In Need of Brightness

Brightness as in bright, cheery colors, not as in intelligence. I finished up my circle scarf, Encompass.

It is hard to capture the awesomeness of the piece in photos, I need to get some action shots of it. The scarf is a large circle (hence the name circle scarf), and can be worn several different ways. I am partial to looping it around my neck twice, so it forms a thick, squishy scarf. I also can take one of the loops up over my head like a hood. It works great.

Encompass is knit from Malabrigo yarn, in the colorway SFO sky. Which matches my Jack-in-the-Box mittens. The colorway is made of shades of white, black, and grey, which goes with any winter gear that I own.However, as much as I love it, the colors are a little drab, especially for knitting in the middle of a Wisconsin winter. It didn't help matters that I was also working on this pair of socks during the same time frame.

Both the pattern and the color are called Hedwig, named after Harry Potter's beloved snowy owl. The yarn, dyed by Dani at Sunshine Yarns, is a cream colored base, with black, greys, and a hint of brown. It captures a snowy owl perfectly, but again can be a little drab to work with in January.

A quick aside, Sunshine Yarns is one of my favorite sources for hand painted sock yarns. It is a one woman company in Colorado. The dyer gathers inspiration from a variety of sources, including Harry Potter, Twilight, and natural scenery. I've purchased many colorways from this site and never have been disappointed.

Having completed a couple of grey toned projects, I knew my next adventures would have to be done in some brighter colors.

I'm still working on my Farmer's Market Cardigan, which is a beautiful rust orange color, but I needed inspiration for a pair of socks.  I finally decided on a pattern that I have had in my Ravelry queue for sometime now, Pomatomus. Named after a fish, the pattern resembles fish scales, which led me to select a blue yarn for socks.  I selected a skien of Sterling Sheep Yarn, from a dyer on Etsy. The sock yarn is spun with a silver thread, giving the finished project some added sparkle. The colorway, Castiel, is a collect of blues, ranging from pale sky blue, to a deep, almost navy blue (Castiel, being named for Misha Collins' character on the tv series Supernatural) Of course, my camera did not accurately capture the colors, but you get an idea of the fish-scale like design. It'll provide a much needed break from the grey projects I had been working on.

Will I Ever Learn?

I'm pretty picky when it comes to my knitting. I just can't see investing all that time and effort into a project that I'm not going to love once it is completed. But, when I see that a project isn't working quite like I want, I tend to ignore that inner voice that is telling me that the project will not turn out.

After the Slip Stitch/Reverse Pinwheel Baby Blanket fiasco, one might think that I should have learned my lesson. I could save so much time (and heartache) if I would simply accept that if a project is not turning out how I would like, that I should simply rip it out and start over.

But no, I suffer from "let's just knit a few more rows and see how I like it," I see that my project isn't going right, but I'll invest more time into it to see if it magically improves. The more time I invest in the project, the more I decide to keep knitting on it to see if things improve, and the cycle continues. And yesterday, I did it again.

I cast on for a new project (ignoring the ones I have on the needles, actually finishing some projects might be a good New Year's goal for me), Encompass, a circle scarf designed by the Yarn Harlot. I decided to use a thinner yarn than the pattern called for, but made no other major changes. After finishing casting on, I looked at the stitches and my inner voice chimed in, "that's not going to be long enough, cast on another set of forty stitches." But, instead of heeding that inner voice, I decided to "knit a couple of rows to see how I like it."

So, I knit about ten rows and stopped to take a look and inner voice spoke up again, "It's too short, rip it out and cast on more stitches, like I told you before." And still, I decided, "Nah, I'll finish the first pattern repeat and see how I like it, its only seven more rows."

Seven rows later, I stopped and looked at the scarf, and inner voice said, "Well, look at that, it isn't getting any longer, RIP IT OUT AND START OVER!" At this point, it was getting late, so I figured I'd decide what to do in the morning (note: usually, late at night, taking a break from a project and getting some sleep would be a good idea, but I was iffy about this project from this morning on).

This morning, I picked up the project again. It had not magically grown overnight and was still to short. But what did I decide to do? Just knit a few more rows and see it I like it better. About three rows in, my inner voice was screaming at me, "START OVER, DUMBASS, START OVER!" I looked at the scarf, which I still felt was too short and decided to rib it out and cast on forty more stitches.

Seriously, I could have saved almost a full day's worth of knitting and had a much more productive inner dialog if I would have just listened to the inner voice right away. I should know by now, inner voice will prevail, if not today, tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, some day down the road, but it will prevail, the project will be frogged, and the sooner I accept that, the better.

Keeping Hands Warm

Between stitches on the various versions of the baby blankets that I've been working on, I have also completed a new pair of warm winter mittens. 

I chose the Jack-in-the-Box mittens from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves. The mittens have an normal top and an interior cuff. This allows you to have access to your fingers for things like unlocking the door, punching in the code on the garage door, and other tasks where you need some level of dexterity.

