So Much Has Happened

I finished knitting the Juju pants. They go with the seed and cable cardigan really well - I put a seed stitch border on the leg bottoms in the same colour as the cardigan. When I've done finishing, weaving in the ends and grafting the pants seat and blocking, I'll see if I just can't post a photo.

I did start the Swallowtail shawl. That yarn is soooo thin that I had trouble getting used to it, but I persisted and got quite a few repeats of the bud pattern done. I was surprised at how small in size it kept looking as I added repeat after repeat, but I was pretty confident that it would block out much larger. Then, disaster struck. Somehow I dropped a stitch and didn't notice until I had finished the row and purled back and then come to it again. The count wasn't right and when I figured out what had happened, the dropped stitch had run back many rows through yo's and k2tg's. I tried to figure it out and reknit those stitches from the bottom up but it was a no-go. I acted too quickly. After considering frogging back to the stitch- NOOOO! or tinking about six rows of complicated lace - eurgh!, I ripped the whole thing. What I should have done was to visit my friendly knitting people at Three Bags Full and let them help me. I put myself on timeout from Swallowtail.

I met Mandy Moore the other day, the designer of the Susie Hoodie. I told her the problem I was having with the Cascade 220 gauge not working for the sleeves where I'm knitting in the round. She said, quite casually, that the yarn the pattern actually calls for is quite reasonably priced. Three Bags Full doesn't carry it. The one they recommend for this pattern is quite expensive (for me). If I were to use the Cascade 220 for another project I could order the called-for yarn and have virtually no problems with gauge. Well, that comment sat with me and grew on me and took over any thoughts of starting Susie with the Cascade. I actually started the Bountiful Bohus from More Big Girl Knits (and downloaded it for free from http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/knit_a_plus_size_bohus_style_cardigan.php) I'm liking it much better.

Now for the big news: it was my birthday last Monday; a big one, one with a zero at the end. My friends held a surprise party and I got lots of yarny gifts - how did they know, LOL? I got a knitting bag, a straight needle case, a dpn case, some lovely merino/silk laceweight yarn and, quite a bit of cash for yarn purchases. Add that to what my mom gave me tonight and I have what I need to buy the yarn for the Susie Hoodie.

I met Sivia Harding the other day. She works Thursdays at Three Bags Full. She's wonderful. Very knowledgeable about knitting and willing to share, just a lovely person to talk to. I've done two of her projects so far.

What more yarny goodness can I get up to? We'll see...

Swallowtail

I've been knitting JuJu, a pair of baby pants to go with the Debbie Bliss cable and moss stitch baby sweater I knit for my coworker whose baby is due in September.

When I chose the sweater I substituted the yarn, using Cascade 220. I didn't pay much attention to gauge because I was knitting the largest size for a baby. Babies grow so quickly - I knew he would grow into and out of it at some point in his young life so it didn't matter exactly how big the sweater was.

It's a different matter for the pants. Same scenario, of course, for the baby growing into and out of it, but I did want the two to fit him at the same time. So, once I had knit the sweater and gotten most of the waist of the pants done, I had a likely child at church try them on. The sweater was too small for him - but the pants were going to be WAY TOO BIG. Sigh. To the frog pond they went.

I started again at a much smaller size. I got past the waist and down one leg. I thought I'd better try it on another child. On this child the sweater was too big but the pants were almost too tight! Dang! Luckily baby clothes knit up quickly. This child's mother tried to convince me that knitting has a lot of stretch to it, that I could keep going with this size, but I couldn't. I frogged and started again in a mid size.

There's no way I'm frogging them this time. But, I did find another child. He would try on the sweater but balked at the pants so I held them up against him to see how long to make the legs. A couple more inches until the edging and then cast off and start the second leg.

Then I just have to sew a zipper into the sweater and get some elastic for the pants waistband and I'm done. But, you know, I've always wanted to make a Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. Maybe this baby will get another sweater as well, unless someone else comes up pregnant.

