June Mid-Month Progress

Finished:
Brioche scarf

Done with Cascade Eco Alpaca yarn - 1 full skein - just did 18 Brioche stitches until I ran out of yarn. Ended up squishy and cosy and really, really soft. I'm sure it will be extremely warm this winter. I had started this in May but just didn't focus on it much and it was my 'when I have a minute knitting'. I ended up frogging it a couple of times... but got it finished on the first of June.

One charity Hat Of the 3-4 in my goal:

Done with Wool-Ease on size 19 Addi Turbo Circular needles using Brioche. Looks just like many other hats I make. It's fast, it's quick, it's satisfying and it adds nicely to the pile of hats I will be donating to charity in the coming fall.

Double-Knit Hot Pad:
SIDE 1 -

 SIDE 2

Made with Peaches & Creme Cotton - just love how nice and soft this is... how thick it came out. It came out a bit bigger than I expected. But it's going to make a WONDERFUL hot pad for putting pans down. I didn't really have any big ones and now I do.

On the Needles:

• Top #1 Striped Bamboo T- about 45% done -
• Top #2 Bamboo Silk T - about 20% done -
• Masters - 9 swatches out of 16 + hat - about 45% done - separate post to follow with some details; planning; emphasis on what I still need to improve.

Still waiting to be cast-on:

• More charity hats
• X-rated Bridal Garter
• Felted Bag

 

 

 

Bamboo silk T

I set this aside earlier this month because I am nervous about running out of yarn. I bought the yarn at a shop about 150 miles away and know that I can't find it locally... and odds are they don't have this color anymore, let alone the dye lot as the shelf wasn't full to start with and I bought all that I could find. But, maybe.

Wouldn't you know it, I made the trip to that town twice last weekend and did NOT manage to make it to the shop?

I decided to pick it up again and do the best I can with what I have. Worst case I run out and hit the store next month... if that doesn't work I will shop thru folk's stashes on Ravelry... maybe I can get away with extra short sleeves?

This is a top-down raglan sleeve T with a scoop neck. I have about three to four more inches to go before I switch from stockinette to lace.

The photo isn't very true to the color, its really a deep plum color.

Mid-month Progress Post on Striped-T

I have 13 1/2 inches done on the body with all of the ends woven in. The pattern suggests joining the sleeves here, but I know full well that it would end up far too short if I don't add more inches first.

The question is though ... how many more?

If this yarn didn't grow... I would add four more inches. But it does grow quite a bit. So I am currently planning on adding two more inches and give myself a rest from it and see if I end up wanting three.

June planning

Original plan was to make a second version of the Oceana Shell (picture is of the one I made last year)...

I have a shrug I made with a Caron Simply Soft Paints (still don't have a great shot of it) and I was thinking that a dark brown top half with dark brown & this paints striping in the bottom half would look great paired with the shrug. I already had enough left over after making the shrug. So all I had to do was pick up some brown to compliment it. Picked up the brown and left it in it's bag until this weekend.

Put the two together and - um - no - this is a BIG NO. It's actually a really light brown and paired next to the deep dark brown/bright reds/rich hues? NOT a good match. Duh. Suppose I ought to have held the two colors near each other BEFORE I cast on and started knitting. I took a picture to blog this - but camera is acting up and it fell off my sim card. I'll try to snag another pic tonight & try updating . . . but let's just say that is NOT the top I'll be making in June after all. I don't have anything in stash remotely close to substitute for the brown and just spent a ton on yarn as it was - so it's going to sit in the queue a little longer.


Instead - I'm going to make a Pima Silk Cotton Lace T-Shirt top - Ravelry link in Bamboo Silk in a deep, rich, vibrant Purple.

Other projects:


Finish Brioche scarf
3-4 charity hats
Double-knit hot pad
X-rated Bridal Garter
Felted Bag

Continue working on Striped T and Masters program submission.

May month end progress

FINISHED:

- Crocheted Pullover (previously featured)
- Charity Hats - ended up only finishing three total last month
- Adult sized socks:

Used KnitPicks Comfy - ended up a bit too big. Changed to K2P2 ribbing to try to see if that would help them fit better (it didn't help enough - should have customized stitch count).

- Double-knit mini-socks:

Used Sport-weight Hobby Lobby, I Love this yarn.

Didn't love these and the afterthought heel in double-knitting? Hard, hard enough that I'm going back to the drawing board on the design plan for XMas stockings. Which was the point of doing these tiny... to give me some trial and error ideas.

