I have this pesky 10 year old.  Once she gets an idea in her head, there’s no stopping her.  We remodeled her room two summers ago.  She went from cranberry walls to royal blue.  She accents in lime and white.  Well, she was adamant that she didn’t want a homemade scrappy quilt.  In fact, she wanted a store-bought, puffy, polyester filled comforter with matching everything – pillows, dust ruffle, etc.  I didn’t argue.  I was burned out on quilting and didn’t want to make her one anyway.  So we bought her a Bed-in-a-Bag.  She loved it initially.  I told her that I didn’t think she was going to like the puffy-polyester comforter after having thin-cotton-washed-a-million-times-comfy quilts in the past.  But she LOVED this new look.

Fast forward to now and the comforter is not quite as comfy as she thought it would be.  It’s getting kind of ratty looking and it’s just plain not warm.  Yeah… Told you so.  (No… I would never throw that in her face.  Okay… yes, I did.  I never said I was “Mom Of The Year”.)

So she started working on me last month.  “Mom, I think we can make a quilt together.”  Really?  We?   “I don’t sew or quilt anymore” was my response.  That didn’t work one bit.  She kept at it.

We began to wheel and deal.  “Okay, I might consider making a quilt if it was SUPER simple,” I said.  She bit on that as a sign that I was caving in and then there was no turning back.

We went to JoAnn’s on Saturday night.  The JoAnn’s in our area is a major buzz kill.  They have the most UNfriendly staff, it’s dirty, just bad news.  But I had coupons and wanted this to be as inexpensive as possible in case it didn’t turn out and in case she changes her mind again in a year and wants something totally different.  She picked out three fabrics and a backing and we went home to wash them.

On Sunday, I had to clean my sewing space.  That should have taken about 2 weeks.  But we (yes, WE- she’s also a cleaning fanatic so I figured I would get something out of this bargain – a clean sewing area) kicked out the cleaning in nothing flat.

My idea for quick and easy was quilt-as-you-go stripes on the longarm.  So I attached the backing to the longarm, then laid the batting on top.  Then we cut two strips of fabric and put them right sides together on top of the batting/backing combination.  I sewed a 1/4″ seam allowance through all four layers.  Flipped the one strip over to the right side, them repeated on down.

After trying to get the mechanics right and going slowly at first, we only finished three rows on Sunday. Monday was my marathon work day – no sewing of any kind.

Tuesday after school, we went back down to the sewing room to start up again.  Gianna read aloud to me (no books on tape needed when you have your own live version I guess).  That was the extent to her helping if you don’t count the “Are you done yet?”  “When do you think this will be done?” questions.  Okay, to be fair, she did help with some pinning too.

I kicked butt on Tuesday.  I got into a rhythm and went to town on that baby.  I finished all the stripes and started a large puzzle-piece meander across the whole thing.  The puzzle-piece meander was her choice over a pantograph.  I think the fact that I said it was quicker was the key.  She’s into immediate gratification and knows how I burn out quickly on these projects.

Wednesday night I only had to attach the binding and wa la – I was finished.

And there you have it folks.  A finished quilt (except I need to tack down the binding).  Only one slight problem.  It’s not wide enough for her bed!  I have a master’s degree in computer science and apparently can’t add. Or take an accurate measurement with a tape measure – one of the two.  Sheesh…  She claims it’s fine and she wants me to finish the binding tonight and go back to get more lime green so she can make matching pillow shams.

Overall it was a totally stress-free project.  Quilting got to be so stressful towards the end.  I wasn’t enjoying it at all.  This was nice.  I had fun and it was so simple that it was almost impossible to screw it up.  The quilting fairies were visiting with their good fairy dust so there weren’t any folds in the backing or problems with the tension or anything.  (I did have that one problem where the machine wouldn’t turn on and I thought it was because it had sat so long unused.  But it turns out that you have to plug it in… so we probably won’t count that as a problem.)

My knitting was TOTALLY neglected this week because between this and work, there wasn’t much spare time.  Making supper, doing laundry, attending an academic team meet, playing chauffeur to the kids – all that still needs to fit in my schedule too.  But I can fit a quilt here and there in I think.  Heavens knows I have enough tops just waiting for a quick pantograph.  Nothing wrong with that, right?

