The Refined and Not-So-Refined

These finished sweater pics are a little on the yellow side but you can still see the results of the Refined Aran Jacket.



I used a rolled hem for the sleeves, bottom, and pocket edges. I also grafted the ribbed collar instead of using a three-needle bind off. It's noticeable but not as noticeable as the bind off was.



The little cables and the saddles give a nice zing to this understated pattern.



I'm not sure if I was trying to hold in my stomach or not, but if I wasn't I should be after baking this weekend!



First off was a delicious Irish Soda Bread. A little late for St. Patrick's Day but there wasn't anyone around to eat it then.



This was the killer - Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies. I actually made them twice. The first batch was for a friend at work and they turned out so good that I made them for the weekend when the whole family came to see my BIL, who was in PA for a wedding. Can't you just taste the peanutty goodness!



Finally, I'm finished the back and up to the armholes on the first side of Twist.

One Log at a Time

I've been recovering from surgery so the weaving was on hold for a bit. The last week or two I've been weaving for short periods, 20-30 minutes at at time. But that's okay because it gave me time to figure out why the two shuttle weaving wasn't going as well as it did in the past. With a little help from a well-worn monograph, Plain Weave is Anything But Plain by Leslie Voiers, I realized what I had been doing intuitively.

My threading sequence was 1-2-3-4 and ended with 1. It should have meant that when shaft one was up when the I threw the shuttle that shuttle would go down towards me. The threads automatically are locked and all is well.

But it wasn't, because in my waste-not attitude I just thread the last thread on shaft 2 and never realized it. That's why I was having such a hard time getting all the warp ends in the selvedge to be enclosed.
Once my addled brain got wrapped around that I was rocking!

I went to the doctor yesterday and got the okay to weave for longer periods and my weight restriction was upped from 8 to 30 pounds. First thing I did was go pick up Jackson.

Now we can resume our afterschool exploring. He loves looking through my knitting bags and pulling out all sorts of finished and partially finished things. If it can fit on his head - then he wears it for the rest of his visit. Then I gave him the word - no eating for 10 weeks. He weighed 29 lbs at his last visit :-)

It Was a Long Time Coming

Finally, after four tries, the buttonband has passed muster.



Compare those sleek bands with these ruffled beauties! Last fall, when Marie and I visited after Rhinebeck, Claudia gave me some suggestions for taking the ripple out of the band. I had already decreased the number of stitches that the pattern called for but Claudia suggested that when I was binding off, that I should knit the two garter rib stitches together, every 3rd rib. The made all the difference!



She also helped me with that dreaded hem flip on The Refined Aran. I switched to a little reverse stockinette rolled hem. I used that on the body, sleeves, and even the pocket edge.



I had time to block it last week but it still sits unsewn. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I can get started on it.

In honor of two finished (okay, one is almost) sweaters I cast on for Chic Knit's Twist. I'm using a lovely heathery rust, Cascade 220 Heathers, in Japanese Maple (2435).



It has a great cable pattern. Just enough to make it interesting but not so much that it slows you down. The photos are a little washed out. In reality this is a very rich deep shade of rust.



It's progressing nicely and with any luck I'll be up to the armholes by the end of the weekend.

Back in the Saddle!

January just flew by but I finally got a warp on the loom and a few inches started on my log cabin towels. I wound two bouts, one of each color and warped F2B - something I hadn't done in a while. My rustiness showed and it took a little longer to wind on the warp, but all is well! Now all I need is a little time to get down there and weave.

Happy New Year

No resolutions here but I am looking forward to a little more time for my textile pursuits. I'm cutting back a bit on my adjunct teaching and while I'm still teaching a full load at the high school one of my classes will now be virtual. That means I get to sit in my classroom, by myself, and teach psychology to high school students from anywhere in the world. VHS is not a cyberschool. Most of the students attend bricks and mortar schools but VHS allows them to take courses that their home schools cannot provide due to small populations, narrow interests, or lack of funding. For each course a VHS teacher teaches twenty students per semester from their home school can take a course from VHS.

So what do I have on my list? Way more than I'll get to, but what else is new? The program for the Online Guild is fantastic and I'm hoping to take part in several, starting with this month's Braids and Beads.

The Refined Aran is coming along. The back and left front are done. The right front is much more fiddly due to cables, waist increases/decreases, inserting the pocket, and now buttonholes! I was getting too confused with two Katcha-Katchas and a couple of check off lists so I ended up putting everything on a spreadsheet so I can keep track.



I also decided to rip out my corrie tweed cardigan. The yarn is very rustic looking but nice and soft to the touch but it was just too big. Please feel free to remind me to clean up my office before taking pictures!

The problem is that the sleeves are knitted into the body and I'm having a huge problem unwinding. I get to the join and I'm squeezing the ball through but that only works for a bit. This will only be a problem until I get down past the sleeves but I really don't want to end up with a zillion little balls of yarn so I'll have to think about this for a bit.



Any suggestions?

Wishing You .....

This One's For You, Marie!

Hey, Marie, bet you weren't thinking Freud would show up when you put out that directive!



I took Sigmund's picture two years ago when I was at the APA/Clark University Conference. I'm jumping in a little late on this so if you haven't been tagged, you are now!

Look who finally finished something!



Presenting - The Minimalist The stockinette front bands curl in nicely but I didn't take into account how much they would curl. If I were to knit this again I would add an inch to each side front, but I've worn it twice and it's a great sweater for school.

Despite his expression, Jackson is all about feeding himself. Check him out in his corduroys and flannel shirt.



Doesn't he have the most soulful look? "Please, sir, could someone just love me?"