Compound Interest

I've been toiling away on a new sweater project off and on for the past few weeks, and was hoping to share some progress with this post, but a quick reassessment last night showed that I had foolishly ignored the laws of gauge once again.

I'm making the Fine-Knit Cardigan by Erika Knight from Men's Knits: 20 New Classics. I got some Rowan Wool Cotton in a lovely dark green called Deepest Olive. I needed something to replace my gray work cardigan since it no longer fits. And even in a Texas summer, an overly air conditioned library can be a chilly place to work. I thought I might unravel the old one and make a smaller size, but I wanted something new and different.

One of the reasons I picked this yarn was for the fiber content -- I didn't want all wool or all cotton -- and because someone on Ravelry had knit this pattern with this yarn and it looked lovely. But after knitting it, I can't believe she got gauge with the needles listed. I went down two sizes and still I was too large. I got started any way, thinking I was close. But as I should know by now, close doesn't cut it with gauge. While compound interest is awesome when it comes to long-term savings, it's hell on knitting. I went down two sizes further than I would normally make, and two sizes down in needles, and it still appears I'm going to end up with a sweater with a 50" circumference!

But I love this yarn and this simple pattern. I've decided to start over and calculate the cast-ons based on ratios from what I got in my first attempt. For instance, if I originally cast on 140 stitches for the back and it ended up 25" wide, to get a 21.5" back, I should cast on 120. I think if I take good notes and try to be careful about the proportions, I should be in good shape. Let's hope the sweater will be, too. I'm kind of nervous about this approach, but here goes.

Knitting on the Road

We visited our friends Tom & Shelly in Houston this weekend to see the penultimate performance of a play Tom directed. Ruined, by Lynn Nottage at Obsidian Art Space was quite intense and had some amazing acting. So glad we took the time to come down and see it.

While having breakfast the next day, Tom reminded me that we had been talking about me knitting him a sweater. We haven't settled on a pattern yet, but I thought a trip to the yarn store might help generate some ideas. If we found a yarn he liked, it might help us settle on a pattern. And luckily for us, there was a yarn store down the street.

I'd been wanting to visit Knitting in the Loop for a while, but we just don't seem to get to Houston as much as we used to. It's housed in an old 1920s-era bungalow that was moved to this site in the 1980s. It's very open and light with plenty of windows looking out into the southeast Texas spring sunshine. They had a lot of Rowan, Cascade and Debbie Bliss yarns, among others. It wasn't cluttered-seeming like some yarn shops can be. And the place was hopping with people knitting on a Saturday morning. Here, Jeff and Tom relax while I get to business.

We still haven't settled on a yard or a pattern, but we might be getting closer. While Tom mulled things over, I snuck over to look at the sock yarn. I really liked the Painted Desert sock yarn they had, which I had never seen, but the fact that it was just superwash wool with no nylon made me a little leery of it's ability to withstand wear and tear. If anyone has any experience with this yarn, I'd be interested to hear about it. In the meantime, I bought some more Cascade Heritage Silk in a creamy beige color. It's so nice to work with. And it looks lovely among the loropetalum in Tom & Shelly's garden. Spring has definitely arrived in this part of the world.

It's a Barnum & Bailey World

A rainy cold weekend and a new sense of mission means my Paper Moon socks are finished -- including the re-knitting of the leg on the first sock. I really got into "the zone" on these lately -- and fitting with my modus operandi of letting projects languish and then suddenly knocking them out. A knitter's version of spring cleaning, perhaps. Which is also happening around here this spring break week. Believe me, it's needed.

You can't tell from the above picture, but I did re-knit the leg on the first sock. It would have just driven me nuts to know that these were "wrong," even if they looked fine they way they were. So I unraveled and unraveled and put the live stitches back on the dpns. Usually when I rip way back, I end up a row or two off, but I calculated it just right this time. And I was left with a giant wad of telephone cord yarn. (Sigh -- I just realized that "telephone cord" is starting to look like an anachronism.) In the past, I might just have wound it into a ball and started knitting, ignoring the fact that the kinks might make the knitting look wonky. ButI this time, I decided to be a bit more professional. Plus, I was worried that the kinks would make cables difficult to execute.

