Lighted Window

A Tomten at Our House

This has been a slow year for knitting, for me. One long (though not large) secret project, still in the works. One Olympic dash (you saw that one). One small secret project, given at Christmas. And one toddler sweater, which was just right for book club, TV watching, and evening knitting... pity I kept falling asleep as soon as J. was down for the night. (Also, this was the year I made friends with my sewing machine, but that's another post.) So, progress was slow.

However, now that Christmas is over, the house is clean(ish), work is not biting my arse, and I have a little free time at the computer, you can finally see what I've been up to needlewise. First off is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Tomten Jacket, sized to about a 2T-3T. When I started it back in September 2009 (wince), I measured a Gap Kids sweater that I thought might fit J. the following winter... and I was right. Also, it's garter stitch, so it's nice and stretchy.

Full project notes are on the Ravelry page, but it's worth mentioning here that I did add a zipper. I followed the pictures at Not Martha and Fashion Incubator to figure out how to shorten the separating zipper and insert it properly (skipped the twill tape; discovered that a nylon coil zipper has to have its teeth cut off before their roots can be extracted). Definitely worth it to put the garment on a real body, pin it shut, and measure the zipper length live, as it were.

The recipient likes it very much, even with the hood up.

The yarn is part wool, so it's quite nice to have on a blustery November day. It was another one of those stashbuster projects that required purchasing one more skein to complete. Try as I might, I can't win :)

I take that back. Clearly this pattern was a win all around.

Sweet Victory

I finished! (In time for the closing ceremonies... this post is just a bit late.)

Yellow is not a color found much in my wardrobe, but this buttery shade goes with most of my shirts, and I'd been hankering for something new and exciting in the sweater drawer. Most of what's in there is dark, purchased by someone else (thanks Mom!), and not really my color. Also, they're all either too nice to wear around the kid, or too "well-loved" to wear in public. This yarn is 25% wool and 75% synthetic, so it should be able to handle more frequent washing. It's soft and snuggly and filled out nicely when I washed the swatch. When the sweater was finished it got a quick bath in the washing machine (agitated by hand); blocked overnight, and I sewed on the buttons during the men's gold hockey game... well before the !!!OVERTIME!!! as my husband says it.

It's just right for keeping the chill off. John loves to play with the big buttons, in fact he's been going around the house holding a plastic fried egg up to his chest to be his button. I found them at the Woolpack in Littleton. They're a yummy raspberry glazed onto a nutshell brown back, and the brown peeks around the edges in a way which stole my heart. The store stocks more than one color of these so you may see them again!

(Many thanks to my friend T. who took all these sweet photos!)

Speaking of the Woolpack, had I known they were offering a 10% discount for Ravelympics materials, I'd have bothered to tag the project and get the discount! Not so bad even without it. I used just a little over 6 balls of Universal Yarn's "Classic Chunky", at $5.75 a ball, and the buttons were $3 a piece, so $50 for a truly special sweater and almost an entire ball of yarn left over -- not bad. Not to mention the entertainment value (for yours truly anyway; husband doesn't get anything out of watching me knit). The full project details, including my mods, are up on Ravelry.

One final bit of information. While the sweater was blocking, and I was doing the dishes last Saturday night, a memory drifted into my mind. I'd been at the Woolpack, oh, probably a year ago, and the woman behind the counter was wearing a sober grey sweater with a really eye-catching design. She didn't know what the pattern was called, but she gets complimented on it every time she wears it. I eyeballed shamelessly while I paid for my things, and scratched out a sketch as soon as I got in the car:

That chicken scratch says "narrow rib", "purl st", "elbow length", and "pleat". Except for the pleat, I think it's the same damn sweater! Or close anyway; only one section of ribbing in the sketch.

So now I have something new to think about while doing the dishes: on a top-down sweater, how the heck would you introduce a pleat like that (without seaming)? Come back again soon, I'm figuring out a way. :)

The Final Stretch

The Olympics have just today, tomorrow, and Friday... and I think that will be enough time to knit two sleeves and block a sweater!

