Last month's reading

I finished up Sweater Quest, in which the author writes about her "quest" to knit an Alice Starmore sweater. The book started out well, as many knitting projects do. There's all the excitement of deciding you want to knit something, the adventure of finding the materials (in this case a true adventure since the book containing the pattern and the yarns called for in the pattern are no longer being produced) and the joy of casting on. But after it gets going, the boredom and tedium set in. When knitting a fair isle sweater in a fine gauge, no matter how how intricate the pattern may look in the end, you are essentially just making stitch after stitch after stitch, thousands of times. You do need to keep track of which color stitch to make, but even so, there's only 2 colors in the row, not exactly rocket surgery. The book suffers the same monotonous cadence. Once it gets past the fun stuff,  the book becomes page after page after page of the same questions being asked of various knitters, most of whom have very similar points of view. Perhaps because all the interviewees were knitters who's blogs I read and have heard the exact same answers and stories before, this was exceptionally boring. I stuck with it till the end because I wanted to see if she would finish the sweater and how it turned out. The answer is given, of course, but even that I found disappointing. I had high hopes for the book. I love knitting. I love AS. But this one just didn't come together. If you want a good knitting read for summer, read Rachael's How to Knit a Love Song and give this one a skip.

I've set Dead Witch Walking aside for the moment. Ah yes, another reason to love my Kindle.  So easy to skip between multiple books without losing my place or having to lug them all around! Anyway, DWW is very good, but it's moving too slow for me. I'll come back to it at some point, but for now I have a taste for something lighthearted. So it's on to Mossy Creek. I'm only about a fifth of the way in but am finding it delightful so far. Another southern charmer in the vein of the Biggie Weatherford books.

I caved and picked up another Alice Starmore book in the midst of Sweater Quest. This time The Celtic Collection. Where Fisherman's Sweaters is devoted mostly to cable and textured stitch patterns, Celtic Collection contains more Fair Isle designs (although there's still a good dose of texture in here as well). Lismore (you can see a scan of the sweater photo here) is one Fair Isle design I may someday endeavor to tackle. Absolutely stunning. The cabled sweaters call most strongly to me. Iona is high on my queue. (See it here, second picture). The yarn called for is, as expected, discontinued. It would have been cost prohibitive anyway, so I'm looking for an alternative. The original is chenille yarn, a yarn with a dubious reputation for being unpleasant to knit with. I've ordered a small amount of a similar cotton chenille to do some test swatching before committing to a sweater's worth. Other options include Knit Pick's Comfy Bulky which would have a much different look but would, I still think, look stunning. Wool is always an option too, but I'm leaning towards a cotton since the yarn is bulky weight and I'd like to wear the sweater more than one day a year. More on my little Starmore journey in future months.

The kitchen witch in me

I have long been into homemade bath and body products. I've been making my own beauty products off and on since high school and though there are many commercial products I use and like, there's just something special about the homemade. I know exactly what is in what I'm putting on my skin and can pronounce and recognize each ingredient. Plus the act of creating these potions speaks to my inner alchemist. Using pure essential oils provides aromatherapy as well as skin healing properties.

The last few months has seen a resurgence in my interest in homemade skin care. I discovered fabulous cold cream on Etsy from Cataphract. I've not been able to duplicate her product, but I've discovered I can make a mighty fine night cream for myself in the process of trying. A mention of natural deodorant on the now defunct Lime and Violet podcast got me investigating recipes for that as well. I found it is super simple to make and works wonderfully. Now that our weather is starting to creep into the 80s and 90s we'll see how well natural holds up to the heat!

My latest adventure in homemade natural is trying to create some infused oils. Our lavender is blooming in abundance and smells divine. I decided to try two blends...

The first jar is stuffed full with lavender buds and mint leaves topped with olive oil. The second is lavender and rose petals with sunflower oil. The jars will need to sit in a dark place for several months to infuse the oil with the flowers' scents. I started the lavender/mint oil a week or two ago and the oil is already starting to absorb the scent. I'm very much looking forward to having these infused oils next fall and winter to (hopefully) create some great smelling soaps and lotions!

