I’m pleased to announce that Chrysalis is now available for purchase at the Sanguine Gryphon’s Etsy Shop. Chrysalis is a versatile wrap that can be worn multiple ways dependent on your mood and your style. It is worked in a circular brioche rib, with a spiraling pattern providing visual and technical interest. This piece is worked in Gryphon’s gorgeous cashmere and silk yarn, Gaia, in the Turk’s Cap colorway.

Many thanks Gryphon, for your interest in my design, your kind support throughout the process and the enjoyment of working with such a lovely yarn - What a positive experience! Read more about my impressions of the yarn here.

I’m sure you can tell by my uncharacteristic brevity that I’m a bit at a loss for words…. Just very, very pleased!

*Some pictures used with permission (the ones that aren’t me - heh!) - copyright The Sanguine Gryphon. Click on the smaller photos to enlarge if you please.

Slightly nerdy technique analysis ahead. You’ve been warned.

I’m done with the picot hem on the Festjakke, now onto the colorwork! I thought some of you might enjoy seeing this neat technique (though for some of you master knitters, I’m sure it’s old hat! I do love learning new techniques!) For my swatch, I started with a picot hem. I had never done one from a cast on edge before, so using this technique, I worked a provisional cast on with a crochet chain, which I then unzipped once I had worked the right side of the hem, placed the live stitches on another needle and knit them together with the next row. This worked quite well and I was happy with the results, but I have to admit that I dreaded counting out 309 loops and picking up all those stitches! So I went looking for an alternative that might be easier for me.

Knitting Help to the rescue once again! Amy’s video for an “Invisible (Provisional) Cast-On” (which uses a straight piece of waste yarn instead of a crochet chain) seemed like just the thing. And then, during the video, she launches into using the cable from a circular needle in place of the waste yarn, and I was totally sold.

No waste! No crochet chain! Live stitches already on a needle, ready to be knit! I did have a little trouble at first, and had to watch the video closely to see how she was handling the cable, I kept trying somehow to loop it over my needle, but that didn’t work too well. The cable or the waste yarn really doesn’t move at all, it just gives you something to wrap the working yarn around to create the cast on stitches. Once I got the hang of it, it went super quickly. And, because I have an extra circular in approximately the same size, the live stitches were all set and ready to be knit right off it to create the hem, no extra steps!

Amy points out that this method results in twisted cast-on stitches, which then need to be knit through the back loop so that they lie straight. In my case, this worked to my advantage as well (Hurray for serendipity)! Anytime I knit stitches from two needles to one (as for a three needle bind off), it takes a little maneuvering, especially when I am pulling the new stitch through. I’ve gotten the hang of it, and can manage quite proficiently, but this way, the stitches are facing each other! Excellent. Passing the left needle through the front leg on the first needle and the back leg on the second needle and pulling the yarn through it is actually smoother & easier for me because of the orientation of the stitches. Love it.

It’s the little things, I tell you. I will definitely use this trick again, It saved me an incredible amount of time (especially when you consider how many times I counted all those stitches, just to be sure!) I loved watching the curly strip of fabric turn into a lovely, flat picot hem! Yum.

Now the only point up for thought is this. The pattern calls for a fabric facing to the front of the cardigan to add stability. I’m pretty sure the intention is for the hem to fold up over the fabric edges for finishing. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to handle that one.

Have you discovered any fun new knitting tricks recently?
—————-
Now playing: Ani DiFranco - Fuel
via FoxyTunes

Who is playing at the Carolina Theatre in Durham tonight. It’s been about 3 years since we’ve seen her live - I cannot wait!

**ETA - She actually opened with this one. Perfect.

Saturday is for sleeping in after a very satisfying concert Friday night (Bright Eyes at the Millenium Center in Winston-Salem - I was very much looking forward to it, but they were better than I anticipated!)

Bad cell pic of Heather, Tess & I (Tad’s the photographer) grabbing a bite and a drink before the show.

Saturday is for Sunshine….

Courtesy of both the real thing and of Cosy, who I’ve just found recently, but is such a gem. Thank you Cosy, the feeling is completely mutual. Your blog never fails to make me smile!

Saturday is for Spinning (and slightly obsessive predrafting)….

Sunday is for sleeping in again (this is rare for us!) after our 2nd annual horror fest with a few friends, incredible hospitality provided by our friends Peter and Martha (We watched Bug and Severance - I’m sure Tad will share more details!)

Sunday is for Starting (I know it doesn’t look like much, but that’s the first three rows of the Festjakket - all 300+ stitches/row! Must make a note to update the progress bar to .02975% complete….)

And Sunday is for the Sweeter…. Who is a little under the weather & is catching some z’s. I think she needs a snug!

