Knitting – Page 29 – The Knitting Doctor

Grrrrrrrr!

We will take a short break from our Spain travelogue for a brief knitting update. After I finished the Peace Fleece sweater, I was one project short on the needles, so I started a new sweater. What do knitbloggers do when they run into a pattern glitch? Go to their readers, of course!

Here’s what I’m making:

Pretty eh? So why has it generated a string of menopausally-induced swear words in the Knitting Doctor house, you might ask?

It’s from Jo Sharp’s Handknitting Collection, Book One. I bought the book and yarn some time last year, I think, and it’s been aging in the stash until just the perfect moment. I dug it out last week, dutifully swatched, and surprisingly got perfect gauge with the yarn and needles recommended in the pattern. I cast on for my chosen size and was off doing that ribbing section. The yarn, by the way, is Jo Sharp DK Wool, which is heavenly.

After I finished the ribbing, I set it aside and looked at the cable pattern. It was written out, not charted, so I printed out some graph paper from here, and spent an evening charting it out, as I find cable charts much easier to follow. I grumbled just a bit about good old Jo not including charts with the pattern, but figured that some editor cut them due to space considerations.

The next evening I started on the first pattern row, and came up two stitches short at the end of the row. I counted, recounted, and my stitches were right, it was the pattern row that was short by two stitches. After a few swear words, I did the Google thing and found the corrections page* on the Jo Sharp website. Yup, it was the pattern that was wrong. I needed to adjust the stitch count on the moss stitch panels in the body section. This was a simple fix, I just needed to go back to the beginning of the row and reknit the first cable row. I did that, grumbling a little more at good old Jo. Then I looked again at the corrections page, and read the rest of the story. Not only was the stitch count incorrect for the two larger sizes, ALL of the body measurements had been revised. Here’s a table to explain:

Bodice Circumference (inches)

Published pattern…
A B C D
42.5 46.5 50.5 54.5

Corrected…
A B C D
33.5 38 39.5 44

For the Diagram width measurement (the width of the front/back pieces, finished), here are the measurements for size C, which is what I was going to make.
Published: 25.5
Corrected: 20

Would this piss anybody else off royally? Does anybody else think that an error of over TEN inches in body circumference is unacceptable? I took the thing off the needles to measure it, in case their “corrected” measurements are wrong, but nooooooo. I am still perfectly on gauge, and my measurements match the corrected measurements pretty well. I briefly thought of finding somebody who fit the size C measurements and packaging up the whole damn mess and mailing it to them to finish. As this is supposed to be a relaxed fit, not the Jane Russell look, it will get frogged again, and I’ll start over at the larger size. Right at the moment, the whole thing is sitting over there on a chair, in time-out. Fortunately for whoever answers the phones for good old Jo, I bought an extra ball of yarn when I purchased this, for insurance. I guess I’ll need it.

* Here, if anybody is interested. All of the pattern books have at least one correction listed, so check it out.

Finished Sweater!

I’m getting over the Bug of 2005; you know, the one that involves vomiting at a swanky holiday party, then spending the next two days in your jammies on the couch. I think I picked it up from my spouse, who has been sick for the past ten days and is just getting over it. I’m feeling considerably better today, which I attribute to the fact that I got a flu shot, and he didn’t, and that I come from much hardier peasant stock than he does. (For those of you with inquiring minds, the swanky holiday party was at our house, and no, I didn’t drink too much pomegranate punch.)

The only good thing about the Bug of 2005 is that spending two days on the couch in your jammies gives you lots of knitting time. Here’s the Not-Really-An-Everyday Cardigan, finished. Even the buttons are sewn on, my least favorite part of knitting.

No, the front is not asymmetrical, I think that I am. The button bands are actually quite straight. They should be, I had to knit one of them twice. I had the whole thing done, and as I was crawling around on the floor putting pins in to mark where I needed to sew on the buttons, I noticed that the button band was about two rows narrower than the buttonhole band. My ever-helpful spouse said that nobody would notice, but really, they would. So I undid the bind off and added a couple of rows. Here’s the “Rachel“.

