Category: Knitting

Forgotten but not unloved

I’m not sure how you can forget to post about such a pretty pair of socks. That color! That woolly wool!

This is my usual generic jerry-rigged sock pattern: 2×2 ribbing, heel flap and gusset, no frills. I modify the standard heel flap by adding a few more rows, it fits my high arch foot much better. I used 2.00 mm needles.

The wool is John Arbon Exmoor sock yarn. It is a lovely wool blend with a bit of nylon for durability. The colors I used are Mizzle, and Quickbeam (that orange). I’m really happy that I love this yarn, because I bought a bunch of other colors as well. You can get some of your very own at John Arbon in the UK, or at Woolly Thistle here in the US (though they are sold out at the moment-not my fault, I bought direct from the UK). I will warn you about checking out the John Arbon website, it will be difficult to resist some of their other offerings. You may see some of their yarn in future projects here at Chez Knitting Doctor.

Ah, Retirement

Yes, it is everything I’d hoped it would be.

Those socks are coming right along. This is John Arbon Exmoor Sock yarn. The colors are just lovely. I may have enough in the stash for a few more pairs. If you must have squishy-soft merino sock yarn, this isn’t it. It has a sturdy, rustic hand, and I suspect it will wear well due to the wool blend used.

Because I know someone will ask, the pins are to help in counting rows so the second in the pair ends up more or less the same length. I just put a pin in every ten rows to keep track.

Hudson Memories

Hudson Bay socks done!

Project Details:

  • Yarn: Biscotte Bis-Sock, color Hudson Memories
  • Pattern: same old jerry-rigged vanilla sock, this time with a picot cuff
  • Needles: Lykke Driftwood double points, 2.00 mm
  • Started: April 26, 2021
  • Finished: May 15, 2021
  • For: Me
  • Rating: ***** on the yarn. This is the first time I’ve used this, it is soft, but feels sturdy at the same time.

I’m on a sock-knitting binge at the moment. I have a bunch of hand knit socks that are approaching the end of their life-span, so I need to replenish the stash. Many of my socks have lasted more than a decade of heavy wear, so I definitely get my money’s worth out of them. John needs more socks too. The next pair will be for him. I already started these for him yesterday.

Oh my. This is Regia Premium Merino Yak sock yarn. I may have lost my mind here in the stash-acquisition department. This yarn is heavenly to knit with, and the yak content gives it a muted heathery color. You should go buy some if there is any left anywhere. Simply Sock Yarn carries this in the US, and Knitting Loft in Canada, if you are in the mood to shop.

Today

It’s that time of year. As the weather gets nicer, it’s time for all the outdoor projects to get started. Those big windows are the originals that were put in when this house was built decades ago, and the seals have failed on all of them. So we have scaffolding built, and measuring happening. The rectangular ones were easy, not so much with the top two curved panes. They are having to take off the framing and remove the glass panes to measure accurately. It’s a good thing that there is no rain in the forecast. They already have one taken out and measured, and are putting it back in. Given that this house was built from Halloween Fun House architectural plans, they are taking the other one out to measure as well, just to be sure.

Hudson Bay socks. I’m a little farther towards completion than that photo. I have the heel done and the gusset decreases completed. A night or two of good television should do it.

We’ve been watching Atlantic Crossing on PBS the past few weeks. It’s the story of the Crown Princess of Norway and FDR during WWII. Not sure how historically accurate it is, but it is entertaining.

Lastly, my newest journal. I love the leather, it is a deep green, and smells lovely. The company is Galen Leather, this is their leather Slim Notebook cover. It comes in other lovely colors as well. The notebook inserts are also from them, they use Tomoe River paper, which you should try if you never have. I’m using the A5 size.

Hope your upcoming weekend is full of fun and happy projects!

Getting closer, and a public service announcement

My Dockside cardigan is all seamed! And it fits! Imagine that, I used a pattern generator that works off my actual measurements, and it worked. What a concept.

I now have the wide collar and the button bands to do, and it will be done. I received some buttons that I ordered on Etsy, and have a couple more sets on the way, so stay tuned for a button-choosing post. I’m really pleased with how this one is turning out. It may well be the best-fitting sweater I’ve ever made.

And now for your public service announcement.

I posted about this on FB, but this has been one hell of a 10 days or so around here. A member of our extended family was killed in a motor vehicle accident a little over a week ago. The family was still reeling from that one, when my husband woke me up a week ago Sunday night, having a stroke in progress. It looked pretty dire initially, although his symptoms were already dramatically improved by the time the EMTs arrived. He spent a couple nights in the hospital getting some tests done, but is now home and doing well. If you weren’t married to him, you wouldn’t be able to tell at this point that anything happened. So we feel very fortunate all in all.

