It's D Day for the Babies and Bears Sweater for Grown-ups. Is it finished? Are there pictures? Did she do it? Okay, here's the story. I was doing fine, right on schedule until Tuesday afternoon. Then the vida loca got really loca. No, this isn't a "dog ate my homework" excuse. The sweater will be completely knitted in a few rows/half hours. It's the finishing, blocking and photographing that might not make it. Especially if I go on blogging . . .
Bona Fide Knitter
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Monday, January 8, 2007
I'm No Expert
The weekend went and my knitting didn't. I thought I'd give my sometimes achy fingers and wrist a rest on Saturday. The rest of me was feeling poorly on Sunday, so the B & B Jacket for Grown-Ups did not get it's just desserts. I did get the border started.
This might be a good time to tell you I'm no expert knitter, if you haven't figured that out already. The knitting blogs I read have such wonderful projects completed and pictured, and so many! These knitters know what they're doing and are fast and prolific. I'm fastidious and procrastinating. The new me, the blogging me, will get the job done eventually. I still aim to meet my Thursday deadline for the jacket even if I do have an appointment tomorrow and a day in New York on Wednesday. I work best under time constraints.
Since I am really a plodding-along 'Advanced Beginner' or 'Intermediate' knitter who will take on any knitting challenge, including 'Advanced' and 'Expert' I thought I'd share with you the books that have been most helpful to me in my knitting journey:
Knitter's Handbook - Montse Stanley
The first knitting reference book I purchased in recent history. It was the only one available the day I went to JoAnn Fabrics in Hyannis, MA with a 40% off coupon. The book is "A comprehensive guide to the principles and techniques of handknitting"--really!
Knitter's Companion - Vicki Square
I needed a smaller reference book to carry in my knitting tote. It's a flip book with concise explanations and clear drawings. Loaded with information!
Learn to Knit Socks - Edie Eckman
An easy-peasy lesson on knitting socks. Calls for DK weight yarn and US 3 needles so your first sock doesn't take a lifetime to complete. Ya gotta love it.
Folk Socks - Nancy Bush
A great history on knitting socks and stockings and instructions for knitting a variety of heels and toes along with some very wonderful sock patterns.
The Knitting Experience Book 1: The Knit Stitch - Sally Melville
The book that made me a Bona Fide Knitter! I got more knitting instruction out of this book than any other and I have many. This book's concentration on KNIT was just what I needed and in the quantity I needed.
Those are just my favorites. I am not claiming that they are the best. I have no affiliation yada yada (NAYY).
Time to knit or cut bait,
Bona Fide Knitter
This might be a good time to tell you I'm no expert knitter, if you haven't figured that out already. The knitting blogs I read have such wonderful projects completed and pictured, and so many! These knitters know what they're doing and are fast and prolific. I'm fastidious and procrastinating. The new me, the blogging me, will get the job done eventually. I still aim to meet my Thursday deadline for the jacket even if I do have an appointment tomorrow and a day in New York on Wednesday. I work best under time constraints.
Since I am really a plodding-along 'Advanced Beginner' or 'Intermediate' knitter who will take on any knitting challenge, including 'Advanced' and 'Expert' I thought I'd share with you the books that have been most helpful to me in my knitting journey:
Knitter's Handbook - Montse Stanley
The first knitting reference book I purchased in recent history. It was the only one available the day I went to JoAnn Fabrics in Hyannis, MA with a 40% off coupon. The book is "A comprehensive guide to the principles and techniques of handknitting"--really!
Knitter's Companion - Vicki Square
I needed a smaller reference book to carry in my knitting tote. It's a flip book with concise explanations and clear drawings. Loaded with information!
Learn to Knit Socks - Edie Eckman
An easy-peasy lesson on knitting socks. Calls for DK weight yarn and US 3 needles so your first sock doesn't take a lifetime to complete. Ya gotta love it.
Folk Socks - Nancy Bush
A great history on knitting socks and stockings and instructions for knitting a variety of heels and toes along with some very wonderful sock patterns.
The Knitting Experience Book 1: The Knit Stitch - Sally Melville
The book that made me a Bona Fide Knitter! I got more knitting instruction out of this book than any other and I have many. This book's concentration on KNIT was just what I needed and in the quantity I needed.
