Upcoming dates

Just a quick post to give you some upcoming dates.

Lace Class
In February, I'll be doing a 2-session introduction to lace class at Lincoln Land Community College.  It will be 2 Friday night sessions (2/10 & 2/17) and we'll do a sampler scarf so we can play with different lace patterns.

Knitting With Jewelry Wire and Beads
In April, I'll be doing a 1-session class at Lincoln Land on knitting with the fine jewelry wire and beads.  Everyone should be able to complete either a bracelet or a pendant during the class.  April 6.

Spinning Long and Short
I just heard that I've been accepted to teach a spinning class at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington, KY.  On Saturday May 19th, I'll be doing a 4-hour class covering the various types of "draws" in spinning from short draw to long draw (and in between).  I taught a spinning for lace class at this festival last year and I had so much fun.  There are a gagillion vendors there, too.  Everything from wheels to fleece to roving to gadgets.  It's a magical place. 

Keep an eye on the web link above as they begin to post classes and vendors for the Festival.  The Festival itself is Thursday-Sunday and is linked to the Sheepdog trials.  So not only can you buy sheepy things, you can go watch them being chased around a field by some very talented dogs!

For now, those are the only events that I've got booked.  Last year got way too crazy so I'm trying to be a little smarter this year about my time.  Of course that probably means I'll get 10-12 more things booked before summer.  Sigh....

Fabulous

Oooh, you just have to look at this:

Isn't that the most beauooootiful spindle you've ever seen?  It was made, all in one piece, by my friend Cindy.  Her spindles are just getting better and better.  It's the most beautiful wood and it spins like a dream.  The middle section there is being filled with the angora that I starting spinning on it last night. 

It's taller than the other support spindles I have but it's so balanced and feels so great in the hand. 

Slowly but surely

I'm not making very quick progress on the various sweaters and cardigans I've been working on.  I'm still on the second sleeve of the Kauni cardi, I'm getting ready to rip the body of the bohus but I've finished the body on the Fibonacci cardi and have started on the sleeves.  I made a mistake at the beginning with the ribbing so I'll have to redo it but I love the way the body has come out.  As you may remember, this was knit in a tube so I had to sew the openings for the front and back neck and each sleeve.  It would have been easy to felt those areas but I didn't want to wait for it to dry so I just used the sewing machine.  I won't cut the front until I get ready for the button bands.  Make it much easier to work the sleeves to leave it in the tube.

If you think there's a weird shift of the rows, you're right but it won't matter once I steek it and get the button bands on.  I decided to just do regular sleeves, knit from the top down.  I thought I had the same number of balls of each color but when I had a look, I must have only had 2 of the turquoise and the green  but I had 5 of the blue.  So I decided to do the sleeves in a solid blue color with small color stripes when then coincide with the small color stripes on the sweater.  I think that will hit about the elbow and then I'll repeat them at the cuff.  I think that will keep the stipes interesting instead of distracting.

There's no pattern for this, I'm just winging it, so it makes the progress so much more satisfying!  Hopefully I should be able to write the instructions down at the end, once I get it all figured out.

Come on Along

If you're in the Springfield area on Saturday, January 21st, be sure to sign up for a class (or 2 or 3) at the Lincoln Land "Needle in a Haystack" event. It's a little hard to get to the information but here's the easiest way to do it:

1. Go to the Lincoln Land website.
2. Click on the image for the Forward magazine.
3. Just below the magazine is a page number box. Click in that box and then type "60" in the box and hit enter.
4. This will open the magazine to the page showing more information about the day. 

They have added classes since this was published but I don't see anywhere on their website where they've updated the list.  You can certainly call the Community Education office to get an updated list - 217-786-2430.  I know one of the classes is for needle felting and the lady teaching that class is FABULOUS (and, yes, I meant to shout that).  There will also be some advertising in the Springfield paper so you can keep an eye out for that.

If you see the class(es) you want to sign up for (and don't miss out on the lunchtime presentation on "Loving Lace" - all kinds of lace!), you can either register by phone at  or you can register online here. 

There will also be vendors and demonstrators all day long so if you need some yarn or needles or fabric or fiber, this is your day.  It will be a great event to bring the kids out to as there will be plenty of hands-on things to try.

I'm teaching the Mitten class and a class on learning to spin using a drop spindle but the rest of the day I'll be demonstrating bobbin lace.  I'm not that great but I can do the basics and I'll have a pillow set up so you can try your hand on the basic stitches, too.

Break's Over

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season.  As you can tell, I took a little break and it's been a little hard to get back into the swing of things.

When last we visited the in process sweaters, there was a Red Palm Bohus with the yoke finished and the body started.  While I was at my Mom's this happened:

This is the Bohus with the yoke and body done (all except the ribbing) and one sleeve finished (all but the ribbing.  I had enough yarn to start the second sleeve but since I need to spin a little more for that sleeve, I decided to wait so I could work the new yarn into the existing yarn.  I haven't done the ribbing yet because I haven't made up my mind exactly what I want to do with it. The body is really blousier than I wanted it. 

