Just a bit over two months after I started it, the yoke sweater is finished.
I'm pretty proud and impressed with myself for completing a whole sweater during tax season. But this was really fun knitting. I love the yarn, Galway Highland Heather. I used 5 balls of the brown and maybe half a ball each of the oatmeal and navy. The yoke patterns came from the book Traditional Scandinavian Knitting. This book has a wealth of pattern ideas. And now that I've got the hang of two color knitting, I'm sure I'll be doing a lot more in the future.
The sweater has 3 rapid decrease rounds in the yoke. EZ says the ruffling can be tamed with the use of a steam iron. And she's right, it can. I steamed it right after I knit it to be sure it would lay flat. But after washing, I see the ruffling has returned. Guess it will require steaming after each washing. Although, it doesn't look bad the way it is. Somewhat feminine, kind of blouse like. The sweater is a bit on the long side. Next time I will make the body shorter. I don't think I'd bother with the phoney seams next time. They don't seem to make any difference and are barely noticeable unless you know what you are looking for. The only other problem I had came when I grafted the underarm seam. The grafting went fine, but when I had knitted a ways up the yoke, I noticed holes at each of the ends of the seam. I was able to darn them closed, but next time think I should wait to graft the underarms until the yoke is further along so I can try to avoid the holes.
I'm currently working on several small projects: still the Mister Joe socks (they are my travel knitting and we've done almost no traveling the last 3 months), a v-neck cotton shell, a washcloth in Lion Organic Cotton and a scarf in some yummy mohair. My parents recently returned from a trip to New Zealand and they brought me a bag of awesome yarn. There's two huge skeins of hand dyed wool, enough bamboo yarn for a tank or short sleeve sweater, and two balls of mohair. Certainly enough yarn to keep me busy for quite a while.
The blog has been less of a priority for me lately. I'm not much finding myself motivated to sit down and write. I expect the gaps between posts may continue to grow. I'll still post my FOs as I have them, but may not post much otherwise. Thanks to all who take the time to stop by.
WooHoo! I finally finished the body on the yoke sweater and attached the sleeves today. But first I decided to go ahead and put in the phoney seam.
It's a little bit scary laddering down an entire stitch straight to the bottom...
But kind of fun too. And hooking the stitch back up was super easy. Kind of makes you feel like a knitting super hero when you try something new and scary and it works perfectly. The look is decidedly subtle.
Non-knitters might not even see that there is a difference in that center stitch. But EZ is right, it does create a super fold line so the sweater lays nice and flat. I decided to go ahead and weave the underarm seams right away since the stitch holders were really annoying and getting in the way. I tried to get pictures, but it's just too dreary to get decent closeups today. But I must say, watching Elizabeth demonstrate weaving on the Knitting Workshop was like a light dawning on me for kitchener stitch. In the past I've always kitchenered with the Knitter's Companion open beside me, following step by step with each stitch. It's very time consuming and requires loads of concentration for me to feel I'm doing it right. Well, Elizabeth takes her knitting off the needles and literally weaves the stitches, in one stitch, out the next, move to top row, in one stitch, out the next, bottom row into 2nd stitch out 3rd, top row, into 2nd stitch out 3rd, bottom row into 3rd stitch out 4th, and so on. It's so simple. I can't believe I've been struggling with this forever and it's easy as pie. Now, I only took two stitches off the needle at a time, I'm not that brave, but I completed both underarm seams in about the time it would normally take me to do one toe on a sock. Amazing. My life is changed. Now it's time for me to seriously figure out what pattern goes on the yoke. I have to knit a few more plain rounds and then it's showtime. Hopefully I'll have something to report on this front next post.
Meanwhile, the library auction was a hoot. My soap basket was a hit. Went for $45! Hope the lucky bidder likes them as much as I do. My sister was totally embarrassing me, raving about my soaps to everyone. Born salesperson that one is. We got into the bidding for the spinning wheel. It was us against another lady. Ultimately it went more than our budget, but it was fun none the less. It was a beauty though. I'm excited to go to work tomorrow and let Elaine know her boyfriend's handwork was a hit.
My obsession with GBS continues. The Courage & Patience & Grit dvd/cd combo arrived this week and was promptly loaded to my MP3 player where it has played nearly continuously. I was hoping to get Chuck on board with the whole celtic/folk/pop music thing, but he says it sounds like hillbilly music to him. So thank goodness for headphones.
I was rather surprised to realize it's been over a month since I posted. The nature of my job in a tax accounting office means the first 4 months of the year are extremely busy and go by in a blur. Most days I work, come home, knit, make dinner, knit, sleep. Repeat. Not much blog material there. But I do have a few things to mention.
