purlsandmurmers

Lazy Days

It has not been an ambitious day.  I was up early, well 7 AM, but since it was after 3 when I retired it made for a short night's sleep.  It took me until well afternoon to figure out that the reason I was really just muddling about was that I was probably tired.    Since the day is generally rainy, cool, and blah, and it is too dark to take an appealing picture of Kingfisher, a nap seemed in order. 

I have to remind myself that it is ok to have days in which nothing is accomplished, that the body and the soul need down time to just sit around and daydream.

The new Cast On arrived today and I enjoyed looking through it before my nap.  In the past I have had mixed feelings about the magazine, but not about the organization as I have learned many things due to my membership.  The magazine comes with the membership but was generally uninspiring except for some good articles on technique.  A couple of years ago the organization was sold and the magazine has been evolving.  If this issue is an example of what the future holds, I think it is an amazing transformation.  There are a couple of good technique articles, which does not surprise me, and several good and interesting patterns, quite a few of which I would make as written, as opposed to taking an idea from a pattern and completely redesigning it to suit my own taste and ideas of what a sweater should look like.

I think, probably for the first time I think I am saving the majority of the issue.  In the end I will cut it up because I have cut up all the past, but I might save it a few months until the next issue comes out and see if the trend continues.  It is certainly easier to find sweater patterns if they are filed separately in notebooks, but like so many magazines, it is not easy to cut the patterns apart without photocopying many pages as the magazine layouts are not meant for cutting and filing, with different patterns on the front and back of one sheet of paper.

Sins of Omission

I should have realized that my list of projects seemed woefully short.  I left two out, one of which was sitting right there in the middle of the floor taunting me...

Fuschia bulky cardigan.  Actual knitting on this is almost done, I am on the last sleeve.  It got put aside because there are about 14 different yarns in a 20 - 22 row repeat and I needed a project to take on a trip.  14 yarns makes for a lot of confusion in a car or on an airplane.  Of course,  when I finish knitting I will have all those yarn ends to deal with.

Antea Shell (shown above) is a little rumpled as it has been folded up in the top of my closet.  It is waiting for me finish the edges. 

I would pick this up and start knitting right away but my hand was a little stiff this morning knitting the Aiko sweater on 5 mm needles.  Kingfisher was on 5.5 mm so I don't know why the 5 mm would bother my sore thumb more, unless it is the difference between bamboo and Addi turbos.  It might be, as I find my knitting guage is different on needles of the same size but made out of different materials.  I have been frequently told that this should not happen, but it does, and I have frequently changed needles if my guage was just slightly off, and a different needle material often makes the difference.

At any rate Antea was knit on 2 or 2.5 so it might have to wait just a little longer.

Sweater Lust

I should empose a moratorium on new knitting pattern books.  Of course this will never happen, but at least I realize that I should do this.

I have been trying to make sense of the piles of knitting magazines that have come in the past few weeks, and the piles of projects on my floor, and a few other odds and ends, trying to determine what I will knit next (Kingfisher is almost done and would be done if I was not spending so much time dreaming over sweater magazines). And what yarns  I will order, if I am going to order yarns. 

Of course I do realize that I could order nothing and still find plenty to knit, but that does take the fun out of everything doesn't it?  Besides I love the knitting magazines just as much for the new sweaters I will knit as well as for those I will only dream of knitting.  Each sweater book is kind of like a wish book I can curl up with and dream about the sweaters, the knitting of them, the wearing of them, the lives I might have if I could knit and wear all those sweaters.  Kind of reminds me of being a kid and poring over the Sears and JC Penney catalogs, dreaming of what my life might be when I grew up, if I could wear anything in the catalog and marry the handsome male models and live happily ever after.

What is life without fantasy anyway?

I am trying to think about any speciality yarns that may not be available if I don't grab them now and, probably for the first time ever, I am actually looking at the list of things that are missing in my closet and trying to incorporate these items into my knitting plans.

