Kitchen Cotton + Raglan =

One snappy new sweater!

(Warning, this is mostly about sewing)

We are in full back to school mode. I return to work tomorrow (deep sigh). Big sis starts kindergarten in a week, and little sis starts preschool.

The girls are still small enough to tolerate handmade items, so I'm on a roll. The sweater is done in Sugar-and-Cream kitchen cotton. It is top down, no seaming. It took about 4 days to do and used about6 balls of the cotton. I was going to redo the neck, make it less wide, but out Kindergartener-to-be says she loves it and thinks the neck is fashionable, so who am I to argue?

Here are some skirts I finished yesterday:

The red is for big-sis’ first day of Kindergarten and the blue is for little sis.

I have finished several for myself, including:
AND finished the valences I started for this house before we moved to Florida a year and a half ago:

I am totally crafting-for-avoidance. I want to go back to work, but I don’t want to leave the girls. The thought of kindergarten is scary. She is SOOOO ready though, she is counting the days on a calendar. Her school is great, and she rides the bus to my high school in the afternoon, so I really cannot complain.

I am done, the sewing machine is put away for now. I need to finish some socks for presents, so it’s back to knitting!

How knitting saved the day

I have always been someone that travels pretty light. Before the upswing in my knitting I could manage a 5 day trip with a small backpack.

Then started the knitting.

Now, I still take the same volume of clothing, but once the knitting is added I need a good sized suitcase.

The husband, oh he of infinite patience, thinks this is ridiculous. But he tolerates, because he is patient that way.

So we went to Williamsburg to see the family and a few friends. So I had to bring the car-knitting project, the mindless-knitting-while-visiting project, the kids-are-busy-so-I-can-concentrate project. Plus, extra yarn.

We went to visit a high school buddy of the husbands and his new baby. About four hours before we headed over there we realized we had no baby gift. What to do?

Knit a bib, borrow a button from my stepmother, and go visit a new babe. He gooed once at the bib, and then it was taken over by his big-sis Emma. Quite popular.

And on the way home the husband actually said "Good thing we had all that yarn in your suitcase!"

Notice the WE...

I wish I had pics, but the husband is back in Florida with the camera.

Home

Our house in the snow, 2004

We are back. We’ve been in the house for ten days. We’ve actually almost finished unpacking. This is my 16^th move in 33 years…you get to a point where you just gotta get it done.

It feels so good to be back. Just the thrill of running into someone I know at the store is amazing. Of course this also has it’s drawbacks. It is very embarrassing to buy wine from one of my students at the grocery store. And I do not buy any undergarments in Richmond. Too much risk.

I remember when I was in high school the attendance secretary was spotted purchasing undergarments by a classmate. It was the biggest piece of gossip for WEEKS. Small town, small school, but still, I take these threats seriously.

Which makes my husband laugh, since I have the most boring life ever when it comes to high school gossip. “Did you hear, she knits….socks!”

The camera is still with the husband in Florida. So there are a few “see, we really have unpacked” pictures, but no knitting. I'll try to put one up tomorrow.

I have finished a hat for little sis. Something to help with her big hair this fall. Full of innovations. And it’s pink.

I am trying lace yet again. The trellis scarf from IK (maybe this spring?). I am finally able to do it, and am really making progress. I have realized I was knitting way too tight. This is one of the problems with knitting in isolation in Florida, no advice from folks that had been there. I generally do like to figure things out for myself, but knitting advice is well appreciated.

This is one of the things I am VERY excited about. There are multiple knitting groups here. Lots. As in more than none. I can interact with other humans face to face and not be the only one knitting. Once the husband returns from Florida I am planning on getting out of the house.

I finished all my back to work orientation the other day, and got though it admirably knitting away on a snappy wool/silk scarf I started ages ago. It is getting very long, but there always seems to be the same amount of yarn in the ball. It is some great Elsbeth Lavold stuff. I have come to think that the yarn is magic. Really, the ball stays the same size. The thing has so much of my life over the past few months knit into it. I’s my “in between projects” project. It has been to playgrounds, trains, airports, cars, doctor’s offices, job interviews, the list goes on. It has a great soapy smell, that yarn.

That's the short update. I have a lot of knitting I've been working on. Don't let me forget to tell you the story about eh value of a traveling stash. I actually saved the day with knitting.

Three days left

Oh boy, what a mess. I am mired in the move, so I am sorry if I am a bit behind down here.

Seriously, I can barely find the floor. Like a fool I packed most of my yarn in the load we took up last week, so I am left with a totally odd assortment of stuff. You know how it is, the few balls of knit-picks will in impossibly odd colors.

I did manage to finish one hat for little-sis. I think I also have enough to do mittens for this fall.

I asked her what she wants in a mitten the other night on the phone (the girls are staying with my parents during the final chaos of the move). She thought for a minute, then said she wants a thumb that can open. She's a thumb sucker. I am trying to think of a way to work it without ending up with a spit soaked mitten. Knowing her if I do not figure out this bit of knit-geneering she just will go gloveless is the frosty wasteland that is Richmond in January.

We leave on Saturday. Big truck full of furniture. For the record I turned 33 this April and this is my 16th move. Wish us luck!

Blog...what blog?

OK, so we are SUPPOSED to be driving to VA with the girls today. Like right now.

Except for the van is in the shop, or the "car doctor" as the children call the mechanic. It was doing this funky thing where as you speed up the AC, lights and radio volume would go up, and as you slow they went down. Fun for like 3 minutes.


The house is 33% packed and 100% messy. I am not even pretending that it could be clean again.


Plus big-sis is currently obsessed with spelling things. She is like THIS close to reading.

Problem is I do math, not spelling. You should have heard her huff when her dad told her I had spelled dinosaur wrong and she had to fix it on all the pages of her notebook. (What?!? There's no "E"?? Betcha you can't do partial integration!!). Her exasperated "mom is losing it" glare stung, I tell you.

Oh, and the server is down at the school board office, so the kids in the online class I am teaching are in a bit of a panic. They have a midterm next week.

The one oasis right now is my knitting. I am rolling away on my hurricane swap sock, I think I have the kinks in the pattern worked out.



I actually submitted a pattern somewhere...fingers crossed.

So I have all day to pack, and balance the checkbook, and stretch the last of the food for one more day.

And try to figure out what to knit in the car tomorrow.

Oh, here's little sis posing in the vest I mentioned last post.












The yarn is some leftover KnitPicks stuff I had. The pattern I made up as I went along. Moss stitch center, stockingette along the sides.


I used a tubular cast on...I am obsessed with this cast on now...it makes things look so nice!


Here is a real shot:


Sad part is I had to go outside in the rain to take this...there is not a clean surface in the house!!

So, where have I been?

Right now I am on the top bunk of an Amtrak sleeper car, heading south to Florida. Both girls are giggling in the bunk underneath me. It is 9:30 and they usually do not calm down enough to sleep until about 10. We have traveled by train a lot this year. We love it.

For the past week we’ve been staying with my folks in VA while I got started on the online class I am teaching this summer. Summer school is always an interesting mix of kids that need to pass to graduate, and kids that are trying to get ahead. It is a good group this year, ranging from 14 to 19. Quite the mix.

You’d think since I spent all week staring at a computer that I would have been able to post once, but no. This has been very consuming. I have done algebra online in the past, not geometry, so this is a new experience.

I am working on several things right now. A sock for my hurricane sock swap gal. I started doing the Pomatomus pattern from knitty. I love the pattern, but I kept making all the YO’s too big, especially the ones between the needles. I would like to try the pattern again to get it right, but since this is for someone else I want it to look better. It was getting huge holes where the YO’s were. You could use a toe in those holes. My fault, not the pattern. I’ve been too distracted to do fidgety technique.

So I am trying my own thing. On a side note, I have NEVER completed someone else’s pattern. EVER. I have started a few. I am always attracted to something with a new technique or pattern. But I quickly get tired and frog.

So it is with this poor sock. I am doing something simpler with ribbing and meandering Yo’s. Small manageable YO’s. I like the look so far. I’ll add pictures once we get home.

Home…another side issue. We move in three weeks. The girls are only down for two more weeks, then they get to stay with my folks while the husband and I drive up to VA with all our worldly possessions. How many boxes are packed?? Do not ask.

I did manage to get the office /yarn room painted while we were in Va. The room has two great walk in closets. One is big with shelves all the way around.

The other? Cedar lined. Yes, cedar. Even the floor. Even the ceiling. When we lived there before it was mostly full of baby clothes. I have come to my senses and ditched the baby clothes and accumulated a lot more wool since then.

Time to fuss at the girls. They are singing to the moon about roly-poly bugs. Loudly. At home this might be cute, but other people here are trying to sleep. Usually they play little house on the prairie, so I am not sure why we are on the roly-poly kick.

Goodnight! I’ll upload this sometime tomorrow.

Catch up

apologies for the lack of news...we had family show up TWO DAYS early for a visit. They called as they got off the interstate.

Anyhow, the girls and I are up in Williamsburg for a week. I am teaching an online summer school class this summer, and I get to meet and greet the parents on Monday.

I have my official teaching assignment for next year. Deep sigh of relief.

So on the drive up I got oodles of knitting time. Since we move in five weeks, and my working wardrobe is a bit thin I have set a challenge for myself. I am trying to go through as much yarn and fabric as I can to rebuild a work wardrobe.

I am finishing a raglan sweater I did in knit picks palette a few months back...It has been sad and sleeveless.

I am also halfway through a vest in a snappy green color. the yarn was left over from another project from last fall...Recycling at it's best.

I have also made a good stab at a project I might submit to one of the online mags...it's for a Halloween costume for the girls, so I am not sure it Knitty or Magknits would be a better option...any ideas?

Otherwise, some sewing, some packing, and a whole lot of entertaining (did I mention TWO days early!!). A busy week.

While I am here in Willy I plan on hitting the stores to find some sock yarn and other sundries for my hurricane sock buddy. To the person that got me (if they are even still bothering reading this sad neglected blog) I do have the questions halfway filled out, and should get them e-mailed to you tomorrow.

I have the best stepmother ever. Really.

As I have mentioned my mom died while I was in college, and my dad married pretty soon afterwards. I won’t go into her patience at inheriting a house full of teenagers. She is amazing.

Plus she’s crafty. She paints, sews. Used to weave. Gardens. She even made my wedding dress, out of antique lace of my grandmother’s. There was not a lot of yardage and she made it work. Plus, she did both bride’s maid dresses. Every year both girls get at least one homemade dress from their “Muz”.

Muz with little-sis.

As I have also mentioned I am living in a fiber desert. Unless you count Walmart and Red Heart, and I really don’t. So every time I head home my first mission is to get over to the Knitting Sisters in Williamsburg. And she’s right there with me, sniffing the yarn.

So this winter she decided to take a knitting class. She bought a ton of this gorgeous yarn, and has been doing this rather snappy garter stitch scarf. The only problem was that about 7 inches in there was some snaffoo and a hole was knitted in…a mistaken yarn over I think. And she wanted to fix the first few inches anyway, since they were a bit lumpy. And I felt so bad, because this last trip I had promised to cut it off and bind off just after all this for her, but we ran out of time.

This is a bag I made in the yarn she is using.

Again this amazes me, because this is the first beginner’s project I have ever known anyone to actually plan on wearing.

So this week I got this e-mail:

I enjoyed the updates on the blog. Thanks. We will post some pictures soon but Dad is now playing with loading more music on his ipod and playing with his new TV. I am getting into a sewing binge and just unraveled my entire scarf to reknit!

Let me stress she had already done at least two feet on this thing. Can you imagine the fortitude of frogging your first project??

I think we have a knitter.

The door is open

OK, so a while back I mentioned the husband allowing me to knit for him.

Did it work out? And how! He's worn that hat everyday for three weeks. I can't get it alone long enough to take a picture.

Then, two weekends ago, while we were camping he said, nonchalant like, "You know, we could use a bag to hold stuff like food, but something we could see into. Could you knit that?"

What was I going to say? "Nope, too dull!" This my friends is opportunity knocking.

So I am working up something. More of a hammock than a bag. The prototype is for the girl's room to hold stuffed animals. If this works he'll be getting his camping bag really soon. And you all will be getting another pattern.

And of course, you know what this means...not too obvious? I'll explain.

He sees my knitting as a solution to real world problems. A useful activity.

This is big folks, big. It's all part of the master plan.


It started with getting him to pose in items knitted for others (see above). Then we replaced his favorite hat, the one he's had since middle school. An exact museum quality copy. Then finally this breakthrough.

Next he needs socks. He has feet shaped like hobbit feet, and that's being nice about them...very wide. So socks with a custom fit...he won't be able to say no.

Eggplant Tank Pattern

Read about it here.

Eggplant Tank

Supplies:

#2 circular needles
#4 circular needles

I cone of Valley cotton in 3/2 size from Webs, or Paton’s Grace (about 5 balls)

Gauge:

5 stitches = 1 inch on size 4 needles.

Finished size:

Fits a size 34 bust.

Some references you might use:

tubular cast on/bind off:
http://www.math.unl.edu/~gmeisters1/papers/Knitting/techniques.html

ssk:
http://knitting.about.com/library/bllearnssk.htm

Cast on 180 using tubular cast on using the #2 needles.

Here's how:

I use a crochet chain to do a provisional cast on. Chain 92 stitches.

Tip, tie a knot in the end of the yarn that you pull through to end the

chain, that way you know what end to undo to "unzip" the cast on.

Pick up the bumps along the back of the chain (90 total) using a size

two circular needle.

Set up row: K1, yo across row. K1 in last stitch.

Being careful not to twist the stitches join both sides. Slip the first stitch on the right hand needle to the left needle. K2tog. Place marker.

Work the round as follows: [K1, yarn in front, slip stitch] repeat across round

Next row [yarn in back, slip stitch, purl] repeat for this round.

Repeat for the next two rows.

Body of the tank:

Work in 1x1 ribbing for 2 ½ inches.

Switch to the size four circular needles and knit in plain stockinette stitch until the piece measures 13 inches from the cast on edge.

(If you need to adjust the finished length this is the place to do it. Add or remove a few inches as necessary. To figure out how much to adjust, measure from your armpit to where you want the tank to hit on your hip. Add about 1 ½ to 2 inches to this.)

Knit 60 stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Work the next stitches in 1x1 ribbing until you get to the last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Repeat this row until the 1x1 ribbing measures one inch. If you are concerned that the ribbing might not be tight enough, switch back to the number two needles just for the ribbing section.

Knit the first 60 stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Cut a length of yarn about 3 times the length of the ribbed section. Cast off these stitches only using the tubular bind off.

Top of shirt front:

Row 1: Looking at the right side of the tank, reattach the yarn on the right. Place the first three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Knit until you reach the last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Row 2: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl to last stitch, slip last stitch to right needle.

Row 3: Place the first three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. K 2 tog. Knit until you reach the last six stitches. SSK. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Row 4: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl to last stitch, slip last stitch to right needle.

Rows 5 – 12: Repeat rows 3 and 4 four more times.

You should now have 58 stitches left.

Row 13: Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. [P2tog, yo] repeat to last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Row 14: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl to last stitch, slip last stitch to right needle.

Row 15: Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Knit to last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Row 16: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl next three stitches. [K2tog, yo] repeat to last four stitches, purl 3, slip last stitch to right needle.

Row 17: Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Knit to last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Row 18: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl to last stitch, slip last stitch to right needle.

Row 19: Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Purl to last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Row 20: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl to last stitch, slip last stitch to right needle.

Row 21: Slip one stitch to right needle, purl 3, work in 1x1 ribbing purl to last four stitches, purl 3, slip last stitch to right needle.

Row 22: Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle. Work across in established 1x1 ribbing until last four stitches. Place the next three stitches on a cable needle. K1, then knit the three stitches from the cable needle.

Bind off: Slip first stitch. Purl 3. Cut the yarn with a length about three times the length of the ribbing. Cast off ONLY the ribbing stitches using the tubular bind off. The first four and last four stitches should NOT be bound off.

Working on one set of four stitches at a time, reattach the yarn, then using the #4 circular needle work an i-chord until it measures 11 inches. Put the stitches on a stitch holder, and cut the yarn, leaving several inches to use to sew it to the back. Repeat on the other side with four remaining stitches.

At this point you might want to try it on to make sure that the i-chord is the right length, adjust as necessary.

Sew the ends of the i-chords to the back of the tank along the ribbed edge. I sewed mine five inches back from the front of the armpit section.

That's one snappy tank!!