An Obsession with Rosebud, part one

If you do a search on Ravelry for the Rosebud vest, you will find six of mine on display. I love the look of this pattern. Here it is in another incarnation. It's a little dressier, with a little drape. When I was at the Michigan Fiber Festival last month, Chris' booth was my first stop. I was only at the fest for a few minutes before I filled some bags, and had to load them in my car before I finished the rest of the show. This Celebration, the bamboo/(merino?) blend, was one of the happy purchases. I was thinking about what to make, and went with the reliable. I used the yarn doubled, and tweaked the gauge a bit. Another modification I did was a little dart shaping in front. I love the shimmery quality of this yarn. I have another non-Rosebud project in mind for it.
Why the part one in the post title? Because, of course, there's more Rosebud action to follow!

Christmas Knitting (or not) Winner

Big Congratulations to Holly Bee! Your name was drawn for the giveaway!

3 months?

Eeek. 3 months until Christmas? That is a little scary. Well I am setting small knitting goals this year so I don't feel overwhelmed. So here goes:

1. slippers for daughter
2. slippers for other daughter's boyfriend
3. socks for mom
4. socks for sister
5. socks for niece
6. slippers for nephew

Hopefully I am remembering everything! I don't work well under pressure. :) I think I better get started!

Finished and Almost Finished

Finished: The Rosebud Shawl (ends woven in and blocked)





Almost Finished: Hattie's Rose Garden - it just needs to be blocked and the ends woven in.





All I have left in my stash from Briar Rose is a skein of Grandma's Blessing. I'm going to wait to use that -- give some other yarns a chance for a little while.

Lacy Cable Shrug - Fini!

Bugg's Shrug is finally finished! The pattern is the Lacy Cable Shrug from Briar Rose Fibers. The pattern originally used Earth Song, but Bugg liked the color and texture of Wistful.

We originally purchased 2 hanks at about 8 ounces each and there is about 6 ounces left. The yarn blocked wonderfully!

The matter of those 'good enough for now' buttons is resolved! Chris sent some 'these are THE button' buttons. They are a wonderful addition to my Retro Cardigan.

This sweater is a perfect weight and will get a lot of use in the coming months.

Now....Next project!

My Christmas Wish List

I'm so paranoid of a knit deadline nowadays that I'm afraid to commit knitting projects to a To Do List. have found though that they are helpful to motivate me at time, so here goes... Between now and Christmas I'd like to have the following complete.

1. The Cobblestone Pullover for my hubby
2. A Rosebud lace shawl for my mom
3. A sweater vest for my nephew due in November
4. A pair of socks (or felted slippers) for each of my 2 daughters
5. A pair of socks for me knit with some Briar Rose Grandma's Blessing

Yeah..definitely wishful thinking...but maybe my work travel will allow for more knitting hours than I suspect. I wish each of you longer days and cozy nights fit for finishing!

Marce

Alley Glamazon

I'm not really a shawl person. It's not that I don't admire them, but I don't have the life or wardrobe that a shawl would fit in. I also don't have the discipline to follow a chart for hundreds of rows. Most of my life is spent in casual attire. I would like to have things that I can wear when I dash out of the house, to look amazing as I walk my dog, or run the garbage out to the alley. This is the Lacy Cable shrug, knit with two hanks of Fourth of July. It's similar in color to one I saw in Chris' collection, that I fell in love with. It's a shawl, but not. Because it's two long sleeves, it really stays put. There's enough yarn overs for it to qualify as lace, and the four row pattern repeat is easy to memorize. With my wingspan, this was a lot of knitting. I've shown it styled here with my flamingo and swimming pool pajama pants that you would see me in if you were my neighbor and looked out into my back yard in the morning.

rose reds

gosh it's been forever since i posted here, but i started a new little red cardigan and laura prompted me to share it. this is the sweater i meant to knit last year, but never did. i'm using briar rose grandma's blessing in a gorgeous blood-red color, and working up my own design.



so far i have one front piece completed and part of the other. i usually start with a sleeve, but decided that i needed to see the buttonbands and neckline before i went on to the rest.

i am knitting it on size 3 needles and couldn't be happier with how it is turning out. i'd like to have it done to wear to rhinebeck.

Christmas Knitting List

Okay, I've been M.I.A. for so long ya'll probably don't even remember who I am. I have a good excuse -- we've been doing "extreme makeover - our home edition," completely redoing the outside of our house (a few photos on my Webshots page) and, now, painting on the inside. I'm tired and sore and have hardly knit a thing all summer.

Here's my plan between now and Christmas:
* Finish my Highland Triangle Shawl, which is being knit from one of Chris's gorgeous yarns (but it's been so long since I started the shawl that I couldn't begin to tell you which one!)
* Knit my dear husband a couple pair of very soft, durable socks for his poor diabetic feet.
* Finish a holiday sweater that I started for myself last January.
* Make a red scarf or two really quickly to send in to The Red Scarf Project for the Orphan Foundation of America

If I get that done, I'll be doing well!

Cheers, Tomme

Totally Autumn

Hip Hip Hooray! Anne and Chris cooked up a fabulous project using Abundance - it is just published in the new Knitty! Totally Autumn - what a fabulous accessory to help ring in the Fall weather!

Way to go, ladies - that is a beautiful pattern.

Rosebud Shawl -- Off the Needles

I finished my Rosebud Shawl this weekend.





