Month: May 2010

My weekend finished object

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Or: This yarn is going DOWN!

I’ve had this yarn in my stash longer than I’ve been knitting. It is brown sheep lamb’s pride worsted, but it never did knit into a worsted weight pattern. And I tried, oh how I tried. I’ve knit sweater after sweater with this yarn only to have it go terribly wrong.  Finally, my friend Sarah had me borrow a rowan cork pattern book, since that gauge is bulky, hoping that I could manage to get a proper gauge in a bulky pattern instead. And you know what? I did.  Perfect gauge though I must say it isn’t a tight knit. But it works, and for me right now, that is what counts.

The pattern is called Stevie.  It is nice and big and comfy and really really warm.  I love the cabling up the front and I hope that someone gets good use out of it. Will that be me? I am not sure. I am not overly fond of the ribbing throughout, but it may do well enough in the winter with a collared shirt under it.  I am also tempted to bring it to my brother to see if he’d wear it.

This weekend has been just about perfect. I’ve had what really does feel like a holiday, much has been accomplished around the house, much time has been spent with the Bug, much relaxing has been done, a few late nights and morning sleep in’s, and a lot of good craftiness.  I couldn’t be more pleased.  It also means I’ve a lot to blog about this week, stay tuned!

Almost there….

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I had myself convinced I’d finish the sweater this weekend. Then I remembered how long it takes for a blocking sweater to dry. I realized it wasn’t likely to happen. I finished all the pieces last night, the soaked and blocked immediately.  This morning I realized that it will probably be dry by tomorrow.  Now I have to remember just how long seaming and finishing takes. I need to remember that my entire day will consist of finishing this sweater tomorrow.  But today is a day off from the sweater!

My other half

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Fiberwise that is….

I promised this a few days ago, but I was too busy spinning to get a picture.  This is the 3 ply skein which Carin made for me out of her crown mountain farms roving. This is 340 yards of heavy fingeringweight yarn. I am telling you, it is uber soft, way softer than how I spin. Which is half the fun of trying someone else’s yarn!

I am surprised at how this turned out after having watched it be spun. The colorway is Atlantis, and it had a lot of color in it. Random bits of pinks and yellows. But in the end it leans toward a camo color.  I am not complaining, it is still really pretty…its just I never cease to be amazed at how different each roving looks once it is spun. This is what feeds the addiction, constant amazement!

Froggin’

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And I am not talking about my frankensleeve. I frogged that last week. Now I am talking spinning, as I’ve finally finished all 8 oz. of the BMFA merino, in colorway Froggin’.  I got about 900 yards out of this yarn, in a 3 ply light fingeringweight yarn.  I am convinced this is some of my best spinning yet, I suppose there is something to be said for both practice and the thought that someone else will be looking at this skein. I traded half of this batch for half of some crown mountain farms that Carin from Round the Twist spun. It is really nice to be able to trade half of such a large batch!

I’ll get a picture of that crown mountain farms handspun up tomorrow!

Frankensleeve

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Exactly one week ago I created a monster. At the time, I didn’t realize what I was creating, but once it was done, it became abundantly clear. I am not saying there weren’t a few red flags along the way….I just chose to ignore them, as is typical for me.

You see, I was working on the sleeves for the sweater I am making out of yarn that I am desperate to use up. To say I am trying to speed through it would be an understatement.  So I finished up the front and the back with no issues (strangely enough) and started the sleeves. The sleeves are worked in a rib pattern and all was going well until about midpoint in the sleeve, when I had to put it down over the weekend. When I finally picked it up again, I kept having these strange conversations with myself.  Such as:

“I thought I was supposed to increase to 46 stitches, why does it now tell me 50?”  “Oh, I must have misread.”

“45 cm just doesn’t seem long enough for this sleeve!”

“I didn’t realize that this sleeve was a raglan sleeve…I wonder how this is all going to go together?”

“Why would it ask me to begin the raglan decreases without rib? It seems strange to end a rib here. I think I am just going to continue in ribbing.”

