Saddle Shoulder Mania

I have been knitting like a maniac on Bran's seamless saddle shoulder sweater. The sleeves went very quickly, and now that I am on the yoke, I am having trouble putting it down.

This is one of those circumstances where knitting becomes a dangerous habit in my world. I have three loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away, a gigantic pile of mail that needs to be sorted, texts that need translating, updates to a website that need to be added, various tasks and messes around the house that need attention, not to mention my two sons, who thankfully are self-entertainers with their own addictive behavior when it comes to building with Legos. My current plan to foil this madness is to finish the top of the sweater tonight. Then hopefully I'll be able to cram everything else in tomorrow. Thank goodness for three-day weekends.

Closure For Tomten

This Tomten, modeled by Abe, is for a dear friend of mine who had a baby boy back in April. Since she waited until birth to find out the baby's gender, I didn't start on this until after he was born. My friend has always wanted to have a family. She tried to have a baby for a long time, and although she was able to conceive, for some reason she couldn't carry the baby to term. After a few miscarriages, she and her husband decided to try and adopt a child. Right as they were beginning the adoption process, she became pregnant again, and this time everything went smoothly, and she delivered a beautiful, healthy baby boy!

As usual, I decided to make a large garment that would be wearable for a long time, instead of something that would only fit for a few weeks. If the sleeves are rolled up, this jacket could potentially fit a child anywhere from 1 1/2-4 years old, depending on build. I used Falk and size 4 needles. Even though Falk is listed as a sport weight yarn, I get 5 sts to an inch when using a size 4. I learned this the hard way during the train hat incident. I did the pattern as written, except for adding about 10 more ridges to the hood to make it even roomier.

I was finished knitting, sewing and blocking the jacket 2 weeks ago, but I put it aside for a bit because of the closure issue. I thought all along that a zipper would be best, both aesthetically and practically, but I wasn't sure I was ready to brave the sewing machine again. Last time I inserted a zipper into a knit, I had a very sewing savvy friend sitting right next to me and telling me exactly what to do. I wasn't sure if I could make the magic happen all by myself.

I took some of the gray yarn and made an i-cord with the thought of using it as a loop for a toggle button. I also considered adding snaps somehow. But the zipper idea kept coming up as the winner. So, I got a zipper and matching thread, and during Abe's naptime today I went for it.

To my surprise, I remembered more than I thought I would from my zipper session 2 years ago. It certainly isn't perfect, but hopefully it will stay attached, and help make the jacket a useful addition to my friend's son's wardrobe.

New Shrug and Yarn Bargain

I finally finished my Retro Redux Shrug over the weekend and my DH took pics last night. This was a fast, fun project, and I can definitely foresee making more of them.









The brioche lace kept things interesting, but it was still simple enough to do in the car or while watching a movie.









The short rows on the collar were fun to work, but the ribbing did start to get old by the end, perhaps only because I was anxious to finish and see how the shrug turned out.








This is the first knitted project I made for myself since January of 2007.
Although I enjoy making gifts for friends, family and teachers, and want to continue, I hope to change my self-gifting track record. Possibly very helpful in my endeavor is the impromptu yarn purchase I made yesterday at Hancock Fabrics. While purchasing a zipper for the still unfinished Tomten for my friend's son, I saw that certain colors of Wool-Ease Thick and Quick were on a clearance shelf. The Thick and Quick is actually the yarn suggested for the very cool Green Gable pattern in the most recent Vogue.

I have to admit that I have been a Wool-Ease yarn snob ever since my Grandmother-in-Law made me a gorgeous cabled cardigan out of worsted Wool-Ease and I literally wore it to pieces in a much shorter period of time than it should take for a handmade sweater to be worn down. I still wear it, and still get compliments on it, but I was less than impressed by the sturdiness of the yarn.

I saw that the yarn was marked with a green sticker, which according to the chart, meant that it was 30% off. And I thought, okay, about $2.10 off - and I need 6 skeins - so the sweater will cost about $30. Then I thought about the Louet Riverstone Bulky I saw on sale at WEBS, which would probably be better quality, but the available colors were not compelling, and I liked the grass green and pumpkin orange in the Wool-Ease. After a bit more waffling, both about which color to get, and whether I should give this yarn a chance or hold out for something else, I decided to buy 6 skeins of the green. When the cashier scanned the first skein, I was pleasantly shocked to learn that the sale price was $.50! Long story shorter, I now have 12 skeins of Wool-Ease Thick and Quick - 6 green and 6 orange. This means I could potentially make 2 sweaters for $6.30! Of course, if I do, I'll probably end up giving one to my sister.

