Tasty Toasty Two

And done.

Nuff said.

Tasty Toasty!

The other day, when my hands were more or less done knitting for the day, I had a little bit of a buying event on Revelry.  I was looking for another pair of fingerless mittens for myself and I just could not get past Martina Behm's Tough and Toasty.  They aren't long enough on the cuff for what I want them to do but it looked like such an interesting design and Martina's patterns are always so much fun to knit. They look simple but there is always something clever going on that makes you shake your head in wonder at the thinking behind them.

Martina is giving a discount if you buy three or more patterns so I took a look at all of them.  I came home with 4.  Two besides Toasty were easy, but I had to think hard on the last.  There were two that more I could easily knit, use and enjoy, but I figured that there were only so many things I realistically can knit at this moment in time.  I don't like to buy patterns till I am ready to knit.  If I buy ahead for a prospective knit, I usually end up changing my mind before I get around to it and then the pattern never gets used. Four seemed like plenty. I purchased Spiral Escape, Brickless, Shrug and More besides Tough and Toasty.     

When I got up this morning (in the dark.  It is dark now at 5:30 a.m. I will rejoice that sweater weather is back. Nothing else for it but to cheer the end of that awful hot summer.) I grabbed the needles and the yarn I had at the ready and started to knit.  

It took very little time, and by the end of my first coffee, I was reasonably well along.  

I'm using some yarn from the deep stash, Mission Fall 1824 Wool in three colours.  It is a perfect yarn for wristers, easily washable as often as you need too and super soft for wearing on sensitive wrists. Not that mine are sensitive at all. I have skin that seems to tolerate almost everything. 

There were a few hiccups along the way, as I sorted out in my thick head exactly where she was going with this and what each increase or decrease did within the pattern.  The pattern is written using a circular needle while I was doing it on dpns. I kept getting her tip one and two mixed up with my one, two, three and four. If I tell you that I ought to have finished my first cup of coffee before I read the pattern, I am sure you will understand.  The pattern was clear.  Me, not so much. I had to pull back an overly large section one as well, but it is a small project.  It took very little time and once I understood the very simple things she is doing, I went along great gangbusters.

By the time I was ready for my second cup of coffee I was so close to finished, that I delayed cup two a very few minutes and finished up this first mitten.

Though this first mitten was knit exactly to pattern, the next one is going to be my proto type to add a longer cuff to it.  I am very sure that what I have in mind will work.  I will add that longer cuff to mitten one by picking up stitches and doing garter in the round.

  

If you are busy knitting sweaters and are in the long slog of it, and are looking for a quick pick me up that is a lot of fun, I highly recommend this tasty little treat.

The Fashion of Me

I got home from spinning and shopping yesterday about 2 p.m. and came in with my packages and promptly went to bed, where I slept till it was well past time to make dinner.  I went to bed about 8 and woke at later than my usual hour. I am going to sleep when I feel tired so that if it is some virus, I won't have to suffer too long with it. It could be catch up sleep from the fires, because while we were inundated with smoke, I slept very poorly.  Whatever it is, this is me,  just going with the flow.

To say I did no knitting yesterday would be right.  None at all, which is pretty rare.  So that leaves me with not a whole lot to show you today but I do have a lot to say.

I have never been a rabid follower of fashion.  If I didn't find it comfortable, I did not wear it.  I remember when skirts became midi skirts, and how happy I was.  Even teenage me did not have legs for mini skirts.  But while I have almost always had a love hate relationship with fashion, I do eagerly watch trends.  

The last year I was working at the yarn store, some of the pattern books from European companies were starting to show the slightly more relaxed look.  I particularly recall a knit vest with a very straight slightly oversized shape with ribbed cuffs, welts if you will at the arms and neckline.  I had seen that look before.  It took a very long time till it seemed to hit closets on this side of the pond.

I watched as it gradually came into vogue in knitting.  Boxy is a fine example of the new oversized look.  And it really does look pretty good on many many bodies.  One of the hallmarks of why it works so well for so many is that the sleeves are quite fitted and the armscye is close at the underarm.  Even though there is a lot...a lot of positive ease it looks tidy and fresh and above all comfortable.  It looks like something for work and for play. 

I wasn't a huge fan of too much negative ease and was pretty pleased at how many of the trendy designers seemed to be making positive ease be a positive look.  I have been having a lot of fun watching new sweaters come out this fall and most of them are wonderfully comfortable, wearable things.  

I did a Ravelry search with my usual parameters, sweater, knitting, photo, adult, female and then decided to change how the search was sorted one more.  Publication Date.  I like to do this one every once in a while, particularly at the change of seasons when all the big magazines come out.  It's just an interesting way to look at things enmasse and get a feel for what  is coming.

There are a couple of sweaters that look at little too 1980s to eyes that already saw the height of 1980s fashion.  Follow the link, and go down to the slideshow of women's fashion pictures. These are not fashion house things.  These are from catalogues that people across the continent were buying from.  These were the kind of things people wore in small town anywhere.  A lot of it was okay, but note how far below the armscye the sleeve goes.  Note that shoulder width and the padding. Note how much fabric there is at that point where sleeve and garment meet?  Folds from the sleeve and folds from the body of the garment.  That is what makes it look 80s old in my eyes. That glob of sleeve that hangs there doing no one any good.   Okay, maybe just me.  I am really short from shoulder to full bust and that excessive fabric just does not work.

