Finishing Madness!

Sunday morning, I made one of those “resolutions” to get something off my needles. The first lucky recipient was the Rust colored Wishbone sweater. I patiently whipped stitched the facing to the inside of the neck. I decided to keep the neck as is and not redo it, hoping that someone will wear it.

The thing about this sweater is….it is humongous! I tried it on and nearing swam in it. This is one very “HOT” sweater ! Literally! The doubled bulky weight makes this sweater warm enough to wear in Antartica. I don’t think we are going to have very many days of zero degree weather in California.

I let my husband try the sweater on and lo and behold, it fit!. This man, however, always runs a natural high body temperature on his own and he commented that it was too warm for him. I wish Elizabeth Zimmerman had designed the same style in worsted weight. Perhaps the next time I can calculate it myself. The sweater was a very easy style, It’s only the increases from the armholes to the neck that need to be figured out.

Well, now I was on a roll……The next thing that came off my needles was the Green Rib Warmer. I took great care to sew this up right, joining the shoulders and the two half pieces of the vests. It fits me perfectly. I am debating whether to add a crochet edging. It looks fine now, but I think the edge will make it more stylish and finished.

I went back to knitting Alan’s Christmas present. I finished one without the detailing that will be added later. Can you guess what it is?
I cast on the next one. This time I am using the magic loop method. I am liking knitting this way more every day.

Now with two things off my needles, I am get the itch to start something new. As I gaze into the rainbow wall of handspun yarn, I finally make the commitment to sort it into wearable wool for my Adult surprise Jacket. Although I have an assortment of colored dyed and undyed, I think I will use only natural colors for my first jacket.

I know it will be a long term project. So now I have a 6 ½ pound assortment of blacks, greys, browns, tans, and cream colored Shetland, Alpaca, mohair and other soft wools to knit at random into my jacket. I hope it doesn’t end up 6 ½ pounds but I am gratified to have an assortment of natural colored to choose from.

Tonight I cast on……all 338 stitches of it on Size 6 circular needles. There’s no turning back now.

Happy All Saints Day!

A new month! Wow! Where did October go? We had a very quiet Halloween. Fortunately the forecast for rain did not come true and the trick or treaters stayed dry. Happy All Saints Day! My late mother-in-law’s birthday was on this day. A wonderful woman. I miss her.

I have been staring at this yarn I bought from Webs Valley Yarns called Berkshire Bulky. It is alpaca/wool blend and oh so soft! To inspire me I started flipping through some of my Elizabeth Zimmerman’s books. As I turned the pages of The Knitting Workshop, I stopped at the page with The Rib Warmer. It looked quite easy to knit up.

It calls for a yarn weight of 5 st/in and the Berkshire Bulky is 3st/in. The rib warmer pattern says it fits the average women. Knowing that I am a little larger than the average woman, I though I’d try knitting the pattern as is with the Berkshire. My thought was that it might turn out larger with a larger gauge. I had to adjust the length of the armhole, but it seems to be coming out well. I’ve finished one side and I am half way done with the other side. With the bulky yarn it is going fast.

Here is one side opened up.
This is part of the other side. It will be sewn together and then edged. I think a crocheted edge would be nice. It will use up 6 skeins of yarn when finished.

I have 6 skeins left and I just love this bulky yarn. I found a aran cable pattern for a laptop cover on the web. It calls for a worsted weight but I thought this bulky yarn would be much more cushiony and shock resistant. Since my family is one of computer people, I’m sure I can give it to someone for Christmas. I have been knitting a swatch on Size 8 but I think I need to increase to Size 9 needles. Here is the swatch on 8s.


Last, but not least, I finished knitting the Wishbone sweater. Yea! I just have to sew up armholes and sew in yarn ends and the facing of the neck. I’ve been putting it off because I’m not sure I like how the neck facing turned out. It seems too bulky and I’m not sure the facing is going to lay flat. I knitted the facing with one strand of yarn on smaller needles, rather than the doubled as the rest is knitted. I’m not one who likes doing the finishing.

As you can see, this has been a “knitting week”. I’ve been under an unusual amount of stress at work. Whenever, this happens, “I knit”, to give me some measure of calmness and escape from my overwhelming job responsibilities. I haven’t felt much like blogging, but on the plus, I now have something to show for it. I can say I’m satisfied with that.

Nutrition Creating and Finishing Up the Wishbone

This has been a very busy beginning of the week. I had to put together a Staff Development training on Designing Preschool lessons in nutrition using food. What fun we had putting an assortment of groceries together to teach children so many different things! So many creative minds in one place can be stimulating! We even had a chance to move to music waving scarves around to promote movement and exercise! We live to be kids again! (Sigh!)

Well, enough about work. With that behind me, I have been trying to figure out how to get Ravelry to read my blog. So far, no success, but I’m still working on it. I seemed to be discovering new interesting groups every day. We are surely creating a whole new world.

