Portable Knitting

Close to the finish

I've been working on the Web Spinner cardigan for my older son for two years. Life has slowed down my knitting progress but I'm coming in on the close. Just a few more end to weave in, some stitching on the intarsia section on the back and attaching the zipper.

Stay focused!

Next I have a sewing project of two flannel robes for the boys but first Halloween costume creating.

Cowl almost done

I think I'm almost done with my cowl; it is a question of length. I want to make sure it has enough scrunch and drape to the fabric.

It crossed my mind that a lot of knitting patterns online are labeled as cowls, but many have no drape at all. Might they better be referred to as collars? Or maybe we need a different term. Cowls are related to hoods in that they have some volume and drape down. Fitted neck scarves aren't by definition cowls. In the 80s I had some funnel hoods, which I noted one magazine referring to as as a snood, but a snood is more of a hair covering from the 19th century.

Scarf
Hood
Cowl
Collar
Snood

What is your impression? Are many cowls mislabeled?

Cowl Progress

More progress on the cowl. I did have to rip back once and cast on again as I hadn't started with enough stitches for the correct circumference.

I found the body pattern in my Bouton d'Or Enfants pattern book (#13), from a couple baby items I knit some years back. I think there is just enough texture and the buttonholes have me anticipating finding some suitable buttons to match the feeling of the piece.

Knitting for Fall

I've been in admitting slump. The Web Spinner finishing has been slow going as the kid, housework and work work take up most of my time. I think I have the zipper finishing figured out. I hope to have it ready to wear for the next school year.

Anyway, in an attempt to push through I grabbed a ball of this red-orange Araucania Toconau that I bought in 2010 and cast on for a buttoned cowl for myself. Six or seven rows in already and feeling a teeny less frustrated. Fingers crossed I keep it up.

Have you cast on for any autumn projects?

Web Slinger Sweater Progress

I have been working on that Spidey cardigan for the last 18 months. I am quite close to completion but I needed to add length so I'm reknitting the front piece. Ugh! But at least I will be happy then. After that I will finish the sleeves, install the zipper (which I still have to order) and knit some side panels to help form it better. I'm probably about 65% done but the rest should go pretty quickly if I focus. I'm hoping to get it done this month. Fingers crossed.

Intarsia progress on Spidey

For all my exceedingly limited knitting time I still find myself compelled to rip back and start over when my knitting isnt close to perfect. My case in point: the Spidey cardigan that I have been working on for a year.

My son insisted that I do the intarsia on the sleeves and not do them plain (oh, it would have been so much faster-sigh). First I printed out graph paper, then I brought the pattern to knit night at a bar down the street and spent the evening charting. This way it was big, readable and I was more familiar with the design structure. I also had to measure the sleeve length and compare it to the sleeves on one of his sweatshirts so I knew the right length. Then I had to figure out how many rows the pattern went and measure that length and then subtract that measurement from the total length to determine where to start the intarsia section. The pattern was written to knit the sleeves from the shoulder down but I prefer the sleeve join better from the wrist up. It just meant a lot of measuring and math.

Then finally I started knitting the intarsia and I totally blanked -- I stranded the body color across the back. Whoops! No good at all. It raised the design element up, cinched the stitches together and was wreaking havoc with the width. After finding a few brain cells left from before children, I realized that the body color should be done with two separate balls, but that meant ripping back some 20-30 rows. I hemmed and hawed but ultimately desided that it had to be done.

I started over on the intarsia with the separate balls of the body color and it is moving along at a good pace. I hope to have both sleeves done in a week. Then I will have the fun job of lengthening the sweater body as it just isn't long enough for as much effort as I have put in. Cursed Kitchener at times though isn't it.

Wrist Warmers for Sarah

New Hat for J

I started out trying to make a hat for my toddler, figuring it would work up pretty quickly. I used this as a chance to do some stash busting. Combing through my yarn remnants I found some Rowan 4-ply Soft and I decided to try using it doubled. I tried to calculate my gauge, but with limited knitting time I just got started.

A great marled knit emerged from the dark blue and dusty purple-gray colors. I continued, mixing pale leaf green with icy blue. I realized as I got halfway that the hat was too large, then that I didn't have enough of those colors to complete the entire crown. I decided to add in generous amounts of white that I had, which I added as a stripe and then the crown.

I thought I might make it for myself, but my almost 5-year-old, with his big head, asked if it coukd be for him, so I finished the crown for a child's head. I completed the gay this week and already it has been worn to school and out and about -- yeah!

Front Panel Progress

Web Spinning on the Bus

I'm back to bus riding to work and so I can work on my knitting during my commute. I love not having to drive and park.

I started the fronts to the Web Spinner pattern over the weekend and I'm not quite halfway done. Thankfully the fronts don't require any intarsia, though both sleeves do. I tried to get out of the extra intarsia but my 4-year-old was very firm about wanting Spiderman signs all over and a zipper in the front. This mom won't back down from a challenge and so I carry on, hopefully in time for Fall.