In the Forest

I am working along on my Deep in the Forest Mittens and I cannot begin to tell you how much this pattern echos life.  

It starts out simply enough.  Just a simple little cast on and a garter ridge as a fold line, to tack back later to finish and firm up the wrist edge of the mitten.  Then simple knitting for a few rows and some fancy foot work.  The braid is a bit of a learning experience, but just like learning your abc's it isn't all that hard once you get the hang of it. You do have to let your assumptions go and do what the errata tells you.  I did have a leg up, having done it before for the mini  twined knitting class I took last summer.

It stays interesting as your work you way through the middle of the project but it isn't really hard.  I think this part would be the knitting equivalent of the early teen years.  It goes just right if you follow the rules and listen to your mother, aka the chart.  From there on in, I don't know.  I'm keeping it covered.  

It isn't that I keep my eyes closed.  Not at all.  I always work like this when I work from a chart.  I know where I have been and use the knowledge to inform the next row I knit.  I don't really know just where that path is going to go.  

Oh I can guess.  From the photos of the completed mittens from the pattern and the many projects on Ravelry, its is going to get just a little more hectic down the road.  I think this slowly getting more hectic must be a little bit like the teen years.  

I'll let you know if the analogy holds as I keep knitting it.  

Other things found at the bottom of the basket

I found a little something else in the bottom of the basket that I had completely forgotten about.  

I had taken a class in tvandstickining, - twined knitting - and decided to knit the technique a little, to firm the method in my head.  

The 2 yarns were in the leftovers bin.  One is left from a nice pair of Big Fabel socks and the other, a Calorimetry head band.  They were the same size yarns which was all that mattered to me at the time.  

The way the colours worked out was magical.  Just so perfect.  As you can see, I was trying to turn it into a cozy for my Timmy's tea pot, but the unlike the socks, it wasn't abandoned.  It just got lost in the mire.  

I never did finish the cover for the lid so when I was cleaning, I took out the needles, ripped back the lid and put it all away.  All that was left was one slightly too large wrist warmer.  

It lay it on my desk as I merrily played away tidying yarn.  In the afternoon, I took a break and was knitting on the yellow socks.  I dropped a stitch and did not notice it till it was too far down to knit up easily, so I pulled the crochet hooks out.  

I keep my hooks in an Ikea's small glass vase.  Indeed, I keep all my non-circular needles and odd tools in a variety of these vases.  They are cheap and there is a size for everything.

The clear glass vases work well as storage containers, but the do leave something to be desired as a display. With all the tools they hold, it looks a little industrial, not at all befitting the genteel display of the blue and white china and tea sets and the library air of all my books.

  

As I was setting the hooks on the shelf, the thought crossed my mind that the tvandstickining piece and vase looked to be about the same size.  So I slipped it on.

It didn't start out to fit this vase, but it fits it as if it had been.  It gives the clear glass some form and shape and pulls it out of the background.  I love it!

 

I'm thinking about making covers for all the tool vases. Perhaps one of colourwork, one in lace, and one with a little cable something?   Or I could do a theme on the colours.  I know Cascade 220 has the crisp granny apple green and I am sure there is some lavender and turquoise in my stash that would work.  

(I have some green that would work too, but it isn't to the spare yarn stage.  I'm keeping it for some more Fuzzy Wuzzy mittens - there will be acid green mohair involved.)  

Anyway, I do have enough of the Big Fabel left to play it that way if I choose, but I kind of like the idea of different techniques.  And I know just the yarn too.  

Gems Sportweight.  Perfect lavender, just right green. A single colour on each vase.  Blues and white I already have.  It's in the stash somewhere.   

No rush.  I have to finish the sweater and at least one shawl before I go gallivanting on to any other project.  

Yes it is

The Jamie is very me, isn't it.  Perhaps that is why it almost knit itself.  It made me feel happy and cheery and each time I tried it on, I had to laugh.  A sweater that makes you laugh cannot be all bad.

There has been other knitting. Steeking even!

See?  Front bands.  Sleeve and collar bands.

Just an ordinary and narrower than the bottom corrugated rib.

