This was by far the most fun I've had since I started blogging! Thanks to everyone who participated. I will definitely be doing this again in the near future!

late January 2004

I've retired the rip-along - what a blast that was! And I continue to love, love, love my new sweater with the old yarn. Finished one more sleeve and just have the front and neck to go.

Hey, rip-alongers, let me know when you finish new projects from your ripped yarn. I wanna see! And did you all catch Carissa ripping out her St. Brigid and Leigh ripping out her Accordian last week?! Gasp!

I can see it coming - too many sweaters approaching finishing at the same time. Teeny-tiny gauged baby sweater only needs one more sleeve and it's ready to seam. The bumpy blue sweater only needs one more sleeve and it's ready to seam. And at my current pace Banff could be all knit up by next week. Yikes! Three sweaters to finish in the next few weeks. Time for another February finishing fiesta. Anyone else in seam-stress that I can commiserate with?

I did some seaming already this weekend. I did the finishing on a child's sweater for a fellow Knitsmith. I seamed up this sweater for her a while ago and she's followed it up with another basic raglan for another grandchild. Very pretty color. Great yarn (Cascade 220!). Lovely knitting. Raglan sleeves. Truly, a pleasure to seam. If only they could all be like this!

Note to all ponch-o-longers, Elizabeth's looking for some clarification on the Rowan Zephyr poncho pattern. Check the comments from yesterday for her question and her contact info. Thanks!

Ready to seam!

A quiet day here yesterday at Hansel House and did I knit? Not a bit.

S was feeling a little under the weather. Look at his little upset tummy sticking out from under his shirt. Reminds me of my favorite baby picture of him. Awww. While S was recouperating on the sofa, B was content to play hide and seek in the kitchen cabinet.

And what did I do? I read. Whaaaaa? Okay, I'll admit that I got hooked on one of those Harry Potter books. I read the first one a while back when the books first became so popular. I wasn't that impressed and wouldn't have picked up another, but then I saw the films on HBO. Those kid actors got to me! So I finished up book #3 in the morning.

I've also been enjoying KnitLit Too, a second collection of knitting related stories. I'm enjoying it even more than the original KnitLit. Although the first collection contained a lot of touching stories, its real charm to me was how the majority of stories told familiar tales of learning to knit, failed projects, and yarn obssession. The experiences we've all shared. So far this volume seems more literary. I'm finding the stories more affecting - a single skein of yarn reknit for each new baby in the family - and funnier too - a woman attempts to knit and ice skate at the same time and another solves a crime for her husband so he doesn't have to go into work and leave her with the kids on her knitting night.

And then the new Interweave Knits shows up in the mail. Cool stuff: stripes, free-form crochet and knitted sweatpants - am I crazy for wanting to knit the sweatpants?!

Note to self: today, remember to knit.

Problems with blue.

Does this look small to you?

As we recall, I decided to stay with the original pattern, changing only the sleeves to be knitted straight instead of bell sleeves. I finished the first sleeve (long and lean!) and was more concerned about the size of the sweater than the amount of yarn remaining. I seamed up front, back and the one sleeve to try it on and barely got the thing on over my shoulders. For some reason the pattern calls for the body armhole opening to be shorter than the sleeve caps. The sleeve cap is a nice length, but cinched up to match up with the body it makes the armholes way too tight. Very strange. So I ripped all three pieces back to the armholes (I guess can't stop ripping!) and rewrote the decreases so that armhole and sleeve cap match up and so that I have 8 more stitches extra all the way around. Now to reknit each piece according to the new numbers, seam them back together again and pray.

Yesterday, I trudged out in the snow and sleet to visit a new yarn shop in my area, Circles. Best selling-point? A kids' play area and a Friday knitting circle... "kids welcome". Okay, you don't have to tell me twice! The playroom got four thumbs up from my boys. There's a nice separate space with couches for comfy knitting (with a view to the playroom) and nestled in-between is a very pleasant little store with some wonderful specialty yarns from small manufacturers along with other high-end yarns from names like Manos, Jaeger, Mountain Colors, and Karabella. Oooh, she had the most wonderful brushed alpaca from Karabella! You must go to the Karabella website right now, check it out under Yarns - B and then see the pattern they have for it, Patterns - Brushed Alpaca. Too die for fabulous! I didn't get anything yet though. I'll have to plan for something special before I can go too wild in this store!

