A little bit

I thought I knit a lot yesterday, till I looked at Cassie's sweater this morning.  

I did join the underarms and am fairly confident that it will fit as I hope.  Maybe next weekend I will see her and can get her to try it on.  

Not very much knitting is it?  Part of that is the needles.  I am using wood needles which I don't really care to use with acrylics.  There is no sloppiness or sliding of yarn and needles.  Knitting it is work.  Not hard work but more than usual.  

Part of it is the yarn itself.  This is an unusual yarn for an acrylic.  

It is made of very fine strands of two ply yarn and they are all twisted together.  A cable ply is what I think they call it.  This unusual structure is what I think gives it the difference between this and other acrylic yarns.  

It's also what is slowing me down.  Those little strands are splitty.  Every time I miss a bit of the yarn, I have to catch it again.  It means a lot of slow knitting to preserve the smooth roundness of the yarn.  

 Knitting will continue today and I hope I get a bit more in than yesterday.

Kepping on

I had a really lovely weekend.  I did some baking and made some potato salad and knit and just generally had a good time.  

I did start a little cowl.  

And I did play with that patterning I spoke about on Friday.  It is stockinette stitch between matching numbers of rows of garter stitch.  In long colour changing yarns, it looks simply sophisticated and quite lovely.  I saw a sweater made like this on Pintrest and on Ravelry, I could find a few, one of which uses the Margot pattern from a 2009 Knitty, as the base of the sweater.  The cowl is to let myself play with how many rows and ridges I like.  I think I have set upon 10 rows and 5 garter ridges.  That scale feels just right.

I also made good progress on Cassie's sweater.  

I have two more increase rows to go before I join in the round.  I am debating how much ease to give her.  Too much and it will look sloppy.  Too little and it won't be the fashion statement she wants to make.  

So today is going to be a day of working carefully and thinking about things.  The other thing I have to start work on is my sister's sweater, formerly known as my Flea sweater.  It's time.  

Flying Fingers

My bed was really comfortable this morning.  It was very difficult to leave the warm cozy blankets.  Everything is running behind.  

When I was looking through the give away bins, there were a few things I pulled out for my own use.  Very few.  These were some of the few reclaimed items.  

A couple balls of baby yarn and a bit of leftover Kauni.  I have a very specific plan for this.

Last year I made a sweater with some CWM Mulespinner and some Noro Silver Thaw.  I had quite a bit of Silver Thaw left and made a simple seed stitch cowl.  I wear that cowl all the time.  It's better than making a sweater with a turtleneck for warmth because when you get a little warmer, you can take it off.  I made a Huj Tub cowl years ago and wear that a lot.  I plan to make more simple cowls.  

This bit of Kauni is going to get used for a cowl to try out a stitch pattern I saw online in a sweater.  It isn't really a stitch pattern, but more of a way of using colours to get some pretty fantastic results with long colour changing yarns.  

It may be my weekend fun.  Maybe. We shall see where my fingers fly.  

Oddity

Wow.

This is the sum of my knitting this week.  So, I repeat, wow.  Not very much.  

Monday was stash dive day.  Very little knitting happened.  Tuesday is what I will talk about today but very little knitting.  Yesterday, very little knitting because of an appointment.  I am not disappointed by this.  I am kind of thrilled that I got this much done on top of those other things. The change in weather since that big stormy evening, has made life just a smidge more challenging.  Knitting less has been a good rest for my hands.  

So Tuesday.  Tuesday kind of started on Monday during the stash dive.  Several things happened during the stash dive.  Number one was the momentary feeling of fear when I thought there were only 4 stacks of bins.  How could that be?  Then I remembered that that side of the closet was deeper than that side and that stack 5 was still there.  Logic told me I had not knit that much in the last few years but it was funny how that thought that there were only 4 remaining struck fear into my knitterly soul and how comforted I was that still have plenty of yarn. (Like 4 stacks of big bins isn't enough.  Sheesh)

Thing number two was the realization that I did not want to ever put two of the bins back into my closet.  The two big bins were leftovers from already completed projects.  Some were small bits and pieces and some were yarns that were so disappointing to me that I would never work with them again.  I was tired of these bins taking space in my head, calling out to me that I needed to be knitting up mittens and hats with them, everytime I opened the closet door.  I was feeling guilty about it and life does NOT need that.  

