One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Look! A sleeve!

I'd be all, "This puppy is nearly done!" if I hadn't just realized that I knit the entire sleeve on the smaller sized needle meant for just the cuff. Sigh.

What on earth was I thinking? Oh.

I started a lopapeysa KAL back in 2016 under the completely mistaken notion that I would need something to knit while doing chemo. To be fair, that was completely within my worldview at the time. I couldn't imagine sitting in a chair for 3-6 hours without something to knit. But that was not what chemo had in store for me, particularly when I turned out to be allergic to one of the (plant-based!) ingredients.

Alpsdake / CC-BY-SA-3.0

So I got about four inches into it, and set it aside. I recently worked my way back to it in the knitting pile, just about the time I was bemoaning not ever finishing a sweater, and picked it up again. I wasn't in a hurry to blog about it. An adult-sized raglan sweater knit from the bottom up, even in a loose gauge over big needles, is not particularly photogenic until you start the yoke pattern.

Over the last week it slowly dawned on me that I did not have enough yarn for the sweater. What's more, I knew that at the time -- the yarn required for my size is clearly highlighted in the pattern, the amount of yarn I had is recorded in its project page on Ravelry, and even pre-chemo I still knew that 5 ≠ 8. What was I thinking? I demanded of my family. And KD knew. "You hate making sleeves. You were probably planning to start the sleeves at the yoke."

Yep. That's exactly what I would have been planning, and even though I would totally make sleeves for it now, I don't have the yarn, so cap sleeves it shall be.

Forest Lily Unveiled

I am deeply in love with this little shawl, which I started in 2015. It was definitely worth the wait. We are into springtime weather locally, which means I don't need a coat or jacket to go out for a walk, but just a little bit of warmth, and this shawl was more than adequate. And so pretty!

Yarn: Juniper Moon Farm Findley in Tiger Lily, a discontinued color. Findley is a fingering/lace weight -- depending on who you ask -- 50/50 silk merino, and I have loved everything I have ever made from it
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) circular
Pattern: Cath Ward's Lost in the Forest. Easy to understand directions and a stunningly beautiful result, says the knitter with an admitted fondness for spiderweb and leaves as design motifs.

It was a little bigger than my blocking board, which made it difficult to block into the curved shape I wanted, but surprisingly, incorporating a fold made little difference, and it came out nicely blocked.

A Peek Behind the Curtain

It was suggested that I gradually introduce the team that enables me to get so much knitting done for this blog. That seems only fair. Most recently, Pooh Bear stepped up during my recent trip when it seemed I was getting a bit bored with sweater knitting -

- with the result that the back of the sweater is now completely finished. Note that Pooh Bear also listens to podcasts to get through long slogs of stockinette.

Next, this little guy made sure I got a good start on the front of the sweater, and thanks to his help and a long car drive, I am up to the armsyce on the front now.

Where would we be without our support teams?

Tiger Lily

Just in time for this year’s flowers, I have finally finished my Tiger Lily shawl.

I know, not pretty, but I can’t block it until I get home. Meanwhile, I have a clue to the mystery of why I don’t knit sweaters.

I’m getting a little bored.

If Not, Why Not?

I saw a pattern for a sweater the other day that I would love to make. It called for a yarn I have recently discovered and love, and I spent an educational week consulting with a handful of friends with better color sense than I have. Educational because each and every one of them made a different recommendation.

Meanwhile, it slowly dawned on me that I haven’t knit a sweater for anyone but a baby in decades. I’ve started plenty of sweaters for myself. But I haven’t finished a single one. And I have no idea why. Sure, I hate to set in sleeves, but raglans exits. Sure, hot flashes, but sweaters are actually removable. Sure, major investment of time, but I work on afghans and blankets, for heaven’s sake. No idea.

So I’m starting small — but bigger than a baby — with a project that’s been hanging out in my favorites for a while, and which will use up some Berocco Sox I have on hand. I have enough for a six-year-old’s sweater. I’ll worry about finding a six-year-old when it’s finished. It needn’t be a boy despite the pattern name - how can a pullover be gender-specific?