And a close-up of the buttons.

Specs:

Pattern: Plain cardigan, set-in sleeves, pattern generated by Sweater Wizard software.
Yarn: Peace Fleece, in the color Kamchatka Seamoss.
Needles: Denise circs, size 7 & 8.
Started: Late September, but I took a long break while we were on vacation to Spain.
What I learned: I started this one as the Everyday Cardigan sold as a kit from the Peace Fleece people. While I just love this yarn, I didn’t love the pattern. It’s a drop sleeve style, which isn’t what I had in mind, so I ditched it and made up a pattern with Sweater Wizard. So I guess the main thing I learned is to knit what I want, not just follow a pattern. I also learned how to do buttonholes a little less sloppy, and did a buttonhole stitch around them to neaten them after I finished them.
Verdict: I like this one a lot, and I predict that it will get a lot of wear. I would definitely make more just like this, and will definitely use the Peace Fleece again. It’s not one of those soft-against-your-skin yarns, but is a good, basic wool yarn in great colors.

Last but not least, a picture of Willie being his intrepid self.

Next time, Spain Photos, Part Eleventy-Thousand.

Spain Photos, Part 3,

Or,

The Case of the Missing Sweater Sleeve

First, the knitting content. I’ve finished all the pieces to the Not-Really-An-Everyday Cardigan. There was a little sleeve mishap in the process. I finished the body pieces before we went to Spain, but didn’t take it along to work on, as it was a little bulky for the carry-on bag. After I got home and recovered from my jet lag, I pulled out the sleeve that I had started, and went back to work. I was about a third done with the sleeve, and decided to go ahead and block the body pieces and the first sleeve that I was certain that I had finished, so they would be dry and ready to start seaming when I finished that last sleeve.

The only problem was that I couldn’t find the first sleeve. I was quite certain that I had done it before we left for the trip; so certain that I tore up the house looking for it, and even considered the possibility of a sleeve thief in the neighborhood. After digging around for days and losing sleep over where it might be, I reviewed previous blog posts, counted up the balls of yarn remaining, and determined that I indeed had not ever knit the first sleeve. I do occasionally dream about knitting (OK, I frequently dream about knitting), but I’ve never actually hallucinated finishing a whole garment piece that I have in fact never started.

After some judicious swearing, I have now finished both sleeves, and it’s all blocked, ready for the sewing party, then the neck and band finishing. Here are the pictures:

Now for the Spain pictures. Today, we travel to Gibraltor. We drove from Marbella along the coast to get there, but then parked our car on the Spain side and walked across the border, thereby avoiding the hour-long line of cars trying to get over. Here’s the Rock from the Spanish side:

And walking in:

We took a guided driving tour of the city, which took us to all the major sites. It’s not that difficult to walk the whole area, but as we only had a few hours, we opted for the more expeditious way to see everything. Part of the Rock is a nature preserve, and is home to the famous “Barbery apes”, which are anything but wild at this point. Here’s one fine example:

And a few more:

A word of warning to any other Barbery ape visitors: these monkeys are little thieves (maybe that’s where that sleeve went). That cute little fellow on my shoulder snatched my reading glasses off my bag on his way down and scampered off with them. Our guide had to bribe him with a whole bag of cheetos to get them back.

This photo is a reminder of what Gibraltor meant to the British in past years:

They wouldn’t let John fire the cannon, for some reason.

We toured the Siege Tunnels that were built by the British. Here are a couple of photos from inside the Rock:

Yes, the road in and out of town goes right across the runway.

That would be the shadow of the Rock, from inside the Rock.

After a busy day of touring, we stopped at a pub in town for some very British pub food and a pint to tide us over.

Ahhhhh. And no, I was not the designated driver.

Here’s another view of that runway, from ground level as we were leaving.

I hope they don’t make any unscheduled landings here.

Back in our condo, here is John reading up on the history of Spain, with a visiting feral cat that seemed to like our hospitality. Note: if you happen to be the owner of this condo, move along. There’s nothing for you to see here. We certainly weren’t the ones who let that cat in.

