Things I Love Thursday: the Ablet

I heard about this gadget while listening to the Math For Knitters podcast (I no longer listen to it - the poor audio quality started to bug me).

It's called the Ablet and it's seriously amazing. (No, they haven't paid me anything to tell you this.) I bought one for my mom for her birthday, and she leaves it clipped to the handle of her knitting bag. I wear mine on my right hand when I'm knitting, and it has completely changed my accuracy and pattern counting. Nevermore shall sleeves be different lengths (phew).

If I'm doing something with pattern row repeats, I use the white beads to count my rows, and the brown beads to count how many pattern repeats I've done. No more pencil and crumpled paper (or calling out, "Husband, please remember the number 17 for me!"). Otherwise, I just use it as a normal abacus (white for the 1s column, brown for the 10s).

So. Much. Better.

The only problem is when I get very engrossed in the knitting and forget to move the bead. That's not a design flaw, though, it's operator failure.

Slightly amusing story regarding my Ablet: I was using it to knit on a train journey up to York for a work trip. When we were about 10 minutes from York station, I started packing up my things, and went to take off my bracelet. The chap sitting next to me said, "York's quite safe, you know, you don't have to remove your jewellery." Erm, thank you, sir.

In which I finish a sweater and read several books

I finished my Blakeslee Tee a few weeks ago - it's super cozy and not too warm, but good for chilly English summer days. No pictures of it On Me yet, mostly because I still need to figure out the best angle. The horizontal stripes are somewhat chubby-making. I love it anyway, though. It was an excellently mindless knit.

The slipped-stitch stripes are so pretty, especially close up.

I've been reading up a storm, lately. I downloaded Dark Triumph, the sequel to Grave Mercy. I started reading it and realised that I really couldn't remember who any of the secondary characters were (several of whom were featuring heavily in the sequel), so I went back and reread Grave Mercy. I enjoyed it as much as the first time round, and then jumped straight in to Dark Triumph, which I loved, too.

Then I thought I'd read something improving: Crusoe's Daughter, by Jane Gardam. It was recommended on a few blogs, and reviewed favourably in the NYT when it came out. The prose was lovely but it was Utterly Dull. I really wanted to like it, too. Oh well. Who needs plot when we have pretty writing?

To recover, I read the much-recommended book by John Green, The Fault In Our Stars. It's the story of love between two teenagers, one with terminal lung cancer, and it is improbably quite funny but also predictably heartbreaking. Cathartically so.

And finally, I blasted my way through Insurgent, the second in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy. Post-apocalyptic Chicago with teenagers and running around and kissing? Why, yes, I don't mind if I do. Too bad the third one's not out for a while. And I'm worried the movie might be crap...

Versa tunic

I picked up some gorgeous angora at Halfpenny Home a few weeks ago, and so had to make this little baby dress.

It was a SUPER quick knit - I finished it within a week. I made it a bit longer than the tunic-length, but I decided that the full dress length was going to be more of an evening gown!

The pattern is Versa, and it's ravelled here.

Snawpaws, finished!

I mean, seriously. How could I not knit matching mittens for my super-excellent snawheid? Especially when Kate Davies was offering the snawpaws pattern for half price to those of us who had already bought snawheid?

I know.

I cast on, had a wonderful 10-hour-round-trip to Durham in the car for epic knitting sessions (thank you, husband!), and now I have warm paws!

To match my warm heid.

I'm not 100% sure about the length - a lot of people on Ravelry went down to 5 rows of snowflakes, rather than the suggested 6. They are rather long on me but very warm, and I think ripping one set of snowflakes out would make them a little bit too short.

Ravelled, here.

In keeping with the wintry theme, this picture was taken from my office window, a few weeks ago. The frost on everything was absolutely stunning.

February Lady Sweater

Phew. I started in June, took a bit of a break, and have now finished my February Lady Sweater. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Elizabeth Zimmermann (the Delia of knitting, I'd say) originally designed this as a baby sweater, featured as the "February" project in her Knitter's Almanac. Then, an enterprising knitwear designer realised it would make a great sweater for grown-ups and scaled up the pattern.

It's knit in one piece (yay - no seams!) and the pattern was fairly straightforward to follow. My sleeves are just past the elbow, mostly because I was running out of yarn (I have about 2 metres left).

