Tag: Cat Doodle Knitting

Hannah and the CoalBear: Busy Winter Days

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Look at what the Mother of Cats got done!!

I just love the Hannah mitt that the Mother of Cats made me. So far, there is only one done. She was really happy with the first one, and then she packed it up and… started working on weaving.

The Mother of Cats pulled out her new rigid heddle loom and warped on some really nice pink sock yarn. I think that this color looks really nice with my coat, don’t you? She spent a couple of days weaving on it, and was really happy, but had this urge to knit something, so… she started on a zebra.

I know. I don’t understand why this happens either.

He is a pretty cute zebra, isn’t he? I was just exhausted helping the Mother of Cats with all of this, especially with the sewing and stuffing parts. The zebra still needs his little playsuit to be knitted for him, but the Mother of Cats has the attention span of a mouse because she just jumped off and spent the whole afternoon on the computer watching the first lesson for her online weaving class. Whew. That lady talked, and talked, and talked, and Mateo started to throw a tantrum because he really, really needed someone to play with him. I was getting a little peckish myself and thought that the Mother of Cats should give me some COOKIES, so she had to multi-task attending to our needs while walking around listening to her weaving lecture on her phone. Listen, the Mother of Cats needs to get her priorities straight, right?

When the Mother of Cats is done with her online class she will have woven these projects and will, possible, actually understand what she is doing. This evening, she wound all the warp for the big floor loom, and this week the plan is for Mateo and me to help her get all the strings in the right places on the loom. Mateo is so excited!!! All that string!!! The Mother of Cats says it is yarn, but we know string when we see it!! This sounds like the best cat toy in the world!! Anyway, that is why the Mother of Cats had to listen to the lecture for so long and I was starved of attention and cookies.

What else is going on at Casa de Kitties? The Mother of Cats went shopping and came home with another stuffed octopus. Then the Mother of Cat’s cousin sent her a cute little octopus quilted wall hanging for Christmas. Sorry, Mother of Cats. This is the best little Hannah bed ever!!!!! This evening, she put it up on the wall where it is cute, but I can’t sleep on it anymore. Why does the Mother of Cats do these things???!!!!!! I want my octopus bed!!!

Hey, I forgot to mention that the Mother of Cats is reading every single morning while she drinks her latte. I am her constant companion when that is happening. Hey, if she doesn’t guard her morning toast, I get to snack on that too!!!

Right now we are reading The Ashes of London and The Emperor of Gladness. The Mother of Cats says everyone reads more than one book at a time!

That’s it for the night.

This is Hannah, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

  • The online weaving class is located at The Handweaving Academy and is called Overshot Unlocked. I’m really learning a lot of cool things.
  • I went to the yarn store again and loaded up on lots of fun colors and more parts for my new loom. This may be the year of weaving.
  • The Ashes of London is really keeping my interest! It’s a political thriller and a murder mystery all wrapped up in 1666 with the Great Fire of London serving as a major player in the story.
  • The Emperor of Gladness is one of the best books I have read in a while. I’m reading it in bits at a time so I can savor the language, imagery, the people, the story…
  • Where did the zebra pattern come from? I found it in this book. You can see the little playsuit that I still need to knit in the cover photo.
I found this at the book store!

Updates from the Knitting Front: Meet the Alchemist Sweater

I finished the Alchemist sweater (design by Wool & Pine) and I am really happy with it! This was an interesting knit for me and I learned new skills as I worked my way though the pattern. I’d like to unpack the whole process a little for you.

It all started with this DK yarn from Hue Loco called Razzle Dazzle.

Look at that yarn!! I had to have a sweater made from it and as soon as the Alchemist pattern hit the Ravelry pattern stream I thought that it would be a good fit. As I knitted along, I felt better and better about the match between the yarn and the pattern. There was a lot to appreciate (and some YouTube watching as I got new skills) along the journey. The first big “aha!” that happened was around the shoulder shaping.

That shaping at the top of the picture is a top-down, seamless, set-in sleeve with a saddle shoulder. It all messed with my head at first until I understood what was happening, but it was absolutely worth the headache. The sweater fits beautifully and there isn’t extra bulk in the sleeve as often happens in my sweaters. Pretty cool, right?

Then there was the ribbing that finished the neck opening. The back of the sweater was a little wonky, and I was not exactly thrilled with how the shoulders were looking at the neckline. I figured that all would become more clear in time, and that’s what happened. The directions on how to pick up the neckline stitches were a little open-ended as the designers give you flexibility in how many stitches to pick up and how deep to knit the ribbing. I picked up the number of stitches per row as suggested, and as luck would have it the stitch count was right on. As I reached the bottom of the front “V” I realized how to balance the ribbing around the center stitch (as it turns out, as long as you mirror the ribbing on the other side everything will be fine…) and the whole neckline pulled things together. The top of the shoulders became perfect, and the upper back of the sweater is formed by the ribbing. Oh. That’s why there weren’t any short rows to shape the upper back. The ribbing takes care of that.

Then there was the side slit in the deep ribbing at the bottom of the sweater. Before it was blocked the ribbing pulled in and the gap in the side was… not flattering. Blocking fixed that.

I did have to do some tidying up at the top of the slit when I did the final finishing, and now that the sweater hangs well, I’m happy with that divided ribbing. I wear long sleeve shirts under my sweaters, and the ease of the open sides is surprisingly comfortable. Who knew?

Finally, the pattern called for a sewn bind off. Ugh. So slow. So much stitching. So much whapping by bothersome kitties while doing it. It is really tidy and stretchy while keeping a nice edge.

Once again YouTube came to the rescue.

Here’s the final sweater, all blocked and ready to head out on a new shopping spree at the yarn store. The color is a little off (too pink) as I took the picture in the room with my grow lights, but you can see how nicely that ribbing and neckline came out in the end.

So, what am I up to now? I cast on some yarn to make arm warmers and started playing with my cat doodle pattern. It’s fun! I’m not sure how to handle decreases at the bottom of the warmer, but that what ribbing is for, right?

Behold: knitted Hannah!!

Was it fun to knit with four colors at once? No. It was not. Was it worth it? Absolutely!! I also cast on for another Weekender Crew sweater, but that is another post… Next on in the pattern sequence is some toy mice and then cat paws. The next time I go in for medical testing, these will be the arm warmers that I wear!!!

p.s. I am including some jade plant extras.

From left to right: a bloom on a jade plant, a bonsai plant, and the miniature jade plant that I bought to maybe make into a bonsai myself. I thought I would give it a few weeks in its new home before I put it into a smaller pot.