You Know....

....your dishcloths are too fancy when your family assumes the swatch on the counter drying is another dishcloth. LOL.

The Power of Numbers

Thanks for the compliments on the February Lady Sweater. Like other knitters, I sometimes get "PPLD".....Post Project Let Down Syndrome. You pour so much into a project, and then it's done. And gone. Truthfully, it's not a 'bad' syndrome, but it can take some time to recover from. I've been working on little things, things on the knitting machine, even a bit of crochet. Not much is interesting. But I'll continue to plod on.

I have posted in the past about how Bernat/Patons yarns can create some interesting patterning with their variegated yarns. I ran into this again this spring. On the Wool Soaker group I'm in, someone was looking for a baby earflap hat. Someone posted a link to one other member's website, and a really cute hat called "Elvish". I decided to 'whip one up' with some odd ball acrylic worsted from the oddball drawer. I'm not keen on acrylic for hats, but it doesn't bother some. I used Patons "Canadiana" in I Don't Know But Might be Equivalent to "Pampered Pastels". LOL. I'd search for the label, but I"m sure you probably don't care too much. I cast on for the toddler size, and got started. It didn't take too long until I realized something terribly funky was going on with the yarn. But I kept going. And going. Eventually, nearing the end, I realized that it was too funky, even for me. Rip.

I didn't think changing the needle size would have much effect, and the needle size had been quite fine already. So, I dropped down to the infant size, (it was either 6 or 12st less) and started again. I got sidetracked by the beautiful stripes and kept going a little bit too long, LOL. But here you have it. If at first your variegated yarn gives you pools, keep trying until you get rivers. I whipped up some i-cord ties on the knitting machine which took about an hour, and tied them to the ear points, which took about 2 weeks. I wish I had a baby head to model it on, but that's not happening. I posted this on Ravelry too; I'm TracyKM there, if you couldn't guess.

The next time I post, I will give another example of perseverance when colourful yarn gives you something icky. Although, one person's ick is another person's yum!

Introducing....

....February Lady Sweater!


This sweater is over twenty years in the making.
Back in February 2008, we were visiting my parents for the very first "Family Day" (new Statutory holiday in Canada), which happened to fall on the weekend nearest my mother's birthday. While there, she was clearing through stuff that has been hanging around way too long. She came across a lace sweater her sister had knit for her, maybe 25 years ago. She really liked the lace, and she liked the colour, but the style was a bit dated, and it was a bit too small. I immediately grabbed it and started unravelling before we even left for home.I did think to snap a photo of the original lace pattern!
I wanted to do a top down cardigan, with lace. That's all I knew. I started off with 'designing' my own, but I wasn't keen on how it was turning out after a few tries. I then bought a Chicknits pattern, but when it came, found out it's not top down.
And then, in early June 2008, the February Lady Sweater . Instantly I knew it was the right choice. I cast on and got going. The gauge seemed a little stiff, so I went up a needle size, and as I went down the body, I increased needle size a few more times. I left the bottom on spare yarn, and worked the sleeves, then went back to the body. But I just wasn't sure about the fit.
At Thanksgiving (October) I had her try it on with her eyes closed. Yeah, I wasn't happy with the amount of ease. It needed more ease, and more length, and there was not more yarn. She peeked when she took it off and said "Oh, I love the colour, and the lace". Umm, yeah, I didn't change the colour :)
I immediately got shopping for some charcoaly-heathery yarn and found Bernat Wool Blends at Wal-Mart. Snatched up a couple balls and packed the project to get working on it on the flight down for the cruise. Well, I won't go back into detail about that fiasco. Look back to December or November if you really need to read it.
It was going well, but something caused it to go to time-out in December/January. Don't even remember what exactly.
I picked it up in earnest again, hoping to finish it for her birthday, however, Family Day was earlier this year, and left me shortchanged a week. Well, a week wouldn't have been enough anyway, LOL. She did try it on again, and I decided to rip the yoke back, or something, don't remember the issue (see, this is why I didn't blog about it right away. Didn't want to bore you with too much negativity!).


I thought I'd be smart when it came time to pick up the button bands. I measured the gauge of the garter stitch yoke, measured the length of the buttonband, and figured out how many sts to pick up. Of course, I couldn't remember what size needle I had used for the button band. I picked up the sts, but got two extras, I figured that was close enough. It looked good until the last couple rows and I noticed it was rippling. I left it, and started the other side, trying to pick up fewer sts. I couldn't do it, LOL. So I went down a needle size, finished that side. It was okay. So I redid the first side. Made "Better Buttonholes" a slightly more detailed way to make a buttonhole, but it looked great. Not sure off hand which website had the instructions, but I think they are also in Maggie Righetti's "Knitting in Plain English".

Just about done, in the above picture. Just needed the buttons, which we had picked out from Mom's button jar. I remember them from when I was little. I wasn't happy with the increases for the yoke, so after about an inch, I changed how I did them, and I thought it puckered out a little around the armhole.

