I'm on a Roll in 2008!

I can't believe this, but this is my third FO of 2008. Crazy.

Pattern: My own. Loosely based on the EZ percentage system with lots of mods thrown in. It is knit bottom up. I cast on provisionally for all the edges (cuffs and hem) to make sure I'd have enough yarn. The edges are garter stitch. I tried on as I went and literally just winged it. When it looked like I should decrease, I did. I never really increased back to the original stitch count when I got to the top of the waist, and it fits just perfect. I did four rounds of decreases for the yoke. Two before the pattern and two after. For the bind off on the cuffs and neck, I used an applied I-cord from one of my favorite reference books ever. I did a regular bind off on the waist as I wanted it a bit more stretchy. I love how the bind off blends in with the garter edging. If I was to change anything, I'd start the pattern a bit earlier. But overall, I'm really happy with it!
Yarn: Body is Kimmet Croft Softie. A super cozy wool/angora blend with a nice halo. This was my first Maryland festival purchase three years ago! The light blue is some leftover Patons Classic, and the orange is doubled Trekking. I have enough left to make a pair of socks!
Needles: #7 KnitPicks circulars

I can't believe how economical of a knit this was. I originally had three skeins of the Kimmet Croft. They were 400 yds each. Easily, I have about 80% of a skein left. I'm thinking some super soft stranded mitts. The yarn is really nice. It bloomed great after the block and isn't really itchy despite the angora hairs sticking up everywhere. I wanted a close fitting sweater, which I got, but I still have room for a thin t-shirt underneath if I want. Overall, a successful self design!

After checking my Bloglines this morning, my day was made several times over. Not only did Kirsten say that I made her day, but Jillian and Margaux tagged me also!

I'm so honored and really touched. It still seems weird to me how many people out there read my blog. With over 200 feeds in my Bloglines, it's hard to keep up with everyone, but wanting to return the compliment that these three wonderful bloggers paid me, I need to pick only ten to pass it on to.

So, in no particular order - here they are:
1. Kristy
2. Ann
3. Ashley
4. Denise
5. Rachel
6. Sarah
7. Jodi
8. Nova
9. Jody
10. Erin

Soaky Yokey

(how exactly would you spell "yokey"?)

I knit like a fiend yesterday. This sweater was going to be done before I went to bed. Not just done with the knitting, but ends sewn in and blocking. I only ended up loosing about an hour of sleep. Well worth it.

A good twenty minute soak in, what else but Soak, and it was ready to block.

This morning I put a fan on it to speed the drying. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow and perfect for a photo shoot.

Thanks for all the collar treatment suggestions. What I ended up doing was going with a garter stitch edge (8 rounds total) and an applied I cord bind off as instructed in here (one of my most referenced books, by the way!). I love how the edge turned out. So, no formal or official FO shots yet, but soon....very soon....

While I'm waiting for the sweater to dry, I'm itching to start my next knit. As of this moment I have nothing on the needles! Patiently, I'm waiting for yarn from Scout to start a test knit for Kirsten. To make it worse, Scout posted a photo last night of the yarn she just finished dying. Go check it out here. I'll wait.

Amazing huh? They will become the beautiful Sigrid sock. Purty, huh?

I'm also swatching for a wrap cardigan. The two contenders are the Pure and Simple Wrap Cardigan and the Sarah Dallas Wrap Cardigan from Scottish Highland Knits. Here is a great shot of a finished one. The yarn will be some natural colored Naturelle 8/8. It was sold by Elann eons ago, and it's super soft. I am worried about shrinkage though. I'm not sure if it will shrink like Rowan Denim, which is 100% cotton, or only just soften with washing/drying. The Naturelle is 74% Recycled Cotton/24% Acrylic with 2% unknown fibers (huh?). I'm hoping the acrylic content will buffer the shrinkage. Anyone used it? Washed it? The swatch isn't telling much.

So It Begins

Determined to make significant progress on the yoke sweater, I knit like a fiend at lunch yesterday. By the time my half-hour was over, I was at the point to start the colorwork.

Before I could do that, a few hours working at the kennel, and Ace's agility class took precedence. My sister came, so she shot a quick video of Ace having way too much fun in class. It's a very short video, but shows how enthusiastic he is! He is going to be one fast boy!

Once home, I had a quick dinner and pulled out the sweater. I had the yarns ready to go for the colorwork, had figured out and done the appropriate decreases (with a huge thanks to this site - great decrease calculator!) and took off knitting.

