The Traveling Knitter

ALS needs your help

2008-07-02T09:52:00.001-04:00

Often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of it's ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe.

ALS became very personal and real to our family when our good friend, Gary Herbein, was diagnosed with ALS two years ago. Now confined to a wheelchair, Gary and his wife, Jeanie, maintain an incredibly positive outlook on life and are an inspiration to all who know them. As a former Marine himself, Gary's biggest desire is to be able to attend his grandson's graduation from Marine Corps basic training this coming September.

Our oldest son, Josh, is running on the ALS Team in the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon this October. You can help fund research into this devastating disease by making a contribution here.

Baby Surprise Jackets . . . Again!

2008-06-05T15:35:00.010-04:00

OK, it is summer in Florida . . . . really, really, really humid and hot. So that means knitting little things that don't have to lay in your lap. Which is why I've become addicted to experimenting with Elizabeth Zimmerman's BSJ pattern. You'd think this would get boring, but no . . . it seems like there are endless options for color, pattern, and size.

It is interesting that 200 yards of any kind of yarn (sock, DK, worsted) will make the jacket on almost any size needles (4, 6, 8 and 10). If you add longer cuffs and a collar, it takes a little more.

These two are probably newborn to 3 to 6 month size (notice the nice tomatoes in my raised bed garden!) The yellow/green one is knit with Plymouth Yarn's Dream Baby (DK on size 6 needles). Boy, is that soft yarn! The multicolored sweater is knit with sock yarn on size 4 needles.

This one fits a one year old. It was knit with Plymouth Encore worsted yarn on size 8 needles.

The pink one was knit with the same yarn on size 10 needles and I think it will fit 18 months to 2 years, but I haven't found any stray toddlers to model it, so I can't confirm that size. It is a little bit bigger than the one above though.

One of the really fun things about these sweaters is that the buttons you choose can really make the sweater so cute.

I've made notes to supplement the BSJ pattern and am happy to share them with anyone. You'll still have to buy the pattern from Schoolhouse Press for the complete instructions. Anyway, if you haven't knit one of these fun baby/toddler sweaters, I guarantee that you will fall in love with the pattern once you try it. Just send me an email if you'd like my notes. There is additional information on helpful links for this pattern here.

Hypoteneuse Scarf

2008-01-20T17:12:00.000-05:00

My new favorite yarn: handspun alpaca that I got at the fiber festival in North Carolina last fall. Here's what I made with it. The pattern is Anne Hanson's "Hypoteneuse" scarf (it can also be a shawl). This yarn is so soft and warm that I want this scarf to last forever! Honestly, everyone should have something that feels this good to wrap around their neck.

It was so much fun to knit that I made another one for my husband . . . in a manly brown alpaca/wool mix.

You can order the pattern from Anne's website "Knitspot."

On knitting and orphans

2008-01-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

Last year I heard about the "Red Scarf Project" to send hand knitted scarves in care packages to former foster children who were now in college. These young adults are supported by the Orphan Foundation of America. So I sent a couple of scarves and at Christmas I received a thank you card from OFA. I stuck the card in the Christmas card basket and forgot about it until I cleaned the basket out last week.

I was curious about OFA, so I went to their website where I learned that every year 25,000 children age out of the foster care system at age 18. These young people suddenly find themselves out in the world without any family or other means of support. Only half finish high school and only 2% complete college. Without an education, family or financial support, this is a pretty bleak beginning to their adult lives.

Founded in 1981, the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA) is the only national organization focusing solely on education, mentoring and workforce development for teens aging out of the foster care system.

I hope you'll take a minute to read about OFA's good works . . . and to see how you can help. There are several volunteering opportunities, but as little as $20.00 will send a care package to one of the students.

Soon we'll be home

2007-11-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

This gate leads from a little old cemetery into a pasture that is located on the edge of our home RV park just south of Gainesville, Florida.

I love this place for all of the nature: hiking and biking, spring-fed rivers for kayaking, and lots of birds -- water birds, little song birds, hawks, ospreys, and even a pair of eagles that nest across the road. They spend their days perched in the top of a big dead tree on the edge of Orange Lake looking for fish and unlucky critters. One day I was running and one of the eagles flew so low, just above my head! In his claws was a big old black snake. He was taking it to the nest to share with the baby eagles. Every day is an opportunity to see something exciting in nature.

