Knitting with the Monsters...

My life with two toddlers and two cats, all of whom are out to drive me nuts and destroy my knitting!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Patience

Well I'm down to a mere 4 digits in waiting for Ravelry. I'm currently 8543 in like with nearly as many people behind me. 53% of the list has been invited... It's not FAIR!!! I wish I'd known about this thing earlier, I'd definetly have signed up in June and be in by now... ah well. I'll just have to wait. The only good thing is knowing there are 8000 people who will wait longer than me, lol.

On the knitting front, I feel I have had some sort of breakthrough with the Digger success. I keep getting compliments on the sweater when he wears it and it just makes me so proud! I want to make more so I can, ahem, encourage (some might say force) Maddie to wear something too. She's quite jealous of Jamie's sweater, she was extremely grumpy the day I finished it and kept wanting it to be Maddie's sweater.

So I thought making her a new one might help. I chose a new sweater - one from Rowan's new Little Knits book (Kite, for those interested...) and a different yarn to the All Season's Cotton suggested - the last sweater which she is currently refusing to wear is in ASC and besides the fact I have loads, I wanted something warmer for her since she tends to get chilly during winter. This evening, for example, DH made the bath a little cooler than normal and she had blue lips. Jamie had red cheeks. But I digress.

One of the things she kept saying was that Maddie wanted a blue sweater. So I went up to the stash room and started poking about, having a think about what could work and what I had enough of. I've had a stern talk with myself about using up the stash lately, I tend to finish so little and start so much, not to mention BUY so much, and I'm ready to try to remedy that. Unfortunatly I don't have that much blue. Just like I don't have that much pink. I tend to force myself to not fall into that stereotype of blue=boys, pink=girls. Ironic, then, that Jamie's sweater is blue, no? Whilst rifling through everything I found a bag of Kid Classic that had been bought at a Liberty sale about 2 years ago. I hate going to those sales, I never really need to get anything and then feel compelled, having trekked all that way, to get something. Then I get two or three bags and sometimes it just molders (and molders).

But now, one less bag moldering. It's perfect, too. It's Iced Jade, a pretty bright aqua (BLUE), and it's light, and just about the right gauge (not that I swatched. If it's too big, who cares, she's 3 and she will grow. Oh the freedom of knitting for someone who grows!). One sleeve down, one halfway there. I discovered this technique some years ago - sleeves first. Being someone who suffers terribly from finishphobia, the sleeves are the worst bit. They take forever, especially when it's just stockinette and it's just about getting them done. The challenge of the pattern or detailing on the front/back is over, the love has usually faded into the dim and distant past, and I've got 3 other things more important to knit. But if I do the sleeves first? Well they seem to take less time, and I'm still aching to get on with the main knitting.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. For now Maddie is excited, "Mummy is making Madddie sweater!" so I'm trying to knit like the wind. For god only knows how much the attention will hold if I don't knit fast, and then once her attention is gone (poor hearts sweater), the willingness to wear goes with it.

At least Jamie doesn't seem to notice OR care what he wears. Is this a boy thing or a 1.5yr old thing?

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Digger Sweater

This is undoubtably my favorite project so far for children's knits. Well, second favorite, my first being the matinee coat I made for J just before he was born. I seem to recall blogging on this sweater when the first panel was drying (but I might not have, let's just say there is a blogging black hole for the last year... I've photographed stuff and written posts in my head that never made it to the the actual typewritten stage...), which was back in March-ish - just checked, it was March!

The knitting was done in between other more important and still unfinished works, socks, scarves, etc. Then we had the summer-that-never-was, and I decided he needed something to keep the chill off. So when we went on holiday in August I took the yarn to make the sleeves with. Finally I had my chance, some child free time which was surprisingly rare, and wouldn't you know it - I didn't pack any 4.0mm needles. But I found I'd thought some 3.75mm circulars were 4.0mm(it is a mere/.25mm difference!) and thought, eh, won't make a difference!
Ah hahahahaha you laugh to yourself! Yes, you're right, it DID make a difference. Not too much, just you know, about 1.5inches of sleeve legnth. I realised this when I finally got a tape measure and measured poor J's arms, and realised that I was indeed an idiot, and that there was also no way the width was going to fit the arm socket. So I improvised, picked up the cast off stitches again, added the length which magically fixed the issue with the width.
Other that that (and fidgetting with the seaming of the armholes), it was smooth sailing. This is also the first finished item since Ling and I took a finishing course from Debbie Ahbrams at Stash. Well worth the money already!