When I was young, I remember my mom's comments when bell bottoms came in (see 1940's for bell bottoms) and I was begging for a pair.  I remember when really loose legged pants came in, and what my dad said about suits circa 1950.  I feel just like that now with over large, over deep sleeves.  Sigh, but not in an I want that sigh kind of way. More an minor eww way.

I remember when midi skirts came in.  It didn't banish all minis.  They coexisted for a very long time before fashion declared the really short skirts out.  Even when the really short skirts were pretty much gone, you would still see short above the knee on occasion.  As short short moderated, so did midi lengths moderate and we settled to something in the middle where you could still find a great deal of variation. It felt like fashion wasn't in the driver seat anymore, so much as what was comfortable for people to wear everyday. 

That is what I hope for as fashion goes a little less fitted.  That all the looks remain.  That wearers can go the way that feels right to them, that our fashion personality can be our own, not something that someone else decides and dictates, that tights can be perfectly fine with the a longer top and that loose flowing pants of linen can also be very stylish and perfect with a cropped top.  I want my average joe ordinary style to be considered a fashion choice too. 

I want to see the world with open eyes and not to close off my eyes or my mind to other ways of being as I get older.  I want to be as open to change as I am to routine.  It gets harder as you get older, that is for sure. A thing isn't bad just because it is different and it isn't always bad to be a bit uncomfortable.  It's okay to have to learn to like a fit.  I'm just not so sure I want to do that personally.

 If I comment on something at all, it isn't that I think everyone should like or wear what I do.  How we present our inner selves to the world is such a deeply personal thing and it can morph and change through our lives and often is a reflection of what is going on in our lives at the time.  If I comment at all, it is because it touches something negative or positive in the inner me, it is me feeling a Boxy might just work for me, me seeing me be all those bodies that are wearing their Boxy's. It is me saying 'that isn't going to work for me' or 'wow, I am so going there no matter how it looks in others eyes'.  I am pretty much past worrying about how something appears to someone else.  Pretty much.  Okay, maybe I do still worry about that a little, but I am working on it.      

Unless we sew or knit or otherwise make almost everything we wear, we are at the mercy of  whatever manufacturers will make and what the fashion police allow us to be and see.  I don't want to be at someone else's or something else's mercy anymore.  

Me? I just want to be.  I am interested in fashion and style but want to be living and wearing my own style.  Feeling good in my skin and my clothes and comfortable with who and what I am.  That is the fashion of me.   

Spinning - Aiming for a Loftier Yarn

I was going to talk to you about some dyeing.  Instead, that plan did not happen.  I forgot to get the tall landlord to reach the dye crock down from the top of the cabinets where he stowed it and where, even on one of several stools, I cannot reach.  So tomorrow.  Maybe.

Today I will show you my spinning.  Please don't expect perfection because it isn't but it is exactly right for what I was trying to do.

My goal with this sample was to get away from my pretty well established 'ends up between sport and DK weight two ply'.  I really want to be able to get something that remains fluffy and pouffy that would make a wonderfully warm hat.

I am also trying to get it using a long draw method.  I still need practise at long draw, but when I am only focusing on the technique, I am getting pretty decent singles. See this previously spun red?  Decent by my books.

I want more.  I'd like to be able to get a reasonably smooth yarn when I am spinning with the goal of a loftier yarn.

This bobbin wasn't perfect, and I am good with that.  Perfection is overrated.  I rate this one as pretty good.

The fibre the natural colour came from, was not the best prep.  It could have used another good carding so that it would have pulled a bit more smoothly.  It was difficult to pre-draft smoothly and on spinning, it grabbed chunks and went to almost nothing at will.  I'm glad I didn't start on something like this or I would have never learned to spin.  

You can see the variation of thickness on the bobbin and in the cake.  But, when I look at it, the twist is all pretty even and I think that is as important as anything in what I am trying to do.

I will ply it later on my S51.  I thought about taking this along to ply on the Vic today, but I really would like to get some more time on the S51.  I am really looking forward to plying it though.  The sample I folded back on itself looks really great, better than I hoped for, with such a difficult fibre prep.

Today's spinning is going to be another of the bags of assorted stuff I don't have much of.  I need much more practise with this technique before I put it to use on some lovely blue fibre, or that funky teal in my bag. Practise, practise.  Even if I never get beyond practise, I am good with that.   

The start of All The Things.

Somewhere between Friday and this morning, I managed to do a lot of knitting.  

I completely ripped back the first go, and reknit on 3 mm needles. This was mid afternoon yesterday, and right now I am just about to where I can split for the sleeves.  I knit a few rounds on my green coat too, not so many as anyone but me notices, but a few rounds a day will get it done faster than if I never knit on it.

