One more round

I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to this week, the weather was too nice, I went for a walk every day the sun was shining, the wind was calm and the temps kept climbing 50+F.  Going for a walk was a necessity! The indoor activities could wait for a chilly day.  I still did a little sewing.  I rearranged a few blocks and decided to add one more round. Looking at my stack of extras I thought the border would be dominated by golds and brown but the dark diagonals asked for a continuation of similar colors. So I scattered the extras around then sewed more blues and reds to finish. I almost turned the sewing and pressing into an aerobic exercise sew a couple squares jump up and press then stretch to put them in place, step back and repeat for 30-40 more little squares. The iron never had a chance to cool off.  Now I can sew the rows. Enjoying the weather and the winter —Ann—

Design wall Monday

 

Finally something on the design wall. I started this last September and then life happens lots of trips to see the little girls and they really are only little for a little while. Whereas the stash of fabrics stays the same until I take the ruler and blade to it then the sewing machine and iron. Hope your week ahead is productive. I have ambitious ideas…..we will see how the week progresses. —Ann—

Happy Feet

 

I have knit so many pairs of socks they are fool proof. I can’t remember the last time I ripped a pair of socks…….happy feet.  Sweaters on the other hand I knit and rip and knit again. Hopefully I got it right the second time. I knit the swatch on 3 sizes of needles to get the right gauge but also to feel the difference in the fabric I just created, smaller needles make a firm dense fabric, larger needles a softer drapier fabric. Then I look for a pattern to match the fabric that I like best and not finding one I’m making adjustments. My first attempt fit like a potato sack so start over a size smaller and be consistent with the tension of the yarn.  I started with a 15 stitch gauge (15 stitches over 4 inches of knitting) then I got loosey goosey and was knitting a 12 stitch gauge under the arms. It makes a difference if you are pushing the stitch off the needle or gently pulling it off the left hand needle. Now I have a consistent 14 gauge on # 9 needles.  I also did a lot of math,  # of stitches of circumference of body of sweater (under arms) divide by stitch gauge x 4 inches =  inches of circumference of sweater. The pattern added 10 stitches under each arm to join the front to the back, 20 stitches was like adding 5 to 8 inches to the circumference I cut that down to 4 stitches under each arm. Fingers crossed I’m getting it right. It’s cold here below zero it’s a good day to curl up and knit.  —Ann—

Mindless knitting

 After knitting and finishing the elephant and giraffe and not getting my yarn from Ireland into the go bag which might not have fit in the car…….i needed some mindless knitting socks of course. Socks for the little girls the pastel are too big for this year but next year. So I knit a smaller pair. One little girl thinks hand knit socks are itchy.  The blue and yellow are for me. Happy New Year. Ann