Progress on baby sweater

It is amazing how much time it takes to knit even a baby sweater. But, this one is as cute as a buttom! I'm nearing the second sleeve (this is knit side-to-side -- see my previous post). Once the second sleeve is completed I need to sew the side seams and then pick up stitches around the bottom. Two knitting tasks I have never done. Time to learn new knitting to-dos. Hope to have this completed by the time I return from NC the middle of next week. Then will block and pop into the mail. The little girl isn't due to be born until middle of November but I'm anxious to give this to her mom.

Had an interesting conversation with a non-knitting friend who saw this sweater. Took me several tries to explain why the stripes in the self-striping yarn were wider in the sleeves than the body of the sweater. She was not getting fewer and more stitches....I love how it looks. Hope baby and mom do, too.

It's a Baby Sweater

Foremost I'm a sock knitter who has a blossoming new interest in knitting shawlettes of various sizes in an array of weights of yarns. But, my newest projects are this baby sweater Phazelia's Ribboned Baby Jacket which can be purchased for a few dollars from Ravelry.

It is an easy, cute and quick knit in fingering weight yarn. The pattern recommends a size 1.5 needle...ummm...don't have one of those and have never seen one. A size 2 would have been a good second choice. However, I chose to go to a size 3 to make the sweater wearable for just a little longer by growing babies. The designer is kind enough to give directions for two sizes -- 0-3 months and 3-6 months. I'm doing the latter.

I have two skeins of this Trekking yarn. No, I won't need them for one sweater but they will enable me to knit two sweaters. I have two colleagues who are expecting babies this fall...one in a few weeks and the other in late November. I hope they like their surprises when the mailman arrives in a few weeks. I will post a finished photo when the first sweater is complete.

Fiber-y Farmers' Market

There is a terrific Farmers' Market at Ard's along Route 45 near Lewisburg, PA. This week there was a new vendor -- my good friend, Libby, who owns the fiber sales website Mad About Ewes. By Spring she will be selling roving and spun yarns all from the sheep at her farm. There was a problem this year when her yarn was processed so unfortunately she is now a season behind her plan for an online shop. She has plenty to sell at the market. Her rovings are so soft, if they were butter they would melt in your mouth. The yarns are beautifully spun, are sturdy but soft and the colors are beautiful.

Friday was her first day at the Farmers' Market and she will be there each Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. through the end of October. Stop by and see what she has. There are other fabulous goodies at other vendors, too. Ard's Market is an interesting place and quite colorful in the fall.

Finally Finished

These socks were begun in late winter, tucked away during Spring and early Summer knitting, and brought out about a week ago. One was half finished. Now they are a pair. Love how fast sportweight yarn knits into a finished garment. I have had this yarn for several years and don't remember where I purchased it. I think like the combination of teal, purple, light grey and gold. It was called "Lord of the Rings."

I have another pair of unfinished socks that hopefully will join these in the sock drawer soon. A third pair isn't so lucky...I frogged them. Lorna's Laces sport weight is not as heavy as others. I felt they would be too small. Will cast on again but with more stitches next time.

My Yarn Crawl

Work takes me many places and sometimes a slight detour makes the day more bearable. This past week has illustrated that.

Last Thursday I needed to visit with some downtown business people in Danville, PA which is in Montour County. We were discussing small businesses and I asked if the local yarn shop was still open. One man quickly said, "yes" and that he thought his wife's paycheck was directly deposited into the shop's bank account!

I went around a block and there was a very unassuming one-story brown wooden building that frankly has seen better days. I ventured into Swisher's Yarn Basket at 327 Ferry St. and was pleased with what I saw and the genuine warmth of the greeting I received from the owner. She retired 8 years ago and said she was bored after 3 weeks so opened the yarn shop. She also has a small amount of counter cross-stitch remaining in her inventory and is trying to get rid of all of it since that craft isn't as popular as it was a few years ago.

The shop is welcoming. The middle of the room hosts a large circle of chairs with soft pads on the seats...just inviting customers to sit and knit a bit...which some people were doing. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay that long or I would have joined them.

The selection was well organized, the shop is clean, and she sells a good variety of yarns -- everything from some higher end fingering weight yarns to Galway worsted weight wool to Encore worsted weight acrylic/wool blends. She truly has yarns for all tastes, I think. I will definitely visit the shop again when I'm in town.

Today I headed to Gettysburg in southern PA for our all-staff retreat which begins bright and early in the morning. Most colleagues will be arriving later today. I did some work visits as I traveled along Route 322.

One of my favorite stops during Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival each May in Maryland is the large booth operated by the staff of The Mannings Handweaving School in East Berlin, PA. Now I'm neither a spinner nor a weaver but I know they have lots of yarn and patterns. It was delightful to see their huge store, the beautiful setting and just browse. Well worth the trip if you haven't been there.

Fall Knitting Magazine Review

They are horrible! That about says it. I was so excited today to find the Fall issue of Interweave Knits on the grocery story shelf. I grabbed it, leafed through the entire publication in 1 minute and returned it to the shelf. That is $6.99 plus tax I won't be spending. I have bought Interweave Knits for years, but in this past year or so find myself purchasing fewer and fewer of them.

I have put all the other fall ones back into their respective slots on the shelf at Barnes & Noble, too. Guess I will knit socks and other patterns I have this fall.

