Showing posts with label Clapotis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clapotis. Show all posts

08 October 2007

Cool

So, the folks at Outblush just highlighted the shoes I've been crushing on for months, ordered and returned (too big), then ordered again (just right), and wore to a charity event on Friday. Does that make me cool? I don't really care. And I don't really care that the shoes are way too high for me to wear for more than a few hours. They are seriously cute. See?


OK, since this is a knitting blog I should discuss the knitting...

Clapotis is so old it's new again, thanks to the cool kids knitting Second Wave. I finished Clapotis on Saturday (I have more pics up on Ravelry - username Purly)


The Koigu is lovely. I really like the drape and sproingy-ness of the yarn. I ended up dipping into the fifth skein but should have enough for the endpaper mitts I have yet to cast on for the other KAL I'm down with. Knitting this in sock yarn is much better than laceweight. I bet worsted would go even faster.

I'm back at work on the slouchy cardi, which suddenly seems boring (so not cool): all that stockinette, and the armhole shaping on the front is a little confusing, which probably has more to do with putting the sweater down to knit Clapotis than the pattern. I should have finished the front before switching gears. Lesson learned? Probably not. It will be a nice sweater when it's finished.


More yarn was acquired over the weekend: some Encore Worsted in grey for a baby sweater and a skein of Alpaca with a Twist's Baby Twist - last skein, darnit, but I think it will be enough for the cool Secretary style vest from Blue Sky Alpacas once I acquire some Brushed Suri in Fudgesicle.



I know, Encore doesn't make me cool. But that vest might.

02 October 2007

And we're back...

New York was wonderful - perfect weather, good food and company, a foray to The Age of Rembrandt at the Met - even if I didn't visit a single yarn shop and missed Spin Out in the Park. I did get a fair bit of Clapotis knit up, especially as Bravo had a 30 Rock marathon during my return flight (love DirecTV on JetBlue!). Tina Fey is awesome! Most of the episodes I'd seen, but there were a few that were new to me. Anyway, I giggled my way back to Chicago and the leetle lady, who had a great "bacation" with Grandma and Grandpa while I had mine back East.

So, this show at the Met. What a ridiculous way to organize - by robber baron donor! Never mind that there are five Vermeers and 20 Rembrandts, it's all about who donated the paintings to the museum and when the pieces entered the collection. The show did crystalize for me that I prefer Dutch floral still life painting, as well as other still life works (table scenes, mostly) to portraits and plein air pieces. Frans Hals leaves me cold. And the Vermeers were not as stunning as I had hoped. Well, actually Young Woman with a Water Pitcher is gorgeous, and A Maid Asleep is a tour de force of light, which is what I realized I respond to in Dutch painting. Maybe that's a "duh" for everyone else, but it was a little revelation for me. The show was crowded (we went Saturday early evening before dinner in Soho), but it is fun to experience the New York crowd.

I'll try to get a progress shot of Clapotis this afternoon (it's incredibly misty here this morning). The yarn is great, and the drops are fun. The first one I made was for my mom in handpaintedyarn.com's wool laceweight, a single-ply, sticky yarn that made the drops a bit of a chore. I'm on the third skein and think I will end up using four of the five, leaving the last skein of Koigu for Endpaper Mitts.

In knits in New York news, I did wear my Reading-in-bed Shrug Saturday morning out to brunch.

26 September 2007

Clapotis, take two


For those of you who haven't knit Clapotis, why not join us on the Second Wave KAL? And for those of you who've been with me for a while, yes, I did knit one before, but I couldn't resist when my friend Bridget started this one.

Isn't my yarn pretty? I wanted to wait to take a picture until I'd dropped at least one stitch (the big exciting part of this pattern, you know). And now I have my new fall bag to show with it. I didn't even realize when I chose the brown over the red that it would look so nice with my shawl-to-be. And the skein of brown Koigu is to make a pair of Endpaper Mitts for my friend Keri's Fingerless Mitts for Fall KAL with the leftovers from Clapotis. I think I'll pause on the Clap, knit the mitts, and then finish the shawl with the rest of the yarn. What do you think? But then I also think I should go with a slightly more solid and light-colored yarn for the contrast. The Endpapers I've really liked in Ravelry have been high-contrast.