New Projects

My Vogue Knitting finally arrived, and I have to say that this is one of the best issues in a long time in terms of having numerous sweater patterns that look fun to knit and wear. I have already added Veronik Avery's "Forestry", Tikru's "Green Gable", Norah Gaughan's "Drop Stitch Cable Cardi", Deborah Newton's "Cable Yoke Cardi" and Elsebeth Lavold "Pretzel Cable Cardi" to my Ravelry queue.

I had a great time making EZ's Tomten and February Baby, so I decided to use her percentage system and knit Bran a seamless raglan. I asked him to choose the color, and since his current favorite is purple, I bought some purple Patons Classic Merino and got started. My gauge is 4.5 sts per inch on 7's, and his chest circumference is 23". I decided to cast on 140 sts, so the sweater will have about 8 inches of ease if all works out. Here is what I have so far.

I also wanted a small project to bring on the short beach trip we took this week. I could have started a raglan sleeve, but instead I decided to break out the 2 skeins of Cinnabar Malabrigo I bought at Threaded Bliss Yarns in Nashville, and start a Retro Redux Shrug. It was a great project for car travel, and the Malabrigo is a dream. I am curious to see how it fits once it is finished.

Happy Returns

Somehow the past four months have gone by without any blogging, but here is what I have to show from the time away.

End-of-year teacher gifts

and


group gift for Kim


gift for neighbor's new baby boy


gift for Kim's new baby girl


and a gift still in need of closure for a friend's new baby boy.


Funny that they are all gifts. I also just started working on an EZ seamless pullover for my older son. I still haven't decided if it is going to be a raglan, hybrid or saddle. It is my third EZ sweater in a row, after February Baby and Tomten.

Orange cutie

My friend Peggy just had a baby girl, so I wanted to make something special for her. After looking through my own pattern library and also checking out Knitty and Magknits, I decided to make Blossom from Magknits, since it looked very cute and seemingly straightforward to knit. I happened to have some light orange Millefili Fine in stash, so I was ready to go. The pattern was a bit tedious at times, but the result is sweet. Without swatching, I knit the 3-6 month size, and after blocking, found that the finished product will more likely fit her at a year or even 2, depending on her build.

I found the roses and ribbon at Joann.
The question now is whether or not to machine wash it. I like to give my recipients details on how to wash items that I give them. I would like to be able to tell Peggy that she can machine wash this dress. Millefili Fine is supposed to be machine washable, but the tendency of the yarn to split, plus the other instructions on the label that instruct not to "wring" and to "dry flat in shade" do not instill confidence in the durability of this yarn. And the roses and ribbon may become a mangled mess as they are spinning around in the drum of my very basic, not particularly easy on your clothes washing machine. My husband says it would be better if I left the dress in its current adorable state since he thinks Peggy would rather receive the gift and have her daughter wear it once then never receive it because I decided to machine wash it and ruin it before giving it to her. So I may end up hand washing, or even just ironing, and leave it up to Peggy to decide whether or not to machine wash. Hopefully her daughter will wear it at least once before then.

It's a lining

With the help of my sons, who greatly enjoyed playing with the contents of the rec room closet as I dug through it, I found my long ignored sewing machine and took it for a spin. After much finagling, which I should have photo-documented so I could remember what I did, I ended up with this:

Here's a better shot of the handles:

The handles are quite heavy for the bag, so I may need to get something to put in the bottom to make it sturdier. All in all, I am pleased with the finished product. As for my sewing skills, let's just say it is a good thing that the wrong side of the lining is hidden.

New Work on Old Projects

I have had a lot going on lately, so much of my knitting has been the meditative sort. This means projects that require minimal shaping and consist of stockinette or garter stitch. Though most of it is mindless, I have been sneaking in an occasional twist to keep it interesting. For example, I started yet another Sophie for the preschool auction, but decided to add a ruffle at the top as well as tabs to hold the handles.

The spring cleaning bug has also struck, and while trying to reorganize my craft closet I came upon two projects which I have ignored for a while. One is a baby sweater, worked entirely in seed stitch in cream Encore Worsted.

When I first seamed the sleeves, the yarn had a strange color change which made it look almost yellow in one spot.

I started to rip the seam on the discolored side, and made a huge mess, so I put it away for several months. Then one day I was reading about dyeing with Kool-Aid, and thought it might be a fun solution to my yarn discoloration problem, even though the acrylic content of the yarn would prevent it from absorbing a lot of the color. So I took the sweater out and restitched the mess, and then put it away again since I didn't have the time to try dyeing it then. Now that it has made its way out again, I plan to try dyeing it, even if the color is only absorbed enough to disguise the discoloration. Wish me luck!

