KarenJoSeattle

Give Me Something Simple

The stockinette EZ EPS project I cast on the first night at Madrona very quickly turned out too unwieldy to tote around.

The yarn I used was Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 hand dyed sock yarn. So I had a small gauge and skeins that varied in color a bit.

I cast on 270 stitches on each needle using Judy's Magic Cast-On following Cat Bordhi's method in New Pathways for Sock Knitters, then knit on only one needle to turn it into a provisional cast-on. From there I started switching between balls halfway around and knitting the two strands together for one stitch to both secure the joins and make a false side seam in my circular sweater.

At this point I had two needles, three skeins and, somehow, 280 stitches just 6 rounds into the project. There was no way I could haul this out in classes, much less in the bar.

So Friday afternoon I bought a half-pound hank of this tweedy undyed Peruvian Alpaca. The stuff feels wonderfully soft, very light, and is spun and plied loosely, to say the least.

This yarn also had a reasonable cost and 600 yards in a hank. I think it was the most-bought yarn at the retreat, especially if you include the four other tweeds and also the seven or eight lighter-gauged solids he had there.

I chose a seed stitch to play up the tweedy look and cast on about 14 inches worth using a crochet cast-on.

By the time I got home Sunday I had four feet of scarf and an ounce or two of yarn left. The knitting on US9 needles became so automatic during the Retreat that I looked at my stitches just once or twice a row and still only rarely split a stitch or snagged the one below. I caught most of my mis-knits the next row, but the tweed and the moderate halo covered any I missed.

Because I started knitting this right after I bought it, It didn't get wound into a ball first. Luckily I'd successfully knit the purple airplane project so I knew I could manage this. The biggest issue came from the other end unwinding from the hank and ending up a splodge I had to carefully set to one side.  Oh, and the time I needed to convince the cat that through the loop was not the shortest route to my lap got dicey.

Unfortunately for conference knitting, you can't knit a hank from your purse but must have somewhere like your knee to drape it. Once you get the hang of it, so to speak, you can even manage it sitting on the floor of the bar drinking 18 year old single malt.

It took me until tonight to finish the last foot of knitting. Sitting and knitting for more than ten hours a day really produces, but it also results in stiffness and aches.

The scarf turned out long enough to wrap around my neck twice and still drape over my shoulders and chest. Still, the weight will fit under a coat to give me a snug layer during those occasional cold fronts that move down from Canada for a few days. On just chilly days I can drape it around my neck and shoulders. Though light, the hollow-cored alpaca holds a lot of heat, especially with the halo this has.

But being alpaca and loosely spun, this scarf will stretch despite the seed stitch pattern. Already my 51 stitch, 14 inch wide cast-on measures more like 13 inches as the thing pulls in and lengthens out.

In a sweater I'd do something with hems and seams and probably a pattern stitch and still I'd think about running a fine but sturdy yarn with it. Otherwise I'd end up with a sweater dress in short order.

Rather than returning to the sock-yarn sweater right away, I've started to swatch an Aran weight Jaeger merino from my stash. The piece hasn't grown enough to warrant a photo yet. I'll  do my V-necked and saddle-shouldered EPS first in this heavier yarn, probably with a cable down the front.

Yes, I just returned from Madrona with bags of new yarn and have WIPs, but I wanted to get something quicker and easier on the needles. Both my house in California and my mother's have sold in the two days since I got home and the house we're buying for all of us to share closes in two and a half weeks. I anticipate several trips down there in the next two months to get needed work started on the new place and move my mother and myself.

I might also start another mindless scarf for those times I really need to sit and knit but just don't have energy or brain power for any structure.

PS the only things I saw ride the horse lamp at Madrona were some sock monkeys and night-owl me left with the last knitters both Friday and Saturday nights. But I did catch this knitter photographing her sock in the fireplace. The newly-installed fan actually kept the whole thing from being hot to the touch, though it still warmed the space.

Since Last We Met

I've been absent from the blog for a couple three days.

