16 posts tagged “all seasons cotton”
Karen noted today at BobaKnit that I haven't posted much recently. It's not because I haven't been knitting, I have! Niels is out of school and Stefan didn't go anywhere, and is napping even less since our schedule has become more loose, so I haven't had much online time. Sorry about that! Here's what I've been up to:
1) In the past week or so I knitted a Baby Surprise Jacket for my cousin Betsy's baby. This yarn started out as a February Lady Sweater (more on that later) but it just wasn't working, which is too bad. The yarn itself (All Seasons Cotton, of course) is so nice and squishy in garter stitch, but that variegated purple just wasn't working for me. Now I know why you can still get the variegated shades even though they have been discontinued for a while! Anyway, it makes a darling baby sweater. I might even knit her another sweater, or maybe one for Vibble, because she certainly knows how to rock the hand knits, since I have six or so balls of this yarn left! Remind me not to buy a bag of yarn just because it's cheap when I'm not sure I like the color, okay?
So the sweater just needs some buttons and I'm not sure I love the crochet button hole I added at the top after I realized that I started too far down with the buttons. We'll see if that changes. (Ravelry project details)
2) The Ribby Pulli is almost done. I need to weave in some ends. Something about this yarn does not lend itself well to ends being woven in, or rather, ends staying woven in so I'm splitting the plies in two, tying a well placed (I hope) knot and then weaving in the split plies in a way that they won't show on the front. It's tedious to say the least. Also, I'm not sure my bod can handle this sweater. It's very va-va-voom, which is good on some parts and not so good on others. I know you all get my drift, right?
3) I started the February Lady Sweater, twice. I started it in the above purple All Seasons Cotton and I was so in love with it that I found myself browsing CucumberPatch on eBay for colors I liked on sale. (Ugh, this is why I need to stay away from her store, I just bought her last bag of Military All Seasons Cotton because it's the yarn I used for Erik's sweater and I have six balls of it left and with another bag I can certainly knit something for myself. That yarn is addictive.) Anyway! For the February Lady Sweater I realized that I should stash dive rather than buy something new so I am using the soy silk I bought at my first stitches which has already been knit into two different projects, neither of which panned out. Third time's the charm, right?
This picture also gives me a chance to show off my adorable Ravelry Daily Dose of (plant) Fiber bag. I really like it. I think I'll get more use out of it than I would have out of the shirt, since I wasn't fast enough to get the shirts when they first came out.
In non-knitting news, I'm preparing for our trip to the Netherlands. We leave in just over a week. Well, there is some knitting news there. I was debating which projects to take. I think I'll take the Lady Sweater, a couple of sock projects and then some of my oddballs that I've gotten for swatching and my Barbara Walker treasury. I want to design a sweater for myself from scratch rather than constantly changing other people's designs.
I was going to say that I had truly non-knitting news: I'm trying to get myself to bike again. Lisa, a BobaKnitter, recently upgraded her bike trailer and generously passed on a Burley trailer that someone had given her to me. She thought she had forgotten a piece so I hadn't tried it out. She looked around for it and told me recently that she thought that the piece must be in the trailer itself, so I gave it a shot today, and it was in there. Last week when Niels was at my mom's I had taken Stefan to the library in the bike seat but he didn't like that. I'm not sure if it was my backpack in his face, the fact that I was really low in air for the first half of the ride or the wobbliness of riding on the back of a bike pedaled by someone who hadn't ridden a bike in (oh my god) 13 years. In any case, he wasn't interested in getting back in that seat but he and Niels were both excited to try the trailer. Its tires needed air too, so our first stop was the gas station and then I just rode around our neighborhood a bit, trying to get a feel for the bike again. It was fun. I'm going to try to bike over to Niels' gym camp tomorrow to drop him off. It's right by his school so it will be good practice for the fall! I have been eyeing the Xtracycles (I like the Electra Townie one) and I still think I want to get one eventually. There is not much room in that trailer for both kids, besides, I really like the idea of having them closer to me.
The way all that is knitting related is that I'm hoping to lose a bit of weight and then the above va-va-voom-y sweater might fit me better and I can wear it in public! Wish me luck.
I am finally ready to declare my Oblique done. Finally. (Ravelry details.)
Sorry I didn't smile. I have a hard time photographing myself. Anyway, since I last thought I was done I took out the ribbing and did it on smaller needles (6s instead of 9s) and I undid the k2togs holding the crossed part together. It was pulling oddly. Instead I tacked the sections together at the ribbing and at the edge, so it stays. I think it looks much better.
My favorite part of this sweater, though, is the side shaping, I think.
