Category: sweaters

Self-Care Saturday?

Posted on Posted in knitting, life, sewing, sweatersTagged , , , 8 Comments

I have connected with a few of you over on Instagram, and you will already know I’m sporting a shiner right now. Yesterday I thought it was funny, but today I am over the novelty of it and feeling sorry for myself. It’s nothing exciting. Sty + vomiting = shiner.

I fell off my spending fast when I saw this gorgeous lavender wool and cotton yarn from Cestari while I was at Broad Ripple Knits in Indianapolis on Thursday. I got four skeins, enough to make a spring pullover. I had trouble finding a suitable pattern, but Instagram to the rescue. Someone posted the Cumulus Blouse, and although this pattern is categorized as lace, it’s knit with two strands together and the gauge is perfect for my new yarn at a looser, drapey gauge.

I’m currently trapped underneath my cat which is why she is a prop in my photo.

I’m making good progress on Hitofude. Only four repeats left and the sleeves will be done.

I looked at my Hollywood Pants pattern and realized I am too big for it now. Instagram overheard my dismay and presented the Emerson Crop Pant pattern. $12 later and I’m happily taping together the pattern pieces. You may remember I have some linen waiting to be sewn at the studio. I may make these full length instead of cropped. We’ll see.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday full of crafty goodness. I have a little work to do, and then Bob and I are putting together new raised beds for Satur-date. ❤️

And of course I will squeeze in as much crafty self-care as I can!

Looking for some Stockinette

Posted on Posted in art, fiber love, knitting, sweatersTagged , , 4 Comments

When I get too busy to knit, I get a little weird. My brain works better when my hands are moving. So this morning I made sure to get a round of knitting in.

I got my first Shave’em to Save’em sticker for my passport! If this blog had smellovision you would be able to smell lanolin and sheep butt. This is going to be a wet felted art piece, but I have to wash the fleece first? It does get washed during the process, so I’m not sure, honestly. I might try felting it raw just to see what happens.

I travel every week this month.

I look forward to catching up on everyone’s blogs soon!

Phew! Bizzzzzy

Posted on Posted in field trips, inspiration, knitting, lofty thoughts, sewing, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , 3 Comments

Last week was a travel week for work, but I still managed to accomplish some things.

I finished my PJ pants.

I started a dress. You can tell I was in an Eastery mood. I’ve had this material for ages – a gift from my friend Laurel – and today I decided I need a spring dress. (I’ll probably wear it over jeans though.)

I sold “Meditations on Wholeness” today to my friend Harvest, someone I know will treasure it as much as I do.

I pulled this little dude out of storage and fluffed him. He’s still in pretty good shape!

I went to Craftin’ Outlaws and had a lovely time. I saw someone selling her hand block printed textiles and it got me thinking about fair trade textiles from India that are block printed by hand, like my pillowcase, and how the desire to make beautiful things by hand spans all cultures.

I also bought these earrings.

I drank wine and talked with old friends and shared my plans to start a podcast, which will hopefully bear some fruit soon.

I am plugging away on Hitofude!

It will look so pretty with my new dress. Must! Knit! Faster!

Much Drive, Little Knit

Posted on Posted in field trips, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , , , 4 Comments

The boys and I left Oklahoma a day early to trek east to see the Heavener Runestone.

My oldest especially wanted to see it. It was a beautiful spot, and while there has been some questions about its authenticity, I do believe it is possible that Vikings could have come to this location via the route suggested. I wish they would excavate the cave site because I think it could be enlightening. Regardless, we had a lot of fun!

We stayed over at a bed and breakfast in Mount Vernon, Missouri. On the way through St Louis we stopped at a wonderful fair trade store – Zee Bee Market – and the store manager got a great pic of us!

I’ve had plenty of time to knit as the boys have shared driving duty with me, but this is all I’ve managed.

And that was the best pic I could manage of the knitting on my lap in the car. Still, it won’t be long until I’m on sleeve island!

