Knitting Pharm

Stop, knit and breathe

Life around here is not quite as it should be.  None of it involves huge personal trials, just a bunch of little things that have left me not myself.  The mojo, she's left the building.  In the spirit of appreciation, here are the small things I am taking comfort in as I ride this blip.

A pattern that I can do in my sleep.

A cool stitch pattern,

that can even be added to a heel flap for the funkiest sandal socks ever!

A yarn that does the work for me

A very tidily [if I may say so] turned heel.

Out of province yarn acquisitions

Book previews, where my name appears with some quite amazing people.  [I affectionately call the author's list a "Who's who (them) and a Who's that? (me)!]

Hats that will bring comfort

And readers who bear with me, even when I take myself far too seriously.  Thank you, all!

More borrowed words

 

Click the pretty book below to pre-order, or just to read and be in awe of Carol.  She rocks my socks.

And the Juno* for best sweater in a cotton blend yarn goes to...

Cables and Os!

*cue music*

Design by Brooke Snow, from the Amy Singer book No Sheep for You.  Yarn and needles by Knitpicks.  Buttons by Mission Falls.  Sleeve caps by Barbara Walker.  Knitted by, and fitted to, me!

Knitpicks Cotlin, Key Lime colourway.  Modifications:  longer body, full length sleeves, buttonhole band and top-down sleeves.

I'm told that the sleeve method I've yoinked from cyberspace can be found in the Barbara Walker book Knitting from the Top and is called the Seamless Set-in Sleeve.  Thanks to Becca for clarifying that for me.

And, just in time, Knitpicks has gone and expanded the colour selection in Cotlin to include some softer shades.  I may just need another one for next winter.  Somebody stop me!

[As if you could.]

* if you're wondering what the heck a Juno is, it's like a Grammy, but more apologetic.  And it says aboot.]

Previously, on a very special Lazy Knitter

When last the Lazy Knitter reported, the retained armhole stitches were waiting to become sleeves.  Today I have 2 sleeve caps that each look like this:

[pretty freaking perfect, if you ask me.]

I joined on and worked each stitch (concealing wraps as in Cat Bordhi's latest book) and picking up stitches to a total of 106 (the final stitch count for my size).  I then worked in short rows, starting with 32 centre stitches, increasing one on each row until all stitches had been incorporated.  Now it's just a matter of working in the round to the wrist, reversing the shapings.  I love this method and its effect.

The only change I would have made would be to centre the pattern on the body of the sweater.  It's not written this way, as the intent is for a row of Os in the pattern to serve as buttonholes.  Once I opted to add a button band instead of doing this, having Os on the buttonhole edge became less important.  The knits of half-cable on the edges would have made a cleaner canvas for picking up stitches, but I think I did pretty darned well with the purl background.

Speaking of facings and buttons and all good things, check these out:

I.  Love.  Them.

True to form, once the hardest parts of the sweater were done, I set it aside to work some other projects.  Lots of them.

A felted purse for my niece:

The beginnings of a pair of socks for my nephew:

More clogs, just because they're quick and fun...

And a completed and blocked Swallowtail for a draw prize at an upcoming charity luncheon.  (Click for bigger.)

I'm Toronto-bound in the morning, hoping to do a run-by visit at Lettuce Knit for Knit Night before having a sleepover with a dear, dear friend.  Have a happy hump day!

An unoriginal week

Obsessive much?  Me too.  Once I get a project into my head and I like it, I want to work it over and over.  So I did.  The Harlot's Unoriginal hat is the perfect pattern for instant gratification without mind-numbing boredom.

First I wiped out my odds and ends of Lamb's Pride.

Next came the Patons Classic.

Twice.

Then a parcel arrived lightning fast from a fellow Raveler, with a yummy hank of Leticia expressly for this purpose.

In the same parcel came a couple of hanks of deliciousness.  Sea Silk.  Pumpkin colourway.  Destined to become a Tuscany shawl.

[Are you drooling yet?]

And while I've otherwise avoided enhancing my stash of yarn, I can't say the same for patterns.  Since patterns help to use up stash, they're negative stash, right?  I thought so.

[half price from Mary Maxim!  Squeeeeeeee!]

[from the Loop in Halifax, along with a decidedly non-photogenic but highly useful and functional set of blocking wires.]

Cables and Os has finally passed the great divide of fronts and backs.  What a relief to ditch the 320-stitch rows!

The fronts are done, the back is almost there, and here are a bunch of photos.  I'll have a Lazy Knitter post regarding this one before too long.  Anywhere you see stitches on holders, they've been retained for later steps, in lieu of binding off and picking back up.  Click for bigger.

And, for the road, a shot of that scrumptious stitch pattern.

Now I'm knee-deep in a deadline project that I haven't been told I can share with the blogiverse, so I'll keep it under my hat for now.

