A newly discovered cowl, and another present finished.

This is something I made about a year ago from some my first yarn spun on a drop spindle. It was a BFL roving from Dicentra Designs, and I love the color, I meant it to be a headband type thing, or a sort of hat with a ponytail hole. This year, it turns out that it is a cowl..excuse the self-photography. And I finished another Montego Bay type scarf, although I altered it quite a bit due to different yarn.

I actually cast on 21 stitches and used 5 stitches for the edges instead of the 7 stitches in the pattern. I used a number 6 needle, and I can't remember what the yarn is called.

I took it to Ravelry knit night at Border's and no one else was sure what it was either. I think it is some cotton rayon blend, with one of the plies being a shiny one and the others more dull. I keep thinking maybe it was called Twist.

Alexa's doll is a wonderful model, she holds still and smiles nicely for as long as I need. The scarf is my mom's Christmas present, but I think I am safe because she never looks at this blog.

Alexa's Yoke Sweater

I finished Alexa's Yoke Sweater from Reynolds Yarn. I saw the sample sweater at Fiber Nooks and Crannies and fell in love with the yoke. The cables are so awesome, they decrease from being 6 stitch cables down to two, and thereby carry out the yoke shaping. The Hopscotch yarn is really neat too, a sort of underspun single thick and thin stuff. Very soft, superwash 100% wool. The sleeve striping here is different than the pattern calls for, they used two different colors and only one stripe of each, but honestly I didn't want to buy that other ball of yarn, so I just used one other color and did Fibonacci stripes, 21 rows, 13, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1..

Alexa isn't really into holding still for photos. I also made the sweater a lot skinnier. Alexa is a very thin girl, so I knit the 12-18 month stitch counts and approximately four year old length. I didn't separate the yoke and make a little flap for snaps either. I just skipped the final decrease round, and bound off loosely (I used the K2tog, transfer back to left needle, K2tog etc.-although I am not completely sure this bind off is significantly more stretchy than the basic bind off.) It goes over her head quite easily.

This was my first bottom up seamles sweater, and I really enjoyed it. I am hoping to make more in the future. I grafted the underarms instead of binding off and then sewing up, and they look good.

I am really please with how the sweater came out, but the pattern is awful. There are a lot of errors, I have detailed them in my Ravelry description, so I won't include them here.

So I finished the body of the Montego Bay Scarf, and I tried and tried to get a really nice photo showing the way the stitch pattern shows off the yarn, but I can't do it justice. Trust me, it's beautiful. I didn't have enough yarn to do fringe, so I am working on a buttoning arrangement. I'll show you how it looks when I get it worked out.

The aran sweater is coming along slowly. It feels lovely, and the cabling is beautiful, but those two side panels that move one stitch cables are time-consuming and tedious.


And here we have my current addiction. The Yoke Sweater I am making for Alexa. I have never knit a sweater bottom up, seamless before, but it is really fun. The pattern is irritating. Apparently no one proof read it, so there are errors, which I will detail on Ravelry. However, this mindless stockinette in the round is exactly what I need right now.

There are so many other things going on in my personal life right now that I don't want to think about my knitting too much. They are good things..I started swimming for exercise, and I can swim about 80-85% of a mile now. I am just beginning to lose a little weight which is really exciting. We are working on paperwork to adopt a second child, from Ethiopia! I am trying to figure out ways to help Alexa achieve some of her physical therapy goals. Anyway, busy in a good way, but busy nonetheless. Thanks to the two of you who read my blog now and again!

I am doing my homework

Today I finally had enough of sweaters that don't fit. I have been storing several sweaters in my under bed boxes that just plain don't fit for one reason or another. There is the cardigan that I knit from Pima Tencel that expanded drastically, so now it looks like something for the saggy, baggy elephant. There is the Molly Ringwald sweater, that I knit in a smaller size to accomodate the tendency to sag, which worked in the horizontal direction, but now the armholes are too tight and the straps still slip off my shoulders. As I put these into the resale/donation bag today I vowed to not make that mistake again. So-I decided to use the sleeve of the sweater I am making for Alexa as the gauge swatch. I am making her the Yoke Sweater from the Reynolds Kids book (#82467). I tried to add this pattern to Ravelry, but I don't know if it worked, since I can't find it. I am hoping it is just pending some sort of editorial approval. Also I can't find a picture of this sweater online, so I can't link that. The LYS had a sample sweater that I loved, and the yarn, Reynolds Hopscotch was so soft, I just had to take it home with me. I made the sleeve striping different than the pattern, (Fibonacci stripes!! fun!) My gauge at this point was 5.5 st/in and the sleeve is 11.5 inches long with the end rolled. I just washed it, and now it is drying on top of the dryer. This is my new resolution, not just to knit the gauge swatch, but to wash it and dry it, and maybe even hang it for a day or two to assess its proclivity for growing. (My Apres Surf Hoodie is a couple of inches longer than it was when it was a newborn!)