I've written before that knitters are headless; well, so are their mommies :)

It looks better on her than on me! The striping on the yoke went right across my bust and wasn't too flattering on me. Despite what the picture shows, I am certain the buttons are evenly spaced. I made the sleeves that length on purpose. I ended up with about a golf ball size of yarn (loosely wound), but I didn't want the sleeves to fall in that strange spot where they look like either your arms are too long or you ran out of yarn and tried to make 'bracelet' length sleeves, LOL.

I'm so glad to have this finished, and gave it to her for Easter. There were SO many crazy issues with what should have been a quick, easy knit. But in the end, it worked out, and she loves it. I hadn't made my mom anything in a long time, so this was nice--knit a current pattern but with yarn recycled from a favourite sweater from my favourite aunt.

A Picture!

These pictures are for "Wise Hilda" who is going to swap me some Kroy 3 ply sock yarn. If there's anyone else out there still reading this blog, yup, another day you can skip me by.

The green in the top and bottom rows are the same shade (309) but different dye lots. I can't believe how dark these photos look on Blogger.

The large amount of blue yarn below, is shade 396; a marled shade. The beige to it's left is 391.In the bottom row above is 390 (light taupe), 335 (olive), 386 (chocolate) and 311 ("Midnight Mix; a marled dark green).

Top row above is a part ball of light grey and tan, then 308 (wine) and then dark grey. Bottom row is 374 (Navy) and more of the green.

I'd really like to knit some of this up! It makes great socks with texture details, or lace, but I can't really do colour work as the colours are all around the same value, except for the white, light taupe, grey.

Knitting is a Visual Art

...and I have no visuals for you. Our computer is suddenly not reading the camera cards. We've always had to wiggle the card, but once it hit the sweet spot, it was fine. Now nothing seems to be working. So we're going to dig out the old cord and try it that way again. I thought (new) computers were supposed to simplify your life, LOL.

I really needed pictures because everything I wanted to talk about was visual. How verigated yarns are affected by gauge/stitch count. How gauge can lie. New life to old socks. It's all pretty boring with the pictures. So, maybe Monday! Then again, maybe not. I've got a lot going on this weekend. And might not be ready for Tuesday either. Try back on Wednesday!

Hold My Hand, Pt 2

A few more mitts. The orange/black ones are Huey's. He wore them a couple times, they got wet, he tried his felted black ones from last year (instead of the store bought gloves he INSISTED were the best), and declared the felted mitts are the best thing in the whole entire world, and these orange ones are too small. He didn't like the orange wools I had on hand, so I took one that was the orangeyist and dyed it in the microwave with some Easter egg dye that had been already dissolved and hanging around in a Mason jar for 4 years. They have a nice kettle dyed look, but I think he wanted oranger. And, I ran out. So to match them up, I topped them off with black, used the bit of orange left to extend the cuff downwards and casted off in black. In retrospect, I should have ripped and re-knitted, using the black as stripes. He wanted purple at first.
They were done on the KnitSmart, using my basic handknit pattern. Even though it meant moving 12? st outwards on each side every other row while making the thumb gusset, it wasn't too bad actually. Still quicker than by hand. Somehow they did end up a little pointed.
Lucy wasn't too happy with her minty green mitts---there was a hole at the top where the sts were gathered together. And, being Patons Decor, they weren't terribly warm. I made the purple and pink striped ones in the lower left as a suprise. They are Patons Classic Wool. Don't recall which pattern I did off hand, but Lucy isn't too fussy, so I probably did the gathered top one again, but when I do it, I do one row of K2tog (and move the sts over so there's only a couple empty needles in the middle), then another row of K2tog, again, moving the sts over to fill the empty needles. I try not to have too many sts to actually gather at the top. They look like the shortrow thumbs. She wore them a bit, I think the thumbs are too long or too short....then she insisted she had to have store bought mittens....in February, when the patio sets are being put on display. Her $15 "Good" brand store bought mittens did not last two weeks before they started falling apart. I'm not sure where these mitts are; I think they are in her basket at school.

The other pink and purple ones are mine. I wanted another pair of 100% wool mitts for walking; I find the 100% wool ones are a lot warmer than the 50% wool ones. However, I had only one pair (the ones that got frozen into a snowbank last year), and they are getting felted and ratty. I have been a little traumatized by the Yarn Harlot's daughter saying only knitters wear mis-matched accessories. I thought that I was being clever and unique by matching the colours, but different yarn. I don't have any yarn to make a complete 'set' or finish off any of the sets I have to make them truely match. But someday I hope to have a pink hat. I used Headwaters Wool. I had to use two strands of the pink, and one of the purple. I had been told that would make the finer yarn the same as the thicker yarn. I wish I could have gotten a good picture. The mitts were sort of rippled--you can sort of see how the purple pops up. I gently felted the mitts to try to even it out and thicken them up. They were too wide, but okay for length, but also too loosely knitted. I know felting shrinks more in length and I didn't want to lose much length. I ended up felting them twice, and they are much improved, not totally felted, but also not as warm as my other mitts. I used my handknitting pattern again. It was hard to get the mitt stretched to get all the thumb sts on the hooks. I think, I could take the other sts off on waste yarn or a holder, cast on the two side sts for the thumb, and knit the thumb first instead of at the end.

