Oh DARN it!

I wore them constantly all winter! I couldn't help myself! They're cozy and soft underfoot, I love the way they look in that fabulous Manos and I wore them right through!

So I darned them and had a great evening last night wearing my (now repaired) slippers again. (if you're interested, the original FO details on these is in my post here)

My (Didn't get it done during the) Olympic Sweater is nearing the finish line. I worked out shaping for the neckline using only math just to see if I could do it and I'm shocked it all came together!

Since My Beloved came home early last evening we were able to eat by 7:00 leaving me lots of time to work on the big cowl collar...

I'm half way up its 10" height and about to start into the last ball of yarn. Finally I know I accurately judged how far the yarn would go. So no need to say "Darn It!" about that! 'More like "Phew!"

Thanks for dropping by!

Did The Academy take a Smart Pill?

I found last night's Oscars entertaining!  I even got the impression Hollywood has smart, thoughtful, witty people in it!

Seriously...

• Very few endless lists of faceless anonymous coworkers thanked and rethanked.
• Best Actor and Actress nominees profiled by costars/friends rather than with clips of nominated rolls. (Most people have already seen the movies haven't they? (The only movie I've seen is "Up" but my kids tell me that's weird.)
• The thoughtful "Hurt Locker" movie winning Best Picture over the blockbuster Avatar.
• An independent film (Precious) being acknowledged with nominations and awards.

This show, that revolves around people who entertain for a living, seems to have this year been put on so as to be entertaining!

But I admit as I "watched" I was also very focused on knitting.  The weight of the great sheets of mock ribbed Alpaca is tiring to work as the yarn goes from front to back to front to back. If at one time I thought about knitting this in the round to the underarms I'm now so glad I didn't. I don't think I could have managed turning the total weight of the thing to work on it. As it is my right elbow and left hand are both quite sore after even a couple of hours of knitting on it.  (In the evenings I can easily put in 5 hours or so and over the weekend I put in more than that!) This morning my shoulders are tight and my upper back loaded with painful knots.

But I'm ready to do the three needle bind off for the right shoulder and begin knitting the cowl collar.

The collar measures 10" x102 stitches(knit flat and then seamed. By comparison the lower edge of either the front or back is only about 90 stitches. The collar done on a smaller needle than the body will make its finished measurement more narrow but still its going to use a significant portion of the last ball of yarn while putting even more strain on my overworked knitting muscles/tendons.

I ended up knitting the front panel  2" wider than the back up to the armhole shaping. There I integrated additional decreases to make front and back match at the shoulder.

 (The ribbed pattern can't accommodate shaping mid row so out at the edges it must be. I don't know how this is going to look once assembled but that mystery is all part of the process of this project so I'll have to wait and see.

To make altering patterns like this  less of a crap shoot in future I'm drawn to taking Veronique Avery's class on Custom Fitting Knitting Patterns being offered at the DKC Frolic next month. Robin Hunter is teaching a class earlier that day on how to know which patterns to choose and how to alter them to best suit your figure which would also be timely and useful.

Veronique's class is for Advanced Knitters. I don't know if I can claim membership in that level just yet but I do have a lot of background in sewing which might help bridge any gaps in understanding I might have. Robin's class is for all levels - I guess all you need for that one is a body to assess and I do have one of those so I should be okay there. ;)

And speaking of bodies - I'm off now to drag this aching package of mine on my walk before it gets too warm outside!?! (I'll enjoy it while it lasts, there's a good chance by week's end we'll be once again looking at measurable accumulations of snow) Maybe a good work out and a solid session of stretching will ease my aches before tonights' collar knitting. Here's hoping!

Thanks for dropping by!

Tangled Yoke is in the Bath!

Yes, its finally done, or I'm finally done working on it...whatever, it'll be blocking before the clock strikes 9:00 a.m.!

Then, I'm going to take some FO photos and write up the FO post for the baby sweater I knit over a couple of days last month and set aside for button application. I did the button deed last night after I finished TY.

In the meantime, I just have to share these links to the stunning work of three Gold Medal winners in the Knitting Olympics.

• Brenda's Green Zimmerman cardigan (knit in the round with multiple steeks, square arm holes, mitered collar and knitted hems a plenty).
• Over at Tinks and Frogs, its a beautiful version of Ysolda's Coraline knit in handspun no less!
• Then, with a very Olympic Looking Knit, over at Trailing Yarn....well you just have to see it to believe it and read the post - check out all the stuff she did over the last two weeks on top of knitting that gorgeous sweater!   

