2016 at the end

2016 has been a year of sad things and happy things, but isn't that something that can be said of any year?  I will focus on the happier things though, the things that move forward. 

The painting is complete.  The landlord and I are totally thrilled by that!  (The landlord being my second son)  It's a while since I did that sort of work and I am not sure I have ever worked with someone else before. Most of my adventures were one room at a time and Brian did so much of the other work.  It wouldn't have been right if he had to do this too.  I do know that it was the first time painting on new drywall.  It's a much bigger job than just repainting.  Happy it is done is stating it lightly.

I am knitting today.  Working on my little Hitchhiker scarf.

It's right at the point where it feels like I have hardly knit anything, but where it suddenly is all about long rows and forever till you bind off to make the toothy edge. 

I'm not sure I am into the spotty dyed yarn, but it certainly is right for a pattern like Hitchhiker.

Pooped

I'm pooped.  Tired, tired tired.  So is Keith.  But we are persisting with our painting.  My goal is two coats done in the bedroom and Kieth's far more difficult goal is getting the ceilings all painted.  But if we get these goals accomplished, we feel would be in really good shape. 

Today I'm going to be aiming for one coat in the bedroom.  It should be easily done.  All the corners are done already so it really is only the flat part.  It is harder work wielding a roller though.  Keith is also going to have to do the top of the wall.  I don't feel steady enough to be on the stool and he can almost do it on the floor.

Anyway, this is the thing in the land of me today.  I hold out hope that there will be some knitting before this year is done.  Just one more project.  Just one more little thing.

Desultory

Here I am, here I am....the line is from a childrens song.  I sing a lot of those lately, but here I am.

Most of Christmas remains ahead for me, and the next few days will tell exactly how that Christmas will be.  I won't be moved there yet, but will probably start the week after.  This week, we are painting all the main areas and one of the bedrooms.  That will mean that the he can live downstairs and I can get all my things under one roof.  There is still a lot to do, but much of it can be picked off weekend by weekend, bit by bit.

Knitting But knitting is in my dreams for the near future.  With these lovely things.



I think this is going to be a First Point of Libra Shawl.  I am a big fan of Laura Aylor's work and  this gradient kit would be perfect for it.  I haven't quite decided what main color I will use.  Probably a cream because I have cream Lion Brand Wool Ease sock yarn and I know where it is.  It will look lovely.  And from all I have seen, looks like a wonderfully simple knit.  I need that.  Simple but interesting.  

And an unexpected spinning treat!

It's just a generic wool, a no name giant dyed ball of fibre.  But it was just too pretty to leave behind.  

A lot has to happen before these things will be mine to do.  I will admire them from afar.  And dream.

The only for Christmas Present

Cassie has a little girlie dressing table.  Nothing fancy mind.  Just a toy her mommy found at the recycle place.  It didn't have a stool with it and daddy put a bug in my ear that she would love one for Christmas.  First up, what will work for a seat?

I looked at all sorts of little seat things and they all seemed just a bit pricey for something that would only be used with a toy.  It has to be a useful thing too.  The kids have a small room and always can use somewhere to store things.  I tried a couple things and came up with this.

Ikea strikes again.

But it strikes well.  These are a cube storage thing, very similar ti some I had at my wee house, but sturdier and stronger.  These have a metal frame and a firm top.  They will be great for an average person to sit on.  They shoukd be kid proof too.

They come in white, black, and a bright yellow, which is what mine are. White would never work what with the kids and the cats and dogs.So black it is.


So black it is.  But it is dark for my sunny little girl.    So grandma pulled out her tools and did a little embroidery.

 And done.  Now to assemble it all.

Update  to add, Once it was completely assembled, I realized it needed another flower.

 And a little more tweaking...

 Yes.  Much better. 

 So, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.  I will be back to blogging sometime between Christmas ans New Years.

Still not knitting

The family is all gone off to great grandmas house.  It's quiet and I am just enjoying it.

