seraph knits

COMPLETE: Vest for Mom's mom.

2011-01-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

My last remaining grandparent came down to visit for a time last year. In the midst of the hottest part of the summer, Gran requested that I knit a vest for her to help keep warm. Off to the shop to start the gears turning...

Gran wanted something that would work well with black & brown & khaki & white & cream & all of the other fairly neutral colors that make up her winter wardrobe. But she also wanted to make sure that it had enough punch to "bring some color up to my face. Not too much, but just a little."

I pointed her toward the Noro yarn for their color options. Lots of variety with long color repeats & occasional flashes of bolder color. We decided on a Kureyon with brown, black, red, yellow, & a pink/purple. With the advent of changing colors, it was impressed upon me that vertical stripes would be necessary, as they'd be more slimming. She selected the pink buttons for closure, allowed me to take some measurements & whirled back to Tennessee.

Given that I was to make a vertically striped vest for an A-framed body, I was generally left to my own devices for a pattern. I took the general form of the Navajo vest from Folk Vests by Interweave Press, modified it to fit my gauge, tinkered with the slope of the V-neck, & sallied forth.

Left half of the vest just before first dart graft

Working from the center front around the sides to the back allowed me to match up color repeats at the center front. It being Noro, running out of one skein meant hunting through the remaining skeins to find a similar point in the color repeat.

While I was fairly sure of my measurements, I'd rather a fitting to ensure things were going well before finishing up everything. I didn't see Gran again until just after Christmas, but the fitting went well. Since the gap between the two pieces was in the back, I could take the time needed to sort out proper proportions for the darts without worrying about Gran obsessing over the large wedge of non-fit pointing up to her waist line.

Once I knew exactly how many inches of fabric I needed to add to the lower half: calculations, a deep breath, & "sweater surgery."

First, sort out exactly how much fabric needed to be added, divide it across two smaller front darts and a single large dart in the back. Snip a single point in a single row of knitting, then unravel that single row & place both sides on separate needles. With yarn the approximate color of the hole you opened, use short rows to make the appropriate wedge, then graft together the new wedge & the old edge.

A bit of a gap remained at the top edge of the wedge & the original knit that surrounded it. A minor amount of sewing sealed this gap shut.

Next came the larger short row sections at the back waist, and finally the longest Kitchener graft I have ever done on a single project. Mattress stitch the shoulders together for good measure. Finally, the main body of the vest was complete.

Pick up stitches proportionately around the bottom edge, a multiple of 4 + 2. Work in 2x2 rib for an inch, then bind off all stitches with a Chain Gang to make sure the bind off is loose enough.

Next comes the button band. Pick up stitches along the bottom rib edge, undo the provisional cast on & knit across it, pick up stitches around the V-neck to the other provisional cast on, knit across those newly released stitches, & pick up the few stitches of the other bottom edge rib.

Count your stitches, making sure your numbers are fairly balanced on each half. Set up a 2x2 rib on the way back across, manipulating as necessary to get a multiple of 4 + 2 stitches. Bounce back & forth from end to end, building up the band to hold the vest together.

Toss in a single short row the length of the button hole side to give it a bit more breadth. Work your buttonholes in one row, bounce back from the button side again, add another short row. Chain Gang bind off, then get going on the ribbing for the armholes.

Organize your remaining lengths & scraps & chunks of yarn into the most reasonable approximation of color flow, then commence, spit-splicing as you go. Chain Gang bind off, steam to block, affix buttons, MAIL THAT SUCKER.

Smile when Gran calls to say she got the package in the mail. Smile bigger when Gran calls back three days later to say that the ladies at bridge club really liked it & had some questions about how you made it.

Realignment

2011-01-16T12:54:00.001-05:00

I've been using individual Ravelry projects like my blog.
While that's kind of the same thing? It's really not.
Trying to get my head space properly aligned...

