Finally photos

I finished this sweater soon after Christmas and my husband has been wearing it, but between dreary days and him being out of town, I have not had a chance to get a good photo.

Project Specs
Pattern: Chess Sweater
Pattern Source: Hanne Falkenberg kit
Yarn: #2 Shetland by Hanne Falkenberg, colors Aubergine and coffee
Needles: US 2
Date Started: 8/15/10
Date Finished: 12/28/11
Finished Dimensions: Size Men’s large

And I have been working on my mittens, I think that I need to reverse the colors, as it is not detailing well.  I thought with windows and doors being light, it would look like nighttime with the lights on.  I don’t think so.  All of the other patterns knit up on Ravelry have followed the chart.  So much for being a maverick, ripping back again.  This time just to the cuff.

Pink Baby

I have finished all of the main knitting for my newest baby sweater.  I love the colors, and this was very fun to knit.  The lower part of the body and the sleeves consist of lots of plain stockinette, all done in the round so just knit, knit, knit.  It was a good project when I did not want to focus on details.

The yoke went quickly, in spite of a couple of decrease mistakes and color mistakes that I had to rip out.   Whenever you attach the sleeves in this manner, the first few rows at the junctions are tight.  I prefer a yoked cardigan for babies, as there is not the bulk at the shoulders, and seem to fit better.  The beauty of knitting this way is that I only now have to sew and cut the steek (still a bit of a frightening process), and knit the front band.  The neck ribbing was called for with a double over material.  I felt that would be too thick, so chose to do a 1×1 ribbing with a tubular cast-off.   The front band is doubled over, but that serves to also cover up the cut steek.

When knitting the yoke, the first couple of major rounds of decreases divided nice and evenly around the body.  then it started to get more complicated.  I am a bit of a nut, in that everything needs to be balanced out nicely.  Decreases starting and ending equal number of stitches from the front band, and being spread out evenly throughout the body.  Here are the patterns that I had to use to get my decreases, I tried to find a mathematical program that would solve this, but it is beyond me.  I have given that task to my son, these I did by writing out the pattern.  I found how many even number of stitches went into a decrease row, and how many remaining stitches there were.  Then, I balanced out the extra decreases over a pattern in the yoke.  Here are my last 4 decrease patterns (each number includes the number of stitches knit + the 2 that are knit together; i.e 7= K5, K2tog — in effect 1 st less).

(7,7,6) 12 times

(5,4,5,5,4,5,5,4,5,5,4) 4 times

(4,4,4,3,4,4,4,4,3,4,4,4,4,3,4,4,4,4,3,4,4) 2 times

(3,3,2,3,3,3,3,2,3,3,3,3,2,3,3,3,3,2,3,3,3) 2 times

I am writing these down here for posterity so that I do not have to recalculate these again.  Hoping for that program Ethan…

Almost, but not Quite

I had originally decided that this Christmas was to be hand-knitted gift-free.  No undue stress on me to finish a project just to have it under the tree.  My family would be the recipients of my knitting anyways, Holiday or not.  Then I started putting together the gifts, and as usual my husband’s list was extremely short.  So, I pulled out this sweater, the knitting had been finished for at least a year, maybe two.  Just goes to show how much I hate the sewing up process.  So, while he was picking Ethan up from school, and Sofia was here helping bake, I seamed the sweater together:

Then all I had to do was the collar, which as usual took longer than planned.  This is the Chess sweater, a kit by Hanne Falkenberg, and a ton of knitting with size 2 needles.  This is as far as I got, it was put in a box with the needles still attached.  Hopefully this will get finished today.

Since his stocking was also on the light side, I decided that I needed to put in a pair of socks.  I had been working on these from the CookieA sock club, the pattern is Hex Socks.  The first one I started 4 times, Medium, then Large, then Small, then back to Medium.  The yarn is from Fleece Artist and it is Sea Wool (70% Merino, and 30% Seacell), a bit thicker knitted up than I usually like for my socks.

I was wondering what exactly Seacell was, so I looked it up, and here is the description of the fiber actually made with seaweed:

The idea behind SeaCell^® is really rather simple: a cellulose-based fiber is manufactured using the so-called Lyocell process. This Lyocell fiber then serves as the “functioning substrate” for the seaweed.  Seaweed is added as the active substance for a very good reason. The fact that this marine plant is rich in trace elements has been well known since the times of Chinese medicine, and seaweed has also been proved to protect the skin and have anti-inflammatory properties. It is seaweed which forms the basis of the SeaCell^® fiber.

