purlsandmurmers

2022 in Review

Another double-posting with Restingmotion.  This may be the final post here, or not.  I remain undecided as to whether or not reopening this blog was a good, or an outgrowth of periodic ennui.  

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Another glance over my shoulder perhaps, this time looking at my knitting progress in 2022.

Let's get the statistics out of the way first.  In 2022 I finished 10 projects and used up 71 skeins of yarn totaling 10,909 yards.  On first glance, it looks like I knitted less than the previous year in that there were two fewer finished objects, but the objects were larger and used more yarn.  Technically, it is not about yarn use, although that was one of my goals, or number of finished objects, but both of methods of accounting serve a purpose.

More specifically, the project breakdown was as follows:

• two blankets
• one soft-sculpture (toy)
• four shawls
• one pair of socks
• two sweaters

Now let's look at that more thoroughly.

There were no photos taken of the two blankets or the toy.  The toy and the first blanket was started in 2021 but never really photographed or blogged.  This was probably because I had mixed feelings about them from the get-go, but I was too pig-headed to give up, rip out, and start something new.  Instead I forced myself to finish both and promptly gave them away. The second blanket was one of those crazy ideas where I decided at the last minute to knit a baby blanket, finished it in a desperate rush, and immediately presented it to the new parents.  I really liked that blanket, but I was too overwhelmed at the time to deal with record-keeping. 

After that experience I decided I would never force myself to finish something again.  I would admit defeat or I would rip and repurpose. Luckily, my remaining projects of the year turned out to be far more satisfying, although admittedly there were some false starts and some ripping out.  Each false start then became a challenge and an opportunity.  Not all of those opportunities have yet been realized as projects, but I have found a certain satisfaction in the simple act of swatching, in letting a yarn tell me what it is, even if that initial exploration does not yield immediate results.

But now that the disappointments are out of the way, what about the successes?

I knitted four shawls, the first three of which were blogged (shown above). Shawlography, (pink, purple, green wool) was started as part of Stephen West's 2021 MKAL.  It was challenging, often fun, and sometimes maddening.  None of the techniques were particularly difficult in and of themselves, but West did put things together in ways I would not necessarily have thought of if left to my own devices.  Knitting this shawl was both fun and a constant struggle.  This was partially due to the fact that my fingers, beset with lingering chemotherap-induced neuropathy, struggled to maintain tension, and partially because I was constantly fretting about my color choices. Half the time I was convinced that the resulting shawl would only be suitable for a clown show, and it was not until I knit the final border that I could admit to being happy with the result. Even so, it gets the least wear of the three, primarily because it makes the boldest statement.  Still I think it was the accomplishment I was most proud of.  I learned a great deal knitting it, mostly because the brioche was not kind to my hands.  The brioche was ripped twice and reknit, even with the ripping and reknitting, I struggled.  The sense of accomplishment I feel for this shawl is primarily due to that brioche section.  Not only did I come to love brioche, I taught myself how to drop down to repair individual errors in brioche without ripping back and entire section, an accomplishment of which I am still proud even though I can honestly say that if the mistakes are many and frequent, it is still easier to simply rip back. Skill-wise, this shawl was my greatest accomplishment of 2022.

The cream striped Nantucket Summer shawl was the biggest shawl I knit in 2022, at 22 x 120 inches.  It is almost a blanket and it has admittedly seen me through many cool evenings on the patio as well as early mornings watching the sun rise, coffee and hand. The yarn was originally intended for a cardigan, but as I have a long-standing aversion to heavy cotton cardigans, I feared it would be a cardigan I would never wear.  The shawl is wonderful and I wrap myself up in it all the time, a perfect choice for me.

My absolute favorite knit of 2022 was the Artyarns silk wrap I named blue wave. This was an absolutely fun knit, full of short rows and changing colors.  It required attention but was not particularly difficult and it was so exciting that I raced through it.  This shawl was completely fun to knit and the results are absolutely gorgeous. Using 766 yards of Artyarns beaded silk and sequins light, knitting this wrap is an indulgence but well worth it.  If I could justify having two versions of such a distinctive wrap, I would happily knit it again.  It was that much fun.  

My final finished project of 2022 was the fourth shawl, seen above.  This shawl was knit in Noro Kakigori, a mostly cotton and silk yarn, using the "Stormy Sky" pattern by Ksenia Naidyon.   Originally purchased for use with another yarn in a different project, it became evident upon swatching that I hated the two yarns together and felt that this yarn was completely unsuitable for its originally intended use.   Upon further swatching I decided that I liked the fabric the yarn created and that it would be lovely as a relatively simple shawl.  It is a not particularly large shawl, with both drape and a touch of crispness, which I think will prove very versatile in Knoxville's climate.  I would happily knit with more Kakigori, because it creates a lovely fabric, although the yarn itself tends to want to twist up on itself while knitting, so it does require a bit of patience.

