Jamaica Holiday or PATIENCE

I have finally, finally, finally finished the UFO from a Dale of Norway pattern called "Jamaica."  As you saw in my last post, there were issues with the project.  It seems that every step had some type of slow-down complication.  That hex persisted until the end. 

The collar and button bands were tedious and only took three tries on the front band to find the appropriate number of stitches to pick up per rows of knitted fabric.  The magic number for me, using smaller 2.0mm needles, was pick up one stitch in each of three rows, skip one row, pick up one stitch in each of two rows, skip one row and repeat.  Of course I tried two different versions and ripped them out until I found this ratio that produced a nice firm fabric.

Then, I bound off around the neck and down both button bands using a two stitch I-cord bind off.  This gives a nice finished edge, I think. Despite the style these days, I do not like button bands that droop significantly lower than the back of the sweater.  (Guess I sound like an old fart, don't I.  Sigh.  I never thought my life would become one of an old fart.)  The I-cord prevents stretching of the button bands, but it seemed to take forever and ever.

The keyword for this project has been PATIENCE.  And, of course, perseverance.  But above all, patience.  I wonder how I ever developed the patience to keep working at a project over the years and not abandon it.  My husband loses his patience, on my behalf, when he sees me rip out knitting and attempting to re-design something.

In education/teaching circles, I know there is a lot of talk about developing patience in kids; maybe they don't use this word but the concept is the same.  Kids are short on the attention span and short on patience.  I'm not saying that I am a model of the patient human.  Rather, I often have a short fuse in the anger department, and I am very impatient with other humans who don't seem to work effectively or who thwart my progress--on anything.  But, give me a project (most projects that is) and I will keep at it until it is fairly well-done and complete, even if I need to re-do things repeatedly.

Is this patience or is it something else?  Refusal to give in or give up?  Not wanting to "waste" money by throwing away an incomplete project?  Anything else?

How do you define patience?  And how did you learn to have patience?

15 Seconds of Fame

I'm basking in my 15 seconds of fame. Kay of Mason Dixon Knitting recent blog posting showed me (minus my head) and my recently de-bottomed Dale of Norway sweater. The "Gail" she described, that's me!! She thought I was brave/delusional/insane for cutting the bottom off of my recently finished sweater. No one else has knocked at my door to admire my sweater, but I'm honored nonetheless.

Here are some photos of my other Olympic entries.


1) Completed Blackberry Mittens, pattern from Blackberry Ridge. Made out of sock yarns from Shi Bui (hand dyed) and Kraemer (white). I made one mitten two years ago for my Christmas gift basket. Unfortunately, no one selected the mitten as a present, even though I promised to make a second one. Therefore, during the Olympics I started and finished the second mitten and now I am wearing them. Perfect weight for Wisconsin early spring-late winter.




2) Leftover Sock Yarn Blanket. Before Christmas I finished the leftover sock yarn blanket for daughter #2. (More about this blanket in a later post.) Upon seeing the blanket, daughter #1 asked, "Where's mine?" Note that I worked for four years on the blanket for daughter #2. Not wanting to be accused of unfair or unequal mothering, I began to make squares for the second blanket. During the Olympics, I sewed these squares together, to show my good faith in actually making a blanket for daughter #1. Check back in 2014 to see the completed object. Meanwhile, I'll be generating leftover sock yarn by continuing to make socks.

Tonight I'll be scrubbing mold and mildew out of the shower, from under old caulking. Nasty job. I'd rather be knitting. But, the state of the shower was caused by regular knitting rather than regular house cleaning. Rats!!

Back in the Saddle Again--but still struggling to stay on!

As Gene Autry, the old cowboy crooner, used to sing, I'm back in the saddle again, after a long absence. I don't have any good excuses, I guess. Life got in the way, but I kept on knitting.

For my private knitting olympics I resolved to finish all incomplete projects. Let's say that my medal is not the gold.

For three years I have been working on a Dale of Norway Tiur sweater known by two different numbers (17008 or 10014) but no name. It appears in the ill-fated "Best of Tiur" and in Book 100. In year #1 I knit two sleeves whose cuffs were too tight. I shut the sleeves into the closet of denial. In year #2 I dug out the sleeves, cut off the cuffs, picked up the stitches and knit wider cuffs. Actually, I did that for only one sleeve. The other sleeve had stitch-pick-up issues and I ripped out the entire sleeve and knit a new one. I followed by knitting 2/3 of the torso. In year #3, before the Olympics, I finished the torso, joined the sleeves and torso and knit about 2/3 of the yoke.

I started strong out of the gate. The color work went quickly. Then, I almost veered off course. The yoke required duplicate stitch and embroidery. I found a basic embroidery book and learned the boullion stitch, the chain stitch and the lazy daisy.

Weaving in hundreds of ends threw me off balance onto one ski, but I recovered, weakened but determined. Before long, I was ready to block. My blocking-buddy, Cosmic the Cat, helped.

The sweater looked gorgeous--until I put it on.
Let's just say that my derriere should not be emphasized, regardless of the quality of yarn hugging it tightly. Spectators at the the finish line were supportive, arguing that if I purchased a pair of tight leggings, maybe the ribbing wouldn't cling so to the bottom curve of the butt. Or, maybe I could lose some weight. No, I decided, I am not getting younger. My two decade attempt to return to the svelte shape of my youth did not bode well for the weight loss option. And, I wore leggings and tight knit pants their first time around the fashion scene (thing Mary Tyler Moore on the Dick Van Dyke Show). I won't be doing leggings again. I waited until after the Olympics to make my decision. My rationale--I had a completed object in hand. Alterations can always be done later. So, on March 12 I made my decision.

Scissors, that's what I needed.

First, I marked the row in the texture pattern where I wanted to cut. then,

I picked up 288 stitches around the sweater. After which,
emboldened by friends at the Sow's Ear and by a surprise visiting knitting celebrity who ventured north for the weekend, I snipped half of one stitch and proceeded to pull out the row. (Yes, a Mason-Dixon sister watched me do this!! She was even impressed and took photos!! Will I make it onto her blog, only time will tell!)

My approach to applying scissors to painstakingly knit items is as follows: 1) Measure 29 times, cut once; 2) cut in public and pretend you know what you are doing, you have a reputation to uphold; 3) if you insist on cutting alone in the privacy of your own home you will NEVER do it; 4) don't look back.

In violation of my rule #4, I had a brief thought of kitchener stitching the cut-off piece back onto the torso. I moved forward and unraveled the entire lower piece. I dutifully washed the yarn and hung it to dry. Now, I'm taking my bravery pills (as my husband says) and am planning the re-knit. I think I will do a few rows of color pattern before starting the ribbing.

I need to finish this sweater before spring really comes. We've been experiencing the fickle false spring, so common to the upper midwest. All the snow has melted, The daffodil greens have shot up through the matted leaves. Runners have switched from polar fleece to shorts! But, snow is forecast for this weekend. I still have time to wear the sweater if I finish it soon!!!

Transitions

In a few short months, my precious Daughter #2 will flap her wings and head off for college. This fledging has been a wonderful chick in our nest. She was an inquisitive and excited little sprite who danced and pranced her way into life. She's been a devoted child, who still loves to spend time with her older parents, charming them with her tender heart, hard work and good spirit. Although normally I love the transition of winter to spring, with the lengthening daylight , this year it is bitter sweet. I know that her time with us is shorter and shorter.

Daughter #2 has delighted us with her love of choral music. She began singing in a choir at age 4 and now participates in four choirs! She loathes solos, but finds that choral participation is the only time she truly relaxes--and buries herself in the intertwining melodies. This month, as last year, she scored a "#1" in the regional competition of solo and ensemble vocal music. This means she will go to the state level competition again--something that makes her very proud.

My precious girl is on the right, one of her good friends (a superb soprano) is on the left. They sing in three choirs together.

My daughter selected her college of choice based on their fabulous choral music program. She does not want to major in music, but she wants to continue to take voice lessons and to participate in a hard-working and excellent choir. Unfortunately, although this college accepted her, it did not offer her a scholarship. Two other colleges accepted her and offered her scholarships. We have some tough decisions to make. I would love to stop time and to keep this precious daughter at home for years to come. But, her time has come to flutter her wings and we all have to let go. Sigh.

Meanwhile, on the knitting front, I've also been experiencing some frustrations. Last year I started a Dale of Norway sweater for myself. It's in my favorite color--red! But, it took back seat to items for other people. I started with the sleeves and only finished the sleeves. After completing the Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl, I dug out the red sweater. (after I located it, that is. For a few panic-ed weeks I was sure that I had lost it. Found it in the back of a closet.)

When I pulled on the sleeves I realized the truth about why I stuffed the project into the back of a closet! The cuffs were too tight! I couldn't hide from facts--I needed to re-knit the cuffs. There was no way around it. I got out the scissors.


I cut off the cuffs and then picked up the stitches and re-knit the cuffs going down, rather than up. That means that the cuff's edge was bound off rather than cast on. See---

Trust me, it looks better in person.
My cut-and-pick-up-stitches solution worked for only sleeve #1. For some reason, the textured stitches of sleeve #2 refused to cooperate. I finally gave into my fate. Here's sleeve #2.


That is what Tiur yarn looks like after being knit into a textured sleeve, sitting one year in the back of a dark closet, and being ripped out. Kind of like spiral pasta soaked in tomato sauce. The solution?
A good long soak in wool wash, hanging to dry, winding and re-knitting.

Here's sleeve #2--version #2. What's wrong with this picture?

Notice the pink chain where the cuff should be? Because cuff #2 on sleeve#1 was knit DOWN rather than UP, I didn't want to knit cuff #3 on sleeve #2 UP rather than DOWN. I didn't want two different looking and different feeling cuffs. So, I cast on provisionally, using pink yarn for a crochet chain. After taking this photo, I picked up the live stitches as I undid the chain, took out my smaller needles and knit the cuff for sleeve #2 for the second time. Then, I finished sleeve #2 for the second time and I have two complete sleeves back in the knitting bag. Back to where I started two weeks ago. Definitely a knitting time warp!

Now, on to the body!

Struggling towards monogamy

I have been trying, for about 20 years now, to establish a clear pattern of monogamy--in my knitting, that is. [Although sometimes my dear husband seems like he is trying to drive me away from monogamy--such as when he puts dirty dishes on the countertop above the empty dishwasher, and when he........But that's another story.]

Back to knitting monogamy. I'm afraid that I have a limited attention span for any particular project. I need different projects for different situations.

For example, I like to have an easy project that I can do in the dark of movie theaters, in the back pew at church, while at stop signs, etc. Typically this is a simple sock project.
Like his one. The fake cables on the side are two twisted stitches, side by side. The yarn is Trekking. This projects fits in a zip lock sandwich bag in my purse.

Then, I usually have a repair project or two. Such as duplicate stitching my mittens where they have worn out on the palms and inner thumbs, from driving I believe. Or such as this little breach of knitting know-how.
My dad is diabetic; his feet and lower legs swell during the day.I made him these socks, using the short row garter stitch heel as shown in the bottom. Lucy Neatby advocates using more than half of the total stitches for the heel. Usually her advice is excellent, but in this case it failed. The resulting sock had a heel big enough for an elephant with swollen feet. My dad's heels don't swell--his ankles, foot and calves swell. These socks bulged out over his shoes, creating other problems. He wore the socks as a dutiful father, but they were clearly uncomfortable. So I simply cut off the cuff, frogged the foot and heel and made my typical flap heel on half the stitches. The new (upper) sock fits perfectly. Now I need to do the same thing to the lower sock.

I also love to have a lace project in the works. To give me a little challenge. For when I have alone time to focus only on my knitting. My current challenge is Sivia Harding's Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl. Challenge is an understatement. This shawl brought me sobbing to my knees last week!!! But, I'm over that now.

