Iceling Cardigan Size 6 Months
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool, Color No. 012 "Raisin"
I finished the sweater yesterday afternoon, and I thought, "All done but the buttons I'm waiting for to arrive from Canada." And then I took a look in my button bin, and these just jumped out at me as the perfect classic, tailored buttons for this little British man's jacket.
I love it so much, I might make a second one in blue.
But first, the matching hat.
My Long-Weekend Sunday went like this:
Breakfast.
Knitting. Yes, knitting! I'm working on the raisin brown Iceling baby sweater. Love it. I ordered a whole bunch of buttons to try with it -- a variety of wooden, bone, and antler ones. I'll be sure to show them to you when they get here.
Running. Yes, running! I went to the track with the idea that I would go back to square one on the Couch to 5K program, which would be mostly walking, with spurts of a minute running here and there. I hemmed and hawed over whether to stick with my favorite Nike Free Run+ shoes or to use the Gel Cumulus. I decided to stick with the Nikes because I love them so much, but I put in the Superfeet inserts that that orthopedic guy recommended I get. I figured that was a sensible compromise, and when I put them on my feet like that, it felt good and seemed like The Right Thing To Do.
When I got to the track, it was in use by a group, so I couldn't use it. I had to use the trail. Though it's not rubberized and is a hard paved surface with some imperfections, it is mostly flat, with some gentle slopes and only a couple little hills, so I thought I'd be fine. But also when I got there, I just could not bring myself to go back to literally square one. I thought I might die of boredom, and I also felt that I could handle more of a challenge than that. When I left off with the program and hurt my ankle, I was repeating Week 7 of the program, so I don't really know why I chose Week 4 yesterday, but I did. Another compromise that seemed like The Right Thing To Do.
And it was!
I ran the course with ease, did not feel any pain whatsoever, and ended up with no swelling -- no new swelling, at least. I felt great. GREAT, I tell you!
Lunch. Healthy and delicious. Grilled salmon burgers and see below.
Gardening. Oh yes, four more hours in the garden doing the heavy lifting and moving of bags of composted manure and cleaning out the compost bins, digging and dividing of perennials, planting, turning soil, and etcetera and so forth.
I harvested this, which served as the focal point for lunch.
Dinner. With friends.
More Knitting while
Watching South Riding.
It was a verra good day. Mr. Jefferies says so, too.
I found myself feeling ready to knit, and with an open evening, so I started Iceling in Mission Falls 1824 Color No. 012, Raisin, which I think can best be characterized as chestnut brown. It was the right color choice. I just love it. The blue would have been just as right, but I am inordinately fond of the brown and think it is going to be teeth-achingly sweet, with not an ounce of twee, when it's done.
I just hope all this Dexter watching while knitting it does not imbue it with some sort of evil.
I recently learned that my former boss, who is very dear to me, has had a baby boy, and so Auntie Norma naturally wants to knit that poor little boy a sweater.
I spent much of yesterday trolling my books and -- with the considerable help of my friends on Facebook -- through Ravelry (because I am a founding- and still-card-carrying member of the Ravelry Underachiever Club, and Dunce) for just the right pattern.
Of course, I have exactly set in my mind the pattern I want and the yarn I want to use, and the pattern is not out there, never mind having to fight gauge issues if I do actually find one that I deem suitable. But I did eventually find some likely prospects, listed here in my (at the time of writing this) order of preference:
1. Trellis
2. Baby Poonam
3. Heirloom Cables Baby Sweater at Lion Brand where you, annoyingly, have to sign in in order to see it, so that link may or may not work for you.
I am awfully fond of these two sweaters, as well --
1. Duffle Coat by Debbie Bliss (and I don't know if that link will work for you, either, because it's a Ravelry link)
2. Iceling (another Ravelry link)
I am actually moving the queue around even as I type this ... I am totally in love with Iceling.... and it might actually work better with the gauge of the yarn I have chosen... and yet, have I really made the final choice of yarn yet?...?...?
I think it is going to be this:
but I am also considering a lovely green Pure Pima (Berroco) cotton, or Rowan Denim yarn that I have always wanted to try. And then there is the red Calmer or the chocolate brown Calmer, the raisin Mission Falls 1824, or the blue Mission Falls. Unlike at least one of my friends, I love baby items knitted in unexpected adult colors like brown or grey or black, so I'm very tempted by the chocolate brown... but I also want to keep that for a garment for myself, so probably not.
Decisions, decisions...
Who knows... maybe baby will get TWO sweaters, or maybe I will change my mind midstream, or then again, if I manage to actually finish a sweater -- even a baby sweater -- I think I should probaby be in line for an award of some sort.
I expected to have this thing well under way by now. I even found what I wanted to watch while knitting this British sweater for a British little boy -- South Riding on Masterpiece Theater -- but it took me way too long to find a pattern and hunt through my stash for the right yarns, and ... somehow or another it is already bedtime and I'm not that much closer to a decision.
But still, it's all kind of fun to actually think about knitting a baby sweater. Who knew?
1. I finished the back of G'Day yesterday. I told you it was a fast knit! I am quite charmed by this pattern by Nora Gaughan.
Because this yarn has a halo, photos of it look a bit washed out. The colors are actually a touch more vibrant in real life. My knitting time is set to take quite a nose dive soon, so who knows when, even though it's a fast knit, I will finish this thing. Work has picked up exponentially, so I also have to keep in mind taking care of my forearms, wrists and elbows.
2. While I was blithely knitting along and/or when I was at the gym yesterday, someone had somehow stolen my credit card number and was buying things. Chase VISA did not fool around, though, and within a very short time, they called me to ask if those charges were mine. It was really only one charge, because the subsequent charges, for tiny amounts, were denied and the card was put on hold. The online charge was for $420, though. It must have been the teeny charges ($2.95 at a child care center and $1.00 at a drugstore) that were the red flags. Then again, without the actual physical card in hand, I don't know how those charges could be made. ... Hm... the mysteries and annoyances of modern living. But thank goodness for alert fraud detection divisions.
3. I defrosted a gigantic turkey over the weekend and roasted it yesterday, because it had been in my freezer for a while and I didn't want to see it go to waste due to freezer burn. But then once I roasted it, David and I looked at the monster in our roasting pan with some degree of mirth. That is one hell of a lot of meat for two people to eat. I offloaded some to my mother, and cut up and froze more of the cooked meat, and made turkey stock with the carcass. Perhaps I will not buy any more gigantic organic turkeys at local farms, and will keep it to smaller birds instead. Except at Thanksgiving, that is. It was very delicious, though.
4. I'm making a concerted effort to eat up all the vegetables and berries that I froze from last year's garden, before this year's gardening season begins. I've still got TONS of them (or so it seems). While not quite as desirable as fresh and raw, I'm going to start using many more of the frozen veggies in my green drinks. I'm so glad I discovered unblanched freezing last year. The unblanched frozen veggies are much better to handle, taste much closer to fresh, and look one hell of a lot better. All except zucchini and summer squash. They are rubbery and unpleasant either way. In the future, I will only freeze SHREDDED (unblanched) zucchini, which I have done successfully in the past. That is really good for baked goods such as zucchini bread, muffins, and cake, but I almost never bake anymore. However, I can envision it being good in many other things like meatloaf, quiche, chili, omelets and spaghetti sauce, too.
5. On the reintroduction phase following the elimination diet/cleanse, I have learned that dairy foods are a big no-no for me. I MISS MY HOMEMADE GREEK YOGURTTTTTTTTTT *whine*!!!!
Peanuts and soy, too. The peanuts I had a suspicion about, but this confirms the suspicion. I had absolutely no idea about the soy previously, but it is bad. WAHHHHH to both.
Red meat, pork, white potatoes, green peppers are no problem in terms of allergies or intolerances (yay!). Eggs and tomatoes also have a green light.
Wheat is problematic, as I already knew, but I can tolerate some. I'll try to restrict it to once or twice a week, and whole grain as often as possible.
And here is the next thing I had absolutely no idea about before: Alcohol. I have a pretty serious intolerance to alcohol that I was heretofore unaware of. Crap. Not that I'm a big drinker, but this explains a lot.
We often eat or drink so many things at once that we don't know what is actually causing us problems, or even that/if foods are causing us problems. Many of us just think we feel crappy, or we're bloated for no explainable reason, or we get headaches for no explainable reason. The beauty of the elimination diet, and methodically adding in one thing at a time, is that you can almost immediately identify what the exact things are that are problems for you.
I am so glad I've done (and continue to do) this. It helps to be aware, and I feel so much better.
6. Happy Valentine's Day to all my loves.
Loss of my finer-work virginity, and knit-lust pure and simple, has led to a little bit of an online buying incident. Granted, this is not British Isles and is instead Icelandic. But we're all nawthenahs heyah; am I right?
And seriously, do tell: How in the world could I resist this? (And the price is unassailable, as well.) It is Lopi, which is awfully itchy to me, but for this gorgeous result, I will be happy to wear a protective layer underneath.
OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, this is way beyond my knitting and finishing abilities. But no it isn't! I can do this! It only takes time and patience. I can do this. How long it will take me is another question altogether.
Sometimes don't you just feel you have to cut your losses and get off of Square One?
Yes, you do.
This:
...has become this:
I had simply lost the love for this project. I think it is just a matter of the wrong yarn for the wrong sweater, or something. Or it might be that I am done with this yarn. It's Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in eggplant. I love the color, and I might still love the yarn, but just need to find the right sweater for it. I'm going to let it percolate a little bit, and if the passion is gone, I will sell it.
The Geode sweater, G'Day, on the other hand, is flying off the needles. I am enjoying this knitting a lot, and enjoying the change in gauge from the fingering-weight wool, as well as the softness of this yarn and the fun color changes.
My new British TV series love, Doc Martin, streaming on Netflix, is helping this to zip along, too.
It only took about three minutes to find the right buttons in the Burlington JoAnn's, which has a much larger selection of buttons than the St. Albans store. So I sewed them on yesterday and delivered the sweater to my mom. She LOVES it. She mentioned the buttons immediately -- "I love the buttons." Then she put it on, "I love the weight! It's my color! You did such a wonderful job!"
The fit could not be more perfect for her. She happened to have a white turtleneck on when I got there, which looked lovely with this sweater.
She said, "I'm going to bring it to my exercise class to show it off!"
She even said she's willing to model it for the blog. I told her we'd wait till the deep freeze is over and we can find a nice mild, dry day to take photos outside. So that is a preview of coming attractions.
Another preview of coming attractions is that I really really really want to knit a similar sweater for me from 2-ply Shetland wool, and I am looking for a pattern to do it the "real" way -- knitting my own yoke, and hopefully top-down. If anyone can direct me to a pattern of that ilk, please do. And I'd love to knit more sweaters in that weight, too. It's a lot more knitting, of course, but the result is sooooo worth the extra knitting time.
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AND A HUGE THANK YOU to those who read here yesterday about Warm Hats Not Hot Heads. When I got home from work late last night, there was a big shout out to my readers in Facebook. We brought the number of pledged hats up from 14% to over 17%, and to a total of over 100 hats -- in just one day!! You ROCK, people -- you just simply ROCK.
Well, the Fair Isle sweater is finished -- all except for buttons, that is. Here is a little glamour shot for you.
I made the dangerous journey down my driveway and out into the storm yesterday to look for buttons at my local JoAnn's. Not.successful. They really did have some acceptable buttons, but they only had five, and I need 11. The clerk tried to "help" me and tried to sell me on some pewter-look buttons with an American Southwest feel to them. Good grief, but NO. This is a classic British Isles sweater. Southwest American buttons? I don't think so.
So the hunt will be on for the right buttons. I did not spend all that time knitting that sweater only to put crap buttons on it. Sigh. I should have known, but once in a while one does get lucky at JoAnn's. The weather was so horrible that I did not want to make the trip to Burlington or Essex for decent buttons -- and even there it is sometimes very hard to find just the RIGHT buttons for the job. Sadly then, as much as I wanted the thing to be 100% complete, it's only 99.9%.
But I did get my exercise: When I got home I could not get up my driveway, so had to do some considerable amount of shoveling so I could put my car in the garage. So that's something, I guess.
And, since I'm feeling so G-R-E-A-T, I'm on to my next project. A few planned projects were vying for first place the other night, and I had frankly forgotten about this one, but then, while staring at my Facebook screen, it hit me:
In this photo taken by the incomparable Gale Zucker, I am wearing the Kaleidoscope Yarns shop model of a Berroco design called "G'Day," knitted in Berroco Geode. I wore the shop model all evening when we were visiting the shop that night back in February of 2010. I loved it so much and it suited me so much that, before I left, I bought the pattern booklet and the yarn in this exact colorway, which is 3646, Tiger Eye.
It's a good thing I did! The design is in this Berroco booklet which is still available, but in speaking with Jill at KYarns yesterday, I learned the sad news from her that Geode yarn has been discontinued. I see from the KYarns website that they are out of stock of this great yarn, and a quick Google search did not turn up much better news. So if you want to knit this sweater, and you can find a shop that has a stash of Geode, you'd best be gittin' it!
For your reference, it takes 14 balls for Size S, 36-in. bust; 22 balls for the largest size in the pattern, 52-inch bust. (and 16-18-20 balls for sizes 40-44-48 respectively)
I would not worry about matching dyelots too much, since this is a self-striping yarn, and in the construction of this sweater you off-and-on double the yarn to create the interesting textured welts in the sweater pattern. Any shifts in dyelot colors would be unworrisome.
And lemme just say: This yarn doubled, on US 11s (it has a very interesting construction, this sweater) is one helluva lot faster than knitting fingering-weight Shetland.
I don't love working with needles this large, but I must admit it is a bit of a welcome change from knitting a sweater on sock-size needles.
I crafted the button bands as directed in the pattern -- which is to say, I knitted them separately and then sewed them onto the body of the cardigan. I questioned the wisdom of this at first, but now I'm happy I did it their way. I basted the bands to the Fair Isle yoke and then tacked them to the body of the sweater and sewed them by hand using the backstitch method. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.
And I've started the neckband. Only a few more rows to go, and then to buy buttons and sew them on! Best of all, I tried it on and though I was beginning to have fears that the sweater was turning out too big for my mom, I can now see that it will be just about right for her.
And now I want one of these for me!
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