Next weekend is the library auction. The boyfriend of one of my co-workers donated a spinning wheel he made. I don't know how to spin, yet, but am sorely tempted to go after the wheel. I haven't been up to the library to check it out yet, but the pictures look gorgeous. Here is my contribution for this year:
Being so completely wrapped up in knitting the EZ yoke sweater, I didn't have the spirit to knit something big to donate. So I opted for a gift basket of my handmade soap and a handknit wash cloth. The washcloth was knit with Lion Organic Cotton in Cypress (I finally found it at Knitting Warehouse). I totally love this yarn. It's super soft for a cotton and the colors are very natural and earthy. It's a little pricey at $5.50 a skein and one skein only made a washcloth with not a whole lot leftover. Not enough to do anything with for sure.
Speaking of the yoke sweater...I'm nearly to the underarms. Another few inches and I can join the sleeves and start the yoke. 
As you can see, the sleeves are now both the same size, the right size I might add. I didn't knit the hem in on the body. I figure the likelihood I'd get it straight was pretty slim so opted to sew it up when I'm finished. I have yet to make a decision on the yoke pattern. I messed around one night, picking patterns and coloring them in on graph paper, but nothing jumped out at me as THE pattern.
I do have one FO to show. Finally finished the Kats paws mitts from January. (I told you I'm enamored of the yoke sweater, I'm being pretty monogamous). But here they are.
Of course, it's now too warm to wear them. But they'll be nice for next year. I think I like the Fetching mitts better, mostly because the yarn is softer. But I like this pattern because it goes further up the wrist into your sleeve.
I've been awfully obsessive lately. I've been listening to Great Big Sea over and over and over and over. Thank goodness for headphones or Chuck would likely have me committed. I'm also totally obsessed with Blood Ties, the new vampire/detective show on Lifetime channel. The show is based on Tanya Huff's Blood Book series (which I ordered the day after I watched the first show). See...
You can check out her blog here and see what she thinks of the show. Apparently only the pilot was taken right from the books. I'm about half way through the first book and can say the show did stick pretty close to it. Except for Henry's appearance. In the book he's short and redheaded. In the show, he's average height and brunette. The books are pretty good so far. A little heavy on the use of cliches. Otherwise, quite enjoyable vampire fiction.
This week winter decided to hit with a vengeance. Starting Tuesday afternoon and into the night we had snow. At some point over night, this changed over to sleet. Wednesday, Mother Nature doused us with a couple of hours of rain, followed by more snow and an arctic blast of sub-freezing temperatures. This unholy cocktail resulted in major traffic headaches (a 50 mile traffic jam on I-78) and a 8 inches of snow and ice to clear from our sidewalks and drives. Most people are still (3 days later) trying to clear their properties. Thankfully, the sun is shining today and they are calling for temps above freezing so things should start improving.Since my last post, I've been knitting away on the sleeves for the seamless yoke sweater. I finished the 1st sleeve last weekend, put it in my knitting basket and got underway with the second sleeve. About halfway through when, according to my notes, I should have been at the end of my increases, I found my self about 10 stitches short. I counted and recounted and couldn't figure out what went wrong. So I pulled the first sleeve out of my basket, laid them side by side and...
son-of-a-%^&#>! Sleeve number one is about 2 inches wider at the cuff. I thought it looked awfully wide, but having never knit one of these EPS sweaters, figured that's how they were supposed to be. Turns out, I just can't count. Today I will finish sleeve number two, which now is actually sleeve number one and start reknitting sleeve number one which could technically be considered sleeve number 3. Note to self...count your cast on stitches twice, maybe even 3 times for good measure.
We had to remove the jar from our squirrel feeder after two birds got stuck in it in the last month (and since we cut down our tree last spring, we don't seem to get any squirrels anymore anyway). Apparently, birds can figure out how to hop in and eat, but not turn around and hop out. We left the base up, though and have been filling it with seeds for the birds.
Here's a lovely cardinal enjoying his breakfast this morning. And if I turn just 90ยบ to the left...
We find Stuart, perched on his Cozy Cushion on the dryer, eyeing said cardinal and contemplating what kind of breakfast he might like to have.
What the hell is wrong with me? I completely forgot to mention THE most important news of the week...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows will be released on July 21, 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!I have, of course, ordered my copy from Amazon and asked off from work the Monday following. The people at work think I'm completely off my nut, but I am so psyched! The movie one week and the book a week later.
As of about 9:30 yesterday morning, I'm another year older. I managed to be off from work and despite a bad start to the day, it's turned out to be a pretty good one. I got some nice cards, some tasty chocolate and money and gift certificates to spend on yarn. I spent the morning at Brickerville with my parents. I found this cool milk bottle at the antique shop to add to my bottle collection.
