moonfrog –

I’ve been on this once-a-month blogging kick for a while now. Sometimes I think about giving up, since I don’t blog as often as I like. Then I have times like recently, when I wonder . . . When did my amaryllis bloom? or What classes did I take at my first Stitches West? or How long have I been working on this darn sock-yarn sweater? And the answers are usually here on the blog. So I’ve decided (again) that I will keep it going — if nothing else, it is a record that I like to refer to once in a while.

Speaking of Stitches West, the collage has a few shots I took the last day Connie and I were there. This was our 4th Stitches in five years.  I took it easy, wih only two half-day classes. The first one was A Well-Executed Sleeve with Sarah Peasley. She taught us how to make short-row shoulders and the set-in sleeves where you pick up stitches at the shoulder and knit down. I’d really like to put this method into use.

The second class was Double Knitting Tubes by Karen Frisa. She is a fun and awesome teacher! I learned how to knit tubes that would work as glove fingers — only they are knit flat! No more wrestling double points or circulars in tiny places. I also learned how to make a knit-in-place pocket. It was tons of fun to try and peek into the knitting as it was happening to see the little tube forming. This also gives me a really good idea of how to do regular double knitting, which I tried to do before, but failed.

The snapshots of the market show (from left to right) a demo of tunisian crochet, some cute creations at the Knitwhits booth, some yarn at the same booth, and a couple ladies from the Bay Area machine knitters guild. It was great to see the demo on the knitting machine, since it is the same one I have that has never been used.
Did I buy anything at the market? Well, of course, but not much this year. I came home with some Poems yarn, enough for a vest, and a book of rigid heddle loom ideas. And a vest pattern. That’s it. What I really concentrated on was gathering ideas. I have quite a few of those!

Now, these great ideas mean I want to cast on or warp my loom for many, many new projects. But I promised myself to finish an old project first, so new ones have been limited to small things. The old project has been hanging about since June of 2008! I was determined to get the Nordic Sock Sweater done before any other sweaters were started. I worked on it before Stitches. I worked on it during Stitches. (It was a bear to drag around in its all-in-one-piece working state.) And I worked on it after Stitches. I was afraid the seaming would last forever — but it really wasn’t bad at all. Then I wet-blocked it. Usually, I steam block, but I have . . . let’s say “grown” since I started this sweater and I wanted to block it rather aggressively. Well! The thing came out of its bath humongous! It was way too big for even my more fluffy size. I despaired. I comforted myself that at least I’d move on to another sweater now. I threw the beast into the the dryer. The yarn is superwash, so I held out hope that it would survive. Still big. I tossed it into the washer, then dryer.  No improvement. I tried it again: wash, dry but warmer this time. And out it popped like nothing had happened, back in its original condition. Whew!

• Nordic Sock Sweater
  (Drops 107-3 Jacket)
• Drops Fabel
• Size 4 circular
• Modifications: Shortened cuff to 6 rows garter, single crochet on front bodice only, pin w/no buttons

It fits if I don’t button the bodice. I didn’t really like the tiny buttonholes anyway, so this suits me fine. The buttonholes don’t even show.

I even had a frog pin that is perfect for this. It was a gift from Carrie a long time ago and has now found a permanent home, rather than shifting around from jacket to jacket. It matches perfectly!

I’m really glad this sweater is finished — and that I can wear it.

Now it is time to cast on for another sweater –  or two!  I have a few that I’m considering, but haven’t decided yet. What a happy dilemma.