626? A Bit of a Lofty Goal

It's not really a secret, I'm a big fan of Ravelry, a website geared toward knitters and crocheters. It is a giant database of patterns, has a ton of information on yarns, provides a place to show off finished products, allows you to keep track of your yarn stash, and has very active forums, with groups geared toward not only tips and tricks for fiber artists, but also just about any topic imaginable. I'm continually amazed at just how much time I can spend browsing around on Ravelry. 

It seems that the pattern database and queue feature is where I tend to get in a little bit over my head.There are multiple ways you can search or browse patterns on Ravelry. You can search by pattern type, availability (free, online, in my collection of knitting books, in other print sources, etc.), by yarn types or weight, project type, intended age, the list goes on and on. When you find a pattern that you like, there is an option to add it to your queue, your personal list of patterns that you are planning on. or would like to knit. I've spent many hours looking through patterns and adding them to my queue. Currently, my list spans over 20 pages and contains 626 items.

In considering the size of my list, combined with the fact that the rate of adding new patterns to the list is exceeding by far the rate of finishing projects and starting new ones, this is going to be a never ending list. Clearly, I need to either knit faster, or add less patterns to the list.

Project Update: 

I've finished the first one of the Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. They are a pretty simple project, but have given me the opportunity to learn some new techniques. I've learned a new method of both casting on and binding off ribbing, the tubular cast-on and tubular bind-off (or Kitchener rib bind-off). And, I always enjoy the chance to do some color work. The picture quality is not good, it was taken in poor lighting, but the combination of the brown and orange looks really good in real life. (and I probably owe a special thank you to Lily, who allowed me to set the mitt on her back while photographing it)

Project Talk: Finishing Work

The Mythos Cardigan is finally knitted, off of the needles, blocked, grafted together, i-cord applied, and blocked again! In other words: It is finally finished!

Finally done!

The sweater was intended to be a quick little knit, and a perfect little cardigan for chilly summer nights. It never intended to be a warm cardigan for late fall wear. But the cardigan somehow took five months to complete and I now have a charming little summer sweater all ready to wear in late October in Wisconsin. Sigh, the best laid plans.

However, it is still a cute little summer sweater, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Mostly, I was impressed that it could go  two shapeless pieces of fabric, neither one remotely resembling an article of clothing (ok, husband said it kind of looked like a giant thong), into a perfectly wearable sweater.

In other words, it transformed from two of these:

The first side, knitted, but unblocked.

To this:

The pictures of me wearing the sweater aren't the greatest, but keep in mind that they are pictures of me taken by me (and I had no make up on and hadn't done anything with my hair, thus the cutting off at the neck).

Most non-knitters, and some knitters don't realize the amount of work that can go into a finished piece of clothing even after the main part of the knitting is done.

The first step in the process of finishing most freshly knit goods is a nice soak in warm water and wool wash. I usually use Soak Wash, which requires no rinsing and smells absolutely wonderful. I'm also a fan of Kookaburra Wool Wash as well. This particular sweater got a bath in Kookaburra.

Then I drain the sink, letting gravity do the first part of the water removal. Wool can soak up a lot of water, and can take a long time to dry, so it is best to try to get as much water out of it as possible to speed up drying time.

Then you wrap each piece in a bath towel, carefully rolling up the towel. I usually walk across the towel a couple of times to squeeze some more water out of it. After that both towels go into the washing machine and ran through the spin cycle.

Yes, I know you don't usually throw hand knit goods into the washing machine (at least I don't). But that is why they are wrapped up in a towel and run through for only the spin cycle.

After the bath, it is time to block the sweater. Usually this is only done with natural fibers, as blocking acrylic doesn't really work all that well. The method used for this sweater is called wet blocking, because you pin it out when the knitted pieces are still wet and let them dry that way (creative name, right?). There are other methods of blocking, but wet blocking is usually what I use whenever the knit fabric will allow.

