Grey sweater even better

I wore the sweater yesterday, and the collar wouldn't stay folded down.

This morning I undid the bind off and added to the collar, starting at the top of the buttons and adding fewer stitches for each row until I had added another 2". This is more what I had in mind originally.

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!

Musings on a Very Cold Day

The weather here is still Arctic! We're not equipped to handle this much cold weather or continued snow. The driveways that get plowed have huge mountains at the street. It's supposed to warm up a little tomorrow.

I've been knitting. No surprise there! I finally made the mittens I need. The yarn was bought over a year ago when the previous mittens started growing holes.

My gray sweater has, not only a back, but two sleeves and two front pieces. I'm working on the front ribbing/collar now, 3" wide. Here's the latest photo from a week or so ago.

Can't take a photo now when it is scrunched up on the needle.

I finished a really warm hat today. I had a request from one family for warm hats as Christmas gifts and have been looking at patterns. This will be a gift for someone, but not the grandchildren of the request. I have something else in mind for them.

One of my neighbors got tired of the cold/snow/windchill that is keeping children home from school. There's a chili cook off at her house tonight. My oldest daughter sent me a recipe for Jalapeño Cheddar cornbread. I cooked it this morning. I happened to have all the ingredients. Should be fun.

Third Times the Charm

Thursday afternoon - I finally got my two sweater sleeves to match! The picture shows the point where the sleeves didn't match on the first two attempts. If I had looked more carefully, the sleeve would be finished now. Better that it's correct. I'd regret it every time I wore the sweater! Also, I probably wouldn't wear it as often as I hope to.

Friday morning - The second sleeve is finished and it matches the first!!! One is still wet. I'm so relieved to finally finish it.

It seems like I've been knitting this sweater forever! I did start recycling version #1 in February, so it's been a year, but I didn't work on it the whole time. I needed to put the yarn into hanks and wash it. Actual knitting started mid November, with time out for Christmas present construction. I've got patter notes for the fronts (it's a cardigan). The fronts are smaller than the pieces I have finished. There is hope that I can wear it before the weather gets warm.

Almost there! I've got all the pattern knit on my second sock, with just a little ribbing to do before toe decreases. I should finish that tomorrow.

Yes, We Have Snow

It almost buried the bird bath.

It blanketed the bench. We have bright sunshine, but it's still hard to get around!

Knitting

I spent Sunday knitting a hat. It was slow going because the lilac yarn is mostly cotton and not elastic. It does make a cute thick hat!

The sweater sleeve doesn't show much progress. I thought that I needed to knit 18 more rows to the under arm. Did that and a little more. The cables didn't match sleeve #1. Retreated and started 2 rows later. Wrong! This morning I took another look at sleeve #1, and started the underarm 4 rows earlier, 16 rows from last posting. I could have finished it by now if I'd had my head together. It looks right now.

Sock the second nears completion.

Chirp..........Chirp

I was eating dinner last night when I heard it. It took a while for me to figure out what the sound was. A smoke detector battery. I thought I just changed all of them! The first ones lasted 3-4 years, why was one chirping now. Batteries last a long time when the detectors are wired into the house. I started changing batteries. This required a store run to buy more batteries. I went ahead and changed all four smoke detectors.  Later I heard the chirping again. I didn't know there was one in the basement! This wasn't my responsibility when my husband was alive. This is the second time I have found a smoke detector that I wasn't aware of. Today I will be putting the old but still good batteries back in the first four detectors. I should be okay for a couple of years. The house was rewired at least four years ago, and three of the detectors were installed then. This last battery dates from that time.

I'm plugging along on sleeve #2 for my sweater. 18 more rows until the underarm. I'll have to redesign the front soon. The magazine is hat research. I have a request for warm hats for grandkids for Christmas. February is hats thin month on Ravelry's Stash Down forum.  I thought I'd get a head start on gifts. I have yarn pulled out for two hats. The first one is for charity. It's not warm enough for the grandkids, but it's washable, so the guild will get it. 

Today is cleaning day, as well as gym day, and work at the shop to catch up. Better get started.

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.