I hope you all had a great weekend!!

—————-
Now playing: Bright Eyes - Bowl Of Oranges
via FoxyTunes

Swatching soothes the savage mel - When life is a little topsy turvy, they are the perfect knitting escapism. I can focus my entire energy and brain on a particular technique or learning a new skill or just let it all go and mindlessly knit for a small span of time - then come up for air and try something else!

Swatch for Spun Stitches:

Laceweight spinning, the Ocean/Allison yarn which is currently in progress, swatched from my sample made back in July. At this point the silk is finished, and there are a couple more ounces of the merino tencel to go! I think that the average weight of the actual yarn might be a tad heavier than this, but we will see.

Results: At first, I wasn’t sure about the variegation of the yarn when used in this stitch pattern (Frost Flowers from Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns - one with which I have had a long standing infatuation). But last night as I approached the table where I had laid it, it caught my eye, and from a small distance rather than up close, it becomes slightly more cohesive and shimmery rather than the stripey-ness that I see at closer range. What do you think?

Learned: Do a sample swatch before digging into the spinning. When I started on this project, I was fresh off the excitement of the finished Fire Yarn (which I already knew I’d love, because I sampled, AND swatched!) and eager to be spinning something else. I did a sample skein, and went directly back to the spinning. Now, I’m impatiently looking forward to my NEXT spinning project so I can slow down and actually use what I’ve learned!

Swatch for Mermaid Gloves:

I couldn’t resist the temptation of a skein of Gryphon’s lovely sock yarn at SAFF (Eidos 100% Merino in color Meno), and after finding my hands freezing in this finally fall-ish weather, I knit this plain jane swatch for a pair of Mermaid Gloves (first I wanted to knit Pomatomus - funny, until just now I always translated it to “Potamus” in my head! - anyway, with the desire for mitts, this seemed a natural progression).

Results: Cast on and knit a couple inches. Now I’m not too sure. I’ll sit on it for a bit!

Learned: I learned a Tubular cast-on, a la Fluffbuff!

Festejakket swatch:

This swatch is take two. I never showed take one, but I decided after starting it that I wanted to actually steek the swatch for practice, so the stitch count and steek placement were a little off, and I wanted a bit more practice. Here it is, in the round, with appropriately placed steek stitches and picot hems!

Results: Casting on soon, and so excited about this project. There will be mods for fit and preference and I need to do a little calculation before I begin - My preference would be a fit more like Becki’s Bridal Cardigan, than the fit displayed in the pattern picture. It will be a very slow knit, I’m sure, but I’m thrilled to have finally completed the first step!

Learned: Knitting small circumference on two circs, and I learned to do a picot hem from the cast on edge w/ no sewing (now I’m suprised I had to look for that one! It makes perfect sense!); and one leading up to the cast off edge, but sewn without casting off (is there a way to do it that avoids both casting off and sewing? I had thought for some reason there was, but couldn’t find anything on doing a search.

Phew! I think I am (just about) done swatching for a bit!

Tad and I took a much needed break and went the mountains for a long weekend. (A little late on the post, but still, it was terrific!)

There was SAFF! Thank you to everyone who stopped me to say hi - it was SO good to meet some of you in person (and to those of you I missed either through conflicting schedules, momentary shyness or sheer overwhelmed-ness, I am truly sorry!). I only wish that Tad and I could have stayed longer, chatted more and taken a class or two, but there’s always next year! Such a trip might require some actual forethought and planning though, hmm?

There was knitting - though no progress pics for some reason! I’m just over 1/2 way through the first Cinderella Sock, and have started the back of the Slip-Stitch Jacket; The yarn wants to pool at this stitch count though and I’m having to beat it into submission. I also finished spinning the silk for the Ocean/Allison yarn, just a couple ounces of the merino/tencel left to go.

There was amazing hiking (write-up to follow on tadandmel.com)! Just what the doctor ordered.

There also was a very cold final night (spent in a very cozy cabin), gelled biodiesel with resulting disgruntled behavior from our little VW Golf, a very kind & helpful mechanic, some knitting while sitting on the gravel driveway of his shop (knitting saves the day, again), and a much later trip home than originally planned - all in all, an adventure & great learning experience, with no real harm done except a small unexpected drain on our pocketbook (which could have easily been far far worse)! Tad and I pulled together marvelously well, I must say! I’m sure my partner in crime is busy writing it all up in much more colorful detail than I possibly could, so I’ll leave you in waiting for that little story!

ETA: Tad’s post is up on tadandmel.com!

—————-
Now playing: Brandi Carlile - Have You Ever
via FoxyTunes