29 posts tagged “all seasons cotton”

I just did something incredible: I made soup in five minutes. Those of you who know me in "real life", as they say, or just on Facebook know that I have a VitaMix blender and I have been known to blend odd mixtures, or at least things other people don't want to drink. I haven't used it in a while for some reason but I got some fresh red chard at the Farmer's Market on Sunday and I have a jar of fresh raw cashew milk so I decided that it was time for green smoothies in the morning again. This morning's creation was 1 cup raw cashew milk, 1/2 a small avocado, 1 apple, 4 strawberries, a couple handfuls of red chard leaves and a squirt of agave nectar and it was delicious and very bright green. Getting the blender out and making stock the past couple of days (vegetable one day, chicken the next) reminded me that one of the things that impressed me about the blender before I got it was that the demo guy made soup in it while I stood there so I decided to give it a try. Stefan was asking for tomato soup and the recipe book that came with the blender had a recipe for Tomato, Onion and Cheese Soup. So I made that.
It's 1 large tomato (I used 4 small ones), 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1 Tblsp tomato paste and 1 cup low sodium broth (I used homemade vegetable) in the blender on high for 5 minutes. That's it. I may have used too many tomatoes (2 probably would have been enough) and the onion was a bit too much for me but otherwise it was good. I am definitely going to try it again. I will either reduce the onion, buy sweet or red onion or take the extra few minutes to saute the onions. I might actually use chicken broth if I did it again, to add more flavor. But... how awesome is it that I can put cold ingredients in and get out steaming soup in such a short amount of time? The only downside (other than me rocking some serious onion breath right now) is that the blender sure is loud running for 5 minutes.

In NaNoSweMo news I am up to 5 inches of my sweater. This sweater has an inset front panel but I didn't see any reason not to knit the two fronts and the back in one piece so that's what I'm doing. That makes it difficult to photograph. But here goes. (Plus, you're getting iPhone photos for the next little while until I can figure out why my iPhoto hangs up when I try to export to Flickr.)
I am doing some calculations on the back to add more decreases to the waist and then I'm going to go down to the instructions for one size smaller on the back. I find that if I do that I get a better fitting sweater that doesn't bag in the back. Not bagging is good! I think it's going to work but I need to remember to pay attention to the decreases and bindoff at the shoulder so that I end up with pieces that are the same width at the shoulder. Instead of paying attention to the sleeves from the pattern at all I'm going to do a top down set-in sleeve which will make it faster (no sewing it in!) and hopefully a better fit. My last Norah Gaughan sweater had very snug sleeves. I wondered why they were so slim and then I read a note from Norah on Twitter:

Paraphrased: A slim sleeve makes for a flattering garment. But! Knitter, know thyself =)

Well, I know myself and prefer a less slim sleeve! I'm glad it's not just me though.

I'm making progress on my Slipstream pullover. I don't have any pictures though. One sleeve is done and I am on the raglan decreases of the second. I'll be starting the back soon! That one will be a slog, lots and lots of stockinette stitch! Wish me luck.

I had a class with Cat Bordhi today and aside from learning all sorts of things about sock design and lots of tips for perfect toe-up sock cast ons and how to make your SSKs tighter she gave me some advice for becoming a sought-after tech editor. I am going to follow her suggestions and see how that goes for me.

So, what did I buy? The first day, I bought buttons for  my February Lady Sweater. I walked up to the Button Lady booth with the sweater and said I needed buttons and she pulled out the most perfect green/brown horn button from her vintage buttons box. Fifty cents each!

Perfection. Thursday, I also bought the Woolly Thoughts book on modular knitting ideas from the Village Spinners and Weavers booth.

I was ogling Norah Gaughan Vol. 4 and the flower child sweater. Foolishly, I didn't pick up the yarn for it right then from WEBS. I did get the booklet and on Saturday I ordered the yarn (in a lovely teal color). The other yarn purchases happened at Bobbin's Nest Studio's after Stitches party. I got one ball of Panda Soy solid to coordinate with a variegated color that I have so I can use the solid for the toe, heel and cuff. My impulse purchase was ten balls of chocolate brown Vickie Howell Craft yarn. It's really pretty. I don't know what I'm going to use it for yet. I couldn't not take it though. I love that color.

