Opinions, please

You spoke, and your voices were heard. Kauni EZ and EL combination, not a fabulous choice for the project.

Here's the sweater again.
How about ES and EL?

Workable, or should I just give up and start dreaming about Harrisville Shetland?

Finishing Week

Yes, you're about to see a flurry of finished objects this week. Let's get started with the old ones, shall we?

First off, the Junior High Eyeshadow socks were finished during vacation week.

Pattern: Basic toe-up, double wrapped sockinette automatic heel with EZ's sewn bind-off.

Yarn: Posh Lucia, approx. 320 yards

Finished July 2007

Well-worn Dansko shoes.

I've heard that German knitters call this a "boomerang" heel. It's knit back and forth. How cute is that?

Green Tea - Lotus Blossom Tank

Great pattern. The sleeves roll a bit for me, even after the garter edging. I've been thinking about picking up the edges and knitting a short-row sleeve cap.

Pattern: Lotus Blossom, Interweave Knits Summer 2006

Yarn: Cotton Patine, 8 skeins

Modifications: Added an extra 2", knit one size smaller for bodice.

Finished June 2007

Rosedale

Great pattern, except for the horrible collar. Blocking is a necessity here! It still needs a zipper.

Pattern: Rosedale at knitty.com

Yarn: Noro Kureyon and Kathmandu Aran (black)

Modifications: Intarsia on both sides, not on front. Created thicker stripes on front of Cardigan.

Finished: December 2006

German Obsession

All right. I'll admit it. I've had a bit of a German yarn obsession for months. It started with Wollmeise in January, then Kauni popped up (for me) the next month while searching aimlessly through Flickr. Deepa tried to analyze why it was all coming from Germany... there was no conclusive answer. I held off from ordering either one for months! Watching ravelry and reading blogs has only made the obsession worse.

I caved in July.

Ordered Wollmeise? check.

Kauni... you tell me.

Everyone's knitting this rainbow-licious sweater. It's great, it is-- but the horizontal focus is just too strong for me. Love the color. Fun to knit, but I had to ask myself, "Would I ever wear it?". Probably not.

So, I thought about the fair isle sweaters that I've always wanted to knit. Near the top of the list is one from Norsk Strikkedesign:

The Princess Line sweater

Do you think it will work in Kauni EL and EZ?

*********

EDIT: love Renee's comment: Kauni is actually a Danish company, so you're perfectly well balanced and not obsessive at all. :-)

Home

Last week I was able to get away to part of the National Forest located in Northern Minnesota. Our extended family goes a few times a year together, and as always the trip was absolutely gorgeous.

We canoed, kayaked, swam, fished, walked, hiked, took saunas, played cards, and ate excellent food all week long. There was little time for knitting, and lots of time for HP7 theories! I took very few photos, so there aren't that many to show you.

There was one new experience: we went to Stone lake to fish. The 5 mile road leading directly to the lake washed out a few years ago. We used an ATV to pull the boat and fishers, then hopped out of the boat whenever we hit ravines, mud pools, or washed out road portions. The horseflies were frightenly enthusiastic. Warm bodies! The lake, gorgeous. It was full of wildlife, lots of flowering lilypads, and blue herons.

Toby and Paco were able to stay in my house thanks to a lovely puppy-sitter. They were a little 'sticky' when I returned!

During the week I did sew up all seams on LR, and knit two borders. The seams have been blocked, and I'm starting the final borders tonight. It'll be done in less than a week. Toby has a new fondness for it.

For fear of spoilers from all sides I finished reading HP7 over the weekend-- and didn't finish the Sockapalooza 4 socks. August is closing in fast! Must finish these socks!!!

Vacation

See you next week!

Wild Apple!

Bohus service announcement:

Solvig, a fabulous dyer and supplier of Bohus kits from Sweden, sent an email announcement yesterday. She now has Wild Apple kits available! With shipping, they're 1250 Sek. (divide by approx. 7 for US currency equivalent). Each kit comes with original Bohus Museum instructions translated by Susanna into English. If you're interested in ordering one, email Solvig directly.

Tiny Gauge Warning: these kits have *gorgeous* fingering weight angora/merino wool and are knit generally 2-2.5mm needles. Designs published in Poems of Color use a much larger gauge and DK weight yarns. If you would rather follow these patterns, the book recommends kits from Kimmet Croft Yarns-Fairy Haire.

