Finish in'26 continues

 

KNITTING: Next up in the Finish It in '26  project parade is my Piilo sweater. One sleeve done this past week, one underway. It's a very blocky fit and I think I'm going to love it. Especially that collar. Yarn is Kelbourne Scout and like all of their yarns it is pretty great. (Seriously have you tried Kelbourne Perennial?)

 

While looking for a flat box yesterdayI found this, which may just be next up. I'm trying to remember when I labeled it and put it on top of a cabinet in my office. 10+years ago? 15?  (OMG I see it well underway on Ellen Bloom's blog while I was visiting LA...in 2010.)  As promised it is done and just needs ends finishing...ETC.  I wasn't sure  at first what ETC meant... 

 

It's really lovely airy bouclé mohair from Be Sweet, a South African yarn company, now out of business. It was a kit for a diagonal shawl, I quickly got bored of the even wide stripes and improvised. When I took it out of the box I remembered several things about it...

 

• It is very large as in at least 9 feet , and it'll grow more when blocked.  I'm likely to wear it as a big squished scarf-y piece so all good there. 

• It is very sherbert colored, this I do recall as a problem! Back then I'd regretted the colorway choice.  At first I thought that's how it ended up done but not finished. At the time my hair was dark and these weren't "my" colors.  Now that my hair is silver, I like to wear these colors a lot more. 

Holes! from dropped stitches! That was the ETC and the real reason I put this in a box and ignored it.  It all came back to me.  I'd dropped a few stitches in the curly boucleé in several places. You know what didn't come back to me? Yarn in all the colors. I just have these two! Any suggestions ? I am considering embroidering a daisy or asterisk wherever there's a hole.

 

READING :I am warming up to Katabasis.  It has nothing to do with the peonies, I just wanted to show them off. 

 

More Unraveled Wednesday posts linked over at As Kat Knits!

3 things about needing color!

I don't know about you but even with the frigheningly mild winter we've been having here on the Connecticut shoreline, I am craving color and light.  Three thoughts on this.

1) Images that looked too bright and colorful last summer look fabulous this week! I was pulling some images for a presentation and revisited this Nash Island sheep.  This image that I'd rejected as not quite right when I shot it suddenly is my new favorite sheep photo (for the moment.). 

 2) Colorful projects are irresistible.  On a whim I knit a hat to include in a gift box for some tiny cousins. I fell in love with this Urth yarn when I popped into Knit New Haven. I wanted something bright and cheery and soft and self striping.With no color decisions needed.

Except as I started knitting,  it was screaming Christmas Elf to me. It's just a little hat and all the stripes were shades of red/green. So I ended up cutting out a large chunk of the yarn until the colors shifted to something that said Cheerful Kid in Spring.  This yarn is pretty fabulous, btw-- and the company plants a tree for every skein sold, which you gotta love.

This is the colorway of the yarn thought I thought I bought, as sort of modeled in the shop sample by my favorite stripe-enabler 8 year old. I may have grabbed the wrong colorway.  Or the hand dyeing went greener in my skein. It's all good!

And there is more than enough yarn for a definitely-not-christmas hat for Zoe . The pattern is On the C Train, it's one-one rib.  As a thrower it's usually an annoying  stitch for me to sustain. I've been knitting two handed on those coins all winter and realized I could whip through the ribbed hat if I held the yarn in my left hand and knit it combination style.  So it's been a fun little distraction and I'm on the combination ribbing team from here on in. 

 If the one-one ribbing looks good to you too here's another one , the Basic Chic Ribbed Beanie which I would have knit, had I recalled that I'd bought the pattern and had it waiting for me in my Library!  Advantage it's already graded for different size heads, while the pattern I knit had to be sized down. Not brain surgery but...sometimes it's nice to know someone else did the figuring for you, y'know?

