Lotus

My first knitting project of 2012:

It's the Lotus Hat (pattern is free and available here) made up in Malabrigo Merino Worsted. The pattern was a breeze to make, very fun and straightforward. I cast on Saturday and bound off Monday, with no marathon knitting required. The charts were easy to memorize - in fact, it was so easy to "read" the knitting as I worked it that I'm not sure memorizing the charts was even necessary. I love the end result.

My only word of warning: this pattern comes out small. I obtained gauge and followed the instructions for the "long" version (four repeats of chart A, rather than three) and it still came out so short that it popped off my head prior to wet blocking. Now, that being said, I do have a rather large head. Still, it barely covered the tips of my ears, let alone my earlobes (as it said it would)! Luckily, this was made as a gift for my mother in law, who is rather birdlike in stature. Also luckily, I didn't bother to wash and block my gauge swatch, so it had some room to grow. Hopefully it fits her correctly!

In sewing news: my Beignet skirt has been finished for forever, save for the hem (which I just haven't had time to sit down and take care of). It's hard not to use pressure to update this blog as an excuse to craft, but I really do have other things on my plate at the moment. Hopefully you'll be seeing it sometime this week!

Skew

I started working on these socks back in April, but eventually put them away because I encountered a problem that I couldn't figure out how to fix. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I didn't know what the problem was. Often, I find putting away projects is exactly the thing you should do. Usually, by the time I pull them out again I've either given myself enough distance to gain perspective, or enough time to gain patience, or enough projects in between to gain the skills necessary to fix the problem.

In this case, what I ended up giving myself was anxiety, because I couldn't figure out where I'd put them! Thankfully, after a few weeks of looking I found them tucked safely away in a bag of sewing notions. Silly me. Anyway, upon bringing them out again I was able to see that I'd failed to wrap my short rows. Now, maybe one should just know that this is always a step in creating short rows, but I still don't really understand why they simply write "turn" instead of "wrap and turn." Would those few extra words be so hard to include? Anyway, I digress.

I managed to fix the problem by changing the setup row for the cuff, replacing all the Rlinc and Llinc increases with M1s. By doing this, I pulled up the strand below the hole and twisted it, filling in all the holes. It looks fine! The hardest thing was then going on to make the same mistake on purpose on the matching sock.

Ultimately? This pattern was so great! It's precise, mathematical, and knits up exceptionally fast. The "origami moment," as they call it, where you put together the heel is pretty satisfying. And the ergonomic toe fits SO comfortably. I really want to pick up two different, solid skeins of Koigu and knit a striped version. (Check out the most popular finished objects from this pattern in Ravelry... most of them are striped and they are beautiful!)

On another note, thanks for all your sympathy and suggestions on yesterday's post. I hope it was clear that it was a moment of frustration - really, they're lovely cats and there are some days where they are the thing that gets me through. I feel as if I should write a post telling you all about what makes them wonderful, to counter-balance the complaining about the naughty behaviour. But that would make me an extra crazy cat lady, wouldn't it?

Please, don't hate me.

Baby Knits

Recently, I spent a good chunk of my knitting time on a few projects which I couldn't talk about online, as they were intended as a gift for another web-savvy knitter. Well, two weeks ago that dear friend gave birth to a beautiful bouncing baby boy, and today I got to meet him and give him his presents!

First, a wee cardigan and a hat to match:

Second, an itty bitty bunny hat:

The bunny hat was at the suggestion of my husband. He spent the winter of his first year dressed up in a fleece snowsuit with bunny ears, and the photos are pretty priceless. We included a few of them in our wedding slideshow this summer, much to everyone's amusement. So, a bunny hat it was! I used the Bunny Beanie pattern, available for free here on Baby Center. This was a great little pattern and I highly recommend it. (Although it is a little light on the directions when it comes to attaching the ears, but after a little advice from my friend SnappyStitches, it all came together perfectly.)

The cardigan was made from the recently published Gramps pattern. It was love at first sight. This pattern is so cute and the copy made me laugh out loud. ("We think it’s hilarious how babies sometimes look like old geezers - so we created this shawl-collared grandpa sweater for your grouchy little old man!") I made the 0-6 month size, which by measurements is definitely more appropriate for a 6 month old baby of average size (otherwise, I pity the woman who bears a newborn who could fit it!). The pattern is well-written and I especially enjoyed seeing the shawl collar come together. (I used this tutorial by Cat Bordi for concealing the short row wraps and it was incredibly helpful!)

My only criticism of the pattern is to do with the button band/collar. They instruct you to pick up stitches starting at the bottom hem, working as you usually would (i.e. picking up from the outside/RS so the seamline ends up inside the garment). However, when you reach the part of the neckline where the collar begins, they instruct you to switch so that you're picking on from the wrong side (and thus the seamline will now be on the outside). I understand the reasoning - in theory, the shawl collar will fold over, concealing the (now) outer seamline, and will be more likely to reveal the seam from the inside. However, in practice, there's no way it's ever going to fold over that far. This is compounded by the fact that the uppermost buttonhole is right at the bottom of the collar - thus preventing it from folding over to conceal the seamline. Hopefully these photos illustrate my point (it's more obvious on the left side than the right). The first photo is with the top button done up, the second is with it undone.

