Recent Projects

Here are a few finished projects from the past two months. I knit this pair of socks for my dad for Christmas. He received the first sock on Christmas Eve and the second sock on New Years Eve.Some neighbors had a baby girl just before Christmas. I knit this sweater during our travels and gave it them in early January. I've seen it on the baby a few times, apparently its a good weight for going out in the car seat. I made this pair of pillow covers for my Grandma Ginny's birthday.
The back has two flaps that overlap so the pillow slips in. I decided to make the corners purple like the front.
I finally finished the curtains in our living room. I got the fabric in August and made one or two panels this fall. Other projects were more exciting and side tracked me but when we returned from Christmas I got the other two pairs done. At the end of January I finally hemmed them to be the same length.

Recent Knitting Projects

Here are a few recent knitting projects.

I made a lace scarf from a skein of alpaca yarn I bought this fall. I finished it and blocked it but haven't worn it yet.
I knit a bag called a ball band bag, but it is waiting to be felted. It was an easy knit and I'm hoping it felts well. I'd like to make a larger one in the future.
I used some Christmas money to buy yarn for another sweater for myself. I designed the pattern on excel. Here's a picture from a few weeks ago, where I was working on the yoke. I've recently divided the arms off the sweater and am working on the body.

Last Projects of 2009

Over Christmas break, I finished two more projects to add to my total of knitting for 2009. The first is a sweater for my sister. I still need to sew the buttons on and then send it off to her in China.
The second was my teal fair isle sweater that had been neglected since the spring. I had knit to a point on the first sleeve and then couldn't decided how I wanted to finish off the sleeves. So it went away for the summer and fall. However, I knew I would have lots of time to knit over Christmas break and our travels to see family so I pulled it out to finish. After knitting both the sleeves I decided that the body was a bit too short for my liking. So I ripped out the design at the bottom and added another two inches of teal. Then I re-knit the edging design.
Both sweaters still need to be washed and blocked, but I'm glad to have completed them in 2009. That brings my adult sweater total to 6 sweaters!!

Mini Sweater Ornament Pattern

After making mini mitten ornaments to go with our gifts to family last year, I decided I wanted to make something else this year. So I designed my own pattern for mini sweater ornaments with cables and two color designs. So far I've made 6 of them and I'm aiming to make more. In the mean time I decided to write up the pattern and publish it.

** Edit: I've moved my blog to my own host. Click here to find this post with the pattern link on my new site www.greensandjeans.com.

Summer Knitting

The cool rainy weather we had for most of the summer meant that I was happy to continue to work on knitting projects. Here are a few I finished this summer.

I made quite a few baby gifts for friends and relatives. I made two baby sweaters for friends. The one on the left is a Debbie Bliss Pattern. The one on the right is a heavily modified pattern from Knitting Daily called Cabled Ragland Baby Sweater. I had to change the stitch counts because I used a heavier weight yarn. I also didn't care for the cable in the original pattern so I used a lace pattern from one of my sock books.

Here is a detail of the lace. I'm very happy with the modifications and will probably make another.

I also knit some magic slippers and baby socks of my own design for baby gifts.

A sweater for myself. It is a popular pattern on Ravelry called the February Lady Sweater. I wanted it to be a spring/fall weight so I made it with a cotton blend. I'm very happy with it and I've already worn it a couple times this summer.
Now that the weather is hot, my only knitting project is a pair of socks to keep my hands busy at church. Instead I'm currently working on two quilts for upcoming weddings. Pictures of those will have to wait until after the events happen this fall.

Purple Aran Sweater Finished

I designed this aran cabled sweater pattern myself using an excel spreadsheet. I find that in a spreadsheet it is easier to 'draw' a pattern and copy it to see what it will look like repeated with other patterns. It also made it easy for me to make a chart to knit off of. The central pattern came from a book I have, which I have yet to successfully make a sweater from. In fact the book had an error in the cable pattern and after one repeat of it, I had to rip back out and start over again to get the pattern right.

I knit this sweater in the round, starting from the bottom. I did a few decreases in the purl sections, but decided not to increase again after the waist. I knit to where the arms come in and then set the body aside.

For the arms, I knew I wanted a cable running up the shoulder and that I wanted the rest to be in seed stitch, mirroring the seed stitch on the side of the body. I puzzled for a while about how I was going to make the increases to get the change from the wrist measurement to the upper arm measurement while keeping in the 2 x 2 seed stitch pattern. Usually these increases are done under the arm where seams are usually placed. However this would be in the middle of the seed stitch and make it difficult to keep up the pattern. I decided to do my increases on either side of the cable. I kept a row of knit stitches on either side of the cable and did my increases on the outside of it. This way, my increases could always be what would come in the next part of the pattern. It worked very well and I'm pleased with they way the sleeves came out.
When I joined the sleeves to the body and began the raglan decreases, I started to do some fudging. I wasn't ready for the outermost cable to disappear half way up the arm, so I did decreases in the shoulder area instead. Then I decreased the cable stitches closer to the end of the raglan decreases. This caused my raglan line to not be quite straight. When I finished the raglan decreases, I did a few short rows across the back to raise the neckline of the back of the sweater.

I finished the sweater exactly two months after I started it. I was very pleased with the process and I think I'll be making a raglan of my own design again. I liked the challenge and the success of seeing my own design realized.
After washing the sweater, the wool softened up a lot. It took two days to dry and now it will be ready when cooler weather sets in (or in the case that summer heat never arrives).

