Project Spectrum: September into October

I got so excited about Socktober, I forgot to wrap up last month's colour for Project Spectrum. September was all about yellow (and gold, copper, and bronze). I didn't work with any of those colours in my projects (I didn't even do a single yellow square in my Kaffe quilt-shame on me), but my surroundings have been full of it.

There was the goldenrod that filled half of our field.

As I drive home, I pass the five acres we have along the road and survey it each day.The goldenrod put on quite a show. I watched it fade from bright yellow to soft gold.

The corn fields around us (none of which I own) did the same fade from bright green to soft white-ish gold.

The corn itself, on the other hand, turned a very solid yellow gold.

A little closer to home, the "fake" sunflowers I have finally bloomed this month. They grow like bushes and have small sunflower-like blooms that run up and down very tall stalks. The bees really like them,

 as did this butterfly:

In another bed, the nasturtiums really took off (and took over). The leaves were taller than the flowers so you had to do some searching for the blooms!

And the trees started their turning this month. Although the bright reds and oranges are the real attention getters, I also love the fluorescent lime yellow green that some maples achieve.

When they catch a little sun, I think they positively glow with life.

October celebrates the colour cyan/aqua. That is a very foreign colour to me. I honestly surveyed every single folder of pictures I have and came up with only a few paltry examples that might come close to cyan. I have a lot of blue, but that is not the same!

So, for a preview, I give you:

Clockwise from top left: aquarium at Disney World I have completely blocked from my memory; old thermometer I bought for Troy; beach in the Dominican (the blue sky dominates the space but I think the aqua sea is a scene stealer); one of the shawls I knit for my sister's wedding (being modeled by my niece); Antonio and Gertrude, made by my father-in-law.

I am not too comfortable with this colour and find it difficult to even describe. We'll see what I come up with over the next month...

Project Spectrum: August into September

Have you been mindful of pink this month? I have to say I have not seen a lot of it except for the hibiscus bushes in my yard. And that's a big "except" because they have been blooming like crazy all month long.

I give you my pink collage in which the hibiscus figure prominently:

The other flower (lower right) are my poppies which finally decided to bloom. They are darling. And the top right picture is one of the bibs I made for my great-niece, my only pink or purple project this month. (I was busy with that tablecloth, remember?) It's 100% cotton and knit in the "snakes and ladders" pattern I made up for the 2009 Red Purl afghan with crochet ties.

But my favourite "pink thing" this month would have to be my great-niece herself:

Ella was literally born blue, so we are all so happy to see her pink and rosy now!

As the calendar turns to September, Project Spectrum moves on to yellow and metallics. Those are not colours I wear often, but I found plenty of pics in the archives:

Top row: bracelet knit with stainless steel wire; a block from my Kentucky quilt top; bee on sunflower;
Middle row: Knit stellated dodecahedron Christmas star; gold "boot socks";
Bottom row: Detail of last year's Christmas card; early crocus; sewing my Kaffe Fasset quilt; a binfull of popcorn Troy grew.

Here's to a month of yellows, golds, bronzes, coppers, etc. Let's see what we can see...

Project spectrum: July into August

Another month is gone. Project Spectrum is almost half done.

I didn't think my blue pictures lent themselves to a collage so I'm going to post them separately this month.

I got a polarizing lense for my camera and it can really make clouds pop against a darker blue sky. Here are a few:

It doesn't hurt that we have had some really amazing cloud formations the last few weeks. An ever changing delightful display.

I also took a few playing with the white balance:

It made this perfectly normally looking setting sun completely eerie.

And let's not forget my one blue project. (I guess I shouldn't feel too bad since I didn't do any green ones for June!)

Next month we move into PINK! A colour I was really into a while ago thanks to the pushing and prodding of my baby sister. I guess I haven't seen her enough lately because my pre-occupation with pink has definitely waned. Before that, I really hated pink thinking it was too cutesy and too girly for me. She let me embrace my inner girly-girl.

