Hemping along...

Spring has officially arrived, although, it feels as though it has been here for a while.

The bluebonnets (and Jurassic weeds) are everywhere, as is Remy:

Woolens are taking a back seat as I search for warm clime wear, more appropriate to the Hades-like heat of South Texas that will be visited upon us from now until late October.

Always on the hunt for something new, I have decided to embrace all that is linen and hemp, although, I am still mightily wary of cotton.

My friends, being my very dear knitterly friends, have helped me to decide that while there is a moratorium on yarn buying, yarn relates most directly to wool.  So, there will be no "wool" buying this 2012. And, no, we have already established Wollmeise is the one exception to the wool moratorium.

Linen, flax, hemp, and cotton are fibers in the plant sense, not wool.

Thus, we have effectively carved yet another exception to the blanket wool moratorium.

It works, no?

In the Spring-Summer edition of Knitty, a hemp cardigan captured my attention and desire.  It is called Flaming June:

In my mind, it is simply the perfect throw over a tank and jeans item that my wardrobe lacks.

Because hemp is something new to me, I decided to actually use the yarn called for in the pattern, rather than substitute.

Here is what I came up with, Midnight Blue and Raspberry:

As soon as it arrived, I swatched the blue.  My first impression was a bit guarded because it felt like I was knitting with twine; however, after throwing the generous sized swatch into the wash with my jeans, it softened greatly, and I was hooked.

Typically a tight knitter, I was surprised to find I had to go down a needle size to get gauge.  Swatches do not lie; however, said swatch has disappeared, and in the time I have spent looking for it, I could have knit a pair of sleeves...long sleeves.

The knitting is coming along quite well, in fact, despite some errata in the pattern.  Thank goodness some overly eager knitters launched into the pattern before I did!

Here is my progress:

My hands have adjusted to the twine, and after the first day's rawness, it has been fine.  The fabric has a wonderful airy drape to it.  I know the hemp will soften greatly with each wash and wear like iron, so I am besotted with this project.

Alone, the raspberry looked more fuchsia, but next to the blue, it is looking a lot more red.  Not exactly what I had in mind, but it is not a deal killer for me.

This project now has me lusting for some Euroflax in Black and Pewter to make another:

Anyone else in summer knitting mode?

The Cat Daddy...

Otherwise known as the ultimate knitting bag on steroids...

At the very least, my new absolute favorite knitting bag:

Yes, there are two bags in that picture.

The little blue bag is a relatively new design that is perfect for small projects on the go:  socks, mittens or a scarf.  It is roughly 7" tall and 10" wide across the top.  It is also great for carrying all those knitting notions and accessories, too!

Above, little blue is sporting a set of Blackthorn dpns (double pointed needles) and a skein of Becoming Art Suave Sport in the Chile Verde colorway.

Below, the Cat Daddy is giving his impersonation (as much as an inanimate bag can do) of a Great White Shark with tiny red zipper teeth.  Note there is a second zippered pocket within.

What is so great about the Cat Daddy, you ask?

Well, I have a lot of projects going at one time, and I have a lot of project bags neatly tucked away beside various comfortable chairs throughout the house.  Last week the husband purchased a new RV for traveling, and we scheduled a maiden voyage two weeks from today.  Before I even considered the menu or what to stock in the new camper, my mind raced over what projects I should bring along.

Gathering several individual project bags, I noticed something.  When I work on sweaters, I usually use a small to medium sized bag and just carry one or two skeins with me as I work on the front, back or sleeves.    It never fails, though, as I am knitting along on a front, my mind wanders and begins to wonder, where the heck did I put the back, the other front or those darn sleeves?  Seriously.  It makes me worry.

So, I really wanted a big sweater sized bag that would accommodate not only all of the yarn for the project, but the pieces, too.

Check.

The Cat Daddy holds not only enough yarn for an entire sweater for me, but two whole sweaters!

He stands 17 inches tall and 17.5 inches wide at the top.  He's a big boy!

That would be six skeins of Aran weight Blue Moon Fibers Twisted.  (The bright yellow/orange is Sunstone and the blue is Star Sapphire.)   At 560 yards a skein, that would be a whopping total of 3,360 yards of yarn!!  Woohooo!

Not that I would actually carry two sweaters' worth of yarn with me, but it is nice to know that I can.

