Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Moving on....



Yes, it's done. I actually cast off the final stitches on the newest Dale of Norway Albertville colorway around the end of February, but then I had do all the finishing work... Sewing the edges before cutting, then picking up for the neck and knitting the neckband, tacking that baby down, then sewing in the sleeves. You know, all that detail work that I SOOOOO try to avoid doing... LOL!
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I really do have to take both sweaters outside (the white and the red) so you can get a true sense of the colors, but it's after dark now and I simply couldn't wait any longer. I'd hoped to get this update done this past weekend, but I was busy cleaning instead. Now, yes, normally that's another subject I avoid like the Black Plague, but when a great friend comes over and offers to help, you pick up the cleaning clothes and go to town. What she and I accomplished through teamwork in three hours would have taken me a week.
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Anyway, so here's another view. I did get it all put together and then I spent Sunday washing all my sweaters and I tried hanging them on the fence to dry. Needless to say, I didn't get them out there soon enough. They were still damp, so I grabbed the old stackable sweater dryers and laid them out in the basement. Give them a day or two (and keep the durned door closed extra tight so the cats don't think I've spent all that time knitting them a new bed) and...
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Whallah!!!
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But, of course, that's not the end of it. There's always another picture that can be posted..........
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Yes, I do have an upclose and personal of the neck. I do think this one turned out even better than the white one. On the white, I followed the DoN directions and cast off for the neck stitches and then went back later and picked them up for the neckband. But there were some really odd jogs in how they cast off, so there's one place right on the front of the neckband that I was NOT happy about. No, no one else has noticed or they haven't commented, but I'm not happy and I knit for myself, right?
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So I did this one different. Similiar to how Philosopher's Wool do their sweaters, I knit the body right on up to the shoulders, casting off nothing for the neck, but I did place markers along the lines where they wanted me to do the casting off. Then, once the body was all knitted and nice right up to the last row, I sewed a seam around those markers for the neckline, picked up stitches outside that machine-sewed seam and knit the neckband, then cut away all excess from inside the seams. I tacked down the neckband stitches without casting off (stitching down "live" stitches) and I'm much happier with how this turned out.
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I didn't run out and buy yarn to start Barcelona. Because it was the end of the month and money wasn't exactly flowing (hmmm..... mortgage or yarn? Choices, choices... LOL!), I ran over to Michaels and found Patons 100% wool on sale for $4.00 a 100 gram skein. Ten skeins in the basket and I had an idea that was floating around. Very simple. Very plain. I think I wrote about this in my last post where I was going to try an Aran design and even got about 20 rows into the design, but then frogged the whole thing. I hated it. So I'm doing a very simple pattern based on 3 stitches. k2tog, yo, k1. That's it. That's all there is. But the pattern is based around the Fibbonucci sequence where the plain rows in-between grow in number.
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I actually kind of like this one. It's a very quick knit in worsted weight yarn and I'm trying some other new stuff. I think I'm going to try a boatneck as opposed to the typical ribbed and rounded neck. I just finished the body today and cast off the neckline stitches. I'm going to wait to do a 3-needle bindoff on the shoulders until after I've sewn the seams for cutting the armholes. Then I'll do a 3-needle bindoff and see if the neckline works. I did add a few shortrows along the back of the sweater because I hate to see a boatneck that rides low along the shoulders in the back. I don't want it really high in front, but I don't want it riding low in back either. So I'm hoping that adding shortrows near the end and just in the middle where I cast off for the neck should help shape along that neck curve.
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Also, at that point, I'll be able to see if I want to add something besides a simple cast off edge. If it looks too unfinished, I might just add a single crochet along the neck for stability, but I won't know until I get to that point.
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For my birthday, Mom bought me a copy of Meg Swanson's "A Gathering of Lace" and EZ's "The Opinionated Knitter". It's this second book that I'm going to use for my next sweater. I ordered a whole bunch of yarn today from KnitPicks. Wool of the Andes, worsted weight. 7 skeins of Bare and 14 skeins of Jalapeno. I'm going to take her ideas from her second newsletter and do a colorwork, but somewhat simple design. I figure use the Bare for the background and just play with a whole variety of stitch patterns from EZ's 2nd and 3rd newsletters. Two or three rows of plain stockinette in Bare between each pattern and that's it. Try to vary the size of the designs from tall to short, wide to narrow, small to large. See how many I can incorporate into one garment should be a challenge in itself. The ribbing will be done in Bare, but I'm going to do a two-color cast-on so the actual edge will be in the Jalapeno, which will tie the ribbing into the rest of the sweater.
