Tag Archives: Knitting

Starting and Finishing

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I have a to-do list that’s a mile long now that I’m out of school, I just can’t seem to get started on anything. I need to write up a resume, clean my room, clean out my closet, take my dog to the groomers, get my hair cut. I know there’s more but I just don’t even want to think about it. Ugh, I haven’t been sleeping good at night so I’m drained all day and all I want to do is sit around and watch movies and knit. Unfortunately I’m down to scraps when it comes to yarn, so I’m stuck on little projects for now.

Vest

This is the only yarn I have in a garment-sized amount. This is some Peace Fleece Worsted that’s been sitting around for years. I only have 800yds so it’s not enough for a sweater and barely enough for any vest patterns. But, while I was digging around on Ravelry one night, I found the Boogie Vest from an old Knitty and it seems to be working perfect. I’ve knit the back and almost half of the front. This is a quick, easy knit and I’ll think it will be great this fall.

Pagona

I also finished something and blocked it, though I haven’t woven in the ends. This is a Pagona, the pattern is by Stephen West, the yarn is my handspun. I didn’t have much of this yarn, so the shawl is small, about 12” down the edge instead of the 15” that the pattern says. It will be a good size for a little scarf, though. Not much to say about this. My yarn looks good.

I’ve been doing a little spinning, still on that same Shetland that I’ve been working on for over a year. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be done in about five years or so. Yeah.

Peanut

It’s been a while since Peanut has made an appearance. By my rough calculation, it’s almost her 10th birthday. Time has flown.

Playing Catch Up

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I really didn’t mean to not blog for the entire month of April but there just really hasn’t been much to talk about. We’ve been wrapping up the school year and I started finals two weeks ago. We had our practical baking and cooking finals, I got As on both, I’m glad to say. I’ve mainly been studying for the written finals, which started today. I (and everyone I’ve talked to from my class) failed our written cooking final but it only dropped my grade 4%, I still have an A so I’m not really worried about it. I’ve also registered for my fall classes and thanks to a mix-up at school I get to go both semesters next year instead of graduating in December, I had to register late and couldn’t get all my classes. I don’t really mind it but I was looking forward to being done. So in the fall I’ll be taking Classic and European Pastries and Quick and Yeast Breads. I’m excited.

Other than that, I’ve been knitting a bit. I started and finished Brooklyn Tweed’s Inversion Cardigan but I can’t get a decent picture of it. I knit it out of some of my handspun Shetland and it is warm and soft and cozy, perfect for the weather we’re having this week. I also knit a hat because I was bored and don’t have enough yarn to knit anything else.

Shawl in Progress

Right now I’m knitting a Pagona out of some old handspun, it’s in the blob stage. I’m close to being out of yarn so I suppose it’s time to start the border and then I’ll be done.

And then there’s the food. In my savory class I’ve made fish (that picture is bad) and pork steak that I didn’t blog.

But in baking we made cakes:

My Cake

This is a chocolate cake with vanilla American buttercream frosting, it was good but I didn’t like the frosting much, it was too sweet. I also made a carrot cake but it’s sitting, unfrosted, in my freezer because I forgot about it until just now. Whoops!

And we made cookies:

Cookies

These are brownies, pecan sandies, snickerdoodles, and coconut macaroons. They were good.

We made ice cream, too, but I didn’t get any pictures of it. I made a rich chocolate custard base and added strawberries and chocolate chips, it was good. I’m going to miss being in the kitchens at school this summer but I’m looking for a job, I just hope I can find something, there isn’t much out there where I live. I am planning on going through my baking textbook and making up some of the recipes we didn’t do in class, I have to practice and keep my skills up over the summer, don’t I?

That’s it for me. I have to do some dishes and study for my Purchasing final tomorrow and my baking final Monday. I hate finals.

A Do Over

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So I have this back log of stuff I want to write about, I’ve been busy with school and stuff and just haven’t had time for the blog, but I’m on spring break this week so we’re playing catch up. First thing is something I’m re-knitting.

