Yearly Comparisons

I think it's about time to do the yearly comparison recap post. How many years have I been keeping track of my yarn use? Let's find out!

Oh man. I thought I had more years with negative yarn addition to the stash! So close last year!

Note--I just realized that I never blogged about a shawl I made in 2016. I posted it on Instagram, but never got around to blogging about it! So I'm altering my 2016 totals to account for it. The great news is that it turned 2016 from an "added yarn" to "used up yarn" year!

                    2016                     2015                      2014                           2013                            2012
Yarn In:    11 223gr                 9 989gr                 10 076                        16 153                         21 096
Yarn Out:  11 260gr                9 272gr                  8 061                         16 805                         16 849
Balance:           37gr -               717gr +               2 015gr +                       625gr -                   4 247gr+
Costs:         $507.27                 $430.10               $511.49                     $378.91                        $524.43

Five Year Totals 
Yarn In:       68 537gr
Yarn Out:     62 247gr
Balance:         6 290gr
Costs:        $2 352.20

Averages: 
Yarn In:     13 707gr
Yarn Out:  12 449gr
Balance:      1 258gr +
Costs:       $470.44



This is so fascinating. I was so close to not having a positive yarn in for 2016. If I had gotten a couple things done before New Year's, then I would have.   I reached the negative balance but didn't even know it because I forgot to blog about a shawl. A measly 67gr shawl. The first year I did this, I was not thinking very much about the yarn I bought. If it was a "good deal" then I bought it. Then my finances changed, and I started my little business. I tried to use up yarn as much as I could but it got harder and harder because clients had specific requests. Also, in those first two years (can't remember which one) I got a large donation of yarn from my MIL. I did re-donate much of it, so that's why my Out totals were high. I had tried to keep donations separate, but gave up. My costs didn't really vary too much. I can't believe though that I managed to ADD 6kg of yarn to my stash over 5 years! It adds up! I did pull out some to donate/sell, but it's so hard to cull through the stash. And of course, my box of  "In Stock" items has grown. No one wants to buy my in stock items!! There's some good stuff in there! I don't understand. Anyway. I highly encourage anyone who uses yarn to try this for the year. Note--I did not include purchases of patterns, dyes, needles, stuffing, etc. Just yarn.

Teddy Bear

I got a request for a custom teddy bear hat, that was urgent. Of course, I didn't know just how urgent until after I gave my quote. And then the photographer wasn't able to pick up and use right away anyway. But oh well, it was nice to have a little project to focus on.  I use some "Soft'Hair" that I had bought many years ago for a sweater. That project had been quite a challenge--the lace was worked on both sides of the knitting! I tried to tailor the sweater a bit because it was an oversized '90s pattern. I was nearly done and it got packed up and put away--I don't know why. A move? A pregnancy? Every time I'd see it, I'd think, what was I thinking--a worsted weight mohair sweater in ivory?! It was somewhat itchy and I could not imagine wearing it next to my skin. Then I needed the needles for something...

I agreed to the order before thinking of how to make it. My first thought was the pixie style hat, but I didn't want the point. While laying in bed, I thought maybe I could eliminate the point by short rowing like a sock.  My first attempt was a little too wedge like. I needed more stitches left out of work in the middle.  I don't see an easy way to download the picture from Instagram, so just go check it out

Or give me another minute and here it is:

I like those little ears, but that's not what I was going for this time. Maybe another time.

I love the end result. I can't believe how much it looks like the inspiration photo, though that photo doesn't show the back shaping, so I don't really know. From the front though, it's awesome. 

Is that not awesome? I'd love to make more!


Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out: 27gr + 1264gr = 1291g
Balance: 251gr more bought than used
Costs:  $37.91/54days = $0.70 per day

Mermaid!

Last summer my niece asked me for a mermaid blanket. They're not that cheap to make in adult sizes but I considered it. I don't make a lot for her, and now that she's 18, she's kind of out of the regular gift giving stage. Plus, we just don't see that family much. Even though it was more than I would usually spend, I didn't have much else going on so I figured I might as well. She asked for purple and red. Ummm. Okay. I shopped around and really couldn't find much in a purple and red, and I was not going to do stripes (she did ask for thick and cozy). I did find this yarn, it's "Loops & Thread" Country Loom, in, I think "Kiss Me" which is red with hints of pink and purple, "Tapestry" (the purple) and Solarium (the green).

 The pictures are SO bad. It's not maroon at ALL. Take a look on Ravelry. I'm not really happy how I blended from red to purple. I don't think I spread it out long enough. But after many attempts at getting a nice gauge and fabric and size....I was ready for this to be over.

How can the green and purple be right, but not the red? Again, a smaller tail. I know I should do them bigger, but they just get heavy and weigh down the blanket, and eat yarn like crazy.

Rumour has it my niece loves it. I've yet to hear it from her, or anyone in her family (I did put on the card that they are to share it!). It didn't make it for Christmas, but that's okay, right? For the sake of my yarn totals, it would have been nice to have it count last year (716gr), but it puts my totals in a good balance for now :)

Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out: 716gr + 548gr = 1264gr
Balance: 278gr more bought than used
Costs:  $37.91/52 days = $0.73 per day

Newfie Mitts

There is some debate on the name of these mittens. Many call them Newfie, or Newfoundland Mitts. Others call thrummed mitts, Newfie mitts. Some call these "bubble knit" or honeycomb. No matter what it is, I have had this particular pattern printed out since 2008. It was time. I wanted more "unisex" mittens for the kindie kids. These yarns are a littler thinner, but I figured this texture would be good. I used an appropriate number of stitches and needle size to get the size I wanted. I was aiming for more of a size 6 since many of the mittens are too small for bigger kids. They ended up a little smaller, and since washing, well...they're a small 4, I think.

