Christmas Gifts

All gifts were a success. I knit double-knit hats and ear warmers, socks and a hat/scarf. I also sewed flannel pj pants. Basically I didn't buy anything ready made.

The hat pattern that I was missing was in Alasdair Post-Quinn;'s Extreme Double-Knitting Book. I needed a third color, and raided my 6-ply sock yarn stash.

That led to designing another hat and 3 ear warmers.

I even finished the sewing by Christmas Eve, with the last minute hemming of pj pants for a granddaughter I had not been sure was coming in town for the holiday.

I started a baby sweater for my gift drawer drawer. Pattern and yarn have been waiting for months.

In a Christmas related search session (didn't find what I wanted), I found a skein of yarn that never made it to the yarn corral. It called to me: "Use me now, use me now!" Here are some steps to craziness;

1. Find renegade yarn
2. Look on Ravelry for a pattern using that weight and yardage
3. Find one pattern, a hat, and it's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern which I own.
4. Her instructions are very vague, so I used some Ravelry information.
5. One hat is finished, and I've only used about 1/2 of the yarn.
6. This is for charity, so I'm knitting another hat.
7. The baby sweater is not likely to be finished this year. 

Recycle Success Grey Sweater Version

Over a year ago, I sat down in front of the Olympics and took a part a sweater. Ravelry called the event "Aerial Unwind" in their version of the Olympics. I had loved the sweater when I was a bigger person. I loved the yarn, so soft and squishy. It was my TKGA Masters program challenge, which means I designed it. I had the pattern in my computer.

I started here.

At the end of the Olympics, it had became a basket of yarn. I did a little bit each day and it was very freeing.

The yarn needed washing, which required a session with the yarn swift.to turn the balls into hanks.

After hanging in the basement to dry, it went into a laundry basket, and one hank at a time was put back on the swift and run through the ball winder.  Luckily I have acquired a lot of yarn toys like this over the years.

I had to rewrite the pattern in a much smaller size, leaving out some of the cable patterns that didn't fit, but all is finished. Yesterday, I finished the sweater, complete with buttons.

Today, I am wearing the sweater. It feels just as good as I imagined. I wound up the last of the yarn and put it away. There is over 500 yards of beautiful yarn, enough to do something with eventually. 

As with many people, I'm tired of winter and tired of wearing the same warm clothes. It's nice to have a new cuddley sweater!

The Library Challenge

Thanks to Ravelry I have joined The Library Challenge.The idea is to use that pile of books and patterns that you have collected over the years, using at least one pattern per month. I'm doing well this month.

Erin's Elephant is from Knitted Wild Animals. She'll be getting that on Thursday January 15.
I have a gift for my daughter in law, where I used my Best of Lopi book. No photos yet, she reads the blog.
The Socks I'm knitting came from a free pattern that was in my Ravelry library.

I'm reknitting a sweater that I designed in 1999. That one's from my personal library. I have a lot done on the first sleeve.The photo story is on Ravelry.

My charity knitting continues. Socks for Wool-Aid, a pair nears completion. Mittens for our knitting guild. Other knitting this month: a neck warmer for a grandson with a Feb.1 birthday, a mystery sock design for a Ravelry group to be released in July/August.

I have a basket of yarn to be used this year, some new, some very old. I'll add to it as I knit up projects.

I'm getting more knitting done these days. The weather is not safe for me to walk the dog, so that time is being put to knitting.

If All Else Fails...

Read the instructions! This is especially frustrating when I wrote the instructions originally. This is not the first time this has happened. I've been working on duplicating a sweater that I designed last year. I get to keep this one. I have a the body and sleeves done, and am working on the front bands. Cast on 26 stitches (2 12 stitch cables and 2 edge stitches)

The stitch pattern starts on the wrong side. It is supposed to be a k1, p1 rib. It needs to end with 2 purl stitches in order to have the right side have knit stitches at both edges.

Try #1, I started with the 2 pulls stitches. Try #2, iz got it right, but worked the body pattern, which has the right side knit. Sorry the image is sideways.

The third time I got it right. The band is made of reversible cables. It will be sewn to the front and a zipper put in after the second band is done.

I have to knit about 24 inches for each band. That's not hard now that I am on the right track.

