Progress Report

I am starting Round 69 of 106. It is the last round with two colours until Round 89 - perfect for taking to my knitting groups. I should be able to manage simultaneously yakking and knitting stocking stitch using one colour. 

Once done the body 'tube' I'll have the two sleeves to knit. I'll have to do a bit of math to figure out how frequently to do the increases on the sleeves to get the right armhole depth. But I just deal with one thing at a time.

Little Wee Socks

Fred and I are going to be visiting friends of ours and their new baby, Nate, who was born in November. From what I've seen of him (his photos on Facebook), he is adorable. I knit him this blanket last fall but thought he'd need some more knitwear so I knit him a pair of sport socks to take when we go visit.

 They're nice and warm and soft. Nate's mom will appreciate the washable wool.

I"m on row 62 of 106 on St. Moritz. The two-colour pattern is much less intricate the higher I get on the front. I'll be glad to get the body done as it's starting to get quite cumbersome having it on my lap and having to constantly be turning it as I knit around.

♫ Just Keep Knitting, Just Keep Knitting ♫

I continue to work away on St. Moritz. The town is 200km SE of Zurich, Switzerland. The Dale of Norway sweater has 106 rounds of the color work which comprise the top 2/3 of the body and sleeves.I just finished round 52. This is the official sweater of the Norwegian National Ski Team for the 2003 Alpine World Championship.

Now visible are the 'high snow-covered peaks'. In the centre of the chest is the famous 'Edelweiss flower'. On either side of the flower is the cross from the Swiss flag.

On either side of the body and on both sleeves (one pictured below) the four-leafed rose represents the four languages spoken in Switzerland -- German, French, Italian and Romansch.

It's taking a while to get done, but the two-colour work in each round keeps my interest.  Whenever I get nervous about having to do the steeking for the sleeves, I just put it out of my mind. I will deal with cutting the finished body tube when I get to it.

Oh yeah, and this came in the mail the other day.


It's the little patch that will be stitched onto the left sleeve.












I still have wanted to get my hands on the out-of-print and sold out Dale of Norway Commemorative Issue 8501 featuring Whistler (made popular most recently by the YarnHarlot during the 2010 Knitting Olympics) and 4 other lovely sweater and hat patterns. Whilst reading a posting on the Dale of Norway group on Ravelry, someone suggested e-mailing the company indicating an interest in obtaining a copy of the booklet. The hope was if enough people contacted them, they might reprint that booklet and issue it for sale.

Much to my surprise, I received an e-mail from Larissa at Woolybaabaa.com that the .pdf downloads of this booklet were now available for $10US. Woo hoo! So quick like a bunny I purchased the download and it is now safely stored on my hard drive.

I have now decided that my favourite pattern from this booklet is Le Massif 2004 8501-3. Trees, mountains, ram's horns, snowflakes... what more could one want in an Alpine sweater pattern?

I have got about 1/3 of the Sweet Eleanor hat done using Ravelry red Malabrigo worsted.

I pick it up whenever I need a break from St. Moritz.

St. Moritz... Progressing

The St. Moritz sweater I'm knitting is coming along nicely. I'm knitting the crewneck version but I've been given strict instructions not to make the neck too high or too tight.

Here it is so far. It's knitting up very quickly now that I'm into the colourwork which I find much more interesting than the grey stocking stitch.

I've just started the star pattern at the centre front. Instead of carrying the white yarn all around the round or duplicate stitching, I'm actually able to do an intarsia technique.

Basically, you knit the first round with the background colour and use white yarn where it is required. On the next round, knit the background stitches as required and slip the stitches that should be white, then turn the work and purl the white stitches back where the slipped stitches were left and slipping any background stitches, thus leaving the background yarn beyond the intarsia section and working back with the right yarn to leave it at the beginning of the intarsia section. Once all the white stitches have been purled where the stitches were slipped, leave the white yarn, turn with right side facing and slip all the stitches of the intarsia section until you catch up to the background yarn again and continue the round.

I am doing the XS size, in hopes that it will be about 44" as a finished size. However, it will be more like 46" after all. That will create 7" of positive ease and make it a nice, comfortable sweater. I also shortened the grey stocking stitch by 2" before starting in on the colour work - the row with the red stitches. I am using one of Skip's favourite sweaters for my measurements. I still need to frog the sleeve I knit last week and shorten it by 2" as well. However, if things keep progressing at this rate, I could have the sweater all knit in a week or so.

I was really excited that I found the Dale of Norway St. Moritz patch for sale on eBay and I have ordered it. It will look very spiffy sewn on the left sleeve.

I took my car in to the dealership today for a diagnosis on the creaking sound that developed on the weekend and the squealing brakes. A new strut has been ordered for the front left wheel and a new brake caliper for the left rear brake. I will be without a vehicle tomorrow but hope to get the car back sometime Friday morning. I got a name of a body shop a former colleague recommended so will take the car in for a quote on some rust repair. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be less than $500. I will have had the car for 9 years in June so I'm don't want to put a lot of money into it, but getting these repairs done is a heck of a lot cheaper than having to buy a newer one.

So.... my yarn buying may be curtailed for a while but that's OK, I have several projects on the go that can be finished once St. Moritz is done and I have a couple of other stash-busting ideas in mind.

One in particular is this nifty Red Bird Knits October 2008 Sock of the Month pattern called Latvian Dances I snagged the other day at Never Enough Wool in Port Perry. I have some brightly coloured Kroy socks yarn and some black sock yarn that will be perfect for this pattern. The pattern calls for Arequipa yarn but after my beautiful Embossed Leaves socks felted, I'm reluctant to use it for anything requiring any kind of stitch definition.

Warm Weather! Random Stuff...

We had record-breaking warm weather this weekend. It was so nice to be outside in capri pants about 2 months before it is my usual attire.

On Saturday, I drove into The Big City to have brunch with Alexa, whose vocal recital I attended a couple of weeks ago, and Paul, whom I haven't seen in 16 years. I taught them in the 80s and they both majored in music in university (not that I had much to do with that). Paul attended my alma mater - the centre of all learning in the universe - the University of Western Ontario - and Alexa went to the University of Toronto. It is so nice to just pick up where we left off and get caught up. We had a great time. After eating, we wandered along Bloor St. and helped Paul tackle a few items on his shopping list.

Alexa accosted some kid on the street and asked him to take our picture.  I then bid my farewells and walked over to pick up Scooter at his mom's and we made our way out of the city and home. It is way nicer driving in The Big City on weekends when the traffic is a fraction of its usual volume.

-------

When I step out my front door at home I hear this guy singing his little lungs out.


He's our resident house finch. I love how he looks like he's been dipped in raspberry juice.














---------

On Thursday, the yarn for Skip's St. Moritz sweater was delivered and I started in on the sleeve. I have gauge on the solid stocking stitch but when I go up a needle size for the colourwork it really lengthens the row count.

I'm going to have to re-knit the sleeve eliminating 2" of the grey stocking stitch. Otherwise, they'll just be too long.

I'm also going to not increase as quickly in the sleeves as the pattern calls for (every 4 rounds) so they won't be so wide at the top.



 

I'm very glad I ordered an extra ball of the grey because I'm definitely going to need to use it.

I'm also shortening the body of the sweater by 2". I have about 7" done and will do two more inches before starting the colourwork. The stocking stitch is mind-numbing but I can read while I do it. I'll be really glad to start into the colourwork, though.

I watched a whole bunch of videos on how to do steeks and am fairly confident that I'll do an adequate job. I'll just "measure twice and cut once".

Look What I Made!

I've been wanting custom labels to sew into some of the knitting items I completed. While reading someone's blog, I came across this tutorial by Grumperina on how to make custom labels. All you need is iron-on transfer paper, an inkjet printer, a hot iron (no steam), satin ribbon (I used 7/8" but thinner would work, too) and Fray Check (I couldn't find mine so I used clear nail polish).

 They were easy-peasy to make once I got the hang of figuring out how to print a mirror image (Printer settings/Properties/Basics/Mirror Image) and also peeling off the transfer paper while the label was hot. I think they'll be an excellent and inexpensive way to personalize my knitted items. The recipient's name could be put on the label as well as the washing instructions (see bottom label).

Yarn Crawl this Saturday

Five Durham Region yarn shops are having a Yarn Crawl this weekend on April 10, 2010. Basically it's like an open house where yarn is discounted for the day.

Participating shops are:

• Myrtle Station Wool & Ferguson's Knitting in Myrtle Station (9585 Baldwin St. - a few houses north of the railroad tracks) on Hwy 12 north of Brooklin,  
• Kniterary - the green house at 299 Brock St. N., 2 blocks of the four corners (Dundas and Brock St.) in Whitby on the SE corner,  
• On The Lamb in Uxbridge at 53 Toronto St. N.,  
• Soper Creek Yarn in Bowmanville and  
• Never Enough Wool in Port Perry at 16 Water St.

Myrtle Station Wool and On The Lamb are offering a 20% discount that day. So if you've been waiting for a sale to enhance your stash or stock up on yarn for that special project, April 10th may be your day. I'm not sure what the discounts will be at the other shops but I'm sure they'll make it worth your while.