Quick update: Miranda

The body is finished!  Time to work on the sleeves. While I'm doing that, I'll decide whether to knit a hood (which I think I will!).

What's one more?*

So what had happened was .... One of my knitting friends at work came to ask me a yarn question. She's about to start knitting Kate Davies' Owls sweater. I've wanted to knit that one for YEARS so I thought I'd join in the knitting fun.  For an extra fun twist, though, I decided to knit it in a worsted weight yarn, rather than bulky as the pattern calls for.  A quick stash dive reminded me of this:

Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
Gauge: 19sts / 24 rows = 4 inches on 4.0 - 4.5mm (US 6-7) needles
Color 727 Spiced Wine

My job is to figure out how to knit at a completely different gauge and still get the finished size I want (approx 38" at bust).  So I will wash my swatch,  determine my gauge, do some tricksy knitting calculations, and determine what size to knit.  I think that I should be able to knit the 48-50" size in order to get the 38" size. Not sure whether I will do the back waist shaping, or skip it. I'll decide once I get to that point.

I'll report back later ... stay tuned!

-mz

* Look over there in the sidebar ( -->).  I have 4 sweaters on needles already, so what's one more on the pile? :-) I'll be one busy knitter this year!

Cruisin' toward the finish line

So .... in 2013 my friend Lori and I started a sweater knitalong, and Miranda was one of the sweaters that we knitted.  I had gotten pretty far along (down past the armholes), and tried it on.  It didn't fit.  It was way too big, and there wasn't really much I could do except rip it out and start over.  I was so disgusted that I didn't even bother to take a photo to document the awfulness of the sweater.  That was all due to the fact that I didn't bother to knit a gauge swatch. I just bought my yarn, grabbed some needles, picked a size and got to knittin'. Last January (on the 3rd, to be precise), I managed to get my swatch knitted and blocked:

I knitted along on it for a while, then got bored or something and set it aside to work on other stuff.  I'm so easily distracted!  Anyway, I've been working on this again pretty steadily since the fall, and have gotten down to the pocket.  This morning, just for fun, I put it on waste yarn and tried it on. Look!  It fits!

What a difference the right gauge makes!

-mz

New Year, New WIP

Yesterday I told you about my tradition of buying myself Christmas gifts.  Well, I also have another tradition of starting a project on New Year's Day.  What's that you say?  That I already have unfinished projects on needles?  Yes, I do indeed.  But when has that ever stopped me from starting another one? :-)

2015's New Year project will be a(nother) pair of socks for my husband: Inside Out, from a discontinued Plymouth yarn called Zino (75% wool/ 25% nylon). This will be a good carry-around project, in my always-too-full kniting bag/purse.  I haven't had a chance to cast on yet, but will do so right after dinner!


~mz

Merry Christmas to me

Surely I am not the only one who buys Christmas gifts for herself. This has been a "tradition" of mine since I was 23 or so, and living on my own for the first time (not counting college).

This year I remembered that my friend Vickie at The Spinner's Cottage has beautiful spindles in her shop (brick & mortar AND online).  These lovelies are made by Vickie's mother, Carol, and are so much fun to spin with.  Here's the one I got:

Once I bought it, I needed some fiber to spin so Vickie gave me a bit of Polish merino to try.  Of course she gave me some of this beautiful red:

I thought about wrapping up the spindle and putting it under the Christmas tree, but decided that something this pretty needed to stay out where I could look at it.  So it is hanging out in the studio with the other spindles and fibers.  

Remember last year when I said that this year was the year to #finishorfrog the 19 or so projects in my project bin?  I did pretty well, although not everything got finished or frogged.  Most things did (although not all of them got blogged about here), and I'm really proud of having made progress.  However, the #finishorfrog party will continue in 2015, so that I can put those few leftover projects in the "done" pile.  #finishorfrog2015

In the meantime, I am on a quest to finish my husband's Christmas stocking. Yup, you read that right.  2014. But in our house, it's Christmas until the tree comes down and it's still up so ....

Happy 2015, y'all.  May your dye lots always match, may your yarn never tangle, and may your gauge always be spot-on!

~mz