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Generally speaking, I’m not monogamous in my knitting. When it comes to patterns and yarn I just haven’t been able to commit to one project until completion in a long time.
If we’re making a quick run into Tulsa – usually one project is in my knitting bag. But the instant it becomes an overnight trip the bag is loaded up with two, three, or maybe even four projects. Most of these are likely to be already on the needles and in various stages.
One project is the mindless type — for which I’ve already memorized the lace pattern or maybe a simple sock that needs no thought. These are great for times when I’m expected to carry on a conversation or there’s a lot of environmental distraction and I may need to put the project down from time to time. This project is great for a knitting night with friends or when wine or beer is consumed.
Also in the bag is a slightly more challenging project — or two — that requires the pattern to be handy. With these projects I can still listen or manage to answer questions. Usually the stitches are readable and I can keep track of where I am even if I have to stop in the middle of a row. Sure I prefer to finish a row before I have to put a project down but that’s not always an option. This type of project is the bulk of my knitting life.
There is often an extra already wound ball of yarn, with a pattern, and the appropriate sized needle in the bag. This I consider Emergency Knitting. You just never know when you’ll be stuck somewhere and finish what is already on the needles. Or maybe you’ll get bored – or drop fifteen stitches and need concentration to surgically repair the project before continuing.
At home there may be a project that doesn’t travel. It’s either a new design or seriously intense lace knitting.
I wonder sometimes when I heft my knitting bag onto my shoulder and walk out the door if I’m more than a little obsessed with having enough projects with me. When I’m carrying around three or four projects in-progress, what is the likelihood that I’ll finish anything anytime soon?
This past weekend I finally finished my Cloisters Wrap. This lovely shawl was the first new project I cast on in January of 2011. Last month when I thought (laughing is allowed) that I’d join my friend Kat’s challenge of Frog or Finish or as she called it S*%$ or Get Off the Pot I pulled out this half complete shawl and was determined to finish it. There were some slight distractions along the way but here I am six weeks later with a finished project.
As you know I’ve been dithering for weeks over which yarn to use for my Magpie Shawl. It’s a gorgeous pattern and I want the yarn to be just right. I’ve actually cast on twice and decided the yarn wasn’t the right thing. So Magpie is on the back burner for now until the perfect yarn calls to me.
Currently in my knitting bag are two projects and one book. One project on the needles and one not yet cast on (Emergency Knitting). In progress is Bridgewater by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed fame. The first time I saw this project on Ravelry I queued it and bought the pattern. I was that smitten.
The body is a HUGE garter stitch square knit from corner to corner – beginning and ending with one stitch. Garter stitch for days. Weeks likely. Mindless and hypnotic garter stitch.
Then stitches are picked up along the four sides to create the knitted on lace. This is the part that blew my mind. I’ve done minor amounts of picking up stitches, but not a full-on-hard-core-pick-up-and-knit project like Bridgewater. The sweet thing that I keep telling myself is that when you pick up along four sides – you’re knitting in the round – and not the purl-across-the-wrong-side-game. Surely that means it’ll go faster right? Purling stitches require more time than knitting stitches. Now, to be honest, most of my lace projects are in the 400-800 yard range. Bridgewater calls for 1500-1800 yards. That’s a lot of yarn!
Initially I planned to knit Bridgewater using the light silver/gray of the Hearth colorway in Oak Barn Merino. It’s the perfect weight for the pattern and there were so many lovely gray finished Bridgewaters in Ravelry. But – my skein was a little shy of my comfort zone at 1440 yards. After querying several people who’d finished the shawl I decided to dye two skeins of new yarn. I looked at all of the finished shawls on hand and gave some heavy thought to what color I didn’t have but would likely wear. This thought resulted in a new colorway for Oak Barn – Red Earth. A rich deep burgundy with red and brown undertones.
I’m very happy with how Bridgewater is coming along. There are over a hundred stitches on the needle (this after starting with just one). Sure it’s all garter stitch but I feel no pressing urge to cast on another pattern. This is a pretty weird mindset for me. I’ve had a few strange flashbacks in the past two days. I remember the days when I first began lace knitting and was completely monogamous. Admittedly this was before Ravelry, and before the barrage of stunning shawls that I see whenever I check the 11shawls2011 forum.