Bye Bye Summer

2007-11-10T15:27:00.001-05:00

SAFF

2007-11-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

SAFF is the South-
eastern Animal Fiber Fair which is an annual festival of all things fiber related. It has fiber in all of its forms . . . from on the hoof to beautiful hanks of yarn and even gorgeous finished garments. As well as . . . spinning wheels and spinning tools, dyes and dyeing stuff, lots of felting materials, books, and classes galore!

The festival is held at the WNC Ag Center in Fletcher, NC for three days at the end of October. This was the 14th year for the wildly popular event. There are two floors in the main building filled with vendors. I heard that in order for a vendor to get a space in the main arena (pictured above), you have to go on a waiting list for years and years. There are so many vendors now that they are putting them out in the stables, right along with the llamas and alpacas! The sheep and goats get their own barn.

I took four classes, which left me just enough time to shop on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday right up until closing time. I'm sure I walked a few miles going around and around both the upper and lower levels of the Ag Center, as well as checking out the vendors and animals in the out buildings.

In my first class, Beginning Spinning, I learned how to spin a gnarly rope on a spinning wheel. The class was really too big for one instructor and an assistant, but it gave me a hands on taste of what spinning is all about. Next I had fun learning how to dye yarn with Kool Aid with Nancy Hamilton. Who knew you could have such fun with water, vinegar, Kool Aid, yarn and a microwave oven? I missed her class on dyeing with things you find in nature (leaves, acorns, etc.), so I hope to take that next year.

My favorite class was learning how to spin on a spindle with Leslie Bebensee, whose love for spinning was contagious. This was fascinating to me because spindles have been used since very early civilization. I recently listened to a wonderful audio book, THE RED TENT, which told the story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob in biblical times, and she talked about how important spindling skills were to their survival. So, I now have a collection of spindles and some wool roving. I also learned a lot about different fibers from this class and a book, SPINDLE SPINNING by Connie Delaney (available at Leslie's website, I think) that I bought at the festival.

The last class was Point Spinning with a wonderful instructor, Eileen Hallman. We learned about the charka and attempted to spin cotton on Ghandi's little spinning wheel in a "book."

Here's a peek at the beautiful hand spun and dyed yarn I bought. I've already knitted a beautiful scarf with the white alpaca. This yarn is soooo soft. I still need to block it, so I don't have pictures yet.

Heading to SAFF!

2007-10-21T12:32:00.000-04:00

I finished and blocked the lace scarf/ shawl while I was at my Mom's recently. She has tons of room in her basement workshop and she had the perfect thing to put under the towels for blocking. She had two big pieces of some sort of white art board that you could poke pins in. Worked great!

This week we'll be heading down to the Asheville, NC area for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) where we will actually be camping right at the Ag Center SAFF site! Can you believe it? I have only to walk out the door and I'll be there! Three days of total fiber immersion!

Did you know that not everyone understands what a fiber festival is? My son just told me that he thought it was a festival for people who take Metamucil!!! Can you imagine all the porta-potties they'd need for that kind of festival????

As a non-spinner, I'm torn between the fascination of spinning and the sure knowledge that I already don't have enough time for knitting, so why do I think I have more time for spinning? But I ignored logic and signed up for three spinning classes (and one dyeing class) anyway! It is high time to expand my horizons, don't ya think? Although I pretty sure that a spinning wheel will not fit in the motorhome or my budget right now. I've heard of new spinners coming home from fiber festivals with spinning wheels, but I am strong. . . I can resist. . . I am strong. . . I can resist. . .

Right now we are near Lynch- burg, Virginia in the mountainettes (what I call the foothills) of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Yesterday we went hiking at Holliday Lake State Park, so I thought I'd show you that the leaves are finally just starting to turn colors. You can read about it and see more pictures here and here.

And, finally, here are three cute little pumpkins that took only about an hour each to make. You can get the pattern here.

