March 6, 2011
Another sweater
I’ve been thinking about this sweater since I got the one ball of fair isle patterning DK weight yarn for a Christmas present. Actually I’ve wanted to make the pattern for some time (The Daily Sweater from Mason Dixon’s Knitting Outside the Lines) and I decided that I could use the patterned yarn for the yoke and knit the rest of the sweater plain. So, even though I have a lace pattern I’m busy working on, socks on the needles for Ted, and a blanket for a baby due this month (hope you are feeling good Amelia!) I cast on for the new sweater.
I stayed up late Friday night working on it, dreamt about knitting, and got up early Saturday morning to knit on it. Since I also got in some spinning and my craft room (mostly) cleaned, I treated myself to some more knitting time this morning while the laundry spins. The sun is shining so I think this afternoon I will don my fisherman’s sweater and walk downtown.
February 16, 2011
Sneak preview
I’m sewing up my fisherman’s sweater. One sleeve is done, the other is sewn at the top. I’m getting tired though and think I’ll finish it tomorrow night. I have found that I start to get lazy with my stitching and I want this to be a job well done. It’s going to be warm the next few days (in the 50s), so I hope we get at least a minor cold snap so I can wear it yet this winter.
February 6, 2011
Winter projects
With all the snow on the ground outside, the reflected light makes my living room very bright on the weekend mornings. It’s been wonderful for working on my bobbin lace for the fan. I’ve passed the halfway point and there are only about 9 or 10 inches left to finish. I timed how long it takes to do one repeat of the pattern and it’s down to about an hour and 15 minutes. I feel like I’ve really gotten into the groove of this pattern.
How does that dust get on the pillow when I keep it covered all the time?
Here is my selfish knitting project for January. This is the Inishturk sweater from Lion Brand Yarn. It’s a cabled fisherman’s sweater that I’ve had my eye on for some time and Ted gifted me with the yarn for Christmas. I have absolutely loved knitting this sweater. Every row has cable crossings and surprisingly the 16-row pattern repeat was easily memorized. It was a little tough to get going because the pattern is written out and I’ve gotten used to charted patterns, but I just love everything that is going on in it. I’ve just started the first sleeve and hope to be able to wear it yet this winter. With the weather we’ve had and the projected cold temps in the forecast I think that won’t be a problem!
We survived the Feb. 1 blizzard and had everyone had some shoveling stories to share. Ian, Ted, and the neighbors did an excellent job and got us cleared out very early. Ian enjoyed his two snow days and I enjoyed my day off work as well. Primo knitting time!
January 25, 2011
Made it
I made it through the Christmas knitting crunch, and here we are again at January, aka The Month of Selfish Knitting. I’m working on a large project for myself, but I don’t think I’ll have it done this month. I’m almost to the halfway point.
This was the season of the knitted neckwarmer, all together I knit 8 of them and have not a single photo! Also there were socks for my best brother-in-law and Christmas stockings for Mom.
Mom and Karen modeled their felted slippers for me. Mom got hers last year for Christmas and I finished Karen’s this past summer.
They are so fun to make and wear that I made a couple more pairs for gifts this year.
I have been working on my bobbin lace for the fan and have made great progress on that project. I hope to have it done soon because I’m already mentally working on the next idea.
November 13, 2010
Retreated
Last weekend the Doris Southard Lace Guild held a lacemaking retreat in Dubuque, Iowa. We met Friday night at the retreat center and went out for dinner. The rest of the weekend all our meals were at the center and we moved from our bedrooms to the conference room to the dining room and back. It was wonderful!
The theme was fans, so most people worked on a lace fan of some sort. We didn’t have to, but it was a good impetus for me to get back to working on the s’ Gravenmoerse fan I had started a long time ago. Through the weekend I got about 5″ of the lace made and am really happy with my progress.
's Gravenmoerse fan edging
October 20, 2010
More blue and white
I can finally post a picture of the blue and white Christmas stocking as it has been gifted to my mother for her birthday and I don’t have to worry about spoiling the surprise.
September 12, 2010
Pirate blue
I finished the lace vest/sweater that I’ve been working on since July and got to wear it last week. The yarn was free (my favorite kind) and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. The fit is good and it was a fun and easy knit.
Since the blue looks so close to the blue of the Galena Pirates, I started working on a pair of fingerless mitts to wear to the games. Pam has been encouraging me to make these since last year. I scouted out some patterns and found one that looked promising, but I couldn’t figure out the instructions! Plus, my yarn was a different weight, so I refigured all the numbers, and added the white patterning on the palm and used the chart of the pirate from the other pattern. I’m pretty happy with them and I think Pam is going to want me to make lots of pairs of mitts! Because of the colorwork this one is a little snug, so I think I’m going to go up a needle size in the color area only for the second one of this pair. Then I’m going to get out my graph paper and design a different pattern for the palm for the next pair.
I was hoping to be inspired into a project as soon as the sweater was finished, and I think I’m officially inspired since I’m already looking ahead to the next pair when I’ve barely started the second mitt of the first pair!
August 19, 2010
Wordle
I just found a fun new toy on the Internet…www.wordle.net. I put in the address of this blog and it created the following artwork based on the occurrence of certain words. (Larger words appear more often.) It is really fun and I think accurately expresses my interests, especially in lacemaking.
Hmmm, looks like “started” occurs more frequently than “finished”.
