Meant to be

The world did not want me to sew yesterday.  I did sew a bit in the morning.  I had a pair of black pants waiting for an elastic at the waist.  I did that and then tried to hem the pants, but found I could not see.  

I have my sewing set up in front of the window.  I always dreamed of sewing with daylight streaming in as I worked.  It is really great too, though I have to say, this window faces south east and at this time of year, the sun coming in is pretty strong and bright.  And blinding as I found yesterday morning.  Or so it was on black pants with black thread on a black desk.  

I thought I would wait an hour or so till the sun had moved around to the back of the house and went off and did some other very mundane stuff.  And then I realized it was close enough to lunchtime so I had an early lunch.  I picked up my embroidery work to assess for what  needed doing and did a few rounds of that while I watched an episode of Father Brown.  

Then I went back to the sewing room.  I decided which shirt I was going to work on first and pulled out all the parts that needed interfacing and other prep work before garment sewing could really commence.  

The interfacing I had for this shirt of cotton linen was an iron on kind.  I generally don't use iron on facings.  It always makes my iron dirty and I find that over the lifetime of the garment, they just don't perform as well as I prefer.  I like a nice woven interfacing (with luck that is what I have on order).  But for this shirt, well, I got down to it.  I had everything in place, pinned and ready to adhere to the fabric pieces.  I  plugged my iron in and ...

blew the breaker.  We don't really know why the breaker blew.  Possibly a bit of a surge of some sort.  Possibly a wobble of the power bar I use to extend the reach of my iron.  Possibly a connection on the power bar itself.  All seems fine.  It was something I have done several times over since I set my sewing space in there.  The really bad part is that I could not find the breaker.  It's the whole seeing the screw problem  as well as being too short to reach some of them rearing its head again.  None of this is a real deal breaker in the grand scheme of things except that also on that breaker is all the internet stuff.  Keith eventually came home and checked the things, the connections I couldn't and restored the internet.

Meanwhile, I set to work on my embroidery again.  The world was telling me it was not my day to sew and it really wasn't like I don't have literally dozens of projects calling my name.  The embroidery was out, the light was good and sunny and it went very well.

the lava and lava bubble are done and I am really pleased with it.  I am going to layer some other colours on the flows of lava, the squiggle lines below the volcano, to make it more clear that that is what they are, and there is a wee bit of colour to be added between a flow, also to show how dangerous lava is (I can still hear Marcus telling me all about it in his four year old voice) and then the smoke and 

ash spewing from the top of the volcano.  

I have been a bit concerned about the smoke.  Marcus made me draw it so I wasn't sure of I should add it here but I will put a few small puffs in.  It will give me a chance to try some feathery stitches.  atop his brightly coloured ash.  But it is very close to complete.  The wee Marcus figure and the tiny volcano at the top should wash out.  I hope.  Crossing fingers and toes.  

And then on to Carter's volcano.  It's more of a spewing lava volcano, and hot ash, from a brightly coloured mountainous cone.  I think he was five when he did it. But I can't wait for the pair of them done and ready to hang.

I will sew tomorrow.  And as quick as this shirt pattern works, I hope to get the two done in one sitting.  Wish me luck.  As much as I am having fun with sewing, it will be even nicer when they are all sitting in my drawer and I can just spend a whole day knitting. Or embroidering.

Stop Being so Hard on Yourself.

Yesterday was tax day and as usual, tax day was less than thrilling.  I had to find a new free software this year because my preferred software is now charging thirty five dollars for what I need and like anything new, it takes a bit till you get into it.  But the job is done and I survived to zoom knit with some ladies.  

I took out socks and looked at a bunch of different projects but I found that I wasn't quite into any of them.  I ended up going with this pretty cowl simply because it won't be long till it is finished and finishing a project is always nice.

The cowl is pretty.  The yarn is delicious.  The memories of a friend are sweet.  What is not to love.

As I was digging looking for something to knit, I came across this sock.  I knew I had a sock ongoing in this pattern (Gentleman's Shooting Socks by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage Socks) but I couldn't find it.  That is one of the problems I have with my cotton bag system.  They all look the same at the moment.

I was a little concerned about my very sluggish pace with projects this winter.  Four things.  One sweater, a pair of socks, a pair of wristwarmers and a cowl are the whole of my 2022 successes. That really bothered me but then I started thinking of everything else that I did do this year that I haven't done in past years.

