Sooza's Knitting Stuff

This year we're spending our holidays mostly at home enjoying home, garden and the immediate area. Between work and our motor-sports hobbies we didn't get to spend nearly enough time relaxing at home this year. And it gives me the time to throughly dive into some knitting and spinning. Here's some pics that give a bit of an impression of this year's 'staycation' so far.


 

 

 

 

Oh my, it's been a more than a month since I wrote something here. Time is flying. When I'm not working or knitting I'm playing support team and pit stop crew for DH. He's doing autocross competitions. What's autocross, you ask? Well, here's what the international Wikipedia has to say about it:

Autocross is a form of motorsports that emphasizes safe, low-cost competition and active participation. An autocross is a timed competition where drivers navigate one at a time through a temporary course marked by traffic cones, rather than racing on a track with multiple other cars, as in road racing or oval racing. Autocross tends to place more emphasis on car handling and driver skill than on sheer horsepower, and events typically have many classes which allow almost any vehicle, from economy sedans to purpose-built vehicles, to compete. Speeds are slower in absolute terms when compared to other forms of motorsports, usually not exceeding highway speeds, but the activity level (measured in discrete turns per minute) can be higher than even Formula One due to the large number of elements packed into each course. Autocross courses are typically 40 to 70 seconds in length. In addition to being a national-level motorsport in its own right, autocrossing is a good way to learn skills that transfer to road racing, as drivers learn vehicle control and club ethics. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocross


 
It's actually a pretty cool thing to do for a hobby and not in the least as involved as playing any of the usual team sports. There are no training sessions twice a week, no real need for any club memberships, no nothing. For starting out you only need a car and a helmet.

That being said, it's most likely that once involved in the whole scene certain investments will HAVE to be made. Slick tyres, anyone? Better brake shoes? And this data recording stuff and software analysis is seriously neat. But what else is to be expected from a Geek extraordinaire turned autocross racer? I'm not complaining though. I mean, look at me! I've got a hudge spindle collection, more wool and yarn then I can knit up in the foreseeable future and shelves of knitting books. Did I already mention that I'm pondering buying a weaving loom?


 
Those autocross weekends are something of a mixture between boy scout camp, carnival and family reunion. Most people there seem to have known each other for 30 years or more. And then there's already the kids racing around on bicycles, little dirt bikes or karts. And if the weather is as nice as the weekend before last, you can enjoy a relaxing weekend in some out of the way place. The pictures show Groß-Dölln, an abandoned Russian air base about an hour north of Berlin. The whole place is fascinating and totally creepy at the same time. If you imagine that not even 20 years ago they had nuclear bombers stationed there ready for take-off 24/7. And now some crazy guys are using that perfectly flat tarmac to race cars. Weird but happily weird.


 
After starting out on the family car, a 2008 Subaru Impreza, DH's got himself the perfect autocross car - a Mazda Miata/MX5. This model already came with sports suspension and whatnot. Driving in this little powerhouse of a car takes some use. Forget comfort. Pure driving fun here we come.


 
People are trying to get me to compete, too. Sure, I enjoy driving most of the time. But this autocross thing kinda scares me. Maybe one of these day I might muster the courage and try my hand at it. It won't be in the Miata though because I barely fit in there without a helmet. But since helmets are required I wouldn't manage to get in there at all.


 
Right now I'm perfectly alright with driving the support car which basically means having it loaded up to the roof with a full set of sports tyres. And knitting is a good method to while away the time - when you're not taking pics, keeping the Little Girl from getting run over or enjoy a little chat with your "paddock" neighbor, that is.


 
If all goes well, your weekend ends with some of those kitschy trophies


 
And you've had some fun in between.


 
And maybe even got some knitting done.