Out from under my hat comes the newest issue of Alpacas magazine, where my first print pattern will appear any day!  I'll post it to the blog at some point, just waiting for my electronic copy of the pages.

Happy Hump Day!

Drive-by update

The combination of dead camera batteries, hub away on meetings and the resultant kid craziness have forced me into blog hiding.  [How is it that I can blog only weekly, yet have a new excuse for it every time?]

Last Saturday I visited what was left of the post-holiday sale at Tangled Skeins.  Let me tell you what was left... A LOT.

 

Patons Classic at half off.  This has since become clogs for Kelly and her daughter.  Here is a pre-camera-death progress photo:

 

Back to Tangled Skeins.  More discounts.

 

 

All at 40-50 % off.

The Queen of the bargains was my Fiddlesticks Zephyr at 40% off, enough for a Peacock Feathers shawl.

And the Queen Mum was a sweater's worth of Noro Cash Iroha at half price.  I can assure you it's a sweater's worth, as I'm currently wearing said sweater!

The only full-price yarn I purchased was for a specific project.  Lamb's Pride in two shades of pink for a diaper bag.  Cute, cute cute.

 

 

And the Swirly Bag stitch pattern, for those who asked for it last time.

Much more to follow in real time, but for now I'm going to go enjoy having my hubby back.  Happy yarning, all!

Come on in, the sweaters are fine

When I let my blogging go as long as I did this time, I always wonder where to begin.  This time, I'll dispense with the excuses and dive right in!

The finishing of Thermal sent me into a sweater frenzy that has yet to abate.  With about eleventy thousand friends "up the stump" (thanks Dad, for the charming, I suspect British, reference to pregnancy) and many neglected little folk in my circle of friends, I started with the small sweaters and just kept going.

Amy's Cascade 220 sweater was the first one done, and she loves it.

The whole point of this sweater was for her to have buttons to match the ones on my Thermal, so I made a twisted rib faux placket (look ma, no buttonholes!) as I worked the upper body.

BFF Nancy's son Charlie has turned two, and has also not received a holiday present from Aunt Fun, so a lil' letterman sweater was in order for him.

[I can't wait to see him in it.]

Wee Tyler will be 3 in the spring, just after his baby brother or sister arrives, so he gets to be a letterman too.

Both of the sweaters are worked in Sirdar Denim Tweed DK from a bargain bin.  Nice to work with, and a bit of cotton content, so it makes a nice, soft fabric.  I worked the two sweaters in different gauge and actually preferred the firmer gauge of the 3.5 mm needle I used for Tyler's.

Next was the fulfillment of a request from a dear old friend who will welcome her second child, a baby girl, in the spring.  Little Lauren will look just ducky in this.  I especially like the little fairy buttons.

[Yarn is Bernat Naturals Soy.  Surprisingly pleasant knit.]

Little Sarah was born last year, but she lives on the opposite coast, so I rarely get to see her parents.  (Mum is a high school friend.)  This has put me terribly behind on kid knitting, so this is a toddler sweater that I hope will fit her in the fall.  The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock and I'll post a more up-to-date progress photo in the next day or 2.  For now, you get this:

[Solid colour is Navy, variegated is Dusk.]

One last sweater is a secret, and I've set a crazy deadline for it, so there will hopefully be photos on my next post.

To round things out, I finished Jason's socks.  I'm not in the mood for socks these days, but I think he'll like them.

So, the magic formula for the sweaters, beyond blind obsession, is my persistent tinkering with the top-down raglan formula I've used many times before.  I've made a major change to the method:  when casting on for the neckline, I cast on the stitches prescribed within the worksheet PLUS one stitch for every row that will be worked before changing to the round PLUS the stitches that are intended to be cast on at centre front to complete the circle.

I join in the round immediately after casting on, work the neckband, then work short rows to shape the neck's front.  Instead of increasing at the end of each row, I work one more stitch than on the previous row, wrap and turn.  This creates a clean neckline, no raw edges, and one less step, as the sweater grows from a completed neckband.  Does this make sense in the least?

Tomorrow I'll be busy turning 36, celebrating today's surgeon visit, my resulting clean bill of health, and my weather permitting return to KOL.  My wish is for a healthy year, a comment from each lurker who reads this post, and 100 public Bloglines subscribers by the end of January.  Little help?

Thermalicious

With a gentle nudge from my pal Wendy to both finish the sweater and to blog it, I am pleased to present my finished Thermal, aka The Nicest Piece I've Ever Handknitted For Myself.

Click for bigger versions of the teeny ones.

  

[Apologies for the dorky photo.]

This is the best fitting, most squishy-soft, comfy piece ever.  I love everything about it, even the cutesy buttons I've been reclaiming from garments ever since the original sweater purchase of 1996.  (Those buttons are a very well-traveled bunch.)

The photos don't do it justice at all.  The set-in sleeves, the deep, scoopy neck, the just-right sleeve length and abundant twisted rib...