I sewed.  I sewed pants and dresses and leggings and some basic around the house things and of those, there are plenty of things getting done.  If I had a place to record the sewing projects as I do my knitting, it would be filled with things completed in 2022.

I need to stop being so hard on me.  

And with that, it is time to geo sew.  I am really looking forward to these shirts.  And I even know what I am going to do next till the interfacing arrives.  

Something entirely different

As you can probably tell, my head was all over yesterday.  I couldn't seem to sit and zone in to one thing at all.  Zero sewing happened.  Zero knitting happened.  I spent the entire morning trying to sort something I wanted to do finding nothing.  It never lasts, and it came to me that I could do something very different without even searching for it.  It was right there in a case under a side table.

Many many moons ago, I started doing an embroidery project of a volcano that Marcus drew.  From what I can find on my blog, this is most likely the last time it was recorded here.  It was farther along that this but I just can't find a photo.

It felt right yesterday to pull it out and work on this.  After all, the companion volcano from Carter awaits.

I am trying to capture the feeling of his four year old colouring, wild and wanton, in all directions at the same time.  For this red bit, the colouring is thick, and very red red, and then goes lighter and darker and verges to orange and purple too.  So I am trying to blend all that in by combining colours.  There still is quite a bit of work on this piece.  There are the knots that will be needed for the splashing lava above this flow and then the multi coloured lava up top by the smoke.  

I will knit this afternoon but I think that I will also try to focus a bit more on working on this pretty thing too.  Sewing tomorrow awaits!

Oh well.

Yesterday was a pretty good day in the sewing room. I spent the day cutting out things and I think that went well.  I sewed exactly zero things but I did find out a few things that are really going to make a difference to what I do next.

First finding.  I have run out of my preferred interfacing.  I like using the woven kind in a light medium weight.  I have used it for years and it generally worked for everything.  I haven't done anything with knits that needed interfacing so all was good.  But, I have pretty much run out of that.  I can do a couple collars but no long front facings as you need for button up shirts.  I managed to squeak out interfacing from it for one of the two shirts I cut.  Once I realized what was going on with interfacing, I had to stop and take a look at my cutting plan for shirt two.

Originally, I wanted to cut easy casual shirts using the Waikere pattern  from two pieces of Madras cotton that I had.  It is the perfect summer cotton but it really needs the light weight interfacing.  So, the cutting plan had to change.  I have several pieces of nice striped linen cotton and linen rayon blends.  The rayon linens drape beautifully and also need a lighterweight interfacing but the cotton and linen?  Now that is a heavier fabric, still great for shirts and skirts and could work with the other interfacing I happened to have.  Beefier fabric, beefier interfacing.

Second finding.  I have had a pair of pants waiting for elastic for a few days now.  I sewed it just before I got sluggish there, just as I finished up all my dresses.  So after cutting was complete on shirt two, I thought to do that.  I had a good stash of elastic in and it would be done lickety split.  And then I looked at the elastic.  Sigh.  Nothing wrong with it.  It looks perfect but the stuff I was planning to use is much, much too light to hold up the pants.  It might work if I had two layers of it.  Maybe.   I am going to have to use a wider elastic.  It is okay but I am a little miffed that I did not notice it before. In the roll it looks much sturdier but coming off the roll, I could tell instantly.   I could have sent this light stuff back.  As is, I might be able to use some for the waistbands of underpants, and possibly for leg openings too.  I will try it on a pantie muslin, if you will.  If not I guess, I will have to find another use for it,  

I am going to be sewing today, I think.  I do have to be a wee bit quiet as Keith is working from home today but I think sewing shouldn't interfere.  

I do have one other way I could go.  I have some knit interfacing and I do have some fabrics in mind for the Nullabor pattern where the knit interfacing would work.  I could also do the bike shorts for under my dresses.  I am not quite mentally ready for those yet but there really isn't any reason I couldn't just go forward.  I could also put some patterns together.  I have another pants pattern with a much slimmer leg than the other pants I have, the Birchgrove pattern.  To my eye, they are cut a bit dressier and I have a really nice piece of of tencel twill waiting for them.  There are patterns for a couple dresses and another top too that await printing and putting together.  

