Tag: sweaterknitting

Post from Minnesota

We had a wonderful first show in St. Louis this past weekend at the Midwest Fiber Festival. We will definitely be there next year.

I drove up to St. Paul, MN on Monday and have a few days before I will be setting up the booth again at Shepherd’s Harvest Festival. While I am waiting I plan to do some work on my website as well as some knitting and reading. My website is experiencing some issues with credit card processing. The PayPal option works and we always welcome checks but the credit card issue is a problem that needs fixed, so I am looking at my options.

Anyway, I finished my gansey last night. I hate to post an unblocked sweater picture but I don’t want to wait until next week to show you so here it is. Now keep in mind that it will look even better after its had a proper soak and block.

I now have nothing on the needles but I have several yarns picked out and I brought my swift and winder. I’ll fill you in later on what I am doing when I have the yarn wound.

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Another Gansey Update

I am excited to report that I have progressed to the sleeves on my Gansey.

I have worked the first shoulder strap and left the stitches on a holder while I am working the second one.

I find I prefer using dpns for this part. I will probably continue to use them for the sleeves although it would be okay if you want to use circulars too. I just tend to like dpns better.

My next step will be to pick up stitches on the front and back sleeve opening to be added to the shoulder strap and gusset stitches and work the sleeves in the round. I have my charts all ready to use for those. I am really having fun making this sweater. 🙂

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Wonderful Wallaby

I am happy to report that the Wonderful Wallaby is done. I am very pleased with how it came out. I really like how it fits too. I think this one will be getting lots of wear when it isn’t hotter than you know where outside. 😋

I still need to get a few buttons for it. They’ll probably be mostly ornamental because I doubt I’ll need them very often, but there are button holes so there should be buttons, right? Well eventually anyway.

I guess I am going to need to test knit the smallest size of my Vintage Diamonds Cardigan soon. I think I’ll use the Classic Merino Bamboo for that one. It’ll be starting that as soon as I finish a test knit for a friend. It’s a lovely little shawl and I’ll link you up after I check with her, but here’s a sneak peek.

I am using some leftover partial skeins of my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn to make this and taking notes of my yardage for each section. It’s going pretty fast. I just started on Friday and I am to the third of four garter sections. There will be one more narrow lace section and a wider one at the bottom. Short and sweet. 😊

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Thursday updates

Titles are hard! Some days it’s just difficult to come up with a relevant one and this is what you get. 😊

I am getting extremely close to finishing up the Wonderful Wallaby . I am 1″ away from the last bit of top shaping on the hood and that’s it.

I have added to the hood length since I took these photos.

In other news, I am nearly finished with the pattern for the Vintage Diamonds Cardigan. It’s been slow going to include the 4 other sizes in the directions. Lots of math. I have only two more sleeve cap sizes, the collar and the embroidery details to add and it’s ready for some other sizes to be test knit. I mostly need the smallest one done so I can have the range of yardage required. I made the size in the middle and have a volunteer for the largest. Anyone game?

I am really enjoying the sunflowers we planted this year. I can see them out the kitchen window and they are so cheerful!

The show this past weekend was great. Much better than I had hoped actually, since it was pretty slow the previous time we were there in 2019. It is nice to be able to go home every night too. 🙂

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Almost…

These last 5 weeks have been good but exhausting. It is great to be back vending at festivals. We had 4 shows in 5 weeks and the last one, Mid Ohio Fiber Fair, was a bit of a whirlwind for me. I drove about 400 miles to Newark, OH on Friday. Thus year’s festival was modified to a one day show in the location of the farmers market. I showed up at 5:30 am to set up for a 9 am opening time. I was anxious about whether I could pull it off, but I did it! The market hours were 9-5 and then break down. Whew! It was a long and challenging day but worth it. We did pretty well. 😍 I drove home on Sunday and it is good to be home for awhile again. No more traveling until mid August.

Now for some more news I am excited about! I have almost finished the vintage sweater I have been laboring on for months. I only have the collar to knit and buttons to sew on. Oh and I almost forgot about the embroidery. It does look nice as it is so we’ll see on that.

I did the seaming up in a couple sittings. The sleeve setting in is done first. I may need to tweak the sleeve cap height a bit on the pattern since there was a fair bit of easing in required. I kind of like the look of them though so maybe not? 🤔

I found an excellent new use for my Darning-Egg while seaming the sides. I always start at the cuff and hem and work towards the underarm. That ensures everything lines up nicely and makes easing in extra fabric tidy. But it gets tricky to see the seam area towards the end, so that’s where my Darning-Egg came in handy.

I am still trying to decide whether I want the collar to be in garter to match the button band or in 2×2 rib like the cuffs. I think I would like the look of the rib but garter would be easier for the short rows I plan to use to shape it. I will probably try the rib first and see how it goes. Back soon with the result. 🙂

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Swatch Done

Before I get to the new design progress, I did get around casting on the body of my Wonderful Wallaby yesterday. I only have 3-4 more rounds of ribbing to go.

So I mentioned in my last post that I am working on a vintage inspired sweater. It is primarily a baby cardigan but I can see potential for making multiple sizes up through children’s and possibly adults too. I love the pieced format, and while it’s not the popular choice, I may just keep it. There are several reasons for this. One, I like the smaller pieces on the needles. I also like the stability it gives the garment against stretching out. And third, I think it’s a classic look.

This is the right front of year sweater. It’s about a 12 month size to me. This size will be about 23″ or so chest circumference and around 12″ in length from the shoulder. The gauge is 8 st. × 10.5 r. per inch on 2.75mm needles. It’s very light and has lovely stitch definition at this gauge. I steam blocked the sample.

I won’t be knitting the whole sample from this color, though I will be using the same yarn, Classic Merino Superwash Sock. The ball I used here was a remnant from another booth sample and I don’t have more in this dye lot. I am thinking I would like to use a neutral like Pewter, Earl Grey, or Graphite and then use remnants for the embroidery.

Here’s a couple embroidery ideas I have tried. I like the five petal lazy daisy better of the two. I also am surprised that I like the double crosses maybe better still. They are simpler to execute and have a wider gender appeal, don’t you think? Maybe I could just include both as options in the pattern?

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Summer Dyeing

Since my last post I have been working through my summer to-do-list while I am home. I talked a bit about my dyeing goals and I am pleased to say it is all done. The new colors are all dyed, the others colors are all restocked, and it is all labeled and boxed in the trailer for the upcoming shows. Whew!

This is just a sampling of all that I got done. I didn’t get any pictures of the labeling and packing but I do have some finished prettier shots of the new colors.

The new colors are all available to order on the website in the yarns above and they will be making their debut at the Natural Fiber Extravaganza in a couple of weeks.

I am hoping to have my Firenze pullover finished in time for Stitches Midwest. I only have about an inch or maybe less to go on the body stockinette section and then the ribbing. After that it’s only the 3/4 length sleeves, and they won’t take too long, right?

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