Mission Knit

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I found this on ebay for $10. It's totally hand-pieced. There are several places that need serious attention. Some of the stars were made of a fabric that frayed really easily and some #&*&%*% put this lovely quilt top through a machine wash and dry, it looks like.

It is just the top. My plan of attack is to start by addressing the holes and frayed parts. What I can't stitch back together or reinforce with muslin I'll replace. Then batting, backing, and binding.

All part of my grand scheme to have all handmade living room blankets.  

I took Monday off. When I requested the PTO I'd expected to be protesting Troy Davis's execution in Georgia. Instead, we stopped his murder for the 3rd time in 16 months. I started the day by picking up the stitches around the newly steeked neckline and beginning the ribbing. It required stealing the US #1 from another project. Early afternoon had me trotting to the yarn store for yet another needle. Within a single round on the US #0 I was out of the sweater's main color.

I've ordered another ball. In the meantime I've committed myself to finishing tasks. Changing colors every three rounds may create a lot of visual interest but it also makes for nitpicky finishing. Hundreds of ends. Tedium aside, the underarms have been grafted, 3/4 of the ends woven, and the dreaded 292 stitches picked up around the cut edge. As soon as the yarn arrives I'll have a few rounds, a bind off, some blocking, and the tacking down of the cut steeks before the thing is finished. Pictures will follow.

I'm already 8" into my next colorwork piece. To be fair, that's some ribbing and a 2" band of colorwork that gives way to an expanse of plain stockinette until the underarms. There's plenty more waiting in the wings for me to pick back up and finish. It was very nice to have some quiet time with my knitting rather than the grief and fury that comes with executions of innocent people, especially innocent people whose families I've worked with. Troy's sister Martina will be at the Campaign to End the Death Penalty's convention in a little under two weeks. I can't wait to see her.

steeking

This is called steeking.

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They were started as napkin rings, Venezia from Knitty, to be exact. I managed to finish two and then let them sit for (ahem) two years. It dawned on me how much nicer they would behave as bracelets. For one thing, I didn't need to make any more. for another, I could easily attach clasps and give them to the tiny-wristed people close by. My buddy Rosa was first. We'll see who gets the other one.

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With all the plugging away at big projects, it's a splendid feeling to get these out of my hands and onto the wrists of people not genetically prone to being landbeasts. They were a clever simple knit and I'll probably find the excuse to slam out a couple more in the next decade.

The mathematical tightness of lace was the first draw. The sequences, the addition and subtraction of stitches, and the clever way you could manipulate the stitches. The variations are endless.

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Forgive the unblocked mush. This is Auntie H's Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. The geometric pattern is caused by increases right beside decreases. The increase creates the hole and the decrease makes a crisp slant right beside it.

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Aunt Lee's Muir Woods from Knitty has some similar ideas. The mesh between the leaves is formed by putting the increases and decreases directly beside eachother, this time with nothing between. The leaves, however, are formed by pairs on increases at the base that coincide with pairs of decreases on the leaves beside them. We emerge from each row with the same number of stitches but the distance between adding and subtracting creates the push and pull in the motif.

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There are times when you intend, though, to add width as you progress. This piece will be square with a neckhole in the center and a split between two quarters. It's also all mine. Progress is slightly slower. I'm a sucker for gift knitting. My friend Kurt of the Yarn Store is getting a nifty pair of socks:

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The yarn is mostly merino wool with a bit of nylon for strength and a rich fluf of cashmere. It's glossy and lofty. Casbah by Handmaiden.

I've also developed a big crush on fairisle. No details until it's done.

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There's been quite a bit more of the paid labor than the fibercraft. 

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AnnieBee sent me some work. I suggest anyone else with the knitting inclination try this check list.

Here is what she suggests:
1) Bold things you’ve done,
2) Green thing you are currently doing
3) Red out things you’ve abandoned or will never attempt
4) Italicize things you want to try

Afghan
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Baby items
Bobbles
Button holes
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Cardigan
Charity knitting
Continental knitting
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Drop stitch patterns
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing yarn
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Freeform knitting
Fulling/felting
Gloves
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Hair accessories
Hat
Holiday related knitting
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
I-cord
Intarsia
Jewelry
Kitchener BO
Knitting a gift
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting socks
Knitting to make money
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Machine knitting
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Olympic knitting
Participating in a KAL
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks: toe-up
Socks: top-down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching
Sweater
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male how to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy/doll clothing
Tubular CO
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting
Writing a pattern

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I learned to crochet, too. 

As far as knitting experiences go, my Tangled Yoke was among the best. It was well designed, the yarn was perfect, the fun part was saved for the end so I actually chugged through miles of pretty boring garter rib and stockinette so that I could tangle the yoke. There were some frustrations - like the metal DPNs I inherited from my grandmother were technically the same size but were so heavy that they pulled the gauge off by almost a stitch per inch.

Nothing was so frustrating, however, as the second wearing of the sweater. The button bands were curling and the outer edges were growing. The neck, anchored by a folded-over rib and three-needle bind off, was growing and looking awful. I didn't document the finished sweater much because it hurt to see how far it had drifted from the adored project it had been,

No longer.

I took it to Britex Fabrics, to the ribbon wall. I found three yards of grosgrain ribbon in a color that looked amazing and unexpected. I then dropped the sweater and the ribbon off at a tailor near my work and begged them to take good care. They did.

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I'm back in love The neck sits just where it should. The  buttons don't threaten to pull the whole thing out of shape.

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There's a cheerful band of purple when the wind flips the corners back.
I'm inspired to take on yet another frustration. A lace sweater I made my ma that is six inches too short. Oy.

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I need to perform a little surgery here to add lendgh to the bottom. I'll be plopping a couple more pattern repeats between the ribbing and the first lace repeat. Hope I can get gauge.

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There has been modest progress on a few projects. I've finished the first full pattern repeat on my great aunt's lace

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This is one of five and a half repeats. So I'm approaching the 20% mark.

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Aunt Nan, this is the first finished sock. The sole looks a bit larger than it is in relation to the rest because it's not on a foot. Here's a detail of the lace:

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The yarn is Dream in Color's "Smooshy" and the pattern is Cookie A's Baudelaire from Knitty.com, summer 2006. They're a great match and I'm speeding through the next sock.

I'm revisiting a baby sweater I started two years ago abandoned when the intended child outgrew the size I started, and now has resurfaced because my new roommate has a new nephew.

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I still owe it sleeves and a shawl collar but I'm plugging away.

MY Great Auntie H is getting some lace for her birthday.

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