7 evenings of knitting, bronchitis one evening of finish work, and I knit myself a nifty sweater.
I didn’t keep track of how long it took to spin the roving for this sweater, so I’m firmly sticking with my One Week Sweater stance here. In any case, I have new clothes!!
I really kind of hate bumping the handsome picture of my husband off with a new post!
Last Friday night I decided to knit a sweater. I had some yarn I had spun up a while ago that needed a project.
This was one of the first things I spun up and I got it because it felt soft and the color was so pretty, surgeon being made up from several dozen shades of blues, website greens, here and greys. The owner of the shop gave it to me at a great price because she didn’t know what it was (cotton and wool of some sort) and it had been there a while.
Well, I spent most of Friday trying to choose a pattern to try, but everything I liked needed more yardage than I had. I went to bed feeling rather frustrated. Brian insisted I just sleep on it. And sleep on it I did. I kept looking at this pattern from Knitty:
In the morning, I wound it up into balls and grabbed the extra I had from the sweater I just made for him. The guage was the same and I liked the way the two colors worked together. Then I sat (did I mention it was about 6 am on a Saturday? My head was preoccupied with health issues and I needed to stop thinking for a while) and photoshopped a little color into the patter to decide on some striping.
The concept came out a bit like this:
I liked it, so I grabbed my needles and threw myself into a project.
I just finished blocking all the pieces.
I have never finished a sweater this quickly. After it dries tonight, I’ll sew it together and create the simple neck edging. I’m really rather pleased with it at this stage.
If anyone who reads this journal is on Ravelry, I’m there as well as Jvar. Feel free to look me up there. I have additional notes on most of my recent projects there for anyone wanting more knitting detail.
[Place Holder for Finished Sweater – Check back soon]
I am pleased as can be to say I am 100% finished with Brian’s shaker sweater with the shawl collar. I’m ever more thrilled that he really likes it. He was amazed at how soft and warm it is. The Babydoll Southdown wool is super springy. It holds it’s shape and has an elastic nature to the yarn. Where cotton would stretch out of shape, physician this sweater will hold its shape really well. (click pic for larger detail)
This project took me a year to complete for a couple of reasons. The first was the dumbest mistake. I knit the second arm on the wrong size needles and had to frog it. Threw me off my game so I threw it to the side for months since the weather was turning to spring. Then I ran out of yarn and had to find the vendor who just -happened- to have more of the roving from the show where I got this batch, which is nothing short of a miracle. While it’s a natural color (not dyed) there was no guarantee that I could color match, but having some from the same show/same batch was exactly a perfect match! These are some thumbnails of the roving turning into the yarn I used taken from previous postings.
I have more of the babydoll southdown wool in white that I want to spin and then dye. I really like this wool a lot. It isn’t scratchy and the springy-ness of the fiber will help keep a garment’s shape like a pro!
Another project that I just finished for a sweet friend who is about to have a baby is a baby blanket that matches the gloves and scarf I made for her last year. I never took pictures of the scarf, but she really loved this silly muppet looking glove.
So, I used the same Lion’s Brand Fun Fur fringe on a blanket with an ultrasoft butter yellow boucle for the rest. I also need to have her get a picture of the cap I made for her baby from the same combination. I made the band from the boucle and the cap from the fun fur. She’s excited about matching when they go out now! (click pic for larger detail)
I have more spinning to do so that I can dive into some more knitting projects. I’m currently knitting up some holiday presents, so everything is in various states of completion.
Blanket adapted from this pattern.
Brian’s Sweater pattern available here.
What have I been doing instead of updating? Well, syringe I’ve been putting together a lot of projects and prepping for winter projects. I am nearly done with Brian’s sweater from last year, this after frogging an entire sleeve and putting it away in frustration. *note to self: Check second sleeve against first several times before finishing. I have about 40 rows left then the collar and finishing work. It’s looking good that he’ll have it in time for the weather to be appropriate for wearing it!