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I have no clue what I'll do for the neck yet. I'll figure that out when I get there... LOL!
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Let's see.... in other areas of my life... I'm still talking with insurance companies. Lots of rhetoric which I think will mean we'll get screwed in the end. (Gee, there's a surprise! /g/) As I've already said, I've begun the spring housecleaning and getting things in order. I still have some other issues on my plate that I haven't been able to clear yet (a very dear aunt-in-law who's suffering dementia and the dental work continues, though that should be done in another two appointments... yeah!!!!) and, of course, the two jobs. But I just keep knitting and I keep working my way through things as they come up. Some days I feel like I'm making lists to remember which list of "to do things" are more important, but at least the lists are beginning to get smaller as I'm actually able to cross stuff off.
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I still have my anti-anxiety medication, but I'm now finding that I have good days and bad days. On the good days, I only need to take the meds a few times. On the bad days, I need it like clockwork. But the good days are happening more often and that's what's important. The other thing I did was cut my dosage in half again. The original dosage was 1 mg. That made me nervous, so I cut that in half right from the get-go and only took 0.5 mg. Now I can cut those pills in half and do well with 0.25 mg at a time. The prescription was designed for a 30-day supply. I'm already at 50 days and doing well. Getting low, but I still have at least another 5 days or so before I have to worry about running out.
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Course, the whole purpose of this is to simply deal with all those things that have been on my plate. Like any normal human being, I'd much rather run off into the sunset and forget responsibility for things like insurance companies and elderly services. Unfortunately, I'm not made that way. I wish I could be like some people and simply ignore the things I don't want to deal with, hoping they'll disappear if I just don't look. But I wasn't raised that way and it's simply not in my nature. Hence the panic attacks. So, the only way to make the panic disappear is to deal with the nasties. One day at a time. One step at a time. I time it so phone calls are made after I've taken my meds and can deal with whatever crops up without needing to step outside and scream like a raving lunatic.... /wry g/
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But, rather than scare the bejesus out of the poor students who have to catch the bus near my booth, I knit like a maniac instead. I'm on the last sleeve of my third sweater since the beginning of the year and two of those were DoN patterns. It's almost funny but Mom and I were sniping at each other at work the other night. She admitted that she's jealous sometimes because I get 8 hours a day for 32 weeks every year to do nothing but knit. Me? I'm jealous of the fact that she only has one job and her hours are her own. She can be as flexible as she wants while I'm stuck in a booth, trapped in my little glass and aluminum cage. I never imagined that someone would be jealous of the fact that I sit and knit all day. But I'm sure she's not alone. OTOH, just remember that unless you've been stuck in that cage for three years, it's not quite all it's cracked up to be. Yes, 3 sweaters in 3 months. I'll definitely have sweaters to show for it. And I certainly think I'll have no problem finishing another one (or two) before I'm off for the summer. But it's another thing when you have tons of other things you've got waiting for you once you step outside again.
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As Atticus Finch said in "To Kill A Mockingbird" (yes, read my profile, it's one of my all-time fave movies).... You never really know a man until you've stepped into his shoes and walked around a while. I never, in my wildest imaginings, figured someone could be jealous of my life. If that ain't a pisser, I don't know what is...
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LOL!
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Keep your fingers crossed for sunny days this weekend. Dee has promised to help me get full sun pics of my sweaters. And, if I keep my little fingers flying, I just might have the latest off the needles by then also. I can pretty much guarantee it won't be washed and blocked, but it just might be done.
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Oh, and before I forget, please, please, if you're looking for some wonderful soothing music for your ears... Please download Marc Enfroy's Unbounded from iTunes. David Reidy had played a tune or two of his on his Sticks & String podcast and I downloaded the whole thing. Wow!!!! His piece called On To Forever is simply one of the prettiest instrumentals I've ever heard in my life. Every track is like listening to nirvana, but that one is simply heavenly. Definitely support his music. I'm hoping for a new album soon.