I really want to make the Vogue cover mitts from the winter issue. When I went to the K-W Knitter's Fair, Camilla Valley Farm had the yarn in their display but I had already spent too much. Then, when I was there in Nov to get the Fleece Artist mitten kit, I almost bought the yarn, but knew I needed to focus on the gift mittens. Now, winter is pretty much over, and her road is a mucky yucky trail....I wonder what she'd do if I placed a 'mail' order? LOL.

I also made Meg a pair of purple mitts, but no picture. I've been pretty lazy about photos. Not much knitting actually getting finished, but hopefully something new to show very soon!!!

Hats!

This is the "Valentine's Hat" I was working on for Rob. I finally got it finished just before dinner on Valentine's Day. The yarn is Louet's "Bonnie" a 90% wool, 10% silk, from www.elann.com. It has one ply that stays orange, and one that changes colour---yellowish/teal/turquoise/green/blue/purple.... I started off with one strand...the yarn gauge said I should be able to make pattern gauge. Haa Haa. I don't know what's up lately, but that doesn't seem to be happening much....yarns seem to have a much looser recommended gauge than what I would usually want. After much starting, ripping, restarting, etc, I just wasn't happy with the gauge/fabric/my ability to count, so I opted to go with two strands. Now, due to the nature of this yarn, I wanted to keep the colours that change, the same for both strands. It was very hard to pick out any sort of repeating pattern in the yarn, but I tried, and it worked pretty well. I wanted the top orange/red mainly, because Rob's coats are orange and red, but because he is over 6ft tall, you don't really notice the top of the hat when he's wearing it. He proclaims it warm and toasty, especially with the ties actually tied. LOL.
I have three balls left in another colourway; I thought I might make a hat for next year's Christmas gift exchange. However, I have been traumatized by the Yarn Harlot's daughter saying unmatching winter accessories is uncool. I thought it was quite clever that although my hat and my mitts were not the same yarn, they were the same colour, but different textures. This hat took almost 3 balls, so that wouldn't leave me much for mitts. So, I don't know yet. I guess it will go to the stash---I was trying to avoid that!

During the Christmas break, I wanted to also try earflap hats on the knitting machine. I used one hand knitting pattern, and after altering, got a cute hat that fits Meg but Lucy claimed it. Then I made another one for Meg, although it's big enough for Lucy, LOL. Then I made this one for myself. It's left over Fiorito from Lucy's Valentine's sweater from a couple years ago. I altered the pattern for the crown, and although I'm happy with it, it looks dorky on me. I think it needs a pompom. And, I don't think it's beefy enough for the yarn/purpose of an earflap hat. I look like an egghead wearing an egg cozy. But it looks really cute on Meg!

This is the inside of another hat, handknit for me. Made just around the time of the YarnHarlot's daughter's comment, I was making this to 1) use up stash 2)have a 'go with anything' hat. It's an icky feeling lumpy yarn, perhaps Caron Fascination or something. When I got it done, it was slightly loose on me, and not very warm. I used some Patons' Decor (I wanted to keep it all machine washable) and picked up stitches on the inside, of the top of the garter band section (it's based on Thorpe). I knitted a few rows, then realized that the yarn was smaller, and the gauge was different, so if I didn't increase some sts, it would really pull in the edge of the hat. Once I increased, I realized that I WAS at the edge of the hat. So the cast off edges are a little too snug, but no wind is blowing this off my head. I continued the grey down into the earflaps for extra protections. It's a very windy walk to the kids' school!
This is what it looks like from the outside. I do not look hip and stylish like the model. I look like a crazy woman towing a toboggan full of kids and backpacks when the rest of the world is already home safe and warm, doing homework and sipping cocoa. It's tighter on me, so I think that's a big 'uncool' issue...most kids wear their earflap hats loose and floppy. Me--I've got it tied tight and snug under my chin, LOL.

Croak

It's been frog season here.... have you heard all the noise? RipIt....RipIt....RipIt.....

Math

I am making a stealth project. Oooohh, that sounds cool. Really...I'm knitting a Thorpe hat for Rob for Valentine's Day and I haven't told him that's what I'm working on as he sits beside me. LOL.

Math. I thought the yarn I'm using would work at the same gauge as the pattern. The pattern says 14.5st/4 inches, the yarn says 12-16sts to 4 inches....after knitting to the point of 80sts, I took a gauge check....It appeared to be 18sts to 4 inches (admittedly, hard to measure on the hat). But, I wouldn't want the fabric any looser. I had thought it seemed to still fit on the double pointed needles quite well, when she says you'll have to switch to a circular! So I did the math. 18/4=4.5x22"=99sts. I check the dpn, they are really snug going in the 5mm but do go in. My 5mm circular is in the FLS; I find one that is slightly bigger than 5mm but seemed too small for 5.5mm. I knit some more, doing the increases up to 96st, then another round with only 4 increase.