Those are just my favorites. I am not claiming that they are the best. I have no affiliation yada yada (NAYY).
Time to knit or cut bait,
Bona Fide Knitter
Friday, January 5, 2007
Making Progress
I finished the second half of the Babies and Bears Jacket for Grown-Ups. Yes, that is a picture of the right half, not the left half turned over to fool you. I have woven the two sides together down the back. Oh boy, was that a long bit of Kitchenering! "Knit off, purl on, purl off, knit on, knit off . . . " I will have the border complete and the sweater blocked and ready to wear by my self-imposed completion date of January 11, 2007 for sure.
I've taken a good look at the projects I have started and it's time to get a grip! All these projects started and nothing finished is part of the clutter in my life. It's time for a change. I have decided to finish the baby sweater next. I got it out and was surprised to see how close I had come to the end before I abandoned it for something else. It's a sweater for a baby for goodness sake! How long could it possibly take?!!! Well, the baby it was meant for is in first grade now. There's another family baby due this year. This time the sweater and hat will be ready and waiting.
I have only the right side to finish, make the border, sew on the little crayon buttons and make the hat. I can do that!I've taken a good look at the projects I have started and it's time to get a grip! All these projects started and nothing finished is part of the clutter in my life. It's time for a change. I have decided to finish the baby sweater next. I got it out and was surprised to see how close I had come to the end before I abandoned it for something else. It's a sweater for a baby for goodness sake! How long could it possibly take?!!! Well, the baby it was meant for is in first grade now. There's another family baby due this year. This time the sweater and hat will be ready and waiting.
My modified version of my mentor's Three Project Rule might be just the tonic I need.
Bona Fide Knitter
Thursday, January 4, 2007
LWDs
You know of my UFOs so now you must meet my LWDs (Little White Dogs).
The first is Snowball. Look at that face! Isn't he the cutest?!!! That's why I named him Absolutest Cutest Snowball. Okay, so I had to coin a word to describe him. He's a lap dog and a cuddly caretaker. He loves everybody. He'll lick your wounds and wash your face. Never open your mouth to say 'Hi' to him with your face too close to his. He's a great French kisser. Fast too!
The second is Icecream (one word). She's the protector, but don't let her steely stare fool you. She's a pushover for a belly rub. Her full name is French Vanilla Icecream. She likes to kiss your face (if she knows you) and blitz (run as fast as lightning). Her mission in life is to get the squeak out of all squeaking plush toys. She's like a surgeon!
My furkids' breed is Bichon Frise. They were both born in 1996, Snowball in April and Icecream in December. They're related by adoption only and they've been neutered and spayed. We call them Ice and Snow and they are the rulers of the roost.
They have coats and sweaters, but no hand knits, not even a UFO. Does that make me a bad humom?
Bona Fide Knitter
The first is Snowball. Look at that face! Isn't he the cutest?!!! That's why I named him Absolutest Cutest Snowball. Okay, so I had to coin a word to describe him. He's a lap dog and a cuddly caretaker. He loves everybody. He'll lick your wounds and wash your face. Never open your mouth to say 'Hi' to him with your face too close to his. He's a great French kisser. Fast too!
The second is Icecream (one word). She's the protector, but don't let her steely stare fool you. She's a pushover for a belly rub. Her full name is French Vanilla Icecream. She likes to kiss your face (if she knows you) and blitz (run as fast as lightning). Her mission in life is to get the squeak out of all squeaking plush toys. She's like a surgeon!
My furkids' breed is Bichon Frise. They were both born in 1996, Snowball in April and Icecream in December. They're related by adoption only and they've been neutered and spayed. We call them Ice and Snow and they are the rulers of the roost.
They have coats and sweaters, but no hand knits, not even a UFO. Does that make me a bad humom?
Bona Fide Knitter
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
UFO Confession
They say confession is good for the soul. Maybe it will be good for my knitting soul, my stick-to-it-ability, my productivity. Okay, here goes, I HAVE A LOT OF UFOs! For the uninitiated that stands for UnFinished Objects. This is a knitting blog of sorts, although you might get to read about and see my dolls, dollhouses, quilts, Bichons . . . the list goes on. But for today I want to confess my knitting UFOs. Bear with me. I will only mention the ones I really intend to finish, or start over and finish.
