Snow Day? I'll have one, please.

It seems to have become a point of pride with our school district that we don't need no stinking snow days. True, the temperature is above zero, but wouldn't you think that a foot of snow on the roads and white out conditions would influence the decision? No? All righty, then. We shall just say a prayer of thanks for 4-wheel drive and please grant us clear intersections. Are you somewhere warm? Would you like a cooling shot of a pretty blizzard? I shall oblige...

You know what? I'm going to stop playing coy and just spit out all the stupid things whirling in my brain. I get too caught up in worrying about the possibility of my idiocy, as revealed on the internet--not just the regular real-life dorkiness, coming back to haunt me in the future. Who cares? And I like crafty blogs with opinions. So. Henceforth I shall be unburdening myself of my strongly-held and perhaps even controversial beliefs about knitting, spinning, dyeing, and crocheting!

Yes, that's right--I have returned to my crochet roots. All it took was a polite request from a sister-in-law and BAM! A cute little crocheted cloche for my darlink neice. You want instant gratification? I give you the Hailey Hat. Vee-oh-la! Here it is as modeled by LB, my 7-year-old. She picked out this particular shot and I must agree that the I'm-holding-my-breath-until-you-let-me-stay-home-from-school look is rather engaging.

Pattern: Hailey Hat (It's mine own! I have grand plans to present it all tidy and spiffy in a PDF, linked on the side bar--so if you read this months from now and don't see it, please contact me and nag profusely.)

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease--But any worsted weight yarn would do. Low maintenance was a high priority for us on this one, thus the cotton-acrylic blend.

Rating: I give this one a 10, Bob. It's got a nice beat and I think I could dance in it. It's fast and CUTE, just like your favorite Hollywood cheerleader stereotype. You'll be weaving in the ends before you can say "Ready? Okay!" The top has a wee bit of a doinky point that I'll need to fix, but as a whole, I'm irritatingly smug about the little thing.

I remember reading years ago in Maggie Righetti's Crocheting in Plain English about how she was entranced when she first saw someone creating crocheted lace out of thin air. I agree, beloved Maggie, it is magic. (It looks like Maggie Righetti's "Plain English" books are in new printings and I'm so pleased. I highly recommend them.)

thrift is empowering

I have a little book entitled Raising Kids with Just a Little Cash. Somewhere near the front of the book, the author recommends repeating her mantra (Thrift is empowering!) if one needs encouragement. I repeat it often. (Art as a career is a rollercoaster.) This book can open your eyes to a Whole New World of Frugality. But back to the subject at hand...

I've been thinking about the state of my yarn stash and my desire to be more committed to current projects. Then what do I see? A fine example of Knitting from Stash from the A.D.D. Knitter. She suggested that a medal might be in order to recognize her resourcefulness. I have to say that I agree! As my little PeeWee would say, "Jood Job!" So here's your medal, Heather. :)




I have stayed up way too late messing around with the graphics program. Gentle readers, if any of you know of someone who deserves recognition of their empowered knitting, please feel free to snag this award (saving it on your computer, of course) and spread the love. Thrifty Knitters everywhere, I salute you!

brunette ambition

Yet Another Work-In-Progress:

I have plans. Yes. I have ambition. I am going to be a better person, yea even a better knitter. I'm going to finish something. I know that statement is directly contradicted by the presence of Yet Another WIP, but I'm hereby resolving to go finish that Brea Bag for my sister-in-law and then Eric's convertible mitts before I knit anything else. AND, I'm going to go fold the mountain of clean laundry on my couch and put it away before I knit! (This is intended to be a mitten for moi, knit from my handspun--Shetland wool dyed by Spunky Eclectic. Crazy colors, huh? You should have seen the wool before it was spun.)

But first, some Personal and Religious Musings:

I'm a Mormon. I know this comes as no surprise to my sisters (hi sisties!) and my local pals who stop by the blog, but I thought I'd just lay it all out there today. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the man that I revere as a prophet of God, Gordon B. Hinckley, died last night. I have such gratitude and love in my heart for him. All sorrow that I feel is totally selfish. I know that he's rejoicing with Christ and his loved ones. I'm also engulfed by feelings that I'm not able to articulate very well--conclusion being that I need to expect more of myself. I need to do more to reflect God's love and light--as President Hinckley did.

pertinacious

Lest you think I am one of William F. Buckley types who use words like "preternatural" in everyday conversation, I must disclose that "pertinacious" is today's Dictionary.com word of the day. (I love the word o' the day. I try really hard to use it throughout the day, but I often find it difficult: "Children, my poor nerves have become quite friable as a result of your faineant behavior." Huh?)

