Claudio

On Sunday, I went to buy more silver beads, only to find that the shop owner wasn't planning on putting in an order for some time. But, she was nice enough to write down all the details so that I might order them online -- which I later did. So while I waited for beads and yarn to arrive to help me continue with Christmas balls and Faite Isle vests, I decided I would start something quick and easy as a diversionary tactic. I kind of forgot how satisfying it can be to start and finish a project in just a few days!

The pattern I chose was Claudia, a free Ravelry pattern which I gender-reassigned to Claudio. It's a unisex hat made from worsted yarn, the beginning of which reminds me a lot of Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat which I made a few years ago. Staci made several of these when my knitting group made hats "for the boys" a while back and I really admired them at the time.

I had some nondescript brown worsted, snagged in a yarn swap, that was halfway consumed by a scarf I started a few years back but had since lost interest in. It was sitting in a bag, not even on needles anymore. Kate had gotten into it at some point, so it was all kind of a mess. I unraveled, untangled and unsnarled it, and had plenty for a hat. I used Staci's video instructions for the German Twisted Cast-On for extra added stretchiness. I started it Monday night, worked on it Tuesday a bit, and finished it up last night. Very satisfying, and I'm quite happy withe snug fit.

The yarn for the vest has since arrived, though, so it'll be back to the big project soon enough.

Highland Missed

I must have jinxed myself in my last post by mentioning that I had enough yarn. Because not two hours later, I found I only had a few feet left of one of my background colors, Highland Mist. I briefly considered cannibalizing my swatches, but quickly came to my senses. I ordered an additional ball from a different supplier than where I got the original. It won't be from the same dye lot, but since the two batches will be separated by many rounds, it shouldn't matter. Still, it will be the middle of next week before it arrives. So as regards the state of my vest, I have to paraphrase Jane Seymour as Dr. Quinn, "It's resting now."

So it's back to more Christmas balls. I've finished up the last two patterns in the chapter on hearts. The first here is Hospitality: Room in the Heart. I like how these nested hearts connect solidly across the panels, creating a cut-out paper-doll or snow-flake effect. Since I used so many red beads on the other heart patterns, I opted for silver beads in the negative space. This wiped me out of my supply, so I'm off to get more this afternoon. I hope they have some in stock this time.

The last pattern on the chapter is Meeting Hearts. It might remind one of two sideways hearts joined by a square buckle. Like many of the two-paneled patterns, these are hard to photograph and show the whole effect. There are little heart-ish shapes within the sideways hearts, but frankly, this pattern confuses me. I think this has been my least favorite ball to knit so far. The pattern doesn't appeal to me much, I made lots of mistakes on it, and I don't think I executed it particularly well.

But onward -- and upward! The next section is all about angels and thing angelic. Better dust off my halo.

 

The Sweater Vest Returns

After a quick run of Christmas balls, I returned to the Hillhead Slipover this week. And I've managed to get quite a bit done in only a few days.

Things have gone more smoothly since I've stopped trying to figure out ways to track the number of decrease rounds. They're different for the armholes and the neck opening. I started keeping separate counters for the two, and then tried marking the decreases with stitch markers, but that got tedious fast. I finally just decided to read the knitting as I went, and count rounds on the pattern to double-check. It helps that the design is symmetrical to the point that the same stitch in the pattern always appears on either side of the armhole steeks -- so, in four places. It makes it easy to check my work. The armhole decreases are now finished -- only the neck still to go. I'd feel better if there were more stitch-count reality checks in this pattern, but I seem to be okay so far.

It's been a relatively quiet time between semesters. Interspersed with visits by and to the in-laws, we've been taking care of landscape and general yard chores. I've been doing one big outdoor thing a day, and then catching up on knitting while watching episodes of Peep Show. Still almost a week to go -- I should be able to get a lot done. Should.

