novamade

it's fall y'all

When I was growing up in a part of Florida that is included in the charmingly referred to"Redneck Riviera" (though I prefer the Emerald Coast, myself), people would often joke around about the passing of seasons.  Usually, we had to remind each other that fall was supposedly in the air because the seasons could basically be descibed as, "kinda cold" and "really hot."  I don't remember there being a lot of in-betweens, weather-wise. 

But now that I am a Yankee (that's what my friend Alanna calls me now, it's kind of funny), I have the opportunity to experience the passage of seasons and all the trappings that go with the seasonal changes as they happen in New England.

Aside from being the most colorful and, and in my opinion, the prettiest season, fall is also transitional.  You may not need a huge bulky scarf; but a lacey shawl or scarf made with a touch of wool is nice. 

That's why I like knitting shawls in the summer, I can be wardrobe ready in the fall.  The newest addition to my shawl collection is Percy.  The pattern is a freebie on ravely as well as on the author's blog.   I have no idea why she might it available for free other than kindness, because I would (and I am sure others) would gladly pay for a pattern that produces something so pretty.

I won't say the pattern was easy.  There are people on ravely who have said this, I think they are lying.  The pattern isn't overtly difficult; but, it is not what I would call a piece of cake.  I would not reccomend this to a new lace knitter (if I had chosen this as my first lace projects, I can say with a great degree of certainty that I would have never picked up a lace pattern ever again), there are way easier patterns out there to cut your lace teeth on (Lace Leaf Shawl, Flower Basket Shawl, and of course Ishbel, to name just a few).  The intricate pattern detail requires you to pay attention on the right and the wrong side of the shawl.  Both sides are charted for most of the shawl.  There are a great many nupps to contend with.  You could, I am sure, knit the shawl without the nupps, but I think the nupps really add a lot to this shawl (there was a time I thought nupps were kind of frivolous, but now, I sort of like them).

This shawl is something of a show stopper.  Every time I wear it (and I wear it quite a bit), I am asked (if the person is a knitter) where the pattern can be acquired or (if the person is not a knitter) where I bought the shawl/scarf.  Just this morning someone asked if I would make one for her, because she loved it so much.  And you guys know how I am about good friends asking me to make them things. Sigh. Clearly, I need to start walking around with my fall crafting list upon my person (just as soon as I finish the leftover crafts from the summer, of course).

Specifics on the rav and in the gallery.  Happy fall!

how to win friends and influence people

I suspect that, if Bertha and I were not already friends, she would be very friendly with me after getting this handspun I spun for her.

It took me longer than I would have liked to spin (even longer for the twist to set); but, it's pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself; and, obviously I do.

But wait, there's more!  I spun some of the wool from my friend, Kathy. 

When she gets her own blog, I will link to her.  But for now, I will have to refer back to the post where I dyed 2 pounds of New Zealand perrendale wool at my friend's house.  I wasn't sure that my rudimentary dye job on the roving would look all that great when spun up.  Sometimes it's good to be wrong.  I think this is really pretty.  I am going to add it to my fall knitting pile, I don't know what I am going to do with it yet. I am, of course, open to suggestions.

And I have finished some other projects, here's a sneek peek....

autumn on the horizon

Summer, auf wiedersehen. Bonjour, Autumn.

If there is one thing a contest or giveaway is good for, it's learning that you are not alone in your insanity.  Some of you have some crazy long lists; and, I totally respect that.  My plans for fall seemed ready, and then a friend gave me a request that might push a ton of my fall projects into winter (as opposed to the few projects I was previously expecting).

So I think this is all of the fall knitting that I have planned.  The grey (back left) is some Beaverslide Dy Goods McTaggert Tweed destined to be a sweater.  I have no idea which one since I have changed my mind about the pattern no less than 6 times between taking it out of the cabinet and winding the cakes.  The orange yarn next to the grey is going to be a shawl, very fall, no?  The taupe/brown yarn next to the orange is going to be a Wallaby,  I think it's time that Little Sir had one that was easy care and cotton.  Below that is some dyed Perrendale wool that is going to be spun up and knit into a sweater for Little Mister.  Next to the blue roving and underneath the orange yarn is a sweater that has been in progress since last fall--it needs sleeves, that's doable.  A skein of Cherry Tree Supersock in birches for socks.  Some Louet sport...maybe another sweater for Little Mister, clearly one who gets so happy about fall needs fall sweaters?  And then the single sock with the remainder of sock yarn for a sock that has been mateless for two years.  So sad.

