KnitMe

Outsmarting myself, Episodes 6,327 and 6,328

Episode 6,327: Autumn Rose

I have joined the sleeves and body together and begun knitting the upper body.

Being a woman of a certain age and not very trendy, I intend to raise the neckline. Some folks have raised it to the point that they began the neck steek at the same time that they made the body join - i.e. at the level of the underarms. No, says I, I says, I want it higher. I will knit the entire 9-row crosshatch band before creating the neck steek.

After knitting 6 of the 9 rows, I realize: this strategy places the 'jog' where you change rows and colors RIGHT IN THE CENTER FRONT. Idiot. But there really isn't anyplace else to put it, as there is no side seam, no armhole steek, nothing. It is not as noticeable as it would be if I were working the medallion pattern, but still. Right in the center front.

Sigh. Should I keep on for 3 more rows and set the neck steek and hope nobody notices? What would you do?

Episode 6,328: Seville

I sewed on miles of cabled band, dutifully stretching on the straight edges and easing on the curves.

I think I got carried away with my stretching.

I hope a good block will make everything smooth out, ease up, and relax. Otherwise I will be looking for a teenager to give this to. Sigh.

Meantimes, I finished another skein of shetland on the Quebec wheel, it looks fairly nice although I have not had time to wash it yet (all that stretching and easing, don't you know).

It's about 2.5 ounces and about 240 meters. I also finished spinning and plying another bobbin of grey CVM/Romeldale but it is still sitting on the wheel waiting to be wound off. Given the fact that I have a wool pig in my house who has been known to sniff around loaded bobbins, I have to hope that it doesn't turn into Episode 6,329.

Wanted: Chiropractor to make house call

Sorry for the brief entry today but sitting, standing, and lying down are all somewhat distractingly uncomfortable...

The Seville jacket is almost a jacket.

I paused in my finishing of the body to work on the cabled band. The pattern directions tell you to knit about 6 feet of band, then sew it on, "stretching on the straight sections and easing around the curves," and knit enough to finish. I toyed with various alternatives to this approach, and checked Ravelry to see if anyone had done it any other way, and finally decided to follow the directions. I can just imagine how inconsistent and messed up I could make it look if I got creative... So I've got about 2 feet of band knitted. I have to admit it's perfect mindless knitting.

I've been spinning, and spinning, and spinning on my camel/silk. This is an almost finished bobbin containing approximately eleventy billion yards.

I have to spin approximately another eleventy billion because I'm not going to be foolish and try to ply this from a center pull ball... I think I put too much on this one, though, so the second one will not have much yardage and I will have to appeal for help to some of my silk spinning genius friends on how to do a center pull ball on a toilet paper roll.

I also finished a sleeve of Autumn Rose. Can you see my 'gauge issue'? Do you think it matters?

I don't like starting things on two circulars, and I didn't really want to knit this on black needles, and so my only other choice in a DP needle was Crystal Palace bamboo, and I am getting a slightly loose gauge. I should have expected this. I think millimeters must be relative or something because their 3.25mm needle is a bit fatter than the next company's. You can particularly see this in the shape of the medallions in the body vs. the sleeve. I don't like tight sleeves, and I don't think it's going to be noticeable when the thing is worn, but right now it's sort of nagging at me. This will not be blockable on a wooly board due to the waistline shaping, but I'm hoping a good block will reduce the difference.

On Stubbornness

Merriam-Webster's definition: (1) unreasonably or perversely unyielding; mulish, (2) justifiably unyielding; resolute.

Not saying that I don't have my mulish moments, but this time I think that being stubborn was a good thing, so call me resolute.

I had a spindling mishap. I guess I overloaded the spindle and as I was spindling happily away, the cop fell off the spindle and began to unwind from the centre. I stuck a knitting needle into the centre as the singles began to curl in every direction.

Ugly, eh?

This gorgeous silk fiber was hand dyed by Heidi, The Artful Ewe. Heidi spent a lot of time dyeing this fiber, and I spent a lot of time spindling it. Here's where the resolute part comes in. Two hours later, rescued silk.

Somewhere in early autumn, I seem to have lost my focus. I was working on the Katherine Hepburn cardigan from Lace Style, which I have come to think of as my twice knit sweater. I cast on and mulishly knit 11" of the back before admitting that it just wasn't going to be wide enough. Begin again.

I cast on the sleeves with one less multiple than the pattern called for because I wanted full length sleeves instead of three-quarter length, and the sleeve circumference would be narrower at the wrist. I knit blithely on, following the pattern to the armholes. There I had the forehead-slapping "d'oh!" moment when I realized that I had failed to add back the 13 fewer stitches I had cast on. The sleeves weren't wide enough. Begin again.

Stubbornness prevailed, however, and the cardigan is done.

It is very drapey and very comfortable to wear. It's wide enough that I can wear it buttoned up if I want to.

Yarn: Emu Superwash DK, black, 12.5 x 50 g. / 119 m. balls.
Size: 40 1/2
Needles: 4.5 mm.
Modifications: I knit the body longer than the pattern's long version. It's 15" to the armhole. I lengthened the sleeves, as mentioned above.

I knit a few small things to tide me over the Katherine Hepburn blues.

This sweet little sweater is Caire, designed by Kerry Palm of Knitty fame. Go see Kerry's baby patterns, they're adorable. I love the lace collar on this one.

Yarn: Louet Gems fingering weight, colour 21, cloud grey, 2 x 50 g. / 187 m. skeins.
Size: 12 months.
Needles: 3.25 mm.

I also finshed a couple of hats and a Multidirectional Scarf

The navy hat was made with just a few yards more than one 50 g. ball of Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed in shade 402, serpentine, using 4.5 mm. needles. I've been wearing this hat a lot. The fold up double layer brim keeps my ears toasty warm.

