The purple afghan is coming along well, as are plans for the Lambert-Bell Knitting Week. Okay, I admit it, I spent my lunch hour yesterday printing out store hours and maps for the yarn shops in the area. I can now guarantee that we will be able to pet lots of yarn next week, if we wish. A couple of the shops require an hour or a little more each way in the car, but one of them I've been to and the other I've heard my knitting group drool over, so I'm sure both of those are worth the trip.
Hmm, now I just have to clean up the guest room. Well, the important stuff is done, so I'll get to that before Sunday.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Rip it
Started the purple baby afghan last night. I needed a change from green. Cast on 171 stitches, knitted 8 rows of seed stitch, only to discover that I had only cast on 169 stitches. Don't you hate that? Given the pattern on this one, there's nothing to do but start over. Dang.
I'm also not entirely happy with the feel of this yarn. Feels more synthetic than I would like as I work with it. I'll keep knitting the afghan, but I will also be on the watch for something nicer as the Lambert/Bell Knitting Week moves through the local yarn shops.
The first requirement of all baby stuff is that it be machine washable and dryable, and the second is that I have to be able to afford it. I did once spend too much money on 4 balls of baby alpaca in a baby weight. It feels heavenly in the fingers, but you can bet it isn't getting anywhere near baby drool or any of that other organic stuff babies are so good at. And I'm not knitting something this expensive just for some little guy to outgrow it in a couple of months. So, the yarn I have may be as good as it gets.
If I do switch to another yarn for the gifts, I can always give these afghans to Project Linus. It isn't bad, just not entirely perfect.
I also managed to tear myself away from the ice skating last night and get to bed on time, so it's only a couple of hours' work to be frogged. Next time I'll count more carefully.
I'm also not entirely happy with the feel of this yarn. Feels more synthetic than I would like as I work with it. I'll keep knitting the afghan, but I will also be on the watch for something nicer as the Lambert/Bell Knitting Week moves through the local yarn shops.
The first requirement of all baby stuff is that it be machine washable and dryable, and the second is that I have to be able to afford it. I did once spend too much money on 4 balls of baby alpaca in a baby weight. It feels heavenly in the fingers, but you can bet it isn't getting anywhere near baby drool or any of that other organic stuff babies are so good at. And I'm not knitting something this expensive just for some little guy to outgrow it in a couple of months. So, the yarn I have may be as good as it gets.
If I do switch to another yarn for the gifts, I can always give these afghans to Project Linus. It isn't bad, just not entirely perfect.
I also managed to tear myself away from the ice skating last night and get to bed on time, so it's only a couple of hours' work to be frogged. Next time I'll count more carefully.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
After getting some news from Kate, I realized that some of the old Lake Forest friends are going to need baby afghans this summer. Yay! I was looking for an excuse! (Oh, did you guess that?) Even better, that meant a yarn shopping trip was required. (You guessed that, too? You must be a knitter!) I have a lovely stash of sock yarn and worsted, but not much in between. Although you can make baby afghans out of worsted, I prefer sport or baby weight, especially for summer babies who aren't going to need a heavy blanket right away.
However, I got so excited that I started one afghan right away from some worsted my mom had in her stash. A washable synthetic that has a good, soft feel. The pattern I used was my favorite shell stitch crotchet pattern which I learned from my grandma as a kid. It's fun to make, and that's really the one I had a hankering to do even before Kate gave me the news. I had two colors of yarn, white and that light, minty green they use for baby stuff a lot. Finding out the sex of your baby in advance seems to be "out" at Lake Forest this year, so I'm sticking to the gender-neutral colors. Anyway, I alternated a row of white shells with a row of green shells, and that ends up looking like a checkerboard. I like it! It was a pain to have to deal with the yarn ends at both ends of every single row, but about a third of the way through the afghan I worked out how to work them in as I went along, so all I had to do was cut off the long tails afterwards. That much finishing I could deal with.
I'm not going to post a picture just in case one of the recipients happens to unearth this blog. Highly unlikely, I know, but stranger things have happened!
Tonight it's on to afghan #2. 2 and 3 are for a pair of twins. A trip to Michael's turned up some decent washable synthetic sport weight baby yarn in lilac and leaf green, on sale (bonus!). Now that I've gotten the crotchet shells out of my system, these will turn into two knitted afghans using the same pattern in different colors. The pattern has these arrow-head shaped lacy bits running up the afghan in rows. It looks very pretty in the picture.