The pattern was pretty easy. HOWEVER. Reading the pattern was not. First up, you're working in rounds, not rows. Once you get into the patterned part, you are NOT slipping two with A. You just leave A at the beginning of the round, yarn at the back. You slip those stitches that had been knit with A, but for the five rows you work with B, the other yarn is just hanging out at the start of the round.  This is talked about in the comments, but I wish she would change the pattern!!!

Some kids have commented that the thumb is too small/tight. I'll comment more about that when I post the next pair I made from this pattern. Despite the poor pattern writing, I still recommend these mittens. As I said, I'll write more on the next pair because I did do some adjusting to the thumb. Sure, these have been knit for generations just like they are...but in my True Tracy Way, I had to make adjustments! 

Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out:  38gr + 510gr = 548gr
Balance: 994gr more BOUGHT than used
Costs:  $37.91/45 days = $0.84 per day

Messy Bun!

Just before Christmas, a picture of a woman wearing a messy bun hat appeared on Facebook. Overnight, it was a viral hit and everyone wanted one. I posted right away on my page that I could not make any for Christmas, but if anyone was interested, I'd look at it after Christmas. There was still quite a bit of interest.

One woman who had ordered mermaid blankets before Christmas was interested in getting one, in blues and greys. Now, you'd think that would be a common colour combination. The original photo going around was a subdued jewelled multicoloured yarn with what seemed like a slight fuzz/texture. It was likely Red Heart "Unforgettable" or Mary Maxim "Studio" (not enough fuzz) or Mary Maxim "Prism" or LionBrand "Amazing". Of all of these, "Studio" was the only one with a blue grey mix but the picture was tiny, and the yarn didn't seem to have the gentle fuzz.  I couldn't believe that I couldn't find a blue grey mix in a slightly fuzzy worsted weight yarn.

I put my thinking hat on and immediately thought of the dye pot. I just happen to have an abundance of Patons "Lace" in Porcelain. All it was missing was the grey. And thickness. I have black dye and have used it to get grey before. I figured I could wind off the yarn and dye the white sections grey, and maybe some of the blue because the colour changes are long.

I should have thought a bit more. I figured I wanted three strands, but I really should have wound them together instead of separately. Anyway, I did get it dyed and was pleased, although I would have liked shorter colour runs and more grey.

I got going and whoa, was I surprised at how long the sideways "crocheted rib" band took!!  I had some concerns with this hat because the other one I made, I started at the elastic, at the opening. This one, I had to make the band, then pick up stitches and work upwards, then decreases and would I be able to crochet over the elastic going in this direction? My first couple attempts at crocheting over the elastic did not allow it to stretch much.  I realized I had decreased too many stitches because I was trying to get it to lay flat at the elastic. So I increased the number of sts over the elastic and while it now stretched nicely, it sits up a bit. I hope the messy bun covers it.   I did end up with several small balls of the yarn as I had to break it a few times to change colours and get more grey in the band part.

 My regular camera is broken so I was experimenting with our waterproof camera. The original picture was a bit hazy and dull, so I used a "filter" in editing. It's interesting. Having grown up learning on a 35mm SLR, I try to do all the editing "in camera".  I'm not a fan of all the filters and "actions" that modern photographers do. You just can't believe any picture is really what the scene actually was, once you learn how photographers are manipulating photographs in digital editing.

She couldn't come get it right away, so I thought it would be nice to use the leftover yarn to make some simple fingerless gloves. Again, I had to cut the yarn to get better colour changes. It became clear though that I would not have enough. So I went down to 2 strands. By now I had a lot of ends that would need to be woven in. It still wasn't enough. So I THREW THE YARN OUT. Yes.

And then two weeks later found another ball (3 strands) of it in the bottom of my bag.

Hat--63gr. Waste--24gr

Yarn In:  1542gr
Yarn Out:  87gr + 423gr= 510gr
Balance: 1032gr more BOUGHT than used
Costs:$37.91/41 days = $0.92 per day

I Bought Yarn!

I got asked to make two crocheted water bottle holders. I actually needed to go buy the yarn! The best time to go just happened to end up being after Megan was skating on Friday night. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but I didn't know when I'd get there again and there was a 55% off coupon for the day.

I picked out two blues, and a light purple (one was to be two shades of blue, and the other in blue and purple.  I chose one shade of blue for both). Then I walked past the clearance rack, and they had some Loops & Threads "Facets" in some gorgeous colours. Megan picked out one, I picked out one, and we picked out a "manly" colour to make something for the stock bin. Not that I've sold any of the other scarves I've made. Facets weighs 100gr each.

Walking past another bin, they had those bags of "1lb Fashion Yarn Mill Ends". I found a red with glitter that I thought would be cool for the World AIDS Day scarves. It was $7.99 (400gr) and the 55% off coupon was applied to it, so it came to only $3.60 (plus tax).

I worked on the blues water bottle holder first. It kept giving me troubles. Silly things.  Finally, on Wednesday I started the blue/purple one. I did the bottom in blue then started purple on the side. There was a faint scent of soap. Every time I worked on it, I could smell it. I got the body done, and the smell was driving me crazy. I smelled the ball of yarn. It stunk like soap!! WTF?! I looked at the yarn label. It was Handicrafter "Scents"! What?! Who wants to drink out of a water bottle holder that smells like soap?! And it had been going so well :(

Off to Michaels again. I found a non-scented purple. And, I found another bag of red fashion yarn mill ends. This time I had only a 50% coupon. Still a good deal!


