July 2010 Archives

I started a cabled sweater for Paul in early 2007. I never got past a third of the first sleeve. Doubts about the sleeve shaping (it looked a bit bat wing-like) and the start of the warmer weather and it's-a-new-season-and-look-at-all-those-fun-new-projects were just too much for me.

Flash forward three and a half years later and I've started a different pattern for Paul, out of yarn I bought a year ago.

Kim nailed it when she commented that I seem to be in a cable mood. I've started a basic pullover with a Drops design and Berroco Ultra Alpaca. The styling is classic guy sweater - a bit of cabling but nothing over the top. I'm knitting it at a finer gauge - they called for 17 over 4 inches and I'm getting 20. I did a few gauge swatches and I liked the 20 better. I knit the looser gauge on US 7s but liked the tighter fabric that I got on US 6s. Both swatches have been washed.

To compensate I've widened the cables from 5x5 to 6x6 (the swatches are in 5x5) because I didn't want to lose the chunky look of the original design. I'm also knitting it in the round and I'm making the width uniform from ribbing to under arms - the original was narrower at the ribbing and widened up to the underarm. I'll probably do more of a mock turtleneck but I'll see once I get to that point.

So far I'm really enjoying it - worsted weight grows so quickly when you've been knitting with a lot of fingering weight. I'm ready to start my second hank so I'm at least 10% done.

I always have trouble keeping track of cables when knitting in the round, but this pattern is different. The lines of seed stitch for the recessed part of the ribbing make it really easy to count where I'm at. I'm marking the end of each repeat with a removable stitch marker so it's quick to check if I'm ready to do a cable row.

I've also had to break out a tool I haven't used in a *long* time - a cable needle. I tried knitting those big cables without a cable needle but it was more hassle than it was worth. This is one cable the requires a cable needle (for me - ymmv).

My goal is to finish by Rhinebeck - that'll mean 2 sweaters by then (one for Paul and one for me). Right now that's completely doable if I don't get distracted. I'm planning to switch it up a bit with a sock and a scarf so I don't have big-yarn-burnout. Plus I want to knit a pair of mitts to wear at the festival as well.

As of today I have just over 11 weeks til Rhinebeck. Doable but not luxurious. Especially since I haven't 100% committed to *my* Rhinebeck project. At least the yarn is on order and I've narrowed it down to maybe 5? projects. Oy. Why do we always do this to ourselves?

Just like clockwork, July hits and all I can think about is fall knitting. I stalk the magazine sites for previews, visit my LYS frequently, pull out old issues of IK and designers' books - anything to get my fix of the season to come.

I didn't make a sweater for last year's Rhinebeck so I "need" to make one this year. I looked at a lot of my favorites and came up with 8 possibilities - several that have been in previous year's knitspiration lists. (I left out a few that I'm still very interested in knitting but not for Rhinebeck climate.)

Top Row: Vigdis Hoodie from Viking Patterns for Knitting, Sylvi from Twist Collective Winer 2008, Manchester Jacket from IK Winter 2008, Bianca's Jacket from IK Fall 2006

Bottom Row: Estes Vest from IK Fall 2008, Heather Hoodie Vest from Knitscene Fall 2009, Harmony from RYC Classic Style, Phyllo Pullover from Knitting Nature

I'd make some mods in almost all of them - I like Vigdis but not with a separate hood so I'd connect the hood and create a slit in the front. I'd line all the coats. I'd lengthen Estes and change out the toggles for either a zipper or buttons. They've all been on my future-knit list for several years (except for the more recent ones that I imagine will show up on the list for a long time).

I'd like either a coat or a good layering piece that I can put with long sleeve Ts, cowls or scarves. And I'd like it to be neutral enough that I could make a pair of mitts to wear at the same time without clashing.

I actually thought I had made my decision before posting, but now I'm not so sure.

What do you think?

And if you're going, what are you considering making?

This year has evolved to be the year of using sock yarn stash. One of my goals for this year was to end the year with less sock yarn than I started with. To date I've used up enough for 6 pairs of socks and have only bought for 2 (and those 2 have already been used).

I credit this to 2 ravelry groups - Sock Knitters Anonymous and Stash Knit Down. The rules in the monthly SKA challenges have given me enough choices each month to feel both not contstrained and not paralyzed with too many choices. Stash Knit Down is great for the KALs and monthly achievement sharing. They've been just what I needed to focus but still be creative.

And with all that I have 2 more FOs to share with you today.

Multnomah

Multnomah was one of those knits that just took hold and flew. I love everything about this project - the garter stitch, the feather and fan, the yarn and dye job, the shape (a wider, narrower triangle that works so well bandit-style), the ability to use up almost all of my yarn.

Pattern: Multnomah by Kate Flagg
Yarn: Dragonfly Djinni Sock Yarn in Reluctant Dragon
Mods: Worked 11 repeats of the feather and fan pattern so I could use up all my yarn. The hank had very generous yardage - almost 500 yards.

This is a great size and shape for me and I expect to use it a lot once fall comes around (even though I can't imagine wanting to wrap myself in warm layers of wool after the week we've had here in the northeast).

Citron

I bought the yarn for Citron to use in a class I taught last year. The shawl required 2 hanks of sock yarn and since I never buy 2 hanks of the same yarn I had to get something. It turned out I didn't enjoy knitting the shawl so I never finished it (got about halfway through the first hank though so that was a lot of frogging).

Citron seemed like a good match - I wanted to knit it and I could add repeats to use up most of my yarn. In the end, I was able to do 7 repeats but had to cut the ruffle edge a few rows short.

Pattern: Citron by Hilary Smith Callis
Yarn: Woolbearers Kraemer Sterling Silver Sock Yarn in Colonial Blue, 2 hanks

Mods: 2 additional repeats, (unintentionally) a slightly shorter ruffle because I was running out of yarn

Thoughts: I like the shawl aesthetically - the color, the yarn, the ruching and the drape are all great. After taking it off the needles and blocking it though - it's *really* big. I don't wear shawls as shawls - I use them as scarves and wear them bandit-style. I'm not sure if this one will really do that of if it will be too bulky.

If it doesn't work out as a shawl-scarf I will definitely use it when knitting or watching TV during the cold months in the house. It will get use either way - just possibly not the way I had intended.

Future Shawls

After Citron's shaping education I've been thinking about more Baktus-style shawls. The shape is *perfect* for wearing under a jacket or a coat and patterns have been popping up like crazy using the side-to-side shallow shaping. Coquille in the new knitty (great for variegated or handdyed), Saroyan (knit in worsted but could easily be adjusted for sock yarn), and Galathea (shown in lace weight but could work for sock yarn too) are just three in this shape that I have in my rav faves.

To avoid burnout I'm taking a few weeks break from shawl knitting - working on my latest SKA sock and my Vesper. And of course I'm dreaming about my next big WIP - what to do for Rhinebeck. More on that to come...