Chronicles of the Lazy Knitter
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Chronicles of the Lazy Knitter

Just For Fun Friday Freebies

I'm feeling whimsical today so this week's Friday Freebies are some patterns for children.


Just for fun here's a funky Pirate Afghan from Caron Naturally. It's crocheted in squares so there are lots of variation you could make with this pattern, including pillow covers or a pirate flag for your favorite little buccaneers! I can't help but think this would be a great gift to start working on for a birthday or Christmas or??? Because it's worked in squares it's a really portable project too.



Now before you go saying you don't knit baby blankies, take another look at the lovely leaf lace pattern in the Cozy Luxe Baby Throw from Lion Brand. It's really really nice! I am seriously considering casting it on with fewer repeats and making a wrap out of it. The only down side is this pattern is written instructions, no chart, although it probably wouldn't be too difficult to make one with a bit of graph paper. It's a 20 row repeat with every WS row being purl - not too tough at all! It's all about thinking outside the box a bit - change up the yarn for a different gauge - how about using this stitch pattern on socks or a sleeve or ?? Be inspired! Cheers all! Enjoy!

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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/30/2010 7:11 PM | Add Comment

Enabler Alert! Stash Enhancement!

It was pretty predictable that with all the fine gauge patterns I've been posting, sooner or later some sock yarn was going to worm it's way into my stash. I have my favorite online sellers listed on my sidebar. Today's drug dealer was Little Knits - an awesome place to get brand name yarns on clearance discount! How could I turn away from Fortissima self patterning sock yarn at $1.99 a ball? I also bought some Regia Bamboo sock yarn and some Opal sock yarn in bright variegateds I've never seen before.
I will say right up front that I have no fixed plans for this yarn although I do have a few ideas buzzing in my bonnet. First I have to finish a project or two before I get too carried away. I keep threatening myself that when I run out of things to post about I'll take you on a UFO tour through the baskets of projects in my office - that should only take about a month... ha!  Little Knits have almost any brand you can imagine, even Fleece Artist, Cascade, Noro, Elle - I could go on for a while here - so go on over to Little Knits and have a peek, I mean, what could happen?? Cheers!



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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/29/2010 6:09 PM | Add Comment

Coming Off The Wheel

They say you're not done with surprises until you're dead. Today I was getting together a package of some Alpaca cria (first shearing) and some Border Leichester lamb fleece I purchased online, to send to a small custom mill in Alberta for washing and blending into spinning fiber. Imagine my surprise when I opened the opaque white bag of lamb fleece to discover Icelandic fleece!! How did I know it was Icelandic? It has a long hairy second coat and a downy soft under fleece. So WHAT did I wash yesterday??? The Border Leichester lamb fleece! Eeep! It seems my seller was in as much of a hurry as I get into sometimes and labeled the white bags with the wrong names! *sigh!* I thought it was pretty soft and short for Icelandic! I was dumb enough to think the seller had already pulled the hair out of it! Double *D'uh!!*
Soooo I got the parcel together, including a note to Anne at A & B Fiberworks that the lamb fleece had already been washed (I hope she can tell, without the note). I have heard good things about their work so I am guardedly optimistic. I sent my llama fiber to Twisted Sisters Mill in Alberta because they have dehairing equipment (A&B don't) - but - I found out - to my dismay, there is a 1 year waiting list so although I sent my fiber off it will be shearing time next spring before I see it again. Because A & B are a new mill, just starting out, it won't take a year to get my spinning fiber back and that made me feel much better.



Anyways, plying is going well. It's so nice to have something not blue coming off the wheel. The singles with the Fire Moss were not exactly what I had in mind. I intended to make it a 2 ply worsted to chunky weight, which meant bigger singles. I only got about half of it spun into a worsted weight. The rest came out to fingering weight. There's a lot to be said about not being in the same state of mind every time you sit down to spin. When I'm tired, my singles tend to wander into my default size which is now much finer than it used to be. So I ended up with 2 very different skeins. One skein, about 4.75 ounces was 235 yards, worsted weight. The second, about 3.5 ounces was 250 yds, a fingering weight. The one thing I really liked was how the brown and red and green melded into such a nice mix. No jarring blobs of bright color, just a sort of blurry brownish blend. So that's been my day. Cheers all!




