Cute baby (fiber-producing) animals

Earlier in the week I followed a directive from a certain widely-known knit blogger and went to a more or less local park to see some cherry blossoms (click here to see pictures of that.)

Obviously I don't get out enough because in spite of having lived near the park in question for a spell about 25 years ago, I didn't know it also has a zoo.

A zoo with fiber-producing animals in it, some of whom have had babies recently.  And I thought maybe you would like to see some seriously early stages of knitting instead of helping me decide whether I have to frog the baby sweater sleeve for the fifth time. (am I right or am I right?)

First up, the baby llama:

I so love the way llamas look.  You can get fiber from llamas, right?  Maybe I'm making that up.  They look totally huggable, anyway, and this baby was adorable, grazing on the grass within reach of his nose.

Beyond the llama zone, bison:

Somewhere after that was an emu, for whom I felt a great fondness (from a respectful distance.)  Not so two other passing ladies who had stopped to admire him just moments before he pooped in really the most dramatic, abrupt way, leading to astonished cries of horror and disgust.  I cropped out as much as possible of the bison poop from those animals' glamour shot, but I can assure you there was a lot more that wasn't around their feet, so I'm not sure why those ladies were surprised by more animal poop.  It was a zoo after all.

Moving on, a particular breed of sheep the name of which I don't recall now, but - sheep! You gotta have the sheep:

It's Thursday already, of the week I was supposed to recharge my batteries after four months of packing and moving with mum.  I'm still stuck on my baby sweater and almost out of yarn for my mystery shawl and getting alarmingly past the point of travel knitting with the sock sweater and I've hardly sat down at all because of all the cleaning and purging (in particular of my closet after reading that Sel and Poivre had done that yesterday in spite of other clearly more pressing concerns.)  I think I deserve some sittin' time today, don't you?

Guess what I just did?

heh heh heh.


Of course, a soggy, adult-sized sweater needs space to dry - space and time, which is to say, horizontal space you don't need for a long time. Since the first best local candidate for this duty is in a virtually unheated, unsunny room, Big Project Small Needles is now stretched across four blocking squares on top of my bed.

And no sooner did I get everything patted into place than I decided I should really grab some nap time before my driving lesson this afternoon, what with staying up late to finish running in ends.

Translation: Big Project got the bed, and I get the unheated dark room, and I am so happy to have it done I don't see anything wrong with this picture at all.

Nearly a sweater

Ohhhh, so close! I figure there's another 10 hours left in Big Project Small Needles, mostly because I'm so slow at running in ends and - bonus! - I'm learning some more new techniques in these last finishing stages.

In fact, I bet I've learned more knitting this project than I would have in any workshop. It's been a really rewarding experience and I can highly recommend this pattern when the actual book comes out.

But to get specific: yes, all the individual pieces are knit and stitched together. I'm just doing the finishing up now, extra bits that are knit on after the assemblage, and those ends, and so forth. Because I don't want to get too specific about the finishing itself I will just say I'm about this far along:


Isn't that just agony, being so nearly done? I'm hoping to run in the last end before the end of Friday so I can block it on Saturday. I might even do a rare Saturday posting if that's the case. I mean, you gotta celebrate a thing like that!

(St)eek!

Running post today, as in: me, running to the TV sofa to finish the last few rows of the steeked piece of the Big Project. Yes!

No! I'm not done, but I'm getting close enough to want to get steeking out of the way. How close?


It's really coming along, isn't it. All last week I carted one piece or another with me wherever I went, knitting in the car with the chart proppy-uppy thing perched on my knees, knitting in the coffeeshop during a half hour gap between appointments, knitting in the kitchen while waiting for water to boil, you name it. And all those little bits added up.

Today features blocks of time that are perfect for the sweaty-palmed concentration I'll require to cut my first steek, and because the stars won't align in that way again until Sunday, I've decided to knit those last few rows of the body, then sew and cut open the steeks - maybe even baste them prettily shut and do some other finishing bits - before I go back to sleeve #2.

And I'm going to live blog the experience. If all goes well I'll start stitching around 10am my time, it being 7:40 right now - check back for updates if you like!


10:30 am update:

I am still knitting. Seriously, how can I misjudge my speed so badly? Two more rows to go (one of them a castoff, whoo hoooo!) and then I have to dash for a bit, so I'm going to do the steek this afternoon around 1pm my time. After that, I am totally meditating over this speed knitting technique.

