p.s. Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat 2016
June Hemmons Hiatt was there.
I’m a fan, loved her book since way back.
I got the knitting belt; I tried it out, it felt pretty good, seemed like a good idea to alleviate some knitting aches I get and avoid long term damage…
Who am I kidding? she probably could have sold me acrylic yarn and a gun if she wanted to.
Good times at Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat 2016
Excellent classes I took:
Cat Bordhi – Developing, Writing, and Publishing
Fantastic teacher, very experienced, knowledgeable, and generous. She understands what you need to know, what is important, and provides that information. Lot of information packed into a mini class.
Amy Herzog – Sweaters: Deconstructed
As good as I’d heard. She teaches how to get what you want when knitting a sweater:
A sweater that you want to wear and makes you happy
How to get the right fit and style.
And.
I guess I knew this would happen someday.
And of course it happened at Madrona.
I was only curious about spinning; someone said I should see Sarah Anderson demonstrating in the rotunda. *Sarah Anderson* said with meaning and nods of approval all around. So I went to see Sarah Anderson.
I was mesmerized.
She was knowledgeable and encouraging and clearly knew what she was doing.
Someone else showed up, sat down and started spinning angora on a drop spindle.
I said, “I don’t spin, yet”. “Yet”, they laughed. I don’t even know why that word came out of my mouth, but apparently they did.
Next, someone walked up to talk about an upcoming retreat in the woods with Sarah, very rustic and inspiring.
I wondered if this was a racket, with the spinning wheel, dropping words like angora, cashmere, spinning spindle, retreat in the woods…spinning, spinning…
Next thing I knew, I was standing at a booth in the Marketplace looking at spindles, confused. The person looking at spindles next to me, decided to teach me to spin right there and then.
At Madrona, these people just appear.
And now I own this.
Greensleeves Damsel Monique spindle
Around the corner, my new spinning teacher helped me pick out roving in beautiful natural colors.
Roving from Island Fibers
clockwise from top – Shetland, Targhee, and a Polwarth/Silk blend
(because she said I really should try some silk. Because. Silk.)
Typical Madrona, there’s always an expert, or twenty, around to show you how it’s done, and happy users ready to enable, with a Marketplace so you don’t have a chance to sleep it off.
So that happened.
ANEMOI Again
and another pair for another daughter:
ANEMOI by Eunny Jang in
Hazel Knits Artisan Sock 234 Hoppy Blonde and 208 Plum Glace
I bought this pattern for me, but I just can’t seem to get around to knitting my own pair…
ANEMOI Mittens To Match
UDATE on this hat:
Colinette JitterBug in Morello Mash
After five years of wear by a college student, getting stuffed into backpacks and pockets, this hat looks as good as the day it was knit.
I have knit socks that look worse by the time I’m finished knitting them.
Even the ties, which have been tied, knotted, tightened, and re-tied a few thousand times, do not have a single pill:
With yarn leftover from the hat, I knit these mittens to match:
ANEMOI Mittens by Eunny Jang in Colinette JitterBug color Morello Mash and Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in color Hoppy Blonde
Hiking Socks Regia Crazy Color 5262 Pinocchio
1. Knit.
2. Try on.
3. Rip.
4. Repeat until sock fits.
Fourth attempt 🙂
I finally put on a sock that fits just right, measured for the height, figured out where I wanted decreases to begin and end, then re-knit to match:
Decreases from calf measurement down to ankle measurement (-16 sts) over a length of 4 1/2″, that was 2 sts every 6 rows (9/16″).
Yarn: Regia 6-Ply Crazy Color 5262 Pinocchio, 120g (2.4 balls)
Pattern: made up while knitting
Claudia Evilla Skirt in Kauni Effektgarn W-ES
     Claudia Evilla skirt by Ruth Sørensen
in Kauni 8/2 Effektgarn color W-ES
I think skirts are my latest favorite thing to knit.
Knit with two balls of yarn in alternating rows to extend (double) the long color repeat of Kauni Effektgarn.
This pattern was pretty easy and fun to knit…
Once I got the color repeats lined up.
Seriously, that was the hardest part.
I was lucky, I happened to be at Knit Purl when the yarn had just arrived and I was able to pick two 150g balls from a full (10 balls) bag.
Kauni Effektgarn, is sold by the gram, the balls are somewhere around 150g (+/-30g), it has long color repeats and there are no dyelots.
I picked two of the larger balls that were dark at the center so my skirt would be dark at the top transitioning to light at the hem (skirt is knit top down).
