Reverb

Chug Chug Chugging along on my currant cardigan project.  I knit a proper gauge swatch and everything. Swatch said it would get a wee bit wider, but grow quite a bit in length. I can say from experience this is true, since I used the same yarn for my Rocky Coast cardigan and it grew like 5 inches in length when I blocked it. Oops. Didn't wash that swatch.

So far I've really enjoyed the knit. Increasing for the raglan sleeves while still following the charted pattern was difficult, but I eventually got it figured out.

Smooth sailing from here. I just need to add about 12 inches in length, while decreasing for waist shaping, then increase for hips, knit the bottom rib, pump out two stockinette sleeves, then knit the two button bands and attach them, block and find buttons.

Easy, right? 

Roxborough Dolman

If you read my blog on my actual website, you may have noticed that the "current project" hasn't changed in over two years. I have completed SO MANY other projects in the mean time, but they were short or secret and couldn't be added to list. Or I was away from the blog and just forgot to update. But that one was still languishing on the needles.

I started it on the train to Montana in 2012. I remember because it was my birthday and I was so stoked to be knitting my first "modern" sweater with really great yarn. Then I worked on it during field work all summer at Lake Cushman doing traffic surveys, and at Lake Kokanee and Alder Lake doing creel. I got distracted with beer koozies and husky hats during the fall, but picked it up again in the spring and got to the armpits.

By July 2013, I had finished the body and was working on the neck ribbing. By mid-July, all it needed was ribbing around the arm holes.

Then it got put in a bag. The bag got put in a box. The box got moved from the apartment to the house. The bag got unpacked and shoved into a basket, never to be seen again....

UNTIL NOW!

I was thinking about starting a sweater I bought yarn for a year ago (hush), but decided I had to finish the dolman first.  On Sunday night I pulled it out, found the right size needles, and got to work. Three hours, some really weird armpit measurements, and two youtube videos later, both sleeve ribbings were completed. Monday night the ends got sewn in and it went in the bath for blocking.

OMG I love it.

It's awesome. It's SO SOFT. And so comfy. And the colors are perfect.

My only complaint is that when I blocked it the whole thing loosened up a bit. Not unexpected, but the waistband doesn't hug my hips quite as much any more and it's a little bit longer (pictures are pre-blocking). But that's totally my fault for knitting a gauge swatch but not washing it. Live and learn.

I wore it to work on Wednesday and it was so warm and cozy and perfect for an early fall day. LOVE.

Pattern: Roxborough Dolman, by Courtney Kelley
Yarn: Fibre Company, Canopy Fingering in River Dolphin and Aloe
Needles: US 3 and US 5 24" circs, plus DPN for sleeves

Needed a lifeline

The needles have been flying. 

Aside from all the baby hat knitting for Christmas, I also knocked out a hat for my future brother in law.

A stash buster, busted out at the last minute. A decent hat pattern, too. Might make it again.



I'm knitting table runners for the wedding. I'm assuming we'll have about 160 people, at 8 people to a table, so about 20 tables.  I started in early December. Now, in the middle of February I have 18.6 runners completed.

A couple of people told me I was crazy when I first started, but who's laughing now??

Muuuahahahhahaha.

Granted, when people scoffed, they were thinking big long hurking things, and I'm only knitting them to be 3 feet long.

Hoping I can stitch them together pretty enough to be a blanket after the wedding.



I'm also knitting a shawl.  It's my lunch time knitting at work and I'm making pretty good progress on it. Until Monday, that is. I took it to happy hour and did a whole pattern repeat, only to realize right before leaving that I had messed up a row or two back.  After some swearing, I figured out my issue and was able to tink back to the issue.

I kept working on it at home for a few rows after I fixed my problem later that night. The next day I picked up the project at lunch, knit three rows, then realized that my stitch count was off. SOn of a..... Took me three more days to get back to a row that I knew was knit correctly.

Now I'm going to go home and learn how to add a lifeline, because that would have saved me a helluva lot of time and swearing.

Three Baby Hats!

I was asked to knit a baby hat from a picture months ago. I was given this as an example.

Super cute. But try as I might, I could NOT find a pattern that was similar. Ugh. So I made one up.

I started with one baby hat pattern that didn't have ear flaps and one that did, but neither were close. I took the stitch count from one and cast on for the ear flaps. I must have started this dang hat four times before I decided things had to change. Now I can't even remember what I did, but I know I started at the bottom of the ear flaps and went from there. 

 

 Ugh. Not my best work. It turned out really wide and really short. I tried it on my nephew and it was... well, wide and short. And he's about 9 months older than the intended recipient. 

I hated it. It look me weeks to bring myself to sew in the ends because I was so disappointed.

Enter the Baby Earflap Hat. I had just finished knitting it for a friend's baby shower and I loved it.