Soup Time

It's soup time of year. A week or so ago, I made tuna chowder and bean soup with ham. Yesterday it was hamburger soup. Hamburger, tomatoes, red beans cabbage (a bag of cole slaw mix), beef broth, celery and garlic. Single serving portions of all soups are in the freezer.

 

Here's cowl #2, a holiday gift for one of the men in my family.


Once upon a time, I knit a sweater for the TKGA Masters Program. It was big and cozy, and I wore it a lot. I'm much smaller now, so last winter, I turned the sweater into yarn, washed it, and planed to reknit it. This is the start.

Wet Wool

Hanging in my basement. Clean wool that used to be a big warm comfy sweater. Too big!! I unraveled the sweater during the Olympics. It took a while to make all the hanks, so I could wash it. Some of them are a bit tangled, and will have to be wound by hand into balls again. I may rewind with the ball winder. I still need to rework the pattern, but I'm not ready to start knitting yet. There are a few clean socks on the line too. As long as I was washing wool......

I've been working on a pair of socks for a birthday present. One sock is finished, but no photos until after the birthday.

I finally put some patterns up for sale on Ravelry. Reworked two patterns with new PDFs and put up a new sock pattern, McClay Gardens Socks. Tomorrow, I'll put them on Patternfish and send the socks to DD# 5 for inclusion in her online store.

It's a peaceful holiday weekend. The grass is mowed! I still have veggies and flowers to put in the ground, but the weather should be good for that..

Life Goes On

Lent
I successfully challenged myself to a meatless Lent, excluding Sundays (40 days of Lent do not count Sundays). I found a lot of interesting recipes using beans, quinoa, eggs, and cheese. I still have a lot of freezer meals containing meat, made before Lent. I'm eating less meat than I did, and it's getting to be salad season.

Knitting
I found this yarn at Tuesday Morning and immediately turned it into a sweater. It was knit top down, because I didn't know how far the yarn would go. It's all used up now!

The stocking is another in a series that I knit last year. The customer didn't want this one until after Christmas. The child was born in September.

I've been knitting mittens for a guild Christmas tree. The tree will be decorated with hats and mittens, and will be on display in downtown Cleveland this December. I started with 33 yds. of the funky yarn. This is the second pair of mittens, and I still have yarn left.

I've been knitting socks, but cant show them right now.

Did I Fall Off the End of the Earth?

I had a beautiful post written and just needed a photo of my sweater.That was back in June!

Knitting
I did finally finish the black sweater. I still need to write the pattern. Better do that soon! Oasis Yarns Aussi Wool Worsted. Cuffs, front bands and collar are reversible cables. Hook and eye closure. Right now my computer is not talking to my printer. One of the kids will look into why, and figure out what needs to be done to fix it.


Medical Update
Hearing aids work well. Cataract Surgery was a breeze. I was worried about seeing to sew before everything was finished and healed. Not a problem. I need reading glasses, but have a source where they cost $.88 a pair. I can have glasses to match my outfits, as many pairs as it takes. The store is out of my strength tight now, but I already bought 5 pairs before my second eye was done. All other maintenance on my body is done for a while!

House
Painting the outside starts tomorrow. The dog will be going to the kennel for the duration.

My kids have convinced me that I need a smaller house. Domestic Archeology has commenced. It's surprising how much "stuff" a family can accumulate in 40+ years of living in the same place. I find that most of it has no sentimental value, making it easy to dispose of. This is a two year plan.Right now I'm trying to get rid of at least an extra garbage bag each week.There will be donations, house sale, what ever it takes.

I just finished knitting a Christmas stocking, one of five I need to do this year. Four are for a customer, and one is family.Max is the new stocking. It seems that every year, I get to knit stockings to add to what grandma knit. This is an old Bernat pattern that I've knit twice before.

Miscellaneous
I grew up when life was simpler. When things broke, you got them repaired. They were made to last forever and could be repaired. I really like televisions, computers and smart phones. as well as microwaves and refrigerators with ice in the door. I forget that I didn't grow up with any of these things. We listened to the radio, made ice in trays, and didn't make many long distance calls because they were expensive. We walked to the store, although my mother knew how to drive, we only had one car. When she wanted to go grocery shopping, she had to drive my father to work and pick him up again. Stores were closed evenings and Sundays.

That may explain why I get so frustrated when things break, or just don't work. Right now, my laptop is misbehaving, my DVD player died, my printer may need replacing, and the album my son loaded on my computer won't play on my phone. They all will get resolved, but make me grumble.

On the plus side for modern conveniences, I talk to my oldest daughter who lives in Florida every morning, using my cell phone and blue tooth earpiece. Computers and everything they do is wonderful. I plan to play my yoga DVDs on my iPad. The laptop and printer will eventually be replaced, I hope not this month.

On the Road

I'm in Florida right now. I have two daughters here and I flew down yesterday. My blue sweater is almost finished. After spending three days on sleeve #1, sleeve #2 will be done in less than 24 hours. I'm almost at the cuff and I haven't finished my first cup of coffee for the day. I'll be wearing it this afternoon if it isn't too warm.

Update
The sweater was finished before lunch. We stopped for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and a few doors down was a yarn store called "Wooly Bully". I bought a skein of mink yarn that will make a lace scarf. I took a photo of the shop sample with its tag, but I may very well make something else.

Third Time's the Charm

I have talked about this sweater before. It began life as a Sally Melville vest from her Purl book. I liked the vest, loved the yarn.

Last year, the vest became too large for my smaller body. I envisioned a cardigan about hip length, with 3/4 sleeves. One Sunday at church, I saw the perfect sweater. I complimented the lady on her sweater and asked if she had knit it. She had, but didn't remember the name of the pattern. It had something to do with a baby sweater. As I had guessed, it was an off take on an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern from her Knitter's Almanac, called the February Lady Sweater.

I downloaded the pattern from Ravelry and checked my yarn quantity. I could do this! Since the sleeves are knit after the body is finished, they could be a little shorter or a little longer, depending on how much yarn I had at that time. I measured the length of a jacket with a similar style, and started in. I knit the whole body and most of one sleeve before I tried it on. There were problems!

The sweater was a little small. I think my yarn is thinner than recommended. It also was quite a bit longer than I wanted. What to do? I slept on the problem and mulled it over in my mind. I also marked the desired length while I had it on. That took care of the distinct possibility that the sweater would stretch.

Final decision resulted in two large balls of yarn. I started over, using stitch counts two sizes larger. I also bought myself an iPad, which made it easy to take a clean pattern and highlight the numbers I wanted. I also transferred any relevant notes. Now I have the body of a sweater that fits! On to the sleeves! There is light at the end of the tunnel.

By the way, I made the buttons for the original vest. The pattern calls for only 3 buttons.

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!

So Many Blog Posts....

....have been written in my head. so few (none) have made it into the computer.

What have I knit since i last posted? A pair of socks for my Granddaughter Luci. I bought the red yarn at my knitting guild swap sale. It is Schaeffer Anna, which I had never tried before. It is not my favorite yarn. The patter was another mystery sock, being released in four parts, a week apart. It was the September mystery, and Luci's birthday is October 30, so I had plenty of time.

 My guild is hosting A knitter's Fantasy next April, and chose Wingspan as a guild project. Mine is knit from Crystal Palace Mini Mochi that  I originally bought for socks. I don't like knitting this at a small gauge, so it became a scarf.

Another guild project is children's scarves and other warm things for charity. I have knit 2 scarves so far. One I may have shown, using squares of garter stitch. This started with bulky yarn and continued with 2 strands of worsted or what ever, using small odd balls of yarn. Black was used consistently throughout.

The second scarf was made of long strips of ribbing, sewn together with bobbles. The pattern is in Pam Allen's  Scarf Style book. Again, I used small odd balls of yarn. I haven't made much of a dent yet, but I'm trying.

 The scarf I'm knitting now uses tapestry yarn. Lots of 1 yard pieces spit spliced together. Most of this is left over from embroidery projects I have done. a little of it was inherited from my mother. It's time it was used up or thrown out, or some of each.

