sweaters and garter stitch madness

Yay! I just finished the Vine Lace cardi (with a couple mods) from The Knitter's Book of Yarn this weekend. I was mostly knitting it just to use up stash, so am really pleased that I actually like the end result and find it very wearable. I am also so glad to have mostly used up my Debbie Bliss merino dk, since it is so splitty for me that I have to watch my knitting constantly even when just doing plain stockinette.


I've also got a picture here of my Salina. Sorry I am not wearing it, but it was a little too damp. This was its first real washing, but it has had a month or two of wear (and has the pills to show
for it, which is a shame since the yarn itself is just lovely for knitting and wearing -- Rowan Cashsoft). Salina is a great, easy to wear pattern, and flattering enough that I may use it as a template for other sweaters in the future.


I've finished some kids' knits here too: a rainbow cardi (own design) for my daughter made from Noro Silk Garden (stash again!). It certainly got much softer after washing.

And here we have an "old" Tomten (Mission Falls 1824 superwash) I made for my little girl two years ago that has been worn pretty constantly ever since and has grown with her just as EZ said it would. So, I have pulled out the needles and the yarn (Noro Kureyon-- from stash, go me :) ) to make her little brother one as well-- it certainly becomes clear how much knitting is in store when you lay a just cast on project next to a finished one-- yikes.


Next time, hopefully I will have a FO to show for my recent spate of garter stitch madness. I have been obsessed with using up my scraps and odds and ends since last I posted and have been making squares for an afghan holding together lots of bits and pieces and working on size 13 needles. Luckily, those hurt my wrists or the darn thing would soon be too heavy to pick up.
But, boy, does this churn through all those little bits one never knows how to use and I find it really interesting to see how the different yarns change the appearance of the whole. And you can see that Captain appreciates their squishiness and was a great help in figuring out the layout.

I've also got some Rowan Calmer shipping my direction. Anyone have any recommendations for a summer cardigan? I have only knit one summery thing EVER and want to begin to fix that situation...

My first ever FO

I saw at The nerd and the needles a photo of her first knitted sweater (wow!) in response to a challenge on Petunia's blog.

I still have my first ever knitted object and took a snapshot today. I made it probably 19 or 20 years ago when I lived in Chicago and was never warm enough all winter. All my bought scarves were skimpy, useless things and I decided to learn to knit so I could make a scarf big enough to wrap around my head and face, just as in the photo. I wore it all the time in those Chicago winters, tucked under the hood of my ankle-length coat. Here in New Jersey, I only need to wear it maybe once or twice a year. It's warmer here and I have a car, so am not constantly out walking or waiting for the bus.

I lucked out with this as a first project, I think. It's 100% alpaca and warm and soft. I ordered it from Pueblo to People (anybody else remember them fondly?) as I didn't know of anywhere else to buy yarn! How lucky was I to begin my knitting journey with yummy, soft, and warm natural fiber... Although if someone had warned me how obsessed I would become, I like to believe I would have thought twice :).

16 pairs for 16 years

The bag o' socks has become a basket o' socks (and 1 pair of mittens because I just could not make myself knit another pair of socks). This was a pretty good idea for an anniversary present, if I do say so myself, although I personally don't think I can repeat this feat, even cheating with so many sport-weight socks in the bunch! Thanks to my patient husband for letting me take pictures before he wore the items and thanks to Captain Jack and M for "assisting", both of whose socks you will spy in the pictures below.

M showing you his dinosaur socks

Laila's Socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia
modified for 8 stitch repeat
Opal 6-ply in blue and gold

D-zined 55% wool/ 45% hemp

Dead Calm socks with twisted stitches
Ellen's Halfpint Farm 100% merino
the camera really washed out the depth of the colors, but this is beautiful yarn


Cabled Socks
Dream in Color Smooshy "Dusky Aurora"
gorgeous, subtle color variation



Hideous Socks (With a Cute Kitty to Keep You From Feeling Nauseous)
stitch pattern #107 from Japanese "250 Knitting Patterns"
Socks That Rock Heavyweight in Thistle (ha-ha)




K3 P1 rib socks
Misty Mountain Farm superwash merino


top-down cable and rib socks
Nature's Palette Odd Duck #4


toe-up socks with garter heel
Socks that Rock Heavyweight in Beryl




Gentleman's Fancy Sock from "Knitting Vintage Socks"
Online Supersocke 100 Sierra