I wound the yarn around a box as I unravelled it. Using some scrap yarn, I tied off around the unravelled section in four places to keep it from tangling and I tied a stitch marker to the end so I could locate it later. Then I soaked the whole kinky mess for half an hour, leaving the rest of the sock on the edge of the basin. I squeezed it out, wrapped it in a towel and stepped on it, then draped it over a hanger with a slight weight and hung it in the shower to dry, again with the foot of the sock still attached. I had to get a bit creative, but it all worked. The next morning it was dry. Jeff did his husbandly duty of acting like a human swift while I wound it all up again, and then I was off to Saturday morning knitting.

Sunday evening, I had them finished. I washed and blocked the pair overnight and had my sock model pose for a picture on this glorious late winter day. They turned out beautifully. Jeff, who is not the biggest fan of wool socks, reports that these are quite comfy. That would probably be the silk. I'm glad I took the time to get these "right." And, because I'm a bit obsessive about these things, and because I'm hoping someone else out ther might be too, I can report that there are 392 cable twists in this pair of socks. And I'll have that number in my head each time I wear these. And I kind of like that.

 

Hind Leg

I thought that after knitting for nine years I had grasped the concept of following the directions in a knitting pattern. Apparently, I have not. Or maybe I have and I just need to pay more attention to the pictures provided. Or maybe I shouldn't knit while watching sci-fi movies over the Atlantic. Let me explain.

I was working on the second of the two Paper Moon socks yesterday and did a double-take after glancing at one of the pictures. It clearly showed that the cable which starts near the toe and is "unwound" to form the gusset, is supposed to be re-braided after the heel is finished and the leg begins. I went and grabbed my completed sock. Not only had I NOT done that, but the back of my sock didn't have the cabling and garter stitch motifs that the sock in the picture does. The back of my sock's leg was plain, except for the oddly placed purl gutters, which I had assumed where just there as placeholders for the cuff that is knit in the last few rounds.

How did this happen!? I started this sock in Germany, so I could claim travel fatigue or sleep deprivation. I can't believe that I worked on this off and on for over a month and never saw what I'd done Or rather, I can believe it, because the evidence is staring me in the face. Look at this photo of my pair in progress. The sock on the needles is the second sock, with the cable brought back together and the pattern going around the whole leg above the heel. The completed sock is sitting there like a reverse mullet hairstyle -- party in the front, business in the back. Boring!

When I reread the instructions for the leg, and then looked at the charts, I could see where I strayed. After a set up round where the purl gutters are established, the instructions say to work as established. There is no chart specifically for the back of the leg, although by the time you get there it's not too hard to see where you're going. Unless, of course, your eyes are glued to a tiny screen on the back of the seat in front of you, watching a hapless South African bureaucrat making a mess of intergalactic race relations.

I'm going to re knit the leg of that first sock.

One Sock, Two Sock, Green Sock, Gray Sock

I was a little exhausted after the quick finish to the Girasole Throw. Pairing that with a nasty cold that left me apathetic about nearly anything creative, knitting and crocheting fell to the wayside in early February. I'd work a few stitches here and there, but my heart and hands weren't in it. I seem to have recovered -- I can breathe clearly now, the cold is gone. Today, I finished the first of a pair of socks that had been languishing.

This is one of the Paper Moon socks that I've been working on for a while. I cast on for them in late December while in Germany, and hadn't touched them since the flight home until this weekend. I had to stare back and forth from the sock to the pattern for 20 minutes before I could even grasp what I'd been doing with these -- what size I was making, where I'd left off. But I got a lot of work done on them yesterday, and this morning I finished the cuff and bound off. Better start the second right away, I think.

Yesterday I got to know and spend time with a knitter I'd never met -- always a fun way to spend a beautiful day. Kris is a friend of Janelle's who I know from her blog and a few social media connections. She happened to be here for a conference, so we set aside some time for a mini yarn crawl yesterday. We ended up hitting two shops, driving around a big part of Austin and grabbing some coffee. Knitting happened, of course. Afterwards we ran by the house, went with Jeff to take the dogs for a quick walk, and then all went out for some Texas barbecue. It was a great time, and I look forward to seeing Kris again. I swear we'll get back up to Pennsylvania one of these days. I promise!

While shopping, I couldn't resist this striking light gray Shibui Stacatto sock yarn, a merino/silk blend. The colorway is called Ash. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Sock yarn is the only kind I buy without a plan for what I'll do with it. I think I'll just enjoy looking at it and thinking about the possibilities, for now.

A Drop of Golden Sun

I'm coming up for air after a flurry of knitting with no accompanying blogging. Not much to report with lace knitting in-the-round. Yarnover this, decrease that, join another skein, blah-blah-blah. I had a little excitement when I realized I needed a seventh skein to complete the project, coupled with joy that the yarn shop still had another one in the same dye lot. So I decided to wait to bore readers with the details until it was finished. And as of today, it is. I finished knitting it with my knitting group yesterday morning, wove in the ends when I got home, and washed and blocked it in the afternoon.

Since it's cotton, I washed it in the machine. I wanted to make sure it didn't fall apart. It didn't. But it was so heavy when wet that the washer wouldn't spin fast enough to get it past soaking and merely to damp -- it caused the whole thing to go way off balance. So I tossed it in the drier on low for 20 minutes to get it to the right dampness. All pointers I can pass on to those who will be caring for it.

The picot edging has 240 points on it. Ideally, I would have pinned out each one, but I don't have that many pins -- or that much patience. I made do, trying to make sure that each point was 30" from the center, making for a 60" diameter -- which just about fits on this old beach towel that I use for blocking big projects. The only place with floorspace big enough was in the living room, so I had Jeff help me move furniture around to create a Fortress of Blockitude, impervious to curious dogs. Frankly, I was a little disappointed that Pona and Kate didn't show much interest in my efforts. But if I hadn't done it...

I'm always fascinated by how magical lace is, being based on nothing but making holes and gathering them back together. And how it never reaches its full potential until blocked. Even in cotton, it smoothed out and shaped up noticeably after a good blocking. The sun pattern in the center spreading out from the clever cast-on is my favorite bit. But I also like the diagonal lace bars that shift directions as they move outward. I thought the knitted-on picot edging would drive me crazy with the amount of time I anticipated it would take. But it wasn't too bad. The six row repeat was quickly memorized and was easy to read as I went along. I can highly recommend this pattern. It's not particularly difficult. And, as with most Jared Flood patterns, it's very well written. I can't wait to see how this is received!

Girasole Start

I've had Jared Flood's Girasole pattern in my Ravelry queue for years, and Friday, I got some yarn to make it. It can be knit in any size, really, since it's circular. The pattern suggests a sock weight yarn for a shawl, or worsted for a blanket. I'm using more of a sport weight, so let's say this will be a throw.

It's going to be a gift, so I'll be a little cagey about my planning but I will say I did have a bit of trouble with the color. I wanted to make something bright, but the color options at hand were either neon or pastel -- not quite right for this project. Then I saw this Cascade Ultra Pima cotton yarn in a shiny antique gold color -- washed out to a camely-beige here by my color-distorting phone camera. But the actual color is vert fitting to me, as the center of the pattern looks like the sun. The label, however, says Mushroom. Hmm. No wonder it spoke to me.

I cast on right away Friday, and immediately it started with a bit of a challenge - a new (to me) cast-on technique: the circular cast-on. Two sites are suggested in the pattern to get details. I found that the option using a crochet hook worked best for me. It's pretty cool, and not that complicated.

In true lace-from-the-center-out fashion, I've made great progress this weekend, having worked my way through the first three charts and one of the six balls of yarn I estimate I'll need. But now things will slow down as the circumference increases. No worries yet. I still have time. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the novelty and at the same time marveling at the number of projects I have going at once. For me, this borders on spinning out of control.

A Honky-Tonk Parade

We're back from our travels and have had a few days to regroup before getting back into the semester. For my part, I've been catching up on yard work and getting some progress done on projects, old and new.

First, a repair job. While sitting in a Wiesbaden cafe enjoying some coffee, my niece announced, "Uncle Steven, your sweater has a hole." I felt around to where it was and saw that it was at the seam. Whew! I thought it might have been the body of the sweater itself -- if you'll recall, I had accidentally snipped a bit of thread while reattaching one of the arms a while back. Luckily, it was just the seam. Loft is pretty sturdy knitted up, but it isn't the best yarn for seaming and one little part had broken and started separating. Too many half-liters of beer, I guess. I had to refrain from wearing it the rest of the trip, but I re-sewed the seam this afternoon and it seems solid now. I'm going to hold on to the extra Loft that I have left, just in case this happens again.

