Monday 28 February 2022

Other stuff

This has not happened in a good long while.  It is winter miasma coupled with the invasion of Ukraine by a foreign power and I have family there.  Well my family has family and that makes it my family. I did not knit.  I planned to sew but that was too much.

So I did something that I had planned for the two or is it three years since I first bought this second hand chair.  





I am turning it into my perfect, I hope, knitting chair.  It doesn't  look like a big job but there was a lot of time spent making sure I was doing it right.  

When I was a kid these were called platform rockers.  I googled that.  There were dozens of styles and non like this.  I searched upholstered, I searched through blogs and videos and after a few hours of looking found one close to this.  Finally I knew what question to ask.  You had to be period specific to see this style.  Who knew. 

The first thing to do is to raise it about an inch.  Keith is undertaking that  job at Canadian Tire.  We are going to add a an inch thick piece of wood right where the feet and leg assembly attaches to the rocker part of the chair and he is searching for some longer bolts.  We have the wood ready to go and all we need is four bolts. Here is hoping CT comes through. Failing that, Home Hardware?  Peavey Mart?  Someone will have the bolt size we need.

My part of the renovation was to get rid of the arms.  I used to have a recliner chair styled very like this mid century chair and while it was okay to knit in, the arms were a problem.  It was much too easy to rest my forearms and I found that led to the start of the still present issues I have with my wrists and occasionally my hands.  The arms had to go.  

All I can say is glue in the 40's was really really good.  It was only held together with wood pegs and glue.  It took forever to loosen them enough to get the upper part of the arm off of the curved wooden part and I found that though I could separate the wood part from the upholstered part of the arm, I could not get the wood part off the chair.  I tried rotating the arm figuring that would loosen it enough to pull it off but no go.  I did manage to rotate the wood part down along the side of the chair seat  and that will have to do.  It looks all right and it is out of the way for my purposes.  

So today, when I did not have it in me to be light with my hands or gentle in any way, I had a big mallet and I pounded a bit here and there.  It was exactly right for how I felt.

I can sew tomorrow.


Friday 25 February 2022

Tweedy

My heart is utterly broken at the worldwide response to Invasion of Ukraine.  I am utterly heartbroken that a sovereign nation can invaded and we do nothing.  I understand what it means if we did but where do we draw the line?  How do we make it so the big players of the world stick to the rules if we do nothing.  Money is where you hit them but if Switzerland will not block their access, well, there you have it. 

The seasonal miasma continues.  Maybe the anger I feel  will help burn it off.  I hope so because this much anger should be useful for something.

I have been putting what knitting I have done into one project, so at least there is some sort of visible progress. 


I've just done the first of the back hip increases for this sweater.  Rather than doing them on the sides like I normally would, I am putting them across the back and am doing more increases each increase row, and a lesser number of total increase rows.  The biggest thing I find is that my sweaters are fitting better across my booty backside and hanging more like the patterns intend at the front.  

I am pleased with the progress and like usual, somehow surprised that when you put all your knitting time into one project, stuff happens.  

Anyway, I have a busy day ahead, stuff to do, places to go. Things to see.


Thursday 24 February 2022

I am trying to avoid the news today but I can't.  I am trying to feel strong but I am struggling.  A strong and beautiful nation is being brutalized today for no other reason than Putin considers Ukraine theirs and that they are not a people on their own.  And yet there are Ukrainians everywhere, a proud and vibrant people.  


Tuesday 22 February 2022

Going for the Old Stuff

I am still slowly working my way through seasonal miasma.  But it is going better and I am generally feeling more engaged in my knitting, my sewing and everything in life.

This weekend, I pulled out an old project.  The oldest in fact. Bridgewater by Brooklyn Tweed during his association with Classic Elite and the yarn is Classic Elite Silky Alpaca lace.




It is the only project left from the before times, November 2012.  In 2017, I made a push to complete it before suffering a failure of joining a skein when I was almost done with the lace edging and only had the small border to knit. Somewhere along the line, I did get it back to midway through the first repeat of the lace border, but I have not touched it beyond that in years. I just was looking for something different, I guess, but it felt kind of nice to have it in my hands.  I did not knit much on it.  A round and a half, but I need to dig out some wooden tips. I find alpaca so slippery, too slippery for my usual metal needles.  

I worked on other things but this week will be a big sewing week.  Keith finally put my sewing space back together.  I can reach the cutting table and all the fabrics.  I know I have pants to sew, but do you know what I am really looking forward to?  dresses.  Since I sorted out the solution to dresses flying up too much (bike shorts aka short length leggings) I dream in dresses.  I may or may not have purchased another couple pieces of fabric for just such things.