- Last minute add-on:

Quick Crochet Baby Blanket - son's teacher ended up having a baby shower thrown by the kids in her class on the last day of school. I technically gave her a blanket I had made for charity previously - so I ended up putting this one on the Charity pile to replace the other.

(sorry for the poor pic quality - cell phone has a great camera; but it's having some issues lately)
80 stitches - all DC all the way - about 8 stitches / 4 rows = 4" x 4" so super fast.

ON THE NEEDLES:
- Brioche scarf (this got sidelined OFTEN during the month)
- Striped T in Silk Bamboo
- Masters Level 1 knitting

May - mid-month progress report:

MAY's PREVIOUSLY POSTED FINISHED ITEMS: Cabled sweater; baby blanket; hat

FINISHED (but with details):

Sweater # 5 of 12 -
  Pattern: Crochet Bronze Beauty Top by Doris Chan
  Yarn: KnitPicks Cotlin in StarryNight
  Hook: I hook
  Mods:
   - I need to work on my foundation-less sc; so this one used a chain and regular sc as it was more even.
   - I only did half-sleeves.
  Comments:
    - Super fast, super easy. Could adapt this pattern 'structure' to other crochet stitch patterns. Fits like a dream. Super soft cotton after washing (which you might want to do sans other clothing as it sheds the first time in the wash). This yarn was actually left-over from a project last summer and as such was a no-cost sweater for me. I threw it on over a t-shirt to dress it up for the office.

Also finished  two more charity hats - current total is 15 hats out of 40 (original goal for the year). This goal might climb as things go - just love the portability of hats and having them handy when I get stuck somewhere I can pick it up and put it down for a few minutes here and there.

ON THE NEEDLES:

• Brioche Scarf done on 2-ply alpaca on BIG needles for lacy-effect.  About 40% done - Goal before end of month
• Pair of adult socks for me - pattern selected On The Town from Melissa Morgan-Oakes with KnitPicks Comfy in Fingering. About 25% done. - Goal before end of month
• TKGA Master Knitters Level 1 program - just started, but we'll call it 10% done. Goal before Jul 27th (so I can free myself up for Ravelympics)
  
   

STILL TO DO THIS MONTH:

•  Pair of mini-socks done in Christmas colors & double-knit to test my theory that I can make a larger stocking with after-thought heel. I really want to make a family set of Christmas stockings. But I want to use stranding to get nice looks - but HATE the floats that grab onto all the stocking stuffers. Double-knit stockings mean NO floats. Plus I could make the inside of the stocking striped in the primary colors used on the reverse side. Goal - cast on 6/19 and finish by 6/20
• Cast-on Striped-T using Paton's Bamboo/Silk - hopefully this third attempt will be the charm Goal - Cast on after 6/27 and finish by 7/13 

May Sweater finished - Sweater #6 for the year

This was made in CotLin a cotton/linen blend and PERFECT for summer!

May Planning/Progress

Arm/wrist is fully healed... so I am off and running with projects! First my Heavily cabled sweater was finished on the first. Here's a shot taken by my 8 yr old son (so pardon the pic):

Here's a close up on the cabled center portion:

Other items finished: One hat for charity - DONE Baby blanket for Baby Shower - DONE

NEXT: Finish the Crochet Bronze Beauty top - free pattern from Lion's Brand Yarn. I'm doing mine in Navy KnitPicks CotLin yarn. Going quick and fits like a charm. Also in the works: Brioche Scarf done on 2-ply alpaca on BIG needles for lacy-effect. Pair of mini-socks done in Christmas colors & double-knit to test my theory that I can make a larger stocking with after-thought heel. Pair of adult socks for me - fairly simple pattern (tbd) to test out the Cotton sock yarn from KnitPicks to see if I can find a non-wool sock yarn. AND: I'm picking up and re-attempting the TKGA Master Knitters Level 1 program. Expect posts about it directly - should be (I hope) able to finish by End of July. I'm also picking up a top that's been frogged twice that's a Striped-T using Paton's Bamboo/Silk - I plan on starting this toward the end of May and finish by early July. Yes, indeedy - I am back! Now if I could just figure out how to do some glamour shots of myself... lol.

Sweater #3 of 12

Finished

Please ignore dirty floor...sigh.

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Lia - Sweater Surgery (photo heavy)

There's a little bit of scarring, but honestly? The surgery went pretty darn well!

I promised some photos...

