Knitting Iris

SSSSSSSSS

Seattle.  Sunday. Sculpture. Sun. Sky. Sea. Sun. Shadows. Sunset.

Alexander Calder's "Eagle", with the moon and with Elliot Bay and the Olympic Mountains .  Teresita Fernadez' "Seattle Cloud Cover", polka-dotting the cityscape, and then with Roxy Paine's "Split" at sunset.  Shadow of Hemlock trees on a wall, really just as sculptural as any of the "real" one's in the new SAM Olympic Sculpture Park.

There is nothing in all the world quite like a sunny, blue sky day in Seattle, just like the song goes.  The views cannot be beat.  The new sculpture park on the waterfront only improves the surrounding views, the art enhancing the surroundings, and vice versa.

We met my brother, his wife, and our nephew there on Sunday afternoon, staying until nearly sunset.  Other free things we while there:  Played at my parents' house and in the yard.  Saw a free Seattle Symphony community performance.  Played with cousins, second cousins, and  my parents' neighbors' kids.  Parks.  Libraries.  Delved deeply into family roots: stories, memories, photos, movies, and other ephemera.  Saw relatives I haven't seen in ages, even one I didn't even know existed before, and another I didn't realize was still alive.

Yet, like always, it's good to be back home.

Back to suburbia

A map E drew yesterday, showing the way to go (and the ways not to go or else you'll end up in Alaska or Panama) to get to Seattle.  See the mountains on the right hand side?  You fly over those.  He plans on giving this to the pilot as we board the plane this evening headed west.  The boys and I are off to Seattle for a week.  There may or may not be posting from there.  There's sure to be lots of slouching around on the couch watching way too many kids shows on PBS.  Maybe some thrifting.  Trips to the library.  A memorial for my uncle.  And, catching up on sleep after two nights up until 3 am doing tax and payroll paperwork. 

We must be crazy to leave all the snow here behind. 

See you!

The boxes?  Just a bunch I used to transport home half a beef from the butcher last week.  We'll be flying over apple growing country, where these boxes shipped from.

Finally Firth, one year later

Likely nobody remembers this sweater, blogged here, here and here, about a year ago.  It's Firth from A Season's Tale, knit with Elann Sierra Aran yarn bought with a gift certificate from C's mom. (She gave me another one this year for Christmas.)  I didn't follow the pattern as written, rather knitting it in one piece in the round with an added steek up until the collar, joining the knit-in-the round sleeves at the armpits where the raglan arm shaping occurs, not unlike a Lopi sweater.  Then, the collar was knit back and forth.  I think there was the tiniest bit of waist shaping added and maybe it was lengthened, as well, neither much noticable, though. 

The actual knitting of this sweater went very quickly but then I became discouraged by a few set-backs further along.  There was a long search for a suitable zipper, buying one that was too long the first time around.  Cutting the steek went smoothly but then when I sewed in the zipper according to these directions, I ended up with a very crooked and obvious break in the pattern that would sit straight front and center (below left).  After picking out all the stitches and threads with a seam ripper came mattress stitching the front openings back together one stitch at a time by hand (below right) and then sewing the zipper in by hand with backstitching, as well.  The bottom edge of the patterning is still off by about half a row, but I'm not fixing it.  Next time, I'll reread Kristin's zipper tutorial before I start and sew it in by hand the first time!

Then, since I had been so paranoid about cutting this open, I'd made the steek way too many stitches wide.  If I'd sewed it down as is there would have been too much bulk on either side of the zipper that would show quite obviously.  That's when the sweater sat balled up in a corner for months.  I wore it a couple of times this fall, unfinished, then finally picked it up one day, sewed another line by machine closer to the edge of the zipper, clipped off the excess, and hand stitched now much thinner steek down to the zipper on the inside.   Then, I promptly forgot to photograph it, until now.  Me, firth, and my photographers, thus the angle of the shot.

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out, even though really, not being a purple person AT ALL, I'm not sure how I managed to pick these colors out.  There isn't a single trace of purple in my closet, or entire house for that matter, aside from these socks.   I had also hoped the waist shaping would have made it a little closer fitting.  Oh well.  It's super cozy, almost not itchy at all to me, and I'll wear it to haul firewood, go camping, and more, the true test of a sweater in my world.  "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple."  Or maybe now?

Woodland Folk books

We had the first in this series, Meet the Woodland Folk, by Tony Wolf, found at a thrift store a year or so ago.   Santa brought the boys the other five books in the series.  I guess he must have found them second hand on Amazon or something, or else rescued them on the Island of Misfit Toys.  That's all he brought this year.  That, and a 1 pound block of Sculpey clay.  Here are some of my favorite illustrations scanned.  Click for a closer look.

From Meet the Woodland Folk:

From The Woodland Folk Meet the Gnomes:

From The Woodland Folk Meet the Giants:

From The Woodland Folk in Fairyland:

From The Woodland Folk Meet the Elves:

From The Woodland Folk in Dragonland:

I haven't read all the stories in these yet but R has, and E has spent many hours on the couch "reading" through these.  The writing isn't always the best, although charming for the most part and filled with rascally characters from mischievous elves, raucous dragons, troublesome fairies, silly gnomes, and all sorts of other critters, even a blue fairy named Iris.  The illustrations more than make up for any little shortcomings in the stories.  The series at least ends on a good note, the build up to a war between the dragons and all the other folk of the woods evolves into a tug-of-war and even that is put to a stop by a fairy, ending in a great, friendly feast for all.  If only such fairy tales could come true.

There.  I couldn't keep these to myself any longer, finally gathering all the books into one place again and finding time to scan them.  I figured all you gnomey/acorny/woodlandy/elfin/fairy folk out there would enjoy.

   

C's Christmas present, finally!

Untie:

Unroll:

Lift up flap:

Ta da!  This is what I made for C for Christmas, at his own request: something to hold his good set of chisels.  His only preferences were "Red and black."  So, I made a roll-up case similar to a knitting needle or paintbrush case.  For some reason, with all the hulabaloo around the holidays, I just couldn't seem to get my brain around this project.  I had parts of it cut out and there they sat, unable to be put together until last week when I finally sat down and it all fell into place, essentially winging it as I went along.  It looks blue in these pictures but the denim is actually black.  There is a double layer of fabric where the chisels slide in because these are SHARP!  Leather would probably have worked best. 

It was immediately whisked off to the shop and here is where I found it, a top one of the stain covered workbenches.  It won't be long before this is covered in a thick layer of sawdust and/or overspray from putting finish on cabinetry and furniture.  Still, it was fun to make it something more than utilitarian only.

This is actually the first year we've given Christmas presents to eachother in quite awhile.

We've been adopted...

...into the family of Jessica (of Almie Designs) and Shannon of We Heart Yarn.  Their parents, J and A, moved here a couple of years ago and are my sister and brother-in-law's closest neighbors.  We lucked out the day they all moved into the same "neighborhood" and then eventually we them met, too, because over the course of the past couple of years, we've become family.  They've adopted us and we've adopted them.  They're some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life...every stinkin' one of them!  ; )

I've been eyeing Jessica's work ever since last summer when I saw one that she'd made, and then more on her site online this fall.  When she came for a visit in November, we sat around the table browsing through the Boden Kids catalog.  Little did I know that she was taking mental notes as I lamented that nobody makes clothes for adults like the ones they make for kids.  Little did I know that C asked her to make a skirt for me as his Christmas present for me!  I had never mentioned to him how much I wished for one of Jessica's skirts.   Not only did I unwrap the one above (in reverse in the mirror on the left, above) from C and the boys on Christmas morning but then that night I opened another gift to find this one, a shorter, summery skirt, a gift from Jessica herself:

These are so well made, lined and everything.

