Wednesday WIP

In Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook, she makes the point that if you have a favorite recipe, but you get lazy about making it over time, substituting this and that, pretty soon you find yourself wondering why you ever liked it. My sister and I discussed this years ago when we noticed that a popular recipe exchange site was full of comments that changed everything. For example, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich might have the comment: "Loved this! Swapped a fried egg for the peanut butter and cheese for the jelly, and oh, I didn't have any sandwich bread so I used an English muffin. Will make again!" I'm sure your breakfast sandwich was delicious, but what does that have to do with a recipe for pb&j?

That said, I still managed to do the same thing. I saw a delightful little girl's dress at a knitting shop, bought the yarn and pattern, started in quite happily, and then had the not-quite-scathingly brilliant idea to pick out the flowers by purling them whenever the pink came along in the yarn.

Not at all the look I was going for. Purling is more complex than I give it credit for. I did learn that yarn travels away from me as I knit. That is, if a stitch was half pink on the far side of the stitch, it would become all white when purled. If it was half pink on the side of the stitch closer to me, it would become all pink when purled. Academically interesting, and no doubt related to the improved way I just learned to execute an SSK, but of no help to the dress. Back to the recipe as written:

Ah, much better.

Wednesday WIP: Recycling

I knit these socks four years ago, and I just recently noticed how little I wear them. There's just something about the fit. They're always the last out of the drawer, worn when I have no other choice. BUT, they are knit from Patons Kroy Socks FX, my favorite yarn to knit Hermione's Everyday Socks from, and I have been looking for other colors to add to my Hermione collection.

So, a no-brainer, right? Unravel socks that have been worn and washed for four years, and re-knit them. Surprisingly - and perhaps because I DID wear them so little - they unraveled with no problems, and re-knit with yarn to spare (it looks like the Nutkins were a little longer in the leg).

I

I'm halfway there! Meanwhile, there's nothing prettier than crocus poking through the dirt, or a new project cast-on:

 

That's Twisted German/Old Norwegian cast-on (which I had to re-teach myself), because I wanted more stability at the base of the skirt than my usual cast-on (Jeny's) gives me.

Warm Wool Socks

Of course, it's going to be in the mid-70s locally this week, now that I have finished my friend's wool socks. But we can depend on winter to return. And, assuming that he likes them (which he won't, if he wears them when it's in the 70s!), I now have the numbers to make him socks-that-fit as often as he likes.

Pattern: mine, toe-up, with several fittings along the way to ensure a good fit (toe width, foot length, heel, leg height)
Yarn: Regia Allround Color (discontinued), taking some care to start both socks at the same point in the color changes so that they would match

Wednesday WIP

I bought a gradient mini-skein set on my trip to Maine last fall. After entering it into my Ravelry stash, I looked to see what other people had done with it, since this was my first gradient mini-skein purchase. Someone else had used the exact same set to make a shawl that I had been admiring for some time, and which was designed by a friend of mine!

This turned out to be excellent road-trip knitting. Before we left, I prepared the yarn (weighing and measuring) and popped it into labeled ziplock bags with a corner cut off for the yarn to feed through. Each pattern segment was easily memorized and worked until the next stop, when I could learn the next segment. Aside from a tragic incident with a bottle of ginger ale in sub-zero weather, which will make washing it before blocking more than usually necessary, it is going really well.

It's very near the end, but I am doing some test-knitting with a deadline, so that comes first (and is going fast). Then I will finish this. Then I will decide which to keep and which to give to NKD, since they are very similar colorways.

Is it weakness of intellect?

I matched some great yarn with the perfect pattern, and achieved a small blanket suitable for covering a baby in a carrier or carseat (since we do not cover babies in their cribs any more). The yarn was part of my retirement present from the office (they know what floats my boat). It was really nice yarn, and I was very happy to discover this pattern. It is in no way the pattern's fault that I kept messing it up and going back to fix things.