It feels good to get back to the sweater. The longer I was away from it, the more anxiety built up about whether I could remember my little mnemonics that carry me through. A little rough going at first, but all's well now. I still feelike I have enough yarn, and I'm still glad I added the extra length. I'm a little under gauge recently on spot checks, but well within the range of a little blocking adjustment.

 

Hearts Are Trump

There are lots of heart-themed ornaments in 55 Christmas Balls to Knit. It must be a common motif in Scandinavian patterns.

The second of the Christmas goodies patterns, Christmas Package, isn't even in the chapter on heart patterns, but it features little heart-shaped baskets. These are traditionally filled with candies or treats and hung on the tree. It's hard to capture the rounds of pattern near the top and bottom of the balls in a photo, but it is a cool effect. I put beads on the point on the basket where the handle might be attached. And because the color of the hanger is determined by the color on the bottom of the ball, it's red, despit the overall whiteness.

The first pattern in the chapter called Hearts is, appropriately, Heart. And that there's what it is, as we say in Texas -- just four big hearts all the way around. The sample in the book shows an offset crystal pattern overlaying the red heart, and although it looks kind of cool, it's not me. I opted to just outline it in red beads. It ate up a lot of them, though -- 64 for this ornament alone! Even though I bought two more tubes of 350 beads the last time I was at Nomadic Notions, I might just have to go back for more. Now that I've finished it, I think it might have been interesting to have two of the hearts outlined in clear/white beads. I'll keep that in mind for future patterns.

Finally, we have Heart Lattice. I like the cartoony blobbiness of these hearts. After I finished this, I thought it might have been more symmetrical if the hearts in the bottom part of the panel pointed up, and the ones that jumped the seam pointed toward the center of the lattice. Since these motifs aren't geometrically uniform, though, it might be hard to pull off.

There are two more heart patterns in the chapter, but they'll have to wait until later. This week has been filled with yard work and I've been snagging bits of knitting time here and there when I can. It's warmed up quite a bit, and knitting on these little things is much more appealing than sitting with the vest on my lap.

 

Halfway There

I cranked out two more balls this weekend. That takes me to 28, which is just over halfway to all 55! And a month ahead of schedule, even though, until recently, I've been concentrating on the Hillhead Slipover. Despite my rapid start, I'm all too aware how quickly I could get behind.

First, I completed the Rocking Horse, the last pattern in the chapter called The night before Christmas. I wanted to add beads, and thought I might be able to style a saddle and reins using them. It almost worked. It's hard to get the concept of a line using beads -- they work better as accents and broader patterns. Also, my horses appear a bit more, er, well-fed than the samples in the book. Maybe saddles add a few pounds?

I did realize while making this that the increases described in the book work better with patterns that go right up to the edge of the panels than the ones I've been doing. So I've decided to switch from now on.

Pattern 28, Peppermint Pigs, is the first in the chapter Christmas goodies. Peppermint Pigs are a type of hard candy that are available in Norway at Christmas-time. This pattern, while simple, fills up all the space in the panels with large geometrical figures. Beads would have just been distracting, so I left them out. Usually, the second color doesn't come in until the 10th or 12th round, but these started in on round 2, which was a bit fiddly.

We're on a break between semesters, with no big travel or project plans, so hopefully I'll have a bit more time to devote to knitting. I haven't touched the sweater this past week, and I need to get back to it. I am getting a little restless with just the two projects going, even though the Christmas Balls have built-in pattern variety. For the past few months I can say, literally, that if it's not one thing, it's the other.

 

Le Steek, C'est Chic

So glad I added the extra pattern round. I'm much more confident that this while give me the necessary length, and it doesn't appear to have gobbled up too much of my remaining yarn. In the picture to the right, start at the first white stripe below the needles, then trace down two more white stripes. That more or less represents the amount of extra fabric I added. I got the lion's share of it done last Sunday, and I've been working on it when I can during the week.