I found a place, which shall remain nameless, where the yarn is put out for local knitters to take and choose and use.  The people there will go through what I sent because they know the local tastes, but they were pretty sure that it would all be useful.  

It is such a relief that it is out of here.  It is exactly the opposite of how I felt when I thought there were only 4 stacks of bins.  I now have 4 full 5 bin stacks and 2 extra bins.  Plus a wee little bin of cottons.  But that's another story.  I am exactly where I feared I was at the start of Mondays stash dive but I feel good about it.  I must be odd.

Today is knitting day and what gets done, gets done.  

  

Stash Diving

I did a huge yarn stash dive yesterday.  It was time.  

One of the things I wanted to do was to pull out some yarns that I want to knit in the near future.  The last time I did a dig with this in mind was when I pulled out the cones, which was forever ago.  I also divested my idea cabinet of some of the things that were not inspiring me right now and put out some different and really interesting colours and textures.  

If I had been a sensible person I would have taken pictures as I worked.  I did not. 

All I can say for sure is that goodness I have some lovely yarns.  I am so lucky.

Lots of Things

Till now, fall has been warm though it reliably cools at night.  Last night, we had a truly blustery wind, a batten down the hatches sort of wind, where it withered between the houses and whistled and moaned.  Along with the bluster, the air shouted fall.  It smelled like fall and moist old leaves.  It was lovely.

It was a good wind up to what was a great weekend.  I felt ditherey and unsettled and just could not get into anything.  Sometimes I fight that feeling and sometimes, I give in to it.  I gave in and took joy in the diverse things I did this weekend.  

  The first thing I worked on was a new pair of socks.  This is Fiesta from Drops, their newish Dk sock yarn.  It's wonderful to work with. I am knitting these using a 2.75 mm or 3mm needle.  The two different measuring tools I use say different things.  It really doesn't matter though.  It's a great size for socks with this yarn, whatever it is.  Heels, cuffs and toes will be in the plain green but they are still fun. Ι was sort of dreaming of making another pair with a purple for toes and heels but the yarn line has no deep rich purple.  

I was a little leary of knitting too much with this size of needles.  I decided to knit something else to be sure I did not set off a flare of wrist inflamation.  I decided to go with my Musselburgh Hat.  It is a similar size needle (3.5 mm) but a much looser fabric to the socks.  The larger diameter seems to help too.  

You can see that I got some decent progress in.  My special, much treasured evil eye stitch marker is acting as progree keeper here.  A friend brought these back from Turkey a few years ago.  It's perfect for the job.

Sunday afternoon was on me before I got a bit bored with that.  I pulled out a big box of yarn from the stash.  

This is a full tub of Berocco Comfort Chunky.  It's a lovely acrylic yarn, bought a long time ago for blankets, hence the limited colors.  However, I feel no pressure to make blankets right now and what I do want to do is make Cassie a sweater. She is really into the dropped shoulder slightly over sized look so popular right now.  I wanted to make her a Petite Knit Cloud sweater.    This is the perfect yarn for her but very different from what the pattern is designed for.  

 

I have the Cloud Sweater pattern, but if I am off gauge anyway, I am going with something I understand without thinking.  I am basing this on the Lusk and am doing the math.  It's just barely begun, but so far, looks pretty good.  

And that was my weekend.  It was a lovely breakout from project monogamy.  Today feels like a good day to go through my yarn stash.  I have a bit of an itch after pulling out the Comfort Chunky bin.  I'm looking forward to dreaming of knits for the near future.  

Sleeves, Sleeves and More Sleeves

It's all sleeves at the moment.

Good progress yesterday and, with a bit of luck, today too.  I am going to make full sleeves on this.  I think.  Maybe.  I have a ton of yarn but the question is, how will I be using this sweater?  It has to work well around the house as I work and if it doesn't, it will not get worn.  

Time will tell.  On to my day and sleeves and more sleeves. 

A slow start

I finally made it out of bed, freshly showered and scrubbed, first load of laundry underway, and am finally having a cup of coffee.  Because the day does not start till I have my coffee, and because my clock says it is close to 10:30, we can all tell, I slept in good and proper today.  It's okay, but it does feel like half the day is gone.  