Thursday 17 February 2022

A little for the brain, a little to clothe the body, a little just for fun.

Each morning, I have been getting up, having coffee and knitting for a couple of hours.  I am working diligently on my colourwork right now.  




I am simply in love with my choice of colours.  The very soft blue does not show off my colourwork, but I am not so sure that really is what I was looking for those eons ago when I bought the yarn.  What it does do is tell a story of sorts, very quietly and on its own terms.  It isn't about the flash.  It is about the gentleness of it and the warmth of the yarns.  And I adore that.

It doesn't look like a lot but each day, I get two or three rows and I find that I am sort of worn out by the counting and the careful knitting.  Each row is getting a wee bit faster as more is knit.  The longer the completed section is, the easier to read where you were and where you are and the more comfortable I am am. Comfortable equals faster knitting.  

I am almost midway through the first repeat.  As you work up the motifs all are knit, the stars are standing on a point of a square and on the sides, the motifs stack at an angle.  Here is the pattern page from Ravelry.  Scandinavian Star from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Vests.

Then I have been sewing a bit.  My general heel and shoe problems are making sewing not be its usual pleasant experience.  Using my right foot to control the sewing machine is a problem because that is the foot with plantar facisitis. I have shoes and proper supports but it has not been a complete solution. I have been seriously thinking of taping the foot control the the leg of the table where my knee will hit it so that my knee can control the speed.  Otherwise, daily sewing is going to be strictly limited. 

I sew for a bit and then I go back and I work on some plain knitting.  Today's was working on the Sundog.  Sigh.  It is just lovely.  

And then eventually, my brain and hands are done and I raise my feet and read Miss Silver.  She knits continental, you know and is noted to be a very fast knitter.

And that is the routine of my days this week.  A little for the brain, a little to clothe the body, a little just for fun.  

Wednesday 16 February 2022

Seasonal Miasma

Some knitting happened.  I think it is midwinter miasma as much as anything but I just want to sleep.  I am trying to keep my knitting interesting and challenging but not impossible.  

What I have most enjoyed the last couple days, is this.


Not so much, but you can start to feel the colourwork beginning to happen.

I remember when this happened with Brian's Lichen vest.  Once you had things established it just seemed to hum. Once it hummed it moved along with great gusto and in the end, it felt as if it took no time at all.  It did take time, but it didn't feel like much.  

I hope that is what will happen here.  I am still working on using just one hand to tension the yarn.  I can see it will have advantages in some situations, like frequent single stitch changes, but overall, it remains to be seen.  For now, I am following Arne and Carlos and just giving it a shot.  

And with a wee bit of luck, this challenge will take that miasma and mash it.  

Monday 14 February 2022

This weekend my sewing was co-opted for an installation of new internet stuff.  So I got nothing much done in sewing.  

I did some knitting but not as much as I hoped.  The weather has been making for achy hands and muddied brains.  


It was long enough for a good try on and guess what?  It's going to be fine.  I will have to do something to make the neck smaller but I won't have to reknit.

And now back to sewing.  It's a bit iffy in there.  The final touches were not put in place by the installer/landlord/Keith.  The very changeable weather this past week is exacerbating his tendency to migraines and he just could not finish it.  He did set the table up and I can just squeak to the machine, I should be able to do some of what I need.  

So off to get things started.  

Friday 11 February 2022

Sewing Day

This morning I am hitting the sewing and I am hitting it hard.  I have some more work type sewing to do first, but then on to some fun stuff.

Over the next few weeks I want to sew a couple shirts and tops, at least two dresses and several pairs of pants.  And more than a couple pairs of bike style shorts strictly for wearing under the dresses.  

I wanted dresses badly and planned to sew a few but after last summer, and wearing on outside I had kind of put that dream away.  I really hated worrying about where the hem of my airy flowing wonderful skirt was.  I had been wearing it as a morning thing in place of a robe.  

And then I was thinking of the kids and how Cassie wears bike shorts under her skirts to school and for play and I realized, hey.  Grandma's can do that.  Seriously.  I am a bit slow on the uptake but I got where I needed.  So dresses here I come.  

And then underpants.  I could buy but I have all the materials so why not.  For exactly the same reasons as sewing anything.  I can customize the fit and make them be what I want.  

So, I am off to pull out some pretty fabrics and more industrial type things and to sett off to work.  


