Jolly Green Giant Goes Global

Ok okay. One of the points of suspense in the previous post was on the topic of a podcast that I recently recorded.

Some time ago, the talented designer Alana of NeverNotKnitting suggested that I tell the story of the Joseph Knitting on her popular podcast 'NeverNotKnitting'.



You'll find the Tale of the Jolly Green Giant over here. The story is around min 12:35 secs in, but do check out the whole podcast. Alana provides detailed yarn and pattern reviews, describes her latest patterns and her knitting thoughts. Her designs are really great and she is an absolute professional with her presentation and layouts.

Oh and by the way, it isn't me singing in the story title segment, but isn't it fun that people think that it is? (Until afterwards of course). It's a lady called Wren Ross, and it's a great song choice for the story.

More reveals in a while. Back to scheduled programming now.

Do not adjust your set.
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Ta Da!

I invite you to come on a little journey with me.

Bring sandwiches.

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Drawing of original concept for Family Tree.


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Sleeve stitch pattern - Hugs and Kisses and a variation on Mistake Rib.



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Heart motif.



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Back, showing cables and general stitch pattern.



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Seamed and joined in the round (at last).



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Grandchildren Leaves.



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Leaf placement, showing raglan decreses and collar shaping. Had to knit the yoke FOUR times to get it right. Sheesh!



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Leaf placement, detail.




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Leaves, tree and handy dandy toothpick placement technique.




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Modelled shot. Lovely.




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I don't mind saying that I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out.

I was really worried coming up to the final hurdle that the tree would look more like broccoli than the big and sturdy tree of my vision. I can't believe how well it turned out.

I love you Dad.

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JGG Update (again)(again)

And in JGG news, there has been a breakthrough.

Having knit the yoke section 4 times, (that's FOUR TIMES people) and the collar twice (that's TWO TIMES people) - oh ok, so it's not so impressive that time - I think it's more or less finished. The body of it at any rate.

Or so it seams. (Hah! seams! Geddit! OK, sorry, so the JGG fumes have got to me.)

Of course, the Secret part of the project has yet to begin. But I'm optimistic. It's like having reached the summit, and while I know I have to schlep back down the mountain again - just for now, I'm enjoying the view.

Speaking of view. Photos to come asap.

Home again, home again

Er...oops.

I think I forgot to tell the blog that I would be away for a short week in Spain.

Well I was.

There was sand, sun and lots of fun on the beach. No knitting, since I didn't get much time to sit down, but it was fun all the same.

Home now. Knitting resumes with the final (I hope) stages of the JGG.


No matter how much I knit around and around the yoke, decreasing 2 stitches at raglan seams every 2nd round...it doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. Funny that.

We spent a sunny Easter Sunday having an alfresco lunch and a walk around Mt Usher gardens. Lovely.






Hope ya'll had a great Easter. And way too much chocolate.
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JGG Update (again)

And finally, some JGG news just in...



Here's the JGG all nicely seamed and on one needle. Well, here it is actually on a piece of waste yarn ready for a spot of Dad Modelling. When it's on one circular needle it looks like something freshly strangled for the pot.

I had to stand on a chair to take this picture...this baby is BIG! Funny enough, it doesn't look so green now that it's all in one piece. Odd that. Wonder if it's a scientific fact to do with colour and density or just this knitter's imagination.

It's a good thing we did model it tho', since it turned out to be waaayyyyy too big. I had knitted almost 2 inches extra since joining in the round in order to leave some room. Turns out that there was room enough. So...I had to rip back 2 inches of 100s of stitches.

Plus, it took more than an hour to get it onto the waste yarn in the 1st place, and another hour-and-a-half to get it back on the needle again. No wonder I missed the new deadline of March 27th. Durn it.

Anyway, it really is making progress.

Sleeve.



Back...

There's one more pic, but I can't show it here, it being a secret an' all. Get thee over to Ravelry (where Daddio can't follow) if you want more.

