Stripes

It's Friday again and I ought to work on socks but I think I will go with my current obsession.

It's coming along and I am really looking forward to having this done.  It's just going to be nice.  Simple basic and good.

I love stripes.  I really do.  It's such a small thing but till you do it you don't quite understand it.  It focuses you on what's next.  You are always looking forward.  Even though logic tells you that you are working at your usual pace, it feels fast.  

All the mushy ice has gone, melted off by the power of the sun.  Yes there still is a 3 foot bank 9f snow on the lawn but it's looking old and shriveled.  It has a layer of the last snow on it but you can see that the covering is on old bones.  Spring is coming no matter what snow says.  

 

Repairs

I am wearing a favourite sweater this morning.  

It's a simple saddle shoulder sweater knit with some help from Ann Budds Knitting from the Top Down.  I used the start up numbers to get the neck size I want and to get the saddle right and then I go off and just knit.  The yarn is Custom Woollen Mills Mulespinner and Noro Silver Thaw.  This is my favorite yarn combination ever.  The two yarns just create magic.

I haven't worn it in ages because it needed repair.  

All of the armscyes  were a problem.  One had a section where two strands were floating and the loop of a stitch was just sitting there, free.  The problem arises from knitting the yoke a bit too short but also lies in the yarn.  The split for sleeves happened in a row of the Silver Thaw, which is a slightly less sturdy spin than the CWM.  

I found some Regal that is a perfect grey match to use for repairs.  I did what is essentially a duplicate stitch to beef up those pulled open stitches to reinforce the underarms.  

And voila.  Wearable again.  

I have a couple more things needing sorting out.  

This is my Green BFL 2/8 Elton.  I need it now.  It is the perfect lightweight spring and summer morning sweater.  That sleeve edge is iffy after getting caught on the dishwasher rack.

I also need to fix a summer top that gets lots of wear.  

I made a Cascadas Tee out of this bright yellow Patons Hempster.  I loved this yarn and was hoping for more but it was discontinued.  Still I love what I have and want to keep the tee going for a good while yet.  A tiny section of the neck band stitches need repair and this yarn is always at hand. 

So a few more repairs this morning and then two more renewed sweaters to put out, ready for wear.  And then I can spend my day on the fronts of the Lusk cotton sweater.  Fronts are on the menu for today's work.  

There was snow and slushiness happening outside the last few days.  If you are feeling down, search Kew Gardens on YouTube.  Even the winter stuff looks lovely to my winter weary prairie eyes.  Keep your spirits up.  The sun is getting strong enough now to beat the snow.       

Woe or Not

I spent the day yesterday frogging and reknitting.  It could have been soul destroying but it wasn't.  I am not working on my Mashup Top.  I am working on the cotton t shirt.

I put up this picture of the start of the top yesterday, and the more I looked at it, the more I did not like it.  I started out thinking wide stripes but I did not like the way the colours looked.  They were ... wrong somehow.  Too blocky?  That is not what I wanted.  Not at all.  I ripped back to row three at the very start of the neckline.  

If wide stripes were not working then how about narrow, two row stripes?  

There.  That's better.  That's what these colours need.  I want it to say is it a white t-shirt with cream stripes or a cream t-shirt with white stripes.  That's exactly right.  

And then I had to rip back a few rows.  I intend to machine wash this top.  That means it will shrink.  I want the shoulders a bit wider to account for that.  I am also going to make it longer because the length will likely shorten a lot.  

Meanwhile I have a couple inches to do on the back and then on to fronts.  Worsted cottons knit up so nice and fast.