Current knitting

2007-09-25T14:49:00.000-04:00

Just finished a pair of manly ankle socks in the Tampa Bay Buc's colors (red and gray) for a friend's birthday coming up this weekend. Both of the toes are gray, although the picture doesn't show this very well.

Next, I'm I just about finished with a lace scarf/ shawl in the most beautiful mohair blend 2-ply lace weight yarn . . . which I got on sale somewhere (Indiana?) this summer. I didn't know what I was going to do with it until I saw this pattern in Knit Simple magazine. This yarn is so soft, although a little warm to be knitting with in Florida in the summer.

Anyway, here's a picture of the work-in-progress (wip). This will be my first major lace blocking project, and I'm trying to figure out where in the motorhome I will find enough room to spread it out to block it!

An embarrassment of riches

2007-09-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

This is all the sock yarn that I won in the Summer of Socks "vacation sock picture" contest!!!

I am totally flabbergasted ! ! !

This amazingly beautiful yarn arrived in the mail today and is enough for five pairs of socks. I piled all of these pretty skeins in a basket on my desk so I can admire them and dream about all the beautiful socks they will make.

You can see the winning picture (taken by EB, of course) here.

More Baby Surprise Jackets

2007-09-25T14:27:00.001-04:00

Whew! These baby sweaters by E.Z. are addicting! They were knitted out of leftover yarn and donated to the charity knitting group at Yarnworks, my LYS in Gainesville, FL.

Here is more info on where to get the pattern, plus additional notes on the pattern.

It's a sweater!

2007-08-28T12:18:00.000-04:00

This is the third adult sweater that I have knitted . . . and the first one that actually fits me! Sweater #1 was a raglan pullover that was way too big. After laying around for a couple of years, I unraveled it to use the yarn in other projects.

Sweater #2 was a cute little thing. The emphasis here is on the word little. As in too little for me. Guess I thought I was too smart to swatch. Ha, learned a lesson from that one and swatched the heck out of the next sweater yarn. My mom was the lucky (?) recipient of the little sweater.

This one is "Tithe" from the book Noro Unlimited (can't find a link, but google NORO YARN and you'll come up with lots of options), which has lots of great patterns. I actually used Plymouth Yarns Boko to knit this because it was cheaper by half than the Noro yarn. Unfortunately, two out of ten skeins of Boku shredded when I tried to knit with them, so I can't recommend it. I have two other colorways of Boku and I'm hoping that they are a better quality. Several people on Ravelry have used Boku without problems.

Anyway, this sweater took about 8 skeins of Boku (50 gms each) and was knit on size 8 needles. It has 3/4 length sleeves and no buttons on the front. It is just something light to throw on when the weather is a little cool, or perhaps the A/C at a store or the movies. :)

SOS - Last pair?

2007-08-28T11:38:00.000-04:00

This is pair #4 (and maybe the last) for the Summer of Socks knit-along. They are also the August pair for the Ravelry sock group. I really have to stop joining these knit-alongs. Just keeping up with their blogs takes way too much knitting and biking/skating time!

These are made out of the most incredibly soft yarn - Mountain Colors Bearfoot (60% superwash wool, 25% mohair, 15% nylon) in the Ruby River colorway. Oh, they feel soooo good on the foot! Not sure if I'm keeping these, or if they are a sister present (you know who you are!).

The pattern is "River Rapid Socks" by Sockbug. It had an easy to remember pattern on the leg and going down the instep. I did my own thing on the heel.

Here's an outta focus pix of the sock blockers I made from vinyl-coated coat hangers. I got the idea from another website, which I can't remember at the moment. If I do, I'll come back and post a link here. I made a bunch of them to give to sock knitting friends. They may not be as pretty as fancy $30 sock blockers, but they cost next to nothing and probably work just as well.

Baby Surprise Jackets

2007-08-15T19:26:00.000-04:00

I jumped on the Elizabeth Zimmerman "Baby Surprise Jacket" bandwagon last week and really enjoyed the math challenge of EZ's ingenious pattern. I was half way through the first one before I knew what part of the sweater I was knitting! The first sweater involved a lot of head scratching and trust that the pattern wouldn't let me down. It was a real puzzle to solve, and I made copious notes while knitting to supplement EZ's sometimes sparse instructions.