Next week is the last week of the semester, and our chorus has a concert next weekend, so it's going to be quite busy, and I don't know how much time there will be for picking up the old needles. I do still want to keep my momentum going, especially since I've finally started the steeks, but it's gotten hot around here, and sitting around with a wad of wool on one's lap is getting less and less appealing.

Speaking of steeks, I have three going now -- one for each armhole, and one for the neck opening. This picture shows the right armholes opening, I think. For those who don't know, a steek is a section of knitting done across an area where a large hole will later be. It allows the knitter to easily maintain the established pattern while knitting in the round. Eventually, the extra stitch section (which can be as few as 3 stitches, but in this case is 12) is sliced up the middle and folded back under. Then, things like edging or zippers can be added. Steeks have a reputation of being a bit unnerving for the uninitiated, but I'm really looking forward to the snipping -- that sweet, sweet snipping that will set this garment free! Mwahahah!

Because I didn't want to be working on the steek setup when I was at my knitting group this weekend, I started another Christmas ball on Friday and finished it up Saturday afternoon. It's the third of the four patterns in the chapter called The night before Christmas. It's name is Dancing Around the Tree, and, according to the authors was the first design created for the book. I was a little at a loss as to how i miht bedazzle this particular design, but eventually settled on adding beads to the white stitches on the female figure's dress. It looks pretty good, but unfortunately, this photo's angle makes the dresses look a bit bottom heavy. I could hear the judges on Project Runway clucking their tongues as I knitted.

 

Hillhead vs. Vaila

I've finished the 99 rounds required in the Hillhead Slipover pattern before starting the armhole steeks. But am I really done with the main part of the body? Alas, no.

I decided to put it side-by-side with my previous Ann Feitleson-designed vest to compare. The Vaila Slipover has always been just short enough to be annoying. I really wish I'd added just another inch or so. As you can see here, the Hillhead is already a bit longer. The Hillhead pattern calls for more rounds in both the ribbing and the body - a total of about a dozen more all together. Clicking on the photo should take you to Flickr where I've added some notes explaining a bit more.

But I'm thinking of going a few more rounds, as pugilistic as that sounds. I'm pretty sure I have the yarn for it, and I'd rather it be a bit long than to be constantly tugging it down, like I find myself doing with the Vaila Slipover. Most of my height manifests itself between my shoulders and hips -- I have the same inseam measurement as my brother who is a few inches shorter than me. So I'm thinking that even though I've reached this milestone, I'll go 28 more rounds before throwing in the towel. Thoughts?

Ding, ding!

 

 

Play Ball!

Last time, I mentioned that I was working on one other round thing. It's time for the big reveal...

It's a knitted baseball that I made for my friend Staci for her birthday. The pattern is Play Ball! by Dagny Heidig. It's really quite clever. It's simply two hourglass shapes seamed together, which when you look at a baseball, is basically how they're constructed. The knitting doesn't take too long - I estimate about 1.75 episodes of Dr. Who - but it does take a while to seam up. I didn't do as well with the seaming as I would have liked, but the red "stitching," embroidered on afterwards, mostly masks the seam line anyway. Not being an expert, I'm not sure if I got the stitching right, but I think it's close.

Staci is an excellent knitter and a great friend. Those of you who know Pona will appreciate that she basically nursed him back from the brink of death for many months before handing him off to us. We have the easy part, as evidenced by his snoozy, relaxed self snoring gently next to me on the couch as I write this. Such a sack of lazy contentment, bless him.

Work progresses on the Hillhead Slipover, although not much this week. I'm still quite happy with the process. It's definitely a project to keep one on one's toes. As worried as I was by the amount of yarn I used in swatching, my fears of running out of yarn are mostly behind me now. I'm about a repeat-and-a-half from the armhole steeks. I really don't remember how those are handled. Of course, I could just study ahead in the pattern, which might allay those fears. I seem to remember a bit of an issue with decreases that didn't match up near the shoulders when I did the Vaila Slipover, which is basically the same construction. Must remember to compare the two.