Oh, oh its past 9:00 and TY's still "Soak"ing... missing the target deadline - 'quite the recurring theme with this knit!

Thanks for dropping by - I may post again today with that Baby Knit FO!

I Didn't Earn a Medal...

...but I'm glad I tried.

I feel a bit guilty because its not like I "left it all out there on the course", as they say. The Olympics turned out to be more for the Canadian in me than the Knitter.  As a patriotic "host" I did go the distance watching each night/morning until the wee hours and well past the point of being able to knit accurately.

As a knitting participant I was too mellow. I knit while I watched but often too engrossed in the action on the screen to persist with the needles in the hands.

I believe these Games were truly transforming for Canada and I didn't want to miss a moment of it - even for knitting.

Since my last post, I did finish the second sleeve, then I all but ripped it back to the beginning and knit it again and then about half of it one more time. (This knitting to shape and size rather than a pattern is tricky business to get just right - especially when you're only half paying attention!)

The Alpaca held up remarkably well under all the abuse. Its also very soothing to work with.  This past week was a busy one and I was fighting a cold yet it was entirely pleasant to sit down (even at 10:30 or 11:00 when I should have been heading for bed) to feel that lovely stuff pass through my hands for two or three hours. My head pounded, my throat burned, my eyes watered and my country made me so so so proud!

Alex Bilodeau's Gold felt almost surreal, Hockey aside, I don't, as a Canadian, generally expect Canada to win big and I don't think I'm unusual in that regard. Canadians hoped the Games would be great and our athletes would do well but I don't think we ever imagined such spectacular outcomes across the board.

So what to do next?

1. Write to the Prime Minister and let him know I for one want full funding for "Own the Podium" to continue with or without corporate support. I'm going to suggest that If he's short on cash in the Sports Budget, he should look to the National Unity budget and transfer some over from that where he'll get a lot more value for dollar on both fronts!
2. Cast on for the Front of my Olympic Sweater.
3. Check out the progress of the other Knit Olympians I've been following. I have better hopes for the success of their efforts than for mine!
4. Revisit the Laundry Room where I have yet to return since taking that last pic of Tangled Yoke early last week and see just what can be done for that poor, pink, so close to finished knit!

Thanks for dropping by today - March 1 here in Toronto has so far been sunny and bright and despite our snowy weekend, spring suddenly feels like its right around the corner!

Olympic Knitting Update

As of last night I'm onto the second sleeve - those are the thumb holes I was initially planning on doing without but which in the end I did include.

As for yarn, at the halfway point in the knitting save the generous cowl, I think I will probably have just enough of the light grey to finish (hopefully!). The announcers frequently say "anything can happen in the Olympics!" I'm trying to accept that (and the lack of a dedicated sports/knitting psychologist!) and just keep working away despite the uncertainty."

The back and first sleeve are done, the sleeve having been shaped on the fly, the back stopped and put on stitch holders twice but then lengthened after judging stretch and so as to match the sleeve cap. There are just a couple of increases between wrist and elbow for a narrow sleeve fit and to preserve yarn but after that I increased two stitches every right side row so the  sleeve would work with the body pieces.

To further ensure  decreases for the shoulder would match I did them per the pattern while trying hard not to freak out at the difference in the stitch counts for my Alpaca gauge (16/4") and that stated for the Wool yarn (13/4") of the pattern.

Live Olympic coverage here in Ontario runs from about 7:30 pm until the wee hours. I start out strong but after three hours or so start to loose mental steam. Like a finely trained speed skater, I no doubt have lactic acid build up. Its just mine is in my brain rather than my legs because I only have some pattern numbers, measurements, kind of an idea how the pieces should go together and how the whole thing might stretch once assembled. I can exert that effort at the end of the day for only so long before it really "hurts" to to maintain speed and form!

Like an Olympian I'm trying to feed on the "pain" and perform despite it. Knitting to my body rather than tracking through a pattern goes well with watching TV, however, being half asleep doesn't go so well with knitting so there has been some ripping back but not too much.

Bottom line, "The Challenge" (knit only while watching live Olympic coverage and without using a fully planned out pattern) is, well, challenging so I guess I'm on track as far as that goes!