 Yarn In:  1342gr + 120gr =1542gr
Yarn Out:  423gr
Balance: 1119gr more BOUGHT than used
Costs:$30 + $7.91=$37.91/34 days = $1.12 per day 

Kind of funny that the two Michaels' purchases added up to exactly $30!!  I have a really big item to show shortly that will bring up that "Yarn Out" total quite a bit!

The Last Thing

Many years ago I knit my husband a pair of "tipless" gloves, in charcoal Decor, all in ribbing. He was doubtful at first, but soon fell in love. Last year he let our son use them for his job (time keeping a men's hockey league--he has to be able to write down player's names for the goals).  All was well until this fall when Hugh lost one. And apparently I don't have have anymore charcoal Decor. Since they couldn't really share one pair of gloves anyway, and we bought Hugh two pairs at a store (gasp! Double gasp cause I went back and bought Rob the same two pairs LOL!)....I opted to make Rob a brand new pair, in 100% wool this time. Dark black.

Once they were done, I thought the "cuff" were too short. I got bored and started the thumb gusset too soon. I kept thinking, "I should be doing this on the SK155" but then saying, no, cause then I have to seam them, and it's tedious with the fingers, and actually, it would be difficult to do the fingers. But really, next time, I think I will do up to the base of the pinky on the machine next time. Even after washing, the wool felt a little too "utilitarian".  I picked up stitches from the top row of the higher red band, on the inside, and knit a ribbed cuff in 100% alpaca. It does't extend too far past the bottom of the glove but it's still enough to ensure they're long enough.

See the odometer? 177 529km. His truck is a 2010 (I think, could be 2011). Mine is a 2001 and has only 266 564km. Crazy!

I do not have a weight for these (or at least I can't find it). I think he's afraid to bring them into the house in case they don't go back out LOL.  So, I'm estimating. They weren't entirely done by Dec 31, but the intent was there. If they weren't black, I probably would have had them finished LOL!  Wow, I'm trying to find the original ones on my blog, and I found a pair I made for me, Dec 18, 2006. In the post I saw I made a pair for Rob "a couple years ago". Whoa. I had no idea it was that long ago--pre-blog. Those poor gloves of mine.  Got frozen into a snowbank near where I picked the kids up from school, had to wait till spring to get it out, then I found one in a puddle of slush in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Hadn't even realized I had lost it and incredibly I had parked in the same spot. Unfortunately, there was only one.

These are 2016 totals:

Yarn In:    11 223gr

Yarn Out: 95gr + 11 098gr= 11 193gr
Balance:  30gr more bought than used
Costs:  $507.27 /366 days = $1.38/day

I ended up with a 30gr surplus?!  Not fair! I'll do a more detailed yearly comparison later. I've got work to do.

Custom!

I LOVE getting custom orders for unique items. Usually they start out as a question--"Is it possible to make....".  With over 20 years experience, I have a lot of knowledge to draw on.  Crochet vs Knit? Wool? Machine Knit or Hand Knit? Design? Stitches?

One day I saw a post in our local "HomeMADE" Facebook group. A woman had injured her wrist badly and was going to be in various splints for quite a while. She couldn't find anything to keep her hand warm (and it was quite cold that week!). I immediately sprung on it, knowing that making a mitten in ribbing would be awesome. I thought maybe I could even felt the hand portion, leaving the ribbing unfelted. She wanted purple and grey and the only wool that I had both purple and grey in was Moda Dea's "Washable Wool".  Which most likely wouldn't felt due to it's chained structure. Oh well.

I got to work swatching on the SK155. Then, I couldn't find my copy of Ann Budd's calculations for mittens! So, I went with what I knew from my 20 years experience (lady's mitten, worsted yarn, 20st/4", Cast on 40sts).  I used T3 for the ribbing and T2 for the stockinette. And why did I knit the hand flat when I have a ribber and could have knit it in the round? Ummm. Habit? Well, this is a real "D'oh" moment. Especially since I struggled a bit to get the seaming of the stripes looking good!

After I got part way through the first one I remembered that I had scanned the pattern. Well, I couldn't find the pages with the calculations, but I could find the schematic page so I worked out the rest of the numbers from that.

The second mitt, I cast on 50st instead of 40 and kept the ribbing going up to the top of the thumb separation, and on the thumb, because her thumb was strapped down next to her hand, though there was space between the thumb and the hand. I had trouble increasing in the ribbing for the thumb and it doesn't look all that great along the seam.  The seam on the normal mitten is at the non-thumb side, which means I did all the thumb increasing in the middle of the piece and moved all the stitches (one side only) outwards. I just love this type of thumb gusset. I also kept the right thumb in ribbing to stretch easily over the splint.

The mitten feels a bit loose on me but I do prefer snug mittens. And it's not knit as tightly as I would have liked. But she needed it ASAP!  And, as luck would have it, she couldn't pick up for a few days and the weather turned warm. Hopefully, with it hovering around 0C now, she can make use of them.

Yarn In:  120gr
Yarn Out: 96gr + 327gr = 423gr
Balance: 303gr more USED than in
Costs: $7.91/25 days = $0.32 per day

Simple

Just after Christmas, there was a post in a Facebook group I'm in, for a woman looking for a satin lined, wool slouchy hat. A few people posted they had slouchy hats but no one said anything about the satin lined part. I asked why she wanted satin lining and mentioned some drawbacks (satin doesn't stretch, it might feel cold). She shared a link about how the satin protects the hair fiber from rubbing on the wool fibers and creating damage.