 

In the Round

It's pretty much where I'm living my knitting life these days.

I took a bit of a break from knitting rounds on the sweater to add to my other round(ish) project, the Christmas Balls. I hadn't completed one in nearly a month! Good thing I'm ahead of schedule. This one, number 25 in the series, is called Falling Star and is knit in two double panels rather than the usual four single panels. I bedazzled the heck out of it and ran out of red beads in the middle. I was also running low on fiber fill, so I stocked up on all that this weekend. The bag of fill I'd been using was one I purchased years ago and thought I'd never use up. Hah!

I did get more done on the vest this week, although progress seems slow as I'm working. When I grab a photo at the end of the week, I can see that I've added to it. It's one of those projects where it's helpful to look at small goals rather than the "big picture" while working. At the same time, I'm starting to notice that the flow of colors looks better at a distance. Up close, one doesn't get that blending and shading effect that gradually shifts across tones and hues. Rather, while knitting, it's as if I'm staring at small sections of Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte. I'm not comparing my work to his (as if!), but you get the idea.

I also worked on one more round thing this week, but it's a gift, so I won't be blogging about it or posting any pictures until it's been given. Shhhh.

 

Light, Dark, Light, Dark...

Not much to report -- still working on the Hillhead Slipover. I hope to get a lot done this weekend. So far, I've completed a little over one 28-round band. For the large size, I need to knit 3-and-a-half bands before starting the armhole steeks. Still a ways to go, but the pattern is filling out and thus getting easier to follow.

I find when working with the pattern that it helps to come up with a Morse Code in my head for each round, replacing the dits and the dahs with light and dark. Each pattern section is 32 stitches wide, in four primary sections, two of which are the same, interspersed with the two others that differ. These, in turn, can be grouped into 16 stitches, which are made by adding up two odd-numbered sections. Hard to explain, but there is a symmetry here that is very satisfying and soothing.

Just had to come up for air for a bit. Back at it...

April Fool's Paradise

We're at Jeff's parents' house this weekend, attending some family get-togethers. I'm really enjoying myself, and the dogs seem to be having a good time, too. We've gotten in some good walks, and the north Texas springtime seems to agree with them. I got a shot of Pona in some bluebonnets (because that's some sort of state law enforced in late March through early April) and in it he seems almost blissful. You can thank me for cropping out some of his anatomy in the comments, if you wish. Thank goodness for a wet winter, Lady Bird Johnson, and Lupinus texensis.

I've made some progress on the Hillhead Slipover, but not much. The body of the sweater is knit on a 28-round repeat, and I've managed about 18 this week -- enough to start seeing the pattern develop. I've already started celebrating when I don't have to change colors, and cursing when I have to change both. But I am weaving the new colors in and the old colors out as I go, which will save me some grief at the end. It slows me down, but I suppose it's worth it. Plus, I suspect it builds character or something.

Yesterday, we went to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth to see The Age of Impressionism: Great French Paintings From the Clark. I found what looks like a list of all the works from the exhibit at the Kimbell on the Clark Museum's website, if you care to take a gander.

Jeff brought this one to my attention. It's The Shepherdess; Plains of Barbizon by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), painted around 1862. While her big old Bouvier des Flandres is keeping it's eye on the wool-on-the-hoof, the shepherdess knits on a sock. Where can I apply for this shepherdess gig? On second thought, I probably shouldn't bother. Looking at Millet's oeuvre, I'm pretty sure all the sock-knitting shepherdess positions have been filled.

Waisted Weekend

After working last weekend to get gauge, I spent this week casting on and knitting the ribbing. I did the lion's share of it yesterday and finished the ribbing this afternoon.

The ribbing is done on US1 (2.5mm) needles, so the fabric is a bit dense and cramped. It's made in a 2x2 pattern, with the lighter background colors from the main pattern being knit, and the darker pattern colors purled. To execute this, the colors have to be held in the opposite hands from where they will be held once the pattern starts. Confusing, no?

