Pulling From Stash

My friend Tom could not find a gray that he liked at a price he wanted.    We chat every morning on the bus.   I had noticed that he could use a new one.   The stash holds a lot of gray yarn.   I pulled some and knit up the Two by Two hat for him.   He got it yesterday and loved it.

Elan's Chateau in Black Pearl

When I saw the way the crown shaping was done in this pattern, I had to try it.   Any time someone figures out an elegant way to shape the top of a hat....in ribbing no less....I want to give it a go.  I did a version of this in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca to see what I thought about the pattern.   Made a few mistakes, fixed them, and gave it to someone on Christmas Eve.    The Elan Chateau was a limited edition luxury blend of merino, cashmere, and angora.  Knitting it was a pleasure.  It did really need to be washed to soften up.  It is not the most resilient of yarns but the stitch definition is exquisite.   I have a bit more.   I may make a hat for myself......gray or blue???????

Finished Cardigan....

Last night, I looked around in my many hiding places for buttons for Piper's sweater.   The zip bag

that held buttons from Borealis's going out of business sale had the perfect set.    As I had time, I sewed the buttons on right away.   This morning, the sweater left in the mail.

Would I do this sweater again?   Yes.  BUT..first I would do the on-line steeking class that I am signed up for on Craftsy.  

Piper is ten now, still into fashion, and really needed something a little more grown up.

Jace's sweater will have buttons added today and will leave in the mail tomorrow.   This sweater was

frustrating in a couple of ways.....some that can be chalked up to the knitter and some to the pattern.  The good part is that it is done!

Still don't like hoodies.....not to wear and definitely not to make.   I hope this fits him as it should.   I followed directions....fingers crossed.

The buttons I chose are metal.   They look nice...suitable for a boy and not a baby.   I wanted something more "fun" but realize a safer choice will likely result in the sweater being worn more.

Elle got her stocking this year.    Annie's Woolens cannot be beat for cute stocking kits.    I make sure that the stockings are similar but not the same.   Growing up in the middle of five children taught me many useful things.

I had not yet done the moose.   Elle's brother, Jace, has the bear.   I thought this would make a good

airing.   This project and Piper's sweater were good colorknitting with both hands practice.    Though these turned out pretty well, it is a sign that I need to do more to even out my gauge.  Now I have a pair and a quarter of socks to do....and maybe a couple hats.   A few things have not gotten done.  I will get to them after Christmas. 

Next year will be the year of knitting what I please...which I say every year!

Steeking.....OH STEEKING!

I steeked for the first time.   While I am signed up for the Craftsy class....I have not yet taken it.   Instead, as I need to get this project done, I consulted on-line experts.   Eunny Jang and Kate Davies had excellent, well-illustrated advice.   What I learned on my own was to use a smaller yarn...with a contrast as I could not see what I was doing with the matching yarn....and it was big enough to distort things a bit.   This could be a first-timer's problem.  Now I want to be able to do this better!

Last night I cursed (think blue cloud) and nearly wept when I thought that I had destroyed the sweater.  While it is not "my finest work," it is not destroyed.  I got through it!

Before I do another steek on a "real" project, I want to practice.  This was...unnerving.   I am glad it is this far.  I hope Piper will wear it!

A Tale of Two Sleeves......

Christmas is coming quickly....far too quickly.    Piper's Clayoquot sweater is my "home" project.   This will be my first steek.  Friday evening, I finished the sleeves.  Needing the yarn to start the body, I reached into the bag for more.   No blue!!!  I had used a contrasting color for the background color on the sleeves.   Oh. No.   Nothing to do but to begin again.   One and a half or so sleeves are done in the correct colorway.   Wish I had chosen blue for the main color, but both are nice.

Clayoquot in two colorways....

The yarn is from Willow....they have such lovely, lovely colors.  More important for Piper's mother, it can go through the washer and dryer.

Tincan Knits has beautiful patterns.   The design team delivers many sizes in each pattern.  This is a sweater I covet for me.   After Christmas.   Well after Christmas.

I am up for the steek adventure but am worried that a disaster will strike and I will have to knit something else really, really fast.   But heck...no guts, no woolly glory.

The remaining sweater is simpler.....beyond that there only remains 2.5 pairs of socks, one hat, and five colorwork Christmas stockings.

In the words of Alfred E. Neumann, "What, me worry?"

The Packer Hat

Henry needed a hat to go with his packer sweater.   Yarn was left over from the sweater so all I needed to decide was....what I wanted to do.  That is often the hardest part.

