Wonkatronic

Well, I finished the wonky socks from the last post.  I thought the second sock was the same as the first, but I had to undo the cast-off and add another inch to the leg!  Who knew.  After their bath, they looked more similar, but I'm still not entirely sure they're the same.  Here's the almost finished picture.  I don't have one of them on feet, but they have been worn.

I have started Christmas knitting.  I bought two colors of some lovely Malabrigo Dos Tierras yarn a couple of years ago, planning to make a ribbed cowl (from Purl Soho) for Jeff's oldest daughter but she is really not into hand knits.  Ah well.  So I decided to make it anyhow, and Middle has asked me to make her a cowl for Christmas!  How convenient.  The yarn is lovely and I'm having a nice time with this pattern.  Jeff's younger daughter asked for a hat, so we selected some yarn and once it gets here, I'll hat away!  She wants a plain hat, so I thought Turn a Square would be a good one.

Jeff's mom would like a shawl for when she is chilly in church (seriously, it gets cold in there!) so I have some Malabrigo Fino that I got years ago that would be bright and cheerful for her, so that will get going soon also.  And then there's a scarf for Jeff's brother.  He was envious of Jeff's scarf during a visit last winter, so I offered to make him one too.

Other activities... Smallest is making a quilt for her new half sister.  It will be lovely, and the baby is very cute.  A year and a half ago, I showed Middle a jacket in Making Magazine and she decided that she would make one.  We bought the fabric and it sat.  Then last winter I cut the fabric for her and it sat.  Now that she's gone off to college, I decided I would just make the darned jacket.  So here that is!  Middle will come home for a surprise visit this weekend, so she can take it back with her to Chicago.  It's a little chillier up there.

I'm going to make an effort to post at least once a week going forward.  With all the upcoming projects, there should be something to share!

Margie

Taking FOREVER!

Well, since the last post at the beginning of July, I've finished a wonderful shawl and still not finished those socks.  Even with two overseas flights!  I also finshed a top, because I didn't want to work on the socks.  Something about the socks is not enjoyable for me.  Alas.

So... the finished shawl.  This is the Sunwalker Shawl that I put in time out for over a year?  I took it with me to my work meeting in Munich.  I worked on it during the meeting (it helps me pay attention, and I am not the primary audience for the talks anyhow) and finished on the second day.  I did run out of yarn, but it was in the perfect spot, and I had the back-up yarn with me and it looks totally intentional.  It might be even better than if it were all one color?  I was really surprised how much it grew when I blocked it, and I am delighted that it grew.  Smallest says it is the most beautiful thing I've made.  Probably true.  Below are pre and post blocked pictures.

We had a good time noodling around Germany, and seeing Catherine was really great.  We tested out their fold out couch and determined the most comfortable way to sleep on it.

Since I am trying to reduce the amount of yarn I have waiting around to become stuff, I started on Flow once I finished the shawl.  I got through one side at the meeting/vacation, and then had to be a little more deliberate about working on it when we got home.  I finished it on our drive to Colorado to see my family in August.  I made the arm hole a little larger, and once I tried it on, I think there are other modifications that I would like to make to change the fit a bit.  It is definitely too long for me, so I'm going to see if Catherine of the Long Waist would like the sweater.  She will be in Houston sooooon!  So there's a picture of my Flow below also.

I'm still working on the Hue Shift afghan as my TV project.  I've just finished the 5th (6th?) square on the second strip.  I'm working them all in one block, not the four blocks that get seamed together.  I am a rebel.

I have made progress on the sock.  Something about the heel is really wonky.  Perhaps the second one will make more sense to me, but I'm not so sure.  At least I will get them done, and then they will go off to Middle.  She has gone off to college and is having a wonderful time.  I did notice that she didn't take her other mom-knit socks, so perhaps they are too high maintenance for school?  We will see.  She is sneaking home in October to see Smallest in the school musical (and also celebrate The Boy's 21st birthday).  It will be very nice to see her.
Here is sock status:

The bonus about toe-up socks is that you get that nice smooth toe seam.  Perhaps I need to do more to figure out the best way to do the heel.  I really like the heel on top-down socks.

I owe some sweater pictures, so I'll see if I can find them for another post.

Margie

November?

I just noticed that my last post was from November.  It's been a while!

