Being Accountable

I thought it would perhaps be a good idea to check in occasionally on my resolutions to help me in at least try to work towards them. Of course I didn't really call them resolutions. More like goals, at least as far as my knitting was concerned. If you want, you can see my original post on these goals dated January 8, in the archives sidebar on the right.

I wanted to work on finishing the most active projects. I did finish knitting the Lilac Cardigan, even though at the time it was dangerously close to being abandoned. The lace was seriously slow going at the time. But it still needs washed and delivered before I can say it is truly done. I also finished the Stonehenge Shawl. And the back of my Navy Tweed vest is up to the arm shaping. Although as I reported recently, it is still stopped in mid-row. The other items I mentioned then haven't been touched. Oops.

The main reason for my lack of action on the other WIPs (Works In Progress) is of course my Bang Out a Freyja. The "Banging It Out" means it is supposed to be the only project I work on. I think before long, I will be reverting to putting something else in rotation. But, on the bright side, the Freyja does help my second goal of knitting one or more cardigans for myself. I did intend making them out of stash, but hey...a sweater is a sweater.

Socks? As I mentioned in the January post I need more socks. And that is more so now. I discovered another pair that needs darning. I started one pair of smocked socks, but....Freyja happened.

So three projects have been finished so far this year, not too bad.

I haven't finished any of my Craftsy classes yet either, but I have been dabbling with them.

There were two other goals that I noted in my Bullet Journal that didn't hit the blog.

The first was to try to blog more often. My exact words were "as close to daily as possible." I think I am doing fairly well with that goal. I deliberately left myself wiggle room.

The other goal is also one I have already taken action on. It was to explore finding a new church. I think that has been accomplished. I feel quite at home at the Catholic parish I am attending now. Classes for membership won't start again until September so I have time to settle in and make a final decision.

If anyone wants to know more about this big jump. I am blogging about it at :

thecontinousjourney.blogspot.com

I will not be posting there daily, but I just wanted a place where I could record the reasons I am making the change. I also hope to simply journal about how the change progresses. Feel free to bookmark the website because I will not always be sharing those posts on Facebook as I do this blog.

And now, just to finish on a cheerful note, here is my favorite small human again.

I love that kid.

 

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Wishing For Snow, Wishing For Wool

Ahh, the good old days. This was about this time of year, back in 2011. Look at all that wonderful snow! We had to call out Older Son with the big guns to plow us out that year.

Hubby was supervising the operation. Wonderful snowy memories. All we have now is a skim of snow over the now frozen slop and slush.

At home and on the knitting front currently, I am bouncing around from project to project. I worked on the rustic silk shawl last night, only a couple rows. This afternoon and evening I have been working on my Navy Tweed Vest. I have started the armhole shaping so am closing in on finishing the back. But I don't think I want to start one of the front sides on that right away. I also grabbed my Smocked Brown Cow Socks briefly to work on.

I am waiting for my "unyarn" to arrive from Iceland so I can participate in Mason Dixon Knitting's "Bang Out a Sweater" Knit-a-Long. I will be just getting started as already people are finishing. It is supposed to be a fast knit. But I will need plenty of time to swatch, wash and dry my unspun yarn. From what I hear the bloom of the yarn changes the gauge drastically after washing. Swatching isn't bad. It is waiting for it to dry that drives me bonkers.

And with Spin Guild on Monday, I foresee lots of fiber coming my way.

 

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Resolutions, Finally

Now that is a week into the New Year, I have thought about at least my knitting goals for 2016.

1. I would like to finish my most active WIPs. Namely the Navy Tweed Vest, the Lilac Cardigan (before a certain purple princess outgrows size 12 months), my Stonehenge Hitchhiker Shawl (shown above before the last half skein was knitted), Sandy's Traveling Woman shawl (before July), the Rustic Blue Silk Triangle, and the Baby Hap Shawl (also for the purple princess).
2. Knit at least one cardigan for me, maybe two. I want to use the Fabjous Yarns fingering weight in Plum Cake that has been in the stash for over a year for one sweater. And I would like to make another out of some of my homespun. I have enough white, light gray, and dark gray Shetland, or some white mixed Leister crossed from a fleece I got a while back, and also I believe I have enough Jacob with all the colors blended together. Multiple choices there.
3. Socks, I need more socks. To that end I signed up for a free Craftsy knit along. Of course I did buy the yarn recommended. It's in the mail now. I need to work at getting them to fit better again.
4. Finish more of my other Craftsy classes.

