Random thought for the day.

My husband showed me a post by Stephen Fry today about fame - it's pretty wonderful and certainly worth a read.
And maybe this goes back to the whole "I feel wealthy when I get yarn in the mail" but he had this great quote here (maybe Dorothy Parker? ol' "you can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think"):

If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at the people He gives it to.

Gryffindor Sweater start and pattern (in progress)

This is not very impressive right now, but man, what nice yarn! Smooth and soft with a nice hand and very forgiving of weaving in ends and other things that can make one's knitting look not-so-smooth:
The pattern so far:
Unisex child's sweater, size 6-8
Materials:
Main Color -- 6 skeins of Valley Yarns Longmeadow (cotton/acrylic microfiber) burgundy
Contrasting color -- 1 skein Frog Tree Pima Silk (cotton/silk) 820.
Circular needles in size 3 and 4 US.
Gauge:
6 sts/in in straight stitch on larger needles.
Body:
Cast on 160 sts. in MC on smaller circular needle, join without twisting and work k2, p2 rib for 2 inches, at same time placing a marker at the start of the round and one between sts. 80 and 81 to mark both seams.
Next round, still on smaller needles work final rib round, at the same time increasing 8 sts. total evenly spaced over whole body = 168 sts. total.
Next round, switch to larger needles, work 1 round k.
Next round, join CC and work 2 rounds, then 1 round MC, 2 more rounds CC. Continue straight with MC until body measures 12.5 inches from bottom of work.
Next round, place 7 sts. on either side of each side seam makers onto holders = 70 sts. remaining on front and back.
Back:
Work the 70 sts. for back in MC until piece measures 16 inches from bottom of ribbing. Next row, place center 36 sts. on a holder/scrap yarn, join a second ball of yarn and work both shoulders at the same time:
Dec. 2 sts. at inside neck edge on both sides over the next 3 alternating rows.
Dec. 1 st. at inside neck edge on both sides over next 3 alternating rows. Work until piece measures 18 inches from bottom of ribbing. Place the remaining 8 sts. each side on holders/scrap yarn.
Front:
Work the 70 sts. for front in MC until piece measures 13.75 inches from bottom of ribbing. Next row, attach a second ball of yarn and decrease for v-neck by decreasing on st. at neck edge every row until there are 8 sts. remaining on each side. (Tip for nice looking neck edge: be sure to decrease loosely, it will be easier to pick up and the neck won't bunch if you knit more loosely than you think you should). Work until piece measures 18 inches from bottom of ribbing. Place the remaining 8 sts. each side on holders/scrap yarn.
Shoulder seams:
Turn the piece inside out (front and back right sides together) and knit together the shoulder seams with MC.
Neck:
Using MC, starting at the left shoulder seam, pick up 30 sts. along the left neck edge down to bottom of V (there should be 30 slanting decrease stitches to pick up into), pick up another 30 sts. along right edge of V neck to right should seam. Pick up 14 sts. along the back right neck edge down to sts. on holder. Knit these 36 sts. from holder into the neck, then pick up the last 14 sts. from back left neck edge.
Work one row in CC all k., no decreases.
Work next row in CC, k. 28 sts., k 2 tog., ssk, k. 36 sts., k. 2 tog., k. 22 sts. k. 2 tog., K to end of round.
Work next row in MC all k. with no decreases.
Next row CC, k. 27 sts., k 2 tog., ssk, k. the rest of the round.
Work one row in CC all k., no decreases.
Next row MC, k. 26 sts., k 2 tog., ssk, k. the rest of the round.
Next row, begin neck ribbing: [p2, k2] repeat this 6 times, p2, k2 (these two stitches are the decrease "seam" of the v-neck). Continue p2, k2 until round is completed.
Continue working neck ribbing, decreasing one st. on each side of the v-neck on this and every other following row (e.g. work a dec. row, then a non-dec. row) until 106 sts. remain. Cast of neck loosely in pattern.
Sleeves:
Using larger needles and MC, pick up 32 sts. on each side of armhole starting at the armpit side (total of 64 sts.).
Pick up the 14 sts. from armpit holder/waste yarn, placing a marker in between sts. 7 and 8 to mark the beginning/end of the round.
Join row and work straight 1.25 in., then begin casting off one st. on each side of the beginning/end marker on the next and every following 5th row 4 times, then every 4th row until there are 44 sts. remaining (sleeve should be 13.25 in. long here).
Work 2 rows CC, 1 row of MC, 2 rows of CC, 1 row of MC. One this last MC row, decrease 6 sts. evenly spaced (38 sts.).
Next row, change to smaller needles and work k2, p2 rib for 2 in. bind off loosely.
Finishing:
Weave in all ends and wash cool, dry cool.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
(If you make any interesting versions, I'd love to hear about them.)

Other things that I've finished lately

Okay, it needs buttons, but this is the Must Have Cardigan Pattern - and it's a pretty well written one, I must say.
The pattern is written for Classic Merino Wool, which I've never used. I substituted Nature Spun Worsted (in coffee) and it came out very nicely. I'd never used Nature Spun before, but I really like it - for all wool it's really soft and has a nice hand, not scratchy at all. Felts very nicely too, and comes in a nice range of colors.

I have some buttons to put on too - I can't find them tonight though.

I have also gotten a couple inches done on the Gryffindor sweater, but I'll take a snap of that when there's more to show.

I'm finished with the blues

However, I'm really not musical, so that's a pretty lame joke on my part. However, I have been finishing things all over the place, which is really fun. And a good thing, as more yarn just arrived in the mail yesterday. :)
So, here's the blue Fassett sweater:

Blues, part 3, or why did this take me so long????

The cool thing about doing Fassett sweaters is once you get on a roll, the gauge is nice and big and you have all these beautiful colors to play with and suddenly it's like eating popcorn - YOU CAN'T STOP YOURSELF.
Which, in this case, is a wonderful thing.
Six years to finish the back (maybe closer to 7, since I think I started it before getting pregnant) and 3 weeks to knit the front and both sleeves. I'm almost done with shoulder saddle on the second sleeve, here's the whole thing laid out to be pieced:

Materials for a child's Gryffindor sweater

Here it is, I took a total blind stab with Valley Yarns Longmeadow (cotton/acrylic microfiber) burgundy and Frog Tree Pima Silk (cotton/silk) 820.
On size 4's it makes a nice fabric, not too hot for a little kid.
I'll work on the swatch and measure him this weekend and come up with a pattern - v-neck with a small lion on the chest.

He really wants a sweater

Our son lost both his front teeth this weekend.
Well, Dad helped to pull them out, but really, it was very good thing. They were so loose, it was really gross.

And so, he (our son, not his dad) wants a Gryffindor sweater.
Maybe the lisp is making me want to make him this thing.
So I'm playing with ideas again. This time, something simpler.
Here's a pattern idea for the sweater itself but add a knitted crest like this which is nice and simple, do the whole thing in dark red and gold.
Still thinking . . . .

The things you can do when you get inspired

Or, the third installment about this third take on Ellen Minard's blues mohair.
I finished the back of the Fassett blue Toothed Stripe (wow - I ought to give this sweater to someone in I.T., oughtn't I? Except bluetooth seems on it's way out? Oh well.) and started on the front - I can get one set of pattern repeats done in a sitting - so on good weekend days, I can get 2 repeats done, one in the morning and one at night.
I usually find that once I put a project down, I'm done forever. I just hate going back to things. How nice to be wrong.
Here it is, basking on our back porch in daylight, which does more for the colors. It's more muddy, or glassy somehow when you see it in person. How the heck to they get sweaters to look so great in books and magazines?
So, if I stay inspired, I should have this puppy done for the holidays.