I thought this was interesting. Sock knitters often say that wearing wool socks on carpet will wear them out quickly. Makes sense. We chatted and I sent her some samples of brown wool yarn, and she picked this random skein of "Topsy Wool" that I had. I don't know where it came from, but I think Value Village. I know I could look back on my blog but I don't even know what year LOL. I also had some brown satin.  I did a swatch on the SK155 and got to work. The first attempt wasn't quite right, shape-wise. So I went even simpler with the crown decreasing.

Then I cut some satin to sew into the inner hat, trying to shape the top a bit so it wouldn't be bunchy inside. Somehow, it didn't fit. So I cut another one. It fit better, but I would have still liked it a bit looser in case her head was bigger than average.  I sewed it on using a zig zag stitch on the sewing machine, lining up with the top of the ribbing. I was impressed with how well the wool hid the stitching. I really thought it would look bad!

I like the end result. The ribbed band feels a little loose, but it might just be because the satin feels tight. She says it fits. The wool fluffed up nicely after washing, though it is still a more "rustic" yarn. I'd definitely use it again, especially for mittens.  I used 95gr for the hat, and the skeins are 113gr.  If anyone wants more detail on the pattern, let me know, but basically, I just swatched and worked the numbers :)


Yarn In:  120gr
Yarn Out: 95gr + 232gr = 327gr
Balance: 207gr more USED than in
Costs: $7.91/23 days = $0.34 per day

They Keep Coming

I was really on a roll over Christmas, finishing up things and creating new things. The kids were in school until just before Christmas, so we had pretty much TWO weeks after Christmas to relax. Lots of knitting time!

I had worked on the two "Work Socks" hats and thought a scarf would be cool. I decided to use up the grey worsted weight yarn I had tried to use for the messy bun version of the hat. I set up for a 2x2 rib. For white, I grabbed some Impeccable and for the red...I saw this red sequined yarn in my stash! Adorable. I was going to do only two rows of red but changed it to four. However, I wish there were more sequins showing. I used up every bit of the grey I had. I've had it a long time, it was a Sears yarn. Really. Back in the old days, Sears had it's own yarn!

It doesn't match the hat exactly, but that's okay. Not every one want to be matchy-matchy. They're available separately.

My husband and I had a movie night in for my birthday (we watched The Hangover. It's all I had recorded that he wanted to see. We hadn't seen it and he thought it was awesome. I somewhat agree LOL). I was having a hard time grafting the ends of the scarf. I knew how to do it but I had that problem with the offset. I gave up and just started grafting. Then, 3/4 of the way across, suddenly, one of the knit columns of 2 sts lined up. I didn't know how I did it, but since it could obviously be done, I had to start over. And over. And over. In the end, one side looks pretty good but the other side has a few blips. Steamed it because there was a bit of edge roll, even with the ribbing.

Yarn In:  120gr
Yarn Out: 80gr + 152gr  = 232gr
Balance: 112gr more USED than in
Costs: $7.91/19 days = $0.40 per day

Happy!

How can you NOT be happy with this bright green cowl, with a green glitter strand?!

I was on a roll between New Years and the return to school. My bulky knitting machine, the Singer SK155 was behaving and I was determined to crank out a few things. I had gone into my storage area for something else, and this bright green yarn jumped at me and insisted on being used. I totally hadn't planned on it. I ended up making three scarves on the knitting machine, but I'm not sure now which came first.

Which one of the tuck rib ones I did first, I did have to do some playing around. I think I did a red one first and I'll show it soon.  In the end, I think I chose the same set up I used here.  And in reading that, I see the pattern was in the ribber manual. Life would have been easier if I had remembered any of this (that I had used it previously and that, even better, it was in the manual).  This time, I was putting the needles into/out of hold position by hand...so yeah.  Maybe I should read my own blog?

 I know, this picture shows the hat more than the scarf. It ended up rather short, so it's a single loop.I made sure it would be wider to compensate for the shorter length.  Lots of steam to get it flat and I hope it stays that way.

I just scrolled back in my blog. I'm saddened to see some of the yarns I got rid of (many I gave away, some I sold). I wrote I was thrilled to give away a large ball of "Impeccable" in bright Christmas green. Well, wouldn't you know I used that same colour several times last year for Christmas stockings? This is why I hate getting rid of yarn. You just never know when the perfect project will come along. This green yarn--I bought it in April 2013. Which isn't really all that long ago. But it's still neat to  see how long it had to marinate before being used.

Yarn In:  120gr
Yarn Out: 62gr + 90gr = 152gr
Balance: 32gr more USED than in
Costs: $7.91/18 days = $0.44 per day

Fun!

I still have one item to show for last year's projects (even though I did finish it a few days after News Year's, the intent was to have had it finished last year!), but I also need to get moving on to this year's totals!

After I crocheted the messy bun work sock hat I knew I had to make a real hat in the same design. I bought the yarn before the end of last year, but I don't think I had this done before New Year's. Isn't it fun? The pompom is huge, although Lucy said it should have been randomly speckled the three colours instead of rings/spot. I didn't really know how it would turn out but I didn't want speckled.  It was made with Loops & Thread "Charisma", a total of 90gr.

I also bought this "Knit a Hat" kit from a discount store here (Giant Tiger...better than a dollar store but not huge like Wal Mart). Came with knitting needles (cable), a faux fur pompom and a 120gr ball of "Home Styles"  "Hat knitting Yarn". 100% acrylic. My daughter picked out a light grey though I liked some of the other colours. Some pompoms didn't really match the yarn though. It was $7, so a little high for one ball of yarn, and I don't need more needles, but I like that it has the pompom and I don't have to go searching for one.

Yarn In:  120gr
Yarn Out: 90gr
Balance: 30gr more IN than out
Costs: $7.91/16 days = $0.49 per day

Something Totally Different!

