My Kind of Knitter

Friday again.  Looking forward to working on my Lush sweater.  Before I get to that, I have made a few decisions on my Tolsta sweater.  

I am going to do a split hem.  By the time I am at the end of this last green section (three rows away), I will have twelve inches from the underarm.  That is about the perfect length to start a hem split for me.  I am going to make a longer ribbing at the back hem than the front.  I prefer doing that, to make sure that my lower back area stays good and warm so the longer back just works.  And lastly , after thinking about sleeves more, I am changing my mind about knitting the sleeves plain.  

The top of the sleeves are already there with large sections of the white stripes.  I am not sure I will like the look of it if suddenly it is all green.  Maybe if the sleeves are short, but I have been planning long sleeves.  I only know that if I go long, I will stripe.  I have not actually decided if the sleeves will be long or short yet.

It's funny how I am at this point in the sweater and I still have choices I must make make.  I sometimes think that that divides me from real knitters, that my picture of a project is not set till it is off the needles. But that is silly.  I am a real knitter.  I am my kind of a real knitter, not anyone else's kind. And I like that.

Chilly

I am sitting here with the big box fan blowing fairly chilly air straight on me.  It is seriously fine.  And I am not even rushing for a big heavy sweater.  I am storing the sensation up for later. Even as I do that, I will appreciate the cozy warmth of my coffee cup and how the light lacy little shawl keeps the deep chill off the back of my neck.

Yesterday was a knitting day.  I made light progress on the Tolsta but I did make progress.  My smaller cone is almost used up so I am going to have to wind off a couple balls from the big cone to use as a second strand source.  There is lots of yarn on the big cone (still calling it the big cone) to use so I have absolutely no worries about running out of yarn. Plenty of white yarn available too.

I  other news, I sort of invented a new salad yesterday.   I saw a salad made with broccoli and cauliflower and canned kernel corn and started there.  I added red onions and grated carrots and celery.  The recipe also used bacon but that is a Sunday thing here.  I wanted to add some rich depth so I added a can of white kidney beans.  Top it off with a bit of creamy dressing and it was so good. Just talking about it is making my mouth water.  I have just enough left for a nice lunch.  

  

In the sewing room

It was a slight bit of knitting day yesterday.  I did knit three rounds on my Tolsta.  I completed the broken rib section so it is all green from here on.  It's the last green section and then plain green rib for the bottom.

More importantly for the dodderer who lives in my head, I cut out two pairs of pants.  I really had to force myself to do the second, but I knew that if I did not cut it out now, it was never going to happen.  It's a fairly light knit with a 4 way stretch.  It's slinky and slippery and it's favourite thing is to form a lump of squiggly fabric mess.   I hated the thought of wasting to fabric so I wrestled it into shape, pinned the pattern and cut.  I have two pairs ready to be sewn.

I might sew today. I might not. Whatever I do though is going to be done in a desultory fashion.  It's too hot to think.  Might be a good day for blanket squares.  

Weekends

It was a nice weekend even if the weather turned hot and dry.  I got lots done on my current projects.  

Friday I worked hard on the Tolsta.  I am really looking forward to this warm cozy sweater.  

I finished a blue stripe on my Lusk sweater.

The Lusk is a few days behind the Tolsta.  This blue stripe is finally making it look like there is a body to the yoke of the sweater.  

And somewhere in there, I managed to squeak in a couple of squares.  

Fun, right?  

Morning Coffee

My coffee tastes really good this morning.  The sun is shining and there is no wind, a relief after yesterday.  That's a really nice start to a day.  I am going to take it as a sign.  

I am going to go and cut out those pants.  After successfully avoiding the sewing room yesterday, a day that starts off with all the positive things, will mean positive results there.  

Yes, I avoided sewing.  Again.  I spent my day knitting and had a really great time.  I am on the third row of white in this last stripe of patterning.  That means I knit 10 rows yesterday.  It's was a banner knitting day.