The buttons are from Halfpenny Home in Needham Market. I finished it on Tuesday and have worn it to work on Wednesday and all day yesterday and today. LOVE it. The yarn is really soft (silk and cashmere - yum)! and the colour goes with everything. I'm not a huge fan of the puckers at the underarms but there's no way I'm starting over!

Ravelry link is here, for those of you so inclined.

Golden hour in Lavenham

We had a break between our rehearsal and the concert last weekend in Lavenham, and decided to go for a walk. When we stepped outside the church, the light was gorgeous - the nice thing (!) about dark English winters is that you get the Golden Hour in the middle of the afternoon and you don't have to stay up. Also, it seems to last forever, since the sun is so low to begin with.

The concert was lovely, by the way. Among other things, we sang Morton Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium, which is now one of my favourite pieces. Go have a listen!

We also took advantage of the light to properly show off my snawheid:

Kate Davies posted on her blog this week that there will be a pattern for snawpaws (aka matching mittens) along shortly. I have one other project I need to make and then they will find themselves on my needles.

(Photo by Sarah Mansfield - thanks, Sarah!)

Latke season!

Hooray! It's latke season! Melissa Clarke has posted a video & recipe for those of us who do NOT have Jewish mothers to teach us how to make them.

Oh, and it's also hat-making season.

And model-making season (for the Husband).

Lots of knitting

I've been knitting up a storm. Fingerless mittens for Amy, which I knit on the plane to NY while watching Brave and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I loved both movies and was surprised that the airline stewards let me knit during both take-off and landing. A seven-hour flight is the best for blasting through a pair of fingerless mittens.

I'm almost finished with these mitts for Lou. I LOVE this madeline tosh merino yarn, bought at Purl Soho. It's gorgeous to knit with and the colour and size variations make for really interesting mittens. I'm just fretting about the thumbs - you have to pick up stitches going sideways and I'm terrible at it. I think I need to just sit with some YouTube tutorials and be done with it.

I (along with rather a lot of other knitters) have just started Kate Davies' latest pattern, Snawheid. I've made several of her patterns, and I'm excited about this one. I might have to line the brim with fleece - the Jamieson & Smith yarn is beautiful but not terribly soft.

And last, I'm still plugging away at my Elizabeth Zimmerman February sweater. Must. Keep. Knitting. I'd forgotten how long sweaters take compared to mittens. Sigh.

The lace pattern is gorgeous, though!

The right tools

After my last post, my friend Lesley (hi, Lesley!) sent me a text to ask if I wanted to borrow her wool winder. Um, yes, please.

Useful and beautiful. Sign me up.

Silken kilometer, now fully wound.

Makings

I've had two recent cowl commissions, both as a result of wearing mine. First was another of the Honey Cowl pattern, ravelled here. This is a BEAST to cast on - it's 220 stitches and because it's so long it's quite tricky to make sure it's not twisted. Also, I normally use the long-tail cast on method so it's not unusual to get to 200 stitches and realise there's not enough wool. Anyway, third time's a charm. And once it gets going, it's easy to knit and looks so pretty.

I was a little disappointed with the Sublime wool that I used - there were three knots across my two skeins, both in the middle of the balls. YUCK. It's soft, though.

This one's almost done - it's not a colour I'd ever have picked out but I think it will look really pretty. I may have to block it, since it's a slightly smaller yarn than the pattern calls for and is a little bit narrower than mine. I should have just cast on 10 extra stitches at the beginning but I didn't think of that until about half way through. Bah. I really like the way the pattern looks, though, and it falls really nicely on the neck. Good thing it's still super-cold (hello, tights and wool sweaters in June).

If you want to commission me, just email. It seems like an excellent way to feed my wool habit (and avoid a continuous pile-up of sweaters!

Next up, a seashell silk shawl with a KILOMETER of silk yarn that my mom bought for me at at the Fiber Fair. I'm having a bit of trouble winding the skein into a ball - it keeps tangling. We'll get there!

Review: EZ's Knitter's Almanac

I've been enjoying the Math For Knitters podcast (I love Lara's laugh), and most people refer to Elizabeth Zimmermann at some point during their interview (frequently as "EZ," since we're obviously all supposed to know who she is).

I borrowed her Knitter's Almanac (the Dover commemorative edition - woot!) from the library (and have renewed it twice...erm, I think maybe I should buy it), and loved it. She was a blogger before there were blogs. She writes in a very conversational style, and intersperses knitting patterns with random daily-life anecdotes. Also, she is somewhat obsessed with socks. And buttonholes.

