Category: Knitting

I would get SO much knitting done if I had a self-driving car.

So, thanks to planning a birthday party for my Jellybean and being sick with the stomach virus, I didn’t knit for about two weeks. It took me several days to catch up with the housework that had been neglected. The first chance I felt like I was caught up, though, I took some time to work on my sweater. It’s going much faster than I expected it to! I keep putting it on waste yarn and trying it on, to make sure it’s all working out.

Seriously, that was the best photo of the sweater. Sorry for the toilet shot, haha!

It’s a couple of inches longer than it shows here, because it’s all rolled up. Stockinette does that. I will knit a few more inches before I start the smocking pattern at the bottom of the sweater. When I get the body done, I will come back and knit the sleeves, which are currently held on waste yarn.

The pattern for Anni is the best organized pattern I have ever seen. It’s broken down into steps and each step has a chart listing the stitch counts for each size. Typically, when knitting patterns are written for several different sizes, they will list the stitch counts in parentheses. For example, if a pattern is written to have small, medium and large sizes, it may say to cast on like this:

Cast on 10 (20, 30) stitches for small (medium, large) sizes.

But the designer for Anni, Christina Körber-Reith, writes it like this:

Cast on the following number of stitches

small	medium	large
10	20	30

The table is SO MUCH easier to read and it makes the pattern more fun to work with. This is the first pattern of hers I’ve ever knitted, but having a look at her designs, it probably won’t be my last. I’m particularly fond of the Jella Hat and the Five Colors Hat. I’m guessing those patterns will be as easy to follow as Anni.

Now, as far as the afghan blocks go. I think I may be out. I really loved the first block but the next three leave a lot to be desired. Block 2 was a squirrel. Block three is… I have no idea what this is even supposed to be.

And surprisingly Block 4 is out already, too.

Suffice it to say, I am not a fan of either of those blocks. I think block 3 is supposed to be a plant or something, but it just looks phallic to me. Also, the textured piece is an actual pocket and the vine/leaf combo is intended to be left loose. No, thanks.

And I know that block 4 is supposed to be two hearts, but I just see a particular piece of anatomy. *sigh* I didn’t even download this pattern.

But wait! Before I published this post, block 5 was released.

Block 5 is much better than the last four. I follow Susan B. Anderson’s blog, and when I saw this block was designed by her, I knew it would be better. This block is simple, but the texture looks very cozy. Susan’s designs are all classic and cozy. So, I’ll dig out some yarn and knit up this one. This afghan, so far, gets a 40% approval rating from me. Ha! We’ll see how the rest of it goes.

That’s all for this week, my friends!

Last time, we talked about coming up a few yards short of a whole block.

Well, I did go get myself a set of size 6 dpns and I ripped out the old block and made the new block. I had plenty of yarn to spare and I got a nice looking block out of it.

I am very, very pleased with the way this block turned out. I was looking so forward to block number two coming out and I couldn’t wait to cast on!

I was responding to comments on Thursday’s post when I got the email notification that block two had been released. I was so excited! I went to my email and opened this:

 

Oh.

It’s squirrels.

And acorns.

And Fair Isle color work.

Just…. *sigh* no.

I think the block is fine, especially if you’re someone who really likes squirrels. I just don’t think I want this one in my afghan. The color work poses a problem because you have to carry the yarn you’re not knitting with behind the fabric and catch it every few stitches. It’s possible to do a color work block or even a whole afghan in color work, but the floating unworked yarn in back is still prone to getting caught and it’s obvious which side is the wrong side (at least with the other block, you can display either side.)

That, and, I’m just not a big fan of squirrels.

I’m really hoping that Cascade didn’t lead off with their best block. I’m cautiously optimistic that the next block will be more of something I would like to do.

If not, I may end up making a whole bunch of block ones and just make an afghan from that. I’ll keep going with the knitalong and just knit a block whenever they release a new one!

In other news, I’ve finished a large, mostly surprise project for a friend who’s baby will be here any day now. I will show you photos of that soon.

Finishing that project has freed me up to finally get going on my Anni sweater. I’ve done a mere 25 rows, but if I can devote some time to it, I will see progress very quickly. Maybe I’ll get to wear it before the heat of the summer comes on!

