That $*(@$(ing Baby Sweater

Ugh argh sorry!  I did not mean to abandon you for so long!  But you know how it is, the holidays come and all of a sudden you're expected to spend time with your loved ones and cook real dinners and send out cards and stuff.

Sometimes I am not a very good grownup.

But I do occasionally finish a project, and, lo, the dreaded baby duplicate stitch sweater is among the finished!

PATTERN: the rather euphemistically-named Plaid Jacket by Linda Medina from 60 More Quick Baby Knits: Adorable Projects for Newborns to Tots in 220 Superwash Sport from Cascade Yarns.  Mine remains the only project on Ravelry.  You know why.  This is the largest size, 12-18 months.

YARN:  Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport (100% wool, 184 yds/50g skein) in colors Blue Knight, Bit of Blue, Bulldog Blue, and Mallard.  I used just about the whole skein in every color except the dark blue contrast, where I only used about 33g. 

NEEDLES:  US 3/3.25mm

NOTES: The knitting of this little sweater was easy and pleasant.  The finishing, however . . . ugh.  According to my notes, it took me nine days to do the duplicate stitch, and that's with working pretty diligently every day.  If one were to plan ahead, one could work a purl channel at the appropriate places in the pattern while knitting, enabling one to use a crochet hook to do the duplicate stitching.  If one has not planned ahead, though, this doesn't work (the hook spreads the stitches too much).

Was it worth it?  You decide:

I rather think it was.

In progress

Oh good heavens, I blinked again, and here it is December.

I have been knitting a great deal, mostly on this:

"This," you may say, "looks an awful lot like a giant blue blob."  Well, you'd be right about that. In theory it will grow up to be a "# 255 Henley neck down pullover for men" (how's that for euphony?), which is intended as a Christmas present for my little brother.  I've been working mostly on that because, as the astute will note, Christmas is only about three weeks away, and the blob is still in blob form.  It is several inches longer now than in the photo but not THAT much longer.

My other project of late, when I can't take anymore of the Blob, is a sock.  It is also intended as a gift, but I don't think it will be a Christmas gift.  More like a vernal equinox gift.

I do have lots and lots of finished objects to show you, but those will have to wait for another day, as I am back to blob knitting.  Later, gators!

Setbacks

So far, this has been a rather frustrating week.  Remember the baby sweater?

A very bad picture by way of reminder

All the pieces are knit, and all the extant ends woven in.  Next is the duplicate stitch to form the plaid pattern.  At first, I thought this would be a doddle, as I could use the crochet hook method (explained very nicely here), but it turned out not to be workable.  (The crochet stitches spread the knitting too far and make it look funny.)  So now I am duplicate stitching, stitch by tedious stitch.  It is customary at this junction to request that others send alcohol, or chocolate, or whatever the knitter's personal vice may be, but in this case I don't think that legal stimulants will cut it.  Send methamphetamine.


Next, my mindless sock-in-progress went from this (plus about two inches, since I worked on it at the movies the other day):

to this:

as I finally accepted that it was going to be too big to fit the intended recipient.  The good news, I suppose, is that eight fewer stitches will be that much quicker to knit.  But!!

And finally, I have hauled out a UFO that is positively ancient, by my standards--it was begun in March 2012.   It's a top-down raglan sweater (read: boring), and I don't really like it?  I think I will like the finished product, but the knitting of it is tedious, and I didn't do a very good job with the pattern.

Or this photo.

I feel like casting on something very easy and bulky, just so I'll have the satisfaction of finishing it.

Not Quite So Speedy

After last week's hectic productivity (I finally finished the Daybreak!), this week has been more sedate.  I've worked more on the sweater for my little cousin . . .

(almost done with the back)

. . . and launched the second Animal Crackers sock.  
 

My brain is teeming with many ideas for this and that, but I am resolved to remain semi-monogamous until these are done.  Maybe.

