WIP Wednesday: Special Edition

Tomorrow February 7th, the first Friday in February, is Go Red for Women day. The American Heart Association has organized every year for the past decade to bring awareness to the fact that heart disease kills more women than all types of cancer combined.

I spent several years working at Macy's, which is one of the biggest sponsors of the event. In addition to the sale of the AHA's red dress pins and the extra percentage off the sale that a pin or other red item of clothing earned customers, Macy's also educated its (mostly female) employees on the risks of heart disease in women. I get email from the Go Red website on a monthly basis, and find them useful and informative, check it out for yourself.

The first Friday in February is a day to wear red, and years ago I made a red blouse specifically for the occasion. I picked up the fire-engine red cotton at the local No-Ann fabrics and used a pattern in my library. It worked well for a few years, but the three-quarter length sleeves gave me trouble- they constricted and made movement difficult. I tossed the.troubled garment into my sewing pile unsure of what to do. I considered tearing apart for scrap use, but decided to alter it instead. I still had some of the fabric, and decided to add plackets to the sleeves-using a template found in a book on garment sewing. After removing the cuffs I realized I would need to replace those. Uh-oh, that could have been a problem, but I had just enough fabric to do that-as long as I only used .25inch seam allowances.

Here you can see the placket pieces, it is.my first attempt at adding plackets to a garment. I've done many simple cuff bands and the occasional continuous lap, bit never something as 'complicated' as a placket. Well it is rather simple and quite ingenious. I predict more blouses with plackets in my future.

This Is still a work in progress because I haven't don the finishing work on the cuff- stitching down the facing, top stitching around the edge and the dreaded buttonholes and buttons... I have yet to perfect a buttonhole, and I remind myself that practice makes perfect, but it's still something I dislike.

posted from Bloggeroid

FO Friday

I've finished several things, but have only had time to get a picture of one: Cats in the Hat (Ravelry link)


I used Noro silk garden sock for the main color and some leftover gray wool/bamboo/nylon blend in a fingering weight.

It's a lovely straight forward pattern, and my sister will love it. It's my first attempt at a non-geometric stranded knitting pattern, and I was able to make it work. I twisted the strands so there wasn't a float longer than four stitches. I was able to block the hat so its a bit slouchy, which she'll like.

I just have to remember to ask for it back to enter in the state fair this August, but I don't think she will be using it much then...

Work in Progress Wednesday

I started a project yesterday: Ringwood Gloves , from Knitty. I admired the pattern immediately, and decided that this pattern would be my first pair of gloves.

I'm using Knitpicks City Tweed DK in brocade, to match a hat I made years ago. The yarn is mice and soft, though it seems a little on the thin side for a DK weight yarn. I ended up going down to size four needles and hope that the yarn fills a bit after a soak and a block. With a 7.5in knuckle circumference, I took a chance with the medium size (8in), and hoped that the thinner nature of the yarn and the small needle selection would bring down the size that half inch. Assuming the yarn doesn't grow, it worked.



I cast on yesterday morning. These work up surprisingly fast. Cast on stitches for the medium size, bit I'm working pattern repeats for the small size.

To help with finger sizing, I started the ring finger before decreasing on the pinky. You can see this in the photo, I have the pinky on a cable needle (no stitch holders in my bag o'supplies) and I've done about six rows of the ring finger when I tried the glove on for a final fit. The join between pinky and ring finger sat where I wanted it to and I had the length I needed for the pinky, so the ring finger stitches went on hold while I finished the pinky. I will do this for the remaining fingers as well.

Happy New Year

So, a new year. I've never been one for resolutions, but there are things I want to do this year, and if I post them publicly, maybe that will give me the kick in the rear that I sometimes need.

1. Post twice a month. At minimum. I craft plenty, I just need to be more dilligent about sharing it.
2. Sew one item worthy of entering at the MN State Fair. Bonus if it's displayed, double bonus if there's a ribbon on it.
3. Crochet one item worthy of entering the MN State Fair. Bonus if it's displayed, double bonus if there's a ribbon on it.
4. Knit 10 items off my Ravelry queue.
5. Learn a new technique or two. I have my eye on brioche knitting for starters. Maybe expand my embroidery skills?

The drop-off deadline for the fair is mid-August, so I better get planning and crafting.  I haven't made goals about knitting items at the fair, that's a given. I'm thinking a shawl (or two) and a pair of color work mittens for starters. Will try for a pair of socks as well. Again- note the mid-August deadline.

My yarn stash is at a comfortable level. I have enough to get started with goal number four. I could probably accomplish that entirely from my stash, but don't want to limit myself that much yet.

I even have an idea for my next post: The immediate family has gotten/will get a new hat/headband Pictures and stories to come!

Time eating projects!

First- I did complete NaKniSweMo with 50000+ stitches. I have however misplaced my scrap paper that tallies my exact daily counts.

I have spent most of my knitting time working on two projects: the refashion of an old cardigan, and a pair of socks.

The front!