So, I put one sock in the stocking, and kept working on the second.  Then, I burned my hand twice in the oven while cooking yesterday, so I had to soak my fingers on ice, knit a partial round on the sock, soak my fingers, knit a bit, etc.  Not the most productive.  Today I am better, and hope to get these done.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  We did!

Getaway

There is no better place to get away from all the hubub of daily life than a few days on Mackinac Island.

Lots of relaxation, and good food with the family:

Relaxing on the front porch of our hotel gave me ample opportunity for knitting and reading.  I made great progress on my cape, although I have almost run out of yarn.  This was a kit, and was suppose to have enough yarn for the large size.  The yarn is not available for purchase in individual skeins.  I was able to score a ball of yarn from someone on Ravelry who had previously finished a kit.  Like all Hanne patterns, this is a marathon amount of knitting.  Not for someone who detests lots of garter stitch.  Her patterns are very precise, but I find myself rereading them over and over again.  The translations are not very clear.

My Orange Pekoe socks from the CookieA sock club were finished up on the drive home.  The pattern was a very quick knit, and I enjoyed working with the Hazel Knits yarn.

Project Specs
Pattern: Orange Pekoe Socks
Pattern Source: CookieA Sock Club; June 2011
Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock Yarn, 400 yards
Needles: US 1 DPN’s
Date Started: 6/25/11
Date Finished: 7/23/11
Finished Dimensions: Size Medium Women’s

PB & J

I love the name of these socks.  For many years in elementary school I would only take PB&J sandwiches.  My mother said I was adamant about nothing else.  Probably had a lot to do with the amazing array of homemade jam that I had to choose from to put on those sandwiches.   I even received the book Bread and Jam for Frances as a gift one year.
I remember it well, as we owned very few books, using the Public Library instead.  I still have a fond affection for that particular sandwich, so was tickled when this pattern came as a club selection with this name.  The color of the yarn is gorgeous also, very reminiscent of a berry jam.

I finally finished these socks on our little trip.  They have been washed, and are being reserved for me, as nobody else would give the proper acknowledgement of how much time went into them each time that they were put on.  They did take quite awhile to finish.  I ended up making the small size, for my 9 1/2 sized foot, which is really crazy.  The test knitter must have been an extremely tight knitter.  Her gauge does not match that of any of the other socks in the CookieA books.  I had no interest in trying all of these cables on size 0 needles, and bending them in the process.

Pattern: PB & J
Pattern Source: CookieA sock club, April 2011 pattern
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Sock Yarn; new type with Outlast, custom color
Needles: US 1 dpn’s
Date Started: 4/3/11
Date Finished: 5/26/11
Finished Dimensions: Directions for the small size, ended up being a Large

T he color is much more accurate in this photo, also shows the meandering cables along the side of the sock.

Now, off to the Farmer’s Market to get some Rhubarb, Raspberries and Strawberries.  It is jam making weekend.

Spinning and Knitting

Still working on my second PB&J sock from the CookieA sock club.  The pattern has 2 different columns of twisted rib stitches that travel down the leg and cross over each other.  One side, the Jelly side I assume, with squiggles, looks the same on both socks.  The angled traveling stitch pattern, the peanut butter, looks very different form one sock to the other.  I started with the left sock first (got all my papers mixed up).  And am now on the right sock, which most people started with first.  I understand the desire to mirror image these socks, but it just does not work with the angled pattern.  There is a very different effect with the twisted stitch traveling to the right versus the left.

The sock on the right was my first sock (the left foot according to the pattern), and I am working on the opposite foot (left in the photo below).  The curvy pattern looks fine from both, but the angled pattern is very different.  I showed it to my knitting group last night, and the comment was that they do not even look like the same stitch.  I prefer the left hand photo, others liked the right.  Hard to tell from the photos in the pattern if the test knitter had the same issues.  Clearly much more stitch definition in the sock on the left.

On the spinning front, I finished plying and washing my 3ply Louet yarn.  I am not real pleased with the pastel colors, they got very washed out and muted.  I got 400 yards of a 3 ply out of 8 oz. of pencil roving.