The morning sun shines into the sewing room and that makes it perfect for black on black sewing.  Black thread on black fabric and poor eyesight combine to make it challenging to see just what you have done.  That shining sun means I get to see the seam I just sewed and if a thread breaks, I know it right away.  I am going to put on my headphones and get back to my book and I am going to hit the sewing room...as soon as I make another cup of coffee.   

Finding my fun

I have been putzing all morning.  A little coffee with a vlog and some knitting, then some puzzling and more coffee, then some laundry between more knitting.  Sounds like a typical day. 

I have already done 4 rows which equals my knitting count the past few days.  So yay, me.  There will be more.  

I took the time to try on the sweater yesterday.  I was concerned lest this sweater be wider than I wanted or, like Flea, smaller.  Did I need to add another set of increases.  

It is looking good as is.  It is going to benefit from blocking but it is good as is.  Now I just need length and the body will be done.  I need this last stripe of broken rib and then a stripe of green and the bottom ribbing.  That ought to get me to 18 inches from the underarm, which is a good length for me.  The bottom rib will need to be a bit longer than my usual but my usual is probably too short.  And then the body will be done.

That means I am thinking about sleeves.  I am pretty sure they will be plain green at this point.  It will be faster to knit and it will be less likely to catch on things like the dishwasher racks and forks and door latch plates (Strike plate?  Thingy?) I love knitting with the green doubled.  It is going to feel so good on cold winter days.

I have to get in to the sewing room today.  I really must.  The soft knit remains uncut and since that is step one...  The problem is that I don't quite have enough of this fabric for two pairs of pants.  I am only short about a foot, so I am going to have to do some funky futzing around to get that second pair.  Get it I shall though.  I am determined that I can do this.  

So adventures await.  I may not really want that sewing adventure, but life has taught me that you do not always get a choice in what you face. You have to face it anyway, so I am going to find whatever fun I can in it.  It is the only way to be.  

Deep in the WIPs Bin

And so it was.  I sewed all day with nary a spot of knitting to be had.  I do however have two completed pairs of pants and two half wrangled next pieces of fabric ready for cutting.  That's a fair days work.  

Does that mean I get to cast on something new?  No.  Maybe on the weekend.

I have been pondering my knitting while I sewed.  I have a lovely project deep in my WIPs bin.  

This is my version of Joji Locatelli's Starting Point.  I love the colours on these yarns.  It is such a glorious punchy bunch of colours.  But it isn't something I will use a lot.  It's too wide to use as a scarf and the yarns are too robust to fold up to fling  around easily. I am not quite sure how I will use it.  

I do think about adapting what I have now to make a top.  I would love that but I would have to do a lot of gazzinta-ing and math ing and some creative thinking to make that happen.  But it is something I think about.  I am also thinking about just taking it apart and making something else.  We shall see.

For now I will think on it.  

  

The problem with sticking to what is on my needles is that it makes for boring blog posts.  I am going to go sew instead.

Sticking with it.

It was a nice quiet weekend.  I would like to pretend I did lots of work but most of my time was spent reading.  Such a treat really, just to read a book. 

I did do fibrey things.

I pulled out my zoom loom and made some little squares.  This was from a leftover of a Zauberball.  The picture really doesn't show how lovely they are as a set.  The colours shift so beautifully.  I have 110 squares, maybe a few more but there are lots of squares to go.  And plenty of yarn.  Somewhere back last winter, I wound all the sock yarn ends and they all fit in one large zip lock bag now, so plenty of yarn for the rest of the blanket.

I spent a day working on the Lusk sweater. 

It's starting to look like a wearable garment now.  I can knit almost an entire colour section on this.  The yarn really makes it feel zippy.  And in case you were wondering, switching to wood needle tips and 5 mm tips at that, has made all the difference.  It is lovely to work on.

There was also knitting on the Tolsta sweater.  

I made it to halfway through the green stripe which I am pretty pleased with.  

My sort of goal for summer was to finish both sweaters by the end of August.  I do hope to get this one complete but 2 is going to be too much.  I had posted them to Rebecca's Take it to the Beach KAL thread on Ravelry, and it would be nice to be able to post a finished photo.  

