As of the beginning of this month I've officially been blogging for 6 years. I still greatly enjoy it and really love to receive comments. I have learned so much from those of you who read this blog.

I am a bit surprised that not much has changed for me in 6 years. I went back and read my very first posts from January 2003 and we are still living in the same tiny passive-solar house with rabbit and cat companions (same cat, different rabbit), and I am knitting a Dale of Norway sweater just like I was back then.

My progress on the Dale Whistler sweater so far is pathetic but here it is anyway.




The sleeve cuffs have interior ribbing - I just used some scrap yarn for that purpose.



Here's my latest super macro photo of a begonia. I have always grown African violets indoors and I have one geranium that does great inside but I wasn't aware I could grow begonias inside until a few months ago when I bought a plant at Home Depot. This spring I'm going to get more flowering plants for indoors as I love having flowers all over the house.

EASY BALACLAVA

This pattern was part of the Knitlist gift pattern exchange years ago but it has become popular on Ravelry so I thought I'd write it up here in more detail with photos.

Copyright 2009, Nanette Blanchard. All rights reserved.



This balaclava/ski mask is excellent for cold weather and can even be worn under another hat. It keeps your neck warm and can be worn several different ways - above the chin, below the chin, above the mouth or with the neck rolled up for a cap with a brim. I've made it in wool, a wool blend, and 100% acrylic for those who don't want wool rubbing against their face.

MATERIALS: 1 skein of Cascade 220 100% Peruvian Highland wool worsted weight yarn (100 grams/220 yards) in color 9447 (a dark heathered spruce green color)

One row marker

Size 7 (US)/4.5 mm and Size 8 (US)/5.0 mm double pointed needless (You can also use size 7 and 8 circular needles, 12", for all the ribbing but you'll still need the size 8 dpns for the top decreases.)

Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

GAUGE: 6 sts = 1 inch, 6 rows = 1 inch over unstretched K2, P2 ribbing. To save time, take time to check gauge.

FINISHED SIZE: Men's Medium or Women's Large

With size 8 (US)/5.0 mm dpns or circ, loosely cast on 92 stitches and insert row marker at end of row. Join, being careful not to twist.

Work in K2, P2 ribbing for 3 inches. Change to size 7 (US)/4.5 mm dpns or circ, and continue working K2, P2 ribbing for 4 1/2 more inches (your knitting is now a total of 7 1/2 inches long). Note: The neck length is variable depending on the wearer - I usually do a slightly shorter neck as seen in the above photo for women's balaclavas.

FACE OPENING: Start the next row by working in K2, P2 ribbing for 30 stitches, bind off the next 31 stitches, continue working in ribbing over last 31 stitches of row. On next row, work 31 stitches in established ribbing, loosely cast on 31 stitches over the bound off stitches of the previous row using backwards loop cast on, and continue in ribbing.



The above photo shows the cast off edge in the front, and the newly cast on edge on the front dpn rejoined with the other sts.


Make sure you once again have 92 stitches and continue knitting in the round in K2, P2 ribbing until the whole piece measures 12 inches long. Now you're ready to discontinue the ribbing and begin the top of the head decreases.

Change to the size 8 (US)/5.0 mm dpns. K 1 row even. Knit next row decreasing 4 stitches evenly spaced across row (88 sts).

FIRST DECREASE ROW: *K2TOG, K9, rep from * across row. (80 sts)

SECOND DECREASE ROW: *K2TOG, K8, rep from * across row. (72 sts)

THIRD DECREASE ROW: *K2TOG, K7, rep from * across row. (64 sts)

Continue decreasing in this matter having 1 less stitch between decreases until 24 stitches remain. K2tog next row. (12 sts.)

K3TOG across next row. 4 stitches will remain. Cut yarn. With a tapestry needle, draw yarn end through remaining 4 stitches and pull tightly. Secure yarn ends to wrong side of balaclava.




This photo shows the man's version with the neck length specified in the pattern. This balaclava was knit in acrylic yarn and is over 10 years old.

Having my supplies organized is such a great feeling that I don't understand why I don't organize my yarn more frequently. I organized my stash this weekend and I thought I'd show it to you along with the various color settings on my new camera. The exact camera is the Canon PowerShot A470 7.1 megapixel point and shoot. So far I really like it except for the fact that you only get a 32 MB memory card and it doesn't come with a case.

