Snow Laughing Matter

It is snowing again. Big, fluffy flakey clumps. Slippery and cold. An hour later, more snow:

I am sooo dissappointed, as I was planning to visit Maine for some fibery fun with friends and the group NETA, New England Textile Arts. I finished writing up my pattern for Ingrid Cardigan ( available at http://www.ravelry.com/, but you have to sign up and be a member. Totally worth it if you love yarn, though, as it is like Facebook for Knitters and Crocheters, only better! And free! I'm Knitbird on there, btw) so I could show off the finished sweater and have some context, but it is not to be.

Meanwhile,inside, my pineapple is growing and orchids are flowering:

And I'm in the home stretch of Ingrid #2:

So, time to start a new quilt, right?
This one is for a friend, and it is a Tesselation Sampler:

Of course, at the moment it looks random, but I have faith that it will develop into something interesting!

At least I'm distracted from the snow and the rain....

Gauge Lies

It always amazes me how gauge lies. Therein lies the difficulty in getting knitted items to fit; yarn stretches and behaves unpredictably when knitted up! My measurements and calculations don't always knit up the way I predict. For example, this sleeve:

Became too long, despite my calculations about length. Thank goodness for top-down knitting! I will rip back and reknit the cuff, and it will fit my exact length! And after blocking, if it stretches some more, I can also adjust it. Using a superwash yarn here can mean it might lengthen in the blocking, as the scales are closed, so the yarn won't stick to itself so much. Or so I believe.

I often will knit the sleeves after I get the body divided and a few inches knitted on that, because if I am going to have just enough yarn, I'd rather the sleeves fit and the body be a few rows short than vice versa.

Meanwhile, to answer Tanja's question, here is a nifty free charting application that I have been using:

http://jacquie.typepad.com/Charts/knitChart.htm .

Meanwhile, my pineapple is growing!

And of course we had more snow the other day, so here is that obligatory shot:

I am having a lot of fun with Ingrid, both my own knitting and that of my test-knitters. Here is one beautiful example, using yarn hand dyed by the knitter:

You can also see how Ingrid herself is coming along with her sweater here: : http://strickpraxis.wordpress.com/

Snow Day

Snow days are often fun, if you have a warm house and some knitting to keep you sane. Here is what it looks like outside after a bit of shoveling:

Thank goodness for teenage boys willing to shovel!

And with a sense of humor....

Meanwhile, in other news,

A pineapple fruit has sprouted and is growing in my greenhouse!

I started this plant at least 3 years ago by cutting off the top of a purchased pineapple and putting it in a bunch of dirt....

And of course some knitting is going on. I am reknitting Ingrid Cardigan in a different gauge yarn and writing the pattern for 5 sizes. I am almost ready to release it to the world. My first test knitter has started hers also, with a different cable. You can see her just finished beautiful alpacarina sweater here: http://strickpraxis.wordpress.com/

So here is my new one:

front view

Back view

Shoulder view.

Now, back to knit some more...