Swatching.....

It's rare that I hit in impasse in my knitting. Usually, my queue is so long that I am hurrying to finish one project so I can move on to the next. But right now, well, I am at a standstill. I'm thinking of hosting a knitalong for one of my Ravelry groups......but I'm not quite ready yet. So meanwhile I thought I'd swatch for some potential projects. Trouble is, my swatching isn't going well. I swatched for a little cardi that I'm planning on doing in Noro silk garden. I swatched w/ the suggested US 8 needles, and it came out too big. So, I switched to US 7's. Way to tight. Hmmm. At that point I thought "oh, the size 8's were probably okay after all". So, I cast on and got about 7 inches done on the back of the cardi. But, it seemed, well, floppy. So I measured. Yup, you guessed it, my gauge was off by a lot. Let's just say that I am supposed to get 18 stitches over 4 inches and I was getting like, 16. Not good. So to the frog pond I went. New swatch, on 7's again. (Yes, my third swatch, or fourth if you count the back of the sweater...). I washed this one, pinned it out.............perfection. But now, do I even want to re-start this dumb sweater??? We'll see.......

Yay, getting through it!

Hurray, another FO. This is Juliet, from Debbie Bliss's Rialto book. I did in in "beige", although it is actually a sort of stone color. The miles of garter stitch made my eyes cross, but once I got through that, the rest was very fun. Do you like the celtic knot button on there? I am hoping that this will be one of those "wearable" sweaters.

Pebble Beach

Yay, another FO! Doesn't the color remind you of pebbly sand? I did this cute sweater for my LYS, Renaissance Yarns in Kent. It's the Capri sweater from Rowan 43, done in Calmer. I love that stuff, this is my third, no, fourth project using Calmer. Talk about crack for knitters. It knits up like a dream, wears and washes well, sooooo comfy. Blah blah blah, right? Anyway, it just needs to be finished with these womping snaps. Kind of a quirky closure, but I think it'll look fun. Oh, and obviously my ends need to be woven in. There you go. So, now I can move on to my beige wonder, Juliet!

Fair beginnings...

Here is the beginning of my newest project, Juliet from Debbie Bliss's Rialto collection. Found a few people on Ravelry who've done this knit with some mixed reviews. I think I will love the finished product, but the beginning, as you can see, is about a million inches of garter stitch. OK, only 10 inches, but it might as well be the same thing. The gauge is 48 rows to 4 inches. Forty-eight rows to 4 inches, people. That's 12 rows per inch. That is about a million years of beige garter stitch. Okay, now that I've whined, you're looking at 8 inches done already, so I am perservering.

Blue Lagoon

I finished up this little confection this past week. It is a sample for my LYS, Renaissance Yarns. The pattern is the Simple Raglan from Blue Sky Alpacas, done in the new Debble Bliss bamboo blend called Primo. It was a quick easy knit, loads of mindless stockinette, but sometimes that's soothing. The yarn comes in a ton of really fun colors.

New addition....

Here is the new addition to the family.....I've named her Lola. I've wanted one of these for ages, and found a brand new one on e-bay for a great price, so here she is! And here she is modeling my latest FO, the Louisa Harding Muse cardi.

Self Portrait Tuesday

I tried to capture my socks AND the little funky project I was working on, but couldn't quite manage it. So, socks it is. These were actually made for me by my mom, she couldn't remember the yarn, but I love them. This is my standard knitting position: legs up on the coffee table, Ott light over right shoulder. (Could also explain my sciatic nerve irritation on the left side....might have to remedy this somehow......)

Zeroing in

Okay, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with some projects. Here is the nearly complete Muse cardi by Louisa Harding. The first pic is the lace edging pinned on, the second pic is about three hours later. (Not continuously sewing, thankfully!) It just needs the sleeve edging to be done, and a button loop. I am thinking of just doing a couple of rows of garter stitch around the sleeve rather than the 4-5 inch edging the pattern calls for. (Oh, anda the funky little snowman in the first shot? A little sculpture my daughter made......it tickled me, the snowman is on a snowboard, and just a cool little dude. Hmmm, my own muse?)

Guilty

Ok, startitis is getting me. I've finished the snap tape cardi, except for the snap tape, which I've ordered. Meanwhile, I've started this little project with Louisa Harding angora that's been in my stash for an entire year. I've finished the body and sleeves, and am now working on yards of lace edging done in ribbon yarn. It's moving along pretty well, but of course I am dreading the imminent slip-stitching of it all into place. Egads.