What? Yes, it's a mitten. Yes, I post about mittens nearly every week.

But this time, I did two colours per row instead of stripes! I wanted a thicker fabric, but not the hassle of needing a Fair Isle chart.

My first concern--increasing for the gusset. Keep it in pattern, or....just simple stripes. Then, decreasing for the top. I opted to keep the decrease lines in one colour, though on one side they're brown, on the other side, they're pink.

Then the thumb. I figured the only thing to do is continue the vertical stripes. 

The mittens are nice and dense, especially after washing. They are not, however, bigger than the other mittens which was one other goal. Many kids say the other wool mittens are too small--but I think it's because they're used to the big ski mittens.

The first girl to wear these mittens went digging in the frozen sandbox.  I nearly cried. But she was happy and her hands were warm, so that's what matters!

I didn't have them quite finished for Dec 31, but the intent was there :)  I also bought two more balls of Charisma for another "work sock" hat. I wanted to wait till after Jan 1, but it was on sale for $2.50 a ball!

Yarn In:   200gr + 11 123gr = 11 223gr

Yarn Out: 36gr + 11 062gr =11 098gr
Balance:  125gr more bought than used
Costs:   $5.65 + $501.62=$507.27 /366 days = $1.38/day

Messy Buns!

So, shortly before Christmas, Facebook and the internet got blown up by a photo of a lovely "messy bun" hat in subtle jewel shades. Ponytail hats are nothing new, but this time, the opening was smack dab at the top, for buns and high ponytails. I let people know I would not be taking orders before Christmas but I'd look into it for after Christmas.  One of my Christmas clients wanted one and then asked for a "work sock" style one.

Not a lot to say about this. I used some left over Charisma from the Azel pullovers, and the white is two strands Impeccable, the red is mystery wool. Crochet from the opening downwards, I did use a hair elastic at the start so it could stretch over a bun. Speaking of which...like my wig head's "bun"? LOL. A ball of brown mohair!

I had originally started this in a worsted weight yarn but it just wasn't looking right. After quite a few attempts I ditched that and had this made up almost instantly. Sometimes I love crochet.

Yarn In:    11 123gr

Yarn Out: 67gr + 10 995gr = 11 062
Balance:  61gr more bought than used
Costs:    $501.62 /366 days = $1.37/day

Azel Pullover

This pattern, the Azel Pullover, was all over the internet this past fall. Everyone wanted one. I didn't solicit orders, but I figured if any came my way I'd look into it. Perhaps it could be done on the bulky knitting machine. Then one day, my dad sent me an ad in his local Facebook buy and sell group from a woman looking to get two made--for her daughter and granddaughter. It's a little over two hours to my parents' but I figured I'm there often, or I meet them halfway, that certainly something would work out. I looked into the pattern, looked up the yarn and gave a quote. Well, she actually wanted two lady's small/medium and two girls' 5/7! Okay, no problem. I went to get the suggested yarn. It didn't come in both colours she wanted. So I substituted another one, and had to go all over the store to different displays to get enough in the dyelots for the larger size.

I got home and started swatching on the SK155. I couldn't seem to wrap my head around it, but it appeared that to hand manipulate the ribbing to make it look like the pattern, I'd have to manipulate the ribber stitches. Nope. Not going to happen. I could do it all on the mainbed and convert the stitches every other row, including the edge stitch. Blech. I swatched and swatched and my machine was not happy with this yarn (Loops & Threads "Charisma"). Eventually, I settled on T9* and every other needle. It was still not as loose as the gauge in the pattern. However, I really felt that if it were looser, the fabric would be too loose to do anything for keeping you warm, and would likely stretch a lot (which might be why just about everyone thinks the pattern length for the 5/7 size is too short--the poncho will stretch quite a bit once worn!). So, I had to do some recalculating. And I decided to do just the stockinette portion on the machine, and the bottom and side bands I would handknit. And hey--I could even add in some reflective yarn since I had some that matched!

But I couldn't find the turquoise reflective yarn! I knew I had some. So I went to the store that sells it and they didn't have any in that colour. Went to Wal-mart, who used to sell it, and the whole yarn row was a total mess. Nothing there. Searched online, found a place...turquoise not in stock. Found another place with it in stock so I ordered on line. My timeline was getting pushed back further and further.

The SK155 was not a happy machine. According to my calculations, due to needing every other needle, I couldn't fit the 5/7 size on the mainbed. I would have to do U shaped knitting, which I'd never actually done (I'd done circular, which is a little labour intensive on the SK155). I muddled through the first poncho, not happy with my machine, the yarn (splits!), me, whatever. It should have been an easy knit, but it wasn't.

I don't remember if I did the second size 5/7 or an adult one next, but it went smoothly. When I did the second 5/7, I realized that I could actually get it all on the mainbed, though I would be short two stitches, I think. I didn't care at this point.

The reflective stripes in the band are barely noticeable until light hits it

For the bands, I cast on for the front, forgot the button holes on nearly every one, did two rows plain, two rows reflective (and repeat) then after doing the band, I grafted it to the stockinette piece, leaving the side bands free. I thought I would attach as I go, but it didn't seem to work out. Along the sides, I used the reflective yarn on the edge stitch only. Then I knitted the sides, sewing them on as I went every few inches, then picked up the stitches on the end of the stockinette, and knit the bottom band. For the first 5/7 size, and I think the first adult one, I did the really nice tubular grafting cast off. I don't think it made much difference--stretchiness isn't important there, so I didn't bother for the others.

I shaped the necklines on the front parts. The pattern has it as just a straight slit across the shoulders. This makes the cowl sit very high, and combined with the long length of it, it seems a little overwhelming (many knitters in various groups complained about the cowl being too high).

