Back to sweaters

Well, here we are.  Another day, more yarn! Ain't it grand?!!!

I knit a very little bit on socks.  It seems my hands have decided that it's enough of that for right now.  I worked on a sweater off and on for most of the day.

I am making good progress and I really can't wait to see this sweater complete.  It's nice and loose with plenty of space for this coned yarn to bloom once the spinning oils are washed out.  

That's it for today.  On to my day and knitting , knitting, knitting!

Ps  Every time I pick up yarn, I think how lucky I am to knit.  I have plenty of yarns to choose from, I have needles at hand and it is just the nicest thing.  I clothe myself in handmade and I feel huge satisfaction that I am able to do that.

Socks and Ends

Socks happened!

I am wearing them right now and they are great.  The few gusset stitches make a nice difference.  I am not sure why I didn't do this before on short row heel socks.  It really does make them easier to get on.  

I pulled out these when the first were done.

This is the next pair I am going to focus on.  Plain Kroy socks made out of the yarn as it comes off the ball.  I haven't done that for a while.  Also, note the change of toes.  I actually regret this now, but I am not going to rip back for a toe.  I am almost at the heel now and am debating a short row heel versus a heel flap, bottom up.  

Beyond all that, I am weaving in ends on my Lusk.  All the body ends are done so there is only one sleeve and a few neck ends to go.  I am determined to wear that sweater today.  

So on to tea.  Sigh.  Coffee oh coffee, why, why, why?   The tea is nice though and sipping is a fine thing when you are working with yarn.

And done.  

Lots of knitting

You may have noticed yesterday that I mentioned having tea.  It is not that I don't like tea.  It's just that I love coffee.  However the powers that be, aka, the debil, say I have to have tea.  I won't get over this fast.  

I did a good bit of knitting yesterday and am pretty pleased. I tried to knit sweaters, just could not get into them.  I pulled out socks and that seems to have worked. I was midway on the sole of sock two when I started.

I have 5 or 6 rows to do in the multi coloured Fiesta.  I am really glad that I stopped it when I did on sock one.  There is not going to be much left when I go to the green.  I am currently debating how much of the green I want to use up.  As in, do I want to make the cuff longer on sock one and work on sock two till the green is gone.  

The one thing stopping me from doing that is it means just a bit longer till I have a pair of completed socks.  Maybe that's what I am feeling.  That I just wanted to have a completed thing.  I am still working on weaving in ends on my Lusk sweater so it is not wearable but the socks?  The socks would be wearable right after finishing.  I routinely weave ends in on socks as I work, so, look, ma.  No danglers.  

Time for tea, I suppose.  It's very weak plain English breakfast tea at the moment.  And so it goes.  Tea goes well with knitting and I am going to keep telling myself that.  And knitting.  Lots and lots of knitting.

Good Morning

Good morning.  Maybe.  That is a conversation we have here most morning, but it is generally a jest because most mornings are pretty darn good.  Even when it is not a jest, talking about it, goofing around with it makes a grumpy morning feels better.

I did get some knitting time in this weekend but I may have used it foolishly.  I did not do huge amounts of work even though I had the time.  

A bit of progress but not much.

A bit of progress but not much.

I should have been working on socks.  My sock drawer seems to be filled with shortie socks and it is winter now.  I need regular socks.  Sometime very soon I am going to have to seriously focus on sock knitting.

I do have a plan for advent knitting this year.  I did that a few years ago and got a delightful pair of striped socks that remain a personal favourite sock.  This year, I am thinking of doing something similar to what Mjin Wolden did for Socktober.  If you watch her on YouTube you will already know what she did, and for the rest of you, you will have to wait for a surprise.  Her friend Etienne, also a youtuber, did the same thing with a twist.  

Anyway, time to get knitting to make some progress on something or other.  Tea time for now.  Coffee later when I can appreciate it more.  

Danglers of the World

Keith calls them ' danglers'

It's a lot of ends.  I will work on that this morning.  This is all that is stopping me from wearing this sweater.  It is the closest to pattern thing I have ever knit and it fits really nicely.  The yarns also feel really nice to wear.  

I also might redo for the third time, the bind off on one of the sleeves.  I have no idea why but it is tight.  

