Posted in Current Projects, Life

Sweaters, Weight Loss, and Rhinebeck

There’s good news, bad news, and an annoying thing that happened with Eadon.

The good news is that the yarn arrived on Thursday to finish Eadon, I’m now done with all the knitting of it, and it’s been blocking since Saturday morning. The bad news is that the skein of yarn that arrived for me to finish it was a tiny bit darker and much more of a solid then the rest of the yarn. I’m hoping once it’s all sewn up it won’t look horrible. The annoying thing that happened when I started working on the shoulder seam part of the second sleeve was that I realized I didn’t bind off enough stitches on the first sleeve and I had to rip it back Friday night to fix it. At least I realized it, wasn’t too bad to fix, and didn’t take long! I started seaming Eadon Monday night, but it’s taking me a while to do. The way the prices go together is different from every other sweater I’ve seamed up until now. I’ve started seaming parts of it only to not like the way it’s going and starting over again. I’ll get it done tonight, though. Only one more sleeve to sew in!

Eadon Blocking
Eadon – blocking!

Since I finished knitting Eadon Saturday morning just before we went out of town for the weekend, I decided to try and work on the socks I have on the needles. Sadly, that hasn’t really worked out very well (I’m glad I brought a non-small-needle project with me, more on that below). Small needles still really bother my wrists and I can only knit a few rows before having to put it aside. No real progress on socks to show right now. Knitting Eadon didn’t bother my hands or wrists at all which makes me think it’s the needle size that’s doing it. I want to get at least one of the pairs off the needles, but after that I think I’ll take a break from knitting anything on small needles for a while. At least there’s always plenty of other things I can knit!

Last week sometime I got this idea in my head that I needed to knit a Rhinebeck sweater. Yes, I’ve got a sweater I’m nearly done with, but it wasn’t knit with Rhinebeck specifically in mind, so my brain reasoned that I should start something new with about a month to go until Rhinebeck. I was looking at DK and sport weight patterns initially. Even decided on two to pick from. One out of the yarn I bought at Rhinebeck last year and one out of the yarn I bought at the Spring Fling last year. Then I realized this was all rather crazy talk. I’d be stressing myself out trying to do this on a deadline when I’ve spent the summer working on deadline projects for Camp Loopy and haven’t really enjoyed it. So, I took a step back to think about it.

I looked at my stash. No worsted or bulky weight of yarn in a sweater quantity. I looked at sweaters I’ve knit that no longer fit me since I’ve lost over 60 lbs since I knit some of them. Even after I lost about half of the weight, I think I was still knitting to those heavier measurements and some things ended up not fitting that well. The difference in measurements wasn’t that big. I think I was just sizing up the way I did before and ending up with oversized sweaters rather than ones that were fitted. Anyhow, I now have a pile of sweaters that look like I’m swimming in them when I put them on and it makes me sad. While looking at my stash and my finished sweaters, I saw Seneca. I knit this earlier this year. When I finished it, it did end up a little too big. I loved the yarn and the pattern, though, and when I started losing more weight, I decided I would re-knit it later.

I’m still about 20 lbs from my goal, but it’s later enough and I decided I’m close enough to goal that I can reasonably start re-knitting Seneca with Rhinebeck in mind. Last week after deciding this, I frogged the Seneca I finished in February. After finishing Eadon on Saturday, I started Seneca. I’m knitting a smaller size, still adjusting for the gauge like I did the first time around. This time it should end up about 40″ across the chest, which is a bit less then my current chest measurement. It gives me some room to “shrink” into it! Even if I don’t end up losing any inches in my bust, I think it will still fit well with a bit of negative ease. I’ve managed to make my way through the cable on the bottom of the body and I’m currently working on the waist decreases.

Seneca Take 2
Seneca Take 2

The last two years I’ve gone I’ve had a new sweater to wear, one that was finished with the intention of wearing it to Rhinebeck. Earlier this year I had planned to not knit a sweater for Rhinebeck because I had taken a break from sweaters since I was losing weight (and still have a way to go, so I still am). I may or may not have Seneca done and if I don’t, I’ll probably wear Eadon along with the hat and mittens I plan on making. I think it’s kind of fun to have something new to wear that was made/bought just to wear at Rhinebeck, though I know a lot of people don’t bother with new things and wear things they’ve knit/crocheted without Rhinebeck specifically in mind.

Planning on going to Rhinebeck this year? Knitting or crocheting anything specifically for it?

Author:

I’m a thirty-something who lives in Cincinnati, OH. Crafting, for me, started young - I can’t even recall a time I wasn’t crafty in some way. My first foray into yarn was doing plastic canvas embroidery and making Barbie doll furniture. Not long after that I learned to crochet from a book my grandmother gave me after asking to learn what she was doing (she crochets, afghans mostly these days). After that, I took up counted cross stitch and then came sewing when I took two fashion design classes in high school. My mom had a sewing machine from my great grandmother and I taught myself to sew from patterns on it. I still use this same sewing machine today! I started knitting in 2004 when a co-worker was pregnant with her first child and I wanted to make something for her. I bought a “learn to knit kit” from Lion Brand for a baby hat and booties set. I did make the baby hat and booties (with very few problems) and ended up gifting them to the co-worker. I wanted to make a blanket, but I wasn’t quite able to get that done in time since it took a lot longer then I’d imagined! It wasn’t until the end of 2004/early 2005 that knitting really took a hold of me. Now I love knitting and almost always have a project with me, even if it’s just something small when I’m out and about. I like a wide range of projects depending on my mood. Sometimes I like a good challenge knit and other times I enjoy a lot of stockinette or garter stitch. I love Ravelry for keeping track of my projects and for finding new things to knit - I feel like I’m always spending time on there! It’s also a great place for getting to know other knitters, crocheters, and various fiber enthusiasts. In the fall of 2008, I purchased a spinning wheel from someone on Craigslist. It’s a Babe Fiber Starter, single treadle wheel and after a bit of trouble getting used to it, I’ve managed to spin up some fiber. In January of 2012, I found someone local that was selling their Lendrum DT and it came to live with me! The Babe now lives with Jen (aka piddleloop) and she’s learning to spin. I’m still trying to find time to spin along with knitting, crocheting (occasionally), and whatever else is going on, but I work it in here and there. I’m sure there’s something I might have left out here, so if there’s anything else you want to know about me, just ask :o)

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