Cassie was talking this morning about Grandpa Brian and she decided to write a letter to him.  She was talking as she was writing.

She told him the most important thing in her world right now and it just breaks my heart that these 4  little munchkins of mine will never really know him.

This is her letter .

 Knitting is going to commence soon.  I badly need to knit.

Knitting or not

I am knitting.  about as much as I am spinning and gosh darn it, I can hardly wait till Next week.  Or the weekend for sure.

I have a cold and the closer Christmas comes, the less engaged I feel.  I wonder if it was always this way, but that this is the point where Brian picked me up with his own joy at the upcoming days off work.  I really don't know if this is the new or some of the old, or indeed if it is at my sort of no home of my own situation.  I keep hoping that it is something that will disappear once life feels stable.

Since the only knitting is a badly done thumb on a wee mitten for my peanut,  Mr.  Carter, I will leave you with this.

We are wearing our Icelandic Overblouse, which is exactly what I hoped for, a comfortable thing to wear as often as I can.  That Cassie has joined me in it is a surprise, but she was chilly and what else could a grandma do.

Finished!

And very cute!

Well, the knitting is complete anyway.  There are still all the finishing things to do and then a good blocking.

I thought I had buttons that would work,  a strong clear yellow, but they are just wrong.  It's going to have to be on my list for tomorrow, but by Wednesday morning, I am sure it is going to be on its way to school on the back of a sweet little girl whom I love dearly.

Advent Calendars

I have been watching The Knit Girllls podcasts and am really enjoying the idea of a knitting advent calendar.  It brings to mind my friend JS. 

She is doing a blog advent calendar.  Its a lovely collection of videos and songs and it warms my heart.

JS ADVENT CALENDAR


I have sent you right to her start page.  Catch up and enjoy the rest of the Christmas wait!

Here Endeth a Day

Here endeth a long day.  Cassie had school so it was just Marcus and I, but he didn't want to settle to anything. Trouble was our middle name.

I was rather tired, but what with days being as they are, they will disappear like fine wine around a campfire, and Christmas might show up unexpectedly. I had some shopping to do to wind up the last giftsand if not tonight, when.  So I did that and I am glad.  It's done.

I do have a little work to do on Cassie's present.  It's a Bosnas from Ikea.  In black.  I would have loved to get the white, but small kids and white.  Not likely.  Black and currently plain.  Which is what I plan to finish up.  I am going to do some bright large flowers, something little girly and sweet, maybe a butterfly or two, but something bright and fun to stand out against the black. 

So be prepared to see some very sweet little things happening around here.

Do You See This?

Do you see this? 

Why didn't I see this?

Sigh.  GIANT SIGH,  GIANTER SIGH.

I am such a nob.  Here I am, almost done the second sleeve, and I was checking length to see how much more I had to do when this.  Sigh.

At this point, sense says finish the bright pink to match the other sleeve, and then snip it off and go back, knit a wee section of the multi colour and then graft the rest of the sleeve.  Or, stop what I am doing and rip  back to the start and reknit.


It's such a cute little thing that the idea of reknitting doesn't really bother me. 

Serves me right for being so glib with the dying battery post.

Moving Fast

I have to move fast.  This battery is dying. 

I made the sleeve without the extra band of color.  I think her little arms don't need the distraction.  The same in the cuff, where I gave a small nod to bight colours in 2 rounds of garter ridges.  Just a wee touch to cap it all off.

Captivated

It was a weekend of baking but only little things, and chasing kids and sorting boxes and bags of stuff at the new place to where I will decamp in a month or so. 

There was knitting too, but only in tiny moments before and after everything else.

Just a plain ordinary sock.  It's the yarn that captured me.  This is probably my newest yarn, purchased one day when I was in town and had nothing to knit.  This is also the yarn that was missing in October and November.  Maybe now everybody else can see what I saw when I first bought this yarn.