 3) A fabulous shawl to work in whatever colors bring you some late winter joy is Marblehead.  I shot this for Berroco in the fall and fell for it. At the time I was thinking muted greys  -- it's a great design to play with color and still have something light and flowy thanks to the stitch. The yarn is UltraWool Fine , which is really lovely yarn  and will not break the bank. Now of course I want it in color, color, color.

Closer look at the stitch and our model's smile. Do you like seeing this model? She's Betsy,  a real person, who works as a yarn rep, a flight attendant....and coaches a cross-country track team. And sh'es a grandma!   I adored working with her. If you like seeing women with silver hair and some laugh lines modeling,  drop an email to Berroco and let them know you approve of seeing models such as Betsy. It surprised me to learn that  yarn companies and magazines and book publishers often hear blazingly nasty and mean comments about models , but rarely receive positive feedback. And, they take it to heart! 
Ok, done with my PSA.

What kind of color are you looking at this week ? And what form is it taking?

post 6: 3 things rectangular wraps

Shawl wrap, stole... whatever. There's something about a rectangular length that is 1) elegant  2) also a bit like wearing your security blanket. 3) Added bonus, no shaping while knitting. 

First up, Box of Rain  from Apple Tree Knits. When I wrote about her new collection and shooting it last post,  I had too much too include. So it gets it's own lead today!

Oh, the details!  It's a beautiful center out stockinette rectangle, with lace edging.  It's the kind of thing you can wrap up in and instantly feel amazing. It'd make a fab new mom gift, to wrap herself or the baby in .

And if that much fingering weight knitting is not your jam, consider this

 

Laight by Kirsten Kapur--in her Shawl Book One and on Ravelry as a single pattern, in aran weight yarn.

And I can't leave out Glama from Drop Dead Easy Knits. You'd think I'd be immune to its charms, what with carting of this sizable sample around the country to trunk shows--however last week Kirsten showed me a stunning red one, also in Malabrigo Rasta, and I fell for it all over again. Bulky yarn but the drop stitches make it drape so beautifully. 

Ok that's my Three Things for this Thursday posted a few hours later than intended.  More to look at, from  links on Carole's blog

the short beach shawl: drop dead easy knits

 

There is a designer in the City
Whose daughter is smart, tall and pretty.
Sofie modeled our shawl,
hopped on rocks, did not fall.
(Wish I had a last line that was witty).*

Back at you with a Drop Dead Easy Knits pattern highlight.This time, it's the Short Beach Shawl, by Kirsten Kapur.

It's another gem in the No Sheep at the Shore chapter.  All  are projects to knit while at the beach--or to wear in pleasant weather, wherever you're feeling some easy breezy style.

How much do I love this design?Let me count the ways: 
First, it's a bottom up triangle with increases happening only on the outer edges.  If you've ever fallen off-course on a triangular shawl with mirrored sides and center spine increases, you will know why this simpler construction automatically makes it go to the head of the not-so-hard class.

The design is bands of garter stitch, and bands of an easy repeating lace daisy. (That's what I call it, anyway. It is a flower like motif.)

And...fringe

I know it is silly to love a shawl pattern because it is fringed but I do.....I do. 
I  finished knitting this deep blue one a couple of months ago. I just fringed it and wow it makes the piece come alive. The fringe adds heft, and size, and flow. (and, almost a skein of yarn...I am a generous fringer).**
Lastly. We named the patterns in this chapter after beaches. Short Beach is my real-life neighborhood and favorite place to hang out---so--what's not to love?

This blue one is my second Short Beach Shawl,I have yarn poised for a third. The sample in the book, and in most of these photos, is the fantastic Dragonfly Fibers Dance Rustic Silk, a perfect match. (Seriously, look at their colors..... aaaaah!).

My blue one is a discontinued Mirasol yarn- a wool, silk and bamboo blend. Any fingering weight will do, but I like a little silk for the luster and drape.  I saw some swatches Kirsten made with the shawl in which  she striped it by alternating colors for the garter stitch and lace sections. It would be very cool in a gradient set, too.