Of course while these are noble goals for the year, I did accidently cast on something new yesterday. More on that tomorrow. When will I ever learn? At least the Scoreboard Cowl is finished.

Now let's see how well I do with these goals.

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The Wind

So here I sit, waiting for the power to out again. This time, I have extra water, to drink and flush with. All devices are charged to the max. I have a flashlight and a battery operated lantern nearby. Younger Son got someone else to take him to work. I am hoping he gets far enough ahead so he can catch a ride home with one of the second shift workers.

And, being Monday, in spite of the horrid weather, Hubby went to the livestock auction. I can only hope he makes it back home in one piece.

I didn't share any pictures of Christmas I guess, only the knitting. In the non-knitting realm, Little Farmer enjoyed his mega blocks, if only to take them out of the wagon, one by one.

Luckily, when you pull the wagon over the blocks, it rakes them into the wagon. He did the taking out and let Daddy do the raking up.

But what he really was impatient for was a ride in the skidsteer with his daddy.

After the boot got pulled back on though. Then they were off.

At home, gifts were opened and enjoyed as well as a wonderful ham. Younger Son had wanted an old school Nintendo with a Super Mario game. He took it to his friends to play with and has hardly stopped playing all weekend.

As for me, I worked mightily on my Navy Tweed Vest, and am caught up with the Scoreboard Cowl as well. Only one game left to add to that and then I will be joining top to bottom. I think I will pick up the stitches from the provisional cast on and then do a 3-needle bind off. The ridge from that will be a nice way to help define the season beginning and end. I am almost afraid to see just how long this is going to be when done. I haven't seen it stretched out since I tucked it into the plastic bag several weeks ago.

But this look down into the bag was from before I finished last week's game, so at least a game and a half more now, plus this coming weekend's game to add to it. There looks like several folds stacked up in there. I will definitely be able to wrap it around once or twice.

And it is barely possible that I cast on for a Hitchhiker shawl/scarf.

Hey, I think the wind shifted. It isn't hitting our east windows quite so hard now. Yea!

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On to New Knitting

The knitting is finished, at least for Christmas. Everything is wrapped but posting pictures will need to wait until after the gifting is over. Old projects have been picked back up and worked on.

But...I did swatch for a vest out of the navy blue tweed yarn I found in the wool room.

Since the yarn is machine washable, I vigorously hand washed and then dried in the dryer. I measured the swatch before and after washing and drying. Then I went into the Custom Fit website and generated a pattern to match my swatch. It is going to be a cardigan style vee-neck vest. I think I will forego buttonholes. I have a neat button that I think I will use with a loop style button fastener. If I have enough yarn for that.

Since I also weighed the dried swatch on my digital postal scales, after giving the total dimensions, the finished pattern also gave me an estimated yardage needed. I am hoping that the strings contributed enough weight to make the website estimate more yarn than actually needed.

The estimated required yardage is 1217. I have 1200, minus the yarn used for the swatch. I may be playing yarn chicken on this project. See what I mean about having enough yarn for a loop closure?

I wonder how a contrasting button band and neck band would look? For that matter, I don't t think a different dye lot would be too noticeable on the front bands and the sleeve edgings.

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Time For Gift Knitting

With both birthdays for grandchildren as well as Christmas fast approaching, it is time for gift knitting. Some is coming from the stash, but I did make a few purchases. Just as a supplement you know.

I started a cowl like my St Augustine Cowl finished early this year. This one though is in turquoise. I think I can find someone who would like that.

I have plans for a hat and possibly mittens too but they may be able to wait until Christmas, I hope. Hope is high for a pair of Mary Jane style slippers also by Christmas.

And then there is this, already started...a pair of fingerless mitts.

In navy tweed, from my stash, they are definitely daytime knitting.

But, with all this knitting ramping up I present this:

I finally sat down and added buttons to the Flo Oatmeal Vest.

Ta dah! Although I will need to see if I can get some better pictures, I think it isn't half bad. And enough left over for a hat.

That makes my tenth finished project for 2015! I'm doing better than I thought.

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Whole Lot of Finishing Going On

A week or so ago I dug out the languishing Flo Oatmeal Vest and with the cooler weather was able to finish it fairly quickly. Last weekend I soaked it and laid it out to block. Hmmm...even getting gauge, it came out fairly long.

Next I need to finally sew the side and shoulder seams before picking up stitches around arm, neck and front bands. The end is in sight.

I also delivered Little Farmer's Spiral Blankie today.

With that done, I started a blankie for the little purple princess. It isn't purple, but it will have purple accents when finished.

It's a Shetland Hap Shawl. The idea is that it is a lacy blanket now, and when she grows up, she can use it as a shawl. If her mom lets her keep it that is. It will have some purple in it after all.

Once the center square is done, stitches will be picked up all around for a feather and fan section, this ripple pattern is then bound off sideways, like the spiral blankie. But this will have a zig-zag border instead of straight garter stitch. It will be similar to one I made a couple of years ago.

On a non-knitting front, I am once again clinging to my cane. On Monday a cousin and I went on a cemetery visit. A steep bumpy cemetery. We found all the relatives we were after, and then some. (Allens and Bartos and Fords, oh my.). But the hills were too much for my poor knee. I could hardly sleep that night and am still feeling the effects.

Now, back to my knitting.

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Rethinking Projects

While I am continuing to knit on Little Farmer's spiral blankie and my vest, the blankie at least is a strictly at-home project.   The patterned section definitely requires complete concentration once every eight segments.  It is brainless on seven sections, but that eighth one means it won't be traveling to Knit Night, at least until I get to the border.  I think I am going to do a garter stitch bind off at right angle to the body.  It is nice and stretchy and looks less lacy than the picot bind off the pattern calls for.

My Oatmeal Vest needs a spot of cool weather to do a lot of work on that.  Either that or air conditioning, since it is bulky wool.  It may rest for a while until closer to fall for finishing.  In the meantime, I have lots of other knitting to do.  Some may be stealth knitting, some not.  But after all that cotton for the shower gift, I think I will spend a bit of time working on that Raspberry Creme Shawl, with lace-weight wool.  My fingers are craving wool for a while and that is not too not to work on.  Cotton is cooler, but harder on the hands, since it is less stretchy.
Oh, and by the way, did I mention I won a prize at the wedding shower last Saturday?

Good think my friend Linda lives in Lansing, or she would be plotting to take it.  She loves purple.

More Catch Up--This and That

The knitting has gone on during all the poetry writing, although slowly.  I managed to finally finish the first front of the Hug From Flo/Oatmeal Vest.  It doesn't photograph well, since it seems that the bulky yarn curls even more than worsted, at least in an unblocked state.  That has been folded and put in the bag with the completed back, awaiting the second front and blocking and sewing.  The bands come after that.  Just the kind of thing I love knitting in 80 degree temps--bulky wool. But it will be nice come winter.

And I am ready.  For cooler temperatures anyway.  Remember if you will, I never complained about the cold.  I figure I am entitled to complain about the heat. 

About a week ago I snapped a picture of the information screen on Hharry's instrument panel.

I was thrilled to have reached 28.8 miles per gallon with Hharry.  But today...no pictures but when I drove into the garage, it read 29.2 mpg.  

I love my HHR. 

Vest and Poem. With Flowers.

I mentioned yesterday that the back is finished on the Oatmeal Vest, or as I've come to call it, The Hug from Flo Vest.  As I said then, the yarn was purchased by my late friend Flo and then gifted to me.
It is safely folded away.  This time, I will wait and block all three pieces at once.   One front has been begun and flying along.  Like I said yesterday, bulky yarn knits up quick.

And now, the tribute for Poetry Month, day 19.

The daffodils are to pop.
The little toads croak and hop.
The mud is drying, the grass is green.
It sure seems like Spring is on the scene.

Racing and Knitting

The first night race of the racing season.

A great time to knit (as though I need a reason).

My Oatmeal Vest is growing a back,

Not many rows until arm shaping's a fact.

But I have to say, as temperatures rise,

Knitting with bulky wool may not be wise.

I guess as the high temps begin making me pout

It will be time for the sock project to start coming out.

Bad lighting in this picture to show the back of the vest, but at least the back shaping shows well. I have about twelve more rows until the arm hole shaping begins. That always feels like the end is near. Especially with the shorter rows.

The socks will be much cooler to knit for summer.

And, I thought maybe Little Farmer had all the blankets he could use since the other Grandma crochets and quilts. But when I mentioned it to Cow Girl, his momma, she didn't seem to think so. So the Spiral Gray Blankie will be back in the rotation too.

I think it will be mostly worked on from home. The increase segment, which comes after seven regular segments each round isn't charted so I have to really concentrate. And concentration is something hard to do at Knit Nite as a rule.

 

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All Over But the Sewing

I am happy to announce that the Green Flowy Cardigan is off the needles. The collar came to nice points and since I made it the same depth as the bands and cuffs, it is a deep comfy collar.

Now comes the sewing up. Ugh.

In the meantime I spent some working on my Oatmeal Vest. It will be slow going, I am not good with bulky yarn. So as an alternate project has also seen some time.

Meet the Raspberry Creme shawl. It is an elongated triangle or 3/4 circle wrap. Lace weight with an easy pattern is so relaxing.

Especially when you make it up as you go along.

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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.

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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.

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Going With Green, With Backup

As I said in yesterday's post, I have resumed kitting the Green Flowy Cardigan.  So far it is just a few rows of seed stitch.  I think, once I finish the seed stitch band at the bottom, I will need to add a few extra stitches to accomodate the cables.  I won't need to make any other adjustments I don't think because the cable will continue up the front and over the hood.  Since the cable will pull in stitches, I think it would be wise to add an extra stitch or so to counteract that pulling in.   I have quite a few rows before I need to worry about that though.

No further pictures on that until I get to the cable and develop that a bit.   Any photos I take of that now will be just repeats of the back, just not as wide.  I haven't started the Oatmeal Vest yet, although the pattern is printed and ready to go.  Maybe it is because of the seed stitch borders.  I have so much seed stitch on the green sweater, that I want to wait until I at least get past the border on that before I start it on the vest.

I am still waiting on a picture of me wearing my Blue Blood Cardigan.  In the meantime, here is one on Gertrude.

I think I may need a new Gertrude.  I know I have gone down a couple pant sizes since making her.  She also has fallen down a couple times.  One of "the girls" is a bit dented.  Plus, I need to mark the waist and shoulders better.  I didn't think about doing that when I made her.  Now I have ideas for the improvements needed.  And you can see that she lists backwards.

Maybe it is time for a Gertrude workshop day again. 

I noticed that while I love the fit over all on this cardigan, there is a bit of a gap between the fronts.  As I generated the vest pattern, I realized that I had that built into the pattern.  The button band allowance takes off that much before the bands.  On the vest pattern, I made a zero gap, so the bands will overlap more.  Oh well, I probably won't button this anyway.

Pass Off Complete. Onward!

The blankie and vest were packaged up with my usual fancy wrapping (a plastic Walmart bag) and read for deliver.  I did manage to get a picture of both together at Knit Nite last Tuesday.  Take a good look, that's probably the last I will show or see them.

You can tell the yarn for the vest was different from the yarn used on the blankie.  But for casual use, they are fine.  I hope.

