OMG! OMG!

Well, colour me excited. I was flipping through The Coast today, you know, getting all caught up on things about town, cultural and otherwise, when I came across The Dope Show. I saw the caption Sea World and read down a little and was all excited because I participated in the knitted sea creature extravaganza, then I read a little further and freaked out (just a little, I was at work after all). There it was, Miss Knit, all bolded and whatnot. I clapped my hands like a small child and said to myself, "I'm famous! I'm famous!" Okay, not really famous, but whatever, I felt cool. And then I panicked. "There's a link to my blog in there, my sadly neglected blog. Damn, what if someone actually follows it and expects witty observations on life and knitting, or really cool knitting, or even worse, a current posting. Gotta get to work. "

We have not been idle here in the Through the Back Loop laboratories. Our hands have been busily knitting away, finishing off some projects lingering in the WIP pile (okay, maybe just one, but it's finished and that's what counts) and starting some new ones (yay! New ones!).

This is the completed pair of Hedgerow socks that I started ages ago in a fingering weight yarn by Nature's Palette. I must start out by saying that I really liked the picture accompanying the pattern. It looked liked nice in the lovely green yarn. It made me think of hedges and green leaves in the sun and rolling pastures. Then I started to knit. I finished one sock and realized that I really liked the colour of the yarn and not so much the pattern. It's a well written pattern - clear and easy to follow, a good knit for watching tv, nothing unpredictable about it. Usually these are things I enjoy in a sock pattern. Not so much this time. I began to resent the sock. I hated the sock. I cast on for the second sock because I refuse to knit a single. It did not help that my knitting friend declared that the yarn looked "fleshy" or that the completed sock looked sort of "you know, like a lumpy flesh sock." That's a motivation killer right there. And so it sat in it's little ziploc bag, unfinished, for months.

I intensely dislike knowing that I have unfinished projects, "WIPs," sitting around. It makes me anxious. I like to start things and see them through to completion, a smooth linear progression. So, I dug it out of the basket, unzipped the bag and got to work. I am not unhappy with my flesh socks [and for the record, I like the peachy-ness of the yarn and would recommend NP as a sock yarn, it's soft, knits up nicely and is a good value for the money], but I wouldn't knit another pair. There was something missing for me and for that I give it a rating of meh.

Following my meh experience, I needed a new project, something different that would use a yarn in the stash. I had one skein of Fleece Artist Sea Silk (coincidentally in the same colourway displayed on the website) mellowing in the stash since I purchased it last summer. Knitting Daily offered up Evelyn A. Clark's Swallowtail Shawl from the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits as a limited time free download and I took advantage. My criteria was that I wanted to knit something pretty that I could wear during the summer and I wanted to use up that single skein of Sea Silk. Done and done. I now know why just about every knitter on earth has knit this shawl. I looked it up on Ravelry (there are tonnes) and I did not find a single ugly version. Not one. I took this as a good sign. I enjoyed the experience, learned some things (nupps!) and actually got the crotchet cast-on to work (miraculous!). It is a very clear, intuitive and easy to follow pattern, and the end result is lovely. I will definitely knit another one of these in the future. I was worried that I would knit it and that it wouldn't get worn, but I've worn it a few times now (all wrapped around my neck) and it feels very luxurious against the skin. This dangerous of course, because now I want more of it and as yarn is to me what kryptonite is to Superman, I will probably rupture my yarn budget in order to get some. Good stuff.

And on that note gentle reader, I will sign off for now. I have more to say about a variety of things - the new project (two, actually) that I hinted about in the intro, why I don't blog as often as I intend to and some fabulous new yarn that I would consider mortgaging my soul for, but I'm out for now. Below are two detail shots of my version of the Swallowtail. If anyone has arrived here from the Coast, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment (it's pretty exciting when that happens. Seriously, it makes my day). Happy knitting!

Just for nice.

I love me a ball of pretty green yarn.

In this installment of sporadic knit blogging, we play catch up and introduce some new members of the Through the Back Loop family. Wheee!

