TWO finished objects

I have not one but TWO finished objects to show off today.

First, i finished my kerchief. Officially Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief knit in Noro silk garden sock on size something needles. I'm officially terrible at remembering these things or writing these things down. 8 or 9 I'm sure. I STILL haven't blocked it, but I've worn it!

Selfie with a finished object #knitters #finishedobject

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Nov 21, 2017 at 12:19pm PST

Then I had a Thanksgiving trip planned and nothing to knit. I asked my kids and my facebook friends and got well.... Let's just say that I got a lot of great ideas but nothing sparked my attention. Then finally I had one girl say, "you promised to make me a cute photogenic cabled hat with a furry pom on the top." And while I don't remember promising this particular thing, I did have yarn to pull it off. And also time, as ten hours (round trip) of car knitting gets at least a good start on things.

She picked Sultana Cabled hat and I picked some yarn I had leftover: Loops and Threads Impeccable. This is an acrylic yarn, but it isn't squeaky. I have to say that usually when I plan car knitting, I am usually very good about a) reading the pattern over and bringing everything I'll need to finish the project even if that is seemingly impossible and b) bringing a backup project. I did neither. Heck, I didn't even bring page 2 of the pattern! I didn't bring DPN for finishing and I didn't read close enough to realize I'd need 2 cable needles! I'm honestly surprised that I remembered to bring the needle change I needed. In fact, I brought both of my interchangeable sets quite by accident.

Even with all that, I ended up having a second cable needle stashed in my bag, and I improvised DPN using interchangeable needles. I was able to pull up the second page of the pattern on my phone even. I did jinx myself by saying to my husband as we were within an hour of home--Wow this has gone so smoothly even with all the weirdness. Instantly a demon from another dimension snatched my cable needle. (actually it slipped right out of my knitting and fell so deeply between the car seats that I didn't find it until I had a sunny day that I could pull the car out and pull the front seat all the way up. My car had a very thorough cleaning.) Then I lost track of what row I was on and could not for the life of me figure it out. In fact the only thing that stopped me from finishing this hat in the car was that mistake. I put it down for 5 days even! Until Friday I was stuck in the waiting room at the car dealership. I pulled it out, and went over it backing up (tinking) until I figured out that I had actually conflated two rows and was finally able to find where I was. A very nosy lady in the waiting room eventually asked me what I was making and I told her and told her I'd spent the first 20 minutes undoing a mistake and she blithely informed me she would never have ripped just to find a mistake. (Insert Eyeroll here). And you know usually, I am pretty tolerant of my mistakes. This however, would have thrown off the last cable pretty significantly. I did finish it Friday night though. And the girl is happy. I need to buy a fur pom ("You know you can make that." said my nosy fellow car dealership waiting room lady. Indeed I do--she asked for something specific, which I will buy). I'm pleased with how it turned out.

My thanksgiving car #knitting was this hat! I did a row twice on the decreasing and it took me all week to figure out the problem-- but I did!

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Dec 1, 2017 at 4:41pm PST

Now, I guess I need to make the other child a hat they can look cute in for pictures.

picture post

I promised some pictures, so here goes

First up a picture of all three costumes I made this year. Faces blocked because internet.

Next, I promised to show comparison pictures between the FIRST time I made pooh and piglet costumes--2005-- and the second time. Girls tried to recreate pictures, but you know.

And last--my current knitting project. Which is "Age of Brass and Steam kerchief" That I am knitting out of Noro Silk Garden Sock. I decided to run another pattern repeat and I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn. This has actually progressed enough that I may finish it soon.

Current WIP. #knitting #noroyarn

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Nov 9, 2017 at 12:53pm PST

I think that's all the pictures I was too lazy to pull together last time. Now back to my sewing machine....

Halloween wrap up

It's November so it must be time to talk about the costumes!

As I mentioned int he last entry on October 19--I had not started Halloween costumes. Or maybe I had, I don't remember. I didn't mention it anyway. At any rate, I did mention that I was making three. Which is kind of a story in itself. You see, my daughters started high school this fall (you may now pause for a moment to hum Sunrise, sunset) and they weren't sure if a) they wanted a costume for school or b) trick or treating or c) both. Then they decided a group costume was in order. Then they decided that they wanted option c. BUT only if they could talk someone else into going along. They managed to twist their BFF's arm and ended up with: Winnie the pooh, Piglet and Eeyore.