That’s enough of the travelogue for today. I swear, I’ll finish these soon! I’ll leave you with a puppy photo from earlier today. Riley likes to sleep in on cold mornings. Actually she likes to sleep in every morning; she’s not much of a morning puppy.

Watercolor Socks

Project specs:
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces sock yarn, Watercolor

Needles: Size 0 for the cuff, 1 for the sock. I used Ivore double points, my favorite sock needles.
Pattern: Plain sock, generated by Sole Solution software. The sock cuff is 72 stitches, 2 by 2 rib, eye of partridge heel stitch, plain flap heel. Simple as pie.

What I learned from this project: Not much. I’ve done this sock so many times that it’s mindless knitting at its best. Perfect for a train trip, or a few rows after work when you are dead tired.

Rogue

Specifications:

Yarn: Beaverslide Dry Goods Fisherman weight 100% wool, in the color Snowberry.

Pattern: Rogue, by the Girl From Auntie. Look under “Patterns to Buy”.

Started: early January, 2005. Derailed by my hand injury in March.

Finished: October 11, 2005.

For: Me!

Gauge: 4 st and 6 rows/inch. The recommended gauge for the pattern was 4.5 stitches to the inch, and I swear, I swatched. Twice. It still came out wonky at the very end.

Needles: I used my Denise needles, size 6 (5 for the hem). I can’t believe that I would need to use a size 5 needle for heavy worsted/aran yarn, but there you are.

What I learned: Patience! This one took me a long time to finish, due to my apparent ineptitude at walking. I also have learned to keep on measuring gauge as I’m going along. This sucker is a bit big for me, but there is no way that I’m giving it away, or worse, reknitting it. I wanted it baggy, because I will mostly wear it as a jacket outside (though I’m currently sweltering in it in the house because I just had to wear it today!). This is a bit baggier than I intended, but what the heck.
I learned a lot about knitting cables also. That kangaroo pocket was a hoot to knit. Next time I do something like this with a hem, I will consider doing a provisional cast on, then knitting the hem up to the body.
Verdict: I love it! It’s baggy, but I can wear it as “outerwear”, and I’ve worn it a lot already.

Spain Photos, Part 2

But first, a finished knitting project. Don’t faint, there is still knitting going on around here. This pair of socks probably has taken longer to knit than anything. They’ve been sitting in the “I’m bored with this” pile for a month, and I finally pulled them out this week and just sat on the couch until I finished them.

And they fit perfectly!

Project specs:

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces sock yarn, Watercolor
Needles: Size 0 for the cuff, 1 for the sock. I used Ivore double points, my favorite sock needles.
Pattern: Plain sock, generated by Sole Solution software. The sock cuff is 72 stitches, 2 by 2 rib, eye of partridge heel stitch, plain flap heel. Simple as pie.
What I learned from this project: Not much. I’ve done this sock so many times that it’s mindless knitting at its best. Perfect for a train trip, or a few rows after work when you are dead tired.

At first the color pooling of big yellowish stripes bugged me, but when they occurred fairly evenly in a spiral pattern down the sock, I started to like them.

Now, on to Toledo. We took the bus from Madrid to Toledo just for the day, and had a tour guide show us around town. Probably one of the funniest language moments from our trip occurred in the Toledo bus station. We were sitting and waiting for our guide to show up, and I pulled out those socks to knit. After a few minutes I noticed a woman standing behind me watching me, and we began a conversation. She spoke no English, and my Spanish consists of about thirty food-related words. I can ask where the bathroom is, and I have a collection of medical-related phrases that can come in handy, but not in a bus station in Toledo. We seemed to be able to communicate, though. After a lot of sign language and smiling, it appeared that she is also a knitter, she knits socks, and she uses circular needles to do so. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough Spanish to ask where the yarn shop in Toledo was.

Here are the city gates of Toledo:

The cathedral is probably the biggest tourist attraction in town. You can’t take pictures inside, and mine wouldn’t have done it justice, anyway. I’m discovering that pictures inside of large dark buildings just don’t look like much most of the time. Here’s the outside of the cathedral:

Here’s one of the city streets. Yes, they drive on these.

