It’s my second Traveling Woman shawl (the other was with madelinetosh yarn too, actually, tosh merino light in a gorgeous silver gray color called Tern), and the biggest lesson I learned there was to use a much stretchier bind-off. I didn’t go with Judy’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off,  though I kind of wish I had. Instead, I used this one and it’s better than my regular old bind-off, but probably not as stretchy as Judy’s. If I make another Traveling Woman shawl, I’ll try Judy’s.

I think one thing that helped me get this project finished was that I needed a break from stockinette sleeves in laceweight yarn. Yeah. Compared to that, this project was dreamy and oh-so-fast.

This has been a very slow year for FOs, I must say, and all of them have been primary colors — blue, yellow, and red, plus a vivid green. Time for some neutrals, I think.

Ah. The little kids years, such fond fond memories, to the soundtrack of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, and Raffi. Baby beluga in the deep blue sea….

OH YEAH. Here’s why I stopped by. Want to see my progress?

so lush! it's going to be so big and blankie-ey

love the horseshoes, such fun to create

My Traveling Woman obviously, madelinetosh obviously, colorway byzantine (maybe not so obviously). But now I have the song in my head:

would ya like to buy an O? circular and sweet? looks just like a donut, really good enough to eat….it’ll cost you just a nickel (a nickel!) a nickel, shhh, a nickel right, so buy the O and take it home tonight don’t ask any questions…

Maybe that’s not really a good lesson for little kids to learn, now that I think about it.

Last night I was cleaning out my giant project bag and there was a cake of the yarn, madelinetosh tosh dk, in the colorway named byzantine. Byzantine, reds and purples and snaps of gold, really rich and beautiful. And then something started buzzing a little in my mind, itching and twitching hey…. byzantine … Byzantine Empire … hey, Constantinople …. HEY! In 27 days I’m traveling to Constantinople … ur, Istanbul. HEY! Traveling! Byzantine!

And so I cast on a Traveling Woman shawl (the giant edition) in my precious byzantine-colored yarn. Here’s the take-off:

that color is so rich it makes me weep

The yarn really has such beautiful stitch definition, and the pattern is fun and pretty quick, though I am making it XL size, the better to wrap myself up in glory with. I imagine I’ll take it with me to knit on the plane, unless some kind of miracle happens and I finish it before we go.

Off to hit the shower, happy Saturday y’all!

The pattern (LaReine, by Angela Tong) is simple and straightforward, but somehow I never could wrap my mind around how she came up with it. The alternating lacey bits are really lovely, and easy to do but not boring — just a very nice combination. Despite everything this week threw at me, and despite my state as a result, I was able to work on the shawl and not be bored  but not be too challenged. I went up a needle size and always run out of yarn, so I stopped short 12 rows and went straight to the border.

And the yarn — Okay Knits Sena — was wonderful. The very subtle shifts in color were never jarring and give the color such life; there were bits of light pink, bits of orange, a couple of dark almost purple flecks, but no long runs of shading. The end result is such a lively and brilliant color. This colorway is sweetie-pie, but to me it’s like a cherry lifesaver. I highly recommend the yarn, and hope to score some more (I love the bubblegum colorway she has in the shop right now).

I won the pattern and the yarn in a giveaway on the pattern designer’s blog; she’s a new designer, and the yarn is dyed in Brooklyn by a young woman who is in medical school. Support them if you’re in the market for a shawl pattern or yummy yarn.

Spring seems to have arrived in Manhattan, though I worry that I’m tempting the gods with such hubris in making such a crazy claim. It’s only mid-March, there’s certainly at least one more winter blast to come. Back to it for me — I hope you’re having a good weekend!

progress on LaReine -- my "I need something red" shawl. I came back to my knitting spot with a cup of tea, and the shadows were so pretty I didn't want to lose them with extra lighting.

How to summarize a weekend like that? I hope there was something brilliant in your weekend.

glorious!

