Antsy

It's like antsy with a good helping of startitis. I want to do so much, like, right now. The month of June brings with it the start of the Tour de Fleece. For the non-spinner, it's an event on Ravelry that runs along side the Tour de France. But instead of bicycles we have spinning wheels and spindles. From June 29th to July 21st I, along with my other spinning counterparts, will make the effort to spin everyday the cyclist ride (there are 2 rest days) and to obtain any personal goals we've set for ourselves. My spinning time a day will be limited to the evening hours since my toddler is strangely attracted to my spinning wheel and I'll have to wait until he's in bed. My personal goal is to spin 26.79 ounces of my fiber stash. This goal is roughly half my stash before I went on my little fiber field trip last weekend. There is also a challenge day. For the cyclist, this is the day they climb a mountain. For me, I need to try and challenge myself. I'm trying to decide between spindle spinning that day, spinning the bamboo (super slippery stuff) I have in my stash or teaching my husband to spin that day. We will see. I have until July 18th to decide. I'm am so looking forward to this spinning frenzy! Last night I finished plying the experimental fiber I had on my wheel so it will be open for the start of the Tour tomorrow. By experimental I mean that this is fiber that I didn't really care for so I used it to play with my technique. It was fun and informative. I even started to like the fiber a little better. I plan on using my brand new Turkish spindle from Threads Thur Time. Beautiful! I, of course, will be using my Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel. This is a wonderful beginner wheel. I also joined some teams for the Tour. I will be spinning with Team Spin Your Stash, Team Must Stash, Team Kiwi and the Rookie Team as this is my first time. Good luck to you all and your teams. Well, we'll see you all at the finish line!

A Sweater Story: A Tale of Whoa!

All the hype I've done about knitting a sweater and you don't even hear a peep from me for months. Does this mean I'm still working on the sweater? No. Did I frog the sweater? Yes.

So I'm knitting, knitting, knitting and it looks great. My gauge is on and things are going well. I've separated for the sleeves and I keep on knitting. This is a huge sweater. I'm expecting this since being a big girl and working with super bulky yarn, well, Big + Big = BIG. I'm now at a point where I can try it on. I get it over my head and it is at a length of about an inch under the widest area of my bust. This sweater is BIG. It's too wide and it looks sloppy on me. I wiggle it back over my head and think about what I need to do. I don't want to frog it because I'm afraid if I do, I'll never start it again. The sweater has a cowl-ish collar that is added after you knit the sweater and I wonder if that will make a difference. Rather than go backwards I decide to try the collar. The collar looks great! I love it. Yeah, didn't change the width of the sweater. So, I ripped it out. All of it. But you know what? I picked up that yarn and those needles and I cast that sweater right back on! In the next size down, of course. And I can proudly say...I finished my first sweater for me!

Grown-Up Cozy by Justyna Lorkowska

Don't I look comfy? I got to wear it twice before packing it away due to the weather turning warm. I think my favorite thing  about the sweater is the cowl-like collar. The pattern calls for a button but I love my clasp.

I loved the yarn too. Loops and Thread Cozy Wool is quickly becoming my go to Super Bulky choice of yarn. I was so happy with my sweater that I went ahead and cast on another one. You're not gonna see it, though. It was a huge fail. HUGE! Consider it frogged. There will be no photographic proof of that monstrosity. However, it did nothing to spoil my mood for knitting sweaters. The weather did. It just got too hot to have a large amount of fiber sitting on my lap. Oh, well. There are so many other things to do.

I have finished many other things in the two months I've been away. I'm not gonna go over them but here are some pretty pictures.

I keep myself busy! The pictures may look odd but I don't know how to fix them. They're up so I'm done fiddling with it.

Next up...Tour de Fleece! Watch me go!





I don't delve into my personal life much on my blog due to it's here to collect my fiber adventure and I like to keep it that way. But the last two month's have had such significance in my life I feel I need to reflect on it a little. I mean, that's what a blog is meant for, right? Over two years ago my son, Luke, was born with a congenital heart defect know as Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome. In his case, it's when the right ventricle doesn't form correctly and can't function as it should. We had no idea before he was born although it should have been caught. I never got to hold him due to the fact that he was born Cesarean and he was whisked away to another hospital that could cope with his condition. His condition meant that he would need three surgeries. The first one was a week after he was born, the second was when he was 4 months old and the last surgery at 2 years old. It's been a long road. My little boy has endured multiple open heart surgeries, cardiac catheterizations, strokes and seizures. My family has endured hope, failure, glee and frustration. The last surgery was May 2nd. I can breathe now. We all can.