Have a great week, friends!

​Well.

I have about 40 more stitches to bind off and only about 3 inches of yarn.

I tried to knit faster to hopefully outrun the end of the yarn, but that didn’t work. (It never does.)

I don’t really have much choice but to reknit it. I could pull out the last few rounds and try to knit at a slightly tighter tension to use less yarn, but I feel like that will just end up with the same result.

This is Cascade Yarn’s Knitterati Afghan. It’s a 30-block afghan that is being published one block at a time this year. I am using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn, from my stash. I spent most of Saturday (in-between chasing kiddos and trying to keep them from hurting themselves) working on it.

The pattern calls for size 6 needles. Since it’s knit from the center out, you must use double pointed needles at the beginning. I don’t currently have any double pointed needles in size 6. I have 5s and I have 7s, but no 6s.

I really wanted to get started, so I decided to knit the whole thing on 7s. I considered using the 5s, but with worsted weight yarn, 5s make a really tight and somewhat stiff fabric.

I’m trying to decide how to go about it. Do I start on 5s, then switch to a circular 6 when I have enough stitches? Or do I start on 7s and then switch to the 6? Or do I wait until I can get some size 6 double pointed needles to redo it?

What would you do?

My apologies for missing last week’s post. Things got a little sideways and all of a sudden BOOM! it’s Monday and there’s no blog post written.

You see I typically write these posts ahead of time. Sometimes they are written the night before and sometimes they have been in process for weeks before they’re published. I don’t have any in the queue right now so if I don’t get the chance to sit down and think for a good chunk of time, nothing gets written.

Last weekend, I got to go pick up the yarn for my Anni sweater. It’s a gorgeous grayish light blue. I made my swatches, and I washed and blocked them.

Yes, you heard that right, I made swatches. And I washed them. And I blocked them.

It took a couple of evenings of knitting time to get the swatches made, but taking the time now to find gauge and see how the yarn will behave when wet will save me some frustration later (flashback to Hubby’s sweater last year.) I would really like to make a sweater that fits me and avoid having to make it twice.

So, I started using the recommended needle size for the pattern which is a US 4 (3.5mm). The pattern lists two gauge swatches, one in stockinette (which is plain knitting) and the other in the smocking pattern that is used around the bottom of the bodice. The pattern’s gauge section says the stockinette gauge is 24 stitches by 36 rows and should measure 4 inches. The smocking gauge is 30 stitches and 36 rows for 4 inches.I cast on 6 extra stitches in order to make the garter stitch edge you see in the photo below.

You can see that the pre-washed gauge is almost right on. But when washed and blocked: TADA! I got gauge on the first try. This means that I knit at the same tension as the pattern designer and I don’t have to change needle sizes in order to get the same result.

I have carefully measured myself, and carefully made and measured the swatches. I know what size I need to make in the pattern. Now I can get started. I have printed out the pattern and read through it, highlighting the instructions for the size I’m knitting. I’ve worked a few rows of the beginning, but I have other time-sensitive projects I need to finish before I can really work on this.

Just a side note, I am not a small person and I know this. I have been knitting long enough to know how much work is going to go into making myself a sweater with sock-weight yarn. I ordered two bags (10 skeins) of yarn to have enough to make the sweater in my size. If you’re a shop owner, and someone like me comes in to pick up yarn and tells you what their plans are for it, your next comment should not be, “That’s a lot of knitting.” Now, honestly, a fingering-weight sweater is a lot of knitting for any size person and that’s probably what she meant. I’ll assume that, anyway.

And with that bit, I’m off. Have a great week, friends!

Hello, 2017. Let’s be friends, shall we?

I’m excited for knitting this year. I have plans for a couple of challenges, my typical knitting for the year and Christmas gifts.

First, my challenges:

• A sweater for myself in fingering weight yarn
  Fingering weight yarn is what’s typically used for socks. It’s a smaller yarn than what I’ve used for sweaters in the past, but it will make a tighter fabric, so it will be cozy. The smaller size yarn also means smaller stitches and LOTS more knitting. I’m planning to make Anni with Cascade Heritage in the denim colorway. I ordered the yarn last Monday and it should be here in a week or two. Then I can wind the first ball and start swatching!

