KnitMe

Swatch-a-rama

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. DH and I had a lovely potluck evening with friends. All I had to do for Thanksgiving dinner this year was make a salad, so I had plenty of time to try out some fair isle ideas. This was the palette, in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply:

Swatch A. This is my favorite, inspired by a design I glimpsed in an old, old, old Rowan mag. I'm going to go ahead and knit this as a crew-neck pullover.

Swatch B. Traditional, a bit boring, definitely needs some work.

Swatch C. I see this maybe as a cardigan. The chart for this came straight out of Sheila McGregor's Fair Isle book - I just added the colors.

Linette

Byzantine is Finished

Continuing in my push to clear out the WIPs, I sewed Byzantine Bazic together yesterday and washed it and set it up on the wooly board to dry.

This has been my lunch hour knitting for quite awhile now, so that I could get it done more quickly. The Faroese lace was my main home WIP during the same time period.

When the sweater first came off the needles, I was afraid it was going to be a little too narrow, but wetting down a cabled piece relaxes it out quite nicely and I think it will be the perfect cozy fit.

The pattern is by Kathy Zimmerman from the fall 03 issue of Interweave Knits, and was designed for an incredibly huge yarn called 'Bazic', and size 9 needles. I don't do huge yarn, so I used my Berroco Bluefaced Leicester in a shade of purple called 'dahlia', and size 8 needles. I ended up using every bit of 12 50g balls, and it weighs quite enough, thank you - I can't imagine it made in something that would have taken 20 or 25 50g balls.

I changed the neckline because I didn't want a turtleneck - instead of ribbing for 2 inches, reversing the knitting, then knitting the cabled section to turn out, I just knitted 2 inches of the cabling as a neckband.

This was the most gorgeous cable I've seen in a long time. Here's a detail of the main panel.

I certainly hope I get some cold weather this winter to wear it. My cubicle is hotter this year than it was last year but I'm trying to be optimistic...

My feeling about this yarn is that it could be knitted quite a bit tighter and still look very nice, so I'm thinking of trying out my leftovers with the Elsebeth Lavold vest in the fall 03 Knitters. It's a very lofty squishable yarn.

Statistics: Started 7/31, finished 11/23.

I'm finishing off two very small items this week, and then I can't put off returning to my Poetry in Stitches sweater any more. It's become a little boring, with the endless knitting in 2 colors, but I know that when it's done I will love it, so I'll try to persevere.

Moor is a FO!

Inspired by Lady Prudence, I hunkered down this week and finished Moor, the fair isle vest from Rowan's "A Yorkshire Fable". I think I set some kind of record for myself, finishing something in less than a month. I'm very pleased with the result. The yarn, Rowan's Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply, is divine.

And it fits!

Linette

Finally finally, I have finished

Finally finally, I have finished my 'Faroese Style Lace' shawl, by Myrna Stahman from the Best of Knitters Shawls and Scarves! Here it is blocking on the basement floor.

This shape was difficult to block! It took almost an hour to thread the thin wires around the outside and then pin out all the points, and figure out the best way to shape up the top edge.

The yarn is Nandia silk/cashmere that I bought on eBay. This came out ever so slightly smaller than the pattern called for, because the yarn neither blooms nor stretches as much as merino. That's probably why it used only a little over 800 yards or 4 ounces. It's almost weightless, but I can also feel a small amount of extra warmth when I'm wearing it.

The pattern was very easy, and suits this yarn which seems so much happier in stockinette.

For those who like numbers, I started this on 8/13 and finished it on 11/13.

Prudence

I finished Emily's hat out

I finished Emily's hat out of handspun. She was so taken with it that she put it on and wore it around the house.

Your eyes don't deceive you, it's two slightly different colors. The bottom part is spindled merino - I only had about 30 yards and I put it down where it will come in contact with her face. The rest is wheel-spun bluefaced leicester. Both have been a lot of fun to knit with. The pattern is based on the orange watch cap in the fall issue of Spin-Off.

I used size 9 needles but I think the bluefaced leicester yarn wanted to be knitted a little tighter. I'm going to try to use the rest of it for a hat for me (I think I have about 150 yards left) and use smaller needles. This yarn was nicer to knit with than the merino I used to make my mutant sock (see archives), although it was less consistent - it had more loft. The whole hat is very soft. I'm hoping Emily will consent to wear it as the winter sets in. She is already quite possessive of it, and demanded it back when I tried it on myself!

Prudence

Unexpected FO

Maybe it was the giddiness induced by liberating myself from a second glove, or maybe it was the waxing moon, but a week or so ago I took it into my head to knit a seaman's scarf as a surprise Christmas present for someone, for warmth in a cold office. I fetched out my Myrna Stahman book and a ball of leftover Galway and started off. This is her 'Robert' scarf, still wet and ready for blocking.

The individual in question is highly allergic to cats, so I worked with a constant low panic level! I washed it carefully and laid it out where no cats go, and it will go into a plastic bag when it's dry to await the holidays. I hope that will be sufficient.

It was a very easy pattern, a herringbone lace that happens to be the same as the Stahman shawl I'm working on. It used just over one ball of Galway. I knitted on size 6 needles which probably is too small for the pattern and yarn but I wanted to end up with something that wasn't too wide, and I think the resulting fabric is nice.

Like everything else I make, it has small flaws! For example I didn't realize till I was 2/3rds done that I should have been slipping an edge stitch even on the part with the seed stitch border. I did it on the ribbing but it t never occurred to me to do such a thing in seed stitch. I hope it won't matter!

Also she has instructions for knitting it two ways: traditional end-to-end, and her way (using a provisional caston so that both tails are knitted the same way (out from the center). To make proper mirror images, you are supposed to do your centered decreases (skp) one way if you're knitting end to end and another way if you're doing a provisional caston. And I picked the wrong way. But I don't think even another knitter would notice unless they knew to look for it, so I'm not too worried.

Not content to be done with one WIP, I cast on with handspun for a hat for Emily. This will go fast, and the yarn is actually nice to knit with! Watch this space.

Glove, No Glove

I was unable to resist the glove-along on a list where I hang out, because I have a Sanquhar glove pattern I've always wanted to try. It maddeningly doesn't give gauge information or measurements - recommends sock yarn, and needles sizes 00-2 depending upon the finished size you want (choose from ladies small, ladies average/large, ladies large). I leaped in with the yarn and needles I had (Patons Kroy, size 1). I now have ONE GLOVE which may be forever unwed. The glove hasn't been blocked yet, this is just how it came off the needles.

This is an attempt to photograph where the thumb joins the hand. The pattern didn't give any guidance on how to work the stitches picked up below the cast-on section so I just made it spotted until I got to the next dark rows.

This is a TERRIBLE attempt at photographing one of the little finger 'fourchette' gussets.

And, this is the problem, which is why I'm pretty sure I don't have enough cream-colored yarn and why I'll probably never make the second glove.

It doesn't fit as badly as this picture implies, but it's a little BIG. Too bad, it's so pretty. Well, if anyone can find a ball of the old Patons Kroy in cream maybe I'll make the second one someday...