First green and rich and dark. Then patterning. Then blues and brown and stripes! I have loved watching it happen on the needles.

There is a lot of blue but in my minds eye, I didn't see such clear stripes.  I knew the patterning would be there, but the little green line between sections just  blew my expectations away. It's just fascinating how many variations on a theme sock yarn designers can come up with.

Captivated once again.

Just not going there

It was a kind of crazy day here.  I slept in and it just went downhill from there.  And then I went to knitting.  What in the world did I do without my knitting people?  How did I ever manage? 

So if you see a knitting group as you wander about doing your holiday shopping, smile wave at them and appreciate them for keeping the crazies off the street and on a sofa with a bunch of yarn and some needles.

Mommy's day out

The mommy of my small ones makes vereniky for sale.  (Perogies).  She has a couple of huge orders for Christmas and she is tired.  Her hands were too sore to work again today, so I told her to go, do her shopping and have a little fun.  She did.  I had the wee monkey man and the sick little girl with me . But both kiddies slept nicely and I got a little knitting done.

I am so very happy with how this is turning out.  The sharp clear colours are certainly her best colours.  She looks so good in them and this strong pink?  She just glows.

No. Its more than just her fever, a very mild one..  Thankfully.

PS  Did you know that there are more than 200 cold viruses floating around out there at any given time.  Kids first major contact is daycare or pre school, and if I may be so bold as to say, earning your immunity to a particular virus is no fun for my sweet little granddaughter.  Her brother will fare much better with this early exposure now.

Tis the season.

I didn't get nearly as much knitting in this weekend as I hoped.  This matters because I am knitting a coat to get me through the cold times.  Oh I have a big old coat but it loses feathers and really seriously lacks integrity even though all the seams are there.  It works if I have to. 
Being pushed by the cold isn't a bad thing.  It just makes me want to knit faster.

I am knitting.  A further inch this weekend. 

You can just begin to see the spade like shapes beginning to form.  It just doesn't look like much.

I did knit a bunch on Cassie's sweater, and have really good results on that. 

Just the littlest bit of an a line flare but otherwise straight falling to just below her finger tips.  (I expect that length to last till Christmas) I really adore knitting this with its clear strong colours.  A winter pick me up for sure.  Just sleeves to go and they will start tomorrow.

The other thing that starts tomorrow is cookie baking.  First is cut out cookies.  I picked up the cookie cutters last week from Uncle Keith's and the kiddies here and I will bake.  The recipe we will use is my mom's favourite, Sour cream cookies, which are so superior to a plain sugar cookie.  Consider this my determined pitch to switch all the rest of you to something better. And then an evening of decorating.  Best Christmas activities ever.  And Yum.

In between we I will knit and will finish a little one and make miracles happen on a big one.

When You Wing It.

There are things you have to do when you wing it.  I am taking these lovely designs and making them work for my family and me.

To do that, you have to expect a lot of re-dos.  Or frequent try ons.    We opt for try ons. It can be a little challenging getting wee sweaters to a point where a try on will tell you what you need to know, and having my wee girlie be ready to cooperate.  Me?  I am smart and I wait till daddy is home.  She will do anything for her daddy.  And so we tried it on.

It firts!  I never quite trust it till I see it on her, or me, but when it fits, it makes finishing ever so easy.

And it does fit.  Rather nicely if I do say so.

As you can see, there areonly 2 rounds of the ribbed sections before the splitting for the arms.  It won't look right if the shoulders are too wide, so the third round of coloured ribbing is going to be sans increases and on the body and the sleeves.

It's bright, eye poppingly so., I grant you that, but when my wee girlie tried it on, her eyes just glowed.  It is always so wonderful when your little ones love what you are knitting for them.

In Between

In between all the other little bits the last few weeks, I knit myself a pair of mittens.

It all started with Cassie's school mittens.

Making her a pair of mittens  means I have to make a pair for Marcus.

