September Anniversary

September brought our 40th Wedding Anniversary this year.  Quite a milestone!  Being the crazy people that we are, we decided to celebrate by taking our entire family to the West Jordan Demolition Derby.  Crazy . . . huh?@!

We started with Pizza at the local hangout.  All of our kids and grandkids were there, along with my two sisters and their husbands.

We arrived at the Derby early and found our great seats.

As the night wore on, we became more and more involved in all of the craziness going on around us.  It was loud!  It was crazy!  It was fun, fun, fun!  I would highly recommend it for your next family outing.

Now on to knitting news . . .

She is finished.  My Cabled Cardi, by Norah Gaughan.  I basically only used Norah's cable design, as I used a Custom Fit Pattern to get the perfect fit.  I love Norah's knitting designs.  She designs cables like no one else.

I lengthened the sleeves from the original design too.  Short sleeved cardigans never work for me.  It is too hot in the summer for a full-blown sweater to be worn, and long sleeves are always my preference.

The bear-paw buttons were purchased at the Mountainman Rendezvous in Ft. Bridger, Wyoming.  We attend almost every year, and I'm always on the lookout for great buttons.

This is my next project, which is well underway.  It is Patty Lyons' Cabled Cardigan from the Early Fall Issue of Vogue Knitting Magazine.  I'm knitting with the suggested yarn:  Blue Sky Fibers, Woolstok Worsted in Dark Chocolate.  The pattern indicates it was written for the "advanced knitter".  As you can see in the picture above, I've had to photocopy all of the charts and paste them together on a separate sheet, complete with post-it notes to keep me focused on the correct knitting line.  I must stay continually focused as I am knitting, to prevent mistakes.

I like to read when I knit, but on this one, I can only read when knitting on the wrong side, where you knit the knits and purl the purls from the previous row.  So far it is moving along great, no need to rip back . . . YET.

Yarn has been purchased for Christmas knitting projects, so I'm hoping I can work them in between portions of this sweater.  I'm afraid if I set it aside, I'll never figure out where I am when I return to it.

If you haven't already . . . become a FOLLOWER of this blog.  I have some fun knitted giveaways coming in the next few months.  Thanks for taking the time to see what I have been doing.  Happy Knitting.

Early Fall 2018

Summer is gone, and Fall has begun.  You can smell it in the air and it's time to move forward into the cooler season.  I love Fall, even though it always makes me a year older, with an October birthday and all.  This year is especially difficult, as I hit one of those milestone birthdays, I thought would never come.

Here I am, holding $500,000.00 in my hands.  This gold bar belongs to the Kennecott Copper Mine.  It was really heavy, but fun to see and hold.  You can't see it from this picture, but we are standing in the bed of a huge, mining haul truck, which was about the same size as a 7-11 store.

My Cabled Cardi, by Norah Gaughan is nearing completion.  Knit of Rohrspatz & Wollemeise in the color "RH Negative O".

The sleeves are on the blocking board, and just need to be set into the body.  Then it will be ready for wearing, just in time for cooler weather.

The Early Fall Edition of Vogue Knitting Magazine, brought my next project.  Cabled Cardigan, by Patty Lyons.  I agonized over the yarn and the color . . .

These pictures were my inspiration for choosing a color.  I just love the look of chocolate brown, paired with denim.  I decided on using the suggest yarn, which was Blue Sky Fibers - Woolstok Worsted, in the color Dark Chocolate.

The pattern indicated that it was for advanced knitters, and they weren't kidding.  There are 7 separate cable charts, so I had to photocopy, cut and tape the first set all on the same page, to prevent the need to turn pages with every stitch, to make sure I was twisting the cables properly.  This has really helped speed things up, and it is saving my eyes as well.

I also needed to learn the "Channel Island Cast On".  Thanks to U-Tube, I was able to create this pickot edge.  I'm happy with the what I've accomplished so far, and would you believe there hasn't been any ripping out.  I better not say that too loud, as you know what happens when you do.

A recent reunion of my Knit Night group was so fun.  It was so fun to see everyone again, and to see what beautiful things everyone has been knitting.  They are all such an inspiration.

Anyway, I better get back to knitting, as Christmas gift knitting is starting to nag at me.  Happy Knitting.

Busy Summer

It has been a really busy Summer, so there has been no time for Blogging.  Needless to say . . . there is always time for knitting.  I've been plugging away on my knitting projects, and although they've taken longer than usual to knit,  they are still progressing.

You may remember from my last post, that the project on my needles was "Sprossling" by Anne Hanson.

