Posts from — November 2006

Anyone remember my post about Julie and her wonderful idea about funding a spinning wheel? Long story short people sent $$$ towards her wheel fund and in return she would send you hand spun fiber. She got her wheel pretty quickly and has been spinning away ever since! My yarn just arrived and it is just gorgeous! THANKS JULIE!

100 grams, 240 yards wool DK weight. Now what shall I make? I’m open to suggestions!

I decided I really needed to knit this sweater after seeing the finished product by Stacey over at knitting help. It comes from sweaterbabe.com and is a very well written and easy to follow pattern. It was nice to knit a sweater from a pattern…knitting along told what to do at every turn. Since the last couple I have knit have been of my own design this was a good change. I do like designing my own stuff, but I feel like it slows down my knitting. Too many stops to take notes, make revisions, etc.

My only first complaint about the pattern is reversing the shaping instructions for the right side. I know, I know, it’s not difficult but just a pain. The second minor issue is the shoulder seams. I really don’t like the look of a seam that uses two already bound off edges. I would much rather do a three needle bind off…which I will when I knit this pattern again. Some people have complained that the sweater is a little short. Personally, I like my sweaters shorter rather than longer, so I didn’t think this would be much of a problem. Next time I would add 1-2″ to the bottom. Although it only is written in one size it would be easy to modify for anyone who isn’t exactly a “medium”.

This is the first time I have knit with this yarn. I’ve been petting it for a while now so I was excited to discover the gauge for this pattern was compatible. The pattern took five skeins of Catalina Baby Alpaca Chunky color 106. The resulting fabric is soft and very warm while lightweight at the same time. This yarn gets two thumbs up with a twist! Unfortunately, the color is very difficult to capture in pictures. In person it is really stunning. Two shades ofyarn blended together to make a really interesting blend of color. The left picture here is with no enhancement, the right one doesn’t show the color exactly but you can see the highlights and shadows of the different colors better.

I really like the look of the lace more BEFORE blocking. The waves created in the fabric are just so pretty. It has flattened a bit now that it has been wet blocked. Which leads me to a question…why do I always insist on a wet block? I guess I figure no matter what happens a sweater will get completely wet eventually. I remember being a kid and getting caught in the rain with a sweater on. By the time I got home the sleeves and body were down to my knees. I think I’d rather know that about a sweater ahead of time than being surprised down the road. Like with the red sweater I recently knit…I knew it was going to get longer with blocking and I still almost made it too long before blocking. Had I knit that sweater a “normal” length to start with, I’d have a dress!

All that’s left is to find some nice buttons. I pinned it for the pictures since I didn’t have any success finding buttons worthy of this great design.

Fortunately, it was not me with the flu. My husband being home with the flu though makes for some good knitting time. Our original weekend plans included raking and bagging leaves from the huge tulip poplar that resides in our back yard. Instead, the weekend was spent in bed (not in a good way). Poor Jim stayed home on Friday with a fever of 103 that continued through the weekend. Being the good wife that I am I stayed with him all weekend…forcing myself to stay in bed and knit. Such a martyr, I am.

This is probably the most knitting I have done in one weekend ever. I finished the rest (well, what I thought would be the rest) of the lizard ridge squares. I decided that I should block them again all together just to insure the sizes were as close to the same as possible. I also soaked and agitated the squares a bit in the washing machine on cold with some fabric softener. If you’ve never tried this on Kureyon it’s worth a shot. I can’t believe how much softer it feels after that treatment. It’s almost soft enough to convince me to try Kureyon for a sweater.

I decided to block the squares on the carpet since the bed I usually block on was full of Diva Knitting Inc. supplies that I was too lazy to move. I don’t recommend this method! Did you know you can get bruises on your fingertips? I am pretty sure you can. Either I have the toughest carpet ever or the weakest fingers in all of Cincinnati. After I finally got them all pinned out I moved on to knitting the Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan (finger bruises notwithstanding). More on that tomorrow…the sweater would make a BEAUTIFUL Christmas present!

What a lovely and relaxing hard working time in Arizona!  Honestly, it’s hard to believe anyone would actually want to live in a different part of the country.  Low 80’s and sunny every day in November…I could REALLY get use to that!

Would you believe this is all the knitting accomplished?  One stinkin’ square.  Ok, technically 1 1/2.   I had to take a picture of all the square together just to feel like I am getting something accomplished!  Three more squares and I should be ready to begin putting Lizard Ridge together!  Oh and does anyone know what color that is in the lower right?  Somehow I forgot to take note of that one.  I’m sure to figure it out eventually but maybe one of you Kureyon experts can make it easy for me?