Knitting Librarian

Huh.

2010-07-05T13:20:00.001-07:00

It's funny how quicky things can change.

I did not get to Germany to meet with my husband, or to Alsace/Lorraine to celebrate my 40th birthday with my mom. Instead, we were diverted back to JFK after 3 hours in flight because of volcanic ash closing the Frankfurt airport. We spent three days in Brooklyn hoping to get out, but eventually gave up. As a tangential result of that, I am now going through a marital separation and am living in a new apartment in downtown Rochester. Yikes.

What has NOT changed, however, is that I am still woefully behind on my attempt to knit 40 items in my 40th year, but in the face of everything else that's happening, that seems like small potatoes.

Here's a glimpse of an item that I HAVE completed, a 3 hour baby cap made out of yarn leftover from the Tulip baby sweater. This is a view from my wonderful second story roof-top deck.

Below are the softest socks ever, basic sock pattern with ribs. Photo also taken on my roof-top deck.

And finally, the citron, also taken on my roof-top deck (did I mention the roof-top deck?! Love. It.)

Knit on, all.

Eastward Bound

2010-04-14T04:45:00.001-07:00

My 40 in 40 goal is not off to a good start. So far, I've only completed two projects, and one of them was finished _before_ my birthday. Yikes! Here is the completed project #2: My Vampire Boyfriend socks, complete with Spike in the background.

I'm off to Europe tomorrow to visit my husband who's working in Bonn for three months, and to celebrate turning 40 by renting an apartment in Northeastern France for a week. I'm really looking forward to it. My mom is coming with me to help me celebrate, and we're planning to eat lots of cheese and bread, and drink lots of wine. We're hoping to visit the champagne caves in Reims, do a day trip to Paris, drive the Routes des Cretes in Alsace, and also do some walking and lounging.

I have lots of projects in progress, and am hoping to finish some on the trip. I'm almost on the last section of the Citron shawl, using malabrigo laceweight; I have two potential pairs of socks to bring along: the Midsummer Night's Dream socks and a basic sock pattern; and I'm also knitting my 14 year old neice day-glo green legwarmers in scary acrylic (I won't be bringing those to Europe).

Happy Knitting!

Spring!

2010-03-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Crocuses in our backyard:

My attempt at finished item #2: Floral Brocade Mittens by Cheryl Burke (mitten on the right, compared to full sized mitten) - I used the needle they suggested and my guage was way off. I ripped back to the cuff, and now I'm reknitting with size 2 and it's going much better.

A real finished item #2: Sock #1 of My Vampire Boyfriend socks, done on size 1 needles, in Dream in Color Smooshy, color In Vino Veritas. I started out knitting a little too tightly, so the cuff is a bit tight, but I think that'll help the sock stay up. I love these, especially the bitemark holes in the cables, which you can't see in this photo.

Return of the Blog!

2010-03-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

The blog is back, Baby.

I was recently reading http://dominiqueknitting.blogspot.com/, and I was inspired to emulate her attempt to knit 50 projects in the year that she turned 50. I'm turning 40 next week, so my goal is to complete 40 items.

I've decided to start counting at the beginning of the month because I finally finished a vest that's been haunting me for years: the Downtown Cap Sleeve Cardigan by Jen Ronning for Webs.

I bought the yarn and the pattern at Stitches East in Baltimore in 2008, and I couldn't wait to start it. The yarn is lovely, the pattern is cute, but there was no chart, just the written instructions, and the bobble pattern was not in synch with the leaf pattern. Plus, there was shaping. Every time I put it down, it took time to figure out where I was the next time I picked it up. Hence, it sat, and sat, and sat. But now it's finally done. Yahoo! Only 39 more projects to go. Do socks count as 2 items?

Next up, My Vampire Boyfriend (Spike) or Floral Brocade Mittens. Both are on the needles. Stay tuned to see which one wins.

Closing up Shop

2008-02-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

I started this blog to track my knitting projects and now that I can do that on Ravelry, I'm going to close down the blog. Look for me on Ravelry at Librarianknitter. I'll leave you with this picture of the Valentine's Day chocolate I bought my husband. Only in fishing-obsessed Central PA . . .

Trellis Love

2007-12-17T09:29:00.001-08:00

Behold, the finished Trellis for the "nephew formerly known as Tiny G," who's not-so-tiny anymore.

I'm so happy with how this turned out. I love the Knitpicks Shine (worsted), and the pattern was challenging enough to keep me interested but quick enough to finish in time for xmas. The package goes out today, including knitting supplies for my sister-in-law who's caught the knitting bug.

My goal over the break is to catch up on my hibernating projects (the hedgerow socks, the daisy afghan, and the Jamieson's stole). We're driving to western NY for the holidays and then taking a quick trip to Jacksonville/St. Mary's Georgia (cheapest warm place we could to fly to from State College). I should have plenty of knitting time.

Happy Holidays!

Year without a Santa Claus

2007-12-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Heat Miser/Cold Miser Central. It's that time of year when we harken back to Christmas Specials of yesteryear, and I couldn't resiste posting this pic from Halloween 2004 (we're supposed to be the Miser couple).

As for knitting content, there's not much. I've been knitting like crazy, but don't have many pics to show for it. My daisy afghan squares are sewn together but now I have to weave in all of the ends and decide how to do a border with only two small skeins of leftover yarn. I started the Trellis sweater for our new nephew who's only 7 months old, but is a BIG BABY (in a healthy, totally appropriate way). I'm making the middle size, which will probably be too big, but I'd rather have it too big than too small.

The Kauni cardigan is done and blocked and just needs to have buttons sewn on, (or, as they say here in central PA, "needs sewn", as in the kitchen "needs sweeped") but I'm so disgusted that it's too small that I'm trying to avoid it. If it fits my mom she's getting it for Christmas. I still don't know what happened. The size I made had a 55 cm chest width on the pattern, which, according to Google, 55 centimeters = 21.6535433 inches. 21.6 doubled equals 43.2 circumference, which should have been plenty big. I got guage so I thought I was fine. But, even after blocking, I only got a 20 inch chest width, and 40 inches around is very different from 43.2 inches around. I could wear it open, but I went to all that work to make a cardigan that now I can't wear buttoned. Seems stupid.