Further Down the Rabbit Hole

2010-10-23T21:47:00.001-04:00

Upon completion of the Danish Sea Shawl, I started seeing how small variables affected the outcome. Changing up at the 1/3 point can do that for you, yanno? On speaking with a customer at the shop that's larger than I am, we discussed how she sought a shawl that had more front-coverage than the typical flat-edged shawl. All I could do was to (1) tell her I may have a solution, (2) offer her the Danish Sea Shawl, (3) doodle for her the full-Danish option, (5) ask her to come back after the 2nd shawl had been completed.

Almost side-by-side shots of both shawls being worn (by me) to follow. (~~At the smallest iteration of photo blogspot will allow me, they're still too wide to fit next to each other. And I'm really not feeling a bout with PhotoShop at this time of night. Maybe later...~~ Problem fixed by tinkering with blog dimensions jan2011.)

For some reason, both shawls sit lower in the photo than they normally do. Generally the blue shawl sits so that the edges are a 1/2 inch below the black band of my tank top. With wear, the green shawl tries to climb up my shoulders so that there's a bit of a roll of fabric near the neckline. It took a good tug outside both shoulders & then at the tip of the bottom to get it to sit perfectly like that.

Anyway, right off the bat, you can see that the neckline of the blue is more open than that of the green. That comes from the accidental batch of slower increases at the center/beginning of the blue shawl. The next shawl won't be quite as wide as that, but you get the idea of what I'm going for. The stripes on the green shawl come from the alternation between yarns. The single skein of CashSilk created the top triangle on the blue shawl.

In the last post, I referred to the green shawl as the "RealTree Camo Wind Armor". If you've known a southern hunter within the last decade or so, you know what I'm referring to. If you don't, "RealTree" is the brand name of a specific kind of camoflauge that uses a print that looks like, well, real trees.

It's not the awkward blotches of old school military forest camoflauge, but a more highly patterned print that ostensibly breaks up the visual field allowing blahblahblaBLAHblahblaaarg. You get the point. It's a name brand camoflauge that markets to humans, not to deer. But it seems to be fairly effective against a background of Eleagnus bushes...

The "Wind Armor" part comes from the fact that the whole thing was knit with DK to worsted weight yarns held double on (mostly) a size 9 needle. It's practically thick enough to stand up on it's own, and works well as a shield against the autumn wind generated by riding around the Lowcountry in a convertible.

Being a single, my spare bed isn't large enough for me to get a good single shot of the shawl spread out over a neutral background, so I offer you a slightly curled photo...

Here you can see how it curls up into a more heart-like outline. The tie-cords were again crocheted chains braided together then knotted at the end.

Next up on the shawl docket will most likely be a brown shawl made of my mother's frogged Moebius. She initially wanted something that looked like a fur, and the buttonholes *totally* wrecked the effect. After trying on both the blue & the green, she OK'd a re-work of my first shawl for her.

Until then, I work on projects to send to Kitty.

In Shawl Insanity

2010-10-22T15:51:00.002-04:00

So last winter, I went to visit Kitty & Arne in Eckernfoerde. In the process, I birthed the Twin Monstrosities of Awesome that are my red leggings. Because I needed something to wear for the cold, right? I also took over a suitcase literally half-filled with an explosion of color in the form of warmth-giving expressions of Love. (Which makes more sense if you know how awkward I am about showing affection.)

A few years ago, I came to the realization that my brain doesn't generate "Art" as most people perceive it. In my head, Beauty has true value only if it has at least some form of Utility. Sometimes the utility may lie simply in the mathematical acrobatics necessary to make it happen. But if you can start with aiming at creation of a tool, start running up the hill of mental ninja skillz, and end with several examples of Woolen Math Gone Awesome? It's deserving of a ::happydance::, to say the least.

So asking Kitty what sort of things would work well for her, she mentioned coming across some examples of traditional Danish tie shawls. Lust auf Farben has some fantastic photos of them. (Check out "STR 11" specifically.) Those feature what looks like an I-cord edging & braided ties.