So plenty of sewing related things to do, but for now, I think sewing.  Get these done.  Do the rest of the things later to fill in time, till the interfacing arrives.  Sigh.  Oh well.  

A Marly Middle

It was a pretty good weekend for race knitting.  The track, Imola was not quite so conducive to the fantastic, challenging all the time racing that was the previous races this year, but it was still very good and decent for knitting.

As you saw on Friday, this is where I was after the very first part of a race weekend.

And I am pleased as punch that I made it to here by the races end.  I love the marly middle of these.  It just happens and looks kind of inspiringly cool.  I still think about knitting one where the red is a deep rich garnet and the marl is an antique aged green.  

It's a healthy couple inches and I knit on this only during active F1 racing, practising and qualifying.  If I am ever so inclined, I could knit through the F2 series on the weekends where those series are running plus they sometimes have other series, such as a series with modified Porche's as they had this weekend. I have watched F2 and the silent electirc  E series, but  I am generally not so inclined.  However, I will be watching the women's series when it runs on an F1 weekend on principle alone.  I could knit many more hours but seriously, F1 is enough.

My other knitting this weeekend was to pull out my BreezewayTee.  I had four skeins of Fleece Artist sock yarn of one variety or other and I decided to let them do a gradient from the multi green blue down to the darkest green cedar.

My problem has always been that I am pretty sure I am short one skein to get to the right length for me.  That pale skein is a skein of seasilk which is the only other yarn in a greenish colour range I have in a Fleece Artist yarn.  And it is just too light.  I looked at placing it in a different part of the gradient, but that has its own problem with drape and flow because of the different fibre makeup.  Even purchasing is not an option.  The yarn they now have for socks has a very different texture.  The Sea Silk is just not a good option so I am going to have to find something better.  In my stash.  

I have a decent number of green yarns in various shades and tones of greens.  As I was knitting yesterday, pondering my problem, I thought of a laceweight yarn that may work.  I have two skeins of Knitpicks laceweight on a dark green, much darker than the cedar you see in the picture.  Or at least in my memory it is darker.  Stranding the two skiens together would give me an additional four hundred metres of yarn in a deeper darker green to follow the gradient and possibly even match the slightly rougher looking texture of the Fleece Artist sock yarns nicely. It's worth a shot.  I also thought of another yarn in case this doesn't work, but I had different plans for it.  

By the end of Sunday, I had this pretty little  shirt below the arm about three inches, and I am pretty satisfied with that too.

All in all a busy weekend, and now...now I am off to the cutting table and getting some sewing going this week.  It is officially shirt week.

Socks and Races and Happy Things

First up,  a answer to a question from the Making post from April 14.  The sweater is the Agate Cove sweater, which was designed with Briggs and Little Regal.  It is just a wonderful pattern and it is particularly nice to do it with stash yarn!

I finished up my socks yesterday quick enough and now they are on my feet.  Instant gratification from a newly completed knit.

There is a fair bit of yarn remaining and if pushed, I am pretty sure I could get another pair of socks out of it.  I think though, that this would be a great yarn for wrist warmers too so I put the yarn with the yarn leftover after I made the red pair.  It's such a lovely squishy yarn that I think it would be perfect.

And then, I had to do a bit of digging for the giant balls of denim coloured Comfort yarn.  It is an F1 weekend and I am going to have plenty of time to knit.  We get free practise 1 and qualifying today, the Sprint tomorrow and a full race on Sunday.  Lots of time to knit and my hands seem to be in good working order,.

I got in a few rows this morning watching FP1 and I should be able to watch the qualifying shortly.  

Plus, I woke a bit chilly this morning so I picked the warmest of my dresses to wear.  Goodness how I love these things, my dresses that is.  Something for every kind of weather.  It might be a test on my little washing machine with the gathered skirts, but oh goodness they speak to my soul.

Knitting socks is such good thinking time.

One row left and the only quandry is that I will, once again have sock needles that are empty.  It never ends but that is a very very good thing.

Yesterday while looking for knitting for during my zoom with my knitting people, I pulled out my Jahrestzeiten Herst  to see if anything was tucked under it and it come to me in a flash of understanding that this is a messy project and I wasn't really keen on finishing it.  I knit through the afternoon on my socks and thought about it after our meetup and I came to understand something about this project.

It was a revelation.  I have loved this shawl for years and I am a wee bit hesitant to let the dream go.  I  loved the idea of this shawl but I am not loving everything about it.