I bound off the body at book club last night and wove in the ends. It's a little roomy across the chest -- next time I will do fewer increases for the third round of ribbing -- but the shoulders fit beautifully. So glad I started over.

I also added 4 short rows across the center back (47 st or so) just before the garter stitch hem, as it was riding a little high in back.

It's a little shorter than I hope the blocked length will be. Many Ravelers mentioned that their (100% wool) sweaters stretched considerably after blocking, so although this yarn is only part wool, I left a little room for expansion.

Loving the color against that grey mush. It was sleeting when I took the picture, raining now. And the toddler in my lap just figured out how to move the mouse, so I'd better end this now before something drastic happens to it :)

Soaking up the Sunshine

Or in John's case, chilling in the snow. He loves to pick it up and fortunately isn't eating it yet.

This is the nicest February in my memory. Not warm, but extremely sunny. Will March be a doozy?

That there heap of sunshine in my lap is Shalom Take Two. I started over (with a different ball of yarn -- not frogging till I have to!) and cast on 77 stitches, following MoxyMomma's mods. The knitting gods smiled on me, and smote my work computer, so I've had a few extra hours in which to get caught up again. Much better fit this time!

However now I have a working work computer again, so I'm going to have to get caught up on that over the weekend. I figure if I can get the body of the cardigan done by bedtime on Sunday, that leaves time enough to get the sleeves worked out and done before the torch goes out. (NTS: find out when that happens!)

Ok, must knit now! Good luck to all :)

Dilemma

4 days, or about 25% into the Olympics, and judging by yarn consumption, about 25% done with the cardigan. I got to the bottom of the ribbed yoke last night, slipped the stitches onto a length of dental floss, and checked the fit.

 

It doesn't. I have been blessed with broad shoulders (several years of swimming the IM will do that to you) and the yoke only passes the edge of my shoulders if I haul on it. If I fasten all three buttons, it's a real stretch. In photos of finished Shaloms on Ravelry, most folks' shoulders hit in the middle ribbed section.

ARGH!

So I am taking 24 hours to decide what to do about it. I should have cast on 10 or 12 more stitches. The bust measurement of the original pattern isn't a problem, but the shoulders are really bothering me. And starting over now may mean that it's not finished before the Olympics are over. What do Olympic athletes do? They don't really have the option of starting over, except perhaps in swimming and track.

But, I'd rather have a sweater that fits well and makes me happy, in the end. I've been known to apply "done is better than perfect", but I don't agree so much with "done is better than wearable".

But, that is the most knitting I have EVER done in 4 days, including one precious two-hour naptime.

ARGH.

Guess I'll go measure the neckline again. I could always increase a bit with stockinette, enlarging the yoke, before binding off the armholes. But the neckline did feel a bit small last night.

If you have any advice in the next 8 hours or so, please share it! I'll probably frog it tonight. Or at least, after I get my Real Job Work done for the day. There's a lot of lost time to make up.

Opening Ceremonies

Take that, NBC. I found a live feed with, we think, Swedish commentary. Never got to find out for certain as there were no commercials.

I did indeed cast on during the opening ceremonies. Three times in fact! (It helps to use the right size needles.) Ten rows in 2 hours... twelve rows if you count some tinking. Better get a move on.

Light in February

An entirely different animal from light in August. Yesterday's sunset was quiet and subtle, not one of those show-stealing winter sunsets.

Sunset is an angel weeping, holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint, I cannot make out what it's pointing towards

(Bruce Cockburn, Pacing the Cage)

This was more of a "fear not" angel. (Like this luminescent moment.) I glanced up the street and caught its glow out of the corner of my eye. The camera did a decent job; try to imagine just a little more depth of light at the horizon...

 
In December, I tend to hunker down and pretend not to notice that the days have gotten shorter and darker. Then, in February, something shifts and I get a bit drunk on the longer afternoons and stunningly blue skies. Have to drink up every last drop before the sun goes down.