  Which reminded me that when we cleaned my car last spring, there was only one good pair of mittens in it,.  Since I always carry several extra pair, or rather I prefer to carry a couple extra emergency pairs, I realized that it was time to make some for me too. 

I think this mitten thing is replacing the socks for a bit.  That's ok.  It good knitting..  I also think that I have 2 other grandchildren that I would like to knit some sturdy boys in the snow mittens for.  And I might make Cassie a better, warmer pair than her first ones too.

And I do have a lot of that Red Drops Big Fable...

Because it was a slower day

I had a full day planned with my kiddies, but it turned out, to be far less busy than I thought.  Marcus had a good nap and Cassie and I had a good talk about her need for another sweater.  Sadly, her last year sweater is too small for this big little girl. 

She just wants a pretty sweater.  Grandma wants one that is fun.  Mama wanted a red one but Grandma had a strong urge to knit some pretty fuschia and a skein of Socks That Rock Sherbet. 

Cassie's only specific request was that she wanted buttons.  She is just learning to do them on her own and she is determined to master the technique.  She will have buttons of course.  Something that will make her feel accomplished.  Maybe  be yellow buttons.  Just simple yellow buttons.

And Grandma will get to have some fun.  Mama may have to wait for a red one.

Well Begun

Well  begun is half done is an old saying that always comes to mind when I start a big project. Sometimes starting is the biggest battle I have with myself.

I started the Rams Head Cardigan.  It's not a huge swath of knitting yet, but it will be.

It doesn't look like much yet, but a huge amount of work is done.

The first thing is the long cast on.  For my hips, it's a lot of knitting.  The lining or underside of the hem is done.  8 rows and it will be easy enough to pick up and knit farther if I must.  I think the inch and a bit should be OK though.

Next, the stitches must be divided for fronts and backs.  Check. 

And finally, the biggie that always takes the longest, getting the patterning to fit my number of stitches.  I am going to use a trick Meg Swansen talks about for under arms.  I am making a side panel for the decreases so that I don't have to  worry about the panel being goofed up by off count stitches.

 And then I knit 4 rows of the pattern.  I have done just enough to start feeling a wee bit confident about the whole thing.  I still have markers at every pattern repeat, but I am getting a feel for the rhythm of the whole thing.

For me, this last is the key.  Once I understand that, I know the music I need to play and the knitting becomes a part of the greater whole .  It is when the full force of knitting power and the way it changed me is most evident.

I become one with the yarn. 

It might sound silly, if you weren't a knitter, but it is what it is.

How you know it's a great sweater.

Even though I am not finished with the buttons on my Argo sweater, it sees frquent use.  Daily use, even if it is just for those first chilly minutes when I crawl out of bed.  Most mornings, I wear it upstairs till my coffee has warmed me up.

On days when things are not rushed, aka days when it isn't a school day or dance class day, I get to play and be silly with the little kiddies.  Usually, by the time my coffee is poured, they have finished their breakfasts but aren't yet dressed.  And they often want to snuggle in Grandmas sweater on Grandmas lap. 

 They climb aboard my lap and I take both sides and wrap them with the sides of my sweater, and close it up and hug them tight.  This is the best part of my day. 

And that is how I know Argo is a great sweater.  It opens up and wraps up around those I hold dear with plenty of room for more. 

Here is hoping the new one is half so grand.

Rams Horn

 I ought to be starting my version of the Rams Horn Cardigan

I have to confess that I'm just a little hesitant.  In fact so hesitant, that I knit an entire sweater avoiding it.  I know me.  I know how good I am at avoiding and on examination, the speed on my Argo, as good as it was all by itself, was fueled, pumped and pushed by the desire to hide from this one.  But I do need this heavily double stranded sweater to use as outer wear.  It's been ok till now, but...

 I think the biggest thing is that it is bottom up.  It's an awfully long time since I have done a bottom up steeked garment, and even longer since I did one for myself.  I know it's nothing to fear, but there is just that little bit of hesitancy  that I dont usually have. 

