Casting Off From Sleeve Island
Casting off — get it? I slay me.
So I have completed the knitting of the West Side Raglan. I seamed. Alert the media.
Too dark at this point to get a good photo — I’ll try again on Sunday.
There were a couple of questions in the past few days about said West Side Raglan.
Spurred on, no doubt, by my whining about seaming, Ellen commented:
West Side Raglan looks like it could be knitted from the top, maybe even in the round. Would that work? I seem to have length issues that knitting from the top down would ease.
You certainly could adapt the pattern to knit from top down and in the round. I wouldn’t (you’ll have to search my blog archives for past rantings on “in-the-round” versus “knit-in-pieces” and my various “need for seams” rants), but you could. 
Wen asked:
I noticed that you’re knitting straight from the skein wrapper and all… When you get yarn like that do you usually knit it straight away or do you like to wind on the ball winder?
I almost always knit it straight from the skein, unless there’s a pretty darn compelling reason not to. And this yarn pleased me because the end from the center of the skein was nicely sticking out on every skein. No digging in the center and fishing around for the end and pulling it out, only to discover that you’ve pulled half the skein out in a giant barf-glob.
I will often knit from the outside of a skein, but not with this yarn. The skeins are large — 290 yards each — and very firnly wound. Working from the outside of the skein would have been quite cumbersome with the heavy skein bouncing around while I pulled on it. And when I reached the end of each skein, it behaved very nicely — no collapsing in a tangled mess. Gotta love that.
Speaking of things you gotta love . . .
I finished my first Wild Thing knee sock! I am overwhelmed with feelings of love for this sock.
Almost-still life with cat:
I immediately cast on for the second sock.
With the completion of the West Side Raglan, I think I’ll work on small projects for a while. I think I’ve got my next big project picked out, and it’s a doozy. (Anyone wanna guess what that will be? Johanne, you are not allowed to guess. That goes for you too, L-B.) So before I start in on doozy-ness, I thought some small stuff might be in order.
Speaking of things you gotta love . . .
Look at the Heifer donation total. We’re closing in on $20,000.00 That’s TWENTY thousand. Wow!!
Listen to this post 
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Nice, simple, clean lines — I like it … in principle.
My difficulty is that knitting at a gauge of 4½ stitches to the inch makes my hands hurt … the smaller the needles, the happier my hands (yes, I’m knitting a tunic sweater on US1s as we “speak”).
Since you’re one of the most prolific knitters out there, and you do beautiful work at fine gauges, and you often answer reader questions, I thought I’d address this question to you: do you know of any reliable sources for tailored, fine-gauge, stockinette-dominant patterns? (Rowan is the best source I’ve encountered, but I’d dearly love to expand the inventory!)
It may very well be that you and I are the only two people on this earth who prefer to knit pieces instead of “in the round.”
Let me guess… your next big project will be a hundred knitted udder warmers for a herd of Swedish cows. Nothing like warm teats in the morning!
The colors in your knee high sock are stunning.
With an entire month to go, there’s no doubt that $20K will be reached for Heifer. The question really is what is the goal after $20K … $25,000, $30,000???? Great work!
Could it be the Casino Shawl? It’s just a wild guess. I’m probably wrong.
heh heh heh, the KOARC said “teats” (said in a beavis and butthead voice).
casting on - that’s so funny I forgot to laugh (said in a lisa loopner voice).
let’s see, whom shall I impersonate next?
hot legs (sung in a rod stewart voice).
can’t wait to see what the next BIG project will be - a lace shawl, peut-etre?
just in a VERY good mood today!
Can I guess Sharon Miller’s Princess Shawl for the next big project? I can’t think of anything else that would fill you with trepidation. 9By the way, I hate orange but those socks are kind of cool.)
My guess was the Casino Shawl as well. Wow, over 20,000 with a month to go still… way to go everyone!!!
Your next project has to a shawl - which shawl - who knows? Nice sock!
I have a question about the knee sock. What did you do with the cuff to make it stay up. I have peasant calves, and I have yet to encounter a cuff that will fit over the calves and stay up. But I live in hope.
i am guessing it will be an afghan with an escher like design on it.
either that or cat beds for a colony of feral cats?
sorry i feel silly
definitely amazing work on the fundraising, plus winning was fun too!
Love the knee sock! I have the some Cestari yarn in pink for a simple pullover pattern I know I have somewhere… I remember you bought some yarn from Bea Ellis - are you making the new Saporro Team Norway 2007 sweater?
Wow, did you knit a whole kneesock from just one skein of that yarn? Because I have some on its way to me, and if I can knit kneesocks… well, woohoo!
The knee sock looks great and those are so my colors. Do you use some sort of formula for the calf increases or did you come up with good sizing through trial and error? I just finished my first knee sock and while it looks great on my leg, it’s pooling around my ankle after a little bit. For this one I’m going to add a bit of elastic thread to the cuffs so they’ll stay up, but I’d like to avoid it for my next pair. Any hints?
“Barf glob” is the best description ever for a bad start on a center-pull skein.
Love the knee sock. Your foot looks so warm and pretty with it on.
I’m going to guess that you are planning on finishing the sock yarn log cabin blanket. The Shetland Shawl, perhaps?
Weren’t you looking at Scandinavian knitting books just a little bit ago? A Scandinavian sweater, maybe?
Orange Rainbow
A Rainbow of Orange This sock is the perfect color therapy for a very grey sort of freezing rain sort of day in Chicago. I love looking at it and drinking in all the orange. It reminds me of orange…
My guess is another Starmore, in a contest with L.B.
My 2 year old is wondering when the next masterpiece staring Lucy will be released.
What a FUN sock! Looks great
I remember seeing this sweater yarn at MDSW - it is knitting up beautifully. Maybe I will give them a better look next May.
I’m guessing the blue sweater with the floral band from Poetry in Stitches
At least, I’m HOPING that’s what it’ll be because I know you’ll steek the neckline instead of work back & forth in rows. Yeah, that’s it!
Barf-glob - LOL. I hate when that happens.
Oooo, are you going to join Jewel and Lorraine’s Dale of Norway KAL?!!
Aw shucks, methinks you’ll be working on Bohus, part deux.
I love your knee socks. When knitting the leg (and maybe I missed this from a previous post), how often are you increasing?
With all the color work that has been popping up, I’m guessing another Starmore.
Hm…I was going to guess something from Victorian Lace Today (a book I just can’t seem to put down). Like….the cap shawl? (which I don’t see myself using much but I still have this incredible lust for it).
Wow! 20K! That’s big. Speaking of big, are you gonna finish the log cabin? Love the knee socks! They make me feel cold right now as my office is freezing!
My guess? intricate colorwork. Starmore, swedish knitting, norwegian, something like that. Could be intarsia, but I don’t think you’re headed in that direction. Could be, tho……Definately colorwork and most likely fair isle of some UK/scandinavian orgins.
I also much prefer knitting in pieces, and I love raglans. KOARC’s remark about teat warmers qwacked me up! Hi Lucy!
Barf-blog - I love it! The knee high is perfect. I’m guessing some sort of colorwork, but I don’t really have a clue.
Someone’s beaten me to it, but I’m almost certain it would be the Princess Shawl of Sharon Miller. Beautiful design & intricate. Starmore’s for you are a dime a dozen. However, that final section that Jean Miles was doing with lots of tiny stitches, on tiny needles & fine yarn, would be an exciting & fun challenge.
GOT IT. I think you’re going to knit the shaped Fair Isle by Eunny Jang in the Winter Interweave Knits. That’s where my money is going.
Great sock!
Yeah, don’t ya just hate the “giant barf-globs”?? lmao.