Episode 86 Skyp Sock Wave

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This show by sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince& Co.

The folks at Quince & Co believe that businesses can be good citizens—should be good citizens—without making too much a fuss about it. So, they have created a line of thoughtfully conceived yarns spun from American wool or sourced from earth friendly overseas suppliers. Find them at www.quinceandco.com and while you are there, sign up for their free e-newsletter.

I enjoy your feedback, comments on the blog, and questions.  Feel free to write to me at Paulaef@aol.com or on Ravelry as PrairiePiper.  My business site is www.longaberger.com/paula

Pipeliner Notes

I share notes from Judiuni and Lasknits2.

Nature Notes

Garlic Mustard Day.  Take a few hours each year to pull up these plants on your property so you can keep it in control. 

Common Violet  Viola sororia sororia State Flower of Illinois since 1908 Possible host plant for a number of butterflies, especially fritillaries. Flowers are edible but have little flavor.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Act 2 Scene 1  William Shakespeare

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady: thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love:
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

Needle Notes

Main Needle Choices for Socks or other small items in the round:

1.      Double Points  4 or 5

2.      Very Short Circular 9 to 12”

3.      2 circulars, usually 24”

4.      One long circular also called Magic Loop, 32” or longer

Both of these somewhat dependent upon newer and more flexible cables than were available prior to 2000 or so.

Socks Soar on 2 Circular Needles by Cat Bordhi  2001

The Magic Loop by Bev Galeskas January 2002 

I attempted 2 at a time socks on Magic Loop.  Took Judiuni’s email to heart and divided up my Austermann Step into two equal balls of 21 g each.  What a mess!  Would work better with toe-up using Judy’s Magic Cast On.

KarenE1969 started the Simple Skyp Sock Wave at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat.  Thank you, Karen!  This is my new favorite sock pattern.

Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku   Written for sport weight but I didn’t realize that until today when I started on the show notes.  Stitch count seemed right for fingering weight and mine fit perfectly.

Cakewalk Yarns Stash  colorway Vernon  80/10/10

Reasons to Love Simple Skype Socks by Adrienne Ku

1.      6 + 2 rib is super stretchy so the sock fits well.

2.      Easy to memorize, only 2 rows and one is simple rib.  Skyp comes from the main stitch Slip one, knit 1 YO, PSSO

3.      Wonderful for variegated yarns.  Pop of color and texture. 

4.      Unisex-usually a YO in a man’s sock is the death knoll but it works here because of the pass over.

Piper’s Journey KAL

Welcome to newbies who are joining the KAL!

The Blethering Room

I tell the story of how a Snowy Owl was in our town for two days and I didn’t know about it.  Sigh.  Shed a few tears.

In the Pipeline

Lookbook KnitBot Essentials

KnitBot Essentials by Hannah Fettig

Print and e-Book $24

e-book only $20

Slipped Stitch Patterns

Interrupting Cow Socks by Laura Linnemann  $4.00 Ravelry Download

Blue Monday Set a free design by Thea Colman www.spudandchloe.com  Beewing linked to it on our board.  Hat and mitten pattern with stranded slip stitch colorwork. 

Lorna Miser Blue Ray Socks from The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn.  

Skyp Ribbed Socks by Adrienne Ku

Claire by Adrienne Ku top down, unisex, ribbed  $5

If I like a free pattern by a designer then I try to purchase one of her patterns as a thank you.

Joy in the Congo.  60 minutes April 8, 2012   Amazing Story!

Book Notes

Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques and Patterns from Top Designers by Ann Budd. 

17 designs by 15 designers so that is a great value even if you just consider the patterns in the book.  Although the font is a rather small I recommend this book if you enjoy sock knitting.  Font is a bit small.  Highly recommended.

Haste ye back!

Episode 83 Captivating Cats

Listen here or use the Flash Player on this site for current and past episodes.  Subscribe on iTunes!