I know lots of people who have knit shawls that start as this does, from the centre out, but it makes me batty.  All those needles ends and tight tight corners.  But I deeply love these colours and I want to use them together.

Who wouldn't?  This warm rich red to blackish red and the bright yellow and greens turning to rich warm rust.  It is such a brilliant combination.  It is pure joy.

I think a sweater.  I have three skeins of the reds and two of the yellow green rust.  By weight, I have about three thousand metres of yarn, or which ought to be plenty for a sweater.  It's about seven hundred and fifty grams of yarn which is about the usual number of grams for an average sweater.

I want this to be something very wearable and I do not want a round yoke at all.  I am a little bit over round yokes at the moment.  I am leaning a little bit towards a very simple raglan shape but a shape like Joji Locatelli's Granito or Lipstick, a causual comfortable shape but not the details of either of these designs, just the relaxed shape.

I am off to sewing for now though.  Time to finish the bind off and make a decision about this yarn later.  Knitting socks is such good thinking time.

PS if anyone wants to join our Wednesday Zoom, message me here or on Ravelry.  We meet at 1 p.m. Edmonton local time and would be happy to meet knitters from anywhere.

Exciting times.

I spent the afternoon with Luda and you know what.  Those talking translators are weird.  It just shows how language and the way we speak and how things are put into order can turn out so oddly in another language.

I have loved to read about languages and to learn about how they develop for years.  I found a really interesting little book about discusses how the alphabet came to be and how rooted the Cyrillic alphabet and our own Latin script alphabet or at least how they are shaped, share the similar sources.  That has been a regular reread from my deep library.  I have listed to several lectures on language families and language development just for fun, so I  know that each language is unique in the way things are ordered and constructed, where verbs are placed, and if things are gendered or not, but seriously, it is only when you are holding a conversation in two languages with only a digital translator, that you really understand the limitations of the digital thing currently.  It can get weird.  And funny.  Our visits are a hoot.  

Language issues aside, she is a lovely person and we laugh together about the things our shared grandchildren are doing. And she cooks.  She is such a good cook.  As is her daughter.  She worries that the kids are so picky and she enjoys having me eat in their stead.  Jewish grandmothers cannot hold a candle to Ukrainian grandmothers.  

Today will be the last day of desultory knitting.  I am determined to get back to sewing tomorrow.  I have cleaned out my drawers, and have sorted out my clothes hanging problem and have sorted out a few random thoughts in my head, like the drape of rayon with sleeves or just a tab sleeve.  That thinking has risen directly from wearing dresses in several kinds of fabric.  Each feels so different.

I am feeling very happy about getting back to sewing which is nice.  Exciting even.  

There was only sock knitting yesterday.  I feel pretty good about it though because it worked, it went normally and things are moving.  I made it to the heel on the Gridiron Socks from River City Yarns.

I have been fooling with socks stuff the last few days and honestly each time I pick up the Gridiron socks which are knit with RCYs own Touchdown a fine companion to the Hat Trick yarns I am just a little overcome with how honestly fine the yarn base is.  It's thick and dense and soft and feels like something cozy is happening in the magic on their needles.  And it is magic.  

I could write long sorry posts about the rest of yesterday but honestly,  I just want to appreciate how good these socks are and how I can't wait to try them on.

Hahaha

Hahaha

While working in my room over the last few days, I came across a bag of yarn that was supposed to go into my inspiration cabinet.  The funny part was that at the bottom of that bag, there was a selection of sock yarns.  I think I meant to knit on them for my next socks. 

Bright strong colours meant to kill the chill of winter.  

Spring like colours or at least the precursors of spring in clear clean colours.  

Which explains why when I went looking there seemed to be stuff missing.  And here they are.

This week has been a kind of hard week for me.  I find myself more sad hearted than normal and yet it is a thing, and it is here and I must work through whatever it comes from.  I haven't slept very well and it does affect what I do.  

You will have noticed the lack of sewing talk.  That is because there has been no sewing.  When you sew, you have to have a clear head and right now my brain moves like a sludge.  Sludge is not good when you cut fabric.  You really only get one chance at it so you have to be right the first go.  I have avoided cutting anything, in part because of it.    

