Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Day 4

Over half-way now!

 

Day Four: 31st March. Where are they now?

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.

How has one of your past knits lived up to wear. Maybe an item has become lost. Maybe you spent weeks knitting your giant-footed dad a pair of socks in bright pink and green stripes which he then ‘lost’. If you have knit items to donate to a good cause, you could reflect on the was in which you hope that item is still doing good for it’s owner or the cause it was made to support.

Tips: This topic is similar to one we used for the first Knitting and Crochet blog week. This is purposeful and is intended to help the blogger to reflect on past items and refer back to previous posts and projects once in a while.

I guess my favorite project-with-a-story would be Mom's blue sweater, the one I've made for her twice.

WHICH I STILL NEED A PICTURE OF YOU WEARING, MOTHER! HINT HINT! (End subtle reminder)

But as I just blogged about that in December for Z is for Zimmerman Sweater, I'm going to look at another project instead for this post.

I thought about I Do, the lace shrug that I made for my wedding 3 years ago.  I do still wear it occasionally, and it has lasted beautifully.  I still get compliments on it too!  But with the bell sleeves and overall laciness, it's not a frequently worn piece.  So, aside from the main one, it's not a project that has many stories attached.

So, I decided on my first sweater ever.  (It's Raveled here).  The pattern is appropriately named Our First Sweater.  It's by  Ann E. Smith and was first published in the premiere issue of Knit It!  I used Lion Brand Homespun yarn - "Mediterranean" colorway, if you're interested.  It's browns and soft greens and some terra cotta thrown in - a good fall time colorway.

Why chatter about this sweater now, almost 10 years later?

• It's the first garment I made.  I'd made hats before this sweater, but this was the first project I made where it required multiple pieces, seaming, some shaping, an actual idea of fit. Not that this is fitted, not by a long shot.  It's a big boxy, comfy sweater, no shaping in the body, little on the arms, and just a boat neck opening.  Very easy for a nervous knitter tackling her first sweater (like I was).  And no, I didn't up with the stereotypical one-arm-way-longer-than-the-other sort of dilemma.  It's actually a First Sweater that I'll wear out in public!
• I still wear it.  It's a little baggier than it was when I first made it, but it's still a very cozy sweater for chilly days.  It has lasted very well, actually - a plus to being out of an acrylic yarn.  A little sticky-warm on some days, the flip side of being, but it's perfectly cozy.  It's kinda my go-to Snuggle Sweater, really.
• It's the first project I made where I realized I knit oddly.  The sweater is a stockinette body with garter stitch edges at the cuffs and neck line.  As I was starting it, I realized that I was creating a piece that was the reverse of the picture - stockinette border and garter stitch body.  Upon which, I did a little research and learned that other knitters turn their work, something I still don't do probably 90% of the time.  The projects that I'd made up to this point had been ribbed - K the Ks, P the Ps.  It didn't matter what the wrong and right sides of the fabric were.  With this one, by not turning my work, the "knit every row" garter stitch became my stockinette, and vice versa.  It was a great lesson in learning to read my work :)

And how's it doing after 10 years?  Still alive and kickin'!

It's a little more stretched out after a lot of winters now (you can see how boxy it is below) but since it was never fitted to begin with, that's not too much of an issue.  The biggest thing is that it's a little pilled now.  That's the flip side to using soft and snuggly yarn that's lightly spun like Homespun is. The same thing happened to a scarf I made with Homespun - the areas where it gets the most wear develop little pill of fiber rubbing away with the friction.  So, every so often I take the sweater stone to the bottoms of the arms and along the sides, the areas that get rubbed the most.  And after almost 10 years, still able to wear my first sweater!

U is for...

"Unblocked lace is so unimpressive!"

This is a running joke with Zach from when I was working on I Do for the wedding a few years ago (almost 3 now!!).

With the lace pattern being such a long repeat, I would get excited on a regular basis as I finished a set of rows or reached a landmark (the elbow, for example) or something similar. Being such a lacy pattern, it's hard to see the progress in the piece when it's just a scrunchy white tube.

I would show Zach and get that "I'm supportive but kinda at a loss about what I'm supposed to be excited about" sort of enthusiasm as a response. I would laugh, "I know, I know, unblocked lace is so unimpressive!" So, in the course of that project, he got to learn about blocking and life lines ("what's this extra thread doing here?") and other knitting odds'n'ends.

Now it's just a running joke, since I like lace patterns, and depending on the yarn, pattern, etc. you can't always see what's there to be appreciated. So, if it's one of those patterns that you can't really see the amazing lace that I'm so excited about, Zach will just grin and say in mock sympathy, "Unblocked lace is just so unimpressive!"

P is for...

Pajama Party!

A nice example of the general silliness knitters can get up to :) I chose this particular picture because Anne is sporting some very knitting appropriate sheepy pants!

This was a few years ago (2007) to be exact, when my sister still lived in VB and worked at one of the LYS there. I was home for a weekend and came along to the event too. This was an after-hours event at the store, complete with snacks, door prizes, and plenty of friendly staff to answer questions as needed (not that I'm biased or anything!).

This one sticks out in my mind for a few reasons, as knitter-ly fun.

1: I won my bright ribbon yarn as a door prize. This is the yarn I recently made into the Tropical Fish shrug. I rarely win door prizes, so actually winning something does stick out in the memory :)

2: I started my I Do shrug here. Anne was laughing that it looked like a little flower wreath with so many stitches in white accented by the green waste yarn stitch markers. (That's why I'm wearing it on my head, in case you're wondering...)

3: Anytime you can wear slippers in public, it's a fun time :)

Speaking of wedding pictures...

I never showed you all how I Do turned out! Shame on me! I've a few pictures here, both from the house, when I finally unpinned it post-blocking, and from the wedding day itself, to see it in the right setting and all :)

I really like how it turned out, honestly. The cotton took FOREVER to dry during blocking (it was very rainy and humid outside, so that didn't help - probably not a problem I'll be having with my blocking in a couple months!) The shots at the house were from when it had finally dried and I could try it on. Then just weaving in the ends, and it was all done!

I wore it the whole day. It was just enough cover on my arms to keep the chill off. Just what I needed! And it went well with the dress, too. The dress itself it so simple, that the lacy shrug was just enough laciness. A nice balance. If the dress had been too busy, beading or lace or ruffles or something, it wouldn't have worked so nicely with the shrug.

The lace pattern was a little obnoxious at times, just being such a long repeat, and that P3tog was awkward sometimes. I was faster, I noticed on the second half of the sweater, so I guess eventually the pattern started getting into my hands. Just took a bit longer than some of the simpler stitch work I've done before. And I worried for the longest time during the knitting that it would turn out weird - I dont have enough experience with lace yet to be able to 'read' it unblocked. It just looks weird and limp and lumpy until it is blocked. But it all turned out! Overall, I think I might make it again, if someone asked me to, or I might make it again for me in a different yarn and a different lace pattern. Shouldn't be too difficult to work it in another 12 st lace pattern, maybe Feather and Fan, and all the shaping would be the same. We'll see if there's ever the call for it!

God bless you, Sandi Wiseheart!

I've finished I Do!!!! And it fits! Well, it's off the needles at least. Tomorrow will involve much blocking and weaving in of ends and then it will be truly done! I'll post pictures then, but I have to announce that it is OFF THE NEEDLES!!

So, thank you to Sandi and Knitting Daily, and the instructions on seaming without Kitchener (using a 3rd needle, instead of sewing the grafted seam together). I have to say that was SO much easier for me! Maybe it was being left-handed (I already know I knit oddly), but Kitchener just wouldn't work for me. I kept twisting stitches or having them come out purl instead of knit, as they should have been. Stupid stitches - what do they know? With the 3rd needle method, it just flew along. All I had to worry about was stitches slipping off unneccessarily, but I'd been dealing with that the whole project - slippy cotton yarn on metal needles will do that to ya.'

So, yes - big, busy day planned tomorrow. Besides the extensive blocking and end-weaving for I Do, there is much wedding business now that Christmas is past. We have favors to assemble, I have to finish putting together the guestbook, we have guest-room bags to put together, cookies to bake, I have to finish my bridesmaids' gifts, pick up a dress for the 5K on New Years (more on that later!) and if Zach gets in town in time, we have to run down to the courthouse and get a marriage license (minor detail, right?)

So, yes, I must get some rest for the full day tomorrow, but I just had to share - I finished I Do!

Woohoo! Halfway!

Yay! I finished the first half of my I Do shrug! I'm on that giddy FO (or half-way FO) high right now! Whee!!

Here's how it looks at the moment. I'm very excited about this, but looking at the pictures, it seems so .... I dunno.... Unblocked lace is so unimpressive...

Still! I'm excited about it, because I can see the lace pattern when I gently pull at the fabric, so I know it'll open up like it's supposed to once it's blocked. Makes me happy. :)

So, I'm now halfway through the shrug! Yay! And it's now less than a month til the wedding! ('scuse me while I panic for a moment!!)

Only 3 weeks? Still plenty of time to finish the other half!

That's what I'm telling myself, at least. I don't have Christmas knitting this year; I've got wedding knitting instead. That gives me 3 whole more days to do it!

I just have to be very conscientious about tying myself to my needles every evening for the next three week and those miles of lace will just FLY by...

riiight....


Anyway, I was talking to my mom about wedding stuff and nerves and such, and asked her "When does the panicked feeling go away?"

Her helpful response?
"Probably January 1st" (my wedding is Dec 29th!)

But enough for now - must continue with the knitting!

WIPs & FOs

That's pronounced "whips and fose," for those not in the knitting-know. It stands for Works-In-Progress and Finished-Objects. Of which I have some to report!

Well, granted that the FO is not the one that I'm working the hardest on, but it's still nice to have some sense of completion every so often. Anyway, I finished a string bag last night. All ends woven in and everything! Usually that's the part I hate the most (part of why I don't do much color work - so many ends!!)

Here it is:

I like it a lot. The colors are just SO BRIGHT! Just plain ol' bright cotton, but it makes grocery shopping fun! I've been playing with string bags this summer (this is my second) because I'm just so tired of the abundance of plastic bags that accumulates when I go to the grocery store. I do reuse them - trashbags, changing Joey's litter pan, etc. - but they still build up so much faster than anyone can use them. So, BYOB! (bring your own bag!)

And I did rather wing the pattern on my own, inspired by several good string bag patterns online, so I'm kinda proud of it. Nothing exciting pattern-wise, pretty much just garter stitch, but I did need some mindless knitting to balance out the big project I've got going.

The big project on the needles right now is the lacy I Do shrug from Knitty. Like the designer, I too am knitting this for my wedding (1 month from today!!!) I'm almost half-way done, too! I'll post pictures this weekend when I finish the first half and start on the second.

Well, I have to get knitting now. No more time for blogging tonight!