Shadow Challenge

Last time I discussed the challenge the guild set (back in October) using one ball of yarn and Jenni wanted to know what had happened about the challenge she set for me. I had been thinking about this post even before she mentioned it.

At the April guild meeting I asked the librarians (I love the fact the guild has a librarian) if they had a book on Shadow Knitting. They didn't but another member suggested Vivian Hoxbro's Shadow Knitting, the guild kindly ordered it for me. I missed the May meeting so I was not able to pick it up until after Victoria Day. Since then I have been reading and swatching.

My first thoughts on the scarf was to knit it lengthwise so it would have long vertical stripes. Here is a swatch for that scarf with scrap yarn that I had.


Okay - that was a straight on photo - now lets look at it from the side


Note: This was unblocked on an uneven surface - I was having trouble getting a good photo but you get the point ( I hope)

I thought the motif had become too square and that you couldn't see how long the hounds are in flight. When I was taking this photo though I thought it looked better than when I had finished knitting it on the weekend).

I purchased some yarn - since these items are going for a silent auction - I wanted some neutral colour that could appeal to a wide range of people - also I needed something light and dark. I found this yarn at Knitwerx in St. Jacobs.

I am knitting this so the stripes run horizontally along the scarf. This really elongates the dog, and I am beginning to think that I won't have to repeat the two motifs that I have ( I might fill in some space at the back with something small (I'll have to wait and do some more measurements and counting).

I am toying with doing the second motif in the opposing colours so the dog will be black on the tan surface. The second motif is wider which is why the border seems so big around this dog.
I am enjoying shadow knitting - as long as you have markers the knitting goes quickly. With shadow knitting all of the pattern work is done on the wrong side rows so it can be difficult to read your knitting.

I think the scarf will need some sort of edging to help prevent it from rolling. It needs to be a simple edging for two reasons - not to take away from the magic of shadow knitting and the scarf is already quite wide.

Thanks to Anonymous for the ID of Star of Bethlehem. That is what this flower is - I thought the common name might have Star in it.

Some garden colour

Scroll down for knitting content.

The garden is planted, here are a few of things that are in bloom.
Lily of the Valleys- this picture was taken on Saturday and these lilies are past their prime now- they were starting to fade on the weekend.

This flower is nestled in amongst some LofV- the wide leaves are from the LofV. Does anyone know what this is? It has very thin green leaves - visible in the pic - top right side.


This Oriental Poppy hasn't changed from this since Sunday. None of the other buds are showing signs of opening. I wonder if this bud was damaged by something.

Blue flag iris - these look loaded with blossoms - last year they had very few blooms.

I purchased this plant from the Doon Heritage plant sale. Any guesses on what it is - hint there is some in my stash.
Two vests for Dulaan (Challenge Vest 1.0 and 2.0). The vest on the pink one gave me a massive headache, and is part of the reason the project was lingering for so long. I think it just has to do with the neck opening - it doesn't seem big enough. I ended up just crocheting around the edges. It needs some ends trimmed and a good blocking, the purple vest (Dulaan Challenge vest 2.0) was finished, but needed a small repair job. It was a casualty in Keeper's attempt to get at the Alpaca lace weight that he loved - both were in my knitting bag. All is fixed now - I just need to photograph the rest of the items and send them to Arizona.

Some finished comments on the vests. This started as Guild challenge - we swapped a single ball and had to come up with a project to use that with. I received a ball of homespun
with many colours. What to do with it? I pondered it for a while and then thought of using it a project for Dulaan. I got out Ann Budd's Knitting Pattern book and went through my stash. I didn't think I would have enough of pink or purple for a vest by themselves so I figured I would use both in a vest with stripes. I knit the pink one first - realized the yarn guidelines were generous, the horizontal stripes makes the colours muddy and pink was just too pale in comparison. (I thought after I could have overdyed the yarn - oh well). The second vest was born - I cast on fewer stitches but followed the length size as for the pink vest. I tried my hand at intarsia - the six stitch stripe allowed the colours to develop - Not get muddy next to each other. I used most of the challenge yarn - and the purple (Cascade 220 left from this). I like version 2.0 much better than first one. The pink yarn is Patons Classic Merino left over from a Sophie bag pre blog.

A few wishes

I wish that I could say I have been jet setting around the world or at least the continent to explain my lack of blog activity but alas I do not have that exciting of an excuse.

I wish that I could say that I have some fabulous story to tell you for my blogiversary - which I forgot all about - it was March 10.

