Deep Sea Wanderer Cast On

Today is cast on day for the Deep Sea Wanderer KAL. (KnitALong for the muggles out there.) Most of the action will be happening on the KAL thread on the Bear Ears ravelry group. But I wanted to share some tips over here too.

The recommended yarn for this pattern is Tosh DK. Tosh is a hand dyed yarn, which means that different skeins will often have some variation between them. As a result, sometime when switching from one skein to another, there will be a line, showing where the switch happened. There are two main ways to combat "The Line." The first way is blending.
To blend the yarn, you alternate skeins. For the sleeve below, I was knitting in the round. After each round, I switched between each skein. And to keep things uniform, I was careful to twist the two skeins the same direction each time I switched between the skeins. If you are knitting an item flat, you would typically switch skeins after every two rows, carrying the yarn up one side of the project.
The second method of hiding the difference in skeins is to be strategic in where you change skeins. For the sleeve, I didn't want to blend the yarn through the cuff, so I chose to knit the cuff using just one of the skeins. The cuff is darker and a little more blue, but it looks more natural in its placement.

For my Deep Sea Wanderer, I plan on using the second method: I'll be strategic in where my yarn changes happen. As you can see, one skein of Cousteau is a little lighter than the other. (I pencilled in which was which so I wouldn't mix it up later on.) Since the eye typically is drawn to lighter colors, I'll be using the lighter skein in the main portion of the pattern. So the order will be Chart 1: darker skein, Chart 2: lighter skein, Chart 3: darker skein. All going well, the difference in color will be unnoticeable.

Day At The Monterey Bay Aquarium

In late August, Rachael and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I hadn't been in nearly 10 years and there was a seahorse exhibit that was nearly over. I didn't know that there were so many kinds of seahorses. Our favorite one was the Leafy Seadragon. It honestly looked like kelp, especially when it had it's head pointing downward. Not to mention, it was large. I'd only ever seen small seahorses, but this guy was close to a foot long.

There was a baby Loggerhead Turtle. We didn't realize until seeing this guy that the displays have two-way glass. When the various creatures are looking at you, they are really looking at their own reflection.

The aquarium does a fair amount of rescue and rehabilitation. In the aviary, there are a number of birds with broken winds or hurt legs. Birds that can be released eventually are. We learned from one of the workers that most of the birds here no longer can fly, but it's because they are fed so well that they are too fat to take flight.

Some of the displays can make you feel quite small. This is a school of anchovies. (I'm pretty sure these were the anchovies.)

And it is amazing how close you can get to some of the different creatures. This guy is a Leopard Shark. He kept circling the tank. I'd never seen a shark with eyes like his.

But my favorite thing to look at is the jellyfish display. It always has, and it probably always will be. I took a gazillion pictures, but I'll not overwhelm you guys with them all.
My favorite David Attenborough documentary is the The Blue Planet: The Deep. I'm pretty sure this guy shows up in it. (I think it is a ctenophore.) It doesn't actually shine light. It has cilia that reflects light.

Near the display was a set of lamps that were made to look like moon jellyfish. When I showed Mum this picture, she thought they were really jellyfish. I wish I could have a lamp like this in my room.

Especially because Moon Jellyfish are my personal favorite jellyfish.

Under A Harvest Moon

The harvest moon occurred a week and a half ago. (The harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.) So Mum and I went on a hike to watch the moon rise. The lighting was amazing that evening.

I brought along my two newest FOs. Here is the Prairie Shawl. I ran out of yarn after the 5th chart. (There are 6 charts total) Luckily for me, a friend had bought the same yarn as me and she didn't need all of it for her project. So I've named the shawl "Saint Christine" in her honor.

When we got to the top of the hill, I photographed my other FO while we waited for the moon to rise. I give you Strathcona. It was for Mum's birthday this year. I was only 4 months late.
And now that this scarf is done, I have knit all of the knits out of Jane Richmond's book ISLAND.

The moon rose right as the sun set. And as always, it was magical.