It seems perfect timing, then, that Ali is having a Finish-an-FO contest and today's word describes the quality of being stubbornly persistent--which is what I'll have to be to get this FO completed. You'd think that I would have no problem getting this taken care of, but I think I need an extra dose of resolve to finish it. I started it as a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law. I didn't get it done in time, and now I'm a worried that the handles and finishing of it will disappoint her. I know, I know. Just get it done already and quit fretting. All-righty, then.

This photo is all washed out, by the way. The yarn is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted and the color is Burnt Orange. It's perfect for this pattern, the Brea Bag from Berroco. I'll try to get better exposure when I have the FO Glamour Shot this weekend. There. I've said it out loud. I'm committed. (Committed. Hmm. Sometimes I think that would be nice: plenty of reading time, someone else doing the cleaning, wearing jammies all day, maybe even a padded room...)

WIP it

This? This was supposed to be a Christmas gift. Yeah. My New Year's Resolution is to finish this and its mate before next Christmas. Really, I think I could finish both of them today, if I declare it a holiday...

Here you see the mostly-finished-first-half of a pair of convertible painting mittens for my darling, will-paint-in-any-weather husband. I know you're looking at this mitt and saying, "Is she married to a bear?" And I would just have to reply that you would not believe the size of his palms unless you saw them yourself. He also has rather short fingers, and he needs the little mitt-fingers to be short enough that he can use the sides of his fingers to get traction when opening paint tubes. Thus the dimensions of this mitt. I'll pick up stitches on the back and knit a mitten flap to cover his fingers that will be lined in some handspun alpaca/angora blend that I've carded together from fibers I got at Yarn School. That should do the trick. The gray yarn you see here is Araucania Nature Wool Chunky. I like this yarn a great deal. It has lovely kettle-dyed color variation and it's very sturdy--yet softer than you'd expect. I have enough of this same yarn in olive green to make a sweater for my honey. If I start next week, I could get it done by next Christmas, whadda ya bet?

we are only occasional vegetarians

moar funny pictures

Me-blogger-pal-Faith haz introduced me to the lolcats. Haz u seen dem?

That is my kid, I swear. (No, not really, but Joe would totally have done that when he was little if given the chance. He used to lick everything. He even licked a light post in the winter once--and we watch A Christmas Story every year, so it's not like he was surprised when his tongue stuck to the pole.)

happy, merry, joyous

Dear readers, I hope this season of the year is full of happiness for you. Our family celebrates Christmas and I got this little finger puppet nativity set last year. I found it at a wonderful little store that carries handcrafted fair-trade items from around the world. The store is Ten Thousand Villages and their website says they have 160 retail locations in the United States. They are definately worth seeking out.

It's been a fun day here at the Shoeless household. A highlight of the evening would have to be when Little Bitty (7-year-old) was taking her turn reading a verse from the Bible on the birth of Jesus Christ. She read, "And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of heavenly ghosts..."

lists help maintain the illusion of order

• Camera: missing again and I'm peeved because I was almost ready to get her one for Christmas. (Did you hear that, Bob? Too late now!)
• Christmas knitting: a little behind, but not too bad since I deleted 8 items off the list.
• Other Christmas preparations: hahahahaha.
• Herniation in the L4-5 discspace: doing much better.
• PeeWee: wearing panties 'round the clock (YAY!!!!!!).

I really wanted to pad this post with a picture of the Brea bag that I'm making for my sister-in-law. It's waaaay cute. I think she'll like it. I'll probably have to make one for myself when the holidays are over, since I don't need to carry diapers in my purse anymore. Oh YEAH!

That is all.

Oh, all right--let's have the gratuitous shot of PeeWee. This is our farewell-to-nursing picture. Yes. She's done with that now, too. Sigh. My baby is such a big girl. I wish I'd had this handy camera when my other lovies were babies. There's so much about their infancies and early childhoods that has just faded into the void.

a tale of two mittens

PeeWee has a pair of little white mitts. They're a little thin, a little small, and they don't have thumbs. They're okay in a pinch, but the poor thing has a mother who knits, for crying out loud. (Yes, that's my Cheesehead version of Larissa's infamous and darling Meathead on her noggin. It's her favorite hat because it has a mousie, doncha know. We took her dollies for a walk on Tuesday.)

