knitting at last

First I made a pair of mittens using leftover yarn from the Rocky Coast Cardigan -Quince and Company Yarn.  The pattern was just a basic mitten knitting pattern I found on Raverly.  The shawl is Stripe Study Shawl by Vera Valimaki that so many people made on Raverly.  This is a pattern you have to buy and uses a lot of short row shaping. I first saw this pattern and shawl at the Fiber Frolic in Maine.  The yarn is from String Theory in Blue Hill Maine.  The colors are Teal and Java.  I love the color combination.  It was kinda fun to make.  It is all garter stitch so it is nice not having to purl which slows me down.








I also have been knitting several sweaters.  They have come from the book "Knitbot" by Hannah Fettig.  All the patterns use Quince and Company Yarns."Breezy" is the first picture.  This is in the fingering weight yarn called Finch and done in the Kittywake color .  The color is a dark grey blue.  I love the yarn and the sweater .  I thought I could not wear this style sweater because I am small.  I was able to try on a sample in Maine at the yarn store Purl Diva in Brunswick and it looked good.  This sweater is so cozy and comfortable.  I love wearing it around the house.

Next from "Knitbot "  is the cover design-Featherweight.  This is done in the yarn Tern which is a combination of wool and silkin the backbay  color.It is just beautiful and easy.  It is knit from the top down with little finishing.  You do have to pickup the ribbing at the end.

the final finished sweater is also the Featherweight pattern but done in Sparrow yarn which is Quince and Company' fingering or lace weight linen yarn.  I find I do not like knitting with linen as much as wool But it is a beautiful sweater.
Last is a Quince and Company pattern called Eva.  It was designed by Cecily Glowick Mcdonald who I met when I was in Maine.  I LOVE her patterns.  As you can see this is also knit from the top down using Quince Lark yarn.  The main color is a grey called Kumliens Gull with a contrast yarn called Apricot. They really look good together.  After using thin yarn for all my other projects this worsted weight yarn is making the project fly.I did read one book this week"The House at Tyneford" by Natasha Solomons  This was a nice safe predictable story.  I think it could be a beach read.  It is a "Upstairs/Downstairs" type story about a girl who lives a privileged life in Austria in the 1930's.  To protect her she is sent to be a servant in England with the idea that the rest of her family will get visa's and join her but of course history intervenes. Well a busy time of year is coming.  Thanksgiving is coming.  My oldest son will be here from Washington and I have some knitting presents to make.Right now I have to go cook and make something with a eggplant I bought yesterday.(It seemed like a good idea at the time.today not so good)

knitting,reading,Maine

It is November, WoW. I wanted to add some pictures from my fall trip to Maine.  I know its almost been a month and I have been lazy about my photos.  I went to Knitwits in Portland Maine.  They put your yarn in these cool muslin bags.  The owner of Knitwits Suszie lives on Peaks Island that I talked about in my last podcast.  She is really nice and easy to talk to.  Her yarn store is in a interesting part of Portland.  The store has so many Maine yarns that I love.  When I go to Maine I love to buy the local yarn that I can't get any where else. She carries Quince &Co., String Theory.and Swans Island. I also made a trip to String Theory in Blue Hill.  Blue Hill is just a magical place and we had a great time there.  I have bought their yarn at the Fiber Frolic and Purl Diva in Brunswick.  The business was started by 2 former Labor and Delivery nurses.  They hand dye their yarn in beautiful colors.  At the Fiber Frolic their booth is always jammed and the yarn is one of a kind. It was such fun to go to their store and talk with them.Finally some pictures from the Common Ground Fair. It is a great Maine Event.  My sister calls it my "hippie fair" and it is but so much more.  The only problem has been the weather.  The past few years it has been cold and rainy that weekend. I have been doing some reading.  First I read "Hannah Coulter" by Wendell Barry.  This was a nice nice story about family and life. It was done for the readers review on npr months ago and has been sitting on my table since.  I never seemed to be in the mood for it and recently I was between books and read it.  It is one of those books that stays with you.  often I read a book and a week later Ive forgotten what it was about unless I kinda refresh my mind Not this one.  It is a old women who looks back on her life in this small farming town and the changes to her and this town.  The author has written other books about characters in this town
He is quite a famous author but I had never read anything by him.  I also read "Those Who Love Us Most' by Lee Woodruff.The author is the wife of the reporter for ABC news who was severely wounded in Iraq who has recovered. Meh- not great not terrible just -Meh. It is kinda a predictable story about a family after one of their children is in a car accident.  Right now I am Reading"The House at Tyneford" by Natasha Solomons I started this book several other times but I couldn't get into it I don't know why because so far I really like it.  All these books available at AAm
www.amazon.com

Pictures from the Common Ground Fair
Unity Maine











I have a few sweaters I have finished ,a scarf, and mittens.  I need to download the pictures-hopefully tomorrow(but i wouldn't count on it) and then write a little blog about them.
Peace