Lit Knits Blog Tour Thanks

Now that the Lit Knits preorder has ended, I'm looking forward to blogging about new knitting things. But before we get to that, I just wanted to thank all the bloggers who joined me on the Lit Knits blog tour. You guys did such a wonderful job. Here are the links for posterity:

Sept 4th - Kiwiyarns Knits
Sept 6th - Bits And Pieces
Sept 8th - My Sister's Knitter
Sept 10th - Pans & Needles
Sept 12th - Pretty Little Fiber Co
Sept 14th - The Yarniad
Sept 16th - Woolen Diversions
Sept 18th - Savannah Chik Knits 
Sept 20th - Dona Knits
Sept 22nd - Jane Richmond

Deep Sea Wanderer KAL

Hey everyone! It's been a busy month here at Bear Ears, which means I'm woefully behind on blog reading and other important things. Regardless of how much is going on, there is always time for knitting! Now that I'm not knitting for the book, I have time to knit for myself... from the book.
I'm hosting a Deep Sea Wanderer KAL over on the Bear Ears ravelry group, and I'd love for you all to join me. I'll be casting on mine on October 4th. And I've already bought my yarn: Tosh DK in Cousteau. (The same as in the book.)

In other news, the preorder for Lit Knits is coming to a close. After September 25th, the book and ebook will only be available separately. Once the preorder closes, the printed copy of the book will be unavailable to order until mid-November. (Unless the printer is super fast, then it could be as early as late October.)

Behind The Garden Wall

Behind The Garden Wall is the 10th and final knit to appear in Lit Knits. It is based on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which was published in 1911.

These socks are knit top-down and have a dutch heel. The legs of the socks both feature the ivy that hides the door to the secret garden. And just as Mary Lennox finds a key hidden in the earth, these socks have a key hidden on the bottom of one of the feet.

Getting a model proved to be challenge. It took me quite some time to find a model who looked young without being too childish. I was actually getting a little worried about finding someone. But one day, while talking to a friend, I looked down and noticed that her feet looked close to my size. (I typically make all sock samples my size so that if it comes down to it, I can model the socks.) Actually, I stared at her feet. It doesn't matter if you are good friends with someone. No one thinks it is normal if you stare at their feet.  I explained that I was looking for a sock model. She let me know that she was available the following Tuesday.

One of my favorite shots that didn't make it into the book

Where we were shooting was by a busy road, which I mentioned in a previous post. To get some of the shots I needed, I had to stand in the road. So I would run into the road, focus, take a picture, and run back. Mum and my model held their positions all though this. Everyone was so sore by the end. Don't believe me? Try holding the pose below for 15 minutes. Feel the burn.

Luckily for my model, I left the easy "sitting" pictures for the end. Here is what the set up looked like.

And here is the resulting picture.

All in all, it was a great day.

Motoring Madness

Motoring Madness is the 9th pattern to appear in Lit Knits. The fingerless mitts are based on Kenneth Grahame's book Wind In The Willows, which was published in 1908.

After reading the book, I knew that the pattern just had to be based on Mr. Toad. There are many characters that appear in the book, but in my opinion, Mr. Toad is the most memorable. I decided that Toad would need driving gloves, which is why the project is fingerless mitts.

Mr. Toad is known to be a reckless driver, so the pattern is meant to look like Mr. Toad has erratically driven over the mitts. Twisted stitches help give the car tracks strong definition. There is a missing rib in the top and bottom ribbing on the mitts so that the tracks remain uninterrupted.

I actually knit this pattern twice. After finishing the first pair and putting them on, I noticed despite the pattern being centered on the mitt, once the mitts were on, the pattern curved towards the thumb. To correct the look of the pattern when the mitts are worn, the pattern is knit slightly off-center on the top of the mitt.

The neatest thing about this shoot was that about 10 minutes before the we started taking pictures, the model and I went to the thrift store and found the brown shirt and jacket that he is wearing. I kid you not. We couldn't have found a better outfit to match the gloves, book, and suitcase.

This shoot was done a few hours after the Tomfoolery shoot and it remained a blistering 108°F/ 42°C. My model deserves an award. Even though he was sweating it out for an hour as we took pictures, you'd never know it. It's hard to believe it was as hot as it was because in the pictures, the model made the day look enjoyable. (It wasn't. It really, really wasn't.)

In the book, whenever Mr. Toad doesn't have a car, he just pretends that he is driving. I knew that one of the shots I had to get was to have my model pretending to drive, just like Mr. Toad. The first few shots looked too posed, so I said, "Mr. Toad committed grand theft auto. You need to pretend like you are stealing a car!"

Here's Mr. Toad gunning it

The next shot was exactly what I had envisioned.