Here's a little collage from my archives to get us all in the mood:

Clockwise from top left corner: tulip in the garden; 3 cotton knit bibs; cotton toddler sweater; pink toddler bed quilt; fluffy chick I pull out every Easter; jewellery set; matching purses for my all my sisters to wear at the youngest's wedding (3 of the 6 anyway).

I don't know of any pink projects on the horizons, but who knows! I will also keep my eye out for pink in unexpected places. See what you can find, too!

Summer Swap Report

I just realized I didn't post about the Red Purl swap. I was too busy going to the airport over the weekend. (Lots of progress on my secret project...I made this coming Friday's deadline already!)

Once again we had a great group of people at the shop. Quite a crowd...let's say about 16, 17. I was not organizing the swapping this time so I could just sit back and relax!

The package that got every one's attention right away had "boob" balloons on it. You don't need two guesses to get what was inside! The funniest part was that it went to one of the least likely to model them...even over top of a shirt. We all had a good hoot about it anyway.

One of the swappers was giving away the second thing she had ever made! That's a very brave and generous thing to do! It was a lovely linen face cloth with various appropriate accompanying gifts.

And what did I make? Well, I took some recycled cotton from a sweater and made a cuff:

 with some silver buttons.

Here it is stretched out.

Here it is folded up.

And what did I get? I got a lovely cotton bag/sachet with sandlewood soap:

I love the colours and texture of the bag!

Amy has a whole basket of felted balls she couldn't stop making:

Her gift was three of these and a book on juggling! (The book was bound with two wooden needles. It was too clever.)

It was a great night...thanks for all the laughs, ladies!!

Project Stats
Started: 03 Jul '11
Finished: 04 Jul '11
Pattern: Pretty Twisted by Cat Wong (free)
Materials: 15 grams of mercerized cotton from a 2nd hand sweater


Oh, I almost forgot to point out this is my blue project for Project Spectrum this month...way to sneak one in there, eh?

Project spectrum: June into July

June has ended and with it has ended the month of green. I thought I might tackle my green leaf beret this month, but it didn't happen. Not enough crafting time (and not enough energy to take it on). I did not work on a single green crafting project the whole month.

I did, however, take a few pictures. It seemed like everything was green around me. We had a lot of rain and grass, and corn, and weeds, and leaves grew and grew. Some of them you would swear you could see them grow as you watched.

Here are a few green images captured this month:

From top left around clockwise, we have looking through the leaves as I did when laying on my yoga mat in the park; grass gone to seed; corn just coming up; a young green peach in our yard; a bend in the St. Joseph River (this is the corner where we've been doing yoga in the park); and a leather dress I wore as part of my challenge to wear a skirt/dress every day in June. (Which I did! Album here.)

I don't seem to find green very inspiring, in general. I think it is a "base" colour for me; a background onto which other colours should be added. Of course, there are trillions of different greens and it would be silly to  say I "don't like green" but I don't think it does much for me.

July we move onto blue...(now if ever there was a "basic" colour that would be it!) But again, there are so many different blues; I'll try to explore more of them this month.

Here are some shots I found already in my archives:

From top left, a ditch landscape; alliums against the sky; blue lace scarf; detail of my Crossed Canoes on a Starry Night quilt; glass bead necklace; and fancy slippers.

Right now, I can't think of any blue projects I have in mind to do. But I got a new lense for my camera and it's making me very interested in the sky. We have had an amazing variety of amazing cloud formations over the last few weeks. I have been fascinated.

And I even took a pic or two to practise:

We'll see what that may lead to...

Project Spectrum: May into June

The first month of Project Spectrum 5 has ended. May was the month to explore the colour red. I don't need any extra encouragement in that. (I thought about photographing just my red shoes, let alone the rest of my wardrobe, but decided against it. Off the top of my head, though, I could think of six pairs...and that's before I started digging!)

To my surprise, I did not see a lot of red in my daily life. No red front doors I hadn't noticed before. No surprise of red flowers in the ditch. I don't know...whatever I was expecting didn't happen. But I brought some red into my life.

