Thursday, September 13, 2007


Every fall, as the weather gets cool at night, I am overcome by the desire to knit the perfect, knock-around cardi. The cardi that can be worn everywhere, and sturdy enough to throw in a corner of the car if it gets too hot. I envision something with cables, maybe something with a hood. I see tweedy yarn, a classic fabric with a more modern fit. Last year, I just couldn't find the right pattern. I did find a yarn that I fell in love with, well I fell in love with the color. The yarn is really a marine blue with flecks of green and purple with the overall effect being a bluish-teal. I snapped up eight skeins, hoping it would be enough to make a cardigan, and stowed it in a stash box.


So this fall, when the desire to knit that great cardi came again, I pulled out the yarn and got on http://www.ravelry.com/ and searched the data base looking at what other people were making with this yarn. I kept seeing CPH, central park hoodie. Upon more investigation, I realized the pattern was in a back issue of Knitscene, conveniently filed with my other back issues of knitting mags. Amazing--pulling a new project, yarn AND pattern, from stash, no $$$ spent.


I started a front last night and it is such a quick knit that the one side is now done, and I would have started the back except I was stuck at work and didn't bring the smaller needles to do the ribbing. So on Friday, while waiting to have my LASIK surgery, I was able to start the back, and by the next morning, had this much done: Clearly, the LASIK didn't help me pay more attention to my knitting, as I screwed up two of the cables. I am almost up to the armhole shaping today. I also finished the second Papa sock, except for grafting the toe, that should go quickly. Here is the intended recipient

He doesn't usually look this stern, and I swear my house is not crooked, but I was in a hurry to snap the picture.

Elizabeth has abandoned her idea of being Darth Vader for Halloween. She saw a witch costume at Gymboree and had to model it for us when we got home.

Lastly, I started the Nanny socks for Christmas. I was going to make a pattern from Knitty, but forgot to take the pattern home with me after I printed it at work, so I am making it up as I go. The eyelet pattern is a little tedious to knit and I may not keep it up for the foot of the sock, we'll see. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome. I've never used this yarn before and I used my typical needles, 2.00mm. It is a bouncy yarn that is slightly thicker than the usual sock yarn. So far I am enjoying these. As you can see, I have had a flurry of starteritis, and keep burying the UFOs under the new projects. I am starting to feel as though I need to come up with a schedule to finish the UFOs!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Smooth sailing

This will be my third attempt at completing this posting. The program crashes every time I try to add a pic. Of course, this is usually after a bit of typing, so I lose the typing every time. I am therefore going to add the pic first:


This is the yarn I drew at the last Whorling Spinster's meeting on Tues night. I am to make something from it, to be exchanged at the December meeting. The cream yarn underneath is from my stash. I have been poring through books this am looking for ideas. The yarn is a springy, 2-ply yarn, about 8-9 WPI. I will likely make a hat or mittens out of it--WARM for the Minnesota winter.

Another interesting thing that came out of the meeting is that I met a woman who was looking for a triangle loom. After emailing pics of my loom to her, she and her partner picked it up today, leaving me with a check and a smug feeling. I no longer feel guilty every time I go to my yarn closet as the unused loom is GONE!

I also posted some of my stash yarn 0n E-bay and within 24 hours made my first sale! A box of Noro Cash Iroha in a disgusting grey was mailed out this am! Hurray! I bought this yarn years ago on sale and was disappointed when the box arrived. I thought of overdying the yarn, but I have had this thought for over a year now and was still sitting there in all of its disgusting greyness. Two other items on E-bay haven't seen much action.

I have been knitting along on the baby sweater and have finally gotten back to the part where I discovered my original mistake and had to rip back. Here is the progress:




I still have my doubts about this sweater, and am putting all of my faith into the blocking. We shall see.




Now that the nights are getting cooler, I am getting excited about large wooly items that will provide lots of warmth and comfort this winter. I have pulled out another WIP, my Noro version of the Mason-Dixon Moderne Log Cabin Blanket. This is a project that is hard to love up close but I fell in love with it after taking the picture and getting a distance view. Here it is draped over the couch in my bedroom:



I am working on panel 7 (ten panels in all) and figure I am maybe 1/2 way through. It should keep me busy through much of the winter.

I also decided that it was time for me to establish a schedule and work through the samples for the Master Knitting Program through The Knitters Guild of America. I started, and then abandoned, this program years ago because it was tedious to knit the samples. I have since realized that it is the idea of being a 'master knitter' that I like and if I work through this in a scheduled fashion, perhaps it won't seem too tedious. Here is my first sample, my assignment for this week. The second sample is started, but I intend to do the paperwork stuff as I go along, not leaving it all for the end. My "Papa" socks are rolling right along, as is Papa. I have turned the second heel and working down the length of the foot. Unfortunately, when I started the heel flap, I used the stitches originally designated for the instep, so the rib pattern over the instep of the foot doesn't quite match the other sock, but I don't think it will be very noticable. I happen to be a knitter who thinks that mistakes are a part of the charm of a handknit item (this may just be because I am LAZY!). The second sock looks like this:
Lastly, I finished blocking the Tomato sweater. Here it is draped over the now-sold triangle loom. Not bad eh...?
We are off to the lake this evening. The weather is cool and pleasant. Hopefully this will continue. Have a great weekend!