Yarn and Birthday Greetings - A Day Late but Never Forgotten

I spent Sunday watching a lot of football and working with my knitting machine. It was a lazy, laid-back day for DH and me and we both enjoyed it a great deal. We don't always have the opportunity to kick back and relax, and January is a busy month for both of us, so we were determined to enjoy. I decided I'd really like a sweater to go with the hat I just knitted for myself earlier in the week. I sat down and tried some things out to get a handle on dimensions, then knitted a folded hem and 90 rows in the yard I want to use, I'll actually be pulling that back out to do a true sample swatch, but I like the yarn a lot. It was one of the "cakes" that DH bought for me at Michael's earlier in the week. - lovely color blend. 

Not the best picture, but this is Caron Skinny Cakes in 
the Tiramisu colorway. I made myself a hat from this 
on Friday, and decided on Sunday that I wanted to make 
a sweater to match. I know I won't have enough yarn, so 
I'll have to buy more, but the main concern is matching 
the colors from front to back so things don't look too 
off-kilter. That may not be possible, but I love the yarn. 

My main problem with using a color blend yarn is matching color bands from front to back. I'm not sure it will be something I can do since each panel is worked independently and then assembled into the finished garment. I'll have to see if I can figure that out because I would like some continuity, if possible. Then again, I may do two different stitches - decorative on the front, stockinette on the back, and the colors wouldn't match no matter what if I did that kind of scheme. 

I've always felt that there was a good bit of Hobbit 
in JRR Tolkien. Although he was a scholar and a 
linguist, there was this part of him that would have 
loved to grab his walking stick and stride out into 
the wilderness to see what he would see. 

Of course, I missed Professor Tolkien's actual birth date celebration, but did raise a cup of hot tea with rum in his honor. His masterwork - "The Lord of the Rings" - has been such a touchstone in my life and my love of the books (which I've read more than 100 times) brought me to friends throughout the world, all joined together by one small hobbit, a wizard and several elves. Oh, and I can't forget the dwarves, my DH would never forgive me if I forgot the dwarves. 

This single image from the film version of "The Lord of 
the Rings" has always been one of my favorites. The Nine 
walkers setting out on their long journey, filled with hope 
and chased by fear and despair. 

Tolkien has influenced my life since I was 14 years old and "The Fellowship of the Rings" was first published in paperback in the USA. I am still immersed in his universe on a daily basis - whether it is reading (original writings or one of the Professor's books), writing about something within that universe or general fanfiction, or just playing Lord of the Rings Online, I'm always surrounded by the populace and landscape of Middle Earth in one way or another. So, "Thank You" JRR Tolkien, for allowing your imagination to run free and create something of lasting value in my life. Happy Birthday, a day late. 

I'm out of here - even though it's early, it's going to be a very busy day today. I hope each of you have a wonderful day ahead of you and I'll be back tomorrow. Stay safe, be kind, and please wear a mask. 

Practice Makes Perfect - At Least That's the Thought

Yesterday's machine knitting session was a lot of casting on, knitting a few rows, adding a different yarn, knitting a few more rows, and adding a lifeline. Then, taking everything off the machine and doing it all again. And again, and again. I have a small piece of knitted yarn remaining for the day's effort, and because I added a lifeline, I can swing the stitches onto my needles next week and move ahead with the next section - ribbing. I want to practice ribbing until I actually feel comfortable with it. Then I can move ahead into cables - I want to start with a simple 2x2 cable every four rows and see where that takes me. 

I love cables in knitwear, but when I was trying 
hand knitting, even though I had several different 
people try to teach me over the years, I was never 
able to get the hang of cables. Now I'm starting 
to understand them, and I can easily do cables on 
the knitting machine, as long as I'm careful to not 
drop stitches. I'm really looking forward to adding 
cables into my designs. 

I know I'm working on a baby sweater, but I also don't have any time deadlines because it's a practice piece. I really just want to get comfortable with my machine. I received four additional weights in shipping last week, and I did indulge in the purchase of a bunch of acrylic yarns in a variety of colors from JoAnne's Crafts (on sale, so a really good deal). 

Unfortunately, the website doesn't have the Neon 
Orange color, but this is the pink I got. It's 
appropriately named "Bubblegum". It's a lot of 
yarn for less than $2.70/skein, so I won't 
feel guilty about wasting some. The fine wool 
I'm using for the sweater is really too nice to 
be wasted, but this acrylic is just begging to 
be used and then thrown away. LOL

One thing I was laughing about with Aearwen on our weekly convo yesterday was my choice of yarns for "waste yarn". Waste yarn is used in machine knitting in two primary areas - you knit with waste yarn to begin a project - usually a section of 6-20 rows of stockinette. This is where you hang the row weights, to help the knitting move smoothly down as you move the carriage back and forth building rows of fabric. When you begin the actual project, you switch over to the appropriate yarn, cast on an edge of some sort (often an e-cast or a chain cast edge is used) and continue with your project. Waste yarn is also used at the top of a shaped piece, i.e., to keep the shoulders of sweaters ready to be joined later, and to help shape a neckline. 

I also picked up several colors of "Basic Stitch Anti-
Pilling" yarns in a variety of colors, again for not a 
lot of money. I thought some of of the variegated 
yarns might knit up beautifully into tams and in 
scarves. I'll have to wait and see how far I get 
this month and next, I'm probably looking at 
gifts for 2021, not 2020, but that's OK. 

I wanted waste yarn I wouldn't mind wasting - i.e., something that I wouldn't mind tossing or reusing until it absolutely shredded apart. So ... I got a big skein of Neon Orange, and a second one of a frightening Candy Pink (named Bubblegum). Both of these are colors I can't ever see myself using in a project, so no guilt - LOL. I quickly wound up a ball on my ball winder and it's perfect - perfectly hideous. Mission accomplished. 

I actually own two different ball winders, a smaller
one and a larger one. I'm taking the larger one to the
shop with me today, to get going on winding the 
skeins into balls for use with the knitting machine. 
The machine can only use yarns from a wound 
"ball" or a cone, not from a skein. Apparently it 
has something to do with regular tension, and I 
can understand the rationale behind that.  

I have a bag of the skeins I purchased in the back of Minion to be brought over to the shop with me today. I'll start using my ball winder and getting the various yarns ready to be used for hats and scarves and gifts. I might not have accomplished a great deal yesterday, but I feel much more comfortable with my knitting machine, so I guess I accomplished something after all. I'll continue watching a lot of YouTube and Craftsy lessons too because I'm learning a bunch of techniques as well as watching a lot of experts make wonderful and beautiful things. It's a really fun piece of equipment and I'm not regretting the purchase At All! 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Thursday. Be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow.