Moth Heaven

Brown Complex

It's garden season, so my hands have been otherwise occupied. I've finally reached a place in the install and weed cycle where I could take a few days off, enjoy my manicure, and do some knitting. The polish is OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know, and the yarn is Woolen Rabbit Frolic in Morrocan Spice, a leftover skein from my Queequeg. That's all for now.

Skipperdee

I am happy to make available the pattern for a sweater I knit last fall for SOAR. I'm calling this one Skipperdee, after my favorite pet turtle in literature.

 Here's the Ravelry button:

I had purchased a pound and a bit of Spunky Eclectic Saturn on BFL Dark. It was an amazing blend of colors, rich and encouraging as I spun bobbins of it for a 2-ply. Soon I had enough yarn for a sweater and SOAR was a month away. I swatched and sketched, and decided to make a stab at a longed-for idea. 

A few years ago, Pringle of Scotland had shown a gorgeous sweater that featured a luxurious cable running sideways around the yoke, and it was immediately influential on the handknitters. Sadly, I couldn't find a version of the idea that didn't bind my shoulders, although lots of people seem happy with the concept. For my own satisfaction, I knew I had to tackle that one, and that is what this sweater finally accomplished. I almost finished the SOAR sweater in time, but ended up wearing it around the hotel without button bands. In spite of that, Jennifer Heverly of Spirit Trail Fiberworks talked me into writing up the pattern to share, and provided me with the most amazing yarn to knit a non-handspun version (the handspun did eat the cable pattern a little, I will admit to that).

Verdande is a superwash yarn with silk and cashmere in the mix, if you can believe it. It puts up with a lot of re-knitting, and holds color beautifully. This sweater is Chipotle (as if the color by itself doesn't make your mouth water), and I believe Jennifer will have a bunch of it in her booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool this weekend, as well as the sweater if you would like to see it in person.

 

 

 

 

Almost There

May 1st looms like a tidal wave. I have a few things due tomorrow, including two articles. They are almost ready to go, but that hasn't helped the subconscious from acting out a little. Last night during what sleep I had, I actually dreamed that a tidal wave was on the news heading our way, and that Baba Yaga had pointed her crooked cane at me and told me I was about to receive my comeuppance, but I figured all I had to do was get my family to high ground before the wave hit and even if we lost everything left behind, I would still be okay. I don't remember in the dream if I had even thought about the yarn.

One of the pay-offs of all my corresponding deadlines is that I am also about to release a new pattern, based on a handspun sweater I knit last fall for SOAR. If you were at SOAR, you probably know the one, since I was wearing it around with unfinished ends dangling, and one button band short (later remedied with fiber help from David).

Jennifer Heverly of Spirit Trail Fiber Works liked the sweater enough to ask if I would make it available as a pattern, and knit the sample in her incredible yarn Verdande.

And so I did.

 

There's a little more too it, but I'm waiting to show the whole thing until after the pattern is available on Ravelry later this week. It will also be available in the Spirit Trail booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool this coming weekend. I personally won't be there (sadly) since The Mister won dibs on this weekend months ago, but I'll be there in spirit. (get it?)

What a Week!

I grew up in a school system that let kids out three times a year, and truth be told, only three times a year. I think they really begrudged us the weekends. We went home for summer, after a full school day on Christmas Eve (any less and families were likely to bolt out of town the day before) and for two full weeks in March, when everyone left for as far south as their family budget would allow. Dad used to say it was the Canadian national character to go to Florida. Mom was just excited to get back to her native United States and stock up on Lava soap and cumin. One year, when I was 16, we went to the Bahamas, having chosen our hotel package out of a colorful stack of brochures with shiny paper and beautiful photos of swimming pools and pristine beaches. They were the center piece of the kitchen table for a month, with sharpie stars and circles growing in number all over them. The excitement before we left was unbearable, and when we got to the airport, the travel company gave us all our own canvas bag with the company logo on it, for beach stuff or what have you. They plied everyone with tropical drinks on the plane, and Mom said she had heard that on one of those charter flights, the passengers had all got so drunk that they had started running up and down the aisle en masse to see if they could mess with the plane's automatic flight leveling system. I was worried a little. I was also a little disappointed that everyone stayed in their seats and we landed like a normal flight. It was a nice trip, there was indeed a pretty beach, and I didn't get sunburned, and we were surprised to run into friends also staying at our hotel. But the best part was the artisans' market across the street where the booths were full of tropical touristy things to haggle over and stuff into our luggage. That's really what I remember about school vacation growing up.

Now, time off from school as my children are growing up is a scattered affair, sprinkled about as half days and long weekends like the superintendant loaded up his rifle with buckshot and fired at his calendar. Combined with my youngest's reluctance to ever leave the house for a trip longer than a run to the supermarket (so that no one ever dreams of flights to Florida or even a train to New York), I am never quite prepared for the week they fling at us in February, or yet again in April suddenly landing at my feet on what seems a random friday afternoon when the youngest child's teacher hands him off to me and waves with a  cheerful "See you a week from Monday!"

oh, it's vacation?

And of course, this is the week I have a hair appointment, three looming deadlines, an overnight road trip for an article interview, and my book club coming over.

Which is all to say, It took me until Thursday to get out the random number generator and email the winners of my blogiversary book giveaway contest. Susan, Cate, and Susan (who started her blog about the same time as I did, and has been a blog buddy ever since).

Thanks so much everyone who spoke up in the comments, and thank you for playing.

I'm off to knit now. I hope you are too.

 

Wish me a Happy Blogiversary! (there's something in it for you)

Hey, I just realized today's my 8th blogiversary. Crazy, that it should have almost gone by without my even thinking of it. I'm a little bit like that.

But that doesn't mean it isn't worth celebrating. Send me salutations in the comments, and I'll draw a few names at random for some lovely books I have review copies of, happy as I'll be to send these great little kids out into the world.

I have Lisa Shroyer's beautifully curated Best of Knitscene

The rollicking Knitter's Life List by Gwen Steege:

 

and a fresh hardcover copy of the charming kid's knitter's book, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.

Comments must be left before Sunday night at 9 pm. Winners will be contacted by email, and listed here next week.