Pattern: Melissa Schaschwary's Willow Blanket
Yarn: Swans Island Organic Washable Sport (merino), 2 skeins of a lovely autumnal orange - pastels are for chalk, not babies

One more for the box, although I did just learn that a friend is expecting in May...

Wednesday WIP

I have knit up two oversized pairs of wool clogs and a pair of mittens. They look like clown accoutrements, and are not considered finished objects, because they need to be felted down to proper size!

The very best washing machine for this is one I will not see again until August, so if I want warm fingers and toes (and I do!) I'm going to have to attempt this in my washing machine of considerably less power and magnificence.


 

  












Meanwhile, an addendum from last time:



That worked out well, I think.

A Hint of Warm Air

I finally finished the sweater I've been making for NKD. It is astonishingly warm and weightless (and okay, see-through, but layering is a thing, right?). It took so long because I literally could not take my eyes off of it as I knit, as I frequently dropped stitches I couldn't feel.

 

Pattern: Celine en Laine's Zephyr, which is apparently no longer available, so I'm glad I found it when I did.

Yarn: Neighborhood Fiber Company's Loft (60% mohair, 50% silk laceweight) in Olde Town East

Needle: 3.5 mm

Mods: Not wanting to sew the fragile fabric, I seamed the sleeves with a 3-needle bind-off, then picked up the sides of the back and knit or purled 2 stitches together at the end of every row of the front.

I will try to get a photo of it on her...

Wednesday WIP

I'm sewing together a blanket for my charity knitting group. Garter stitch 8x8" squares of worsted acrylic on size 10 needles. Pretty much my only constraint was that I only had enough of the pink for four squares and a little bit over. So, a nine patch.

I decided to put a Valentine's heart in the center square. After watching me re-invent all the reasons why people don't do color work in garter stitch (pro tip: there is no good way to handle the color changes, making for ugly edges), my knitting group suggested I ditch the pink heart and just make a nice, subtle, stockinette heart instead. Okay.

Then I decided that I had enough of the red left over to make more than the usual single-crochet edging. I decided I wanted to knit around in garter stitch, mitering the corners. So that's where I am now. Since I don't own a circular large enough to surround the blanket, the thing is strung on 4 or 5 long circulars, with the active part being knit on the only size 10 circular I've got, which of course is for hats and quite small. So every so often I have to stop and run the stitches on the active needle onto one of the smaller circulars.

Life is great, as long as I remember to
- miter the corners by increasing the stitch before and after each corner marker
- switch from knitting to purling (and back again) every time I hit the orange marker (garter stitch in the round), and
- not get confused between slipping stitches off the back of the active needle here:

as opposed to working stitches on to the active needle here:

So far, so good. I think I'll do a row of pink next, and while I'm at it, make it a row of eyelet by doing yarn over-knit 2 together around (except for the mitered edges). What's the worst that could happen? (Here, hold my beer...)

Hole Milk

Christmas present for KD (but modeled by NKD, who nearly walked off with it) - a lovely half-round lace shawl with tiny dark purple beads at each loop of the edging:

Pattern: Lorna Miser's Lace Rims Shawl, an excellent pattern for showing off a variegated yarn

Yarn: Well. A bit of a mystery. I bought it at the Knitting Boutique, and the label said Feederbrook Farm, merino/alpaca/milk, 600 yards. I think it's their Milk & Honey in the Antimony colorway. Feederbrook doesn't sell that yarn in a single 600-yard skein; must have been a put-up for a kit. But it knit up great for this and I used every bit of it!

Beads: Fire Mountain Gems and Beads' transparent matte amethyst glass #6 round seed beads

Needles: 4.0 mm

Mods: None. Great pattern!

Wednesday WIPs

I've decided to devote Wednesday posts to Works In Progress, to overcome my tendency to only talk about things I've finished.

I'm working on a first pair of socks for a friend, which involves lots of trying on, taking notes, and re-figuring the math. If this last adjustment is correct, the rest of the sock will go quickly, and the second one will go like lightening, because the numbers will already be in place.

