SFS Care Package on Its Way

My first pair of regulation Olive Drab (OD) socks have been washed and a darning kit has been carefully made and pinned to the toes. The SFS sock band has been completed along with a written note for the recipient of the socks. All this went into a gallon size plastic bag. I also finished my first SFS beanie — It went with the socks into the bag.
SFS_Beanie1

Along with the socks, I have sent a mixed assortment of “goodies” for the soldier. I gathered snacks and a number of items like sunscreen, Q-tips, Wet Ones wipes, & Chapstick to include with my socks. It made for a nice little care package.
SFS_CarePkg1

Package has been mailed off to Sarge — who will now send it along with numerous other such packages to a group of soldiers serving somewhere overseas.

Related Post

Summer (…into Fall) Knitting: Dishcloths #7– #9Summer (…into Fall) Knitting: Dishcloths #7– #9

Well, my Summer knitting project of a dozen dishcloths has now drifted into Fall. I completed Dishcloth #7 and #8 before Summer ended and then got busy with other projects and just left my needles and yarn waiting for me to come back and knit some more. So, I started Dishcloth # 9 on Sunday and finished it up today. Hopefully, I will finish the last three dishcloths before the end of the Fall season. Here are the completed projects:

Dishcloth #7 — Valentine Hearts
Dishcloth #7 - Valentine Hearts
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Peaches & Cream Cotton, color Teal. This is a reverse stockinette stitch pattern on a stockinette stitch background that resembles a cut-out of hearts that I made when I was a child. It’s an easy knit pattern over 20 rows.

Dishcloth #8 — Zigzag Eyelet
Zigzag Eyelet Dishcloth
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton, color Natural. Lovely little lace pattern done over a multiple of 11 stitches plus 2 and 12 rows.

Dishcloth #9 — Climbing Lattice
Dishcloth in Climbing Lattice pattern
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Sugar’n Cream, color Cool Breeze Ombre. This is an interesting lace pattern that combines left twists with a four stitch eyelet pattern. I was getting tired of solid color yarns, so I went with this ombre — I really like the way it knitted up.

Links to Dishcloths #1 through #6:
Dishcloths #1 — #3
Dishcloths #4 — #6

Link to “Kitchen Bright Dishcloths” from Leisure Arts (2004).

In honor of EZ’s Brithday: Baby Surprise Jacket KALIn honor of EZ’s Brithday: Baby Surprise Jacket KAL

Elizabeth Zimmerman’s 100th birthday was August 9. One of our expert knitters in the Nebraska Knit & Crochet Guild (NKCG) started a knit-a-long (KAL) of the “Baby Surprise Jacket” in honor of EZ’s birthday. I had never done this baby sweater pattern, so I joined in the KAL.

It turned into on of those obsession driven projects. You know the ones — where you become so intrigued by how the pattern is unfolding that you simply.cannot.put.it.down. Yup, your fingers just itch to knit and your brain refuses to think about anything else — especially mundane things like laundry, cooking and other housework. That’s what this little project became.

You see, the BSJ is knit entirely of garter stitch and involves a series of increases, decreases and center double decreases to make your knitting go at right angles. It is knit in a single piece — and the fascinating thing is that it turns into a sweater without the normal sweater type shaping that you usually do. As I knit this project, I kept marveling at the ingenuity of the designer — how in the heck had she figured this out? It’s a combination of understanding geometry and the shaping required for a baby sweater — and EZ was someone who took theoretical concepts like right angles and turned them into pragmatic knitted garments. Perhaps a few pictures will help.

When you finish knitting the pattern — you end up with an oddly shaped piece of garter stitch fabric that looks like this:

Garter stitch fabric - Baby Surprise Jacket

As you can see, I knit this with two different yarns to create stripes. Now, when you fold the edges together, this striped fabric turns into this:

Baby Surprise Jacket, folded

A jacket. That’s the surprise — it actually turns into a little sweater jacket with nifty right angle striping on the front and horizontal striping on the back. And — there are only two seams to sew! Just two — the sleeves at the top. The button band is done as part of the bottom of the knitted piece, so you just add buttons and you are finished. (I’m still looking for buttons, so I don’t have a photo of the finished jacket.)

