Death and Knitting

My brother, JJ, died a week ago today.  I went back to West Virginia where the family lives for the funeral.  He was one of my best friends and confidants.  I talked to him at least once or twice a month and he always listened even when I talked about things he wasn't interested.  I thought he would always be there and now he isn't. 


What does this have to do with knitting?  A lot!  Knitting got me through the whole thing.  I knew that I couldn't work on any of my current projects.  Most are complicated and one involves learning a new technique that I've never done successfully.  I needed a project that was simple.  So, I found three hanks of Wool Clasica by Manos del Uruguay in my stash and searched for a super simple project that wouldn't involve a lot of brain cells.

I had heard of prayer shawls.  These days, most knitters and crocheters have heard of them.  The idea is to knit or crochet a shawl with lots of prayers then send it off to someone in need.  I'm not very religious.  I don't pray.  And, I don't plan to send off the shawl to someone else.  The idea of working on a shawl in memory of my brother appealed to me, though.  I found a shawl pattern that fit my needs perfectly.  It's the Lacy Prayer Shawl that I found on Ravelry.  Knitting this shawl really helped me through the grieving process.  All of my memories of my brother are knit into that shawl.

The shawl isn't finished, yet.  I'm home again in New York and life is going on.  There is Scout stuff going on with the boys.  Homeschooling has started back up and we are getting ready for our standardized exams.  I have to start working on other knitting projects for classes or clubs.  But, I have this shawl.  When I need to sit down and grieve, I will work on my shawl.  Once it is finished, I will have a big hug from my brother and all of my memories will comfort me.

In Memory of my brother, JJ
December 13, 1971 - February 11, 2011 

A Trio of Hats

Over the holidays, I suddenly had a great idea. I needed to knit hats for all of the guys in my twin sister's life. These guys are her husband, two sons and her daughter's boyfriend. I had a few criteria for the pattern. One, it needed to knit up quickly. I made this decision to knit all of these hats in December. Late December. Two, I needed to be able to use something from my stash. I'm on a yarn diet. I'm really, really, REALLY trying to not buy yarn. I've made a few slips, but I've seriously cut back on my yarn spending which has been hard because I live near a very good LYS. Three, the hats needed to be manly.

I searched Ravelry and found the perfect pattern. It's called the Subtle Twist Hat by Jennifer Talleneni. I downloaded the pattern from Ravelry but you can also download it from her blog here.

Ta Da!!! I actually finished the three hats modeled here by my three little guys by the end of December and got them in the mail shortly thereafter.  The yarn I chose was Patons Shetland Chunky and Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds.  This picture doesn't show the nice cable twist at the top of the hat very well.  There are better pictures on Jennifer's blog and on Ravelry.

I loved working on the hats.  It was simple ribbing all the way up.  The interesting part was doing the cables at the top.

If you want a quick simple hat that knits up quickly on chunky yarn, this is definitely the one.

If you are wondering what happened to hat number four.  Well, I did get a little tired of ribbing after three hats.  So, my sister's youngest son got a different hat.  That, however, is for another post.

Sweater Finally Finished!!!!

Well, it took awhile, but this knitting schmuck has FINALLY completed the dreaded Swedish sweater that I have been working on FOREVER. So, last year on the first day of the year, I posted my first blog post. I swore that my next blog post would be of pictures of a finished sweater. I really didn't think it would take a year to fulfill that promise. Here it is, though, January 1, 2011. The good news is that the sweater was finished and under the tree by Christmas of 2010.

The most frustrating part of this sweater was the actual finishing and sewing on the sleeves. I put the first sleeve on and was so proud of myself because it looked great. Then I sewed on the second sleeve and it looked great. Then, I tried sewing up the side seams. Suddenly, nothing looked great anymore. I forgot to consider how the sleeves should line up with the pattern on the torso of the sweater. There was no way the pattern on the front and back of the sweater were going to line up and still have the sleeves line up properly. So, off came both sleeves and I tried again with much more care.

Second try and still not quite right. After, four attempts, I get both sleeves on so that everything lines up correctly and it finally looks great. I swear that the next sweater I knit is going to be seamless and when I finish knitting it will be done. NO SEAMS!!!!

So now for the TA-DA moment. Here it is. One sweater, knit from a pattern in a language that I don't speak or read that has been picked up and put away more times than I care to count over fourteen years, is now proudly worn by my husband of fifteen years who didn't think he would ever get this sweater. And you know something? It actually fits and he says that it is the most comfortable sweater he has ever worn. I may knit him another sweater, but I guarantee it won't take fourteen years for the next one.  

Sweater Front

I have to say that I am proud of how nice the sweater looks.  I have learned a lot about knitting since I started this sweater so many years ago.  This was my first attempt at stranded knitting.  I have also learned enough about my hobby that I could totally make this sweater in the round, if I were to start it today.  I hate sewing seams and I think one of the great things about knitting is that there are so many techniques available that a knitter could knit a sweater completely in the round and never have to sew up any seams.

Sweater Back

Happy New Year everyone.  I hope to be a more prolific blogger during the next year.  I have completed projects to show off, projects planned exploring techniques that are new to me and naked yarn "dyeing" for color. 

Hopefully, I have something to say that someone out there will want to read.  I also hope to figure out how to comment on the comments to my blog. 

My first blog post actually received comments and, while I tried to answer, I did not have to brains or blogging savvy to reply to any of them. 

Come back soon and see what I'm up to next!!