Knitting Do-overs and Ireland pt. 1

I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last blog post. I feel like this summer is being washed away. David and I did take a fab vacation (more on this later), but we’re really not doing any summer NY fun stuff at all. We still have yet to see an outdoor movie or go to a Cyclones Game

Our garden is hanging on, but the rain is killing a lot. We are growing baby carrots this year from seeds.


Here’s David and our carrot crop. . . small but adorable (and the carrot is nice too)


I had another fit of “do over” with the short and chic cardi. The bottom ribbing was just too stretched out, so I cut, ripped, put it back on the needle and reknit the ribbing on a US 9.


Since we were getting ready to head off to Ireland and they don’t allow metal needles. (I was in the middle of doing a pair of socks -on metal, and redoing the bottom of the short & chic cardi -also on metal), I had to cast on a couple of travel projects.

I cast on my other “do over” the xback tank. And the Cotton-Ease tank top I was doing for my niece Rachel.



I left the gang to hold down the fort at work, Michelle to take care of the garden & David and I took off to Ireland.

We started our trip in Dublin, a great town.


We traveled all around the city, listened to some great music, ate pub food, and (of course) drank Guinness. David’s favorite part of Dublin was the Guinness Tour.


He was chosen to start the brew, which was pretty cool.


On the river by the Custom House we saw the amazing Famine Monument & the cool new bridge.


Here are just a couple of the famous Dublin doors.


Also in Dublin began my (semi) fruitless search for yarn. Most of the “yarn stores” in Ireland are mixed stores with a small yarn section. This store had the most hilariously large balls of yarn I’d ever seen. Big, but OH so scratchy.


I did have a tiny bit of success in an out door market in Dublin. Here’s the little Merino Silk hand spun beauty I found.


Shockingly, in all of Dublin, I only one real yarn store, This is Knit.

More on our travels into the West on the next post. (There are a LOT of sheep out west!)

Fun with an SLR


We got a new camera for the Studio, and I have no idea how to use it. So, I took it and the book home on the three day weekend to learn the difference between the 8000 different settings. Here are some pics I took in the garden (I must have been hungry when I took these, since most of them are of food)









I finished one of my toe up socks. It’s SOOOO comfortable




The Flame Stitch Cardigan is coming along. Almost up to dividing for the arm holes.


I can’t bring either one of these to Ireland, since they are both on metal needles. I have to start a few projects on my Denise plastic needles. I decided to redo the Ribbon Xback top, since I’ve never been happy with it. I ripped it out along with my one skein shrug. With the extra yarn I should have enough to remake it longer and in a tigher gauge. I want to rewrite the pattern with side shaping and increase stitches around the chest & go to a tighter needle so I won’t look slutty wearing it.

Where Did June go? Oh I Remember, it Got Washed Away!

I can’t believe the first month of summer is almost gone. It’s rained about every day of June, so here in NY we still feel like we’re waiting for summer to begin.

I spend most of the middle of the month on a plane. First I was off to TNNA, in Columbus. The best thing about flying to beautiful Columbus was my old Stage Manager pal Michele driving TWO hours just to have dinner with me. Now that’s a friend!


We had a lovely dinner and then took a stroll around downtown Columbus


I took some great classes while I was there. Here’s my tiny little sock from my toe up sock class:



For me I wanted a slip stitch heel, so I started a toe up for myself using this great little calculator for slip stitch heel I found from Knot Another Hat. It was a pretty fast knit on the plane. By the time I got home I had:


I couldn’t resist a side by side a few days later


I really like the heel. It’s feels exactly the same as a cuff down gusset with picked up stitches (without the annoying picking up stitches)



and the following weekend I flew to Chicago to visit my family. My mom wanted to know why I never blog about them. I told her when she knitted something I’d blog about her . . . just kidding, hi mom (we’ll see if she finds this).

It was great seeing everyone, even though I had just gotten off a plane 4 days earlier. My brother and sister and I have never give presents just because it’s an occasion. Instead we buy a gift when we see one that looks good. My brother gave me this cool book. He found it at a resale shop.

How cool is that??

I finished my Coachella while I was in Chicago

ta da


I went upstairs to take some timer shots in our garden . . . and of course, it started to rain (hence the next shot being taken inside)

The front ended up way drapier then the pattern picture. I like it anyway.

Next plane trip . . . Ireland. I’m so excited. Aran Islands, yarn shops in Dublin, Sheep & Wool museum in Leanane, and lots of Sheep!

Missing WWKIP Day . . . AGAIN

Sunday was my favorite type of day, some work in the garden, picking some food . . .

(TWINS!)

(Artichokes coming along nicely)



and enjoying the roses.


David settled down to correct a giant pile of homework,

and I decided to do some spinning


I was inspired to get out the wheel in the garden because I knew Michele & Will were coming over for some spindle spinning and Tony night.

My joyful day was interrupted when I realized that my professional knitting life was to (once again) interfere with my personal knitting life. I had been SOOO looking forward to WWKIP day this Saturday. I just looked at the Calendar to realize . . . ahhhhhh . . . I’ll be in Ohio for TNNA. Why of why is the trade show for the needle arts on the same weekend as World Wide Knit in Public Day?? Big drag. Last year I also missed it, because I was taking a continuing ed, machine knitting class, at FIT.

I did finish Stew’s baby sweater. Turned out really cute.


In addition to the Flame Stitch Cardigan, I needed a mindless subway project. Enter Coachella, done in Cotton-Ease. I LOVE this yarn.

It’s All About the Food


David and I decided on way to fight this economy is to grow as much food on our little Brooklyn roof as we can. This year we have going, Strawberries, Artichoke, Arugula, Romaine, Green Leaf, Brussel Sprouts, Zucchino (round Zucchini), 4 different kinds of Tomato & Snap Peas. All the veggies in our “hippie” earthboxes (as a friend of mine calls them) are thriving. Not so much for the plain pot plants.

Here’s a side by side of our Brussel Sprouts in a pot v.s. the hippie box

The Zuchinno’s are growing so fast that you can actually tell the difference day by day. Here are three pics taken 5/12, 5/15, 5/22

And the Snap Peas 5/12 & 5/22

We have already started harvesting lettuce about every other day for salads, and the Brussel Sprouts are coming along nicely:


The Azelea was brilliant for a breif time and now it’s past it’s prime. I feel for it.



The Iris’s too are about three days from being done. Sad.




The climbing roses are going to be in their full glory in the next few days, and then will begin to fade. I hate that some of our showiest stuff are such early bloomers and are then gone.


The other roses keep going all Summer . . . Yeah!

We’ve made a strange discovery in the last few days. We’ve been noticing a TON of tiny Oak Trees growing in our garden. When we go to dig these up, the acorns are buried really deep. I think squirrels were using out garden as a food storage local. Today we dug up 23 (!!!!) tiny oak trees.


In the land of knitting, I’ve finished lengthening my cotton sweater sleeves. It came out okay. Right now, there is a bit of a line where then new knitting picks up, but I think as I wash the sweater and the stitches loosen up, that will go away.



I also added a tiny piece of elastic across the inside of the shoulder seam so the damn thing would stay on my shoulder.

Stew’s baby sweater is coming along. I have to alternate it with other projects, because it’s getting a bit tedious. One more sleeve to go, and then button band and hemming.


After much swatching, I’ve cast on for the Flame Stitch Cardigan from 2005 Vogue. I’m following all the corrections painstakingly posted by this amazing blogger. Hopefully I can get to a nice finished product without wanting to tear my hair out!


Sheep, Cherry Blossoms, Veggies & SPRING

Nothing says Spring like the Shearing of Sheep. Last weekend I enjoyed two of my favorite springtime Park Slope rituals. . . The Cherry Blossom Festival in Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Fleece Festival at the Prospect Park Zoo.

We started the rainy day at the BBG. Despite the rain, the blossoms were amazing.




My pal Micheal and I relaxing in the outdoor lounge



Next it was off to the zoo to the adorable little Fleece Fest. It’s really just sheep sheering with some music, but I love it anyway





In the land of knitting, I finished my Short & Chic Cardi, pretty happy with it

I was also inspired by the Knitting Surgeon class I just taught at the Studio, to revisit an old sweater. I was teaching how you can lengthen or shorten a knitted piece and I remembered the cotton boat neck sweater I had whose sleeves always bugged me. So I came home, cut, put it back on the needles and started fixing the sleeves. One down, one to go.

I also got back to some serious spinning. I did about 4 hours on the wheel, and I forgot how much I LOVE spinning. I really want to get through the roving I have so I can get my hands on the stuff I bought at Rhinebeck in October.

I also almost finished Stew’s baby sweater. I’m so loving the LB Collection Cotton Bamboo, and it’s turning out really cute. She better not turn out to be a boy!

