knit, knit, knit . . .

Posted on Posted in Bare Naked Wools, designing, lace/shawls, projects

blockingEyelet10_22

hello, hello, hello! SO good to be back; thank you for your patience over the last couple of weeks while i was away and THANK YOU especially for your enthusiastic response to the release of my book, the lace lessons.

so much has been going on behind the scenes during and just after the book release; i have tons of stuff to share with you, including lots of knitting and travel.

athensBooth10_22

at the beginning of the month, erica and i went to athens, OH to participate in the athens area fiber faire.

athensAlhambra10_22

lots of friends visited our booth at this show; some of them even brought finished knitspot projects to show us.

athensLittleAnne10_22

we were especially pleased when little anne and her family came to visit.

athensLittleAnneKnittting10_22

with knitting in tow. anne has been making steady progress on a cowl project, helped along by the knitting group at her local library. Brava!

HSKcottonStart10_22

i brought along an easy to knit project from the lace lessons book—his silk kerchief in ecobutterfly organic cotton sport, color forest mist. i love this soft, delicious yarn which is spun from cotton that grows in colors. this was the perfect project to bring; easy enough to pick up and put down throughout the weekend as the traffic to our booth ebbed and flowed.

HSKcottonProgress10_22

i cast on just before we left and by the time i got home on monday morning, it was nearly done. i did have to put it aside for a while tho, to work through the last push for the book. in my next post, i’ll show you some finished photos taken after our rhinebeck trip.

athensVintageKit10_22

at the show i purchased a couple of thrifty finds—the first is this 100 percent wool afghan kit in gradient gold-to-brown colors. the kit includes a sheet (yes, just one!) with several different patterns printed on the back. i don’t think this pattern would pass muster in today’s market, but it’s a wonderful souvenir of what was available when i was growing up. not sure who will end up knitting this yarn up, but i couldn’t resist the bargain.

athensVintageBook10_22

my other treasure is this book about wool as a textile fiber that is absolutely fascinating—it is a more or less scientific handbook that must have been used as a text for a class when it was published. the cool thing is that it confirms a lot of information i have heard over the years about the molecular properties of wool and its behavior, but have had a hard time confirming in my own research. so, i always hesitate in passing this information on as fact, but now i have something to point to and to use as a starting point for finding other sources. and for just $3, how about that?

blockedEyeletPiecesA10_22

just before leaving, i had finished up the last piece of my little eyelet cardigan, knit in chebris lace yarn (color frappé), and blocked everything.

blockedEyeletPieces10_22

i brought my pieces along to add button bands and neck finish, and maybe start some seaming on the trip. luckily, i was able to get most of that done in our room during the evenings and mornings, when it was quiet.

blockedEyeletFinished10_22

i can’t remember if i took this photo before or after it was washed, but didn’t it turn out cute? and it used just one and a half skeins of yarn; i love that!

blocked3Sweaters10_22

i had been waiting for this one to be done so i could wash all three of my new sweaters at the same time, giving them a long soak in hot soapy water, then spinning out in the washer and air-drying. they look great.

dockCabinBlocked10_22

once they were clean, i added buttons to dock and cabin so i could wear it to rhinebeck, just one of the small tasks i was supposed to accomplish during deadline week, but only managed to do as i was packing the night before we left, haha.

buttonsEyelet10_22

i held off on adding buttons to the lace cardigan; we had a set of moving mud glass buttons in our shop that look beautiful with it (above), but i wondered if i might see something at rhinebeck i wanted more. as it turned out, sarina wasn’t at the show this year due to a family emergency, so i will move ahead with the buttons i have.

violet913_72dpi

not having buttons did not prevent us from taking some great photos of the sweater on our scarf model, bethany, who looked spectacular in it. for the longest time i did not know what to call this garment but i think i’ve decided on violet—the tiny florets and leafy edgings remind me of that plant.