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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/28/2010 4:47 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Giving The Brown Icelandic A Go...



Today was the day... the victim was brown Icelandic fleece from a 2 year old sheep - very soft and fine... 
The challenge was to find a suitable tub to do the initial hot soak since this fleece smelled very strongly of sheep. No one was going to put up with that smell at meal time today!



I got lucky and found a medium size plastic garbage can. This time I didn't use water that was too hot to put my hand in. It was too hot to be bath water but I submerged the bags and then left it for several hours to soak. It was pretty dirty - but I realize most sheep are - mine certainly were! LOL!
I did the rinsing in my kitchen sink. I figured one or two would be enough but 4 later the water ran clean. All the time I handled everything so gingerly, so carefully, you'd think I was washing dynamite - I had to laugh at myself! When I was done rinsing I seriously contemplated spinning it out in the washing machine and even went so far as to put it in but at the last minute I chickened out and rolled it in a towel like I usually do. Then it was outside on a rack to dry in the sunshine and summer breezes.



I felt pretty good, laying it out to dry as I could see the fibers in the bags was loose and when I brought it in it looked ready to card... maybe tomorrow. I decided to celebrate. Last fall I made 8 gallons of wine from my own Saskatchewan-grown grapes - just my own grapes and sugar and champagne yeast. It's the first batch of wine I've made in nearly 8 years so I'm pretty proud it's all home-grown. I siphoned it into fresh bottles for bulk aging and had a glass. It was pretty dry - and I'm not a big fan of dry wines, but it was still nice. It will be even smoother a year from now but for not being a year old yet it was not too bad. Then I started a wine kit of Cabernet Savignon, complete with oak chips, in the primary fermenter. All in all, not a bad day... Cheers all!




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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/27/2010 5:22 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Spinning Something New - That Isn't Blue!

Weather-wise we seem to have gone from the well house to the sauna! As difficult as we are finding the transition it is most welcome as we are beginning the process of cutting and baling hay - something we much prefer to do under sunny skies! Since the forecast, in fact, calls for clear skies all week I am gearing up to try my hand (again) at washing some fleece. Yes, I'm either really brave or really dumb - or maybe a bit of both, I don't know, but I have some to wash and the conditions for drying are perfect so I'm gonna' do it! LOL! More on that later this week!



I finally had a chance to get spinning on the Louet's Northern Lights pencil roving I bought in the spring. I am just spinning it straight and making a 2-ply out of it. I expect it to be a rather mottled yarn as the color changes are so short. Although I can see this effect being pleasant in a color scheme like this I admit I have to wonder how it would look in their neon colorway or some of the hard primaries I have seen dyed like this. I guess each to his own...



Even on the bobbin it becomes muted and harmonious. Tomorrow I'll have shots of the finished yarns - yes yarns, as I have completed several small spinning and plying jobs in addition to this lot.... Cheers all!


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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/26/2010 6:39 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

Friday Freebie Lightweight Wraps

I hope you're not tired of shawls just yet - I mean, it IS still July and although some sites are pushing us to start winter knitting I can't help thinking it's still too warm to sit with a lap full of wool, am I right? Shawls, at least are fairly light, and depending on the yarn, not stifling to sit with in your lap.


With this in mind I chose this Openwork Wrap from Caron Naturally. It's crochet in fairly basic stitches so you know it will be fairly fast to make up. As for the yarn - the sky's the limit. If you're a seacell or bamboo fan, this could be your baby! The only thing I'd shy away from is 100% cotton unless it's a sock or fingering weight otherwise a project this size will weigh a ton and then strrrrrretch!



