Felted Fair Isle Haversack

In the interest of getting the heck out of Dodge, I planned a trip to northern Europe in December.  Within that trip, I plan to take at least a week (if not 10 days) to tour around Denmark, Sweden, & Finland.  I have no wish to wheel a piece of carry-on luggage around with me through cold & snow to see all of this.

A pack, however, would be fabulous.  And so, the planning began.  A knapsack of sorts, based on the general dimensions of the Red Bag Hand-Me-Down from my mother.  But felted, not leather.  With a Scandinavian-ish fair-isle pattern to tie everything together.

This season's Twist Collective inspired the pattern for my bag.  A hat was elaborated into bag size, with color changes as well as my initial worked in.  Almost ten pages of futzing around on quadrille paper later, everything was ready.  The yarn came from the fruits of my work for my local yarn shop.

Once all 8 skeins of Cascade 220 were caked, knitting began.  First, a swatch to determine dimensions.  Then, a cloud of scribbles in my Book O' Knitting Stuff became the work-up for the bag. 

Much knitting in the run-up to Thanksgiving.  Much knitting on the 10 hour ride to Tennessee.  As a result ==> completion & felting the weekend after Thanksgiving somewhere amongst the deer, rabbit, & varmint hunting.

Tabs to wrap over bars for structure, now determined to be old wooden knitting needles that Mom passed down to me at the beginning of my official knitting career (i.e. at 25, not at 10).

Steeks were worked into the bottom sides to allow for more room.  A strap is planned for carrying, hopefully such that it will keep the bag shut when worn.  At present, the bottom panel is being worked.  Two shades of red worked in a 2x2 checkerboard.  More pics to come as they are available.

Fiddling with a delicious brown.

About a year ago, my mind set itself on making some legwarmer-type spats to go with my brown heels.  I purchased a few skeins of Cashmerino Superbulky by Debbie Bliss in a particularly delicious & complementary shade of chocolate brown.  The project turned out to be quite a bit of FAIL.  Some things are not meant to be.

Undaunted, I ripped them out, bought some very complementary burgundy mohair as an accent, and knitted myself a set of Cleaves from Knitty.  Great pattern.  Great concept.  Great look.  Impossible to work with my personality & style.  I move too much, I swing my arms when I walk, I can't make the ribbed collar stop flipping up all the way around.  They made a wear & half at one Homecoming & were retired.

So they sat on a chair in my bedroom.  For over a year.  Now with my trip to Northern Europe, I'm looking to swell my collection of knitted woolen accessories.  The Cleaves created by a San Fransiscan resident were in no way reasonable for the trip.  The yarn, however...

Frogged for the second time, the Cashmerino yarn was held doubled with a single strand of the KidSilk and knit on size 13 needles in moss stitch with 11 stitches cast on until I ran out of both yarns.  Or so I thought.  I got a scarf 6 inches wide & seven feet long of what should prove to be exquisite warmth.  But I also ended up with a 5th skein of Cashmerino & no KidSilk to go with it.

After a bit of fiddling, I've decided to attempt for a hat made of unorthodox construction.  First, a strip of fabric going from crown to nape.  Then pick up stitches around either side & work a section of hat decreases on either side.  In theory, it should work, but we shall see how it turns out...

Mi-love... Dactylled Mittens

In December, I'm going to northern Europe.  Kitty & Arne live in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, and I haven't been to visit them since 2004.  The last time I laid eyes on Kitty was when she came back to the states for a bit in 2005.  I haven't seen Arne since Germany.

The plan is to do some traveling in Denmark, Sweden, & Finland while I'm there since I'm in the general area.  As with all of my extended trips, I'll take along a blank book of some sort & log most everything I see & do.  But as I'll be so far north as winter descends, it will be COLD.

To prevent frozen fingers, I sorted out a hybrid of mittens & gloves.  Based off of a pair of my father's old leather work gloves in Maine, I've recreated something that should allow me to write without exposing my tender finger tips to the cold. 

Knit from the fingers down with three skeins of CashSilk by Laines du Nord, there is a quasi-mitten for the outside fingers and a single shot for my forefingers.  Hooray, dexterity!!

All three skeins were used, with about a yard and a half left over.  Thumbs were slightly offset to allow for better fit, and the gussets have double decreases every third row (instead of every other, as I usually do).  K2p2 rib on the underside of the wrist for a bit of spring & to minimize the stockinette roll-back.

All that remains is a bit of tidying up of the interior loose ends...

Red Stockings of Awesome. COMPLETE.

Yes, that's right.  After 4 months of knitting sock yarn on size zero needles, I made it over the knees, up the thigh, and into buttonholes for the garter belt.  I. Am. DONE.  And it feels so good. 

A few inches past my knee, all shaping done, I started the band right before the button holes for the garter belt.  At the very end, I added a bit of leftover dark brown Koigu sock yarn for extra heft.  It made for a slight flare at the very end, but I don't mind.

Buttonholes are 5 stitches across each, one each on the front & back of the stocking.  After wearing them all day, I find that they don't quite line up with the connectors, which makes for a bit of a twist by the end of the day.  Again: not a problem.

I am so-so-so happy with how these turned out.  The calf shot shows a bit of the shaping that went into making them fit so well.  A bit maddening at the time, but completely worth it.

Seriously, excited to the point that I made an announcement after a break in class.  Standing on the arms of the stadium seating to show them off & everything.  (Big deal for me.) 

Four months, over 1300 yards of sock yarn, needles the diameter of toothpicks.

So much awesome in one place I can hardly stand it.

Closing in.

Sleeves needed some tapering to get a well-fitted fit, so I worked most of it into the basket stitch along the upper arms.  Once the sleeve circumference was down to 11 inches, I continued straight past the elbows.  Four stitches decreased then total, one every fourth row until they were down to 10 inches.

Sleeves are approaching the proper length, definitely the kind of fit I had sought.  About ready to add the garter/purl ridge to the end before binding off, once I'm sure they're close enough to equal in length.  Then, back to the torso and I'm DONE.

Past & Future Progress

This weekend brings Homecoming at my initial university, which in turn brings ten hours of riding to get there & ten hours back.  There will probably be some switching off on the driving duties, but the fact remains that I'll have all kinds of time for constructive fidgeting this weekend.  Here's hoping for some self-accountability to push me past the "95% done & hibernating" mark into the realm of DONE™.

So a few pictures of what I'm bringing along in hopes of completing:

Red Wine Tunic has made it past the box stitch breast piece, through personalized waist shaping, and nears my hips.  There was a bit of frogging involved in making the textured stitch section aesthetically pleasing, given my lack of rack, but I like the way it looks now.

I'm still undecided about whether or not to add side slits, but that decision may be postponed for later.  For now, there's the tail of the first skein to finish off.

The sleeve skein has been living in the shoulder of the sweater, waiting quietly & out of the way as I progress through the torso.  So perhaps I'll bring along the 4th skein to work on the sleeves while the torso skein languishes instead.

Next is the Pink Estonian Medallion Lace Scarf, which just crossed the 5 repeat line.  Just gotta keep rolling along with this one.  Stick to the chart, log hours, & stay on track.  I've gotten better about keeping everything in line with itself, mostly by keeping count of stitches along the row as I go along.  Hit the half-way point, count 'em out.  Both sides, to keep from losing/adding along the way unexpectedly.  Tedious, but not so much once you get into the habit of it.

I'm also bringing along the Red Stockings of Awesome for some mindless knitting if need be.  I've done all of the increases that are going to get done, so now it's just a romp to see if I can make it another 4 or 5 inches before switching to garter for future belt-holding tabs.

I may bring along the Forestial Colonnade I started a while back.  Working the Collonade pattern from this the Fall 2009 Knitty.  The top part was worked holding together two different shades of green silk-wool blend.  The lower part is worked using some heathered Cascade which may shed more than I like, but is in a darker shade of green that should complement the top part quite nicely.  We shall see.

That said, I may snag something completely different on the way out the door tomorrow morning.  No way to tell 'til clinical is over & the sun has risen...

In Vino Veritas et... In Knitting, Peace

I cannot stay faithful to one project at a time.  At least not any project lasting more than a day or two, and definitely not without a deadline involved.  My fingers & mind need more variety, need something to break up the monotony.

To that end, I keep on hand enough yarn to be able to work an entire project at any point.  In several different weights, colors, and contents.  Lurking, waiting, watching from various nooks in my apartment.  Not counting the oddments collected because they call to me for some unnamed future project.

Earlier this week, I finally needed something new.  Now.  In larger yarn.  Granted, bouncing between lace weight & sock yarn is fun.  Hours working with the lace makes the sock yarn feel like worsted for a bit.  After working on the stockings for a bit, your entire grip & tension must change when going back to lace.

Rummaging in one piece of furniture revealed four skeins of Dream in Color Classy in the colorway "In Vino Veritas".  Worsted weight yarn in a darker red that lightly varies from purple to brick, 250 yards to a skein.  I had wound up two skeins at Knit in early September in preparation/planning for the need to pick up & go, as I knew ahead of time that I'd want to change skeins every other row to keep the color from pooling.

I knew that I wanted a pullover, and wanted to do something from my copy of fitted knits by Stefanie Japel.  After a bit of wobbling & research on Ravelry, I decided on the Textured Tunic. 

Mods involved so far:

• Gauge change from aran weight yarn on a size 10 needle (14sts/4") to worsted weight yarn on a size 9 needle (16sts/4")
• No shoulder slit
• Garter ridge at neckline

I cast on at the start of this week & have chugged along whenever mindless non-class knitting is needed.  The gauge change is such that all I had to do was tinker with the numbers for cast-on at the neck and follow the rules for the largest size to get a 38" bust.


Tonight, I got to the first purl band, where later I'll leave the sleeve stitches on other yarn while I continue on the torso.  The stitches are spread out over two circs to picture, as well as to try on & make sure that the tinkering with gauge width-wise also translates to proper tinkerage height-wise.  (She shoots, she scoooooooores!!)

The plan is to leave one of the two skeins behind on a sleeve so that later the other end can be used as the other half of the other sleeve.  Yeah, three skeins on a sweater at once.  Not sure how I feel about that yet.

In theory, it's awesome, because it'll smooth out any wonkiness in the color change from shoulder to sleeve.  In practice, it may end up being a royal PITA.  We shall see.

Intimidation (or: Bring it, Lacey.)

Within the knitting community, lace seems to be one of those self-defining characteristics.  Kind of like (and seemingly opposing) socks.  These are the things that really intimidate some people, while coming quite easily to others.  I've known people that can p5tbl & make bobbles without blinking, but get a bit queasy when faced with a handful of double points.  Then there are the people that can burn out a pair of socks in a week but whose eyes glaze over at the sight of any single line with less than 5 simple knits in a row.

Over the past year or two, I've been working my way through understanding of socks & now feel comfortable with them.  At this point, I pretty much grok sock construction, from toe to gusset to heel to negative ease & incorporating stitch patterns.  I can do them toe-up or cuff down, and I can make heels with either short rows or a flap & gusset.  Lace?  Still don't really get it yet.

Basic points, I understand. 

• If you're working on something that stays the same size all the way up, then there should be a +1 for every -1.  So each YO should have a k2tog or ssk paired with it.  
• You have to block the finished product or you don't ever get to see the stitch definition.  (To this point I've only ever blocked three of the 80+ projects I've posted to Ravelry, only one actually using pins.  No joke.)
  
• The needle-to-yarn size ratio used in Lace is completely off from everything else I've done.  Bulky yarns use big needles, worsted yarns use medium needles, sock yarn uses small needles.  The needles for my Red Stockings of Awesome are four sizes smaller than those for the lace scarf (and it still kind of bothers me). 

It's just a matter of applying these principles.  I've only had to tink back an entire row once (knock on wood).  I've got lifelines cast at every pattern repeat.  And I have yet to lose/gain any extra stitches in the lace panel. 

But more than one row have ended up shifted left or right by one stitch because I couldn't figure out where I had miscounted.  I figure no one will notice, based on the Prancing Pony Postulate (if it can't be seen from a prancing pony, don't worry about it).

Two pattern repeats are completed at this point.  Black thread lifelines shown in the picture, as well as my rockin' Post-It note method of keeping track of where I am in the chart.

I can do this.  Just not when other people are in the room.  ^_^

A Few New Commissions

My LYS is Knit here in Charleston, SC.  I spend more time there than I need to, but apparently the owner doesn't mind putting up with me.  I make myself useful enough at times.  (Well, "useful" & "amusing" are sometimes the same thing, right?)  Plus, I seem to have a bit of a knack for sorting out common & not-so-common knitting problems.  Oh, and winding yarn.  Apparently the new hasn't worn off yet for me.

Anyway, with all of the knitting that I do in class at school, I've got more time than money for yarn.  The owner Gay has decided to make use of my need for yarn funds by supplying me with yarn & patterns to make display items for the store.  This allows people to get a better idea of what that skein of yarn will become.  As humans, we are primates, and as primates, we like to touch things.  Especially before purchase.

I win by getting store credit in proportion to the time spent working on the project.  Which means yarn, needles, books, buttons, whatever.  SCORE.

The latest commission handed to me is two skeins of Silky Alpaca Lace by Classic Elite Yarns and a copy of Fiber Trends' Estonian Medallion Lace Scarf.  This should be interesting. 

I can do YOs & SSKs & K2togs with the best of them.  I've done lace panels.  I've even done a sk2p or two.  But an entire lace scarf?  On honest-to-Mom laceweight yarn?  No.

This'll be a learning experience.  Oh, and I'm going to be teaching a class around this in November.  Awesome.  Which is not to say it can't be done, mind you.  Just that it's going to take some focus.  I definitely won't trust myself working on this in one of my classes for nursing just yet.

The other commission is for a set of classes to teach how to Magic Loop socks two at a time.  At least that one will be a breeze... I've got more than enough experience on that with the stockings.

Red Stockings of Awesome.

Too pretentious a title?  Never.

Started in early July of 2009, after holding onto two skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn in Tiziano Red for about two months, seeking the proper pattern.  I found the proper pattern for free on Knitty, in the form of Froot Loops.  Wonderful.

But in my great & terrible history, I have rarely if ever been able to complete a pattern without modification.  This one turned out to be no different from the rest.  With two whole skeins of this luscious sock yarn staring at me, I decided to go for stockings.  Because skirts don't do too much to keep the legs warm in winter.  So let's make them dense, too, by knitting them on size 0 needles.

Since my feet are large & my legs are long, they needed to be toe-up.  I tossed in a heel-flap & gusset just because I had learned it in my previous (first) sock design.  And I wanted them to fit tightly, so I decided to do shaping all the way up.  Around a central seam.  First time to Magic Loop two socks on one circ just for fun.  OK.  Onetwothree GO!

Early July saw me start.  Then frog.  Then restart, frog a little, keep going, frog back again (but only part way), and finally be satisfies with the toes.  Sometimes the gauge math just doesn't tell you the whole story.  And I didn't want to use up precious yarn in swatching, so I just kept it to my ability to rip out with impunity that which I have already knit.


Smooth sailing through the heel-flap & narrowing back to the ankle in pattern through the gusset.  In retrospect, I'd rather decrease every third row rather than every other.  (Notes for next time already made.)

When I made it to the ankle officially, I let my twitchy need for exactness out to play.  Mark up the calf in one inch increments, then measure at each mark, notating change in circumference.  Sort out the width & height of pattern repeats, then proceed to chug out stocking within given parameters.

All was well until the upper calf.  Six inches of mock cabling on zeros.  A four row repeat, with two of the rows being "knit knits & purl purls."  With no increases to help keep interest.  It was tough, but accomplished.  Thank heavens for the safety pin marking the measuring point.  Otherwise these would be hibernating.

Earlier this week, I added a third skein.  It was a moment of triumph, coming at the middle of the knee as well.  Then I realized that the color of the 3rd skein matched one stocking but not the other.  At least only an inch or so had passed, so the FROGGING was not as bad as it could have been.  But we're back on track.  Knitting up the thigh to see how far I can get.

Who?

Right.  Good question.

I'm a 29 year-old working on a second Bachelor's degree (in nursing) at the Medical University of South Carolina.  My first degree was in French Studies (a.k.a. "Shooting the Breeze Over a Bottle of Dry Red Wine") a few years ago & only got me into food service.  Nursing will at least guarantee me medical benefits as well as a job.  ^_^

As for knitting...  It's what keeps me sane.  A quiet past time that allows my body & mind to be calm by keeping my hands busy.  Constructive fidgeting during class while taking notes.  An outlet for sculpting fiber through math & other soothingly basic rules.

Pattern design lurks within me, spurring me into starting this.  Perhaps the upkeep here will be the reminder needed to keep me on track.  Ravelry, I can do.  Lots of past projects posted there, you can find me as seraph if need be.

That being said, allow me to attempt a project display...  Don't mind the mess.