But I did buy some yarn before the day was out. I went to the opposite end of the spectrum, A.C. Moore, and picked up the Lion Brand Homespun called for in the No-Sweat Pants pattern in the newest Interweave Knits. (See a pic here and hey, I'm up for a pant-along if anyone's interested!)

So, is it okay to bring my $3.88 Homespun to knit at the fancy yarn store knitting group?

Finished the back of chickie...

(I was off balance when taking the photo and had to tip the picture a bit in Photoshop to kill the perspective distortion. Sorry if you're getting a kind of 'visiting the Guggenheim' feeling!)

I'm really excited about this one, hoping it'll be a cardigan that looks good on me. Am I the only one who's cardigan-conflicted?? I'm having second thoughts about the must have cardigan because it's really way too boxy for me. I'd already started fiddling with the cables that I didn't like and then I just knew that I'd want to add some sort of waist shaping. And now I'm thinking that even with those changes, the pattern could still be unflattering. But not my sweet yellow chickadee, which already has waist shaping and curve-enhancing shawl collar. So I must rethink the must have and will be sticking with this cardigan for now. Sorry, must-have-ers!

Way ahead of schedule, I sat down and started my nosweat sweatpants over the weekend. First task, a little resizing. I mean did you catch the hip circumference on the largest size?? What is that, like a size 6?! Ha, ha. So I pulled out another pair of pants and measured ankle, knee, and hip to see how much rewriting of the pattern would be necessary. Although I have to add some extra stitches, the numbers I got had the same proportions as the pattern as written. So it doesn't look like I have any major maths to do. Phew!

I cast on right before Knitsmiths. By the time I got there I had concluded that I hate the Homespun. Don't get me wrong, I really like how it knits up. It's certainly soft and just right for sweatpants. But what a pain to knit. Could it be more splitty? Ugh. Once I got out the plastic needles things seemed to go a bit better (note to self: plastic yarn likes plastic needles), but I'm still not loving it. This, I do like though: the front left leg flying off my needles.

I'm getting such a kick out of knitting these sweatpants! I'm not planning on wearing these pants outside of course. They'll be like pjs, to knock about at home in. And even if they don't work out, the knitting is easy peasy (except for that splitting) and the yarn was so cheap, it's all good. This project's just for fun.

Mya - aka, the tiny-gauged baby sweater - is all sewn up. There's only the fasteners left to add. Well, to settle on and then add. The pattern calls for button loops to be crocheted on at the side of each front panel (one inside and one outside). I tried doing the loops and felt like they were stretching out the edging too much. So, I ripped them out. I briefly considered afterthought buttonholes (cutting a hole into the finished edging and stitching around it to secure the yarn, but that seems like a last resort option). The next best option seemed to be to sew in snaps. Now that the snaps are in, I don't like them. They pull too much on the stitches in the body. Even with some grosgrain behind them, I think it's too much strain on the fine yarn. So out they'll go. Fellow Knitsmith, Gina, suggested some tiny little i-cords at the sides, just like in those wrap-around baby onesies. I'd love to attach pretty ribbon, but given that one of the ties is on the inside, I don't see how I could sew in ribbon without it showing on the outside. So little i-cords may have to do. Any other brilliant ideas out there?

I'm too tired to come up with something right now.

(No knitting pictures from me today. Sniff, sniff. But if you want to see lovely knitting, don't despair. Just check out the links in the sidebar to some recently finished Banffs. They're beautiful!)

Here she is, finally. Mya. I went with the little i-cords and love them! I really like that I could pick up stitches to start the i-cord, so it would be securely attached to the garment. So much better than a button, if you ask me.

