Wingspan Progress

It's going and going and going. I'm on triangle 10, and I think there is enough yarn to do 11, then just some garter stitch rows in the middle to finish off. I love working with the Kauni yarn, but all the garter stitch sure gets boring fast. We've had year end concerts for Henry for the last two  nights and this is great concert knitting.

In case you missed Rascal, here he is with his birthday gift, Wilbur. Wilbur is long and skinny, just like Rascal was when we first got him. Now he has big boy muscles and a cookie belly.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog and leave me a comment! 

Progressing, Mending

Not much going on around here in the knitting front. Plaited Poncho is marching along, the rows are much longer and the cables more complicated. I think I have two or three cable rows left, but depend on how much yarn I have left and how long the poncho is, I might add another set of cables. I messed up a cable row somewhere in the middle. I'm too lazy to rip back, will have to find some way to disguise it as "design feature".

Many knitters don't like seaming, for me, it's the mending. I have a few things sitting in the corner of my closet, and I try not to look at them, which makes them stare back harder.

First, the very pretty lavender Heather pullover (aka Bust Enhancer). There were two glass charms came with the kit, and I managed to lose one of them in the last wearing. I bought replacements, and they have all been sitter there waiting for "when I have time".

And then there is this cute cabled baby sweater, that I'm sure I made for SOMEONE. Apparently the baby has been fine without it, because I never bothered to sew on buttons.

Mending commercial knitwear is even more trying. This is a beautiful purple cashmere sweater, and I managed to put two holes in it. To mend it, I have to take the sweater out to some place like Michael's, find the perfectly matching purple embroidery thread. Come home, find the tiny needles I don't usually use, find a good time during the day so as I can see the tiny thread, and sew the silly holes together stitch by stitch. I'm sure I'll be happy when I get the sweater back, but I don't look forward to the process.

Now, what's your relationship with mending?

Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog and leave me a comment! 

Let's Talk about Cable Needle

I usually cable free hand -- without a cable needle. It's a skill I learned when I was very young, probably right after casting on and knit stitch, as my mom believes a sweater is not complete until there is a nice fat cable running the entire length. I can easily do up to 4x4 in any variations, slip the stitches off, knit the next set of stitches, slip the dropped stitches back on, knit. The only time in the recent years I had to use a cable needle was for one of the squares in Great American Aran Afghan, where the cable had three layers with one stitch between the two sets crossing.

The Plaited Poncho I'm working on has a smart design. The increases are worked into the cables, so in every set of cable there is an increase between the crossing. The increases are completely invisible, and the poncho grows bigger every few rows. The cables start at 2x2, go up to 7x7 towards the bottom. I was able to free-hand the cables till 5x5 when a stitch dropped and I had to fish it up with a crochet hook. No more hero, here comes my treasured designer wooden cable needle. 

What's your experience with cable needle? Do you have a favorite one? If you want to try free hand, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to show different ways. Of course, that means one less gadget to play with.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog and leave me a comment! 

Wingspan Progress

Project:  Wingspan
Pattern:  Wingspan by maylin Tri'Coterie Designs, Ravelry free download 

Yarn:  Kauni 8/2 wool, about sports weight, purchase at Stitches West 2011
Yardage:   437.4 yards (400 meters)
Needles: Size 6
Cast on: April 19, 2012 

Notes: You thought you'd never see this! I'm about half way done. The Kauni yarn is fun to work with, the long stripes is truly "one of a kind". There are many very creative variations on Ravelry. I'm already thinking about how to make it in different yarns, as a stash buster.

Rascal turns two years old on Saturday, and this is what we are going to do to him. Yes, he'll be a little skeptical, but nothing can't be cured by a little birthday cake and ice cream.

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment! 

New Project: Plaited Poncho

Project:  Plaited Poncho
Pattern:  Plaited Poncho by Knitter's Design Team, Knitters Magazine Summer 2005 

Yarn:  Big green ball of (probably) wool found in my stash, most likely came from eBay
Yardage:   about 900 yards. The ball was wound off a big cone, weighs smidgen below 1lb.
Needles: Size 8
Cast on: April 25, 2012 

Notes: My main project is supposed to be Wingspan. (I am working on it even tho I haven't posted a picture here. I forgot to take a progress picture today, just what happens when I have two projects going at the same time.) But Wingspan is all garter stitch, so of course I have to cast on another project to keep me engaged so I don't doze off while knitting (have done that before and didn't drop a stitch). The yarn has been in my stash for a few years. Bucky was in the picture for sizing. No I didn't put him there, he'd have wiggled his way out if I made him stay. More likely I was trying to shove him out of the way so he decided to lie down and take a nap. I don't usually like "Knitter's Design Team" patterns, but I was looking for something very specific -- top down garment with cables in DK to worsted weight yarn, but gives me the variation to make it shorter or longer depend on the among of yarn I have. This fits what I was looking for.