Monday, January 29, 2007

Yay! A pic at last!

Of course, it's not the most exciting pic on the planet - 4" of ribbing & stockinette! LOL But I did learn the Channel Island Cast on, which is kinda cool & I am pleased, it's coming right along. The pattern calls for 4 1/2" of plain knitting before starting the stitch bands, so I still have another couple inches of mindless knitting. I am using it to practice continental!

The yarn is very nice to work with. I think that slight color variegation is going to be gorgeous as I start adding the pattern stitches. Yummmm!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

death of a sweater

well, what was supposed to be a fixing session ended up at 5 am being a frogging session - its a long story but it involved ripping the side seams of Chic Knits Ariann which were too tight across my hips as I had done the decreases (for waist shaping) but made the sweater longer and thus the highlighting of the worst part of the bod.

so all the yarn is rewound including one ball with two row lengths.

i think i am going to let this rest for a few days before deciding whether to tackle this pattern again with more knowledge of how to do it... or go for another sweater pattern - i really like the Nantucket in the Winter IK... and had flagged it to do - I love cables and really need more of a jacket than a sweater... will swatch later and see . But first I need to finish charting a fair isle FIREMAN sweater i am designing for Mr. W my just turned three... its got red in it - so maybe I will blog on it as well.


Nantucket Jacket, Interweave Knits, Winter 2006

Finally started!!!

Finally wrapped up all the late Christmas presents and got to get started on something for me!

Abandoned the original idea (Bristow in Karoke) and decided to do the "White Gansey" (pic here -http://www.joslynsfiberfarm.com/whitegansey.htm) by Beth Brown-Reinsel.

I am doing it sport weight from Lisa Souza - color is garnet. http://www.lisaknit.com/yarn/animalfibers/superwash-sport.htm

Learned the channel island cast on, which produces a subtle picot edge and have about an inch of ribbing on the needles. Pics on the weekend when I have a bit more time.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Wonderful Wallaby Finished!




Thank you for the inspiration, Red Sweater KAL. My youngest son asked for an Ohio State hoodie, and here's his new Wonderful Wallaby (you can get this tried-and-true pattern at paradisefibers.net). He's been wearing his Wallaby nonstop since it came off the needles -- best compliment ever! The yarn is ranch red, washable Lion Brand Wool-Ease (OK, all you died-in-the-wool fiber people can faint now. But he is 8 years old and I can WASH it!! Plus total yarn cost was under $18.) This yarn is right on gauge with size 8 needles. I used one more skein than called for because I added an inch to body and sleeves, and did some short-row shaping at the shoulders. I then embellished it with an official Ohio State patch using Aleene's "OK to Wash It" fabric glue, and he was good to go. I loved knitting with the red, and even used green needles because it was close to the holidays. What's next? Something else red, I think...

Monday, January 22, 2007

Memberships

I just heard from one of our members... After she upgraded her account to the New Blogger, she was no longer a member of the Red Sweater KAL (it no longer showed up on her dashboard). If this has happened to you, please let either Anne or I know, and we can send you a new invitation so you can sign up again.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

The girl has changed her mind!

I met Debbie Bliss this week, tried on several of her sweaters and this girl has a new red sweater up on needles. (Dear swing coat, I will come back to you I promise!) I am knitting the Circular Cardigan in red Alpaca Silk DK, color 26005 from the Out of Town Book. This yarn is lucious, and this is a quick knit so I hope to have pictures very soon. It's basically a circular shawl with sleeves.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

new invites

if you emailed me to ask about joing this KAL, but have not received an invite, please accept my apologies! several requests went to my dead letter box becasue they were addressed incorrectly, and then blogger was down for a while and i lost them.
please resend your request, and check to make sure you have the email address entered correctly. we are always happy to receive new members!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The back is done!!!

YES! I finally finished the back of the sweater and am about half way done with the front! I can hardly wait to see how it will look!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Red Sweater Inspiration

For those still looking for a little inspiration, I thought I'd post a shot of this sweater I received as a Christmas gift. It's store bought, but don't you love the yoke? It's giving me the urge to do some colourwork.

Moved the blog

We are now on the new Blogger format. You will need to update your account, or so I'm told, before you're able to post here.

Hope the move goes well for everyone. I just moved 3 blogs, and it seems to have worked out just fine. It moved over my custom templates, and everything. I think. LOL

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Travelling Cables Action Shot



I know its not much of an action shot but here she is being modelled. The specifics of this project are: Travelling Cables Cardigan from Karabella that I used some nature spun from my stash to knit. There has been some interest in where I got my pattern from so here is the link. There are more pictures of her on my blog if you are interested. And there is a travelling cables KAL if you care to join that. Now I am going to take a hiatus from knitting sweaters and knit the red sock yarn that I won from Laura on her Red Letter Day. Once again thank you Laura. It was fun knitting my red sweater and who knows I might be back in a couple of weeks.

Red Sweater to be united

This is my red sweater in it's current state. 2 Sleeves and a body, check. Now I need to put them on one circ and finally decide on raglan versus yoke, polo collar versus crewneck. I tend to raglan with polo, but am still not quite sure how to proceed.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

One Small Red Sweater is done

I made an American Girl sized red sweater, which is the first of two red sweaters I plan on, the second will be made from red Cherry Tree Hill Potluck in a heavy worsted, or some cotton and acrylic blend I have in my stash. One of those two will be started as soon as I find a pattern I like.



