Tinking (Un-knitting)

I decided I don't like the red shade, too dark. Here's a video of how I

rip back an un wanted row. If I've really screwed up, I'll take it off the needles and pull it out back to the error.

Copper Queen, Attempt Two

Continuing with Copper Queen. I was unhappy with it because it was too short, a little snug, and the bottom kept rolling up and obscuring the colorwork.

Added a 4th round of increases to get to size Large stitch count for the colorwork pattern: K4, [(RLI, K9) 23 times], RLI, K5. 240 sts.

Am also going up one needle size to US10 (moving to Europe so I thought I'd be specific 😁) for the colorwork and changing the hem from reverse stockinette to 1x1 ribbing to help it flare more (regauging).

Partially Frogging Copper Queen

Finished Copper Queen this evening. Its a cute little ponchette with a southwest-themed intarsia border, (I love all things Southwest). It's a little snug and the bottom rolls up like crazy. I should have taken a pic before frogging.

I've ripped back to one row before I want to add the increases, then in the video I'm putting the stitches back on the needle as I rip back the last (bad) row.

But I have a plan. I'm ripping back to add another round of increases to bring to size Large (240sts), then knitting to 12 inches in length from cast on (instead of 9") before starting the colorwork. Also plan to finish with k1p1 ribbing because the reverse stockinette rolls up over the intarsia no matter what you do. (But it IS cute, so I gave it a try.)

4th round of increases: K4, [(RLI, K9) 23 times], RLI, K5. 240 sts.
BTW, the intarsia part took several evenings, because it grew monontonous. (angry face)

Moving to Germany!

Exciting news - we are relocating to Germany for a minimum of one year! I am so excited to not only see and experience Europe, but to immerse in yarn tourism! We'll have to quarantine (f*k Covid) for a week or two, so I'm already agonizing over which projects to take. :)

And even more exciting is the fact that after living in small town Battle Creek, Michigan which has no yarn store, and the state of Michigan, which has about 5 stores spread out all over the state, I am moving to Stuttgart, which has three stores!!! So excited!!!

Thank you gift for the heart surgeon that saved my son's life

In October 2020 my son was involved in a hit and run accident while riding his motorcycle. He was hit broadside by a vehicle that didn't stop, and the driver has never been found. My son arrived at the hospital with a torn aorta, which we later found out was an injury with only a 30% survival rate. At the time of the surgery, we were so shocked and numb with all of his injuries and planned surgeries that we failed to grasp the significance and miracle that he survived the night. We also feel that we didn't properly thank the surgeon because, again, we were just so overwhelmed.

I decided to knit the surgeon a sweater, hoping that he would appreciate something made from the heart and hands, as his skilled hands saved my son's heart. The pattern is Arkansas River Pullover by Irina Anikeeva, published in Interweave Knits Summer 2018. I used the suggested yarn, Blue Skye Fibers Woolstok Worsted and enjoyed knitting it up. I used the Italian Cast On for the ribbing and the Tubular Bind Off for the collar.

Berroco House Cardi Party Knit Along - Finished!

I participated in the Berroco House Cardi Party Knit Along (I may have that name wrong). It was a lot of fun to see what patterns and yarn everyone selected and their reasons why. I was fortunate enough to have some Berroco Vintage Chunky in my stash leftover from another project, and found a free pattern Alpine, that worked.

Here's my Ravelry page for pics.

A funny thing happened after I assembled the cardi. I discovered that I wished I had reversed the inset panel pattern on the front. I like the wrong side better!

I used the Italian tubular cast on for the ribbing, which is my current favorite for 1x1 ribbing.

Cardigan Knitting Hacks

I am enjoying the Berroco Cardi House Party knit along on Facebook. Which brings the question to mind:
What are your favorite sweater/jumper knitting hacks?

Here are two of mine:

When casting on, leave a tail 2-1/2 times the length of the piece's seam on that side. Then you'll already have yarn attached and ready for the seam and it's one less end to weave in. Just pin it out of the way so you won't accidentally knit with it. Look at schematic to determine what that seam length is for the size. Works for back, left front, and sleeves. (Don't bother for the right front of a cardi, that's cast on at the cardi opening not the seam edge.)

When possible, work the edge stitch in garter. It helps tame the curl, makes a sturdy edge, and leaves a visual reference for where to seam. Not good for long cardis, garter stitch has a shorter row gauge than stockinette and will shorten the edge length.

"Stay at Home" Order Gives Extra Time to Plot and Plan

Staying at home has given me some extra time to get back to hobby fun. I have had an idea percolating in the back of my mind for some super cute summer placemats. And now, after our enforced isolation, I think we'll be entertaining family and friends quite a bit this summer to enjoy our relationships. This idea has been percolating because I like to learn something from a design, so I am investigating short rows. I even bought the yarn for it years ago, some I'm also de-stashing! :) Stay tuned!

