WhiteStar

Addicted...

Since finishing the Seascape Shawl it appears I have become addicted to knitting shawls.

See all the projects over there in the left* sidebar? See how many are shawls? 3 of them.

Here's the latest one started... the Wool Peddlers Shawl form Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls... in lucious Elsebeth Lavold Angora.

Can This Be Considered Progress?

Looks sort of like the picture from the other day doesn't it?

Except now thare are five spindles in play instead of just three. Left to right... Woolly Designs, Golding, Kundert, Tabachek and Bosworth.

And still more old stuff...

Slowly, very slowly, I am updating the Galleries. Today I added these:

Entrelac Socks, designed by Kathryn Alexander, and my Santa amulet bag, designed by Ann Paxton.

*Yeah I know this used to say "right" sidebar. I have this little, teeny, tiny left/right problem....

Anne at 1:00 PM

|

Slow, But Steady

Since all the other knitting that's happening here at WhiteStar is pretty non-picture worthy, I thought I'd post an update of the work I'm doing for my Color on Color scarf....

It's not too exciting either is it?

But it is moving forward. I have two skeins done and three more on the spindles. When I get 10 completed, knitting will commence.

In case anyone wonders, the spindles above, left to right are a Yellowheart Tabachek with Redheart shaft, a Walnut, Maple and Bloodwood Kundert on a Walnut shaft and my Gorgeous Golding made of handcarved Cherry.

More "Old Stuff"....

I posted some more stuff to the Knitting and Beadwork galleries.

Included is the Cowichan Sweater which I knit and fully assembled during the Atlanta Olympics (that would be late summer, 1996). Except for the zipper. That didn't get put in, until early in 2004.

Nothing like a little procrastination.

Anne at 1:09 PM

|

Finished!!

The Seascape Shawl is finished.

I love it!

It is so large (80 x 40 inches) that I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing spread out.

This is my favorite part:

Old Shale Lace

More and bigger pictures on the Seascape Shawl page in the knit gallery.

Speaking of the gallery... I finally got around to adding Butterfly and I created a separate gallery for my beadwork. I've only added a few pieces so far, including the bead embroidery piece I did last fall. More to come.

It's Raven's Turn

Raven is in season.

In 16 years of sammie ownership I've only bred 3 litters. And they were each several years apart. After breeding Aliy this past summer, I'm going to be breeding her sister Raven sometime in the next week or so. She will be 5 in March and has never had a litter, so it's now or never. The boy is all picked out, the tests have been done, we're good to go.

Anne at 11:49 AM

|

So Close and Yet So Far

I finished the knitting on the main body of the Seascape Shawl last night.

I even finished the picot edging on the two long edges.

But the applied I-Cord along the top edge has been whipping my butt.

The shawl was knit (to perfect gauge) on size US 6 needles as specified. The top edge of the blocked shawl is supposed to measure 80 inches. Without the applied edging, my shawl streteches out easily to 80 inches.

The directions call for the i-cord edging to be applied using size 8 needles. After about 4 inches, I checked the edging to make sure I had enough stretch. HAH! The i-cord was actully pulling the edge IN - I had no stretch at all.

Okay, go up a needle size. This time I had some stretch so I actually did half the edging. Then I measured. Instead of 80 inches the most stretch I could get was 60 inches.

Bright Idea Time. With US 9s I alternated a row of i-cord that was attached, with a row that was not attached. Short-rowing for i-cord. Hmmmmm.... this might work but the size 9 needles are too big.

Tried it with US 7. Still too big but getting close.

Now I'm using US 6s and I THINK it's going to work.

Has anyone else knit one of the Fiber Trend Shawls that calls for an applied i-cord finish and if so, did it work as written???? Or did you have to fiddle with it like I am?

I can't imagine EVER being able to do one row of i-cord for each garter ridge and having it stretch enough to block to the size specified.

Anne at 7:51 AM

|

So Excited I Can Hardly Stand It!

Check it out! I only have six more rows until the main knitting on the Seascape Shawl is finished!