The hitch was, that they wanted me to make them all "onsie style" costumes. BUT, I did have a pattern because I made the same thing last year.

Usually I compare my costume making with Project Runway. This year felt even more like that. I had a design meeting, an epic trip to a fabric store, picky clients, and a deadline that seemed impossible. Of course unlike project runway, I also had a pattern (two actually), unlimited access to most of my models, and no Tim Gunn.

Let me just say--I know next year will probably be more hectic, but MAN... someone stop me when I say--Oh yeah that should be EASY.

One thing I did different than the pattern last year--I purchased a different pattern that had an attached hood and I used THAT pattern to model the hoods after so I could make the hood attached. I thought this might be hard, but I picked a good "easy" pattern and honestly, I might actually use it to make a jacket later. The hoods were a little big for my costumes, but I just added darts.

One thing that both helped and hurt, I aimed for Friday. I knew we wouldn't need them until Tuesday, but I figured if I aimed for Friday and missed, I wouldn't be in a panic on Monday. And yes, and no on that. I had Pooh and piglet completely done Sunday. Eeyore needed to be hemmed and we couldn't do that until Monday late afternoon when everyone got home from school (including me because I had to work all day--boy howdy are little kids excited about Halloween).

Anyway, I don't have a good public picture of Eeyore right now, but I do have Pooh and Piglet:

They were trying to recreate a picture from when they were two and a half and dressed as "winnie and a pooh and piget" Again, I may have to do a separate picture entry because that costume pre-dates my use of Flickr.

Anyway, they did trick or treat with a group--and no they weren't the oldest trick or treaters--our first group included a guy who put out a cigarette before coming to the door and a guy with a (real) beard. Yes, unlike my stick up the ahem neighbors, I didn't hassle them, and I gave them candy. Maybe not the handfuls I gave later groups but that's the price you pay for hitting the door at 6pm on the nose. Come at 8:15 and I may dump what's left in your bag--regardless of how old you are.

They also wore them to school and were sweltering because that's a whole fleece suit--perfect for cold, possibly snowy Halloween. Not so perfect for overheated classrooms.

Oh and I started knitting something. I'll put that in my future picture entry.

Finished scarf

Maybe I should lead with the sort of good stuff. I finished something! First, before I get into the picture, or how I feel about it--let me just say that this is HEAVY and WARM and the weather is unseasonably warm for late October and so my plan for wearing this to show school pride on the big crosstown rivalry game is also in question. I'm sure no one sweats to death in the stands at late October football games and I don't want to be the first.

Scarf! Finished but way too heavy

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Oct 19, 2017 at 5:33am PDT

This is a scarf that I started as football knitting. I wanted a scarf on school colors but As I said in the last entry, this isn't quite the finished product I was envisioning. Yarn choice was really the downfall. And here's the kicker--I really don't have any desire to make the scarf I was envisioning. I mean I COULD go back to the big box craft store (or another one--we have two) and find more appropriate yarn for the project and crank out another scarf. But I'm feeling very eh about it.

Which brings me to kind of the bad news on the blog front. I haven't started knitting anything since I finished this over the weekend.

Seriously.

I'd like to say that it's because I'm so busy with other things, but the reality is--I don't have anything I want to knit. I mean I do have other things too--halloween costumes, which are going to be a major crunch this year as the costumes were decided upon late and I'm making an extra one for a friend so they can all go as a group. But by in large, I am just feeling very uninspired.

I poked around on ravelry for a bit the other day, but it felt like everything was a shawl or wrap and I just wasn't feeling it. I have a small metric ton of sock yarn I could dive into, but after knitting socks all summer, I'm wanting something different. I have yarn for a sweater that would be perfect to knit if I could focus on it (the infamous dollar and a half cardigan that's been on the to be knit list for nearly a decade). Maybe I need to stash dive. Or maybe I need to go the craft store and get the yarn to make the scarf I want (for next year? for playoffs? For basketball season?)

Or maybe I just need inspiration from you--Tell me about what you are knitting!

scarf

I know, I said in my last entry that I had another knitting conundrum and I was going to write about it the very next day. HAH! That is like the funniest thing ever that I would think that I would have time.

First, I do want to mention for future me that I did manage to buy the peaches from the orchard I prefer and I did get them all canned in early September. I've also been worried about tomatoes since I didn't join my usual CSA this year. I've been doing ok with vegetables at farmer's market, but I really miss their tomatoes. I did find a tomato vendor the day after my last entry who had bushels reasonably priced that looked a) ripe and b) delicious. They were good but small and somewhat watery. I canned them as regular crushed tomatoes. I didn't pressure can as the drop in liquid of those wigs me out. I still have a few pints from last year to use up so I think I'm going to be happy with having canned less this year.

Ok, so the conundrum. You see it got cold here (and then hot but that's a whole other story) and I got this brilliant idea in my head: What if I knit a scarf (or two) in gang school colors for the big cross town rivalry game, which is the last game of the season?

I had in mind a scarf in stripes, done in the round. Basically you knit a really long tube and then make it flat by putting fringe on the ends to hold it shut. So off to Joann's to find the right yarn.

I don't know about you, but when I go yarn shopping be it at a LYS, or a craft store, I get a little overwhelmed with all the choices. Craft stores are generally easier for me though because I don't get so distracted thinking about other projects, but when your project calls for something that is in abundance.... well usually that does me in. Joann's had SO MANY different choices. There was already striped yarn, there was novelty yarn, there was just plain red heart in the right colors, and there was Hometown USA which is a bulky but very soft acrylic.

Yes, I did basically choose it because of how squishy it is.

The more astute of you may actually see my problem coming before I even tell you.

Yes, a double thickness in this yarn was WAY too thick.

Yes, I did knit about 8 inches before deciding that

Yes, I did set it aside for nearly a week

Yes, I did rip it out and start over.

So here was my problem. I really really really wanted this yarn. I really really wanted a scarf that looked like stockinette stitch without the curling. I really really wanted stripes that looked effortless.

I could not decide what to do. My choices seemed to boil down to a) continue on and be unhappy b) return unused yarn to the store, get different yarn and be unhappy or c) start over with a garter stitch one layer scarf and be less unhappy. So I chose C. I ripped, and I started over with a garter stitch scarf that isn't perfect. The back shows the color changes, my stripes are so wide, I can't carry up the yarn and am having to do a lot of end weaving. But, I am going to have a scarf that I can knit at the next two football games and wear at the "big game" and it's going to be soft and squishy.

I probably won't make two though. If I decide a second one is needed, I'm getting thinner (scratchier) yarn and making the tube.

School color scarf (no not u of m thankyouverymuch)

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Sep 25, 2017 at 6:18am PDT

Finished objects

Sometimes when it has been a while since I posted I worry about the fact that I have no finished objects to show off. I mean what possibly could I have been doing?

Today I have two finished objects and a whole quandary that is most likely a post in itself. I'll type that up if I have a chance today too.

In the meantime--on to the FOs!

First up the "secret project I was knitting was a pair of socks for my mom! Back in June when she came to visit, she heaped on me 5 balls of sock yarn (seven actually, but enough for 5 pairs of socks) and said--it would be nice if you (hint hint) made some socks for me. Well one ball is pink, one is purple, one is blue, one is alpaca (and would probably felt immediately) and the other became this:

Surprise socks for my mom! #handmadewithlove #handknit

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Sep 8, 2017 at 11:09am PDT

The yarn is Cascade yarns Heritage handpaint in dark sunset. Which I can see is discontinued. I'm pretty sure I used my smaller sized ones for these. See this is the problem with knitting something and then waiting to write about it until I mail it, and am sure it has arrived. I can't remember what I did. Mostly I knit these at baseball games--and it is a plain toe up pattern that I've memorized over the years, but is from an article in Interweave Knits that Ann Budd wrote. My plan was to finish these before she came to visit this fall, but then due to scheduling, there is no fall trip planned. So instead I mailed them.

But baseball season wasn't over (still isn't if you follow the majors, but this is high A ball we're talking about and they didn't make playoffs, so over) so I started what I was calling "Rally socks" and they almost worked as our team was one win shy of breaking .500.

I really cranked these out--even though technically I finished them after baseball season. I didn't have enough left to knit on these as my first football season as a band parent kicked into gear. Again, the same basic toe up pattern. Knit on 2.25mm needles. The yarn is Modeknit sock yarn in a limited edition colorway called Purple Rain.

Finished socks in time for the weather to cool down

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Sep 12, 2017 at 9:40am PDT

I love this yarn. It is squishy and pretty. I'm sad that I finished except that I have a great new pair of socks.

Now that the weather is turning, I'm trying to decide some things about my next project or projects and am running into some issues. I'll write about those in another post.

purple socks

I honestly have to go look to see when it was that I last posted. I was thinking I had skipped July entirely. I didn't. but I did start working on a project that is now finished that I still can't tell you about... YET.

So I'll tell you what I can tell you.

First the jam/preserving update. I'm struggling this year to get peaches in enough quantity to can. The orchard that I use must have had a bad spring because they stopped cherry sales WAY early this year and I had to find another vendor. And they aren't promising peaches in quantity until MAYBE after labor day. Timing wise that's ok for me. Kids go back to school and I have time to sit and peel peaches. It's the maybe part that is frustrating me. If I wait until labor day, then I pass up other vendors, probably. If I don't, I might miss out on my very favorite orchard. In the meantime, I made one batch of peach vanilla jam with mostly peaches bought from another vendor. I'll be making regular peach jam as soon as the 1/2 peck on my counter ripens. I may can a pint or two too if they get to ripening faster than we are eating.

And knitting... after I finished the secret project, I cast on immediately for a pair of socks for me.

Knitting on the road. Ok the parking lot as I wait.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Aug 24, 2017 at 11:17am PDT

The yarn is "Purple Rain" by Modeknit yarn. This was a special colorway designed after the death of the Artist formerly known as Prince. I bought it then and have been admiring it on the shelf where I out it after I wound it (because it was so pretty!).

You can't tell in that picture, but I am knitting this in the car. This has been the week my girls started marching band and I've spent more time waiting for practice to be over this week than I care to admit. In addition, before band season started, I had my knitting time back! Every night we have been watching a little tv again, only instead of this being quiet adult time that it used to be after kids were in bed, it has become family time. We like reality shows like Face Off and Chopped, but are anxiously awaiting the second season of Designated Survivor. I'd also like to share project runway with my kids, so I'm looking forward to that. I think when school starts up again, that will slack off simply because of time. But car knitting will almost certainly continue. Also, I'll need to figure out if I can knit during high school football games. I don't know how cold it will get before I'll need mittens. But I could knit mittens and then I'd be prepared I guess. Heck, I have always wanted to learn to make Thrummed mittens.

FINISHED SOCKS

Every year I write some variation of "summer is kicking my butt" and I guess I should stop thinking of it that way. Summer is a time for me to be present with my kids (and they are 14 so you know that if they want to hang with me, I should take that!), and just enjoy not having to be up at 6:30 and rushing around until we fall into bed at 10:30.

Summer is also a time when I think many people don't want to knit sweaters or blankets, because they are so big they are hard to drag places, and also it is hot and you don't want a huge blanket ON you when it is 90 degrees. A few summers ago, I declared it to be sock summer--in which I was going to darn and knit only socks. Last summer I finished sweaters.

This summer--I'm just taking things as they come. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Last summer I knit all summer on a pair of socks and boy howdy. The first sock was too narrow. So I knit the second sock a bit wider (and it is still snug), and I ended up ripping the narrow sock out. Then I um put it aside.

Then in November, I started another pair of socks. And this one gave me such fits. After, I finished that I also set it aside...

So with the last two sock projects ending up as single socks, You can understand why I was super excited to actually FINISH a whole PAIR of socks!

