Saturday, December 08, 2018

Even More Finished Knitting

The weather has finally taken a turn.

Which has been terrible for my migraines (Hello changes in barometric pressure ruining my day).

But it has been fantastic for my sweater wearing.

And since my hair is clean here's a sweater I finished in March.


Pattern:  The Easy One

Yarn:  Stroll Tweed, Fingering Weight, in Down Heather, 7 balls

Needles:  Size 4

Modifications:  I didn't pick up stitches to knit the rolled collar.  That's the only modification I remember.

Review:  Is this sweater amazing or what?!!!



All the elements just came together.


That tweed!


The exposed seams!



The collar is supposed to roll, but in a more deliberate way.  I skipped that part and just left it unfinished.

I not mad.

I love the way it turned out.


The bind off for the ribbing was a different one that I normally use.  See the little bumps on the knit stitches just below the bind off (My Dad just said "on the what...where").

I'm not mad at that either.

I really like it.  It's fun to find a new technique.

and because I know you like it when I show you behind the curtain


Just off camera:  my video gaming husband, my block building big girl, and my dog just causing trouble.  This picture is at least seven times louder than you think it is.  And the other children aren't even home yet.

My favorite part about this sweater is it looks fantastic with everything


Including my jammie pants!

This one goes in the win column.

Friday, December 07, 2018

Wild Friday Night

It's Friday night so of course



I'm knitting with my cats.

No pants are the best pants.

And what am I knitting?

That's a little more complicated to explain that it would seem for such a straight forward question.

I started by knitting a Korrigan for a friend of mine who is due next month.


I love those sweet little cables.  I'm all set to bind off the body and knit the sleeves.

Ages and ages ago, I knit this sweater pattern for the Queen.


I'm not gonna lie.  This picture is completely gratuitous because...

LOOK HOW CUTE SHE WAS!!!!!!!



Who can resist that baby chub?

I JUST WANNA SNUGGLE HER NECK!!!!!!!!

Anyways...because that wasn't weird at all...

I found myself innocently double checking my notes from the Queen's sweater on Ravelry (cause those notes were super helpful)

And then I fell down the dreaded "Ravelry Rabbit hole."  (that phrase may or may not be trademarked)

Before I knew it I had lost hours of my life looking at newborn patterns and I was obsessed with the idea of knitting a teeny tiny lacey baby dress.

And I just happened to have the most perfect white yarn to knit a teeny tiny lacey baby dress.

And it is currently being knitted into a tiny cabled cardigan that isready for a bind off and sleeves.

Because of course it was.

I didn't let that stop me.


Now I know some of you are freaking out.

How could you rip out an entire sweater?

Didn't it break your heart?

The answer is...I didn't rip out an entire sweater.

I'm hoping that I have enough yarn to knit both.  But if it comes down to it and I've got Rosemary's choice and I have to pick the sweater or the dress?  I'm picking the dress.  So I left the cardigan on the needles.  Patiently waiting for the bind off.  Or waiting to be cannibalized for the dress.  

It could go either way.


I knit the cabled sweater from one end of the yarn, and I'm working on the teeny tiny lacey dress from the other end of the skein.

Which isn't to say it's been easy.

Mistakes were made.

I spent two hours the other night trying to unsnarl a yarn tangle.  

Ask my friends.

Unsnarling yarn is kinda my super power.

Only my super power failed me, and I ended up having to break the yarn and throw away a golf ball size knot of white yarn mess.

And I don't even want to talk about the first time I tried joining the bodice in the round.


Like I said...Mistakes were made.

But everything is straightened out now and I'm in a race to see if I can squeeze a gown and a sweater from the remaining yarn.

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

More Actual Knitting Content

So remember back in March when I said I wanted to knit Quiet Stars by Joji Locatelli?

I totally knit it!




And I love it


Tweed, and Lace, and That Blue!



What's not to love?


It's even super cute tied shut.


I love the attention to detail Joji puts in her pattern.  Look at that amazing cuff.

And one more so you can see the fantastic texture on the sleeves.


I adore this sweater.  But now that I've completed it I have a serious problem.

I am all out of fingering weight tweed yarn.  Or any tweed yarn for that matter.

I need to place a Knitpicks order.

STAT!

Monday, December 03, 2018

Sunday on a Monday Morning

I found myself wearing my Sunday Morning Cardigan the other day and since my hair was clean it seemed like a good time to take some pictures for the blog.

Oh how my standards have fallen.  I no longer wait for a good hair day.  My requirement is now merely that my hair be clean.

I've also given up on the idea of introducing my Sunday Morning Cardigan on a Sunday Morning.

Monday will have to do.

It's a cute comfy cardigan.


It is ginormous and warm.  Offering tons of coverage to be worn with leggings or a dress or a lazy nightgown.


I love the neat little rows of diamonds.



I love how easily the front flows.



But this sweater is also a hot mess.

I'm not entirely sure how the charts got past the test knitter.  Especially the decrease chart.  Pretty  much everyone on Ravelry has had to improvise the decreases because what is in the charts makes no sense and disrupts the continuity of the diamonds.

The sweater is knit seamlessly.  And this is a sweater that could benefit from a seam or two to help it hold its shape.  The flowy construction stretches too much without seams.  There is nothing to hold the shoulders.  When worn long enough the sweater inevitably ends up looking like this


Which is fine when I'm chilling at home, knitting with my cats.  But maybe a bit more risque a look than I planned on for an afternoon at the movies.  A shoulder seam to help keep the shoulders in place would not be a bad thing.  I'm tempted to create a line of crochet on the sweater to keep the shoulders from stretching.

If you're going to knit this I would knit a size smaller than your size.  That might help mitigate the issues with the lack of structure and side seams.

And there you have it. 

Proof on a random Mondday that I have actually completed a knitting project.

Sunday, December 02, 2018

What I've been up to

Knitting with my cats.



That's it.



Just knitting with my cats.



All day



Every day



Nothing but Knitting and cats.



And no pants.







I am living my best life.


And so are my cats.