I had a talk with Cassie and she would like a zipper on this sweater.  I don't know why but it was very important to her.  So that changes everything about the way that this sweater begins.  I restarted with an icord cast on.  And then I was stuck.  How do you make a nice smooth knit as you go icord around the slope of a crew style neckline?

I  had to do some thinking and ended up sorting it out on the internet via Knitting Help.com and Very Pink.  

I've done icord before, this technique even.  I think the Oscillioscope Shawl uses it, and I knit one of those a long while ago.  It has always stayed in my mind as one of the loveliest edges I ever knit. I completely forgot how to get there.  

While I was discussing sweaters and Grade One with Cassie, Marcus came up and ask me to make him a Paw Patrol sweater for pre school. It is indeed his first year at preschool.  Carter too.  My sweet little boys are growing up so fast.  Sigh.  Marcus and Cassie love to wear the mittens I make them and I know this is a sweater Marcus will wear happily.  He wears the t-shirts and pj's he has all the time. He loves Paw Patrol and all his pup friends more than any other child ever loved a toy.  

So while I was knitting on Cassies pretty lavender blue sweater,  I had a lot of time to think about Marcus' request. 

I have a lot of sock yarn.

I don't have any plans to buy any sock yarn in the near future at all.  There is lots for whatever socks I need.  The only time I buy now, is when the sock yarn bin isn't interesting or when it doesn't have what I need for the kids or when I am particularly inspired by a colour or pattern of colour.  That is my story and I am sticking to it. Surely though, I have stuff to make a little boy sweater with an intarsia pup badge and striped Sock Arm sleeves in the colours of all his pups?

Yeah Not so much.

A good dig came up with these, and no royal blue at all for the main body of the sweater.  I thought about using Navy for the body of the sweater, but I only have enough navy for one measly pair of socks and it will take a bit more than that to do knit the whole body for that ever growing little boy torso.  I have tons of dark green sock yarn though.  Tons. And even of the coloured ones, the red here is a cotton sock yarn and the blue is really the wrong blue.  All I really had is the orange and the yellow.  I still need a pink, a bright green, an olive green (though I may have that down in there.  I have to dig again.), a green toned turquoise and a good wooly red.  That is a lot of sock yarn, I would have to buy.

And then I had an idea.  It might be a silly idea but I may have the materials to do it. It involves this.

And tomorrow''s blog post.

We shall see.    

I started

I started another little sweater yesterday...and I am going to have to rip it all out.  I think.

When I look at it up close it feels very, umm wobbly.  It feels too open and the stitches seem much to loosey goosey.  Here in the photo it doesn't look too bad but it just feels too loose as I work it.

I started knitting this on 3.25 mm needles.  Should be fine for an ordinary but very pretty lavender, blue and gray sock yarn when the fabric you are aiming for is for a sweater.

 

I know I had the same problem back with Granito.  I knit that with 3 mm needles and I think that is where this is headed too.  

Either that or I have to knit some socks to get my true tension back.  I knit socks on 2.5 mm needles.  Normally.  If my tension has gone walkabout, who knows how low the needle sizes will go.

Oh well.  It will give me a chance to discuss with the wearer what kind of sweater she wants.  Maybe she wants a sweater to pull over her head rather than one to button up.  Strong opinions on personal fashion are sweet in one so little.  Or should that be big.  My Sweet Thing starts grade one this year.

Forest Floor or How to Knit an Overcoat

I did do a very little bit of knitting yesterday.  I knit a little on a shawl but that was light work and didn't seem to bother my hand.  In fact it felt better, more relaxed after a little bit of light work.  

And then, I couldn't help myself.  I had to swatch with the Green From MacAusalnd's.  And then I did just a little bit more.

Just a little bit.  It really didn't take very long, perhaps an 2 hours spread over the whole day.  And I did stop at the first sign of anything even remotely like that ache that comes from overuse before you hit hurting.  Each sitting, if you will, was about 5 minutes.  

I had a good, long think about what I wanted this sweater to be while I swatched.  Did I feel like knitting it with a round yoke.  I didn't think so because of the way I wanted the collar to be.  Did I want to start it in a contiguous way like my Argo sweater, or did I want it to start a little more crisply.  What about a saddle shoulder.  Or knitting it with a shirt style back yoke?  

It is going to be used as my overcoat for winter, that last top layer before I step outside. I debated a column or two of a simple 3 by 3 cable.  I debated a line of garter rib down the sleeves much like The Weekender sweater or the interesting rib and leaf detail like on Mulled Cider.  I thought about the things I missed in the sweaters I have worn before as overcoats for winter layering.  

What I really needed on a top layer was pockets, nice deep pockets so keys wouldn't fall out of them or to slip your phone and cards or cash into when you step out to grab that one thing you forgot from the store.  I wanted pockets deep enough for my hand knit mittens to go into one and my scarf to tuck into the other, when it is hanging on the post at the top of the stairs.  

Another must was that when it is worn, that it sit close to the back of my neck.  I always feel a chill on the back of my neck and sometimes, I don't want to have to dig for a scarf or small shawl to wear too. Though that does give me a reason to knit more small shawls and that isn't a bad thing at all.

