Rowan Magazine 46, Bust darts tutorial, Knitting for a child with a cast

Last night my allergies were so bad that I couldn't sleep, even after an overdose with Claritin, I had a horrible night. I got up and started... what else? browsing the internet for knitting patterns.

I decided that I don't want to spend time on Facebook since there is got to be a thousand more productive things to do in life than listening to people's thoughts and complaints. As a result, my head had been spinning with ideas all night and all day today. It is as if I had unlocked a world of creativity and imagination in my head. I even thought of 2 projects to design.

Rowan Magazine
Among other things, I discover the new Rowan magazine# 46, and felt in love with yet, two more patterns for my to do list:











As I was browsing E -bay to see how much the Rowan yarns cost these days, I came across an ebay seller that literally cut off the best pattern of the magazine (the first picture) and was selling it for 1 pound (about a $1,70).

Original magazine pattern, carefully removed, in perfect condition - unused

Now, what would posses somebody to do something like this is beyond me... but one thing is certain, a beautiful $23,95 (plus shipping) Rowan Magazine is now ruined in the futile pursue of $1,78... (plus shipping). Go figure!

Bust Dart Tutorial
I also discovered, thanks to a fellow knitter on Ravelry, the most amazing tutorial on how to add bust darts. I always knew that bust darts were created with short rows, but didn't know exactly how to do it. Well here it is in perfect English! Now, I wasn't looking for this but this link will come in handy for sure!

Knitting for a boy with a cast
My 2 year old will be having hand surgery in January and I want to be prepared. Is is going to be cold and he will have to wear a cast for a few months. We already had the experience last year and I had to cut off one sleeve of all his shirts and I purchased a really cheap hoodie and cut one sleeve as well. This time I want to have a winter wardrobe that can accommodate his cast. I can't think of a better excuse to get to work and KNIT him some items, made to fit. After looking to all of my books and patterns and browsing Ravelry for quite a few hours... I decided on the following projects.

1- Totem Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. This is the perfect Jacket because you knit the body in one piece up to where you want to harm holes and add the sleeves at the end. It is a very simple pattern that allows for plenty of customization. Just what I need to be able to make wider harm holes and sleeves to make space for the cast.





2- This poncho from Drops Designs also fits the bill and can provide the perfect outdoors layer leaving the harms free underneath.









3- A wonderful waistcoat by Debbie Bliss can keep him warm inside or outside the house. And I was thinking maybe I can knit detachable sleeves to it. The pattern is in Classic Knits for Kids; 30 Traditional Aran and Guernsey Designs for 0-6 year olds (1995). This is a really old book and it is out of print but I really want to make it. It still can be ordered from Amazon.com. My scanner broke so I can not provide a picture but is sooo cute!

4- And finally I still may make a lighter weight indoor sweater, which I am debating between EZ's Baby surprise Jacket which has very wide harm holes and this hooded jacket by Debbie Bliss. If I make the last one I will have to modify the harm holes and sleeves to be wider.

All of these patterns (except for the waistcoat), have three things in common; they are very simple, easy to modify and fast to knit. Well I better hurry! I found all the yarn I needed for these projects in my stash. Hurray!!

Is it possible to fix white spots on a bad dyeing job?

After my yarn was dry there were some white spots in one of the colors, the lilac. I have no idea why this color didn't take, but it was bothering me so I decided to try yet another experiment; fixing one color.
Me di cuenta de que habian quedado unas partes blancas en el color lila.


So off it went the hank of yarn to the sink: Asi que lo heche denuevo en el lavatorio para darle un baño.










And to the counter for retouching with a brush. I had dye left so I used the same bottle of the dye that was already prepared. The color was not covering the white spots, so added some more vinegar, thinking maybe I had forgotten the vinegar... Nothing... So I looked at the solution and it seemed too watery to me so I added more of the dye powder to it... Voila! the dye took this time and covered all the white areas. El tinte no pegaba, me di cuenta de que no tenia suficiente polvo asi que le puse mas y ya funciono...








After that I wrapped the repainted area... Luego la envolvi en plastico.





And finally placed only the repainted part on the steaming pot, leaving the rest of the hank out of the pot. I am not sure this was wise because the dry part of the hank can catch fire on the gas stove if you are not careful. I think next time I will get the whole thing wet and re-steam the whole thing.

The results were perfect and the colors are now even for the most part. The green is not even but at least there are no white spots and I actually like the different shades of green and yellow on it.
Y finalmente puse la parte retocada denuevo en la olla de vapor dejando por fuera la parte seca. La proxima vez creo que la pongo toda dentro de la oya para evitar que prenda fuego con la llama de la estufa.



Before: (antes)


After: (despues)