Yesterday, spurred on by the A.D.D Knitter's words ("...the power of the mitten. It will do you right every time.") I decided to whip out a pair of mittens from a bit of leftover handspun merino from Hello Yarn. Such ickle-bitty things! At 3-1/2 stitches per inch, I knew they would be done before I could say bobshrunkle. The first one was finished before lunch. PeeWee was delighted. She pulled it on and wore it the rest of the day. The thumb was a little wonky, but it looked pretty cute and I was very pleased with myself (handspun! handknit!).

After dinner, I settled in to knit the second mitten. PeeWee wouldn't give up the first one for comparison, but no worries! I had noted the stitch and row counts and I was ready to roll. I was also very excited about the idea of ripping back the ribbing on the matching hat I had knit from this handspun and turning it into a wee tam for my darlin'. I think you can all guess where this is heading. Yes. I'll just show you. Sigh.


I know my tension always tightens when I get comfortable with a pattern. I know it. Why do I blow off gauge like this? (Why do my children blow off their homework until it smacks them in the face? Where do they get that from? It must be their father, because I certainly don't live in a near-constant state of denial...)

I have enough yarn for a third mitten. If I start now, I could possibly get it done by lunch if I ditch the laundry. Hmmm. Yeah, because I might strain my back if I lift those heavy wet clothes out of the washer.

***Later in the day...***

PeeWee doesn't care in the slightest whether the mittens are rather homely rustic and mismatched. I reknit the bottom of the hat, and she danced around the living room with the mittens on, asking periodically, "You netting my hat? You made my mettens?" It's so gratifying. When I got the hat done, she put it on and then had to go out to play in the fizzly rain/snow that's coming down today. I don't think I'll bother with another mitten.

warning: exclamation overload

My secret pal is completely AWESOME! Thank you, Valerie!!! (Her name is my name, too!) How fun is that? She sent me this great bag (which Boberly has already hijacked), a package of peach and passionfruit herb tea, a ball of variegated blue merino wool yarn (I've already got a project in mind for this), a hank of georgous blue Manos del Uruguay yarn, one of those fun compacted wash cloths that expand magically when wet, a beautiful red rose journal, a notepad with VIOLETS (LOVE 'EM!), a bar of fabulous chocolate, all accompanied by a very sweet note on the back of the postcard print of a painting by A.X. Pena. (This was originally published in 1937 as a tourism poster--I would love to have a full-size, maybe 24x30, copy of this painting. I love paintings of strong-looking women--Note my affection for Rosie the Riveter...) Thanks again, pal!!!

If you're happy and you know it...

Clapotis! (I'm probably the 57th knitter to start a post that way.) I joined the Clapotis Second-Wave KAL a few months ago and, thanks to my infirmity ("No, honey, I can't get you a roll of toilet paper. I have to lie here on the couch and knit rest my back.") I'm finally working on it. I like to knit on it in bed, falling asleep with it clutched to my bosom.

The yarn is the Mountain Colors yarn that I dyed at the beginning of October at a Mountain Colors dye workshop hosted by my LYS. I love the knitting and I love the feel of the wool, but I'm not sure that the color lives up to my expectations. I might over-dye it with blue after I'm done knitting.

I'm twisting the stitches (on either side of the dropped stitches) on both the knit and purl rows. I'm also just doing a purl stitch to mark the to-be-dropped stitches, instead of using markers.

great-nephew

I'm about to have a great-nephew. This will be my 4th! I've even got two darlin' great-neices. Their parents, my nephews and neices, are such great parents and I'm so impressed with them. They are good and kind, just the sort of people I'd like my children to be when they grow up. This is one of my neices leading races in the sand this past July at nearby Bear Lake with her daughter, another niece, and my little PeeWee.

I have planned to knit adorable and amazing little gifts for each new little grand-nephew/neice, but this bib will be my first completed effort. Finally, I've finished something. It's a variation on the Mason-Dixon Knitting Baby Bib o' Love. I used less than one ball of brown Peaches n' Creme, knitted one strap instead of 2, and made a giant bobble in place of a button. I think I need to make a boatload (not to be confused with a buttload--even if I do live within a schoolbus-ride of Napoleon Dynamite's stomping grounds...) of these for this nephew and the other 2 impending arrivals.

