Times a wastin'

Wow.  October 31.  Where did the time go?  It passes so unbelievably fast these days.

It is also Friday again and yup I have a finished sleeve.

 

I haven't been a hundred percent sure of this finishing treatment, but oh my yes.  I do like it here.  A lot.

I also have a way better idea of just how this sweater will look and I am so happy with it. I hope the early fit is the fit that it has as a complete garment.  Sometimes weird happens between the body and when the sleeves go on but I am basing this on the schematics and stitch counts of the Cloud sweater.  It should be just right.

I hope.  Sleeve two is underway today and if the weather holds, I hope to get  in a good bit of knitting today.  Times a wastin'.  Day is well begun and so is the knitting.

Wait

Yesterday.

Today.

It used to take me two days to do a sleeve but now it is three and sometimes four.  Sigh.  Oh well.  At least I can knit.  

I could knit more.  In my heart I want to knit more.  However if I do, my hands will suffer.  I am knitting on short needles and small circumference things.  That often sends my hands into a winters worth of  irritation.   I debated about digging out dpns, but I do not have any in the size I need here.  It means that I have to knit very purposefully to work to keep my hands relaxed,  

So far, so good.

I occasionally think about knitting sleeves separately, two at a time, in the round and sewing them on.  Just writing that down sends shivers down my spine.  It isn't the sewing in that gives me shivers.  I like sewing knits together.  It's the separate part.  Not being able to try things on as I go would drive me batty.  

I would like to get this sleeve finished today but I keep an open mind.  Weather varies and so do my hands.  I will let my hands be the boss.  Right now, my hands need that second cup of coffee.  Or maybe tea.  A good strong cup of tea may be nice.  

Wait.  Who am I turning into?  🤔

Warm Glowing Satsfaction

I got started on Cassie's sweater sleeve and oh my, it is looking good.

I am showing a picture of the back of the arm and shoulder so you can see how the Lusk sweater body's shoulder looks.  I added one detail from the Cloud sweater. The garter stitch round at  the pickup is such a clean crisp detail.  It stops any wibbliness on the pickup row from showing.  I will use this again.  

Being in the middle of a sleeve with only a few decreases to do, means there is lots of time for thinking about the next project.  I know I already talked about doing a Kauni striped sweater next but when I say the next project, I don't mean THE next project.  I mean A next project.  There are always tons of next projects but  whatever is really next ends up being the whim of the day.  Thinking of a NEXT  project really is about thinking about stash and what my wardrobe needs and wants and playing with yarn in my mind while my hands are also playing with yarn.   

I do have a wee bit of yarn searching to do.  I have been thinking about the blue sweater and adding those tiny pockets.  The colours of them are very important to me.  Thinking of the colours is high in my mind.  At the moment, I am thinking of using some lace weight, simply because of the colours.  I need to look hard at what else I have and will the colours work with my particular blue.  

So a bit of digging in the yarn is going to happen and a bit of cleaning and general tidying up too but knitting will also happen.  That fills me with a warn glow of satisfaction and who can ask for more than that.  

Sleeve Season.

I am really enjoying the way I am approaching knitting right now.  I knit something entirely different on the weekends.  It is fun and is giving me good progress on more than one thing.

Friday I finished the body of Cassies sweater.

Isn't that a neat finish?  I debated about adding a few more stitches to the rolled edge, but went with the pattern. 

After that, I couldn't make up my mind.  I pulled out a few things and ended up working on the socks.  And this happened.

I didn't want too long a cuff.  I am a bit concerned about running out of the multi colour.  That ball of yarn feels small relative to the plain green.  

I did try something different here. My sock assist tools keep coming apart and Keith says some of the socks are pretty tight over my heel.  I wanted to make the sock a bit deeper over the heel to see if that helps.  

I made a gusset by doing 4 increase rows right before the heel.  Then I knitt the heel using those extra stitches and after the heel was done, decreased those same 4 extra stitches.  Time will tell if it helps.

I also knit on the blue sweater this weekend but not so much that you would notice.  My hands kept going back to the sock, which is how I finished it.  It's been a while since my hands couldn't stay away from a sock!  Maybe I should knit only socks for now?  Nope.  Not going to happen.  I need to make sleeves on Cass's sweater so I can get back to my own Lusk sweater sleeves.  It is well into fall now and I would love to have a new sweater to wear.  It's sleeves season I guess.  Maybe a vest will be next?  No sleeves.  Hmmmm

Knitting!!!

