Feral Knitter

Fair Isle Sweater from Scratch: The Start

What you see here is the start of a casual, very long-term project: the Fair Isle Sweater from Scratch Project (or almost scratch--I'm not going to raise the sheep!). For some time I've wanted to explore the Fair Isle tradition from the ground up--washing the fleece, carding, spinning, dyeing with natural dyes, and knitting.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step....

Parcheesi Afghan

I've received several lovely responses about the pattern--thank you, everyone! I cannot track exactly how many people have downloaded the pattern, but if only half the people who have accessed my site from Ravelry donated just $5, Heifer now has $2,000 to spend on its programs. And I know that some people have donated considerably more than $5.... This makes me so happy, you can hardly imagine.

Spinning

A week or so ago I posted a picture of my brightly dyed roving. Here it is, spun up as a fingering weight yarn:

If Seattle is going to be pelted with rain day after day, the least I can do is brighten up my yarn corner....

Parcheesi Afghan Pattern

Many of you have requested that I write up the pattern for my Parcheesi Afghan.

Well, I have done just that!

The pattern is available free of charge (see the sidebar) in exchange for a donation of any size to Heifer International (www.heifer.org), an organization that works tirelessly around the world to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, gender inequity, ecological degradation, and lack of education. The recent news of food shortages and riots in many parts of the world bring new urgency to the work Heifer does, which is not short-term response to crises--Heifer works to create systemic change within families and communities.

Of course, I will not be checking to see whether you have made a donation. But it took me many hours to put this pattern onto paper, so I hope you honor my work as well as honoring your own reasons to be grateful.

Thank you, everyone! I'd love to hear from you if you decide to knit this project!

The Lion Roars

I'm making quick progress on the Leo Vest! At the end of every round I think, just one more!

Another Redbud swatch.

And I am totally in love:

Shear Spirit by Joan Tapper, photos by Gale Zucker, is a marvelous book--the author and photographer travelled around the country to 10 different fiber farms. Their interviews with the ranchers are realistic about the economic and physical demands of their farms (so I won't be selling up and buying that place in the country anytime soon) but filled with the joy the farmers have in the lives they've created. A wide variety of fiber-producing animals are represented: sheep of many kinds, of course, but also camels, goats, alpacas, llamas. I really enjoy books like these, filled with biographies of the people who share my passions: Knitting in America by Melanie Falick, Handpaint Country by Cheryl Potter and Alexis Xenakis, Sweaters from New England Sheep Farms by Candice Eisner Strick are some other favorites. And the photos--if you melt reading Wildfibers, you will love this book.  

EZ's February Baby Sweater

What could signal the arrival of spring better than a sweet little baby sweater nestled among the violas? This is my first experience knitting Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Baby Sweater on Two Needles, Practically Seamless" from Knitter's Almanac (and if you don't have a copy of this little book jammed with patterns and hints and spirit, you need to seriously reconsider your priorities--dudes, it's less than $10 and the perfect size for reading in bed). Before I stop digressing, I want to register a complaint about the name of this sweater. Every time someone asked me what I was knitting, I'd have to say the whole dang thing and follow up with "you know, the February entry in Knitter's Almanac." SO tiresome.

At any rate, I used handpainted superwash sock yarn from Heidi Parra at The Artful Ewe. Size 3 needles and about 275 yards resulted in a nice medium-baby sized sweater.

And I was feeling very pleased with myself that I had knit up one of the 28 potential pairs of socks that are lurking around. Very pleased, that is, until this hank of Socks That Rock followed me home today:

It's one of their Raven series, subtle deep colors that don't photograph well.

I guess the universe is always striving for balance.

Designing Redbud

While finishing up a number of projects, my mind has wandered, in its restless way, to the future. I've decided to stop coloring my hair, having just finished the excellent and thought-provoking Going Gray by Anne Kreamer, and I've been thinking about colors that would flatter a softer hair color. (Man, is THIS a freighted subject! I'm not at all sure that I'm ready to go gray--in fact, I don't really know how much gray I've got at this point. In my mind, I'm Emmylou Harris. In reality? Lord only knows. I'll keep you posted.)

I saw a photo in a magazine recently that set my thoughts to designing a V-neck pullover. I'm calling this design "Redbud" after all the flowering shrubs that show up in spring: redbud, flowering quince, crab apple, cherry. I think these gray-ed pinks and browns could be lovely in a sweater.

I begin a project by pulling out any and all colors from my collection that are found in the photo that inspires me:

Then I start swatching for color and value:

I figure out what I like and don't like--these are nowhere near what I'm looking for at this point--and then swatch again:

My next swatch will start to look more like a normal swatch, although I won't be ready to swatch in the motif yet.

Meanwhile, I've been searching for motifs that would seem to fit the color story and the garment I have in mind. I found something like what I want in the out-of-print marvel called Swedish Sweaters by Britt-Marie Christofferson, with shaping refinements from Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti. 

In the meantime, I've been spinning some yarn for striped socks. I purchased 5 colors of roving (described as "New Zealand Wool"). Half of this was mixed into batts that were run through the carder twice. The other half was carded in the short strips method (see Deb Menz' Color in Spinning or Jo Reeve's Ashford Book of Carding for details). I'm now plying my sadly inconsistent singles together, using a lot of twist, as suggested by Abby Franquemont in her recent workshop at the Spinning Loft (as reported by my buddy Greg, but seeming to be supported by Abby's article in Spin-Off magazine).

Springtime

I opened the bathroom window to ventilate the room after a shower, and look what I found between the screen and the window:

The bird probably began building this nest when I was in California recently--yesterday I was surprised to find a single, spotted egg in it (I hadn't heard anything so I thought it had been abandoned). Despite my avid curiosity, we'll have to wait because I don't want to disturb the little family-to-be.

I've started to feel an upsurge of energy. Thank God, it's been a while, as those of you who have written wondering if I'm OK can attest. It's true that I've been sort of blue for a few months, but if the roving I dyed last week is any indication, the tide has turned. There's enough red in there to counteract any amount of blue!

I got tired of seeing the squares of Lizard Ridge gathering dust in the corner, so I've seamed them together! Next, a trip to Ravelry to figure out how to finish the edges. It looks better than this flash-photo would imply--there's always some concern when knitting a hodge-podge project, and these random balls of Noro Kureyon came from a number of friends and shops. I like it.

The Leo Vest is coming along, but still at that unsatisfying state where you knit and knit and knit and you STILL don't have an interesting photo for the blog.

Ditto the spinning for the striped socks. Ditto the Turkish Pillows. Ditto the Blue Jeans Pullover. I've got so many things going at once that it's dangerous to sit in my knitting chair these days. Avalance country.

I am swatching for a new project, however, so you and I have something to look forward to.

The Lost Weekend(s)

There is something wrong with me. Seriously. I spend so much time playing Mah Jong on the computer, dreaming up blog entries. But have I written anything recently? Oh, noooooo. Honestly, I've been a bit low on energy. So, a quick recap and a vow:

I've launched into my Leo Vest, an Armenian-knit cardigan vest with a motif taken from Colonial American coverlets. Yarn: Jamieson's Spindrift. Not much to see, yet.

I've come to realize that the Blue Jeans Pullover is not fitting right, AND I've figured out how to fix it.

I've started spinning for a pair of striped socks.

I've been to California and back. Selvedge and Spin-Off magazines arrived in the mail exactly 15 minutes before I left to catch my flight--is that the sign of a well-lived life, or what?

I got to hear Elizabeth Gilbert and Anne Lamott speak! This was a great evening--2,990 women and 10 men gathered to hear them "dialogue." Both authors were articulate, funny, and thought-provoking.

I spent a couple of lovely days in the Bay Area working on the garden and eating out. Highly recommend Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen, in particular, stands out. I think I will eat there everyday until the chairs break under my weight.

I saw a great movie: You Kill Me. I haven't laughed so much in some time--I think this was not advertised well. Yes, it is a movie about a mob hit man who drinks too much, which does sound a bit grim, I'll admit. But Frank (played perfectly by Ben Kingsley) goes to San Francisco to sober up in AA. It is the funniest and truest picture of recovery ever filmed. Warning: a bit of violence, but easily avoided by putting hands over eyes for a few seconds. Put this on your Netflix queue!

I spent a Saturday Dye Day with some fellow guild members--see the photos here.

Met with the Full-Sized Women Fitting Study Group (we're looking for a snappier name) to discuss methods of fitting us larger gals. A fun day of draping and pinning fabric slopers.

OK, I think that just about covers the more interesting aspects of my life. I'm assuming you aren't all that interesting in my walking the dog, taking Gingko to practice driving, cleaning the bathroom (admittedly this one doesn't occur that often), or grocery shopping.

The vow? I'll do better at blogging. I promise.