The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Our fall weather is a bit later than usual this year, so the trees hadn’t yet put on their fall colors, and the temperatures were a bit warmer than usual.

I took a break from tradition this year, and did not go on any hikes. Also, my camera never left my knitting bag. You’ll just have to keep an eye on Margene’s and Vicki’s blogs to see what comes up.

While at the retreat, I finished the second front piece for my Drops sweater, made a bit more progress on the Radiance Shawl (and at 30% through the shawl, have come across 6 knots so far…). I also cast on for an “easy” project before I left, which would be good for dim lighting and/or tipsy knitting. That project didn’t fare so well, despite having good lighting and sober knitting time. It got ripped back three times and is now in time-out.

The night before I left for the retreat, I watched some episodes from the second season of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. (Great nostalgia trip!) The show I watched had Bette Davis as a guest star, and I got a kick out of one of the scenes, where she was proficiently knitting (she was a thrower, in case you’re wondering).

That led me (of course) to Google for more photos. I found this great set of photos of celebrity knitters (and crocheters) – Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Jayne Mansfield, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and more. One of my favorites is this one of Audrey Hepburn.

At any rate, the Radiance Shawl is growing. The yarn is pretty, but sheesh… so many knots.

And I’ve also started a Radiance Shawl, using a skein of Schaefer Andrea in “Renata Tebaldi”.

I wondering, though, if I should rip it out and restart with a smaller needle. I’m using the needle size called for in the pattern, but my yarn is thinner since it’s 100% silk instead of the alpaca/silk/cashmere blend called for, and won’t bloom as much. Tough decision.

I’ll probably want to swatch some of that, as well as do some swatches of the Bergere de France pullover using the Silky Wool just to see if I’ll like how the stitches look in that yarn before I make a final decision.

Since I’m still on the fence over that one, I decided to start on the Drops 111-33 cardigan using the rust Silky Wool.

I’ll be taking a trip up to Boise soon, and I need to have something started. This should be a good project, and if I happen to finish Spring Things, I may start on the Radiance Shawl, using this:

Since we’re heading towards fall, I think I want to use some of the silky wool I have in my stash. I have 7 skeins of rust (1344 yards), and 8 skeins of white (1536 yards).

So far, I’m leaning towards Audrey in Unst for the white yarn (FO Gallery on Ravelry here). But there’s also this cute cabled cardigan by Bergere de France.

I’m also very intrigued by this Bergere de France pattern I got from their website a while ago:

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the yoke and sleeves are done in one piece, and the dots are a lace pattern. I guess you then either pick up stitches for the body of the sweater, or knit the pieces separately and graft them together. The pattern’s in French, and I haven’t looked too closely at it yet. There’s one project for it on Ravelry, but it’s not complete. I’d really like to give it a try, but I’m not sure if the Silky Wool would be a good choice. The pattern calls for Doussine, which is a fluffy sportweight wool/acrylic/nylon yarn.

For the rust yarn, either Drops 111-33 (Ravelry Gallery) or Drops 95-21 (Ravelry Gallery) – though I’d make it with buttons all the way down like this one, as I don’t find that sweaters that only button at the top are all that flattering for me.

I love the Tangled Yoke cardigan, and have been wanting to make that for a long time, but I think I’d rather knit that in plain wool, or maybe some of the Rowan Felted Tweed I have in the stash.

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Meanwhile, I’m now on chart B of my Spring Things shawl, so things are progressing nicely there. Once that’s done, I’m going to have to hound Susan for a copy of this pattern. And speaking of Susan… be sure to go wish her a happy birthday tomorrow!

A short-sleeved, tuckless version of Geodesic Cardigan.

I still had enough left from the two balls of Malabrigo laceweight that I could have probably done elbow-length sleeves. But this is really all I wanted – just something that I could throw over sleeveless tops for work, or when it gets a little cool.

I really liked the tucks on the first cardigan I did, but I just wanted this one to be very basic.

Pattern: Geodesic Cardigan, by Connie Chang Chinchio
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Lace, colorway 118 “Tortuga”, 2 skeins
Needles: US 6/4mm (US 4/3.5mm for the garter stitch hems)

Ravelry project here.

Modifications: No tucks, short sleeves. Worked the sleeves downward from the top of the cap, shaping by casting on and increasing. To make a front facing, I added 5 stitches on each front edge, and worked them (as seen from the RS) as k1, p3, k1. Then I folded the facing to the inside along the knit column adjacent to the body, and tacked it down. Otherwise, I worked it as per the pattern: in one piece to the underarms, using a phoney seam.

The skeins were quite a bit different, so the entire cardigan was worked by alternating yarn from each skein every other row.

Maybe you’ll find out if I can round up a photographer.

This will be a short-sleeved, tuckless version of Geodesic Cardigan. I have 2 skeins of Malabrigo laceweight in “Tortuga” to use.

I’m not extremely excited about the stripey thing going on – I wish it were a semi-solid. I have a tendency to look at it and think “camouflage”. But I guess it will be what it will be.

Since the skeins have so much variation, I’m alternating the yarns every other row, and I’m working the body in one piece as written in the pattern. Since I’m not doing tucks, I’m doing a few stitches in reverse stockinette on each front edge, and I’ll turn them under as a facing.

I hit upon the perfect thing – Spring Things, by Susan Pierce Lawrence. A small shawl with an easy-to-memorize pattern for the body. And of course, since it’s Susan’s pattern, I knew it would be good. Not only did I have one of the recommended yarns in my stash (JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool Silk 2/18), but it comes (or used to come) already in a cake, so I didn’t even need to wind it. I just grabbed the pattern, yarn, and needles, and off I went.

As it turned out, I didn’t need it at SnB, as I only got to the bind-off row by the time we left. But that evening, I finished the last row of the cardi, and cast on for Spring Things. But since it’s mid-summer, complete with 100-degree heat, I’m calling it “A Summer Thing” instead. Seems more fitting for the intense red of the yarn, too.

Hmmmm. Green, with head tentacles/antennae. I guess I must either be a martian or an ogre.

Pattern: Geodesic Cardigan, by Connie Chang Chinchio
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace, in #117 – Verde Adriana, about 2 1/2 skeins
Needles: US 6/4mm
Ravelry: Project page, pattern page

Modifications: Mostly just in construction. I knit it flat in pieces, rather than knitting the lower body in one piece with a phoney seam. For the sleeves, instead of starting with a provisional cast-on and knitting the sleeve cap upwards, then setting it in and knitting the remainder of the sleeve down in the round, I did a trick I’ve done with a couple of other sweaters:

I knit the entire sleeve from the top of the cap downward, starting by casting on the number of stitches to be bound off at the top of the sleeve cap. Then I followed the sleeve instructions in reverse – casting on stitches at the end/beginning of rows instead of binding off stitches, working increases instead of decreases for the sleeve cap, etc. Once I was a few rows past the sleeve cap, I set in the sleeve, then joined it to start knitting in the round.

Basically the only difference between how I did the sleeves and how the pattern was written was that I knit the sleeve cap top down, so that the provisional cast-on wasn’t necessary.

It’s a great cardigan, and a well-written pattern. The tucks aren’t all that difficult to do, once you work through one. I made a practice tuck on a small swatch before knitting it on the actual sweater, which was very helpful. Like many other people who have knit this sweater, I found that it was easiest to pick up the stitches on a DPN when forming the tuck.

By the way, the front pieces really do pretty much stay in place, because the malabrigo yarn is a bit “grabby”.