Friday, February 25
Knitting in my head
I keep a mental inventory of my unfinished projects - I remember my Liberty afghan, the mystery afghan, Yank done in the Blackberry Farms de-stash blog yarn with the sleeves that slipped gauge, 2 Ramblin' Rows afghans, 2 recent failed sweaters. But I wasn't keeping track of these:
The pink ones were a Christmas present that didn't work out. When DD#1 tried the one finished sock on (maybe Christmas day) and she didn't feel that cozy hug of knitting, I lost interest. Tucked the whole project away in the nice handpainted box.
The gray and blue socks were a make-up present that got put aside but I'm surprised that I didn't do more work on #2 - oops. DD#1: I owe you!
Love, mom.
The pink ones were a Christmas present that didn't work out. When DD#1 tried the one finished sock on (maybe Christmas day) and she didn't feel that cozy hug of knitting, I lost interest. Tucked the whole project away in the nice handpainted box.
The gray and blue socks were a make-up present that got put aside but I'm surprised that I didn't do more work on #2 - oops. DD#1: I owe you!
Love, mom.
Thursday, February 24
A sweater for an Afghan
I have taken the radical step of scheduling a week away from work in February. For more than 20 years, I enjoyed the busiest time of the year in February but with my new job one level up, I can watch the admins working diligently at the admissions process and wait for the results of their labor to trickle to (other staff in) my office. I would have been plenty busy had I gone to work this week but I opted out. No email even (until Sunday, in anticipation of returning to work on Monday - I can't take the cold shock of returning to work without dipping my toes in the deep pool of email).
DH and I visited Starved Rock to see the eagles (no pictures, just watched their winged glide over the Illinois River), took a short side trip to my ancestral home and took pictures of my forebears' graves (great-great and great-grandfather were stone masons but most of the grave markers seem to have been replaced as I suspect the earlier markers were limestone which disintegrated in the intervening 80-100 years), and I started a new project - my ravelry page tells me I did not get around to making donation for the 2010 efforts of afghans 4 Afghans.
Current project: a sweater for the 7-14 year old set for the current youth campaign:
Pattern: "Rosemary's Little Sweater" (gotta love that one-piece knit project) in The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, using Patons Classic Wool using the singular "Bonne Terre" colorway. Trim is Lamb's Pride left over from a small wrist bag I made on impulse. I hope to figure out a mock turtleneck. Knitting from the bottom up made for a regular stripe though a diagonal slant. The varigation doesn't show the cables along the arms but these added some excitement to the knitting. I used a full skein for the torso instead knitting to the proscribed 12", in order to gain the length critical for these sweaters so important to keep the little kids of the region warm.
The sleeve is a second attempt because though the instructions say to pick up 60 sts then decrease over a couple inches down to 42, I slipped the first stitch of the front and back and could initially pick up only about 40. Julie confirmed today (coffee with Julie being another vacation treat) that the very start of the sleeve was narrow and floppy so I ripped back and took her advice to kfb to gain the 60 sts (when I knit the first full row, I twisted the picked-up stitches to tighten the join). The sleeve width is now more symmetrical to the length of the sweater and the cloth is dense (again, the purpose of the wool sweater is warmth).
I was in the spare room on Sunday, opening boxes and piling yarn on the bed with this project in mind, when DH poked his head in. "What are you doing?" he asked, and I know he was thinking I was making a mess. "Looking for yarn" was the obvious reply. When he closed the door without a word, I think he thought I had found plenty of yarn.
DH and I visited Starved Rock to see the eagles (no pictures, just watched their winged glide over the Illinois River), took a short side trip to my ancestral home and took pictures of my forebears' graves (great-great and great-grandfather were stone masons but most of the grave markers seem to have been replaced as I suspect the earlier markers were limestone which disintegrated in the intervening 80-100 years), and I started a new project - my ravelry page tells me I did not get around to making donation for the 2010 efforts of afghans 4 Afghans.
Current project: a sweater for the 7-14 year old set for the current youth campaign:
Pattern: "Rosemary's Little Sweater" (gotta love that one-piece knit project) in The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, using Patons Classic Wool using the singular "Bonne Terre" colorway. Trim is Lamb's Pride left over from a small wrist bag I made on impulse. I hope to figure out a mock turtleneck. Knitting from the bottom up made for a regular stripe though a diagonal slant. The varigation doesn't show the cables along the arms but these added some excitement to the knitting. I used a full skein for the torso instead knitting to the proscribed 12", in order to gain the length critical for these sweaters so important to keep the little kids of the region warm.
The sleeve is a second attempt because though the instructions say to pick up 60 sts then decrease over a couple inches down to 42, I slipped the first stitch of the front and back and could initially pick up only about 40. Julie confirmed today (coffee with Julie being another vacation treat) that the very start of the sleeve was narrow and floppy so I ripped back and took her advice to kfb to gain the 60 sts (when I knit the first full row, I twisted the picked-up stitches to tighten the join). The sleeve width is now more symmetrical to the length of the sweater and the cloth is dense (again, the purpose of the wool sweater is warmth).
I was in the spare room on Sunday, opening boxes and piling yarn on the bed with this project in mind, when DH poked his head in. "What are you doing?" he asked, and I know he was thinking I was making a mess. "Looking for yarn" was the obvious reply. When he closed the door without a word, I think he thought I had found plenty of yarn.
Tuesday, February 8
An attempt at lace and the snow
I started to knit the Corner to Corner Shawl around Christmas because blog-free April sent me a present of two marvelous skeins of green alpaca fingering weight yarn.
Not so easy! I have actually ripped out some rows already, then noted the exact count on the pattern
and yet, still do not have the right pattern going
I'll rip it again - there are probably 8 rows to take out. Where is that lifeline?
I love knitting this pattern though.
To take your mind off my miserable knitting, look what else I did
I shoveled that (and more), Can you see how DEEP that snow is? A drift to the front door of our building.
I ventured farther than the front door on Wed, 2/2, and, once again, am glad I don't have to drive in this weather.
Not so easy! I have actually ripped out some rows already, then noted the exact count on the pattern
and yet, still do not have the right pattern going
I'll rip it again - there are probably 8 rows to take out. Where is that lifeline?
I love knitting this pattern though.
To take your mind off my miserable knitting, look what else I did
I shoveled that (and more), Can you see how DEEP that snow is? A drift to the front door of our building.
I ventured farther than the front door on Wed, 2/2, and, once again, am glad I don't have to drive in this weather.
