Wine and Knitting

Went to a wine tasting party last night, wore my Hermia sweater. Some one asked me if I had knit it and I said yes and it was so nice to have a conversation with another knitter.

We also talked about other things but mainly about knitting. We may have been the only people there who knew what Malabrigo, Noro Furisode, Ravelry, and Interweave Knits was.

The wine was pretty good too.

And I finished my Malabrigo Oceanos scarf. Just in time for the Atlanta 70+ deg weather.

Sean Scully Malabrigo afghan -- Done!

Begun on Feb 15, 2009, finished May 16, 2009. I'm counting it as taking exactly 3 months, considering that Feb only has 28 days.

It's about 57 inches wide by 49 inches tall, before blocking.

As you can tell from the name, it's made with Malabrigo, held double, and inspired by the art of Sean Scully.

I love it.

eta: The inspiration came from a bunch of Malabrigo yarn that I had. One each in the orange, yellow, and purple. Two different blues in different amounts, and a lot of the two different greens. I started with making mitered squares but didn't like the way they looked.

Then I came across a book about Sean Scully's art and loved the stripyness of his work. I posted about the specific pieces in this post.

I did end up having to buy a few extra skeins of the greens to make that big field of green. I didn't really want to do that, when the goal was to use up the Malabrigo...but why am I complaining about shopping for more of my favorite yarn? I used other yarns too, mostly Cascade 220 and one Manos del Uruguay in purple, when I ran out of the Malabrigo.

Husband and I snuggled under it as we sat out on the balcony in the cool spring night, and I'm happy to say that it's as soft and warm as I hoped.

Now for the challenging part: washing it.

eta May 19: I washed it by soaking it with Soak in a big plastic bin in the tub. After 15 minutes, tipped over the bin and let the water out. Stepped on the blanket to squish out some of the water, then pushed it back into the bin. Took it to the washer and put it on the drain and spin cycle. Lastly, laid out a bunch of towels on the guest bed and let it airdry for a few days.

Ears ringing

I watched 2 episodes of Dollhouse on line with the headphones on and now my eardrums are throbbing. The audio on the little netbook aren't great. And the airconditioning units on the roof of the building across the street are so loud, I need headphones in order to hear.

Anyway, now I've watched the last 4 episodes of Dollhouse so far and really hope it gets renewed. I want to find out:

1. what happens with Alpha, because I heart Alan Tudyk, mainly because he played Wash on Firefly and anyone married to kick-ass Zoe has to be worth something. Plus, I love the funny and Wash (and Simon in his straight-laced understated way) brought the funny.

2. what happens with Sierra and Victor. Even as dolls, they have some feelings for each other and I want to see what happens with them. Because I'm all about the love.

3. what happens with DeWitt. She's the boss and holds everyone at arm's length. But she also programmed Victor as "Roger" to have some love and relationship in her life. Then she realizes that wasn't a great idea and so shelves "Roger." What's the consequences of that? Again, I'm all about the love. I also just read the recap for the episode "Echoes" on Television Without Pity and really want to see what she's like when under the influence.

4. what happens to the other dolls, esp Whiskey and November, who's now been freed?

5. what's the stories behind Boyd, Topher, Ivy and the other staff that they work at the Dollhouse?

As I watched, I worked on the Sean Scully Malabrigo afghan.

I have a ball of "Butter" Malabrigo and yellow Lamb's Pride Superwash in "Lemon Ice" and a ball of Malabrigo in "Tiger Lily" that I'll stripe along the right edge. When those are done, then all the Malabrigo will be done and the afghan will be done.

Yay! because it's getting a bit warm to have a huge lapfull of wool.

Notes about other Firefly alum:

I know this was the season finale for Castle with Nathan Fillion, another Firefly alum, but I had to turn it off half way through. I really want to support NF, but just can't watch a whole episode.

Also, I've put season one of Chuck on Netflix (did I mention that already in a previous post?) but may move it up the queue.