Flowers & FO

It seems like two weeks between blogging is about the best I can do these days. I keep waiting for life to feel like it’s slowing down, but it won’t happen on it’s own. I’ve decided that I would find ways to slow it down myself. A couple of weekends ago it was Forsythia Day at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. We always go, as members, to pick up our free Forsythia Day, and to get our first wiff of spring. It was a perfect day at the garden & the sky was a perfect blue.




The week before we had planted our Canna’s and Dahlias to start them inside. When we got back from the garden I saw that we had our own first wiff of spring

The yoke pullover was coming along nicely. I was almost finished with the second sleeve, and I wanted to get it done before David and I left town for Passover.


Our next forced slow down came in the form of Passover. Since I work for a Jewish company we are closed for all work restricted holiday’s. The Studio closed early on Wednesday night and David and I had a cozy Seder for two. The next day we headed to Boston to spend the second night with David’s family and then we headed up to the Berkshires.


We stayed in this cool place called Porches right across from the Mass MoCa. In addition to the museum, which is FAB,



there are all sorts of odd little galleries. This is an installation of hundreds of toys. The artist is Jarvis Rockwell, the son of Norman Rockwell.




Before we headed out the next day, David took some shots of my newly finished sweater.



I cast on a new project in the car, and by the end of the next two days I had finished the front and back.


It’s the Short and Chic Cardi. It was originally knit out of Wool Ease Thick and Quick, but I wanted a springy cardi, so I’m double stranding Nature’s Choice Organic Cotton. I should finish it over the weekend.

Also over the weekend will be GARDENING! The lettuce gets planted & the Canna’s and Dahlias will go in the ground. What a difference one week makes. Here are the Dahlias today that just shot through the ground 8 days ago.


Spring is all over our garden



Slowing Down to Appreciate. . .

The last few weeks (of no blogging) have been insanely busy. I’ve been so snowed under with work that my “days off” have been spent on the computer for most of the day. I feel now like (for a few days anyway) things are under control and I’m feeling overwhelmed by how lucky I am. I have the best husband in the world, a bit of money in the bank (less then a year ago, but what are you gonna do), a roof over my head and my family is healthy, and getting happier.

Today we spent the morning in the garden with our garden expert, Leda. She comes by twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, to help us assess where we’re at. I always feel a bit overwhelmed by how much work there is to do in the spring, but the garden is sooo worth it. I can’t wait to start growing food again. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the basement. Not the greatest day off, but tonight we aren’t doing a thing.

The last few weeks have been pretty jam packed. First, as many of you know by now, Martha Stewart came to film in the Studio. That was a LOT of work, but it was a big deal for the company, so we were all happy to put in the extra work. Shortly after the filming I headed to my old home town of Chicago for the Yarn Market News Conference. The night before I left I blocked my Nob Hill, in hopes of finishing it to wear the day of the yarn crawl. It’s made with my own handspun doubled with Fisherman’s Wool in the two new tweed colors



I went a day early so I could hang out with my Mom. We went to the shopping mall we used to go to, had a nice dinner & then watched the Daily Show (I have no cable, so that’s a treat.) By then end of the evening I had done one of the sleeves, so I was getting closer to wearing it in 48 hours.


Sunday I had the first part of the day before the conference registration. After a fantastic all you can eat brunch with my Brother, Sister in law & Mom, my Mom and headed downtown for a little sight seeing. We started by visiting on of my favorite places, the Cultural Center. I’ve always loved this place, and now one of the main rooms has been restored to it’s original glory.

We happened to stumble upon a rehearsal for Night on Bald Mountain. It sounded great in this grand room





Next stop, Millennium Park, to see the Bean (all right, it’s actually called Cloud Gate, but everyone calls it the Bean). This part of the visit wasn’t technically a part of my walk down memory lane, because it was all built after I moved in 2001. David and I came back a few years ago and we really loved the Bean. It happened to be a rare, clear, warm, blue sky day in March in Chicago. The Bean looked as cheerful as I remembered.



When walking past a construction site I saw this classic Chicago site. . . an easy way to erase a crooked Governor (something Illinois has a bit of experience with)


We walked down by the lake to see the ducks floating on the little ice bergs, and to see the lake breaking it’s ice cover



Since I couldn’t see my favorite Chicago site, Buckingham Fountain, (it was under construction, and surrounded by a large fence), we got to see the Art Institute. It’s a great museum with one of the finest Impressionism collections in the world. Right outside the Impressionism wing is a collection of architectural details collected from all over Chicago.



