Dale of Norway Osterdalen

Finished
and
modeled
by
the
recipient

Ask me how I felt when I saw it lying on the floor in his room.

Better yet, ask me when he'll get it back...

One arm sweater

Osterdalen is being assembled!
But let me tell you, sewing black sleeves on a black body, after dark, is a real trick with aging eyes. Sitting under an Ott lamp, which simulates daylight, helps. But it's slow going...

The clasps have arrived for the neckline. Ben wants clasps rather than the zipper shown in the pattern. I agree.

This will be done by next weekend. Ben'll be home for fall break.

I'm already pondering my next big project. Fall is great sweater knitting weather!

company for the weekend

Ben was home from college this past weekend.

He brought someone for us to meet.

Here's Becky!



She passed all the tests: Homemade pizza eating, movie watching, being human furniture for the pets (both cats sat upon her - quite unusual), card game playing, and most of all - geocaching when it's 40 degrees and sleeting out! YAY Becky!





I managed some sewing this weekend.

Five more box bags.

I had to send for more zippers from ebay. Love that ebay - 100 random zippers for $10. Makes these little bags so much more affordable!





Not much knitting lately.

I have begun working on the collar for Osterdalen, finally.









Rogue has a few more rows. (After I ripped out the biased hemming)






Little dog didn't want Girl of the House to leave for school this morning.

Steeking Osterdalen

On Saturday, Paul had to work.

I finally went to my sewing table and steeked Osterdalen.


Because I continued knitting in the round, rather than back and forth at the top, I needed to cut a neckline.

I used a bright red yarn to mark where I wanted the neckline.







I placed the sleeves to determine the depth needed for the steek.










I marked the location and length of the steek with the contrasting yarn.











Off to the sewing machine.

I stitched on both sides of the marking yarn.

I prefer to use short, narrow zigzag stitches. (Maximum placement of stitch fixation!)





There are two rows of stitches on both sides of the sleeve steeks.

Be brave, take a deep breath - and CUT!








Once I finished all the knit sewing and cutting, I was inspired to do some additional sewing.


I finished three denim box bags and one pretty little checked bag.

I cut out pieces for eight more bags.
Now, I need to return to the sewing room!

Reminder: ALWAYS label your handspun!

We were up early this morning. According to the weather service, it was going to be a rainy day.

We were out before the rain began. We did two geocaches, then returned home and settled in as the rain began.

After being out in the cool overcast morn, we had a big brunch. Most Sundays at home, we have eggs benedict and Bloody Marys for brunch. Paul makes the BEST fried potatoes!

Today was another success.





Contributing to the success - the eggs I get from a coworker. Home grown, free range eggs - at a price lower than storebought!






Paul worked on more flooring finishing. He's to the point where it really is a one-person job.




I blocked Osterdalen.

After it's dry, I'll cut out the neckline, seam the shoulders, and sew in the sleeves.





I've got a pile of knit goods that need repairs. Might as well begin with this one. Handspun alpaca seaman's scarf. When I went to wear it the other day, I noticed this icky bit at the castoff. I don't know what happened, but obviously it needs repair.

Should be a fairly simple quick fix, don't you think?


Nope! More raveling was needed than I expected. And the alpaca was sticky and difficult to ravel.


About this point, after many heavy sighs, I changed my drink from a bottle of water to a beer. (It's five o'clock SOMEWHERE!)

Because I raveled more than I expected, I went searching for some leftover yarn.

Did I have success? What do YOU think?

I really need to put labels on all these skeins. And this was just one basket!

Lots of white yarn, but no alpaca as best I could tell.

At last, I prevailed.

I raveled a few more rows than I had hoped, but unless someone holds it up and measures, no-one should notice that one side is a few rows shorter.





Lesson #1- LABEL YOUR SKEINS!!
Lesson #2 - Save some yarn from each project for repairs. Don't knit up every last inch.

I picked Osterdalen out of its basket a few nights ago.

Only 13 more rows, and I'm done to the shoulders!

Then, the STEEKING shall commence.



Paul worked on some of the finishing of the new flooring today, while I did minor household chores. Girl of the House was in town with her buddies.


After deciding that enough work had been accomplished, Paul and I set out to make a new cache.

Here, he's taking the GPS readings for the cache.

Can you see the cache? It's in plain sight.








Look straight up the trunk of the tree, then off to the right. There is a branch dangling. The cache is in that branch - it's a film canister inserted inside. Paul drilled out the inside of the branch for the film canister. The branch had a smaller branch attached, and so it hangs off one of the real branches. Unless you knew it was there, you'd never notice.

Cool, eh?

The well traveled sweater

Osterdalen has been to Texas and back.

It got tucked into this basket, just under my spindle bag. The basket remained untouched for the whole trip. Doing colorwork on the long drive leaves me no time to sightsee, so I didn't work on it in the truck. Knitting a big sweater on the beach didn't sound fun, either.

The spindle didn't come out to play either. Ah, well, half the fun of a trip is planning possible projects.





I did finish the Alpaca Sox on the trip.


















Started some new socks, too.



It's been snowing like crazy all day. Guess we made it home just in time...

What kind of dog IS this?

Little dog Chip belongs to the Girl of the House.

This means she is responsible for grooming him. It gets to be a real hit-or-miss job.

He's quite snuggly, and enjoys being petted. When he's snuggling me, I can't help but notice all the knots and snaggles in his fur. As I'm usually sitting in my knitting spot on the sofa, I have a scissors in close proximity.

