by Kat | Apr 26, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
Is it just me, or did April just bolt past at record speed? Anyways, we find ourselves at our last Wednesday in April… boo! But, it has been a good month!
Recently, I have had some great questions and some even better discussions that all were not privy to all… so I thought since they are knitting related, I’d talk about my responses here!
First, the questions:
First, José asked some very good questions regarding last Friday’s post…
I thought I’d break down her questions individually:
She worries that a skirt will wear more on the bottom (no, not that bottom, the sitting bottom…i.e. your butt…) and that is a great concern. Having knit a skirt that I wore the heck out of… I can happily say that that yarn (Elsbeth Lavold’s Silky Wool) wore extremely well! No sitting sags, ever. No wear on the backside… ever. Silk and wool… excellent choice. Next she asks would a merino/cotton blend hold… I think there would be more bagging on the backside with cotton/wool. I have knit 3 sweaters with Holst Garn Coast… all with the yarn held double… and eventually I get “elbow bags” in the sleeves. So, yes – I think it will eventually get a “saggy bottom” perhaps quicker than the sleeves get elbow bags. However, the plus for Coast is that with a wash, it is like a “just knit” garment! Sans bags and sags! And it wears well… Coast is a yarn that resists pilling but when it does, they are few and easy to remove!
Then Vera and I got to talking about yarns and the knitting of that skirt and the conversation went in a bit of a different direction… I began to think more about the “no saggy bottom” of the Silky Wool and started to think about Holst Garn’s Tides… their silk/wool blend. I have knit a sweater with this and I love it. (Granted, it has no sleeves so I am guessing at the sag factor) but I think it would work beautifully for a skirt! I would knit a denser fabric than I did on that first skirt eons ago (I had to be careful what color underwear I wore…just sayin’.) But I think Nell has knit her skirt at a denser gauge as well (worsted yarn knit on a US5, I believe)… I’d also recommend knitting a large swatch….like 40 or 50 stitches across large! I was recently reminded by the brilliant Julia Farwell-Clay here… Sometimes you need a BIG swatch so that you can really see and feel the fabric! (It makes a huge difference!)
After all that thought… I will be ordering some Tides to knit mine! (And yes, Vera… held double!) Who’s up for a bit of a KAL on this skirt? Anyone in?
Now about about a brief knitting update:
I completed another pair of socks! What? I know… it is a record for me! I have another pair of socks that I started eons ago but never finished (Hermoine’s Socks) and they are coming with me on vacation…starting May with a new pair of socks to tuck away for a chilly November seems like a delightful thing to do for future me!
I also have been fastidiously knitting away on a Gnome House! Theoretically, I’d like to have it done before we leave on Thursday afternoon… and then I can do some stitching on it! But, that is not likely… and that’s okay. But really, those socks will be more than enough! (I don’t knit much on vacation!)
It has been a (very) slow reading week for me. I am more than halfway through Babel and so far, so good! I know some of you thought the start was better than the middle, but I am staying engaged… it has an excellent narrator and I am enjoying it.
I have also circled back to thinking about Dani Shapiro’s Signal Fires when I got a copy of Edward Hirsch’s The Night Parade. I have been reading it… oh gosh. I am feeling all the “Ben Vibes” … and it is such a perfect place to be! (be thankful the poems in it are all too long for Poem in Your Pocket Day! LOL)
At night, I am still reading The Covenant of Water… yes, still. I am so close the the end that I just need to sit down and finish it (not at night when I instantly fall asleep!) I have some incentive to finish, I just got Sarah Winman’s Tin Man from the library and I want to read it… now! (and I just got approved for another Netgalley book… so I have my vacation reading plan!)
And I think that is enough for this final Wednesday in April! What about you? How did April feel for you all?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Apr 19, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
On Sunday, I had 3 sweatshirts and a skirt that were all ready for the sewing… and this morning, I just have one last sweatshirt to go!
I have sewed both versions of Sew House Seven’s Toaster Sweater and I love both of them! The directions are clear, concise, and with their usual tips for a more professional finished product! I really love their patterns!
