New Yarns!

So, I haven't finished any of the sweaters I started in July. It just got too hot, and I went back to work early in August. I found that I hadn't recovered from my hospitilization as I thought. The first day back, I had to move all the student desks (2-person desks) to get them set for the start of school, and I was breathless after moving 18 of them around.

At any rate, working in my classroom sort of wore me out, and the heat didn't inspire me to knit at all.

I ordered some new yarn from Elann (I love that site!) and it got here Friday. It's all gorgeous! I got a sweater's worth of Steinbach Wolle Inka in Orchid Pink for a Ballyvaughan Pullover, 3 colors of Plymouth Yarn's Nazca Wind, 5 of Plum Tart (deep plum), and 2 each of Shale and Night Sky. I'm thinking cowls for those last two. I got 1 each of 3 colors of Elann's Silken Kydd: Forest Mist, Clove, and Raisin. I'm going to do a Pretty Thing cowl (YarnHarlot pattern)for my sister-in-law, and I'm either going to do it in the Silken Kydd Clove, or in the Baby Cashmere in Tapestry Blue, that I also got. Along with 2 other colors of it: Mulled Grape and Deepest Black. I'm sort of leaning toward the cashmere, because it is so incredibly soft, but I also love the Silken Kydd. Maybe I'll do two for her (and some for me, too!) Neither of us wear scarves, but cowls, even though they're really just scarves sewn together, seem to work for us.

It's still incredibly hot here. Right now, at 7:45, it's still 79 degrees outside, which means it's closer to 85 in here. Makes it hard to grab a bunch of yarn and sit with it in your lap or next to you. But, then, her birthday isn't until Dec. 10th, and then there's Christmas after that, so I've got time. I also need to buy some circular needles, since I don't have the size needed for the pattern.

So, that's what's up with me. Hope everyone is doing well, and knitting up a storm for those of you in the parts of the US that are welcoming Fall weather right now.

Just Another Update on my Projects

I finally frogged the ribbed tank, and the yarn is slowly working the kinks out. In the meantime, I did cast on for the fronts of my Gulls and Garter vest, and I'm up to the 2nd buttonhole, about 5 inches. I tried a new buttonhole process, doing it in one row, which is kind of neat, but the hole needs to be worked at after knitting it to make it neater and really look like a buttonhole. For this procedure, you bind off the number of stitches you need for your buttonhole, but then you cast on that number plus one on the left needle, K2tog the stitch left after binding off with the first stitch you cast on, and then continue to the end.  It's quick and easy, but I think the cast on stitches, which form the top of the buttonhole, are a little loose and sloppy looking. It said to use the backward loop method, but I may try using another cast on method to see if that makes a difference.

I've also restarted the ribbed tank, but I'm using the yarn the pattern calls for while I wait for my Kroy to straighten out. It's Microspun, a sportweight yarn made of microfiber acrylic (I have no idea what that really means), in a color called "Lily White". And yes, it really is that white. I'm about 4 1/2 inches along on that, as well.

I really need to alternate between the two. The 2/2 ribbing gets boring after a while, and the Gulls and Garter, which is a simple 4 row pattern, gets fiddly after a while. So, I switch back and forth just to break the rhythm. Is that normal? Do you keep more than one project on the needles, and active, at one time? I know one knitter who is very single-minded about her knitting, and has never had more than one project on her needles, but to me, it seems that she just has to force herself to finish each project. Not every project, but some. I don't want to force myself to knit. That would blow the whole purpose of knitting for me. It's to relax, to calm my nerves, to allow the right side of my brain to exercise a bit, and to shut down the analytical, left brain. If I'm forcing myself to knit, that means the left brain is in charge. And God knows, it's in charge too much of the time for me.

So, the beautiful Kroy is still in timeout while it unkinks, the Lily White Ribbed Tank is moving along, and Gulls and Garter vest is coming along nicely.

The Tank Tanked, but Gulls & Garter is Surging Ahead

So, I made a mistake casting on for the tank, and didn't realize it until I was about 4 inches into the armhole. I need to frog it and start over, so it's in timeout until I finish my Gulls and Garter vest.

I cast on both fronts today. 46 sts each, with 5 stitches in seed st, the rest in rib and later in the pattern. I generally don't have to use stitch markers to remember when a pattern changes, but I did today. 1/1 ribbing and seed st don't mix well, and rather than counting each stitch, I just put in markers after the seed stitches. Much easier. Ribbing is rather mindless knitting for me, and the stitch markers help that along. I really don't want to focus so intently on each stitch. I've done about one and a quarter inches of the ribbing so far, and I'm only using 2 inches, so I'll be starting the actual pattern knitting later today.