When I finished the first sweater, I was hooked by the simple genius of it. So I immediately sat down to do a second sweater while it was fresh in my head so that I could really understand how the pattern (puzzle!) works. I refined my pattern notes and will be happy to share them. Just drop me an email: jeanie_west AT yahoo DOT com. You will still need to purchase the pattern. At the end of the post, I'll give you some links for where you can purchase this and other EZ patterns.

Here's what the sweater looks like after it is knitted (all in one piece) but before you sew the top of the sleeves and shoulders together. Those are the only seams. See what I mean about it being a puzzle? Or as EZ says in the pattern, "Are you still with me?"

And here's what it looks like finished with some cute little buttons.

On this version, I only added three of the original five buttonholes called for in the pattern. This jacket will probably fit a newborn to three month old and the yellow jacket with the red buttons will probably fit a six to 12 month old. I cast on the same number of stitches for each, but used different size needles and yarn. There are many, many variations you can add to this pattern.

Here are some helpful links if you want to knit this or other Elizabeth Zimmerman patterns:

A wiki with great pictures and notes on the BSJ: http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Baby_Surprise_Jacket

Schoolhouse Press where you can order EZ books and patterns: http://www.schoolhousepress.com/kits.htm

More "Monkey" Socks

2007-07-27T11:32:00.000-04:00

This is pair #3 for the Summer of Socks knit along. These are a Christmas present for . . . Well, I can't tell you in case she reads this!

Pattern: Cookie A's Monkey Socks
Yarn: Mountain Colors hand painted yarn in the Gold Rush colorway. This is the softest sock yarn ever and the beautiful color reminds me of fall leaves. Details: Bearfoot, 60% superwash wool, 25% mohair, 15% nylor. 350 yards/skein. I had plenty for 2 socks with a little bit leftover.
Needles: KnitPicks 2 circular needles, size 1

NOT Summer of Socks!

2007-07-19T17:57:00.000-04:00

I started these before the official Summer of Socks2007 start date, so these don't count. But, unlike some prolific sock knitters that I've read about, I can't stand to have UFO's on the needles, so I took the time to finish them. Besides, I needed the needles for my next pair!

Pattern: Fools Rush Socks, top down
Yarn: From the stash, but I can't remember -- lost the ball band. Some kind of sock yarn, 1 skein.
Needles: Size 1 - 2 circulars

Picture taken in Indiana at Horseshoe Lakes.

Summer of Socks #2

2007-07-19T17:40:00.001-04:00

A pair of generic ankle socks done with one skein of KnitPicks "Dancing". I like this yarn because it has a little stretch to it and it matches the flowers behind me! Knit cuff down on two circular needles (size 1).

This picture was taken at a Thousand Trails (membership) campground near Clinton, Indiana, called Horseshoe Lakes. The campground is full of little lakes that were once phosphate mines. I don't know how long ago they stopped mining, but it is a beautiful place today with many trees, fish in the lakes, lots and lots of song birds, and nice hiking trails. Peaceful.

Finished socks in the Canadian Rockies

2007-07-14T12:19:00.000-04:00

Ok, this is the last picture of this first pair of socks for Summer of Socks 2007, and the one I'm entering in the Socks on Vacation contest. You can read the specs on these socks here. I've since hand washed these socks and they seem a little stretchy and limp to me, but that may be because a size 2 needle was too large for this yarn. They are slouchy socks, which is okay by me.

This was taken at Vermillion Lakes in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies on one of our 4:30 IN THE MORNING excursions to get good sunrise pictures.

While EB took pictures, I did a little Nordic walking.

Future socks

2007-07-05T00:42:00.001-04:00

Here's something I learned today: Don't ever buy boucle yarn that you have to wind. It sticks to itself and I ended up winding this skein twice because the first go-round was so tight. I don't know if boucle stretches or not, but I couldn't just leave it in such a tight ball. I don't even know what I'm going to do with this yarn, but I got it from Misty Mountain Farm in Amissville, Virginia. It was beautiful AND on sale, so resistance was futile!