The bright pink button is to keep the top flap closed. I dug through my button box to find them. I had some super cute sheep buttons, that I was going to use, but they were a little big and I wanted to be able to button and unbutton with ease. Plus, I think it adds a nice splash of brightness to the mittens. I added some length to the cuffs, but otherwise knitted the pattern as written. 

The mittens were knit with Malabrigo Worsted yarn, a super soft, hand dyed merino wool. It is one of my favorite yarns to work with. The colorway is SFO Sky, a blend of whites, grays, and blacks. A little dreary perhaps, but a good universal, go with everything color that goes with my green winter coat and my red fleece coat.

The mittens have now been tested, in a very snowy Wisconsin December and have proven themselves to be cozy and warm while doing everything from driving to work to making snowballs. 

You Say Perfectionist Like It's a Bad Thing...

My needles have been clicking away on the Slip Stitch Baby Blanket, I was determined to get it finished in time for Christmas. Finally, I finished the slip stitch middle, and finished the top garter stitch border. I wasn't thrilled with the results, but I thought it might get better once the side borders were added. I started on the side border, *picked up the stitches, and knit a few rows. And I still didn't like it, so I ripped out the side border and tried again, and repeated from the * three more times. After being unhappy with the fourth side border, I came to a conclusion. I didn't like how this blanket turned out. 

The sensible part of me said, "Just finish it anyway, it's not for you, and there's a good chance you'll never see it again after it is given." 

Then that other, perfectionist voice spoke up, "You're going to set this knitting project loose on the world. If you don't like it, how can you expect the recipient to like it and want to use it."

The two voices continued to argue on:

"But you're almost finished with it."

"But it looks bad, and people will know that you made it."

"But it's almost finished."

"But it's ugly."

And on and on. Now, knowing myself as I do, it became clear that perfectionist voice was not going to shut up about it being a sub par project. And while sensible voice would whine about the extra work, and the probability that it wouldn't be finished in time for Christmas (admittedly not a big deal, seeing as the baby is not due until February). Eventually, I would rip out this blanket and make another one. 

Which I did. And surprisingly got it done in plenty of time (by which I mean a couple of days) for Christmas.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 Meet the Reverse Pinwheel Baby Blanket. I've done several circular blankets before, starting with about five stitches and increasing outward until you reach the desired size. But this one is done the opposite way, you cast on a bunch of stitches and decrease down to the middle.  In theory, less annoying, because every couple of rounds, you have less stitches instead of more. However, you don't have the same amount of control over the finished size. 
Admittedly, I would have liked it to be a little bit bigger, but 30 inches in diameter is a pretty good size for a baby blanket.


The pattern originally called for stockinette stitch, but I switched to garter. This yarn, Shine Sport by Knit Picks, knits into such a soft, smooshy fabric in garter stitch, that is perfect for a baby blanket. And, of course, the yarn can be machine washed and dried, which is good for anything made for small children.


My perfectionist voice managed to turn a so-so blanket into a better blanket. 

The Best Laid Plans

I have my knitting all planned out, I'm totally in love with my Farmer's Market Cardigan, and I'm making great progress on it. I've divided for the front and back and arm holes. It is mainly stockinette with some shaping right now, so it is fantastic tv knitting. I'm totally and completely content with the project.


So, of course, something has to go wrong, something that will stall my progress and wreck havoc with all of my plans. You know, something that looks a lot like this.



A broken knitting needle. Besides the interruption to my knitting, which is never appreciated, I also have the loss of a beautiful needle (it is hard to tell from the photo, but these needles are truly a work of art, in multicolored wood). Needless to say, my Farmer's Market Cardigan has been halted.


While this would seem like the ideal time to make some real progress on the Yggdrasil Throw, I decided that it was probably a good sign that I should get going on the Slip Stitch Baby Blanket, destined for my niece that is due in February. I would like to have it ready to go for Christmas. Plus, if I am being completely honest,  the Yggdrasil, I'm in the middle of a complicated cable section and isn't great tv or distraction knitting. It might be better to save it for this weekend, seeing as husband will be gone for deer hunting. That will be a great opportunity to turn off the tv, turn on the iPod and ignore the world while I focus on the cabled section of the Yggdrasil.

In the meantime, I've started the baby blanket and am already annoyed by the progress. It is a cute pattern, but the slip stitch design seems to take forever to make any progress. I'm also not too sure about the color combination. sometimes I think it is cute, and sometimes I just think it is okay. I do like how the pattern is turning out to be reversible, which is a plus with multicolored blankets. As an added plus, the Shine Worsted yarn is a pleasure to work with and is super soft and squishy. Hopefully I will finish in plenty of time, replace my broken needle and get back to my preplanned knitting.


I'm also making less than ideal progress on my pair of socks a month goal I set for myself in January. I did well through July, but then life got in the way. Since the start of August, I have finished a pair of socks for my oldest niece, and have just started on the leg of a second pair of toe-up socks. The pattern is Nagini, it Turtle Multi Essentials yarn (now known as Stroll sock yarn) from Knit Picks. Stroll is super soft, comes in great colors, gets better with wear, and is quickly becoming my favorite sock yarn. This pair will be pair number 9, completed in the 11th month, and somehow I don't see myself completing 3 more pairs by the end of the year.


