Summer Shorts!

Hello Everyone! My husband was able to take a quick little pic of me in my summer shorts that I finished ages ago and that some really wanted to see . . . well, I am very odd in some ways and I don't like wearing shorts out and about so this is really the only way most can see these on me. I generally put these on when I get home from work, and before work in the mornings. They are based off a Knit 1 Vogue Magazine pattern. Only those had much, much wider leg openings which I didn't like and I think a wider hip and waist measurement. These are in a 50% cotton 50% acrylic blend -- Samoa by Muench. Very smooth to knit with. The bottom inch is garter, rest is stockinette. Elastic is hidden in the waist band. I also did these in the round as much as possible -- original pattern had it all flat. I don't like flat knitting if I can avoid it. But that's just me :)

Summer is now really, really here. I am feeling a little low about it because last night was the first night this summer when it didn't get any cooler than 80*F outside my house -- so my house is 80*F downstairs and 86*F upstairs. It needs to be much, much cooler outside for my upstairs to cool off at all. :( I feel too warm. Now, I know I am really very lucky actually because lots of people can't have any a/c at all or are much, much warmer than I am. And for many it is an actual health issue. So even though my a/c is very old, very inefficient and we get too warm in the summer, at least I can keep it at or below 90*F inside. So, we're lucky. :)

Take care, stay cool, and happy knitting and crocheting!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day for those of us in the USA! I read somewhere that a news reporter said it commemorated our victory in the war for Independence which makes me worry about the education that reporter had -- ah well. Happy Commemoration of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. I hope everyone gets a great view of the fireworks at the Dam tonight! I'll be in bed trying to get to sleep :)

Anyway. Updates. I've been extremely remiss in pics ( I won't bore you with the list of troubles the camera and I have with each other). So here we go:
Here is the Sun Hat I began on, oh, Thursday? I ripped out most of it on Friday and here it is near the end of Friday. I had a deadline -- I was to go to a birthday party in a park on Saturday. I had no 'nice' sun hat. My older 'nice' hats have begun to look like **old** gardening hats. Complete with discoloration. So, as I said. Deadline. So not many pics. I was crocheting at warp speed. It is black so you can't see much. It is the pattern our very own Mistell West wrote -- Euroflax sport linen with Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille for a brow band and two rows on the brim -- I only have a tiny brim at this point.
Ok, here is a pic that my friend most kindly took of my husband and I at the park birthday party. I'm wearing my hat, my summer top made of SR Kertzer's Sari and Rani -- and my black linen skirt that you can't see. I finished the hat Friday night at home. There is plastic corset boning in the brim which holds it up. I crocheted the cotton chenille around it. All black. Because I like black. :) And yes, I choose this one because you can see the hat . . . but not us very well. Told you I don't like cameras. :)



Next up: Summer top. I did this rather some weeks ago. It is out of Posh by S. Charles. A 4 spi gauge and done in diamond modules. Very cool. I didn't do much of a neck border because I like my necks very open in the summer -- makes me feel cooler and the way I am built means I can have a lower neckline without showing cleavage. The sleeves are a modification -- just straight (as in no increases or decreases) on a few sizes larger needle to be more airy and open. I don't do sleeveless. :)



A close up of the yarn and a module which you can't see. Come in sometime -- I wear my two summer tops as much as I can. I feel MUCH cooler in them than my commercial summer tops. Maybe it's the texture. Not sure. But I LOVE my hand made summer tops!



Ok. Here is something I picked up partially out of guilt. This is a sweater for my husband made from Cascade's Bulky Leisure which is an alpaca cotton blend. VERY yummy to work with. Shows pattern nicely too. The cables are pretty big --8 stitches and I think 10 or maybe 12 rows apart (notes are at work, I'm at home). There are cables down the front just in a bit from each shoulder and down each shoulder and sleeve. This is a Barbara Walker Seamless Saddle Shoulder from the neck down. I need to do another before I get it in my head. I don't like learning techniques from books -- which is ironic since it is mainly how I do learn them. I simply LOVE this thing. Of course the 3 stitches per inch gauge helps :) I haven't touched the neck yet. I want to do the sleeves and then I'll do the neck and then steam on down the body. I'll be doing a small cable for ribbing I think -- like a 4 stitch cable. We'll see. The sleeves are being worked at the same time on two 24" addi turbos and the body stitches are on a cord from the Denise Interchangeable Needle set. Which I am finally playing with myself. I have heard wonderful things about them, have sold them for over 2 years and only now am allowing myself to have a set to play with. Sigh.

