My Milkshake Cardigan is coming along. I love the construction. It’s very straightforward. I love the gray. I love all the stockinette. It’s the kind of thing I like to knit, and like to wear. This sweater reminds me of the Kids in the Hall skit “Are Extraterrestrials Dull?” It will be a quality garment. Yarn is Kelbourne Woolens Scout in Heather Gray from my stash. I decided the Tunis yarn is too special and will still make up the Kiki with it, when I am ready for cables again.
The garden is burgeoning. I wish I had planted more flowers. I might try peonies in here somewhere. I am still fighting slugs. They’ve just about taken out my Gerber Daisies, and it was a mature plant going in. Maybe I should try cosmos since I could dye with them.
The indigo is up, but so far only one madder seed has germinated. No tansy yet. I think I need a trip to the garden center!
I finished my Turtledove (Rav project page) and I love it. I was inspired to make it because Liz made two, she loves to wear hers so much. It was an easy, quick, straightforward knit, which I enjoy. And it’s my favorite color. Pattern is Turtledove by Espace Tricot (Rav link). Yarn is Cascade Eco in color Twilight.
I removed the background in this photo because it was taken on carpet. Let’s have some fun with that.
Saturday Sweater in a Starry SkySaturday Sweater on SnowSaturday Sweater with Sheep
There are many more fun things I could do with this sweater, like turn it into an Asteroids ship or have it rocketing to the moon, but that takes a lot of time and I would rather knit. Well maybe just one…
Shooting Star Sweater
I needed that. Here’s a photo of the underarm seams.
Not gorgeous but much better than I could do picking up stitches. I cast on six stitches on the sleeve side and used a mattress stitch to seam them.
Now I’m off to knit knit knit on my Water Shawl, and hopefully take a walk in nature this afternoon. What are you doing today?
In the before times, you wouldn’t have caught me with a phony fur pom pom on my head. Or, for that matter, speckles in my yarn or a fade on my being. But I can admit when I’m wrong. I was wrong about these things.
You know why? Because knitting should be whatever makes us happy. I think I was taking my knitting WAY too seriously, don’t you? So here’s my Kenora Toque in Rauma Strikkegarn with a pom pom! (Rav link)
Very happy and look how well it matches my duffle coat.
I’m also really, really excited to tell you I am now on the sleeves of my Turtledove! I cannot wait to wear this so I will probably focus on it until I finish it. It’s very soft and squishy. Also, I want you to know, that after knitting the Cocoknits method, I will never, ever try to pick up and knit underarm stitches again. I will (and did) cast on enough stitches on the sleeve to match the underarm, then I will seam it when I’m done. That way I won’t have those weird holes and ladders that I can’t unsee and pretend aren’t there.
Speaking of fades, I’ve decided to knit a Boxy fade (Rav link). I splurged on a yarn fade bundle from La Bien Aimee. It’s my first time ordering from her, but I’ve been drooling since Knit City.
I also ordered some really nice plaid flannel fabric that I had intended to make PJs with, but it is too nice. It wants to be a dress. So I’m sewing this raglan dress. I love it so much, I also ordered some beautiful blue cotton shirting to make a summertime one. I have a lot of projects to add to my Year of Projects list, don’t I?
I’ve been a little down lately, so I haven’t been blogging much. That probably explains all the splurging. I have one last splurge to share.
This print is from a UK artist who made this for Shetland Wool Week 2020. I’ve been waiting for her Etsy shop to be restocked. Now I just have to find a suitable frame. I will hang it in my studio and gaze upon it lovingly and sigh.
How are you doing? Are you okay? I haven’t really been that okay, and a friend recently asked me straight up how I was. It helped to just be able to say, I am not okay. We lost a family member recently, a dear “Uncle” who was technically not my biological uncle, but he was my Dad’s best friend, and my best friend’s Dad, and definitely an important Uncle to me. We were close when we lived in Oklahoma City, and he was there for me during my separation and divorce, and helped me get back on my feet financially. He helped us get back on our feet financially after my Dad died, too, though I was too young to understand that at the time. So, feeling sad but appreciative. Godspeed Uncle Jack. ❤
Also, I am feeling depleted. As I am sure many of us are after a year of living through a pandemic.
But how are you? Please spill your beans in the comments, if you like.
I finally finished sewing all the curtains. Adding these to the living room allowed us to rearrange the furniture, which Bob likes to do fairly regularly to rewire our brains. I was glad not have to make panels for these, although in hindsight, panels look nicer. These block out more light, though, which is nice for TV viewing.
Knitting
I’m plodding away on my Lucky Number Cowl and Turtledove. And my list keeps growing. 😳
Fiber Art
Sneakapeekaloo
I hope to finish stitching on piece number 3 today. Then next week I can frame it and lay out piece number 4.
Today is our Blogville Knitters Virtual Knit at 1PM Eastern. If you are new and would like to join us by Skype, please DM your Skype ID to me on Instagram or Ravelry. You might also leave a comment for me to remind me to go check my messages.
I believe in the mantra Know Thyself, and I know I would be annoyed every time I wore a sweater with a dumb mistake on it. I decided to follow kayak2016’s advice and try to drop the stitches back to fix it. I figured, if I fail at this, I can frog it, and I will have learned something.