In reverse chronological order:
(1) KnitPicks Abundance Afghan in Sand Dune and Sand colorways. I pictured myself being wrapped in the colors of the Cape Cod sea, sky and sand. The pattern calls for US 19 needles. I added those big honkers to my Denise Needle set only to find them very hard to work with. The yarn, Suri Dream, would not slide smoothly from cable to needle and the needles are uncomfortably short to work with. Since this is a KnitPicks pattern and yarn it's too bad that KnitPicks doesn't make US 19 needles. I love KnitPicks needles, but they only go up to size US 17. I had to break down and buy the expensive Addi Turbo US 19 needles. The Addis are great! Smooth as silk and the cable of plastic tubing is a good size for stitches to slide easily to the needles. I experimented with Continental and English knitting. My Continental rows were much too loosey-goosey (a favorite technical term of mine). I frogged the swatch and cast on again.
(2) Side to Side Jacket, a Judy Ditmore class I took at Stitches East 2005 and 2006 and still haven't gotten it going to my satisfaction. In 2005 I attended the class with scrap yarns as instructed, not yarns or colors with which I would really want to knit a jacket. In 2006 I went to class armed with lovely yarns in my at-this-time-in-my-life favorite colors. I veered away from knitting the jacket when I found the perfect Noro Kureyon for the current project.
(3) I saw a scrumptious afghan kit, the Absolutely Fabulous Throw. I had to have one in the French Vanilla colorway. I lucked onto a kit on eBay at a great savings (40%!). I bid. I won. It came. I wound the skeins into balls, bagged and labeled them. I did a few rows of the pattern. I put it away. Why? Because I went into sock machine knitting mode to get Christmas 2005 gifts completed. I never went back to the AbFab Throw. It's been socks, socks, socks, machine knit and hand knit, until the current project.
(4) From my favorite knitting book, Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch, I started Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater. I Googled until I found the exact same yarn Sally used in a colorway that I liked. I even bought a skirt to go with it. I've started it once a year since the book was published. The last time I started it I got the bright idea to knit Continental since it is garter stitch. The trouble was I had started it knitting English. I stopped. I could see a difference. To frog or not to frog. I had half a front made, almost. However, the answer was frog it and forget it for a while. That's what I've been doing, trying to forgetaboutit.
Four UFOs, I will leave it at that. I have others that are socks and they will get done. They're portable and get done in waiting rooms and other knitting-in-public venues. The four UFOs listed are, as of today, scheduled for completion this year. No pressure. We shall see. I plan to stick to a modified version of a knitting friend and mentor's rule and start no more projects until one of the four listed is complete. Ooops, I need to do a little back-pedaling here. There are a few extenuating circumstances which will allow me to start something else before one of the four is completed. I'll explain that when I have to.
Uh-oh! I forgot one. My first jacket kit, the Cocoon Jacket designed by Caroline McInnis of Sweater Kits which has changed over to a wholesale operation and appears not to sell the Cocoon Jacket anymore. Oh nooooo! I've thought of another, a baby's cardigan, also from Sweater Kits. SIX UFOs!!!
The picture below is of the Cocoon Jacket UFO. Can you tell I'm in a color rut?
Bona Fide Knitter
In reverse chronological order:
(1) KnitPicks Abundance Afghan in Sand Dune and Sand colorways. I pictured myself being wrapped in the colors of the Cape Cod sea, sky and sand. The pattern calls for US 19 needles. I added those big honkers to my Denise Needle set only to find them very hard to work with. The yarn, Suri Dream, would not slide smoothly from cable to needle and the needles are uncomfortably short to work with. Since this is a KnitPicks pattern and yarn it's too bad that KnitPicks doesn't make US 19 needles. I love KnitPicks needles, but they only go up to size US 17. I had to break down and buy the expensive Addi Turbo US 19 needles. The Addis are great! Smooth as silk and the cable of plastic tubing is a good size for stitches to slide easily to the needles. I experimented with Continental and English knitting. My Continental rows were much too loosey-goosey (a favorite technical term of mine). I frogged the swatch and cast on again.
