KnitMe

Jade FO; Sailor's Collar

Here is my rendition of (now I will tell what it is) the 'Jade' shawl from Sharon Miller's 'Simply Stunning' collection.

It calls for Kid Silk Haze and I do not enjoy knitting with or wearing mohair, so I turned to the stash and pulled out this fingering weight cashmere/merino in a purple/white twist (this stuff was floating around a lot a year or two ago, I bought this from a Knitswapper and I have another batch I bought on eBay in a different color). Unfortunately you can't really see the twist effect in the photos, it just looks like a purple shawl. In person it is a bit more interesting.

It was a very simple lace pattern to knit, so it doesn't clash with the slightly offbeat yarn. Although the pattern is marked 'Experienced', I would definitely recommend this to someone who wants to try a first lace project.

I lengthened it by adding one more set of diamonds at the top of the shawl.

I've tried several new things this week, learned from my very smart online knitting friends. On this shawl, I used a lace bindoff I learned from Elka: K1, slip the sttich back to the left needle and knit it together with the next stitch, and repeat till you are done. It made a very stretchy edge that also had a nice finished look to it, like a 2 stitch I-cord. Thanks Elka!

This shawl only took me from April 1st to April 27th to knit, and I used just under 6 ounces of the yarn, something less than 800 yards.

Last night, Sailor's Rib got its neckband finished.

I modified the neckline slightly because I didn't want to use a button-over shoulder - so I just widened the neck opening by putting more stitches on hold at the center front. I think it will block out to be fine, but it won't let any drafts in, that's for sure! I chose to make a fold-and-sew neckband for the nicely finished look, since this is going to be a gift.

When I was discussing this with Vanessa, she said that she did the same kind of neckband on a gansey she designed for her husband, and instead of binding off and sewing, she "sort of kitchenered" the live stitches down to the row where she did the picking up. Wow, I thought, what a brilliant idea, I can just see how that would work. So, that's what I did. Yarn through the first stitch as to purl, leave on needle; catch to the appropriate place on the body; yarn through the first stitch as to knit, and slip; repeat. It was time-consuming with about 140 stitches, and I'm sure I didn't do it as perfectly as Vanessa did, but what a nice finished look you get on the inside, and it's totally elastic because NO BOUND OFF EDGE!!

I hope I can bring you a photo of the famous gansey next week with the MS&W Soiree Report.

Whew! Done with something! I think my next new thing will be the Wool Peddler's shawl from Folk Shawls, with some Noro Cash Iroha I bought on sale. A good bit of the fun of finishing something is feeling entitled to start something else, isn't it?

travel knitting

We went away for the weekend to Central Oregon, and the big decision was...what to knit? I decided to take the Dacapo, and start a sleeve. I also took the Midnight Sun tam kit with me. Faithful readers will remember that my last tam attempt, the Autumn tam, ran afoul and amok. Although I like the resulting tam, it wasn't the Fair Isle perfection that I knew was possible, so I was glad that I had a second kit. Let's see if I can get this one right! This time I had plenty of yarn in the right colors, and it is amazing how much easier that makes it to follow charts! I finished it this morning and here it is!

It is very hard to impress my family anymore, and when I expressed my thrill at successfully completing the charts, I recieved responses that ranged from, "It's just a hat, how hard can it be?" to "It looks like the socks you just made." (that were made out of Regia). I educated them on the difference and made it plain that this is ART. It looks NOTHING like the socks. They made appropriate noises, but I am not sure my teenaged son was convinced.
Nevermind, On to the Dacapo. This has to be the most tedious, boring, thankless knitting that I have ever done. Other than knitting an afghan in garter stitch, this has to be the worst. Miles of garter stitch on size 3 needles...ugh. This photo shows where I am now, with 60 ridges. I have to reach 85 ridges to reach the next phase. At this moment, that seems a long ways away. Somewhere, I imagine Hanne Falkenberg laughing, "Aha, I've suckered another knitter into doing this project!"

You may now start placing bets on when this sweater will be done. I don't believe in UFO's, and it will be finished, but I am going to need a lot of breaks!

Anne

Rosarie, cont.

Here are some updated pictures of Rosarie. This is the right front - at the right of the photo you can see the front steek, and at the top left of the photo you can see a vintage 1958 diaper pin living a second life as a stitch holder at the base of the armhole steek.