In the ribbing, both the pattern and background colors flow from dark to light and back to dark, which isn't exactly how it works in the pattern. And the turquoise (or Caspian) is grouped with the pattern colors, whereas on the charts it is a background color. I thought it would be eye-searingly bright, but I have to admit it works here.

Now I get to multitask through switching to a larger needle while simultaneously starting the pattern and remembering to increase every 15 stitches. Piece of cake, right? I predict the next row of knitting will take hours. I'm looking forward to getting this on the "larger" needles and watching the pattern develop. That's really my favorite thing about stranded knitting. I just need to remember to take my time and consult the pattern from time to time to make sure I'm on track.

Oh -- and while trying to be patient between swatch making, swatch washing, and swatch drying last weekend, I managed to crank out an additional Christmas Ball. I like how the motif flows from one quarter-panel to the next in this one. I've used so many red beads (over 300 so far!) that I'll need to go purchase some more soon. And some fiber fill for stuffing. I've been going through that stuff like there's no tomorrow.

.25 Millimeters

My latest project is called the Hillhead Slipover. It has already been the source of much drama.

Let's start with the carbon footprint that I have stomped across the planet's northern hemisphere. The yarn is grown, dyed and spun by Jamieson's in Scotland. Thinking I would save some money, I ordered the yarn from a place in Canada at the end of January. But after several weeks, I learned that two colors were back ordered. I cancelled those colors with Store 1, and ordered them from Store 2 in Wisconsin. But store two told me that one of those colors was back-ordered with them, too. So I cancelled it and got the problematic color (black -- really?) from store 3 in Oregon. Fittingly, these orders arrived in the reverse order in which they were purchased. Two months after starting the process, I finally had all the yarn. You can click on the picture to see the color names in the notes at Flickr.

Then came the gauge issues. The pattern calls for using size 3 (3mm) needles to get a gauge of 32 stitches over 4 inches. I grabbed some size 3s and knit the awesome swatch on the top, but my 32 stitches spread over 4.5 inches. Doesn't sound like much, but gauge differences compound like interest. Staying with size 3s would turn this vest from a roomy 48" to a man-swallowing 54"! Then I took a closer look at my needles. While they are indeed size 3, they are 3.25mm. My size 2 needles are 3mm, so I made a new swatch and got gauge. Always go by the millimeters on needle sizes, people.

It appears I'm on track for this project. Time to cast on -- finally.

March Mitt-ness

This certainly wasn’t part of my plan for spring break knitting, but I picked up and finished the March Woodland Winter Mittens in a matter of days.

I’d been looking for something to do while waiting for more red and white yarn to arrive for Christmas Balls, and this project had been languishing for a while. It’s my least favorite of the 6 patterns, but it worked as that thing you go to when you’re between projects. I suppose if that between phase lasts long enough, you just finish up all your backup projects. I completed the right mitten (on the left in the photo) on Monday, immediately cast on the for the left mitten, and by this morning, the Ides of March, I had finished blocking both of them. It was very thematic to split my time this week between working in the yard and knitting designs based on spring blossoms. Of course, the kind of budding seeds and bulbs as depicted here happened close to a month ago. We’re in full bloom in central Texas these days.

I ended up liking this pattern more than I thought I would. I think the design fits into a mitten shape quite well. I do have to say that the palm pattern is my least favorite so far – not memorizable at all, and not particularly striking, to my eye. It does work better at a distance than close up. So now I’ve completed the October, January, February and March patterns. November (deer and mountains) and December (Northern lights) are quite nice – I’ve been saving them up for last.

As of yesterday, all the yarn has finally arrived for a new stranded knitting project that I’ve been wanting to start for months now, but had trouble tracking down all the yarn. It was quite a saga, part of which I’ll fill you in on next time around.