In case you're counting. that's 2910 stitches. Then I get to start the edgings.

Seriously, I really never thought I'd finish it....

My Very own Fiber Producers

A few posts ago in the comments, Ginger asked to see soemthing made of handspun Samoyed. Because Sammie yarn is so warm, I usually make small accessory items out of it.

My favorite ever project is the omni-present Multi-Directional Scarf, made long and skinny out of a mix of 50-50 sammie and merino wool.

I had a bag of handpainted color samples from Michelle Wipplinger that I had purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool over 10 years ago. I divided them up into individual colors, and carded them together with the sammie, then spun and navajo plied.

People who "know yarn" will stop me on the street and ask if it's Noro Korchoran. It's actually prettier and fuzzier than Korchoran. Here's a shot of the sammie blend on the left and Korchoran on the right.

It's kind of fun to go from this:

CH Shaman's Play It Again Sam HIC (Ilsa)
To this:

Re-Use, Re-Cycle, Re-Knit, Re-Dux

Okay, so I said in my last post I had decide FOR SURE what I was going to do for the Re-KAL.

I was wrong.

I am still going to use the Silver Streak yarn, which now looks like this:

But instead of the Geometric Kimono, I'm going to make up my own modular pattern. Quite frankly, and with apologies to Valentina Devine, the Geometric Kimono pattern sucked.

I've done a fair amount of modular knitting and one of the things I love about it is the mathematic preciseness.*

The Geometric Kimono pattern had you picking up bizarre numbers of stitches that didn't match the module already knitted. Just as my frustration was peaking, I received a fortuitous postcard in the mail from LaLana advertising yet another Valentina Devine pattern. Here it is.

I like it even better than the Geometric Kimono, but given my experience with previous Valentina Devine pattern, I think I can improve on it if I do my own variation. Stay tuned....

*Don't get the idea that I am some kind of math whiz. Far from it. I can't even balance a check book. And i stillcount on my fingers when necessary. But I love things that "work out".

Cute Kira picture over here...

Anne at 10:57 AM

|

Re-Use, Re-Cycle, Re-KNIT

I had decided that I was no longer going to join knit-alongs. But then I saw this one:

Last year I made a sweater out of Sally Melvilles The Purl Stitch out of really nice La Lana Wools Silver Streak yarn. I have never worn it. I hate it. Here it is:

Given that I subscribe to the philosophy that everything happens for a reason* and that disasters can be learning experiences, what did I learn from this project?

1) Funnel necks were not meant to be actually WORN on the human body.

2) Drop shoulder sweaters need to be ROOMY around the armholes.

3) I really HATE sweaters made of worsted weight or heavier yarn that are snug in the sleeves.

It will be ripped out to make this Geometric Kimono, by Valentina Devine, which appeared in the Holiday 2004 issue of Vogue Knitting.

Why did I choose this pattern?

Aside from the fact that I like it, it is felted. That means once it is felted, it can not be re-knit. This is A Good Thing because this poor yarn already had a previous life before it was knit into the Funnel Neck That Can't Be Worn. In it's prior incarnation it was a Basketweave Pullover, coincidentally also by Valentina Devine, that made me look like the Michelin Man when I wore it.

This yarn eithers lives or dies as the Geomtric Kimono.

Kelly Update

It was indeed a pinched nerve in her neck. I took her to see my chiropracter on Wednesday and he said her neck was "a mess". He did some adjustments and we go back again on Wednesday.

*I am still trying to figure out how our $208 Friday night visit to the emergency room fits into this philosophy....

Anne at 10:59 AM

|

Think of the Yarn I Could Have Bought...

Want to know how I spent my time (and money) last night?

Check it out here.

sigh....

Anne at 8:52 AM

|

Setting the Record Straight

Most of you probably don't care, but I just HAVE to write this post.

Last night's episode of CSI:NY portrayed a murder at a dog show. The victim was a "top dog handler" and the murderer was a dog exhibitor who knits. The murder weapon was a knitting needle.

