Monday, March 30, 2015

Closer and Closer

The sleeves for Green Flowy Cardigan had their bath this morning and are drying.  Hopefully without to much help from the cat.  Leo has been sleeping in the living room most of the afternoon so that means less white hair in the finished sweater.
They are patted out and the fan is running to speed up the drying.
In the mean time, There hasn't been much done on my vest or the new shawl.  I am trying to really be good at least until I finish the collar.   \There only a few more rows and then the sewing up.  Although the rows do get longer and longer. I am adding a stitch at the beginning and end of each right side row.  I hope it will add a nice point on the collar.
Not much longer.  And I am sure there is at least one other person to see the end so close.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Progress Continues-- An End in Sight

Now that the sleeves are waiting for their soak and blocking, I finally finished the shoulder seams of the Green Flowy Cardigan. And with those seams finished, I was able to take the stitches off their holders and begin the collar.

Yup, the end is getting closer with this never ending sweater.

I also had time to work on the Oatmeal Vest, completing a couple inches of stockinette past the seed stitch on the back section. That bulky yarn really is not my cup of tea.

So, just for something to it switch up with, I may or may not have started a new shawl yesterday.

More frogged yarn, the larger ball is the same size as the other two cakes. They total at least 1320 yards of lace weight wool. Hand dyed by a friend, and probably sitting in the stash for five to seven years after being frogged, it is ready for knitting. I think it jumped onto a needle when I wasn't looking.

It is being worked up in another self designed pattern, sort of a cross between an elongated triangle and semi-circular shape. It is super simple. Since the vest needs to have the rows counted, this is a better travel and knit night project.

Of course the green sweater will need the collar finished and some seams stitched, but I can see the finish line approaching. Soon.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Onward! Casting About.

The second sleeve of the Green Flowy Cardigan dropped off of the needles yesterday afternoon and is ready to be blocked with its twin. Since I had not sewn the shoulder seams yet, I needed something appropriate for Knit Night. The Broken Seed Stitch socks aren't that difficult, but a bit of concentration is required.

And sometimes, concentration is in short supply at Knit Night.

I finally decided to cast on my Oatmeal Vest. The pattern is my second from Custom Fit. The yarn is bulky Nature Spun by Brown Sheep that a skinny little friend had purchased for a sweater. After she passed a way, her daughter gave me the yarn. I decided on the vest so I would have enough yarn to make something I can wear in her memory.

I managed to finish the bottom band. And yes, more seed stitch. I will be seed stitched out by the time this and Green Flowy are finished.

Did I mention that the hood of Green Flow has been changed to a collar?

More seed stitch.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Barn Cats

Languid in the sun

Patches of dry grass for beds

Owning the outdoors.

 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Excuses, Excuses... With Knitting

Wow, has it been that long?  Two weeks since I've posted something?  Yikes, I will be surprised if I have anyone reading this at all.
I can plea that I have been busy, but for the last week, I blame the stupid time change.  I have posted about my loathing for this man-made insanity before.  Take a look at 2013's semi rant with links to 4 previous posts about it.  I am still in recovery mode for this spring's time change.  Do you think that my getting up at 5am to go get Younger Son from work may have something to do with it?  Thankfully that may end soon, or at least sometime this year.  His fees are paid, and once he fixes up his car, and gets that liscenced, as well as himself, I will be off that hook.
But I am sure I will still hate the stupid time change.
Knitting has been speeding right along.  Back, both fronts and now a sleeve and a half.  I even pinned the parts together for a look-see.
The sleeves are missing until I finish number two and block them.  It looks a bit strange leaning against Gertrude, but she is a bit to "shapely" to fit into it.  I took it to Spin Guild yesterday.  The friend I have been knitting it for tried it on. It looked wonderful.  Alas though.  The flowy part of the cardigan, the front flaps, don't flow down as I had hoped.  But they will make a good warm generous overlapping front for wrapping up.  I will have to ask if perhaps a button loop should be added to the edge of the flap.
While industriously knitting away on the second sleeve, with a few breaks for my Broken Seed Stitch Socks.   I managed to avoid casting on anything on Pi Day, although I was sorely tempted.
I am rethinking the Boysenberry Pi Shawl I started in 2010.  There have been a few stints on that, but none recently.  I was getting confused when I tried to go forward without the charts.  Plus I think I would prefer a half pi, or even 3/4 pi.  This may just be the next project to hit the frog pond and be reborn.
Of course I have other projects to work on first.  I must get my mind out of the cast-on mode.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Two Fronts and a Back

I finished the second front of the Green Flowy Cardigan Sunday and blocked them both yesterday.  I wanted to do them both at the same time to match them.
I think that I need to clean off the lens on my phone.  I see the picture looks a bit cloudy here.  But after remeasuring, I discovered my row gauge is longer than I thought.  I will adjust accordingly on the sleeves and hood.  I had started the sleeves, when I got the update the I can forget the thumb holes.  Much less fiddling and they can be made to be identical.
Now that I have blocked the entire body of the sweater, I could start the hood at anytime.  I need to sew the shoulder seams first but then can start working on it.   Once I pick up the front stitches, I will need to figure out how many stitches I need to add across the back to give it some depth.
Here is  closeup of one front.  I like the cable very much.  On the hood the pattern will match so I just need to make sure I stop on either chart row 1 or 11.
Onward!