Stockings and stuff

The stockings are finished for this year. The customer ordered another "Santa in Chimney" stocking to be knit after Christmas. A baby boy joined the family since the first batch were ordered. He'll be 2 months old at Christmas, and grandma doesn't want the stocking for this year. Perhaps it doesn't fit her budget.

Every year or so I get to do Christmas stockings on commission. I've knit three or four of the "Santa in Chimney" and "Santa with Tree" ones. They originally were Bernat kits. I have done a couple of other patterns too. Last year I had to do five of the the same stocking. It happens to be one of my least favorite patterns. I don't like the Santa on this one, although I've done at least three versions of the pattern.

I also did a family stocking this year. These are an ongoing series, using the same basic pattern, but no two alike.

 There has been Christmas knitting too, but I can't show that.

One of today's tasks is to write up a sweater pattern that has been waiting far too long. I finished the sweater last summer. Then the hard drive crasheon my desktop. The data was saved and reinstalled on the new drive, but I didn't find the folder with the pattern until yesterday. I had almost finished writing the sweater pattern in one size. When It went missing, I thought I'd have to rewite it, and that never got done. It didn't help that my laptop from work died and needed to be replaced. Again, I had the data backed up, but these things still take time and brainpower. I actually haven't written a pattern for about a year. I designed a couple of things, like my sock yarn sweater, but they weren't the sort of thing that I could work into a pattern.

I'm designing a hat as a gift and will write up the pattern, but don't know it I will knit another version before releasing it. Before I settle in to the computer, I have to go renew my car license plate (if the bureau is open on Saturday) and start the turkey stock from the feast. I usually get leftovers from my daughter, but this year I asked for the bones. I don't know how much meat is still on them, but I also cooked 1/2 of a breast to make sure I had enough turkey this year. I make a lot of soups in the winter, so a few quarts of turkey stock will be handy.

This week I have made a chicken chili which was to be served over rice or couscous. I used up my couscous and mixed it into the chili. The leftovers have joined all the other meals in the freezer. I like to cook up a batch of something on my day off from work and then just heat it up on work days. I had a lot of creamy soup stored up, but was looking for something chunky. The chili has only about 3 cups of liquid in the whole pot.

Thursday, while the cranberry bread, turkey and squash were in the oven, I made a cheesy broccoli soup.Based on evaporated milk, it has carrots and cheddar cheese as well as the broccoli. Yum! The squash was roasted for later use as long as the oven was on. I have a recipe for pumpkin and acorn squash soup to be cooked soon. The butternut squash doesn't have a specific recipe waiting for it, but I have a number of options.

Sewing

The clown costume was delivered and she is very happy. If I get a picture, I'll share. The finished costume has pockets every where. In the pants, in both layers of skirt, and the cupcakes are pockets. The collar and belt are removable. The thing hanging from the sleeve is a sleeve extension. It goes above the elbow and  is held in place by elastic. She wanted the option of long sleeves for cooler weather, although most of her work is done in warmer weather or indoors.

Dreary Fall day

Yesterday was bright, crisp, and sunny. Today is grey, cold, and raining. Very depressing! Yesterday the sunshine called me to work in the yard, but I didn't do any yard work. I had indoor things to do. I started a crock pot of chili early in the day, and after I ate the last of my bread for lunch, I made some potato and rosemary bread in the bread machine.

Today, I finally get to work on the clown costume (a cheerful job). Here's where it stands this morning.

The pants are finished. This is what the bottom of the leg looks like. 

 

The under skirt is now edged. I had run out of bias tape. 

I can see clearly now. The rain is gone. It's lunch time and I have Sweet Potato Chowder all heated up. Comfort food that I made a week or so ago. I lost my   momentum on the project while it was in time out waiting for me to get back to it. The lunch break will let me remember what I meant to do to finish it.

Sleeve extensions are finished, so that she can have long sleeves if desired. 

The cupcake pockets are finished! I still need to finish the collar, the hair bows, and the belt with a big bow. It'll take another day, but I've made good progress.

 This has been a fun challenge, partly because the customer left many of the small decisions up to me. She told me where she saw the major fabric colors were to go, and left the rest to me creative genius.

Sock Woes and other things

The Zinnias socks are finished, photographed, and have been mailed to Illinois. the pattern is written and up in my Ravelry store. Just need to do Pattrnfish.

The main color is Regia Jacquard and the flowers are Schaeffer Anne yarns. The iPad shown in the last blog post has been returned to my daughter. She loaned it to me, because she wanted to be sure that I would use it before I spent the money.