Whether I'm going to finish on time? Like I said at the outset of this project, only a few athletes "medal" I may not be one of them but still I'm nonetheless getting a lot out of my "games". "Own the Podium"? How about just look at it with great admiration  from a distance! I'll be good with that too!

Oh and if anyone still cares about poor Tangled Yoke (I know I've pretty much lost all affection for the thing!) I've had some stupid errors in the last few inches of the button hole band suddenly come to my attention as I sewed on the buttons. I will not share with you the words I said when I discovered that little "treasure". I will however say... I WANT AN FO POST ON THAT BEAST BEFORE MONTH END!

A Week Already?

With the back on stitch holders acting as a huge swatch I'm  trying to quantify the stretch factor of this gorgeous alpaca.

I am clearly out of my mind with optimism if I believe its all going to work out but isn't that what the Olympics are all about?

This mock rib grows from 22 to 24 inches in length with just a few unsupported bounces! Once assembled I assume the pieces will support each other a bit. My body within the sweater will of course also be a factor - what kind I don't know but a factor! My guess is to assume an inch of lengthwise stretch. As is my usual custom I will also add width to the front relative to the back - I'm not sure how much yet, generally I add 1/2 to 1 inch - to get a rather loose fit I may add 1 1/2" -2".

As for the width of the sleeves I want them more narrow and straight than the voluminous ones in the pattern. The thing is because of the ribbing my "giant swatch" pulls in between two and three inches when laid flat for measuring but my dried, blocked swatches really held their width measurements so I'm banking on that being the case with the sweater.

I knit the thumb hole cuff with about 1/2 inch negative ease because I assume having it wrapped around my hand will prompt stretching. I'm just about to graph out an inch of positive ease around the arm en route to an inch and a half at the join with the body.   I don't want the seam there to be so tight as to resist staying on top of the shoulder but I do assume the combined weight of the sleeve and the seaming will make this a tricky element to get right. I'll see how that looks on paper.

Its a big fat guessing game and therein lies my Olympic challenge so its all good!

I also found a site that listed ways to manage the stretch in alpaca. One of the "don't"s is to avoid patterns that feature large pieces as these are more prone to stretching.  This sweater, however, is all about the large pieces...hmmmmm...

On the other hand, one of the primary "do"'s is to incorporate ribbing which is the all over pattern for this sweater (well mock rib actually but its got to be better than nothing!) so I'm hoping that counteracts the effect of the large pieces, at least a bit.

I also plan to add bias tape to the shoulder seams to keep the top of the sweater from being pulled out of shape.

Another recommendation is to knit tight. I love that one - its my specialty! How nice to just this once not have to fight the tight and just let it happen! The smaller needles they recommended also help with this. My swatch done on 5.5mm was my favourite but recognizing the need to address the stretch I am instead knitting with 5mm straight and again looking forward to having a wet blocking give me the drape I'm looking for.

So that's my Olympic knitting at the moment.

Have a Great Weekend and thanks so much for dropping by!

The Spirit of the the Thing

Whether its carrying a flame out of the history of Ancient Greece to criss and cross a Continent or lacing the skates on a 3 year old for their first time on the ice, or casting on the first stitch of a knitting project, these things are acts of belief in the future, in the inherent cumulative potential in small steps and all of them are hopefully done mindful of just how wonderful each step can be - whatever the ultimate goal.

How much like a sweater does the first cast on stitch appear? To the untrained eye there's no hint of the connection between the two. We twist a bit of spun fluff around a needle. It looks insignificant and meaningless. But as knitters we believe if we persist with it, make many, many more simple twists we will produce something.

That's the thing I'm going to try to keep in mind during my Knitting Olympics. To feel accomplished in  understanding that potential in casting on rather than only in what I accomplish in these next two weeks. The spirit of the thing and the fun and enjoyment of the process are just as important!

Its like the Spirit of the Olympics themselves. By the end of the games there are just a handful of "winners" The vast majority of athletes go home without a medal. But our collective view of the Olympics - especially the spirit of the games is that we see all the athletes as winners. We recognize that just becoming an Olympian is a significant accomplishment and the parading of athletes in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies is clear testament to that.

In Calgary at the 1988 Winter Games, Elizabeth Manley overcame a career of challenges to skate the performance of her life  after working with a sports psychologist on skating for the joy of it rather than towards a goal.  When she came from behind to take the Silver she won the hearts of Canadians because she showed us success borne of the love of the thing not from the hunger for a prize. If you click on the link and watch her perform and then see her face at the end she is full of surprise and wonder at what she had just done. 

