The Central Park

I'm finished knitting the body of Jessi's sweater. I'm now on the hood and button bands! Wooooo!! Hoping to get a lot done with it this weekend and then....focus on my other two crazy involved sweaters!

Music Gauntlets

I designed these because I'm a pianist with tendinitis and I need something to keep my forearms warm to keep it from flaring up. They're elbow length with ribbing at the elbow, wrist, and palm. Since they're designed for musicians, the fingers don't get covered as in normal gauntlet/fingerless gloves.

Music Gauntlets

Materials:
-Two (2) 50g balls of Misti Alpaca Sport Weight
-One set of size 3 double point needles or SIZE TO OBTAIN GAUGE
-4 Buttons
-Tapestry needle
-Sewing needle
-Thread
-Scrap yarn

Gauge:
-9 sts per 1"

Make Two

Forearm and Wrist:
-Co 48 sts. Divide evenly onto 4 needles
-Work in 2x2 ribbing for 3 1/2"
-Work stockinette for 4"
-Work 2x2 ribbing for 7 rounds

Thumb Gusset:
-Knit 3 sts, PM, inc, k1, inc, PM
-Work 2 rounds even
-*Knit to after marker, inc, k to end, inc before marker. Work 2 round even*
Repeat between * until 19 sts between markers
Place these 19 sts on a holder.

Palm:
-CO 1 and join remaining sts
-Work 2x2 ribbing for 4 rows
-BO following pattern

Thumb:
-Pick up 19 sts from holder and join
-Picking up 2 sts more, knit round, K2tog extra 2 sts.
-Work 2x2 ribbing for 4 rows
-BO following pattern

Finishing:
-Weave in ends
-Sew on two buttons on bottom wrist ribbing


There you go. My first "published" pattern.

If anyone decides to knit these up and finds anything wrong or confusing in the pattern, please let me know!

Finished!

I finished my Music Gauntlets! Woooooo! Pictures and pattern to follow when I'm not up to my eyeballs in homework.

A Set of Goals

So I'm home for the weekend and of course I'm at my mom's. And I'm now making a goal/to-do list:

By December I need to:
-Finish Jessica's sweater
-Get a good chunk of work done on my Dale sweater
-Have at least the back and front done of my Kors sweater.
-Finish my Rocky Horror socks
-Finish my gaunlets
-Finish the scarf I've been working on for the last year.
-Finish David's Led Zeppelin chart.

By/In January I need to:
-Start my swim suit for Spring Break. (Cascade Fixation in Black and Turquoise)
-Design and start Blake's ALK3 convertible mittens.
-Being my 2nd Wallaby.

Whew, that's not much is it?

Setbacks

Unfortunately I need to learn to not knit when I'm tired. I'm officially now set back on my above-the-knee socks and Jazzy's sweater. Sigh....that's what I get. I also have done no work on my gauntlets. I suck at life. :-(

Back to school

I'm all moved back to school! Hurray! It's been a very busy week so I haven't got a lot of knitting done. But it is football season so I'll catch up! I'll have pictures in the next few days of the finished Music Gauntlets with the pattern so check back!

Trauma: Life as a Knitter

This is a cautionary tale to all the knitter's out there:

So in great desperation I tried to finish the ALK3 sweater before I leave for school, which is tomorrow.

I had one zipper band sewn on. My mom did the other because she was tired of watching me struggle. I weaved all the ends in. And it was ready to be blocked. So I put it in the washing machine. Hand wash setting, yarn-safe detergent, warm water. I took it out immediately after it finished. I took it up to my mom's work room and blocked it. A few hours later, I had my mom check on how I did as it was my first time blocking.

And what do I see?

The skull in the middle of my Alkaline Trio logo is pink.

That's right. Pink.

So in a fit of panic I thew it back in the washing machine this time on cold with a Shout Color Catcher in hopes of pulling out the pink. I took it out and it was worse. Much much worse.

So after a brief moment of tears, my mother in her infinite wisdom decided to pour water and soap over the skull and blot out the pink using a color catcher. And it worked. T

Thank heavens.

So the moral of the story: Cascade 220 in Ruby and Cascade 220 Superwash in White are NOT friends.

I'll put up pictures when the zipper is on and it alllll done.

Long Time, No Blog

Sorry for the total lack of blogging. I've been really really busy and on vacation with no internet so...yeah. ANYWAYS! Here's whats been on the docket recently.

• The ALK3 sweater is SO close to being done. I'm installing the zipper bands as we speak. I am learning a lot about easing. I officially don't like it. I can kitchner stitch like nobodies business but this whole easing this is driving me nuts.

• Jessi's Central Park cardigan is coming along very nicely. I unfortunately made the right front entirely backwards so had to rip out the whole thing. About a week and a half's worth of work reknitted in about 7 hours. I am now on the sleeves. Hopefully to be done by the end of the week.
  

• The Rocky Horror socks are going really well too. I'm tweaking the Very Tall Sock pattern from Knitty.com for them and I'm hoping to have them done by Halloween.
  

• My Music Gauntlet, as I have decided to name that pattern, are half done. As in I have one done. The pattern will go up soon, it just has a few wording bugs to work out.
  

I have so much packing and organizing to do for school in the next few days so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog but I'll do my best.

Until later...

Stitches Midwest

Yesterday I went to Stitches with my mom and a bus full of people that signed up through mom's shop. I was a little worried due to the fact that I had only had mono for a week but it turned out okay. I bought a new set of Brittany cable needles, 2 skeins of Rocky Horror lightweight Socks That Rock from The Fold, and a really pretty pull-over sweater pattern. My mom also bought me a set of Denise Needles for my birthday, which I'm really excited about because I get to make this:


That's not a very big picture but it's one of the advertiser covers in the newest issue of Vogue. It's out of Skacel Karat and I'm making it in red and black instead of black and silver. I'm hopefully going to get it done for Christmas. Hopefully.

I've gotten a lot of work done on Jessica's sweater. The fronts are almost to the arm hole shaping. Most of my other projects are on hiatus because that sweater needs to be done before September.

I also started on some socks. I'm making above-the-knee-socks adapted from a pattern I found on Knitty.com They're going to be freakin' sweet.

Okay, that's all for now.

WHY!?!?!

So I have done next to no knitting.


Why you may ask?

Because I have mono.


How lame is that?

I did finish two button/zipper bands. One for the Louisa and one for the ALK3 sweater. Which is so close to done it's ridiculous.

Return from the DH suck

So I was very, very preoccupied with the new Harry Potter as you can imagine. It was amazing. I need grief counseling for a certain part but I'll live. I'll make a sweater in memoriam.

In knitting news:

-The Dale of Norway cardigan is coming along very nicely.

-The Central Park sweater is now on the fronts and is also coming along nicely.

-The Michael Kors is on hold for the time being. Not because it's being bad but because I have other more urgent projects.

-The Alk3 sweater is ALMOST done. One half of a zipper band to go.

-The Louise Harding...don't ask.

I'm getting the yarn for my Christmas dress (that's on the cover of the Fall 07 Vogue) very soon. I'm really excited about it. I'm doing the dress in red and black instead of black and silver.

In other news, I've returned to my redheadedness and I'm thrilled.

Dale of Norway

I'm in love with this sweater and this pattern. I absolutely cannot stop doing it. I'll put pictures up when I get a little farther. That's all from right now.

Knitting and Harry Potter

Ahhh. So I've been busy the last few days. My mom and I visited our other yarn shop (the one we went to before my mom opened her own) and I bought two Dale of Norway patterns. A baby sweater for Willow Grace and a sweater pattern of my own. I really need to relax on the sweater pattern acquiring and executing because I'm officially now working on 6 sweaters. Two of which are almost done.

My mom is also working on getting the Charmed Knits book into the shop. I really want to work on something out of that as I love Harry Potter. Which I've been reading in preparation for The Deathly Hollows release next week.

Sweater Musings

This post is going to be devoted to sweaters.

I consider myself a good knitter. I've been knitting for about 7 years, give or take and have taken on many projects. Socks, scarves, hats, mittens, blanket (although I've never finished a single one), ponchos, and of course, sweaters.

I've finished two sweaters: my robin's egg blue Wallaby and the rose and leaf colored Debbie Bliss baby cardigan for little baby Willow Grace. I have several on the needles: my gray Louisa Harding, my Alkaline Trio sweater, my sister's gray cable cardigan, and the dreaded Michael Kors tunic.