Immediately after finishing the 3x1 Ribbed Socks in Germany, I started another pair with some yarn that my fellow knitters had given me for my birthday. This is the Paper Moon pattern from Knitty Deep Fall 2011, using Cascade Heritage Silk in a deep green color. It's a toe-up pattern with short row heels and a cool reverse-stockinette gusset that grows out of a split cable. Some of my readers have made these socks before, I think. I'm not doing my eyes any favors by using green needles with green yarn, but these stiletto tips are just the thing for cabling without a cable needle.

When I went through the security check in Frankfurt, the women in charge of my line had me open my bag and take them out. They looked at me kind of funny, but I put on my best mild-mannered librarian face and it seemed to work. I would have been so sad if I'd had to leave these needles behind. I don't blame them, though. They do have sort of a weapon-y look about them.

And I've finished one more row on the crocheted Squared Away Throw. Not even quite 2/3 of the way done. This may take a while. It's rather mindless work, and the Tunisian technique means having to watch what you're doing quite a bit. But still, I'm satisfied with the way it's turning out. Each row is a bit less than a ball. Rather than having to join a new ball in the middle of a row, I'm just saving up the scrap ends for the fringe. I can't imagine that decision will come back to bite me, but you never know.

Hope everyone is knitting lots of wonderful things in the new year.

 

Year's End

Our trip through Germany continues, with a bit more knitting, some knitted gift giving, and some yarny serendipity in a small town where my father's family lived 60 years ago.

First, my brother seems to really like the Grettir Sweater that I made for him last summer and gave him for Christmas. Jeff took a great picture of us together at the Gutenburg Museum in Mainz with Michael wearing it. It couldn't fit better, and it really looks good on him. He says, "Es ist die beste." I haven't gotten a picture yet, but my sister-in-law Suzanne also likes her shawl. She wore it the other day during a 5-mile walk we took from Nordenstadt through Igstadt and Erbenheim and back and reported that it was perfectly warm. I think maybe I could get into this Christmas knitting thing after all!

This evening, after getting back from a day trip (see below), I finally finished up the 3x1 ribbed socks I started way back in July -- nearly six months after starting them. I started them to have socks on the needle and to burn through some stash, but I never would have guessed they would have taken so long. This yarn fought me the entire way. It was splitty and z-twisted (as I learned from Janelle), and so I had to constantly wrestle with it. But the resulting socks are thick, warm, and quite possibly bullet-proof. I think I'll wear them tomorrow when we head down to Würzburg. Lord knows the chilly days in which I can wear these will be few and far between in Texas. Maybe these will make good winter around-the-house socks.

And today, Michael drove Jeff and me over to Idar-Oberstein to walk around the town where my grandfather was posted in the US Army during the early 1950s. He was able to bring my grandmother and their only child, my father, to Germany to live with him for a few years. I grew up hearing stories about their life here. We climbed up to a church built into a cliff, and further up the cliff to walk around a schloss and a burg. We were rather nostalgic thinking about our father and grandparents climbing up these same paths and enjoying these views.

As we were walking down the main street of the town, I noticed some yarn for sale outside a shop in little baskets. A yarn shop! I'd been looking for one in either Wiesbaden or Mainz, but hadn't been able to figure anything out. And here one was! I was kind of on my own language-wise, but I managed to get across that I was a knitter. I looked around a bit; it was one of those shops where most of the yarns were from just a few companies. I didn't recognize the larger-gauge yarn company, but for the knees on down, this was a Regia shop. So I bought some gray (!) yarn for a pair that I hope to make in a pattern that in some way ties in with this town. I'll have to think about it.

I hope everyone is enjoying the end of the year holidays and has great plans of all sorts for the next year. Einen guten Rutsch!

Breien Onderweg

Tomorrow, Jeff and I head for Germany and a long-anticipated Christmas visit with my brother's family. But we've had such a great time in Amsterdam, with many fiber-related adventures, and want to recap them here while things are still fresh in my mind. Before I forget -- I worked on my socks on the plane a bit, but didn't finish them as I'd hoped.

