Jobo Designs

I have been sitting on a skein of Fleece Artist Peter Rabbit for quite some time.... The story behind it is that I purchased it on a whim from North Shore Island Traditions based on the feel of the yarn alone.  Normally I go for the more blue / greenish tones exclusively, but in this case, there were very limited colorways in stock so I couldn't choose the usuals.  I decided that even though I normally don't knit with yellow or orange, that I generally find these colors bright and sunny, so I should step outside the box and try it regardless.  This particular colorway features bright yellows and oranges, reminiscent of Big Bird from Sesame Street... but in my mind at the time - reminded me of sunsets and Golden Flowers.

The Yarn itself is so unbelievably soft, albeit a little sheddy...  I had initially intended to knit socks from this, but then it struck me to try knitting a shawl/scarf.  I know that next winter when it starts to get cold around here (love the Canadian Winters) that the angora will be warm and soft against the skin in a way that no other fiber can be.  "Peter Rabbit" consists of 70 % Angora, 20 % Nylon and 10 % Wool for a super soft, softly haloed, and light as a feather.  I managed an entire Ishbel of the small size from a single skein.  It isn't huge, but it fits nicely around my shoulders, and I think will be perfect in size to wrap around the neck to protect from a winters chill.

Now I have Knit Ishbel (by Ysolda Teague) a few times before... so I knew what I was getting into.  The beginning in stockinette just flies by!  And though I seem to have issues memorizing the charts, even those fly by so fast that I hardly remember them.  I chose in this case to make the small size, though I think I might have done an extra section of the lace chart.  I remembered from blocking before that this shawl doesn't end up completely triangular, but more of a curved shape on the top.  When this was blocking on the spare bed all I could think of was how much the shape reminded me of a golden Pheonix rising.  It feels almost like golden wings.

The yarn in the skein had a bit of a halo, but after knitting and blocking, the halo intensified a bit.  You can really tell when the shawl is up against another object how much of a Halo it really has.  I thought in the beginning that maybe the halo wuld be too much and obscure the vine lace, but in the end I think it still shows up ok.

In general, orange is not a color I would often wear, or purchase items in that shade... surprisingly, the warm bright color doesn't look awful with my skin complexion.  I come from a family of red haired folk... So I am very pale and I have a lot of freckles (my husband teases that if I ever needed a medical Freckle-ectomy, we'd go broke paying the bill)  I'm not sure what I will ever wear this with, but the warm fuzziness around my shoulders makes me tempted to buy an outfit to match!

Another reason I decided that I needed to try working with Angora is the fact that I have an English Angora Rabbit coming to live with me around the end of June.  The bunny (henceforth referred to by his royal name, though he hasn't be chosen from the litter yet...) Ruttiger was born on May 10th as part of a 6 bunny litter, and though the smallest bunny has passed away, the other 5 are thriving and growing fine.  The breeders plan on keeping the white bunny, but there are two "blue" and two "torte" babies that will be up for grabs.  I plan on going up and officially meeting the kits next weekend, so expect photos then.  Meanwhile, I have been in a nutso nesting phase... buying the supplies I will need for Ruttiger's homecoming (aka cage, food, bedding, grooming equipment, etc)  I am very excited for our new pet to come home and get cozy at Casa-Jobo.

Here is another shot with the "Ishbel on Fire" cozied up with a plain seed bead necklace... which looks surprisingly nice :)

Did you ever notice how difficult it is to take photographs of yourself?  (Yes this is in my Bathroom, and Yes, it is a little Blurry.  No I had not been drinking... though there was wine shortly after the photo shoot)  At least I managed to sneak a smile in :)

Another successful shawl... warm, cozy, elegant, and very very Golden Yellow / Orange.  I hope I don't look silly in this color, because I kind of like it!  (you definetly won't lose me in a snowbank with this on! as my grandma would say)

After Christmas, and all the commotion of getting ready, and then getting through it all I forgot to show you some of the gifts I made this year!

"Dulce" socks

After knitting, for what felt like an eternity on a pair of size 11 socks knit with light fingering weight wool and size 1 dpns? I finished Andrew"s socks!  I didn't have the proper sized blockers though, so in the end I just soaked and "hand pressed" them out into an approximate proper shape.  I was a little disappointed with the final appearance of them, but I knew that once the recipient put them on, they they would be naturally "foot blocked" anyways.  On X-mas day, he opened them, checked them out, put them on, and then continued on with the rest of the gift opening.  He still had them on when we left later on in the evening? so I think he might like them ;)  He said they were really warm, which hopefully will come in really handy living on a farm in cold little P.E.I.  I think I can call that a success.  I meant to take pics of them on his feet, hoping that they would look really good on the proper sized clod-hoppers, but then I got all engrossed with chocolates and the gifts everyone else was opening, and I completely forgot.  Oops.