Now, the written pattern is somewhat confusing at first. There are several resources available to help sort out the sketchy instructions given in both the Knitter’s Almanac and Knitting Workshop. However, the biggest question I had was “if I knit this at a gauge of 6 stitches per inch, what size is my jacket?” EZ just tells you it will fit an infant if you knit at that gauge and if you knit it at a gauge of 5 stitches per inch, you will get a bigger jacket that will fit a larger child about 1 year old. This is this question that seems to cause knitters the most problems.

I knit this BSJ using Dale of Norway Baby Ull, which is a fingering weight wool yarn and my gauge was 6 spi. The jacket measures 15.25 inches across the chest, just at the point where the underarm is. Looking at a standard body measurements chart for baby sizes, This jacket is a 0-3 months size.

Now this sizing issue really bugged me — so I had to figure out the sizing for different gauges and correlate them to actual baby sizes. (Yes, I am a geek.) After studying the pattern, I discovered that the chest measurement is at the point in the pattern where you are knitting 90 stitches. (90 divided by 6 equals 15). So, using this point of reference, I have calculated roughly what the corresponding size will be if the BSJ is knitted at gauges of 5.5 spi, 5 spi, & 4.5 spi. I put this into a table to help others who might be bugged by this question:

Gauge Chest Measurement Size
6 spi 15-16 in. 0-3 mos
5.5 spi 16-17 in. 3-6 mos
5 spi 18 in. 12 mos.
4.5 spi 20 in 18 mos.

References:
Pattern: Ez’s instructions for the Baby Surprise Jacket can be found in Knitter’s Almanac or Knitting Workshop and/or it can be purchased from Schoolhouse Press.

Row Counter: A handy tool for keeping track while knitting the BSJ can be found here: http://www.box.net/shared/eugvsfb3lt

Video: There is a six-part video series on the BSJ, here is the link to the First Episode.

Ravelry Knitters — there is also a Rav Group for the BSJ.

Last FO of 2010: Dishcloths #10 – 12Last FO of 2010: Dishcloths #10 – 12

It’s been awhile since my last post. The month of December simply flew by with all the preparations for the Holidays and I just never found time to post. Now that the New Year’s Day holiday is over, I am hoping to get back to much more regular postings.

I finished dishcloth #12 just after Christmas. I had planned to get my dozen dishcloths done well before Christmas — but you know that saying about best laid plans? Other things just kept popping up and interfering with my knitting time. Ah well… at least I finished the last dishcloth before the end of the year. So here are the last three of the set of 12:

Dishcloth # 10 – Slanted Squares

Slanted Squares Dishcloth
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Peaches & Cream Cotton, color Teal. This is a textured pattern made up of combination of stockinette, reverse stockinette and seed stitch.

Dishcloth # 11 – Basic Diamonds

Basic Diamonds Dishcloth
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Peaches & Cream Cotton, color Teal. Purl stitches are used to create the diamond patterning. The pattern is very similar to the “Diamond Brocade” pattern I used for my DD’s scarf last year. This pattern is based on 6 stitches and 6 rows, whereas the Diamond Brocade pattern is based upon 8 stitches and 8 rows.

Dishcloth # 12 – Shapely Diamond

Shapely Diamond Dishcloth
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Peaches & Cream Cotton, color Lemon. This was a fun pattern to knit and it knit up fairly quickly. The pattern is based on 34 stitches knit over 59 rows.

Links to Dishcloths #1 through #9:
Dishcloths #1 — #3
Dishcloths #4 — #6
Dishcloths #7 — #9

Link to “Kitchen Bright Dishcloths” from Leisure Arts (2004).