I finally just pulled out the purple sweater and ripped the sucker out. Now you see it…
Now you don’t…
One piece of advice. No matter how nice a sewn cast-off looks, I don’t recommend it if you ever plan on ripping it out. That took for…… ever….. But, once I got the cast-offs out I made quick work of the sweater with my ball winder. Only occasionally hit a few snags due to the alpaca in the yarn. The stockinette parts were much easier to rip out than the seed stitch borders. There were a few places were the yarn caught and broke, so I do have a couple smaller balls. What was really nice is once I got the yarn reskeined and into the bath, it came out beautifully. You would never know that it had been previously knitted.
Now, I just need to knit up a swatch to determine needles and size to be knit. New sweater here I come!
I have been contemplating ripping out my 2006 Olympic sweater. I had knit Knitting Pure & Simple’s Neckdown V-Neck Shaped Cardigan in Rowan Felted Tweed. Amazing enough I managed to finish it in the 16 days of the Olympics, thus winning myself a gold medal (unlike this last time when failed miserably). Here’s a terrible cell phone picture of it the first time I wore it.
It was a nice enough sweater, but it had some problems. The sleeves, although I had measured them diligently and multiple times, came out short. The confusing part there is they are the length of other sleeves I have worn (I had measured a sweater I liked), and yet when I wear it the sleeves are too short. The sweater length could be a little longer, too. There is way too much fabric in the underarms, and yet, somehow, not quite enough for the bust. I’ve also never been happy with the bottom portion of the sleeves — I didn’t switch from the circular needle to DPNs at the right time and there’s a section of knitting that is wonky with stretched out stitches. But, most importantly, I just don’t wear it anymore because of all of these problems.
I still have 4 unused balls of the Felted Tweed that I didn’t use when knitting this sweater. Not enough for a sweater on their own. But, if I were to rip out this poor, sad, old sweater to add to the unused balls, I do believe I would have enough yarn to knit myself a Tempest. This would be good, because I need a nice, simply cardigan that fits to wear for work. (I have my Ribby Cardi and my Mr. Greenjeans, but they both need repairs and are showing some age; plus both are raglans, which I am beginning to believe are not a good fit for me.)
I have been inspired by Deb’s recent reknit. I want to give this good yarn a happier future (and myself a wearable sweater). It might even give me something to blog about. 
So, I’m knitting up a tiny preemie cardigan. And I’ve already knit a hat and booties in normal baby size. But, now I’m realizing that a yarn I have in my stash that I didn’t originally use for a baby gift because I thought it was not superwash may indeed be superwash — Lisa Souza Merino Hardtwist in Spumoni. (For some reason, the skein I have is a completely different color from the Spumoni on Lisa’s website. Mine’s a yellow, green and pink mix while the one on her website is teal, grey, and purple…. weird.) This is why I’m thinking my skein may not be superwash if something changed along the way. It’s a skein I picked up at a yarn swap in January, so my memory is a little foggy about it, and it’s at home and I’m still at work (*shhh*).
Anyway, if my skein does turn out to be superwash, I thought it would be nice to knit my friend a normal sized baby sweater as the little girl won’t be preemie sized forever. I’ve knit EZ’s Baby Surprise Jacket once before and thought it was a great, fast knit. But, now I’m also considering EZ’s Feburary Baby Sweater to make things exciting with a little lace. I am flip-flopping between the two. Thankfully, this isn’t a rush. i’ve got the hat and booties and the preemie cardigan should be done quickly (which is good because I believe my friend may be coming to a work potluck on Tues. and I could give them to her then).
So… opinions. Should I go with the magic that is the BSJ? Or should I try something new and knit the February Baby Sweater?
I’d be amazed if you do… I started it in Oct. Here’s a sort of updated picture…
All but one side and arm stitched up. Well, it’s been finished since I took this picture a couple days ago, but I haven’t been able to get a picture of the finished product yet. Since Le Bete Noir has been finished, I casted on this…
The Wool Peddler’s Shawl
I’m beginning to think that sleeves never end. At least they look like sleeves.
I’ve been feeling kind of blah towards knitting this last week… hence the reason there hasn’t been much here. I doesn’t help that my right wrist has been bothering me. Thankfully, my brace, ice, and BenGay have been close friends, and they work. The funny thing is it’s not actually my wrist that’s the problem, it’s my elbow. The tendons in my forearm pull it out of place and pressure is placed on my ulnar nerve, which makes my wrist and ring and pinky fingers ache and tingle. I have an exercise from my chiropractor that I usually forget to do until things hurt. The only thing that really makes it feel better is not knitting. *sigh*
I’ve begun the sleeves for Le Bete Noir. But they are languishing in my knitting bag with about an inch done of each. I’m glad I’m doing them together… less chance of me doing something to one that I don’t do to the other.
I know I promised pictures from the dyeing class I took on Jan 15. But, I forgot to take my camera (we all saw that one coming right?)… not like it really mattered… I was the only person who showed, so it was pretty laid back and drawn out, which was probably good for the teacher since her daughter was in a flip-over accident the night before. I will however post pictures of the resulting roving as soon as I remember to get it and my digital camera in the same room.
I’m nearing the end of the front of Le Bete Noir. I think I’ll take another picture when I start the sleeves. I’ve decided to knit them both at the same time so they at least turn out the same length.
I’ve started a little lacy scarf out of Frog Tree fingering weight alpaca as a gift for someone.
My friend that made my wedding dress offered bribes for a lacy shawl. I was considering it, when I came across a new color at Peace Fleece: Sheplova Mushroom. The color instantly reminded me of her. I’m thinking of making the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls.
I got paid last week, and now that bills are situated and I know that spring tuition is handled I made a donation to MSF and emailed Stephanie with my donation amount. I am truly amazed by the amount that has been donated by knitters.
And soon… soon I should be finding out who my secret pal is for Secret Pals 4.
Back on Dec 15th I ordered an Extra Fine BFL sample from Copper Moose on eBay for a buck. I wanted to see how soft it was before I went buying 2 or 3 lbs of it. They mailed it out. There was waiting and more waiting. I got the stuff I won in an auction on Dec 22nd. So, I email Copper Moose and they assured me they had indeed mailed it, but would mail out another sample. The second mail sample arrived yesterday and is quite nice (now to see how it spins up). Who knows where the originally mailed sample is… could be at the South Pole for all I know. *sigh* I’ll laugh if it shows up in my mailbox three months from now.
Le Bete Noir is about half way to the armseye shaping. I’m getting work on it in at my work but am eschewing it at home for some reason. Thankfully, it’s 6 rows to the inch, so every 6 rows actually seems to get me somewhere.
I’m quite proud of myself for getting Designing Knitwear in hardcover for more than half off at Bookshop Santa Cruz. It looks rather interesting since it talks about actual shape of the human body and that sort of thing, which has perpetually confused me.
A short stop at the LYS brought me a copy of Folk Mittens and Folk Knitting in Estonia. I’ve flipped through both books and have started reading the interesting information Nancy Bush has at the beginning of the Estonian book. But, I haven’t decided if I’m crazy enough to try knitting a pair of mittens. A pair of socks in the Estonian book have certainly caught my eye though.
Le Bete Noir is plodding along since I work on it when I feel like it can. So, I didn’t work on it last night… there was no knitting at all last night. I have started my new exercise regime… well, it’s not all that new, I tried to start it a couple weeks ago, but the holidays interrupted it. The plan is to get at least a half hour of something that makes me sweat everyday. Mainly, I’ve been riding the exercise bike in our apt complex’s fitness room for 40 minutes (working my way slowly up to an hour). Last night, after exercising and a hot shower, I felt up to nothing more than vegging in front of the TV while cozy under a blanket. These days happen and I embrace them. *grin*
In other news, I am planning on taking a dyeing class this Saturday at my LYS. But, I don’t have any yarn for dyeing… I’m not sure I feel like spinning something up just for this class. I’ll probably just grab something white before the class starts.
Spending my three day weekend in my pajamas and not going out at all seems to have helped clear up the illness (which, of course, meant I had to go back to work today with everyone else). I did more sleeping than knitting, but I did manage to finish the back of Le Bete Noir (but not photograph it) and cast on for the front. I’m about an inch of the way into the ribbing so far… but it is indeed the front and not the back… and it is good. Thankfully, it shouldn’t take me two and a half months to finish off the front since I no longer have a lace shawl to worry over. In fact, I’m hoping to get a good portion of it done before school starts at the end of the month…. and for while it’s still cold out. I’d hate to finish it and have the weather turn warm, so here’s keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have a weird early spring like we did last year (it came at the beginning of Feb for 2 weeks, then got cold again for a few weeks before heading into the end of spring/beginning of summer). Considering the storm that blew through here this last week, I’m expecting a nice cold, wet winter… I’ve even heard rumors that this might be the beginning of an El Nino cycle. If that’s true, we should get many more downpours. *squee*
