Same thing we do every night...

Try to take over the wool festival (taken at Michigan Fiber Fest last weekend).

Sweatergirl finishes one project, starts several more

Thanks for all your compliments on the Union Jack sweater. I am really glad I just sat down and spat it out - otherwise, if I thought too much more about it, I might not have done it. But it wasn't really as bad as I feared. Is there more intarsia in my future? Maybe not till E requests it...but then, her grandmother does like to do intarsia, so...well, never say never.

Anyway, it's been a big knitting week for me here - Meg Swansen! Beth Brown-Reinsel! And - new projects abound (Pictures to be added ASAP).

1. I was told we needed to have a circular swatch for Meg Swansen's lecture/workshop, and I decided to start a wallaby (112 stitches, rather than the required 80 stitches). It was fine for the workshop, and I am already through the pocket. The lecture was inspiring - it was great to be in a room with someone so excited about wacky knitting techniques. It is really easy for me to think I know enough techniques to get by, but even Meg is learning new things. And she is so willing to share them! New things for me - invisible cast-on, tubular ribbing, phony seams. Also, I am thinking of making a sampler with different increases/decreases to refer to later. If I don't lose it, of course...

2. A teeny tiny sweater in the Beth Brown-Reinsel "Arans from the Top Down" workshop. This little thing is packed with techniques - no time for boring knitting. We cast on tubular knitting and did a super-stretchy neckband, then created saddle shoulders, then picked up saddle stitches and used short rows to shape the front neck. Neat trick. I may try to use this whole idea sometime - even for a plain sweater. As a bonus, I finally learned how to strangle bobbles effectively. I had made her mini-gansey from the Knitting Ganseys book on my own, which was pretty cool, but it was much better to do this workshop and it was great to meet such a creative knitter and talented designer. Wow.

3. A needlepoint rug. Yeah - it's a little different. I am trying to make a folk-arty rug with random stripes from leftover wool. Yet - I can't be totally random. Very hard. To lessen the randomness, I tried to add alphabet blocks using cross-stitch, but it was silghtly unsuccessful and more than slightly annoying to follow the chart. Back to enforced randomness.

4. I have another new project ready, and I am dying to cast on, but I am going to sew the little purple sweater together and add buttons to it and another buttonless sweater before the next little tiny sweater is started.

5. Sarah and I are going to make the Celtic Dreams sweater, starting after Labor Day. We have both wanted to make this since, like, forever (ack - has it been seven years since I fell in love with that pattern?). After seeing it in person this weekend, and hearing Beth describe how it was all put together, I am sure I really need to do it. I'm going to try to swatch with the yarn I've been thinking of using (DB Cashmerino Aran - which I know has a bad reputation for pilling, but it just feels lovely...). But anyway - I gotta swatch so that if it doesn't work I can seek other yarn...

Ta-da!

After washing:

Don't look too closely at the imperfect intarsia - I am sure E won't notice! The flag is a teeny bit dingy, from the black, but did not run like I had feared. i.e., the white did not turn pink in some places and blue in others.

Notes: I used hot tap water. I should have boiled some water to add, as my hot tap water only measured to be 115 degrees F, not 140 as the bottle says. I used the method of soaking (in a little Rubbermaid) for 20 minutes. I had to weight the sweater down by putting mugs full of water on top of the sweater. I then dried it in the dryer. Then the next day, washed it with my darks (cold water). This now counts as a Finished Object - whew!

Sweatergirl learns something new everyday

Today's lesson - how to make a moebius cardigan: After joing the shoulders, be sure to twist the front before sewing to the back. No one in our three-dimensional space could wear it though.

E's lesson of the day - how to roll from back to front. This morning I was awakened by a piercing scream. E had rolled herself over to her belly, and she REALLY hates to be on her belly. Whew! Nothing serious. Not that I don't take her frustration seriously. Hopefully the front to back roll will come quickly!

On the agenda for the weekend - learning how to use Retayne. The bottle says: "Machine Application: Estimate the amount of water needed to cover cotton fabric. Fill machine to this level with HOT (140F) water. Add 1 tsp Retayne per yard of cotton fabric. Add dry cotton fabric. Set machine for a 20 minute wash. Use cool water during rinse cycle and dry at once." CarolineF gave me this info: "Someone got the lowdown on Retayne for me from her dyers list. They said use 1 tsp of Retayne for every 1/3 pound of fiber (so maybe 1 tsp per 100g hank of yarn knitted), in the hottest tap water you have, soak 20 minutes, squeeze out but DO NOT RINSE." I like this better. The Union Jack sweater will be the guinea pig! Wish us luck.