Janey Pullover

This was a kit I purchased at Maryland Sheep & Wool called Janey Pullover by Melissa Jean Stahl. It was knit with Vermont Organic Fiber Company ~ O-Wool ~ Balance (colorway 3017 Peridot - 3 skeins). It's 50% cotton - 50% merino. It was a fun knit. The kit came with 3 cute handmade ceramic buttons that go perfectly with the yarn. The only thing I did differently was add the grosgrain ribbon. Every morning around 5-5:30 I take our dogs for a walk at the Tupancy Links and always see ducks on this one house. Sometimes there is just one or two but most times there are several. I often wonder why this house. For some reason it always makes me smile.
Every Memorial Day Weekend there is a boat race called Figawi. Sailboats race from Hyannis to Nantucket on Saturday then race back on Monday. This is what the Nantucket boat basin looked like before the race. Pretty quiet. (Click to enlarge any photo.)
Here is what it looked like after the race. Somewhere around 250 sailboats end up here. A photo from the Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror. We had a good time watching the boats come in from the Jetties.UPDATE:
We went down to see the sailboats off this morning (Memorial Day). We're used to fog around here but this somehow seemed different. Turns out this wasn't fog at all but smoke from a number of large fires in Southern Quebec. Very, very weird!Rounding Brant Point Lighthouse you can see the masts of sailboats as they head out to Nantucket Sound.

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Green Sweater

When I first heard about this sweater I knew I had to knit it. If you haven't read the article Channeling Elizabeth: Recreating a Family Heirloom by Sunday Holm in Twist Collective here it is. It tells the story of the reconstruction of the 50 year old sweater.

It was an interesting knit. The sweater contains phoney seams at the underarms, steeks, mitered shaping for neck and facings, underarm gussets, kangaroo pouch, deep dolman sleeves (more of a modified drop shoulder with a gusset), and gauntlet cuffs.

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmermann's Green Sweater dissected and written by Sunday Holm
Purchased: Schoolhouse Press Pattern #13
Size: 36", 40", 44", 48" (I knit mine in size 42" but wished I'd knit it in size 40")
Needles: US #6 (4mm)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca ~ Peat Mix (6277) 50% Alpaca 50% Wool
Pewter Clasps: Quantity 7 purchased from Schoolhouse Press
Started: 5-5-2010
Finished: 5-20-2010


5-20-2010
Turn Sleeve Hem;Finishing (Sewed on pewter clasps)5-19-2010
Work Gauntlet Cuff
5-13-2010
Knit Sleeves
5-11-2010
Knit Neckline; Knit Neckline Facing

5-9-2010 & 5-10-2010
Start Neck Steek; Shape Neck Opening; Graft Shoulders (did 3-needle bind-off)5-8-2010
Start Sleeve Steeks 5-5-2010
Hem knit on one size smaller needles. Pattern called for Provisional Cast-on but I cast-on with Judy Becker's Magic Cast-on.
Did a knitted hem so I wouldn't have to sew down the them as part of finishing.

Baby Jordy ~ This Post Is For You!!!

I've been on Nantucket for about 3 weeks. We had wonderful weather for Daffodil Weekend but the cold weather has returned. Brrrrrrrr.... Tomorrow I'll be returning to Maryland for a quick visit to attend a baby shower for my DDIL and hope to attend Maryland Sheep & Wool while there.

I hope she likes the gifts I made for her.

The pattern is called Baby Delight by Irene Kubilius published in Knitter's Magazine 45, Winter 1996. With the left over yarn I knit the baby socks. Dreambaby DK from Plymouth Yarn was used.


I enjoyed was making this four patch quilt. I just finished it last night. It has been years since I have worked on a quilting project. Inspiration came from Quilts for Baby: Easy as ABC by Ursula Reikes. All the materials are flannel. The quilt was completely hand-pieced. The border was hand-quilted with the center tied. The corners are mitered and the binding was cut on the bias.

Quilt top.

Quilt back.

