An almost finished thing.

Now where were we?  It feels like so long ago.  We had so much fun.  We baked buns.

Marcus wanted bread but when his round loaf was done, he choose to make a sandwich with the whole thing.  It was as big as his head and took 4 days to eat.  

Yeah.  One of those.  It's one of those things that just makes me laugh.  

In between Marcus events and later in the week, long chats with Cassie, there was knitting.

My Tolsta is complete.  

As you can see, it is not ready to wear.  

All the ends are woven in.  There were a lot.

I like to leave long ends on cotton so I can weave in more than a few stitches so it looks worse than it is.  That is all done now and the only part left is to sew up the hems.  As you can see in the first Tolsta sweater picture.

That won't take long but I find myself skittering off to knit other stuff.  I am forcing myself to do it today because the plan is to wear it tomorrow.

My head is off in other exciting adventures.  It is a really hard thing to go back and focus on something I have completed knitting.  I yearn to move on.  However if I can't wear a thing, I lose.  I will focus on how really nice the Tolsta turned out and think about wearing it as our weather warms. 

Settling in till spring comes back

Knitting? Good.  

Kids?  Great!

Weather?  Sucks.

It's a good day to stay in, watch movies and knit.  That's  what I am doing today.  Even if I don't knit much, the top is going to be done today.

It's  only three rows into the second sleeve, but these short sleeves go so fast even with the extra knitting for a folded hem.

Sleeve one is complete and my goodness it looks good.

Beyond what I was hoping for.  The colours look even better than I imagined when I first held them together.  And the Tolsta pattern is, once again, a winner.  The gauge is its magic.  It makes this solidly DK cotton drape so beautifully.  

There were a few days where the summer sweaters/tops were pressed into service but today I am back in something warmer.  There will be some cookie baking later today so the kids can take some home to their dad and mom but in the meantime, I am giving myself another cup of coffee and am going to settle down to knit.

I made it past the bottom of this garment and am knitting the underside of the hem.  I have only 3 rows to go and sleeves.  Yay me.  

Bzzzzzzz

Busy morning.  Marcus is visiting and we are doing stuff.  There won't be much posting for a bit or knitting for that matter, but there will be lots of fun.

I am on the last section of the body of this top.  

I was going to make a basic ribbing but when I got here, I didn't feel it.  I am going to do a folded hem instead.  I have plenty of the blue yarn and it gives such a neat finish. The sleeves will be finished in the same way.  

I am also thinking of going back and doing it at the neckline too.  I probably won't do that but it is something to think about.  It may come down to the desire to start the next big thing.  

Clothing and kid visits are on my mind.

Not a huge amount of knitting results yesterday.

I don't remember it that way.  I am sure I knit all day.  Reality and memory are sometimes two different things.  Still, the rows count.  

My head was full of my summer wardrobe.  I rarely wear things that I have not made.  My undergarments are still purchased but that is mostly to do with the quality of elastics and fabric I have been able to source.  From socks out, I wear clothing I make myself.  I don't weave the fabric, nor do I spin the fibre, but I sew and I knit and do reasonably well.  There are still a few things that I need to do though.  

I want some bike style short leg bottoms to wear under dresses.   I did sew a test pair and after a few changes, they are great even though I deeply dislike the slippery fabric.  I have fabric and just need to cut and sew a few pairs with those changes.  

I want to make some more skirts.  I made a couple last year and they were good, but they can be better.  They are not as cool in the high heat as my dresses are and I am thinking about that.  The debate is on:  should I make skirts or go with my dresses?  How many do I need?  Is this indecision about need or want?  :)  Want is the more likely if I am honest.  

Either way, it won't happen for a bit.  It's is time for spring breaks so kids are coming and it's going to be in 2 different weeks.  School breaks are offset again this year.   It's also a race weekend, China this time.  Lots of time to knit to and contemplate these things as well as some of the darker things of this current time in the worlds history. Knitting makes it better, that's for sure.  Kids visits help too. 

A Full Day?

Some days are just wonderful.  Knitting wise that is.  

