Nut Moon Knitter

Lucy Was Here!

Yesterday was a really nice day. I went to my very first knitting class ever, and boy was it great. When I left home, it was dark and rainy and very gloomy, but the more I drove toward Staunton, the brighter and sunnier it got. There were wild flowers growing out by the road, and I passed a goat farm, a horse farm, and lots and lots of cows.

I arrived at On the Lamb at the same time that Lucy Neatby did, and yes, she is quite recognizable! Because I know a lot of people are wondering, her hair was about three shades of pinks and purples!

The class was on finishing techniques, and I have to say I learned a lot. It was so interesting to get her take on things. The class was fairly large, but that might be because we were tucked in a small space. She taught from her DVD collection which looks to be excellent (I did not purchase any of the DVDs but do plan to) as well as a dry erase board. With just about everything she talked about she was able to show us a knitting piece supporting the technique which was fun for everyone.

Her knitting is just wonderful, and the colorwork was truly inspiring. She covers areas that I have not explored much. She does a lot of intarsia and Fair Isle, and seemed to have many vests and socks. Also double knitting--she is working on a large piece that is double knit (could be a rug or a blanket when done) and it was many different colors worked in a Native American or Cowichan design, if I remember correctly. One sweater (she was wearing when she first arrived at the shop) that stands out as exceptional is her "Rainbow Sheep" sweater. It is available in a kit, and is a lovely example of exciting intarsia--so much going on that you couldn't ever possibly get bored, either knitting it or wearing it!

Her attention to detail is the basis of her teaching, and she is a true "thinking" knitter. She does not just follow what has always been done, she has spent her life figuring out what's best for each item and has learned from her mistakes.

We took a break in the morning, one for lunch (which is when I shot the above photo--included is my new friend Pat) and another in the afternoon. Lucy did not disappear and hide during the breaks: she was always very happy to chat with people. I told her of my knitting history, and showed her my book, which she said looked very nice. I'm glad that my book is on cables, because she doesn't seem to be a huge cable knitter, so I didn't feel like I was stepping into her territory! We spoke at great length about my teaching, which I am still hesitant to begin. It was nice to have someone who "lives the life" taking the time to counsel me on my future.

Anyway, I met lots of very nice people and feel more inspired than ever to get on with some knitting. Joe was a wonderful host, and gave us little packages full of samples of yarn--including an entire ball of Juliet by Skacel (nylon/acrylic novelty yarn). We each got a lottery ticket (none were the big winner) and a little sample of Soak. All in all, a simply wonderful way to spend the day!

When I arrived home, I had a box of sample yarn from Fiesta Yarns waiting for me, so I might do a bit of designing (playing) this afternoon. The yarns are lovely--La Luz (100% silk), Baby Boom (100% merino superwash), Gelato (100% rayon ribbon), Meteor (50% rayon, 50% cotton--also a ribbon), Boomerang (100% merino superwash) and La Boheme (50% rayon, 32% brushed kid mohair, 14% wool, 4% nylon).

I am naturally most excited about the Boomerang and the Baby Boom--cables would look lovely in this yarn. I might try some knit/purl patterns in the La Luz. The colors of the Meteor are great (its name is "Tequila Sunrise") as well as the Gelato ("Clematis") and the Baby Boom ("Poppies").

In other news . . .

While I have been taking my "break" from knitting, I've been working on socks. As I have said, I've never been a big sock fanatic, preferring (dare I say it) store bought socks. But, I've been working on socks after having bought some Claudia's Hand Painted, and I've made about five pairs both in the Claudia's, Regia and now old baby yarn that I found in my stash. I have perfected my technique, memorized all my measurements and have gotten much more happy with working with double pointed needles. I no longer have to look up the Kitchnener stitch--I have it memorized. So, yesterday I decided that I had to wear one of the pairs to the knitting class and I chose a beautiful pair of blue Regias with inch stripes of blues and greys interspersed with

Part II

For some reason, TypePad decided to edit my post. To continue:

interspersed with a fair isle/checkerboard pattern. Well, when I got home, I felt like I could feel every single stitch, and I had knit them with size 1 needles! Also, one of the very helpful techniques learned was a much more preferable graft than the Kitchener stitch. So, my sock knitting I think has come to another stopping point. However, having said that, Lucy mentioned to me that she will be on the judging committee when Knitter's Magazine has another sock contest. I brought in my copy of SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS that XRX published back in 1999 and she gratiously signed it on her Travelling Socks pattern. I might just knit up one or two very vibrant and fun socks for the contest--she thought that the deadline was January; I'll have to check on it. It could be a lot of fun making artistic socks rather than functional socks.

What I really wanted to get down today, was the progress of my churn dash quilt. I put on the sashing and have basted it together. The basting is an experiment, because all I could find was a fusible batting which I had never used before. It seems to have worked just fine. There are one or two places where I might need to quilt out the raised batting, but we'll see--overall, it is easier than hand basting. I have never used the basting guns or anything, and I think this fusible would be wonderful for smaller sized projects.

I am happy with it--it is quite white and plain, but that is what I wanted. I have a bunch of fabrics lined up for the next quilt, and there is no white or cream fabric in the stack. It will be a colorful profusion of pinks, blues and greens. The churn dash, however, is supposed to show the blue fabrics of the churn dash and be very understated. I have the quilt stencils that I would like to use, I've found my thimble (it really has been years since I've quilted) and the quilt is ready to go. Too bad knitting has come back to the forefront! No hurry on this quilt, though; it can wait until the fall if need be. I want to enjoy the hand quilting. It is my favorite part of the process--bleeding fingertips and all!

After several days of rain and now chilly weather, it is starting to brighten up in the Valley. Here are a few shots:

Flowers!