Ever onward, I returned to Lil' Farm Gal's Eyelet Yoke Cardigan.  After frogging it earlier in the week and casting on again with a different provisional cast on, I am again past the third eyelet row.  Of course, like the blankie, the rows get longer and longer.  There are only one or two more increase rows, but they really pack on the stitches.

And I might say that my fingers are very happy to kiss the 100% acrylic good bye.  While this is machine washable, at least it is a wool blend.  

And as usual at this point, I am contemplating new projects for travel knitting.  I can use the neglected SWestie shawl, that is manageable, and fairly brainless. That is less than half done. 

As long as I don't lose the markers it is easy going.  Maybe I will attach a string to them to weave through and hold them on.  But I do need to get a set of socks back on the needles too, besides the pair I leave in the car for random periods of waiting.  I am contemplating two patterns, and I will make a decision once I get some WIP tubes, or at least something to protect the points of the sock needles from poking through bags, as well as hold the stitches on the needles when the silly knitter snatches the sock from the knitting bag. 

And while, I have the above sweater to knit, as well as one or two I have been mulling over for myself, I have been inspired by the two blankie projects to finally attempt a lace weight square Shetland style stole.  Out of wool of course.  I have pulled out my stitch pattern books, and Shetland knitting books and am drooling over..... oops, I mean studying them.  I want to do a center square, probably garter, and certainly an all over pattern, not sure yet if I want to go corner to corner, or not.  That square will be followed by another pattern, going around the square.  I am leaning to feather and fan or some such pattern with a moving pattern.  And then I will polish it off with a lace.  Contrary to the complaints about the length of time it takes, it really isn't that hard to do a sideways lace as your bind off.  As long as I have presence of mind to choose a reasonable lace pattern.  I have that really call to me. 

Then there is this crazy part of me that wants to do the same shawl, but only triangular instead of square: half the yarn and knitting, all the pleasure, and not too hot to wear.  

Well, I should have some time to mull this over, since I have a few projects ahead of it. 

Baby Knitting

I like baby knitting. The Pink Blankie was delivered and admired.

I started the sweater vest for another baby coming to one of the lecturers at Bible study. Again, this one will have several older siblings. It's nice to have something new for the younger children. The vest off the needles. It still wants a soak and blocking, ends hidden and two buttons added.

It went so quickly that I decided to make a nearly matching blankie. Different brand of yarn, but the off white color is almost the same. I'm winging this pattern as well. It is a plain square, center out. And I'll add a simple lace edging, and perhaps stripes.

It's is garter stitch, knit a round and increase at each corner, and purl a round. I may add some pink stripes, with yarn left from the Pink Blankie. Or I may buy something for stripes and lace to match the buttons on the sweater. I found some purple ceramic ones in the button stash that I really like.

I will definitely be blocking all of these, even if they are acrylic.

Then I'm going back to wool. Or at least a blend.

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Additional Life Tidbits and Knitting Knews

In my last post, I mentioned another knitting project that suddenly jumped up in front of me.  I suddenly realized, while listening to our lecturer at Bible Study, who is about 8 months pregnant, that..whoa!  More knitting!
Since I just happened to be going to the Local Yarn Shop later that afternoon, I stopped to browse.  I was going into yarn buying withdrawal and needed a fix.  I also wanted to scope out the shop in light of my upcoming birthday discount.  I found a great book I want.  They had two copies, so I hope one will still be there.
But, back on topic, I found a pattern for some sweet little baby  vests.  I wasn't sure at the time if the baby in question was a boy or a girl, although I later confirmed it is a girl.  And I found some lovely ivory colored yarn.

Aren't they adorable?  I will be going with the one on the right in the yarn shown.
I also made another purchase.

Ignore the ugly cuticles please.  But these things are all the rage at Knit Nite.  I find it is great for lace with a repeat because I can reset it easily, with the small button, after every 12 rows.  I can also advance with the thumb, and never need to let go of my knitting.  There are adjustable straps on the back that even fit my fat fingers.  And it isn't so bulky that it gets in the way, even with my fingers being so short.
I have my Grandma's fingers.