Linen T-Shirt

Wow, I finished a fingering weight t-shirt sweater in 9 days. I guess unemployment is good for something. Modified this a bit from the red t-shirt I finished a few weeks ago, this one is a little shorter and a little less loose. The red one is a bit too loose. The picture below is pre-blocking and I suspect the stitches will loosen significantly after washing since that's what the red t-shirt did. The gauge below is also pre-blocking. I may update if I think to count again post-blocking.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Knit Picks Lindy Chain in Linen
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: 28 stitches and 32 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather
17C and sunny. Looks like Spring has finally put in an appearance, only about a month late.

Finished Red T-Shrit

The Red T-Shirt is now finished. Well, mostly finished anyway; it needs a wash. I'm leaving my final verdict for after washing but I think it will work out well. I ordered more yarn for a couple more so.....

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Knit Picks Lindy Chain in Serrano
Needle: 3.0mm
Gauge: not sure yet, needs to be measured post washing

Current Weather
3C and mostly cloudy. The Chinook continues.

Weekly WIP Update

This week was all about the red t-shirt. There was some progress on my Niece's socks too but not enough for a picture.

So far it looks like this might actually work as a t-shirt; or, at least as a light, single layer when it's warm. And it has used less yarn than I expected which is nice too. Won't be entirely sure until it has been washed and worn once.

Current Weather
0C and cloudy. A Chinook has finally pushed out the extreme cold of last week when we were dealing with temperatures in the -30C range. Today felt like t-shirt weather.

Weekly WIP Update

I keep thinking I should do these on Wednesdays since "WIP Wednesday" is a thing. But I never have time on Wednesday. In any event, to the update we go.

I finished a pair of socks and cast on a new pair of socks this week. My Dad's birthday is in January so time is ticking for these. It also made for a great excuse to go yarn shopping. I'm good with it.

Most other progress was on my black sweater. The yoke is now complete and the fist sleeve is about a third finished. Or, it will be a third finished later today. Something like that.

There was progress on my green sweater, the red t-shirt, and the coral camo blanket. No pictures of these as they have not changed enough for new pictures.

Current Weather
13C, partly cloudy, and very windy. Another Chinook blew in last night.

WIP Update

Huh. Three updates in one weekend. That might be a personal best. Lots of updates since this is more of a two-week update since I missed last week for no real reason; I even took pictures. I just never wrote the post.

First there was more progress on the Cherry Zig-Zag Stripes baby car-seat blanket. The holes for the seat belt straps are complete.

Second, there has been more progress on the Bunny Blanket. Not a lot but it's reached the point where it's a bit of a slog so not much progress is made each day. I can't concentrate on the repetitive pattern for long. It will get done, just in between other things.

My new Olive Green II had to be ripped back to the beginning and started all over again because I (foolishly) used the same needles as last time when I meant to go up a size. It's a good thing I like this yarn.

The Red T-Shirt progresses too, the annoying thing about this project is that I have to keep track of every row due to the way I'm increasing. I really, really, REALLY hope this is worth it when the time comes to wear it.

The Black Sweater continues as well. This feels like it might have stalled so I'm going to have to make sure to do some work on it this week. Or figure out what's wrong. Or if there's something wrong. Or something.

And finally, the Blue Sweater waist shaping, in a word: sucked. So I very carefully cut the yarn just above the waist and picked up the stitches. I'm now knitting down to the ribbing. Don't worry about the wrinkly look, it will smooth out when it's blocked. I'm sure of this because I've done this before.

Current Weather
-1C with light snow grains. Whatever that means, I can tell you that Ahab came in with snow on his fur.

WIP Update

And just like that another week passes, how do they slip away so fast? I was even on my own this week and it still raced by.

Ahab got to come to work with me on Thursday; lucky dog. Not sure why he's looking so worried in this picture, although I did take it early in the day. He had a blast all day with people petting him and giving him cookies. He must have eaten at least half a dozen treats and made a dozen new friends. As usual everyone loved him, I wish I knew how to work a room like that. Although it would probably help if I was so incredibly cute.

Also on Thursday I found out my VISA card number had been stolen. I have no idea how or when; actually when was probably around September 26 since that's the first stolen charge I found on the account. But I have no idea how, I've never given my card out to anyone questionable that I can think of. I've been on the phone with the fraud unit at the bank twice now and the card is cancelled and a new on one it's way to me. I'm still seething over this. Plus I have a migraine headache today, which sucks.