And, because I always think it's so cool when Wendy does it, here is a picture of the wrong side:

I got some lovely pewter clasps in the mail today that I ordered from Sweaterkits.com, and I took a picture, but it has too much glare and you can't see the details. (I bought "Saga 139" in case you go look...) I'll get them photographed over the weekend. I'm not going to put buttons on Rosarie, since I never button vests, I will probably put just one clasp on it, and use the rest when I do the Wrixlan Jacket from Jamiesons #1.

Counting down to Maryland Sheep and Wool...7 more days and hoping for nice weather.

Oh, go and congratulate Sweatergirl on the birth of her Bump, Elizabeth! She's adorable, and already seems to appreciate a nice handknitted garment.

Happy Anniversary

Here are the sweaters I knit to celebrate our 19th anniversary. I successfully kept his sweater a secret! These are the Lavold sweaters, and I really like how they came out. Mine is the feminine version, size medium, and I added two short rows at the bust. It fits great and is very comfortable. Bill's is Men's size medium, and it fits him well, too. I used the Lavold Silky Wool, and although the knitting was tedious, the resulting sweaters are great.

Since these projects are finished, I have moved on to other things. Here are my WIPs. At the top is the Dacapo back, in the middle is the Cable and Lace cardigan in Den-M-knit, and at the bottom is a lacy rib swatch that is going to be a sleeve, of a pullover sweater made from a mohair blend named "Acapella". As a singer, I could not resist the name of the yarn, and that is the sole reason I bought it. Well, any reason will work, won't it?

My husband just came in to look at this and said, "People really care about what projects you are working on? Before they are even finished?" Hey, it seems reasonable to me. I love seeing all of your works in progress, and it is fun to document mine, as well. We are so lucky to have a forum like this, to share with people who understand the thrill!

Anne

Prudence Has Egg On Her Face

OK everyone that may have tried to leave comments on the last couple of entries: Try again. Prudence found the thing she broke. It works. Giving me admin rights is a guarantee that there will be 'opportunities for learning.'

Two WIPs and a Whine

I promised pictures of Rosarie, so here they are. I have done about 1 1/2 chart repeats. Just before the end of the second chart repeat, I will set up the armhole steeks. The chart is 38 stitches by 38 rows so it's a bit large.

This is a closeup of the pattern. Row to row it doesn't feel like much is happening, but it is beautiful to look at once there is a full chart repeat done. The strong vertical line you see just to the left of center in the photo is actually the edge of the chart - the center of the chart is to the right of center, in the middle of the floral motif. The pretty arrowhead or anchor-shaped details are the corners of the chart coming together. The center of the floral motif is asymmetrical as you can somewhat see off to the right, and results in a lovely interlacing diagonal that runs lower-right to upper-left.

The yarn is a tiny bit heavier than standard Shetland jumper weight and makes a velvety fabric.

However, I did not work on it yesterday. This is the whine, so skip this paragraph if you are not in the mood for whining today. When it takes half an hour to wind one 100-yard ball of yarn, because the hank was mistied and turned into a tangled mess on the swift, and when this is the second hank in a kit that has behaved this way, I don't feel much like giving any more time to the project that day, I need to sleep on it and come back tomorrow.

I took a picture of my purple and white shawl WIP but it doesn't look much different than last week - just a little bigger. However, here's something I was just unable to resist starting:

This is 'Agatha' from Elsebeth Lavold's new book 'A Sentimental Journey.' (I love this book - yes, there are a few designs that make me go, "Oh yuck what was she THINKING??" - but there is so much that is simple and beautiful and elegant. She is a talented designer!) I've completed the full lace motif in the side panels and will place one on the center panel in about another 6 rows. I am using Noro Lily (silk and cotton) from stash and it's working up very pretty. I am a bit worried that I will need another ball, though, so I'm going to have to start looking around.

Do you see why I think this should have been named 'Queen of Spades'?

Life After LOTSS

Yes, it is possible to survive LOTSS and still want to knit. Here's what's on.

Rosarie is a few rows into the second chart repeat, but I don't do well with this spring clock change and I forgot to photograph it... This is the completed back of 'Sailor's Rib' by Nancy Bush from the Best of Knitters Arans and Celtics. The yarn is Galway from stash.

This is a detail of the pattern:

This is my current lace WIP. I don't want to say what pattern it is because I'm afraid the designer would not want to own up to it as I'm rendering it. Is this too awful??

It's a very simple and traditional pattern, changed from garter to stockinette and done in a cashmere/merino twist of purple and white. I'm knitting away at it, uncertain that it is going to be attractive, but sure that I'll love to wear it when it's done.

It occurred to me that this is my 3rd purple shawl/wrap project. If I'd realized that before I started, I think I might have done something else instead...