I love brown. Back when I was developing what one might generously term my "fashion sense", I used to hate it. Was that just because it was the 80's and brown was out? I was all about the forest green and salmon pink. Yeah. I used to boldly declare that nothing should be dyed brown except silk, because flat brown is UGGGG-ly. Ha.

nervous

Right around Halloween I began to get nervous. (Let's insert a Halloween picture here, shall we? Yes, we shall. If this were your child, you'd be nervous, too. Just kidding, Bob! Love ya, babe.) I started mildly freaking out in the quiet recesses of my brain, worrying that maybe the reason I had a pinchy nerve that kept getting worse was because of a tumor. I went to my nice family doc and told him about my worries and he suggested an MRI. I thought that was a great idea. So I had an MRI two weeks ago and found that IT'S NOT A TUMOR! (said in my best Arnie-as-Kindergarten-Cop voice) Yay. It's just a herniated disk! Who'd have thought that would make me so happy?

I think the initial injury happened back in May when Eric was out of town and I decided to move a couch down to the basement by myself. Moving it down wasn't so bad, because I had gravity on my side. I think the problem was that I decided about 20 seconds later that I didn't want the couch in the basement after all, so I wrestled it back upstairs. I had just started doing that Couch-to-5K thing and I thought I was having sciatica from not stretching properly after exercising. And for the past 6 months, I've just been making it worse.

So now, I'm lying around or standing, avoiding sitting if at all possible, not driving, and (hardest of all) not picking up any children. Ever. Well, for a while, at least. PeeWee doesn't mind, she's 2 and she wants to do everything by herself anyway. I mind it more than she does.

You'll notice that I'm back at the computer--that's because I finally thought outside of the box and realized I can stand and type at the same time! Duh. Also, I'm feeling much better today and I must show off my latest obsession: entrelac! I ripped out the langishing 1-1/2 inches of ribbing on the Boberly Hat and made another entrelac hat. That entrelac, it's more fun than a bottle of Percocet.

The yarn is Noro Silk Garden, color #258, just over 2 balls. I cast on 64 stitches and started with 3/4" of 2x2 ribbing, did 8-stitch sections for the base triangles and 2 rows of rectangles. I then reduced to 6-stitch rectangles for 2 rows, then 4-stitch triangles at the top. The top was finished up with 2 rounds of k2tog, then I cinched up the last 8 stitches to close the top. Boberly has been wearing it which makes my heart very happy. I've been enjoying knitting backwards so much that I think it's time to make the plunge into my long-awaited Lizard Ridge Afghan. Yeah, remember that KAL I joined about 2 years ago? :) It's time.

entrelac

At the beginning of this month, I took a dyeing class at a fiber retreat that my LYS hosted--Didn't I mention that in the last post? I tink so. I also took an entrelac class. Did I mention that part before? Did I yak about the fact that I now know how to knit backwards? Yeah. It's fun. I made a hat, see?

I'm kind of empty of words tonight. I've got a stoopid pinchy nerve in my hip and I'm currently dizzy/pukey from the stoopid pain medication that I tried out today. I'm squeezing in one last post for the month because if I don't I'll be in trouble with the Secret Pal peoples (4 posts per month, it's not too much to ask!). I don't think I'll do the next round of SP, but I don't want to be blacklisted, ya know? I feel myself pulling back from the blogging stuff, and I think it's mostly because of the aforementioned stoopid pinchy nerve. I'm not functioning terribly well in real life, let alone as a knitblogger. No worries, though. The pinchy nerve will not be around forever. But right now I just feel Stoopid. I like spelling it that way. We must find pleasure in the little things...

excitement

My amazing secret pal has TOTALLY spoiled me. Look. Just look at this. LANTERN MOON!!!!


This is a beautiful needle organizer, a lovely needle sleeve (perfect for the pair of ebony Lantern Moon needles I got in the Jimmy Beans prize pack), a darling soap, adorable stitch markers, and a pretty note pad. Thank you Pal! After opening your package and recovering from the wonderful surprise, I upended my ratty needle tote bag and put all my needles in the roll. I love it--Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The Indians and Red Sox have just gone into extra innings. What a game. I love baseball. It's the perfect complement for knitting. I thought of calling this hat the Swirly Hat (yes, I'm not terribly imaginative--it's the same swirly pattern as PeeWee's Swirly pullover), but I think it might get called the ALCS hat. Cleveland and Boston have the same colors, have you noticed? And they both match the hat. It's knit from my handspun, a bulky 2-ply spun from 4 ounces of Hello Yarn handpainted merino top called "Darling".