Knitting

But onto more pleasant things. This week was all about sweaters until yesterday, first the black sweater - I am now working my way up the back of the yoke.

The red t-shirt has been cast back on, this time I'm starting with a temporary cast on at the arm pits and working down to the bottom. Then I will pick up the stitches from the temporary cast on and work the yoke from there.

On Saturday I was inspired to try and work out the Awww-Poo Bag pattern again. I think I may have got it. Technically this could be seen as an FO not a WIP but since I haven't finalized the pattern I'm putting it here. Plus I hurt too much to post twice today.

Current Weather
8C and partly cloudy. A lovely fall day.

WIP Update

I wasn't feeling well for much of this week so progress was mostly limited to Celestial on the grounds that it is mostly stockinette stitch. I actually managed to finish a sleeve. I may have picked up the odd round of something else but nothing worth photographing.

For anyone wondering why the Red T-Shirt did not get worked since it's also stockinette stitch the sad fact is it is not working and needs to be frogged. Again. I could cry, or scream, or both; something. I keep telling myself that once I get this worked out I will be able to whip a bunch out since I'll have all the numbers worked out. It's the only thing keeping me going when it comes to this project right now. It may also take a time-out for a bit while I work up the courage to try again.

I did however manage to get this yarn rolled into cakes and all ready to be made back into a sweater. My first attempt did not work and I (foolishly) plowed right through to the end before admitting defeat. Such are the perils of knitting.

Current Weather
-2C (officially Environment Canada says it's -2C at the airport, on the thermometer on the back deck it's -8C) and snowing. Snow. That's right; snow. Rather a lot of snow by now since it's been snowing for the past two days.

Ahab for scale

WIP Update

This week's progress was mostly about sweaters. Fist, Celestial has now got both shoulders joined and the first sleeve started. Pretty good progress completing the front of the yoke and getting the sleeves started

Second, the Red T-shirt is up to 12 inches long, four balls added. It now looks like a blob.

Blue Stripes is now two stripes into the second ball.

And there was progress on the Bunny Blanket, socks, and the Cherry Zigzag blanket but not enough for pictures.

Ahab

Ahab got a bath at the dog wash today. He did not appreciate it and is currently trying to figure out how to smell like a stinky dog again. He'll smell nice for a couple days; I hope.

Current Weather
23C and Sunny. Some nice Summer weather as we head deeper into Fall. Yesterday morning was near freezing, there may have been frost but I slept in and didn't notice.

WIP Update

And just like that another week has passed. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible for it to happen so quickly. And yet I seem to have accomplished quite a bit on most of my WIPs; even finished a blanket.

The observant among you will notice that I have a new duvet, I made a trip to Ikea and found a lovely blue duvet cover for my new wool filled duvet; the first picture below shows the duvet colour best. Also, I have no idea why my camera turned all the creams, greys, and whites into bright yellow. Maybe it's the new duvet cover....?

Knitting

Started a new vest this week, the colour is actually an ashy grey nothing like yellow at all. This will have a pattern in it and not just my usual favourite of plain stockinette. Going a little out there for this one.

And started another baby blanket, blue with seed stitch stripes. Ugh, that yellow should be a greyish colour.

Here is what I hope is the final cast on for my red t-shirt. Please, please, please let this be the final cast on, I'm getting really tired of casting on over and over again for this one.

And further progress was made on my blue cotton sweater. The stitch marker is marking where I will start to pickup stitches when I pick them up for the sleeves. Not really sure that is coming through well in this picture though.

Another stripe or two of checks added to the Bunny Blanket. As you will know from previous pictures of this blanket it is white and purple not yellow and purple.

Virtually no progress on the socks. No picture as it would just be annoying to have an actual record of my lack of progress.

Current Weather
14C and cloudy. So many yellow leaves all of a sudden, seems like only yesterday there were one or two and now half the tree is yellow.

A Brief Update

I hate it when blogs I follow go too long without an update. But I'm also guilty of doing exactly the same thing with my own blog. Sigh.

So, here is an update on everything currently on my needles.