violet893_72dpi

right now, i’m knitting another one in stone soup fingering yarn—this time without sleeves to be worn as a pretty little vest; i think it’s going to be so cute! i made some changes in the second prototype—slightly shorter and a bit more nipped in at the waist to add to its femininity. i’ve completed both fronts and most of the back piece now—again, i can hardly believe how far i’ve gotten with just one skein of yarn. i just tied on the second skein, and i bet i won’t use more than half of it . . .

donnaTriticum10_22

it seems as if everyone is busy working on sweaters right now—donna came to knit night wearing her new triticum knit in briar rose sea pearl.

donnaTriticumA10_22

this perennial favorite fits perfectly and looks so well on her; i’m always so thrilled to see excellent results when knitters wear their FOs to show and tell.

barbCricketSSF10_22

and barb knit up a cricket (hers) pullover from the new BT wool people collection, as fast as can be, right before rhinebeck, in our stone soup fingering yarn (marble shade) paired with the yarn hollow umpqua in faded high tops that was part of her pairings shipment. doesn’t she look the part?

edmonia403_72dpi

one other thing i made time for before going away was blocking this gorgeous edmonia shawl, knit by agnes and then gifted to me in our fresh lace silk/linen blend. can you believe she gave this to me? it’s SO lovely and i am not deserving!

edmonia417_72dpi

and i love it; it’s soft and drapey and feels really nice against my neck, which is fairly sensitive (though i can wear most of our BNWs yarns without any discomfort). i just love this one to bits; thank you agnes!

the book was literally moments away from going live when i went to pick up kim from the airport, as she arrived for her usual overnight pre-rhinebeck visit. of course i had planned and then hoped we’d be done well before that time, but oh well . . . once we got home i was able to push all the buttons to finalize it and we were free. time to have fun!

RBtravel10_22

this year we left a day early so we could have one whole, work-free day to relax, knit, and enjoy ourselves in the hudson valley—lord knows i needed that. we caravanned our way east, kim and me in the truck yakking the whole time and barb and erica in the car, doing the same, i’m sure.

RBciaDessert10_22

on our first day off, we did all the fun things we love, at a leisurely pace. a visit to the CIA for lunch was delish; our meals were fantastic, though the desserts were not as yummy as usual. kim didn’t even finish hers . . .

RBcia10_22

afterward we strolled the halls for a bit so erica could get a feel for the place; it was her first time there.

it was a really good idea to go early and have this day of rest—the remainder of the weekend was a wild ride. i have lots to share about that and i’ll be back in a day or two to show you more.

12 thoughts on “knit, knit, knit . . .

  1. Ok that eyelet cardigan is EVERYTHING. So much love for it. And now I know what I’m doing with my skein of fresh lace I’ve been hoarding…

  2. Holy cow, that is a BEAUTY of a cardigan. Sigh. Just can’t keep up with you. I am so happy that I will never run out of future projects.

  3. That Violet sweater is so darling. Plus it knits up quick….what’s not to love.
    Add to the every growing list. Hard keeping up.

  4. Ahh….how quickly my “short list” changes! I can see that I need a Violet sweater in my life!

  5. Barb must be the fastest knitter ever. Has she ever entered one of those speed knitting contests? Also, love Donna’s Triticum. Beautiful!

  6. Oh, Violet is such a lovely little sweater! Perfect name for the sweater too. Although I’m not much of a ‘dainty’ person I think I may give in to this one. What’s not to love about it!

  7. Welcome Back!
    Love Violet so much! Hope you had a great time at Rhinebeck and looking forward to seeing more of your adventures!

  8. Well no wonder you haven’t been able to post! It all looks fabulous and worth all the work it takes to get the book and shows pulled together at the same time. I hope you get a bit of time at home to recover now!

  9. Love the violet sweater, so sweet!

    You give us so much joy Anne, I’m happy to be able to give some back to you!

    I’m off to buy some Bare Naked Yarns!

  10. Violet is, as others confirm, lovely. Just the sort of go-to for nice cardigan that is a staple.

    Sorry I missed seeing you at Rhinebeck – I was there with my one-year-old grandson and all he seemed to want to do was play in the leaves. What could I do? See you soon, I hope.

Comments are closed.