Ashfield Cardigan: Division for the Sleeves

Over the weekend I got to the point in the cardigan where I got to set aside the stitches for the sleeves. I always love this point when making a top down raglan because it's when I feel that the project actually starts to look like a sweater. So I got a little thrill of excitement when I got to that point and especially a few rows later when I can really see the shaping.

So then I'm supposed to knit two inches after the underarm before starting the shaping for the waist. I'm almost to that point. But before I start shaping, I want to get some measurements from myself to see if that's the best place to do the shaping. So that is my next step for today.

I also finished up the first ball of yarn (that's the point when I took the above picture) and have started the second (wrestling once again with my errant ball winder). That, too, makes me feel like I'm a good ways into this project. Hopefully I'll get in some good knitting time this evening when the baby goes to bed.

Quick Picture and Self-Reminder

No knitting time today (I used the brief time that I had today for some sewing) alas. But I did look at the pictures on my camera and I had forgotten that I had taken a picture of my gauge swatch in progress for the Ashfield Cardigan, so I thought that I would post that.

I also remembered that there was something that happened that I forgot to write about and I want to note it just as a reminder for myself. I need a new ball winder. My current ball winder has pretty much given up the ghost. Last year I was winding some difficult yarn and I think I stripped the gears in the winder or something to that effect. Ever since, it doesn't wind smoothy: sometimes when I turn the handle, I hear a horrible grinding noise and it doesn't take up any yarn. So winding balls of yarn has been less fun this past year. And winding just one skein of yarn to start the Ashfield was nearly torturous. For the last fourth of the skein, I just took it off the ball winder and wound it by hand because I was so frustrated with the ball winder. So I definitely need to make sure to remember to get a new one before I need to wind more yarn.

Finding Time to Knit

So last night I did indeed get through working on a swatch for the Ashfield Cardigan. I'll be honest. I rarely ever do swatches for projects. I know that I'm a fairly tight knitter, so I often use a size larger needle (unless the called for size seems right to me for that particular yarn) and just start the project. Most of what I've made fits just fine but there have been a couple of projects that probably would have benefited from doing a test swatch first.

So for my swatch for this cardigan, I went ahead and started up a needle size. The pattern called for size 4. With the MCN yarn that I'm using, it's very "plump" and I just really felt that a 4 would make the fabric too tight. If that was truly what got gauge, then I was going to need to choose another yarn for this pattern because this wouldn't be a good match. So I started with a size 5. And that seems to have worked. When I measured my swatch, I was pleased to see that I match both stitch gauge as well as row gauge (I often don't get row gauge and have to make some adjustments in projects). So I started in on the pattern.

The cardigan uses a raglan shape and starts at the neck. I've gotten down through row 8 on the lace chart, which starts after a bit of working on the neck. I didn't measure what I have and my WIP is out in the front room and I'm in the back of the house, but I think that's about a bit over an inch of the cardigan started. It doesn't yet look like much since it's still just a long piece that rolls back onto itself. But I'm loving the feel of the yarn and the fabric feels pretty good, although perhaps a bit tight (it's that "plump" MCN). I hope it will drape nicely. I'll be able to tell that better as I go along.

Now to the title of the post. Before I had my son, I would have considered today's progress rather meager. "I didn't get much time to knit today," I would have said. After having a baby, I consider today's progress to be really great. "I found quite a bit of time to knit today," is my new saying. But very little of that time was an extended period. Instead, I had my knitting out and available all day and whether my son was sleeping, I grabbed it and knit as much as I could. Sometimes that was half a row and sometimes it was more. And I got a decent chunk of time in after putting him to bed for the night. This is my new knitting life and it's not too shabby. I just have to make sure to keep track of where I am in the pattern so that I won't get messed up and have to frog back.