On our first day here, we were able to check into our hotel early. We headed out straight away to get our bearings and keep ourselves active and awake in an effort to stave off jet lag. And it just so happened that one of the places we wandered by is de Afstap in the Grachtengordel West neighborhood. They had a wide range of Rowan yarns, and kits for complicated stranded ponchos in bright colors -- a whole room full of them. One of the staff told me that they did a lot of commissioned knitting work, and that they had over 10 people employed making custom knitwear. One of their biggest areas of business was in knitting for local theater costumers. What a great gig -- but it sounds very high-pressure to me.

Yesterday, we visited the Van Gogh Museum, where I had the pleasant surprise of seeing a red lacquered box in which Vincent kept different colors of wool which he would twist together to test color combinations. Much of the museum was dedicated to discussing Van Gogh's interest in color theory; how cool to think that some of the startling colors in his beautiful paintings might have gotten their start with bits of yarn. He, along with some fellow artists, was interested in weavers as subjects -- he made several studies of them, including some "doodles" in a letter.

And this morning at a weekend outdoor market, we came across stalls of second-hand knitwear, much of it obviously done by hand. It was the Northern European equivalent of a pile of t-shirts at Goodwill. Among them were lines of used mittens -- mismatched and a bit grubby, but many of them knit by hand.

But this afternoon was the best! After a sober visit to the Anne Frank House and the municipal Amsterdam Museum, I made my way to the Spiegelkwartier through some cold drizzle to visit Penelope Craft, the other shop I'd identified previously. And although I knew he frequented the shop, I was surprised to see Stephen West, mister Westknits himself, right there! He graciously showed me some local yarns, of which I picked up a couple of brownish skeins, and we chatted about yarn and designs and color. Well, mostly I went on and on, but he was very kind to listen and happy to let me take a picture with him. And while he wasn't wearing his trademark swants, he had just released his Carol of the Swants video!

 

It was a great way to round out our Amsterdam trip. I got a copy of his book, Words of Wisdom, and I even have an errand I've been tasked with back home. I only got to meet the owner, Malia, for a moment, but then, she's a busy woman.

So it's on to Germany, where breiwerk will become stricken...

 

Over There

Such a busy holiday season. Not much time to knit or crochet -- much lest post anything about it. But my semester is over, and a big trip is coming up, so it's time to sit back, recap, and reassess where I am right now.

First up, check out this Faux-Sno Globe I made with my knitting bunch on Saturday morning. It's kind of fun that we took a break from our crafting to do yet more crafting! Meg had gathered together supplies to make little fluid-less snow globes using jars, Epsom salts, and a myriad of figurines. My little Victorian Christmas carolers put a smile on my face, especially the Lady in Red. She looks like the holidays may have gotten the best of her. Thanks to everyone, and Meg especially for a great morning of munching and hanging out.

I've been working on the Squared Away Throw somewhat steadily. It's slow going, with little mistakes here and there. Crochet seems more forgiving than knitting -- or maybe I'm just less uptight about it. A square on the previous row has 10 rows rather than 11? Eh -- no one will notice. But when I do have to rip back, it's so comforting to know there's only one live stitch at any time to be fretting over. Luxury!

The throw is getting too big to wag around, so I'm leaving it at home when we head out to The Netherlands and Germany in just two days to see sights and visit family. I'm going to just take knitting for socks. First up, I plan to finish the 3x1 ribbed socks that have been languishing for a while. I'm at the heel flap for the second sock, so I should have the pair finished by the time we land Wednesday morning. Then, I hope to work on a pair using the Paper Moon pattern by AnneLena Mattison from the Deep Fall 2011 issue of Knitty using some dark green (of course!) yarn I got for my birthday. If that gets done -- well, I'll just have to buy more, won't I?

I've scoped out a couple of yarn shops to possibly visit while in Amsterdam -- De Afstap and Penelope Craft. If any readers know of others, let me know. I'll be posting images from time to time at my usual social media haunts, but if you want to follow via Instagram, my handle is sevenlefts. I'll try to do a post or two on the road, but if not, I'll recap my adventures when I get back.

Happy Holidays!

Crochet Underway

Spending some quiet days at the in-laws' over this long holiday weekend has granted me time I needed to get familiar with this new Tunisian crochet thing. I do think I'm getting the hang of it -- mostly. I'm at the point where I'm alternating between two types of rows, so it's basically an endurance exercise at this point. I hope my thumb holds out.