The one pair of socks knitted in 2022  have proven quite satisfactory.  I intentionally knit them longer than my usual, perhaps a tad too long, but they still get worn. The Mominoki Finnwool, used for the body of the sock, is 100% wool without the nylon usually added for sock yarns.  It was a remnant from Shawlography and put to good use here.   I actually prefer socks that are pure wool without nylon, but they don't tend to wear as well, and so, as it true for so many things in life, represent a trade-off.  These are holding up well, except for a bit of wear at the back of the ankle above the heel.  I suppose it is a bit early to see that much wear after less than a full year's wear, and that area will be mended when the time comes.  I love the socks nonetheless.  

As I look in my sock drawer, I see that I need more socks, and I am loathe to purchase them.  It seems that there must be sock knitting on the horizon.  I have thought of exploring breed specific wool, looking for hard-wearing wools that hold up better for socks and I may well do that.  In the end, however, I will probably mostly use nylon reinforced sock wool, which comes in many pretty colors.  Although I may struggle with a brightly colored shawl, I have no issue with wearing carnival-colored socks.  The first pair of socks I ever knit are still going strong, after 13 years, knitted with KnitPicks simple stripes, 75% wool yarn, a ringing endorsement if ever there was one. I will admit that the tutti-frutti color palette of that first pair is not one I would chose today, but those socks simply will not die. That specific yarn has been discontinued, but I would think KnitPicks' sock yarn would still be a good economical and hard-wearing option if that is a consideration.  But longevity is not my primary criteria when knitting socks.  I am all for knitting, and wearing, what one loves and we each make the compromises that best suit us. I am fine with balancing practicality with comfort in my sock wardrobe,  but also admit that there is nothing quite as nice as cashmere socks on a cold evening, even if they are not practical for everyday wear.  Perhaps my sock wardrobe needs a touch of softness, as well as an indulgence in frivolous colors.

Even though I was once almost exclusively a garment knitter, I only knot two sweaters in 2022.  The first, a cardigan finished in June, was not really worn until fall, when the temperatures had cooled.   Although it is not a winter cardigan, being knitted with cotton/nylon/polyester novelty yarns, this was not a sweater for hot humid summer heat.  It may have been had I followed the pattern as written, which was for a cardigan with more ease and drape..  After knitting my swatches however, the hand of the resulting fabric reminded me of the kind of light drapey boucle that is often used for soft Chanel-style jackets, and I decided that a short, more fitted cardigan was required.  I altered the pattern accordingly, individualizing it by taking in some of the asymmetry I was finding in my sewing pattern sloper development.  There was some fudging, and some ripping and reknitting, which is not easy when three rather snaggy strands are held together while knitting.  But I am absolutely enamored of the finished cardigan.  This is not a hard-wearing everyday sweater but more of an occasional item.  I need to take care not to catch the rather fine sequined filament that runs through the sweater on buckles, latches, or even rings and other jewelry.  This cardigan wants to be the star of the show in its own understated way.  It is a sweater I can imagine myself wearing for a long time. 

The second sweater was for a wool shell or vest, knitted to be worn as a layering piece.  The pattern was Carol Feller's Trellis top, and I used the recommended yarn, Stolen Stitches Nua Sport.  Even thought I used the designer's yarn I did not quite manage to get gauge, My gauge was slightly tighter in stockinette, but the same as the recommended gauge in the pattern stitch.  Since I wanted to make my sweater a bit more close-fitting than the pattern, this was easy enough to manage.    Aside from size issues, I more or less knit the pattern as written with the exception of the shoulder shaping and the finishing.  The original design is looser and more casual, with  button bands in lieu of seamed sides.  As I was seeking a more classically close-fitting silhouette that could also be worn under a jacket, I simply seamed the sides.  I am very happy with the result and this sweater has already proven to be a favorite.  I wore vests frequently in my 20s and early 30s, did not wear them in the intervening decades, and find I now reach for them again and again, something to consider as I contemplate future knitting.

As to 2023, who knows.

My plan is to begin the year by finishing the temperature blanket I started at the beginning of 2022.  This started as a whim, but I have mostly stuck with it.  I put the blanket aside during the hot months and picked it up after Thanksgiving, trying desperately to catch up.  When the year ended, I had knitted the blanket through the last day of September, or three-quarters through the body of the blanket.