I re-measure the gauge (it doesn't look any different) and it's 17st/4 inches. I measure the diameter, it appears to be 8" which makes the circumference to be 25.12"! How is it that 100st/4.25=23.5" but the actual measurements say something else? It is hard to measure the diameter though. In any regard, the increase in needle size has meant that it's now 1 1/2" too big....so I'd have to rip back 3 rounds to get back to 93.5sts (yes, I know. I'll go back to either 88st or maybe 94sts...once you're past the increasing, you don't need to stick with a 8st repeats...I'd have to be doing math once I get to the flaps anyway). It doesn't look like the gauge changed that much....but here's the lesson.....it DOESN'T take much to make a change!

Hold My Hand, Pt 1

I am making a conscious effort to knit from stash this year. Really. Since the fall, I've been doing really well--the Fleece Artist thrummed mitten kit has been the exception and that was a for a gift and knitted up immediately. I had used only 1/2 the amount of roving and they were well received, so I knit another pair for our family Christmas gift exchange game. I found some yarn (Rav. link) in the stash that is 52% wool, 48% acrylic, but feels all acrylic, that I felt okay with parting. I didn't want to use the really 'good' wool (uh, right now, that would be Patons Classic Merino which would felt in a heartbeat if the wrong person washed the mitts), and I don't like Patons Decor much anymore for mitts (although, with the roving, they would still be warm!). I forgot to do the little finger slit this time. But, I did do them both at the same time on one circular needle, and boy, was that awesome! I really liked the way the thrumms showed up better on these mitts too. My cousin (or her daughter? Mmmm, it was a bit of a tossle) won them.

Then after New Year's, I got to making mittens on the KnitSmart machine. I made one pair on the LK150 (the pair in my profile picture) but wasn't totally satisfied with them. The problem is, I have been knitting all my mittens based on a very old Patons pattern (written to knit flat, but I do them in the round). I want my machine knit mitts to look the same! Lucy's new pair was up first. She chose Patons Decor in this minty green, which she calls blue.

There were some things I really didn't like about the pattern. For her size, you don't go back to the same number of sts to do the top of the hand (as for the cuff), and they are very pouffy on her. I also did the increases between sts 2 and 3 so they wouldn't interfere with sewing up, but I don't like it. The bind & tie top made a little hole. She says they're not warm enough.
Then I made a pair for Huey. More on them later as the picture is loaded. Then I started making spare mittens for Lucy's classroom. I used Patons Decor, and Headwaters Wool, and then BOUGHT some www.elann.com superwash merino. I bought three colours, made two pairs from two of the colours, loved them so much, I've kept the third colour for myself, LOL. Plus I bought 3 balls of natural to dye! For each mitten, I tried out different mitten patterns, ideas, recipes. These ones are the oddest by far:
I did the increasing for the thum on the outer edges, then took off the center 10 sts to continue for the thumb. Lucy said they felt okay on, but they do look odd!
I've gotten it down to two methods/patterns, depending on the size and desired finished look, and time. More on that latter (latter this week). Making the spare mittens (plus another pair for Lucy, a pair for Meg, and a pair for me) as well as some hats to show you still, and some Freecycling, has meant a significant drop in some parts of my stash bins. But none of the big bags of 'project yarn' are getting used up!

Should I?

Y'all know about my Socks that Rock. How I want them to be perfect. How I've started several patterns. How I tried entrelac and it was creating an interesting pattern that I felt would probably not continue and would not likely repeat on the second sock. Y'all know I've just learned how to knit two items at once on one circular needle and I was having issues with gauge on the entrelac sock and I changed needle sizes several times as I worked up the foot.....
I was just reading a blog and saw some gorgeous socks. Turns out they are a FREE download on Ravelry. Sorry if you're not on Ravelry....I've travelled too far from the original blog to get back there. They're called Firestarter Socks. And they're made with STR lightweight. Uh oh.

I'm Back!

Okay, I didn't leave. I'm still not excited about the surprise sweater, but I am diligently working on it. We've been having trouble downloading photos off the memory card again. I don't understand how it suddenly changes all on it's own. When we first got this computer---just over a year ago?--it was pretty easy; the computer automatically downloaded all new pictures off the card. Then suddenly, it started downloading ALL pictures on the card. Now, we use the card as backup of 'special' pictures (to some degree; there are a LOT more on the computer) as we've never gotten around to getting a memory stick and I'm petrified somehow our pictures will disappear. So, we'd put the card in, and it'd start downloading over 250 pictures that had already been downloaded!! Then we tried the software that came with our printer/scanner/copier. It wasn't great, but it worked. Then that suddenly went weird. It would download the pictures, but we couldn't find them! I just sat down and figured it out in less than 5 minutes. Me. Why couldn't Rob figure it out instead of having a hissy fit that I had 'done something' to the computer?!

So, let's play catch up a little.

