Monday, May 09, 2011

Yes, I Still Hand Knit

I was wondering today, have I showed you any handknitting lately?  There was the dropped stitch in the black socks, but that's not new knitting.  I showed new yarn and needles.  I showed that I finally sewed buttons on a baby sweater and made a little hat for it.  I showed that I finished off some other baby items that were just needing minor work.  But it's been two months since I showed the "Fumbling Fleegle Socks" (and I think I finished them in February actually).  Wow.  What have I been doing?!

Before finishing all the baby stuff in February, I was having post-Christmas letdown, I think.  I had finished all the 'interesting' stuff, and all that was left was some uninteresting stuff to finish--like the baby items.  There were MANY projects I wanted to knit, but trying to find the right yarn for the right pattern was feeling overwhelming.  I was keeping busy with the new knitting machine, and then a big project on the LK150, but I knew I had to have handknitting too!  I started a pair of Cookie A. socks (Stricken Socks) but quickly realized I need the chart with me for awhile until I got into the rhythm.  Then it became portable, but fairly soon an even more complicated section started, relegating it to the couch project again.

I also started a baby sweater or dress.  I have a LOT of vintage patterns that all seem to take fingering/baby yarn (a few take DK).  I always think that maybe I'll knit up some, perhaps using DK or worsted, so they're a little bigger.  The yarn I wanted to use this time is a light worsted (what I used for the machine knit baby  cocoon), and although I didn't want newborn size, it seemed every pattern I liked was already for a bigger size, which meant, when knit in worsted, would be quite large.  I finally picked one but after a few repeats of the pattern, I still was not getting into it, and I couldn't even tell if I had been knitting it right!  Ripped it back to the band, and picked an easy pattern from a stitch dictionary.  It's my "purse" project right now, although the ball of yarn and the size of the sweater does make it bulky, LOL.

And lastly, my other current project is Omelet, from the lasted knittty.com.  It was a total impulse cast on, although I had been wanting to knit a shawl for awhile.  I decided to use a cone of mossy green yarn, quite fine.  I had previously wound (is the past tense of "wind" ("why-nd", not "win-d") wound...the same as "woo-nd, or injury?  English is so weird sometimes!)  off a ball, so I didn't have to knit directly from the cone, although I was looking forward to having only 4 ends to weave in.  However....twice now (still using the small ball), I've found the yarn broken :(   It's not a soft, squishy yarn (although I think it will wash up a bit better than it is now).  I felt that this pattern, due to the small motif, needed a solid colour yarn, and my choices were fairly limited--some off white, some black, grey, and some other coned yarns.  However, I sort of wish I had chosen a thicker yarn as I think this is going to take forever!  Luckily, although it's not a fuzzy, squishy, warm, wool, the colour seems more autunmy than summery, LOL.  I still want another summer shawl, so I might do it on a machine, LOL.  The shawl started as a couch project, but now that it's grown, I can do the right side rows on the couch, and then take it with me and do the purl row while Meg has her swimming  lesson/skating lesson, etc.

I'd still like some brainless sock knitting, however, I always feel that brainless socks can be so easilly knit on the machine that there's no point doing them by hand, LOL.  I have more of the Kroy Stretch, and I'm not sure how the machine would handle it, so maybe I should cast on for another pair of socks with that.  I really like the first pair I did.  Any other ideas?

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