There is one more front band to knit and then a zipper to buy and install, and facings to knit.  It isn't going very fast because the two front bands have to be knit back and forth rather than the much speedier in the round work.  I have been avoiding working on it just a little.  It isn't hard, just the extra work flipping one yarn to work and back to carry over the other stitches.  It ought to be done by the end of the day.  It is only 6 rows after all.  The stitches have all been picked up, so it really ought not to take too much effort, just a little perseverance.

There is a significant difference between the pleasure of knitting this colourwork and the utter lunatic joy of knitting the red sweater, but both give me a great deal of satisfaction.  Perhaps that is some of what makes knitting such a wonder to me.  So many different paths.  Such pleasure.

XOX

We have a vest.  Yes a fully un-functioning unsteeked vest.  

Its beautiful, and my worries about some strands being knit too tight and about gauge and even about sizing were just time wasted. (At least I knit on other things.  It wasn't a total waste.)

 Those tidy rows of Xs and Os tickle my fancy.  I'm even thrilled by the steeking stitches and the tidy rows and columns of alternating colours.  

It will dry tonight, but then I will let it sit for a bit.  Come the weekend, I will sit and have a good long look at the vest again.  I will make sure all the stitches are balanced and that no errors snuck in like a thief in the night, to muck up the pretty patterns.  

Tomorrow I am going to go back to that darned misbehaving sweater.  I have knitting company coming and the long plain stockinette suits the visit just right.

 

I knit!

I had a marvelous day of knitting yesterday.  I think there is only 1 set of patterning left on Mr. Needles vest.  Much as I love working colourowrk, much as it feels like music in my hands, it is like a song played over long and I am ready to move on to something else.  

Once I get done the colourwork, there still is a lot to do.  There will be a collar band and sleeve bands done in corrugated ribbing.   There will be pocket facings and bands for the tops of pocket.  There will be front button bands in the ribbing as well.  

I intend to close the vest with a zipper. There might be a bit more knitting than I initially planned, to accomplish that, but that is only because in the 2.5 years that I have been working on this vest, I seem to have misplaced the ease I built in.  It will still fit, but rather more closely than he would like his vest to fit.  I think I can get out of this by adding just a little more depth to the button bands, and then knit in a 'lining' in the plain green or the warm brown colour yarn to attach the zipper to.     

I've been looking forward to this part.  It is the perfect time to try out those zipper instructions from last falls Interweave Knits.

I have the tools and a spare tip for the tool, so I am armed and ready.  I just have to finish the knitting.

The vest you ask?

Brenda of the comments asked yesterday if I had finished my husbands vest.

Sigh No.  It sits there in a wee basket all its own taunting me, saying not a word but speaking loudly none the less.  I don't have that much to do on it.  I have only the upper body but I have not worked on it a day since last summer.  

I know I mentioned the way the days I worked went through most of the fall.  I worked my regular Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays but for many weeks in a row, I also worked Mondays.  It still gave me 3 days off each week, but for weeks, I did not have 2 off together. I found that so incredibly wearing, to the point when asked to do it again after Christmas, I cried.  I would have been glad to do it, but somehow, there was just nothing left to give. I think it is connected to the over stimulation, the incredible energy that I felt working with knitters searching for yarn.  

My very forgiving hubby's vest has been a victim of that.  I found that following the pattern was hard.  Hard on my eyes, hard on my brain, hard to do when I had no down time after a day of recovery.  Overstimulating. 

Colourwork is like playing a grand symphony.  It is wonderful and marvelous and deeply compelling. There is a pattern to follow flawlessly, there are colours of yarns to change, there is the rhythmic music that flows through you as you create magic on your needles.  Just thinking about it, I can feel that energy weaving it mystic spell.

Knitting lace is a sort of play.  It is fun and challenging and relaxing.  Even the tinking back is fun.  Irritating, but fun so long as you can discover what you did that caused you to reknit yet again.  Ishbel, for all my problems reading the charts, was fun.  

But the colourwork?  The colourwork demands more.  Colourwork at this sort of scale, demands everything and then it asks for just a little more. And for a very long time, I had no more to give.  I was ready only for the relaxing, peaceful joys of garter stitch.        