One word

Wollmeise

You nonknitters might as well stop reading now. By the end of this post you'll be convinced I'm a raving lunatic. But, you knitters out there know what I'm talking about. This much ballyhooed yarn is pretty darn difficult to come by. It's a German yarn sold almost exclusively by the dyer (although I understand Loopy Ewe does carry it occasionally). Claudia usually stocks her shop once or twice a week and stock sells out in minutes. MINUTES I say. I've known of the yarn for months. But the extreme difficulty in obtaining it from the source and generally astronomical prices being charged on Ebay have kept my interest marginal. About a month ago, I decided to start watching for site updates. I downloaded a tool for Firefox that monitors websites for you and notifies you whenever they update. The few times I was actually in the vicinity of my computer when an update went up, I wasn't able to get an order off in time. That was until about 10 days ago. May 1st must have been my lucky day because I managed to score a 2 skein grab bag, known as We're Different. I really had no idea what I was ordering. The color names are mostly German and the updates go so very fast it's hard to figure out what's what. So I rather blindly ordered a 2 skein We're Different Gemischt. After ordering I joined the Ravelry group of Wollmeiseholics and did some research. I discovered that Gemischt bags include yarns of complimentary colors (either 2 or 5 skeins, depending which size you order). There are also grab bags known as Kunterbunt which will included unmatched colors, true grab bags. Grab bags are also available in individual colors if you are so inclined. All the We're Different grab bags are "Surprise-Bags with our rebels (colours that don't correspond to the photo exactly), wallflower (skeins that were put aside as standby for previous online updates) and guinea pigs (test-dyes)." Since I love surprise, this is perfect for me.

My package arrived today. I was thrilled to bits. Here's what was in the package.

The yarns were packed inside a delightfully illustrated paperbag. The front side looks like knitted fabric and the back side has English / German knitting translations. There was a free scarf pattern and a bag of German gummy bears.

The yarn is phenomenal. The hype? Totally not hype. It's all true. The color is gorgeous. It defies photographing, but trust me, it's outstanding. Someday I may be able to unwrap these skeins and actually knit something with this. For now, I just want to stare at it. To pet it. To put it in a safe where no one can touch it but me.

2010 garden starting line

We've had some nice weather lately and we've started getting the garden in. I'm changing the layout quite a bit from what we did last year. This year the onions are going in the side bed.

The eggplant remain at the far end and in the little space between I've planted out the Tom Thumb cherry tomatoes I started from seed. The seedlings suffered a dose of stress when I moved them out to the garage to harden off and the same week we were hit with 80 degree temperatures. They got a bit fried in the sunny window. I've since repotted them and moved them to my patio where they seem to be reviving. At least there's some new growth coming out above the withered leaves. Fingers crossed they pull through. The onion seedling also don't seem to be fairing well after being transplanted. I'm having the best luck with the onions sets I've planted, but they don't come in nearly the variety you can get in seeds or plants. Since this was my first year trying onion seeds I'll be keeping an eye on them to see how they turn out in the end.

The big bed is also very different.

We've planted the tomatoes and peppers around the perimeter. In the middle are squash, broccoli and cucumbers. I've used old cat litter jugs with the tops and bottoms removed to protect the broccoli from the cruciforous loving bunnies. Along the front edge I'm planting kohlrabi and radishes at 2 week intervals to extend the harvest. Next week I'll put out the okra seeds in the long bed that runs along the wall to the right of the big bed. This is my favorite part of gardening. I love getting the plants in with all their promise of yummy goodness to come.

I was the lucky winner of a Barnes and Noble gift certificate recently and expanded my library with these lovely books

First up is Sweater Quest about a woman's quest to knit an Alice Starmore fair isle sweater. For the uninitiated, AS has written some of the most stunning and highly sought after patterns in the knitting world. Her books are mostly out of print and some frequently sell in the hundreds of dollars range. I'm excited to read Adrienne's account of knitting one of these masterpieces.

Next is How to Sew A Button, a delightful little book full of grandma's wisdom.

Rounding out the foursome are two cozy mysteries...Knit One, Kill Two and Town in a Blueberry Jam. Somehow I found I have the second in Maggie Sefton's series, but I really prefer to start at the beginning in a series. Currently I'm finishing up Grime and Punishment which was the April cozy selection in the Ravelry Whodunit? group. It's a good little mystery, nothing too shocking or gory.  Next up for the group is Crewel World which sounds great. But I'm undecided if I'll read it with so many other books already in line!

I decided to treat myself to a few knitting books as well.

With a 50% off coupon at Micheal's I snagged Cookie A's Sock Innovation. And I picked up one of the few attainable Starmore books, Fisherman's Sweaters, from Amazon's used books options for $10. Both of these books are mainly eye candy and inspiration. The patterns are to die for. Drool worthy. Stunning. I could go on and on. I will someday knit a Starmore. Likely one of her cabled sweaters and not a fair isle. And I will certainly knit more Cookie A socks (I've already done her Monkey socks twice).  For now I'll just enjoy the view.