Socks
Urgh. These socks are going nowhere rapidly. There's nothing wrong with them; I think the problem is that I've gotten into a new series of books, the Seaside Knitters Society Mysteries, and that's what I've been doing on my lunch break at work instead of knitting socks. Unfortunately the library doesn't carry most of this series as ebooks and I find reading a pbook harder to do while knitting; they can be hard to prop up and keep open without holding on. I don't blame the library for this situation; I blame the publishers who've made ebooks so difficult for libraries. But that's another rant entirely.

Celestial
A lovely cotton/acrylic blend for a nice light weight sweater. I've already done two other sweaters using this yarn so maybe that's why this one is struggling. It's at the stage of being a good TV watching project but I have other TV projects so it gets hard to choose. It will come, just slowly.

Winter Blue

A wool sport weight sweater, I originally planned this to be a hoodie but I'm not sure I won't change my mind at the last minute. So close to finishing the yoke and starting the sleeves. Also good TV watching.

Bunny Blanket

I suck at drawing so I decided to embrace that fact and chart a primitive drawing of a bunny then knit it up in double knitting. I think it actually came out kind of cute. This will now be a slog to the end making all those checks in the checkerboard pattern. More TV watching but only shows you don't need to watch too carefully as I need to look down quite a bit when double knitting. Maybe I should try and find a podcast to listen to or something. Any recommendations?

Red T-shirt

I'm experimenting with the idea of knitting a t-shirt that will actually be a t-shirt. Possibly futile I know but I decided to try anyway. The yarn is a very light fingering weight, almost lace weight, cotton/linen blend. It feels a little rough while knitting it but the gauge swatch softened up immediately after getting wet once. Which, as I understand it, is what linen is supposed to do. And you guessed it; an excellent TV watching project at this stage.

Checkers Blanket

And because all my other projects currently under way are long and slow I reached into my stash and cast on for a quick baby blanket. One day I have got to get an Etsy shop setup or something as I'm accumulating rather a lot of these lovely little blankets. Yes, yes I could have worked on the socks and got something done right away for the instant gratification factor. Your point?

I have a few other projects lying around but they're all in a time-out right now. Some because they may not work out and some because I just need a break.

Ahab

Seems to have adjusted happily to being the only dog. Dogs tend to be very quick to recover when they loose someone. There is a lesson for us humans about living in the moment right there.

Current Weather

11C and cloudy. It's been up and down all summer, a couple days in the mid twenties and then back into the teens. I use the term "summer" loosely.

P.S.

I had a birthday over the long weekend (the first Monday in August is a holiday here) so I am now one year older than when I last blogged.

A New Direction

Working back and forth on the knitting loom wasn't holding my interest so I decided to try something else. I'm now setup for a double knit baby blanket. I'm working a simple three row pattern in a contrast colour to help keep my interest as I know that plain stockinette will bore me to tears and I didn't want to work any complicated stitches or cables on my first try at this.

This is working much better for me.  Although, the gauge seems a bit loose; I think this needs a thicker yarn when setup as a knitting board. The yarn is Red Heart Comfort Solids and it's a fairly thick worsted/aran weight. I think I'll keep going with it for now but this might be a pet blanket rather than a baby blanket since the stitches are loose enough to make me worry about teeny, tiny little fingers getting caught in it.

Progress was made on the grey tank top too. It's off the needles except for the finishing around the arms and neck. I think I'll use an applied i-cord. And, naturally, all the ends still need to be woven in. Maybe I'll get to that during tonight's hockey game.  Go Flames!

Speaking of hockey; last night was just plain weird. It was Saturday night, during the Stanley Cup playoffs.... and CBC had no hockey. Well, maybe if I had cable or satellite instead of Peasant Vision I could have found something. Fortunately, I found some episodes of Campion at the library earlier in the day so I watched a couple of those. I like this show, it's too bad only two seasons were ever made.

Hiking Tank Top

Have been working on a tank-top for hiking but was not sure if it would work out or not.  Managed to try it on today and it seems to be working out OK. Suspect there are things I would change next time (if there is a next time) but for a first try it seems OK. This started as a free-form bottom-up set-in-sleeve that I modified to be a tank top. I suspect the sleeves should be narrower but I will finish this as is and make any changes on the next try. The yarn was left over from knitting some leggings, clearly I over estimated the yardage for that project by quite a bit. Remains to be seen if it will be a base layer or something that can be seen by the public.

You'll likely notice that photograph isn't really my strongest skill, still this should give you an idea what it looks like.