Something to think about, anyway.

Happy Blogiversary, Keri!

10 August 2007

Planning

I have a stockinette swatch I'm happy with for the Intended project. And I have enough yarn for the sort of project I'm thinking of (and the LYS has 20 more skeins in the same color/dyelot). So, the question is do I create my own pattern with some help from Saint Elizabeth or do I use one that already exists? I have one (written by another Zimmerman) that looks pretty good, though I may have to tweak slightly based on my gauge.

The question is, really, do I go with something verified by pattern testers and the knitting public or do I wing it in a semi-educated way? Particularly for someone special? And there may be a deadline of, say, a month from now. Um, you, you know who you are, forget you read any of this, ok?

In knitting I can talk about more openly, I wound my three skeins of Koigu last night while watching the Cubs spank the Rockies (thank goodness; the Houston series was just painful). I also spent far too much time on Ravelry browsing other KPPPM projects. I'm pretty sure the Koigu is about to become a three-skein Clapotis (I'm not linking it; if you haven't seen the pattern by now, well, just go to Knitty and find it yourself), but perhaps I should just do a simple stole in a pattern from one of Barbara Walker's Treasuries. But the stockinette nature of Clapotis would really highlight the variegated yarn. I just know that knitting the straight section of Clapotis gets pretty tedious. Of course, last time I made one it was in laceweight yarn, which can make anything tedious without a lot of lace action. I'll keep you posted.

We're off to the lake this afternoon and won't be back for a week. And even though I'm just getting back into the swing of blogging, I plan to take next week off and just be. There will be knitting on display when I'm back, though. While I'm gone, make up your minds on my planning question and don't start any unspun Icelandic sweater projects, kids! It's August, for knitting's sake.

08 August 2007

Flitting

I've been swatching while coming down from the Icarus high.

First up is some Euroflax in, surprise!, blue. Unfortunately, my Bryspun US3 snapped about halfway through. Worn out from Icarus, I guess. I finished the swatch on US4. Clearly, the smaller needle size is better, but it's still a somewhat sheer fabric. Washing and drying it completely in the machine helped the hand. I don't have a US2 at hand, so I can't swatch it on twos, but I'm not sure I'd want to do a lot of stockinette on a two anyway for an entire skirt. Oh, right, I bought the yarn (on sale) to make the lacey skirt from Greetings from Knit Cafe. Jody beat me to it on doing the skirt in linen, and it's very cute. Love the variegated colorway! Anyway, here are the swatches. I think this project is going into a timeout until I can figure things out (get a US2 needle to swatch). Perhaps this will end up as something other than the skirt.



And here we have the love child of Cheryl Niamanth's Wisp and Jared's Scholar Collar in BMFA's Bliss (70% angora/30% wool blend) in the Periwinkle colorway. Sorry they don't have it on the site, except in the Angora Boot Sock kit; I bought the yarn at The Fold. As you can see I blocked the heck out of it (and really need to get my hands on some blocking wires). This is a garter stitch (Scholar Collar influence) cowl, essentially, and I'm going to complete the circle with some ribbon through the yarn-overs on the short edges (Wisp touch).

This yarn is divine, though it does shed. I tried to get a picture of the fluff on my t-shirt, but it's not easy to snap a pic of your tum. Hehe. I used the whole skein (100 yds.), and it only took me a few days of distracted knitting to finish this up on US9s (Bryspun, natch).


And here is my first Koigu. Isn't the colorway (P33231 - fuchsia, ballet, mocha, and lilac) beautiful! I think I may make a Clapotis with it. Someone on the Knitlist mentioned gifting three skeins to a friend, so when I was at Three Bags Full yesterday with a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, I thought "why not?". I also bought some yummy yarn for a surpirse project, but the intended recipient reads the blog, so it will stay sooper secret until it's been gifted.


So, guys and dolls, that's where I am. It's pouring here, and Miss Isobel is still napping, so I'm catching up on Top Chefs.