Once the knitting was done on this sweater, I pulled out my blue sweater.  

I debated about doing the London Fog sweater but this sweater is a bit harder to knit.  The yarn, in its weaving yarn state, is crisper in hand.  The  whole point of this sweater is going to be the wearing of it.  It is a product sort of knit rather than being a process knit.  All in all, less fun to work on.  The yarn has been in my stash almost forever.  The London Fog has been around a good while too but the younger yarn will give way to the elder.  

The London Fog is in the running for my weekend knitting but so are some of my longer standing projects.  There are socks to be knit and a hat that could be worked on as well as some colourwork I could work on.  In truth, there may not be too much time to knit. Cassie is coming over to play.  There will be miniature work being done.  That's all good fun but maybe, in hidden corners of time, I will sneak in some time to knit.

In the land of Almost

I am still in the land of almost.  

I have about 6 rows left, unless I decide on a folded collar.  I may yet do that.  My thinking is that a folded collar might be a bit less floppy over time.  

The sleeves are both complete and I am thrilled to say, they match!  It's possible that no one but myself, finds that such a thrill, but there is always a chance that my tension may have changed, that I miscounted something ot other.  It is particularly thrilling when I am finishing the sleeve with a new sort of sleeve treatment.

That slight puff before the cuff is something I never thought I would do.  It is there because my rate of decreases were wrong and I had far too many stitches left by the time my sleeves needed to finish.  The slightly dropped sleeves muddled my sleeve length calculation.  I just plain messed up.  Still the sleeves look okay and they will do.  And I will continue celebrating that they match.

Darn Things

Almost  finished a sleeve yesterday.  So close.  

There is one decrease row plus a few other rows before the cuff to finish.  Today it will be done.  

This is where I really, really wish I had woven in my ends as I went along.  With the stripes, there are a lot of ends.  It was really quite ridiculous that I did not weave in ends.  I am sure there was a reason.  I don't recall what it was though, so... I will quietly sit and weave the darn things in.  

Harumphhhhhh

Sleeve Island

I set down to work on sleeves yesterday and I did.  I should get close to finishing today.  I hope.  

It doesn't look like much.  It really isn't much.  I let my hands do the leading and I stopped about midday.  

My head really needed to keep knitting.  I thought I might knit to the end of the ribbing on the London Fog Tolsta.  I meant it too.  I want to keep my hands healthy and strong.

And then it went on to a bit more.  I decided to do to the end of the short rows.  And then a few more rows happened.

I think sometimes tired hands are in my head.

Obviously, I am kind of bored with sleeves.  It feels as if it has been an ocean of sleeves lately.  Not an ocean but maybe sleeve island.  Cassie's sleeves and this sweaters sleeves so close together have become a 'thing' in my head.  To defeat that feeling of being overwhelmed by sleeves, I am focusing on the evidence.  

Sleeve 1 has three blue stripes.  On sleeve 2, I have already completed two blue stripes.  I am on the third white stripe so there is only 1 more full white stripe left.  And a cuff.

It is only a small bit of knitting and I will have a completed sweater.  That's pretty great isn't it?  I am going to keep focused on that almost finished sweater.  I don't shop for my clothes.  I make them so getting something new is fun.  

Looking at what is on my needles and how little remains to do will get me through.

Dealing with Anxiety in my own way.

It is always so quiet when the kids go home but it is clear that I can't really do that anymore.  I love it but even though they are growing so fast, and only need the smallest bit of monitoring, I get so tired.  Ah well.  Cassie's art project is a lot of fun and she will come back next weekend to do some more as well as her time in class.  I can't wait to see what she creates.

I had some good knitting time on Sunday.  

I love how this sweater is turning out.  It is everything I hoped it would be.  The stripes keep it moving as stripes always do.  It is so near completion that I am just bursting, waiting to wear this.  

At the same time, I found myself slightly...bored.  I needed something but I did not know what.  It was anxiety inducing.  I felt skittery and antsy and jumpy.  

I dug through all the yarns in the WIPs bin and went through the stuff beside it.  I did not feel like socks or a hat and yet I had an itch I really needed to scratch.  