On the upside, the sweater starts with a folded hem, so there is a really nice base before you start the colour work.   There are all kinds of things that will be done to make this my sweater, but touches like this, which are so beneficial are not going to be changed. 

 I have the needles pulled, I have the yarn wound, and the pattern is out and waiting.  Just need to cast on.

The Perfect Pair

And there we have it. 

There were several different tries.  Somewhere in a bag is yet another too small mitten.  This time, with this yarn that I have tons of,  I kept the too small first go to to make sure that the  next mittens would fit.  And there we have it. A perfect pair. 

He asked for a hat.  I'm thinking about it.

Wee mittens

My wee Marcus needs mittens.

I have tried several times and each time, the product is too small.  Or wee Marcus is going to have big hands.  He is just wee and wiggly so big hands just seems wrong. 

I am thinking of trying a  sport weight yarn and if that doesn't work, I am going up to a nice washable worsted.  Sigh. 

Marcus and I both need gloves.  Maybe we could make them match.

Yep

That went about how I planned.  NOT.

I didn't knit a stitch yesterday and only a very little on Saturday.  I do get what the frizzeled worn out feeling is about though.  My throat is scratchy and sore.  I'm sick.  It's no consolation of course but it is explanation.

I did dig into my yarn boxes and have done a bit of looking for my next project.  Colourwork is next up.  I have a coat like garment to knit and I want a new pair of mitts.

One of the knitters I knit with loves mittens.  I see her popping out new pairs so effortlessly.  I would like that, but I get bogged down in the effortless part.  Mittens mean following a pattern for me.  Still I need some and I think I ought to knit rather than buy. 

It's warmer that way.  Time to pull out the good book.

Hanging

I intend to spend my weekend quietly knitting and watching movies.  This is what I intend though it isn't what will probably happen.

My weekend is probably going to end up with chores and errands and babysitting kiddies.  While that is ok, I really could use some serious sitting in my room and knitting.

Found

I decided to go out to the evening knitting group here.  I am so glad I did.   I needed knitting and something to carry it in.  I dug under the pile. 

I found all of the missing knitting. I hadn't been able to find this one bag of yarn, since I came back from my mom's.  Found.  And in a way I am not surprised.

It was the only plain sock knitting I have on the go right now and losing just irritated me.  Found in my big old work bag with all the other things I might possibly need to knit while I was gone. 

I also found the little mitten I had started for Marcus. 

It's from the yarn I made his socks out of.  It just seemed fun to give him mittens from the remains.  I am really happy to see this again.

I found something else too. 

In my last job, I worked with one of the nicest gentlemen I ever met.  Just a gem.  Another lady he knew  came to work in scheduling and I formed a really nice relationship with her.  We tried to keep in touch after we both left the company but life, moves, cell number changes got in the way.  And we lost contact a year ago.  


I walked into the library where the knitters meet and walked past the first sitting area.  I casually glanced at the people sitting there, and walked a few steps further.  And turned right around and dropped my bags and gave this lovely lovely lady a giant hug.  Friend.  Found.  

The knitting is nice to find again, but finding a friend is priceless. found is a good way to end a day.

Not knitting?

As usual, after a big thing is completed, I seem to hit a lull.  I knit a little on my Hitchiker, but that is it.  I would probably do socks but...my current sock bag seems to be lost.  There are others of course, but the influx of Christmas gifts bought early means piles.  In my very small room here, piles means some things are inaccessible.  So not a lot of knitting.


I did bring in all my spinning stuff from the car.  It needed a good going through and possibly a restocking of fibre.  I seem to be working through things in the most pleasing way.

 This is, more or less what I've accomplished in the last while.  It looks rather dull in terms of colour, doesn't it? The reality is a little different.

