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!

Other than sweaters progress post... forgot I had posted my plans for all knits.

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 - about 50% done

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 18" - still my priority until I get to the ribbing on the body - calling it 25% done

5) Portable/simple project - work on a Brioche Scarf (third class project) - DONE - but need better pics

6) Second portable/simple project - pair of simple, worsted weight gloves - cast-on and am in the thumb gusset increases now.

7) Since I'm being tempted, and the gloves will probably be finished before next weekend; and I need some other fairly simple projects for a Knit-in Weekend; Am probably going to do a half-dozen more Brioche Stitch hats (as time permits)

8) Would also like to find time to do a 12" square for a contribution to a friend's baby blanket.

... I think I need to find a way to learn to knit in my sleep.

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.

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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.

101 hats for Charity

So, I didn't do a very good job maintaining the blog this year. BUT I did meet my Charity Hat knitting goal!

101 hats for the Homeless (ok, so I can't quite count and ended up making an extra one).

Quite a pile!




2012 goal? Will not be 100 hats... lol! But I'm looking at at least 40 hats for the Homeless shelter again; and some blankets for Project Linus. I'll work with Dumbledore's Yarny which is going to pick new projects every few months for charity and set a goal to pick out the rest of my plans.

More Progress

During the month of February, I completed 2 hats.

During the month of March, I completed 19 hats.

Brings my new year-to-date total to 62 hats.... 62!!!

Admittedly, with a month off of HPKCHC, I'm highly likely to make very few hats this coming month.... but with two terms of HPKCHC ahead of me, I'm fairly sure I can swing 38 more hats out in the next six months-ish.

Sticks and String, a knitting retreat

Spent the entire weekend at a knitting retreat.

Completely immersed in crafting and meeeting other knitters who were churning along on their projects as well.

There were spinners there as well.

It was really relaxing. Really, really relaxing.

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Progress

So, I vowed to make 100 hats for the homeless this year.

Its been a full month, and in order to meet my goal, The numbers tell me I need to make between 8 to 9 hats a month.

How many do I have done?

33 (decided not to count the chemo hat I made for the hospial)

That means that I hit 33 percent of my goal in less than one-tenth the time I have given myself to do it.

Huh

I would almost question upping the goal number, but the truth is that I am highly unlikely to be able to sustain this effort. The main accomplishment was yesterday when I competed in a 24 hour hat challenge on www.ravelry.com. Everyone who competed had the same 24 hours in which to create as many hats as they could. I wasn't even close to the top competiter (whom I think completed 27 adult hats, I might be third on my own team, even). But I am still very pleased with my final count of 20 adult hats completed in 24 hours. And I am even more pleased that I did as much as I did, yet managed to not cause a flare-up of my carpel tunnel issues. And that's saying something. Lol

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100 hats for charity

I contacted a homeless shelter arouund the end of November this year and asked if there was anything I could provide to help make Christmas a little more special.

They asked for some bathrobes and bath soap... easy.

I mentioned being a knitter, and having a handful of hats ready made and that if they were interested, that I could make a few more. They were more than a little interested, they were happy to hear it and said that they would be happy with any hats I could donate. I pulled out the six I had finished during a challenge this laast summer, and figured that I could probably make another five or six hats in the ten days left before I dropped the donation off.

And off I charged, making hats. I ended up making a total of 12 new hats. They house 34 women at any given time... so while I was thrilled with actually dropping off 18 hats, I was a little sad that it wasn't enough to provide each person a hat.

In the meantime, I found out that my boss's church drops off hats for the homeless by going directly to the camps and bridges where they actually stay. So a few more hats were knit to add to their supply.

Got me thinking, this did.

I will admit that after making 12 hats in ten days... then a handful more... I wasn't interested in knitting hats every single day... but I was enjoying the process. Armed with a pattern that doesn't get old, bulky yarn and big needles that work fast... I could probably knit enough hats this year to give a ton to the homeless... 40 for the shelter, and 20 for the camps and bridges.

60 hats, well that's only 5 a month. I can totally do that before December next year.

It's between terms at my knitting role playing game, so I have to wait to work on most of my other projects. So, what the heck, I've got nothing better to do... I'll make my first five hats now (this was before Christmas). Umm.... I now have hat number 11 on the needles. Huh. It is still three more days before the game starts again.... huh.

Five hats a month isn't going to be enough. I am now shooting for 100 hats total... eight or nine a month will be a little more challenging than five. And its a nice round number. Besides being already at 10% only a few weeks after making the challenge to myself? Well, I am all set to go now.

I figured I could raise this blog from the ashes and use it to chronicle the process, post photos, etc.

Note that some of the colors (one might call ugly) were specifically chosen for the camps. They chose to wear colors that will help camoflague them. Bright colors will be better received at the shelters.

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Inartsia Star War Charts --- chart patterns

When making my son's Star Wars blanket I found a LOT of great and really useful patterns online. Since I appreciated the value they offered, I decided that I could do the same.

These patterns are available free for use - as long as it's personal use, and/or for donations to charity. They aren not being made available for use in earning money either by being for sale or for making items to be sold. Contact me if you have any questions or concerns via the Blogger contact link.

I've adopted the Excel Charts into graphics so that fewer people will have issues with usage. To save locally, click on each chart you wish to use - which should open in a new window/tab in a larger size. Then right-click on each image to save to your computer.

I adapted each chart by adding rows above/below and left/right so that they all ended up with 34 stitches across and 42 rows tall. These worked well in addition to some other Charts I found online.

Yoda Chart



General Grievous



Darth Maul





Droid


Star Fighter




Crossed Light Sabers