Quilt label.

Into the front-loader for a final washing.


I made the 3" Nantucket lightship basket in my workshop and the doll chair in Hampshire County, WV with Charles Boland. To see how the chairs are made see this previous post or this one. The rabbit is holding a photo album with pictures of Grandma making the chair.

Spring Mystery Shawl

I've been knitting the Spring Mystery Shawl Along 2008 hosted by Renee Leverington of Goddess Knits.


The first clue was posted on April 19th. New clues are issued every other Saturday. There are currently 3 clues. Clue 1 and 2 are finished. I'm knitting with JaggerSpun 2/18 Zephyr in Vanilla using US 5 needles. This has been a fun knit.

I've been teaching Scott, who is a talented ivory carver, how to make Nantucket Lightship Baskets. Here is Scott with his finished 4" round basket. It really turned out beautifully and Scott's a real natural.

Beadwork - Making Progress

I'm making nice progress on Beadwork. This sweater is being knitted top-down FLAK-style. Since my last post I have knit the back down to my armhole depth, picked up stitches for the left and right front increasing as I went along, and knit both right and left fronts down to my armhole depth. Next I will pick up stitches along each edge for the sleeves.I'm also getting ready for another Windsor chair class. Ahead of time we were sent maple stock for the legs along with a sample leg to turn on the lathe in our own workshop. Here is one of the finished legs. It's not identical to the sample but it's close enough for me.

The Eagle Has Landed - Almost!

I'm making some progress on my DH's FLAK sweater. I originally stopped working on this sweater when I got to sleeve island, that desolate place. I still couldn't bring myself to start knitting the sleeves so I went ahead and knit the body. DH tried it on and it fits him nicely. Now I am motivated to finish.

I've been working on this eagle for a long time. It is believed to have been carved by John Haley Bellamy (1836-1914) c. 1860-1870. Bellamy was a famous New England nautical wood carver. The eagle was perched atop an entryway on a Nantucket home for many years until it was in dire need of restoration. My involvement began by helping Nancy Chase repair the wings. She removed all the old gold leafing then I started reapplying it. What a pain staking task this has been! I've spent about 40 hours and there is lots still to do.

He really is an awesome bird. When complete the owners said he will be coming indoors.

Nantucket Sunrise

When we are on Nantucket we don't have much property to run our dogs so every day at daybreak I head to the Tupancy Links and get treated with the most spectacular sunrises. They are well worth rising early for. Tupancy was a nine-hole golf course overlooking the ocean that in 1976 was gifted to the Nantucket Conservation Foundation (NCF) by "Tup" Tupancy and his wife. Now the property can be enjoyed by the public. And a few minutes later ...

Recently DH's FLAK sweater got pulled out and dusted off. I started this in parallel with the FLAK sweater I knit for myself. Somehow mine got finished and his did not. (No comment.)
Single sock syndrome no more. Finally managed to finish the second Fetzensocken sock.

Second Sock Syndrome - What's Up With That?

The Jaywalkers are finished! Check out the Grumperina's Jaywalker gallery!

Now I must do something about this!I started this sock as part of the July (2006) Knitalong Pattern for Sockamaniac Sock Knitters. It's called Fetzensocken by Diana Meyers. The pattern was converted from German to English. Google Fetzensocken and you will find plenty of places to download the pattern. Mine is knit with Koigu KPPPM my absolute favorite sock yarn in the entire world. So why didn't I finish it and the other sock in 2006? I just noticed Sockamaniac has a Yahoo group called Second Sock Syndrome. It doesn't look like an active group though.

We Did It!!!

Vanessa came up from Florida last Saturday and left today. We had a wonderful time together. I miss her already. Before leaving for our Windsor chair class in West Virginia we had to stop in at WoolWinders and Eleganza Yarns. Eleganza was having a 40% off their entire stock of yarns Saturday night starting at 9pm. Heading to the store it started to pour and by the time we left the store it was raining so hard we could hardly see to drive. The thunder and lightening didn't help matters either. We did some major stash enhancement.

