A Change Of Plans

 Grrr!  Sweatrrr was giving me griefff.   And so, there has been a change of plans.

Grief was coming at me from many directions while knitting  Sweatrrr.  First there was  is my yarn of a different gauge.  Not a difficult thing to change gauge, but Sweatrrr starts with many, very  short, short-rows.  With my gauge being off by only a slight amount,  when I multiplied the pattern numbers by my gauge factor, I was ending up with many, almost-the-same and/or fractional numbers.  Every new row was a guess as to whether to go big or go home.

Then there was the issue of the sleeve cap seam placement.  I am fussy about that.  To make me happy, that seam must sit precisely on my shoulder bone.  Despite arranging the piece around my neck several times, I couldn't tell for certain where that seam would sit until the work was joined in the round.   Joining didn't happen until the centre-front, neck line was completed. When I tried it on, I didn't like what I saw.

 

There seems to be  a hump behind the shoulder seam.

 

 Would it go away with blocking?  Would it stay away after blocking?  Did I carry on, hoping for, but unsure of,  flat shoulders?   Then too, was the issue of the colour squares.  They run up both centre front and back and are done via intasia - but in the round.  The designer has an ingenious way of doing intarsia in the round - but for me - I thought it looked less than, or my execution was less than, professional/perfect.

All those issues, coupled with knowing  that even if the sweater were to be completed to perfection, I would still have  a sweater with set-in-sleeves (not my favourite)   -   made me realize  'I'm not having that much fun here.'

So rip, rip.

Back to a tried and true.  Top down. Raglan Sleeves.   Cardigan.  Begun with one of the contrast colours.  That makes me feel better.

 

One-Of-A-Kindness  coming from the unique design baubles of Sweatrrr - the coloured squares - just on the front this  time - and the great, contrast-coloured sleeve insert.  Sort of like tarting up your old decor with fresh pillows.  Works for me.

I'm off to a great start.  A change is as good as a rest the old saying goes.  Because most  importantly - I'm having fun now.

Farther Away

Centre front is farther away that it seemed  at first glance. I am not much closer to it than I was yesterday.

I did though,  last night,  arrive at  my first, centre-back, colour patch. 

 

Both  front and back centres have a five-stitch panel of contrasting colours and different stitches.They alternate, at knitters will, between stockinet and  reverse stockinet with either of those in main or contrasting colours.  My contrast colours will be  the dark brown which matches a stripe in the skirt but of which I have only a small amount of yarn, the bright orange that will also be at the neck and the triangular sleeve insert and also I will use the cream coloured 'One Of A Kind' yarn on its own.  In the sweater, that ceam is held together with two strands of the very fine brown tweed.  But as one of the colour-patch  colours, I will use it on its own.

Although definitely not centre- front, it was still fun to try out that first colour patch square.  Marching on towards centre-front now.

Moving Along.

Sweatrrr is progressing nicely. The try-on I   thought   know I should do, has been delayed.  Without a full circle for the neck, the piece slips and slides around too much to actually get a good idea of fit.  The try-on will work better once I reach centre front neck.  You can see it doesn't even reach centre front on Teddy yet.

The pattern is still a conundrum to me.   Very confusing to read, very easy to knit.  Weird!  The confusion probably stems from the issue of  mother tongue.  Perhaps English is not the designer's first language.  I am guessing at that but the way concepts are expressed in the pattern lead me to think that is the case.

One of the great design features of sweater is the faux seam incorporated into the body of the sweater, adjacent to the sleeve cap.

 

  Kind of like the   'two negatives make a positive theory',  the fake seam  lends authenticity to the fake  set-in sleeve, I feel.

 I expect not too many more rows to do before the left and right fronts can touch in the middle.  Originally I had thought I would make this into a cardigan, but that original thought has taken a bit of a back seat.

A pullover might be just the ticket.  Either way, I will join one centre stitch for the try-on.  Once I stand in front of the mirror,  it hopefully, will  become clear to me if  Sweatrrr should be a cardigan or pullover.  Maybe by tomorrow.

Sweatrrr Shoulders

Following the giant gauge swatch and technique practise, I did manage to find time this week  to start Sweatrrr.  There were a few Christmas parties  - book club, then knit group and now both  Saturday and Sunday, set aside for  family events - that have deterred me from great  progress.

But here I am so far.

The back neck and three of four shoulder portions finished.  The left front &  back shoulders plus the right back shoulder are done.  Just the right front to do.

Will it fit?  Time will tell. 