I still don't know if my neighbor liked the sweater, or if it fit, or anything about it!  They left for India in December and while the husband came home in January, the mom and little boy stayed for another month or two, so we haven't seen them a whole lot.

I think I will start with current projects and then work backwards to the previous post.

The good news is the blue shawl that I started back in Jan of 2018 (at the NSF meeting I surprise attended) and last mentioned in March of 2018 has been released from time out.  I am in the lace section of the Sunwalker shawl and the first time I started, something went very wrong and I had to rip back.  This time I am being much more careful about stitch count and the lace is actually in pattern this time.  My problem was that I had stopped, and while I had marked the row I finished, the stitch count matched the previous row, so I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be.  Thanks to FINALLY going and looking at the stitches, I determined that I had missed a yarn over, so that was corrected and all was well!  That was in the first lace repeat and now I've finished the second repeat.  Two to go.  My blue yarn is starting to dwindle.  I think I can get through the third repeat no problem, but the fourth (and last) might be tricky.  I don't have a recent picture, but I'll take one soon.  I might have gone up a needle size, but at this point I'm not going to worry about it.

I have another sock going as well.  This is with yarn that I got in San Antonio when I dropped my son off for his Freshman year of college.  That would have been August of 2016.  It's from Lone Star Arts, Mockingbird base and the color is Zombie Dawn.  The pattern I'm using is Wildcat Socks, which I found while dropping Middle off at her summer art program last year.  It is a fun pattern and reminds me of the green Swirl socks I made a while ago.  Here's the beginning of them.

I'm heading off to the annual meeting for the biophysics group I work for.  This year the meeting is in Munich.  Oh no!  I have to go to Munich!  I am hoping to find more Zauberballs to use to make another sweater for my friend's son.  I think he's pretty big now, similar to the way my son grew, so I'll have to think about how much yarn it will take.  Good thing yarn is squishy in suitcases!

I'll post more again soon.  I made sweaters for both of the girls.  I like the one for Smallest better than the Gable I made for Middle, but there is yarn for another Gable and I think I just need to go down a needle size.  She likes it, so that's the important part.

Fun news - I get to see Catherine after the meeting!  She will be in Berlin and Jeff and I will take some vacation after the meeting to go noodle around Germany and stop in Berlin along the way.


Margie

Neighbor Sweater

So here's the sweater I knit for our neighbors' son.  He turns one this month (maybe on Wednesday?) and the weather here in Houston has just turned chilly, so hopefully he'll get some wear out of it.  I measured him last week and ended up making the sleeves just a little bit longer, but otherwise I think it will fit him fine.  I'll check in after a couple of days and see, especially since I forgot to put the care instructions with the sweater!  Oops.

The pattern is the Lottie Cardigan and it was a really simple knit.  It's made from the top down, so there are no seams.  Always fun.  I picked up the buttons at Park Avenue Yarns down south of us.  They were just what I was wanting.

Now I need to sew up my Solis and the Kris sweater for my friend.  I've started on the colorwork hat, and that is going better than I expected.  I'll probably test it out after a couple more rounds, just to be sure that the carried yarn isn't too tight.

I also discovered with the Kris sweater that not only was the back shorter than the front, but one side of the front was shorter than the other.  Yikes!  So that has all been corrected and now I can sew it up.  I need to do that soon!

Catherine is off in Chiang Mai (Thailand) for a month-ish, and then we'll all get to see her and her Evil Twin at Christmas time.  It will be so fun to catch up!

Margie

Overeager

While blocking the Kris sweater, I kept thinking that the back of the sweater looked shorter than the front.  Sure enough, when I held them up together, the back is at least a cm short.  My initial thought was just to stretch the back when sewing the pieces together, but then that would be wrong, and I want the sweater to be worn often, so better to do it the right way.  I undid the bind-off this morning and am about to knit a couple more rows and then bind off again.

After that, I'm hoping to steal a little time to myself to listen to a Craftsy class I got about colorwork. I haven't done it before, and there's a Christmas gift that requires this technique.  I saw that the class was on sale, so it seemed a fortuitous time to learn!  The tricky part has been finding time to sit down alone.

Smallest and I rode bikes a little this afternoon and that was fun.  The Boy promised me that he would go ride with me tomorrow.  That should be fun too!

