I've been a bad blogger - FOs

Can't believe I've not posted. But I've been busy.

Item 1: White tomato.
I finished (all except for weaving in) of my white tomato. It's made w/ Plymouth 100% cotton. I dropped the needle size to US6 to obtain gauge (see below--they recommend a US8!?). And did my fingers get sore. Ouch.

Here's the specs of the yarn:

• 100% mercerized cotton medium weight yarn.
• Machine wash. Imported.
• 3.5 oz/100 grams/140 yard/128m hank. 18 stitches=4" (10cm)/size 8 (5mm) needles. The bummer part? There was a knot in every single hank! And when you're knitting in the round, where do you hide the joins? I did it on the side. What a pain. It was such a pain that I actually emailed PYC.

(the picture is wonky because it's sitting on our couch and I was leaning a weird angle.)

But it's finished. I made a size medium. I also had to rip out the neckline because it turned out floppy. The modification I made was that I was supposed to decrease between the markers and I actually also decreased 2 ribs on each side.

Oh, and of course, AFTER I finished it, I checked other tomatoes, only to find that maybe I should have made it in a cotton blend instead of 100% cotton. For the reason that every extra bump on your body apparently leaves its mark on the sweater. Darn. Oh, and it's very heavy. 100% cotton! what was I thinking.

specs:
yarn:6 hanks of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale Yarn in white
needle: US6
time:2.5 weeks? maybe?


Item 2: Zimmerman's Baby February sweater
This was done using 2 skeins of worsted weight Encore. I don't know about you, but knitting Encore after struggling with this cotton...it felt like butta! Well, I wasn't going to start my lace project (cashmere) yet...that would result in me never knitting w/ cotton again.

Anyway, again, much larger sweater since I used worsted instead of baby weight.
specs:

yarn: Encore 2 skeins red
needle: US6
time: May 20-May 27, 2007

mods: I followed the 'pithy' directions (and read alot of Zimmermaniac blog). I knitted the yoke as per spec, didn't like it, ripped it, redid it, ripped again, and well, ripped again when I realized you're supposed to be putting button holes in at the same time. I did decide that buttons don't have to come all the way down the front, and I liked the buttons only on the garter stitch yoke look. So, I ripped again and figured out how to put button holes into the yoke (not as easy as it seems since I didn't want them to hit right on top of the increases).

The sleeves are too long. I made one sleeve, then the other, and realized that they're too long. Will roll sleeve instead (and tack down w/ yarn). Hey, it's not like a's going to be wearing the sweater too soon. It will likely fit a 3 year old?

For her well-baby checkup, we found out that she's now a whopping 10% in weight. And she's at 20% in height, so no worries. Maybe she'll wear it when she's 5.

Item 3: An O.
Oh, I've been experimenting. I wanted to make a hoop out of yarn. So I went to check out the doknit (google the spelling, please) and had an epiphany. Well, of course.

I wanted a ring, not a donut, so I doubled up some acrylic (did I mention that the cotton so trashed me that all yarns not cotton was feeling fabulous?!) and knit this (yes, that cheerio in the middle is for size reference):

Specs:
needle: US6 dpns
yarn: acrylic yarn worsted weight doubled (surprisingly, maybe 1/2 skein)
time: a couple of hours? Most of the time was spent sewing it shut.

Mods: I increased the initial number of stitches. It uhm, turned out a bit larger than expected. When finished and stuffed, I had to double-check that A's head was larger than the hole so that it doesn't become some sort of hanging hazard (her head IS bigger, thank you). I also wanted it to be fatter, so that's what I did. When it was on the needles, the hoop looked normal size, but when stuffed and sewn, well, it's a tad large.

