Ten

Time to think about sweaters again.  

But first I want to show you the cutest thing about Bendigo Woollen Mills giant balls of yarn.  

Inside that giant ball is an ordinary little ball of wound yarn.  I don't know why this tickles my fancy but it does.

Even better...

10 inches!  Yaaaaay

I will go longer, to the end of the ball, I think.  Then I will knit sleeves and see if I need to make the sweater body longer.  I am 100 % positive I will have plenty of yarn for the main colour.  

It's happy knitting so I am looking forward to  very good day.  

A weekend

I took the weekend off from all sweaters.  It was time for a complete break from all of them.  

I did think about starting another project with this yarn.  

I bought this yarn to make a particular shawl, Jahrezeiten Herbst.  I love that shawl still.  I even started it but I would never wear it.  I thought about what it was that attracted me to it.  The colours.  It was that mix of glorious colours.  I thought about it and decided that two row stripes would give me much of the same feel.  I may even do some of the colourwork from the shawl on the yoke. 

I thought hard about starting it.  I picked up a sock while I was thinking about it.  Fairly soon I realized the sock was working.  It was what I needed to be working on. 

I think I am 2 rows from the finished heel.  Yay me.  I might end up with 2 complete pairs of socks this year.  

After working on that for a while, I decided to pick up my bed shawl and make some progress on it. When I talked of it last, I had decided to restart.  I used 2 increases at the start of each row and while I like the depth of it for a bed shawl, the width at the part that would go over my shoulder and arms  would also be shallow. 

The whole point of a bed shawl is to cover the parts of me that stick out above the blanket, my shoulders and arms.  So I ripped it back and restarted.

One increase at the start of each row is what I wanted.  I keep stopping to squish it and look at the colour.  The yarn is Ulta Alpaca Light and is just so gorgeous.  I am staying with the slightly large needles I started the first iteration of this shawl with.  The plan still is to use the Eden in the Hyacinth colourway for the border.  

I spent a lot of time pondering lace borders and I think I am going to pull out some books.  I want a lacy edge that will still show off the colours of it.  

I will have to alternate skeins.  The skeins are quite different so that is something I need to keep in mind when I pick the lace.  

That pretty much was my weekend work.  Changing projects did what it was supposed to do.  I am eagerly waiting to knit on my Work Sock sweater.  Time now for a big cup of tea.  I already finished my coffee.  And time to knit.  

D'oh

I had a moment yesterday and I have to tell you, after all this time, I kind of feel a bit stupid.  

I was talking and thinking yesterday about the length from armscyce to hem and why the 10 inches worked sometimes and did not work sometimes.  And I now understand why.  

It hit me that I shouldn't only be taking the under the arm length into account, but that I had to look at the length of the arm itself into account.  It was a sort of "d'oh" moment.  I felt so dumb that I had never thought of that part before.  

The space that I leave for my arms can vary quite a bit depending on the style of shoulder and the general construction of the sweater.  A set in sleeve fits a bit closer all over so I am more likely to go between 9 and 10 inches for the sleeve depth.  On a sweater like the Work Sock sweater, I seem to end up varying between 10 and 11.5 inches.  Follow the pattern?  Heck no.  I don't for one reason and that is that I am a full inch shorter from shoulder to armpit than standard measurements.  

Knowing that comes from sewing and my struggles to make garments that fit my body at my shoulders and my hips.  Somewhere back in time I got hold of this book.  

She has a personal measurements chart with several unusual measurements.  In comparison to a standard commercial pattern that is.  It was a real help in sewing and has been a big help in my knitting life too.  Nowadays, there is great information about this stuff online, but back in the day, all we had was books.

I measured yesterday and I know what I need to get the right length before the ribbing.  Another good inch of knitting is before me.  I didn't get quite as much done yesterday as I hoped.  My hands were not cooperating well and I took a bit of a snooze while I was knitting.  Thank heavens it is all stockinette now .  

Now it is time for my morning coffee.  And breakfast too.  I feel good this morning so I might even make some buns!  I feel energetic before coffee.  What is this world coming to?