Project Number Ten

I finished project number ten of the year today.  It was a light enough one that I could work through the heat.  Cooler weather is promised for later this coming week, so I will be able to work more on the blanket for Fr. Stanly as well as the one for my little peanut.

This is the Blue Easy Shaped Shawl, for me.  I started it in May and it is off the needles today, just waiting for cooler weather so I can wear it.  You can see a bit of the back in the mirror behind me.  The yarn is "Shawl In a Ball", in Soothing Blue.  It is a cotton acrylic blend.
Gertrude consented to model it for a better picture.

It is entirely in garter stitch, so I don't plan on blocking this one.  There will be more in the future.  I have another skein to make one for my travel buddy, Sandy, in pink and fuchsia with a touch of gold near the end.

And on the way home from our road trip, I also got another skein for me, in shades of purple.

I Said There Was Knitting

I ran out of room and time in my last post before I could share my knitting.

I have almost finished the second square of Fr. Stanly's throw.  The heat and humidity has slowed that down some.  Once I have the first two sides of the circles squared to much of it hangs in my lap.  Hopefully cool weather will be here to stay soon and I can whip it out.

While on my road trip, I uploaded a picture of some of the knitting that had taken place as of the morning of our second day.  I have continued to work on that, at least part time.  You know me, I always have more than one project in the works.  But this is a picture of the Blue Easy Shaped Shawl as of this afternoon.

I was on the Royal Blue when we started the trip.  The color is starting to transition over to light blue again. Every other row the rows are one stictch longer, so it is going slowly now.  But it is an easy knit, just like the pattern said.  I even bought another skein of this "Shawl In A Ball" for another one.

Someday.

I had started the first sock of this pair last week.  And now I am two rows from binding off the second sock.

My first sock with Fixation, a cotton and elastic yarn, and first time using a short row heel.  I had to use the extra contrast yarn on each side of the heel to stitch up the gaps after this picture was taken.  It looks and fits fine now.  As soon as I am done here, I will finish number two.

And as though I didn't have enough projects on hand, a friend gave me this at Knit Nite.

She had kept her size 4 needles, so I transferred it to a new needle and after a few rows, tinked back and tried again with a size two needle.  Much better.  Gauge does matter you know.  

I just need to finish the hood and then the front bands.  I also got a zipper today, so I may install instead of buttons.

I guess I have some knitting ahead of me.  As usual.

Warm Weather Knitting

I have mentioned how I have had to set the Baby Hap aside due to all the heat. The humidity and heat just do not work with large amounts of wool draped across my lap.

Instead, I have been sticking to smaller projects that can rest above my lap, like the Peanut Dress.

I have also been turning to cotton. I showed a picture of the Almost Lost Washcloth, in progress in ,y .ast post. I finished three, and am almost done with the third Mini version, with only two more wedges to go.

Then, seaming and closing the center hole on all of them. That should be done by tomorrow.

Posted with Blogsy

Finally! Rain?

I woke up today to thunder and darkness. I was surprised to see the time. But looking outside, the reason was wonderful. Rain!

After a bit, it let up so Lizzie and I ventured out.

The major rain had moved on, although sprinkles returned. There were good sized puddles up and down the drive. That boded well for the total rainfall. We are still with out a working rain gauge since Hubby took over the place I had used. And I refuse to get soaked, wading through deep grass to read it right after the rainfall. I am working on a fix. But I am waiting for Younger Son to cut a piece of wood to set in the front peak of my chicken coop, high enough to get an accurate reading. Maybe next year. Right now, the best way to check rain fall level is in containers. This crock pot liner had been left out for the kitties to enjoy the leftover bits clinging to the sides.

You will notice that our quality control kitties confirming a lot of rain fell. Even allowing for a bit of sloped sides, I would estimate over two inches. I hope it wasn't too late for the corn fields. They were looking sad.

And, yes, while watching the race, there is some knitting.

Pattern: Almost Lost Washcloth. I may do some of the mini version too. I need to seam and draw up the center yet, but will do them all at once.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Quick and Easy

I needed a break from all the purple of this summer's knitting. The placemats are done, but the baby sweaters continue along. And the gray blue Spiral Blankie is not a big break from purple.

So I turned to something I had been thinking about knitting for awhile: a soap sack.

It was definitely quick. I finished the whole thing yesterday from cast on (twice!) to cast off. And that was after tinking back to fix a lace mistake in one sweater, and switching my car sock project to magic loop.

After poking around, I found this in my stash room and decided it was the perfect worsted weight for my soap sack.

I rifled through my patterns and found Sudsy Soap Sack on Ravelry. It called for size 10.5 needles but I really dislike knitting on large needles. I used size 7 needles, and cast a extra 4 stitches to compensate. Well, I first tried a extra 8 stitches. And after a couple inches, decided that was too big. So I ripped that all back and started with only 4 extra stitches. I also grabbed a bar of soap to measure it by.

It went much better the second time. Magic loop again. I decided I really do like that method.

