October knitting - Ambiente

Now that I'm tracking my knitting on my blog more (and have actually posted more than once a year, lol)... I'm kind of thinking I'm going to try to post each Finished Object (FO) as it gets finished instead of waiting for mid-month or end-of-month progress reports. I might still write a progress post at each of those points, but perhaps those will just be a text summary that helps me track my plans against my results.

Besides, when I read knitting blogs, it's mostly to see FO's (and maybe a little to see how crazy they are getting with what they are making).

I'll label each of these posts with FO and wham-bam folks should be able to quickly see things I'm making (if they are so inclined).

First up, Ambiente (rav) - Sweater #12 of 12 for the year (with at least three more planned because who stops knitting sweaters during the Year of the Sweater in October?).

I had hoped to finish her up on the 30th... but there was about 2 more hours of knitting and an hour of weaving in ends when I crashed on the 30th. Instead I finished her up on the First. I LOVE, LOVE, the fit on this terrific top. These pictures don't do her justice. I'm hoping to take some pictures with it on as it's a very flattering look for me.

Just enough shaping for the hips, just enough stretch for the girls without it looking stretched.

She's made with NaturallyCaron.com Spa which is Acrylic and Bamboo. It's got a great drape on size 5 needles, incredibly soft yarn. It's shown post-steaming which is my blocking method of choice for acrylic or bamboo yarns. There's no garter stitching, so there is a bit of a roll at the waist and sleeves, but intentional rolling at the neck to match.  The yarn was quite splitty, so I probably won't select it again for that primary reason. I was using my Addi Clicks to make this and just think it's the best thing I've made lately.

Issue is that the temperatures dropped a good 20 degrees today and short-sleeved sweaters? In bamboo? Not warm enough to wear these days. She'll get put away until spring.

Cotton yarn

This is supposed to be fingering weight yarn. I suppose it is. But looking at it and thinking about making a sweater for myself out of it? I am feeling a bit intimidated. I am only going to have about six weeks to make the sweater... and I am starting to doubt that I can do it in just six weeks.

October Planning

• Finish my Ambiette for Detention - WIP the First, I hope; but the second will work if I can't quite get it finished.
• Small crochet item for fun for my Son - Oct 2nd - Food related item for Quidditch
• Get part-way through the colorwork section of the current project:  OWL - Velvet Morning (whole month)
• Dye yarn for the gradient yarn for Fingering Weight sweater - Chromatic
  (pre-October Planning) - Oct 6th -- turn this into Charms to get my yarn to blend in with my current rainbow colored stash
• Quick Hat #1 - Oct 6th -- turn this into Herbology for the "go-to" pattern that brings comfort
• Start (and hopefully get half-way through) said Fingering Weight Sweater (whole month) - For my mission of blending in with Muggles in the Order Mission
• Start and finish - Avril in April (rav link) (whole month) -- still don't know what class this would fit into
• Ten baby- or preemie-sized hats for the Period of Purple Crying project - Oct 10-26 Quidditch
• TKGA Submission Hat - Oct 13th -- still don't know what class this would fit into
• Baby ball -- Muggle Studies, I'm sure my dog will help me sell that this could also be used as a dog toy
• Christmas Stocking for Charity Auction - Pattern selected by winner (whole month) - Snowman stocking

So, one full adult sweater, a third of another adult sweater, plus half of a third adult sweater (in fingering weight, no less).

Plus 2 Adult hats.

Plus 10 baby hats.

Plus a couple of other small and not-so-small items?

Another busy month for me.

Plan on using stash for all but the Chromatic sweater. That yarn has been shipped, but not yet received. I am actually working from home today as it is supposed to be attempt number 2 at delivery.

September End-of-Month Progress Post

Finished items:

 - Washcloth (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - Tardis Kindle Case  (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - Brioche Hat  (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - Rose bookmark  (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - 12" blanket square

  - a's Sweater (a test knit out of the Yarn-that-must-not-be-named)

On the needles:

Two sweaters - the first I had hoped to finish for September (and it's OOOOH, so close, but did not get finished in time).

Ambiette in Caron Spa:

I'm hoping to squeeze in the last ten rows of sleeve two today and the two rows in the neckline, and the weaving in of ends... and get it turned in for WIP the First for October.

And my OWL project - Velvet Morning converted to top-down contiguous sleeves:

FO - a's Sweater

Amazing how fast boys grown once they hit a certain age.

This was made in that yarn that I won't be buying any more of.

It was a test knit and knit at a far tighter gauge than I'm used to working in. Figure it'll never wear out as tightly as it was knit.  This is a size 8 for boys... but honestly? The sleeves before joining to work in the round had to be 15" - so it's not much smaller than an Adult female sweaters I make for myself. Add the extra tight gauge and it easily had almost as many stitches as an adult sweater.

I'm probably going to be a little more cautious before signing up for more test knitting. Maybe ask some questions... it was good to try test knitting, and I wouldn't mind trying it again - but this sweater is almost stiff it's so tightly knit. Yet, in order to properly test, you knit to the gauge specified.

But, then again, it should be really warm, right?  So, all good in the end.

Pre-planning for October

I've been wanting to make a sweater similar to the Chromatic Sweater by KnitPicks.

Problem is that I'm allergic to wool, so I need to find a cotton or acrylic alternative.

Second problem is that I need to watch my budget and can't afford to spend a fortune on the yarn.

Third problem is that finding yarn dyed on a gradient, in non-wool, is not something that is easily found, let alone affordable.

I've decided to try to buy plain yarn and dye it myself.

Second issue is finding 100% cotton yarn in Fingering weight without spending a fortune for it. I needed about 400-ish yards dyed in a gradient and over 1000 yards dyed in a dark contrast base color at the same weight.

