I can hardly believe that two months have gone by so quickly! The FIRE element was a nice way to start off the newest cycle of Project Spectrum – very hot!

A highlight of my own FIRE exploration was the emphasis on warm foods – with incorporations of red and orange fruits, vegetables, and spices in the dishes. The element has also afforded the opportunity to explore my new fibery art of weaving- even if the results were not always the way I envisioned them. (I still learned from the experience!) And while I did not complete one of the color-themed projects on my needles (yet!) I loved the process of working on my Phyllo Pulli, the Printed Silk Cardigan, and my GGH Socks. I will continue to knit them and have three finished knits, even if it falls within the next element group. Don’t you know that the best thing about Project Spectrum is the lack of deadlines?

As Project Spectrum continues with the EARTH element (greens, browns, metallics!) please feel free to continue sharing your creations in the Project Spectrum Flickr Group and contributing your discussions on the Ravelry Project Spectrum group. Just as before, there will be another Artist Trading Card swap for the EARTH element, with signups open now! (See this post for all of the information! please read carefully!)

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The Homespun Yarn Party was a great success – and a lot of fun! Coleen and I headed over to Takoma Park Community Center and were greeted by dozen of fiber fans. It was a great turn out – and a wonderful chance to meet many new friends and to see many old friends too! My camera battery was out, but luckily there is a Flickr pool with some fun pics of the vendors, and many of the customers. (Jody took pics of our related socks!) So, what did I come home with, you ask? Well, I did support several of my local fiber vendors!

That is a hand dyed yarn – induced smile!

Left to Right: The Sanguine Gryphon “Little Traveler”
Spirit Trail Fiber Works “Victoria”
Crash Into Ewe Jewel Collection

You really must see the closeups to get the full effect… I am loving these!

The week ended quietly, as I worked diligently on the Printed Silk Cardigan. I took only one night “off” this week to spend some time with another project… and finally, the cardigan is taking shape and really surprising me with its beauty! To show off her best qualities, I figured some macro textural shots were in order.

back of the cardigan – diamond twisted stitch pattern detail

sleeve two – 1 x 1 ribbing

silky shimmer of the yarn in the pattern

While I am not finished yet – half of sleeve two and the right front pattern remain and all associated picking-up and blocking remain – I feel a great sense of accomplishment with this garment. The twisted stitches gave me a small problem in the beginning, and Connie of phyicsknits, the designer of this and many other lovely pieces, was so kind to offer help. Her tips worked and immediately, my knitting looked like the sample.

The problem I had regarded the left-leaning twisted stitch. Simply put, it wasn’t working for me as described. It is not the pattern, as several other knitters have finished it successfully (Ravelry link) with the instructions given. Still, it wasn’t working. Connie offered an alternative method, provided by the inimitable Barbara Walker:

With right hand needle behind left hand needle, skip one st and knit the second stitch in back loop, then insert right hand needle into the backs of both stitches and knit 2 together through the back loop.

…and this one worked perfectly for me! Many thanks to Connie! I hope the have the cardigan finished very soon. I will be seeing my sister next weekend, and I would love to give it to her then (and to take some pretty spring-y photos in North Carolina). Wish me speedy needles and some free moments!

The waning days of Project Spectrum FIRE and the still chilly March winds prompted another warm / red cooking dish this week. Adapted from the Rosy Beet Risotto seen in the newest issue of Better Homes and Gardens:

Click on photo for recipe!

Do you have any last-minute FIRE plans? are you planning ahead for the EARTH element of Project Spectrum?

PS- I hope to see my area fiber enthusiasts this afternoon at the Homespun Yarn Party in Takoma Park!

Carol of Knitted Kitty recently asked me to answer one of the “Five Things” memes that make their way around the blogs. I always enjoy reading the answers, but I so rarely think about actually posting any information on my blog. Thinking of five things is pretty challenging, actually. However, I gave it a try.

• In recent months/years, I have taken up a very romantic notion of moving to the countryside and keeping bees. My grandfather kept bees, and now my uncle keeps several hives on his property near the national forest in Alabama. I have read quite a bit on the subject and could probably even keep a small hive on our suburban land (i.e. postage stamp), but I do fear that some of the neighborhood children would disturb the hives and I would have angry bees and angry parents to ameliorate. One day, I will be a beekeeper…
• Friday afternoons are amazing for a whole host of reasons. Of course, there is the whole TGIF/weekend thing… however, my favorite thing about Friday afternoons really has nothing to do with the upcoming free days. I am a huge fan on the radio program, Science Friday, that comes on my local public radio station at 2:00pm and runs until 4:00. I catch the first hour on their website, where all of their shows are archived for free, and usually listen to the second hour live on the car ride home. About 80% of my reading list is based on reviews and author interviews that I have heard on the show… so yeah, I love it. Some of my stand out favorites from recent months: Michael Pollan on In Defense of Food, Diane Ackerman on The Zookeeper’s Wife, Alan Weisman on The World Without Us, Amir Aczel on The Jesuit and the Skull. I read Pollan’s and Weisman’s books the minute I got my hands on them, and the others are waiting by the bedside. Kris and I listen faithfully every Friday – he likes is just as much as I do!

• Indian food is probably my favorite cuisine. I did not grow up eating Indian food, but when I moved to the DC area at age 17, I was exposed to a large number of “ethnic” restaurants that had not existed in the small town that I grew up in. The piquant flavors and spicy herbs are my favorite characteristics of Indian food; plus it is easy to find vegetarian entrees on the menu! Luckily, there are three great Indian restaurants within five miles of my house. We make Indian quite a bit at home too, utilizing our fresh veggies and herbs from the garden and market. We even had a stroke of luck and made a pretty good version of chapati.
• Last year, we headed south - this year we are heading north. We will be visiting Nova Scotia in late May and early June. I have not been to Canada before, so I am very excited about this trip. We are planning to tour the whole province, including Cape Breton Island. Hiking, biking, and lots of photography are planned, and maybe even some camping. We will be spending some time with Ingrid and her family (I am so excited to meet her!) She tells me that May is still chilly enough for a sweater, so I am thinking that my Phyllo Pullover will be a great garment to bring along… once I finish it!

• In grade 7, I began playing the French horn in the middle school band. I actually started out playing the flute (my mother had one from her year’s as a flutist in school band) but my band director told me that my “lips were better suited for a brass instrument” (whatever that means!). So, I made the switch and moved to a very different section of the band. I caught on pretty well, and stuck with it for a few years, even getting “first chair French horn” for a short stint. When I moved to high school in grade 9, I was part of the marching band, where I switched between the trumpet, and the “marching horn” aka the mellophone, and also was part of the concert orchestra with the French horn. The competitions and the marching were a lot of fun, but as the school work and other extracurricular activities ramped up, I decided to quit playing in the band. I  played the horn for a little longer, but eventually returned my rental. Now, twelve years have passed and I have not touched the French horn. I did rent a trumpet from a music shop about five years ago to see if I still had it in me… and I learned that I didn’t. So, my music career is now relegated to extensive sing-alongs in the car.

Photos in post from the weekend walk at Centennial Lake. Small signs of spring…

The denim strips just sat there waiting. I was immersed and for a good three weeks, my fiber-y exploits were all about the knitting. I didn’t even take the time to warp the new weaving cones I got. I kept on telling myself that I would do it… but the linen yarn for the planned rag rug sat there untouched.

…and when I finally did it yesterday, it all came together so quickly…

I wound a three yard warp of the linen I purchased from Webs. I sleyed and threaded. I wound the strips of jeans onto the large rag shuttles. I made a rug for my front door. It was simple and relatively quick to complete.

The rags were quite bulky, and much of the beating was actually done by hand. The unevenness of the strips and the frequent bulk of the seams made it nearly impossible to beat with the loom’s beater. I tugged and beat the strips down with my fingers, and they held up well. I hope that means that the rug will hold up well for all of the feet that will be walking all over it:

Humans

Canines

Felines

I loved making something so functional. I love knowing that it will be right inside my front door when I come home. The ease and simplicity of the process were just what I needed to give me a little boost of weaving confidence. I am hoping that with more practice, the pieces will just get better. The real beauty of working with rags is that it will never look perfect. It has the homemade look: scrappy and asymmetrical. It is supposed to be that way! For a beginner, this is a gift!

It has been a few weeks since I even looked at the Komb Hexagon Afghan.  It was settling in on the bottom of the basket [under the Phyllo pullover] and waiting patiently.  I had not even thought about it since January.  I was working pretty steadily on my sister’s cardigan, and had a little affair with some sock yarn too (more on that later), but I wanted a little noticeable progress – so late night, I pulled out the blanket…

Hexagons?  that’s your queue!

She is growing… the last photo is the newest hexagon of the bunch – #19.  This is the beginning of the 4th row.  As a reminder, I am using the lovely marled yarn, Jojoland Rhythm in two separate colorways:  one for the edgings (the brown/blue combo-m01) and the one for the hexagons themselves (m20).  The colorways are so varied – this particular one includes some deep pinks and purples, followed up with intense greens.  Every once in awhile, there is some yellow and blue thrown in too.  

As it gets larger – I am almost 1/3 of the way through – the hexagons seem to take longer to knit.  Of course, they are the same size, but I think some of the time is spent wrangling the blanket around after picking up the stitches on the sides of the existing hexagons.  I am surprised to say that it takes about 1 hour per hexagon at this point – where I think I was able to knit at least 2 in that time period earlier.  Of course, this is a pure process knit, as I am in no real hurry to complete it (although I know Becca would love it by next autumn!) but it is an observation of the time invested.  You know, in case you ever feel the desire to take it on

The blanket will require a serious amount of blocking in the end, but I am not sure that it will ever be the same size as the large sample in the booklet.  It will serve my dear friend as a nice cozy lap blanket.  If I finish all 60 hexagons and still have some yarn leftover, I could add some length or width to make it a little larger, but it is still to early to estimate my yarn usage at this point. 

Marled yarns are a favorite of mine.  The lovely blends of color in the Jojoland make me quite happy, just as the subtle variegated striping of Trekking.  My newest socks have a great marled effect too… knit in GGH Marathon. 

I finished the first sock this past weekend – I got a nice chunk of knitting time on our way to Cunningham Falls State Park, the site of our special “weekend walk”.  We went for locally-made maple syrup and some great hiking – and we got both! (wanna see the pics?)  and I also got several inches of sock #1.  Sock 2 started straightaway.  I love the colors here – they reminded me of strawberries and blueberries, hence the sock’s new moniker:  Berry Socks.