I am still trying to figure out how to deal with our high altitude desert sunlight. I am probably the only person on the planet who regularly manages to take overexposed photos indoors. (Sections of overexposed photo will flash on the photo playback feature of this camera.)

Here's my entire yarn stash (3 armoire drawers and 2 bins) other than the Cascade 220 I previously showed you in the bookshelf. This is a photo without any color manipulation.



This photo shows the "Vivid" feature which I definitely like although some colors are still not showing up properly. For instance the bottom right red skeins are much more faded in the photo than in real life.



Here is the "Neutral" color setting which seems to just wash everything out.



The top drawer contains my Palette yarn (the plastic bag on the left contains all the great colors of Palette that were discontinued last summer - sigh) along with my alpaca collection and a few rogue skeins like Gloss and some eco-friendly yarns I bought last summer.

The middle drawer contains all my other worsted weigh yarns - Peruvian Highland Wool and Wool of the Andes.

The bottom drawer contains my sport weight yarns. I am slowly transitioning to a new all-purpose sport weight yarn (Peruvian Highland Wool sport weight) but I also have some very old Nature Spun, Telemark, and Merino Style. The big bag contains the Peruvian Highland sport yarn for the Dale of Norway ski sweater I'm currently knitting.

The container on the bottom left contains my sock yarns. I haven't bought sock yarn in years (ever since manufacturers stopped offering a good selection of solid colors) but I have some Froehlich Blauband, Stahl, Regia, and Essential. I also scored quite a bit of ultra-bright Kroy as it was being discontinued.

The container on the bottom right is a vintage long-gone yarn so I carefully save it and use it sparingly. It is Brunswick's Nylamb Sock and Baby yarn and I just love its softness, durability and elasticity.

I've spent a huge amount of time this week goofing around with my new camera (a Canon PowerShot point and shoot). It has a fun "colors my way" setting which I can use to bring back the yarn colors our high altitude desert sun fades away.

It also has a super macro setting so I can take photos of juniper berries:



and Jack's paws:



I'm working on a pair of men's mittens in Cascade 220 for the upcoming mitten booklet (ETA: the end of February). I should have used the Colors My Way setting for this photo actually since the colors are faded:




I just had to take a super macro shot of the colorwork and braid on the cuff:

I was hoping to post my updated balaclava pattern this week but my camera broke. So while waiting for a new camera to arrive, I thought I'd brag a bit about my driveway. Yes, you heard me right. It is definitely more interesting than the inches and inches of solid color knitting I'm doing for the Dale of Norway sweater.

DH said that he wanted to live here the minute he encountered the driveway, long before he even saw the house. Sure it requires 4-wheel drive in snow and once the satellite dish guy got stuck but it is such a fun roller-coaster of a driveway.

Here's the view from the driveway:



The view toward our house:




And the view away from our house:






I should have the balaclava pattern posted by early next week. I'm also working on two knitting pattern booklets for the Lulu store - one on mittens and one with some easy colorwork patterns (no shaping or other techniques necessary) for beginners.

Thank you everyone for your great hints and ideas for my future yarn containment system! I still haven't gotten to Flickr to look through some craft room photos but I hope to this week. Once I finalize the plans I'll have DH do a drawing of my upcoming yarn armoire and post it here.

Here are some methods I've used in the past. In the first two photos I sorted my yarn in plastic bins by colors instead of weights and brands. While I like looking at all the colors together for some reason I prefer to have yarn stored by brand and weight.

Here's a very old method when my stash was over twice the size it is today. (Back then I used to buy yarn whenever I felt like it rather than only buying yarn in particular brands and colors.) I used Neat Cubes which I purchased at Target for this system and the yarn is sorted by weight and brand. The spinning fibers are on top of the cubes and you can even see my large Navajo spindle on the far left. I always worried that the Neat Cubes would crash or fall apart as they weren't stable enough for me. I also worried that our bright sunlight would fade the fibers.

Honestly every method I've tried is pretty messy. When you have so many partial yarn skeins from colorwork, you always have tangling. So I'm going to think some more on how best to store all those tiny bits of yarn in various colors with a minimum of tangling.