Louisa Enright's Blog

Turkey Tracks:  April 27, 2012

Giovanna’s Baby Blanket

I ran into Giovanna McCarthy at the Camden post office a few days ago.  Meeting someone at the post office–or at the dump–is one of the many pleasures of living in a small town.

We were both mailing packages containing finished projects.  She was mailing off this baby quilt–which she has shared at our April Coastal Quilters’ meeting.  It’s made from sock yarn, so will be sturdy and washable.  Isn’t it luscious?

Giovanna excels at this kind of lacy knitting that I have still to master.

Lucky baby!

I was mailing a baby quilt for Owen Wallace Black, born April 17th, to my niece Lauren Howser Black and her husband David.  I’ll post those pics in a separate entry.

Giovanna and I shared a visit and a coffee at Zoot’s coffeehouse–which is another perk of living at a slower pace.  We have time for each other.

Turkey Tracks:  April 22, 2012

This One’s For You, Nancy

It’s a rainy Sunday.

We are delighted!

I can’t tell you how dry it is in Maine.  And, until the past few days, way too warm for April.

The new strawberry plants (50) arrived, and I planted them the other day.  I plant the most delicious little strawberry–Sparkle.  Strawberries get planted early spring, but one pinches off all the blossoms the first year to give the plants a year to develop.  So, we won’t eat these strawberries until June 2013.  It’s ok.  I think we’ll get another year or, even, two out of the old bed.  I’m just thinking ahead.

I also planted peas, the cold frame with lettuce, and raked back the straw from the asparagus bed.  I was planning in my head to go get some cool-weather plants, like broccoli, until my better sense kicked in as it’s really way too early.  I had to water everything deeply, and my muscles are still screaming from all this different, outdoor activity.

John and I had a delightful lunch in Belfast.  And, I found some red sock yarn for my niece, Nancy Howser Gardner.  We have a deal.  She’s making me a scarf, and I’m making her some red socks.  So, Nancy, this yarn is for you.  It’s 50% wool, but has some cotton in the blend.  It’s really pretty.  See those little blue flecks in the mixture?

God knows when Nancy will get these socks.  She’s got my sweater in front of her socks.  And some socks for the kiddos from leftover yarn.  And a linen shawl.  But, I’m down to the sleeves now.  And little socks and the shawl should go fast.  And, anyway, that red yarn is really drawing me.  I think I’ll pick a Cookie A sock pattern for Nancy’s red socks.

Here’s what the sweater looks like now.   I’ve sewn the shoulder seams since I took this picture, so I can now pick up the neck stitches.  I got a circular needle of the right size (7) in Belfast to do so.  I’ve got one sleeve mostly done.  The best news is that after sewing the shoulder seams, I could try it on.  I did, and IT FIT beautifully.

To remind, this yarn comes from Kelly Corbett’s Romney Ridge Farm down in Woolwich, Maine, just south of Damariscotta.  The yarn is all hand-dyed and the colors shade in and out–you can see that in the purple diamonds.  The yarn on the ribbing is the natural color of one of Kelly’s sheep.

Aloisia Pollock designed the pattern for the sweater and the carrying color pattern and taught Giovanna McCarthy and I how to do it.  You can view the yarn balls and get all the info on both of these terrific women from earlier blog postings in the knitting category.  Giovanna chose different colors, and her sweater is gorgeous too.  You can see Giovanna’s colors on the earlier posting as well.

Turkey Tracks:  March 17, 2012

Giovanna’s Red Shawl

A few weeks back, Giovanna McCarthy invited me to her workroom to wind my skeins of Romney Ridge yarn into balls.   Look what was hanging over her computer chair.

I didn’t get a good picture of it until she brought it to our last Coastal Quilters’ meeting.

Here’s a close-up of the work of some of the work of this spectacular knitter.

You can see a little in these pictures that what’s very nice about this shawl, other than the beautiful red color and the gorgeous pattern, is the large “u-shaped” neckline.  This shawl just “cozies” up to your body.

