I've cast on for the body of the Mermaid Sweater again. Bollocks. I count and count, and it's still wrong. It may need a time out for a few days here, while my personal life goes further awry.
I'll take it down to Maryland, but it may stay in the bag. Other projects are coming, too, including the KSH cowl and the sample skein of Sheep 3. Still trying to figure out what it wants to be. Some sort of shrug item, I think. May just have to wing it.
Unfortunately, I missed Knit Night yesterday due to packing. Hopefully I'll be able to go next week, perhaps with some Sheep 3 item to display.
22 February 2007
20 February 2007
I have to get organized
With all the yarn and book stash enhancement lately, I need to get organized. Not so much the actual items, since I have bookcases and a closet to hold the yarn. But sometimes I can't lay my mind on something, so I need some sort of list. For instance, that Sheep #3 sample skein is burning a hole in my project bag; I need to find a DK-weight project that only calls for 300-some yards. I was thinking of Glampyre's Minisweater, but that calls for 400 yards of heavy worsted. Perhaps a One Skein Wonder, to stay on the Glampyre bandwagon. Or just a little shawl something, like the Clementine Shawlette from the new Interweave Knits.
Speaking of IK, yes, I bought a copy on Saturday at YITF. And that afternoon I bought a copy of Vogue Knitting - the one with the Norah Gaughan bolero on the cover. That's probably the only thing I'll make out of the magazine, but it is stunning, and people who've made it seem to like the process.
So, I need to keep track of projects I want to do in the future, which is one of the reasons I started this blog (to collect all those delicious links). And it would be good to know yarn requirements. I think I see a database in my future, which would make things easier to view in different ways (by item, by yarn weight, by gauge, etc.). I could do it as a spreadsheet, I guess, but databases are more elegant, don't you think?
OK, back to IK for a minute. What's with some of those projects? The bandeau? That halter from Wenlan Chia? And the Bauhaus Fairisle, though nice, seems a little out of place. And six skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere for the little bobble capelet? It looks pretty, at first glance. OK, it is pretty (especially the color). But then you start to think about it (and realize you'll wear it once), and then you start to do the math: $90!
I do like Kate Gilbert's Keyhole Top. Lurve Stephanie Japel's Cable-Down Raglan. And the socks from Grumperina and Eunny Jang are nice (first time I've seen the appeal of Entrelac). The Swan Lake Cardigan is pretty, especially the tulle detail, which is why I'll never actually make it. But I will make that lace shrug in the Staff Projects section. I've downloaded it twice already. And they have the yarn in some very me colors at YITF. And I have two gift certificates burning a hole in my tool bag!
The Mermaid Hourglass Sweater is progressing, slowly. I am on my third start to the body, I think. I sort of stopped counting. Had some issues with ... counting, I guess. As in I can't always. I've been distracted. But we're back on track and on the second round of the lace. I ended up increasing the stitch count to 90 for front and back so that I could do the pattern evenly, then, since I want it to be longer than my last one anyway, I'll do an extra decrease round. And then I'll have to decrease two stitches. My overall stitch count is up six from the pattern, and the decrease round takes away four. Or I could work those decreases into princess seams in the front. Things to ponder as we work our way through this next round of lace. And I have to figure out where to include extra lace repeats going up. On the sleeves I switched to every other repeat after the first two rounds, but I'm not sure I want to do that on the body. It may just be the two rounds around the bottom and that's it, since we have to consider what's underneath the sweater (my tum) as we progress up the torso.
Speaking of IK, yes, I bought a copy on Saturday at YITF. And that afternoon I bought a copy of Vogue Knitting - the one with the Norah Gaughan bolero on the cover. That's probably the only thing I'll make out of the magazine, but it is stunning, and people who've made it seem to like the process.
So, I need to keep track of projects I want to do in the future, which is one of the reasons I started this blog (to collect all those delicious links). And it would be good to know yarn requirements. I think I see a database in my future, which would make things easier to view in different ways (by item, by yarn weight, by gauge, etc.). I could do it as a spreadsheet, I guess, but databases are more elegant, don't you think?
OK, back to IK for a minute. What's with some of those projects? The bandeau? That halter from Wenlan Chia? And the Bauhaus Fairisle, though nice, seems a little out of place. And six skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere for the little bobble capelet? It looks pretty, at first glance. OK, it is pretty (especially the color). But then you start to think about it (and realize you'll wear it once), and then you start to do the math: $90!
I do like Kate Gilbert's Keyhole Top. Lurve Stephanie Japel's Cable-Down Raglan. And the socks from Grumperina and Eunny Jang are nice (first time I've seen the appeal of Entrelac). The Swan Lake Cardigan is pretty, especially the tulle detail, which is why I'll never actually make it. But I will make that lace shrug in the Staff Projects section. I've downloaded it twice already. And they have the yarn in some very me colors at YITF. And I have two gift certificates burning a hole in my tool bag!
The Mermaid Hourglass Sweater is progressing, slowly. I am on my third start to the body, I think. I sort of stopped counting. Had some issues with ... counting, I guess. As in I can't always. I've been distracted. But we're back on track and on the second round of the lace. I ended up increasing the stitch count to 90 for front and back so that I could do the pattern evenly, then, since I want it to be longer than my last one anyway, I'll do an extra decrease round. And then I'll have to decrease two stitches. My overall stitch count is up six from the pattern, and the decrease round takes away four. Or I could work those decreases into princess seams in the front. Things to ponder as we work our way through this next round of lace. And I have to figure out where to include extra lace repeats going up. On the sleeves I switched to every other repeat after the first two rounds, but I'm not sure I want to do that on the body. It may just be the two rounds around the bottom and that's it, since we have to consider what's underneath the sweater (my tum) as we progress up the torso.