The Doll sweater being admired by Ducky.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Spin Dye Knit?

Hi everyone :-)
I just joined this KAL and I am so looking forward to it!

Do you mind if I spin and dye my own yarn for this? I am thinking of a merino, angora bunny and cahmere mix Aran yarn, dyed in a rich garnet red.

Judy
http://thespindlingscot.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Thanks for having me!

I finally get to actually participate on my first official KAL! I couldn't really participate because of the blogger vs. blogger beta restriction, but it is all over :) Nice to "meet" you all and I can't wait to start my Red Sweater!

Jenn
calgalatrpi.blogspot.com

Look!- Progress

After a long sojourn in the bottom of the knitting basket ( mainly the result of Christmas knitting and a rather lovely mint green project that was a Christmas present) my red Aimee has returned and voila so have I.




I have now completed the back as you see:

and I love the way the fabric is knitting up. I've done so many socks recently that it feels strange to be knitting a piece of fabric this large but it is great to snuggle up under the bit I have done while finishing off the top!

Hopefully more progress to report soon as I have already cast on the front!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

My own red sweater, and a student's



Worn here by my neighbor, Eve, is a new deep rose sweater, my own design in Cascade's Cloud 9, a 50/50 merino/angora in a worsted weight. I chose a deep rose red to match the Russian shawl. Because this is a flattering sweater, I'm trying to work the pattern out in multiple sizes.


The second sweater, from an Annabel Fox design published long ago in VK, is by my student, Marsheila, who substituted Cascade 220 for a long-discontinued yarn, chosing a great red with black collar and cuffs It's ideal for a first sweater, in garter stitch, and she did a superb job on it.

Monday, January 08, 2007

All Done



My Travelling Cables Cardigan is all done. She's steamed and seamed! She fits well but I had no one around to take a picture. Maybe over the week-end I will be able to get an action photo outside so her true color shows. She is a Christmas red, what I think of as "real" red. I will put up a button detail on my blog. I was happy to find buttons with celtic looking cables on them. Now I can start on my red socks without feeling guilty!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Progress finally made! Zephyrstyle Glee in Knitpicks Embers!



It took me a while to finish all my other projects, but I did! I'm at row 57 of the pattern and have quite a bit to go. The first picture is from 2 days ago. I'm now on my 3rd ball of yarn, 8-9 more to go! Thank you again Lynn for the wonderful. * isn't it funny how different lighting can make colors look completely different. The first one is from a few days ago, in the morning ( truest colors) and the second is from 3:30 in the afternoon today. Both taken in the same chair.

Old Blogger to new Blogger

I don't know if you've heard yet, but Blogger is in the process of updating their service. A lot of people have moved their blogs to the new service already.

I've been hesitant to make the move.

Moving the blog means that everyone will have to have Google IDs before they can post here. You can find out about that and update your account when you log into your current Blogger account.

People who have already upgraded to the new Blogger can still post here, but will have to log in with their old password. I think.

Yes, it's all terribly confusing for multi-user blogs like this.

So, what I'm going to do is this. I'm posting this post to warn you. On January 8th I'll upgrade this blog to the new version. I hope that will give everyone enough notice... Let me know your thoughts on the subject by commenting to this post or sending me email. My email address is in the sidebar.

Thank you, ladies, for your patience with this upgrade.



P.S. Until January 8, all new posts will wind up under this one. ;-)

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Finally back in the game!

Well, after weeks of neglect, Samus is back in the works! Yesterday I finally had a couple of free hours to get some work done on it. I finished the cable band, picked up stitches and have done about four inches of stocking stitch. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it is a significant jump from sitting in the knitting basket untouched! As mentioned on my blog, I have set a little goal for myself. I am going to try and have the body done by January 25th! Unfortunately it's back to work this morning, so I am limited to on the bus and lunchtime/coffee break knitting. Darn how work gets in the way of knitting! :)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Buttons!

All my Christmas knitting was wrapped up and under the tree. I didn't want to start anything new, as that sort of behavior tends to throw current projects to the back burner, and I didn't want to do that. So what did I do instead? I sewed buttons. On all of my button-less sweaters, and re-sewed buttons on two more. Pictures in my gallery.

This is a close-up of the Viking ship buttons I put on my pretty red Freya sweater. :-)

I have got to get my Christmas knitting done, as I desperately want to start a sweater out of the red cashmere/merino I've been hoarding.

Monday, January 01, 2007

I sneaked in!


I have a blogger blog in beta or the new version. The thing would not let me accept the invitation. Finally, fed up, I created a new account. So here I am.
My first Red Sweater is the Nantucket Jacket by Norah Gaughan. Interweave Knits Winter 2006. The picture is not good. I ended up taking off the button on the top. Now the collar looks better.
The second Red Sweater will be the Celtic Vest Knits Magazine Fall 2003. But the yarn is in roving form so it needs to be spun........soon I hope. Glad to be here at last.