Life becomes busy. It happens slowly. Dishes stack up. The vacuuming has not been done in a week or more. Then a day passes when there has been no time to sit down and knit. Then suddenly one is told to stay home. One catches up on all the delinquent cleaning. One looks at the knitting sitting in piles in every room. It was time to take control of the WIPs. I made a list of all the WIPs, Walking through rooms, looking through baskets, into re-useable canvas shopping bags, even a plastic storage bin. I found 19 WIPs in various stages. Even I was a bit surprised.
before the ends were woven in
Yes, I will start projects and then lay it aside to knit something that catches my eye. Look at the Toph hat I have been wearing all winter. I knit that hat in a few evenings. Then I remembered the Orfeo Hat. That hat was going to be my winter hat. (see post from November 1, 2019). The Orfeo Hat was easily found, nicely gathered in a lovely zippered project bag and the bag was sitting on top of the color chart, all nicely labeled on a magnetic pattern holder. And that was the problem, the color chart. I love knitting corrugated rib. It is fun and easy to knit. But you can only do so much corrugated ribbing. The color pattern began and my interest dropped in direct proportion. The project bag with the Orfeo Hat was neatly placed on a shelf and I knit Toph with gusto. Toph is also color knitting but it is a totally different type of color knitting.
Toph, designed by Woolly Wormhead is knit flat in segments and is all about short rows. I love short rows. I like short rows so much that I teach classes about knitting with short rows. Short rows are fun and fascinating and Toph fit into my idea of fun knitting. The fact that it also used two colors did not even faze me. I used Bohemian Gothic in Jekyll and Dorian. Technically, the pattern calls for DK wool but my gauge using the worsted weight Bohemian Gothic was not that wide from the required gauge. I adapted by knitting the smaller size. I also adjusted the fit by knitting one less wedge then called for in the pattern. This is my favorite hat ever. It is warm and stylish and I wear it everywhere.
progress on April 10
Ah, the Orfeo Hat? In this time of “safer at home”, I have made an effort. I am becoming more adept at color knitting. I am discovering the fun of seeing the pattern gradually appear. While I am progressing, let’s be honest, I won’t be wearing this hat until next winter.
first attempt at neckline, a few rows of garter stitch
The red and white striped sweater is finished, except for the final fitting session. The last task on this sweater pattern was to pick up stitches around the neck and work three rows of garter stitch. I did this. It did not look neat. So I took a photo, for comparison purposes, pulled all the knitting out and contemplated the sweater. I believe the purpose of the three rows of garter stitch at the neckline was to connect the neckline visually with the garter stitch border at the bottom edge of the sweater. I thought that a rolled edge, with the knitting rolling to the “right” side of the sweater, so the purl side was visible would be visually similar to the the bottom of the sweater, providing continuity of design. I began by picking up the stitches around the neck, beginning at the back of the neck. I was more interested in picking up stitches evenly and not allowing any small gaps then in picking up the exact number of stitches noted in the pattern. I ended up with slightly more stitches. I worked six rows of stockinette and bound off using a stretchy bind off. I am very happy with the result. But will reserve final opinion until I see the sweater on a body. Hopefully, the neckline will lay flat and drape as intended.
final neckline, six rows of knitting, creating a rolled edge, simple and neat
Wires and pins and a considerable amount of time, but the result is worth it
The famous red and white striped sweater has been blocked. When knitting sweaters the instructions will usually say seam and then block to measurements in schematic. If I think blocking will make it easier to seam, I block first. This sweater was a combination of knitting in pieces (front and back were knit flat) but the sleeve stitches were picked up from the seamed front and back. Once both of the sleeves were knit I could lay the sweater out flat and block it easily. Blocking made it much easier to seam the sleeves and the sides. Once all the seams are done and ends woven in, all that remains is to pick up the stitches at the neck and work a few rows to polish the neckline. Why have I not yet finsihed the neckline? Because this new yarn arrived. Bright colors, machine washable baby yarn and I just had to try it out. It was almost a compulsion. What better way to test a new baby yarn then to knit a Baby Surprize Jacket (BSJ)? Soft yarn, intriguing pattern, OK, I have knit the BSJ previously, but the result always amazes me. Stay tuned.
BSJ in Baby Bandit, color is Frolic, a bright green, the computer monitor does not due it justice
Sweaters take time. No matter how you do it, top down or bottom up. Sweaters are large swaths of knitting. And at some point you end up knitting 12 or more inches of the same thing. This is a cropped sweater, super easy. Knit the back, knit the front and sew the shoulder seam. Pick up stitches and knit the sleeves. Sleeves, long sleeves are 19 inches of the same thing. I like stripes and it does mean one must focus so that all the stripes are the same. At least three times I have had to frog back a row because I was more focused on the movie than the knitting and the red stripe was suddenly three rows wide instead of two rows. The second sleeve has seemed to go on for infinity. I think it looks long enough and when I compare it to the first sleeve I am only half way done. I knit for hours and I still have several inches left to knit, a knitting condundrum. I have compared to the first sleeve, I have counted stripes and I have measured. There are still 4.5 inches of sleeve that must be knit.
The Orfeo Hat, beginning stage, before winter arrives.
There was snow on Halloween in Wisconsin. That blew me away. OK, so maybe I am in denial about being on the cusp of winter. I am still in autumn. Halloween is supposed to be crisp cold air and crisp, crackling leaves under foot. Halloween is not supposed to be four inches of wet snow. I had to shovel a path for the perspective trick or treaters. My jack o’ lanterns were not scarily lurking in the grass. The jack o’ lanterns were plopped in the snow. I had to brush snow off the jack o’ lanterns, scoop the snow away from the eye sockets and toothy grins. The only advantage was one did not have to worry about the candles being too hot and burning the pumpkin, pumpkin isolated in snow. Like I said, snow on Halloween was just too much for me.
I have been knitting myself a new hat for winter. And of course, winter cannot arrive before the hat is finished. The hat is way cool, a color work design that begins with corrugated ribbing and flows into curls and twists. The Orfeo Hat is the perfect design (link to pattern) for Bohemia Sport, which cries out to be used in color work. There are 24 colors of Bohemia Sport, do not let the pattern decide your color choices. Be bold. I chose Arsenic for the background and Tiffin for the fancy work. It is bold. However, I only have the ribbing and nine rows complete. So clearly the snow on Halloween is an aberration. It will take me at least two weeks to finish this hat.