Here is Anne, wearing her creation.  I just love knitting her patterns.  I never have difficulty following her instructions, and I never find any mistakes in her patterns.  I though this was the perfect Summer knit.

So I knit up a swatch in Wollmeise Twin - 80/20, in the color:  Sternschnuppe.  I thought the color would pair perfectly with navy, black, gray, khaki, etc.

It took me a full two months to knit this one, because I didn't like the way I was originally doing the body shaping.  A bit of ripping helped me to achieve the perfect balance in the lace design.  Look closely, you can hardly see the waist shaping, as it pertains to the lace repeat.  I'm glad I took the time to correct it, as I'm much happier with it now, and I used the same method on the front pieces.

To make the buttonband lay flat, I sewed buttonholes into a length of ribbon, and hand stitched it to the knit buttonband, taking care to match up the knitted buttonholes.  It was a tricky process to get everything to match up, and although it is not perfect, I think I can live with it.

This is the project currently on my needles, "Cabled Cardi", by Norah Gaughan.  This pattern is found in Laura Zander's "Knit Red - Stitching for Women's Heart Health".

Once again . . . I'm knitting with Wollmeise DK, in the color:  Bussi.  I am absolutely addicted to this yarn.  It is a dream to knit with, and it always looks brand new.  I have a really hard time branching out, as you can plainly see.

The back piece is finished, and here are the front pieces knit up to the armhole decreases.  It is really fun to knit.  I understand there are multiple errors in the pattern, as seen on the Ravelry project pages, but I am using a Custom Fit Pattern to get the perfect fit, so I'll never notice.  I am lengthening the sleeves, but the rest should look just like the picture on the pattern.  Norah Gaughan is just one of my favorite designers.  She loves cable variations and babbles, and I do too.

I took a class from her a few years back, at the Make, Wear, Love Retreat in California.  She is the most bubbly person, and I learned so much from her.  Especially, how to let your designing go wild.

I can see some Christmas knitting in my future, so this will likely be my last sweater for a while.  However, a new sweater has caught my eye.

This is "#12 Cable Cardigan - in Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2018 Edition", by Patty Lyons,  Patty is another of my favorites.  Can you see that all of the body shaping in this sweater is done within the cables.  A new challenge, and I love the look.  She taught a class at our local knitting guild a few years back, and I just loved her teaching style.  Since then, I have followed her teaching travels on Instagram.  She is so funny, but also so talented when it comes to teaching.  I'll likely be ordering yarn for this one soon, and I hope to get it on the needles as well.

Along with our trip to the Grand Canyon, over Spring Break, we have also spent a week camping at the Hebgen Reservoir in West Yellowstone.  We had a great time.  This is us and all of our grandchildren at Quake Lake and in the Park.

We have a trip planned to Mt. Rushmore next week, so we are off again.  Of course the knitting is already packed.  Happy Knitting . . .

Spring Break 2018

Once again, it is Spring Break.  We were lucky enough to be invited on a Grand Canyon adventure with my daughter and her three children.  We spent a night in Kanab, UT, a little western town in the heart of "Red Rock Country".  We even had an Easter Egg Hunt in the limited landscaping of the parking lot of our hotel.  Oh well . . . we had to make due.  We then traveled over the Glen Canyon Gorge and on to the magnificent Grand Canyon.

The remainder of the week was spent at the "Bison Ranch" in Overgaard, Arizona.  The resort had great swimming pools, a fishing pond and horseback riding.  It is in a tiny logging town, with not much else to do, so we had a very relaxing time.  It was a fun time!  Overgaard's claim to fame, is the only documented alien abduction.  We spent some of our time researching this incident, which occurred in the 1970's.  To learn more, go to Fire in the Sky.

While I was relaxing, of course I was knitting.  This is the back of my Sprossling, by Anne Hanson.  During our time at the Bison Ranch, I knit this piece up to arm decreases.  I didn't like the way the body shaping looked, so I ripped it all out and knit it again.  It took some time, but I'm much happier with the outcome.  I've decided it is always worth taking the time to make things look right.  I'm now knitting on the front pieces (both on the needles together).  This time I'll know how to decrease and increase in pattern.

When we returned, I finished up my version of "Mousy Tail Clone".  The original was knit by Jankee, but there was no pattern for it.  However, she made detailed notes on her project page in Ravelry, so with the use of a "Custom Fit" pattern, I was able to create my own.  It was knit of Wollemeise DK, in the color: RH - O Negative.