Here's where you can see the difference between the back and the front.  The bind-off is about six rows, but there's still more to make up.

That's all for me right now.

Margie

Felted Sweaters

I am just about four cm shy of finishing the second Kris sweater for my Seattle friend.  The first one met an untimely end in a dryer.  Once the last sleeve is done, it's blocking time and then just the neckband and button bands.  I don't think it will take long.  Sometime this week, I think.  If I can block it today, then perhaps sew it up tomorrow?  Here is the picture from last week, taken before bus rides to work and riding along to New Braunfels for the weekend.  Lots of knitting time!

I was hopeful that I might finish all the pieces over the weekend and took along Middle's Sock With Holes in progress - this is from another bus ride, dance class, and some TV knitting?

It's the same yarn I used for the toes of Smallest's socks.  It's a lovely brown-green color.  I like the pattern too, easy to memorize and it moves along quickly!

I am excited because my step daughter asked for a hat for Christmas!  Yay!  I'm going to make the color work hat from the Merry Making field guide from Mason Dixon Knitting.  It will be my first color work adventure, so we'll see how that goes.

I spent some time recently moving yarn around the house and came to the conclusion that I have more yarn than I realized.  Before I can buy any new yarn, I need to get rid of a bunch of what I have already!  There are multiple sweaters waiting to be made, and some more shawls and such.  Time to get cracking!  Luckily there isn't a lot of Christmas knitting for this year, so that will allow me to get moving on other projects more quickly (hopefully).  My summer work meeting is in Germany this year, and I'd like to have the option to pick up some yarn while I'm away.  The Schoppe-Wolle zauber balls are really cheap over there, and not cheap at all over here.
Perhaps I can take inventory and make a list of projects to track progress along the way.

More pictures soon.

Margie

A Peekture!

First - here is the bright stripes blanket.  I wove the ends in and gave it a wash in the washing machine (in a sweater bag) and a tumble in the dryer too!

If I made this again, I would go down a needle size.  It did turn out nice and square, and both Middle and I love the i-cord around the edge.  Once I figured out how to do it, it was super easy and nice and tidy too.  You can see Bear the Dog curled up there next to the rowing machine too.  You can't see Jeff because he ducked out of the picture.  Middle has it now, and has promised not to take it to school.  Maybe she'll use it there during finals.  It gets pretty chilly in their classrooms.

Another picture!  Here is Solis:

What you can't see in this one is the tiny amount of yarn that remains.  I might have enough to do the neckline?  I'm supposed to block it, then three-needle-bind off the shoulders.  Next knit a couple of rows around the neck and seam up the sides.  I don't think there's enough for all of that.  However, I bought some extra yarn back when I was burning through yarn on the back, so all is well.  The pattern called for 5 skeins for this size and I just about made it.  If I had made it a little shorter (which it could probably stand to be) then I would have had plenty.

I've moved things around in the house.  All the yarn and knitting gear used to be on the ground floor in The Boy's closet.  That became rather inconvenient once he was living at home again.  Up in our bedroom on the second floor we have a wardrobe with all our games and puzzles inside.  Jeff suggested moving the yarn up there, so I sorted the games and put the yarn where the less-loved games were.  Not all the yarn fit, but all the yarn that has a destiny is in there, so that's helpful, and all the needles and bags and other stuff is up there too, so it makes project choosing much easier.

The next projects include finishing the blue baby sweater, hopefully for our neighbor whose baby is turning one in November.  A remake of the sweater for my Seattle friend - there was a dryer accident - is also coming, that should be fast!  Younger stepdaughter has asked for a hat, so I might as well make one for her sister so they can match.  Smallest has asked for a headband to keep her ears warm, and I'm planning to make an Easel-like sweater for Middle.  Jeff bought me a kit for the Hue Shift blanket, so that might be my couch project once other things are underway.

I've decided to bail on the Sunwalker.  I need to unknit it and rewind the yarn.  I'll either rework it with larger needles, or find a better way to use the yarn.  I still love the pattern, it's just not right the current way.

I think that's it.  Middle is deep in the thrall of quilting.  It's lots of fun.  She is also very fond of weaving, so I've given her some yarn that I will never use and she loves it.  It will be fun to see what she makes!

Catherine is currently in Vietnam after spending the summer/winter in Melbourne.  I wonder if she picked up some yarn there...

Margie