When last we visited the TBL laboratories, lace was in the works. YOs, K3togs and M1s were standard operating procedure, producing this lovely, silken landscape. I'm happy to report that much progress was made and an FO came into being. The Blue Jeans Lace Shawl was the first successfully completed large-ish scale lace project undertaken by yours truly. I've always admired those beautifully rendered sweet silk nothings but never ventured to try one of my own. What would I do with it? Would I ever actually wear it, you know, in public? The answer: who cares? I enjoyed making it and will make others. It looks quite nice folded up, in a heap or around my shoulders. I half-assedly blocked it - not because I'm lazy (really!), but because I don't have a big enough blocking surface (or should I say a cat-free blocking surface,
as those furry little jerks sat on it and generally got in the way, but I digress). Still, I'm pretty happy with it.

Lace aside, there have been other projects on the needles. I've been knitting up some sea

creatures for the International Oceans Day that will be displayed at The Loop in early June. I bought the patterns online from hansigurumi's Etsy store. I heart these patterns. These little critters are hilarious and fun to knit. They could, in theory, become the new sock, they are that diverting. I have vague plans to knit myself a herd (?) of sock yarn seahorses and train them to do my bidding. Seriously, the directions are clearly written and clever - though not for those with a phobia of grafting. I have never Kitchener-stitched so much in my life as I have with these. Time consuming? Well, yeah, but the results are worth well worth it.

To knit these, I've been using up left overs from various worsted-weight projects (with the exception of the red, as it isn't one of "my" colours). I plan on making another hermit crab (I do have all that red after all), and I have plans to make a snail as well. With all that Kitchener stitch ahead of me, I better get to work.

Happy Knitting!

Shiny, silky goodness

That friends, is some lace in progress, as even I need a break from socks sometimes. It's my rendition of the Blue Jeans Lace Shawl, knit in some golden-sunshine-on-dried-grass Silken by the Fleece Artist. I found it in a sale bin at Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay last summer and have looking for a good project for it ever since. The colours are summery and make me think of picnics in the Blomidon Picnic Park and birch leaves. Ahh, summer. . . .

Happy Spring!

Hello everyone - after a bit of an absence, I'm back to the blog, nose to the keyboard so to speak. It's funny how we just get caught up in the details of living life and things get away from us. But, never fear, while the blogging was lacking, there was knitting. And stash enhancement. Good stuff.

This is the finished Charade sock from my last post (ages ago!). I'm very happy with the sock pattern and the yarn - I'll definitely revisit both of these in the future. The pattern is easy to memorize without being monotonous and the yarn is delish. I want piles of this stuff, enough to frolic in I like it so much. I'm a fan of hand painted yarns - I like the play of colours and the unique qualities that the hand dyeing process lends to the soft like buttah merino. I bought two skeins from the same dye lot and laughed when I knit them up. While the colours are very similar, the socks look like close cousins rather than twins. One is more blue and subdued than the other, but they're close enough that it doesn't really matter. It's that element of surprise in knitting with hand painted yarns that keeps me coming back for more. I haven't worn these beauties yet, so I can't comment on how they hold up to wash and wear, but I'll keep you posted.



My needles were still warm from Charade when I cast on for my next socks, a pair of plain janes in some Fleece Artist merino that had been in my stash for ages. This was actually one of the first skeins of yarn that I ever bought. These turned out to be a little roomier on my narrow foot than I usually like, but I've found them a new home with someone who I'm sure will really appreciate a nice pair of hand knit socks. It's funny. but I was actually kind of sad to knit this yarn up. It's always been in the stash, heck, it's a founding member of my stash. It was there for so long because I just couldn't seem to find the right pattern. Everything was too patterned, too complicated, nothing fit. Plain ol' stockinette did the trick for me. I'm always on the look out for a new fancy sock, so it was nice to return to the basics.

Since I bid farewell to a longtime denizen of the stash, I felt free to welcome in some new members. I am just returned from a trip to South Carolina and made a point of stopping at Knit in Charleston. I foolishly left my camera behind that day or I would have documented the sheer volume of yarny goodness that is stuffed into that space. They have all manner of yarns and a decent slecetion of knitting books and accessories, including those fancy-pants knitting bags often profiled in knititng magazines. I had a good browse and settled on some Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn, some Nature's Palette sock yarn and a monster skein of Interlacements' RickRack II. I just fell in love with the colours (it's the large ball in the foreground). I haven't decided what I'll
knit it into, but for now I'm content to gaze upon it's lustrous, shiny self.
Happy knitting!

Two words, sounds like . . .

