Episode 36 Fix It Challenge

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Quince & Co is a sponsor of Knitting Pipeline.  Leave a comment here to enter the drawing for your choice of three patterns and 2 skeins of Tern yarn. 

Japan Earthquake Relief

Our are for those who are affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  There are many ways to help. 

• One of our Pipeliners, Brenda Castiel, is giving $5 from the sale of each of her patterns.  Find her designs on Ravelry here.  She is Goodstuff on Ravelry.
• Mary Jo, HedgehogMJ on Ravelry, has designed the Rose of Sharing to benefit Heifer International and UMCOR Pacific Emergency #3021217.  All proceeds from the pattern sales will go to Heifer International and UMCOR.

Nature Notes

I might have seen a mountain lion/cougar/panther in our woods.  It was the size of a dog (medium), entirely black, but did not move like a dog.  Actually it didn't move much like a cat either.  I had forgotten about it until neighbors on the other side of our woods reported seeing a black panther.

The woods are still barren of green but I walk there daily to see what changes Spring will bring.  I played my pipes in the woods while watching minnows in the creek.  There is life.

Before repeating anything a little bird told you, be sure it wasn't a cuckoo. --Source Unknown


Patterns referred to in this episode

Duffers by Mindie Tallack
Striped Study Shawl by Veera Valimaki (need umlaut on both a's in last name)

Quince Patterns

• Sabrina Mitts by Cecily MacDonald
• Abbey Road Socks by Ann Budd
• Barcelona Scarflet by Pam Allen
• Masse Mitts (for men) by Ann Budd

on Carrie Hoge's Blog ( a boatload of cuteness here)

• Anabelle Babe Cardi by Carrie Hoge
• Leila Babe Cap by Carrie Hoge

Needle Notes

I forgot the wool for my Wool Peddlers Shawl aka Comfort Knitting when I visited my parents.  I re-knitted the toes of a pair of Scottish Kilt Hose that I knitted in 1996.  The pattern is from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush.

1996 Project.  This was before fixing them.

This is how much I took off he end of the toe...all that is hanging beyond the green sock.

My challenge to you is to go through your knitted items to see what needs repair, mending or reknitting.  Feel free to share!  This usually does not take as long as we imagine it will.

The Norwegian Setesdal Sweater is coming along.  I am almost done with the body of the sweater.  What topics do you want to hear about that relate to Norwegian or color pattern knitting?

Blethering Room

I tried to organize the types of comfort knitting from Pipeliners.  It's too complicated to write about.  Just listen to the episode. ;)  Can you tell I'm tired of show notes right now?

Pipeliner JanMarie referred to The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee.

The music was supposed to be a live recording of Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums from St. Patrick's Day 2011.  Since I cannot seem to upload the file this will have to wait until next week.  Meanwhile, enjoy

Irish Ground (Tollett) performed by DaCamera available on http://www.magnatune.com/.

  

In the Piping Circle

Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums led the parade in Peoria on St. Patrick's Day.  In this video from the Peoria Journal Star site I am in the beginning of the video, front and center, for about one second.  You can see my feet marching along for another second.

Celtic Cross at one of the Peoria Pubs wearing our Pub Crawl T-Shirts.

Episode 35 Comfort Knitting

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Thank you to sponsor Quince & Co for the giveaway this month.  Leave a comment below to enter a drawing for your choice of one of 3 gorgeous patterns and your choice of Tern to make it!  Tern is a blend of American wool and tussah silk in soft, natural colors.  What is your favorite color in Tern?


Abbey Road Socks by Ann Budd



Barcelona Scarflet by Pam Allen

Sabrina Mitts by Cecily MacDonald

Comfort Knitting aka Mac n Cheese Knitting

Thanks to Pipeliner Kim for sharing with me that the Clapotis is her comfort knitting, which she also called "Mac n Cheese Knitting."  So fun.  My idea of comfort knitting is a garter stitch shawl.

• Sweet Baby Cap. (from Alison C)
   My note: This pattern has been floating around Scandinavia for over 35 years.  I knitted many of these little caps and shared the pattern with Elizabeth Zimmermann.  She had never seen it before.
• Socks (from Lee, Mette, Kristin)
• Dishcloths (Kathy)
• Easy stockinette, such as a stocking cap in the round (from Mt. Mom)
• Complex lace (Gail and Kristin)
• Chic Knits Pullover or other easy stockinette pattern (from Eden Stein)
• Multnomah Shawl (from Rohan Knitter)
• Socks for the Drinkin' project and more complicated pattern, such as a cabled sweater for the Thinkin' project.  (from Debi)

 What is your idea of Comfort Knitting?

  

Nature Notes

The Red-Wing Blackbird scouts are back in central Illinois.  We saw our first Eastern Meadowlark of the season at Emiquon Preserve.

