Felting in the Future

The Snow Slipper V2 are completed. There is even a left and a right and they mostly match. I expect they will match better once felted. I prepared this time by preparing my oddballs in advance. This means I selected the yarns and used my kitchen scale and ball winder to divide them into approximately equal portions. Then, using the yarn doubled I worked the pattern until one ran out, spliced the next yarn in and continued on. I am quite pleased with this method of using up the oddballs.

I decided to put off felting until I finished this next felted project - the cat cave.

For the cat cave, I am using the Drops 0- 1381 pattern. I'm a bit anxious that it will work out as other knitters have had to add internal support. My previous experience with the snow slippers is that the extra hot cycle on the double strand worsted creates quite a firm, sturdy fabric.  

I just worked until the ball ran out. Earlier in the month, I did some cleaning and found an intarsia project that had been abandoned. Many colors on bobbins. I had wondered where all my bobbins had gone. They were hiding in a plastic bag with a project that I was no longer interested in completing. I cut them off and tossed them into the felted project box and used them on this cat cave for some random color pops.

While working through the yarns, I picked up one that seemed a bit off in texture. I did a burn test and found that it was acrylic.  I tossed it back in the general odd ball bin and tried to figure out where that was from. It later occurred to me that this was the last bit of yarn from my first adult knitting project way back in the 1980s. That vest is long gone, but it's oddball remains. 

I am on the last set of decreases and expect that both projects will go into the washer with some towels before the end of the week.

Then, I must pull out all the rework and notes for my TKGA submission and complete that and check the work again. 

Or, put it off and make some other oddball project. Maybe another toddler sweater. 

In-between Projects

My daughter does not knit, but apparently she was in a knitting shop of some sort. She sent me a photo of the Soldotna crop, so I figure that she admired it and wanted one. I have seen the pattern on Ravelry and liked it a lot.

I kicked through my worsted stash and found some skeins that seemed to work. I had set them aside for a second attempt at the snow slippers that were so disappointing.

It has been a while since I worked a yoke, and I don't think I have ever made one top down. I found it a bit disorienting, but the pattern was lovely and I found myself wanting to see it finished. So, the whole thing was made in less than a week.

I'll be taking it to her by way of South America in a few weeks.

So, about those snow slippers. I thought I had finished a second pair and found that I worked two booties for the same foot. I threw them in the oddball pile and thought about whether to pick one apart and re-work it, felt them like they were, or move on to a new project and reconsider later. This morning, I did the adult thing and picked apart one and I am currently reworking that second slipper. After that, I plan to make a cat cave out of oddball scraps.

I do have to consider what to bring on my vacation.
Oh, and finish the TKGA resubmissions.

On Schedule Again

Not that it matters, as hardly anyone follows this on and off again knitting blog. Since restarting, I'm trying to post regularly on Tuesdays. Tuesday is garbage day. Tuesday is recycling day. Tuesday is upload photos and write about knitting day. 

As you see, I finished another sweater. It is, as normal, sort of a Frankenstein assembly of parts from other patterns and ideas. Today, I present some notes on my method.

I've really been liking the Norwegian style graphics this year. While cruising on Ravelry, I discovered a load of Sandness patterns that are available for free. This one was shown as a two-color design, but another Raveler, ruthiris,  used three colors and I thought it was really great. So, I did that too.

I have a spreadsheet where I estimate how much yarn I need. I use stitch fiddle to find out the stitch count for a graphic pattern. I weigh completed sweaters so I know about how much a 36" sweater in worsted weighs versus a 40" sweater.

I had three 4 oz balls of this medium blue in stash. It was the largest quantity of my vintage worsted stash left. Naturally, I was searching for the right pattern. I had already decided on some companion colors. I had about 7 ounces of Bernat Sesame in white and some Wool of the Andes that I purchased from KnitPicks. I really liked the hyacinth color and it worked well as a helper yarn with some of my other stash. You can see it in the Inverness sweater from earlier this year.

So, I worked this pattern into my spreadsheet and figured that I did not have quite enough for a 40" sweater, but just enough for 38".  I ended up with less than an ounce so the calculation was really close.