I hope to see everyone at our Annual Summer Sale this week! Remember -- the whole shop is on sale -- ranging from 10-60% off!

Take care and Happy Knitting and Crocheting!!
~Briony

Skirt continuation and Summer Top

So I've got a few more pics of the skirt and then I officially stop :)
It really does look better in person and I'm just not that great at taking pictures. Obviously.

So this first pic is my best attempt to show how I got that elastic in there. A dear friend suggest crocheting a chain, slip stitching down a little (to hold the elastic) then chaining again to slip stitch near the top.










Anyway, here is the summer top I finished this week. It's in SR Kertzer's Ranee and Sari. I believe this was 4 skeins of Ranee and 4 of Sari. The Sari is the ribbon and the Ranee is the softer railroad type yarn. They are the same colorway. They are not, however, the same gauge (Ranee is about 4.25 sts/in and Sari around 3.75 sts/in). So I split the difference and worked it at 4sts/inch. The pattern is Heartstring's 3-to-2 Any Gauge Sweater. It is worked from one bottom corner to the other upper corner. I used the Ranee as the sleeves because it is much airier and softer than the Sari -- at least when the Sari is knit up a little tightly for its liking. The top is very cool, very light weight and has incredibly drape. I love it. Dries every quickly in this heat too, so I was able to wash it the night before, lay it flat on top of my drier (the main function my drier has as I mostly line-dry) and by morning I had a dry top. :)

This second photo shows how sheer the Ranee is when knit so loosely. Yes, this is one where I wear a camisole underneath. :)

But did I mention how cool it is? And very versitile. I could put this on for an evening out or pair it with jeans for a more casual look. And I love that kind of flexibility.

~That's all for now! But -- I'm nearly done with a gift! Unfortunately, it's a Christmas gift so no pics for quite some time. I still claim full points for finishing it though!!

Next up? Why, another summer top of course!

~Briony

Better skirt pics

Yes, I got better pictures. I'm wearing a light colored top, and it is showing through the top part of the skirt -- incidentally showing up the pattern a bit. I've got a black slip on as well to just past my knees.


I still love it. Very lovely and cool in the heat, lovely swish. :)

Looks better in person I think.

Now off to work on my afghan square! And then . . . maybe a swatch for a summer top.

~Briony

I FINISHED MY SKIRT!

Ok, sorry for the caps, but I'm so proud of myself. I finally finished the 40" long lace skirt I made in Euroflax Originals. In black. I was *so* glad I listened to one customer who reminded me to hang the skirt for at least 2 days to make sure I knew where I was with length. I knit the thing so loose, you see, and so lacey that it grew oodles -- but mostly on the second day!

Now, I'll back up.

Way back in February I knew I really wanted a summer skirt. Now, I didn't feel that I HAD to knit one. I just wanted a long summer skirt. Which is where I landed into trouble. I adore ankle length skirts. For me, that means about 40". And I couldn't find any. There may be tons out there, but I couldn't find one. And I'm hopeless at this time at sewing. So that left . . . knitting :)

My next plan of attack was to pick a summery yarn -- cotton or linen I thought. And I love black -- so Euroflax Originals won.

Now, I knew I wanted a fairly full skirt. And I didn't want it to bag out when I sat. I wanted to wear this one ALOT so that mean I needed lots of room for me inside the thing. Originally I didn't want to HAVE to wear a slip so I tried to make it all nice and dense . . . well I'm getting so blasted loose that I just couldn't get to gauge without using a 0 or smaller and that I didn't like. On a size 2 I was getting 7 sts/inch but it was still a bit see through. So I stuck with that, bought a slip, and figured on a 38" caston -- wider than my hips by a few inches. Linen won't stretch back and forth ya know. Elastic was added later. I moved up to a 3 after 3" from cast on (used knitted cast on). Then I started the lace (afterall, it was going to need a slip anyway!) from a chart in a book Chrisanne found for me which has feather and fan or old shale increasing along with the pattern (book was A Gathering Of Lace --a great book). I started way into the chart b/c I had so many stitches. I followed it until I had 27 repeats of 25 sts. It seemed enough. I ended with a skirt with about 18 or so feet in circumference.