And if crochet doesn't excite you, how about this Savannah Wrap from Lion Brand? Talk about gossamer web! Knit in Mohair/Silk it's a featherweight delight! Use sock, fingering or baby weight yarn, about 700 yds, something gorgeous you've been saving (or better yet, put it on your fiber festival "have-to-buy" list!) The lace is only an 8 row repeat with every 2nd row being purl so I could see this turning into a project you could work on while watching a movie or enjoying a knit-evening with friends or your local guild. In my book, it's the perfect summer knitting project! Enjoy! Cheers all!

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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/23/2010 2:10 PM | Add Comment

Vine Yoke Cardigan Making A Comeback!

In spite of the crappy summer (and partly thanks to the Annis shawl) I have my knitting mojo back and I have happily picked up my Vine Yoke Cardigan again. I can't say enough about how much I love the ingenious construction of this cardi! For starters, it's knit sideways. This is one of the only reasons I am knitting it in garter stitch like the pattern calls for. Turning garter stitch sideways somehow makes it look less beginner-ish and the vertical striping is slimming (I think). It's designed by Isolda Teague, the author of Whimsical Little Knits volumes 1 & 2 and although she has several lovely sweater/cardi patterns for sale by PDF download from her website there isn't any mention of the Vine Yoke cardi. I suspect this is because it is available for PDF purchase online from Twist Collective and I wonder if they have a contract etc which prevents her from mentioning it (I think that's what "exclusive" means?). Anyways, this cardi knits more or less complete with an i-cord neck edging and lace hem that are knit as you go. The vine yoke is a simple yet lovely pattern stitch and the whole thing just sort of "works". You follow the (7 pages long) thorough instructions and this gorgeous cardi just sort of magically appears on your needles. It's a very relaxing knit and the charts are not demanding or complicated so there is lots of time for musing and daydreaming as the yarn flies through your fingers. I've now finished the right front, right sleeve and am started on the back - dare I say, close to half done? It looks horribly lumpy and distorted right now but I know it will all relax and bloom the first time I was and block it... patience, patience! Kind of a nice feeling, for something I cast on last fall! LOL! Gee, maybe I'll even have it finished for this winter?!?!?!? Maybe I'd better not set a time frame, I might jinx it! Eeep! Cheers all!




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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/22/2010 9:36 PM | Add Comment

More Shawls and A Rakestraw Spinner

I still have shawls on the brain. It's a minor ailment, I know, but I seem to get a fairly healthy bout of it at least once a year. It's when I'm in the greatest danger of casting on projects I will never finish, like my beloved Swallowtail Shawl... *sigh!* But today I want to tempt you with a Little Shawl e-Book only available by purchase online. I got this link from one of my Yahoo Groups and I really want to share with you an enticing collection of 7 Small Shawls to Knit by Designs By Romi.



This eBook only costs $20 for the 7 shawls and it's a subscription (and I don't get anything for promoting it, just so you know). There are 2 already and more coming over the rest of the year. I absolutely love the freshness of her designs! They all call for sock yarn but I'm sure fingering weight would work for most of these too. Since they are all fairly small they're not so intimidating for us not-usually-shawl-knitters and for the old pro's, they can all be expanded by adding more pattern repeats. How sweet it that? Ravelry users can find her there but for us non-Ravelers the link will take you to her own website.



A while back Doris, a long-time blog friend was complaining about her recently purchased Rakestraw Spinner, which awakened my insatiable curiosity for spinning oddities. Yes, it was inevitable, someone on one of my Yahoo Groups had one for sale and I bought it for about half of retail. It's gorgeous wood - Maple and Rosewood. If you're as curious as I was, here's a video tutorial from the Down In The Country website that makes them. I will say right up front that I'm not in any danger of replacing my wheel with it! LOL!! But as a sweet collector piece I will be keeping this baby!
It is in moments like this that I realize how much I allow others to influence me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, when the outcome is a new book or spinning gadget. I think it's one of the reasons I blog - to extend a bit of "good" influence myself. I mean, what's better than sharing with your friends and making new ones in the process? I have found that most spinners and knitters are very generous by nature and willing to share their experiences for the betterment of the craft and just being helpful in general. For all the nasty things the internet is used for, it's kinda' nice to be counted on the side of those who try to use it for a better purpose! Cheers all!


