Picture of third time charm

After reading all the ribbing tales, here is finally a pic of the sweater in it's current incarnation. I am on my third ball of yarn, so you can assume I like it. The photo does not quite do the yarn justice, but you can see why a busy pattern was out. I have a cold so I sit around and knit.

MANY THANKS
I received a package from Jacqui all the way from Australia with my Red Letter Day prize. I am stoked - this stuff (2 skeins of rare essentials "cocoon cherry" alpaca/silk/mohair and superfine merino and 1 skein of Jo Sharp's aran cotton in "Mareschino") is incredible. You guys have the best reds Down Under. It is NICE STUFF! Thank you so much! I think I've finally settled on Cinxia from Knitty.com for my red sweater project. I've mooned over the Elsebeth Lavold vest but now that I've looked at the pattern I think I will work my way up towards it. I've ordered some of her wool/silk yarn in a lovely red (rosehip - what a great colorway name) that I think will be perfect. It didn't hurt to notice that The Yarn and Fiber company that I bought it from on-line is selling it for a dollar less per skein than a local yarn store and with free shipping.

I have yet to post my button (feel free to steal minus bandwidth of course, if you like). I could only get it really, really tiny or HUGE. With the holidays I have had no time for poking at it hoping things will work "this time". Soon, soon. I also have to figure out the blogger upgrade. Sigh.

Let's hope third time is the charm

Once again I have taken the red sweater and ribbed it. Argh. I like the moss stitch, I like the stockinett stitch, but I want a sweater and one that fits more closely. So with some calculations I am aiming at a Hybrid from EZ, but with a bit of shaping that I will borrow from my Rosedale United. Let's hope this is it now.

Christmas Knitting

Travelling Cables Front
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

Over Christmas I came down with a terrible cold and so I sat and knit. I managed to finish the front of my Travelling Cables Cardigan. I didn't do such a great job on the buttonholes which you would be able to tell if I wasn't hiding them from you! I am hoping a good blocking will straighten them out. Now I am doing the sleeves which don't involve any adding cables or buttonholes so I should be good (I hope). Then its on to all that finishing which makes me tired just to think about !

Next Try

After deciding that Mrs CB's Camp Jacket will have to move to another yarn, I have just cast on with my red yarn again. This time I am trying for Park from NoroKnits by Jane Ellison. The first thing I did was change. I did cast on the back and the fronts together, because I dislike keeping track of the rows in stockinette stitch. Then I read with disbelief that you just start knitting. Sorry? That is so going to curl. Not what I want, so my Park starts with 4 rows of moss stitch. I changed the pattern for the zipper blends from garter to moss stitch too. But now I am off to some lovely stockinette stitch (40 cms of it with 219 stitches each row). Pictures when there is more than just 10 rows.

Travelling Cables Update

TCC Left Front 2
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I have the back and left front done on my Travelling Cables Cardigan. There have been no big surprises so I hope to have the right side done by Christmas. Its hard to get a good photo of the cables because the red does not photograph well, but they are very pretty. This is a neat design and I think I would knit her again in a darker color to show off the cables and the fit more. Now you notice how red she is first and the cables second. But I still like her. There is a side photo of her up on my blog if you're interested.

Round by round...

...my red sweater is slowly taking shape. (I should be like Anne and name all my projects. But, my mind draws blanks at clever, fitting names.)

Sorry about the terrible coloring/lighting. Somedays our eight year old digital camera doesn't want to cooperate. (I'm will not admit to incompetence.)With everything going on these days I manageto knit a couple rounds each day on the body and the sleeve.

The pattern is a basic neck down raglan sleeve to which I've added the vines going down the arms, and the seed stitch at the top. I love the weight and feel of this Briar Rose yarn and am eager to begin wearing it. Which is why I keep working on it when other things are impatiently waiting. With just nine days until Christmas I decided not to stress out anymore about unfinished hopes of knitting some presents. The ideas came too late in the season and I'm too slow of a knitter. Shoot, one pair of socks takes me two weeks.

Hooray to Chris and Peg for capturing the prize drawings today!

today is a RED LETTER day—times two!

good morning and a happy red letter day to everyone!
today erica has offered two lovely prizes to the KAL. the first batch of sock yarn, key chain, stitch markers, and a mini-sock pattern goes to


congratulations to chris of briar rose fibers!
and the second prize of sock yarn and stitch markers goes to


congratulations peg! i think it's great that both of today's winner's happen to be members who also gave prizes for the KAL in the last couple of months—it's nice to be able to celebrate them this way.

these giveaways have been really fun and a nice touch to the KAL. we are always happy to accept prize offerings from any member; simply contact anne or laura that you have something to offer. our next giveaway is scheduled for february 14th!

