One sleeve to go…

I’m working on the baby sweater still. Had a little trouble with my hands, trying to knit too much, so of course then you can’t knit because it hurts, losing more time. Fortunately I found out the baby’s not due until mid-January, so there’s still a little time. And I have one sleeve and assembly and blocking to go.

Baby Sweater Status December 8, 2008

You can see the buttons I’ve chosen off to the left there. I don’t know if the baby’s a boy or a girl, but the purple buttons look really nice against the knitted piece.

I’m also working on one Christmas present that I can’t show you here. Next month — promise! It involves sewing this time. Haven’t done any in a long time, and I’ve missed it.

And I’ve also been doing some cross-stitching while waiting for my hands to feel better.  So I’m still sort of working on one project…at a time. Hand soreness has necessitated multiple projects again or the stress will overwhelm.  I love this time of year, but it can be manic too.

Happy Holidays!

Progress on Baby Yours sweater

I’ve been fast at work on the Baby Yours sweater in the Socks that Rock, Pirates Booty colorway, yarn. I finished the back this morning and I’m beginning the right front.

Socks that Rock yarn, Pirate

I’m happy that I’ve been able to concentrate on one project, but the k2p2 check pattern is kinda boring. If it weren’t for the cable pattern, I would’ve nodded off on this one. The colors are interesting, though, and I think it will make for a very unusual baby sweater. I wish it had a little less yellow in it, though, because that tends to stand out more than the other colors.

I don’t know how, but you can see there’s a little flare at the bottom of the cable pattern. Not sure why, but it’s kinda funky I think. Just a snippet of a train. If the baby ends up having a cute booty, it could add a sense of fun to the sweater. This is the 12 mos. size, so he or she won’t be able to wear it until next winter anyway.

Until next time….have a great week!

Socks that Rock, and Pirate’s Booty

It’s been a busy summer! Sorry about not posting for quite awhile. I’ve been trying to concentrate on one project, and I was able to do that. Unbelievable!

I made some socks for my dad, which I just finished on Friday. They are ragg wool, a denim colorway. I also made a baby blanket 3 years or so ago for my nephew out of this same yarn. The socks, with a busy schedule, took almost exactly 3 months to make, but they are done! Voila!

Dad's Ragg Sox

I have started my next project. There are a lot of pregnant women at work lately! One is about due, and so this will be late, but I had to finish the socks first! It’s the Baby Yours pattern. I’m using the Socks that Rock medium weight yarn (100% superwash merino) in the Pirate’s Booty colorway! I’m going to have to apologize to the recipient in advance if her child turns out to be mischievous!

Baby Yours sweater

So far it’s working out alright. You start out with several rows of garter stitch, which is very relaxing. Then you get into the pattern. The center part is a cabled section. The left and right parts are a k2 p2 check pattern. Cool!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Yarn of the Month Club update

I’m still getting the four samples every month. For the most part, I like the vast majority of them. It’s fun to sit and just knit what is basically a swatch of whatever yarns are sent that month. I cast on 20 stitches and see how far the sample takes me.

I thought I’d show you some of my favorites, and few that haven’t really grabbed me. This is the one I’m working on right now:

Yukon by Pagewood Farms

Sorry for the blurry photo. It’s Yukon by Pagewood Farms. I think this would make a great sock. It’s 70% merino, 20% bamboo, and 10% nylon. I’m knitting it on size 2 needles. The colorway is Misty.

This next one is Sitar by Nashua Handknits. It’s 51% wool, 49% acrylic. You can see the varying widths of the yarn. The colors are pretty amazing too. For some reason it makes me think of my paternal grandmother. I think she had a hat that was this colorful. Would’ve made a great 1980s sweater. Are the 80s back in yet or did I miss its revival?

Sitar by Nashua Handknits

This next one reminded me of some kind of skin — elephant or something. It’s kind of cool. Very textured, and the colors are variations on gray. It’s 100% silk. I don’t usually care for sillk, but this was intriguing. If you’re looking to make a stuffed elephant for somebody small, I recommend this. It would also make a cool sweater, but it’d be kind of rough. Not itchy, exactly. Almost papery rough.

Tsumugi Silk Combo (A-111) by Hasu

Haven’t done anything with this next one, as it just came in the July package. But it has great colors, it’s shiny, and I’m looking forward to trying it. It’s Bamboo by SWTC — 100% bamboo yarn.