We drove to the Emiquon Preserve to see this phenomenal migration of Snow Geese.


This photo reminds me a little bit of Denmark but it really is Illinois.



 Snow Geese Migration Photo

Migration Article: A Collective Force (article from Peoria Journal Star)

Snow Geese at Lake Springfield from Dave Heinzel on Vimeo.

 To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and the flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.  -Rachel Carson from Under the Sea-Wind

Needle Notes

I started a Wool Peddlers Shawl by Chery Oberle but with a different method of starting the shawl. I used what might be called the Garter Tab method. My thoughts for this method:

• Sometimes the pattern calls for a provisional cast on for 2 or 3 stitches. I don't bother with a provisional cast-on now.  I have tried it both ways and it isn't worth it in my opinion.
• I usually knit two more rows on the tab than the pattern calls for which makes it easier to pick up the required number of stitches.

I am about 3/4 of the way through the body of the Norwegian Sweater.

Correction from last week:  Charlene Schurch's last name has a silent "S".  It is pronounced "Church". 

Book Notes

I am thrilled to give an enthusiastic 5 star rating to The Knitter's Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn: Techniques and Projects for Handpainted and Multi-colored projects  by Lorna Miser.  Watson-Gupthill c2010.
Lorna Miser's new book takes some of the mystery out of those gorgeous skeins that entice knitters and then sometimes surprise, confuse, or disappoint us.  Learn how to evaluated your multi-colored yarns, choose appropriate projects, and have a boatload of stitches and techniques to make these yarns really work for you.

In The Piping Circle

Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums is preparing for St. Patrick's Day and our competition season.

  

Celtic Music

A great Scottish Folk band,  Aff the Cuff shares traditional reels:  Spootskerry, Willafjord, and St. Anne's Reel from their CD, CLAP.

Subscribe the their podcast, Aff the Cuff, on iTunes!

Remember to leave a comment to enter your name in the drawing.  If your comment does not direct me to our blog, please leave your Ravelry name or another way to contact you.

Episode 34 Socks at Last!

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Quince & Co is a sponsor of this episode.  Sign up for their free e-newsletter at http://www.quinceandco.com/ to keep up on the latest patterns and natural fiber news.

Thank you to everyone who contacted me this week.  A special thank you to The Knitmore Girls, Jasmin and Gigi, as they have mentioned my podcast several times on their show.

Nature Notes

We set a new snow record in Central Illinois.  2010-2011 is now officially our snowiest winter on record.  The previous record was 1978-79.  We are a little over 52" with a good chance of adding to that during March, our transition month from winter to spring.

The woods are bare and a lot of animals are moving around.  I've seen a coyote trot past the window by my studio and a small herd of deer.  There are fewer birds at the feeder with the snow melted but we still have cardinals, goldfinches, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and more. 

Talithia share that the local garbage dump is a good place to view wildlife.

There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look.

-Henri Matisse 

 We Like March

We like March, his shoes are purple,
He is new and high;
Makes he mud for dog and peddler,
Makes he forest dry;
Knows the adder's tongue his coming,
And begets her spot.
Stands the sun so close and mighty
That our minds are hot.
News is he of all the others;
Bold it were to die
With the blue-birds buccaneering
On his British sky.          ---Emily Dickinson

The Blethering Room

Faroe Islands are Scandinavian and linked to Denmark.

Fair Isle is part of Britain, specifically Shetland.

Both place names are derived from Old Norse and mean "Sheep Island".

Tip from a Pipeliner Tea aka Teacosy.  Store small stash in large glass jars.

Beautiful and practical way to store those little leftovers in your stash.

Needle Notes

I frogged the man's sock I was knitting from Toe-Up by Chrissy Gardiner.

Camo sock (toe-up version) before frogging.

 I used the Happy Feet yarn to knit a pair of socks for my size foot using The Faceted Rib Sock pattern from The Little Book of Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott.

Faceted Rib Socks with no pig's eyes.

Techniques learned:

• German Twisted Cast-on is a wonderfully stretchy cast on and not difficult.  The set up is the same as for the Long Tail Cast On.
• There is a technique for eliminating the pesky hole (also known as a pig's-eye) where you join the heel flap with the instep.  Wonderful!
• A new toe shaping that fits very well.

I also finished a pair of wristers "Those Mitts" by Leslie Friend with my modifications and a Care Cap for a friend who is having chemotherapy treatments.

Book and Product Notes

 

The Little Box of Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott.  Clever format.  Recommended.

Kollage DPN's.  I decided to try these square needles after hearing a positive review from Abby on The Knit Knit Cafe Podcast.  I am going to add more of these needles to my collection.

It looks better on the recipient.