We ran into these guys again. Though we saw Don Quixote all over Spain, this was the only statue of Sancho.

After a nice meal, we took the bus back to Madrid for another day of touring. We learned to take the metro, and walked some more. We did make it to the Palace in Madrid, though we didn’t go in due to the hot date we had with a paella waitress a little later in the day. Here’s the palace:

The next day we took the train from Madrid to the coast. This was not the fast train, and I had four enjoyable hours to listen to my Ipod and knit. Here’s proof:

While we were at the resort in Marbella, we played around on the beach, drove up and down the coast, and toured up into a couple of the white hill towns. Puerto Banus was just up the road from where we stayed, and we went there one day for lunch. John pretended that he owned one of these:

Here we are with a couple of friends that we found:

Here is one of the “white hill towns” that Andalucia is so famous for. We took day trips to Mijas and Ronda for some tourist action and more good meals.

Though it was a bit too cool to swim in the Mediterranean, we did stroll along it in the evening. Note the gin and tonic in hand.

Yes, we dipped our toes in:

And the obligatory sunset shots:

Next time: Gibraltor, Granada, maybe even Sevilla! And the Case of the Missing Sweater Sleeve, in case any of you are interested in knitting around here.

Everyday…

It’s a gettin’ closer…

Here’s where the Not-Really-An-Everyday-Cardigan is at the moment:

One back, one front, and the second front started. This is a little bit closer to what the color really is (did I mention that I got a new camera?). I’m having loads of fun taking pictures, though so far I’ve deleted most of them as a little experimental.

We spent a couple of days playing in Seattle this past week. My sister is here visiting for a work meeting, and we went to the big city to see her, get a few really great meals, and play tourist. I didn’t even get to one yarn shop. She had never been to the Space Needle, so we took the ride to the top and managed to catch a wine tasting and some great views. Here’s us drinking wine:

And the view from the top:

If that one looks a little blurry, it’s because the wind was blowing about 80 miles an hour, and I was trying not to drop the camera over the side. Here’s a view of the Needle from below:

Though you’ll note that I’m holding a real wine glass in that first picture, I’ve been banned from any activities that involve wine and walking. We are scheduled to leave for that postponed Spain trip in eight days, and I am going even if I do major bodily damage to myself between now and then.

Here’s the other thing that I’m getting ready to do:

November is National Novel Writing Month! I did this last year, and finished. In case you’ve never heard of this, you commit to writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, starting on November 1st. Here’s the website, in case any of you want to sign up. I was waffling a bit as to whether I wanted to do this again this year, but finally just gave in and signed up. I figure if I don’t finish, that I’ll be in good company. The only thing that I was concerned about is that it means I have to take my laptop to Spain with us, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to haul it along.

We’re off to Seattle again today to have lunch with my sister. I’m hoping to get one more post in before we leave for our vacation!

Rogue!

First off, a big thank-you to everybody for the birthday wishes! I just finished one of those 7-day work stretches, so I haven’t answered any emails in a week. (And given my historically lousy letter-writing skills, I may never get to all of them!) The nice thoughts are very much appreciated, though.

Here’s something little that I bought myself for my birthday:

And when you buy a set of four, you get a fifth one, with a custom picture:

Need a close-up? I thought so.

I got them at Zephyr Style, you can find ’em here.

I haven’t figured out even a quarter of the features on my new camera, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying. The pets are getting a little sick of getting their pictures taken. Lucy has gone into the witness protection program again, and I can’t find her to get a shot, but here are the other two doing what they do best, during one of those famous Pacific NW “sunbreaks”.

And finally, the knitting content. Rogue is at last done. Here are a couple of pictures:

Specifications:
Yarn: Beaverslide Dry Goods Fisherman weight 100% wool, in the color Snowberry.
Pattern: Rogue, by the Girl From Auntie. Look under “Patterns to Buy”.
Started: early January, 2005. Derailed by this in March.
Finished: October 11, 2005.
For: Me!
Gauge: 4 st and 6 rows/inch. The recommended gauge for the pattern was 4.5 stitches to the inch, and I swear, I swatched. Twice. It still came out wonky at the very end.
Needles: I used my Denise needles, size 6 (5 for the hem). I can’t believe that I would need to use a size 5 needle for heavy worsted/aran yarn, but there you are.