I was absolutely gobsmacked by a Ravelry commenter who made this sweater in this yarn and complained that it was too rough to be worn without a shirt under it. I mean, aren’t sweaters usually worn over a shirt? See “removable” above!

Jump Up and Run Arounds

In my childhood, on the nights when leftovers were on the menu, what the menu actually said was "jump up and run arounds," as if we filled our plates by running around a table laden with various warmed-up remnants, instead of sedately passing them around.

I thought of that last week as I dumped a collection of leftover fingering weight remnants into my lap and prepared to make them up into objects. I had previously wound, weighed, and labelled them, so all I needed was a pattern. Kate Atherley's pattern for Baby Socks turned out to be the perfect match. The smallest amount (75 yds) would make newborn socks, the medium amount (123 yds) would make socks for a one-year-old, and the largest amount (40 grams) was destined for mitts that didn't match the shape of my hand. It may yet be enough for ankle socks.

I long ago lost the label for the newborn socks' yarn, although I can tell you that it's much softer than the larger socks' yarn, which is Berroco Sox.

I love the point towards the end of a first sock when I become certain that the color change is going to fall in exactly the right place for the second sock's stripes to match. There's no reason in the world that should have happened with different yarns knitting different-sized socks, but it did.

My family is well-trained in the art of admiring knitting, but I expected that to be completely overridden by their propensity to turn small socks into puppets. I was not wrong, but I was surprised to be treated to an animated newborn sock puppet rendition of "Ba-by Sock doo doo doo doo doo doo.."

Unintended Scarf

KD and I are interested in the concept of planned pooling, but keep trying it with the wrong yarns. Last month I bought an entire skein of Wrong Yarn, so I knit it up into a scarf instead.

Yarn: Lion Brand Scarfie, Bulky acrylic/wool, in Cranberry Black
Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm)
Pattern: Lion Brand's Directional Colors Scarf

Mods: Chinese Waitress cast on. I slipped 1 st purlwise at the beginning of every row, since I was knitting backwards instead of turning my work. Otherwise it would have been first stitch slipped purlwise on odd rows and first stitch slipped knitwise through the back of the stitch on even rows. Along with the "bind off" formed by working a SSK at the beginning of the last rows, this all made for a nice neat edge all around.

Spring Break

The previous brief blog pause brought to you by the amount of time it has taken me to adjust to my new computer. Change is hard.

Meanwhile, I continue to work on my cashmere scarf, at the stunning rate of one 12-row pattern repeat per day. I like the yarn, I like the pattern, I like the finished product. And I'm nearly halfway done!

For lace, it's amazingly clear at this point. That's good, since for all cashmere is eight times warmer than wool, it is much less hardy and will not stand up to hard blocking. My plan is to pin it out gently, spritz with water, and leave to dry. Eventually.

Slowly Warming

As I diligently create the braided leaf pattern of this cashmere scarf, I find myself making a few changes to this knitting project started fifteen years ago.

First, I rewound the yarn, now that I have a winder, into a looser cake (photo is fuzzy but shows the difference:

Second - and this may be the reason I put this pattern down in the first place, given where I left off - I switched to needles with a sharper point (hiyahiya!), to make picking up the k2togs where the first stitch is a yo that much easier.

And now I just try to knit an entire pattern repeat daily.

 Only 30-some to go!

...After

I have finished the shawl I began back in February to use up the silk yarn leftover from making the Pence Jug. J saw the shawl in its pre-blocked state and was happy to give it a home, so now the two projects can continue on together.

Yarn: Knit Picks Luminance Lace in Meditation, about 30 grams/263 yards
Beads: All the leftover beads from this project
Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)
Pattern: Susanna IC's Annis in Knitty Spring + Summer 2010
Mods: I used the Chinese Waitress Cast On. I replaced the nupps with beads, and beaded the double-decreases as well, until I ran out of beads. I ran out of yarn a mere 2 short-rows short. I tinked back the two short-rows, purled to the end of the previous row instead of turning, and worked the Double-Chain Bind Off across. Yarn remaining:

Your hat's on upside down!

