Tangled Yoke Not-Cardigan

Finally - a knitting F.O. to share. This project started out as my spring break knitting & knitting "while-I-recover-from-meniscus-repair-surgery-since-I-can't-do-anything else." I actually made quite speedy progress until I got to the cabled yoke pattern. Apparently I have a hard time counting to 13 (let's not dwell on the irony that I've taught math for several years) & had to rip back hundreds of stitches to fix silly mistakes.

But alas - even after starting another project (cough*tapestry cowl*cough), I finally picked-up & knit the collar, thus finishing the sweater.


Details:

Pattern: "The Tangled Yoke Cardigan" published in Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits

Yarn: Cascade 220 Tweed - Don't ask about the colorway - I've had this yarn for years & finally decided to do something about it. I call it "Confetti" because tiny flecks of different colors are interspersed throughout the neutral color of yarn. It was originally intended for a different sweater, but I think the pairing works quite well. Remember - 2010 is all about the stash here at chez Arctic Knitter.

Needles: US5 for ribbing & main body, US 4 for collar.




Modifications: Well, as you can see - this is definitely not a cardigan. Since I've knit a few cardigans already, I wanted another pullover. This pattern seemed easy enough to modify & I was looking to some easy, knit in the round, minimal purling, knitting. I came across a project knit by The Rainey Sisters using a similar idea & followed her modifications (for the split neck, etc).


What I learned while knitting this sweater:

#1: Swatches lie. Hasn't the Yarn Harlot warned us of this before? Here's the irony - I normally don't swatch. I just choose the size that looks closest to my measurements & knit away. Normally this works great. This time, according to the swatch & some math I needed to cast on 210 stitches to get the appropriate size. Well - when all was said & done, the sweater was a smidgy too big, especially in the bust/yoke area. I can live w/a loose fitting body, but a baggy bustline isn't too attractive. Sooo....

#2: Cascade 220 is a great felting wool. Warning: Only the strong at heart should read ahead. I let the sweater soak in the washing machine w/some Euculan. Since it was sopping wet and I wanted to somehow magically make the bust/yoke a smidge smaller, I thought I would throw it in the dryer (yeah, I know) for a wee bit. I put it on the setting using only air & no heat. After a short bit of time the sweater still seemed a bit damp (boy am I impatient), so I reset the dryer & this time used the setting w/heat (gasp!!) meaning only to leave it in for a couple of minutes. I have young children, so of course I lost track of time & the sweater stayed in for far longer than I had intended. While it didn't felt 100%, the sweater was smaller - and *Fit As I wanted it to!!*

#3: Felting diminishes the depth of cables & ribbing. I pinned out the still kinda damp sweater to get the shaping settled & could tell the cables & ribbing don't "pop" as they should. At first I was a bit sad - lots of work put into knitting a sweater only to diminish it's beauty by my stupidity. But a friend stopped by & gushed over the sweater Friday night. I thought "she's right - this is a pretty nice sweater". So - I threw it on the headless lady (my dress form needs a real name - suggestions?) & have been admiring it all weekend.

So - it's finally too warm (for Alaskans) to wear wool sweaters for any length of time, so I'll carefully put it away for the summer & be pleasantly warm come next fall. I think I might even knit this again, but perhaps go down a needle size on the yoke so I don't have to resort to drastic measures. It worked once, but I don't think I need to tempt fate.

:0) Ciao!

Contest FYI

For those of you looking for something new to read, Confessions of a Knitter is having a little contest. Go ahead & visit her blog & check it out!


Courtney is finishing "How to Knit a Love Song" & would like to pass it along to another knitter. Simply leave her a comment, mention her contest on your blog & then you're all set. If you win the book, you can hold a similar contest & pass it along to one of your readers. I thought it was a pretty nifty idea - kind of like a literary, knitterly chain-letter.

On the knitting front: Working on the "Tapestry Cowl" by Pepperknit. It's a great lesson in color work & double knitting. No photos yet - I'll wait until you can actually see something taking shape.

On the weather front: Snow is still lingering, clouds have returned, & the temps are cool. Surely spring will arrive soon? Lots of soccer games scheduled for outdoor play have been postponed due to the weather. The JV squads are feeling the brunt of these postponements. - I guess my knee injury & subsequent hiatus from coaching came at a fortuitous time.