So, stats: Digger Sweater from Rowan's Miss Bea's Colors. Can't say enough about how much I love this series of patterns. All simple and effective!
Started March 2007
Finished Sept 2007
actual time spent knitting - about a 2 weeks
Made with Rowan Wool Cotton, shade Aloof, about 4-5 balls. 3.25mm, 3.75mm, and 4.0mm(for main body) addi turbo, straights and circulars.


Jamie seems like he likes it! I've already gotten several comments from total strangers about how nice it looks! Needless to say I am quite chuffed about this sweater. I just hope this is a sign of things to come, more finished stuff.

<----- Don't you like the seams on this? I'm so impressed. This sweater makes most of my previous efforts look like pretty dire amateur work...






I just love the details on this sweater as well, like the open vents on the bottom where the ribbing is, and the few rows of garter to delineate where the circles start.

Also, surprisingly this is my first knit item that I have made with wool cotton. Love, love, LOVE this stuff! Will definitely be looking for something to make for Maddie with it as well. I've had my eye on the sweater that's the front cover of Miss Bea's Colors (the Fleur cardigan). One of the mummies at M's new school has a little girl wearing it in the color called Hiss, it is adorable. Is it bad that I can recognise most Miss Bea's patterns a mile away (and Rowan yarn/shades...) ?

Anyhow, that's my latest knit item. Unless you count the new sweater M's Big Bird is sporting. M picked out the yarn herself - some orange acrylic, I mean 'microfibre'. She got very upset when I finished J's sweater, saying she wanted Big Bird's sweater too. So, as the upsetness included tears, 24hrs later a custom made (sleeves are wing-shaped) sweater. I will post a pic as it's too funny not to!

On the needles at the moment is a new sweater for M - a warm one in Kid Classic's discontinued shade of Iced Jade. Does anyone else feel like yarn colors are decidedly more sombre these days? Just take a look at the shade card for Kid Classic - it's boring and dark. Ah well. I've got lots of discontinued wacky colors - 4ply soft in Goblin - about 15 balls of that! What I'll do with it is beyond me. Didn't they initially do 4ply soft as a replacement for Botany? And now most of the 4ply is also sombre. Where's my Wink! ? Where's that lovely darkish purple? And bright turquoise? It's all dark and mud. yelch. also thank god for ebay!!!

Okay, well my steak dinner has arrived on a tray for us to eat in bed. How decadent. Life at the moment is good:)

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I.Am.A.Bad.Blogger.

So it's been a mere 5 months since my last post. I keep meaning to... take the pictures... then don't.

Ah well. I'm not going to witter here about the whys, it's boring enough just thinking about it! Let's just say I'm still coming out of a dark tunnel, I can see the light even!

Onto bigger and better things. Here we have Maddie's birthday sweater that was in my last post. It is the Hearts Sweater that I am not quite sure if I posted pictures of in progress... I seem to have an inkling that I posted in progress pictures of it and the digger sweater that is also very nearly finished. Gawd sometimes it is sooo easy to start and finish the first 80% of things... WHY is the last 20% so painful? The sleeves. The blocking. The sewing up. The neckband. These things alone I don't mind. It's just saying well the knitting is done, now all I have to do is... The digger sweater which is so lovely and perfect as been sitting with the knitting done. Well nearly - I realised that I need to add length to the sleeves but only if I want to - they're bound off.

ah well. So I'm currently in the middle of the neckband on Digger, as well as fixing the sleeve length which will mean blocking the sleeves again... I could leave them but it'd be obvious every time I see it... like the one 1/2 row where I picked up some stitches after ripping out and knit it all wonky. But that's on the back. Or where I bound off the front neck not-in-the-pattern and then have a line where I picked up for the neckband (artistic decision).

and whilst I am working on that I am also going wild and sort of designing my first sweater for Maddie. While on another (hellish holiday) I found a lovely little knitting shop called Sea Needles. We went to Rehoboth/Dewey Beach, in Delaware. As far as beaches go, it's my fave - I used to go when I was a little girl and it brought back the same memories. Only when we went, it didn't rain. Yes, that's right. We went to the beach for 7 days, and it rained for 4 of them. Falls into the F*&^ing FIGURES catagory in my book.