I wish that I had some great finished objects to show off but I don't.

I am at the heel of the Entrelac socks. The slow progress has to do with lack of knitting time rather than the pattern. That is another wish - more time to knit.
I was worried the pattern might not be suitable for those stolen moments to knit but it actually is working good for that. Once you get the entrelac pattern down (not hard), you just continue on, knitting each square of 72 total stitches. Priscilla asked about knitting backwards - I guess tinking could be considered knitting backwards but what I was referring to was instead of knitting moving the stitches from your left needle to your right, move the stitches from your right needle to your left. I like the tutorial here, if you want photos.

One thing that I have finished though is my 300 km challenge that I set for myself as part of Runagogo (I haven't updated my total there in March). I knew February was going to be the toughest month because of the weather but walking Keeper forced me out twice a day (okay some of those days were really short and I didn't count walking around the pet stores). With this warm weather (it hit 22C today and suppose to be similar tomorrow) it makes it nicer to walk. Although this afternoon would have been better if we didn't have to walk through the pouring rain on the return half (my shirt was wet since my rain coat had soaked through). I am not going to sign up for the next 100 mile challenge since I know I will be able to accomplish it.

I think I need to set some knitting goals and see what I can get done in the next few months. Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments. I may add them to my list. I have a few ideas of upcoming projects.

"I'm ready for a walk ..but
if I am not sleeping I always am ready!"

Stashed with: ,

100 miles and a swatch

I walked 100 miles! Keeper and I completed this feat on Friday morning but with posting the poem I forgot to mention it. I still have 82 miles to go since my goal is 300 km by April 1.

I started the Spey Valley socks for Ali a couple of weeks ago. There has not been much progress so I haven't blogged about them. I just added them to the side bar where they started to languish. Ali then mentioned that he wants his next pair of socks to be a thick "Like the sockwars socks." I was not fully honest when I received the killer socks as I never divulged here that they don't fit me - they fit Ali. I figure if someone knits size 11 mens socks instead of womens 7.5 then that is fine and I shouldn't complain. It is just a game.

Knitting thick socks is not a problem, however I needed appropriate yarn. I dove through my stash - it didn't take very long and I soon realized I had nothing suitable. I went to look at yarn. I came across Patons SWS (soy wool stripes). This loosely spun yarn is 70% wool and 30% soy fiber is seemed to be a good weight. I swatched and I washed the swatch



The upper portion is knit with 3.25mm, the bottom 3.5 mm. Very little difference in gauge 5.75 sts/inch and 5.5 sts/inch. I then threw this swatch in the washing machine. This is the first time that I ever washed a swatched that I wasn't going to felt the finished item. The ball band says to hand wash, however with the recent success with machine washing koigu and that these were socks for the husband and not for me* I wanted to see if they were machine washable. The swatch after washing was not discernibly different than before the trip through the washer.

I am hoping the soy fiber will help these sock hold up. I'll let you know.

*I can keep track of my handwash socks knowing when they are in the laundry and remembering that they need to be washed by hand but I would prefer it if all of Ali's socks were machine washable.

From Comments:
Thanks Julie for your comment on Pagan Brigid and St. Brigid

Knitting Bandit thought greyhounds were serious. They would like you to think that they are serious (when they are not sleeping) but they can be quite the goofballs when they are playing. In many ways they are like cats - they pretend that they are serious but give them a new stuffed animal and watch them prance around.

Out for a walk

So Rachel has come up with this idea, maybe you have heard of it Run/Walk 100 miles by April 1. I figure that since I walk the dog twice a day it should be no problem. So I signed up. I then went over to a nifty site that uses google maps to track the distance that you travel. I did some mapping - the walk I did this morning and some other iterations of the walks - 1.9 miles (3.0 km). So I should be able to hit 100 miles well before March 1. The only hitch in the plan is if it gets cold, and Keeper refuses to walk. He loves walking so I don't think there will be many days we don't do at least 2 miles. I am going to challenge myself to walk 300 km by April 1.

The other thing that will help in this endeavor is a Christmas present I got - a Garmin etrex Vista handheld GPS unit.


This will be great for some geocaching and seeing how far we go on the hikes. The other night we took it with us while walking Keeper - we had 27 min of stopped time, and 25 min of traveling time. Yep Keeper does like to stop and sniff and can be stubborn if we are not going his way.