Some of my old friends








By 4:00 pm it was time to say goodbye to my Mom and head to the conference. Here’s my traditional shot out my window. I have no idea why a bunch of brides were walking down Michigan ave, but I got a pretty good, zoomy shot of them.



The conference was very good. We were in meetings all day, but I took a shot of what tables at a biz conference filled with knitters looks like. We all had our knitting out at every break.


My favorite part of the conference was meeting the two coolest women ever. There’s Sarah & Nichole from “Knot Another Hat“, in Hood River, Oregon. I glommed onto them in the first night’s cocktail party & then we hung out the whole conference after that. If the shop is even half as cool as they are, it’s a run don’t walk situation for those on the west coast.


After a second day of meeting it was time for the yarn crawl. A bus took a bunch of crazed knitters to 6 shops. Here’s Nichole wearing her purchases.



And Sarah & Nichole posing with their bootie


One of the coolest shops we went to was Soutache.


It’s a store with only trim, ribbons, feathers, and BUTTONS. . . . tons of them. So cool





Another unique quality of a knitter’s biz conference . . .sitting in a bar unraveling the yarn from the giant styrofoam ball props.


Jessica & Karen proudly showing off our work


By the way, I did finish the Nob Hill sweater.








The Sunday afer I got home I had a blocking class to teach, so I had a lot of swatches to block for class.

On Monday the Martha Stewart yan show aired, but we were all working at the Studio . . . so I had the whole Studio gang over my house to watch the show. Can you find the only person in the photo who doesn’t work at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio? I’ll give you a hint . . . she’s not knitting.


Since I’m almost done with Yoke Pullover from Vogue, I decided to start swatching for another Vogue sweater, the Flame Stitch Cardigan. The pattern calls for knitting the flame stitch separately and the ribbing separately and then create a complex crochet pattern at the bottom of the flame stitch and then sew them together . . . pass. I swatched it by starting with the rib and then going into the flame stitch. Looks fine with me.

First Wisp of Spring

We had our first warm sunny weekend, and I needed to get my hands in dirt. I know it’s too early for gardening, but we headed over to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to buy seeds. There were signs of spring all over the garden







We decided to try some veggies from seed this year instead of plants. We started lettuce & carrots from seeds inside. They will be ready to transplant outside by the time our first frost date is past.

I really needed this weekend for a fresh perspective on things.

I also tried by hand at some new cool crochet stitches. Lily Chin came to the Studio last Thursday and she showed these really cool techniques from her book Mosaic Magic. I decided to try the Aran stitches. I made a lot of mistakes, but I started to get the hang of it. I’m going to practice some more and then try my hand at a scarf in Fisherman’s Wool.

I also got pretty far on the front of my sweater

Next week is going to be another long one. I need a vacation in the worst way.

Bad, Bad Math

Okay, so I’m one of those peeps who reads their patterns all the way through before casting on. I’ve been to the Vogue errata section, I’ve been all over ravelry and all over the internet, can anyone splain this math (see schematic). If anyone has done the Yoke Pullover #13 from the 2005/2006 Winter Vogue, please riddle me this:


So according to the left side of the schematic, the entire piece should be 23″ long. According to the right side of the schematic that 23″ would be made up of three sections 14 1/2″ + 8 1/2 ” + 2 1/2″ . . . which would equal 25 1/2″ . . . grrrrr

Then there’s this litte, schematic and pattern makes NO sense. For the back you knit from the bottom up to 13″ and then begin the first cable pattern (7 rows) before binding off for the beginning of the yoke, which makes sense with the schematic measurement of 14 1/2 “. Here’s the annoying part. The sleeve instructions have you knit 17″ before first cable pattern (7 rows) before binding off, so HOW is the bind off show at 17 1/2″ when you knit 7 rows AFTER you knit 17″ before the bindoff???? WRONG. I’m thinking they meant 18 1/2”??

Looks like I’ll be doing a bit of punting. I finished the back. After reading all the complaints on Ravelry I decided to go down a needle size for the neck and keep the stitches live, so I can make sure it’s working before binding off.

Here’s the little darling blocking. Thank you blocking wires.


The other change I made to the pattern was to cast on an extra 10 stitches and then reduce back to the pattern, so I had a little extra hip room.


The back was a really quick knit. I cast it on one week ago. Who knows how much I’ll get done this week. It’s going to be a VERY long week at work. I have a couple of 12 hour days. Fun fun fun.

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