I'm working on getting 2 different depths of the V-neck on my Top Down pullover. The shallow V I have worked out.

But the deeper V was not working out as I had hoped. But yesterday I woke up with a little idea. And now I think I have something. This V would end just below the bottom of the armhole. I think that's a good spot.

I'm on to something here. I'm going to rip out a couple of my early samples, do some number crunching and start again. Then I might even get past the V. Ha, Ha.

-Deb



I'm working a on basic V-neck top down pullover and it's, well, it's sort of coming along but not quickly. I started with this one . . .

. . . and had to rip it out because it's too small around the neck. I kept the neckband for comparison.

I then did some more number crunching and made another sample . . .

which is the right depth for the V at the front but a bit too wide across the back of the neck. Some of my ideas worked out so it wasn't a waste of time at all. Now I think I have a neckband and yoke which will be just right.

It does sometimes take three times to get it right.

-Deb



Snow Day?

Today I'm doing the final touches for the Woodstock Fleece Festival, which is tomorrow. Waking up to this:

 is seriously putting me in the mood for knitting. Yes, that's snow! And a fair bit of it. Flakes were flying yesterday but nothing was staying white on the ground, until this morning that is!
So I've dyed my yarn:

And now I'm winding it and putting labels on:

And in an hour or so I'll be jumping in the car (which doesn't have it's snow tires on yet because it's only October!) and driving down to Woodstock. If you're in the neighbourhood, drop by tomorrow. This is a new show, only the 2nd year, but it's got a great selection of fibre related goodies!
-Lynda

slowly

Things, knitting-wise, seem to moving slowly here. But I did finish another pair of socks. Yay. These are shorties which I tried to get out of a single 50gm ball of sock yarn that my daughter picked out.

I scrounged around in my jar of little left-over sock balls and found a matching colour for the heel and toes. I knit them toe-up so that I could use all of the wool and I worked a sewn-off cast off for the first time. I think I didn't do it quite right but I still like it. I have to look up the proper positioning of the wool and then I think I might use it quite often.

I was working on my cardigan and getting a little worried about how the A-Line was coming out so I blocked the bottom out.

I think it's going to be fine and I'm happy with the border pattern. But as I was stuffing it back into my knitting bag I was wondering why it wasn't fitting so well. I discovered that I had started a couple more projects while it was drying out. How does that happen!

A V-neck top down in an adult size is in there. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the short rows for the neck. And a new sock.

Which might account for the lack of space. I may have to leave one of the adult-sized sweaters at home. Carrying around 2 is a little over my weight limit.

-Deb

Sock Talk

The Sock Talk at the Kawartha Hooks and Needles guild in Peterborough, ON went very well. They are a terrific bunch of knitters and crocheters.

And Jean wore her Summer Braids Cardigan made in Cotton Tweed Emerald. It looked lovely.

And Mildred brought her second Basic pullover from theTop Down For Toddlers book in a variegated yarn. It looked smashing.

Thanks ladies and gent. I hope I have convinced a couple more knitters that knitting socks is not so difficult and really fun to do. And I hope the sock knitters in the guild took away the thought that they too can design their own socks.

Tomorrow I'm teaching a Top Down class at Unwind Yarn House in Newmarket, ON. We're going to knit a teddybear sized top down with all the techniques needed for any size of top down. We'll also be talking about various adjustments for 'fit' you can make when you knit a top down for yourself. I'm looking forward to it.
-Deb

Commenters:  Jo-anne (Jed) and Ann, you guys are having way too good a time with the J.J. Jacket . I'm glad it's on the UFO list but maybe you can get them done before next Fall!!
At our guild in Aurora,ON a UFO list (unfinished objects) circulates through the members. You sign up a list of projects you hope to finish in the year. For every finished object you get a ticket for a draw prize at the beginning of the next year. It's fun to hear members crowing "I finished . . ." to much applause. This will be Jo-anne and Ann soon.

'in progress' socks

The marriage socks went over very well. Apparently they have cold floors and are just starting to feel them with the cooler evenings. Now they have warm wool socks to put on. And Liz (from the comments), I will be thinking of them with warm feet every time I put on socks in my house where I also have very, very cold floors. But enough about cold feet.

I am giving a talk about socks on Thursday evening at the Kawartha Hooks and Needles Guild in Peterborough. I'm going to explain how to make them and how to design your own. To that end I have knit some small 'in progress' socks.

I hope to show them everywhere that you have to shift stitches on the needles in order to make a sock. Also show how I cast on loosely (over two needles), the heel stitch, turning a heel and the Kitchener stitch at the end. I hope I can get all this done in the hour allotted, although they have had me speak before and know I'm a trifle overenthusiastic and tend to go on a bit.

I have a couple more partial socks to knit up. One more sock knit to the finished gusset and another to the end of the toe ready to be Kitchenered. I think that takes care of most of the work of a sock. Then I can get to the good part, working with stitch patterns because that's what makes it fun right? That and all the lovely wool that's available now. Sigh, there just isn't enough knitting time for it all.
-Deb

Commenters:  Thanks Liz for your comment. Did you make any wedding socks yourself yet?
Brenda and Karen at the Grey Heron Shop in Collingwood are going to run a Sock KAL along with us. Yay. I hope Brenda will send photos of work in progress. I love those pictures.
And I can't wait to see the 2 new JJ Jackets that are being knit by Jed and Ann. I hope all that garter stitch is working up splendidly and then when you are through you can do socks. Ha, ha.

Marriage Socks

The marriage socks went off to their recipients today.

I hope they enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.

These socks were fun and easy to make. I cast on 64 sts with sock yarn (finer sock yarn for Amy and thicker sock yarn for Aaron). I then divided these stitches into 4 sections and worked the cable panel in each section. It was lots of fun and I'm going to have to think up something really fun for my next pair of 'socks as metaphor'.

-Deb

The Need A Sock book is now out on Ravelry and on Patternfish.com as a pdf download. If you would like hard copy look for it in your local yarn store or order from us directly at info@cabinfever.ca .

The Need A Sock book shows you how to knit a sock without a specific pattern. Brenda was the instigator of this project which is based on knitting socks according to a Sock Percentage System and between us we knit a lot of socks. But now that the book is out in public I have to admit that lots of the socks that I knit had no mates. A sad state of affairs.

Now that it is time to knit the mates I would like to start a KAL. Does that sound like a good idea for sock knitters out there? I will run it on our Cabin Fever group at Ravelry and on a new blog called KAL with Cabin Fever. I'm going to get started in a couple of weeks, this is just a heads up. I hope to see photos of socks in progress and to discuss accommodating fancy sock patterns. I'm knitting lots of socks in the next while and I hope you'll join me.
-Deb

Retreating

I was retreating in Sudbury last weekend and it was wonderful. The Sticks, String and Stewardship Retreat is held the first weekend in October when the leaves are changing and everyone needs a knitting break after getting September over with.

Lots of knitting, lots of chatting and lots of eating of cake. Last year we all did a Moebius class and one of us, and I'm not naming names but you know who you are, became obsessed. This year S. brought a bottomless bag where she kept pulling out moebius scarf after moebius scarf after moebius scarf, like rabbits out of a hat.

And then she made a cake. Not just any cake. This is a Moebius Dickey cake. Just say it over and over, moebius dickey, moebius dickey and you might get the same place that Sharon did which was the Moby Dick cake with whales and spume (is that right?) and a lop-sided cake on purpose to represent the moebius. It was delicious. Yum. Long live the convoluted mind.

See you all next year. It was a terrific weekend and I can't wait to see the cake next year.

-Deb