1:10 pm

Okay, I'm sitting at my sewing machine. It's a beautiful old 1940s Singer, jet black with gold filigree trim and not one ounce of zizag stitch ability, which is apparently what you want for a steek. However, it does go backwards and forwards and you can adjust the stitch length, so I'm going to be hopeful. Usually my stitches are '8' long, unless I'm basting ('6') or really confident and sewing something that will see heavy use ('10'). So I'm going to try '15' and see how that goes.

I'm testing first on the swatch I made before I started on all this adventuring. Isn't Kathi clever for suggesting I put a steek into the swatch?

1:15 pm

Yep, '15' looks good. I can tell because I accidentally stitched over one of the tails and it's not slipping free. Thank goodness this is just the swatch. And now, scissors!!! Bwah ha ha ha ha.

1:20 pm

Wow, Kathi wasn't kidding about steeks being easy. I just snipped through the center stitch (being careful to spare that tail, which still isn't budging) and no matter how hard I pull all I can get loose are the halves of that one stitch down the middle.

Just in case though I'm glad I stitched two rows for each side of the cut - one down each side of the relevant stitch column. And now that I'm looking at it (sorry not to be able to post pictures but this is supposed to be Highly Confidential dontcha know) I'm thinking I should find some thread to match the yarn so the finishing is prettier. I'm going to think about this over some Easter chocolate I brought to the sewing machine in case of crisis. Back soon!

1:30 pm

Looks like I have one thread that looks nice with all the colours in the sweater, but I don't have enough for all the steek coverage plus the bobbin thread. I think I'll pretend plain white is best, specifically because it will show on the wrong side if you push apart the wool stitches that will hold it in place on the wrong side.

And now to give the piece one last going-over to make sure everything really is as it should be, because I'm pretty sure that running this '15' stitch is just as final as cutting.

1:40 pm

Yep, ready to go. This will take a while because there is a lot of territory to cover, but I'll be back before snipping.

1:50 pm

Mild panic (okay, heart-stopping panic) as I realized I got off course and stitched down either side of a section of the part I'm actually cutting. Then I realized - I'm cutting it! It's not like I got off course and stitched over something that will show. Whew. (and note to self: make sure not to stitch over something that will actually show.)

2:25 pm

Can you believe it took me that long to stitch steeks? Like I needed more justification for treating myself to a new machine... but that's another angst for another live blog.

So, just about 3/4 of the way through I realized I was treating the even-numbered steek stitches as though they are odds, with one column running down the middle and the machine stitching down either side of it. Not so! I should be snipping between two stitches, not through the middle of one. So I'm going to go find some more chocolate while I wait to hear back from Kathi whether this matters.

2:35 pm

... and apparently it doesn't matter, and I've now refueled with two cookies, so brace yourself, I'm cutting this sweater!

2:45 pm

Wow! It's cut and it's not unraveling a bit. and you know what is the most awesome part? Lying it out on the table with the wrong side up and admiring the expanse. You could wear this thing inside out and it would still be gorgeous.

Thanks for seeing me through this, folks! I've appreciated your company and wish I could stay, but I've gotta get back out into the rain for another errand before I can comfy back up with the one sleeve that remains to be knit. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day.

Meet Zinzaabub and Scribbles

Some small friends named the new chicks I knit last week with a pattern from Cheezombie:


That's Scribbles there on the left, and Zinzaabub on the right.

It took me a little over three hours to knit each of them, plus eye-embroidery time. It's really, really hard to embroider two eyes and make them look the same, at least for me. Total project time, including most of one extra chick in the wrong needle size: 9.5 hours.


The pattern is very neatly designed, with no sewing. Technically, you could embellish the wings, but the shaping creates enough of wing effect that you can do without that extra step if you run out of time or panic about much you haven't worked on a Big Project with a Hard Deadline. And what's not to love about those tails?


Plus, they look so cute perched.

If I knit more chicks, I'll do them in wool - I prefer yarn with some give, which cotton does not have, and I'm noticing now too that in spite of all the time I spent running in ends there is a short string sticking out of Zinzaabub's right leg and another on Scribbles' beak. Cotton fibres don't grab on and keep hold, you know?

But the chicks do. I was panicking trying to get their eyes on faster than they were taking on personalities. I just love them.

