Knitting... a sweater?!

I don't know why, but knitting has really enchanted me this fall and winter. One reason is probably that there's a wonderful LYS nearby, and the LQS I like is 45 minutes away! I've been knitting pieces to make kids sweaters for charity, and I made a few Christmas gifts... so I thought I ought to make myself something nice. I'll tell you, making a nice quilt would take far less prep work.

I picked a pattern, and went off to the store. I knew I'd have to swatch -- knit a 6" square to check knitting gauge -- but I didn't anticipate that would lead to three trips to the LYS in five days! It's good -- the LYSO still smiles at me when I come in the door -- but sheesh. We pick a yarn to try, and I get needles in the recommended size. Cast on 30 stitches, and knit for a while. Gauge is close, but not quite right; let's try the lace pattern from the sweater. Good, I can knit that without going crazy. Hmmm... let's try another needle size to nail the gauge. Oops... went the wrong way -- now I have too many stitches per inch. SIGH. Back to the LYS, where she says I have to block my swatch. Huh? She explains what to do, and I go home to try. This is the result:Cool. It's like a completely different object -- the character of the fabric is so different from the fabric right off the needles. But now the gauge is different, and I really don't know what to do -- other than go to the LYS again! We pick the correct needle size, talk about fitting, and I (ahem) changed my mind about the color. It's beautiful, but it's really blue, and kind of stripey in all the finished pieces I could find on Ravelry. Not a fan of the stripey... so I got this instead:

It's Dream in Color Classy (what a dumb name for a lovely yarn!) in Chinatown Apple. I think it looks kind of like dried apples, as I'm starting to knit it up. Slow going on this one... it's a cardigan knit with no side seams, so there are a LOT of stitches in every row! I'd show you the pattern, but I can't find it off Ravelry. If you're a knitter and on Rav, it's called Summer's End.

So, wish me luck. This could be a good or a bad adventure!

Christmas Knitting

You know I did some Christmas knitting... I was very bad and didn't do a good job of photographing the results. The only thing I have to show is the hat I made for Lisa:

It's a Button-Tab Hat from a free pattern by Marcie at I Like Lemons. It's the first hat I've ever knit, and I made it to match the scarf I knitted earlier for Lisa. The scarf is done all in mock-cable stitch, so I used that again for the button tab. I'm showing this button-front, so you can see the tab, but it's obviously not meanth to be worn that way :) I used the absolutely delicious Malabrigo merino worsted weight yarn (yummmmmmmm) that I got at KnitKnack. The color is called Wintergreen, I think -- it's a pale greenish blue. Very delicate.

What else... A Sisters Hat in Jo Sharp DK, color cyclamen, for my Aunt. The first chart I've read -- and I didn't like doing that at all. Nonetheless, the hat is cute, and she likes it.

And a pair of Toasty fingerless gloves for my mom in Debbie Bliss superwash something or other in a dark green. I shortened the wrist length by an inch, and probably should have shortened it by at least another one. The finger side was really too long (I offered to rip them back and rebind), but mom asked me to leave it. Since they're knit in stockinette in the round, that edge rolls naturally, so she'll roll them back when she needs her fingers, and unroll when she wants them to be warm! Like many others, I thought the thumb was too tight in the first one, so I picked up three more stitches for the second one. Then I decided to have mom try them on before I finished them, so I'd know which one fit (and I'd only have to rip out one!). She liked them that way -- I guess one knuckle swells more than the other, so they actually fit. Go figure ;)

Anyway: is that three posts today? That's enough nattering on from me, I think!

Not so much with the getting it...

(aka Beginner's Luck?)

OK, I figured out that when I added stitches to the first mitt, I think they're on the wrist end, rather than the finger end. Not a huge problem, since that means if I followed the directions, it should fit fairly well and not have the long cuff.

But, I've cast on twice now for the second mitt, gotten to the same point and become completely directionally impaired. I either futzed something last time without knowing it (and it worked), or I'm unable to count past, say, one. Somehow, the thumb just isn't working. I thought I had it turned around -- counting from the wrong end -- but when I tried to do it again, I had the same problem. Either it WASN'T turned around, or I keep making the same mistake...

Maybe if I actually followed the directions?

Got it!

Whew! I found the instructions I was looking for, where she shows keeping the grafting loose for a couple of inches, then tightening it by hand to match the tension in the knitting. Mine's definitely not perfect, but I was (mostly) able to keep track of the sewing strand this way and make it work.

The wrist is way too long for my taste, and I added a few too many stitches when I lengthened the finger end, but all in all, it *is* functional and it really wasn't hard to make. I think I'll go ahead and knit a matching one, and just cuff the wrists. If the length on the fingers ends up bothering me, I guess I could make another pair ;-) [And maybe figure out how to make the thumbs have a little length, too, since it seems like they would get cold...]

Knitting? Who, Me?

It's true... I've crossed over to the dark side ;) I have perpetually cold hands, and would love to have some fingerless gloves or mitts or something that was relatively work-appropriate. That basically means that I could wear them at my desk and still be able to type and use the trackpad on my desktop keyboard. While I've considered just white cotton gloves with no fingertips (worn by marching band members everywhere), they a) will show dirt immediately and always look grungy and 2) probably not be that warm anyway. And there's that whole Mickey Mouse thing...

Basically, I learned to knit as a kid and was not very good at it, so I gave it up as other things captured my attention. I picked up some knit sticks and a ball of ticker tape last winter, just to mess around, and basically knitted the skein and then unraveled it, learning to purl, make ribbing, seeds, etc. I got bored with that, and haven't really knitted since.

Anyway, back to the present: I found what looked to be like an easy-enough pattern for fingerless mitts online earlier in the week at ysolda. They're easy because they're not knit in the round, but rather with the rows running from wrist to fingertip. They're also just knit/garter stitch. What I didn't really consider was short rows, wrap and turn and now my serious challenge: kichener stitch. I get the concept (I even made a sample), but I can't quite figure out when and how to tighten the sewing part. Maybe a fresh brain in the morning will help! [For non- or novice-knitters, when done correctly, this kichener deal makes it impossible to see where the ends of knitting are stitched together -- from the front, it looks just like a regular row of your project. Very cool.]

I will say this: there are a HUGE number of knitting resources available online that include video clips and/or step by step photos showing how to do things. I certainly couldn't have gotten this far without:
The Knitting Fiend (working short rows with wrap and turn)
Knitting Help.com (videos of loose side stitches and kichener stitch or grafting)
Knitting at Noon (provisional cast on)
Wooly Wormhead (theory of kichener stitch, and detail on grafting garter stitch)

So, one mitt is completely knitted, and I think it will fit. There's some guessing involved on my part, so I'm anxious to get it off the needles to see if it really will work. Pictures then...