I’ve also been motivated to clean out bookshelves, lately, to make room for all the new knitting books I purchased this summer. I’m getting rid of all my outdated Nursing mags, which freed up a lot of room. I must have had subscriptions dating back to the stone ages (2003). I even painfully put some outdated books for the Goodwill. It’s so hard to give up these things, because you never know when you need to look up something. However, the Internet has made research easier than ever and sometimes I don’t even need the books as some are outdated a decade or so.

I also tried to sort through some of my fiber stash. I separated the raw fiber and the rovings. This was just the stash in one room. I just can’t tell you how much I have in our guest bedroom! Well, for one thing it tells me I shouldn’t buy anymore fiber. I also have a large closet sized stash of spun yarn waiting to be used. I should start planning my Adult surprise sweater with this soon.

I am so into knitting right now, I cannot seem to bring myself to spin. I am currently working on my Wishbone sweater again. I’ve completed both arms and have attached the body and I am knitting the yoke. It seems to be going fast and I can’t wait to finish it.
It’s nice to be finishing my first adult sweater. It looks quite large. Well, I like large sweaters with lots of room. Getting so close to the end of this project is allowing me to start thinking about what my next project will be. Perhaps I should start the adult surprise sweater in order to reduce my handspun stash. I also have to decide if I want to attempt the open collared shirt for my middle son. I cannot seem to decide what yarn to use. I want something that is light and easy to wear, yet cotton at 5sts per inch will be heavy and wool may be too warm. I just love the color of the superwash wool. Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and knit with the superwash(on the right). I also got a skein of Vanna's Choice which knitted up very nicely but is more bulky. I read some reviews that it was stiff but I found it quite soft and easy to knit with. I'm trying to figure out what to create with it. I know I will enjoy the superwash wool's softness and color as I knit the stockinette stitches. Here are some swatches I knit with it. It is simply gorgeous and would be perfect for Christmas.

Something Old, and Something New

I promised you I would share about my knitting and Ravelry. Well, here goes…..

My husband and I had a very nice time driving up Interstate 5 past the orchards of almonds and fields of cotton, corn and cows, to Oakland. I knitted along the way working on my orange Wishbone sweater. I was able to knit up to the armpits and part of one arm when we arrived in Oakland seven hours later. Working with Size 11 needles makes this project go very quickly, but soon I tired of doing only stockinette stitch.

I had packed several knitting projects with me. When I was able to focus and concentrate, I worked on my Candlelight shawl. This lace pattern takes my whole concentration. I am knitting it on Size 4 needles and I had wished I had brought my magnifying glass with me. It just doesn’t seem fair to loose our sight with old age eyes, as we get older. This is when we finally have time to sit and actually do some needlework. I am finding it harder to knit with small needles, no matter how often I change my prescription of my glasses.

I also brought with me my baby surprise jacket and started to knit a hood on it. Everywhere I go, I get many compliments on it. The colors are so bold and jeweled. I am trying to add the hood without a pattern and am guessing the size of my granddaughters head. I am trying to decide whether to add a drawstring so that she can grow into it. Someone commented to me that it is a shame that for all the trouble we take to knit baby clothes, they grow so fast and cannot wear it for long. How true is that? I guess it’s the love and care of making and giving the gift that makes it special no matter how often they get to wear it.

I started the Tofutsies socks with the yarn I purchased at the Knit and Crochet show, for my Dad. I am knitting a k2 P2 ribbing. I didn’t get very far in this because my husband got sick on the way home (we suspect food poisoning), and so I had to drive home. I did, however, see some hundreds of sheep on the way home and actually picked a couple of bolls of cotton to see if I could spin it.

I brought my laptop with us on our trip and was very pleased to have some occasional wireless access in our hotel. Low and behold, I got my Ravelry invite when I checked my email. At first, I tried to leave it until I got home, but it kept calling to me. I finally caved in and set up my site. I happened to have a lot of pictures of my projects on my computer, so I immediately started to enter my recent projects. I was very intrigued with the amount of detail I could enter. Ravelry can even match a published pattern to a book. I spent several hours trying to investigate all the possibilities of using this tool. It may need a book of instructions to use all the features to its fullest extent.

Lately, I’ve been trying to learn about RSS site feeds. None in my computer literate family seem to be familiar with this so tonight I finally got a book Blogging for Dummies. I’m still wondering if it will work to increase my readers of this blog.

Orange you glad to know?

I just couldn't wait to start my October project sweater. Once I make my mind up to do something, it so hard not to. I started my Wishbone sweater from the December project of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac.

I don’t believe EZ intended this sweater to have a ribbing, but I put one on anyways, because finishing is just not something I like to do. I think she intended for a facing to be added and then sewn up, but I just couldn’t bring myself to commit to this. I can handle the sleeves and the neck line, but 48 in of sewing a facing was just not very motivating.

