Planning the NEXT project.

OK, let's not get into my list of unfinished projects; I am merely doing research at this point. I haven't even purchased the yarn. . . yet.

I decided that I have a hard to fit body. My rear end is too big, I have no waist, and my arms are too short for the standard-sized sweater. I also prefer a neckline that is not too low and a sweater that is long enough to cover the aforementioned over-sized rear end. So I have given up trying to find a sweater pattern that already fits me and I have begun to research how to modify a sweater pattern myself with out botching it up (see previous post).

In my research, I have found a book that I thought I would pass on to others, should you, too, have a hard to fit body. The Twisted Sitters Knit Sweaters, A Knit-to-Fit Workshop by Lynne Vogel, is a sweater making class wrapped up in a paperback book complete with a "hand-out" of a "Fitter List" which you can use to record your knitting journey. For me, this would mean that I could go back and re-write my mistakes and do the pattern again, correctly.

Because the author and her "twisted sisters" dye and spin their own yarn, she advises the reader how to classify yarn using gauge, wraps per inch, and yards per pound etc. This makes it easier to select a substitute yarn for those patterns for which the suggested yarn has been discontinued or is outrageously expensive. On the other hand, you can use the information to rework the pattern to accept another gauge yarn -- something I have not always been too successful with in the past!

All in all, I found the book very useful to my cause and I can't wait to dive in and knit my next sweater to actually fit me. Happy reading! er, um knitting!

Convertible mittens are almost done!

I need a long car ride/vacation so that I can get something done. I was sick last weekend and then all this week, I was so busy at work that I didn't have much time to work on any of the many projects that I have on needles. Neither did I get much work done on the Helping Hands quilt -- but that's for another post! But today I sat down and finished the body of the convertible mittens that I have been making for a friend.

Then as I told you in a previous post, I began using the idea of blogger Rebecca at ChemKnits to create convertible mittens from any pattern. I highly recommend this video if you are interested in trying to make your own convertible mitten. I got the opening made on both mittens and I have knitted the ribbing around the opening on one mitten.

For the ribbing around the opening, I stepped down the needle size from a US 6 to a US 4. I can't imagine getting a size 6 into the stitches. It was really hard to pick them up since I had used such a thick waste yarn.

Winging it has its advantages. I have watched many videos and read a lot of posts on Knitting Paradise.  I have taken a lot of ideas from many places. And  you learn by making mistakes, and I have been learning a lot! It has been fun.

One of the interesting things that I learned concerns picking up stitches. When you pick up the stitches before you open up the mitten, because of the way knitting stitches interlock, there will be one more stitch to pick up on one side then there is on the other. I am glad I saw that somewhere in my "travels" or I might have had an awful mess on my hands.

If I get any further tomorrow, I will post the results. Happy knitting!

Now I am really MAD . . . at myself!

Do you see my mistake? I was just happily knitting along the other night, watching a movie with my BFFs and not paying attention to what I was doing. It wasn't until the next day when I picked up my knitting and found my error. I messed up the braid on the last cross over on the left hand mitten. I was supposed to hold 3stitches in front, but it looks like I held 3 stitches in the back. So now I will have to tink back about 4 rows--on both mittens! Waaaaahhhhhh!

Cabled Convertible Mitten

The cable begins

There is something about cables that just speaks to me. If you remember, my last socks were cabled, but that did not get the cabling out of my system. A friend asked me to make her a pair of convertible mittens a few weeks ago, and since it was finally time to start them, I thought about doing cables, but I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I began looking at the convertible mitten patterns that were out there and it occurred to me that perhaps I could use any mitten pattern that I wanted and just use waste yarn to create the flap.

Fortunately for me, one of the knitting blogs that I follow, ChemKnits, put out a post on just the very idea that I had! In her video, she shows a regular mitten pattern on which she is using a waste yarn method to change to convertible. My plan is to take her idea one step further and add a convertible thumb for texting since I know my friend likes to text.

Here is one of the mittens in progress. I chose a plait instead of a two strand cable. I love the color of this Cascade 220 worsted weight -- it is called dark chocolate. Well, yeah, what else would you call it! The yarn has beautiful stitch definition with what is for me, the perfect amount of stretch in the fibers. It has a firm texture which holds up and does not leave spaces where the cables pull the stitches over.

I decided to knit the mitten from the fingertips to the cuff. Since I have done several socks lately, I realized the toe of a sock closely resembles the fingertip of a mitten. I haven't ever done a pair like that, but hey, why not. Of course, that would make it more difficult to work a mitten with a gusset thumb, so I will use the waste yarn again to work a peasant thumb.
I do have two lessons already learned. For the first, I forgot how a cable pulls the stitches in. That wouldn't be a problem normally because you wouldn't worry if the palm got pulled around a little, but the white waste yarn highlights the fact that the opening and the ribbing that will be knit along the edge will be visible from the back of the hand. So when I make another pair, I will make two more increases (four extra stitches) on the back/braid side of the mitten. This will give enough width across the back of the hand that the opening will not be pulled around.

The waste yarn

The second lesson learned is similar to the first. The mitten turned out pointier than than I care for because the cable is pulling it inward. I think that I would modify the figure 8 cast on and add four extra stitches at the tip so that the end is wider. This would also require fewer increase rows and that would give a rounder look to the top of the mitten.

Until next time, "Happy Knitting!"

I think I like knitting socks!

I love the colors of my Meadow Socks! This was such a fun pair of socks to make just because I love doing cables. They look so complicated and are so easy to do. As I told you in my last post, the yarn maker, Classic Elite Yarns said that Liberty Wool had good stitch definition. I think that is very true here. Even with the color changes, the cables are very clear and are easy to see.


Again, I used Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel. I think that this was my best attempt yet. Not one missed stitch and even with the clear definition of the stitches, the heel looks as smooth as a baby's bottom. And you know they would show up with a yarn like this.

Now on to my next project. . . convertible texting mittens.

Happy knitting!

Helping Hands

Here is the center panel for the charity quilt for Maternity Homes of Fox Valley. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. I think that I did a pretty good job of balancing the color and value of the hands as I arranged them. The hearts were an unexpected feature. Some of the hands that were drawn onto the Pellon Wonder Under Fusible Webbing were drawn on the glue side. You would think that it would not be an issue, however, that meant that the pencil marks ended up between the glue and the fabric. So for the two or 3 hands that were ironed onto light colored fabric, I could see the name written on the hand. So was born the heart idea. I then spread some more hearts around to balance out the look. I got the heart-in-hand block after all!

My plan is to do an irregular piano key boarder similar to the Heartfelt quilt that I finished a couple of weeks ago. I don't have any thing else that would be appropriate and it will bring all the colors out to the border. The second border will be white again and I may put more hands in it, but it will mostly depend upon what I have left over after creating the piano keys.

For the binding, I am going to make it striped from the hand dyed fabric. I need to remember to cut that before I start any hands for the border--I certainly don't want to get done and not know what I will use for binding. I will have no choice but to purchase fabric for the back. I don't have enough hand dyed to make the back so I will buy a white muslin. Hancock's of Paducah has a bleached muslin in a 108 inch width. That will be wide enough so that there will not have to be a seam in the back.

Happy quilting!