K3P2 rib
Socks that Rock Heavyweight in Ruby Slippers




Priscilla's Dream Socks from "Favorite Socks"
Morehouse Merino 2-ply and local alpaca stripes
and
Braid-Relation Mittens
Dale Heilo


cuff-down heel-flap socks
Mirasol Hacho shade 305 (2.1 skeins)


generic toe-up socks
6-ply Opal in black and melon

generic socks
Online Supersocke 100 Tropic Color

And, if anyone is keeping track, somehow I missed taking a photo of:

Ribbed Lace Socks from "Sensational Knitted Socks"
Socks that Rock Mediumweight Smoky Topaz

Favorite Thing on the First

In an effort to write a little more frequently here-- I introduce my favorite thing on the first for January, 2008...


The book "Small Sweaters" by Takle and Kolstad. I have yet to knit anything large from the book, only mittens, but lust after the luscious and intricate colorwork. Maybe this will be the year in which I knit the squirrel sweater or am inspired to spend the time on an all-over stranded knitting project of my own design?

Happy New Year!

2008 Knitting Intentions

Okay, I've been getting a crazy bunch of knitting done, but clearly no blogging about it, so oh well...

I got bitten by some sort of hat bug this fall (initially inspired to use up stash with the Yarn Harlot's unoriginal hat) and after churning out 6 or 7 hats of various sorts for family members and 1 for a friend (who doesn't wear hats but requested one years ago :) ), I have knit at last count 10 hats for Afghans for Afghans. I'm using up tons of leftovers and am really enjoying mixing and matching all those little odds and ends, to quite good effect, I think.

My more usual knitting has suffered as a result. I am stuck halfway through pair number 15 for the "bag o' socks", even though I adore the yarn (Dream in Color Smooshy sock in the Dusky Aurora colorway bought on impulse at one of my LYS's this past month, despite them having reorganized part of their store by color, which I am utterly irritated by).

I am working on Salina from Vintage Knits for myself out of black Rowan Cashsoft and want to finish it up before Valentine's day. The front and back are both done, so it really shouldn't take too long to finish it if I focus on it. I also have a vest for myself and a sweater for a daughter on the needles that would be good to get done this winter. There are 4 or 5 other things I've started lately, but haven't been sticking with anything really besides the hats. I feel like I go through really pronounced phases with my knitting and just need to remember that I eventually will be back on a finishing-up kick. It's okay to just knit hats right now and let the other things wait!

Anyway, now to some of my knitting intentions for 2008:

1. knit from stash when possible, making an effort to use up odd bits
2. when buying new yarn, make sure it is well-considered, not just getting it because the price is right
3. knit sweaters for me, hubby, younger children
4. knit some lace again
5. knit a baby surprise jacket just because
6. knit for Afghans for Afghans
7. knit more washcloths (yeah, I know, dear, just take me out and shoot me now that things have come to this...)

Okay, since I publicly revealed that last item: I also just discovered knitted washcloths. I was working through those odd bits and pieces I keep mentioning and needed to do something with the Blue Sky Cotton, so washcloths it was (from Knitting for Baby). They are so nice! I don't even use washcloths (just the little kids do in the bath), but I want some for myself now too.
Tell me I'm not alone in knitting something I swore I never would :).

I need to take a new picture of the kitty, too. He has gotten bigger already and is still sweet as ever. At the vet on Saturday, when we brought him for his shots, they said they could neuter him right then (and did we want to watch? erp), so he had a rough couple of days, but seems fine again already. Oh yeah, and we finally agreed on a name: "Captain Jack Whiskers".

New Putty Tat!

20 years after having gotten Mr. BooBoo kittens for his birthday, we got a kitty again. He's playful and skittish, purry and smelly, and we are happy to have a cat in the house again (it's been about a year and a half since we lost our Annabel). He's adjusting pretty well; there has been only one bad "pee incident" (in a bed- yuck).

I've been on a good knitting roll. I have been chugging away at the Tangled Yoke Cardigan and have done the body up to the armpit and one sleeve. My row gauge is a little funky, so I may have to figure out how much I should really knit of the yoke before beginning the cable or I may just hope for the best and follow the pattern as written.

