The Golden Iris

Hi all - I realize it's been quite some time since I updated, again - and no, I haven't really fallen off the internets. But lots has been happening that's been keeping me from blogging, so I hope you can forgive me. As usual, I have no knitting to show you because I have more super secret sample knitting than I can really keep up with. In the first bit of good news, I got a job at the new yarn store in town, fibre space. We worked furiously for weeks to prep to get it open, and now we have lots of great yarn and cool classes lined up for the fall (not to mention parties and spinning fiber!). The website isn't finished, but you can see a bit of the progress on the owner's blog here . I am super happy to be around fiber and yarn and bright colors all the time, and I have wonderful opportunities for teaching and pattern designing and just generally kicking butt. And now for the second bit of good news. On Tuesday, the anniversary of our very first kiss many, many year...

Monday, and marshmallows! There's something sad about the ordinary supermarket marshmallow, laying lumpily in its undignified plastic bag on a grocery store shelf, small or large, perhaps cut into odd shapes or colors. Light, sweet, and very nearly tasteless, all the bag can advertise is 'A Fat Free Candy!' as if that was going to be your main motivation to buy it in the first place. S'mores, rice krispy treats, and rocky road ice cream all depend on the marshmallow, but how many of us just eat marshmallows plain? I think most of us, with the experience of adulthood, have moved on to more sophisticated pleasures. But recent experience at The Dairy Godmother has suggested that there's a bit more to marshmallows than sugar-flavored air. With the aid of last July's Bon Appetit magazine, I whipped up my own batch. (You'll find that searching for more recipes online brings up very similar , or identical , formulae ). Some recipes include egg white, but this one ...

I have to whisper. Or is that I have to Whisper ? I've seen a few too many of these gorgeous little laceweight cardigans going around to resist making my own. I received some gorgeous Misti International Hand Paint Lace last year and this is going to be a great use of it. 100g of alpaca is going to make the lightest warmest little sweater, I think. And just like everybody else, I realized #7 needles weren't going to work for the body. I should have just paid attention to my mom and went straight to #5s, but no, I had to knit 4" on #6s before I realized my error. Now I've ripped the whole thing out and re-started. On #5s. Has ANYBODY out there made this silly thing on #7s? Unfortunately now that I've recovered my lost ground, Whisper is going to have to stay at the bottom of the stack while I slog through my sample knitting.

And when you can't post photos of knitting... post photos of flowers! I've been doing some work on my patio, putting in some more flowers and herbs and veggies for the summer. I already have one tiny tomato! While I'm not a big fan of petunias (the smell, the stickyness, the ubiquity) I fed these little guys lots of Osmocote and they are really taking off. I'm starting to love them, and they're going to be ginormous. (My camera can't figure out magenta for any reason! Terrible.) I wish I knew the name of my one daylily. It amazes me that it overwinters in my container, and I'm so happy to see these huge 6" blossoms. Last but not least, I found a castor bean . Someone was selling seedlings at the Farmer's Market, and I just couldn't resist. So I potted him up and he is growing like a weed! This is the sort of thing that wants a time-lapse video taken, but I'm a bit too lazy for that. Any bets on how big he'll get this summer and whether I...

...post photos of yarn. I got the yarn for my next set of commissions, and while I can't say more about what all these different yarns will become, I can still show them off. Two heathered shades of Cascade Lana d'Oro: This is another well-made yarn from Cascade, which is 50% superfine alpaca and 50% wool. Nice and soft and WARM! Three full bags of Cascade 220: Yes, the workhorse, but in gorgeous saturated colors. and last but not least a whole collection of Koigu KPPPM and KPM: I've never had this much Koigu to pretend to call my own at any one time! Please forgive me, I'm going to go give it a squeeze again. I guess it's back to work - I'm on deadline now!

