Cozy Sweater on the LK150

 I don't wear sweaters a lot anymore--mainly cardigans--but I still like a cozy sweater. After the successful crochet sweater, I decided to take its measurements and make a sweater on the LK150, using some Paton's "Lace" that I had been hoarding for quite a while. First step was to swatch.

I decided on T4, 21st and 29 rows for four inches (5.25st, 7.25rows per inch) for the body, and T7 for the sleeves, 16sts and 22 rows for 4" (4st, 5.5 rows per inch). I liked the idea of looser gauge on the sleeves, to maybe help not get too hot. I didn't want the body too sheer so I can wear it to work.

Here is what I did. It didn't work out entirely, but this was my starting point and I'll get to the issues after.

Back:

Cast on 116 for the back, using waste yarn. 

Over 58 rows, decreased 5 sts on both edge:  every 10th row, dec 1 each edge; on 58th row, dec 1 each edge. 

On rows 66, 76, 68, 96, 106 and 111 (?) (so, you actually do the decrease on the row before, then knit the row to complete the decrease). Knit 1 row RC 112.

Cast off 5 sts on each edge for underarm.

Knit 47 rows. 

Take off centre 30sts for neck. Knit 12 rows on either side of the neck, decreasing 4 sts on neck edge over those 12 rows.  There should be 34 sts for each shoulder.

Short row two times for each shoulder (1/2 the stitches each time). Take off each shoulder on waste yarn.

Front:

Cast on 120st with waste yarn. Knit 1 row with main yarn.

Short row to add 1" (8 rows): notes are confusing, but it seems to be 3sts on each side for 7 times (maybe 4 on the first short row, then 3).

Reset RC000.

Decrease each edge every 10th row (do the decrease on rows ending with 9), and then row 58. 

Starting on row 66, increase on both edge, as for back. At same time: 

On RC80: short row as on the bottom. 

Between Rows 84 and 107 (keep doing the edge increases), decrease at midpoint of each side of centre, every 4th row.

On row 107, start neck decreases:

Decrease 19st each edge over 43 rows (aprox 1 stitch each side every other row).

At same time: when RC112, cast off 5 stitches at each edge for armhole.

Knit straight after neck decreases for 22 rows. There should be 34sts for each shoulder. Short row as for back. 

Sleeve:

T7, cast on 44sts with waste yarn.

Increase each edge every 10th row for 4 increases, then every 6th row for 8 increases. There should be 68sts. 

Knit to RC99 and cast off with waste yarn. 

When I took the front of the machine, I thought the neckline was huge. Putting it up against me, and it looked scandalous. I considered knitting a lace panel, like the crochet sweater, then remembered I had some lace in the light brown that I could sew in. I decided to wait until it had rested and assembled all the pieces for a more accurate look at the fit.

The sweater was too long. Way too long. I removed the waste yarn, and unravelled the bottom short rows on the front. This is NOT easy to do as it doesn't unravel the same as it does from the top. 

I cast off loosely, after unravelling two rows stitch by stitch and putting it on needles, to make sure it was all the same row. Then I counted up 8 or 10 rows, and used a blocking wire to mark that row. Then I pinned down the cast off row, and loosely stitched it to the front body. I also did this for the back. It didn't have short rows, but I needed to equal it up to the front piece.

Tip--steam well, but take the blocking wire out first! I didn't do that one time when I was doing a custom Christmas stocking, and it heated up the wire and it left a mark on the yarn.

I grafted the shoulders and examined the neck. The back neck was too low! It was weird! I grabbed a pair of needles I had nearby, picked up the stitches at the bottom edge, and knit a panel, attaching at the sides as I knit upwards. I didn't go all the way to the shoulders. I do think the needles were a smidge on the small size, but really, my hair will usually cover this.

The front neck was next. It wasn't as bad once the shoulders were attached. I had liked how the edges were sort of self-edged, slightly curled under from the decreases. I decided a small ribbed band would help snug it up and fill in the bit that was a bit low.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a centre stitch to match up with the centre knit column of ribbing. I thought I might go back and snug up the stitches on the right to try to make it look more centred. I haven't yet.

This was enough to finish the neckline perfectly!

I grafted the sleeves on next.

Take your time, and ensure you are attaching at the same point. See the nice column of knit stitches on the body? A full stitch.

I hadn't decided what to do with the sleeve hems. They were a bit long, but I just cast off loosely. I thought I might hem them, but I was done. I wore it to work, just to see how it would act. The sleeves did roll a bit, but they weren't too long, and I could push them up easily.