On the bright side, I made two quick, fun hats over the Thanksgiving holiday. They're the Chicabean pattern by Rogue. They're great for using up sweater leftovers. I like the second one better, but I screwed up and knit the first row instead of doing ribbing, so that's why the edge curls a little bit.

Another hat

2007-11-19T08:50:00.001-08:00

I love this hat pattern. Here's one I whipped up over the weekend to bring to Knoxville for T-day. It should fit our 6 month old nephew. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Hat Frenzy

2007-11-13T18:29:00.001-08:00

I indulged in a major hat-knitting frenzy this past weekend. I discovered that the Yarn Harlot's unorginal hat pattern works great for handspun. I had a few small skeins lying around in my stash, so I got the ball winder going and ended up knitting 4 hats. The problem with the ease and speed of these hats is that it started to create an unrealistic urge to make them for all of my family for Christmas. I haven't done xmas knitting for the past few years because I get too stressed out about it, and no one has remarked on it so I think I'm better off knitting on my own schedule.

I'm planning to keep one of the teal hats for myself, bring one to my sister-in-law as a hostess present for Thanksgiving, and give the other two to charity.

Brian and I had a lovely day on Sunday. We scored at the Woolrich Outlet's 25% off everything sale, then we had 75 cent drafts and chicken wings in the middle of nowhere at the "Venture Inn," and then we made a vain attempt to walk it off on the Pine Creek Rail Trail. We met through a hiking club but our hiking has been recently curtailed by Brian's grad work and my long commute. It was great to get back outside!

Updates

2007-11-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

My husband's back from his European adventure, so I have access to our digital camera once again. I did some fast travel knitting this past weekend. My library is participating in The Big Read next Spring, so I went to Minneapolis for orientation. On the way I finished my version of Calorimetry from Knitty:

I like how it turned out. I hope it will stay on my head. I should be able to find a fun button in my stash.

I also finished my first Hedgerow sock and started on the second. These socks, as simple as they are, are taking me forever. I don't think I'll make another pair. I guess I'm not enjoying switching knits and purls every two rows. I can't get into a groove.

Brian was a good husband and brought me chocolate from Switzerland. He also brought me a knitting book in Italian, which was very sweet. He always complains that he never knows what to get me for presents, which I think is crazy since he's known me for 6 years, but he did a good job this time.

The Kauni is almost done. I sewed in one sleeve this morning and still have to sew in the second one and tack down the cut edges. I'm not happy with how my buttonbands and neck edging turned out, so I may rip them out and redo them. I have plenty of yarn left over. I'm regretting not making the large size. I think I'll be able to wear the sweater, but I thought that the medium would be more roomy, based on the sizing. Below, you can see what happens when you do the checkerboard ribbing back and forth instead of in the round. The last two stitches on the neck ribbing flattened out and look weird (click the photo to see what I mean). I was going to try to live with it, but I don't like the buttonbands either, so I think I'll rip out and start over.

Daisies, Kauni, and Finlandia

2007-10-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

I finished knitting all of the borders for the daisy afghan. I'm happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to sew all of the squares together.

I think I'm going to put that off for a while because I want to keep working on the Kauni sweater. If I'm really lucky maybe I can get it done in time for Rhinebeck. yeah, right. Here's a recent pic of the color combos. I LOVE these colors.

And here's a gratuitous Finland cruise shot because I had to find a pic for an online course I'm taking, and decided to use this one. Behind me are the crazy Finns getting drunk at 9:00 am and celebrating the brief sunny summer season.

Circle Tour

2007-10-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we did a circle tour from PA to Western NY to Toronto to Muskegon Michigan and home again. It was great to see lots of friends and family. Unfortunately, we only spent about 12 hours in Toronto. We left Buffalo around 7:45 and didn't get to Toronto til 10 because of bridge traffic, but I'm still glad we went. We love to stay in the Annex neighborhood, near Bloor and Spadina. I specifically wanted to stay there Saturday night because of the Nuit Blanche all night contemporary art fest that was happening (see more about this on Amy Singer's Knitty blog).

We walked around on Bloor street and got to see sufficiently out-there art to make us feel like we were getting the full big-city experience. After wandering around for awhile and feeling like we were part of a hip art scene, we went to one of our favorite places in Toronto: the Tranzac. Everytime we've stopped there on our visits to TO we've found great music, good beer, and pleasant bartenders, and this time was no exception. It was a little disappointing that we got there too late to hear most of the music, but we enjoyed sitting at the bar for a couple of pints before heading back to our guesthouse.

Hopefully next time we'll have more time in the city. I'd like to visit Lettuce Knits.

I'm making progress on the hedgerow socks. I wasn't sure if I liked them at first, but they've grown on me. This yarn said "cables" to me, but I think it's working well for the hedgerow.

And, I got my ravelry invitation! Yay! I've been using it a lot. I love the organizational tools and I've been having fun adding patterns and checking out what other people are making. My label is librarianknitter.

Daisy Afghan

2007-09-25T15:22:00.001-07:00

I was too braindead to work on the Kauni last night after getting home from work. However, in the quiet of not knitting anything, I had a brainstorm about the Droguerie Marguerite Scarf that will never become a scarf because I'm too lazy to sew all of the Marguerites/Daisies together. I searched my stash and found some cotton yarn I had bought to make lace curtains in some future house where we'll be staying for more than a year or two. It turns out that it's perfect for what I wanted to do with the daisies.

Here are the daisies in their curly, unkempt natural state, along with one bordered daisy:

Here's the first attempt at a border:

It worked o.k., but it wasn't quite what I wanted. After this try, I figured out that I could use Log Cabin quilting techniques to make these borders quick and easy. I wanted a total of 20 stitches on each side of the square, making a 4'x4' square. Using the backward loop cast-on, I cast-on 10 stitches, including three of the petal tips as part of the cast-on. Then I knit until the rectangle was about an inch deep, then cast off all but the last stitch. Then I turned the square, picked up 4 stitches from the edge, and cast-on another 10 stitches, again including three of the petal tips. Knit an inch, cast-off, and repeat. On the last side I repeated the previous step and then picked-up five stitches from the edge of the orginal 10 cast-on. It worked great! I'm very pleased with it. This is going to be much more useful than a scarf. Here are five of my completed squares. I have 45 squares in all, and I think I'll make a 5 square by 9 square afghan and put some kind of a border around it, depending on how much yarn I have left.