Since many of our friends and family are in our age group, we’ve gotten asked the question, “What do you look for? How do you know you are having a stroke?”

Stroke.org has lots of good information, but just remember F.A.S.T.

F: Face drooping

A: Arm weakness

S: Speech-any changes in speech or comprehension

T: Time to call 911

Time really is of the essence here. If you have a typical ischemic stroke (due to blockage in a blood vessel), the administration of “clot-busting” drugs can be life saving, but this is a time-critical intervention that may not be beneficial if you wait too long.

If you or anyone you know has any of these symptoms, call 911. Don’t just wait it out, don’t drive yourself to urgent care, don’t sit on hold with your doctor’s office. Call 911 and let the professionals sort it out. Time is brain, and you don’t get it back once it’s gone.

New Socks!

Finished just this morning!

The yarn is Retrosaria Mondim, which is a lovely Portuguese wool. It isn’t superwash, in case you are running off to buy some. The pattern is my same old jerry-rigged vanilla sock pattern. 72 stitches, 2.00 mm needles, flap heel and gusset construction. These are for me, though John looked at them and said “I’d wear a pair of those”.

Fortunately I have more colors of this in the stash. I have more colors of damned near everything in the stash.

Antarktis

A finished project!

Project Notes:

  • Pattern: Antarktis, by Janina Kallio
  • Yarn: Cascade Heritage Silk, 437 yard. 85% Merino, 15% Silk
  • Needle: Oh for Pete’s sake. I didn’t write it down. I’m pretty sure it was a 3.5 mm, since there is one sitting on my desk that hasn’t been put away.
  • Started/Finished: 3/6/21-4/17/21.
  • For: ??
  • Modifications: None, though this is one of those great little shawl patterns that you can adjust to use up whatever yarn you have. It also would work well in different weights of yarn
  • Project/yarn rating: ****/*****. The pattern itself is well written and dead easy. There are charts for the lacy bits which are totally confusing, and I’ve been knitting from charts forever. The yarn is divine.
  • What I learned: Again, not having a job that requires me to get my butt out of bed and go to work is great for finishing knitting projects.

One more photo:

Progress

I didn’t mean to just disappear again. I am finding that the list of things to do isn’t any shorter when you are retired, in fact that list just gets longer. And the list of course includes the occasional nap on the couch, and getting lost in a book for an entire afternoon, so sometimes the list doesn’t get done at all. And that is OK with me.

I’m making good progress on my Dockside Cardigan. I blocked the finished pieces this morning, I just have the sleeves left to knit, and then put it all together and put on the collar and bands.

Oh right, I’ll need buttons. Where do you all buy buttons? I haven’t finished a sweater with buttons in quite some time so have no idea where to shop.

Anyway, here are the pieces.

The pieces do match in size, it just doesn’t look like it from the angle that I took that photo.

I like how the ribbing on the front transitions into the decorative bands. It’s a bit hard to see since the fabric is dark due to being wet. And I see that I need to straighten out that ribbing edge.

I have a good bit of the first sleeve done. I discovered the utility of the “smart counters” in KnitCompanion while doing this. I knew they were there, but had never used them before. They are perfect for those “at the same time” shaping directions. Once you set up the individual directions, as you knit through each row, it pops up when you are supposed to start a shaping direction. And it doesn’t let you advance to the next row unless you’ve “cleared” the shaping counter by tapping it. It is ingenious.

The sleeves have the same shaping of the ribbing, every 4 rows you take out one of the rib repeats. I think I am going to love this sweater.

That’s all for now. I might have a finished project for you next time!

One Third

I finished the back piece of my new cardigan sweater this morning. That means the whole thing is about a third done. Fronts and sleeves left to knit, then the sewing up.

This is the pattern I’m using. I can’t say enough good things about the CustomFit patterns. It’s “easier” to just buy a pattern and start knitting, but this has you do your body measurements first, then customizes the pattern to your measurements, using your exact stitch and row gauge. I’ve always found it sort of a crap shoot whether sweaters are going to fit or not. With this method, I suspect I have a fighting chance. Her designs are all fairly classic shapes, nothing really very trendy, and I think they are all knit bottom up and in pieces. Check it out if you’re looking for something similar.