Some how, the adult grey one ended up a bit wider than the teal. I must of forgotten to take off the number of stitches for the side bands. I don't know. I was not enjoying these anymore.

You can barely see the reflective yarn!

Button shopping. First up, I forgot to take the pattern with me, so I miscalculated how many buttons I needed. I added up 28, but really, I needed 32. And there were not enough buttons for both teal ponchos  to match. When I went to sew them on, I realized my counting error. Luckily, because of the buttons being 3 per card, I went from having a surplus to being short only two. For the two adult sized ponchos, I used one of my metal tags as a button. It doesn't totally work, but it was the best I could do.

The reflective yarn along the edge looks like little beads when the light hits it!

I was then running out of time. I had other orders I was also trying to get finished, and life kept throwing things at me--my stove died, so I lost a few evenings going stove shopping. Sick kid. Things like that. Weekends were busier than expected, I wasn't done them when I met up with my parents halfway, then we had a family Christmas party but I still wasn't done them and we ended up not going because of weather. She wanted to meet the next day, half way between us. I wasn't done! I explained that I wasn't from there (I thought she knew that) and that due to after school activities I couldn't do Monday. So, we met up on Wednesday before Christmas. She's actually from almost 30min past my parents' place, so it was nice she was flexible on meeting me.

After I had started knitting, I went back for more yarn, and I think I did end up needing it for the cowls (couldn't match all the dyelots again!). But I still ended up with a lot of the grey left. The two small ones were 424gr and 411gr each, and the big ones were 657gr and 751gr each, for a grand total of 2243gr. However, I had a lot of yarn left over so this certainly was not a stash buster! I ended up buying  26 balls of the grey and teal, and 5 of the reflective yarns!

Yarn In:    3100gr +8023gr= 11 123gr

Yarn Out: 2244gr +8752gr= 10 995gr
Balance:  128gr more BOUGHT than used
Costs:   $149.76 + $351.86= $501.62 /366 days = $1.37/day

Wool For Kids

Yesterday in a knitting group online, a woman said wool shouldn't be used for kids' items because it can't be washed.
All wool can be washed. Many wool yarns are treated so they can easily be machine washed, and many other wool yarns can be gently washed in the machine as well.
I am a lunch supervisor in a kindergarten division (90+ kids) and I've been knitting (and sewing) wool mittens to have on hand for "emergencies". I have found that once kids try wool mittens (getting them to trust them, over the expensive store bought gloves from home, is the big hurdle), they love them. The keys are to knit them tightly and wash before use so that the spinning oils are removed and the yarn blooms. You can even do a lanolin soak for extra waterproofness.

Striped patterns don't give any extra thickness, but Fair Isle or vertical stripes can also make them more dense. This little pair, about a size 5-6, weigh only 23gr. So, I can usually get 4 pairs of mittens from one 100gr skein of wool, which is under $10. Of course, I rarely make them all one colour LOL. The problem with selling these though, is they're still time consuming compared to the simplicity of how they long. They really don't take all that long, but at 3x material cost, selling these for $7.50 is an insult. Even at $20, it's hard to feel financially rewarded.
But the joy on a kids' face when they come in from lunch and hand me back soggy mittens and say "My hands are still warm"? Priceless!

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:   23gr + 8729gr =8752gr
Balance:  729gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /366 days = $0.96/day

Fair Isle Stockings

When I first got the inquiry about Fair Isle Christmas stockings, I was thrilled. I knew this was something I could do on my knitting machine and I thought the SK155 would be perfect so I could use a more substantial yarn that would be easier to find. The client liked the idea of a washable wool for a more traditional look, and a plain cuff.  I did some yarn research and thought yarn from www.knitca.com would work. I knew about Cascade 220 Superwash, but assumed it was too expensive for this sort of item. I headed over to Wool on William and discovered that the "white" was very creamy, the yarn seemed kind of thinner than I wanted, and she didn't have enough of any of the colours I was considering. Rowan Superwash Worsted caught my eye as I was about to leave--in colours for the other stockings I  was going to make. I forgot to look for  a blue and a green for these two stockings!

I was able to find the "ivory" (I asked the client if that would be okay, instead of bright white because bright white is exceptionally hard to find in 100% wool) at Knit Kabin, and she did have some blue that was great, but I thought the green might be a bit light. And since I had to go back to Wool on William, I decided to wait on the blue and green (also, the client hadn't sent the money transfer for the deposit yet despite saying she would several times). I went back to WoW and forgot to look at blue and green! So I had to head back to the Knit Kabin and got the two colours there. I had hoped that by doing the two orders in the same yarn, I would prevent having to make trips to several different stores. Four trips! But it's okay because I discovered how great these two stores are!! I ended up with 129 (Apple) for the green and I think 143 (Electric) for the blue.

 

Once I had the ivory I started the design process. I started with Marg Coe's Christmas stocking  . I didn't know if I wanted the fold over cuff because I would be duplicate stitching the names on. The inside would be hidden, but it would be a little more fiddly doing the stitching. And it uses more yarn LOL. Once I got going with planning out the pattern sequence, I looked at the size and realized the original size discussed for the green and burgundy ones was kind of long and I should widen it to balance it out. However, the pattern was written for 60st, and I was using a 12st punchcard. If I added any stitches less than 12, the pattern would not meet at the seam. So I shortened the design a little and loosened the tension to T3. Depsite doing all this paper work and planning, the end result was quite a bit different, as once it was knitted some things just did not work well together.