First - here's the bottom of the sleeve (not a great shot, but eh - camera phone on lap while performing surgery - good enough):



The little bit of twist you see at the left edge? That's the cable where it is now. It's supposed to be on the two sections of ribbing on the right edge.

I've inserted a cable needle into the stitches I want to save ABOVE the increase/decrease/cabling section I'm going to redo.



Here I've snipped a thread in the middle and started to unravel a single row going both left & right - the snipped ends won't get reknit - instead I'll leave them at the edges of the surgery and weave them in after I finish.



Here I've picked up the stitches above the currently cabled section and placed them on a double point needle to deal with later.



Next, I dropped down several rows (one for each 'ladder' of yarn you see here) for the not cabled section that I wanted to repair first.



Then I took each ladder - bottom rung first - and knit with that yarn the section that needed to be cabled.



Here it is with the right side cabled. I repeated that process for the left side to remove the cabling.



The last row to work is the row that I snipped & unraveled. At this point, I picked up new yarn from the yarn left over from working the sweater and I used a yarn needle to start grafting.



It's K3P2 ribbing - so I needed a little guidance - found my old link to a tutorial that works out pretty well.



It's not 'prefect as there's an occasional loop going the wrong way on a knit stitch. AND I focused so much on not making my grafting too small (which is my norm) that some of the stitches came out a little larger than I had hoped. But with a little blocking and creative weaving in of ends there will only be the slightest of scarring.

I have already picked out and redone the shoulder seams and seamed the left sleeve onto the correct side of the sweater. So, all that's left now is to seam the right sleeve and block it. It was getting late last night or I might have thought about pushing through to finish it then. But hopefully by the end of tonight - I will have sweater three of twelve finished.

Lia Update

I was so sure that I would be posting a Finished Sweater this week.... not so, I have some repairs to make.

I might even have to do a little surgery to fix it. Expect a photo-heavy post(s) next week and I'll try to show the issues and the fixes.

Half-way done with the Cabled Sweater

Want to finish by March - so this is good, steady progress and puts me right on time to finish when I want. Of course, it'll be sad to finish this just as spring hits and I'll have less occasion to wear it. But such is the curse of the person who knits the current season instead of planning ahead better. :-)

I'm hoping to have Lia sweater finished before the end of the week.

Sweater progress

Heavily Cabled sweater is about 40% complete:
I've finished both sleeves and have knit the body in the round for about 6 1/2 inches:



It takes me about 15 minutes for every two rows (cabling only on odd rows). I've had a couple of mistakes where I either tinked back a few stitches or where I dropped stitches down on the next row and reknit a small section. But none of the mistakes have been big... mostly just losing track of which row I was on. And all easily fixed. Have to say it's been an extremely enjoyable knit and not nearly as stressful as I thought it might be.


Lia - Bulky sweater: is about 60% complete



As promised by the designer, this is a super-fast knit. Using bulky yarn and size 9 needles. It doesn't look like it will fit in this shot - because the ribs pull in so tight, but it fits my size 12 body quite well with some negative ease. I have to admit to having gotten nervous quite a bit of the time during the knitting thinking this will never fit. So last night, after I seamed the shoulders I put it on, one more time, for the final check. Sure enough, it's got a flattering fit. I added an extra inch to the length before starting the cabled panel at front/center and I added the optional short-row shaping for the bust which adds a little more length as well as brings up the v-neck to a slightly shorter length. Both of which will make it acceptable for work-wear.

I anticipate getting the Lia sweater finished by next weekend. The Cabled sweater to 50% by the weekend after that. I'll probably set aside the cabled sweater until March so as to work on some of my smaller projects for a little while.

February Sweater Plans

This will be the fourth sweater in the plans -- a photo from the Ravelry project page:



Lia (Rav link) is a bulky weight sweater with mild cabling and a super quick knit. I'm going to use Berroco Weekend Chunky yarn in Starry Night color way (a very pretty dark blue, not quite navy color).

I'm waiting until the first to cast on; am loving it!

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On the cabled sweater news front? The ribbing is fun to knit and even though I haven't had a ton of time to work on it, going quite quickly. Last night though, sadly I hit upon a circular needle join failure. It's the first time I've ever had an addi turbo circular needle fail. I was a little shocked because I've had so much success with their needles and it took a few seconds for it to sink in. Thankfully, it's a size 4 which is my most common size to need and I happen to have a second one that was even a) long enough and b) with nothing on the needles... so I quickly picked up the fallen stitches with it; knit off the back end of the needle that had failed and then was able to finish knitting around... so I didn't lose hardly any time.

