Knitting behind the glass

It's fall now. The season is marked off for us by the beginning of the competitive curling tour. Since our daughter has been competing I have knit many, many garments sitting behind the glass. I began again on Labour Day weekend, a couple of weekends back, knitting the first of the many garments I will knit this year at curling rinks watching Team Flaxey play.

My husband is holding up the Top Down Ridges sweater in a new Cotton Tweed colour, Rose. It's very pretty but not tooo, tooo pink.

Just back from a second weekend of curling spectating. I have a sock in Comfort Sockenwoole going.

and started a hat and scarf in Red, White and Black Norspun. Garter Stitch is easiest in a crowd sitting on bleachers.

Go Team Flaxey.

Deb

Getting Ready

It's going to be a busy week. The Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair is a week Saturday and I'm already awake in the middle of the night trying to think of a good way to do the show. It's one day so set up is critical and needs to be fast. I'm also working the booth solo so I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for people to choose a kit and cash out quickly so I can service everyone as best I can. I also like to have a chance to talk to knitters but there are a couple hours in the middle of the day where this is hard to do.

This year I'm doing a Cabin Fever Kid's booth. All children, all the time.
I'm sorting and kitting up some of the little sweaters now. I feel like I have some sort of handle on this.

My new thought for the knitters is to have a section where you can choose a pattern and then pick up a package of your favourite colour of Cotton Tweed. Pick and choose. These are the sweaters I have choosen to take so far. Have I missed any of your favourites?

Top Down Ridges

Baby Waffle Vest

Sophia's Cardigan

Buttons Cardigan

Tiny Top Down

Baby's First Top Down

I have lots of packages of 2 & 3 balls in a wide assortment of colours. As a shopper I would enjoy doing this. What do you think? A good idea? Would you like to shop this way?

I'd be happy to hear your comments. Setting these shows up is always tricky and I'm thinking this might be a fun way to do it.
Deb

Neapolitan

I've put the cable knitting aside for the moment and have continued to knit up several more children's sweaters (1-6 years old).
I finished the Neapolitan.

It has what looks like random garter ridges but they are not really random at all. At the beginning of every wrong side row I looked to see if the stitches on my needle (from working the RS row) were the same colour as I was about to work the wrong side row in. If so, I knit. If the WS was a new colour, I purled. It's fun. For the pattern I wrote out every row. Tthen wrote it out again for the sleeve which is totally different because it's worked in the round. And then, just because I would use it, I wrote out the stripe rows and a chart for the colour sequence because maybe you, like me, might find it easier to follow than row-by-row instructions.

I also am knitting it in true Neapolitan ice cream colours.

I really like this colourway but at the recent K-W Knitters Fair it didn't attract any attention so I may be totally off base here.

This pattern has an I-Cord edge to the Fronts. It works even with coloured stripes. I was really happy with it. You do have to carry the yarn up inside the I-Cord but if you twist the colours at the beginning of every row it's very neat and tidy, even on the inside.

That's one. I'll show you the other new patterns in the next week or two.
-Deb

Discomfort vs Results

How far are you willing to go for the result you want? I'm not into discomfort when I knit, at least not usually, but I took the plunge for the results this time.

A top down sweater with different coloured panels. This is a testknit for the new children's book. It's going to look great. While knitting the yoke I had 7 balls of yarn hanging from my sweater, one for each section: buttonband, front, sleeve, back, sleeve, front and second buttonband. Ugh. After a couple of rows they did settle down into some semblance of order but I was still in a tangle most of the time. I did figure out that if I lined them up and turned my sweater a certain way at the end of the row the tangle was more manageable. I was thankful I only had to do about 6" of yoke for a 4 year old size.

How to decide to take the plunge? I knew it would look great when I was done. I knew it would not be a comfortable, sit in front of the TV kind of knit. I also knew it was only for the yoke. Knowing all that, it was totally worth it. I would do it again. That's the real test of discomfort vs. results.

Here's a finished adult size:

Worth it, right?
Deb

Testknit sweaters

Testknitting for the 4-14 year olds Pullover book is moving ahead. Here's a Henley Top Down Pullover in the largest 40" size knit by Elizabeth (co-author) for her nephew.

Having the option to knit the sleeves a different colour was the reason behind this design. We're really having fun thinking up colourways for this. My next one will be a child's sweater with a rhubarb red body and denim blue sleeves. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Then Elizabeth and I both want to make one for ourselves.

I finished a Shawl Collar Top Down in teal Cotton Tweed for a 7 year old. The button is a Popsicle, ha, ha.

And there is one more, a Tuck Stitch Hoodie with stripes. This looks like lots of fun to wear.

The pile of sweaters is getting higher and higher every week.
-Deb

V-neck Testknit

One advantage to not having internet service is that it concentrates my "on line" time into several hours of at-the-library time. I have to be more organized about what I need to do every day. No chance to "oh yes I should just check that right now".  I make a list of jobs and get to tick them off one by one. It makes me feel so productive. It's good to get out of the house and sit at the Quiet tables with, from the look of them, young students from the University. I'm sure I blend in, NOT. Lots of clicking (some of it's my needles), no talking. Ahhh, it is lovely.

Update on the testknitting for the 4-14 year old Pullover book: I'm knitting the beginning of all of them. I have no idea when I will get around to finishing them. I do have other people knitting them too. Lots of information is coming in every day to finalize all the details.

I'm knitting the V-neck. Making the V employs short rows. The same technique is used in the Baby V book (downloads available on Ravelry: Baby V & Patternfish.com: Baby V) and the Button Up Your Top Down books. Cast On lots of stitches for the neckband, including lots of Front sts. Then work short rows, back and forth, with a decrease at the end which attaches the Front to the neckband and decreases a stitch. It works. It's awesome.

Last night I worked my short rows back and forth. I just realized that it looks like the V is attached in the round but it's not. I'm half way down the front neckband with my short rows.

Today I'm ready to join in the round.

Joined Up.

 The V will be closed with a button. I put a dime where the button will be just to give you the idea.

Now back to regularly scheduled raglan increases and knit rounds to the bottom of the yoke. Already most of the way there.
-Deb

Shawl Collar

The Knitter's Fair was busy and since attendance has been down the last couple of years, I worked the Cabin Fever booth by myself. Busy or what! Unfortunately no time for taking photos since I hardly got a chance to walk around at all. These shows are fun to do and a lot more knitters have our books in their hands. Good all around.

It's been a weird couple of weeks. Our internet service is not working. Everything we try doesn't work for more than a few hours. One evening my husband was on his Ipad doing sudoku (which doesn't need the internet) during a thunder storm. Lightening struck, "we're connected!". It lasted only a couple of hours again.

I do have a phone where I can receive emails but I can't attach documents and several other things I take for granted. Now I am sitting in the library, lately my second home, writing this blog.

What am I knitting? Shawl collars. One of our designs for the 4-14 Pullover book is a V-neck. Now it has a shawl collar. First prototype:

We decided it would be fun to put a button at the collar crossing of the V. So I've reknit it, made a couple of adjustments. I'm several rounds away from the Great Divide for a 6 year old size.

All of this involves short rows of course.

But the easy kind, a short row wrap & turn where, because it's garter stitch, the wrapped stitch gets knit as a normal stitch. Yay, no working the wrap with the stitch. Easy peesy. Here's a before and after shot.

This is again, top down, starting with the collar. It's been fun to knit.
-Deb