Starmore beginnings

I've managed to complete 8 rows of the ribbing of my Queen Anne's Lace pullover since casting on last Friday!  Four more rows to go, then I'll get to start the first chart.

I'm hoping that you'll be able to see it in this picture:  the rib alternates between the Shaela/White color and a contrasting color, four rows of each.  I've done four rows of Burnt Heather and four of Mulberry:

The color gradation is very subtle, but I think that's what makes Starmore's designs so effective.

I ended up rewriting the pattern to take it down a size.  The smallest size given yields a 46" finished chest measurement - a little too roomy for me!  I do want a roomy sweater for layering over other things, but I think my new measurement of 40" will be more in line with my frame.  So this is 300 stitches.  As you can imagine, it takes a while to complete one row!

Here we go again!

OK, the last of the vacation photos will have to wait until tomorrow, because today is a very special day.  Today is June 1, the date my friend Linda and I had set as the beginning of our second knit along.

Just over 2 years ago, Linda contacted me on Ravelry and asked if I'd like to be a knitting buddy with her for the purpose of finishing our Mary Tudor cardigans.  It took some convincing, but I finally agreed, and over a period of about six months we kept in touch and compared notes on our progress, helping to keep each other motivated.

She got in touch again about a month ago and asked if I'd be up for another go. Since I had all the yarn for Queen Anne's Lace, and only lacked the motivation, I said yes!  This was just before I went to Germany, so I told her that I'd be starting my project on June 1.  And here we are!

Last night I started getting my supplies ready.  Here's my yarn, which is mostly Alice Starmore Scottish Campion:

Would you like a closer look?  Here you go:

And here's the receipt from when I bought it:

Hmmm.  July 2001.  Do you think it's about time I knit up this sweater?!

I made a copy of my pattern:

And then made a legend of the symbols and colors of the yarns:

And here's the picture from the book of the sweater I'll be making:

Linda is going to be making Katherine of Aragon from the book Tudor Roses.

Today I just need to wind skeins of the four colors used in the ribbing, and then I can cast on for my second knitting adventure with Linda!

So much kindness!

I've been the recipient of so much kindness lately!  So I really wanted to acknowledge these lovely ladies for their warm thoughts.

About 3 weeks ago, Andrea of Stitch Parade (now off on an exciting new adventure!) tagged me with a Versatile Blogger award.  I was just starting up the Miette posts and didn't have time to post about it. Then this morning I received another one from Carmela Biscuit!  Thank you, ladies, for passing these along to me!

I also received another award several weeks ago, and responded on that person't blog.  Now I can't remember who it was!  I've been wracking my brains trying to remember!  All I remember is that I followed the links for all the other blogs and found some more new interesting stuff.  So if it was you, please leave me a comment so I can thank you again!  It's embarrassing that I have such a poor memory.

The rules of the award states that I must nominate 5 (or 15 - I've seen it both ways) other bloggers, send them a message about it, and tell 7 new things about myself. At the moment though, I feel like I have my fingers in too many pies, so I'm going to do it in a revised way.

Instead of passing on the nominations, I'm going to direct you to my blogroll at the right.  I spend a ridiculous amount of time every day looking at Google Reader, and I'm constantly adding new blogs to my list - at the moment I'm up to almost 100. I've updated my list today because I hadn't done it in a while.  I don't always remember to click the "follow" button on everyone's individual blog, but that doesn't mean I'm not following!  And I try to add in new commenters, but sometimes it takes me a while to get around to it.  So take a look - these are all here because I find them worthwhile, educational, funny, inspiring or beautiful.

As for the 7 new things about me, I think I'll just skip that part!  I keep feeling like I drone on and on about myself as it is!  But if anyone has any burning questions they're dying to know, I'll consider answering them.  I'm really rather a boring person when it comes down to it.


I've also received two lovely gifts lately.  Gerry over at GerryArt sent me a gorgeous pattern through Ravelry a couple weeks ago:  the new Exeter Cardigan from Brooklyn Tweed's spring offering.  For me it's more of a fall/winter item, and I've been having some lovely daydreams about what color and yarn to use when I cast this on next fall!  Thank you, Gerry!

Lastly, Evelyn at Project:Stash sent me another pattern early this week:  the Wholehearted Shawl by Erika Flory.  Proceeds from the sale of this pattern are going to help the designer's daughter, who lost her home in a fire last week.  Evelyn has organized a knit along for this shawl, and even though I have a little too much going on at the moment, I couldn't resist joining in.  I had some handspun in two colors that I've been looking for a way to use, and when I saw this pattern I knew I'd found it.  I cast on yesterday during the small amount of down time I had:

I don't even feel bad about casting on yet another project, because it's so simple that it'll be a great project for those times when I don't have the brain power for anything more complex.  So thanks again, Evelyn! You can check out her Knit Along post here - join us if you care to!

Knitting Along

Do you know Jo?

I "met" Jo when she started commenting here.  I generally try to check out the blogs of commenters (although it takes me a while sometimes!), and in reading her blog I learned that she is new to sewing, knitting and crochet, and I think she has done a remarkable job of teaching herself these new skills.

A couple weeks ago, Jo and I started a conversation on Ravelry.  I had "friended" her, and offered to help her out with her knitting in any way I could.  She's been knitting small things, but wants to take the plunge and make her first sweater.  We talked about the merits of a couple different designs, and she decided she'd like to knit Andi Satterlund's Miette cardigan.

I'd been thinking for a while that I'd like to do more posts about knitting techniques, and long story short, we decided to open this up into a Knit Along of the cardigan. Would you like to join us?

The pattern, printed out and sitting on my knitting chair!

Miette is a free pattern, and it has gotten great reviews on Ravelry.  It's knit top down, which I think makes fitting easier for beginners.  I've spent quite a bit of time over the last few days checking out finished projects, and there are a lot of great variations on the pattern.  It's knit in worsted weight yarn with larger needles (5mm or US 8), so even for a beginner, it shouldn't take too long.

My idea is that the knit along will be very loose - no firm start or finish date.  Jo is working on making a sidebar badge for anyone who wants to knit along with us.  My plan is to write a series of posts explaining how I work my way through a project, and also leave plenty of room for questions.  I'm going to do several variations on my own sweater, and will be discussing the changes I'm planning to make in gauge, size and shaping.

Depending on the amount of participation, Jo is also considering starting a Flickr group.  Neither of us have done anything like this before, so we're kind of playing it by ear!  If you'd like to join us, or if you have any ideas on the subject, chime in!