This show by sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and Quince & Co.

The folks at Quince & Co believe that businesses can be good citizens—should be good citizens—without making too much a fuss about it. So, they have created a line of thoughtfully conceived yarns spun from American wool or sourced from earth friendly overseas suppliers. Find them at www.quinceandco.com and while you are there, sign up for their free e-newsletter.

I enjoy your feedback, comments on the blog, and questions.  Feel free to write to me at Paulaef@aol.com or on Ravelry as PrairiePiper.  My business site is longaberger.com/paula

Thank you to everyone who left 5 star reviews on iTunes, commented on the show blog, participated in the Knitting Pipeline Group on Ravelry, and send good vibes my way.  Our group on Ravelry is very friendly and I invite you to join us.  We have over 1586 members!

Pipeliner Notes

I read a note from Nancy.  Her husband is going to build owl houses.  Does anyone have experience with these?  Please let me know.

Nature Notes

Pileated woodpecker, spring peepers, and a fox runs past as I record the show.

Spring Beauty  Claytonia virginica

Native Americans ate the bulbs of this plant.  Euell Gibbons called it Fairy Spuds.

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

Needle Notes

Follow up on Purl Tension.  Cat Bordhi.  Video shared by offherneedles.  How to tighten your purl stitches.

The next two cats are Greta theCaptivating Cat by Rebecca Danger.  Inspired by Diane of Knitabulls.

Greta The First wanted a bow.  I used Malabrigo.

3 needle bind off was used to close the top.  Getting it turned inside out was painful.  I felt sorry for the cat.

Greta the Second I used kitchener stitch at the top of the head.  Had added stitches to the opening but still very small.

Greta the Second did not want a bow.  I used Jojoland Melody.

 

I use DMC Cotton Perle for the facial features.  You have to get it right or all the knitting is for naught.

Stuffing:  Always takes more than you think it will.

Piper’s Journey KAL

Not much to say about this KAL and I guess that is a good thing. 

Lorix5 has a lovely Piper's Journey!  I loved her photos and asked whether I might post them here for you to see.

The Blethering Room

I explain where The Blethering Room originated, with a group of friends who met online and met face to face in Virginia in 1999. “Blether” is the Scottish word for blather.

Book Notes

The Knitter’s Life List by Gwen W. Steege. Highly recommended.

In the Piping Circle

St. Patrick's Day Recap

I did a little yarn shop visit during the pub crawl.  I visited with Erin and Melinda at The Fiber Universe.  I wanted to stay and knit but the piping must go on!  I am wearing our special Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums St. Patrick's Day shirts.

Paula and Erin St. Patrick's Day 2012

Kevin and Heather with Bishop Daniel Jenky of the Peoria Diocese.

Music from Musica Pacifica.  Kid on the Mountain and Mountain Rose. www.magnatune.com
Haste ye back!

Episode 65 Small Sweaters

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This show is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business www.longaberger.com/paula .  Sign up for my sale newsletters and special offers by sending an email to Paulaef@aol.com.  Please include your name, address, and phone. 

 Pipeliner Notes

 A correction in last week’s episode.  The site for rescuing macramé owls is www.macrameowl.com.  The link was correct in the show notes but I made it plural when I said it on the podcast.  My apologies to all macramé owls out there and their rescuers. 

 Deaf Smith, Laurel’s Kitchen, The Moosewood Cookbook were classic cookbooks in the 70's and 80's.

In my oven today:  Whole Wheat Bread, Homemade Granola, and

Baked Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Oatmeal from the food blog Perfecting the Pairing.  I substituted raisins for chocolate chips. 

Nature Notes

Satu mentioned that bats carry rabies and that is true. If you see a bat behaving strangely then beware. 

A hawk posed for me and I still had trouble identifying it.  A Cooper's Hawk is about the size of a crow and has a rounded tail.  The Sharp-shinned hawk is smaller and has a squared off tail.