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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/21/2010 5:32 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Annis Complete!



With great delight I cast off Annis yesterday! The stockingette short rows were super easy to memorize and it quickly became a Zen knit! The bamboo yarn, at this gauge, is so supple and slinky! It is a very loose stockingette which gives the shawl a feel of lightness. I couldn't be more pleased with the multi-colored yarn, too! Just the right amount of color shifting and the shades are so subtle the whole project is feminine and airy...



Here's a pic with the beading. I think what I like best is that the beads match the browns in the yarn so they don't shout from the fabric, they just add a little sparkle. They also add a little weight which isn't a bad thing because it helps the lace to hang open.
So this is my little victory this week. It's been too long since I finished anything and my knitting mojo was really suffering. I've had a hard time picking up a project since I ran out of gray Cotswold for my handspun sweater and this small shawl has been a real knitting pick-me-up. It's refreshing to start and finish something in a relatively short time - it breathes fresh air into the long term projects... you just never know what it will inspire you to pick up again! Cheers all!



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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/20/2010 6:36 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Living and Learning

Let's just say that some things are inevitably going to be learned the hard way. Like not sticking your tongue on frozen metal in winter or not sticking car keys into an electrical outlet or how to ruin perfectly good fleece. Some types of trouble are just so easy to get into and impossible to get out of! I found all this out over the weekend when I set up my Made Well drum carder to tackle some fleece.
That white Icelandic has been sitting in the wash bags in my office for almost a month now and since I have some other fiber I want to wash, I figured the sensible thing to do was empty the bags and card it up.
I readily admit to being a raw novice with washing fiber and I found out what not to do with it by carefully going over in my mind how I washed this Icelandic. There probably isn't anything wrong with washing fiber several times but I'm pretty sure the water I used was far too hot and that moving the bags at all in water that hot is sure to felt it because that was pretty much what I found as I zipped open the bags and tried to handle the fleece; lumps and matts of  fiber cement! Several of the bags were not complete matts so I carefully separated the fiber, opening it enough to run it through the carder.


Admittedly, at first glance, this doesn't look too bad, right? Wrong! It seems this fiber is made up of two fibers; soft fluffy down and longer hair-like fiber. It should have occurred to me, after working with llama fiber, that the long hair part should be pulled out and thrown away, but I was so fixated on getting it washed, I never even thought about separating the two. I just assumed Icelandic hair was fine enough to incorporate into the mix. D'uh! Not brilliant!
Secondly, after carding this wool a bit I noticed a pile of white bits building up under the carder. Upon closer inspection, and after pulling the small batt off the carder, I realized these were simply broken pieces of fiber. The wool was now so brittle it was simply disintegrating from being carded.



I held the batt up to the light and it's plain to see the felted wads and long bits of stringy hair. Every where I set it down there was a dusting of fiber bits. With a heavy heart I wadded it all up and tossed the whole lot in the trash. It all added up to a total disaster, barring the fact that I HAD actually learned something from all this. I learned that asking advice on a Yahoo Group is a great way to get good information from experienced fiber fanatics on alternate ways to wash fleece. By this, I mean ways that won't totally destroy it! LOL! I think the best advice I got was that with very dirty fleece it's OK to start with a hot sudsy bath, just don't change the water frequently - or at all. It's better to let it soak for a day or even two in the same soapy water even when it's cold. It won't hurt the fiber to soak that long and it will likely come clean on it's own - no agitation. This was a completely new concept to me and I will certainly keep it in mind the next time I decide to try again. I will, however, need to use a plastic tub instead of my kitchen sink to do this as I can't see the family putting up with a sink full of sheep-smelly fiber through several meal times! *sigh!* It felt like a very long morning!



