I really ought to work on something else so that you can read about something besides this same garment post after post. But I’m all about sharin’ the love.
I’m still enjoying working on this, which is the real reason nothing has distracted me. I was a little tempted by the Tamarix Quilt featured in the latest Interweave Knits magazine to land on my doorstep – I want to knit it for Jeff’s cousin who is expecting at the end of the year – but I really don’t want this vest to languish. So I queued Tamarix up in Ravelry, and got back to the vest.
I’m at the steeks now, which is exciting. There are three. One at the beginning of the round for the left arm, one at the front for the v-neck opening, and one for the right arm. The latter two are the ones that are well done. It’s the steek that occurs at the beginning and end of the round that’s giving me fits. Because it’s at the beginning of the round, it’s where the colors change – right in the middle of the 12-stitch steek. So things are a bit loosey-goosey. It doesn’t make sense to weave the colors in as I was doing earlier with the color changes, since this section will be cut. I’ve tried tying the new color to the old with a square knot, but more often than (k)not, the knot is pulling through the first stitch of the round. It started out okay, but it’s getting rapidly uglier. I, uh, didn’t take a picture of that steek.
The next round I’m going to try just adding the new color, doing a bit of knitting, and then coming back to knot later. That way I can get the tension right before knotting. I probably shouldn’t be fretting about a section that’s going to be cut anyway, but since I plan to trust the physics of wool fiber rather than crocheting or sewing to reinforce the steek before cutting, I want things as neat and tidy as possible.
An interesting note that Ann Feitelson makes about the decreases: she instructs the knitter to always slant them toward the steek (or “extra stitches” as she calls them) rather than toward the knitted fabric. I’ve always done the opposite with decreases around neck and armholes in sweaters, and she notes that most American knitters do this. Feitelson points out that slanting toward the fabric actually exaggerates the edge of the fabric. Having followed her instructions, I can see her point. Clicking on the picture above will take you to the Flickr photo with notes showing which kinds of decreases I’m doing on each side of the steek.
I’m somewhere near row 100 of the 160 rounds I get to knit before shaping the neck. Over halfway there! The decreases are getting a bit strange and hard to track (at 4 places every 2 rounds 13 times and at 2 places every 3 rounds 21 times), but so far I’m keeping up.
We had a little crime scene at our house this afternoon, and we’re pretty sure who the guilty party is.
Every once in a while, Kate can’t resist plucking a ball of yarn from out of my knitting bag. She doesn’t dig in there, or anything – she just waits for me to leave it open. And then she carefully plucks it out and wreaks her havoc. I’ve caught her in the act a few times. But this is the most damage she’s done. Luckily, I overbought in the main accent color for the Vaila Slipover (Oyster Heather), so I don’t think we’re going to have much of a problem. There wasn’t much left in the ball. I have four balls left and I’m a third of the way through the project. So I think I’m good! Still, I hope I’ve learned a lesson about keeping the bag closed and putting my projects away after working on them.
Progress on this project continues – not rapidly, but steadily. I’m 3/4 of the way through the third of four pattern repeats. Then it's ten more rows before starting the armhole decreases and the arm and neck steeks. When that happens, I’ll really feel like I’m getting someplace. I’m quite comfortable with the pattern at this point – it’s just finding the time to work on it. That, and having to take frequent breaks from having a wad of wool on my lap in 95-degree weather. Ugh. It’s definitely July in Texas.
I decided to give the vest a haircut today – all the woven in ends were starting to drive me crazy. It was just a matter of moments to trim them all back. I left about 1/4 inch on each to give them a chance to felt into the back of the work with wear. That’s the idea, anyway. I’m still a bit freaked about having only a few inches of loosely woven-in yarn at the beginning and end of each round, but to date there have been no signs of unraveling. I’m going to trust that this yarn wants to to stay knit.
Back to it!
My ancestry includes my maternal grandmother, born with the surname Weaver, and a paternal great-grandmother with the surname Weber (German for Weaver). So perhaps my reluctance to knot the ends behind the work of my stranded knitting has an ancestral origin. Abbe asked if I was worried that Elizabeth Zimmerman would haunt me in my dreams –which may well have something to do with it. But for whatever reason, weave I will.
The process I discussed in the last post is working pretty well, and I’m getting faster at it. I’m not entirely consistent, but I try to start weaving in the new colors behind the working strands about 10 stitches before the round change. Then, I weave the ends of the old colors behind the strands of the new colors for 10 stitches or so into the new round. Most the time I switch from two colors to two different colors, but often I’m only changing the background color while keeping the oyster heather pattern color. And in a few rows, I get to work with the same two colors for two complete rounds -- my favorite.