Back in the fall, I showed a shot of a pink lace blob. When we left for our 'vacation' in August, I started knitting Evelyn Clark's (non-Rav. link) "Heartland Lace Shawl (Ravelry link)". I spent a lot of time searching for a shawl pattern. I was going to use pink Jaggerspun Laceweight Zephyr, 50% wool/50% silk. I had bought this when I made Nya's blanket, but decided not to edge it with pink; it was beautiful in the creamy white. (Go over to my archives, on the right, and click on 2006. It'll be the first two posts to come up).

I had only one skein, and was NOT buying more. I wanted something not too frou-frou as the pink is really girly already. I wanted something with not big sections of stockinette as I have some more colourful yarns waiting for those types of shawls. When I found Heartland Lace through searching Ravelry, I knew it would be great, even though it's written for DK (I think).

I used 3.7mm needles.

I had a few problems with reading the chart---the line numbers don't look like they're in the right spots. But it's a fairly easy knit (except--if you use markers, there are two places in each chart repeat that the stitch repeat falls in the middle of a slip 2 as if to knit, k1, pass sl. sts over). There are a few rows that you can easily memorize too. It was not a good idea to start this shawl as we were driving to Niagara Falls; navigating and chart reading do not go well together.

I did have to modify the chart for the edging. I should probably not have done the last body repeat; that would have been easier than modifying the edging chart because I was really short on the yarn!

I got it finished and blocked in time for the cruise, and I used it a lot. You can see pictures on my other blog. These pictures are from washing it after Christmas. I think I might have blocked it a bit harder this time as it seems 'crisper'. Or maybe the Caribbean humidity caused it to relax a little. I don't know the size, but it's a nice shoulder shawl. I can't wrap up in it, but it's enough to ease a slight chill.

I'll be adding it to Ravelry later. I've finally started adding projects there. Fun. I'm "TracyKM" on Ravelry. Yes, I know. Not too original, but easy to remember!!

Still Upset

After it's time out, I decided to tackle unpicking the cast on row of the FLS, to reduce the bulk when I re-twist the shoulder bit. Of course, it's the sleeve furthest away from the start of the cast on. And, because I was unprepared to do a provisional cast on, I did a knitted cast on in the same yarn (I was just going to pick up the sts and work upwards, I thought it would blend in okay with the garter stitch). I couldn't just take the scissors and snip snip snip because I was petrified of snipping the first pattern row. I couldn't really make out what was the cast on row and what was the next row, so I started from the yarn tail....and picked and pulled and picked and pulled and after about 2 hours, I'm almost 1/2 way across.

I usually feel energized by a challenge, but this time I just feel doomed. Not doomed, I think it can be saved, but like my knitting life force has been sucked out of me. If I could draw, I'd make a swirly spirit hand reaching into my body and taking my knitting soul, tangled in this green sweater. It doesn't help that there are other issues going on right now, sucking my spirit dry, either. I've lost my pep. Caffeine is not bringing it back. Chocolate is not working. I'm resisting the large bottle of Bailey's Rob bought me for Christmas because I know once I start, I might not stop.

I have knitted successfully in the past two weeks.....several pairs of mittens and hats on the KnitSmart machine, a handknit cowl/nose warmer (little loose, but workable), a Thorpe in awful stash yarn but with an inside headband to tighten it up and add some warmth. Where I seem to be succeeding is giving away yarn. I've either used up or given away most of my 'bulky yarn' drawer, and some of the worsted weight drawer. The sock and DK drawers are still full, and the bins of 'project' yarns are still very full. I've got plans, but no spirit.
What's next?

I Don't Know What To Say

I am so upset about a big project. I want to swear like a sailor but that's not my style, nor do I think it's really necessary in a knitting blog. I want to not finish the project and never knit again. Or until tomorrow. Which ever comes first.

I'm not posting pictures because it's just sickening to look at and I don't think pictures would really show the problem.

I wrote about my problems with knitting on my cruise. Let's back up even more. Last February, we were at my parents to celebrate my mom's birthday and the new Ontario holiday "Family Day". My mom was clearing out stuff, and found a lacey sweater her sister had made for her a long time ago--the sister I wrote about in the last post, my Auntie Pat. It didn't' fit anymore, and was rather dated looking, but Mom loved the colour and the look, so I took it and started ripping it apart, right there and then. It's a sagey, heathery green acrylic, and doesn't feel bad at all for being 20+ years old! I knew exactly what I wanted to knit. A top down raglan in lace. I picked a lace from one of my stitch dictionaries and got to it. I had a few rough starts....math problems, brain problems, etc. I wasn't happy. I purchased a download pattern from a big name Chicago designer, but it turned out to not be top down.

Then, IT was unveiled. THE must-have knit sweater/pattern of the year. I'm not going to post the name, because I don't want any snooping. But, I'm sure you're familiar with it; released in early June, based upon a popular baby sweater.....The name just happens to correspond with the name of the month of my Mom's birthday....Perfect! I got started right away. It moved along quickly, although by the fall I was worried about how much yarn I had left (that was the purpose of doing top-down). I had my Mom close her eyes and try it on at Thanksgiving. As expected, it would be too short. We decided to add a second colour. She peeked while taking it off and said she liked the pattern.

