When a knitter travels

First there is the question:  What shall I take along?

I choose something small and easy, something which would not take away my attention from spending time  with family.
So, I choose to knit Tony yet another pair of socks and record the process throughout my travels.

Intercontinental Socks

Started in Upstate New York

Finished the toes in Venice, Italy

More knitting on board of the Adriatic Jert from Italy to Croatia

Turned the heels in Njivice, Croaria

More knitting at the Zagreb, Croatia airport

And at the CDG airport in Paris, France

Back home in Tivoli, NY

Then there is the question:  Where is the nearest Yarn shop?  Do they carry any local yarns, anything different and special?

These are the yarns hops I visited and the purchases I made:

VENICE, Italy  

This shop was only about 15 minutes walk from the apartment where we stayed, Lellabella.  I went twice in the two days we were there.  The first time I restricted myself to just get some sock yarn , but then I could not get a very soft Silk yarn out of my head and went back hours before having to catch the ferry to Croatia and I am glad I did.

A little tricky , but we found it!

The window display is SO PRETTY...

...and so is the sales lady ...

...and so are the yarns

100% silk

RIJECA, Croatia:  Another country, another yarn shop or two 🤗

Thanks to Anesia with whom I connected through ravelry, I came equipped with a list of yarn shops I could possibly visit.
Taking the bus from Njivice was easy and husband and I enjoyed our time in the beautiful seaport town of Rijeka which by the way has been voted to be the European city of culture in 2020.
The shop Ana was the easiest to find with beautiful window display. But I was a little intimidated because all the yarns were behind the counters, so you would really need to know what you want to ask for. But in any case my quest was to find the store UKRAS which carries the Unitas cotton yarn made 100% here in Croatia. Seeing all the oilcloth at the store Ana did put a smile on my face, thinking of Stickles in Rhinebeck, NY, US, and the oilcloth you can buy there.
At UKRAS I bought some lovely cotton yarn, Unitas Helena (250 m per ball).
Since this trip to Croatia was all about spending time with my sister during a joined vacation, I bought enough yarn for a sweater for Fee and one for me 😍. The sweaters will be a nice memento of our time here. Well, that is once I have actually knitted them   

I am thinking to make this sweater ; swatching now.

 

What was on my needles in August ?

Hello dear knitterly friends,

Here we are in the first week of a new month again and I simply want to share with you what I have been working on during this past month.

As always , click on the links for more detailed information.
The links will take you to a lot more info and as Tony and I are leaving today on a trip to spend time with my sister and her husband, I will leave it at this, short and sweet <3

Here are the projects I finished last month:

• Brick 
  
• Stained Glass Shawl 
  
• Fascine Socks  
  

• White Summer Top  

  

  Moment of truth:  I finished this a few days ago, so in September

And these are still on my needles:

• Salty Sheep Shawl   
  
• Intercontinental Socks  
  

May you enjoy all of your September knitting <3 !

Shawls with shifting shapes

I want to start today’s blog by letting you all know that I am cutting back on the frequency of my posts ( yet again).
I am intending to write one post per month ( first Thursday of every month).
AT THE SAME TIME I am posting more things on my Facebook page with interactive posts every Wednesday “ What’s on my needles Wednesday “ where you can share your own projects in the comments.  It is like a virtual knitting group.
Every Friday there will be a thread “ Fashion Friday” featuring a knitted garment to give some inspiration on what to knit next.  You will see that I wear a lot of knitted things...and always a shawl as accessory.
So my request to you is to stay loyal to my blog, but also to check out my Facebook page.
Knit With Doris Discover Your Inner Knitter

BIRDS OF A FEATHER SHAWL

This week I finally finished the shawl I was working on for The Knitting Garage at Stickles.

I had started end of January on this in the beautiful Hedgehog Fibers Skinny Single (100% Merino) and Hedgehog Fibres Kidsilk Lace (70% Goat-Mohair and 30% Silk).

To be fair I only started on it for real two months later due to a surgery on my hand and travel and even then you must remember that I work on store samples only during down time while working at the shop.  To be honest, this could be excellent TV knitting as you get used to the repetitive knitting.

What makes this shawl stand out in my opinion is the switch between the two yarns with the Merino appearing more solid and the Kidsilk more ethereal. 

The other fascinating thing about this shawl is its shape. once you reach a certain number of stitches you stop increasing and shift the center stitch of the chevron all the way to the end of the row thus making a straight line here and voila:  you have a triangle!
Click here for my extensive notes on ravelry:  Birds Of a Feather

Do you see where my needle is?! The bind off will be in line with one edge :)

Blocking

It seems that other designers have used this clever trick, too.  To name but a few
Laura Aylor in her pattern Rift. 

