Fika Shawl - Cast On!

I actually cast this on back on November 30, before my first cataract surgery.  It is the first pattern in the 2025 Onling Advent calendar.  The pattern is pretty simple, it has an I-cord edge, and the ribbed cables periodically, and increases at the edges and at the center on the right side rows.  But the yarn is on the darker side, which made working on it pre-surgery a little bit of a challenge.  I was able to work on it after my first surgery (which gave me distance vision in my left eye) provided I had good light, and I was able to work a couple of rows last night after my second surgery (which gave me near vision in my right eye).  I’m still getting used to my new eyes, but I’m able to read, and play piano, and work on the computer, and drive, so things are pretty good.  Not having any astigmatism any more is also really wonderful.  The acuity is amazing.  It is also very nice not having the yellow tint changing all of my colors (black and white movies were a little sepia toned).

I had a very interesting experience last week while I was putting up my Bowflex after exercising, part of the equipment perfectly bisected my visual field so that on one side I was seeing with my left eye and on the other I was seeing with my right eye and so I was able to simultaneously see the effects of the no-cataract/cataract on my vision.  It helped that I was looking out a window at our snowy lawn, which gave me a pretty dramatic contrast.  Things are also brighter, which is also great.  It is amazing how our brains adapt to these changes without you even realizing it, and how quickly it adapts back when things are fixed.

The yarn is Onling No. 4, 100% Fine Organic Merino Wool, and it is fingering weight (50 g / 200 m)

Pattern:  Fika by Inge-Lis Holst

Yarn:  Onling No. 4

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Ibbi Socks - Finished!

And they are done.  I finished them up last night.  A pretty easy knit, and they worked up quickly, when I focused on them.  And they fit perfectly.  There are three other accessory patterns in the 2024 Advent - a cowl, a hat (both brioche), and mittens.  I have all the pattern pulled into knitCompanion, but haven’t set up the projects yet.  I’m not sure which one I want to do next.  I did grab one of the bags and pull out the yarn, and I’m pretty sure it is for the Cowl, so that will probably be the next one that I cast on.  Sometimes letting random chance decide is the best way to go.  Why waste energy on decisions that don’t really matter?

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)
 

Ibbi Socks - Sock Two - Heel Turned!

While waiting for more colors for my Tessellation Nation I’ve been working on my socks, and have turned the heel on my right sock, and then some.  I also looked at the patterns for the other two accessories, and fished out the yarn for one of them.

On a totally unrelated note, my cat Jezebel slept in bed with me for about four hours this morning, for the very first time.  She came to me not quite three years ago as an adult, four year old, kittie, rescued from a neighbor who really couldn’t give her the home she needed.  She is a very sensitive cat, she hates loud noises, people wearing shoes, kids, strangers, and being picked up and held.  But she is also a very loving cat, and really wants attention from us, but on her terms, like laying on my chest in bed for pets, but not staying more than ten or fifteen minutes.  But this morning, around 12:30, she came and laid on my chest for about 15 minutes, even relaxing and dozing a little, and then she got up and instead of leaving, she lay down between my legs, and she stayed there until a little after five in the morning, when she got up to go pee.  It is quite a breakthrough for her.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Ibbi Socks - Sock Two - Cast On!

Having finished sock one, I cast on sock two yesterday afternoon.  I find that casting on the second sock right away (the same day, anyway) helps prevent second sock syndrome.  I have tried the two at a time magic loop, and didn’t like it, well, it was mostly the magic loop I didn’t like.  I prefer the two circular needles for my socks.  I have worked two socks at a time on two sets of circular needles, but am not crazy about that method either.

These socks are from the 2024 Onling Advent set.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in Color Rosa

Needles:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Ibbi Socks - One Sock Done!

This is my “I don’t feel like working on any other projects but still want some fiber in my hands” project, so it isn’t getting worked on super consistently.  I tend to work on it in spurts - work the cuff, turn the heel and work the gusset, then work the foot.  Once I started working the foot I wanted to get it done so I focused a bit more on it and this morning I finished up the first sock.   I don’t do the standard toe shaping anymore if I can help it, instead I shape the toe to fit my foot.  Yes, that does mean that I have a left and a right sock, and I’m good with that.  It also means that I have socks that fit my toes very well.  I mean seriously, is anyone’s toes shaped the way most sock patterns shape their toes?  Custom shaping them is easy, it just requires a lot of trying the sock on between rounds to make sure that the decreases are working out properly.  Obviously most of the decreases happen on the very sloped part of the toes, and I work them every other row.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal
Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in Color Rosa

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Ibbi Socks - Cast On!

I actually cast these on back on March 3 and have been working on them off and on.  I’ve been trying to finish up WIPs and not start new projects, but I fell down the spinning rabbit hole and have been obsessed with working with my handspun.  This is not handspun.  This is, in fact, part of the 2024 Onling Advent Calendar.  I had grabbed this yarn and some needles a while back and just parked them in a project bag waiting for the urge to cast on.  I’ve actually turned the heel on the first sock and have started on the foot.

The cuff is shorter than called for in the pattern because I have muscular calves (walking every day will do that for you) but overall the fit is perfect.  The pattern comes with three sizes and I’m working the medium size.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in color Rosa

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

 

Holly Sweater - Finished!

And it is done!  I finished up the second sleeve this past Sunday and blocked it on Monday.  So, my first all-over colorwork, top-down, yoked sweater is done.  I learned lots and enjoyed the knitting.   I have two more Advent calendar kits from Onling to knit up - one from 2023 and one from 2024 - but right now I am back to working on my Wallflower Blanket.  I need to finish it up so I can get started on Tesselation Nation.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - One Sleeve Done!

After finishing my needlepoint excursion I went back to working on my Holly Sweater and quickly finished up the sleeve.  When I started the sleeve I worked the decreases as the pattern calls for, but when I tried it on I decided that the decreases (every five rows!) were making the sleeve too tight, so I ripped back to the row before the first decrease and worked the sleeve without decreases.  That made for much easier knitting as I didn’t have to make sure to adjust the pattern every time I decreased to line up the motifs correctly.  When I got to the cuff I worked a decrease round to get me to the correct number of stitches, from 96 stitches down to 64, which meant I worked k1, k2tog all the way around.  I also only worked 22 motifs instead of 23, as the pattern size (XS) called for, and worked 12 rows of ribbing before binding off.  The sleeve length is perfect and I like the way it gathers in at the cuff.  I think it fits with the easy of the body.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - Body Done!

I finished up the body last night, and started on a sleeve.  Spit splicing the yarn is working great    I also did a long-tail cast-on for the stitches under the arm when I set up the body stitches.  The first body row begins with casting on 8 stitches, so I did a long-tail cast-on and dropped the end when I got to the body stitches.  When I got to the other underarm stitches I tied a piece of the same color yarn to the working strand and did the long-tail cast-on again.  I like the nice edge this gives, as well as easy stitch pick-up, and it also seems to reduce those pesky holes you tend to get.  Plus, if you do have any holes you have tails at each side of the underarm seam to sew them closed.  This will be my go-to technique going forward.

The pattern calls for 6 cm of ribbing at the hem, but I only did 4, 6 just seemed excessive, and the sweater is plenty long enough on me.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles;  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - Yoke Done!

Since I have retired I have actually become monogamous with my projects, so I have been knitting away at my colorwork sweater.  This morning I finished up the yoke and am now ready to place sleeve stitches on stitch holders and start working on the body.  Before I get too far in to that endeavor I am going to skein up all my little balls of yarn, spit splicing them together so I don’t end up with a bunch of mini skeins, then wet them to get the kinks out and cake them up again.  I’m pretty happy with how this is turning out, and my gauge looks to be pretty spot on.  No, I did not do a gauge swatch, my earlier attempt served as my gauge swatch, and I have since checked the gauge on the yoke and seem to be on target.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - Take Three!

Having finished my Peacock Shawl (a project that I had started back on November 6, 2016!) I looked at my other WIPs to see what I wanted to tackle finishing next.  When I had set it aside back in March of 2023 it was almost finished.  I had actually worked one of the sleeves, although I didn’t take a picture.  But here is a picture of the body finished.

Although it fit me, it did not have the recommended ease, and after letting my mind ruminate on it in the background and trying it on again, I decided that it really did need more ease and that my gauge was just too tight.  I had already gone up one needle size, but I decided I needed to go up more.  I was using a 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm needle, and my gauge was 32 stitches and 38 rounds in 4 inches, vice the called for gauge of 27 stitches and 30 rounds in 4 inches, so I decided to go up to a 3.5 mm (US 4) and a 3.75 mm (US 5) and try again.  To organize the yarn I got 8 bags, and put a slip of paper with the chart symbol for the color in each one.  Then I spent an evening frogging my work and winding lots of little balls of yarn and sorting them all in to the appropriate bags while watching the Chiefs beat the Texans.  My Lumos light helped me make sure I got the correct colors in their respective bags.

I had already cast on a fresh start and the larger needles, and going up the needle size seems to have done the trick with regards to gauge.  I was worried about the looser gauge looking sloppy with the color work, but so far it seems to be okay.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - Body Done

Thanks to six hours of meetings yesterday I was able to finish most of the body of my Holly Sweater, finishing up the ribbing this afternoon.  I only did eight rows of the ribbing, to match the collar. I do not like a lot of ribbing.  I have considerably less ease than is recommended by the pattern, but I am pretty slender and would get lost in the sweater if I had knit it to the pattern gauge.  I do like the gauge that I am knitting to, I think the stitch work looks pretty good and I’m pretty psyched to be on the sleeves of my first Fair Isle pullover.  I have several other Fair Isle projects lined up to tackle next.  This has been such a great learning experience for me.  I have tried it on and I am very happy with the fit.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

 

Holly Sweater - Yoke Done

So I cast this on in early January, and then I let it sit for a while.  I picked it back up a few weeks ago and really started making some progress.  I was doing pretty well, or so I thought, when I realized that the neck opening was going to be too tight, and that my gauge was also too tight.  As I hadn’t gotten too far into the yoke I decided to just start over again on bigger needles.  This time I was able to master the two handed knitting technique and weave my ends in as I went, so I was feeling pretty good.  Then as I was transferring to a needle with a longer cable I realized that the needle that I had been using was not the correct size - it was one size larger than what I thought I was using, and I could tell the difference looking at the stitches - they were looking sloppy.  So, I put a needle in the row that I wanted to start on and ripped back and redid it.  Lots of practice, but I think I’m getting pretty good at the Fair Isle thing, and have become hooked on colorwork.  It is just so much fun.  Looking at the colors of this kit knit up I am kind of wishing that I had gotten one of the kits with brighter colors, but I think I will like these colors when it is all done.  My gauge is still a little tighter than the pattern calls for, but I like the fabric so I’m going with it.  I’m not a very big person and even the smallest size would have been very oversized on me.  I’m just hoping that I haven’t made it too much smaller.  I haven’t tried it on since I started the body, but I did try it on before that point and the neck opening is definitely good.  And it looks pretty good on my dress maker dummy, so it should fit me okay.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Holly Sweater - Cast On!

I finally cast on my Holly Sweater this past week.  This is the 2022 Advent kit from Onling, a Danish yarn company.  I bought the kit because they had pictures of all the different colorways with swatches knitted up so you could see how they all played together.  It also looks to be a pretty straightforward colorwork sweater, which I thought would be good first Fair Isle project for me.  The yarn is the same yarn that is used in the Hanne Falkenberg kits (I have several of those and have knitted one).  The design is by Ruth Sorensen.

Here are my colors.  I have worked the collar up to the increases.  The pattern gives a great process for determining where to make the increase stitches to distribute them evenly, which I will try out, but I also have my Knit Evenly app on my iPad, which I will also consult for comparison.  I had forgotten how much fun colorwork is, especially when using the right yarn.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 1.5 (2.5 mm) and US 2.5 (3.0 mm)