Thursday is my day to work at the store. Typically, I work alone on Thursday and I like it that way although when one of my coworker friends does come to work with me, I love that too. Anyway, last week we had a surprise Nor’Easter and the store remained closed for the day so I had a snow day!!!
AND since a snow day meant bonus time for me, I decided to do some frivolous knitting and cast on a new project … an Emotional Support Chicken. The pattern is by Annette Corsino and is wildly popular right now. In fact, there are over 2400 projects recorded on Ravlery. That’s a lot for a pattern that’s not quite a year old. So, I went over to my worsted weight wool leftovers bin and chose three different colorways of Ella Rae wool and got to work. By the end of the day Thursday I had completed most of the body of the chicken. People tell me I knit fast but I’m not sure about that. Regardless, these are the first two photos of her. The knitting is very simple and starts at the tail feathers. Everything is knitted in garter stitch and once you knit the tail, you pick up stitches and start your way up the body to the head.
By Friday afternoon at my knitting class I had gotten this far…
I was all ready to stuff her. So, after work I went to our local JoAnne’s to pick up some fiberfill for her stuffing and today I finally got around to filling her up and seaming in the belly and took her outside for her first photo shoot.
What a difference a day makes! We are currently experiencing a surprise Nor’easter here in Belgrade, Maine. It started snowing overnight and has already dropped a couple of inches of the white stuff in our dooryard. We woke up to near-white out conditions and it’s still snowing. Our brave and hearty neighbor is already out snow blowing. My dear hubby is not inclined to snow blow more than once and we don’t think it’s over quite yet.
Yesterday was another mostly sunny and quite pretty day for the most part. I got out early in the morning to fill up my gas tank and pick up some groceries and then my friend and colleague, Glenda, came over for a steek party. We gathered at my dining room table (note to self: we really need a chandelier!) with out Oorik Tank Tops and said a not-so-silent prayer to the almighty knitting goddess Mary Jane Mucklestone and set to work.
As a preface to steeking, we had knitted the Oorik tank in Jamieson & Smith 2-ply jumper weight yarn which is a rustic wool, perfect for colorwork. It blooms when it’s blocked and the fibers naturally “stick” to each other and the stitches, even when cut, don’t come apart. The vest looks a bit like an awkward burrito before you make the cuts. The arm holes and neck and back have been knitted circularly with a collection of, in this case, six stitches added with the plan of being cut to make an opening.
The first picture is of the Oorik with all the knitting done. If you zoom in, you can see the steek stitches added at each arm hole and at the neck. This is planned by the designer so that you can cut up the middle to open the burrito. The second photo is the center of the front, the neck, a closeup of the steek stitches. You can see there are six stitches, in a specific pattern, from the orange marker at the bottom to the top where the stitches are bound off.
The third photo is even closer up. I’m identifying the center of the steek stitches as I am starting the process. The first step is to identify the middle two stitches and then to reinforce those stitches in preparation of cutting them right up the middle.
Oorik with knitting finishedSix stitches added at the neck Identifying the center of the steek stitches
And now, the reinforcement. As a leftie, it’s always my inclination to crochet with my left hand. BUT with my crochet hook (US D) and some leftover yarn from my project, I am crocheting a slip stitch around the leftmost leg of the center-left stitch and the right leg of the stitch next to it. You can see this best in the middle photo. The idea is to crochet a chain up from the bottom to the top creating a tight hug of these legs so that everything to their right stays put. You then turn the vest 180 degrees and crochet a chain down the other side, hugging the same two stitches (but on the other side now that you’ve turned the garment). Ultimately, you have two crochet chains on either side of what now looks like one single stitch …
Two columns of crochet chain and ONE stitch in between
Can you see the two legs of the stitch between the yellow crochet columns? The single stitch looks like a stack of Vs. The easiest ones to see are the wheat/natural colored stitches in the center of the photograph. I am going to CUT my stitches right up the center of the two legs of the stitch stack … with small, sharp scissors!
And, ta! da! The photograph on the left is what it looks like after it’s cut. The arm holes were exactly the same and there was also a little “flap” at the back of the neck that opens that area up, too. Now all the parts that are needed to put a little vest on a little person are cut and it looks like a real vest. Now it’s time to pick up the stitches around those openings and stitch the ribbing.