And I think they love each other, too!

Google-eyed knitting

A few days ago I spotted an irresistible-to-me pattern for googly-eyed chicks and went almost directly to Cheezombie to buy one (almost directly, because I had to convince myself I could spare a few hours from the Big Project.)

The pattern requirements refer to cotton leftovers, of which I have none, so I bought this:


and this:


and then yesterday I cast on. I knit the essentials of one in about two hours, and then I ripped it out and knit it again with smaller needles because the stuffing showed through. This time I got all the way to the beak in just under another two hours. Familiarity: it breeds speed.

Knitting cotton at a tight gauge on small needles with the throwing method, however, breeds a hurty index finger. I had to stop there for a while, with images of bright yellow yarn in a fluffy wool/angora blend dancing in front of my eyes. Why oh why did I not buy yellow wool for this project?

(answer: because there wasn't any in the store I was in when I bought the cotton.)

I bonded with this design over the googly eyes, but my gauge is so relaxed I couldn't get mine small enough not to look creepy and weird, so I'm opting for embroidered eyes instead. It's still a very, very cute chick! And potentially more so with legs, when my finger stops hurting.

Knitting in public

Sunday, I had brunch with friends who don't knit, so when I pulled out my knitting pouch to show them my yoga-sock-in-progress the big reaction was for the pouch.

In fact I was still looking at the pouch as I pulled it from my purse when I heard a mysterious fourth voice saying What a fabulous bag! and realized our waitress had stopped by our table.

After everybody gasped at the matching lining, I had to pass it around so everybody (our very nice waitress included) could admire the way Japanese linen feels over squishy yarn.


Making a mental note to remember this appreciation of tiny happy bags next time those friends have birthdays, I showed off my yoga sock, but the moment had passed - only one piped up that she would totally use a pair for pilates and that her daughter would also love a pair (done and done.)

Now, if I'd had the Big Project with me, it would have been an entirely different story. I have to knit some of that almost everywhere I go to make my deadline, and it's the sort of thing that attracts many a comment from passers-by. Usually, "That is so beautiful!" is followed by, "It looks so complicated!"

Just once I'd like to say "Yes, it is - I can only do it because I am an exceptional person and a particularly talented knitter!"

... but you know, I always opt for the truth instead. It looks complicated, and it's not. Yesterday a woman approached me in a coffee shop for a closer look and said, I bet you can't watch TV when you're knitting that, and I had to admit that that's exactly what I do do. Every day.

Just wait - when Kathi's book comes out, you'll see what I mean. She is the queen of minimum effort, maximum impact.

Fair Isle progress report

Last week was filled with health crises and hospital knitting, so I didn't get a lot of Fair Isling done until things settled down over the weekend...

... when learned that 16" circular needles. so beneficial for sleeve knitting, aren't friendly to knitters with a tendency toward carpal tunnel. Fortunately I have a very good wrist brace and I can start moving back and forth now between the circular needle sleeve and the 10" Brittany Birch double pointed needle sleeve, so that shouldn't slow me down much.

Speaking of two sleeves at once, an overnight away made for some urgency in the packing-up department for all these project bits. When I started this sweater I could carry it in one little pouchlet, and look at it now:


The progress isn't as dramatic as last time, but I'm close enough to the end now to be grateful for what I have.



I'm finally at the point where the body section keeps my legs warm as I knit - and boy is that nice on a chilly evening.

Fair Isle - lessons learned

I've done Fair Isle knitting before, but nothing like the Big Project. The Big Project is - big! and as of about five days ago, too heavy to knit while walking around. I haven't knit anything I couldn't walk around with for.... over a year, anyway.

I do like how fun the colour pattern is to stitch, though. A lot of work has gone into this sweater to ensure that you never have to carry the yarn too far, and - this is my favourite part - to give you maximum colour impact with minimum tails to work in at the end. I can't wait to get my hands on the finished book.

Other stuff I learned this week:

It's a good idea to keep upcoming stitches bunched up just enough that you don't have to keep pushing the tip of one of your needles, especially if you are speed knitting for many hours with super pointy needles. Owie. I lost a couple of days to that small injury.

That said: if you're speed knitting, stupendously fast needles are a must. I bought Addi Lace tips for this project and haven't regretted it, injury aside. Because of the injury, I'm looking forward to getting the sleeves into the regular Addi Turbos I bought to work them.

