Inspired by Wendy Johnson and others, I've decided to give this blog thing a try. So here goes... my first post!

The topic here is knitting. So what am I knitting? Well, I've finished the back and the sleeves of the Native sweater from Rowan #29 and have finished re-knitting Elizabeth I by Alice Starmore (saga to come!) and am ready to block and sew up the seams. Check out works in progress for some older pics. I've just finished fall vests for the boys out of Regia sock yarn (see hot off the needles) and am starting on some matching socks with the left-overs.

More on these and other projects-in-the-works as the blog progresses.

Rather than knitting, I'm working on getting this blog all set up!

Here's an attempt at incorporating some pop-up image windows. Click here to get a picture of my progress on Native and here to see Elizabeth I.

If this works, I'm off to block Elizabeth I!

Well, I've got one arm of Elizabeth I pinned down for blocking (that sounds funny!). With two toddlers I don't have much "safe" space to lay things out for blocking, so I'll have to do one piece at a time and it will take me a few days to get all of them ready for sewing. I'm actually looking forward to the sewing this time, for two reasons.

First, this is my very first raglan sweater. It's only my fifth adult sweater over all, but I've had problems on the others with the sleeves and shoulders not sitting or draping really well. I'm hoping that the raglan will just be a better fit.

Second, this was my one UFO (unfinished object) after a year and a half of knitting and I'm excited about it finally getting done. Much thanks go to my knitting group the Knitsmiths and the ASOF'ers at Yahoo Groups for inspiration!

I just can't wait to put the sweater on after all the problems I've had with it (my substitute yarn was quite a bit off on row gauge and being new to knitting, I didn't realize how important that was). I've ripped out and reknit about 50% of it and since I'd let it sit for so long, I had to unkink the yarn before reknitting. Thanks to Bagateller for posting instructions and pics to guide others through it! Anyway, now it should fit. The yarn I chose (Orkide from Marks & Kattens) is soooo soft and beautiful and I just love the shaping and detail of the sweater itself. Here's a close up of the edge pattern and darts on the arm. Pretty, pretty!

This blogging thing is pretty cool. I'm working on integrating this page into my website, so bear with me if things get wacky for a day or two. In the meantime...

Must... not... begin... new... project! I'm still blocking Elizabeth I (here's what I hope is a better picture of the detail than I posted last time). I always want to start a new project as soon as I'm at the sewing stage of the last one. I just miss the actual knitting! So, Iam having a real hard time restraining myself. I'm not up to starting the front of Native just yet (too much concentration required!) and there's a simple little stockinette sweater that keeps calling my name. But Native is promised for Christmas and with all those ends to weave in, I had better not pick up another big project right now.

Of course, once I'm done sewing....

I've managed another day without starting a new project. Yay for me! I'm finally finished with the blocking and I'm sewing up Elizabeth I. Here's a picture of the sweater finally taking shape. I stopped at this point to slip my arm into it and get a feel for how it will fit. Oohh, it felt good!

So the moral of the story: don't give up on those projects gone bad. After I first knit it, this sweater was all kinds of too long and the front and back had totally different gauges and I was really disappointed. But now I think it might just turn out great! Yippeee!

Well, I'm still sewing! Since this sweater is so lovely and has such a simple design (white stockinette stitch in a fine gauge) I'm really working on making the seams as good as I can get them. Here's a new picture.

I'm a little worried about how large the neck opening is. I know there will be quite a few decreases as I pick up for the neck edging (knitted to match the cuffs and bottom), but right now the thing is gigantic. Gauge and stich count are both correct though, so I'm just assuming this will be another one of those magic design moments where things transform themselves even though you don't exactly understand how. I'm sure that Alice knows what she's doing!

I haven't woven in any ends yet, but otherwise I have finished the sewing for Elizabeth I and the neck did shrink down quite a bit, aided by my radical decreasing (way beyond what is called for in the pattern).

