Rough Start . . . Carraig-Fhada Vest

Oh my let me count the ways I can totally screw up a project and have so many restarts!  Really . . . how can I love knitting so much and yet just be tortured by the knitting trolls!  Last night, I may have won and sent the little buggers back into hiding for a bit!

A wonderful swatch with great tension and all things I love about knitting! This pattern is from Kate Davies Inspired by Islay, called Carraig-Fhada vest, knitted with Buachaille yarn.

I started off great with knitting the full recommended swatch but here lies the first ERROR!  I have a wonderful swatch and I could duplicate sts colors on it to see what I actually really did like and what caught my eye. DID I WRITE THE NEEDLE SIZE DOWN---NOPE-NO-NOT AT ALL!!!!!!! When will I get over this major personal flaw in knitting?  Why is it so hard to write DOWN NEEDLE SIZE 3.5MM?  Oh, I say, to myself all the time, "I will remember what needle size, of course, I will remember your size needle!" Do I remember the needle size . . . not often enough.

Then there was the issue with the twisted sts ribbing . . . too loose, I didn't go down a needle size or two. Which when I got to the colorwork was very loose and floppy. I don't care for that kind of knitting at all my knitting has to have "ganas" which is Spanish for balls meaning it needs to be a bit firm with some substance to the knitted fabric. I frogged and started the twist sts ribbing again on smaller needles and NOPE still didn't like it. I went back to the tried and tested true to the core ol'K2, P2 ribbing on smaller needles and reduced sts.  I am an EZ percentage system fan, I know I can redesign anything and make my knitting work for me. Although I am trying to follow a pattern, I am all about tweaking it to make it mine and to make it work for me! I know I can do these things when I am not screwing up the needle size!

The colorwork and the increase I picked just looked too messy, my knitting was once again just to loose and did not resemble my great swatch at all.  STOP!  What the heck is going on here?  Those dang knitting trolls! I know for a fact these trolls live and run around causing mayhem for us knitters. I imagine trolls rubbing their hands, chatting and grunting with each other and planning their attract when I am not looking. . . they are giggling at all my errors and loving the mayhem they are creating . . . but at last, I won!  I frogged a bit, fixed needle size, fixed increases, and did 2 rounds of colorwork correctly and set my knitting down for the night. Once you get the bothersome knitting trolls under control you need to leave them as they retreat to their den all pissy that they didn't win and can not longer torment the H-E-double-toothpicks out of you!

Where's the WOOL?

It is time for a knitting update.  I left off with a Lopi sweater which has been great for skiing this winter.  My only slight complaint about any sweater I knit is the body length. This is a fitting issue, I will be focusing on in the future.  I have a few sweaters that I really love but the body length I feel is just too long.

I don't believe I posted this finished sweater.  This was the Shetland Chunky yarn with unspun Icelandic.

Done, off the needles, and used often this winter! This sweater has made for a wonderful warm layer when skiing in the bitter cold. Like all 100% wool, it keeps you 100% warm!

I did finish last spring's socks I casted on.  I never worry about socks as they are the "go to" project to just have around and to knit when time or my mind needs productive mindless knitting. Hats are another great project just to have around or to use up your leftover yarn to knit up a fun hat.

Nice pair of R & R socks as I am calling these.  Knit with Kate Davies Buachaille Yarn.

I also knitted and felted two pairs of baby booties.  I finished the icord on a baby blanket that was to be a throw years ago. This throw turned into a baby blanket as it has been sitting as a UFO (for those non-knitting folks this is an UnFinished Object) for YEARS!  It is now DONE!  Baby booties just need a bit of finishing work and all items will be delivered next week.

Knitted and felted baby booties.  Knitted with Malabrigo worsted yarn from the Knit'N Needle.  Malagrigo yarn is wonderful for felting!  This is my go to knit for little ones.

Leftover yarns, a long-term project, off the needles and soon to be on its way to a little one.

Brief intro: The big project is my Fair Isle Vest!  This has been a dream project/goal for years and now it is on my needles! It has been a bit of a struggle to get it on my needles  . . . read below

Carraig-Fhada Vest 

Carraig-Fhada Vest is on my needles for the third time.  Last fall, I signed up for the Inspired my Islay Club.  I would be getting weekly patterns through the winter and in the end the patterns in a book as well all by Kate and Tom. It was a weekly treat to see what would arrive in my "inbox."  When the vest showed up I knew I would have to knit it!  I did knit up a swatch and messed with the colors a bit.  The white background had me worried a bit, yet I loved the colors used and the nice spring/summer look of the vest. After a bit of messing around and thinking, I ended up going back to the original blue colorway in the pattern.

Twisted STS ribbing looks nice.

Far too large and to much stretch and I am just not happy with you!

Sometimes it is best to knit with a background that doesn't match your yarn--a knitting tip!  This just made it harder to see the sts.