The show was entertaining and a bit campy in the style of the movie Best In Show. But there were a few glaring mistakes and mis-statements that I just can't let pass...

1) Most show dogs are NOT DRUGGED. The line in the show said somthing like "most of these dogs are on 9 or 10 differnt meds". NOT TRUE. It is a violation of AKC rules for dogs to take performance enhancing drugs, and while there are definitely dogs that take them, it's not "9 or 10" and it's not all that prevalent.

2) "Top dog handlers" don't wear high heels in the ring (okay maybe at Westminster and if they are showing a toy dog in the groups). Dog handlers wear flat shoes. You are on your feet all day and you gotta be able to RUN. Maybe at a big fancy show you might wear 1/2 inch heels, but not pumps as was shown on the victim. Handlers do sometimes wear expensive clothes which they promptly ruin by putting liver in the pockets. This is why I buy my show clothes at Goodwill. You don't feel bad if you put liver in the pocket of a Liz Claiborne suit if you only paid $6 for it.

3) It is true that it is harder to get into vet school then med school as was said in the show.

4) Because of #3 most vets are REALLY GOOD at what they do, they are not gambling addicted losers who pander to whacko show people. Most "show vets" are dog exhibitors themselves who donate their time at their local show one or two weekends a year and have full time regular practices.

5) At one point the detective comments on what a "full schedule" the victims dog had. Most dogs at a dog show show ONCE in a day. Some show twice. Only 7 will show a third time. Okay, sure, a dog could be entered in conformation, agility, obedience, rally and junior showmanship, but the show being portrayed was a Westminster or Eukanuba Classic kind of show and that is strictly conformation. Handlers, who may be showing 15 dogs, have busy days, the dogs do not.

6) A good show dog is NOT stressed out at being put on display. The difference between a good dog and good SHOW dog is that the good show dog LOVES the attention and thrives on it. As does his handler :)

7) The detective, when looking for a potential doggy witness, said they needed to look for a spaniel or small hunting dog. Then in the "line up", not a single spaniel was present. There were several beagles, the rest were neither spaniels nor small hunting dogs.

8) At one point it's said no one saw anything because "the grooming area is empty when the dogs are showing." The only time the grooming are is empty is the wee hours of the night and morning and during Best in Show. There are something like 170 AKC breeds. Even the biggest shows only have about 15 rings running at once which means the other 155 breeds are in the grooming area getting ready to show or winding down from having been shown.

9) Votes are not "tallied" at a dog show. At least not at an AKC dog show which is what this was obviously supposed to be. The winner, even in a huge 3000 dog show is decided by one judge. There are no votes.

10) I have NEVER, in 11 years of showing dogs at some of the biggest shows in the country, EVER seen anyone give their dog water out of baby bottle. Dogs get water in buckets that are clipped to the inside of their crates. Or in bowl. Or maybe in the case of some of the small dogs in a hamster bottle attached to their crates. But NOT hand fed with a baby bottle.

And did anyone notice that when the knitter was asked why she had her knitting at the show and responded "So I can make Hercule (the dog) things like this blanket..." the blanket she picked up was crocheted?

One more note... they did do some things very right... I noticed real judging programs in the hands of spectators in the final scene. Handlers really do have little notebooks tacked up in their grooming cases (which are big metal boxes not little briefcases) with their schedules on them. People really do take knitting (and books and refrigerators and radios and all kinds of things) to dog shows with them. The grooming area was not very crowded (I wish it was really like this) but very authentic looking. LOVED the scene when the detective was walking thru the crowd and they were flashing just a few frames of this dog or that dog. THAT is what being in the grooming area of a dog show feels like!

Anne at 10:07 AM

|

I Wanna Play!

Look what I found over at Nake-id Knits. My turn to play.

