moonfrog

It’s been a busy, rainy day here. And we are all tuckered out.  Cali is 8 months old now and starting to mellow, but today she was just a great big puppy.

She has a boyfriend a couple houses down and goes crazy at the chance to play with him. He’s a 3-year-old chocolate lab named Ryan. They race around the front yard and wrestle whenever they get the chance. Today, they were playing in the rain while Ryan’s mom and I chatted.

As they ran around Cali splashed through a mud puddle in our driveway. She decided that was the best fun of all and lured Ryan into the puddle. Not satisfied with just splashing, she lay down and rolled in the puddle — over and over again — as she continued to play with Ryan. She was covered in mud. It was a hoot!

Next came a bath. Usually this is accomplished at the do-it-yourself doggy bath place, but it was too late for that. So we took off the shower doors and shoved her into the tub. It took her dad and I both to keep her in and give her a good wash. Whew!  Now she’s a clean and tired pup. I put her SpongeBob blanky over her and she fell fast asleep. Doesn’t she look sweet?

And while she sleeps, I’m knitting a new project. This is the beginning of the back of the Scoop Neck Cardigan which was designed for Noro Silk Garden yarn. I’m using Plymouth Kudo in a brown/gray/tan/black. The gray turns bluish and the brown has a reddish portion.

This cardigan is knit side-to-side so the stripes run vertically. I already added a couple inches to the pattern length. I’m anxious about the fit, but that will be clear with time. To prevent rowing-out (uneven tension) I am purling English style (throwing) and knitting Continental style (picking.)  I think I will start a practice project to  work on tension soon.

I’ve regained my enthusiasm for knitting and there are so many projects I’d like to cast on immediately. I’m holding it to three active projects at any time, though, and it feels good and manageable that way. I really just knit on a single pattern at one time, but like to have one for travel and one to switch off with in case I get tired of the current one.

It’s really hard to decide which project to begin next, every time it is a struggle.  I consider the season, the yarn at hand, and the degree of difficulty compared to my mood and available time. Sometimes I want to knit something for a special occasion for someone else, but I have to confess I’ve become a pretty selfish knitter. Besides my hats for chemo patients and some small knits, most of what I make now is all mine.

My current project is a cotton/rayon/silk yarn for summer, which I recently bought, but not for this specific pattern. The pattern is not really  difficult, but the shaping and sleeves are things I need to practice, as well as the button bands and edge finishes.  I was really fortunate to find the pattern book for sale cheap and it arrived just in time to cast on. The design has been in my queue for two years.

How do you make decisions about what to make next?  Or is it just whatever strikes your fancy in the moment?

My first sweater of the IntSweMoDo2010 challenge is done! It took just over two months, which seems pretty quick compared to my usual pace. Of course, it is just a vest, but it is a big vest — with a big cable.

Mondo Cable Vest
Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton
Circular needles US 7 and 6

The good:  I really enjoyed this pattern. Years ago, I bought the precursor of this pattern and didn’t get around to making it. When I realized that the new version was top-down, in-the-round, and had bigger sizes,  I gave in and bought the new pattern. It was well worth it. The sleeve borders and the neckline are knit with the vest, not added on later. The back neckline is joined to the back while knitting the border pattern. Pretty cool! The cable is fun, and breaks up the stockinette just a bit. And it fits perfectly!

The bad:  The Debbie Bliss cotton yarn. It has a lovely soft hand, which leads to it looking a bit worn just from knitting, but the major bad is the preponderance of knots. Every single skein had a few knots. Every skein had a knot within the first four yards! There are so many joins in this vest that I’m not sure how long it will hold up.

It was so bad that I got this finished the first time — sitting on the blocking board, pinning it down — when I noticed a problem. A bunchy place. I tried to straighten it out.  Then it was a hole. I think it must have been a knot that I missed. I had to rip out four inches! That’s a lot of knitting for me. I decided to rip back six inches to fix what looked like a couple extra rows between the cable crosses. I’m glad I fixed everything, but it was a struggle to convince myself to do it.

As far as the knotty yarn — I knew it had this reputation, but got it on clearance, so I went into it willingly.  I’m still very pleased with the knitting practice and the finished vest. Even if it wears out quickly, it is something I would wear around the house until it turned into a rag. It really is that soft and comfy.  So I’m calling this a success!

Sweaters are still a big project for me. They are mondo knitting, even when that is not part of their name, especially now that I have gained enough weight to have to knit a larger size. I go back and forth about whether to knit sweaters at all or to stick to my usual hats and smaller projects. This year, I’ve decided that I really need to move on and learn new things in my knitting. And if I’m lucky enough to lose some weight in spite of trying? Then the sweaters I make this year will go into the category of much-needed practice and entertainment.

Now — What to do next?!  Besides my travel project — the never-ending Baktus scarf — I only have the never-ending Nordic Sock Sweater on the needles.  I have to admit that this has lead to a lot of pattern ogling on Ravelry and a substantial increase in the length of my queue.  I even got to the point of choosing a possibility and making a swatch, but that is on hold until I procure the pattern which is out-of-print.

Then last night I surprised myself — I picked up the Nordic Sock Sweater and started working on it and enjoying it. I finished the increases for the sleeves and have a whole two centimeters of straight garter stitch until the decreases for the neckline begin. The closeness of the end is spurring me on now. If I can just keep picking it up and finishing a couple rows here and there, it will actually get finished this year! I’m trying to keep copious (and redundant) notes on where I am in patterns nowadays and it is helping me pick things up without so much trepidation. I’m excited about how much I’m learning, too. Now I just have to set the sweaters aside for a few days and make a couple hats, and a baby something-or-other.