What appears blackish is, on closer inspection, a rather gorgeous burgundy.   A third of the Top Knot was this middle colour.  About a third has an even darker colour, and the last bit is a more bright burgundy.  Longer ago, I would have simply spun it.  Now, I pulled it apart and I hope for a bit of a gradient effect.  

 Rather than being the dull funky brownish thing at the top of the first picture, this skein is a lovely heathered greenish colour.  It looks considerably more green than in the photo, and I quite like it.  This is, IIRC the oldest fibre in my stash.  One more good spinning day and I will have two nice full bobbins ready for plying.

I'm not going to show you the bright stuff.  That was just a punch of colour to break things up. 

And this last.

 Just a good old fashioned Shetland in a soft natural brown.  My dreams of spinning have always been about spinning fine and knitting a complete shawl in all the colours I could find, of Shetland wool. I have another full bobbin of this waiting to be plied too.

It may take a day or so to get my knitting sorted.  Or, indeed dug out.  Until then I will look at these very pleasing pictures of some decently spun yarn made by me.  That may be more tooting my horn than I usually do, but I am pretty pleased with how spinning is coming along.

Yes several bobbins are not loaded smoothly.  I have a sliding hook on the flyer that needs to be tightened.  My little plyers, which I have been meaning to put in my spinning toolkit for weeks,  is, as of this morning, when I thought it went into my purse,  most likely buried under Christmas.  Sigh.  Anyway,for all the days I don't post, this is what I am up to.

And There We are. Sweater.

And there we have it.  Sweater complete!

I am so happy with this one.  It just turned out perfect. It is warm. It's likely the mule spun character of the yarn that lends itself to feel like this, but whatever else people may feel about this yarn, they cannot deny, they won't be cold in it.  The biggest bonus for me is that it is local to me.  Or at least as close as can be.  I love that.  It is as environmentally friendly as can be, a very low carbon footprint. 


For all that it has a very low carbon footprint, the sweater looks  surprisingly sophisticated.  Not sophisticated like modern opera sophisticated, but outdoorsy sophisticated, kind of like LL Bean sophisticated.  It has a very sure sense of style.  Country style but great for the city too.  Style for people with a close attachment to the outdoors.

 In a way, that used to be me.  Well more Brian really, but he would have appreciated this sweater.   As you can see, there are no buttons on it yet.  I have to put a backing on the button bands.  The buttons I have chosen for this sweater are a little heavy but the are undeniably right.  I am going to use buttons that I bought long ago, for him. 

It just feels like the right place to use them.  It certainly is the right kind of yarn for them.  Sturdy.  Something that will last. 

I started this sweater on Halloween and here we are.  Finished.  It's  what happens when I am inspired completely by something wonderful and this sure is.  Wonderful.

Intense

It was an epic knitting weekend.  Saturday, sleeve one which was started late Friday, was completed.  Sunday the colour block at the bottom of the sweater (otherwise known as the hem ) was completed.

That's when I love knitting best.  When all the things you do mean you have something that is perfect length, perfect fit, perfect you.  Or as close to it as I will ever get.  At that point it got pretty exciting, because a full try on could be done.  And it was marvelous.

Even so, I had to really push to get the second sleeve completed.  Really push.

But the second sleeve is done.  All that remains is the button bands.

Which a smarter person than I would have just worked into the fronts.  Oh well, it gives me the chance to follow the pattern.  I am really pleased with this sweater. Really pleased.

I stopped the shoulder 'seams' just at the right time.  I changed the colour and stitch at just the right time.  I switched to garter stitch at exactly the right place on the bottom of the sweater.  AND IT FITS! Really well!

Its a good warm and yet moderately stylish colour blocked sweater, and I love it.

Better Than Us

I don't think I have ever said it better than this.

November 11, 2011


And from someone who said it ever so much better than I,

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
  Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
  At the going down of the sun and in the morning
  We will remember them."

For the Fallen, Robert Laurence Binyon

Ongoing

I didn't get as much done on my sweater as I hoped.  I'm just really good at not doing, you know, stuff. But it is being worked on right now. 