This pattern has terminology and methodology that is totally foreign to me.  Terms like Sl1 followed by a dunce cap accent was one I had never seen before.

It means to pull the stitch tightly over the needle until the two legs of the stitch are almost on top of the needle.  It is a method of short-rowing that in my little opinion could have been more simply described.

Once I have the fourth and final shoulder part finished, I think I might try it on to see if I have correctly estimated the  number of stitches to cover the distance across my shoulders. It is important to me that the sleeve/shoulder 'seam' sit precisely on the shoulder bump.  That to me is a perfect-fitting set-in-sleeve.  I am not a big fan of set-in-sleeves.  To me they make the back look too square, too masculine, too football uniform-ish.  I much prefer raglan sleeves.

You know where this is leading, don't you!  If those seams are not exactly where I want them, I will have to rip back of course.   And if I rip back, - why not make a top down raglan?  Of course I did want to try Tricosa's take on Suzie M's contiguous method for knitting a sweater all in one piece, top down, with set-in-sleeves.

When I knit Colour Block,  I developed my own  combo pattern,   combining Suzie M's  and Ann Budd's methods of top-down, set-in-sleeve construction.  Asa Tricosa seems to have come up with yet another method.  Always intrigued by new methodology  I thought I'd give it a go. 

But my measure of greatness always includes easy.  So far, while the knitting of Sweatrrr isn't difficult, reading and understanding the pattern sure doesn't fall under the easy column.

I really like Asa's design features in this sweater.  The columns of different stitches and different colours down both the centre front and back and the  giant triangle of contrast colour in the sleeve.  I will give the Tricosa Technique of neck/shoulder/set-in-sleeve construction a fair try.  But I'm not afraid to deviate if I am not having fun.

Have a great winter-y weekend everyone.  Safe travels if you are on the road.

Sweaterrr Swatch

The fingers took their tranquilizer and I calmly, determinedly and hopefully knit a swatch. I am a fan of big swatches.  Often, knitters read the gauge on the ball band and cast on just that number of stitches.  But that means you are trying to measure/count curling edge stitches.  Not an easy nor accurate thing to do.

My preference is to make a larger gauge swatch.  Use garter edges to prevent curling and measure off the 4 inches in the centre of the flat-lying portion of the swatch. 

My prescribe gauge was 23 stitches.  Using two strands of the very, fine, brown tweed held together with one stand of the cream-coloured, mixed-fibre yarn, I cast on 36 stitches.  Pre-blocking, the gauge was 22.  Close enough I thought.  But I had a suspicion that this fabric might stretch after blocking - and it did.  Post washing it measured, laid flat, 21, but shaken and fluffed, 20  stitches over 4 inches.  Hmmm.  I settled on 20.5 as my achieved gauge.

What to do.  Should I re-do the swatch using a finer needle?  Well, I could have. But I liked the fabric I had produced with my 4 mm needles, so decided to stick with what I had.  It does mean however, that I must use my by-now, famous-I'm-sure, gauge-changing formula.  My gauge divided by pattern gauge to achieve a factor by which I multiply all stitch counts in the pattern as I come to them.

The observant of you will be asking - What is that bra-like cup at the top of the swatch.  Well, not only can  a swatch give you gauge,  but also, it gives you the opportunity to practice unfamiliar techniques.  What you are looking at is my first ever go-round of German short rows.  The designer uses them, in this pattern,  to create the shoulder slope. This being a top-down design, that slope happens shortly after cast on, in a highly visible location on either side of the neck.  I thought it a good idea to try out those new-to-me short rows before starting the sweater.  Even here, my first go-round, I think those German Short Rows look darn good.  None of the bulk and sometimes little hole that a traditional wrap and turn can produce.

So - prep work done.  Off to start the real thing.

Post Christmas Knitting

If, according to my knitting needles, we have already hit Boxing Day, then this next project is my 'post' pre-Christmas knitting.  This afternoon, I am going to wind the wool and hopefully cast on for this great sweater.

Since the day the pattern first  appeared on ravelry, I have been thinking about this sweater.  The stars were slowly aligning and finally, yesterday, I  purchased the pattern  and today, am anxious to get started.  Mine will be cardigan-ized so will look more like this version.

The first star  hopped into place  at  the Church garage sale and auction last June.  One of the members, a lady somewhat more of a certain age than I am,  donated two Scottish, pure  wool, pleated skirts for auction.  I loved them both.  One was in shades of green and one in shades of brown.  I tried them on and they both fit.  The decision was strictly colour.  I chose  the brown and was winning bidder. 