30 November 2006

FO display

Took some FOs to Knit Night last night: Clapotis, Asymmetrical Cable Hat, and Sheep Shop Garter Gloves. It's always nice to have experienced knitters appreciate your work. I finished one of the Last Minute Knitted Gifts wristlet, but I just did a straight bindoff, and I think it's too tight. Must assess coworker's hands, but I think I'm going to have to tink back the castoff row and cast off on larger needles or something else. I think I must have cast off in rib when I made these last year for Isobel's teachers. Maybe that's what I should do.

Man, I need to snap some pics of all these FOs. It's so nice to finish things. I should also write up those summary posts I see other bloggers using. They're nice for future reference.

More thoughts on the year of knitting for me (mama needs some sweaters and socks!): just received Sahara come-on from Stitch Diva. Beautiful! I might need to make that one. But not with Tilli Tomas yarn, ya know.

I visited Seed Stitch in Salem last week, and it's a lovely space. The owner seems very nice and has a thoughtful selection of yarns. I like the work table down the center of the shop. Just wish they were more convenient to Gloucester. They have the orange Malabrigo I wrote about yesterday and are open from 6-8 this evening. I might have to hop in the car after Isobel goes to bed.

In stash enhancement news, I hope to score some Kidsilk Haze and DB Cashmerino Aran from someone's Destash sale. What is it with the KSH? Total crack. I'm not even sure what I'll do with it, but three skeins in the camel color want to come home to mama.

20 November 2006

Finis!

I've dropped the last stitch, woven in the @#$% ends, and she is complete. Now, I just need to wash and block the Clapotis, and it's ready for giving. It really is lovely. I know many folks don't block theirs, but I'd like to gain some length on this one. I'll post a picture after the bathing.

I also cast on and off one of these cute garter stitch gloves in Sheep Shop #1. That took about 2.5 hours to do. I might just have to make more for gifts, though my cow-orker basically asked for some wrist warmers today. I'm wearing an old pair I made from Manos waaaay back at the beginning of my knitting. As FOs, they're pretty awful, but they do the trick in my air-conditioned office today (yes, it was 60 degrees in here earlier - craziness).

Isobel refused to wear her birthday sweater yesterday, except for a brief foray outside when I insisted she wear a sweater. Guess it isn't one of my more successful knits for her. Today she wore her First Birthday Sweater (Shocking Pink Malabrigo Placket Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts - great pattern and super soft yarn. Perhaps I'll make another one for her in another Malabrigo color. The merino is just so lovely, even if it does pill.

15 November 2006

New places to drool

Thanks to the newsletter from Lime 'n' Violet, I spent a little drool time at etsy, now that the site is back up and running. People are producing beautiful things all the time. And from there I somehow ended up at pureknits, which has more droolworthy yarn and patterns. And they led me to Fable which produces a pure alpaca yarn. Drool. Pureknits has a really nice site.

I'm in the home stretch on Clapotis now. Maybe I'll even complete it before the weekend, though there are cupcakes to be made tomorrow night (the little lady turns two on Sunday).

13 November 2006

Home stretch

I started the decrease portion on Clapotis last night! Thank goodness, since I was getting a little bored. The decreases make things go faster, especially since you drop two stitches in each repeat. Big fun. Someone on the Clapotis KAL group forgot to do the second drop stitch and had to frog back. I'm sorry that happened but am glad to have read the cautionary tale before embarking upon the decrease myself. It's looking really lovely.

While listening to CraftLit and Cast-On this morning on the drive in, I started to imagine all sorts of future sweaters, as well as learning to spin. Heather recorded her podcast at SOAR, and Brenda spoke with her sister, Pam, for the Today's Sweater segment. I think I'd like to knit a bulky sweater like the Green Leaves on in Loop-d-Loop, especially since I just received something like 13 skeins of Lopi wool. I might try my hand at dying, too, since the Lopi is "natural".

Other project ideas include some sort of shrug, and those Kidsilk Haze arm warmers from One Skein, though I don't think I'd actually wear them.

