It's 2021

Well, hello, new year.

I'm still working away on the project for the TKGA Master Knitter certification. Progress is slow, but steady. I'm about half way to the armhole steeks. I'm hoping to have most of the knitting finished by the end of January.

In the mean time, designer brain is still working. I've proposed a few designs for publication and an article. I have to learn to send them out, then let go. Instead I'm pinging my email for responses that will not come for weeks. 

New Schedule

 Well, big news.

TKGA decided to publish a special issue to showcase the 2020 competition entries. We had the option to submit the pattern and since I actually wrote one while I was working up the project, I sent it on. So now, I am officially a published designer. Check it out on Ravelry.

So, design brain is getting in the way of my Master Knitter project, but more on that some other time. I did finish the sleeves before the end of the year. The body is cast on, but I'm still working on the waist edging. I hope to begin the stranded work by the end of the year.

The new schedule is to finish in time for Texas Bluebonnet season 2021. That way, I can take a photo of my beautiful sweater with it's inspiration.

Hats Hats Hats

 Hats, hats, hats.

I've been designing. I blame that contest. While I did not win or place, the process seems to have triggered something and I became somewhat obsessed. The only thing to do was to drop the TKGA masters sweater and give in. 

So, here we go.....

The star stitch pattern has a lot of future designs. I've done a child's size sweater but I'm not yet happy with the neck opening. In the mean time, here is a hat done in KnitPicks Brava sport. 

I thought that even though the Brava is marked as sport weight it worked up more like DK. 

I'm calling this one the Stars Around Hat. 

Then I got into some alpaca and did a lace pattern called Smiling Diamonds. So, it is the Smiling Diamonds Hat.

It took some fiddling to get the crown to work. This hat has a little I-cord top knot, just because. 

The alpaca was ancient, but I think any soft DK weight yarn would work well. 

The picot edge is folded over, and I put an elastic headband inside. That way, the hat will stay put even if the alpaca decides to go saggy. 

Next up is the Migration Hat. It is also alpaca and also has some elastic inside. 

 

It is worked from the top down, and I really like how the crown turned out. It looks almost like a four leaf clover. 

After some futzing around I was able to load them on Ravelry so now I have a little shop there. 

Many thanks to my friend Kendall who modeled for me. She will be getting a Stars Around hat in her own personal colorway.

So much for the schedule

 Well well. 

I planned to beaver away at my beautiful TKGA certification project and complete two sleeves this month. Then that designer bug I had caught got into my head. 

I designed a hat. I may rip apart the band and redo it as the cast off I chose is way too tight. But, the chart is done and instructions are written. I need to take a better picture, but here is an OK one:

Now, I'm working on a child sized pullover with a circular yoke. I want to sprinkle the decreases so that they don't line up. I was worrying about creating an impossibly complicated set of instructions as I worked through the sizes.

Last night my brain figured out how to work out the instructions. It was a blinding flash of the obvious. Turns out that if I choose increments of 18 for the yoke stitch count I can write all the decrease rows the same, adding one new row for each size. Gauge for this design is 5.25 sts/inch so adding 12 sts to the body increases the chest width about 2" which is about one size. 

 So, when I work out the same design for adults, I'll begin with the yoke and work back from there. 

I hope to finish my current design this week at which point I will go make my second sleeve. 

First Sleeve has some ends

I just now finished the knitting for the first sleeve of my TKGA final project. That puts me pretty close to the schedule I made up last week. I do have some ends to work in. 

Earlier today I loaded, unloaded and spread 600 pounds of compost/manure on part of my front yard. I had ground cover before Hurricane Harvey. When the backhoes came to pick up all the stuff that was removed from the house - furniture, doors, drywall, bedding, you know - your whole life on the curb - they scraped up the ground cover too. Two and a half years later it had refused to grow back, so I bought some top soil and planted more Asian jasmine. While it has not died, it has not flourished and I think there is something missing from the top soil. I put that same soil in some porch planters and am having trouble getting things to grow there as well. So, I held back two sacks of manure/compost for the planters and put the rest on the jasmine. We should have some rain later this week so it can start working it's organic magic and maybe in the spring that section of the yard will have recovered. 

In any event, I'm tuckered.

Design Fever

I apparently am quite thrilled about hacking the star stitch. It does not seem like much, but sometimes it seems miraculous. In any event, I'm designing a child's size sweater and beanie now. Yesterday, I went into a frenzy, thinking I could work it up for some random publication deadline. I thought it through, and am calmer now. Maybe there will be pictures of said sweater in the future. 

Today, I resorted my priorities and went back to the TKGA masters sweater. I decided upon a schedule - work the sleeves in October, the body in November and December. January will be finishing and reviewing my written work.  

I am a few rows from finishing the first sleeve repeat and I'm pretty happy. I remeasured gauge and needed to tweak some numbers, but not so much that ripping or a major rewrite was involved. 

Then I made Chap Jae for Neighbors night out. 

Almost October

 Hmmm, haven't posted since April. Blogger looks different. Stuff happens when you don't pay attention. 

Pandemic depression. I spent a few months not doing much of anything but knitting and working Sudoku puzzles. I hope most of that is over. I'm riding my bicycle a few times a week and trying to walk the other days weather permitting. 

I was so glad that Laura and Sally landed east of us. Beta was some welcome rain, but now the bicycle path is flooded. 

Oh, and I'm working on some designs. 

Maybe I'll be posting less and focusing on designs. Maybe. 

First, is the TKGA masters certificate sweater. I just cast on. I did the swatch way back in May or June. It took a while to get it right and then for KnitPicks to restock the colors I wanted. 

Here is the swatch. Tell me it is pretty.

I also entered some gloves into the TKGA contest. I wrote the pattern so if someone wants to test knit it to check I'll send it onto the first person who asks. 

My husband took the photos. I think they are great.