I came to the bag with the London Fog yarn that has been two sweaters already.  My hands kept going to it because it is so lovely to knit with.  In the blink of an eye, 

A sweater is begun.  Just a simple Tolsta this time.  It will show off the gorgeous yarn.  And then somehow, I could settle down to rest.

Reasons

There are kids here though I should probably nor call Cassie a kid anymore.  She has crossed the line to teenager.  We are doing this.

The start of furniture.

Floors going in the room.  I am helping Her with a project for art class.  

I am doing very little of the work as it should be but I have all the things.

There was a reason I collected all this stuff.

Do and redo.

I have been struggling this year with time change.  I have woken all week at 3 and 4 o'clock and been wide awake and ready to start the day.  It has been frustrating.  I was watching a QI clip yesterday where they happened to discuss setting an internal alarm to wake at a certain time.  I have done this all my life as I needed to or wanted to and was always surprised at how well it works for me.  I thought "hey, I should try that ".  So, I told myself that I needed to get up and 5:30 and no later.  You know what?  It worked.  I woke at 5:30 and not before! I am doing it again tonight.  

It was an interesting day yesterday.  Knitting went good and not so good.  I sorted out how I was going to have to deal with the sleeve.  I decreased severely on the last couple rows of the white stripe.  The plan was to knit a ribbed cuff so I did that.  And then...

 I took it off.  I had forgotten to change needle sizes and it was looking loose and floppy.  On a loose and floppy sleeve this is not a good look.  

I reknit it on a much smaller needle.  

 

The result?  A very very nice slightly belled sleeve.  Sleeve 2 starts today.

On a weekend

My lovely Cassie came for a visit and took her sweater home.

I am really pleased and so is she.  Once she washes the sweater, it's going to look even better.  

Otherwise it was a really quiet weekend.  I was pondering my Lusk sweater and have a small problem.  I planned to finish the sleeve with a white rib.  However, due to the length of my arms, it is going to have to be a blue rib.  Even with the blue rib, it will probably be a bit long in the sleeve for my taste.  Oh well, that's the way it is I suppose.  I will get over it.  

While thinking, I pulled out a sock to knit on.  

This is Drops Fiesta and all I can tell you is I LOVE THIS YARN.  I hope it washes like Fabel and if it does, it is going go get a big 100 percent yes from me.  I have tons of sock yarns at hand to knit, before I can order large amounts of this good yarn.

Otherwise today is chores and knitting and coffee.  Not a bad way to spend a day.  

Here There and Everywhere

Cassie's sweater is done but for weaving in the ends.  

I am really pleased with it.  It is basically an out of gauge Lusk sweater with sleeves akin to the Cloud sweater and Cloud edge finishes.  It works and I am looking forward to seeing it on her.  

In the afternoon I picked up the sweater I put down to make Cassie's sweater, my own version of Lusk.  

It is midway through sleeve one.  It is a proper full Lusk sleeve with the patterns sleeve top shaping.  I managed about a stripe and a half so I hope for good progress today.  

I am not certain if this Lusk is going to be my weekend knitting or if I will pick up something else.  

I should report one firm decision for my blue sweater.  

It is firmly a Tolsta but I am absolutely going to put the little pockets in it from the  Mayhemma sweater.  I have decided on a purple, a bright yellow and a nice clear red.

A teeny tiny touch of these colours will be just the thing to set this umpteenth Tolsta sweater apart.  

There ought to be music

There ought to be music, a triumphal score of some kind.

I am so happy.  I am so happy to be done with sleeves.  I am so happy with the way it looks.  I am so happy that all that is left is the collar.  A very wee bit of the collar.  Four rows and the bind off. It was a great knitting day.

Cassie is really thrilled too.  She texted me yesterday and she has an art project to do.  She has to create a miniature room.  She asked for help and I am thrilled.  I am looking forward to a good weekend.  

In other news, 

It's here.  I have sweaters.  I have cocoa and coffee and tea.  It's warm and cozy here.  What more can I really need.  

Counts

Two more decreases.  That's all I need.

I am at the point where I have to count and make certain my stitch counts are the same.  I am sure they are, but I always count to be sure.  

I don't know if anyone else does this sort of compulsive counting and not counting.  Remember, my recently finished Flea sweater did not fit me. It fits my sister.  

I counted and mathed for that one but I counted or mathed wrong. 