Originally I thought I would post a list or review of the things I liked in each magazine as they came in and this might help clarify my thinking, but they came too fast and I was busy getting ready for my trip.  Now I am all backed up.  I also have trouble limiting my choices to the reasonable and manageable.    There are probably about 35 sweaters I would like to knit from the spring books that have arrived and this is not really including the Harris Yarns book (which had problems as you wil recall) or the spring Adrienne Vittadini or Phildar books, neither of which I have ordered yet.  I will not knit 35 sweaters this year, much less this season.  I hope to narrow the list down to things that I hope to finish in this lifetime though.

CURRENT  OR PENDING PROJECTS:

Kingfisher Sweater has about 16 more rows on last sleeve (knit sideways, sleeve head to cuff).  Then blocking and finishing.

Pink Cashmere Aiko Sweater remains stalled with only the back completed, but I will pick it up next week.

Summer Blendy Sweater set in sand and toast colors was knit two years ago and blocked.  Then I decided to rip out and shorten the shell.  Since then it has been waiting for ripping (too many yarns, too many ends, what a headache)  I will finish this and wear it this season.

Olive Mohair cardigan:  This was the first sweater I finished.  It needs to have a border crocheted around the edges for stability (the pattern did not call for this and I was to ignorant to know better) I have the yarn and I have some matching stretch silk charmeuse with which I will line the sweater.  AHA!!  This is a sewing project and not a knitting project, it can be moved to another list!

Purple cardigan from Anny Blatt summer 2003:  Still missing half the yarn.  Will look for others to replace and finish as I really like the color and the cardigan.

Angora cardigan with ribbon borders:  I gathered together the ribbon and glitter yarns for a border on a sweater but don't have the angora yet.  I have an idea and color in my mind but haven't found the yarn.  Actually I originally had a yarn in mind but could not get enough before it was discontinued,  one of those situtations where the yarn store kept telling me it would be in next week for six months.  Did I believe them?  At first yes.  Was I stupid?  probably.  Will I do it again?  not at that store.  This might be easier to put off until fall when a wider selection of angora (or fine mohair) will be available.

3 skeins of pink/red Rowan Biggy Print which could be a scarf if I find one more skein. 

Bag of mixed turquoise, green and blue novelty yarns.  These are waiting for me to find a solid cotton to tie them together and make them into a summer cardigan. The yarns are various leftovers, things I was entranced by at shows, and samples sent by mailorder companies that I loved too much to send back even though I had no idea what I would do with them.

Did I say I had a problem or what? And I still haven't made any decisions.

Layered Shell Finished

I was finally able to crochet the edges around the layered shell.  Matilda is modelling the shell with my favorite long linen skirt:

Of course if I were modelling, the large black and blue marks on my shoulder would offset the whiteness of the sweater very nicely.  I am just not sure I could get it off afterwards.  Hopefully this shot will show more detail:

It is somehow a little bumpier on Matilda than on me, but I am softer so perhaps that counts for the difference.

This version of the sweater is lighter and drapier and perhaps will be more wearable than the original, which although sleeveless and cotton, was rather heavy.

Waiting for Venus

Last night I got home about 10 PM and quickly changed into my jammies so I could curl up with a knitting project.  I was too tired to cast on or do anything too complicated so I sewed up the white and beige layered summer shell:

Luckily I got it put together last night because I would not have been able to do it today. 

This morning I turned around at the top of the stairs to shut the door, lost my balance, and went shushing down to the bottom of the stairs on my right side, right arm extended, head first.  Not a pretty site.   We thought I broke a bone at the base of my thumb but did not.  Actually I am just bruised and battered and banged-up, with no serious damage.  Still I could not grip the darning needle today and I could not hold the crochet hook and make the right motion to finish the neck and sleeve edges on this sweater.  So it waits.

There actually wasn't that much I could do today.  No sewing. No knitting. No entertaining myself on the computer since I could not hold the mouse, press the mouse button, or type.  I spent the day on the sofa with my right foot elevated and iced and my right arm elevated with ice.  I did manage to catch up with the three issues of The Econonmist that arrived while I was away,  and finish The Fall of France by Julian Jackson.  By evening I was tired of reading (can this be true??) and was ready to flex my knitting muscles.  Apparently the ice paid off.