I did some knitting!!!!

It felt so nice.  I am aiming for lots of good knitting to get rid of the last bit of stored up stress.  

I decided to do a rib and follow the Cloud sweater pattern for the bottom of Cassie's sweater.  A bit more of the rib and I will knit stockinette with the intent to have it roll up.  

And then sleeves.  Not too much to do.  

I will stick to the sweater for a bit this morning and then I have to get to socks.  

The unexpected going through papers this week blew the sock plan out of the water.  It is another race weekend. I really need this heel to be done and to be able to knit round and round without thinking, which is the best part of knitting socks.  I only have one pair of needles in the size so starting the second sock is not possible.  I still have not found my Orchid Kroy socks either so finishing this heel is important.  

So, a busy but pleasant day is what I am looking forward to.  That is really very ... ...nice.  how can I ask for more than that in my world.  

Update:  The glasses!  It is going well.  

My eyes have pretty much adapted to the progressive lens.  It's a very different experience to the first time I tried progressives.  The only thing I have to adapt to is holding the tablet and books a bit farther away than I have been doing.  I have been reading without glasses for quite a while.  The reading lens is perfect for knitting though, and that is so important, and the rest will come.

Frittered

Well.  That is not how to spend a day.  I need to sit myself down and give me a good scolding.  I am not sure what I did do but it sure was not any of the things I planned or even any of the things that I usually do.   The day was frittered away.  Harumph.

I have to go pick up my new glasses today.  I am really looking forward to this.  I got new glasses when I moved here and my eyes have changed somewhat. This time they are red.  Just because I can.  I am a bit leary about the lenses though.  I have had bifocals for two decades and have always gone with an executive cut lens. The full bottom was my reading lens and the top, distance.  I did that in response to the early graduated lenses because the field of clear vision was so small.  They no longer make the executive cut  and I was forced to go to progressive lenses.  I am hoping and praying that they will work ok with my generally wiggly vision and that I will be able to see.  

Otherwise the weather is fine and clear, but we are surely in a major drought.  We have not had more than even a skiff of rain since summer.  It is scary dry.  Still it will be what it will be and we must adapt.  

Almost

Almost there.

Almost to 17 inches which is where I need to start the bottom rib.  Rib that is, if I follow the Cloud sweater finishing.  She trims the bottom with a short rib to control the bottom roll and then puts in a bit of knitting that has to roll for a perfect finishing touch.   I am not certain if I really want to do the rib.  It was completely unexpected in the pattern and I am not certain that it will be right for this yarn.  It won't hurt to do it, but this is acrylic and nylon.  I think it will relax enough to stop and not roll all by itself.

Anyway, I will decide what to do when I get there.  For now, it is the usual.  Coffee, chores and knitting.

Twitchy

A quiet weekend is always good.  I got in a good bit of knitting and had some fun working on a puzzle of the Glennfinan viaduct.  It was also a race weekend so plenty to keep busy with.

I did not work on Cassie's sweater.  I needed something a bit different.  I picked up that pretty blue sweater made from the yarn cones.

It is such a beautiful colour.  Its ropey texture feels odd in my hands.

It slows the knitting a wee bit but I will put up with it because once it is properly washed, the yarn blooms into the most stunning fabric.  

I am knitting the Tolsta pattern for this because it allows the yarn to be the star.  I might have a sneaky little pocket bit to nip in later, a la the Mayhemma sweater by Asa Tricosa.  It depends if I can find the perfect colours to accent this gorgeous blue.  They are not really useable pockets but I have discovered, after a lifetime of no pockets on my clothes, that I am not a pocket person.  I am interested in decorative pockets though.  I would love to make the bits of colour flash, and that is enough.  The Mayhemma pockets make me smile and the idea of them will be sweet with this yarn.  Yes I will be purchasing the pattern because I want designers to keep inventing sweet little details like this.  

It will be back to Cassies sweater today.  I want to get it finished for her asap.  I do have a small goal for the week though.  It is small and should be doable.  I want to get past the heel on this sock.  

