In The Rounds – Life, knitting, and everything in between

Is It Make Nine, or Is It Boredom?

Reader, I’m tired.

Between work and life, I’ve had a busy few months. In hindsight, I’m glad I started my Blue Jays tank when I did, because I’m simply blown away that Knit City and the baseball home opener season is next weekend. If I tried to start that project any later than I did, I fear it might still be languishing on needles somewhere forgotten in my house.

But I digress. Because everything has been so busy, I haven’t been knitting much. When I have found the time/strength/desire/brain power to knit anything, I’ve been working on the Artist’s Garden Scarf (RAV LINK) by The Unruly Stitch. It’s a free pattern, featuring a lot of garter stitches with a few lacework sections to break it up. I picked it up after months of inactivity. I (firstly) had to remember where in the lace I left off, but once I got going, it seemed like the easiest project to visit. The lacework was simple enough to follow even without much focus, and the rows of wonderful garter were perfect for muscle memory knitting.

The yarn is left over Leo & Roxy Basics, and having a skein-and-a-bit for the project was been plenty. I don’t have many accessories in this colour, so I think it will be a nice addition to my closet.

So, while in my exhaustion/boredom I turn to a singular project, giving it my complete attention, I’m letting it serve the Make Nine goal. There might not be a lot of mindfulness in working on it, but it’s a knitting focus, and if I can focus long enough, I might get it completed soon.

If you don’t like it, fix it.

In early 2022, I knit a sweater, Feel the Bern (RAV LINK) by Caitlin Hunter. It was a great pattern to use up bits of worsted wool yarn in my stash. It was meant to be a cropped, boxy sweater, but on me, it ended up being cropped and rather fitted.

I wore it a few weeks ago with my highest waisted jeans, and I kept tugging on the sweater hem, trying to pull it down. It just wasn’t doing what I wanted.

So I frogged.

Well, I frogged back to the main body, where I could take the 30 g I had left of the MC yarn, rejoined the yarn, and knit a few more inches to the body. I have enough of the contrast yarns to rework the final rows of zig zags because, even though I was careful with frogging, there were inches lost with each end woven in.

It didn’t take long to make the fix, and I’m much happier with the length:

Oh, and I cut off my hair in between fixing the sweater…

But it’s a lesson that if you don’t like it, fix it. This isn’t the first time I’ve frogged and re-knit a project, making it much more wearable for me. I have the skills and the time, I just needed to muster the patience to do it right.

Finished Object Friday – Blue Jays Tank

Finished last week, my Blue Jays tank top was off the needles much faster than I thought. I wanted it finished for the end of March, and I left that goal in the dust.

Just the details:

Pattern: Summer Secret Crop (RAV LINK) by Jessie Maed Designs

Yarn: MC: Berroco Vintage DK; CCs: either Berroco Vintage DK or Estelle DK

Blue Jays Colour Chart: It was a pixel chart I found online. I believe it was meant for beading, but it served my purpose are a knitting chart: https://www.braceletbook.com/patterns/alpha/10474/

Well, that didn’t take as long as I feared…

I think I got intimidated by stockinette.

Two weeks ago, I started my Blue Jays Tank Top, a project that I wanted finished for the end of March, in time for Knit City Toronto and the Blue Jays’s Home Opener weekend.

Well, last night, I cast off the body of the tank, with only the straps left to knit.

And the logo, well, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out:

I found a pixel chart online, which was only 24 rows long. It was the perfect length for what I was going for. I’m also very glad I had knit a
Summer Secret Crop (RAV LINK) before, because I was able to use my first project as a guide for this one, helping to determine when to start the colourwork for the logo.

I ended up doing the colourwork via intarsia, knit back and forth. It was really easy to do once I cast off the back. However, the first 8 rows of the logo were knit when I was still knitting in the round. Thanks to a very helpful YouTube video, I knit back and forth while still being joined in the round. S0und confusing? I was until I found the video. I’m not going to try to explain the magic that was involved, but if this is something you’re struggling to work on, this video was very helpful: https://youtu.be/v2Iu8fkoBuc?si=2ZNZu2pB8eQqyt_v

So, the body of the tank is cast off, and I have inches of straps to knit before it’s finished, but I think I majorly overestimated how long it would take me to knit the stockinette of the project.

Blue Jays Tank

Knit City Toronto is happening over the Blue Jays’ home opener weekend. Downtown Toronto is going to be hopping that weekend!

I have tickets in hand for one of those two events: Knit City. But, I’m combining my knitting love and my love for Canada’s team with my Knit City goal.

There is a knitter named Karla Courtney, and she made headlines last fall by knitting a Blue Jays sweater. She drafted her pattern and only worked on it during the playoffs. She even got to work on the sweater in person at the Skydome (I’m sorry, it’s forever the Skydome in my heart, not the Rogers Centre), during the World Series. Her sweater is a work of art. You can read about her sweater here, and you can check out her website.

I started following her on socials during the playoffs, and last week, she posted progress on a sweater she’s working on for opening weekend.

Immediately, it clicked in my head that her project is the perfect inspiration for something I could make for Knit City/Opening weekend. While she’s making a sweater, I’m making a tank top, which I can hopefully have cast off in less than two months time.

I’m following the pattern for Summer Secret Crop by Jessie Maed Designs. The first time I made this pattern, I made it with waist shaping, and it really is a cropped tank. This time, I want length, but I don’t want to try and figure out the math, so I’m following the instructions for the unshaped tank. This means I have inches of stockinette in the round before separating and adding the colourwork logo for the Blue Jays.

I should have enough Berroco Vintage DK for the body, because I MAJORLY overbought for a project I made for my sister. I also have partial skeins of two blues and a dark red. The colours aren’t perfect for the logo, but I have time to buy more if I decide I want to have a better colour match.

So, I have a new stockinette project that will come with me everywhere I go for the next two months, and I have hopefully wear it in time for Knit City Toronto, showcasing my love of knitting and my love of the Toronto Blue Jays.

And, of course, many thanks to Karla Courtney for the inspiration!