I found some more worsted weight yarn that had the same heathery feel, at Wal-Mart, but didn't get started. I figured that the mile of garter stitch would be perfect for the plane ride down to Miami....but we know how that turned out. After doing the first repeat of the pattern, I put the sleeve sts onto waste yarn to hold them for the sleeves. All I had with me was a fine cord I usually use on the knitting machine for ravel cord (it's like #10 crochet thread). Not great, but I used it anyway, and cast on for the underarm sts. And knitted away.

Knitted 14 inches away. On and on. Thought it was long enough, measure, it hadn't grown....finally, I put the body sts on waste yarn and went back to the sleeves. I was excited about being able to do both at once on one circular. The cord had pulled out of some of the sts on one sleeve, so I first tried to thread it back through before trying to get a knitting needle though. That was fine. But when I stretched it out to look/admire it, something was wrong. There appeared to be a twist in the 6 rows of the body that were on the cord. I put the body through the loop one way....then the other way...back again.....I ran my fingers along the cast on edge (which was the 'last' row of the garter st yoke that I hadn't knitted yet) and tried to straighten it out. Nothing worked. There is a twist. There is about 6 rows of 56 stitches, attached at either end to 15" of 184 sts.

Think of a tank top, but the straps have fallen off your shoulder. One of those straps has a twist in it. You could pick out those sts holding it together and untwist it. But not in this case as it's all knitted as one piece. I can't cut it, untwist it, and steek it because there aren't extra sts knitted to compensate/tack down, and it's not wool.

Here's my plan. I will twist it to get rid of the twist. I will align the twist at the back raglan 'seam' line. I will unpick the 282-16 (band sts) stitches of the cast on row (would have preferred to do a provisional cast on anyway) to reduce the bulk slightly. That leaves one garter stitch ridge and 4 pattern rows, I think, to be in this twist. I think the lumpy nature of the pattern and the heathery nature of the yarn will hide it. If not, my mother will have instructions to grow her hair. Long.

Sigh.

History

When I was in grade 3, 1981, my favourite aunt, "Auntie Pat", acquired sheep. Actually, she may have acquired them before then, but the first lambs were to come that March Break (or Easter?). My brother and I often stayed with my aunt and uncle and cousin, but missed the first lambing. I do have photo evidence (notice the poncho I am wearing--handknit by someone; wish I knew who; and my cousin had one too in different colours): I don't know when Auntie Pat started to knit. Her mother, and mother-in-law both knitted. I do know that my aunt knitted with acrylic....I have a picture of me in a green sweater she knit, she made my mom a lacey green top, and there's this adorable red and white outfit for my little brother (click to make bigger, than back arrow to get back here):

It was coveralls, and there was a matching cardigan. He was adorable, but even more so because the only shirt my mother could find for him to wear underneath was a Strawberry Shortcake top with reddish pink stitching around the cuffs/collar and Strawberry Shortcake hiding behind the bib of the overalls :) The lower picture is my Auntie Pat, in her kitchen by the big wood cookstove, bottle feeding a lamb. These pictures were taken March 1986.
I have many memories of being at my cousin's 'farm' and helping with the sheep and learning how to card fleece, and hunting for moss and other plants for dyeing. I never managed to spin, but I did find in my stash a small ball of handspun yarn that I think I might have made. Auntie Pat sat for hours, spinning wool. She did just about everything with those sheep---the farm chores, research, breeding, all the fleece prep, etc. I don't know if she did the shearing, and if I remember, she wasn't allowed to drive the tractor after a little 'incident'. Everywhere we went, Auntie Pat had her knitting. And we went lots of places---if I recall, sometimes even with a sheep in the back seat once. She was involved in judging at fairs, and sometimes my cousin and I would have the delightful job of washing a sheep with Ivory Snow in the back yard. I even got to show a few times; once I participated in a day long contest at the "big" sheep show "Sheep Focus" where you get paired with someone and the two of you clean and trim the sheep and then show it. My partner was from Kincardine; a few years ago when I was in the Guelph concert band I carpooled from here with a student from Kincardine, but I couldn't remember the girl's name (and we had been penpals for a bit).

When my aunt gets into something, she really gets into it. I don't know how many sheep she ended up having, but it was a long way from the six half-breeds in the chicken coop! And then it stopped and she was on to breeding dogs--now award-winning, calendar-posing, fabulous Golden Retrievers.
This past December, my aunt turned 60. My cousin planned a surprise party, and although I knew that our presence was gift enough, I wanted to do more. One thing my aunt knit by the dozens was beautiful thrummed mittens. She even sold them to people my uncle worked with/for, and saw on business trips. Her's were usually done with natural yarns, naturally dyed colours, and with Fair Isle patterns built around the thrummed stitches. I decided I would purchase a thrummed mitten kit, from my local yarn shop. I had an appointment in Brampton early one morning, and took Meg. She was asleep on the way back, so I decided to go up to Camilla, knowing that the road would be bad. It was 3.6km of pure, utter, sheer fright. But my aunt is a fearless woman, and for her, I would do this, 100m at a time, at 35km/hour. Oh, was I scared! I chose a kit and headed back home, and wound it up that afternoon.
I picked this colour because my cousin said my aunt had a brown coat and a turquoise coat. What I didn't realize until opening it up, is that the yarn is an almost solid dark teal, and the roving is what changes colours.