Kauni Colors

2007-09-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

The Yarn Harlot was right: the Kauni cardigan goes much faster when you actually spend time knitting it:

I'm past the cast-off for the armholes. I decided to cast-on only 7 stitches for the armhole steeks, like I did for the front steek. I don't see the need to have more than that, and it'll leave me plenty of yarn leftover. I'm so glad that I chose this colorway instead of the rainbow. The rainbow is stunning, but these colors are much more me. I get such a kick out of watching them change as I go along.

Here's a somewhat better picture of the Mystery Shawl. The patterned tank top beneath it doesn't help the stitch definition, but you get the idea.

I joined the Secret of the Stole Knit-along because I had so much fun with the Mystery Stole this summer. I have some red zephyr in my stash that I'm planning to use. I have some clear beads which I think will work well with it. You're not supposed to use bright colors, but that's what I've got and I think it'll be fine.

No Knitting Today

2007-09-21T10:20:00.001-07:00

Instead of knitting, I have our new nephew:

Is he not the cutest?! He's in a basket filled with hand-made (clean) diapers. My sister-in-law is amazing.

Do-over

2007-09-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here are before and after shots of the Kauni cardigan, pre-frog and post-frog. I'm really glad I ripped it out and started over. I used the German twist cast-on recommended on the Kauni KAL and I did the purl-block ribbing, which I like much better. It's nice and cool now in central PA, and I'm looking forward to lots of Kauni knitting this weeked in between going to the Penn State/UB football game and seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the big screen. Can't wait!

Note the seriously curled edge:

See the nice flat textured edge:

Oh, and I decided to go to Rhinebeck again this year. We're turning it into a weekend cabin-rental get-away in the Hudson Valley, with a little bit of time built in for visiting the Sheep and Wool show. A friend of ours will be joining us, and my plan is to encourage Brian and Jen to go hiking while I visit the show. Unlike most knitters, I get overwhelmed at big shows and I only like to stay for an hour or two. I like to go early before the crowds, and leave early. Brian went to school in Albany and he loves the Hudson Valley. It should be fun trip!

Finished items

2007-09-10T06:55:00.001-07:00

The mystery stole is done and blocked. I need a bigger blocking space! I was not very precise with my blocking on this project, mainly because I didn't have enough room, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out. I'll try to get a better photo of the details at some point. I had to block in stages because the bed was too small and we don't have a big enough floor space to block something like this:

Here's a close-up of the finished Wisp. I'm really happy with the buttons. I bought them on a trip to Great Britain with my mom in 1995 and hadn't found the right home for them until now.

The Bohus is also done. yay! I attached the buttons and now I just need it to cool off around here so that I can wear it to work. So, as of today, my WIPs are the Kauni cardigan, which I'm going to rip out and re-start, the celtic shawl, and a pair of Hedgerow socks that I started this weekend. I also have a bag full of crocheted daisies that were supposed to become a scarf but I hated sewing them together so I think I'm going to try to turn them into an afghan or baby blanket. I'm going to go on a yarn mission today to see if I can find some nice cotton to use with the daisies. My thought is to make square borders incorporating the tips of the petals of the daisies, then sew the squares together to make a blanket. Something like this:

Yarn Crawl

2007-08-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

We're back from our Scandinavian vacation (AKA Yarn Crawl). We had a great trip. The people of Finland, Sweden and Denmark were very friendly and didn't give us a hard time for not speaking their language. Brian always tries to learn a few phrases for the places we go, and that does a lot to help break the ice. Now for a few photos.

Here's a view of downtown Helsinki from the Sokos Torni rooftop bar. Note all of the huge cruise ships in the harbor.

We took one of those big ships to Tallinn, Estonia for a quick day trip. Tallinn is a beautifully preserved medieval city, and they are known for their handcrafts. There's also a darker side to Tallinn. We were approached by white supremists, who gave us a beer, and from this sign at the train station it seems that people in the area need some reminding of where to do their business:

We visited Suomenlinna Island in Helsinki Harbor, which was amazing. While wandering around the island we saw this:

We stayed in Helsinki for 4 days then took a train up to Oulu, where we stayed in a camping cabin at Nallikari campground for three nights:

After staying in Oulu and doing a day trip to the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, we took a train south to Turku and took Viking Line's night ferry to Stockholm. Sadly, we only spent one night in Stockholm. We packed in lots of tourist activities, including visiting Skansen folk park, where we saw this amazing building from Norway:

Now for some yarn. I didn't go nuts buying yarn because we had to carry everything we bought wherever we went. I bought a skein of varigated blue yarn from a shop in Tallinn, some Finnish yarn at Menita in Helsinki, and one skein of dark blue Kauni yarn from Somerflugen in Copenhagen:

I also bought some non-Scandinavian yarn at Menita. The yarn on the left is a lace weight silk/wool blend that might be from Italy. The yarn on the right is sock yarn from Germany.

As usual, I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would. I made good progress on Wisp, but didn't quite finish it:

Here's the finished Blue/Green Bohus which still needs to be blocked. I also need to find some buttons, but the knitting is done.

As far as my other projects go, I will probably rip out my Kauni and redo the bottom edge. It knits up pretty quickly, I'm just waiting for the weather to cool off before I go back to it. I'm almost done with the mystery shawl, and will focus on that over our long weekend. I started a pair of socks on our trip, but I may be making them too small and will have to rip back. I finished all of the crochet flowers for my Drogeurie kit that I got last year, but I started sewing them all together to make a scarf and I didn't like how it looked. I'm going to try to figure out a way to turn them into an afghan.

One More Day

2007-08-08T06:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I leave for Stockholm and then a quick flight to Helsinki to meet Brian. I can't wait!

In preparation for the trip I've gotten my knitting life in as much order as possible. The Blue and Green Bohus is done with all of the ends woven in. I wish I'd learned about spit plying sooner. That would have resulted in much fewer ends. Oh well, now I know. I can't take pics of the finished object because Brian has the digital camera with him, and I think he's in St. Petersburg right about now.

