Wrist warmers are finished. . .next sweater decided.

These were a quick knit! I finished them just a few minutes ago and am wearing them now as I type up this post. I think that they will be plenty warm for work and I love the color. They are a little snug around my fingers so I hope that they don't interfere too much with my typing.

Now I have to find another project to keep me busy for a few days as I don't have the money to buy the yarn for my next sweater.

My next sweater comes from the newly released book by Connie Chang Chinchio, Textured Stitches. This book is stuffed full of wonderful patterns which are beautifully photographed and well illustrated. It was hard to choose, but my choice for the first sweater from this book is the Raindrop Cardigan.

This open, buttonless jacket style sweater is simple and elegant. The front is plain stocking stitch with ribbed collar. But the best part of the sweater is the back panel. The "bud stitch" on the back is striking and resembles a cross between a pussy willow and the eye on a peacock feather. I think that I am going to try to knit this sweater in a silk blend. I'm going to have a hard time waiting to order the yarn. Oh well, I will just have to get a couple of quick stash busters made.

Happy knitting!

Sweater finished! On to next project.

Merry Christmas!!!

I finished my Chocolate Diamond sweater earlier in the week and as promised in my last post, I wore it to work one day and an open house for Maternity Homes of Fox Valley later that evening. I also wore it to my father's house for our family Christmas celebrations. Unfortunately, we have been getting some unseasonably warm weather this December, so the sweater didn't stay on too long. It certainly is a WARM sweater.

It was fun to wear it to the event for MHFV. Some of the other attendees had seen me working on the sweater and were appreciative of the finished results. It is always nice to have people pay attention.

I have been working on a new project the last couple of days. A pair of wrist warmers for work. My desk sits next to a window in a  year old building and the cold air rushes down off the window and across the desk. Wrist warmers will go a long way to making my hands stay warm. I am just winging the pattern as I just wanted to get started. After making a quick sample with yarn to get my gauge. I am just knitting up a plain stocking stitch with ribbed top and bottom.

I am using Washable Ewe yarn from Red Heart (Coats and Clark). It is a 100% super wash wool in a bright pink colorway called "icing". I actually think "bubblegum" when I see the color.

This wool has a sheen and feels slick when running through my fingers. It took awhile to adjust to the slipperiness of the yarn after working with the Wool of the Andes bulky that I used for my Chocolate Diamonds sweater.  I actually had to wrap it around my pinky finger three times before I could control the yarn.

I am going to work a peasant thumb as I did with my Convertible Mittens. This time, however, I did not make quite as wide an opening as I did with the Convertible Mittens so I should not have to do the emergency surgery with the Kitchener stitch.  As you can see from the picture, I have make pretty good progress and am on the ribbing on the wrist. I am planning to knit about 8 inches of ribbing so that when I wear 3/4 length sleeves it will keep my lower arms warm too.

I am also planning my next sweater. I have chosen an open jacket type sweater which I will fill you in on next time. I am looking at possible yarns -- I am thinking a silk/wool blend as I would like a smooth sheen to the fabric.

Happy knitting!!!!

Off the Needles: Chocolate Diamonds Sweater

I have finally finished knitting all the pieces for my Chocolate Diamond Sweater. I am really happy with the way that it turned out. As you can see from the picture above, the diamond pattern really shows up. I got up early this morning so that I could block the sleeves before leaving for church. They were dry by the time we got home so then I pinned and blocked the back and front of the sweater. 

The picture above of the sleeves is a better representation of the color. I think that the morning light coming into my spare bedroom is much better to show color than the afternoon sun. As I noted in a previous post, I really like this Wool of the Andes Bulky by Knit Picks. I haven't found anything that I don't like about it and I am interested in working with the worsted weight variety.

I think that I am definitely getting sweater fever. I am annoying co-workers by staring at the sweaters they wear. I am always looking to see how different sweaters are designed and how a particular look was constructed.

In constructing this sweater, I used a loose, long-tail cast-on. I think that this is my favorite cast-on thus far. It you have never tried this method before, I think that KnittingHelp.com has one of the best videos for the method. It is easy, fast and has plenty of stretch for a ribbed bottom. If you have not tried this cast-on, I highly recommend it.

I am hoping that I can get the sweater put together in time to wear it to work one day this week before Christmas. I have a pale blue collared blouse that I can wear under it.

Happy Knitting!

Frog Report

frog: to unravel a knitted garment. Also frog stitch v., to intentionally rip out a seam, and n., an intentionally ripped seam.

The following items are no more:


Afghan  if you can't finish something in 10 years -- it isn't meant to be finished.
Lace Scarf after knitting 200 rows and only having 20 rows to show for it -- it isn't meant to be finished.


Frogging is hard to start and a relief to finish.

Happy knitting, er frogging!

Plarn, the green yarn?

Over the past week, I spent some time in one of my favorite internet communities, Knitting Paradise, and learned something new. If you have never heard of Knitting Paradise or have never spent time there, it is a great way to get answers from more experienced knitters, share your latest finished project or just shoot the breeze with fellow knitters. It seems like I am always coming away with something useful, fun or interesting.

In this case, I learned about "plarn". Plarn is a portmanteau (or a blending of two words to make a new one) made of plastic and yarn. It is a great way to do what many plastic bags have printed directly on them: "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse"!

Making plarn is easy and there are a lot of good websites (see below) out there that show step by step how to make it, so I am not planning to reinvent the wheel here and shoot more plarn-making photos. But I wanted to share the project I am working on and a couple of lessons I have learned.

I decided that I wanted to try a shopping tote. (Not only is it useful, but I find it humorously redundant.) I chose to make the tote rather small as I wanted to try out the whole plarn thing without taking forever to complete something -- what a waste (humor alert) to throw out a bunch of good plarn if you don't finish the project. However, if I finish the tote, use it conscientiously, then I will soon deplete my never ending supply of shopping bags. . .

Plarn was easier for me to crochet than knit, I think it is because it does not give much and since I knit fairly tight, there was no give to slip the working needle into the plarn.

Making plarn is easy and monotonous. My preferred method quickly became: fold one bag, cut it up, and crochet it, go to the next bag, repeat.

Crocheting plarn is tiring on your hands. Again I will chalk this up to the lack of give/stretch. So it will be something that I pick up for an hour or so at a time when I am tired of working on a long term project like a sweater or quilt.

Check the bag before cutting it. Some bags are so thin that they have a tear in it which occurred  its prior use and your loop wont be a loop.

Since I do most of my shopping at one local grocery store, most all of my bags are white with red and green printing. You don't really see most of the red or green, but it shows up like speckles in the white, much like a tweed yarn.

I used a cut width of about 1 1/2 inches, but I certainly did not use a ruler, I just eyeballed it.

Happy knitting, um er, crocheting!

Good, step by step, how to make and use plarn websites:

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/how-tuesday-how-to-make-plarn-crochet-an-eco-friendly-tote-b/

http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/06/19/yearn-worthy-yarn-plarn/

http://www.plasticbagcrafts.com/make-plarn/

http://diyfashion.about.com/od/diyfashion101/tp/Plarn.htm

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/plarn_items.php

http://www.myrecycledbags.com/my-pattern-links/

http://debsgoinggreen.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-plarn-patterns.html