That was my plan.
I ended up rewinding both 150g balls to get all the dark yarn at the beginning and lining up the color repeats.
The two balls appeared to be different dylelots, if they had dyelots, one was brighter, the other grayer, but not noticeable when knit up.
I used 250g of the 300g I started with.
The lace pattern is quick to memorize and gives the skirt a nice drape in a light springy wool.
I love this color, kind of a grayish denim blue.
modifications:
inserted increases earlier than pattern (cuz that’s how I’m shaped)
added 5 repeats of the last pattern section
finished with one row of purl to coax the bind off row to curl under
this bind off method
instead of knitting a drawstring (DH thought that was pretty funny when I told him that was in the pattern!) I used a grosgrain ribbon.
I used the cardboard centers from a couple of rolls of wrapping paper covered with plastic wrap for blocking.
Another Husky Hat
Apparently my DH cannot have too many Husky hats:
malabrigo SOCK in Violeta Africana and Ochre
Pattern?
cast on enough stitches
2×2 ribbing for a while
stockinette for a while
decrease down to nuthin
striping along the way.
Homemade Hat Block
I needed to block my Catherine Lowe beanie
folded kitchen towels into quarters lengthwise and rolled them together to get the right diameter:
wrapped a ribbon around it:
shaped the crown by pushing the center up:
covered it in plastic wrap:
put the washed wet hat on top, and pinned it:
final:
Sheilavig Vest in Shibui Sock Midnight
Finally.
I’ve had this pattern for…
…since before it went out of print a few years ago.
I’ve had the yarn for…a while.
As well as the buttons. sheesh.
and I love this color. So much. Too much for just socks.
Shibui Sock in Midnight
Yarn Conversion
Compare gauge and yardage:
Scottish Fleet_________Shibui Sock
100 g________________50 g
28-36 sts/ 4inches_____30 sts/4 inches
245 yds______________191 yds
Since the gauges were similar, I aimed for comparable yardage.
For the pattern requirement of 7 balls of Scottish Fleet I would need about 9 hanks of Shibui Sock:
7 skeins x 245 yds/skein (Fleet) = 1715 yds
1715 yds Ă· 191 yds/hank(Shibui) ~ 9 hanks
So, I bought 11 hanks of Shibui sock. Because that’s how I think.
I ended up using 8 hanks + 3.7g of Shibui Sock.
And now I have enough leftover yarn for socks and mittens
or mittens and a hat!
Pewter buttons from
Button Emporium & Ribbonry
in Portland.
Modifications:
Shortened overall about 1 inch.
For button band, pick-up 3 stitches every 4 rows, instead of pattern specific stitch number.
Dropped the front neckline about 1-1/2 inches; pattern is crewneck.
Added back neck shaping (white dashed curve) for a better fit; the pattern is straight across.
Skipped the picot cast on, too fiddly and frilly for me.
Fiddly cast on, I never could get the points to look consistent
Of course, I also omitted the additional picot trim around the front.
My new hat & cowl – Simple Couture design & yarn by Catherine Lowe
I took a class with Catherine Lowe. It made me believe I could design all my dream sweaters to fit perfectly.
If I could just find some time.
Some LOT of time…
Meanwhile, I’ll just knit something Catherine Lowe designed with her beautiful yarn.
CL IV alpaca silk yarn in black violet –
one big ball of yarn for both the hat & cowl custom wound for my order!
This CL IV is 4 alpaca strands and 4 silk strands put together, not twisted together.
It knit up incredibly soft and springy.
Simple Couture 4.01 cowl
Habu Textiles Kit A-84 skirt
I love this skirt!
Habu Textiles Kit A-84
It drapes and moves beautifully and feels fantastic.
border knit with a single of mohair/silk
The pattern calls for a drawstring at the waist, but I added a studded skinny belt instead.
The skirt is knit with two yarns held together; it comes on one cone of a-1 tsumugi silk and one cone of a-32 silk mohair, with no knots.
TIPS:
I met squiffyknits at Madrona and she gave me The Best Advice:
Mark every decrease as you knit.
I would have LOST MY MIND if I had had to try to find and count the 47 decreases on each panel of this tweedy mohairy knit!
I ran a light colored thread through the edges before soaking so it would be easier to put in the blocking wires when it was all dark wet silk and mohair.
I made a template for the pieces to simplify blocking.
I used two blocking wires at the hem, one through the main fabric (two yarns held together) and a second wire through the mohair/silk single border.
Knitting In Mind 