After all of this my stash number is now at 44394.5 yards or 25.2 miles of yarn. I just finished a whole sweater, but that's still up a mile since my last calculation. That's somewhat disappointing!  Ah well, head down, keep knitting!

Since I couldn't knit on that sweater last night while it was hanging up, I started something new. I've been wanting to knit the Slipstream Pullover from More Big Girl Knits for a while, since the book came out. Last night, I finally cast on and started one of the sleeves. So far, so good!

Stefan wanted the baby tree kangaroo to be in the picture. I love this color of Hempathy. There are a lot of stitches in this sweater, at 22 sts to four inches, but it's going to be lovely and drapey, I am pretty certain.

Now, the only thing I need to remember is that I have homework before my Stitches class this weekend. I might have to use All Seasons Cotton for that, since it's the only sock-appropriate light colored yarn that I have in a heavier weight. I think it will work.

I like these socks and I want to wear them, so I need to finish them! I have made some progress in the past couple of weeks, so that's good. Also, Cookie gave me some Sock Candy for catsitting for her cat and I am itching to cast on with that... or my Panda Soy. So much yarn, so little time. Anyway, I also got some Bamboo yarn from Jeni's going away, she was destashing. I had to tackle Lisa for it, but she was nice enough to give it up.

You can't see very well in the picture, but that is four hanks of Sock Candy. So either I'm going to make two pairs of socks or I need another project. I was thinking about a scarf. I hope that two would be enough, because I do really want to make socks with some of it. The bamboo is from Yarn Place. Freecia (I think?) mentioned that they make socks from it but it's 100% bamboo with absolutely no give, so I'm not sure that is going to be my plan. We'll see.

Next up in the WIP parade is Niels' sweater. I finished the front and back and started the first sleeve but then I got distracted because I need to recalculate the decreases. His arms are much longer than the pattern size and I don't want to have all the decreases before the elbow and then the whole top straight or something. It's getting close, though! Other than all the ends to weave in, of course. Maybe I should focus on finishing it for Christmas. Maybe.

Last, but very muc not least is my Tapestry Cowl in calmer. I love this pattern, am entranced with the technique and I am loving how it's turning out. It needs a lot of focus though, to follow the totally non-repeating chart.



Also, the farther I get into the more the thought of having to kitchener stitch the front to the back looms over my head. That's 110 stitches of each color! I don't generally mind kitchener stitch, I have to say. I think that comes from having started my knitting career on diaper soakers. Theresa and Pam helped me to cut my teeth on knitting in a small, managable format. Theresa, by having very clear instructions in her patterns and Pam by being my friend and encouraging me as well as including me in all of her classes on her forums. I wouldn't be the knitter I am today if it weren't for them. Anyway, when you knit a soaker you have to kitchener the crotch closed. Luckily, though, you use large yarn and it's generally not very many stitches. I'm not sure I'd be so comfortable with the technique if I had started on sock toes with their tiny tiny yarn. This yarn is fairly tiny but it's the sheer volume of stitches to be sewn together that really makes me nervous. I should stop worrying and just knit, right? I'm only on row 20 and I have to do 64 rows of chart and then a few plain rows before the finishing starts.

So, since I got new yarn and have finished at least one project I thought I'd check my stash totals. I am currently up to 60889.6 yards of yarn or 34.6 miles. Um. Oops. That's up a mile since last time I calculated. I haven't purchased any yarn, it's just been finding me. Does that make it better? I didn't think so either. In the interest of decreasing the stash, I put my Regal Silk into my Sell or Trade Stash on Ravelry. I have five hanks of it that I was going to use to make a silk corset for myself. I've basically decided that if I do end up making the silk corset, It's not going to be out of variegated yarn. It's really pretty yarn, though, but I don't know else to do with it. I'm asking for $75 for the whole lot, plus shipping. You know you want to give this gorgeous yarn a home, right? If not, you must have a friend who does, of course. (Please buy my yarn.)