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Secret Plan Secret Solution

I have spent days 'n days 'n DAYS knitting a sleeve and trying to write a chart for the Secret Plan part of the JGG. You knew that I have a secret plan, right?

Well, unless you've heard me mention it in person, I guess not, but fact is that I do. And while I knew it was a bit ambitious, I didn't realise just how impossible tricky it would be to implement...and on a deadline too. (BTW, 13 days to go).

The good news it that I have been struck by a wonderful solution which I am very confident will bring me my wished for results and still allow me some time to sleep in the next 2 weeks. No, sorry, can't tell...you'll just have to wait and see.

This solution will be a great relief to my Yarnie Women who have been a bit skeptical concerned about my goals, albeit in the nicest possible way. They've even offered to dive in and knit a sleeve for me to help the project along. Now that's what I call knitting support.

(I tell ya, if you haven't got any Yarnie Women in your life, get thee out to the highways and byways (and Ravelry) and find some RIGHT NOW! G'won, git! I'll be here when you get back.)

Of course, I still have to actually implement the plan and finish the sweater, which despite my genius plan will be a tall order. Never said it would be easy.

My new motto?

Knit Like The Wind.

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Bridgewater Babes

Well the strategy was a big success. Great chat and merriment took place this morning AND the JGG got a kickstart, so things are looking up.

Mind you, I got home and discovered that I'd been using the wrong needles. Shoulda bin #6's not #8's. Natch! It was bugging me all along that the motifs looked a little bigger on the 2nd sleeve than on the 1st but I was busy ignoring that little voice*. A not-unusal-but-foolish case of continuing to knit against one's better instincts.

Besides I blamed it on the fact that I had to frog the 2 cable motifs down to the rib (don't panic, it was only about 6 rows) and reknit them with the hanging strands.

Anyhow, we're back on track now and 30 or so rows to the good.

Good.



*(Anyway, I don't always do what the voices tell me. Or I'd get arrested.)

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JGG Update

Well, after a crazy busy week what's the progress on the Jolly Green Giant?

Zero.

Yup, a big fat zilch, nought, nil, nada, zip*.

Sigh.

Still, I'm off to meet my people at Bridgewater Shopping Centre, Arklow (Rav link to forum) for a knit 'n nat this morning. For once I won't be peeling children off the walls so I might be able to get in a few rows.

Mind you, with our history of laughing, there's always more 'nat than knit when we get together. Love it.


* proof positive, in case you had any doubt, that as far as blog posts go, I really can make sumthin' outta nuthin'. Hee hee....
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So many plans....

...so little time.

I can't tell ya how many things I want to knit/design - and how little time I get to do it. 30 mins a day (often less) is not going to create much.

Still, I put a lot of store in the thinking time that you get commuting, cooking and generally doing chores, so there is more time for planning at least in the abstract. Not to mention the lying awake at night after Little Mouse wakes up at 3am for a cuddle. [What do non-knitters think about? I used to worry and fret, but now I daydream about yarns and patterns. Much better.]

How-some-ever, at some stage you do have to get needles and yarn together and dive in.

Scary.

Plus there's a definite schedule for finishing things (JGG fer instance) which needs to be followed or they'll never be finished in this lifetime. Hope I can knit in the next as well.

Countdown to JGG deadline - 26 days. 1.5 sleeves, 1 front, 1/2 back, 1 original design and chart original front, plus the relevant seaming.

No problem*.

Hmmmm.

Wish me luck.

* Poppa, if you're reading this. It's utterly a pleasure - honest.

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Ravelympics

So listen, the original plan for the Ravelympics landed on it's big backside.

Seemed straightforward enough.



Enter the WIPs Wrestling event with the Jolly Green Giant and sprint to the finish line with one-and-a-half-sleeves and an entire front (which has yet to be charted). And then poxy real life reality intervened.