More Drop Dead Easy Knits spotlights can be found here, we're presenting them every 2 weeks.
Parley Cardigan 
Abide Shawl
Searsport Market Bag
Glama Wrap
Polliwog Baby Sweater

* I'm trying to introposts in this series in limerick when it is my turn. Let's see how it goes....

** Perfect illustration re: cobblers' children. Although I had the shawl along with me for three very busy days of a non-knitwear/non-fashion-y photoshoot, I didn't have an chance to shoot it .  Or event think about it, for that matter. 
So, you see the quickie FO shot in a hotel room in Concord MA. I definitely need to upgrade that FO photo !

a Drop Dead Easy Knits video + GIVEAWAY

Presenting our book trailer!
 My co-authors,Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops and Mary Lou Egan and I could not be more excited that the book we've been working on for the past year  DROP DEAD EASY KNITS will be out in the wild this week.
In the spirit of the book, which is all about enjoyable but smart knitting- things you can knit while sitting around with friends, or in meetings, or on trains, or while watching the sports practices/rehearsals/schoolboard meetings or waits in the carpool pickup that come our way...stylish but not requiring isolation to follow the pattern. 
We present this video with a few of our favorite knitting (and life) tips.
And a peek at some of the 28 wonderful projects in the book.

 GIVEAWAY: a copy of DROP DEAD EASY KNITS

 signed by all 3 of us 

Leave a comment below, by midnight September 22nd,  pacific US time, letting us know which of the tips in the video is your favorite. 

We can't wait to hear from you.  Tips up!

Book Launch 

 Thursday September 22nd at Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria VA on Thursday evening, 

with classes from all three of us the next day, details here, please join us! Kirsten will be teaching one of my fave projects, the Short Beach Shawl, shown below, and modeled by me in the video. I'll be teaching a Ten Tips & tricks Photo Class , guaranteed fun. Mary Lou will be running a drop in Finger Puppet Bar, so bring your littles, or , um, make some adult puppets happen. We won't judge!

(but sign up soon, these are almost sold out)

hap knitting happiness-: sept post 1

You know that feeling of a knitting project where the pattern, the yarn, the colors and the stitches are just right? My Starcroft Fog Hansel is one of those.   I'm tempted to make the striped bands wider than the pattern, just so I can keep knitting on it longer. But then I'd end up with another larger than life shawl.

These colors, also tickling my fancy. Or are they non-colors? Still loving 'em.

Thought I'd try blogging every day this month, to ease into the new season, come on back

 and visit, OK? I'll try not to whine about the shortening days and the end of swimming season.

go ahead and Pin it.

 

hap knitting, workshop planning, looking ahead

My summer knitting's been all about shawls. One's waiting for fringe and blocking, soon to be shown. This one's  a hap shawl- a construction and style I've been meaning to get to forever. It's the right knit at the right time for me - and apparently in the right place with the right project bag too, as you can see. So matchy-matchy, that's me.

I'm making a Hansel (Half) by Gudrun  Johnston. Because if I'm going traditional Shetland shawl, it should be from the source. Ok , not really.  It's actually because she is a lovely person and her designs are so wonderful. You start with a garter stitch triangle that grows with a yarn over preceding the 1st stitch each row. Those edge loops will be picked up, making a lacey connection to the borders, which is varied width stripes in an old shale lace. I'm knitting it in Starcroft Fog, which comes from the Nash Island sheep. Loving. Every. Single. Stitch.  I can't say enough about how much I adore having this yarn in my hands. I'm just about at the pick up the border stage, and plotting what order my stripe colors will be.