Granny's Ishbel

This particular Granny did not want to exchange holiday gifts this year, which was totally ok with me, only I had already made her an Ishbel!  So instead of waiting for Christmas, I just gave it to her as a "Winter" celebration gift.  I kind of forgot to take too many pictures of this one too? since I was so excited for it to be completed and passed on to it's new owner.

All of the other shawls I have made to this point have increases and YO's on one side only, whereas this one has YO's at the edges for oth the front and back side rows.  This made a narrower triangle, but still a pleasing wing-like shape.  For yarn, I used a spare skein of the Turkish "Ice" yarn I had eBayed, and I was okay with the results, though it did not block as distinctly as some of the other sock yarns I have knit lacy things out of.  I liked how the ends of the "wings" curled up into a cute little finial.  This Granny likes dragons and wizards and sci-fi stuff, so I thought this might look enough like fairy wings that it would be acceptable.  She tried it on right away, and seemed to like it, so I'm hoping it will get some use.

It took me a few tries to make sense of the lace pattern, but Ysolda's charts were nice and concise.  As long as I wrote down where I was, and kept track on paper, things seemed to go okay.  You know how it is with lace? until the lightbulb pops on, sometimes you just have to keep plugging away at it until that point of enlightenment.

I'm not sure why exactly, but for some reason I really liked the "Spine" of this shawl? something about the way the YO K YO stood out from the plain stockinette stitch body of the piece.  To me it looks like a ladder of sorts with twisty curly rungs? all in all another happy ending shawl.  I think I will have to do this one again, but this time with gossamer, light, teensy yarn so it feels less heavy and the lace will open up wide and take centre stage in a more substantial way.

I was lucky enough a few months back to win a blog contest sponsored by a fellow spinner and knitter Keri (over at It’s Otrembarific)  and won a copy of Ysolda Teague’s booklet “Whimsical Little Knits”!

I had been admiring several of the patterns in it, so of course I was completely thrilled when the book arrived in the mailbox.  I had never worked any of Ysolda’s patterns before, but knowing how many people already have, I was certain that they must be excellent to be receiving so much attention in the knitting world.

Like many other knitters, I headed straight for the Ishbel Shawl pattern.  With the first 2/3 of the pattern in Stockinette stitch, Ishbel is a very quick knit.  Unusual in that there are YO increases on EVERY row (not just every knit row like many triangular shawls) the resulting triangle is longer and leaner than the usual almost 90 degree triangle of the traditional shawl.  It took me only 2 evenings of knitting to complete the basic stockinette part of the shawl, and another 2 sessions to finish the lace portion – from detailled, organized and accurate  charts.  Normally I head straight for the written-out lace directions, but the clear concise charts made me feel confident that I could handle it so I worked the lace portion directly from the charts.

I understand the Ishbel Obsession now… before I had finished the first I had already made plans for a second.  Both the one I knit in Alpaca/Silk Laceweight and the one in  Sock Yarn were both lovely and reasonable.  I see profiles on Ravelry where people have made 4-5 of these and I can totally see why… I might be thinking about a third too!

Generally, I don’t make knitted toys, mostly because I don’t have any need for them at this point, but maybe some day  when more children come into the picture (aka my own, or friends’ children) I will have to remember the cute doll pattern in this booklet… she looks like the perfect pattern for a simple doll with adorable little shoes and a customizable pinafore.  I can also see the pattern for the little grey baby booties coming in handy for a fast new-baby project. 

Overall, though I have only used one complete pattern and browsed the rest, this booklet appears to be well organized, has a nice variety of reasonable and attractive projects, uses a variety of yarns, and has lots of useful diagrams, drawings and photographs to illustrate each project.  The glossary of stitches is very complete, and even goes so far as to offer online help if things in the book aren’t clear enough.  I would have liked to see a few more detail photographs, but overall the whole booklet is well done.  I can see why Ysolda is described as having her own distinct sense of style and known for her attention to details… I can almost spot her designs now after admiring them for so long.  I will be anxiously awaiting the release of her new collection:  Whimsical Little Knits 2 which is due for release sometime in November 2009.