I was all set with the knitting plans; and, then a friend who bought a house in Costa Rica last year asked if I would make two afghans for her new piece of paradise to brighten things up.  Um, how could I say no?  I could not.  So I am going to be crocheting two afghan throws; but, I need to finish them so she can take them along to her new place in November.  So that is likely going to be where my efforts get concentrated first.  I haven't gotten the yarn yet (and can I just freely admit how giddy I am to be ordering new yarn?  It's so exciting to looks at the colors and imagine what the yarn can be turned into!  I wish I could be a personal shopper for yarn types, I would be so good at that.  Really.).

And then there are the quilts.  I wants to make tons, but I have to finish the log cabin quilt. Little Sir is very interested in helping me.  I think the hold up for this quilt is the fact that I decided to quilt it myself, when the sensible solution would be to send it out to a professional quilter with a longarm machine.  But deep down, there is some part of me that wants to be able to say, "oh, quilt a queen-sized quilt, I've done that, it's not so bad."  That is also the part me that I refer to as my naive and stupid side, so there you are.)

And then there is this autumnal stack for a kid's quilt.

And don't even get me started on my weaving plans.  I don't know what they are, but I know I have plans to weave...

In case you were wondering, I wasn't as successful on the summer finishing front, the red scarf is done (needs wet blocking); and, I am super close to finishing the lacey shawl...I should be able to get things from the summer list done this week though (with the exception of the sweater vest, never have I felt so plagued by such a simple project).  I don't feel so bad about it, I had a nice and restful weekend with my boys, and that was where my priorities were for the holiday.

And as for the contest/giveaway, I used a random number generator to "pick" a winner, and that would be Ali who blogs at Skeins Her Way.  Thanks for playing everyone, good luck with finishing your summer projects and getting through your fall knitting list!

and we're off!

                                            above: summer spinning

I know that, technically, there are 17 or 18 days left of summer (for those of us north of the equator); but, I think that I am not alone in thinking that fall pretty much starts afterLabor Day (next Monday, the 7th).  For me, a deadline serves as a strong motivating force to get things done.  I do not quake about deadlines, I welcome them (I hope for them, actually).  So with a minute past midnight, the 8th (day after Labor Day) as my deadline, I have a couple of days to finish a couple of things.  Because, quite frankly, I am way more excited about my fall projects than I am about my summer ones that are sort of languishing.

I have been working on a vest all summer, I already know it's not getting done by Monday, so the vest will be my carry over project to the next season (I only work on it during my lunch hour at work, so it's slow going, but I know it'll get done).  It's the one fall project that I am not particularly excited about.

I have had a red silk scarf on my Kromski rigid heddle loom since last October.  The loom got buried underneath some fabric and batting at some point and it was out of my sight, so it went out of my mind.  I am finishing this scarf if I finish nothing else this weekend.

Actually, I am going to spin this roving for Bertha, even if I finish nothing else this weekend.  Sorry, Bertha, when I said I would post this Friday, I really meant that I would post it to you on Tuesday.

I have two quilts that I would like to finish up, one needs binding and the other needs quilting and binding. 

 

Finish two quilts in a weekend? Totally doable.

 

I have been working on a shawl all summer that needs to be finished, because I am sick of working on it.  I don't really like knitting shawls in laceweight yarn, so I am not really sure why I started this.  It's almost done...32 rows, that's nothing.

Of course, I am going to try to finish this stuff while taking the boys to the beach or some other such nonsense (that is what one does over Labor Day weekend, apparently, that and grill things), and generally having long holiday weekend family fun.  And when I am done with all of that, I am going to read some books.

Yes.  I know.

For those in the US, Happy Labor Day!  May your laboring be fruitful.

And you still have time to enter the contest (it's not really a contest, but, there you are)/givewaway if you haven't already done so.