Started a new knitting project last night. What better excuse to blog?
It's an Elizabeth Zimmerman yoke sweater in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. I am a big fan of natural fibers, but I am also a big fan of machine washable clothing, so I am hoping the Cotton-Ease provides a good compromise.
I don't like sweaters with ribbed bands at the waist, they tend to look like balloons while I'm wearing them, and I already look too much like a balloon for my taste. So I dug out mom's "Knitting on the Edge" book. There I found an edging that is so cute, I think I'm going to use the pattern for the whole sweater. It's a bit lacy, though, so now, what with the cotton blend yarn, I'm thinking of a spring sweater with 3/4 length sleeves which I could wear over a tank top in late spring / early summer.
You see how these projects snowball? Still, as the idea develops, it is making me happier and happier, which I take as a good sign.
So I started the gauge swatch last night. I'm very pleased with how quickly the Cotton-Ease knits up on 8" needles. The resulting fabric has a nice hand and drape as well, I think it'll work well for the type of sweater I have in mind. If it goes this quickly, I might actually be able to wear this sweater this spring!
The one problem I had not worked out was how to handle the pattern with the decreases EZ uses to shape the yoke. But just as I was falling asleep last night, an idea came to me. Miracle of miracles, I still remembered it this morning, and I still think it could work. Not just the delirious musings of a mostly-dreaming brain. Once my gauge swatch is big enough and I've got my gauge, I'll test the decreasing and see whether my idea holds water.
I love new projects. This is the most fun part of the whole process.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
this 'n' that
Start of the semester. Yesterday was the first day of classes, so things are plenty busy around here. But I'm managing to get some time at lunch today, so here's a post. Thanks for reading!
Start of the semester also means some things will be picking up again soon, like the knitting group. Yay! I'm looking forward to a treat this semester, as an old-time group member will be coming back, at least temporarily. She used to work here, left or retired or something, but comes back from time to time to fill in for various departments when someone leaves. I have heard her name often from Ralene, our knitting group "leader", so I'm looking forward to meeting her.
Went to see Avatar last weekend (like everyone else in the world, apparently). No knitting in the movie, but other than that, I loved it. The story is standard chick flick fare, but the visuals! Oh, man! We saw it in Westminster in 2D, and we left the theater talking about when we could make the half hour drive to Hanover to see it in 3D. It's just gorgeous. Go see it if you haven't already.
Also celebrated family birthdays last weekend. My brother-in-law and his wife have birthdays one week apart, and last weekend was the weekend in between, so we went down to their place for a little get-together. Angel food cake with strawberries and spinner dominoes. Livin' it up like wildmen. As a present to their dad, my two nephews (19 and 23) sat in for a few games. It was pretty funny how they were humoring all of us oldsters. Talkin' and tappin', movin' and jivin', it was certainly different than when it's just us geezers. Kate, you know what I mean about boys/young men that age.
Current projects are mostly quilting oriented. Still finishing Peter's Christmas quilt, it's looking good and it's so snuggly warm to work on in the evenings. I'm sewing on some button embellishments, so it's hand work right now, which I really love. I'd rather sew by hand than on a machine any day. Mom is still deciding what edging fabric to use on her Christmas quilt. And on top of that I decided to do the February block of the month for the quilt guild. Just a big applique'd heart, no big deal. Actually I am making two of them. I have mail ordered some potholder materials (heat resistant batting and that silver material), and I want to make one square into a potholder for myself. I need some new ones, and it seems I should be able to make them pretty easily, so we'll see how it works out.
Okay, back to work!
Start of the semester also means some things will be picking up again soon, like the knitting group. Yay! I'm looking forward to a treat this semester, as an old-time group member will be coming back, at least temporarily. She used to work here, left or retired or something, but comes back from time to time to fill in for various departments when someone leaves. I have heard her name often from Ralene, our knitting group "leader", so I'm looking forward to meeting her.
Went to see Avatar last weekend (like everyone else in the world, apparently). No knitting in the movie, but other than that, I loved it. The story is standard chick flick fare, but the visuals! Oh, man! We saw it in Westminster in 2D, and we left the theater talking about when we could make the half hour drive to Hanover to see it in 3D. It's just gorgeous. Go see it if you haven't already.
Also celebrated family birthdays last weekend. My brother-in-law and his wife have birthdays one week apart, and last weekend was the weekend in between, so we went down to their place for a little get-together. Angel food cake with strawberries and spinner dominoes. Livin' it up like wildmen. As a present to their dad, my two nephews (19 and 23) sat in for a few games. It was pretty funny how they were humoring all of us oldsters. Talkin' and tappin', movin' and jivin', it was certainly different than when it's just us geezers. Kate, you know what I mean about boys/young men that age.
Current projects are mostly quilting oriented. Still finishing Peter's Christmas quilt, it's looking good and it's so snuggly warm to work on in the evenings. I'm sewing on some button embellishments, so it's hand work right now, which I really love. I'd rather sew by hand than on a machine any day. Mom is still deciding what edging fabric to use on her Christmas quilt. And on top of that I decided to do the February block of the month for the quilt guild. Just a big applique'd heart, no big deal. Actually I am making two of them. I have mail ordered some potholder materials (heat resistant batting and that silver material), and I want to make one square into a potholder for myself. I need some new ones, and it seems I should be able to make them pretty easily, so we'll see how it works out.
Okay, back to work!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Over it
Yay -- more company! I have just lined up a visit in March by the famous Kate for whom this blog was started. She's coming for a week. I'm psyched. Time to make a list of yarn shops to visit.
