Sweater Class

Last week was my first ever knitting class and I am so very happy I decided to take it. We are focusing on the Central Park Hoodie and how you can modify a pattern to actually fit your body. Let me say that I learned a lot.

I’ve decided to do the Viking version since I have access to a teacher who can help me with this modification should the need arise.

I'm in love so far.

I’m in love with this variation. I’m a little worried that it’s going to add too much bulk to the sleeves though. You have to add stitches to get the cables to work, but cables tend to change your width because of how they work. We’ll see how the sleeve goes and if it fits the finished measurements after blocking. If it doesn’t, then we try again.

I have to say that I’ve learned a lot from just one class! Some of what I learned is so stupid that I can’t believe I didn’t think of it first. Like, you don’t have to knit the size as listed, you can piece it together. So if you have a 48″ bust line but skinny stick arms, you can knit the 10″ arms portion of the pattern with the 40″ bust body. Who knew? Apparently not me. It’s logic, but I just never thought about it that way. It was my first ‘duh’ moment. I have a lot of those.

Another tip we learned was to knit your sleeve first. It’s the smallest part of your pattern and you can use it as a true test of gauge without knitting an entire back. We all work really hard to get gauge on our swatches, but then as we knit the piece we start to lose the consistency. This is a good tip for this sweater because I’m worried that my modification of the pattern will change the measurements and I’ll be off.

Oh, and always always do a gauge swatch. Seriously. A gauge swatch will change your sweater from homemade to handmade. It’s a subtle distinction, but a huge one. It’s like ironing your seams when you sew clothing. You want people to ask you where you bought that sweater, not if you made it.

In the next two weeks and two days, I need to finish and block the first sleeve and start the back. We’ll see if I can do it. I think I can, but we’ll see. I still have the Husband’s sock to finish!

Workshop Weekend

Over the weekend I had the pleasure to take two knitting workshops–Yarn Voyage with Anne Hanson and Traveling Stitches with Cookie A–with YarnKettle.

The started out with caffeine, Chai Latte to be exact. Never underestimate the need for caffeine even if you are going to something related to knitting, because 3 hours of something you love is still something you need to stay awake for.

We got to the class early after a very horrible attempt at finding a place for lunch. Fortunately we survived, but that wasn’t for lack of trying.

Yarn Voyage was absolutely fascinating and illustrated how much I still have to learn about yarn. Anne Hanson gave us an overview of different yarns and their basic properties–elasticity, memory, strength, ply, etc–and how that affects your project. All of us have picked out a pattern and spent hours knitting with a dreamy yarn only to bury the finished product deep in a drawer because we picked the wrong yarn.

Waiting for Yarn Voyage to begin.

Anne taught us the properties of yarn so we can make more informed decisions on which yarn to use for which project. For example, sock yarn may not be the best choice for a lace shawl because it will (usually) want to spring back. It’s better used for a sock or, depending on the yarn, a sweater.

There was a lot of information and I’m still spinning a bit from this one. I need to crack open my copy of Knitter’s Book of Yarn to expand on what I learned. True, it’s a different author, but I think the second reference will help more of it stick. That said, I went home that night and looked at the yarn I was using and understood how the ply and fiber content affected what I was making. Really, really excellent class. I even have a handout from it that I fully plan to keep in my knitting binder.

Unfortunately, I was trying to pay attention to the class so much that I have no pictures. But since the photos are with my phone and the camera is less than stellar, it’s not the end of the world.

Sunday, was our Traveling Stitches class with Cookie A. Now, I had no idea who Anne and Cookie were so I was surprised that I actually knew Cookie from her knitty.com patterns.  When I read the description for this class, I thought it was more about shaping your knitting (e.g. adding short rows to get x or how to decrease to get y), but this was more about moving your stitches around in the pattern to get angles and funky patterns.

Secret photo of Cookie A

Even though it wasn’t the class I expected, I really, really liked it. It was all information that I can apply to building my own patterns and it explained why certain things in knitting work, like Odessa. Since Cookie is a sock knitter, everything was in relation to socks. I would have liked to have seen her expand the information to something like a hat that not only has traveling stitches but has to decrease the stitches while traveling at the top of the hat. That said, I think with what she taught us I can figure it out.

YarnKettle with her favorite Cookie sock.

Definitely a good weekend and I hope they do another one next year.

Totally cramping YarnKettle’s Style

I have knitting workshops this weekend and you all need to feel bad for YarnKettle. She emailed me needing a second opinion on which workshops to take this weekend because she couldn’t decide. First mistake. I looked them over and fell in love with two of them–Yarn Voyage where you learn about yarn to make better choices and Travelling Stitches where you learn how to add curves and angles to your knitting. I told her those were the ones I would take if I did the workshop.

I wasn’t going to do the workshop because it costs money and I’m cheap.

Then I realized I really wanted to do them. I could make better choices with my knitting, shape garments, or even get some of the hat patterns bouncing around in my head out. And the bonus? They both used stash yarn!!! I decided I would take the classes. I told YarnKettle and she didn’t say no. Second mistake.

So the workshops are tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Hugs not ears

Last week was probably the week from hell for our little girl. Tuesday we received a call from daycare notifying us that OP had a rash. It didn’t sound like a major rash; all over her body, yes, but just an allergy. We decided to wait and see what she actually looked like in a few hours when we picked her up.

Our daycare is awesome and we are very happy with it, but occasionally we get a call that, “OMG come quick get the child! She’s diseased!” and we dutifully leave work and she’s 100% fine. Since the rash started in early afternoon and didn’t seem to be bothering her, we decided to wait. Of course, we called the doctor’s office first to make sure she was okay to stay but that we should get her in to see someone that night or the next day.

And here’s the fun part that you must remember for later in our story. Our doctor’s office was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday because there was something wrong with the building. No doctor was physically available.

The Husband and I walked into daycare to get OP. Our plan was to take her to dinner and the store before bed. That plan was derailed when we saw how bad the rash was. It had been getting worse with raised red bumps over a good portion of her body. Much screaming from the Daughter because THE NURSE LOOKED AT ME! and THE DOCTOR USED A STETHOSCOPE! and THEY! LOOKED! IN! MY! EAR! and we find out that our poor little girl had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics for an ear infection. Poor thing went into this appointment hating all things medical and that did not ease up after Tuesday.

We were sent home with a new antibiotic script and ben@dryl. Shortly after we got home, OP looked like this:

You have to love her attempt at a smile.

This was much better than when we saw her at daycare. You can imagine we were extremely relieved. That is, until found her in the morning looking like this:

Needless to say, we were worried, but we figured the ben@dryl just wore off and the rash came back like the doctor warned. Unfortunately, ben@dryl makes OP’s heart pound, teeth chatter, and body shake. Yup, some kids become hyper from the drug and ours was one of them. To be fair, she really enjoyed having teeth that chattered.

As the day wore on, she developed a temperature and her red spots started looking like bruises. Call the emergency line for the doctor’s office that is currently closed and get sent to their partner doctor 30 minutes away. Fever of 103, negative for flu, and the bruising spots are normal. OP screamed throughout BUT got her very first ice pop and that seemed to be almost worth the torment. I bet if they had given her a good flavor and not orange, she would have learned to love the doctor’s office.

Unfortunately as we were leaving, we were told to go the next day to our regular doctor to check on the fever. Our poor little girl who has been tortured by stethoscopes, suffered a fever, looked like she had the plague, and to top it all off had ears that hurt, had to go back to the doctor for the third time.

In three days.

At least she got a script for something to help with the rash.

Thursday OP still had a fever and the rash. Her fingers and toes had turned blue, but her oxygen levels were fine she just had to suffer the injustice of the oxygen clip on her finger a couple times which of course she did not like.

By Friday, she looked like this:

Much better, no? Her fever was gone and she was a happy little camper. Until Monday when she had a follow-up appointment. If I had my way, she’d be away from doctors for a while because it is so traumatic, but she needs to do it and eventually it will get better. We are thinking of buying her a stethoscope to play with so maybe that part will be a little more fun.