Seamless Transitions

I wrote this post yesterday, because as you're reading I'm probably busting around the house, packing the lunch I'll likely forget to pack tonight and trying to get my new third grader out the door on time and stress-free with photos taken, backpack remembered and kisses placed tenderly on forehead. My kinder has another week before he starts, so this is just my warm up. Happy Fall y'all!

Remember what I said about hating seaming? This sweater was started during last summer's SSKAL (summer sweater knitalong) hosted by VeryShannon. I took a hiatus from it because I got chosen to be a test knitter for her Antrorse sweater which was SO much fun to knit and required no seaming. Bliss.

I kept picking the sweater back up and would work on a few rows at a time, but life happens and this pattern was like picking a novel with too many characters back up after a month, so by the time you're up to speed you've spent your allotted time on it. Anywho, the SSKAL for 2014 rolled around and I decided I was going to finish my sweater for reals this time.

The front and back are knit separately and then a three-needle bind off along the tops of the live arm stitches (right sides together) seams them effortlessly.

Still love my purty spindle.

'All' I need to do is seam the underarms

The horseshoe cables and pretty orange color scream 'fall'. Now I just need a PSL to sip while wearing it.

I'm happy to report that there are no longer any live stitches in sight and all that needs to be done in order for me to finish the sweater during this year's time period is to seam the underarms on each side. Right, there's the catch. I have until September 24th to create two approximately three foot lengths of stitching. Simple, right? Who wants to place a bet that I'll be sweating it out on September 23rd creating said seams? Me. I'm the world's worst procrastinator, especially when it comes to tedious tasks that I don't wanna do. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing. Like cleaning the toilets. Folding loads of cloth diapers. You know, the really enjoyable tasks in life. Stay tuned to see if I get 'er done and photographed in time to be included in the 'Featuring You' post at the end of the knitalong this time around!

52 Weeks of Stash-Busting

Christmas is over and New Year's Day is looming on the horizon. I'm not really a big resolutions gal because I just break it in a month with the rest of the nation and then feel like a loser. So, this year, I'm setting some goals.

Like this gorgeous attic craft room...

With visions from pinterest dancing in my head, I've begun to formulate a plan to transform our bonus room from cavern of crap to sweet WOman cave/crafting haven with a guest space. Aside from a wall of books, the majority of which I'd love to transfer to nice bookcases downstairs, there are DVD's, CD and then a whooooole lotta random items purchased for crafts that never came to pass...but that doesn't mean I don't want them to.

I have found that my etsy shop is a great way for me to create something beautiful and then have a good venue to pass the finished product to somebody else. However, I have learned the hard way that I need to be realistic with the amount of time I have to devote to it, and also to guard my passion. It's wonderful to make a pair of socks that I hand-knit from beautiful yarn and relax, and watch the stitches glide off the end of the needles row by row. When I get to try a new technique or pattern at the same time, it's so satisfying! Making three pairs of basic stockinette socks right in a row to fill an order as quickly as possible? Not so much. It's what turns a hobby into a chore, and it was completely my fault for letting it get to that point. Plus, inevitably, the one color I don't have is what's requested, so in addition an opportunity to cull from my stash is lost.

It was in looking through a small bag of embellishments I'd purchased with the intent of making notecards to list in the shop, but never had time for, that the idea for the year of stash-busting came to me. Sure, I've seen lots of people commit to not buying yarn for a year, but my supply hoard goes a little deeper. From chalkboards to fabric for maxi-skirts and everything in between, I've probably got it. Not massive amounts for each thing, but enough to complete one. From works in progress, to those never begun, I've got plenty to keep me busy for the year, and my goal will be to bring any one of them to completion each week. I will create, photograph and blog about the project and then list on my etsy shop if it wasn't purchased specifically for someone...and cross my fingers that it sells so that I don't end up with the new problem of hoarding said completed items. 

Idea firmly planted, where to begin? I thought a good place would be with the sweater I started for the Summer Sweater Knit Along, which I paused in knitting so I could test-knit the Antrorse Sweater for Shannon Cook. That test-knit was exactly the kind of project that makes me giddy with creative happiness. The front of my sweater is complete and I cast on the hem stitches for the back yesterday, so that I can complete it by next Sunday, enabling me to actually wear the sweater while it's still cold enough to do so. 

Here's to a year of stash-busting, please look for a new post each Sunday night! I'll work on creating a badge, and will post when it's ready, who else has a stash that they'd like to bust along with me?

That's My (Notions) Bag, Baby

Today over on Luvinthemommyhood, Shannon posted about the contents of her knitting bag. I have about 62 project bags stashed around the house, but only one or two sets of the essentials which get transferred from project to project. Sometimes they get contained in their own little bag, but usually they're just tossed in with the current project. Here's what I always have:

A package of stitch markers (locking and regular), scissors, a pen, waste yarn, measuring tape, row counter and a cable needed of some sort. Right now, I'm using an 8 inch cable needle that I've found to be a sock knitter's best friend.

I love using my ipad for the patterns I'm working on. As long as I don't have to make adjustments to what I'm making, I can be paperless which has drastically cut down on clutter for me.

Speaking of clutter-when I'm finished with a project I almost always have a partial skein of yarn left, the band for which I've removed and probably tossed. If you would like to re-organize your yarn stash, Shannon also created a free printable DIY yarn stash ball band that you can print in either skein or cake size.

It helps if you keep good notes in ravelry on your projects so that you can go back and enter all of the pertinent information on the label, but whatever information you can add is better than nothing. Keeping notes on ravelry has saved me more than once. I had a photo of a prior scarf I'd made as an example listed on etsy, and the customer wanted that exact color; thanks to my notes, I was able to reorder the same colorway and cast on.

Now that the kids are back in school, I feel the urge to start purging and organizing my spaces. Closets and storage bins, I'm looking at you!

Fellow mamas of school-aged kids, what projects do you like to take on with the time you've gained having kids back in school?

School Daze

This morning I woke up at 6:45 and realized my house was still silent...and it was the first day of school. The only alarm I set these days is for my 5am running date, but I've been struggling to motivate for that 4:30 wake time lately as my neighbor, who I've been training with, was diagnosed with a stress fracture so will be resting almost right up to her marathon. Time waits for no mama, however, so it was out of bed for us and into a routine. I try really hard to make school mornings, especially the first day, as stress-free as possible. Even though I woke later than I wanted, the kids were dressed, fed a healthy breakfast (egg and cheese with ham on whole wheat english muffins; a favorite of the whole clan), hair and teeth brushed and then it was off to the front porch laden with supply-filled backpacks and lunchboxes for a quick picture or twelve.

H became increasingly somber as we approached his school, but by the time I left him he was smiling and comfortable in his classroom. Last year, Charlie cried every day for the first few months that I left him but this morning, he was able to say good bye, which was good since there was already one little boy screaming hysterically.

Back home, I walked in the door to be greeted by relative silence-until I realized I should probably turn around and get Jack in from the garage. Laundry whirring, counters wiped, and babe laid down for a nap, I have some free time-I think I'm gonna like this.

Every knitter's dark hour is when they have to insert a lifeline of waste yarn and rip back...If I continued with my modification it would end up being a maxi-dress. Good thing I have some dedicated knitting time today!

Sweaty Summer, Summer Sweater

Summer is almost over and it was another whirlwind of park playdates, pool time, vacations, weddings and library visits. I have been a pinning fool this summer with visions of free mornings during the school year dancing through my head, so I should have a lot of blog fodder at the very least. School is just around the corner and I am committing to post at least three times per week throughout the school year.

To kick things off, let's talk knitting. I have wanted to knit a sweater for myself for some time now, and saw through Pepperberry Knits that Luvinthemommyhood was hosting a Sweater Knit-along. I hadn't heard of her prior to this kal, but she has a lot of great posts about both knitting and sewing, in addition to lifestyle photos and crafts.

This Summer Sweater Knitalong can be found on Ravelry with a full discussion board and she also has a pin board featuring a lot of the patterns that are being knit by the participants. I love the idea of this knitalong. You start a sweater at the end of the summer, so that it's actually ready to wear when the brisk autumn days catch us by surprise in our shorts and t's. I am excited to be participating, but have just in the last week or so been able to dedicate real time to it and I'm finally making progress. I chose the pattern Hitch by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark.

Photo via pattern page on ravelry.com by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark

The pattern as written produces a hip-height three-quarter sleeve sweater. Hip length looks terrible on me, so I was planning to do one extra repeat of the cabled lace motif. However, I didn't read the pattern ahead as carefully as I should, so it'll actually be about four inches longer. Hitch is knit in two pieces, from the bottom up. When you complete the front half of the sleeves, the top stitches are held and then grafted together with those from the top of the back half of the sleeves so that the only seam I'll have to sew will be up the side and under the sleeve in one continuous line. I think I can do that without making it look like a kindergartner stood in for me, but you never know.

The yarn is KnitPicks Palette, which is 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, in the color Mai Tai Heather. I wanted to use a less expensive yarn for my first in case it was a total disaster, but I didn't want it to feel so cheap that I wouldn't wear it, so this is a nice middle ground, wool yarn. It's fingering weight, which means itty bitty stitches for the scale of a sweater, but that will just make the next sweater I do in worsted weight seem all the more simple and speedy.

Here's my progress shot, and I have until September 18th to finish with the group, but the back is all stockinette so it will fly off the needles.

(increases made just before casting on the stitches for the sleeves)

What do you think? Have you tackled an adult sweater yet? I have so many in my queue!