I dressed it up with some faux leather pants I haven't been able to wear for a long time, for a night to the big city and the symphony for Rob's birthday. It was very warm!

It was nice and cozy at work, though a little warm when we were active!!

Perfect neckline, school appropriate!!

Waiting for Lucy in the lobby of her office building. 

Obviously, this pattern isn't finished, but I think I have enough info to use some more Paton's "Lace" that I have. Knitting the pieces was quick although I spread it out over four days during March Break. It did take me a bit of time to assemble, but it still wasn't too bad, as I wore it to work on April 9. Now, do I do the next one now, or wait until the fall?

I'll be putting together a video of this sweater, in particular, the hem fixes. Another "how not to ...." type video LOL.

There was a LOT of waste yarn I unraveled from the sweater--not the waste yarn to cast on and off, but the parts of the sweater I unraveled. I didn't weigh all that, but I rounded up the total for the sweater.

Yarn In: 500gr

Yarn Out:200gr + 2543gr = 2743gr

Balance:  2243gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $15.81

Mellow Yellow Chunky Ribbed Beanie

 I went digging in my stash, and pulled out some possible yarns for more hats. I found a bag of Bernat "Haven" in buttery yellow. I also found a thin bright yellow mohair, and a soft off white mohair. I went with the soft white. 

You can barely see the off white mohair. I thought it might soften the yellow even more, but I don't think so. I'm not sure what would happen with the bright yellow. I think I will save the rest of the "Haven" for a small blanket for charity. 

Have you checked out my refreshed YouTube channel? I'd really appreciate it! Just click the link!

Yarn In: 800gr

Yarn Out: 3595gr + 87gr = 3682gr

Balance:  2882gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $29.37

Don't Give Up

 Last summer, I wrote about making some t-shirts, and struggling. Partly with fabric choice, partly with not acknowledging I might have grown a bit. Since then, I grew even more. 

At the end of January, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. It didn't come as a surprise.  I'd been in the pre-pre category for awhile, and I had gotten lazy with diet. I cracked down, and this time Rob was more supportive, and it helped that the family is smaller now. 

I've lost about 20lb now and now, those t-shirts fit! I wore this one on April Fool's Day.

Can you guess who took the photo? LOL. 

I didn't even take a photo back when I made it. 

I'm glad I didn't donate it. However, the dresses I made in the late summer/fall will now be too big! And I really liked them!

World AIDS Day Scarves #3 and #4

 It's been a month (in more ways that one), so time to update on the red scarves.

Crocheted from the yarn of the sweater I unraveled:

I'm not sure what happened, but I discovered one end was wider than the other! That's not like me, though sometimes I do struggle with losing a stitch on the edges when doing double crochet. I'm just going to say this is a design feature.

This one weighs 70gr.

To try to not have whatever happened before, happen again, I ribbed this one, on 8mm needles. It's the same yarn and weighs 74gr. 

I'm not doing too well with making more than last year. At this rate, I'll have 10-11 scarves. I need to get cracking!

Have you checked out my YouTube channel yet? I'm working on the next video!

Yarn In: 800gr

Yarn Out: 3453gr + 142gr = 3595gr

Balance:  2795gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $29.37

I'm Sorry....More Ribbed Beanies!

 I think I am done with ribbed beanies for now. The total was 13. I need to get more red scarves done, and I bought a crochet afghan kit for a special gift. Turns out it's a type of crochet I've never done before! Yikes. 

This is a vintage yarn, "Giselle" by.... Sears! Yes. It has a very subtle colour change from light blue to light green to white. So subtle, it's hard to see except in bright light. This weighed in at 68gr. 

This is one strand of Sirdar Panorama. It's DK, 100% wool, along with a strand of worsted weight beige. It also has subtle colour phasing from rosy to green to just beige. I used it for a sideways knit jacket on my LK150...that I never wear. I actually washed this hat, hoping for the yarn to bloom up a bit. It didn't really. I think I may have used 7mm needles. It weighs 61gr.

This is a yarn that I got from buying something at a thrift store and unravelling. I liked the thick and thin textures, and it has a metallic strand in it. I love teal. It made a really interesting texture. I had enough for two hats. 

One was 81gr and one was 79 grams.

This one is one strand pink (from the very first hat I made in this series) and one strand grey. It will be featured in my next YouTube video but i haven't gotten it ready to post yet. This is a dense hat, weighing in at 154grams.