RED LETTER DAY—one day late!

oh dear—yesterday was a RED LETTER DAY and, since i did not have it in my iCal, i forgot!
i am so sorry . . .
happy happy birthday to jacqui, who has some delicious-sounding yarn to send out.

and our winner is . . .

congratulations earin—and thank you again jacqui! the next RED LETTER DAY will be tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Finally Posting--Red Ribbed Cardi

Holiday knitting has snowed me under! No pun intended. It's kept me from doing some serious blogging. But I'm here now, with a pic of my finished Red Ribbed Cardi.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Cutting the steek and sewing in the zipper was not nearly as painful as I had expected. In fact, the steek was the easiest part of the whole thing! There are a few things I wish I'd done differently, such as working more raglan decreases before starting the collar (the neck is a little "boatier" than I had planned), and I also wish I'd worked some of Elizabeth Zimmermann's famous applied I-cord to the fronts to cover the zipper a little better. But hey, it was a prototype and I'm happy it fit at all!

If you'd like to see more details, and see pictures of how I cut the steek *gasp* you can check out my blog here

Happy knitting all!

Photo Finish

Here is a picture of my finished sweater.


I used the V-Necked Top Down Pullover pattern by Knitting Pure and Simple with Elann Sierra Aran in Sangria colorway. Modifications include adding my own waist shaping and using a garter stitch cuff instead of a k1p1 cuff. I also changed the neck ribbing from K1p1 to K2p2.

I am wearing it to work today and it is wonderful. My garter stitch ridge at the bottom is not flipping up and I didn't do anything special to it while blocking. Maybe I just got lucky.

This thing is sooo warm!

My next sweater is brown, but the one after that will be red with stranded colorwork. See ya'll later on down the line. I will keep dropping in to see updates, though.

Susan

On hold

My red sweater has been put on hold. I am heading home for the holidays in just two days, and my suitcase space for knitting projects will be taken up by gifts that must be finished. At least once I give away the gifts, I will have room for a few yarn purchases from Newfoundland!

I have managed to finish, block, and assemble the back and two fronts of my red cardigan and knit the button bands and collar- All that's left to knit is the sleeves. It's looking a little too big for me, but I'll re-evaluate once it has sleeves so that I can try it on properly. I would be okay with making this one a birthday gift for someone special if it does turn out too big, and chalking it up to a learning experience in the design department. Next time I'll get some help with measuring myself more accurately and try for less ease. Oh well, I'll have a red pullover in the works for myself soon.

I have promised hubby a birthday sweater in February, but there is no way on earth that he would ever wear red, or anything particularly textured or interesting for that matter. So I have resigned myself to miles of brown or grey stockinette. I may have to find another knit along for moral support on that one!

My prize of designer Red Branch (K)Nights yarn arrived from Jo yesterday, and it is simply lovely. I think I will make a length-wise scarf out of it, but it may be some time before I get to it. Thank you Jo for this unique skein.

Stalled...

I've been knitting Argyle by Anna Bell, and I've just halted. Bang. Christmas knitting is somewhat to blame: but I'm going to Geneva in the New Year, and I want to ahve it ready to wear by then. Should I try and speed the process up a little by doing the sleeves without the texture, do you think?
~x~

Done!

My red sweater is done! It's lying on blocking towels on my office floor. I will take modeled shots soon as it's dry and I have some daylight. I love the way it turned out and the yarn softened up quite a bit in washing. It was nice before, but now it's fabulous.

The blocking picture is too dark to bother with. It looks like a dark sweater shaped outline on pale towels. Trust me, not worth bothering with. I'll take a picture during daylight tonight.

Going to go get the fan and point it at the sweater to help drying. I want to wear it tomorrow!

Sleeves Done, Neck Next

My sleeves are complete! I actually was so in the zone of knitting that I knit the right sleeve an inch longer than the left, so I had to rip back. Oops.

Tonight I pick up stitches for the neckline and block it. I hope to be wearing it by Thursday, which is my Sit'n'Stitch night.