The Black is Back sweater is stalled. I knit it too long and snipped off some length at the bottom of the back and the front, but was a bit too careless, so it will take some work to repair and it is far too dark in the house in the evening for me to see what I'm doing on it. Oh well, someday I'll get back to it. Since I failed to finish that quick knit (ha ha) for Mr. BooBoo's birthday, I hauled out the Striped Raglan sweater that I began for him last spring and finished that up only one day late. (It will look a little tidier once washed, but he seems to like it, and, maybe I'm wrong here, but I don't actually think it looks too goofy!)

I'm still working on the soft kid mittens from last month. They have been my P.T. project and I have met some other knitters there as a result, so that is kind of nice. 2 pairs are done except for thumbs :) and the ribbing is done for one of the 3rd pair.

Sock knitting has stalled a bit. I have 2 pairs on the needles, both for the bag o' socks:
1."Dead Calm" socks with Ellen's halfpint farm merino sock yarn in a lovely variegated deep blue and a twisted cable running down the sides and 2. plain DK weight stockinette socks out of Mirasol Hacho in a funky gold, brown, and green colorway.

I was so pleased to find the Mirasol yarns at my LYS when I escaped the house (and in-laws)
last weekend. They all looked really nice to me-- and the ones with alpaca were soooo soft.
I also picked up some Claudia Handpainted silk lace to make a stole or shawl for one of my friends. It is gorgeous and I hope not too busy for lace. I'm thinking of making the melon shawl from Victorian Lace Today, but I want to finish up some of these other WIPs so that I can concentrate on the shawl once I begin (if I don't just chug straight through on projects that require some attentiveness, they likely get too messed up to continue and I don't want that to happen this time.)

September update

Well, it seems a month has gone by. I always forget how busy we get when the school year begins. Even with all the evening activities, I have been knitting, even finishing the occasional thing, and I as well made another tote bag and finished up a Waldorf-style baby doll. Yay, me.

First, the tote bag. This one is a ballet bag for one of my daughters since I got on a bit of a kooky crafty mom kick-- my little girl certainly shouldn't head off to her first ballet class with a mass-produced ballet bag (oh, the horror). It was a good idea to follow the same pattern again (Lotta Jansdotter): I learned some things to watch out for when I made the first one (all "duh" things really, like making sure the bottom part of the bag would line up on each side this time) and I felt confident enough to make and install a lining. All in all, I think it came out quite beautifully, and I've got some fabric lined up to sew yet another one shortly (squirrels!).


Last spring, I began and nearly completed this Waldorf baby, and didn't get back to it, even though all I had left to do was sew the sleeves to the arms. Why the wait??? I don't know-- even though I am a slow and terrible seamstress, it couldn't have taken me more than 20 minutes to do this last bit, and now we have a much loved new addition :).



On the knitting front, I started and completed the Back to School vest from Fitted Knits with stash Karabella Aurora 8. This was a quick and enjoyable knit. I added some extra inches to the ribbed portion which were much needed, so it took a bit more yardage than stated in the pattern, but other than that, made no (purposeful!) modifications.

I should have just kept working on the Striped Raglan Sweater for my husband and it would be a FO by now, but, no... I've cast on for a different one. I'm following the directions for the Set-In Sleeve Sweater from the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, but modifying for additional length through the arms and torso. He wants a plain black sweater to replace a store-bought one of 15 or 20 years ago that wore out long ago. It's a boring knit, but I am liking the yarn (Cascade Pastaza) and it does knit up fast at 4 stitches to the inch. I hope it won't be so hot that it doesn't get worn.

And, finally, for me, I succumbed to the lure of the Tangled Yoke cardigan from the latest IK. I initially swatched for it in stash yarn, but was unhappy, so I went ahead and ordered some Rowan Felted Tweed in a greyish-pinkish-purplish color (142) that should work well with most of the more neutral parts of my wardrobe. It's exactly this kind of decision that I have been finding Ravelry so useful for-- the ability to see what yarns others used/ are using all together and see how happy they are with the pattern as written. So far, it's coming along well, albeit slowly. (Note to self: you have never once liked knitting garter rib, so even though you like the way it looks, you ought to just admit you will not be willing to knit inches and inches of it.)

Oh, and I almost forgot, in order to avoid these sweater projects and the stagnating afghan projects, over the past week, I made some birthday legwarmers for one of my girls and one mitten each for my 2 littlest kids out of a wonderful yarn-- Cascade Cloud 9-- it's so soft and squooshy and I only wish all our upholstered furniture were covered in it, imagine the lovely naps on the couch if that were so... The mittens are again based on the schema in the Small Sweaters book, but have my own designs, and I will take photos when finished.