When I was looking at the Packer sweater as I knit it, I kept thinking about narrow stripes.   Using the handy tips that the sweater pattern gave to make the stripes turn out so they looked like something I would not have to rip out due to excessive ugliness, I laid my plans.   

Craftsy had a really good blog post about how to size hats for babies and toddlers.  That gave me a good idea about how to figure the fit of the hat.   I did a gauge swatch to remind myself of what the yarn wanted to do.    Using arithmetic, I did my figuring and started to knit.   The crown was shaped over the last nine rows.   If I do this hat again, I will do a more gradual decrease....maybe.  

I hope to get a picture of Henry in his Packer hat this weekend....

Henry's Packer Hat -- Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino on US 2 needles.

The Cowgirl Sweater is Finished!

Today I put buttons on the cowgirl sweater and trimmed the fringe.   Thank heavens for the small but choice selection of buttons at Depth of Field!   This was a real learning experience.

The pattern was written in a way that I don't think about knitting.   That had a few challenges for me.  Fortunately, I could figure it out.   That gave me a lot to think about for the patterns that I write.  I definitely have someone else read the pattern before I share it.   It is amazing what I forget to put in explicit language that NEEDS to be written that way.

Now, this will be put away and I will start on my first official steeking project.

The back of the sweater completed.

Time Out for Baby Socks

DROPS publishes, and generously provides for free, many wonderful patterns.    When I am having a rough day, it is a great place to go browse.   During my last tour, I found 16-27 Drops Socks in Fabel.  I loved the way it was designed and wanted to make it for the new baby that a friend of mine is expecting any day.   The trouble is I have LOTS of sock yarn.   I have sock yarn to the point that even Stephanie Purl McPhee would say it counts.    There is some DK.....around.   I decided to make the pattern work for sock yarn.

This is one of the few ways that I use math.   It comes in real handy for just this sort of thing.   I did a gauge swatch to doublecheck my calculations and knit the first sock.    After I knit the second sock, I decided to write down exactly what I did so that I don't have to think about it again....at least not for the 0-3 months size.

If you want to see my notes, go ahead and download them.  Link to pattern.

The Cowboy is Out!

Work proceeds nicely on the back of this sweater.  I am a little frustrated with this but it is coming along okay.   

I hope to finish the back this week...then on to the front!

The Cowboy Emerges....

The cowboy sweater is coming along.   It is frustrating...it is exacting...it is teaching me a lot.  Am I sick of doing intarsia yet?  No.  I am curious to see how people can do this so well.   After this sweater is done, I will have a break from this kind of a project as too many other things wait in queue.   I do want to do more.  Lucy Neatby (a goddess) is a master at this technique as are a few others.   Before I do my next project, I am going to watch my DVD's, do my Craftsy class, and see what I can do io make my instarsia better.   It is an excellent challenge.

Intarsia

Intarsia is one of those techniques that I really, really wish I was good at.  I have DVD's.  I am signed up for a Craftsy class.   Now, I am even practicing.    The Packer sweater is done.   That was a warm up for the cowboy sweater for Mallory.

I thought a lot about the color choice before I put in the order.  Fortunately, part of my original color choice has not been available so I had to switch.   My new choice, I think, is much better.    This is a real challenge for me.   So far I am enjoying the progress on this project.    I am cleaning up ends every inch or so.  This is not because I am innately tidy.  Would that I were!  It is because I do not tie the butterfly bobbins well and have a hot mess hanging off the back of the work that makes it much harder to do.  So far, this makes me want to be better at doing this.  I have a lot of room for improvement.

Mallory, I hope will like this.   She is a cowgirl and not likely to pass out of the phase.   Can't wait to get the whole cowboy done!

What Summer...and Now It is Gone!

This summer has been very busy.   The knitting is not going fast enough.   With a little push, the wedding present MIGHT get finished this weekend.

What has gotten finished...among other things....is Henry's Packer Sweater.   Baby Cashmerino is a lovely, lovely yarn to knit.  It had the right colors.   Debbie Bliss had a baseball jacket pattern that could be adapted....with the help of Knitbird software and the logo from the Green Bay Packer's website, I was good to go.  

Back of the Sweater with the Logo

The sweater actually closes with snaps.  The buttons are decorative.   Finding the buttons was a drama.   This was the third set I picked out.   Green buttons were oddly not possible to find on-line or in the store.   Go figure.  Of course, I do live in Minnesota.   Maybe in my homeland behind the Cheese Curtain it would be another tale entirely.