This and That

So I didn't end up finishing my third Camp Loopy project.  *sadface*  Which meant, of course, that come September first I dropped it like a rock in order to finish up the big version of Lapstrake.  (Which is live, now, by the way!  Go buy it!  50% off until September 30!)

Having finished Lapstrake, I immediately cast on for two NEW things, instead of working on one of my languishing WIPs.  Because that's how I roll.

The first is a Golden Orchids shawl for Wollmeise Withdrawal Madness Month, in my very oldest skein of Wollmeise.  (It's not that old.  I'm a late bloomer.)  Here, Gozer assists me by modeling for you (and looking very confused).

The second is a Plaid Jacket for a baby cousin of mine.  (I realize that the link is wholly useless, since it has no pictures and the only project listed is mine, but I will try to take good notes and pictures.)

And now, if you'll excuse me, it's back to Golden Orchids I go.

Whole Wheat Cardigan

And here it is, finally!  (I've been busy.  This "getting married" business is a lot of hassle.)

PATTERN: Whole Wheat Cardigan by Alexandra Charlotte Dafoe.  Size "46."  The quotation marks are because, well, there are some problematic aspects to the pattern.  There are numerous small errors, both in the form of mathematics and of typos, but that's not as bothersome as the fact that the 46" size, if knit to gauge and schematic, will give a sweater that is 49.75" around.  (This is without seam allowances, granted, but a three-inch seam allowance is a bit much.)  This in itself would not be problematic, but the pattern doesn't mention positive ease as a characteristic.  In fact, the pattern doesn't mention ease at all, so anyone knitting this would pick it up expecting zero ease.  Not almost four inches.

Here, this actually worked in my favor; I have a 48" bust (well, it's actually a little larger, but the standard 48" measurements fit my shoulders perfectly, so I just have negative ease in the bust or put in darts if I need them, but whatever), so making the 46" size as written gave me a perfect fit with about zero ease.  But you see how this could have unfortunate consequences for the knitter who does not check her measurements against the schematic.

YARN:  Shepherd's Wool DK (100% merino, 120yds/50g skein) in colorway "Lilac," approximately 6.5 skeins.

NEEDLES: US 7/4.5mm

MODIFICATIONS: To make the sweater hit at a more flattering point, I knit two inches of ribbing instead of the called-for four inches on the body.  I also shortened the sleeves because of my t-rex arms.  Otherwise knit as written.

Overall I am generally satisfied, but I doubt I'll be knitting a pattern from this designer again.  (I did message her with the errors I'd found and haven't heard anything back.  This was several weeks ago and no acknowledgement has been made, nor has the pattern been corrected.  Not impressed.)
 

Camp Loopy Mark Two

I'm a little discombobulated these days (planning a wedding will do that to you), so I'm not even telling you what I'm knitting for Camp Loopy until it's already done.  Whoops.

But anyway, the inspiration for project two was our favorite spot to vacation.  Mine is my hometown.  For example:

Just another day on the Palouse

(Follow the link for the photo credit and to see more beautiful pictures.)

There, much wheat is grown.  So naturally, I knit a Whole Wheat Cardigan.

Here is the left front, fetchingly posed with Gozer as a backdrop.

And here are both fronts and the back, on a pillow, as Gozer was unavailable.  (He must have been out eating yard mushrooms or something.)
 

As I mentioned above, the sweater is actually complete, but I'll leave all the details for a FO post.  I still need proper pictures.  I didn't even try with the Irishman; he always somehow makes me look deformed, as if I've hastily slapped my glass eye or prosthetic chin back on for the photo.

Sprossling

A few winters ago, I was visiting my parents and wandered into the Yarn Underground and was promptly overwhelmed by wool fumes.  My mother picked out some nice yarn, and I told her I would make her a sweater.

When I finally got around to it (that will be on my tombstone), I spent most of winter 2012 working on said sweater.  I actually finished almost all the knitting then, but I had to put it into hibernation while we were moving and my buttons were still in storage.  In April 2013 I pulled it out and finished it just in time for a trip to Cyprus, where my folks were living.