There are some quirks I've picked up about this entrelac pattern. The bind-off row for each square works better when I go up a hook size. You can see these rows folded over a bit on the upper right of the pale green (Silver Sage) squares in the photograph. Before I started going up a size, I could barely get the hook through the stitches to start new squares. That problem seems solved.

I also can't for the life of me figure out why the triangles in the first row are all based on 10-row motifs, while the rest is all based on 11 rows. Is this why I was having such bad tension issues earlier? This strange mismatch had me doubling up on stitches that we're picked up in some sections. Everything is 11-to-11 now, but I wonder what will happen at the far edge? I suppose I could read ahead and find out, but I think I'd rather just enjoy the mystery of anticipation at this point. In the meantime, I soldier on.

The picture of the American Beautyberries is here merely because they're gorgeous. My father-in-laws' are always so beautiful -- ours are rather anemic and rangy by comparison. I read in a book that we recently acquired at my library about edible garden plants that, while not particularly flavorful, Beautyberries are edible. I thought they might make a nice jam or jelly, and the book says you can, but the color disappears. Pity.

Hope all enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. I sure did.

Boye Bands

My yarn arrived this week along with a new set of Boye crochet hooks, and I was able to get started on the Squared Away Throw. In fact, I was able to start it three times.

I'm new to this crochet thing, and it shows. I knew my sample swatch was curved, showing that the cast on was too tight, so I followed the instructions and went up two sizes. Still too tight -- allthough the curve was more gradual that time. But because it was more gradual, I was already working back on the second band before I noticed it. So I started again, on a hook three sizes larger, but I managed to get the chain twisted. On the third try, I was careful about not twisting, and made my cast on chain (is that the correct phrase-ology?) extra loose. After single crocheting back along the chain, I had an edge that was about 57" inches long. The pattern calls for 60". I don't know if that includes the fringe or not (leaning toward not), so I decided to call it a success and crochet on already.

I've ended up using an alphabet soup of hooks. I cast on with a K (6.5mm), did the first band of triangles (color:seraphim) with an I (5.5mm), and am currently doing the first band of squares (color: whisker) on the pattern's called-for H (5mm). You can see that the stitches in the triangles are larger than the stitches in the squares, but everything is lying relatively flat and the edge isn't curling. So far so good. I may have to write up notes about which hook to use with which color.

It was a strangely quiet weekend for the fall, but perfect for hunkering down and playing with yarn. Jeff was out of town at a conference, and it was just me and the dogs and the wintry weather. It's been in the 30s the whole time. I'm really looking forward to Jeff's arrival and settling down with some homemade chicken stew. Hope everyone is staying warm, or cool in the case of my antipodal friends!

 

 

 

Night in Tunisia

I saw a pattern for a throw the other day, and based solely on the colors, I wanted to make it. It's yarn I've worked with before, so the only thing that might pose a problem is that it's not a knitting project. It's crochet.

I'm not one of those knitters who looks down his nose at other fiber crafts. I pretty much think they're all awesome. Okay -- I'm not all that fond of macramé, but I suppose it does have a place in this world. My main issue is that I'm just not that familiar with the skills and vocabulary of crochet, despite all the crocheters in my pedigree. I've never really done a serious crochet project. But I want to make this one.

It's the Squared Away Throw by Beth Major, made with four different grayish colors, and created with th Tunisian crochet method. Staci at Very Pink has a useful tutorial on Tunisian crochet, and I found one from Webs that describes using it in an entrelac pattern. I've done a bit of practicing and swatching, and I've already learned a few things.

First, my foundation chain was way too tight. See the curviness? Yeah, that's supposed to be a straight line. The instructions suggested chaining the foundation with a hook a size or two larger. Will do. Also, I got very frustrated at not getting anywhere close to the gauge in my squares -- until I realized the measurement was diagonal. Staci helped me figure that out. I also need to just relax in general -- I hold everything way too tightly, and I'm going to be in orthopedic gloves if I don't relax my grip a bit. I realize crocheting uses a different set of muscles than knitting, but just after swatching I was close to a diagnosis of crochet tunnel syndrome.

I've ordered the yarn and eagerly await its arrival. All of this planning and thinking of Tunisian crochet has this amazing tune spinning through my head. Sarah Vaughan certainly does it justice.