I'm caught up with the mystery shawl and I really like the wing idea, even though it's asymmetrical. Again, no pics. I'll catch up with everyone else after I get back.

As always, I debated about what to bring to knit during the trip. I always bring too much but I always worry that I'm going to run out. After much thought, I decided to bring this pattern and the kid silk haze that I used for the friend's-wedding-shawl-that-never-was-worn. I didn't like how that shawl turned out, so I ripped it out and will recycle the yarn for Wisp. I'm also bringing sock needles just in case I finish Wisp and need something else to do. I'm going to the land of knitting, so I'm sure that I'll be able to find sock yarn in a pinch. It's supposed to be in the 60s and 70s during the day in Helsinki and Oulu, so a finished Wisp might even come in handy if the nights get chilly. It's been HOT and HUMID here, so 60s temp are sounding very appealing right now.

Sidetracked

2007-07-31T06:15:00.000-07:00

Not much posting lately because I was sidetracked by the Bohus sleeves. I recalculated the shape based on my gauge, and they're finally done. I'm happy with how they turned out:

Now I just have to do the button bands and collar and it's done. The directions say to knit the button band up from the live stitches at the bottom and then sew it to the body, but I may try to attach it to the body as I knit. We'll see.

Here are my two shawls-in-progress. Shawl on the left is the Mystery Shawl. I should be caught up by Friday when the new clue comes out. We've been traveling a lot and it's been hard to find a quiet place to sit and work on it. Shawl on the right is the Jamieson's pattern. I had thought about ripping it out because the skacel yarn annoys me with it's fineness, but I'm liking the shawl more now that I charted the pattern. I'm a visual knitter and I was having a hard time with the written instructions, particularly since they were British abbreviations. Things are going better now.

Brian leaves for Stockholm/Helsinki/Moscow today. I'll meet up with him in Helsinki next Friday. I can't wait! Here are some of the yarn shops I'm hoping to visit during our trip: Sommerfluglen in Copenhagen, Sticka in Stockholm, and Menita in Helsinki.

Easy Knitting That Looks Hard

2007-07-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time working on the Kauni sweater this weekend. I'm loving how the colors are changing as I go along. It's the kind of knitting that looks like it takes a lot of effort, when it's really the yarn itself that's doing the work for you.

I didn't cast-on the Mystery Stole until last night because we were camping, and a campground is not the place to work with tiny beads. I'm up to row 43 and I like it so far. It's fun to be part of a knit-along because I was able to look at the other posts and see if I'm doing it right. So far, so good!

Priceless

2007-06-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Behold the new yarn swift, saver of time and mental health . . .

I feel like one of those Mastercard commercials: metro fare to the yarn shop: $2.50, time spent on internet finding the yarn shop: 10 minutes, cost of yarn swift: $60, mental health and decrease of swearing while winding yarn from skein draped across knees: priceless.

This is a case where being cheap for 15 years of knitting and not buying the swift is a really stupid thing. I didn't buy the ball winder until three years ago, and then I only bought it because my mom gave us money for our wedding engagement. (Brian got something cool out of the fund too - I can't remember what, though).

Here's my swatch for the mystery stole. I used both clear and colored beads in the swatch but the clear ones don't show up at all, so I'll be sticking with the colored beads for the real mccoy. I'm thrilled that I found a tiny crochet hook among my knitting paraphrenalia so I'll be able to add the beads as I go. It must have been from my grandma's stash because I'm not a crocheter, and I doubt I'd be able to use a hook that small even if I were. I'm using size 5 needles and Shelridge Farm 2-ply lace weight that I bought at Rhinebeck last year.

Here's me and Jim Dale at the ALA conference. I can't wait for the next Harry Potter! Brian got hooked on HP over our winter break last year and listened to all of the books on CD. Jim Dale is a fantastic narrator. Our plan is to buy the discs for the new book and listen to them together, though it's going to be hard to avoid the spoilers once the book comes out.

We took the backroads to DC for the ALA conference. We made sure to go through Eichelbergertown, as that's my maiden name. It's made up of about 6 houses and it's in south-central PA.

Mystery Stole #3

2007-06-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the encouragement of the Nerdy Knitter, I've joined the Mystery Stole #3 bandwagon. I can't wait! I have several skeins of lace weight yarn in my stash - I just need to figure out what will work best. I'm going to ALA in DC this weekend, and I think I'm going to check out this bead store to get some beads to go with my yarn. I've always wanted to add beads to my knitting, but haven't had a chance to try it out.

In other knitting news, I've finished sock #2 of my vacation socks that I started in Delft in May. I'm slogging along with the sleeves of the bohus. I had to rip out my last start because my gauge was way off. I'm ok with the sweater body being a little too large, but not the sleeves. At this moment I have only two object in process, which makes me happy. Just the Bohus and the Jamieson's shawl, which I may end up ripping out because I have to watch my stitches too closely because the yarn is so fine. We'll see.

I found out yesterday that my husband was accepted into a doctoral consortium session at a conference on Context in Denmark in August. Hooray! This means that I'll be spending a couple weeks in Scandinavia with him while he "kills time" between his cartography conference in Moscow and the Denmark conference. The academic lifestyle certainly has its benefits!

Kauni Fever

2007-06-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

The semester's over, we're back from the Netherlands, and I finally have time to catch up on the blog.

I'm obsessed with this sweater made with Kauni yarn. I tried to find the yarn when we were in the Netherlands, but no luck.

I'm so obsessed that when I found this bag in A Touch of Grace in Geneseo NY, I had to have it. See the resemblance to the sweater?

Luckily, Melinda's Purlwise blog gave me information on how to order Kauni yarn from Astrid's Dutch Obsessions. Astrid was out of the colorway called for in the pattern, but I fell in love with the EF colors, and ordered it for the sweater. It only took two weeks for it to get here, and the price was very reasonable.

I'm hoping that these colors will work in the same way as the brighter version. Check out Melinda's blog to see the sweater in progress.

While we were staying in Delft for my husband's conference I managed to get to Leiden to check out a couple of yarn shops. Here's Ribbels, where I bought a skein of sock yarn from Wales. I should have bought two skeins but it was expensive. Maybe it'll become some kind of little scarf.