The reason I have WIPs IN THE FIRST place is because like everyone else, my life is crammed with family, working, and many many other responsibilities. Given that all these elements are currently running at full steam up to the hilt, knitting has taken a back seat of late.

And not the back seat of a car either, which implies that it's nearish to the driving seat and can at least be considered. No, the back seat of a really really really long bus where it's out of earshot and has to look out of the window and hum softly to itself for entertainment.

Sigh.

It's not true however that there has been NO knitting at all. I'm currently slogging my way down a 40" ribbed scarf which will eventually make this out of this. It's going fine, the rib is easy if tedious and the yarn is scrummy.

I'm also considering some of these delightful things. It seems that really small projects out of scrap yarn will allow me to knit standing up stirring pots in the kitchen and negotiating the many many multiple requirements of Little Mouse and Little Monkey.

And then I saw this cutie.

Perfect. And I know several persons young and old, big and small who would love one of these.

It looks pretty fiddly tho'. Looks like I might have to actually concentrate after all.

Still an' all. Utterly irresistible.

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JGG Update

So there is some knitting to show after all, despite the lack of actual knitting in real time. Here is a sleeve from the Jolly Green Giant, from 'round about the time that I had to cease knitting-through-the-pain.

Isn't it purdy?

And yes, it is hanging from a tree in the garden. NOW I understand why blogs always show the knitting hanging around outside lounging on vegetation. In this case it's a particularly nice maple tree and this is the branch that Little Monkey spends a lot of time hanging out of.

(If I remember, I'll post a picture of this tree in Autumn - the colours are SPEC-TAC-ULAR.)

And here is a detail of the Hugs 'n Kisses detail running up the sleeve. Notice that I removed the 1/4 pattern at the rib edge. Happy sigh. Much better.



And by the way, this lurid colour is far closer to the actual colour than the pic above. People, I tell you, this is a green to take notice of. A green that is not ashamed. A green that will heard and noticed.

You can see this baby from Outer Space.

At night.

In a Black Hole.
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Jolly Green Giant Update

Finally some progress to report on the Jolly Green Giant (JGG).

I confess that this project has been sadly neglected and the only reason that I got back to it was that I left my other projects at a friend's house and turned to this for lack of something to knit.

Nothing on the needles? A state of affairs not to be endured.

Funnily enough, despite the fact that this project is very large, it knits up quite quickly as it's in chunky yarn. If it 'twere a child's garment it would be finished and off to school by now.



This is the back portion, grown a goodly bit from previously. I am determined to eliminate seaming for the raglan shoulders so I have put a halt to the back and have started on the sleeves. The plan is to unite all parts with the front and knit in the round from there - oh in a decade or so.

Since this is that category of project which can be called 'makey-uppey', I was free to pick any stitch pattern for the sleeves. After much thought I selected this pattern sometimes called 'Hugs & Kisses'.

(Apologies for the hazy pic. I got up too close and out of focus. A better view of the pattern is to be found here and here.)



For maximum effect I'm knitting the pattern in 2 columns of alternating patterns, i.e.

Hug P K P Kiss
Kiss P K P Hug
Hug P K P Kiss
Kiss P K P Hug
etc.

You might notice in the pic that the stitch pattern actually starts with half of each motif, a 'Hu' and a 'Ki' as it were. After knitting for a while I realised that I couldn't live with this demi-motif at the start of the pattern, spoiling the Hugs and Kisses theme. Especially when I realised that they would be sitting at the wrists MOCKING me at every turn. So I frogged the 1st sleeve and started again. Much better (as you'll see another time when I get back to a camera).

Why the Hugs & Kisses pattern? Well this is for my Dad after all, and it's for the giving and receiving of both in abundance.

In these here parts you're likely to get knitting.

And sentiment.

And very often both together.

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Introducing the Jolly Green Giant

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The Jolly Green Giant (JGG) is (or will be) a large, green aran sweater for my Dad. When I say it's green, I mean that it's really really really green. The greeniest green there is. And nothing subtle about it. Kermit the Frog is a tasteful green alongside it.

