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Welcome to my knitting--no, fiber arts--no, artisan blog.
Other knitting blogs inspired me to start a knitting blog. But I also crochet, weave, and make jewelry, and I'm just learning
to make cheese. So I guess that makes this an artisan blog.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Am I Knitting Fast Enough?
I'm down to one ball of pea-green tweed for Lynn's sweater, and I've made it this far on seven balls:
I need about another 4 inches to the shoulders, plus the neckband. I'm hoping if I knit fast enough I'll finish before I run
out of yarn.
Lynn's measurements were for a sweater with set-in sleeves; I'm doing this in the round so I can avoid using yarn for selvedges
and seaming. It has occurred to me before this that there's no reason you can't knit in set-in sleeves in the round; you just
have to work the decreases where the sleeve seams would go, bind off the sleeve caps at the appropriate place, and continue
the yoke over the top of the sleeve caps. So that's what I'm doing. In another half inch or so I'll divide for the neck, and
then I'll be working back and forth but still on one piece until I bind off the sleeve caps; then I'll finish each section
of the yoke separately and seam the shoulders the usual way.
I'm also about the finish the erstwhile Sockapal2za socks, probably tonight. And I've thought about joining SP3, but I think
I have too much work to do and too much other knitting to do or to finish, so no knitalongs for me this year.
Meanwhile, I haven't been able to resist starting something new: a cardi from the Jo Sharp Silk Road that I got last summer.
If I insist I'm really just thinking about the best construction method and learning the edging pattern, will anybody believe
I'm not actually starting a new project before I'm supposed to? Anyway, here's the edging:
The lighting makes the colors very strange; the yarn is a dark periwinkle and the wall is light gray. Anyway, the pattern
says to knit the sleeves and then knit the cuff (that's the cuff for the left sleeve) and sew it on. Naturally I'm knitting
the cuff first. Then I'll pick up the sleeve from the cuff and go from there. I can't begin to imagine why the pattern doesn't
say to do it that way. But I'm not starting this sweater yet because the next new project is the New England socks from Nancy
Bush's Knitting on the Road and the next finishing project is poor Sarah's black cardi.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
That's (Bad) Penny for Short
I have an excuse: I'm running short of yarn again. Okay, that's a terrible excuse, but it's true. I
thought I had loads of pink yarn for these socks. Today I found out I didn't. I'm just about to finish the gusset and just
about to run out of yarn at the same time. Oops. So I've ripped the finished first sock back to the same point as where I
am on the second sock. I'll knit both socks to the point where I have about 15 cm of yarn left for the second sock, and then
I'll divide what's left of the yarn on the first sock and run out of pink yarn on both socks at the same place:
Then I'll finish with purple. I have loads of purple. Really.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Call Me Penelope
The body of Lynn's sweater is done to the underarms. I finished one sleeve; the other needed another
8 inches. At this point, I have enough yarn left to finish the sweater if I don't have to finish the second sleeve. Oops.
So I'm reknitting the sleeves. The problem with the sleeves is that I started out thinking I'd do a raglan yoke entirely in
the round because knitting in the round saves quite a bit of yarn that you'd have to use for selvedges and seaming. I don't
like the raglan style as much as the set-in style, partly because the seams (or decreases) aren't flattering on me and partly
because the armholes are deeper, which isn't as flattering on anybody as the shorter armholes with the set-in sleeves. But
it's a snap cinch to knit in the round. You work the increases at closer intervals than you do for set-in sleeves because
you have to reach the final sleeve width faster than you do for set-in sleeves.
Lynn's measurements, which she took from a sweater that fits her (except the sleeves are too short) are for a sweater with
set-in sleeves. And I'm looking at the sleeve length and thinking "Lynn has long arms." This is a problem for Lynn because
sleeves are never long enough. It's a problem for me because I now have to knit the sleeves 6 inches longer than I originally
thought, which is going to use more yarn than I have. But if I rip the sleeves and redo them with increases at longer intervals,
I might have enough yarn.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
It's a Miracle
The orthodontist has these mittens that someone knitted for her 25 years ago. They're wool, but she's
washed them in the washing machine and they've felted a little. Now they're worn on the palm side at the fngertips, I think
partly because that area is taking extra stress because the fabric, being felted, is no longer really elastic. Here's the
left one:
I thought it' would be easy to fix; I'd just turn them inside out and use a more-or-less matching wool to work duplicate stitch:
All my white wool isn't quite the right color, though; it's all too light, as ou can see:
I fretted about that quite a bit, but in the end I used the one that looked least different, and it doesn't look different
in the mitten after all:
I did the left one first, and when I finished and turned it rightside out again, I was astonished that the new yarn just wasn't
obvious. I guess the eye blends in the color of the original wool with the color of the new wool.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Remember Conrad's Felted Powerbook Cover?