Short attention span?

Here are a few works in progress....seems like I am having trouble focusing on one thing at a time. In the back you'll see the Blue Sky alpacas snap tape cardigan. It just needs the collar and the dreaded snap tape applied. On the right is an experiment. I found some GGH Cumba at my LYS Renaissance yarns in a great fiery red color. The trouble is that the pattern in Rebecca mag I was thinking of using asks that the yarn be doubled. It's an alpaca blend, and to me that spells H-O-T. I was able to get gauge using the yarn single, probably because it is a stretchy stitch called "net stitch". Now that I've done that, though, I'm just not sure if it will drape the way I want it to. I'd like to avoid it being too, ahem, clingy. Finally, on the left side is my one FO. It's Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat from IK's holiday gift magazine. I made it out of Cascade Yarns Cash Vero.....love love love it!!

Why do we do it?

Last night I was measuring the sleeve on my latest project, when my 7 y.o. daughter asked "What are you making?" I answered "A sweater". After a pause and an ever-so-subtle wrinkling of her nose she said...."You sure are making a lot of clothes."

Wow, that really hits home. There's been a lot of buzz on the web lately about why we knit, what we knit, do we really wear what we knit. It gave me pause. I do have a lot of sweaters, and many many many of them I do not wear. Maybe the fit isn't just so, or maybe it turned out to be fun to make, but not "fashionable" enough to wear. Some are too warm, others just don't "click". Some, dare I say it, looke "homemade". So what's the answer? I don't really see myself as a shawl person, although undoubtedly I will make one someday. I love making socks....okay, I love the first one, but am a horrible victim of second-sock syndrome. And even socks.....how many thick wool socks can a person jam in their sock drawer? My current idea is to start tackling more complex projects with smaller gauge. That way, the whole shebang takes longer to finish, and quite possibly I'll be happier with the finished garment. On the other hand, is there anything more satisfying than whipping up a larg-ish gauge project in a yummy color, whether you wear it or not?

My current piece of clothing that inspired my daughter's comment is the snap tape cardigan by Blue Sky Alpacas, in their Blue Sky cotton. Squishy, great color, quick to make because of the large gauge. A bit hard on the hands, but otherwise fairly satisfying, especially when my tired brain can't handle anything complex. Is that so wrong?

Happy New Year....at last!

Too bad that I haven't posted since November, but I'm trying to turn over a new leaf (again) for 2008. So here it is, the first FO of 2008!

(Drumroll please........)the Marsan Watchcap from RedLipstick. Nice, huh? I love how this turned out. More importantly, hubby loves it, which is saying something since he isn't exactly, er, a "Hat Guy", know what I mean? I used stash yarn, a basic cashmerino, held with two strands together and knitted on US #7's.

"Take me back.......

Josephine, to that cold and dark December..." Here it is, a finished Josephine. The pattern came from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. I substituted GGH Scarlett for the Karabella yarn they recommended, and was able to get gauge by going from a US size 5 to a US size 3 (!). No problem with drape, however, and I must say I love how this turned out. Too bad I made a Summer top as we are heading into Winter. But I thoroughly enjoyed this knit. The only modification I made was adding onto the cap sleeves; I did two extra rows before starting the short rows, then a total of four extra short rows.

Now on to Christmas gift knitting: I also finished the Elsebeth Lavold vest I was doing for my Dad, I'll post a photo asap. Unfortunately it means that now I'll be heading into scarf-land, which I confess that I loathe. What is it about making a long rectangle that makes my eyes cross? Even when there is a fun stitch pattern, I get to about six inches and then it feels like an unending marathon. Yet I think it still beats second-sock syndrome............

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Josephine Top

So, while I ponder the blue vest, of course it would be unthinkable to let my needles be idle. Here's what I've got cooking next:

It's the beginning of the Josephine Top from IK Summer 2007. Yup, it's no longer Summer. Seems like my knitting goes like that. But I've been eyeing this one for a while, so there. Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Unblocked, of course. I'm doing this in GGH Scarlett, a sheen-y mercerised cotton. It's very, well, mercerised cotton-like. That is to say, the drape is lovely, the sheen pretty, but the knitting itself? Well....let's just say that it's cotton, you know? Not springy or forgiving, and very splitty, which is driving me bonkers. Nevertheless, I love how it's looking knitted up, so on I go!