Now, I could have just bought the pattern & sorted it out from there, right? ::ahem:: Yeah. Right. Instead, I had to sit down with a similar garter-stitch shawl at the shop, pore over the photos & links to every pattern that Ravelry offered up in return for "danish shawl", & then try to determine the best-fit method of getting what I wanted. One month & over 2000 yards of project-specific yarn later, I have some Good Sh*t to show for it.

First came the Danish Sea Shawl (say *that* three times fast) in blues. I had found 660 yards of run-of-the-mill blue variegated worsted wool for deal so obnoxiously good that I momentarily ignored the fact that I work for a yarn shop. I mean, it's a test-drive, right? That's going to be sent overseas, right? I already knew I'd be keeping it out of the shop, since the yarn came from elsewhere, but on top of that, it was going to be almost half a mile of garter stitch. Optimal set of circumstances for drunken/TV knitting.

Hand-winding said worsted wool, I realized that being cheap wool, it felt like... well, cheap wool. But it's blue... Rooting around in the wooden blue bin, I found not only a single skein of periwinkle Laines du Nord CashSilk (69 yeards), but later what appeared to be a skein & a half of sky-blue Rowan KidSilk Haze. Looking back, these made up part of my original Ravatar, so they've been living in my house rent-free for at least 2 years now. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Beginning to Bust the Stash.

As I powered through the end of the CashSilk, I found the KidSilk & started carrying it along. When the good stuff ran out, I picked up the worsted wool in its place & kept going with the mohair. At the point of that first picture, I began to realize that I wasn't increasing fast enough. As it was, I'd end up with a flat-top shawl, & I needed a curly-tipped shawl. Time to up the ante, and there's no point in turning back now: just start increasing more.

Spread out over 4+ circs to see the shape-in-progress

I had been increasing 4 times every 2nd row (1x on the edge, 2x in the center, 1x on the other edge, knit back even). Kicking it into overdrive meant 6 times every 2nd row: (2x on the edge, 2x in the center, 2x on the far edge, knit back even). Here in the 2nd picture, you can kind of see the kink where the super-increases start.

The back of my head encouraged me to put other markers in my work, so when I realized that I was about to run out of the first 220 yard skein of variegated blue yarn, I held along a strand of pale blue Ruca from Aracaunia. That didn't use all of the scrap that I had, so I did it again at the end of my second skein of 220 yards. Which is nice, because I have a good visual on where what will end where for later. Notice the near-halving of the vertical length generated per skein.

As I was trucking along, I got BORED. Wanting it to go faster, I started using larger & larger needles. 8 to 9 to 10 to 11. Mostly one per skein. And as I started to get toward the end, I got to worrying about the bind-off. As it is, I'm a tight knitter, and my bind-offs are worse. I've already had problems with a piece being unwearable because of the bind-off alone, so I needed a plan.

Picot edge bind off gave me the stretchiness I needed while giving a nice finished edge. It sucked up all kinds of yarn, since it involved casting on 2 stitches, then binding off 4 stitches.

With the bitty bit of yarn leftover, I crocheted chains that were later braided together to make the ties. The end results measure about 10" long, with the trailing tails braided as well on one side for additional length.

Getting a picture of me in my shawl without putting myself in the position of needing to do an hour or two of thorough cleaning is a fair task. I've got to post on the RealTree Camo Wind Armor shawl, so I'll see what I can get together when that comes around.

September Shoulders in...

2010-08-25T22:14:00.001-04:00

Suddenly, Dragon*Con looms again on the near horizon. Knitting projects smile at the frenzied bouts of costume tinkering, churning into completion.

The shop founder (Gay) made it back from the mountains, so expect chaos at the shop over the next few days. She's making decisions now as to what's going to be on sale over Labor Day weekend, so come in early to see what we've got to offer. Brianna & Dana did a *fantastic* job of color coordinating the yarn. The Koigu wall is particularly striking (though won't be included in the sale).

The Kollage Yarn KAL is coming along well, with progress steadily being made. September's model has also been completed & is hanging over the register if you want a closer look!

Triumph came in completing the Featherweight Cardigan by knitbot. Because I cannot seem to work a pattern as written, I chose to work it in Malabrigo Sock yarn, using 3 skeins of Lettuce (#37).