I got some money int he mail that paid for more than half the cost, so I went out and bought my own. I had heard about used iPads, but none were available. Mine is verison 2 with no phone card. It doesn't make sense to pay for another data plan that I wouldn't use much. The wifi connection is fine.

So far I have put knitting patterns, books and recipes on my Pad. I'm leaving for Florida in a week, so portable books will be handy.

Sock woes

Periodically, some socks that I have knit come home for repair. DSIL sent these with his wife on her last trip to Cleveland,

I had used a small patch on a previous pair and they then wore out at the edges of the patch. Size 14 socks which are otherwise in good shape get new toes, and the first pair did. I'm trying a big patch this time. I still can replace the toes.

Another sorry pair of socks has been in my house for a few years. I misplaced one sock, didn't find it until the house renovation last year. It's time to get these fixed.

When I made them, I ran out of yarn before the toes. I guess the stitch pattern was yarn hungry. The light colored spots are worn very thin. DD wore through the ball of the foot and the toe. I cut off the damage, picked up stitches and knit new toes. They look much the same as the old ones, but this time they are Patons Kroy, I think the rest of the sock is Regia Jacquard. They both wear forever.

I've been working on this sweater. I got the body finished and most of one sleeve before trying it on. I went back and forth,but finally decided that it really was too small. My yarn is a thinner version of worsted. It's Berroco Cotton Twist.

I now am nearing the end of the lace on the body. I'm also using all 5 buttons left from the original garment. I'm hoping to wear the sweater to Florida. It's going with me finished or not!

It worked, I'm thrilled

I've been working on the pattern for about 6 weeks now. It is my first Mystery Sock design. It was a challenge to make a sock pattern with four distinct parts. I was worried about how to upload it and make it go live. That part was easy.

Part 1 of the pattern went live last night about 11:00. I didn't want to stay up until midnight.So far this morning, 115 knitters have downloaded the pattern. I need to get working on part 2 of the second sock. I'm checking the pattern as I go.

I also need to keep working on the SKA Mystery sock that I;m knitting for Vitor.

Yesterday the timer button on my stove broke. Luckily, I have a backup. Ping works quite well and is happy to be used instead of hiding in a corner.

It's Spring

Remodeling
The kitchen is almost ready for paint! The fact that cupboards have been emptied and refilled my someone other than me, makes for certain challenges. I don't know where anything is! My daughter has done some reorganizing, which makes sense. Some things went in the trash. I was looking for some cider vinegar for a bread recipe today, and it's gone. The bottle was damaged. I used white vinegar instead. The bread is in the machine now.

My dog is thinking about shedding. Her undercoat comes off in clumps and I can't find the rake that I used to use. I'm sure it will turn up, but in the meantime, i bought a new rake and a slicker brush and started the beauty treatments. The rake is great for getting hair out of the slicker brush. She'll get combed at least tw2ice a day for the next few months,or until shedding ceases. Luckily, she likes the attention.

Quilting daughter is in town for a few days. She missed Christmas this year, but there is a family wedding on Saturday. There are also two birthdays that will be celebrated on Friday. Sunday morning is our monthly breakfast at the Gunny Hall, so it will be a busy weekend.

It seems like Spring here. I actually have a few daffodils in the back yard, and have seen crocuses and snow flowers while out with the dog.

Knitting

I have finished another pair of socks recently, and put two sock patterns on Ravelry. The new patte4r has butterflies on the ankles and is called Mama They Tickle. There were too many patterns with "butterfly" or "flutterby" in the name and I thought butterflies on the ankle would tickle. I remembered that out
Botanical Garden had a rainforest exhibit with lots of butterflies, so what a great idea for a photo or two. The butterflies did not cooperate! There weren't as many as I remembered. It was hard to get a photo indoors, because there was no place to put the socks. I went out doors and there were no flowers. I did the best I could, and got some nice pictures. The technique is Mosaic. The darker yarn is left form another pair of socks and I used all but a yard or so, so that's out of my leftover drawer.

I was busy knitting dishcloths. The father of the bride above say me knitting, and mentioned that they used to have knit dishcloths that were well loved, but wore out. I knit a set of three for his wife and all three daughters. That makes 18 dishcloths so far this year, counting the 6 that I sent off in February. Two more daughter want dishcloths, but they'll have to wait. I have one in my purse right now, but haven't worked on it recently. It's emergency knitting.