The garter rib hat and the scarf are knit with Noro Silk Garden, colour 249, using 4.5 mm. needles. The set took just over three 50 g. balls.

And finally, here are a couple of little beaded sachets knit with leftover bits of merino/silk yarn. The pattern is One of Susanna's. These were fun to knit and only took just over an hour each, not counting the bead stringing.

Puttering

I've been knitting little things, whether because I want instant gratification or because I can't seem to get any sustained time to do anything lately. I finished the Selbuvotter mittens. These are NHM #9, in 2 colors of Knitpicks Telemark.

I absolutely love these mittens. The yarn is probably a bit on the heavy side for them, but they fit pretty well even so, and will be warm. These two colors of Telemark seemed easier to knit with at this gauge than the two colors I used for Emily's mittens, for whatever reason, so they were not as hard on my hands to knit.

There is one teeny error in the pattern - on p. 108 where you are picking up for the thumb it says to pick up 15 stitches across the cast-on edge of the thumb opening. It should be 13. You can tell this by recalling that you only cast on 13 stitches when you put the thumb stitches on hold, and by adding up your total and realizing you will have 32 stitches if you follow the pattern direction.

I need a new pair of gloves too, and I am going to use thinner yarn when I tackle some gloves from the book. I can't imagine knitting gloves on size 2 needles with this yarn!

I finished the Princess Mitts in my green Cashsilk. They are decadent.

I know they are going to be a bit delicate (you can already see fuzzing on the right one because I was knitting in them the other night) but they are worth it! This yarn is yummy. I would never knit it at the absurdly loose gauge on the label but at this gauge (I used size 6 needles) it makes a plump soft fabric.

Change I made to the pattern: I added 6 rows to the bottom for a longer cuff. Change I wish I had made to the pattern: Knit the right mitt first so I could have completely ignored the left thumb gusset chart and tried to match the one for the right mitt. I have not seen any errata for this pattern anyplace but if you ask me the left thumb gusset chart is completely wonky. When you arrive at the top of the right thumb gusset you have nice K2P2 patterning just waiting for you to begin knitting the thumb. When you arrive at the top of the left thumb gusset, you have K2P1. WTF??? The directions simply say to start the thumb in K2P2 when you go back and pick up the held gusset stitches, but if you do that it will look dreadful and nothing like the photo where the thumb ribbing continues smoothly to the top. I made the left one first so I was not wise to this, so when I started knitting the left thumb I continued whatever ridiculous patterning I had ended with, so that the thing looks right. You can't tell from the photos but the left and right thumbs DO NOT MATCH.

There is another wonky thing about the pattern. There are 24 stitches on the back of the hand and 23 altogether in the cable chart (taking into account the 6 rib stitches you keep outside the cable). I figured out pretty quickly that you need to P2 together behind the cable in row 1 and increase correspondingly behind the cable in row 33. Then I went back and combed the pattern to see if they tell you that anyplace. They do. In a Note right about where they tell you the materials and gauge. WTF again??? This note belongs on the page with the chart, with a big red asterisk or something beside it, not TWO PAGES BACK and completely isolated from the chart OR the part of the pattern that mentions the chart.

If you are forearmed with this info, it's really a pretty and simple pattern that is worth making. I don't know why these roadblocks had to be thrown in the way.

I used about 2 1/4 balls of the Cashsilk for the mitts, so I had enough left for something else. I made a headband.

Another wonky pattern. The instructions for reversing the shaping were totally wrong so I figured it out for myself, it was not rocket science. The pattern is here and they have fixed the instructions since the version I had on hand.

I still have maybe 1/4 ounce of the green yarn left but I am done figuring out what to do with it.

Now that I have finished all those little things I have to get back to the real work. I am puttering along on the Seville bolero jacket but it's nothing to look at yet, just a bunch of curling purple stockinette. I probably won't post that one till it is finished, and since I keep setting it aside for more fun things, it'll be awhile.

I am making "white" socks for Emily out of Knitpicks Risata (they are kind of off-white). White, you ask? Well, this is a practical kid and she said one day, "Mom, if you made me white socks I could wear them to school." (Her uniform requires white socks, so her handknit socks have stayed home up till now.) The best I could do was offwhite and the Risata is wool and cotton. I like how the yarn is knitting up, it's making a nice fabric and I hope it will stay nice with washing.

I am also still working away on Autumn Rose and have finished the body up to the armholes.

I am planning to raise the neckline, so I will be trying to do the raglan decreases at the same time as adding in the neckline in a way other than what the pattern states. We'll see how it goes... Time to make the sleeves.

I had knitted one entire repeat of the medallions plus the crosshatch pattern before I realized that I ought to have treated the gold as the foreground color in the hatching although I am holding the light color as a background color in the medallions. Am I making sense? Look here.

In the bottom section, I held the red below the gold, which is how I carried the yarn in the medallions - dark below light. In the top section, I reversed this and carried the gold below the red. Do you see an ever-so-subtle difference in how solid the hatching looks? I do. But it is not enough to make me want to go back and redo the first red and gold section.

I feel like I am not explaining this well. If you knitted two-handed, in the bottom section you would have had your gold in your right hand and your red in your left, and in the upper section you would have had your gold in your left hand and your red in your right. I knit right-handed only, so for me one yarn is above (on top of my index finger) and one below (on top of my middle finger). The yarn that is below stands out a bit more, as the stitch you make with it is the WEEest bit taller. If this is an unfamiliar idea and you want to know more, Ann Feitelson does an excellent illustrated explanation in The Art of Fair Isle Knitting.

Oh, and note to fibergal and everyone else who thought, "What is that awesome little box she's got the yarn in for Autumn Rose??" - you can find it here Greatest thing since sliced bread.