We Now Disrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Almanac...

When I found out that a dear friend of mine was getting married, I knew I had to knit her something.

Anne Hanson had just released the Fernfrost pattern back in August and I was inspired. I decided to use the remainder of the silver silk from another wedding gift, and it gave the whole project a very frosty feel.

But while this is really a pretty pattern, I wish I’d picked one of her other patterns that is just as pretty but with a little less fiddliness. Really, pattern on every row and twisted purls? It took me about two hours per repeat, depending on my level of attention. 

Imagine my surprise that the thing fit in the palm of my hand after washing! All that work for something so tiny!

I made 14 repeats, and the scarf is 55” long and 8” wide. And, for the record, I wish I had blocking wires.

I added a fringe of twisted yarn, knotted together artfully, about 10”. The twisting and fringing was fun, and a new experience for me. I found it hard to believe it would work at first, but it really does. Just double up the yarn, twisty twisty, and carefully allow it to double back on itself again, then knot the ends. Et voila, fringe.

And if you read any blogs from northern regions, I'm sure you are sick of hearing people complain about the lack of decent lighting all winter, so I'll spare you. But really, this was the only decent picture I got outside...

but pretty enough, and I hope the bride likes it.

Next up on this blog: the Knitter's Almanac year-in-review. Stay tuned!

July Pi

Back in July, this:

turned into this

and I took it here

and once I got all those people to get out of the way, we were able to take some nice picutres

it does look like I had a little run there, but I think I just poked it too much with my fingers as I was flipping it around. Yarn: cashmere and silk from Colourmart. Yay colourmart!

March 2.0

The Chainmail Sweater and I  duked it out for 5 epic days of knitting every second I could, usually 3 - 4 hours during the day (hey, I've got kids, that's an impressive number of day-time knitting hours), and 5 or 6 after bedtime.

During the knitting of this sweater I was a little obsessed with time, hoping to get it done by the end of March (full confession: I didn't, but I did get it done.) I timed myself. Each body row took almost exactly 10 minutes. Doing this reminded me of the slip-stitch color work technique where you only knit one color at a time. You knit each row twice, though. So I experimented. It was certainly faster to knit the row with just one color, slipping the other color, but then you have to knit the row again, knitting the second color stitches this time. So each row took about 16 minutes to finish by this method. Ultimately, wrangling two strands of yarn was worth it vs. the extra time the slip-stitch method took.

After the 5 days of marathon knitting the body was done, and I moved to the arms at a slower pace. By the time I realized I wasn't going to make my goal of being done in March, I only had the steeking and sewing up to do. I took my time on this, not feeling the deadline pressure, and wanting to do a good job.

 

My previous experience steeking this Colourmart merino was a little scary, as it is a very slippy yarn. I used the crochet method to secure the steek and steeked away. I'm going to use the word "steek" a few more times, just out of nervous energy. Steek, steek. Because steeking makes me nervous, even though I've had three successful steeking experiences so far... it just feels like the potential is high for it to go disastrously wrong.

But it all went ok, and I am very pleased with the product. It's a well-constructed sweater that fits me and has lots of visual impact. One of my all-time favorite knits. Thanks, EZ!

In case you care: Colourmart Merino 15/44 nm (burgundy and black) and Kauni Effektgarn. If you really care, go to Ravelry.

March 1.0

Mid March: project still in the early stages.

*

February projects bled over into March, but I was confident I would have time to finish the Chainmail sweater, which I was really looking forward to. I decided to use stashed Colourmart merinos, in black and burgundy, and went searching for  a harmonizing yarn. I found a Rowan yarn in  pink. Not usually my color, but the yarns seemed to match ok in the store so I bought it.

I went ahead with the pink/burgundy color combination, partly to try new things, partly reassured when a search through Ravelry for this project turned up this  beautilful sweater with similar colors.

Ultimately (though not until after about 10 inches of the body was done) I decided against this and ripped it all out. I wish I could have made up my mind faster, but I still don't regret it.

