Sock Madness round 2

Echoes socks.  Stranded knitting on size 0 needles because I knit loosely and really wanted this pair for me.  So I knitted tightly and my wrists hurt and I'm not knitting for a few days.  But I like them, even though the toes are way too big and too long.  I'm not redoing them; they'll be covered by shoes and are not egregiously large or uncomfortable.

And now I'm going to start a new quilt, probably a log cabin because they're fun and mindless and I love to play with the fabrics.

Thanks, Deborah!  The pattern is easy, but it's hard on my hands to knit quickly with stranded knitting.

Kids knits

The latest sweaters (and a pair of socks) for the little kid, who will turn 6 at the end of the month. 

A close-up of the slip-stitch pattern:

This blue sweater was knitted in my usual fashion:  bottom up in the round, with the shoulders joined by knitting them off together.  Sleeves picked up from the armhole and worked down, also in the round.  I have to say that I much prefer working with stranded knitting than with slip stitches, but it is an interesting technique and the stripes have a texture to them that stranded knitting would not do.

This is a top-down yoke sweater, which may not fit him well.  We shall see.  The sleeves may be too long.  If it's too big, he'll grow and maybe use it later this season.  If it doesn't work at all, then his mom can donate to a charity. I love making yoke sweaters, but the fit confounds me (and I've made a lot of yoke sweaters).  Without him here to try on, it may not work at all.  Still, it was fun and I love stranded knitting.

And a pair of socks for him.  Again, I'm making them without trying on, so who knows if they will fit.

And finally, a sweater for me that I finished just before Thanksgiving. 

I've been on a cable binge, and this was the 3rd one I made.  Loved every minute of it.

Since July, I've made 7 sweaters, the ones not shown were not photographed.  I'm now taking a week or two off from them and knitting shawls.  Sweaters are very fast knits for me, but lace shawls take time and go slowly, and my hands need slow work.

Quilting?  What's that?  Do I remember how to sew? 

Clover sweater is finished

And here she is, all washed and dried and smooth as if I had machine-knitted her.  That's what a good wet blocking does when you work with wool.

The specs:  Knit in KnitPicks Palette wool, about 5.5 balls of the dark green yarn, and bits of the other colors.  Size 3 needles for the body, and 2 for the ribbing.  Knitted in the round, of course, top down, and inspired by the Birkin sweater.  I rarely follow another sweater design, since I'm quite capable of doing my own, but I was too lazy to figure out the increases in the yoke, so that came from the Birkin.  The little green design on top of and bottom of the yoke, and also used on the sleeves and sweater bottom, is from Birkin. 

Birkin is a lovely sweater, and uses 3 colors/round in many cases, but I'm an experienced Fair Isle knitter, and no way do I ever use more than 2 colors at a time.  So, that was the first to go.  Plus, I prefer long sleeves and a usual sweater bottom.  I can say that this is a Birkin-inspired sweater, but adapted to what I like. 

Took me about 6 weeks off and on.  The yoke went quickly because it's interesting to do, the rest is just donkey work, knitting round after round after round.  I can't knit hours of stockinette without really hurting my hands, wrists, shoulders.  So I just motored along somewhat slowly. 

Finished it and decided I was done with the winter's sweaters.  And now I can't help but think that I need to make one for me, too. 

This fall/winter, I made 6 sweaters (not pictured are a red sweater for the little guy, and a cable sweater for Miss R):

Out of the 6, I got one, the pretty lavender one.  I'm so bored with my sweaters.  Need to make some for me.  Given that I wear them from Nov through March, I could use a few new ones.  Hmmmmm.

Yoked!

Lots of progress on my fake Bohus yoke sweater, mostly because I've been laid up for over a week with a very nasty bacterial infection.  I'm on the mend now, but for much of the week, I slept, coughed, slept, coughed, and occasionally (when the Tylenol kicked in) knit.  That's it.

"Fake" Bohus because, while it is based on a genuine Bohus pattern, I modified it to suit me.  Yes, it is very very raw looking, but it will all smooth out with a good wash.

Here's a close-up of the yoke.  Isn't it bumpy and lumpy and utterly awful?  But the stranding is very good, with enough slack on the wrong side, so that it will all become very smooth.  Those little blips of color are actually purl stitches.  Kind of interesting to do, although I prefer not having them.  But I am playing with a genuine Bohus pattern, and those purl stitches are used, so I thought I would just put them in.

I'm not planning on any other patterning in the yoke.  No good reason except that I think this is enough.  I will do the rib in the off-white to live with the other rib sections.

And that's it, kids.  I now need a yoke break.  I'm thinking of yet another fake Eriskay gansey.  Haven't done one yet this year, and it's calling me.  Or maybe a very wide panel of pattern on the body?  We shall see.

Quilting?  I was too sick to even contemplate sewing a seam, but the urge is coming on me again.

Thanks, Ramona!  It's been interesting!  Can't wait until I feel human again.

Progress and a great book!

Knitting yoke sweaters can put you to sleep.  All that stockinette on the body and on the sleeves is not exactly exciting.  But, that's what you have to do before you get to the fun part.

The body length is 15", so you can just imagine the soporific effect this has had on me.  On the other hand, it's great TV watching knitting.  It's so mindless that you can pick it up while waiting for your tea water to boil.  You don't have to think at all.  All stockinette except for the last st before the front and back of the sweater; that's done in purl to make a fake seam.  I almost always put in a fake seam.  Looks kind of neat, and helps me find the "seam" line when I block the sweater.

