Sweater Fail

Once in a while, even experienced knitters don't think things through! A couple of years ago, I had a great idea. I had a sewing pattern that I was in love with. I had a great knit fabric idea. The problem is that i thought they went together. I didn't think through the fact that the sewing pattern was designed for soft drapey fabric. What I knit was not drapey.

I really went wrong when I added the edge pieces. While I wasn't entirely happy with the result, I wore it a bit. Then I lost weight, a lot of weight. I'm rethinking all my clothes, and being surprised how many of them are still wearable. This was not!

I still like the fabric, a three color seed stitch. I'm turning it into a fitted jacket, which is much more appropriate for the fabric. The yarn is dishcloth cotton. I see lots of ecru dishcloths in my future. At least I can give them as gifts. They will go with any kitchen.

Dis-assembly has started. It looked like this this morning. Missing from the photo is what used to be cuffs on the sleeves.  The second sleeve has turned into balls of yarn and the sweater back is above the armholes now.

The new sweater back is much smaller than the original. Part of the difference in in the intended fit of the garment, fitted rather than loose. Of course the number  of inches lost on my body also figures in.

I started this project because my other non-sock project was stuck. I had run out of yarn a few yards from the finish line. That's what I get for making the shawl a little bigger. When I got to the point where the pattern said I had used about half of the yarn, I was just into the second ball of three. New yarn was ordered. It's even the same dye lot. I ordered two more balls, so I can knit socks or something out of the rest of it. It didn't come into my house alone though. enough yarn for three more pairs of socks joined the crowd. I'm trying a couple of new things and I fell for the free shipping hook.

The shawl is called Haruni. The yarn is Mini Mochi from Crystal Palace. It was not a hard knit and I love the edging. It seems like it took a million pins to block it. I have flexible blocking wires on the top edge. I should be able to wear it tomorrow to a Sivia Harding lace class that my guild is holding.

I guess I'd better figure out what to wear with it and then get myself to bed.

OK that's finished, now what?

Friday June 24, 2011

Depression?

I finished the Plymouth Zino scarf yesterday and it is blocked and probably dry. It doesn’t take long. I washed it and put in the blocking wires this morning. I’m feeling that sinking feeling that I get almost every time I finish a project.

I’ve been playing with shawl ideas and swatching, but I’m not ready to start one yet. Left over sock yarn in a similar colorway was used for the swatch. I think I need fewer holes. The color seems to fight with the lace.

I have some birthday socks to knit. This is the pair that I knit the swatches for, and decided to change patterns. The new pattern is going well, but I’m not feeling the joy. I expect it will get better as I get farther into the project.. Right now, it keeps my fingers busy, and will result in a gift for my son whose birthday is July 5.

I also need to make an animal for our guild toy competition/give away. I have a rabbit pattern picked out. I need that by July 11. Then I can start the shawl, maybe. I need a gift for son-in-law’s 50^th birthday. I’m thinking socks again. Then there are the socks for big-foot., who has a birthday in early August.. He is soooo appreciative, as what I knit are the only socks that really fit.

Saturday June 26

I'm liking the Zino shawlette. A large shawl would have a sort of granny square effect. I'll keep that thought.

The swatch was knit with Plymouth Sockotta, left over from socks. The new yarn is also by Plymouth, and I expect the same sort of random colors. The next swatch will have fewer holes. I think the needle size is good for this yarn.

The rabbit is started. It's a Fiona McTague pattern from Knitted Toys. I've started with a smaller needle than recommended, but the pattern is written in stitches and rows, not inches, so I'll continue. I'm using WoolEase sprinkles.

What was I thinking?

or...If all else fails read/reread the instructions! It's a long story about a fairly easy pair of socks that had a disconnect between written instructions and knitter. Let me tell you about a couple of other things first.

My son is Ph inishe D. finally. Dissertation, defense and everything. It took him 8 years part time. He now has earned a PhD in Statistics. He's now working at Cleveland Clinic. WE don't know what he will do next. Take a break, breathe a sigh of relief, look around, spend time with his kids. He'll figure it out. He will be looking for a better job, but not just yet.