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Seriously, I'm saying tata. I'll try to be back this weekend.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Red Albertville Almost Completed


Let's start with the close-up of the big pattern. I think it really came out well. I knew in my heart that the tangelo would work with the red, but I'm not that thrilled with the "brown". Knitpicks doesn't offer as much color variety in their Telemark yarn as they do in their Palette line, so I didn't have much choice in the brown. This one is called "chestnut", but the orange and red make it look a bit more grey than I'd have liked. I'd wanted a rich, deep, chocolately brown. This one is more of an ash brown. But, what the heck.... It worked overall.
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The important point was not to destroy the beautiful variation in the kettle-dye of the red and that worked beautifully. Now, here's the photo of the body with the sleeves kind of set in place, though I haven't finished the project yet. Mom wants to watch me actually steek this thing, so it's a matter of us getting together for me to be able to finish it.
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Also, note that the body sort of bows at the solid middle. This is where there were no colors being carried in the background, but that should smooth out once I get the thing finished and blocked. Another note, which is really hard to see is there are markers along the neckline.
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Unlike the last sweater where I followed the directions from Dale and cast off stitches for the neckline in both the front and back, I just knit this sucker all the way to the top. I put in stitch markers where I want the neck to be, but I'm going to steek this also. I knit the body all the way to the top. (Follow me here with the line of thinking... /g/) I began and ended rows over at one of the side seams, so I purled the last row across the front half of the first shoulder, I cast off the stitches for the neck (making sure that I had the same number of stitches for each shoulder and both the front and back neck), then I purled across the entire second shoulder, cast off the stitches for the back neck and then purled across the back half of the first shoulder side. Follow that one? Okay, then I simply did a 3-needle bind-off across the first shoulder, broke the yarn and then did a 3-needle bind-off on the second shoulder.
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Sewing the steek seams will be a little trying right up at those closed shoulder seams, but it's doable. But, before I put the sewing machine away, I'll baste a quick contrasting color along where I want to place the neckband. Then I'll sew my two seams long that line, pick up my stitches for the neckband, knit those, cast off and then cut out all the excess material inside the machine sewed seams. Sew down the neck facing over that cutaway seam so it's nice and tidy and then I'll cut open the steeks for the sleeves, sew them in, sew down the facings and I'll be ready to wash and block.
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Easy as pie. Very simple to do. Now, the reason that I purl the last row up at the shoulders is because it adds to the 3-needle bind-off "design" element. You get the purl bumps on the last row on each side of the seam and then the bumps from the seam itself. I prefer this rather than leaving just the seam. Then it sort of stands out as a singular feature rather than blending over a couple rows. I like the 3-needle bind-off because it adds stability for the one seam that will really carry the weight of the sweater. Think of it. A drop-shoulder sweater really hangs from the shoulder seams. Yes, I could graft and Kitchener the seam for a seamless look, but you've got all the weight on that one area. So the 3-needle bind-off adds a bit of strength to take the wear and tear of several years of the sweater weight hanging on those two seams.
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And I have to admit that this one worked up REALLY quickly. I cast on for the ribbing on Feb 4th and cast off the last sleeve on Feb 27th. First is because I'd just worked this pattern, so I was a lot more familiar with the graphs and how the whole thing came together. Second is testament to just how much time I have at my job to knit. I probably still have well over 100 hours invested, but that's how little I have to do at my actual job. Everyone on campus calls my post "the country club", but I tell them to come try and deal with the boredom. If I weren't a knitter, I swear I would have quit three years ago when they first moved me there. Either that or I'd do all my sleeping while at work and spend a lot more time at home cleaning... LOL!
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Other news is that Mama Bear is ready to come out of hibernation. I accomplished two very important tasks this week. I filed our tax return. A job I always dread because every year we seem to get back less and less. In fact, this year, when I saw that our return was less than half of what we'd gotten last year, I made a trip over to H&R Block to see if they could find out why. Maybe I forgot something? Well, at the end of the tax session, they had even less than I did for a return. So I thanked them profusely for their time and filed my own return rather than lose yet another $1000. The lady figures I must have added something that shouldn't be there, but I think it's more that I probably forgot to give her some number that I'd added to my own return. Either way, I could pay them $187 to file a return for a $389 rebate or I could file my own return for $23 and get a $1289 rebate. Hmm.... choices, choices... NOT! /g/
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The other thing I accomplished was to get the final letter off to insurance companies. Geez... will this accident stuff never end? I responded with what I feel is a fair offer to both. I received a phone call the other day regarding the first letter I sent. I tried to call back, but it looks like we're going to play phone tag. I'll try again tomorrow and see what happens.
