Arans and Ganseys and Bears — Oh, My!

Our guild was fortunate to have a weekend of classes with Beth Brown-Reinsel earlier this month. She is a delightful lady, and a wonderful teacher, and -- coming directly from all that snow and mud in Vermont -- was a little culture-shocked in our warm California spring weather. (But in a good way!) :)

We had one day of knitting Aran cardigans from the top down (the lavender sweater photographed with California poppies), and one day of Gansey pullovers from the bottom up (the (the gold sweater photographed in the lavender blossoms).

Our sampler-style bear-size mini sweaters featured shoulder straps, welts, gussets, and a wealth of traditional patterns and methods. Everyone was knitting at top speed while listening and talking — and mistakes were definitely made! We joked that if any of our bears drowned, we would certainly be able to claim them by identifying the mistakes in their little sweaters. Myths are so much fun!

Each day featured a lovely catered luncheon, and plenty of time to relax, chat, delight in the springtime weather— and even knit a little. :)

If you ever have an opportunity to take a class from Beth, jump at it! Even if you don't have any intention of ever knitting a full-size Aran or Gansey, you will learn many useful techniques and tips that can carry over well to other knitted items.

Thanks, Beth! It was a wonderful weekend.

Christmas. Is. Done.

Remember the one knitted gift I didn't finish in time for Christmas? Well, it's finished now, and the recipient is very happy with it and said it was well worth the wait.

This is the wonderfully triple-redundant-named "Forever Classic Heirloom Cables" from the Lion Brand site. My son picked out both the sweater and the yarn: Wool Ease for mindless tossing into the washer and the dryer.

He's so happy with it that he sat right down with a stack of knitting patterns looking for his NEXT Christmas present.

He's such an optimist. ;)

Spring Tickle Socks

I really have been knitting socks this year -- I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of them. :) I finished this pair in February, and they have been washed and blocked and ready for their close-up, Mr. DeMille.

So today was picture day. I thought these pretty yellow and white irises were the perfect photo companions for socks in a"Spring Tickle" colorway. The angle is a bit weird, though: they really are proportionate!

The yarn is "Smooshy" by Dream in Color. I got it from The Sweet Sheep, a delightful site to do business with. The yarn is soft and dreamy as advertised -- I hope it wears well!

Here's the built-in marker. It's agate, Swarovski crystal, and tiger eye.

Milinda managed!

If you heard loud whooping this past week, that might have been me. If you heard a sigh of relief, that was probably me, too.

I finished a long-standing (3-year) UFO intended for my daughter.

Joan M-M's Milinda pattern is well-written, and the rose-leaf patterned portion knitted up like a dream. In fact, I made it a bit longer than the pattern called for. But then the project hit deep doo-doo. It is supposed to fit closely, and the intended recipient is not a single pattern size. I re-knit the top portion 3 times in different size combinations and reknit the bust short rows over and over until I had to change yarn skeins because I had nearly worn out the original skein. I just didn't like the way the short rows looked, and tried every method I could find until I finally hit on one that didn't show too badly. I dragged that project across the country for fittings several times, just to discover it was too loose here, too tight there, too big there, too small here.

Frog it. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

But the third time was the charm. It. Fit.

And she likes it! She really likes it! :))

Faded Glory

Never underestimate the power of a leprechaun.

Last March, I knitted a pair of green/gray Koigu socks, and accused the leprechauns of stealing the green color from my photo after I washed and blocked the socks. And I've been wearing them happily ever since.

Last weekend, I discovered a wee hole in the heel of one of these socks. Being the packrat that I am, I dug around in my sock remnants until I found the Koigu leftovers to darn the hole with.

What's up with this? I had to double-check the label to make sure it was the same yarn. Has anyone else experienced this type of fading with Koigu??

As a sanity-check, I dug out some leftover Tanzanite Socks That Rock from October 2006. I wear these socks *all the time* and they get washed in the machine at least once a week, and also needed a wee bit of TLC for a worn-thin spot in the heel..

See? Hardly any fading at all -- if any. They still look awesome.

So.

Was it the Koigu?

Or the Curse of the Leprechauns? *

*(I should probably trademark this and offer it up on eBay as a great title for a horror movie!!)