Only one catch in the process, and that was when I didn't pay attention as I was picking the sleeves back up. The first tour through, the sleeves were *huge*, at least 13 stitches too big. So after a bit of letting the project think about what it had done, I frogged back & reworked the sleeves. Huge improvement & lots of happiness abounding...

The Not-So-Featherweight sweater hangs at the shop near the buttons if you'd like to see how it turned out..

August also saw me starting the Vest vest for Mother's mother. Using a handful of measurements taken earlier in the summer, I'm using Noro Kureyon to work a modified version of the Dineh Blanket Vest from "Folk Vests" put out by Interweave Press.

The fair-isle has been ditched, as it would only detract from the color play of the Noro. And I've decided to work the pattern in reverse from the front to the back to make it assuredly symmetrical on the fronts. If the back gets a bit off, it's not as big of a deal...

Here's a look at the first photo taken:

Kollage Knit Kit KAL with the shop

2010-08-03T13:46:00.001-04:00

Part of the funding for my projects previously posted comes from working with Knit on Wentworth Street downtown. Apart from teaching classes & working the occasional shift, I spend a good amount of time at the shop with Gay & her new partner Fay.

Recently, I was elected in absentia to be the lead on the shop's newest project. On Wednesdays, we will be doing a Knit-A-Long with Kollage Yarns.

The store has ordered several kits in a variety of colors and will be giving them out on a first-come-first-served basis. The related classes will be held on Wednesday mornings from 10-12noon and Wednesday evenings from 5-7pm.

August's project is a Cable Hat & Cowl done in a new yarn called Glisten... 70% alpaca, 20% silk, and 5% bling (a.k.a. Estillina).

Get in touch with the shop to join in. It's a great way to get a head-start on Christmas projects, as well as a way to test-drive some new techniques!

A Plethora of Projects

2010-06-23T01:11:00.058-04:00

Still sorting out posting of patterns. One or two free ones will go up here, but I haven't yet sorted out how to post a pdf for proper presentation for Ravelry. But that can wait.

In the mean time, I've been sorting out a number of projects.

A bit more progress on the Viney Vine, though no where near what I want it to be. More leaves need to happen, but in the interim, I've found a few other small projects to keep me occupied. So the vine slumbers in waiting...

Our regular Wednes- day night Stitch 'N' Bitch did Market Bags through the month of May as a group project. I did one for the shop, then one for a cousin getting married this weekend... Good stuff.

The shop's Summer Chevrons got finished! A single skein of Araucania's Ruca turned into 4 strips of the scarf. And my final photo got selected for the project's main Ravelry picture!!

Then came the short row circles. I found a single sheet pattern by Sarah James that gave instructions for a circular potholder. After the first strict following of the pattern, I turned to a few modifications. The original double-layered blue interpretation was done of Katia Tobago.

Subsequent iterations were done in Cascade's Pima Silk: a single layer with a single crochet border topped by the picot edging from the top "Intolerable Cruelty" from Romantic Handknits.

With the completion of the Marriage Market Bag (the brown & coral seen above), as well as another potholder and two washcloths, I found myself staring down the barrel of a pant-load of coral colored pima cotton. With a size D crochet hook at hand and lingering echoes of the Crochet Coral Reef dancing in my head.

After a bit of searching for the original paper behind the mathe- matics and an intriguing post on a foundation single crochet method by futuregirl's craft blog, I started out on an exploratory adventure. And ended up with:

Finally, the awakened project that has been filling in the cracks of consciousness of late. More fishies. MOAR FISHIES.

Over a year ago, I began making tessel- ating fishes created by Knitting Arrow. A few bouts of hibernation later & I find myself compelled to use up various bits of ends & tails. The count is now up to 59 of the approximate 200 needed to make a reasonably sized afghan...

Patterns written up

2010-05-26T22:06:00.000-04:00

The internet went down at my house for about a week. While in the throes of figuring out why & how to fix, I was left with quite a bit of interweb downtime. After the second or third day of poking through my hard drive, some of the patterns I had started transcribing were resurrected. With a bit of fiddling & bitching, I got them completed.