Thursday 10 February 2022

Instant Gratification

A few weeks ago, I did a quick project of some wrist warmers from a random ball of Kureyon that I found in my WIP storage.  


I wear these at night and have found that it makes a huge difference in the way my hands feel.  I don't have arthritis but I have age related aches and pains, and keeping the pulse points on my hands warm while I sleep makes a huge difference in how fast they recover from a good long day of knitting or of anything really.  I like to have two good pairs on hand so that one pair can be in the wash and the other pair in use.  

When I made this set, I think I was in a bit of a hurry.  They are a bit short and they did okay, but it has been slowly building up so that my hands were feeling achy even when I wore them all night.  A new pair was required.

When I was digging in my stash the other day, I came upon some Zarina, a fingering weight yarn that has been discontinued.  It was a great kids yarn, supremely superwash and was really great for mitts and hats and baby things. I had it in my sale bins at some former garage sale, but it was still here after the end of the day.  When I saw the Zarina on my dig, I knew it was perfect for what I wanted, a good, easy care pair of wristers.


There was plenty there to double strand, which gave me a kind of funky sock monkey vibe. (Oh  NO, not that again) and I knew there was lots of yarn for a few more pair if I so desired.  By doubling the yarn, I can knit my regular number of rows and stitches and have a good close fit.


And there you go.  In the blink of an eye, a spare pair of wristers.  I may knit one more pair soon just for fun and I am debating if I should repeat this exactly or if I ought to go red at the top and bottom and the marl look in the middle.  Or maybe two row stripes?  Or red with a white or red with a black?  Lots of choices.

Wednesday 9 February 2022

What a nice kind of day.

After a day of personal angst to start, I ended up having a lovely day and things just got better as the day wore on.  

I spent the bulk of the day stuck in my room, under my vast quantity of yarn.  I counted my containers.  There are now 29 of them.  I broke 30 and I didn't even notice it.  My emotional connection to my yarn remains strong and honestly, there is nothing in there that I wouldn't want to knit something with.  My stash is a thing of beauty.

And then, I caught Keith at just the right time and he popped into the post office for some mail.  That was thrilling.  

The rest of my bags arrived.  these are not quite the same quality as the totes were but I think they will do for shawls and small WIP storage.  These have a tie closure so keeping them secure from critters means tying the ties around the already close neck of the bag.  But it should work ok.  I may eventually get up the gumption to add zips to some of these but there is no rush.  With a zip, they will be large enough for finger gauge sweaters like my Myrtle and the vests in my sweater chest.  These bags will stay and will be switched out as the ziploc bags they are already in need replacing.  

And then a little thing I saw and decided to try just for the heck of it.  I know I can do these from free online sources, but this is kind of fun too.  



The artwork on the pages is so very pretty.  What was unexpected is that the book/box they arrived in could for the basis of a sweet little cardboard library.  Interesting.


I also ordered myself a new puzzle.  I haven't set both from last year yet but there is a reason.  The first puzzle I worked on was utterly stupid.  I don't mind hard, but this was butterflies on a background of a single colour.  Many pieces had only tiny slivers of a form or edges of a flower.  The butterflies and fruit and leaves were much farther apart than I thought they would be and I lost interest.  And yet, I need to do something in the times when my hands are done and my eyes are done and I am listening to a book wondering what the rest of the world is doing because it is only 6:30 and the only other thing I could do is go to bed. Puzzles is supposed to be an option that I can see close.  



I hope this one will be better. Of note is a decent sized box.  It's about the size of a square cake pan, using as little resources as possible.  And much easier to store.

And then this.  A very good spinning friend sent this to me and it is fascinating.  I read a few pages of it this morning with my coffee and I loved the stories it is telling.  It talked about blanket quilts that where commonly made by the Metis using two point blankets and a woven inner layer of rabbit fur strips.  Fascinating.




Thank you so very very much Christine.  I love it.

And then,  last thing in the evening, watching bits of the Olympic broadcasts, I cast on a little something new.  I know.  I must be nuts, but what the heck.  Why not.

It was a perfect end to a lovely day.

Tuesday 8 February 2022

Consequences: a political post.

I have nothing to say today that has to do with knitting.  There was knitting yesterday.  Period.

I am into the charts on the blue and white vest.  I am under the arms on the pesto sweater.  I am still thinking about working on the blue Regal sweater, and those other things under the lid of my footstool/storage ottoman/tabletop constantly.

And yet...