What I learned: Patience! This one took me a long time to finish, due to my apparent ineptitude at walking. I also have learned to keep on measuring gauge as I’m going along. This sucker is a bit big for me, but there is no way that I’m giving it away, or worse, reknitting it. I wanted it baggy, because I will mostly wear it as a jacket outside (though I’m currently sweltering in it in the house because I just had to wear it today!). This is a bit baggier than I intended, but what the heck.
I learned a lot about knitting cables also. That kangaroo pocket was a hoot to knit. Next time I do something like this with a hem, I will consider doing a provisional cast on, then knitting the hem up to the body. This pattern was just so much fun that I might make it again.
I also just LOVE this yarn. It is so soft that I can wear it without any itch-factor at all, even right next to my skin. I already have another batch on order to make another sweater. Maybe another Rogue even??

Back From Georgia

Blog Rule #1:

When you don’t know what to write, lead off with a cute baby picture, preferably a cute baby wearing something that you knit:

That’s Huck, wearing the baby bear suit that I knit for his big brother two years ago. It was a bit snug for Griffin, and I think he only wore it once for a photo shoot before it was passed on to the next child. It fits this baby pretty well, don’t you think?

We are back from Georgia, and stepped off the plane to rainy cool weather. It’s finally Rogue-wearing season! I seamed the sleeves last night and installed the first sleeve before I just got too tired to go any further. I wore it around the house with one sleeve for awhile to celebrate, but I’m not taking any more pictures of it until it’s really done. It fits fine: I could have made the next smaller size, but it is just really not cold enough here to wear this much indoors, and I wanted it big enough to fit as a quasi-jacket over my clothing. I’m hoping to finish the sewing parts in the next day or two.

I did get some knitting done while away. We had four hours on the plane each way, and I worked on the Not-Really-An-Everyday-Cardigan all the way there. Here is the progress: a finished back piece, and part of one front…

This is really an easy, knit-in-front-of-TV project. Or the project you go to when your eyes are crossed from too much lace:

Notice anything sad about that picture? Here’s a close-up to help:

At least the stitches didn’t fall off the needle. I worked on this on the way home, and as we were in a bulkhead seat, the bag went in the overhead bin for landing. I think somebody shoved it in a little too hard. One would think that I would have another pair of needles in this size, given this collection…

…but I actually had to search a bit for a replacement pair. I don’t think that the busted one is salvageable, at least not with my lack of patience for anything fiddly. I learned something new while working on the lace scarf. I reached the end of the first ball of yarn, and realized that I needed to learn how to join the next ball. Usually when I’m knitting garment pieces, I just knit the first few stitches with the old and new yarn held together, then drop the old yarn end and weave it in later. Most of the time this works just fine, and the extra bulk doesn’t really show. That method doesn’t work so well with lace. So I learned the Russian join. Spit splicing is also an option for lace work, but this is a cashmere-silk blend, and when I tried it I just ended up with a spitty mess. I think that works better for mostly wool yarns.

I’m off to sew sleeves!

New Project Monday

It is Monday, right? I’m never quite sure unless I’m at work and have to write the date nine hundred times.

The kids are all back home, and the house is mostly cleaned up. It’s awfully quiet around here, is all I have to say. They were here for 5 days, and I think we ran fifteen loads of dishes and ten loads of laundry, at least, while they were here. I have a new respect for my grandmothers. My mother’s mother had nine children, and fed and raised all of them along with the usual collection of shirt-tail relatives who lived at her house off and on over the years. She helped my grandfather run a farm out in the middle of nowhere, with no running water, and no conveniences of any kind. She made all their meals from scratch, and grew or raised most of the ingredients herself. She washed all the laundry by hand, and hung it out on a clothesline to dry, summer and winter. And here I am, bamboozled by four small children, with all the conveniences in the world! The one thing that they did leave behind was an unwelcome viral visitor. I estimate that the incubation period of that cold virus was less than 36 hours, given how fast it moved from one kid to nearly the whole family.