But, in the meantime... I've been to Victoria, and with my knitting friend Heidi, too. She's another fibreholic like me. Our families traveled together to a wedding and we just happened to plan a couple of visits to yarn stores:

Beehive in Victoria...oh, my, gawd! It was almost overwhelming. So much yarn. I went from one rack to another, squishing and stroking the yarn. By the time I had seen all of what was in there I had seen so many yarns that I wanted that, at the end, I couldn't pick anything out. I did buy some sock yarn and a pattern book (for a baby pattern, I guess for some future baby).

Then we went to Button and Needlework Boutique (I cleverly requested a trip to Trounce Alley without letting on that I knew there was a yarn store there). Now this store had much less in the way of knitting supplies. It was mostly crewel, cross-stitch, etc. But here I wasn't overwhelmed. I found some lovely Indigo Moon laceweight silk in a lavender colourway. $40 for the skein. But it has approx 800 - 905 metres, enough for a lace shawl.

I should be getting back to the Susie Hoodie, really I should. But the lace is calling to me. I visited Beadworks in Port Moody today...I found beads that will go nicely with it. I'm going to finish the baby pants and start something else. It really should be the Susie Hoodie, really it should. But we'll see. we'll see.

What's on the Needles?

I started the Susie Hoodie from the More Big Girl Knits book. Of course I didn't want to use the more expensive yarn so I fell back on my old standby Cascade 220. It has a different gauge, especially when I knit it because I never get the right gauge right away. I think I did 8-10 swatches on different needles. I ended up buying a metal circular needle (HiyaHiya) because the same size of needle from my Denise Interchangeable kit didn't give the same gauge-the wool slides across metal differently than it does across plastic.


So I merrily began to knit. That pattern has the body knit as one piece: the fronts and back together. It has a lovely cable that goes all the way up edges, meeting at the top of the hood. I found it very difficult doing just one row of cable and then the rest of the row of stockinette stitch and then the same row of cable to end, purl all the way back and then start the second row of the cable. I just couldn't make sense of the cable pattern.


So, I decided to do the sleeves first. There, I knit the cuff first, which was only the cable pattern. I became very familiar with it and its twists and turns. I pretty well memorized it.


Then I picked up stitches along its edge and began knitting in the round up the sleeve. I'd done quite a few inches and decided to check my gauge. Not even close! It was way tighter than what I'd been getting before when I swatched. You see, I'd swatched knitting back and forth and now I was knitting in the round. The difference between the two turns out to be quite a lot. The size of the purl stitches while knitting back and forth make the difference.


I put the hoodie on time out. I definitely will pick it back up again but I have another project to do in the meantime:


At work, Meggin is pregnant. Baby knitting!


I had thought I'd knit the Tulip Jacket by Dream in Color. It is knit with many wide stripes of different coloured wool. I do love it. I even got Francesca, the owner of Three Bags Full to change the kit for me (I didn't think the obligatory pink colours in the 'girl kit' went well with the others. I had to wait while they got more stock in; then I waited because Meggin was going to have an ultrasound to find the gender of her baby.


It's going to be a boy. So, the pink issue doesn't matter. I don't much like the colourway for the 'boy kit'. And, it's pretty expensive - $50 for the kit for one tiny sweater. (But, I noticed that the girl kits without the pinks sold better than the ones with them)


Hmmm.. what else could I knit?


I found a pattern by Debbie Bliss -the Cable and Moss Stitch Cardigan. Francesca even loaned me the pattern book, she's so nice! Of course I didn't want to use the more expensive yarn it called for so I fell back on my old standby Cascade 220 (sounds familiar?). I chose to make a the 18 month size so that baby wouldn't be in and out of it in such a short time. Gauge problems? Nope. Just knit away even it the gauge doesn't come out perfectly. That cardigan will fit the baby at some point as he grows.