I haven't posted lately because I was almost certain that my knitting mojo had deserted me. I looked everywhere - in my STR Serendipity? Nope. Latvian mittens? No sir. Surely it must be hiding in my Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks scarf. Uh-huh. I began to despair. Nothing was right. Things got started only to be frogged shortly thereafter. No fun, no fun at all. Then, in serach of inspiration, I went to the yarn store and found me some nice sunny sock yarn. Some Oceanwind Knits Merino in fact. I was certain it must have some mojo in it somewhere. And I was right. It took me a few patterns to find one that felt just right, but we have on the needles the first Charade sock. I've been admiring this pattern for a while and so far it's been an enjoyable knit. A two row repeat makes for good tv knitting and is just what I was looking for. Hurray for knitting!

Is it almost March already?

Wow, time flies when you're not paying attention. It wouldn't do to let February pass without notice, so here we go:

While we might not have been posting, we here at Through the Back Loop have not been idle. No siree, we've been knitting up a storm of cables, socks, sweaters and hats. I finished my designed-on-the-fly cabled socks a few days ago and am happy to report that they are awesome. I realize that they're not the most exciting sock to look at, but I made them up myself and they fit perfectly. They're worked top-down over 72 sts on 2mm bamboo dpns at something like 9sts/inch. In retrospect, I think it would have been nice to have the cable travel down the length of the foot, but I'm still happy with how they turned out. The yarn is fabulous! It's nice to work with and knits up nicley and keeps my toes cosy on the chilly walk to work. I'd like to get my grubby little hands on a skein of the green colourway in the near future.

My toes taken care of, it was time to consider something to keep the frost off my ears. A Syncopated Cap from Interweave Knits Summer 2007 fit the bill. One skein of Artyarns Supermerino and half a skein of navy On Your Toes later, we have a hat. I really liked knitting this - it was a fast knit that held my attention and I'm pleased with the results. I'm saving this one for next winter- not because my ears don't need some woolly love know, they do, but because it makes me look silly. This is not the fault of the hat or the designer, it's because this style of hat looks best on someone with longer hair. By next winter my hair will be grown out (unless I snap and cut it off after trying to wrestle it into some semblance of a style) and my syncopated cap will be put to the test. Until then, it rests in the chest.

After a few months of knitting nothing but accessories, I felt I needed something a little more substantial. I've been hesitant to start a new sweater project for a while. I like sweaters - I wear them all the time. I love snuggling into a warm woolly something on a cold day. I like the idea of choosing the colour, the style and the fit. It's not the expense of the yarn or the time involved that holds me back, it's the fear of "what if I hate it. What if I get it done and it doesn't fit?".I had lost my sweater mojo. I've had my eye on the Central Park Hoodie since it's debut in the Fall 2006 edition of Knitscene. I'm pretty sure almost everyone in knitland has made of these or knows someone who has. I stalked it on Ravelry. I read the discussions, tips and pointers. I bought some yarn. I knit my swatch and cast on. I had a finished sweater 10 days later. I've worn it a couple of time and I'm glad I knit it. It's just what I wanted - a cosy, warm cardigan that looks good with jeans. It fits me pretty well - I lengthened the body by two inches and for once didn't have to add any length to the arms. I had read more than one post on Ravelry remarking on the length of the sleeves and all I can say is, they're just right for my monkey arms. Cold wrists are not an issue with this sweater. It was my first encounter with Cascade 220. It was the yarn of choice for most of the CPHs on Ravelry, so I figured why not? It's nice alternative to Patons Classic and the colours are great (not that you can tell in the photos. The close up of the cable is a truer representation of the colour than the pic on the left. Oh to have a lighting studio. . .). A quick soak in some Eucalan and some locking took care of any unevenness. Now that I've finished one sweater, I want to knit another one. But what kind? Another warm and woolly, or something more summery? Both? What's a knitter to do?

In the mean time, while I struggle with my sweater dilemma, I cast on for a scarf. It's pretty and easy and keeps my hands occupied while my I consider my sweatery options. Remember my Fleece Artist Woollie Silk hat kit? Well, the hat didn't make it. I just couldn't deal with the meters of stockingette stitch and frogged it halfway through. Instead, it's on it's on it's way to becoming a loevly little star-stitch scarf. You can't really see it in the photo, but the stich is quite nice. The pattern is called "Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks" - I found it while cruising around on Ravelry for nothing in particular. Most of the others were knit in Malabrigo, but I thought this would work as well as anything else. So far so good!