Bozeman Chullo

Yes, I did actually wear the Chullo

After finishing up my first pair of socks of 2013 I immediately cast on a new project...a hat.  I don't usually wear hats on a daily basis.  If the temperatures drop below 40 degrees I'll pull my Cassidy hat out as we head out for our morning walk.  It mostly covers my ears and it is not a beanie...dislike those types.  I also wear a Tilley to shade my face and neck when we hike, but I'm not usually a hat gal.  I know this, but for some reason I fell head over heels for this particular pattern.  May be the subject matter around the hat or the possibility of sub-zero temperatures while dog walking in Bozeman, MT after dark, but I could not get this hat out of my mind. 
I did not have anything appropriate in the stash...why does that always seem to happen?  The colors I chose match my purple ski coat.  The two skeins I ended up are somewhat an unusual color choice for me, but I wanted them to match the ski coat so the choices definitely were limited.  I loved the softness of the Madelinetosh...first time using this one.  Wonderfully soft against the skin...maybe I'll actually enjoying wearing it.


Details:
Pattern:  Cross-Country Chullo by Anne Featonby;

Yarn:  Tosh Merino Light by Madelinetosh; 100% superwash merino wool; fingering weight;  2 skeins of  420 yards/100 grams each;  colors- byzantine and sugarplum.  I still have 2 3/8 oz (66 grams) of sugarplum and 2 oz (58 grams) of byzantine.

Gauge:  32 stitches by 34 rows over 4 inches of stockinette stitch.  I was spot on row gauge for this one...for once.

Needles: 2 US 1.5 24" circular needles; 1 US 3 24" circular for I-cord.

Modifications:  Rather than using double point needles I chose to use 2 sets of circulars.  Way to many stitches to risk loosing them in the manipulation colorwork requires.  I followed the pattern until I reached chart E.  Since I was using circular needles I could try the hat on as I went to check the fit and make adjustments.  I started to get worried when it looked as if the hat was turning out way smaller than my big head.  My gauge was perfect so since the pattern did not list any measurements other than circumference I decided I'd add one pattern repeat...just in case.  I decreased back down once I started chart F and continued.  The fit was much better with the additional stitches so my anxiety lessened a good deal.

The only other change I made was the positioning of the ear flaps.  The designer had the ear flaps placed evenly...45 stitches per needle.  After looking over a few of the finished hats on Ravelry a good number talked about changing the placement of the flaps to further back.  It looked much nicer and covered the ears at a better angle.  I held 55 stitches for the front, started the first ear flap over the next 45 stitches, then held the next 35 stitches for the back and used the remaining 45 stitches for the second ear flap.  It looks more natural to me.  

I added tassels to the top and to the ends of the I-cord ties.  A quick shot of stream smoothed out the hat's stitches.  There are a couple of spots that I carried the yarn and snugged it up a bit tighter than I should have, but it isn't driving me batty enough to fix it.  I'm now ready for the winter escape to Bozeman...y'all better hope we get snow (and cold) or my hat won't make it out of my pocket.

Garden Pond

A few weeks back I started a small lace project.  I needed something that was easily done while sitting in a hospital waiting room.  In the queue for over a year was Garden Pond which as it turned out was the perfect project.  It was discovered at last year's Olde Liberty Fiber Faire in Wolle's booth.  I usually don't buy the particular  yarn called for in patterns.  Most of the time I'll find a pattern and look through the stash to see what yarns I have that will work with that particular pattern.  Sometimes the approach works out...sometime it does not.  In this case I bought the yarn and followed up with the pattern as soon as I saw the finished project in Wolle's booth.  I thought the sample color variegations were pretty cool.  I chose a different colorway , but this one worked just as well.  My husband even made positive comments on the finished wrap as it was blocking.  A winner!

The yarn is 100% cotton thread.  Not a fan of cotton yarns, but this one has a very interesting construction. It is made up of 6 strings which are not plied into what I'd call 'yarn' per see.  You knit along with all 6 strings dyed in the same shade of color.  At some point a small knot shows up where the color of one string changes...very little difference in shade is first noticed.  This shifting continues with each of the remaining strings until you've totally changed over to another color. Depending upon the size of the ball this will go through the process two times or more.  In my case it started out with six strings of a rich brown, adds a lighter taupe color until there are six strings of taupe, then switches to a sky blue until there are six strings of blue.  The effect is a gradual shift from brown to blue.  It makes me think of a garden in the spring...dirt to sky or maybe dirt to water would be a better description.  Whichever way you want to look at it the yarn was a perfect choice for a pattern called Garden Pond.

As a side note I did not cut the knot out of my knitting.  I was afraid things would fall apart as time goes on so I left the knot on the reverse side...pretty hard to spot once you're done.

The pattern was a just a small taste of lace...mostly stockinette with a band of lace to break up the boredom.  It was easily memorized and moved along pretty quickly.  The wrap is on the smallish size, but it used every last bit of this yarn.  In fact I ran a wee bit shy on the bind off and had to resort to a small substitution in order to finish.

