Tending to my knitting

I have project updates and yarn updates, and the yarn is growing faster than I can knit!
In the project department:
1. I have finished my scarf:


2. I have started and made good progress on a sweater/top for myself. It's a modified version of Pioneer (from Knitty.com), using TLC cotton plus:

The photo is a bit blurred, sorry.

In the yarn department:
1. I got some fabulous Flock Bransonas cotton-bamboo yarn in a swap package from a Ravelry pal:

Yarn detail:

2. I signed up for Whimsy Pinzy's hand dyed cotton yarn club and have 2 yarns so far:
"A Night In"

and Watermelon Sangria:

Every month is a fun surprise!

Starting 2009

In the spirit of the little stash down contest going on with some knitting pals, I'm starting the new year on a productive note of projects completed or decisively abandoned. This will be the year of finishing things, I think.
I'm way behind on photos, but here's an update:

• My Emerald cardigan is finished! I made the collar wider with extra short rows, and I gave it 2 buttons instead of just 1.


• My turquoise hat (using Creamy) was just too frustrating, so I gave up. It's nice yarn for something--lace, perhaps--but not for a hat. Knitting with it doubled was like knitting with 2 strands of crochet cotton--no give, no loft, and ready to slip off the needles at a moment's notice. It's a nice enough pattern, but not for that yarn.


• I just finished my take on Jared Flood's Turn a Square hat, only instead of using a classic wool I used Vanna's Choice acrylic in a sort of lime-to-pea-soup green with muted blue stripes.I did it partly to learn how to do the Jogless Join when knitting stripes in the round, so as to be able to apply this approach to my striped pullover, which was not looking the way I had hoped. It worked out well! There was a difficult moment when I realized I had made the hat an inch too long, but by (gasp) cutting off 2 inches, bravely picking up and ribbing down for an inch, I rescued it. It's in the washing machine now so I can see how VC washes before I whip up a baby blanket.

Stopping and starting

Here is the completed red baby hat:


I have a good bit of yarn left, so I've started booties. The difficulty is having no idea if the booties and the hat will fit the same baby at the same time.
I've started--several times!--a striped raglan based on the pattern in the new Color Style book. I'm using TLC Cotton plus, which is a crisper yarn than the original, so I'm afraid the jog at the color change will always be more obvious than I would like, but I like the colors: yellowish green called "kiwi", a medium, slightly periwinkle blue, and a variegated blend of these 2 colors and related shades.

Sweater progress

I've made a good start on the Emerald Cardigan:



The color in the photo is a bit off but it shows how the yarn is shading. This is certainly a good pattern for that kind of yarn. The body (fronts and back) is knit in one piece. I've begun increasing above the waist while decreasing for the v neck. It takes a bit of concentration (and some notes) to keep it straight, but it's coming along well. We're having the kind of damp, windy weather that makes me want to finish this right away and put it on!

More about the hat, and a new project

I've cast on for a new sweater project. This time I'm making a cardigan, using the Knitty pattern called Emerald. I'm using a rusty tweedy boucle acrylic that I got in trade for some of my wool. It's unlabeled and wound into balls, so I'm not sure what it is or exactly how much I have, but I'm told it was originally purchased for a large sweater for someone larger than I am, so I should have plenty of yarn. The pattern is written for 5 sizes (XS, S, M, etc.) and I'm combining the directions for the small and medium sizes. I want it nicely loose but not too long. It has big stretches of stockinette, so I'm hoping it can be a mindless subway knit, in spite of the bulk.

As for the hat: I solved the hole-in-the-head issue by casting on only 4 stitches and increasing briskly. But I experimented with seed stitch and don't like it with this yarn, so I'm going to begin yet again--stockinette or reverse stockinette will be better, I think.

Finished: the Top-down Raglan

I finished this last week while visiting my parents. I was glad to have finished it but also happy to leave it behind to await my next trip north. It's toasty and soft, but the neckline creeps up and the yarn must be kept away from velcro.

Wool gallery

My remaining souvenirs of my wool-knitting days:

 

 

Last wool vest

 

 

Hand-dyed wool and mohair raglan worked in the round using Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage method. the ribbing was worked in wool and the body and sleeves used wool and mohair in alternate rounds.

 

 

 

Wool vest with zigzag eyelet pattern.

 

 

 

Ribbed wool vest.

 

 

 

Striped wool vest combining variegated and black yarns.

 

 

Mitten in Spruce pattern from Robin Hansen's Fox & Geese & Fences

Even more top down raglan progress

Here it is, all but the sleeves. I made the "wrong" side the outside and added ribbing at the neck.

Top Down Progress

The progress so far, with detail of raglan shaping:

 

New Project

I'm using the Bernat soft blue "Soft boucle" acrylic I got in trade for some of my wool to make a top-down raglan/sweatshirt equivalent, using this pattern:
Comfy Raglan from The Knitteur.com
So far it's going well. I'm about half way down the yoke. I'm mulling the idea of using a contrasting color--maybe gray--somewhere to give it a little more structure.