Finished the Green

The green part of the green is done on the Sean Scully Malabrigo afghan. The Firefly and Torchwood DVDs really help me rock through all the miles of garter stitch and I'm loving it.

Next up: sewing on the purple and grey strip along the bottom and then knit on a blue and pink striped section to the left there. The pink's not varigated but if I make them narrow stripes, I don't think it'll matter.

This will be the softest lap blanket ever.

Ah, Spring, time for wool

It's pretty much spring here in Atlanta. The Bradford pear trees are abloom in white and we've turned off the heat and opened the windows. Yesterday I even changed out of jeans and sweater into a cotton dress.

And the grass needs mowing. Guess what I'll be doing today? Even now, I can hear a neighbor mowing.

Because it's warming up, I have some pictures of wool knitting:

Here's a progress picture of the top-down, raglan cardigan,

Which will be the the Long Coat with Chevron Lace from Fitted Knits.

My portable knitting, a shawl using wool and mohair. Simple stockingnette stitch on big needles. Great for watching hockey games (keeps your lap warm) or listening to lectures.

Also, pictures of the mitered squares of Malabrigo, inspired by Hazy Corners quilt by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy.

I had not planned on making a clown quilt!

In February, when at the High Museum of Art, I picked up a book, a retrospective of works by Sean Scully, titled "Sean Scully: Twenty Years, 1976 to 1995." I will repurpose my Malabrigo to make an afghan inspired by his works such as:

"Enough" 1981 oil on canvas. I could totally use all those Malabrigo colors, along with some black and white, without it looking so clownish. The actual knitting construction will take some figuring out. I'm going to start with the Log Cabin instructions from Mason-Dixon Knitting for the center block of blue/black and yellow/grey. The red/white and orange/black will have to be knit separately then sewn on. The tan/black, not sure. I could modify it to make the orange/black longer to end on the left flush with the center blocks, and make the tan/black easier to make. The orange/tan at the top would be picked up along the top of the other pieces and knit on."Ukbar" 1993-94, oil on canvas:
I particularly like this one, "10.2.93" 1993 watercolor on paper. I'm thinking of doing this slightly reversing the colors. That is, instead of having the black and white horizontal stripes, doing it in some combo of yellow, white, and orange. And making the yellow and black vertical stripes in blues, white (?), and purple, given that I have so much of the purple and blue Malabrigo. Then add a strip of green and black (?) horizontal stripes along the bottom, or maybe along the left edge, to echo the central block. I don't know, but I feel really drawn to this piece.

"White Robe" 1990 oil on canvas. Another example of interesting construction
"2.24.82" 1982 oil on paper. Such simplicity."Heart of Darkness" 1982 oil on canvas. I like how the black and white stripes and the red and black stripes don't quite line up, creating a bit of tension.
The book is full of inspiration.

Quilt inspiration

I have dabbled in quilting (another post for another day) and many of my afghans are based on quilts, so that's where I turned for ideas for 2 projects on my mind.

First, the Rainbow of Malabrigo, described in a previous post:

What to do with it? I pulled out my Kaffe Fasset quilt books (Glorious Patchwork and Kaleidoscope of Quilts, signed by the author!) and found these possibilities (terrible quality with glare, I know).

Hazy Corners from Kaleidoscope of Quilts, basically mitered squares with a solid square in the corner. The Rainbow of Malabrigo would fit right in.

Little Bricks, from Glorious Patchwork. Basically it's alternating rectangles with the stripes going horizonally and vertically. He's got a few plaids in there. I could do blue/purple stripes, with yellow/orange stripes. Green could be the garter stitch border.

Pieced Stripes from Glorious Patchwork. Years ago I sketched a blanket idea based on this quilt, using greens and whites with a border of squares. It's inspired by a Japanese kimono pattern, which I've seen in one of my kimono books. Talk about great sources of inspiration!

