Posted in knitting, Living Life Well

Friday Finish – A New View

Today I will comment on two subjects – fiber first. You see my latest knitted finish. This cowl is designed by Nat Raedwulf, of Wolf and Faun Knits. I chose this for a travel project that exploits the virtues of slipped stitch patterns. She says “the slipped stitch colourwork creates a dense fabric, perfect for keeping one warm…”

I say “Ditto.” It is worked in a soft yarn that is equal parts alpaca, wool and acrylic. (Knitpicks Upcycle Alpaca Blend. I would link you to the yarn on KP site but it appears to be discontinued.) Rivers and Ravens Cowl sits lightly upon the shoulders. I notice some scratchiness, so will wear it over outerwear, such as a jacket or coat.

Now about the view: Our new home is built into a bluff that is at the highest point in the neighborhood. The upper level deck wraps around three sides of the house, yielding a panoramic view. It is simply stunning, especially at sunset. During the past few days, Bill and his camera are rarely indoors. The following photos are mine.

Rooftops and sky. This view extends from the northwest to the northeast sky.

In between opening boxes, we have been getting to know the neighbors and our new town. Dubuque, Iowa is a town just under 60,000 that supports numerous cultural organizations, abundant parks, good libraries and a revitalized downtown along the Mississippi river. We are slowly exploring. Last Sunday it was the Arboretum – I’ll likely have a post about it soon.

My creative projects have been on hiatus too long. Now that my materials are unpacked, I hope to pick up on unfinished works and also begin something new.

Thanks for reading.

Posted in knitting, Living Life Well

Travel Shawl Finished

This week I cast off this shawl, the last stashbuster of 2024. This shawl started life as a hurry-up project to accompany me on our trip to the Canadian Rocky Mountain coach tour in July of 2024. I found the easiest pattern I could lay my hands on quickly, gathered up a bunch of fingering weight leftovers and hit the road.

She was cast on in the Calgary hotel lobby.

Progress happened throughout the trip. I improvised the color and stitch changes.

In late July, the shawl and I were in Northern Wisconsin for a week at the lake.

With the passing of my father in August, we drove to Ohio, the shawl serving as a comforting activity on the long trip to and from.

In December, I sat with my friend who was dying, slowly knitting and listening as she told me what was in her heart.

In January, the shawl came to Iowa, where we signed the papers to purchase our new home. In March we were back in Iowa to visit with family – a joyous occasion.

I haven’t even worn it, but it is embedded with many memories. Memories of all the places where I have knit it, the people who were present and the emotions I felt. Each color change reminds me of the projects that I have made with that specific yarn, and who received the finished project.

This simple little shawl carries a lot of stuff for me. I guess I will keep it.

Linking up with The Unravelers, courtesy of As Kat Knits.

Posted in colorwork, knitting

Travel Project Frogged

In my last knitting post, I was starting a pair of socks worked with stash yarn.

https://dailyfiberfun.com/2024/06/25/casting-on-to-travel/

The yarn in question is Roslyn, by Cascade.

Well, the long and short of this story is that Roslyn is unsuited for socks. (Some of my readers tried to tell me that.) When I really paid attention to how the yarn behaved, it told me that it wanted to be a shawl. So, before we left for our trip, I ripped the sock off my needles and cast on a shawl.

I would really like to share the pattern I am using but alas, it eludes me. I remember printing it, using the printout to get started, memorizing the stitch pattern and then putting the paper pattern aside. It’s probably somewhere in Canada.

Photo taken in my Calgary hotel room.

The good news is that my stash yielded four coordinating yarns in fingering weight to give color variation to this simple pattern for a point-to-point shawl with picot border. Since I was knitting on the fly, I decided to improvise the color changes.

There is no pattern just some rules. The olive-colored Roslyn will be the background yarn, continued throughout the project. The four colors will rotate in and out at a fairly regular pace. Every so often, I will throw in a ridge of eyelet lace.

Oh, and the bright red yarn will appear only in single ridges, separated by the background yarn. It reminds me of pin striping.

This shawl could easily go on for weeks at this rate. It is a soothing knit.

I reserve the right to change a rule here or there, if it suits me.

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: A Kate Davies Sock

Summer is on its way, and that means knitting small, portable projects. Reaching into my yarn closet, I brought out a stashbuster bag all ready to go, using Kate Davies’ sock pattern Mary Delany.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mary-delany

I purchased this pattern on Ravelry a few years back when KDDesigns was offering a sale. This will be my second cast- on using it. The first time I followed the pattern pretty closely, but substituted a more “manly” looking chart, since I was knitting socks for dear husband. This time I happily followed Kate’s stranded pattern of little flowers. So far, it has been a joy to work.

My yarns are acquired from three different companies. The beautiful deep tonal blue is Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in a color called Azul Profundo. I purchased it from Jimmy Beans. The aqua tonal yarn is Knitpicks Hawthorne. I’ve mislaid the band and so don’t know the colorway. And the tiny bit of red to be used in the toe and the ribbing is from Hobby Lobby. The box store briefly offered a line of wool + nylon fingering weight yarn in various colors. It turned out to be not-so-good and has since disappeared from the shelves.

Here’s my start. I cast on using the winding cast on method. It is described perfectly in Kate’s pattern, and I had no trouble at all finishing the first toe.

Yesterday while watching PBS, I managed to get most of the foot finished. It now measures 8 and 1/2 inches long.

Front of foot
Back of foot showing the heel increases

This pair of socks will be for ME. Wearing hand knit socks makes me feel pampered. It is a small and affordable luxury.

What new project are you undertaking? Do share.

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: Brioche Beanie from stash

On the advice of Kathryn who posts as Backstage Knits, I am knitting a beanie as my first project using brioche stitch.

I’m using two orphan skeins. The red is a superwash wool by Lambs Pride. The grey is the natural alpaca and wool worsted leftover from Henry’s Biome hat.

So far, this seems to be a swift knit. I am making the odd mistake here and there, which slows me down as I re-knit part of a row. But surely and steadily I am getting the hang of brioche.

I’m hoping to take this project as a travel knit on an upcoming trip. But I may have it finished before we depart.

The pattern is Brioche Basic Beanie by Marilyn Bracketer and it is available for free as a download from Ravelry.