There is magic in colourwork, but when I get there I want it to be right.  The fall upcoming will be the third fall I have been promising the vest, thinking about it and working on it. It needs to be finished.  

Maybe my plan should be to take it with me camping this summer, where the colourwork can be finished in the great and peaceful glory of the high country.  Where there is nothing more demanded of me than making a meal here and there and to keep the coffee hot, where I scoot my chair around through the day, seeking the sun.  Maybe my plan should be to take it where I have no choice but to work on it.

Two (or 3) extra balls of each of the colours is a bag.  All I need to do, is tuck in the basket with the partially knitted vest and the book and the van is packed for summer knitting.  I will tuck in a little emergency knitting too, but that is only in case of a real emergency, for instance if I finish and have nothing to knit (oh, the horror!). 1 ball of sock yarn is the limit.  

Camping isn't that far away.  I am already starting to air and pack the van.  It's been a real pleasure to spend time this morning thinking about summer knitting, focusing on this marvelous work in progress, firming up a hazy plan for when to get to it.  I have not felt the need to push aside the thought and close my ears to its siren calls.  Must be that I am finally ready.  

Brenda, I owe you one.  Maybe two. Thank you.

Brrrrrrr

I checked the thermometer this morning.  That wee little red stuff?  Its gone down into its ball and is running home to momma.  Well not quite.  It is only -28 or -29C this morning.  Running home to momma would be -40 and it is a long way between this and that. It is thinking about it though.  

No going out to knitting for me.  It is just too darn cold.  I was really looking forward to it, after all these weeks, but it is just too cold.

I shall hide down in my cave today instead. I shall be knitting and listening to an audio book.  I downloaded Jane Austen's Lady Susan, an unfinished novel.  Oh what we lost when she died so early.  It would have been brilliant.  In it's bare essentials as the exchange of letters, it already is.  

I am going to work on what I picked up again yesterday, Mr. Needles vest.  I really do like colourwork.  It has been too long, but I was right to set it aside.  It takes a lot of brain power.  I did a couple of rows - my version of a good time - and then needed to take a break.  

I made a really big decision.  

I am going to make me a bigger copy of the chart.  One I can... you know... see.  

Yup.  Really 'going to town' with this one.   

Post Sweater Lull

There is always a period after completing something large where my hands just sit for a bit.  The urge, the itch is quieted and calm as I sit and dwell in the land of satisfaction.

In the quiet, I took out Mr. Needles vest and had a good long look at it.  I have been worried that one section of the perrie patterns was going to be too tight and would need to be reknit.  That idea was so strong within me, that I have spent weeks avoiding looking at this vest.  In that strong avoidance, I emptied a basket of sock WIPs started 2 other simple sweaters, finished one.  Not too shabby, even if the motivation for these was a negative sort of motivation.

There is nothing wrong with the vest.  One section is a wee bit tighter, but not what I had it built up to be in my mind.  My bit of blocking last night showed that clearly.  

Taking stock of just where the vest was at was easy.  There is a bit of the shoulder to knit, about 8-10 inches, then to steek, and knit the button/zipper and armscye courrugated ribbing, and then to knit the pockets.  (The pockets may get knit before the bands.) I think my hands are ready to tackle the vest again.  The Cascade 220 felt good, comfortable in my hands. 

A Leisl sweater is a speedy easy knit.  An Elysium is a hypnotic knit.  Socks are regular and comforting knitting. I am ready after these things for the intensity of the vest.  Bring on the charts.  Have at it.  Conquer it.

5 little rows

Today I must knit 5 little rows.  I will knit much, much more than 5 little rows, but it is these 5 little rows that mark moving forward.

In 5 little rows I will be able to cast off for the underarm.  

From here on, knitting will speed up!  Yay.

There will be stitches taken out for the sleeves, 14 per sleeve, I believe.  They will be replaced by a group of just 6 steeking stitches.        These stitches, with their alternating colours, are speedy to work.  Zoom, Zoom.

I am diverging from the pattern for the neck.  The book shows a deep v neck, but Mr. Needles purpose and way of wearing vests, usually means he prefers them to be round necks.  There will be a zipper in this vest too, so it just will be better with a rounded neckline. Sadly, this means there will be no further decreasing of stitch counts until right close to the cast off, but you can't have everything.   