If I were to try spinning, I think I'd go with a drop spindle first, to see if I like it at all. Wheels are a huge investment, but one would certainly fit in our house. The previous owner (who gave me the Lopi) had a wheel.

[Added] I'm not sure I'm up for the Leaf Lace Pullover (also in Interweave Knits Summer 2005), having googled it a bit. You Kitchener up the sides, and then you Kitchener the sleeves to the body. Gah. Plus, I'm not crazy about the ribbed hemline. Being an Apple, I am generally against anything that squeezes in the hemline of something around my middle, which is why I prefer turned hems or just letting them roll in stockinette.

08 November 2006

Superwash

I've been thinking about making another sweater for DD, something out of a superwash wool. It's tough raising a toddler, working, taking care of (or trying to) a big, old house, etc. etc. We all know the story. But the last thing I want to do is handwash sweaters that get covered in ketchup half the time. I'm pretty much pro-natural fiber, so I can't just knit everything for her out of acrylic (I did start one for her but it's turned into a UFO).

So, today I found this bit of information, which may help me make a decision on some yarn. Like I need more. But I would like to add a supwerwash fiber option to my repetoire, and it looks like Cascade 200 Superwash might be it. Now, I just have to find an LYS that carries it so I can fondle before I buy.

Then I'll have to find a pattern.

In other news I attended the Tuesday Knit Night at my LYS, which is the new night so is less crowded. It was nice to meet some new folks and see others who can't attend Wednesday's KN. I got to drop another stitch on Clapotis and think two more repeats of the straight section might do it, which is good as I want to start knitting other things! But this must be finished before I start anything else.

02 November 2006

She's baaack!

Brenda Dayne has returned to the podwaves! I hadn't realized how much I missed hearing her voice until I started up the new episode of Cast-On during yesterday's drive home. My only gripe is that there was no Today's Sweater. Next week, I hope.

Lime 'n' Violet did a Kill Bill Halloween special, which they obviously had fun doing, but I wanted Yarn P***! I'm sure I would have found it more enjoyable if I'd seen the movie, though I'm starting to think if you've seen one or two Tarantino projects, you have a good handle on how the rest go.

Still have to listen to Heather Ordover's latest 'cast, but she recorded a Happy Podiversary message for Brenda.

Did you know about Knit the Classics? I may have to join that one, though I'm not sure I could keep up with the reading and knitting. They've read some really good books. I may just have to join and keep up as best I can.

In other news no one at Knit Night has Tudor Roses, but one woman works at the library and said they can get anything via Inter-Library loan, so I may have to investigate that further. I'd really just like to see all the patterns in one place out of curiosity, especially now that I've started reading The Constant Princess. Philippa Gregory's other Tudor era books have been great fun, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this one.

Did another repeat on Clapotis for a grand total of eight dropped stitches. I'm trying to do one repeat a night. Then, I have no idea how long the "closing" section will take. Hopefully, I'll be done by the middle of the month.

Which is good since I bought some yummy blue Sheep Shop #1 to make a cute pair of garter stitch gloves (pattern free with yarn purchase at my LYS). DH was shocked (haha) to see the color of my yarn purchase. I don't want to start them until Clapotis is finished. But it's supposed to be cold this weekend!

01 November 2006

Dooooooggggggg!!!!

@#$%^& puppy. I stupidly left my knitting bag on the couch last night. So, this morning when le chien wasn't waiting for me at the top of the stairs, I had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. And there he was in the Keeping Room trying to swallow a hunk of my laceweight. Luckily, he didn't damage the knitting itself, but he broke the yarn, which I had hoped to avoid with this project. But DD had already broke it once, so that wasn't too bad. But, darn that puppy.

And, once again my stitch count seems to be off on Clapotis. Last time this happened was the MIL debacle. I'm going to have to start ticking off every row. Argh.

31 October 2006

'Nother repeat

I am back to where I was when disaster struck Clapotis! Completed a repeat and dropped the stitch without too much incident, thank goodness. It's weird to go back to this laceweight after knitting up the sweater, scarf, and hat with Eljido. Clapotis is almost 40" long at this point, and I've done seven repeats of the straight section. My plan is for the piece to be about 60" long, so, mathematically, that means I have to do three or four more repeats. It will be interesting to see if it works out that way.