And that was it for weekend work.  I need to stay faithful to these projects so they get done.  What I feel like though, is jumping on to a new week, new project bandwagon.  This blue swatch 

keeps speaking to me.  My fingers want to agree but I am going to stay firm.  Stay with what you have on the needles already.  

I had plans to work in my room today.  I feel like it is time for a really big dig in the stash.  However when I got up this morning, I found out that Keith was working from home.  He has a migraine and was not feeling safe to drive.  So, it will be a day for quiet work, not for dragging heavy bins of yarn around directly over his office area.  

I guess I am going to have to do some sewing even if it's a day more suited to knitting blankets and heavy sweaters.  Really heavy sweaters.  

Yesterday I layered my newest rust vest (my Ravelry page shows it) with another sweater and I may do that again today.  I put my Undercurrent pullover made out of Fleece Artist Thicket on this morning.  It's a warm dense yarn that's perfect for this chilly morning.   I might pair it with my recently completed Linger vest.  It's the right kind of weather for really warm double layers.  

I have no idea what the day will bring.  A little sewing.  A little knitting.  Who knows.  The mystery and adventure awaits.

Good Things Abound

Another pair of pants emerged from the sewing room yesterday.  As with the first pair, the waist still needs finishing.  Today's task is elastics and cutting out pair three and four.  

I meant to cut out a pair yesterday but I found myself struggling a bit.  This fabric is lighter in weight.  It will be perfect for light weight pants more akin to leggings than pants but not cut to fit so closely as leggings.  They will absolutely need to be worn under things, including pants.  I hope to get two pairs from this fabric so laying the pattern out needs to be done carefully.  

Meanwhile, the fabric is squirming and worming around like a toddler who does not want to get dressed. My need to use care is defeated.  I decided to cut these out this morning when I was fresher and more able to win the battle.  

I knit quite a lot in the afternoon.  I have only one more row of white to do before starting the next green section. I am really looking forward to that.  

Good progress on all fronts and I am happy with it.  It is cool today.  One of those sweater weather days thar sometimes happen in summer.  Sadly, little or no rain.  But so it is.  We reap what we have sown.   

Sewing!

The sewing is working.  I feel more settled and am feeling more at ease about getting things done.  That old overwhelmed feeling is easing. Adding structure to my day seems to be a solution.  

I sewed a pair of pants yesterday and have only to finish the waistband.  (Elastic.  I am that age where stretchy pants are a wonderful thing.)  I also cut out another pair.  I have a couple more stretchy fabrics ready for pants so the pant sewing trend will continue.  I expect it to continue till I run out of the fabrics with stretch.  

This morning I need to do a bit of searching to sort out what I need to do to make my current patterns work for woven fabric. The linen pair I made a few years ago, are not as comfortable as I would like.  It would be such a waste if I can't sort it out.  I have several pieces of fabric that I bought for pants.  

I suppose that I could do skirts with them, but I am not sure I want more skirts of heavy fabrics.  I made one last year, and find I just don't wear it as often as it deserves.  Some of that is a construction issue made when I was fooling around with circle skirts.  Some of it is the weight.  Oddly in my head, a skirt ought to be airy and light.  Who knew?

I haven't been wearing my dresses very much either. I made some bicycle style shorts to wear under them so I don't flash anybody but the fabric has proven to be a huge problem.  It is a fabric with some sheen to it and when I wear them, I feel like I am slipping off the couch or chair.  This is NOT what I need. Suffice it to say that there will be more bicycle shorts but in a much friendlier fabric.  

I spent a lot of time thinking about my fabric stash.  I have always had a fabric stash.  Some of it is very old and polyester gabardines.  That sort of thing.  It suited the life of working in an office and having teens.  My teens are now 40 ish and I rarely wear polyester.  The fabric is getting used to make first pieces from new patterns.  My newer stash of fabric is stunning.  It is a wonderful pile of linen and cotton linens and other natural fibers.  It's nice to be thinking about something besides my yarn.  

There was knitting as well.  I managed to make good progress on the Tolsta sweater.   I am halfway through this white stripe and I hope to finish it today.  Plus, I spent some time puzzling.  It was a good day.  It's time now for another cup of coffee and breakfast before heading to the sewing room.  I am looking forward to whatever the world has in store. 