Colourwork is not so fast as other plain knitting.  It is not even remotely as fast as lace.  But it is entertaining.  It is fun.  It is challenging.  It is fulfilling. I love every minute of knitting these warm rich earthy hues.  I love knitting with this simple undemanding yarn.   I love this simple pattern (which I am sort of not following).  

There is a lot of knitting left, corrugated ribbing all over the place and a rather large pocket, but a few more weeks, a few more rows...  I can see the end of it.  Much as I am enjoying this, seeing the end of it is a nice place to be.  

First off thank you for helping me feel better about my decision to keep knitting.  As my dear sister says, "Sometimes, wisdom takes years. " Too true.  And I admit, too , to having the same kind of contrary nature, Sandra.  It did make me want to knit more overtly, to be bolder about it, rather than just sitting at my table and knitting away.

The funny thing was, had I quit I would have confirmed their opinion, rather than carrying it through so they could see why I was doing it.  Ah well.  I shall let it go and put it to rest.  However there is an Edmonton reception this weekend for the same wedding party and the same people will be there.  This time I am knitting socks.  Bright garish and for me.  We shall see what comes.  This time if they ask, I shall not stop.

Well, OK, I probably would because I am a big chicken. I can say I won't here, in this far off and quiet place and can less easily put it to practice without feeling bad.  A hat for a charity?  Surely an acceptable compromise.  Socks for charity?

Meanwhile, back with regular knitting, I'm thrilled with the way the vest is moving along  Almost done the first chart and I'm completely comfortable with the colours.  

It is like working with heather in my hands, the magic kind.  There may be a problem with dominant/ recessive yarns, but I can't see evidence of it yet.  When I do, it may be too late.  I have decided not to worry.

That is the good thing about knitting, the comforting thing about knitting.  I do the knitting for me, even when the result will be for someone else. If I did not want to do it, I would buy them a gift.  The only one judging my knitting is me, the only critic is me.  And I am gradually learning not to judge so harshly, gradually learning to accept that some errors can be ignored and some must be redone.

Slowly and surely I am learning when I should pay attention to whatever judgements I may put on myself and when I ought to kick that judging me in the patootie.

Fantastic Long Weekends

I knit my heart on the weekend.  I knit and knit and knit till I just could not knit anymore.  I knit till my hands gave out or my brains gave out.  IN truth, it is hard to tell which.  You could ask Mr. Needles. And yet, it wasn't nearly enough knitting to fill up the inside me, the one who wants to knit entire days away, the one who just wants to crawl inside colour work just to see if the colours are as pleasing from the inside out. 

Colour work is like a tiny little craving.  Feed it a little and you need more. 

I could use a little more, but I know that if I keep knitting, I am going to make all kinds of mistakes.  Pull back before I screw up is my new motto.  I'm not normally this controlled.

So then what?  When you have ample time to knit but cannot allow yourself to knit on what you like, you have to have another project. So I cast on for something very simple.  Son 3 asked for a blanket with no holes.  I had grand ideas of making all sorts of fancy colour work blankets.  Then, I thought I would do a simpler kind of colour work blanket.  As I was knitting the vest, I decided to knit what I had time for.  

I present to you Scotts Very Simple Garter Stitch Blankie.

I knit on this after I had enough of the vest.  It isn't large yet but it will be. There are 10 balls of Berocco Comfort Chunky Licorice and 10 balls of Hummus. Plenty of yarn for a nice big blanket. 

And when I am done, when I am very done with the knitting and my hands give out, then what?  

It will soon be time for the quarterly stash inspection, so I started that.  OK, I finished that.  It was a nice afternoon. I even sorted the lace.  And the mohair.  (Yes it is separate.  Its just a little shoe box of mohair and fuzzy cashmere though.  Not much.  Really.)  

I didn't do the yarn cabinet. As soon as this vest is done, yarn will be coming out from there to knit another fall sweater.  It will get all stirred up then and that will suffice.  I did not get to the cottons beside the desk either.  Ah well.   

It seems like a lot of day is left.  I hate the thought of just sitting here watching TV.  I'm not sure I can handle it just sitting.  

