Christmas done!

Unfortunately, many knit presents were not completed.  I did finish the pink hat for stepdaughter 2.  I had her try it on at Thanksgiving (with her eyes closed) and stepdaughter 1 liked it enough that she wanted one too!  I ran out of yarn with about six rows to go on the second hat, so that one got finished right after Christmas.  Here's me modeling the hat.

I made Middle a hat to go with her cowl by knitting the Turn a Square pattern with the two yarns held together.  I'm not sure how much I like it, but as long as she likes it, that's what matters.  We shall see.

So far, that's three hats.  I didn't finish the wrap, but I'm closing in on half way.  It will be lovely when it's blocked.  I also made a purple hat for one of Smallest's dance teachers, but it was too small, so I'll do that over.  Probably in the Bankhead pattern.

I did start and finish a sweater for a small friend.  One of my college friends is a single dad to an adorable kiddo.  I've made him a sweater before, and now that he is three, he's large like my big kiddos and is wearing sizes 4-6, so I made him a Flax light sweater with Gauge Dyeworks self-striping sweater yarn.  It turned out very well and I popped it in the mail this morning.  I am hopeful that it will fit.  It cleaned up nicely when blocked.  In the pictures below, the top is pre-blocked and the bottom is post-blocking.  I am pleased!

Other than that, everyone has been passing some crud around and it has finally gotten me.  I thought I had dodged it, but apparently not.  Alas.  We did go see Star Wars this weekend and I thought it was super.  Lots of references for people who have grown up with the original trilogy.

I'll post pictures of the wrap soon.  I think I will need a mid-point celebration.

Margie

Next!

I have finished the cowl for Middle.  I really like how it turned out, and I like how soft it is.  I'm going to offer it as an early Christmas present, since she might like to have it because it's cold in Chicago.
Here it is in the bath, getting ready to block.  I'll grab a FO picture soon.  Maybe Smallest can model it for me.

Now that I've finished the cowl, I've started on two more projects.  One is a wrap for my mother-in-law, and one is the hat requested by my younger step daughter.  The wrap is the Little Moons Lace pattern from Purl Soho, and the hat is Turn a Square from Brooklyn Tweed.  I'm using Malabrido Fino from my stash for the wrap and bought a skein of Malabrigo Rios in Valentina for the hat.  She wanted a soft pink hat.  I'm not putting in stripes, it will be all one color.  She wants a plain hat, so this should do the trick.
I cast on the hat last night and promptly messed up the tubular cast on.  Not sure what I did, but I did more unknitting (only three rows) and reknitting and now all is well.  Here's the progress so far.  Not much, but hats are quick!

My little yarn bag is just the right size for the project, and since I went to Rice University, I like things with owls on them (our mascot).  It's a Binkwaffle bag.  I think I got it at a yarn shop in New Braunfels?  Lucky Ewe Yarns!  I remembered.

Other than that, there's a scarf and a little sweater on my list of things to get done.  We'll see how it all works out!

Margie

Unknitting

I think I've already used the "Knitting, Unknitting, and Reknitting" heading for another project.  That phrase is based on the speech our University president gave when I was an incoming freshman.  He kept repeating, "building, unbuilding, and rebuilding" so often that the students started saying it with him.  That didn't go over well.

Anyhow, I finished Flow back in August (and posted about it in September) and now I have undone it.  I didn't like the way it fit me, so I saved it for Catherine to try on when she came down to see Smallest in the school musical.  Catherine is taller than I am, and she has a long torso, while mine is probably a little short?  Anyhow, I thought that since this top was sooo long on me, it would be perfect for her.  Nope.  It was shorter than she liked and she didn't like the fit either.  Rather than keep something around that I don't like and will never wear, I undid it.  I will need to wash the yarn so it will relax and be ready to knit again, but I will get to turn it back into something that I will actually enjoy wearing, which I think is something magic about knitting.  Pretty cool.

I'm getting closer on the ribbed cowl for Middle.  I have to go 10 inches from the cast on edge and I've just measured to see that I'm at 8 inches.  Then there are six rounds of plain knitting and I'll be done!  Hooray!  The end is in sight.  After that, I think I'll make a hat, and a kiddo sweater, and then back to bigger projects.  The scarf and wrap/shawl await.

Smallest is done with the musical and she's excited about having a weekend with just a little dance in it.  I think she might work a bit on the quilt also.

Middle really liked the jacket, but then she forgot to take it with her.  Oops.  I might send it up, since by the time she gets home for Thanksgiving, it might be too cold for the jacket.

After the Christmas knitting is done, it will be time to revisit the sweater for Jeff.  Something was really off with the gauge, so I need to sort that out.  Excited to possibly use bigger needles for it!  I'm using 2s for the cowl, and will use 4 and 5s for everything else I'm working on soon.

Happy Friday!
Margie

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