Simple stockinette stitch hat with ear flaps, braided tassels, and a pom. Easy to knit. Clear, concise pattern. SO MUCH BETTER.

Back to the stash for more baby girl-colored yarn. I came up with cream and purple (good thing her parents are Husky fans).

So much better. So. Much. BETTER.

 

 And it fits!!


I ended up sending them both, with my apologies for the pink one and hopes it would fit at some point.

Lesson learned - always follow patterns for baby stuff.

Close to Dolman

SOOOOO CLOOOOOSE.

This was before I finished the neck hole.  Really all I have left is the ribbing around the arms. Should take me like an hour, max. However, before I can knit the ribbing, I need to figure out how much extra I have around the armpits. I decided when I was doing the stripes that area that it needed to be longer. Now I have gaping pit holes! All it should take is a slip on and a mirror look, but it's so hard to put on alpaca when it's 90 degrees outside.

My garden, however, is happy in the heat.

Look at that zucchini grow! This was taken a few days ago and I now have two three inch zucchini fruits.

The roses are almost done with this bloom. And the strawberries! Oh, the strawberries. I had a really good harvest from my June-bearing plants and they are sending runners everywhere. The winter savory, lime thyme, and oregano are taking off, too.

I think this is the strangest looking tomato plant ever. I had a couple of stragglers when I was moving my tomatoes to bigger pots a couple months ago and popped this guy in an old blueberry pot (the blueberry didn't survive last summer). The tomato is tall and stringy, but proof that tomatoes can survive and thrive on their own in Seattle. I have paid absolutely zero attention to it since I planted it. No flowers yet, but it's barely July, so we'll have to wait and see.

The only guy not happy in this heat?

The poor shasta daisies outside the fence. They get very little water from the hose (because I'm too lazy to haul it outside the fence) and were feeling it on Saturday.  I took this after I came home from working at the boat ramp. I totally sympathized because I felt the same way. Sunburned, tired, and thirsty!

Finished Twilight

Finished and delivered the Twilight afghan. 

I've been so bad about taking pictures of my finished objects before giving them away.  This is the only photo I have of the blanket. Hopefully I'll get one the next time I'm in Portland visiting.

Project: Twilight Afghan
Yarn: Caron One Pound, Country Blue
Needles: US Size 17, 29" circular

I used two and a half pounds of yarn! And only took four months...

Tube Top

I had high hopes of finishing my Roxborough Dolman by my birthday, because I started it on my birthday last year.

Right now it's just a tube top. I don't think that's going to happen.

I've been distracted by this giant project:

But it reaches from my toes to my chinny chin chin now, so I think it's time to do my 8 rows of garter and be done. Yay for late wedding gifts!

Slouchy Mushroom Hat

I love quick projects.

I love hats on needles size 10+.

I love slouchy hats.

That being said, this was not my favorite pattern. Stupid k3togs all throughout the dang hat. On yarn that is crazy slippery. And I'm pretty sure that the pattern had some errors in it because I kept ending up with extra stitches at the end of the row.

But alas, I powered though and made it work after some extensive edits and some added rows to make it a bit taller.

But what I think doesn't really matter. As long as the recipient likes it!

Stuck in Scarf Mode

I love to wear scarves but I absolutely hate to knit them. They take SO. LONG. At first they're fun. You get to try a new stitch pattern and the thought of the final product is so exciting. But then after 3 feet it starts to get monotonous. After 4 feet you wonder how short you can really get away with making it. But really, for me I like my scarves to be about 6 feet long in order to get a good wrap and have some extra to dangle. But 6 feet of scarf knitting? The most tedious thing ever.

I think the worst part is that you always expect it to be a breeze. It's just a scarf. Not like it's a sweater or afghan. But that's what gets you - when you start a sweater or blanket you anticipate knitting on it for months and month. Or years. With a scarf you know it will take longer than a hat, which I can normally pump out in anywhere from 3-10 hours depending on gauge, but once you get to 30 hours of knitting.... it's time to give up. I can't be monogamous with a project after 30 hours of knitting, no matter how warm it's starting to get outside.

So sorry, friend, you won't be getting that scarf by February. You'll be lucky if you get that last foot of scarf by Presidents Day. That last foot and a half is killing me. And you might have to find your own damn buttons.





PS. Speaking of wash clothes, I finished this one at work this week. Lunchtime knitting only.

Finished Knits

I've been slowly chipping away at this yarn that's been sitting in my stash for a couple of years.  It's big. It's bulky.  Some of the colors are ugly. And I had no idea what to do with it.

Enter the need for instant gratification knitting.  I haven't been working on my striped dolman since the summer, mainly because it's for me and it's now too cold for it anyway, but also because after knitting for two hours it doesn't feel like you've accomplished anything. This crappy yarn that I have is the perfect solution to my dolman problem.

I found a pattern that called for super bulky yarn on really big needles that required.  It's a big loose thing that you call "finished" when you run out of yarn. I finished in about an hour and 15 minutes.  It's that fast. Seriously.

