twinset.us

On the Road Again

March 7th, 2010 by Jan in Travel, Teaching, Work in Progress, General | 2 Comments →

Dear Ellen,

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 3:30 AM so as to make it to Reagan International in time for a series of flights that would take me to Monterey, CA. I’m speaking in one of the classes at the Navy Postgraduate School Information Professional Center of Excellence in the morning and then heading to San Diego. Tuesday morning I speak at a Joint Tactical Radio System S&T conference and then get on the red eye to head back to DC, arriving at 8:30 AM Wednesday and then hustling into the Pentagon in time to give a briefing on future netcentric investment strategies at 10:00 PM.

All this and what I’d really like to do is get home and finish my little mitered bag. I enrolled in Annie Modesitt’s on line course and it’s quite fun! When I should have been packing, I was mitering. I didn’t have enough time to spare to finish it, but I did get a good bit of progress on my class bag. As I was rushing, it’s a bit wonky, but I’m putting a lot of faith into the felting of it to erase my sins. I didn’t bring it with me — too many balls of yarn and a desire to finish the samples and pattern for the Hugs and Kisses socks. I think I may be able to have both complete by the end of the trip. Then I can finish off that little bag! (Then I’ll probably do it again, with more precision and in other colors!)

Love, Jan

If this is Tuesday, I must be knitting…

March 7th, 2010 by Ellen in Uncategorized | 3 Comments →

Hi, Jan,

Actually, I knit pretty much every day this week, and many of them with friends.

Monday night was our regular knitting group, this month at Cafe Latte. CL’s turtle cake comes with a statement from the surgeon general on it, it changes your blood chemistry that fast. I managed to resist, getting my indulgence from the rich knitting going on around me.

Lisa literally took the sweater off her husband’s back to show it off to us. I saw P in it the other night, and if you think it looks good on her, you should see it on him!

Kathleen finished her entrelac stole - wow! It was worth the wait. I think she has been working on this, in between other projects, ever since I met her over a year ago. It blocked out to a wonderful fabric and the colors are perfect for her.

Gail is close to finishing her Hanne Falkenberg kit. She reports that HF was extremely helpful when she ran short of a color and even sent her another skein - for free.

I paid for Thursday’s knitting adventures - a charity knit at Lisa’s house. She raises scholarship funds for food science undergrads by doing a silent auction item of knitting and fellowship, supplying wonderful nibbles and yarn - Lion Brand cashmere blend. So far I like it - nice to knit, fast-working Aran weight, and it will be soft and washable - perfect blend of luxury, economy, and practicality that makes it exceptional for gifting. I don’t like the project I started - improvising to fit a pattern this wasn’t meant to fit - so that will be frogged without note.

Saturday brought my work club’s outing to StevenBe: A Yarn Garage Workshop. This joint was created out of the passion of Steven Berg, aka the Glitter Knitter, who not only runs one of the most entertaining yarn stores in the Twin Cities, the Yarn Garage, but is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about yarn and design. AND one of the most giving, socially-concious people I know, too.

Steven located his new endeavor, StevenBe, right in the heart of one of the rougher neighborhoods of Minneapolis. He is hiring people from the neighborhood to help him out with maintenance, gardening, repairs. He caters his events from local, not chain, eateries (yesterday’s lunch - Turtle Bread’s artichoke soup and pesto salad - Dr. K knows what I’m saying). He is creating a space for artists - fiber, musical, literary - to come and enjoy each other and knit. He overtly states he isn’t expecting people to only knit on yarn from his stores or to pay for advice - what a breath of fresh air. There are fee-based luncheons and classes, but anyone can stop in and browse the yarn at any time and relax and knit a bit. You’ll meet Steven when you are here for Yarnover.

The only bad thing I can say about Steven is he has a streak of enabler in him. I’ll let you figure this one out, and then you may mock me. (Just like a drug dealer, the first one is always free.)

That’s the spin around from here,

Love,

Ellen

A bronze gansey…

March 2nd, 2010 by Ellen in Design, Tips and Tricks | 10 Comments →

Dear Jan,

At last it is done, my bronze colored gansey. Just under the wire for a WIPs Dancing medal.

I am so thankful for the loophole in the rules that let us knit until midnight PST instead of stopping with closing ceremonies. I decided to reknit the neck because it was way too sloppy, and I had plenty of time to do it, having finished the last sleeve Saturday evening. I carefully redesigned, added some short rows to better fit the nape of my neck and got well into the ribbing. Upon trying it on, I discovered that the initials worked into the lower front left had disappeared. Except they hadn’t - they were now on the lower back right, as I had knit the neck on backwards. Bum initials are not considered traditional.

