Jacket style (Fencing)

There's a cute little knit jacket on peek keep from Odd Molly that I kind of like for the fencing jacket, though it's got a notch collar and the center front cuts up instead of dipping down. But I like the asymmetrical closure and use of ribbon (ooh, ribbon). No pockets, though, with the boucle yarn, I think. Ooh, I just made a doodle with the collar coming up the neck, bell sleeves, raglan armscye, a high, ribbon closure on an asymmetrical front, a nipped in waist, and a straight hem. The big question is where to have the closure hit - it's on the boob on the Odd Molly jacket, but I don't think I want to add more bulk to that area on me. Perhaps middle of the ribcage (under the boob), but then that makes working out the asymmetry on the right front more complicated. Of course. Maybe above the boob? Sorry, that's a lot of the b-word.

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.

Fencing Jacket?

What about using my Natural Boucle yarn from Handpaintedyarn to make a Fencing Jacket style sweater? So, another cardigan but with a little bit of a collar and a diagonal opening. I think this would have to be constructed in pieces and then sewn up.

I googled fencing jackets and came up with some modern-day stuff, as well as a bunch of reenactment things, which makes sense, but I really hadn't thought of the historical aspects of fencing.

Some of the results had a diamond quilted pattern, which could be done pretty easily, though I don't think such a thing would show up in the boucle. Obviously, I wouldn't need the full V extension at the bottom, since I wouldn't really need to worry about the thing riding up in combat, but some extension might be interesting. There are interesting details here

Is this just an exercise in thinking about designs? Or will I really make one? I do like the idea (and have, off and on, for a long time), though this may not be the yarn for it. But I'll have to do some gauge swatching and think some more on this. After the Clapotis is complete, of course. And then there is the little lady's birthday sweater...

A club that would have me as a member?

My membership was approved for the Knitlist today. Will this be the online knitting community I've been looking for? I lurk on the message boards at Lime 'n' Violet, Knitty, and Knitter's Review, but this may be very interesting. I have a great knitting group offline and have just started knitting with some women at work, but sometimes you just want a large pool for feedback. We'll see...

DD sweater

Perhaps I've been having trouble finding a sweater pattern for the little lady because I've been searching on the wrong terms. Today I tried "wrap sweater pattern" and found this, which could certainly be adapted to the yarn I've just swatched (yummy!). I wonder if I could even just do a top-down raglan cardigan and figure out the overlap(s) - extra increases on the edge, I'm guessing.

This looks promising, at least structure-wise, though it wouldn't be on US3s. Looks like I should just draw and measure and make it up as I go along. Whoa! Adventures in knitting for sure.

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.

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.