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A proud giftee - Kevin's son!

Kevin has been knitting for years….he told me the other day that he was a young boy when his mother taught him what to do with those knitting sticks. He has knitted color work for years….he showed us the vest in process for his wife (photos to be shared in subsequent post)….and then he picked up his needles to start the top-down sweater for his son. His goal is now to learn more technique and improve existing technique. He produces lovely knitted fabric…his stitch construction is good…he simply wants to learn more.

On to the body!

The yarn of choice for this sweater is Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece. Kevin began at the neck edge, did the raglan shaping, placed the stitches for the sleeves on waste yarn “holders”, continued knitting in the round for the body of the sweater for an inch or so and then introduced his color design…the initials of his son.

The beginning of the color design!

The Sleeve Details

The stitches on the waste yarn holders were put back on the needles, and the sleeves were knit from the armhole down to the wrist. The fitting technique here is to determine how many stitches are needed for the wrist….how many stitches are on the needles…..how many stitches need to be decreased over how many rows to create desired length. The decreases for shaping create a seam line under the arm which is where the decreases should happen. The decrease “recipe” is K2tog, k1, SSK…..this will create a symmetrical “seam” line.

Almost done!

You can now see the body and one sleeve done. The best is yet to come….the finished sweater.

The finished top-down sweater

A gift from Kevin

Jasper Button crafted by Kevin

Recently some of you have heard me mention Kevin…..our paths crossed some 20 years ago when he was one of my first knitting students at Albany Adult School. He is the knitter who “taught” me how to help left-handed continental style knitters. He was able to mirror image…we struck a deal….I would knit the technique…he would mirror image and then I would help him problem solve. His first project was one on small needles – size 3 or so if I remember correctly. It was a sweater for himself and there was cable and color work involved. He still has that wonderfully crafted sweater.

Just recently I learned that he crafted buttons for his sweater with the wonderful combination of the colors that he used in the knitted garment….. he just gifted me with one of those buttons….I was more than a little touched. The details on this button are that it is Bloodstone Jasper. He purchased a rough hunk of it from Ed’s Gems in Oregon. You can also find Ed’s Gems on Facebook.)He slabbed it, marked it, cut out a circle, drilled it and polished it. A button was born! Whoops…crafted!

This last week he told me what sold him on being in my knitting classes. He was struggling over a technique and we talked back and forth a bit….he reminded me that I said, “Just do it!” He did it!

We have stayed in touch over the years…Kevin would pop into Skein Lane to “check in”…and now we “check in” through Facebook and Skein Lane knitting workshops/classes.  He’s just completed his first top-down sweater in the Skein Lane Studio workshop….and of course he put his unique sense of color design to work in the sweater for his young son. You’ll be seeing this work in the next post.

Thank you Kevin!

…..knitting nights that is? The needles clicked….the stories rolled…..the blasphemies came forth.

“God damn it!” from Marsha. She was a stitch off and wasn’t having any of it!

“I should have gone to sleep after row 28 last night!” Tonight  Carol had unknit row 29 of a complicated pattern – the Japanese inspired bolero/shrug – more than once.

Mary shared the trials and tribulations that she had getting a hat underway. The hat is doing just fine …. actually so is Mary but she did have moments getting her project underway.

I counted the spacing for the buttonholes on my baby surprise sweater more than a couple of times. It was the longest damn row! …..I will be done in the next couple days! The baby has been born.

There was something not quite right in the knitting air….we clicked and clucked ….more to be said…and yet parted with the joy that knitting truly binds us together. One of the parting thoughts, “If we keep at this, Carolyn won’t know that we are rolling into midnight!” It wasn’t midnight but we all felt like it could head that way!

Margot and Twirly Skirt

Sometimes it’s a blessing to be delayed…..the post about the gifts that Margot knit for her two granddaughters (age 18 and 1) has been in my blogging line-up for several weeks now. I mentioned to Margot at today’s Saturday knitting workshop that I was finally posting about her knitting gifts to her granddaughters …and I needed a little more info.

Here’s the blessing! Margot received a Christmas card from her family with a photo of the two girls (sisters)…one in her “Jasmine” Rowan Sweater and the other in her Twirly Skirt.

The Christmas Card Photo - Margot's granddaughters

The details…..the Jasmine Sweater, designed by Lisa Richardson, was featured in Rowan’s Magazine #39 (Spring 2006) …now out of print. I pulled out my copy and took another journey through the wonderful designs…I became wistful…do I have time to add more projects to my knitting lineup? No…but I probably will. Margot used a different yarn than the design specified. Her choice was Frog Tree’s Cotton/Silk mix – 85% pima cotton and 15% silk. It was a wonderful choice.

The “Twirly Skirt” was knit for her 1-yr old granddaughter…..Margot used Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece (an all-time favorite of mine)…..she enhanced the design with the addition of eyelets with ribbon.

Did I mention (?) that Margot is a very proud grandmother ( a very dear friend…another blessing…we met because we knit)! Be sure to view the slide show that follows.

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The other day Bill and I were lazing around…it was a holiday and we watched some afternoon TV …he noticed that Knitting Daily was on . We watched it….and as it ended the tag line was “Make time for yarn every day!”.

He said, “No worries here. She’s on it!” Where upon I fell out laughing and picked up my yarn!

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt ( a better view than my previous post). Enjoy!

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,600 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Crunching the Numbers

This link is a lot of fun….and inspiring particularly since I “fell” off the blogging perch last year.  I am now back as you have been witnessing. So….check this out. One of our knitting circle is front page of this page.  Thanks to WordPress for providing the tools to enhance what we blog. Keep on knitting! You are all such an inspiration!

https://skeinlane.wordpress.com/2011/annual-report/

Mary and her Tomten

Mary and her Tomten Jacket

Mary is happy…happy! It was a happy evening recently at knitting workshop…she completed the knitting journey of the Tomten Jacket, a Elizabeth  Zimmerman design.

She knit this garter-stitch design in Brown Sheep Lambspride Superwash. She began this sweater for her granddaughter…..time slipped away…and now her neighbors have been gifted with this lovely sweater for their newly adopted child. As you can see Mary was overjoyed  to complete this project….she stuck with it and you can see the results.

The Tomten Jacket

The detailing that makes this Tomten unique is that Mary rolled the edging back and tacked it all around. She also created an I-cord loop for the toggle button.

Yeah Mary!

Just in from knitting friend Cathy…..

“I’m so excited because I figured out the practical benefit of ‘smocking’ when a neck ribbing was wonkie…it stuck out. The yarn was chunky-ish…..I’m also perfecting my knitting terminology! The ribbing pulled together perfectly and looks wonderful. Same with the button band!

This is what I was working on (before and after photos) …. the rib ends up looking more tidy.

The method is perhaps called “gather” knitting?  I looked it up on line…about “smocking” …. and found “gather.” I had knit the collar ribbing and then the button bands….. and I casted off. I took a carpet needle with yarn…and went from back to front and then front to back thru each rib…at its outer edge. I then gently pulled the thread to gather the rib more tightly.

Does that make sense?  Without “gathering” the ribbed stitches, I would have had a ruffle!!”

I think Cathy also said that she used the same size needle for all of the garment (body and bands) and she picked up more stitches than needed for the front band. Sounds and looks like “gathering” was a perfect solution for the “wonkie” neck.

….hmmm, would that be 10 football fields, 1 running back with a 1,000 yards, or 10 running backs with 100 yards?

No, it would be 1,000 yards of MaggiKnits linen….knitted up in a stole or poncho…all set for spring! Join us in this spring (yes, spring – time to start now to be ready with spring wardrobe) promotion.

1,000 yds (8 skeins @ 125 yds). Regular Price (8 skeins) $63.60

1,000 Yards Spring Promotion Price (8 skeins) $50.00

Includes complimentary pattern stitch designs and suggested sizes for 1,000 yards

Promotion Code: 1000

Online Store

Good thru Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Mock Cable Stitch Design

 

Bathing Beauties Stole

Bathing Beauties Stole

Available colors

33 Red Orange

14 Turquoise

31 Green

10 Red

07 Cream

11 Dusty Pink