A Sweater Story: Swatches?! We don't need no stinking Swatches!

Yes, yes we do...

Gauge swatches have always been loathed by me. I'm impatient and I want to start my project right away and to hell with the consequences! Well, not with my sweater. I decided in the beginning that I was gonna do this sweater thing right. I was mainly reluctant to swatch because the only time I've seen it done for stockinette in the round looked messy or involved cutting  the swatch to lay flat. Ugh! in both respects. I happened to be watching The Knitgirllls podcast and I saw that Leslie had done some swatching for a future sweater of her own. They were beautiful! They were done in the round without slicing and dicing the yarn! It was a way of swatching she learned from Steven West and it was now gonna be my go to swatching in the round! So I busted out my size US13 needles and my bulky weight yarn and went to town.

Yay!

Ugh!

Right away I noticed something was off. The yarn was knitting up very loose and airy. The pictures of the designers sweater was not loose and airy. The gauge of this sweater should be 10 sts and 14 rows for a 4 inch swatch so 2.5 sts per inch. I was so not getting this. So I hopped on Ravelry and popped on over to the pattern to see what others said about the gauge. I saw Super Bulky! The pattern clearly says Bulky but I guess it was more of a super-bulky Bulky. So after a period of feeling dejected, looking for other patterns that might fit the yarn, whining to my husband, looking for more patterns, maybe a tad more whining, I went out and bought, I hope, a sweaters worth of Super Bulky yarn. Swatched and got beautiful gauge the first try. I casted on and next thing I know it's time to separate for the sleeves. I love it!
The moral of the story, kids, is do a swatch. I would have knit a good chunk of that sweater thinking, 'Sure, it looks a little off but it will fix its self in the end', gotten mad when it didn't fit and tossed it in a corner to be frogged a month later when I could bear to look at it again. Just swatch.

I have a Goal!

My goal is to knit a sweater. For myself. My 50 inch bust self.

It's not that I haven't tried before. I have but then I get sidetracked by something that will get done quicker. I guess that the more I put it out there that I'm knitting a sweater for myself, I'll be more obligated to actually do it. I find that I'm intimidated by my size. Knowing that I'll have to buy more yarn and knit for a longer period of time than I usually give myself to complete a project. I'm a instant gratification kinda girl. I like my hats and socks and cowls because I know when I will be able to complete them. A sweater is unfamiliar ground. I've never knit anything so big before.
The pattern that will be taking my sweater virginity is the Grown-Up Cozy by Justyna Lorkowska. It is a top-down raglan styled sweater done in a bulky weight yarn. I know, I know. Big girls shouldn't do bulky weights but come on, if I'm gonna complete this, it needs to be as easy as possible and bulky weights work up quicker.
After buying the pattern and looking over the schematics, I've figured I'll have minimal adjustments to make to the pattern. Not too long ago, Julie of the Knitting at Large blog,  had a How to knit a sweater that fits post. Taking what I learned from there I know that I'll have to increase at the hips a little more that what the pattern calls for. I also plan on making this a long sleeved sweater. The length of the sleeves actually rides on how much yarn I have left over after I've increased for the hips. I also plan on omitting the kangaroo pocket and the slanting hem because I don't want any extra attention going to those areas. I purchased a butt load of  Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends yarn in a pretty dark heather-y blue color to get my through this. My yarn choice came though the realization that I didn't want to spend an arm and leg on yarn for a sweater that I might not complete, the fact I got a Joann's gift card for X-Mas and the durability of Acrylic (my husband does the wash). Now Onward!!!

Busy Girl

I feel like I have gotten so much done in January! The run down:

My first FO for the month was some Superwash BFL from the Cloudlover Fiber Club I got as a present for X-Mas. 524 yards of a lace to light fingering weight.

Midsummer Night's Dream Socks by Natalie Bursztyn. I purchased some beautiful Merino/Cashmere/Nylon yarn from Never Enough Thyme. Between the yarn and the pattern, these socks turned out to be my most favorite pair yet.