Blocking involves pinning the pieces out to the correct measurements. So I headed upstairs with a bowl full of rust proof pins, some towels, a tape measure, and the sweater schematics from the pattern.

I decided to pin the pieces out on towels laying onto of a mattress. This method works pretty well for larger pieces. It is nice because you can just stick the pins straight into the mattress. I also have blocking mats, but those work better for smaller piece. This sweater was pretty lightweight, and the pieces were symmetrical, so I just pinned them right on top of each other (this would never work for a heavier sweater, it would take forever to dry).

All pinned out.

Once all pinned out, it was time to let the sweater dry. Minerva, being ever helpful, decided to supervise the drying process. Perhaps she felt that being named after the Roman goddess of weaving also gave her responsibility when it came to knitting. Also, cats, mine at least, love to help with the entire knitting process.

After the pieces were dry, it was time to start the assembly of the sweater. First I sewed the sleeve and side seams. Seaming always seems to require stretching and squishing the pieces to get them to match up. I don't like poking sharp pins into the pieces to hold them, but I've discovered that bobby pins actually work beautifully. They clip the pieces together without damaging the fabric and are easy to put on and take off. So I pinned and sewed the side seams and sleeve seams. I wouldn't usually post a picture of sweater pieces pinned together, but I am pretty proud of my new use for bobby pins (yup, just like MacGyver).

My brilliant idea.

Then came the back seam. This pattern called for leaving the back stitches live, and grafting them together using a method called the Kitchener stitch. I've used the Kitchener stitch for the toes of socks before, but never on this scale. The first part of the back looks a little wonky, but by the end I was pretty good at it. Then, I used applied I-cord to add trim around the neck. Applied I-cord is tedious, but gives a very nice edge. I whip stitched the bottom hem, and the piece was ready to block again.

So, the piece went back into the sink, was wrapped in a towel, and took another spin in the washing machine. Then it went back upstairs to the mattress. Thankfully, it looked a lot more like a cardigan when I pinned it out this time.

Again, I left it to dry overnight. In the morning, I came back for it, shooed the cat off of it (Bode this time, not Minerva), unpinned it. There was nothing left to do but try it on, and attempt to take some pictures.

The sweater was knit out of Stroll Tonal from Knit Picks. The colorway is called Pearlescent. It combines shades of ivory, light grey, and medium grey as well as some light shades of platinum and silver. It is actually a pretty combination of neutral grey tones with some warm undertones. In some light, it appears to have some hints of a pinkish undertones, but in other light seems to be purely grey tones. It is a hard color to accurately capture on camera. In my opinion, the color is closest in the picture where Minerva is sitting on the sweater pieces or in this last picture.

All in all it turned out pretty cute. I'm excited for next Spring to roll around so I can actually wear it outside of the house. 


What's next?

I'm taking a brief break from large projects and making myself some new fingerless gloves, using Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts pattern. I'm also determined to finish husband's hunting socks before the opening of deer gun season (practically a holiday in Wisconsin). Then maybe I'll start thinking about Christmas knitting...maybe.

Lucky Socks 13-0 Baby!



A seeminly typical pair of socks

This weekend was the first Packer/Viking game of the season. Because it was in Minnesota, our token Viking fan friend, Terry was allowed to host it. After work, I was changing and noticed that my socks were still wet (after being washed out in the sink the night before, but that's another ball of wax). I certainly wasn't going to wear wet socks, and I never tumble dry hand knit socks, so I did the next logical thing, put them in the oven to dry.


Yup, in the oven, at 350, for about five minutes per side.


Now that may seem like a lot of work just for a pair of socks, but these are no ordinary socks. These are lucky, seemingly magical Green Bay Packers socks. On game days, I get facebook messages from friends and family to ensure that they are on my feet.


I thought some of those friends and family might be unfamiliar with the humble beginnings of the lucky socks.


