Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Knitting: One Down Plus

One sweater down!  With the help of Smallville Seasons 2 and 3, I finally finished the Equinox Raglan sweater.  The yarn is really soft and yummy.  Unfortunately I can't recommend the Chroma yarn for socks... after barely a week the bottoms are starting to pill and felt.

Anyhoo, here's a look at the Equinox, and sorry but I did NOT feel like clearing space for my photography setup, so once again, glaring flash version:






It needs blocking, but I was so inspired by finishing the thing that I took the skein and a half of the worsted I had left and crocheted a skinny scarf in about a day:




I am also finding new inspiration on the Lusekofte.  The progress is slow, but sure.




I can still only make it about four rounds before my brain gives up and says "Can we just zone out to the TV now?" or it wants me to go check out Facebook again.  What you see in the picture above is the body and bottom of the shoulders. The vertical stripes on the left side are where I will cut to sew in the sleeves.  It's called a "steek" and there are three of them on this sweater.  One for each arm, and the neck closure.  I still haven't decided if I'm going with a short zipper or the traditional hook clasps.  I have several clasps on hand  and I don't remember if I bought them with this in mind, or another project.  If you want to see those, they're here:

http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=60bc063b-34f5-4f1c-a555-a21ff1bdfbbd

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Knitting: The Endless Sweaters

The Lusekofte sweater was making me nuts... I can only do about four rounds on the shoulder chart before my brain shuts down and says "No more!".  Here's a small sample of the chart:


I'm going to be found in a few weeks wandering around mumbling "Two, three, one, one, one, three, one, three" with my hands stuck in misshapen claws.

The good part is that I've finished both sleeves on the Equinox sweater.  And wouldn't you know it, the cold wave has snapped.  I went down to meet super-spud at the bus stop in the afternoon in my shirt sleeves the other day.  Mother Nature must have regional assistant managers, because I think the one for Texas has gone nuts.  Make up your frikken mind!

Ahem... anyway, I'm into the third ball of yarn out of four.  I guess when picking the pattern for the Equinox I ignored the fact that it has 3/4 sleeves.  I dislike 3/4 sleeves.  I was gangly and skinny as a teenager, so I avoided them like the plague because they made me look like I'd outgrown my clothes.  I'm really tempted to pick up stitches at the ends of the sleeve and add some more length... like a nice lacy bell end in a complementary color.  It makes me wish the Chroma yarn came in lace-weight.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Knitting: Progress Report

Entering the home stretch on the Lusekofte Sweater...  I've almost hit the armpits.  Hopefully, despite Knit Pick's usual awkward wording on their patterns, I'll be able to decipher the arm scyes and the neck placket.






I've been getting maybe eight to sixteen rounds of the sleeve done each night on the Equinox Raglan.  That's about what I can handle while watching Star Trek: TNG before bed.  You can see here how the very regular, evenly spaced dye stripes on the Chroma Worsted yarn makes this type of project look slightly ridiculous.  Get to the sleeves and they groooooooow.  I'm expecting someone to say, "My, what big arms you have!".  The tacked-on Gramma afterward is implied, even though I haven't been bestowed with that one... yet.


I am tempted to do a second Equinox with some Noro Silk garden I still have, but I know I'll never wear it because that stuff is scratchy and nasty.  In fact I think the only appropriate garment to be made from it that wouldn't make me itch like crazy is big, slouchy leg warmers.  Worn over the pants and boots, kickin' it 80's style.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Knitting: Socks are done

Well the U-Pick Chroma socks are finally finished.  I could have gone another inch on them, but I a) wanted to get them off my freakin' needles and b) it's probably a good idea to save a wide swath for mending any holes if they crop up.


Now it will be back to the Lusekofte Norwegian sweater, the worsted Chroma Equinox Raglan top, and if I can motivate myself, the Lafayette afghan and the all-cotton afghan I started a billion years ago.

My knitting speed is kind of directly proportional to how much TV I have to watch.  Coming out of a mid-season hellatus (that's the hiatus from HELL as coined by the gals in the Supernatural Ravelry group) I did not knit as much as I could have.  I was really scrounging for shows at the end there... I *ahem* acquired the full series of "The Invisible Man" and "Threshold" to tide me over.  I'm rather sad these shows didn't make it.  Threshold especially had that Fringesque, X-Filesy quality that could have been really great.