(2) Side to Side Jacket, a Judy Ditmore class I took at Stitches East 2005 and 2006 and still haven't gotten it going to my satisfaction. In 2005 I attended the class with scrap yarns as instructed, not yarns or colors with which I would really want to knit a jacket. In 2006 I went to class armed with lovely yarns in my at-this-time-in-my-life favorite colors. I veered away from knitting the jacket when I found the perfect Noro Kureyon for the current project.
(3) I saw a scrumptious afghan kit, the Absolutely Fabulous Throw. I had to have one in the French Vanilla colorway. I lucked onto a kit on eBay at a great savings (40%!). I bid. I won. It came. I wound the skeins into balls, bagged and labeled them. I did a few rows of the pattern. I put it away. Why? Because I went into sock machine knitting mode to get Christmas 2005 gifts completed. I never went back to the AbFab Throw. It's been socks, socks, socks, machine knit and hand knit, until the current project.
(4) From my favorite knitting book, Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch, I started Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater. I Googled until I found the exact same yarn Sally used in a colorway that I liked. I even bought a skirt to go with it. I've started it once a year since the book was published. The last time I started it I got the bright idea to knit Continental since it is garter stitch. The trouble was I had started it knitting English. I stopped. I could see a difference. To frog or not to frog. I had half a front made, almost. However, the answer was frog it and forget it for a while. That's what I've been doing, trying to forgetaboutit.
Four UFOs, I will leave it at that. I have others that are socks and they will get done. They're portable and get done in waiting rooms and other knitting-in-public venues. The four UFOs listed are, as of today, scheduled for completion this year. No pressure. We shall see. I plan to stick to a modified version of a knitting friend and mentor's rule and start no more projects until one of the four listed is complete. Ooops, I need to do a little back-pedaling here. There are a few extenuating circumstances which will allow me to start something else before one of the four is completed. I'll explain that when I have to.
Uh-oh! I forgot one. My first jacket kit, the Cocoon Jacket designed by Caroline McInnis of Sweater Kits which has changed over to a wholesale operation and appears not to sell the Cocoon Jacket anymore. Oh nooooo! I've thought of another, a baby's cardigan, also from Sweater Kits. SIX UFOs!!!
The picture below is of the Cocoon Jacket UFO. Can you tell I'm in a color rut?
Bona Fide Knitter
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Woman Doth Not Knit on Socks Only
My apologies to Deuteronomy. Like "Man doth not live on bread only," the Bona Fide Knitter does not knit on socks only. Well . . . maybe socks could, quite possibly, almost, if you check back the last few years, be the only knit items I've completed. Oh, wait! There were the scarves from The Knit Stitch that I finished and filed away for future frogging because I found I am too hot a mama to wear decorative scarves knit of wool or of yarn requiring a needle larger than US 1. Wool or bulky scarves as outer wear in the cold of winter, yes. Knit scarves as fashion accessories, no--unless they are lace and I haven't gotten to lace yet.
To prove my point (that I can knit more than socks, in case you forgot the point), I started a sweater on November 11, 2006. This isn't my first sweater either. I have one sweater and two jackets filed away waiting to be frogged or finished. And then there are the two afghans. But we won't talk about all the UFOs yet. Anyway, this sweater, that I prefer to call a jacket, is more than half finished. I am pushing for completion by January 11, 2007 just because I'd like to finish in record time (for me) and be able to show something I've knit without having to lift my pants legs or kick off my shoes to do so.
The pattern is Babies & Bears Sweater for Grown-Ups , by Carol A. Anderson of Cottage Creations, you know, the neat little booklets with light beige covers and pen and ink drawings of the patterns. The yarn is Noro Kuryeon colorway #159.
Each half of the sweater is knit in one piece, left side and sleeve then right side and sleeve. To finish, the two sides are joined together down the back with a Kitchener Stitch. I've had a lot of Kitchener experience finishing sock machine socks! I can do this.
Bona Fide Knitter
To prove my point (that I can knit more than socks, in case you forgot the point), I started a sweater on November 11, 2006. This isn't my first sweater either. I have one sweater and two jackets filed away waiting to be frogged or finished. And then there are the two afghans. But we won't talk about all the UFOs yet. Anyway, this sweater, that I prefer to call a jacket, is more than half finished. I am pushing for completion by January 11, 2007 just because I'd like to finish in record time (for me) and be able to show something I've knit without having to lift my pants legs or kick off my shoes to do so.
