145 posts tagged “knitting”
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 went to the Purlescence sale yesterday. I was trying to stay away, but I was holding out hope that All Seasons Cotton would be on sale, so I could get some to make Manon. It wasn't, but I found some Maizy and Puffin that I liked, for socks and a baby blanket, respectively. Then I broke down and go the All Seasons Cotton too. I am accumulating sweater quantities of yarn. I need to get on the ball and start knitting sweaters faster.
I also wore my Tomato yesterday. I was going to wear it on Friday for HK, but Friday is preschool day with Stefan and I didn't really want paint and/or play dough or any of the other things the preschoolers were like to smear on it.
So while I was at Purlescecne, I picked Sandi and Nathania's brains about fit adjustments. Sandi measured my shoulders and helped me measure bust in the front versus the back, so I know how much more fabric I need. I noticed in wearing the Tomato that the shoulders are slightly too big and that the side "seam" where the shaping is gets pulled forwards and the sweater bags slightly in the back. I have a lot of adjusting to do! I think that Cookie was right recently when she pointed out that since I change patterns so much, maybe I should just start from scratch. I am going to get some knitwear design books out of the library and do that sometime soon, I think. I hope. You know, in my copious free time!
I seem to have a touch of startitis, so here's a shot of the Montego Bay Scarf that I started in BMFA Bambu. It's soft and lovely and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.
Tagged by AnnieB. I know I've done this before but I figured I'd update it.
1) Bold things you’ve done,
2) Green thing you are currently doing
3) Red out things you’ve abandoned or will never attempt
4) Italicize things you want to try
Afghan
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Baby items
Bobbles
Button holes
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Cardigan
Charity knitting
Continental knitting
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Drop stitch patterns
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing yarn
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Freeform knitting
Fulling/felting
Gloves
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Hair accessories
Hat
Holiday related knitting
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
I-cord
Intarsia
Jewelry
Kitchener BO
Knitting a gift
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting socks
Knitting to make money
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Machine knitting
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Olympic knitting
Participating in a KAL
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks: toe-up
Socks: top-down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching
Sweater
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male how to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy/doll clothing
Tubular CO
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting
Writing a pattern
I've been busy, huh?
I finished my Tomato tee today! (Ravelry project details.) I'm very pleased with it. I have to say that I was a bit anxious how it would turn out when I tried it on before washing it. It just looked droopy and not very flattering.
But, Pakucho is magic in the washing machine. All the knitting evens out and it shrinks about 10% into a wearable garment!
I am a sneeze away from being done with my Organic Chocolate Tomato tee. I've been quietly knitting away on it. It's hard for me to tell if it's going well, since it will shrink 10% when I wash and dry it the first time. It doesn't look great now, but hopefully that will change. I also have mixed feelings about the colorwork, but I think I will like that much better after washing as well. Washing fixes everything!
The thing washing won't fix is that the ribbing on the one sleeve I finished is too loose. I'm going to reknit it with smaller needles. Cookie helpfully pointed that out to me, but was kind enough to also warn me not to show her my sweaters, because she'll always find something wrong. Duly noted, Cookie!
I have also pulled my Lotus Blossom Tank out of hibernation. It was actually pretty much finished. I had sewn the shoulder seams and just had to finish around the edges and it was done. But, it wasn't right. I did two sets of short rows for the bust and that was too much. In addition, I hadn't knit far enough on the sides so it did some ugly angling things. I ripped back to right before I started the second set of short rows and I'm moving forward. It might even be done in the right season!
I knit another one of those adorable bunnies. This one is going off to my cousin's wife (along with the gift I knit for their baby that I have been meaning to send for months! shame on me) for her niece who was in an accident. I wanted to knit her something soft and cuddly for her recuperation. I read on my cousin's wife blog today, though, that she's diving off the couch to scare her parents already, so maybe she's done needing cuddly things. Hopefully she'll enjoy it anyway. The yarn I made it out of is Puffin by Crystal Palace which is like strips of microfleece. It's very soft. (Ravelry project details)
The only other thing I've been doing is planning for future projects. I slipped at Purlescence today and bought 13 more balls of Rowan Purelife to make the No Gap Wrap sweater form More Big GIrl Knits. That wasn't why I went there. Darn those yarn fumes.
I also picked up some Rowan Damask to use as the accent yarn in the Slipstream Pullover, also from More Big Girl Knits. I knit it up in the garter stitch slip pattern with the hempathy I had to see how it looks. I like it. I just need to knit another swatch of the Damask to wash a few times to see how it holds up. The yarn label says it's very delicate, but I want to see what it really can stand.
I finished my Shedir a couple of days ago. I really liked this pattern and this yarn (Calmer). Niels and Stefan wanted to model it too.
Kristi's sock design, Froot Loop, is one of the Knitty spring surprises. Check them out!
Congrats, Kristi!
My friend Lisa is participating in The Relay for Life and requested help knitting chemo caps, and Kristi asked me if I had yarn that would work for me to give to Lisa and I decided to knit a few caps for her effort. I started with the Wavy Cable Lace Cap, from Elann. (Project details on Ravelry.)
I cast on right away for Shedir from Knitty, using the Calmer that I got from my No Sheep swap pal. I'm already in love with the yarn just from casting on. I can't wait to knit myself a garment with it, but for now, I'm going to enjoy knitting this hat.