Grooming Products
Shampoo--Fructis
Moisturizer--Neutrogena Moisture with SPF 15
Cologne--Never wear it
Razor--The purple ones by Schick
Toothpaste--Tom's of Maine

Electronics
Cell phone--Motorola T730
Computer--Toshiba Satellite Laptop
Television--Old
Stereo--None, not really. Just a BoomBox

Home
Sheets--100 percent cotton, any brand, bright colors
Coffee-maker--I don't own one!
Car--1999 Ford F250 Powerstroke with sled dog boxes on the back
Stationery--Post-It Notes

Beverages
Bottled water--Dasani or Arrowhead, but only when I'm on the road.
Coffee--Starbucks Decaf White Mocha Latte
Vodka--with tomato juice and LOTS of spice
Beer--never

Clothes
Jeans--Lee (from Goodwill)
T-shirt--from past SCA Nationals
Briefcase or tote-- Columbia Backpack or Dooney & Bourke
Sneakers--Reebok High Tops, but mostly Danskos instead
Watch--rarely, only at dog shows, $10 from Wal-Mart

Favorite Places
DOG SHOWS...Four Corners,CO/NM ... Arizona in the Spring

Necessary Extravagance
yarn, spindles, real cream in my tea, scented candles

Anne at 4:45 PM

|

It fits!!

This is my new niece, Vivienne, wearing Haiku. I made the size 1-2. She is 18 months old and I had been told (after the sweater was 75% done) that she is a BIG 18 months so I was worried.

Anne at 9:15 AM

|

I'll Stop Whining Now

So what was with me yesterday?

After all, who picked the projects I'm working on? Is anyone forcing me to knit on these things?

I do feel justified in complaining about my tangled mess of Rayon Ribbon. Really, that sucks.

The Long Answer

Here's the long answer to Sue's question in the comments about whether or not I spin my (mountains of) Sammie hair.

Once upon a time I learned to knit. I knit all the time, every free moment I got. It was all I did whan I wasn't at work.

Then one day I got a dog. A beautiful cinnamon colored chow-chow named Irish. Twice a year Irish would shed all her coat. MOUNTAINS of beautiful cinnamon colored fluff that was incredibly soft. Like camel down.

At about the same time I read an article in a magazine about spinning dog hair. "Hmmmm...." I thought, "I bet Irish has good hair for spinning." So I bought a spinning wheel and learned to spin.

And then I read another article about spinning dog hair that said Samoyed hair was the cream of the crop as far as dog fiber goes. I had seen Samoyeds, they were pretty white dogs, and seemed nice enough. I could live with a dog like that. The search for a Samoyed began.

That's where Alaska came in. I did everything wrong when I bought her, even though I knew better. She came from a pet store which meant she was a puppy mill dog. I figured I was "saving her". She was a great pet but due to her poor pedigree she had a lot of health problems. Among them she had thyroid disease. In dogs that causes them to have really poor coats. Plus she rarely shed any coat! But I loved her even if I couldn't spin her fur.

A few years later I moved from an urban area in Virginia to a very rural area in Colorado. I decided to get another sammie so I could have her hair to spin. I knew this time I needed to get a "good one". The search for another sammie began.

That is how I ended up with Sasha. She was from a really good breeder in Oregon and was the last girl left in her litter. All her sisters had already gone to their homes, but the breeder was hanging on to Sasha because she was so nice, she wanted to find a home that would show her.

I was clueless about showing, but figured "How hard can it be?", so I took her.

Here we are, 11 years later. Irish is gone, Alaska is gone, Sasha is gone but there are now 11 sammies in residence at WhiteStar. We show in conformation, play in agility and obedience. My dogs herd sheep when they can, they pull a sled and do weight pulls. We pack hike when the weather is good. Yes, I still collect the hair and occasionally spin some of it, but the bottom line is, most of the time that I could be using to spin their hair is spent playing with them, feeding them, bathing them, brushing them, taking them to shows and loving them!

Anne at 9:09 AM

|

Knitted Lace

Why do people say knitting lace is relaxing?

Challenging? YES

Interesting? YES

Relaxing? NO!!!!