That's just a sneak peek. I'm further along now and I'm really happy with how the colors are popping against the neutral background. I plan on trying it on right after the colorwork as well to determine how much more I need to decrease for the neck. The neck edge - not quite sure what to do there. Folded hem? (seems too bulky) Seed stitch? Ribbing? Crochet edge? I'd like something to kind of match the folded hems I plan on doing on the arms and waist edges. Suggestions welcome!

The scuba glove has been frogged (thanks Nomi!). It didn't fit hubby very well and I was quite frustrated with it. They will be re-knit with another more "manly" pattern.

I'm Such a Joiner

Not quite as momentous an event as our team winning the AFC playoffs, but with all the football watching, I finally joined the sleeves to the yoke yesterday.

I forgot how many hundreds (300 to be exact!) are in yoke sweaters! Fingers be saved though, because I decreased a bunch of stitches right away to end up with the right multiple for the colorwork pattern. I plan on decreasing one more time (one repeats worth of stitches for the pattern) then starting the pattern about 1/3 the way up the yoke. With my new 60" cable for my needles, trying it on was easy. It looked pretty funny, but it fit great and let me know that decreasing another few inches around before the colorwork would be fine.

This has not been using nearly as much yarn as I though it would. To begin with, I had three skeins of 400 yards each. To date, one skein is gone, the second is about 2/3 gone and I have not even touched the third. The hems are left to be done, but they will only be about 3" each (2" plain knitting then a 1" knitted/sewn hem with a contrasting stripe thrown in on the sleeves and contrasting facing on the waist hem) so I think I should have plenty. I'm toying with the idea of a picot edge on the hem to mix it up a little, but I'm not sure it goes with the design of the sweater. Once I start decreasing and doing the colorwork, I know this one will fly off the needles.

Stalking knit objects we see on the street for knitters is like finding a rare bird for Ornithologists. Thrilling. Exciting. The unknown. Leaving the gym last week, I spotted these in the car parked next to me.

Luckily I had my camera with me and while getting some strange looks from people walking by, I just had to get a shot. They look vaguely familiar, and I know I've seen the pattern before, but I just can't place it. I don't think they are entrelac from what I remember, but maybe some kind of shell knitted pattern. Has anyone seen it before? They are just so super cute!!!

Later last week, my encounter in the parking lot of the gym was not so favorable. I came out to find that someone (guessing the big white box truck that was parked beside me when I pulled in, but not there when I left) knocked off my passenger side mirror! It was just dangling there by the wire. My new vehicle! So, I shelled out the $200 for a new mirror. Knowing it was a power mirror, I wasn't sure if I could do it myself. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, but there are some things I just don't want to mess with. I asked at the dealership when I picked up the mirror and he said it should be relatively easy. He printed me out a schematic just in case. Saturday afternoon when I went to install it I made sure I had plenty of time and tons of tools on hand. Turns out it was 3 screws and a jack to plug in for the power. Real hard. I had literally started and finished before my sister was out of the shower. Those are the kind of repairs I like!

Signs of spring are starting to show up in the mailbox.

Seed catalogs!!! This year, I will have a garden brimming with good things. Last year it got away from me, but I plan on doing some container gardening on the deck (tomatoes, herbs) and a bunch in the raised bed. Picking only a few things is hard! There are so many neat veggies out there! Colorful carrots and crazy Cauliflower, yummy tomatoes, things I never thought I could grow, and unusual varieties. This is going to take a while!

The Thing to Queue

By the looks of my Ravelry friend's activity, the next "big thing" pattern has appeared:

It was pretty funny because I headed over to Ravelry after I had read Ashley's post about her Bird in Hand mitts. My friends activity page looked just like hers, only with Swirly Mittens everywhere. I admit, I hopped on the bandwagon and added it to my queue also. Swirls = love.

For actual knitting content, you already saw the Turret Socks, but I also managed to finish 98% of a glove and half a sock. Lucky you were not sitting in the seat behind me on the flight down as I was kicking myself the whole way. For the Sock Hop Sock, for some reason I brought the leftovers from the first sock and not the full skein to make the second sock. I had the leftovers used up and about 3/4 of a cuff done on the first leg of the flight down. Well, I figured then I would work on hubby's Scuba Gloves. The first glove was in sight of being done and I ran out of yarn. (See a theme developing?) I'm not sure if it was fate just telling me to work on the Turret Sock exclusively, but whatever it was, never again will I go on a trip with only one skein of yarn for a project! Everything worked out ok though - the Turret sock got done, and when we returned home, I managed to finish the Scuba Glove.