Fail

Guess I should have kept my mouth shut last week when I said I had been good about not buying yarn. Oops.

Well, Liberty's Yarns is running a 35% off sale on all her stuff for the month of April. That's just way too good to pass up. I got two skeins of her Bluetopia (BFL) Sock yarn.

The first is Tea Party. Yummy shades of nearly every color of the muted rainbow. I can not wait to see how this will knit up!

The second skein is Halloween. I loved this colorway the first time I way it back in the fall in roving form, but it was sold out then. Classic Halloween colors of orange, black, purple and green. Gorgeous, saturated, and dark. The yarn itself looks to be a fine fingering weight with a tight twist. It is soft and lusterous. Should make absolutely stunning socks.

More book and knitting talk

I finished up the Biggie book I was reading, Biggie and the Fricasseed Fat Man (Biggie Weatherford). Delightful. I highly recommend this series if you are looking for lighthearted reading. The nice thing about this series is you can jump in on any book and not be lost. There are references to previous books, but none so much that it detracts from the current story. Now I'm reading Rachael Herron's first book, How to Knit a Love Song: A Cypress Hollow Yarn. I heard about the book on Marie Irshad's Knit Cast podcast and thought it sounded pretty good. It's a knitting romance. I'm not generally a fan of romance books, but it's got knitting! How bad can it be? Actually, so far it's pretty darn good. I'm only a few chapters in. The young heroine has just inherited a cottage from a sweet old knitting lady (very reminiscent of Elizabeth Zimmermann). The downside is that this cottage is located smack in the middle of a sheep ranch the woman owned and willed to her nephew, a set-in-his-ways cowboy. And so the fun begins. The writing is good. Rachael paints a lovely, vivid picture without being ponderous. The pace is good and I'm definitely looking forward to an afternoon of reading.

I had a wonderful discovery this week for the Kindle. Knitcircus online knitting magazine has gone free and digital. The magazine can be read online or downloaded as a PDF. They even allow you to print the magazine out if you wish. Fantastic! I was absolutely delighted to download the PDF and copy it to my Kindle. The font is a tad small, but still readable. Patterns are NOT included in the free version of the magazine. There is a flat fee to purchase the entire pattern pack for the issue. I'm happy with the advent of online knitting magazines, even happier to find one that allows download to a reader so I'm not stuck at my computer desk to read it. There are various modalities of pattern distribution. Knitty is totally free, Knitcircus is one price for all the issue's patterns and Twist Collective you buy each pattern individually.

Knitting this week has mostly been on the Kertzer Yoked Cardigan. This has been an interesting pattern to knit. You knit the base of the cardi in pieces to the underarm then join them and knit the yoke as one piece. There's also an interesting method of making the pockets where you knit the pocket lining and keep it on a holder. When you come to the pocket placement on the fronts, you make rapid increases which create a little pouch. At the top of the pocket, you lap the outermost pocket stitches over the center stitches creating pleats. You work a few rows of edging and bind off the pocket stitches then attach the lining on the next row. It's terribly easy and creates an adorable pocket.

I finished a pair of vanilla socks in some yarn I had purchased last year on Ebay, JL Yarns Salvia. The yarn was quite inexpensive so I figured I'd give it a try. It is a very fine fingering weight yarn. I knit the socks on US 1 needles but will probably knit the next pair on US 0, if I get around to knitting the second pair! These seemed to take forever. I guess because of the fineness of the yarn. And there was nothing compelling about the yarn. Just plain, basic yarn. The only other socks I've got going at the moment are the 6ply self patterning socks, for when I need totally brainless knitting. Next up in my sock queue are the Sleepy Hollow socks using some of my own hand dyed yarn. Just have to get the yarn wound up.

I'm still working on the Bitterroot shawl from Knitty. The pattern is starting to show now, although it's difficult to see in the picture since it's not blocked. I also started a Multnomah shawl. The eagle eyed among you will recognize the yarn from last summer's stole. I love the yarn, love knitting with the yarn. But stoles...not so much loving knitting them. Too much like overgrown scarves or undersized blankets. WAY too much boring knitting. At least with a triangle shawl each row is a little different. Besides, I really wanted to knit Multnomah and knew this yarn would be perfect. It is 100purewool lace weight in the color Nicanor held double.

Although I've manged to stick to not buying yarn, I've failed on the sniffies. I purchased some samples from For Strange Women and am smitten. Her scents are all natural, no fragrance oils, just natural and essential oils. The scents are incredibly complex. They smell totally different on my skin than in the bottle. They are rich and pure, nothing cloying and artificial like in some perfume oils. I decided to treat myself to a full bottle of Decadence and Debauchery, although the other 2 I tried, Winter Kitty and Moss & Ivy were equally tempting.