Finished #socks swipe for a closeup.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jul 8, 2017 at 7:33am PDT

I actually finished them on the drive to our vacation destination. And was doing the bind off as we decided every morning what we were going to do. But of course that meant that we still had an eight hour drive home (which turned into a lot more because of traffic). Things had been so hectic in us trying to get going on vacation (a mere week after school ended and children were still comatose from the stress relief after finals--and right in the middle of a short strawberry season) that I simply had no time to plan a new project. So I grabbed the ripped sock, needles I thought I had used and went with it.

And I spent 4 hours knitting a sock that was way too big.

So, another rip, another start (which thankfully was all in the car so no options for starting something else) and now I actually have most of a sock. No pictures though because again summer...I'm living it not photographing it. Plus, I have to save something else to write about maybe while girls are at camp. I'm actually thinking about digging out the OTHER pattern for the OTHER single sock and perhaps this can be second sock summer.

So, I also mentioned strawberries. I made 6 batches of strawberry jam this year. And a double batch of strawberry lemonade because I accidentally bought enough lemons to make that happen (go me). Today I picked up sour cherries at farmers market so, cherry jam is happening today! Sour cherry jam is one of the grossest things for me to make, but also it is one of the tastiest.

second sock

It's Saturday morning, the kids are still asleep because it has been a terribly long week (And I'm letting them so I have time to write).

Last weekend we saw my favorite niece (she's my only niece) graduate from high school. We went a few years ago and watched her brother graduate and I wore a shrug I knitted especially for the occasion . On this trip I did indeed wear a knitted shrug, but one I made a few years ago. While lots of people oohed and ahhed over the sock I was knitting no one said anything about my shrug. I think they thought it was store bought. And yes, I'm still not decided on what I think of that--compliment or not. I'm trying to go with compliment.

It was a long car ride there and back which was great for me because I've been having HUGE issues with "second sock syndrome." You see last summer i knitted two socks, but they weren't a pair. After each I was so tired of knitting that particular sock, that I didn't cast on the second sock. So when I realized I was really close to finishing my current sock, I decided not to pack any other yarn or needles FORCING me to cast on for the second sock.

It worked. When we got to our final destination, I had finished the first sock and cast on for the second. Of course knitting such a tiny toe up sock looks very comical, but it was fun to sit with my niece, her boyfriend, my nephew and my kids while they played exploding kittens and knit and listen to them. They are all great kids (and I say kids even though we are talking about ages 20, 18, 16 and 14) Makes me want to make that a whole weekly knitting get together.

I've been trying too to carry my knitting to places where I might have time to knit. And while I totally failed on the band concert where I had to drop my children off an entire HOUR before the performance (and I snuck a comfy seat in the school library instead of the bleachers), I did manage a break at work.

Had an unexpected break today and amazingly enough I also had my knitting

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on May 23, 2017 at 5:47pm PDT

I don't usually bring my knitting when I work, because of what I do, the breaks I get are few and far between. But I sometimes find the teachers lounges to be a little cliquey and thought if it was bad, I could knit. Instead the children I was in charge of had a whole afternoon of art, music and gym and all I can think is it must be the regular teacher's usual planning time. Usually one break like gym class just gives me enough time to catch up on what I'm supposed to do after (find papers, grade papers, review math or whatever), three nearly in a row gave me time to do all that and knit.

I also finally tried the first sock on, worried all this time that it would be too big and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually a little snug even. I don't have a picture because I've had some not so great experiences posting pictures of my socks on my feet. And also it has been so rainy and dark here lately that I've not had great light. I'll probably photograph it and post it later this week without hashtags and if I start getting weird comments or favorites I'll take it down.

sock progress

So I've been terrible both with the knitting and the blog updating, but I have a few minutes while the kids are occupied with homework I can't help with (Spanish--You can only get so far with the phrases I know--mostly to a bar and to the bathroom. ¡Muy bien!).

I also say terrible with the knitting because I was sick for most of April. For some reason, all I wanted to do was sleep and read. So while all the forced time not working (I lost my voice and couldn't do the freelance job I have where I corral kids when their regular cowboy is at a meeting), I mostly read instead of knit. In fact I went through a ton of books, but didn't do a lot of knitting.

Anyway, last I updated, I was closing in on the heel. And I did the heel! and I did it WRONG! No pictures of that because GAH.