(picture borrowed from twowoodensticks on Ravelry)

I used a colourway called Yakima Heather. It's a solid dark green, almost brown really. It has some yellow in it as well.


I also bought a tweedy yellow to make baby pants with. I chose Juju from Knitty, though I'll substitute the cable from the Bliss pattern for the cable it uses. So I got a sweater and a pair of pants for the same cost as the one Tulip Jacket. I should have enough to make a hat as well, but that would have happened with the Tulip Jacket too.


But do you know, I'm starting to really look forward to picking up the Susie Hoodie again.

Susie Hoodie

I finished the capelet and was without a project!

I had in mind to knit up a baby jacket for a workmate who is four and a half months pregnant. I love the Tulip Baby Cardigan by Dream in Color.








I don't think the two colours at the top go well with the others. They are there to make it a girl's jacket but I think I'd rather do it in colours that go better together than just add the obligatory pink. We don't know what the baby is yet. Francesca from Three Bags Full agreed to put together a different kit that includes two other colours at the top. So I was waiting for that.

While I was in the store arranging that I had a look through More Big Girl Knits. It has a couple of dud patterns in it but they are overshadowed by the amount of very pretty ones. Particularly the Susie Hoodie.






Look at the cable! Look at the shaped back! This became my next project. But, I didn't want to pay the price for the yarn called for in the pattern. With a lot of advice from Francesca I chose Cascade Heathers 220. In the mallard colourway, obviously my favourite one because I've used it twice before, though not for a sweater. Only a felted bag.


A little fudging with the gauge - go down a needle size or two then use the next size up in the pattern - I think it'll be fine. I bought the yarn and I just have to swatch a bit, with Francesca's help with the math. Can't wait to start it.

Grad

My daughter's grad is on May 31. A while ago I think I posted that I found some yarn in the same colour as her dress - 80% off!

I can't remember how many things I cast on and then frogged - a simple thin, lace shawl, a shrug, variations on the same. But I was never satisfied.

Finally, I was browsing on Ravelry and saw this:




Capelette by Be Sweet. I saw photos of people wearing it and it seemed to me to be just the right thing. Was that stockinette stitch, reversed every, what... 5 rows to create ridges? Looked like it to me. Did I need a pattern for that? I'd have to upsize it to 2X anyway. I guessed at the number of stitches. I was wrong the first time but the second time it was just right. 140 stitches does it.


I knit it on 6mm needles, I think at a gauge of 3.5 stitches per inch. I made 8 ridges. This is how it turned out (I added a brooch at the rosette):


Love it! She loves it! Mmm Hmm.

Ikea Knit Nights

Tonight, as with every other first and third Monday of the month, I went to Knit Night. I picked up my friend and her baby and we arrived at Ikea in Coquitlam at 6pm. We bought some supper - a good value for the money - and chatted while we ate. Then we started knitting.

Others showed up along the way, there were 7 of us tonight, all at varying skill levels from rank beginner to skillful crafter. We knit and instructed and chatted. It was really nice to be able to ask questions and get answers from others who knew what to do or who might do things a different way from how we would.

We discussed patterns and caressed the yarn and explained that all knitting is just knit and purl. It was a really comfortable experience that I cherish.

Spring

I had a fair while with not much knitting content, but somehow managed to 'attract' more yarn to my stash - twice on the same day once...shhh!

The diamond fantasy scarf is coming along slowly but surely. I've learned it is definitely not something I can take along with me to social situations or even do while watching tv. Mistakes happen. Nasty ones that involve tinking.

But, that being said, I'm not really using lifelines anymore. Really, I lost my small container of dental floss and couldn't put one in at the usual spot, the end the row repeats. So I just kept cruising. If I pay attention, counting the number of stitches between the repeat markers, I can fix anything two rows down. So now I'm doing a lot of counting and it's going fine.

I'm getting the itch to do some felting again. I wonder what? Probably not a bag because I've done quite a few of those, but I'll see.

Happy Easter.