 Isn't that just a lovely gray?

I had to wind up another ball to work the second strand from.  That first ball went much farther than I thought it would.  It stayed large and stayed large and then, just when I thought it would never end, there it was, ending.  It completely snuck up on me.  But another was wound and I'm back in the game.

Working it

There is a bunch of knitting going on here.  Serious knitting on the sweater.

I am just down to the waist and before the day is ended, I hope to have a healthy chunk of the the body of the garment completed.  In my dreams, I want to have the bottom more or less done, but i think my hands are going to quit before then.

It is moving along nicely and I am really looking forward to the next fit session.  The last one, told me it will be a very good sweater, but this next one will confirm it.

I love knitting top down and I really do like this contiguous shoulder.  It is just so easy to make it fit well.

Anyway that is what is up to here.,  In the grand scheme of things, not a great or auspicious day, but I will knit.  

Desultorily

This weekend was not a knitting weekend.  I had time to knit but I could not come up with the mental energy.  Sometimes life here is exhausting.  And mental.  And  isn't a lot I can do to change it.  Only time can change things. 

Still there was some desultory knitting.  A bit.

I worked on my still very small hitchhiker scarf/shawl.

 I love the thinking behind this pattern.  It is just so smart.  It's intuitive to knit but it has a lot of little things that means it hits all the right buttons.  The ends of the rows are clever.  It's easy to see what made Martina Behm an instant knitting celebrity.

It Fits!

It Fits.  It Fits. It Fits.

OK So now we have the long path of a stockinette body and sleeves. 

I am very pleased with the way the double stranding is going too.

 It is making a nice, lofty winsome experience.

A Few Things

I continued to knit on m for my Roughrider sweater.  Forgive the name, but the pattern is called Argo and I really cannot call it after a name so unrelated to me.  Not Toronto Argonauts but Saskatchewan Roughriders.  Therefore...

I love the way it looks and I sincerely hope that when I try it on, just a few minutes from now, that I remain as pleased with how it looks.

You can see my major change from the pattern.  The pattern has the sleeves entirley in stockinette stitch, but I kind of like the way it looks with garter stitch tops.  It was also the easiest way to manage the colour shift.  At the end of the garter, the colur changes.  Easy peasy.

I did have one problem though.

 This darker gray is a single.  which kind of stunned me for a few minutes.  Once I started thinking about it, I realized I bought the dark gray to use with some red, navy, green and white singles that I have for a colour work something or other. When I started knitting this sweater, I forgot that, and it changed into a 2 ply in my mind. 

I thought about ordering another cone in a 2 ply, but when it came down to it, I am in a sweater knitting mood, and I want to stay in that sweater knitting mood.  I am going to hold two strands together for the rest of the garment. 

So far so fair.  As ever, when I am working with Custom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2 ply or any of their yarns, I wonder why I don't knit with them more.  It is just that good.*

*If you like Kureyon, you will like this.  It has that same hand but at a much lower, albeit, less showy price.

It's Back

There was a time not so long ago, this morning for instance, when I thought my sweater knitting mojo had up and left me.  I've been feeling that way for many many months, as far back as moving to my wee house.

It was surely a symptom of everything else that was going on in my life, and was absolutely part of the grieving.  Sure I knit sweaters during the last few years, and I did enjoy them, but I never just sat down and went a completely different direction and was utterly thrilled to do it.  That happened today.

It all started with the vest I have been working on.  I was having a miserable time putting sleeves on the thing.  I did pull it back, and I was meaning to redo them, but I just didn't have the heart for it.  The first thing I did was to sew up side seams.  And then I tried it on.  It changed from bad to yeah, I can do this. And suddenly I had nothing to knit and a lot of yarn .

I wondered what else I could do with the yarn.  I have been thinking about contiguous sleeve again.  It's quite a while since I did some of those,.  I looked at the list of sweaters by yarn weight, and I saw the perfect thing.