Also, I have received many questions on the curl stitch in Summerbelle, so I may enlist the help of my kids to video the creation of the stitch (you'll smack yourself in the forehead when you see it). I'm so old that that last sentence was originally written with the word 'film' instead of video.

Summerbelle V2.0 Just published

A new version of Summerbelle, Summerbelle 2.0, was just uploaded to Ravelry. I completely rewrote the directions, sizing, and charts, and added an optional buttoned shoulder for babies with large noggins. I also updated the specified yarn with two new choices, as the previous one was discontinued.

new sizing
new charts
new buttoned shoulder
new yarn selections

Woohoo! Hope you enjoy.

Siobhan is Kicking My Ass

I finally finished the sleeves! I was doing the happy dance of completion even as I double-checked that the sleeves would fit into the armscye. They fit! Found a new problem, though.

The neck is WAY too small!!!!

I am really kicking myself that I didn't notice as I was blocking the lace fronts to the dimensions specified in the diagram that a 2" neckline drop is CHILD SIZED. From the photo, it clearly should be 3-1/2 to 4 inches to accommodate the edging and not strangle the wearer. Sigh.

I do confess, instead of following the directions to add a garter edging later, I added a knitted-on ribbed band because I hate garter edgings in most cases. But I put those stitches on holders (see pic) and followed the neck decreases as written. Which would have worked, had they started 2 inches sooner.

So, now I'm looking at my blocked fronts, which I had to stretch the bejesus out of because, hello, linen and lace, and I just want to run screaming into the streets, possibly naked. And the more I stare at that ugly, ugly pic, the more I think those collar points are going to roll forward no matter where the neckline is, which will piss me off. Because this sumbeech is getting worn A LOT after two months work of work!

The solution is to rip back to the armholes and begin a sloped vee-shaped edging to the cardigan. But I'm angry, and giving it the silent treatment for now.

Wow! Four years!

My move to another state really disrupted my whole knitting life. I had to close down websites, say goodbye to a design job I loved at Hobby Lobby, and dive into a new state, new friends and new adventures. Finally, I am organized and re-energized to knit.

I have a new knitting design but it needs test knit and the yarn for the three sizes will be a little pricey. So I'm waiting for a good sale and/or the right time. It's a men's chunky cabled pullover with a shawl collar. It was a special request from my husband, who with me spends a lot of time in freezing cold ice rinks watching our boys play hockey.

I have also completely revamped Summerbelle and will be publishing it as soon as a sunny day for pictures appears.

Also simmering are some quick holiday gift designs.

And, gulp, I finally bought yarn for Siobhan in Jean Frost Jackets by Jean Frost. I couldn't swing the Euroflax sportweight, so I am hopeful that my substitute yarn, Fibra Natura Flax in Blue Spruce (close to emerald green, but a little more blue) will be just as gorgeous as the picture in the book.

OTN: contract knitting job, a Michael Kors Cabled Tunic in luscious, I-could-never-afford, Louise Harding Grace Silk & Wool.

Crop Circles Coat not happening

Meet Crop Circles, a double-knit coat by M'Lou Baber. I had been corresponding on Ravelry with another member who was knitting this coat who had run into some problems with the sleeves, but had solved the problem and shared her solution with me. My sleeve problem was very different, however, and unfortunately will result in my having to remove the sleeve and rip back 2/3 of the coat. Is this the fault of the pattern or the designer? No. The fault is all mine.

This is a coat, not a cardigan, and I was afraid after seeing other pictures that I'd look like a big fat penguin in it. So, I added waist shaping. However, having never done double knitting before much less decreasing in double knit, I did not understand that the thickness of the fabric would cause it to bubble if the decreases were not spaced very far apart. Mine were not. Thus, the camel hump right at the waist. So, I'm either going to have to rip back to where the decreases started, or rip back to the beginning and decrease very slowly.

The second problem caused by my waist shaping, was that it removed stitches from the chest and shoulder area, which changed the drop shoulder to a fitted shoulder, making the sleeves too short. (They were going to be too short anyway, I have freakishly long arms.) I will have to add several inches to the sleeves, which means redoing the sleeve decreases as well. I also noticed after examining the book's photos more closely, that there were originally TWO DIFFERENT sleeve patterns, but only one was included with the pattern. Will have to think about that later.

So, now, I am faced with ripping out 50+ hours of work which will probably take several hours due to the twisting of the two yarns, and recharting the sleeves. Or, I could just throw it back in the closet and pretend it doesn't exist for awhile or forever. Is it Happy Hour anywhere?

How to knit a circle

At first glance, knitting a circle would seem fairly straightforward. You could either start at the middle and increase slowly around until your circle was the right size. This works well in lace knitting, because the yarnover (YO) holes help take out the bulk, allowing what is essentially a cone (you're knitting a spiral, not a series of rings that start and end at the exact same place) to lay flat as a circle. What if there are no YOs in your design?