Here is my Seascape Shawl:

When I am working on this, all dogs must be out of the house, the TV off, my husband not in the room.

I am a GOOD knitter. A VERY GOOD knitter. I have never met a pattern that scared me or that I felt was beyond my capabilities. I have even knit lace many times. I finished both Charlottes Web and the Gypsy Shawl easily. But non-repetitive charted pictoral lace is close to my breaking point.

Come to think of it I don't like intarsia either.

Knitting Issues

I have issues with ALL my knitting right now. I feel like I am making no progress on anything.

The problem is that everything I'm working on is slow going.

I like to see progress. I NEED to see progress.

The Total Maze Cardigan. Each "row" is approxiamtely 400 stitches. Plus it's garter stitch which knits quickly but grows slowly because of the condensed row gauge. I've been working on it steadily for over a week and I have an inch done.

Fuchsia. Each round is 200 stitches. Not too bad but it's a mostly cotton yarn which requires (me) to really watch my tension. And it's ribbing which is always slow. I have done about 3 inches since picking it up last week, but when I realize how much more I have to do I get discouraged.

The Shawl. We already talked about that. I am making progress. I'm on row 91. A little over 200 stitches per row right now. But it's tiny yarn on big needles which always seems to make for slow going.

Color on Color. Really I shouldn't complain about this. Anything where you are spinning the yarn first, is going to be slow. And I did finish the first color

But there is a problem. Of course there is a problem.

The blue yarn is what I spun. The orange yarn is Paternayan Persian, the yarn specified in the pattern. I was trying to spin a yarn as thick or slightly thicker.

I did not succeed.

Finally there is this.

This ratted mess is a skein of Interlacements New York. It is for a t-shirt I was going to start new Year's Day.

I adore Judy's yarns but I NEVER get a skein that is skeined correctly. NEVER. No matter how carefully I place them onthe skein winder and remove the ties, they always seem to double back on themselves part way thru the ball winding process.
(I never have this problem with any other skeined yarn. ONLY Interlacements.)

If it's Toasty Toes or some other "normal" type yarn it's easy to handle. This is Rayon ribbon. As I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the skein, it slipped off the swift and instantly began dancing across the floor and ended up like this.

This is what I have managed to wind off so far:

That represents 2 HOURS of my life.

Do I attempt to salvage the ribbon and make the planned sweater, or just trash it??

Guess which way I'm leaning?

IT MUST BE TIME TO START NEW PROJECT!!
Stay tuned.

Comments

Sue asked in the comments if I ever spin the Sammies hair. The short answer is YES. I'll give the long answer in the next post.

On a Saturday Morning

After failing to get her Daddy up so he could give her a morning cookie (its their "special morning routine"), Raven gives up. That's Pumpkin off to the left.

Anne at 9:44 AM

|

Look What I Got For Christmas

In addition to several Painted Ponies, look what my husband got me for Christmas...

Isn't it beautiful? I was SO surprised when I opened the box!!!

Trust me, everything you may have heard about Golding Spindles is TRUE. It spins as smooth as silk and goes *forever*. I am going to use it (and some of my other spindles) and this...

to make this....

It's the Color on Color scarf by Kathryn Alexander from the book Scarf Style.

I have wanted to make this since I first saw the book but I can't face purchasing almost a hundred skeins of needlpoint yarn in little tiny 8 yard skeins* and then dealing with the gauge issues everyone knitting this seems to be having.

So I will spin my own yarn.

Progress so far....

* If you are LUCKY you will find 8 yard skeins that are intact. Most places have already cut the skeins ito 30 inch pieces. Which means even MORE ends to weave in. Yikes!

The scene at my house at any given meal time...

Part of the WhiteStar Pack watches their Daddy preparing his lunch.... maybe something will fall on the floor???

Left to right, top to bottom... CH Pumpkin, Ch Raven, Babe, Babe's mother CH Aliy.

Anne at 3:47 PM

|

The Return of....

...Fuchsia!