3 Bird ID resources, 2 pair binoculars, and two cameras...and still not sure of the hawk.  Pathetic!

Can you see him?  Almost in the middle of the photo on the dead log with his back to me.  I could finally see that the tail was rounded.  (This was the following day.)

Sent to me by Goldybear:

Nature XXVII, Autumn

by Emily Dickinson

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned, I'll put a trinket on.

Needle Notes

Nellie by Donna Higgins. Still lacking the crochet flowers and buttons.  I'm working on it.  Those shoes belonged to my grandmother when she was a toddler.  They are 110 years old.

Nellie by Donna Higgins 
Purchase pattern at Stitches Midwest 2010 and the yarn is Knit Picks Organic Cotton. 

Calls for Sublime Organic Cotton DK

The only difficult part of this sweater is the crocheted flower closure.  Difficult for me, that is.
My project page is here.

I did the crochet flowers by myself!  Charr is going to be proud of me!  I did it a little differently than the instructions indicated and will share on the next episode.

Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater by Carole Barenys
My project page is here.

Free Pattern. Top down raglan with running strands that make a pattern on the yoke, cuffs, and bottom. 

If I knit this pattern again I would probably add another button hole on the yoke and then not put buttons below that. 

Heart buttons are so cute!

 In The  Pipeline 

• Afterthought Heel Hiking Socks using pattern by Laura Linneman
• Nubby Noro Mittens, actually have finished.
• Crescent Shawl Left to my Own devices

The Blethering Room 

Knitting Pipeline Retreat!  Registrations are now open.

  See side bar for Registration page.

March 2-3, 2011 (Fri night and all day Sat)

Crossroads United Methodist Church, 1420 N Main, Washington IL  61571

$50 for both Fri and Sat/$40 for Sat only.
Send a check with your mailing information, email, phone, and whether you wish to stay overnight at the facility.  Your check will be held for a while so don't worry if it does not clear right away.

Knitting Pipeline Retreat

PO Box 549

Washington IL 61571

Rip Van Winkle Challenge

 Go through your Ravelry queue to find a project that has been asleep for a long time.  Or maybe you have been asleep while others have been knitting this project.  In your Ravelry queue you can see when you put projects in your queue.

Another mission for the overachievers out there:  go to your stash and try to find your oldest yarn and match it to an pattern in your queue.

A new thread on the Knitting Pipeline Podcast Group on Ravelry will open up November 15-Nov 30 for Prize Patrol.

Product Review 

The Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara Parkes: the Yarn Lover’s Ultimate Guide to Creating Socks that fit well, Feel great, and last a lifetime.

Heartily recommended!

Music

Hint of Dawn from the album Hope by Kendra Spring.  www.magnatune.com

Episode 61 Let the Shaelyn KAL Begin!

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Thank you to Quince & Co for sponsoring this podcast episode.

Two wound skeins of Quince & Co Chickadee Carrie's Yellow.  Ready for Shaelyn Cast on!

Nature Notes

 

Tracks & Trails Newsletter of Forest Park Nature Center in Peoria IL Fall Migration Challenge which gave me some things to think about. Here are some of the ways that we humans can help birds and other animals.

• Turn off outdoor lights when possible to avoid confusing the birds.
• Provide birdfeeders, birdbaths, and nestboxes.  Due to land development there are not as many natural sources for animals.  We starting feeding in all our feeders about a week ago despite the chipmunks.
• Plant native plants.
• Reduce litter.
• Reduce toxic pesticides and herbicides.
• Help birds avoid window collisions with stickers, decals, window birdfeeders, or curtains.

Whooping Cranes in Florida Class of 2011 Whooping Crane Chicklets will be making their first migration with the help of an ultralight.  Migration starts on October 8, 2011.

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face.

~John Donne

My path to the compost bin.  Isn't it lovely?