Afghan #1 was helped out by the fact that I've been staying up far past my bedtime to watch the Olympics. I have to stop that. I think I'm addicted to the ice skating.
However, I got so excited that I started one afghan right away from some worsted my mom had in her stash. A washable synthetic that has a good, soft feel. The pattern I used was my favorite shell stitch crotchet pattern which I learned from my grandma as a kid. It's fun to make, and that's really the one I had a hankering to do even before Kate gave me the news. I had two colors of yarn, white and that light, minty green they use for baby stuff a lot. Finding out the sex of your baby in advance seems to be "out" at Lake Forest this year, so I'm sticking to the gender-neutral colors. Anyway, I alternated a row of white shells with a row of green shells, and that ends up looking like a checkerboard. I like it! It was a pain to have to deal with the yarn ends at both ends of every single row, but about a third of the way through the afghan I worked out how to work them in as I went along, so all I had to do was cut off the long tails afterwards. That much finishing I could deal with.
I'm not going to post a picture just in case one of the recipients happens to unearth this blog. Highly unlikely, I know, but stranger things have happened!
Tonight it's on to afghan #2. 2 and 3 are for a pair of twins. A trip to Michael's turned up some decent washable synthetic sport weight baby yarn in lilac and leaf green, on sale (bonus!). Now that I've gotten the crotchet shells out of my system, these will turn into two knitted afghans using the same pattern in different colors. The pattern has these arrow-head shaped lacy bits running up the afghan in rows. It looks very pretty in the picture.
Afghan #1 was helped out by the fact that I've been staying up far past my bedtime to watch the Olympics. I have to stop that. I think I'm addicted to the ice skating.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Snowpocalypse and Sweaters
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but the term "snowpocalypse" has taken on meaning around here. On Friday, Feb. 5, we were all sent home from work at lunchtime. The school that says on its web page " it is the intention of the College to remain open during inclement weather conditions" and "In rare circumstances, the College might be declared closed" closed for an entire week. They are now saying we got 2 blizzards in one week. Local reports say we got 25-30 inches each time, but official reports (and my backyard fence) indicate a total snowfall more like 36-40 inches. Here are a couple of photos Peter took. The first one is looking out our front window at the car in the driveway. Look carefully! After we had shoveled out the car, the snow piled beside the driveway went up to about 6" below the lamp on the lamppost. That's taller than I am.
This one is my mom's car in the driveway in back of the house. It has been snowed in for almost 2 weeks now. The fence behind the car is a four foot chain link fence.
This morning I finished digging a path across the front yard to the oil tank fill pipe so we can get a refill and not run out of heating oil.
On the bright side, an unexpected week off of work left me lots of time for knitting and quilting. I finished the quilt I started for Peter for Christmas, and I finished my EPS sweater. No photos of the quilt, but here's the sweater:
The pattern really worked! I'm so happy! The sleeves are 3/4 length on purpose. The yarn is a cotton-acrylic blend, so I decided to make a spring/fall top instead of a winter sweater. The only change I will make for the next one (oh, yeah, there are going to be more of these), is to make the yoke depth a little less. Since I am short and no longer as petite as I once was, I think EZ's proportions need a little adjusting. But that's an easy change on this pattern. As you can see, this one looks just fine, it just has the really deep armholes typical of sweaters, whereas what I want to make is more of a top.
How exciting to have a big knitting success!
This one is my mom's car in the driveway in back of the house. It has been snowed in for almost 2 weeks now. The fence behind the car is a four foot chain link fence.
This morning I finished digging a path across the front yard to the oil tank fill pipe so we can get a refill and not run out of heating oil.
On the bright side, an unexpected week off of work left me lots of time for knitting and quilting. I finished the quilt I started for Peter for Christmas, and I finished my EPS sweater. No photos of the quilt, but here's the sweater:
The pattern really worked! I'm so happy! The sleeves are 3/4 length on purpose. The yarn is a cotton-acrylic blend, so I decided to make a spring/fall top instead of a winter sweater. The only change I will make for the next one (oh, yeah, there are going to be more of these), is to make the yoke depth a little less. Since I am short and no longer as petite as I once was, I think EZ's proportions need a little adjusting. But that's an easy change on this pattern. As you can see, this one looks just fine, it just has the really deep armholes typical of sweaters, whereas what I want to make is more of a top.
How exciting to have a big knitting success!
Friday, January 29, 2010
A New Project
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.
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.
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!
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