Thursday, February 11, 2010

New Sweater Started

I love the color of this yarn, a very cheerful aqua. The color is called 'Aruba Sea' which brings to mind shallow warm, beautiful water washing up on a sunny Caribbean beach. Here's my design sketch:
I am going to knit the pattern by hand then hang it on the machine and finish up the stockinette portion quickly.

Monday, February 8, 2010

February

This is the primo month for knitters in our area with Stitches coming up in a few weeks. I usually save up my money for months ahead of time and my sisters and I go to the convention for a fun day while my husband stays home and works in the yard. I try to buy one big item and then just shop around. A recent Stitches purchase was the Jumbo yarn winder which is really wonderful, and I use it all the time. I don't know what I am going to get this year, but I am sure to think of something.

The economy makes spending a lot of money on yarn for sweaters very difficult for a lot of people so I would like to put in another plug for Red Heart Supersaver. I know lots of yarn snobs look down on Red Heart yarns, but I love it. I could never afford to spend $100 on a sweater that would inevitably shrink, pill, or be eaten by some insect or other. I love being able to wear the sweater while I am cooking or working in the yard, then to throw it into the washer and dryer. I have heard people say that the yarn is harsh, but science has marched on folks, and my sweaters, after washing, are lovely, drapey, and soft to the touch. I like the wide variety of colors. The yarn is perfect for sweaters for children, and Red Heart also makes other yarns that are full of pep and color for children (like RH Kids). I use the Supersaver on a bulky knitting machine, but I knit all the ribbings and some special features by hand.

Here are some sweaters made of Red Heart Supersaver:






The chest of drawers that I used to store my sweaters went away with one of my daughters when she moved into her new apartment several years ago. I recently got an Anaboda chest from IKEA to store them in, but now I have to assemble it. Today I am off to the hardware store to buy myself a ratchet screwdriver.