Baby Helen's first sweater

Baby Helen's first sweater
Started: July 8, 2007
Finished: November, 2007 (actually I finished the knitting over the summer but finally finished the finishing in November, once I was able to try it on the baby and be sure it would fit)
Pattern: "One Piece, one button, child's seamless pullover," by Nina Shishkoff -- purchased at Knittingsmith
Modifications: Shortened the neck ribbing, put the stripes on both sleeves, made several other changes to make it fit a 20" chest, smaller than the smallest size offered in the pattern (but I didn't take very good notes)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, in Sunshine (less than 1 skein) and Blackberry (leftovers)
Needles: US 5 Denises, US 5 dpns

Cute as a button

On the way to Pittsburgh I knitted a hat to match Courtney's placket sweater. I casted on 80 stitches, joined for knitting in the round, did k2p2 ribbing for about an inch, then placed markers every 20 stitches and alternated stockinette for 20 stitches, then seed stitch for 20 stitches, etc. I continued this until the hat was about 6 inches long, and then I bound off. I turned the hat inside out, laid it flat so that the seed stitch was in the middle and the stockinette was on the edges, and backstitched the top together. Then I made 2 tassels and attached them at the corners. Very simple, but it turned out pretty cute!

The sweater fits better than I could have hoped -- the sleeves and body are the right length, and there's a bit of growing room. She seemed to enjoy wearing both the hat and the sweater, to the extent that she repeatedly put them on herself throughout our visit!


Courtney's tassel hat
Started: Dec. 22
Finished: Dec. 24
Pattern: Inspired by "Fat Hats" pattern in Hip to Knit, also page 111 in Knitting Rules! (Scarf Rescue Hat section)
Yarn: Tess' Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, leftovers from placket sweater (with still more remaining)
Needles: US 8 Addi Turbos

FO: Courtney's placket sweater

This is my first completed hand-knitted holiday gift of the season. Yikes! I'm probably going to have to set my holiday knitting goals a little lower in order to preserve my sanity.

Modifications:

- Yarn substitution. This was my first experience with Tess' Designer Yarns, and I really enjoyed it. I bought this 570-yard hank of yarn at Brooklyn General with what was left of my gift certificate. I had been intending to go with RYC CashSoft DK, but they don't carry it at Brooklyn General. The nice woman who worked there suggested Tess' yarn, and it was love at first sight. The hand-painted color is beautiful and organic-looking, subtly variegated, and, I think at least, unusual in a good way for a little girl's sweater. (Courtney has so much pink and purple clothing already!) This yarn is soft in the skein, and I found that it gets even softer after knitting up and washing. I kept stroking the swatch and rubbing it against my cheek. It's superwash, unlike the Koigu Kersti suggested in a pattern. My only complaint with this yarn is that there were a couple of spots where it was a bit frayed. There were no knots at all; I guess it's acceptable to have a couple defects in such a giant skein. This yarn is light worsted, as opposed to the DK weight Koigu Kersti. My stitch gauge came out to 21 sts = 4" just as the pattern calls for, but I got 28 rows to 4" rather than 32.


- Added 1" to the sleeve length. Courtney just turned 2, and though she is small for her age, when I had knitted a sleeve to the pattern's specifications, it just looked too short (and I confirmed this by checking the baby size chart). I figure they can always be rolled up if they are too long.


- Picked up the 5 stitches for the placket, instead of using cable cast-on and sewing them on later. A cable needle helped to keep the two placket layers separated while they were too short to sit side by side on the circular needle.


- Added buttonholes and buttons. I found the buttons at M&J Trimming, which is just a couple blocks from where I work. They are clear plastic, with flowers painted onto the bottom -- they almost look like real pressed flowers.



- Reversed the placket. This was accidental, but it's my understanding that small children's clothes are meant to have the buttons on the other side anyway, since they generally do not dress themselves.

- Started seed stitch for neckband a row early, worked 6 rows of seed stitch instead of 8. I didn't want such a high collar.

- Upper body is a bit longer due to different row gauge. This should add some extra ease around the shoulders, which seems like a good idea for an active 2-year-old.

Note on Lion Brand plastic double-pointed needles: they rattle! I don't know why they didn't just make them solid. They seem to have some sort of core floating inside. I bought these at A.C. Moore due to lack of other options at the time. I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to buy these needles in the future. I also found them to be a little too slippery for dpns, which may have been part of the reason why I knitted the first sleeve super tightly. I had to rip out that sleeve and start over, thinking "loose, loose, loose" the whole time. A couple times my knitting slipped off one of the needles, but the yarn wasn't very slippery so hardly any stitches dropped.

Courtney's placket sweater
Started: Nov. 6
Finished: Nov. 22
Pattern: Child's placket sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, corrected version found here. Size: 1-2 years. See modifications above.
Yarn: Tess' Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, 1 skein
Needles: US 7 Denises (21" circular), US 7 dpns (Lion Brand plastic)

FEFI FO (finally!)

Fairly Easy Fair Isle Cardigan
Started: Jan. 11, 2006
Finished: Knitting finished Feb. 5; ends finally weaved in Oct. 21, 2006
Pattern: Fairly Easy Fair Isle from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation, size XS (with some adjustments)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, 5 skeins Deep Charcoal, 1 skein each Spice, Clematis, Oregano (with lots of each color left over)
Needles: Wish I could remember! Denise circs, US 10 maybe???
Modifications: Added waist shaping, adjusted some numbers to accommodate my hips, made garter stitch border a little longer, omitted purl row from yoke chart.

FO: John's zip raglan

John's sweater is finally finished, and just in time for autumn! It isn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it, and John seems to be too. He'll wear it, and I suppose that's all that really matters.

I pretty much stuck to the pattern, though I substituted Cascade Eco Wool for the Manos, reducing project cost by about $50. I think I may have used different increases in the sleeves than kfb's indicated in the pattern. There may have been other minor changes, but I didn't take very good notes and most of the knitting was done six months ago.

The pattern didn't say to block the sweater before attaching the zipper, but I'm glad I did. It made me more confident that there wouldn't be too much bulging or puckering. The only negative thing that happened in blocking is that the sleeves had been the perfect length and are now a tad long. I may block it again to try and restore them to their original length.

I ended up hand-sewing the zipper because I knew I'd have more control, and I wouldn't have wanted to mangle the sweater in the sewing machine after all the work I'd put into it. The hand sewing didn't really take that long. First I pinned it (with 'Enter the Dragon' playing in the background, which has resulted in a rather strange kung fu association with the sweater), and the next evening I sewed it on while watching Project Runway.


Some of the complaints I've read from other people who knit this pattern were that there wasn't enough shoulder room, or that the collar was too floppy. For whatever reason, these don't seem to be issues for this particular sweater. The ribbing on the body doesn't match up perfectly with the ribbing from the sleeves along the raglan lines in the front, but that doesn't bother me. Before I started the sweater, I was trying to do the math to fix that (following Alison's suggestions on the blue blog), but it started getting really complicated and I decided it would have changed the fit in a way I couldn't really predict and it wasn't worth the risk.

When I started this sweater, John was my boyfriend/fiance, and now that it is finished we have been married for over 3 months. It would appear that the boyfriend sweater curse has been defied.

Thank you John for patiently waiting all those months and for trying on the unfinished sweater countless times, especially on those hot summer days! Not to mention for setting up your photo equipment and modeling for the pictures! And for taking the work-in-progress shots, and the photos of all my other knitting projects. I hope this sweater keeps you nice and warm!

John's zip raglan cardigan
Started: Feb. 15, 2006
Finished: Sept. 7, 2006
Pattern: Men's Zipped Raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, 42" size
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool, color 9010, 3 skeins (used very little of the third skein, so probably about 1100 yards or so)
Needles: US 9 Denise circs

John's cardigan is almost done!

All it needs now is a zipper.

Raglan cardigan pieces

Here's what John's raglan cardigan looks like so far:

     

I put this sweater on hold for a few days, since we went to Pittsburgh for a long weekend and it's becoming too big to take with me places, but I knitted a few more rounds last night.

During our trip, I made a couple of Last Minute Knitted Gifts, of which I will post pictures soon. On the ride home from Pittsburgh, I knitted a few more rows on Branching Out, until the flu overcame me and my eyelids got too heavy to knit. Perhaps I should clarify that my eyelids don't actually do any knitting, but when they're open, they do enable me to see, which helps greatly when knitting lace. At any rate, it appears to have been a 24-hour bug, and I am feeling much better now.

It would seem that I am becoming obsessed with knitting podcasts. Cast On, Pointy Sticks, and KnitCast are probably my favorites at the moment. I have yet to actually knit while listening to a knitting podcast, though I have listened to them at work, at the gym, and while washing dishes. I find it very soothing to hear their lovely voices talking about knitting (and other things -- I honestly enjoy the digressions that sometimes occur though I know others have criticized them).

I have also been watching some knitting television. I checked out Lily Chin's Stitchcraft on Oxygen, which was fun though not terribly informative. I had heard it was a pilot, and I was curious to see how it would be developed into a series, but it doesn't sound like any more episodes are in the works. Then I found out about Vickie Howell's Knitty Gritty on the DIY Network, and I've watched a few episodes so far. The one on decorative stitches was actually very informative. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Lily Chin was the guest on that one. She's very good at explaining and demonstrating techniques. Now I have somewhat of a clue how to do bobbles, drop stitches and beadwork, and the instructions are all available on the web site.

Vintage magazine, sweater progress

This issue of Woman's World Knit & Crochet is one of the interesting finds from Grandma's apartment. It's from the late '60s, I believe. Some of the patterns are actually pretty cool and I may eventually try and make one of them.

I blocked the Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater (thank you John for finding a suitable bin for blocking larger items!) and it's still a bit large but not completely unflattering anymore. I tried it on this morning and it was so cozy I didn't want to take it off. So I wore it to work even though I haven't finished weaving in all the ends. There are so many ends! The sweater is very warm, actually a bit too warm for my office most of the time. And it sheds mohair everywhere! But I think I kind of like it anyway. I'll have to get a picture of me wearing it.

I'm almost halfway through the second sleeve of John's zip raglan cardigan. The sweater looks super tiny right now due to all the ribbing, but it should grow a lot when it's blocked.

Incidentally, this amusing advertisement appears on the back cover of the Knit & Crochet magazine:

478 yards of skeinly goodness

I just had to include some pictures to illustrate how freaking big the skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool are. Here's how it ships in hank form. Looks innocent enough...

And here's how it looks rolled up into a ball! That is a quarter next to it! That is one big ball o' yarn.

I think I'm getting better at rolling my own center pull balls. It took most of Project Jay last night for me to roll up this one, but isn't it pretty? The first ball isn't used up yet and I've already knitted close to 16" of the body with it. The ball is all hollowed out (more of a bowl now) but the yarn still feeds quite effortlessly from it.

I only had to order 3 of these skeins for the Men's Zip Raglan Cardigan. That ends up being more yarn than the 9 skeins of Manos I would have needed for the 42" size sweater had I not substituted. So much savings! And it's ecological! Did I mention it's soft?

Knitting inheritance

In the process of going through Grandma's apartment, we found needles and crochet hooks of every size, all sorts of notions, patterns, books and magazines, and a carton full of yarn! As the sole active knitter in my family, I have inherited all these treasures. The patterns are especially exciting because they're covered in Grandma's notes. Judging by the sheer volume of knitting stuff, it would seem that Grandma was much more of a knitter than she made herself out to be. Mom recognized a short wooden needle with a red ball on the end (sadly, without a mate) as what she learned to knit on when she was a child. (Apparently my family is full of closet former knitters!) Most of the yarn is acrylic, but there are a couple of skeins that say 100% Pure Virgin Wool, as well as some unlabelled mystery yarn. Everything is at least 20 years old, some of it dating back to the '50s and '60s. There are also bags full of small crocheted squares. I'd like to learn how to crochet so I can finish the afghan project that was probably started 25 years ago. I hope to post pictures of some of these items in the near future.

For now, no new pictures, but I have been knitting! Branching Out is probably close to halfway done, and the lace pattern is showing up better now that it's weighing itself down a bit. I'm also about a foot into the Men's Zip Raglan Cardigan. I was originally going to use Happy Wool but due to a fire in a Jerusalem post office storage room, that fell through. Instead I went with Cascade Ecological Wool, color #9010, and I love it! It comes in such enormous skeins (478 yds.) and it's so soft!

The Fairly Easy Fair Isle stares at me from its hanger, taunting me with its dangling ends and its unseemly proportions. I still think blocking could turn it into something I'd actually wear, but the sweater is too big to fit in the bathroom sink and I'm reluctant to use the bathtub and waste all that extra water. Excuses, excuses!

Fair Isle almost finished

My Fairly Easy Fair Isle is coming along, though the proportions are looking a bit odd. Last night I finished the yoke, which just about completes the knitting for this sweater. All that remains is to add the button/buttonhole bands, sew up seams, weave in ends, and block it into a hopefully wearable shape!

Here's a closeup that shows the colors better:


In other news, I've also been working on the Koigu socks on and off. They're a much more portable project than the FEFI. I'm still on the first sock, but on Wednesday I began the heel flap -- woohoo!

Fair Isle sleeve

Here's a close-up look at one of the sleeves. The green and purple are pretty subtle against the dark gray, but I think the colors will work once the Fair Isle on the yoke is there to tie it all together.

Plodding along

No pictures today, as we haven't seen the sun much these past few days. I've been knitting as much as I can in the midst of family crises and wedding planning.

The body of the Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater is complete, and I've gotten past the Fair Isle parts of both sleeves. It's taking me some time to get acclimated to knitting with the Brown Sheep bulky yarn, as well as to get the tension right for the Fair Isle. I've frogged the sleeves several times, but I think I'm on the right track now. I'm pretty happy with how the waist shaping turned out, though the whole thing seems to be a little bigger than it should be. Darn gauge issues! Hopefully it will all work itself out in blocking. I put both sleeves on the same needle so I can work them simultaneously and they should hopefully come out the same. (Actually I did the Fair Isle parts of the sleeves individually because I was too lazy to set aside an extra spool of each color.)

Probably the most invaluable lesson I've learned so far is, when starting a new skein of Brown Sheep yarn, to take the label off the skein. Both ends are wrapped around the outside of the skein, under the label, for easy access. No need to dig around in the middle of the skein, as I so foolishly did the first time, ending up with an "abortion" of red yarn. (You have John to thank for that lovely metaphor.)

Also, I now know why you're not supposed to put two decreases right next to each other: big ugly holes! Fortunately I was able to go back and fix those, even though I had already done all four sets of decreases. How I love looping up the ladder with a crochet hook! (When it's stockinette or ribbing. I hate doing that with garter or seed stitch!)

I've also learned how to M1F and M1B. Fun!

Future project: Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater

I am not to begin this project until I finish Grandma's vest (which I haven't started yet), but the other day I bought the yarn for a Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. School Products has a pretty good selection of Lamb's Pride Bulky. The label is off the cranberry "spice" skein because I started attempting to make gauge. I tried the recommended US 10.5 needles, but of course my stitches came out way too small. (I also messed up the skein in the process -- disemboweled it to locate the end, then tried to stuff the "innards" back in. Now the yarn keeps getting knotted up in itself!) I do love the yarn though. And now that I have the Denise needle set I will be able to gauge my little heart out. This will be my first sweater, and my first venture into Fair Isle.