For the rest of the evening, I kept picking up the broken addi and giving it a dirty look. When I got ready for bed I threw it away in the trashcan; but felt I was missing something... should I have done a ceremonial disposal, I thought? My addi's are my favorite knitting tools. Somehow tossing them into the bin seems inadequate. That needle has worked on so many of my favorite projects.

My original plans were to save up to purchase a set of addi clicks this spring/summer... still debating on buying lace tips or not; now that they are coming out with longer needle lace tips, I was debating those... but now, I'm a little concerned. Are they really worth the extra money like I think they are? Folks say they really like the Knit Picks Options set. I'm not sure I trust them when they say the cables are as flexible as Addi's cables are.... so much to figure out.

Sweater #2 of 12 finished!

The Pick It Up sweater was finished in next to no time (it seemed) once I was done working on the sleeves. But, I guess that's how that pattern would work - since you knit the sleeves first, then stop working in the round - but keep working the same stitches until they meet in the back (which is half of the back). Picking up and working down to the waist from the back of the "shrug" and adding a pretty little cable meant I had some interesting knitting that sped right along. Then there are no fronts "technically" - it's just a garter stitch band around the front.

Unfortunately there aren't very good photos to share. I tried snapping a mirror pic, but it really didn't turn out. And my 8 yr old really doesn't do photos very well.

So here it is on the hanger - front & back:






The color in the progress post is a little more 'true'.

I'm back to work on the cabled sweater and hope to finish the ribbing this week.

Plans are to cast on the next sweater after February First!

Photos - for January mid-month progress

Cabled Sweater from Bernat

Shoddy picture first (sorry, didn't realize it was so bad until this morning)... but it shows the length on the two sleeves (and it's more true on the colors than the next shot):



This is a close up of the cables - pre-blocking of course. But if you look at finished photos of the sweater, this doesn't really spread much over what you see here. Loving the braiding; thinking that they made it a little more complicated than it needed to be as you can't really see some of the details that they added that makes it more complicated and a simpler braid would still look fine with two simple twisting cables with a third line coming in.... but I'm following the directions anyway and think blocking will help some of those finer details show up a little better.




Pick It Up Sweater

Again, this was knit cuff-in to the center back (very frustrated with my grafting being too tight - but hopefully the yarn is going to forgive my sins). I've picked up and started knitting down the back. In this first shot (again the best at being color-true) you can see the back and where I'm working on it:



This shows a little more detail on the cabled braid I'm working down the center back. It's a 20 stitch repeat with simple cables that twist around the sides, then back to the center, then out again. I'm really glad I've added this detail. Wasn't sure how well it would show with the yarn; but I love the little bit of added complexity and it really makes for a much more interesting knit.

Mid-month Progress

See? I can too put in more than one post in a month. Can't promise to keep it up very many months into the year; but I'm going to shoot for two posts a month to show my progress/lack there of.

Jan 17th - progress to date.

1 sweater out of 12 finished.

Herbology Sweater #2 - (three month expected to complete): I have cast-on and knit the sleeves 2aat; and they are both at the 18" mark. I've managed to try them on as I go and they were starting to get a little snug; but a couple of the increases added a little more quickly fixed that right quick. They fit PERFECTLY. The sleeve cap starts at 18 1/2".... I had one of the sleeves on my arm and I asked aloud, hmmm... another half inch, does that seem right? And "a" popped off a "half an inch? That sounds perfect mom.". LOL. Had almost forgotten he was watching movies with me and I really didn't expect an answer at all, let alone an answer from an 8 yr old who has no idea whether or not I need another half inch or not. But, yes. I agree. Another half inch is going to be just perfect. I should be able to get to the sleeve caps by the end of the week, which will get me to 33% a week before the end of the month. Which is great progress.

Pick Up Sweater #3- (expected to finish before end of month): I cast-on and knit both sleeves 2aat; when you reach the armpit, you stop knitting in the round and knit flat until the flat part from each sleeve reaches the middle of your back (looks a bit like s shrug at this point). You then graft (kitchener) the center line. Then from arm to arm along the back - you pick up and knit down the back for the length you want. Pattern calls for stockinette; and I saw two versions where they did a pair of cables down the center of the back. I chose to do a single, but slightly more complicated cable down the center of the back (loving it so far). I'm about four inches down the back panel (which is probably 8" total on the back). Once you finish the back - you turn around and pick up stitches along the side of the back; along the arm/neck and back down the other side and knit a garter stitch border. It's not exactly a "front" so to speak as much as a wide-open cardigan. And no seaming (which is pretty awesome). So, I'm going to call myself about 50% done. Its taking a bit longer than I expected to make this; but then again, I've also been working two sweaters at a time, so I would anticipate that's part of the issue.