In that time I have had a 2-hour phone conversation with my Mom about home plans, exchanged several e-mails with realtors in two states plus innumerable with my Mom and various siblings, met with a realtor here at our island place who told us we should get our house on the market by the first (yes, of February) to beat the spring rush while the market here is still good but we do need, among other things, to replace the floor in the basement hall and bathroom first, forgot to take my 'A' photo while on the island, arranged for a contractor to fix the broken pipe there this week, found the battery in the Land Rover (needed now to move some stuff into storage to prep the house for sale) died again and vowed to sell the thing soon, had the house cleaners first say they couldn't come to the city place for two weeks then call and say someone canceled and they could come in two hours (ah, life is hard, isn't it, but we weren't completely unpacked and needed to meet the realtor), attended a Knitting Guild board meeting, learned how to put together the Guild newsletter file, discovered I'd left a set of symphony tickets off my calendar and had to fiddle the time for the newsletter, arranged a key for the California realtor to get into that house so he can price and list it (that's two houses on the market at once for those who are still with me and counting), sent long e-mails to contractor and window washer/pressure washer and garden help guy, scheduled and unscheduled tea with a friend I haven't seen for 2 months and now may not see for another 2 months, and got my hair cut noticeably shorter which sometime seems good and, then again, not.

Oh, and I finally cast off this friggin' hat. The cat's still weirded out by the road trip back to Seattle and constant in-and-out of humans since. She follows me around demanding a lap NOW and is jealous of the attention the finished hat gets. So, you get the photos you get.

And I'm going to bed. Plus I'm so looking forward to my appointment with my aesthetician tomorrow when I can relax and the world goes away for a while.

Sometimes life is too good. I'm really not complaining, despite how it may sound. I'm just tired.

May you live in interesting times.

PS Welcome RobinH to the world of blogs. Then note the blog roll that includes just me and The Yarn Harlot. Made my day.

It's About Time - An FO

                               

Yarn: Mountain Colors 4/8s in Silverbow (no longer on their site), knit at 5.65 (wrong project - more like 5.25) stitches per inch on US5/3.75mm and US4/3.5mm for hems and bands.
Pattern: Karen Alfke's top-down Unpattern done as a cardigan with a slightly scooped crew neck
Started August 16th
Last button sewn on  December 10th.

The pattern gives you a framework for designing your own sweater in any yarn in stockinette stitch. You can make a pullover or cardigan with almost any neckline or collar and edging. It does require stockinette for the proportions to work.

I enjoy working with the Mountain Colors. If a yarn splits at all, I'll have a problem with splits due to something in my technique that crops up as soon as I build up any speed. I had very little problem with splitting even on long rows of stockinette stitch.

Even though this sweater took four months to complete and got toted around on buses and ferries quite a bit, the yarn shows no sign of pilling or wear. I had a couple of places I had to do a fair bit of manipulation of the yarn to fix errors or other issues and it stood up to that very well.

The color runs are so short they give zero chance of pooling or flashing but are long enough to get a sense of all the colors used. The colors in this colorway all have a blue-gray tone and really work well together. I'm sorry they no longer produce this one and so were several people who saw the sweater in progress.

I did picot hems on the bottom, sleeves, button and neck bands. To coordinate I used Yarn Overs for the increases along the raglan sleeve line. The only thing I'd do differently would be to make the cuffs a bit narrower. I allowed a bit of room for the double layer of fabric but when wet blocked the hems actually held the fabric out wider. On the body this gave a nice bit of shaping but the cuffs turned out just a hair wide.

Because my purling tension varies quite a bit from my knitting tension, my gauge knitting flat and in the round can be very different. I pick (continental style) and so purl loosely, plus purling feels less comfortable on a long row. Instead of purling I knit back backwards on the flat knitting of the body. (I still haven't written a post on that, have I?) This put my gauge flat very close to that of my in-the-round sleeves, maybe even a little bit tighter.

This link contains photos and a video (scroll to the bottom) of what the author refers to as purling back backwards but which matches what I learned as knitting back and what Elizabeth Zimmerman calls knitting back backwards in her books and videos. This is a useful technique also for those times when you don't want to turn your work, such as on an edging, entrelac, or in crowded conditions like a plane or bus. I've used purling back very little but it comes in handy to avoid having to flop thing over for, say, the few stitches of a garter stitch edge.

The delay in sewing on the buttons happened when I decided the plan to use split off plies of the yarn for thread as I had for blanket stitching the button holes actually wasn't a good one. Also, The too-large needles I had frustrated me and damaged the sewing-up yarn.

Because I'm currently in a small town in California where we spend about two months of the year, I don't have all my normal supplies. I also don't have access to the kind of shopping I'm used to, which resulted in my arriving at the local quilting supply store five minutes after they closed and a trip to WalMart on a weekend before Christmas.

Obviously, I felt desperate.

It was worth it.

Cat in the Hat

Literally. I really hope the kid in Afghanistan who gets this hat doesn't have allergies.

I finally got the ends sewn in after I took it away from Talitha.

I guess I better wash it before I send it off.

I also got the latest shoulder shawl blocked. It still needs its ends sewn in. No, I didn't finish the others. One a week seems to be my limit, mostly due to the call of competing projects.

Projects like the Mountain Colors cardigan which lacks about three inches plus a hem on the body. Maybe it will look worth a photo when I finish this part.

Since I plan picot hemmed cuffs, I want to finish the body with bands and all before I complete the sleeves to have a better chance of getting the sleeve length right. I want to get to the point where I can start on button bands in circle on Wednesday. I actually haven't done buttons bands before this sweater. The only other cardigan I've made had none.

In purchased sweaters I wear cardigans the most. I need to knit more cardigans, so I signed up for a three-session class later this month on Karen's multi-gauge simple pattern from the new line she calls Spectrum.

I rarely take project classes, but like her top-down sweaters, this is a design-it-yourself sweater -- my kind.

Things have quieted down a bit here since The Big Harlot Hit. Page hits seem to have settled into the 50 o 80 a day range from the 30 to 50 I'd reached before. Plus I find people recognize me when I comment on their blogs.

I'll celebrate my six-month blogiversary on the 16th. I think these stats are pretty good for starting from not even regularly reading blogs before. Aren't they?

Oh, I have an extra autographed copy of Stephanie Casts Off for a celebratory drawing. I hope by then I can solve the puzzle of why most of my e-mail comment notices go missing so I can actually get an address for the winner.

Kureyon Pinnate Shoulder Shawl

I finished and blocked the cream and beige Kureyon shawl last night.

Have you gotten tired of seeing these yet?

   

   

I now have proof that Kureyon can be wet blocked despite the dry clean only instructions. It softened up quite a bit, but not to a point I'd call soft.

The gauge on size 8s in my loose style turned out well. Size 9s would definitely have given me too loose a structure. Right now I have both some drape and some substance.

Finished size with two skeins measures about 17" by 34".

Silken Pinnate Shawl

       

This photo, though a bit dark, shows the colors the most accurately.

From a pre-blocking size of very roughly 10 or 11 by 36 or 37 inches and a during-blocking size of 14 1/2 x 44, the shoulder shawl in Handmaiden Silken relaxed to 13 x 43 off the pins.

      

   

   

I liked working with the yarn. The high twist results in lots of give, so it knit up easily in a loose gauge. I used US4s (3.5mm), which gave me five stitches per inch in stockinette. The label calls for six spi on 4s.

      

The fabric has a nice drape in my lace stitch at this gauge.

I had one issue with the yarn. The color on my skein didn't go all of the way through. Any splitting, catching, or untwisting of the yarn left bits of the white interior visible against the dark colors. According to others who've worked with this yarn, including Amy Singer of Knitty.com when she spoke here, this does not usually happen with Silken.

   

   

   

The size works very nicely, especially for a one skein pattern. I'm very happy with what I'm getting as I try this shawl in various yarns. I want to test several yarns in order to include a range of gauges in my final commercial version.

I started another in some variegated Manos, which goes quickly.

    

FO Pinnate Mini-shawl

I need to do a quick post as Spousal-Unit has surgery at 7:15AM; less than eight hours from now. The surgery is not major, but does use general anesthesia.

I completed and blocked my Pinnate shawl yesterday. The finished size after blocking and relaxing came out 13" by 40". For my intended use as a small shawl to drape over my shoulders during air-conditioned performances, this size works well. I can also use it as a scarf to fill the collar of a coat or just fold it up and tuck it into my purse until I need it.

I started a pair of toe-up socks in cream-colored Regia silk using Judy's Magic cast-on for the first time. Actually, I've started and ripped after a few rounds twice. I still don't have the right number of cast-on stitches to get to the number I need with regular increases, but I'll just correct for it on the last round of increases this sock. My yarn already shows some stress from the repeated ripping. I made myself a note of how many to cast on for the next sock.

Instead of knitting, I did this today. Actually, this view shows only part of the pots my Garden Guy and I potted up today. The one that hasn't actually been planted yet waits for a tree fern.

I'm pooped and I need to be up early. Good night.

One Down

The first sock for Summer of Socks is done. Except for sewing in the ends, but better not to do that at 3AM.

Interestingly, in this Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK the pink flashed up the sole and back of the leg. The blue flashed on the front, but it doesn't jump out at you like the pink.

Sorry I have no nice sock blocker for photography, yet.