No more wasting yarn and frogging whole finished sweaters. I am currently pondering frogging the Pimlico Shrug because I just don't wear it. It is really big and baggy, and I don't look slender and waifish and stylish in it because I am not slender and waifish..

Resolution #2: Follow Wendy Bernard's recommendations for choosing your projects wisely. In other words, evaluate whether this sweater fits your lifestyle and your wardrobe. Choose things similar to those store bought sweaters that you wear frequently. I am a mom, I was dishes, I do laundry, I cook...I need to be a little more realistic here about what I will actually wear. In fact I am thinking about scrapping the Backstage Tweed Jacket project for those very reasons. It is really beautiful though..opinions anyone?

Various catching up stuff.

A long time ago, way back in September, we had one of the semi-local annual fiber festivals in Canby called the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. This was my first year to attend, and I was so excited to go. Unfortunately I got sick on the day of the festival. I went anyway, but I had that major head fog and feverish feeling all day. This is not a good way to go to a place that is overwhelming in the first place. There are so many wonderful fibers and people and wheels and I wanted to see it all, and I wanted to take home that perfect thing, but I could hardly make a decision because I couldn't think clearly. Even at my best I am a slow decision maker...I finally bought these two things from the same lady.

Two 8 oz rovings of merino and alpaca (70/30 I think). Unfortunately the tag and receipt don't mention her name or business name..I think she was from Roy, WA. She was selling these for about 20$ each, which was a really good deal IMHOP. I also got some yarn called Inca Organic Cotton in a pretty cream color.

And here we have the Montego Bay Scarf..the picture doesn't do it justice. This open lattice-like stitch pattern really looks great in this yarn. I don't have enough to do the fringe, so I am going to try some sort of button arrangement..I will post a picture when I am done so you can see how it worked out.

I am so frustrated with this sewing project..why is it that the sizing is so wierd on sewing patterns. I measured my waist to determine what size I should make this skirt. My waist measured 34", and the largest size, which was 16 said it was for a 30" waist, so I made size 16. I thought it was a little strange because I wear about a size 10 in skirts that I purchase at a store. It came out way too big, like it actually falls off.

Additionally, the fabric is really heavy, so it was hard to sew the waist yoke and the zipper smoothly. I bought this eons ago, and don't remember how to care for this fabric. So, if anyone out there recognizes it and has recommendations, they would be appreciated. I would just give it away, but I don't know anyone the right size who would actually wear something like this. I like it, but it does look a bit like curtains or a tablecloth...

Currently I am frogging the whole thing, and trying to cut it all down to a size that might fit, although who know what size that is, a 14, 12?

The Aran Sweater wakes up for Fall.

The aran sweater that I promised to knit for my friend has been pulled out of hibernation. I started this in June after finally finding just the right pattern. My dear friend Barbara who lives in Australia asked me to knit her a sweater quite a while ago, like maybe a year ago (eek) and I finally got around to it. (some friend I am!) Anyway, she said she has wanted one of these classic aran sweaters her whole life, and we sent pictures of patterns back and forth for a while before settling on this one from Lion Brand Online Patterns. It only cost a couple of dollars, but the pattern is a disaster to follow in its original format. The whole pattern is squeezed into a single page, very small font, no chart, and furthermore, the cable pattern is written out without abbreviations. (slip two stitches to a cable needle and hold to the back, knit two stitches and then purl two from the cable needle...) I had to translate it into something I could work with, and with the help of my pattern row counter (thanks again turtlegirl76!) I have gotten this far.. I probably would never have knit a sweater like this on my own initiative..but it is really starting to grow on me. The yarn is lovely (Knit Picks Superwash Bare), and the texture is awesome..you run your hand over the top of it and it feels so neat..smooth and bumpy at the same time.

And here is that stuff from Maine Woods Wool that I spun a while ago, but have not been able to photograph to my satisfaction. It looks really neat actually and is quite sproingy. I think this will be socks. Eventually. After I finish a billion other things..
And here we have a big, major, learning opportunity. My mother-in-law Penny and I bought some raw but washed alpaca fleece at the Black Sheep Gathering. We set to work trying to learn how to hand card, but it is hard..Penny is doing pretty well, but the stuff I did has these big lumps in it, like tangles. They make big bumps in the yarn. Maybe I just didn't card it enough? any suggestions anyone?
I may be getting too much fiber on the cards, but it is really hard to pull it apart into smaller chunks to load. Does fleece always stick together like this?