Intarsia is something at which I need practice.  Working the charts is a humbling experience.  The end result is fine.   I am working my way up to a cowgirl sweater for my niece Mallory.  I am itching to get that going.

Front of the Sweater - It Actually Closes with Snaps

There is leftover yarn from this project.  There will be a matching hat forthcoming.   Craftsy had a great blog today about sizing hats for babies and toddlers. It was just what I need to get started on the next project.

Before I start ANYTHING else, I need to finish the wedding afghan.   I think I have about 30 more rows.   Let us hope for some good trash TV this weekend.  That will make it happen.

The Almost Lost Dish Cloth

Julie Tarsha wrote about the Almost Lost Dishcloth on her blog, Simply Notable.

I liked the look of the pattern.   Willow Yarns has a dishcloth yarn with a cotton/poly content.  It holds the color nicely with only a little fading.   I wanted to try it..so...I did.

With a few mishaps, I came up with some nice dishcloths.  This one went to live with my sister Helen.   An earlier version has been in constant use at my house for about six months.   This is my favorite dishcloth pattern to date....and I will make more.

Nectarine Coat with Hood

Pingouin Knitting patterns are old favorites for me.  I used to, when one could still buy them, have a great stash of them.   While I did knit some of the patterns, I mostly looked at the patterns for inspiration as I loved the styling, the color choices, and the exquisite yarns.  The most recent project is a Pingouin design I have wanted a long time to make.

Last week I finished the Nectartine Coat with Hood. This project took me quite awhile as it was victim to bouts of spaciness.   I wanted it to be just so I kept taking it out until I was happy with it.  The end result is good.   

Nectarine Coat with Hood knit in Willow's Burrow Bulky

I had fears that the pompoms would explode in the washing machine and blow fuzz everywhere (they didn't). I worried that I would not be able to affix them tightly enough to the ties (no problem).  All in all I am pleased with the end product.

The Burrow Bulky washed and dried beautifully and I hope this will be worn and worn a lot.

Making this pattern took me back to the days of daydreaming over the pattern books.   Now I want to look through my files and find other, cherished, patterns and make more.

 

The Deco Columns Throw

There is a family wedding coming up.  The groom is one of my favorite people in the world so I wanted to make something very special for this celebration.

I looked at a lot of patterns.....and swatched Umaro which I think is lovely.   It is.  Just not for the yarn I am using.    The Deco Columns Throw seems to be a great choice.

The stitch pattern is a six row repeat...just enough interest to keep from being dull but not so much that I can't work on it unless I am alone in a room with no stimulation.   So far, I am liking it a lot.

The project is living in one of my favorite knitting bags which was an great Etsy find.   This is one of those things that I coveted for quite awhile before I bought it.  The seamstress, who is in London, is very skilled and the workmanship in the bag is exquisite...and worth every penny that I paid for it.   Dolly, who is a great judge of knitting bags, has spent at least one day sleeping in the knitting bag, on the project.   As I know better than to wake a sleeping cat, those days not much knitting gets done.

Dolly helping with the knitting......not....

The bride is allergic to cats.   This project will be thoroughly washed before being given away.

At this point, I am still really enjoying this project and happily knitting along.    My goal is to finish it before I am heartily sick of it.

There are a couple of other projects going so that I can take breaks.   It keeps the fun alive.

The Magnolia Hat

The Magnolia Hat drew me in....it was lovely...the Cascade Highland Duo yarn looked so soft in the picture.....and the purple shade was delicious.......so I bought it.

Now, I had become a convert to reading charts.  Most of the time, I will choose the to follow the chart rather than to read the written instructions.  Most of the time, that is easier.  Not this time.  By the time I figured that out, I had taken parts of this hat in and out several times.   Here it is, finally, finished in its unblocked beauty.   I look forward to wearing it next winter.

What lesson have I learned?  Look at both the written directions and the charts.   Pick the version that works the best for where one's head is at the moment.  That will save time and much puzzlement.  Will I make this hat again?  Eventually, yes.  It is a lovely pattern...and will make a good gift.  This one is mine.

Swatching....it is a very good thing....

Swatching.   Not swatching is to dance with danger.  Unless I am very, very sure about what I am doing......like making yet another pair of Raggi socks....I swatch.  There is enough heartache in life without creating more on one's own.