There are a few problems with the book.

First, you cannot read it on a train, in public, or with anyone who is a non-knitter. I laughed until I cried, and poor John bore the brunt of my renditions of the particularly amusing bits. Except that they're not funny if you're not a knitter, apparently.

Second, it is expensive. Not the book, but the fact that you will want to go out and Buy More Wool to make everything that she writes about, as well as Buy All Her Other Books because she's so darned clever and interesting to read.

Third, I will never meet her. And she's not going to write any more books. (She passed away in 1999.)

Fourth, she pointed out that one can knit and read simultaneously. SHUT UP. Viv, I know you could already do this. I have discovered that I can only do it if either someone is holding the book for me and turning the pages, or if I am reading on the Kindle. Obviously, this will also become expensive, since I either have to pay an underling to hold the book for me, or buy more books on the Kindle.

Ok, so none of those are really problems. EZ, you and your "unventions" are pretty fabulous. Knitters who haven't read any EZ, get thee to your library (or yarn shop or bookstore) and remedy that. You'll be glad you did.

Here and there

Here: I rode my bike to Needham Market (and then when it got very windy on the way home, wished I hadn't). I stopped at Halfpenny Home for some buttons, felt, and fabric, and tea with Nicola, of course, which was lovely, and then stopped at the farm shop. I cannot resist rhubarb, even though it didn't fit in my panniers and so rode along poking out at a jaunty angle. Teehee.

And there: I was really wishing for a teleport machine when my mom told me that she was going to the Rhode Island Wool and Fiber Festival at Coggeshall Farm today. She sent me a bunch of pictures from her phone, and was going to bring home any wool that she thought I wouldn't be able to live without. Since, obviously, a girl can't have too much wool.

Review: Bitterblue (and Graceling again)

I've been reading Kristin Cashore's blog since shortly after finishing Graceling. She's a great writer and finds fun things to link to. I really loved Graceling, and so have been pretty excited for Bitterblue since she announced the title. It is a great story with compelling characters (I really just wanted to drop myself into their world for a week or two and just chill with them all), and is expertly constructed.

Telling the story of Queen Bitterblue of Monsea, Bitterblue picks up about 8 years after the end of Graceling. Some familiar characters, some new ones, and a very strong feeling of reuniting with old friends.

My first action after finishing Bitterblue was to download Graceling to my Kindle and reread it. I'd forgotten so much...I think it's time to reread Fire! 

The reviewer in the New York Times loves it, too. HOORAY!

The finished scarf above is nothing to do with Bitterblue (except that it's blue). Ravelled here (the Anzula For Better Or Worsted is SO soft).

Cold, wet, windy bank holiday

Bad news: the weather has continued to be grey, rainy, and horrible.

Good news: the grey skies make the yellow rapeseed flowers positively glow.

More good news: grey skies + cold weather = knitting under a quilt on the couch while watching iPlayer, drinking tea, and intermittently savouring Bitterblue on the Kindle. Quite wonderful, actually.

Another honey cowl

You can't wear a scarf while bell ringing. It's too dangerous, since it could get caught in the rope and strangle you. Not ideal.

However, it is frequently very cold in bell towers. As would be expected, stone buildings with lots of windows are not easy to heat.

I've been wearing my Wintry Cowl a ton this winter - it's warm, a really pretty colour, and seems to go with everything. One of my bell buddies admired it, so I've made her one as a surprise. Thankfully, it's been super cold the last few weeks so she may still get some wear out of it before the summer.

I haven't given it to her yet (and she reads the blog). Hopefully I'll have a chance to give it to her before she reads this. Although she's not going to guess that it's for her...

I picked out a really pretty blue. This was my second third cast on (220 stitches...first one my tail was too short, second one was a moebius strip...not helpful when knitting). Details on Ravelry, for those of you so inclined.

Here it is, folded artistically (um, hi, this was really hard to photograph, since it's a flat strip of fabric).

I hope she likes it!

Your eyeballs are your own again.

Some of you may have noticed - your eyeballs are no longer being sold. Apologies for the ads over the last few months. It just seemed like kind of a waste of time to sell your eyeballs for what amounted to about $10 over a year. All gone!

Anyway.

I've been knitting, on commission from friends at work who admired my fingerless mittens. One pair, in  burgundy (or as close as I could get)...the real colour is slightly less pink thank in the picture below.