Just When You Least Expect It...A Knitting Bag Will Be Found

See this beauty!. Gorgeous eggplant -- one of my favorite shades in the purple family. 8 outside pockets, the inside divided into 2 large pockets with a narrow pocket that closes with velcro, and a shoulder handle. The latter is my only complaint and after a trip tomorrow to JoAnne's Fabric Store and a purchase of sticky-backed velcro this bag will be perfect. The bag's woven fabric is waterproof so has an unusual texture and is very lightweight.

As you can see this one nicely holds a sock project and shawlette project, with my knitting accessories in the interior pocket and my small box of coilness metal pins in one outside pocket. My Blackberries fit into other pockets as well as a small wallet. Great to take to knitting meetings.

Bags just seem to pop up everywhere...this one at at the Nittany Kennel Club dog show this weekend. The bag is designed for use as a ringside equipment bag for those who show dogs and horses. I saw a lot of people with this particular style and similar ones.

The bag is open at the top so I will have to be careful that Teddy Bear and Timber don't try to knit one more time...yes they have tried in the past but their paws are too large for this hobby.
The bags can be seen here

No Photo Day

Boneyard Shawl is crawling toward the finish line and I will post a photo when it is done. Given that I'm using fingering weight yard, it will be a scarf and not a shawl...which is exactly what I wanted from this skein of fabulous yard. An early photo is in my last blog posting.

I've been really sidetracked with some personal issues that I think/hope are resolving themselves in a positive manner.

Knitting progress has also been slowed by organizing yarn, culling through yarn for what I won't be using, and posting yarn for sale on my Ravelry page. I'm not gouging people but am asking purchase price plus shipping. Wildaboutsocks is my Ravelry name in case anyone wants to browse what I currently have available. I will be adding more this weekend once I get to that stage of organization. I have sold 5 skeins this week. Excellent! I'm sure that was the exception because two of those skeins were Wollmeise which people seem to covet. I just need to move yarns, recoup my money, and regroup. One person said she would "take" yarn I didn't want...ummmm...nice but there was no mention of money and none intended. Sorry, I can't give away skeins of yarn that cost me $30.

It feels good to organize. A lot more to do with the yarn and then I dive into the closets. Have done a bit of that pulling out clothing I don't want to give to the Faith Center for their resale shop. Gives me space and helps them raise much needed money for their community projects. A win-win in my opinion.

More soon with photos I hope.

Another Boneyard Shawlette

The DK weight Zauberball (I have serious doubts about that yarn being a true DK weight) is complete. A photo will be posted once the shawlette is blocked. I decided it needs some blocking to smooth out the knitting and to make it just a bit larger.

I really likethe Boneyard Shawl pattern by Stephen West. Enough so that I started another one which I know will be a scarf as I am using a lovely fingering weight yard from Pagewood Farm. It is a hand-dyed merino/cashmere/nylon (80/10/10) in the colorway "Prism" which is rich shades of red, navy, grey, gold, dark green. Very fall/winter like and will be a wonderful wardrobe addition. The yarn is scrumptious to knit with and I'm glad that after much debate with myself I decided to use it for a shawlette rather than socks.

I still love knitting socks but some yarns are just destined for certain projects. This is one of them.

Coming Down The Home Stretch

Boneyard Shawl is almost finished! I started the garter stitch edging last night. I probably could have squeezed one more 12-row pattern repeat out of the yarn and then did the edging, but these long rows take a lot of yardage so I didn't want to run out and not have a wide enough edge to do the shawlette justice. I just LOVE this pattern and will knit it again...probably in some of the Alpaca I got from my friend Monica who has an alpaca farm.

I will post a finished shawlette soon. I'm not even sure I will need to block it. Now, wouldn't THAT be a bonus!

Farmers' Market

Being a summer Saturday I made my weekly trip to a local Farmers' Market. As usual it was packed with people of all ages enjoying the conversations, local products -- from breads to apple butter to freshly picked strawberries to early lettuce to plants to iced tea and cookies. There was a trio playing and singing folk music and a dog or two roaming around their owner's stand. There also were people working in the demonstration garden. A fun few hours on a June morning.

I went for my usual multi-grain bread and strawberries. However, today there was another item on my list and I found it. Janice and Mike from Tamarack Farm were there with spun wool from their sheep. I was looking for something in particular and I scored big time! Please note the two skeins of Icelandic yarn in the photo. It is a 2-ply DK weight in a tan/mocha mixed that I want to use for Stephen West's Boneyard Shawl which is a free pattern available on Ravelry.

I currently am knitting the pattern in Zauberball 6 in twists of dark blue, navy blue and some white. Perfect for the Penn State games this fall. I LOVE knitting this pattern and wanted to make one in yarn similar to what the designer chose. What I purchased today is perfect! The pattern calls for 654 yards and I bought 800 yards, so I will probably knit until I almost run out of yarn. The shawlette/large triangular scarf will be a big larger but that is fine. The yarn is a bit scratchy but when I soak the finished garment in some hair conditioner it should soften nicely.

A fabulous Farmers' Market find and supporting a local farmer at the same time.

A Golden Moment -- and the kitty too

Timber will be 4 months old tomorrow. He is a wonderful, lively puppy who is growing up way too fast! He and Teddy love each other so much. Lily just loves to hang out away from the Goldens.