I can see why people do this pattern more than once. It's interesting yet not terribly difficult. And it's quite variable, depending on your yarn choice. And everybody's doing it!

27 October 2006

Holiday countdown

Christmas is less than two months away! And I've only made two holiday gifts so far. And neither one is for DH or DD. Sigh. There have been a couple of requests for hats - something more windproof than the Blizzard toppers from a few years back, when I first learned to knit. Of course that means the hats will have to be at a finer gauge (or felted), which will take longer. But that's part of the fun.

Guess I should make up a list (thanks, FlyLady for the help!) of who should get knitted gifts.

One member of the knitlist said she's going to give out gift certificates for knitted items (hat, scarf, mittens, socks) so the recipient can choose from a few different items something he or she would truly like. I think she was even going to include some yarn/color choices. I might run with that idea.

Or everyone could just get hats. Sort of like getting a new Weasley sweater every year.

I did start a 2x2 ribbed scarf for DD with some of the leftover Shells yarn last night. Over the weekend when we geared up to go to the beach, she made this cute hand motion indicating she wanted to put on a scarf. I often wear a light shawl (pashmina-style) as a scarf, but I'm not sure I'd even done that when she motioned for her own scarf. So, of course, I have to make her a scarf. What a mindless project! A nice respite from Clapotis, which I didn't touch last night (DDog had a tick, so DH and I had to put in some teamwork to remove and then try to remove the mouthparts, but our vet friend says not to worry about them, which is good because our attempted surgery was unsuccessful). I'm a little nervous about the stitch count OTN. We'll see. It's such a beautiful thing so far.

26 October 2006

Clapotis: Back OTN

So, one of the helpful ladies in my Knit Night group suggested just pulling back up the dropped twisted stitch. And I really tried. But then the patience ran out. So, today at Knitting Lunch I wove a piece of floss through the stitches back one repeat of the pattern (successfully for the most part, though I had a string of stitches that ended up on the floss one row below), sort of like creating a lifeline in lacework, only after the fact. And then I ripped. Scary. But now she's back OTN, and I just have to figure out where I really am and replace my stitch markers. Keep your fingers crossed.

I don't think I'll have this problem again (since I won't try to work on this project in a high-stress environment again), but the lifeline notion is fab.

I did pick up my Haiku cardigan for a little while last night, after I seamed up DD's sweater, and that yarn is just so luscious.

16 October 2006

Clapotis - oh no!

Somewhere in the last repeat I messed up the stitch count, so when I dropped the latest stitch, it was the wrong one. So, I had a very had time dropping the stitch, since it was the twisted stitch! The stitch to be dropped was leaning to the side of the ladder area, which was my first indication that something was wrong. I can't bear to tink back twelve rows! I think I'm going to try "weaving" in another (smaller) needle back at the previous drop and then frogging. I may have to take a break from Clapotis and start up DD's sweater. Wah.

10 October 2006

Lessons Learned While Knitting

Don't let your daughter play with your knitting. Especially if you're using a single-ply laceweight yarn. And it's 850 yards. And you didn't want to weave in any ends in the shawl you're working on. *sigh* It's not the end of the world, but I was slightly peeved.

In spite of the little breakage, I've completed four repeats of the straight row section on the Clapotis. It's fun, though the yarn is sticky, so dropping the ladders requires some work.

I showed the WIP to one of my colleagues today and, as I was putting it back in my desk, I noticed more of the lovely hues in this colorway. Perhaps there is something to be said for fluorescent lighting. There are these lavender tones that I hadn't spied before. Lots of fun.

So, to add my Clapotis adventure to the Yahoo! group database, I had to go check the yardage on Handpaintedyarn.com's website, I discovered some lovely new laceweight merino in the Oceanos colorway. If this Clapotis goes well, I think I'll have to do one for myself in this yarn. Oy.

06 October 2006

Ladders!