I appreciate all the comments on my last few posts. I have discovered the secret to getting lots of comments: just post a picture or two of cute babies, and you’re all set!

Here’s what’s happening in my knitting world. Rogue is still drying. That yarn is so heavy that it is taking forever to dry. I didn’t just steam it lightly to block it, as it’s been all over the place in the last several months, and I figured it needed a good washing. I’ll be out of town for the rest of the week, so it won’t get put together at least until I get back.

Here is what the Peace Fleece looks like now:

That color is just wrong. In real life it is much greener. This is going to be my Not-Really-An-Everyday-Cardigan cardigan. (Scroll down the page on that link to see it.) I purchased this as a kit a long time ago, but don’t really like the pattern that comes with it. It’s a bit too cropped for me, and the sleeve shaping has some issues, and I don’t like the way that those dropped sleeves look. And I don’t really like the roll neck, either. So I am using a pattern designed with Sweater Wizard software instead. It is a plain cardigan, crew neck, with set-in sleeves. It’s as basic as it gets, and I bet I will wear it to death. It’s also a pretty quick knit, given the heavy worsted weight and plain stockinette stitch.

We’re off to Georgia to visit John’s sister for the rest of the week. It’s been in the nineties there, so I’m not sure I’ll even bother to take the heavy wool with me to knit. Am I the only sick person out there, or do you all also think “I’ve got x number of hours just to sit on an airplane and knit”, when you contemplate a vacation?

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I keep forgetting to mention this in a post, but I separated out the “knitting medical types” in my “Blogs I Read” section. If you are a “knitting medical type” with a blog, and I’ve missed you, leave me a comment and I’ll get you listed over there.

Do The Puyallup!

Yes, we did it again this year. John’s kids and their kids have been visiting us this week, and no late summer vacation is complete without a trip to the State Fair. Our trip this year looked much like the trip last year, except that the little ones are a year older and enjoyed the rides and petting farm more. It was also warm and not raining this year, unlike our visit to the fair last summer. We ate lots of junk food, rode rides, looked at cows and chickens. I missed the sheep again this year, except for the few in the petting barn. I think they showed them earlier in the fair. I also didn’t make it to the craft pavilion this year to look at the knitted stuff. We all just wore out and couldn’t have looked at another thing.

I think the grandkids favorite thing was the drumming contraption:

That middle picture is Sam, and the last one is Griffin. Yes, John’s grandchildren really ARE that cute in real life.

Here’s Penelope practicing being a fireman:

She’s cute, too. They’re all cute, did I mention that?

George and I appear to have started a tradition of riding the scariest ride at the fair. Last year we did the Extreme Scream, more or less on a dare. That was pretty scary, I might point out. We decided to branch out this year. After looking them all over, we decided on the Turbo Force. Here we are getting ready to go:

Here is what it looked like:

That is pretty much the most terrifying thing I have ever done. After you get swung around in a big arc about a million times, it pauses at the very top for a few minutes while they change the passengers in the bottom seats. Then you get to do the whole thing again for another million times. And they are right, you don’t get sick. You are just plain too terrified to even think of nausea.

Here’s the sock:

This doesn’t really qualify as Extreme Knitting, because there was just no way in hell that you could have peeled my hands off those safety bars to pull out the sock at the top. Maybe next year.

Here’s the kitchen packed with kids after the fair:

And me and Huck in a quiet moment. He’s even cuter than he was when he was born.

There aren’t many quiet moments in a house with six adults trying to make themselves heard over four children under the age of four. Pandemonium just about describes it. I have gotten some knitting done, even amidst the chaos. The knitting part of Rogue is finished, and all the ends are sewn in. It’s washed and on the blocking mats. All that’s left is to seam the sleeves and put them in, and then to do the hems.

