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

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.

lace!

So, a while back I was really in a funk. I didn't know what to knit, was having trouble picking a project, and basically feeling bleh about everything. The grey sweater was supposed to pull me out of it, and maybe it did. It at least got me to the socks which continue to just fly off the needles.

However, I have been having the strangest thoughts lately.
I want to knit something lacy.
Something complicated.
Something shawl-like.
I have yarn, because I happen to like to collect lace weight yarn. Laceweight and sock yarn compose a big chunk of my stash

But I am stuck.

Do I knit a triangular shawl or round?
Something fussy or with an easy repeat?

And is a complicated lace shawl something I'll wear?*

Do I really want to haul around a chart all summer?

Will I really have the concentration for that with the kids around?

For now, I'm scrolling through Ravelry, and looking through books ( I have several lace books) which may be the fun part of this anyway.

* I mentioned that I wanted to make a lace shawl on FB and instructed everyone to please stop me. One friend of mine wondered if I was worried about looking too granny like. But I think I might be going for ethereal.

gray sweater and jams

Well I certainly didn't mean to take a month break on blogging. I did however, spend most of March really struggling with knitting, in a way that I have not ever done.

I did start the India Print Henley I mentioned in the last entry. I struggled so much with it too. Something about adding stitches at the increases (raglans) and still trying to follow a chart. Sometimes you added stitches on both sides of the chart, and you didn't start at the beginning of the chart, all of which made me confused.

I finally did get it going though, and realizing how to read the simple pattern in such a way that I could figure out where to start pretty easily. And then we went on a trip and I took it along. So I should be showing a you a progress picture with a lot of progress right?

Well, let me tell you about the mid-winter freezer jam I made instead. Although I don't have pictures of that either.
I had a bunch of peaches in the freezer that I put there to make smoothies, Lassis and crips with. However, our Indian food consumption is not what it was last winter (we are trying to eat in more, get the kids to eat what we eat and the Indian take away place has consistency problems that I don't feel like dealing with). Meanwhile, I was running low on jam. So I decided to make peach jam from my frozen peaches. And it worked.... sort of. I generally don't worry about browning in the freezer peaches, so I didn't put anything on them. So they turned a delightful brown. So yeah, I have brown peach jam. Tastes good though.

I also was able to finally find the mangos I like again, and even though I am the only one who appreciated last year's mango jam, I decided to make it again. Wow, when I went back to look I see I made that jam in late April last year and here I thought I was late! I had it in my head that I made that in February. Anyway, I did have the last minute UGH I don't have enough Certo moment when it was time to add it and had to run to an unfamiliar grocery store to get it (baking aisle!)

Ok the reason I wanted a jam interlude is this, when we got to my mom's house on our spring break trip, it was time to "divide body and sleeves" and I discovered that I had done two things a) made an uneven number of increases so my fronts had the right amount of stitches but the sleeves and backs were all 4 off and b) missed the set of instructions that have you NOT increasing at the raglans every RS row all the time, but rather 21 times and THEN every other RS row 3 times or something. So I ...

ripped. it. out.

Yes pause for a moment and consider that. I ripped nearly 200 yards of yarn because I knew the mistake was near the top. And I started over--5 days ago.

The good thing is that this time around I didn't struggle with the lace pattern and it actually looks much much better.

Still no pictures though.

Updates

I don't have many pictures to show today because, while it has been sunny enough to catch my purples at their truest, it has also been so windy as to blow every thing away while I compose a shot.

I did though want to say that I blocked my purple scarf and it looks fabulous. I even wore it. I even took a picture of myself wearing it. But then after I wore it I realized that probably after two wearings it is going to need to be re-blocked.
 

 I also have been knitting fast and furious on the purple sweater. So much so that on Saturday April 14th I realized I had given myself a blister from poking my finger on the knitting needle pushing the stitches along. I'm on the second sleeve now--the sleeves tend to go faster for me. Also, contrary to my usual sweater MO, I am not feeling the "yarn pinch" as I still have 2 skeins of yarn. It made me realize I could add a hood!

 My other daughter wants a central park hoodie. And while she's too small for the smallest size, it is close enough that I'm thinking I could probably shrink it down. So, I'll be swatching that soon. So many things to knit, and hopefully many more lovely days in which to bring my knitting with me to the park.

purples!

This last week was spring break for my girls, and we did a bunch of crafty type things, but I neglected to photograph any of it. Mostly we worked on Brownie projects, we made two of the snacks required for the snack badge one daughter is working on, and made spool dolls for a local display on the history of girl scouts. For the record, the snacks were homemade trail mix (both girls made a recipe where they use the measurement of "hand-fulls") and cookies where you took a chocolate chip cookie recipe and added something that was not chocolate chips. I think my baking soda is old or something because they came out all flat. Each girl added two things (I divided the dough in fourths) one added craisins and pop rocks candy. The other added butterscotch chips and york pieces. We added all of these to the growing column called: things that are nasty that I taste for my children while smiling and saying Aren't you clever. Actually 3 out of the four weren't THAT bad, but the flatness added a layer of yuck. Plus the girls did all the measuring themselves, so something else could have been off.

But you didn't come here for the brownie crafts, you came here for the knitting! the disasters! When I last wrote I was working on a lace scarf for me just like the ones I made for the teachers for the holidays this year. I finished that but have not yet blocked it. I was also struggling with a cardigan I wanted to knit for one of my daughters. Actually I'm knitting one for each, I'll get to that later.

To refresh your memory on the cardigan thing, I was driving myself crazy because I was afraid to just make up a pattern and/or wing it. I had in mind I wanted to do top down raglan style and found a pattern similar to what I wanted. Try as I might though I just could not get gauge. When I looked at going with what I had and doing a smaller size, I realized that for my size 10 child, I'd be making a 4! That is probably what made me say--Look this yarn is cheap (Brava by knit picks) and you want this sweater to get done, just fire up your raglan calculator and cast on already. So that's what I did.

I have pictures, but I also have to talk about those. See both projects (along with a lot of other stuff I knit) are purple. Purple is really hard for me to photograph true to color. I don't have a fancy camera, a simple point and shoot is what I use. So I struggled, googled and finally decided that my makeshift light box needed direct sunlight. Fortunately we had that yesterday.


This is actually really close to the true purple. Might be just a tad on the blue side, but pretty accurate.


The unblocked scarf. Hopefully there will be more sun when I have it blocked. Because the colors are pretty true on that as a well.

finished

At the last possible moment, I finished the second teacher gift. This one for the teacher's aide.



Both gift have been given, and very much appreciated.

This year I used gift tags from Jill AKA Kniterella. Kniterella makes great gift tags, and has a whole line of funny ones, but I chose to go with the more traditional. If you ever saw her funny tags and thought, it wasn't quite right for your occasion, then you should know that she also has these (and lots of others too!) and they look really elegant.



The pattern is Fishtail lace scarf this one in Knit picks Shimmer. I used a size 4 needle.

Teacher gift the first

I am a really indecisive person. I am. This has carried over a lot to my knitting. There are many times that I can't decide on the patterns, the colors the yarn and times I can't decide if I like the gauge I have.
Probably the think I worry the most about is gift knitting.
I like to make a Christmas (holiday) gift for the teacher that my daughters have. And I also make a gift for the classroom aide if there is one. Even if she's assigned to help a particular student, because I know her presence makes the class run smoother.

When they were in Kindergarten, I made scarves for both the teacher and the classroom aide. I made the same pattern from different yarns, and I ended up liking the aide's scarf better. And I think she liked it too because I saw her wear it many many times. In first grade I made the teacher a scarf that was a bit more dressy. I don't think I ever saw her wear it, but that's ok because she has a teenage daughter who may have worn it or she may not have been a scarf person. In second grade, I got on the necklace kick and made a ton of necklaces including one for the teacher and the aide in the class who was by coincidence the same aide who had been the kindergarten aide.

This year the teacher is very young/hip and so for once I didn't really worry too much about her gift. My daughters assured me she "wears lots of scarves and not all of them look warm." So I bought some Shadow Tonal from knit picks (with color help from my girls who really do have an eye for color) . OOh I see that Blue yonder, the color I used, is being discontinued.
Anyway, I had a pattern picked out to use with it, but when I was searching ravelry for um something anyway, I came across this free knit picks pattern called Fishtail lace scarf.
It is a quick pattern that knit up really fast:





Have I mentioned how much I want to keep this for me?

Next up: the girls have the same instructional aide as LAST year and kindergarten so this is her third handmade item from me.

perfect storm

About a year ago, I got fed up with this shrug I was making. In the picture you might be able to see why:


I had the left front nearly done before I realized that the arm hole decrease was about 1.5 inches shorter than the ones I'd made for the back. And it was lace, and I just couldn't focus enough to rip it back. So I put it away and moved on to other projects.