PATTERN: Sprossling by Anne Hanson.  Well-written and clear, as with all of Anne's patterns, although I was not pleased with the waist shaping as written.  My own version can be found on my Ravelry page.  Size 38", no other modifications.

YARN: Palouse Yarn Company Fingering (100% wool, 700yds per113g skein), two skeins in an unnamed colorway.  I think this is the yarn that was renamed "Featherweight" but am not sure.

NEEDLES: US 1.5/2.5mm and US 2.5/3.0mm.  I knit very loosely.

I think it turned out beautifully, don't you?  My mom sure does.  Just look at her dance.

Happy Mothers' Day!

In honor of all the mothers, be they biological or spiritual, here is a picture of my own mom rocking out in her Mothers' Day present from last year:

Lions and Tigers and Babies, Oh My

About two years ago, there was a spate of babies in the land.  I knit this little sweater with a certain recipient in mind, but after finishing it and seeing how FREAKIN' ADORABLE it was, I reconsidered.  To be frank, I was not sure the intended recipient's mother would appreciate a handknit properly.

So I sent it to my friend Catherine instead, because she rocks, and because I thought it would look awesome on her little boy.  In, like, two years, because it came out kinda big, and said little boy is still pretty little.

(I actually knit this pattern twice that summer; I made a version in the Mid Valley Fibers handspun I bought way back when and gifted it to a baby cousin.  Sadly, I don't have a picture of that one.)

Moyen Age

 Pattern: Moyen Age by Hanna Maciejewska.

Yarn: Maple Creek Farm Portland (50/50 merino/silk).

Needles: US 2/2.75mm,US2.5/3mm

I am beyond pleased with how this came out.  It fits perfectly, and it's so soft and warm--the yarn is just a joy to work with, and I desperately wish the dyer had an internet presence so I could go buy about 39489 more skeins of it.

Hmm, wait, maybe I don't . . .

Notes on the Nature of Yarn, both Superwash and Non-

As I mentioned the other day, the Moyen Age is all done.  Since that post, I washed the sweater and "blocked" it.  (I say "blocked" because it didn't require any stretching or pinning; I just laid it out and smoothed all the wrinkles and left it to dry.)

This was on Sunday afternoon.  By Tuesday morning, it was clear that the sweater, post-washing, was too big.  I tried it on, and yep.  There went that careful fit.

So what did I do?

I threw it in the dryer.

No, really.

We are all taught that the dryer is death, danger, and disaster for yarn, especially non-superwash yarn.  But the truth is that the dryer itself is not the enemy.  The enemies of untreated yarn are heat and agitation, which cause it to shrink and felt and turn that expensive cashmere sweater into a cat bed.  Judiciously applied, however, heat and agitation can help you achieve your goals.

In this case, I knew that the sweater fit when it was dry, before the stitches had relaxed.  (Silk will do that.)  So what I needed was just a soupçon of felting, essentially; I needed the stitches to shrink up a bit so they would fit properly again.  I removed my dryer balls (eco-friendly alternative to dryer sheets!) and in the sweater went.  My dryer doesn't have a specific heat setting, but the last ten minutes are a "cool down" stage, so I set the time for about fifteen minutes so I would have a few minutes of good heat.  Then I let it go for about seven minutes, pulled out the sweater, and voilà!  Perfect fit.  (Apparently I am French today.)

This got me thinking.  I have a cardigan I knit last summer that needed washing (I wore it to bake in, flour EVERYWHERE), and I already had the bowl and everything out.  So I plopped that one in to soak and went back to my busy schedule of haunting the Ravelry forums.  Once it was nice and clean, I dumped it in the washer.

No, really.