Another yellow light, sorely needed, especially at dusk when this photo was taken.

This is the yarn for my Knitting Olympics venture. Four years ago, I learned to knit, and managed a dishcloth. (Whoopty doo.) This year I'm casting on for Shalom, with Amanda's mods. It's time to stretch out and knit a real (adult sized), full-bore (not sleeveless!) garment. And I didn't think about this in the yarn store -- the yarn just about grabbed me and shook me, with that yellow color -- but it looks like I'm going for the gold this time. (Hee!)

The yarn is Universal Yarn's Classic Chunky in "primrose", and for once I actually got gauge on the first swatch (!), so I'm all set and stoked for the opening ceremonies on Friday night! Which, thanks to NBC.com being lame, I guess I won't be watching live. We don't subscribe to any TV service (not having a TV), so NBC won't let us see any "premium coverage" (unlike in 2008 when we could watch all the beach volleyball we desired on our laptops). Nertz. Maybe the pizzeria around the corner will let me watch it there?

Because of the Buttons

I saw these little Peter Rabbit buttons in a store, at least a year before I even was pregnant, and of course they had to come home and be turned into a sweater at some point. This is that sweater.

 

As usual the baby grew a little faster than the sweater... (it was a little too small when he was 9 months old). But I love how it looks all the same. Garter stitch is very stretchy and forgiving.

And when I make the next one (which is inevitable -- it's a great sweater), I'll make sure to bind off the button band more loosely. I worked applied I-cord all the way round, which makes a very neat finish, and for the longest time I thought the I-cord was shrinking the hem. Nope. It was the bind-off underneath.

 Both this sweater and the BSJ for Nora were stashbusters, too. Yay!

BSJ, 3-season version

That's not a very clever title, but I'm a little rusty.

Raveled here, the classic Baby Surprise Jacket is interpreted in a soft spring palette and an even softer cotton/rayon blend (Berroco Touche). This was a new-baby gift for our littlest neighbor, Nora, born at the end of June. (Sweater delivered while it still fit. I just haven't written it up till now.) It came out considerably larger than the "newborn" BSJs I made for John this past winter, though the gauge was only larger by 1-2 stitches per 4 inches. I am kicking myself for not measuring gauge on the other 3 BSJs before they went out the door. (A common oversight.)

It was a treat to knit up something girly-looking for a change, though in all fairness most of the things I've knit John are very gender-neutral.

I did not work out the stripes very well ahead of time, just sort of jumped in and crossed my fingers. They came out all right but next time I will work the stripes out backwards from the button band, so that the buttons are centered on the band (oops).

Two Hoots (14 actually)

(Must post February knitting before April rolls in, arrrrghhh...)

This sweet little hat reminds me of a beloved children's book, Two Hoots in the Snow, in which two somewhat daft owls "corrected" each others' misunderstanding of that white stuff falling from the sky. (My favorite theory: the big white owl up in the sky was shedding.) I hope to meet this book again someday in a box from my parents' house...

And because 9 cabled owls weren't enough for one month, here are 5 more:

 

This was my Vestuary project, and for a while it lived next to the glider in John's room and I would knit on it while he snoozed in my arms. The pattern is the Owl Baby Vest by Jodi Haraldson. I did have to tweak it a bit (the pattern seems to be off-center, changes are in my project notes on Ravelry. It does seem to correspond well to a "standard" 6-9 month baby sweater, so that's good. (Mind, most babies wear these around age 3 months... John is no exception.)

The hat uses an almost identical cable pattern for the owls; it's written up as Who? by Sarah Amoroso. It is now (I hope) warming the head of a coworker's little boy, Collin.

As soon as the vest was done I cast on for a little blue sweater, also for John, for my March project. I don't think that will get done by tomorrow evening as there are two sleeves and a few more rows on the body to do. (Those few rows are bona fide "black hole" knitting as I knit on the body all evening yesterday and every time I measure it there is half an inch to go.) It's a tidy little sweater though, all logic and smooth sailing, and I'm looking forward to posting (and using!) it.