Maybe I'll give the sock goal another try next year, or maybe I will try to set a different goal for the next year. I would also like to get some wash clothes made, 12 in a year would be doable. Or, I could start my mini-mitten advent calendar, which would work out to 2 mittens a month. I'll have to think about it some more and see.

Winter Knitting

For me there is something almost romantic about knitting in the fall and winter. It is what knitting was made for, it's what you think about when you think about knitting: cozy sweaters, warm mittens, hats, scarves, blankets, slippers, wool yarns, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love my light airy summertime knit tanks, and my cotton cardigans that help in the transitions between seasons, but fall and winter are the knitting seasons.



Farmer's Market Cardigan, Ignore the bottom part, that's my
version of a provisional cast on.



Thanks to  my stash inventory awhile back, I was aware of the glorious wool yarns I had waiting for me when this season struck. And once again, I have more projects planned than I could ever dream of having time to complete.

My main project on my needles is a perfect winter project: The Farmer's Market Cardigan. It's a hip length, long sleeved cardigan, with some beautiful cabling detail, knit up in a soft, squishy, and gorgeous tweedy rust colored yarn.

My second project on the needles has been neglected for some time now, but I figured this would be a great time to blow the dust off the pattern and start knitting again. The Yggdrasil Throw was originally meant to be a wedding gift for one of my oldest and dearest friends. I started it in plenty of time for the wedding, but the project went into hibernation when she called off the engagement last summer (no reason to work on a big heavy blanket in the summer if I don't have to, right?). It is an intricately cabled afghan with a tree of life motif, surrounded by Celtic style cables. I'm making it in an Orange-brown acrylic yarn, not my first choice for fibers, but it was a gift and needed to be easy care. While acrylic yarn isn't exactly a winter fiber, a big, heavy blanket is perfect to work on during those long, cold, snowy evenings. I have absolutely no idea what to do with the blankets once it is finished, but like any project, it deserves to be completed.

Next on deck, and needing to be started sooner, rather than later, is the Slip-Stitch Baby blanket. This is not really either a winter project or a winter fiber (it's in a cotton/model blend, easy care and so soft) but needs to be completed before the birth of my niece in February.

After that, I have a long, long list of projects ranging from mittens to sweaters in a variety of beautiful, squishy yarns. There can't be many better ways to pass cold winter's evenings than with a warm pile of wool yarn.

The Wonders of Felting

Non-knitters may not be familiar with the term felting, but anyone who has even thrown a wool sweater in the washing machine and had it come sized to fit a small dog, is familiar with the concept.  Being familiar with the concept, people may wonder why any knitter would purposely do that to their work. However, felting is a great method to turn something that looks like this:

Into something much more useful, like this:












Felting also creates a more sturdy fabric, making it perfect for things like slippers. (Kindly ignore the leaf pieces on the slippers, I wore them outside a couple times while chasing after the dog in the backyard)


Felting is a process that can be done with most animal fibers, like wool. The secret is that the shaft of the animal fibers are covered with little scales. When exposed to heat, these scales tend to start to stick out. Fiction with make the scales from several fibers start to stick together, eventually forming a felted material. 


In addition to the shrinking wool sweater, another commonly experienced example of this would be the matted hair that you sometimes find on animals, or matted human hair, for that matter. It is all the same concept. 

Slipper Pieces Pre-felting

Felting can be a little tricky. Felting shrinks the material, can be a little unpredictable, and is not reversible. This causes me to admire the good people who write patterns involving felting.


Despite these things, the actual process of felting is not difficult. You start by creating your knitting. It usually looks pretty loose, big, and floppy. At best, pre-felted pieces bear a distant resemblance to the desired finished product, and the fact that felting shrinks the pieces more lengthwise than width wise often creates an awkward looking project.


Then, you take your precious knitting and load it into a pillowcase (I use a zippered one). Close up the top.



Prepare your washing machine for felting. You want to set the water temperature to hot, select the lowest possible water level and add some materials to create friction, some people use tennis balls, some use jeans, I usually use towels. Add a small amount of detergent, and start the machine. Take a deep breath and toss the knitting into the machine.



Once the machine starts to agitate, check on the progress frequently. I usually check somewhere between five and ten minutes. Checking this often gets annoying, but it you shrink your item too far, it cannot be undone.


Don't let the machine go into the spin cycle, you'll end up with creases in your project. Depending on how long the process is taking, you might need to restart the agitation cycle. 


Once the felting has completed, take the pieces out of the pillowcase and rinse them in cold water. Stretch the pieces into the desired shapes and set them out to dry. To get the slippers into a good shape, I used newspapers and the plastic inserts that store put into shoes to help them keep their shape. Let the pieces dry, which depending on the humidity, can take up to several days.


Enjoy the finished result and smirk because you've learned another knitting technique.