I had plans to have both tops done at least a week ago, if not 2 weeks ago. So much for plans. I got sucked up in Ravelry, loading my library there with all the patterns I have (and I'm not done yet), and looking for patterns for other yarns I have. Boy, can you waste a lot of time on Ravelry.

I also got busy in real life, reading, visiting my brother and his family, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, etc. Life happens. It's only been a month since I came home from the hospital, although it seems much longer. I couldn't visit my family until now, though, because their daughter had a bad cold, and I wasn't going to risk that. Now she's healthy, and I got to hear all about her trip to Australia, which she started the day I went into the hospital. It sounds like she had a great time, even during the service learning portion of the trip. I would have loved going on her trip instead of mine!

Anyway, that's all the news for now. Hopefully I'll finish my vest this week, and I'll try to get my sister-in-law to take pictures of me in it so I can post them here and on Ravelry. If not, I'll at least take pics of the finished item and post those.

Project Update

Okay, so I've bound off the back of my Gulls and Garter vest, and I'm at just over 10 inches on my Ribbed Shell in Kroy SocksFX. I haven't yet cast on the two fronts on the Gulls and Garter, because I'm still working out how many stitches to cast on for each. I have to account for the button bands, which will be in seed stitch, but I'm wondering if I should decrease the pattern stitches, and if so, by how much. I do want the vest to close, and the button bands will overlap, so I may not decrease the pattern stitches. The pattern does have a "multiple of .." requirement, so decreasing the stitches would cause a problem. Anyway, I'm going back-and-forth about it.

I just got a bunch of knitting books from Amazon, 4 for my Kindle, and 3 in real book format. I have to say, I think I prefer having the real book in my hands, but the Kindle ~ and I do the Kindle-on-my-PC much more often than not ~ does show the pages well. I just need a printed pattern, so I can mark it up, and I haven't figured out how to do that from my Kindle. Or even if I can.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about one of the books I got.  Knitting the Perfect Fit, by Melissa Leapman I love this book! She's got pages and pages of instructions on how to make decorative increases and decreases, how to position cables to accentuate the parts of you you want people to notice, etc. And she has 19 patterns in the book, as well. I like a majority of them, around 14 of them in facr. That seldom happens when I buy a knitting book. She's very straightforward in her instructions, and in the patterns, and she includes lots of other tips and tricks to make your knits look great. I highly recommend this book! (And no, I didn't get asked or paid to write this endoresement. I just love this book!)

I also picked up the original Stich 'n Bitch, Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick (different cover than the one I got) , Kim Hargreaves' Vintage Designs to Knit, also a different cover than mine,
 November Knits by Kate Gagnon Osbourne and Courtney Kelley, Knitting Classic Styles by Veronik Avery, and The Best of Knitscene by Lisa Shroyer. Good things in all of them, although I wasn't aware of how basic the Stitch 'n Bitch book was. Oh, well. Maybe I can use that one with my students next school year. I do a class after the regular day to teach kids how to knit, almost every year. (I didn't last year, because it was a very difficult class, and I had a lot of health issues that I was struggling to ger under control. I am definitely doing the class this next year, though.

So, no pictures of my knitting, yet, but at least you get to look at the covers of all the new books I got! I know it's not the same, really. And I do plan to take pictures of my finished objects, but that won't be for at least a week or more. Be patient!

New Project

I'm still working on that sweater of my own design, but I cast on today for another, a ribbed shell. It should be a quick knit, just 2 x 2 rib on size 8s. It's a pattern I found on Lion Brand's website, and I'm using Kroy Socks FX in Cadet Colors, doubled. (The color is darker than in this photo) I love the way this looks when it's knit in this rib. I read on Ravelry that people think this yarn is too scratchy, but I've held it up to my skin, knit up, and it's very soft. Maybe because it's doubled, and knit at a much looser gauge than it would be for socks.

Anyway, I've gotten about 3 inches of ribbing done, and I'll do another couple of inches before I quit for the night. I'll be switching off and on between this one and Gulls and Garter sweater. I just needed a break from it today. I'l be binding off the back tomorrow, and then casting on for both front pieces. I may actually have two sweaters done by the end of next week!

Knitting Right Along

Not much new here. Still plodding along on my sweater, now about 4 inches into the armhole (yay). I'm still looking at patterns, discovering new yarns I'd forgotten I had, and, forgive me, buying yarn on eBay. I know, I know, I said I was stash busting. I am, I am! But I picked up some River

and some Birch,

both Loop-d-Loop yarns by Teva Durham, at a terrific price. And I can use them! I mean, I live in SoCal, which truly almost never reaches wool sweater weather. I fake it, and both knit and wear wool sweaters, but only in, say, January and February.