They weren't intended to be anything special. The yarn wasn't bought with the Packers in mind, it is Knit Picks Stroll, in a colorway called Turtle Multi, which they don't even make anymore and isn't even that good of a representation of Green Bay's team colors. The pattern is Nagini (named after Lord Voldemort's snake companion) by Monkey Toes. A pattern named after a snake seemed appropriate for a variegated green with a little yellow colorway. In short, they were just another pair of socks.


I was working on them during a Packer game last season, and my mom made an offhand comment that they would make good Packer socks. Figuring shades of green and yellow were close enough, I finished them and wore them to the next game. The Packers were playing the Giants and needed to win the next two games to make the playoffs.


They won the game. As a result, I wore the socks for the next game, and the Packers won. I kept wearing the socks on game day and the Packers kept winning, six games in a row, through the playoffs, to the Superbowl. The socks were deemed lucky and safely tucked away until football started up once again.

The non-oven drying method.

I didn't break out the lucky socks until the regular season started up again. But the pattern continued, when the socks were on, the Packers won. Going into the bye week, my socks have seen 13 Packer victories, and 0 Packer losses. I'm not sure how they manage it, but the facts are in.


Skeptics may say that I should not wear the socks one game day and test the theory. However, I cannot imagine that there is a true Packer fan in the world willing to take that chance. My husband certainly isn't, he was the one that insisted I wear wool socks in 70 plus degrees.


Now, if only I could get the socks on the Packer's payroll. League minimum would be just fine, they don't need a fancy contract or a signing bonus. Anyone have the number?

Go Pack!

Project Talk: Toasty Toes

Over the summer, husband and I replaced the carpet in our living/dining room area with wood laminate flooring. It really changed the whole look of the room (for the better). But about a week ago, I discovered an unforeseen consequence of removing carpet. 

Finished product!

Cold floors. Fall weather has arrived in Wisconsin, bringing chilly temperatures. Couple that with my determination not to turn on the heat in this house until November 1 (though the last two days, my resolve has been wavering a bit), and you have a need for slippers. 


Last fall, I bought a pair of suede soles for slippers, purchased a pattern, and then failed to ever get around to making the slippers. However, last Wednesday morning, I came down to make coffee, and the need for slippers became apparent. I combated my cold feet the way that is obvious only to knitters, I cast on for the slippers.


Thankfully, it didn't take too terribly long to get the slippers off of the needles. There are meant to be felted so in this first picture, they are very big and floppy. 

Big and floppy, not unlike clown shoes!

The slippers are knit out of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Cherry Blossom, with two strand held together. The cuffs are made from two different scrap wools that I had lying around the house (one leftover from the Carry All Tote and the other from Husband's Hunting Socks), a strand of each held together. 


The pattern itself is Felted Clogs from Fibertrends. It is a basic pattern with lots of options for customization and for different sizes, making it well worth the $8.00 price tag (which barely counts in this case since I bought the pattern last winter).

No more clown shoes!

After felting in hot water and agitation, I shaped the slippers on my feet and then stuffed them with plastic bags to hold the shape while they dried. 


Now, here's something you might not know, felted slippers take forever to dry. I felted them Sunday afternoon, and on Tuesday night they were finally dry enough for the next step, attaching the soles.


I sewed on the soles with the project yarn, but it wasn't as easy as I first anticipated. It involved a lot of stretching and squishing to make the sole and slipper the same size. I still think they might be cuter without the soles.

However, function sometimes does actually trump cuteness, even in my world, and the soles are needed to both extend wear of the slippers and to keep me from slipping and injuring myself (felted slippers are slippery otherwise).

After getting the sole on the first one, things went a little more smoothly with the second one. In addition to the suede sole, which has padding the slippers have a double sole of garter stitch. This makes for a super squishy, comfortable base. The material felted into a nice, thick fabric, which also is proving to be toasty warm. This morning, my feet stayed nice and warm while making coffee and letting the dog out. 

Project Talk: Seriously, WTF?