Some successful knitting is the CPY Panda Silk shawlette. The pattern called for 2 balls of this yarn. Perhaps a solid color has more yardage. I'm short one row of zigzags and a double layer hem. I finished mine with 4 rows of garter stitch. I actually like that finish better. I used an old china rose pin to fasten it. I like things to stay put while I work.

I'm sewing myself a new blouse, hiding in the background of the back view shawl. Every so often, I get to sew for me. I really don't need clothes, as I don't tire quickly of the ones I have, but new is nice. I have olive slacks and brown ones. the blouse still needs buttonholes and buttons, which is why it's still in my shop.

The patten is the cover feature of the last Piecework Magazine. It's an Anna Zilboorg design, and not really hard. How could I go wrong? Let me count the ways.

The cast on was fine. I used a crochet cast on instead of the long tail one she specified, because it's provisional. I started with one row of knit and then worked the short rows. This toe starts with 29 sts, short rows to 9 sts, then works back up to 27 live sts. I haven't worked a toe like this before, but I was familiar with it. All was good. Rearrange sts as specified on 4 needles and work until 5 1/2 inches less than desired length. That worked out to 2 repeats of the fan pattern, as shown in the picture. Still good, but here's where it starts to go wrong.

1. Arch increases begin on the sole; k6, yo front to back, k1, yo back to front, k6. Good. Twist the yos on the next rnd to avoid holes, good. (this is a really flat increase with no bumps on the sole of the foot when worked like this) Work 2 rnds. I read this as 3 rows total. Got to the heel much too soon.
2. Retreat! Work another repeat of the fan. Realize that the increases are a 4 row pattern.
3. Retreat! Work increases correctly starting after 3rd fan pattern. realize that k6 + 13 increased sts + k6 does not = the 29 sts I'm looking for.
4. Retreat back to 2nd fan pattern ( the measurement called for in the pattern). Work increases as the 4 row pattern called for. Triple check math and thought process. I will need 5 fans before the heel. There are 3 increases/fan pattern. I need 8 pairs of increases. (6 + 17 + 6 = 29 with a center stitch) The last increase is in the last fan pattern.
   

Wish me luck! I'm in the middle of the 4th fan and have increase to 13 sts.

OH NO!!!
I just read further and I was correct to begin with. Increase every 3 rows until you have 6 + 29 + 6. Head desk!!!

The week that was

Early in the week we had freezing rain. UGH!! The next morning the sun shone brightly and all the trees looked like spun glass. Amazing!

I received a prize from a Ravelry group of a project bag. My DH calls these cows! The bag was made by Blue Tulips, who has an etsy shop.

Inside the bag is a shawlette from CPY Panda Silk DK yarn (another prize from a different group). I followed one of their patterns and ran out of yarn. The shawl is now finished and being blocked, so more photos of that later.

I finished the Tulip socks for DD the remodeler. It was a gray day. She is plugging along on her bathroom, taking showers elsewhere, like the "Y". Destruction has finished and she is beginning to build back. Luckily she has family and friends to help and advise.

Another baby hat was finished. This one of sock yarn. It will fit a larger baby.

I'm designing a shawl from this sock yarn. It should be a one skein project.

I've been busy and I finished some things

On the sewing front, I was asked to make a wrap skirt from an elastic waist skirt. Also it needed to be a little shorter. The purple skirt was the example. I removed the waistband from the brown skirt and took out the elastic. I cut the skirt and lining down one side and finished the edges. The lining was sewn to the edge to keep it in place. The remaining skirt was stitched to its lining a couple of inches from the top and the excess cut off. This fabric made the new waistband. As an after thought, I should have gathered it slightly to better fit the customer's hips. Ties were made from the original waistband and a buttonhole was made at a 45 degree angle for ease in wrapping.

I finally finished my black shawl. I still need to write the pattern. The yarn is Aussi sock, 2 1/2 skeins. Needles are US #6/4.0 mm. I delivered it to the yarn company at the trade show Sunday, only a couple of days late. It's a trapezoid shape worked form the long edge to the short. The edging is worked sideways picking up from the edge in a defined manner. Fancy photos will be taken later this week and inserted in the pattern.

I've been working on a pair of socks since early May, or not working, because of the shawl and sewing deadlines. This is how far I am now. They are for a May 19 birthday. He'll get them when they're finished. Yarn is Zitron Trekking Pro Natura in a denim color. Needles are Knit Picks Harmony US# 1.5/2.5 mm. The pattern is vintage, adapted to the target foot. I didn't knit 10 1/2" legs.

I went to TNNA on Sunday, met lots of people, saw lots of things, got some ideas for new projects. I only came home with one book this year. I'll write about that soon.

Round and round we go

The red lace socks will be finished in an hour or so. I'm looking to sell the pattern, so you don't get a better picture.

The shawl I need to knit before TNNA has the design finalized. The body lace had been knit, blocked and measured for gauge. The chart has been made and the repeat of the pattern delineated. I spent a couple of days looking for an edging I liked. Many possibilities were swatched and I went back to try #1. I had swatched it in garter stitch, but I'm going to do it in stockinette with faggoting.

I have been going round and round for a couple of weeks trying to replace my dying Palm Pilot. I can't get a new one without a phone. The phone wouldn't hold a charge. Verizon sent me a new battery. It worked for couple of days and then wouldn't hold a charge. We're trying a new phone, but I'm losing confdence. I still have my old phone, which can be reactivated. My quilter daughter has a Palm sitting in a drawer which has hardly been used. We'll see which way I go. Right now I have to charge the new phone, get the palm data into it, and see what happens.

I'm looking forward to starting new socks and the shawl. I'll be able to show the socks, because they're not my pattern.

We have a heat wave here in NE Ohio. The yard needs work, the house needs work, and I have a pulled muscle in my ankle probably caused by the dog squirrel chasing while on a leash. At least I have spring flowers. The bulbs I bought in pots last spring are blooming now. I did the same thing this year. I buy pots and use them at work until the flowers go. Then I put them in the ground. I never think of bulbs in the fall and this is working well.

John is working on my new computer. This one is old, slow and has very little memory, not enough for what I'm trying to do. Most of the stuff is transferred. We sent on a "date" today to exchange the phone and get a serial port for the printer I use to print payroll checks. He can't get the serial port into the computer. He'll take both parts back to the store and let them make it work. The last thing will be the internet connection and virus protection. We are hoping to transfer what we've already paid for.

Knitter's Fantasy & designing

Knitter's Fantasy
This was held on Saturday April 4, 2009 in Youngstown, Ohio. The work of organizing is rotated among 3 guilds. Our guild puts it on next year. It makes lots of money for us. We spend it on things like bringing Lily Chin in to teach for a weekend in May this year.

I taught 2 classes; Chart reading and Great Beginnings and Endings. Chart reading starts with reading various simple charts, knitting swatches from them and finally charting from a written pattern. Great Beginnings and Endings takes a number of cast ons and teaches bind offs that mirrors them. I kind of muddles that class. My notes and the handouts have been improved. All classes that I teach are kept in notebooks, one per class. I keep swatches, pictures and other miscellaneous stuff in each notebook. I also have a bag of big yarn, needles, crochet hooks, etc. that I use for teaching. It makes it easy to repeat a class.

What did I buy at the vendor market? Not much yarn. I don't have time to knit up what I have. However, a set of Kollage square sock needles followed me home. I like them! I wish they were 6" instead of 5", but I'm adapting my grip so I don't get poked. The points are nice. They're light weight metal, but not slippery. Mine are copper colored.

Family Easter
It was a fairly quiet day. No wild egg hunts and other little kid festivities. We went to Erie, PA for dinner with quilting daughter, a 2 hr drive each way. Nice day for a drive! I finished knitting the baby sweater. On the way home, I was crocheting a dishcloth and dropped the hook. Could not find it! I had not escaped the car, but was hiding. I finally found it Thursday after thinking of more places it might have fallen. It was trying to hide under the floor mat. I have more hooks and discovered that I was working the pattern wrong anyway. My girls like dishcloths, so I'm trying to make a few for Christmas gifts.

Socks for Plymouth Yarn
I did up a few swatches and they like two of them. I'm waiting to hear more.

Red socks
I finished one and have toe #2. Lace knitting will proceed today.

I started swatching a lace shawl for Oasis yarn. He asked for a trapezoid shape. The base pattern looks great. It's from one of my Japanese books. I need to get more than 4" knit, so I can play with edgings. The swatch is purple, a color I have lots of. The shawl will be black Aussi sock. I should get it started by the weekend. Deadline is mid June for the TNNA show.