I couldn't bear ending the morning on such a depressing note so I hauled out another carding job I've been wanting to get around to. I have several pounds of 100% alpaca fiber from Victoria's Fibers of Winnipeg (don't know if she's still around) and some 100% Polwarth roving from  Wild Geese that I've been wanting to blend together. I know that camelids like llama and alpaca have very poor memory, even though they're very soft and warm. That means if you knit something from them it has a tendency to sag like 100% cotton does. If you blend it with even just 30% wool, the wool helps overcome that sagging issue. This Polwarth is absolutely baby-bottom soft so the two blend up into an smooshy buttery fiber! They are both a natural dark brown, the alpaca being a slightly lighter shade so when I carded it up it was easy to see if it wasn't blended well enough. I weighed out bundles  of approx 4 ounces in a 60/40 blend and carded them with great pleasure, after the hideous mess the Icelandic was!



The batts came out so pillowy soft! As near as I can figure my drum carder's capacity is about one ounce because 4 batts make approx 4 ounces. I'm almost finished the whole lot and will have 8 four ounce bags when I'm done. I'm going to list them in my Etsy shop. I still have about 8 to 10 ounces of Polwarth left which I'm going to spin up myself.
When I'm finished this carding job I'm going to do the same with some greyish-brown Alpaca fiber and some greyish-brown Polwarth but I have much less of them to card. In case you're wondering, Polwarth is a cross-bred sheep, 75% Merino and 25% Lincoln. It seems to me the fleece has retained more of the Merino qualities than the Corriedale, which is also a Merino cross-breed. I don't know why there's such a fuss over Corriedale as I have yet to come across Corriedale fiber that impressed me. Smother me in Polwarth any day! LOL!!
So I guess some things you learn best by doing but sometimes I wish it was just as easy to undo them! Baby steps before running, I guess! Cheers all!

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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/18/2010 3:34 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

A Trio Of Free Shawl Patterns

I was having a hard time picking a pattern today - I have quite a stash built up. Since I'm still trying to make some headway on my Annis Shawl (don't ask me how insanely busy I've been lately) I have shawls on the brain. So I am showcasing a trio of shawls.



The first is Coquille , another dynamite pattern from Knitty . I absolutely love this pattern for a number of reasons! First, it's knit in self-striping sock yarn - although I'm sure you could use lace weight and get pretty much the same result. Second, it is a fairly quick knit because it uses one small gauge needle and one large gauge needle, that's how you get the lovely openwork look without all the work of actual lace. The third thing I really like are the triangular gussets made with short rows. I could certainly see many color combo possibilities with this pattern! It's made me totally reconsider my no-sock-yarn tendency - I guess there really are other things you can do with it! LOL!



This Lace Triangle Shawl is from Knitting on the Net . I love it's simple lines and the picot hem. Although it would be a great introduction to shawl knitting for a beginner I think it would be a relaxing knit for a more experienced knitter. I think what I love most about this particular pattern is that you have a lot of lattitude in the weight of yarn you could use. Go with a fine yarn on big needles for a gossamer look or even a thicker yarn on the right needles for a larger, more substantial wrap. I can SO see this knit in a natural colored handspun.... simple but dreamy!



This third shawl, even though it's another triangular shawl, is a real favorite of mine. I love everything about it! The multi-tonal silk yarn, the heart-shaped lace and - of course - the BEADS!! It's called Ms Clark and it's also from Knitty. I could see it knit in handspun, in sock yarn, in bamboo - almost anything you could put on needles and it would still come out spectacular. Maybe some day I'll cast it on too....
So I hope you enjoy at least one of these patterns - although I suggest you download them all - you just never know when you'll come across the perfect yarn for one or all three! Cheers!


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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/16/2010 5:09 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Like I Really Needed Another Book...