Results: First the sweater itself is just beautiful, in my humble opinion. I am very proud that I finally got it to this stage and that it came out looking so wonderful. BUT, there are small gathers all the way around the neck caused by my extreme decreasing. They're not unattractive, but I know it would look a lot better if they were not there. I'll try blocking and if that doesn't work, I'll rip out the neck and do my decreasing over several rows instead of all at once. The real problem is that I seem to have made the whole thing one size too big. It's looks lovely on but is long and loose and I had hoped that it would be more form fitting. I still don't seem to have the hang of estimating how big/small to knit stuff for me and how to regulate the amount of ease. I do take measurements and compare with other garments but I always seem to be just a little off. I was actually worried that this sweater would be tight!

So, I am a little disappointed that the sweater didn't come out exactly as I had imagined it, but I do love it and I am looking forward to wearing it after it's all finished. In fact, now that I know that it's not perfect, I should feel more comfortable about putting it on and exposing it to the harsh elements outside of the closet!

Right now I can't handle the thought that I will probably go back and frog quite a bit of Elizabeth I , so I'm on to something entirely different: socks! These will be for the boys. I have quite a bit of yarn left over from their vests, which I recently finished (see this year's finished projects), and have decided to make them a couple of pairs of matching socks out of the leftovers.

Ahhhh, socks. What a pleasure. Small, simple, no massive gauge or sizing concerns. Just cast on the right number, knit to a goodly length and make a toe. To keep it interesting I am going to try doing short-row heels for the first time. I prefer the look of short-row heels to heel flaps and not having to pick up is a plus, but we'll see how they come out.

I found a clear pattern at Children in Common charity knitting site and got this far. Then I tried the heel, hated it and got back to here again, then tried it again, hated it and here I am again! Finally, after finding some tips here at Wool Works, I got around the heel. And voila!

Now I just have this one to finish and then seven more!

I haven't knit very much in the last few days, but I did get to the yarn store! I bought some yarn for two adorable winter hats for the boys - a bear hat and a tiger hat. I want to get these done before Halloween so that the boys can wear them as we greet people at the door.

The pattern is from Zoe Mellor's Double Knits book, which I just love. It's got pairs of patterns (modelled by twins) and they're just so cute! I'm trying to make as many as I can before the boys get too big for the designs (up to 3 years). I'm also planning on making the sweaters from the cover.

I did do some knitting, enough at least to finish my first short-row sock. Here it is!

When does it become time to give up on a project? How many times are you willing to redo a garment that you really love to get it right?

More specifically, what the heck should I do with my Elizabeth I sweater?? I just can't decide and go back and forth everyday about it. To recap (check out last weeks' blog entries below), it's come out just beautiful, but is clearly a size too big. And although I must say that I am happy to find out that I am smaller than I imagined, I am not as thrilled about wearing it as I had hoped. My dilemma: although I am honestly quite pleased with how it looks, I just keep thinking how much more amazing it could look if it actually fit me!

The options are:

1. Just leave it and love it.
   
2. Redo the neck so that the emergency omigod-this-is-huge decreases are less visible and leave the rest, let's say, to drape very loosely.
   
3. Undo raglan seams, frog front, back and sleeves down to the armholes (again!) and try to math-up some smaller/shorter version of the top part. It would fit better around the bust and the shoulders, but the body would still not be form fitting at all.
   
4. Undo all seams, frog entire front and back, reknit them in the smaller size and frog the sleeves as necessary to have raglan decreases match.
   
5. Throw it in the back of the closet and never speak of it again.
   

Help! What do you think?

OK, no lions, but the cute tiger and bear hats for the boys are underway. Here's the front of the tiger hat in all its bobbin glory and here's the finished front and back.

Since I'm not so excited about sewing right now after all the recent Elizabeth I finishing, I've begun the bear hat as well. So far it's only a brown rolled edge and not quite photo worthy.

I bit the bullet and have begun to take apart my Elizabeth sweater. If you haven't read about all my trials with this sweater so far, you can check out the elizabeth I archive page. I decided that I can make it fit better and since I've already reknit most of it once, I know it can look good after being unraveled and redone.

It is a little sad, though. I had a wearable garment, which was unfortunately just too big (see here) and on top of that I did a marvelous job with the sewing. It's so depressing (not to mention tedious) undoing all those perfect seams! Here's some before and after pics of today's destruction.

It is, however, helpful to know that others, like Ivete are out there unraveling as well. Thanks Ivete for the feedback and support!