I am lately having a ribbing issue with my knitting.  I frogged out the ribbing and debated a k2, p2 rib which is what most Fair Isle use or reducing the sts count.  I finally just went down 2 needle sizes and re-knit the twisted sts ribbing.  The ribbing is now done.  I tried it on and it seems better  . . . I don't love it though.  On a positive note, I started the color work which I do love!  Colorwork just talks to me! I love the reward of seeing progress as you work your way through the color motifs.

I knit this ribbing twice, the 1st time I forgot to go down a needle size or 2--ugh!  The second time I went down 2 needle sizes and knitted colorwork.  I decided, I really didn't like the colorwork or the ribbing.

After much debate, I had that "gut feeling." I am not in love with you
. . .  I frogged for the vest for the third time.

Colorwork which is looking pretty nice I will say, but I just am not happy with all that white!

I frogged the ribbing three times. I casted on with a different blue, a k2, p2 ribbing on needles 2 sizes smaller and minus 24 sts.  I have returned to my gut feeling of ribbing and colors and now, in theory, I should be all set to knit with no more major frogging!

A great thing about knitting a good size swatch is you have something to mess around with.  Ther blue I am using now is "Between Weathers"  with the "Haar" for the background color. I also used a duplicate sts to look at colors.

The colors I am now using are muted but I like them better.  My only last little color issue is I may change the Furz (golden yellow) to a Hedder (heather pink) . . . 

A side note: Fair Isle, Lopi, and Norwegian knitting design/techniques are what I love the most!  Aran knitting technique is running just a smidge behind color work for me. I love the traditional knits and color work of these techniques from the northern latitudes.




PS  I hope this doesn't read to disjointed.  It just took some time to get all the knitting updated. The photo below sums up how I felt about this post---JUST GET IT DONE WILL YOU!

Vest: Carraig Fhada

At long last, I have found a color work vest that I want to knit!  I joined Kate Davies club: Inspired By Islay for the winter.  Last week this amazing vest pattern arrived in my inbox. I became instantly smitten with one of the variations of the Carraig Fhada vest!

I went right to my leftover skeins from the Seven Skein club. This was a previous Kate Davies club.  In this club, Kate introduced her own line of yarn called Buachaille.  I thought for once I will knit a proper swatch for this vest with the colors I do have to get my gauge sorted out.

I am missing two colors for this swatch (new Moonlicht Nicht & Furze) but I was able to put together a reasonable swatch for gauge and colors.  I am using 3.75mm circular needles.  I like to knit a swatch on the same type of needles I plan on using.  The swatch has 3 pattern repeats for a 16-inch circular needle.  The top colorway is using Ptarmigan which is the white, the bottom is using Haar the gray. I do like both but will go with the white.  However, in the back of my mind, I keep thinking about muck/dirt factor of the Ptarmigan.  The Furze is a yellowy gold color that I have not yet met in person.  I used Macallum a raspberry color. 

I am drawn to both colorways, but I do appreciate the brightness of this combination.

More notes can be found on my Ravelry project page as well for my new vest!

Let's just talk about the weather a bit here: We have had a good solid week of freezing your arse off temperatures!  

Things starting to warm up no wind chill!

The Light at The End of The Tunnel, Holiday, Vacation . . . Bliss, Freedom, Yahoooooo!

It is that time of the year all teachers look forward to and all kids look forward to 

SUMMER VACATION!

I actually like prefer the word HOLIDAY over VACATION as it just sounds more appealing and downright BETTER than vacation.  On Wednesday afternoon I will be on HOLIDAY for 3 months . . . let the reverse migration start.  For now, I am still enjoying my northern latitude home and life.

This little collection of photos is from March '16.  Our ski season was shorter this year and I only was able to get in 102 days of skiing.  I always have a goal of 100 days on skis but would love to hit 125 in a perfect winter.

I started a pair of Kate Davies' fingerless mitts called Pawkies.  This is a fast knit.  I have one mitt done but need to get a better photo outside to show the colors better as her Buachaille yarn is wonderful! Kate's Buachaille Yarn is rich in color, has a wonderful hand, and a joy to knit with--I highly recommend the splurge!

As normal, I have a pair of socks on the needles.  This colorway is Whiskey Spring from my favorite local yarn shop in Montana: Polka Dot Sheep 

The Unspun Icelandic Wool Sweater is done! Off the needles, blocked, and worn! To read more about this Lopi design go back to this previous post. I need an outside photo of this sweater.

I do love how the colors came together and the neck.  The neck is a folded over and then a sewn down cast-off.  This method, I feel gives the most stretch/elastic to a neck.

Miss Sadie on the tundra a few weeks ago. 

Recently, we have been having huge dramatic clouds with little rain.  We did just have a few nights of rain which was really needed.  The tundra has been very dry and crisp.

This flower is known as the "Wooly Lousewort" or "bumble bee flower".  It is blooming all over our tundra at present.  It is such a wonderful treat to finally see something that isn't just various shades of brown!