It’s amazing how grabby the yarn is. Probably not as sticky as actual Shetland wool, but it does work its way in rather quickly. After weaving in behind one stitch, it slips out at the slightest tug. But by the time the yarn has been woven in behind three stitches, it would probably break before coming unwoven. I’ve chosen to leave the ends hanging just for shock value, but in truth, all of the ends you see dangling in the first picture are ready to be trimmed. I’ll trim them eventually.
Progress is going faster than I thought it would. My two-fisted knitting is getting more coordinated. Things still look lumpy on the needle, but when I spread the fabric out, it looks pretty good. Unlike some projects, I’m really looking forward to the blocking on this one. I’m just shy of 2 full pattern repeats. At 4.5 repeats, I get to decrease for the sleeves and start the sleeve and neck steeks.
After second-guessing myself on gauge and monkeying around with needle sizes, I’ve decided to stick with the original size 3 needles called for in the pattern. Knitting loosely, I’m coming up with mostly 8 stitches per inch, and sometimes the specified 7.5. I’m gambling that I can make this work in the blocking. If not, I’m going to find someone slimmer than me to wear it , because at this point it’s more about the process than the final product.
My tension is a little more uneven than it was on the swatch. I’m getting a bit more puckering around the diamond patterns, where several stitches in the same color occur. But I’m confident these will flatten out with the blocking.
Right now, I’m experimenting with weaving in ends as I knit. I’ve seen several examples, including techniques at the TECHknitting website and at Knitting Daily. But while I understand how these would work while changing from one color to another, my brain hasn’t been capable of expanding these two changing from two colors to two other colors. So right now, I’m kind of going with a variation of the “3rd stitch” that’s described in the Philsopher’s Wool video for catching yarn behind the work. The trick that’s taken me a while to figure out is that you have to do this every other stitch, or it won’t work. I thought that doing it every stitch would be “better,” but it actually keeps the yarn from weaving in.
I’m not doing this for the main part of the vest, since I’m comfortable with 5-stitch floats (this maximum in this garment), but a variation of it seems to be working for introducing the new yarn 10 stitches before the round change and then also weaving in the old yarn for 10 stitches into the new round. It’s fiddly and really slows me down, but I think it’s working.
I’m also going a bit faster than I thought I’d be able to. Rather than constantly consulting the chart, I can usually break the 20 stitches of the pattern into multiples of 3, 5, or 7-stitch patterns that are pretty easy to memorize. About the time it becomes automatic, though, it’s time to change. I think that once I’ve gotten past the first 20 rounds of the pattern, I might not have to look at the chart much at all. Never a dull moment with this pattern, that’s for sure!
I picked up a new yarn craft today! Well, at least I made a start at it, anyway. I took Staci’s two-hour Crochet for Knitters class today. Totally worth every penny and then some.
The great thing about this class was that, as knitters, we all had a grasp of what a stitch was and how to make a slip-stitch – you know, all those little things that can be hard for beginning crafters to grasp, but once you’ve got it, you can’t ever remember not knowing them. So we moved along pretty rapidly from chain stitching, to slip stitches, to single and double crochet. Within an hour, we were starting our very first granny squares.
I clearly have some tension issues to work through, but I think I got the basics down.
I know I just got started on the Vaila Slipover, but I so totally want to just drop everything I’m doing and learn more about crocheting. And make a big, huge granny square afghan. Thanks, Staci. And Stephanie – I’ll never make fun of crocheting again. However, I will reserve the right to gasp at some crocheted things…
I spent a few evenings this week working up a swatch with the yarn I chose for a Vaila Slipover. Reviews are mixed.
I like the overall pattern and don’t think it will be hard to follow. I’m a little concerned about the green sections. A darker green that I had originally wanted was on backorder until September(!), so I shifted the whole green family one shade lighter. I’m just not sure what I think of the main green color through the middle of that section – it’s called Celadon Heather, and is just a bit lighter than I’d like.
I’m afraid that the large X pattern that runs between all the crossed diamonds will fade out too much through the green sections. Could it be that when there are more brown and green striped sections that they eye will be able to follow the Xs better?
I’m also a little worried about gauge. Before washing, I’m getting about 32.5 stitches over 4 inches. The gauge calls for 30. I don’t want to go down to size 2 needles (I’m currently on 3s), and I don’t want to go down size – that would be too drastic, I think. I could knit tighter. My gauge with the background colors, which I’m throwing with my right hand, is terribly inconsistent.
I’m going to take this to some experts this weekend and see what they have to say. I’m hopeful that it will all work out. I still can’t believe that stack of balls of yarn from my last post could turn into this.
I’ve been thinking of doing a stranded knitting project, and I’ve settled on a pattern, yarn and colors. I think I’m pretty much committed at this point. And the yarn showed up in the mail today. Yay, yarn mail!