I've been working on Oblique, trying to get it finished by stitches. I haven't made much progress, well I made progress then I ripped it out. I was all the way to the bottom ribbing and I put it on and realized that it was awful. Boiled ass is how I described to the BobaKnitters. While I was trying it on one of the times I found myself thinking "too bad I can't overlap it like this and make it stay that way." Then I realized, I could do just that, by making it a pullover! So that's what I'm doing. I ripped back to where I needed to be on the front increases and then increased again, this time using the textured lace pattern. When I had enough of that, with some overlap, I knit on the collar and then connected the fronts and did some bust decreases in the texture lace section until it was as wide as the back section of the same stitch pattern. I don't know if that makes any sense. Here's a picture:
I think it looks good so far! I hope it continues to look good. (The white thread across my bust is a lifeline, in case I needed to rip back to where I connected the fronts.)
On Thursday Niels' teacher asked me to make her a hat. The funny thing is, I didn't make her a hat for Christmas because I had seen her wearing several knitted and crocheted hats so I didn't think she needed anymore. She told me that those hats belonged to her cousin and she had to return them. So I whipped her up an Unoriginal Hat from two skeins of All Seasons Cotton Printed, one in Grape one in Native. (Project details on Ravelry.)
I had a Knitty sort of day. I knitted up a quick Calorimetry (Ravelry project details) for myself and finished up a cute little Kate cat (Ravelry project details) for a classmate of Niels' The only trouble with finishing toys is that the kids really like them. That is good, if I am making whatever it is for them, not so good if I want to give it away. Stefan took it from my hand and gave it a HUGE hug, laying on top of the cat on the ottoman of my mother's glider. He did give it back but I see another one of these in my future.
I decided that I didn't want to snip and repair, I wanted to drop back to fix the mis-crossed cable in my menorah pillow. Fixing the cable wasn't a problem, what was hard was then knitting back up the flame for that branch of the candelabra. I don't think it's an invisible fix and now I'm wondering if I ruined it. I hope not.
I was trying to convince myself that since I finally came out of the knitting black hole with the body (I swear it was 16 inches forever and then jumped to 20 inches), that I could finish Erik's sweater by Thursday, our anniversary. To that end, I took the three pieces of it to BobaKnit this afternoon, prepared to join them and start decreasing for the yoke. On the plus side, I did actually manage to join them and begin the decreases. On the minus side...
I know, you're looking at it wondering what the problem is, right? I'll give you a hint, look at the decreases on the sleeves. Yes, they are both facing the same direction, to the left. Now look at your arms, do your thumbs both face left? I thought not.
We decided that it must be Janice's fault for not noticing that I was doing it, since she has an eye for detail. Oh, and she left early, so we all got to blame her. It's good to have a scapegoat.
Now, if you need me, I'll be on the couch, disconnecting the sleeves and trying to at least reconnect them tonight so that I will have made some progress on this sweater tonight.
I am still working on the Starghan, but I am also knitting again.
I've actually made quite a bit of headway on my Lotus Blossom tank. I have finished the front and am working my way up the back. I think it looks pretty good so far. I have high hopes for it. I might try to add some short sleeves, if I have enough yarn. I doubt that I will, though.
I made another crocheted wash cloth today at BobaKnit. Anabel helped me understand what was meant by a "long dc" and Karen reassured me that I'm not crazy, that different patterns word which stitches to skip differently. I'm not even sure that makes sense right now! I'm really pleased with how the colors turned out in this one. I like how in crochet you get splotches of colors rather than stripes with the variegated yarn. It's pretty cool.
I'm still knitting, of course. The Husband Hybrid is farther along than the picture here. At this point I have finished the second sleeve and am past the point where I knit the cast on edge into the work. So now I just need to knit and knit and knit for about 18 inches. That's 220 stitches for 18 inches. Oh my.
Just in case I didn't have enough knitting in a circle, I cast on for a stockinette sock at my parent ed class for Niels' school. I wanted something I could just knit that was more portable. Mission accomplished! I don't have a clue what kind of heel I'll do. I figure that's nor important for at least a couple more inches.
Not pictured, but still getting some knitting attention is my Lotus Blossom Tank. Too much attention, actually. I put in two sets of short rows for the bust and I think I went overboard. I slipped it all onto waste yarn and tried it on tonight and the second set of short rows is definitely overkill. I'm going to rip back to before I started them and then it's just straight knitting on that for about three more inches. It doesn't sound so bad, except that it's 260 st around! Is it any wonder that I'm crocheting little dish cloths all over the place?
I have completed the lace part of my lotus blossom. I was going to say that I feel like I'm in the home stretch but those long boring rounds of stockinette are a snooze-fest. I'm determined to finish this top with enough time to wear it before it gets cold. I think I have at least six weeks, though. It shouldn't take me that long. (I hope this isn't famous last words.)