Instead of pink, I chose a burgundy-green-purple-blue Kauni Effektgarn. This was a very different type of yarn than the merino. It was very hairy and sticky and really sorta scratchy. But the colors are gorgeous, and I do like the effect of color change in the pattern.

Next time: a finished sweater!

Episode 3: Revenge of the Baby Sweater

I was delighted to knit this sweater again. The first time I used a heavier yarn and modified the stitch count a bit. This time I used a DK (and on the skinny side, even for DK) and it turned out a great 3 - 6 month size. My daughter is about 1 month old, and it is still a little large on her.

 

I do like this pattern. It's pretty easy (once you are used to EZ's general "pithy" style). The only thing I had a problem with was making up the sleeves. First I just sewed the edges along the perimeter: the initial stitches together, then extra cast-on stitches to extra cast-on stitches, and then arm edges to arm edges. And as you can see this made a pretty stupid looking silhouette there. On my second try, I gathered up the extra cast-on stitches and sewed them to the body. This makes a normal-looking sleeves and more ease in the underarm area. Surely this is what EZ intended, and maybe I'm just an idiot for doing it wrong the first time. But I know I'm not the only one who finds her directions "open for interpretation", so I hope this might help someone else.

 

I didn't have an opportunity to run out for the perfect button, so the button stash had to do. The contrast of the oatmeal color of the button is perhaps a little strong, but it went nicely with the burgundy and matches the natural colored soakers that usually grace the bottom half of my model.

Co-worker Gifts

For thoroughness's sake, here are three more gifts that I knit for coworkers. First, a My So Called Scarf, started a looooong time ago, but too turquoise for me to have ever kept it, and thusly it became a gift knit. I enjoyed the pattern well enough, though I got right sick of it by the end. Also I think I did it wrong, twisting the knit stitches instead of knitting them regular. The yarn is from handpaintedyarn.com, knit on 4 mm needles.

  

Next, the super fastest knit, Fetching! So fast they were off the needles and given away before I could get a really decent picture of them. Knitted on 3.5 mm needles with ColourMart 100% extra fine merino 15/44 NM. I felt like these were a little short around the fingers, so I added 4 extra rows before bind off on the hand and also lengthened the thumb a bit. 

And, the funnest gift knit: a mini-Casino. Knitpicks Shadow knit on a 3 mm needle. Horribly photographed due to the northern latitude that I live in. Knitting this started out a little slow because you start at the long side, but it flies along as you get towards the pointy end. It took about 5 days. And the blocking... ah, the blocking. That's seriously fun. Except for when my cat slept on it, with the pins still in it. My really heavy cat who I couldn't manage to lift off of it without snagging it.  

But anyway, blocking is magic! 

Tilty, not Dusty

World, meet my Cropped Tilted Duster. Cropped Duster, say "hello, world".

I found out that I was pregnant last Spring and knew that I would want a better pregnancy-sweater solution than I had last time (which was a ridiculously oversized second-hand hoodie -- so big that I continued to wear it after the birth, zipped up around my daughter in the baby bjorn... until she was too big to be carried in the bjorn.) So, the month of May saw a bright hopeful beginning...

The back flew off the needles, no problem. Being a conscientious and busty knitter, I did a lot of gauge swatch calculations and ended up expanding the dimensions of the front a lot. I noticed that even on the less-endowed model, the line between the ribbing and the stockinette on the fronts was awkwardly high on her bust.

I finished the fronts and the arms lickety-split. I compared the back and fronts to a sweater that fit me at the time and there was a little discrepancy... and I realized that one becomes only bustier during pregnancy, and that I would have to rip-and-repeat the fronts in a more generous size. No problem. Until I ran out of yarn.

I could handle that, though. I had another cone of the exact same yarn (ColourMart 100% extra fine merino 15/44 NM) in black, so I finished the ribbing sections with some black trim. I think it looks nice, and even quite possibly intentional.

Finally, all done, seamed, everything. The moment of truth can be harsh. In October, at only 5 1/2 months pregnant, I'd already out-grown my pregnancy sweater.