Stitch markers are your best friend with Fair Isle. Stitch markers have always been, for me, a tool to mark the beginning of a round. I didn't understand why they come in sets of 8 or so until I got a few rows into this pattern and realized I would need markers between each pattern repeat if I was going to get every one of them right.

I have been getting my stitch markers at Etsy, from Pennywenny, and I love - nay, LOVE - them. They are bright enough to be visible, they never get caught in either my stitches or my needle tips, they slip happily along the rows when in use and tuck snugly into a small snap-lid box when not, and they are so pretty. I give mental thanks to my friend Sharon every day for telling me about them.

Colour coding with stitch markers while speed knitting: pure luxury. Slip the first half on in one colour, so that as you pass you know you're on the first part of the round. Then switch to a transition colour (in this case dark blue) and after that, a third colour that carries through to the end (in this case, light blue.) Or you could do the transition colour at the end, like the ink at the end of of a cash register tape. You'll know where you are in the row as you race along, and whether you could stop now for a chocolate break or wait another repeat or two.

Steek alerts with stitch markers: use beads of a different shape and colour entirely to mark those off, so you can see them coming and watch them go. I am using cube markers from Pennywenny for those.

Thanks to figuring all of this out and also because it turns out I am able to knit from a chart in a moving car without getting quite too dizzy to work, I have made a lot of progress since last week:


It's almost enough to make me think I could be done by the end of the month.

What do you think?

Big Project update

I had to get off the Fair Isle wagon over the weekend, and this week I've had to go to a few of the sorts of meetings where people frown on other people pulling out charted knitting, so I'm not as far along with Big Project, Small Needles as I hoped I'd be.

However, in spite of all that plus a two-hour power outage that had me knitting while perched near a windowsill yesterday afternoon, I did make progress:


I must say that for such a complicated looking sweater, it's a peach to knit, which is typical of Kathleen's design work.

In fact I would go so far as to say it's relaxing. Proof: at one point during the power outage I had to knit while reclining on a bed under what was then the brightest window in the house, and I actually fell asleep for a bit.

Which isn't to say it's boring. Or slow, come to that. I'd forgotten, or maybe not noticed before, how much faster it is to knit elaborate colourwork than a solid, with or without cables.

With cables, you have to flip and adjust and fuss, but with colour you just raise and lower your index finger to pick up the different strands. And you're not watching a pot boil either, looping through the rows and waiting for the steam to hit another inch. You're thinking only of drawing the picture row by row, absorbed by one layer until you're ready for the next, and the inches pass without much notice at all.

Unless you're knitting to a deadline. And since I am: 6.5" from the bottom on the main section. Plus, this morning, going to the sort of meeting where I can knit, chart or no chart. Go me!

An alpaca is born!

Yesterday I finally got out to Alpaca Acres, which was even more exciting than expected.

As Ann Clayburn took me out to the field she mentioned that one of the alpacas was likely to give birth that day. Well, darned if I didn't see something suspicious protruding from said alpaca as Ann pointed her out. Hey, I saw our school hamster have babies back in grade 4, so I knew what to look for. Things were definitely underway.

Ann asked if I'd like to stay to watch and I said YES PLEASE! because how often do you get to see the miracle of birth? and though I didn't document Madison's hard work having her new baby boy, I did take pictures of the two of them having some special time together in their own pen afterward.


Apparently alpacas are born with a full coat, but they're so soggy at first it's hard to believe.


I know that last shot makes it look like the little guy didn't make it, but really, he's just resting. He worked hard too!

We left to look at yarn* and when we came back, Baby Boy was mostly dry and looked far more comfortable in the world than you'd expect from somebody less than an hour old.


I was glad to catch this little nuzzle.


He tried to get up a few times, like this:


and fell down just as many:


Still, he seemed pretty happy to be here, and I was so happy to watch him arrive.



* Yarn!!!!!

Of course, I bought lots. But I'll have to tell you all about that tomorrow, because it's too rainy this morning to get any good photographs. Suffice it to say that Ann and Dan's animals produce beyond-fabulous fiber, and They Do Mail Order. Ann and Dan, that is, not the animals. If I'm reading Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail Shawl directions correctly, you (by which I also mean I) can make a version in creamy white fingering spun from Emy's fiber for a mere $20. So what are you waiting for?