What I did was kind of stupid. First of all I made it too narrow because I forget I need to leave 12 stitches instead of 10 between my short row thingies. And if that wasn't bad enough, I actually didn't center it. You see, I hate starting a new DPN on a purl stitch. It always is a little loose and feels sloppy to me, so when I was doing the top of the foot, I moved three stitches over from the insole. and Stupidly, I forgot to move them back and include them in the heel. So, I ripped and started again.

Of course this isn't a written pattern--This is just me finding a stitch I like in a stitch dictionary and going with it--so I wasn't really sure what to do about re-starting the pattern for up the leg. I think I gave it too much plain stitch, but I'm guessing it won't be that noticeable.

Sock progress

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on May 6, 2017 at 8:56am PDT

I probably have a problem with the stitch dictionaries. I own a BUNCH. The first two Barbra Walker treasuries, plus a vogue knitting dictionary, plus two Niki Epstein edgings books and "Up down all around Stitch dictionary" Which is where I found this one. It's called Eyelet crescents and is worked over a ten stitch repeat. I like how it looks cablish without having to cable. Plus it is easy to memorize (and if I forget I have a picture on my phone).

I don't have a new picture, but I am about halfway up the leg and probably need to start thinking about what sort of ribbing to use for the last inch or so. I guess time to dig out the dictionaries again!

Sock update

So nearly a month ago I was working on a sock and I mentioned that I didn't know if it would fit. Because I just really have no patience for gauge in socks, I didn't swatch it. And instead made a sock that was about 3 inches long and then tried it on. I have no picture of that because I learned years ago that pictures of my feet on the internet tend to attract a lot of unwanted commentary. But trust me--It was too big.

Not a lot too big, just enough that I knew the socks would never fit me correctly.

I knew I had the following choices:
Rip it out and pick another stitch pattern for a smaller repeat round
Rip it out and try smaller needles
Make it for someone with wider feet

I decided to go for smaller needles. I just really liked the pattern, and could not figure out how to make a 10 pattern repeat work across 52 or 56 stitches.

So, I Started again on size 0 needles, knit the same 3 inches and tried it on again. It is still a smidge bigger than I like my socks, but I think it is at a point where they won't sag and they won't bug me.

Again, no feet picture, but I did take a windowsill picture, when we had enough sun to make that work:

Sock on the window sill catching the small amount of sunlight we have today

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Apr 13, 2017 at 8:06am PDT

Socks!

When I was at the end of my dayflower wrap, I got the February installment of my Christmas gift--which was sock of the month club from Wool and Honey. I fell for it pretty hard. It seems surprising to me because it isn't in my usual color palette. Instead of the blues, greens and purples I usually gravitate too--this is a lovely heathered garnet. I could just SEE the socks I wanted to make. (In case you are curious--you can see and pre-order it on the Wool and Honey page)

What I could not find, was the pattern I envisioned.

See I have narrow feet. I don't think they are particularly narrow, but either they are or my gauge is always way off (a possibility), but every time I make a pattern it comes out way too big for me--unless it comes sized for a 7 inch circumference foot.

But even with that restriction, I thought I could maybe modify something I found. But still no luck. So out came the stitch dictionaries.

My favorite one is "Up Down All Around Stitch Dictionary" In part because it INDEXES STITCHES BY THE STITCH REPEAT! (yes, I am shouting--it is that exciting to me). Also I just noticed in grabbing that link that there's a sequel--it's now on my wishlist.

So now I have the start of a toe up sock with 60 stitches (instead of the usual 64). I put in a lifeline because I wasn't sure how I'd like the pattern (so far loving it) and I was afraid 60 stitches might be too big. The jury is still out on that one. I did hold it up to a sock that fits and it's close anyway. I figure in maybe 20 more rows, I'll try it on and see.

Uh oh stitch dictionary is out

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Mar 15, 2017 at 1:05pm PDT

I must admit to being really really stupid. I carried this big honking book everywhere with me on a weekend trip (I was driving so no car knitting) because I hadn't copied the chart. DUH, last night I had chaperoning duties at school and got the bright idea to snap a picture of the chart on my phone. I have to say--that was a genius idea. It's a small chart and easy to follow. And now--I can take it anywhere really easily!