I absolutely cannot do a heel during a race.  I need simple around and around knitting for races and I will be better prepared for the next race.  I am also going to find that missing pair of Kroy Orchid colourway socks.  Those are in a good place for race knitting but I could not locate them in the WIPs bin.  Made for a twitchy race.

Time to get knitting.  Cassie's sweater will not wait. Neither will coffee.

Pretty Darn Good

I spent most of the day knitting yesterday.  This should surprise no one.  It is what I do most of the time.  I also pulled out the current puzzle we are setting and got that properly set out again.  That puzzle roll thing works great.  

Back to knitting.  

I spent most of the day on Cassie's sweater.  I am now at 13 inches from the underarm.  No split.  It felt wrong the more I thought about it.  But I love how it is looking.

I have 4 more inches to go before I cast off for her optimal length. My original plan was to do the exact finishing that the Cloud sweater has...BUT this acrylic and nylon yarn is going to be so soft when it is washed that I am concerned that the Cloud finishing technique is going to look a bit odd.  

I still want to finish off with a rolled hem.  That is a detail Cas really likes. I might make it with my occasionally used trick of knitting a couple rows of reverse stockinette, then a couple rows of stockinette, repeated till it does not roll and finishing off with 6 or more  rounds of   stockinette that should roll.  I also might just let it roll naturally and see what happens over time.  I am sure the yarn will drape and relax but the question is will it relax too much?

I also have questions about the sweater swatch cowl. 

 I knit 5 ridges of garter stitch and 10 rows stockinette.  In the 3.5 mm needle, the gauge is fine, but when I go up to 4 mm tips, it's a bit too wide looking.  The sweaters I saw knit in this basic pattern were knit  with 6 ridges and 6 rows or other combinations where the numbers of ridges matched the number of rows.  It means that the ridges part of the knitting makes slightly wider sections than the colourful stockinette portions.  Interesting.  This is exactly why I needed to knit something more than my usual swatches to play around with this.  I need to see it in action and try various things before I knit the sweater.  

Time to get moving with knitting and with the usual household chores.  Time for that special second cup of coffee or maybe even a cup of English breakfast tea.  Time to finish reading Michael Palin's Erebus, a rousing adventure tale of the history of that particular ship.  Time to make.  Time to do.  This is a pretty darn good life.

Another Cup of Coffee

Where did yesterday go?  I mean that in my daily writing way, but it is also a question for life.  Where did it go?  It went so fast.  Luckily there are days left to me and I am going to knit.  A lot.  I hope.

I blocked my cowl and am really pleased.  

 

As a cowl it is everything I wanted.  Just that perfect neck cover for the sweaters that are a bit low on the back neck or as a boost for the really chilly days.  

As a sweater swatch, it does just what I needed it to do.  4 mm needles will be OK for what I want from the sweater.  I may go down to 3.75 but the 3.5 mm needles are too small.  Nice, but too small.

I did knit half of the day on Cassie's sweater.  I am down to 11 inches and it came to me that I need to see if she wants a split hem.  This oversized Lusk/Cloud sweater combination would look good with it, laid back and casual, but I need to see if it is her style.  I kind of hope not because in the round is quicker.  

Anyway, it's time to get to work.  Things to do, sweaters to knit and another cup of coffee to make.  

Bits and Pieces

There was very little knitting this weekend.  It was full of getting ready for a big family BBQ get together.  Thanksgiving though it was, our family meal was usually hamburgers.  It is harvest season.  If not harvesting, it was hunting season.  It was so much fun, though we did have two members missing.  Isaac was working and Olga is working nights so she was sleeping.  But we had a great time with tons of little boys and big boys and some girl chat too.  

I did a bit of work on Cassie's sweater and a bit more on my Kauni cowl.  Photo evidence of any change in the sweater is non existent but the cowl is looking great.  

I have just started the final rib.  There are 6 rows of that so it won't be too long and it will be finished.  Most off the time, I wouldn't  block a cowl, but because this one is a sweater swatch, it will be properly washed and blocked so I can be sure of the gauge with the two needle sizes and the Kauni.  

Yesterday was a day of rest for me, followed by a deep long sleep and rising a wee bit late this morning.  Today will be catching up on laundry, tidying my room, putting the toy closet back in order.  It's the kind of day that has to happen.  In between in bits and pieces, there will be the restorative rest of knitting.  

But first, coffee and knitting.