The pattern is Babies & Bears Sweater for Grown-Ups , by Carol A. Anderson of Cottage Creations, you know, the neat little booklets with light beige covers and pen and ink drawings of the patterns. The yarn is Noro Kuryeon colorway #159.
Each half of the sweater is knit in one piece, left side and sleeve then right side and sleeve. To finish, the two sides are joined together down the back with a Kitchener Stitch. I've had a lot of Kitchener experience finishing sock machine socks! I can do this.
Bona Fide Knitter
Monday, January 1, 2007
$3,000 Socks
When I finally got a whole pair of perfect socks out of a sock machine I refused to wear them. I am going to frame them! They are the most expensive socks ever made. I have approximated the cost to be more than $3,000. They are not to be put on feet!
It had taken one convention, one new setup basket, one new Black & Decker Workmate Portable Project Center and Vise, one B&D Workmate Mastercart, one folding table (formerly a folding bar stool) with cutout, two years, two small folding bistro chairs, three sock machines, three workshops, four new fork weights, 150 different new needles and a partridge in a pear tree.
If anybody wants to give it a try I have to say in all honesty that I could have knit socks without the B&D equipment and quite a few of the other add-ons I purchased in hopes of changing my luck when everything was going wrong. I must also admit it was not always the machine that was the trouble. A lot of it was the operator.
Many people who are interested start researching and learn there are quite a few brands of these old machines. The question then is which machine is best. I now have an AutoKnitter, a Legare 400 and a Gearhart (circa 1917-1918). The best is the one that you can get a pair of socks out of, and that can be any brand. Another admission: in the two years it took me to knit a pair of socks there were periods of weeks when I could not devote the time needed for the learning curve. I did get at least one sock out of each of the machines, but perfectionist that I am, and not about to allow a machine to stop me from making my "ideal" sock with a ribbed cuff, I never made a second sock if the first had flaws. I raveled, rewound and started again. Some of those socks didn't just have flaws, they were flaws!
The last machine I bought was the Gearhart which is a war horse that doesn't throw up at the least little hitch in the yarn. I was able to knit a very nice pair of socks made from KnitPicks Simple Stripes, Crayon colorway.
It had taken one convention, one new setup basket, one new Black & Decker Workmate Portable Project Center and Vise, one B&D Workmate Mastercart, one folding table (formerly a folding bar stool) with cutout, two years, two small folding bistro chairs, three sock machines, three workshops, four new fork weights, 150 different new needles and a partridge in a pear tree.
If anybody wants to give it a try I have to say in all honesty that I could have knit socks without the B&D equipment and quite a few of the other add-ons I purchased in hopes of changing my luck when everything was going wrong. I must also admit it was not always the machine that was the trouble. A lot of it was the operator.
Many people who are interested start researching and learn there are quite a few brands of these old machines. The question then is which machine is best. I now have an AutoKnitter, a Legare 400 and a Gearhart (circa 1917-1918). The best is the one that you can get a pair of socks out of, and that can be any brand. Another admission: in the two years it took me to knit a pair of socks there were periods of weeks when I could not devote the time needed for the learning curve. I did get at least one sock out of each of the machines, but perfectionist that I am, and not about to allow a machine to stop me from making my "ideal" sock with a ribbed cuff, I never made a second sock if the first had flaws. I raveled, rewound and started again. Some of those socks didn't just have flaws, they were flaws!
The last machine I bought was the Gearhart which is a war horse that doesn't throw up at the least little hitch in the yarn. I was able to knit a very nice pair of socks made from KnitPicks Simple Stripes, Crayon colorway.
Those are the socks to be framed. They were made on the Gearhart using a 60 slot cylinder and 30 slot riber. I'm going to knit a pair by hand in the same colorway and try to make them identical. Trial and error have shown that using a 60 stitch caston I'll need to use size US 0 needles. I'll frame those for comparison--$3,000 Socks vs $13 Socks.
Happy Knit Year!
Bona Fide Knitter
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