Thanks to Ravelry, I opted to not use the mitten instructions from Fleece Artist, and used my regular pattern (although I wonder if I knit the next size up, or used larger needles? The yarn is listed as Aran, but the pattern called for 3.5mm I think; my pattern uses worsted and calls for 4mm!). I relied on the Yarn Harlot's instructions for placing the thrums. The roving had a natural divide up it's length, so I pulled from one half of the width, for the first mitten, and made the second to match with the remaining part of the roving.

The inside is a hoot!I really wish I had learned the two at once on one circular to do these! I practiced monogamous knitting for a change, and had the pair cranked out with DAYS to spare before the party!!!

I added a secret feature---a little 'buttonhole' for the index finger to pop out when you need it. I cast off 3 sts and then on the next round, cast 4 sts back on, then on the next round, dec. 1 st over that cast on. The thick fleece inside keeps the hole almost shut when all fingers are inside.
I was very excited to give these to my aunt. They might just appear to be a simple pair of mittens, perhaps with the added flair of the thrums, but to me, and I hope her, they have a deeper historical significance.
While at my mom's over Christmas, she gave me a box of knitting booklets and patterns that had been my aunt's mother-in-law's. Among it all was a stack of the Paton's mitt pattern I use, and a pattern for 'fleeced mittens', as well as notes on sheep husbandry, dyeing yarns, and other sheepy things which I assume was my aunts as her MIL lived in a town, LOL. I have memories of my cousin asking her grandma for something knitted, and it appearing the next week. Some of the booklets are old, and I imagine my uncle wearing the items, LOL. I had some of the booklets already, but from unknown sources---it is awesome to have some connection to them now. I don't know much about knitting in my family from a historical perspective, but I'm so thrilled to be able to make even these small connections!
How is it that on my other blog, you can click on pictures to make them bigger, but I can't seem to do that with this post?

Almost Ending the Year

One more photoless project recently....Just before I learned how to do two items at the same time on one circular by doing the Maine Morning Mitts, I made a pair of ribbed, tipless gloves like I've made in the past, for the same gift exchange game. They were in Sean's Sheep "Armytage" in the cream/grey/black colourway that I also used for felted clogs last year. So, go look at the clogs, then at the other fingerless gloves and photoshop them in your mind :)

But here is a project with some pictures. I loved the creamy alpaca stole I made for my mom in late summer, and made a black one for me, using an unknown cone yarn. I could have used some black alpaca, but I wanted the stole for the cruise, and didn't think I really needed it to be in alpaca. Although with the windy, cool nights, and the air conditioning on board, alpaca would have been fine. There were a couple of rough starts again....I set up the needles and the card with the same formation (opposite needles in working position to what the manual said), but it didn't work. So I had to do it like the manual showed, and it came out the same as my mom's. I hadn't kept track of how many needles I had used for hers, but I thought it was 80-0-80. I love it when it's weighted down on the machine, but once off the machine it relaxes and really loses the openness. I don't know if blocking the alpaca out tightly helped it, but I have since heard that this is a common problem with tuck lace.

At one point I thought I was up the creek without a cruiseship, but I kept my wits and fixed the error by ripping out and re-setting the punchcard. Made me feel like some highly trained mechanic, LOL.Another odd thing...the corners stretched out a bit. And, it collects dog hair like crazy! Lucy wrapped it around like a skirt one day and it got covered. I tried washing it, but the dog hair gets woven in and trapped. It also seems to have faded a touch. And the long edges curl under, but gosh, I really don't care. I'm just happy to finally have a black stole, LOL.

Ugly and Odd but no Pictures.

I made Lucy a pair of mitts to her own specifications. She wanted pink with green spots, and to have flip tops, or a slit to slither her fingers out (like my own mitts). I wasn't happy with the start of the first one, so I started the second one to see if it would turn out better/different. It wasn't significantly different, and she didn't mind the differences, so I continued. I made them with an overlapping flap opening, but no individual fingers like convertible mitts. She liked them. However, the flaps didn't stay shut well enough, so I had to knit little bobble buttons and crocheted button loops. Better, but not anything I really want documented on here for perpetual acknowledgement, LOL.