Anyway, it's not the end of the world. It still looks pretty tidy and I imagine she can just leave the top button undone. If I ever knit this again I'll just leave the seamline on the inside the whole way around. I had to omit the cute elbow-patch and pocket details as I ran out of contrasting yarn, but I'd love to make another version of this sweater one day with all those little details included! I still think it's a completely charming pattern and highly recommend it.

Three Year Cardi

a.k.a. the Asymmetrical Cabled Cardi

Finally finished!

I cast on for this sweater on my birthday, November 24th, 2008. It's a bottom-up design, and it went swimmingly until I reached the raglan decreases. At that point, it became apparent that the pattern has some problems (as further evidenced by the number of project notes on Ravelry which contain complaints about said problems). In the end, I knit this sweater from the armpits up FOUR times over three years. (And the collar one extra time for good measure.)

In summary: I'm so excited to finally be able to wear this freaking thing!

I can't seem to write a concise post about the errors/mods to save my life, so I'll just add those to the Ravelry page instead. Basically, i did it in regular stockinette (rather than reverse), added some width to the left front for coverage and both front edges for smoothness, added both some length and width to the sleeves, and figured out my own method for completing the raglan decreases.

I also went down two needle sizes for the collar after reading that some people had trouble getting theirs to stand up, although in retrospect that may have been overkill as it sucks in toward the neck a little too much and I prefer the way it looks folded down anyway (as above). I also ended up moving the buttons over, resulting in a much slimmer neck, in order to get a little more overlap/coverage on the front pieces.

The funny thing is, I usually get discouraged when having to rip back a project, but I did it so many times with this one that I kind of became immune to it. I'd happily knit away and then discover a problem and just think, "here we go again!" and rip it back. On the bright side, I'm now pretty awesome at picking up rows and figuring out where I am in a cable pattern. (Admittedly, my crazy love for the design and the colour of the yarn kept me going.)

After all that work, I only hope my assistants don't get their claws on it! (I did have to resort to blocking it on the balcony. These guys do love wool!)

The Details:
Pattern: Asymmetrical Cabled Cardi by Yahaira Ferreira
Needles: US9(5.5mm) (and US7(4.5mm) for the collar only)
Yarn: Cascade 220 in colourway 2425
Size: 39
Guage: 4.5spi (the pattern indicated 4spi, so this fits small)
Cast on: November 24, 2008
Bound off: July 24, 2011
Total # of stitches: 31,740 (give or take for fit adjustments)

Cassis

I'm so in love with this sweater.

The Details:
Pattern: Cassis by Thea Coleman
Needles: US7(4.5mm) 32" Knitpicks Harmony interchangables (and US8 for the cast-on only)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Oceanic Mix
Size: 36
Gauge: 5.5sts/inch (slightly off pattern)
Cast on: March 14, 2011
Bound off: April 23, 2011
Total # of stitches: 55,918 (give or take for adjustments to the sleeves and length)

After reaching my limit on fiddling with fit with all my sewing projects, I'm glad I picked a knit project that didn't ask a lot in that department. I chose the 36" size going by my high bust measurement, knowing that this sweater doesn't have to close. My gauge was slightly off at 5.5spi, but I figured that there was a fair amount of design ease and that the Ultra Apaca would be fairly forgiving. (Both were true!)

The only real modification I made was to the sleeves. I found them too wide, so I did the decreases on every 4th row instead of every 5th, and did a few extra decrease rows. (I don't have my notes with me, but this wasn't a very scientific process.) I suspect the shoulders are a little too roomy, and a bit long from shoulder to armpit, but it's a loose and comfy sweater and so it doesn't really matter one way or the other! I also added about eight rows to the length of the body.

After blocking, I noticed I made one tiny mistake. One purl stitch in a sea of stockinette. I know that nobody can see it, and so I'm trying to resist the crazy urge to unpick the bind-off and drop the stitch back about 100 rows to fix it. (It's near the lace panel on the centre front.) But honestly, I love the sweater enough to overlook the imperfection!

Special shout-out to my assistant, who managed to not eat this knit-in-progress despite my leaving it unattended on more than one occasion and blocking it in plain sight on the kitchen table. Well done, little friend. Well done.

Knits In Progress

In February I came across the pattern for Cassis and I knew right away I had to knit it. It was exactly what I wanted - something long and cozy, loose yet flattering, and not too bulky. After spending a bit of time lamenting the fact that I couldn't possibly afford to knit it in Madelinetosh, which many other knitters have used to produce some gorgeous, subtly-variegated garments (like this), I suddenly had an "ah-ha!" moment and chose Ultra Alpaca.

I could sing songs about Ultra Alpaca. I could write poems about it, make a shrine to it, take it out for dinner and a movie. We're talking serious love here, people. It's so soft and warm, and yet not too sheddy and totally durable. The colour I chose isn't heathered exactly, but it seems like the alpaca content is green and the wool is blue, resulting in this amazing teal. (Unless that fits the definition of heathered? I got the impression from Brooklyntweed's recent series on yarn mills that it's more complex than that.)