In my Pipeline

•  Radiance Shawl by Helen Stewart
• Magrathea by Martina Behm
• Afterthought Heel Hiking Socks using pattern by Laura Linneman
• Shaelyn by Leila Raabe

JanMarie suggested I overdye the socks with too much yellow, idea which had crossed my mind.

Needle Notes

 Fawl Shawl KAWL for AWL update

Tag for your project:  knittingpipelinekal2011

Name of Project  Fawl Shawl KAWL for Awl  or Fall Shawl KAL for All

Shaelyn by Leila Raabe 

Most successful KAL we’ve had so far.  It’s not too late to jump in.

330 yds IS enough sport weight.  My cost to knit Shaelyn in Quince & Co Chickadee is $14.00.  A bargain!

Beginning of Shaelyn.  Fun!  Color is Carrie's Yellow.  It is richer than the photos indicate.

Marker shows beginning of lace pattern.  I explained on the thread on the board how to read your lace so you know when to start another band of lace (without counting rows.)

I did a video tutorial of the garter tab cast on.  I forgot to mention in last week's episode on Garter Tab CO to use two double pointed needles.  This tip seemed to help a lot of knitters.

Lifeline Tip from Twinsetjan:

Instead of a thread for a lifeline use a long circular needle in a very small size.  Advantages are that if you have to frog (unravel) the stitches will already be on a needle.  Plus stitch markers do not get caught up in the lifeline.

I tried this method and I wasn't real fond of it (although I am fond of Twinsetjan!) but encourage you to try it for yourself!  I prefer using a blunt needle and fine crochet cotton for now.

The Blethering Room

 Wore my A Shawl Like Kate’s (Milk Run Shawl by Cat Wong) to the grocery store (Aldi).  Interesting experiences. 

Quince & Co has new colors.  Gray heathery colors called Iceland, kumlien’s gull, kittywake, sabine…in chickadee, lark, osprey, and lark.

Estelle Cardigan Update

October 15 is Wear Your Estelle Day.

Take a photo of yourself in your own town, workplace, home, etc.

We (Bronwyn) are going to make a photo collage.

For those of you who have not finished your Estelle please join us in the fun! Take a photo of yourself knitting on your Estelle and we will include it in the collage. 

Movie    The Big Year starring Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Jack Black  release date Oct 14, 2011

Knitting Pipeline Retreat

March 2-3 Washington IL 

New development for the adventuresome knitters:  you may camp out at the facility!  Bring your own sleeping gear, towels, etc.  More info coming soon. 

October Rip Van Winkle Challenge 

Go through your Ravelry queue to find a project that has been asleep for a long time.  Or maybe you have been asleep while others have been knitting this project.  In your Ravelry queue you can see when you put projects in your queue.

Another mission for the overachievers out there:  go to your stash and try to find your oldest yarn and match it to an pattern in your queue. 

Product Review

Vogue Knitting Knitopedia: the Ultimate A to Z Guide

Sixth and Spring Books  2011  $34.95 US $41.95 CA

Comprehensive scope.  Oversize book.  Maybe not for every knitter's library but still an excellent book.

In the Piping Circle

Greg, Kevin, Paula

Paula, Kevin, Greg

Greg and Heather in foreground.  Tuning before the Walk.

Heather, Rob, Paula, Kevin in the tuning circle.

Music

Dutch Pipes and Drums.  In Harmony.  Track 8 

Salute to Royal Fendersmith, Corkhill, The Banjo Breakdown.

Thank you to our friends from Dutch Pipes and Drums!

Haste ye back!

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Episode 51 Estonian Lace

Listen here or use the Flash Player on this site.  Subscribe on iTunes! 

Quince & Co is a sponsor of this podcast.  I love their yarns!  Right now I am knitting Stripe Study Shawl in Tern in Stonington and Oyster.  It is almost finished!

 

Pipeliner Notes 

Happy Anniversary to all Pipeliners!  Knitting Pipeline was one year old on July 3!