 This was my first time punching a punch card. To make it more interesting, I was using a 24 st card for a 12st machine, which means you have to punch every other column. I highlighted the empty columns in yellow and marked my different designs in different colours. When using a punch card, the row that is showing in the device is not the row that is being knitted, so you have to be prepared ahead of time, which is why I used different colours, and then used them along the side to show the different patterns.   You can see how the blue section of numbers does not line up with the blue snowflake.  It didn't take me as long as I thought it would to punch the card, but the kids said it was too noisey. However, I assume a 24 st card would take twice as long!

 

The first go round, I knit it as I had punched the card. I was not happy. I casted on with ivory and then remembered I was going to do the ribbing in blue to set it apart from the name banner. So I switched to blue after the circular cast on. I did not like how it went from the banner to the snowflake with no separation. And I really did not like how bunched up the patterns were, especially the section between the snowflakes! I had left one ivory row between the snowflake and the next section and instantly realized that my blue yarn was then on the wrong side for the next row. More tails to weave in.
I decided after the heel to take it off and check it all out. I planned a few more plain rows and tried again, this time determined it was the finished item.  I'm not 100% happy still though. I used two plain rows between each of the elements, but I feel this (obviously) separates them equally, and I wanted the little pattern above and below the zig zag to appear more "attached" to the zig zags. Since I don't want it any shorter, I need to do three plain rows around the snowflakes. Which means the blue yarn is at the wrong edge. Which means keeping my thoughts clear so I can take the carriage off and reset the pattern, etc. It was hard enough to remember to lock the punch card, and turn the cam to stockinette, (and other the other ones, make sure ivory was in feeder 1).

 As much as I loved it, I realized a few things. I wasn't loving the blue cuff. There was an error in the punch card (you can see it in the section below the heel), and the foot was supposed to have decreases to taper it down. I decided to set this one aside and start on the other multicoloured ones, as she had been first with her deposit and should get hers first.

 I got more of the design kinks worked out in the other stockings, including changes to the cuff and name banner. I knit the green one first. The left side is what you see when working at the knitting machine. So it's hard to tell if there's mistakes in the pattern. When I took it off the machine, I instantly saw the error--way up at the top!  OMG.  When I had been knitting these, I kept forgetting to transfer all the stitches to the main bed after the ribbing and several times had kept going with ribbing. I was pleased I had remembered this time, but in my excitement, I forgot the two rows in ivory before the first snowflake.

So yes, I re-knit it. Annoying, but that's the way it goes. I had all the usual troubles too, especially with the blue one, because I was re-using the yarn from the original test stocking and I had to cut the blue between sections. Again, I hand knit the toes. I think next time I will do the heels at T2 since they seem a bit saggy with out the structure of Fair Isle.

The yarn says to lay flat to dry, but I didn't. After their bath, although they felt so soft, I could tell that they would need heat to tighten the wool up again. It really grew when wet. There is no way I could have knit it tight enough on the SK155 to account for the growing. Drying in the dryer is a little nerve wracking. I had to check frequently and I was just so paranoid they would shrink too much. Once they were shrunk back to original size, they needed a lot of trimming of the resulting fuzz. I used my nails, and tiny scissors to trim the coloured fuzz so the designs stood out again. After washing, the Fair Isle gauge was 19 1/2st and 21 rows to 4" which is close to the label gauge of 20st/4".  I'm wondering if I can use this yarn on my standard gauge. It felt more like a DK, and I would love to have the versatility of 24 st designs--though I think the stocking should still be around 60st, so that would mean I would have to go up to 72st. Too much work. LOL.

These weighed 120gr each, which is right on track with what the Modern Vintage ones weighed. I have 64gr of green left, which means I used 36gr of contrast and 84gr of ivory. So, really, the Rowan Superwash Worsted is fairly cost effective--more so if making multiples of the same colours. Although I have 64gr of green left and that technically means I used 36gr, in actuality, the stocking probably has a bit less. Could I alter something to get it down to 33gr? LOL. I might as well just start building a stock of this yarn. It'll make nice mittens too. I have quite a bit of the ivory left and I thought it might be nice to dye, but there's more return on time by doing more of these stockings.

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:   240gr + 8489gr= 8729gr
Balance:  706gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /366 days = $0.96/day

Now What? And the Evils of Ravelry

I just finished up two large Christmas orders and I knew I was spending some time at the rink this afternoon so I needed something to knit. But what?! LOL! Then I remembered I have a pair of socks that have been on the go for way too long. I do have one other Christmas present for a  family member that I've been working on, but it's gotten buried and I'm not excited by it. And then, there's the mitts that need mending, the tipless glove I need to knit to replace one my son's (who borrowed them from his dad). Oh, and what about the Christmas tree skirt I've been working on for maybe 15 years?

Of course, I just went to Ravelry (home now from the rink, where I pathetically did a few rows on the socks). I see this shawl on the main page with  very interesting lace inserts.  Ooohh. That's pretty. I look at the details. The designer says she's created a new technique--short rows in lace (that is charted). Mmmm. I'm pretty certain I've done short rows in lace, perhaps when I did a baby bonnet. The pattern isn't complicated--it looks like you're just increasing (by knitting another stitch that was held, in pattern instead of in garter stitch). Or, maybe it's working the other way, knitting fewer stitches in lace each row to create the insert shape.

I wondered what some other ones looked like. Multi-coloured shawls are so vogue right now, but my stash wouldn't really support any, so I've hesitated. But maybe with this design I could mix yarns.

It's interesting how incredibly different each project looked. A few had pictures that were of the shawl laid out totally flat. To me, the lace created a sort of alien face in the shawl. Sorry. Now you're going back to look and you'll see that alien face and you'll never be able to unsee it.