A Couple of Deadlines Met & Ethnic Knitting Exploration

On the Knitting Front
I have been working to deadlines recently. The big one was the shawl. I got a nice picture of my neighbor modeling it. I called it La Valse because the swirling, twirling pattern mad me think of the music by Ravel. It was needed for a show starting Mar. 25.

I had started a pair of socks for DD in Florida for her birthday. It took almost a month to finish them, but they arrived in times. Aussi Sock yarn, Kathleen Power Johnson's pattern. I really like how the yarn works with this pattern. Her birthday is today.

My favorite yarn company asked for a fairisle pattern. He wanted it for a one day workshop/show Saturday Apr. 4. I finished the mitts yesterday and the pattern today. The graphics seem to take longer than the words in some patterns.

I'm still knitting the socks for Plymouth yarn. The foot is done and I'm working on the leg. The yarn is Happy Feet solids.

Ethnic Knitting Exploration
Over a year ago I received Donna Druchunas's first book in the Ethnic Knitting series. She started by freeing the knitter from patterns, explaining what you don't need to know (higher math and advanced color theory). What you need to know (stating the obvious), sweaters are made from basic shapes and a gauge swatch is needed to know how to fill the shape with knit fabric.

The first book concentrates on the simplest shape, drop shoulder sweaters with variations. Proportions are given based on the circumference of the body. A few basics are given, so that a beginner has everything in one place. The first country is the Netherlands, concentrating on texture. A small project is given for each country, to familiarize the knitter with the technique, in this case, a scarf with patterning at the ends.

You have 3 options for working the basic concept; visual, working from a schematic and filling in basic numbers in a short worksheet, planning worksheets where there is more calculating, and step by step instructions with blanks for customization.

Denmark, the second country features all over texture. Norway and the Andes feature color patterns.

The second book expands on what has gone before. Shoulders can be raglan, yoked, or saddle shoulders. Information for refining and customization is given.

Lithuania is the first country presented. Color patterns are more complex, shown on fingerless gloves and raglan pullovers with color bands. Centering large motifs and variations for making the design fit the size of the knitting are discussed.

Icelandic knitting is characterized by heavier yarn and ofter feature yoked sweaters with multiple color bands. The small project is a capelet, which gives practice in yoke shaping. Cardigans are introduced

Ireland makes many people think of elaborate texture patterns, although this style is fairly recent. Teh easiest way to follow these patterns is with charts, so these are explained. Designing your own, by sketching out the patterns is recommended. A rough sketch can tell you a lot. Cable swatches are necessary, to know how much each variety will pull in. Cables also tend to flare at the top and bottom. Prevention is discussed.

The small project is a poncho and the sweaters shown have saddle shoulders. Neither book gives specific instructions, but how to get a properly fitting garment is easy following the guidelines. Texture and color patterns are given as suggestions specific to the country servingf as inspiration.

The Exploration book ends with a discussion on cardigans. They can be knit in the round and cut after knitting. They can be knit in the round working back and forth. They can be knit in pieces and sewn together. Bands and buttonholes are covered.

Lastly, these books are part of the Green Press Initiative. using paper and ink that tries to conserve natural resources. The information in the books may well save more paper as they free the knitter from the need to have a printed pattern for a sweater that may not fit. Teh options are endless.

The Big Read

I've mostly been knitting on the shawl. It's 70% complete, with a delivery date before 3/26. I expect to finish it by 3/20, when It'll need a bath and blocking. I still need to write the pattern.

I found this book list interesting.

The Big Read (http://www.neabigread.org/) said that, on average, adults have only read six books on this list. So ... copy this list, remove my yeses and nos, and add your comments (favorable or otherwise) about the ones you have read. Don't forget to include a total.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - YES
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien – YES
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - YES
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – YES
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee -
6 The Bible – I have read parts of it.
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - YES
8 1984 - George Orwell - YES
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - YES
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - YES (and everything else she wrote-)
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy – I read part of it.
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller –
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare – Much of it
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - YES
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks -
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - YES
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - On my bucket list
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot-
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - YES
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - On my bucket list
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens- YES
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - YES
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - YES
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh -
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - YES
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - YES
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - Not yet
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - YES
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - YES
33 The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - YES
34 Emma - Jane Austen -
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen -
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - YES
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini -
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres-
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne – YES Many times
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -YES
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - YES
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery -
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy -
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood -
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding -
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan -
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel -
52 Dune - Frank Herbert- YES
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons -
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - YES
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - YES
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - YES
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon -
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck –
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt -
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold –
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - YES
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding -
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie -
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - YES
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - YES
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - YES
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett -
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson -
75 Ulysses - James Joyce -
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath -
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -
78 Germinal - Emile Zola -
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -
80 Possession - AS Byatt-
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - YES
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White -
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom -
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - YES
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton –
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad -
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupe –
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - YES
98 Hamlet – Shakespeare – YES