I may make more. They would be nice gifts with a bar of fancy soap, but need to tweak the pattern more I think. It drives me crazy that the stockinette strip on either end spirals around the bag. I know, as someone said at Spin Guild today, that it is just going to hang in my shower. But that spiral is driving me crazy. I may also try a finer weight yarn.

The finished sack shown above has a bar of Dial, and two more soap slivers. It's is a bit long, but bigger bars of soap may need the length. I think I can live with it. If I don't look at the spiral.

Posted with Blogsy

Back Again

Unfortunately, except for special occasion posts like the one posted yesterday, there isn't much to blog about.  I didn't get to get any new pictures this past week of Little Farmer because he went to a conference with his mom on the day I usually watch him.
However, my knitting, is making much progress.  Unfortunately, the items I have been working on are stealth projects. So I can't share any pictures of them.
But since I have been making such good time them, I started and finished another fun little project.

A fun little coaster.  It was quick and dirty, just what I needed to take my mind off the stealth knitting.  It only took a bit of yarn, and not much time.  I may make a set of them.  But I can just do one here and there, and now, pretty much without the pattern nearby.  I have another pattern I want to try too.  Not many out there that are knit. 

And that makes five completed projects for the year.  And oh so many on deck, besides the WIPs. 

Emergency 0ver

The knitting emergency has passed.  Successfully, I might add.
A friend of mine is getting married this summer and her wedding shower was Saturday morning.  (She is the one referred to as the older sister of my sons' friends who remembered to nag them each Mother's day.)

She is pictured here with her mother and sister.   And it looks like another friend's pinky finger photobombed me.
The gift, pictured below being checked out by Leo, was finished in plenty of time.  A pie/casserole carrier.

Part of the gift, that I tucked inside, wasn't finished until after midnight the night before.  At least a good movie was on!

I like circular dishcloths better than square. Square ones always seem to stretch out of shape.  Round ones can stretch equally in each direction.
And just like that--I doubled my finished projects for the year to four,

Brainless Knitting

One of the items I trusted myself to knit in my cold stupor was a washcloth.

I had started it while helping a friend re-learn how to knit, just before I came down with my cold.  It went fairly well, but is a bit large.

I have another on the needles, but went down a couple needle sizes.  Between smaller size, and switching from metal to wood needles, I hope that will help.
This is another item I am knitting for my friend who is presently in South Sudan.  She said not to worry too much.  They are treasured there and someone will be sure to love it.
I hope so, I have a whole cone of this color.

Life: The Saga Goes On

It has been a busy week, and some, but not a lot of knitting.

One of the items my friend asked for in the way of knitted donations during her talk last week was leprosy bandages. They use them in the lepers hospital near her mission hospital in South Sudan. I picked up some #10 thread and began one. I will need to get some safety pins to go with them when finished. But in the meantime, it is a brainless go-anywhere project. It is a bit longer than this, as shown on my Ravelry project page.

The Broken Seed Stitch sock has grown some since last appearing here as well. Thank you Lizzie for providing scale here.

I like the way the variegated pink/peach yarn contrasts with the purple. And for the moment, a quick try on had it going over the heel with no problems. So I think the fit is good. And it makes a pretty diamond pattern as well.

The highlight of my week was my grandma day. Henceforth on Wednesdays I will be spending the day with Little Farmer, and his sister Lil' Farm Gal when she gets off the bus. I need to get on the same feeding schedule as his daycare, but we had a fun day.

EveN if I was totally worn out at the end of the day. Whew!

There has been knitting on good old Green Flowy too. I am progressing on the second front and will block both fronts at the same time. Pictures at this time on would just be redundant. I will wait until I have something new to show on this front.

Hharry and I have been doing well too. It is rather daunting to have to drive my new-to-me car in the snow and dark. But I am beginning to remember where all the buttons are.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Plodding On

I finished the Black  Cotton Cardi with glee.  And, although surrounded by WIPs (Works In Progress), I still feel the need to cast on.  I have been intermittently working working on the Silver Dove socks, started eons ago.  When I picked those up, I was barely past the cuff on the second sock.

As you can see, I have turned the heel, and since this picture have gotten about half way to the toe.  

I also cast on for the first doll sweater.  This is for a girl at church.  After stash diving I found plenty of this minty green heather.  It is also 100% acrylic, as is needed for non-fibery people.   That one took me about 2 days to finish.  I haven't changed it to finished on Ravelry only because I still need to sew on the sweet little buttons I found.  I hope to do that after posting here.

I also promised the so-called "glamour shot" of the Black Cardi.  I'm not sure how glamorous it is, but I do like the sweater.

It was funny, but as I designed it, the only thing I imagined differently was the length.  I always imagined it as more of a high hip length.  But as I knit, I couldn't believe the length was enough, so I probably could have quit a couple inches shorter and done fine.  But the yarn, Knit Picks Shine is so soft.  I really like it.  I have a couple skeins of the black left.  I had also purchased some pink and burgundy that will be combined with the black for a cotton shawl some day.
In the meantime though, before I cast on for another doll sweater, and the matching (or at least coordinating) one for Lil' Farm Gal, I want to finish the second sock of this pair.
Then I can perhaps start a new pair.  And cast on their sweaters.  And decide which WIP to throw into the rotation next.