Little Christmas Eve

When I saw this as the title for the chapter of Christmas ball patterns I tackled this week, I thought maybe the authors were just trying to find categories to plop things under, but it turns out December 23, Little Christmas Eve is a real thing in Norway. It’s the day when all the final preparations for Christmas should be made, and the tree brought in, prepared for trimming.

The chapter starts with a pattern called Sledding Run, and features a little figure sitting on a toboggan. Now, I don’t know if either Arne or Carlos have ever spent much time behind 18-wheelers on an American interstate highway, but I’m thinking they have gotten just a wee bit of inspiration from a certain silhouette commonly found on tractor-trailer mud flaps. I’ll let you know if I find any Yosemite Sam ornaments in the book. This pattern stretches across two panels, rather than four. You can’t see it in the picture easily, but there are bejeweled snowflakes on the sides between the two sledders.

Next come two tree-themed patterns, Pinecone and Christmas Tree. Pretty self-explanatory, both of them. So far, I’ve been following the color schemes as set out in the book, as to whether red or white is the background color. In most cases, I think white works better, but in both of these, I like the red.

    

I’m not sure I did the increases and decreases very well on the pinecone. It looks nice enough in the picture, but I wouldn’t inspect the top and bottom too closely. I used 48 beads across the 4 Christmas trees, including a little gold one for the star. I bought gold beads at the outset, but right away decided I didn’t want to use them. I made an exception here.

And finally, I made Decorating the Tree. Now this design, based on a mitten pattern in a booklet by the Norwegian Handcraft Association, isn’t specifically related to Christmas, but the authors say it reminds them of someone decorating a tree with garland. So I shined up the “garland” with a few beads. The three stitches at the bottom of the figure make rather realistic shoes, I think, but someone needs to tell these ladies that the bustle went out over 100 years ago. That’s some serious junk in those trunks.

I’ll be on Christmas Ball Hiatus for a few days. I finished this last one with only 5 inches of white yarn to spare. I thought I had more, but checked, and realized I’d only order one hank. So I’ll have to wait until more arrives. I’m also running low on beads and stuffing. But I’m a little over 40% of the way through this project (23 out of 55 balls), way ahead of schedule, and still enjoying it immensely.

Christmas Greenery

Brought to you in redery and whitery.

I completed three more Christmas Balls this week – all from the chapter called Christmas greenery. The first, Selbu, is based on a pattern found in Selbu mittens. A quick Google search found the image on the right at the blog Yin & Yarn. You can see almost the exact motif from the ball across the wrists of the mittens.

      

Arne and Carlos describe this motif as representing a four-leaf clover.

Fittingly, the next ball’s pattern is called Three Leaf Clover. This one was kind of hard to pull off, because of the long floats between red stitches. I found that putting the red bead in at the base of the three leaves caused the red yarn to pull at the one other stitch on the entire side. I had to work a needle under the pulled stitch to try and loosen it up but it still looks like the “stem” is broken. It’s not bad enough for me to want to redo it, but, still, kind of wonky. Although this pattern is worked in quarter panels, the pattern bleeds across panels in an interesting way.

And finally, the third pattern is called Poinsettia. A bit stylized, I think, and very quilty. If you’d asked me, I would have thought I’d used many more silver beads so far, but a quick glance at this (and the tubes of beads) shows me the opposite. In fact, it looks like I’m going to have to get some more red beads, in addition to some more red yarn.

I am having all kinds of problems tracking down the yarn I want for a big project I want to start. So far, yarn is coming from two places. And I’ll probably have to order from a third. The first place told me part of my order would arrive from the mill in a week or so, but when I checked three weeks later, was told it wouldn’t be available until April. So I canceled the unavailable colors in order to try somewhere else. There was no indication on store 2’s website that they were out of one of the colors I ordered, but I can tell by how much they charged my credit card that they’re only shipping one of the colors – no correspondence with me about that at all. This is so frustrating. Why do online retailers not keep their inventory up-to-date on their websites?

So I wait and search. In the meantime, I can always knit more balls!