Look at what I received the other day--

They are flowers which accompanied a copy of my new book!

Cast On magazine received the latest sweater that I designed, and they wrote back that they loved it. That always makes a designer feel good--to hear that the actual sweater met the expectations of the swatch and sketch. I really liked this sweater, too. It is a nice cozy autumn cardigan with just enough texture. I wish that I could show pictures of it, but sorry! It will be in the fall '08 edition of the magazine.

Remember the churn dash quilt? Well, I have finished all the blocks that I need.

Now I have to cut and sew the sashing. I love white on white fabrics (which are used in the blocks) and so I got more for the sashing. The cornerstones are going to be a bright tone on tone red and hopefully this will take some monotony out of the all blue blocks. I am still undecided about a border, but will decide when the quilt top takes shape. There are lots of sashing pieces to sew! I might do some applique for the final border bringing in more red or maybe reds and blues together. That is the fun part of quilting--you don't have to decide about things like borders or bindings until the end if you don't want to. You might not have access to the original fabrics if you didn't buy a lot at the beginning, but that is a small price to pay.

It is a gorgeous spring day here today, and my forsythia is in full bloom. There will be no photos until next year, because I just planted it a few weeks ago, and all its glory is not much! It will grow quickly, though, and in a few years will be spectacular. The daffodils that I planted in pots are doing well, surprisingly enough. They are popping through the soil and look healthy enough. After they have bloomed (hopefully!) I'll plant them in the landscape.

The trees in town that I took photos of are now starting to turn the pretty leaf green, and when you drive under them, there is a shower of petals. I wish the flowers could stay around longer, but after all the brown of winter, I've been looking forward to the trees greening up. I can't very well say that I don't want the leaves to come out! I guess we always have to be happy with what we have at the moment.

Spring in the Valley

I have finished the sweater for Cast On. I wish that I could take lots of pictures of it, because I really like this one, but I can't--this will have to be enough.

I used Cascade 220, and I really liked the yarn. It is the same yarn that I used in my argyle sweater, so I think that I'm definitely a fan. It is not too expensive, wool, and knits up beautifully. I'll have to get more of it.

Last weekend was my daughters' 13th birthday, so they had a huge slumber party which extended far into the next day when we all went to the mall for a few hours. We once surprised Nicholas for his birthday by getting him some guinea pigs, so we decided, quite impulsively, to get the kids some rabbits! Actually, Steve was at the feed store getting a battery for the lawn mower, and they had these rabbits up for sale--they were so cute, how could we turn them down!

These two giants are named Brayon and P.B. They are the size of a medium sized cat! They are really sweet, although it took P.B. a while to get used to Emily picking him up. I think they are adjusted to each other now, though.

This little fluffy one is Pip.

I don't know if he is partially angora, but I'm certainly going to try to do something with his fur. The big guys are about four months old, and Pip is about two months. So, although they have this nice hutch, they are mainly in the garage until the weather at night gets more consistently warm. They don't seem to mind where they are, but it will be nicer for them to be out on the deck when the weather is nice, and we can sit with them more out there. I really loved having guinea pigs for so many years, but it is so heartbreaking that they have so short a life span. Hopefully these rabbits will give us a few more years with them. They also seem to be a lot less work than guinea pigs.

Anyway, the girls had a great birthday. They received kites as a present from one of their friends, so they've been out a lot flying their kites!

Now for the spring blooms! Yesterday was a lovely day, so I got out with my camera. This first picture is right up the street from us. I drove up to the post office a few weeks ago, and the whole area was starting to show signs of daffodils! They are not out all the way yet, and I hope that I don't miss it when they are. They go way back so they are really impressive.

I wish that more median strips were planted with flowers. There is so much construction around here and road widening, that they could easily throw in some plants or seeds before they cover over their areas. But these daffodils are wonderful, and it is a start! I wonder how many years they have been there.

This is the view of the greening up of the hills from my house:

Our little tree out front just starting to show it's leaves:

And some crocuses that I did manage to get in last fall:

I found about sixty daffodils that didn't ever make it in the ground, but I have now put them in. They were sprouting, so I figured they would have more of a chance in the ground than in the garage, and it they don't make it to next year, that is okay. I tried.

This is a lovely forsythia in a planting at our street's entrance:

And here are a few shots from around town:

Now back to fibery pursuits. Remember that Claudia's Hand Painted that I bought? Well, I have gotten to work on a pair of socks.

I'll be finishing up the second one today--I'm at the gusset area right now. I think they are really nice--I love the colors--but I have to say that for the price, I'm not sure I'd make socks in this yarn again. I found two skeins of Regia that I bought years ago, and that is so much cheaper and just as nice. I guess I'm basically too cheap to indulge in luxury when it comes to socks! My socks are also not much good for blogs for another reason--I don't like patterns in my socks. I like them just plain stockinette stitch or they bug me when I wear them. So, I'll make a few pairs here and there, but it is not likely to become my new "thing".

Next in line, until I find another knitting job, is a new quilt. I am still working half heartedly on the churn dash and I will probably make a few blocks today. But I came across some fabrics which work wonderfully with the curtain fabric that I used to make curtains for the girls' rooms:

Since I may be near the fabric store this weekend, I thought I could find a few more to punch up the intensity a little. I also found a pattern that I like called "Dublin Square" in a book called 15 Two-Block Quilts by Claudia Olson. I like quilting much more than piecing, so if I could finish either this new quilt top or the churn dash so I have something to quilt either over the summer or by next winter at the latest, I'd be happy. We don't really need any more quilts around here, but it certainly doesn't hurt to make them and put them away for when the kids get older. I think it is easier to have quilts waiting in the wings than sweaters!

I hope that spring is greeting you with its beauty!