fullofstitches.com Blog

(In which she realizes that she didn’t check the weight of the # of balls used in the original..)

I have four (4) balls of yarn. It’s lovely, the color’s called, “Sorrel.” My dear husband bought it for me and I looked at the four little balls and said that I’d figure out something to make of them. I searched patterns and finally settled on one. I started knitting. Hmm, 1 ball made it halfway down the shoulders. The second ball made it just past the join. I’m in the third ball and I haven’t finished the bodice. I picked up a ballband -50g. There are still two short sleeves to go. I’m thinking the last ball should be worked into the sleeves, then finish the bottom. I can always use another color for the ribbing (sigh).

I searched through Ravelry for ideas what to do with DK yarn. That really made me want the 9 volumes of Viking Knits! Anyway, I settled on trying the Soy Cardi, which I probably printed last summer just after she posted it! And, miraculously, I found that printout just after I dived through ravelry!

After the first skein of yarn:

I’ve nearly finished the November September Mystery socks… Yeah, it’s not November September any more (almost, though). These were cast on in March, I’m trying to talk myself into finishing them in July. I keep going back and forth on what to knit, cardigan or socks.

Could there be a better name for the pattern for our pastor’s wife? I was going to use white ribbon, but the pink gave it something. I did add buttons, I just forgot to take a picture of it finished.

She’ll be here tomorrow.

MissC really likes her new sweater. At least, she likes being put up on the toy box to get her picture taken!

Basic Pattern: Cameron’s Hooded Cardigan from A Good Yarn. The tree on the front is the Apple Tree chart (p. 102) from Charted Knitting Designs (3rd Treasury) by Barbara Walker.
The knitting for this sweater has been done for a couple months. I’ve never put a zipper in a knit before! It turned out a tiny bit wonky, but not bad for a first.

I finished the back-zippered baby sweater yesterday. All the knitting has been completed for several months, the zipper was the part that took so long! It sat next to the sweater for a looong time while I ignored it completely until I was ‘ready’ to sew it in. Thank Sara for that aha moment a couple weeks ago! I basted it in in an hour -seriously, it took 15-20 minutes once I actually started with the thread, but I pinned it 3 times. I sewed in the first side over the next couple days and set it down again. Yesterday, I couldn’t find MissC’s jacket, so I grabbed the sweater and thread as I headed out the door. I finished sewing the zipper in during Bible study.

I took a phone pic, but am currently slightly inept at getting pics from the phone to the computer. I’ll take time to figure that out later.

Last night, Ben was out. The night before I came across a grocery bag pattern that I decided to try. Basically, use a plastic bag as the pattern for the fabric version. The tutorial shows how to make a pocket to fold the bag into for storage. I used some floral fabric that I might otherwise not use, and used the lining fabric as the pocket. The bag seriously looked not quite right without the pocket, probably because I’m used to seeing the store info on the plastic bags!

Gotta run. TJ has his Yorktown Reenactment today.

That’s my whole excuse for not blogging lately. That, and when I spend time actually doing things, I end up with little time to write about it.

Nephew Z’s birthday party was Saturday. We had a great time at the river! Then, we drove up to Papa’s house (FIL) and had a pleasant visit. It was so cute, Friday the children got up and packed their suitcases and were watching the clock like hawks waiting for Daddy to come home and take them to Papa’s for a sleepover! They had to wait a day, but they were so happy!

This morning, I started the Queen of Diamond Gloves from Knit Picks. They’re coming out cute and would fit great in the right gauge.. and if I had distorted fingers.. Apparently, I missed something when I placed my markers and the back of the hand side grew, but the palm side grew more slowly. There’s no reference in the directions on how many stitches end up between the markers, so I had hoped that I hadn’t really blundered.. Then it became more obvious. The thumb seems okay, but the pinky is using half the palm stitches instead of being on the end… I’m half tempted to just finish it as is and let the children have it for the dress up box. I haven’t taken any photos yet.