Then I made a pair of "Maine Morning Mitts" (sorry I'm not searching for the link, but it's a popular free pattern on the internet). I used one of the Sean's Sheep yarns I got at Wal-Mart last year....about 51% wool, and has a gold thread too. This one was beiges and charcoal. I actually learned how to knit two things at once, on ONE circular needle. The cast on (especially starting the second half of the first one) and first row were scary, but now it's on my favourite technique list!!!! You do need long cables though, and flexible. So I might have to do two at once on two circulars sometime. I started these late on a Thursday afternoon before leaving for band practice, then some that night, Friday, and on Saturday all the way to near Peterborough (2 hour drive?), then wove the ends in before the surprise birthday party got rockin, then we went over to the Christmas party 20 minutes from there. They were added to a reversible 9West hat that never fit me well and a matching (commercial) scarf, to be part of a gift exchange gift. The recipient looked great in the hat, but it's not her colour so I think she might have gave them to her mother. Forgot to take a picture of them though.

Then it was time to make something for Lucy's teacher. I decided to make her a cowl that was big enough to pull up over her head and not disturb her hair. She had also been Huey's teacher two years ago, and I've never seen her wear a hat. I used Paton's Divine in the chocolatey brown and cast on a crap load of sts on the way home from that party. I had nothing else to work on in the dark. The next day I realized there were way too many sts, so I did a mini swatch, re-calculated, re-cast on, and knit away. But I did something different. I added short rows as I went down (started at the end that frames her face), so that the back would be longer to go over her hair and not be too bulky under her chin. Then, as I got near the bottom, I started increasing so it would flare out a bit on her shoulders. I had to draw a diagram cause it looked too much like a dead bunny in the gift bag, LOL.
I also decided at the last minute to make homemade hot chocolate mix for their teachers. It turned out really good (tip---use the 'ruddy' cocoa from Bulk Barn). There was a major storm fore casted for the last day of school. The day started out fine and I'm glad I had the gifts done so they could take them in the morning---Lucy's teacher (and other's from out of town) left at lunch time. It was a scary trip over!! It's only a mile, but it's hilly, and the entrance to the school is a sharp incline....
No picture of the dead bunny cowl either. LOL.
I have made a few things lately that did get their day in pictures, but they need to be loaded/edited, so you'll have to wait!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Knitting

I just found this link from one of my Yahoo knitting groups. Check it out and make the fastest holiday sweater ever! LOL.
http://weloveholidaysweaters.wehatesheep.com/

Knitting Tips

This is going to be an on-going post, I hope, as I clear out my Yahoo email of all the 'some day I'll need that info' emails.

If you want, or have to, double yarns, or want to run two yarns together add the stitch gauge of each and divide by three. Why three? I have no knittin' idea!Example: Yarn 1 =6 st per inch. Yarn 2, = 8 stitches per inch. 6 plus 8 equals 14. Divide 14 by three equals 4.67 st. per inch. I'd round it out at 4.5. Remember this is only a guestimation. Try it and see if it works.

I always convert drop sleeves to set-in sleeves.Here's how I learned:Front:First row: bind off 1" of stitches.After this, count the remaining stitches to decrease and divide into thirds.For the first 1/3 of stitches: decrease 2 stitches every row.For the next 1/3 of stitches: decrease 1 stitch every row.For the last 1/3 of stitches: decrease 1 stitch every other row.The last stitch should be decreased after three rows.Back:First row: bind off 1" of stitches.After this, count the remaining stitches to decrease and divide into thirds.For the first 1/4 of stitches: decrease 2 stitches every row.For the next 1/2 of stitches: decrease 1 stitch every row.For the last 1/4 of stitches: decrease 1 stitch every other row.The last stitch should be decreased after three rows.

For those interested, here is a blog that compared three different methods of short rows:http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2005/04/back_to_short_r.htmlhttp://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2005/04/yarn_over_short.htmlhttp://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2005/04/wrapped_stitch_.htmlhttp://nonaknits.%20typepad.com/%20nonaknits/%202005/04/japanese%20_short_.html
.com/

Grin!

I really want to thank everyone who left a comment, emailed me, or posted through the Yahoo group, about my Window Dressing bathing suit coverup. It really means a lot to me when a new machine knitter writes that they're happy to read about the real trials and issues of machine knitting, and not just see a lovely picture of a final result. If I could work through everything, and end up with a fabulous finished item, then they think they could too. And they can. I know how it feels!
I was especially pleased to read that Knitman Colin had dropped by to check out my project! I enjoy reading his blog, partly for his absolutely exquisite machine knitting (scroll down to Nov 22 to see his latest sweater), but also because of his honesty and humour, and I like reading his posts about 'religion' in particular.
Sometimes we get a bit of tunnel vision. We read a whole list of knitting blogs and one day, someone links to a blog that isn't about knitting. Imagine that! There are other blogs that don't talk about knitting at all? LOL. So then we explore, and find other blogs about our 'secondary' passion....for many, it's gardening, or cooking; for me, it's birth and babies. Then you start to wonder even more....if there are 'blog celebrities' in the knitting world, are there such people in the land of....Lego blogs? Are there blogs about African violets? Snowshoeing? Macrame?
The Internet has, at the same time, made the world so much smaller, AND so much huger. You don't know what you don't know until you find out you didn't know it! I challenge everyone today to pick the first word that pops into their head, and Google it! Find out about something you never even knew you wanted to know about!
Oh, that was quite the tangent! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone, LOL!