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Saturday, March 3, 2018

The 2018 Iknitarod Race Prep

After seeing the iPhone compilation of pictures and videos from knitting on the Baaxter Carbeth, 20 knew he'd lost his new sweater and that we were going to re-knit it.


I hadn't done a cast off or woven in any of the loose ends, so it was physically easy to pull the needles out and start frogging (rip it rip it).  Mentally...well, a. it wasn't right and I wasn't happy with it and b. Stella (the queen of rip it back and make it right) came down to help and support.  It wasn't so bad ;-).


We used my handy Nistock skein winder to...wind it into skeins.


One sleeve.


The body.  I'd spit splices all the original skeins together so we decided to let it wind off as one biiiig skein :-o.


We used steam to relax all the knitted curls...without setting Stella's hand on fire, but Be Careful with steam!


Back to normal.  Wool yarn is fun :-).


Just for curiosity I decided to hold out one sleeve to wet block just in case I needed to know something important about how the knitting would behave.  I don't usually wet block my swatches...and should.  


We took measurements, let it soak for 20 minutes, set it out on a towel, let it dry completely, remeasured, learned that Baaxter's wool yarn was going to respond the way wool does almost every time, steamed out the last of the curls and wound everything from skeins into balls.


It doesn't look like a sweater's worth of yarn there, but it is.  1700 yards total, but held double to knit a second attempt, smaller Carbeth sweater.


20 was okay with getting his Ford sweater back, but asked if he could participate more this year, so he will be going along as my Iknitarider :-).  The Carbear will be the knitting bag mascot :-).


The Baaxter logo from a couple years ago has been updated to include 20 and reflect Baaxter's more, um, mature color ;-).

The Iditarod's Ceremonial Start is underway, so the Iknitarod "mushers" are eligible to cast on, so I'm going to go get busy!  Hope you enjoy following along this year.  I believe this is my sixth year :-).


13 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

And now you begin again! Stella is looking good:)

Marianne said...

What a process but you will be happier when you finish it to your satisfaction. Although 20 is probably a little put out.

Sheepmom said...

Wow! You are so intrepid. If I had managed to finish a whole sweater I'd be D.O.N.E with it and learn to love it as is. ;-)
That's a testament to how sturdy the skein winder is that you put a whole sweater body on it! Woot! Good thing you had Stella to keep morale up. Have fun with Sweater #2 and be sure to show Baaxter that you are having a do-over.

Terry and Linda said...

It's fun to see what you do and how you do it. And, above all, I enjoyed seeing Stella! :)

Patti said...

Cheering you on from the sidelines! My grandkids were at the starting line yesterday! Fun photos and my grandson has his favorite musher, Magnus Kaltenborn (#6)!

JaneJMtl said...

The 2018 Iknitarod logo looks great. Go Baaxter! Go 20! Go Sara!

tpals said...

You are much more disciplined than I am; I have difficulty ripping out a few rows, let alone a finished project.

Cheryl West said...

Your restored yarn looks perfect after the steaming and 20 looks so warm and snug back in his Ford sweater. Happy knitting and I hope Carbeth 2 goes just right.

sophy0075 said...

Mush - I mean - knit away!

I’m imagining a sled pulled by sheep. Or barn cats. Or Adventure Chickens...

LannieK said...

Yea on the Re-do! The yarn looks great! So will Carbeth No. 2 :-)
Love the Ravetar - 20 looks so snug in the sled.

Ready Baaxter, let's run this race! Mush on!

Hi Stella!!!! Love your purple ~ looks great on you!

Alice said...

Good ol’ Stella to the rescue!!! The yarn looks beautiful all steamed out. Of course you’ve done an excellent job of spinning the Wool otherwise it would look like my Petunia frogging from years ago. Love the pride you put into your work. Now mush on and git ‘er done!!

Katie C. said...

I’m glad you showed how to steam out the curls in the yarn. I am going to start a new attempt at a sweater using yarn from a previously unfinished sweater (again). There’s no way I could fit into the old attempt. It’s been quite a while since I attempted knitting a sweater but I think I found an easy pattern that’s pretty too. It’s from a library book called “Saturday Sweaters.” Happy knitting!

Phazer said...
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