Once upon a time, as recently as last year, I had a vest  from Sally Melville's Purl Book. As I lost weight, the vest became too large. I loved the yarn, but the yarn/pattern combination was not a good enough mix to be worth repeating in a smaller size. One Sunday I went to church and saw a cute sweater that I thought would work. It was the February Lady Sweater. I have finished the body and started the sleeves. They will end somewhere around my elbow. I'm not sure exactly where.

I started the sleeves by measuring the two pieces of knitting remaining from the vest. They are about the same in square inches. I'm using the smaller one first. and think that I can knit 9" of sleeve before the garter stitch band at the end. The buttons are crocheted and were used on the vest. The yarn is Berocco Cotton Twist., bought specifically for the vest.

I knit some face cloths for daughter Jen's birthday at her request. I have a few more that I would like to knit for gifts for more people.

Much of my time has been used designing a mystery sock for the Solid socks group on Ravelry. Part I goes live on December 1st. I am working on the second sock, test knitting/tweaking the pattern as I go. The yarn on this project is Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.

I also have been knitting family Christmas Stockings. The first one is finished. This is #29 in the line of family stockings. Two recipients are no longer with the family and I may reuse their designs at some point. I have a basic Christmas Stocking pattern and each stocking is different. I have a number of them shown on the Ravelry pattern page. Like members of the family each one is different, but bears a family resemblance.

I've been quite busy at work, which is good. I need customers in order to stay in business.

The Tomatoes are Ripe

Tomatoes
They have been ripe for a month. I have bags of frozen tomatoes. I've eaten salads and wrap sandwiches. I made tomato soup. I've roasted tomatoes. The variety is endless. I have lots of new recipes that I like. One of my favorites is chicken tomato pizza. I use preformed pizza dough, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, cooked chicken (a staple in my house), basil, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Stick in the oven until brown.

So far, all the extra tomatoes have gone in the freezer. I still might can some, but right now, I can't put my hands on my jar lifter. I really need it if I'm going to get jars our of boiling water. I can buy a new one for not much money, but I still have one more place to look. Also, if I don't actually get to canning, I won't need it.

Overnight oatmeal
A new discovery that one of my daughters found. It's made in a jar and eaten cold. So far I have tried blueberry, peach and apple. I may have tried more flavors, but they're not at the top of my mind. One daughter thinks the chocolate ones might make a good snack. Another daughter has made up large batches of pumpkin flavored jars. In looking for the link, I found a number of other recipes on Google. The one I've used combines the oats with yogurt, some of the others just use milk.

Sock Knitting

These were a birthday gift for oldest daughter. I thought of them as butterflies, but she's a quilter and saw them as bow ties. The technique is Mosaic, using only one color per row, and slipping the other color.


Daughter number three has a birthday the day after her sister. She got these socks. The dishcloth shows the stitch pattern.

Patterns for both pairs are available on Ravelry and Patternfish

We also have a granddaughter with a September birthday.. She was in town last weekend to celebrate and show off her son, who is 4 months old. She got the last pair of socks. I followed a Ravelry mystery pattern for these.

I also am knitting Christmas stockings. I have 5 identical stockings, except for name, to do for a commission job. Three are finished and I'm working on #4. As it's getting colder, I set myself the task of knitting on them at least one hour a day. I also have two family stockings to do, one for the new great grandson and one for a granddaughter's husband. Should have done that one last year. Every year or so, I knit stockings for other people. It's the same story. Grandma knit stockings until she couldn't any more and the family kept growing. I've knit a version of this pattern before. Most of what I've knit are old Bernat patterns. A few I've had to design myself. The family patterns are all original. I'll talk more about them when I get to that point.

Sunshine sweater
 This sweater looks almost like I wanted it to, but it doesn't work! There is no stability in the neckline, and it slid down as I wore it. Luckily it was just a dog walk of about 20 minutes. I'm now on try #3 of the neckline. I've kept the v-neck, but gone with a more conventional look. I'll wear it for a while before I call it done. I may have to crochet around the neck edge to keep it from stretching. I still love the yarn and stitch pattern, but I sure am ready for this to be really finished.

I finally figured out the time delay on my camera. It's a good thing that I'm not using up film on pictures the crop off part of my body.