Un-knitting

Otherwise known as "tinking."

This morning I had to take our car to Discount Tire to get a nail taken out and make sure one of the tires is still good to go.

Here's how my morning looked:

I was all like "YAY! Morning knitting with coffee in the nice 75F weather!" Everything was going great and I was smiling and knitting, knitting and smiling. 

And then, I finished my pattern repeat and thought it best to stop and measure the sleeve opening to make sure I was on track. Lo-and-freaking-behold, I knit too much :-( 

The arrows indicate the correct measurement. So, rather than making some good progress on this sweater this morning, I had to un-knit about 1.5". Now, I'm always terrible and terrified of taking out the needles and ripping out stitches. I'd much rather go backwards, stitch by stitch, and un-knit my knitting. Oh well.

Caring for Knitwear

It occurs to me that the future recipients of my hand knits may not be sure how to care for their new items. Although I always include a care instructions card with my gifts, I know they can be easy to lose. Here are some tips that I wrote for another article that can help you keep your hand knits looking new for a lifetime.

Wools (fiber from sheep and other animals)

Wools are a particularly dangerous yarn to give to non-knitters as it has a tendency to felt when washed. Felting is the process by which agitation and/or heat cause the tiny fibers in the wool to latch onto each other tightly. This causes the fabric to shrink and become denser and stiff. Fortunately, washing wools is as simple as soaking the garment in lukewarm water with a small amount of detergent. It is OK to swish the item around a bit, but do not rub the fabric against each other. 

After you are satisfied that the garment is clean enough, drain the water and fill the sink back up with cool water. Repeat this until you no longer see suds. Next, gently wring the water out as best you can and then lay the item flat out on a towel to dry. Once it is dry, inspect the item to see if it has "grown" at all. If it seems a bit stretched out, put it into the dryer on low heat and run it through part of a fluff cycle. Check it every few minutes to make sure there is no evidence of felting or shrinkage. 

There is one type of wool that can be machine washed with no worry. It is called "superwash wool" and is God's gift to knitters. The term "superwash" refers to a treatment that the wool is subjected to that prevents the tiny fibers from latching onto each other. The best way to care for superwash wool garments is to wash the item in the washer on the gentle cycle. Then lay it out flat to dry. 

Cottons

Cotton is a wonderful fiber to use for hand knits. It's breathable, natural, comes in tons of colors, and is quite durable. Many cotton hand knits can be machine washed on the gentle cycle inside a lingerie bag. Be sure to use cool water as cotton does have the propensity to shrink. As such, the best method for drying the garment is to lay it out flat on a towel. Similar to wools, if the garment feels stretched out after washing, it is alright to put it in the dryer for 15 minutes on low heat to fluff it up. 

Synthetics

Yarns are made in a huge variety of fiber content and design, and as such, there is no one-size-fits-all method for laundering. The best way to safely launder synthetics is to use the hand wash and lay flat to dry method as directed for wools. If you feel the fiber and garment are sturdy enough to be put in the washer, do so, but take care to wash it on gentle cycle with a mild detergent. As always, lay the garment out flat to dry. 

Other Tips and Tricks for Preserving Your Hand Knits
- Don't ever hang a hand knit sweater on a hanger as it will cause it to stretch
- Keep wool away from cats. Many cats are attracted to the wool and may try to eat it.
- If you are worried that your detergent is too harsh, consider giving Eucalan a try.

- Do not use bleach - EVER!

Making steady progress!

Last Thursday, my Future DH let me pick him up late so I could go to the yarn shop to pick out some new yarn for a Christmas sweater I have been planning. It's the Pole pattern that I linked a while back. After debating with myself whether to use Malabrigo as suggested in the pattern, or to look for another heavier worsted weight yarn. Ultimately, due to dye lot and stock restrictions, I settled on 5 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a dark charcoally grey mix. 

To the first touch, the yarn isn't quite as soft as I would prefer, but I know that after being knit up on size 10 needles and then given a good wash, it will fluff up and feel just heavenly! 

Now, at first I was a little confused about the construction of the pattern, so I did my usual pre-knit process of reading through the entire thing and then checking Ravelry for any questions that might help me along the way. I'm very glad I did because one knitter suggested not binding off part of the back piece so it would be easier to pick up and knit the stitches later with the bottom part of the sweater. This is something that would have come to me after I started the sweater and I would spend the rest of that section cursing myself for not planning ahead.

Here's a picture of the sweater.....though it looks more just like a big blackish grey lump right now! However, I think these nice 60F nights lately will provide me some more inspiration to finish this sweater up so I can make one for myself!

Pretending It's Fall

With the official start of football season just a few weeks away, a forecast that includes temperatures under 100F, and me ordering single skeins of wool to test, I know that fall is on its way! It may not feel like it - it was 112F here yesterday, a crazy temperature that has not been seen before in Central Texas.

This evening, I've picked a pattern to use for a simple pair of welly socks for my step-Dad using, hopefully, either Brown Sheep's Lambs Pride Sueprwash or Swish Superwash from Knitpicks. 
Here's a link to the pattern that I'm using for inspriation: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/irish-wellington-socks


Also, I snuck in yarn for me for my winter mittens. I'm hoping the color is close enough to the Bill's royal blue, but since is a cashmere/wool blend, I'm fairly certain I'll fall right in love and couldn't care less if the yarn turns out to be vomit colored (they do warn you that monitor colors might not be truly representative of the yarn. But, I'm willing to throw caution to the wind.)

I've Been Knitting -----I swear!!!!

So I've been a little MIA lately. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that in the last two months I've been traveling, on average 3 days a week to various locals around the southern US and part of Canada. With that said, here are a few of my latest projects and some plans for the very near future!

FINISHED:
Baby bibs for a new baby at work :) (well, not at work)
Also, this picture absolutely *refuses* to display the correct way. I'm tired of dealing with it!

Next up!

Christmas fingerless mitts for my future SIL:

Some Buffalo Bills items for me and the fam, mostly so my future husband doesn't look like this:

Yarn Pr0n

Today, much to my surprise, I received a box full of lush yarn from Knitpicks. Now, normally I wouldn't consider buying from them as I prefer to support my LYS, but for the particular project I am planning, I found several projects in their Comfy Worsted yarn and couldn't help myself - the price point was incredible!


Here's the project:
Leaf Yoke Top by Angela Hahn featured in Knit.1 Spring/Summer 2009

As I mentioned, the yarn I'm planning is called Comfy Worsted by Knitpicks in the Fairytale colorway. 75% Pima Cotton % 25% Acrylic. It's absolutely gorgeous!

Sorry about the pictures - for some reason I just can't seem to find a good setting and light to really capture the color here. It's really more of a raspberry than a red. 


It's taking every ounce of will power I have not to cast on this project immediately. I promised myself one project at a time so I actually can finish things!!