So...how can I knit this, with yarns I have, and not get an alien face. Mmmm.

MUST wait till after Christmas!! I've got so much to do though as I've been ignoring Christmas for our family while focusing on everyone else's Christmas LOL!

Modern Vintage

I got a request for custom Christmas stockings this fall, the inspiration photo was a simple Fair Isle snowflakes with zigzags. We started working out the details (one blue, one green), and then I got another request for a similar, but more complex Fair Isle design with more colours--three bright greens and three burgundy shades, I think.

I told her I could do it with one green and one burgundy because it would take too long to find a yarn line with that many shades (and both women liked the idea of a superwash wool rather than acrylic). She got her deposit in first, so I started on those first.

My first thought for yarn was http://www.knitca.com/yarn/superwash but when I checked it out at a local store, Wool on William (forever known as WoW now), the colours weren't right, there wasn't enough, etc. I wanted to do both orders with the same yarn so I didn't have to re-work the design. There was some Rowan Superwash Worsted, in a bright green and burgundy that were perfect...but she didn't have any white, or the blue and green for the other order. And....Rowan had been bought by Sirdar and there was currently issues and nothing could be ordered! She suggested I contact Knit Kabin as she also sells Rowan.

I was a little disappointed. I started looking up options. Cascade 220 Superwash comes in an incredible range of colours, but where could I get it local? Both Rowan and Cascade got very mixed reviews on Ravelry. What to do?! I contacted Knit Kabin, and indeed she had the "white" which is a little closer to ivory. She also had some greens and blues (I had forgotten to look for them for the other order). I set up a time and headed out to the countryside at the edge of this megatropolis.

I got 3 balls of the ivory, but I still hadn't gotten the deposit for the blue and green stockings, so that was all.  I had to go back to WoW for the bright green and burgundy. Then, a day or so later, I got the deposit, so I had to go back to Knit Kabin for the blue and green. So much for being able to make fewer trips to the yarn store by making them both in the same yarn!

I started with Marg Coe's Christmas stocking pattern. I used T3 and 62stitches on the SK155.  After swatching, I did go with my own row counts. Originally, these were going to be 20" from cuff to bottom of heel, but that looked way too long on my sample. I mean, some people like long and skinny, but it just wasn't doing it for me. They ended up being about 16"-18". I forgot to measure after washing! I used one of the standard Fair Isle cards that comes with the SK155 (the first 11 rows), and I punched the snowflake, and the thin zig zag band.

I also decided to taper the foot a little, and do the toes hand knit, with decreases, rather than the short row toe, which just didn't seem to lay right. I was disappointed that even though the long floats were only 5 stitches, it  was rather loopy in places inside. I sewed these down. I had to reknit one foot, and tried hooking up the floats as I went, and I would definitely do that again.

When I went to duplicate stitch the names, I realized that Jackson was a smidge too long. I suggested to the client that I don't centre it, but start on the left so the ON would wrap on the right. She asked if the letters could be smaller. I didn't want to do that because really, when duplicate stitching, that's pretty difficult. Only a couple letters could be narrower. Then I started stitching. For some reason, the top/bottom spacing was wrong. I counted rows...I had done 14 rows of ivory on two of them (and planned the letters to be 8sts high) and only 12 rows on the third. I decided the shorter one would be for Jackson, and I did the letters 7sts high so they would have more white around them. By shrinking them a row, the narrower letters looked in proportion now. Whew.

I washed them in the sink with Soak.  After reading the reviews on Ravelry, I was almost in a panic fearing they would bleed. No bleeding!! I rolled them in towels, but it was obvious they would need some help in the dryer. The yarn grew a lot while wet and I knew it would not shrink back down just by air drying. They were very limp, but  much softer.  I put them in the dryer with a towel, on low/gentle, and checked frequently. They "felted". Or is it "fulled". They shrank back to their pre-wash size, approximately, but the yarn bloomed like crazy. They feel much more substantial!

However....the yarn fuzzed. Not pilled, but all the loose fibers netted together giving a slightly hazy look to the pattern. So I sat for an evening, with a sharp pair of little scissors, and trimmed the fuzz from the patterned areas. They're still not as pristine as before the wash, but I never want to hand off an order unwashed, and then have the client wash them and not know what to do when things like this growing and fuzzing happen. Why let them be the surprised ones?

I have plenty of the green and burgundy left--I bought two balls of each, and I have a ball and 27-34gr left of each, so basically, I can knit 4 from one ball of the contrast colours. That's pretty good value. I'm not sure how much white was used as I had the test stocking, then a test in the Fair Isle, and now have part balls. In total, the three weighed 361gr, which is 120.3gr each. That means  I used 22gr of green and 24gr of burgundy, so that means 74gr of white. It would be nice to make single colour ones exactly 100gr, instead of 120gr, but that's kind of boring LOL. I did lose some yarn when I had to re-do sections and didn't want to re-use small amounts of the yarn.

Now to finish the blue and green ones!

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:   361gr +8128gr = 8489gr
Balance:  466gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /348 days = $1.01/day

Yes, Another Mermaid Blanket!

It's crazy how popular these still are this Christmas! And how everyone wants pink and purple just like the pictures of the ones I've already done. I don't mind too much, but I would love to see this pattern done in other colours now!

After I took this photo, I did steam it, so it grew just a little and relaxed. I love the tail on this one. I wrote it all down, so I think I can stop experimenting now. Which means....I probably wont' get more requests for this blanket LOL. It came in a big lighter than the last one, I think because I didn't add the extra rows at the top--I didn't know just how big the child was, just that they ordered a "small".

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:  378gr + 7750gr = 8128gr
Balance:  105gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /341 days = $1.03/day