Should the pockets be the feature of a jacket, a nice large patch pocket that shows off a pattern of some kind or should they tuck neatly inside, where all you can see of the opening and maybe just the slightest kiss of a different colour pocket lining?  

I debated starting with a more formal pattern like Undercurrent or Mulled Cider and I spent a good long while debating if I wanted my jacket to look like Elizabeth Zimmermann's Aran Coat.  I really love that sweater, but perhaps not with this yarn.   None of them really ticked all the boxes of what I needed and wanted.  I would have been playing gauge games or otherwise sorting patterns and details and how to best make that work with the modifications I need to make for fit.  

I am just going to follow Barbara Walker's inimitable Knitting from the Top and knit a fairly simple jacket with simultaneous set in sleeves.  The only details I want are the seam detail that Joji Locatelli uses on The Easy Bulky One at the shoulder and deep ribbing at the collar or hood edge and bottom hem and cuffs.  Clean. Smooth. Let the yarn speak. It has a lot to say.

I took a second photo that show colour so much better than the first. For an instant it seemed there was a break in the unending haze from the BC forest fires and the light was better.  

It shows off the pretty very heathered nature of this lovely Forest Floor sort of colourway.  The rusty browns, the soft variations in the greens from deep, intense green to lighter more muted greens.  I love this dense rich yarn.

I do hope that the simplicity I am planning into this overcoat makes the knitting easy on my hands.  At some point, there will have to be significant, regular knitting on it to have it ready for when the snow flies.  

It strikes me that this post may not be very well titled.  There isn't a lot of detail about how to knit an overcoat in it.  What there is here is a lot of how I thought about knitting an overcoat and what mattered to me.  That really is the first part of knitting any project, isn't it?  Perhaps it isn't so badly titled at all.

   

All the Things.

Arghhhhh.  Not argh, as In Talk Like a Pirate Day, but argh as in I want to start all the things.

I know that a lot of it is because I am giving my hand a bit of a rest this week.  My brain is not occupied with busy knitterly things, it is occupied with future knits, and I never seem to be reasonable with future knitterly things. I have a stash that proves that.  I want to start everything and I want it all right now.  I want to knit it all this week.  

When I was stash diving last week, I did pull out a few things for inspiration and a few things I would really like to be using sooner rather than later. 

I really do want to knit the pretty teal here, to use up those lovely square hand made buttons I have for it.  And that Kauni.  I want that reindeer shawl.  That spot of red is an Elann Merino with Angora blend that I bought for a shawl, black, red and grey for cosy winter wear. Down on the bottom that grey green is a cotton wool blend for...something.

                                 

 

    

And these?  A Fingering weight Shalom, and I think I can do it with sleeves.  

A sweater for Cassie, and the Harrisville Silk and Wool to make that interesting yoke using Mrs. Hunter's Shetland lace pattern. Behind Cassie's soft lavender yarns is yarns for Babushka Luda's sweater.  I managed to get measurements before she left.  It's a great yarn and I can't wait to work on it. And that dark purple on the shelf below is one of the new yarns from the summer's adventures. I really want to start that.

And slippers.  I need some new slippers.  Even the leather bottoms of my other ones were falling apart.  

And for a shawl, a Colour Affection shawl, now after every one and their mother knit one, out of lovely yarns.  

And then there are all the other yarns. The ones deeper in stash bins, like the pretty colours of Harrisville that I bought this summer to make my version of Kate Davie's interesting Myrtle or the Drops Alpaca in a range of colours for  a delicate Bohus like yoke (but simpler) sweater.  Or the other Kauni for a stranded colourwork sweater.  Or the Jameison's of Shetland Ultra lace weight.  Or the Isager Wool 1.  Or the...

And the Einband!  How can I not start with the Einband for Courant ?

I could go one and on. Each and every yarn has a project attached and each and every yarn is something I want to work with.  NOW

Responsible me says start the winter coat sweater and the Ram's Horn Cardigan.  They are need, though so are slippers, socks and Cassie's sweater, never mind the already begun Hun sweater or the nice snuggly chunky shawl I am going to knit for Scott's mother in law Pam.  

So many things.  Far too few hours in the day.

Going Spinning

It feels like forever since I did any spinning.  It is almost that long, in truth.  My wheel and a bag of stuff accompanied me all the way on my travels, but it wasn't something I did.  It felt as if it was just one more thing to put in and take out of the car.  Oddly, knitting never feels like that and I guess, that is how I know I am a knitter who spins.

When last I went spinning, I was working on a braid of red.

At this exact moment in time, I have to tell you I am a little sick of it. I did a lot of red last year, and while this is the last of it, the so over it feeling remains.

Today, I am opting for bits.  I have several bags of samples and small quantities in various preparations accumulated over the years and I would kind of like to get them spun up and out of the way.  I know what I have enjoyed spinning the most and I'd like to get to that, but these little sample bits irritate me.  

The plan is to spin lofty and soft and larger than my average, and then to use the fibre to make some nice lofty yarn for mittens and hats.  

