious about it. I'd like to say I'll do better next time, but there will not be a next time for this hat. First off, it's the equivalent to two hats knitting-wise (Do I get extra Good Mom points for that?) Secondly, it has a pom-pom on top.

I'm delighted that my sweet boy is totally immune to any sort of fashion standards. He wanted a pom-pom and is not at all concerned with how his peers will react.

The whole pocket thing is kind of a dud. He originally thought it would be cool to have a pencil hidden away, just for those times when you suddenly need a pencil. Or better yet, when your friend needs a pencil and you can pull one out of your hat. What was I thinking? Oh, you can get a pencil in there, but it's no secret ...


I did learn a thing or two (besides how deeply I dislike pom-poms). I did my first provisional cast-on. This was so I could turn around and knit the "pocket" in the other direction. I followed instructions found here. It's very cool, though I must've done something wrong because my crocheted edge didn't unzip as smoothly as it was supposed to. It required more of a zip one/tug one operation. I'll need to work on that. I also did EZ's sewn bind-off for stretchability. I highly recommend it! I made and rejected two pom-poms before Toby helped me with one that made the cut. Pathetic, I know. Makes you kind of wonder about the two that didn't make it.



Toby's Secret Pocket Hat
Pattern: You're kidding, right?
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish
Needles: US #6 Addi Turbo 16" Circs and Susan Bates DPNs

ETA: True confession time: I wrote this post last night and held off posting until I could take daylight photos before Toby headed off to school. He was very accommodating (so accommodating that he missed the bus). BUT he didn't want to wear it to school ..