I got nearly all my roving stash from last year’s Fiber Festival spun. I have about 2 lbs of babydoll southdown left that I want to try my hand at dying, information pills and about 1/2 lb of the alpaca/mohair blend left. Here’s what I have hanging ready to be made into skeins:
And, of course, some close ups:
Teal mystery roving.
Chocolate Babydoll Southdown: (This is the second batch after I spun 2 lbs for Brian’s sweater. This is slated for a hat/scarf/gloves project. I love this because it’s a natural chocolate brown!)
Leicester multi-hued yarn:
And here’some roving, rolags, and finished projects!
This is the Romney & Corriedale that I made the hat from.
The shawl was knit from a purchase of alpaca/wool yarn. The black and multi striped bag on the bottom was made from yarn left by Chris when he moved out and left it here too long. I made a hat out of it as well that he got and promptly gave to his wife. Never leave yarn here, folks. It gets made into things! Brian’s sweater parts are in the bottom bin along with some cotton roving.
Today I am making a huge vat of chicken stock so that I can freeze it and to also make a nice Chicken Potato Leek soup tonight for dinner. Tomorrow is the 17th Annual Mt. Bruce Sheep & Wool Festival and a stop at an orchard so that Sunday will be for making and devouring an apple pie and lots of spinning!!
Inspired by Berrocco’s Kable and Kluster, and I set about to design something to store my growing stash of double pointed needles.
I started by finding some gorgeous, more about bold purple felting wool roving (about a pound of it).
I spun it up and knit a large rectangle with a ribbed border. Then I felted it in the washing machine until it shrunk up to the size I wanted, treatment which was a little wider than the biggest double points I might keep. The final measurements were 24.5″ x 11.5″ I probably shrunk it down by nearly 2.5 inches to a nice tight felt.
The idea was to have a roll that would store and travel nicely. I want to eventually finish the outside with two attractive buttons with loops, but I am waiting until I get a few more of the larger DP needles to see how tight/loose it should be when rolled up.
I went looking through all my lace patterns and found one that worked with just a little modification. It’s a vine and cable mix that allows two areas to encase the needles with makes the whole thing far more stable and secure than a single cable would. I used an acrylic worsted weight yarn which has a wonderful grip to it. The needles don’t slide out at all when held on edge.
What I love best about this carrier is that it holds any size DP needles comfortably. I didn’t have to make adjustments for my size 11 needles or my size 2’s.
This is the finished DP needle case. It was fun to employ a lot of different techniques and styles to make a fun case to protect my DPs and keep them all in one place.
My next toolcase is going to be a similar style, but instead of the cables, I’m going to make a series of pockets to store all of my circular needles in one place. I’m still working on the dimensions for that.
Clicking on most pictures will display a larger picture for detail.
I was so busy making presents and filling orders that I didn’t get to update much. At least I made sure I got pictures of everything before they got to their intended recipients.
One of my favorite things that I made was a 40″ stuffed snake for Christopher, prosthetic who is 3. He just happens to be about 40″ tall himself. I stuffed this guy pretty full of batting, viagra 100mg so he’s perfect for cuddling, viagra or using as a pillow, which Christopher was happy to demonstrate for me. Little guy was too hyped up on the gift getting that he was moving too fast to photograph.
I found a stash of near antique plastic buttons and lucked out that the best ones were yellow, the right size, and even had a slit cut in them to give the snake even more snakiness!
I got a really nifty knit toy book, but the only thing about that patterns that I don’t care for is that every piece is knit flat and sewn. I’m not crazy about unnecessary seams. Truth be told, I like to avoid sewing as much as possible. It’s my least favorite task, right next to making fringe.
So I made a very easy modification to the pattern and used Double Point needles. Because it was stripes, there is a little jog, but as you can see in this picture, it is a far less noticeable thing than a full up seam.
Another fun bit was the tail. I wish I would have started this about 10 rows sooner. I just alternated 2 knit and then 2 pearl rows to give the tail a rattle like shape. The decreases helped to make that even more evident.