Everyone knows little sisters will get you into trouble... no matter how old you get! My little sister has a genius for presenting temptations. She recently extolled the virtues of an out-of-print book she received as a gift and was using to help herself & her girls learn to crochet; The Bantam Step By Step Book of Needle Craft. Well by the time she was done I really wanted a copy - shame on me! So I went internet hunting. The book has been out of print since the 80's so I wasn't holding my breath. Lo and behold I found a copy on eBay and it was only $16.99 but the shipping was $35 from the USA - go figure that one out! I didn't want the book THAT badly! Honestly, some seller are real gougers! Undeterred I checked out a few more booksellers and eventually found a copy - of all places - on Amazon.ca from the Calgary Goodwill for $1.99 plus $7 shipping. My eyes nearly popped out of my head! LOL! Five minutes and $10 later it was mine!
Let me assure you, if you ever come across a copy it's worth every penny you'll pay for it!! Each chapter begins with a fairly comprehensive history of the craft and then goes into a very well illustrated section on the basics of it - equipment, stitches, tips etc. Then there are project patterns - yes - complete knitted patterns, crochet patterns, sewing, needlepoint, tatting, smocking, lace making, weaving etc etc. I don't know how many years it took them to compile the information but the amount of technical stuff in this book is astounding for a single volume. True, the colors and some of the projects scream "late 70's early 80's" but if you can look past that there is a real cornucopia here!
I know, every time I get an exceptional book I say I'll never need to buy another book - and then something like this one comes along! It deserves to be read and appreciated and even used as a textbook because the crafts it teaches deserve to be preserved and practiced in the face of our over-mechanized made-in-China saturated society. We have a proud heritage of handmade needle crafts and it would be poverty indeed for it to be forgotten and lost. Cheers all!

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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/14/2010 6:50 PM | Add Comment

I Did It! Annis Shawl!!

A few weeks ago I posted the Annis shawl from Knitty. I said I was seriously considering casting it on... and I did! I studied the pattern and found it's only 18 rows of lace... only 18 rows... over 363 stitches, but only 18 rows....



The pattern starts with the lace and works it's way inward... 363 stitches to start....*ugh!* So I hauled out a bag of stitch markers and used them for every lace repeat... 29 of them! I decided to use something completely different for me - 100% Bamboo yarn by Plymouth Yarns in a creamy multi-tonal colorway. The original pattern calls for lace weight wool yarn knit on 5mm needles but the gauge for the heavier bamboo met those requirements with that size of needle so I thought, what the heck! I didn't really want something thin anyways! I originally planned to do the lace in the light color and the body in a complimentary multi-tonal brown color. The pattern calls for just over 400 yards for the entire project. If you're wondering about the brown wood plate in the middle of the picture, I decided to use 6mm dark topaz glass crow beads to accent the lace. Just to add a bit of glitter to the shiny slinky bamboo yarn and eliminate doing the "neps" - I just substituted beads! (How lazy can you get?)
I worked away at it over a couple weeks, my mantra being, "Only 18 rows.... only 18 rows..."! Well 18 rows took a heckofa long time! All 363 stitches of it! Granted the beading probably slowed things down a bit too... and having to purl every 2nd row....



So here's where I'm at after 2 weeks. I'm actually pretty tickled with it! I'm sure if it was Monika at Smokin' Hot Needles knitting it, she would have finished it eons ago but lace is not my forte, especially with this slippery slidey bamboo! My next row is the last lace chart purl row so I'll be double checking the stitch count of each of the 29 sections to make sure the main body comes out (more or less) correct.  It took more than 200 yards of yarn to knit just the lace edge so I decided to just do the whole thing in the creamy multi-tonal. It goes from cream to coral-peach to a pale chocolatey brown and since the mix isn't jolting like some variegateds do I figured it's enough variation with just the one colorway. I'm SO hoping the rest of it will go a little faster since it's just knit and purl short rows. Wish me luck! Cheers all!


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Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/13/2010 7:31 PM | View Comments (5) | Add Comment
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