Knittypants

Interweave Knits Spring 2006

Well, I finally picked up my copy of the newest Interweave Knits. I like the cover sweater although, I would leave off the bobbles and make it in pink.

This bag is my favorite though, it's so cute and colorful. I have added it to the never ending list of things I am planning to knit.

I really like this shrug, too. I am thinking I might have to make it this spring, it looks so cozy and practical. And I think I would actually wear it, a lot of shrugs and minisweaters I just am not sure I would really wear.

A Post For Jesse

Warning! This post has zip to do with knitting, so you may not want to stay if you aren't related to me! Jesse, this one's for you.

I told him we were taking a picture for Auntie, and this is the face he made.

Kaelen refused to even crack a smile.

Jarvis only let me take one picture of Kaelen by herself, then he insisted on being included.

None of Fiona, you got your fix yesterday.

Baby Kimono

Here's Fiona modeling her new sweater, I think she likes it, she giggled when she saw it and I think it was a happy sound rather than malicious! This is the Baby Kimono from Interweave Knits Summer 2005. I made the 12 month size and it fit my 15 month old very well, but she is a bit slight for her age. I enjoyed the pattern, it was knit all in one piece, and I found watching how it took shape interesting, at the same time it was mindless knitting, good for watching TV or minding rambunctious toddlers

The picture shows the color fairly accurately and I thought it went well with Fiona's reddish hair. I used an alpaca yarn I bought from Elann, but I can't remember what it was! I think Austermann something. Sorry about that, I lost the ball bands, too so I have no idea. I really like the fabric it made, nice and squishy. The sleeves are a bit shorter than I thought they would be when I started the pattern, but I kind of like how they turned out, since they have no shaping it keeps them out of the way when Fiona is getting into trouble.

Of course, clothes never last long with her, she is already figuring out how to take it off!

Swatching

Seeing as most of my projects are practically finished I decided I needed to start something else. So I have been swatching.

See the swatch for my Cheesylove. This is Jo Sharp Classic Dk Wool in Black. I have gauge on this one. One little problem, when I washed and blocked the water was left a bit grey, this concerns me because I don't want to turn the pretty pink hearts murky. I am thinking I will wind the yarn into hanks and wash it first to make sure all the dye is out before I start knitting, but that is a lot of work! You can also see the unsocked little foot at the top, I left the picture uncropped since so many enjoy baby feet. Here is the gauge swatch for Simply Marilyn, I need new needles for this one, mine aren't big enough. So I have some in the mail.

The yarn is Rowan Cork in Chilly. Now I am feeling a bit cautious with this one, browsing around blog land I have discovered a lot of people have had trouble with this sweater being to big and the collar to loose. I have also found a few websites with tips on how to make it better. Fig and Plum, Stacyknits, and Cosmicpluto this last one is just based on the sweater, but I like the ribbing she did on the bottom. So I am hoping I can make this sweater work for me, too. And this pic has Jarvis' bum in the top corner. Lovely! I have to crop almost every pic because there is a wayward little body part in it, but I left these ones. And, look, I bought buttons! The Go Everywhere, Go With Everything Cardigan has been languishing for far too long, so I have decided to get off my butt and finish it.

More Baby Socks and a Belt de Jour

I wanted to use up the rest of my baby cashmerino so I made another pair of the two needle socks from Baby Knits for Beginners.

I ended up running out of yarn at the toes so I finished with some darker blue yarn I had in my stash. I think they turned out pretty cute. This is the Belt de Jour from Stitch'n Bitch Nation.

I started making this because I had never cabled before and I thought it would be good practice. About half way through I realized that it would be foolish of me to draw this much attention to my hips! I asked my 9 year old if she would like me to make it for her instead and she agreed. But, once finished she pointed out that it was really, really pink. Maybe her younger brother would like it, she kindly suggested. Or it makes really good dress up clothes, was another helpful suggestion. Anyways, it's finished and photographed and if I had a losers album it would go there. I did get to practice my cabling so I guess it's a swatch with a buckle.

Lenthening A Sweater

Well, I have been accused of being brave for just cutting off my ribbing (no, just lazy) and have been asked for a tutorial. I have always wanted to do a tutorial, I'm kind of a geek that way. So here it is.

Here lies my Gigi swatch awaiting surgery.

I like to pick a row a few rows up from the ribbing, so I can see better when I start cutting. I take a smaller needle than what I was originally knitting with and start weaving it through the right side of each stitch all down the row.

There we go, all the stitches threaded on the needle.

I choose to cut 2 rows down from the row my needle is holding. This gives me some room for error and shaky hands and helps me not accidentally cut through some of the plies being held on the needle (like I did the first time I tried this) , plus then I have a tail to work with when I am done.

Take a deep breath, clear toddlers out of the room, and start cutting.

After cutting, I tease the extra yarn out of the stitches left on the needle. A whole bunch of little cut pieces will rain on your carpet as you are doing this.