• Pi Shawl
  I put my Evenstar shawl on hold for the holidays while I did all my Christmas knitting. It’s been sitting in my yarn bowl, patiently waiting on me to pick it up again. I’ve been focusing on some smaller projects these last few weeks, to give my brain a break after the holidays. I have a hat to finish first, but then I will start working on it again.

• Write patterns for my designs
  I love knitting, I really do, and it’s something I like to do to make a little extra money. However, I’m not the kind of person who can just sit down and crank out a dozen of the same thing at a time to sell. I just finished mittens for the boys and by the time I was working on the 4^th mitten, I was SO BORED with it. It took so much discipline for me to just finish it. This is why my Etsy shop is so bare. I love making custom items, and I am happy to make anything you want, but I am definitely a project knitter.I also like to come up with new ideas. I almost never follow a pattern exactly since I like to put my own twist on things. Sometimes this doesn’t work out so well, but usually the changes aren’t drastic. I have a few items that I’ve designed that I would like to write the pattern for and put them up for sale. There are a couple of stocking patterns, a hat pattern and some fingerless mittens.It’s a little intimidating to think of putting my ideas out there for sale. What if no one buys them? What if people buy them but think the pattern is awful? Will anyone think my idea is worth paying a couple of dollars for? I know lots of people who will only make things if the pattern is free. I do love free patterns, too, but I am happy to pay for a pattern that I really like. However, nobody’s buying my patterns if they’re not out there for sale, either!

(Mental note: revisit this post at the end of the year and see how far these challenges have come.)

Next, I have some specific projects I want to make.

• Elephant crochet wall art for Lollypop
  This pattern is for a rug, but there are a couple of people who have made it out of cotton yarn to make it a doily instead. (Or, according to their Ravelry project pages, they’ve started it.) I want to do that and frame it to hang on his wall. I need to find the yarn for it – I want a silver color and that is difficult to find in the cotton crochet thread – and I have no idea how much yarn it will take or what size it will ultimately be.

 

• Halloween costumes for the boys
  Maybe Jellybean will decide to be something other than a lion this year. Maybe Lollypop will not grow out of the Halloween costume before I get it finished this year. Hopefully I can make costumes that they will enjoy.When I made the lion costume in 2015, I intentionally made it much larger than Jellybean needed. The plan was for it to be a dress-up play costume throughout the year. That has actually been the case, and it’s so fun when he comes out with his lion costume on. Once Jellybean outgrows it, Lollypop will be able to have fun in it for years, too.

 

• Winter sweaters for the boys
  It’s become an annual tradition. It’s working on the assumption that they will outgrow the sweater I made this year by the time it gets cold next year. I actually didn’t have to make Jellybean the red sweater with pockets and a zipper for this winter. His blue sweater from last winter still fits him pretty well. But when he asks me for a red sweater with a hood, how can I say no?Then there’s Lollypop, who actually almost outgrew his winter sweater this year before I even finished it. I had to add some quick-thinking cuffs for his arms to be covered. I will have to time and size his sweater just right next winter. He’s 8 ½ months and is already starting to outgrow some 12 month clothes! This is not something I expected, given all his issues in his first couple of months of life.Sometimes I question myself for making winter sweaters every year. I certainly don’t have to. There are perfectly good jackets and coats available in the stores that I would be less heartbroken if they got dirty or torn. It would be much easier not to put that pressure on myself and just knit what I want to. But Jellybean asked for a specific sweater this year, and I really think he is proud to wear what I make him. The time is coming, way sooner than I probably expect, where he won’t want to wear handmade costumes, mittens, hats, or jackets. He’ll want to be the popular superhero for Halloween, he’ll want the same coat and hat that everyone else does, and handmade stuff will be just SO UNCOOL. But that time is not here yet. Even if his red sweater with the pockets, hood and zipper gets torn or stained, I can fix it and wash it, and if it’s beyond repair, then at least I know it was loved. I will make sweaters for my boys for as long as they want me to. (And maybe even longer.)