It took most of the day for the swelling in my hand to go down enough that I could hold a knitting needle but I did manage that this evening, so I started the last sleeve on the Kingfisher sweater:    

Unfortunately I did not get very far before I ran out of Venus. Hopefully the yarn is winging its way across the country to me now and I can finish this sweater over the weekend.  I am slightly less than 1/5 done with this sleeve and there is probably enough yarn to knit one more row (knit sideways).

I am going to have to find another project, or  go back to the cashmere, not that this is such a bad life.  Of course, I have to stand up and walk to find yarn.  hmmm...

Well, tomorrow is another, brighter, day.

Kingfisher Sweater

Serendipity is such a wonderful thing.  When I picked my knitting project for my Amazon cruise, I had no idea how appropriate it would be, I only wanted to knit something with color that wasn't wool.   I quickly realized, as we went out in zodiacs looking at birds, that my Stacy Charles Venus sweater was turning out to be knitted in the colors of the Amazon Kingfisher.  Actually it is probably a combination of the colors of several of the species of Kingfisher that live in the Amazon (four I think), and so I have christened it my Kingfisher Sweater, shown here on the blocking board:

Actually it is not completely knitted up.  I realized about 3/4 through the first sleeve that I was not going to have enough yarn and that I would be about 1/2 skein short on the second sleeve so I became discouraged and slowed down on the knitting.  Luckily I found a book in English in the Sao Paolo airport to help me survive the trip home. 

Usually I purchase extra yarn for most sweaters because I am somewhat tall at 5'9" and usually end up lengthening sweater patterns.  Usually buying the yarn for the largest size works, but not always, so I confirm this by calculating the square inches of the sweater as designed and again as I wish to knit it and then I calculate the yarn needed, preferably with a little slop. 

Luckily this yarn had just arrived a couple of weeks before I left on the trip so I called Theresa at L'Atelier this afternoon and she is winging the extra yarn to me.   

I can't wait to wear this sweater this spring.  I know it will remind me of my trip for a long time.  Sometimes I think I remember more of my adventures by looking at and wearing the sweaters knitted during each vacation than I do by looking at the photos.

Off to Amazonas

No more knitting posts for two weeks while I tour the Amazon. 

The fickle knitter

I have failed in my attempt at monogamous knitting.  So much for good intentions.  After finishing the back of the Aiko sweater I could not get myself motivated for the front.  I love the sweater and love the yarn but am too tempted by other things right now.  Besides am I going to be wearing cashmere in the near future?  I hope not.

I finally ripped out the entire front;  all 3 inches of it -- as you can tell I had not gotten far.  My heart wasn't really in it.  It took me several tries at casting on.  Even then, I couldn't keep the pattern straight and it is a simple pattern, I kept dropping stitches in the middle of crosses.  No fun. 

Still I hated the thought of starting something just to abandon it for two weeks after only a couple of rows or inches (if I am lucky).  So I tackled the unfinished sweater pile.

First I finished this:

 

I actually knit this in April 2003 on a trip to Knoxville and Hilton Head.  We met Rich who is now my step-son-in-law on that trip.  I never meant for the sweater to sit before I knit it up.  In fact I wanted to wear it.  But I came home from the trip and threw the bag with the completely knitted but unblocked sweater  in a box and forgot about it.  Then I bought more yarn and threw that on top of the sweater in the box, and well, you know what happened next, it was totally lost.  Recently in trying to make some order out of chaos, I unearthed this sweater.  It was pretty easy to finish as it was knit all of a piece.  This photo shows the neckline unfinished, as the pattern recommended, but I couldn't accept that.  I have knit a little rolled stockingette band.  The photo with the neckband did not come out as well as this one though so you will  just have to imagine it.

I also got a sweater on the blocking board:

This is a duplicate of a top I knit a few years ago.  The original was a favorite and this summer I got a big pink stain on the middle of the chest (beets perhaps?).  I really couldn't imagine my summer without the sweater so I knit another one last fall, in September actually.  The pattern was from Vogue Knitting, Spring Summer 2000 and was knit in a Adrienne Vittadini yarn, Miranda.  The new version was knit in Elena by Filatura di Crossa and I actually think I like this better.  The guage is actually the same but the sweater is lighter and scrunchier.  I am looking forward to wearing it.