I dropped the first stitch on the Clapotis and ... it was a little bit anticlimactic to tell the truth. Mainly because it's only for ten rows I think. Presumably each one will be a bit longer, which will make it more exciting. But the Clapotis is coming out nicely. I really like the fabric. Unfortunately, I won't have quite as much time to work on it now that my car is back on the road. But that's OK.

And the yarn was a little bit fussy to unravel but not too bad. Nowhere near a mohair level.

05 October 2006

Who, me, a teacher?

At yesterday's Knit Night, my friends who own the LYS asked if I would be interested in teaching a class this winter, since another woman who recently joined the group said I was so nice and patient explaining what I was working on (haiku sweater and clapotis). Who, me, patient? Noooo.

I come from a teaching family: Mom taught middle-school English before I was born, then was my Girl Scout troop leader when I was a sprout, and now serves as a docent at the Art Institute of Chicago; my brother was an assistant teacher at a private school after graduating college; then my little sister took the same position when she graduated; and my father is the soul of patience. But I always thought I was not the teacher type. I didn't really think I had the patience. Perhaps my little lady has made me more temperate. Or knitting.

Anyway, what would I teach? Classes should go three sessions. Since it will be winter perhaps something wintry like handwarmers or hats or holiday stocking ornaments. Ooh, that could be fun. There are stocking and sweater ornaments in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. And those little egg warmer sweaters in Weekend Knitting.

My other thought was a one-day class - Fearless Knitting, in which we have pattern or yarn but not both and venture forth boldly into the land of knitting in search of the other. Or Surfing the Web for Knitters - the art of finding patterns online (free and for sale) as well as the art of getting all obsessive about knitting-related items to the point of googling them all night long. Just more of a seminar deal to get people going.

...

I'm almost ready to start the straight section of Clapotis! It's about 24" wide at this point, and I think I will make it about 60" long, which makes it overall just a little larger than the original pattern dimensions of 21 x 55". The intended recipient is on the small side, so I don't want to make it overwhelmingly large. The neat thing about it is I can already see ridges where the stitches are twisted, and the edges are a little scallopy due to that and the yarn overs. It's going to be really lovely.

04 October 2006

Sweater for meeeee

Ooh, selfish knitting. I want to do more. There are a number of things I'd like to make for myself:

  • luscious, haiku cardigan (on the needles but on hold)
  • sweater in Handpaintedyarn's Natural boucle (no pattern determined yet - thinking of a raglan with bell sleeves and some sort of turtle/cowl neck; body like the Hourglass sweater, I think)
  • Fetching handwarmers in Atacama aqua colorway
  • socks (because if I have to wear shoes here in cold New England, they should be lovely)
  • mittens or gloves
  • something with the black, laceweight, merino yarn from Handpaintedyarn, though it might not be for me

    I'm sure there is more, but that's quite a list for now considering that I also enjoy knitting for my family. And have a full-time job.

    Clapotis is coming along well, though I had a near disaster yesterday and ended up with an extra stitch between markers. I ended up knitting two together in the non-drop stitches. Then a couple of rows later I somehow ended up with one too many stitches in one segment and one too few in the next. Somehow the stitch marker moved! After some tinking and counting and muttering I figured it out and just moved the marker, though I feared the k2tog had somehow precipitated the mess and was boggling at the thought of tinking back a couple of rows of 100+ laceweight stitches in single-ply yarn. Eep. But all seems to be moderately well at the moment, and I just have to decide if the piece is wide enough yet to get on the with straight section (and the drop stitches). I've done two extra increase repeats. Guess I should go look at some shawl dimensions to make an educated decision.

    Also, on the Clapotis I'm uncertain whether to stay with stitch markers or switch to purling the dropped stitches. At this point I have enough stitch markers, but after the stitch switch above and losing a marker on the train this morning, are the markers more of a problem than necessary? Would things be wonky if I switch in the middle? One of the files on the Yahoo! group makes it sound like you need to twist the stitches on the purl side as well if not using markers. A nice thing about the original version of the pattern is not having to think on the purl side: just slip the first stitch, purl to the last, then pfb. I'll probably continue with the stitch markers for this one but will consider purling if I do another.