At about 6.5" I went to a 4. Somewhere in here I started changing needles when I started a new skein (Euroflax Orig. has abou 270 yards) so I moved on to a 5, then a 6, then 7. The 5th and 6th skeins saw me working on an 8 only . At the end of the 5th, after it was soaked and left to hang, dripping itself dry was 23". Skeins 7&8 were on a 9. The end of the 7th skein gave me about 30" Un stretched as it were. After I finished the 8th skein I took it home and soaked it, spun it dry (yes on the needles, I wouldn't recommend this! not that I had troubles, but I had it rubberbanded all over those needle points) and hung it for 2 whole days. It dried on the 1st but I left it. Good thing. At the end of the first day it was about, oh 34"? At the end of the 2nd? 40". Wow. Nearly 41" but I tried not to see that number. Too far. Too far and I still needed to cast off.

Tinking. Yup, the glory. I tinked about 600 sts and then cast off WAY loosely with a crochet hook a la Crazy Toes and Heels.

And ran out of yarn.

So tink-tink went the cast on. And the next 2 rows.

And the cast off was successful this time :)

I finished it Sunday (all of Sunday was tinking and Casting off). I wore it to work Tuesday and so on. I love it.

And I got a lot of interest when I was working on it -- either because it was beautiful (I hope it was this option), or a huge project, or idle curiosity or just an insane project that would surely never work . . .

And here, drum roll please . . . is the skirt (yes I know, too dark, but you get an idea. Better piccys when I can get 'em): At least the second shows the pattern -- white sheet behind the work -- pre-hanging.

So that's what I've been doing. Next -- summer tops! ~Briony

Gifts and Beginnings

Chrisanne finished her white 'sampler' sweater out of Cascade's Sierra! We're all so proud! Don't come in hoping to see her in it though. It's too big for her. Not a gauge shift, just she over-guestimated how big she wanted it. We were dreading ripping it all out. Then . . . it found a new, happier, home. Isn't it wonderful when an "ooops" becomes a "great!"? Thelma's happy with her new sweater at any rate!

Here's a hat made of about 160 yards of Encore Colorspun Worsted. I had to use a 4 to get 5 sts/in. Anyway, I was inspired by Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and knit it up in a tube, and then, without decreasing or casting off, cut the yarn and pulled it through the stitches on the needle. I think she's right -- this is a much better learner/beginner project than a scarf.

Oh, and I finished my first Afghan Square. I'm not entirely content with the tension shifts, but I did get cables without a needle down in addition to learning how to read the cable symbols. I hope my next with cables (but no cable needle) will be smoother. So here it is, blocking on the sofa in the back room :) And I bet you thought the sofa was for sitting on! HAH!

Happy Knitting Folks,

Briony

Odd Socks

. . . And that's what Chrisanne has been wearing on purpose for the last few days. She gets SSS (second sock syndrome where you get bored with the yarn/color/pattern after the first sock) bad so she has lots of single socks. And she's decided it's OK to wear them. I agree. I think it's great. So does Mistell ;)
And do you see? They even have different heels!

Sock on left: Shaeffer's Anne, a wool mohair blend. Great hand dyed colors.

Sock on Right: Opal



See? Different heels. :)







I'm working on the filigree ensemble wristlets in white prime alpaca. Yummy. I'm done with the lace bit and now have 5" of k1tbl,p1 to do.




Oh and finally a pic of me in my Cascade 220 Superwash - Bernat Illusions cowl neck, yoke sweater. I live in this lately. SO warm and cozy. I went a tensy bit overboard with the neck which hasn't come to fruitition yet in the pic but has now. Ah well. I still love it.






Chrisanne has pulled out her white 'sampler' sweater in Cascade's Sierra -- a cotton wool blend. Shows pattern beautifully and is a joy to knit with.








And that's all from the Shoppe today, m'dears! Coming up soon . . . a (gasp) finished afghan square from Briony!)
~Briony