In other news  and we're going bullet style here with lots'o'links

- Craft Industry Alliance -  Joined! If you are a maker who sells, designs, offers services to the creative community or is contemplating any of the above, do yourself a solid and check out this group. Craft Industry Alliance.  It's sewists, knitters, jewelry makers, surface designers, writers, dyers, graphic artists...you name it.  Learned about it while teaching a webinar for them on Creative Consistency: Your Words & Pictures Online with Beverly Army Williams. They have a nice set of resources including forums, webinars, and their blog and  newsletter.

- Fiber College of Maine coming soon, Sept 7-11th. You  could sign up for my classes ;-),  but if you don't want to make Haiku Photo postcards or do a Creative Vision Challenge photo workshop (fun! can't do it wrong!), there are tons of other options.  I also heartily recommend the event as a fab way to end the summer and get a kick of inspiration for the new season. The setting, on Penobscot Bay in Maine, is so worth the ride. More here.

- Spending lots of time this summer giving the rental side of our 2  family home a facelift. It's looking pretty good now.  As Mr Rogers says "Won't you be my neighbor?" . 

It's this whole side of the house, sort of a townhouse style rental. You have to love beach neighborhood lifestyle, being in a village. It's a 1 minute walk to private beach, there's a low key pizza place on the corner, and it has that 100 year old house, old wood floors, shabby chic vibe. And a lot of space to store your yarn. Pass it on if you know anyone in my area , shoreline CT east of New Haven- or maybe someone who wants a weekend home that isn't deep in the woods.  Zillow listing here.

my cladonia shawl

.

Once upon a time (2013) , in a land far far away (Nashville), I succumbed to a spell cast by a dyer (Denise of Lost City Knits). Although foresworn to never buy single skeins just because they are pretty, especially never if they look questionable next to  my skin, the spell was strong.  A skein of yarn, so soft, so golden that it glowed, bearing the fairytale name Rumplestilskin came home with me. The skein lived happily. Though not ever after.

Peering deep into the bottomless pattern wishing well (Ravelry ), I was entranced by  Cladonia. So many Cladonia shawls, some solids with contrasting lace trim. My gold could be the trim, and cast no sallowness on my flesh! But what yarn was worthy of the golden skein?

Two months later, I was teaching at Fiber College of Maine, near Swans Island Yarn, with its busy fairy dyemothers. I was overcwhelmed with options in their shop,when my fellow teacher Kirsten Kapur herself, selected a yellowy grey and declared it the Cladonia-est in all the many shelves. (She later admitted she was just worried about time and chose it randomly- but I like to think it was alchemy.)

 When 2014 rolled around, I cast on, taking my shawl WIP  far and wide. The shawl went back to Maine, to the Hudson Valley, to New York City, to Indiana, Vermont, New Jersey, to Delaware and Washington and Long Island and Rhode Island and Nash Island... . So many many islands..though none tropical, which made the shawl very very sad...oh wait, that was ME .........

Cladonia became The Project to Work On Between Other projects.  I tired of grey, breaking out the Rumplestilskin for stripes.  In 2015, the Cladonia had a no-growth spell. I knit, it stayed the same size.  In  2016, the Cladonia grew and grew. If not the fastest Cladonia, then maybe it would be the largest one in all the knitting land.

I crossed the enchanted eyelets row between stockinette and lace border in May. It went quickly, buoyed by my fairy knitting god mother (the designer herself) who reassured (knocked me upside the head)  when I had my inevitable freakout on the 14th of 16 lace rows, that row 3 looked weird and maybe I should rip it all back.  Kirsten pointed out that the stitch count and pattern would be a hot mess if I had skipped YO's.   (DUH!)

I started to cast off..and the lovely glowing golden skein ceased being endless. I visited my collection of leftover fingering weight yarns.  Don't you all save your leftover skeins , in the YouNeverKnow box? and chose a Lisa Souza  vermillion from this project for that last row with its picot and looped detailing.  That is how my shawl shall live. Blocked, and happily every after.

i went to israel: post 4

With knitting content.  Before we left, I thought "Ten days not working! An eleven hour flight!  Driving around the Galillee! I will knit. So much!".  I wound yarn to knit a new project*.  I doubled down, packing my almost finished Cladonia. I double-dog-dare-ya'ed down, bringing addresses of yarn shops strategically located around the country.
Above, on the 8th day of the trip, one of the only times I sat and knit. Over outdoor breakfast in Haifa. Note: I am not complaining.