WIPs

Posted on Posted in shawls and haps, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , 7 Comments

One of my goals this trip was to get my projects cast on. Starting a new project takes extra time and attention, and it’s my least favorite part so I avoid it. Here are all my knitting WIPs.

Hitofude Cardi

The Oa

Staghorn Sweater

These sweaters are all in a good place to pick up and carry on knitting.

Celtic Myths Shawl – I started the edging.

Midnight Merino Raglan – this has been the easiest to work on and I will probably knit this on the trip home.

I inherited a new machine. It was my Grandmother’s last machine before she passed away. This is timely since my machine is having tension issues.

Blogging from the Road

Posted on Posted in fiber love, field trips, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , 3 Comments

Hi from the road! I’m knitting in the back seat and wanted to share the beautiful texture of this yarn. This is the Midnight Merino Raglan I haven’t worked on in a while, but this is great car knitting. I’m glad the stitches are plain so they can show off the texture.

I made it to the knotwork on Celtic Myths, but that’s too fussy for the car.

Year of the Sweater

Posted on Posted in finished objects, sweaters, Uncategorized, yarnTagged , , 7 Comments

Hello! It’s snowing again. This should not surprise me. It’s March in Ohio.

I spent most of my studio time today preparing knitting for my trip to Oklahoma. Because I am taking four sweaters to knit on for the week. FOUR. The Oa, Midnight Merino Raglan, and two new ones: Cricket Hitofude and Meara XO.

I think we can safely call this The Year of the Sweater.

This is a merino and silk yarn in colorway Cricket for the Hitofude cardigan. This is my spring cardi I wanted to wear with my new tunic. It didn’t take me long to work out what I wanted.

Have you ever seen the Gilmore Girls episode when Lorelei is preparing for her wedding with Luke and all the planning falls together seamlessly so she knew it was meant to be? That’s what happened with this sweater.

If you’ve seen that episode, you know it turns out to be ill fated, but let’s stay positive and assume Cricket will come together seamlessly. The top of the cardigan is begun like a shrug. Have you ever knit a shrug?

Also, are you participating in Make It Yourself March? I am participating on Instagram, and one of the prompts later in the month is “most worn.” In preparation, I photographed myself in this shrug I knit about 10 years ago.

I wear this shrug every winter, most recently over this Mata Traders blouse. It’s knit from Knitpicks alpaca and silk, and the pattern may have been Knitpicks too. I can’t remember.

That first photo is a little goofy, but I never know how to pose myself in photos, so I typically ham it up.

It is also, according to Skeinherder, Malabrigo March. I thought that was the perfect excuse I didn’t need to buy a single skein of Malabrigo in my favorite color, cerulean. (That’s fun to say.) What will I make? I am thinking I will make the perfect beanie. When I know what that means, I will let you know.

Here is my tweedy Fibre Co. Arranmore yarn in colorway Meara. I’m calling the sweater Meara XO because it’s an all over cable pattern with XOs down the center front and back.

The pattern, Staghorn, is from the book A Fine Fleece. I like calling it XO because in The Expanse (and apparently the military) they call the executive officer XO. I secretly want my staff at work to call me XO as a term of endearment. But, as you know, nicknames cannot be forced.

Look at this hank of gradient yarn that turned out to be five different hanks of single color yarn. Boy do I feel stupid. I guess I’ll have to buy another hank of verifiably gradient yarn so I can knit my Bramen Cowl for the first lesson from Year of Techniques. (I copied Quiteayarnblog.) There were so many techniques on the list I didn’t know, I signed right up!

I think I’ll hold off on buying the yarn so I have an excuse to go yarn shopping in OKC when I’m there.

I’m still reknitting the bottom of my Carbeth. I’ve had to rip it out twice. But I think third time’s the charm on this one.

I’ve linked to two other bloggers in this post. I really blog for the community. Thanks for reading my blog and being part of my community!

Slapdash Saturday

Posted on Posted in design, scarves and cowls, sewing, sweaters, what makes me tick, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , 5 Comments

I ripped back several inches of the Ohio Star Cowl. As you can see here, my short rows were too steep.