More realistically, I am likely to carry a sweater project, a sock project, and something lace-like with me when I travel for extended periods because I tend to cycle through them depending on how much time I have available at a sitting, how good the light is, what is going on around me, etc.

That means, of course, that the Cat Daddy can carry all of those things, plus my notions and patterns.

Yay!


The Monkey fabric is pretty darn cute, too!

Serendipity

Lapiz Lazuli is a semi-precious stone, which has been mined in regions of Afghanistan as early as the 3rd millennium B.C.E.  It has been been prized for its intense blue color.


A couple of weeks ago, another knitter of Raverly contacted me about the prospect of swapping some yarn, as there was something in my stash that caught her eye.  Swapping stash is not buying or otherwise adding to the stash, really, so I agreed and quickly became fixated on something in her stash.

There was some, but very little information about it:


1430 yards (1308 meters) Unit weight 
100 grams (3.53 ounces)Gauge 
80% Silk 
20% Cashmere


In the end, I traded two skeins of yarn and a Feisty bag for it, then promptly forgot about it.


A week or so later, a nondescript package arrived in the mail with a tightly hand-wound ball of yarn and nothing else.  It took a moment of serious contemplation before I was able to recall what it might be.


What threw me off initially was the fact it was wound in a ball slightly larger than a baseball.  The yarn I thought I was getting was pictured (above) in a hank.  


The color was nothing short of gorgeous, but I was put off by the ball.  In my mind, I was unsure whether there would be breaks and knots or whether I would end up breaking the yarn when I wound it and tying knots in it myself.


Still suspect, I acknowledged receipt of the yarn and gently inquired: "So, how long did it take you to wind that yarn into a ball."


"Three days" came the reply.


I also asked for additional information on it, because I had the thought that I might want more, of course.


"No idea," the lady said, "it was a gift from a friend."


Dropping the ball into an open box, I began to gently wind it into a cake.  There were no knots.  The yarn was perfect, and by the end, I was completely smitten.

The Lapis Lazuli is crying for a design all her own.  The silk/cashmere blend is quite simply divine, although demanding.  "Beads," she says, "I need silver lined beads to adorn me, as well."


Stay tuned!

The Lawyer is IN!

My mother-in-law was a wonderfully creative individual. In addition to needlepoint and painting, she was an excellent cook who enjoyed nothing more than feeding those she cared about.

Notwithstanding, she and I had something of a strained relationship, particularly before our daughters were born. Once she had the granddaughters, her focus shifted wholly onto them, and she showered them with great love and attention. It was then our relationship mellowed.

For one of the husband's birthdays, she gave him a nice ice chest onto the top of which, she had painted Peanuts characters. The husband was a daredevil Snoopy riding a big motorcycle. She gave me the role of Lucy under the handmade sign emblazoned with: "The Lawyer is IN." While I was and still am an attorney, I have found that depiction to be something of a character assassination.

When I came across this pattern, my mother-in-law immediately sprang to mind because it is named "Lucy."

It is hard to say exactly what drew me to this pattern, other than I liked the casual style of it and, when I checked my stash, I realized I had the perfect yarns for it.  

For the last couple of years, I have had two skeins of Miss Babs' Yowza in "Bruin" (on the left) that I had absolutely no idea what I was going to knit with them.  I loved the color and the softness of the yarn, but I only had a combined total of 1,120 yards, not enough for a full sized sweater for me.

On New Year's Eve, my last purchase for 2011 included two skeins of more Yowza in a variegated colorway called "Need I Say More" (above right), from which I was planning to design a shawl.

As the Lucy pattern only calls for up to 300 yards of yarn for the edging, I should still have enough of "Need I Say More" to make that shawl.

After ten days of intensely monogamous knitting, I have a new light-weight cardigan:

(The above shot is actually the truest depiction of the yarn colors.)

As you can see, Riley was the only model available, and Lucy was just not the right size for him.  He tried, the little terriorist, he certainly tried!   High winds were another issue all together.

This was a quick, immediate gratification knit.  I am thrilled with the weight of the knitted Yowza and equally delighted the lovely "Bruin" colorway found its calling.

Of all the things I have knitted lately, I expect when the cooler temps of late fall come back around (read late November, early December), this will actually get a lot of wear!