Unwittingly followed Elizabeth Zimmermann's directive and knit a lace shawl, of course! After unsuccessfully trying to knit socks out of some lovely Jojoland Melody superwash (a little too thin, not quite bouncy enough), I decided it would be better suited for lace. Enter the popular Aeolian Shawl . Begun on the plane, June 8; finished before I had to get back on the plane, June 16. This of course is the small version - the big one is even more spectacular but I have no idea where I'd wear a big shawl these days. A little one makes a great scarf. I was overconfident that I had enough yarn and began to knit looser and looser through the edging section. Of course I ran out of yarn on the bindoff but was able to make a last minute substitution. It's not perfect, but it'll do. I decided against adding beads to this design; I don't think I'm much of a fan of beads in knitting generally. The nupps were pretty straightforward after I figured out exactly how to work the...

The February Lady Sweater sat for weeks in my knitting basket, pathetic and sleeveless, as I struggled to finish sample knitting work (you know, the kind with deadlines that come all too soon). And then one day I decided I'd had enough. No more waiting. How long could a couple of sleeves - shortish ones in worsted weight and lace, at that - really take? And just like that, it was done. (Talk about struggling. Next time I'm recruiting some help for the photos.)

Sometimes, when the sweater you're knitting is ugly, or doesn't fit, or is somehow full of mistakes... sometimes you just have to rip the whole damn thing out, toss the yarn in a box, and wait for a while to start over. What was once a failed endeavor becomes an opportunity. Disappointment gets turned back into potential. Suffice to say I've been gone for a while, doing a lot of metaphorical ripping and re-potentializing (is that a word? Probably not. Who cares.) I've been enjoying the hospitality and company of family and old friends. I've been knitting and gardening up a storm. And now I'm back to a point where I want to blog again. So here I am! Enough with the serious business and let's talk about knitting. See what I mean about ripping and re-doing? That used to be the bedjacket . Now it will become something new, of my own invention. Soon I'll be hoping to show off more of what I've been doing the past few months. Although much of it has been s...

I knit up this cute floppy hat in the fall and it's been my winter go-to ever since. It's fast, easy, and keeps your ears warm. What's not to like? While the world maybe doesn't need more patterns for hats like this, I made my own. And now I'm sharing it with you. King Street Beret Finished Size: to fit a woman; adjustable Yarn: Bulky-weight wool or blend, 140 yards. I used Pingouin Guernesey, which I doubt is still available. Any bulky-weight yarn that knits to the appropriate gauge will work - pick something wooly and marled if you want to duplicate the look. Needles: US #9 16" circular and set of US #9 DPs, or whatever size you need to get gauge. I only used dps, but there are a lot of stitches and they may fall off and drive you crazy! Gauge: 18st/4" over double moss stitch pattern. Notions: tapestry needle, 3 yds thread-covered elastic in color to match your yarn. Double moss stitch (worked in the round): Round 1: *K2, P2; rep from * Round...

I was going to write you a blog post earlier... but I went to Ikea instead. Assembling all that flat-packed furniture eats up crazy amounts of time, even though I love it, love it, love it. But in the meantime, between wielding my screwdriver and knitting up samples, I've been cooking up another pair of socks. [ Broadripple , by Rob Matyska, from knitty a long time ago] I'm trying to work through my seemingly never-ending stash of sock yarns, trying to get through some of the oldest ones first. I'm fairly certain this is Opal, in "Flamingo" - with all the socks I've knit I've never used Opal before! I'm enjoying it, it seems like it will wear well, even though the color is, um, a little intense. [Now with second sock!] I've modified these a little to work with a thinner yarn - just added a few stitches into each repeat and went down to #2 needles. They're not quite as interesting as the Spring Forward socks, so they aren't getting as mu...

In between all the socks (is it crazy that I'm thinking of casting on two more pair, with two already on the needles?) I've still found time to work on my February Lady Sweater . I'm well into the lace part of the body, so the whole thing is growing fairly quickly. Over the holidays I had the good fortune to find some cute buttons for this sweater. What is it with buttons? How are there so many ugly buttons out there, and so few interesting and good-quality ones? In any case I'm happy with these. They're wood and have some nice detail for interest. [Hooray, a close-up!] [And from further away - see, I've got some lace done.] I found these at a cute little shop in Greenville, SC called The Needle Tree .