Plans are to upload some to Ravelry, some for free, some for sale. Now, to sort out how to save the files in question to make everything kosher...

Completing the Color Shift

2010-05-06T22:06:00.004-04:00

The Summer Shiver Shelter slinks along in my bag these days, having progressed leaps & bounds since last I posted. From the meager inch or two past cast-on:

the back has grown down to the armholes
the fronts have been picked up & worked down
fronts & back have been joined
another 2 inches of below-armhole knitting has been done.

I'm not tired of seed stitch. Yet. I promise. Once the bra-line level has been achieved, I'll sort out exactly what kind of stitch pattern I'll want below the (probable) eyelet band for ribbon-threading. The likelihood of the original chevron pattern is minimal.

Perhaps a series of doubling block sizes? As seed stitch, the pattern is squares that are 1x1. So maybe work a basket weave pattern below of 2x2, then 4x4, up to maybe 16x16? It'd work well with minor tinkering of stitch numbers to get a 256(!) or 240... Something to think about.

Anyway, coming from the first official try-on, the amount of ease is fairly good, as far as I can tell. The armholes could stand to be 1.5 to 2 inches higher than they are, but that's not going to get fixed at this point. Maybe it will, since the ends are already cut, so the fronts won't have the Potential Tangle Factor they did previously.

On the Shop Front, the owner asked that I sort out a felted bag using one or two skeins of Cascade 220. She handed me a picture of something similar to what she wanted & off I went. Mine has an optional squiggle-yarn addition, and some 2x2 basket weave blocks to lend a light amount of texture to the base & the top of the bag.

Knitting on mine has been completed, even a bit of picking & poking to get the squiggles to poke mostly to the outside. Now, to felt at the nearest opportunity & take it back to the shop.

Also for the shop, I've been working on a summer scarf out of this season's Vogue Knitting: the Chevron Scarf (#24). Worked in a variegated pastel of Araucania's Ruca, which is a DK weight yarn made out of sugar cane fiber.

The pattern has you knitting the scarf in long strips of chevrons of 300+ stitches on a row, so each row takes ages & ages to complete. The satisfaction of completing one strip can't be adequately described... ^_^

Starting & Stopping

2010-04-25T14:39:00.003-04:00

Note to self:
Get your hands on a scale before starting another Clapotis.

To the right there is how close to (and yet how far from) I came to being able to complete the Sunshine Shawl by eye-balling how much yarn I had left to complete. ::sigh::

The plan for the next go:

Weigh ball of yarn. (whole total)
Knit until I get to the end of the beginning.
Weigh ball of yarn. (whole total - end of beginning = that corner amount)
Knit through the straight stretch, weighing ball of yarn as I go along.
When weight of ball of yarn = that corner amount + 1 gram, start decreasing on both sides.

Idea being that in the end, I'll have one gram of yarn leftover for doodles after the fact or ass-covering in case my measurements are off. Margins of error can be quite flexible.

Two skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn await this treatment for me, and I only have the single skeins, so there's no way to go back & buy another skein of yarn to complete like I did for the Sunshine Shawl above. Because if I had two skeins of each, I'd want to make a two-skein Clapotis.

As it is, the Sunshine Yellow remainder sits balled, waiting for new instruction. At this point, it may become flowers. Or perhaps an infant wardrobe something. No telling. It lurks in quiet patience until called.

On the other side of the color wheel, a Summer Shiver Shelter begins in purple intensity. I'm working the vest called Jane from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits.

After an hour or two of angsting over start-up, I went ahead & cast on. "Why the angst?" you ask? A number of reasons, involving gauge, yarn & fit.

For some reason, I can't seem to do projects in the recommended yarn, much less with the recommended gauge. And just when I think I've got everything figured out, it turns out I've misjudged the fit.