Bamboo by SWTC

The next one is Matsuri by Noro. It’s mostly cotton (87%) and a little wool (13%). It’s springy, the colors are bright, and the yarn seems to be composed of a chain stitch.

Matsuri by Noro

Here’s Camelino by Knit One Crochet Too. It’s 90% merino, 10% camel. The color is actually a little more gray than it’s showing. A very nice uniform yarn to knit with.

Camelino by Knit One Crochet Too

Ordinarily my hands aren’t too crazy about lace weight yarn. But the rich color of this one (it’s called Lupine) attracted me, and I had fun with it. It was knit on size 2 needles. This is called Lace Weight Silk & Wool by Nature’s Palette, and it’s 70% wool, 30% silk.

Lace weight Silk & Wool by Nature's Palette

Samp’a by Mirasol (in red) was a fun yarn. Can you tell I get bored with straight stockinette stitch? Samp’a is an organic cotton, springy, and very light. It’d make a cute summer sweater for a kid or an adult.

Samp'a by Mirasol

Purelife by Rowan (in yellow, below) is also an organic cotton, and springy. I didn’t care for the color too much, it’s a dull yellow. But the yarn itself was fun to work with.

Purelife by Rowan

Here’s one I didn’t really care for, the blanched yarn below. It’s Manipur by Karabella Yarns. I know, everybody else probably likes it, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I did knit about half of it, but then ripped it out because it was about as elegant as knitting with strips of bandages. I just didn’t care for how it came together. It is 100% silk.

Manipur by Karabella Yarns

Wool/Stainless Steel by Habu (the dark mess below) didn’t get a fair shake right off the bat. It proceeded to turn into a big rat’s nest before I could even get it wound into a ball, and so I have just left it as a rat’s nest. If it’s not going to cooperate enough to be wound into a ball, screw it. The “variable gauge/strander” warning should’ve been warning enough to me not to even open the baggie. It’s about the thickness of sewing thread, and yes, you can tell it’s got stainless steel in it.

Wool/Stainless Steel by Habu

One more, then I’ll go back to the ones I did like. This one is Brushed Suri by Blue Sky Alpacas. I haven’t actually tried this one. I have taken it out of the baggie, but haven’t gotten any further than that. It’s beautiful — a wispy off-white. I am going to try it, it just looks like another opportunity for a snarl. I’ll let you know how it works out. It could turn out to be a favorite, but for now I’m reserving judgment.

Brushed Suri by Blue Sky Alpacas

This multicolored yarn is Bamboo Splay by Wisdom Yarns. It’s 100% bamboo, and it was great fun to knit with. It’s a slick, shimmery ribbon yarn. Great colors, almost military. It would be fun to make something dressy for summer — an evening sweater, perhaps.

Bamboo Splash by Wisdom Yarns

This Rialto by Debbie Bliss (dark brown yarn, below), would definitely make a cool dressy summer sweater. It’s a ribbon yarn also, a little thicker than the Bamboo Splash, and it has a metallic gold thread running through it. Great colors, fun to work with.

Rialto by Debbie Bliss

This is a new one also.  Panda Silk by Crystal Palace Yarns. It’s very shiny, and great variations of turquoises in the colorway. It’s 52% bamboo, 43% superwash merino, and 5% combed silk. I would say you can’t even tell the merino is in there. The bamboo and silk dominate. I’m looking forward to this one.

Panda Silk by Crystal Palace Yarns

Pure Cotton by Debbie Bliss is a beautiful yellow cotton yarn. Another winner for a light summery sweater. It’s springy, cottony, and I enjoyed knitting with this.

Pure Cotton by Debbie Bliss

The Silkience yarn below isn’t a color I would normally go for, a dark salmon. But this 41% cotton, 39% modal, 12% silk, 8% rayon yarn is seductive. It’s shimmery, and easy to work with, although it kept tightening on me. A little slick, I guess. But I still liked it. It would make a great dressy summer shell sweater.

Silkience by Ella Rae

Last one. This is Pure Wool DK by Rowan in Pomegranate. What a great name for a color. I really liked this yarn. I bought some to make a winter hat. It’s 100% wool, as you would guess from the name. Just a gorgeous color, and should make a nice warm hat for me for next winter, if I get it done.

Pure Wool DK by Rowan

Hope you enjoyed the walk through the Yarn of the Month Club. More to come.