I just love the color. I don’t think my camera has caught the true color. The Lion Brand Jiffy color is rust but it looks more like a pumpkin orange. The Acrylic in the photo makes it sort of shine. It’s somewhat fuzzy, like mohair, which makes it soft. In the photo it looks more redish than it really is. It is knitting up quite fast as expected. The above is two days worth of knitting on Size 11 needles.

I’m afraid my sweatpants is in danger of becoming a UFO (aka unfinished object). I am going to have to do a lot of ripping back to correct it. (Sigh!) Well…I hope that when I get tired of knitting the rust, I will be motivated to knit the cream. (So uninspiring, huh?) I am so glad to get back to colored yarn again. I plan to dye the cream sweatpants. What color did my son request? Dreadful Black; another reason to be uninspired. I hope to get back to it before Christmas.

I am so excited that I am getting closer to getting an invite on Ravelry, the knitting community (what do you call it?) website database? I’m now at 654 people in front of me and believe it or not 17,423 people behind waiting.

I heard an interview on the Stash and Burn podcast with the creators of Ravelry, Jess and Casey. Wow, do they sound tired but very gratified to have created something that has taken off so well. Thank you Jess and Casey! I’ve heard so many great things about it. It may prove to be an excellent model for a new kind of supportive community that brings out the best talents, resources and gifts of people. Knitters rule! We have a potential to change the world in so many positive ways!.

Fall Fiber Storm

This had been a very productive knitting week. I finished the baby leggings. I think the body part may be too long and may come up to my granddaughter’s chin when put on. I haven’t yet had a chance for her to try them on.

I wish I had knit these baby leggings before the adult ones. I realize now that I did it wrong and may have to rip back to the joining and redo the body part. I misread the double decreases and thought I was to decrease at the sides to fit the waist. This created an oddly shaped pant part with a bulge at the hips and very tightly fitting around the crouch. (See picture below) .I think my son is either being very polite and agreeable or very impatient and wants to get the fitting over with. I really want these to fit, so he will actually use them. So…..I regretfully think I must undo and correct them to better fit. Which means they will take longer to finish than I thought.

I have been rethinking my October project which is a open collar shirt short sleeve sweater (aka polo or golf shirt). I am thinking I chose a yarn that might be too warm for wear in California. This is a short sleeve shirt and would be foolish to wear wool when the arms are not covered as well. I’m thinking that perhaps a cotton blend would be better. I have never made an adult sweater before and the December Wishbone sweater looks a lot easier to make for a first sweater.

The Wishbone sweater is made with bulky yarn with a gauge of 2.5 sts per inch and should go quickly since there will less stitches to knit. As I scanned the Sunday paper today, I saw an Michael’s crafts ad for Lion Brand Jiffy yarn at $2.50 a skein. I went right over there and purchased 11 skeins for a sweater, a lovely Burnt Orange color, just right for October Fall season. This yarn is 100% Acrylic. OOOH NO, NOT ACRYLIC!!!, you might be saying, but this yarn has a soft fuzzyness, like mohair and IS WASHABLE.

I knitted up some “Jiffy” swatches (pun intended) using 9, 10, 10 ½, and 11 needles. (swatch)
Needles (cm) ,Size, Measured, Gauge (sts/inch) ,Gauge (rows per in)
5.5, 9 ,9sts in 2 in, 4sts ,6 rws
7.0, 10, 7 sts in 2 in, 3.5, 5 rws
6.5, 10 ½, 6.5 sts in 2 in ,3.25 ,5
8. 11, 6 in 2 in, 3, 3.5
Yarn doubled
6.5, 10 ½, 5.5 in 2 in, 2.75, 4rws
8, 11, 5 in 2 in, 2.5 ,3 rws.

The swatch with the single strand knitted up too loose and open (on right) The only acceptable fabric was with the Size 9 needles, whose gauge was too small for the pattern. Elizabeth Zimmerman suggested a gauge of 2.5 sts/in. She points out that it doesn’t work with other gauges. I doubled the yarn (left) and the Size 11 (botton left)came out perfectly with a gauge of 2.5 and a firm, flexible fabric, thick, pliable and not stiff. So it looks like I will start the Wishbone sweater soon while also working on a redo of the adult sweatpants.

While after finishing with the baby leggings and at a standstill with the sweatpants, I was driven to finish my Forest Canopy Shoulder shawl. I blocked it and the results are below. It is made of handspun merino wool that was hand dyed. I started with it as roving and spun it myself. I just the love the softness of it. It will come in handy on the cooler mornings that are beginning to show themselves at the beginning of fall, which was yesterday. Fall really came in like gangbusters this year, with the first downpour of a storm on the day of our Town’s Route 66 parade.

Another project I picked up again was the baby surprise sweater. I am trying to add a hood. I worked on the math for the increases today. Stayed tuned to the finished product........