No Deadbud any more

Over 10 years ago, we planted a Redbud in our front yard.  I love the beautiful pink flowers that run the length of each branch in the spring.  I was so excited the next year, waiting to see all of those gorgeous blossoms.  Only leaves the first year, a couple of buds the second (and by that I literally mean 2 or 3 clusters).  By the 4th year I was very frustrated, called arborists and tree clinics. My husband joked that they thought we said “deadbud” not Redbud when we bought the tree, and we not-so-affectionately called it the Deadbud tree.  I was told that the tree probably had some fungus known to the Redbud, break off a branch and you will see dark circles inside. Nope.  Finally, I think that I got the correct answer.  The tree was planted in an area where the stump of a huge cottonwood tree had been.  We had removed the stump (the tree’s demise predated our arrival), and waited a couple of years before planting a tree. Mushrooms would pop up in the area every spring.  I do believe the correct call was that the acidity of the soil was preventing the tree from blooming.  Mushrooms have faded away, and each year there were a few more blossoms.  This year, it was finally the whole tree in bloom.  I was elated.

And I finally finished the first of my PB&J socks.  The pattern was tedious, but I finally got in the groove, and I think that the second sock will go much better. I ended up making the size Small, which is crazy since I wear a 9 1/2 shoe.  The test knitter had to be one of the tightest knitters around.  I could have gone down to size 0 needles, but I did not really want to do that, and I still would have made only the size Medium.  I think that this pattern would be difficult to execute for a tiny foot.  I love the way it turned out, except for the K2tog every 6th row.  It has a lumpy jog that I am not happy with.  The mirror SSK decrease is quite smooth.   The yarn has Outlast in it, a phase change material which is supposed to help both cooling and warming your foot.  But it is 90 degrees today, so I don’t think even that would help me to want a pair of socks on my feet. On to the mate:

Socks for Dan

I received this yarn from my first installment of the CookieA sock club.  It is String Theory sock yarn.

I wasn’t wowed by the colors, but set about knitting up the pattern included.  The yarn is incredibly soft, and I love the subtle color changes.  This is a mix of greens and browns (although some of the photos of others from the sock club have a more blue-green hue to them).   While I was working on the first sock, before I had determined the calf length, my husband commented to me on what beautiful colors those were.  Now mind you, he is extremely supportive of my fiber addiction, goes to yarn shops and festivals with me, and encourages me in all my knitting and spinning pursuits, but he usually gives no comment about colors or yarns.  So, problem of my not loving the color solved!  I asked him if he would wear the socks with the cable panel down the front, and he enthusiastically answered yes.  So, I extended the calf length a bit and made the Haleakala without the traveling rib.  The yarn is knitting up incredibly soft, most likely due to the cashmere content.  There are occasional small slubs on the yarn, but they are easily pulled off.  I am almost finished with the second sock on which I reversed the center cable here to the back, not noticeable by most.  I am waiting for the next club shipment to arrive (I have already peaked at the spoilers, and am very excited about those socks), and should have these complete in time.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Manning surprised me at SnB on Monday with this beautiful roving, aptly called “Lady of the Lake” that she got while at a sheep farm in Wisconsin.  I can’t remember the sheep breed, help Manning?  Love the colors, and I will get back to spinning shortly.

Back to 2009

I am returning to a sweater that I started in August of 2009, made good progress, and then put away in early September 2009.  It is Solveig Hisdal’s Brocade Leaves Cardigan.  If you are new to reading my blog, you will not remember this sweater.  I am not sure why I put this away, it was not like I was mad at it or anything.  And I love the colors and the design.  I think that I was just having knitting ADHD—there were some new socks that I saw on Ravelry, and I also had just purchase Grace Anna Farrow’s then new book The Fine Line, and was distracted by that; and mittens and lap blankets.  You get the picture.

So, I am back to finishing up the first sleeve, the body is part-way done, and the cuff of the second sleeve is completed also.  I am waiting to see if I have enough yarn to make the body longer.  The colors are gorgeous to work with on these dreary January days.

Spider socks

I finished these spider socks a couple of days ago.  I am not sure if I am keeping them for myself, or giving them away.  I made them with Malabrigo sock yarn, color Leaf.  I really like this yarn, it has great colors, is the fine gauge that I love, and knits up beautifully.

I really like the gusset increases at the bottom of the foot.  I am, however, still not a fan of the toe-up sock.  I find it much more difficult to calculate the desired foot length, and even when done, it never seems to be exactly right.  The only advantage that I see is that you can knit the leg of the sock until you run out of yarn.  Hope you can make out the gussets between the photo above, and this one:

It was really hard to photograph these myself.  This is why I need sock blockers (or a foot mannequin)!  I should have put them on my Christmas list: