Knitting | Up a Creek in Lower Slower Delaware

Archive for the ‘Knitting’ Category

New Bulky Sweater

November 17, 2007

The other week I was rummaging around in my stash looking for bulky yarn. I was going to make a cat bed. I soon realized that I had enough for a sweater for me and several cat beds. Well, I still haven’t gotten to the cat bed, but I have a new sweater. I used a pattern in an old Vogue Knitting magazine. It called for heavy worsted on size 11 needles. Since my yarn was really bulky, I used size 17 needles. I did a gauge swatch–Yes!! I always do a gauge swatch. I cast on half the number of stitches for size Large and only did about half the number of rows. I had to fudge some of the decreases at the armholes, but I am very happy with the end result.

Since Jenn did all the driving Monday, I was free to knit. I started on a pair of gloves for her. I used Paton’s SWS. It was pretty and felt very nice. I got most of one glove made. It went very quickly on size 5 needles. The yarn band said size 9, but I always go down a few sizes for gloves. I also gave her a pair of socks for Christmas. They were Lorna’s Laces in red, white and green with a mitered square design. I gave them to her now so that she can wear them when she is feeling Christmasy. Is that a word? I forgot to take a picture.

Here are Jenn’s gloves and some yarn I picked up over the weekend. My first thought was gloves, but there is enough for socks. I was also thinking about a scarf with the leftover yarn from Jenn’s gloves—something open with perhaps little flowers at the end.

Tags:, gloves, Patons, sweater, Vogue knitting
Posted in Knitting | Comments Off on New Bulky Sweater

Renewed Elvis

November 6, 2007

My old man is feeling better. He hardly sneezed at all last night and he even went out into the front yard this afternoon. It is full of pine trees and a great place to do what needs to be done. He does not care for standard time. By the time he gets around to sunbathing on the deck, there is only about one hour of sun left.

I can’t decide what to do with my daughter’s tunic. I do not have enough yarn. I had substituted yarn, but I do that often. I reran my calculations and I still should have had a ball left over. I do have more of this yarn in three other colors so I am going to take all of it back with me. There are a few options that we can go with so I want Jenn to decide which idea she likes best. It is so aggravating. The pattern was in a magazine that I was unfamiliar with, but Jenn really liked the design. In case you are wandering, my gauge has been right on.

Tags:cats, Elvis, Knitting
Posted in Knitting, my pets | Comments Off on Renewed Elvis

Tired Hip

November 4, 2007

We walked all over the horse farm yesterday morning and went out for another walk late in the afternoon. We didn’t walk nearly as much today. My groin muscle started to holler so I just walked around the first paddocks. I also knew exactly where my new parts were. I really don’t mind. This time last year, I could barely make to the end of my street. I have had bad knees for years, but when my hip started to go, I was devastated. I am really happy with my new hip and I am really trying to take care of it.

I finished the scarf so that’s one finished Christmas present. I used a simple one line pattern. Cast on an odd number of stitches. I used 23 stitches on size 10.5 needles. Purl one, then (yo, P2tog) to end.

Tags:hip, horse farm, scarf psttern
Posted in Hip Rplacement, Knitting | Comments Off on Tired Hip

Cold Afternoon

November 2, 2007

This morning, we went for a walk with the dog as usual. It was sunny and breezzy and Gus (my dog) was stepping along at a good pace. He knows how much he can pull me, but today he really wanted to get down to the horse farm. When we got to the track, we let him go. There must have been 200 geese in and around the pond in the middle of the track. I love to see him run like that. He is so happy and the geese react so well. Some head for the water and some for the air. They make quite a racket and carry on for several minutes. Gus comes running back with such a self satisfied look on his face. Today, he just had to run around us before sitting for his leash.

He is a great dog. I tried to take his picture for you, but he wouldn’t cooperate. I found an old one taken with Prince, who died last year. He had been sick for a long time. Gus would lay perfectly still when Prince lay beside him. He is a great dog.