I cast on March 14th and I've been busily working on it ever since. It's knitting up a little faster than I expected, considering the length... although I have to admit that I'm starting to grow a tiny bit weary of knitting it. My wrists are starting to hurt and I'm impatient to wear it!

I've also started a sock project, in an attempt to achieve better knitting ergonomics and prevent repetitive stress injuries. Though, in truth I'm a very project-oriented knitter and working on two things at once is just totally counter-intuitive. I'm not devoting enough love toward the socks, and when I do I feel like they're standing in the way of sweater completion. I keep having to remind myself that they're promoting happy hands. And wrists. (And feet!)

The pattern is Skew, but I don't have an in-progress photo just yet. I cast-on in some Malabrigo from my meagre stash, and got about 70% of the way through the first sock before realizing that A) I'd made a counting error and B) the yarn was pooling pretty badly and C) I didn't really like the yarn at all, actually. (Why on earth did I buy so much red yarn in 2009? I'm really more of a blue/green kind of girl.) So I frogged it, and was completely thrilled to find Koigu on sale for 30% off at one of my LYSs, in a colourway I'd almost bought two months ago!

I've been dying to try Koigu because I love sock yarn with a tight twist... the way the yarn starts to look almost like a strand of pearls... love that. So far, it's wonderful to work with, too! Once I've gotten a little further, I'll take a photo to share.

Aquaphobia Socks

This FO felt like it was a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait.

The Details:
Pattern: Aquaphobia Socks by Crystal Smith
Needles: US1(2.5mm) 36" Addi Turbo circulars (dislike!)
Yarn: SweetGeorgia Yarns' Tough Love Sock (80% wool/20% nylon) in Lakeshore Drive
Gauge: 10sts/inch in the slip stitch pattern
Cast on: February 4, 2011
Bound off: March 14, 2011
Total # of stitches: 30,728 (or thereabouts)

I absolutely love this pattern, although it was a bit slow-going with all of those slipped stitches. It fit like a dream without any modifications, which was particularly nice! My favourite part is that the pattern didn't need following, at all - it's straightforward enough that you can simply read your knitting. Win.

The only complaint I had with the pattern was some rather vague toe instructions. Although, it eventually became clear that I'm just a picky knitter (and sock-wearer). I tried and frogged three toes before settling on this one, and it was definitely worth it. This is a moderately anatomically correct toe, created simply by tracing the outline of my toes on some knitter's graph paper. (Good instructions here.) I didn't go as correct as I could have - a first try let me know that I didn't want such a close fit. So the effect is rather subtle, but so much more comfortable for me than a traditional toe.

During my research on the subject of toes, I also discovered a really handy trick to make the edges of the graft much prettier. Once you're done your knitting, but before you start grafting, pass the end stitches on both ends of each needle over the stitches beside them, toward the centre of the graft. You'll end up with four less stitches to graft, but the result will be so much neater. (Rox on Ravelry describes this more accurately here and here.)

I knitted these on one of my few pairs of Addi Turbos, and was reminded that I don't really care for these needles. On the occasion that a stitch would slip off the needles, the tips were too blunt to recapture it! So I'd have to use the tip of a stitch holder or a tapestry needle. How silly. I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery of some sock-sized KnitPicks Harmonies.

That small irritation aside, I had so much fun knitting these. My feet are very happy tonight.

Damask

I spend a lot of time on the bus - about 1.5 hours per day commuting, plus errands. There are two consolations to being a bus rider: The first is feeling like you're helping the environment (although, frankly, if I could afford a car I'd have one); the second is the reading/knitting time. In addition, I'm no longer in distance education as of December! That means I'm no longer obligated to devote my 1 hour lunch break to studying - again, more knitting/reading time. Hooray!

Anyway, as a result, I've actually been pretty productive in my non-home hours lately. I've read some really great books, and I have a finished knitting project to share.

The Details:
Pattern: Damask by Kitman Figueroa
Needles: US10 (6mm) and US6 (4mm)
Yarn: Handmaiden Fine Yarns - Mini Maiden (50% merino wool/50% silk)
Gauge: Unknown (didn't matter)
Cast on: January 12, 2011
Bound off: February 3, 2011
Total # of Stitches: 22,036

I can't praise this pattern enough - it was the most fun I've had knitting in a really long time. I especially loved that you cast on the long side (around 300 stitches) and decrease each row, as opposed to shawl patterns that have you do the opposte (increase each row). It allowed for this wonderful snowball effect where each row was a little faster than the last.

As well, the yarn was heaven. Really nothing more to say about it. Just, heaven.



My next project is a pair of socks. Historically I'm not a sock knitter, but I seem to have been bitten by the bug. I'm working on a very cool pattern with some gorgeous local yarn - Tough love Sock by Sweet Georgia Yarns, in the Lakeshore Drive colourway.



Yum.