I consider myself an experience knitter. After all, I've been doing this awhile. However, believe me, I still make mistakes. Mostly the normal, run of the mill knitting errors, not reading the pattern properly, dropping a stitch, purling when I should be knitting, the normal stuff. But, every once in awhile, I make the sort of mistake that makes me sit back and say, "WTF?"

I did one of those today.

I was on hold on a phone call, so like any good knitter, I put the phone on speaker, set it aside and picked up some knitting. First, I grabbed my slippers, which have taken priority over everything else since chilly October weather has now arrived in Wisconsin. After a couple stitches, I figured that this pattern involved counting and short rows. Not the best for knitting I may need to put down at any moment (or be working on into the latter half of this century, given how being on hold usually goes).

Instead, I grab my mythos cardigan, where I currently knitting a long block of stockinette stitch. So I happily knit away until it was time for me to finish my phone call and set it down midrow.

Underwear or Uterus? You decide.

Later, I decided it would be best to finish the row, so I picked it back up and knitted to the end of the row. I held up the sweater to look at the progress, and ponder why I had so much faith that something that resembles either a giant pair of gray underpants or a really big knitted uterus would eventually turn out to be something pretty.

And that's when I saw it. In the middle of the last row I knit, there were two pieces of yarn dangling from two stitches right next to each other. It looked kind of like I had joined another piece of yarn at that point, but I hadn't.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I might have done. I traced both pieces of yarn to see where they ended up.  One went back to the ball of yarn and the other connected to the end of the working yarn at the end of the row.

Close up of the mistake.

There was only one possible explanation. For some reason, somehow when I picked up the knitting to continue the row, I left a length of yarn dangling. I have no idea how or why I would have done it. The important part was that I had found the root of the problem, I was able to fix it.

The solution was to tink back to the mistake and reknit the remainder of the row properly. It is all fixed now, but I'm still left wondering how on earth I actually managed to do it. After all these years, knitting can still be a mystery.

Project Talk: Improving a Little White Hat

First of all:

My Bridges of Roses socks are actually completed, washed, blocked, and photographed! Now, they are all set to be presented to my mother-in-law for her birthday. Yes, her birthday was way back in August, but the socks are finally done! I've discovered that embroidery is not my strong suite. The roses still came out better than I expected and I actually like the lace cuff (I didn't think I would).

Now, onto the feature presentation:

My sister requested a ghost hat for my niece's Halloween costume, and I have it finished with a lot of time to spare (but, let's keep in mind that I do have to get the hat mailed to Seattle). I started out with my go-to hat pattern, Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

I went with the garter brim version, sized for toddlers. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft, which I had lying around. It's an acrylic, which I don't use very often. However, it's a Halloween hat, not a family heirloom, so I figured it was a good
opportunity to use up some scrap yarn.






Now, a little white hat is cute. But this needed something more. The first thing I added was ear flaps. Instructions to add ear flaps were with the pattern, it was pretty simple. Just pick up some stitches and add a little more garter stitch.

I also added some applied I-cord using black yarn.  Applied I-cord is a pretty simple way to add a little pop to edges. I used black Simply Soft to add the I-cord around the bottom of the hat and made the I-cord ties. This alone made a pretty cute hat, but I needed a pretty cute ghost hat. There was still work to do.

To change the cute little hat into a cute little ghost hat, I needed to add a face. Originally, I was going to duplicate stitch the eyes and mouth over top of the white stitches, but that created a wonkey looking ghost. Instead I broke out a trusty Sharpie and some stencils, traced the shapes onto the hat, and stitched right over the shapes. Finally, I decided a little black pom pom would finish off the hat quite nicely.

All in all, I think the hat turned out pretty cute for a two day project.  Now, I just need to remember to get it in the mail.

I Just Needed My Size 9 Needles

This afternoon, I was going to start a ghost hat for my niece's Halloween costume. I went upstairs and found my all time favorite hat pattern, Kim's Hat's from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (amazon link). This is a versatile pattern that has instructions for sizes from babies to adults. It is my go-to pattern for hats.