Okay - off to make some progress on the cowl before knitting class this afternoon. Check out Courtney's blog.

Ciao~

Seriously?!?

Mid-April:




I'm Speechless.

Here's something to cheer us all up: GLEE's rendition of Madonna's Vogue video starring Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). If you don't watch GLEE, you're missing something great!

Everybody's Dog

Good-Bye Sweet Girl....

"Joulee" July 1996 - March 13, 2010

It'd be hard to find a good friend of our family who isn't in some way connected with our dog, Joulee (named after the derived unit of energy, the Joule - in honor of her very energetic nature & our nerdiness). After almost 14 years with us, we bid her a final farewell yesterday. Friends called & stopped by not only to check on my knee recovery, but to give her a final pet,hug, & to say good-bye. So many memories we have of her - she was everyone's dog. We were just the lucky ones who got to live with and care for her.

She came to us as an unexpected birthday gift for my husband. Turns out the brother of hubby's best friend was swayed by a pretty girl outside a grocery store to take a cute little puppy home. His mother said 'no' & decided to give it to Wade for his birthday. I can still remember bringing her home & trying to get her to sleep in the cat's crate in the garage. Yeah - that didn't go so well. After several minutes of howling, she broke me & I let her come inside - she worked her way into our hearts so quickly; it's hard to believe she's gone.

I should take comfort in knowing she had a very long, happy life & was able to pass into the afterlife so peacefully. The countless memories of adventures, trips to San Diego before kids, the miles hiking & ski-joring, her ability to roll-over, help erase the chewed shoes, furniture, paper, porcupine quills, & forays into stinky stuff. She was a great dog.

Good-bye Sweet Girl. We miss you....

Stash Busting Bag

I've been promising to show another FO, but have been waylaid by other life events such as tons of snow & knee repair. The delay in the post in no way reflects my feelings of this bag. I *love* this finished project.

Presenting: The "Felted Slip Stitch Tote" designed by PDXKnitterati, Michele Bernstein.

I've had this pattern for quite a while meaning to use it to lighten the stash load. Finally, after having 100% wool spilling out of containers & finishing a couple of French Press Slippers, I decided to finally cast on.

I wish I hadn't waited for so long as this bag is so great! It's the perfect size for holding knitting projects such as my Olympic sweater. It's a great way to use left over wool & the color combinations are endless!

Yarns I used: Lamb's Pride Worsted (Purple & Pink) and Paton's Classic Wool (Blue & Light Purple) All felted very well = I used Michele's suggestion & placed a box within a plastic shopping bag inside the tote to help with drying; great idea! I found the game "Blockus" is just the right size.

Needle: US 10.5

Mods: Instead of using DPNs to knit the straps, I made a 7 stitch i-cord. Worked out rather well! Otherwise - this pattern is just perfect & well written.

I'm planning to teach a beginning knitting class to my high school students in April. I asked Michele about using this pattern & she thought it'd be great - felting is so forgiving for new knitters, and I think they should be able to finish this in a relatively short period of time. So - expect another bag within the coming month; I'm looking forward to using up more stash, because after all, 2010 is all about stash reduction here at Chez Arcticknitter.

Happy Day! Ciao~

Here I Go Again....

Getting old & playing soccer turns out to be a deadly combination. About a month ago, while playing 5 v 5 soccer in the O35 (over 35) league, I twisted my knee. Now I've had several knee injuries (read: 3 ACL repairs over the last 19 years), so I'm no stranger to the warning signs that something just "isn't right". Overall soccer is a sport prone to knee injuries - especially in women. There's a great book called "Warrior Girls" which discusses this 'epidemic' and what coaches and parents can do about it (read: diversity in sport, strength training!). Since my last ACL repair 5 years ago, I've tried to "be good" & keep my legs strong, do other low impact sports such as hockey & cross country skiing while limiting the amount of serious soccer playing. I only returned to league play ("old people league") just last year & was feeling great!

So - bad luck struck & during a routine defensive play, when I went to clear the ball, I planted my left foot on an opposing player's foot & ended up tearing the medial meniscus of my knee. The injury is known throughout the orthopedic set as a "bucket handle tear" because the meniscus folds over & looks like the handle of a bucket. Not only is it painful, but the meniscus gets trapped in the knee joint & prohibits the leg from fully extending. After a couple of weeks on crutches the pain eventually subsided, but I still walked with a noticeable limp. Skiing, ice skating, & general outdoor play were put on hold.

An MRI confirmed my amateur diagnosis & my doctor's suspicion, so the plan was to check out the damage through arthroscopy. There were two possible outcomes dependent on where the tear was located within the medial meniscus: 1) Totally trim out the damaged area or 2) Repair the tear with sutures. Trimming meant a shorter recovery, but more wear & tear of the surface cartilage within the knee. Repairing was dependent if there was a suitable blood supply in the region of damage & requires a much longer recovery period.

Turns out the latter was my case. The good news is that I don't lose any of the meniscus, so I may stave off arthritis of my knee for a longer period of time. The not-so-good news is that I'm confined to crutches and a brace with limited weight bearing for several weeks. I should be up for "light hiking" by June. Coaching JV soccer this season will be impossible, which is kind of a bummer, but also a load lifted from my shoulders during the very busy end of the school year. I guess this also frees up my time for more knitting!!

Speaking of knitting... I hope everyone's experience with hospital staff has been as positive as mine have been. My surgery yesterday was no exception - my prep nurse, surgical nurse, anesthesiologist & of course my orthopedic surgeon were fantastic. They made me as comfortable as possible & were so kind. The best part came in the recovery room. While I'm slowly waking up I could hear the recovery nurse talk about knitting. Well - that put my radar on full alert & helped me wake up more quickly. I told her that I too was a knitter & asked if she was on ravelry. Of course she was! So - we spent the last bit of my wake-up period surfing each other's ravelry profiles in the recovery room! Pretty fun! It was a slow day for the day surgery team (about 1/2 as many cases as usual) so there was no neglect to other non-knitters.

Well - off to elevate & ice. I hope to have some knitting photos to share soon.

Ciao!

March Bites Back

Yes - I love March. It's bright, close to summer, yadda, yadda, yadda. However - I'm no dummy. I know it doesn't mean winter is totally over. It doesn't mean the end of snow. Yes - the 's' word. Snow: pretty, fluffy, bright. Snow: Silent, sneaky....

Snow doesn't let you know it's falling during the night. Nope - all of that frozen precipitation falls silently to the ground - I think it appreciates the surprise factor. Now - I do like surprises. But not on mornings when I have to be at soccer practice by 8am. You know it's bad when you wake up and it seems like everyone in the neighborhood is snow-blowing their driveways before 6:45am. Opening the garage door to a wall of snow = Not a good sign.

Fortunately we have a steep driveway, so getting down to the street was no biggie - gravity works. Of course - this incline totally works against you when you come home. Normally our good ole Subaru can handle anything - even without studded tires; it's that good of a vehicle. But not today. Upon returning home from soccer practice, after several failed attempts - I had to "park" (if that's what you call it) the Sube at the bottom of our driveway. Sorry kids - no time for lunch yet - we get to dig out the driveway & the car. We were in for a long afternoon.

Have I mentioned our driveway is steep? And rather long? Oh - and that hubby is in sunny San Diego right now? And perhaps that I'm having my torn meniscus repaired on Thursday, so my left knee is not at 100%? No worries - I just sucked it up, put on the snow bibs & boots & went to work. Of course, while I was digging at the top of the driveway, our neighbor across the street was merrily snow-blowing her nice, flat driveway. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a few choice thoughts for her, or that running to Sears or Home Depot & laying down the cash for a snow-blower of our own didn't enter my mind.

Then, the heavens opened & the choirs of angels began to sing. As I was hauling off the snow - up the street comes my new knight in shining armor - or at least my knight in Carharts with his trusty heavy-duty snow blower. One of our neighbors noticed the 3 of us (shoveling is a family affair around here) shoveling & digging out the car. He asked if I "minded" if he took a few passes at our driveway with his machine. Did I mind? Heck no! I'd say he spent about 15 - 20 minutes clearing the snow & helping me get the car up the driveway & safely into the garage. What a nice, neighborly thing to do. I'd like to think that if we ever invest in a snow-blower of our own, that we'd do the same for others.


Here are the thank-you cookies. Yes - March is nice. But having kind, thoughtful neighbors is even nicer. Well - given the conditions of the roads, I guess errands will have to wait; seems like a good excuse to get some more spring break knitting done.

~Ciao!