And t'other pair. My instructions were: "Purple. And longer than yours." Indeed.

For both, I knitted some love into them. And I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to Buy More Yarn and Knit More Things For My Peeps (That They ACTUALLY Wanted).

In terms of economic viability, well, not so much. But I do have a barter commission for a cowl like mine for my Alexander Technique teacher. HOORAY! For anyone else, I'm open to commissions (you buy the wool and a contribution towards my time, I make the doohickey). No jumpers, please - they take forever!

And while this is most definitely not your last chance, this picture was too good to pass up.

Taken en route to a very excellent Ladies Guild Of Change Ringers (Eastern District) day out today.

Knitting red things

This baby hat pattern for a Little Fair Isle hat was featured on the Purl Bee a few weeks ago. I had some leftover yarn from the mucklemitts, as well as quite a bit of pink from Ellie's dress. We went to Cambridge last Saturday, for brisket udon and a general Day Out, and the thought of 2 hours in the car with nothing to knit was a bit worrying! So I quickly printed out the pattern and cast on.

Once I started on the chart, I was getting irritated with alternating the colours, so I watched a few "continental knitting" tutorials (keeping the yarn in your left hand instead of your right), had a good long think about it, and off I went. The tension was fine and I was EXTREMELY pleased with myself.

As you can see, Katie Bear loves her new hat. Ok, it's not hers, but she had the closest head-size.

It's now blocking on the upstairs windowsill in James' bathroom.

I also finished the other mucklemitt - LOVE these. I had two work buddies ask me to make them a pair. That means I'll have to go to the yarn store for more yarn. Poor me! I may even hold off until New York and go to Purl Soho - I could knit them in the car (3 hours each way) on the way to Grandma's memorial service.

We went to the inlaws' for a cuppa last Sunday afternoon, and had scones with homemade blackcurrant-orange jam. My jam skills are poor, and they're not going to improve while the MIL keeps making such amazing jam!

Reader, I finished Jane Eyre

I'm industriously working my way through the classics on my Kindle. I've read Sherlock Holmes, Northanger Abbey, Tess of the D'Urbervilles (mostly, I gave up 3/4 of the way through because I HATED it) and I've just finished Jane Eyre.

I saw a play based on Jane Eyre when I was about 9 - all I remembered from it was that it was really scary and that there were waif-like orphans all over the place. So I was a little bit surprised when the book left the orphans after a few chapters, and that it was decidedly un-scary.

I liked it much more than Wuthering Heights - I thought Jane was surprisingly spunky and independent.

I'm definitely going to watch the 2011 adaptation - I had been waiting to finish the book before watching the movie.

Any other classics that I might have missed?

I have two quilts to bind, so what am I up to? Starting a new knitting pattern, obviously!

I'm not alone in my crafting failures

As far as I am concerned, Kate Davies (of Needled fame) is a knitting goddess. Her designs are interesting, challenging, well-constructed, and aesthetically pleasing. I have made 3 of her patterns (Owls, Owlet, and Mini-Manu), and look forward to making more. She's a super-fast knitter, is excellent at colourwork, and has an amazing eye for detail.

Pardon me. I could seriously gush for days.

Anyhow, she recently posted that she BOTCHED something. Erm, yes, it happens to all of us. Granted, it was sewing rather than knitting, so it doesn't really count.

In the spirit of confessions, here goes.

I was really embarrassed about the final pictures of my Bardot Sweater - it's more noticeable in this picture than in real life, but one sleeve is substantially longer than the other. Or one is shorter. In any event, they're not the same. Oops. It's warm, though, and I like it, even though it definitely adds 10lbs!

But if Kate Davies can have a crafting fail, so can I. So there you go.

Things I made recently

When we were in Holland, I picked up the parts for a camera necklace (arranged neatly, below). Green leather cord (it's more of a forest green in real life), and a little camera charm. LOVE.

This fabric had been sitting in my "make it already!" pile since I bought it back in September in Rhode Island (at Joann's, of all places). They were destined to be napkins. So now there are 6. And they're cute. They may need a little ironing.

And then I went a little nuts with the Muckle Mitts Ravelry pattern and customised it. I like it better than the "real" pattern. The only irritating thing has been unwinding through the rest of the Mochi ball to find where the purple starts again so the mittens "match." Because I'm way too OCD to have unmatched mittens.

Ravelled, here.