 

I love it.  Old fashioned, yes.  Classic, yes.  My colour, yes.  My size, yes.  Nothing better - except the sizing.  Today, despite weighing several pounds more than  I did at graduation, I still wear the same size  -  10 petite.  Vanity sizing is such an ego stroker.  The tag on the  skirt, sized  a generation ago,  reads 16.  I might just have to remove that.


Being June, and in no rush to wear a wool skirt, I hung it in the closet to  let the idea of what to wear with it start to percolate.  Sure, I probably have a cardigan or two that together with  a white blouse would look nice.  But I wanted to take this skirt over the top.  It had been lovingly cared for by a lady I see frequently.  She only donated it because she is no longer a size 10.  Or 16.  Like getting out the good china for company,  or shaving my legs mid-winter, I want her to know that it is special to me.

Another star fell into place when I went stash diving.  I have lots of these yarns.

 They are  perfect compliments to the skirt and will make a great, non-matching, matching sweater.  But still I felt they needed a pop of colour to take it over the top.

Oct 2, the last star  fell into place.  That was the day that my Collingwood knit group and I, along with knitters from Southampton and Meaford  went on our Wool & Wine Tour.  We stopped at Riverside Yarns in Owen Sound and there I found this colour of Cascade 220 Superwash DK. 

DK is  a perfect weight.  By double stranding the tweed cobweb weight and knitting it together with a single strand of the One Of A Kind yarn, I hope to achieve DK.  So the Cascade will work perfectly.  Every so often, I will throw in some of the limited supply of dark brown.  

 

The perfect colour combo for a great sweater for my skirt.

 

A swatch is probably in order.  My fingers though will have to take a tranquilizer as they are itching to get started.

Feels Like Boxing Day

 Today,  feels like a Boxing Day of sorts to me.  Well - minus  the sales  and left over turkey. 

Last night I finished the final item on my Christmas knitting list.  An Easy Peasy Scarf for Fred's Step Mom.

 A stash buster for sure.  Step Mom has strawberry blond hair and wears lots of browns so this should be a hit.

Pattern:  My Own.  Cast on as many stitches as required to give you the length of scarf you want.  Here I cast on 125 but for a longer scarf, I measusre the cast on against a beach towel.
Yarn:  Lots  - at least 5-7  different yarns. Use different textures, and most importantly, different gauges to give  the scarf its thick, thin very tactile feel.
Needles:  8 or 9mm - the big needles give the scarf a very open appearance.
Instructions.  Change yarns every row leaving a tail of about 8 inches.  Every time you have two tails, tie them together. These tied tails form the fringe.  Change yarns randomly.  I keep them in a bag and reach in blindly. Whatever comes out is what I use.  The random selecting of yarns gives the scarf its wonderful, creative appearance.  Too much thought in yarn selection makes for a more controlled, disciplined scarf. 

This one, with 125 stitches, finished at 5 1/2 inches by 51 inches ( not including fringe) and  took two evenings.  So, if you are so inclined, you still have time before the big day.  But me? It's Boxing Day in my knititng world.

Another Hat

Despite this long row of project bags,

 

each containing yarn and pattern for a sweater (and thanks in advance for the expected   compliments on how tidy my shelf is) I seem to be stuck on hats.


This latest hat was a special request.  Considering that requests don't come along very often, the decision to delay sweater knitting for another short bit of time was a no brainer. 

When dear D-I-L was here over Thanksgiving, she purchased a lovely, new, black, winter coat.  I suggested she needed a bright,colourful scarf to make the outfit a head turner.  My supply happened to be handy and D-I-L modelled them all, took suggestions and decided on this one.

 

Knit a summer ago with Bernat Mosaic and a garter rib, zig zag pattern that  almost ended my knitting obsession - or as D-I-L put it,  was a B - - - h  to knit, this multi-coloured beauty was the perfect choice.

A few weeks ago, came the request for a hat to match.  "No need for the same difficult pattern on the hat, D-I-L said. Cables will do."  Knit a hat as a result of a request? No problem.  Knit a hat with cables?  No Problem.  Remembering the exact colour used?  Problem.  A smart knitter would have recorded the colour number.  But me,with my poor recording habits - well why even bother to look?   

