Heresy, They Say

I have stepped over to the dark side.


I bought a knitting-machine and got it two weeks ago. Mostly I have just played with it, but I managed to knit a sweater for Mr HairyFeet. The machine comes in very handy at times like these, when one is faced with fields of stockinette in light fingering weight cotton. Now, some knitters say it's nearly heretical to knit with a machine, but I disagree. (Yes, I am the one pressing the buttons.)

I think machine-knitting is practical at times. I love the uneven stitches of handknit fabrics, I love the zen that comes with knitting round and round and round for weeks at a time. I love seeing the colors emerge, the fabric being created right there at my fingertips.

But then there is cotton. The unrelenting, unforgiving, unpredictable and cruel mistress, which behaves almost always inappropriately and shows every single mistake. It is stiff and unbending, harsh and dry - and yet it produces absolutely beautiful knitted fabric when finished. But there is no way I will ever handknit light fingering weight cotton again. Ever. The idea of 400+ stitches per round, hundreds of rounds without any change, in stockinette.. I would rather knit with acrylic. (Well, no I wouldn't, but acrylic comes close.)

This is where the machine comes in. In two days you have the pieces done, then a wee bit of blocking and seaming and ta-da, you have a sweater!


And the fields of stockinette are all smooth and neat.

Sounds easy, no? Well, it's not. I made the first mistake when I decided to handknit the ribbings. As a result, I haven't knit anything in days - my hands hate cotton and decided to go on strike as a result of the ribbings. Also, I didn't realize how long seaming would take. It takes forever. And it's tedious. And for the life of me I can't sew a neat sleeve cap seam. See?

I learned a lot with this one, so I won't make the same mistakes again. (Ribbing attachment is all I'm saying.) And I am generally happy with this one. My favorite bit? The sleeve increases. And they're not even identical! Usually this would make me reknit the sleeves but not today. First and foremost, they're already sewn in, and secondly.. well it's beige.


But all that (beige) is past now (and out of my stash!), and DH has a nice sweater. He said he'd like another one, but I'll work on my sweater now. (More pictures of DH's sweater in Ravelry.) I dyed some merino-bamboo for my sweater, I only have the front to knit and then the blocking and seaming process. (I sound optimistic, because the reality of seaming for hours hasn't still sunk quite in. Self-delusion is a beautiful thing.)


I haven't given up the joy of handknitting entirely despite the new toy. In fact, I finished a sweater which was called Slinker while I was working on it. It's KnitPicks baby alpaca (Andean Treasure), and the yarn feels so slippery that it truly earned the name. I love the yarn, though - it's superwarm, has a beautiful halo, knits up nicely, the fabric is drapey, but the garment ended up being quite heavy. I used 15 balls of yarn for this sweater, so it weighs well over 28 ounces.


I am very pleased with it. It turned out just the way I wanted: it has a touch of pearls for a feminine air, but it's not bells and whistles girly.


And it fits! And there are no seams!


I like it a lot! And thanks to KnitPicks for sponsoring the yarn! The pattern will now go to my testknitters so we'll hopefully have a pattern finalized soon.

Finally, thank you everyone for your comments in the last post! They all mean so much to me - I've read them many many times and it truly feels great to be back. Thank you, again!

Edited to add: We now have buttons. Go press the disagree button! We like it, it makes us all tickly. :D

Coming Up for Air

Hello, Blog. It's been a long time, hasn't it? Did you miss me? I see the Lair is quite dusty *cough*. Time for some spring cleaning then!

So I'm back. I honestly have no idea what happened. I knitted a cardigan, then cast on for a new one and what do you know, it's suddenly next year - next decade in fact! -, and nearly six months since I blogged. I needed the break, though, to figure out what to do with the Lair. It has also been a time of adjustment - we moved to a new country only a few months ago (I know it's my home country but after 5 years it felt like moving to a new country), and there have been times I wanted to pack everything and go home. It has not been the easiest of winters, although I have enjoyed the company of my friends and family, and it has been desperately beautiful outside, but it's also been a very dark and cold winter. Moving from a busy metropolis to a village of six (6!) houses has not been entirely easy.



On top of this all, I have been on the road a lot, teaching my sweater method to Finnish knitters. And it has been fun, meeting new people and knitting with them - but it has also drained me of energy. And I am applying to a university next summer, which means I have to read, read, read, and perhaps then read some more.

I have not been entirely idle and hibernating though! So let's clear out the dust and take a look at some of the items finished in the Lair over the past 6 months or so!

First up, the bathrobe. Clearly, not my greatest hour, despite the smug grin!


The yarn is a fuzzy acrylic blend, rather horrible to work with but knits up really fast. And it's warm, which was what I wanted. But it does look a bit like a bathrobe, and it wasn't really me - the color and the design looked awkward on me. I gave this cardi to Mum, she likes it and that's what's important.

The next big project was my Double Lattice Sweater. Like the green cardi, it is knitted with the top-down seamless set-in sleeve method, and I absolutely love the way it turned out.