The body of Lusk is complete.  I tried it on and it fits perfectly.  It fits with the ease I was looking for and when the sleeves are done, it is going to be great. Sleeve 1 is underway.

Many of the dropped shoulder designs coming out recently, have short rows to give the shoulder a bit of fit and to make the sleeve smoother and less bulky looking.  I wonder if that would work on a raglan...oops, side trip there.  I trust that somewhere out there, someone has done this.  

Striped sleeves knit up fast.  They really knit the same fast as any other knitting but it is one of those mind games we play.  Because you are always looking forward to the next stripe it just flows.  On with the flow.  

It is Thursday again.  That means the weekend is coming up.  My choice is going to be finish this sweater or do something different?  Hmmmm.

Adequately Coffeed

I was on my way to write my blog when I got distracted by Amora on YouTube.  Her Scottish yarn festival video is great.  

Anyway...

I had an all around good day yesterday.  It was a perfect fall day, just that right sort of air and light that is everything I love about fall.  I spent the afternoon making lasagna for the freezer.  Keith finally got a deep freeze, the teensiest, smallest, cutest freezer on earth.  Up till now, we have only had the bottom freezer on the fridge, and while it has worked, it did not allow us to buy when meat or other things were on sale. And it did not allow us to make things except to eat right now.  There are certain things like lasagna, soups, stews where making in quantity simply is more sensible.  And it can make a real difference on the days when the chief cook and bottle washer does not feel like cooking or bottle washing.

I had a great day knitting too.  

I got a start casting off.  I absolutely love this garment and I can't wait to try it on.  Even though I still have sleeves to knit, I already see me getting lots of wear from it.  

Oh wait.  Our power just flipped off.  Partly.  We have one light that is working.  Weird.  The worst part is I have not had my second cup of coffee!

Hahaha.  That was kind of fun.  Keith entertained himself by perking coffee for the first time ever, on the BBQ, with the camping coffee pot.  His whole process including finding the camping stuff was a hoot.  

I am adequately coffeed.  The power is back.  Time to get down to work.

And then this happened.

I had a good day yesterday, marked by getting to this point on my Lusk sweater.

I was busy knitting away on the last blue stripe and I realized that I didn't need to do another white stripe.  I was only doing it for length and the sweater was long enough...or will be when the ribbing is done.  

That cheered the last teeny tiny bit of gloom from my head.  It's almost sleeve time and we all know what sleeves mean.  We are close to a finished sweater!  

Fashion Emergencies

What a weekend.  There was just so much to do.  

I knit on my Lusk sweater and made decent progress.

I am really pleased with this sweater.  And it is looking like a sweater now.  This is the last blue stripe before one more white stripe and the ribbing at the bottom.  Another sweater to wear soon.  

I did cast on something new.  I know I said I wasn't going to, but sometimes you need it for your mental health.  I needed it.  

I also needed to get this yarn out of my head.  It was starting to interfere with other plans.  I had thought very seriously about making a Felix sweater with it, but the things that I like about Felix are body dependant, not pattern dependant, so it was never going to look like I hoped on me.  I decided to go with another Tolsta.  The fit is great, the neckline right where I want, the gauge, perfectly drape and good.  As the base of a good basic sweater in gorgeous yarns, Tolsta is as good as it gets.

I thought I would show you this to show you the difference between the washed and unwashed fabrics.

Fresh off the cones , it looks a bit coarse and ropey, but goodness does this bloom. It is so soft. I am really looking forward to the finished garment.

Late on Saturday night, Cassie texted me with a fashion emergency.  She was going to a movie and needed help with her cosplay.   

She came over Sunday afternoon and we crafted a vest for her character.  

Edited to add, Cassie says she hates this white shirt.  It is from the bottom of the bottom of her drawers.  So, excuse the wrinkles.

We were both pretty pleased with how it turned out. The sewing is  not perfect but that happens under time constraints. Not perfect bu it did the job.  Not bad for a teen obsessing and hoping and her old grandma trying to help.

More Hours to Knit

I picked up a sure project yesterday morning.  I needed a good knitting day.

I got one.

This is my Lusk sweater and it is moving along beautifully.  It's all stockinette right now switching colours every twelve rows.  That is it for excitement but it is exactly right to turn this week around.  

I am thinking very seriously about using my lovely London Fog to cast on a Lusk. I have started two different things already with the yarn and neither worked.  Lusk will work.  Even though I am still on my first sweater with the pattern, I know it will work.  