New goods...

I thought I'd spare you the pictures of navy blue vest pieces blocking. At least the pieces are done; once they're dry, I'll assemble them, then (yuck) the button band needs to be knit on. I say "yuck" because I hate the process of figuring out button holes. Anyone have any great ideas about this? I am sure for the mathematically minded, this process is easy, or at least fun in some sort of way?

Instead, I'm including a picture of my latest inspiration, Veronik Avery's "Knitting Classic Style". Did I mention that I am a horrible book junkie? It mean, it's bad. So of course, I ordered this hot off the press. There are a few interesting designs in here that I could be inspired to make, like the knitted "Military Jacket", and the "Layered Skater's Top" done in kid silk haze.

Pieces

So, here are the first 3 and 1/4 pieces of my Dad's vest. See the weird little tailey thingey at the very top of the front piece? That's an extra bit of cabling that will eventually wrap around the back neck. I've started on the second front, hoping to burn through this. You know, this knit hasn't been bad or anything, I mean, the Classic Al has been fine to work with, and the gauge is big enough to cook along....hmmmm.......why am I qualifying? It's just that, apparently, knitting a plain dark blue man's vest isn't inspiring me. Yes, it's for my dad. Yes, it's the first man's garment I've done. Yes, it has a lovely motive sprinkled throughout....OK, go ahead, call me selfish. I want color. I want something.....stylish. I want....something for me?! Maybe I just want to get back to working on my enormous queue of knitting projects. And, as a tease, I've received a new book in the mail......

Back to School

It's back to school time, if ya'll haven't noticed. At my house, this means it's been kind of a crazy, emotional week. For me, mind you. My "oldest" has just started first grade. First time going to a "big school", first time on a "big bus", first time away from home ALL day. How is it going? So far so good. I guess. I miss her, you know? Of course, I have my "youngest" at home with me still. He started preschool yesterday. First time away from home AT ALL. He did fantastic, of course. Me? Well, it seems quiet, yet busier, if that's possible. This whole getting to the bus on time, making lunches everyday, planning for homework, extra-curricular activies, etc. etc.

I feel like I've entered the school-age-kid-mommy club. Not sure how I feel about it. Of course, I had my eyebrows waxed yesterday without it being an act of Congress to organize a babysitter for a loust 15 minute treatment. So there. The dawn of a new age.

Knitting?? Duh, hopefully I'll be able to squeeze time in for that again soon......

Next Up

I have never knit anything for a man. My husband claims that sweaters are "too hot". Thank goodness, because he is 6'3", 220 lbs. I don't really want to knit anything that size, so it alleviates any knitting guilt. But Christmas is coming, and I thought it might be nice to make my dear old dad something. So, here it is, the beginning of a vest. The pattern comes from Elsebeth Levold, viking knits book 9. I'm doing it in her Classic Al reather than pure cashmere, for obvious reasons. It seems to be moving right along and again: no sleeves~!! The actual color is midnight blue. If I can pump this thing out, I can start diving into my loooong list of things I am DYING to start. Stay focused, stay focused.....

FO alert

Okay, drumroll please....I have two finished objects to show off.

OK, on the top is the first one. I finished this at the end of Spring, but am just now showing it off. This is Femme Fatale from Alchemy Yarns. I did it in Alchemy Haiku and edged it with their Bamboo yarn. I LOVE this sweater. It is light as air, but warm, and just flows. And the colors are divine. The only mods I made were shortening the total lenght by a couple of inches, and the length of the sleeves by...wait for it...3.5 inches!!! Mohair, as you all may or may not know, is notorious for stretching. So I way shortened the sleeves so that I didn't look like a gorilla after wearing it once or twice. Otherwise, I loved this knit. it was also my first time using Bryspun needles, which were great with the thin mohair/silk blend.

Next is the sort of "Fair Isle" number I've been working on from that Knit 2 Together book by Tracey Ullmann and Mel Clark. The photo is crap, I see now, my apologies for the Hub's picture taking. But hopefully you get the gist....don't know if I'll actually wear this thing or not, but it was a fun project. I had to block the you know what out of it, and it seems to have settled down...