That is the plan, though lofty is a little difficult for me.  I do hope to get there.  Spin light, play hard. Or something like that.  We shall see.

Been there, done that, not going there again.

My big sweater has only  seven inches to go before it is complete.  And that is as far as it is going to get for a bit.

My hand is hurting a bit, but I am stopping at the start of this so I don't end up like last winter, where in I waited all winter for various pains and aches to heal. A lot of it has to do with using my computer mouse again, and I have ordered a touchpad keyboard but it also has to do with gripping things too tightly.  With the push to get the sweater done so I could reach my seven thousand metres knit in summer, I got a bit tense and found that I was gripping the needles within an inch of my life.  

So today will be for  actual baking, for deep cleaning of the bedroom, for dusting of the bookcases, for ordering of the libraries. 

But I am looking forward to healing and getting myself back up to 100 percent again.

Oh how quickly it can all far apart. Been there, done that, not going there again.

Baking Day

I woke up this morning feeling like it might be a good idea to do a little baking today.  I am completely inspired by the things I was doing earlier this week.  

Ordinarily you would think my urge to bake would be inspired by the delicious zucchini bread that frazzledknitter brought with her when she came to visit my new yarn 'finds' the other day, and you would be close, but not quite.  I do feel like making some bread this week, inspire by that loaf and also by the giant zucchini that our neighbour gave us the other day, but that really isn't what I felt like baking today.

This morning, I got up and started baking this.

Yes yarn. hahaha

A couple years ago, when I was about to move back to my big house from my wee house, I was on the cusp of a moth infestation.  When I found this out, I packed up any exposed yarn and put it in the car to move.  Since this was in the open, and being knit on at the time, I always figured it would need a little something before I ever worked on it again.  I may have done an in car heat treatment, in fact I think I did, but I wasn't positive. I knew that when it came out again, it would be baked in the oven, and brought to heat for an hour, even though the internet says half an hour.    

I came across the yarn when I was stash diving, and it just felt like the time to do it. So here I am baking the yarn, readying it for knitting again.

The yarn is in fine condition, with no evidence of damage at all. **see below I may have caught it before any eggs were laid (not likely) or done an in car heat treatment before hatching could have taken place.  Yay me.  I still gave it a heat treatment.  It never hurts.

My plan is to use this for a Hun sweater.  The colour plan is this but I really hope I took notes in the book by the chart.  It just would make life easier.

All the open work is going to be rust though.  What you see above was how I decided that.  I love the way the rust makes it all pop.

When I stopped knitting on it, it was because I needed to go back and sort out the problem I had in the yoke.  I had forgotten a set of increases and it mattered.  I pulled back the proto sweater

and now I just have to figure out what needles size I was using. I did not write that down.  I checked.  It looks like a 4 so I will start with that and hope.  I am going to go back through the trusty blog though.  Maybe I mentioned it as I started. If not, a 4 it is.  Worse come to worse, I just have to pull back again and thankfully, the yarn is plenty sturdy enough.

What struck me as I was busy prepping the yarn this morning, what was really interesting as I put my hand in the full bags of yarn, was how soft it felt.  Yes there is the traditional' scratchy feeling if I put it to my neck, but the yarn in the skeins, and even more interesting is the knitted parts?  Soft. Interesting. Really good in a homemade kind of way.  Not soft in a Mad Tosh kind of way, or soft like a bag of pure bamboo yarn, but soft in its own very special way.  I am looking forward to this.

The kitchen smells like sheep and farms, and that alone makes me feel like knitting.  It is almost a shame that the plan is to finish the Easy Bulky One before Stash Dash is over in ten days. Right now, in this moment, I am completely in love with Lopi.

**The only yarn that was affected in the great moth affair, was in the basket that I first found signs of damage in.  Most of that yarn was trashed but for 1 skein of Art Yarns Cashmere 1 and a skein of  Handmaiden Rumple.  I just couldn't bear to toss those.  They were heat treated in the car and other than one spot on the cashmere, have suffered no further damage.  The vast majority of my satsh has always lived in plastic bags, and these days, all yarn is in sealable plastic Ziplocs even when they are being knit. Sweaters too, when stored. OK, mostly in bags. I sometimes forget a project is sitting out. Perfection is hard.

Dashing and Diving

Before I went to bed last night, I managed to get tmy big sweater to both sleeves done and I kept going to just below the colourwork.  Being done the colour change is a huge accomplishment.

I am thrilled.  Plus, there is plenty of the rust left, 2 balls in fact, if I decide I want to finish off in the rust.

There are other things on my mind too.  Working with Osprey on my Cat Boat is one of them. I have always known that I was going to be short.  Now that the back is almost done, I know by how much.

I always thought I would order a couple more skeins of Osprey in a soft colour.  I thought that till I started to place an order.  If I  order it from the maker website or if I order it from a retailer here in Canada, two skeins will cost me about 75 dollars (incl shipping and exchange).  Yup.  That much.  I just don't want to do that.

The Cascade 220 grey that I purchased for it needs a sport weight to go with it. My plan was too double it, but that is heavier than the Osprey.  I talked it over with Frazzledknitter, and have been looking at my stash.