FINISHED dayflower wrap

Finished Object alert!

Blocking always brings out the best. Swipe for a closeup

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 27, 2017 at 8:22am PST

I got to a point on Sunday where I was on the last row of the lace pattern and it was clear I did not have enough yarn for another 16 rows. Clearly it was time to bind off.

This is all that is left of my 100 gram skein of filisilk.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 26, 2017 at 4:39pm PST

Indeed, I ended up with a very small amount of yarn left.

I did a bindoff that I found online, and of course now I can't find it. Basically, you knit two stitches, then knit them together through the back loops.

That was Sunday. Monday, I blocked it.

Now, I know that lace looks different when you are knitting than it does after you block it. Everyone who knits knows this. But it is one thing to know it, and quite another to see it. And let's just say I was BLOWN AWAY. I made everyone in the house troop to the basement to look, and I took pictures for instagram.

It is dry now, and I sill don't want to unpin it.

Ok so here's the wrap up:
pattern: Forest dayflower wrap
Yarn: Filisilk in lilac
Needles: US size 5
finished size: 20 inchesX 55 inches (50.8 cmX139.7cm) Note--this is about 20 inches shorter than the pattern calls for--but I also used a different yarn.

The yarn/pattern combination was a Christmas gift, and while I probably would not have picked out that particular yarn (the yarn called for comes with 129 more yards), I do love the color and everything about how it turned out. The person who gave this to me was concerned that it was too short--but honestly--7-0 inches would have been too long. I'm pretty short and this will wrap around me just fine. And also if I want to wear it as a more scarf type thing, it won't drag on the ground.

five grams

I am nearing the end of my Forest hills dayflower wrap. I started with 100 grams of yarn, and for the last 3 weeks, I've been weighing it to see how close I am to the end. The pattern says that the finished size is 70 inches, but I'm pretty sure I won't get that. Unblocked it is 42 inches. I'm figuring I can maybe block it out to 50.

I just realized in that last paragraph, I forgot to say how much yarn I have left. 5 grams. I started with 100 and now I have 5. FIVE! (Give or take, my scale only goes in 5 gram increments)

I have about 5 grams of yarn left (out of 100)

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 23, 2017 at 12:47pm PST

So, I know I'm not going to make it out to 70 inches.

I also know I probably won't just "loosely bind off" like the pattern says. Instead I'll probably sew the bind off, which will take more yarn (maybe?)

While you wait for the next installment, you can look at this closeup I took today:

Lace closeup

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 23, 2017 at 12:42pm PST

lacy update

Ok first things first the ongoing lace project as it looks like about 15 minutes ago:

Lace. Clipboard with pattern for scale. Finished size is 70 inches. Mine might make that, after blocking. I only have 1/4 of the yarn left.

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 8, 2017 at 4:59am PST

I don't think I actually ever said what pattern this was. So ok it is the Forest Hills Dayflower wrap (PDF) from Cascade yarns. I'm not making it in cascade though, because the yarn I was given (this was a Christmas gift) is Filisilk from Zitron (Here is the first page I found in English. )

As I say in the caption above, it is supposed to be 70 inches finished size. I may not quite make it. I have about a quarter of the yarn left (I weighed it) and I'm at 31 unblocked inches. I'm trying to knit a bit on it every day. I used to knit after my children went to bed while I watched TV for a bit before heading to bed myself. This USED to mean I'd get kids in bed at 9, I'd knit and chillax with my husband until 10 and everyone was happy. Now I'm lucky if kids (teenagers really) get to bed by 10 and I'm not collapsing at 10:15. It meant that for a while, I was really really missing my knitting. Now, I knit while they do whatever takes them so long to do getting ready for bed. So far it is working.

I was going to write more--but in an effort to actually post something, I'll leave you here.

Lace update

I decided that if I'm not going to neglect this blog that I need to put it on my weekly to do list. I look at that list every day, and having it on there will mean at least weekly updates. At least that was the plan last week. But between an extended weekend, due to snow and ice, I had to cram most of my stuff into fewer days and sadly the blog suffered. It wasn't alone--many things got carried over into this week. Anyway I did manage to copy these two pictures:

This is the lace I've been working on. In this picture I can totally see the error I made in the simple lace part. More on that later. Let's just say knitting this without a lifeline means that some mistakes are staying and I'm calling them humble mistakes.