The yarn was rather unforgiving, 100% mercerized cotton, which does not stretch, so the minicables were truly painful to work.



The result is a shining fabric which looks nothing like cotton fabrics - but wears well and is machine washable. Which is great, since normally, white and I do not mix very well.



And it fits just the way I wanted! I could lose a few pounds and it would be even better still, but I am very happy with it as it is. It has been worn a lot already, and it's surprisingly warm considering it's cotton.





And no seams!




I have also been spinning! The Lair has seen some changes in the wheel family - Butch is gone to a new and loving home, since here, he was badly neglected and lonely (and I think Sylvie verbally abused him on a regular basis). The Pocket Wheel is going through some repairs, and has not been actively in use for months. Sylvie is the same, although she has competition now: I have a new wheel. Sophie, a Kromski Sonata, is a true workhorse, not the prettiest wheel there is but a great companion. I'll show pics of her later, but for now, something we played with together.

First, a handspun Baktus, spun from the beautiful Allspunup Falkland fiber to a thick fingering weight single and knitted in a couple of nights to a warm and comfy little shawl.


The colors are truly breathtaking. I love the subtle tones and the variation of dark colors.


I love wearing handspun socks, and these are no exception. There is an element of rag rug-esque striping in the yarn, but I like the vivid colors. The fiber is 100% SW BFL I dyed and spun ages ago.


One last thing I want to show you: my Emerald Sweater. I was lucky enough to get some KnitPicks Gloss Kenai yarn for a sweater*, and used 10 skeins of this truly beautiful teal colored yarn for this design.


It is a simple design, twisted stitches on a reverse stockinette background, but in the cuffs and the hem there is a lace pattern I adapted from a Japanese stitch pattern book.



This was really a lot of fun to knit, despite the gazillion stitches on my #1 needles. The best bit: no seams!



Mr HairyFeet was kind enough to photograph it with me, and I wore it with my Winter Skirt. I really love the combination of these two handknits together.



Happily there is still a lot of time to wear both of them, the spring is only beginning here. As is clearly visible in this picture with the Mount Doom of Snow behind me!



And last but not least, the pattern for the Winter Skirt is finally available through ravelry! That's all for now, next time - Casbah!

*Yarn sponsored by KnitPicks.

Gray Is the New Black

I finished my cardi, the epic project of this fall!



I know, the color choice is radical. But I wanted a gray cardigan, to go so well with all the handknit shawls and scarves.





It's warm, and comfortable, and it fits. There are one or two issues with it, mainly the size of the hood, but I'll take it as a learning experience. There is, in fact, no need to knit a hood so big an entire football team could fit in there. And play.





Otherwise, I can't think of anything negative about it. The broken rib band around the front edges and the hood nearly did me in - 530 stitches of worsted weight yarn on a 32" needle will take your soul, your will to live, your will to knit (gasp) and nearly, but not entirely, your love for gray yarn.



I do love the color. I don't know why, but gray is, and will always be, a favorite. (Ask me again next week, and it'll be green. Or blue. Or yellow!)



The coat was finished just in time. Last week, we had fall. This week, we got winter. Brr!

Amazing Travels and Beauty in the Morning (Marathon Post)

(Still no knitting. Forgot to block. And photograph.)

Last week, on Thursday to be exact, I turned 30. It didn't feel any different from any other day, except that a friend bought a beautiful wheel and I taught her to spin. To celebrate, I went on a road trip and drove nearly 900 miles, to see friends and knit. A group of 40 knitters met for a weekend of knitting and spinning and yarn and fiber and books and tea and wine and such.


I also taught a class on the sweater method. We had fun.


I had fun, and I think the class did too. The picture above of one of our amazing organizers, Samma, was just too hilarious to miss. It was all very cordial, I was nice to everyone.

I swear I was.

In my class, the knitters were fun, smart, amazing artists. I was honored to meet them all. (I loved the Shetland shawl, it looked so warm.)


It all required a lot of concentration.


Their beautiful hands knitted very very fast. And they were all such a joy to watch.


I am so happy I got to meet my fellow knitters. It was a weekend of sheer joy, I hope there'll be another knitting retreat very soon. (I also may have bought another spinning wheel. More of that later.)

On my travels I also got to meet some animals I had not seen before. Lizards, and some snakes.


They were very scary and wild, all 12 inches of them.


These Columbian rainbowboas were truly most amazing animals: beautiful, strong, primitive, and an absolute joy to watch.


The green iguana did not approve of my photographing him.


But the little ADD lizard did not mind, at all. She was awfully cute!


Now that I have shocked you with lizards and snakes, let's look at some yarn. These came home with me. Green mystery lace yarn and blue Drops Alpaca adopted from fellow knitters.


Burgundy Drops Alpaca. What can I say, I love the yarn. And the color!


And then I went crazy. First, just a little.


And the I went completely bonkers.

Yes, I am aware it's yellow. But what a yellow it is! Mustard yellow, in all of the richness of the fall yellow that is only there this time of year! I had to have it. All of it.

Speaking of fall, it's here.














Enjoy your fall days!