I found several options that would cost over $120 for the sweater, and still required me going through the dyeing process. That's more than I want to spend on yarn I can dye (and mess up). I couldn't find any gradient dyed yarn options at all, not even out of my price-range yarn. The exception was Wolle's Yarn - which I have used before. This is "ok" and definitely gives gradient, gradual color changes. However, it is basically 8 strings strung together (not plied nor spun together) and the color changes are implemented by knots placed periodically to change one string color at a time. I don't like the knots and the strings are difficult to work with. I wanted something else for this sweater.

I was online complaining about my budget issues and someone pointed me towards 'carpet warp'. I found 800 yard cones of 100% cotton in fingering weight (8/4 carpet warp) for under $8 a cone. I bought one cone in white for dyeing and 2 cones in a vibrant medium blue for the main color. Under $30 for the sweater and I should end up with almost 1000 yards left over which would be enough for a second sweater. I have no idea how 'soft' this cotton will be (or won't be) but it's cotton. If it's not soft from the cone, it probably will be fine with washing.

Next step is to buy the dye and another dyeing bowl (I only have three right now for dyeing). Cotton dyeing requires an acid dye which is NOT foodsafe. My bowls I use for dyeing are set aside and not used for cooking. I buy inexpensive pitchers from Dollar General for $1 each. I figure if it doesn't work out and I don't want to store them any longer - they are simple enough to toss out.  I do most of the pre-dyeing soaking in vinegar (which is obviously food safe) in a wash tub that I also use for cleaning.

I have FOUR main colors I want to dye out of the 400 yards I plan on dyeing - Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue.

Divide the yarn into the following sections should give me the gradient look I need for the sweater:

A) 70 yards which will be the darkest of the red - dyed in the red pot
B) 40 yards which will be the next lighter shade - which will spend half the dyeing time in an orange pot, and before the time is up get moved to the red pot to get a blended color.
C) 70 yards in the orange pot, that will stay in the orange pot for the whole dyeing period
D) 40 yards which will be the next lighter shade - which will spend half the dyeing time in a yellow pot, and before the time is up, get moved to the orange pot to get a blended color
E) 70 yards which will be the lightest shade - and in the yellow pot for the entire dyeing period
F) 40 yards which will start in the yellow pot and get moved halfway through the dyeing process to the light blue pot for a greenish (I hope) gradient between the yellow and blue
G) 70 yards which will stay in the light blue pot the entire dyeing time

70 + 40 + 70 + 40 + 70 + 40 + 70 = 400 yards. I'll probably add a few extra yards as I spool the yarn into each of those sections so I end up with more than 400 yards (because more is better than less when it comes to one-time custom dyed yarn. I don't want to run out.

I'll post pics when I have the dyeing day which will probably be the first weekend in October if things go as planned.  With any luck, I'll be able to pick up the dyes and vinegar for under $20 which combined with the cost of the yarn and shipping is still under 50% of the cost of custom-dyed yarn (if I could even find it).

September mid-month Progress Post

Finished Items:

First up - the planned washcloth (intended for a future exchange).

This was an unusual pattern (Rav link) that I really fell in love with while knitting. I didn't understand what it was supposed to do and it didn't make any sense to me. It's intended for two color - but since I couldn't 'get it' from reading the pattern - I ended up using a single color. I followed the pattern exactly and once I got to a certain point it finally clicked. I will be making more of these, though the next ones will probably have a solid color for the 'front' and a variegated color for the 'back'. There's a lot of density in this and it'll make a great washcloth. I'm thinking I'd love to make a blanket covered in these squares some day.

Second up - the planned hat (one of the two - probably won't have time for the second one):

Basic Brioche in-the-round; like so many other of my charity hats. I'm having the pattern tested now and will probably release this pattern in a month or two.

Third item? - I won a door prize on September 7th, for a Kindle Fire (which is cooler than cool even if it wasn't HD - which got released on the 7th - lol - nothing like technology getting updated faster than you can buy it).  Fast-track inspiration; and it got a case by the 9th. This was orginally going to be made into a pencil case, but you can see - it works far better as a Kindle case.

Fourth item? Again, another inspiration-struck-had-to-have.... a simple Rose bookmark:

On the needles:

First sweater started this month - set aside for a short bit so I could catch up on a couple of other projects was a sweater I'm test-knitting for my son to wear.

I've got about six more inches to go on the sleeves before joining them to the body and working the yoke. I've been carrying the sleeves around with me and got a couple of hours done on them during a Footie game this weekend. Hope to get more done this weekend and maybe even get the whole thing finished, shortly.  It takes a couple of buttons at an angle near the neckline - so I need to get hopping in double-checking I have buttons that will work with this.

Second sweater started this month - set aside once I got to the work even for x number of rows/inches.... it was my first ever top-down, contiguous sleeve construction. The pattern: Ambiente (Rav link) is extremely well written, and I would strongly recommend trying it for a first contiguous sleeve project. I had no trouble at all following it and am pretty pleased with the results. I'm hoping to pick up on this as soon as I finish my son's sweater - yet this month barring any unexpected complications.

Third sweater started this month (but this is going to be one of those takes-a-bit sweaters). I'm planning on this one not getting finished until November.

You remember this shiny, amazing yarn?

Well, it's turning into this (though the color is a little washed out in this photo):

I'm adjusting the pattern to working top-down, contiguous sleeved... and so far, I'm really loving it. I'm about ten rows away from dividing off the sleeve stitches; once I do that, I'll probably set it aside a little while so I can get back to the other two sweaters OTN.

Not started yet:

• AND a 12" Blanket square - pattern TBD

Not going to get started this month - the second hat... I'll have plenty of time next month for making more hats... so this is going to get sidelined in favor of the other projects I picked up and making sweaters.