Tangerine and Spidey Update

I may have the summer blahs, and we aren’t even that far into it yet. I haven’t posted in awhile, my apologies. I just haven’t felt much like knitting the past few months. My desire for the fiber arts is picking up again, though, so slowly progress is happening.

Tangerine Smoothie Sweater
You may remember the orange sweater that has languished in the UFOs pile for at least 3 summers:

It’s slightly bigger now, measuring 9 inches in length:

Nine Inches of Tangerine Smoothie

The pattern is a lot of fun, and keeps me interested, in spite of the length of time this project has taken so far. The sweater is being knit in the round (back and front at same time), it is a cardigan, and I need 6 more inches in pattern until I get to the armhole decreases. Here’s a closeup of the pattern:

Tangerine Smoothie closeup

Sorry for the darkness of those photos. There isn’t much natural light coming in today (it’s rainy), and the flash doesn’t seem to help a whole lot. The first photo is closest to the true color representation.

Another Turtle Project
I’ve also been working on a special turtle for my nephew. He will be 3 in September. (Hard to believe I started the tangerine sweater the same year my nephew was born. Yikes.)

His turtle started out, much like his sister’s, to be variations of one color. His sister’s is purple and lavendar. His was going to be royal blue and light blue. Then I got to talking with my brother, his father, as I was almost finished with the turtle body, and he told me that my nephew had become obsessed with Spiderman. It didn’t even dawn on me yet really, and my brother didn’t know I was making a turtle for his son. I was kind of half listening. After I hung up with my brother, I went downstairs and continued working on the turtle. About half an hour later, seriously, it hit me that I could make my nephew’s turtle a Spiderman turtle! I had some red yarn, and as Spiderman is red and blue, that seemed perfect. But how to make the spider on the turtle’s shell?

Spidey beginnings

It honestly took me 3 weeks to figure it out. I got pictures of Spiderman from off the Internet, and studied the spider. I tried knitting the spider, beginning from the pointy butt. I tried crocheting it, even embroidering it right into the shell. I tried different weights of black yarn, hoping one of them would develop into a spider. I was seriously having major problems getting a handle on this spider, and I was getting frustrated.

Then one night it all just clicked. I got one of the yarns I felt would work the best, and picked up a smaller sized needle. This time I started at the head of the spider. Joyfully, Spiderman’s insignia began to emerge:

The insignia emerges

I cannot tell you how excited I was. The body of the spider turned out better than I thought it would (it’s still not perfect, but he’s only going to be 3 — he can tease me about it later!) I began to crochet the spider’s legs using the chain stitch, attaching them only at the body of the spider and, for lack of a better term, his toes.

I thought it best to add the spider before I closed up and stuffed the shell. That way I could hide all the ends inside the shell. Here’s what the shell turned out to look like:

Finished shell

I showed it to some friends on Ravelry, and they were even more excited about it than I was. This was encouraging! They suggested I tack the legs of the spider down a little more, to give it the jagged shape, and also to secure the legs against the rambunctiousness of a toddler. I finished the turtle body, and added the shell, and voila! Here he is so far:

Spidey Turtle

I say so far because I am attempting to make a Spidey mask for him. But we’ll see. It’s proving to be as challenging as the spider.

Next up: Yarn of the Month Club Deluge!

Raggs

When last I wrote about my projects, I was a bit scattered about what I wanted to work on. I had quite a few choices. I decided to concentrate on the ragg wool socks I’m making for my husband. So, around the beginning of March, I got to turn the heel on the first sock.

The yarn is a lot of fun to work with, very soft and easy to work with. The sock felt good as I knit it, and when I finally got to a point where my husband could try it on, he commented on its softness as well.

I was having so much fun with it that I decided to take it on vacation with us. I didn’t take it on the plane with me. I didn’t want it to get confiscated. But I worked on it once we got to Lahaina. Yes, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. We stayed in a condo at the south end of Lahaina, which is a beautiful little town on the northwest side of Maui. It has shops and wonderful restaurants, gorgeous views, and you can stand at the shore and see whales in the ocean without using binoculars. Pretty cool.

So I sat at our breakfast table on the “lanai” (deck/back porch) after breakfast each morning and worked on the sock. It was in the 80s, humid, and a welcome relief from the long winter we’ve had in the Midwest.