I started the Making Waves Cardigan and got the body done. (It's now waiting for sleeves.)

I started a stole out of my slow colour changing Evilla Artyarn 8/2 wool.

I also captured a few flowers that did catch my attention.

Here is my May collage [click to enbiggen]:

Clockwise from top left: the first blossoms we've ever gotten on our peach trees!; trying on Making Waves; fuchsia buds at my BIL's family nursery; a "surprise" tulip in the yard that a squirrel must have planted; early bday present from my sister--a brooch and earrings in fire engine red enamel; Evilla Artyarn wool for my triangles stole.

June is a month of green. I don't have plans to start any new knitting projects but maybe a little sewing/quilting will find its way in and I just may use this as an excuse to finally fix my poor neglected Leaf Beret.

Here's collage of pictures I found in my archives to celebrate the many shades of green [click to enbiggen]:

From left to right and top to bottom: Pine bough in Kentucky; Leaves Beret; vintage thermometer; various threads; Texas Cactus Apple; Troy's sprig green soap; Outside In socks; necklace of green stones; palm tree, Dominican Republic.

Starting and Restarting

I mentioned a new project that I said I was obsessed with--I've started a stole. I plan to give it to my church if it turns out nice enough. I asked someone there a while ago if they needed a new red one because I had this project turning in my mind. If they had said yes, I would have got right on it. But I never heard back. Then I decided I had to get this project out of my mind whether they wanted it or not! If not, I'll find something else to do with it.

So what is a stole? It's a little confusing as the word is more commonly used for a fur wrap worn about the shoulders. (Well, not that I see too many of those these days.) But this type of stole is basically a long scarf that is worn with its center at the back neck and each end hanging down over the front of the shoulders.

The only difference between what I'm knitting and a long scarf is the shaping given at the back so that it turns the corner while lying flat. That's the basic idea anyway.

I wanted to use my colour changing wool and I wanted to make the gradation mirror itself on the two sides. I did not want to start at one end, knit all the way around and have the colours just fall where they may. So where did that leave me?

I decided to start at the center back, knit a bias square and then knit the two long pieces off of two adjacent sides. (So it would be like two long pieces meeting at a 45^ angle.) Except I couldn't knit the two long parts separately--I would have to knit them at the same time by casting on a few extra stitches and steeking it down the middle when I was done. That way the colour changes would be the same on both sides. Brilliant right?

But what pattern to use? I was drawn to the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf which I had suggested to Amy as a Red Purl knit-along a while ago and it's been a big hit ever since:

It's constructed from triangles in a garter stitch and you can see that it really does interesting things with colour changing yarn. After knitting about a third of mine, I think the scarf is better on quicker colour changes than what I'm working with, but it will still be effective. I like the triangle construction because it's interesting and because of the shape's association with the theology of the trinity. (Or Trinity? Do you have to capitalize that?)

After making some headway on the two long sides pieces, I noticed that the beginning square was wider than my pieces were now. I mulled on that for a while and finally realized that I had let my math training down (again) and failed to realized that I needed to apply a basic geometric principal. The way I had put it together I had assumed that the side of the triangle was the same length as the base. But it's not. So although my beginning square was the right dimension, my long scarf parts were too skinny.

For a while I figured it wasn't "that bad." Then I figured I could "block it out," but yesterday morning at church (before the service) I finally acknowledged that I had to redo it. So I tucked it away and on the way home, I ripped and ripped and ripped. (I really had quite a lot knitted.)

So now I am back to the beginning. I have figured out the math (thank you, Pythagorean Theorem!), how many stitches to increase and when. I have a feeling I won't be quite as obsessed now that I have a better feel for how the project is going to go (when I start something like this it's always, "just one more triangle" or "just until I finish the colour change") but it's a very easy project to take along with me and knit anywhere. That is always a good thing for finishing projects.

The only disadvantage to knitting this in public is the funny looks and blank stares when I answer the question of what I am knitting. "A stole." Yup, then comes the blank stare or funny look. People just don't know what to do with an unexpected response.

Maybe I'll just tell them I'm knitting a scarf. That should keep them happy.

The Start of Making Waves

I have started a new cardigan. I have been watching Mary Annarella's work for a while on Ravelry. I had noticed her sweaters were lovely and in fits and colours that I loved. (She was one of the first people I friended so that I could follow all her projects.)

I didn't notice at first that she designed most of them. But when I saw that the pattern for this design was just coming out, I knew I had to have it. I really like the ruching trim detail even though I know it will be a big tedious pain in the butt. But totally worth it.

It also happened that at the same time, Amy at the Red Purl had a completely gorgeous shade of red in Fleece Artist's Saldanha (a lace weight merino wool) that would work for the pattern. Lucky me!

I cast on the last day of April just in time for the "red" month of Project Spectrum. The cardigan is knit from the top down, and I have all the shoulder and neckline shaping done. I tried the project on quickly when I got to the bottom of the armholes to make sure the armholes weren't too tight. Once that was done, the sleeves were put on waste string and the back and front were joined.

I have now finished the waist shaping and wanted to try it on again to make sure I was headed in the right direction. The big advantage of working from the top down is that you can put all your stitches onto a string and try your piece on at any time.

It is a big advantage, but I also find it to be a pain in the butt. It takes too much time to put the stitches onto a waste string, and then to put them back onto the needle. But I have to remember that it's all to save time later by preventing reknitting because of a bad fit. The problem is I think I'd rather do more knitting than spend time trying on the piece. I know...that is a rather immature way to look at things so I try to test the fit as often as necessary. (If I worked on cable needles I would probably be able to try it on with the needle in, but I like straights so I'm stuck with transferring to a string.)

Enough talk. End of the story is that I tried it on tonight and tried to see what it looked like from every angle:

The fit seemed good. I still have to add the trim to the front edge and it needs to fit with a little negative ease so that there's enough pull on the hook and eye closures to keep them closed.

And I'll just throw this one in because I thought I was having a good hair day:

Ok, quiet in the peanut gallery...I do consider this a good hair day so pipe down.

I hadn't really thought about my progress on this sweater, but looking ahead in the pattern shows me that I don't have that much more to do on the body. I could be about half way since the sleeves are 3/4 length. Oh wait...there's a lot of knitting in that trim. Ok, so maybe I'm a third of the way...

It would be nice to finish it this month for Project Spectrum, but I'm not going to push too hard on it. No matter how far I am, all I can do is keep knitting. That's the only way to get it done! The lace-weight yarn is a little thin for my taste (for how easy it is to knit, I mean; it looks great) but I am using my bamboo straights and that is always a pleasure.

Project Spectrum Starts

I have "signed up" to be a part of Project Spectrum started by Lolly over at her blog. I'm not sure I can explain it very well so you may want to read her post about it. But the basic idea is that she wants to focus on, or you might say pay attention to, a particular colour each month with a bunch of other people online. She has a Tumblr blog going, a Flickr group, a Facebook group and of course a Ravelry group where you can share your pictures relating to the Project.

And of course, you are welcome to join to because this is certainly not just a knitting, sewing or crafting enterprise. Lolly herself will be focusing on photography and cooking this time around. (This is the fifth round of a Project Spectrum collaboration.)

It's a very loosely organized thing. You are not committing to every month or a certain number of projects. It's just a way to live in a different mindset for a while.

So each month from May to November there will be a different focus colour. We are starting in May with...RED!! Wow, what a great start for me. I pulled together a collage of red pictures I already had to get me in the mood, and I will share whatever I've collected throughout May towards the end of the month.

For knitting, however, I can tell you that I've already started...there were the slippers I made for the AIDS Walk. (With their red ribbon campaign, a good cause for a RED month!) And then I've also started Mary Annarella's Making Waves Cardigan in a most gorgeous red in Fleece Artist's Saldanha Two. It's barely started right now, but I'll show more when I have more to show.

Meanwhile I'll be keeping my eyes open for flashes of red, and why don't you try it too.