Then for Brother Two, I have these boxes of machine washable yarn.
Some of the yarn is from my stash (Mountain Colors' Bearfoot, Brown Sheep Company's Wildfoote, sock yarn from KnitPicks, Spinrite's Muskoka, Cotton Classic, Peaches 'n' Creme), some I ordered from KnitPicks. Over Thanksgiving, I showed him the catalog and asked him to pick colors he liked. He wanted blues, green, and grey (bor-ing! but it's his blanket, not mine). The red/grey is my idea. At the bottom is a crocheted blanket I started with sockyarn. Who am kidding? That project will take forever, so it will frogged.

I thought about doing something from Mason-Dixon Knitting and last night, started swatching. Then this morning, I realized that I had to make Chinese Coins. Here's a picture from Beautiful Quilts: Amish & Mennonite, another great book for inspiration.

This is perfect in so many ways. First, we're ethnically Chinese. Second, our father's name is Coin. Third, it's a great stash buster.

Originally, I was going to do stripes of blues and greens, with little flashes of red, and have the solid sashing be the grey (shown blue above), with the red/grey crocheted as a border. But now that I realize I have all this green, maybe that will be the sashing.

(Added later -- I took out anything that wasn't worsted weight because I realized that having different weights would probably not work. Most of that was 6 skeins of green Cotton Classic and then all that varigated sock yarn. Plus I really wanted the sashing to be the grey because of the great contrast with the dark and medium blues and greens. This will require buying more grey yarn. A real hardship, I know.)

To make it reversable, I might use the checkerboard pattern from Husband's afghan. Or I might find something from the Barbara Walker Treasuries.

Oh the fun of starting a new project. And I haven't even blogged about my little Variations on the Lotus jag I'm on.

Husband's blanket update

Making good progress on Husband's afghan. The strips of blue and black Cascade 220 has been sewn together and now I just have to knit the top and bottom stripes. Progress picture:

Basic recipe:

Hold yarn double, cast on 20 stitches onto size 10US needles.

First six rows: Knit 5, Purl 5, Knit 5, Purl 5.

Next six rows: Purl 5, Knit 5, Purl 5, Knit 5.

Repeat, alternating rows so you get a checkerboard texture.

Continue until yarn runs out.

Make several strips. Sew them together so that the checkerboard is consistent throughout.

What I have left to do -- pick up stitches along the top in blue and continue the checkerboard texture so that there will be a frame of blue stripes around the black, blue, black, blue, black strips. Repeat with the bottom edge.

I did colors as strips to be knit together, so that direction of the checkerboard texture is the same throughout. Also, strips are more portable than hauling around an ever growing blanket.

The blanket is almost 5 feet wide and I don't have a size 10US needle long enough. So I finally broke down and ordered a set of the Knit Picks Options set of needles and ordered a 60 inch cable.

In the mean time, what will I do? I'm still thinking about my Rectangle of Malabrigo using the Malabrigo I have:

The colors are:

2 skeins Purple Mystery (one wound into a ball, one still in the hank) Notice how much darker one is than the other.

1 skein Buscando Azul, split into three balls -- Love. This. Color.

1 skein Oceanos still in the hank.

1 skein Saphire Green (their spelling). It's left over from a house coat sweater I made for myself last year. It's true, Malabrigo pills like crazy. But I love it anyway. So soft and cozy.

1 skein Pollen.

1 skein Tiger Lily.

What to do with all this Malabrigo goodness? I'm thinking of a log cabin afghan with green central squares. But I have more blue and purple than yellow and orange. Either I have to buy more yarn (oh the hardship) or leave off one skein of purple and blue.

I need to think about this.

Oh, by the way, the yarn I used for Husband's afghan is not machine washable. Which means I'll be washing this by hand. How could I have forgotten this detail?

For Brother Two's afghan, I did not make the same mistake. I made him pick only from the superwash (wool yarn chemically treated to withstand machine washing and drying without shrinking and felting) worsted weight yarn from the Knit Picks catalog. That yarn and Mason-Dixon Knitting should be here any day now.