The sock yarn:

My only finished object from the trip:

Spring at Last

2007-04-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's finally Spring here, and I finally had a day off at home, so I figured it was time to update my blog.

Way back in August I posted about a pair of Gem Opal socks I had tried to make out of one skein instead of the two skeins that were called for. I tried several ways to make the socks work, and it just wasn't happening. I couldn't bear to rip them out again, which was a good thing because inspiration struck and I turned them into fingerless mitts. These will come in handy in about 5 months when I'm sitting on the couch with cold hands, trying to knit.

This is my snazzy new knitting bag that I got at Target for $4 on Friday. Yahoo! It has three pockets on the inside and the whole thing is sort of shiny, stain resistant material, which is always good.

I'm making progress on the Jamieson's shawl, but I've decided that I'm going avoid yarn this skinny in the future because it's like knitting with sewing thread. I'm not enjoying it at all because I have to watch every stitch I make - I can't knit on autopilot like I usually do.

This is a project I started a few weeks ago on our drive to Knoxville. I ripped out a short sleeved sweater that I didn't like and I'm using the yarn to make the Viennese Shrug from a recent Interweave Knits.

It should look like this when it's done:

Brian's sweater

2007-03-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Brian's sweater is done! Yahoo! Click on the photo to get a more clear view of the detail. This was a great pattern. I loved making it and I'm very happy with how it came out.

I learned a cool technique to bind-off the ribbing cuffs of the sleeves, which are knit from the shoulder down. I tried my regular cast-off, and it looked too "home-made", so I did a google search on cast-off techniques and found this great website that showed me how to do a Knit-One Purl-One Bind-Off, which makes a much nicer edge. What you do is put all of the knit stitches on one needle and all of the purl stitches on another needle, and you kitchner stitch them together. It's fantastic! It's hard to see in this photo, but it really does look great.

I've been working on several projects, including a baby sweater for a friend who's due this summer. Here's a linen market bag from an old Interweave Knits pattern that I whipped up as a house-warming gift for a friend of mine.

Here's the bag filled with goodies from Western NY (wine and hot sauces for her and her husband, respectively).

Having a Grandma Berts Moment

2007-02-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

Brian's 82-year-old grandma is one of the most fashion-conscious people I know. This is not always a good thing, as in how she spent all of months leading up to our wedding talking about her outfit. I'm having a wedding outfit moment myself, mainly because I don't dress up very often.

I had thought that I would make a Jamieson and Smith shawl for my friend's wedding at the end of March, but this is how far I've gotten on tiny needles with about 4 weeks to go:

In the meantime, I started and finished another shawl, made from Rowan kidsilk night, which is sparkly and a little more flashy than my usual style.

I like this shawl, but I'm not sure if it goes with my dress. I bought some sparkly shoes, that match the shawl, but now I might have to buy a new dress. Crazy. All this for someone else's wedding where no one will care what I'm wearing.

Brian's sweater is coming along well. In fact, I have a crick in my neck and shoulder from knitting so much on it this weekend. I love the construction of this sweater. You knit a shoulder strap and work in both sides of the front and back as you knit along. It's lovely. And the collar has that great purl-row-fold-over thing, which I love because my cast-offs are never even and look stupid on a collar. I'm about 6 inches into the first sleeve. I like that you knit the sleeves down from the body, because that way I can get the exact sleeve measurement by making Brian try on the sweater.

I've been avoiding working on the Bohus sweater because the sleeves are soooo boring and the yarn is scratchy. I reorganized my stash last weekend and have several bags full of patterns and yarn for my next projects. Oh, and I decided to resuscitate my Gem Opal socks that I wasn't able to complete because of the lack of yarn, and make them into fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm while I'm knitting. I'm going to keep the sock leg patterns and just add thumb holes and knit up to my fingers.

Yarn Shop Magnetism

2007-01-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

I was in Seattle last weekend for ALA, and I had no plans to visit any yarn shops. Wouldn't you know it, I was strolling through Belltown Saturday night and happened upon So Much Yarn Knitting. So am I just lucky? Or do yarn shops exert an unconscious magnetic pull on me? I am static electricity woman, you know.

6 Weird Things

2007-01-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

I tried to come up 6 weird things about me, as requested, but they were all scary (my fear of flying is increasing as I age, and I don't scrape ice off my car windows but instead only make a little porthole to see out of). So here is the most non-traumatic-to-myself-or-others weird thing I can think of about myself:

I get really bad static electricity when the air is dry, particularly if I'm wearing wool, which I often am, since I KNIT. Sometimes when I go to open my car door I get shocked so badly it makes me drop my keys. Because of this, I am paranoid about opening doors with metal handles. If I'm with Brian I make him open doors for me - not to be polite, but to save me from getting zapped. I will often hesitate in front of a door, steeling (ha) myself to open it. I think that people must think I'm obsessive-compulsive because I look so weird hesitating before opening a door.

Long Time No Blog

2007-01-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm blaming the holidays.

I have been knitting, of course, and here is the status on my many projects:

Finished:
Argosy scarf from Knitty. Made with gift yarn from England.

Still in progress:

Brian's sweater. I'm up to the collar on the back, and working my way up on the front:

Here's the cabin in Westmoreland State Park, where I did the bulk of the work on Brian's sweater over the winter break:

Here's the beginning of the shawl I'm working on to wear to a friend's wedding at the end of March. I hope to make some headway on it during my travels to and from Seattle for ALA's Midwinter Annual Meeting:

And finally, here's the beginning of sock #1 of the second pair of Pomatomus socks, which will hopefully be done in time for my mom's 60th b-day:

Oh, and here's some spinning that I've been working on:

So, lots of pictures and not much to say. Knit on!

Belated Blocking

2006-11-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

I finally blocked my version of Ene's shawl from Scarfstyle. I think I finished it before we moved to State College, over a year and a half ago, and just never got around to blocking it. The only reason I finally blocked it was because I wanted to donate the blue scarf in the photo to our knitting guild for a charity tree, and it needed to be blocked, so I figured I'd do them both at once.