Argo

It's really the perfect thing.  Almost before I knew it, I was knitting.  I finished the collar and everything just moved so fast.

  Because I have 2 gray yarns to make this, and because this isn't the right sweater for stripes (my opinion.  YMMV), I am going  to switch colours at the end of the garter stitch section.  I will probably add in a bit of the light gray in the hem garter stitch.  If I have some, that is, but otherwise 2 grays and simple colour blocks. 

It's moving along marvelously, and first fit will tell if I am doing alright.  But whatever.  It feels good and wonderful and filled with mojo.

It's a Garbled World.

My keyboard is garbled this morning.  Which means I have been working on posting but nothing is happening except for bzurblgerp. 

Garbled. 

Or maybe it's just being interfered with by the knitting gods.  They have been wreaking havoc here.  I redid the top sections of the vest and while it's better, it still isn't a garment I would wear.  I have a plan to turn it into a sweater but it's not cooperating with me. 

This is sleeve two.  It's about to be sleeve three.  I have no doubt, there will be a sleeve 4.  Thankfully, this yarn is asturdy prairie yarn (Custom Woolen Mills Mulespinner 2 ply) so it can handle it. 

I will persevere.  One way or another, it will end up as something decent.  And if not...well, there are some garments that end up good enough for home.  And nowhere else. 

It's Friday Again

My mom always said that the older you got, the faster time moved.  It is oh so true.  This parade of Fridays happen, even though my head is on Wednesday.

My goal for this week was to get started on a heavy winter sweater for me.  As I mentioned before, the plan is to make the Rams Horn Cardigan from Meg Swansen's Knitting.  Being Friday, you can see how perilously close I am to missing the goal entirely.

Can I just say, I hate swatching in the round?  I wanted in the round because that is the way I intend to knit the sweater but getting started can be a real bugger if everything doesn't go just right.  I wanted to leave a nice section I could cut open once the swatch was complete.  I cannot tell you how many times I found myself knitting with the strand joining the two sides rather than the yarn coming from the ball.  I stopped counting at 8.  I finally decided to just knit the blessed thing together and let whatever would happen, happen.

You can just see the shapes of the design start to form.  I put the line of garter in because I am going to go down one needle size.  I started on 5 mm needles but the gauge seems a little loosey goosey to me. I want to wash this swatch to be really certain of which fabric I prefer.  I want it closely knit for warmth but I do not want to be wearing iron.  If I wanted iron, I could buy a coat.  Eeewwwww

When I wound up yarn the other day, I also wound up the very pretty skein my sister brought me back from her trip to Britain.  It seemed like the perfect sort of yarn for a Hitchkiker.  The simple garter stitch would really show off the pretty, spotted nature of the this skein of yarn from I Knit or Dye.

 
This is going to be my easy knitting for a bit.  I do still love my socks for in between easy knitting, but I cannot find the simple pair  that I have on the go and what with gauge games and lace socks and colour work,  I really need simple.

Nothing important

I wasn't doing anything today other than watching Mr. Marcus and knitting.  I didn't want to do anything too involved.  I debated getting my winder and swift set up to wind the yarn for my next project, but, I will save that for another day.

I picked up this long time project and worked on it for a bit.

Sorry about the fuzzy photo.  I couldn't seem to make it right with the celing light.  All the photos had the fuzzy bit.

I am near the winding down stage.  3 yarns are almost gone and the rest I have lots left to work with, too much in fact.  There were some near full skiens here so I really should have been paying attention to my yarn usage a little better.  Oh well.  It is what it is.

I have enough to do each yarn at least once more, so I anticipate another 3 -4 inches in width.  It is going to make a nice wide scarf or cowl or a combination of both, I think.  If I had more of each of the smaller quantity yarns, it would have made a lovely ruanna. 

It will be downright yummy with all the angora and fuzzy goodness in it and I am content with that.