See, unlike the Moyen Age, this is worsted-weight 100% wool, which means it soaks up a ton of water.  I could roll it out in a towel, but why bother when the washer is right there?  So I put it in the washer and ran it on the spin cycle for about a minute.  "But wait," you may be saying, "heat and agitation!"  First, no water means no temperature change, and second, the agitation caused by the spin cycle on a washer isn't the kind that will cause felting in the short term (the fibers don't rub back and forth on each other but are pressed together by the motion).  And third, this sweater is superwash, so I have even more confidence that it won't felt.

In fact, after I took it out of the washer, I popped it right into the dryer.  As superwash tends to, this sweater stretches when wet, and I want it as small as I can get it.  So I put it in a lingerie bag to protect the buttons (I'd already turned it inside out before putting it in the washer, too) and threw it in for about an hour.  Then I took it out, laid it out on the table, and let it dry fully overnight.  Easy-peasy.

These solutions won't work for every sweater or knitted item, of course.  But they're worth considering if you need to get the water out of something or shrink it up just that little bit.  Don't fear your tools!

And here, have a picture of the sweater.  (The Irishman is a terrible photographer.  But it's a nice sweater regardless.)

A little photographic evidence

The Yarn Harlot was going on about blocking last week, and I agree completely.

So completely that I thought I'd offer up a little evidence in support.  I finished knitting my Moyen Age last night and wove all the ends in today, but it hasn't yet been washed or blocked.

I took these two pictures earlier.  See how in the first one the stitches are nice and even?

 And how in the second there are little uneven places?

Same yarn (well, the second picture is a different skein, which is why it has a little more variegation), same needles, same piece of knitting--the difference?

I washed the lower half of the sweater to make sure my gauge was right before I knit the bust.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of blocking.

The Sandpoint Pullover

My friend Elizabeth just released this pullover today.  Isn't it fab?

(Photo courtesy and © Elizabeth Morrison)

As well as being fabulous, it is also FREE until April 15 with the code AprilShowers.

What are you waiting for?  Oh, right, a link: Sandpoint Pullover.

Go forth and download!

Spring Startitis

I think spring has finally arrived here in New Mexico, and I have got startitis BAD.  So far I've managed to confine it to one new project:

 

This is the beginning of a pair of Animal Crackers socks (designed by a nodding acquaintance of mine who is an awesome guy, incidentally).  Very much liking them so far.  To the extent that I am neglecting both my designing and my Moyen Age.  The yarn is not quite so vivid in real life, more of a rich deep raspberry.  Wollmeise Twin, of course.  (I kind of went on a WM binge last year.  I will be knitting from stash for awhile.)

Speaking of my Moyen Age, no appreciable progress since last time, but I did take updated photos.  Actually, I guess I didn't tell you I finished my sleeve.  And the picture does not deceive you: that, on me, is a bracelet length sleeve.  I TOLD you my arms were short.

 

I also got a decent picture of the sleeve cable:

Have I mentioned that I love this yarn?  I'd link it, but sadly the dyer doesn't seem to have an internet presence at all.  Which is a shame, because it's divine.  (Maple Creek Farm Yarn "Portland" [50/50 silk/merino] in case you come across her at a festival or something.)

I have so far kept the startitis contained by a) leaving the socks upstairs so I am forced to work on the Moyen Age when I'm downstairs and b) planning new projects but not actually casting on for them.

Not sure how long this will work.

Plans and Schemes

Remember this?  (It is still Heather's Favorite Sock and you can still get 20% off purchasing it--or anything else on Heather's favorite website with the code "LANA2014."  In case you forgot.  Her blog is also a good read today.)

It has undergone a state change because I have begun swatching.  No progress photos of THAT to show you, alas; I unraveled my swatch because I am a Bad Knitter.  But there may be more of those in the week to come.

Otherwise I am still plugging away on my Moyen Age--but one sleeve to go!

A note about the pattern, actually, while I'm thinking about it.  I've mostly been knitting it exactly as written with no trouble, but that fell down completely when it came to the sleeves.  I was knitting busily away on the first of them and thinking "hmm, that seems a little big."  Then I tried it on.

ENORMOUS.  Sleeve that could blot out the sun.