There are other, less specific things that I want to do with my knitting time this year. I have friends who are having babies. There’s Christmas and birthdays to think about. I really enjoyed knitting the toys for Christmas gifts, so I think there will be lots more of those to come. Plus, I bought a 3lb. bag of stuffing, so that’s gotta go somewhere!

I am still open and available for custom knitting. I am happy to make whatever you can think of. I do cut off custom orders in November, so I can get my own Christmas gifts finished, so it’s important to think about it early. If you have an idea that you want me to consider, please send me a message and we can talk about it!

Have a great week, friends!

Well, here goes 2016, a very hard year for many, many people. It’s been a tough one for us, too. We’ve had so many big transitions in the last year and it feels like it’s just been one thing after another.

There are many reasons that I just want to say a big Eff you and good riddance to this year. But I’ve managed to stay positive.

Our little Lollypop was born this year. Although he had a rough start, he’s a healthy, funny, chunky 20lb 8-month old, now and he’s crawling, cruising and babbling all over the place. He loves his big brother to pieces and most of the time, Jellybean loves him, too.

I started a full time job. This has not been without its drawbacks, but on the whole, it’s been a positive for me and my family. I get to interact with people outside of my family (which is a relief to my husband, I’m sure) and making money is always nice.

I did manage to get quite a bit of knitting done this year. With the layout of our new house, it’s been easier to knit a few stitches or a few rows in between chasing the baby around and keeping the big kiddo out of trouble. I actually managed to finish more this year than last year, even with the new baby and new job.

According to my Ravelry list, (if I have them all tagged correctly) I started 28 projects in 2016 and finished 29 projects. I finished a few in the year that I had started in previous years. 7 of those were Christmas gifts. And now that I’m writing this post, I realize that there’s one Christmas gift project that isn’t even listed (because my mom’s on Ravelry, too. :D) I actually got all my Christmas knitting done a few days before Christmas and was able to get a head start on next year’s knitting.

This was the year of knitted and crocheted toys for Christmas. Many of these I started back in February, but I got to the stuffing point and they sat until December. Haha.

I made one of these for my brother, but I didn’t get a picture of it! It turned out very huge, but so cute.

I did get pictures of most of them, like this Sunshine plushie for my eldest Niece.

This Capybara plushie for my youngest Niece.

And this Pillbug plushie for my Nephew.

Of all of those, I think the Capybara is my favorite. Capybaras are very large rodents native to South America who are relatives to Guinea Pigs. I love Guinea Pigs and I had one named Alfred when I was in High school. Anyway, that was much fun to make and turned out about twice the size I expected it to!

My own little ones got handmade toys, too. Lollypop got this cute little amigurumi elephant. It was fun to make, but I always tend to overstuff crochet plushies. Even though I used a small hook, some of the stuffing is still showing a bit.

And for my big kid Jellybean, I made a Red Dragon. Red is his favorite color and he’s been big into dragons and dinosaurs lately. When he opened the gift, he said, “Mama, did you make this for me?” When I told him I did, he said, “Oh, Thank you mama!” Talk about melting your heart! I make my kids lots of stuff, mostly articles of clothing, and he’s seen what work goes into those things. I feel like he knows and appreciates, at least on some level, the amount of time and effort I put into the things I make for him. I learned a long time ago that when you give a handmade gift, you must give it freely and let go of it when it’s given. Especially with kids, but even with adults, you can’t be guaranteed that they will cherish having it as much as you cherished making it. Seeing that he really loved it made me smile.

There were a few other gifts for Christmas, too. A crocheted doily for my mom, that I didn’t get a picture of (and almost forgotten I had made!) and an afghan that I made for my Mother-in-law. That one has a story behind it that I will have to tell at another time.

As far as the rest of the year goes, I did finish Jellybean’s sweater, finally, and I even got the zipper sewed in. It was nerve-wracking putting my hand knit through the sewing machine but it turned out to be quick and easy. He loves it and wears it frequently. I also  made Lollypop a sweater and both of them hats.

Try to ignore the furniture in the background. One day, we’ll have coordinating furniture that isn’t cat-clawed. Maybe in about 20 years.