It looks more purple in real life. Also I can see the error I made....

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jan 18, 2017 at 4:33pm PST

Last week, I did try to do one self-care item every day. SOme were not fun--like I had a dentist AND eye dr appointments, but some were totally fun like using this fabric to make some pajama pants for me. I even had forgotten I had this fabric!

Just to be clear, these are becoming pj pants for ME. #selfishsewing

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jan 14, 2017 at 11:26am PST

Ok, but that was last week--what's up this week you might ask.

Well the lace continues to grow.

Getting longer

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jan 24, 2017 at 12:36pm PST

I took this picture minutes ago. Again you can really see the error, but I'm humble. I also made another error (in that same simple lace part) while I was knitting at the car dealership today (new car oil change!) and while I think I got it sorted out, I must have twisted a stitch because it looks a little funny to me. When do you suppose I'll give up and start running a lifeline?

I've also been sort of puzzling over what will I do with this when I'm done? How will I wear it? Where will I wear it? And frankly, I don't think I'm fashionable (or warm enough) right now to know. Hopefully something will come up. The end product is too long and too wide to use as a scarf, but might be too narrow (we'll see after blocking) to wear as a full wrap. I guess I'll just have to ponder that.

Some people might wonder why I keep knitting something that I don't really have a use in mind for and whenever I ask myself that question, I always find that the anser is--I'm enjoying knitting this. I think it is beautiful and I'll find some use for it.

new year

Dear reader, when I finished what would be my last entry for 2016 so many things were happening. I was frustrated with my knitting, and feelign stuck in my life. Then two things happened that have kept me from updates until now. First I got sick. Really sick. Basically a cold or maybe a flu. And seriously, I was sick for 4 weeks. I spent a whole week not working, which for me is amazing. I went to urgent care right before Christmas, because after I finally went back to work, I suddenly went right back downhill. So cold, that turned into sinus infection. While the antibiotics worked, they did not actually clear up the congestion and so another two weeks of sneezing and blowing and hacking.

And also dear reader, I figured out the heel to this sock:

Sock has a heel

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Dec 22, 2016 at 11:19am PST

I ended up using a heel pattern that looks like the picture that came with the pattern. And it does look like the picture. My problem is that it isn't a very high instep and so it feels tight across there. And even though I don't have a finished picture--I did finish the sock. I THOUGHT I put it on instagram, but alas, I did not. I did actually take a picture though. It's on my phone somewhere.

I developed a terrible case of second sock syndrome. I ripped out my baseball sock that was too small--the whole thing. With the intention Christmas night to start a new sock and take it traveling with us. However, my mother in law got me yarn and a pattern (that it sort of goes with--the store she bought it at put them together for her) and well I was hooked.

New year, new lace. Always hard to see what it will really look like while it's on the needles.

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jan 2, 2017 at 8:50am PST

Honestly, lace was probably not the best project to travel with. But really most of the mistakes I've made have been since school started back up again and we're back to being exhausted. SInce I took this picture, I've knit more and wished that I'd had a lifeline because there is an error, which I can see if I look. I'm leaving it though (Maybe to prove to myself that to err is human).

And then, as if I wasn't distracted enough.
One of my daughters has been chilling out in the evenings by braiding embroidery floss into bracelets. So for Christmas we got her a friendship bracelet kit--more for the instructions on making different patterns. She had mastered a basic knotted bracelet and wanted to try chevron. So, we tried with her instructions. Sigh (they're probably translated into English using google translate). However, a you tube tutorial filled in the missing pieces and I decided to play with sock yarn, while she does her embroidery floss. I didn't really like the color combo on this, but she did!

Attempting to learn a new part of an old skill. Did everyone make these in jr. high or high school? I never mastered the chevron back then. #nowihavetheinternet

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jan 8, 2017 at 5:12pm PST

So that dear reader is what I've been doing this last month. I now have 2 single socks that don't match, a half completed lace thing that I don't know how I'll wear and a sock yarn friendship bracelet.