Feather Duster

Project Notes:

  • Pattern: Feather Duster Shawl, by Susan Lawrence
  • Yarn: Biches et Bûches Le Petit Silk & Mohair, Very Light Blue
  • Needle: 3.5 mm
  • Started/Finished: 10/5/2019-3/17/2021
  • For: Me
  • Modifications: None, other than the occasional chart misreading
  • Project/Yarn rating: *****/***** This is a pretty easy pattern, though it is charted only, if that bothers you. I love this yarn, I have another batch of it in a pale pink.
  • What I learned: Lace doesn’t have to take forever once one decides to sit down and work on it. Retiring from my job also has helped in Finished Project output.

Fluff!

This one is getting close to being done. The pattern is Feather Duster, the yarn is Biches et Bûches Le Petit Silk & Mohair. I’m in love with this yarn, it is just a big cloud of baby blue fluff. I got mine at Tolt Yarn & Wool, which is my nearly local yarn shop.

This is a pretty dead-easy pattern, though knitting it in this yarn means you have to be very careful to not make errors. Ripping this stuff out is nearly impossible. It’s one of those shawl patterns that you can adjust to fit the yarn you have, I had three skeins of this yarn, and just kept knitting repeats. I have 5 rows left in my current repeat, and about 8 grams of yarn left, so will bind off at that point. Each row is taking at least half an hour though, and I have close to 400 stitches on the needles. I keep thinking “I can finish this today”, but see above about not being able to undo mistakes, so I’m just taking it a row at a time.

Retirement, Month 2

If there was ever any concern that I would be bored in retirement, stop worrying. I am having a blast, with no regrets, and no thoughts of “oh, maybe I’ll keep my work privileges and work a few days here and there”.

Nope. Just nope. I’m already running into the problem of too many fun things to do and not enough days in the week. And we’re in a pandemic in crappy weather, so I’m stuck at home, indoors. Once the weather gets nice and we’re all given the green light to get out in public, I may have to give up sleeping.

Of course I’ve been knitting. I’m trying to pare down my WIPs (works in progress, for the uninitiated). My ideal number of on-the-go projects is five or six: a sweater, a sock, a lace thing, a simple mindless shawl for knitting when I’m doing something else, and perhaps one or two small things (think hat or mittens). I’m getting there. I still have 3 complicated lace shawls in progress, but my goal is to get that down to ONE complex lace shawl at a time, in the hopes of actually finishing things.

The sweater project that I mentioned a few posts back has been started. After a lot of dithering around, I found a CustomFit sweater pattern by Amy Herzog that is just what I was looking for. It is her Dockside Cardigan. If you aren’t familiar with her patterns, she sells pattern templates that you can personalize with your measurements and gauge.

That’s a photo from the pattern page on Ravelry. Isn’t that pretty? Here is where I am now:

I think this will be perfect for this yarn.

I have bunches of other non-knitting projects in the works, but I’ll save that for later. Happy Monday!

Unraveled

No, not that Hudson cardigan sweater. That is finished as of this morning. The bit of collar that was finished last is drying, and then I’ll do a “finished” post.

It’s this*:

I started this one forever ago. 2018, according to Ravelry. The pattern is Shinsetsu, which is quite pretty. That is nearly the whole back, about a few inches short of shoulder shaping.

Here is what it looks like now.

I have gotten at least marginally smarter about choosing flattering patterns as I’ve had more experience in sweater knitting. This pattern is gorgeous, but it is intended to be worn with quite a bit of positive ease, and has a drop shoulder type of construction. This is actually very similar to the one I just finished. However, that one is in a lighter yarn, and the fabric has a lot of drape. In this yarn it will just be a big bulky sweater with a lot of baggy bulk under the arms.

I sort of knew this. I kept knitting along until I got to the part at the underarm where you add even MORE stitches to make it wider. Then it went into time out when I got distracted by a new, shiny pattern. There probably was a reason why it went into time out.

Also, if you click on that pattern link, and look at the photos, you’ll see one of my knitwear designer pet peeves. The model is crouching down, or standing with her arm out, holding the sweater out. No straight-on shots to show what it really looks like.

Anyway, I adore this yarn, and want a wearable sweater out of it, so out it came. John was a bit horrified. “All that WORK!”

I’m swatching again to make sure, but I think this will be the new sweater. It has a much more fitted profile, and I like the cables a lot more.

Stay tuned.

*Cat included for scale. I put that sweater down, and picked up my phone to take a photo. That’s how long it took Ripley to make herself at home.

Almost there

Whew. This is a LOT of seaming. I have the shoulders joined, the sleeves in, and one side seam done. I’ve been mostly estimating the fit until I got to this point, but I’m quite relieved to be able to try it on. I think this will be a wardrobe keeper once done.

It should hang better once the lace collar is knitted and sewn down, that will stabilize the shoulders better. And those clips holding one side together make it heavy on that side so it looks lopsided.

I predict that I’ll be happy with this one!