And also Tammy Gore in her pattern The Drifter.

It is a truly beautiful piece, but if you are intimidated by the sheer size of it, please note that you can knit up a smaller version as done by Lino on ravelry.

Here is a link to her project:  https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Lino/birds-of-a-feather 

TAKE IT ALL

I have also been working on the shawl "Take It All" by Lisa Hannes.

This one, too, ends up being more triangular due to the final section of short rows :)
After section Seven you have an asymmetrical triangle.  Then you add an appendix of short rows thus making a shift to almost symmetry.

The hardest part with this shawl was for me to choose the colors, but then I used colors as close to the ones one of our customers used.  These are colors a little out of my usual color palette, but they make me smile every time I look at them.
You can use one to eight contrasting colors.  I went with the eight and bought unicorn tails for each contrasting color ( Hint:  The knitting Garage has lot us of them to choose from!). 

 

Check this shawl out here:   Take It All

 

My latest (almost) FO

I have been working on the Novel T by Laura Nelkin for the past month.
With all of the knitting done, I just need to block it and am looking forward to wearing it :)

This is a very interesting construction, knitted sideways in one piece starting from the right sleeve.
Side lace panels bring it all together; no seaming.  There are some great video tutorials by the Grocery Girls for this and I have learned some new things.
I like this different approach to seamless knitting and had a lot of fun with it.
It was definitely engaging, but at the same time simple (TV) knitting.

A special Thank You, too, to Laura Nelkin for her encouraging words in the comment section of my ravelry project.
Rather than duplicating all I have said about this project here, go to ravelry and read my notes there.
(I even made a short video showing how to undo your provisional cast on easily).
 
  Click here : Strickliese's Novel T 

Enjoy!
Perhaps you will want to start your own Novel T :) 

Learning from the amazing Ann Budd

Last Thursday I had another opportunity to learn from Ann Budd.
I love learning something new, don't you?!

PBYS hosted Ann to give a couple of workshops.
I attended the Intro to Sweater Design from 5-8pm.
It has been 45 years since I learned the basics from a friend and made a couple of sweaters with set in sleeves at the time and later for my children.
I thought it may be time to have a fresh new look and guidance from an expert.

Here are the two sweaters I made in the early seventies:

And in the late eighties:

 

Ann focused in her class on how to design a sweater with modified dropped shoulder ( page 38 in her Book of Sweater Patterns).
She taught us several formulas to use; one specifically fascinating formula by Cheryl Brunette which helps you determine the placement for increases or decreases.
I am not going to get into the details here, but just want to wet your appetite to take this class if you are given the chance.
If you are thinking to get either or both of Ann Budd's Sweater Design Books it is best to get them right off her website (better for Ann, too):
Ann Budd Knits 

What's on my needles

After finishing my sister's top, Cancun Boxy Lace Top by Erin Kate Archer

and my skirt, #12 skirt by Norah Gaughan

and before starting my Novel-T top; Novel-T by Laura Nelkin  (there is a KAL by the Grocery Girls for this)

The correct gauge for rows is very important for this sideways knit top

and another pair of socks for Tony; FLK Heel by Sox Therapist and Fascine Braid Socks by Tiennie

Tony picked out the raspberry color; raspberry being one of his favorite fruits

I worked up a quick project in-between :  Ammonite Potholders by Sybil R

The designer, Susanne or Sybilra on ravelry, is using short rows and intarsia to come up with the image of a lovely Ammonite.    

Right off I could see that quite a bit of math was used here and this is what Sybilra said in a pm " Ja, diese Anleitung ist mathematisch/algorithmisch. Ich war kurz davor, die Anleitung auch noch in einer Art Programmiersprache (“Pseudo-Code”) zu schreiben - habe es aber dann doch nicht getan, weil es eher verwirrt …    "
Translation: " Yes, the instruction is very mathematical/ algorism.  I intended to write the instructions in a sort of program code (pseudo-Code)- but didn't in the end, because it would have been too confusing.." 

Not to worry, her patterns and blog are mostly in English.

She has a blog " Knitting and so on" which I checked out and which is a treasure trove of unusual designs; and except for a few they are free!  They go from potholders to fingerless mitts to sweaters. You can get lost checking out everything and from what I can tell, the patterns are written out clearly and easy to follow.
Here is a link to her ravelry store with its 132 (!) designs: Sybilra's ravelry store

One bonus to me:  She lives not far from my hometown, Duesseldorf in Germany.  Next time I go over there, we may just get together for a cup of coffee and some knitting.