And The First of 2014

Buttons are on and I have my first finished project of the year.

The yarn is Knit Picks Shine, in black sport weight, a cotton/modal blend (That's kind of like rayon.). It feels great.

Gertrude looks pretty good in it, now that the buttons are on. The sleeves may look really short, but they are a perfect three-quarter length on me.

I think I have also mastered the art of taking a selfie.

I just need to get better backgrounds.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Perils in Knitting

While I have enjoyed the knitting adventure that has been my black cotton cardigan, there have been dangers I didn't anticipate when I bought this yarn.

The first problem came in the first incarnation of the black cotton, when I attempted a simple black cotton tee top. But, alas, trying to knit it with my dark Knit Pick multicolor needles was next to impossible, especially on size two needles.

After frogging back, and regrouping, I invested in some of the Knit Pick blond Sunstruck needles. I started over as a cardigan, with size five. The knitting went much better. However, sometime after originally purchasing the yarn, I had acquired a mostly white cat. A cat who loves to climb on my chair and walk over me as I knit....always leaving a few hairs as a reminder that he had passed. Can you see them?

And lastly, once the problem of dark yarn on dark needles was solved, and the white cat hair resigned to, there were a ton of stinking ends to weave in. Let me saw right now, for the record: I hate yarn that only comes in 50 gram ball, as opposed to 100 gram balls. They have twice as many ends to contend with.

There are at least eleventy nine ends to weave in.

But after that, the buttons!

Posted with Blogsy

Good Knitting Weather

With temperatures in the single digits, so far, and a bit lower wind chills, it has been great knitting weather.
The body of the black cotton cardigan is off the needles. So before picking up stitches for the neck band and front button and button hole bands I reviewed my button choices. Against the black sweater, the camera doesn't do justice to the buttons. So here is a picture of the choices.

On the left is a light gray with a brushed finish. The center choice is shiny ball shaped black. And on the right is the clear sparkly buttons. I like all of them, but my feeling is that the solid black of the sweater needs the sparkly clear buttons.

The flash washes the buttons out in this picture. But even here I think the sparkles win out.
Now, back to my knitting.

Posted with Blogsy

Knitting On

So with the October Mystery sweater finished, I picked up the needles again.

The Black Cotton Cardi is back in the primary knitting bag. But I took time out to knit another Calorimetry to go with my new coat. Using different yarn from my stash, and smaller needles it fits much better than the first one.

And with that done I started on a Christmas present with mostly stash yarn.

The multi-colored was left over from the sweater for Oldest Son's Girl Friend's Daughter. The hat will be for her too. Then....I have plans for doll accessories. And maybe a little something for her mother.

That black sweater may be in the knitting bag, but it may not see much action for a while.

Posted with Blogsy

The Black Cardigan

With the beginning of the October Mystery Knit Along just days away, I have been concentrating on knitting my black cotton cardigan. I have progressed several inches past the arm divide. As I was nearing the end of the skein, I decided to start working on one of the sleeves.

I took a great picture with my phone camera of the completed 3/4 length right sleeve, with small dog included for scale, But it is on my phone. And my cell phone is only working for short bursts. And until the replacement comes, uploading is beyond it,

So instead, I am including a picture of Leo instead.

I really hope the replacement phone in here tomorrow. This is driving me crazy.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sleeves!

Well, sleeve holes anyway.

 

I was fighting a stuffy throat yesterday and so instead of going to Spin Guild, I stayed home and knit. As a result, I managed to get the sleeves divided on my Black Cotton Cardigan yesterday. You can see the eyelet pattern if you look closely.

I am at the end of four out of fifteen skeins as shown above. I plan on switching to the elbow to 3/4 length sleeves when I near the end of the next skein and then possibly the neckband too. After those I can sail through to the last skein before casting off and finishing button and buttonhole bands.

Doing it that way I can get as much length as I can, if I start running low on yarn. According to the book, I may be about 60 yards short. But with the shorter sleeves, that gives me wiggle room.

Not sure if I can finish before the Knit ALong that starts in October but I am making good progress on sweater number 9.

 

Posted with Blogsy

And Onward We Knit

So now that I have finished and delivered sweater number 8 for the year, it is on to the next sweeter. Since I won't have the pattern for the October Mystery sweater until October (hence the name), I turned once again to the black cotton.

As I stated earlier, I frogged the tee. I mean black, cotton, stark stockinette on dark size 2 needles. What was I thinking? The repurposed yarn utilized into a eyelet cardigan on size 5 needles is knitting up much better. Especially with the lighter colored needles.

The white threads only serve to highlight the raglan seams while knitting, as well as keeping the stitch markers from falling off. They come out when the sleeves are separated off. Here is a close up of the eyelets.

Since this top down, there will be a garter row above each eyelet row, which are seven rows apart. I am using Ann Budd's book, the Knitter's Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters, using the raglan directions with my stitch pattern, and extra ease in front.

I'm not sure I can finish it before it is time for the October Mystery but I can keep knitting as fast as I can till then.

Posted with Blogsy