So, I read the pattern and it calls for size 9 needles. Not a problem, I have interchangeable needles, so I just need to dig out my size 9 tips. I store my tips and spare cables, and other knitting supplies in the ottoman in the living room, which I open up only to discover I could lose a cat or a small child in the mess that is inside. And I simply cannot leave it like that.

The simple hat has just added a more complicated facet. I don't have a before picture, and I apologize for that. It was an impressive mess.

Can you even picture this all stuffed in the ottoman?

First thing first, I took everything out of the ottoman. And there was a lot of stuff. Bags of yarn, knitting patterns, knitting books, magazines, various tools, fabric scraps, plastic bags, partially completed projects, and all kinds of other things.

Then the organization started. The first step was easy enough, I took all the yarn upstairs into what can only be called the "Yarn Room" (at some point I'm going to have to organize in there, but not today). Then the magazines and books went upstairs to the bookshelf.

This step was quickly followed by my assigning each of my works in progress (WIP) into its own project bag. Most of the WIPs fit nicely into my small project bags, a couple purchased through Ravelry, a couple from Interweave Knits, and a couple came with other purchases. I needed a bigger bag for a couple of the projects, my scrap sock yarn blanket and my Tree of Life afghan. The scrap sock blanket fit nicely into a bag that came with a set of sheets and the Tree of Life went into a red cloth bag I had lying around. I decided to keep the Scrap Yarn Blanket in the knitting basket by my couch and the Tree of Life blanket would go back into the Ottoman (I need to sit down and figure out where I left off, and the whole project requires concentration, its not something I can just pick up and knit a couple of rows).

Next, I tackled the tangled mess of needles and cables. For sock knitting, I have fixed circulars in the main sizes for socks (US 0, 1, 2, and 3, in case you were wondering) in a variety of materials and from a variety of brands (it has been a long search to find my favorites, but that's another post entirely). For each size, I used a Waste Not Sack, designed to replace plastic baggies, and then used my trusty label maker to label the outside of each bag.

I'm not going to lie, I love my label maker!

Each of the four cloth bags then went into a larger bag. I used one that came with a Clinque bonus, I have so many of those Clinque bags, I could never put them all to use. Then I added my storage case of needle tips into the bag along with the package of spare cables (these were already pretty well organized, but were just floating around in the abyss that was the ottoman). I had discovered three needle sizers while cleaning out the mess, so added one of those to the bag (I only find the stupid things when I don't need them).
The result? All my needles in one place! Which should make it much easier to find the size that I'm looking for (including the elusive size 9's).

Namaste Buddy Case

Next, I tackled the problem of all my knitting tools. In addition to needles, I've acquired a lot of other tools in my knitting career. Some of these, scissors, stitch markers, tape measure, darning needles, etc, are used for almost every project. Others, cable needles, stitch holders, pom pom makers, crochet hooks, are only used for some projects. Also, I had some spares, including extra tape measures, scissors, darning needles to replace the ones I will (inevitably) lose. I decided to store some of the essentials that are used in every project into my Namaste Buddy Case. The Buddy Case has the added advantage of being magnetized, which helps to keep track of some of the smaller items. The other tools, along with the spares, went into my Knit Happy Fold 'n Go Notions Box. Both of these containers now sit on top of the knitting basket next to my spot on the couch, so I can easily grab the tool I need.

Mission Accomplished!

Finally, it was time to put stuff back into the storage ottoman. There was a lot less to put back in! The storage ottoman now contains my needle bag, my yarn swift, my ball winder, yarn scale (to determine how much yarn was used/is leftover) a couple balls of leftover yarn (the stuff I use as big stitch holders and for provisional cast ons), and added my craft box and bead container to the ottoman. There is still room in there, so I probably will eventually put all of my craft supplies in there (in an organized fashion, of course).



Ah, the satisfied feeling of actually accomplishing something!