Case in point: Prevailing Karma. While I was able to manage the exact yarn recommended for that project (see the hot pink tank a few posts below), I didn't trust the recommended gauge. Especially since the lighting in the book's photo showed a bit more see-through-edness than I liked. So I went down a few needle sizes, measured my gauge, determined the size needed to fit my measurements, and started plugging along. Only to find out three skeins in that I hadn't accounted for enough negative ease. -_-

Maybe it was because my math was off, but I don't think so. That's actually a problem I've had with a few of the projects from this book: NEGATIVE EASE. I make things to my measurements, when the author seems to think that everyone will work their project 2 or more sizes down from their measurements to get the fit shown in the book. ::angst:: At least this time, she explained the inclusion of negative ease on the project.

This time, instead of working the vest in the recommended worsted-weight wool on size 8 needles, I'm holding together two strands of laceweight over size 6 needles. Which, depending on how the fabric is held comes out to either 26 stitches over 4 inches, or the recommended 18 stitches over 4 inches. ::Angst:: At least this involves seed stitch instead of the ribbing involved in the Slinky Ribs debacle...

The yarns in question are JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 (left skein) and laceweight Madelinetosh superwash wool in Wood Violet (right skein). I'm working the largest size to get the smallest, which may end up either 3, 6 or 9 inches smaller than my measurements. Which is OK? because it's supposed to hang open anyway? ::ANGST::

Imma just go through & start working on it. If it closes, it closes, if it doesn't, it doesn't. But I'm not going to do the Chevron stitch. Just so you know. I'm going to try to sort out a good fractal square pattern bleeding out of the seed stitch. We'll see.

Trying to stay on top of things...

2010-04-19T17:06:00.002-04:00

Starting a Clapotis (from Knitty) for a friend as a gift. Working it in sock weight yarn instead of the recommended worsted/aran weight: Lace Merino by Ella Rae in this intense shade of yellow gold. Working it on size 6 needles.

I didn't increase as many times as I was supposed to, so there's about 15 fewer on my needle than were called for. I had already dropped 3 columns when I actually figured this out, so it'll remain that stitch count.

My guide for charting was found through Ravelry. This link goes directly to the Excel file. It's from the blog Some Bunny's Love. Any fault was mine in keeping track of my own numbers.

New pictures taken of the brown silk skirt, now that the elastic has been sewn in. Fits well.

I've started work on the top to go with it. I started out with the same number of stitches cast on, with decreases in the purl sections loosely based on what was intended for the skirt.

Coming up to the waist of the top now & not sure I like it. Correction. I like it, it's just not what was in my head. It doesn't fit as closely as the skirt. The hem/bottom edge/tail will be rather low.

Completed work on the Cabled Lab Vest of Perpetual Hibernation last Thursday, FTMFW. It only took 18 months to complete, 15 months of which were straight up sitting-ignored-in-a-drawer time. Two to knit, one to actually make & sew on the tabs under the buttons to minimize strain on individual strands of yarn when buttoned.

The recipient's dimensions have changed slightly in the interim, but not enough to make it unwearable. Completion is just in time for use in the air conditioned halls of summer. Also: one for one with instance of the Sweater Curse working for me. It wasn't the knitting that did it, but this will definitely make me more wary about what to create for potential SOs.

Best part of completion? Now I can use the overages for myself without the risk of nagging guilt. No idea what I'm going to do, as yet, but the prospect of now-guilt-free yarn on hand is wonderful.

Finally: the beginnings of the More Righteous Vine. Complete with woody woolen vine & tinkered leaf patterns. No ends woven in as yet, but the plan is to leaf up the entire thing in various sizes, thicknesses & greens.

Playing catch-up

2010-04-12T02:44:00.003-04:00

Coachella from Knitty's Summer 2007 edition.
< -------------
Done in a coppery shade of NaturLin by Berroco. Swatched until I got a gauge I liked, then sorted out the numbers I'd need to get the fit I wanted.

Ended up working the numbers for an XL to get the S needed. Finished in January.

Three skeins of the dark amber shade left over. Haven't decided what to do with them yet...