Counting is vital in knitting.  Math is less important and does not go beyond simple arithmetic.  However counting...counts. You get the numbers wrong and sleeves won't match.

I will get really close to finishing the sleeve today unless my hands give out early and only the day will tell me that.  It's a weather thing as much as a knitting thing, I think.  Weather will be what it will be.

Time for that second cup of coffee and some good knitting.

Rambling Thoughts

Sleeve work continues.  And it is going well too.  I could finish it today if I didn't care about my hands.  I will likely get close but since there is also the neckline to do as well , I will just keep paying attention to my hands.  

I am wearing my green Tolsta with the broken rib stripes today.  I just have to say how much I like this sweater.  I knew this yarn was something special and would be very cozy to wear, way back when I bought it pre 2010.  Doubled, it is just perfectly warm and dense and incredibly comfy.  It is going to be the perfect winter sweater.  

Now it does have short sleeves and that is fine by me.  It is part of why it is getting such heavy wear.  It is super practical for inside daily wear.  It extends this into a sweater that will get all season wear but for the hottest summer days.  

I have been thinking about my stash lately. I purchased lots when I could.  It was a tad obsessive I suppose, but it seems to have been a good thing.  Without it my knitting would be few and far between. It remains goofy large even after all these years.  There are starting to be some holes in it, yarn weights where the choices are getting skimpy.  Well, skimpy of thing that I wanted for a specific project, that is.  This means that there will be more combining of yarns.  More blending laces and doubling up weights.  More mixing and marking of colours.  That means a lot of thinking about yarns in my stash, a very good thing.  

I have also been thinking a lot about what I like to wear, and what appeals to me.  I love lace. I was thinking about lace when I was putting my shawls away.  I haven't knit lace lately.  Plain seems to appeal to me more than anything right now.  I have simple basic sweaters in my plans.  

I have also been going through my sweater favourites on Ravelry.  I saved things for many different reasons.  Style, would knit, patterning ot a garment, design details and so on.  Some of the things I saved will never be knit and no longer inspire, so it's time to sort through them.  

It is also time to look at my books again, and search for inspiration and maybe even knit the things that do inspire.  Lots to go through there.

I do have plans for The Creabea's Staffin sweater and for a summery tee with some sort of lace at the hem.  I do have plans for more colourwork but not until the 2 colourwork projects that are in the WIPs bin are done.  I have simple garments planned for those lush Midknit Cravings yarns. They have new colours I desire, but I must knit what I have before I buy new.  The London Fog sweater is calling my name.  

So much to do, so much fun to have, not nearly enough hours in the day.  Rambling thoughts while knitting sleeves was fun.

For a Change (or not.)

For a change, I knit on the same thing this weekend as I knit on during the week.  Changing out projects for weekends has been working.  My interest in the WIPs bin is staying high and finishing projects is always in mind.  This weekend, my hands just wanted to keep  working on Cassie's sweater.  

I didn't get quite as far as I hoped but I am still pleased with it.  

I am just past the first decrease so from here on in, it is all downhill.  I should get a big chunk done today.

I didn't get as much done as I hoped because I was doing some big chores.  I cleaned and tidied the WIPs bin and I cleaned and sorted where I keep all my shawls and cowls.  

The main thing I was looking for in the WIPs bin cleanout, was this pair of socks.  They are good, plain knitting and I want them handy for race weekends.  They had slipped to the wrong side of the bin, where all the sweater projects are and were well hidden under and between everything else.

The other job was bigger.  It was time to clean out the bins  I keep shawls and cowls in.

For years I have kept these items in ziplocs inside these bins but when I started using cotton bags for sweater storage, I started to switch these ot to smaller cotton bags.  I ran out midway through the switch and it stopped there, leaving half a job to do.  Eventually I got more small drawstring bags and the project sat longer.  Finally, I found the gumption to dig in and finish the whole thing.  All my pretty things are in nice cotton bags. I cleaned and dusted out the inside of the bins too, so this storage is good for the season.  

I may not have done a ton of knitting, but I found plenty of yarn fun to play around with.  I tried not to create new projects in my mind, to obsess about and was more or less, successful.  It was one of those weekends that can best be wrapped up by saying a good time was had by all.  Okay, by me.