The steek is cut!The ribbing is done at the neck
I got the neck ribbing done last night and today I’ll (perhaps) do the sleeves. I’m tempted, though, to cast on something new and fun since this is a snow day and I have the day off from work – it’s a bonus day of knitting!
It’s windy and snowy outside so I think I’ll crank up the heat, throw on a sweatshirt and make myself a cup of tea and spend the day in my atelier knitting and catch up on TV and podcasts.
I married a good man!
Gone knitting.
PS – There’s a great podcast that I listen to called “I Thought I Knew How”. Anne Frost is based in Connecticut, USA and in this particular episode, #113, she goes down a rabbit hole on .. wait for it .. the etymology of the word STEEK! Check it out!
Today is foggy and drizzly. A bit dreary, frankly and raw. Almost all of the snow has left the yard … but here’s the kicker … we may be getting some snow this weekend! I may be very unpopular but I’m hoping we get a good twelve inches or more. We haven’t had enough snow this winter – an inch or two doesn’t really count. Give me a good Nor’easter and I’ll be ready to march into spring.
Yesterday we had a Nor’Easter. It was coming down like crazy and it was wet snow. Needless to say, much of the state is now without power. We are without power … but we have a generator so we are not totally in the dark.
But I wanted to write to share that I’ve finished my test knit, named for now, the Cashmere People Shawl because it’s knit with Cashmere People yarn. This shawl is designed by Lori Versaci of VERSACIKNITS. As with Lori’s other designs, it’s a classic design and a textural wonderland. Such a fun project to knit.
I started this shawl project just as I was going into self-isolation in mid-March. The shawl calls for three colors of cashgora yarn in sport weight. I really wanted to have my shawl look and feel like a comfy pair of jeans. Casey Rider at Portfiber in Portland, Maine picked the three colors for me and she did an excellent job! I love the way the colors work together and I can’t wait until it’s dry and I can wear it!
I had a tense few moments at the end because I was very afraid I’d run out of the natural color of yarn at the edge. I’m happy to report that I won the game of yarn chicken this time! Woo! Hoo!
This afternoon I wove in the ends and blocked my shawl and I’m so happy to have it done. When the pattern is released, I’ll let you know.
Home - even if it needs paint and landscaping and there's construction trash in the front yard!
It’s not always easy to leave Maine but this time I think we were ready – or mostly ready, at least. The big Nor’Easter probably helped our readiness a bit, too. We left the house in Maine on Saturday – also dump day which is why it was the chosen day – and headed to my brother and sister-in-law’s house on Boston’s north shore. We hit snow flurries and wet snow in lower Maine and it kept up to Massachusetts but as we neared the ocean, it turned to rain. Overnight, the big October storm hit … but where we were it was no big deal so on we pushed.
The biggest mistake we made was not filling up the truck with gas at the “cheapest gas station in the world” that we pass in Salem, MA. So, when we were starting to need gas (and a pit stop, too) in Connecticut, our first stop was a total flop. No power means no fuel – no pumps working. No lights in the rest areas. Doors blocked by huge closed signs. We got off the highway no fewer that three times and each time, we were unsuccessful finding a gas station (that was most important!) with power.
My old “home-ish” towns of West Hartford and Farmington had more power lines down that I could have imagined. Since we were pulling the Hobie Cat (an 18-foot sailboat) it was a bit dicey managing turns and avoiding downed power lines and tree branches. We gave up when we hit New Britain and were planning to head to a LaQuinta hotel that we’d stayed at on our way to Maine when we found a gas station in the projects that seemed to be pumping gas. We only slightly brushed the sailboat against the bumper of another guy’s car (enough to elicit some four letter words from N but no damage to the other car) on the way in and they only had premium gas (or so they said) but we filled up and were on our way again. A near miss. And who knows how many days we’d have been stranded without gas. There are still 200,000 people in Connecticut today who don’t have power returned to their homes.
So, when the rest of the trip went off without a hitch, we were relieved and pleased and grateful. And I have to admit it’s good to be home … even if it’s Florida!
Queen Bee Knits 