I just don't think I was ready to say done because there's every chance that I'm going to go to rip-ville and slim the body down some.  I was really hoping for a more fitted look. 

But at the time, I'd just done this heroic thing (it felt heroic to get all that done) and I couldn't contemplate the thought of ripping.  Now that I've got a little perspective, I think I'm closer to doing it so that I can get the sweater I wanted.  After all the work spinning and knitting, I want to want to wear the silly thing.

While I'm contemplating (and spinning more merino), though, I came across this pattern:

In this book:

 I went to the yarn shop and found some yarn I'd never heard of before called Stoccarda.  There were only 6 balls of the yarn, each with 82 yards.  The pattern called for Bear Brand Supra Mohair held 2 strands together, using 10 balls, knitted at 2.5 stitches to the inch.  I had no idea what the yardage was supposed to be with that yarn (although I now know that they were ***TADAAAAA*** 80 yards per skein.  Holding 2 strands together means I would have needed 5 balls of the Stoccarda.  See how this is all shaping up?


 I've taken the picture while I was in the middle of putting it together so I could show the interesting construction.  It's worked from side to side, as you can probably see.  The pattern is worked in sections to mimic the fur stole look of the time (1961).  You knit across until you get ready for the first sleeve.  Then you knit the bottom underarm section and put the stitches on a stitch holder.  Next, you cast on the extra stitches for the sleeves, and knit the sleeve section.  Once the sleeve section is done, you bind off the extra sleeve stitches, pick up the underarm section and work across the back.  You do the same thing on the other sleeve and work to the finish. 

Once you've finished off the final edgin section, you close up the little end, sew all the seams together and you have yourself a fabulous vintage stole.  2.5 stitches to the inch on US size 13 needles.  No time at all.

And, in case you're interested, I did have enough yarn.  In fact I only used about 2 yards of the last ball.  Maybe I'll use it to make a Russian-style pillbox with the fuzzy border and white top.  I have some Cormo that needs to be used.  That sounds interesting.

Actually, knitting this has given me all sorts of ideas for adapting this construction but I'd better get the ideas written down so I don't forget. 

I'm off to finish the other side so I can wash and be ready to wear with a fetching chocolate brown outfit I've got.  I think it will be just right!

The 3 Cardis

You've heard of the 3 Tenors, now let me introduce you to the 3 Cardis.



You've already met the Red Palm Bohus taking center stage here.  She's being made from merino and bluefaced leicester handspun yarn and is now on the round and round and round never-ending stockinette in the round stage.  It would probably be considered boring if it weren't for the yummy softness of the merino yarn.

To the Red Palm Bohus' right, please welcome the Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Fibonacci Cardi.  This is yarn I bought at Athena Fibers in Sioux Falls, SD, a few years ago.  When I bought these wonderful colors (worsted weight single ply 75%wool/25%alpaca), I bought them for the express purpose of knitting a Fibonacci stripe sweater from them.  Every time I've seen them in my stash, I've reminded them that one day they would become a wonderful, happy Fibonacci striped sweater.  The day has finally arrived. 

I know the tube above doesn't look like much now because it will have to be steeked before it becomes a cardigan but just you wait.  I realized I needed to steek it at the point I realized that the nature of Fibonacci means that I would have odd numbers of rows every other time and there would be no way of syncing the working ends without either steeking or having to work in a thousand ends.  Naturally, faced with that choice, steeking was a no brainer. I don't have a pattern for it but the plan is to knit for a little while longer (I'm about 2 inches past the armhole shaping) and then set it up for saddle shoulder sleeves and a crew neck.  It's all part of the adventure. 

The great thing about this yarn (other than it's obvious fabulousness) is that it's fairly chunky and is knitting up super fast.

And last, but definitely not least, on stage left, is the Kauni Cardi.  This pattern made the rounds a couple of years ago and I found it interesting but I always fall into these things late in the game so I've just started mine.  Actually, I started it a couple of months ago and got most of it done really quickly.  For some reason, I've stalled on the second sleeve and just need to get my butt in gear and get it finished. 

I find this pattern fascinating because it uses two multiple color (honking big) skeins of yarn.  Same yarn but you start at different points of the colorway so you're only ever working with 2 strands of yarn.  The color effects come from the changes in the colors in the yarn.  Isn't that a great effect?

If you choose to work this pattern, be prepared to have to fill in a lot of blanks or just kind of go your own way.  The pattern is, at best, just a sketch of what you will do.  But for this sweater, it's worth the effort.

See what you think

After delays created by the need to spin more of 3 of the colors (and ply and wash and dry) and the sheer number of stitches (430 or so), I'm almost finished with the yoke of the bohus cardi.  I love the colors and the effect but it's come out much more dense than I expected and I'm not sure I'm going to like that.  The shaping looks a bit weird here but that's just because it's not blocked out yet.  I've decided to keep going for a little while to see how it's going to work out.  The rest of the sweater will be the red that you see in the collar. 

I can't say I'm enamoured of the way the pattern is written but I'm a big girl so I'll get it figured out (or at least make something up!).