... it has ceased to be... it is an ex-sweater.

Here's the back of Elizabeth I (since this is the third try with this darn thing, I should just start calling it Elizabeth III!). I'm leaving the other half as is for now so that I can use it to judge how much smaller the back is as I reknit it. Anyway, the ripping went fine, no knots in my stomach, which makes me think I made the right decision, and not all too many in the kinky yarn. But I can't quite work up the energy to start the whole straightening the yarn process. Again.

I've been blocking the little bear and tiger hats and as soon as they're dry I can add on the ears and then sew them up. Yeah! I've been languishing here for a while without any finished projects and am looking forward to being able to update my hot off the needles page. I've got lots of extra yarn and except for a few rows with the bobbins, the project is pretty easy, so I have decided to make another tiger hat for my nephew. And maybe some tiny Opal tiger socks for his new little brother (born in August). All part of my elaborate plan to avoid reknitting this sweater!

Just in case you all were obsessing over the Elizabeth I sweater as much as I am, I'll share a few links with you that I found last night. I was trying to find pictures of finished versions of the sweater to get a better sense of how it should look and all the things I could do better (very healthy, huh?).

So here's what I found. The German yarn store Wolle & Design has the picture from Tudor Roses posted. Next is Mara's gallery with a couple of pics of Elizabeth I (scroll down about half way and you'll recognize it). I see she decided to do it in white too. And it looks perfect. So it is possible - it can be done. Of course I didn't do the center panel with the cables. I decided that I liked the shaping of the sweater most of all and I don't like having yarn-overs in critical areas, if you know what I mean, so I left it out. Caroline, from the ASOF group, also has a picture in her gallery. She did hers in blue but in cotton, which she said led to some problems with its stretching out and not holding its shape. It still looks great, though! And look at all the other amazing sweaters she's done! Finally, Sandrine's version (scroll all the way down), in red and all the way from France. She did a fabulous job on hers and she's also done Mary Tudor, which is one of my "someday when I am a much better knitter" projects. Wow!

Not all too much to report from the blueroom here. I'm washing and straightening the yarn from Elizabeth I. Take a peek at the yarn drying on hangers over the tub. And I'm finishing the little tiger hat. I tried it on the boys for a quick size check. Here's a dark, but still cute picture.

Woo hoo, yarn delivery today! I got the Opal tiger yarn from the friendly folks at Carodan Farm, and in record time too. I've should have plenty of time to make up some little tiger socks for my new nephew for Christmas.

Finally, a new finished project! The tiger hat is all done and looks pretty gosh-darn cute, if I do say so myself. The bear hat still needs ears and seams, but will definitely be done in time for Halloween.

Otherwise, I'm still washing the Elizabeth yarn and should start reknitting the back over the weekend. And I've cast on for another of the baby stripey socks. That's four works-in-progress, including the Native sweater (which is slowly approaching unfinished-object status) and four Christmas projects that I have yet to start. Aack, knitting overload!

Just got back from our local knitting group. We had a great crowd today (lookie!) and some really great projects (check out the knitsmiths' page for some photos). Today there were about six sweaters going, a hat, three blankets, a pair of fair-isle mittens and I was working on the stripey baby socks. We had some new knitters working through their first projects - like Anna, who finished the back of her first sweater, yeah! - and experienced knitters doing what they know best - like Claire who was crocheting more of her amaaaaazing handbags. And we like to bring in the stuff that we've finished so the whole group can oh and ah together. We rule.

Since our founder is in charge of the crafts section at the Brookline Booksmith where we meet, we usually get an early look at some of the new knitting books. We've gotten to take a peek at Knitter's Stash, Vintage Knits and Knitlit when they were hot off the presses. Today Dava brought the fabulous new book Norsk Strikkedesign, which I both so want to buy and actually be able to knit something from!

Next week is the Knit Out (and Crochet too, of course) in Boston, conveniently being held at our regular knitting time! I've never been to one of these events, but I'm excited about being around so many other knitters. I hope it will be like the knitsmiths, the knitting bloggers and my local yarn store all rolled up into one and then multiplied by ten. Can't wait!