Then there was Karma from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits.
----------------- >
Done in Louet's Euroflax worsted. I ended up knitting this top at least twice, due to the frogging on having realized that I had about 3 too many pattern repeats in the peplum. Eh bien. Definitely worth it in the end.

Decided to make the straps braided I-cord. That was a good idea. Finished in mid-February.

One skein of Berry Red left that has languished for a while...

Next came the silk skirt. A magic math pattern sorted out on the fly, mostly based on what skirts I had done before & how I wanted this to be different.

Done in Mulberry by Louisa Harding with a twisted rib for the body & dropped stitch ladders going up the back of a short-rowed tail.

Fold-over casing for elastic waist band to keep it up. Finished knitting in mid-March-ish, sewed elastic in about a month later.

Just started working on the top to go with it. Going for a matched set, don't you know?

Also about this time, I was sent out with a handful of skeins of Sublime's Bamboo & Pearl DK yarn in a canary yellow to make an eyelet shrug called Mimi. That yarn is worth punching someone over. Seriously delightful stuff to flow through your fingers, and feels like a dream knit up.

And there was the Tantric Twist Top made of two skeins of Ella Rae Lace Merino (sock yarn). Which works, but has no good pictures of it. It works well as a vest & will work admirably as a close top as well, or at least will once I've got appropriate fasteners for the front & back.

Then for fun & stuff came a "summer scarf" called Laguna from Knitting in the Sun by Kristi Porter.

Quick knit, done holding two strands of Grace Silk & Wool by Louisa Harding. I like the idea, but not the execution.

I tinkered with the pattern as I went along (as is my wont) and ended up developing rules for a More Righteous Vine. Because this close-but-not-quite stuff doesn't really cut it for me.

Now working with that 100% linen skein of Berry Red worsted weight yarn from Louet. Trying to sort out a drop-ladder 'kini/sunning top. There'll be three or four knits of this puppy before it's all over. Already done it twice... ^_^

And doing the Mulberry top to go with the skirt.

And a better-er vine scarf.

Hmm... the benefits of being slack: posting a season's worth of stuff in one go makes me feel so accomplished. Eh bien.

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-01-20T20:07:00.003-05:00

That's right, back from Scandinavia. Two weeks spent with friends on the extreme southern edge of Scandinavia's official geographic boundary, namely the northern shore of Eckernförde, Germany. The third week spent bombing around Denmark & Norway, riding the rails by myself & soaking up the cold weather. And my camera got lost on New Year's Eve in Oslo. ((ANGST))

But all is good. The Felted Haversack never actually became a haversack, carried instead by the jumbo wooden knitting needles my mother gave me years ago.

The unexpected shape given by variances in fair-isle carries worked well, and the firm, squoosh-able softness of the packed bag made for a great cushion, pillow, & seat.

It handily carried a week's worth of winter's clothing, as well as several guidebooks and a few projects' worth of yarn to keep me occupied on the train rides. An all-around WIN in the success department.

One project was started on the plane over to Hamburg and finished several days into my arrival. My "Legendary Vest Enchanted with +15% Frost Resistance" functioned just as planned as well. Knit with two skeins of Misti Alpaca Tonos Chunky held together with 3 skeins of Louisa Harding Mulberry, I achieved a valuable layer of warmth.

Nearing the end of the project, I realized that the Mulberry wouldn't quite go far enough, so the back shoulders have no silk in them. From the armholes up to the back of the neck, it's just the chunky alpaca.

On the first wash, it shrunk a bit lengthwise, but not so much as to be unwearable. I may be able to block it back into shape on the next washing...

Felted Fair Isle Haversack

2009-12-02T21:54:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-11-18T23:11:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-14T01:45:00.006-05:00

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.

2009-11-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

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.

2009-10-28T23:11:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-08T21:34:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-02T20:48:00.004-04:00

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.)

2009-09-27T16:21:00.000-04:00

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

2009-09-24T21:36:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-09-23T19:38:00.000-04:00

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?

2009-09-23T18:57:00.000-04:00

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.