Big Sky Yarns & Crafts

Noro Who?

I know it could be a downright offense to say I am not a big Noro fan, but it is true. Frankly, I am thrilled that there is at least one type of yarn I don't drool and grovel and go in debt over. 

This changed, however, when I saw this skirt:

How fabulous is that? I saw this sample (knit in sock yarn) at one of the yarn stores my mom and I visited and I almost died right there. Here is the cover:

 

This Noro book, Joy, I had to have as well:

My mom found this book. So many perfect shapes:

 
 
 

And a vest I could add as a permanent staple:

 

I fell in love with so many self-striping yarns a few years ago and these designs would be perfect.

Knit on! 

Beautiful Books

So many new books (actually new or new to me) have entered my knitting library lately, it will take a couple blog posts to introduce them to you all.

My mom treated me to so many lovelies that I will start with them.

First, this splendid pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas, Eyelet Cardigan:

 

Rowan's Cotton Jeans is perfect (and on clearance at Jessica Knits !):

This yarn is so soothing to knit and look at it, I can't enjoy it enough. Here is the gauge swatch all washed in its perfect glory:

I will add many, many inches to the body of the sweater. Some knitters on Ravelry didn't add the extra ribbing to the sleeves so they don't turn up and I may do that too. If I have the gumption, I will make the sleeves 3/4 length for the perfect Montana sweater. 

Because I am always a sucker for anything leaf related, Mom bought me this perfect summer book:

Sirdar's The Juicy Book has a wonderful collection of spring/summer sweaters. The cover sweater is my favorite, but here a few other happy samples:

 

   

The two color play on this one is heavenly, don't you think? That's favorite #2, if I must have one.

 Gedifra's new book, Highlights 101, surprised me so much:

(Sorry there is no link for Gedifra. The ones I clicked on were either in a foreign language or a wholesale site, neither of which helps us much.)

Such a big, beautiful book at 11" x 10.5". These books are so pretty I am going to start having them as my official coffee table books. I am amazed at how light and pretty they are and to think they tell you how to make what is in the photos. I never get un-amazed at this. So many times we see something but have to wonder how to make it. Yet knitting books tell us step by step (we hope). 

Besides the exposure (cough, cough) I absolutely was smitten with this sweater and promise to wear it more modestly (like, not lean over and tilt my shoulder down):

I am pleased to report that a smaller picture of this same sweater shows her standing normally and all is well. It was just too small of a photo to put here.

This one was a stunning store sample:

Other fetching sweaters:

  

 

We know how much I can't live without a fabulous vest:

 
More new knit books coming soon! 

Knit on.

 

Red Lodge Redux

Another fabulous day was spent at Red Lodge:

We were at Wild Bill Lake this time, enjoying the fish and mountain air:

 

 

Although hard to see, that is me enjoying immensely knitting by the lake's edge while everyone else is trekking around the lake:

 

Sadly, my knee is still not doing well, so I start physical therapy tomorrow. (sounds of doom?)

We ate at our favorite pizza place, as always:

As you can (almost) see, the hanging baskets of flowers are absolutely stunning. Here is a better shot:

 

I never get tired of the flowers, ever, so you must enjoy them too, REALLY CLOSE:

I even have been clipping along on my Summit scarf. Remember in my last post when I said I had to count every row and it was wearing me out?  The very next repeat it all happily clicked in my brain and now I can say without hesitation I can knit without reading the pattern every minute. The only part I don't always remember is how many rows at an end I must knit (the curve) before starting back the other direction. I even learned to count (go figure) so I can just count a previous curve to get that info when necessary. 

Here it is in all of its glory:

It's about 25" now and I cannot believe how much yarn I still have left, can you? That is good, I guess, because I want it at least 50" but knitting another 25" makes me want to lay down and take a nap. I need a couple good movies to push past the hump here with hope of a finish line. It is Second Sock Syndrome for sure, but since it is the second half of scarf, it is Second Scarf Syndrome (except only one scarf).

Obligatory family self portrait (Dan is the king of self portraits --  worthy of another blog post another day.):

 

Knit on.  

Further Along the Vacation Super Highway

The last part of our vacation was spent with my mom, who thought it would be fun to stay at a hotel that had water park (yeah, Mom!):

 

The kids thought they had died and gone to heaven. The adults enjoyed The Lazy River and I reportedly spent over an hour just going around and around and around:

I actually enjoyed the pool outside our room much more because rarely anyone cared except me:

Even fabulous flowers graced the pool grounds (the bushes were behind me in the above pic):

 

More pool knitting (started at my dad's):

This is Summit (from Knitty's Spring & Summer 2010 issue), designed by Mandie Harrington. Way to go, Mandie! The yarn is Schoppel-Wolle's Zauberball.  Although my mom bought this one for me while I was in Arizona, I know Julia carries it at Wild Purls. I am thoroughly enjoying it, though I get tired of counting so that is why it is not finished. However, do not let that deter you. Further benefits of this pattern is, instead of purling all of those little rows, I learned knitting back backwards. Instead of flipping my knitting for each of those small sections (each one is knit separately), I stay on the right side of the fabric (instead of purling) I knit back the next row. The link above is a great tutorial available on Knitty. 