This is the LaReine shawl, by Angela Tong, and the yarn is Okay Knits Sena, colorway sweetie-pie (isn’t that a perfect name?).  I just love the color of this yarn, it’s as cheery as cherry lifesavers. Red like candy. I won both together on a giveaway on Oiyi‘s blog (oiyi is the designer). The pattern is quick and easy (and fun); it’s been a while since I knit a little shawl and I’d forgotten just how much fun they are, starting with 3 stitches and expanding out so quickly.

Lots lots lots lots of work to do all at once! Hope you’re facing a good week –

just gorgeous, in every way

It seems to be a blue year, this year; while I was waiting for some yarn to arrive, I knocked out a quick braidy cowl, which I named Oh, Marcia. So corny. It’s the Very Braidy Cowl, in Sweet Georgia worsted (colorway summer skin):

Marcia, Marcia Marcia - a very braidy cowl

In exactly the same colorway, but sock weight (which had been my intention when I mistakenly bought the worsted, above), here’s a pair of socks I made for my youngest daughter Anna’s 20th birthday. She really loves handknit socks, much to my real surprise, which makes it such fun to make them for her. This pattern is Komet:

the komet pattern (free on rav), in Sweetgeorgia tough sock, colorway summer skin

SO MUCH BLUE. Something very different was called for……red. Here’s my “I need something red shawl” (aka LaReine Shawl, by Angela Tong, in OkayKnits Sena, colorway sweetie-pie). I absolutely adore this piece, and wear it all the time:

it's such a vibrant color, and a very nice length!

I had this absolutely gorgeous colorway of madelinetosh’s Tosh Merino Light called filigree, so I used one skein of it to make a Saroyan. I loved the pattern, and loved the yarn, but for some reason it won’t photograph correctly, no matter what I do, what kind of light, etc. So trust me, it’s a gorgeous olive green, not so brown:

IT'S NOT BROWN!!! grrrrrr!!

If this wasn’t the quickest and simplest hat pattern in the world, I don’t know what is, but the yellow and white combo really lifts it into “Wow! Where’d you get that hat!” status. Made for Marnie, the pattern is “My Striped & Slouchy Hat“, knit in Cascade 220.

adorable, right?!

These socks — Angee, by Cookie A, knit in KnitPicks Felici (colorway: green vegetables) — are for my oldest daughter Katie, who (a) loves green and (b) picked the pattern. I love knitting for my kids. Knitting the hat above and the socks below was a great antidote to winter.

angee, in knitpicks felici

It took forever, but I made a second Traveling Woman shawl in tosh DK, colorway byzantine. It’s gorgeous, drapy, squishy, and warm:

Traveling Woman Shawl, by Liz Abinante, in tosh DK

A very very quick little knit, I cranked out the Fetching mitts in a couple hours. The yarn is so soft, Cascade Eco Duo (70% alpaca, 30% merino), in the vanilla colorway. It’s a fun knit, and I know the mitts will be luscious to wear but I don’t know how they’ll hold up, given how soft they are (and the yarn is loosely-spun singles). Still, look:

you wouldn't believe how soft these are!

I love this hot little number: Hannah Fettig’s featherweight cardigan, in Spirit Trail Fiberworks’ “clotho,” colorway deliciously called dragon’s blood. This is a wonderful little sweater, I see why everyone has made it.

the color is dragon's blood

This was without a doubt the fastest sweater I’ve ever knit; it really just took 13 days, even though there was a 15-day break in the middle while I was gone to Vietnam and didn’t work on it at all. This is my Wintry Mix sweater, designed by Amy Herzog, knit in the recommended yarn (Berroco Blackstone Tweed).

Wintry Mix, by Amy Herzog (yarn: berroco blackstone tweed, in evergreen)

A second Thea Colman design, this one the Vodka Gimlet — but since my colorway was Oz (Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted), I named my sweater Ozma’s Delight. I can’t express how much I adore this sweater, I’ll probably wear it every day:

sweater LOVE

When the weather started smelling cold, I realized I don’t have a warm hat, so I knocked out A Hat for Eudora, designed by Alexandra Tinsley. The pattern was a birthday gift from Kelly, and the yarn is Cascade 220. I call it my Berry Welty hat.

the hem facing is blue and purple, but only I get to know that!

Here’s my Laurayana sweater — Ayana by Amy Herzog, pattern gifted by my friend Laura. This was knit in Cascade 220 Heathers (color, montmartre, which is much more dusty lavender than it looks here).

really such a comfortable sweater to wear.

For my youngest daughter Anna, a pair of handknit socks — the only kind of socks she wears, which cracks me up given who she is, otherwise. Not a handknit anything kind of person!

Kai-Mei (pattern by Cookie A), in KnitPicks Stroll Tonal (golden glow)

Her foot is at least a couple sizes smaller than mine, so that sock is stretched pretty far to fit over my foot!

So what’s on the needles? There’s one I can’t reveal here, the wedding shawl, but here we go:

2nd Kai-Mei, ready to work the heel

My Kai-Mei socks – I’ve been sneaking little wearings of the finished sock because it’s so dang wonderful. Madelinetosh sock, in crow – feels kind of hard when you’re knitting it, but as the fabric flows from the needles, it’s softer than you think it’ll be. And when you soak it and block it? Really so nice. The pattern is clever and fun to knit, but when I was knitting the first sock I was just going on faith (Cookie A faith) because I couldn’t see how it was going to work. I highly recommend the pattern and the yarn.

OK, next?

oh, my dearly beloved Ishbel, languishing....

I do love this Ishbel, knit with madelinetosh lace, in lettuce. It’ll be my 3rd (why do I think “she’ll be my third”?), and the pattern is fun and the color is great and I love the whole deal but it’s been set aside for so long that I struggle to pick it up again. Once I finish the wedding shawl I’ll return to this because it’s going to be fantastic.

Next?

what is wrong with me?!

Stop it, me! Stop! Why did I start this one?! I had plenty to work on, the last thing I needed to do was to start another project, but I did. This is Baktus, and I got about 1/3 of the way through it with Noro Silk Garden Sock (pictured above, the yarn cake) when I decided that I’d rather alternate the Noro with a black yarn. So even though I had no business starting this one in the first place, I frogged it and started over, alternating it with a KnitPicks Essential Kettle Dyed, in soot. [Lori, do not start another project!!]

such a 3-D blankie!

Totally Autumn, which I’m knitting with Cascade 220 Heather in chocolate, so it’ll be more like a blanket. The photo represents the length I get from one skein; since we want it to be ~6 feet in length, I’ll need 7 skeins and of course I’d bought 6. Luckily the sale is still on at Webs, so I bought additional skeins.

Next?

hanging my mondo head in shame and denial

This project, the Mondo Cardigan in madelinetosh merino (graphite) has been so painful. I had enough yarn to complete the sweater, but I foolishly didn’t look at all the skeins before I started. One of the lovely things about madelinetosh yarns is the variability in color, but this time it bit me in the butt. When I got to this point on the first sleeve, I noticed that my last two skeins were quite obviously blue. That would not work. I couldn’t find any graphite in any of the online stores, so (to use Yarn Harlot’s phrase) I threw up the Bat Signal in the rav forums, pleading and begging. Very kind raveler Glennae offered to sell me two of her skeins, which looked like a match to mine, but that would leave her with an insufficient amount of yarn to knit a sweater – the reason she bought it. I didn’t want to leave her in that spot, so I basically just went into denial and ignored the problem. Then, last weekend, I “randomly” decided to look through ravelers’ stashes to see if anyone had any of this yarn, and found Jenny – boopersin on ravelry. Jenny, O Jenny, my new BFF and savior. I wrote her asking if she’d sell, told her my sob story, and she quickly agreed. Isn’t she wonderful? Friend her immediately if you’re on rav, she’s a keeper (and Glennae too, if you don’t know her yet). So Jenny’s two skeins are winging (or brown trucking) their way to me, which means I’ll be able to finish my Mondo Cardigan. Whew.