I am determined to finish this blanket before finishing anything else this year.  Since January 1 I have knitted 47 garter ridges, which finished out October and put me half-way through  November.  I should finish the body by early February and then I need to pick up and knit the borders, As you can see from the blanket, spread out on my bed, the borders will be long, and I am thinking now that I do not want them to be particularly narrow, although I am considering the idea that the side borders may be wider, perhaps, than the top and bottom borders. I haven't yet calculated what color the borders should be, but if I am serious about finishing this, I should figure that out and make sure I have the yarn in house before it is needed, simply to avoid further delays.  I do know that should I put it aside, it will be difficult to pick back up again, so best to keep knitting until it is finished.  The blanket itself is fun because I love watching the color patterns unfold.  The border of course will be more tedious, but the reward will be in the joy of curling up under it on chilly evenings.

Also on the schedule for this year is to finish a modular, log-cabin style blanket I started knitting out of Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande,  I do think I will take a short break between blankets, finishing something smaller.  I have another sleeveless cotton sweater on the needles, although I am not devoting much time to it at the  moment.  The cotton sweater is my portable project, but the blanket remains my main focus and the center of all my crafty energies at the moment. Expect that knitting updates may be few and far between at least for the first quarter of the year. 

Sweater Love

The sweater called New Orleans is finished. I had hoped to finish it while I was actually in New Orleans for a sewing workshop but I overestimated my energy levels following full days of cutting, sewing, and muslin making.  I have no regrets.

 

 

I adore this sweater. 

Button detail.  Brass strawberries, already in stash.  These were one of two choices that I found that I liked in my extensive button stash, a simple mother of pearl, which was elegant but ultimately too small, and these.  I both love these and had misgivings.  Once they were sewed on, however, I think they shine.

 

 

This has worked out to be everything I wanted it to be.  It is closely fitted but not too much so, I like the 3/4 sleeves.  The shoulder shaping works and the cardigan fits well, stays where I want it to stay.  All in all a success.

 

Yarn:  Lana Grossa About Berlin Spotty in color 7, two strands held together along with a single strand of Lana Grossa Diamante.  The original pattern was written as a rather straight, boxy cardigan, but since the pattern came with only instructions for the lace stripes, a loose guideline, and no diagrams or pictures, I quickly decided to make this the way I wanted.  This meant a more fitted cardigan.

 

The original pattern also called for 5 rows of garter stitch at the hem, which I did not use.  Once I decided to opt for the fitted cardigan, I realized that, given the length I desired, adding the five rows of garter stitch would either make the cardigan too long, or place the lace bands in positions that would be difficult for either fitting, or matching at the seams.  I did add garter stitch hems on the sleeves.  The sweater hem was finished with a row of single crochet followed by a row of crab stitch, the same as the front bands.  I am quite happy with this result.

I am also happy with the matching of the horizontal lace bands, which match at side seams and sleeves.  You may notice that the distance between these bands appears further apart above and below the bust, which is true.  Short rows were added, making the center front longer than the side seams.  This allows the bands to meet at the side seams, the stripes continuing horizontally even across the bust without curving up due to the need for extra length.    I was kind of guessing at much of this as I went along, knitting, measuring, occasionally ripping and re-knitting, but I am very happy with the result.

 

 

New Orleans Cardigan, Part One

I had hoped to have another project finished by the end of May, but that isn't happening. This isn't really a problem because I am really pretty happy with the way my current project, a cardigan, is turning out, even though I am pretty much making up the pattern as I go.

 

I am calling this project New Orleans although that is not the name of the pattern.  I'm not really following the pattern anyway, or I am using it as a only rough guide so I suppose this project is a bit of a collaborative mix.

 

 

In the photo above you can see a glimpse of the cardigan in its current state.  The body has been sewn together and the first sleeve knit and inserted.  I am currently knitting the second sleeve, after which I will figure out how I wish to finish the edges and place the buttons.

 

This is the sweater I started in April and fretted about ripping out in this post,.  It is knit with three strands of yarn held together, two strands of Lana Grossa's novelty cotton blend, About Berlin Spotty, and one strand of a sequined nylon thread, also by Lana Grossa, called Diamante.  I am knitting it at a fairly loose gauge on size 10 needles.  I picked it up again the second week of May, reknit my gauge swatches, and redesigned the sweater, keeping only the pattern stitch.  

 

The original is a fairly straight boxy sweater, which sounds lovely, but I wanted something more fitted.  There are basically two reasons for this.  First, although the loose gauge makes this sweater wearable in our hotter Tennessee weather, it also tends to snag and I am terrible about snagging sweaters.  Secondly the fabric, although open, is also heavy and I did not like the way the sweater hung.  One thing I have learned is that although I don't mind loose, boxy, or flowy clothes, I want them to stay in place, wherever that place may be.

 

Because I was experimenting with a more fitted sweater, I also experimented with some fitting ideas, using a draft of the fit muslin I was working on for sewing projects.  I made the back fairly close fitting, taking a vertical dart in the center back at the waist, which I have done before.  But I also did a few things that were new, namely using a stitch marker to mark the center back which is asymmetrical, and I made the armscye and shoulder shaping different on each side, corresponding to my actual body.

 

 

You can see the back, pinned for blocking above.  As you may see in the photo above, much of the difference between the right and left back is taken up in the difference of the armscye shaping.  

 

 

The fronts were easier, more equivalent in size, although the armscye shaping was different on each side.  I also added short row shaping at the front above and below that eyelet pattern that runs across the bust line.  This was done so that the eyelet stripe would continue horizontally across the front, matching the back, and not pulling up due to the need for additional length.  I think my final result looks pretty good so far, although it took me a couple of attempts to get something that worked and looked balanced.  I suspect that there will be some fiddling with the front edge and button placement as well, but I am happy enough with how this is coming along that I am looking forward to the challenge.

 

Frustrations

Generally I have been knitting regularly but not blogging.  I have also been tired and am struggling to figure out what is what:  namely when I am tired because I have done too much, when I am tired because I have done too little, and when I am tired due to the general process of healing and recovery.  I am certain that sometimes I simply become frustrated and perhaps a little blue; that does nothing to speed things along.

 

At any rate, I did not knit for a few days the end of the week leading into Palm Sunday or the beginning of Holy Week.  I was doing some sewing for the church, I hosted a dinner party, I was finishing up the back of a my summer cardigan, but I was in no rush to move onto the next step or another project.

 

This might have been a mistake, or perhaps it was a blessing, because the project has been half ripped out, will be ripped out completely, and is now in limbo. I don't yet feel like starting over so I am happily working on my temperature blanket, which is still running behind, currently somewhere in early February.

 

What happened?

 

Truthfully it was mostly a gauge issue.   And because gauge is such an essential, and essentially simple thing, I was fairly annoyed with myself for messing it up.  I had a gauge swatch that was very close to the recommended gauge for the pattern, off by less than 1/2 stitch per four inches, and I had rewritten the pattern slightly, to adapt it to some fit issues that I hoped to address.  I knew that there was a potential for ripping because some of the fit issues I was addressing were things I had not yet attempted in a sweater, but knitting is pretty easy, and I wasn't really all that worried about it.

 

Perhaps I should have been.

 

I just knitted blithely along until the body of the sweater was almost finished. Then I thought I would take the sweater pieces and check them against a pattern I had drawn in order to help me visualize the shaping I wanted to add. The sweater, as knit, was much larger than the pattern, which should not have happened because I did all the math.  I checked the math and the math was good.

Alas the knitting was not.  My actual knitting was at a much looser gauge than the the swatch, and what was frustrating about this was that I should have anticipated the problem.  I don't know if you can actually tell the difference in the photo above; I can because I know what I am looking at (the swatch is on top of the actual sweater). I should have noticed that the knitting in my lap was much more loosely knit than the swatch, and I also should have known better, given the rather serendipitous way my swatching all fell into place.  Everything affects gauge, and unless I am knitting in good wool, it is rarely that simple. 

 

First of all, I tend to be a loose knitter.  I got gauge on my first attempt on needles that were very close to the recommended needle size.  I used size US 10 needles and the pattern called for 10 1/2.  That, in and of itself was unusual, more unusual because I was using wooden needles and I know from long experience that my stitches on wooden needles tend to be quite different than those on, let's say metal needles. Generally, when I am knitting using wooden needles my stitches are fatter and shorter than they are when I am using metal needles.  This means I get fewer stitches to an inch, widthwise, and more rows to an inch lengthwise.  My generally loose gauge is even looser with wood, although the stitches are sometimes so short that I actually end up needing more yarn than is specified in a pattern due to all the extra rows that will be required.  

 

When I knit with metal needles, which are my needles of choice for most projects, I get long skinny stitches.  This usually means that if I get the stitch gauge specified for a pattern, my row gauge is often off because I need fewer rows to make up an inch of length.  This often works for me because I have a long torso and it is easy enough, for most sweaters, to simply recalculate the decreases as needed to fit my actual gauge.  

 

There are times this does not work, and I have needles in various materials just to deal with the realities of the ways materials affect gauge.  

 

I don't know why I started with wooden needles.  Probably I simply had them available and visible in the sizes I was looking for.  Knitting materials have not been completely unpacked and organized as of yet.  I also don't know why I knit so tightly when knitting the gauge swatch, because I know I am a loose knitter, and I would think I would have been suspicious.  I suspect I was just eager, and tired, and perhaps a bit overwhelmed.  I knit this swatch in the period immediately following my cardioversion, a period when I was eager to start something new but when I was also always bone-tired.  

 

It is also possible that, although the swatch did not change gauge with wet blocking, it grows with warmth. I do not actually think that is the case.  If it were I would still have to knit the sweater at a smaller gauge however, simply so that it would not grow while I was wearing it.

 

I have ripped back about half the sweater.  I stopped because I had other obligations, and then I didn't feel like returning to the project so I picked up something else.  I do want to wear this cardigan though, so I will come back to it, probably after I return from a quick trip to Texas.  Let's say early May.  

 

This too shall pass.

 

 

 

Current Project Update

I spent a little time yesterday getting my active knitting projects in order.  Yes, projects.  I currently have four active projects, although only 3 of them are on the needles at this moment.  

 

In some ways this seems strange, and perhaps a little stressful, as I am entering a couple of very busy months and I feel like I am behind on absolutely everything.  On the other hand, the four projects are on four very different needle sizes, and none of them are particularly complex patterns, so I have four options for daily stress relief, depending on my state of mind and the flexibility of my hands at any given moment.

 

Why don't we take a look at what is going on?

 

First up, a pair of socks.   I started these immediately after finishing the Shawlography shawl and are being knit with the leftover yarn from that project.    I had a rough plan for striping and how to use the yarn in my head and I made great progress in the beginning, finishing the leg, and knitting the heel, only to loose interest and motivation.  Ultimately I admitted that I did not like my initial striping pattern and I decided to rip out the sock and begin again, ripping to the point just past the last dark purple stripe you see in the above photo.

I like the new striping sequence better, and I am ready to knit the short-row heel, but the last few evenings I have been quite tired.  Other projects have taken precedence.

 

I have also started a summer cardigan.  This project is being knit using two strands of a sport weight tweedy yarn from Lana Grossa, About Berlin Spotty, and a strand of the thread-weight Diamante.  I am knitting using size 10 needles and am getting a light fabric that is coming in at just under 4 stitches per inch.   The pattern and the yarn are both from L'Atelier in Redondo Beach, California.

I am not far on this yet, only about 5 inches into the back, but you can see the fabric and the pattern above.

 

The other two projects are long-term projects that I do not think I will finish before the end of the year.

First up is the Alpaca blanket, on which I have made no progress since I last posted about it in February.  This is the same photo I posted at that time.  I probably will not pick it up until I finish at least one of the above two garment projects, and it may wait until late May or June, when life will hopefully be a little less hectic.  Each time I pick it up I intend to finish another modular block, and as the blanket is already 3' x 3' those squares will increase in size, and require an ever larger investment in time.  Leaving this on the needles for long periods is not an option however, so it will serve more as a transitional project between other pieces.

I also became intrigued by the idea of a temperature blanket and so I began yet another blanket project.  Blankets remain on my mind.   This one was inspired by posts over at Modern Daily Knitting, and following their lead I am knitting my blanket in Rowan's Felted Tweed using Kaffe Fassett's Garter Stripe Shawl Pattern, using one garter stripe for the high temperature for each day of the year in 2022. 

 

Please note that I did not start knitting this until March 1, and although I was eagerly knitting it for almost a week, I then put it aside until a day or two ago. I started off behind and I am still behind.  What you see in the photo is only the first half of January.  I do think I will be mostly caught up by sometime in May, at. which point I may be able to progress by knitting one ridge per day, with the exception of post-travel catch up here and there.  Blanket projects are basically too big to be traveling projects.

 

Truthfully I dithered with the blanket idea and it took me until the end of February to figure out my plan and acquire the Felted Tweed.  I am not worried about the yarn acquisition.  I have fallen in love with this yarn and have several projects I want to knit with it, especially some color work projects for the house.  One of my goals for this year was to accumulate a small collection of Felted Tweed consisting of at least single balls in every color, which I could add to as new colors became available.  In the end I will probably do something similar with a fingering weight yarn as well -- creating my own palettes, always available when the urge to play strikes.

 

 

 

2021 In Review

All in all, 2021 was a good year for knitting, certainly the most productive I've had in quite a few years.  I finished eleven projects, only 4 more than in 2020, but that makes this the most productive year since moving to Knoxville at the end of 2011.  In 2011 I completed 12 projects.  Part of me wants to say here's to beating that, but really it is not about the number of things I knit but rather the process of purposeful making.  Sometimes, however, I have been known to miscalculate.

More specifically, I knit:

    1. Four objects for the home, of which two were deconstructed from one larger blanket, reassembled and partially reknit. Both were given away.  

    2. Three cardigans

    3. Three scarves

    4.    One hat.

 

Two of the scarves, and one of the household objects, a thick wool hot pad for use with a rectangular baking dish, were constructed out of remnants and left-over bits of yarn.  Somehow this makes them feel like bonuses, almost like creating something from nothing, even though I know this is not quite true.

 

My plans were admittedly more ambitious.  I planned to finish more garments, at least one if not two blankets, catalog my yarn stash and make significant inroads to the UFO pile. None of that happened.  I also bought more yarn than I actually knit.  I don't know how much yarn exactly, although I see it piled up in a basket in by my television chair.  At least I only bought enough extra yarn that it still fits in that basket.  I didn't catalog the yarn as it came in, although that was my intention.  Cataloging fell by the wayside.  I did catalog yarn as I started projects however, so I know that I knit 47.25 skeins.  I am happy with that.

 

l already know I want to finish at least one blanket in 2022, fully aware that bigger projects also mean fewer finished objects.  But as I said who cares.  Most of us, at least most of us who read this blog, really are not in need of anything much, myself included.  I can buy a blanket or a sweater if I need one.  I would rather knit.  

 

All I ask of 2022 is that I take the opportunity to seize onto what makes me happy.

 

 

 

Tending to Loose Ends

As the year winds down, some form of end-of-year madness occupies the knitter's brain.  Although the blanket was never intended to be finished in this calendar year, the thought of finishing two projects remains within the realm of possibility.

 

To that end, I spent a good chunk of time on Saturday with finishing the Raspberry Confection cardigan, which has been languishing in my knitting basket for nigh unto two months now.

I was somewhat worried about seaming the lace sleeves and setting them into the body of the sweater, although in retrospect that anxiety was much over-blown.  Easy peasy.  As often seems to be the case, more time is wasted in anxiety than in just doing whatever task comes along that causes the anxiety in the first place.  The setting-in of sleeves was simple, the only problem I had was joining the neck band at the back neck, where the three-needle bind off was slightly bulkier than the rest of the seam and my fingers were a little recalcitrant.  That particular seam may yet be ripped and redone, or it may simply serve the purpose of reminding myself that the best we can do at any given moment is often enough. My closet contains several purchased garments with less than perfect seams.

There remains a question concerning which part of my existing wardrobe will play nicely with this cardigan.  I finished the knitting at the time of the great closet-emptying, with most of the potential play-dates going to new homes. And so, in a fit of anxious pique, the blouse shown in this photo was also altered, in hopes that the two pieces would play nicely together.  That is proving to be not quite so simple:  they play nicely on the hanger but not so much with the other residents of the closet.  

 

When I was younger, I always had to let new clothes marinate in my closet for a while before I actually wore them anyway.  Things aren't people of course, but it always seemed like any newcomers needed to hang out in the crowd for a while, just to get the feel of the place and make friends. Or perhaps that is all about me and not so much the clothes. 

A hangar shot is lovely, but of course you cannot really see the sweater as it is meant to be worn.   Enter the sucky selfie.  The mirror situation and the photography situation are issues not addressed in 2021 which must be addressed in 2022. 

 

I also finished the third square on the alpaca blanket project. There is still a long way to go: the blanket is probably about baby-blanket size at the moment, just right as a small lap blanket on a chilly evening. It looks perfectly at home on the purple sofa, where it can rest happily until 2022.

And I have resumed work on the Stephen West Mystery KAL shawl, which is, of course, no longer a mystery.  

I am on clue3, beginning with the brioche section.  I knit something in brioche years and years ago, perhaps when a book on the subject came out, and was not thrilled.  This time however I am finding it all grand fun.  I have dreams of finishing before the end of the year even though I acknowledge that this is not likely given holiday obligations, time with family obligations and scheduled travel.  No complaints about any of that, but the challenge is on.

