Persistent Knitter

An interesting/odd website:

http://www.quiet-time.com/

From what I can tell it’s like a picture book/short story combo. The one story I read (about a guy who lost his cat) was … interesting.

I just love dale patterns. I’m so tempted to buy the newest book, which contains the (latest) cutest sweater ever here:

Given the right color combo, this would even look spiffy on a little boy. However, I still need to even start Alex’s sweater, which I already have the yarn, pattern and everything for.   So I’m being good. For now.

For Sandy, the sky outside my house last night.  I’m loving the cool weather we’re having:

I have been so busy lately, that I don’t even know what I’ve been doing to make the time fly by! I have managed to do some minimal knitting. I’m almost done with the front of Bjerk; I have 7 very small rows left to do on one side of it.  There are no pictures because I’m lame, and too busy!  You’ve seen the most exciting part already, the patterning across the chest.   The top of the sweater is knit in the dark blue.  After that I have another 6 or 7 inches on the back, and the back neck shaping; which should go really fast. 

I apparently thought I’d get a lot more done on it because I’ve already pulled out the DPNs for the sleeves and put them in my knitting basket. Wishful thinking I suppose.

I did manage to sneak in a fitting session with my mom when she swooped through town recently.  It’s fitting perfectly and I’m glad I added the extra length in the bottom part of the body.  Based on this fitting, I also have confidence I know how long to make the sleeves. According to the knitting experts in my group, I should just follow the sleeve cap instructions as is, and there are good chances it will work out just fine. I might do a few pre-calculations to see how off my row gauge is, because I typically have to change the rate of increases on the sleeves or they end up too short and fat.

Knit Foundry Update
This update should really be over there, but it’s harder to update there because I need actual web site editing software.  Ah well.  We are getting ready to launch our first offering of products!!  Unfortunately this does not include the software, Knit Visualizer.  That is creeping towards being ready, but isn’t quite yet. I’d rather spend the extra time and get out all the bugs I know are there, than have to release a patch soon after releasing the software.

So what are we going to have for sale? (Again, no pics yet, because these will take a bit more setup to make them look super snazzy)

• The ultimate in DPN storage!  Nothing like a fabric pouch – this is a lightweight, see-through container that lets you store DPNs up to 8" in length. Dividers allow you to store multiple sets of needles without fear of mixing up the different sizes.  Also great for stitch holders, crochet hooks and other accessories. The lid will not come off in your knitting bag, so it’s safe to toss it in any which way.  One end is shaped to allow it to stand up on a flat surface.  We will be offering these in 8" and 6" lengths with at least the following colors: green, blue, raspberry, yellow, red, purple, and white.  Dividers will be white.
• The coolest DPN point protectors you’ve ever seen! (Yes, a picture here would be useful. Soon!)  Hold your DPNs together securely using this elasticized set of point protectors. Works for sock projects, sleeves, anything you use your DPNs for.  The Bright color and funky shape make it easy to find and use.  Standard length is for 8" DPNs, also available via custom order in shorter or longer lengths.
• A new gadget to help you mark your charts while working on them. This one really requires a picture, so I won’t say more now.  Trust me, it’s cool!!!

My local knitting group (aka, "The Market Research Group") is very excited about these products, and so am I.  I’m going through the final process of setting everthing up to be able to sell them on the website, hopefully starting October 1st.  More updates soon!

Continuing along August’s theme – "Finishing Stuff I’ve Started", I’m back to working on Bjerk. I’ve got a deadline of late November for it, so need to get cracking!  Here’s my progress:

I’m about 1/4 of the way done if you count the body as 2 units of work and the sleeves as 1 unit of work each.  It measures 14" long and 20" across here.  I’m very pleased that the colorwork doesn’t appear to be drawing in much at all, even considering I was using three colors for part of it. It does have a bit of puckering in the fair isle sections, but not much, and given how well Hardangervidda blocked out I have a reasonable expectation that this one will block just as well.  (I’m using the same kind of yarn and the same basic technique).

For the rows that used three colors, it took me about three rows to figure out how to not have a huge tangled mess.  Having each yarn in a particular location and picking up and dropping the right yarns at the right time, and not catching any floats were the key.  I’m sure I learned the same lesson earlier in the first patterned section, but since it’s been so long since I did that – I had forgotten all those hard earned lessons!

I’m now working on the front and back of the body, each worked flat after dividing.  The sweater has set in sleeves, which is a technique I’ve not used before in a knitted garment (and I really wouldn’t count any of the set in sleeves I may or may not have done in home-ec classes in high school).  To divide front from back, the pattern has you cast off a number of stitches at each side, then removes more stitches at each armhole edge by casting off in a stair step fashion.  Knowing I won’t like the way a stair step looks or how hard it will be to sew in a sleeve against it, I decided to use decreases at the sleeve edge instead of casting off. It works out to the same number of stitches, and will only look slightly different if you get up close. Given that it’s in the armpit area, I’m pretty confident nobody is going to look too closely!