Music is from the group Musica Pacifica.  CD Dancing in the Isles on Magnatune.   "Irish Lamentation" (English Country Dance)  Beautiful!

Episode 33 Of Lice and Men

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Quince & Co is a sponsor of Knitting Pipeline.  Visit them to find beautiful, natural fiber yarns from American sheep and responsible non-domestic sources.
Thank you for your prayers and greetings for my mom and her recovery.  Her arm is healing and it looks as if she will not need surgery. 

Imagine!  An entire podcast episode revolving around the lowly and despised louse.  Crazy as it sounds  I will link Traditional Norwegian Knitting, a Scottish Poet, and an American Poet.

I give a short background on the Norwegian Setesdal Sweater, also known as Luskofte, literally "Lice Jacket".  The sweater tradition started about 1860 in Setesdal, a region in southern Norway.  The Luskofte is somewhat of a Norwegian national costume and the hallmark of Norwegian knitting.

To a Louse by Robert Burns is read by Alan Wood, friend of Louise Hunt of the Caithness Craft Collective Podcast.  You can find Louise's delightful podcast on iTunes or Podbean.  Thank you, Louise and Alan.

If you want to read more about the poem, check it out here.
To a Louse Interpretation

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was an American Poet with Scottish and English ancestry.  This is one of his lesser known poems.

A Considerable Speck by Robert Frost

My Book Recommendations for Norwegian Knitting

If you want to knit a Norwegian Drop Shoulder Sweater you can get the design information and charts from Elizabeth's Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears, Knitting Workshop, or Knitting Around.  All are available from Schoolhouse Press and other booksellers.  Any one of these books will give you all the information you need.

For more background in Scandinavian Knitting I recommend Sheila McGregor's The Complete Book of Scandinavian Knitting.  The reprint by Dover is called Traditional Scandinavian Knitting.

Norwegian Knitting Designs by Annichen Sibbern Bohn is no longer in print.  If you can get your hands  on a copy, it is a little gem of a book.

The newest addition to my Scandinavian knitting book library is, Setesdal Sweaters: The History of the Norwegian Lice Pattern by Annemor Sundbo.  Torridal Tweed.  2001.  Available from Schoolhouse Press.

I found some photos of my first Norwegian Drop Shoulder Sweaters and other Elizabeth Zimmermann designs.

Our Family at home in 1984 with everyone wearing my handknits.  Bob is wearing EZ's Hand to Hand.  I am wearing a Norwegian Luskofte.  Torben is wearing an Aran Vest.  Nils and Peter are wearing raglan sweaters with a texture pattern in the yoke, made using the EPS. (Elizabeth Zimmermann Percentage System.)

In front of our old house where we lived for 25 years.  (Sniff.)

Torben age 9 in his Norwegian Lus Vest. 1987



Torben age 10 in another Norwegian Style Drop Shoulder Sweater. 1988



Stranded Knitting Tutorial

Needle Notes

My finished project turned out lousy (groan).  These are the felted Baby Slippers from Knitting at Home by Leanne Prouse, a book that was reviewed in Episode 29.  Bronwyn helped me with the Bickford method of sewing the pieces together.  They should probably go through the washing machine again but nothing is really going to help that colorwork. Felting is really not my thing but I'm going to attempt the French Press Slippers before throwing in the towel.

After Mom fell my Norwegian Sweater went into hibernation for a week.  I started on a new project (shawl) which I will share next week.  I also picked up a pair of socks that had been in hibernation since June.

In the Piping Circle

Bruce Gandy, World Champion Piper, plays a set from his album My Father's Son.  Order the CD from Bruce's website.  Thank you, Bruce Gandy!

Thank you for listening to the podcast and for visiting the blog!

Next Episode (33) will be delayed

Mom, Dad, my sister, my brother, and me at Thanksgiving 2010.

Well, Mom fell and broke her arm in two places.  She is a bundle of energy and Dad's primary caretaker.  My sister has been taking good care of them and now I'm here to help with kitchen duty and whatever else I can do.  I will probably update on my personal blog A Piper Knits so feel free to visit!

Episode 32 A Technique Betrayed

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Knitting Pipeline is sponsored by Quince & Co. Sign up for their weekly e-newsletter here.

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.  --John Muir

Trappings and Trinkets is the Etsy Shop of one of my knitting prodigies.  Free sock pattern!  To receive the free PDF from Nicoles shop click on contact and mention Knitting Pipeline.  Be sure to put your email address in the body of the email as Etsy does not show this to the shop owner.  Then Nicole will send you an email with the pattern attached.

Counting Sheep is a new podcast by one of our Pipeliners, Ruth.  Ruth is a shepherdess, knitter, and overall fiber person.

Nature Notes

Can you see the eagles in the tree near the red pick up truck?