The pleasant surprise for me was that this yarn:

knit up into this nearly-jacquard pattern (this photo is sideways):

Definite one-row stripes of yellow and orange, with enough mottled green to make you think there might be something there in between. And I would never have guessed it from the skein, which looked like pure random color going on.

Favorite Knit of 2017

I knit a lot of things I liked in 2017. But by far my favorite was also the smallest. I knit an acorn for my BIL to use as a Christmas gift decoration. He would have taken a real one, but they are hard to find around here that far into winter, except for the partially eaten ones.

Pattern:  Revati Poole's Spiffy Little Acorn (on Ravelry)
Yarn:  Patons DK Gold, 2 grams of Taupe (5.2 yards) and 3 grams of Beige (7.9 yards)
Needles:  2.5 mm
Modifications:  I knit the cap in seed stitch, since I have never seen an acorn with a smooth cap (and have a childhood tea set made entirely of acorn caps to back me up). The merest smidge of fiberfill, and it was ready.

Things I love

1. Autumn, and late October in particular. Breathing the finally cool, dry air is like drinking wine.

2. A crisp, neat cast on, the beginning of a new project, off to a nice start.

3. Knitting lace, in all its glorious, pre-blocked, bumpy silliness. The first pattern I tried with this yarn was all wrong. This one is exactly right, and watching the colors change means I can barely stand to put it down.

Mistakes, easily noticed, easily fixed

While making the latest Window Cat I got cocky about the pattern and failed to read carefully. As soon as I got ready to stuff the head I noticed that one ear was misshapen. A quick read of my knitting and the pattern, and it was obvious I had just skipped all the knit rounds between the decrease rounds. I picked it out and re-knit it properly.

I finished a pair of anklets last month and said I didn't care that one was an inch shorter than the other, since they were for me. I finished a pair of baby bootees and noticed I had made one two rows shorter in the instep than the other. No one will notice, I said. If there had been anyone around to hear  me, I would have been subjected to the family's Test for Aliens - I was clearly not myself. (And no, I'm not explaining the test - everyone knows aliens monitor the internet.)

Yesterday I sat down and evened out the anklets, and re-knit the short bootee. Symmetry rules.

 

Anklets: leftover Berroco Sox, my standard anklet pattern

Bootees: leftover Knit Picks Stroll,  Stay-on Booties - frankly the best pattern I know, since the garter stitch construction means they'll fit practically any baby foot out there.

Another Window Cat

A family friend who admired George while he was under construction lives with a cat, so I offered to make a tuxedo-cat homage to said cat. Nope, he said, I'm going to be difficult. I want a calico cat.

Challenge accepted. It turns out there is a person who dyes yarn in cat-colorways, and donates the sales proceeds to cat charities (also dog colorways and dog charities - the Dalmatian is killing me). Perusing her shop made me want to knit All the Cats. Each colorway comes in a variety of weights. I'm still thinking about a Lilac Point Siamese Cat lace shawl.

Yarn: Ancient Arts Fibre Craft's Meow Yarn in Calico Cat DK
Pattern: Sara Elizabeth Kellner's The Window Cat
Mods: I knit the tail flat instead of in a tube, lined it with fiberfill and a chenille stick, and seamed it up, giving the tail a little pose-ability.

Lap Blanket

The last of the charity knitting for this go-round. Instructions were for 8x8" squares, yarn was Red Heart SuperSaver mammoth skeins, one in a royal blue that loved the camera, one - slightly smaller - in a soft variegation of greens and purples. Size 8 (5 mm) needles, H crochet hook.

I got nearly-10 squares of the variegated, and easily 10 squares of the blue. I used the blue to add the last inch to the last variegated square and placed that square on the center edge so it would look deliberate - you can just see it on the right edge of the photo below.

With all of the variegated squares finished, I attached the blue squares in strips by starting each one from the side stitches (the garter ridge bumps) of a variegated square. When it came time to bind off a blue square (unless it was an edge), I picked up the side stitches from the next variegated square and did a Kitchener variation of  "(front) as if to knit, as if to purl, (back) as if to knit as if to purl" which resulted in a garter stitch, seamless-looking connection.