Stats:
Knit on size 7 needles (5 for the ribbing at edge)
5 skeins of Bartlett yarn
Started 4/18/09
Finished 6/17/09

Yarn Finds & an Aran Sweater

At the end of last month, I was in a local yarn store and they had decided to clear out their stock of Bartlett wool yarn. She was selling it for $3 a skein instead of $7. So I picked up 6 skeins and decided to make a sweater with it. I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I designed my own aran cabled sweater pattern. I've finished knitting the body up to the arm holes and since I will be using the raglan decreases to add the arms in, I'm in the process of knitting the arms. One arm is done and has been added onto the body and I've just started the second one. Below are photos of the body and the first arm before I joined them together.

Memorial Day Weekend is a big weekend for yard sales in our area. I'd also seen that Green Mountain Spinnery was having a tent sale. So we meandered around this morning to yard sales on our way to Putney. At one yard sale, I bought a bag of yarn in a basket for $5. Here's some of the treasures inside.


The pile of blue above should be enough for a sweater.
This skein below has a tag copyright 1961!
We finally made it to Green Mountain Spinnery. I bought some of their mill tests in neutral colors. These off-white ones I'm going to use for experimenting with dying wool this summer.

The skeins below are a sock weight and will probably end up as either a pair of socks or Christmas ornaments.

Baby Placket Pull Over

I knit this sweater for some friends of ours who are about to have their third child, and first son. I made it out of cotton since he's a spring baby and because it will easily go in the wash. It always looks as though the proportions are odd when I knit this pattern, but then I have to remember that baby's bodies are odd proportions. It's a free pattern from purlsoho.com called Child's Placket-Neck Pullover and will download as a pdf from the link. It's a very easy pattern that is knit from the bottom up to where the arms join in. You knit the arms and then use a raglan decreases to knit the body and arms together. The only seaming to do is joining the underarms to the sweater. Next time I make one I might try some stripes.

Teal Fair Isle Sweater

As I mentioned before, I picked up some teal yarn at our school's holiday bazaar table. They were on the 25 cents table, and I got three skeins. The skeins are Cascade 220 wool and so it I have roughly 660 yards. I was puzzled by what to make of it, but thought I might be able to stretch it into a sweater. I mulled over it for a bit and came up with a ball of white wool and a ball of charcoal wool of long-forgotten origins. So I decided I could break up the strong teal color and stretch the yardage by designing a fair isle yoke.

Using guidance from the Knit.1 magazine article about top down sweaters in the round, I knit a swatch to set my gauge and figured out how many stitches I would need around the body, plus what I would need around each sleeve. I subtracted the number of stitches for the neck and this gave me the number I needed to increase between the neck and where I put the arms on stitch holders. I started trying to draw a pattern on graph paper but quickly switched to an excel spreadsheet where I could easily move colors around. I had to figure out which rows would get the increases, how much they would increase and ensure that the number of stitches would fit the number of stitches needed for the pattern repeats at that point. This is my first time with a fair isle type pattern and carrying multiple colors at once, so I designed it so there are only three rows where all three colors are used. My skills have developed for the two color work and I think I'll enjoy doing it again.


The yoke pattern is 64 rows long. When I get to the 64th row, I put the arms on scrap yarn and will continue down with the rest of the body in solid teal. I may add a few rounds of part of the design as I near the bottom of the sweater. Then I plan to come back and pick up the sleeves and knit them as short sleeves. If the yarn allows, I'll take them longer.

Here's a photo of me trying it on so far, after finishing the yoke and putting the arms on waste yarn.

Mauve Yoke Cardigan

I came across this pattern (#22 Garter Yoke Cardigan) while browsing through Ravelry looking for my next sweater. I really wanted to knit something top down because I liked how I could try on my vest as it went and that there was little seaming to do. The pattern was in a magazine called Knit.1 in the winter edition. I couldn't find it at local yarn stores or bookstores so I ended up ordering the magazine from the publisher just for this pattern. Luckily, there are a few other top down yoke sweater I might try in there as well.

I started this sweater on February 8th and worked on it exclusively rather than bouncing between projects. In my better moments with the flu I was able to do some of it as well. I finished knitting it on the 19th and blocked it and sewed on the buttons on the 20th.
I modified the arms some because after knitting the first one, the sleeve was much too baggy around my wrist. I picked up 4 stitches under the arm to close the gaps. I decreased 1 st ever 5th row 4 times until back to original number of stitches. After 6” (at the elbow) began decreasing as follows. K to 3 before marker at line from underarm. SSK, K, slip marker, K, K2tog. K 3 rounds, then repeat decrease. I did nine decrease rounds. Then I knit to finish out the 15 1/2 inches as called for in the pattern, finishing with P 1 row, K 1 row, repeated 4 times.

I finished off the sweater with these beautiful buttons that matched wonderfully. I like this sweater a lot. I think I may make one in another color in the future.

Green Shalom Cardigan

I finished knitting the Shalom Cardigan for my mom last night. Tonight I added the buttons, wove in ends and blocked it. It took just over a week to make. The Lion Brand Chunky Wool-Ease that I used was stiffer than the yarn I used for the last shalom cardigan. I don't think that subtracts from the sweater though. If you are a knitter, you can see the modifications I made on Ravelry. Tomorrow it will be in the mail on its way to my mom.

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

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.

Boatneck Sweater 1

I started this sweater on Oct 18th and have been working slowly on it. Last Fall I attempted a sweater, but found after knitting the back and front that I didn't have enough yarn for the sleeves. I'll be frogging that one sometime. This time I looked carefully at a variety of patterns on Ravelry and found on I liked. The pattern is a Cotton Classic Boatneck Pullover and the best part is it is free. I wanted to use wool and found another knitter who had successfully used Swish DK from Knitpicks I am following her lead by using size 5 needles to achieve gauge. I choose Amethyst Heather. Since the back and front are identical, I decided to knit it in the round and save myself the trouble of trying to match exactly if I added extra rounds by mistake. I'm also modifying the pattern to make the cables mirror each other. Hopefully I'll finish before winter is over!