My morning walks have been wonderful and I am so glad I have moved out of the gym.  Sadie and I walk 2 miles every morning just to get the blood flowing.  When we started walking I would wear a headlamp.  It was dark at the start and finish of our walks. We now have over 18 hours of sunlight.  The sun is rising as we head out.  We get to enjoy the sunrise over the tundra. I love it! Below is the slough that we cross to ski in the winter.  The snowfence is where we run most of our elementary ski practices.  In the distance you can see the fog/mist rising up from the river and hills in the background (2nd photo).  On the other side of those hills is the Yukon River.

About 5:45 a.m. sun rise . . . not a bad way to start the morning walk!

This is before 6 a.m.

Looking towards Unalakleet about 6:15 a.m. again looking s-w down the slough. 

There you have my northern world.  The summer HOLIDAY will soon start.  Time to relax and slow down . . . we will be heading south soon!

Kokkeluri Mittens a Kate Davies Design #sevenskeinsclub

Kokkeluri Mittens a Kate Davies Design

Last night, I finally realized I had ENOUGH of Tomten #2!  I wanted to cast-on a wonderful pair of mittens and knit something new, different and not garter stitch.  I dug around in my DPN collection and did in fact find a 2.75 mm size of needles. I went with that size which I think and feel is a tad bit smaller than the US 2.  I may have to frog this one and go down a needle size but I can not tell yet.  No biggie at all to frog in my books it is simply all part of the process we knitters love! I do love this blue which is showing here a bit richer than what it is like in person.

The crochet provisional cast-on is a great skill and actually pretty is to apply.  I have used it before and really don't be afraid of it at all.  I would recommend working it on wooden needles as they are less slippery.

Using a braid is always a treat to me and such a neat design feature.  I am still amazed at how you knit vertically and yet create this nice horizontal look of the braid.  I do like my braided work to mirror each other and I may adjust for that feature on the right mitten.

Kate's yarn Buachaille has a wonderful hand to it!  I am really liking the feel of the yarn. The yarn weight is perfect as I do love a finer weight yarn.  This weight yarn is easy to work on needles, has great stitch definition, and the drape of the finish product is going to be lovely.

Off to knit some more to check out my gauge!  Knit on!

Knitting Update! Food Update & the good ol' Miscellaneous collection of "things"

I keep trying to keep up with the BLOG but I find I run out of time which is a rather lame excuse I know.  I love writing post and sharing photos of my rather crazy world out here on the tundra.  I know a lot of you enjoy it as well as I have a lot of visitors.  I do feel like I need to keep everyone current.  After this post I think I will have all photos up from October and can feel like I have a clean slate.

I was totally smitten with Kate Davies yarn club  and had to sign up and order her new yarn named: Buachaille.  #sevenskeinsclub you can find out more about her yarn or visit her blog.  

My husband didn't know he ordered this for my Birthday present!  He was thrilled the shopping was so easy this year.  The yarn arrived after my birthday but no biggie at all. I have yet to get it into balls but I did weight it all as suggested for various knitting patterns that are all part of the club.

I love the yarn, the feel of it and the smell!  The colors are great and very rich.  I think Kate has done a wonderful job of putting together a great yarn with some fantastic patterns.  The first item I will knit will be the Kokkeluri Mittens.  I have been wanting a new pair of mittens.  I also wanted something that wasn't to Norwegian and Kate's pattern is the ticket.

This African Violet was started from a leaf last year.  I have several of these in my classroom from last year and they are doing GREAT!  Nothing like a bit of color in my dark wintery world!

October is my birthday month and my cake was pumpkin pie without the crust. I make this wonderful yummy treat often.  No crust well I have always liked the pie more than the crust and now I don't eat wheat so it is perfectly yummy!

One of the many tundra walks we take just about every day or when the snow lands we ski! 

Butternut Squash Curry with chick-peas and rice! Tonight we had this as a left over and added chicken breast so dang tasty@

Sadie loves to eat ice even if it is like -20ºF out she will lay in the snow and eat ice!

Just us "girls" out on the tundra!  Tally and me.

Miss Sadie and me.

I love tally just sitting and wishing those clouds would bring us some snow!

"See" says Tally, "I am praying for snow too!"

In the fall we always get jelly fish on the beach.  This year they are rather small but you can see them on the sand.  Clear jelly fish.  We jokingly call them "Jesuit Jelly Fish" as they have a cross in them. 

I can not say enough about this great tea company!  Chai Diaries.  I ordered several teas from them and all of them have been delightful.  Great flavors and fast service and for rural Alaska that is a must.  I know I will be ordering more of their wonderful teas!

Almond flour , chipotle  crackers.  This is a great little recipe and just plain old yummy and easy to make.

I love homemade soup.  Here is a nice little veggie soup with chick-peas.  The base is turkey and veggie broth.

Almond Flour scone with tundra cranberries!

Beach looking north along Norton Sound.

Beach looking south towards Unalakleet.

Here is Tomten # 2 with the sleeves completed.  Below is the amount of left over green yarn.  Luckly it all worked out perfectly with a bit of frogging and added colors.

Below are a few closing photos from October 31st tundra walk in the wind and snow! All of which makes me extremely happy!