 

Sing All A Blue-Green Willow

Janelle has lamented this often, and living in more northerly latitudes has more to complain about than I do, but it's just so hard to get photos of knitting during the work week this time of year. With FO photography in mind, I started racing home on my bike today, only to meet some cross-country bicyclists with questions about my fair city as they rode into town. They were way more energetic after a day of riding than I would have been. I can't imagine riding one's bike from Virginia or Quebec to Austin as these two did, but I suppose they were happy to be a bit further south these days. After exchanging pleasantries and saying goodbye, I got home just as the sun was disappearing. Drat.

The shawl turned out fine and knit up way faster than I'd imagined. I made the large size, but it's 6" shorter than it's supposed to be. However, the likely recipient will find it just right, I'm sure. The pattern describes it as a shawl. But I envision it being worn more like a scarf, with extra fabric for around the back of the neck. It's a bit heavy for a shawl, to my way of thinking, but then I don't normally wear them. Whenever I think of men and shawls, my mind wanders to elderly Dickensian men in their dotage. Or Dick Vandyke as Mr. Dawes, Sr. in Mary Poppins. Despite having recently added another year to the total, I'm not there yet.

This yarn is a real delight to knit with. The stitch definition it achieves is rather amazing. And I was surprised at it's density and heaviness, despite being labeled as sport weight. It must be on the heavy side of sport -- maybe full-contact sport weight? I only used a little over one and a half of the three skeins I bought. I should have enough to make a nice hat down the road. Now, to think of some more things to knit before the holidays. I may find myself racing APO shipping deadlines if I don't watch it.

Willow River,Take My Mind

I started a new project this weekend -- a possible Christmas gift. It's for someone who may read my blog, so I'll try to play my cards close. This is the Willow River Shawl by Katie White, and I'm using some 80-10-10 Madeline Tosh yarn I got last week in Fort Worth in a beautiful seafoam green color called Mineral.

It's such a delight to knit with -- it just flows through my fingers. And the pattern is fun, too. I'm about halfway through the 11 32-row repeats that form the horizontal willow leaf pattern. Later, hundreds of stitches will be picked up along the part that can be seen in the right-hand part of the photo to form a vertical section with lots of short-row shaping. I'm making the long version, which I think puts this somewhere between a shawl and a scarf. A sharf? A scawl?

I also spent a part of the day removing and reattaching one of the sleeves of my Redford Sweater. I'd clearly sewn it on all cattywampus, and I could tell when wearing it that the corresponding side didn't fit right. It went fairly smoothly, if you don't count the fact that my first seam line snip was on the body of the sweater. Thank goodness for grabby Targhee-Columbia wool. I did some fixes and all is well. And it does fit better, so I'm glad I tackled it. Still, for my nerves' sake, I think the Redford Sweater and I are going to take a little time off from each other for the time being.

Cowtown Crawl

Several of the crafty medical librarians at the conference I attended this week spent our last morning in Fort Worth visiting a few of the local yarn shops. Dena, an excellent knitter and hospital librarian was our host and skillfully guided us around a city that seems to have become one giant construction site.

We started out at Jennings St. Yarns, which I had visited a few summers ago. We were among the first customers on a drizzly day, and the shop owner, Linda, made all four of us feel right at home. A large portion of the shop is set up by yarn color, rather than just by brand, which makes it easy to make serendipitous finds. I really like this approach. There was still a separate sock yarn section, thou, and with a lot of variety. I found some that caught my eye.

Then we were off to Madtosh Crafts. Wow! It's a large, roomy shop that's half Madelinetosh yarn and half quilting fabric. I loved how the yarn cubby-holes were all waist high and up -- a tall person's yarn shop, indeed. I saw many examples of popular patterns knit up in Madeline Tosh yarns (including a Honey Cowl, Janelle!), and for a,guy who leans toward the drab and dreary, I still could have spent the whole day looking at all the rich, bright colors. I chose some beautiful sport weight Madelinetosh 80-10-10 in a seafoam green color for a Willow River shawl that I've been wanting to make.