I took a philosophical approach. It was a successful project (in all except it didn't fit me.) Maybe it would fit after the baby. Or I could gift it to a more slender pregnant friend.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I'd knit the damn thing, I was going to wear it! Last month (8 1/2 months pregnant) I squeezed it on. I had to shuffle the front around a bit and fasten it in an alternative manner, but I think it looked rather nice all in all.

And goddamn, I am so hugely pregnant. 

Itty Bitty Knitting Committee

Tiny Knits! Sock and sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Hat and mitten inspired by the same. The sock actually seems a little out of scale with the others; I may reknit it slightly smaller. I may also add pants to the set, depending on my level of ambition. The set is meant to be an activity in a Montessori toddler classroom. Knit with samples from Colourmart (the mitten and sweater), and leftovers from the stash (sock and hat).

No, this isn't all the knitting I've been up to. There's been a lot of gift knitting getting done (go me!) which will be blogged when gifted. I also completed another large project which experienced a few glitches. Details to come...

Pictures and Unrelated T3xt

Last night I had my first dream about yarn/knitting. First, no kidding. My dear husband and I were in a restaurant in Japan and eating fantastic food.

They were giving us super huge portions, though, and I was afraid they would be grumpy that we weren't finishing them. So we were taking a kind of long time over dinner. I remember this one dish in particular was a salmon tempura with a slightly sweet sticky sauce. Yummerz. So finally we were getting ready to go and I noticed -- for the first time -- that the restuarant had a basket of yarn on the wall next to the table, with some needles. My conception was that it was like a bread basket, a while-you-wait kind of thing. I bet all the best ideas come to people while they are sleeping.

The sad thing was, I was really excited to see what kinds of fancy Japanese yarn they had,

but it was all European yarn.

Du Store Alpakka, Garnstudio, Opal sock yarn, some unlaballed balls. Not even any Kauni!

PS. Did you spot the FO in this post? It's my final pair of replacement Pomatomus mitts. If these get lost or stolen, or I end of hating (ravelry link) them (though I doubt that, they are a beautiful brown silk/cashmere from Colourmart), I will try the new Spirogyra pattern from Knitty.

smallxorz

my man rigged a pringles can to his new SLR to make an extreme-macro lens; witness:
addi turbo 
 
noro silk garden
 
laceweight silk from colourmart.com

hals

I had this little bit of cashmere/silk sitting around from a sample pack from colourmart.com. I knew I could make something little out if it. At first I tried a headband/earwarmer for a little head, but I didn't like it too much. I ripped it out and started anew after I finished my pomatomus mits. I loved the pattern, so I adapted it to a "hals". This is a piece of clothing that is very popular for Norwegian children, but I didn't see so much in the States (even Alaska). It's great though, like a turtleneck without the sleeves or body, keeps the neck warm and prevents a draft going down the back. I used 10 repeats of the pattern on 2.75 mm needles. After one vertical repeat in the round, I split it and continued one more vertical repeat for the front and one for the back, then about 3 cm of twisted ribbing.

0wn4ge!

It took a couple of false starts (ok, like 5... or maybe 11, depending on how you count) for me to get this thing right. And I didn't even really get it *right* so much as got it to work.
Basically, those bamboo double pointeds you see SuX0r! Too sticky, and my toddler broke one while I was running towards her in slow motion going "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" so I had to use a set of 4 instead of 5.
I ended up knitting the first 10 rounds or so flat and then joining (will seam before blocking) because I just could not get 2 itty bitty stitches on these itty bitty needles to behave. Don't you love my pretty stitch markers, though?

Over the years I've received these things as decorations on wrapped presents (the red one is Korean, the wooden ones Japanese) and kept them not really knowing what to do with them. When I tried my regular metal/bead stitch markers, it weighed down the piece considerably and snagged the fabric. Enter: fabric/ribbon stitch markers.









What am I knitting, you ask? A lovely hair net! You can see it draped over the cone from ColourMart. 100% silk, laceweight, color silver. One cone should do my job.