Ooo shiney!

Another finished object this week. The Shake the Barley mitts are done.I love them alot. Of course, now it's too warm to wear them, but they'll be all ready for next fall. I don't think I have enough of the Patons Classic Merino left to make the matching hat. I could possibly do it in reverse, with the body in burgundy and the cuff in cream. But I don't think I'd like that. I've got other cream yarns in stash so I should be able to find something that will work.

Working on the cabled mitts and a mention on a Knitmore Girls podcast reminded me of a cable needle I've been lusting after for some time now. I don't remember when I first heard about Leslie Wind's cable needles, but when I saw them I knew I had to have one someday. She dubbs them "tewelry". Functional knitting tools that are pretty enough to be jewelry. They are a bit spendy for a cable needle when you consider you can get a pack of 3 Clover cable needles for under $3. However, I like a bit of luxury here and there when I can swing it and that little bit of something special adds a lot of pleasure to my knitting time. So I finally broke down and treated myself to one (one of the small advantages of not buying yarn, you can spend the money on cool tools!)I went with the sheep design. It arrived about a week after I ordered it. As expected, it is gorgeous. The needle came with it's own little satin pouch that zips shut along with a polishing cloth to keep it looking great. The sheep is sterling silver and the cable needle is brass. It comes attached to an adjustable cord necklace so you can wear it around your neck. I found this just got in the way, especially on back cables, so I removed the cord. Using the needle took a little getting used to. I'm used to a straight cable needle (Brittany's are my favorite) where you can slip the stitches on to the needle from right to left and then knit them off the other end. With this needle, you have to slip the stitches to the needle from left to right which is a bit more difficult for me since I knit rather tightly. The needle is heavy enough to pull the stitches out of the way while you work the cable. After I work the cable I loop the needle around the middle finger on my left hand so it's ready for the next turn. It is by far the handiest needle in that respect; I don't have to weave it into my work or hold it in my mouth or drop it as mostly happens with my straight needle. I don't think this may be the cable needle for everyone. But if you are a bit experienced with cabling and looking for a special treat, I do recommend it. (Yes, that's the Fylingdales sweater in the background. Maybe this sweet cable needle will give me the push to finish it!)

I didn't get much reading done this week. I gave up on Aunt Dimity Snowbound. I couldn't get into it. I loved the first book and have only read one more in the series so far. Maybe it's because I read it out of order but I didn't care for it nearly as much as the first. I think I'll go back and try to read them in order before I try to read the later books.

I've instead started Biggie and the Fricasseed Fat Man. I LOVE the Biggie books. I've read the first two already and this is third in the series with 3 more after this one. The books center around Biggie Weatherford and her grandson JR, told from JR's point of view. They are set in Texas and are written with a heavy Texas accent. The characters are delightfully quirky. The stories are rather absurd and unlikely, but totally fun nonetheless.

Read an E-Book week

March 7 thru 13 is "Read an E-Book Week". Check out the website lots of ebook promotions. Books on the Knob also has a list of promotions (I think they are pretty much the same list). I've only just started exploring and already found some new free books.

Finally, some pictures!

Skully is finished and turned out gorgeous. I used the modified drop-shoulder sweater from Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater patterns rather than the pattern in Stitch n Bitch. I wasn't at all crazy about the shape of the original sweater. But I'm delighted with how mine turned out. The yarn is wonderfully cozy (Kraemer Yarns Victor, dyed by me in Jacquard Gunmetal).

This week I've mostly been knitting on the Shake the Barley mitts from Fiddle Knits. I LOVE these mitts! I'm using the left over Wool of the Andes from my Heroine jacket for the cuffs and Patons Classic Merino for the body. The pattern is well written and these are a fast easy knit. There's a matching hat pattern that I'll probably end up purchasing and knitting as well.

Here's the finished Chasm handspun.I've yet to take the wpi count and figure yardage. It's definitely not fingering weight. Possibly sport weight or DK. No plans for this just yet.

I spent this morning potting up some of my seedlings. I moved the cherry tomatoes and candy onions into larger pots. I found repotting the onions a bit challenging so I left the others in the original flats. I thinned out the weak and small seedlings and added a bit more soil. They've got a ways to go before they'll be sturdy enough to get into the garden. Now that the snow is melted off the garden I'm starting to get excited for spring. Dad and I had a lengthy discussion the other day about what we hope to do with our respective gardens. Planning is half the fun!!