PeeWee is wearing panties now. She does really well with tinkling, but we've been having problems with the solid matter. She likes to go hide in a sheltered location and work her magic, emerging with a surprise in her pants. Sigh. I can't be too upset. There was a time that we thought the nerves controlling bladder and bowel function had been messed up by the neuroblastoma tumor. I'm just so glad that she can poop when she wants to--it doesn't seem to matter very much whether it's in my closet or the toilet. She's cuddling and watching baseball with Eric right now, poking her fingers in his ears and up his nose.

lost (top) and found (skillz)

I can't find my superwash merino top. (Sisties, top is fiber that has been combed to prepare it for spinning.) It was my favorite of all the hunks o' fiber that we dyed at Yarn School. I'm almost certain that I remember squeezing it into my suitcase. What if it popped out and fell on the floor at the Howard Johnson's in Kansas City when I had to stay over Sunday night? I'm desolate. Wellllll, not really. Disappointed, though.

I'm consoled by this yarn. I dyed it this weekend under the direction of two Mad Dye Scientists and who happen to be the owners of Mountain Colors Yarns, Diana McKay and Leslie Taylor. !!! This is half of the 1 pound of Mountain Colors 4/8's wool that I dyed in these colors--around 1000 wonderful yards. You know, it kind of reminds me of another yarn I adore... (If you follow that yarn link, scroll down to the bottom. I'm talking about the STR, not the Anabel Fox, because though my feelings for the Anabel Fox Donegal are deep, they are of a different, tweedy variety of yarn-love. End of aside.) Maybe I should call this yarn Chicken Hawk instead of Rough-Legged Hawk.

Yarn Today, a yarn shop here in my little valley, hosted a fiber retreat on Friday and Saturday. I was able to take the Mountain Colors dye workshop on Friday and a class on Saturday on entrelac knitting. Two of my fondest knitting desires have been realized: 1) I've learned how to knit backwards, and 2)I had the creators of the most beautiful hand-painted yarn of all time (Mountain Colors Red-Tail Hawk--What can I say, I like the hawks...) coach me on how to find color palettes I love and then replicate them in fiber. I'm feeling completely spoiled--first Yarn School and now this!

Leslie and Diana had a quick and brilliant way to get us to dive right in with the colors: They handed out magazines and asked us to pick out a picture that spoke to us and use it as our inspiration for dying. First we did a test skein of their Weaver's Wool, decided what worked and what did not, then dyed the two giant skeins of 4/8's. I don't really like my test skein. It reminds me a little too much of some variegated Red Heart yarn that I crocheted with when I was about 11. Maybe I'd like it better knit up, maybe not. I'm very glad that Diana and Leslie had us do the practice run, because I would have been peeved to end up with 1000 yards of early-80's Red Heart look-alike yarn. Anyway, I decided that I needed to concentrate on the reds and golds and leave all blue out of the equation. I also lightened concentration of the the darker dyes (the browns and purples) and used more of the gold.

What shall I do with it? Clapotis, perhaps?

yarn school aftermath

My living room looks like a sheep exploded (well, just the fleece). I got back from Yarn School Monday night. Today is Wednesday and I still haven't managed to put much away. Yes, I said Monday night. I was supposed to get home Sunday night but I got stuck in Kansas City. Until United Airlines does a serious overhaul of their customer service policies, I would advise anyone reading this to avoid United whenever possible. I understand that delays and breakdowns happen, but there's no excuse for the rudeness with which I and the passengers around me were treated. Harrumph. Now, back to something more pleasant...

