Flower Of Scotland

I never know where the next inspiration will come from.  Last month's National Geographic Magazine came and Lindsay, as usual, was the first to grab and devour it.  Passing behind her with an armload of (what else?) laundry, I caught sight of the photo she was looking at:

photo by Marcelin Bonnard

Although my mind was anywhere but on work at that moment, I knew exactly what to do for this year's Eeek! Steeks! class project at the Madrona Winter Retreat.  A rectangular stole, with Thistles.  I dropped the laundry like a bad habit and sat down to draw a chart.

Then I sent the chart, some photos, and a vague wish list to the lovely and talented Lisa Millman of Dicentra Designs.  Lisa is a lady who knows her way around a dye pot, and let me tell you, she took the bit in her teeth:

This is one of the photos Lisa and I passed back and forth:  My chart, a photo and her yarn colors.  Pretty sure Lisa loves her job as much as I do.

Here are the finished skeins.  Bonnie Prince Charlie himself could not wish for a more Thistle-icious palette.  Super. Sexy. Yarn. 

And it's arrived just in time to prevent me from climbing the draperies, too.  I'm casting on today, and the laundry will have to suffer on without me.

I thought it would be fun to blog the process of making the kits and sample this year, for the intrepid souls who choose to join me in class.  For those who don't know, the homework for my epic Eeek! Steeks! class is to complete the knitting of an exclusive design, for which I send you the kit.  Class lasts for 6 hours.  During the first half, I teach three different steeking techniques.  Then in the second half, everyone chooses their favorite technique, cuts and finishes their project with me there to hold hands and help.  It's the most fun I have all year.  And that's saying something, because I know how to have fun, and I do a damn fine job of it the other 364 days.

This class holds a select 24 students, so if you'd like to join in the fun, stay tuned HERE for the registration lottery.  As before, if you'd like to have this year's kit without taking the class, they'll be available for sale in the Madrona marketplace.  To have a kit put aside for purchase in your name, drop me a line so Lisa and I can make sure to make enough kits.  The kit is exclusive to the Madrona Winter Retreat, so if you can't make it there yourself, find a friend who'll be attending HERE to pick it up for you.  Pricing for non-student kits has not been finalized yet, but we'll let you know asap.

If anybody needs me, I'll be the one neglecting the laundry in favor of a yarn-induced joy spiral.

Final Front Forces Placket Planning

I knocked out the Left Front over the weekend.  I *might* be on a little bit of a tear.  

And while it was drying, I started to play with how to make the front placket.  See, because I decided on a square neck, which will require miters at its inside corners, I've been thinking that I must also miter the outside corners.  Why?, you might well ask.  Umm, because I'm a spaz, and having one sexy mitered inside corner, and one boring picked-up edge right next to it is going to make my teeth itch.  And possibly my hair fall out in clumps.  I know my persnickety nature well enough to predict that this is one of those situations where I just want it how I want it.  So I grabbed my initial swatch and gave the outside miter thing a whirl:

I initially thought that the placement of the top buttonhole adjacent to the miter would be the tricky part.  And I was right.  This one didn't land quite where I wanted it.  But the real problem turned out to be that my M1R and M1L increases on either side of the center st of the miter took too much slack out of the center st, pulling it in.  See how the corner isn't square, and both the top and side edges are slanting?  Since the buttonholes were also too close together, I pulled the whole thing out, trying to be glad that at least I'd tried it in small scale first.

And then I tried again, using different increases.  Which also sucked, so I pulled it out.

On the 4th or 5th try, I realized that I really didn't have to knit placket along the whole edge of the swatch: just the corner would suffice.  "DUH" magazine called to ask me to pose for the November cover.

I gave up in frustration (but not before viciously stretching and pinning the poor thing to the arm of the sofa, hoping it would "block out": Fail.)  The solution came to me in that foggy place between sleep and awake: The center stitch of the outside miter needed more yarn in it so the increases on either side of it wouldn't pull too tight.  So all I had to do was artificially elongate it.  Which I could easily do by wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when making that one stitch (which happens on the WS, just in case the whole thing wasn't fiddly enough).  But it worked:

By elongating the center st when making it (on the WS), when I made the increases on either side of it on the RS, it shortened up to the normal size without pulling in!  Pleased with myself?  Little Bit.  I called "Knitting Show Offs" magazine to ask if they need contributions. 

They're gonna get back to me.  Really.

Sleeves at Season's End

Yesterday I tried racing the weather.  Our last bit of shiny October warmth was correctly predicted to end this morning.  And I still had two sleeves to block.  Not that it can't be done indoors, but it's never as fast, or delicious-smelling.  So I challenged myself to finish the second sleeve cap, and pin them both out before the sun set.

I made it.  Just.    

They were still damp when the sun went down and I had to move the whole works inside, but I still feel smug.

I can't believe how NOT tired of this stitch pattern I am.  It internalized really easily, and I love the rhythm of it.  I also love how I can just count repeats to see the landmarks for shaping: After 11 diamonds it's time for the armpit, etc.

The rain came this morning, and with it the end of the golden part of autumn.  It'll be strictly monsoons from now till next July.  I'm trying not to think about how it will be to watch Campbell's football practices, outside in the mud.  I *may* have ordered an enormously long down parka.  That will help a lot, but the real challenge is trying to knit while holding an umbrella.  I know:  First World problem.

I'll try to envision a solution while I knit the left front.  Indoors.