The picture above is a mystery. I found the image online here: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j47/lv2knit/WildApplessweater2.jpg If you know who lv2knit is, please let me know. From the image above, clearly the sweater was entered into the Minnesota State Fair. (Ingebretsen's gave it away!) I've seen one of the Rainey Sisters wearing a sweater just like this one when the Yarn Harlot came to visit Minnesota just a few months ago.

disclaimer: I am not ordering one of the kits. The Large Lace Collar must be completed first!

Pickles & Sushi

Deepa asked me if I had read last week's Pickles series by Brian Crane. It was all about knitting! Lots of fun. Use the calendar on the left and click on 7/2/07 through 7/7/07.

Nothing is more messy that schlepping around two nearly completed toe-up socks that are being knit from the same ball. The yarn twists all the time, and you spend a good deal of your time untwisting and unknotting. It's a pain. Friday night I tried sock sushi:

It's worked out pretty well! Over the weekend I wanted to finish the JHEs, but I didn't have very much time to knit. One of these days I'll have an FO to show you!

File Under Masochist Knitting

Last week when the Sock Drawer of Shame was opended up for all the world to see, a few people asked about the bright orange something-or-other tucked into the corner.

It's a sock, of course! A completely insane, tiny needled thing.

You've always wanted to make a pair of entrelac socks knit on double OO's, right?

The yarn is Anne Shaefer and EL Silky Wool. The formula begins by casting on 100 stitches and knitting in 2 x 2 rib. I started knitting this sock in stockinette, and the colors looked, well, absolutely disgusting. I played around- and this is where I ended up.

Off the foot each square puffs out and looks like an intensely colored piece of tile. I kept thinking the sock looked like a hot air balloon.

Even though it looks huge, it fits quite well. Doing it over again, I would eliminate the weird break between the leg and foot on the instep. To do this, I'd have to rip out the heel-- and there's just no way I'm going to do that!

Clearly, the sock has been in hibernation for some time. I knit the majority of this sock during the late-mid winter of 2006. This year I didn't pick it up. Perhaps I was obsessed with another project and didn't even think about it...

Next winter, maybe?

The Park

Oh, the joys of childhood.

Our lunch-time knitting entertainment today was two girls who sat incredibly close to the fake river water, then turned their lunch food into play items! (Really, who needs to eat this stuff, anyway?) Take a look at the stone their drinks are on. That's where they were originally sitting. What adult would choose *that* stone to eat on? The strange part was that their parent wasn't around until right before they left the park. The couple on the left-- complete strangers-- they didn't know the kids. Is this responsible parenting?
It's refreshing to be with your people once again! Other sock knitters were in the park, and I heard chatter about silk yarn now and again. (No Sheep for You! influence?) We're planning for a meet-up next week. The Junior High Eyeshadow heel has been turned. I knit a tiny gusset into the sock, then used a double-wrap, short-row stockinette heel. (Same technique as Lucy Neatby's garter stitch heel subbing stockinette for garter, and I used 58% of the original stitch number.)

Success

Raupe Toe-ups

Friday night I finally figured it out-- the toe-up heel flap for a non 60 stitch sock. (These are 72.) I've decided that Raupe isn't just a sock yarn for a small, select number of knitters-- it's also, well, let's just say the colorway doesn't grow on you the more you knit it. (I might even say it's a bit... ugly.) Last Tuesday I was at a party and someone referred to them as 'beautiful'. I couldn't stop my nose from scrunching up. I'm going to persevere and finish the socks before summer ends!

Adventures in hand-painted yarn The second Junior High Eyeshadow sock was started over the weekend, too. These each have 66 stitches around, and are knit from each end of the ball. Look how radically different the patterning is! The yarn is just luscious to knit. It's my first cashmere! Ok, 30% cashmere. (Again, thanks for the lovely gift.) If you want to give it a try, it's Lucia from Posh Yarns.

Toby and Paco have distinct and quite different personalities. These photos from yesterday afternoon certainly highlight Toby's refined, debonair sensibilities-- and Paco's silly-crazy playfulness.

Deepa likes to refer to them as "Monsieur Toby" and "Señor Paco". Appropriate, indeed.