So I’m asking myself – will I be monogamous with this project? If so, why this project?
Part of the answer to the second question may be timing. In just over a week we’ll be taking off for a few days on a road trip to New Orleans. One big project for car knitting sounds pretty serene to me right now. I have no expectations that I’ll finish the project on the trip. I want to enjoy The Crescent City, the sights, the smells, the music, the food – my friend Jessica and her husband Chaz, and Chris’s friend Elliott with whom we’ll be staying. Jessica has shared all sorts of fabulous suggestions for restaurants, museums, music venues, and even yarn shops. We’ll be in NOLA for Voodoo Fest and Halloween. It’s going to be fun…
While downloading a few quick snapshots of Cloisters blocking I discovered an additional photo taken at a recent show that I think you’ll enjoy. This lovely dragonfly landed on a finished shawl.
I was quite charmed by its presence.
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| Note – If in the middle of a photo shoot you are awestruck by a ladder back woodpecker it could result in an odd stance and squinty eyes. |
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I’ve spent the past few days knitting on an old WIP, the Cloisters Wrap. It’s coming along very quickly and I’m feeling a little guilt over the fact that it was the first lace project I cast on in 2011 and it’s now October and still unfinished. Only four repeats of the next to the last chart, the final chart and a bind off remain. I’m determined to finish it quickly – and before casting on another project.var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-xxxxxx-x”);pageTracker._trackPageview();
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The Kansas City Plaza Art Fair was incredible. The crowds are mind-boggling, I recall reading somewhere that the expected number of attendees were 300,000. I don’t know if I’m correct on that number but it felt like that many people once the sun went down on Friday and Saturday evening.
People visiting our booth, knitters/crocheters and those just drawn by the color, were definitely appreciative and very happy to see an indie dyer included in the fiber artist category. I felt quite honored to be part of this show.
Below are an assortment of photos from the weekend in Kansas City, and several of a new finished project that was on display. There was a second new finished project which I’ll post photos of in a day or so.
Click on the photos to enlarge them for a better view.
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| The new colorways of Lost City Silk yarns were a popular attraction! |
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| This is a new modification on the Hindwing of the Monarch Shawl. Notice how much lacier the lower section is. Details and an updated pattern to come soon. Edited to add: The new modification to the Hindwing of the Monarch Shawl is now available! Download Monarch Shawl version 1.5! |
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| Close up of the Monarch mod and beading. |
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| The wall of yarn (after a few customers have shopped). |
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| These guys visited the booth and were kind enough to pose. Colorful fellas, not very chatty though. |
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| We were open until 10pm both Friday and Saturday night. |
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| Stage lighting was important to show off the lace designs after sundown. |
What’s up next for LCK? We’ll be at the Art on Main in Jenks, Oklahoma on Saturday October 8th, then off to War Eagle Fair in Hindsville, Arkansas the weekend of October 13-16. More to come about the November and December schedule.
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The Walnut Valley Festival was great fun and after just three days home we’re packed and ready to head out on the road again. This coming weekend Lost City Knits will be “representing” with hand dyed yarns and knitting at Kansas City’s 80th Annual Plaza Art Fair.
I’ve spent every day between the two shows in the studio dyeing, skeining and restocking. There will be new colorways in sock yarn and silk this weekend!
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| Leonids Night in Lost City Silk |
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| Rumplestilskin in Lost City Silk |
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| Alchemy in Lost City Silk |
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| Rose’ in Lost City Silk |
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| New colorways in Lost City Sock Yarn! |
If you’re in the KC area, or know knitters who are, we hope you’ll come out Friday evening (5-10pm), Saturday (10am-10pm), and Sunday (10am-5pm) to “represent” knitting as well! See you there!
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Congratulations to Kay from Norman, OK! She’s the lucky winner in our naming contest who suggested Manique as the name for our new dress form.
We’re leaving today for the Walnut Valley Festival – commonly referred to as Winfield. Because stock can change dramatically during the festival season I’m removing all of the paypal buttons in the online shops until the festival season ends. If you’d like to purchase yarn, please send an email from THIS PAGE with the fiber type and colorway. I’ll check the availability and send you a paypal invoice. 
If you’re not familiar with Winfield, it’s a large international guitar festival held each September in Winfield, Kansas. Official competitions include not just guitar but banjo, dulcimer and fiddle too. Thousands of people will show up to camp, play music, and have a good time. Check out some of the videos on YouTube for WInfield! The other thing about Winfield is there a lot – and I mean a lot – of people wearing tie dye! I’ve got mine ready!
I’m reknitting several patterns for display in the Lost City Knits booth for the festival season and having a heck of a good time doing so. Yesterday I finished another Monarch, this one in lace llama. I bumped up the needle size to get more openness and a larger shawl. Using the larger version (available as part of the most recent download) I also modified the Fringe Chart a bit. As you may remember on the last Monarch I knit only row one of the Fringe Chart and bound off on the back side. I liked that so much I did the same thing this time! The edging points are pointier and the Fringe looks much more butterfly-like to me. If you’re knitting Monarch – I recommend this modification!
I’m also knitting another Maaema, this one in the Wool Tussah Silk Fingering, bumping up the needle size to an 8US this time and adding beads on row 2 and row 7 of the set – up on each end. Fun!
There are four projects in my knitting bag for Winfield. I just never know what I’ll want to work on between music sets and customer rushes.
How many projects do you take with you when traveling? One big project or several smaller ones?
We’ve brought a new member onto the Lost City Knits team! She’s great at standing still and willing to have her photo taken any time we ask. What a trooper.
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The Autumn festival season began this past weekend with a short trip down the turnpike to Oklahoma City for the three-day Arts Festival Oklahoma on the Oklahoma City Community College campus. This was our second year at AFO and we really hit it off this year with a new booth location and some mighty fine weather. While Saturday was hot, both Sunday and Monday the temperature remained in the eighties, and everyone was delighted the Sunday morning’s cool front signaled the end of an especially hot summer here.
This was our first trial for a new set up which we’ve jokingly dubbed The Wall of Yarn. The yarns on the wall are the wool/tussah silk from Oklahoma raised sheep. In fact, our friends Sue and Nanc, the sheep farmers, arrived early Saturday morning to see the full range of colors that their sheep turned out to be! I think they were happy. When we picked up the fleeces from Sue and Nanc they were all white – okay not really white but what passes for white sheep for who live on a real farm. Being able to hang the skeins grouped in color ranges makes it easy for the customer to say, “I like blue” then see – and fondle – plenty of yarns in her favorite color. On the tables there are llama and alpaca yarns in baskets, sock yarns on another hanging rack and merino yarns on their own display as well.
I don’t know why but there are still people who are completely unaware of the popularity of knitting. It’s exciting to explain that – no, knitting isn’t a dying art and no they don’t have to settle for the old yucky chunky itchy acrylic yarn sold in craft and hobby big box stores.
As for my Finish or Frog goal – well – I’ve already fallen off the wagon. During the drive to OKC I made plenty of headway on the Bryn Mawr Skirt and even knitted down to the toe of the first Burlesque sock during slow moments on Saturday at the festival. I was feeling so good that I cast on another project. Here is an almost complete Monarch Shawl in the Wool Tussah Silk colorway called Summer Plums. (I’ve upgraded this wool from Sport to Worsted after doing several more wraps-per-inch tests. When you see it in person, you’ll understand why!) Look at the fun color play in this yarn.
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| Monarch Shawl in Summer Plums colorway |
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| Burlesque Sock |
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| Upside down Bryn Mawr Skirt |
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| Employing a book light for car knitting on the way back to the farm |
As I said, this is almost complete, only two more rows on the Fringe Chart. I’d like to finish it tonight. I’d like to finish the toe of the Burlesque Sock tomorrow night. I definitely like to finish the Bryn Mawr Skirt this week as well. All three are possible – especially if I don’t sleep or eat.
lcksiteinprogress 