And Just Like That…It’s Done!

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Carrie

I guess that complaining about the sleeves taking forever spurred me on to sit down and actually concentrate on finishing them.  After all, they’re only sleeves.  And plain ones at that!

IMG_20150128_155349_clr_smOnce that happened…well, they were done.  After one Knit Night I was halfway finished, then at the end of the second Knit Night they were off the needles and I was giddily trying on the completed sweater.  Whew!  Isn’t it amazing how much knitting you can get accomplished when you put your mind to it?

IMG_20150128_155306_clr_smAfter a short session to weave in all those pesky yarn ends, it went into a soapy bath and then into the dryer.  This yarn is famous for “growing” to super scary proportions when wet.  The trip through a slightly warm dryer makes it all better and returned the sweater to human dimensions.  Specifically – my dimensions.

Folks, this sweater fits great!  I think I have yet another favorite cozy sweater for the rotation.  Yay!  Bonus is that I can wear it immediately.  The fabric is amazingly soft and springy, hugging in all the right places without being the least bit clingy.  I only made a few modifications – lengthening the body and shortening the sleeves – but otherwise it was knit as written.

IMG_20150128_155239_clr_trm_smI went out on a limb with the color this time.  Those who know me well will notice that it’s not my standard neutral, nor is is blue (my other go-to color).  But I’m really liking it in this pattern.  And I think I’m going to enjoy wearing this particular shade of purple just as much as the neutrals.

With that, I think my purple knitting phase is complete.  Three purple projects in a row is enough, don’t you think?

For the knitters:

 

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January is for Selfish Knitting

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Carrie

After all of the knitting for everyone else is finished, it’s time to knit for myself.  I had only gotten about halfway through my purple Carrie sweater before I needed to put it away in favor of gift knitting.  But now that the weather has turned chilly and wet, I really want to wear it!  So I immediately pulled it back out of hibernation and knit like mad.

IMG_20150107_133844_clr_smThe rest of the body flew off the needles.  That simple diamond pattern really keeps things interesting!  As soon as I cast off at the hem, I tried it on.  Perfect!

IMG_20150107_134247_clr_trm_smI only made a few modifications to the body.  I like my sweaters to hit at or near the widest point of my hip, so I worked an additional set of increases at the bottom of the waist shaping to give me an added inch around the hem, and then I knit to the desired length instead of stopping at the length given in the pattern.  This worked out beautifully.

Now there are just the sleeves to knit.  Which of course are easy and boring and seem to take forever.  But once again it was more important to me to have the desired length in the body, and I wasn’t sure if that would mean there wouldn’t be enough yarn left for long sleeves.  Next time I hope I get to knit the sleeves first and get them out of the way.  At least I’m working them both at the same time so that when I cast off again I’ll have a finished sweater!  And it looks like I’ll have plenty of yarn to make the sleeves as long as I want.

Is it done yet?

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Holiday Roundup

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Carrie

I know.  We’re several weeks into the new year.  Not me though; I’ve been on vacation!  We welcomed in the new year along with everyone else, but it didn’t really FEEL like the new year yet.  Know what I mean?  Now that we’re back home, I think I’m ready to really get started on this year.

And can I just say…I am SUPER glad to see the back of 2014.  Whew!

The gift knitting was completed just in time this year.  I don’t know what happened to the schedule, but suddenly there appeared some unplanned additions and substitutions.  It all worked out in the end, as per usual!

I knit a fun baseball season scarf for Husband.  This one commemorates the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals season, in which they won the World Series.  Two rows of knitting equals one game, with the color representing either a home or away win/loss.  The colors go like this: Red = home win, White = home loss, Blue = away win, Grey = away loss.  I had a great time knitting it, and he is having a blast showing it off to his friends.

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Also for Husband, this time for his birthday, Persnickety helped me knit a pair of socks.  Exciting, right?!?  We actually managed to knit a whole pair of socks!  And they fit!  These are ankle length socks, (as opposed to the hand striped, knee-high socks of doom) because Husband prefers those for everyday wear.

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One of my aunts made a special request for a cat nest, because you know kitties just love to snuggle inside cozy, dark places to nap.  I based my nest on a published pattern, but heavily modified it – making the opening bigger, and leaving an opening in the top so the kitty siblings could torment each other.  No action shots as of yet, so I’m hoping the cats are just camera shy instead of being scared of their new toy.

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  • Pattern: Nest by Hanne Katajamäki
  • Ravelry Project Page: here

My family relayed to me that my niece was overheard to say, “I wonder what Aunt Carrie is making for me this year.”  Well you know I couldn’t let that go unrewarded.  However, it took a bit of a search to find just the right thing.  She’s seven now, so I wanted something that was ‘young girl’ without being ‘little girl.’  I think I found it.