!!! And she knit these for the boys, modifying a pattern from Weekend Knitting:

!!! And she brought her sewing machine and supplies along with her from Portland and had all sorts of great projects going.  She showed the boys how to use her sewing machine and helped R make a hotpad for me and E make an ornament for his uncle.  She had a bag full of felt and other goodies and everyone made superhero masks, kids and adults alike.  She designed and sewed all sorts of different shirts for her family, all perfectly fitted.  All the boys (and us) are just crazy in love with her and E even kinda-sorta asked her to be his girlfriend when he grows up.   

So, here is my question:  How is it statistically possible that there are SO MANY talented and creative people all living in and around the Portland, Oregon area?  The place must be postitively buzzing with inspiration.  I'd list and link all the ones I know here but likely you all know those I'm talking about already.

Thank you again and again, Jessica!  You're amazing!  Now I just need to get it together and find a better way to wear and honor your designs than with an old, grubby, polarfleece hoody, long underwear, and clunky winter boots....or pajama bottoms, like on Christmas day.

We miss you Shannon and S, too!  Thanks again for making the holidays such fun for us.  It was all such a blur at the time.  See you in Portland sometime soon, I hope?  Enjoy the snow out your way.

More, different, squares

These have provided soothing, easy, in-between-projects knitting lately and as a bonus, they make nice gifts that can be used either as dishcloths or washcloths, burpcloths, whatever, and as has been proven before in several knitting books, they serve well themselves as giftwrap.  One of these is wrapped around a bag of candied grapefruit peel.  These used up almost all my stashed kitchen cotton yarns, the color blocked ones were just knit until each ball ran out then picking up another, and they ended up making a nice set together.

Be Square!

Go sign up before Saturday, knit a square or two for Larissa's knitalong, and use up some of those leftover sock yarns that are just taking up space.   I'm sending the one pictured above which I knit one evening last week by candlelight when the winds were howling and the power was out, just before Larissa posted her request for squares.  It's made with discontinued GGH Marathon sock yarn.  The yarn was leftover from the socks at right that I made for a friend's birthday a few years ago.  It's one of the few pairs of socks that I've made in recent years that hadn't been photographed, until one day last fall when we were at my friend's house for dinner.  Almost every sock yarn is my "most favorite ever" while I'm knitting it up but I'd have to say that this particular one might really qualify for that title.  More of the leftovers of this yarn are hidden on the inside of the cuffs of this sweater knit in another colorway of the same yarn, and then just this evening R asked if he could make a god's eye with the last bits of it.

The pics of this yarn reminds me of the interior of the house that C has been designing and building and pouring his heart, time, and work into over the past couple of years.  It's just been completed recently and is now on the market.  Above are just a couple of pics with some of his cabinetry with concrete countertops and barnwood door panels.  The paneling in the stairwell is reclaimed tin roofing, rolled/crushed flat.  The details in this house are mind-blowing, with the talents and input of many artists contributing to it but, ultimately, it is mostly C's vision and design and he has a hand in nearly every last detail.

That same day that I photographed the socks above, I played around with my camera and my friend's newest kaleidescope in her collection, one where you put a big marble into a curved wire at the end of it and then spin the marble to change what you see.  She is also learning glass blowing and has since made a marble (or maybe more?) herself that works in this kaleidescope.

(Blair has done this before, and Craftapalooza, too.)  O.K. so the kaleidescopes have nothing much to do with knitting squares for an afghan.  Then again, maybe they do.  Speaking of Larissa, I read this great post of hers the other day and the very next day, a below zero degree fahrenheit day, the phone rang and it was my friend, the one of the kaleidescope and the socks above, calling just to check in and to say that she was wearing those socks on that cold day and it made her pick up the phone and dial.  That same friend once told me that she doesn't like to wear those socks often because she's afraid of wearing them out.  I feel exactly the same way about the Sockapalooza socks I've received.  I want them to last forever.  I love it when I'm wearing them and someone asks, "Did you knit those?" and I get to answer, "No.  Somebody knit them for me!"  There's just nothing quite like a handmade gift made especially for you.  That's exactly why I made another pair of socks for my friend for her birthday this year, so she wouldn't not wear her socks.

