Becki Knits

moving

2009-01-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

As you've probably noticed, I have been pretty slack with updating this blog. I've been finding myself more interested in discussing a wider variety of subjects, and felt the only-knitting criteria stifling. I've moved to http://becki365.blogspot.com, where I plan on discussing all sorts of things, including knitting, and I hope that you'll join me there.

This journal will be deleted in a week, so please update your bookmarks.

demi, from rowan vintage knits

2008-12-31T08:42:00.001-08:00

The neckline was easy to fix. The abalone buttons weren't what I had in mind, but ended up being perfect.

The best part about knitting it circularly was seeing neat details like the side ribbing emerge right as I knitted them.
And yes, it is entirely possible to knit this circularly, even with its set-in sleeves. Simply consult Knitting Without Tears (Elizabeth Zimmermann)for instructions on how to knit up to the underams, follow the pattern's instructions for the initial decreasing of sleeves and body, and finish the decreasing and neck using Knitting Workshop (also EZ) as a guide.

This, along with four (or was it five?) skeins of Cascade 220 (I had to knit a different size to achieve a good fit since my gauge was different), should just about do it.

And while we're on the subject of finished projects, remember the bobbin lace tablecloth?

It had a makeover.Happy new year!

let it snow!

2008-12-21T04:52:00.000-08:00

I honestly haven't had any time for knitting lately, so it was a great surprise to wake up on Friday and realize that I was going to be snowed in for the whole day.

I had ripped out the appropriate parts of Demi a few days before, so I was able to jump right in and try to solve the problem I had made for myself.

The sleeve "seams" are great. I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's technique for set-in sleeves on a circular needle (found in Knitting Workshop) and it all went smoothly. I had the presence of mind to even try it on at that point, and it fit just as I had imagined it should. But then I tried to tackle that neckline, and found myself hopelessly lost and confused. I think I might have solved it now, but I need to do a little more work on it before I can post pictures. The pattern has a little separate shoulder piece that has to be sewn onto that left shoulder, in addition to the separate button band, and then picking up stitches around somehow incorporating them all together. I misunderstood the directions, and I think I picked up too many stitches around the neckline, too. I'm in the process of fixing that now.

The other project I've been working on involves the antique lace I mentioned before. Here's one of the tatted doilies. There are five altogether, all matching.

They're beautiful, but have some nasty looking stains in the centers of them that won't come out.

I think my solution wakes them up a little bit. I've still got one more to go, but I'm getting there.

I also have this small circular tablecloth of Cluny lace that needs some help.

The stains on this one are horrendous, although of course they stubbornly refuse to show up in photographs. I've made a whole lot of progress on this one, but you'll have to wait until I've finished it to see. This is going to be a Christmas present, so let's see if I can get it together.

I've been handsewing all of these items, and I'm really starting to get the hang of it. True, I still have to use a ruler to make sure that I'm placing my hemming stitches exactly half an inch apart, but I'm enjoying myself. As a guide, I'm using Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire B. Shaefer. Couture sewing refers to garments that are entirely made by hand, and there is wonderful information in this book on different hand sewing stitches, and what they are best used for. For the complete novice like me, there's even diagrams of the knots you need to use to begin and end your sewing. I actually bought this book with the intention of trying out some of the techniques on clothes, and now that I know how easy the actual sewing can be, I'm newly enthusiastic over persuing that. If you want a quick, free guide on a few sewing stitches, I was also shown this site. It's nowhere as good as Couture Sewing Techniques, but it's a place to start.

If you can stand anymore sewing, I've got a whole pile of it that's (almost) done and ready to go out for Christmas.

For now, though, I'm once again snowbound for the day, so I'm going to get to work on Demi, wash the pair of socks I finished, and then pick out something new to cast on. This will take my mind off the fact that I still don't have any milk in the house, and probably won't until tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy your Sunday, I know I will!

the good, the bad and the ugly

2008-12-07T13:09:00.001-08:00

I'm really nearing the finish line on Demi. I have the body, arms, and a good deal of the shoulders done. I knew that I had made a mistake somewhere along the shoulders, but since I was having a hard time grasping how the construction of this sweater worked, I figured I'd finish off the shoulders, graft one, and then try it on.

The good news is that most of it fits great, and it is so comfortable to wear. The lace blouse I had on today even mimicked the outfit on the model in the book. I was right, though, I had made a mistake on the shoulders.

Yikes. I just decreased incorrectly on the last few inches - namely, I forgot to keep the sweater in one piece, which would be the total goal of circular knitting. It shouldn't take more than one really good knitting session to fix the shoulders, re-knit, and finish up little things like weaving in ends and grafting the underarms. I'm going to use Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop as a guide. So maybe you will see the end of this sweater next week!

are you pondering what I'm pondering?

2008-11-29T07:04:00.000-08:00

I was without internet access for a month, so Demi will probably look a lot different from when you saw it last.

I don't know if I ever mentioned that I'm knitting this circularly, so I won't have any seams to sew when I'm done. I managed to knit the sleeves and body up to the underarms without any problems, but now I am a little perplexed.

(The color is somewhere between these two pictures.)

The joining of the sleeve and body looks right, but I'm just not sure. All I did was follow the decreasing instructions that the pattern gave, I just worked the whole sweater at the same time rather than worked on one piece at a time. (Many, many Post Its were used in this effort, and one bamboo knitting needle was sacrificed.) I am not too concerned, because I know that at least I am right up to the underarm. I don't see why I would be wrong, but I'm also not too convinced that I am correct.

Every time I got bored or confused with Demi this past month, I worked a few rows on some other knitting until I felt like looking at Demi again.

Okay, so I got bored and confused a lot. But the good news is, with the way I am confused over Demi's neckline, I will have two matching pairs of socks in no time.

bobbin lace

2008-10-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

Here are two of the bobbin lace pieces that I had the opportunity to work with recently. As far as I know, they were made in the Victorian era. When I first received them, they were absolutely filthy and I thought they would have to be dyed to hide the stains. However, after soaking in lukewarm water with a mixture of Woolite and Borax, they came out almost entirely perfect. I'm guessing that the designs must have been pretty exotic when they were made. Each girl is wearing a turban, and one of them has a snake.

I sewed them carefully onto cotton fabric and framed them so that no further harm could come to them. I figured if I had done some true evil by sewing them onto fabric, it would be easy enough to clip the threads on the back of the piece and free them.

I'm now working on resurrecting a table cloth of Cluny bobbin lace, and I have some more beautiful Cluny lace that I actually get to keep. The table cloth needs to be done by Christmas, so I'm posting this to motivate myself to keep on working on it and posting pictures. I've also been messing around with creating some of my own bobbin lace, so I will have to show you how it is made. It is really very clever.

I've also completed three repeats on Demi. The color in this picture is completely off, it's really more of a red with flecks of brighter red and the purple you see in the picture. It really photographs erratically, depending on the light. I only have 1.5 inches to go, then I can start the arms and attach them all onto one needle. To the left you can see the neat effect of the cables on the seam. It reminds me a little of a rib cage.

distraction

2008-10-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

I needed something to distract me from the unarguable disaster that my last cardigan turned out to be. I had set aside a few sweaters to be ripped and re-knitted into something more classic, and the heathered red Cascade 220 I had really caught my eye. I decided to start Demi from Rowan's Vintage Knits, a sweater that I have been meaning to knit for at least two years now.

Cascade 220 is not an exact substitution for the Rowan yarn that is recommended. This means that even though I'm following the pattern for the extra small, my finished sweater will be a few sizes larger. I'm also knitting this in the round, which is already working out much better than knitting it flat. The "wrong side" rows are so much easier to work when all you need to do is knit through the back loop and purl.
So far, so good. I'm nearly obsessively checking my progress on this one, making sure that I don't have another ill-fitting sweater on my hands. I've already finished the ribbing and one pattern repeat, making seven inches of this sweater completed.

Today is deceptively sunny. It looks beautiful outside, but in reality we've hit freezing temperatures. I can't wait until this sweater is done, I know it will get a lot of use this winter.

I'm sheltering these flowers inside the house, since it's too cold to plant them outside now. Besides, they would be prime deer treats since I still need to put up my fence. They look remarkably fake, don't they?

attack of the cardigan

2008-10-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

I rarely have a true knitting disaster, which I guess is lucky, although I like to think that I'm just good at being careful. I also usually enjoy salvaging portions of an unlikeable project, and long time readers will remember my penchant for dismembering fair isle sweaters and then using their guts for smaller fair isle projects.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that this might be the first time that I've knitted something as large as a sweater that was so awful, so truly bad, that if the yarn was any less special, this whole thing would be in the dump.

And so, meet my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

The back story is that I acquired 8 skeins of wool, marked only with "4 ply" and "Color: Hathor". The gauge and yardage was equal to Rowan Felted Tweed, and I thought this would be a great time to use up this yarn on a Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

Now, if you read any of my earlier posts, you'll see that a lot of the time, I drastically alter patterns. This is because I am shaped funny, like all of us in the world. I am usually in between sizes, and also like to work with less ease than what is usually called for. For some reason, none of these facts occured to me when I started working on this cardigan. This is perhaps due to the fact that I was on massive amounts of antibiotics, decongestants, and over the counter sinus relievers for the entire time that I was working on this sweater. Or, it is just because sometimes I do silly, silly things.

So, I didn't alter the pattern. I didn't bother to make sure that those sleeves were actually going to be a good size for me, and when the neck came out looking rather large, I still didn't stop. In fact, I didn't stop until after I had knitted the ugly neck border (my yarn was too thin for the project, really, it looks fine in the photo and other people's cardigans), after I had finished picking up the gazillions of stitches and knitted the button bands, and after I had woven in every single end.

In other words, I actually blocked this disastrous thing and tried it on before realizing that at some point in the past few weeks, I had totally lost my mind. Maybe it doesn't look so awful on the table, but trust me, it is bad.

Depression. The cardigan has been resigned to a spare cardboard box. I need some cooling off time before I can frog this thing. I was recently encouraged to try my hand at designing, and the yarn from this might be turned into something that I'll actually make (and maybe not screw up) myself. At the moment, though, we're both in time out.

Lessons learned:

1. Just because the sweater looks lovely on the model, does not mean that I am the model and have the same measurements as her.

2. Don't substitute a non-felted tweed yarn for Rowan Felted Tweed. It will just be too thin, even if the gauge appears to be the same.

3. Friends don't let friends knit when they're taking prescription cold medicine.

Oh, and P.S. To add insult to injury, this sweater is so ornery that the color won't even be photographed. The second picture is the most accurate, although I think it's still a little more purple in color.

lace

2008-10-02T16:03:00.001-07:00

Lesson learned: scarves need to be stored rolled, not folded.

This is the Double-bordered scarf with diamond borders from Victorian Lace Today, a scarf that I think looks much better at a closer gauge than pictured in the book. I made this out of the two skeins I rescued from the first project I posted to this blog. The pattern is a little strange (at some points you are reading the chart both backwards and forwards at the same time), but it makes perfect sense after you finish the first few repeats. I finished this months ago, hence the creasing problem. Seriously, roll your blocked scarves.

A few pages away in Victorian Lace Today is the Scarf with French trellis border. I think this scarf is only rarely made, since I couldn't find much evidence of it online, and I'm not surprised. The photos of it are not very appealing. In reality, it's a very interesting knit and only used about 2/3 of my skein of Crystal Palace Lace. The bottom border is worked, then turned sideways so that you are knitting the long middle section at a 90 degree angle to the border. At the end of the middle section, you again turn your work and finish it off with another border. Really very clever, and make the monotony of churning out long rectangles of lace a little better. I think the two scarves look like they should be worn together (especially with their fall colors), but it's hardly warm enough here to wear one scarf, much less two.

And finally, the bobbin lace. I found this Victorian lace forgotten in a box. It was absolutely filthy, but I thought I'd try and see what could be done with it. After a soak in some Woolite, lukewarm water and Borax, it came out wonderfully. I'm in the process of turning the lace above into a tablecloth by handsewing it onto green cotton. It's taking a long time, but maybe by the end of the year I'll have some finished photos of that.

When I first found the lace, I had no idea how it was made, only that it was marked "Cluny lace". About a week later, I was browsing a bookstore and found a book on bobbin lace sticking out of one of the shelves. The book is really dusty and a little bent, and I get the idea that it was there for a very long time. It must have been waiting for me, and I bought it right away. I've been trying my hand at making some lace of my own, and while I'm finally getting the hang of it, it's really rough going. It makes me appreciate the skill in my found Cluny lace even more.

Next week I hope to have a finished sweater to share, more Cluny lace, and maybe sometime in the future I'll be able to share my mother's found Edwardian era (I think) tatting. Lonely handcrafts seem to migrate to this family, hmm...

garter stitch

2008-09-19T16:25:00.001-07:00

I'm back, just in time for fall. And I have a stack of knitting that I need to blog about, too.

I'll let you imagine what the top three projects are; right now all I have to talk about is the bottom project, which is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket, or BSJ.

(Please excuse my 1950s tablecloth.)

I was steaming mad about this sweater for a week, but I've managed to get over most of it now. The pattern itself is fine, although the amount of garter stitch nearly drove me insane. I found it very helpful to crochet around the neckline. The effect was very tidy, and simple enough to do. The whole thing would have taken me about two days, except for the horror that I found after I washed it.

Per the yarn store salesperson's advice, I used Lorna's Laces in "pond blue" for the BSJ. I was told that this was "the" yarn to use, and was even shown samples of BSJs knitted with it, which honestly did look really lovely. It's very soft, and also super wash, which I thought would be important for my friend - this is her first baby.

Super wash, right? So you can imagine I was pretty surprised when I pulled the sweater out of the (delicate cycle) wash, and discovered that in at least three spots the yarn had broken. As in, tufts of broken yarn were sticking out of the sweater. !!!

It was pretty scary, I'm not going to lie. I let it dry, gathered my wits, and worked on repairing the damage. It took a few hours to get it perfect, but I think it's okay, now. However, I am never buying this yarn again, especially since it set me back a fair amount of money. The BSJ may be made again, but I'll be finding a different super wash yarn.

There was another mistake, this one of my own making, that I was able to repair, too. I had made my buttonholes too big for the small ladybug buttons I bought. I found that by sewing a "U" around the buttonhole on the wrong side, tugging the ends of the "U" and then weaving in the ends, I was able to satisfactorily and quickly make the buttonholes the perfect size.

(Also, really quick nit picky complaint: I'm all for hand-dyed yarns and their variations in color, but I think the variations here look more like a mistake than a feature.)

Anyway, the sweater is done, it's still really soft, and I imagine it will come to good use. Fall is starting with a vengeance, here.

Next week - my adventures with Victorian lace, both knitted and bobbin-ed. Exciting!

how to love your knitting, part two

2008-06-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a hard few weeks around here, and especially for handknits.

Some personal events have recently made it obvious to me that too many people put themselves last in their own lives. We pile on lists of duties for both our professional and personal lives, ignoring the question whether those chores will make our lives better or worse. Seriously ridiculous things get added to these lists, like saving up piles of fabric for that mysterious day when we'll actually have the time and motivation to make that perfect postage-stamp quilt, or keeping disturbingly ugly or hole-y knitting around just because at some point you had thought it was a good idea. Not only is it mental clutter, but it can take a serious toll on the state of your living space, as well. Some things are just better thrown out or donated.

You can see where this is going.

After staring at my own post for a few days I realized that that mitten was a bad idea. It was the wrong shade of red to match my red cashmere winter coat, and frankly I'm not throwing away that coat just because the mittens aren't working. They were floppy. They were embroidered with little stars. Do I even wear things with little stars? Have I ever owned anything with little stars?

Goodbye, single mitten. I have warm thoughts of you becoming a little home for a mouse in a dump somewhere.

Throwing out that mitten suddenly made me feel much better. I no longer had to think about eventually finishing the embroidery or making the other mitten. In fact, I could now throw away the scrap yarn that I had made with it, anyway. Do you know where that yarn came from? It was 24" long pieces from when I frogged Crichton. I didn't deserve to knit with that kind of pilly, old, short yarn. Goodbye, yarn. And goodbye to the rest of the frogged Crichton, too. (It didn't end up being much - only about one large Ziploc baggie.)

Now that I was digging around underneath my bed, searching for the rest of the Crichton yarn, I came across a whole container of yarn that I'd been saving up for a tesselating fish blanket. It was all acrylic and from the 1980s. Enough said. The potentially useful and un-knitted yarn was donated. The rest joined the now half-full bag in the garbage. Suddenly I had a whole empty container for my worthwhile yarn, and thus a storage problem that has been going on for about seven months was resolved.

At this point I was tired and pretty dusty, so the knitting massacre was, for the time, done. Before the end of the week, however, I went through my drawers and threw out all of my stockings, these green socks and the red/white socks, all because of truly disastrous holes. I also donated some mittens that had been accidentally shrunk in the wash. I find that getting rid of things actually makes you feel like you have more, because now all your nice stuff is easily accessible. My sock drawer is looking pretty well-dressed right now. For good measure I unraveled the very first project that I posted to this blog, too, because I'm kind of over frost flowers and leaves and the whole double-thickness lace scarf thing right now. Now I have two skeins of laceweight to use for one of the Victorian Lace Today scarves.

And, finally, after months of procrastination, I ripped out my Hourglass Sweater. I think I wore that sweater three times before it stretched out of shape permanently. Alpaca was a poor choice for that sweater, especially since I knitted it kind of loose.

For a little bit of time it was turning into a Vogue Knitting sweater.

However, I wasn't really sure that those cables were going to do anything for me, and by the time I got to the sleeves and realized that the pattern was completely wrong, I really didn't care enough to continue.

So, frogged again, this time in favor of the sideways-knitted cardigan from Poetry in Stitches. And there we have success. Although right now it just looks like a whole lot of garter stitch.

And finally, I feel like knitting again.

Join me, knitters of the world, in ridding yourself of too many duties, whatever that means to you. You're worth it.

ducklings

2008-05-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

This was the ugliest mitten I've ever made in my life. It's baggy, it's limp, and no amount of blocking fixes any of it. Sadly, I had made no mistakes in the pattern.

I did not want this mitten. I didn't want to wear it or even look at it. I picked it up to rip it out, but in an instant of sick experimentation, decided to see what it would look like if I embroidered a small white flower. And that looked a little better. So, since I had time to spare, I embroidered a few more.

I think it's a vast improvement. Do you? I still have to embroider the thumb.

The second mitten is already on the needles. I mostly have yarn for mittens and lace right now. I'll have to pick which one I want to do next, quickly.

red

2008-04-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Mention Victorian lace, and it doesn't take me much more to get interested. For that very reason, Victorian Lace Today really piqued my interest. But I'll admit that I wasn't entirely sold until I saw this curved shawl.

It's rare for me to use the same color that the pattern calls for, but I thought the red was so perfect that I couldn't change it. I used Jaggerspun Zephyr and US size 0 needles, which were much smaller than what was called for but gave me the same gauge. I also did fewer pattern repeats, and attached the border with single joins, rather than double.

spring mittens

2008-04-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

It is too warm for mittens. But I made some anyway.

I am determined to use up all the yarn I have by next fall, and this Jamieson and Smith's time was up. I made the Faroe Island Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandoski, and now I can see why this yarn is so highly recommended for colorwork, and particularly fair isle. Knitted images come out very crisp and clean, and for some reason the fabric was incredibly smooth - I hardly had to block them at all.

These are now packed up with the rest of the cold weather accessories. I'm trying to have some substantial work to show each Sunday. Right now I've turned back to lace.

cap shawl

2008-04-13T07:04:00.001-07:00

April showers bring lots of time to knit lace.

This is the cap shawl from Victorian Lace Today. It has not been blocked, nor have the ends been woven in. I have bigger plans for this shawl - I'd like to incorporate it into a quilt that I have planned. The yarn is an organic cotton that I bought at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in 2007. I wish that the store had put their name on the bag or the label, since I have no idea where I got it from. The only information I have is from the tag, which says on the front: 100% organic cotton / 18/2 / 100 grams - 1650 yards. On the back it is even more cryptic: 9871 Ring / Ne 18/2 / 8.3 TPI / 50% Pima / 50% Green. I'm sure 18/2 is the yarn weight, but for those of you who don't speak numbers, I can tell you that it seems to be cobweb. Regardless of yarn weight, the shawl itself is huge. In the picture it is resting on my full size bed.

finished!

2008-03-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

My version of the Poetry in Stitches cardigan on page 122. I made it out of Morehouse Merino laceweight (3 skeins of natural black, and 5.5 skeins of the contrast color) on size US 1 needles. I lengthened it (a lot), made it symmetrical, followed Elizabeth Zimmermann's directions for a circular set-in sleeve (found in Knitting Workshop), and after using Dawn Brocco's beautiful sewn steek, realized that hooks and eyes weren't going to work, and sewed up the steek after all.

Although it was stiff and bumpy during knitting, after washing it became soft and acquired a beautiful drape. I neglected to include the neck border chart, and instead just picked up stitches up the body and around the neck, and finished with the picot border that was done on the hems of the body and sleeves.

The inside-out view. I originally wanted the main color to be the pink, and the contrast to be the black, but couldn't stomach the idea of having dead, black plants on a sweater. At least not when it's almost Spring.

there is no three

2008-02-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

I promised myself that I would take a picture of my sweater the first day that it didn't rain. I'm sorry to say that I've kept this promise - we haven't had a single nice day since my last post, nearly a month ago. Even now, it's impossible to go outside without the wind blowing you away. I had to chase my knitting across the yard earlier, much to my neighbors' amusement.

I've gotten a lot done in the past month. I knit both of the sleeves, attached them to the body, and have knitted about an inch around since then. Another inch, and then I can start decreasing for the set-in sleeves. If you feel like doing this, instructions can be found in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop.

I did make one mistake. Can you see it? The sleeves are knitted on just slightly smaller needles than the body. I didn't discover this until I'd already attached the first sleeve to the body. As Louis Armstrong is reported to say, if you do it twice, it's not a mistake. So I used the same needles for the second sleeve. It's a small enough difference to not alter the width, and I've only lost about 1/2 an inch on the length. I suspect I'll be able to block most of that out.

two

2008-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Two leaf repeats done.

Can you see any difference at all?

I have one more repeat to do, and then I'll be at the underarms. After that I'll start the sleeves. I've decided to work circular set-in sleeves, using Elizabeth Zimmermann's directions in Knitting Workshop. I've lost the hatred for dropped sleeves that I used to have (I discovered with my previous Poetry cardigan that they can look quite normal if you don't have a lot of ease), but I really would prefer to have less seams to sew. I want to wear this sweater as soon as I can.

I realized today that my sweater is going to look very different than the picture - which sounds ridiculous, but it's one of those things that I had to see in order to really understand all the differences. Colors aside, I am really not following the directions given for this sweater. When I knitted my previous Poetry cardigan, I was able to follow all of the instructions because of my gauge. The pattern's gauge was 30 stitches/4 inches, and mine was 36 stitches/4 inches. This meant that if I followed the directions for the larger size (43 inches), my finished sweater would actually come out to 36 inches, which was just what I wanted. In this case, however, if I just followed the pattern's instructions I would end up with a sweater that was much too small.

Using my gauge, I figured out how many stitches I would need around the entire sweater for it to fit properly. My magic number ended up being 324. Looking at Chart A, which is 6 stitches, I knew that I would end up with exactly 54 repeats around my sweater - perfect. Chart B has 28 stitches, which unfortunately means that if I didn't do some fudging, I would come out with 11.5714...repeats of those peonies around myself. Since I never did like fractions, I substituted some numbers and discovered that if I wanted 11.5 repeats around (which, although a fraction, is at least a more manageable one), I would need 322 stitches. After that it was only a simple manner of decreasing 2 stitches when I was ready to start Chart B, and making sure that I centered that half of a peony at the front of the cardigan. Chart C (the leaf pattern that I'm working on now) was another easy one - it has 18 stitches, which goes in evenly to 324. I increased 2 stitches at the beginning of Chart C to get back up to my magic number, and then sailed away. It didn't hurt that I decided to make my cardigan symmetrical, either. It was a lot easier to center Chart B, and I suspect that the sleeves will be much easier to attach, too.

Now, though, I have more peonies around the border, and I'm going to have quite a few more leaf repeats, too. The picture from the book only shows 1.5 repeats of leaves on the body - I'm already past that, and I'm not even done. I'm hoping that it won't make the sweater look too busy. I'm already a little astonished at how pink it's going to be.

one

2008-01-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

I should have specified in my last post that the Morehouse merino yarn I'm using for my Poetry in Stitches cardigan is not an exact substitute for the Hifa yarn. Instead, I'm using my own gauge to re-work the numbers and get a cardigan that will be smaller. Since I'm getting substantially more stitches per inch than the pattern's gauge, however, I'm actually casting on more stitches than the pattern calls for. In other words, if you have a desire to knit this cardigan, you will not necessarily have to do as much knitting as I am.

I finished one leaf repeat, and I have altogether nine inches. My last post's photo is much more true to color than this one is. You know how it is with the incessant January snow - or maybe you're lucky, and you don't.

beginning

2008-01-15T10:49:00.000-08:00

My goal for 2008 is to clear out all of the yarn I have hibernating in my home. Old houses may have their charms, but closet space is definitely not one of them. My two small closets are already full of clothes and linens - yarn just doesn't have a place in them.

This means that I finally had the incentive to start another cardigan from Poetry in Stitches. I had bought the laceweight yarn from Morehouse Farms just before they closed their store, Sheep's Clothing. That happened a few months ago - that probably doesn't seem long to most of you, but when you have a line of bags full of yarn marching out of your bedroom closet, it seems like forever.

I worked for three days on this cardigan and only barely have six inches to show for it. I've just completed the decreasing for the waist shaping that I decided to do, and after working a few inches straight I'll start to increase back up. There are just under 400 stitches to do for every round - not quite a quick knit. Once I reach the underarms I'll start the sleeves, and then work a seamless set-in sleeve a la Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Another shot of those poor socks that are doomed to be photographed in bad lighting until the end of time, it seems. At least they keep my feet warm...

little child's socks

2008-01-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

"Little Child's Socks" from Knitting Vintage Socks. Sorry for the hasty picture - I only had one chance before the 40 mph winds nearly blew me away. You may remember one of these socks from last August (there's a much better picture behind this link). The yarn is Froelich Blauband in red, which has since been discontinued. I was lucky enough to find a very nice person on Ravelry who was willing to sell me what may be the last skein of this stuff on the planet.

soul-sucking scarf

2007-12-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

Seed stitch.

Knit one, purl one. US size 3s. Forty-five stitches per row. For seventy-eight inches.

It casts a long shadow.

friday mittens

2007-12-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

These have been done for weeks, but the weather here has made them impossible to photograph. Last night we finally got snow, which is a lot friendlier to mittens than laying them in puddles of rain.

First, the Aran Islands mittens from Folk Mittens. Would you believe me if I told you they're made out of even more wool frogged from Crichton? Or that the snow was really that white? (It wasn't - I had to brighten up this whole picture for you to somewhat see the cables.) This was my first time doing cables, and the pattern was easy. They do take forever, though. I've been wanting to knit Demi from Rowan's Vintage Knits since last Christmas, and this was a good opportunity to learn that it's going to take quite a bit longer than I had first imagined.

The famous pirate mittens from Hello Yarn were next. If I had been thinking straight, I could have knitted two pairs of mittens in the time it took me to knit just this one pair. I can't really see myself knitting them again in the future, either. The skull chart was clear and handy, but I had to change a number of other things. I knitted the cuffs on US size 3s in order to make them a little more snug, and the rest of the mittens on US size 5s. I picked up way more stitches to close the gaps around the thumbs, and even then wasn't entirely satisfied with them. I also changed the mitten top decreasing to every other row, in order to make them a little bit longer. I just knit with the white for the stitches that weren't on the chart - I don't think it came out too badly. This was my first time working with Plymouth Encore, and I actually thought it was pretty nice. It's elastic enough that the stranding wasn't too much trouble.

I've also been working on a seed stitch scarf (38" done so far) and a sweater using one of Elizabeth Zimmermann's recipes. They're a bit too unwieldy to drag out into the snow, especially with the needles still in them, so I'll have to wait until we dry out a bit to take pictures. Oh, and I finished a sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, but because I'm being good I won't quite considered that a finished project yet.

little cat feet

2007-11-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

It rains, and it fogs, and it mists, and it threatens to snow but hasn't quite yet.

So I knit.

Some of these are holiday presents, and some are just for me. I'm not saying which is which, just in case a recipient happens to read my blog.

These are the "English Dales Mittens" from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I'm still on a quest to get rid of my wool remnants in order to make more room, and these helped quite nicely. The pink is from Snow Sky, and the white and purple that peeks out at the bottom are actually from Crichton, if you can believe that. The cuffs have a double layer of knitting, which makes them stiff enough to stand up by themselves. When worn, they flare just enough for coat sleeves to fit underneath comfortably. I cannibalized the fair isle mitten from my last post because it turned out so small, and these were a nice solution.

I've been in love with the railway socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush for years now. I finally knitted a pair, using Scheepjes sock yarn and using up some scraps from my New England socks for the stripes. I'm already thinking of other color combinations for heels and toes, since I have so many tiny leftover balls of sock yarn, and I like those hidden stripes.

I also finally finished the Alpine Lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today. The Crystal Palace lace yarn washed and blocked beautifully. The minute it hit the water it opened up all by itself, and blocking only consisted of a few careful pins to keep the edges straight. I discovered that the way the pattern is written, the scarf will not be symmetrical on its ends, so I knitted one extra pattern repeat of the leaves before beginning the garter stitch. If you knit this you might want to do the same - I think it would look rather funny to only have 2.5 diamonds at one end, and 3 at the other.

Next week - more mittens, a sweater, socks...maybe sunshine, too?

finishing

2007-11-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

After packing, moving, and then unpacking all my worldly possessions, only one question remains:

Where did I put the darning needle?

I did manage to finish the Railroad socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. One sock still needs its ends woven in, and until that happens they are both waiting for their turn in the wash. I also slogged through all 37 repeats on the Alpine lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today and then discovered that I had so much yarn left I might as well do a few more. That one is also waiting for a few ends to be woven in, and then a good blocking.The gray knitting and the gray weather started to get to me, so I found some scrap wool and started one of the mittens from Folk Mittens. I've just gotten past the thumb. Moving into an old farmhouse (read: there are only 2 closets) made me realize just how much space my yarn takes up. I'm going to try and knit up as much as possible and then tackle the quilting fabric I bought recently. The space situation is bad enough that I won't be buying any more supplies until everything I currently have is gone. Luckily, I have enough brightly colored mitten wool and skeins of lace to not make this too much of a chore.

And the bread is an Irish American soda bread from The Joy of Cooking. Most heartily recommended, particularly as toast.

true confessions of a knitter gone mad

2007-10-14T13:49:00.001-07:00

Forgive me, Knitters, for I have sinned.

It has been...far too long since my last ~~confession~~ post. And somehow, between then and now, I tripped and fell into a fabric store.

For penance I made myself learn how to piece, and have so far hand-quilted six of the nine squares in this pillowcase.

And then, just to be very sure that I had learned my lesson, I pieced the other side of the pillowcase and may or may not have bought 13 other fabrics. Just so I could really think about what I had done.

I am nothing if not very strict.

What about the knitting? Well, it's still around. In fact, I found a sock-in-progress in the gravel next to my car yesterday morning, leading me to believe that my projects are taking matters into their own hands and indeed stalking me in an attempt to get some attention. It's working, more or less.

These past few weeks I have been busily trying to find an apartment, and then busily packing all my goods for said apartment. It's a lovely place - it will save me more than 12 hours a week on my commute, is very close to a yarn store, and no sign of moths anywhere. I'm leaving this Friday, and don't expect the Internet to be ready until perhaps November 1st, so please forgive my absence once again. I promise I will be putting those 12 extra hours to very good use.

If you are so inclined, I've also joined Ravelry. You can find me under "Becki". So far I've only uploaded a few finished projects, but it's always nice to make friends.

and then there was one

2007-09-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

A few people left comments which I wanted to address about my Poetry in Stitches cardigan, so I thought I'd share them here since I think that might be interesting to everyone. First though, I want to say thank you so much to everyone for all of the kind words. You really made my day!

Mel said:

And your fit gives me hope too, I'm wanting a more flattering, not-so-boxy fit for my cardigan (different pattern, same shape) when I begin it.

I feared the boxy shape, too, when I first looked at this sweater. If you look carefully at the pattern directions, you'll see that you cast on a certain amount of stitches for the border at the bottom of the body, and then when you start working the main flower pattern, you'll slowly increase stitches until approximately the bustline. To make mine have the best fit, I decided to have the largest part of my cardigan .5 inches larger than my bust, so it wouldn't obliterate my shape, but also wouldn't be too tight. After that, it was a simple manner of calculating gauge, and I was all set. If you make this, you might also want to watch how wide the armholes are getting. I laid my sweater in progress over another one that had armoles I liked, and just measured it that way.

Carla said:

I've been watching (lurking) as this sweater progressed since I absolutely covet Poetry In Stitches, (and have yet to buy the book let alone cast anything on)

If you're thinking about getting the book, do it fast! It's in its last printing and won't be available for much longer. I got mine at Schoolhouse Press for a reasonable price.

Beth S. asked:

Did you go buttonless? I can't see any...

This sweater is actually designed to hang open. Since the borders up the front (what would ordinarily be called "button bands", if we had any) are doubly thick because of the picot edge, it would be a little difficult to incoporate buttonholes. I also think that the designer wanted the spiky edges to really show, and if it buttoned, one side would be obscured. I don't mind it not closing right now, but I think once it gets colder I will attach some hook-and-eyes. That way, both of the spiky edges will be visible, but I'll stay a little warmer.

A friend also mentioned to me that she'd like to know my method with the beads. I followed the book's directions, which were to wait until the very end and then sew them on. This worked, but I can't help feeling that there is probably a better way. I've never knitted with beads before, but it seems to me like it would be much simpler to attach them while one was knitting. I was a little disappointed that the stitches I had to take on the back took away some of the prettiness of the stranding, and the whole process really made my hands ache. I'm thinking I might try doing my own bead pattern on my next colorwork sweater, so I'll try out another beading method and report back on how it went.

I'm now down to just one project, which seems a little sad. I've been slowly working on the Alpine Lace shawl from Victorian Knits Today. Unfortunately, I only have about one hour of knitting time a week, so it really is moving at a crawl. Clearly no time to photograph during daylight hours, either.

I'm nearly halfway done. I'm already worrying about how I'm going to block this. I usually use a spare trundle bed (I pin it on the lower mattress, then push it in so the cat can't sit on it), but I'm a little worried that it might turn out to be too long. It's so hard to tell before blocking.

all's well that ends well

2007-09-23T12:20:00.001-07:00

Those beads did get sewn on, after all.

This is, of course, the "bridal cardigan" from Poetry in Stitches, although I've just come to think of it as my purple cardigan. The only major change I made was in my yarn. I used Morehouse Merino Farm's laceweight in three different colors; one skein of the dark blue, five skeins of the light blue, and six skeins of the purple. I also used 1.5 tubes of clear seed beads and I was very happy to discover the "big eye" needle, which will stretch to fit a strand of yarn, and then shrink to allow the bead to easily pass over.

What can I say except I'll never take it off?

last gasp

2007-09-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

It was hemmed, seamed, and steamed. And then I remembered that there were supposed to be beads on the borders. Stay tuned...

when bad things happen to good sweaters

2007-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I like to believe that sweaters are inherently good. Sometimes they will do bad things, like slipping into the washing machine and felting, or running away when you take the bus, but mostly they want to be good. They warm you, shelter you from the rain, and sometimes they're just there to be pretty.

Which is why I think it is so sad when bad things happen to them. Like, oh, I don't know, when a steek decides to leave and your sweater explodes.

I do not know why or how this happened. I had used the crocheted steek (method can be found on Eunny's old blog) and successfully picked up stitches for the border, as you saw in my last post. A few days ago, I picked it up and started to knit the border, and whole sections of the crocheting fell away and left hundreds of loose yarn ends to frantically try and run through the whole sweater. I entered a strange stage of calm. I carefully put the sweater down, covered it with a pillow to protect it from the cat, and sent out a few e-mails asking for help.

As I should have known, the very talented Hege was the one who ended up with the best solution. We both agreed that it needed to be sewn somehow, but whereas I was all for pulling out the sewing machine and trying to drill it all down, Hege recommended Dawn Brocco's handsewn steek method.

This worked so well that I almost couldn't believe it. So far, I have sewn two rows up the left side of the cardigan, effectively anchoring all those ends that so badly want to move. I think I may do one more row, just to be sure. I'll then have to repeat this on the right side - so far that side is holding together much better, but I don't want to take any risks, and besides, it will be symmetrical this way. At that point I'll pull off the crocheting and then carefully tack the cut ends to the back.

As I said, I'm not sure why this happened. I examined the edges carefully, and as far as I can tell, I executed the method correctly. I'd used this method in the past, on both the Crichton cardigan and Snow Sky, and hadn't encountered anything like this. My only ideas are that perhaps the fingering weight merino is just too small and slippery for the edging to hold, and/or maybe I didn't pull the crocheting tight enough. Whatever the reason, I will definitely not be in a hurry to use this method ever again.

for whom the bell tolls

2007-08-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd make it far enough to say this, but the end is in sight! Thanks in great part to Hege, I was able to sew in the sleeves successfully, with minimal tears and sweat. I cut the steek last night, and picked up more than 400 stitches to make the border for the fronts and neck. All that's left now is actually knitting the border, sewing the final picot hem at the bottom, and then putting on the sweater and passing out into a heap until I've mustered up the strength to drive to the yarn store and pick out yarn for another colorwork sweater. I'm guessing that will take, say, 10 minutes.

one is the loneliest number

2007-08-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Meet my sock.

It's the "Little Child's Sock" from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. There's only one problem:

I can't find another skein of the yarn to make its mate.

The sock and I are just going to hope that winter will bring back more colors of Froelich Blauband to the local yarn store. We can wait.

procrasti-lace-ing?

2007-08-14T14:42:00.001-07:00

If nothing else, I am the queen of procrastination. Throughout the years, I have managed to complete three week papers the night before they were due, applied to and practiced for concerto competitions the very week they were happening, and regularly I put off doing laundry for so long that I discover clothes in the hamper that I didn't even know I had.

Fortunately, nothing really bad has ever happened to me for being such a procrastinator, so I forge ahead, often looking over my shoulder and getting distracted along the way.

Enter, the Alpine Lace shawl from Victorian Knits Today. My Poetry in Stitches cardigan has been stuck in the slow lane for just too long. It took me about three weeks to get around to actually crocheting the steek, and then another week before I managed to sew one seam (three are left). I know it will eventually get done, but in the meantime it's nice to have something I will actually work on. This shawl is worked all in one piece, and so far I've completed the bottom border and have started work on the center section - you can see the double rose leaves that make up the center in the picture. I'm using Crystal Palace lace yarn, which appears to be discontinued. If anyone knows anything different, please share. The yarn is lovely to work with, and manages to have a really good stitch definition while still having a little halo that I think makes the shawl even look soft. I have about 30 more repeats of the double rose leaves to go, and then I have to knit the top border, so I have good faith that I will get bored with it and meekly go back to my cardigan soon.

I don't usually find yarn itself very exciting, preferring to share pictures of it when it is actually something, but this is just too cool to ignore. I went yarn shopping this morning, and in the very back of the store, in a basket labeled "40% off", and underneath a big pile of Rowan Polarspun, I discovered these three, literally dust-covered, little skeins of Jamieson & Smith cobweb lace yarn. They really are so small - each skein is 250 yards, but isn't even as large as my hand.

This is the first time I've ever seen cobweb yarn, and it just blows me away. The skeins weren't marked with the "X" that means they are on sale, and there was no price tag, so the saleswoman sold them to me for $6, total. I felt so lucky! I also managed to unearth a lone skein of the Crystal Palace lace yarn, so even if I'm never able to find it again, I will have two shawls out of it. The saleswoman wound that up for me, too, so I won't have to waste time winding the 850+ yards. For years I have staunchly kept to my hand-winding routine, but after seeing her crank the swift and ball winder, I might have to change my mind.

closing in

2007-07-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Has it really been one month?

The sleeves are both done, and the hems are sewn.

Somehow, all those ends have been woven in. I haven't attached the sleeves yet, though.

It will have to wait - I'm busy!

a garden that needs to be weeded

2007-06-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, that's a big mess, isn't it? I've never seen a sweater in more dire need of sewing and blocking, but I think after I do that it will start to look much better. The first sleeve went much more easily than I thought it would, although I did discover that those picot edges are a real pain when done on double pointed needles. To anyone knitting this sweater or a similar one - do the round on bigger needles very loosely. Trust me.

As I start to see the end for this sweater, I've been planning which colorwork sweater I'll knit next. I've been thinking that this sweater from Poetry in Stitches would look nice in white with a blue design. And maybe Crichton could be resurrected in black with a gray design? Don't answer that, I think I'm being crazy again.

(Jessica reminded me to add that of course both of these potential sweaters would have waist shaping, and I'm thinking set-in sleeves for both, too. I love the charts, but the lack of tailoring isn't really for me.)

a sock-filled monday

2007-06-18T09:01:00.001-07:00

What is it about socks? First, Jessica sent me some Cascade 220 sock yarn in the mail. Next, I went to my local yarn store and discovered a whole new section of sock yarn, including some Scheepjes. The very next day I found myself checking out both Knitting on the Road and Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush from the library. At that point there was no hope for me.

The Cascade 220 sock yarn looks very misleading. Each ball is oly about the size of a kiwi, but I was able to get a sock out of each ball, with enough left over to add maybe two inches of ribbing to another pair of socks. When purchased, the yarn looks horrible - twice the diameter of sock yarn, and really nubbly. As you knit, however, your tension will stretch the yarn so that it becomes the typical weight, and is very smooth in the sock. Some people hate having to tension the yarn to make it do this, so if you're thinking of trying it out you might want to only buy one ball to experiment with. I didn't find it a problem, but it did hurt my hand more than knitting with wool.

I chose Child's First Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. This was my first time knitting a Nancy Bush pattern, and wow - absolutely the best sock pattern I have ever followed. I actually don't think I changed anything in the pattern, which is a first for me. If I were to knit these again, I would, however, probably change the heel flap. I don't think it covers enough of the back of the heel in order to help with wear and tear, but who knows, I could be wrong.

The stitch pattern looks complicated, but once you get going, it's very easy to follow. I was expecting charts and was a little surprised to see that the pattern was only written out, but it's only 10 rows, so if you really want a chart it would not be a big deal to do it yourself. I found it was intuitive enough that after one repeat, I didn't need to even look at the instructions, much less chart them out.

And the Scheepjes...oh Lord, the Scheepjes. This is the best sock yarn I think I have ever used in my life. It's very easy to knit, frogs like a champ (trust me), becomes even softer after being washed, and blooms nicely while keeping its stitch definition. It's also one of the cheaper sock yarns that I've seen, which is always nice, and it comes in plenty of solid colors. I've never really gotten behind the whole variegated sock yarn thing.

I used the New England pattern from Knitting on the Road. For some reason, it took me about twice as long to knit these than it usually does, but it was well worth it. It's funny, because if you were to ask me to describe a sock based on New England I would never have come up with this, but after it was completed I realized that it is exactly like my perceptions of New England. The traditional, yet slightly antiqued quality of the off-white; the slight fussiness of the lace ribbing down the sides; the strong, simple, yet graceful diamonds down the front. I just love them.

New England sock tries to escape into a lobster trap from Massachusetts

And finally, a bit of a cheat. I realized that I'd never really photographed the Buds and Blossoms socks by Katherine Misegades, so I took some quick pictures. The pattern is from a booklet I bought at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival, called The Tongue River Farm Sock Collection. All of the patterns use stranded colorwork and are really lovely. I have plans to knit all of them some day, but will probably hold off until the weather cools down.

I used some of the last bits of the cranberry yarn from the Crichton cardigan, along with some of the white (the white will never die - I still have a bag full of it). I followed the pattern exactly, since this was the first time for me doing this type of heel. As far as I know, Katherine Misegades invented it, which is pretty cool - I certainly couldn't have done it! It fits nicely on the foot, but for me it was so hard to execute that I think I might try a different heel on the next pair of socks I make from this booklet. Katherine was so nice and helpful in her emails to me that I feel bad after giving up after just one pair, but believe me, short rows are just not my friend. They really do flow into the pattern nicely, though.

If you do knit these socks, don't be shocked when you've finished. They look really strange when laid flat - the short row heel seems to not even exist. It all works out once they're on your foot, I promise.

Stay tuned for an update on my Poetry in Stitches cardigan. Don't worry, it's not frogged, nor does it need to be - I'm just mad because it turns out that sweaters go really slowly when they're knit with a gauge of nearly 9 stitches per inch. Who would have thought?

my own smoke signal

2007-06-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to me how easily I can go outside and find flowers to match my knitting. It's a testament to the beautiful colors in Morehouse Merino yarns (in this case, persimmon and cranberry).
I whipped up this hat in just a few hours. The Poetry In Stitches cardigan and I are not currently on speaking terms, and while searching for a new project, Rebekkah reminded me that I had a pattern for her very lovely hat, Smoke Signals. The pattern is deceptively easy and was easy to memorize. I would recommend this very highly for anyone who would like to practice their stranded colorwork. There are no long gaps between colors, which makes stranding easier, and at a gauge of 5 stitches per inch the work goes very quickly. The pattern is very easy to follow, and the only change I made was to knit a 1x1 ribbed band instead of a rolled brim. I have an inexplicable fear of rolling - I think it may have to do with my controlling tendencies. To jump on the bandwagon, check out the right sidebar in Rebekkah's blog.

I tell myself very firmly that jumping on the bandwagon is exactly what I'm doing - certainly not falling off the cardigan wagon. No, sir. Regardless of the fact that I may or may not have obsessively knitted two pairs of socks, with plans for two more. Or dragged out the sewing machine and started to learn to quilt. Or halfway finished a men's sweater and a seed stitch scarf. You get the idea.

a confession and a body

2007-05-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

The keen eyed of you might have noticed that the cowl neck sweater in my last post is suspiciously the same color of the Salina sweater that I was working on. I admit it - I am a yarn cannibal. After finishing Salina and seaming, I tried it on and was horrified by the fit. I think my mistake is that I followed Rowan's suggested fit size, instead of looking at the measurements and choosing what I ordinarily would. The seed stitch border, which looked so pretty flat, also fell at a rather inconvenient place on my stomach and added about 10 pounds. I am still going to be knitting some patterns out of Vintage Knits, but will probably not be trying Salina again, and will be more aware of what size I am actually knitting. I'll probably also convert the sweaters into circular knitting. I just hate the way seams feel in a handknit sweater!

In more happy knitting news, my cardigan from Poetry in Stitches is trucking along nicely. I've finished the body up to the armholes, and also finished the two fronts. Now I'm knitting the back up to be the same length as the fronts. I have about two pattern repeats to go. The pattern calls to knit back and forth on the three pieces - or, in other words, to purl while stranding. I finally caved in and taught myself the Norwegian purl method (also found in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears), which has made it a little easier.

Whenever I get frustrated with it, I just look at the fronts of the sweater and admire my "spiked" edge.

Yes, that's right - spikes. On my sweater. How cool is that?!

how to love your knitting, part 1

2007-04-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

(Note: for those of you who aren't interested in my babble, there are quite a few photos of new knitting projects interspersed with this entry. You can just scroll through and read the captions on them, if you prefer.)

One of the best parts about knitting is that one can make a garment to fit any size or shape. One of the worst parts is discovering that the pattern you want to make does not come in your size, is the wrong shape, or worse yet, calls for a yarn that you either can't afford or can not find. Perhaps the easiest way to get around this is to only knit patterns that you have designed yourself, but even the most talented designers sometimes just want to knit somebody else's pattern. And let's face it, if you find the perfect sweater, why re-invent the wheel?

The absolute easiest way to change a sweater's general size is by playing with the gauge. You do need to knit a swatch and measure, but it's very easy and totally worth the results. I find that there are two different scenarios when you find a sweater that needs its size tweaked: you either have yarn that you already have in mind, or do not yet have any yarn and are looking for which yarn to buy. I will discuss these in order:

You have yarn, you have a pattern, but the size is either too big or too small:

1. The Swatch.

I read a lot about people who say that swatches "lie", and that they don't bother knitting them because they are not an accurate representation of the sweater. I think this is because there are many misunderstandings about what you need to do with a swatch in order for it to work for you. I also have heard the explanation that a swatch "wastes" yarn, and that the knitter only has a limited amount. It is very easy to frog the swatch after you've made the pertinent measurements and re-use the yarn - trust me. After seeing me work my way through the ripped-out Crichton yarn, you know that I'm not one to waste a yard of yarn.

The first step with swatching is, obviously, to pick up some of the yarn you have chosen and a set of needles. Since the pattern's gauge is not going to matter to you, you get to choose any needles you want, so long as you like the fabric that they produce. Generally, you will want a needle that is about the same thickness as the yarn. If you are a loose knitter, you will need to go with a needle that is a little smaller than the yarn. If you're a tight knitter, you will need to go with a needle that is a little larger. Knit a few rows, and if the fabric looks bad, switch your needle size accordingly.

The second step to swatching is making sure that you swatch "in pattern". Usually this is stockinette, but if the sweater has a different stitch pattern (cabled, lace, etc.) you must knit your swatch in that. If it's a good pattern, it will tell you which stitch pattern they want you to swatch. It's generally whatever the majority of the sweater is knitted in.

Now, the knitting. This is where you need to be the most careful. You are going to want to cast on enough stitches to successfully measure your gauge. This is about 4 inches, or 10 centimeters. I know it seems boring, but it will go very quickly, and it's so much better than finishing an entire sweater and discovering that you will need to adopt an orangutan into your family so that it will fit someone.

There are also other advantages to swatching - here, you can see that I originally tried a cable pattern. I discovered that not only was the cable pattern given incorrect, but it really did not show off the yarn nicely at all. It was much easier to discover this after casting on 30 stitches, rather than discovering it after I had cast on enough for an entire body of a sweater.

Yuck.

During this step, you are also going to want to take note of how you are knitting - are you wrapping the yarn tightly, or letting it fall as it may? I was practicing my continental knitting (I am an English knitter, originally), and was careful to feel just how I was knitting. This is also another good reason to make a good-sized swatch. Not only does it allow you to "feel" your knitting, but it also gives a more accurate representation of how you will be knitting when you start your sweater. If you only knitted an inch-wide swatch, your knitting style would be much different than an entire sweater, since you would be knitting a little tighter in that small space.

In this swatch, I was using a cotton yarn with some elastic, and had to make sure I didn't tug the yarn too tightly in order to get a correct swatch. Blocking will take care of the small irregularities that are bound to happen. You'll be seeing more of this swatch in a later post.

Also important: if the sweater is knit circularly, you must knit your swatch circularly. You can do this on double-pointed needles, but my favorite trick is to take a circular needle, cast on enough stitches for your swatch, and work one row. Next, slide the knitting to the other end of the needle, take the working yarn and make a big loop (think a loop about a foot long - you absolutely do not want it too tight, since it will make your swatch buckle in on itself), bringing it up to the work and knitting the next row. Slide the swatch to the other side of the needle and do it again. By doing this, you're only knitting on the right side of the work, thus giving you a swatch that is representative of circular knitting.

The back will look something like this. It's crazy, but it works.

The final step with your swatch is also very important. After binding off, you are going to wash and dry your swatch in exactly the same method in which you will be washing and drying your sweater. Swatches can change dramatically during this step. I usually measure the swatch before I wash and dry it, and then afterwards, just so I can see the difference. I would suggest measuring it over two inches, and make sure that you measure right in the center, since your stitches will be the best there (don't count those edge stitches, they are always pulled out of shape and will give you a bad measurement). It is also helpful to measure before and after the wash, since while you're knitting it you may become a little panicked about the size, and if you compare your gauge at that moment to the original gauge, you can comfort yourself that the size will be correct after it is washed and dried. For my swatch, I soaked it in the sink in cold water with some baby shampoo, rinsed it, and let it dry flat. The wool grew and made my final gauge 10 stitches/2 inches and 14 rows/2 inches. After you have measured your real gauge from your washed and dried swatch, you will feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and pride. No longer will you knit the perfect sweater, only to clean it and discover that it has now grown in width and length - or worse yet, refuse to wash it at all.

These socks were knit from the same yarn, with the same needles, in the same week. The bottom one was washed and the top one was not. Their heels are lined up exactly - the size difference you see is entirely from being wetted and dried. They are the Buds and Blossoms socks designed by Katherine Misegades.

2. Your Gauge.

Now you have a fresh, beaming little swatch, and are almost ready to tackle the whole sweater. The final step is calculating your gauge. You've already measured your gauge from both your pre-washed and washed swatch. You are only going to bother right now with your washed swatch's gauge. Let's say that it is 10 stitches/2 inch. We divide that, and find that it is 5 stitches/1 inch. If you divide and find a fraction, make sure you use that fraction! The little bits can add up and really alter the size of your sweater.

Next, we look at the pattern. I used pattern #20, a cowl neck sweater, from the fall 2006 issue of Vogue Knitting. The pattern gives instructions for four different sizes, that range from a 34" bust to a 46" bust. This does not matter. The sizes and inches given are only for their gauge, and since we have our own, we can cheerfully ignore them. The only important information is the number of stitches given for the bust. This is usually about the same as the cast-on amount, and in this pattern it is equal to that amount. I converted this pattern to be knitted circularly, so the number of stitches I was casting on was the total amount for the body. As per the pattern, these are either 144, 160, 180, or 196 stitches. If your pattern is knitted flat, you will be adding up the number of stitches from the back and front, subtracting 4 as those are used in seaming, and then using the remaining number to calculate your size.

To find out which one of these cast-on amounts I needed to use, I took my gauge of 5 stitches to 1 inch and started to divide. The first cast-on amount would give me, with my gauge in my choice of yarn and needles, 28.8" (144 stitches / 5 stitches per inch = 28.8 inches). The second number gives me 32" (160 stitches / 5 stitches per inch = 32 inches). The third number would give me a 36" bust, and the final number would give a 39.2" bust. I chose the size that suited me the most, and cast on.

The beauty of this method is that now you do not have to worry about any more math, and the inevitable crossing out and re-writing of instructions that comes with it. You can cheerfully follow the instructions for the cast-on amount, and whether the pattern lists that as a small or an extra large, you can be confident that it's going to turn out to fit you beautifully. There is one small hiccup with this plan, and this is your row gauge. Many patterns will just tell you to knit for a certain amount of inches, but occasionally will tell you to work a decrease every 10th row, as this pattern did. To find out how many rows that would require you to knit, you will need to do just a tiny bit more math. This is what I do:

I need to decrease every 10 rows. What the pattern is really telling me is that I need to decrease over a certain amount of inches, but the designer has tried to be helpful and simplify it for me (it is amazing how many patterns, and particularly American ones, try to over-simplify and just make you more clueless). I take a look at the pattern's gauge, and see that this was written for a fabric that measures 4.25 stitches per inch, and 5.5 rows per inch. So really, 10 rows is 1.8 inches (10 rows / 5.5 rows per inch = 1.8 inches). I look at my row gauge, which is 7 rows per inch, and now calculate how many of MY rows would equal 1.8 inches. 7 rows x 1.8 inches = 12.6 rows. Since it's impossible to knit .6 of a row, I just round it up to 13 rows. Now I know that I really need to decrease every 13 rows, in order to have the waist shaping come out correctly.

If that confuses you, this is all you need to do:

1. Using THEIR gauge, find the number of rows per inch. (Generally a gauge is given over 4 inches, so you'll probably be dividing the numbers they give by 4.)

2. Look at the amount of rows that the pattern wants you to increase or decrease over.

3. Divide your answer from #2 by the answer from #1. (#2 / #1)

4. Take a breather. I didn't like math in school, either.

5. Look at YOUR row gauge per inch.

6. Multiply your answer from #3 by your answer from #5. (#3 x #5)

7. You're left with the number of rows that you're going to need to decrease or increase over. Cool, huh?

Is it worth it? I think so.

Cowl neck sweater from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2006. The yarn is Cascade 220, the Heathers collection. Every modification I used is listed above. It is my new favorite sweater.

You have a pattern, but the sizes aren't ideal. You still need to buy yarn.

You're going to love this method.

For example, I'm going to use the cardigan I'm making from Poetry in Stitches. The only sizes given are for a bust of 40 inches or 43 inches. I know right away that these sizes are not going to work for me, and that I'll need something much smaller. I tried to fool around with the design, but ultimately it was just too fiddly.

1. The Only Step.

Figure out what bust size you'd like best. You can do this by measuring around yourself and guessing at how much ease you want, or by measuring a sweater that you like. Look at how many stitches you will have on the needles at the bust (most likely about equal to the cast-on number). For this pattern, my choices are either 289 stitches or 309 stitches.

Either those 289 stitches or 309 stitches are going to give me a width of 36". It's just a matter of which one I'd like to pick. I divide 289 stitches by 36 inches and get 8 stitches/inch. 309 stitches divided by 36" gives me 8.5 stitches/inch. I now know that I'm going to want to find a yarn that gives me one of those gauges. As luck would have it, the Morehouse Merino laceweight yarn gives me exactly 8.5 stitches/inch, so all there was left to do was buy a whole bunch and dust off my needles. The same rules about row gauge apply, as detailed directly above the bold text. Beth had asked me if the Morehouse was a direct substitute, and I saw quite a few Google queries about it, so for those of you searching, please know that it is not going to give you the same gauge as the recommended yarn. In this case, though, it gives me a better gauge, and you may find the same.

Jen asked how to determine how much yarn you're going to use. After doing this a few times you'll have a good idea, and some yarn ball bands even tell you how much you need for a certain size sweater. If you need some help for now, though, check out this webpage in HTML or PDF format.

Two flower repeats in. I've finished the increasing and am now working straight to the armholes.

purple and blue

2007-04-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure which came first, the knitted flowers or the ones outside my window.

The beginnings of a cardigan from Poetry In Stitches. I'm using three colors of Morehouse Merino's laceweight yarn, for a gauge of approximately 9.5 stitches per inch. More details when I have the time.

stripes and torchon, blocked

2007-03-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Daisy wanted a turn, too.

This is my finished Stripes and Torchon lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today. I used 2.5 balls of Rowan's Kidsilk Haze in "Marmalade", and US 0 instead of U 6 needles because I wanted the fabric to be more dense. The pattern calls for 5 columns of diamonds with 23 repeats, but I only did 3 columns and 21 repeats, to help make the piece smaller. I like smaller shawls and scarves. It measures 49" by 17", which is a perfect size for me.

It's hard to photograph just how much light comes through the scarf. It almost looks ethereal.

a new jacket

2007-03-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

I finished the stripes and torchon lace from Victorian Lace Today this morning. Unfortunately, I seem to have accidentally thrown out my blocking pins, so for the time being it is still crumpled and kind of useless. I hate knitting things without a use, even if it is only temporary, so I searched around the house and discovered one thing that it can do quite well for now:

Super modern, attractive, warm and soft greyhound jacket. As an added bonus, it will make your dog so frightened that he will stand very, very quietly to have his picture taken. He wasn't so sure that men can pull of lace.

knitting for not-so-cold weather

2007-03-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

I finished the last two pairs of mittens I'll be making for awhile. I'm a little mitten-ed out. The first pair are the mittens from Turkey from Folk Mittens. I think these came out beautifully. The yarn is from the bits I had after I frogged the Crichton cardigan. I'm doing pretty good with the yarn from that sweater - I've used up half of the white, all but about 30 yards of the pink, half of the periwinkle, a quarter each of the red and gray. Once I finish it all I'll have to do a collage of what Crichton turned into.

These mittens...well, they're not quite as classic as the others I've been making. I was digging through some old knitting stuff that I'd forgotten I'd had, and found a few balls of Bouton d'Or angora. It's a soft gray, plied with a metallic gold thread. I striped it with the red merino yarn, and while they're a little "3 year old at Christmas-time", they're the softest mittens I've ever made. The gold sparkles a lot more in person.

I have two projects in progress right now, too. The first is the stripes and torchon lace from Victorian Lace Today. I finished the center section (I made it 3 pattern repeats wide and 20 long) and have started on the knitted-on border. This is my first time doing a border like this, and it took a little getting used to. I accidentally twisted the knitting twice and had to rip it out before I finally got the hang of it. And then I had the brilliant idea to work on it while I was tired, and of course made a mistake that I couldn't figure out and ended up ripping out the two good repeats. So what you see in the picture is only two repeats, but understand that it took a whole lot of knitting to get to this point. I'm only working on it now when I'm alert, and it's going much better. I can't wait until I block it - it will look so much nicer.

Finally, I've managed to finish a sleeve for my Salina sweater from Rowan's Vintage Knits. Luckily there's enough shaping in this sweater that the stockinette doesn't get too boring. All I have to do now is knit one more sleeve, the collar and cuffs, and then seam it all together. I'm hoping to finish this soon, because I'd like to move on to a different sweater.

I'll close with this picture - can you guess what these skeins are going to become? They're fingering weight merino, if that gives you any clues...

ho hum

2007-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

This old thing again?

And, just for good measure, a picture of the original:

Sorry for the rotten pictures - it's still way too cold to go outside without a coat. But here it is, all knitted, sewed, cleaned, and dried. And it fits!

This is, of course, Snow Sky by Amy Swanson from the book Sweaters from Camp, for Rebekkah's knitalong. I modified the colors to Morehouse merino's two ply in chocolate and raspberry (yum). I worked out my own waist shaping, and changed the drop shoulders to set-in. I also added a v-neck. In the original pattern, the sleeves are done with crosses, but I liked them better in the same chart as the body, so I worked that out, too. There were a few blips - the body you see is the third attempt, as are the sleeves, and I had a steek unravel on me - but overall, an excellent learning experience.

While this was drying, I went on a mitten spree and made these. The gray ones are done in a simple baby cable pattern and are of my own design, and the orange ones are the Lopi mittens from Folk Mittens. The lone mitten at the bottom is the Turkey mitten, also from Folk Mittens. Its mate is about halfway done.These are made with the remnants of the Crichton cardigan - all Morehouse merino. The gray is charcoal, the white is the natural, the orange is persimmon, and the blue is periwinkle.

And, because it's been almost a year since I've done any lace, I picked up the book Victorian Lace Today. I really like the patterns, but I'm disappointed with the pictures. They're lovely, but they don't show as much detail of the lace that I would like. For a couple, it's difficult for me to understand which pattern goes with which shawl, too, which is unfortunate. It's still worth the money, though, in my opinion. I've begun the Stripes and Torchon lace in Rowan's Kidsilk Haze, using US 0 needles. I've learned that this is not a project I can work on without my glasses, and for me, it requires more attention than the colorwork I've been doing.

Isn't unblocked lace sad? I'm only doing three diamonds across, not five like the pattern says. I've got four repeats done so far, out of something like twenty. Luckily, it's getting easier the more I work on it.

around and around

2007-01-29T06:21:00.000-08:00

This sleeve didn't work for a variety of reasons. My plan was to incorporate a steek at the top, so that I wouldn't have to work back and forth to shape the sleeve cap. Unfortunately, even my small 3 stitch steek added enough bulk at the arm hole (where there was another steek for the body) that it was uncomfortable and looked strange. I had planned to sew it in place, but literally over night about two inches of an arm hole steek mysteriously unraveled. I've been questioning the cat, but she pleads the fifth and reminds me that she's innocent until proven guilty.

So, I try again. This time I used a technique I learned from knitting the Crichton cardigan, also in Sweaters From Camp. After I grafted the shoulder, I picked up stitches from around the arm hole, added on the stitches at the underarm that I had put on a string, and started knitting down. I had thought that it would bother me that the body was knitted up, and the sleeves down, but I think it looks fine. I also had to pick up stitches from the actual pattern, not the line of brown that I had made because it unraveled, but I think after a blocking it should look okay. I've tried it on and there's none of the lumpiness that the previous sleeve had, so it looks like I'm on the right track. Sorry these photos are so dark - the ones in the last post are actually true to color. However, it's in the single digits (Farenheit) outside, and I'd rather deal with the poor lighting indoors than go anywhere near the door.

In the meantime, I've started Salina from Rowan's Vintage Knits and the Lopi Mittens from Folk Mittens. Salina is made from Cascade 220 in a heathered merlot color, and the Lopi Mittens are made from even more leftover Crichton.

I know some people hate thumbs that stick straight up on the mitten, but I love them. It makes the mitten look so tidy. I've also discovered that not having a tight cuff isn't a bad thing, as long as the mitten is long enough in the wrist to tuck into your jacket sleeve. This is good, because I find it more fun to start right in on the pattern than have to do a few inches of mindless ribbing first. The second one will be knitted as soon as the first sleeve of Snow Sky is done - they both use my US 3 needles and I don't want to buy another pair.

the charm

2007-01-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

You know what they say about the third time...

Here's Snow Sky's body, completely done. I fiddled around (a lot) with the numbers and ended up with a formula for waist shaping that, if I did it right, I'll apply to all future patterned sweaters. The middle steek that you see is for the neck - the patterning goes wonky around it because I decreased on either side of the steek for a deep V-neck. The steeks on the left and right are for the sleeves. I figured out how to accomplish a set-in sleeve, and if this goes smoothly, I'll be applying this to other patterned sweaters as well. I'm not sure if I've done something to be proud of, or if I'm just causing the original fair isle knitters a lot of grief in their graves.

Next, I'll be cutting the steeks, and then grafting the shoulders together. After that, I'll knit the sleeves and sew them in and I'll be done!

I've already decided that my next sweaters will be the Shirt-Tail Hemmed pullover in Sweaters From Camp, and probably the wedding cardigan from Poetry In Stitches. If I can apply my same formulas to these two sweaters and have the shaping come out well, I'll be writing up what I did and hopefully somebody will find it useful.

I'm not completely stuck in Scandinavian knitting, though. I have a single color project that I'll be sharing soon.

the return of snow sky

2007-01-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. This picture looks like old news. Actually, if you look closely, you'll see that this is my second attempt at Snow Sky. Last weekend I managed to finish both sleeves, and was well on my way to finishing the cardigan when I realized that I'd spent so much time worrying about matching the patterns on sleeve and body that I'd completely forgotten that the actual body of the sweater would have to be the same on front and back for the shoulder grafting to work correctly. So, out came all my knitting and I started again. Everything is pretty much the same, except that I went down one needle size to US 3s in order to fit in more pattern repeats in the same amount of space. I'm also being much more careful to keep my yarn in the correct hand, since in my last attempt I was unwittingly switching hands every time I picked up the sweater, and it was pretty obvious.

I really want to have the body and sleeves joined by the end of the week, so we'll see how that goes. After I finish this I want to start one of the sweaters from Poetry in Stitches - the projects in that book are so beautiful that it's good incentive to think about them as I churn away on this one.

noro scarf

2006-12-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

This pattern comes from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's one of those ideas that seems so basic, yet I never would have thought of it if I hadn't seen it. The book calls for two skeins of Noro, alternated every few rows, in mistake rib. I used two skeins of Noro Silk Garden and one skein of Plymouth Alpaca (unbelievably soft, I can't wait to work with this again), and alternated those throughout the scarf. I think it's really pretty. I think I might buy these same yarns and make another scarf, only this time in entrelac.

free lunch

2006-12-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Today we're having our first official day of snow. I have to say that I think my own Snow Sky is much prettier - the clouds outside look something like dooms day is coming. Definitely not a pink snowflake to be found.

I decided that I wanted the sleeves to have the same pattern as the body. If I had followed the original design, they would have been brown with pink crosses. It still would have been pretty, but I think it would have made the sweater a little more casual. I'm also going to do a set-in sleeve in the round, because I really want to have the pattern continue throughout the sweater, and I couldn't figure out how to do that with the saddle shoulders in the pattern. So far all of this is working out to be easier than I thought, which makes me nervous - either I am creepily expanding my knitting IQ, gaining common sense (!), or have made a large error somewhere. Please tell me if you see it lurking somewhere...either my new-found common sense, or just some old paranoia, is telling me that there's no such thing as a free lunch or an easy fair isle solution.

I'm a little burnt out with this sweater right now, so I'm going to put it on hold and crank out a few more simple designs. I raided the yarn store today and found some nice black cotton yarn made by Butterfly, and burgundy cotton yarn made by Lana Grossa. I also finally found a set of sock needles that go below US 1 - in fact, I now have US 0 and 00! I have some devious plans for these tiny needles - pictures will follow if any of them work out well.

And I want to give everyone who commented on my Hourglass Sweater and Norwegian Socks a huge thank you. Your compliments meant so much to me and were such a nice surprise in an inordinately tough week.

finished hourglass sweater

2006-11-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (thank you Hege!). My only modification was to use yarn from my stash - it was the first yarn I ever bought, a long time ago, and I only know that it's 100% alpaca. I think it could have stood a little more waist-shaping, but it's growing on me.

goals #1 and 4

2006-11-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

Is this my blue period?

Patterned mittens are the Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I cast on fewer stitches so that it would work with my gauge, and subsequently took out the two vertical patterns that were meant to run up the sides of the mittens. I also forgot to put a thumb on the first one (sigh), so I ended up doing a little snipping and picking up of stitches.

The turquoise mitten is a Mystery Sidways Mitten from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around. I had absolutely no idea what was going on until the very end, when I folded my hunk of garter stitch in half and suddenly had a mitten. I think I'm actually going to make a pair for myself after I finish this pair. The shape is so comfortable, and the garter stitch makes the wool feel very lofty.

And that hunk of yarn underneath the mittens is the Hourglass Sweater, now with one full sleeve attached. It only took me a day to make the sleeve, so now I guess I really have no excuse to make the second. Now all I have left from my goals is to re-work the two black sweaters.

goal #3

2006-11-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. I modified the heels to a salt-and-pepper pattern, as mentioned in this post. Yarn was modified to Morehouse Farm merino in charcoal and natural white, with periwinkle for the stars. And yes, they really do stay up.

by december first

2006-11-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

At heart, I think I've always been the sort of person who does best with one knitting project at a time. My Crichton Cardigan from Sweaters From Camp almost flew when I was working on it, and looking through my progress posts I can't believe how fast I was going.

These are my works in progress now:

1) Hourglass Sweater from Last Minuted Knitted Gifts. All I have done is the body, due to some irrational reluctance to pull out my knitting needle case and locate the correct DPNs for the sleeves. (Seriously, this is pathetic. My case is in easy reach on the bookshelf in my room, and all of my DPNs are organized. It would take about 3 minutes.)

2) Snow Sky from Sweaters From Camp. I haven't even finished the body for this one. Again, irrational reluctance to finish this sweater because I like fair isle sweaters so much and I haven't found another pattern to start after this one. Never mind that if I finished it now, I'd get the most use out of it for winter.

3) Two black men's sweaters, each of which need a little tweaking. The first one I made a year ago and it's looking a little over-loved (not like that's really a bad thing). I'm thinking about ripping it down to where the arms and body connect, and re-trying the whole set-in sleeve circular sweater thing. I've never been 100% happy with the way the neck turned out. The second sweater went so fast I didn't even post about it, but after being blocked and presented, it turned out that I had somehow failed to correctly use a measuring tape, and it needs 2 more inches on the body. I'm hoping that the alteration of the first sweater will mean that I have enough yarn to lengthen the second. I would have to buy more yarn otherwise.

4) Norwegian Socks from Folk Socks. I actually only have about 1/3 of the second sock to go, but it bothers me that I'm still working on them. I only work on these when I'm waiting for a rehearsal to start, so that's probably why they're going so slowly.

5) Norwegian Socks from Vogue Fall 2006. I managed to crank out 2.5 pairs, but pathetically, my first sock never received a mate.

6) Two pairs of mittens from Folk Mittens. These are going to be holiday gifts, and have to be ready to present by December 15. After the monster mitten disaster I started a more reasonably sized mitten, and then realized that I had a better way to do it halfway through. I'm going to have to frog my .5 mitten down to the cuff and start again. Not to mention that I haven't even balled the yarn for the second pair.

As you can imagine, having all these projects means that even though I seem to knit and knit, very little progress can be seen, because all of the knitting is spread out on different things. This is particularly bad, since I finally paged through the Rowan Vintage Knits, and subsequently want to make at least half of the patterns. I also bought wool for the shawl-collared sweater in the holiday Vogue 2006, which is currently living in the car because I don't have enough space for it in my little stash box, and if I leave it outside of a locked box my cat will have a field day. And yes, I do mean locked. With a key. She can open all kinds of lids, drawers, and cupboards, so this is what I am reduced to.

Okay, now that all of that is out of my system, here are my goals for the next few weeks. I'd like all of the goals to be finished by December 1st. (There is no particular order, as long as they are all done.)

1) Suck it up and start making sleeves for the Hourglass Sweater.

2) Frog the set-in sleeve black sweater down to the body and sleeves joining point. Re-knitting can be done at my leisure, although I would kind of like to give back both sweaters for Chanukah/Christmas.

3) Finish the Norwegian Socks from Folk Socks.

4) Finish the first pair of gift mittens, and at least get the yarn balled for the second pair. This one is especially important, because it has a deadline.

All the other projects can hang out until I have these goals done. I'd also like to buy Knitter's Workshop by EZ, Poetry in Stitches and Rowan's Vintage Knits by the end of the month, so that I can have them handy as an incentive for finishing these projects. I should look through Sweaters From Camp, too, and see if I can find another sweater to inspire me.

And now off to knit!

when mittens attack

2006-11-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

So, what happens when you figure that getting stitch gauge means you can knit your mitten in the dark without trying it on?

MONSTER MITTEN!!!

That's almost a full 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) of mitten there, folks. And it's not even blocked yet. These were meant for someone who has larger hands than me, but this is ridiculous. The cuffs are bad, too - way too wide.

Normal sized mittens just can not compare. Now, to figure out how to make a mitten chart work for a shorter size...

everything's better in fair isle

2006-10-31T11:57:00.000-08:00

My new Nikon likes to photograph fair isle much better than my dumpy old Canon, who nastily broke on me about a month ago. This pattern is from Nancy Bush's book on folk socks. I hate the sock in the photo in the book, but after seeing a number of versions that I liked online, I tried my own with bits of leftover Crichton wool. I like it a lot, but I still don't like the book's photo. I think it might be the drastic look of the very black and very white leg, with the random bright red stars on top. I like fair isle colors to relate a little more to each other. I also changed the heel from the checkered pattern to a speckled one. I have about an inch of the second sock on the needles right now.

This sock's made out of leftover Crichton, too. It's incredible how much better it looks after it's been blocked. The tiny wool scraps made so many lumps out of the fabric before it was washed. It is still a little lumpy, but nothing I can't live with. The colors are so bright that I will probably only be wearing this pair as snow socks, anyway. I have about 3/4 of its mate done, and would have finished it last night if I had not been insane and mis-read the same instructions a grand total of THREE times. Heaven knows what goes on inside of my small brain.

And lastly, a lumpy 8.5 inches of Snow Sky. It plods along.

latvian mittens

2006-10-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

Have you seen those Latvian-styled mittens and gloves? I think they might be all I want to knit from now on. I found these charts and wanted to share them. You can also see some beautiful knitted ones on Saarje's journal.I always have a problem with thumb placement on mittens and gloves - does anyone have any advice to share?

I think my new camera will be coming today, so I am going to start knitting so I have interesting pictures to share.

a month's progress

2006-10-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

The cold weather has filled me with knitterly excitement. Or at least, that's how I'm explaining the fact that I have three sweaters on the needles right now. I haven't had much time for knitting recently because I've been busy, but as a freelance musician I'd much rather have little free time than sitting at home and wondering when the next job will come. It is disappointing to see my knitting progress slow, though.

The first sweater I'm making (and hopefully finishing first, too) is another men's sweater out of Debbie Bliss' Cathay in black. The first one I made was a hit, so I'm back to fields of stockinette again. I think I'll try a saddle shoulder instead of a set-in one this time, just to break up the monotony a little bit. I've managed to finish the body up to the armholes, and I'm about halfway through one sleeve. I don't know why I wrote in my notes that I used 10 skeins (1100 yards) for my first sweater, since I think I'm going to be at least two skeins short.

The next sweater I'm making is for myself. Hege I traded knitting books, and I ended up with Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I love all of the patterns, and I started on the Hourglass Sweater almost right away. I was able to use some yarn out of my stash. This is the first yarn I ever bought, and after an unsuccessful lace sweater it's been frogged and waiting for more years than I'd care to admit. I remembered it as being 100% alpaca, but it seems to maybe have some cotton in it, too. It's a solid blue - any variation you see in the picture is the result of lumpy knitting making shadows. Thankfully it will be blocked. The fiber is a tiny bit scratchy, but apparently my Dutch genes have made me invincible to wool's scratchiness, so no problem there. My gauge was one row too short and I couldn't fix it, so I'm reworking some of the shaping in the pattern. Right now I'm 16 rows short of the armholes. I'm pretty impressed that I knew enough way back then to buy enough yarn to make a sweater. At the time I purchased this, I had never heard of Barbara Walker, fair isle, or double pointed needles - when sock patterns mentioned a set of 4 needles, I thought there was some magical way that you worked with the straights, all needles moving at the same time.

The Crichton remains are still waiting until I decide if I want to make something useful out of the body, or unravel it and use the yarn for socks. However, I did buy some beautiful wool from Morehouse Farm and started a much-altered version of Snow Sky, also from Sweaters From Camp. I've downsized the pattern a lot so it will fit better, and have also turned it into a cardigan. I don't really like the way the shoulders are worked in the original pattern, so I'm trying to come to an alternate solution. So far I think set-in sleeves would look nice. I'm going to have to do some charting to see if I prefer trying to match the pattern across the sleeves and body, or if I should let the sleeves have their own design. I've finished one pattern repeat, which is about 6.5".

some reconstruction

2006-09-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

I pulled my Crichton Cardigan out of the drawer the other day and had a hard look at it. I tried it on a few times, posed a few different ways in the mirror, and came to the indisputable truth:

First, that it is at least two sizes too big for me. (I was afraid What Not to Wear would show up any second.)

And secondly, that I would never wear something this vibrant. The colors are beautiful, but if it remained the way it was, only my drawer was going to be appreciating that.

So, I ripped:

This is what's left now. I think I might make it into a pillowcase. It really is so soft, and the colors and pattern are lovely. I'm also extremely proud of it - this was my first foray into colorwork.

Of course, I'm not going to leave the ripped out yarn sitting idly - so why not make them into socks?

This was as far as I was able to get with the hot pink and some of the white. When ripping, I discovered that the pink had bled onto the white in some places. I figured if I used the stained white with the pink, it would be much less obvious. My plan seems to have worked, because I can't tell at all that the pink is stained. I still have half a ball of the pink left, so I'm sure that I'll be able to get a full pair of socks. I have enough white to sink a boat - no worries there. This sock is based on Meg Swansen's design in the Vogue Fall 2006. I did a pattern of snowflakes (found in Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around) instead of diamonds, and added a few rows of 1x1 ribbing at the top to help keep it up.

I was able to completely finish a pair of socks (this time following Meg Swansen's pattern without any additions) out of leftover charcoal and white. As you can tell, I really, really like this sock pattern. The arch shaping makes it so comfortable, and I love the striping up and down the leg. It's also much easier to make socks out of the ripped yarn than anything larger. Because I had used steeks in the cardigan, I have many short pieces of yarn instead of the nice tidy ball you might get otherwise. With a sock, I'm able to get about three rounds out of a length of yarn, whereas with something larger I'd be having to reconnect it every half round or so. I tried spit splicing, but for some reason it's just not working for me. At any rate, adding in a fresh piece of yarn only slows me down about half an hour for each sock. Not a big deal to me.

So! I am of course going to finish and make a mate for my pink sock, and I'll be able to make a mate for my red sock that I posted earlier out of my leftovers. This makes me especially happy, since otherwise I would have had to buy another skein to complete the pair. All of this success got me thinking about my poor silk yarn, which I've ripped a number of times, unsuccessfully and half-heartedly tried to sell, and finally shoved it into the back of my yarn container and tried to forget about. Surely, if something can be made out of 20 inch lengths of yarn, I could do something with this?

Enter Clapotis, a very popular pattern on Knitty.com.

This pattern takes good advantage of all of the qualities of the Reynolds Mandalay silk. It uses strips of stockinette between the dropped stitches, which allow the beautiful color variations to show. I had tried making lace out of it, but the variations got lost and it looked very muddy. The pattern also allows the silk to hang however it wants and still look nice. The garments I tried to make out of it were a mess of heavy material, which sagged in some undesireable places. I don't think I'm going to be buying a 100% silk yarn again (I don't mind if it's mixed in with more elastic fibers), but I've definitely gotten over my disappointment for now.

norwegian sock and some more angora!

2006-08-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my Norwegian socks. I was shocked to see how tiny my feet are after finishing this. The fit is lovely, and I have high hopes that the bit of curling on top will go away after a good wash. The red striping reminds me a little of an illustrated view of one's nervous system, but I think it's kind of cool. The second sock is going to be on hold until I can make the trip to Morehouse Farm for some more red yarn. In the meantime, I'm going to start another pair in charcoal and cream. I really don't have any idea how I'm going to wear these (I returned the boots that I mentioned earlier - they were just too clunky on me), but even if I have to hide them under jeans I will be proud and WARM!

How many of you will groan when I tell you that the angora lace sweater is no more? I finished everything except the buttonband, tried it on and realized it was way too bulky to very be stylish. This is the fourth pattern that I've made from Vintage Knits (Sarah Dallas), and the fourth that I've been unhappy with. I think it might be time for the book to be donated to the library - it has beautiful pictures, but clearly something isn't working for me. The angora is now becoming a very thick, soft scarf. I only have a few more repeats left and it will be done, with just enough yarn left over for matching gloves (maybe gauntlets?). Can you see my tulips in the pattern? I'd like to think they're more visible in real life - today was my only day for blogging, and of course it had to rain. The picture only shows one, but there are actually two separate bands of patterns in the scarf. I'll photograph the whole thing when it's finished.

lace cardigan and norwegian stockings

2006-08-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

The angora, it seems, can be turned into something. I'm following the lace cardigan pattern from Sarah Dallas's Vintage Knits, and so far it's going well. I've finished the back and will start the fronts as soon as the humidity holds off - sweat and angora fuzz do not work so well together. I'm probably going to end up with 3/4 length or cap sleeves, but that's fine with me. I think it's going to look really nice once it's all washed and blocked.

In more photogenic news, I've just started the Norwegian stockings that Meg Swansen had published in the latest Vogue (Fall 2006). The pattern is absolutely gorgeous, and it's going so quickly for me. I'm using up some leftover Morehouse merino wool instead of the suggested Schoolhouse brand. The stripes go on the left and right of the leg, and the diamond pattern runs down the front and back of the leg. Not so coincidentally, the red matches perfectly with the new Kenneth Cole boots I just bought. It's going to be a lovely fall.

Whoops - more knitting bad luck. The stocking pattern is completely incorrect from the heel flap on. If anyone else is working on these, I've already contacted Vogue Knitting and Meg Swansen and will post the response once I get it.
And here it is!

knitting has me treed

2006-07-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

I have hit such a knitting wall.

My angora sweater has been ripped and re-done too many times to count, and is now waiting patiently in little balls. I tried some different lace patterns, but so little of the brown was being used that I decided it wasn't worth it. I am not in the mood to be adding yarn to my collection - I really want it knitted up and in use. I think I may make a cropped jacket out of it. I need to think more about what stitches I'll be using (maybe beads, too?) but I know what the basic style will be.

I have finally come to terms with the fact that Annie Modesitt's top-down silk corset is just not going to work out for me. In my first attempt, I managed to get to the waist before trying it on and finding it a little too small for it to be truly comfortable. That is when I realized that either the math is off for the amount of stitches to cast on, or Art Yarns' Regal Silk has way more stretch than Reynold's Mandalay. I recalculated a few numbers and cast on for two sizes bigger. This time I was more careful to try it on, and by converting it to the round it was easier to judge fit. It was going tolerably well until, again, I reached the waist. That's when I realized that this pattern is definitely not meant for someone who has 8" difference between bust and waist. The corset looks incredibly lumpy on me - not quite the look I was going for. I considered short rows, but really I am just so sick of knitting this that I think it's over. Again, this leaves me with quite a bit of silk yarn with no purpose. I am so adamantly against having a stash with no purpose, but I think fate is conspiring against me! I think I might make this into some sort of shell or short-sleeved sweater, but for now it has me boggled.

All of this is particularly frustrating, since I've promised myself that I can't start work on my next fair isle sweater until I finish these two projects. Grr.

designing an angora sweater

2006-07-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

I learned an important designing lesson tonight.

My angora sweater has a huge brown border - it totals at 5.5" on the body, and on the sleeves it's 5". I had lofty ideas of this border ending at my waist, so that when the blue began my waist would be nicely accented. I also thought that having the lighter color on the bottom would do lovely things with shadow.

After having to rip out my silk corset-style tank because of severe sizing issues, I became suspicious of my angora sweater. Upon trying it on (what I thought was the whole body of the sweater, and about 33% of one sleeve) I discovered that all of my pretensions at designing had been even worse than I'd imagined. The body's wide border looked as though I hadn't had enough blue yarn (we're hoping this isn't true) and decided to just throw in some brown to help it along. The sleeves looked very mismatched from the body, although with that monstrosity it would be hard to find any sleeve to match it. Its only good points were the fit and how lovely the angora looked.

Slowly I realized that I had been too severe with my decisions. Gigantic borders and geometric prints are fine, but not when put on a rather ordinary little sweater. I tried folding up the borders to see how it looked, but it just wasn't what I had in mind. Plus, who wanted to deal with all of that leftover brown angora, when there are so many tesselating fish to knit already? I was almost about to rip it all out and sell my disappointment on Ebay when I had a stroke of inspiration. Hundreds of outrageous designs, by people like Michael Kors and Kate Spade, sell every year. The trick in this case wasn't to dull down the outrageous, but go completely overboard with it. I put on my most designer-y jeans and thought it out. By pulling the body down a good three inches on my body, the brown now looked like the border it was supposed to be. In doing this, my partial sleeve slipped a little over my hand - perfect. The body now ended just below my bust line. By starting a v-neck at this point I'll not only save on yarn, but will complete my "extreme" look.

I have high hopes for this sweater now. I think it is going to look quite respectable - but heaven save me if I change my mind one more time!

Edited to add that I just looked and I have nowhere near enough blue yarn, and the Internet has never even heard of Unger's Yum Yum. I am going to have to think.

another multi-project update

2006-06-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm back from under the Mason-Dixon line, and while there has not been a lot of blogging, there has certainly been some knitting.

The tesselating fish are steadily growing, most appropriately being knit on the beach. I now have seven purple, six pink, four red and seven gray fish with another on the needles. I am having lots of fun making these. The pattern is short enough to memorize and execute quickly, but there is lots of interest in making it - each row is different. I am using US 8s for each fish, but as you can see there are slight variations in size, as all of my yarns are different. With careful placement and seaming these differences shouldn't be an issue in the final project.

I greedily decided that I did not want to start the wool short-sleeved sweater yet, since I couldn't wear it immediately in this heat. Instead I opted for a silk camisole also found in Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits. I substituted the Rowan that was recommended with Reynold's Mandalay in color #12, a heathered purple which is more of an eggplant color than is shown in the picture. The silk looked lovely knitted tightly on US1s, although I had to take frequent breaks since it is so non-elastic. I got nearly halfway done with the camisole before I finally came to terms with the fact that this pattern was just not going to work for me. The fabric is too thick for a piece that is meant to be for summer, and while the seed stitch looks so pretty, it is just not attractive on. The word "sausage" comes to mind. I am going to let this sit for a little while longer in case anything miraculous occurs to me, but I think ultimately this is going to be ripped. I have Annie Modesitt's corset top in mind for another project for this yarn. The gauge is looser than what I was struggling for on the US1s, and I think the yarn may behave nicer for this project.

Crichton has its buttons on. I always want to use the masculine pronoun with Crichton, even if it is knitted in pinks and oranges. There will be modeled shots as soon as the clouds go away. The Vogue cardigan will also be modeled, as soon as I can find some hook and eye closures.

many new things

2006-06-09T05:33:00.000-07:00

The angora sweater is steadily plugging along. I have decided on a v-neck, with 3/4 length sleeves. The brown ribbing on the body measures at 5.5 inches, so I think the ribbing on each sleeve will be 2.25 inches. I'm going to have a good amount of yarn left, but I think the sweater will look nicest this way.
The body measures 12 inches right now. I think I may start the neck shaping now.

I've also picked out a new sweater to start. It will have to wait a few days because I'll be using the same needles as those for the angora sweater. It's the "beaded sweater" from Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas.

I'm making mine with some leftover Morehouse merino, instead of the Rowan Botany that is suggested. You can see a little ball of the color resting on the page. The color is "charcoal", and as you can see it's a very dark gray. I'm wondering if black beads would look nice, or if I should choose something lighter. I'll take a trip to the bead store later this week and decide.

And finally, one more project. I inherited a lot of yarn a few years ago. I probably have close to 75 skeins. The problem is, not a single one matches. They were all sample skeins that my grandmother used to receive for free. I've been trying to think of something to do with them, because I'd rather not give them away - call me sentimental. I've decided to do a tesselating fish blanket .

The gray fish is made out of fake chenille, and the red fish from Lion Brand's woolease in cranberry. Right now I have 4 gray fish and 1 red one. The pattern is really fun, and each fish only takes me about half an hour. The fin detailing is my favorite part, and I also love how garter stitch so accurately depicts scales. I'm excited to finally have a solution to all that yarn, and to make some room underneath my bed!

a new angora sweater

2006-06-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

I bought some angora a few months ago and, since Crichton is reclining until buttons are found, it was finally time to use it up for a sweater. This sweater is going to be kind of tricky, since I bought the yarn on a close-out and there was no yardage listed on the label. It's all Yum Yum brand, and I have 5 balls of the brown and 8 of the blue - I think it will be enough. I get exactly 2 inches out of one ball in the body, and the body is roughly 34 inches around, with the steek.

Here is the beginning of the sweater.

I want it to be fitted and I'm aiming for long sleeves, but I can settle for 3/4 if that's what it comes down to. The body has a deep border in a 2x2 rib where the yarn crosses over in the front every other row, making the rib lie flatter and less elastic. The border reaches to the waist, and then the blue diamond pattern starts. I hope this accentuates the waist instead of just making me look heavy.

I'm making a 7 stitch steek in the back, and will later cut and attach button bands so that it buttons up like a 1950s-era cardigan. I want another deep border on the sleeves, but I'm not sure if I should make it 5.5" like the body's border, or if I should continue it up to match the body's when the arms are lying flat. I think the former idea may be more attractive. I'm always wavering between a rounded neck or a v-neck, and raglan or set-in sleeves.

I hope it turns out pretty. If not, the angora is surprisingly easy to frog, so I can try again. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. If this is a completely lost cause, I think I will look through Vintage Knits and pick out a pattern from there.

crichton takes an outing

2006-05-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what I did today? Here's a hint:

The Crichton Cardigan's ends are all woven in, and button bands (finally) correctly on. Blocking did wonders for it - I really think it turned out beautifully, even if I did keep on forgetting that I had purposely made holes for buttons and kept on trying to darn them. Ugh. I'm glad that part is over.

I think maybe silver buttons?

this week

2006-05-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering where I am, well, it's finals week and it's pouring rain and I'm supposed to be packing to leave here at 9am on Saturday morning, which is the same day that I start my new job.

Yikes!

No pictures will be available for awhile because of all those reasons, but I have made a little bit of progress. I determined that I did have enough yarn to do the button bands on Crichton properly, so I've decided to rip out the wrong one and do them as the pattern instructs. I have half of one done correctly (complete with buttonholes!), but I still need to rip out the other side. And find buttons, for that matter!

The Vogue cardigan is all done! I need to find some hook-and-eyes to make it close, though, since it hangs a little funny without them. Three guesses why I haven't had the time to buy the hook-and-eyes.

I've also started knitting two teddy bears for a friend whose birthday is coming up soon. She collects bears, and I thought this might be a nice gift. I am loosely basing them aroundKnitty's "Bubby". The smaller one is almost done except for a leg, and I've started making a sweater for him (or her?). I'm making the bears out of leftover Cascade 220 from the Vogue cardigan, and their sweaters and hats are going to be made from some scrap yarn.

I hope to do a real post with pictures next week!

crichton cardigan is close to finished

2006-05-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

I finished the neck edging and the left side of the front facing before realizing that I may need to make some more changes to the Crichton Cardigan's pattern. I accidentally didn't continue the front facing up to the neck edge, making a right angle between the two. It would be a little more work than I feel like doing to pick up stitches along the neck and try to make it fit, or to rip out the entire facing and try again. I'm also very close to running out of the periwinkle color, and I don't feel like paying $9.50 for another 220 yards of it, or just risking it and see how it goes. So, I'm thinking that I'm going to put it snaps.
I like how this looks better, anyway, I think. I wasn't a big fan of how the front facing broke up the pattern. I'm going to have to work out the more technical details still, and find a local place that will sell me the snaps. I think it will go nicely, though.

vogue cardigan continues

2006-04-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Vogue cardigan #34 is coming along nicely. As you can see, the back and half of the front are completely done. I've reversed the back so that you can see the patterning in this picture. The second half of the front is currently on the needles. I've just completed the last row of knots on it, so I'm about halfway done. I like the design of this a lot (even if I do have to seam it later). As you can see, the front folds back to show a series of knots around the neck. I like working that pattern - it breaks up the monotony of stockinette, but isn't so difficult that you need to keep on referencing the pattern. I'm also happy that I used the Cascade 220 that I had waiting for a sweater. I don't think I would have been very happy with the more summery blend that was recommended in the magazine. I think my stitch definition is much nicer than the modeled sweater, too. I am enjoying the warm weather here, but I hope we have at least one more drop in temperature so I can wear this sweater soon.

Vogue belted cardigan (spring '06)

2006-04-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

While Vogue Knitting magazine can sometimes come out with really vile stuff, there is usually at least one project in each issue that I like. This time it was #34, the Belted Cardigan. I had been wanting to make a cardigan out of some Cascade 220 that I had, and this pattern was (almost) perfect. I'm making the sweater shorter, with only 13" from hem to underarms instead of 15". I'm also going to add snaps so that the cardigan can close, and I'll be getting rid of the belt. So far it has been a very quick and enjoyable project. I'm using #8 needles, and the material is flying out. I'm already up to the armholes after only two days of knitting.

crichton cardigan has one sleeve

2006-04-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Crichton Cardigan looks quite jaunty here. Its first sleeve is all finished, and this time it actually fits. It's a little bit larger than I normally would make sleeves, but I like the look. I couldn't figure out the directions for the decreases at all, so I made up my own that seemed to work well. I knit the first and last of the underarm stitches in the dark color, and then decreased the underarm stitches (following the same rate as the directions) inside each dark color stitch.

disappointment

2006-04-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I got all the way to the end of the sleeve and realized that what I'd been worrying about the entire time was true: something is very wrong. The sleeve is HUGE and does not match up at all with the directions. (I should have 70 stitches at the end, and instead I have 106.) I'm going to rip it out and try again. I'd rather fix this now than finish the sweater and have something that I'll never wear.

Oh well. I'd just run out of cream yarn, so I guess this is one way to prolong the knitting experience!

EDITED TO ADD: I've figured out the problem with the Crichton Cardigan's sleeves. The pattern instructs to cut the right armhole steek. I cut the armhole that would be the right when I was wearing it - turns out this is actually the left. I should have cut the one that is on your right when the cardigan is facing me. I hope this helps anybody else that is working on this sweater. I'm off to start again, this time reversing the decreasing instructions so that I'm decreasing away the underarm stitches, and not the sleeve stitches.

crichton's sleeves begin

2006-04-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

A current picture of Crichton.

In celebration of spring, it's sprouting a tiny little sleeve. That's exactly four inches - there are twelve more to go before I do my two inches of border and bind off. My work on this has slowed immensely. I'm in a production of The Marriage of Figaro, and it's eating up all of my time. No matter - soon I will be graduated and have plenty of time for my household hobbies.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post. That night I pondered for a very long time and finally came to the conclusion that my solution was right. My problem was that I had no idea how a neck steek worked, but by looking at other sweaters in the book I slowly worked it out. After binding off what I was 99% sure were the shoulders I went to bed, and the next morning woke up to people telling me that I was indeed correct - what a relief!

how do you solve a problem with a crichton?

2006-03-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

Well, the good news - the steeks are all enforced, and the right armhole has been cut. I could never have done it without Eunny's amazing tutorial. I tried to figure out a crocheted steek from Sweaters From Camp and it just didn't click. I'm so grateful to Eunny for taking the time to make her tutorial.

The bad news - I am officially stuck in the instructions. I made it all the way through the Neck Opening until reaching the last sentence: "Weave shoulders stitches." Alright, fine...but where are the shoulders? They must be there, right? I've re-read all of the previous instructions and can't see where I might have gone wrong. I put in a plea to Rebekkah, and am hoping that she'll find the magical sentence that I seem to be missing. I puzzled over it for about two hours last night before deciding to go ahead with the steeks. Then I made the mistake of reading ahead to the Neck Band instructions. The pattern wants me to knit up stitches from the holder on the right front of the neck (no problem), along the right side of the neck (okay), stitches on the back holder -- what!? I don't have a back holder! - and then along the left side of the neck and from the holder on that side as well. I read through the pattern a few more times and can't find any mention of a back holder. I'm hoping that once the mystery of the shoulders is solved, this will be cleared up as well.

Oh wait - are the shoulders just the remaining stitches on the front, and the "back holder" neck stitches those in the middle that won't be used, as there are approximately 22 less stitches on the front than in the back? (Those 22 stitches are currently on the front neck holder.) This may be right. I'll have to ponder it for awhile.

finished black stockinette sweater

2006-03-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

The recipient was uncomfortable with being photographed, so I had to settle for an unmodeled picture. The sweater fits excellently though, I promise.

Materials: I used about 10 balls (1100 yards) of Debbie Bliss' Cathay (50% Cotton, 35% Viscose Microfibre, 15% silk) in color #12001, which as far as I can tell is just black. I knit on US3 needles, at a gauge of 6 stitches + 9 rows = 1 square inch.

Pattern: I took measurements off of a Gap men's sweater, size medium for the width of the body and length from the bottom hem to the underarms. The sweater is knitted entirely in the round in stockinette, with sewn hems at the cuffs, bottom and neck to prevent curling. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's instructions for a set-in sleeve, found in Knitting Workshop - an infinitely valuable book if you can find a copy. I increased the body by one inch on each side before the underams, because otherwise I found that after grafting, the underarms were much too tight. I didn't like EZ's instructions to short-row shape the back for a "better shape", so after my sleeve decreases I merely bound off the shoulders and finished the neck. When I tried the short-row method, the sweater looked like it had been made for Quasimodo, and there were large holes in the shoulders, even though I used the wrapping method.

Thoughts: I love the way the sweater turned out, and definitely plan on knitting another, but I think I'll take a break before I start. That much stockinette would drive anybody crazy. The recipient is adamantly against any stitch patterning except for stockinette, but I think he could perhaps be convinced if I started a sweater in, say, a 3x1 rib and then informed him that it was for him. The Cathay is lovely to work with and I would definitely purchase more. If you're interested in trying it out, check Ebay first. I found it a little overpriced at full retail value.

crichton update

2006-03-29T06:55:00.000-08:00

Not too much visual difference, but I've finished the armhole steeks. Next I work on the neck opening. I didn't get too much knitting done on this in the past week, because I wanted to finish the black stockinette sweater. I completed it yesterday, and after it blocks I will post pictures.

crichton

2006-03-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

I've made a lot of progress since my last post on Crichton. I completed two pattern repeats (about 15") before beginning the armholes. I'm now 20% done with the armholes, after which I continue on to the neck and then knit my sleeves down. Here's a picture of the back. (The front isn't so nice right now because the steek stitches mess up the pattern.)

I think it's pretty! Thanks to everyone who commented with anti-ripping out slogans - you were right.

Now I'm going to take some time with my black stockinette pullover. Pictures aren't really worth it because it's decidedly unphotogenic. However, I've combined the sleeves and body on one needle, and am currently decreasing it with Elizabeth Zimmerman's instructions for a set-in sleeve.

crichton, new yarn.

2006-03-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is Crichton so far.

So close to one repeat, but my hands started hurting last night and I had to stop with only 2 rounds to go. I'm actually not very happy with it. (I just realized now that it's folded a little strangely, I swear it's symmetrical. It's hard to make it stay flat for a minute to take a picture.) I'm scared it might be ugly - I don't usually wear so many colors at once. My roommates and I had a conference and they both think that it's fine, and one told me that she'd wear it if I don't want to. I'm not allowed to rip it out. The exact words were actually, "If you rip it out, we rip off your neck". So I guess it stays. I'm a little happier with it now that I'm looking at it in the picture. Maybe we've just spent too much time up close and personal.

And a huge "thank you" goes to Hege, who left advice for me in my last post. I found it very helpful to stretch the stitches on the right needle while pulling the new color over. It is already so much more even looking. I think the beginning parts will block out okay, and with my new technique it should be at least technically beautiful, even if the colors are a bit much. (And I have to admit that now I'm actually having fun, and am already picking out my next project from the book.)

I didn't do much knitting today, but I did stop at a local yarn store, which is sadly closing in a few days. I'd already gone a few weeks ago and got enough Cascade in a natural white for a sweater, at 25% off. I tried my luck today and came out with masses of angora, all at half price. I got blue and tan in a brand called Yum Yum - 50% angora, 25% lambswool, 15% acrylic and 10% nylon. I'm thinking about a pattern for a lightweight sweater. I have my heart set on the brioche stitch, but we'll see if it actually looks good when I swatch. I also got a few skeins of something called "Au Bouton D'or Angora" (roughly "a bit of gold", if my French isn't too rusty). It's a pretty soft gray with, well, a bit of gold woven through it. I think it will become a scarf, or maybe just ornamental on something else. It says 70% angora, but mysteriously leaves out the other 30%. I have been thinking horrible things about what it may be. Blogger refuses to show you the picture. I'll take one another day so you can see how pretty it is.

proof that I actually started Crichton.

2006-03-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

IF YOU'RE USING BLOGLINES: This post isn't showing up right. Look at my actual journal if you'd like a less confusing version of it. Sorry! I don't know what's going on with it.

A snow day on Thursday meant that I got to spend some quality time with the Crichton cardigan. So far I really like the colors that I chose. I think the knitting itself is looking okay, but I'm scared to say anything. I don't really know all that much about fairisle knitting or what it's "supposed" to look like, so for all I know my technique is awful. I would appreciate any criticism.

On the top is my first attempt at the border. The orange yarn on top of it will be added later in the project. This attempt has since been filed away so that I can cannibalize the yarn in it later. The picture in the middle shows my current attempt. I think it's coming out pretty well. (By the way, forgive me now for the quality pictures of my hand. These needles absolutely will not go straight, and there's no other way to take a picture that shows the patterning.)

On the bottom there's a picture of the whole thing. Yay! The chart I'm working on now is pretty complicated. It's exciting to watch the progress as I knit it. I'm glad I picked some warm tones, because working on this part with just the cream, periwinkle and gray is just a little bit too dull.

triple project update.

2006-02-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

All done, and given to my mom because they match a scarf I made for her awhile back. Those are her hands modelling them. Everyone who saw them was thrilled with the way the fingers became striped, and I have to say I thought it was pretty nifty, too. The gauge turned out to be 10 stitches and 13 rows = 1 square inch. Nice and tiny.

I am sad to say that in a fit of "something is not right!" I ripped out the entirety of the black stockinette sweater I am making. My issues: I thought I would be all clever and knit it flat to the underarms, and then work set-in sleeves in the round. Haha. The seaming was way too bulky in the underarms and made them much too small. I was also very unhappy with Elizabeth Zimmerman's instructions for the shoulders. Even though I wrapped my short rows, when the shoulders were binded off together they had this strange little eyelet thing going on. I hate having holes in my knitting that I didn't plan for. So the whole thing is ripped, and I'm starting again. Everything will be in the round this time, and I think I know what to do to alter Zimmerman's instructions to work for me. I am 1/3 of the way done with the body so far. Sigh.

Camera just died when I was about to post a picture of my progress on my sweater for the Sweaters from Camp knitalong. The colors look very nice together and I am definitely happy with them. The cord in my circular needles was so incredibly loopy that I accidentally twisted the stitches when I joined in the round. Hooray, time for my first steek! I did beautifully up one side, and then got too excited and cut about 6 live stitches. I'm pretty sure that it's fixed, but I'm thinking I might unravel this, too, and start again. My tension is actually looking pretty good, but, well, why not. I'm not working on it until I get the body of the black sweater done, though, so I'll have some time to sit on it and think.

crichton cardigan begins

2006-02-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

I finally received my copy of Sweaters from Camp, so I'll be officially joining Rebekkah's knitalong.

My first impressions: Honestly, I was really disappointed with this book when I flipped through it for the first time. There is a ton of text in the beginning, but of course I was too impatient to read that and had to go right to the pretty pictures. The first pattern section is entirely vests. I absolutely hate wearing vests, nor will I ever knit one. Then we have "Small Things", or "things for your children or chihuahua" (neither of which I have, thank God) which was another disappointment. Pullovers and cardigans follow, and by this point I started to slow down and really look at the patterns.

The colorwork is really amazing on all of the sweaters. I have a real respect for every person who designed them. Nothing really caught my eye until I found the Crichton cardigan way in the back. I love the flower designs on it and am very excited to get started. I already knew that I wouldn't be using the shetland wool, and it was when I was playing around with other color options that it finally hit me what bothered me about this book. It's the colors! Everything is either muted and murky, or really violently red or orange. None of that sums up what I would actually enjoy or wear. So now that I've paged through it again, I can say that this book wasn't a waste of money, and I will probably knit at least one other sweater out of this book. I'm still kind of bummed out that nearly everything is dropped shouldered (definitely not a good style for football-shoulder me), but after I make this first cardigan I should have a better understanding of how to change the shaping for another. Even though the text in the beginning is marvelously instructive, I was a little miffed when under "Set-in Sleeve and Saddle Shoulder" it just says, "Knit body to wanted length to underarm. If you choose one of these more abstruse shapes, you are on you rown; describe in detail. Work to bottom of neck opening". Gee, thanks.

So, progress. By some miracle I am actually going to need needles larger than what is called for. Instead of US2s and 3s I am using US3s and 4s. I've been practicing my tension with the two handed technique and it is improving very nicely. I've discovered that stranding is definitely harmful for my work, and that I have to be sure to pull my stitches tight with both hands, since for some reason I have a tendency to let them droop and completely ruin the fabric.

I can't post pictures right now, but here is a little palette of the colors I will be using. They're all from Morehouse Farm, a local business.

I'm using their 2-ply yarn. All of the colors can be found on this page, since I apparently can't link to each color separately.) I'm using a pretty natural white (picture here) for the background. I'm not going to be doing the variegation like in the pattern, mostly because I'd like to keep this first project simple. The flowers are going to be three colors: peach, persimmon and raspberry. The striping around the flowers will be two colors: charcoal and violet. I already own sufficient wool in the raspberry and charcoal, so this will also work out to be a good stray-yarn-user-upper.

I was pretty nervous about choosing the colors, since I've never done anything like this before and I don't really know what it's going to look like, but I tried it out on graph paper before I bought anything. The clerk also reassured me that it would be "lovely", so perhaps I can blame it all on her if it isn't...

she grows!

2006-02-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

progress.

2006-02-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

I'm very close to finishing this. I only have to do about 10 more rows, shape the neck, and sew in the hem. Then I can graft my underarms, tuck in the loose ends, and throw the whole thing in the washer to get rid of the debris that it has collected.

This is the other project I'm working on right now. I'm trying to work my way through the leftover bits of yarn I own, and discovered that I have quite a bit of some beautiful lace weight merino left over. I wish I knew the number of stitches to the inch, but am without a ruler right now. (Bad, I know). It's being worked on US 0s, if that gives you any idea. I'm winging the pattern, but I have faith that it will be fine.

lots and lots of stockinette.

2006-01-29T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here's the pillowcase I was working on for a present. It's going to be one out of three - all will have the same colors, but a different geometric pattern. I've "made up" the pattern for all of them, with lots of help from 1000 Knit Motifs. I used Knitpicks Crayon on US 6s and I completely hated it. It was the most splitty yarn ever, it hurt my hands and as you can see it doesn't have very good definition at all. For it's benefit, though, I do have to admit that it is very squishy when it is all knit up. Fun to own the pillow, not so much fun to make it. The pillow was knitted in the round, and then I crocheted two seams to close it. It used about one skein of blue and one of green.

These are mittens that I made for myself, since my old ones didn't match my new winter coat (boo hoo). I wish I could remember what yarn I used - I inadvertantly threw out the tags. I remember it was 100% wool, and possibly Italian. It is perfect for mittens. The wool is so soft, yet knits up into a nice sturdy fabric. I used US 4s, I believe. Also, a bonus - if you look closely, you will see my cat's paw delicately showing them off, much in the manner of Vanna White.

Here is the Sweater of Doom, a.k.a. The Blob. Debbie Bliss Cathay in black, US 3s, and lots and lots of stockinette. The sleeves and body are longer than they appear in the photo - everything is pretty bunched up on the needle right now. I'm doing something potentially innovative with this design, although I'm pretty sure that it's been done before. To give the cotton blend some stability, I knitted everything in pieces up to the underarms. Then I learned mattress stitch, and did a surprisingly neat job of joining everything together, or at least I thought so. Now it is all on a circular needle, and I will be following Elizabeth Zimmerman's directions from The Knitting Workshop (best knitting book ever) for a set-in sleeve. I wish it weren't so bulky or I could probably be getting more work done on it during rehearsals and such.

My copy of Meg Swansen's Sweaters from Camp is slowly making its way to my house, as well, so I will finally be able to pick out a project and some yarn for Rebekkah's knitalong.

purple scarf.

2005-12-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

Here's my finished lace scarf out of Morehouse Merino. It's laceweight, in purple. The design is Barbara Walker's Ogee Lace from her first treasury.

Here it is hanging in the window. Because it's double-sided, you don't really get to see the flowers inside of the S curves.

first post

2005-12-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is my new knitting journal. Hopefully it will soon be full of lots of pictures and content. For now, here's a picture of my newest finished project.

A (mistakenly) adapted pattern from Barbara Walker called "Frost Flowers". Knit in the round on US2s and laceweight yarn in persimmon from Morehouse Farm, a local yarn store.