You can't see in this photo, but I added a lifeline on row 151. (If you click to embiggen you can see the blue lifeline.) My bravado of knitting without a safety net failed me. No mistakes thus far, and I'm 2/3 of the way through the last pattern segment!!

Usually I have at least one present for someone on my needles. I long to knit cute little things for children, such as grandchildren. Alas, my dear husband and I do not have any grandkids, despite having children aged 42 and 32. The 17 year old has no business reproducing yet! So, we've "adopted" some surrogate grandkids: two little boys aged 6 and 4. The 6 year old started kindergarten this year, so in August I decided to make him a shawl collared cardigan for school. Well, Christmas knitting intervened and I never finished it.
Here are the back, two fronts and most of one sleeve. The project has languished because the ribbed pattern makes the pieces look as if they will never fit a real human. I'm hoping blocking will solve the problem. (don't we all!! ) The pattern is from Sirdar's Sweet Pea Knits. I've been hoping that this 6 year does not grow in girth this year!! I've added this project to my car knitting so that I can finish it for Valentine's day!

But, I would throw over all of these projects to concentrate solely and monogamously on this one:

It's for me. I thought I had lost it. I searched the house from top to bottom four times--in secret because if Dear Husband or Dear Daughters caught me searching for a lost project, I would be subject to long recriminating lectures about organization, too many projects at once, etc., etc., etc. Finally, when a pair of mittens fell to the closet floor I noticed this army green zipped bag from Knitting Camp. I opened it--my long lost love, waiting for me!!! A bag of discontinued Tiur. Two partially finished sleeves! A Dale of Norway yoke necked pullover for me. In my favorite color. In my favorite yarn. It is calling me. It has seduced me.

I am longing to commit myself exclusively to this seductive garment. The solid color body is worked in a knit and purl pattern stitch to hold my wandering attention until I get to the multi colored yoke.

However, the other projects are closer to being finished. They have entertained and occupied my knitting time and are close to fruition. Should I toss them aside for true love? How fickle am I?? Should I finish the socks for my dad, and the shawl for my mother and the cardigan for the little boy?? Or, should I selfishly focus only on myself and my heart's desire??

I am caught in a web of anguish of my own creation. If I were a monogamous knitter, I never would have started so many projects. I would have gone sensibly from one to the next, only after complete exploration of each relationship.

Ah well, now I need to clean the kitchen, mop the floor and put away folded wash. I'll think about the situation.....

One for you, one for me

I admit it. I am not among the ranks of the knitting super women. Take Stephanie P-McP. How does the Yarn Harlot do it? I mean, she started her grey cardigan just a few days ago; then abandoned it to make a pair of socks, then finished the cardigan before I could even select my next knitting project!! During this time she flew to Madrona, took classes and gave a speech, took care of 3 teenager daughters and husband, and is working on a gazillion more books no doubt!!

Here at my homefront, where I have only one teenager, am retired but do volunteer work and am equally buried in snow and grey and cold, it was all I could do to finish these: the first ever socks REQUESTED by daughter #2, the 16 year old!!
The yarn is a Kaffe Fasset colorway that Regia came out with recently. I did a k3, p2 ribbing on the entire cuff and leg and the top of the instep. She wears the socks inside of her fake Ugg boots, to school, to keep her feet warm during this the winter to end all winters in the upper Mid-west!! She likes them, the really likes them!!

Now, for me these socks took time. They weren't difficult, but they did take time. Size 2 mm needles, size 8.5 feet. I mean, I didn't knock them off while taking a short breather from a cabled cardigan!

It took me a while to select my next big project. I don't get to make myself a lot of items, since I am now keeping myself, my father, daughter #1 and daughter #2 in handmade socks!! I showed you several possibilities for my perfect project. I didn't select any of them. I went off on a wild tangent.