(By the way, if anyone out there has any stashed GGH Marathon sock yarn like the random striped one above or any of the other colorways(there were about 5 or 6 different ones) and are interested in parting with it, would you consider letting me know, please?)    

Rosebud Cardigan 'how to.'

Rosebud Cardigans, from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, by Erika Knight.  All but one of them is pictured in this Flickr Mosaic (made here).   Tucked away somewhere I do have a print on paper of the one other sweater, Rosebud #5, being worn by the baby it was knit for and, just last week, I took the picture above of our 1.5 month old nephew wearing the aqua colored one handed down to him by his big brother.  That makes seventeen of them, all together.

The first of these cardigans was knit in a dark brown 4 ply cotton in the smallest pattern size.  It was so tiny that it fit E for about a week and now lives on the sock monkey I made for R when he was a baby.  The second one was the same yarn but in the biggest size.  The next was a lighter brown wool version.  E wore all of these first three sweaters.  The other 14 were made and given as gifts.  Not one of them has been traditional baby blue or candy pink.   

A little over 5 years ago, during our two and a half month stay with C's family in St. Louis while he was remodeling his mom's basement, I got the pattern book containing the Rosebud cardigan with a Christmas gift certificate from C's dad and his wife.  I knew when I saw this book that it was THE ONE I had been looking for, filled with beautiful, simple, classic patterns, with none of the cartoony embellishments that are on so much children's clothing, including so many knitting patterns. 

I was pregnant at the time that I started knitting the very first one of these sweaters, Rosebud #1.  In the middle of knitting it, we miscarried the baby.  I was lying in bed, fully aware of and feeling what was happening with my body... and just continued on knitting.  My body knew what to do, I was in communication by phone with our midwife back home, and luckily there were no complications.  As with the births of our two boys, there were no doctors or hospitals involved.  It didn't seem at all strange at the time to continue knitting that sweater even through and after the miscarriage.  Two months later, back in Montana, we were pregnant again, this time with E.

Hope this doesn't bore too many but several people have asked how I modify the pattern.  After following along as written the first few times, I started knitting the body in one piece, knitting the sleeves in the round,  and adding the buttonholes in at the end. Please pardon the wonky, bent needles in the pictures.  They're my favorite needles that were slammed in the car door one time but still work just fine.  Besides, they make me look a little crazier than normal when I'm knitting with them, crooked ends waving and wobbling around in the air as I knit!  :)

First things first, a couple of things left unsaid in the pattern: 

a.  Slip knitwise the first stitch on every row and knit the last stitch in every row.  It will makes a nice edge to your knitting and will make sewing up the raglans much easier.

b.  When you get to the parts of the pattern where you are decreasing one stitch at each end of every row, it looks nicer if, on the purl side, you: slip 1 knitwise, knit 2 together through the back loops,  purl until three stitches from the end of the row,  purl 2 together, knit 1.

1.  Cast on the stitches for the right front + the back + the left front.  Technically, one should probably cast on 4 fewer stitches, omitting the selvedge stitches where the pieces would usually be sewn together after knitting, but I don't bother.  I add an extra two rows of garter stitch at the bottom and an extra stitch in the garter stitch bands at the center fronts, 5 stitches rather than 4.  I just think it looks better and it possible makes the bottom and front edges less likely to roll.  Knit to the underarms.

2.  Knit across the stitches for the right front of the sweater, turn, and follow the instructions for just the right front, leaving the stitches for the back and left front on the needles as well.  Cast off and break yarn, leaving enough yarn to sew up raglan seam from top to underarm.