16 February 2007
Why block a piece?
Jill asked why I would block the sleeve before attaching it to the body. I've started to look at a single sleeve as a good gauge swatch when experimenting with a pattern, so my new preferred order for knitting up sweaters is sleeve/body/sleeve. I think this also helps with the dreaded Second Sleeve Syndrome (also known as Second Sock Syndrome), since the first sleeve becomes all about figuring out this new sweater, and then the second sleeve is the home stretch after spending all that time with the body.
So, blocking. I wanted to make sure that the lace section wouldn't grow enormously when blocked, since lace has a tendency to open up, and I hadn't worked with this lace stitch before. And people are always telling you to wash your swatches before knitting the piece in question, since the yarn can bloom (see Clara's reviews of yarns at Knitter's Review), which will affect gauge.
Now I have a better idea of how my sweater will knit up.
I cast on for the body and did one lace repeat last night. The pattern has you cast on 87 stitches each for front and back at my size, so I am doing the first three and last four as stockinette, and the remaining 80 per side in Fish Tail II. Not sure how many repeats I want at the bottom and how often to extend fishtails up into the higher parts of the body. That should sort itself out this weekend.
The best thing about knitted lace (as opposed to lace knitting, which has pattern stitches in every round and is not for me at this stage of my life) in the round is that the even rounds are just knit. No purling! Not that I really have anything against purling, being Purly, but the knit rounds are a little faster for me.
So, blocking. I wanted to make sure that the lace section wouldn't grow enormously when blocked, since lace has a tendency to open up, and I hadn't worked with this lace stitch before. And people are always telling you to wash your swatches before knitting the piece in question, since the yarn can bloom (see Clara's reviews of yarns at Knitter's Review), which will affect gauge.
Now I have a better idea of how my sweater will knit up.
I cast on for the body and did one lace repeat last night. The pattern has you cast on 87 stitches each for front and back at my size, so I am doing the first three and last four as stockinette, and the remaining 80 per side in Fish Tail II. Not sure how many repeats I want at the bottom and how often to extend fishtails up into the higher parts of the body. That should sort itself out this weekend.
The best thing about knitted lace (as opposed to lace knitting, which has pattern stitches in every round and is not for me at this stage of my life) in the round is that the even rounds are just knit. No purling! Not that I really have anything against purling, being Purly, but the knit rounds are a little faster for me.
14 February 2007
One skein oh-need-er*
Sleeve One is complete up to the joining, and just in time. That's the end of the first skein there on the right. After transferring to stitch holders last night, I washed and blocked. Well, tugged a little, but no pins. If I pin the lace out now, I'll have to repeat every time the sweater needs a bath. I hope to be happy with a basic wash and stretch on a towel. We'll see in a bit, as we all know blocked sweaters never dry! I have to wind up the next skein to start the body, which means I have to figure out what I'm doing there.
Hey, it's dry (enough)! What do you think?Only a teensy bit of bleeding into the wash water. This yarn is just great.
*Name that movie!
Cute bag pattern
Found this on moonlightstitches's blog. Isn't it cute? I have spent time perusing Berocco's free patterns before, but I'm not sure this would have registered, even if I saw it before. Funny how you have to be in the right place and time (literally and figuratively) to appreciate something. I could do this with the yarn left over from my Alpaca Cardi (I have three skeins left). Not sure what I'd do for a handle, but that will sort itself out later.
What have I done?
I just joined the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club. Thank goodness I just picked up some freelance work. But, really, how could I not accept the invitation after all those folks went through with their dunderheaded bank? And they're in Illinois, land of Lincoln and birthplace of Kathleen. Socks are in my future, I guess. And it's a good thing that Sheep #3 won't be in my LYS for a month or so.
13 February 2007
Can't. Stop.
Just found a new (to me, anyway) sweater pattern at WEBS. The Calvin Turtleneck (scroll down to #153) in their Stockbridge yarn. Think it's named for Calvin Klein? The ribbing on the sides looks super-flattering.
I checked in with the lovely Customer Service people there on yardage for the pattern, and it sounds like the second size (38"), which would work for me, calls for 11 hanks of the yarn. Which is $3.99 per. Must control myself.
Think it would look good in the deep red? I wish they had a nice, chocolate-y brown. The camel is nice, too.
In Hourglass news, I've done the increases on the sleeve and am just doing some straight knitting until it's the proper length. Though I'm doing the second size, same as last time, I'm increasing the arm length, same as last time, since my limbs go on for days, same as last time. I should be able to put the whole shebang on a holder/some waste yarn tonight and wash to see how the lace blocks out. Then it will be time to figure out the body, how much lace, perhaps a few stacked up repeats in some interesting place a la Teva Durham's Lace Leaf Pullover (check out the first sweater after the book cover image). I'm saving the second sleeve for after I get the body up to the join.
I checked in with the lovely Customer Service people there on yardage for the pattern, and it sounds like the second size (38"), which would work for me, calls for 11 hanks of the yarn. Which is $3.99 per. Must control myself.
Think it would look good in the deep red? I wish they had a nice, chocolate-y brown. The camel is nice, too.
In Hourglass news, I've done the increases on the sleeve and am just doing some straight knitting until it's the proper length. Though I'm doing the second size, same as last time, I'm increasing the arm length, same as last time, since my limbs go on for days, same as last time. I should be able to put the whole shebang on a holder/some waste yarn tonight and wash to see how the lace blocks out. Then it will be time to figure out the body, how much lace, perhaps a few stacked up repeats in some interesting place a la Teva Durham's Lace Leaf Pullover (check out the first sweater after the book cover image). I'm saving the second sleeve for after I get the body up to the join.
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