The Year of Completion

Without really intending to, I seem to have made it a point to finish a lot of works in progress so far this year.  When the year started, I had about 15 (maybe more!) unfinished knitting projects.  Somehow, I have not been super inspired to start a lot of new projects (just a few), so I have been working quite a bit on ones that have been lurking around.  As a result, my works in progress knitting list has been whittled down to 7 or 8 or 10 (depending on how you count, of course).  This is a very low number of works in progress for me and it feels a little strange.

My latest finished project is one I started way back in April of last year. Here it is unblocked.

This is the Wakame Tunic.  I used a pure silk yarn that I found when the husband and I went to New York City a couple of years ago.  The yarn itself was a little funny to work with.  It came on a cone and I’m not even really sure if it has a name.  It might have been something leftover from a manufacturing place…I don’t know.

In any case, this was an interesting garment to knit.  First, you knit a long rectangle for the bottom and graft the ends to make a tube.  Then, you pick up stitches from the sides of the tube and knit the body in the round up to armholes.  Once you divide the front from the back, you cast on stitches on both sides for the sleeves so that you are basically knitting the top of the tunic from cuff to cuff.  This resulted in a crazy large number of stitches.  One row took me over 15 minutes  to do, but at least when I was done, I didn’t have any more pieces to knit.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this thing when I was done.  I don’t think I have ever worn a tunic or even tried one on in my whole life.  I wondered while I was knitting it, what possessed me to Knit a tunic?  Well, I did think it was pretty in the picture and I guess I hoped that I would look ok in a tunic.  What do you think?

I like it.  I’m not sure where I’ll wear it  and with what, but I am pretty sure yoga pants would not be complimentary.  What ideas do you have?

Leftover Lessons

Last week, I finished my leftovers quilt.

This quilt is my first attempt at free motion quilting.  It started out rather roughly, but turned out ok in the end.   I did learn some things in the process of making this quilt, so even if it is not perfect, it has served me well.

Lesson #1:  Speed is everything.  I found that when I tried to go slowly, my curves were more zigzaggy and my stitch length varied wildly.  This is one instance where having a lead foot is sort of an advantage…unless…you can’t move your quilt (see #2).

Lesson #2:  Stopping abruptly is better than a slowdown to a stop.  I had an especially hard time with this one.  I would reach a point where I could move the quilt no further and had to stop to adjust, but if I didn’t let off the gas suddenly, the machine would sew a lot of stitches in one place (because I couldn’t move it).  This created some little knots in places and actually made it harder to create a fluid line as well.

Lesson #3: A smooth back is better.  I thought it would look cool to use up all my leftover pieces to sew up a more modern looking back.  And, yes, it does look cool.  I might even like the back better than the front, but those seams on the back caused a bit of trouble for me.  I could avoid a lot of the larger seams on the top because I could see them, but occasionally, the seams on the back would get stuck and I would have to tug at it to move the quilt.  This caused some jerky stitches that I was not terribly happy about.

Lesson #4:  Irregular is better.  I am a beginner.  It is very difficult to follow a precise pattern, unless you draw it on, but I did not feel like doing that.  It’s better to pick an irregular stitch pattern until you’ve practiced enough to have total control over your stitches, otherwise the mistakes will stick out.

Lesson #5:  Just keep going.  Only a lot of practice will help get your stitches more even and fluid.  If I stopped and tried to fix every mistake, I would never have finished this.   Except for that part where I stitched two parts of the quilt together, I didn’t take any stitches out, even though I started out with a different design intent that I originally planned. Yes, it looks a little funny, but it’s not worth ripping out in this case.

Lesson #6: Look at the big picture.   Now that it is done, I kind of like it, but only if I look at it from across the room.  If I look at it any closer, I see all the imperfections and that would bug me if it were on my lap for a long time.  Isn’t that the case for a lot of things in life?  Don’t look too closely, you may see something you may not want to see.

Well, that’s it with me and fmq for now.  I can say that I was impressed with how fast I got this quilt quilted.  Once I got over that figure eight thing and went random, it truly was “freeing” to just move the quilt around and not have to follow any set lines.  I may come back to this technique in the not so distant future, but for now, I will put it to bed.  I have other things I want to do.

Inevitable

It has been an unseasonably warm winter.  The boys are sad that we never got a snow day.  The snow pants and boots never got used and they really only wore their parkas two or three times.  Now, spring has come early.  Yesterday, we were all in shorts and t-shirts and this morning, I was awakened by a very loud bird singing outside our window.  Usually, I am really ready for spring after all the cold, but since we never had a winter to speak of, I feel sort of surprised by it.

Some things are inevitable in my life, though.  Just as the weather gets warm, I have a finished woolly project that won’t get use until the fall frosts come.

This is the Sheep Heid hat by Kate Davies.  It’s made with undyed shetland wool from England.  This yarn is the real deal when it comes to sheepiness.  It’s perfect for fair isle, or in other words, really sticky, as in, when the strands touch each other, they stick together.  This yarn sticks together so well that some people don’t even weave the ends in.  I am not that person, but I am pretty confident that this hat will not come undone.

I just love those fat sheep with their skinny legs, don’t you?  This hat was originally supposed to be a Christmas present for a friend.  Clearly, I missed that deadline, but since I did not tell her about it, I don’t think she’ll mind it being late.   Except that it’s about 75 degrees outside and a wool hat is probably not something she wants to wear right now.