Scored not quite enough yarn for my Seamless Yoke sweater. 4 balls of Galway Highland Heather #712 and one ball #722.
Edna would have ordered more for me, but with being into tax season now, I don't know when I might get down her way again. The Knitter carries Galway, so I can get the remaining skeins delivered. Although my original intent was to make the sweater much like EZ demonstrates in the book and video, now that I have yarn in hand, my plans are evolving. The Galway knits at 4.5 st/inch so using the Supermerino, which knits at 5 st/inch, won't really work as I had hoped for the yoke. Instead, I've decided to knit the sweater with hems, rather than rib or garter stitch bands. In this way, I can use the Supermerino for hem facings. I'm simply enthralled with the idea of having something so flashy hidden inside the sweater. What do you think?
The body will be the brown color. This leaves the yoke. Problem...problem solved.
Traditional Scandinavian Knitting arrived from Amazon today. There are literally hundreds of pattern ideas in here. I'm already eyeing a few, but since the yoke is a LONG way away, I've got plenty of time to mull it over. I'll also have to decide if I want to use any other colors. I've got the ball of cream. And I do like the way these Scandinavian patterns look in just two colors. But I'm considering getting a ball of navy or maybe red just for a little highlight.
Today it's bitter cold out, currently 22. Quinn and I have been snuggled under a blanket all morning watching Doctor Who season 2. I just saw PBS has a Black Adder marathon on this afternoon, and DIY has a Knitty Gritty marathon this evening. Of course, we'll probably be watching the Super Bowl, but should be able to catch a few bits in between.
PS...title reference from the most excellent John Hughes movie Sixteen Candles. Farmer Ted sings the Beatles "You say it's your birthday" to Sam while seated in half a car in the school's auto shop. Yes, no better way to pick yourself up on a birthday than watching the ultimate birthday movie.
Seriously folks, if you are a knitter and love Elizabeth Zimmermann (and what knitter doesn't), you need to get Knitting Workshop. Both the book and the DVD. You can get the set from Schoolhouse Press or buy them individually from a number of different places. The video is a 6 hour course in knitting. Filmed in the 80's for PBS, each 1/2 hour segment builds on the last, taking you from the most basics all the way to the most difficult tasks. It's very homey feeling (much like Knitter's Glossary) I think both may have actually been filmed at EZ's home. The cat even gets into the act from time to time! The video does move really fast, so I think the book is quite necessary if you actually intend to make anything demonstrated. The I'm only about 2 1/2 hours in and I'm already obsessing about knitting a yoke sweater. I have several different yarn combinations in mind but am waiting until after I go to the yarn shop this weekend to see if I can find something there before ordering online. I'm thinking of using the Supermerino I just got for the interior of the Hawser pattern on the yoke. I love the idea of using a variegated yarn inside a charted design, makes it look way more complicated. Plus, I only have 2 skeins of it, not really enough to do much else with. Once I find some coordinating yarn, I want to swatch the chart and see if it looks as good as I think it will.
In other news...Christine at Pointy Sticks is celebrating her Podcastiversary! I've listened to her podcast from the start and it's one of the few I've stayed subscribed to. Her theme song rocks, she actually talks about knitting and podcasts on a regular basis. An all around winner. To celebrate her 'versary, she's giving away stuff! Go check her out. Listen to an episode or two and leave her a comment. While you are there, be sure to hop over to her Big Pink Cookie blog and check out her awesome photography! Way to go Christine! Happy Podcastiversary!
My cold is somewhat improved, although I still don't feel like doing much more than laying around sleeping. I did manage to finish the clogs and get them felted yesterday.
Here seen drying in front of the heater. As you can see by they are now much less cat sized.
They fit like a dream. So warm and soft. The double thick bottoms make them nice and cushiony. I'm seriously thinking of getting some type of soles, though, as they are pretty slippery on non-carpeted surfaces.
Ugh, I'm sick. Some nasty cold bug has been going around. Nearly everyone at work has or has had it. I managed to avoid getting sick the first time it went around a month or 2 ago, but no such luck this time. Despite my best efforts of large doses of vitamin C and cup after cup of hot tea. I've got a sore throat and sore, stuffy ears. My nose alternates between absolutely fine, completely stuffed and running like a faucet at regular intervals. I decided to stay home from work this afternoon to try to sleep it off. But my head would have none of that. As soon as I laid down, my sinuses started draining into my already irritated throat launching me into coughing fits. Finally, I gave up and settled on the couch with my knitting and DIY's craft shows on the tube. The fingerless mitts from last week have been (temporarily) abandoned for the Fiber Trends Clogs. Stephanie mentioned them a few weeks ago and it's been a huge topic of discussion on the KnitList and me being so easily swayed, decided I needed to make me a pair of these puppies. 