I don't like drop sleeves, so the set in sleeves are courtesy of the Ann Budd grand plan pattern. I knit the sleeves and body in the round to the beginning of the arm holes, then back and forth after that. I do that a lot and it works well. The only seams are the shoulder and the sleeve-to-body.

I just googled the name and found a load of images. Ravelry only has three projects. I didn't think it was such a popular pattern, but I suppose that everyone is not posting on Ravelry after all.

Finishing

I started this a while ago. Then daughter asked for some baby sweaters for gifts for her friends. She has a little pile now, so I went back to this. The Sandness pattern is a single color but I saw a Raveler had used three colors and really lied the way it turned out.

I finished the knitting today and started working in some ends. It is looking pretty nice, I think.

It's neighbors night out in Texas, so I'm going to go make some jalapeno poppers now.

Back from Rhinovirusland

Been off schedule if anyone cares. Spent three weeks on a holiday to the norther US and a short trip to the canyons of Utah on the way back. Then  DH brought a cold home from a business trip. Lots of coughing  and low energy, but I think I'm mostly through it. Enough about me.

I finished this little vest last week. I thought I could do a whole sweater but the green did not that the yardage I expected. This should fit a toddler, perhaps 18 months or so. I have admired a slip stitch pattern called French Weave and used it here. Nice pattern, like a lot of slip stitches it looks more complicated than it really is.

Back to adult sweaters. More on that next week.

I am having too much fun with the slip stitch patterns out of the Barbara Walker books. Not feeling too wordy today but here are some photos.

Playing with Texture

So, I continue to be sidetracked with baby sweaters and using stash odd balls. I remembered that I first started making baby sweaters because I was aspiring to be a designer. I felt I could learn some mysterious intrinsic lessons with a smaller format. Of course, I did not really document what I learned well, so some of that was knowledge was lost years ago. 

I did learn that I preferred working in lighter weight yarns, thus launching me on my current run through all the worsted stash that I have acquired. 

But, designing is fun. I've been doing it with the worsted, modifying patterns, or pasting elements together for a Frankenstein like faux original. 

This one, I went totally rogue. I'm pretty pleased, and the all original design bug has struck. 

As mentioned last time, I went for a basket weave pattern from Barbara Walker V1 to begin. Since I ran out of the plain orange, I felt that I needed a break before working another pattern. I used a row of knots on a reverse garter background and a row of purl on either side. 

Then I went for the Ripple Stripe pattern from Barbara Walker V2, but read the pattern incorrectly. Well, actually, I didn't read the row 5 at all. So, instead of a vertical knit row which is part of the pattern I ended up with a softer ripple pattern. I considered pulling it out but decided that the ripple was just fine and continued on. 

The sleeves are the Swedish Block pattern from Barbara Walker, V1. This is a very simple knit purl that produces a lot of interest. 

I'm pleased with the finished project. 

Next design, I'm planning to document better, and possibly produce a pattern that can be published. I also plan on starting the neck decreases sooner.

Seed Stitch Baby Sweater

So, here is another contribution to the baby sweater box.

I'm kind of designing on the fly. Seems to work OK since the sweaters are so small, mistakes don't take too much time to pull back and re-do.

I designed this one, but sort of didn't . I started with a seed stitch border, and thought I would move to some sort of slip stitch pattern. I tried a few, and didn't like how the variegated yarn looked in the patterns. So, I just went with the seed stitch flow. When I got to the yoke I went with stripes with a garter stripe. I liked the way it looked on the last project.  I'm pretty happy with the final product.

Now, I'm not designing a gansey the same way.

I've been thinking a lot about how I like basket weave patterns. I had some cotton/acrylic from before 2000; enough for a baby sweater, but not enough for much else. So I started off with some basket weave.

Then I needed a new skein and remembered that the orange cotton/acrylic had come in two types, one plain and the other with chunks of otherness.

Since I didn't do the calculations, I reworked the neck twice and the button bands three times. Finally got it where I wanted.

I could have stayed with basket weave, but thought that the change in yarn type would look unintentional.  So, I made a little border and changed to a different knit purl pattern. I picked another for the sleeves.

When I started the second, I noticed the first had a mistake, so it has to be pulled back and worked again.

Oops.