Pretty Good All Around

Friday was a good day.  The weekend was pretty good too.

Friday, I went to the sewing room and cut out a pair of pants.  I thought about sewing them, but realized there was something else I needed to do first because it was really bugging me.  I needed to transfer my pattern from printer paper to pattern paper.  When I am cutting from the printer paper pattern, it is hard to roll it up and awkward to move around because the paper is a bit heavy.  Instead of folding with the fabric, it buckles and comes apart where the pieces are taped.  Pattern transfer complete and I am looking forward to sewing up pair one and getting to cut out another pair today.

On the weekend the job was knitting.  I thought about keeping on with the Tolsta sweater, but I did not feel inspired.  I decided to keep on doing something different on the weekends.  

I completed another blue stripe on my Lusk sweater from Rebecca Clow, the Creabea, and made it to half way through the next white stripe.  I did discover something interesting.  

My gauge changed once I started knitting in the round.  You can see it here in this photo from early Sunday.  

The yarn is a bit slippy.  The blue is pure alpaca and the white has a good bit of rayon in it.  Both are lovely yarns and I already was using a 4.5 mm wood tip.  I decided to switch out to a 5 mm tip for the body and that seems to be working.  The gauge is spot on again.  Problem averted.  I hope.

I am going back to the sewing room this morning.  I am just waiting for my headphones to charge.  I think a Hamish Macbeth book is on the cards for this morning and I see a couple of new podcast episodes on YouTube for later.  

 

Avoiding a thing.

I puzzled all afternoon yesterday.  I sat in front of an open door (full screen door) and found that the afternoon air was much less humid and bearable.  It took till mid afternoon for the whole house to air out.  

There was some knitting but no sewing.  However, there will be some level of sewing today.  There has to be.  Sitting contemplating the things in my world this morning, I decided that I am really being silly by not getting the sewing done.  Or even started.  I have no idea why I am avoiding it.  It isn't like dishes, which is a task I loathe.  I like sewing.  I will force myself into the sewing room and will at least get a start. Once that start is underway, I know I will be beguiled by the feel of the fabric.  And the colours, textures, and all the things I can do with it.  

I have been thinking a lot about other things too.  A lot of the Podcasters I watch are working hard to use up their ends and bits left over from projects. I think of my overflowing 2 full bins of yarn  leftovers and my very big bin plus more of fabric scraps.   I would sure like to get the space back that these things are taking, but I have no idea what I want to do with them.  There are a lot of creative things going on out in the world with all those ends and I think I want that creativity more than the projects.  No rush and there will always be more bits.  I just don't want the bits to overwhelm the rest of my lovely things.  

That is where my brain is at today.  I am not allowing myself to take out another puzzle.  I have not yet pulled out any knitting.  I am going to be responsible and hit the sewing room.  

As soon as my phone and headphones are charged.  Yeah.  That's me.  Finding ways to avoid a thing.

 

More than I thought

Yes.  I am still here.  No.  I am not sewing.  I am asking myself why not but that inner me has decided to stay silent.  Maybe today.

There is knitting though.  I have finally finished the green section I was on.

It is starting to look like a sweater!  I love this part.

Hold on. I only just now realized that it's only been a couple of days according to the blog, but it feels like it has been weeks.  Maybe I need to reassess how fast I think I am knitting.  I generally was knitting 8 to 10 rows a day but this week it has been 6 tops.  However 6 rows is half a stripe.  Two days is a stripe.  That is not so bad at all.  I need to stop thinking I am not doing enough.  

I am set and ready for broken rib stripe 4 of 5.  I hope.  I think that, with a generous green bit and a hem of some sort, I will be at the length I want for this sweater.  

There is part of me that is screaming that this wants to be a short sunny short sleeved top.  However, this yarn says winter sweater.  Held, double as it is, it speaks calmly of cozy warm wear in front of a fire with cocoa in hand.  I can't get past the yarn so winter sweater it is.  