More destruction and rebuilding

While I was appreciating the carpet removal, the remodeling gods were planning new challenges.

The carpet was hardly picked up off the curb, when DD started removing pine paneling next to the basement stairs. She was so quick at wood removal that the contractor decided to take out the steps that day. End of the day, we had no access to the basement, where the computers are, as well as part of my rabbit pattern. DD wrote a blog post with photos. I was at work!

The next day was devoted to building a new set of stairs. I worked all morning, deadlines to meet on Friday. She has a blog post about this day too! "How to replace stairs in three easy steps." She now has a few new skills and has decided that her basement stairs don't need replacing right now. The new stairs are much more sturdy than the originals, which lasted 90 years.

This week's knitting challenge is the guild toy competition. Did I say that I'm knitting a rabbit?
I got to the point where I needed the pattern for the inner ears and the pattern was still out of reach. I had scheduled overalls knitting for Saturday and assembly for Sunday. The straps for the overalls were not finished until Sunday afternoon, but assembly went quickly. All I needed was a quick trip to work for the two buttons on the straps.

I won first prize in the guild competition in the completely knitted toy category. We also had categories for bought toy, knitted clothes and a new category for other charity knitting. Usually I end up with an honorable mention. This is the first time I have won.

Next deadline is Saturday of this week, when I need a pair of socks for someone turning 50. I hope DSIL likes black socks. That's the color for Solid socks this month. I've designed these, but kept the pattern simple, black is hard to work in pattern. At this point, one sock is finished and work progresses on the leg of the second.

DGS William is also celebrating his birthday this weekend, but there is no way I'll be able to get his gift done. Discussion with his Mom resulted in a two family get together after the sweater is done. I have a pattern for a cardigan with trucks on it. I've put together the yarn kit, and read and reread the pattern. I might start the ribbing tonight. We watch tv in the bedroom before bed, and the light is not as good up there for patterned sock knitting in black yarn.

Green Socks finished and gifted

I seem to have gotten myself into a period of deadline knitting this month. Lack of planning ahead, I guess. The green socks are finished and have been given. They were completed with 24 hrs to spare. The pattern is written and up on Ravelry. With an easy stitch pattern it went quickly. An unpatterned foot helps with speed also.

I named them Turtle toes, not terrible original, but the yarn color was Turtle multi. There is some interesting pooling going on in the one sock, but it will be inside a shoe, so the two feet don't have to match.

I've started the next challenge, another pair of man's socks to be given on July 16. Again, a simple pattern, but the black yarn complicates things a little. I had the yarn and black is one of the choices for the Ravelry Solid Socks group. This month' there are 3 choices, black, white, or gray. Next time I buy sock yarn, I need to remember that gift socks will be machine washed and dried. Better to avoid accidents in the manufacture.

The bunny has more parts, but no photo yet. I want to knit all the pieces before stuffing, so that I can weigh them and subtract that weight from my spreadsheet. I need the rabbit by the 11th for our guild meeting. All other knitting projects are on hold, except for these two.

On the remodeling front, DD continues to tear apart out house in the name of progress. An electrician should be coming in the next week to rewire the rest of our house. that's two floors and the basement. One outlet per room is really not enough these days, although when the house was built in 1921, I'm sure that it was plenty. Various workarounds have been used throughout the years, but this time a professional has been called and will bring us up to current code. This requires pulling the baseboards, so he can channel the new wires behind them. We have a stack of numbered baseboards, and the pile will get bigger as more rooms are involved.

Today she pulled up the last of the carpet on the second floor. We have hardwood floors underneath, although they need refinishing. That is not on our to do list for now. We moved furniture, disassembled the bed, made a mess, and got it cleaned up. Carpet was tossed off our upstairs back porch before being hauled to the curb for garbage pickup tomorrow morning. I continue to be surprised at the things we have saved over the years. Not that we saved them, but the fact that there is so much that we don't remember having. It gets easier and easier to purge.

OK that's finished, now what?

Friday June 24, 2011

Depression?

I finished the Plymouth Zino scarf yesterday and it is blocked and probably dry. It doesn’t take long. I washed it and put in the blocking wires this morning. I’m feeling that sinking feeling that I get almost every time I finish a project.

I’ve been playing with shawl ideas and swatching, but I’m not ready to start one yet. Left over sock yarn in a similar colorway was used for the swatch. I think I need fewer holes. The color seems to fight with the lace.