Part of a cardigan

So does this look familiar? Yes, it’s the Morrison Cardigan from the Fall 2011 Knitscene again. I just wasn’t happy with the way it fit before so I decided to re-knit it in the next size bigger. I started it last weekend and I’ve knit both sleeves, the back, the right front, and a few inches of the left front. It’s zooming along and I should have it finished in a couple days. I think I’ll like it a lot more in the bigger size. It wasn’t really too small but it was too short and a little tight in the upper arms. This should be much better.

That’s all I have time for today. I have a lot of food to talk about and some more knitting later this week. Right now I have some homework and a project from KnitPicks that I need to work on.

Hey, Look at that, I finished something

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Here you go, something that isn’t food or school related. I’m definitely still knitting.

My Shetland Shawl

I started this shawl back in October and finished knitting it a couple weeks ago and blocked it on Wednesday, when it was a beautiful 65° outside. To refresh your memory, this is Granny Cheney’s Shetland Shawl from the book Wrapped in Lace by Margaret Stove. I knit it out of KnitPicks Bare merino lace weight and used two full skeins and size US2/2.75mm needles. I had planned on going up a needle size, I thought it would look better with a looser gauge, but I’m glad I didn’t. The shawl is delicate enough as it is and I would have run out of yarn a lot sooner. I’m pretty happy with how it looks.

Border

You can kind of see here and in the photo below where I ran out of yarn and had to grab some Jaggerspun Zephyr in white to finish up. It’s just in the areas between the center and the big border, where the double rows of holes are. It’s not a glaring difference, you can see it in person but it really doesn’t look too bad. I just hated to order and extra ball of yarn for that little bit of knitting.Close up of the Center

This was a lot of knitting. A lot, a lot. First, you cast on about 20 stitches and knit this super long edging, it was about ten feet, I think. Then you pick up some stitches, knit one side of the border, knit the center, then you pick up the rest of the stitches around the edging and knit the other borders (or you can do each border one at a time and sew them together, you’d pick up less stitches at once but have more seaming) and then graft the tops of the borders around the edge of the center and sew up the seam from the beginning and end of the border and the beginning and end of the edging. If it sounds fussy, it was. It wasn’t nearly as confusing as it seems.

This was actually one of the most well-written patterns I think I’ve ever followed. It’s about ten pages, mostly charts, the written directions were short and assumed you knew what you were doing most of the time, but everything was very clear and easy to understand. The only mistakes I ran across ended up being my own fault, from losing my place in one of the charts (which are huge) and trying to just skim the directions (stupid!).

So, what’s next? Well, I do have something on the needles, Freewheelin’ by Lee Meredith, and it is almost done, I think. I think the next lacy thing I want to make is the Crown Prince Square Shawl by Nancy Bush, I’d still like to have a black cardigan of some kind, and the sock bug is nibbling, so I may need to make a pair of socks. Now I just need some money.

A Little Knitting

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Shetland Shawl in Progress

This picture is really awful but here’s what I’m knitting. This is Granny Cheyne’s Shetland Shawl from Wrapped in Lace by Margaret Stove (mine’s on Ravelry here). Way back (ha!) in 1999 when I started knitting I would sit and drool over the few pictures of Shetland shawls that I would see online and I loved them. They always seemed like something to shoot for, to be able to knit with that super thin yarn on those long, little needles and have this gorgeous lace come out seemed almost unattainable. I’ve felt up to the task for a few years but never found a pattern that called out to me (except the Princess Shawl and I will knit it someday) until Wrapped in Lace came out. This pattern just looked perfect. It’s a big square traditional Shetland shawl with true knitted lace, with patterning on both sides of the fabric) knit in real lace yarn with tiny (US2) needles. It has a variety of patterns and it’s just difficult enough to be interesting but not so much that I’m ripping my hair out in frustration (I have had to rip back a few long rows and I completely frogged the border twice about halfway through it). This is the only thing on my needles right now and I’ve only had time to do a row or two before bed but it is enough. The shawl is slowly growing and I’m just a few rows from finishing the borders and then I have a lot of sewing to do.

More next week. Have a great weekend. I’m going to read about nutrition and menu planning.