Next?

froth and beads

Is this technically “on the needles,” given the fact that I’ve obviously pulled out the needles? Apparently not. It’s gorgeous. It’s Liquid Silver, by Rosemary Hill, with Elann Silken Kydd, a luscious and halo-ey mohair and silk blend, with glass beads. I started knitting it when I first returned to knitting a couple of years ago, and honestly, it was beyond my beginner’s skills. I struggled with the very thin yarn on the very slippery needles, with nothing on hand to thread the beads onto the yarn. So I got this far and then put it away. Apparently at some point I pulled the needles out – to use them for another project, probably? – but I don’t remember doing that. The pattern would be very easy for me now, so I hope to frog this and just start over with the same pattern. After all, I have the beads.

I know this is supposed to be a fearless inventory, but I’m not being fully honest here. There’s a sweater in progress, halfway up the back but I don’t like it so I’ll frog it and reuse the yarn, and a Christmas stocking for one of my girls, just begun and set aside.

There. Now I’ve been really fearless, I’ve confessed my excess. I feel much better. And I just noticed how many of my projects are made with madelinetosh yarn. I love her.

So, WOTN! Item #1, the wedding shawl. Nupps are “fun.” I won’t show the shawl in its entirety, to preserve the surprise, but little bits here and there seem ok. Case in point: nupps.

nupps (unblocked, of course)

Next up on the needles: socks for my youngest daughter (nonrav link), whose dorm floors are very cold. I want to finish them by the time she comes home for spring break in a couple of weeks, so I’m alternating these with the shawl. (Doesn’t that gusset look mighty huge to you? It does to me.)

A's socks

While not technically on the needles, these are destined to be on the needles very soon – sock yarns chosen by my oldest daughter. Katie, which one do you want me to use first?

Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock: Beverly

Knit One Crochet Too: Meadow

And finally, in this brief period between snows, I walked over to Riverside Park – my back yard, kind of – and I took a picture I take over and over, in all seasons. Here it is today:

winter view

And here it is a few months ago, and a few before that:

November

May

Seeing the park blanketed with snow, and ice in the Hudson River, made me think about Lent. I didn’t grow up in a church that focused on Lent (ours focused on the fun combination of both fire and brimstone), and I’m not religious in that way, but the idea of it struck me. There’s a longing for life to come – the life that’s pent up in the trees and plant life buried under the snow. The wheel turns, it’s bleak now, but rejuvenation is coming. It’s coming. The world will begin again, as it always does.

On the knitting front, I made it through the entire part of the shawl chart with the big set of nupps. And they were fun! I definitely learned how to do them better by the last row of them, but I was happy enough. Then, knitting the last set of lace rows to complete the chart, and *clunk*. Something was way wrong. After each row – partly due to overweening pride – I’d stopped, stretched out the lace, admired it, looked for problems, found none. After each pattern repeat, I rechecked the stitches. If each pattern repeat was correct, and each row was correct, I’d be in good shape, right? And yet I’d really screwed up something, somewhere. How hadn’t I seen it in all my looking?! Too much pride, too much “look, isn’t that cool what I did?” I guess. And so I had to pull that whole section out. Had I put in a lifeline? NO.

So I held my breath, got out a small tapestry needle and a roll of dental floss, and tried to put one in, below the nupps chart. A tiny little stitch at a time, through the cobweb-weight lace. plink. plink. plink. plink. plink. Across the row…..and then pull pull pull pull, unknitting. It worked, and so now I begin again. At least this time I’ll do the nupps pretty well from the very first row. So with the shawl too, I’m back where I started.

My sweetheart and I have been dieting – him on Atkins, me on low-cal – but here it is, Valentine’s Day (tomorrow). We’re going out for dinner at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Awash, and then we’ll come home for something sweet. He really loves blueberry coffee cake, so I just popped one in the oven. Photos of a slice tomorrow, but for now, The Making of the Coffee Cake, followed by its recipe.

rich batter chock-full of blueberries

sprinkled with a yummy streusel topping, ready to bake

Want to make it yourself? Here’s how: