Month: November 2019

Knitting

What’s Next?

Iris Rose

The climate for business in Alberta is really bad right now and, as a result, I have been laid off. Upside? I get to craft a whole lot more. Downside? Less money for crafting. I am trying to find the lemonade recipe if I can only remember where I filed it.

I will be spending more time polishing up and testing the bazillion patterns that I have created and are filed away as notes only due to lack of time. I really want to dye gradient yarn as well.  There’s the recipe, right there, I knew it would turn up.

Well, the craft sale is done and the resulting orders as well. What do I do now?

I have fallen into machine knitting again to the detriment of my other crafting. I made a resolution to knit or crochet at least two toys every week but I am failing miserably at that! I have one to show for the last two weeks, but, and this is important I guess, I was working on a couple of custom kids’ dresses. All done now except for the final finishing and I am back to the usual.

Stay tuned for new releases and, in the meantime, here are a couple of relatively new creations.

Have a terrific week ahead and, for your health’s sake, give someone a hug and a kind word.

Knitting

Another Save

Iris Rose

I wrote last week about a cardigan that I started in the spring and finally finished in September. It was one of those projects that just couldn’t keep a fire going under me for some reason. I am guessing it was the miles of stocking stitch that I was fine with until I got to the part where you divide the sleeves and body (top down construction) and then it was just too very tedious.

Long story short, I finished it, blocked it, washed it and tried it on. It fit great, nice and big and baggy as I was aiming for except, wait for it, the cursed neckline was too wide. Because the yarn is heavy, I was constantly readjusting the neck back up over my shoulders. GAH!!! What a big disappointment my new favourite cardigan turned out to be.

 

Time for a time out for you naughty, badly fitting cardigan of my dreams. After I calmed down, although this took several weeks, I had a second look at the problem and came up with a fairly easy fix.

The cardigan is knitted in two colours, grey and black and, of course, I was almost out of grey. I picked up the stitches from the cable cast on (top down remember) and knit a garter neck band up from that. I decreased every eight stitches every four rows to bring the neckline in and added a buttonhole at the appropriate spot. I should let you know that I am well known for forgetting about the buttonholes until a project is done so I am very, very proud of myself for remembering this one and thankfully avoided more tantrums on my part.

 

On another note, our craft sale at the beginning of the month was a success; here are some photos of our setup before the sale began. Most of the toys and a number of pieces of clothing are gone. That pretty shawl was tried on by every almost teen girl that walked by. It was fun to see the delight when they saw the colours and the softness of the yarn.

 

 

Have a great week ahead and share a little kindness every day.

Knitting

Your UFO Is How Old???

Iris Rose

I have been catching up on a bunch of things that I had planned for the fall and now have time for. One is to clean out the dresser that I have all of my sewing stuff stashed away in. It had become somewhat of a mess (huge understatement here) to the point that I couldn’t extract a reel of thread without pulling out a dozen more that were tangled with it.

While I was cleaning and sorting and tossing out, I came across a bag of lace collars that I had crocheted when I had to spend a lot time with a little one in hospital way back in 1980. Among them was one lonely knit collar, my first knitted lace attempt. As you will see in the photos, I made a mistake of some sort in the pattern. Being new to reading lace patterns and under a great deal of stress at the time, I didn’t do anything about it but just carried on.

I hadn’t yet mastered a loose cast off either and when I finished, the cast off edge was too tight, and the collar didn’t curve as it should. I put it away and saved it to repair at some point in the future which happened to be this week.

I started by undoing the cast off and picking up the stitches as I went. The collar curved really well once the tight row was removed. I didn’t do anything about the lace pattern. I consider the mistake to be part of my history and, along with the associated memory, deserves to be preserved.

The cast off was so tight that I didn’t have enough of the original thread to redo it and I certainly didn’t have the same crochet cotton languishing still in my stash. I decided that a contrast colour border might do it so found a soft sage green bamboo that is a good match in size and finish. I worked four rows of garter stitch and tried a million different types of knitted cast off (okay not a million but it felt like it when I was frogging) before finally settling with a crocheted one.

 

Blocking and a button and this is a thirty-nine year old project finally done. Next week will feature another rescued project but one that is much younger!

Have a safe and happy week filled with craft goodness!