Photo from Summer 2008 issue of Spin•off

Creator: Smoking Hot Needles (Monika)
Fiber: Merino/Tencel, colorway ‘Aspen’, from Spunky Eclectic
Pattern: Morning Surf
Read the creator’s original blog post

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this scarf. It’s featured in the latest issue of Spin•off. The article presented several finished spin-to-knit scarves using the same pattern, Morning Surf. This one is my favorite. The pattern, the colors just work together very nicely. Plus the knitting is fabulous! I want one! The pattern is free. I just need to find the right fiber to spin. Oh, and time. ha ha ha

Other news. I talked to my sister in Taiwan. We are going to continue the effort of completing the hotel unless there’s a serious buyer. This means that I will most likely go to China very soon. IF there’s a serious buying interest before July, I’d be able to escape the trip. Crossing my fingers.

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Last Saturday was the monthly GLASG meeting. We had our usual meeting and show and tell. Plus, Randall gave an introduction to spinning wheel mechanics. I should have listened carefully and learn a few things. But I was spinning with a drop spindle and was so focused that I didn’t hear most of it. Sorry Randall.

We had lots of beautiful show and tell items:

Do you see something familiar? Well, it’s probably hard to tell, but that’s the Hugger in the middle of things. Aren’t these a colorful bunch?

Here’s Dorothy showing off her needle felting jacket.

Jerry showing off his second finished skein of hand spun:

More amazing items:

See more pictures here. Next post, a very long, but very wonderful day at the temple.

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Stitches straightened out nicely with blocking.

Danny Ouellette’s Easy Head Hugger Hat
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, Color 170
Needle: KnitPicks’ Options US #4

We tried another great recipe this week. This one from the big 1,000 recipes book, Grilled Flank Steak with Hot and Sour Chipotle Sauce.

I’d never tried flavoring the meat this way before. You make the sauce and set it aside. Grill the steak seasoned only with salt and pepper. Remove the steak and brush on the sauce on both sides. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Slice then serve with more sauce on top of it. Easy and delicious. It takes very little time to make the chipotle sauce.

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Knitting done. Just need a wet blocking to straighten things out. Can you see the seam? No, those six rows of visibly different stitches are not seams. They are wraps that were purposely knitted to be visible. Nice decorative element, I think.

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I am almost done with the Easy Head Hugger. There’s only the grafting to do. The way that the hat is constructed, you end up with two sides of the hat that you either sew or graft together. I didn’t even consider sewing because grafting would be seamless (usually, depending on the skill.) I fully intended to finish it last night. I sat down, started grafting and immediately realized that it was a technique that was unlike anything I’d done before. One side had live stitches on the needle. The other side had provisional cast-on with a row of the pattern knitted. I had to walk away and visualize the process in my head first. It also required that I review how knit and purl stitches were formed. I truly enjoyed the exercise, and think that I can finish the hat tonight. Yippee! I also know that I will use this knowledge for lace knitting. Glad that I am able to try it out on a hat first instead of a big, complicated lace project.

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Pattern: Danny Ouellette’s Easy Head Hugger Hat
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, Color 170
Needle: US #4 KnitPicks Options

This is a quick knit for me. Something fast and satisfying. It’s 2/3 done and I should be able to finish it before the weekend. But we do have Sven with us this week. Hmmm… Anyway. I love how the colors are knitted up. And I love how the hat is constructed! (Our Ted has something to do with the birth of the pattern, BTW.) I bought two balls of Noro Kureyon. But it looks like I won’t even use up the first ball. CB is already eying me to make a Head Hugger for him. I just might!

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This last Saturday’s spinning guild meeting was quite fun and educational. We had Dr. Elizabeth Barber giving a lecture on ancient textiles. She was quite engaging and funny. Lots of interesting info. Ellen and Jerry were there, too! You can read more about the lecture on their blogs.

Then during Show & Tell, Ruth introduced us to the Caracol dye.

Caracol dye comes from the Caracol snails. No snails are harmed to get the dye. They release the liquid when handled in a certain way. Maybe a defense mechanism? The dye goes on the fabric kind of muddy green. After it is exposed to sunlight it turns magenta. Fascinating. You can see pictures of the snail on Ruth’s blog.

More photos here.

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