My wardrobe and my heart desires simple sweaters in luscious rich colours.  It is a great basic shape and I love basic shapes in stunning yarns and combinations of yarns.  I have a couple more colours of Midknit Cravings Comfort DK that I want simple basics out of. There is some other lovely yarn in stash that I could use for simple basics too.  Some really gorgeous yarns.  Sigh.  I wish I had more hours to knit.  

 

Long Stories

It's a long story and I am not going to tell it because that way lies despair.  

I ended up taking my entire London Fog sweater apart.  I found myself needing to go back to redo the entire sleeves and that meant going back to the start more or less so I just gave up.  

I love this yarn.  I know what I want from it and so far, I haven't found a way to get there.  I do have a plan though, a sound, sensible plan.  But not yet.  Before that I need to work on Flea and because failures mount in clumps, I am leaving it be until I see some good coming off my needles.

That pretty much in a nutshell was my day.  I look forward to a better today.

You can't always win.

You can't  always win.  I accept this and it does allow me to appreciate the times when it does go right.

I ended up working on things that needed repair.  There was a neckline on one of my summer tops with a tear in the last round.  I had the yarn handy but the repair had been sitting for two weeks.  I did that and felt pretty good.

Then I had the courage to face a project that was in a corner thinking about its flaws.  It was my sweater in the London Fog yarn from Midknit Cravings.  

I had knit the little shoulder detail down the sleeves but though I love it on the shoulders, I hate knitting it down the sleeves.  When I am not enjoying a thing, I make mistakes so I hate it even more.  

I unraveled the detail and attempted to reknit it in plain stockinette.   It was really tight and I was struggling.  

See on the inside how there is a column of stockinette stitches on each side?  They are not supposed to be there. They were supposed to be unraveled.  So back to the start of the repair again.  

At that point I decided I loved doing chores and went to do dishes.  

I will work on it again today.  I thought it all through.  If I struggle as much as yesterday, I can simply frog the whole darn thing.  This is the part I love about knitting.  The forever mulligan, the capacity of yarn to be ripped back and something new started.  

I am going to think about that today.  How joys and sorrows and failures and successes build upon each other, and at the end of it, the work will give you a something.  Sometimes, that something is not what you wanted or intended.  Sometimes all you have left is deep fierce sorrow.  And sometimes, oh those special sometimes, you have a fountain of joy that suffuses and colours your world.  Whichever you get, there it is.  You have to work with it and live with it.  

I am going to hope for one of those happy outcomes.  

Onward Ho

I did it, I did it, I did it!

I finished a pair of summer socks.  In other news, sweater weather is here.  It is cool in the mornings and stays cool till late morning.  It also starts cooling in the evenings by supper time.  By 8, even on the hottest day, you are thinking about closing doors because it is just too chilly.  But, I finished a pair of socks.

I also finished a sweater.  Da da da daaaaaaa...

And, it has been worn.  It's wonderful.  It also needs a good blocking.  It may be one of the few things that gets blocked early in its wear cycle.  That is only because I am in the middle of a big sweater wash and there is room and time to do it.  

The first thing up next is reworking my Flea but I also get to start a new project.  I am really looking forward to it.  

I bought this when I picked up the new wood tips.  This is Drops Fiesta a newer yarn in their lineup.  I.  Love.  The.  Colours.  It is a Dk weight sock yarn and I am looking forward to giving it a wash and wear test, my style (absolute yarn torture).  

I also tidied up my yarn mess in my livingroom.  There were things to put away and things to sort and order.  The big thermos picnic knitting bag is being pressed into action again.  

It really is perfect for working from cones.  It stands well enough that it doesn't flop around and contains any cone movement.  I am settled on what I will knit with this.  It is going to be a Lusk sweater.  I am really enjoying the knitting of my first one, and though I love the idea of a Felix sweater for it, but I really am not in the mood to muck about with a new pattern designer.  I just want simple, easy going knits right now and that is what I intend to make happen.  And I intend to make it happen with several yarns.  

The plus to all this was that Cassie was here on Sunday and I got her permission to knit her a sweater.  I am going with her approval, the Cloud sweater.  I have some Comfort Chunky from Berroco in stash and should have just enough to knit a garment for her.  

