Hey look, it's a sweater!

I knit a sweater in May and June of last year. That one was quick, cropped, large-gauge, and all stockinette. I then started another sweater. Not the same. (Link to picture of summer sweater, as apparently I never blogged it, it was that quick.)

I started knitting Boxed from Knitty. Then I went to knitting camp and got the hare-brained idea to knit it with in-the-round set-in sleeves and a steeked v-neck, which is a totally Elizabeth Zimmermann thing to do - as in Spun Out 21.

The sweater first made a blog appearance after camp, back in July. I ignored it for a while and pulled it out in the fall - only to discover the Horrible Sleeve Incident, quickly followed by the unfortunate
too-large body issue as well.

It disappeared for a while around Thanksgiving, while I had a short sock affair and then knit some Christmas things.

But since Christmas, it's been my Thing to Knit. And on Monday, I managed to finish the knitting.


I have to say, the part where the sweater looked like that was the most disconcerting, because there's no trying it on, there's no second-guessing, there's just cutting it open and hoping everything's ok. I had done a steek swatch at Camp, cutting with crocheted reinforcement and then again with no reinforcement - knitting actually doesn't like to unravel sideways, it's a comforting thing.

That said, I referred to Eunny's Crocheted Steek tutorial as I got down to cutting things open, and then I did it.



It still feels nutty.

I wore the sweater on Thursday, when it snowed all day. The yarn is Malabrigo worsted, and it's deliciously soft and warm. I knit it on size 6 needles, at a gauge of somewhere between 5 and 6 stitches to the inch, and it's a beautiful dense fabric that I hope will hold up nicely. So happy that it turned out so well, and that it's done.

Equilibrium

I've been thinking a lot about fiber, yarn, and stashing lately. Part of this has been that last year, I really didn't buy as much yarn. I did buy quite a bit of fiber. But to some extent I'm feeling like I'm reaching an equilibrium point with both types of stash.

Basically, a couple of times in the last year or so, I've gone through my fiber and yarn stashes and found things I didn't really want to have or to eventually use. I've tried to be honest with myself about what I will eventually get to, and what I bought because it was on riot sale. Both the yarn and fiber stashes could probably use another pass. Recognizing yarns like that in my stash has helped me stop from buying more yarns for the same reason. I also did some trading of club fibers for shipments that I really loved.

So, in that spirit, I'm trying for a zero-sum year with my fiber stash. I have a lot, and I'm going to continue being a member of the Spunky Eclectic fiber club, so that's 4 oz a month that's coming to me. So I need to spin/use/give away 4 oz of fiber a month, or more if I want to buy more. First up is finishing the yarns that didn't quite make it in 2010. Yay spinning!

New Year's Eve

Last year I had a resolution that I didn't keep, and I'm a little bummed on that count - new handspun socks would be cool, although last year's are kind of amazing and I'm glad to have them still. I do have more handspun sock yarn, so next year, that'll happen.

On the other hand, I did do some awesome stuff this year. Favorite projects include the fantastic mittens I just finished, and several pretty great pairs of socks. I finished the green sweater that's now a wardrobe staple for me, and managed to win the Knitting Olympics.

One thing I realized this year is that the fun part of all this fiber stuff for me is in learning to do new things. I remember sitting in Abby Franquemont's spinning class in September and feeling the kind of mental exercise I used to get in Doug Leonard's coding theory classes. I definitely have decided to take more classes in the coming year, including another trip to Knitting Camp, if possible. I'm considering another run at Sock Summit, but we'll see. I also learned to weave, which has been fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing where that takes me.

Best wishes to all in 2011, friends. Thanks for reading.

Scarf in a Day

I got a request last Thanksgiving for a red scarf. It wasn't gonna happen for Christmas last year, but I kept it in mind for this year.

Enough so that I had three different scarves' worth of red yarn floating around the stash by the time the fall semester started. I tried two or three different patterns, but nothing was working. I was totally going to punt it. But when I woke up on the morning of our Christmas trip, I packed the bulkiest of the red scarf yarns and size 13 needles. I cast on as we were leaving Indianapolis and had 2/3 of it done by the time I took over driving. The last third was accomplished in the evening and the next morning, making this an awesome quick project.

Scarf-in-a-Day:

CO 18 stitches.
Rows 1-11: (K1,P1) across.
Row 12: Slip 6 stitches to a cable needle and hold in front. (K1,P1) 3 times. (K1,P1) 3 times from the cable needle, then (K1,P1) to the end.
Rows 13-23: (K1,P1) across.
Row 24: (K1,P1) 3 times. Slip 6 stitches to a cable needle and hold in back. (K1,P1) 3 times, then (K1,P1) 3 times from the cable needle.

I did this with two skeins of Lion Brand Alpine Wool, and ended up with a scarf probably 5 inches across and a touch less than 5 feet long.



I'm kind of wanting to make another now. Fun!

LOOK WHAT I DID!!!!!

I made mittens.


BEEEAUTIFUL mittens with seahorses and braids and happy star/rose motifs.


The fabulous pattern is from Torirot Design and is free on ravelry. I made some modifications - mostly in the cuff, and a bit in the thumbs, because I liked the longer pattern, but felt they needed to be pointy. In other news, I have opinions on mitten thumbs (who knew?).


I desperately love this feeling of awe and accomplishment that knitting can give me.


And I don't even mind that it's snowing now.

Something slow, but awesome

Julie's blog is one of the first ones I heard about once I started attending my knit night. She's consistently smart and funny, and a really talented knitter. Her Watery Llama Scarf was my first clue that there was such a thing as a reversible cable. So when I found some seriously awesome blue yarn that could grow up into a perfect scarf for my father-in-law, her pattern came to mind.

It's not finished yet, but it's pretty fantastic. I modified by making it narrower, and waiting a little longer to start the cabling.



Yummy!

While I'm Showing Things Off

I bought a sewing machine a few years ago. I think I had great plans for it at the time - maybe involving lining knit bags and steeking. Mostly it's been used for hemming pants and mending clothes, nothing really fun. But I have had this drawstring bag tutorial series bookmarked for a while. This Sunday I finally Did Something With It, and here's the result:



Bought the fabric at Hobby Lobby last year, the cord was leftover from my green grocery bag. It's a good start at this whole sewing thing, I think.