Being an engineer, I went to the trusty graph paper, thinking just start with a few stitches, increase one on each until you reach the right circumference for your circle. Nope, that makes a diamond. And to add to the complexity, what if your gauge is 3 sts / 4 rows to one inch? Not square (or rectilinear, to be more precise).

Enter knitter's graph paper! You can chart anything no matter how wacky your stitch/row gauge. Here's some I use a lot:

www.tata-tatao.to/knit/matrix/e-index.html

Now on to chart my 36 stitch by 48 row circle (you'd think that would make an oval, wouldn't you?!?)...

Mark the diameter points both horizontally and vertically, and mark the center of the circle. Using a compass (come on, you know you still have your old metal one from 6th grade in a drawer somewhere), trace out your circle:



Now just repeat that evenly in each direction, and you have your circle chart!

I'm Published! (sorta)

Was just in Hobby Lobby and saw my very first project for them, Cabled Tunic. I received this pattern from them and was asked to rewrite it, so it's technically not my design, but I changed about 60% of it and feel like it's "my baby." The pattern was originally written in Chinese and had been translated by someone, but was lacking the customary knitting information and directions, and it had been written in one size for a different yarn. So, I rewrote the pattern to use Hobby Lobby's Yarn Bee Snowflake yarn, and to add sizing for small, medium and large. I was so excited to finally see the pattern in print that I came straight home and added it to Ravelry's pattern database, created a project for it, and uploaded my own pictures. I've also discovered the pattern online (since it's free, anyway). It's on Hobby Lobby's Project Inspiration tab of their website.

A Visit From the Stupidity Fairy

I received a set of interchangeable knitting needles for Christmas from The Gourmet Yarn Company and have really enjoyed them. (Okay, the truth is: I told my husband what I wanted, he got a glazed look in his eyes, I received a gift card. Whatever works. ;)

I am working on a contract project for Hobby Lobby that I've mentioned before. (It's drying on the blocking board right now, and I'm squeaking with pride, I LOVE it!). But, a tragedy occured during the washing process. I left the shoulder stitches of the sweater's back side on one of the interchangeable cables with stops on the end. The picture above shows my woe -- the cable ends snapped off inside the stops. Waaah!

When I wash a sweater by hand, I gently wring the water out of it, then spread it out flat on a dry towel, roll the sweater up in the towel like a sausage, and then place it on the floor and walk up and down it to wring out more water. Then, I unroll it and repeat with another dry towel. Sweaters dry in record time without fear of mildew in my humid climate. However, little plastic discs are no match for a zealous knitter stomping the water out of her creation. I used a couple of spare Addi's for the fronts. ;)

Catching Up, Hobby Lobby and Bobbles

I have discovered an interesting thing about bobbles while knitting a project for Hobby Lobby (more on that later). You can push them through to the back side of your knitting if you want to. They (the bobbles) don't like it much, but, as Elizabeth Zimmermann says, "you are the boss of your knitting." Now, why would anyone go to the trouble of knitting a bobble only to push it to the wrong side? Why, button placement, of course. Some of the bobbles on this project are to be omitted for a button. So, if I screw up and make a bobble where a button should be, I have recourse. Always good to have options.

I began a contract relationship with Hobby Lobby last fall and have really enjoyed it. They tell me what yarn to use and what object they want knitted and some guidelines, and let me do the rest. So far I haven't seen anything in print that I've done. As soon as I see it in print, I'll post pictures here and on Ravelry and (hopefully) drum up some interest. So far, I've done a woman's tunic, baby/toddler tunics with matching headbands and coordinating blankets, and am now working on a hooded duster. The downside is, once I turn in the article and pattern to them, I never see it again. I don't have copyrights or even any final editing review. Since this is my first "gig", I didn't want to blow it by making a bunch of demands up front.

We'll see what happens when these first few items are published. If there are editing errors, I will ask for final review. I'm not at all meaning to imply that they're a bunch of screwups, they are in fact a great group of creative, non-ego, truly nice people. My concern is that a non-knitter will make pattern changes for the sake of print brevity and not realize the implications. Hopefully my fears are unfounded.

What have I been doing since November of 2010? I dunno, it's all a blur. See Ravelry for a list of my knitted items, good and bad. ha.

Comment Lingers on and another baby blanket

Comment by Norah Gaughin

Comment refuses to be done.  I am sick of it.  If I didn't want to wear it so badly (next summer, of course by now), I would toss it.  (It was frogged out of the uber-expensive Berroco Bonsai because that yarn sucks and is way too heavy for a summer top.)  I reknit using Caron Spa (hey, I was broke after the damn Bonsai) in taupe color.  After a shitload of assembling various smaller pieces, and edging miles of surfaces, I washed it and lightly blocked it (too much acrylic to apply heat to it) and hung it up to finish drying hoping that gravity would make the stupid garter stitch border lay down and play nice.  (It still flips up at the front point despite frogging it and picking up the stitches around the point with a larger needle.)  But a more aggregious problem has reared its head:  the armholes are too long -- the entire side of my bra is showing, you can practically read the label.