Beautiful!!!!

xxxx

Turkey Tracks:  February 26, 2012

Leftover Sock Yarn–Kelly’s Birthday Socks

Here’s a pic of the first pair of socks out of the leftover sock yarn:

I bought three small sock-yarn skeins to coordinate with the mixture of leftover yarns:  navy, cream, and a fern green.

Here I used the navy for the cuffs, toes, and heels.

I had JUST enough of this one kind of yarn with the little color flecks to do the rest of both socks.

Mercy!  They’re cute, huh?

Kelly says they fit.  I talked to him this morning.  I sent the socks home with Mike, who was here last weekend for the Camden Conference.  He also got a bottle of Cheryl Wixson’s homemade ketchup into his suitcase.  Kelly LOVES ketchup.

The socks are on a bedspread that John’s mother crocheted for his sister, Maryann, for her 16th birthday.  It’s still going strong, and we love it.  It is on the bed in our guest bedroom.

Turkey Tracks:   February 24, 2012

Knitting Class, Carrying Yarn Color

Once we got our yarn from Kelly Corbett’s Romney Ridge Farm, the next step in Giovanna’s and my “carrying color” project was to take Aloisia Pollack’s class and to buy her pattern.  So, she invited us to come to her home in Jefferson, Maine, which is located at the western top of Damariscotta Lake.  Off we went one fine morning a few weeks ago now.

Here’s the view from Aloisia’s front windows–her rental cabins (Sunset Cabins) lie in a string alongside the lake:

Here’s Aloisia with a sweater project that uses the “carrying color” technique.

To remind, here’s the sweater we’re trying to make, but using our own color choices:

As of Saturday, the 18th, here’s what Giovanna’s sweater looks like:

And, here’s mine.  I made the bottom bands one color and wider.  Since this band gets repeated at the top of the sleeves, I’m not sure I like the wider stripes…  Giovanna tells me that this kind of band is traditional in FairIsle sweaters.

And, Giovanna’s tension is looking better than mine.   Giovanna found a widget that fits over your forefinger that helps control the two yarns–in that it keeps them from tangling and twisting so much.  We got one for me in Belfast at Heavenly Socks, and it does help a lot.  You can see it dangling from my threads; it’s orange.

We both did wider ribbing than Aloisia’s pattern…  Perhaps my band will work with the longer ribbing…  And, I’m making a cardigan, not a pullover.

Giovanna and I are both still feeling like we have clumsy, slow fingers.  But, my knit row is now faster than my purl rows…   And, as we’re doing the sweater “in the round,” that slows down the process as well.

On the way home from Belfast, on Route 52 by Megunticook Lake, we saw an eagle in the middle of the road eating some road kill.  Giovanna stopped the car, and I got this picture after the eagle flew up into the trees.  Follow the two white birch’s up, and you’ll see him/her.

Turkey Tracks:  February 18, 2012

Giovanna Winding Yarn Into Balls

Giovanna McCarthy is a master knitter.

She has knitting equipment I don’t have.

Giovanna, very sweetly, offered to wind my Romney Ridge yarn for me at her house.

Here’s Giovanna setting up a skein of yarn to be wound.

Here she is winding away–which was not as easy as she’s making it look as often, the yarn got tangled up and has to be sorted out.  It happens sometimes, she says.  See that red shawl back of her on the chair.  Boy is it spectacular!  She just finished making it.  I’ll do a separate entry for it.

Note the table back of Giovanna–what you can’t see clearly is the blocking pad she has where she can block a whole sweater.  There is a gorgeous Irish knit sweater drying over there.

Here’s my yarn, all wound into balls and ready to go.  The greyish (it’s really more brown) yarn on the bottom left is the natural color of one of Kelly’s sheep.

Here’s Giovanna’s yarn all wound into balls–she chose more variegated versions than I did, but we both got a skein of the natural sheep yarn.

Next step:  Going to Aloisia Pollack’s house down in Jefferson, on Damariscotta Lake, for our lesson how to carry two colors.

Turkey Tracks:  February 12, 2012

Tuesday is Clean Sheet Day

Or, wash day.

And the day we change sheets.