I learned the silliest thing today. On the one hand, I now giggle when I look at a lot of medieval paintings. On the other hand, I am comforted by the knowledge that human nature seems to be timeless.

I was confused by the description in a book I’m reading (one of the Cadfael books by Ellis Peters), wherein the man ties his “hat” (not the word she used) into a loose knot on top of his head. I did a little research into the matter... and I’m still laughing.

In early medieval times, men wore a hood over their heads that extended over their shoulders. Over time the point of the hood lengthened enough to have its own name, but let’s stick with images. I’d say “like Robin Hood,” but you may not have fed on the same illustrations I did, so here (all images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, and in many cases, the painter van Eyck):

In about 1300, the fad started of wearing them upside-down. I’m convinced it was teenage boys, and that their moms were yelling the medieval equivalent of “Stop that! It won’t keep your shoulders dry that way!” The backwards baseball caps of their day. Except that it REALLY caught on. First, they just wore them upside-down, with their heads stuck in the face hole of the hood instead of coming up through the cape.

The long ends of the hoods hung down too far, so they started wrapping them around their necks, or wound them like turbans on top of their heads.

Eventually, they tucked the cape on top of their head too, and used the hood end to tie the whole thing up like a loose turban.

 

I can find no evidence that they ever took them off, shook them out, and wore them in the normal fashion because of the weather. Fashion overrules sense.

Woken from Hibernation

I just came across a project I started nearly 15 years ago, in May 2004. I bought the kit at that year’s Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, cast on, knit a couple of inches, and then... life happened.

To my great good fortune, the whole thing was still in the project bag - purchase receipt, care instructions, pattern, yarn, and the knitting itself — on only one needle, but I’ll find the other one. Best of all, the needle has a row counter at the end, so I even know where I left off in the pattern!

Before...

I used to say lace knitting looked like crap before blocking. Now I’ve knit enough lace, that when I look at the finished, pre-blocked item, I can see how beautiful it’s going to be. I see its potential. And it’s not crap.

Slow Hat, But Worth the Wait

I decided to knit NKD a winter hat. I realized almost immediately that it was going to be slow going, and knit her a faster one instead. Then I went back to the slow one, and finally finished it last week. I wanted to use the sparkly yarn, while including some softer wool against her skin. Two-color fisher rib just isn't my thing - I can and did make numerous mistakes. Fortunately they were the kind that could be fixed by dropping the stitch and repairing it with a crochet hook.

Needles: US 3 (3.5 mm)
Yarn: some black wool fingering weight, some blue sparkly sport weight - look at that, I used two different weights and the world didn't end. In fact, I didn't even notice!
Pattern: my own

Here There Be Dragon Scales

I took the leftover yarn from three pairs of Dragon Scale Mitts and combined it into a single shawl. The three colorways were chosen for their similarity to dragons, and not with any forethought as to how they might work together. I was astounded by the result. And also, grateful to NKD, who may not knit, but who definitely has a stronger color sense than I do, and showed me the order to put them in that made it work.

Needles: US 8 (5.00mm) - it called for 9, but I have this odd set of plastic circulars that falls somewhere in between
Yarn: Berocco Millefiori Light in Hyacinth, Gladiolus, and Sedum, about half a skein of each
Pattern: Elen Brandt’s Calzone
Mods: I used each color until it ran out, even if that was mid-row. I used the Chinese Waitress Cast On and Double Chain Bind Off. Because the shawl does not increase stitches with each row, it was easy to measure off the length needed for 2 rows and start the Bind Off when I had between 2 and 3 rows’ length left.

Debacle

I am trying to use up the yarn with beads strung on it that I used for the Pence Jug. Weeks ago I marked some patterns in Ravelry as likely candidates, and even noted the one I liked best. Yesterday I went to cast it on and saw that I did not have enough yardage. Why did I mark it? How did it even show up in a search I would have filtered for the yardage I had? I glumly looked at some other patterns (a nice baby shirt, but who makes silk baby clothes???) and wound up casting on for some mitts. I sat figuring out how I would bead the cuffs, and wondering when I would wear silk mitts in my life (to the opera - or a masked ball - definitely). Three rows in I looked at the ball of yarn, and even my non-numeric brain balked at the idea that this was a mere 176 yards.

