theraineysisters knitting and so much more

December 30, 2010

From Sally — Christmas Wrap Up

Filed under: X Marks the Spot Pullover — surly @ 3:31 pm

When last I posted, I was feverishly trying to knit a sweater for my son before Christmas.  I didn’t quite make it; I was a sleeve short.  But happily, I finished it before the New Year and before he goes back to Portland for college.  Most important, he said — and I quote — “I like it.”  What more could I ask?

I was asked how I repaired the mistake I had made while knitting the body (see post here and scroll down). What I did, as you can see from the photos below, was to isolate the area with the mistake and then unravel those stitches down to the row where I had made an error. Each loose line of yarn you see represents one row of unraveled knitting. I then “reknit” each of the rows to get back to where I had been. It’s the same thing you would do if you had made a mistake with one stitch. Unfortunately, my error spanned several stitches and required me to re-create traveling stitches because of the cable that I had to undo. So it was more complicated than doing the same thing on plain knitting, but the principle is the same.

I also knit a hat as a Christmas gift for my daughter.  The pattern is called Let It Snow; it was published in Twist Collective.  I knit it out of Elsebeth Lavold’s Angora, which I had in my stash.  (I still have enough in my stash to knit about ten more.)  The hat is adorable, and I loved the bit of fuzziness from the angora yarn.  Here are some progress shots featuring a model who shall rename nameless.

Finally, here’s a photograph of my daughter wearing it.   Out in public!  Spontaneously!  Again, what more could I ask?

December 15, 2010

From Sally — Christmas Countdown

Filed under: X Marks the Spot Pullover — surly @ 11:16 am

As our regular readers may remember, my son actually asked for a sweater for Christmas. Well, what with my other Christmas knitting and whatnot, I finally got the yarn in hand and started his sweater a few days ago. The “whatnot” included trying to settle on a color (green) and style, which required many back-and-forth text messages and emails. He sometimes takes days to respond and his answers were not always as specific as I had hoped. Here’s a record of my lack of progress thus far.

1. Work out the design and how the ribbing would flow into it.

I chose to knit his sweater out of City Tweed Heavyweight from Knitpicks because it’s soft and warm, and I thought it would be good in the chill damp of Portland in winter. Bonus: I used this yarn for a sweater for my husband last year, and therefore could use his sweater as a giant gauge swatch.

2.  Start knitting.  Realize I am not that crazy about it.  Glance at calendar; press forward.

3.   Notice stupid mistake twelve rows back.  (Note to self:  must actually look at knitting occasionally.)  Fix mistake.

4.  Keep plugging away.  He comes home late Friday night; I am hoping to be on the sleeves by then.

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