IMG_20141223_160528_clr_smShe was properly enthusiastic during the unveiling (always gratifying), and it looks like the weather this week complied in making it not too warm to wear it.  The sizing turned out perfectly – just big enough that she’ll get in at least a couple winters of wear.

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The last bit of knitting magic for this season was for another aunt.  I agonized more than a bit on what to do for her.  Should I knit her something, or do I choose one of the items from her published wish list?  What to do?

IMG_20141221_102553_clr_smIn the end, I decided to visit the stash and let it tell me if there was something there that was singing out to be hers.  Note to self: that was the right decision.  I had left it really late, but this pattern and this yarn were meant to grace my aunt’s shoulders.  And so they just flew off the needles!

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Now I’m kicked back with the first fire of the year warming my toes and my selfish knitting warming my lap.  Sigh.  This feels like a good start.

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We interrupt the knitting…

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Carrie

We interrupt the regular knitting programming to bring you another installment in the upholstery adventures.  Gifty knitting and crochet work is in full swing now (only 30 days left!) so there’s not much I can show you in that category.

This upholstery adventure comes to you via Mom.  Somehow (fuzzy memory?) I inherited Mom’s slipper chair that lived in her bedroom as a girl.  I don’t know when it came to her, but I do know that at some point my grandfather reupholstered it to the green tapestry fabric shown here.

IMG_20141013_135114_clr_trm_smMy beloved Sadie cat unfortunately thought it made a nice scratching post, so the fabric was looking a little too well-loved on one side.  The seat was also feeling a bit lumpy and not too comfy.  However, it’s an awesome chair to sit in while spinning.  Now that I kind of know what I’m doing, it is time to tackle this upholstery project.

IMG_20141013_145053_clr_smWhen I pulled off the outer seat fabric, I found this cracked floral fabric (vinyl?) over the seat padding.  Maybe the previous upholstery?

IMG_20141013_150447_clr_smAnd this would be why the seat has gotten lumpy and uncomfortable.  The twine holding the springs in place has fallen down on the job and let the springs topple over.  The springs will need to be stabilized as the first step toward building the chair up again.

IMG_20141013_150643_clr_smI stripped the chair down to the frame, but left the webbing/spring assembly and the burlap layer on the back.  Those look to be in relatively good shape.  I will shore up the webbing next, then stabilize the springs to the frame so they sit nicely again.  At that point the chair will be ready for new padding and fabric!

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New Strands

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Carrie

This gallery contains 14 photos.

Y’all know that I’ve got my fingers into a lot of crafty things, and that I’ve been trying new ones lately too.  So it should come as no surprise that I’ve been experimenting with some new items in the Tangled … Continue reading →

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On the Needles

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Carrie

Here’s the latest on what’s in progress.  I can’t show you everything, because the gifty crafting has begun.  Only 56 days left til Christmas, you know.  (I know, I was shocked too – it’s only Halloween!)

As soon as I finished the cozy autumn colored sweater, I needed another one.  Right now.  Immediately.  And in purple.  Don’t ask me why, though I seem to be in a purplish phase lately.  I’m sure it will pass, though hopefully not before I finish this sweater.

IMG_20141019_161029_smThe pattern is (very appropriately) named Carrie by Josée Paquin.  (No, I didn’t make that up.  She really did name it Carrie.  And of course I have to knit it.  I mean, she even spelled it correctly.)  It is knit top down, with the cowl collar first then on to the raglan shaping.  What you see in the photo there is the 10.5″ of cowl collar.  The body of the sweater has a super easy purl diamond pattern that makes it a much more interesting and sophisticated item to knit and wear.

I am also knitting the Lestrange Cloak by Catherine Salter Bayar.  This is a lightweight lace cardigan/coat that I’m working up in a variegated grey and black fingering weight merino.  It just looks like a lot of wadded up lace right now, but trust me the stitch pattern is lovely.

IMG_20140926_172002_clr_smI have shortened the body by one lace repeat, so that it will fall at mid-hip instead of mid-thigh, and am in the process of dividing for the fronts/back at the sleeves.  This one has been languishing in the project bag, since more exciting things have come along.  I keep carrying it around hoping that I will pull it out to knit a row or two instead of dropping it completely.  It’s not a difficult knit, and it would be perfect for wearing right now, but I’m just not inspired at the moment.  It’s not you, it’s me.

Some crafty creativity has been going on as well.  I felt inspired to get out my stitch pattern books and cook up a simple lace scarf/shawl.  This is my quickie swatch.  The finished item will be four of the fern pattern repeats in width, instead of two.

IMG_20141007_160232_clr_smAgain with the purple.  I found two skeins of fingering weight merino/cashmere/nylon at my local yarn shop and well, you know what happened next.  I think the pattern suits the yarn nicely.