That is pretty nice it for today.  It's a chore day and I have a few things backed up yto deal with so onward ho.  

Almost

This is one of those Grover waves mornings.  It is sunny, but very chilly. ( It was 4 when I got up and 0 when Keith left for work) And I get to stay home and knit.  I had a doctor day yesterday, which I really dislike, though it must be done.  Sometimes the poor man is so busy that he doesn't have time to hear what you are trying to say, but I caught him on a fairly quiet morning and he had time to really hear. I don't have to go back for several months.

Though there was no knitting yesterday but the day before was a lovely knitting day.  

This is a sleeve.

This is another sleeve.

I made no decreases this time around and it fits exactly perfect.  The whole sweater is just what I wanted.  Just shy of one sleeve and a bit of a longer ribbing on the back hem.  A few days work and it will be complete.  

It's a pretty exciting place to be in overall.  It is almost time to get to cast on a something.  But, my next project is that I have to make a few changes to the Flea sweater.  

It's a little to much negative ease for me but the upper body fits my sister quite well.  However, the sleeves are too short, and she has hips that are normal.  I need to take some off the lower body and rework the sleeves a bit.  This is a very pleasing thing to do because I loved knitting my coat of many colours Flea.  I am really looking forward to playing with it again.

It's such an odd thing to say, isn't it?  That you are going back to a completed project and looking forward to it.  

Today is full of chores.  We are on the cusp of sweater season and it is time to get the entire sweater chest washed and refreshed.  Yes, I had a whole summer to do it.  I did not get there so I have to suffer it now.  

Good Things

I had a great day yesterday.  It was just one of those practically perfect knitting days.  

It's going to be short sleeves.  Elbow length, I believe.  I decided to add one more white stripe to the sleeves. Two white stripes on the sleeves would look off balance.  An odd number is always better.  Then there will be a section of green and the ribbing.  However long that gets me is what the sleeves will be.  I think.

I don't always need longer sleeves for fall and winter sweaters. I never feel a chill below my elbows but I do sometimes feel a chill on the back of my upper arms. And short sleeves are great for wearing while working around the house, even on the coldest windows days.

That ties in nicely to my plans for more Vests.  There have been a few days this summer where I was really glad to have the gloriously thick Linger vest.  (A Knitty pattern)  I have also got a fair bit of wear out of my rust flax and wool vest through summer.  I also have a Scandi Star pattern vest in the WIPs bin that is next up in my list of things to knit and finish.  Vests work so well for around the house wear and with the extra long sleeve turtlenecks I bought last winter, will be perfect.  

I do have a few Vests planned for fall knitting but I will talk about those as time goes on.  Right now I want to alert any of you who have Acorn TV about a new show.  

It is out of Australia and is called Totally Completely Fine.  First up, it is a drama comedy about suicide and family and life.  It is not for the faint of heart and yet, it is the most human thing I have watched recently.  There is a bit too much rumpy pumpy for my taste but some of it it, okay probably a lot of it is deeply connected to the character's personal stories.  I watched it over two days which was probably a little too much of a binge for the subject matter, but does really connect you to the central character.   The final message of the whole show is light and hope and forgivness and connection.  And learning how to love including loving and forgiving yourself even through the darkest times.  Well worth watching.

Anyway it is time to finish sleeve 1 and get a start on sleeve two and to make another cup of coffee.    

A Darn Good Weekend

This is a big morning in our house.  No.  There are no kids going back to school.  It's far more of a change than that.  Our garbage day is changing.  I know.  It's earth shattering.  Our entire household rhythm.  Our recycle day is now also our garbage day.  The only thing I am sure of is that the recycle may actually go out on time now.  

Note to self:  Reset your garbage alarm for Tuesday.

It was a lovely knitting weekend but not a hugely productive one.  Over the three days I did this.

Front of the body completed.

Bottom of back almost done.  It is on a holding cord till the sleeves are done in case I need the yarn for long sleeves.  Yes.  I am still not sure about that

even if sleeve 1 is already picked up and ready to go.  

I didn't even look at my Lusk sweater.  It only seemed right to get this sweater on to the next stage.  Sleeve knitting commences this morning.

In other fun things...

This is from the latest Lego Magazine.  It is from a set called Pony Ranch and Stable.  A granny square vest.  Verklempt.