Après-Ski

After the lull of finishing the sweater earlier this week, and while waiting for some yarn to arrive in the mail, I’ve been able to knuckle down and get a few more Christmas Balls off the needles. 16 finished so far – right at 30% finished!

As of today, I’ve finished the four balls in the chapter called A Ski Sweater. This chapter  features designs based on motifs commonly found in traditional Norwegian sweater patterns. The first, called Christmas Stocking, is a pattern often found on Norwegian stockings, and, according to the authors, on Latvian mittens. This was an unusual pattern in that the hanging loop doesn’t match the fabric from which it emerges. Turns out the rule is that the cast o-on color at the bottom of the ball dictates the loop color, because of the way the loops are attached.

The second two designs in the chapter are variations on the traditional X’s and O’s commonly found in Stetesdal Sweaters – a term that was new to me. Do an image search on the web, and you’ll get it right away.

    

The first variation here has a lice pattern in the increase and decrease sections, while the second is solid red. The middle sections are identical, although I changed up the bead colors and placement for a little variety.

The fourth and final design in this section is called Halling Border, and is from a design found in the book Norwegian Knitting Designs, written by Annuchen Sibbern Bøhn. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to represent anything specific, or if it is just a pleasing abstract design. It kind of reminds me of an open book.

When I finished this ball, I had about 8 inches of red yarn to spare. I have a second ball handy, but it appears I’ll need to order at least one more – possibly two, just to be safe. I’m really enjoying this project. I’m getting much faster at these, and it’s always fun to figure out whether and where to insert the beads. I’m starting to worry now about getting done too quickly!

I probably just jinxed something by writing that…

Men’s Sweater Finale

It’s done!

I can’t tell you how much I love this pattern. I can’t vouch for the other sizes, but the XL version is just the epitome of symmetry. All the 6x1 ribbing matching up all the way around – for those drawn to simplicity, and, well, a sense of pattern in their patterns, this is just about as good as it gets. The only downside was having to model it this afternoon in 76-degree weather. That kind of sucked.

The knitted in zipper has stayed in, and so has the little bit of piping that I sewed around the neckline to give the sweater some scaffolding to hang from. Really, for a sweater with no sewing, I did manage to work with needle and thread a lot. That usually intimidates me, but it was all voluntary and all worth it. Thanks, Staci, for such a cool pattern and for the bits of free advice.

And to all the people who suggested I go for the blue – and you know who you are – thanks.

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

This weekend, I finished up the sleeves, blocked and knitted in the zipper on my Men’s Sweater. I LOVE it.

I first read about knitting in a zipper, rather than sewing it in with a needle and thread or on a machine, in an article in the Winter 2010 issue of Interweave Knits. Staci shows how to do this in the video that goes with the pattern.

I had a bit of drama around the whole zipper issue. First of all, I thought the space at the top of my sweater was 12” long – a standard zipper length. But after measuring post-blocking, I realized it was actually 10”. And the first zipper I bought was too narrow – and despite the navy assignation, a bit too purple-y. After doing some yard work this morning, I ventured out and bough a chunky dark blue zipper. The shortest I could find without going under 10” was a 14” zipper, but I learned from the package that you can just whip-stitch some thread around the length you want 8-10 times, and then cut the zipper a bit below that. Who knew? Probably everyone but me.

For this technique,one uses a tiny little latch hook to build a little crochet chain on one side of the zipper tape (the opposite side of the one showing here). The chain is built on the same row gauge as your knitting, because you use your actual knitting as the template for marking the stitch points on the tape. Genius! It was a little tricky – I had issues with the tape bunching a bit, but I relaxed, and things got a bit smoother. The setup of creating the chains takes a while to do, but the sewing in takes no time at all, and it turned out marvelous!

