No longer bogged down

I love my Bog Jacket!  It is long enough to go past my butt, is as warm as a blanket, and looks good, too.

Pattern:  Bog Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann (in Knitting Around)
Yarn:  Cascade 220 in black, red, and gray
Needles:  US7 for most, US6 for applied i-cord
Modifications:  None of my own, but I selected most of the options recommended in the pattern

I still want to do something additional with the sleeves, like add a cuff.  They come just past my elbows, are rather kimono-like, and appear to bell although technically they are not bell shaped. But for now, I am going to consider this project done and enjoy the warmth.

Delayed

The football hold

This little sweetie has impacted my knitting schedule (in a good way!) so I am not making progress on Belinda or  Zandloper, but knitting has been going on.  The Pine Forest Baby Blanket is done and soaked but not dry yet.  Most of the pink washed out, so I am guessing over time, it will all be gone.  The Bog Jacket is done except for some weaving of ends and a good soak.  Also, I want to do something more with the sleeves, I just don't know what yet.  The second pair of xmas socks is almost there - one done except for final grafting, the other down to the toe.

So, of course I started something new:  the Shibui Baby Bonnet from Shibui Baby Knits, but not in Shibui yarn.  I'm using Malabrigo left over from one of the February Baby sweaters.  Whoever said baby things are quick to knit has not knit them from sock yarn.

Let's play dress up!

I could not wait to see how the smallest outfits I knit fit Baby N, even though she was a reluctant model.

I can't work under these conditions!

All that crying is exhausting!

The sleeves on both the February baby sweater and smallest BSJ were on the short side, while the leggings were plenty long.  As you may recall, these items were knit in fingering yarn on US2s.  The infant socks (not pictured) which seemed so tiny to me are large enough that they don't stay on.  Guess I will have to whip up some stay-on booties for this girl.

The best early birthday present EVER

Presenting baby N:


7 lb. 2 oz.


Mom, dad, and baby all doing well.  Grandma, on the other hand, is beside herself, hopelessly in love, can't get enough of baby N.

Finally

Finally it is cool enough to wear the alpaca Mistake Rib scarf I knit last spring.  It is also cool enough for hand knit socks, but I have been wearing them for a while because in my office, thanks to the HVAC system, there is no sweating, except from nerves or stress.  We moved to a new "green" building recently which is even colder, and now I need wool sweaters as well.  Good thing I have picked up the Bog Jacket again, and maybe I will "man up" and finish seaming the Minimalist Cardigan as well.


So, how long should a WIP be a WIP before one gives up on it?  The WIPs I have the most trouble picking up again are the crocheted ones.  Originally, I was a hooker and not a knitter, but now I am a knitter who occasionally crochets.  I tried learning filet crochet, but it's too fiddly for me.


I have also tried to become a spinner and have aspirations to be a dyer.  Toward the latter, I recently "harvested" the marigolds in my garden, storing the petals in the freezer until that magical time when there will be more than 24 hours in a day and/or I will no longer need to sleep and/or the stops setting.  
  

I have also started saving the dry skins of onions.  The robins beat me to the poke berries, though.

Now, where was I?

Oh, yeah.  Grafting the bog jacket.

And I did it!  Not perfectly, but good enough.  I tried on the jacket and it actually fits, although I'm not excited about the collar.  Now it is time for about a mile of attached i-cord. 

Progress on Belinda: 

That's thirteen inches.


Progress on Zandloper: 

And I am still working on the final baby blanket (which I think will become the blanket-that-stays-at-grandmas-house) and xmas socks. 

And I want to start these gloves before the snow flies, for moi.


And that's the end of this progress report.

Kinky

Still no baby, and it is just as well, because, well, you remember that aqua-colored blanket?  Frogged.  Last Sunday I tried to seam it.  Even in the best of circumstances, I find seaming to be challenging.  In this case, I quickly became frustrated, and in a fit of pique, ripped the whole thing back to its origins.

It wasn't just the seaming that drove me over the edge, but the whole project.  I just did not like the results.  If I were to knit this particular blanket pattern ever again, I would knit it all of a piece instead of in strips.

But I'm not knitting it again.  Instead, I am knitting the Pine Forest Baby Blanket.  Does that stitch look familiar?

Yep, it's the gull stitch, same as what is used in the February baby sweater.  What can I say?  I love this stitch.  BTW, while soaking the kinky wads of yarn, the water turned pinkish, which gives me hope that the dye stains will wash out.

While I wasn't frogging last Sunday, I was watching football and continuing to work on Belinda.  I decided to keep my morale up by taking a weekly progress photo.

This picture was taken on Tuesday and illustrates we are at about 7.5 inches.

Done!

No baby yet, but the baby sack is ready.

Pattern:  Hooded Carrying Bag from Essential Baby
Yarn:  Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in beige
Needles:  US7
Modifications:  Instead of a zipper, I added buttons and button loops, just like I saw here.

Challenging

There for a while, I just could not get excited about knitting anything that was not primarily garter or stockinette. I still wanted to knit, I just didn't want to have to follow a chart or count stitches or do anything but mindlessly knit.  That feeling recently gave way to a desire to try something new.  So it was serendipitous that Knitting Brioche popped up on the new books shelf at my local library branch.

Simply put, brioche knitting is a method for double knitting that produces a deeply textured fabric.  Even the simplest stitch yields dramatic results.

Side A:

Side B:

I'm starting with the Zandloper scarf which incorporates regular double knit blocks to give the item some shape.  Unfortunately, I have been making enough mistakes that I am tempted to start over, or at least rip back to where I was in the photos above.  The mistakes are not eye-popping, but they are all I see when I look at the scarf.

I thought the button loops for the hooded carrying bag would be a challenge, but these instructions were easy to follow.

Buttons will go on today, then all that remains is seaming the bottom.

Belinda is still crawling along, still at about fifteen minutes per two rows.

I am trying to knit at least two rows a day, to keep my hand in, at which rate it will take me about a year to finish this.  I would do more but two at a time is about all I can stand.  And thanks to my aging eyes, they must be knit in daylight.  Maybe I will try to knit two rows a quarter while watching football today.  Surely I can tolerate that.

What was I thinking?!?

That alpaca I brought home from Johnny Appleseed has been calling my name (the alpaca YARN, not a real alpaca ANIMAL), but I have not yet found the right pattern for it.  So I turned to something that has been on my queue for a while:  Mason-Dixon's 'Belinda'.  That is the good news.  The bad news is I am knitting it in Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

I have a love-hate relationship with Kidsilk Haze.  My knitting history is littered with started and unfinished Kidsilk Haze projects.  The yarn is next to impossible to knit, definitely impossible to unknit, and yet, when I do occasionally win the battle and complete something in Kidsilk Haze, I love the finished product.

Keeping my eyes on the prize, I struggled to get this thing started...

...and am about ten rows farther along than this photo indicates.  Each pair of rows takes about 15 minutes to complete.  And I have about 260 more rows to go.  To be HALF done.  Gah.

In the home stretch

My daughter is less than a month away from her due date, so I am trying to finish up a few things, like this blanket I started shortly after I first learned she was pregnant.

Pattern:  My own, finished size approximately 30"x32".
Yarn:  Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in "Baltic Sea" (four skeins)
Needle: US7 (I think)

The body of the blanket is based on the Twisted Lattice square from Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book by Barbara Walker.  After trying several different borders, I settled on a double round of applied i-cord; I used the i-cord instructions from knitty, but followed Elizabeth Zimmerman's advice in Knitting Around for handling the corners.  I would have preferred to add a third round, because the edges really want to curl, but I did not have enough yarn.

I am nearly finished with the hooded carrying bag from the Essential Baby, by Debbie Bliss.  The hood is now grafted, and I am starting the seaming.  (Note:  The seaming instructions in this book are very easy to follow.)

The pattern calls for a zipper, but I have never sewn a zipper into a hand knit item, plus I saw a version of this pattern here that uses buttons and button loops.  Hence, the buttons.

Note to self:  Never, ever try to shop at Joann's over the lunch hour.  The checkout line was long and there were only two cashiers.  Several shoppers had to give up and leave without their purchases.  Usually I shop at Joann's on my way home from work, when it is dead.  I was a little shocked at its daytime popularity.

I still have not decided what to do about the stained blanket.  The irony of WanderingCat's suggestion that I overdye the blanket was not lost on me because, gee, I paid a premium for this hand dyed yarn.  Still, I will keep that idea in mind.

This and that

Once again, we attended the Johnny Appleseed Festival this past weekend. Ordinarily, we go on Sunday morning, before the multitudes awaken. This year we went on Saturday morning, and we were not the only ones to think this was a perfect day for being out and about. As we wandered about in a crowd-induced daze, we watched for yarn. We found it in the last area we visited, which ironically was right next to the entrance. Some wildly colored pottery had distracted me and we walked right past the alpacas. Even though I have yet to use what I purchased last year, I bought a package of fingering weight alpaca (a suri alpaca yarn from Zathura and a suri/huacahya alpaca blend from Raval and Tess, who all live at Turkey Creek Farm), 1500 yards, enough for something.

Revisiting Tencel: The cotton-Tencel blend I used for the Clapotis sheds, but it should be noted that the wool-Tencel blend I purchased from Green Mountain Spinnery does not. I knit some socks with this a while back, and there is no shedding or pilling. This particular yarn, Sock Art Forest, apparently has been discontinued, but GMS now offers a DK weight blend called Sylvan Spirit (reviewed here by Clara Parkes - more colors are now available). I guess what I am trying to say is, if you want to try a Tencel-based yarn, buy a skein and knit it up and see how it behaves for you. Tencel gives yarn a sheen that turns color into eye candy, which makes hunting for a suitable Tencel-based yarn worth the effort.

While looking for the information on my blog about the above yarn and socks, I came across some empty promises I made myself about a year ago. There was a list of UFOs that begged to be finished, and some were, but many were not. There was also a sincere intention to spindle on a regular basis, but that did not happen, either. Unlike some people we know, I am not very good at enforcing self-imposed goals or rules AND I have a full time job. Besides, there is an impending grandbaby to knit for!