Got striped sweater to a landmark.

I am on to the last gold stripe.  This means 14 rows to the ribbing which will be blue of course.

And I managed to sneak in a few rows on the vest.

It's joined in the round!  Not by much but it is connected.  

That pretty much was my day.  Add in coffee and a tiny bit of puzzling and it really was my day.

Adapting the Dream to Life

Midway through the day yesterday, a sudden and possibly inspired thought came into my head.  Maybe this should be a full on sweater.  

Three quarter length sleeves.  Longer than a summer top. Cool looking.  Casual.  I can see it in my head on a much younger, trendier person who is in no way shape or form, ME. That's when I knew it was never going to happen.

In my head, the vision was of the lifestyle of this sweater with wide stripes.  It is most assuredly not my lifestyle (The wide stripe sweater is on a dock surrounded by boats and is heading toward a trendy coffee shop).  My lifestyle is knitting tops that might possibly look trendy on other people but to fit the me that is, here in the real world.  I am never going to fall for the vision of a lifestyle rather than a garment again.  

I used to.  We all did and do.  We fall for a dream and expect it to be a reality when we have the sofa, or house or makeup brand or car.  In that dream, if we have that thing, we will have that life.  There is nothing wrong with dreaming.  We all do that too, but if we dream without adapting the dream to our own lives, we will forever be unsatisfied.    

This is a summer top, not a top for indeterminate seasons.  What my wardrobe needs is a couple more summer tops so summer top it will be.  Besides I have only 2/3 of a skein of gold left.  I need that for what ever the sleeves will be.  (Hint:  not 3/4 length) 

Progress is not fast on this last bit of a sweater but I am still so thrilled when I switch the colours.  I know it won't be set aside.  

Waiting for spring

I am watching Bobbie on the Inspired Knitting podcast.  I enjoy her Vlog so much.  She is from New Brunswick and she is one of my people.  She loves socks and always has amazing yarns and projects to share. She loves hats too and I often find she has beautiful hat patterns that I had not seen before.

It was a wonderful weekend.  The F1 season is begun with a brilliant race in Melbourne Australia.  I could not knit at all while watching it.  When I get excited, my gauge gets very tight and I would have had to reknit.  My gauge would have been very very tight this weekend.  

I knit and did make some progress.  

It is looking very shirt like.  It is also looking quite...not elegant but kind of classy.  Yes, that is the word.  The wide stripes look really good in these two strong colours.  

I have been focusing on this sweater but the last couple days I have also been thinking about this project.  

Since it will be a plain, simple vest, and since spring is on its way, it would be a very  useful wardrobe addition.  Vests are great spring and fall wear.  Not too much warm but all the parts where I need coverage, are covered.  

In between these, I have been feeling bad about my Mashup Top.  Does anybody else feel guilt about not working on projects.  Oh I know it is ridiculous.  Still, it is there.  It needs work and I am going to get it done.  It's a great spring thing too.

My head is in spring.  Daylight savings time is back (ridiculous)  and we are on Saskachewan time again. My summer knits drawer has been gone through a few times already, to admire and assess what I made and wore last year.  So much to do.  So much fun to knit.  

Also, waves to Wendy!  Hi.

A Little Bit of Things

I did not get as much done as I hoped yesterday.  My goal is for one stripe per day, or rather fourteen rows, which is how wide the stripes are.

I only made it through half of that yesterday. There are two rows left till I switch to that luscious dark marine blue.   I am okay with that because it is a reasonable amount of progress for a day. And if I wasn't okay with that, there wouldn't be much I could do about it anyway other than knit again today.

Today will be a baking day.  We need bread and I found an interesting recipe for a breakfast loaf that I want to try.  It has dried apricots in it and those are popular in this household.  I may also do some date loaf because I do love date loaf and it is a while since we had some. In between these things, there will be knitting.

I haven't been writing much because I have had so much else on my mind.  It isn't something I like to focus on, but the world seems to have other ideas.  I do want to talk about certain megalomaniacal persons though and how I think they think. And that is, that we, Canada, are not a real nation, and we are not a real people. They don't see Greenland as a real nation or a real people either.  In the same way that Russia does not see Ukraine as a real country or anything other than a place or a people that should service them.