Now, on to the Windsor chair class. Vanessa and I attended the Waterford Fair last fall where we met Charles Boland and his wife Sherri of Storybook Joinery. Of all the Windsor chairmakers we liked Charles' chairs the best and talked him into doing a class and he agreed!

In our 6-day class Vanessa made the Bowback rocker and I made the Sackback. The chairs are handmade using the same techniques that chairwrights used in the 18th century. Windsor chairs were introduced to America from England during the 1720's. The American Windsor came into its own during the 1790's. Windsors were used everywhere (chairs, rockers, children's furniture, stools, settees, etc). We're here with Charles and as you can see we are grinning from ear to ear. We couldn't be happier with the way our chairs turned out. We loved every minute of the class and this included our stay in Romney, WV. Our lodging was at a B&B called Hampshire House where we had the place to ourselves all but 2 nights. Their high protein pancakes were delicious! We had ours without the fruit. Download the recipe here.
Charles allowed us to each make a different chair and he made one of each along with us. This made it a lot harder for him but very accommodating for us. Here are our chairs along with Charles' chairs. We started with straight grained red oak logs that were riven with wedges and a froe to create the stock for the spindles and bows. The spindles and bows were shaped on a shaving horse with a draw knife and spokeshave. The bows were then put into the steam box and bent over a form.The legs, stretchers, and stumps (arm posts) were turned on the lathe from hard maple.
The seat was shaped from a ~2-inch plank of clear pine. Here are the tools (scorp, travisher, compass plane, spoke shave, and drawknife) used in dressing (shaping) the seat after the seat was hollowed out with a gutter adze. Holes for the spindles were then carefully drilled into the seat using a brace with spoon bits at the appropriate angle.
We're getting there! The spindles are threaded through the arm-rail and are hammered into the holes previously drilled into the seat. Next the bow-back will be installed. I'll let Vanessa tell you about her favorite tool(s) and our other escapades. I'll let her explain these too.
And I can't finish the post without mentioning how beautiful the Boland property is or how warm and friendly they are. We loved their dogs Maggie and Molly too. They are good people. The last day of class Sherri made us a delicious lunch and that evening we enjoyed a crab feast in their gorgeous secret garden. (Sherri is taking the picture.)
We've already planned out our project for our next class in March. Mine will be the Nantucket Fanback rocker. I can't wait!

If you don't think you are up to making your own Windsor chair you might consider purchasing one from Charles. They are truly a piece of art.

Nantucket Daffodil Weekend Festival

The island was in full bloom with over three million daffodils bulbs planted over the years. Daffodils could be seen in shop windows, planted along roadsides, in gardens and window boxes. Daffodil Weekend marks the beginning of the spring season on Nantucket. Part of the celebration is the annual antique car parade where cars are decorated with daffodils.


Each trip back to Nantucket I've worked on my whale with the guidance of Nancy Chase. He's a big boy and I've nicknamed him "Bocephus".After the last time I worked on the whale it started to crack or check. Checking is typically caused by shrinkage differences between the surface and core of drying lumber. A check is a naturally occurring lengthwise separation between wood fibers. Wood logs shrink twice as much in the tangential direction (growth rings or concentric circles) as it does in radial direction (diameter). I was surprised this happened since the timber came from the Nantucket Methodist Church and is one of the original timbers from when it was built in 1823.

I filled the cracks with Swedish putty. Some of the cracks were so deep I ended up creating little wedges from wood and inserted those into the cracks and back filled with putty. It seems to be working. I worked a lot on the tail this trip. I'm very pleased with how Bocephus is turning out. This is my first carving experience. Nancy watches over me and gives me direction. She is the best teacher and so encouraging. I'm having so much fun.
I did manage to cast on the foxes sweater. While on the 2 1/4 hr. boat ride back to the mainland I cast on and knit ~ 1-inch of ribbing. Oh well, at least it is something.