Did you hear that Dale of Norway has discontinued the production of they fabulous yarn, Tiur?? I didn't. I think I was the last US knitter to learn of this. I panicked. I have had in my mind, for at least 8 years, to make about 8 or so Dale of Norway sweaters for myself in Tiur. I never accumulated the yarn, but I (incorrectly) had faith that the venerable Dale would never discontinue a staple of their stable. My faith was utterly misplaced.

I went on a mission to collect, by hook or by crook, sufficient Tiur to make all the sweaters that were bubbling back in my mind. I collected enough Tiur to make about 8 sweaters. I spent the entirety of my of my 2008 yarn budget. Forget the sewing machine that my yarn diet was accumulating money for.

Here is my first project. I purchased the pattern for this when I visited Norway in 2001. Red is my favorite color. Despite being brunette/grey haired, I think I became convinced that I would look like this model if I made the sweater.

Don't you love that "come hither" look in the model's eyes?? In that warm sweater with cables, color work, embroidery and textured stitches, I will be a sultry, blond 20-something Scandinavian! Forget the Marilyn Monroe and Lindsay Lohan nude photos, I will give them a run for their money in the allure department, dressed in wool/mohair and pointsettia/stars.

It took me longer to do my swatch than it did the Yarn Harlot to start and finish her socks!! Why I worried and did two swatches with two different needle sizes I'll never know. The gauge instructions gave dimensions over stockinette. There is NO area of stockinette in the entire sweater. Be that as it may, I achieved gauge for a stockinette sweater; not that I'm making a stockinette sweater....
So, I started with the sleeve. Turns out that the cuff was too narrow and the sleeve increases too dramatic for my taste. Rip out, start again. Use larger needles for the small needle size. Increase for the sleeve more slowly.
And I finished, one sleeve!! Looks like it will fit!! And, it's for ME!!!! Now, cast on for sleeve #2, and finish the second sock for my father. By the time I finish sleeve #2, Stephanie will have made her next cabled sweater in a more lively color AND made more grape leaves for another pair of Vintage socks for another friend........

We mere mortals slog on.

Some Assembly Required

Ta, daaaa!!!!
Look at this handsome, proud man. This is my husband wearing his Dale of Norway sweater that I FINALLY finished. Was the finishing painful? Not really. Was it intimidating? Definitely.

Back in 2006 I gave my husband what I thought was a wonderful Christmas present. I gave him a Dale of Norway pattern and invited him to my favorite LYS to select yarn. Well, he didn't like the pattern I selected ("too flowery" ?????). It took several trips to more than one LYS to select the above pattern and yarn. This was a painful process. He finally selected the winning "daring" color combination: navy blue, dark red and grey. Aren't 98% of men's sweaters done in navy blue, dark red and grey?? But I digress.

I shouldn't berate my husband, however, for the long and painful time it took for him to select a pattern and yarn-- it took me nearly two years to knit the sweater!! We who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!!

I finished the actual knitting of the sweater just after Christmas. But, somehow, the steek and other assembly intimidated me. I previously suffered traumatic experiences with two other steeks in intricate color work. I used baby ull and the shoulders and upper torsos unravelled as I sewed in the sleeves, despite the fact that I thought I had securely prepared the steeked area. PTSS--Post-traumatic-steek-syndrome--haunted this sweater.

This past week I finally faced my "issues" and tackled the beast.
Here is the torso awaiting dissection. I liked the little faux cables running down the front.
Here is the obligatory photo of the innards. I thought I had done quite well, thank you very much. I hated the thought to cutting into those perfect little stitches, on which I had worked so very, very hard!

In my unwillingness to do the steek, I completely forgot to photograph the entire process. I thought I had, but my camera bears no photos of early steps. Oh well.

Step 1: measure and remeasure and measure again the width of the upper sleeve.

Step 2: locate, relocate and locate again the side stitches of the torso. You don't want a sleeve hole in the middle of the chest! AT least, I didn't.....

Step 3: insert sweater into sewing machine. Realize that sewing down the middle of a navy blue stitch next to other navy blue stitches would cause blindness. Remove sweater from sewing machine.