3.  Rejoin yarn on right side of sweater, following instructions for back.  Cast off and break yarn.

4.  Again, rejoin the yarn on the right side of the sweater, following the instructions for the left front of the sweater.  Again, cast off and break yarn, leaving a long enough tail for sewing the raglan seam from top to underarm later.

5.  Knit the garter stitch edge of each sleeve back and forth, adding an extra two rows of garter stitch as at the bottom edge of the body of the sweater.  Then join, knitting in the round on dpns until the armpit.  Return to knitting back and forth from the armpit on up.

6.  Sew raglan sleeves, from top to armpit, weaving in ends under arms where they'll be less noticable.  Sew up garter stitch bands at cuffs of sleeves.  Pick up and knit collarband, following instructions, picking up a few extra stitches than called for if it seems necessary.  (Sometimes using this method for picking up stithces using a crochet hook.  Scroll about half way down the page.)  Mark the placement of four buttonholes, evenly spaced, on one of the front buttonhole bands.   Using a pencil or comparably sized knitting needle, work the point in through the garter stitch band and then work a lazy daisy embroidery stitch around the hole made by the pencil.  See this picture for a close up of a buttonhole done with contrasting yarn.  Weave in ends carefully so they don't show.  Sew buttons on corresponding to buttonholes.  I've used JHB 1/2 " buttons, #360, or #72210 here, for every one of the sweaters except the first one. 

Ta Da!  O.K.  So, it's still a tiny gauge but these short cuts do make the knitting and assembly go faster.  It is a classic style making it hard to go wrong if you're making this sweater as a gift but remember, it's also pretty easy to find a similar sweater for less than the price of the yarn at places like BabyGap.  With knitting, there's a better color selection and of course, as Peg added in the comments below, you could easily embellish or add to this pattern to your heart's delight.  My favorite yarns for this pattern have been Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply, SandnesGarn Lannett, and Dale Garn Baby Ull, all of which are soft, machine-washable, merino wool and come in a broad selection of both traditional baby and not-so-babyish colors.

After seventeen of these sweaters, they are getting a wee bit boring.  It's time to start looking through some of the other baby knitting pattern books on my shelf.  I do still have stashed yarn for one more dusky purple one of these, though, so there may be a Rosebud #18 yet, and I'm considering making a pair of leggings from another pattern in SKFCB to go with the white Rosebud sweater I made for my brother and his wife's first son, for their second baby who is due in March. 

Twin Rosebud Cardigans #16 & #17

Rosebud Cardigans #16 and #17, knit from the pattern of the same name in Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, by Erika Knight.  Dale Baby Ull, colors #8523 and #3172, 3 balls each.  As soon as these two sweaters are dry from washing and are pressed back into shape, they're off to our nephews, the two twin sons of C's brother and his wife, in the Washington D.C. area.  I intended to knit these sweaters even before they were born but, as they'd been trying to have children for so long and then their pregnancy had it's complications, not to mention my being faced with the task of knitting not one, but TWO baby sweaters, I was hesitant about starting the knitting, even buying the yarn.

Then, the two babies were suddenly born a couple of months early last summer so I wasn't sure what size sweaters to knit for them.   They were so tiny then that even the smallest size in the pattern would have been too big.   It was summer anyways, and they were in the hospital for the first month.  Then, I had no idea at what rate twins would grow so the sizing still stumped me. 

I had planned on knitting these sweaters in two shades of grey but when the time came to buy the yarn, I couldn't do it.  I was needing to work with something a little more colorful, so I chose the fallish, acorny colors of green and brown.  These were "supposed to" be done by Thanksgiving, and then by Christmas.  Finally they're done.  The recipients are 7 months old and now I'm afraid the sweaters might not fit for more than, oh, a day or two.  Oh well.  Maybe it's time to start knitting a pair of sized 2 year old sweaters for them right now.

Since so many people have asked questions about this pattern over the past year or so, the following post will be about how I knit up this pattern and the changes I make to it.  After 17 of these, I've got it down to where they go pretty fast, even at such a small gauge!