Theory:  cheap yarn is stretching from the weight of the long heavy front apron and pulling the whole thing down, or cheap yarn row gauge has bit me in the ass.  Checked the pattern, it is knit by the vertical inch, so I should have gotten my 8" armhole, instead of my 11" armhole.  Also, the armhole was showing a little too much of my armpit roll, so the armhole shaping needed tweaking.

What to do?  This thing took several evenings in front of the television to assemble together and add edging.  I carefully pulled out the neck and armhole edging, then undid the side seams just enough to be able to get to the armhole bindoffs.  Unravelled from the top the front and back separately, and am presently reknitting, adding 3" before binding off for the armhole, and doing the armhole shaping decreases every other row instead of every row in the hopes that it will better hide the aforementioned armpit rolls.  Time will tell.  I'll probably end up with armholes sized to fit a 5-year old.  Sigh.



Diagonal Baby Blanket

While I was cooling off from hating Comment, I dashed off another Diagonal baby blanket for fertile friends.

Laced Leaves

 Finally finished Laced Leaves using the Berroco Bonsai that I originally invested in bought for Comment. It took forever to sew on 8 buttons with backers (clear plastic on the wrong side). It's a little snug, but that also stretches out the lace and it's really pretty. Only drawback is the buttons. I upsized them to 1/2", but that's still not enough, they're popping out. Sigh.  Maybe I'll pretend I want to wear it unbuttoned at the bottom.  Or pin the darn thing closed, lol.

 

Catching Up

Whew, I thought I'd get back in the groove of posting once my boys were back in school, but no such luck! Here are some finished projects that I never got around to blogging about.

Princess Squares Blanket (for a Prince!)

Princess Squares Blanket was knit for a neighbor with a new baby boy, using ALL STASH yarn!   Yay!  And that is why the color pattern is not, um, uniform, because I ran out of the old discontinued cotton-ease baby blue color.  It's a design feature.  All the latest babys are rocking it.  Lol.  The pattern was published in Vogue Knitting Fall 2010.

Another Summerbelle

Another hockey mom who works for a bank in Dallas as their PR director asked if I would knit something for a charity auction they were holding.  So, I did some stash-diving and came up with enough of this yellow Plymouth Jeannee cotton yarn to make a Summerbelle in the 1-2 year old size range.  This is an absolutely lousy picture, it was a cloudy day and I had to drop it in the mail that day so I rushed.

Penguin Hat

In that same envelope went this penguin hat for her son.  The short version of the story is, the dad was transferred to OKC with his company, but their Dallas house hadn't sold, so the son and Dad moved to OKC while the mom stayed in Dallas waiting for the house to sell.  Then, the Dad gets offered an even better job in Dallas, and now the family is all under the same roof again.  The son is now playing for the Dallas Penguins, so I made this for him out of stash yarns in the Dallas Penguin team colors.  Those are iron-on letters from Hancock's.

I still have three other projects going, the Giraffe Jacket, which is getting ready for it's separating zipper, and the Laced Leaves cardigan, which is going to get it's buttons, and the aforementioned Comment top, which is being reknit in Caron Spa, a bamboo/acrylic blend, and is now out of season.  :(

Comment Continues to Confound

Came to a skidding halt again on Comment by Nora Gaughan (Berroco Vol. 6). (The previous halt was due to the old nemesis, Gauge.) The yarn, Berroco Bonsai, actually arrived mid-July, but I was wrapped up in other stuff and couldn't get to it. Now, I'm in a hurry to finish it because it's a summer tank and it's still warm and I could get one wearing out of it before Fall and, oh yeah, I'm chomping at the bit to start Fall stuff, but I can't. I hate it. I like the pattern, it looks cool and breezy, but the yarn is anything but cool and breezy.



It's 97% bamboo and 3% nylon which you think would be nice and cool, but it's a tape yarn and it just doesn't feel like a summer yarn, it feels heavy and potentially sweat-inducing. This is a pic of the finished fabric before I rip it out (dammit). This yarn was a splurge, so tossing it back into the stash is not an option, financial guilt demands it be used and used now.



Enter Laced Leaves. I think the openwork will be beautiful in the gold Bonsai. I might be griping in a week about how heavy the Bonsai makes the ribbing. And yes, I feel like I have the attention span of a gnat. Because I'm starting on this instead of driving to the LYS for a linen/cotton blend to make Comment with. I'm bad. Very bad.