Calm Knitting

I'm getting going on Rove and love the Rowan calmer yarn! It does seem to keep me calm too, no knots or tangles and it's easy on the fingers because of the slight stretch. What a fab yarn to work with! I think there are going to be more projects with it in my future, but in the meantime, here's a pic of the back half of Rove.

And, Jeff got a surprise in the mail this week, his work related 'Author's Award' which is a digital picture frame!

Visiting My Favorite Shop

Jeff was interested in doing a little Sunday drive to Tiverton, RI with me yesterday, so I put on my new tank and wore it out to Sakonnet Purls to look for a new project.

I picked out the Rowan Studio, Issue 15, pattern book with a number of items I like in it designed by Sarah Hatton. The yarn for my first choice pattern was not available and I didn't feel like working out a substitute with Jeff waiting patiently for me, so I opted to knit another tank and picked out some Calmer for it.

I have been wanting to try Calmer for some time, so this will be a nice way to see how the slight stretchiness works for me and then I might try it with a bigger project, with sleeves. The shop had a sample sweater in Calmer on display and it felt amazing.

There are some gorgeous color choices in this yarn, but I especially like this blue.

Happy with my purchases, I went out to find Jeff and we headed on to the reason he went to the knitting store with me in the first place...a visit to Gray's Ice Cream just up the road from Sakonnet Purls!

(The book and yarn were photographed in my herb garden. You can see the sage, etc.)

FO: Terracotta Tank

I made such a stupid mistake on the first row of this knit which I did not discover until I was dividing the front and back at the underarm. Yes, I did not divide the stitches evenly between the front and back. Mentally, I locked onto a number for a different size and proceeded to triple check that, not realizing my error in the first place! Aaarrrgh! I was *not* going to frog all that work. I decided to let the slightly longer side be the front as some of the slack would be taken up by the bust half of me and the back half would be flatter against my shoulder blades.

It seems to have worked out ok. It feels fine on as well. It hasn't been blocked yet, but hardly needs it.

(Excuse the sunlight/shading in this pic, the yarn is just one color throughout.)

My *intentional* changes were to end the eyelet rib at the under bust line and lower the front neckline scoop. Also, I knitted the back of the neck straight, I did not scoop it like the front.

So, I have a new summer top, just in time for the hot weather to arrive!

Saturday Progress

This afternoon, I visited a local fabric store called Sew Nice Fabrics and found a plain cotton material for the lining of the bag I recently made.

And, I finished the body of the tank and picked up the stitches for the neckline, knit it in eyelet rib and got that bound off as you see in this pic (it was a bit dark for my camera).

I still have to pick up the stitches and knit the armhole bands in K3P3 rib. Hopefully I'll be able to get that done tomorrow and have an FO to share!

Early June Garden 'Tour'

Yesterday, I snapped some pics around my yard while I was out with Saffy and Silas. My all time favorite shrubs are in full bloom, wine/pink and pink weigelia...wish you could smell them!

The yard is beautifully perfumed by them this time of year, not cloyingly, just a light whiff.

These are Knautia which the butterflies and bees love, as do I!

I am going to have to regain *some* control of the butterfly garden one of these days. It's completely filled in! Here are the lupine...blue, purple and pink shades.

Hardy geraniums have been coming back faithfully for years now. I started them from seed and they get bigger every year too.

A patch of shade by the barn door is full with a Jack in the Pulpit, false Solomon Seal, bluebells, lily of the valley...there is a bleeding heart and sweet william in that area too, but not showing in this pic. The bleeding heart has gone by and the bluebells are past peak.

Progress

Here's a peek at the work I did on the Eyelet Rib Tank on Monday and Tuesday. I love zipping along on circs and I adore this stitch pattern! The cotton-ease is so well behaved too.

In addition to knitting, yesterday I planted out *all* of my veggie seedlings. It was a lot, but I don't have a count yet. I planted peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, zukes, cukes, butternut squash and some marigolds here and there too. It was exhausting work to do all in one day, but I'm glad to have it done. We have some overcast days forecast this week, so the seedlings should have a chance to recover nicely from the transplanting before getting hit with full sun.

FO*: Tapestry Bag

*still needs lining

While waiting for the yarn to ship for my next project, I took the time to visit the bookstore to look for new knitting mags on Friday. I was able to get Issue 54 of Simply Knitting, the one packaged with bamboo handles as the 'gift'.

Saturday, I was browsing through, reading the patterns and realized I had just the right sort of yarn for the plain bag! I don't particularly stash yarn, so it was a fun surprise that I actually had some on hand...almost makes me see the point of being a real stasher ;)

The yarn is Rowan Tapestry in pretty blue/green 'lakeland'. I followed the pattern closely, but added a bit to the length and used the 3 needle bind off to close the bottom of the bag. I enjoyed seeing the variegated colors form stripes and as I got toward the bottom of the bag, I pulled at the ball and worked with just the darker parts, so it would subtly change the variegation. I felt that making it darker would visually give the bottom of the bag a little 'weight'.

I cast on during the day on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon, the bag was having a light blocking. I just sewed on the handles today!

My Tapestry Handbag just awaiting a lining!

This pic shows how the handles are sewn on.

And this one shows the bottom seam made by the 3 needle bind off.

I love it! I'm looking forward to finding some lining material and making it ready for use.

Now, I want UPS to hurry up and get here, so I can get started with the tank.