We gave Jeni gifts, giant cupcakes, and recursively blogged each other.

In other news, I finished a hat. It's the Slouchy Copycat Hat. (Ravelry details.) I need to figure out the right way to wear it.

I've also settled on a yarn for Wedgette. It's a pattern by Norah Gaughan that she is giving out bit by bit in the Norah Gaughan Fans Ravelry forum in celebration of there being 200 (I think?) members of the group. There are more than 3000 now. We love Norah Gaughan.

Anyway, I swatched in Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton thinking it would work because it is DK, but I think it will be too heavy and stretch out so I'm going to try it instead in Soy Silk, which may also be heavy. I'm going to take Janice's advice and make the skirt shorter than I really want in anticipation of it stretching out. We'll see how that goes! In the meanwhile, here's a swatch.

Here are a few more pictures, including one of how I did the hook and closures. Initially I sewed them directly to the knitting but then they pulled something awful when hooked so I sewed on a strip of bias tape and sewed the closures to that. I think it looks much better.

I enjoyed knitting the skirt of this sweater most of all. I am already looking forward to my next Norah Gaughan pattern.

I've been sort of completely ignoring Manon. I sewed in the first sleeve and it stinks. I need to take it out and redo it. I think I need to practice more on my sewing in of set-in sleeves. Rogue worked nicely but so far I haven't found it that easy or fun to do. Bah.

manon's sucky sleeve

I also tried to crochet a hat for my friend's daughter this week and it was enormous! I'm having an off week, other than Niels' sweater, which continues to be lovely, I think.

As you can see I got all the way to the shoulders. The loose bit on my shoulder is the back of the collar which needs a three needle bind off and to be sewn down. I didn't want to do that part, though, until I was certain that I was going to keep it as is. Right now, I am certain I am not. I took it in to Purlescence  so I could get Sandi's advice. She's given me good tips on where to change the shape of a garment before and she came through again. I have a plan now which, unfortunately, involves ripping back to the ribbing above the peplum. Here's the plan:

1. Plain st st after picking up for 0.5 inch (with the decreases I already added in at the back).
2. Then 2 inches worth of short row bust darts in the front.
3. The total heigh of the st st (aside from the bust darts) should be 3 inches.
4. Don't forget to redo the decreases of 4 st total (2 in 2 rows on each front) right before underarm bind off.

That might not make sense if you haven't knit this pattern or don't live in my head, or maybe both? If not, sorry, let me try to explain. I knit the size of the peplum (the triangles) that I thought would fit my bust. I know my bust measurement is skewed to the front so after I picked up the designated number of stitches for the back and both fronts I decreased evenly across the back so that section has the right number of stitches for one size down. Then, after knitting what I thought would be a big enough bust, I decreased four stitches in each front to make them match the backs after I knit the portion after the armhole. If I hadn't done that the armhole would have been too big and I wouldn't have had the right number at the shoulder when I got to the three needle bind off. Knitting the backs and fronts in all one piece and finishing the shoulders with a three needle bind off were things I added in to avoid more seaming and also because I'm not sure what is to be gained by having that short side seam.

So, that's what I've been doing recently. Lots and lots of Manon. In stash busting news I sold two balls of All Seasons Cotton to someone on Ravelry because she needed the dyelot I had, which brought my total used or destashed since starting my deal with Kristi to 1447 yards. I also think I have been totalling the wrong column in the stash spreadsheet Ravelry exports for me. No wonder it seems like I didn't have enough yarn! According to the most recent export I have 59,145.10 yards or 33.6 miles of yarn. That's a big difference, eh? Luckily, as soon as I'm done with Manon that will be one mile less. I'm going to have to stick to this deal for a while. What I'd really like to do is stick to it until all of my yarn fits into the four bins I had stacked in the living room and isn't expanding all over the house anymore.

Wish me luck!