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - YES
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -YES

Total 39. I never said I was average.

Guess who's 6 years old

Swirl shawl is about 40% finished. It's turning into an equilateral triangle. That will make it too long in back. It also means that I will not be knitting as many motifs. How many less is still to be determined.

Swirl scarf is 40% finished. It only has 37 motifs. 18 are finished.

The baby sweater got sewn together. Photos were taken. I submitted a proposal to Bernat Yarns to publish the pattern. We'll see what happens.

Sock knitting goes slowly. The shawl has a deadline. The yarn is striping nicely though. Priorities!

Here's snaggle tooth.

Just when I think I'm making progress on stash reduction I get a box or two in the mail from a yarn company. Yesterday I got a large box from Spinrite, who sell Patons and Bernat yarns. I got 12 balls of new yarn or new colors. There are a lot of natural materials in the box; Alpaca, wool, bamboo. This appears to be where the yarn world is going.

Digging out

I've fallen in love with fagotting. The shawl border is almost finished. I started for the final time on Thursday night at the Susan Yarns sit and knit. The diamonds continue the body pattern, even when doubling up the attaching points, everything fits together really well. I've steam blocked the border, but think when I block the whole shawl the border will stretch more.

I'm finding the snow depth gives interesting images. I really miss walking the dog. It's interesting, sometimes I don't want to do it, but she loves the snooping, and the walk is contemplation time for me. My legs miss the exercise, but most of the walks aren't cleaned and I refuse to take her in the street.

Today the sun shone and it got above freezing. There is some interesting scenery out there. There's the icicle jailhouse look from our upstairs porch.

The depth really shows on the bench and birdbath. Bronte really had fun running around the yard today. It's hard to get a good picture of a fast dog.

I have started another sock, and am plugging along on my Noro mitered square cardigan. I still have 1/2 sleeve to go on that. The sock is Onion Domes from KnitNet July 2002. The pattern has a short leg, with the heel starting right below the color pattern. I prefer a longer leg. The pink yarn is Bernat Hot Socks in Hot Tamale color. I don't know what the contrast yarn is.

Knit, knit, reknit

Designing and redesigning can be hard work. I'm reworking a shawl designed by someone else. The design and pattern are yarn support for the company, and they had a parting of the ways with the original designer. I need to put a new border on the shawl and rewrite the pattern.

I had what I thought was a good border pattern. It took about 4 tries to get it to work. Depression, depression, joy! But no joy! It didn't work with the rest of the shawl. Try again! I think it was the 3rd try with the second pattern that I was happy with! Make sure you start at the correct corner, so the pattern works easily. This is a triangle, so I need to double up on the attaching points. It's looking really good now, and the border picks up the body pattern. Pictures later.

I haven't started the pattern rewrite. The border will be fairly easy, but translating the body of the shawl will take some time. The previous designer does not write clear, easy to follow patterns.

Updates
The scrap yarn scarf is no longer finished. The second end was wider than the first and it was a little short. I'll keep working on it. There's no deadline.

The Widdershins socks are finished and wrapped in birthday paper. They'll go out in the mail tomorrow. Eighteen yr. old grandsons don't get much mail and our schedules don't often match up.

I am knitting my Noro sweater at the rate of one mitered square a day. I should finish the second sleeve by the end of the month.

I've started another pair of socks for another birthday. They're Onion Domes socks from KnitNet in2002.

Weather in NE Ohio is white and deep (about 12"), but temps are now up into the 20's. Of course, that means it's warm enough to snow some more. We don't get snow when it's around o degrees.