The other project is a cable purse which I knitted about a year ago from some leftover Reynolds Lopi. When I went to sew the handles on the bag, for some reason I suddenly felt allergic to the Lopi, so into the craft closet it went. When I tried again this time, I didn't have an issue.

I knew that this bag would not be very useful without a lining, so I took the bag to JoAnn and found some coordinating fabric and thread.

I'm sure the process would have been much easier if I had done it before attaching the handles, but considering it was my first attempt at a lining, I don't think it is horrendous, and at least the bag is usable. I also got some fabric to line the ruffled Sophie, so I am curious to see how that works out.

Felted Purse and Impromptu Scarf

I decided to make a felted purse for the silent auction at my son's preschool. The last time I made a Sophie bag I had just discovered felting, and it was a great project to get me started. Even though my skills have advanced since then, I still appreciate the brilliant simplicity and thriftiness of the pattern. I had some Patons Classic Merino in Rosewood which I have been wanting to destash, so away I went.

I knew I wasn't going to do the handles from the pattern, so when I reached the top of the bag and had a lot of yarn to spare, I decided to knit a flap. I worked it by binding off all but the back stitches, knitting straight for about 25 rows, and then binding off 2 stitches at each end until I liked the shape of the flap - probably 8 rows with the decrease in all. I learned in a past felting calamity that flaps often become skinny and wonky when felted. I decided to try and prevent this by adding an edging. Luckily I happened to have some brown Patons which miraculously matched the Rosewood. I used it to pick up stitches around the flap and worked 6 rows in garter stitch.

Now I wasn't sure what to do about a handle, since it is difficult to know just how small the bag is going to get when felted. And, in my experience, Patons Merino goes from 60 to 0 in about 5 minutes. So in preparation for the unexpected, I made 3 30" long i-cords over 6 stitches.

As you can see, the bag did felt down quite a bit, from 13" wide and 10 1/2" tall pre-felting to 8" wide and 5 1/2" tall post-felting, and the i-cords shrank about 10". Happily, the edging did its job on the flap, and it retained its rounded shape. I braided the 3 i-cords (they were still a little wet when I did, so hopefully they will dry thoroughly) and sewed them to the sides of the bag. I'll definitely need to do a better job of securing them, but I couldn't resist taking a few pics beforehand. I haven't decided whether or not it needs a button or snap.

While the bag was felting, my 4-year-old decided that his new friend, Toa Hahli (a Happy Meal Bionicle toy that he chose from the treasure chest at school last week) needed a scarf to keep her warm. With i-cords fresh on my mind, I quickly whipped up this little number. Isn't she lovely!?

One down

I managed to finish sock #1 today during the boys' rest time. It is rather thick, but comfy, and I could easily see the pair ending up as a favorite to wear around the house, whenever I finish the other one. I can see how knitters would be enthralled by making socks. They take a relatively small time to finish, they are a great project for travel, using luxury yarn would not break the bank and the measurements can easily be personalized, making them a special gift unlike anything you would find in a store. But before I toot the sock horn any more, lets see if I actually finish the other one.

Dual purpose sock post

I am trying out "my blogs" in Facebook, and for some reason it is only showing a blog entry from a while ago, so I figured I would post my sock progress and see if it would show up.

I have about three and a half inches to go before toe shaping. This sock is going thick enough to enable me to wear my husband's size 13 shoes!

Garter stitch ensemble preview

Here is the garter stitch cardigan with matching hat for Kate's baby boy, modeled by Abe.

Garter stitch works well for growing babies and children because it makes such a stretchy garment. I hope the recipient will be able to get a lot of use out of this ensemble.

I am chugging along on my sock, while trying to convince myself that working with dpns is fun. At least I figured out, after a little ripping, that I wouldn't get ladders in my work if, when moving to the next needle, I knit the first stitch onto the previous needle, not the empty one. I am interested to see how the heel works, so there is incentive to get to the end. Who knows, maybe when this project is finished I'll join the ranks of the many sock knitting addicts.

Progress and a new project

The Garter Stitch Cardigan has been blocked, and I finished the matching hat yesterday at Knitting Night. I'll post pics once I have found and attached some buttons. I should start working on the fronts and sleeves for my mom's Bristow, but instead I have decided to use up my last skein of Cascade 220 Superwash #847 and knit my first socks. I'm using the Cozy Armchair Socks pattern from Weekend Knitting, and it looks very basic, so we'll see how it goes. Maybe spring (and thus spring cleaning) is in the air, or maybe I have been affected by The Story of Stuff, but I suddenly feel a strong desire to use the yarn I have piled up in the closet. Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't last - especially when the weather warms up and the wool sales begin!