The cardigan is from a old issue of Knit.1 (Ravelry link). It's a boyfriend-type- long with little shaping. I knit it several years ago and early this past fall I noticed the elbow areas of the sleeves were a little thin, plus it has enough stretch that it gaped at the button band. Plus I modified the pattern when originally knit- I knit the sleeves top down- just picking up stitches from the shoulder on the front and back (the design had no sleeve cap shaping- just long trapezoids). However my gauge was off and it was tight around the armholes. So when I decided that it wasn't worth the time and space it took to hand wash and dry flat, I did something.

My original thought was to felt it and make mittens or something... But I follow this blog on clothes refashioning, and thought I could do something similar to this sweater. I knit it out of Paton's Classic wool in black, so procuring more yarn in a matching color wasn't going to be a problem. I ripped out the button band, and the sleeves- salvaging most of the yarn. I washed the sweater and  the salvaged yarn. Then did some math and picked up stitches for a sleeve- after some fancy math and several rip-backs I got a sleeve I liked, then duplicated it.They are looser, which allows me to wear it over long sleeved garments, and the shoulders are less likely to be pulled off my shoulders because of tight sleeves.

I'm having more problems with the button band. Okay, I didn't do enough planning before picking up stitches. The original was an inch and a half of 2x2 ribbing, witch matched the bottom and cuff ribbing. I am keeping the ribbing, but will add shawl collar shaping.  It's something I've never knit, and would like to try on a garment that is mostly an wear-around-the-over-one-hundred-year-old-deafty-house-sweater. In order to keep the intregity of the ribbing, I need to pick-up stitches symmetrically. This requires planning and placing stitch markers evenly around the front to facilitate in the process. I don't really feel like doing that. (/pout) I will get around to it because I need a warm comfy sweater, but for now I'm procrastinating.

The other major project is a pair of socks. I've had two skeins of Kroy FX in my stash for years and thought that they would be great for a free pattern on Ravelry: Scylla. It is a wonderful and wonderfully written pattern, but the colors changed to slowly to highlight the slipped stitches featured on the pattern. I frogged back to just after finishing the tos increases and left it.

After careful consideration, I decided to try my own toe-up sock. I've knit a few pair toe-up, but none of them fit wonderfully. So I'm writing my own. I was told it is similar to a Cat Bordhi pattern-in terms of toe-up shaping. After a quick Ravelry search, I'm considering that a compliment. The instep pattern is reminiscent of light passing through a prisim, you know when light is separated into is respective wavelengths- columns of twisted stitches move across the instep of the sock at different rates. Think back to basic algebra/geometry: slope! rise over run! It's fun. I'm not posting pictures because I'm toying with the idea of tweaking the pattern and trying to get it published.Worth a shot!

Before I get that far I have to complete the set. I finished the first and started the second- though I'm mirroring the pattern. I got half the foot done Friday night-a bout of insomnia kept me up so I took advantage and knit.Also got through the end of season five and the first third of season six of Dr Who.

Stitch counts!!

Well, I've been keeping busy with my 1667 stitches a day.

Nov   1: 2016
Nov   2: 2280
Nov   3: 1684
Nov   4: 1848
Nov   5:   704
Nov   6:   201
Nov   7: 1542
Nov   8:   905
Nov   9:   704
Nov 10:   704
Nov 11: 1872
Nov 12: 2112
Nov 13: 2542
Nov 14: 3065
Nov 15: 1204

Total:   23382

That's 23,382 stitches for the first half of the month, only 1,618 stitches short of half done. That averages out to 1558.8 stitches a day, not bad!! What this doesn't account for is that I grafted the toe of my second sock. Wove in ends on the sock and on a pair of leg-warmers. I have yet to sew buttons on the leg warmers, but I have them picked out.

I also stitched some decorative lengths of I-cord for a pair of mitts. That is what brought down the stitch counts after the first week. I have yet to attach the I-cord to the mitts.

Yesterday I bound-off on a cowl I started on Halloween. It's a lovely pattern, Planet X Bandit, available free on Ravelry. (I can't access the site at the moment to provide a link.) I still need to weave in the ends and soak/block it, but I have high hopes it will become a winter weather staple.

Pictures will come in future posts.

NaKniSweMo- without the Swe!

There is a group on Ravelry that that hosts an event every November -along side NaNoWriMo. The goal is to knit a sweater (approximately 50,000 stitches) during the month of November: NaKniSweMo.

The theory goes that if you can write a 50,000 word novel in a month by breaking it down into 1667 words a day, you can do the same thing with a sweater. Knit an adult sized sweater in worsted weight yarn doing 1667 stitches a day.

I have competed in years past, without finishing on time. I enjoyed it- but this year I have a really really bad case of knitting ADD. I have half a dozen projects in various states of completion-or lack of, to be specific. Plus I want to cast on a pair of socks for mom, and complete them before it gets too cold.

So I'm going to attempt 1667 stitches a day for the month of November. It's about 30-50% more than what I estimate I normally do in a day. So it will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it.

Stitch count from Nov. 1: 2016 sts on the second of a pair of leg warmers. (My own design)

So far today I've done 1680sts on the legwarmer and about 600 on the heel of a sock.

I also finished grafting the toe of the first sock- and have decided that short row toes are not to my liking. Size 0- needles are too small to do that many short tows that close together and too many stitched to graft at the end of it. I'm using the yarn-over style of short rows, so that may have some bearing on the tediousness of it all.