Sleeve Trouble

by Kelly

Have you ever noticed how troubles seem to multiply? First I was having a problem with the sleeves of the sweater I'm knitting, then when I came here to the computer to download the 'in progress' picture, I discovered that our digital camera isn't communicating with computers today.  If it was a person it would be sitting with it's face averted, arms crossed, lips clamped.

So while our camera is electronically sulking, and I am trying to wrap my brain around the math involved in making the slope of a sweater sleeve come out correctly, I thought I would share pictures of another hobby I have: gardening.

I don't know what it is about the month of January that makes me dig out the gardening catalogues and dream about spring. Do you do that too?

And lastly, a garden visitor who was just passing through when I opened the kitchen door and stopped him in his tracks:

I don't know which of us was more surprised. He recovered first, though, and took off after his mom and siblings.

And now I'm off to dig out the flower catalogues...and dream over the flower seeds that I got for Christmas. So much potential.

Raglan Sweater Weirdness

by Kelly

Still working on the Bernat Denimstyle Turtleneck Sweater. I was merrily following the directions when I reached a weird part - at least it was weird to me:

 

This is the front panel, and when finished it has two points on either side and an unworked part in the middle. That thing in the middle is a stitch holder (imagine a big green safety pin) that is holding the unworked stitches.

I looked at this completed panel and instantly was plagued with doubt. How could this be right? But apparently it is...for raglans.

via Knitting and  Crochet Guild

Thank heaven for the Internet! The link above goes to a site I have never seen before which looks to be a fantastic resource for all things crochet and knit. Even better, the page I landed on had two diagrams, one of which showed how to piece a Raglan sweater together. Whew!

There's also a wonderful article on Knitty.com that explains way more about sweater construction than I ever really wanted to know, but it cleared up a few mysteries, and more importantly, reassured me that I was on the right track here.

I've added Knitting and Crochet Guild to the sidebar under 'helpful sites' and look forward to exploring there sometime. Meanwhile, on with the sweater. Sleeves are next - and as a side project, maybe another pair of leg warmers for my aunt-in-law, while the cold weather lasts.

Sweater Progress

by Kelly

Freezing cold weather makes it hard to photograph the sunrise. Using a camera with gloves on is difficult, but not wearing the gloves means fingers that aren't able to push tiny buttons. On the other hand, I've finally realized why I've been able to get so many good pictures this year - no clouds. Usually winter means grey and cloudy skies most of the time, but obviously not during a drought.

In other news, the sweater project continues:

 

This is the front panel of the sweater, and it's about halfway done. Once I finish this panel, I just need to knit the sleeves, seam the thing together and knit the neck. Okay, so there is quite a bit still to do. A little reality check there. It seems like I should be further along, since I've put so much time in on this.

It's not difficult, just time consuming. It takes over five minutes just to knit one row from start to finish. But I'm not discouraged. Besides, I need to empty this plastic zipper bag all the sweater stuff came in so I can use it for storage:)

Pirate Bookmark

by Kelly

Between working on other projects, I've been doing some cleaning around here. While I was dusting bookshelves (something I rarely do, since usually they're too full of books to be really dusty), I stumbled across something I made ages ago.

Mind you, I found this when I was taking books off the shelf. It fell on the floor and I have no idea what book it was in or what page it was marking. Oops.

WIP for Cold Weather

by Kelly

Icy cold weather is finally here, which means it's time to knit and crochet warm wooly things. Truth be told, though, that goes on here all year round, even when the temperature is over 100 F.

Anyway, two projects are in the works right now: a sweater for me and leg warmers for my aunt-in-law.

Leg warmers are good practice for sweater sleeves. I wonder if that's how they were created in the first place...someone had a sweater fail, and thought they would salvage something from the ruins. Hmmmm....

Sweater Project

by Kelly

Another morning in the Midwest. Weather forecast for today is temperatures in the 60's and rain. This is January, right? Or have I missed something??

Meanwhile, work on the sweater project continues:

 

This is the back panel of this sweater:

via Bernat.com

Well, almost. I still have a little work to do, something like 10 more rows.

The pattern is free, found at the link below the picture above. So far everything seems to be going fine.

The only thing I've done differently than the pattern instructions is at the beginning and end of the rows. I slip the first stitch and knit through the back loop of the last. I'm hoping this will give me a nice clean edge, and will make seaming easier.

Most likely this will cause some problems at the armhole joining, but I'm hoping not. Fingers crossed.

Twisted Germans and Snow Falling Softly

by Kelly


"Snow, it won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
Snow, I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow"
                                                                           - White Christmas

Well, maybe not that last part. I do love snow, but let's not get carried away, here.

Especially the fluffy white kind of snow that looks like spun sugar. When each tiny, delicate flake is visible, it rewards a closer look. Don't slip!

In other news, I'm working on a special project for my aunt-in-law : leg warmers.

I know what you're thinking. Leg warmers, really? Well if bell-bottoms can come back, why not leg warmers?  And anyway, my aunt-in-law only wants them for a practical purpose - her legs get cold, and she wants to keep them warm. I can only hope that she doesn't set a fashion trend.

Of course, if you're going to leg warmers (or socks or mittens, I suppose) you should really master a flexible or stretchy cast on. The one I've run across most seems to be The Twisted German or Old Norwegian cast on, and neither of those names made me think that this was going to be a simple matter, to learn this new trick. And oh, how right I was.

Have I mentioned that I mostly learn new knitting and crochet techniques by watching YouTube videos? Well, this time, even YouTube failed me. Oh, there were plenty of video tutorials - too many, in fact. And most of them were unclear for various reasons - odd camera angles, too close or too far from the action, or maybe they took for granted that you would know instinctively how much yarn to use for the long tail, or how to wind a cat's cradle of yarn around the thumb and fingers of your left hand.

But then I found How to Knit the Twisted German Cast On by newstitchaday, and I finally saw what I was doing wrong - I wasn't tightening the stitch after getting it onto the needle. Success at last:

And yes, I know that's supposed to be on double pointed needles. I find it really fiddly to cast onto DPN's, so I just cast on with a long regular needle and then transfer the stitches.

So for now, onward with the leg warmer project. Let's hope that we don't have to crack out the dangly earrings next. I'm afraid I've gotten rid of all of mine. Although big hair will not be a problem - I can get that look easily enough with just a little humidity.