For my last show and tell, I just want to say that Pinterest is sometimes a very bad thing for productivity.  I was wandering around there one lazy weekend morning and saw these super crafty people making rugs out of doily patterns.  And well…I fell down that particular rabbit hole too.  I do love some great crochet.

IMG_20141028_125600_clr_smThis is a spectacular example of gauge in action.  Doilies you know are done in very thin yarn on very small hooks.  But upsize that to very thick yarn on large hooks and you get a quick custom made cushy rug that is just the right size and look for your space.  I left the crochet hook in that photo so you can get a sense of the scale.  At this point it’s about halfway done.  It’s going to be the perfect size for my foyer.  Except that this little diversion is eating into the sanctioned project time.  Ooops!

What are you working on?

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Beekeeper

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Carrie

I have a small stash of fingering weight yarn in two and three skein quantities that I have been saving for small shawls or summer tanks.  I grab them as I come across them in my wanderings, and they are nearly always in fun colors.  Not my usual, I know.  However, the thought is that in order to wear a sleeveless top here in the Pacific Northwest I would need a cardigan too.  My cardigans are usually in more subdued colors so that the layer peeking out underneath can be a brighter thing.  Or not, depending on my mood.

The Beekeeper’s Tank pattern caught my eye as I was wandering through Ravelry this summer.  It was sunny and warm outside, so I immediately went to the stash in search of a suitable yarn.  This top isn’t fitted, so it needed more yardage than a pattern with negative ease would need.  I finally decided on the three skeins of Araucania Huasco marinating there since midwinter.  As soon as the blanket project was finished, I cast on.

IMG_20140727_101446_clr_smLook at that color!  You can’t help but smile while knitting it.

IMG_3328_clr_smThis was a fast, easy knit.  There is no waist shaping; all of the stitches are effectively cinched in by the smocking cables at the top.  The cable pattern was very easy, and quickly memorized.  The only thing I’m not happy with is the applied I-cord edging.  I saw another Ravelry user work her edging in garter stitch, and I wish I had done that too.  The I-cord isn’t bad, I just would have been happier with the garter edges.  I’ll keep that in mind for the next one.

IMG_3330_clr_trm_sm IMG_3335_clr_trm_smNot to worry though, I’ve gotten a lot of wearing out of this sweater already!

For the knitters:

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On Cozy Sweaters

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Carrie

We’ve all got a favorite cozy sweater in our closets.  You know the one – it’s so soft, snuggly, and warm that we wish we could wear it every day.  The one that fits perfectly, is just right for our personality, and goes with all of our moods.  It’s the embodiment of the favorite childhood blankie or stuffed animal, but in a form that is socially acceptable for adults.  And when it wears out, we are sad to see it go.

Until we find a replacement that encapsulates all of those things, but is also full of new life.

I have been without my favorite cozy sweater for several winters now.  That sweater is a heavily textured and cabled knit, in a medium warm grey, with a snuggly cowl neck, and fitted in all the right amounts in all the right places.  I got complements every time I wore it.  And I wore it so much that the dye faded from the key stress points.  It faded to the extent that it was no longer acceptable as an outside-the-house sweater, and I finally put it aside.  The goal, now that my knitting skills are at a point where I feel confident in tackling such a project, is to reproduce the sweater pattern (improving here and there) to make a new one.  That project has been on the to do list for quite a while now and is slowly making it’s way to the top of the queue.

Meanwhile, I happened upon another cozy sweater pattern.  This one was shuffled to the top of the priority list due to the acquisition of the perfect yarn for the project.

IMG_20140415_174810_clr_smI can’t overstate the necessity of the perfect yarn to the success of the project vision.  This was an example of purchasing yarn for a particular project, rather than finding a great project then visiting the stash to see what would work.  The perfect yarn didn’t already exist in the stash, which was why the project was languishing in the queue.  (This is what is happening with the favorite cabled knit sweater reproduction project described above.  Sigh.)

Once the gift knitting was complete for the summer, I got to work on the sweater.  The styling is fairly simple, with very little shaping.  The stitch pattern and natural stretchiness in the yarn do most of the work to make the fabric smoothly flow over my curves.  What appealed to me was that I could knit a sweater without negative ease and still have it look like I have a feminine form under there.  No potato sacks here!

IMG_20140926_171806_clr_smMy only worry was the yardage.  The estimate given in the pattern was spot on with what I had purchased (thank goodness for smart phones).  But you know how that goes – every knitter’s mileage varies.

IMG_20141023_143204_clr_smLucky for me this is a top-down knit.  I knit the body down to where the designer instructed to start the ribbing at the bottom band, then I put the stitches on a holder.  Instead I knit both sleeves as instructed, paying attention to the amount of yarn remaining.