Bald Eagles along the Illinois River



Red Bellied Woodpecker and Carolina Wren at the feeder in a snowfall.



The Blethering Room in which there is a Betrayal

Bronwyn asked me if I now prefer The Russian Bind off over my beloved EZ Sewn Bind Off.  Traitor Paula lists the reasons that I do favor The Russian Bind Off.
1.  No sewing needle needed.  Don't tell me you have never been caught without one at that casting off moment.
2.  No need to break the working wool.  With the sewn bind off you have to estimate the amount of wool you need and that can be tricky.
3 (Most Important) In the sewn bind off, the wool becomes thin as you continue to bring it through the stitches.  The front of the neck of a sweater is often the first place to wear out.  Could this be because the sewn bind off has weakened the thread?  You decide.

A pair of socks that I knit with the toe up method a few years ago got a little makeover during the Christmas holidays.  The cast off edge was too tight (possibly no sewing needle handy at the moment).  I picked out the woven in end and the cast off edge, unraveled about 1/4" and then cast off with a loose bind off, probably Jenny's Suprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (can't stand that long name.)  Now these socks have ill-repaid me by blowing out the heels simultaneously and with nary a warning.  Tip:  Try to be consistent when weaving in ends.  If you ever need to repair the garment it will be easier to find your end to take it out.

Needles Notes

Norwegian Sweater KAL

Lower portion of Luskofte with lice pattern black on white background.

Swatching Tips

• Per Meg Swansen (thank you jpeled) knit your swatch flat but still in the round as follows.  Using a circular needle knit one row.  Do not join or turn.  Push work to right end of needle and repeat.  Your wool will be carried VERY loosely at the back of the work.  It looks messy but it works.  Working it is a little like icord only not pulled tight.
• Tip from Lily Chin via Martha.  When swatching, mark the size of your needle by inserting YO's at the beginning of the work with the number of YOs corresponding to your needle size.  (You could YO k2 tog to keep stitch count even).

More Tips

When choosing color work patterns look for patterns that do not stack a lot of stitches vertically.  These are harder to keep even than those that are spaced.  The upper part of this wrister is an example of what I would steer away from if I were a beginner with color work.



Music

I found this tune to be totally mesmerizing.
Norsk Brudmarsch  (Norwegian Bridal March)
Erik Ask-Upmark on Celtic harp from Himlen's Polska
Magnatune.com

Episode 31 Knitting in Disguise

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Quince & Co is now a sponsor of Knitting Pipeline.

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye--it also includes the inner pictures of the soul. -- Edvard Munch

For photos of "Bliz-aster" visit my personal blog, A Piper Knits.

I recommend: Cornell Lab of Ornithology   Birds of My Region  DVD   Their website and all publications are fantastic!  Project Feederwatch is a way to become involved in their research.

Needles Notes

Sofia Cowl by Jessie Dotson from One Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn-Shop Favorites.  Is it knitting or crochet?  You decide.   I knitted this one for Emily in Quince & Co Chickadee in the color Nasturtium.

Alright.  It is knitting, but wouldn't it fool a lot of people?

I used Quince & Co Chickadee (sport weight) in Nasturtium.

Suspended Bind Off that was used in the Sofia Cowl Pattern.  Thank you, Stitch Diva!

My Daybreak with Garter Border by Stephen West with Garter Border.  Daybreak is a pattern by Stephen West of Westknits Designs.

In blocking stage.

Gartery Goodness.

Increases in first section.

Norwegian Sweater Knit Along

The Most Important Thing is keeping your carries loose in the back.  You do not want the floats to pull and distort the pattern.



I used Crow, Glacier, and Storm for the wrister aka Swatch. Gauge is 6 stitches per inch.  In the sweater I am using Crow and Egret. 



Piecework Jan-Feb 2011 Review 

I mention the following articles (I got a little carried away):

Two-Ended Knitting: A Living Tradition by Carol Rhoades

Not Just an Instruction Pattern by Ingrid Murnane

The Bestaway Gloves Today by Ann Budd

Practical Insanity: A Giddy whirl through the Pages of Weldon's Practical Needlework by Franklin Habit

The Gordon Highlanders and their Socks by Anne Berk

Classic Highlander's Balmoral Bonnett by Anne Carroll Gilmour

First Lady Grace Coolidge and the Story of the Knitted Counterpane by Kristine Byrnes

In the Piping Circle

My husband's uncle remembers the piper, Bill Millin, playing on the beach at Normandy.  Bill Millin was the personal piper to Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat.

I talked about Bill Millin's death in Episode 9 of Knitting Pipeline.

Dutch Pipes and Drums

In Harmony

Dancing Feet, Kalabakan, and Itchy Fingers

Thank you to Dutch Pipes and Drums!