“OK ok, I just don’t GET how this sweater goes together.  Maybe I should read the directions (yes, yes, this has been a problem before.)  Hm, why does it talk about knitting a collar? I don’t want to make a collar. It doesn’t LOOK like this sweater has a collar. I just don’t understand this sweater!”

By this time I had completed my sleeve. Only to realize that I had somehow managed to turn the booklet over and begin working on a sleeve for a different sweater about halfway through.

Frankensleeve!

Wrap it up weekend

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Even though I haven’t finished anything major, I feel like I’ve spent the weekend wrapping up various projects, or various parts of projects. For instance, I finished the front of my current sweater and cast on the arms. I worked through the heel of a second sock for my mom in order that I could mindlessly knit when given the opportunity, and I finished spinning my 8 oz. of BMFA sheep to shoe kit.  The sleeves still need to be knit, the spinning still needs to be plyed, but the mindless socks seem to have knit themselves into completion.  Well, in actuality I am going to the post office soon and I thought it might be nice to send out some socks for mom when I go.

Sorry mom, it feels rather cold this evening and I am keeping them on until I warm up a bit!

The weather is clear

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Clear enough for me to photograph the socks I finished last week!  You could almost say it is sunny. You could NOT say it is warm.

I’ve finally finished my Glynis socks that I was doing as a KAL with the Round the Twist group as well as entering in sock knitters anonymous for the month of April.

The yarn is tempted yarns glam grrl, it has a bit of silver in it. I purchased this so long ago!  I love the semi solid look of it and the yarn was lovely to work with.  The finished sock is great too, fits really well, I look forward to wearing them. As soon as possible.

I can conquer this yarn

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And I WILL!

I’ve had some lambs pride worsted in my stash since before I even started knitting. I had purchased it with the intention to crochet an afghan, but having just done so with another color, I never got around to it.  Since my crocheting days are predominately over, I decided I should knit the yarn into a sweater instead.

It was then that I began to run into problems. The yarn is too heavy to be called a worsted and I can never get gauge.  I’ve tried at least 4 different sweaters, one of which was 80% knit before I realized it wasn’t going to work.  So now what?

Well, I decided if I can’t get gauge as a worsted yarn, perhaps I can use it as a bulky yarn.  I looked at a couple different patterns, not quite settling on anything, and then my friend Sarah told me she would let me borrow her rowan cork book. A pattern book with all bulky projects.  I was then able to pick a project to begin, got gauge, and went to town. I’ve finished the back of the sweater and started the front.

I love this bulky cable, it looks fantastic. I would have to say that they yarn doesn’t knit up quite as tightly as one might like it to, but in order to conquer this yarn, I’ve decided it will be just fine.

The down side? I have at least enough yarn to knit another full sized adult sweater. Grr.

The First Concert

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Bug had her first school concert yesterday. She did a lovely job singing, as did the rest of the school.  She was very excited about it, and I noticed she even had quite an emotional let down once it was all over.

But the events and comments leading up to the concert were far more amusing than the concert itself.

It all started a couple weeks ago when a few of my friends had decided to go out to dinner. I thought perhaps I should get a sitter since I rarely do, and Bug was very excited to see her sitter after a long absence.  And since I had a sitter, I thought perhaps I should also put on a little makeup for dinner out. So while Bug was having her dinner, I snuck into the bathroom and put on make up. When I came out of the bathroom, She said “Mom! You put on make up! I really like it when you do that.”  I then asked her why, and she said “Well, it makes you prettier, it makes your eyes look more wide open and your face look cleaner.” I giggle and then went upstairs to look for hidden glamor magazines under her bed!  Rather an astute observation for a 5 yr old.

Once she told me about the concert, she began to give me all the little details she was concerned about. She told me that I should leave work early and get to the concert very early. I asked her why and she told me there wasn’t going to be enough parking. I informed her that I intended to park in my very own driveway and walk. She hoped it wouldn’t rain.

She then let me know that she was going to need to wear a pretty dress that day. I reminded her that we had just purchased a very pretty dress and that we were going to have her wear it. I reminded her that I would get her up nice and early and we would do her hair.  We did so, and once we were done she looked at me and said “Mom, I think you are supposed to dress up too, so maybe you should put a little makeup on!”