up next

Now that the Ottawa cardigan is finished, I'm after a new project. I always have socks on the go, so they don't count, but I like to have a biggish project going as well - a sweater or lace project, usually.
And since I have an issue coming up that will allow me (potentially) some increased knitting time, I want to have a good one.
The issue is some day surgery coming up on July 13 - I have a growth on my thyroid (non-cancerous, I've had the biopsy), but it's big, and it's pressing a bit on the vocal chords, so they want to remove it. It's day surgery, but general anaesthetic, so the recovery will be about a week or so. There will be some working at home during that time, but I can still knit.
Because general anaesthetic and I have a history of not getting along, I think I will put lace on the back burner, and keep it simple. I was going to do a Featherweight cardigan with some fabulous Fleece Artist, but I severely underestimated my needs, and don't have enough of the wool to make it. So while digging in the stash, I found the Briggs and Little I bought for the Elizabeth Zimmerman Green Sweater.

I have already made this in red (and I LOVE it...) but the cream grabbed my attention. Rounds of stockinette? Easily done and hard to screw up. Once I get through the haze of the anaesthetic, there's enough shaping to keep me interested. Plus, it's a great sweater shape. But then I saw this,

Vitamin D by Heidi Kirrmaier

and well, a quick swipe of the credit card later, and perhaps another dig into the stash, and well, now I can't quite decide. I mean, I love the cream Briggs and Little, and I know the Zimmerman sweater is lovely, but really, look at the Vitamin D sweater! All those lovely eyelets as increases! That wonderful drape in the front! And some lovely green kettle dyed wool that would really work well. (Or a black linen rayon blend, maybe.)
I think I may just take both of them up to the cottage this long weekend, and decide then...

done!

So just before the Canada Day weekend, I finish a wool sweater.

Whatever, it's beautiful and I love it. It will get lots of wear in the fall, which is what the plan was. Since I don't work in a meat locker, a lofty wool single was never going to make an indoor sweater, so this is a coat sweater, perfect for coolish days. It's long enough to cover my butt, and keep me warm, it has pockets just big enough for my keys,

and antler buttons because I love them. Susan was with me when I bought this wool at the Knitters Frolic, and when we saw the buttons, we knew they would be perfect.

Details:
HandMaiden "Ottawa" wool
92% Wool, 8% Viscose
lofty, single spun think and thinnish wool - super nice to work with.

Pattern is my own top down cardigan, with raglan sleeves, made jacket length. There are seed stitch cuffs and hem and front bands, and an applied i-cord finish around all edges. The buttonholes are worked right into the i-cord finish, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman.

It's cozy and soft and warm, and put away for the fall...

so close...

I'm so close to finishing this sweater. A heavy wool, cozy sweater, just in time for July.

I just need to sew down the i-cord pocket edging, sew up the pockets, sew on the buttons, and give it a steam!

It's my MIL's fault...

She saw the fabric I used for my niece's Restoration Era dress, found out it was tablecloth material, and slyly hinted around for custom tablecloths for her dining room table.

Specifically, Christmas red. Not burgundy, not muddy red, but a clear, blue-red.

She loved this. Her table is oval, and has two leaves, so there are three sizes of tables, and she uses all of them. She was hoping for oval cloths rather than rectangular, so I measured, cut and hemmed for the largest size, and have enough of the red left to make one for the smallest size table.

Then there was this green... I had to get it for myself - not for a tablecloth, but to recover my dining chairs! I've been meaning to do this forever, and I love this fresh green colour, so I bought it. Well. Then MIL saw the green, and I could see the envy in her eyes (green with envy... get it?) SO I caved, and said I would get her some green for a cloth as well... And she really loved the blue... by the end of the conversation, I believe I have committed to make about 7 tablecloths in varying sizes and colours.

I think for Christmas, I might just hem her the matching napkins...

can't seem to resist the linen...

Quick note to Brenda - the Ottawa cardigan is so named because the Fleece Artist wool I'm using is actually called Ottawa...

on to the linen...

2 metres of each of these fabrics...

Must... find... time... to... sew...

Ottawa cardigan

It's further along than this, but I'm working out some details. Just finishing the front bands (attached i-cord? buttons holes?), and then I'll insert the pockets.

I love this, but it's SO the wrong weather to knit with a pile of heavy wool in my lap...

time management

2 carpool days, a school bus field trip, and one baseball game. Add in the final swimming lesson, and add another inch or so to this...

People who say they can't find the time to do things aren't trying hard enough...

New Socks

I mentioned that I was on to the next socks after finishing the last brown pair, and here they are. (I have lots of drive time coming up - I need small, portable projects!)

(side note - this is a preset post - I'm actually off on a field trip today with the boy's class to the Air and Space Museum at Downsview Airport, and I'll be knitting these on the trip!)

My husband adores Socks That Rock, and while at the Knitter's Frolic in April, I picked up this multicoloured skein (ballband misplaced, and name totally forgotten...). The only complaint he has about the STR is that the socks are just a touch short. So I found this orphan ball of green tonal Koigu (probably left over from my Mom's flamingo mitts), and it matched really well. Husband was amenable to green toes, heels and cuffs in order to get a longer sock, so off I go.

Toe is done, and now it's straight knitting without shaping, or thinking until I run out of the STR.

Considering the state of my mind right now, I think I can handle that...

Latest sock blanks

I finally finished the socks I was working on. Most of these socks were knit while a passenger in a car - either to the cottage with my husband driving or to the office while my boss drove.

They are fraternal,

but I was closer to making them identical than I realized. Luckily, this doesn't bother me, but I'm sure my friend Helga is cringing right now...

I haven't put the heels in, and probably won't for a while, at least until I determine who they're for. There is a very good possibility these will hang on until Christmas - perhaps my Father in Law, perhaps a friend.

On to the next ones!

the dress! as far as I can take it...

Sorry for the silence last week - I was busy with stuff. We trimmed a good 4 feet off the top of our hedges all around the property, and there was a ton of cleanup to do after that - every night, we were out bundling and bagging cedar trimmings!

I was able to take a night and finish the dress for my niece as far as I could take it. I finished the over dress and sleeve edgings. All that was left was the zipper, which I needed her for sizing. We accomplished that last night at a family dinner at my in-laws. I brought the dress down and she tried it on. (By the way, side note to my SIL - telling me your daughter is a size 10? In your dreams!) I'm not blind, and just by eyeballing her, I cut a size sixteen, and STILL had to add some fabric on either side of the zipper! Whatever, It's now done. I sewed the sipper in last night when we got home, and the dress will be delivered to Brampton tonight by my husband (his weekly poker game is at his brother's in Brampton - every Monday night, same group of guys since high school! Seriously!)

Jess now has to do all the finishing. She will sew on the trim all along the front blue edge. She will hem the whole thing. (I cut her some slack and gave her a large roll of Stitch Witchery, so she can IRON the hem). She has to find a petticoat or something to give the skirt some width. She's a little nervous about all this, but as I told her, it's her project, and she has to finish it to put her mark on it.

In any case, I have to say, I am inordinately proud of it. Considering all the shortcuts I took, it really turned out well. I didn't invest a lot of time in it, which was the point - it's not an every day kind of thing - it's going to be worn just a few times, in very specific situations. (A short play at school as part of her exam, and probably a few Halloweens).

That's the point of costumes, I feel. Short periods of wearability = short amount of time worked on it.