It has gotten so cold this afternoon, I have been entertaining thoughts of turning the heat on. It’s something I hate to do. When the heat goes on, it is definitely winter—not my favorite season. Fortunately, I am a knitter and have plenty of sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, socks, etc, etc. I should bake something, but I did that this morning and I can’t think of a single thing that I want to bake. Oh, well. I know Doug will make a nice fire after supper. I’ll get out my knitting, little Maudie cat will curl up in lap and we will watch mindless TV together.

Tags:cold, dog, walk
Posted in Knitting, my pets | Comments Off on Cold Afternoon

Stitches East

November 1, 2007

I drove back to my old house for a few days to visit friends and relatives and go to the market at Stitches. My son is staying there to finish college. I took the subway downtown on Saturday morning and met some friends at noon. I had a great time wandering around and looking at everything. I looked at an awful lot of books, but none of them said “Buy Me”. I have so many anyway. Next on my list were needles. I love to make gloves and I can go through zeroes and ones. I either lose them, they get eaten by the dog or cat, or I break them. I also wanted double and triple zeroes to make Scottish Sanguhar gloves. I found all the needles I needed so I started looking at yarn. My first purchase had to be something soft that matched the gloves I made another friend. Out of that whole market, I only found one small skein in like colors. The colors were turquoise, pink and purple. I expected to see more. I just what to say thank you to Ellen’s 1/2 Pint Farm. I’ll post a picture when I finish the scarf. here are the gloves. It is Lorna’s Laces that I have had for a few years so I guess the colorway is no longer “in”. But, it’s my girlfriend’s favorite colors and that’s what really matters. I only bought two other skeins of yarn: 100% silk sock yarn from HPKYsales and 100% merino wool from Seacoast Handpainted Yarns. The latter was a happy colorway that I could not resist. As a matter of fact, it was called “Joyful”.

I saw so many beautiful things. I got some great ideas. I actually took notes. I saw several kits that I wanted to buy, but I already have a roomful. It’s my own little store. I have two things in mind that I definitely will be making and I know that I can find just what I want in my little yarn room.

Tags:gloves, Stitches, yarn
Posted in Knitting | Comments Off on Stitches East

More on sweater

October 31, 2007

I didn’t include a few more things about my sweater.

My swatches were too small for the gauge. I went up a needle size, but it looked too loose. So, I did nine squares across instead of eight. I made the neck opening three across instead of two. This made the neck too big so I put two triangles at each corner and one at the top. This gave the neck a more rounded appearance that I liked. I hope the pictures help you to see what I am talking about.

Tags:knit, Koigu
Posted in Knitting | Comments Off on More on sweater

Koigu Carousel Sweater

October 29, 2007

It is finally finished! I started about five years ago riding the subway to and from work. I managed to get one triangle done a trip and usually one at lunch. Then, I lost it. I retired and moved to Delaware. I put all my yarn and related junk in a tiny bedroom. I found the two tote-bags of yarn, but no sweater. Talk about heartsick! I tore two houses apart looking for it. I was devastated. I had about half of it completed. Then, one day last Spring, when I was going through a pile of stuff my husband had dumped in our old living-room, I found it in a plastic grocery bag. I was happy and mad at the same time. It was a good thing Doug(husband) was not around. I KNOW that I was not the one who put it in a plastic bag.

Did you notice that I changed the sleeves? They were too open for me. I decreased each row of squares by one stitch and added an extra row of them. I picked up around the edge and decreased 7 stitches every other row until there were about half as many stitches. I then continued in stockinette for about two more inches and let it roll down. I was much happier with it. I changed the neck and bottom a bit, too, by continuing with stockinette as with the sleeves.

I hope that you can see my picture well enough. This is my first post and I have a lot to learn, but I like to learn by doing. I hadn’t used my camera for over a year and had to relearn everything on it too. Please, let me know what you think.

Tags:Knitting, Koigu, sweater
Posted in Knitting | Comments Off on Koigu Carousel Sweater

Up a Creek in Lower Slower Delaware