One down, three to go

Pattern:  Ann Norling Adult Socks (designer: Deridre Wallace)
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Sassy Stripes, in 767
Needles:  US1
Modifications:  None to speak of, except my gauge is much looser than Ms. Wallace's, as she recommends US3 to achieve 7 stitches per inch.

I considered trying to match up the stripes, but the last time I did that, there were so many splices in the second sock that it did not work.  In this case, though, there were no splices and the stripes would have been near perfect.  Oh, well.  They are not that far off as it is.

Blanket blues

The one blanket that needed just a border is still giving me fits because, well, borders roll.  I have tried several solutions, none very satisfactory, and finally settled on two rows of applied i-cord.  Three rows would be better, but I just don't have the yarn.  Hopefully, a little blocking will go a long way.

And then there is this:

I decided to block the pieces of the other blanket, but when I put them into the washer to soak, I noticed a pile of handknit socks nearby.  Thinking I would kill two birds with one stone, I threw the socks in with the blanket pieces.  A little voice in the back of my head said something about the red socks bleeding, but I ignored it.  STUPIDLY ignored it.  There are products out there to remove dye stains, but I'm afraid they will remove the aqua along with the pink.  Any suggestions?

I was not stupid enough to process the Blu jean pieces with the blanket because, well, HOT water in the washer?  And HOT drying in the dryer?  Even I knew better.

The pieces did shrink a bit, as expected.

And the denim fabric faded a bit as well.

At least some things go according to plan.

More EZ

Here is the post-button sewing onslaught:

Pattern:  Baby sweater on two needles from Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn:  Malabrigo Superwash Merino Sock yarn in 'Abril'

Yarn:  Wandering Cat Yarns Stray Cat in 'Kaia'

Yarn:  Schaefer Yarn Company Little Lola in 'Empress Wa-Zhao'

Pattern:  Baby leggings from Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn:  Malabrigo Superwash Merino Sock yarn in 'Violeta Africana'

Yarn:  Wandering Cat Yarns Stray Cat in 'Kaia'

The idea was to follow the pattern exactly for all these objects, but vary the yarn and needle size to produce different size garments.  As to how well these will fit the baby, well, we will have to wait until she makes an appearance sometime toward the end of October.

One modification I made to all three sweaters was to decrease the stitch count at the cuff by about 10% to remove the flare.  I also knit the body first, then knit the sleeves in the round, until I reached the cuff.  Knitting garter in the round caused a jog where each round ended, so I knit the cuffs back and forth, then stitched up the gap.

I ran out of yarn on the green leggings, so the legs are a bit short.  I wondered if the body was too large, but last night I compared them to the BumGenius diapers my daughter purchased, and the fit was just right.  However, she will have to be careful with the Velcro closures and the yarn.

I ran out of yarn on the blue sweater as well, so the sleeves are a bit short, but maybe by the time the baby is ready for that size sweater, it will be spring.  I think it will go well with the Blu jeans I am knitting.

NOW, I am hoping to wrap up the baby blankets.  One needs to be seamed and a border added, the other just needs a border, something that is currently driving me crazy.  And THEN I will allow myself to start something new.

Incoming

I ordered more yarn for more baby things, so I thought maybe, just maybe, I should put the finishing touches on some of the other baby things I started.  And having a three-day weekend with nowhere to go (on purpose) afforded me some time to do that.  Even though most of what remained involved nothing more difficult that sewing on buttons, sewing on buttons takes a surprising amount of time.

A year's worth of BSJs

The only difference between the pix below and the pix of the same projects elsewhere in this blog is that the buttons are for real this time.

Details of the above are here.

Details of the above are here.

Details of the above are here.

Button detail

A Warped Knitter asked about the Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel I used for the Clapotis shawl.  The yarn itself is soft and silky, and the color is very rich.  It is also inelastic, so it lacks the spring of something like merino wool.  The knitted fabric has a lot of drape, which makes it a good candidate for shawls and scarves.  I liked knitting it a bit better than knitting with cotton but less than with wool.  The big disappointment is the shedding - I wore the shawl over a black sleeveless knit tank top, and by the end of the day, the top was covered with red fuzz.  Comments about the yarn on Ravelry reveal that I am not the only one who has noticed the shedding and pilling.  I purchased 15 skeins of this, originally with the intent of making a sweater, and used 7 of them on the shawl.  Not sure what I am going to do with the rest.  Maybe a wall hanging?

How many days until xmas?

I like to gift handknit socks for xmas, but that means thinking sleigh bells before summer is even over.  It may also mean a false start or two.

A while back, I became frustrated with muddy-looking self-striping yarns, so I purchased a small boatload of Sassy Stripes.  And while I am perfectly content to knit plain vanilla socks, I feel gift socks should be something special.  I selected the Rock-A-Bye pattern from Joy of Sox.  Initially, I liked the contrast of the diagonal columns with the stripes, but the more I knit, the less I liked the stitching.

I don't know what you call it when the purl stitches show through the knit stitches, but I did not like the result, as the stripes lost their crispness.  So let's do plain vanilla.

Ah, that's better!