Okay, so this isn’t a morning view, it is a sunset, but I didn’t think you’d mind all that much. :o) It is the sun setting over the island of Molokai.

I worked on the sock, and did finish it while we were there, but neglected to take any photos as proof. And then, very strangely, I didn’t feel like knitting after that. We still had several days left of our week’s vacation, but I just didn’t feel like knitting. Can you blame me with views like this?

 

When we got back, I began the second sock. It went a little more slowly than the first one, but it also knit a little more tightly. I’m not sure why. Same needles, same yarn, same pattern and stitch count. My yarn tension must’ve just been tighter. Again, when I got to the point where my husband could try it on, he commented that the first one was looser.

 
Finis! They washed up well, and blocked well. All ready for the next snow storm! I am very pleased with how well these socks knitted up, and particularly pleased that the blocking helped to even out the differences in the sizes. When I finished the second sock, it was a couple inches smaller than the 1st one (but still fit my husband’s foot comfortably). After I washed and blocked them, they evened out, and still fit. Go figure!

I have decided, since I finished the ragg wool socks, that I am going to have a project to work on at work, and one to work on at home. That way I don’t have to keep dragging my knitting around and packing it up just after I get going on it.  For home I have chosen to finish the blue turtle I was working on before. I’m not going to show it to you yet because it’s got a bit of a twist to it. But soon!

The work project is a hoodie that I learned about on Ravelry. Ravelry is the knitting/crocheting/spinning online community that is currently in beta testing, but if you’re on there, it’s in full swing, believe me. Forums, patterns, yarns, MUCH temptation. Seriously. Check it out and sign up if you haven’t already.

Anyway, this is an Irish hoodie, but the pattern is from Phildar in France, and written in French. This is a new twist for me. I speak French, but trying to decipher abbreviations in English is hard enough. Fortunately the majority of the pattern is in charts. So I’m just going to have to try and figure out the in between stuff on my own or with the help of the “Tricoteuses francophone” group (French knitters) on Ravelry.

The woman who did it on Ravelry where I saw it, started out using Phildar’s Tweedy yarn in the “cedre” colorway (Cedar). She didn’t like it for some reason, and I thought it was beautiful. She is using a gray yarn instead, which is also beautiful. So I bought some of the Cedar Tweedy yarn, and that’s what I’m going to attempt this with. Check it out.

More as it happens!

Wonderful evening for the obsessed

It’s not that I don’t love my husband, for I do. We’ve been married for nearly 17 years, and he’s just the best. He is my heart’s delight, and it only gets better as we continue this journey through life together.

But occasionally he leaves town and short of accomplishing something around the house (which I do hope to do while he’s gone this time), I thought I would spend an evening doing just what seemed to me like the perfect evening.

 

(I couldn’t squeeze the movie in there, or Keira Knightley in “Pride & Prejudice” would be showing as well.)

Chocolate, wine, and staring at new yarn tonight. Ye Gods I am obsessed!

If you look at the previous post you will see that I have quite enough projects going as it is, so woe is me to begin a new project when I already have so many going.

Sometimes it’s just enough to know a new yarn (or 3) is in my stash. So tonight, just looking!! But I had to show it to you. This wondrous yarn is from Politically Incorrect Yarns. Chris, the creator, is one of the coolest and most creative people I’ve ever encountered. She is nice, funny, beautiful, and look at these yarns! You HAVE to have some! They’re beautiful. The feel of it, the gorgeous colors, and the names are hilarious! From left to right: “One Night Stand,” “Show Me Your T*&s, Morning After Mardi Gras,” and “Man Whore.” There’re others, equally as beautiful. Fly, run, but do not walk. You have to check this out.

Meanwhile, I’m going  back to wine, chocolate, Mr. Darcy, and some pretty sassy new yarn. TGIF!

Scattered!

No one project is interesting me at the moment, so I am working on a bunch of different things. It’s all depending on time available and what I feel like working on. So this post is going to show a lot of different projects going on, and who knows which one will win out????

First up, another turtle! For my nephew, as his sister was the proud recipient of my first turtle.

 

That was all done on a lazy Sunday afternoon, so I felt pretty good about it. Of course I haven’t touched it since then!

Next, some ragg wool socks for He Who Likes Flamingos (better known as my husband):

I’m liking the bigger size yarn. I’ve just finished the leg part and am beginning the heel flap. It’s going pretty well, I just need time to work on them. This is easier on my hands than some of the projects below, so this may be one of the projects that earns my time and devotion!