Bits: Large and Small

Hello October, already almost half gone.

 

Recovery has taken me longer than I had hoped, and there was some period of sitting and staring as I realized that this will be a process that will take months and months. This was a thing I knew intellectually, I can recite back the statistics, but which hadn't fully embedded itself into my emotional resilience reservoir, that part which was still thinking that "done" meant normal.  Ha.  Anyway, now I am ready to move onward, realizing full well, that there may yet be several more molting seasons ahead.

 

> Slowly, slowly, activities resume.  I am knitting, not always as much as I might prefer.  I am slowly becoming a little more ambitious in the kitchen.  I have found my way back up to my studio, although most of my efforts there so far remain knitting and yarn related. Baby steps.

 

 

> The second sleeve to the raspberry confection cardigan is almost finished; I shall finish knitting it today.  The photo above was taken yesterday morning, when I was about half-done.   19 rows, in the sleeve cap, remain. I will finish the actual knitting today, although knitting is still slow.  Whether or not I actually manage to get it pinned out for blocking today or tomorrow will depend on many things.  However, it will be done, as I do want to finish this sweater; I want to wear it and I am determined that it will be ready when the weather cools enough to make that feasible. 

 

 

> The Stephen West Shawlography KAL has started and I am very eager. I watched the first clue and am eager to start, but I also had to finish those sleeves first, competing desires, erratic energy levels, and all that.    I did manage to wind the yarn into cakes.  That killed my right (dominant) hand for a day, the neuropathy again and some other pinched nerve issues, or something, due to the positioning of my arms for radiation therapy.  That is yet another issue to be dealt with. But I will at least begin this week, before the next clue comes out. 

 

Sunday into Monday I also managed to knit a gauge swatch with the shawl yarn, so I know that I will love knitting with the yarn, and that I am able to knit on size 4 needles again.  I will be happy to be knitting with a yarn that is mostly wool, without the slipperiness of silk.  A month ago, knitting with a size  6 needle was too painful to bear, so this is progress, even though it continues to amaze me since generally, at least until the last six months, I have preferred knitting with small needles.

 

>I am still winding yarn -- yarn for a blanket project.  I can only wind a few skeins at a time so this is a multi-day project. The blanket will be knit in Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande on larger needles, so it will provide relief for both fingers and for those days when my brain is simply too tired to follow shawl directions. Alternating projects with widely differing needle sizes and complexity is good therapy. Both projects are fun and anticipated but neither has a fixed deadline. Until I can resolve the issue with numbness and weakness in my right arm, knitting, and perhaps needlepoint or embroidery, once I regain a little more fine motor control, remain my best options.

 

 

> And, in another reversal of direction, I have come to terms with the baggy Summer Sunset tee, which I wore yesterday with the yellow chinos seen in the above photo.  I had already realized there was room for adaptation:  

• Part of the issue was simply wardrobe related.  Wearing clothes is obviously necessary, but clothes that fit, and somehow clothes that fit the person I am in late 2021, both physically and emotionally, is much like piecing together a puzzle. 
• The sweater is linen so it will soften with wear and with washing.
• In knitting the armhole trim, I intentionally drew the arm openings up but I could in fact release those stitches and make the opening looser, and more vest-like instead of tee-like.   

So far, a few passes through the washing machine, and a pair of chinos that actually fit, for the moment at least, have made a tremendous difference.  I still have another 10 pounds to knock off, although I would be perfectly happy if that took months instead of weeks at this point.  But I can learn to adapt through whatever process. 

 

Hopefully regular updates again soon.

 

 

Another Three

The fronts of Raspberry Confection are on the blocking board and I have started on the sleeves.  Progress is slow.  My fingers are very tingly and/or numb and this makes knitting lace a bit tricky.  I am contemplating putting them aside for a week and working on something else.

 

 

I signed up for Stephen West's Mystery Knit-a-long and the yarn I ordered arrived.  I am always happy when I choose colors online and I actually like them in real life.  I have never done one of these before but I am looking forward to it.

 

 

Modern Daily Knitting's new field guide also arrived (and I swear I thought I had that photo lined up straight).  I am not yet sure I am actually going to knit any of the projects but already it is inspiring various imaginary wanderings.

 

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Three

I am knitting away on my cardigan, but 'tis rapidly coming into the season where temptation looms.  Fall knitting books and magazines are starting to appear, along with knit-alongs, and dreams of cooler fall weather.  Admittedly that last bit is wishful thinking; I live in a place where the reality of autumnal chill seems far far away.  Or maybe it is just as simple as the idea that the fact of knitting begets dreams of more knitting.