Gloves are hard. Hubby's hand is wide and kind of short, so I kept trying it on to get the fingers right. After about five tries, I think I have it. Onto glove number two and some reading on duplicate stitch so I can put the Scuba flag on the back of the hand.

Since we've arrived home, I've also managed to complete both sleeves for my yoke sweater. I used the provisional cast on as I want to do the cuffs after I'm done (yarn shortage worries).

I'm really happy with how it's turning out so far. Tonight I hope to join the sleeves and start the yoke. The pattern is finally picked out and the colors all ready to go.

The light blue is some Patons Classic, the orange will be doubled Trekking and the cream is some Debbie Bliss aran. All I am proud to say are stash yarns! The light blue is the only one I have some concerns about having enough.

For all you yoke knitters, did you do short rows on the back of your sweater a la EZ? I've read some patterns that have it, some that don't. Looking for opinions. I'm also wondering how far up from joining the arms I should start my colorwork. I know it depends on how wide the pattern is, so I plan on a little knitty math to figure out row gauge, etc and decide where to put it. This should be the fun part. After all that plain color round and round knitting, I'm looking forward to a little change!

For me, I'm really excited that knitting is fun again. There was a little slump not too long ago which I know we all go through from time to time. The yoke sweater, some test knitting that is on the way, and a future project waiting in the wings all have me wishing I could knit faster....it's a great feeling!

Beginnings and Middles

I feel stuck in the middle with these New England Socks. They travel with me to work every day, and sit by the sofa at night just waiting for some attention. The first beautiful sock comes with me in the knitting bag to remind me of my goal. It has been slow and steady with this one. Knitting time the past few months has just been very sparse. Happily, I did make some progress last night. We have passed the gusset and are deep in the throws of foot knitting!

The color makes me happy just looking at it. Officially halfway done (three diamond repeats done, three to go!), my desire to just sit down and finish is strong. With the weather forecast that we are having, I think Mother Nature is helping out to keep me housebound. (from the National Weather Service)

A SHORT DURATION BUT HIGH IMPACT SNOWFALL WILL AFFECT MASSACHUSETTS... ESPECIALLY AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE...THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES ARE LIKELY...WITH MOST OF THE SNOW FALLING IN A 6 HOUR PERIOD.

Us - we are south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Lucky! The snow is supposed to start around noon time and come down at over an inch an hour for a while. We get a break tomorrow and Saturday, but a really big storm is winding in for Saturday night and Sunday. I'm thinking Sunday may be a perfect stay in my PJ's all day kind of day. I can't remember the last one of those I had! We are doing a lot of re-organizing in the house, and we really need a day to just concentrate and get it done. Fingers crossed we get a whopper of a storm.

The yoke sweater (I will come up with a more creative name) got some knitting time the other night. The fabric that the Kimmet Croft yarn is creating is just wonderful. With the angora content (it's a 75% merino, 25% angora) it has a little bit of a halo, but not bad at all. It will bloom wonderfully when it's finally done and soaking.

I am done with about three-quarters of the waist decreases, then it will be tried on for fit and I'll knit the straight waist section. It's a mish mash of patterns - the Sugarplum pullover, Mrs. Zimmerman's famous EPS system, as well as the Yoke Sweater pattern from the ever Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. With all that conglomeration, hopefully it will come out fitting well!

I used a tubular cast on as I'm not sure what I'm doing with the hem yet. I would love to do a contrasting trim hem, but I'm not sure about my yarn amounts. Now, I don't have to worry - I can wait and do it at the end! (the green is a nice contrast though, huh?) My yoke plans are still a little up in the air, but I have come up with a few designs I like. Colors and final patterns are still in the works.

I'm off to get as much work done as I can before the first flakes fly!