Maybe it is time to set up the knitting machine?  There is a blanket project I want to knit on it.  I have been stockpiling Lion Brand Fishermans Wool for a nice big blanket for my bed.  I'm going to felt it a little for the ultimate in warmth and snuggly goodness. But no, I am not going to let myself do it.  I feel like there is time, but I don't know, maybe I am getting smarter in my old age. NO.  Not for you today.

Knitting colour work fills me with energy.  It feels like I have the enrgy and the time to do a thousand things and I want to finish them all.  Colour work is stimulating, invigorating, vital, fresh.  

I've been knitting and buzzing around here since 4 a.m..   It is time to settle and slow down so I am ready to sleep.  Morning comes soon enough.  I'll save the rest of my for then. 

A State of Play

Quite some time ago, I started to knit a vest for Mr. Needles.  It was colourwork.  Then somewhere along the way I got distracted.  Every once in a while, he asks about his vest, and I just mumble something to get me out of that moment.  I know he isn't going to stop asking.  I don't really remember how long ago it was, I only know that in the intervening time, I have become a much more comfortable knitter, and a far far more competent one.  

I do remember that I had about 6 inches complete.  I stopped because I was not happy with it. I did not like the pattern and most of all, I did not like the colours.  Something was off. The last few days while doing the finishing on my sweater, and knitting through the magical music that is colourwork, I knew it was time and I knew I was ready for the challenge of the vest.

The new pattern was chosen easily, the Lichen Waistcoat from Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle. I acquired a lot of stash trying to find colours for the first vest incarnation.   Lichen requires only 5 colours.  Surely there are 5 good colours in the stash.

My picks.

Top left to bottom right:  Light gray heather, oatmeal heather, cream, dark gray heather, and walnut heather.  Not bad, but I wasn't sure of the light gray.  It was too cool for the warmer tones of the rest of the palette.  So I had to search for one more colour.  Sigh.  

After consulting with the Sunday knitters at the store, I came up with this.  

Better, yes? Soft gray out, kakhi green-brown heather in.  Nice and warm.

Better was not enough, so using a trick from a podcast over at the Knit Picks website, I confirmed the choices.  The podcast recommended taking a picture of your choices and looking at them in black and white.  This computer does not seem to have (or the operator is deficient) the ability to do that, so I opted to take all the colour out.  Try it sometime.  It was illuminating.  One thing, one colour stuck out like a sore thumb.  

The dark gray heather was completely wrong.  What looked good in the world, was absolutely wrong in black and white, though I cannot explain why.  It was just too harsh, maybe something to do with the warm/cool colour thing?  Back to the drawing board and looking for a 5th colour.  Sigh.  

Using the intensity discovered in the colour out photo, I matched colours in the pattern, to my colours.  According to the charts, the 5th colour is just an accent, used only on one row in each large pattern section.  Surely there was something that would work.  Running all the way to town for 1 weenie colour row?  Not happening.  Maybe the rust heather from the first palette for the vest?  

Oh. My. Goodness. 

Oh my.  Oh.  It works. Time to do up a swatch.  

(If I may just insert a comment about small stitch count circular swatches, pbthththththth.)

I knew that I was on the right track. It was just too good to be wrong...right up till I got to the cream in the second perrie pattern.   The cream was kind of like a bucket of cold water tossed over the entire process. I did not see that coming.  

I don't think there is a colour that is softer than white but less creamy than what I have, in Cascade 220.  I think I am out of luck.  I tried a bit of the gray (in the swatch), just in case that was better.  It in the picture, it isn't too bad, but in life, it stood out.  Just too cool.

  

Back to 4 colours.  (Insert extensive knashing of teeth)  

Now wait just one minute. It was deeply frustrating but I was not about to give up after all this.   I took some time to think it through.  

It occurred to me, that the lighter colour in the second of the perrie patterns (See the swatch), only appears in one place. It never strays  from its confines in the pattern repeats separating each of the other patterns (variations on an oxo design) of the vest.  This colour is only used on 4 rows with one ground colour. 

Why not use the oatmeal heather for this small pattern.  Against the rich heather of the green/brown, it will look lighter than where it appears as the ground of the oxo patterns.    Problem solved. Knitting begun.