I'm knitting mine with Patons Classic Merino in Natural Marl and Natural Mix (next time might choose a starker contrast). They are huge. Picture of slipper and foot...
Excuse the pink socks, sick people needn't be judged for their fashion choices. The slipper is roughly the same size as Quinn...
She refused to sit nice for a picture, but I think you get the point. If there were a hole at the other end, it would be the perfect size for a kitty sweater. So far I've only finished the one slipper, but it's a super fast knit. Only took me maybe 2-3 hours. Since I'm not up to doing much of anything else until I kick this cold, I should have no problem finishing the other one in time to throw them in with the laundry this weekend to get them felted.
In stash acquisition news this week...
Two skeins of Artyarns Supermerino yarn color 101 (gold, purple, navy, brown) that I got for a steal on Ebay. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do with it. The seller included a pattern for a mitered scarf, but I'm not much of a scarf person, and knitting miters doesn't really float my boat either. I'm half kicking around the idea of trying these coasters (from Knitty Gritty), but again, it's miters and I'm not sure if I want to go there. Our library's spring auction is coming up soon and I need to get something made to donate. I thought maybe these coasters with some matching mugs and tea in a nice basket. Or maybe a spa basket with some of my soap and these washcloths made with the new Lion Organic Cotton (I'm DIEING to find this yarn!)
We are not speaking of Widdershins. The math proved way out of my league so I shall wait to try this pattern when I have yarn of the appropriate gauge. I pushed on, though, and did try another toe up pattern with the lovely bamboo yarn. But it too kicked my butt with it's provisional cast on that wouldn't unravel nicely, instead releasing two or more rows of stitches every time I removed it. After an hour, I'd had enough and packed the bamboo yarn away. When I finish the Mister Joe socks I'll give the bamboo a try with my standard top down pattern. Speaking of Mister Joe...
Sock one finished! And the wee beginnings of sock two. I haven't spent much time on these the last few days. Since winter has finally arrived here, I found myself in need of another pair of fingerless gloves. I love the Fetching mitts from a few months back, but find the cables on the palm a bit irritating after awhile. And since I've got tons of sock yarn around, I decided to find a pattern at that gauge. The Kat's Paws provided the perfect answer.
The pattern designer claimed she could knit a mitt in 2 hours. It took me more like 6, but still a pretty fast knit in my book. They are long enough to tuck up into my sleeve and fall just below my fingers so they won't interfere with typing. The yarn is Gedifra Sportivo color 5704 and the needle a Suzanne's Ebony both from Webs. I'm not sure I'd like the yarn for socks. Maybe if it was knit at a tighter gauge, but at this gauge (7 st/in), I don't think it would hold up as a sock. The jury is still out on the needle. I love the needle it's self. It's a beautiful matte black and the stitches slide nicely on it. But the join is a bit bumpy and I find I have to wiggle the stitches over it most every time I switch needles. Of all the needles I've tried, I'm still going to go with Knit Picks as my favorite overall.Speaking of Knit Picks, they came through with flying colors once again. I ordered the companion dvd to EZ's Knitting Workshop book last weekend and it arrived on Friday.
Sadly, I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch it yet. I spent much of my weekend watching the Doctor Who season one dvd set. Totally awesome!
I'm pretty proud and impressed with myself for completing a whole sweater during tax season. But this was really fun knitting. I love the yarn, Galway Highland Heather. I used 5 balls of the brown and maybe half a ball each of the oatmeal and navy. The yoke patterns came from the book Traditional Scandinavian Knitting. This book has a wealth of pattern ideas. And now that I've got the hang of two color knitting, I'm sure I'll be doing a lot more in the future.
The sweater has 3 rapid decrease rounds in the yoke. EZ says the ruffling can be tamed with the use of a steam iron. And she's right, it can. I steamed it right after I knit it to be sure it would lay flat. But after washing, I see the ruffling has returned. Guess it will require steaming after each washing. Although, it doesn't look bad the way it is. Somewhat feminine, kind of blouse like. The sweater is a bit on the long side. Next time I will make the body shorter. I don't think I'd bother with the phoney seams next time. They don't seem to make any difference and are barely noticeable unless you know what you are looking for. The only other problem I had came when I grafted the underarm seam. The grafting went fine, but when I had knitted a ways up the yoke, I noticed holes at each of the ends of the seam. I was able to darn them closed, but next time think I should wait to graft the underarms until the yoke is further along so I can try to avoid the holes.