I got back to Austin with just enough daylight left to snap a quick picture of the stuff I got. My thanks to Janna, Helen and Dena for a great morning. And to Dena especially for being such a good guide. Here's hoping everyone got home safely today and is knitting their new yarn up soon, if not already. I think I'll get started tomorrow. I'm itching to, because I realized I didn't manage to knit a stitch all week during the conference.

 

Green Redford

I finished the Redford Sweater today. And I'm mostly happy with it. There are a few style and fit issues, though, mostly of my own creation.

When I last posted, I was in the midst of seaming together some of the pieces. I'm not entirely sure why, but I noticed a real difference between the tension in the knit and purl slipped selvedge stitches. This resulted in half the expressed seams appearing neat and tidy, and the others half looking a little, well, sloppy. I really noticed this in the seaming process itself. On one side, the bars I was trying to pick up were nigh on impossible to find. On the other, they were quite apparent. I need to look into why this is. I'm hoping it's just one of those knitting facts of life, and not some personal failing. One of the less tidy seams is shown in the photo below.

Also, I didn't attempt to match up the seaming ratios between the two sleeves. I just kind of eyeballed how to set them in. I used clips to keep everything proportional around each sleeve seam, but I didn't compare the two sides. And it shows. One of the expressed side panel seams ends about an inch higher than the other. Yikes. You may be able to see what I mean in the first photo above. I really should have checked as I set in that second sleeve. But I'm not going to redo it. The fit is fine, and I doubt anyone will notice. Except you, dear readers, now that you've read this. If you see me wearing this on the street, be kind.

More seaming notes: Unlike the sock yarn I used for the side seams, I used Loft to seam the shoulders, since these seams would be visible. It's really difficult to use this yarn for a sewn seam, since it has little tensile strength. It kept breaking, with the result that this sweater is held together with spit as much as wool. Too much information? Also, the instructions didn't explicitly state that the sleeve seams (they're knit flat) should be expressed, so I chose to seam them normally, on the inside. While the expressed seams are an interesting feature of this pattern, my lack of skill with the edge stitches made me wary.

Please don't let this post give you the idea that I'm unhappy with this pattern or it's results. It really is quite lovely. I love the color and the weight. I was comfortable in it in the shade on a dry 24C autumn afternoon. It is a bit short for my taste, but that's how the pattern is written. If you like your sweaters a bit longer, adding some rows would be an easy modification. All in all, I'm pleased with it, and can't wait for the crisper days ahead when I'll get to wear it more. And I'm glad it's finished. Now, on to other things.

 

Seam Antics

All parts of the Redford Sweater are knit up! Last night I blocked everything and today the seaming begins. This could take much of the weekend.

Tony expressed interest in how I was going to join stockinette and reverse stockinette. I was curious myself, having never attempted this maneuver. It's made even more complicated by the fact that the seams are supposed to show, that is, they are expressed, on the right side. I mulled things over, got out my copy of Vicki Square's The Knitter's Companion, and mulled things over some more. It shouldn't have taken so long, but I finally realized that in order for the seam to show on the right side, I had to sew the seam on the wrong side. Simple enough, once it occurred to me.

Above you see the wrong sides. The front panel is on the left half of each photo, showing the reverse stockinette side, and a side panel is on the right half of each photo, showing the stockinette side. Yes, the right side of the side panels is reverse stockinette. Is everyone following along so far? To mattress-stitch the seam, I went in to the gaps between the slipped twisted selvedge stitch and the first column of regular stitches. On the side panel, I picked up two bars (left photo) and on the front panel I picked up two "smiles"(right photo). They're really hard to see. I got out my head lamp from my Mt. Whitney climb a few years back. It really helps.

This reminds me of trying to come up with a citation for something that you just can't find an example of in a style guide, where you have to make an educated guess by merging two examples. You librarians know what I'm talking about.

The result of all this is a chunky seam that really shows. This expressed seaming is used to attach the front and back to the side panels and to sew the sleeves into tubes -- although, curiously, none of the photos of the garment in the pattern show those sleeve seams. More traditional seams are used across the shoulders and for setting in the sleeves.

I stopped by a yarn shop to pick up some sturdy sock yarn to do the seaming, but decided to give this bluish-green color that I had from some past project a try. It doesn't show at all, so I think I'll just stick with it. I can always return the sock yarn later -- I only bought one tiny sock's worth, and I'm not all that fond of the color, despite its greenness.

Back to it!