I took out a few things to work alongside the Cascade 220.  The bottom section has a light fingering weight from The Yarn Pirate worked with it.  That feels ok, but it seems a little light. 

Section two is worked with some Mochi Plus.  It has the perfect weight, but I'm not 100% in love with the way that the two yarns work together. 

Section three is the Mochi Plus and some grey Rowan Cocoon that is the perfect match for the Mochi Plus. Rowan Cocoon alone is a bit light and I don't like the way the single looks alongside the Osprey.  I LOVE the way these two yarns look together. I love the softer blending of Mochi colours with the Cocoon blue grey and the two strands of yarn combine to mimic that twist of the Osprey closer than any other combination so far.  But it is, again, a little bit heavier.

All of these combos are to knit a panel of something different in a block for the front of the sweater. I can do that or I could knit sleeves out of another yarn and make it almost look like a vest.   I do have one other option, and that is, to go sleeveless.

I'm still on the hunt for a combination of something that will work from within my stash or for something that will make pretty sleeves.  I have to be honest though.  Simple (and I do like simple) gives me a pullover vest with a small decorative hood rather than the turtleneck. Today's plan is to go stash diving to see if I can find something I love, or to choose that other path.

All in all, it was a great week.  I finished Granito and made half of another sweater. Even if I don't make my personal goal, it isn't a bad way to finish up the second last week of Stash Dashing.

All That Smoke

In all that smoke yesterday, I took my Easy Bulky One to another level.  Sleeve one is complete.

Looks a bit stubby doesn't it?  My ever so casual try on tells me otherwise. I slip the sleeve on through the neck and place the neck where I hope it will sit.  When I do that, it tells me this sleeve is just right, below the elbow about 4 inches, midway down my forearm.

Doing the sleeves now gave me a chance to try out my colourwork plan.  You can't really see it, but I think it's okay.  Not stunning, but I think it does what it needed to do, which was put a small bit of the green into the rust to help with make the transition a little less jarring.

Because the sleeve is a bit stubby, I didn't do my whole plan for the colour change on the bottom of the sweater.  There simply wasn't enough length and that was with me starting the transition on the second row of sleeve knitting!

Task one for today is to knit sleeve two and then to block them both and see if it looks as good as I hope it does.  Or as I dream it might.  Or as I pray.

Because all that knitting yesterday gave me lots of time to think about things, I pondered what to knit next.  Two sweaters on the needles in my WIP baskets.  Both are in heavier than my usual yarns.  Both yarns are at rich, dense, warm yarns.  When I think about what to knit next, my mind goes straight to Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed Chunky.  I have some marinating in the stash.  It is lovely yarn.  I also spend a lot of time thinking about the gorgeous forest floor green from MacAusalnd's and the fast approaching fall.

It is still smoky here today but our air quality is much improved.  Still, I am so tired of this smoky haze. The Weather Office has started including smoke as a weather condition and we have several more days of this before a breeze will blow it somewhere else though I'm not sure me wishing for a breeze is good for them. Sigh. I know how I feel and cannot imagine how those closer to the fire zone we call BC feel.

The whole province is red. I know it isn't a popular wish or prayer for much of the year, but some rain, maybe even snow would be really good right now for anywhere BC.

Yarn management games

It is 9 a.m. and the street lights are on.  They are on due to forest fires in BC and the smoke is thick in the air.  My normally bright solatubes are a weird orangish colour

and if you want to do anything in the bathrooms, you will need lights on today.  That isn't normally the case.  Solatubes usually are so bright that there are no shadows at all in the room.  People look for light switches when they leave the rooms and if I am honest, the number of times I check during the day to be sure I have the lights off is silly even after all this time.  

Our air quality index here is at a high risk at the moment.  By noon it will be very high and will stay that way all day. It is a good day to take it easy even if you are healthy and strong.  This is not a day to be outdoors running or working in the garden.  If you work outside, take it easy with lots of breaks.

The only upside is that all this intense smokes mitigates the temperatures, because the sun is filtered.  I pray BC gets some nice not thunder and lightning rain very very soon.

It is a good day to knit.  So I am.  I'm plugging away faithfully on my Easy Bulky One.  It is down below the armpits now and I have started the colourwork bit to switch yarns.

Yes in this rusty red yarn, there will be a switch to green.  

I originally bought the yarn to make myself a Taiga Vest or to possibly turn it to a sweater.  I did an online purchase and once the colours arrived, I realized that there wasn't nearly enough contrast between them to make a really punchy great looking vest. 

                   

           

You would think there would be but nope.

                   

           

The only difference is that one has more visible light flecks.  But I think for this sweater, where the point is a usable garment for sitting at home, and to have it done before the end of stash dash, it's going to be fine.  I do want it to look as nice as possible though and I did have to think seriously on how to make that happen. 