My next red sweater will be a yoked sweater with stranded colorwork from Knitting Without Tears. However, first I have to knit a sweater for my husband. He's been waiting for a sweater since last year. That sweater will be a nice maple brown.

Celtic Vest is looking beautiful!

I've been having quite a good time with this wonderful Celtic Vest from Elsebeth Lavold. After the contretemps with the Alice Starmore Eriskay, it was such a relief to start work on something which was calmly and sensibly explained, had clear instructions, and didn't expect me to have a degree in advanced mathematics to suss it out. Plus the poppy-red lambswool behaved beautifully (I had worried that plying it by three might lead to splitting and loose loops, but no, it went along with everything as if born to three times the thickness) and all currently goes merry as a marriage bell.



Look, look, I've created my very first Lavold motif, and it's a double one to boot! Can you see it? Do you want a closer look?



It was really not difficult at all, despite my initial fears. You do have to keep the sharpest of eyes on the chart, though, so as not to miss those deceptively tiny little increases and decreases which allow you the additional stitches to make the motif. But I've managed to join up the two pieces of the back above the central slit (which I love) and now it's hey and away with a helluva lot of reversed stocking stitch, with only the two central cable twists to vary the monotony, until I get to the armholes and another couple of motifs. Still, it's a pleasant pattern to work, that's the best way to describe it, whereas with the Eriskay, the stress levels were way above acceptable level the entire time - whatever Starmore was up to when she designed it, the feelings that come through on the pattern are wholly negative.

Very happy with this vest. Thank you Elsebeth, keep on championing the Viking motifs and let's have lots and lots more. I've ordered another of her books but it isn't here yet. And I'm so thrilled that the 'rescue cone' of dusty, weary old yarn turned out to be such a stunning poppy-red lambswool. Now I just need to find enough time to get ahead with this project, even if it does mean others have to wait.

Thanks, Lilith!

My hat kit came and it's absolutely wonderful! The colors are beautiful, and the yarn is so soft. I couldn't be more pleased - Thanks again!

slow going

remember back in the beginning of november, when i posted about finishing my red sweater in time for christmas?....
well.
unlikely isn't even the word for it. it's still at the same stage as the last posting, working away on the cabled band for the empire waist (at least the band is longer, about 18" or so, although it needs to be about 36"). it's getting quite frustrating because i have the whole sweater planned out in my head - i can see it, and it's fabulous! a wide horizontal cabled empire waistband & smaller horizontal cabled bands along the neckline & the bottom of the sleeves & body; vertical cables to emphasize the side seams of the body, up the undersides of the sleeves, and up the raglan decreases; a longer tunic-type length & long bell sleeves.....
sigh. if only i could knit as fast as i can plan! it would perhaps help if i wasn't knitting 4 ply yarn on 2.5mm needles...
& everyone else seems to be whizzing along - i'm getting a bit discouraged seeing everyone finished work, & really reall want mine to progress more quickly! so the goal for the week is to finish the cabled waistband & start the lower body of the sweater... i'll keep you posted.

... and ripped

My new red cardigan made it up to 10 cm before I ripped it. The yarn is lovely, the pattern is good, but they were fighting for attention. Therefore they got seperated. Mrs. CB's Camp Jacket is restarted in a plainer yarn, but now it is green. On the other hand I have found a simple pattern that might work for the red yarn. I am itching to cast of for that project as well. Hm, Starteritis anyone?

One down, one to go!

The left sleeve is done! I finished it during my lunchtime knitting break yesterday and will be picking up my stitches for the right sleeve right after I finish my coffee. I want to get a good start on the right this weekend. The end is in sight!

Now. Off to finish my coffee...

Part of the way done

So I have been working on the Kepler Sweater for the KAL. Last night I finished the front (sleeves are already done) and I picked up the stitches for for the back of the band. Can't believe how quickly this is stitching up. BTW, thanks Jo for pointing out this KAL.

New Red Sweater started

After much deliberation I started my red cardigan. I have had the yarn for at least two years, it was always intended for a cardigan. Now I have started Chicknits Mrs. CB's Camp Jacket. When I originally saw that pattern I was convinced I would never knit that one. However it grew on me and it was the only one that spoke to me now. The yarn is multicolored and likely does not do the pattern real justice, but it is a bit early to say for sure. I have cast on and knit about 15 rows sofar. Picture when there is something to see.

red red wine

here's my arwen clone. raglan bottom up. katmandu aran red yarn, love it!dd must love it also, she asked if she could wear it to class tonight.

Finally finished!!!

For some reason the hood seemed to take longer than it did to knit the rest of the body and sleeves, but I finished it up this morning (aside from blocking and buttons of course) :) If you are curious and want to know more, you can see other pics/specs here.

I'm back. And this time, fingers crossed, I think I've really got it sussed!

I promise, I've put Starmore firmly back on the shelf in the knitting section of the library and I'm not going to look at her again for quite a long time. You know how it is when you meet another strong character - one of you has to give. I don't want to give, so I've left the building for the time being. Another time, Starmore, I'll be back, never fear. Don't stride that Stornoway shoreline of yours too confidently...!

IN THE MEANTIME, life has taken a better turn. I found that lovely cone of rescue Scottish lambswool (yes, Scottish again, but surely not from Stornoway?), skeined it up to triple strength and cast on for the lovely Elsebeth Lavold Celtic Vest.



That's the ideal, and here's the story so far, on the back. This, as you may be able to see, is rather charmingly split to start with, having cables up either side of the split, until they join as one of Lavold's iconic stand-alone motifs takes shape.



You probably can't see any detail at all from this and I'm sorry. I'll get the expert to photograph it at the next stage. But what I'm so excited about is that it's working smoothly and beautifully (although you do have to keep the sharpest of magnifying glasses on Lavold's pattern, not to miss the subtle lifted increases here and there - did miss one set, and had to do some nifty work on the following row to adjust - couldn't bear to frog). Overall, though, it's moving along happily and cooperatively. Couldn't be more different to the Starmore Eriskay in the cashmere. One of those personality clashes, I guess. Ah well, experience is what you gain when you're looking for something else, as Oscar Wilde said.

Tam and Travelling Cables

Tam and Travelling Cables
Originally uploaded by pghjan2.

I decided to knit the Travelling Cables Cardigan by Karabella in Nature Spun. I was going to knit a pullover but decided a cardigan would get worn more. Here is the back almost done on Minnie-me to show you the shaping. Its a pretty easy knit and I like how it is turning out. I also finished a Tweedy Beret for MD from the IK Winter 2006. She didn't have time to model it so I just stuck it up there. It is knit out of Beaverslide yarn and is a size small.

Ripping back...

both sleeves on Samus. I thought the armholes were too big, but, after blocking, it turns out they were fine - it's the sleeves - too wide, and the cap is too deep, so both get pulled back, and re-done. Oh, well, better to get it right!
How's everyone else coming along?

today is a RED LETTER day!

today in another RED LETTER day, this time to celebrate laura's birthday—happy birthday laura! she'll be sending two balls of burgundy Socka yarn to

congratulations tandemknitter—i'll forward your email to laura so she can get your prize in the mail. thank you laura and have a wonderful, fun birthday!

whoops!

read about my tale of arwen woe on my blogwww.spinningmylifeaway.blogspot.com
but never fear, it's back on the needles, only this time bottom up for my dd.
vanessa

Well I was in a knitting groove yesterday. I got my torso done as you saw in my last post and got halfway down the left arm.

The arm is a bit big, and next time I will ajust decreases to go in sooner, but it matches the style of the sweater, so I'll keep it as is. This pattern has been adjusted as I go, and I love doing that, I have discovered. I think I'm more happy with a knitting guideline rather than a pattern. My next sweater will be done in the Elisabeth Zimmerman percentage style. Not red, though, so you'll have to come to my blog to see it. I'll start swatching it soon.

I'm surprised that the miles of stockinet are not boring to me. If I get too bored, I can always pick up my uncompleted FLAK and work on it, but I'm happy with the stockinet at the moment.

The way things are going I might get this done by next weekend.

Things are underway

I'm finally on the move with my Red Sweater!!!! I'm really excited about Samus! I'm started out really slowly with the cables, but after four repeats so far, I'm getting the hang of it and going along a bit faster. I haven't had much time to devote to it lately between other obligations, (gift knitting, coursework, getting used to a new job, plus all the regular stuff), but I've tried to do at least a couple of rows everyday. I think once I get to the body of it I should motor along alot faster. My goal... here it is (bear in mind I am self proclaimed Queen of Procrastination) is to have the bottom cable band done and the body started by next weekend. I've only got four more repeats to go before the band is done so that's, let's see 4 x 32 = 128 + 1 (end row) = 129 rows more to go. Oh. Now that very number seems daunting. However, rows are short - what was it 26 stitches? That's nothing. Really. I can get it done. No problem!