Sewing is not where I want it to be.  I wish I had completed a few shirts and yet I am happy I did not ruin fabric by cutting it wrong.  Instead, my dream cart at the fabric store is piled well and truly high with things I don't need but that I do want.  Even with all the ability to sew and knit and the time in the world to do these things in, I still only have one cabinet for finished sweaters and 6 drawers for clothing.  And no where to hang clothes.

I have hit a bit of an issue there.  Over the years since this last move, I have not needed a place to hang things beyond my lone dress.  But now with all these gathered skirt dresses, I am running into a problem.  I need a place to put them.  I don't need a closet sized place.  I will never hang that many items.  What I need is a place for the volume of skirts!

Yes, I did not count of that.  Several of the dresses, all the really lightweight cottons and rayons and blends are great.  They could squish down to almost nothing but two of them, the Nova Scotia plaid and the black and white gingham with its extra wide skirt defy the space I have to put them.  

I do have a towel bar do dad that has been where I did hang my lone dress but it  is in a place that is difficult to get to for easy hanging.  It is in the corner of a corner of furniture.   Early trials have been just that.  Trials.  My do dad is going to need to be moved to a place that I can reach so dresses no longer fall off hangers when I try to put them away and so that only the dress I want comes out when I try to take them out.    

If I have to move something that means a good clean.  And I have to find a home for the things that are already occupying the space that will work for the do dad.  

So that will be my day more or less.  But I am also going to see if I can find the services at the Vatican for Good Friday on You Tube.  So a busy day.

Making

There is nothing like the feeling I get when I am making.  I find I am oddly uncomfortable using the word make and thinking of myself as a maker to describe the things I like to do.  Sewer not sewist. Knitter not knittest.  Crocheter. See the silly?  No one calls anyone a knittist, but if you follow sewist...I always go back to the slightly older way of speaking of these things.  

And yet I make.  It's a tiny bit like my quandary of crafter versus artisan.  

I make a lot of things to clothe myself and these things are what fulfills me the most.  I used to love clothes, bright lovely dresses, crisp shirts, grandfather sweaters.  

I remember a dark green princess seamed dress I sewed when I was 14 and the way I could make it fit perfectly.  I recall what my Auntie Marian said too about how I ought to take up sewing for a living if I could make a dress like that.  I kind of wish I had.  Life takes some funny paths.  The thing is that her compliment, my own knowledge of just how good a dress it was, made me feel strong enough to conquer the world. 

To be clear though, even then I knew that I was not fussy enough with the details to be a pro.  The point of it all is to do for me and mine.  I'm into the hands on doing of a thing, the understanding of it, of becoming as it becomes.  I guess I am into the creation of it.  

This morning I am creating the rest of a sweater.

Socks are good for thinking

Socks are good for thinking and I can use a lot of that right now.  I caught myself thinking about silly memories and far away days.  

When Brian worked away his usual in and out was three weeks out and two days home.  It was pushed and pushed hard by a much younger brother who has eyes only for money **so the two days were the only days home.  The two days were farming days. It was an impossible way to live.  

One year the guys worked right up to Christmas Eve and though Brian didn't like it, he wasn't driving on his own.  He really didn't get a choice.  But somewhere before he came home he had time to do a little shopping.  

He came in the door with a box with this big red bow on it and he put it on the counter with this goofy look on his face.  I read the box and started laughing.  I wasn't sure if I was offending him.  I hoped not.  

The box was labeled Sex in a Box.  

Trust me.  You would have laughed too.  

It was a box with a bottle of cheap champagne, two glasses, candle holders and two tall white candles.  And after the kids went to bed, we drank the wine and then fell asleep.  

But still.  It was so much the kind of thing he would do and I miss that.  I will remember the gentle soul and smile for what was.  It's easy to forget how lucky one is but down there, hiding among the days and weeks, he remains a very big part of my life.

The world needs more socks so that everybody could find the time to remember.

Note:  This may sound unfair but it is what it is.  He was just barely out of high school, had no family, no wife, and only mom and dad to come home to.  He had no way of knowing.

And so on

There is a magic that happens when I pull out a whole class of books such asIi just did with all the sock books. I was looking for a lace pattern and at the same time, I was looking for a particular heel which I can find no online source for yet I know I did not invent the thing.  Where I thought they were was not where I had seen them and I had no luck finding them.  But the other day, after pulling out and looking at all my sock books, bingo! there they were, marked by some smart version  of me with pink see through tape.

