A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

I recently got a new set of shelving for organizing my knitting.  As part of that organizing I’ve been going through tubs and baskets and piles of fiber, yarn and projects.  I’ve found several projects that are going to be frogged for various reasons . . . and several that I need to make decisions about.

One of the projects I need to make a decision about is Fern.  I started this sweater three years ago, put it down because I was too distracted to work on it and needed to work on a baby gift for someone and haven’t touched it since.

Fern

I actually have a little more than this done and was working on both the front and back at the same time . . . but I’m not sure now if this was really the right yarn for the project.  I’m not certain that I like the stitch definition with the colors of the yarn and feel that the pattern may be getting lost a bit.  Actually it looks better in the photo than it does in person (which I find odd) and I don’t know if I want to continue on it or frog it.

I’ve given myself until I’ve finished with the Must Have Cardigan)only the back left!)  to decide what to do with Fern.

The other knitting question I’m wrestling with is about my next project, St. Brigid.  I think I’m going to dye and spin the yarn for it and need choose a fiber from the stash.  I have several types to fiber to choose from and I’m not certain which I should use.  Perhaps the bed time reading the next few night will be Clara’s book of Wool . . . I’m sure the answer will be in there somewhere.

I’m happy to report that the “Must Have Cardi” is back on track. I ripped and reknit the section that was off by a row and now the fronts of the sweater actually match. I’m now at about 12 of the 15 inches (I’ve added 2 inches to the length) and should be able to get as far as the underarm decrease by this evening.

I’m actually getting a little anxious to finish this sweater since I have a couple of other things, both WIPS and new projects, that I am eager to work on.

Comment replies: I definitely plan to teach all the kids to knit, in fact my oldest niece was asking about learning just recently. As she is almost 8 I think she is ready to try it but I do have to allow her grandmother the opportunity to be the first to show her As for the hat set pattern, I hope to work on it this weekend if things go well and perhaps have it available by sometime next week. Thanks for the comments & please keep them coming, feedback is a great thing to have!

I recently started working on the “Must Have” Cardigan again.  I originally started it back in July 2008 and have put it down a few times for various reasons.  Once was because I had messed up the Moss Stitch and needed a break while I decided whether to leave it or rip and fix it.

When I picked it up again last fall, I did, ultimately, decide to rip and reknit the offending sleeve top.  Once the sleeves were finished I began working on the fronts, both at the same time one one needle.  I find this the easiest way to be sure that they actually match.  However, after a few inches of Fronts I put them aside again to work on the Snow Ball Fight Mittens & Hat sets for the kids.  Now that winter is nearly over and I have finished knitting as many hat sets as I can stand to knit for now, I’m back to working on the Cardigan.  As of last night, I’d knit about 10 inches of the 15 I’m planning to knit before the underarm decreases begin.

Must Have Fronts

This afternoon I picked it up again to work another row or two.  When I’d done one right side row I laid it flat to look at it and found that I had, once again, messed up just one row of the Moss Stitch.  Having already ripped and fixed just this mistake once already I feel that I must fix it.  It isn’t as obvious as mixing up one of the cables would be but I can’t help but think I would notice it every time I look at the finished sweater.

Can you see the error?

Now I’m off to find another needle the right size and take this half off and rip back beyond the error to fix it.  Wish me luck!

Marianna in her hat and mittens

Every family has their traditions, some are carefully kept from generation to generation and others are allowed to lapse as the next generation takes over.  And some are worth picking up again even when it has been years since they were kept. In my family, we have one that I have been restoring over the past few years with hopes of being able to teach the next generation to continue it.

When my mother was a child, her maternal grandmother, who was a seamstress by trade as well as a knitter & spinner, would knit wool mittens for her grandchildren.  In my family this would have been a serious undertaking as my mother is the 2nd of 9 children; a lot of little hands to knit for each year!  My mother tells me that each winter her grandmother would present them with a batch of wool mittens that had been knit and then boiled in order to full them against the cold.  Her grandmother’s mittens were treasured by the children as they kept little hands far warmer than the store bought acrylic variety; so much so that by the end of the winter (when many had gone missing) the children would argue over the remaining, mismatched wool mittens rather than take the matching store bought ones when it was time to play in the snow.

Unfortunately for me, my maternal grandmother is not a knitter.  I believe her mother likely taught her at some point but she became a sewer rather than a knitter as did my mother after her.  Therefore, my generation did not benefit from the tradition of handknit mittens in winter (how I wish we had!) and as the current Grandmother (my mom) is also not a knitter our children were in danger of the same fate!

For the past several years I have been working to turn things around for my children and my nieces and now little nephew.   I have altered the tradition a bit, expanding it to include a warm wool hat in addition to the mittens. And I’m including the two nieces on my husband’s side of the family which gives me a total of 7 children to knit for.   In addition, each year I try to knit for at least one or two children outside the immediate family, usually family friends, for whom I know a new wool hat and mittens will be a welcome winter gift.

In that spirit, this year I am attempting to knit as many as 10-12 sets of mittens and hats to be given out to all the children in the family and a few others.  Rather than choosing the colors for each child ahead of time I’ve taken a different approach this year; I am knitting hats & mittens in 3 sizes (toddler, preschooler, grade-schooler) and then allowing the children to choose for themselves which set they would like.  I have also taken to heart the advice of one of my favorite knitting authors, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and making mittens in sets of 3 to provide a spare for when the first one goes missing as they so often do.

My son refers to his hand=knit mittens as “Snowball Fight Mittens” and so that is what they are.  I am currently working on writing up the pattern for the set and will present it as a free pattern on Ravelry as soon as it is finished.  It is my hope to inspire you to knit up a set for the children in your life, that perhaps my family tradition may become yours as well.

Snowball Fight Mittens & Hat set

I really am going to post again soon, really.

In the mean time, here are a few pics of the kids in their new sweaters, knit by Mari.

Thank you Auntie Mari!