Details
Pattern:  Garden Pond by Patricia Martin; 

Yarn:  Wolle's Yarn Creations Color Changing;100% cotton; Fingering; 100gram/480 yards; Colorway Blue Honey #4.

Needles:  Addi Lace; US 5; 48" circular

Gauge:  26 stitches x 26 rows

Size:  After blocking 42" x 19"...across the top at the longest point mine is a good bit larger than the pattern's schematic.

Modifications:  I decreased a few rows of stockinette in order to add another repeat of lace at the end.  The pattern called for just three repeats of the fern lace border and I wanted to do a bit more.  Although I did end up running out of yarn as I bound off...oops.  I ran out 18 inches from finishing the bind off.  What to do?  I ended up stash diving and substituted Rowan Calmer in a shade of blue that is so close that so far no one has noticed.  The gauge and ply are slightly off, but not enough for most people to notice...a knitter will notice a couple more errors.  Glaring ones. 

Yet one more 'mistake'...jeez

Can you spot the Rowan switch?

It is Montana Born...Twice

Time flies when your not looking...especially so when you are not updating the knitting blog in a timely fashion.  I do have a few posts that only need pictures taken of the finished item so they can be updated.  My latest and new favorite cardigan is Burrard.  I'm so happy with how this one turned out and was slightly disappointed thinking that I would have to wait until next Fall to wear it.  Happily our return to the East Coast coincided with a colder and wetter Spring than normal so it did get some wear.  I adore this cardigan and it will soon be making a return trip West. 

The cardigan was knit while we were spending part of our Winter in the area where the yarn originated.  How cool is that!  The yarn was made from Montana grown Cormo sheep.  It made its return journey with us back to Montana...actually it went last summer too, but never made it out of the car.  Sad, but true.  I cast on the first sleeve as we drove from east to west.  I decided to be radical and not knit a 'bonified' gauge swatch instead I used my sleeve as the swatch.  It worked so well that I may need to be radical all the time.  At least I didn't feel like I was 'wasting time' on the swatching. 

The yarn has been in the stash for quite sometime...waiting for that 'perfect pattern'.  I used the same yarn for my Cassidy in a grayish color and loved it so much that I immediately bought the remaining skeins in cream.  After wandering around Ravelry for a few days I discovered Burrard.  Only a few had been knit, but the cabled back was spectacular.  I'm such a sucker for anything cabled.  Since the Elsa Wool was just sitting there and we were heading to Montana it seemed to be a perfect combination. 

I usually don't get an awful lot of knitting done when we travel.  I end up taking far more than I can do...afraid I'll run out of something do.  It has happened every time we head out on our little adventures.  This time it was different...not camping and not driving all over creation.  We stayed put in one location and I actually knit every night.  Of course I still took more than I could knit, but only 2 other projects.  You know...just in case.

Details
Project:  Burrard by Glenna C. at Twist Collective Winter 2012;


Yarn:  Elsa Wool;  100% Montana grown Cormo wool; woolen spun; worsted; 237 yards per 4 ounces; in natural (aka white).  I had a total of 7 skeins, but used only 4...well 92 grams of ball 4.  The other great thing is each skein weighed slightly more than the 4 ounces listed so I have enough for a matching hat.

Gauge:  20 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches of stockinette stitch

Needles:  6 US Addi Clicks

Modifications:  To be honest I only changed the shoulder shaping.  I decided to rewrite it for 3 needle bind off...it just looks so much nicer in the finishing. I also added one extra button hole to the collar since I always seem to miss it.  The one thing I thought about changing was the collar.  The pictures looked really odd...way too small.  Once I started to knit it I liked the shape that was developing so I kept the original collar.  It stands up nicely and looks much better than when it is rolled down.  I like the overall look when the collar is up so I'm thinking this will be how I wear it in the future.

I chose buttons that contrasted rather than matched this particular cardigan.  I'm always undecided about which way to go...contrast or matchy.  Most of the time I end up with more of a match between the yarn and the button.  I decided that Burrard looked the nicest with the contrasting buttons.  They can always be changed, right?

Procastination?

Lately my knitting has 'suffered' a bit from a lack of interest or maybe a better explanation is a love/hate for the project I had been working on since...March!  Good grief!  When I looked up when I cast on I realized it was way back at the end of March.  I started it right before we left Bozeman.  It was going to be my car knitting for our drive back East.  Not long (2 hours) into our 3 day drive I knew I was going to hate the knitting of this particular pattern.  Although I love the overall effect of elongated stitches I don't enjoy the manipulation of the needles and yarn necessary to achieve the effect.  Especially using size 1 needles...it took me 3 months to get one sock completed and I have I yet to cast on for the second sock. 

This is the first time in my years of knitting that I have failed to start the second sock as soon as I finished the first one...a sign perhaps?