Apparently, Folk Socks is my source book of all the things.

 

And these are the lace pattern I was looking for.  I had been trying a pattern from Knitting Lace by Susanna Lewis for the border of my Shetland Shawl, I think and the pattern did not work as written but I knew I had it somewhere else.  Folk Socks was the somewhere else because this very pretty little children's sock is it.  

And that led me to this.

My version of this pretty little sock changed for gauge, changed for the way the sock is knit, changed from childrens, to grandmother's.   All that remains of the original is the pretty little pattern.

Knitting that, fired me up to pull out a vary favourite sock yarn , Kroy in this really sweet colour.  When I bought it, I thought the colour was more like what my favourite pair of handmade socks were patterned like.  It is quite different but even with the variation, I am going to do what I did then and take some black to add stronger contrast and knit a few dark rows to emphasize the colour changes.  

I  know that it makes no sense whatsoever, but my soul wants to cast on more socks.  I shall resist. 

It will be a sewing day today or at least a getting ready to sew day.  The shirt patterns are new to me, and while the Torrens top is quite perfect, it is meant to be worn oversized and draping.  The shirts not so much, so I have to sit down and figure it al out.  With math.  Ewwwww

The problem of empty needles

Working on that sock is awfully rewarding.  It is so rewarding in fact that I needed more.  That could be translated to mean I still can't close the lid on my notions case.

These are all the needles that are not busy but that have usually been busy in the past.  Sock output may not be down in comparison to previous years, but needle occupation statistics are certainly much lower.  

It was an F1 weekend so by rights I ought to be working on my big blanket, but when the weather is doing that thing it did for the entire weekend (if there had been snow mixed in, blizzard, if the soil had been dry on top duststorms) my hands were not in any kind of mood to be working with larger needles and doubled yarn.  So I worked on socks.  

First up, I pulled out the Gridiron Socks from River City Yarns.  I really like this pattern and the yarn is kind of scrumptious, but honestly, I was avoiding this pair like the plague.

Once I had the heel done, the sock look long, much too long for my feet.  Everyday when I would look at it and consider knitting it, I thought about comparing the length against one of my favourite pairs with the same short row heel.  I had a pair at hand and you know what?  Maybe a millimetre too long, but it will be fine.  I have no idea why it looked so long to my eye.  So in the course of the racing weekend, I finished the ankle of the sock, the ribbing and moved on to the toe on sock two.  I was just about to start the grid pattern when the race was over and it was time to out it down.

I went to pull out more sock yarn and had a good go over of yarns from my bin.  I spent a few hours looking at patterns too, to keep working on my goal of knitting at least one something from my many sock books.  I ended up choosing another pattern from Operation Sock Drawer but that is fine with me.  It really is too cute to not knit it.  

My second sock cast on is  The A Drawer Full Sock by Becky Greene.  The sock was designed for  Zauberball and I had several choices on hand, but once I looked at the pattern and the choices in my bin, I ended up going with a Meillenweit Multi colour and a soft heathered gray Trekking.  I want all my socks to be multi colours and from what is shown on the ball band, this ball of yarn should create fairly narrow stripes. Maybe my little socks will show some evidence of striping?  

I can only hope.  One of the other interesting things about this design is the underside of the foot.  She used this little two by two grid, though her design is for the bottom grid sections to be separated by three rows, keeping the same separation as the wee socks. I am keeping the grid all the way through.  I am pretty sue I will appreciate the evenness all the way through the sole.

It's rather charming isn't it?  It should also be noted that I am knitting my usual square garter stitch toe and that the sock is toe up.  The original design is top down.

And then because I still have lots of needles to use, I pulled out the prettiest most spring like thing from the stash.  It is Opal's Claude Monet.  

 

I know that the painting that inspired the colourway, has a haystack but hey in my world it could be before the new grass is has greened up.  It felt right and will be a plain sock.

 There are still at least twenty empty needles, so four pairs of socks to go.  I might start on other plain pair but I might also start a pair of mittens.   

I have miles to go before the needles are full.  Maybe two more pair?  You just never know.

And screamed Again

I thought I had it sorted out in my head.  

Ha.

So not sorted.  I tried it and it still was not right.  