Here's a close up of the detail:

This is my latest project that has kept me from working on Brian's sweater and the Bauhaus sweater. It's the estonian lace baby blanket from Fiber Trends. I'm using a cotton blend that's very soft and washable, and it's even almost local, as it's made in Nazareth PA. It's for my sister-in-law, who's not due until May, but I wanted to start early so that it would be done in time. I liked the color so much that I don't care if the baby's a girl. She's not hung up on tradition, so she'll be happy with any color.

Here's a scarf kit from Morehouse Merino that I'm trying finish so that I'll only have three works in progress instead of four.

Progress report

2006-10-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on the progress of my current projects.

The front and back of the blue/green Bohus sweater are done. I really like how the front turned out, though I'm not looking forward to knitting the button bands separately and then sewing them to the body. I'm working on the sleeves right now.

Here's the cabled sweater for Brian. I'm much happier with it now that I took the Nerdy Knitter's advice and started cabling without a cable needle. The president of our knitting guild told me that I could let the stitches come off the needle, knit the cable, and put them back on, but I found that they pulled out when I tried it. The Nerdy Knitter told me to google cable knitting without a needle, and I found some excellent instructions on WendyKnits' site.

I went to Rhinebeck this past weekend, but I didn't go crazy spending money. I bought a cool Lantern Moon basket that I've been eying for a few years. I also got a shawl pin and some beautiful laceweight shetland and a small Morehouse Merino kit for a scarf. Here's the basket with Buddy dog lying on the floor behind it:

I was all excited about playing Blogger Bingo, and I have to admit that I did terrible. I went to the Fest early on Sunday to avoid the crowds, and in avoiding the crowds, I avoided all of the bloggers. The only blogger celebrity I spotted was Amy Singer from Knitty, and I was too shy to tell her that I read her blog and that I think Knitty is great. Oh well. The festival was fun and it was an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Upstate NY. I stayed in Hudson and had dinner with an old college friend. Fun!

Brian did amazingly well recovering from the extraction of his wisdom teeth. He had stopped taking pain medication by Saturday afternoon and was eating chili, so I didn't feel bad about leaving him for an overnight in the Hudson Valley.

Pomatomus socks

2006-09-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

The Pomatomus socks are almost done:

All I have left is the toe on the second sock and then I have to sew in the ends. I love them so much that I'm keeping them for myself. I stopped at a local discount store (ala Marshall's or TJMaxx) on the way to work and found 4 pairs of shoes for $47, two pairs of which were clogs, so I'll be able to show off my handknit socks.

Here's a better image of the baby blanket that is ready to be shipped to our friends' new baby girl.

Here's how far I've gotten on the Bohus Blue & Green. It's been fun, but I don't like purling with two colors. I now see the big advantage of knitting everything in the round and then cutting it to make a cardigan. I've tried the Anna Zilborg reverse knitting technique where you keep the front of the work facing you and the yarn behind, and do a backwards knit stitch to make the purl. I'm not great at it though. I'm saving that for the rows where I have to use three colors.

The woman who owns The Knitters Underground in Centre Hall helped me find the correct color for the background on the bohus. I was using a dark brown that I ordered over the phone, and it wasn't working at all (you can see it in the bottom of the border - I couldn't bring myself to rip back that far). She has the best selection of Jamieson & Smith's Shetland wool that I've seen.

Here are my options for new projects to start on my trip to the midwest next week. I'll have lots of knitting time on planes, trains, and ferries. The top left is the sweater for my husband, and the bottom right is a lovely Jamieson & Smith shawl pattern. I'm torn. I should just bring the bohus and work on that - but I have to think too hard with all of the color changing.

Here's a better photo of the shawl option that I stole from here. I love the celtic knot pattern on the ends.

Yarn Diet? What Yarn Diet?

2006-09-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

I have been on a serious yarn diet since we picked up and moved house a year ago. While the mountain of yarn that I moved was helpful for packing delicate objects, I was stunned and chagrined to see the amount of yarn that I had somehow accumulated. Even if I didn't have to work for a living, I would never be able to knit all of that yarn. I've been very practical this past year, and have only bought two skeins of black yarn to complete the Philosopher's Wool sweater. Oh, and that amazing sock yarn that jumped into my bag while I was in the shop. And the yarn I bought in Europe this summer. But really, I have been quite restrained, and I have managed to pare down quite a bit of my stash.

But then the Knitpicks catalog came. I couldn't take it anymore. I bought yarn and a pattern to make this sweater:

for my non-sweater-wearing husband. He's more of a flannel shirt/sweatshirt kind of guy. Before I bought the yarn I asked him if he would wear this sweater if I made it. He said yes. We shall see. It'll be the first sweater I've made him, and we've been together for 5 years. He's married to me now, so the boyfriend sweater curse should not come into play. I'm going on a big non-driving road trip the first week in October, and I'm saving starting the sweater for the trip.

And, because I've been reading a lot more blogs at work these days, and almost every one I read mentions Rhinebeck, I've decided to give in and go. I've been twice in the past, once during grad school when I lived in Albany, and one other time. I checked mapquest and it's only a 5 hour drive from where we live now. One big problem is that Brian is getting all of his wisdom teeth pulled on Friday October 20th. My plan is to nurse him for Friday and most of Saturday and then ditch him for Rhinebeck on Sunday. This may be really selfish of me. I'm not sure. He should be o.k. He can even come along if he wants to! I really want to join the Rhinebeck blogger bingo, but I'm going to wait until I'm sure I'm going.

Nip and Tuck

2006-09-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

I was fairly productive over the Labor Day weekend. One of the projects I've wanted to do for a while was to take my new-found sewing and cutting confidence and put it to work on a vest I made for Brian last year. The pattern was the basketweave vest from the second Jamieson's book, and I followed it correctly and even used the designated yarn. Here's what it looks like in the book:

Notice how wide the shoulders are. Even after blocking, the shoulders stuck way out when Brian put it on, so I wouldn't let him wear it because it made him look like a big dork. I decided that I would rip out the armhole ribbing, cut back the shoulders, and redo the ribbing. He wasn't going to wear the vest the way it was, so if I totally screwed it up it wasn't the end of the world.