So let’s call this sweater done. I didn’t finish until nearly dark, so you’ll have to wait a bit for pictures taken in daylight. Here, Kate shows us all what a little sunshine can do for one’s outlook. We suffered through some wet and stormy days this week. The yard love it, but the dogs, not so much. While I worked at the bamboo and other pesky weeds that are threatening to become sentient, Pona and Kate took advantage of today’s abundant sunshine. I think I may have to put this sweater away until next year, at this point.

Sleeves Perceived

I’ve had a bit of time to work on the Men’s Sweater, and I’ve all but got the body finished.

Just about an inch more of regular knitting, then I think I’m going to take the short row tail-lengthening option, and then it’s on to the sleeves. I’ll have about 5.5 balls out of my original 16 left at that point. I’m a little worried that I’ll have enough to finish, but I had breakfast with the designer this morning (I love writing that!), and she assures me that I’m good. Fingers crossed. This fits me about like I expected, although it’s a good thing the 6x1 ribbing provides built-in give. I don’t really need it right now – but it’s nice to know it’s there. Ahem.

I’ve only finished one more Christmas Ball since the last post – Handcraft Border. It’s the second in the chapter called Tradition. The description says that it reminds the designers of patterns in Eskimo sweaters. I can kind of see that. It also has a bit of a runic look to me. For such a simple design, I made a LOT of mistakes while putting this one together. I always seemed to be getting a row ahead before realizing that I should have added beads, and right here in this picture I can see a white stitch that is terribly distorted. Still, I’m having lots of fun making these – they only take a few hours each, and I’m a little ahead of my one-a-week schedule despite my slow start. Maybe after I get the sleeves started on the sweater I’ll tackle another one.

Ball Bearings

I kind of lost them a bit today.

I was distracted this afternoon by the episode of Dr. Who I was watching while knitting this drippy Sunday afternoon. I mean, really, can one be expected to pay close attention when listening to such riveting dialog as this, spoken by a Dalek to his minions in the Empire State Building: “The pig slaves will take the lift!” I’m hoping at least a few of my readers understand.

Turns out I was thrown off to the tune of an entire row – that’s right – I just skipped one – and managed to do so for the entire round. At least I was consistent! I didn’t realize my mistake until I had finished the entire ball, stuffing, hanging loop, and all. I can’t believe I got that far without noticing. I thought for a moment that I might just unravel the whole thing, but I’d done such a good job of weaving in all my ends, that in the end it seemed it would be less frustrating to just start over. So I did, and I’m glad.

I think my tension was better the second time around, and the second version seems, overall, rounder. This pattern introduces the chapter called Tradition, and is called Secret Rose. Now that I’ve confessed my secret, hopefully this won’t happen again. But on the up-side, I will have knitted an even number of balls when I finish this project. Assuming I don’t do this again.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the old one. Keep it as a spare? Keep it handy as a reminder of the dangers of knitter’s hubris? Or I could just get rid of it. It is inferior after all. Exterminate! Exterminate!

Special Delivery

A package came in the mail today for me, filled with knitterly goodness.

I’d set out to get some green sock  yarn to use for the one tri-colored pattern from 55 Christmas Balls to Knit. Since I was using KnitPicks Stroll for the red and white, I thought I should stick with it for the green. I found this nice Aurora Heather color. A nice deep green with some highlights, I think it will work great. I’d also thought it might work as a good toe and afterthought-heel color for some Felici sock yarn I have called Green Veggies – but it might be too dark. We’ll see about that later.

But I didn’t just want to order one ball of yarn. So, to make the shopping and shipping worth it, I got a copy of Clara Parkes’ The Knitter’s Book of Socks. After reading Janelle’s glowing review, I knew I’d need to get it eventually. And it was on sale. Then, I remembered that I hadn’t been able to find my retractable tape measure for a while, so I had them throw one in.

Other than that, I’ve been focusing on the Men’s Sweater. I’ve put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn, and I’m to the endless round-and-round of 6x1 ribbing. But I’m making progress.

Oh, and I bought some yarn for a super nice project for me – but more about that later. It’s time for me to make supper. Kung pao!