I am so deeply grumpy and disturbed by this convoy thing that is going on in Canada right now.  Deeply fundamentally disturbed and my whole mood is sour because of how useless it is. I wrote this on a facebook thing this morning, which I also acknowledge is a useless and childish thing. 

My biggest problem is that they set off with an unclear agenda. They did not seem to know who to protest to for an answer to the vaccine mandates (provincial) or that they could not cross international borders without being vaccinated (other countries) and that they always point to stuff that comes from outside of Canada as a reason for doing it. It's as if they do not understand what freedom is or that freedom, like everything else, has a price. As if their freedom matters more than the freedom of everyone else. If they really want freedom, look to elections. Show up when it matters. Become politically active in parties and programs. Write letters, join causes that help people and things. Join boards for hospitals, libraries, justice societies. Build homes for habitat for humanity, become an advocate for tiny home communities and basic incomes to get homeless people off the streets. Help your food banks raise funds. There are so many ways to actively become engaged to make this country a better place for all of us. Honking horns and stopping traffic has helped zero people and to whine about wearing masks just make them sound selfish and childish. I would also point out that if you really did not want the vaccine, no one forced you to do so. That there is a price for making that choice? Of course there is. What else did they expect?

That last thing, the part about the price for making their choice.  That is the part that since the start of all this complaining that has just made me grit my teeth.  Everything you do in life is a choice.  Everything you choose or avoid choosing or delay.  For each action you make every day of your life, there are consequences.  

If you choose to sleep, the consequence is that you most often feel rested when you wake.

If you eat, the consequence is that you will no longer be hungry.  

If you choose to knit, you will have warm things to wear.

Having unprotected sex with your partner during a fertile period?  Very often consequences.  I mean children, in case you have not figured that out. 

You choose not to be vaccinated?  There are consequences.  I have no problem with you but for crying out loud stop whining about how your freedom is being hampered when you have to face the consequences of  a choice you made freely and according to you, knowingly.  

Monday 7 February 2022

Pesto!

The weekends work that came to hand was not a pretty thing of colourwork.  


No.  It was this, which is a whole other sort of pretty thing.  Like knitting with butter.  Not really, but it is so soft and yet significantly there.  It is such a lovely yarn and the more I knit it, the more I adore the tweedyness of Pesto.  There are red bits and teal and green and blue and gold.  It is quite glorious.



I have just put the sleeves on a string and have knit one round.  I may do a couple rounds today.  It would be nice to get to the the try on point t see exactly how things are fitting, but really, I have made the choice to follow the pattern.

The one thing I am quite uncertain of is the size of the neck.  Mathematically, everything should fit fine, except for the neck.  The neck is wide.  Way wide.  Almost as wide as my shoulders.  It isn't really a huge problem.  Because it is all stockinette, I can snip and knit decreasing to a better fit without too much trouble.  However, too wide at the neck might mean that the whole garment is too wide.  I hope not.

With a little bit of luck, and sound math, checked sixteen times, I ought to be okay.  I'm just going to hold to that and look forward to a very pretty sweater that I can save for better wear, and still have a nice comfortable semi casual fit.  

Friday 4 February 2022

There weren't enough WIPs

I did all the things I needed to do.  It was great. 

And then guess what I did?  I started a new sweater!  And not even the one I have been thinking about the last few days.


This is the start of a sweater I have been thinking of since 2008 or so, back in the day when I planned Brian's Lichen Waistcoat.  At the same time as I assembled yarn for his, I picked yarn for mine.  So this yarn has been in my stash for over ten years.  That idea alone makes me giddy.  I had a stash of yarn for over ten years.  Wow.  

I could knit Brian's without thinking because he was a more regularly shaped person.  I just had to make sure it fit his girth and I could just knit straight.  Easy Peasy.  Mine, not so much.  Mine needs to be a line and there is just no way to get past that.  

Once I felt skilled enough to make that happen, I lost confidence in the yarn colours.  They have zero contrast when you black and white the photo.  And so it sat.  I only had 4 balls of the blue or it would have been used up a long time ago for something else.  

I pulled out some needles to see what I could swatch it into during my knitting zoom the other day.  There as all kinds of contrast when I did broken seed stitch.  The more I looked, the more I liked it for exactly what it was, a sweet soft blue and crisp white.

Follow that up with putting books away and seeing Folk Vests sitting on the shelf and I just thought, hey, why not.  