Put it this way, when I showed it to Lovely Lisa in TIK last week she actually took a step backwards. She said nothing, (so polite) but a strange look passed over her face.

See, it's like this...

Some time ago I promised to make my Dad an aran jumper (that's a sweater for you non-Europeans). Make no mistake, as a lifelong knitter he's more than capable of making his own jumper, and indeed he often has. And wonderful colourful creations they are too. I'll show you sometime.

This, however, is a labour of love for me and a small payback for the years of great knitting and Dad-ship he has given to me. As such, the yarn is entirely his own choice and I will knit it without dark glasses complaint*. Tho' I might stitch a message in the back 'My daughter knit me this sweater, but I chose the colour myself'.

Top left of picture is the scramble of yarn - it's a EuroBuster yarn, green of course.

Bottom left of picture is 8 inches or so of ribbing. After the ribbing I'm using a basic raglan pattern in a kind of waffle stitch/mistake rib with some cables and other do-dads to keep it interesting. Oh yes, and a Secret Surprise on the front. Not going to show that until it's finished.

Right of picture is a strip of sample rib stitches, starting with:

- Fisherman's Rib in 8mm (way too open),

- the same in 6mm (still not firm enough) and then

- a variation of a 3 stitch Mistake Rib, (think that's what it's called)

- followed by a 2 stitch Mistake Rib.

As you can see, the 3 stitch Mistake Rib was the winner. There's a heart there because there just is.

[Hah! Edited to add...looks like I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve! Ha hah hah! Sorry, I'm a bit sleep deprived. Everything is either terribly sad or hilarious.]

I've done about 8 more inches of the back, including some cables - more pics to come. It's pretty heavy already (especially since I've been knitting delicate little mittens for months) so I got some 6mm circulars (I love Addis) to replace the cumbersome No 6's in the photo. .

Big improvement.

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It's still green tho'.

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Editor: Not another word about the colour. From now on, it's all about the knitting, right?

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High Noon at The NicKnits Corral

OK, so you know the way that personal computers have improved our working and personal lives in zillions of ways? Equally of course they've found just as many new and improved ways of driving us crazy.

A case in point: My laptop is fairly new. Well, new in comparison to the solar system. It's a year old, so in technical years it's about 100. Anyway, it was zinging along for a while there with few problems.

Recently however it has become as slow as a) molasses b) the traffic on the M50 or c) a really really really slow thing that goes very slowly. (Just insert your preference). For one thing, it seems to have memory issues - perhaps there was a traumatic event in the factory, or it didn't get enough love from it's motherboard.

Editor: Ah Jaysus Nic, enough with the metaphors. Get on with it.

It turns out however, that there are not one but two internet security systems installed. (Don't ask, it has to do with overzealousness on the part of another.) Like wearing two...er....hats in cold weather.

This means that whenever I ask the system to do something, especially internet related, like open a browser window, each security system starts to monitor the activities of the other.

It's akin to 2 gunslingers facing each other at each end of a deserted and dusty street.

Gunslinger 1: 'I'll draw!'

Gunslinger 2: 'No, I'll draw!'

Gunslinger 1: 'No, I'll draw!'

Gunslinger 2: 'No, I'll draw!'

Gunslinger 1: 'No, I'll draw!'

Gunslinger 2: 'No, I'll draw!'

NicKnits, from an upper story window of the local saloon: 'Bang!'

So I shot one of 'em. Not sayin' which one.

Gunslinger RIP.

In Knitting News, I have finally begun the long knit journey into night process of the Jolly Green Giant, a hu-normously large aran jumper for me Dear Aul' Dad. Pictures and details at another time.
Enough to say for now that it's a) large and b) green.

Right now I'm packing feverishly for the NicKnits Family who are off to Spain for a week. Praise God for Half Term.

Now...the eternal question. Never mind the knickers, what knitting will I bring?
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