The weather here has turned mild. The dog is going berserk because the bunnies have been sighted in the backyard, and the rest of us aren't far behind. I think all of you who read this either live or have lived in Chicagoland (what do they think it is, Disneyland?), so you understand how glorious it can be to go from highs in the 20's to highs in the 40's. I feel reborn.
I'm wearing my greywork socks today for the first time. I really need to get some pictures up on this blog. Anyway, these are the socks I spent 7 months knitting fancy patterns into, only to have my mother point out that it's all on the foot, so who's going to see it? Well, with the warmer weather, I'm wearing my slip-on shoes, and every time I look down I'm seeing a flash of that natty pattern on the foot and the two Fair Isle bands on the ankle. I am loving it. So guess what, it works! Yay again!
The weather here has turned mild. The dog is going berserk because the bunnies have been sighted in the backyard, and the rest of us aren't far behind. I think all of you who read this either live or have lived in Chicagoland (what do they think it is, Disneyland?), so you understand how glorious it can be to go from highs in the 20's to highs in the 40's. I feel reborn.
I'm wearing my greywork socks today for the first time. I really need to get some pictures up on this blog. Anyway, these are the socks I spent 7 months knitting fancy patterns into, only to have my mother point out that it's all on the foot, so who's going to see it? Well, with the warmer weather, I'm wearing my slip-on shoes, and every time I look down I'm seeing a flash of that natty pattern on the foot and the two Fair Isle bands on the ankle. I am loving it. So guess what, it works! Yay again!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The Party's Over
The holidays are over. Time to relax in front of the fire and recharge the batteries. Not that it wasn't fun, but it was a lot of work!
The visit with Kathi and Christa went well. Westminster is kind of a slow little town, but we did manage to treat them to a record snowfall, almost 2 feet in one day. That was on a Saturday, and we were smart enough to park one car near the end of the driveway, so we were able to get out on Sunday. Living on the road to the hospital has some advantages, like good snow plowing. On Monday, Peter had to go to work after all, so we decided to shovel out one of the other cars. 20" of snow. 70 feet of driveway. You get the picture. Thank God it was fluffy snow. Let's just hope none of the neighbors turns in those pictures of the girl in the wheelchair shoveling snow. I swear, judge, she wanted to do it!
Christmas Day saw us seating 13 at the big table. If you've read past posts, you know we hosted Thanksgiving, which in principal made Christmas my brother- and sister-in-law's holiday. However, her mother was just getting over a hip replacement operation, and really, it was just all too much. But their son really wanted to do the Christmas brunch he's done the last few years. After all, he may be a budding young chef, he's thinking of culinary school. So in the end they brought up a cooler of stuff, Eric cooked brunch at our house, we had sit-down brunch and then a buffet in the afternoon, and everyone had a grand time. Including me.
Now the company's gone and I'm back at work. Vacations always go by much too fast. Got my best help desk call ever today. The Registrar wants me to un-knit a row of a scarf for her. Hmm, a knitting help desk. Can I make money at it? Probably not. Too bad.
This woman, her name is Jan, was on my interview committee for this job, and she was one of the three people I had lunch with that day. One of the other people is a big knitter/weaver/etc, and she mentioned that there was a knitting group here at the College. So when I started the job here, I joined the knitting group, and Jan asks me about it from time to time. She's very nice. Now she's knitting a scarf. There's a mistake and she needs to go back a little ways, but it's in a simple lace pattern, and she's afraid she'll mess up with the complex stitches. So she asked me. What fun to be known on campus for knitting.
The visit with Kathi and Christa went well. Westminster is kind of a slow little town, but we did manage to treat them to a record snowfall, almost 2 feet in one day. That was on a Saturday, and we were smart enough to park one car near the end of the driveway, so we were able to get out on Sunday. Living on the road to the hospital has some advantages, like good snow plowing. On Monday, Peter had to go to work after all, so we decided to shovel out one of the other cars. 20" of snow. 70 feet of driveway. You get the picture. Thank God it was fluffy snow. Let's just hope none of the neighbors turns in those pictures of the girl in the wheelchair shoveling snow. I swear, judge, she wanted to do it!
Christmas Day saw us seating 13 at the big table. If you've read past posts, you know we hosted Thanksgiving, which in principal made Christmas my brother- and sister-in-law's holiday. However, her mother was just getting over a hip replacement operation, and really, it was just all too much. But their son really wanted to do the Christmas brunch he's done the last few years. After all, he may be a budding young chef, he's thinking of culinary school. So in the end they brought up a cooler of stuff, Eric cooked brunch at our house, we had sit-down brunch and then a buffet in the afternoon, and everyone had a grand time. Including me.
Now the company's gone and I'm back at work. Vacations always go by much too fast. Got my best help desk call ever today. The Registrar wants me to un-knit a row of a scarf for her. Hmm, a knitting help desk. Can I make money at it? Probably not. Too bad.
This woman, her name is Jan, was on my interview committee for this job, and she was one of the three people I had lunch with that day. One of the other people is a big knitter/weaver/etc, and she mentioned that there was a knitting group here at the College. So when I started the job here, I joined the knitting group, and Jan asks me about it from time to time. She's very nice. Now she's knitting a scarf. There's a mistake and she needs to go back a little ways, but it's in a simple lace pattern, and she's afraid she'll mess up with the complex stitches. So she asked me. What fun to be known on campus for knitting.
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