While I’m waiting for that to dry, I’m already plotting my next sweater project. This is a stashed project from a couple years ago, and here is the yarn:

That’s Peace Fleece, in Kamchatka Seamoss. I’ll tell you what it’s going to be in my next post!

More Rogue, Again

But first, the baby! John’s grandson Huck was finally born Friday night. Here’s a just-born photo:

Even though he’s a respectable 9lbs, 2 ozs, the Jolly Green Sweater won’t fit him for awhile. I made his mom promise to get a picture of him in it eventually. He’s of course perfect, which makes four perfect grandchildren in a row for John. We’re all glad he’s finally here!

Here’s where I am on Rogue:

If that looks suspiciously like where I was a week ago, look again:

One sleeve down, one more to go. I had forgotten just how much fun this pattern is. I knit a row, and think, well, I really need to get up and do something else. Then I look at the cable chart, and think, well, really, I’ll just knit another row and see how it looks. This, despite the fact that I know how it is going to look, because I’ve done these very same cables on the body already. I’m easily entertained.

Here’s my newest knitting spot:

We have more or less finished this phase of the remodeling project, and have most of it straightened up. That used to be the kitchen, where there was a traditional kitchen table and chairs. As we have a dining room table about ten steps from here, we decided to do away with the kitchen furniture and put in comfortable chairs for people to sit in. Everyone always ends up in the kitchen standing around and talking, so we decided to go with this. It’s a lovely place to sit with a cup of tea and the newspaper, or a glass of bourbon and my knitting, depending on the time of day. We have a new sofa for the living room on order (to replace the one that is ancient and cat-trashed), and I’ll show pictures of that room in its finished state when it’s here. We’re pleased with the whole thing, though my spouse has that look again, so I’m thinking that if I hold him off on more projects until next spring, I’ll be lucky.

A month or so ago I mentioned knitting while getting my hair colored. Someone dared me to post pictures, so here they are, Laurie.

Yes, that’s glop on my eyebrows, too. Here’s what it looks like done:

Yes I know, I forgot to smile. And yes, it’s redder than it used to be. If I choose to believe that this is the color I was born with, so be it. My husband hasn’t quite decided if he wants to be married to a redhead or not.

And last but not least, my favorite Bush-bashing photo of the week. What can I say, he’s so easy to poke sticks at.

Huck’s Hooded Sweater

The model is not yet born, so here is Sweetpea as the stand-in:

Project Details:

Pattern: Daisy, by the Yarn Harlot, pattern at Knitty.com

Yarn: Butterfly 10 mercerized cotton, in the color Hydepark, from handknitting.com.

Started: late August 2005, finished September 8, 2005.

For: John’s newest grandson, Henry, AKA Huck, not yet born, but we’re waiting patiently.
Gauge/Needles: 20 stitches to 4 inches, on 5mm needles. This yarn would look a little better knit at closer to a sport weight gauge. It’s a little floppy at worsted weight.

What I learned from this project:

This pattern has front bands that are knitted right along with the sweater body. The first three stitches of the front edge are knitted in seed stitch, creating the bands as you go. This has always sounded like a good idea to me, and I’ve wondered why more patterns don’t do this. Here are the reasons: First, they don’t lay quite as neatly as bands that have been picked up and knitted after the body is done. Second, in some pattern stitches, the gauge would be a bit different for the band pattern and the body pattern. You might need to use a smaller needle for the bands unless you wanted them to flare out. For a three-stitch seed stitch band, on a baby sweater, this all doesn’t really matter.

I also learned to look at my buttonholes when I space them. These came out unevenly spaced, but I didn’t notice until I sewed the buttons on. They are staying the way they are.

Yarn Notes:
I really liked this yarn. The colors are rich and vibrant. I washed this in the sink in cool water with a bit of Kookaburra Wool Wash*, and then tossed it in the dryer till it was nearly dry. A few hours pinned to the blocking board, followed by a session with the Rowenta steamer flattened the bands into submission.

*This is my favorite hand washing solution. It is great for wool and all hand-washable fibers, and has tea tree oil so it smells great. If you don’t like the smell of tea tree, don’t use this, as it is pretty pronounced.