While I was gone I finished some projects

I went from the post every day to posting over a week later. I was informed last night that my blog had gotten boring (meaning I haven't updated it). So a few updates on what we have been doing.
On Tuesday I went to Sit and Chat at Whole Lotta Gelato in Waterloo. My friend Jen needed help with a sweater so we decided going to the Sit and Chat would be a great place to get help. The place was empty except the 5 of us knitters. I had arrived early (about 6:30) since I had planned to go to the mall (where the LYS is located) before hand. The Waterloo Town Square Mall serves more of the daytime crowd than the evening shopping, so it was closed. The Sit and Chat was great and I started a new project - more on this in a later post.

Why would I start a new project? When I have recently posted all my projects that are almost finished. Well lets look at the list

Charcoal Cabled Socks - done

Charcoal Ribbed Socks
Yarn: Patons Kroy Charcoal
Needles: 2.25 mm (US1)

Dulaan Vest 2.2 - done

Dulaan Challenge Vest v2.2
Yarn: Cascade 220 (left overs) + Challenge Yarn from Guild
Needles: 4.25 mm
Pattern: Ann Budd's Handy Guide to Knitting Patterns
Notes: My first intarsia project

Moebius Scarf - Haven't worked on this since I needed a new needle, and this project will not be portable for a while as I try to untangle the mess.

Dulaan Vest 1.0 is still needing the ribbing around the neck and the armholes. This can wait though maybe until after Christmas. Okay I could have taken this to work on, but I didn't want to.

Trellis Scarf - I am on the end border pattern so this should be off the needles and on the blocking pile soon.

I have also managed to make Keeper a coat- I spoil him even when he drives me crazy. The snow has been flying all week and he has made it clear that he doesn't like bad weather. He had a lighter jacket, which I used for a pattern to make heavier coat. This jacket is a waterproof vinyl material lined with thick polar fleece. It has been keeping Keeper warm. It almost keeps his body too warm as he doesn't want to take short walks but wants his normal long walks. What is the problem with that you say. Well I haven't made the matching booties for his feet. So every two blocks or so, I have to rub his paws to get them warm since when they are cold he starts limping or just sits and holds up his front paws. The cold concrete sidewalks, with the salt on the roads is not good for his feet - although he doesn't realize it. Like a child he doesn't realize that you should turn around for home when you start getting cold not when you are freezing. So we have been going for short walks and fighting with him on the way home. Sometimes though he has been eager to turn around for home after a block.

Thanks everyone for the condolences on the scarf- I think it just needs some wine and a quiet evening. I got the new needle yesterday so I will work on it some this weekend.
Stashed with: knitting, challenge, socks

Challenge Vest 2.2

I think this version will be kept. The front is done, and I have enough yarn to put the stripe up the back as well. If I had enough purple (I am pretty sure I don't) I would do a stripe up a sleeve of the sweater instead of the back of the vest.
I enjoyed the colours behaved in the stripe - the stripe was wide enough to have the colours appear in flowing segments blending into one another. It works well, the horizontal stripes caused the long one stitch wide stripes so you couldn't see the colours and and they looked more muddy. The stripe goes into the exact purple of the sweater at the shoulder, which helps make it seem like it belongs on the vest.
The one thing I am counting on blocking to help with is the difference in thickness of the two yarns. The challenge yarn is homespun, the outside of the ball was similar to the cascade 220, but this was pulled from the center of the ball and it is thicker, so the stripe doesn't lie flat.

Here is version 1.0 this time in focus, it is still waiting on the neckline and shoulder ribbing.


Stashed with: challenge,

Challenge Vest 2.0

Keeper wishes for everyone to know that he is feeling better today. He is enjoying being fed 6 times/day instead of 2 but wishes all the portions were bigger.

Challenge Vest 2.0
I didn't want to do horizontal stripes again. I wanted to use the yarn in a different manner. I thought about the brick like look of the ball band dishcloth, but new I didn't have enough challenge yarn to incorporate it all over the vest. As I was going through ideas in my mind, I thought about a vertical stripe, on one side from hem to shoulder, it could on the same side up the back as well. I cast on 100 sts in purple (I was making this in the round), I started the ribbing, and joined in the challenge yarn, oh - this may not work. I did two more rounds - getting to the stripe, pulling the yarn across the stripe knitting across. I thought if the stripe was small enough I could do it in the round - it could work. After the third round I finally admitted that the stripe area was going to have 4 strands of fabric over it and the rest of the sweater just a single thickness. Not a good design feature. Out it came.