I had to take the PowerBook to the shop today. Actually, I needed to take it to the shop six months
ago, but I've been working. Anyway, the screen is flaky and the backlight fails on the keyboard and there are a couple of
other minor things wrong with it, so this afternoon Conrad and I took it to the Genius Bar at the Apple store. The last time
it needed repair I made the mistake of calling the toll-free number. The idea is you tell them what's wrong and they have
DHL drop off a box; then you pack the computer and get DHL to take it to the repair depot, where they fix it and ship it back.
Unfortunately, the guy in India seemed to believe that I had no idea what I was talking about and there was probably nothing
wrong with the machine (not to mention that in India only servants talk to women). So that was a hideous experience. Justin
at the Genius Bar was courteous and helpful. So I've learned that lesson.
Anyway, I carried the poor PowerBook in the felted PowerBook cover, and the excellent Justin liked the cover, so now I've
put the pattern up in the list of patterns. Click on Patterns and Tips and then click on Felted PowerBook Cover. I'll have
to work on updating all the stuff on this site now that the FP handbook is finished and I actually have some days off.
Meanwhile, I'm knitting like mad on Lynn's pea-green sweater. She gave me the measurements, and now I'm going to see if I
can finish it before she gets back on Sunday. No photos; it basically looks just the way it did the last time I showed any.
And finally, jewelry started again this week. I'll be finishing what I didn't finish last session and starting a few new things.
Sunday, January 8, 2006
A Little Progress
The Family Practice Handbook is finished, or at least my work on it. Now I'm reading the library
books that I haven't had time to read. I've finished The Scarab Murder Case (the fifth Philo Vance mystery) and I've
started The Norths Meet Murder, which is the first of yet another series; this one's pretty light and fluffy. That's
a nice foil to The Historian (by Elizabeth Kostova), which is about Dracula and is quite dark. Every time I turn a
page I expect to read that someone else has been bitten or murdered. I'm knitting Lynn's sweater while I read. Here's the
body; I've started the third ball of yarn:
I have nine balls altogether, and I've used one each on the sleeves and it'll take a third to get them up to the underarms.
This fourth ball on the body should get me to the underarms there, and three balls should be plenty for the yoke. So that
looks good. I just need to know how long to make the body and sleeves.
I've worked a little on the Hoover baby blanket, and I'm finishing a pair of socks I started for Sockapal2za. I'm going to
give these to the orthodontist's assistant, who's a real sweetie. The first one is on dpns for the toe, and I've started the
second.
I'll have to pay attention to the sock top, but once that's done, I can knit the rest while I read. By then I'll probably
be reading The Dutch Shoe Mystery, which is the third Ellery Queen novel.
link
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Resolved:
If I do nothing else this year, I have to finish my UFOs. So for everything I start, I'd better finish
something. I'm about to finish the family practice book, but that doesn't actually count.
I've started Lynn's pea-green sweater, and when the FP book is done and I have time to do something other than edit, I have
to finish the Hoover baby blanket. Yeah, I can't believe it isn't finished, either.
In the meantime, I've used up another ball of yarn on the second Lynn sleeve and I've started the body ribbing even though
I still don't have measurements from her. So I'm guessing, but I think it'll be okay. Here's the show so far:
In other knitting news, Elizabeth called the other night from Anchorage to say Micah's socks had arrived. He hadn't gotten
home yet. She said she was going to let him look at them before she appropriated them. She also threatened to send me some
qiviut yarn, which would be a treat. Qiviut comes from musk oxen, and it's more expensive than you'd think "musk ox yarn" would be. It's basically Alaska's answer to
cashmere. You can buy a hank of 220 yards of fingering weight (enough for a hat) from the Anchorage Museum Shop for $66.00. I told her if she sent me some qiviut yarn I'd make her a hat, but she thinks I should make one for Lynn
instead. And, of course, finish a UFO, too.
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