I recently received my latest raffle prize for participating in Sockdown! on Ravelry. This time, it was a lovely skein of hand-dyed sock yarn and stitch markers from Sheila Rovelstad Designs . [I am really loving tonal or nearly-solid hand-dyes! Yum.] I don't frequently find a need for stitch markers, but these are gorgeous. They're one of those things I'd never spend the money on for myself, but they sure do dress up the knitting! [And the stones are my favorite color green, too.] You should check out her shop, not just for the great tonal colors, but for the colorway names. I was singing to myself the whole time I was trying to choose a color!

Sometimes there's a yarn that seems to hold so much potential, so much positive energy... and yet continually disappoints. [ Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck , in the "Watercolor" colorway - the "Potluck" part means every skein is different, and you just end up with a random selection.] I've held on to this yarn for years now after receiving it as a gift. I made a really disappointing sock with it. [Rib and Cable socks, which didn't fit and pooled badly.] I tried another pattern, hoping that would help. [ Crusoe might have been a good choice, but was still awfully ugly. This was as far as I ever got.] I even tried to overdye the yarn with tea, but I think it only made the colors uglier. [The right swatch is black tea; the left is green tea, both set with vinegar. What a terrible orange!] But I've taken inspiration from the original project photos of the Spring Forward socks from Knitty, and I'm hoping that the third time is the charm with t...

Sample knitting continues... this time with a 5-lb. box showing up on my doorstep! What does five pounds of Cascade 220 look like, you might ask? [Pretty excellent if you ask me!]

While 'tis better to give than to receive... I did get some excellent knitting-related gifts for Christmas this year that I have to show off. First, some new dp's for the never-ending parade of socks: [I'm interested to see how the Knitpicks needles hold up.] Then, a complete surprise from a friend, this lovely hand-made project bag: [It's got pockets and everything, and is big enough to hold a whole sweater in progress!] But the pièce de résistance was this gorgeous and carefully-engineered birch swift, made by my dad (and happily coupled with a ball-winder from my sister!) It also breaks down into all its component parts for easy storage - my mom made it a nifty carrying case. [That's a skein of Cascade 220 on there, with lots of room for more!] I've already been giving it a workout. [Incidentally I've discovered this REALLY pushes the cat's buttons. Hysterical.] At my age I feel a bit silly asking for things for gifts, but the amount of knitting I...

Now that all the gifts have been given and I'm no longer in danger of giving away any surprises, I can show them to you! What looked like quite a bit of yarn in that photo worked up very quickly, most of it into three hats. First, a simple and warm Seaman's Cap for my dad: [Patons Classic Wool, #7 needles, and an afternoon] Then, two wonderful Jared Flood designs, Koolhaas and Turn a Square , for someone very special: [Patons Classic Wool again, although the color is a bit much and I may adopt it!] [Cascade 220 and Noro Silk Garden, yum! Looks like I need to get a photo on the recipient, though....] Finally, a lovely Lace Ribbon scarf in my sister's signature purple: [And yes, that's me at the edge of the frame with a silly toy!] This was from a lovely ball of BMFA Socks That Rock in a club-only colorway. No, I'm not in the club, but it was another fortuitous raffle win! Look at those gorgeous colors. Yum! Thankfully the holiday knitting was pretty low-key ...

I feel like the only thing I really ended up finishing in 2008 (for myself, anyway) was socks. Lots and lots of socks. I now have over 20 pair in my little display box [scroll down], and now that I live someplace cold enough for them, they're actually getting some wear. It doesn't hurt that the socks also serve as a raffle ticket and I have yarn for another 15 pair or so before I have to buy more! Here are the latest: I call these my Brown Seaweed Socks... and here's the stats: Pattern: Seaweed Socks [PDF] by Wendy Johnson of WendyKnits Yarn: KPPPM, color 613 (I like to think of it as 'butter pecan') Needles: #1 dps Notes: This is one of the only toe-up sock patterns I've liked. I'm fortunate that Wendy and I have feet exactly the same size, so what works for her seems to work for me. I had to learn a new cast-on , and a new heel construction, which was kind of a treat. Unfortunately the pattern works better on 2 circular needles, which I'm not h...