I briefly considered leaving all the stitches live, but the sleeve is worked from the cuff up instead of armhole down.  Since it’s my first time doing a set-in sleeve I’ll at least follow the pattern on that part.  I’m currently doing both front and back at the same time, that way I only have to keep track of the decreases once instead of a second time when I get to the other side.  This will work until I have to divide again for the front neckline, and then I’ll finish off the front before finishing the back.

The sweater is knitting up quickly, and I’m really enjoying the colors involved (we made up our own colorway based on the preferences of the intended recipient).  I know I have a lot of work ahead.  I haven’t had to rip it out yet, so I’m already ahead of where I was with Hardangervidda.  I do expect to do some ripping on the sleeve cap, but maybe I’ll get lucky and only have to do it once :)

I’m a sucker for a pretty bag.

It’s a Lantern Moon bag, and I’ve liked a lot of their larger bags, but just couldn’t resist this one.  Perfect for toting around a sock project. I actually have two sock projects inside it right now, the first is modeling with the bag. (That’s the Sept SOTM kit from theknitter.com).  The inside is made of a slickery material, an ultimate requirement in any knitting bag I use. The outside is sturdy and as you can see, stands up nicely on it’s own. It has a drawstring closure that makes it a bit hard to dig around inside the bag even when fully open, but lets you easily get your project out while leaving the ball inside the bag while you work.

It’s a bit more attractive than the unshaped totally squishable sock-knitting bags I’ve made myself in the past. The big difference being I can’t shove this one inside my purse.  Ah the price we pay to be fashionable!

Not a very exciting entry title, but appropriate none-the-less.   I have been spinning blue yarn:

Starting from top left, and working clockwise: Unspun roving.  Approx 3 oz of spun yarn in two skeins (the smaller was what wouldn’t fit on the first bobbin when I was plying it) and my two tiny sample skeins from when I was deciding how to ply it.  I ended up deciding to make a two ply yarn.  It’s probably around sport to dk weight. Don’t quote me on that, because I’m terrible at judging the size of yarn :)

As you can see from the roving, it’s really got some great colors in it. I bought it that way, cuz I wanted to be able to just sit down and spin something pretty.  Well, because it’s all dyed and blended and put up into a nice combed roving, all the life has gone out of each individual fiber. I was having a dickens of a time figuring out how to spin it that wasn’t going to take 10 years by pinching every single group of fibers out worsted style (also called the inch worm method).

I drafted it a ton, I tried spinning it from the big huge bundle. I tried long draw (that didn’t work at _all_), finally a friend who is smarter than I am suggested trying to spin it from the fold.  Well, since it was no longer in anything resembling lock form, I had to get it into small sections that were like locks. Pulling a bunch off the end worked – the staple length is about 2.5 – 3".  Suddenly – I was liking the fiber a whole lot more! I refined my method by pulling off smaller sections from the end, then piling them together when I had enough to cover my index finger.  THis had the benefit of loosening up the fibers when I was making my small pile, but giving me enough fiber that I could spin off it for a few minutes before having to do the next bundle.  Voila!

I spun and plyed the 3oz in a fairly short time after all that. I still have about 3.5oz left totally unspun and probably a 1/2ounce already spun into singles.  I’m debating trying to make the same exact yarn in the second skein, so that I can make something somewhat bigger OR trying to go a bit finer. I was thinking a hat/scarf/mitten set out of the whole thing (deleting the hat if there wasn’t enough)  It’d be nice if the mittens/gloves were in a finer weight yarn.

You saw the yarn Katie and I dyed in skein form. Here’s it all up in a ball, with two other different skeins dyed with koolaid:

I was trying for some particular effects, and think I failed pretty miserably about 50% of the time.  The light yellow and blue is awful all over. The red and purple isn’t
so bad, and will make great socks for Katie, but the colors aren’t quite what I imagined.  The first one is still my
favorite. I cast on with that this week; and am in the process of
determining the best pattern for it. I do love the bright and cheery
colors.

Shh… this is your special sneak preview into the October sock kit from theknitter.com:

I hope I didn’t ruin the suprise for anyone!

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted last!  I have been busy finishing things. Last night I finished a sock (not a pair, owell), and will soon be out of socks to knit if I keep working on only socks. 
Today I did cast on something new, I guess the "month of finishing" is all done. Since it’s no longer August, I figure it’s Ok :)

For those of you looking for a bit of lace in your life. Check out this list of lace shawls to knit:

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/lace_shawls.php