Works in Progress

After finishing my Boatneck Sweater last week, the only knitting project I had on needles was this scarf, called My So Called Scarf.I am past the half way point on it, but it not as exciting as something new. I quickly knit a hat for someone, but that only took two days. In November and December it became the norm for me to have two or three projects going at the same time. So with just a scarf, I was becoming antsy to start something new. My mom asked me to knit her a Shalom cardigan and I found some yarn for it on Sunday, but I didn't have her measurements and I wanted to cast on.

So I used a Christmas present, Sensational Knitted Socks, to pick out a pattern and cast on another pair of socks for myself.
Just as I got those started, my mom sent her measurements and I was able to start on her sweater. The sweater has taken precedence over the past few days and here is my progress.
There are no snow days in the forecast for this week, so it may be a week or two before I finish it. In the mean time I'll work on the sweater at home and the other two projects are a good size for when I'm on the go.

Boatneck Sweater Finished!

Thanks to a snow day last Wednesday, I finished my boatneck sweater. I almost thought I wouldn't make it because as I knit the sleeves, I misread the decreases at the top. As I finished the second sleeve, I was glancing over the pattern and realized my mistake. So I had to tear out the tops of both sleeves and do that section again. Sewing the sleeves in was a little intimidating since it was my first time, but they came out fine.
I am very happy with my first full sweater and I wore it to school the next day. These photos are after a day of wear, and it was comfortable and held up well.
I started this sweater back on October 18, 2008. I finished it on January 29, 2009. That's a long time in progress, though in the mean time I knit one scarf, three pairs of socks, one baby sweater, eleven pairs of mitten ornaments, two hats, two felted bowls and one cardigan. I guess it would have gone faster if I could stick to one project. Now I wonder if I can possibly knit another sweater before winter is over.

Here are the previous posts about this sweater:
Boatneck Sweater Progress Update
Boatneck Sweater 1

Double-Pointed Needle Case

Last weekend, I had an inspiration for a way to keep my double-pointed knitting needles organized. I have enough pairs now that it was getting to be cumbersome to keep them in the little plastic sleeves they come in so that I knew what size they were and so that I didn't loose one of the five needles. I was inspired by a jewelry case my sister gave me from China, and by a notebook I have that has sleeves for colored pencils to go along with it. I didn't write the idea down and luckily I found the time today to try out the idea before it was long forgotten.

The basic plan is that there is a inside fabric (purple stars) with quilting batting behind it. I took another fabric that is half the backing height and sewed to it at the bottom and sides. I started with my smallest needles and made vertical pockets for each pair, leaving room for the sizes I don't yet have. I may eventually use a fabric marker to label the sizes on the pockets.
I was using fabric scraps from my collection which is why I ended up with two different colors of the velvety upholstery fabric for the pockets. After making the inside, I pieced together quilting fabric in stripes for the outside, and sewed the layers together with ribbons coming out the right side.
The long rectangle rolls up starting with the smallest needles, and ending with the largest and then a few extra slots I made with the extra space.
Now all my double-pointed needles are now safe and sound in one case.

Winter

We ventured out into the yard as the golden yellow sun was waning on Saturday afternoon. I love the cool blue shadows and warm orange lights created by the setting sun. The snow is deep, you can see it is up to the first rail in the split rail fence. There are a variety of animal tracks across the snow. I used some pseudo-snowshoes to keep from sinking in to my knees, leaving behind tennis racket sized tracks. Here's a view of the garden, the rounded mounds and the pole for the electric fence are all that hint at the beds below. I read other gardeners' blogs who live further south and are beginning spring planting. We've still got a long way to go.
The remains of my brussels sprouts that I didn't pulled before the snow came.
Warm temperatures the day before brought compacted snow and ice down off the roof. My husband got this shot of the upside-down icicle. It reminds me of a stalagmite.

Boatneck Sweater Progress Update

This sweater is taking much longer than I intended because other projects took precedence over the holidays. However, this past week I finally finished the front and back of the body. Earlier this month I'd taken this sweater along to a Saturday morning meeting and knit the whole front of the sweater from the armholes up, only to figure out when I got home that it was supposed to be ribbed. So I had to take out a lot of work and start on the section from the armholes again.

Now I'm working on the first arm. I'm knitting them in the round until I get to the armhole shaping. I'm enjoying using a new pair of knitting needles that I got from Grafton Fibers this week. They are the lovely Darn Pretty bubblegum stripe, with colors of blue and pink and are so smooth to knit with. I heartily recommend their needles.

It's time to devote more time to this sweater so I can finish it before winter's over. After knitting the quick top-down Shalom sweater on a larger gauge this past weekend, I think my next sweater will be with larger needles and yarn so that the project moves more quickly.

Shalom Sweater

I had this wool/nylon blend yarn that I bought a few years ago on sale at Jo-Ann's. I though it was gorgeous and I thought I might make a sweater out of it so I bought 7 balls. Last fall I decided I would make a sweater. I wasn't experienced at finding patterns and matching them to yarn but I found a simple sweater that called for 7 balls. I knit the front and the back of the pattern on size 5 needles, but as I finished the back, I found I had only one ball of yarn left and had not yet done the sleeves. I knew one ball would not do it, and the yarn was long gone from Jo-Ann's. It turned out the sleeve requirements were listed seperately. So I stuffed the front and back of the sweater in a drawer in the craft room until I figured out what to do with it. I moved on to knitting socks and other things.

This year I decided to try again at my first sweater with the boat neck pattern and by ordering the yarn based on the pattern not vice versa. The pattern has been slow going since it is on size 5 needles, but the front is finished and the back is about 20 rows away from being done too. However, I wanted something more interesting in my current knitting.

I found this pattern for a Shalom sweater on Ravelry. It is knit top down on larger needles with large yarn and so everyone who made it remarked about what a fast knit it was. I entered the yarn from last year's sweater into Ravelry and found that I would have plenty for this sweater. So I unravelled last year's unfinished sweater into two balls and began knitting on Saturday night. I've been knitting every free minute since and finished the sweater on Tuesday night.
Now for the details. I used size ten and a half needles. The only modification I made was to increase the number of stitches cast on after you bind off for the tops of the arm holes. I cast on an extra ten on each side. The pattern said that the sweater would be long, but I think my gage was running small because I did all 115 rows.

I'm very happy with it and look forward to wearing it after I wash it to even out some of the stitches.