And, all done. See all the stitches safely on the needle ready to start knitting again. One stitch is lost when performing this amputation, so be aware of that, when you continue knitting. I hope that was helpful. Please let me know where I could have been clearer. And that is my first tutorial, I feel so proud :-)

Two More Inches

Thanks for the advice I received about using Manos in a sweater, I feel more confident about proceeding. Now, I just need to find a good sale. Also, I forgot to mention that when I made the scarf I was alternating the yarn every two rows, so I thought that I would end up with a similar amount of yarn left over from each skein. Stariel pointed out to me that since yarn is put up by weight if one skein has more thin parts than another it would account for the difference in length. And I did notice when I was knitting that one of my skeins did have a lot more thin spots than the other, I just never figured it out on my own. Well, I finished the neckline of Gigi last night. I tried it on and it fits absolutely loverly!! Except, she's a little short. My row gauge was off by a little bit and it ended up making more of a difference than I would like.

So I cut off the bottom ribbing and am going to knit down a couple of inches. It should turn out just right with a bit more length. I am also blocking the front and back of my husband's Skully, it seemed to stretch out a fair bit with blocking so I am planning to steal the extra few inches and add them to the sleeves. This is good because my husband wasn't to interested in the idea of three quarter length sleeves on his sweater!

Is This Normal?

I am not sure how many Manos lovers read my blog, but I thought I would ask. After making My So Called Scarf this is what I ended up with.

As you can see one skein was all used up except for six inches while I still had a little baby ball of yarn left on the other. Since I am planning to make a sweater out of this yarn, I wonder if anyone had trouble with running out of yarn while knitting a project with Manos? Of course my husband pointed out to me that I don't actually know if I had too little yarn with the one skein or too much with the other. And as I haven't been knitting for all that long maybe it isn't really that abnormal? I don't know, any advice? Here is my progress on Gigi. The lighting is interesting but my camera battery died, and I am too lazy to try again. She's coming along quite nicely, lots of fun and easy to knit. Although, last night I spent the first half of the evening finishing up the neckline and the second half ripping back and fixing my wonky ribbing! Hopefully, I will be mistake free this evening and get the neckline done. I had a great week with my mom. We visited, played with the kids, shopped and knit. Tons of fun. When I first started getting serious about knitting last spring, my sweet mother made fun of me, and teased me about my yarn stash.  But then my dad told me she was knitting a scarf, and then after she saw the Sophie bag I made for my sister, she made one, too, and now she just purchased two tank patterns from Chicknits and the yarn to go with them! Plus, she went through all my pattern books and has planned her next 6 projects and she asked me for sock yarn for her birthday! I have converted her! What fun, now I won't be such a lonely knitter.

My So Called Scarf

Yay!! I am done with this scarf and I love it! This is the first item that I have made for myself that I have really, really liked. And it's still chilly enough around here that I will be able to get a bit of wear out of it before next winter.

This is me wearing it. It's so nice and warm around my neck, I have been wearing it around the house lately.

And this picture shows a bit more detail and how the back looks. I tried to get a picture showing off the length, but none turned out. My So Called Scarf, made in Manos del Uruguay in Woodland, 2 skeins. The pattern calls for US 11 needles, but I didn't have any so I used my 10.5's which made the fabric a bit tighter than I would have liked, but after washing it has relaxed a bit and looks fine. I love, love, love the Manos and will be making a sweater for me in this wonderful yarn! The colors are so incredible, I just love looking at it and petting it. Tonight, my mom is flying in to visit for a week, and we are hopefully going to knit together and she is bringing a bag to felt while she is here, so it will be lots of fun!

The Fairest Yarn of All

Yesterday, I was sooooo sick, I just laid in bed and wished for death. I had a killer migraine and if I even moved a quarter inch I became terribly nauseated! Then I spent most of today feeling like I was hungover recovering from yesterday's headache. Yuck! I hate being sick. I want to show you the most incredible yarn in the universe. The inexperienced eye may not know to appreciate it, but this is my 9 year old daughter's handspun. It truly is priceless. If I looked forever I would never find this yarn's equal. I am so fortunate to be able so show it off on my blog!

Kaelen's first handspun lovingly created on her drop spindle. She has decided she will make it into pot holders. I kind of want to keep it forever, but it's hers and pot holders will be wonderful. She is already spinning more yarn and she says it's much better. I don't know this yarn is perfect to me. The family was watching a movie over the weekend, A Never Ending Story, great family flick. And I decided it was the perfect time to make a ball of yarn into a hank. So I decided to use one child's knee on one side and one toddler's foot on the other and wrap my ball around them. Those kids have terrible tension, when I took the yarn off their appendages it was all over the place. I had to rewind it into a ball and then rewind it into a hank! Took forever!

Anyways, I wasted all this time because I wanted to rinse it, it's Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and the darker colors tend to bleed, and as this yarn is the trim for my victorian pink Gigi, I don't want it to muck up my knitting. So I rinsed it in cold water and vinegar. It took four separate rinses till the water stayed clear, and then I took a pic of the drying hank, just for something to blog about. And there you have it almost two paragraphs! Wonderful. Tomorrow I plan to show off the finished scarf, and maybe make fun of my mom a bit. We'll see.