knitting – Knitwerks

Sode Sweater Struggles

January 12, 2025 by Tracy, posted in knitting, stitch

As the title says, I’m struggling with the Sode sweater. It’s a cabled cardigan that you have to use several charts in the same row. The pattern does state that it is recommended for advanced knitters and now I’m guessing I am not an advanced knitter after all. I’m ok with intermediate. Maybe I should stick to intermediate. I’m not giving up. Yet. I need to be in the right mind space and right now my head is going in a million different directions at once. The rows I did knit were done with the help of the tutorials included with the pattern. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8WChKL24mQ

The good thing is said direction is cleaning and organizing my house. Trust me, I do not do enough of that. Every year I do Dry January. Basically, I cut out alcohol for a whole month after over doing it between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. This year I’m hyperfocusing on tea. I’ve taken our junk cabinet and turned into into my coffee/tea hutch. Take a look!

I’m still working on two other projects in addition to the Sode. First is my cross stitch. I’m 80% done. The second is a simple shawl which I’ll write up another recipe for. I don’t feel comfortable calling it a pattern because it is loosely created based on common knowledge. I want to create videos that help people knit it from start to finish. It’s just a simple triangle shawl with bilateral increases in every other row. That’s all. It’s spun from home spun and gold thread so I wanted to use the yarn for something simple that will show off the colors. I think this works.

Here is my latest update.

2024 Year In Review

December 27, 2024December 27, 2024 by Tracy, posted in knitting

Wow! From January to today, it’s been a journey in homemade. I left a good job ruined by a bad boss in December 2023 (despite letting go of a month’s health insurance!!) I was exhausted.

I spent a weekend at a respite house for caretakers and then started the new job, full tilt!

My projects were simple and comforting. I made a blanket I’ve done at least ten times and stamped cross stitch.

Plain Jane socks on a paddle board

Another blanket unfinished

How to Knit from Beginning to End

December 22, 2024December 22, 2024 by Tracy, posted in knitting

Watch this video for complete instructions on how to start knitting, complete with what needles and yarn to buy, to the five basic steps to starting and completing your first knit project.

I’m Back – Knit Sweaters, Master Knitting Program and YouTube

December 20, 2024December 20, 2024 by Tracy, posted in knitting, Thoughts, Uncategorized

I’m really awful at keeping up with this. I’m back and I am now a – drum roll please – YouTube creator. I did a few videos about a year and a half ago but they were simply not good and I dropped it.

How did we get here?

Some of you may already know, I’m the mother of three kids, two with special needs, and I work full time as an accountant. If you are on Tik Tok or You Tube, you know I don’t sleep that well. I’m up most mornings between 3 and 4 am. I was away at a respite retreat when I should have been sleeping, but instead I stumbled upon this master knitter’s program. I’ve been knitting for about 30 years, so why not? Then I looked at the program and read/watched reviews of what is required. I was floored. My knitting experience may be vast, but my technique is not.

Do I spend the money, jump full on into it and get frustrated? At that point, I had knit three sweaters in the space of less than two months and none of them fit as expected. The fourth sweater wound up being huge as well.

Let’s start at the beginning with GAUGE.

I decided to knit the Wasabi Sweater from Custom Knits 2 again, but this time for my daughter. I had to go down two needle sizes to get the right gauge.

I did the provisional cast on using a crochet hook instead of figuring it out while in the car on a two hour ride.

I blocked the sweater. For the FIRST TIME. Did I mention I’ve been doing this for THIRTY YEARS!

It came out – perfect. I added a cabled ribbing, and it is perfect.

Onto sweater number 6. Let’s tackle color work. I picked the Darkwater Sweater by Jennifer Steingass (Knit.Love.Wool). I made my swatch and went down one size with my needles and a size down since my swatch was wide. I can knit it longer. I will knit it longer!

So far so good.

Boxy By Joji Locatelli — It’s supposed to be wide but I made it REALLY WIDE!

Darkwater Sweater – Jennifer Steingass (So far so good!)

http://youtube.com/@knitwerks/videos

Lindisfarne Scarf

August 28, 2023August 28, 2023 by Tracy, posted in knitting, Spinning, Uncategorized

I’m so excited to announce that I’ve finally completed the Lindisfarne Scarf/Shawl. I used the pattern for the poncho but didn’t have enough yarn so pivoted. I still have some left over so I’ll probably make a matching set of fingerless gloves to go with my scarf.

Almost There

August 17, 2023 by Tracy, posted in knitting

I had a goal of finishing my shawl? Scarf? Poncho? By today! I’m on the last panel and then need to knit the ending but that’s not going to happen in the next few hours. Meanwhile I’m working on a cross stitch Pokemon pattern when I’m tired of cabling every other row.

I love this pattern but it’s very involved so I need to take breaks.

I still love the Lindisfarne pattern even if it’s time consuming!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/library.ravelry.com/brigiknits/1430457/Lindisfarne_Poncho.pdf?response-content-disposition=&AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJNNSUP6J3RN4WZYQ&Expires=1692276761&Signature=ahnCMzaLqyadC68f5kwx7%2Bofw%2BU%3D

Fiber Festival – in person

September 28, 2021September 28, 2021 by Tracy, posted in knitting, Spinning

I went to my first fiber festival, my first in person fiber festival, in at least ten years. It’s been a long, long ten years and so many priorities came before spinning, knitting and my own fun. I used to love the Florida Fiber Ins in Orlando but everything was above my price range and I felt completely out of place when in attendance. That’s pre-pandemic, pre-kids, pre-Masters degree, pre-CPA. . . Last year, in the depths of my grief and anxiety, I went head first back into crafts and stumbled upon virtual fiber festivals. It may have even been about this time, but I’m not sure which ones I attended via Facebook. What I remember is bidding on Dunn Spunn’s fiber batts in a frenzy, not knowing what was going on. What I learned from that experience is that even though these batts are indeed gorgeous, I don’t like spinning from art batts. Sorry!

I got out of the house early on Saturday morning and drove up to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in Berryville, VA. I stopped at Sheetz for coffee and a breakfast burrito and it was yummy. I definitely recommend it, especially if you are hungry as it’s pretty big.

First of all, I got there early so I got to walk around listening to the vendor’s talk and without the crowds. There were definitely a good bit of people in attendance later. I went through my first walk through, once again, not really knowing what was going on. That is a common theme in my life. I can find out more through other people’s reactions and conversations than I can research before hand. Through three walk throughs of the grounds and some strong will power on my part, I left with a grey gotland fleece, two bags of wool and hand plucked angora roving, one black cat knits hank of fingering weight sock yarn, some sweater stitch markers with instructions, 3 stickers and a shawl/hair pin that is currently holding up my bun. I desperately wanted a monster coffee mug but couldn’t fork over the $39 even if it was well deserved for the craftsmanship. I watched spinning on my dream wheel – a Monarch from Spinolution and watched weaving handspun on a barn loom. I was looking for a few more fiber processing tools but didn’t find the right one at the right price. Also, there were tons of carded batts and braided carded fiber, but I didn’t see anything really in the way of combed fibers. I like to spin worsted and I wish there were more of those combed braids available. I love the stained glass merino from spotted circus, which I ordered at some virtual fiber festival last year. I just wish I had spun it using chained ply instead of regular plying. I muddied the colors that way.

I cannot wait for my next fiber festival but I’ll have to take some time as it seems everything keeps going up in price. I still love it!

Fichu Bleu Shawl from fiber to flair

September 19, 2021 by Tracy, posted in knitting, Spinning

I’ve been ordering merino top from Paradise Fibers any time it goes on sale and I spun a three ply soft fingering yarn.

Next I dyed it with Jacquard Acid dye pink combined with brilliant blue.

Jacquard Acid Dye Pink and Brilliant Blue Mixed

It took a week and a day to knit this up slightly smaller than the pattern called for with size five needles instead of the seven the pattern called for. I’m thinking of making another for myself.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fichu-bleu

Plant Lady Sweater

September 10, 2021 by Tracy, posted in knitting

It’s been a long time since I’ve knit something just for myself, especially something to wear. I’ve had so much Christmas knitting and then finished up my kid’s green raglan’s sweaters last winter. I made yet another blanket and finally it was time to make something just for me. I was blessed that in a round about way, I was gifted Claudia’s Hand painted Fingering Silk 55 which is a mix of merino and silk.

Claudia’s Hand Painted Fingering Silk 55 (now known as Oh Baby Merino Silk https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/claudia-hand-painted-yarns-fingering-silk-55

The last few years have been tough but toughest on my waist line. My pretty knit sweaters and tee shirts no longer fit, and by far! I’m part of a Facebook group that has plus size patterns and sometime in the last year, the Plant Lady Sweater by “Amanita” Agata Mackiewicz pattern was shared. This has sizes XS (S, M1, M2) L, XL, 2XL, 3XL included. It is a bottom down pattern, which is not my favorite and I think I’ve learned a lot about fitting my own dimensions from my own mistakes. I did not follow the pattern exactly and it unfortunately shows!

I made this pattern long. I should have made it longer. I had trouble following the bottom lace pattern (due to children and distractions). It still looks good but I can tell the difference.

As I worked up the pattern, it wound up being huge, so I made some extra decreases and then made extra increases around the bust. Wearing it, I can tell. I shouldn’t have decreased so much and the bust is tight. My sleeves are tight too and I’m considering ripping them and making them both wider and longer.

All in all, I’m pretty happy. I think this is something I’d like to redo or take a top down raglan pattern and add the lace pattern at the bottom.

Catching Up

September 3, 2021September 3, 2021 by Tracy, posted in knitting, Spinning, stitch, Thoughts

It’s happening again. I’m falling into that void where depression meets crafts. Normal people get depression, stay in bed for days with no motivation. Not me. I turn my grief, my anxiety, my huge amount of anger and drive it into a need to create. I have a Facebook feed filled with my creations. The worst part was after Christmas my arm hurt so badly (tennis elbow = knitting elbow?) that I couldn’t knit for about six months. I’d try only to be unable to flex my wrist or twist for days.

What have I been doing since my December knitting madness?

January & February were devoted to skiing. You can’t think while you are skiing. It’s waiting, waiting, waiting, followed by an intense one to five minutes and back up again. I put my audiobook on and let it rip.

May be an image of one or more people, outerwear, people skiing and snow

March was just intense. I received some devastating news. I attempted to backpack my way out of the anger and grief. Then my body said, you haven’t been doing this for a year, WTH! Then I flipped to planning my garden and starting seedlings. I finished my cross stitch cross from last year. I also, painfully, finished my kids green sweaters.

April was when I really did a lot of work in the garden, doubling it’s size. Plus we got back into camping and I pulled out the spinning wheel again.

May and June were gardening, camping, backpacking, vacation and so much more. I started to realize I was overscheduling myself and coming off the worst of the March shock.

May be an image of one or more people and outdoors — Hallockville Fiber Festival – First in person (for me) event since March 2020

July and August were overscheduled again, but well worth it. The garden was abundant and we have jars of tomato sauce for the winter. I finished my rainbow blanket from knit picks and started a sweater but more importantly, picked up spinning again.

May be an image of fruit, tomato and indoor

I’ll post about my spinning and dying and sudden returning intense interest in all things fiber in the next post!

Caron Christmas Bow Pillow

December 14, 2020September 1, 2021 by Tracy, posted in knitting

This year, a lot of my Christmas presents are cowls. I have one coworker who is allergic to wool, so I was looking for a quick solution as a gift. QUICK. Well, this wasn’t as quick and easy as I thought it would be. It’s a simple pattern to follow but I just didn’t enjoy making it as much as I thought I might. I used redheart acrylic yarn as well as gold thread held with it for the bow.

Here’s the pattern.

Caron Knit Christmas Bow Pillow

Here’s the result. Well – I tried.

Christmas Knitting Bonanza

December 6, 2020December 6, 2020 by Tracy, posted in knitting, Uncategorized

It’s the busiest time of the year as the Christmas knitting and crafting bonanza is in full force. My coworkers – who have no idea I have a blog!!! – are all getting cowls except for the one who is allergic to wool. She’s getting a pillow. I wove towels for another friend since she can quilt anything but I have a new to me 4 shaft Leclerc Meco loom.

Then there is the most difficult and prized gift – a baby dress and matching Santa hat. This is the first dress that I’ve knit without a pattern and if her Momma approves, I’ll be posting a picture later. In the meantime, I made it knit up – starting with bulky white chenille like yarn but switching to knit picks mighty stitch which is only 20% wool. Mom’s don’t have a lot of time to hand wash wool knits. I reviewed a few videos and blogs to do the set in sleeves. Since the baby is in South Florida, I went with short sleeves. The pictures look a little off but hopefully it fits just right.

Simple Cupcake Baby Blanket

February 25, 2019February 25, 2019 by Tracy, posted in knitting, pattern, Uncategorized

cast on 146

rows1: k1p1

row2: p1k1

repeat rows 1 & 2

Row 10: K1P1K1P1K1 K5, P2K5* repeat til 5 stitches remain K1P1K1P1K1

Row 11: K1P1K1P1K1 P5, K2P2* repeat til 5 stitches remain K1P1K1P1K1

Repeat Rows 10 & 11

Row 16: K1P1K1P1K1 K till five stitches remain, K1P1K1P1K1

Repeat Rows 10-16 for x inches

Repeat rows 1&2 for 10 rows.

Bind Off

Post Surgery

February 3, 2019February 25, 2019 by Tracy, posted in knitting, personal

5 days post surgery and I thought I’d be knitting a lot more.

1- you can’t knit on fentanyl. Or stay awake for long. You can order from zulily. Unfortunately.

2- you can’t knit well with an IV in you, especially if the tube goes across your body. It seemed cruel. I still tried

3- no matter how therapeutic, it’s hard to focus on knitting a row when they say cancer. And then tell you it’ll be a few weeks before you know what’s next

I have ovarian cancer and the surgeon may have gotten it all but we won’t know for some time. In the meantime I get to sit, unable to work or clean or even drive. I knit a row and think. I think too much to focus on even this sock.

What does cancer mean? It was caught early so I’m not investing in a casket any time soon. It means at worst, chemo. I’d be a horrible chemo patient. At best, a whole lot more filling out of doctors’ forms and not being able to put off said appointments. It means my body doesn’t function correctly, which I’ve known for years. It means I won’t hear- it’s just stress- when I get weird rashes or sharp pains in my stomach. It means everything changes.

And it means I’m knitting these socks for ME!

Mommy Needs A Time Out

January 27, 2019 by Tracy, posted in knitting, personal

2019 was supposed to be the year of me. After getting my master’s degree, CPA, fostering and adopting three kids, one special needs and two with medical challenges, I was ready to focus on me. I have gained 60 lbs in two years and have had some weird ailments pop up. Hives that don’t sway. Jaw infections. Cold after cold after cold. It turns out I have masses on my ovaries and am going in this week for some major surgery. I’ll be out of work for 3-8 weeks and already stocked up on my stash. I’m thinking a sock yarn blanket!

This sucks.

I hope the doctor is better at sewing than I am!