I connected the strips by just running the yarn up through the side stitches and cast-on/bound-off stitches alternately. I finished with a row of single crochet with an extra chain at the corners.

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Snarl

There I was, comfortably ensconced in a large comfy chair, knitting away, when I noticed that my skein of working yarn was losing structure, as happens with store-bought pull-skeins when they're running low. I had the next skein ready - a partial skein* - tucked in beside me, so there was no need to panic. I pulled the rest of the skein out into a spaghetti pile, sure I would get to the end of it before bedtime. I did not, so I pulled what was left through my fingers to find the end and wrap it into a ball for the night.

Incredulity followed, as well as language over Skype that shocked KD. With absolutely no reason to do so, the two ends of the skeins had tangled together into a knot of mammoth proportions. I threatened scissors at one point, which KD was against until she learned I was dealing with acrylic.

I bitterly lamented the absence of those in my life who love to de-tangle knots (every knitter needs one - I have two!). I really wanted to go to bed, but I knew that moving the mass out of my lap would enable it to knot further with great abandon. I do not know why this is so. But I would no more move a yarn tangle than an accident victim.

Finally, calm reason reigned, and tangles were subdued into neat little balls of yarn.

Wool would never behave like that.

*I am knitting scarves out of two full skeins and the remnant of the skein used to knit the hat. And for reasons of symmetry, the partial skein goes in the middle of the scarf.

Charity Knitting

I've done charity knitting off and on throughout the years. I've knit for Dulaan, for The Red Scarf Project, and others I've probably long forgotten about. Like singing in a choir, I enjoy it, but not for the long term. I like a set deadline after which I can move on to other things.

I've learned that I have a fear of getting caught up in some appeal and helping to drown the recipient with unwanted objects. Good research is the key to avoiding that, and communication with the organizers.

I've learned that if you're going to knit for others, the least you can do is abide by their rules, even if that's not how you would do it. Their project, their yarn choices, their patterns. Otherwise, well, see unwanted objects above.

Somehow last month I got caught up in two different charity knitting projects. One has a deadline; one does not. My initial solution to this was to treat them both as having the same deadline, which meant all charity knitting, all the time. It is, at least, mindless knitting. But I missed my other projects, so I decided the one with no deadline could be extended a month. I still find myself mostly knitting garter stitch or ribbing, but at least I feel like I can do something else if I want to.

In a perfect world - the same one where I have a supply of baby blankets knit, blocked, and ready for the next addition to my large family - I suppose I would have charity knitting made and on hand for the next appeal. In that world the rules would stay the same, so that whatever I had made would do.

Hand Towels

Mason-Dixon Knitting inspired me with a desire to try knitting with linen, specifically, hand towels. So some of the Yarn Money my co-workers gave me as a retirement gift went towards a cotton-linen blend, and experimental hand towel making.

The yarn was interesting to work with. There were definitely plant bits in the yarn, but other people said they wash out, and they certainly seem to have done so. The washed towels are soft, and pretty. I would have liked them to be a little larger, but they are large enough to dry your hands, and match my kitchen* - what else can you ask of a hand towel?

Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin, DK, 70% cotton, 30% linen/flax
Pattern: Traci Heiner's Basket Weave Hand Towel, striping inspiration from Raveler lizbelonogoff's version

*The purple ones match KD's kitchen, as a thank you for helping me decide on colors and otherwise spend half of my Yarn Money. The other half is tied to a yarn store at which I have never before shopped, and which has completely overwhelmed me with the choices available.

Flops

I tried making some slipper socks for some slipper soles I had on hand, but they were a flop - literally. They don't hold to the foot closely enough to be safe to walk in. I haven't figured out a solution yet. Also, I tried two different methods of sewing on the soles and didn't care for either.

Now that was fun

A near-video tutorial - ready? Make 5 squares.

Sew them into an open-topped cube.

Fold. Block. Result: one origami-type coin purse/small box.

Pattern: Frankie Brown's Pinwheel Purse
Yarn: leftover Berocco Sox