I worked on Cassie's sweater yesterday.  It is looking more sweater like but it still has quite a lot to go.  

I took the afternoon to make some inches on the little Kauni cowl.  Since this is, in essence, a swatch, I changed needle sizes.  I was thinking about knitting an entire sweater on 3.5 mm needles and, honestly, I just could not face it.  Small needles and garment for a generously sized body means billions of stitches.  I usually give up long before I should and forever wish I had made the sweater just a smidgen longer.  

I thought about going up to 3.75 mm needles, but what the heck, going up to 4 mm felt even better.  4 mm needles it is.  

It looks great.  Remember, this is pre blocking and washing so the yarn will bloom and will be exactly what I am looking for.  

I can do a sweater on 4 mm needles easily.  So it's going to be a busy day.  I have to do some cleaning because family is coming for supper and if I am lucky I will get to see my littlest boys.  But first, coffee and some knitting.

When I knit

Sometimes when I knit, I watch the no talking just walking style videos that are out there on the internet.  There are driving ones out there too and the occasional drone flight videos where the background music is banal but the scenery so grand that you don't hear it anyway.

Last week, I watched a drive video in the Azores filled with hydrangeas growing wild at the side of the road.  This morning I am watching one from Maderia.  I know that these content producers beef up the colour, making everywhere look impossibly lush, but that is OK. 

Oh my.  This particular videographer has stopped his drive and pulled out his drone.  Magnificent falls and lush cliffs.  How grand... Sorry for the diversion.  

Sometimes I go for the more rugged country of the Scottish Highlands or an air journey over the Faeroe Islands.  Sometimes a lush jungle walk in Tasmania or to a temple in Japan.  Once in a while I go on a walk in the rainy season in India.  Sometimes, I venture the scenic roads or trains of Norway to faraway points.  

And sometimes when I knit, I listen to audio books.  All sorts.  Some old fiction.  Some new fiction.  Some history.  Some science.  Occasionally a biography about the many fascinating people who made an impact in our world in one way or another.  

If you look at me while I am knitting, you might think I am sitting in my livingroom, static, alone.  What you don't realize is that when I knit, I am a voyager through places and time and imagination, never quite where you expect me to be. I am certainly not just sitting.

  

And then there were socks

Most of my knitting day yesterday was spent working on Cassie's sweater.  It is moving along quickly.  The gauge I am working at means knitting two rows makes a real visible difference.  

My hands were just a wee bit tired of working with the chunky yarn so I decided to work on something different.  I could have worked on my Kauni yarn cowl, but I wanted to make some socks grow.  

I pulled out my Fiesta socks.  They were getting to the point where I wanted to think about the heel.  The last couple pairs of socks I have finished had toe up heel flap heels.  I like doing that construction but for this pair, I wanted to do a garter stitch short row heel.  The problem with a short row heel is that there is never quite enough stitches  to give the room for an easy to put on fit.  Oh, they cup my heel marvelously, but they are sometimes tough to get on. I do use a tool to help get socks on, but the socks are sometimes just a bit shy in the ankle and put great stress on the tool.  I broke two recently and put that down to poor construction of the tool rather than socks that are too tight at the ankles.   Still, I know how tight at the heel some of my socks are.  

So...

  

You can just make out the tiny gusset increases I made on each side of the heel stitches of this pair.  The heel will be made across all of the stitches and then the extra gusset stitches will be taken out after the heel is complete.  

With luck this will resolve the problem and the sock assist tools will not be under quite so much stress.  

Back to Cassies sweater for this mornings work and maybe socks when it is time to give the chunky yarn a rest.  

And More

While I was busy visiting on the weekend, there was some knitting too.  I kept it small but very enjoyable.

This is so lovely.  I makes me wish I had enough of the blue shades Kauni to make an entire sweater, but while I have lots of Kauni, I do not have more of this pretty blue.  It does give me a really good idea of how the sweater will look.  

The Kauni I am going to use for my first sweater knit with this row design is this.

 The soft dusty purple, blues and greens are a very different creature to the blue but I am so looking forward to making this.  I can't wait to see the colours flow.  I am pairing it with some of my much beloved Tove stash in an oatmeal colour for the garter stitch rows.  It may not be smooth like some yarns but both these yarns are so good to knit with and to wear.

