Sweater Accomplished

I sewed on the last button of Lil Farm Gal's Eyelet Yoke Cardigan this morning.

I love the sparkly buttons. I should. I have used the smallest ones on her doll's sweater and a medium size on my black eyelet cardigan. I hope she likes it.

I will be working in my SWestie Shawl next. At least until decide on my next project.....Shetland lace shawl or cardigan. I am about half done with the SWestie. I will be starting the solid blue yarn very soon.

I also loaded my 24 inch rigid heddle loom into the car. It was hardly used. The first project is still on it. I really prefer knitting to weaving, even to spinning. I have decided to try to sell it and am taking it to the Open House at Chickasaw Farm near Reed City (14162 Beech Ave, between 17 and18 Mile Roads, between 10 am to 4 pm) to try to find a buyer.

it is warped and I have the pattern notes, as well as the yarn, and extra shuttles and heddle. I can't find the books I had to sell with it. If I find them they will be included in the price. ($300----value approximately $375, without books.). And notice the stand? The stand is a great option that comes with it as well.

If you are interested, feel free to contact me. Delivery is available if nearby. And don't worry about lack of books. They can be found on line....I think Knit Picks has the ones I have. And YouTube is a great resource. I found videos that will coach you along.

If I find a buyer for it, I may be able to go to a fiber festival this summer.

 

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Never a Dull Moment

This past weekend Hubby drafted my help in cutting down some trees.  Well, it was supposed to be some, but we only got one done.  The trees were in my brother's neighbor so I got a time for a bit of chatting with some of my grand-nephews and favorite sweater recipients.

I am not used to that kind of work.  I was saw-dusty, and several of my muscles were quite upset with me and let me know the next day.

Hubby, tree cutting last fall at my brother's home.

 There were some large pieces that were left that wouldn't fit on the truck.  So the next day, Hubby went back to pick them up, with the horse trailer.  Being lower, he could just roll them on the trailer with a small ramp.  However, for some reason when he got there, it was very hard to backup into their drive. He finally made it however and loaded the wood.  

When he got ready to leave, Hubby noticed one of the tires was flat.  The family was gone, so he left, with the trailer blocking the garage, intending to come Monday to remove the tire and get it fixed.

I convinced him that we better go back and at least move it out a bit so they could get in and out of their garage. 

We went later that evening.  While jacking the trailer up, the tire went no where.  The front of the two tires actually went up before the back, flat one.  Hmmmm.  

The family were home this time, and got another jack.  With some bracing, and after hooking the truck up to the trailer, we found the spring had broken.  That had cut the wall of the tire.   (Suddenly the free wood wasn't looking so cheap.)

So, finally a tire was obtained.  Not a great tire, but the only one available in the whole town that size.  A friend of our son's owns a welding shop and will be coming with his portable welder and hopeful find enough metal to weld the spring back up so we can get the trailer either home or to his shop.  And out of their driveway.

I just thankful that it didn't happen Monday, when Hubby was planning to take it to the cattle auction, and bringing home a feeder sized beef cow.

Back In The Lineup

Lil' Farm Gal's Eyelet Yoke Cardigan is back in the knitting rotation.  But not without torment and fretting.
Finally, I bit the bullet.  This shows the sleeve before taking action.

Then I ruthlessly pulled out the needles.  But before the frogging began, I started picking up stitches from just above the first sleeve row that had been knit.  The little white and orange markers show the last yoke row, that I use to measure length from.

Here you can see the stitches picked up just above the markers.  I go slow the last row or so of pulling out the knitting, because I usually slide up or down a row when picking up the stitches, but this is much easier going than unknitting all that distance.  And quick as that, I'm back where I started.

I picked up an extra 8 stitches for 66 rather than 58 for the sleeve. I feel much more comfortable with the diameter now.  It is closer to the diagram of what it should be.
And I remembered to make notes to make the other sleeve match.  Always a good plan.

Time Out to Think Things Over

I finished the body of Lil Farm Gal's sweater. I closed it with some mini hair clips to take this picture.

I use them to hold knitting together when seaming. When the sweater is finished, it will be wider with the front bands.

It seems to be coming along okay. Except, now that I have worked a couple inches of the first sleeve it is too narrow. I hit gauge ok, I have the right amount of stitches, but it is narrow when compared to the schematic. So the question now is...do I continue? Do I rip out the entire body back to the arm divide and increase a view more stitches into the sleeve?

Maybe I can just rip out the sleeve and pick up extra stitches. I could get enough for an extra inch or so there. So I need to think it over and make a decision while I knit something else.

So the sweater is sitting in time out.

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Lace Prep

I haven't started the lace projects, or even decided which of the lace shawls I mentioned in my last post will be my lacy shawl  project.  But before I go to far on it, I need to do something about when it is finished and ready for blocking.
Many of my knitting cronies from Knit Nite laugh mightily about my obsession with swatching before a project and constantly checking my gauge during knitting.  They also are rather lackadaisical about blocking.  I know that I am not as adamant about blocking as I should be, but before I go too far along on my lace shawl, I need to make a blocking frame.
The purpose, for non-knitters, of such a frame is to stretch out the knitting and really enhance the lace and open it up.  For most blocking, like sweaters and such, I can lay them out on the bed with a fan blowing on it, and hope it drys before bed time.  But with the frame I can stretch the lace out and even take it out to let
If you enter "lace blocking frame" into your favorite search engine, you can see many images of what I want to make.  I saw this link first and was ready to purchase supplies for it.  Nails and boards and such, a few small bolts and wing nuts.  Plywood I could find around the house.
But then I clicked on another link.
PVC!  What a great idea!  It might take more time lacing it to the pipes, without the nails, but I think it would work.  And if I want to take it outside to dry, it would probably be lighter and easier to move.  I think I will be looking into the cost of pipes and connectors.  If I use four foot lengths, it should make a plenty big enough octagon, and the can be connected end to end to make it long enough for a rectangle shawl.
And while you are googling around, try searching "wooly board frame", and check out the images.  I don't think I will get that fussy on blocking my sweaters.