And so here I am, with a seventh garment in my WIPs.  I am going to make this a learning experience and teach myself how to do colourwork with both yarns in my right hand.  My hope is to learn to even out any tension issues I have before I start playing with my Kauni.  



It is going okay, but it is possible that it is as much that I am doing a corrugated ribbing and I just love doing it, over that I am learning a new skill.  

This weekends knitting forecast is for an actual colouwork design to start showing up.  

Thursday 3 February 2022

Gumption

I said sewing, right?  Well that isn't where I ended up.  I spent the morning dreaming of my next to knit, totally ignoring the fact that there are six sweaters in my WIPs and I do mean to knit them all.  Still dreaming is fun and I did it while doing a few other chores around the house.

Basically, I was avoiding.  The very first thing I need to sew is to fix my mattress cover.  I spent good money on it for being dust and waterproof and it said it would fit any mattresses.  It isn't waterproof and is wider and slightly longer than my mattress needs.  I cannot tell if it is dustproof.  I have all the equipment and supplies I need to make it do the things I need it do, but first I need to wrestle it off my bed and give it a good wash and that is the part that I am avoiding.  

Today, but dad gummit. I mean to get it done.

Just before knitting group started yesterday, I pulled out all my sock projects.  The bags will be here shortly and it won't take any time at all for them to be serviceable.  These are extra large drawstring bags and I want to use them for storage for all my shawls and cowls as well as things knit with lighter weight yarns.  I kept out one sock to knit on, one using Nancy Bush's pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks, the Gentlemen's Shooting Stockings.


It's like knitting stripes in self striping yarns.  It's wonderful.

Then I picked up my little Cowl in the lovely Shilasdair yarn from a friend, which I am knitting using Joji Locatelli's Three Color Cashmere Cowl design.  The plain rounds are perfect for knitting between the wee holes and the wee holes are easy enough to work while chatting.


And now, before my gumption hightails it off to knitting, I must go and do my principle task for the day. If I let my gumption go to knitting, nothing else will be done at all.

Wednesday 2 February 2022

I spent the whole morning sorting out the challenges I spoke about yesterday, and do you know what?  I just have to follow the pattern and hope.  It is about a third more knitting than usual before I can try on the sweater, but that's okay.

Plus, By knitting that bit on the green top, I know that it us going to look really great.  So two tops I can feel good about in one day.

However, today is not gonngbto be a knitting day.  It's a sewing day and that's an adventure all on its own.  Well except for a bit of knitting with the ladies after lunch.  Lots to look forward too.

Tuesday 1 February 2022

The Way Back Machine

So here is the thing about Sun Dogs.  This is a really challenging sweater for me.  The way it fits demands that I put my trust into the pattern schematics and her ability to do math to make a pattern to fit an average body.  But, I am not an average body and I don't really accept that I cannot figure out how to adapt it to make it perfect for me.  The construction of the yoke makes sense to me and I know how I can adapt it to shorten it to fit me nicely, but I cannot really tell if I have enough depth to the yoke yet.  Or width.

Part of all this is that Sun Dogs has a lovely, slightly lower than average armscye and a really lovely sleeve.  They are one of the prime reasons that I love the design.  The hem and sleeve edges are very much part of it, but so it the sleeve construction and it is this part that I am just not sure about right now.  Don't get me wrong.  It isn't that the pattern is wrong or weird or poor.  It is how does my particular   body shape work inside this framework.  

This is really, really nice yarn and I want this sweater to me one of my nicest sweaters.  I want it to be something I can consider my old fashioned Sunday best.  I don't want to bugger it up.


Thankfully, I don't have to.

I am not sure if you recall it but last summer, I started knitting a little top using up four or five balls of Fleece Artist dyed sock yarns.  None of them match perfectly, but the are all green/blue greens and in my eyes are perfect to use as blend together gradient getting greener and slightly darker as the top progresses down.


This top is being made with Laura Aylor's pattern Breezeway.  Breezeway has very similar construction details and the knitting is just that much farther along that I am going to use it as a practise piece to test yoke depth for Sun Dogs.  

I don't mind so much with this yarn.  This top has been around the blocks a few times already as I sorted out what I wanted from it.  It isn't virgin yarn any longer.  It will make a great top and could be a sunny summer Sunday best top, but I don't think of it as a Sunday best.   

And that is what I knit on yesterday.  Breezeway is just where the sweater is separated for sleeves and body.  I want to knit an inch or two and give the top a real honest depth test to see if I have everything how I want it.  If I can make the fit here measurements here for the yoke depth, I will win for both tops.