I also did a bit of knitting on Cassie's sweater and took photos of it while it was on the cord.

She is really happy with it so far and if I get the sleeves right and the body right, this grandma will be a winner.  

Today is catchup day and I might even do some baking.  But first, oh so first, I am going to knit.

Finishing the things you put off.

Squishy Friday edges or not, I.  HAD. A. WEEKEND.  With no squishy edges.  I found out that my brother was passing through and was going to stay over Saturday and Sunday night.  That gave me the perfect reason to force myself to finish fixing my sisters sweater, the Flea sweater so he could deliver it to her.  

First things, first.

 

I needed to take off the generous amount I add to the side so garments fit me nicely.  I marked out the columns of stitches I wanted to remove.

Then a basic mattress stitch to make the new side seam before putting in the reinforcing for steeking out the excess.  

And there you go.  A pretty good seam if I do say so.  

And a nice straight side to fit my sister.  

Then it was time to deal with the sleeves.  When I make sleeves for me, I do 3/4 sleeves most of the time. That means a short fairly severely decreased sleeve.  It works for me and how I use sweaters.   My sister wears a sweater for cozy relaxation.  Picture her snuggling her hands in the cuffs and sipping cocoa while watching a good movie. The sleeves needed more length.

I pulled off the cuffs and added the last two colour sections as per the body and redid the cuffs.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Not that I did not have issues.  I was going to do a felted steek to get rid of the excess, but broke my needles because I did not have the tool properly opened.  I did a sewn steek and I think it will be OK.  

Much worse was finding the four balls of yarn to make the sleeves longer.  I had the bag with all the yarn right here beside me.  Or was it?  No.  I figured I put the yarn away in the Pallette box when I did not need it for my sleeves.  I pulled out the bin and dug.  No navy and blue. No brindle and celadon.  Oh oh.  I came back out and feverishly dug into the palette bag in the livingroom.  I was starting to panic.  Feverish digging never helps. Eventually I did find the navy and blue and I pulled out the extra ball of brindle from the stash box.  I had no second ball of green.  I have a feeling it went into the box of yarn I sent out last week.  I did find an option for the green and while not perfect, it will do.

    

The double green rows on the body are a warmer green and what I found for the sleeves are a cooler blue green.  Because the areas are separate, I don't think it will be too noticeable.  

To top it off, Cassie came to do a try on for her sweater.  It fits just right and we measured for sweater length and sleeve length.  

This week's job is to get her sweater finished and to get back to work on my own Lusk.  Pretty blue and white is calling to me.  

Sqishy at the edges

Not so much.  That's my response to yesterday.  I did not bake.  I did not knit much.  Oh well.  I did clean the kitchen though, which has to count for something.   I will bake today so we have something special for breakfast tomorrow.  That is a race weekend tradition.

I did knit but I can't tell the difference from the day before.  

It is just going to be a bit slow.  When I am knitting, it doesn't feel slow but I do have to rest my hands a lot.  And the wrist braces are going back on during the nights.  

Cassie is coming over for a try on, so who knows.  Maybe it is a good thing I am not too far along.  It would be so hard to take if I had lots of body done and had to rip back.  

I need a coffee.  Two coffees.  Maybe three.  It just feels like that sort of day.  Not a bad day, but the edges are not quite where you would like them to be.

The world can wait

I did it, I did it.  I got a healthy inch done yesterday and I am so pleased.  I could have done more but I played around with needle tips yesterday.  

I switched out the wood tips for some metal tips and yes, the yarn and process had more slip to it, but the knitting got slower.  It was too slippy.  Worth a try though.  I went back to my wood tips and had a decent time knitting.  With a bit of luck, I can repeat it again today and will almost have a sweater looking thing on my hands.

Today is a work from home day for Keith, so later today I am going to bake some cookies.  Peanut butter as per his request but I also might make some quick bread loaves for the upcoming F1 weekend.  A date loaf for me perhaps and an apricot loaf for Keith.  Among my many cookbooks, there is no apricot loaf recipe but I found if I chop up the apricots and otherwise treat them like dates in my date loaf recipe, I get a very tasty result.  Toasted with butter, it is really a treat.

And now I am going to settle back and do some knitting while I sip my coffee and listen to a book.  All the rest of the things I need to do today can wait.  The World is not going to get between this old girl and her needles.