What happened there in beautiful downtown Harveyville, Kansas, you ask? We dyed, we spun, we knit, and we talked--a lot. It was wonderful. I was able to obsessively pursue whatever wooly endeavor my little heart pleased. The only down side was that I missed my chicklets so much my heart ached. I missed Eric, too--but I wasn't worried about him developing any abandonment issues. I know, 4 days isn't going to scar my kids for life, but still. When I told Eric how badly I missed the kids, he said that I just need to go places by myself more often. The idea is starting to grow on me. :)

I was trying to organize things for the family so they wouldn't suffer too greatly in my absence [said with a completly straight face] right up until the moment I ran out the door Thursday morning. Consequently, I forgot a few items--like my yarn and fiber for the swap, an extra bag for the fiber I would get at Yarn School, and MY CAMERA! We shall just have to be content with a few after-the-fact pictures, and here they are:

I dyed...



I spun...

Okay, there's only one picture here, but I really did spend a lot of time spinning. I had this Spunky Club fiber started on my wheel and I was determined to finish it off rather than flit around doing 10 yards here and there of other stuff. One of the reasons I really wanted to go to Yarn School was the chance to devote myself to a singular goal with out distraction. After I finished this 4 ounces of Shetland wool, I did mess around with some Navajo plying and making novelty yarn, but I didn't produce much of anything. It was fun, though. :D

And I knit...



I met some marvelous people. I learned some very interesting things. And that fiber up there isn't even the half of what I came home with. I had to mail the rest home to myself because I didn't have room in my bags. Ah, PeeWee awakens from her nap. Good timing. I was about to start blathering on about United Airlines again.

It's good to be home.

slouch

I've been in a bit of a blogging slump lately. I credit it to my experiment with "professional" knitwear designing (read: doing the blasted magazine sweater, also known as the BMS, not to be confused with, although not unlike PMS). I've come to the conclusion that using my precious and limited crafting time to produce something under a strict deadline serves only to suck the joy out of knitting for me. I don't think I'll do it again. I have momentary fits of ambition, but they soon pass and I find myself to be, yet again, a sluggard.

I mentioned in my last post that I had started a sweater for PeeWee--Well, knitting this little item was just the thing to speed my recovery from the BMS. I give you The Swirly Sweater.


I don't know if you can see the swirly yoke terribly well, but trust me, it's there.

I loved knitting this seamless yoke sweater. It was a nice, quick knit and I'm revved up and ready to knit versions for my entire family. I think it would be particularly nice in handspun for my sweetie. Right now, I'm trying desperately (What was that I said about deadlines? Heh.) to knit one for myself before Yarn School which is in 11 days. Denial: it ain't just a river in Egypt...

Some details about The Swirly...

• Yarn: Marble by James C. Brett in the color "Berries". It has a lovely marled subtle stripe, as you can see. It is 100% acrylic (gasp), but stay with me here--I'm teetering on the brink of Laundry Chaos as it is. If I were to start knitting anything besides machine washable items for my kids, I would probably plummet into the abyss.
• Pattern: Seamless yoke sweater template from The Knitter's Handy book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd.
• Modifications/Customizations: There are 6 rows of garter stitch on the hem and cuffs, then random purl rows in the mostly-stockinette body and sleeves (actually, the sleeves only have a few purl rows near the cuff). At the yoke, after 1 purl row, there are randomly spaced 2-stitch purl columns that shift over one stitch on every row, creating the swirls. As I neared the neck, some of the columns petered out and some reduced down to 1 stitch. If I were doing it again (oh wait, I am!) I would will regularly and more widely space the swirly columns and see if that results in a pattern that is easier to discern.
  
  The off-center one-button placket was necessary to accomodate PeeWee's gigantic melon. It was meant to be centered, but I counted the stitches wrong and it ended up where it is. Yes. It's a design feature. :}

I have more to say, but it will keep for the next post. Aw, I can't help myself; here's a preview: I went to the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair with Kim this weekend--Wohoo! And my local newspaper got a press release from Jimmy Beans and decided that they'd better do a "local girl makes good" story on me and my knitting. [snicker] It was in today's--Sunday's--paper. I look like a complete dork who needs a makeover, more supportive undergarments, and better posture, but at least the yarn is beautiful...

I have a secret pal!

Look! This time I have a secret pal who sends stuff! Yay! (My last secret pal forgot that little detail.) Thank you, Pal! I'm tickled that you sent me "shoes". The yarn is luscious and lovely. And a knitting and beading book! I love it! Thank you, again!

I've been knitting a sweater for PeeWee. It's a bottom-up, knit-in-the-round, circular yoke pullover. When she sees me working on it, she says to me, "You netting my setter? Oh, tank you!" Then she insists that she MUST try it on. I should probably quit knitting the sweater right now and just hand over the sleeves. They make great leg-warmers.