Well, I'm off to get the coffee started and do my mad Saturday running about. Hopefully I get a few minutes for knitting today somewhere along the line!

Sarah

Yo! Kelly Wins The Celtic Memory Yarn!

I had a lot of fun creating this yarn. It's definitely not a shy, stay-at-home composition, more a get-out-there-and-make-the-world-stare type. It's glitzy, it's festive, and Kelly is going to have a lot of fun with it.



This is now officially logged in my records as Red Branch (K)Nights, but it's a one-off. I created it especially for this KAL and don't intend to make any more (well, not unless you beg...) It's high time I got on with creating the next in the Celtic Festivals range, Midwinter. After all, today is December 1 and if I don't hurry, we'll be past the shortest day and moving into spring!

All very well, but how am I myself getting along with the red sweater that I am supposed to be making, to justify my presence here? Well may you ask. (Well, no, you probably don't, given the saga so far.)

Yesterday I suddenly remembered a sad and grimy cone of 'rescue yarn' which had come out of that stash shed in the woods a while back. It had looked a nice bright fireman's red, but was so covered with dust and fluff and general grime that it was hard to tell.

I went burrowing. I went hunting. I ran it to earth at the bottom of a large see-through container (the see-through capability of course only applies to those yarns ranged round the edge, doesn't it? It doesn't help much when the cone is smack bang in the middle of the box as this one was.) And had you noticed that the yarn you really really want is always in the bottom box of a large and heavy stack?

Maybe you don't understand what I'm on about. Maybe your collection of yarn sits neatly in a small and attractive basket on a little shelf in your living room. Alongside your two pairs of knitting needles.

Maybe. But knowing you lot, I doubt it. Garages? Attics? Basements? Specially-built extensions? Come on, come on, you can tell me. I would really like to know that there is someone out there with a bigger yarn storage problem than mine!

Anyway, back to the poor little rescue red. It was there all right, and a good big fat cone too, which gladdened my heart. I immediately skeined some off and washed it gently. It came up beautifully and dried quickly, which was good because I was already impatient to try a swatch.



Here is the cone, and the just-dried skein in front of it. You can't really see, but the top of the cone is still quite dusty and grimy, while the sides, where the yarn has been wound off, is the true clear bright flame red that I like.

It's a very fine lambswool, so I used it triple to work a swatch for the beautiful Celtic Vest from Elsebeth Lavold (I really do not like the name Cul de Sac given to it by Knitter's). What do you know, it worked perfectly - just the right gauge on a 4mm circular. And so, once again, I have cast on for my own Red Sweater KAL project - the Celtic Vest. The cashmere has been retired to a quiet location for some time. The Starmore book (Fishermen's Sweaters) has gone back downstairs to the knitting section of my library. There is nothing between me and success but time. Time. Not too much of that around chez Celtic Memory at the moment, but we will persevere.

And for those who asked about the Celtic Vest pattern - it was in the Fall 2003 issue of Knitter's and you can order back issues from them here . It's worth buying that issue actually - there are several wonderful things in it.

Anyway, I'm off to spend the rest of the evening working up the back of the Celtic Vest and reading The Devil Wears Prada (no I do not feel like an intellectual evening with Nietzsche and Kant). I might even eat a bar of chocolate.

Starmore? Never heard of her.

And Kelly, your yarn is on the way bright and early tomorrow morning. Let me know what you make with it!

Torso Complete!

And due to the top down nature of the pattern, I can try it on to take this picture. The pattern I'm using is Down Pullover #9726 from Knitting Pure and Simple. I added waist shaping and did not use as much ease as the picture, so mine looks better. Less sack-like, more fitted, which I prefer.
The sweater is tunic length but I could stop just where I needed to for my short torso. I really like making sweaters from the top down. I just ordered Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top this morning in order to learn more about the technique.

OK off so work on sleeves!

Susan

today is a RED LETTER day!

hello all you red sweater divas! everything is looking so cheerful and, well . . . RED over here. i just love coming by and seeing all the great color, don't you? it makes my heart sing!

today is a RED LETTER day, and we have a gorgeous skein of jo's beautiful yarn, made especially for red sweater winners only, to give away. hopefully her gift will change her red sweater mojo. and now, the winner of her one-of-a-kind creation is


congratulations kbattenbender! i will forward your email to jo and she will contact you about shipping it!