The hats are supposed to be dinosaur hats, but Lollypop’s just looks like a chicken and Jellybean calls his a dragon hat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They’re still cute!

I made several other things this year, but mostly for Lollypop and you’ve seen those before.

It’s become sort of a tradition to make a large project each year. Last year, I made myself a sweater, which I still wear constantly during the cool months. I also made my husband a sweater. Then I made it again in the right size. I just realized I never posted about the corrected sweater, but I finished it right as the last very cold days were wrapping up in February this year. I think I actually finished it on the last day it would have been comfortable to wear. He has worn it once, and it fits and looks pretty good, although I am going to go back and put elastic in the neck, cuffs and waistband. It’s 100% wool, though, and we live in Tennessee, and he works in a wood shop, so occasions to wear it are infrequent at best.

As I write this, there are two more days left in the year. I am 99% finished with a scarf for Jellybean (that he requested – it’s RED, of course!) and I think that may be the last project I will be able to finish. Currently, I only have the scarf, a baby blanket for a dear friend and my epic evenstar shawl on the needles, so I’m cleaning up my knitting nook, organizing my stash, and making a plan for the projects I’ll make next year.

Next time I’ll share my ideas and hopes for my knitting in 2017.

I hope you and your family have had a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year!

And sleeves! And it looks a lot like a sweater!

I think this is taking as long to make as my sweater took, maybe longer. Granted, I only have 1 good hour to knit most days, and some days less than that, but it just feels like this sweater is going SO  S L O W!

However, it is coming along and since we have at least another week of 80-degree weather ahead of us, I do still have time.

I ended up closing the pockets up along the zipper edge of the sweater as I knit them up the sweater. It worked out really well.

The pattern says to pick up stitches for the pouch one row above the ribbing. I picked up half the required number of stitches from the zipper edge out toward the side. I followed the instructions for the shaping and edging for the pocket, but had to somehow close the pocket at the zipper edge. Typically what I do on edges where I know I’ll be picking up stitches later  is to slip the first stitch of every row, instead of knitting/purling it. (I’ll be picking up those edge stitches to knit a band for the zipper to be sewn to.) That makes for a really clean edge like you see here on the edge of the sweater body.

This means there is one edge stitch for every two rows of the main fabric.

On the edge of the sweater at the zipper edge, I picked up the next edge stitch…

…and knitted or purled (depending on which pocket I was working on) them together with the last stitch of the pocket.

This quite neatly closed up that side of the pocket that I was worried about. Then I just fused the pocket to the body by knitting the stitches of the pocket together with the corresponding stitch of the body along the top of the pocket.

 

 

It turned out to be easy-peasy and I’m pleased with how it looks.

We had Jellybean try it on before I finished the raglan decreases in the yoke and darn it if I’m not going to have to make the sleeves longer. This kid just keeps growing! The end of the sleeves comes right down to just above his wrists, and of course the sleeves are knit from the cuff up. No worries, though. When I finish the rest of the sweater, I’ll fix it. I’ll have to rip back all of the decreases (it was also tighter than I’d like at the cuff), pick up the stitches and knit down from there, decreasing more slowly (every 5 rows instead of every 4) and do one less decrease. I’ll show you how I manage that, too, when I get there.

Do you remember last year’s sweater? Jellybean has suddenly decided that it’s cool and he’ll wear it every chance he gets. I’m sure it has something to do with the Daniel Tiger episode where he learns to button his coat. After watching that episode, Jellybean remembered his sweater and put it on, buttoning all the buttons himself. (We actually sing the “Keep Trying” song a lot – we’re at a stage where we hear “I can’t do it!!” quite frequently.) He’s still excited about his new RED sweater, though!

Several times I’ve been tempted to buy him a light fleece jacket for playing on the playground at daycare so he doesn’t ruin his sweater. I stop myself every time, though. Where will he wear his sweater, if not daily on the playground? If it gets dirty or torn, I can wash or repair it. I would rather he wear this one and I have to repair it than it sit at the house shiny and new because I don’t want it to get ruined. I hope he really does want to wear it daily. I would be so proud and honored.