Oh, and I got 2 skeins of Habu Textiles SX21 linen in natural(more than 700 yards each!) I'll be knitting it double, and I can't wait for it to get here. I don't even know, yet, what I'll make with it, but I'm looking.

I've checking out my local libraries, too, for patterns. My most local doesn't have much in the way of knitting books, though. I'm going to try the next most local library later today, or Friday. I may have to do an interlibrary loan, and pick up knitting books from bigger libraries in the system.

I've also been trying to organize the patterns I like in the way-too-many pattern magazines I have. I'm literally drowning in knitting magazines. I've been going through them and simply tearing out the ones I like. I put them in heavy-duty sheet protectors, and then into a big notebook. Next up is to sort them all out, put in dividers, and make some copies of instructions that were on the back of ones I tore out, but are for a different sweater.

So much to do! Thankfully, I have the time right now. I hope to get several sweaters done before I go back to work in mid-August. Once school starts up again, I don't have that much time to knit. I'm going to work on finding more time, then, however. I find knitting very relaxing, even in complicated patterns or stitches. And I need to be more relaxed!

Okay, I'm back!

It's been more than 6 months, but I'm still here, still knitting. I have an embarrassment of yarns stashed, and I intend to do some stash busting this summer.

I had a serious health scare last week. Ended up in the hospital for 3 days, nearly died the first day. I got whacked by a particularly vicious pneumonia and a few other opportunistic infections, and didn't pay attention soon enough. I coughed and hacked my way through a week and a half before getting help. About 4 days in, I sort of lost my mind. The doctors tell me that's not that unusual, but it sure felt that way to me. And with all the meds they gave me in hospital, I had a wonderful hallucinatory life for about a week.

When I got home, I just felt stunned. I just sat there on my bed, unfocused. I'd get up and wash, brush my teeth, obsess about my skin (they pumped 2 1/2 liters of water into me, since I was so dehydrated, and man, does that do wonders for your skin!) And deal with going cold turkey on quitting smoking. That hasn't been as successful as I wanted it to be, but I'm going to see my regular doctor tomorrow and see what help he can give me with that. I was weaker than a new kitten, too. I'm still working on getting some strength back. Just going up and down the stairs at my apartment wiped me out the first day, and it's truly not much better now, not quite a week later. So, while I work on slowly getting stronger, I'm beginning to knit again.

I started a sweater about a year ago, my own design, and I dragged that out, fixed the error that had put it in timeout, and have knit about 6 inches on it. Now I have to decide exactly what kind of sweater it's going to be. I'm using a stitch pattern I really like, Gulls and Garters, which is a strongly vertical pattern. I'm thinking I'll make this into a short vest, ribbed at bottom, seed stitch button bands, and a little curved, seed st. collar. I'll have to bind off for armholes soon, so I'll need to figure out when to start the seed st. border for the armholes. I much prefer to knit it as I go rather than pick up stitches and knit it after.

While I'm working on that, I've been going through some of the yarns I have stashed, in no particular order. Rowan Wool Tweed. Arful Yarns Portrait and Lustro. Elann's Boccaccio Boucle. Rock Cotton. United (cotton/bamboo). Inca Tops Pima Cotton Silk Worsted, in a lustrous cream. Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Plymouth Royal Llama Silk Splash. Queensland Collection Pima Fresca, in a lilac-y grey. And so much more. I hardly know where to start. So, I'm trying to stay focused on the sweater I'm already knitting, but I'm itching to start on new ones, too. It's a little distracting, so I'm not getting as much done on the sweater, but I'm having fun cuddling with the new yarns (well, new again, since I haven't seen them in a while.)

And I've been spending a lot of time on Ravelry, looking for pattern ideas for the yarns. I seem to be focusing primarily on cardigans, which are useful things. Buttoned up, they're a sweater. Unbuttoned, they add a layer to an outfit.

I'm also looking ahead to fall/winter. Pullovers with texture, cables, colorwork. I'm just hoping to get a few done before the horrible heat of summer sucks the life out of me. (There's a heat advisory for this weekend, through Monday ~ 105 - 109, low humidity. Furnace heat, in other words.) Maybe I'll see how my local library feels about me sitting in there knitting. (That will also help me with the smoking struggle, since libraries are strictly no-smoking.) And I've got enough Starbucks gift cards to feed myself for a month, or drink coffee for two months, so maybe I'll see how they feel about me knitting there, too. Anywhere with air conditioning! It's too dark in theaters, or I'd try that, too. But I need to see what I'm doing with the sweater I'm working on now, so dark is out.

Anyway, my knitting mojo is back, and I'm making progress on stash busting. Yay, me!