Last Tuesday I took this picture of the counter over the dryer.  I throw my wool socks on to the counter when they come out of the washer.  (Make sure your wool socks are washable!)  I can dry them in the dryer, but I never do as I have the notion that they will last longer if I don’t subject them to the dryer’s heat.

Anyway, all the colors seemed pretty to me lying all next to each other.

Turkey Tracks:  February 7, 2012

Leftover Sock Yarn

Here’s what my leftover sock yarn pile looks like now:

I was shocked when I rummanged through the yarn bin and saw how much there was.

It’s the same problem as the leftover quilt fabrics.

Last week I bought two sock skeins:  navy and cream.   I’m going to use them to unify these yarns (cuff, heel, toe?) so I can make all the grandchildren socks for next winter.   You can see a pair for Kelly shaping up.  The blues will be easy I think.

I don’t know.  Maybe I need a soft green too?

Yikes!

Turkey Tracks:  February 7, 2012

More Socks

Yes, I’m still knitting socks.

Here’s a pair given to daughter-in-law Corinne at Thanksgiving.  Though she lives in Charleston, she travels to Philadelphia and to Maine in the winter.

I particularly like this yarn because it has little glitter bits woven into the yarn.  It seems so festive:

Here’s a pair started in Charleston over Thanksgiving and given to daughter-in-law Tamara when she came to Maine for Christmas this year.  This yarn was so yummy to work with–I recall it had something added–aloe?  lanolin?:

 And, here’s a pair I made for myself, using Cookie A’s pattern, “Lindsay.”  This one was a bit easier as it repeats consistently over 8 rows.  And, it had a short-row heel and toe, which was so fun to make.  My first time with a short-row.  The column that runs down the sock is only on the outside of each sock.  That’s the kind of detail about which Cookie A thinks.

Here’s what the pattern looks like when stretched out a bit:

These feel great on my feet.

Turkey Tracks:  February 2, 2012

Yarn Road Trip

Giovanna McCarthy and I hit the road one day last week.  Our destination:  Romney Ridge Farm Yarn Company in Woolwich, Maine, which is about an hour south of Camden.

There is a history to this story.

Last summer I met Kelly L. Corbett, the owner of Romney Ridge Farm Yarn Company, at MOFGA’s Common Ground Fair in September.  (MOFGA is the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association, and they have a spectacular fair each year.)  Kelly had asked Aloisia Pollock, a master knitter, to make a sweater showcasing Kelly’s yarns.  Here’s the sweater–which uses a method of carrying two colors to make the little diamonds.

When I got home from MOFGA I went into our new knitting store here in Camden:  The Cashmere Goat.  They LOVED the idea of carrying Kelly’s yarns and hosting a class taught by Aloisia Pollock to make her sweater–and they have a wonderful space to take such a class.  The three groups came together, and that class will be taught in early April 2012.  The sweater is now hanging in the store, alongside some of Kelly’s yarns.

But, Giovanna and I wanted a larger yarn selection than The Cashmere Goat presently has, so we called Kelly and went down on a cold, wintry to pick out the 7 skeins we needed for this project.  We were blown away by all the colors, the possibilities.  Both of us were paralyzed for long moments.  Giovanna summed up what we were both thinking.  ”How can I pick seven colors when I want every single one here!”

Here’s what I came home with–the yarn on the far right is the “natural” undyed color of the sheep’s wool.  And, the dark purple yarn above the mauve color isn’t showing up well in this picture:

I also came home with a turquoise yarn I thought would make a great scarf for my black winter coat–AND that will go with my Noro sweater and hat:

Kelly’s farm shop is easy to get to from Route 1.  She’s just below Wiscasset.  Her web site is www.romneyridgefarm.com.  She has a blog as well on that site.

Aloisia Pollock lives in Jefferson and runs the Sunset Cabins on Damariscotta Lake–www.sunsetcabinsmaine.com.

The Cashmere Goat is at 20 Bayview Street in Camden–www.thecashmeregoatknit.com.

Giovanna and I are going down to see Aloisia next Wednesday, and we can hardly wait!