I ripped it all out, reknit it again, and finished the neck ribbing a bit after the Olympic flame had been extinguished. Weaving in ends took a few more minutes, so I finished up as the late night show with more closing ceremonies came on, well before the deadline, though later than I’d intended.

I even got it blocked before going to bed so I could wear it to work today. I really enjoyed it - this yarn is dynamite. Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit is a blend of tencel and wool and it results in a hand that is drapey but resilient, with great stitch definition. I am much happier with the new neckline (and am happy that the initials are in the front).

I originally planned to write this up as a pattern, but I got very creative in places. Describing some of my acrobatics is just a bit too daunting. The next one I’ll go about planning a bit differently and that will be the one I write up.

I think I’ll head to bed and start dreaming up that next design.

Love,

Ellen

Made It to the Finish Line!

February 28th, 2010 by Jan in Ravelympics, Finished Projects | 6 Comments →

Dear Ellen,

I finished my last WIPs Dancing entry just as the Canadian Men’s Team scored their sudden death victory over our hocky team. For a country reputed for politeness, I’m thinking that wasn’t really the nicest move on their part. On the bright side it did make it easy to ask Dale to come photograph my finished object. Had the U.S. won he would have been glued to the TV.

A Stitch Away from Genius is an Einstein Coat that will serve as a bathrobe. I realized this pretty early in the knitting as I learned more about alpaca and drape and the fact that it just doesn’t have the sproinginess to maintain a dense, resilient fabric as one would want for a coat. (At least not with a single strand of bulky weight — two maybe…better yet, one with a woolly friend would have been better.) The fabric I have is not dense at all…it does have nice drape and is very comfy so I’m just as happy — it is luscious on and will get good use. Now I need to find purple or burgundy paisley satin p.j.’s. I added the embellishment to give it more zing (that was a LOT of purple) and to add some structure to the fabric. It worked. I’m pretty satisfied with the results. This means I tallied 4 medals this Ravelympics…3 WIPs Dancing, 1 Aerial Unwind and 1 Short Track Shawl. I feel accomplished!

Here’s hoping your gansey comes in under the wire!

Love, Jan

One More Down…One to Go!

February 28th, 2010 by Jan in Ravelympics, Finished Projects | 2 Comments →

Dear Ellen,

Here is the finished Cinnamon Tee in all it’s glory. I am very pleased with this little shirt. If I hadn’t gained about 10 pounds since cast-on it would really look great…instead there’s a bit too much negative ease, but current plans are to make that a non-issue by summer. Even so, I could wear it very happily right now as long as I had a jacket over it — and don’t you think that neckline would look great under a jacket? It’s too cold to wear it alone right now anyway.

I’m also on the verge of finishing my last entry — all done except for sewing on 7 buttons. I’m pretty sure that will be done long before closing ceremonies even start. I’m about to go join Dale and Ruby for the big US-Canada hockey game and I should have those taken care of before the first period ends. Did you know Ruby was a hockey fan?

Love, Jan

Destashing to REALLY Feel Good About

February 28th, 2010 by Jan in Destashing, Charity | 3 Comments →

Dear Ellen,

Jessie X writes in her blog about her friend Sherri and Sherri’s efforts to bring smiles to the faces of kids suffering from cancer. Sherri works through Hair Flair for Hope and the National Children’s Medical Center where she brings wigs of her creation (made of wild, fun-fun-fun yarn) and holds workshops to help others do the same and workshops directly with the kids. (If you’re on Facebook you can check out Hair Flair for Hope here.)

Sherri is still committed to this effort and still needs yarn. I have some in my stash that was just waiting for this opportunity to tell me what it wanted to be and I’ll be sending it to her directly! If you want to help support this work Sherri would be very grateful. Here are her guidelines…“I need yarns of all types and textures. With the exception of a few colors (gray, white, cream, pastels and non-vibrant blues) I can use it! Bold colors (purples, reds, greens, oranges, bright pinks), fun yarn (glittery, variegated colors, etc…) and natural colors (browns, tans, burgundies, rusts, purples) are most useful and in shorter supply. Partial skeins or unmatched dye lots are welcome! My only request is that the yarn be either bulky yarns, novelty yarns, or super fantastic other yarns. I am fully stocked on acrylic worsted weight yarns.”

Yarn can be mailed directly to her at:

Sherri Sosslau
PO Box 7660
Washington, DC 20044-7660

Do note the bit where she already has plenty acrylic worsted weight yarn — what she really needs is the stuff we bought because it so amused us at the time — or that came as part of that yarn lot on eBay that had the couple of skeins you really were after — or that your friend gave you because, “You knit, right? I bet you could use this!” This is a great way to lighten the stash and feel really good about it. And USPS flat rate boxes are good around the whole country!

