knitting and seaglass: a cliché lives!

 Finally got my feet under me and my Rug, which sounds funny, shouldn't a Rug should be under my feet???? I completed the colorwork rows last night. I'm (sort of )on a straightaway to the hem, there are some short rows coming up.

Color accurate!  Unlike the earlier view here  This is my first Junko Okomato design  I am loving her writing style: no chit chat or overexplaining, she breaks it down into bite sized "sections" with a bit of chart in each. The shaping uses short rows to create sort of an oversized bubble. Risky choice, Japanese clothing styles frustratingly fail on me. I tried it on and I *think* it's going to be cozily oversized and drape well. After a good block! 

There are some very long floats back there.I was slowed down  trapping the floats until the very last 4 rows of colorwork when my brain finally kicked into gear. I realized it'd be  sooo much easier if I'd just do what I usually do: hold one color in  left hand and the other in my right.  DUH?!   I...forgot  ? I guess its been a while since I knit a colorwork pattern! So that totally takes care of the tension and ease of trapping for my particular knitting style.  I read that some knitters have used ladderback jacquard to knit the long float areas .That isn't in my skill set yet! 

I say yet because one of my fellow KnitsStars Season 11 , Alice Hammer  is teaching exactly that. The season is being offered for purchase later this week ! Have you tried any of the seasons or classes?  I wasn't sure about Knitstars until  I watched past seasons to familiarize myself. I am super picky about online classes, podcasts and YouTube channels. It is honestly worth it. The production quality is high, the way the classes are presented is professional and you own them, it's not a timed thing. 

If you are at all tempted, check it out via my Knitstars /link -it's a waitlist until Sept 27th and then they remind you when it goes for sale live. If you have any questions at all about KnitStars please ask me!

 In other news last weekend I helped my neighbor artist friend (and fellow beachcomber, we do a lot of beachglass hikes) Sarah Sorenson with a pop up seaglass jewelry  sale event. You can find her on Instagram   Ye  of course I went home with a fabulous pair of earrings!

I was surprised to learn lots of folks around here never find any beachglass, since recycling and awareness around littering have changed habits. I think it's an eye  thing--I pick up beach glass literally every day right down the street, my eyes are trained to see tiny details from knitting! Does  that happen to you?

Yes I am a cliche, thankyouverymuch, coastal granma knitting and hoarding jars of seaglass.... 

 

 Reading:  this is Unraveling  so I cant leave out my book , I am on the last part of James by Percival Everett. I slowed down because it is afterall, a chase, and the growing danger is making me stressed! The author deserves all the accolades received. 

 

Sweater for Good Unraveled

 Today we have some Unravel for real! A failed sweater from 2017 ish was returned to yarn balls, 1200+ yards of chunky weight yarn.

It's got a lot of variation in it and is sort of copper/chestnut/green brown/warm shades.....

Have you heard about Sweaters for Good, the initiative of the Hudson Valley Textile Project that asked knitters coming to Rhinebeck for NY Sheep and Wool to commit to knitting their "Rhinebeck Sweater"  out of yarn with roots in NY State and/or the Northeast US.  The word went out about this last year at the festival and has been bubbling along just below the surface all year. It's a lovely idea to support local fiber  farms, wool producers, dyers and mills. And really the point is not about making a new sweater in order to attend the festival- the point is celebrating local yarn, which is itself the point of sheep and wool festivals in the first place.

All of which is to say I took the pledge and now the clock is ticking! IAlthough I have plenty of great local yarn, none seems to be in a sweater quantity unless I want multicolored stripes.   I saw Kay's post on Modern Daily Knitting about her Sweater for Good considering  Rug, I remembered that this sweater has been in my queue forever, would be a quick knit (chunky yarn ftw) and I had a failed sweater knit in Jill Draper Makes Stuff yarn,at exactly the right weight and vibe, and it is about as local to Rhinebeck as one can get!

 That's what it looked like knit up, pre unraveling the failed pullover.  Color more accurate here than at top.

Anyway, a quick check with Jill Draper for a skein of CC for the Rug yoke found me discovering she'd discontinued this yarn  (Middlefield, its' a wool alpaca blend) but had a skein left that could work for me.. It's one the way.  I am kind of excited to cast on. Let's ignore the fact that it has been pretty warm at the annual Rhinebeck sheep festival in recent years so knitting this may be more of an act of faith than a fashion statement in October! 

 

READING: Kin by Tayari Jones.  Wonderful characters, enjoying and recommend so far! It's a good follow up from Whistler by Ann Patchett .  I am not the only one feeling this way: these two authors are speaking together (!!) at the  National Book Festival in DC next weekend , wish I could attend! (aug 22nd) .

 

Folded crane covered wall!At a health center  I was photographing at for a client earlier this week.