Laura asked me to compare the two baby kimono-style sweaters I've knit for anyone out there considering the two designs. The first was the koko kimono pattern from Minnies. The Minnies' kimono is more of an asymmetrical cardigan. It's a simple design, written for a relatively large gauge (US6s) - a real quickknit, just like the book subtitle says. The sleeves are knit down from the armholes, which also saves on some seaming. The Minnies pattern would be well-suited for a beginner, for someone who's looking for minimal finishing work, and anyone who just wants to make a simple sweet sweater for a new baby.

The Rowan Junior Mya pattern is a wrap style cardigan, with each front panel going all the way across the front. That gives it a more feminine look (the koko kimono is pretty unisex) and also means a lot more knitting! Mya is also written for a smaller gauge (US3s) and a finer yarn. The body is knit in one very wide piece to the armholes, while the sleeves are knit separately and sewn in. There is a lot more detailing in the Rowan pattern with its striped border (I changed it to a solid yellow) and long moss stitch edging picked up and knit around the neck. So the Rowan pattern is definitely more work, but it produces a much finer garment. Perhaps it's a better choice for the patient intermediate knitter who wants to make a very special sweater.

They're both great designs though - good, clear patterns which make beautiful baby sweaters. Go knit kimonos!

With mya now all done, I declare the finishing fiesta officially on. I'm gonna try in the next few weeks to seam my way through the current projects. First up is Banff. She is now all knit and sewn up.

Oh yeah, there's still the collar to do. And the only yarn I have left is the little handful lying next to it. Will it be enough? Let me give you a hint - no. But I'm charging ahead anyway.

How fitting that my love affair with Banff culminates on Valentine's Day.

I love this sweater! I only wish I'd had more yarn to make the body longer and the collar larger. I am hopeful about blocking it longer, though. Considering that stretching was one of the problems with the original ribby cardie I knit with this yarn, I don't think it'll be too difficult to get another half inch out of it. Of course, knitting those sleeves an inch or two narrower would have given me plenty of yarn to lengthen the body, but I LOVE those sleeves! They are my favorite thing about the sweater. I blocked the ribbing out on the sleeves so they would be nice and full. But I did not block the ribbing on the body. I wanted it to hug my waist, otherwise the whole sweater would just look too big, I think (note to those knitting this sweater: I also went down a couple of needle sizes to a US8 and had a gauge of 16st/20rows over 4". So that also slimmed down the bulkiness of the sweater a tad). Now I think it looks perfect! Even with the shorter collar. That's as far as the yarn would take me. I bound off the neck with a two foot long scrap I found at the bottom of my project bag! Another small miracle from the yarn gods, who have watched over this yarn twice now.

(PS - The blue blog is moving! I'm outgrowing my space here and am switching servers. I'll be taking a week off to transfer everything and get the new blue pad all set up. Come back in a week and I'll direct you to the new - and ever so slightly improved - blue blog. See you then!)

Still working on the finishing touches of the server move. You may have been redirected here from another part of the site. The archives and gallery pages are under reconstruction, so they're offline until I'm all finished. Everything should be done tomorrow or Monday at the latest. See you soon!

The blue blog is back! New domain, new MovableType install, a new page or two. Poke around a bit.... you like-y?

Well, this isn't a blog about blogging, so let's get on with it!

Believe it or not, I did manage to do some knitting during the move. I've reknit the armholes on all the finished pieces of my bumpy blue sweater that was coming out too small. I still haven't seamed them up yet, so who knows if my calculations made enough of a difference. And I still have the last sleeve to knit, but I'm waiting until I can be sure that I've got the numbers right before I start that last piece. I don't know if its the accomplishment of having reknit half the sweater, or successfully moving the blog, but I'm starting to think that I might have enough yarn for this sweater after all.

And look what I got on my last visit to Circles Knitting Salon, my lovely local yarn store with the mom's knitting group.

A beautiful little treat for all my hard work last week.