Until Saturday.

Saturday a perfect storm occurred. The day was sunny and warm, but it wasn't the first sunny warm day. My kids were happy to play outside and didn't seem to need anything. My husband was off at a work function and the dishes were clean.

In the end, I ripped back row by row, backwards counting on my counter. Thankfully, the lace pattern is easy to read and so I realized I was only a row or two off in my rough counting. Soon, I had the yarn wound up and had knitted a few new rows. Since then, I've done most of the sleeve decreases. I'm going to finish this, and in time to wear this summer too.

decisions made!

I have made some decisions.
First, I decided that I'm starting on hey teach just as soon as I finish one of my current projects. I bought some Cascade Sierra color 42--at my LYS (plus some sock yarn because oh my do I ever have a weakness fondness for sock yarn). I decided that I have enough sock yarn and so I'm not going to be tempted by the lucius purpleness of the purple striped felici at knitpicks. Instead, when the cotlin comes back in stock, I'm going to purchase that plus some wool of the andes to make a Central Park hoodie. (Sapphire heather for the curious).
I realized that if I stick to this plan I have roughed out in my head that I have all my knitting pretty much planned through um October maybe.

Anyway, I have some projects going now. I have a shrug started for one of my girls (and so will have to make a second one). My mom got them each a pretty dress for Easter initially then summer. But here in Michigan, easter and sleeveless dress do not always go hand in hand. So I had envisioned shrugs. I attempted to make a simplified version of the lacey hug me tight--basically the shrug sans lace, and somehow my math messed up and it is too narrow. So I'm adding on to it. I debated ripping out or adding to it, and then dreamt I added on and then crocheted lacy pink flowers on the sleeves and collar. I do not crochet, much less make pretty crocheted edgings. But decided that the dream probably was giving me the answer. We'll see if it works.
I also had to start a pair of socks because socks are the ultimate in portable--although these are a bit more complicated:

The pattern is called Lacy Bamboo socks--and I'm using the yarn it calls for--On your toes Bamboo. Not getting to use my new needles, and I probably should have gone down a size even as they seem really big.

I also said I wasn't goign to tke any in progress pictures of my swallowtail shawl, but I lied.

I have 3 more lace repeats and then onto the next chart! Of course each row is taking longer and longer because it keeps adding stitches! I worked on it for an hour while the ladies were at school on Monday and I made it through 1 six row chart. ONE. yes I knit slow, but that's a lot of stitches.

trust and obey--the lace version

It probably won't surprise anyone that on the sliding scale of product knitter to process knitter, that I fall closer to the product side. What that means to me is that while I enjoy the actual knitting and the click click click of needles sliding together does do a lot to calm me, I knit primarily to make stuff. You won't find me making a project with a ton of stockinet stitch just so I can feel calmed by the knit and purl of it all. I would do a project like that, but only if I wanted the result.

All this big lead up just to talk about lace.

I love lacy things. I love the idea of shawls, I love lacy scarfs, lacy socks, sweaters with bits of lace. One of my favorite designs is actually the Oriel lace blouse. I even don't mind the knitting of lace, fiddly though it can be.
But while I love looking at those things, I'm not so much for the wearing. Take the Oriel Lace blouse for example. I love it. I have the skill to knit it. I would never wear it. Well I might, but honestly if it were in my closet right now, I think I'd have a hard time figuring out where I'd wear it. Maybe because it is so cold right now--maybe I'd be more apt to wear it in the spring. But take shawls, I love them I think they are beautiful, but I have a hard time wearing them. I only have one though--Cozy. And I don't look like the model wearing it either.

So it would seem that a knitter like me would not knit lace. Clearly I think it is pretty, but impractical. However, for the last few weeks, I've been ever-so slowly working on a Swallowtail shawl that appeared in Interweave knits fall 2006. I can't find a link outside of ravelry. I'm not far into it and I'm realizing that my product is not matching very well with the finished picture. Which is leading me to believe that one of two thinks is going on a) there was a correction to the pattern (nope) or b) I need to relax and knit (yes). I keep thinking that knitting lace is a little bit like the hymn--Trust and Obey (go here if you want the music too). I need to trust the pattern, obey the pattern and it will all come out right. this is as hard for me in knitting as it sometimes is in life.

I have no idea when I'll finish it, I'm only working on it when I feel I can pay attention to the pattern--although perhaps I'll try it as tv knitting this week because the section I'm working on is very repetitive.
No pictures yet because unblocked lace is not that attractive.