Any ideas on the baby knitting front? It has to be done before July. And it has to be cute easy or I’ll lose interest. Not much to ask, eh?

My latest project is on a roll. Everything else is secondary, so I’m taking a short pause tonight and then it’s back to it.
I hope all you mothers out there had a lovely Mother’s Day. Mine was very sweet. First, I started the day knitting. Then my grandson called from Kansas. Hearing his voice lifts my spirits incredibly. More knitting. Then we drove an hour away for our traditional dinner with my mom, my two sons, my husband’s daughter and her son. It was once again a good time together. Back home and more knitting.
What is it that is keeping my attention so forcefully? Nothing spectacular, but I feel like I’m actually making progress on this one. It’s the Mondo Cable Shell that has been in my queue for a long time. I’m on the last cable crossing (an extra one to add length) and then a bit of finishing and it is ready to wear. Well, that’s the theory anyway.

Before I rush back to my knitting, I want to show you a small weaving project.   It started last year. My friend Connie gave me some really lovely dishcloths that she made based on the WeaveZine pattern called Spa Wash Cloth. She varied the weaving techniques and included some loop pile in the pattern. They are beautiful and useful and I use them all the time.
When it was time for me to participate in our guild demonstration at the local coop grocery store, I noticed some Aruacania Chacaburo cotton that had been a prize from a local yarn store. Slubby cotton might be just the thing for some easy washcloths — I didn’t want to  try something as difficult as the spa cloths just yet.  I warped my rigid heddle with some turquoise worsted-weight kitchen cotton, then used the Chacaburo for the weft. I wove a sample and then two cloths in plain weave and hemmed them by hand.

I varied the picks per inch for each cloth, resulting in more warp showing on one. Next time, I will try a green warp. I was a little worried about how the slubby cotton would wear, but it is doing fine with regular use and it is very soft, so I use my sample as a face cloth. I will do more of these since I have another skein of the Chacaburo left.

Well, it’s time to get back to my knitting.  I should have a new vest to show you very soon!

There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar.

Yarn . . . such a plain, utilitarian word, and the thing itself is so varied and wonderous. It has provided me an adventure of discovery all its own through the years.

First came the yarns of the 60s. Yarns that served a purpose, that worked hard, were easy to care for and came in a rainbow of solid colors and a few ombres and variegations. I made lots of toys and household goodies with that yarn — so many that my mom and I started selling knit, crochet and sewn treasures at the holiday bazaars. I even crocheted a beautiful wool ski sweater for my brother, which he loved. And one of my favorites was a toilet roll cover — an old man in a derby hat taking a bath in a barrel.

Then I discovered fiber in the 70s — raw wool and alpaca — and started making my own yarn. That was short-lived, with 2 children I felt like spinning was too much of a luxury for my time, so my beloved spinning wheel went to a new home.

The next change came when my wrists gave out and I switched from crochet to knitting. This changed the way I look at yarn. Knitting gives a whole different look and feel to the finished projects, so I began to make new things. It even seemed to go in phases. There was the dishcloth phase — great for learning new techniques and stitches. And yarn gave way to tulle netting for the scrubbers my mom loves.

Next came the hat phase, which is really on-going as I make hats for chemo patients for my Caps for a Cure group. The Shedir hat took me to the heights of challenges with all its crossing cables. The yarn — Rowan’s Calmer — is still one of my favorites.

Then it was on to making anything that caught my fancy: socks, sweaters, simple shawls, mittens.  And the yarn collection grew. Just when I thought my closet could hold no more, I returned to spinning, this time really learning (and continuing to learn!) the right way to spin, rather than just teaching myself like I did in the 70s.

Now fiber spills out of the closet along with the yarn. And sometimes the fiber becomes new yarn. Today I’m plying some orange Romney wool that is destined to be another hat for the hat-loving husband.(I still need practice with the plying.) The yarn on top of the wheel is the biggest usable batch of yarn I’ve spun so far, giving me almost 700 yards of DK weight Cotswold/Merino/Alpaca goodness. I’m still searching for just the right pattern for this lot.

I could go on and on about yarn, but it’s time to bring this to a close. I’ve really enjoyed this week of blogging and hope it gives me the kick in the pants I’ve needed to get back to a once weekly schedule. As the old saying goes, I still have yarns to spin.

To learn more about this event, visit Eskimimi Knits.
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Revisit a past F/O
Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted, whether it is the hat your sister wears to school almost every day, or a pair of socks you wore until they were full of hole. Or maybe that jumper that your did just didn’t like that much…

One of my knitting projects has come back to haunt me. It’s actually rather funny, but makes me cringe just a little, too.

Two years ago my son loaned me a copy of the Firefly TV series and the Serenity movie.
I really enjoyed them and thought it would be fun and appropriate to knit a Jayne hat after seeing the movie, so I made my Shiny Hat. Actually, I made two. One for a young friend who is a fan of Firefly and was undergoing radiation treatment, so she needed a hat. The first one came out too big, so I made a smaller one for her.

As soon as the bigger hat came off the needles, the dear husband declared it was his. He loves orange and he loves his Shiny Hat. How could I say no to such an eager recipient of my knitting?

Now, I don’t mind that he wears it around the yard, like he did today, but when he takes it on the road — and he will wear that hat anywhere! — it can be a bit embarrassing. I mean, in the movie the hat is the symbol of all the funky, weird things that a mother makes and that a good son wears because he loves his mum. Our friends shake their heads when he shows up in this hat, but we all can’t help but chuckle. The hat really shows his inner child, well, his child is not so much inner as perpetual.  And today he reminded me of his youthful spirit as he worked around the yard with that pom pom bouncing around on his head.

To learn more about this event, visit Eskimimi Knits.
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