I'm so happy with the outcome, and the fit is perfect.  The only trouble I had, was knitting the buttonband.  I chose to use US1 needles and knit the entire band in one continual picked-up piece.  I guess my age is catching up with me, because knitting it was really hard on my hands, arms and shoulders.  There was a lot of muscling the stitches around the needle, so I had to knit it with a lot of breaks.  However, it was worth the trouble, as the buttonband came out perfect.  I learned this technique from Jankee, and I'll never do it any other way.

I may be setting my "Sprossling" aside soon, as my Sister is about to get her first Grand-daughter, and I've got some knitting to do for her, I'll keep you posted . . . . . . . . Happy Knitting!

Important Finishing Techniques

As I mentioned in previous posts, my sweaters continue to improve.  These improvements are mostly because I have improved my finishing techniques.

Although I have vastly improved the buttonbands and neckband on this cardigan I knit in 2016, I haven't really mastered the "selfy".  My intent was to show you how this sweater looks on ME.  The new buttonbands don't stretch out, causing the front of the cardigan to hang funny.  It used to be difficult to wear, because I was forever trying to get it to hang properly on my body.  Now I love wearing it!  This makes the time and expense well worth it.

The finishing skill employed here, was using a much small needle for the bands, than called for in the pattern.  This cardigan was knit on US6 needles, and the buttonband is knit on US2 needles.  This creates a more stable fabric for making stable buttonholes and attaching buttons.  You'll note that I used a sewn bindoff on the button side.  This is a stretchy bindoff that lays really flat.  To learn this technique, go to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Fy4GkpjPg.  The rolled edge employed a standard bindoff.

I like the new button choice too, and the buttonholes match them perfectly, without any strange holes or pulling when they are buttoned.  In addition, using the small, clear buttons on the back, makes the buttons much more secure, and keeps them from drooping when the cardigan is buttoned.  To learn this fabulous, one row buttonhole, go to:  multi-stitch buttonhole.

My "Mousy Tail Clone", copied from Jankee, is nearing completion.  You can see the body shaping I've used on this sweater to assure it will fit me perfectly.  I used a Custom Fit Pattern in getting all the numbers necessary and shaping instructions to get this custom fit, just for me.

Can you see the side seams?  The only thing that gives it away, is the curve that adapts to the curves of my body.  I didn't used to think that using the "Mattress Stitch" was necessary to create a great seam.  I was wrong!  Now that I take the time to seam with the "Mattress Stitch, my seams lie flat and they don't pull apart.  To learn the "mattress stitch" technique, go to:  Seaming with the Mattress Stitch.

Lastly, I thought I would talk a little about my blocking technique.  I always soak my sweater pieces in cool water, roll them in a fluffy towel taking care not to stretch the pieces, and squeeze out as much excess water as possible.  DO NOT TWIST KNIT PIECES.  Then lay the pieces out flat on a blocking board and carefully manipulate the pieces to the measurements on your pattern schematic.  Pin where necessary to hold in-place until the pieces dry.  Do not stretch and pin any ribbing, as you'll want this stretch to spring back with each wearing.  I love these Blocking Combs, they prevent points in your knitting.  You may not be able to tell from this photo, but I have stacked two sleeves here, to dry together.  This assures both sleeves will be the same exact size when they dry.  I do the same with the back and front pieces. My arms may not match exactly, but my sleeves always will.  You have to use optical illusion whenever possible, haha.

I'll have pictures of this finished sweater in my next blog post.  I'm currently working on the buttonband and adding the buttons, as discussed previously.

I'm busy planning my next sweater projects.  Here they are:

First, I'll be knitting "Sprossling" by Anne Hanson.  I'll be knitting with Wollemeise Twin.  It is a great yarn of 20% nylon and 80% wool in a fingering weight.  I'm planning this as a summer sweater to wear over summer sundresses and tank tops.

Second, I'll be knitting "Cabled Cardi" by Norah Gaughan.  I'll be knitting with Wollemeise DK.  I just love this yarn and can't seem to move on from it.  

You can see that I have my swatches all knit up and ready for generating my Custom Fit Patterns for each.  I'll be knitting Sprossling as written, but Cabled Cardi will have long sleeves and a slightly longer a-line fit.  I'm hoping these changes will be more flattering to my shape.

I hope these little tips and tricks, that I've learned recently, will help you too.  Being open to change is the best possible way to improve.  Thank you to those knitters who have gone before me, and figured out the best possible methods for knitting perfectly beautiful sweaters.  If you are a member of Knit Night Group, take a good look at these techniques and let me know if I can help you with future projects.  To the rest of you . . . . . . . Happy Knitting.