It is a funny fact that most knitters begin winter projects in the fall and summer projects in the spring.  If you are a really quick knitter, this is no problem.  You’ll probably have that sweater done and be able to use it for a few months before the next season starts.

Me?  It’s not that I am not a quick knitter.  It’s just that I have a Lot of different projects.  I will finish some within the season it is meant for, but others just miss it.  But, that’s ok.  This means I’ll always have something ready and new when the next season starts.  Like now.

Last year, I spent the whole summer working on a nice lacey sweater to go over some sleeveless dresses I had bought.  I finished it in September, just when it was beginning to get chilly and the season for going sleeveless had passed.  Now, I can look forward to wearing it soon.

As soon as I lose a few pounds, that is.  It is also inevitable that once the winter is over and I start wearing warm weather clothes, I find that I have added a little insulation to myself over the winter.  Unfortunately, it is also inevitable that when the weather changes someone gets sick.  Right now, it’s the boys.  And I have a sinking feeling that I know who will be coming down with it next, probably the day before we leave on our cross-country vacation.  It is inevitable.

Love in a Quilt

What do you do when a dear friend lives far away and is expecting their first baby? What if this friend is as special as your own family? Well, of course you would do anything to show that baby (and their parents) that they are loved.

As soon as we found out about this special baby, a group of us got together and talked about what we could do. Of course, we planned a shower and we said lots of prayers.

Then, we all went out a picked some fabric: one from each of the 12 people in the group. Each person chose a fabric that they felt represented themselves in some way.

Then, once all the fabrics were in my hands and I had some time to think about it, I worked on a special quilt for the baby to come. I was especially happy that my points were pointy.

I used a tutorial that I found on The Little Red Hen Blog. It was simple to put together and fun to quilt. I just wish I had taken more photos of it. I thought for sure that I had done a proper photo shoot, but it must have all happened in my head, because these are all the pictures I have.

After it was all done, I made a back with strips of everyone’s fabric and we all signed it.
With Love.
Ok, baby, it’s time to meet the rest of the world now!

Sweater Love

What are your requirements for a favorite sweater?  For me, they are as follows:

1.  The sweater must fit in length.  Often, sweaters that I buy are too long in the sleeves for me.  What can I say? My arms are short.

2.  The sweater must look good with any outfit, especially jeans.  I am really one of those people that just can’t be bothered with having select outfits.  If a sweater is not flexible in my wardrobe, chances are it will not get worn.

3.  The sweater must be warm.  It’s surprising to me how many sweaters are sold that are not really warm.  Usually this has something to do with a really wide neck line that just makes me feel cold and exposed.   If I feel like I need to wear a scarf with my sweater, I think that my sweater is not really doing its job.

4.  The sweater should be fairly light.  Many times, if a sweater is bulky, it is heavy and restrictive.   Also, they tend to be boxy, which was great in the 80′s, but not so much now.

5.  It should be comfortable to move around in.  I do a lot of stuff in the kitchen and around town, just like any mom.  The last thing I want to feel is my sweater pulling at the armpit or riding up in the back/belly if I reach for something.

6.  The sweater needs to fit comfortably under my coats.  This is harder than you might think.  Modern parkas and coats can be rather snug fitting and I don’t want to have to change sweaters just because I have to put a coat on.  Also, I don’t want to catch my sweater in the zipper–that would just make me cry.

7.  It should look nice, but not be so trendy that I will be embarrassed to wear it in 10 years.  I like my wardrobe to last, especially if I am knitting it myself.

Anyway, I am really happy to say that my newly finished Rosey Pullover sweater fits all my favorite sweater requirements and more.

It is a simple style, yet pretty and classic enough that I think it will be wearable for a long time to come.  And it is really light.  In fact, when I am wearing it, I barely feel the weight of it.  I cannot be more happy with the yarn.  It’s Rowan Felted Tweed.  This stuff is really wonderful.  The yardage is great, it’s light, easy to knit with, and warm without being bulky.

I made a couple of modifications to the pattern.  The first was unintentional.  I had fully intended to make the second size, and I did, down to the armholes.  Somehow, when I was dividing for the body and sleeves, I missed the part where I was supposed to cast on an extra stitches at each armhole!  I was a little worried at first that the body would be too snug, but as you can see, it fits perfectly.  I think it might have been too wide if I had knit the pattern as directed.

To compensate for my mistake on the sleeves, I picked up six stitches at the armholes when I began the sleeves, three on each side of the center marker.  This still meant that I was 6 stitches short, so I knit straight for about 28 rows before I began decreasing.  Also, I omitted the colorwork at the cuffs, not because I did not like it, but because I was knitting while watching Downton Abbey (Love, Love that show and so sad it is over now.) and I did not want to have to look at my knitting and miss any of the show.  Honestly, I don’t miss it and I’m glad I was able to keep working on it.  And the best thing about the sleeves is that they fit my arms!

The last modification I made was to add short rows on the back of the neck before I began the colorwork and on the back, after I divided for the body.  I do this for almost any sweater I make nowadays because I think it just makes the sweater fit better.  Otherwise, this sweater would be symmetrical, front to back, but my body isn’t, so the sweater would probably ride up in the back or scootch up my neck.  The short rows prevent  all the tugging at the neck or back that I often do with sweaters that do not have this feature.

I predict that I will be wearing this sweater a lot.  And I am seriously contemplating making another one, but there are so many other things on my queue.  The problem now is:  Will any sweater I make next be as good as this one?  Hmmm.