I went through various ideas, and ended with  what Raveler EsHauch did on her sweater, Akka fra Kebnekaise, which is built from a Basic Raglan by Barbara Walker and Pebble Cliff from Shibui Knits from which she was inspired to design her own variation.  I am making mine a variation of hers.  She bases her pattern on lice separated by 3 and I am doing 5.  I think that will give me a better look in this bulky yarn. 

I am planning to knit the sleeves before I get too much farther.  I don't expect they will be very long, but even so, I really don't want to be flipping the full weight of this entire sweater as I work down them. 

The other consideration in knitting sleeves next, is that I want to use up all the yarn.  I have 12 balls, 6 in each colour.  It has taken me 3 balls to get to where I am this morning, midway down my bosom and to me, that means that I need every possible inch to get to a good length on the body.  The current plan is to switch now to the green and then, as the bottom approaches, to knit the last 5 inches (I hope) in rust.  That will only happen if there is enough rust yarn.  So, back where I always seem to be, planning on what to do if I run out of yarn and how to manage so I don't.

It's about 10:30 now as I finish up this post and the sky has brightened somewhat.

It looks like a more average cloudy day now. No more funny orange and green look to the sky.   Time to turn off all my lights and get to work.   

The Easy Bulky One

Well that was interesting.

It turns out that the Harrisville Flax and Wool was not the right yarn for the Easy Bulky One.  In my head, Flax and Wool is bulky and thick.  In reality it is more of an Aran weight, perhaps not even as heavy as the Osprey I am working with right now.  

This time, I want this sweater, rather than any other more complicated garment, and I want this garment in large wool. So it gets done fast.  For Stash Dash. Which I realize is just the silliest thing in the world but I don't want to have to say in public again this year, that I couldn't do it.  That happened two years ago and it took me a lot longer than I care to admit to feel comfortable with myself again.  

There are lots of reasons for a big comfy sweater besides Stash Dash humiliation.  The Easy Bulky One appeared at just the right time in summer when I was trying to think of what I would like for winter wear.  It is the kind of sweater that goes over everything, that is casual and relaxed.  It is a Saturday morning sitting in your pjs sort of sweater.  

As I was sitting working on it yesterday, it came to me that it is exactly the same kind of sweater as my Icelandic Overblouse and I wear that so often even in summer, that it is going for its third wash of the season. It gets it weekly in winter.  If you click that link to the pattern page on Ravelry, you will see my version in photo number two.  I love this sweater.  

It's only shortcoming is that I have to wear a small scarf with it in winter.  It doesn't sit so high that the back of my neck stays warm. For the Easy Bulky One, I plan to fix this, with short rows on the back neck to raise it up and to have it sit close.  I am toying with the idea of making it a closer fitting neck than what the pattern shows.  We shall see when we get there. 

So, do you want to see where I am after the first day?

After realizing that the Harrisville was not the right yarn, I went digging in the stash.  I had a fair number of options too.  I started thinking about some Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed Chunky.  I didn't end up using it though, because another yarn just kept getting in the way.  Literally.  What we have here is that yarn, Queensland Collections Kathmandu Chunky.  It is as if this yarn was meant for this sweater.  It made a fabric I like immediately in a gauge that is close enough that I can just knit a different size than I normally would start with.  The hand of the yarn feels just so perfectly right for this sweater.  Warm, comfy, snuggly, even before it is knit.  It feels thick and rich and a little bit decadent.  Surely that is what  yarn for a Saturday morning in your pjs sort of sweater ought to feel like?

Anyway, it is thick and wonderful and dense and warm feeling.  Probably not ideal for a hot weather speed knit, but you can't have everything.  

Designers and Me

At this point in my knitting life, I do not really need a pattern to knit a sweater.  If I spent time looking at sweaters on Ravelry, with very little effort, I could sort out what I needed to do to copy almost anything.

For instance one of my next sweaters is going to be The Easy Bulky One  from Joji Locatelli.  (Can you tell I like the designer yet?).  It's a shape that could easily be replicated, and when you consider just how much fiddling I have to do on an average sweater to get it to fit nicely on me, it's not usually a problem to do without purchasing the pattern.

And yet, I do purchase the pattern.  Always.  Even when I use nothing directly from a pattern at all. 

I do it because if I didn't, I would quickly become a knitter with a dozen versions of the same sweater in my closet, a top down, set in look sleeve type sweater with a v neck or a henley style round neck.  Maybe stripes on a few.  And that would be it.

I pay designers as much as possible because I need them out there doing their thing, thinking up new and interesting ways of seeing details.  I need them to sort out interesting details like Granito's little trick to get those lovely ridges, or to establish a pretty lace, like Kate Davies Myrtle or come up with pretty designs and combinations of peerie patterns, and or innovative colour progressions.   I need them to lead me to something different and fresh and new.  Shawls and cowls and even socks are the same.  Yes even socks.

I would knit even if other people did not sell patterns for me to follow, but it would be a lot less interesting. 

I pay them for the inspiration, for the hand up that helps keep me ever engaged in this lovely craft. 