I started clipping off the obvious snaggles, then progressed to snipping off all the poor puppy's long hair.

Now he's pretty funky looking. Guess the GotH will be springing for grooming fees to make him look a bit more presentable.

I did collect all the salvageable fur. It seems pretty spinnable. Similar to angora. Maybe we'll have furry mittens for the girl.



I'm on the colorwork on Osterdalen. Man, oh man, this is so much more enjoyable than all that plain stockinette!

Warm weather here today! High of 48 degrees at 3:35 this afternoon. Hope of spring!!

Of course, warm weather leads to slushy melting snow. Which leads to people overdriving the conditions on the curve of our gravel road.

This fella was glad to see Paul and the Girl of the House come to help him out before supper.
At least he didn't take out our mailbox!






Work continues slowly on the new flooring. Only the living room is left. We need to find a place to put all the living room stuff - including the piano. Moving some of this big stuff is a pain!









I've slowed some on Osterdalen. I sliced my index finger with the bread knife on Sunday, and when I knit it hurts! I've started a weird adapted hold, but it's slow.

See the small hole near the needles? Don't panic, it's just the cast off for the neck placket steek.

Next row, I actually get to begin some colorwork. YAY!





Carry around Alpaca Sox are growing in fits and starts while I'm at lunch break.

Boy, I like this yarn. It's very soft and silky. I hope it wears OK.

goodbye old friend

Goodbye to the first pair of socks I knitted from sock yarn. Opal sock yarn, knitted in the fall of 2000. Guess I got my money's worth and enjoyment from them.

Yes, I could darn these holes in the heel and toes.
But after seven and half years of regular wear, I guess it's time for them to go.







I'm enjoying knitting Rogue. I love the color - it's much prettier than this photo. (After sunset photography makes accurate color difficult.)








Last, but not least, Osterdalen continues to grow.

Only about 3 more inches of plain black stockinette to go.

slogging, slogging, slogging...

What do you do when you're slogging through 17 inches of black stockinette stitch in the dark evenings of winter?

After only seven inches of stockinette are done?






Why, start a new sweater, of course!!

The yarn for Rogue came in the mail - hurray! Harrisville Highland in Azure.

I bought it on weaving cones, skeined it off, and gave it a bath to eliminate the spinning oils. It blooms so nicely, becoming a much plumper yarn.

I'm off to start a sleeve/swatch.

17 inches of black stockinette to go, please

The fun colorwork of the band is done.







Let the acres of black stockinette begin.


Only 17 more inches to go before the fun recommences.







Did you see the eclipse last night? It was gorgeous.

Extraordinarily difficult to photograph - the temp outside was -14. Hard to take photos with naked frozen fingers...

Knitting up the hem

It's time to put up the hem.

The pattern called for using a regular cast on, then sewing up the hem at the end of knitting the sweater.

I like to use a provisional cast on, then knit the hem together with the appropriate row.


This sweater has a ten row hem, so after knitting ten rows on the front side, I put the provisional edge on a needle and do a three needle knit together for the eleventh row.

It's a bit futzy to begin, but once you've done a few stitches, it's very slick.

Best of all, no sewing up the hem later!

I cast on the carry around sock project last night.

Toe up socks, 64 stitches around on size 0 needles, garter rib stitch.

I'm enjoying this Alpaca Sox yarn - it's very soft. The colors are pretty, too.




Another freezing cold Minnesota day. 4 degrees for the high, -13 for the low. At least it's sunny!

Body of Osterdalen is cast on!

A provisional cast-on, 278 stitches around.
A ten row hem, a purl turning row, and Dale of Norway Osterdalen has the beginning of a body.

I like to knit the name of the recipient and the date into the hem.







Here's the sock yarn I picked up yesterday.
Classic Elite Alpaca Sox - 60% alpaca, 20% merino wool, 20% nylon in the baby blues colorway. (I have another skein in the Emeralds colorway stashed away.)

Time to cast on another pair of carry around socks!

Another freezing weekend

Another of weekend of call (my last - yay!) completed.

And it was pretty darn cold. Here's a graph from Carleton College showing temps Saturday morning til Sunday afternoon. That's a high of 24 to a low of -17. From a gorgeous snowy sunny morning to the deep freeze...

Sunday morning around 8 - at a temp of around -17 (windchill -35) - just before I went out the door to work. The sundogs were gorgeous. We had never before seen a full circle of sundogs. They looked more like a rainbow.
I finished Paul's Mountain Colors socks. I like the texture of the waffle weave.

Done toe-up, they have a plain stockinette foot and the waffle weave makes up the cuff. Mountain Colors Bearfoot is a great sock yarn. The mohair content helps it fluff up. It's superwash wool, so it can be machine washed. We just lay them out flat to dry - doesn't take long.

I finished the second sleeve on the Dale of Norway Osterdalen.

Can YOU tell which sleeve is unblocked? Of course, you can!

Now to cast on 278 stitches provisionally for the hem of the body...
Paul got a great mushroom growing kit for a Christmas gift from his brother & sis-in-law Harlan and Coleen. Portabellas! He harvested Friday, and we ate them all weekend. They were incredible! And they are s'posed to continue to produce a few more crops.

You can see H&C's mushrooms here. They had an excellent crop too!

Thank you Harlan and Coleen!