IMG_20141023_143227_clr_trm_smOnce the sleeves and neckline were completed, I was happy to see that I had plenty of yarn left to knit the body as long as I liked.  So I tried it on and kept knitting until I liked the length, adding the 2″ of ribbing at the bottom as instructed.

IMG_20141023_143955_clr_smThe sweater fits perfectly, and is a great color for me.  I can dress it up or wear it around the house.  And the yarn is so soft and snuggly.  I can imagine many happy winters in this one!

IMG_20141023_144006_clr_trm_smFor the Knitters:

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Last Glimpse of Summer

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Carrie

Last weekend we got a glimpse of summer.  It was sunny and warm and we all went outside – without our sweaters.  I expected to pull up all of the summer veggie plants, now that the sun is visibly arcing lower in the sky.  Instead, my tiny garden surprised me with these.

IMG_20141016_154037_trm_smFriends, that is the last gasp of one super-fruitful cherry tomato plant that has been going gangbusters all summer.  I think it likes where I put it.  So did the bees – they visited nearly every week, dutifully spreading the love.  The tomatoes are now sitting in the windowsill soaking up the pitiful rays that manage to filter through the heavy rainclouds that are now gracing us with their presence.  We are savoring their wonderful sweetness.

The other show going on in our backyard is between the squirrels and the apple trees.  There are two apple trees in the yard – one matured in July and dropped green apples for the wild bunnies and squirrels to eat, the smaller one matured in September and the squirrels have really been all over it.  The apple skins on this one seem to be too bitter for them though.  I watched one hop along the fence, select an apple from one of the branches, sit there on the fence peeling the entire apple (spitting the yucky peel out all over the place), then eat about half of the flesh.  The leftovers are lined up there along the top of the fence like little trophies until someone comes along later and knocks them off.

Now to gracefully swing into Fall.  Fall means craft shows and fiber festivals.  My favorite!  We knit girls spent Sunday wandering through the stalls at Fiber Fusion Northwest, petting all the fiber.  I won’t bore you with the details, but this year we were focused less on the yarny goodness and more on the fleeces and spinning fiber.  We might need to add a spinning group to our weekly fiber gatherings.  There were the usual alpaca, sheep, and goats to ooh and ah over.  We also were able to catch the Angora rabbit shearing demonstration.  I’m sure there are videos all over the ‘nets for this, but what struck us the most was how calmly the (5 month old!) bunny was just sitting there letting her human shave her.  Amazing.

IMG_20141019_145352_clr_trm_smI leave you with a snapshot of the show to come.  The trees are just getting started here.  We should see a lot more varieties turning their leaves over the next few weeks.

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Adventures in Spinning

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Carrie

I think I’m hooked on spinning using a wheel now.  You knew that would happen, right?  I did.  That’s why I resisted learning to spin for so long.

But after that first batch of yarn I spun with Penelope…the spinning bug bit hard.  When I mentioned to the Knit Girls that I had spent hours knitting and spinning one day, one of them said, “You know you were born in the wrong century, don’t you?”  Yeah, I have to agree.  Hand work is just so natural to me!

So what could I do but pick up the braid of fiber that I had bought on my trip to Montana?  It needed spinning, and I needed to keep practicing.  Perfect match.

IMG_20140819_130352_clr_trm_smThis braid is a blend of merino (a sheep breed, one that’s more associated with high quality ready-to-wear knits) and nylon fibers.  The merino provides the warmth and loftiness, the nylon provides the bounce and shape retention.  This is the combination most often found in yarn for sock knitting.  So I decided to go with that quality and try my hand at a sock weight (or nearly!) three-ply yarn.

What that decision meant was that I needed to spin very thin singles.  To help, I separated a section of some leftover sock yarn into the individual strands.  I used this as a visual aid to keep the thickness of my spinning on track.

IMG_20140930_162631_clr_sm IMG_20140930_130136_clr_smHaving the visual aid mostly worked.  What I didn’t account for was the amount the finished yarn would “bloom” once washed.  Some fibers become more fluffy once they go through their first bath.  The BFL did (which I expected), but the merino/nylon also bloomed (which I didn’t expect as much).  Next time I’ll use the visual aid, but spin the singles a tad bit thinner.  Or I could spin a small amount, ply it, then wash it to see how it will look/behave in the finished product.  Learning as I go!

IMG_20141005_130137_clr_trm_smWhat I ended up with is approximately 330 yards of a heavy fingering to sport weight yarn.  That’s enough for a pair of socks, a generous cowl, or a small shawl/scarf.  I don’t yet have a plan for this one though, so it’s going into the stash for now.

For the Spinners:

 

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