I have to say that sweaters are probably my favorite projects. I love all the construction, all the possibilities for patterns and stitches. And due to this great love, I have to ask. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY UGLY SWEATER PATTERNS?!?!?!

Granted, this is my opinion but as I browsed the patterns on the internet this weekend, whether they be free or otherwise, I found about 3 sweaters I personally would have made. Out of about 500 patterns I looked at. (Okay maybe not that many, but it was a lot).

I don't understand why people feel the need to have such busy, unflattering sweaters. What's wrong with a nice cabled pullover? You can do soooo much with just that simple of a choice. Color, texture, fiber, fit, the list goes on and on.

I have now decided I will be designing sweaters now. Because I cannot stand for this ugly sweater epidemic any longer. If I had to choose three icons for sweater designing they'd be Alice Starmore, Louisa Harding, and Jennifer Stafford. They have the right idea. Simple patterns with great fits, interesting construction, and most importantly NOT UGLY! Ugh!

Okay, now that I've gotten this off my chest. I'm going to go knit and ponder.

Later all

Stalled

I've been busy/tired and have done next to nothing knitting wise. I'll get back to it.

Lace Knitting

So I started my first lace knitting project today. What on earth have I gotten myself into?

Weekend Knitting

Got slightly distracted yesterday by books so I didn't get as much knitting done as I would have liked.

Today I've been working on the Central Park by Heather Lodinsky from the Fall 2006 issue of KnitScene. It's a really simple sweater and I'm making it for my sister to take to college with her.

This week I plan on finishing up my ALK3 sweater and then posting the pictures. Also, I really really need to finish my Louisa Harding Vertigo cardigan because it's been done since May except for the seaming and finishing up stuff. I need to go to Madison to get one extra ball because I need to make the belt. I'll be very happy when that project is done. It was my first cable project and I'm very proud of it.


Here's some pictures of my projects in their various stages:

The Louisa Harding Vertigo Cardigan




The Alkaline Trio Sweater Front, Back with the hood down, and Back with the hood up
Based on the Lil Red Ridding Hoodie from Domiknitrix by Jennifer Stafford (My absolute favorite knitting book)

The Central Park from KnitScene
The Back

Okay that's all for now.

Last post for the day

So after a very trying day of knitting here's what I've accomplished:

• The MK Tunic sweater has the ribbing successfully finished but has to have the cabling pattern ripped back to the beginning. Boo to that.
• The ALK3 sweater has the hood and left pocket finished. I still have to figure out how to graft the live stitches of the pocket to the "dead" stitches of the body...
• Started the Piano Keys scarf with scraps from the ALK3 sweater.

Tomorrow I'm going to start back up on Jessi's college sweater and hopefully get a good deal of work done on it.


Okay, going to attempt sleep now.

I am going to strangle this damn Michael Kors sweater. How can a relatively simple cable chart be causing so much effin' trauma. Grrrrrr...... I think I'll move on for the night.

Shadow Knitting

So today, I found an amazing pattern for an illusion scarf with piano keys in it. I'm pretty much in love. Unfortunately, that means I need to finish the other eight thousand projects I have working right now.

I finished the hood of my Lil' Red Ridding Hoodie today. The flap ended up being 4 1/4" instead for 1 1/4" so I had to back that out. No big deal.

Also finished the ribbing on the Michael Kors tunic sweater. Decided to install a lifeline in this one since this is time number seven and I do not want to do that ribbing again for any reason.

Blog the First

So I've decided to start a knitting blog because I can't do the normal knitting journal thing. So, this being my first post I'm just going to list the "few" projects I'm currently involved with.

• Michael Kors Tunic Sweater from Vogue Knitting Fall 2006 in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in Wine.
• Lil' Red Riding Hoodie from Domiknitrix with an Alkaline Trio chart on the back in Cascade 220 in Ruby, Black, and White. Very near completion.
• Virtigo from Louise Harding Winter Classics in Gray. Very very close to completion.
• Central Park Hoodie from KnitScene Fall 2006 in Cascade 220 in Dark Gray Tweed.
  

The blasted Michael Kors sweater I've started nearly 7 time now. Damn perfectionism.

Here's a picture of the Lil' Red Riding Hoodie from a few weeks ago:

I've got the sleeves finished and it's all sewn up. Now I'm just working on the hood, the pockets, and the zipper bands.

That's all for now.