 

First Up: I have finished the back of the Sweet Confection cardigan, which I have named Raspberry Confection on Ravelry.  Does. the name matter?  I don't know.  Years ago, I used to create individual categories for each project but years ago I either knit more or wrote more about what I was knitting.  Anyway, it is something I am thinking about.  

 

 

 

I have finished the back and blocked it.  Not surprisingly, as I was a bit worried about gauge due to the changing levels of pain and neuropathy in my hands. As I knit,  I noticed that as my neuropathy lessened and my fingers became looser, the feel of the yarn on the needles felt less tight.  As my fingers became looser so did my knitting.  My stitch gauge remained mostly on point but my row gauge reverted to my normal form, meaning my stitches grew longer.  Hence the body of the sweater is about 2 inches longer than I had planned for it to be.  

 

As I approached the shaping for the armscye however, my fingers were becoming increasingly painful and knitting became slower, with fewer rows knit at any one time. My knitting was tightening up again as well, and much of the area above the armscye shaping, is knit more tightly, on average closer to the anticipated gauge determined during swatching.  This is good, because I do not like deep armholes in my sweater unless the sweater as a whole is meant to be oversized; nor do I really want to rip it all back.

 

I am still thinking what this means for knitting the fronts.  At the moment my fingers are a bit looser, and this should continue until a day or two after my last chemo infusion next week.  I am inclined to think I should knit the two front pieces simultaneously to insure that the gauge matches on each piece, and work from there.  I. will have to be cognizant of how the yarn feels on the needles, and there may well be some adjusting on the fly. I will let you know how it goes.

 

 

Secondly: a handy little gift has earned permanent place in my knitting tool kit.  The boye crochet multi-hook arrived with a package of knitting yarn and pattern swatches.  Four sizes of hook are included, and although it would not be useful for extensive crochet, it is useful for picking up the occasional dropped stitch, or small bits of crochet here and there.  I seem to have an extensive collection of crochet hooks, which is surprising for a woman who intensely dislikes crocheting. Whenever I find myself needing a crochet hook however,  I never have the correct size in my knitting bag.  This should solve that problem. I don't know that this handy little tool will do anything in terms of allowing me to reduce my hook inventory, as it is awkward for all but the simplest of repairs, but it is bound to see lots of use.

 

 

And last, but far from least, a couple of knitting magazines have crossed my door.  The Autumn 2021 Pom Pom Quarterly actually came a few weeks ago now. It may well have been the prompt that kicked off my autumnal knitting dreams.   In fact the entire magazine acted much the way the Sears Christmas catalog did when I was a child -- sparking fantasies of brisk autumnal days, walks in the woods, cozy sweaters.  In short it is more a book of dreams than anything practical for my local climate.  It had me reminiscing about my former home, about warm fires and all the good things about winter, especially thick cozy sweaters.

 

 

There is some part of me wanted to knit every sweater, wanted to live somewhere cool and crisp, cold even.  But I realize this was as much about summer heat, about feeling miserable, about the way chemotherapy has knocked me further down than I had hoped, and how summer without the pleasure of summer activities can become unbearable.  I don't actually know if I was yearning for a return to cool summers and cold winters, or just struggling with ennui.  I suspect the latter.  But I enjoyed reading the magazine anyway, and I enjoyed dreaming about a fantasy life where I could wear all these sweaters.

 

 

It is possible that I could knit some of the hats shown in the collage above, but I already have more hat patterns than I could ever need, and in Tennessee even my need of warm wooly hats is somewhat limited.  There are two patterns I might knit.  The most likely of these is this intarsia shawl, Silvatica, shown above.  This would be both fun to wear and fun to knit (once my neuropathy wears off).  

 

 

The other potential knit, although actually somewhat less likely, is this cardigan, named Saknes.  It is knit in worsted weight wool, which I would not have considered particularly heavy in New York, and which I thought of as really pushing the limits much of my life in Tennessee.  But I wore more sweaters last year.  This may be because I live in an older house, which can be slightly drafty. It could be because I refuse to turn on the heat unless the house is downright cold, and my standard definition of cold seems to be lower than that of many of my Tennessee compatriots. Perhaps I am adapting slightly; perhaps I am just aging.  I've been through chemo and lost a good bit of weight, which was necessary by the way, and I have no idea how that will affect my sensitivity to the cold.  I still have worsted weight wool in the stash, so this remains a possibility.