Off to the Pond

Happily sitting down last night after a good dinner, hot shower and sleeping dogs all around me I planned on knitting a good amount of my yoked pullover. I was at the point where I needed to stop and think about waist decreases. That is when I did it. I decided to measure my gauge again. It seems to have gone from 5 sts/inch to 5.5 and in some spots 6 sts/inch. Hmmmm. I took it off the needles and tried the little tube on. In order to get it to fit comfortably, it had to stretch out to 4.5 or 5 sts/inch (yes, I measured the gauge when it was on me...) So, I sat back down and started to rip. At least I only had about three inches done, and I hadn't done any kind of fancy hem treatment that would make it impossible to rip out quickly. Some consolation. Now I need to rethink the cast on and decrease numbers. The gauge now matches exactly to that of the Sugarplum Pullover, so I may use some of that pattern as a template, though I won't be doing the intricate yoke (for a later project). The yarn was knitting up beautifully. It blooms with a soak, so the fabric at 5.5 or 6 sts per inch should be just about right. Provisional cast on again (good practice I guess!) and try to make it work this time.

I'm using the KnitPicks Options nickel plated interchangeable needles and I have to say, I love knitting with them. They are a bit easier (at least with this yarn) than my Denise Needles which tend to get a bit sticky depending on the kind of yarn. The cables in the KnitPicks set are a ton thinner too. But, where the Denise set really shines is trying things on. They have a connector so you can connect one cable to another and make really long cables. When I would need to try a knit on, I'd simply take off the needle, add on a connector, add another long cable and maybe another connector/cable set if needed. Easy. The stitches would never have to come off the original cable and would stay seated properly. Now, with the KnitPicks needles, I'm guessing I have to transfer the stitches to scrap yarn to try it on, then back to the cable. Kind of a pain. Plus, for me, I always seem to mess something up in the transfer - be it dropping a stitch, twisting or some other debacle. Does anyone who uses these have a better way?

So, we are off to Boston early tomorrow morning for the Bay Colony Dog Show. Four days of all dogs! If you live anywhere in the area and love dogs, I very highly recommend it. You can see pretty much every breed, peek at the "behind the scenes" of showing dogs, as well as watching agility, obedience and rally competitions! Just in time for the holidays, there are tons and tons of vendors selling everything dog related from treats to blankets to jewelry. It's my favorite show of the year! Tucker and I will be in the agility ring, while Ace will be walking around getting used to the hustle and bustle of the show world. In a few months, he'll be ready for his first show!

Hopefully I will have some progress on my yoke sweater take two. And on the New England sock that is still coming along slow but sure. Have a wonderful weekend!

Starting Over

The Cable Down sweater is no more. I only had about 10 rounds done, and I couldn't resist the lure of the yoke. So, I frogged and set out looking for a pattern. Basically, a simple yoke sweater with stranded colorwork at the yoke and bottoms of the sleeves with contrasting trim. Simple, right? Well, my search for patterns turned up a couple that are usable. EZ's percentage system is pretty failproof and is a great basic pattern. Also, the yoke sweater from the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns is another nice template to work off of. I'm probably going to combine them for my own little formula.

As far as a colorwork pattern, I don't really need to worry about that until I get to the yoke, and I have a whole body to knit, so I'm still looking. I'm not sure if I want to do something simple with one standout color, a la Adrian, or something with more colors, like many of the ones shown here. I did find a few colors that I liked together. A bit retro maybe, but definitely my "fall color" taste.

The brown is a rich, chocolate brown and the orange is Trekking (I'd use it doubled). Originally I had just thought of using the Trekking by itself as a simple pattern at the yoke. Then, my sister liked the multicolored yokes so much I did some stash diving. I have the most of the brown, so I may do cuffs/trim in that. We'll see what kind of yoke pattern I can come up with. For now, I'm happily knitting away around and around....

This weekend was also my mom's birthday. We had a great time doing our new favorite pastime - Wii bowling!

The whole family played and we had a blast. Bowling is my favorite Wii activity so far - I really stink at Tennis and some of the other games, but hubby is nice enough to play along with me and get plenty of experience points by kicking my butt. Practice will help, I know. After playing a bunch on the Wii, all the boys crashed.

My sister, the cake maker in the family, made my mom a special "top only" cake. She, like me, loves the top part of an unfrosted cake - the part that unfortunately usually sticks to the foil or other covering. At least this time the cake didn't stick.

Just most of the writing! By all accounts it tasted just as good though. Happy Birthday Mom!

Even though it was her birthday, mom brought me a little giftie.

One can never have too many of these box bags, can we? It is a perfect size for socks or a starting sweater. It will be going with me to Boston this weekend for sure!

I did work a bit more on the New England socks - the heel flap is in progress! I can't wait to wear these. Especially now that it is really handknit sock season! We got a few inches of snow last night along with a bunch of freezing rain on top of it. A mess. But, now it's at least pretty out!