Why I am I thinking about swatching?   I was going to make Jared Flood's beautiful Umaro pattern for a wedding gift.   It is beautiful.  I had a lot of yarn and did not have to buy it.  It was in Stash Mountain.   I swatched.  I swatched again.   I swatched....and swatched more.  I wanted to through the swatch right out the @#@$% door.  The poor swatch looked like the dog's dinner.   As I did not want to change yarns, I have changed the pattern.  

This swatching saved me from hours of wasted work.   The yarn looks lovely in the Deco Columns pattern and I am very, very happy.....

A Packer Sweater for Henry

Henry's family are Packer fans.    Very big Packer fans.   My sister Helen asked me if I would make Henry a Packer sweater.   Helen never asks for much, so I said yes immediately.   This project has been in the planning phase for awhile.   Several patterns and ideas have already been discarded.   Last fall I bought some Encore DK for this project...the colors were right and it worked for the pattern I was thinking about at the time.   I am ready to work on this a bit more...and cannot find where I stashed that yarn.   Aggravating, but really no matter.   I have changed the pattern I am using as the base.  The new pattern uses a finer gauge yarn.   More yarn has been ordered.

To get the Packer logo, I used KnitPro.   KnitPro is great graphing software.  I hate sketching things out and with KnitPro there is no need.   I have a pattern, I have a graph, I have plan:  now I just need the yarn and some time.....did I mention this will involve Intarsia?  

Willow Brook

I like to try different yarns....just to see how the stitches work up and how the yarn wears.   One of the recent adventures was with Willow Yarn's Brook.   What drew me in?  The colors.   The Viola Wrap

Simran modeling the Viola Wrap

looked like a project that my friend, Simran, would love.   I wanted to try it ......to see how I liked the construction of using slits in the knitting for a "pull through" for the shawl instead of securing the shawl with a shawl pin.

The yarn was soft running through my fingers as I worked it up.   It was a little "sticky" when I had to pull out stitches but not bad. The pattern was well-written and interesting enough so that I was not bored by the time I finished the knitting.   I probably (confession time) should have blocked it before giving it but am happy with how it looks.   I have some other colors and will try this in different projects.  I would not use it for a garment that will have hard use.  It is lovely, and soft, and will be great in cowls and hats.  

Never to Early to Get the Christmas Stockings Done

This year we have two new family babies.  Baby Elle was born in February.  Baby Beaumont just arrived.  For each baby's first Christmas, my gift is a stocking.

In the past few years, I have been using the kits from Annie's Woolen's.   The yarn in the kit is a good sturdy wool.  The shades of red and green are nice and Christmasy.   The patterns give me a chance to practice colorwork.  

Baby Henry's stocking was, by request, a very simple one. He arrived on time to receive his stocking for Christmas 2014.   I used a free pattern  found on the web.

Baby Henry's Stocking

As he is the first grandchild, I made it nice and big so that it can be appropriately filled.

Beaumont's older brother Alastair received a less traditional stocking.   Lorna Pearman's Firstborn Elvish Stocking was the perfect touch of Christmas and whimsy.   Beaumont will receive a similar one.....keeping the theme within the family.

One of my grandmothers made four of the five of us felt stockings when we were small.  Those stockings were put out for St. Nicholas Day each year and were an important part of our tradition.   Making the stocking for each new baby is my way of welcoming them to the family.   (I also keep the patterns.....so a new one can be made if disaster strikes.)

The Simple and Seamless Baby Beanie

My heart leaps when I see clever and tidy decreases.   One of my favorite hat patterns, The Man Hat, is a beautiful example of decrease love at first site.  I have made this several times as the whole pattern is as excellent as the decreases.  The Man Hat is an excellent gift.

This morning, on Ravelry, I saw a lovely little garter stitch hat.   It is simple.  It is elegant.   The crown shaping decreases are, for me, engaging and a siren call to work on this project.

Maria David Castro's
Simple and Seamless Baby Hat

The Simple and Seamless Baby Hat is free on Ravelry...in both English and Spanish.   This is definitely on my "to do" list.   I may have yarn for it. (Cough, cough).   Yes, garter stitch can be tedious but it is an excellent way to showcase a wonderful yarn or a spectacular color.  Test driving the pattern to try out the decreases is a real draw for me right now.

Ravelry changed the knitting part of my world.   Now it is so easy to see what other people are doing....and how creative minds approach knitting in interesting ways.   Trolling patterns on Ravelry is one of my favorite ways to get through a knitting slump. Everybody has them....