Michael's had a colour that, seen in the ball and with the scarf miles away, looked to me to be  identical.  Knit up, not so much.  Is it bright?  Yes.  Will it brighten a dark winter's day and black coat ensemble?  Yes. Will it match the scarf?  Probably not.  Sorry, dear D-I-L.  And to make matters more embarrassing,  when the hat was finished,  I found, scribbled on the scarf pattern, the colour number. I guess I don't know myself so well afterall.

 Pattern:  Yarn Harlot's An Unoriginal Hat
Yarn:  Bernat Mosaic - not colour 1110 - held double
Needles:  6.5mm - two sets of short-cabled circs
Mods:  Stephanie suggests size 7mm double points to knit the hat.  I don't own size 7mm so knit it with 6.5.  And switched to two sets of circs.  Fewer points to get in the way.



So dear D-I-L, I will keep looking for Bernat Mosaic in Colour # 1110 and you will, hopefully and  eventually, have two hats.

HO HO HO

Knitting for babies is the best thing.  They never complain.  Never roll their eyes.  Never say they don't like it.  They let their knitting aunties be as silly  creative as they like and sleep right through the trying on and wearing of  the latest hand knit to come off the needles.

At least,  at less than a month of age, I am hoping all the above will be Baby Jack's reaction to his new Santa hat.

Pattern: Hurry Down The Chimney Tonight  Hat by Nancy Lutz
Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash DK weight

Needles: 3.75 mm
Mods:  I knit the ribbing with a no name fuzzy white yarn purchased in Romni's bargain basement.  I also put a pom pom on the tip of the hat instead of the I Cord tassels.  Most importantly, the 64 stitches that Nancy said to cast on seemed way too small to my eye. So again I referred to my Hat Encyclopedia and cast on 88 as it suggests for the   newborn size in DK yarn.

So cute.  I hope Baby Jack likes it.  Washable wool so Mom will be pleased.

Multiple Minions Man My Manoir

Sorry, couldn't resist that alliteration.

My Minions are done.  Two hats that will either be received with delightful squeals or a great rolling of the eyes.  At ages 11 and 13, I expect the latter.  But no matter. I had fun  knitting them and if the grand kids don't like them I am sure they know some little person who will.

Minon Hats. 

Pattern:  Minion Hats by Lauren Irving

Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash DK

Needles: 3.75mm

Mods:  Lauren's pattern is for KW weight yarn but I used DK.  So I simply adjusted the number of stitches to cast on by referring to my hat pattern encyclopedia and then followed Lauren's pattern.

Lauren also had the eye done in half double crochet stitches and I found them too large.  I created mine using single crochet.

I know a Mother  knitter is not supposed to have favourites but I like Mr Two Eyes best.  

Have a fun weekend everyone.  Happy Black Friday shopping to all those who are so inclined.  Instead, Fred and I will be attending the tree lighting celebration in Clarksburg - Thornbury's  twin town  on the banks of the  Beaver River.  Free hot turkey sandwiches for dinner.  Fred likes free.

More Time With Minions

My first Minion, the one-eyed Mnion is totally done -eye, mouth and hair.

 

 

Minion number two , the two-eyed Minion, awaits eye implantation.

 
 His eyes are a bit smaller.  His crocheted mouth will have a slightly different 'crook' to it but his hair will be the same.  Full details of these little guys later this week.

The Minion Modelled

Teddy is shown here, modelling my first Minion Hat.

 

 Since Minions are not part of this senior's world,  I    have no idea if   can claim  either  this hat is perfect, or it is badly skewed. 

It looks like the picture, minus the hair and  mouth yet to come.

But to this knitter's eye, I'd say the black stripe on my Minion is too close to the top. Re-positioning the eye so that the majority of it falls beneath the black stripe would probably look more balanced. I think I will do that.

However those in the Minion know - like my grand kids - probably can tell exactly how the hat should look.  And I expect, kids being kids,  they will let me know.

On to Minion Number Two.

Hats Again

Hats are on the horizon here still.  Hats were not part of my scheduled knitting plans - I have sweaters a-plenty I plan to knit.   But the leftover Noro was good enough reason to knit the Ziggley Zag hat.  Then I caught sight of these little guys on ravelry.

Another free pattern - designers are so generous aren't they? I had seen a young fellow wearing one of these hats the day I attended the Woodstock Fleece Festival.  Wearing the hat and grinning from ear to ear, I should add.   When I spotted the free pattern I wondered if I could elicit that same grin from my Grand Kids.  It is worth a try.

First, though I had to educate myself a bit.  What the heck is a Minion?    To truly appreciate them, I  suspect you need to be of a certain age - and certainly not my age - but you can look here to see them.

Hat number one is ready for the black stripe.  

 

 These hats are fun to knit - and the decorating should be super fun.  Once I have  two Minion Hats complete, then I will return to my sweater knitting.

Noro. Nice.

My  Noro hat is finished.  A fast, fun, weekend  knit.  The directions suggested the hat would require one ball and a bit   of Noro Kureyon.  That estimate could not have been more accurate.   It took just a teeny, tiny bit of ball number two.

Off the head, the hat appears to have an over-zealous curl to the bottom edge.

 

 On the head though, it behaves very nicely.  And this, in it's unblocked state.   

A solution  to the tendency to roll  would require only a minor change to the beginning.  The directions  say to knit one round then begin the pattern.  Instead, maybe one round knit then one round purl.  Or perhaps a few rounds of knit for a more decided roll, then one round purl to stop the curl.  Even so, I am not unleased with mine.

Pattern: Ziggely Zag Hat.  Free on ravelry

Needles:  4.5mm

Yarn: Noro Kureyon - one ball and a very little amount of a second ball.  

This worked for me, as I had leftover Kureyo from my Mitered Square Pillow.  

It doesn't work so well if you must  buy yarn for the hat.

Mods:  None

This is a nice little hat.  Just enough pattern work to keep it interesting but not so difficult as to torture the knitter.  The type of project I like to call - A Double Feature Hat.  Needles, yarn, two movies and you have a hat.

Good Intentions

A week from now, I have a ladies event to attend.  A Christmas luncheon and the event requires that we each bring a small gift.  Being a knitter, I think, wouldn't it be a good idea to take a hand knit gift?  Imagine the ooohs and aaahs.  Imagine the compliments.  Imagine the ego boost.  Imagine the stress!

I went searching through my already-knit box.  It is low on FOs.  The only items in it are  the Kitimat hat and mittens. 

 

But my gift recipient doesn't strike me as a toque and mittens kind of girl. 

There is also this,

 

 The tam I knit with Classic Elite Liberty, purchased last winter on a yarn crawl to Barrie.
Hmmm.  I can see her in a tam. 
 


And - since the tam took a ball and a bit, there remains  almost an entire ball of   the Classic Elite Liberty.  

 

To go with the Tam, maybe a little cowl  - or  cache-cou as my French speaking grand kids  call it.  And an entire weekend to do it in.  Piece of cake.

Except that version one didn't suit.  Nor did version two.  Or three and four for that matter.  Change of plans.  How about fingerless mitts?  Great idea.  Number one is almost done.

 

 Is there enough yarn for number two?   The next day or two shall tell.  A one-armed,  paper hanger my recipient is not. 

Perhaps a tam is enough.  Throw in some chocolates and call it  done.  I'll let you know.

Not Your Grandma's Pillow

Two specials FOs this week, have made me ridiculously - as in grinning like a Cheshire cat ridiculously -  pleased.
First up is the mitred pillow.  I like it - a lot.  Fred is so-so about it. 

 

Details:

Pattern: Free Bernat Pattern, called 4 Squared Mitred Pillow.    While you are at that site, take a look at some of the other pillow designs.  Who knew hand-knit pillows could be so cool?  Certainly not this Grandma.

Yarn:  Sorry Mr. Bernat, I used Noro Kureyon. Colour 268. Just over 2 balls.

Needles:5mm

Mods:  The border instructions didn't make design sense to me, so I did something different.  The instructions said to pick up 45 stitches along each of the 4 edges of one of the pillow covers.  Knit stockinet for 2 inches, increasing one stitch each side of the corner stitch on each row, then cast off.  Sew the border to the other pillow cover.  

But to my way of thinking, that would mean despite having  picked up 45 stitches along each side , I would be trying to sew many more than 45 stitches to the other side, because of all the increases that happened in the two inches of knitting.

So - instead, I did as directed for the first inch, then purled one row to create a sharp edge and make it good for turning.  Then I worked in reverse - that is decreasing one stitch each side of the marker until I was back down to 45 stitches along each edge.  It fit perfectly.

 Comments:  My 4 squares measured 10 inches across before blocking, 12 inches after blocking.  The border added an inch on each side.  A perfect fit for a 14 x 14 pillow form.

 

The second FO that has me broadly grinning is in this photo, sent to me by the new Grand Parents. 

Baby Jack swaddled - yes that is the only word for it - in the baby blanket knit for him by his Great Aunt Brenda.  The hat I didn't knit. Whoever did  knit it must have thought the baby would be a girl.

At this moment, I imagine there are many of you ridiculously grinnning.  As well you should be.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I feel.  Have a great weekend everyone.

 

 

I Have The Answer

Finished up a pair of socks the other day - and just in time too.

They are standard socks, cuff down, 2x2 ribbed leg with stockinet foot.  64 stitches, 2.5mm needles. Regia sock yarn.

The thing is -  this new pair of socks is knit with the same yarn in almost the same colourway  as I used for the very  first pair of socks I ever knit.

 

That first pair is getting thin in the sole,

so these new ones come just in time.  When did I knit that first pair?  The exact year, I do not remember.  Definitely, more than eight years ago, but probably less than 15.  A long time ago.

For all those years, come the cooler weather months, I wear my hand-knit socks daily.  With several pairs, I can get through a week before I need to do laundry.  My hand-knit socks, because they are knit with combo sock yarn (part wool, part nylon/polyester) get washed the regular way - in the washing machine, along with other  dirty clothes.  I do spare them the fibre-destroying heat and tumble of the dryer and lay them flat to dry.  Nonetheless, weekly wearings and washing for more than  eight years is a testament to hand knit socks.

Knowing now, the life span of my very first pair of socks, I  have the answer to the question.  The question   non-knitters, or even knitters who are non, sock-knitting knitters ask.
"Why would you spend that much time and money to knit socks when you can buy them at  every- town's,  convenient, giant,  discount retailer for so little?"  The answer is simple.

Longevity.

Even As I Wrote It...

Friday, when I ended my post with a comment about the wet, rainy weekend we were expecting and the time that might allow  me to commit to knitting, I knew, even as I wrote it,  that it wasn't going to be so.

Last weekend was Poppy weekend in our small town.  The weekend when Legion members stand on the street corners with boxes of poppies and in exchange for a donation to the fund, give out poppies.  Not only am I a Legion member, but this year I am also chair of the Poppy campaign.  Although all time slots were filled and all  supplies on hand, leading one to think all would go smoothly, of course it never does.  Hitch is the operative word.

Hitches coupled with my own poppy duty, time slots, meant that my needles were picked up only about 8 pm, Sunday evening.  Too tired at that point to tackle the cables of Autumn Fair, instead, I knit on my Noro pillow.  All eight squares are now complete, and the border begun. 

 

The border, though, I think, is not well planned.  It starts with the picking up of stitches around the front side of the pillow.  The directions then say to knit, stockinet stitch  increasing one stitch each side of the corner stitch until the border is 2 inches deep.  Next, sew the border to the  back side of the pillow. 

Wait a minute.  If the front requires starting with fewer stitches then increasing the number of stitches as the border deepens,  why would I sew the great number of stitches to the back side.  Why wouldn't I knit the border to half  it's required depth, then decrease one stitch either side of the corner stitch until the stitches are reduced to the same number as were picked up.  Then sew it to the back side. 

Makes more sense to me, so that is what I will do.  An  improved pillow is what I expect to have.  And those words, I expect to carry weight.

Unfinished Business

November 1.  It is  'wear-my-newly-knit-Autumn Fair-coat-for-first-time' day.  But does this look finished to you?

 

Perhaps only if you are like the missing-limbed, costumed Haloweeners who came to my door last night.

Not only is it not finished, it is  not even blocked.  The back, two sleeves and 90% of one front, complete.  A second front and all trims yet to do.

Autumn Fair is coat length.  That will make it, I think,  too warm to wear as a sweater.  It might be one of those knits that upon completion is immediately put away for next season.  It won't be my first to experience that fate.  At this stage, the knitting  has become a bit tiresome.  The tiresome stage is when I give  myself strict orders.  'You cannot go out to play until you knit 10 rows' kind of strict orders.  Being a woman of no self discipline, sometimes I have to do that

With the wet, rainy weather and  minimal, non-knitting, time  commitments over the next few days, it should be a great knitting weekend.  I hope the same for you.

Modestly Priced, High End

I mentioned last week,   that knitting my pillow with four balls of Noro yarn, makes it a high-end pillow. 

But look how far one ball went.

 

  One side finished with this much yarn left.

Both the second side and the border still need to be knit.  I am thinking that with the addition of another yarn for a plain  back side, I might get pillow number  two from  four balls. 

That makes my high-end pillow - very modestly priced. My cup of tea indeed!