Monday, February 28, 2011

Saturday at the crag

weathered feathers


weathered fingers


wet nose


Yep, back in Arizona for the weekend. Finished a hat on the flight but, alas, forgot to take a photo! That brown sleeve -- it's for Mountain Man's sweater -- is what I worked on the rest of the weekend. I'm just about ready to join the sleeves and the body, so it's getting exciting ...

Saturday, February 26, 2011

bit of brightness

Yesterday was a dreary, rainy day. damp chill. cold light. I searched for a bit of brightness in my apartment.


I wanted to capture this gray, densely cabled hat before I mail it off to my sister.


Does it look familiar? I made one exactly like this for her two years ago. It was time to replace it. I'm always happy to knit things that I know will be loved to death!


The yarn is the yummy, soft, sproingy, woolen-spun cormo wool from Elsa Wool. I double-stranded the sportweight and knit it on 10.5 needles. The pattern is the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, which turns out more like a cloche in this yarn. It's wonderfully warm and cushy.


It was a delicious hat to knit. But on a sad note, see that light spot in the center of the picture above? I scratched the lens of my new camera :( It was in my messenger bag with a few heavier things, and the mother of pearl button on the crocheted camera case shattered, forced open the lens, and gave it a huge scratch.


Sigh. Nice hat, though!

Monday, February 14, 2011

solitary sunset

stark. beautiful.



puts me in the mood to knit something dark and jagged.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

dose of the desert

Desert weekend.


Means: knitting between climbs.


We were out in a secret area that Mountain Man and his friend are developing for rock climbing. I love these tough, sweet guys out on the rocks. I was so happy to get to see their first ascent of this beautiful 10d.


I swear, I was smiling the whole day (aside from a brief pout at not being able to get through the crux of that climb myself). I was certainly smiling when I got out of the truck in the morning and realized it was still chilly enough for a hat.


Goofy knitter, goes to Arizona and is happy for a cold snap.


Oh, it was heaven! And had me so happy again. It's been a cold stretch in Cambridge. I needed this dose of the desert.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

winter grays

It's a bleak midwinter day. Cold, cold air. Gray light. Snow falling steadily all day, again. I've started to feel the chill and weariness of the season settling into me. I feel like this goose I saw on the riverbank this morning.


Sigh. Anyways, the upshot is that I've been getting a lot of knitting done, curled up by the woodstove in the evening with a glass of whiskey. I finally did finish those mittens I started in November, in gray wind-spun wool from Hope Spinnery.


All that I had left to finish was the thumbs, so I don't know it took me so darned long!

They're a simple mitten that I made up as I went along. I cast on enough stitches to fit around my wrist and knit a few inches in twisted 1x1 ribbing, which has such a lovely texture in a rustic yarn like this.


I made a simple gusseted thumb and did side-decreases at the top. In retrospect I wish I'd decreased evenly around in a circle; when I wear them, the mittens pull around my hand a bit so that the decreases don't lay against the edges of my fingers. But whatever.


I was going to embroider them with green leaves so that they'd match the hat I made in the same gray yarn. I fussed around with it the other night and couldn't get it to work how I wanted, though, so I'm keeping them plain. They reflect the season better this way.