The two outside balls on the table are from Mountain Colors in Montana and will be socks in the near future (I hope!).

The ball in the center (I wish you could see it better) is a beautiful hand spun and dyed 5.5 ounce hank of yarn that I got for $11.00 (!!!!) at a really nice little yarn shop called The Cultured Purl (no website) in Libby, Montana. The shop owner, Susan Pugh, said the local park ranger's wife spins and dyes yarn for her shop. The day I was there, I just missed a spinning demo . . . darn!

Glacier Socks

2007-06-29T10:33:00.000-04:00

Monkey socks in Glacier National Park. I started this first pair for the Summer of Socks in Billings, MT and finished them 11 days later in Glacier. Here are the specs:
Pattern: Cookie A's Monkey socks on size 2 circulars (top down).
Yarn: The Woolen Rabbit's 50% Merino/30% Bamboo/10% Nylon Sock yarn in the Red Maple colorway. This was a beautiful, soft yarn to work with and I loved the way the colors moved throughout the socks. I did not check my gauge and I think these socks are larger than the gauge in the pattern, but that is good because I like loose socks (and I have big feet!).

Love this sock yarn!

2007-06-19T20:40:00.000-04:00

This is Colinette's Jitterbug 100% merino sock yarn. One skein makes a generous pair of socks. Besides being beautiful, it is easy on the hands, never splits, and feels good on your feet . . . although it definitely isn't a summer sock. But what I really love about it is the way the colors pool as you knit. The pattern is Cassandra Thoreson's "Fools Rush Sock," which is a lot of fun to knit. I'm on my third pair using this pattern.

I've got another skein of Jitterbug in a different colorway that I'm saving for SummerOfSocks, which starts day after tomorrow!
I'm a volunteer blog reader for SOS, and I understand that we each have about 30 blogs to monitor and then report on weekly. Wow! I may have to give up knitting to do all that blog reading. :)

We'll be on the road for the first two days of SOS, arriving in Kalispell, MT on Friday. I told my Technical Support Person (aka: husband, E.B. West) that once we get situated at the campground, his #1 priority is to be sure we have access to email and the internet!
Today we went here . . .
And you can read about it here.

Too early for SOS2007

2007-06-16T22:40:00.001-04:00

Here's a couple of pix of my current sock-in-progress taken last week at Garden of the Gods and in front of Pike's Peak in Colorado springs.

I need to hurry up and finish this pair of socks (I'm only on sock #1!) by the 21st when SOS2007 begins. I've already got four skeins of sock yarn ready to go and I just acquired two new skeins today at Wild Purls in Billings, MT (sorry, no shop website). So I'll have to get the swift and ball winder out from under the bed. That's where my stash lives . . . under the bed in the motorhome. Not much else fits under there and I was feeling sorta guilty about "all" that yarn until I got a look at pix of some other yarn addicts' stashes on the SOS flickr site. Mine doesn't hold a candle! There are some really professional stashers out there! You can be sure I showed those flickr stash pictures to my husband, just to be sure he understands what a real stash looks like! We'll tolerate no more complaining about the amount of yarn we're hauling around the country.

Summer of Socks 2007

2007-06-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

I'm creating this blog just so I can participate in the Summer of Socks! I never intended to have a knitting blog as I don't really have much to say about knitting. There are far too many excellent knitters already out in the blogosphere who really do have something to say. But you have to have a blog to join the Summer of Socks, so here I am!

I knit all the time . . . and all across the country. Every time we arrive in a new place, I Google the name of the town + yarn to see if I can find any yarn shops. Most yarn is the same from shop to shop and town to town, but what knitters are doing with that yarn changes from one part of the country to the next. So there is always something new to see yarn-wise or pattern-wise.

Ok, let me test post two pictures of a recent pair of socks. I knit these for my Aunt Rose who is a member of the Red Hat Society, hence the red and purple yarn. The heel picture is a little blurry, but I have a new camera since I took these pictures, so I think I'll be a little more focused in the future. (Don't tell Aunt Rose about this blog, because her birthday isn't until next month and I haven't given her the socks yet!)