Monthly Archives: August 2009

UFO Resurrection

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Sweater In Progress

Way back last October I had this idea that I would make a top-down yoke sweater with some of my handspun for the yoke and some Paton’s Classic Wool that I already had for the body and sleeves.  I knit and knit on the sweater but as soon as I was ready to start the second sleeve I ran out yarn.  Since there is only one place in my town that sells this particular yarn and I really didn’t want to have to order any, I stuck the sweater away until I had a chance to make the half hour drive (which involves borrowing a car or getting a ride) to the store to pick up more yarn.  I obviously never made it over there but when I was cleaning out and painting my room last January I found more of this yarn.  I stuck it away with the sweater and promptly forgot about it.  The other night, after I cast off my last sweater, I was digging around in my stash of leftovers and found the yarn and sweater and got to knitting.  Unfortunately I didn’t keep any notes while I was knitting before so it took some time to figure out when to decrease for the sleeves and how many to do but at least I had thought to note what size needle I used in Ravelry.  Now, two days later, I have an almost completed sweater, there’s just a few inches of sleeve left to knit.  I hope it still fits come time to wear it.

It’s a Wonder

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Wonder Cardigan

I took a little break from blogging last week but I did a lot of knitting, just didn’t feel like writing about it.  So, here’s what we have (plus I’ve finished all I can of my work project, I’m waiting for the next part of the pattern now), this is the Wonder Cardigan from Rowan 40 and is part of my quest to use up every bit of the hated Lion Brand Homespun that I bought so long ago (the Garter Stitch Blanket was part of this, too).  I also tried to do something a little different with my project photos so I took them in my room, you can see the shiny copper walls in the background, with all natural light from my little north-facing window.  I even got dressed, did my hair(this is as close to done as it gets, it’s in the mop stage of growing out from my last hair cut) and put on some lip gloss.  These are the first pictures I’ve seen of myself in a long time that I like, where I look how I think I actually look, you can see the other one here, I’m actually looking at the camera in it.

Back to the cardigan.  It is so soft and cozy.  I normally wouldn’t recommend this yarn, well, at all, but especially for a sweater.  The homespun doesn’t hold shape and it gets hot, but the sweater is knit in so many pieces and seamed together and that should help it hold the shape.  And this is a pretty shapeless cardigan so stretching shouldn’t matter much.  The sweater is knit in five pieces, back, sleeves, and fronts but on the fronts you start the bottom border then put the stitches for the borders at the front and around the neck on a holder and then knit it to the right length and sew it to the front (does that even make sense?).  Those extra seams give a lot of support and, I think, will keep it from stretching too much.

Wonder Cardigan

The details:

  • Pattern:  Wonder by Marie Wallin from Rowan 40
  • Yarn:  Lion Brand Homespun, don’t know how much I used or the color but this used every bit of this color that I had.
  • Needles:  US10/6mm US10.5/6.5mm
  • Started August 16 finished August 23
  • Modifications:  none
  • It’s on Ravelry here

This was a really great project and I love the finished cardigan.  I can see myself throwing this on over jeans and a shirt this fall when it starts to cool down and wearing it just hanging open. 

What’s on the needles now?  Nothing, actually, just my work project.  I haven’t decided what to make next but I’m in the mood for another sweater.

A Blanket

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Garter Stitch Blanket

I feel like I’ve knit a ton of baby blankets over the past year and I’ve said before that I hate making them but I think I just didn’t like the patterns.  I had some old Lion Brand Homespun, leftover from old projects and I wanted a quick project so I thought I’d try another blanket.  This one worked out, I love the end result and I actually liked knitting it.  The yarn is awful, I hate knitting with Homespun, the yarn is really soft and the texture is nice but the yarn itself splits, breaks apart, it bunches up on the thread, but it makes a nice, warm blanket.  I started with this soft off white color and ran out so I did the center L-shaped sections striped with the off white and a slightly darker beige color, since I didn’t want to have to buy any more yarn.  In person you can see where the stripes are but it’s not as noticeable in the pictures.

Applied I Cord

I knit the garter stitch sections loose so the whole blanket stretched out like crazy and flopped around, it was just hard to handle in general so I finished it off with an applied I-cord border in this green, brown and pink Homespun.  I should have gone up a needle size on the border, it’s a bit tight, but it does the job so I’m not going to mess with it.

All in all the blanket turned out nice, the pattern is modular, knit in four pieces and sewed together so it feels fast and the sewing was easy.  This whole blanket was easy and it was nice to kick back with some garter stitch after knitting so much lace on tiny needles.

The details:

  • Pattern:  Knitted Garter Stitch Blanket by Elizabeth Zimmermann from The Opinionated Knitter
  • Yarn:  Lion Brand Homespun
  • Needles:  US11/8mm for the garter stitch, US9/5.5mm for the  border
  • Size:  Not sure what the exact measurements are but it’s a good size for a baby blanket or a lap blanket
  • See it on Ravelry

It’s Yarn

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Handspun

Yesterday I sat at the wheel and finished plying my Tour de Fleece singles.  I have to admit that I’m not quite happy with the finished yarn, it came out quite a bit thicker and a lot more dense than I wanted and I definitely won’t have enough of it to knit a February Lady Sweater.  I realize now that I should have spun straight from the rolags instead of pulling the wool into roving, then I could have spun long draw and ended up with a loftier yarn as opposed to spinning short forward draw and getting this thicker, denser yarn.  Oh, well, it is what it is.  I have some nice blue Cotswold that I spun up last year (and a little more fiber) that I think will knit to about the same gauge (close enough anyway) and I might be able to do some stripes and get a little cardigan or something with the two together.  Something will come together eventually.

I’ve been reading and re-reading all of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books and that has me craving color work, again.  I’m seriously tempted to go blow some money (and I’m about broke now) on some good wool and knit up one of EZ’s ski sweaters right now.  Maybe after I get paid for my current work project.

Dentist Update

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Just a very quick post today, I’m really tired and my camera batteries died so I can’t take any pictures anyway.  I had my big, panic inducing trip to the dentist this morning (at 8am, yuck).  I thought I had two or three cavities and my mom scared me saying that I would need a root canal or maybe an extraction and, luckily, I only had one little cavity and I just need a filling.  The dentist did a temporary filling today because I have an exposed nerve and then I go back in September for the regular filling.  The whole exam and x-ray and filling only took 30 minutes, I had nothing to worry about.  My dentist is awesome.

Back to regular knitting and spinning talk tomorrow, I have two huge skeins of two ply handspun to show off.