First thing I learned is: don’t do this. Not unless the mistake is only a few rows deep and simple to fix. I know I can fix things like that. This was over 20 stitches dropped and a similar number of rows. I was having trouble with tension and identifying which stitches were from increase rounds. And! It was a beginning of round, so increases weren’t symmetrical to begin with. Thine own self was confused for a good while.
By the time I finally figured out which round I was on and where I should be increasing, and that I should be using smaller needles, I was developing some pretty dreadful ladders.
Aforesaid dreadful ladders
So I called it a learning experience (I now know what I’m not capable of) and frogged back to the neat and tidy round before the dumb mistake happened.
Yes, that’s a lot of knitting to be redone, but I will be much happier with the finished product. I was careful to put the stitch markers in the correct places and I will be eagle eyeing my increases for several rows.
Well, wasn’t that fun! At least I feel a little smarter now, or dumber. I’m not sure.
If you are able to successfully achieve what I attempted and failed, I hope you will share it with me so I can learn from your wisdom. Thank you for encouraging me to get off the fence!
Is not like the others. Are you singing the song? Can you guess which thing is not like the others?
I’m sitting on the fence. Should I frog it and reknit it correctly? Will I notice? It doesn’t matter if others will notice. But if I will, there’s a chance I might not wear it. It’s not even conscious. I will be giving this sweater the side eye.
Or can I embrace it? Can I say, “Yep! I’m not perfect! Look at these misplaced increases!” (Points over shoulder.) “But what a beautiful blue. And it’s so warm and cozy!”
My biggest fear is that I will frog it, and then make some other dumb mistake. Why risk it?
At least I know what happened. I dropped a couple of stitches at the beginning of the round, as one will do, and clearly misplaced the beginning of round marker. I won’t be making that mistake again. No sirree. You won’t catch me doing that twice.
I’m going to call it my 2020 sweater. That explains everything. The year, and the hindsight.
Detail of necklineDetail of front edging. The S1K1 rolls a little like an icord, but it adds to the effortless appeal of this design.
I’ve had a few requests to talk about the pockets. Cocoknits calls these “kangaroo pockets.” I’ve never knit pockets like this before, but it was really simple. I don’t feel comfortable sharing any proprietary info. I looked for a tutorial but didn’t find one. Instead, here’s a link to my newest favorite knitting podcast by Gaye Glasspie, where she talks a little bit about the Franca pockets, but also does not give away the pattern. If you just want to see the pockets, forward to timestamp 23:55. Ladies and Gents, we have pockets
The pattern calls for whip stitching or “seaming” the pockets closed. I did a mattress stitch because I wanted the pockets to look as good on the inside as the garment looks on the outside. That’s the only change I made to the pattern.
Somehow I got away with ten skeins of yarn instead of the eleven called for. I guess it’s because I’m a loose knitter?
I really enjoyed knitting this and I learned some new tricks. The collar is a little fussy, but it’s the first thing you do, and it’s really elegant. I had to make it twice to get it right. But the second time I watched the Cocoknits YouTube tutorial, and that helped.
Here’s my Mom’s Franca, all knitted but needs a little seaming/grafting and ends woven in and blocking. I wanted to do that tonight but I’m fried. I will try again tomorrow. Maybe if I get to it in the morning before work?
When I was writing about my happy places, I was remiss not to mention Global Gifts stores. That’s where I work, but I work from my home office now. However, I was a store manager for four years, and the store was my happy place. It smells like incense and coffee when you walk in, there is global music playing, everything is handmade, everyone is happy, and there’s chocolate. Lots of fair trade chocolate. It’s a little different now because of the pandemic. There are masks of course, and no coffee samples. We’re at limited capacity to ensure social distancing. And now when I visit I realize I’m another potential germ carrier. So I make my visits quick, and shop online and pick up. I miss being in store. I can’t wait for COVID to end.
I’m on Franca sleeve island.Litmus cowl: purple is comingI’m ready to start the raglan increasing on my Turtledove.I may sew some PJ pants today with this flannel.
I may also lay out the wool for a new fiber art piece and dye some brown.
I do have another resolution-ish for 2021, and that’s to knit as much yarn as I purchase, at a minimum. So outgoing has to equal incoming, although ideally outgoing will exceed incoming. Since I’m signed up for two yarn clubs, that means I have to knit 24 skeins minimum. I also may have just stress bought a sweater quantity of Peace Fleece. I’ve wanted to knit a Peace Fleece sweater for several years, so I bit the bullet and did it.
Therefore, I’ve added a couple of things to my list:
Peace Fleece Ronan in Siberian Midnight (Ravelry link)
Malabrigo Brambleberry Rikke Hat – I bought this yarn when I was in OKC. I’m not 100% positive on the colorway name but it is berry-related. Or maybe it’s their Anniversario colorway?
I wear my Christmas Village Rikke Hat all the time, so I’m going to need a new color, and this matches my coat. I love this stretchy German Twist cast on. It’s my new thing. I also learned a new stretchy bind off for Franca.
Today is our Blogville Knitters Virtual Knit at 1PM Eastern. If you are new and would like to join us by Skype, please DM your Skype ID to me on Instagram or Ravelry. So far, it’s been me, Sarah, Marilee, Liz, Kath, Bonny, and Laura. Our group is growing!
PS: JoJo loves Meep. Loves her to death with her murder claws.