Note the catchy stitch markers!  I was knitting upstairs when I started the colourwork pattern, and these were handy.  Now that I am back down in the study, I'm switching them out for some nice colour coordinated ones.  (Yes I can do this.  I think I have a stash of stitch markers too)

So I am off and running.  I feel really good about where I am running to.  Now if only I felt as comfortable trusting the math.  

Done and Not Done

As the update said late Friday, I could not get through enough of the shawl to make it reasonably possible to get it all done.  The weather played havoc with my hands and though this isn't a cobwebby lace yarn, I just could not make my hands work together well enough to keep an even tension.

And in truth, after about an inch, I also realized it was an unreasonable hope to finish the shawl by Tuesday.  Maybe for some, but not for me.  For me, knitting this shawl is going to have to be a slow process where I can take my time to play with my gauge and knit it well rather than fast.  They are two very different things in this household.  

So back to the sweater.  It is done!

The last photos I have of it, were as it was blocking before the final finishing.  The buttons still needed to be done as well as the ribbing along the sleeve hems.  I'd do better photos of it now, but it is upstairs where Mr Needles is still sleeping.  

All the bits are done now, and I am so very very pleased with it.  

I wore it to work yesterday and it was a very well recieved.  I'd say it was a hit, but that sounds a little too rockstar-ish for this very earthy goodness sort of sweater. (I think I will wear this as if it was a rockstar sweater and I, his greatest fan)   

The pattern is Freyja from Knitting Iceland, a new online magazine, and the yarn is the Icelandic in spirit only, Sirdar Eco DK.  The yarn is Icelandic in spirit because it is a lightly spun sort of yarn with lots of volume for a DK weight.  

There were several diversions from the design.  In the beginning, I worried that I would not have enough of the lightest colour yarn so I felt I needed to knit some bands with the colours.  I have 2 balls of the lightest yarn left and I used just under 2 balls combined of the other colours.  It would have been very close, but I would have made it.  Still I like the bands and the warm grey and brown.   

Because of the length of the design and for fit, I decided not do the increase/decrease sections that the original has.  I opted for a simple gentle decreasing till the fit was right at the underarms.  

I made a 3/4 length sleeve rather than the full length the pattern has.    Part of this was the worry about running out of yarn and deciding to knit down later, rather than stretch my resources before I was certain, and part because when I knew I could go full length, I felt lazy and decided to knit only the ribbing for a nice 3/4 sleeve.  A full length sleeve would always be pushed up anyway.

With the addition of the bands of colour before and after the Icelandic rose and with the soft lovely way the other 2 colours were working up, I wanted just a touch more of them for balance and accent.  I finished all the edges with a ribbed edge.   2 rows main colour, followed by 2 of each of the other colours ending with the darkest colour. I knit 3 one row button holes instead of using the loop closing the original has.

The one thing I did differently that may have changed the way the sweater functions was the ribbing.  The original is finished with a crocheted edging of one strand of Lopi and one strand of kid mohair.  It makes a very crisp no stretch finish to the edge.  Where it might matter to the way the sweater performs is at the neckline.  With its very open stretchy ribbed neckline, mine feels like it is about to fall off my shoulders.  I did reinforce the ribbing with some elastic, but I may yet go back and weave in a strand of kid silk to give it it's proper crisp edge.

But my goodness, what a good pattern and good fit.  Wonderful sizing options and I think it would look fantastic on many body types.  Raggaknits and the Knitting Iceland webzine, it is a hit!  
  

To the End

I have to confess.  I'm ready to be done with the colour work on this sweater.  The rose was starting to feel a little tedious.  I really wanted to get it done yesterday, but no go.  I went to bed with rows to do.  This morning I got up early and took it to the end.  

Icelandic roses have bloomed.

It is kind of a relief to be knitting with just one strand of yarn.  Faster for sure.  The rest will be plain knitting, though I am going to knit a couple rows with the dark gray, followed by the same number (maybe) of the soft brown.  

This plain section is going to have its own challenges. The bulk of the decreases happen right in there, and I don't want to get so caught up in knitting that I forget to knit 2 together when I am supposed to.  

