Cutting Happened

Only one armhole - but it went perfectly.

(Heading off this morning for my two-stop-yarn-shop survey but I'm rushing to get this up before I leave because I thought you'd want to know.)

Rather than do all the cutting at once she worked the ribbed edging to the point of casting off, then put it on a string so she could see just what she had done. After that it was time to stop for the night.

This project needs to be in a suitcase en route to its recipient in England next Friday. There isn't time for errors/reworking and with her limited experience fatigue could lead to disaster. I've told her measured calm and working only when she has the focus and energy to do so will help immensely in avoiding trouble and she's been very accepting of that advice.

Its interesting when I suggest she just stop and leave it or encourage her to complete an element before setting it down. Her blissful freedom of passion for the process makes her quite open to doing whatever that process demands. There's no burning urge to just "do one more stripe". She's not unreasonably eager to "see how it looks with everything cut open" like I would be.

As in most aspects of her personality this girl is 180 degrees different from her mother. I'm compelled by the knitting process so much I must force myself to focus on the product whereas this "knitting thing" is simply a means to an end for her.

The vest is a reciprocation for a set of almost magical bookends made with her initials for her last spring. (She is a lifelong avid reader so bookends are a particularly fitting gift.)

The sliding "ends" are beautifully and exactingly carved in one piece, their curved footings wrapping the wooden base prior assembly. They slide side to side yet at the same time can hold books or magazines in place.

Clever and beautiful.

Hence you can see how the bookends set the bar pretty high for this vest but I've also talked with her about "picking her battles" and recognizing absolute perfection is not a realistic goal here. Its something knitters need to come to terms with at some point right?

Sleeve steek #2 is on the schedule for tonight.

Before that I'll be exploring yarn shops and with the temperature dropping significantly overnight I'll be able to wear a wool sweater to do it! Oh my goodness what an embarrassment of knitting riches today!

I'm off!

All Ready to Cut!

Just look how nicely the double crochet steek reinforcement technique (from Kate Davie's blog) looks on Darling Daughter's Alberta Vest!

How fun that she used three different colours to do it!

I can't think about steeks without remembering when the Sheriff of Knittingham came to speak at the DKC and as she was speaking she strode over to a magnificent stranded sweater displayed on a dress form and just started cutting unreinforced steeks and how I, along with the 100-odd other knitters in the room, all gasped as one.

I'd told that tale around the dinner table here at home the next night and none of them, Darling Daughter included, really "got" what the gasping was about.

Now that DD is getting ready to cut her own knitting though, I revisited the story with her last night and boy I got a reaction out of her this time!

Tonight, we will attempt to channel the Sheriff and cut - reinforcements in place but none the less - CUT!

Wish us luck Lorrain!

Weekend Progress

I had two knitting projects on the go over the weekend...mine and the new knitter's...

I can report good progress made on both!

With close oversight, Darling Daughter, sailed through the various maneuvers of the final collar decreases and short row shoulder shaping on Alberta yielding the foxy-looking thing above all ready for steeking.

(Probably using the technique outlined in Kate Davie's Double Crochet tutorial here.)

As the rounds got shorter she also took to cutting up the Noro to ensure each stripe appeared similar to those in the longer rounds below. I think she did a really nice job with that.

As for Slade, I'm now just passing the horizontal button holes on the neckband, dipping into the 6th of 7 skeins to finish the final 2 1/4" of ribbing yet to go..  

Like I said, I'll be sorry to see this yarn off my needles.  Good thing I'm going to have well over 300 yards of yarn left once I'm done!

A Beast of a Sweater

Waaaaaaaay back in November when things in my life seemed so (relatively) simple and straight forward started the Hurry Up Last Minute Sweater from Knitter's Almanac. As things stared to kind of go sideways in early December I enjoyed mindlessly knitting in the round each evening on body and then sleeves, making fake afterthought seams down the sides, joining everything together and working the unique yoke shaping around which this sweater is based.

So engaged was I in the simple knitting I maintained blissful ignorance of the alarming size of the thing.

Then everything went crazy over Christmas. The sweater, complete save the hem facings, had yet to be even pulled over my head for a quick peek. You really can't imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks ago it occurred to me I should try the thing on....

A. Beast.

I gigantic, ill fitting BEAST OF A SWEATER.  What to do?

See if it fits anyone else!

What followed was reminiscent of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...

My Beloved tried it on...

too small

Darling Daughter...

TOO BIG.

Number One Son...

Just right!

It looked great on him! My knitter's heart leapt for joy You know that feeling!

You probably also know how brief that feeling can be...

...he looked me right in the eye and carefully and nicely said... 

"Mom, you need to know I will never, ever wear it. Ever. Don't finish it thinking I will because I won't.

 Ever."

So now...I've thought about it and I have a new plan...work a crocheted steek and try the thing as a cardigan! (EZ's daughter Meg outlines just how to do it in the VK Holiday 2011 that's sitting on my coffee table in the living room - could the knit gods be trying to tell me something?)

More importantly will a simple steek tame the beast? I don't know, but I'm going to find out!

'Come Along for the Ride!

So here we are, all ready to go a-steeking! The ends from changing colour at the centre front where each round starts have been pulled to the right side of the work and trimmed to about 1/2 inch.

You can just see my double pass of green hand basting there in the "ditch" created by the purl stitch at each end of every round. I added two knit stitches between these purls for wiggle room and I'm glad I did.
Let the cutting begin!
I'm cutting between my two added knit stitches. You can see one on the right - the other of course is on the left at the edge of the folded back section. There's another peek at my basting line too. Up...

And up...
And up...
To the top...
And its done!
Ta Da!
Now, with all the ends cut off I don't have to sew any in I can move right along to basting the zipper in place.

...and dreaming about what my next steeked project might be...

Thanks for joining me in my little adventure today!