They are wrong.  Quite simply wrong. We need to remember that and do what we need to do to help keep us our own.  Elbows up.  #9

Seductions and Firm Resolve

I've made it past the arms!

It is really difficult to get my head out of this sweater and into my Mashup top.  This one is so exciting.  The Mashup is very interesting but not exciting.

I will probably talk myself into working on the Mashup.  Maybe.  Still the Tolsta beckons as a top that can be more quickly finished and that is seductive.

If I am honest, my entire stash is full of little seductions.  There is such good stuff in that closet and some days it calls to me to pay it attention.  I have  to hide from it sometimes (mentally) .  Lately, my hands are itching to work on the summer yarns but a big part of me really wants to finish what is already started.  

I don't  seem to have luck alternating projects at this point.  I have no firm resolve.  My resolve is more of the floppy balloon kind.  Oh well.  The good thing is it is all knitting.  

Peppy

I knit a lot yesterday.  It was one of those days where it just worked and I could go on and on.  It was wonderful.

The colour is much truer than usual this morning. With the addition of the second section of blue you can really start to see the way this Tolsta is going to look.  Pretty great.  

Other than that, I don't have a lot to say this morning.  I feel so peppy this morning and I want to do rather than write.  Lead on to knitting is how I feel.  When the knitting goes good, I feel like light.  Winter is pretty much done even if it wants to snow.  Spring is going to win.

And so am I.

On Needles

After all these years, how can it possibly be that I feel I do not have the needle I want? To be clear, it isn't that I don't have enough needles, but that I do not have a spare set of needles in my needle case in the size I am looking for. 

The last while, I have been using larger gauge needles more often, and my multiples of 4.5 mm needles and needle tips are not cutting it for "large" needles.  I have only a couple of 5 mm and 6mm needles or needles tips  and I never have a spare set of those.  What I have is always in use.

I am not going to buy more needles.  No.  

Arghhhhhh.

Needs a Marker

I feel bad that I am not currently knitting on my Mashup sweater

It's on tiny needles.  Comparatively.  It's on 3.5 mm needles and while I love that gauge needle, it does make a garment a slow thing.  I need to use a progress keeper for it.  That will help.  

I spent my weekend working on the new thing.  

  

I tried to get the gold right, but that blows out the blue.  Oh well.  

It's such easy knitting and I am really loving the way the colours work together.  I am really looking forward to another Tolsta.  I wore the two I made last year dozens of times and I am pretty sure that this will be worn as much.  At the same time, my faithlessness to the Mashup self defeats me somewhat.  I want that in my wardrobe too. I am going to see what I can do on both.  

I also have had a good weekend in other ways.  I finally sold my spinning wheels.  This made me feel so good.  There were no takers last time and this time, only one person was interested, but she knew it was a good price and she took both wheels.  I celebrated with a nice glass of wine.  

The Slump Feeling is Gone.

The slump is over.  I find myself very engaged in the next big things.

I cast on another Tolsta Tee using the  Butterfly cotton in the marine blue and gold.

I love these colours so much.  The gold is not my colour but so long as it is away from my face, I am okay with it.  In fact it is one of the colours that I wish I could wear easily.  I love that mustardy gold colour.

I cast on with a 5 mm needle, thinking about the way this yarn wears in my washer and dryer care of it.  I need to knit this fairly loose.  Pattern gauge is fairly loose so it should work, right?

 

It looks pretty good but it felt wrong.  Way to loosely goosey.  

This is just laying there, not blocked or pulled out in anyway.  It just felt wrong, so wrong that I did not even check it for gauge. I went back to the neck ribbing and started over with a 4.5 mm needle.  I did not want to go smaller because a previous top I made with this kind of cotton on 4 mm needles ended up fairly tight once it was washed and worn.

Better?  You be the judge.  