I took a vest that I made him that looks nice on him and laid it over the Jamieson's vest:

I then used yarn and roughly hand stitched a line along the edge of the good vest armholes, into the fabric of the green Jamieson's vest (the shaky yellow line - I'm not so hot with the "draw" tool). FYI, the top "good" vest is the Cider House Rules vest from the Fall 2000 IK. I got out the sewing machine and stitched about 3/4 of an inch in from the yarn line I had made (the 3/4 of an inch was to account for the ribbing). I then cut the knitting and reknit the ribbing. It turned out great. I'm very happy. It looks much better on Brian and I'll now allow him to be seen in public with the vest. He noted that I'm more concerned about how the vest looks than how he looks in it. I told him that he is my model for my creations, but I don't know if that helped.

Here's the bamboo convertible shawl in action:

I ended up wearing it with three of the buttons holding it together at my waist in front. I think I may look into using stitch markers (the kind that open) to hold it together. The buttons didn't stay in very well - although I found that they work great if the yarn accidently gets stuck inside the jump ring with the button shanks!

I am Merino Wool

2006-09-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

I took The Nerdy Knitter's suggestion and took the quiz to find out what kind of yarn I am:

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!

I'm wearing the bamboo convertible shawl to work today. I will post an action photo soon. I found that the buttons pop out when I try to wear it with "arms." I'm going to look into an alternate fastening option, because I like the look of it "armed."

It's cold and rainy out and I feel warm and snuggly in my bamboo shawl.

More finished projects

2006-08-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Go me! Two posts in one month! I'm a mad blogger, I tell you.

I have several newly completed items:

These are Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Perfect Fit socks from the Fall 2000 issue of Interweave Knits. They're supposed to have a short row heel and toe, but I did a side-decrease toe because I didn't like how the short-row toe looked. On the second sock, instead of doing the heel in progress, I knit a row of waste yarn for the heel stiches and kept going. Once I finished the tube of the sock, I picked out the waste yarn and made the heel. The socks are for my mother-in-law for Christmas.

The Knitty convertible shawl is done (except for weaving in the ends). Bamboo yarn rocks! I had to add about 4 more repeats of the lace pattern because I'm stockier than than the model in Knitty, but it was worth it. I can't wait to wear it to work.

This is the Cradle to Couch Blanket from Interweave Knits Fall 98. I started this thing about three years ago, planning to give it to a friend who was having a baby. I finished it just in time for baby #2! The stitch details didn't photograph well - it's got lots of cables and patterns and it was made on #2 needles. The best thing is that it's washable.

This is my start on the pomawhatis socks. I love this yarn! And the pattern is way cool!

Finally, a pic from our June trip to Europe. Here's Brian enjoying the view from the cafe at the top of the chairlift in Vianden, Luxembourg. Sigh. The view, the company, the beer . . . that was a good trip.

Jester Hats

2006-08-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

I've been on a jester hat kick lately, in an effort to decrease my stash. They're great for using up leftover yarn that I can't bear to part with. The pattern is from Philosopher's Wool, and I think it was published in Knitters many years ago.

The first hat was knit on size 4 circulars, with sport weight yarn, and fits a baby. Depending on how annoying you want the hat to be, you can attach bells to the points of the hat. I made my nephews some with bells several years ago, and they loved them. I'm not sure how much their parents loved me afterwards, but it was worth it.

The hats below were knit on size 7 circulars, with worsted weight yarn. I experimented with casting off the top with the three needle cast-off on both the right-side and wrong-side, and I think I actually like the right-side version better, even though it's wrong. Got that?! These sizes will probably fit a small child. I'm giving one to a friend for her nephew, and will donate the second one when the Centre County Knitters do their annual donation to the Women's Resource Center at the Festival of Trees.

In another effort to accelerate stash reduction, I sent a bag of sock yarn remnants to The Heathen Housewife, who's making an amazing sock-yarn mitered square blanket.

One of the projects I brought to Europe this summer was a pair of diagonal rib socks from IK, made from Louet's Gem Opal yarn. Now, I've knit countless pairs of socks over my knitting lifetime, but this sock knitting experience did not prepare me from the sorrow that was discovering that I actually needed TWO balls of 100g yarn, not one. Ugh. Usually, 100 g of fiber is plenty to make a pair of socks, but I was not taking yardage or thickness of the yarn into consideration. I also did not read the directions carefully (note the highligher on the part of the pattern that reads TWO balls of yarn. duh.). If this was a better photo, you'd be able to see that one sock is completely done, and I've started the cuff on the other one. I tried reworking the socks - making the cuff shorter, not carrying the ribbing onto the foot - and it was no use. The gem opal diagonal socks were not meant to be. Now I have one skein yarn burning a hole in my stash. I bet it would make a nice little leafy-patterned scarf.

Philosopher's Wool Kit is done!

2006-07-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I finally finished my Philosopher's Wool cardigan kit that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fest in May of 2003. Here's the photo evidence:

I knit the body of the sweater in the round and then cut the armholes and the front, like I did for the Poetry in Stitches sweater earlier this year. It was much less scary this time.

I've also been working on my convertible Knitty shawl, made out of lovely bamboo that I bought in Paris. I love bamboo! It's so soft and wonderful to work with. It does tend to catch on things and pull out strands, similar to cotton, but I've been able to deal with that so far.

Back from Benelux

2006-06-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

We got back from our three week trip to Europe last weekend. Here is the yarn I brought with me:

Note that only the top of one sock has been completed. I always bring way more yarn and projects than I will use, because I worry that I will run out of knitting options. In this case, I brought two fairly complicated sock patterns, one from IK and one from Knitty, and I discovered that they were more than my feeble jet-lagged brain could handle. So, while in Leeuwarden in Northern Netherlands (birthplace of Mata Hari), I bought some self-striping sock yarn for mindless train knitting:

I took a quick overnight trip to Paris, and while there I luckily wandered past La Drogerie. The staff were very friendly and helpful and were able to understand my rudimentary french. I bought some lovely bamboo to make the convertible shawl from Knitty:

and I also got a kit to make a crocheted flower scarf:

While in Tilburg (Netherlands), I went to the Textile Museum and picked up some wool to spin:

Once we arrived back home I resumed work on my Philosopher's Wool kit (after buying more black yarn as the kit did not have enough):

More finished items

2006-05-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm knee deep in Interweave Knits' Blue Green Bohus sweater and a colour [sic] your own cardigan from Philosopher's Wool that I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2003. I'm halfway up the back on the IK sweater, and I have the arms done and about 6 inches on the body of the PW sweater. I'm trying to whittle my projects down to only 1 or 2 works in progress at a time. I'm feeling overwhelmed by half-finished projects hanging over my head. I haven't bought any yarn in almost a year, and I still have a big stash that needs to be reduced before we move again in a couple of years.