---

Challenges:

I really wanted to make the Herbology sweater sleeves first so I could reassure myself that the pattern as written would fit (and it mostly does). The Pick Up Sweater is designed to be knit sleeves first. OMB, do I hate knitting sleeves. I'd get so frustrated and irritated for the sheer fact that they took me WEEKS to do. Which is really ridiculous because it's supposed to take that long.

Secondly, I feel like I'm getting next to nothing done. Which is also ridiculous. I'm getting a ton of knitting done. It's just that I'm so used to whipping out a half dozen hats in a couple of weeks. And these two sweaters seem to be taking forever. I have a couple of smaller projects to work on when I can't spend any more time on the sweaters; and they are starting to mount up as well. I was hoping that a) they would be portable so I could take them to cub scouts, doctor appointments, etc (and they are and have been great for that) and b) that working on them would help me feel like I'm finishing something (not working quite as well on this front). I have finished a charity hat and scarf (which will work as well for samples for class I'm teaching in March)... am working on a pair of super-fast gloves for myself... and a baby blanket for charity (a bit slow-go, but it's brainless). I should be able to look on my accomplishments with pride; but instead I just feel a bit "frustrated" that I don't have more to show for my efforts. Sigh. Here's hoping that I finish Pick it Up Sweater ASAP and that the February sweater goes faster so I'm less frustrated by slow progress.

Progress post

1) January 1, weave in the last of the ends on my Hooray Cardigan. (turn in for detention) DONE

2) Between January 1 & January 7th - one Brioche watch cap finished. (turn in for first class) DONE

3) Cast-on First sweater - Pick, Pick, Pick it Up pattern (to turn in before the end of January for a class) Cast-on; sleeves finished; getting going on the back

4) As soon as OWL is approved cast on for Cabled Sweater by Bernat - get it to the 40% finished mark and go back and keep working on Pick, Pick, Pick it up Pattern until it's done.Cast-on; sleeves at 12" - currently this is my priority; but can only manage an inch or two an evening before I need a bit of a break

5) Portable/simple project - work on a Brioche Scarf (third class project) - and take "as artsy as I can get them" photos for use to promote my Brioche knitting class. Cast-on; about eight inches complete

12 Sweaters in 2012

Sweater Number 1:

I started this in October, and set it aside within a few inches because I had a different knitting deadline that I was struggling with. Picked it up in December when my "other" deadline passed and just loved working on it. Had to set it aside a couple of times for projects for Christmas presents... but I sewed on the buttons on the First... and I love it.

The Hooray Cardigan:

2012 Planning

• 12 sweaters/tops - for me - in 2012


• 40 hats for homeless charity


• two baby blankets for Project Linus by April 1st


• whatever else comes my way through Dumbledore's Yarny

I'm half-scared and half-confident that these goals will be pretty easy to hit. I did 11 tops/sweaters as it was for 2011 - but two were baby sweaters, and one was "a" boy sized 6.

Admittedly, one of the sweaters will be finished on January 1, 2012 - the sweater I'm working on right now.... but I don't think it will even need to be counted in on the "12" for the year (unless I really run out of time in the fall).

January plan:

1) January 1, weave in the last of the ends on my Hooray Cardigan. (turn in for detention)

2) Between January 1 & January 7th - one Brioche watch cap finished. (turn in for first class)

3) Cast-on First sweater - Pick, Pick, Pick it Up pattern (to turn in before the end of January for a class)

4) As soon as OWL is approved cast on for Cabled Sweater by Bernat - get it to the 40% finished mark and go back and keep working on Pick, Pick, Pick it up Pattern until it's done.

5) Portable/simple project - work on a Brioche Scarf (third class project) - and take "as artsy as I can get them" photos for use to promote my Brioche knitting class.

6) Simple Gloves in Worsted weight - with droid-friendly string worked into thumb and forefinger tip for me (!!) (fourth class project)

7) If I finish everything so far on the list early enough in the month, work Baby Blanket 1 as close as I can to get it finished on February 1 for detention.

8) If I'm to the weaving in ends stage, Do the 2 hour baby blanket in DC crochet (fifth class project)

9) If I'm still (ha-ha-ha) ahead of the game, make as many hats as can fit into either class projects and/or Quidditch that I have time to make and places to fit them.