Barb gave me some Bamboo yarn when she was here last. I think it’s Regia Bamboo (I’ll have to get up to look, but at the rate I’m going, I won’t make it back to actually post this today). I used knitty’s Widdershins pattern again. I should have gone up a needle size, so I used a k2p1 ribbing and made them longer to have enough fabric to stretch. I started the first from the outside of the skein and the second from the inside and knit till there was just enough to bind off. They fit fine, I’m getting used to the color.

A couple weeks ago, we went to the LYS. TJ asked me to make a sweater from “Gold, Silver, and Copper” for him. He drew me a picture so that I do it right. We’ve discussed it and I’ve begun.

I’ve got a few repeats of the stripes done. Each stripe is 1 inch. I wonder how long I should make it..

I started the Summer Garden Socks on our drive this weekend. Turns out that I’m starting to knit more tight than I used to, so they’re a little snug. Will have to rip and reknit. I may just rip and use on a different patten, but this is a neat knit!

It seems that I was careless the last time I knitted on Angelina. The gauge is all over the place on the last 6-8 rows (varying across the back as to the depth of the transgression). I don’t like the idea of having little bubbles of extra-stretchy ribbing just at the backs of my arms or across looking like little extra nipples - I’ve got enough of those in front! I don’t think I could capture this well in photo, but perhaps if I stick my finger behind one of the gaping huge stitches and compare it to a properly sized stitch…

OK.. blurry, can’t really tell what’s happening, but about 6 rows back there are some *huge* holes! Then it’s loose for 3-4 rows! Then there are the 2 1/2 rows that I knit today.. Could I have noticed earlier when the toddler wasn’t up to get into the yarn as I rip it?

My evening will be spent ripping and reknitting.
Perhaps I can get a hold of Ben before he gets home and have him pick up a bottle of something to soothe the knitter.

*Note: Ben made me a stiff drink and I ripped about 8 rows, then reknit one. So, I have knit approximately negative 4 rows on Angelina. I’m back to 4″ of arms done.*

I picked her up gently and knocked the dust off her backside.. She whispered to me, “Where have you been?” I couldn’t look her in the eyes for a moment, but then I braved it and told her that I have returned.

I had wanted to complete my Angelina sweater during the month previous to moving out here, but it hadn’t worked out. All that life stuff kept getting between us. Now, I’ve realized that I can work on her during the day (the sunlight will help my poor aging eyes see her dark stitches much better) and Sue’s sock (dark, but larger yarn size) in the evenings? hmm.. I may just switch between them during the days and sew in the evenings..

Well, it’s nearly official. Ben’s found a place, he just has to fax some papers to me.. Hmm.. that’s going to be fun (I hate going out if I don’t have to, FIL’s fax isn’t set up to receive, and Ben didn’t want to send them so that they’d be here already whilst I was out of town, so he’s got to send them on my time [sigh]). I’ll be leaving Oklahoma for the coast at the end of this month.

In exchange for the quiet open expanses that I’ve come to love, I get to return to my native state, massively overpopulated cities, and traffic clogged byways. I try to focus on looking forward to being with my dear husband again.. I get to make all new friends. Again. (I’m really an introvert at heart, so this is a bit of a challenge for me). I’ve looked online and there were no listings for homeschool groups in the San Francisco area at all. San Jose wasn’t mentioned at all. Fun fun.

On a brighter note: the first 3 inches of Angelina are knitted. I’m using size 2 needles.. I tried the 5s and got 6 or 7 st/in, so I tried 4s and got 7/8 st/in. I don’t own 3s, so I tried 2s and got 10 st/in.. and I’m happy with that. I’ve only had a 36″ chest measurement when I was full of milk, and my ‘baby’ is almost 21 months. So, I’m aiming to have the finished size closer to 38″ (the smallest listed finished measurement is 40″). Yes, this means I’ll have to add a few more rows in the front because there’ll be a few more in the back, but it’s worth it. I hope.

She spoke softly, calling to me in the darkness of midnight, begging me not to leave her alone on the shelf.. “Do you see me?”

‘Yes, yes!’ I cried out and petted her soft strands.. Purple.. Angelina.. I see you now.
I bought the pattern last year as inspiration.. I finally taught myself to knit and she has such simple construction. Yes, she will be mine.