All of this has set me into sweater mode.  I've already started and finished one for BFF Nancy's son for his 2nd birthday / late holiday gift.  I'll post photos once I remember to take some in daylight.

Next sweater is for DD Amy in Cascade 220, a top-down raglan that I'll also post photos of later on.  It's really flying off the needles, and she's sure to wear it by month's end.  After that will be another one in the same colour for DD Laurel.  (They haven't yet rebelled against the matchy-matchy clothing, so I still indulge in it more than occasionally.)

In other knits, I cast on a bag so I'd have some plain knitting to do at the theatre while I watched the best new movie I've seen in years.  The yarn is the Bernat felting stuff, which isn't too bad, very Lopi-like.

Also, the first handknitted socks for my BIL, whose wife has had her holiday socks on every day and is making him very jealous.  These are in SR Kertzer On Your Toes, the sock yarn with a smidge of aloe.  It's an awful yarn, very scratchy for one with aloe.  It also had a very, very awkward join, where the patterning actually reversed!  After much winding I managed to salvage enough for the pair, but I'm quite annoyed and won't bother with the yarn again.

And socks for the other BIL are done and awaiting their postal trip west.

And just one more,a  secret project that went off in the mail to the States today.

Yesterday I had a wonderful visit from Ms. Yes and her littlest kids.  She was sporting the most awesome pair of Back to Basics socks, and we caffeinated, kvetched and, of course, knitted.  Now I'm dying to get my hands on some CotLin from Knitpicks so I can work a Tussie Mussie just like hers!

The girls (my 2, her 1) had a great play and got along famously.  Wee Gabriel?  Maybe it was the yarn fumes.  Maybe it was the lure of the squishy bean bag chair.

   

Or maybe, just maybe, he was just bored.

Lazy knitter, checking in

Thanks for all of your replies to my manifesto on lazy knitting.

Jyoti asked:

Any chance of your elaborating at some point on the technique you use for the felted clogs? I have made several of these, and really don't like the seaming part. I'm relatively new to knitting, but find I'm pretty good at following instructions.

I'd be happy to elaborate.

First is the provisional cast on.  Use the one you like most.  My clog pattern called for 61 stitches to be cast on, so I did a cast on that yielded 31 sts on one needle and 30 on the other.

I purled the first half-row, then knitted a row as the pattern called for.

I then worked in a u shape as shown in the photo below.

The cast on edge is shown in pink.  The yellow star is the starting point for the pattern rows.  If you follow the mauve arrows, you can see the direction of the knitting.  I worked magic loop until I could easily maneuver the stitches along 1 needle.

Below is a finished sole.

The pink star and reddish pink arrows show where the yarn will be brought over to the other needle to join in the round.

This leaves the powder blue lines on the right side.  When the work is joined in the round, they will meet.  The tail from the cast on (at the green star) can be used to work this tiny seam.

I hope this is at least a little bit helpful for you.  I always work my clogs in this way, and maybe now you will too!

Retraction, and a Knitty-riffic week

With lots of blog hits, the addition of Back to Basics to many Ravelry queues and even some new subscribers, it's been a great blogging week.  Unless you count the total lack of blogging.  Picky, picky.

First off, thanks to all for the nice comments re. the Back to Basics pattern.  It percolated in my wee brain for some time after meeting Cat Bordhi, who first proposed moving around a sock's construction elements.  Several prototypes later, voila!

I'd love to see photos of your finished socks, and will start a gallery if I get enough FO photos.

I'll also post a slightly smaller version of the pattern shortly.  My feet really are larger than all of yours!

In other sock news, I hereby retract my goal of completing the Plunge at the 6 month mark.  Could I do it?  Probably.  Could I do it without going out of my freaking mind?  Not likely.  I'm so bored with socks, I could poke a sock needle in my eye.

But in the interest of sharing, here are the projects provoking such sick thoughts.

Pair 46 in their eye-gouging glory, Cookie A's Titania's Revenge in Louet Gems Pearl, citrus orange colourway.  Keeping the pattern while shaping was a major bitch, but I love the wandering mock cable and will use it again.

[Don't feel badly if you don't like the look of them.  They're a bit on the fugly side, I must admit.]

47, plain, slightly ribbed socks for my manager at work.  He has a size 12 foot, so there's a great deal of real estate on the feet of these.  I am bored beyond description, but the yarn (obtained at KOL swap night) is nice to work with.

48 is in my new Posh Lucia from the Toronto caper.  I love the yarn, I love that the colourway makes me think of pink lemonade, and I love the way Kate Gilbert writes patterns.

I think I'll give myself a sock vacation and work on some neglected projects, perhaps Thermal or Sea Lettuce.  I'm PEI bound this week, and hope to get some quality knitting done between meetings and kid wrangling.

Did somebody say, "gratuitous kid shot"?

[I thought you had.  My bad.]