On and Off the Needles

My Travellers End sweater is done. I took the last stitches in it on Tuesday, and then decided immediately to get the ends sewn in and get it blocked. I have a bad habit of procrastinating both those tasks, so I figured that I’d do them while I had the sweater still in my hands. As of today, it is blocked and dried and now all it needs are buttons.
Since that one is done, I decided right away to start another one. I found Roads End while surfing around the Ravelry website a while back. I have a small number of skeins of Malabrigo Rios in two different colours, not enough of either to make one sweater, but enough when combined. I’d been looking for a striped sweater pattern for a while. I really like the textured areas in this one. I cast on for this one last night, and have most of the ribbing for the neckline done. At this point I need to start paying attention to putting in stitch markers and counting for increases, so I decided to set it aside until I was more alert than what I am at 11 o’clock at night. I had planned on doing mine in just two colours, but while in a cute little yarn shop yesterday, buying double pointed size 4mm needles, I found a dark contrast colour that contrasts perfectly with the other two. So, here are the three colours. What’s so kinda cool about this is that the dark burgundy on the right is from an independent dyer called Lichen and Lace in Sackville New Brunswick, so I can support Canadian made goods. I’m going to have to check out some of their other stuff at some point.
I’m linking up to Judy’s On the needles.

On my needles.....

I’m continuing to work on the Traveller’s End Sweater. I have both front bands finished and am ready to start on the sleeves. Once it’s finished it’s going to need some pretty intense blocking to get the cables to really stand out.   I had hoped to have this done before our first trip out camping this year, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. We’re leaving on the 13th of this month, and I don’t think I can do both the sleeves in that time period. It’s our grandson Avery’s birthday on the 17th, so we’ll be spending the weekend with him camping at McGregor Point Provincial Park. His daddy Noel is coming too, since I’m not sure if Scott and I could keep up with Avery with
 just the two of us.
I’m linking up with Judy’s On the Needles. It can be dangerous sometimes, seeing what Judy is working on. When it comes to things knitted, she and I seem to have very similar tastes. I usually really like whatever it is she’s working on. Today is no different. She’s got a sweater going that I’d love to do. I’ll stick it into my Ravelry favourites. But considering there are over five pages of patterns saved there, I don’t know how I’ll ever get to all of them. But they sure are fun to look at.

On my needles....

I’m continuing to work away at my Traveller’s End sweater. I’ve finished the body and am now working on the collar. After that I think I’ll do the button bands. I think it might be easier to do that part before the bulk of the sleeves are on. Less weight to heave around.
Earlier this week I found out that little Abbie was going out for the day to meet friends, so I thought is might be fun to make up a new hat to go with her Crocodile Booties. Here’s the hat, a quick crochet from a pattern called  Posey Patch Hat. And a side view. 



Here she is with her Mama, with her booties on her feet, all ready for her day out. I’m linking up to Judy’s On the Needles, a day late, but better than not at all, and then I’m going back to more knitting.

On my needles

I’ve picked back up my Traveller’s End Sweater. One of the many bonuses of doing a log is being able to keep track of various projects. Looking back, I remember that I started this sweater over a year ago, messed up the cables and had to rip it out. I restarted it last March, blogged about it here, and then it got put back into it’s bag and it sat until about a week ago. I’ve made quite a bit of progress since then. The sleeves are separated off and I’m working my way down the body. I put off picking it back up again, in part, because it was quite a challenge trying to figure out where I’d left off. Now I’m making notes, just in case I have to put it down again and not work on it for a while. It’s not a very  good picture. I was trying to get a shot of the front and back cables in the same shot. Turns out I  didn’t really get either of  them.
In the meantime, there has been an awful lot of enjoying this precious little girl going on. She’s spending the afternoon with us. We must be pretty boring company, though, because mostly all she's done is sleep.
I’m linking up to Judy’s On the needles, before going back to spend more time knitting and getting in some more snuggles when this little one wakes up.

On, and almost off, my needles, March 27, 2015

I finally got around to casting Travellers End back on, after ripping it out a month or two ago. I'm almost back to where I was when I ripped it out, except the cables are now going the way they are supposed to, or at least I hope they are. There's a long way to go on this one, but it would be nice to have it finished in time for this years camping season.
And then there's the "almost off" project. The one sock is completely done. The second one needs its toe grafted.... my least favourite job, and it also needs its starting yarn end sewn in.... my second least favourite job. So, it's been sitting and waiting for me to do those two jobs, and then I can count these socks as done. I really like the way the blue colours in the yarn spiralled down the sock. This is a Manos del Uruguay
Alegria yarn, not sure of the colour name. I think it's my favourite sock yarn. The colours are always so much fun, and I never know ahead of time what they are going to do, which keeps the basic sock pattern that I use interesting. I'm linking up to Judy's On the Needles

On my Needles, Feb. 13, 2015

I'm continuing to work on my Travellers End  cardigan. The whole thing is a mushed up on a circular needle that's too short to get a picture of the whole thing, so I just took a shot of the most fun part.... the cable up the back.  And as I just looked at this picture, I've seen that somewhere along the line I've made a huge goof. The cables are supposed to look like the top part all the way down........ rats!!! It looks like there is some serious tinking in my future. And considering I don't know where the mistake started, I might end up having to rip out the whole thing. Looks like I reversed the cable charts somewhere. I say again.... rats!!!!
On a happier, more successful note, I did manage to get a picture of my daughter wearing the finished Cinched rib Cowl. It's a great picture of her, but doesn't really show off the cowl. Don't you love the indulgent, "oh all right, go ahead and take a picture if you must" smile on her face? It's amazing sometimes, how the smiles and expressions we used as adults towards our children end up showing up on our children's faces when they become adults, and are turned back towards us.

And I've started, and almost finished, another sock, using one of the new yarns I got last week. It's a Manos Del Uruguay Alegria yarn, all of which I really enjoy using. They are dyed in such a way that you never know exactly what you're going to get. The blue is spiralling down the leg, and is really quite a lot of fun, but then I am easily amused.
I'm going to link up with Judy's On the Needles, and then I have a decision to make....... do I just bite the bullet, and rip out that whole sweater and
start again, or do I put it in the never to be seen again pile, or try to selectively rip back and try to figure out where I went wrong.


Edit:

Here is my solution......... that sweater is now reduced to a huge ball of yarn. After examining the cable charts and what I had done, I realized that I'd reversed the charts while I was working. They were each on a separate page, and then the instructions for the cabling were on another page. So, while juggling these three pages, I got it mixed up.
  So, I solved that by going to my printer, enlarging the charts, and printing 2 of each. Then, I taped them to some card stock, in the order they are needed as I knit across the sweater. I'm also going to enlarge the explanation of the charts, and tape that to the top. It should be a lot harder to get mixed up this way, and now I'm not juggling 3 different pages. And now........ to start again..............

On my Needles

I haven't done a knitting post in a while, since nothing knitting had been going on. All my time and attention got hijacked by this. But my brain was beginning to turn to mush, so I've spent the last few evenings doing easy, mindless knitting on a pair of socks. All that's left is grafting the toe, and sewing in the end. I bought two balls of this wool, so that I could make sure the stripes matched on each sock. 
I do have a sweater on the go, as well, called Travellers End But it's at a stage where I have to really pay attention to what I'm doing, which doesn't fit the definition of "mindless". I think I'm a row or two away from splitting off the sleeves.
And then, I received a delivery of some fun yarns yesterday, all of which have specific projects planned for them. Wanna see??? First off, came some Cascade 220 to go along with stuff I already had. I have four hanks of the light grey, one of the pink and a couple of the purple. So, I ordered the blue, orange and green to go with the others. these are for a Hay Cove sweater.
Then there's this lovely Manos del Uruguay Allegria sock yarn, which is going to get wound and is going to be my next start for socks. It will be interesting to see what emerges from the way the yarn is dyed. I have made two other pairs of socks using this brand of wool, and they are just so soft and warm.
And then I ordered four hanks of the lighter coloured Malabrigo Rios to go with the leftovers that I had from making my On the Grass sweater. I think these are going to go into a Tea with Jam and Bread. It seems like every time Judy posts a picture of a sweater pattern that she's either working on, or is on her to-to list, I also like the pattern, and put it onto my to-to list. I love how all of us can inspire and encourage each other on our blogs and through the linky parties. So, with that in mind, I'm linking up to Judy's On the Needles. And then, it just might be time to get this day started.

On and off my needles

I have finally gotten around to getting my Carabe sweater blocked. And since I've also finished the Cinched Rib Cowl, I've got it blocking, too. And, I found some buttons today, finally, that should work with the sweater. Once it's all dry, I'll get the buttons onto it, and then I can wear it. And yes, I'll take a picture of me in it. The cowl is for Rebecca, and I'm not too sure how getting a picture of her in it will work, but I'll try.
In the meantime, I was supposed to be starting a pair of socks with the fun yarn that came in the mail at the beginning of the year, however, I sort of got side tracked.








You see, really, it's all Judy's fault. She was talking about having finished not one, but two projects, and how she was looking at different patterns, one was a hat pattern and the other, a sweater. Of course she gave the links for them, and of course, I followed the links.  I always follow the knitting links that Judy finds, and have made a couple of sweaters after following those links. And there are more of the projects found on those links on my favourites list. Anyway, one of them was this fabulous sweater that has really cool cables, and is perfect for a yarn that I've had hanging around for at least a year. It's a Cascade Eco+. I had originally been planning on doing a sweater out of the magazine I received for Christmas, but this new one just couldn't be resisted. The pattern is called Traveller's End. So, the day after casting off the cowl, I purchased the pattern, wound the yarn, and started this sweater. I have yet to figure out how the front cables work. There must be some stitch picking up involved, because all I'm doing right now is the back, and the raglan sleeve shaping. I do read through patterns before beginning them, just to get a brief idea what techniques are involved, but I usually just knit as I come to the instructions. This is a bulky Aran weight yarn, so it should go pretty fast. So, As soon as I finish this post, and link up to Judy's On the Needles, I'm going to go and knit some more.