Hey Presto! (modifications)

I've had a some questions about the modifications I made on the 24-month size of Presto Chango, which I'll call the Lightning Bolt Version (LBV). Sara, since I'm not sure that the email address I have for you is correct--and Karen, since you asked, here are the specifics.

About 2 weeks ago, I sent some pattern edits to Jimmy Beans Wool. Laura (Jimmy) was so reassuring and kind (because I was feeling like a complete idiot) in her reply and told me that she had forwarded those changes to her webmaster. The edits were posted today, August 17, and they correct the neck and sleeve on the larger sizes to more reasonable dimensions. The neck has been brought in on the 12- and 24- month sizes; the straight-across sleeve width has been decreased on the 24-month size. So what am I trying to say here? The Jimmy Beans pattern is now good to go. If, however, you are like me and are rarely content to knit a pattern as written, read on.

What necessitated the changes, you ask? I was very concerned that you lovely trusting knitters who want to make the 24-month size might have the same disappointment I had upon seeing the very-wide neck. Commenter Karen also pointed out the huge cuffs on the unmodified 24-month size. If you're after the full-on kimono look for the sweater, the big cuffs would be good, but I think they were a little too big--so they got changed.

After considering how to explain the LBV mods, I thought you might want to see exactly what got changed in the original version, as well. So, along with the sleeve and shoulder shaping and lightning bolt panel pattern that I post today, I will include those changes that I sent along to Jimmy Beans. I refer to the Jimmy Beans site throughout these pattern changes and I got the okay from Jimmy Beans to post this, so here we go.

P.S. If you are knitting for a chunky baby and want to have the original wider sleeve width at the top where it meets the body of the sweater, I would highly recommend shaping the sleeve so that it is not huge at the wrist; that's what I did on the LBV. The numbers for that mod are included below {in these kind of brackets}.


Changes are in red.

Back

• CO 36 (39, 45) sts.


• Rows 1-5: Work seed stitch, creating bottom band of back.


• Row 6: P across, increasing 5 (6, 6) sts evenly across the row; 41 (45, 51) sts.


• Row 7: K across.


• Continue in st st until back measures 6 (7, 9 {8 for LBV shaped sleeves}) inches from cast on edge.
  

Add Sleeves

• Cast on 24 (28, 32) stitches at beginning of next 2 rows; 89 (101, 115) sts.


• Work k1, p1, k1 on first 3 sts, stockinette across row and k1, p1, k1 on last 3 sts of each row until back measures 9 (11, 13) inches from cast on edge.


• Begin seed stitch band for neck edge as follows: K1, p1, k1 (cuff), st st 29 (35, 42) sts, seed stitch on next 25 (25 for all sizes) sts (neck border), st st 29 (35, 42), k1, p1, k1 (cuff).


• Repeat this row 4 more times.
  

Neck opening

• Next row: K1, p1, k1, st st 29 (35, 42); seed stitch 4 at neck edge, Cast off 17 (17 for all sizes), seed st 4, st st 29 (35, 42). k1, p1, k1.


• Sweater will now be worked back and forth to form one side of front.


• Continue in st st, maintaining 4 seed stitch border at neck edge and 3 seed stitch border at cuff. Work until sleeve measures 8 (10, 10 {11 for LBV}) inches, ending at cuff edge. Piece measures 14 (17, 19) inches from cast on edge.
  

Side fronts

• Cast off 24 (28, 32) stitches to end sleeve; 12 (14, 17) sts remain.


• Work remaining stitches for side front in st st, maintaining 4 seed st border along inner edge.


• When work measures 6 (7, 9 {8 for LBV} ) inches from sleeve cast off edge, work seed st across row, decreasing 1 (1, 2) stitch(es) by k2tog.


• Work seed st 4 more rows.


• Cast off remaining stitches.


• Join yarn to neck edge for other side front.


• Work back and forth in st st maintaining 4 seed st border at inner edge and 3 seed st border at cuff.


• When second sleeve measures same as first, cast off 24 (28, 32) stitches to end sleeve.


• Work remaining sts as mirror image of other side front.
  

Front panel with cascading leaves

• Directions for all 3 sizes are changed to the same stitch counts as the smallest size--please see the pattern on the Jimmy Beans Wool website. Buttonhole spacing and panel length are unchanged.