 
Pattern details
Pattern: Sound of Waves by Kieran Foley
Yarn: Soft Silk by BC Garn (100% coarse silk/noil; 350 m/100 g), 2 skeins, color ss13 - turquoise
Needles: 4.5 mm
Size: 40 x 200 cm

 
This spring I've put five little plants of the lovely herb we call 'Waldmeister' in front of our house in the hopes of having a decorative as well as useful addition to our garden. And to my utter delight so far they are obviously thriving well in the shadowy north facing spot. Today I picked some branches, let them wilt for a bit and then dipped them into a jug of white wine/water mixture for about 30 minutes. The 'Waldmeister' gives off its particular flavour into the wine and makes a lovey 'May vine'.

Galium odoratum is a perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. A herbaceous plant, it grows to 30-50 cm (12-20 ins.) long, often lying flat on the ground or supported by other plants. Its vernacular names include woodruff, sweet woodruff, and wild baby's breath; master of the woods is probably a translation of the German Waldmeister. It is sometimes confused with Galium triflorum and Galium verum.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_odoratum

 

I haven't done much of Elizabeth Zimmerman's pattern so far but I thoroughly enjoy her writing style and her practical and sensible approach to knitting. The modular Tomten Jacket for a small child seemed a good project to venture into EZ's knitting world for the first time.

Since I wanted to knit the jacket in a worsted weight cotton/microfiber blend I calculated the needed amount of stitches for the circumference according to my gauge and went on from there. The back is made longer with 5 short row sections. The pattern is fairly easy to knit and you can modify and change it to your heart's delight. At some point it seemed as if the garter stitch would never end though.



 

It turned out as a nice, slouchy jacket that can be thrown over when spring or summer air turn a bit chilly. Even though I had the feeling the sleeves would be wayyyyy too long they could actually use a few more rounds. But this will be easily fixed.

Details
Pattern: Modular Tomten Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Size: probably a size EU 104, 2 to 4 yrs
Yarn: Lang Yarns Kappa (97% Cotton/3% Polyester; 125m/50 g); 4 skeins fuchsia, 2 skeins purple
Needle: 4.5 mm

 
The scent of lilac in bloom is everywhere right now. It's the most amazing thing. I get home, out of the car and am surrounded by this beautiful spring like scent. And lilac not only grows in gardens but also as hedgerows alongside the street. I love this time of the year.
 

 
Spring has really arrived in our neck in the woods and I am mighty glad for it. It's so lovely to see all those trees in full bloom and the hyacinths, tulips, daffodils and not to forget those pesky dandelions, which are a pain in the neck. Our little vegetable patch seems to do nicely, too. The salad peeks out and we'll hopefully complain about way too many radishes some time in near future.
 

 
Besides spring feeling there is still lots of knitting going on in the house of Sooza. The latest finished shawl I'm mightily proud of. I took the basic construction of Miralda's Triangular Shawl and added in different patterns. The pretty hearts edging is from Nancy Bush's Greta Garbo Shawl which is pictured on page 2 of my copy of "Knitted Lace of Estonia". Unfortunately the shawl pattern isn't included in the book due to space restrictions or something. So I took the photograph and charted the edging by examining it closely. Initially I wanted to fill the inner part of the shawl with the star pattern only. But somehow the Greta Garbo pattern stitch wouldn't leave me alone. So I gave in and took the basic Greta Garbo pattern stitch from Bush's book and incorporated it in the shawl.
 

 
Knitting this shawl has been tremendous fun and a great knitting adventure. Should I ever find the time I actually plan on publishing this pattern. There's been lots of requests on Ravelry. If it just wouldn't be quite as time consuming to make the charts, check the numbers, write some halfway readable instructions and put it all into a nice layout.
 

 
This has been the second time I've worked with this particular yarn and I absolutely love it. It's so different from the over-processed stuff that you can buy in your run of the mill local yarn shop. It has body and loft and blocks so nicely. And the best thing is, the un-dyed heather grey is much, much softer then the dyed yarn I've used for Miralda. Both shawls used only one skein of this light fingering weight yarn. IMO, this is the most fun you can't get out of a measely EUR 6.95.
 

 
Details
Yarn: 1 skein of Filcolana New Zealand Lammeuld, 600 m/100 g, light grey heather
Needles: 4mm
Size: 170 cm wide, 70 cm deep
Pattern: Inspired by Nancy Bush's Greta Garbo Shawl. Construction similar to Miralda's Triangular Shawl. Star pattern for shawl body from Laminaria shawl.
 