I don't know why the great color of this yarn isn't coming through on my pictures. Hopefully, we'll have a few sunny days so that GOOD pictures can be taken once its blocked.

The Giveaway!!!

Ok, fellow knitters...enough teasing has gone on. All you need to do is post your Christmas knit list (don't give away any surprises)! After all, it is never too early to think about our holiday knitting.

The deadline is September 25-exactly 3 months before Christmas. Every Knit-a-long member who has posted their Christmas list by then will have their name entered into the drawing for something wonderful from Chris' workshop.

Good Luck!

Edit: Thank you to Doulicia for some very important suggestions and questions!!

Please post to this blog and if you don't plan to knit for the Holidays, just post your Knitting 'Wish List' - What you would knit for your loved ones - if only you had time and the perfect fiber!

Rosebud Shawl Update

I meant to post when I was half-way with the shawl, but I was having such a great time knitting, that I forgot. Now, I'm 2/3rds done. How do I know? From the "leaning tower of yarn", there is only one cake left. The other two cakes have been knitted in. :D

Here's a picture of the WIP:


Here's the up-close-and-person, glamour shot:


I don't know why the colors went funky in this shot. But I love the great stitch definition. :D

Labor

"If a man loves the labor of his trade apart from any question of success or fame, the Gods have called him." - Robert Louis Stevenson

How did you spend the Labor Day weekend?

I spent it ...

laboring (Imagine that!)

While my husband sanded and painted the garage (Way to go, honey!) I spent the weekend knitting.

I think this falls under the category of "nice work if you can get it."

I have been swatching and pondering, doodling and figuring, coloring and canoodling, trying to get the design for my next project down on paper and in yarn, the way I envision it in my head. It's a lot more work than you might think. Trial and error...

Mostly error.

I began with this gorgeous skein of wool from Briar Rose that jumped into my bag at the show in Charlevoix back in July. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?)











Pictures don't do it justice. Trust me. For some reason all the pictures I have taken seem to be brighter and not as rich as the actual yarn.

Anyway, I kept seeing "desert southwest something" whenever I looked at it. I wanted to get that feeling you get when the sun hits the red rocks of Sedona.









I tried a woven stitch because I wanted to get the lateral element found in rock formations, but the piece still seemed flat. Then I combined it with a 3 to 1 rib pattern and...









BINGO! Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

I thought of a vest, long and lean, to capitalize on the vertical line of the rib. Something with flair. Something that swung. I went to the computer.

(Again with the math. JEESH!)

A few hours later I had my design roughed out. Just one problem. Not enough yarn

Bugger!

I tried alternating rows with brown. Too muddy

I tried rusty red. Too lackluster

I tried blue. Too subtle

I tried orange. Definitely not too subtle. Quite the opposite. Clown barf on steroids.

Then I got too big for my britches. I thought, "I know what I'll do. I'll combine all of the colors in a free form painting type of thing, making it up as I go along."

I was so sure this was the right approach that I cast on the full complement of stitches and dug in.

You can see where this is heading, can't you?

Three days later, I had this:


















Doesn't look much like a canyon, does it?


Frustrated and worn out from thinking, I cast on for a mindless project.

I needed time to recoup.

Today I emailed Chris about dying some more of the yarn in copper/rose/eggplant color, swatched again to determine the drape and color gradations with some scraps I had and am now ready to move forward again with it.

I don't want to give away the bank here (because I want all of you to buy the pattern. Do I look like I'm stupid?) but the vest swings away from a more structured bodice area into a looser fabric as it progresses towards the hem. Vest will be a-line, tunic length, open down the front with a high three button closure at the bust. Very slimming.

So my labors have born fruit (finally!) and I can't wait to get started on the model.

Of course there is the small matter of a half finished Cherry to deal with. First things first.

I love my work!

Introduction

Greetings! I've recently joined this KAL. I haven't decided what to knit yet but I'm leaning towards socks. The yarns are beautiful and I'm still trying to figure out what I'd like to knit with. So many yarns, so little time.

A New Yarn Giveaway?

There will be a giveaway soon - just a tempter and a teaser, aren't I?

Details coming soon....

Retro Cardigan and Good Enough for now Buttons

Chris' Retro Cardigan is a sweet little knit (my son says the new 'sweet' is 'sick', but I cannot bring myself to use that word to represent anything in knitting).



Buttons for this baby were/are a challenge. You know how you get something in your head - the perfect thing to finish off a project and then it doesn't seem to exist? The buttons are that something with this sweater. The hunt for the perfect buttons (all 10 of them) will continue thus these are the Good Enough for now Buttons.



Yarn: Briar Rose Tuscany, 4 hanks - I had 5 hanks just in case

Needles: 10 and 10 1/2 circulars

Gauge: 3 sts/inch



It was a little difficult to get good pictures of this yarn. There were shots of it while blocking and the colors were too mottled. The close-up of the buttons is closest to the true color.

Thanks to my Hubs who went on the Great Button Hunt with me and was patient enough to come back for more and take the pictures.

Where I've Been Playing

It was over a two month wait, but I'm on Ravelry! User name LuckyPenny. I've been adding projects a few at a time, so you can all see how obsessed I am with Rosebud vests. This pic is of my dog, Piccolo, cuddling with Abundance left over from one of the Rosebuds. Behind her is a design from that big project that I've been working on, with some of the Abundance along with other leftovers.