Step 4: Take some contrasting color sock yarn and sew down the middle of the stitches to be cut. Re-insert sweater into sewing machine. Sew up (or down) the middle of the stitch on either side of the marked line of stitches. Remember previous traumas and sweat profusely. Sew up (or down) the middle of the next line of stitches as well.

Step 5: Remove sweater from machine and pace to release tension.


Here's the cut edge. Not bad.. Very clean--no blood and no unravelled stitches!!
Step 6: Sew up the shoulder seams using the modified whip stitch shown in the pattern book. Dale typically leaves a bit up to your imagination in its instructions. The photo showing the seaming of the shoulders and arms was blurry!!! I didn't know if my shoulder seam was as it "should" be, but it looked good enough.
Step 7: Figure out how to sew the sleeves in. I had two sleeves with five rows of reverse stockinette at the top, which was to form a facing to cover the cut edges of the torso.
OK, right sides together. Ok........ Use lots of pins. I wanted the resulting product to have a neat seam along one line of stitches, following that line from the arm pit, up the arm, over the shoulder, down the arm and back to the pit. But, following navy blue stitches lined up with navy blue stitches resulted in stars before my eyes.
Step 8: Remove the pins and sew a contrasting sock yarn up the middle of the stitch I would be following for the seam. Much better. Blindness averted.

Step 9: Replace the pins, admire the neat rows of tiny machine stitches, and place right sides together. No, that didn't seem to work.
Step 10: Pin sleeve into steeked hole WRONG sides together. And begin to kitchener (is that a verb?) the pieces together.

I hope you can see that I inserted the needle through the body of the sweater just above the contrast thread. That way, I didn't have to pick out the contrast "thread"!!! Nifty, huh?

Here's a shot of the sleeve (on the bottom) going into the armhole, and the five rows of reverse stockinette efficiently being "sucked up" under the torso edge. I used the row of stitching just under the reverse stockinette on the sleeve as the "base" of my kitchener stitches.

Step 11: Admire one's handiwork. Do a little finished steek dance! Ignore stares of family members.
Step 12: sew up the hem of the sweater. See those two itty-bitty yarn over holes in the center of the hem? Those are for the elastic cord that gets inserted to snug up the bottom of the sweater to keep out those cold Norwegian (and Wisconsin) gusts of bitter cold wind and to make the wearer look dashing. A loose sweater bottom is simply unattractive!

But wait, isn't the black cord hanging out of the sweater also unattractive??

Step 13: Research mission. Go to LYS and inspect Dale sweaters hanging on display from the wall. Look at what they do! How clever!
They single crochet a couple of inches of yarn and sew it into the side "seam" (or lack thereof on a circularly knit hand made sweater) and the elastic cord passes through the little loop. Now, why didn't I think of that??


Step 14: Are we ever going to finish this thing??? Pick up stitches for around the neck. Ask husband whether he wants stripes on the neckband, as shown in the photo in the pattern book. Ask husband whether he wants the neck band as high as shown in the photo in the pattern book. Hubby says no stripes. Therefore, knit stripes to be on the INSIDE of the neck band, just for cuteness sake. I was very tired of working only in navy blue at this point. Show hubby the progress. Hubby now asks if the stripes can be on the OUTSIDE. Respond, "No!! It's too late. I'm done with this project!!!


Step 15: Put away the leftover yarn, the pattern book with notes about what I changed in the pattern. Skip the finished sweater dance. Go directly to step 16.

Step 16: Narrow choices for new project for myself!!!! Order yarn!!! Begin swatch!!! Yippee!! Do new sweater project dance!

A little of this and a little of that

I've not been blogging much lately as you may have noticed. The end of the summer has turned me into an isolationist. How did the summer come to such a precipitous ending? It was just June and now it is simply September. My mind is still back in June, when possibilities are endless, when the sweet summer smell convinces you that all is within reach. And suddenly, September springs on you from its hiding spot--evenings are shorter, the heat of August dissipates and the projects planned in June are embarrassingly incomplete.