It looks like a sleeve! I will reknit it, decreasing into a more shallow point at the bottom front. Here is a better look at the textured star, which I hope will block out nicely.

And here you can see my math scribbles on a corner of knitters graph paper because I forgot my journal.

Today I started sewing again!

Okay, no actual sewing, but some pattern cutting. I hope to get started tomorrow. I have plenty of fabric to match my plaids, but my goal here is a folksy mismatching of plaid, on the pockets at least.

I also decided I love my red Targhee sweater too much to not be able to throw it on over jeans- with no shirt underneath because it is super soft- which means it needs a handspan of length added to the bottom to cover my hips. I spent a good deal of my time ripping out stitches.

I stopped before ripping out all the ribbing because it was lunch time. I’ll finish tomorrow.

Here’s my swatch for one of the Warm Hands contest designs. I’ve decided to forget about the contest since it may not be happening, and I promised myself I didn’t have to put anything out there this year if I didn’t feel like it. And I’m not feeling like it. Ostrich Sleeves will have to wait.

Today I realized why I cram so much creativity in on the weekend. When I was working as a store manager, I used that part of my brain every day on photography and social media. Now that part of my brain doesn’t get much exercise during the work week, so I’m hitting it hard on the weekend.

After studio time it was Date Saturday. Bob and I went out for Mexican food, saw Green Book, and picked up Ethiopian food to take home for dinner. We ate out twice today! How decadent.

Sunday Studio Time

Posted on Posted in design, scarves and cowls, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , , , 5 Comments

I was good and completed my swatch for The Oa on the smaller sized needle. I haven’t steamed it yet. I also threw in a row of the green for color C to see how it would show up and I’m really glad I did, because it doesn’t! Show up that is. I also tried some knit 2 of A and C before binding off, just to be sure. Someone who has more experience with colorwork probably would have seen this coming. It’s ok, though. I ordered two balls of black and I’m sure that will work.

This week’s Knitting Season assignment was to write every day with the prompt, “Remember when I…” So I wrote about the time I dyed this silk top blue, spun it into yarn, and knit it into this tam. It’s a little beat up now. I wore it and so did some of the kids, which made me happy. It inspires me. I think I might like to save up and get a spinning wheel again.

I also spent some time working on this design for a colorwork Ohio Star Cowl and beanie.

And the original Ohio Star Bandandit is almost done, but I ran out of yarn! I ordered another 2 ounce hank and am looking forward to blocking it and wearing it. I want to knit another one with more texture work in The Fibre Co Arranmore Light in St. Claire, the bobbly tam yarn.

So it has been a productive week. I guess I am slowly but surely getting closer to reaching my goals.

People ask me how I do all of this on top of a full time job and my very part time work with Haven Herbs, and I can say with certainty it’s because Bob does all of the shopping, cooking, and cleaning. And he does it because he likes it. I do my own laundry and dishes, and clean the bathroom sometimes, but that’s really it. So shout out to Bob! ❤️ Also, I only have one kid still in school and he is super low key. ❤️

And I’m a much happier person when I am knitting. ❤️

ETA: I cut a steeeeeeek!

Nailed it!

Posted on Posted in shawls and haps, sweaters, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , 7 Comments

Hit the gauge smack on for The Oa and I love these colors! Now I’m supposed to knit it again in a smaller needle size, and I suppose I should do as I’m told, but you know I want to cast on the sweater now.

I am still making good progress on Celtic Myths. It won’t be long before it’s cabled knotwork time!

It’s Saturday and I don’t have to work and I might knit on the couch in my pjs all day.

ETA: My first version of this post was a little snarky. I felt bad about it so I deleted all that nonsense, but if you subscribe to my posts via email you get the original, unfiltered for snark version. Bob calls this “the real Alissa” and saves these posts for posterity.

It was just me grumbling about Instagram fatigue and how I should have artfully strewn flower petals in my knitting photos.