But I digress. Sea Needles was a lovely little place that had all sorts of sweet stuff like minnowknits patterns as well as aranciana ( why is that so hard for me to spell let alone pronounce?). I got 5 skeins in this glorious colorway that has aquas, peaches, and rose. The staff were very friendly and initially I only bought one simple pattern and a few balls of Louisa Harding (yes I get the irony that technically I'm bringing it back home!), I went back later when I found much to my dismay that the other store in the area which was near the boardwalk in Rehoboth (not plugging it) had SAID they had Lorna's Laces, only to have a scant 5 or 6 skeins. Some sock wool, and literally 4 skeins of Helen's Lace. Not only that but the ladies in the shop, one of whom was tutoring another lady, were not the friendliest I've come across.

Now here's a question. Have you (anyone there?) ever been in a yarn store, or just anywhere else where someone is knitting or teaching knitting, and just found that you want to jump in? This lady who worked at the store was 'old school'. Now we've all experienced these types of ladies, like my MIL who has been knitting since she was 11, mostly with whatever was available or cheapest.

But this old schooler was being decidedly useless for someone who obviously been knitting for quite some time AND whose JOB it partially is to provide wisdom to carry on the craft. And yet I heard her saying to this other (surprisingly) older lady whom she was tutoring, "I can't tell you how to hold the yarn. People usually just figure that part out on their own." Jeeeyyysus. An integral part of how successful this newbie knitter is going to be (because gawd-dammit the way you hold the yarn IS important!!!) is dependant on this crabby useless old crust of a woman (who was rude to me as well, making her even more than useless)

Makes my blood boil. So I'm sure you're asking whether or not I jumped in? No, I wimped out, mainly because I DID teach myself and it slowed me down for the first 5 years. I mean slow. The type of 'I wish I'm known' slow. you know, the type where I tried to knit a sweater and it took me an entire semester of knitting in classes (lectures) to get... about 30 rows. But I still don't understand how you're supposed to hold the yarn so that you control the tension. I think they call it throwing the yarn. Ah well.

Poor newbie knitter. I feel your pain. I learned to knit from a book! Took me 2 weeks to cast on! No one showed me either! and yet I wonder if I'd taken the trouble to take a class or ask someone who was a knitter who, of course was nice, if it wouldn't have been so painful.

The question remains: why does it seem like the older generation is so unable to teach us at times? They can seem (not trying to outwardly insult an entire generation) almost to be of the mindset 'well no one taught me, why should I help you?' My answer? Because when you were struggling at my age, wondering what in the hell you were doing wrong, wouldn't you have wanted to know too?

Wow, talk about all over the place. I was trying to tell you about the sweater I'm designing, not to discuss generational issues. Okay so one of my favorite knits I've ever done was the matinee jacket I made for Jamie when he was a tiny baby. Way before I blogged and since he's a whopping 35lbs versus the 8-10lbs when he wore it, there aren't any on him shots. But it was luverly, I used RYC baby cashsoft and it was a pale aqua. So when I picked up my argentinian wool I thought of that jacket, but also of garter stitch for the skirt part since it's such a lovely rustic type of chunky wool. And I said to myself, self you can design something similar to ther jacket with its adorable pleats, how hard can it be?

Famous last words. Pretty darn difficult. But the good news is that the skirt is knit, and since I'm knitting on 6.5mm needles for the bodice, and it's a grueling 22 rows and 18 stitches across to the neckline, I can rip rip rip out those mistakes. I've probably ripped the half with the buttonholes about 6 times now. But I think I'm nearly done. It just better fit is all I can say and she better wear it - I have visions of the ballerina sweater she refused to touch. Then it's finishing the back which is loads easier not needing buttonholes. After that... the sleeves. I'm contemplating picking up stitches and knitting downwards, but we'll see.

And that is more than plenty. Since the pics are on the other computer, I'll see about having a picture-tastic post next time. (not in 5 months, either!)