So, the body is now done and put aside to work on the sleeves.  Yep, more motoring along except that I'll have to pay attention to increases every inch or so.

And here's the great book!

I'm an old hand at stranded knitting.  I did tons of it around 25 years ago, so much that I burned out of it and haven't done much at all until now.  I do have hand and wrist issues, which stranded knitting will annoy, but a yoke design is only at the top of the sweater, and the teeny bit I'm doing as a border on the body and sleeves doesn't count at all.  In a moment of lunacy, I had tossed just about all my Fair Isle and Scandinavian books.  I had to buy my 2 favorites on Amazon:  Sheila McGregor's  Traditional Fair Isle knitting and her Traditional book of Scandinavian knitting.  

These two are my basic stranded knitting books because of the incredible charts in black and white which are so much easier to read than color charts, plus you get to put in the colors you want.  I've owned a number of very beautiful Fair Isle books, but once you understand the techniques, it's all easy peasy.  So then this gorgeous book comes out and I'm totally smitten.  I don't really need all that info on color, but you can always learn something new and anyhow, the pictures and ideas are amazing. It's available on Amazon, Knit Picks and Schoolhouse Press.

Knitting in progress

4 projects on the needles, 3 of them socks, of course.

Another pair of socks for the little guy.  Same yarn as the previous post, same inability of my camera to get the red correct.  It's a lovely deep red with more blue than yellow in it.  You'll have to trust me.  I've just finished the gusset and am zooming onto the foot and finish.  Then sock #2 gets knitted.

Yet another helix sock for the little guy's big sister.  At 14, she's into mismatched socks, and this is a great way to use up my leftover sock yarn.  Of course it never gets used up; the balls just get smaller and smaller, but they never go away.  Kind of like dust bunnies:  you sweep them up, but they propagate over night.  At any rate, these are mindless and fun and she loves them.  Plus, if she misplaces a sock, she has a bunch more to choose from.  That's the beauty of mismatched helix socks.

A pair for me in my usual basket weave pattern.  No hurry on this pair since I have at least 60 pairs already.  And when I'm done, I'll have a nice ball of yarn leftover to be applied to yet more helix socks.  It never ends.

And now, the really neat knitting news:  I'm so into yoke sweaters that I've started another one, this one with a Bohus-style design for the yoke.  Bottom up with body knitted first, followed by sleeves, and then joined for the yoke.  I saw an Icelandic yoke sweater with a contrasting rib and little pattern, and I liked it, so that's what's here.  The body of the sweater will be that lovely heathered pale brown that you see with the off-white.  KnitPicks sport Wool of the Andes, which is delightfully woolly and warm and delicious to wear.

Change

Since I retired from the yarn dyeing business, I rarely post on my blog, which makes me think a change is in order.  What I plan on doing from now on is keep a log of what I've completed as well as what's in progress, mostly for my own information.  Kind of a log blog.

So, here's the first post of 2017: my version of the Afmaeli sweater that's making the rounds on Ravelry.  I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, worsted wt, and wanted a size between the women's small and medium, so a gauge of around 4.75 sts/inch, and a circumference of approx. 36".  I actually finished this last Wed, so not 2017, but that's the way it goes.

Thanks, Deborah!

The Yarnarian Blathers As Usual.

I took this picture this morning and have to show it to you. We are just at the beginning of leaf change in northern NJ (we're about an hour west of New York City), and I happened to look out my window at the back yard when I spotted this. No other leaves on the trees on our property have changed. So this was a delight to see. This is my favorite time of year, and I'm ready for a bit of leaf peeping.



New Acquisitions: Look at what I found at a rummage sale last week:






It's an old skein winder from Italy. I don't know how old it is. It's small but has a good wing span and it works. It cost me 2 bucks and I think it's adorable.

These 2 ladies arrived in yesterday. When I have time to do anything from either of them is not the issue. I just love looking at them. I used to be an expert at stranded knitting. Now it bothers my wrists too much, even when I do it slowly. BTW, knitting slowly seems to put more stress on the wrists than zooming along. I have to knit in moderation here. The projects are very up to date, but not crazy. The author has the intelligence to knit them in the round, although she does set in her sleeves. Me, I pick up the stitches from the armhole and knit the sleeves down. No seams except for the shoulder join, and that I do with the 3 needle bind-off. I like the book a lot. It has some charming garments. I'll probably just drool rather than knit, although if my wrists decided to behave, well then I'd knit. In my dreams, unfortunately. I would love to go back to Fair Isle sweaters.



Now this is a fascinating book, very different from anything I own. I have got to play with this one. Truly the most avant garde stitches around, and I think they will be challenging and delightful to knit. The projects are way too weird for me, but the stitches are amazing. I don't particularly care if they are reversible; I just find them fascinating.



Dyeing tomorrow. I had lots of important errands to run, so tomorrow's the day. You can thing Evil Colorways. Some of my customers are pestering me for Halloween sock yarn: evil, and dangerous, and witchy, and goblin-y and such. So I went to the library and raided the Children's Room for some good creepy illustrated books for ideas. Mwahahahaha!

Caryn - Snow? on Tuesday? That's it; I'm not moving to where you live.

Holly - How old do you think these things are? I don't think they are very old, even though they look slightly shabby. Leaf change is now officially here; I'm seeing it more and more. A big change from yesterday. I love this season; the only thing wrong with it is that it turns into winter.