• As the panel is knit, make a buttonhole in each side at an interval of 2 (2 1/2, 2 1/4) inches, approximately every 12 (15, 14) rows. The top buttonholes should be 1/2 inch from the top.


• Repeat the 8 pattern rows until panel is 6 (7 1/2, 9) inches from cast on edge.


• End with 5 rows of seed stitch (remember the top two buttonholes) then cast off.


• Panel measures 7 (8 1/2, 9) inches from cast on edge.

Finishing

• Sew up seams on sides and under arms. Sew on buttons, using buttonholes on panel to mark placement for buttons.
  

Lightning Bolt Version sleeve shaping

• Follow directions for casting on and working body as above.


• After adding sleeves, work 4 rows. On next row, knit to 4 sts from left edge. Bring yarn to front work, slip st from left needle to right, take yarn to back of work and slip st from right needle back to left needle; turn work. (If you haven't done short rows before, this is called "wrap and turn", often abbreviated as "w&t".) Purl back to within 4 sts of edge, w&t. *Knit to 6 sts before previous turning point on this sleeve, w&t. Purl to 6 sts before previous turning point on this sleeve, w&t. Repeat from * 2 more times (4 turning points on each sleeve).


• Now this is the nifty part: Knit all the way to the cuff. As you reach a wrapped stitch, pick up the wrap together with the stitch it encircles. Knit the two strands together, making sure to lay the stitch yarn over the top of the wrap yarn and so that the wrap yarn disappears behind the stitch.


• Continue to knit the sweater, following directions for making the neck opening.


• After about 2 1/2 inches of sleeve after casting off for the neck opening, start the short rows again: work to 22 sts from the cuff edge, w&t the next st. *Work back to neck edge, turn and then work back to 6 sts past last turning point, w&t. Repeat from * 2 more times (4 turning points). Return to neck edge, then work all the way to the cuff edge, again knitting the wraps together with the sts they encircle. Finish knitting sleeve as directed in original pattern, taking measurement of the sleeve only at the point where it meets the body. Finish sweater front as specified in the pattern on the Jimmy Beans site.


• Join yarn to neck edge for other sleeve and follow shaping directions as for first sleeve. Finish front same as other side.

Lightning Bolt Version shoulder shaping

• This is going to take some time to put into words. I fully intend to edit this post to include this info after I'm done knitting the blasted magazine sweater. If, however, I don't get back to it, I followed the shoulder shaping instructions for the Bog Jacket found in Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I did four increases every other row as I approached the top of the shoulder, then 4 decreases every other row as I came down the front of the shoulder.
  

Lightning Bolt Version front panel

(This panel was designed for the 24-month size before the neck opening width was changed to be narrower. It would still work for the revised 24-month size, but it would bow out a little, as it is wider than the opening. That might be a good thing, considering little tummies bow out, too.)

• Cast on 27 sts. Work 6 rows in seed sts, just as for original panel pattern, placing buttonholes as directed. Work one plain row of knitting between seed st borders, increasing 4 sts evenly across row (31 sts).


• Keeping 4 sts on each edge in seed st, work zig-zag pattern across the middle 23 sts.
  

Zig-zag pattern:

1. K3, k2tog, k3, [yo, k2tog] twice, yo, k11.


2. Purl.


3. K2, k2tog, k3, yo, k1, yo, [ssk, yo] twice, k3, ssk, k6.


4. Purl.


5. K1, k2tog, [k3, yo] twice, [ssk, yo] twice, k3, ssk, k5.


6. Purl.


7. K2tog, k3, yo, k5, yo, [ssk, yo] twice, k3, ssk, k4.


8. Purl.


9. K 11, yo, [ssk, yo] twice, k3, ssk, k3.


10. Purl.


11. K6, k2tog, k3, [yo, k2tog] twice, yo, k1, yo, k3, ssk, k2.


12. Purl.


13. K5, k2tog, k3, [yo, k2tog] twice, [yo, k3] twice, ssk, k1.


14. Purl.


15. k4, k2tog, k3, [yo, k2tog] twice, yo, k5, yo, k3, ssk.


16. Purl.

• Continue to place button holes as specified in original pattern. Repeat 16 rows of zig-zag pattern until 1" from desired length. Finish with 6 rows of seed st, evenly spacing 4 decreases across in first row of seed st.