Although, who wouldn't linger at this cafe, in chill city, under the olive trees? My breakfast is shakshuka: eggs baked in a spicy tomato and vegetable stew**. Served with fresh pita and Turkish coffee.

The world headquarter of the Baha i faith is there, (top image above) set in a garden that climbs the steep mountainside, terraced along with the city. Turns out you can only enter to walk all the levels of the gardens on a tour--and our timing was off to take part in any tour.  That little glimpse, above on top,  through the (sob) gates barely gives a sense of the majesty and fantasy of it all.  We explored all over the city, though, on foot and by the funicular underground train. The center image above, of a super modern building, is near the shipping port. To counter the way I've only shown old neighborhoods. We were surprised how much new construction is underway, all over the state.  
We stayed in a little hotel - another last minute booking.com score- that we loved. It was chic-er than we are. I had the best time torturing the owner's twenty-something son by having an extended conversation about growing up there, in my mangled Hebrew. I have no pride when it comes to yapping in other languages. That's the door to the hotel, above on the left, with a map to remind you where to enter. It's in the old downtown, near the shipping port. It has little hidden cocktail bars and tiny tempting storefronts that I'm guessing are indie clothing designers' studios, although they weren't open when I was peeking in. Obviously I need a raincheck with Haifa.

More heavenly blue, looking over the harbor at dusk, by the gates to the Gan Bahai

* The new project is a shawl  from this new now-on-pre-sale book, which if you note the authors' names, you know you'll be hearing more.  I am grateful I chose blue yarn to bring along. It should be clear by now what color I wanted to knit with forever.

**I linked to the Smitten Kitchen recipe for shakshuka because I'm her fan--but a quick search confirmed the way I've been cooking it for years--you can throw in whichever veggies you have around, you can spice it up or keep it simple, you can top it with feta, or plain yogurt or nothing. You cannot go wrong with shakshuka.

november post 14: aristida shawl

To distract from the daily blogging month fail last week, I'll show my Aristida Shawl.

Finished since May--and yet, somehow, never a good shot of it. I adore it, I wear it often, but it remains a photo enigma. This attempt, above, photo credit to  Ellen Mason, when we were on Nash Island for the sheep roundup in early June. Wet weather delayed shearing, so we spent the day just being there. It was heavenly. And...windy. You can see two delightful aspects of this shawl: bobble and fringe. In fact, these are the  two reasons I had to knit it.

I'm a lousy model,and pairing my drapey, lovely, watery blue shawl with several layers of loose fitting shirts and a baggy, sheep-drooly sweater is crazy. But I have the best reason- it was chilly and the day started at dawn in the rain, on a lobster boat. The lambs are adorable, though. I think we can all agree on that. The shawl was knit in Manos Fino, a 70/30 wool /silk single spun yarn that made every stitch of this a joy. It's a two skein shawl, it took well into the 2nd skein to complete the fringe. Fringe, I love you, but you're a yardage hog.

 

Another odd styling view of my Aristida Shawl, this shot from Kirsten Kapur Through the Loops. When temperatures plummeted while in Ohio for the TNNA show, Kirsten offered me a skein of The Fibre Company Cumbria to warm my neck. I kind of love this look, to be honest. So effortless! Also , take this moment to once again admire my bobbles.