It occurred to me late last evening, and early this morning is how much I am looking forward to this sweater being done. And it really has nothing to do with knitting.  

It went down to 7C last night, and 3C at the airport just outside the city proper.  

Yup, I am really looking forward to getting this sweater done.  Sweater weather is here.

How to fit it all in

I sometimes wonder how on earth I am going to fit all the things I want out of a day, into my day.  Today is an excellent example.

I need to clean my study.  I need to clean my laundry room.  I need to finish up all the laundry repair and fix a bunch of things to get ready for the fall.  I need to... Oh the heck with it.  The fact of the matter is that each of us has a list like this and most of us have to add 'got to get to work today' on top of that.  

But really I would rather sit and knit.  Honestly this sweater is hypnotic.  There have been a few minutes when I was panicking about whether it would fit.  I'm still worried, but right now I am having so much fun that it really doesn't matter if I have to redo it.  

Well, OK, it would matter if I would have to redo it.  It would suck, but if I had to, I would do it with an unusual amount of joy and pleasure.  The rhythm of colourwork is weaving its usual magic.   

The pattern is Freyja and I am deep into the colour work on the bodice of the sweater.  Aha, you say, Freyja has only the Icelandic roses on the bodice.  Well yes, but I have 3 colours of yarn, and I wanted to get them all in here.  Ah, you say, one yarn is gray and one is brown.  I know, but somehow it doesn't matter.  It looks exactly right in my eyes.  I love this yarn and love is blind. 

The stuff looked so pleasing on the shelf that I was sure there would be a way to use all three and add few extra touches of natural organic goodness.  There were 17 rows of plain knitting from the point the sleeves are joined before the roses rows, plenty of room to do just what I wanted.  I'm changing the collar, buttonband and bottom welts too, just to get a few more rows  of the colours in.     

Today I will watch Icelandic roses bloom, and if I am lucky the body will be more or less done and I will be able to try it on. 

And if I have a stiff upper lip and am stern  about my scheduled plans, the study will be tidied, the laundry will be done and the patching will be up to date too.

Smarties and the things you learn at knitting

Yesterday at knitting, Smarties came up in discussion.  And in one of those little twists the world makes as it spins, Smarties greeted me on my other favourite forum, the Achenblog.  (Yes dmd, every little girl did use the red as lipstick)

Every Canadian will know Smarties as the far tastier, more delectable progenitor of M &M's.  Smarties under their original name, chocolate beans, were first produced in 1882, and they have been produced in Canada since 1918.  Smarties are the quintessential Canadian Candy.

These wonderful candies are not sold in the US except by specialty importers. You poor poor people.  Will somebody fax these people some Smarties, please?  They are in serious need.  They know not what they lack.  Seriously.

And for the Americans, who are sadly lacking, the song that has been with us since childhood

Smarties

Sing Along

"When you eat your Smarties,

do you eat the red ones last?

Do you suck them very slowly,

or crunch them very fast?

Eat those candy-coated chocolates,

but tell me when I ask,

when you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?".

(I'm probably violating all sorts of rules here)

Smarties are now being made with no artificial colouring and the self proclaimed Smartie aficionado among us said they are no longer as good as they used to be.  We contemplated many things.  Chocolate, candy coating, but mostly we contemplated the awful truth.  We contemplated artificial.

For the Smarties lovers among us, we must put out a call to Nestle. It is almost painful to say this, but could you put the artificial back?

Linings

After a search for a good sturdy jersey fabric to line the wee sweater, I realized that no such beast was to be found in the lone store I had at hand, so I am knitting the linings. It will probably be faster to do this anyway. (I have spent some time contemplating if the sewn lining idea was just a way to weasel out on what seemed like the horror of knitted linings.)

Using the skills I learned preparing for the gansey class, I am knitting the lining on the sweater band perpendicular to the ribbed band.

A corrugated rib band stays pretty stable. It's not a severe pull in sort of ribbing, but the perpendicular knitting is helping to stabilise what pull-in there is. It is keeping square, square. I'm using the stitch where the ribbing was picked up along the sweater front and 1 stitch in from the cast off edge of the rib to knit the facing to, and it seems to be working OK.

It's producing a nice little ridge that fits right in with the way the sewn bind off looks. Had I known I would be knitting the lining, I probably would have left the stitches live, and just joined and cast off at the same time, but c'est la vie.

Since it has only taken a moment or so to knit the lining, I have to assume that I will finish this whole project up tonight. I might slip over to my niece's house and meet the wee fella some time this weekend.

And then, with the entire weekend ahead of me, I have no idea what I am going to do. Might have to start something new. Or change something. Or maybe finish something. No I don't like the sound of that last one. (Well, maybe)

It feels like the fullness of fall is upon us. I feel like there ought to be significant accomplishment. Let's see how far I get.

Flinging yarn

Well, I've finished the baby sweater and I am pleased, tickled pink, and just utterly delighted at what happened when I started flinging yarn about without a pattern. It needs finishing. Tons of ends to weave in - you'd think I could have remembered to work in the ends as I went, but no. I'm not that smart. Except for a few occasions, these ends need to be worked in. It needs small facings knit (or sewn in if I can find a sturdy looking jersey knit fabric) to cover and tidy up the rough steeked edges. The button holes need to be reinforced with a nice crisp bit of embroidery. And it needs a good blocking too.

I am so pleased. Dancing about the room pleased. Flying to the moon pleased.

I still have a ton of yarn, so I am going to make a pair of jeans from that delightful Blu pattern from Knitty, and if there still is yarn left, I'll attempt to make a hat or socks or something.

Note to self, you don't need the a full bag of yarn (10 balls) if all you plan to make is a baby sweater. Even if you are an obsessive worrier about running short of yarn.

Cast offs

Today I have to write up a short bit about stretchy cast offs versus traditional cast offs for the gansey class, and then a quick how to, to make a full size gansey sweater.

So yesterday I played with knitting things that needed casts offs. I finished sock one of that nice rust coloured pair with the Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off.

My technique needs improving but I see what she is getting at. It is very stretchy, and will be tidy with practise. When it is done right, with the yarn overs wrapped the opposite way before every stitch, there will be a tidy row of nubs just below the cast off. You can see this on two knit stitches to the far right. Well, you can see it far better on my computer screen, but look for the tan coloured nub about 4 stitches from the right edge. That one shows it up best. There are way better photos on the net already, and a few reviews of the technique are out there too. Cat Bordhi endorses it, and I think, with practise, we can make our knitting look as tidy as her sock in the Knitty article did. Quite nice and I'll use it because it is far tidier than what I have been doing now and doesn't take a lot of time.

Then, for the sleeve edges on the Baby sweater, I used Elizabeth Zimermann's sewn bind off. This one is enormously pleasing.

It is rhythmic, makes a crisp edge, very well matched to a garter stitch project, or indeed any project where matching cast off to cast on matters - it looks a lot like a long tail cast on edge. It is easy and speedy to work. You do need to have a needle at hand, but I always have at least one with me anyway.

And I still hate my hair. And no sister dear. No photos. Shudders.

Goal? What goal?

I missed my goal yesterday by a mile. I am just now working on sleeves. No bands, no collar. Just sleeves, and not even complete sleeves at that. I had to stop and think along the way but I know feel perfectly comfortable that the sweater will be loved.

I knit about half the first sleeve. I was using the alternating stitches that I used in the top of the sweater, but the more I knit, the more uncomfortable I felt about it.

I love stranded work and I love the way the sweater is turning out, but it is a baby sweater and it needs to be functional. So what is wrong with this picture?

Strands. Little loose strands. Tiny hands and dainty fingers. Tiny fingers and tiny arms being put through a small sleeve opening as you try to dress a squirming young one. Or a sleeping young one. And that is what is wrong with a heavily worked sleeve. The small opening and the teeny little fingers just are not a good mix. The last thing a new mom needs is tiny hands getting caught on all manner of little loops. I'd hate for her to say, ' I like it but its such a pain to put on'.

I ripped back the lovely but impractical sleeve and will knit a plain sleeve with the corrugated rib bottom.

It took a while to think this all out, and like all my good thinking these days, it happens when I knit. Combine thinking time with afternoon knitting with friends, and voila,

nice bunch of work on the sock.

Some new work, some replacing work, a little thinking. Just about right for the day.