Green Giant Sweater

The baby sweater is finished. The baby is not. John’s daughter is still pregnant, two weeks overdue now. They had a false alarm the other night and spent the night in the hospital, but then got sent home. Since I don’t have a real baby to be the model, here’s my stand-in:

It doesn’t fit Sweetpea very well, but it was the best I could do. Here’s another picture sans bear.

Project Details:
Pattern: Daisy, by the Yarn Harlot, pattern at Knitty.com
Yarn: Butterfly 10 mercerized cotton, in the color Hydepark, from handknitting.com.
Started: late August 2005, finished September 8, 2005.
For: John’s newest grandson, Henry, AKA Huck, not yet born, but we’re waiting patiently.
Gauge/Needles: 20 stiches to 4 inches, on 5mm needles. This yarn would look better knit at closer to a sport weight gauge. It’s a little floppy at worsted weight.

This is a cool pattern. It’s easy, fast, and I love this yarn. It’s a little splitty, and if you have to rip back the yarn plies come apart, making it even more splitty, but the colors are vibrant, and the stitches came out unbelievably even. Yes, I know that those freaking buttons aren’t spaced evenly. I swear, that is the way the pattern is written. I’m calling it a design feature and leaving it at that. What I really love about this sweater is that the button bands are knitted together with the sweater. I probably would have to think a bit before I did this with an adult sweater, because they don’t lay as flat as bands that are picked up and knitted on after the body is done. For a baby sweater though, it’s a great way to do this. That is of course, unless you space the buttonholes unevenly and don’t notice it for some bizarre reason until the buttons are on. If they were picked-up button bands, I probably would feel obligated to take them off and re-do them.

Complete project details here.

I’m also working on Rogue again now that the weather is a bit cooler. To get you up to speed, I’m done with the body, and just have the sleeves left to do. I got mesmerized by that cable pattern again last night and stayed up until 3 AM knitting. No, I don’t have to work today. I popped in the second Lord of the Rings video last night, which was loud enough to keep me awake, and just happily stitched on into the wee hours.

Here’s a close-up:

That rolled-up mess at the bottom is the hem. It’s a knitted-on twisted stockinette hem that you turn up and stitch into place when it’s all done. I dislike the way it looks now, but I suspect that it will eventually submit to the Knitting Doctor Rowenta Steamer Torture, and lay flat if it knows what’s good for it.

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I’m not finding much that’s amusing this past week, but this cartoon made me laugh:

Have a good weekend!

Overdue

That baby, that is. This is a good thing for me, not so good for the mom-to-be. If your name is Jen, and you are about to give birth any minute, now is the time to step away from the computer. You should be off packing your bag to go to the hospital. The rest of you can read on.

I have finished all the pieces to the baby sweater:

Now I just have to sew them all together, and do the collar finishing. This is Stephanie’s Daisy pattern from Knitty. I have plenty of yarn left over, so I think I will put the hood on as well. I am making this in the middle size, to fit a larger baby. I figure all new babies get a ton of cute infant outfits that they wear once before they grow out of them. This one will fit him when he’s more like 8 months old. With the sleeves rolled up, he can wear it while it’s too big, and the wearing season can be stretched for at least a couple of months.

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I’m off to watch the Weather Channel. With the weather being so calm and lovely here today, it’s hard to fathom that New Orleans is about to get pummeled to the ground. My thoughts are with all the people of the Gulf Coast region; here’s one way we can all help:

Donate to the Disaster Relief Fund. Here’s the deal: I’m not going to volunteer to keep track of knit bloggers’ donations, Harlot-style, because, well, I can’t even balance my checkbook. But I challenge you all to donate to the RC, and to put that button on your blog when you do (save it to your server first, of course). You are on your honor, and you don’t have to blog the amount that you have given. $5, or $5000; it will all help.

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Addendum:
Go here. Margene and Susan have set up an official blog page to inspire you to donate to the Red Cross. If the Red Cross doesn’t suit you, Angela has a list of other ideas for charities to send your money to. Give what you can.