I also dragged out an old project I had started last summer (I think). Maybe it was 2 summers ago. Oops, it was 3 summers ago. Yikes. It’s an orange sweater, the pattern is in Creative Knitting‘s July 2005 issue — the “Tangerine Smoothie” pattern. Really cute. We’re about to go on vacation, and this will be a good airplane project! It’s the Sugar & Cream cotton yarn, and it will make a nice lightweight summer sweater. If I ever finish it!

I’ve also got a couple of other pairs of socks going. Or if not going, at least started. One pair is for a friend. The yarn is from Lisa Souza, hand dyed, it’s called “Berry Poppins!” The yarn I received is more pinky than the photo on her site, but it should still be really cool. It’s a very small thickness yarn (sock weight), though, so my hands can’t take much of knitting with it. My friend may be 80 by the time I finish them, but we’ll see. I think I’m using a size 1 or 2 needle.

The other pair I think will be for me. Ha! We’ll see about that. I am trying some beading with this pair. The yarn is from Jojoland: Melody is the name of it. You can see the beads across the skein.

I’m going to try the Primavera pattern with the Jojoland Melody socks. It was a free pattern. They are also a little tough on my hands (my hands tire easily and get sore with smaller gauge yarn and needles).

That’s all I’ve got going so far! Hopefully I won’t spazz out totally and these will all be finished in a short matter of time. Wish me luck!

1st socks finished; YOMC

The first socks are mostly finished, minus the weaving in of ends, and blocking:

Cool. My teacher taught me the kitchener stitch closing of the toe, which was really cool. Two needles parallel to each other with 8 stitches left on each needle. You weave the yarn back and forth between the first two stitches on each needle (please look up directions and don’t follow what I’m saying!) with a tapestry needle, and then you drop those off and continue down the line until all the stitches have been used. A bit of a mind bender, but if you can keep track of where you are, and not inadvertently drop stitches off the back needle, it’s really a very nice looking finish to the toe. Interweave Press’ spiral bound Knitter’s Companion by Vicki Square has a great description with diagrams. But there is a preparation row that you must do that is listed before the diagrams that apparently a lot of people miss. Check it out.

I also wanted to show you what I got for the Yarn of the Month Club for February:

Clockwise from top left: Fuego by Lang; Big Cash by Zaol; Cumba by GGH; and Lana Grande by Cascade Yarns. They’re all chunky yarns, using needle sizes from 7-17.

Above, the black and white Fuego is really nice. It’s a combination of 23% wool, 5% mohair, 15% nylon, and 57% acrylic. You know whatever you make with this yarn will be nice and warm. Maybe I have socks on the brain, but they would make a beautiful pair of winter socks (especially seeing as how it’s minus 6 degrees here this morning!) or a very nice warm sweater. Needle size 10.5 suggested, the color is 0003.

The champagne-colored Big Cash is very soft. It’s 50% cotton, 45% nylon and 5% cashmere. I don’t know how many ply it is, but it’s a lot of “thread” wound around to make up the big chunky yarn. Recommended needle size is 11.

I will grant you, this is hard to see. I shouldn’t take a photo of two red yarns against an orange background. The Lana Grande is at left, and it is 100% wool. It was really nice to work with. You are supposed to use size 17 needles, but I used 13, and it seemed to be fine. For 100% wool, it wasn’t scratchy at all. A very nice yarn.

I am just starting to work with the Cumba. It’s 42% wool, 28% alpaca, and 30% acrylic. Very soft. What little I have knit has knit up evenly and it looks like it will be a very nice yarn to work with also. Needle size recommendation is size 7.

Now I have to figure out what to work on next. More socks? Another turtle? Stay tuned.

First sock(s) mojo

The socks are going well. I have a few more inches on each sock and then in Saturday’s class we’ll learn how to shape and finish the toe.

I’m pretty excited, they look like socks! It hasn’t been too difficult, but I can see how all that stockinette stitch could get boring. Especially if you knit one sock, and then start on the other and have to do it all again. I think I’ve mitigated that by knitting both socks somewhat simultaneously. Still, there’s something to be said for having a pattern. Now that I understand the construction a little better, maybe I can graduate to a pair with a little more variation to it.

I got another Yarn of the Month Club shipment, but haven’t taken any photos. So I’ll post that later.