What happened was this: I have very, very short arms.  The decreases as written happen very, very slowly.  Therefore, I ended up with a sleeve big enough to fit my upper arm . . . below my elbow.

I must emphasize that this is not the fault of the designer.  My arms are so short that they are genuine sideshow material.  She could not possibly have anticipated this.

I will say, however, that if your arms are similarly constructed, you might want to pause and check your rate of decrease after you finish the sleeve short rows.

What else am I up to?

Mostly, I've been devoting myself to Moyen Age, a gorgeous sweater designed by Hanna Maciejewska.  I got to the point where I could really try it on the other day, and it fits like a dream.  I'd show you a picture, but the juxtaposition of blue sweater and polka-dot bra is far too amusing to let loose on the internet.  So here's a progress picture from earlier:

Now I just have to knit the sleeves . . . and the neckline . . .

Maybe I'll work on some socks, instead.

Like these:

A few weeks ago I cast on a sock toe in Wollmeise Twin with the vague intention of doing something with slipped stitches.  Monday night, needing to wind more yarn for Moyen Age, I picked up the toe and started playing around . . . and now I am OBSESSED.  Like, knit an entire sock foot, turn the heel, and make it three inches up the leg in two days obsessed.

I paused at that point to try it on and made three observations:

1) The foot was not long enough.
2) The short-row method I had used for the heel looked gorgeous on the left side and like utter ass on the right side.
3) The leg was tight in a . . .  worrisome fashion.

So, because I am a knitter dedicated to my craft, I ripped that sucker back.  The foot length was easy to fix, of course, but resolving the heel problem took most of my knitting time today.  I did eventually conquer the thing, on the third try (pro tip: do not bother to reinvent the wheel; it works fine), and I've made it an inch and change up the leg.

I intend to set a land-speed record with these.  Just watch me.

Sweater!

Here is my finished alpaca sweater:

Yarn: Henry's Attic Prime Alpaca , 665 yd/227 g, 2 skeins, colorway Charcoal. It was a bit of a pain to work with--splitty and with no give in that alpaca way--but the resulting fabric is divine and the sweater is soft, warm, and lightweight.


Pattern: Of my own devising, based on measurements from the The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. (It's a set-in sleeve, adapted V-neck cardigan. If that helps.) I added some details like the slight bell sleeve and the cross-over front. I'm particularly fond of the absolutely luscious buttons:


They're a modern rework of a 1930s vintage design. *loves*

And here it is on:


The fit is better than that pattern would have you believe. The shoulders are perfect, which is a big improvement from the Boyfriend Sweater debacle.

Here is me being silly, but you can really see how the buttons extend around the side:


And this one is pure silliness.

All in all, I'm really happy with how this turned out. I barely took it off for a week after I'd finished it. (I'd still be wearing it if it weren't, like, 60 degrees here. Stupid Maryland.)

Whole Lotta Nappin' Goin' On

Not much to report here lately. I've passed the gusset on the second Twisted Angles sock, so with luck I'll have that done by the end of the week.

I also put in some work on the back of the alpaca sweater when we went to the theater a few weekends ago, so it is almost ready to start the armhole shaping.

That's been postponed, however, in favor of the Birthday Pi. I'm about halfway through Clue 3, so I won't be winning any speed prizes. (From the sound of it, though, I may still distinguish myself in the KAL; the other participants are also taking a leisurely tack.)


The only novelty to report is that I did cast on a new pair of socks for the Irishman, though it's far too early to tell that they'll be Sailor's Delight. He's had his eye on this Tough Love Sock ever since I brought it back from New York last summer. It's really quite cute how he thought he was being all crafty when picking it out.

Sweaters Take a Very Long Time to Knit

There is rather a lot of knitting news to report, but I don't have pictures of any of it. So in lieu, you get this picture of a half-done sleeve.


It is very soft and cozy and warm. Just in time for spring! By which I mean, I will not be wearing it this season.