Back I went to Ravelry, where I ONCE AGAIN taught my brain the difference between pattern pages and project pages -- I had marked a project page, and the yardage was what that knitter had left in stash, not me! Hurray! I ripped out the embryonic mitt, and carefully began to cast on the shawl from the non-beaded end of the ball of yarn, since the beading would occur at the final edging.

Many hours later, admired my lengthy Chinese Waitress Cast On, and turned to the pattern for the next step. "Begin the beaded lace chart." The cast-on edge was the bottom of the shawl, not the top. So there I was, late at night, faced with a decision. Rip out literally hours of cast on, or spend even longer running all the beads to the other end of the ball of yarn?

I don't know if you know this, but I don't believe in dichotomies. There is always another option. It may not be the one you choose, but never get trapped into believing you only have a binary choice.

In this case, the answer was to slide the beads off the yarn and add them via crochet hook as I went along. And once I had them off and found a container for them, I had given myself enough time to realize I had Even Better leftover beads for this project.

Flashback Fridays: Scandi-Style

I acquired some yarn kits in a knitting group de-stashing exercise, and after acquiring the accompanying patterns, was able to make this adorable baby set with a decidedly Scandinavian theme.

Boots
Needle: US 3 (3.25 mm)
Yarn: Let's Knit Magazine Scandi Style kit, 3 15 g skeins of Acrylic DK in red, white, and grey
Pattern: Jane Burns' Alf, from Let's Knit! Magazine 74, December 2013
Mods: I braided the 3 colors of yarn together for one yard and used the cord to loosely lace up the back of the cuff, which was supposed to be left open “to allow for chubby calves.”

Hat
Needle: US 3 (3.25 mm)
Yarn: Let's Knit Magazine Scandi Style kit, 3 15 g skeins of Acrylic DK in red, white, and grey
Pattern: Susie Johns' Blitzen, from Let's Knit! Magazine 74, December 2013
Mods: I knit it in the round, casting on 88 sts and working 8 rds (1 inch) of ribbing. I added one stitch to chart at end of round (in background color). I made a beanie instead of the shape shown in the pattern. I eliminated the reindeer motif, replaced it with small red pattern from here. I decreased 8 times every other round until 16 sts remained, then k2tog around for the next round and drew up the remaining sts. I had to borrow the leftover white from the Elf Boots to finish the hat.

Achievement Unlocked

Now that KD has discovered the joys of sock knitting, I receive packages of handknit socks!

First up (and currently keeping my toes warm), some entrelac socks that exactly match today's outfit.

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks in Purple Haze
Pattern: Kate H's Basketcase Socks

I had my doubts about Afterthought Heels, but they fit perfectly!

Bonus content: footies from the leftovers of her socks, which close the loop on footies I've knit for her out of leftover sock yarn:

Yarn: nicole studio samples (for a dollar a skein, you don't get colorway names or dye lots)
Pattern: Amy Stringer's Scatterby Socks

The Third and Final Pair of Dragon Mitts

Same size as the second pair. This colorway is amazing.

 

 

 

Yarn: Berroco Millefiori Light wool/acrylic in Gladiolus, just over half of a skein

Hook: E (3.5 mm)

Pattern: Holly Fisher's Dragon Scale Fingerless Gloves

Flashback Fridays: Fierce Dragon and His Blanket

The recipient of these gifts is now stomping around fiercely herself - two years flew by!

First, I made her a Fierce Dragon:

Yarn: see below
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Pattern: Knit-a-zoo's Tarragon the Gentle Dragon

Then, I made a matching blanket:

Yarn: Berroco Vintage DK in Fondant and Aster, 2/3 of a skein of each (including dragon above)
Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)
Pattern: Alka McAndrew's Little Shells Carseat Blanket
Mods: Used DK instead of Worsted weight, US 8 instead of US 9 needles, cast on the same amount.
Slipped the first stitch of every row as if to purl, moved the yarn to back of needle to begin knitting, hiding the color changes at back of work instead of at edge.