The yarn is Palette from KnitPicks. I’d gotten some of this a while back for a hat. I swear back then that they had only a handful of colors. Now they have over 80 – quite a choice! These are the 12 colors that I settled on. Clicking on the picture will take you over to my Flickr site where I have notes with all the colors names. Let’s just say the word “Heather” features in most of them. Oh – and to get free shipping I had them throw in a couple of balls of Felici sock yarn in the colorway Green Veggies. Yum!
All this Palette going to become, if all goes according to plan, a Vaila Slipover from Ann Feitelson’s The Art of Fair Isle Knitting. The original one calls for very muted browns and tans – and those will be in mine, but I wanted to feature green, too. Which is kind of predictable, I know. The original pattern’s blue horizontal line will be replaced with a deep red. And don’t worry about all those deep pinks and bright oranges. They’re little accent colors that probably won’t register all that much. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself, anyway.
I can’t wait to see how all this comes together. Let the swatching begin!
I didn’t do a lot of knitting today, but I certainly knit in public, thought about knitting, learned about knitting and hung out with some fabulous knitters.
This morning, I went to a cafe for breakfast with some knitterly friends. An elderly woman came by our table to find out what we were doing. I loved her direct way of asking each of us what craft we were practicing (three different ones), what we were specifically working on, and what we called ourselves. She, in turn, had strong opinions on how long orange juice could be left out at room temperature. It was quite the WWKIP day experience.
Then, I headed over to the knitting nest to do a little more public knitting while waiting for my afternoon class on knitting lace edgings with Franklin Habit. The Knitting Nest had some new Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in that was dyed specifically for the store’s grand re-opening, and since some it was dark green, i had to get my hands on some. Stephanie and I grabbed some lunch for Franklin and we wolfed it down before class began.
We learned three main schools of thought for knitted on edges, and I definitely had my favorite by the end of the afternoon. We did samples of all three. Pictured here is what Franklin dubbed The Stupid Little Snowflake – which Franklin designed specifically for the class. He says its the smallest possible sampler of Orenburg lace knitting that can be made!
The class was, of course, awesome. I love Franklin’s approach of mixing history, hands-on activity, detailed explanation and finely made examples. He’s so patient, supportive, and informative. For instance – I learned something about sipping stitches along selvedge edges that I’d never known before. Apparently, if the second stitch in the row is to be knitted, the 
slipped edged stitch should be slipped with the yarn in front. Conversely, if the second stitch in thee row is to be purled, the slipped edge stitch should be slipped with the yarn in back. When I did this, I could immediately see the clean, smooth chain along the selvedge edge. Before, I’d always had strange bumps. Why didn’t I ever know this before? Have I just not been paying attention? That was worth the price of admission right there.
On top of it all, I got to meet some Ravelry friends that I’d never met in person before, which is always a good thing. All in all – a very nice way to spend World Wide Knit in Public Day.
I’m going to be taking a class from Franklin Habit at The Knitting Nest on Saturday -- Lace Edgings: Before, During and After. I may have mentioned this a few times! Today, I got an email with my pre-class homework assignment, which I took care of tonight.
Our instructions were to knit a 20-stitch wide, 20-row long swatch in Dalegarn Baby Ull (or equivalent) on size 4 needles. I still had some Baby Ull from the lace class I took from Mr. Habit last year. I can’t believe this will be the third time I’ve met him. I’m really looking forward to it. He’s informative, helpful, patient and funny. All good educative skills.
(I just had to use the word “educative.” I’m reading a book about the making of Gray’s Anatomy (yes, the medical reference book, not the television show – which I have only just realized spells the name Grey) and the author discusses the book’s publishers and their role in disseminating 19th century British “educative” literature. Trust me – it’s interesting.)
Ahem. I found the exact same yarn I’d used last time and made short work of my homework. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m thinking that we might be adding some lace around the edge of this thing. We’re supposed to bring some size 4 dpns, and so far I’ve only located size 3 metal dpns – very slippery. I’m going to keep digging.
Can’t wait for the class. Saturday is also World Wide Knit in Public day. So I hope everyone grabs a project, gets out there and recruits for the cause. I’ll be doing so, working on a new version of the Oliver socks I had to abandon a while back. More on them later.
A little something I ordered came in the mail today.
I’d been wanting to get one of these for a while – a soft sided case for my Addi Click interchangeable needles. The original set came in something that looked like it should hold my grandmother’s silver service. It was a big hard box with slots for all the needles. It looked nice, but it wasn’t very practical. Mine lived on the shelf below a coffee table near the chair where I do most of my knitting.
This soft-sided case is great. It holds all the needle tips and cords that I have just fine. It snaps closed and folds up much smaller than I would have thought. I practiced wagging it around under my arm like my grandmother used to do with all of her handle-less and strap-less handbags. She did this even when she used a walker, which bothered me to no end. But I’ll probably just end up carrying it around in my knitting bag.
As purchasers of the original set may be aware, they didn’t come with size 5 tips. So I ordered a set while I was at it. The first two or three projects I made after getting the Clicks required size 5 needles. Now that I have some, I probably won’t need them. But it’s nice to know they’re there.
Last night I finished all but the 15-stitch garter stitch graft to join the two ends of the border, and this morning, I spent way too much time grafting and weaving in the ends. The whole thing is blocking on our spare bed and will be ready to hand off to the wee one soon.
About that grafting. I’d never done garter grafting before. It’s actually easier than stockinette grafting. Rather than having to switch which stitch you do for the dropped of stitch as you work back and forth, you always knit and drop, then purl and keep – for both sides. Easy, right? Unless you’re me. After looking at several explanations of whether you should see purl or knit stitches on the two needles before getting stared, I must have started the grafting four times. Turns out the instructions in the pattern were accurate! Imagine that? When in doubt – trust the designer. It wasn’t that I doubted you, Snowden – it was more like I second-guessed myself. This trait (among other things) is what would make me such a bad contestant on The Amazing Race.
I’m quite pleased with how this turned out. As I’d mentioned earlier, I didn’t have a lot of experience with lace knitting. It was great to see how what kind of looked lumpy and misshapen turned out so orderly and symmetrical after a good soaking. This is getting me excited about my upcoming Franklin Habit class.
Beautiful design, Snowden! When Jeff asked me to knit a baby blanket for his department’s administrative assistant’s new granddaughter, I though of this right away. It was inspiring to see the examples that both Snowden and Abbe knitted. I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by such talented knitters and designers!
If and when I get a picture of the little one snuggled up in this, I’ll be sure to share.
Some time ago, Jeff mentioned that the administrative assistant for his department was about to become a grandmother for the first time. This happened to coincide with the creation of a lovely baby blanket design by my friend Snowden. Having finally put the argyle socks to rest, I can now take advantage of these two events and merge them together in what’s shaping up to be a very satisfying knitting experience.
I don’t have a whole lot of experience knitting lace. I’ve done a pair of socks, and I took a beginning lace knitting class from Franklin Habit when he was in Austin a year or so ago. He’ll be back teaching a class called Lace Edgings: Before, During and After at my LYS next month. I’m seriously thinking of taking it, although I haven’t done much homework between the two. But who can pass up something like that?
In the meantime, I’m enjoying this project. To paraphrase Freddie Mercury – bad mistakes? I’ve made a few. Luckily, they were early on and the worst I’ve had to do is tink back three or four rounds. Now I’m reading the pattern better and it’s easier to see where all the leaves fit into each other. I love the rhythm of this kind of knitting.
I am changing things up a little – I’m using a superwash light worsted (Cascade 220 Superwash in Lime Sherbet) rather than the cotton blend called for in the pattern. And I’m knitting on the smallest needle size recommended on the ball band rather than the size called for. But it’s just going to be a big square right? Thanks to Stacy for pointing out this color to me – I think it’s going to be perfect for the little one – even if it’s a bit bright for me!
Addendum 5/22/10. I can’t believe I didn’t mention what this project is! I’d made a note on the pictures at Flickr, but neglected to say anything here. This is the beautiful Larkin Baby Blanket designed by my good friend and fellow librarian, Snowden Becker. I believe Janna is working on one of these, too. Thanks, Suzy, for pointing out this omission!
This morning, I completed the second of the pair of Argyle socks. I’ve been working on this pair for six long weeks, and I pretty much did 3/4 of the work in the past four days. So any of my projects seem to end up that way – at some point I reach a “this is it” moment and all I want to do is just get it over with.
That makes it sound like I wasn’t pleased with this project. Overall, I was. But I found I was dependent on the pattern instructions throughout the whole process – constantly consulting them wore me down. Then there was the bobbin issue. For the cuff, this involved 9 separate live knitting yarns to keep up with. Also exhausting. The gray background color needed to be carried through the whole sock, so it wasn’t in bobbins. I tried to use rubber bands to manage them, but it seemed like every time I picked this project, I spent the first half hour just untangling everything.
On the other hand, it was kind of mathematically soothing to watch the lines and angles growing and shrinking, moving back and forth across the fabric. Overall, argyle is not that complicated a concept – but you do have to pay attention. There were several times I had to tink back a row or tow after finding a mistake. And I could never quite figure out how to avoid holes at the tops and bottoms of the colored diamonds where typically several new strands of yarn were introduced. I just decided to handle it while weaving in the ends, which I was more or less able to do. These are still a bit snug. I’m going to block them later – but I’ve got months and months to go before I’ll actually want to wear these.
For now, I’m pleased that they’re finished, mostly happy with the result, and ready to tackle some more projects. Some of my knitting friends have been laughing about pregnancy being contagious since there were so many fecund friends and relatives were making announcements about soon-to-arrive bundles of joy. And then Jeff’s mom called with news about his cousin. Time to peruse the patterns…