To start out the new year* I pulled out a sweater from the bottom of one of the piles of knitting that litter my home (I am NOT exagerating) Knit in Rowan Calmer, I think it would be smashing to wear on my yearly trip to Arizona in early March.

Can I stay focused enough to do more than 4 inches before I move on to something else? Stay tuned....

Haiku with Buttons

This has to be some kind of record for me. After finishing the sweater, I bought buttons, sewed them on, AND put it in the mail to young Vivienne in less than a 24 hour period of time.

Keep in mind I have a sweater that sat, completely finished, ends woven in, lacking only a closure, for SIX YEARS! It's a NEW ME for the NEW YEAR.

Could They Be Any Cuter?

I leave you with a picture of my "twins".

More on Babe's blog.

*"They" say that however you start out the new year is how the whole year will go. I'm looking for a good one this year. Not that last year was terrible, but I could use a better one coming up. So far so good. The repairman who came out to fix my dryer this morning only charged me for the part. He waved both labor ($50) AND the repair call fee ($60) saving me $110!! Could that be because he was out less than 6 weeks ago to fix the same dryer (different problem)and he felt sorry for me?

Anne at 2:11 PM

|

Clean Sweep

In addition to a new look for the new year, I cleaned all the works in progress, stalled projects, projects coming up and recently finished items from the sidebars.

Starting from scratch in 2005.

I was making myself feel guilty about all the started projects and things that got shuffled off to never-neverland, not to mention the quantity of stash, so I just --**poof**-- made them disappear.

I didn't just hide all of the works in progress under the bed though... I went into a finishing frenzy the past week. 6 projects finished in 7 days. Not too shabby.

First I finished Clapotis.

It's three repeats narrower but just as many repeats long as the original and blocked to the same size. I LOVE IT. Made in Textiles a Manos handpainted merino.

Then came the completion of the Red Crocodile Socks.

I started these over a year ago, got just past the heel and then could not get motivated to finish them until this week. The only socks I wear are handknit socks and I have about 20 pair. Many are over over 3 years old and most are over 2 years old. So far I have never worn a hole in any of them, even though I wear them every day. But I know it's only matter of time before I see some holes, so I told myself I need to get back on the sock knitting wagon in 2005 and get some new ones made. These are out of Opal sock yarn on size 2.5mm needles. Basic pattern from Priscilla Gibson Roberts.

The next completed item(s) are the Elegant Gauntlets from Sally Melvilles The Purl Stitch...

I have very small (thin) hands and fingers. Although I am fairly tall (5'8"), I only wear a size 4 ring on my ring finger. Most gloves and mittens swallow up my hands, so I wanted these to actually fit. I used a size smaller needle than called for, and they did come out smaller, almost too small! Made in Koigu Painters Palette Premium Merino.

Next came the Blue Hawaii Felted tote from Eva Weichman's Pursenalities book...

Not the greatest pictures, but what I really wanted to show was the before and after felting sizes. The tile squares in the floor are 8 inches. As you can see the bag went from about 20 inches to about 12! I plan to put it thru the wash one more time as I think I'd like ti better if it were even smaller and firmer. Still need to sew the buttons and pockets on. This was knit in Cascade 220.

Next came the Magical Moebius...

I wish I had more yarn for this as I think I would like this better if it were wider. Hard to see in the picture but I knit it in alternating stockinette / reverse stockinette ridges in purple and red. Made with Schachenmayr Two in One boucle.

And last but not least is the Haiku Baby Sweater for my new niece...

It still needs buttons, which I plan to pick up tomorrow, then it goes in the mail. The recipeint, Vivienne, arrived a couple two weeks ago. She is my brothers adopted daughter from China and is already 17 months old. Hopefully this will fit her thruout the remainder of the winter and spring! I think I'll use some yellow and white daisy shaped buttons.

Feeding Frenzy

I leave you with a picture of Kelly's mouth at feeding time...

I am treated to this frothy display at each and every meal time.

Happy New MONTH

Taking a cue from the Hobby Whore... rabbit-rabbit!

Anne at 7:04 PM