My friend, Marjorie, sent the "anti-negativity" picture to me this week.   It came on a day when I really needed to laugh.   I liked this so much that I called my friend, Phyllis, and read it to her.  She laughed hysterically.  Later, Phyllis told me, she laughed about it all day.  Neither of us will admit to the full extent of our yarn stashes.  Neither of us seem to be able to stop adding to our stashes.   If we can't die until we use all of our yarn, we will live forever.  Time to go look at more patterns for the yarn I have.

Tin Can Knits

Knitting Design is something that really interests me.  At this stage in my life I do not...and maybe never will...have the cleverness to figure out some of the things that come out of the heads of the really inspiring designers.   I have written about the folks at Brooklyn Tweed.  When I am tired or sad or need diversion, I go to their look books for a little vacation.

Tin Can Knits, is for me, in the same category.   This is a great team.   The designs that they show are classic, fun, and have that quality of making me want to ditch the day job and knit.  Of course, needing to find a way to pay for the yarn to knit the patterns makes that impossible.

Take a break...take a look.   Your stash will thank me.

This has been a cold, cold winter

The cold this winter has been brutal...at least we have not (yet) had a lot of snow.    My knitting has been suffering has I have been huddled under blankets and afghans reading trash novels.

I am having to confront, again, the amount of yarn I actually own.   This is not pretty.  I try not to think about it all at once as it makes my mind go blank.  Not blank in a happy creative canvas way.   Just blank.  Blank in an absolute panic if I had to have it all in one place way.   We will not discuss the secondary panic about the books and paper patterns.   One can only deal with so much panic at once. 

The original purpose of this blog was to document knitting down the stash.   Okay, so that has not happened in the writing or the knitting.  We begin again.

A skein of pink sock yarn had mocked me for quite awhile.   It wasn't really enough to make a pair of socks for me and I was not sure who else I should make socks for out of the pink.  I had several good choices but just could not pick one.   My friend Barb asked for a sweater for a very tiny baby.  Solution!  Wee Liesel!

This pattern is one that I have been eying for a long time.   I thought it was adorable.   Here was a chance to test drive it in the smallest size!   The pink sock yarn was a great choice.  Even the buttons came from stash....deep inside the button cannister.

The knitting had a few challenges which frankly is good for me.   I will make this again for another little girl.   I am very happy with it.   I am even happier that all of the elements came out of the center of the stash.

Happy 2015!

I will admit that I am not at all sorry to see 2014 go.  Enough said about that.

Piper, Jace, and Mallory got hats for Christmas this year.   I had a great time knitting them and the hats arrived at Grandma Sharon's on Christmas Eve.

I will say that I am very relieved that all of the hats fit and that the kids liked them.  Piper's hat with the hearts was a modification of a pattern from Siouxie Stitches.  I used Willow yarns and was really happy with the project.   Mallory and Jace's hats were both done from the Simply Cotton Beanie pattern.   That is an excellent top down pattern that I know I will use again and again.   It is another example of genius, yet simple design.   This pattern comes in a wide range of sizes that will make it a go to pattern.   It will be, I think, excellent for using up leftovers.   I would like to knit charity hats with project leftovers instead of tucking the leftovers into bags.  I am a firm believer in not wasting.   More and more though, I don't want to hang on to things just because I might need them someday.   My thought is that if I knit up the leftovers and donate the hats, I can avoid waste and do some good.   It will also be nice for those mindless knitting moments......of which I am having many.

My friend Jackie is about to have her first baby.   She is going to go the cloth diaper route and will be using soakers.   I had half a memory of my mother mentioning my aunt knitting a pair when my oldest brother was born.   I won't go into detail, but that would have been a looooooooooooooong time ago.    Soakers are back in use.   There were a lot of patterns available and I found one that I liked.   I made a couple pairs from odd skeins of Raggi.   I am hoping that the soakers work well for the new baby.   I have included a picture of one so you can get the general idea.  It is, I think, an interesting concept.  I hope it works as well in reality!


I have been feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of yarn in my possession.  This will, truly, be the year of the great stash knit down.    As one of the locations has to be relocated shortly...goodness knows where...there is a huge incentive to pare down.  Some of the yarn will be given away; some will be knit up quickly; some will be relocated to an as yet undetermined location:  it is one more thing to do and one more reason to use what I have as much as I can.   Lightening the load and making things for others will be a good multi-tasking project this year.  

Let us hope for a happy and health year to come.