That's how I want to feel after the next couple of weeks of small knitting steps. I want to be thrilled that I did my best and I had a good time while I did it. Elizabeth ended up with a Silver Medal. I hope I end up with a sweater that I love (and that fits!) but I want the real joy of it to be in the doing not just in having it done!

If you're casting on an Olympic project tonight, I hope the same for you! Whether you are going to be an Olympic Knitter or not, I hope you have a great weekend and personally, I hope Wayne Gretzky carries the flame into the stadium tonight!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Olympic Knitting

Four years ago this week I dove back into the world of knitting after about 15 years of dabbling. For 7 of those years my knitting had been hostage to a situation similar to my Tangled Yoke ordeal. In the end, I finished the thing and it is one of my all time favourite knits...

Its a fingering weight unbleached cotton pram cover from a Pinguoin pattern. Anybody remember Pinguoin?

With that behind me just before the last Winter Olympics and riding high on a wave of self satisfaction I timidly ventured into Passionknit (then still at its old location) where Debbie - founder and then owner of the shop took me under her wing to find the yarn with which I then cast on to make this...

I knit the majority of it as I watched the Turin Olympics. In fact when I don that blue pullover I'm reminded of the exciting Men's Curling final in which Canada won Gold.

At that time I was unaware of knit blogging, knit bloggers, Ms. Pearl McPhee's Knitting Olympics, Ms. Pearl McPhee herself or pretty much any aspect of the on line knitting world from which I now derive so much inspiration.

Fast forward to 2010. The Yarn Harlot posted about how she started a big ball rolling with the Original Knitting Olympics but since it has morphed, multiplied and raveled into many variations - just the kind of thing knitters are wont to do! (Think February Baby Sweater, Lady Sweater, Fitted Pullover, Socks kind of thing - all based on the Gull Wing Lace Pattern - really nothing to do with February except the appearance of the baby sweater pattern in the February chapter of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Almanac!)

This is one of my favourite things about knitters! The variations, differing approaches, adaptations knitters come up with. So I've been happily reading about everyone's Olympic knitting plans over the past couple of weeks...

Knitting on Impulse - living right in Whistler B.C. is working a sweater now to wear as she gads about her very own Olympic town during the games, is posting her process and has invited others to follow along. The sweater is a top down funnel neck featuring a design evoking the waving lines of multiple skier's descending through virgin powder.

Veronique Avery is running a kind of on line class in designing your own mittens now to knit during the Olympics. I love this. What's more evocative of winter knitting than mittens?

Of course Ravelry has the Ravelympics - first run during the last summer games and now apparently bigger and better and more diverse than last time with hundreds of teams and thousands of members. I don't know much more than that I'm afraid, the details as listed seem to likewise have hundreds of aspects and thousands of links - too much for my impatient mouse to click through.

Brenda's amazingly prolific bunch of knitters has formed a team I'm keen to watch no doubt produce mountains of FO's over the course of the games.

So much variety.  Wouldn't it be fun to do them all? (I'm still working on how to get Einstein's theory on the dilation of time to apply to knitting - but I won't have anything ready by a week from Friday ;) )

My plan for the Olympics is to use that gorgeous Alpaca yarn I won last fall at the DKC, with the addition of a darker charcoal grey I have since sourced from Romni and to make a big cozy cowl based on the red and navy beauty from the Winter 2009/10 Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine.

I know the idea is to make something slightly challenging to encourage knitting that is better, faster and stronger. The pattern is straightforward but I plan to adjust the sleeves to make them less voluminous and in so doing less straightforward. This will require less yarn - I'm worried about running short. It will affect the shaping for all pieces. My hope is it will also make the finished piece suit me better. Bottom line I think the changes will make it more challenging for me to work, however simple the mock rib stitch may be to knit.

Since my last "Knitting Olympics" I've had my mind blown open by knitblogland et.al. but it seems I'm still happy to be in my own little knitting world during the games. Again, I'll dive in on the heels of a bit of a knitting ordeal which should make a new project all that much more sweet.

And as for the current ordeal?....

Things are looking pretty sweet there as well! (Again thanks so much for all the support in getting me through it!)

Short Row Shaping for the neckline here I come!

Thanks so much for dropping by!