...I know I'm not the only one knitting.... where are you?

Little Blue Clutch is finished! Remember, from back in January? Of course you do.... Well here it is, finally finished! I really really really like it, except for one thing; my giant wallet doesn't fit in it. Oh well. The pattern for it was from Interweave Knits and here's the ravelry page for it. They called for some sort of shiny string to be knit along with it, but I definitely prefer it without. I also lined it with an old tablecloth that Jill had laying around that matches perfectly. It has giant blue, green, yellow, and red flowers on it. They're my colors.

And.... the Shalom cardigan. It grew about a foot long when I blocked it, and now it goes down to my thighs, so I may have to re-block. I've also got to sew the buttons on yet. I got simple plastic black ones because buttons are outrageously expensive, even at places where they should be cheap (JoAnn Fabrics?)

As for modifications, I obviously turned it from a one-button cardigan into a full-fledged button down cardigan. I thought I'd be ok, but then I haphazardly had to add a bunch of stitches right under the yolk pattern because I realized that the sweater as it was would have trouble stretching around my chest. It makes it a little strange in the armpits, but it's not noticable when I'm wearing it. The pattern was really fast; I finished most of the knitting in less than three weeks. I'd definitely recommend it.

Shalom Cardigan

Inspiration

The weekend before Thanksgiving my friend Cheryl, who has an online vintage store, was part of a big vintage market in Chattanooga. Michelle and I went for the day to check it out. I looked at lots of stuff, but somehow managed to buy only one thing: a button! It was almost overwhelming, all the vintagey goodness. Anyway, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to wear an amazing vintage sweater that I recently was given. It is a fair isle sweater that my grandmother knit for my mom about 50 years ago. I have had it for about a year now; it has been sitting on the shelf in my closet, I take it out once in a while to admire it, but I had never worn it. Vintage Chattanooga was the perfect place for its debute.

The sweater is a wool cardigan with five colors: cream, brown, green, rust, and yellow. There is a fair isle design on both the front and the back, the design on the back is simpler than the one on the front, but still beautiful. I have always thought it was amazing... but once I started looking at it closer, I saw all the intricate details that my grandma included. The finishing on this sweater is amazing - you can tell that she was a perfectionist. There is grosgrain lining on both sides of the button band and all of the button holes are finished with thread. The buttons themselves are beautiful, nothing that could be found in a store these days. The seams are all perfect, and she even put seam binding on the shoulder seams to prevent them from stretching. I posted more pictures on my flickr account, if you're interested.

I am finishing up a cardigan of my own, the Carolyn Cardigan from Knitty, and my grandma's work inspired me to take more care in finishing the sweater. It won't be as grand as her sweater, but it will be wearable. I finally learned how to do the mattress stitch (using this tutorial) for seaming. I don't know why I was so scared of it... it really wasn't that difficult once I figured it out. And it really works wonderfully. The first few seams weren't the best, but once I got better at it, I could hardly tell where the seam was!

I am almost finished with it... I had a hard time finding large wood buttons, but finally I found some at Walmart (!). They only had five and I needed seven, so I will have to go to another one today to see if I can find two more (There are 5, yes 5, Walmarts in the Huntsville area!). But, the neck/collar is really wide and I don't like it... so I think that I might take it out and try to make it smaller and more fitted. I'm not sure how to do that, but I'll try to figure it out. If I do that, I think that I might just put 5 buttons on the sweater instead of the seven the pattern calls for. It doesn't really need seven buttons anyway. This sweater has taken me almost 6 months to complete. I knit the first sleeve three times before it came out the way I wanted it. And now I might redo the collar... but I think that it will be a really great, wearable sweater, so its worth it. And Grandma has taught me that its the little things that count. Even if no one will notice them but me and her :)

Thanks, Grandma.

...I don't even know where to start, its been so long! I have been done at the coffee shop for a week now (thank God!), but its still been busy around here - the field season has somehow snuck up on me - the birds are here and are getting ready to get busy. So, I've been out in the field a bunch last week to get prepared, not really fun stuff, but it has to get done. That means not much knitting (well, not as much as usual). It rained over the weekend, so no field work, but I got lots done... taxes (finally), cleaning, organizing, and knitting.
I had been on a knitting hiatus last week - however,

I did make these wee sockies for my friend's baby whose first birthday was a week ago.

I've lost all interest in the cardigan that I started... so I've put it aside for a while. Its not turning out the way I was imagening, so its hard to motivate myself to figure out how to shape the sleeves.

I did however manage to work on my skirt a little. The lace is going much quicker on the second side than the first side did. I did this lace in two nights - just a couple hours (...okay, well maybe 4 hours).


Rachel and I have big plans to do some natural dyeing using plants. So I went to the library tonight to see if they had any books on dyeing using plants. Well, let me tell you, ya'll should visit the library. They have an awesome selection of books!!!! Why hadn't I thought of this before? So this is what I came home with:

The book on the bottom is Killer Tea Cosies - very strange book with all sorts of patterns (knit, crochet, and sew) for tea cosies, the next one up is Sensational Knitted Socks, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, and on top is Wild Color - an awesome book that explains all about plant dyeing and what plants yield what colors under what circumstance, what you can add to the dye baths to change the results, etc. I am really psyched about this - Rachel & I even stopped in Hartselle on our way back from Bankhead today to look in the thrift stores for big pots or kettles to use for our project. I can't wait!

In other exciting news, we are getting trailers to stay in out at Bankhead this year! Could not be happier. One word: air conditioning (I guess thats two words). We are going to be staying out there this weekend, and I can't wait for the laid-back feeling of being out in the woods for a week at a time. I should be able to get lots done...

And Jamie, we need a update on whats going on with you. I know you're busy, but your brother proves to be a dearth of information when it comes to your big move... fill us in!

Everyones Back!

I'm glad to have everyone back! Jamie - Utah looks beautiful, even if there wasn't a lot of snow. It sounds like you had fun despite the chaos! ... And those socks are beautiful! I love the colors - its kind of funny because I read your post yesterday right after I got home from Barnes and Noble where I bought Favorite Socks. In blogland it seems everyone is raving about this book, and when I saw it I decided I needed to start making more interesting socks. Its weird, because before I made any socks I thought, whats the big deal? They're socks, no one even sees them on your feet! But then I made a pair, and then another, and then another. Its addicting. And there is just something comforting about wearing socks you made. Its almost like having a secret or something. So I will make more! I do find it kind of ridiculous, though because sock yarn is SOOOO expenisive. I can go to the store and buy a pair of socks for $3, or I can spend $20 on yarn and two weeks making them.

So on to more exciting things... Here is the progress of my skirt. Slowly but surely, it is coming along. I think I finally have the pattern set & I think it will work. Molly, (and Jamie, too), if you want, I can figure out the pattern for you, it is actually pretty easy now that I have it figured out. When you are done with the lace & the eyelet part, stop knitting and give me this information:
1. The number of stitches on your needle when you are finished with the eyelet (I didn't have the number that it said I should have, but I didn't try to go back)
2. The length of what you have done (the lace and eyelet)
3. The total lenght you would like the skirt to be
4. The waist & hip you want
5. Your stitch gauge & your row gauge

I am also working on my first design project. Figuring out the skirt pattern made me decide that I could design something simple if I wanted. I saw this and had to have it, so I designed a pattern inspired by it. I am knitting on size 10s, so it is going fast. I am finished with one front side and just casted on for the other.