I finished reading The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse early this week (did you see Leann posted a comment last week! How awesome is that?!) This week I read a bunch of previews and finally settled on Dead Witch Walking. Delightful so far. I've been listening to the Canterville Ghost which is also delightful. I had no idea something that old could be that hilarious. I'm woefully unread when it comes to classic literature. I considered the required reading in high school torturous (can you say Grapes of Wrath?) But now that I'm older and not under the instant joy-killer of "required to read" and with so many classics available now for free in Kindle and audio (via Librivox), I'm finding quite a lot that I enjoy. I find it particularly satisfying to listen to classics read by someone else. It's often easier for me to process difficult vocabulary hearing it rather than trying to read it.

I nearly broke the stash diet this week. With the weather just starting to hint at the possibility of maybe giving us spring one day, I'm hankering to knit a cotton cardi. I added and deleted sweater quantities of yarn to my virtual shopping basket at least 4 times this week. But in the end, I managed to walk away. I pulled out the Caron Simply Soft I reclaimed from a previous project that didn't work out and cast on the Yoked Cardigan from Kertzer. Although it's not the cotton I had my heart set on, this yarn will still make a fine spring cardigan.

Speaking of reclaimed yarn, it looks like I'll be reclaiming the yarn from the February Lady sweater I knit last winter/spring. As I mentioned in the original post when I finished the sweater, I knit the piece too long and the lace also stretches A LOT. It's too the point now where it hangs almost to my knees. Plus I've lost weight and it's too big at the top now too. It looks like a potato sack on me. The yarn is too pretty to be wasted so I'll be working on unpicking the ends and then ripping back the yarn as time permits. I'm fairly sure I'll knit another FLS since I do love the sweater. But it will be in a smaller size and with far fewer repeats! For anyone who hasn't caught on, yes, I am very much a process knitter. I have no reservations about ripping out a sweater I spent weeks knitting!

Activity whirlwind

With tax season in full swing and us experiencing a snowier than usual winter, I've found myself spending every spare minute knitting, reading or spinning. I'm in love with all the projects I'm working on too which contributes to the desire to always have something in my hands.

Reading: On the Kindle, I finished Snow Ball and have moved on to The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse by Leann Sweeney. I've read a few of her Abby Rose mysteries and enjoyed them quite a lot. This book seemed right up my alley, a cozy mystery centered around a cat loving quilter. It took me a good third of the book to really get into it, the main character comes off as a crazy cat lady a lot of the time, but once the murder investigation got going, the book picked up pace and is pretty good. On my nightstand I've got a Nancy Ahterton book, Snowbound. Literally only a page or two in, though. I've been so tired at night I don't think I've read a paragraph without falling asleep!

Spinning: Finished spinning and plying the Fat Cat merino in Chasm. I didn't get my spinning quite as even as I accomplished with the CMF BFL I spun last. Could be the difference in fiber, could be that I wasn't being quite as careful this time. I got to use the new Jumbo Flyer on my Minstrel to ply. What a joy. I was able to get the entire 4 ounces onto one bobbin with room to spare. Well, not quite 4. I ended up with a small bit of singles left on one bobbin and at least one layer of singles on the last bobbin. I hate when that happens. I did split the roving evenly by weight before I started. But as I said, my spinning didn't seem quite as even. I'm thinking that last bobbin may have been the one I spun at the higher ratio and thus was a bit finer than the other two. I think I might use that extra singles to practice navajo plying. Now I'm spinning the superwash merino I dyed the other weekend. It's interesting to see how the colors are coming out. I've decided I need to dye larger patches when dyeing roving. I dyed this similar to how I dye yarn, with relatively small areas of color. In roving, that's just not enough to make a patch of color. It will be interesting to see what the yarn looks like when it's all done.

Knitting: I've finished the knitting on Skully 2 and have the arms sewn in. I still need to sew the side seams, weave in the ends and knit on a neckband. I hate finishing work so it will probably languish for awhile now. Two pair of socks going, plain vanilla socks in Salvia yarn are in the home stretch. I'm halfway down the foot of the second sock. I've also got a pair of 6 ply socks going, just finished the ribbing of the second sock so I'm better than halfway done the pair. I'm also working on the Bitterroot shawl. Now that I'm on the 3rd chart I'm really starting to like the shawl. Lace is just so addicting to knit.

Unfortuneately all this activity has brought on a nasty case of tennis elbow. I'm having to slow down a bit and remember to take more frequent breaks. I've found keeping a pillow under my arm when knitting provides good support as well.