Okay, so the brushed alpaca wasn't my only yarny treat to myself in the last weeks. I made a few additions to my stash while I was away. First, I got this fabulous swift from fellow Massachusetts knitter, Julia! Up until now, I've just used my husband to hold the yarn, or in more desperate times, my shoe (remember?).

Well, now I'm swifting up my Peace Fleece like a pro. How sweet it is. A big thanks to Julia (from my husband too!).

Next, since I love that blue bumpy yarn for the too small sweater so much that I'm almost sad to see this sweater reach the finishing point, I jumped when I saw some more Giboulees on sale on eBay.

And since I'm a just a sucker for Phildar on eBay, I picked up some Pegase for this baby sweater - the third in line at the baby (sweater) factory here.

There's still a wee bit more yarn on its way to me. Ahem. I guess the idea of getting more bandwith got to my head. I'll let you know if I come up with a way to store yarn in my unused server space.

I finished the front panels of my chickie cardigan.

Still loving the Peace Fleece and still loving the shape of this cardigan. I'm not feeling 100% sure about my calculations to adjust the gauge though, so the rule for this project is going to be 'sew as you go'. Before I really get into the sleeves, I want to sew up the sides and slip the body on to check that the fit is right. Then I can use the same conversion ratio to figure out the numbers for the sleeve and sleeve cap. Measure twice, knit once, right?

Hey, speaking of Peace Fleece (we were, weren't we?), did you see Melissa's finished Banff - in Peace Fleece? Beautiful! And an excellent yarn choice for the sweater. But then again, what wouldn't look good in Peace Fleece??

Here's hoping I do.

I was feeling a little uninspired about knitting yesterday and went upstairs to switch active projects, when I realized that all of my current projects are simple, solid-color stockinette stitch. Ugh. Chickie, although beautiful, is getting boring. And I can't even think about those miles of straight knitting on the sweatpants right now. Somebody help me - I'm stuck in stockinette! At least the yarns are interesting: Peace Fleece, soft Homespun and the bumpy blue Giboulees. And then there's my gorgeous Karabella Brushed Alpaca splurge yarn. Oooh, yummy! Knitting doldrums over.

This yarn is so fluffy, it's like roving. I absolutely love it! Since it's a very chunky knit (US15s), I was hoping that I could get a hat out of one ball (yeah, I'm knitting it flat, since I don't have any short US15 circs and I don't mind seaming). But a check of the ball band set me right: 35yds! To paraphrase Roy Scheider - "you're gonna need a bigger ball". Another $15 later and all I can say is that this hat had better be fabulous with a $30 price tag!

But wait, here's a free fluffy cure for the knitting doldrums: Knitties from GGH yarns.

They're e-cards you can send to your knit-buds with wacky little knitted critters on them. Strange idea, but thankfully amusing enough to help me over my sticker shock and through my stockinette stint.

I hope all you pant-alongers got your magazines! Anyone else started their sweatpants yet? Despite the stockinette, I'm cruising along on mine. Not too far ahead, though. I'm only a leg up on you. (Ba-dum-bum)

I finished both panels of the first leg and seamed them together to get a sense of how it'll fit. Looks nice and roomy, so onto leg #2. I am knitting the legs flat as called for in the pattern. What have the rest of you decided to do? Anyone knitting the legs in the round? My small circular needle was busy (with a practice hat I use to show techniques and mistakes to my beginning knitting class), so I didn't consider knitting them in the round. But I was also thinking that seams might actually be better. Isn't it the case that many garments really benefit from having a seam to give them shape and help them hang correctly? I've thought about real pants that I would wear and I think I'd be wary of pants without any side-seams at all. Any seamstresses out there (Silvia?) who can comment on this?

Hey did you see that Bonne Marie was giving away Homespun earlier in the week to make this project?? How funny! I guess I'm not the only one who got a kick out of this pattern.

[UPDATE: I just noticed that Theresa has finished hers already! Check out the pics and her thoughts on the yarn, the pattern, resizing and knitting them in the round. Thanks, Theresa!]

What's this?

Visit Magknits tomorrow and you'll see!