Today I was up early to take DJ to 7am academic team practice at one school.  I then picked him up and took him to math at the high school…. picked Gianna up from home and took her to school.  Since I had 3 cups of coffee in me and had already showered for the day, I headed back to work myself.

Fortunately, I have no classes on Tuesday.    I attended my meetings, made my phone calls, answered email and took off by lunch time.  I headed to Aldi to pick up fruits and vegies and then to Goodwill to see if I could score some cashmere.

And I did.

Not one, not two, but three cashmere sweaters BABY!

Hence the title of this post, Terrific Tuesday.    It doesn’t take much to make my day terrific, now does it?

The top left purple sweater is a Lands End Size Small.  It may fit my sister as is.  I won’t unravel it until she tells me if she wants it to wear.  It was $6.99 instead of the regular $3.49.  Someone spotted the tag and marked up the price.  They had it showcased with an outfit.  I also spotted the tag and took it off the showcase.  $6.99 is still a good price for a cashmere sweater.

The top right pink sweater may be felted.  I can’t tell.  It’s awfully fuzzy.  I’ll start with a sleeve and if I can’t unravel it, I may try dyeing it making a pillow out of it.  Or something.  Not sure… It has a tear in the neckline and I tried to get more money off, but they wouldn’t take anything additional.  $3.49 – good deal.

The bottom one is interesting.  It’s a khaki color and knit in a 1 x 1 rib.  I think there’s a lot of yarn there.  I also think the yarn looks slightly thicker.  Maybe it’s not but the rib stitch makes it look thicker.  That one may actually fit me too.  I may wear it a time or two before deciding if I’m going to take it apart. $3.49

I also got two work shirts for my hubby.  He has long arms and is wearing XL shirts even though he’s a medium to large in size.  I found large LONG shirts for him.  They are in the wash now.  $3.49 each.    We just went to Kohl’s this weekend and picked up two new work shirts for around $20 each.  Goodwill has spoiled me for shopping even the sales at other stores!

Okay, back to work for me.  I can work from home the rest of the afternoon.  I have some grading and lecture prep to do.  It would be nice if I could multitask and take a nap at the same time.  No?  Darn…

Today, I’m happy to report that things are better.  I only spent an hour this morning working on my school work.  I woke up early to get some good knitting time in.  I knit a couple of inches on Sonia’s scarf yesterday although it was slow going.  I knit on my sweater today.  Things are looking up.

Every Sunday, my 10yo has softball practice that I have to attend.  The practice is in the gym of the school where I teach and the school’s rules are that an employee must be present in order for the girls to practice.  I always bring work or knitting to do but I end up watching the practice more than I work or knit.  I enjoy watching as long as I can keep my mouth shut!    Today’s practice went well.  The girls tried hard and were practicing well.  Gianna practiced exceptionally well.  She caught the entire practice – her favorite position.  The coach worked with her and another catcher on the team on blocking the ball and basics of the catching position.  It was interesting for me because I’ve never played that position and don’t know anything about it.

It’s spitting rain/ice now and we are in for the rest of the day and night.  I should get some solid knitting in and some relaxing time in before the hectic 8am – 9:30pm Monday work day hits tomorrow!  I plan on making homemade strawberry frozen yogurt for dessert.  Kind of a summer dessert but I’m excited about trying it.

I’m about 40% done with Sonia’s scarf and I started a sweater project!  What the heck?  But it’s going so quickly and I’m addicted to it.  Here it is so far…

Why yes... I am taking a picture of myself in the bathroom mirror. Why do you ask?

The pattern is Mondo Cable Pulli by Bonnie Marie Burns of chicknits.  I’m using a 100%merino wool that I got on sale for $3 a hank.  That whole 1/3 of a sweater has been knit up in 3 days!  That’s fast for my slow knitting.  I am disappointed in one thing though.  My tension on the back and forth knitting is different than my tension in the round.  I’m happy to say that I can’t see it in the pictures and maybe it will block out even better.  I’m looser in my purl rows than I am in the knit rows.  Weird… I’ve either never had that problem  before or I’ve never noticed before.  Hmmm…. I’m going to keep knitting though.  I don’t think it will be noticeable by anyone but me.  And it’s a sweater that I’ll wear on weekends – kind of a comfy, kick around type sweater and not a showcase, going to the awards ceremony sweater, so I think I can live with a few imperfections.

Now I’m in a predicament.  I can’t possibly work on two projects at once.  I only have one pair of hands.  I haven’t knit on Sonia’s scarf at all in the past two days and I’m feeling guilty about that.  I’m on the “smooth sailing” part on both projects where there isn’t much thinking going on for either of them.  So I’m going to try to either (1) alternate days or (2) every time I sit down to knit pick up the project that wasn’t worked on last.  Either of those should work out.  I was trying to knit a pattern repeat a day on the scarf so I’ll have to knit three today to keep up with my fake, self-imposed schedule due to my “new project neglect”.  Sonia is used to me not finishing projects for her, but just once I’d like to surprise her and follow through with an actual finished project.  I’ll keep you posted on how this plan works out.

And BTW, I’m thinking about quilting this weekend… Just a heads up in case you want to call the press or anything…

Here is the start of a cotton V-neck sweater that I started from reclaimed cotton yarn.

Not a great picture but I love the pattern and the yarn is sooooo soft.  It has the makings of a “favorite-wear-with-blue-jeans” pullover.  Could be the go-to sweater for weekends.  I stored it with the pattern and found my stopping place easily.  No notes on the pattern itself as to why I stopped.  I knitted a few rows.  And then I remembered.

• My fingers and wrists ached.  Cotton isn’t easy to knit with.  It doesn’t bounce and spring and slide off the needles well.  My hands have to do too much work.  Now, that might not be the case for everyone.  But for me, cotton is tough to knit for long periods of time.
• I have different tension in the round and flat knitting.  Again I think it’s because of the cotton yarn.  I don’t have that problem with most wool and wool blends.  This sweater begins with back and forth flat knitting.  I knit one row; purl the next.  Until you join at the V-neck.  Then it’s straight knit.  My tension changed at that point.  I went from 4 or 4.25 stitches per inch to 4.5 stitches per inch.  Not a big deal?  Well it is for a 38″ sweater. It’s a matter of 2-3″.  Plus it looks bad.  You can really notice it from the inside of the sweater.
• 

  Ridges in pairs from the flat knitting; no ridges once I knit in the round

  • Finally I put the sweater on two needles so I could slide it over my head and try the sweater on.  The arm holes appear to be a little snug.  Now I remember.  That was the deal breaker.  I tend to make my sweaters a bit big so I remember thinking that’s the way it’s supposed to be on a fitted sweater.  But in the back of my mind I thought, “That’s gonna bother me.”

Unfortunately, even though I like the sweater and the yarn, I am going to have to frog it.  There’s no hope of finishing this and being satisfied with it.  I have A LOT of that red tweed yarn.  Figures, huh?

Sigh…

FIBER CONTENT

I like to work with wool.  I have knit a few things in cotton, but it isn’t as “bouncy” as wool and gets very heavy at a larger gauge like worsted weight.  (Gauge is the next section.)  That being said, not all wool is created equal.  Merino wool is my favorite.  If it’s merino wool, it will say it on the label.  I haven’t found any pure merino wool at my Goodwill shopping trips.  But I have this one to unravel which is primarily merino wool.

The other fibers on this sweater are good fibers too – even the nylon.  That adds strength.   So this is a good combination.

Speaking of combination fibers, angora is good in moderation.  Otherwise it’s too hairy and ‘sticks together’ too much and makes the unraveling process difficult.  Also too much angora tends to make the fibers airborn when unraveling and you sneeze a lot and it makes the floor all ‘dusty’.    10-15% is a good amount of angora for me – no more.

100% wool tags:  If they aren’t going to tell you what kind of wool it is, then it’s probably itchy wool.  It has short fibers and will cause some skin irritation.  I don’t discount it automatically though.  Take this sweater for instance.

It’s 100% wool.  It’s itchy.  But the sweater is a size XL and the gauge is huge so it will make a nice cardigan that will have a turtle neck worn underneath.

Other fibers?  I like silk, cotton blended with wool, alpaca (I like alpaca a lot – just can’t find it), and obviously my current fix – cashmere.  Natural fibers from animals are my favorite.

Do the skin test.  Rub the fiber against your face or inner lower arm.  Does it itch?  It will itch when worn.

GAUGE

Gauge refers to the thickness of the yarn.  The finest gauge is usually found on cashmere.  The yarn looks like a single piece of thread.  That gauge is referred to as lace-weight and can be used by itself to knit lace shawls.  I don’t like to knit with that fine of yarn.  It’s too delicate and I’m not a very delicate person.  However, as you’ve seen in previous posts, I can hold two, three, or four strands together and knit at the next gauge levels up – light fingering, fingering, or sport weight.  If I unravel a small lace weight sweater and then hold three strands together, I’m not going to make another sweater.  I would only have 1/3 of the yarn that the original sweater had (if that).  An XL cashmere sweater with a turtleneck or hood would be a jackpot find!

Most sweaters that are machine knit of good quality fiber are going to be lace or light fingering weight yarn.  The sweater below is lambswool (a kinda scratchy yarn but nice to work with) and is chunky weight (the heaviest).

Weird proportions for a sweater, don’t you think?  The arms are super long and skinny!  What will I make with something like that?  I was thinking about a cowl or infinity scarf that are popular at stores like The Gap this season.

SEAMS

I have to be able to see the seams to unravel the sweater.  The gray sweater above that just said 100% wool?  Look how nice you can see the seams.

That little chain stitch ‘v’ is the seam.  It’s the same kind of seam that they use for dog food bags.  You cut one end and it unravels itself in one piece (ideally).  Also, the selvages aren’t bound off with thread or machine stitching of any kind.

WHAT YOU DON’T WANT

As I mentioned above, look for any machine stitching on the sweater.  Here’s a cardigan with machine button holes.

I didn’t notice that at the time.  I will lose the majority of both fronts on that sweater.  I can still use the back and sleeves though.

I found an alpaca sweater last month that had machine embroidery paisley “things” across the whole front.  UNUSABLE.  Sigh…   I considered getting it but it had the next problem.

BLACK!  I can’t see the seams on black.  I can’t see the yarn.  Black yarn is tough to work with in my opinion.  The above sweater was also black.  Bummer…  I would have purchased it to wear except those paisley things were butt ugly.

Felted fiber.  Many people don’t know how to wash a wool sweater.  Agitation causes the sweater to felt.  The first clue is that you can’t see good stitch definition.  You can’t see those V’s – they are all melded together.  It’s probably felted which is not good for my purposes.

Holes?  I can live with holes.  Minor holes are not bad things.  Ask for $$$ off.  Maybe you can get it even cheaper!

Okay family members that are fiber-hunters/bargain shoppers.  Now you know what I look for in a sweater.  Different people have different preferences.  Right now these are my preferences in order of fiber content:  (1) cashmere (2) merino wool and/or alpaca.  I have a lot of lambswool right now and I need to use some of the mixed content fibers to see what my preferences are there.

As soon as work settles down, I do plan on producing a youtube video on how to actually take apart a sweater.  There’s plenty of fiber for everyone, but if you live in my immediate area, save the cashmere for me! 

Dan's Current Book

I read the first four of this series and really liked them.  Dan likes it so far.

DJ and I are reading The Alchemist

DJ started reading this book first while I finished up “Ender’s Shadow” (his recommendation).  He had just finished “To Kill A Mockingbird” by my suggestion and really liked it.  I usually like the books DJ picks out so I took his recommendation on this book and I like this one so far.

Gianna's Book

My 10yo, Gianna, loves “The Help”.  Her reading level is outstanding.  This is the girl who didn’t know her alphabet before starting kindergarten and then just skyrocketed in first and second grade.

It’s common for me to start projects two or three times because I screw up reading the directions or drop a stitch or something.  It’s easier to restart than correct.  But this time that wasn’t the case.  The yarn is a very dark cranberry.  So I had to find the right pattern.  Darker yarn (like darker fabrics) just don’t show the ridges and valleys of knitting.

I found this nice basketweave pattern first.

But the pattern was lost on a dark colored yarn.  Plus, the yarn needs to be shiny and smooth like a cotton or silk for this pattern in my opinion.  After a dozen rows of that scarf I ripped out and started this pretty chevron baby.

There were multiple free patterns in the chevron style.  But again, these were just not right for this yarn.  I gave it a few dozen rows this time thinking I was a bit too picky.  But no.  Wasn’t going to work.

That’s two patterns.  Where are the other 5?  Well I didn’t cast on the correct multiple of the first one and had to start again.  Then I decided it needed a garter border so the edges didn’t curl like the one in the picture.  See what I mean?  False start after false start.

Luckily, there’s the Ravelry website.  I looked specifically for fingering weight yarn and looked at finished projects in darker colors.  Lo and behold, someone published a free pattern and the sample was in cranberry.  Ahhh…. the search was over.  I liked it and I knew it would turn out well.  If only I didn’t keep screwing it up.

Armed with the yarn…

from this Turnbury cashmere sweater that I have been unraveling…

and a set of size 4 needles, I began again this morning.  7am.  I’m happy to report that I have 8 inches completed and I still like it.

What? No pictures?

Nope.  It’s a surprise for my sister and she checks the blog regularly.

What? Only 8 inches all day and it’s after 3pm?

I did other things like clean the house… and worked from home… and practiced my piano lessons (“Spring” by Vivaldi and “Gilligan’s Island” by ?? the sitcom).

But because I’m weird, I did time my progress.  The scarf consists of 24 rows repeated constantly.  It takes me abut 45 minutes to complete one pass of the 24 rows.  I have 3 sets done.  I have 17 more to do.  That’s approximately 13 hours.  At an hour a day – I can get this scarf finished in two weeks.

In other news:

1. The college canceled my night class last night due to the snow.  It’s the first time the college has canceled classes since our new administration came into office.  Interesting…
2. We got about 6″ of snow I’d estimate.  I’ve shoveled the driveway twice.  I’m sick of it already.
3. Even though most people in this area are born and bred Illinoisans, most have forgotten how to drive in the snow.  They must not have had a father who took them to the parking lot to do donuts before they got their driver’s license.    Thanks Dad but I think I may need a refresher course in that too.  Turn your wheel towards your back end when sliding, right?

Alright, back to work.  Even though I’m not in today, I have to post my first week’s assignments for my online class and create a webcast on what I would have covered in last night’s class.

1. I’m home today – not because I’m sick but because I don’t have any classes during the day.  I don’t have to go in until 4:30pm today.
2. I was going to go in after my Weight Watcher’s meeting to get some prep work done.  But we are having our first major snowfall in Illinois and it’s kinda slip-slidey out there.  Instead I’m “kinda” working from home.  “Kinda” working involves checking my email every half hour to hour; cleaning the house and doing laundry; knitting; prepping what I can from home (reading; updating Blackboard); knitting some more…
3. Snow… we are supposed to get 4-6″.  I think it’ll be more like 4″.  I don’t leave the house for work until Dan is home so I’ll take his 4-wheel drive Jeep in.
4. There was no Weight Watcher’s meeting but there was a weigh in.  I’m doing okay still although I feel like I’m carrying a bowling ball around my waist.  What’s that all about?
5. I finished my lime green cashmere scarf last night.  It’s lovely.  I’m wearing it today with my other Goodwill cashmere sweater.    Here’s a picture after blocking
   

   All done... Light as air

   I will start Sonia’s scarf next but I still have quite a bit of unraveling to do yet.  I have picked out a couple of patterns.  She doesn’t get to see it until it’s done.  Those are my rules.

6. I purchased this pattern called “The Beekeeper’s Quilt”.  It was an impulse purchase.  I made one hexagon and it was all squishy.  I made a second one and it was huge.  I modified her instructions and made a third one and it was JUST RIGHT.  However, it was teeny tiny
   

   Yes, it's really that small. And takes an hour to complete.

   .So I’m supposed to make how many of these?  Hundreds?  Then join them together?  Seriously?  The designer suggests that you make them in your spare time and toss them in a basket over the course of a couple of years.  Then join them.  LOL Yeah… that’s going to work with my 2yo’s attention span.  I thought it might be a good idea to use up my leftover sock yarn from socks, scarves, etc.  PLUS I’m not sure I like the way she joins the hexagons.  It leaves all kinds of holes for you toes to poke through.  PLUS PLUS the “quilt” is a Grandmother’s Flower Garden type of quilt and that’s one of my least favorite.  So $5.50 impulse pattern buy. I could make them bigger.  Or I could just make a pillow.  Or one side of a pillow. 

7. Off to shovel snow.  And kinda work some more…

P.S.  My dryer decided to stop drying today.  Sheesh…