Another's (better) report on Kaffe Fasset's talk, with pictures

Kay, at Mason Dixon Knitting (link at right) posted today about KF's talk. She has pictures and more detail. The post is called Instinct Is a Good Designer (and So Is This Guy).

And by the way, Kaffe and Brandon both wore the same tops in her pictures as in Atlanta.
One thing I would add is that KF talked about loving color and pattern. The colors really sing because of their juxtaposition in a pattern.

So even if his shirt is rather subdued, each hexagon encloses a different print.

Kay also mentioned his attitude toward perfectionism. Me myself, not so into perfectionism. Perfection is impossible anyway.

According to Kay, he said that you can't really see the effect of your color and design choices at the row level, or the swatch level, or even the halfway-there level. You have to be willing to wait for the whole effect. If you work quickly, instinct starts to kick in, and "instinct is a good designer".

Personally, I don't remember him saying that particular piece, but then my memory is awful. Husband will say "do you remember XYZ?" and I won't, even if I was there or actually said or did it myself.

Anyway, this is only strengthening my desire to knit a Kaffe Fassett patterned Rectangle of Malabrigo (with maybe some Cascade 220, Manos del Uruguay, and other random skeins).

Kaffe Fassett, the freaky power of blogs, and the Rectangle of Malabrigo

A few weeks ago, I went to see Kaffe Fassett speak. It was a quilting event but KF's talk was about color and he had slides of his knitting, mosaics, quilts, needlepoint, everything.

When I got there the first person I saw was Brandon Mably and I just went up to him and introduced myself (like he had any idea who I was). I mentioned that I read Franklin Habit's post about the knitting workshop BM did and how it just opened Franklin's eyes to color.

BM didn't quite remember who Franklin was (as if I know who FH is -- ah, the power of blogs that make you think you know complete strangers), but when I mentioned Chicago and the Franklin's 1000 knitters photo project, he remembered. He said that he doesn't always know how effective he's been, so it's nice to hear this kind of feedback.

I think this was also a freaky example of the power of blogging. I told him that Franklin's blog post made me want to take his workshop, if he ever comes back to Atlanta.

Then I posted all of the above on FH's post on BM, just to complete the circle.

So, it's now November, I've brought in the house plants and turned on the heat at home. I'm still working on Sister's Top-down Raglan Cardigan in Manos del Uruguay in Eclipse, using Cosmic Pluto's pattern. Love the Manos! I love the way they dye the yarn different colors like ever two inches. The colors are so deep and vibrant. One day Husband and I went to the Silver Comet Trail to exercise. I was in the throes of work stress and didn't walk as long as I usually do, so I got back to the car before Husband. Pulled out the Top-down Raglan Cardigan and sat on the bench and knit, reveling in the gorgeous colors.

The body is too loose and short, so I'll have to rip back and re-knit. But with a yarn this beautiful, it's no hardship.

And I'm still carting around Brother-in-Law's vest, in KnitPicks superwash worsted, in the color Truffle. Which is a mid-brown with a hint of grey. Not inspiring at all, but it's for a guy. No man-stripe across the chest, like I did for my brothers' vests. Instead, I'll use a contrasting color stripe in the ribbing around the neckline, armholes, and bottom hem. Probably a green or blue. Yes, still not exciting. But it's my portable project, stockingnett in the round, so I don't look at it while knitting anyway.

Plus I'm begining to sew together Husband's afghan, using single crochet.

But I want to start something new! I only have 3 projects on the needles. That's got to be an all time low.

So I pulled out some of KF's quilting and knitting books. I want to make something using my stash and his motto of "When in doubt, add 20 more colors!." I have at least 5 skeins of Malabrigo in purple, blues, yellow, and green. In many of KF's patterns, he mixes colors by holding 2 strands together, or inserts one row randomly using a different color yarn. This adds another layer of color, in case 20 colors wasn't enough. Go look at his knitting and you'll know what I mean.