Byt  the way, that next up sweater?  I am pretty sure it is going to be the Easy Bulky One, and sitting here this morning, I am pretty sure that it is going to be made in my beloved Harrisville Flax and Wool Blend.  Yes I thought it would be a vest but I think I will get more wear out of it this way, and I have no problem knitting this slightly light for the design yarn. It's going to be an easy enough to get a gauge that works and then just to knit. And then again...  You just never know.

 

Binding off. Again

After knitting on Granito a good long while, this morning finds me binding off the bottom.  Again.

And, as you see, the ribbed bottom is behaving much better.  I think, once washed, it is going be be fine.  I did the Techknitter thing correctly this time and I think it makes a big difference on such a narrow rib.

At the same time as I am binding this off, I am sitting here pretty appalled at my chances for making my Stash Dash goal of 7000 m.  I looked at the yarn I had left in the bag.  I started with 14 balls.  There are 5 untouched balls in the bag plus about a third of the ball I am binding off with.  I still have the ribbing to knit around the neckline so most of the current ball will be used up, but I will have 5 full balls remaining.  Which means I have used only 1800 metres of yarn.  Even my tight estimates were for 2400 metres used.  I thought it would be at least that much.  By using 1800 metres, it means I am not only 2 pairs of socks short of my goal.  I am a sweater short of my goal.

Sigh.

So I guess once this sweater is complete, I am going to have to work hard to get Cat Boat finished.  That really isn't that hard.  I really like working with the yarn, and it works up fast, so yay me.

But another whole sweater?  Sigh. Next year I am going to game the system just a little bit so I have something more in reserve.

On Beginnings and Endings and 5 years on.

Five years ago today, my world ended and then in what was so much worse, it had the brass to move on and to force me to do so too.  Without the world moving on I wouldn't have all these little people I adore.

and even this one

Life would be so much less without all this.  I am a very lucky woman. I have such good friends.  I have a wonderful family, mom dad, brother, sisters, and a very special wonderful aunt who gives me more than I can say. I am loved and supported and life is really very good.

The point of today is not that he died.  The point of today is that he lived.  

Wishing you were here to share it all with me.

Almost

I took the Granito sweater almost to the end yesterday, 

and while I am extraordinarily pleased with it, I need to do some work.

The bottom ribbing is an absolute mess.  I am pretty sure I did it backwards, slipping the purls, rather than slipping the knits. The whole idea is to give a bit more length on the transition  rows by putting in an extra purl so there is no stress at the change to ribbing.  What I did makes an absolute flip, by making even more stress on that first row of ribbing.  If you want a forever flip, just call me.  Today's job is to reknit it.  

The other thing is, that while I love the way it turned out as is, I think I might like it even better just a smidgeon longer.  I'm going to take the time now, while I have the chance to make it so.  

But what a wonderful knit.  There is something special about the way Joji Locatelli patterns work for me.

Unexpected Bonus

I have always enjoyed winding yarn.  It gives me space to think about a yarn, or a project or projects in general.

The yarn I wound yesterday is for a restart of the Rams Horn Cardigan. I purchased Briggs and Little Atlantic for it and I have to say, I can't wait to work with this yarn.  It is such a different creature than Regal, which is the heaviest weight B & L I have worked with to date.  I may have fallen in love with this company all over again.

While I wound that, I did have to acknowledge that it is going to take a while to knit that sweater/coat.  Stranded is never fast and this pattern is fully stranded.  And that means I might want to think of another coat like sweater for outer wear this winter.  I do still have my Argo sweater, 

which is barely a year old, but honestly, that has become such a staple in house sweater, that it is a bit hard to think of it as an outdoor garment again.

I do love the pattern though.  It was fun to knit, and it fit well, without fuss.   And to top it off, it is yet another marvelously designed pattern to adapt if you are not a standard size.  The placement of the increases below the garter stitch section is brilliant. 

 I did buy some MacAuslands Three Ply for another winter coat type garment and I bought it with another Argo in mind, but I am not sure if I want to do that with the yarn.  Sitting here this morning, I think I want something a bit more plain, a bit smoother in line to show up the pretty heathered yarn.

The end result is, I am mulling patterns and shapes and looks today.  I'm not finding quite what I want, and have discarded several ideas already.  I think what I really want with this is something in the shape of an Undercurrent , longer and without a hood, with its simple lines and it's wide abundant collar.  And Undercurrent, but for the striping is such a simple easy sweater shape.

For right now, that is what I am going with.  Simple plain sweater with a wide collar and deep ribbed two by two edges.  For now.  I never really know till the day I start to work with it. Today though is for winding this very interesting yarn.

You know what the best part of winding these lovely made in Canada at small mill yarns is?  Everything smells sheepy and fresh off the farm and wonderful.  Winding the Atlantic was lovely.  It brought back the scent of my travels, driving with the windows down and the scent of freshly mown hay and grain ripening in the fields (Though that last is happening much too fast with this years heat to produce top quality grain) wafting around me in the heat of the days.  My hands feels soft from the lanolin.  

I love that. It is a small unexpected bonus to working with wool close to the source.  

Update:  Though now that I think of it, it's the garter stitch of Argo that I don't want for this sweater.  Maybe if I substituted moss stitch?  See how it goes? The debate rages on.