Look! I got some crocheting done too! I was ask to make a couple of these hats for some Michigan fans. I made an adult hat and a toddler hat. This pattern was knit out of some left over I Love This Yarn and was very well written making these hats fly off my hook. Michigan Wolverines Helmet Hat by Brooke Krueger.

I love test knitting and I really love knitting a Lee Meredith pattern. The Cabled Haka is cute, easy and extremely fast to knit up in some Loops & Thread Charisma. I was testing this for a toddler size and it came out very well. Although Lee doesn't have the toddler version in her pattern, you can easily refer to my note's for the pattern if you wish to make one.

Some more crochet! I was asked by a coworker for a hat that she had seen in a picture on Etsy. The picture was of a newborn wearing a photo prop newsboy type hat. Some searching around on Ravelry and I came up with the Newsboy Hat by Marcelle's Creative Crochet. Crocheted out of some Caron One Pound, this was a fairly straightforward pattern where I only had one 'huh?' moment.

My new favorite winter hat. The Knit Night Hat by Judy Marples is knit out of some Manos del Uruguay Maxima. I wanted a more beanie type fit and lined so I used up every inch of the yarn. I added the pin I got for X-Mas for a little pop of bling.

The Voodoo you love me? pattern by Susan Claudino was kindly gifted to me from Casey of Tangerine Designs. He's so cute! I knit him out of some Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool yarn I dyed forever ago. I have him here pimped out with miscellaneous stuff around my house.

Mmmmm! I spun this luscious Polwarth/Silk blend I got from Never Enough Thyme in the Gingerbread Man colorway.I already have plans for it.

Run, run, run

The one thing I can't stand about this time of year is the constant feeling of rush. I'm rushing to get presents whether they are knit up by me or bought. The world is in a rush around me. Tons of people out there running around mowing over anyone in their way. It tends to make me feel tired and disappointed. Whatever you celebrate this time of year, all I can say is please enjoy, stay safe and be kind.

13 Socks

Yep, thirteen socks. 'But socks come in pairs', you say. Let me break it down...
I have funny shaped feet so not all socks fit the way I'd like them to. I have wide, short, high arched feet with cankles. Thus beginning the quest to fine a perfect sock pattern.

First pair of socks:

This was the first pair I ever knitted. Pattern is Nutkin by Beth LaPensee. Good start but I knew nothing about gauge so I kinda shot from the hip on these. They ended up being very tight but the right length. They now belong to a coworker who has narrow feet and fit her perfectly. I'm glad they got a good home.







Second pair of socks:

I decided that if I wanted to continue to knit socks, I need some help. I went out and bought Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting by Laura Chau. First pattern I knitted out of it was the Worsted Boot Socks. I hand dyed some yarn with Kool Aid and had no real plans for it, so it became socks. This pair fit much better mainly due to the ribbing pattern. But worsted socks are a little unrealistic for every day wear.






Third pair of socks:

This was a mystery KAL I found while perusing new patterns on Ravelry. It's Punica by Rachel Coopey. I did a little scouting in to Rachel's other designs so I knew what I was getting in to before I committed to this sock. This one fits well but I wish I would have used different yarn. A solid color would have brought out the design better.



Fourth pair of socks:

By this pair, I felt I was skilled enough to try making a pair without a pattern. I measured my foot, gauged and devised what I needed to do to make these fit perfectly. I also wanted them to match. And I wanted to try an afterthought heel. It mostly worked. I worked them toe up matching adding the afterthought heel at the end with the black yarn I used for the toe and cuff. Kitchener with black yarn sucks and if you look closely, you'll see that the stitches are taut at top of my arch.



Fifth pair of socks:

These you'll recognize from an earlier post. They are the Dodge and Parry Socks by Heather Sebastian. I did these as a KAL for October. I stayed true to the pattern so of course they are tight around the arches. They will look nice on the person I'm giving them to for X-Mas, though.




Sixth pair of socks:

Woohoo! I love these! It's my own design based off of what I learned from the previous socks. Toe up, add a small gusset for the high arch, short row heel and a longer cuff. I'm gonna use this formula for my next plain-jane socks.

Well that's twelve. Where the hell does the thirteenth sock come in? 

Here...

Cheers!