Then I started looking for a hat pattern to go with it since I still had two skeins left. And then I found the pseudo-jester hat.

It's knit in the round, but when you get to the top you don't do any decreasing, then just three-needle bind off the top so it's flat on top with two points.  And you know those points need pom poms. The had used less than one skein.  And you know what eats up a TON of yarn? POM POMS!

BOOM! Hat in about 2 hours of knitting.

For some yarn that I used to call crappy, I think they both turned out really cute. As I was photographing the scarf on the couch it was mentioned that it was reminiscent of the flying carpet from Aladdin.  Totally! Love it.

I have one skein in this colorway left.  Now that I've done a hat and a scarf, I'm not sure how to use it.  I don't think they're enough left for mittens, but since it works up so fast there's no harm in trying.

Castaway

Came back from a long weekend away to rain.  It's pretty soggy in Seattle. I squished my way through a pumpkin patch yesterday and came home to a garden that was mostly brown and gray, with a bit of green leftover.  It's now past time to pull the spent plants in the garden. I should have done it last week before the fall rains started, but I got distracted by the upcoming trip. And, some part of me thinks that maybe I can get in one last harvest before I pull everything... Looking at the garden after a week of rain... probably not.  It's time.  Don't let the blooming flowers on the zucchini fool you....

The best thing about the rainy season? It's a dang good excuse to hang out inside and knit!! And when you go outside? You can wrap yourself in all the handknits! Yes!


Finally got some pictures of the hat and mittens I knit for my mom's birthday back in June.  Luckily, there was a bit of sunshine during our weekend at the coast and I was able to get some shots.

Project: Leafy Mitts, by Ruth Stewart
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Chunky Wool, teal
Needles: US 6, DPN

Project: Seedling, by Alana Dakos
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Chunky Wool, teal
Needles: US 6, 16" circulars

Last week I needed some instant gratification, and wanted to make some space in the stash, so I made a scarf with some really old, really fluffy yarn, then started a hat.  I had high hopes of finishing the hat this weekend on the trip and taking some pictures, but there was a lot of other stuff going on.

It's a full time job keeping an eye on this little guy.

Sold!

I sold my first two pairs of koozies at the Husky game on Saturday! SUCCESS!!

I sold what I like to call the "Charlie Brown" koozies....

... and the striped koozies.

Now I've got the diamond ones...

.....the single stripe (which the menfolk seemed to like)....

...the solid color Ws.

I'm just finished a pair of black ones - one with a purple W and one with a gold W - at work yesterday, so that will leave my stock at 4 pairs for the next game (it's in two weeks, so I might be able to bang out a pair in the field next week) in addition to three hats and a pair of fingerless mitts.

I got a request for a pair of mittens, so I'll be designing those during my lunch breaks this week.  I'm thinking striped ribbing, then purple mittens with gold diamonds, but I may get crazy and change the diamonds to argyle.  Whoa there! 

I calculated that if I can sell three pairs of koozies per game, I can afford my football tickets with my knitting sales! I slacked this first week, so I apparently need to do some better marketing.

Octo-Husky

This spring there was a request for an adult-sized pair of kid's octopus mittens from a quick knitting book. I had him pick out the specific yarn  because I knew he was picky about his colors.  We ended up with 100% icelandic wool in what I would call eggplant purple and goldenrod yellow.  I tired to guide him to a softer wool with what I thought was more "true" husky colors, but there was no swaying him.  So eggplant octopuses it was to be.

I put off knitting them until recently because they needed my full attention due to the intricate pattern, and I had to sit down and calculate my gauge to determine any pattern adjustments needed to make them adult-sized.

Somehow, magic happened and the first needles I used got me a gauge that would fit width-wise, but was too short length-wise.  The easiest adjustment!! I was able to follow the pattern exactly until I got past the octopus' head, then I added about 5 rows of plain knitting before starting the decreases. 

He likes the end result, but we'll see what happens when it's actually cold outside.  I'm positive they will be SUPER warm, what with all the 100% wool and the extra thickness from the fair isle. Unfortunately, I'm also sure they are going to be very very itchy.  And shed.  I had a full layer of fibers on my lap after knitting each mitten (about 5 hours per mitten, which was one field day each).

I really didn't enjoy knitting with the yarn.  Aside from the crazy shedding, it also was VERY splitty. It's not plied, so it had a tendency to have stray loops. I'd like to say I will avoid using this stuff in the future, but unfortunately he bought two skeins of each color, and the mittens used a bit less than one skein each, so I'll have to use the Lopi for at least one more project to use it all up.

Project: Octopus Mittens, by Elli Stubenrauch, in 60 Quick Knits
Yarn: Reynolds Lopi, 100% icelandic wool, eggplant and goldenrod
Needles: US 10, DPNs