Challenge Vest 2.1
The vest needs to be knitted back and forth if I want a horizontal stripe. I have decided that since there is 9 sts at the shoulder, the stripe will be 6 sts wide, with the three purple stitches being on the arm side of the shoulder. Cast on 52 sts, start the ribbing. I knit until 9 sts from the end, add the challenge yarn then finish the row with the purple. I do all the ribbing rows and start the stockinette portion. I start thinking about the three stitches at the end, begin thinking that 6 won't be balance since one of those will be used in the seam, begin to think I should have had a 5 stitch stripe. This was not the problem though - do you know what the problem was with that design. Think where did I have that stripe.

I was going to have the stripe run up to the underarm - six or five it didn't matter. All those stitches would be bound off for the underarm shaping. The vest was frogged again.

Challenge Vest 2.2
After figuring out those problems last night I decided that casting on for 2.2 could wait for tonight. I am sure there is another flaw that I am missing. Maybe I will catch it tonight...

Stashed with: challenge, Dulaan

Challenge Yarn - Becomes a Challenge Vest Part 2

I decided to knit the vest on 4.0 mm (US 6) vest, and since size wasn't critical I guessed that my gauge would be around 5 sts/in with the Patons. The pink being the dominant colour that I had was going to be the main colour with the purple and the challenge being accents. I decided to modify the pattern to be knit in the round. According to the Knitters Handy Book of Patterns for this gauge I cast on 128 sts and started off in k2p2 ribbing. After 4 rounds of pink, I did one round of purple, one more of pink and then the ribbing was done. My plan was to have a some stripes of colour below the separation for the front and the back. I guestimated that the stripes that I wanted to do would be 2". All is good so far.
I start knitting the stripes, I pause..

I don't like the colours together - the pink is too light of a pink to balance the purple and the challenge yarn. I also haven't used very much yarn - there is no way that this vest is going to take 550 m. I keep knitting, I sit back and the v-neck is done, the back of the vest is done. I kept thinking I was going to like the colours if I continued to knit.

Well I don't, the vest is blocking and waiting for ribbing around the neck and armholes (I am going to repeat the strip on the ribbing). I am also glad that I didn't knit this vest for a specific child as there is no way this vest fits a 2-4 yo, I have several nephews (and 1 niece) in this age bracket - it won't fit any of them. Maybe it will fit a 6 year old. Oh well, lots of kids in Mongolia, and it is wool and will keep the warm, it should fit one of them.

So what is a knitter to do? Well I think the major problem is the pink colour (I was worried about this from the start), I didn't use enough of the challenge to get to the pink area in that ball, what I was hoping for balance. Halfway through knitting - it dawned on me that I could have kool-aid dyed the pink a red colour and would have gotten a better balance (next time).

I still want something that I can take to the guilds December meeting, to show what I did with the challenge yarn. So I think another vest is in order. I still have around 200 yrds of purple left, which should work for a vest. I haven't yet decided whether I will cast on fewer stitches or keep the same size of vest.

My camera is being a major PIA, it has refused to take a picture for the past week, today it decided to take photos but is refusing to focus. Since I am discussing colour balance - you get to see these crappy photos to look at the colours.







Stashed with: challenge, guild, dulaan

Challenge Yarn - Becomes a Challenge Vest Part 1

Remember this ball of yarn
from the guild challenge. I mentioned yesterday that I had an idea on how to use it. On the meeting on Tuesday night there was a couple of requests for charity knitting - the Alzheimer's foundation, Vests for Hondoruas and I was thinking - vests for Dulaan - hey I can use this ball with some other yarn from my stash and make a vest as one of my items for the project. So last night I got out Anne Budd's Knitters Handy Guide of Patterns and looked up vests. I have heard the patterns run large so I would make the smallest size (to fit a 2-4 yo), now on to yarn requirements - very general as you can imaging but she lists 550 m -925 m for child sizes. I figured smallest size I need to come up with about 500 m of other yarn (I am not quite sure what length I have of the ball challenge). At the meeting I thought about using yarn left from Samus - purple Cascade 220, however I only have about 200 m ... not enough - what other colour do I have lots of ... - I have some Petal Pink Patons Classic Merino 300 m. However in all the colours in the challege yarn I don't see pink. I unwind the ball some - okay it is there. So now I have pink, purple and rainbow - I should have enough. Stay tuned


Stashed with: guild, challenge