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Category: project – Lemonade Wrist Warmers

Yes, there is knitting

A month has passed all too quickly. And truthfully I was not knitting through all of it. It was just one of those time when RL and lack of motivation conspired…..

There were actually several times when I planned to knit, wanted to knit, but somehow just didn't. I even enjoyed knitting the scarf even though it was a boring rectangle.

I thought I would finish it Thanksgiving day and spent the morning figuring out my next project. But I didn't finish until Friday, and I didn't block the scarf until Sunday…..and…and…and…

But here it is. This is all you get. I spent the day in my pajamas, probably for the first time in several years, with one of the worst colds I have had in a few years as well. At least I am getting it out of the way early in the season

Needless to say there is more knitting and I will update you on that tomorrow, or the next day, depending on just how the days go. Usually my colds don't last long so I am hoping that I can catch up tomorrow on all those things I didn't do today.

In the meantime I am not knitting particularly fast or efficiently, but I am still making good progress because it is one of the few things I can do without moving my head from the back of my chair.

Here is the scarf with the fingerless mitts:

I am looking forward to wearing them.

December 2, 2008
Two Gloves and now a scarf

The gloves have actually been finished since Thursday.

I do adore them and wonder why I took so long to make a pair. Too bad they are (supposed to be) a gift. Temptation is great.

And now for moving on to the coordinating scarf. That too is progressing, although the beginning was somewhat rocky.

I knew, when I purchased the yarn, that I wanted to knit a scarf inspired by something in Scarf Style.
As I hadn't actually cast on yet, I dutifully took the book, plus an assortment of needles in appropriate sizes with me to knitting group. I flipped through the pages of the book but somehow nothing really inspired me. I knew that there was something in that book that had really captured my imagination, but it wasn't happening on Thursday night. I randomly picked a pattern that looked nice and started. A couple of rows in I hated it. Rip.

I thought I would perhaps make a scarf using the same cable pattern from the gloves, so I figured out my repeats and cast on. Well, you know what happened. I got through one repeat and decided I hated it. I did not want a cabled cardigan. Rip.

This was beginning to get to me. I remembered a simple alternating knit and purl pattern and cast on. This time I got about 4 inches of scarf knitted. It looked nice enough but was not particularly inspiring, and I was already bored to tears. I wasn't even half way through the first skein; the thought of four more skeins was enough to make my heart sink well below my shoes. This simply was not going to do. But I left the scarf on the needles, hoping for a bit of inspiration.

Friday morning I ripped again.

Then, as I was putting Scarf Style back on the shelf, I happened to flip through the pages one last time. Inspiration struck.

This was the pattern I was looking for. Actually this is not the pattern that originally inspired me, but it is the pattern that I want to knit RIGHT NOW. It is the pattern I want to knit with this yarn. Therefore it is perfect.

The pattern is Midwest Moonlight by Ivy Bigelow. The repeat is easy enough to remember and it is also easy to find one's place if one gets distracted and forgets where one left off. The repeat is long enough to be interesting but short enough not to be boring. I actually think I can manage to knit up all 5 skeins before pulling out my hair, even without interesting shaping or the development of pretty color changes.

Actually we will have to see how bored I am by the time I have knitted a few balls of yarn. We will see how it serves me during this longest night of voting results. But it gives me time to figure out what I want to knit next.

November 4, 2008
One Wrist Warmer Finished and A Few Changes

Knitting has progressed in fits and starts, with judicious periods of ripping.

The wrist-warmers have been moving along rather quickly, given the limited amount of time I have devoted to knitting them. I did eagerly stay up one night determined to finish the top hem only to be disappointed in the end result.

They did not look better in the morning:

The problem was with the way the opening flared out at the fingers. It was not attractive and it felt bulky when they were on the hand. I checked the pattern and I had correctly followed the directions. I also checked the Vogue Knitting website to see if any corrections had been posted, but there were none.

Then I ripped and redid the hem.

According to the pattern, the hem at the wrist end was knitted over 44 stitches and then the number of stitches was increased to 66 stitches after finishing the hem. When it came time to make the hem at the finger end, the total number of stitches had already been decreased to 60 stitches, but it still looked like too many stitches were on the needle for the hem. So on the first row of the hem I simply repeated a K1, K2tog sequence around the circumference of the glove, ending up with 40 stitches. Then I knit the hem with and turned it up, sewing the live stitches to the beginning of the hem stitches on the inside. This was much better.

When I looked at the instructions for picking up the thumb stitches, it looked to me like I was going to have the same problem. I had 10 stitches on the holder and I was to pick up and knit 14 more stitches for a total of 24. This looked too bulky to me, but I wasn't sure I wanted to decrease the number of stitches by 1/3 to 16. I cheated a little bit and knit two stitches together twice on each needle, reducing my stitch count from 8 on each needle to 6 on each needle and a total stitch count of 18. This worked beautifully. I probably could have gotten away with 16 stitches also.

Notice that the hem looks much neater here and does not flare out at the finger-end.

Here is the finished wrist-warmer on my hand. The fit is much better.

October 24, 2008
Fiddle

There I have done it, I have messed up again.

This time however I am not going to rip it out.

I was knitting away and it came time to make a cross in the cable pattern. It is a pretty simple pattern, and it was quite easy to remember, well I thought it was quite easy to remember. I had the pattern with me but it was out in the car and I was much to lazy to get up and walk outside and get it so I just did the second cable cross in the pattern the same way I had done the first. Mistake. My cable is not as interesting as the original — I should have reversed the direction of the crosses. By the time I noticed I was ready for the next cross.

But these are still looking nice and will be appreciated by the recipient, who really will not notice that the cable is not the one I originally intended. So I am going ahead.

I am enjoying knitting these so much anyway that I might even make another pair. Perhaps I will do the crosses properly and then it will be like knitting an entirely different pattern.

October 17, 2008
Knitting Update

I believe I implied the other day that there was nothing to show on the knitting front. That was not exactly true. Work on the Gedifra vest has been progressing well. I was just a bit cautious because I wanted to avoid excess ripping should there still be a problem with the gauge.

I didn't want to get very far on the front until I had the back on the blocking board and could confirm that the final measurements and gauge were still on target. Once I got the back blocked, I was more than ready to knit the front and it went quickly.

Here are both pieces, although only half of the back is visible in this photograph.

I am getting really excited about this project, although I am beginning to fret about the available yarn and fear that I may run out before the project is finished. I have 2 skeins left of the original 8. Each front piece seems to be bigger than half of the back, so I am thinking that I will need more than 1/4 of the original yarn. There are also two leftover bits from previous skeins, combined they weigh another 25 grams (each skein is 100 grams). I can also harvest another 25 grams of yarn from the two swatches, but the problem with this last 50 grams is that it is in four pieces so I might loose a little bit at the joins, unless I am really good with my spit-splicing. 250 grams ought to do it, don't you think?

As I mentioned in my last post, I have also started another project, this one on size 3 needles. It is a relief from the size 13 needles I am using for the Gedifra Vest.

I'm calling them Lemonade Wrist Warmers because I hate the term "arm cozies". The color isn't quite lemonade color, but that is the closest thing I can think of.

Isn't the gauge contrast wonderful?

October 13, 2008