In my defense, I plead a rush of family activity. I attended my 40th high school class reunion in mid August and all of a sudden school planning stared me in the face. Trips to Kohl's, Target, Macy's, back to Kohl's and two more trips to Target. My 16 year old had a hard time deciding what to buy--from folders and note books to tops, shoes and T-shirts. Unfortunately, she doesn't yet have her independent driving license so I have to accompany her on each and every indecisive trip.

Daughter #1 purchased a scuzzy condo earlier in the summer. She knew that a lot of work would be required to turn the disgusting place into something habitable, but she vastly underestimated the amount of work necessary. This wasn't her fault--she is short on cash, she bought a condo built in the late 1930's, in an up and coming location, that was cheap because it needed work--a lot of work. She had the eyes of youth and promise and saw through the scuzz to something beautiful. I (mother that I am) saw the scuzz and saw a mountain of work. It has been the entire Himalaya range of work. We are trying to do it ourselves. All of us are complete neophytes at ripping out carpet and installing a bamboo floor; at patching rotting concrete and plaster and painting over; at determining whether the wiring is good or rotten; at every possible task required!!!

Maybe this has something to do with my magnificent lack of good taste in planning an Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater for a new baby in my husband's department at the University. I decided to work from my stash--and I didn't have much good in washable baby yarn. I didn't have enough of any color to make an entire sweater. But, I held up some baby blue, some baby yellow, some white ------and some avocado green. Oh, I know, avocado green just doesn't go with the first three colors. But, I thought it might be funky, cool and creative. (note, I am a child of the 60's and 70's--decades of terrible taste in color and style). The yarn was fingering weight and I wanted to finish this little sweater fast, so I doubled the yarn. I had faith in EZ--nothing done in her style could possibly fail. Right?? Wrong!
The result?? An inflexible, ugly, ugly little thing, but I plugged on. I finished the first sleeve.

Finishing the sleeve didn't help. Both of my daughters told me the sweater was "just ugly, Mom". I stopped. Finally, I realized that I knew it was ugly from the get-go. I went back to the stash and found some pink yarn I purchased 17 years ago for daughter #2. I never finished that sweater. So, the pink yarn became:

Earlier in September I dug out the Dale sweater I started 18 months ago for my husband. I stopped and put the thing in the back of the closet when I became dissatisfied with how the lighter yarn showed through when I twisted it so that the carry wouldn't be too long. I had been trying not to carry more than three stitches.


Ugly, ugly, ugly. Something needed to change. Then the light dawned. At Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp she and Joyce Williams displayed some of their projects for their new book on Armenian knitting. I recognized my Norwegian sweater for what it was--an example of Armenian knitting where the floating yarn is "trapped" every few stitches. The result is a tweed-y texture. Now I felt better; I had used an Armenian technique for a scandinavian sweater. Why not return to a scandinavian technique of long floats?? So I frogged....

And I re-knit.

As you can see I did some trapping when the carries were about 7 stitches long. Much, much better.

Maybe I'll actually finish the sweater for this Christmas!! Two years after I "gave" him the idea of the sweater for Christmas!

The socks I knit for my Sockapalooza sock pal, inspired me to knit a similar pair for myself. Because I wear my home made socks year round, I need something suitable for summer. I made these short socks out of a cotton/wool blend using my favorite pattern of all time--Feather and Fan from Socks, Socks, socks. The snug fit, the cute little scallop on the cuff--perfect!

OK, a success. I decided to start another pair of socks for myself for the approaching fall. I like the self striping yarn, but I get bored with stockinette stitch. And, I just finished Feather and fan. I decided to do something new. How about Canal du Midi from Knitting on the Road?? Sure, let's go to France!
Next time, I'll go to France with a solid color yarn. The wonderful patterning of the travelling stitches is not shown off by the striping yarn. The stripes of the yarn are blurred by the traveling stitches, and the traveling stitches lose their definition due to the stripes.

Oh well, I'll make the second sock. The socks are for me and I like the pattern and the yarn.

Knitting is kind of like life these days--I take two steps forward, then one or two steps back with each project....

Hope your projects are perfect the first time!!