The Malabrigo is kettle dyed, meaning the yarn goes from light, medium, and dark within the same skein. So I'd get the color mixing without having to work so hard.

So I'm leaning towards making a shawl using KF's Super Triangles motif. As he said in his talk, it uses a ton of colors, but you're knitting with only 2 colors per row. So I'm thinking a shawl using different colors every row, leaving the loose ends out as fringe.

Some people hate the Atlanta traffick. I use it to daydream about knitting, quilting, and pottery.

Fell down and went boom

I had a great time hanging out with Sister. We stayed up past 1am talking, drinking wine, and looking at magazines. She's renovating her condo, so she was all into the Blueprint and Real Simple magazines I bought.

Food summary:
Friday dinner: Korean. Saturday brunch: leftover Korean. Saturday dinner: Chili's. Sunday brunch: Dim Sum.

I so need to get back to the gym.

I had my knitting going of course. I really cranked on My So-Called Scarf, and have almost finished one ball:

Saturday we were going to have the Korean massage but we decided to go shopping instead. I wanted to visit a yarn shop and Sister wanted to go to Ikea to scope out living room furniture.

Before we went, I drew out a floor plan with measurements, taking into account things like location on A/C unit, height of window sills, etc. I also took measurements of her existing furniture. She didn't buy anything and was rather disappointed that the perfect piece wasn't available.

As for the yarn shop, we went to Aylin's Wool Gatherer, the only yarn shop listed in Sister's town's yellow pages. It was very well hidden, and I have to say, the staff gave lousy directions over the phone. But once there, I fell down and went boom. They had a 15% off sale, so I went nuts buying:

2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay 119 Adobe: 4 skeins of Manos del Uruguay colorway 111, Eclipse. You might be able to tell that 2 skeins are lighter than the other 2. Here's one skein of Malabrigo Purple Mystery (it's really darker than seen here) and 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay 117 Violets 1 skein of Malabrigo in Tiger Lily: 2 skeins Wildfoote sock yarn in the Bluegrass colorway 1 ball of Jo Sharp Silk Tweed in color 124 Jewel. I had taken a stack of my knitting books, mostly from Interweave press, and told Sister that since Bi-colored Cables cardigan wasn't working out so well, that I'd make her something else. She liked the Paisley Shawl from Folk Style, but wanted it in a deep eggplant or russet red. I told her to pick out a color she'd like and I'd use it as reference when buying yarn for her shawl. So she chose the Jo Sharp. Maybe Knitpicks or Elann will have something appropriate.

I also offered to make Sister's boyfriend something and he liked Ela's Favorite Hat from One-Skein Wonders. He was wearing dark red and grey at the time, so maybe I'll make it for him from a skein of Manos in Bramble, like My So-called Scarf above. He doesn't use scarves, which is too bad because then I'd have one winter present done. Ah well.

What will I do with all that yarn? I don't know. Maybe a bunch of scarves. I'm really enjoying My So-Called Scarf. I'm also thinking of making another Argosy scarf. I told Husband that I went to a yarn shop and bought a lot of yarn. He said he erased that message as soon as he heard it.

All in all, a really fun weekend. And in 2 months, I'll be seeing them again for Thanksgiving. Perhaps I'll have fixed Bi-Colored Cables by then.

Argosy

Argosy scarf, from Knitty.com.

Specs:
one skein Malabrigo Yarn, worsted weight, "Pollen" colorway, size 8US needles (5mm).

Love this scarf. My favorite yarn, my favorite weight, my favorite needle size, gorgeous color (not my favorite color, which would be red).

I made this for my March European trip. Most of my clothes were black or dark red and the weather would be grey. So this yellow, with it's lemon and orange-y gradations would be my pop of color. I made a pill box hat to match with another skein, and in Rome, bought a yellow umbrella. It was fun walking in the rain at the NATO headquarters with my yellow.