Sweater Confidence

Back in January I took a sewing class at a local shop.  It has been years since I've sewn anything for myself so I decided I might need a little professional guidance.  The pattern for the class was a raglan sweatshirt.  I chose contrasting lightweight knits.  

Despite my prior years of sewing, I did learn a few things from this class.  

First lesson was about the choice of fabrics.  The fabric was nice to work with, but now that they are together it looks like a kid's pajama top.  

Second lesson was about placing the neckband.  It had to be stretched to fit around the neck opening.  My mistake was that I also stretched the green fabric.  It is gathered but should not be.

I still have to put on the cuffs and and waistband.  That shouldn't take too long.  I just haven't made the time.

Last weekend we went down to Cincinnati to visit Blake.  He is part of the TedX committee at UC.  Their main event was Saturday afternoon.  I got some good knitting time in while on the car ride and during the 3 hours of Ted talks.

I got to the end of the ball of yarn I was knitting on the body of the Rhinebeck Raglan.  There are three balls of yarn left.  I pulled one out and began a sleeve.  Once this sleeve is done, I'll do the same with the other sleeve.  The remaining yarn will be used to finish the body.  I'm not sure how long it will be but I'm hoping it hits mid-hip.

Monday was Presidents Day.  Since I had off work I ran a few errands, including popping by my favorite LYS Knitting Temptations.  I have some money left from Christmas gifts so I bought myself yarn to make another sweater.  Rhinebeck Raglan is helping me with my sweater confidence.

These four beautiful skeins of Blue Sky Woolstok will one day become The Weekender.  I've been seeing the pattern mentioned a lot and its come up in Ravelry on the favorites list.  It looks like a comfy, cozy sweater.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to spin more.  I'm trying to get at least 30 minutes a week at my wheel.  I have some yak on there now.  Once that is spun and plied I'm going to try to make a gradient yarn out of one of these lovelies.  

It will take some careful planning.  I have the book Yarnitecture to help me.

What To Do During Winter

Winter isn't quite done with central Ohio yet.  Here's a view of the back deck on Wednesday morning.

  An Alberta clipper that was supposed to bring a dusting of snow to the area dumped over 4 inches on Wednesday.  A Level 2 snow emergency was declared.  Since the snow hit just at the morning rush hour, I decided to wait at home before trying to venture into the office.  Even with waiting 3 1/2 hours I had a challenging commute.  Since not everyone was of the same mind (to wait it out) the snow removal efforts were thwarted by too many cars on the road.  I did get into the office by 11 am.  Thankfully the afternoon commute was much easier.

While I waited at home, I finished January on my temperature gradient scarf.  I'm really happy with how it is turning out.  Before I begin February, I need to decide if I want to knit a few rows of black garter stitch to separate the months or just transition into the next month.

A couple of years ago one of my sisters gave me an unframed drawing of our great grandmother, Louisa Martin Wessel.  Patty has a framed drawing of our great grandfather hanging in her house and found this other drawing in our mom's basement.  She gave me the picture because I am named after our great grandmother. This past Christmas, Patty also gave me an antique frame that she had, thinking it would work for the drawing.  I finally got around to framing the picture.  It does look very nice in the frame.  Now I need to decide where to put it.

We believe the drawings were done shortly after the couple was married in 1883.  That would make the pictures about 135 years old.  The paper is very fragile and torn in spots.  You can see in the photo above a few white spots on her dress where the chalk/crayon came off.  Patty suggested I write Louisa's history and tuck it into the back of the frame.  That way when my children inherit the picture they will know a bit about her.

Speaking of my children, Trisha and her boyfriend convinced us and his parents to join them for dinner and ice skating.  It was a nice triple date, especially since none of us ended up seriously hurting ourselves.  Ed and I had gone on an ice skating date when we first started going out.  That was the last time he had been on skates.  I took the kids skating once about 15 years ago.  My balance wasn't the greatest, but it was a fun.

Today is a low key day.  It is cloudy and rainy.  I did a little spinning while watching a movie.  This is the yak fiber I bought a few years ago.  I'm anxious to get this spun and plied.  It will become a scarf of some kind, once I know the yardage.

I also wound the next mini-skein that will go onto my Hitchhiking Around Ohio scarf.  Next up is Lake Erie.  Here's how Hocking Hills is knitting up.

I've been knitting away on the Rhinebeck Raglan during our evening television viewing.  That is if I'm not too tired to pick up the needles.  The Olympics are on so there will be many hours over the next weeks spent on the sweater.

The Brioche scarf has also gotten a little attention lately.  I have the pattern memorized now, so it is an easy one to grab and crank out a few rows when I have some time.  My goal is to keep it fresh in my mind so that I don't have to relearn the pattern.

Now the rest of my day is going to progress very much like it has.  I may get dressed (yes, it is 2:00 in the afternoon and I am still in my pajamas)  and go for a walk outside.  According to the radar, the rain has taking a break for a few hours.