Item 4: a doknit
I figured I had to do it. But when following the directions, realized that yet again, I needed to modify. I used smaller needles, and decreased the cast on stitches. I also decided to do a normal cast-on instead of the fancier ones because when you sew it together, you can't see it.
When z&a's dad saw the finished doknit, he said, 'nice. what is it?'
When z saw it, he said 'cool. you made a donut'. (my very bright boy)

specs:
needles: US4 dpn
yarn: brown and tan acrylic yarn a smidgeon of each
time: the House season finale

Where's the picture? I gave it to A to play with and it's gone MIA.

I've been a bad blogger

Happy Memorial Day!

I've been not bloggering, but I have been knitting. Please stay tuned. I will post pics of FO's soon!

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

For me, this has been a super good day so far. I got to sleep in (yes!) and z&a's dad took the children away to the living room. Then I went to the gym and did a gnarly spin class(not that kind of spin, the cycling one). Then I stopped at a garage sale and purchased a new to us jogging stroller for A. And when I got home, there was a wonderful card and lots of chocolates!


Knitting-wise, I'm working on a white tomato from 'No Sheep' without the stripe across the sweater. We'll see how it turns out...yes, I realize that I might as well go to Target and purchase a white top, but you know, this is more interesting. The yarn is a 100% merc cotton from Plymouth. And it's a pita to knit with, mainly because to get gauge, I've had to drop from a recommended US8 to US6 -- and I still have to tighten every stitch.

Zimmerman BSJ

I'd been meaning to make this sweater. I followed directions and here's what I ended up with.

Specs: Encore yarn 2 balls
needle size US8
time: April 29-May 3, 2007, seamed May 7, 2007

The wonky part- note the sleeves. Yes, both of them are like that. there's a delineation between the point where the sleeves are knitted and where they're added onto the sweater. It wasn't noticeable when knitted, but now that it's seamed up, argh!

I've still got to find buttons, but other than that, it's done. It also turned out much larger than I expected, oh well.

One final thing. I actually had to tear out both seams once because when I was done seaming, I realized that the neck opening was way way too small. So, it all got torn out and I pinned them to make sure that the neck opening was big enough.

Next up for Sparky A is the February sweater -- out of red Encore. I think I'll go down another size in the needle and hopefully, she'll actually be able to wear it this fall/winter

Picovoli II on Spinner

As soon as I got the cone holder working, I thought I had to knit something fast. I had in my stash Crystal Palace cotton on a cone and I thought I need myself a tank as the weather's getting warmer. I figured I'd make another picovoli since I'm not sure I have enough yarn. Since this is a top-down one piece pattern, I figure that I'll try it and if doesn't work, well, there's always the frog pond. Most importantly, I don't have to cut the yarn. I just have to knit round and round and voila! tank--OR--no tank and cone again.

Of course my gauge is off. Of course. Grumperina suggests a gauge of 22st/inch for this. I got 16 on this yarn. So, with my spidey powers, I worked out the calculations and cast on.

Here's the finished Picovoli:

Yarn: CP Monterey cotton
Amount used: almost the whole cone (420yds/cone)
needles: US8, US9
started 4/21/07
finished 4/27/07
Modifications: gauge mods and I switched to a larger needle after the waist shaping.

The only issue I had was that right at the end of this top, there was a knot in the yarn. I lost about a yard of yarn because I wanted to have the knot on the side.

The only other issue is this. I wore it today and it's dragging (the armholes have gotten larger). Oh, drats! I just finished weaving the ends in, so I'm not in a huge hurry to frog the thing and redo it. I may have to wear another tank underneath. Oh, well.

Edited to add: hmmm...don't think I'll try to take my own picture again...hmmm

Happy Birthday to Sparky!

Today is A's birthday! She turned ONE today. Can you believe it?! Yikes. Time has flown, she has flourished, and it's a year later.

Anyway, I'm planning her party this weekend, so I've got nada to show on the knitting front. Actually, I do. I've finished Picovoli II (will blog about it next week), I'm also working on a couple of knitterly items. But I'm waiting for my battery to arrive (and hoping it'll work) for my camera.