I have some birthday socks to knit. This is the pair that I knit the swatches for, and decided to change patterns. The new pattern is going well, but I’m not feeling the joy. I expect it will get better as I get farther into the project.. Right now, it keeps my fingers busy, and will result in a gift for my son whose birthday is July 5.

I also need to make an animal for our guild toy competition/give away. I have a rabbit pattern picked out. I need that by July 11. Then I can start the shawl, maybe. I need a gift for son-in-law’s 50^th birthday. I’m thinking socks again. Then there are the socks for big-foot., who has a birthday in early August.. He is soooo appreciative, as what I knit are the only socks that really fit.

Saturday June 26

I'm liking the Zino shawlette. A large shawl would have a sort of granny square effect. I'll keep that thought.

The swatch was knit with Plymouth Sockotta, left over from socks. The new yarn is also by Plymouth, and I expect the same sort of random colors. The next swatch will have fewer holes. I think the needle size is good for this yarn.

The rabbit is started. It's a Fiona McTague pattern from Knitted Toys. I've started with a smaller needle than recommended, but the pattern is written in stitches and rows, not inches, so I'll continue. I'm using WoolEase sprinkles.

Thoughts on Designing

I've been thinking recently about shawl designs, and trying out a couple of ideas. A year ago, I was given two balls of Plymouth Zino, a sock yarn with long color repeats, and was asked to design shawls with them.

It's not so easy to create the pattern, while trying not to muddy the colors. Here's yarn #1. This is the point where I gave up on this design. I think it is the third try and I didn't want to rip it out again. I used one ball of yarn, and it is more of a collar because when I cast on, I misfigured and ended up with 3 triangles.

I like the stitch pattern. I'm not sure about the lace edging, or the 3 triangles. I wore the shawlette to TNNA earlier this month and got a lot of positive response, which was nice. I may still sell a version of this one.

The other ball of yarn was more muted/darker. I tired separate motifs with this one. I used a square set in the center back on the diagonal. When I finished the square, I left all stitches live. The side motifs are triangles, made of 2 sections of the square. The pieces were joined by looping the live stitches. I don't know if I can explain that in a pattern so someone else could do it. It was a good idea, but somewhat of a pain to do. The lace was worked directly on the live stitches. I tried working it perpendicular to the main pattern, which is the most common way to knit lace edgings, but the color blocks looked wrong.

I'm liking the lace edging. I tried knitting straight onto the edge, but the pattern is set up so that it doesn't flow well into the edging. The pattern for the square doesn't have a consistent number of stitches between segments, so I may not keep the charts for it. I decided to frame the motif section and then knit the lace edge. It's looking better so far. If I use the idea again, I'll try a pattern that has segments with stitch counts that are consistent, so the lace edge can flow smoothly from the pattern in the square.

This why I don't do magazine submissions unless I've already worked out the bugs in a pattern. The turn around is too quick for trial and error.

I've also designed a couple of pairs of socks after knitting other people's sock patterns for quite a while. I'm happy with this one, but haven't written the pattern yet. The charts are finished in their final form, So I just need to sit down with a little bit of time. I don't need to write the pattern all at once. I can do it in bite size pieces.

This sock has a cable on the foot that takes 2 cable needles, so it is fairly complex. I like how the leg transitions into the foot, but I need a better photo for the pattern. The photo of both socks shows some imperfections that I really didn't see in real life. The lighting needs to show the texture, but not show up problems I didn't know about. I did something a little different with the heel and gusset, and want it to show up in the picture.

I'm also working on some socks for my son. Stitch pattern A contained lace and cables. I thought I could rework the pattern to have a non-lace option by replacing the yarn overs with another increase. After 2 swatches, I decided that it was too much work and would not show up with the multicolor yarn I plan on using. The top swatch looks good, but the pattern is less defined on the lower ones. A new stitch pattern has been found that fits the stitch count and will be much easier to knit.

There are so many things to think about in creating a design, I was talking to one of my daughters about a child's sweater I have for sale on Ravelry. I designed this one a number of years ago. Recently someone contacted me with math questions about the armhole. I completely reworked the numbers to better fit the pattern repeat, created a new PDF, and uploaded the new PDF to Ravelry and Patternfish. Upon review of the pattern, I realized that I had learned a lot since the original writing.