I checked on the Ravelry page and there was a link to a tutorial that the designer made.  It looked suspiciously like what I had already done.  As I prepped the sock to try it her way when a video started that had been done by River City Yarns for people who joined them knitting this sock.  

I know Cynthia's abilities as a technical knitter.  There are none finer.  She can sort out the little oddities in a stitch or due to an error better than anyone else I have ever seen.  And she showed her own problem with this tricky little bugger and demonstrated how she solved it.  She did exactly what the pattern said as did I, but the solution was all in the exact path you took to get there.  

I tried Cynthia's version and could tell instantly, it worked.  My problem was gone.  It was a bit of a bugger to do due to my own style of knitting  but I kept on and it is feeling much more natural now.  

I am pretty pleased with this, and am only stopping because it is 9 p.m. and there is a practice session on for the weekends F1 race.  It's in Australia.  The times are all weird.  

i scream

With the completion of my first pair of socks for the year, I have more empty needles than socks on the needles.  This shouldn't be a problem, but it is.  The sock needles all seem to get stored now in my little notions case, and there just isn't room in there for the needles.  Time to get a few pairs going.  

First up is a pair that I wanted to make from Operation Sock Drawer from the Knitmore Girls.  

I.  Love.  These.  I Scream is a memory of my childhood and my dad and mom and the way it was when I was a kid.  We often had neopolitan ice cream and vanilla, but never w whole pail of chocolate or strawberry.  I get it.  Mom needed ice cream dad would put on pie and he wouldn't put chocolate on pie.  And she didn't think we would eat an entire pail of strawberry.  She was right.  So in order for the kids to get some of the coveted chocolate, we got neopolitan.  These are also a reminder of the silly things my dad used to say, like I scream, you scream and hide of naughe (naughehyde, the name for a bonded backed vinyl fabric cheaper then leather)  it is a reminder of sweet innocent days and two people whom I love beyond measure.  

So this is the first of the new socks.  I am not really having a great time so far.

I am starting from my usual toe and am struggling to get the waffle pattern established. One side is defined but the other is garbage.  I think I sorted it out in my head now so what you see above has to be pulled back and done again, hopefully with better results.  

Later today, I am going to hit the sock yarn box and pick out at least two nice skeins.  I am not sure if it is going to be for some of the really nice patterns in this book

Or some of these

Or from the two other sock books I have in digital format. Patterning or colourwork?  Stripes or plain?  Variegated?   Hand dyed?   I am just not sure, but there will be a few new cast ons.  

Just to get those sock needles out from the notions case of course.

Done Deeds

I completed all the things!  Well almost.   Dress?  Complete.  Pants, cut and lurking in a pile? A whisper away from done (Just need elastic at the waist and hemming).  Fabric pulled and sorted?  Done.

And I knit a fair bit too.  I have been spending time on the Agate Cove sweater.  

It is long enough at the underarms that it is time to add stitches for the backside.  That has worked well for my body shape and I think it is going to look fine.  

That was pretty much my whole day. This morning I started with the fabrics I pulled out yesterday and have been thinking of shapes and styles for them.  Several needed heavy duty ironing.  Two are pure rayon.    I think those two fabrics will be the more unstructured Waikere shirt and the wonderful linen cottons will become the more structured Tarawi pattern (both from Muna and Broad)

It is my knitting afternoon so time to be getting ready for that.  What to knit? !

Surprise knitting

Yesterday was a great day for sewing.  I finished up the last flag and then got down to doing the skirt of the last of my dress suite.  It needs to be sewn to the dress but the rest is done.   Stuck with hand gathering the skirt because of all the ways I tried in my whole life, this is the only one that has not failed.  I didn't get much else done beyond a nap, but today will be better. I had a wonderful sleep last night and am raring to go.  

 But I have knitting!  I am surprised that I do, but there has been some real visual advancement on the little cowl I am working on.  

I just started the third colour on my version of Joji Locatelli's 3 Color Cashmere Cowl.  I have shortened the striped section because there is a lace section in cream yarn and my cream colour yarn is getting a bit low.  I don't want to run out midway in the lace.  Right now I am working on the nifty third colour section and I have to tell you, I thought it was plain knitting but it's not.  There is a knit purl pattern to it and I can tell it is going to be the perfect sort of knit.  It's the kind of thing you have to stay focused on but not in a hard way.  The stitch becomes a rhythm all its own and very soon you find a little bit of a sing song happening as you go.