Bunny Paint Review

I made this over-sized scarf/head wrap when I needed a very simple project to get me through an illness affecting my mental capacities. We'd had several cold snaps during the winter, so I though this project would fill a future need. The first half of the Bunny Paint came from a sale, but I mostly chose it because I knew from a previous project that it would be very warm.

Bunny Paint by Tahki-Stacy Charles, 50% Merino/25% Alpaca/25% Acrylic, comes in 50g/81 yard (75 m) malls. This 20" by 6 foot scarf took 9 balls. I also edged the piece with two rows of single crochet in classic Elite's Montera, a 50/50 llama and wool blend, using 70 g of a 100g skein. The color, #73, is darker than the photos.

I can knit with alpaca, but angora bothers my allergies. Despite the name, there is no bunny in Bunny Paint.

For it's size, the weight of this piece doesn't bother me. it has nice drape. I can wrap it over my head, around my neck, and back over my shoulders. With my high-necked down jacket, this should keep me very cozy. (Scroll down for photo here.)

I do know from a past project that this yarn will pill. I block this piece by stem ironing it into shape on foam blocks. No pilling occurred and, if anything, I had less fuzz after ironing. I haven't tried washing it yet.

I like this yarn well enough to have used it twice, but the pilling would limit where I'd use it.

Lang Silk Dreams Review

I made this rectangular mini-shawl from Silk Dreams by Lang Yarns, a 50% wool and 50% silk single ply. (NB I didn't buy my yarn through that link, but they had the best pictures and description I could find.) I believe Silk Dream is fairly new.

The ball band called for a 5.5mm needle (US9) for 18 sts in 10cm. I used a US6/4mm Addi Natura. I knit loosely, but still, a 9 is going to give a very loose fabric in this yarn. Nine 7-stitch repeats blocked out to 15 inches.

I used the Herringbone Lace Rib stitch pattern from page 109 of Reader's Digest Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches. This book has some patterns I haven't seen elsewhere, but I wouldn't make it my only stitch book. Then, I have several stitch books, so my standards are high. It doesn't have enough simple lace patterns for my taste.

The yarn has a slight kink to it. That made the first stitch pattern I tried, Feather Openwork from the same book, look like it was full of errors when it wasn't. The stitches just don't all lay evenly. Also, the yarn has a small amount of variation in thickness.

This piece knit to 10" by 36" and blocked to 15" by 47". I used four balls at 50gms/90meters each; about $40 worth of yarn.

I love the feel of this yarn. It has a sheen, not a shine, and feels soft and silky. Surprisingly, for a somewhat loosely spun single, I had less trouble than usual with splitting. The splits I did have were often just a few strands and so not really visible, just made the stitch tight. Otherwise, the yarn felt lovely to work.

Soaking in Eucalon and Blocking brought up only a tiny bit of halo. I was careful not to rough house the yarn, but not overly so.

I will look for more of this yarn to do a larger piece, maybe in the light grey.

Finished Objects #1

I want to catalog my finished projects -- not just knitting but my few weaving and crochet pieces, too.

This will take multiple posts because things are not all together. I live in three places. Yeah, I know, life is tough, but it does complicate keeping track of the crafts stuff.

These are the FOs in California.

First I have three knitted pillow covers.

The gray and oatmeal one is the yarn from the not-my-first-sweater project. I used both garter and stockinette, which you can kind of see in the lower corner.The two brown ones use linen stitch. Most of the brown yarns are Cascade or Lamb's Pride. The variegated is something from Italy.

I knit a simple long rectangle (good TV knitting) sized to pillow inserts I had, crocheted some form of button-holed edging on one short end, folded lengthwise, and seamed the sides. Buttons went on last. Easy-peasy.

The lower brown cover I seamed by crocheting the edges together. Over time the edges have become wavy. It looks like I did a 3 for 4 ratio of crochet stitches to knit rows -- 2 to 3 may have prevented the waves.

These are the sum total of my crocheted projects -- one pillow cover of the same style as the knitted ones (it was simple, I had a bunch of the pillow inserts, and I was setting up a new place due to family health issues and had little left for creativity) and a throw made as one giant granny square.

The throw idea actually came from this video by Bev Dillon. It looks dated, but after only managing to get to one of two sessions in the beginning crochet class I took, this tape taught me what I needed. In 2001 not many videos on crochet existed and could be bought from this rural area.

Finally, this pillow cover was my first weaving project. I used a striped warp of Cascade 220 yarn in a birds-eye pattern. The weft was all the gold color. I only made one mistake -- a skipped row that falls on the bottom edge. I was very proud of it -- still am.