In the meantime, here are a few recently finished projects:

This is the knitted (versus purled) version of the bag I made for my mom. This one's for me.

Here are two pairs of socks that I finally finished by sewing in the ends:

Here are some mittens that had been sitting in the bottom of my knitting bag for several years (they're from a pattern in Folk Mittens):

Baby sweater in action

2006-04-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of my friend's cute new baby son in the sweater I sent him:

I love the hat. His sister brought to him from her class trip to Germany. He's a Tyrolean baby!

I came, I steeked, I conquered

2006-04-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

I did it! I sewed some lines on my sweater, I CUT IT, and it didn't fall apart! Hooray!!!! Here are some photos of the steeking in action:

This is my mom's fancy "old" sewing machine that I never use. I really do not like to sew. It's something about not being able to undo once you've cut something. At least with knitting you can always (usually) go back and fix your mistakes.

Off to the left, hidden in this photo, is a VERY large glass of wine. I read that alcohol helps you work up the nerve to attack your knitted garment that you have spent MONTHS creating with a pair of sharp scissors. Can you tell that I like Fair Isle cardigans? I didn't make the sweater that I'm wearing.

The finished product in blocking mode:

I still have to add a crocheted red border to the cuffs and the bottom of the sweater, but for the most part it's done.

I finished a bunch of languishing projects this past weekend. I finally sewed in the ends on two pairs of socks that have been sitting in my knitting basket for years (really). I also finished this market/travel bag for my mom. See below:

The photo doesn't do it justice. It's purple linen and it's got a cool open, stretchy stitch. I'm making one for myself in blue linen. It scrunches up very small and you can take it shopping inside of another bag and when you buy more than you expect to (not that this ever happens to me. Ha!) you just whip out the magic expanding market bag and fill it up. I'm going to Europe with my husband in June and I'm going to try to travel carrying only a regular sized backpack. I'll take my handy expanding bag and fill it with yarn . . . I mean souvenirs.

The market bag pattern is from an old Interweave Knits. The pattern makes you purl for the whole bag, and after I got done I turned it inside out and it still looked cool, so I'm doing my bag with knit stitches instead because I don't like to purl when I don't have to.

Another knitting-related project that I conquered this weekend was to clean out my knitting basket. Along with the afore-mentioned socks, I also found a ton of metal double-pointed needles which I will never use again now that I have nice bamboo and pearl pony double-points that don't prick my fingers when I use them. I gathered a bunch of obsolete knitting tools that I will donate to my local Goodwill store. It makes me happy to simplify my knitting life.

Baby Sweater Factory

2006-03-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

In the past 6 weeks I have knitted 3 baby sweaters. One for a baby already born, and two for babies not yet here. I used the rosebud cardigan sweater pattern from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. I love this pattern because it's fast, it's easy, it only take two 50g balls of baby yarn, and it's small enough that you can give it to a newborn without having to tell the parents that their child will grow into it someday. Other baby sweaters I've made end up looking like they should be for a giant mutant baby the size of a three year old.

Here's my favorite sweater of the batch:

Another great thing about this pattern is that you can use up leftover sock yarn. For this one I used sock yarn on the front and then misc white baby yarn for the back, arms, and neck.

Here are the other two sweaters (one finished, and one steamed and ready to sew together). I had hoped to find really cute baby buttons for these sweaters, but the only place I looked, Jo-Anns, didn't have much of a selection. The yellow sweater will have little ducky buttons.

I spent all day yesterday sitting on the couch and knitting. It was great. I'm trying to recover from a cold and I knew that Saturday would be my only day off for two weeks, so I took advantage of it and stayed in my pyjamas all day and knitted. I made a lot of progress on sleeve #1 of my Poetry in Stitches cardigan:

Sweater sleeves are like socks. Once you finish the first one you wish you were done. Too bad it's a hassle to do them both at the same time. I know someone who works on two socks at once because she hates having one done and one left to do. I don't think I have enough needles (or motivation) for that.

Here's the body of the sweater:

And I have to show off the inside. I'm glad I learned two-handed knitting:

That's it for now. Next time I'll post photos of the yarn I'm spinning to make Knitty's Clapotis shawl/scarf (inspired by seeing my friend the Nerdy Knitter's beautiful version).

So many projects, so little time! (Note: my husband's Phd advisor states his wife's occupation as "Fiber Artist." Our joke around the house is that my husband will get a great a job in a few years and I'll be able to quit working and stay home and be a Fiber Artist. You never know . . .)

Wedding Shawl

2006-03-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

I'll start this blog with one of my favorite projects. I got married last summer, and being an obsessive knitter, I wanted to wear something handmade. I considered knitting my own wedding dress, but decided that I had enough to do with planning the wedding in 4 months. Instead, I decided to make a wedding shawl.

When I first started to knit, the group of friends I learned from would often talk about knitting "good juju" into their projects. I knew that I wanted my wedding shawl to be a community effort, and I wanted to import good juju into it from everyone I know and love who knits. It was a wonderful experience. I contacted friends and family from near and far and met with them and asked them to knit a row or two on my shawl. All of the stitches would blend with my own stitches to symbolize who I am and the people who have influenced my life. The people who contributed included my 85-year old grandma, my mom, my step-mom, my mother-in-law to be, my old college friends, my friends who taught me to knit, my friends at work, and my non-work friends who happened to be knitters. I was able to meet with everyone in person and talk about the wedding and my plans while they knitted on my shawl.

The pattern I used was Madli’s Shawl by Nancy Bush, published in the Summer 2004 issue of Interweave Knits. Here's a picture of the shawl from that issue:

I changed the pattern a little bit, taking out the nubbs in the body of the shawl but leaving them in the borders.

Here's the shawl in action at our wedding: