Posts filed under 'Thebes'
The body of Thebes sweater is finished and I’ve moved onto the sleeves.
This Malabrigo yarn has been a real bitch. It’s super soft and a joy to knit. But this one dye lot is wildly variegated. The bottom ribbing part of the sweater was knit with two balls. The top part in stockinette was knit with a third ball. It looked like a different color:
I was pretty pissed and put the sweater in time out. Thebes assured me it didn’t bother him and he’d wear the sweater anyway. But I couldn’t let it go. I frogged the stockinette part. Then I did two rows of the more greenish/blueish yarn and then two rows of the blueish/greenish yarn. I went back and forth that way until the top was done.
It looks a lot better but again, what a pain. I’m not sure I’ll work with Malabrigo again. At first I was concerned about the zigzags of color on the main body. When Thebes tried it on it looked fine so I’m leaving it as is.
I bought ten bags of this colorway and about half are a different color than the other. And yet I’ve triple checked and they’re all the same dye lot. Gah!?!
I’m working the sleeves in the same fashion. So far they’re turning out fine.
January 3rd, 2010
I finished my first pair of kilt hose for Thebes. They fit and he likes them!
Here’s a side view. I didn’t block them because it didn’t seem necessary.
I really like the leg shaping in the back. That’s a clever use of decreases.
Before Thebes put them on they looked too tight. But the ribbing makes them stretch out so they fit fine.
When I knit the first sock the ankle and heel were too tight and Thebes couldn’t get it on. Instead of frogging all my work I altered the pattern. I knit cuff down to the ankle and put the live stitches onto a holder. Then I knit a toe up sock and used kitchener stitch to join the two. It was a bit nerve wracking at first but it worked.
Here’s a pic of the two pieces:
This picture shows the colors best.
This yarn is from Brook’s Farm that I bought at last year’s Wool Fest. Thebes picked out the colorway. The yarn is a wool/silk/viscose mix in a 60/20/20% combination. It was a bit slippery to knit with but after awhile I got used to it.
Sieben watched us do the sock photo shoot.
Pattern: Toirneach Kilt Hose
Source: Knitty
Yarn: Acero from Brooks Farm, 420 yards, wool/silk/viscose mix, 2 skeins
Needles: 3.5 mm
Size: custom size
Modifications: altered construction-see above, also used 3.5 mm sized needles
Started: December 2008
Finished: April 2009
May 9th, 2009
It’s finally done. Can you believe I started this in April? I’m so happy it’s done, it fits and Thebes loves it. He tried it on and said it’s now his favorite sweater.
I knit the 44″ chest size. Thebes says it fits perfectly.
The cables just pop out like they’re sculpted. I love them!
This project was one of the most complex patterns I’ve ever knit. By the end I thought it was easy so maybe this means I’m an advanced knitter now.
Thebes has broad shoulders and he tends to buy sweaters a size larger so they’ll fit. He says the saddle shoulders give him the perfect amount of shoulder room. I think I’ll stick to saddle shoulder sweaters for him from now on.
In the past I’ve had issues with sleeves. This pattern was written well and I got the sleeves right the first time.
Pattern: Heirloom Sweater
Source: Knit Picks
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash, Squirrel Heather, 17 skeins
Needles: 4.5 mm, 3.5 mm
Started: April 2008
Finished: November 2008
Modifications: Used different yarn. Pattern didn’t have charts so I made some. Knit neck ribbing on two circular needles.
November 24th, 2008
Abbey wore her Samus in front of me the other day (though she still has to put in the zipper) so I knew that it was time to step up on my Samus. I got the sleeve cuffs done:
Thebes and I were recently in Seattle for biz. I found a local yarn store called So Much Yarn. You can sort of see their logo on the door and you can see Thebes in one of his kilts.
Sandy and Ginger were working when we came in and were very helpful. There was a lot of great yarn in the store. I bought the pattern for the hat I’m wearing in the pic below. It’s the Fiber Trends Braid and Bobble hat. I have some green yarn left over from my Arwen sweater that I’m thinking of using.
Did I buy yarn? Oh yeah baby!
I bought two skeins of Mountain Colors yarn in the Mountain Tango colorway. Each skein is 100 grams. I’m not sure what to make with it but am leaning towards a fancy scarf of some kind.
There should be another picture here. But the additional purchase is a birthday present for a certain someone who reads my blog. As soon as I give it to her I’ll post the pic.
February 19th, 2008
Yesterday I finished Thebes’ knucks. They fit him well though the pinkies are a little long. The pinkies on my knucks are a little long too.
They’re 100% wool and are warmer than mine. I remembered to switch down a needle size for the ribbed cuffs and it makes such a difference. I’m tempted to make myself another pair.
I really like how the colors pooled.
Here’s Thebes in his Workman’s Utilikilt. He blogs about the kilted life at Kilt Blog.
At the grocery store yesterday we found a new chocolate bar, the Twilight Delight:
Since it not only had my name but was also dark chocolate, I had to try one. It’s pretty tasty.
January 1st, 2008
Thebes and I took Sieben out to play in the first snow of winter. Boy did he love it! He was so happy. We threw snowballs and he ate them. Here’s Thebes with our happy puppy:
Sieben kept sniffing the snow and then chasing it. He’s getting big.
November 24th, 2007
Thebes has started wearing kilts. And he looks cute in them! Here he is in his denim Utilikilt:
He asked if I would knit him some kilt hose. I said sure. Thebes is a great person to knit for, he thanks me alot and wears the knitted item alot. I figured I could just knit socks up the calf. But why not do something fancier? Thebes found a rare book online called Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings.
It’s by Veronica Gainford and was published in 1978. The book feels very delicate. I’m hesitant to open the pages fully. When I knit a pattern from it I’ll copy it so the book gets less wear.
The patterns are pretty sweet:
I’m really happy with this book. After I make a pair of kilt hose for Thebes I think I’ll make some fancy knee socks for me.
Here’s another picture of my honey in a USAKilts Casual in Ramsey tartan.
Thebes has started a blog, appropriately called Kilt Blog.
September 23rd, 2007
I’ve started on a new pair of socks using my bamboo birthday yarn.
The bamboo yarn is gorgeous and feels great to knit. It tends to spin a bit so occasionally I dangle the sock to let the yarn untwist itself. Indigo is modeling my recently finished toe.
Things were going well until I had a knitting crisis. Recently I bought a full set of double pointed needles off ebay. When they arrived I was overjoyed. So many needles! But the points gave me trouble. Some of the needles points were blunt, some barely tapered. This made knitting difficult and slow since I was having trouble putting the needle point into stitch after stitch.
No problem I thought. I’ll just sand the needles to make a finer point. I sanded the needles on the sock I’m working on. After all five needles were done I started knitting again. The yarn caught on the yarn, the sharp points kept pricking my fingers, the points didn’t fit into my stitches easily. I had sanded my needles wrong and made them worse!
That’s when I cried. True, I could have resanded them or even gone to the store and bought another pair. But I had been so happy with my ebay purchase and then for not panicking and trying to fix the problem myself. Mind you I’m on my period and my emotions are running high. I’m a little sensitive right now.
Thebes asked to look at my needles. I showed him my hack job and then a pair of good needles. He took the bad needles and some sandpaper and fixed them for me. I cried again but this time it was happy tears. (Sometimes I’m a wee melodramatic it’s true.) Knitting crisis averted I continued on with my sock.
Here’s a picture of my adorable husband cuddling Prana while they both sleep. It’s one of my favorite pictures of the two of them.
March 28th, 2007
Thought I’d post some winter pictures since we’ve had so much snow. These are at our old place; we moved last month.
My two cuties check out the snow.
We got over 10 inches. It made for a gorgeous view.
Our adorable Prana runs along the path we had shoveled out.
Prana doesn’t much like snow. He stayed on the path and came in after a short while.
January 8th, 2007