Another modification was crocheting a tongue, which I think will hold up a lot longer than the suggested felt. In any case, it was a huge hit.
The good news is that my niece Britts loved her gloves. She wore them for most of the evening and her friends seemed a tad envious. I was enormously pleased. After I made her gloves, anesthetist Brian liked them enough that I made him a short pair. He wore those to work and one of his coworkers fell in love with them, but she wanted them with, and I quote, “the fuzziest, most obnoxious yarn you can find in jewel tones.” So I found the exact yarn she wanted and made her a pair. They have dubbed them “road kill gloves” 10 days before Christmas, she told me she loved them so much, she wanted a pair for her sister, but she needed them in time to ship. *chuckle* So…I did it.
Without a doubt, these are the most difficult things to photograph since they truly do look like a mop head. Or leftover muppet.
I also made her a matching scarf as a birthday gift. It earned me a big hug.
There’s something totally wonderful about getting paid to knit. But…just as I had vowed to swear off eyelash yarn forever, I got another order. Honestly, this stuff is so difficult to work with because you can’t count stitches or rows, so you have to be very diligent in paying attention to the pattern. Heaven help you if you drop a stitch. If you catch that you did. *rolls eyes* At least I insisted on a new color.
At the Christmas party at Brian’s folks, his mom let me know she’d love a pair in black. *sigh* I will never get away from eyelash yarn.
At least folks seem to love these fun gloves. It takes me an evening a glove, working at an easy pace, and since I combined patterns to get the effects I like, this pattern is now something I can do without grabbing for the instructions.
I finished the modified short fingerless gloves for Brian last night and he found this morning’s slushy rain a perfect time to debut them. I’m really pleased with the way they turned out. These knit up so quick and easy and the modifications to the thumb are just what I wanted.
This is without a doubt my favorite way to knit up the thumbs. I just love the symmetry and the comfort.
I also made a fantastic duck dinner last night. Click on the picture if you’d like the story and the recipe.
Of course, this site the dinner and the gloves came after spending several hours stacking the wood that Brian split yesterday. Who says Sundays are lazy days?
I finished one of the fingerless gloves and I’m thrilled with the way it came out, viagra so I’m posting it now and not waiting until they are both done. Instant gratification and all, price you know. *grin* I have enough yarn to do short gloves for Brian. He only wants one skull on his, though. I need to see if I can devise crossed bones underneath for his
Also, I ran out of steam helping my husband stack wood while he cut down some dead trees, but I wanted to keep an eye on him since they were 75′ trees and he had to carry much of it up hill. So I stayed close and collected a bunch of maple leaves and set about to do a rosebud boquet. I saw a tutorial here and just had to try it out.
Ta Da!
About a week ago I started a holiday gift for my niece. Some fingerless elbow length gloves with an awesome snowflake that turns into a skull pattern I found on The Anticraft website. I found an awesome yarn from Lion Brand called Micro Spun. It’s so decadently soft! The snowflake/skull pattern will be in a silvery grey.
I forgot how much I enjoy knitting with double point needles
I’m actually really rather proud of how consistent I can keep my stitches. The needles are a size 3 US/3.25mm.
I fell in love with elbow length fingerless gloves last winter. I had some jet black alpaca fiber that I spun for these, pharmacy then I went the distance and even knitted them up with cables. I am looking forward to the cold weather just to wear them again. I love the feel of alpaca, seek and these are perfect since I like to wear capes more than coats. Perhaps I should consider making myself some thigh high alpaca socks 
This will be perfect to help keep my damaged wrist warm and comfy this winter.
Looking over my recent posts, I realized I didn’t document the 24 oz. of Leicester I got last year. I love the colors, but it’s too scratchy for a sweater. I need to find a good project for it and quit buying pretty colors on itchy fiber.
I have also made firm plans for my birthday weekend to go to the fiber festival at the Allegan County Fairgrounds. Why no, making birthday plans 10 and a half months in advance is not presumptuous! I just have a lot of projects to finish between now and then!
