Something Old, Something New

The something old is knitting related.

Back in March, I started a pullover pattern that was casual, comfortable, and fun. I cast on with no real deadline or thought as to how long it would take to finish because I live in South Texas. Thus, I have no real need for a sweater until, maybe, December.

Knitting has become the preferred sit back and relax activity that I do primarily on a love seat tucked away in the bedroom at the end of the day. Occasionally, I have a portable project that I can knit on during lunch at the office. Lately, the free time I have had has been devoted to the two looms in the studio.

Last night, I finished the body of the sweater.

As I mentioned in the original post, I was converting the pattern from an A-line body to basically a rectangle due to my own proportions (larger on top, two-plus sizes smaller on bottom). In theory, my numbers were going to work out, but I was a bit apprehensive until the shoulders were seamed, and I was able to try it on.

YAY!

Now, you will have to excuse the sad state of all the unwoven ends. I was not convinced things were going to work out, so if I needed to frog, it would be less painful this way.

Of course, it has not been washed or blocked, as she is in progress.

There is an I-cord binding that goes along the bottom hem. She needs sleeves and a cowl neck, as well, but I think she is looking pretty good!

If you are wondering about the pink yarn, those are life lines. 

Anyone who has taken any of my knitting classes, particularly lace or sweater related, know that lifelines are big for me.  In this case, I was unconcerned about picking up stitches in the event of a mistake, but I wanted to make it easier and more reliable for me to measure from the bottom of the armhole up.

This sweater is knit from the bottom up.  The instructions reflect that once the piece measure x-inches from the cast-on up, it is time to divide the front from the back, as well as create armholes.

The pattern also uses the bottom of the armhole up to measure the length one needs to knit before finishing each of the four shoulders (two for the front and two for the back - they meet at the top of the shoulders).

I have always found it easier to run a lifeline (in contrasting yarn that is also smaller in diameter to that which I am knitting) through the live stitches on my needles before dividing the front/back and creating the bottom of the armholes because the top of the shoulder pieces are not directly over the armholes for obvious reasons. The fuchsia yarn, in this instance, did a great job of helping me measure accurately. 

As for something new, since I watched that Norwegian Slow TV thing (same link for the sweater above), I have had an inkling of a desire to learn to spin, something that I have never, ever been interested in before.

On Friday afternoon, I dashed over to Lucky Ewe Yarn and acquired a drop spindle and some roving.

After a little time with a couple of YouTube tutorials, I spent the evening spinning on that drop spindle.  Once I had a good bit on the spindle, I decided to try to ply two strands together:

And, I made some yarn!

Note, I spun way too tightly.  This came out more like stiff cording than easy to knit yarn, but I think I have an idea of how it is done, as well as how to correct my newbie mistakes.

We shall see where this leads...

God Bless those who have served this great land and the families who have always supported them.

Hope your Memorial Day weekend is a good one!