It feels better than with the 5 mm needles.  It seems to make a more put together fabric.  I still have not measured for gauge but I am certain I am close. The fabric is what I want and if it is close, then I will go with it and will adjust on the way to finishing it.

And the Hacho sweater?  I have worn it since it was finished.  I love it.

The yarn is so lively as I have always known it would be. It just moves in the most wonderful way. The perfect thing for spring. The narrow ribs flip a bit but the proof will be in the proper blocking, whenever that happens. And if it still flips, oh well. Who sees it but me? 

I will knit on this new spring Tolsta today but I also pulled out my Mashup top, inspired while by the way the colours looked while digging in a bin of yarn.  

In is eye popping and just makes my heart beat faster.  I started it last year but then ran off and then got sidetracked by a Tolsta.  The yarns are Silk Garden Sock and Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool and both are in the fingering range.  It is all garter stitch on 3.5 mm needles and those things combined mean no matter what, it is going to take a while.  Still, it is an easy uncomplicated shape. A relaxing sort of knit. 

Do you ever just want to jump and shout out to the world how much you love knitting?  That is how I feel this morning. I do though I am long past the age where jumping for joy is a smart thing for my knees.  But I feel like it.  Yes.  The slump is over.  Well and good to be getting on with.

Something new

My Hacho sweater is complete. No photos yet.  I need to do a good steam block first but I am wearing it. Why not when I need to get it to the ironing board.  I could carry or wear it.  I am wearing it.  Simple.

I am knitting and doing some other stuff today.  I just haven't decided what stuff to knit on and what other stuff to do.  The day is going to slip by whether I decide to do a thing or not.  It always does.

In case you can't tell, I am in a post project slump.  I always feel so excited when I finish something and then whammo.  The excitement is gone.  The push is over and I fall into a little bit of a project slump.  I know it will be gone in a few days so I do not ever worry about it.  It is and that is that.  Maybe I should do dishes and clean the kitchen?

Don't be ridiculous.  It is time to cast on something new.     

So very close

I woke up this morning missing my Myrtle sweater  sweater.   I know.  It's utterly ridiculous, but I can't wear it because it needs repair.  It has needed repair for months but it might happen today, if I can find it.  I know I saw it just the other day when I was tidying but you know how that goes.  I put it somewhere safe only I don't remember where.  

Till it is fixed, I am wearing a Ruana like garment that Luda gave me for Christmas.  Everytime I use it I think that I have to make one of these.  I might convert a project into one.  My blanket Zoom Loom project would work, but so would my Starting Point wrap.  I really need to work on both of these interesting things.  Maybe this summer.

My challenge today, besides fixing a thing, is finishing my Hacho sweater.  Over the last few days, I did a bunch of knitting.  Well, maybe not a lot, but as much as my hands could take.  

There is about an inch of stockinette and then a short ribbing to go.  I am so close.  I hope my hands can make it.  I hope they can take it.

So close

The morning began with watching a new to me yarny vlog.  She was organizing her stash.  I like to watch how different people organize, the things they put importance on, the way they think about yarns and colour.  It was fun.  She had a full sofa full of yarn, piled high.  She was trying to get a handle on it.  She had no idea of what she had on hand.

I have to admit, shamefully, that I thought, " ah how sweet".  It was a really patronising reaction. It felt like it was time to pull that reaction out and think about it.  She was not some kid.  She was a grown person and I was out of line.  I gotta work on that.

Everybody loves and engages with their yarn differently and who the heck am I to patronise her. It was nice yarn.  It was fun colours and watching her engage with something I love too is what was interesting.  

Meanwhile I had a pretty great weekend.  

Hacho sweater hem cast off. I might redo it.  It looks a little sloppy for some reason.

Hacho sweater neckband complete. This cast off looks much better.  I wonder what the heck I did.

Sleeve one almost to the ribbing.  I think I have four rounds to go till the ribbing so it won't take long. And sleeve two will take about a day and a half if the first sleeve is anything to go by.  Maybe a complete sweater by Wednesday?  

It's so close and I can't wait to wear it.  I can't wait for some spring knits too!