Penguin Sweaters

I was on Cute Overload this morning, showing TL some photos of dog costumes. He hadn't seen the site before (not surprisingly). While there, I saw this photo of a penguin wearing a little sweater. At first, I thought "How cute! How weird is that?" "Why would anyone do that?"

When I clicked over to The Yarn Kitchen blog, to look at the pattern, I realized it's a charitable work. These poor little penguins have been effected by the oil spill in New Zealand; and the sweaters are to help them stay warm and prevent them from eating oil, too. You can read all about it on the blog post.

According to Cute Overload, they have enough sweaters for now. I went back and read the CL article after seeing the Yarn Kitchen post. The image above is from the Cute Ovcrload site

Sweater on Hold

WK asked me about the sweater I'm not knitting (due to the tardiness of the yarn), so I'm going to give what details I can. It is from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2007, but for some reason the Vogue Knitting site is down, so I can't even try to link to the errata. Well, I'll put in the link, and perhaps someday it will work, how's that? Anyhow, I was/am planning on using RYC Cashsoft Aran, by Rowan, which is not what the pattern calls for, but I'm fine with that. I ordered the yarn in June, on the same day (or at least in the same week) I finished TL's sweater. I planned on knitting it all up in August, and have it ready to wear by now. Arrgghh.


So, I decided to use the Cashsoft Aran, which is a blend of Wool, Cashmere, and Microfiber. It is lovely and soft. I'm going to make the sweater in black, and leave it in my office for two reasons: 1) it is sometimes freezing inside, 2) I don't always remember to dress like a grown-up on days that I have to have meetings with "upstairs people." this will do nicely in both situations.

First Raglan, Final Update

Pattern: My First Raglan, Lisa Knits #SW-024
Yarn: Filtes King Australian Merino (product of Italy) 100% Merino Virgin Wool
It's supposed to be shrink resistant according to the label. Color #1021
Needles: US size 5 for ribbing, US 6 for the rest.
Began: May 3, 2007 at around 8 pm
Finished: June 12, 2007

Well, it took 6 weeks to knit the sweater, but it is now finished! I had a great time taking the knitting class, and I learned a lot. I think that there are some areas of the sweater that could be better, but that's normal. I was very, very nervous about knitting the v-neck at the same time as knitting the raglan shaping for the sleeves, but it turned out well. My sweater teacher did say that the v-neck seemed shallow, but we couldn't figure out why, since I did it exactly according to the instructions.

The other part that had me worried was picking up the stitches around the neckline to finish it. This is one area that I think could have turned out better, but I think it means I need to practice. I did bind off too tightly the first time. It fit over TL's head, but just barely, so I un-bound off and redid it with a larger needle size (7 instead of 6). I think it was too tight because my tension got tighter due to my fear of this part. Now the neckline is nice and stretchy and fits over TL's head just fine. I think it is about 1 1/2 to 2 sized too big for TL right now, which is just what I wanted it to be, since it is in the 90s right now and he's unlikely to want to wear it very soon. He likes the sweater (he said so) but was reluctant to even try it on in the heat. The part where we have air conditioning in the house, so it's not hot in here, notwithstanding.

In an early post about this sweater, I said I wasn't sure if I'd ever knit another one. I guess it's still debatable, but I did buy the yarn to knit myself a cardigan, so here's hoping that I knit at least two!

First Raglan Update

My goodness but it's been a while since I've had time to add updates to the blog! I have been learning a lot in class and have made great progress on the sweater I'm knitting. I have the whole back done, as well as both sleeves. I am just about to start the decreases for the v-neck and the sleeve inset area. Here's a photo I took just a few minutes ago, after I'd set the pieces out to be blocked, but before the wet towel came out of the washer...

Pattern: My First Raglan, Lisa Knits #SW-024
Yarn: Filtes King Australian Merino (product of Italy) 100% Merino Virgin Wool
It's supposed to be shrink resistant according to the label. Color #1021
Needles: US size 5 for ribbing, US 6 for the rest.
Began: May 3, 2007 at around 8 pm
Finished: TBD

The mat that I've pinned the sweater parts to has been covered in clear shelf liner so that the ink from the cardboard mat will not run all over my wet knits. I like using this mat because it has the grid, which is marked in 1-inch increments, so it's easy to make the pieces measure what they should. I put it on a bed, so the pins go right through and hold everything in place.

It doesn't really seem like it's been over a month since I started this project, but then again, a lot of stuff have happened. Including that my friend had her baby (2 weeks early) and I rushed off finishing BBBB#3, and gave it to her, once again forgetting to take a photo of the finished blanket. Oh well, I'm pretty sure she'll let me take one sometime.

Update on Weekend Activities

It's all WK's fault!!

I caved in and bought a little needle felting kit over the weekend. I decided that picking up a kit would be the easiest way to learn quickly and decide if I want to do any more. Our local Hancock Fabrics is going out of business, so when I had to pick up some notions for a baby gift I'm sewing (not knitting) I stopped in to see what they had left. VERY dangerous. I noticed the purse kit and remembered WK's post on the craft and now I have another craft to try out.

Related to this is the very nice yarn TL noticed a nice wool boucle yarn by Lion Brand (# 930-206). I thought it was nice, but wasn't going to get any, even though it's 60% off, since I didn't have a project. Then I noticed the name of the color and bought all 5 of the balls they had left. I'll think of something! I did also get TL a set of kids knitting needles and a nice ball of grey wool. He said he knew I was obligated to teach him to knit, and he was now willing to learn.

I worked on the sweater and have almost the whole back done, it only needs about 10 more rows. I also started the sleeves during knitting class so I could learn the right way to Make One. I also spent a lot of time working on BBBB#3, and it looks like I just might get it done before Sunday (baby shower day). That is, if I don't "waste" all of my time cleaning and making food for the party. It is now about 2/3 done, so it's possible.

I also planted some nice flowers in the large pots for my deck. I was going to move mulch, but it rained too much.

My First Sweater

So, I'm now working on my first sweater in my first knitting class. The name of the pattern? "My First Raglan" by Lisa Knits (SW-024) I can't stand the coincidence in all these firsts. I'm hoping that none if it is a hint toward the future where these are all also "Lasts!" To be honest, the pattern I'm using is only based on the Lisa Knits one, as my teacher and I decided not to do the increases after the ribbing, eliminating the "puffy" look at the waist. I hope that the waist looks more like the adult version in the photo from the pattern on Lisa Knits website.

The sweater is for TL, but I'm attempting to make it large enough for him to wear next cool season, but not so big as it will overwhelm him even then. He loves the color!

Pattern: My First Raglan, Lisa Knits #SW-024
Yarn: Filtes King Australian Merino (product of Italy) 100% Merino Virgin Wool
It's supposed to be shrink resistant according to the label. Color #1021
Needles: US size 5 for ribbing, US 6 for the rest.
Began: May 3, 2007 at around 8 pm
(please note the Finished time in my last post)
Finished: TBD

Alterations: My teacher says I'm a "tight" knitter, so we went up a needle size to get the right gauge in the body of the sweater. We also went with TL's measurements (taken from an appropriate shirt). My teacher plugged everything into Sweater Wizard and printed out customized patterns for each of us in class. This way we don't have to negotiate the different size options in the original pattern. She also figured out the CO based on the yarn I chose, so I'm fairly certain that that is also a change. Since I don't actually have the original, I can't be certain, however.

Between Thursday and Friday, I knitted the first 50g (153 yd) ball and I have about 9 inches of the back done. The back is 17 inches wide. When the back is 14 inches long, I start the decreases to make a place to attach the sleeves.

I have decided at that point that I had to knit another ball onto a different project.