I did not notice the delicate colour variation in this very pretty yarn before but it will be exactly right for this design.  The simplicity will enhance gentle changes.  

With a bit more organization, I am hoping for more knitting today as well as significant sewing.  Or prepping to sew.  I have some measuring to do before I cut out the first of the Tarawi shirts I want.  With its more fitted sleeves, my plan is to have the cut more fitted than the gentle flow of the Waikere and Torrens patterns from their line.  I also have a pattern printed that is waiting to be put together for their Birchgrove pants with its more tailored line in their leg.    I love their casual style, but there us a place for a crisper more closely cut fit.  Anyway, lots to do.  Lots to do indeed.

Socks!!

The weekend was what weekends often are, full of things and family and adventures that come in a different way. And that is the weekend that was.

I was updating Ravelry the other  day, and realized, that to date, 2022 has seen only 3 finished projects.    This would be appalling but when I look over the last few years, it's not unusual.  And it is not unusual to have a number of things close to completion at this time of year.  This year though, there isn't that much close to completion.  

It's the sewing.  It is taking time and energy away from the knitting.  It's not a bad thing of course because I gain in so many other ways but it does rather slow the gratification of knitting.  

I took care of that gratification on the weekend.

A completed pair of socks!  

These were frankensocks, from a part ball of brilliant yellow Phildar and a leftover bit of Meilenweit.  The funny thing about this last yarn is that I have no idea what it looks like when knit on its own.  It was used with some lavender to make a pair of broken seed stitch socks.  Whatever else this yarn is, it is a stunning combiner.  The lavender blend pair are some of my favorites and this with the eye popping yellow just makes my heart sing.  

Luda and I were sitting here and they were at hand so I gave them to her, and proof that my preference for the garter stitch square toe fits all, and that a tube can comfortably fit everyone, it fit as if they were meant for her.  

Today there is a skirt to attach to a dress. My extra fabric arrived on Thursday, and there is fabric for shirts to come out and for pants to put away.  Plenty to do to be getting on with. 

It started out that I was taking Luda shopping, but it ended up that we shopped.  And we shopped in the most fun kind of way.  Gosh I had fun.  I am not generally into shopping as entertainment but if I could have a hundred days like that to shop, my opinion of shopping would be different.  Perhaps it comes from raising boys.  I never had the chance to shop much with women.  It was a wonderful day and we just had fun.  Silly grandma fun.

I did actually have a rare find that really made my day.  I have been in need of summer camisoles or undershirt type garments.  Some of the things I am sewing and knitting should probably be worn with one.  Plus, if I have a camisole, I have the option of wearing a shirt open or buttoned, doubling the versatility of my clothes.  I was just starting to look at fabrics for camisoles and found a nice ribbed fabric to be fairly pricey.  Purchasing from my usual purchasing store wasn't a good option for price either, plus their stick usually had spaghetti straps and I wanted wide shoulders.  I found seven tank tops, just simple basic ones, in the exact fabric I wanted in grey, white and black.  They fit as I wanted them to fit and are long enough that they will stay tucked into pants.  Plus the price was wonderful.  

I will end up paying for the shopping a bit today.  My feet are more puffy than they ought to be.  No way to drink enough water during a trip like that, but it will be okay.  A day or two and it all should be good again.

Today, I have to pay attention to my sewing.  I have a half a flag to finish and a really quick pair of pants waiting, as well as fabric waiting to be cut out for bike shorts for with my dresses.   I also want to pull out some of the shirt fabrics I have waiting for me.  

It's just like with the yarn. If I have some out and waiting, it fills me with inspiration.  Two things could happen.  First up and with a little bit of adulting on my part, I could actually sew the shirts and tops I need.  Second, I might end up buying for fabric.  Just like yarn, merely looking at the stuff makes me drool over more stuff till I want to buy.  

Somewhere in the containers of fabric lurks some more of the Madras cotton that I made my first dress from.  It is so light and perfectly summer.  The colours are sadly, not quite as perfect as that first piece, but the fabric sure is.  There is also a wild blue black and orange plaid rayon fabric that has unstructured shirt written all over it.   

I could go on, but just like the big dig in the yarn closet, digging in the fabric is special all by itself and I am ready to go play.