My friend Stephanie does beautiful cross stitch and also does amazing things with a sewing machine. When Bran was born, she gave us onesies on which she had cross stitched teddy bears. Whenever I dressed Bran, and later, Abe, in the onesies. I always thought of her and how special the gift was. So when she was pregnant with her first child, I wanted to make something to reciprocate the gesture.

I knew I needed to knit something small if I was to have any chance of finishing it, since Abe was only a few months old when Lorelei was born. I came across Miss Dashwood and it was just what I was looking for.

I wanted to make a larger size, so Lorelei would be able to wear the hat for longer than a month, and I wanted a sophisticated color, since I had a feeling she would have a personality to match it. And I am happy to see, now that she can wear it, that it suits her quite well!

My good friend Kate is expecting a baby boy at the end of April, so naturally I wanted to knit something for him. I started the garter stitch cardigan from Knitting For Baby, but didn't have time to knit the sleeves before her baby shower last week. After debating whether or not to bring the unfinished cardigan to the shower, I decided to do so, and, after seeing her reaction, I'm glad I did. Now I have more time to complete the cardi, and I may even make a hat to go with it. Here it is, unblocked and buttonless:

We took a trip up to the homeland last week so I finally gave my sister her almost 2 month belated birthday gift. And here she is in her skinny Midwest Moonlight scarf with matching cap. I wasn't sure if the cap was going to work until I saw it on her - it is amazing how much better she looks in that color than I do. Happy Belated Birthday Meredith!

My son's school has a fundraiser in April and parents are asked to donate arts and crafts to be sold by silent auction. Last year I donated a felted purse and a pet bed (which had started out as a felted purse). The purse sold for $25 and the pet bed for $10. I was happy that the pet bed sold at all, but I was a little disappointed that the purse only brought in $25 after the hours of work that I had put into it. So, for the auction this year, I wanted to make something unique that would be very quick to knit, and for which I could use yarn that I already had in my stash. I went to the local library for some ideas and came out with One Skein by Leigh Radford, which has a great pattern for felted bowls.

I cheated on the using yarn from my stash part of the deal since AC Moore was having a sale on Patons SWS, and I had been wanting to try it out for a while. Here is what I made from one skein of it.

For my next bowl attempt I used one skein of variegated Patons Classic Merino from stash. I made the larger bowl first, and then started a new one where I had ended the last one. I like how the pattern of the yarn changed for the smaller size.

I have a lot of feltable wool in my stash, so I plan to make a bunch of these for April's auction. I'm tempted to see if I could make a set of three nesting bowls, although I may not have enough yarn if I stick to stash.

Train hat becomes simple stripe hat. My 4-year-old loves trains, so I set out to design a hat for him that would match his winter coat and also have a picture of a locomotive on it. I brought his coat to the Knitter's Cottage, and after looking around unsuccessfully, the shop owner brought out the Dale of Norway Falk color card, and the colors were perfect. I ordered the colors that were not in stock, and went home to design the train for the hat. Using a chart made in Pages, I used x's to draw a locomotive. By the time the yarn arrived, I had the chart ready, I had swatched with the Falk, and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Well, the best laid plans....

I based the structure of the hat on the Luggy Bonnet from Weekend Knitting. Somehow, even though my gauge was smack on for the swatch, the hat grew immensely during the knitting process, and ended up being way too large for my 4-year-old, and large enough for my husband's huge head. Unfortunately he is past the age of someone who would desire a train hat. If it were made of non-superwash wool, I would probably try to felt it and see what happened, but it will most likely be frogged and made into a mitten. I may reuse the train design for a sweater, so not all is lost.

Here it is.
Since that didn't work, and I needed to finish a number of projects for Christmas, the hat ended up being put on hold. Now that Christmas is over, I have a little more time, but the weather is suddenly freezing, so I figured it would be better to make him a simple hat so he has something to keep his head warm. This one was based on the Fish Hat from
Animal Knits, except I made earflaps for the largest size and the body of the hat in the smallest size, so I didn't end up with gargantuan hat again.

Here it is on the silly recipient.

I just got my invitation to join Ravelry. I added my name to the waiting list on December 18, so the wait wasn't too bad. I haven't had much time to look around yet, but I put in a search for Tilted Duster, and 383 versions come up - very cool! I'm going to go look around some more before quiet time is over.

Here is my FIL wearing his new vest.












And this was his beautiful gift to us.












And here is my MIL in her Tailored Scallops.












And my GIL in her Flower Basket Shawl.












I started Bristow for my mother in royal blue Cascade 220 superwash. I thought about adding cables to the back, but decided that simple stockinette would be better for travel.