Your notes, comments on the show blog, and participation on our Knitting Pipeline group on Ravelry keep the show going.   I appreciate each one of you!

A warm welcome to new Pipeliners! I heard from Lacey, Jenny, Penny, Wendy, and Lu.  We had two new 5 star reviews on iTunes thanks to Laurie Starr and Julie Bonello.  And if you are just out there clapping or cheering me on, that is great too. 

For those of you going to Sock Summit, keep your eyes on the board for meet ups.  There is a meet up scheduled for the lunch hour on Saturday at the Bar Maid's booth #400.  I will be there.  Also, I will try to meet up with you as best I can.  Please stop me to say hello if you see me at Sock Summit...or anywhere else.

Nature Notes

I wanted to carry Lily of the Valley in my wedding bouquet.  My Tante Grete in Denmark asked all her friends to gather their Lily of the Valley in their gardens.  They dropped off their flowers at her house on the morning of the wedding. 

Outside the church after the wedding

Bob wore his hiking boots...the only shoes he had with him for our trip to Norway and Sweden.

See that shawl?  I had totally forgotten that I wore a shawl.  My friend, Vibeke, loaned it to me that day as it was a little bit chilly in the morning.  In this photo we are standing in Onkel Orla's garden in Aarhus before going to the church.  We had ridden a city bus to the City Hall to get our marriage license.

I’ve always loved Lily of the Valley.  My grandmother had them in her garden.  When the first flowers bloomed in the spring she put a small bouquet in a little vase that had been her grandmothers.  This black vase, which I have now, has lily of the valley painted on it.  (Photo coming soon)

Kate Middleton carried Lily of the Valley in her wedding bouquet. Did she copy me?
Queen Victoria popularized The Language of Flowers where flowers each had their meaning. Lily of the Valley meant "return to happiness" or "trustworthy".
Other names are Our Lady's Tears, May Lily, May Bells, Lily constancy, Ladder-to-heaven, male lily, Muguet (French)
Became national flower of Finland in 1967

Lily of the Valley became the National Flower of Finland in 1967.

All parts including the berries and highly poisonous.  It has some of the same effects that foxglove might have, another one of my favorite flowers.

By all those token flowers, that tell

What words can never speak so well.    ~~Byron

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needle Notes

Triangular Summer Shawl by Helve Poska from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush.

Probably the best seaming I've ever done!

Nupps!

My first foray into nupps was the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark.  I found nupps to be tricky and sometimes I didn’t secure all the loops properly.

Here are some tips.

• When they say to knit loosely into the loop, they mean very loose.  Pull the stitches out as you make them and hold them with another finger to keep them nice and big.
• After you have the required number of loops in your nupp put your free needle tip (the one that would be in your left hand) inside them and pull towards you to neaten them up.
• On the WS when you come to a nupp and all those loops have to be purled into one:  This is a trick that I do that I didn’t see anywhere else.  I hold the loops at the base of the nupp and pull straight down before putting the right needle tip in.  Then I slide the right needle tip alongside the bottom of the left needle tip as it goes in.  Once I started doing all three of these precautions, the nupps improved and got easier.

The first clip are my tips for the right side and the second clip shows tips for the wrong side of the work.

I knitted this shawl for my nephew's fiancee, Susan. Isn't she lovely? Does she look a bit like a knitwear designer we know and love?

The Blethering Room

Stephen West (Westknits) has a Mystery Shawl KAL that starts on August 1, 2011.  The pattern is $4 now and $6 when released after the KAL.  I jumped right in and bought the pattern.  I can't resist Stephen West.

I need 3 colors for the shawl.  I'm thinking some of this Quince & Co Tern would work nicely.  What about Barnacle, Driftwood, and Boothbay Blue...or Sea Grass?

The wonderful music is from Lydia McCauley, Beauty of the Earth, on the album Beauty of the Earth.  www.magnatune.com

Haste ye back!