It is going to be another one of those days.  It isn't just me.  Even the air feels sluggish and heavy.  And moist.  It is oddly humid for a cool day and I am not used to that at all.  I hope to get into the sewing room this  afternoon to get a start cutting but who knows.  Might be a puzzle afternoon. 

Stuff

I think it's time to hit the sewing room again.  I don't seem to be getting much knitting done, even though my head is completely into it.  

Why sewing?  Sometimes sitting and sewing sets my routine more clearly than other things. In part it happens because I can only sew for a couple hours before my eyes give out and focusing clearly becomes impossible.  Then, I go out, put on a movie and knit.  

That early in the day sewing is gratifying.  Sewing gets you a finished project fairly quickly in comparison to knitting.  Having a finished thing gives me a real boost to the sprit.  It also gives me a real sense of accomplishment, a 'Look!  I did a thing!' sort of punch to my day.  Maybe I need that punch as well as the additional structure to my day.  

Oh, oh, a quick note before I go for the day.  If you have Britbox, look for Our Zoo.  It is the story of the Chester zoo and it is magical.

Ok.  Gotta go.  Sewing that is.  Knitting later.

All About Knitting.

It's been so interesting the last few days.  I had a long list of things to write about yesterday, that I was really looking forward to posting. This morning?  My mind is blank.

It has generally been too hot to knit.  I hardly believe that this is me, saying that but I only have to look at what I knit last week to know the truth of it.  Yes Marcus was here 2 days but that doesn't explain the rest of the week.  It is what it is.  

I think I will go with a things I touched this last bit post.  By touched I mean that I knit at least a small bit on it.

I found these again.

Kroy sock yarn with a rounded ish toe.  They were lost in the WIPs bin for a while.  I keep the socks all to one side, but this pair was moved over somewhere else.  I think they eventually shifted back to where they belonged because I found them on the usual sock side.  That's my story...

I knit precisely one round on these.

These are kind of fun.  If I calculated right, these are going to be exact opposites of each other.  I don't knit much on these because they are incredibly slippery.  What I really need are wooden or bamboo needles, but these are what I have at the moment.  I am pretty certain that deep in the needle case, I have a set, but you know how it goes.  I would have to look for them.  I know.  It makes no sense that I haven't.

I washed this swatch.

This is one of my next up sweater yarns.  It is from 2 cones I got years ago from Webs yarn back when I still ordered directly from American suppliers. (Usually sale yarns.) I have not done that unless I absolutely needed to, to finish a project, since 2016.  That tells you how old this yarn is.  

It bloomed so beautifully.  I can't stop playing with it.  It is so soft and such a beautiful colour.  I want, want want a Felix sweater or something like it, from it.   There is a lot of spinning oil in these cones so they really do the most amazing thing when you wash the yarn.  

I did some sweater knitting as well as sweater dreaming.  

My Lusk sweater got a bit of work.

A very little bit but I did knit a couple of rounds.  I also did a quick try on.  It's a bit too short below the arms to really tell what I have yet, but it is looking pretty darn good.  I will try it on again when I am into the next white stripe.  

I knit a few rows on my London Fog sweater.  

I love this yarn and the way it is working up so much that it is hard to work on.  I don't want to screw it up!  It is the silliest thing but there it is.  My want will eventually win over my goofy worry and I will have a gorgeous garment. The yarn is Comfort Dk from Midknit Cravings.

Most of my knitting time was spent on my Tolsta sweater.  

I had to do a correction on the broken rib section.  I corrected the error and had to go back and correct my correction.  Harumph.  It is going fine now that I am on a plain green stripe. I did a try on of this sweater too.  I was starting to wonder if it was going to be too big.  The broken rib section does make the plain section sit a bit oddly, but when I put it on all is well.  It will need a good blocking to be sure of what I really have.  So far so fair.

I am debating sleeves on it at the moment.  Long or short?  Plain or striped?  I have options, all of them interesting.

I seem to be settled on the Tolsta for now.  It feels so nice in my hands on this much cooler rainy morning. I may not have knit a lot last week, but my world still was all about knitting.