This is how I knit back backwards: staying on the right side of the fabric, I stick my left needle in the back loop of the first stitch. With my left hand I wrap the working yarn over the left needle from top to bottom, and then used my right needle to pull the old stitch over the new yarn and drop the old stitch. This leaves the new stitch on the left needle. If the yarn is wrapped incorrectly, the new stitches are twisted. (I did that for a couple of rows before I figured that out.)

I so enjoyed the view from our room as well:

There is a reason I would like everyone to take care of everything around me. Look how there is actual landscaping!! Isn't that exciting? Love it, love it, love it.

I finally finished my hat, Winged (free pattern!!), by  Cecily Glowik MacDonald:

I did use Princess from Classic Elite Yarns, the actual yarn the pattern called for! Miracle! Wild Purls carries this yarn as well. It is a lovely merino cashmere blend. My head is so big (no comment) that I instead of 5.75 stitches per inch in moss stitch that the pattern called for, I went with 5.5 stitches for a little more room. I did need another ball, however, instead of just one.  The duplicate stitch is just some random mohair roaming my stash that I doubled. Next time I make this hat, instead of centering the design, I will move it down a couple of rows since the design is top heavy.

Knit on!

  

Getting Back to Normal

We just got back from an extended vacation in Arizona visiting all of our families. Both Dan and my entire families live in Arizona. We were the first to fly the coop and I think everyone thought we (including us, frankly) would back. But then I found the 4 seasons in Billings and I can't bear the thought of leaving leaves. However, it is so pretty, in it's own Southwestern sort of way.

Kate and I spent the first week alone at my dad and his wife's house while Dan and the boys went to camp. This is where I was every morning:

My dad lives in a retirement community and the kids hours for this pool were from 9-1. At least once we were the first to arrive and we stayed the whole four hours many days with a snack of pistachios and crackers. My dad came a few hours later:

  

Tough life, huh? Yes, I could (should) still live with my dad, is all I have to say.

My first knitting project practically flew off the needles, the Pleated Vest (Ravelry link) by Amy O'Neill Houck, published by Blue Sky Alpacas. It called for a double strand of their Alpaca Sport Weight, but I used a single strand of their Worsted Hand Dyes and got gauge perfectly at 3.5 stitches per inch. Let me just say this and it warrants all caps: HEAVEN ON EARTH IS THIS YARN. No kidding. 50% royal alpaca, 50% merino. 5 hanks have never flown from these needles so fast.

Interesting construction kept my attention as well.  A provisional cast on begins all pieces (back, two fronts). In this pic I just finished one front, worked from the provisional cast on to ribbing at the waist to shaping the front. Live stitches are then held for the 3 needle bind off later.

 

After knitting from the center up, then the provisional stitches are put on the needles and the bottom "skirt" is worked with a pleat that is just an increase at the same spot every row:

Super fun!  Here is the completed back:

(Mom bought me the cute bag in Heidelberg where she just visited.) The bottom bind off edge is cute too. Though it curls in the photo, after blocking all is well. On the right side, you purl one row then the next row (wrong side) is knit two together through the back loop, put the loop back on the left needle and do it again for all stitches.

Here is the finished vest at home (I do wish I looked like this in it -- cough, cough):

I love the buttons too, purchased at Jessica Knits in Scottsdale:

 

Here are more beautiful pix of my dad's neighborhood:

I never got tired of looking at this purple and green cactus. I thought he was fascinating:

Super strange one:

 

Obligatory Saguaro picture:

Perfect pink flowers (and these are all over! What am I saying -- all these are all over. I guess I just so love this color):

My other favorite plant is my dad's Pineapple Palm in his front yard. Aren't these graceful?

Dad even has bunnies in his backyard. The one on the right cleared some rocks to be closer to the ground.

There were tons of quail and their babies but I couldn't move fast enough to get a proper picture.  

Kate loved helping my dad walk Sadie:

Kate and I absolutely love the golf cart. I say we are "going on safari" whenever we ride in it since you are so close to everything. (I'm not as close as this looks, though trying to take a picture with the zoom on and driving is not something a recommend. Ahem.)

 

Hope you are having a lovely summer. More vacation and knitting pix coming soon!