Love, Jan

Moonshadows and hobbits…

February 28th, 2010 by Ellen in Uncategorized | 4 Comments →

Dear Jan,

I suppose the east coast was swathed in clouds last night so you may not have gotten to appreciate the stunning full moon. We were clear and it was beautiful. Snow makes a perfect canvas for moonshadow. It reflects the light so wonderfully you hate to go to bed and miss any of it.

Sweet Marie sent me a sweet gift for, of all reasons, me wishing her a happy birthday. I’m pretty sure she is part hobbit. I think I’ll go mark the calendar for next year, as the cards she sent, along with a charming notebook in the guise of a dancecard, are so delightful. Thank you very much, Marie! This is one more concrete embodiment of the wealth of friendship the internet knitting community has brought to us.

The stadium is in sight as I make progress on that gansey in my WIPs Dancing event for Ravelympics. A few more rounds of ribbing on the sleeve, a redo on the neck ribbing (maybe adding a couple short rows to pull up the back of the neck), and some ends to weave in. I’ll share a photo finish later. What a luxury to spend a good chunk of the day knitting!

Love,

Ellen

P.S. On the topic of wealth - time to share more of it. Whether they use it in Chile or Haiti or elsewhere, the Red Cross is getting a bit more from us this month. Wilson and I are unbelievably fortunate; it is the least we can do. I know others may have tapped out their discretionary funds with donating to Haitian efforts last month, so time for us to step up further. I encourage all who can to do the same.

Bohus?

February 25th, 2010 by Ellen in Uncategorized | 7 Comments →

Hi, Jan,

Finally, photos of the finished Swedish Hawthorne cap. Despite its being knit from Kerstin Olson’s original design, in colors quite close to the original, I think it is more of a Bohus-inspired cap than a true Bohus.

The reason - the yarn, Fairy Hare from Kimmet Croft - just doesn’t meet the Bohus standard. It is a a lovely soft merino/angora blend, the dyeing is adequate (though color intensity is not consistent along the strand), and it would make a lovely yarn for many projects. The problem is that it is terribly inconsistent in spin, going from laceweight (too fine of a gauge) to chunky (far too heavy a gauge) within inches, and sometimes repeating this several times a yard. At first I spliced out the worst of it, but it was so frequent I finally gave up and knit away.

The result: more of a folk cap than a Bohus hat. Don’t get me wrong - it is still a fabulous cap. But it isn’t Bohus. Here is a shot of the cap right next to one knit of the SolSilke yarn from which the true Bohus reproductions are being knit.

As you likely know, this yarn is intended to be a slightly larger gauge - 7 st/in vs the 8.25 or finer gauge of the original sweaters. Because of the larger gauge, the crown is exceptionally deep, and I had to alter the pattern to increase the decrease rate (hey, that’s calculus!) by about 50%. It yielded a pretty gathered top. I used a size 1 needle - likely I could have gotten a finer gauge if I’d gone smaller, but this needle size worked well for me with this yarn.

Another thing of beauty I’ve been admiring this week is the way our snowbanks are melting. I can’t quite capture it in photos. South-facing snow banks are melting into the most bizarre shapes due to the reflected warmth from the road and the dripping and refreezing water. Some look like waves cresting - really quite beautiful. Yes, they are dirty, but the shapes are fabulous. The left hand photo, not sure you can discern this, shows a thin sheet of twisted ice that has formed as things melt. It amazes me that it doesn’t just melt in a lump. (Yes, we cling to small thrills here in the northland.)

And not a thing of beauty yet, but my last Ravelympics project (WIPS Wrestling) is heading that way - the gansey has resurrected. You can see that all I have to finish is the last sleeve, and I am about 2/5 of the way there. I also want to reknit the collar and snug it up a bit. I hope I don’t get over-confident and wipe out before I cross the finish line.

Good luck crossing the finish line of your week!

Love,

Ellen

It’s a Beach Underwater Too

February 20th, 2010 by Jan in Vacation | 5 Comments →

Dear Ellen,

I didn’t mention scuba in the last post, because I’ve got a LOT of great scuba pictures. Some of these are courtesy of one of the other divers who had a digital waterproof camera. And some are from a waterproof disposable film camera that we picked up.

I won’t give a running commentary, but I will suggest you look for the manta ray, the shark, the spiny lobsters and the cute divers. We got in two dives while we were there and are giving serious thought about getting our advanced qualifications before we go back. Yes, we pre-booked to return in February 2011. It was that fun.

Love, Jan

Life’s a Beach (Continued)

February 20th, 2010 by Jan in Vacation, General | 2 Comments →

Dear Ellen,

What does one do at an all inclusive resort in Jamaica? I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

You get there on chartered bus from the airport that makes a strategic stop about halfway into the hour and a half ride so that one might stock up on essentials like Red Bull — in order that they might be sure to have energy for all the vacation activities ahead.