Nash  sheep parade around the island in first light of the day, before 5 am. It's magical.

wip Wednesday Aristida shawl

Late February, it was like this: I see snow flying in the umpteenth storm, then the invitation to my cousins' beach wedding in Key Largo on the fridge catches my eye, I go online, I buy tickets. On an impulsive roll, I go back online and buy a dress, and a shawl pattern download because I had 3 weeks time and the dress needed something.   Lori had just posted this photo of her Aristida shawl . I fell hard for the whole thing. Her styling.  Especially, especially, the bobbles and fringe.  I should add that I had already called my sisters to find out what "beach formal attire" meant. We concluded "Good Old Fashioned Hippy Party Clothes". Fringe!

A skein of Manos Fino in Peep Bunny Watered Silk later,  I cast on. As it turned out, my dress arrived about 10 pounds (of mine) too tight, so the coordinating shawl was moot. Whatever! I was heading out of the snow!  Although the shawl was pretty far along,  it was not done in time. Whatever, again! The weather was so beautiful, I didn't need a shawl. We danced like maniacs and dined under the stars in celebration of a beautiful couple. Three and a half days of Key Largo was heavenly.

And I totally enjoyed the knitting. This is such satisfying lace--not fussy, not so hard you need to stare at charts...lovely. With a 490  yard skein I figured I could throw in a full extra repeat, no harm.  I was mistaken. Only five rows to go.

My options: less shawl or more yarn.  NO WAY was I ripping, I have felt lately that all my shawls are just a little too small.  Doing without the bobbles and fringe? Out of the question. My LYS was out of the yarn. I posted a search on Ravelry.

How much do I love the world of knitters? Within a day I had 2 responses, and one, Jarah, offered to send me her skein, for me to use as much as I needed-- I'd guesstimated 100

yards, I mean, who knows? Probably less, right? -- and then send it back across the country to her.  Yes, I know, really! How wonderful and generous is that? Knitters are the best.

But I guess you already know that.

Before the wedding. We cleaned up. I even wore glitter 2" high flip flops. So much fun.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

New classes on the schedule, teaching in New Jersey, May 2 & 3rd

Fiber College of Maine class signups just launched, for September - and the new website is a beauty. Join us there!

the road ahead! new places & a workshop giveaway

front of a new promo card I made for TNNA, featuring images from a Kirsten Kapur shawl shoot

 Here I sit between flights on my way to TNNA, the big knitting & needlearts tradeshow, in Indianapolis. It's all about business:  seeing industry clients & collaborators, catching up with yarn world friends, making new connections.  I offered  up small photo shoots at the last minute, and am thrilled beyond the beyond at who responded: Laura Nelkin, Angelia Robinson, and Zen Yarn Garden.*  Can't wait to land and scout me some killer locations. I've recruited my friend  and former New Havenite Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches to reprise her model role for me.  Win-win all the way!

and speaking of winning...(smooooth segue, yes?) you must go over to the website for  AGathering of Stitches, the fabulous Portland Maine makerspace for stitching, knitting, surface design and all sorts of handmade. 

Kirsten's classic shawl, Cladonia

I'm going to devote a post to our plans... but let's cut to the chase: we've cooked up a photo weekend June 28-29th  at Gathering of Stitches:




















There's a full day Photography for Handcrafters (complete with shooting, editing & critiquing), and two fun new half day workshops: Shooting iPhone Masterpieces, and PhotoEditing for Handcrafters.  Take one, take two, take'em all...and best of all enter to win a seat for the weekend. Giveaway goes from now  till May 15 so click on over to there. 
If a trip to  Portland Maine isn't realistic for you, we're also giving away some books, so please do enter and spread the word. *Portland Maine is such an awesome city to visit- great arts, cool shops, great food, waterfront- it's, y'know, the other Portland.

But , more about that later. 
On the left, another image from my photoshoot with Kirsten Kapur Designs, if you are at TNNA you'll see this image and ask her about her shawl book project, OK?

the other side of my new promo card, 11th hour project before trip!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I'd gladly accept an extra pairs of hands for the Saturday morning photoshoot, if you want to see us in action up close & personal, and possibly hold a reflector-- send me a note ezisusATsnetDOTnet