Version One is the more sweatshirt-ish of the two and the fit is fabulous. There is a collar, but it is not tight or restricting… and it has super generous cuffs! I got a couple of traditional sweatshirt fabrics that have a nice weight but are not stiff feeling at all.
Version Two is the dressier version, which I made with French Terry. I was not sure about the neckline, but it works! It is relaxed but not sloppy looking at all. The only thing I will change on the next one I sew is to make the sleeve a tiny bit wider at the cuff.
I also sewed Sew House Seven’s free Cosmo Skirt and I tried it with a somewhat sturdy rib knit. I was worried about the fit on a slim, straight skirt, so I took *many* different measurements and graded the pattern accordingly. I was skeptical about this fitting well… it is a super simple construction – two side seams and a waistband. It worked better than I expected, but I don’t think it would have with a lighter weight fabric (or at least not on my body!)
I have one final sweatshirt to sew and I will finish it up this morning! I have barely knit a stitch, but I did manage a few rounds on the second Red Sock (and since I took the picture, I managed a few more rounds and am about to begin the heel flap!)
On the reading front, I bailed on Tomorrow X3… I know many of you loved this book, but it was not for me… which is fine, there is not a shortage of books for me to read, so I moved on to a book that President Obama loved, After Lives by Abdulrazak Gurnah and it was the perfect book for me right now! I have about an hour to go (I am listening to it) and both the story and the narration are very good!
At night, I am still (yes, still!) working my way through The Covenant of Water, but I am close to completion… and it is getting better (although it is still LONG! IMO, it could use a good bit of editing) but the story has picked up, and I am again eager to see where this all ends up!
That is all for me today… back to the sewing machine for me! What about you? What is commanding your attention this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Apr 12, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!
It is the week for finished objects in my house… the reason for that is rage-knitting. Although, I hear some of you are rage-weeding and I have done some weeding, but in spurts… perhaps not enough spurts because there are still weeds in my yard.
But my rage-knitting has been productive! I have finished my Handspun Sweater, finished Steve’s Pi-Socks, and finished a long forgotten in-process sock that I found in my “vacation knitting bag” which I pulled out in anticipation for our Erie trip later this month. It now has space for some “vacation knitting” and I hope to have this pair of socks completed before we leave for Erie!
Finish 1:
Pi-Socks, done and they fit!
Finish 2:
I have not been this happy about a finished sweater in a long time. The fit is good, I love the saddle to raglan shoulder treatment… it is so perfect. The bottom band is not snug… at all. It has nice drape, but it is not too baggy. And the turtleneck… oh my! It is perfect. Not too big, not too tight… it is just right! This will be a sweater I wear LOTS. And it is a sweater I plan on knitting again. Perhaps all the options it offers!
Finish 2.5:
Rox-man… you will have to put on the red socks!
And… I have picked my next “Big Project” as well… I have had this skein of Briar Rose Fibers (now discontinued) Angel Face for eons in my stash.. I bought it because I could not resist the colors… and the Angel Face halo. This pattern from Anne Hanson crossed my path over the weekend and I have not stopped thinking about it… and yesterday morning the pattern and the skein of Angel Face merged into a project.
I think these are the perfect Thistle colors!
So I have some “round and round” knitting for when I need it and as soon as I can wind off the skein of Angel Face, I will have some “engage your brain” lace chart knitting!
In case you think all that knitting means that there has been no reading this week… ha! Think again! I finished a couple of books this week… Love & Saffron (which I loved, but wished it was so much longer!!) and Fight Night, which I also loved… deeply. I paused reading The Covenant of Water to devour Fight Night but now I am back to it… I have read about 3/4’s of it and it is long… it feels even longer. I am hoping that something in the last quarter picks up and reinvigorates it for me because right now, I am not loving it. My daytime listen is Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I am enjoying it… but not really loving it… yet. I am not quite halfway, and I hope it will move beyond where I feel like it is going. I know many of you really loved the book and I hope I will too!
Whew, that is all I have for today… what about you? Are you rage-knitting? Joy-knitting? Escape-reading? Do.Tell.All!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Apr 5, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!
I have completed the first quarter of my Temperature Embroidery! This project is simply delightful and March had some days with very close high and low temperatures…which made for some interesting wheels! And I am looking forward to changing April temperatures to see what new colors will be introduced this month!
Gnormanda and Gnibbles busy prepping for Easter!
And with days to spare, I have a completed Easter Gnome! Gnormanda and her delightful assistant, Gnibbles! Gnibbles gathers the eggs and Gnormanda does the dying! I am happy with how she turned out… I tweaked the pattern a bit, giving her short sleeves with matching ruffles on each one. And I modified the nose instructions to create some gnome-sized eggs! Gnibbles was based on this (free) pattern and I used one strand of Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply and one strand of KSH. The “ear bend” was achieved with a plastic twist tie… it worked perfectly, especially since the ears are knit flat and seamed. It sounds fussier than it was, the bunny pattern is well written.
I am still knitting Pi-Sock Two… but have reached the toe decreases…so it will be completed soon! Good thing because I have another pattern ready to cut out!
The reading this week though, it is all so engaging! I continue to be submersed in An Immense World by Ed Yong. It is so fascinating and I am almost done with it (I will finish it today) and at night I am reading The Covenant of Water. I am about half way through and have very mixed feelings about it but I will forge on.
I am also reading an actual book… In Memory of Memory… which started off a bit slowly, but I have settled in with it nicely. It is beautiful writing and a very thought provoking story as a niece goes through her deceased aunt’s apartment, which is full of so many things… each stirs a memory. There are some memories that are wonderful, others that… well, are not so wonderful, but perhaps those memories are the most significant. I am almost done… and then I will begin a book that recently came on my radar thanks to NPR’s Book of The Day review of Beaverland!
And that is all I have for today, what about you? What are you happy you finished this week … either a project or a book?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you! See you all tomorrow with some Poetry!
by Kat | Mar 15, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
By March, the worst of the winter would be over. The snow would thaw, the rivers begin to run and the world would wake into itself again.
Not that year.
Winter hung in there, like an invalid refusing to die. Day after grey day the ice stayed hard; the world remained unfriendly and cold. ― Neil Gaiman, Odd and the Frost Giants
It has been an unsettled week… the weather, the attempts at sleeping, and, yes, even the making. A week of one failure after another.
I was so excited to knit Steve some Pi Socks… and I had a rousing good start using a pattern I have knit many times before. Now, don’t get me wrong… I love the Pi Yarn, but it is a bit finer than other sock yarns. My start was less than stellar… way too loose. So I ripped back and went down a needle size and cast on again. Much better… a nice sturdy sock fabric. Except, I did not heed the voice telling me these were gonna be way to freaking small… nope, I just knit on to the heel flap and the gussets. By now the voice was loud telling me to stop and at least have Big Foot try them on.
As you can see, I ripped again… sigh. Same smaller needles but this time with more stitches on them… and I am very much paying attention to my inner knitter voice, although it has been quiet now…of course! Ha!
As you can see above, I did finish my Base12 Hitchhiker… 40 teeth and it is perfect! Soft, warm, utterly wearable! I wore it to Trader Joe’s on Sunday and the delightful check out clerk asked a million questions about it! He is a new knitter and it was so fun to talk knitting!
Kym’s darling daughter is calling this “whimsy-noir” and I think that is absolutely perfect!
The painting this week though… I was so stressed over trying… scared… silly, I know! All kinds of new techniques… and an encouragement to “mix our own colors” (which I think is the part that stymies me) instead, I used the color palette the teacher used, and once I got my “initial wash” on, I turned off the lesson and just painted. I had so much fun…I mean SO MUCH FUN! It was exactly what I needed in a week of miserable weather, miserable sleeping, and miserable knitting!
The reading this week though… oh my. It was a week that I have been profoundly grateful for the escape that books can give.
I have started another Netgalley book (Bonny read it a couple of weeks ago) and I am LOVING it! It is an interesting story format…but one I am really enjoying. I have finished the “first two stories” and am well into the third. This is the excerpt from the publisher:
One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”
I am loving every bit of it and good thing because sleep this week has been… elusive… sigh.
In my ears during the day I have just begun Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy… the start is good and I can’t wait to see where it goes!
What about you all? How is your making this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