How does it feel to knit like this, in bits of time grabbed here and there? Sure, part of why I started knitting was to relax and have something to give me a break from the stress of grad school. Can knitting like this still be relaxing? Absolutely. Although I have one eye on the knitting and one eye on my son to see if he's still asleep, I do find myself unwinding during these moments that I caught today. I think it's like sleep after having a baby: your body starts to adjust to not getting long periods of sleep and also learns to fall asleep quickly when a moment for sleep does arrive. Although I'm still tired on some days, I'm surviving with the broken sleep (sometimes my son wakes once during the night and sometimes every hour or two), heck thriving even. My knitting life can do the same. And by doing so, I can actually have a knitting life. It just might take me a bit longer to finish the cardigan than it would have before having a baby. Or maybe not as I often got sidetracked on other projects. Now my focus is on one project (with perhaps one other project) at a time which might lead to more finished objects and fewer works in progress. So perhaps everything will actually even out in the end.

New Year, Newish Blog Purpose

I've been using this blog just to post the finished projects I've made. Basically, I keep all of my notes on my project page on Ravelry and then when a project is finished, I just copy those notes, add a few pictures, and post here. There have been a few times that I thought about writing posts about knitting or what I'm currently working on, but I didn't because this blog was, in my mind, just for finished project posts. But why? Just because that's what I've done in the past doesn't mean that I have to continue that in the future. And so I am taking this blog in a slightly new direction. Not entirely new, because it will still be about me and my knitting, but it will be about my entire knitting life and not just finished projects. So with that in mind, here are some of my current thoughts on my knitting life.

Wait, knitting life? What life? I had a beautiful baby boy in August and my knitting life has definitely taken a nose dive since then. I just don't have as much time to knit as before and I don't have as much time to get into intricate projects (such as lace shawls) because I don't have the luxury of uninterrupted concentration time. So what little knitting I've done has consisted of very simple projects. I also haven't used my spinning wheel since my son was born (that's something else this blog will do--given that I have any time to spin--I'll also talk about spinning). Now, I don't want to give up any time with my son and don't feel bad that I'm spending time with him instead of knitting. But I do feel the desire to do something really intricate with knitting.

Now that my son is 4 months old, he's starting to take longer naps (sometimes) and go to bed an hour or two before me (sometimes). I plan to use those times, when he is sleeping, to get some knitting time in and time that I can use to perhaps create something that does more than just use stockinette or ribbing. So I'm spending this evening (my son is napping right now) planning out some of my future knitting ideas. I've gone through my queue on Ravelry and have pulled up some of the projects that as of right now get me excited. I'm going to list them here and pick one and then after I'm finished with this post, I will go wind the yarn and print the pattern and find the correct needles (swatching if necessary). If I actually get started on the project tonight, that would be great, but I'm going to make my goals small each day so that I can be able to meet them and feel happy when I exceed them (instead of disappointed when I don't meet them). So here are the projects I'm currently contemplating.

Evenstar Shawl: This shawl is circular and done in a lace weight yarn. As soon as I came across the pattern (it went into my queue on December 2, 2010), I knew that I had to knit it. And I bought yarn specifically for it: JulieSpins Vera Lace in True Blue. Can't you just see that beautiful yarn and beautiful shawl matched up together? I haven't done a circular shawl yet, so this would be something new. And the lace pattern really seems like it will match with my desire to do something intricate.

© Susan Pandorf

Trellis and Vine Pullover: This pattern came out in the Fall 2009 issue of Interweave Knits. I love the detail around the bottom, neck, and wrists. Although the pattern calls for DK weight yarn, I had in my stash some lovely MadTosh Eyre (worsted weight) in Lapis that I immediately pictured the sweater being knit in. So my plan (since January 8, 2010) has been to swatch this and see if I can get gauge for this sweater in my yarn.

© Interweave Press

Herbivore by Stephen West: I love the way that Stephen West designs look. And yet I have knit only one of his patterns (Akimbo). I really need to do more. And the shape of this shawl is appealing. I've also had it queued for a while: since June 1, 2010. I picked up some Malabrigo Sock in Solis on May 27, 2010, so I must have queued the pattern for this yarn in particular just a few days after I got it.

© westknits

Celtic Knot Stole by Sarah Kendra Hughes: Okay, so the name of this one definitely caught me, as well as the look, but it was not the pattern itself that I was first attracted to. Instead, it was some yarn. In the summer of 2010, I went on an Alaskan cruise and one stop was in Victoria, British Columbia, a town I fell in love with. There were several yarn stores there and I found this Skacel Merino Lace yarn in this gorgeous green and picked it up with no project in mind. So I started searching on Ravelry and that's when I found this stole. I thought it would look exquisite in the green and have had it queued since August 1, 2010.

Mediumweight Pullover by Hannah Fettig: I made the lightweight pullover a few years ago and I love it. I wouldn't mind making that pattern again, but then I saw that the designed put out a pattern of the same design but in a different weight of yarn. I've had this MadTosh Pastoral in Nocturne sitting around since December 30, 2009. I've been pattern jumping with it, but thought that to really highlight the beautiful yarn, this simple yet elegant pullover pattern would be perfect and have had it queued since December 25, 2010.

© Hannah Fettig

Pom Pom Peds: I don't like the pom poms. I'll just start off with that. But I do like the ankle socks. I've had it queued since October 14, 2011, but I have not yet matched up yarn for it. Actually, my plan is to make several pairs of these. And I have more than enough fingering weight yarn lying around to do so.

© Purl Soho

Miss Bennet's Beaded Bag by Joanna Johnson: When Jane Austen Knits came out, I fell in love with quite a few patterns and definitely have some great knitting plans for that special magazine issue. This pattern, besides just liking it, will do two things for me: first, I will be able to try some Spud and Chloe yarn, which I've been wanting to do and second, I could try my hand at adding beads to my knitting. The one downfall with starting this one is that I don't have the beads. I'll need to fix that and get some beads so that I can start this one.

© Interweave Press

Pemberley Slippers by Kristi Schueler: Another pattern from Jane Austen Knits. I love the lace edging. And sport weight yarn? Why I have some in a colorway named for a Jane Austen character (Plucky Knitter MCN Sport in Captain Wentworth). Matching these two up seemed great (so what if I'm mixing books: Pride and Prejudice with Persuasion).

© Interweave Press

Ashfield Cardigan by Melissa LeBarre: Finally, this cardigan is from the New England Knits book. I loved so many of the patterns in this book but this is one I definitely want to make. The yarn (JulieSpins MCN 250 in Veritas) has been sitting in my stash since November 8, 2009. I bought it originally for another pattern, but I think that I'll like it as this cardigan better and have had it queued since August 5, 2011.

© Interweave

So now which one do I pick? Do I go with the yarn I really want to use? The pattern I really want to make? The item I'm most immediately going to use? The one that has been queued the longest? The yarn that has been in my stash the longest? I think I'll actually pick two projects. First, the Pom Pom Peds (minus the pom poms) because I haven't done socks in a while and it will be a pretty simple project. Now I just need to go through my fingering weight yarn and pick something. Then I think I'll do the Ashfield Cardigan because I'd like to be able to wear it before the weather gets too warm and also because I want to knit a pattern from a book since I have all these books on my shelf that I always forget to check out when I'm looking for patterns (I usually just search on Ravelry).

So I have about 40 minutes before I plan to go to bed. That should be enough time to get the Ashfield Cardigan started: yarn wound, pattern read, needles picked out, and hopefully swatch started. Any leftover time I'll spend picking out yarn for the ankle socks. Unless the baby wakes, which is entirely possible as he's making a lot of movement right now (watching him on the video baby monitor). So we'll see what happens for the rest of this evening.

Christmas Gifts: Summer Winds

I was waiting to post about these two projects until after Christmas but then I got a little busy and still didn't post, so here are the details of two much delayed projects: Summer Wind II and III.

November 15: I really liked the one I made for myself so I decided to make one for my sister for Christmas.

December 1: This time I bound off with a needle two sizes larger and it was so much better than my first Summer Wind. I’m really happy with how this turned out and I hope my sister likes it.

December 16: This one is for my mother-in-law. By this point, I pretty much have this pattern memorized. Such an easy yet elegant project!

Pattern: Summer Wind by Irishgirlieknits (available for purchase on Ravelry)
Yarn for Sister's Summer Wind: Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Ponder Dusk
Yarn for MIL's Summer Wind: Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in the November 2011 Dream Club color