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I think I've said before that I did try to hire an attorney to handle this part for us, but would you believe that I couldn't get an attorney to return my phone call? So I finally just up and handled it myself. I'm not a lawyer. I have no legal expertise at all. But I do have a working brain with brain cells that actually function. I'm willing to talk. I might even be willing to negotiate. But only to a degree. My daughter is still having visual problems and Mama Bear is going to protect the interest of her oldest young'un.
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Okay, that's said. I have a new sweater on the needles. I'm sort of making this up as I go. I found some 100% Patons wool on sale at Michaels. (We need to save wherever possible because Hubby is being furloughed at work and we're currently losing approximately $600 a month in income. Yes, I should be forgetting about buying yarn, but knitting is my sanity so it's most definitely not considered a luxury or entertainment item in our budget. It's as necessary as oil for heat... LOL!) Anyway, I swatched for gauge and I'm doing a very basic pullover using the Fibbonucci (sp?) sequence. I knit 3" of ribbing, then knit one row stockinette, then inserted a basic pattern of *k2tog, yo, k1*. Then I knit 2 rows of st st, pattern row. 3 (1 + 2) rows of st st, pattern row. 5 (2 + 3) rows of st st, pattern row. 8 (3 + 5) rows of st st, pattern row. See how the sequence adds? You keep increasing the number by adding together the last two numbers so the pattern rows will grow further and further apart.
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I knit one sleeve first because I wanted to get an idea of how wide it was. Yes, another drop-shouldered sweater where I'll steek both the neck and sleeves like I've done with the DoN patterns. But, and here's where it gets tricky, I've kept the pattern rows all the way around the sweater. But I don't want to sew in a sleeve onto a section with a pattern "hole". So, once I reach the point where the sleeves will join, I'm going to keep 3-4 stitches on each side of the side seam in plain st st. IOW, suspend the pattern for those stitches where I'll later cut open for the steeks. This way, I have a nice smooth line at the sleeve openings when I later sew in the sleeves. I won't know about the neck opening until I get that far, but I'd also prefer not to have to pick up neck stitches through this patterned row, but I'll see when I get that far.
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I sure hope all of this is making sense or I might as well be talking to myself. Course, I do that a lot anyway, so no one should be surprised.
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This week I'm off. Spring Break for the kids at college. I'm going away for a few days to a gorgeous inn in Northwest CT. Mom is treating me for my birthday and I'm going to bring my wheel. I have 3 lbs of BFL to make into yarn for another sweater, so I have tons of spinning to do. Think of it. A canopied bed. A fireplace in the sitting area where I can sit and spin by the hour. A DVD player so we can bring lots of old movies to sit and enjoy. Two days of no chores, no expectations, no schedule. Just relaxation, old movies and my wheel. I haven't done this in... well, like forever. I think the last time I took time just to sit and relax was our first trip to Indiana in 1996. It was Sunday morning and I looked at the DH and said, "I'll be back". I took the car, drove to a local McDonald's and had breakfast alone. I sat there for almost an hour and a half and just worked on my laptop. (I wrote a quick story that later netted me $800. A very nice boon... LOL!)
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Today is laundry, making a list of what I need to pack and, hopefully, get the alpaca off my bobbin so I can take the BFL with me when I leave on Tuesday. I'm not sure I'll actually get it off the bobbin, because I need a second bobbin spun up to ply it with. But at least get this one spun up so I can leave with a fresh new bobbin to spin with.
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Have a wonderful week!! Drop me a note either here or over at bonneewolf@yahoo.com I still wonder if people actually read this. Probably not many because I'm SO bad at adding pictures to explain what I'm talking about in my knitting. Maybe I'll add that to my list of "to do" this year... Be better at pictures. It's a goal and goals are good things to keep us aspiring to be better people.