Here's all 13! They've been a great way to chill out on drives, sort of a fiber cleansing between larger projects.  This afghan I'm working on will NOT be a portable project, so for awhile I'll work on red scarves (Oh, I bought some more red yarn...must include that! 300gr of Premier "Basix DK", for $13.56).

Yarn In: 500gr + 300gr = 800gr

Yarn Out: 443gr + 3,010gr = 3453gr

Balance:  2653gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $29.37

Rob just came in the room and I told him I spent less than $30 on yarn this year. He said he didn't believe it...and asked how much the afghan kit was LOL.  Ooops. I'll do that in another post. 

Handknit Socks

 About two weeks before Christmas, I asked my middle daughter, Lucy, what we should get her boyfriend for Christmas. She mentioned wool socks, because he was working outdoors and complaining his feet were cold. Since we knew I couldn't handknit a pair of socks in two weeks, we opted to get some store bought wool socks of various styles, and to wrap up the socks in progress. Apparently, his first knitted gift was also a wrapped up work in progress (hat and mitts, a couple years ago). 

I picked out this dark green from my stash. According to this blog, I bought it at the last Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair that I went to, in 2008. I didn't know at that time that I wouldn't be living in the area by the next show, so it was a good thing I went, AND bought yarn. This yarn was from the Boo-Boo Bin at Sweet Sheep. I can't find any indication they are still in existence. Although still on Ravelry, the links don't work. This yarn had obvious flecks of a bright green from where the skein ties were too tight. It was only $6. I didn't realize until I got into the socks that it was basically a two tone stripe! Bonus.

The project followed me around for 3 months. It was just a simple 2x2 rib. I actually used ChatGPT to help give me the stitch and heel counts this time, and it worked out. 

I washed them up, and the soak water, and the rinse water were both very green. I hope he didn't have green feet after wearing them! I finished them March 11 so he could wear them to the Toronto Zoo on March 13, when we were expecting another snowstorm.

See the striping? Cool! I didn't even notice that when the yarn was skeined.

There's not really much more to show. I used grey for the heels and toes in case he wears them out, it will be easy to replace. They were knitted top down, two at a time on Magic Loop. I was working on them while waiting for a doctor's appointment, and a more senior lady asked me what I was knitting. She knew about Magic Loop, but not two at a time. She was really impressed. It looks impressive when you're working on them, but I have to admit, I still have a hard time starting and will usually start them separately and then put onto one circular needle once I'm sure it's going okay. These socks took 94gr so I do have a small bit of the green left.

Yarn In: 500gr

Yarn Out: 94gr + 2916gr = 3,010

Balance:  2510 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $15.81

Ball Winders I've Accumulated over 25 Years

 I used the search function on my blog (top left corner on desktop version) to look up if I had any posts about my ball winders. I did! https://tracykm.blogspot.com/search?q=ball+winder It seems my beloved German one, I bought in 2004. Okay, should I retitle this blog post? 

I posted a video on YouTube about my three ball winders. I said I would post about how I ended up with the last winder. 

In late January, when I was looking for new crochet channels to watch, I came across a few channels reviewing a Caydo rechargeable yarn winder. One of these channels was Knotty Bear Crochet.  He had just gotten the winder given to him, and he was also in Ontario. I decided to go ahead and order one, using a code from another YouTube channel, for a discount. They were on sale (pre-discount) for about $95Cdn.

About a week after I placed my order, I was thinking I should have a shipping notice or something. I looked on the Shop app and it quickly flashed up as in transit, then it changed to "awaiting information" and then something about arriving in September. WHAT?

I emailed Caydo. They responded saying it was out of stock in Canada, and "would not be available." Basically, none of the models were available. They said they could refund me. It was phrased like "if you want it, we'll refund you". Of course I wanted a refund. They suggested I buy it through their Amazon store. I took a look, and it would cost me $16 more. I was annoyed. I asked why I could buy it through there, but not on their website, which listed them as available. They responded that websites take a bit of time to update, but they can't move items from their Amazon store to their website. 

Not feeling the love anymore, I opted  to just order a different brand. I couldn't find one that was rechargeable (for a comparable price), so I pretty much just picked one that had good reviews, the description said it was an upgraded German motor. 

It came, and gosh, it feels so cheap. It's so light. The instructions had some translation issues. 

You only need to be three years old to use this winder!! Click on images for bigger views.

I've been using it. It's okay. I saved about $30 by not getting a rechargeable one, but I wish the cord was longer. 

I still have a fondness for my little $1 German winder. They just don't make them like they used to!