More details on the Ravelry project page.

 
This pretty shawl is finished for nearly 2 weeks now and I just haven't gotten around to blog about it. It's been a fun and fast knit and the yarn was a joy to work with. It came from Saffron Dyeworks on Etsy in an incredible teal colorway called 'Aquarium'.


 

 
Details

Pattern: Prairie Rose Lace Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Yarn: Saffron Dyeworks, Bidger Heavy Lace (80% Superwash Merino 10% Cashmere 10% Nylon;600m/125 g), 'Aquarium'
Needle: 4 mm
Modifications: Worked pattern chart 5 instead of 4 times to make the shawl slightly larger and to use more of this nice yarn.

 

Outside of the Gate

From the ice they are freed, the stream and brook,

By the Spring's enlivening, lovely look;

The valley's green with joys of hope;

The Winter old and weak ascends back to the rugged mountain slope.

From there, as he flees, he downward sends an impotent shower of icy hail

Streaking over the verdant vale.

Ah! but the Sun will suffer no white,

Growth and formation stir everywhere,

Twould fain with colours make all things bright,

Though in the landscape are no blossoms fair.

Instead it takes gay-decked humanity.

Now turn around and from this height,

Looking backward, townward see.

Forth from the cave-like, gloomy gate crowds a motley and swarming array.

Everyone suns himself gladly today.

The Risen Lord they celebrate,

For they themselves have now arisen From lowly houses' mustiness,

From handicraft's and factory's prison,

From the roof and gables that oppress,

From the bystreets' crushing narrowness, from the churches' venerable night,

They are all brought out into light.

See, only see, how quickly the masses scatter through gardens and fields remote;

How down and across the river passes so many a merry pleasure-boat.

And over-laden, almost sinking, the last full wherry moves away.

From yonder hill's far pathways blinking, flash to us colours of garments gay.

Hark! Sounds of village joy arise;

Here is the people's paradise,

Contented, great and small shout joyfully:

"Here I am Man, here dare it to be!"

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I)

 
It might not always seem that way if my recent blog posts are anything to go by but I've indeed been knitting away on all kinds of things and managed to complete a few of them. My latest infatuation has been a shawl pattern from the book "Knitted Lace of Estonia" - Miralda's Triangular Shawl. It's one of those bottom-up constructions that has you cast-on a bazillion stitches that are gradually decreased on the course of your knitting to form a triangle in the end. Not my preferred shawl construction but this one looked so pretty, with the diamonds and the nupps, I knew I would succumb one of these days. It finally happened when I took a closer look at this pretty dark blue lace yarn that had found its way into my stash not so long ago. A nice 2-ply yarn with a bit of a rustic charm to it. I knew it would work fantastic with the lace pattern. Only problem was I had only 600 meters whereas the pattern asked for 750 meters of yarn. Mhm, bummer. But I'm not easily deterred. A closer look in Ravelry showed lots of projects in similar yarns with similar yardages and needle size combinations that had gotten away with 400 to 500 meters of yarn. Still not totally convinced but I cast on anyway. No risk. no fun.


 
All worked out in the end. This shawl has been knitted in record time because the ever decreasing rows have been a real motivation. The pattern was well written and I loved knitting with this rustic wool yarn. Instantly went and ordered a few more colors. The shawl itself turned out lovely, too. It's just the right size between scarf and shawl. Wasn't sure about the nupps at first but like the overall look of lace, nupps and solid areas.


 
What's a nupp, you might ask?! Well, it's those special kind of bobble Estionian lace knitting is well known for. On a right side row you increase 5, 7 or even 9 stitches from just one single stitch just to purl all those stitches back together in the following row. It's kinda tedious at first but once you've gotten into the rhythm of things it get easier. The nupps give a nice, three-dimensional effect and sometimes even look like little pearls worked into your knitting. Strange but neat.

Details
Pattern: Miralda's Triangular Shawl by Nancy Bush from Knitted Lace of Estonia
Material: 1 skein of Filcolana New Zealand Lammeuld, 100% wool, 600 meters/100 grams
Needles: 4 mm
Finished Size: 160 cm wide, 80 cm deep

There's been a few other projects that got completed in the last weeks, like my first pair of Socks out of Wollmeise Twin yarn for example. They belong to the best husband of all now and I'm really curious about how well the yarn will stand up to wear. My last Wollmeise socks were still out of 100% superwash and they were worn through in record time. The Twin yarn consists of 20% nylon so it's supposed to wear better. Yeah, well, seeing is believing.


 
Details
Pattern: Earl Grey by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: 2/3rds of a Wollmeise Twin skein, 80% Merino/20% Nylon, 466 meters/150 grams; color 'We're different Tant Grön...'
Needles: 2.5 mm
Size: EUR 41/42

And then there is this small shawl knitted from only one 50 grams skein of Malabrigo Lace yarn in the funky and intense 'Gernanio' colorway.


 
Details
Pattern: Birch Leaf Shawl sideways, my own pattern
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace Merino, 100% Merino, 400 meters/50 grams, color 'Geranio'
Needles: 4 mm
Size: 140 cm wide

And knitting continues, of course. I'm bit on a shawl binge right now so there is already the next one on the needles. It's Evelyn A. Clarks Prairie Rose Lace Shawl from The Knitter's Book of Wool.

Spring is slowly making an appearance in our neck of the woods. Very slowly indeed. After a few days of sunny weather and 8°C we're back in the below zero region but thankfully no more snow on the ground. Still a bit of snow in the air and the occasional sleet shower though. Somehow winter doesn't want to let go this year.


 

 

 
Meanwhile I've discovered Russian Lace Spindles and I've been practicing support spinning for the past month or so. They are a curious thing, these support spindles. Traditionally they were used to spin very fine, short fibers like goat down for example. While in other regions spindles like these were used as hand spindles without a special support device in Russia's Orenburg region they were used with support bowls.


 
Spinning on a supported spindle requires mastery of the long draw technique. Which essentially means one hand twirls the spindle and the other hand lightly grips the fiber supply and gradually draws back from the spindle thus creating a thread. Long draw can also be used on a wheel or a suspended spindle. But this long draw and I we've never gotten along all that well in the past. Somehow it goes against the control freak in me. I've always ended up with lumpy, uneven singles that lost it's integrity halfway through the spinning process. Which was fine by me. I could always use short draw and end up with a lovely, even yarn. I've never had the patience to try long enough to maybe get better at it. But with support spindles there is no excuse. No way around learning long draw. So that's what I did. I sat back on the sofa, spinning bowl in my lap and started to practice long draw.


 
The thing with long draw is: You gotta let go. No gripping the fiber supply too tightly. No anxious concentration on making your yarn. I tend to cramp up and try too hard to force my will onto the fiber. This won't work for support spindling. Just let go and let the spindle and fiber do their thing. So far I still have to constantly remind myself to ease up and let go. But sitting reclined in your favourite lounge chair or comfy sofa helps a lot in this regard.


 
Support spinning is fun. It's kind of addictive and a lot more relaxing and slow going than any other spinning method I've tried so far. But a little tuft of fiber will probably get you the most spinning fun you've ever had. And today there are a few very talented wood workers who make such lovely tools, you will be hard pressed to choose because they are all so pretty.

 
Spindle Makers

Lisa Chan from The Gripping Yarn - Lisa's signature are spindles that are slightly more rounded and bit curvier than the classical Russian style spindle. I love her work. The Walnut spindle I got from her feels gorgeous and is an absolute delight to work with. She does mostly custom orders and will gladly try to accommodate individual wishes for a particular wood or weight. Lisa is super nice to work with.

The Spanish Peacock - Mike's spindles come closer to the look of those traditional Russian spindles. Clean, hard lines and a super polished surface as well as beautiful exotic woods are characteristic for his work. So far I've got two of his Russian spindles and they are wonderful spinners.

Ed Tabachek - Ed's spindles have been available longest from all spindle makers I know. I think his work has done the most for bringing support spinning back into the spinning community. His spindles are available in two sizes, the smaller for spinning and the larger ones for plying in the Russian/Orenburg way. As far as I know his spindles are available through certain dealers only. My Tabachek is a large plying spindle that I got from The Wheel Thing. It can be uses as any other support spindle though and is not restricted to plying.

Tom Forrester - Tom's spindles have been around for a while now. I haven't encountered his Russian spindles all that often though. Gemini Fibers lists Russian spindles as part of his spindle repertoire. They very much look like the traditional Russian spindles.

Grizzly Mountain Arts - I've come across this very talented maker of needle and fiber arts tools only recently via Ravelry and Etsy. His work is equisite and his spindles are very much sought after. If you see a spindle appear in his Etsy shop you can be sure it will gone in the blink of an eye. I placed a custom order for a Tibetan spindle with him and was not disappointed in the least. So I guess if you want to have one of Dave's spindles for your collection placing a custom order is the way to go.
 

 

My favourite videos on support spinning

• Spinning on an Orenburg Spindle by Vereteno


• Russian Spindle Techniques by Beth Smith from the Spinning Loft


• Spinning on a supported spindle by Amanda


• Lhamo spins


• Lhamo spins more


• Tibetan Handcraft

Annotation: Nannette's note in the comments reminded me of one spindle maker that I had forgotten in my little article. She is right of course. A Spinner's Lair can be found on Etsy and their speciality is using reclaimed woods and give them a second life as fiber arts tools. They make different kinds of support spindles, matching bowls and regular drop spindles, too.

Snow, snow and look! More snow. Still perfect weather for spinning, knitting and keeping warm next to the heater. Here's some yarn that got finished last week. I'm calling it 'Sunkissed' because someone on Ravelry commented it reminded her of well planted garden with all the flowers in bloom on a bright sunny day in summer with big fluffy clouds in a clear blue sky.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 2005 I published a knitting pattern on my blog that was inspired by a pattern called 'Birch' designed by Sharon Miller. But instead of being worked from the top down with 300 and some stitches to be cast on my shawl was worked bottom up. No more miscounting while trying to get slippery Mohair yarn to behave. No more running out of yarn. Just knitting until the shawl is as large as you want it to be. Since then the pattern became known as 'Bottom-up Birch'.

The instructions were very basic though and the charts not very pretty. Since people are still asking for clarifications and according to the Ravelry database the pattern is still quite popular it was high time for a revision of the pattern. I managed to make up the pattern in a prettier form with nicer charts and hopefully better explanations. On top of that the pattern now contains also an asymmetrical version that's knitted sideways. The new format also called for a new name - Birch Leaf Shawl.



If you're on Ravelry you can download the file for free and add it to your Ravelry library. As an alternative you can also download the pattern directly from this server.

• Download 'Birch Leaf Shawl' pattern from Ravelry


• Direct download of 'Birch Leaf Shawl' pattern

 
Temperatures dropped again under 10°C and with the wind it feels plain cold, cold, cold. Just the right weather for sitting inside, central heating turned all the way up and knitting and spinning up a storm. Which also means I got to finish my latest shawl project in only 10 days. It's a variation on the Shetland Triangle pattern, which can be found in the book "Wrap Style" by Pam Allen and Ann Budd.


 
For a shallower appearance and longer tails I started out with a stockinette body section and 6 increases per 2 rows. After I got 91 stitches in each half of the triangle I started the Shetland lace pattern and continued with the traditional 4 increases per 2 rows. The plan worked out really well. Even if you can't see it in the pics the shawl has got a nice crescent shape with long tails.


 
Details
Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark
Needles: 4.5 mm
Yarn: 125 grams of DROPS Alpaca (100% Aplaca, 180 m/50 grams), color: dark teal heather/dunkelpetrol mix
Size: 180 cm wide, 65 cm deep
Modifications: see above