The Sweaters Are in the Mail.

What do you do with all the sweaters you knit during the pattern design process? I send mine to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. There are various groups on the Reservation that collect and distribute items to folks in need. I belong to Bundles of Joy, a charity group on ravelry.com that was created for knitters and crocheters who like to make sweaters, etc. for babies and children. Here are pictures of 10 of the most recent sweaters I sent to the babies of Pine Ridge.

Some of the sweater designs become published patterns and some don't. LOL

Tote Bag - Plan C

After struggling with the dimensions listed on the pattern of the Tote Bag, then deciding to change them to suit me, I knit the bottom and about 3/4 of the back. Then I started working on the chart for the front of the bag. The chart incorporates 12 different colors and on most of the rows of the chart there are 5 colors. I worked 4 rows, or I should say, I struggled through 4 rows, carrying the 5 colors across each row and came to the conclusion that I don't have enough years left to live to make that struggle worth while! That chart would be MUCH better worked as a needlepoint project rather than a knitted one.

Yesterday I cast on for the front of the bag using a stitch called "joyous stripes". It's k1, then with yarn in front, slip 1, repeated across the row. Then purl every wrong side row. Very simple but not boring. I'll work 2 rows of each of the 12 colors and keep repeating that for a total of 7 repeats of the 12 colors, which should give me the desired height I need. There will be a band of the green color used for the bottom and back, at the bottom and top of the front. So far I've completed just over 2 repeats of all the colors and I really like it. There's a lot of ends to weave in, but I've been stopping to do that after every completing every 6 color changes so it isn't too bad. This (not very good) picture gives a rough idea of how the front will look. :)

Stash Buster Baby Sweater

A few weeks ago I decided to create a new baby sweater design that could use several different partial skeins of yarn from my stash. The pattern finally ended up being one that can use multiple partial skeins and uses two different stitch patterns, garter and seed stitch. The pattern is for sale on Ravelry (click here Stash Buster Baby Sweater ).

Uses 4 different partial skeins

Uses 2 different partial skeins

Uses 4 different partial skeins

Uses 1 skein

Uses 4 different partial skeins

Tote Bag - Plan B

I was delighted during the Holidays when my daughter, Colleen, shopped on line at Knit Picks and gave me a collection of knitting stitch reference books and a knitted tote bag kit that I'd been wanting. The bag is Road Trip Tote Kit "Heartland".  http://www.knitpicks.com/cfkits/kit_display.cfm?ID=40211

I finally read through the whole pattern in mid January. This pattern is definitely not for a novice knitter, mainly because of the intarsia. The chart has as many as 6 colors across some of the rows. I made and blocked a swatch and did get the gauge listed on the pattern, I then completed the base and about 6" of the back (the back and the intarsia front are done separately) but then put what I had knitted in time-out, as it definitely wouldn't have been the size that the pattern claimed, especially the height. The width might have been close but the height would have been much shorter.

I sent a pm on Ravelry to the designer to see why, but still have never received a response from her. Then I sent message to Knit Picks giving them all the gauge numbers and why I felt the bag would never become the dimensions stated by the designer. I received a response from them saying they agreed with my numbers and would contact the designer for further info. Two weeks later, I received another Knit Picks message stating that the designer told them that the actual height of the tote was "about" 10" tall and that the 11" listed was a typo. In my opinion the whole gauge listed on the pattern is wrong!


So now I've decided on Plan B. I frogged the whole piece I had knitted and started over with a larger needle. I knit another swatch to get a new gauge and re-figure the number of stitches needed to get the tote the size that I want. I've decided to crop the chart too, so the whole tote will be a shape that is different from the pattern.

My tote will be about 10 1/2" square with a shoulder strap so I can wear it cross body on days when my hip tells me that I need to use my cane. I'll make the bottom base and each side 4" wide. The original pattern info has the bag as a sort of a trapezoid shape with the bottom about 12" across and the top about 17" across and the bottom base and each side about 4". I haven't yet decided how I'll do the shoulder strap. I may use a commercial one or knit one, then use a heavy interfacing and the fabric lining to line the strap for stability so it won't stretch. Need to think about that for a while.

This project will take a while as I'm using US #2 needles and the yarn is fingering weight, not to mention the time consuming intarsia for the front of the bag.

To save my sanity I'll alternate working on the bag with knitting cute baby sweaters.  I've got a new baby sweater design currently in the works. I've written out the pattern and have completed knitting 2 of the 4 sizes so I need to get going on the other 2 sizes before I can publish the pattern. This one will be a yarn stash buster!

One done, one to go!

I finished the 1st sock of my KAL (KAL is with my daughter, Colleen) the day before I fell, which was on Nov 28th. Because of my injuries (4 stitches in my temple and a mild concussion which caused a miserable headache) I didn't knit at all for over a week, then wasn't comfortable knitting on US size 1 needles with sock yarn until yesterday. I just took a picture of the completed sock plus the 2nd one currently on my needles and realize now that the 1st picture of the 1st sock was just about at the same point of completion when I took that picture. I'm nothing if not consistent. LOL

These are definitely colorful socks! Wait until you see the tote bag I'll be making once the socks are done.

Kangaroo Pocket Baby Hoodie

After I finished the Baby Varsity Sweater, Bob suggested I make a baby sweater with a hood. It sounded like a cute idea so I started to work on it. I had almost finished all the four sizes except for the pocket on the last one, by cyber Monday.

We needed a few things from the store, like scotch tape and printer ink, so there we were shopping (I should have stayed home and shopped online) when I tripped over an empty shelf that was just a few inches above the floor. I couldn't stop myself from falling and banged my left temple on the (very) hard floor when I landed. I ended up in a not so Quick Care where the doctor put in 4 stitches to the left of my eyebrow. The headache from the mild concussion I had, lasted for a week. I seem to be OK now and finally bought the printer ink yesterday. :)

The results of my fall delayed my knitting for the better part of 2 weeks. I've finally finished the hoodie and took pictures. The pattern is now for sale here: Kangaroo Pocket Baby Hoodie.

I had finished one of the socks I'd been knitting before my fall, but haven't even tried to work on the 2nd sock since then. The needles and yarn are so small, I've been afraid of getting another headache. Maybe I'll try again this coming week.

Plan #67 and 3/4

About 2 months ago, my daughter, Colleen, bought some sock yarn, small skeins in a variety of pastel colors. She divided each skein into 2 cakes (balls). She then gave one of each to me (about 270 grams altogether) and kept the same for herself. She told me we were doing a KAL (knit along) and I had to decide what we'd be knitting.

Well, for the past  months I've been dilly-dallying and changing my mind every other hour (literally!!!). First I decided I'd make a small shawl but although I love shawls, I don't really like "small" ones. Then I decided I'd make intarsia or fair isle socks, but I just haven't been in the mood to do that type of knitting. The type of knitting I feel like doing is VERY important. If I start a project that I really don't feel like knitting, it won't get finished! Not a good thing. Then I figured I'd knit just striped socks, but that sounded rather boring, so I scrapped that idea rather quickly.

So, back and forth I went for 2 months until yesterday...when I came up with plan #67 and 3/4! I'm making socks! But not just any old socks.

I'm using this pattern: Nine-to-Five Socks by Nicole Hindes, but I'm knitting these in random width stripes. If you're a member of Ravelry, you can download this pattern for free. I've made these socks once before and they were a fun knit and fit well too. Since about 100 grams of sock yarn will make 1 pair of socks for me, I see a second pair in my future. :)

Here's a picture of my share of the yarn and the beginning of one sock. Colleen, are you up for the KAL???