What is this?

 Ta da!  Finally joined up the arms and body on my yoke sweater.  Started on Dec 31.  Took me long enough.  The truth is that I can't knit as quickly as I used to.  But it doesn't much matter.  Color work, here I come.  (Well, after the couple of inches of grey.)

It is a darker grey.  Yoke colors will include the borders but add more deliciousness.  I just love working Fair Isle sweaters.

Yarn is Jamieson & Smith Shetland, bought at The Woolly Thistle.  

And speaking of Shetland, we're currently watching Shetland on Britbox.  I have no idea what took us so long to watch this series, but it's wonderful.  Now if they would just take a shot at all the yarny goodness. 

 A new Shetland yoked sweater is in progress.  Bodice is done.  It will be the right length, trust me. Shetland yarn from Jamieson & Smith.  Bought from The Woolly Thistle.

I have about 5" on the first sleeve.  Finish that, do the second one, join into a yoke and then have all the fun of Fair Isle work.  I love doing this stuff.

And a sweater is finished!

Ta da!  Finished, washed, and now worn:  My top-down yoke sweater in Estrellita yarn from Miss Babs.  Fingering weight.  #3 needle for everything but the top ribbing and the bottom and sleeve ribbings.  Those are done on #2 needles.  Took me about a month to knit.  I'm very fast but with a lot of stitches and skinny yarn and needles, these fingering wt sweaters take forever.

This is based very loosely on the Spector sweater by JoJi Locatelli.  I used her increases and how she integrated the various yarns. My version has a different yoke, no patterns on body or sleeves, and I widened it out at the waist and about 4" below that.  So, 4 sts increased at the sides for the first increase, and then another 4 increased later on.  I like the slight flare, and in my old age, I've gotten blubby, so increasing the width makes it not snug below the waist.  Or something like that.

My Spector sweater

My Spector sweater, designed by JoJi Locatelli.  I rarely use someone else's sweater pattern because I've been doing my own sweater thing for about 45 years. But every now and then, I see something that I really like, and I make it.

4 skeins of Madeline Tosh Twist Light, a basic sock yarn, plied, not a singles.  Simply Socks had a kit (and you know I rarely buy kits, but this was perfect).  This is the first time I've used sock yarn in a sweater, and now I know how to work with it.  In sock knitting, you want nice tight stitches, but not drapey like in a sweater.  I will use sock yarn again.

I love all of this sweater.  Mods for the next time:  shorter sleeves and body; this thing grew in the blocking.  I would use the basic shaping again, but put in my own patterns.  The yoke was fun, the sleeves and body, endless, but I expected that.

Me, attempting to hide my old lady tummy (with no success at all).  I'm not going on a diet.  Piffle.  

Thanks, Bishop Stone!  I love the fade very much.

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.

A yoke in progress

About 12 more rounds and the yoke is done.  I haven't tried it on yet (what fits me in the yoke, will fit DD#2), but I'm liking it so far.  So much easier than working a yoke sweater bottom up!

And that's all I have to report.  Quilting is sleeping, EPP is slowly in progress.  All I want to do right now is knit. 

Another finished!

One cute little quilt in the exploding block pattern.

This is a smallish lap quilt, which is perfect for me.  I don't use quilts as my primary bed covers; it's way too cold here in winter.  For warmth, I use a heavy down comforter, but I love a lap quilt on top, and when it's really cold at night, that bit of warmth and weight from the quilt makes me very cozy.  The Hubz, on the other hand, is rarely cold, and never wants the quilt on top of him. 

Colors in this quilt are unusual for me.  I like brights, and never use reproduction fabrics, but I collected some layer cakes in these colorways a couple of years ago, and decided to use them.  I rather like them. 

In the knitting sphere, I've begun the Birkin sweater for DD#2.  In all my decades of knitting, I've never done a top-down yoke sweater, but after knitting that Afmaeli twice, I decided that I wanted very little weight on my hands when I did the yoke, so top-down it is.  I'm quite capable of figuring out my own yoke pattern, but sometimes it's just easier to use someone-else's design. 

When you knit a yoke bottom up, you have the body and the sleeves all joined together on one needle, and it's like knitting an elephant or two.  Really hard on my hands.  But this little yoke is delightful - no weight, just pleasant knitting.

Yarn in KnitPicks Palette, the same one as the previous DD#2 sweater.  She likes the light weight, and it's very nice on my fingers.  Good yarn.  A lot of folks pooh-pooh Knit Picks yarn, but I knit so much and so quickly that spending $100-200 on sweater yarn is ridiculous.  I like their basics:  Palette, SOTA sport and worsted very much.  Good sturdy yarn with a nice hand.  No, not as soft as merino, but not itchy either.  And they wear like iron.

More HSTs

I know.  So what?  A little pile of half-square triangles, but they are so cute, and I keep playing with them.  More to come today, I hope.

Knitting news:  I finished the body of Miss P's yoke sweater, and have about 2/3 of a sleeve done.  The safety pins on the side are where I have increased the sleeve. 

the lace blob and other goodies

This is the Stargazing Shawl by Anna Victoria, a lovely December MKAL.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

Why does it look so awful?  Because it is unblocked, and lace looks like a blobby rag until you give it a good wash and block.  But wait until you see it later on!

New on the needles is a yoke sweater for Miss P.  I made her lots of sweaters when she was a little kid, but she really hasn't been interested in sweaters for years, now.  Socks, yes.  Sweaters?  No.  Until I sent out a yoke sweater for her mom.  Hmmm.  That's a neat sweater.  I might want one.  Given that she lives in the Frozen Northland, a warm woolly sweater might be useful.  I'm making another Afmaeli sweater.  Same width but much much longer.  I'm 5'1" on a tall day; she's 5'7" with a bit of growth left.  However, she tried on her mom's sweater (yep, it was mine, but DD liked it, and you know how that goes) and it fits very well in the width and yoke.  So much longer in the body and sleeves, but given that it's worsted, it knits up quickly. 

I started this 2 days ago, and have 6.5"done already.

The actual color is much more like the rib.  The body is that exact yarn, but the light makes it weird.

A yoke sweater for DD#2

Knit Picks Palette with about 6-7 balls of the green yarn and other assorted autumnal colors.  36" circumference.  I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's three and one pattern, which is one of my favorite yoke patterns.

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.