Savannahchik Knits

I've wanted to make a rectangular lace wrap for a while now. Last winter I really needed one for a holiday party but I decided too late. This year, I want one (or a few) so I won't get stuck in the same predicament.

I swatched all weekend and finally came up with what you see above. I love the zig zag bottom border, but I'm undecided about the hearts. I think they're a little dense and maybe lack interest? I'm considering making some of the stitches move outward in the heart, or maybe some extra eyelets inside it to make it more airy.

The inner part (which will be most of the wrap) will be lacier. I might knit a couple repeats before I decide.

What do you think? Don't hold back -- I want real opinions. You all know how much time it takes to knit something like this -- so tell me what you really think.

Posted by Jody at 07:51 AM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (19)

First off, a big thank you to everyone who commented on my garden! I can't tell you how exciting and motivational it was to get all those comments. I saw all the things I still hadn't done -- and you all showed me all the things I *had* done. Thank you!

So, today is the last day of my vaca. It's been a long week. I'll return to work satisfied with the progress I made in the garden, and well-rested (I "slept in" until almost 7am every day this week -- that's late for me). This morning I woke up to birds chirping so loudly that at first I thought I left the TV on -- it felt like they were right in the bedroom.

I didn't get to make my barbecue or the sangria on Friday, but you can bet I'll be doing it today. It's supposed to be sunny with a high of 70°F (21°C). I couldn't have created a nicer day for my last day of vaca.

It's been a while since I've talked about this design. I've knitted on it quite a bit since I showed you the last pics.

The fit is really good (I'll show you once it gets a little longer) and I love how the stitch pattern waves a bit.

I changed the original stitch pattern I chose for the bottom half. It just wasn't working for me -- it felt a little matronly. I decided it needed something with straight lines rather than waves. Here's a closeup.

I washed and dried the swatch I knitted it to get final measurements. The angora fluffed up a lot and it shrunk a bit in length. Curiosity got the best of me last night and I had to see what happened with the top. It did just what I expected (phew!) and shrunk about 2.5 inches. The softness is incredible -- even softer and squishier than the small swatch.

I want the top to be a little more feminine than it is now, so I'm considering a short, flaired sleeve for a little frill, and maybe a tiny ruffle around the bottom and the neckline.

Posted by Jody at 09:41 AM in Black Raglan, original designs | Permalink | Comments (14)

First, a big thank you to everyone who left a birthday comment! I usually don't announce my birthday on the blog but I've been in such a good place this year that I wanted to share it with you all. Seeing all those comments roll in yesterday was a lot of fun. Thank you!

Once I admitted to myself that this weekend was going to be full of rain and wind (the back yard looked like a pond mid-day -- you couldn't even see the brick path) I decided to take advantage of it. I spent most of the weekend indoors. Pajamas, hair pulled back, no makeup. It was wonderful.

I stopped by Woolbearers at lunch on Friday and I couldn't help but pickup some of their Arcadia DK. It's 80% Cotton 20% Angora and Myra (one of the owners) said the angora softness made its way out as you wore it. They had a nice basic black so I bought enough for a spring/summer top.

Ever since I stopped working on black (red) raglan I've wanted to pick it up again. But, there was a pattern flaw that needed to be worked out, and then I needed to be motivated to work on it.

The flaw is in how the depth of the square neckline interplays with the raglans. I had wanted the raglan seam to come out of the right angle of the neckline. But, given how deep the necklilne is, that meant the sleeves started out quite wide and didn't require many increases to make them wide enough to go around my arm. The body, on the other hand, needed to grow quickly because the wider neckline made for a shorter raglan seam.

I worked on several increase methods before I found one that looked good. The sleeve was increasing at a rate of roughly half that of the body.

Technically speaking, everything worked out ok -- the math worked out. But, the vast difference in increase rates made the body bow down in the center and curve up toward the raglans (seen here). It worked out nicely for the front (built-in short rows!) but the back -- not so much. Backs are not meant to be shaped that way.

After much deliberation I decided to scrap the project. I was spent on it and needed some distance.

When I saw the Arcadia yarn on Friday I knew -- this would be the new black raglan.

I didn't want a plain st st body though. I've been drawn to lacy tops lately, so I swatched a few lace patterns. After trying that out, I realized that I didn't want YOs at the bust area. Even though I do plan to wear a contrasting tank underneath, I wanted the top to be more modest.

the new raglan seam	the bottom lace pattern

Do you see what I changed on the raglans? The raglan comes out of the side of the sqaure neck (not the corners). Once I let myself do that, I could choose where to put it. This allowed me to create a raglan seam that grew similarly on both the sleeve and body. A little difference between the 2 is fine. What I tried to do on the earlier versions of this top was too extreme.

I've also modified the design so the front is deeper than the back. It does mean that the start of the knitting is back-and-forth versus in the round, but I think it's worth it.

Based on my spreadsheet I'm 40% done with the yoke. Length-wise I'm more than halfway done, but because of the longer rows, each row is increasingly longer.

Posted by Jody at 05:17 AM in Black Raglan, original designs | Permalink | Comments (10)

You knew I wasn't done messing with this pattern, didn't you?

The more I thought about it, I became convinced the center and the edge were both pretty, but not together. I decided to keep the edge and swap in different patterns for the center.

I've always loved vine stitch, so it wasn't much of a leap to add that in. I swatched several patterns, but vine stitch won because it created wavy lines but the edges are straight -- it didn't compete with the waviness of the edge.

I also added in a little flower bud flanking the center. Although I didn't know it at first, this wrap has a strong garden motif -- the center vines, the flower buds, and the leaves on the edges. I'm dubbing this one Botanica, although it's just a working title for now.

On a side note, photographing lace is hard. Between the shadows and the eyelets taking the focus, as well as the difficulty getting correct color during the short sunlight of late autumn, these pics leave a lot to be desired. The lace looks much prettier in person.

And now that I've settled on the stitch patterns, I'm going to take a break to make a quick little something for my nephew.

Posted by Jody at 07:41 PM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (9)

I wanted to knit something new after finishing the first knee high (I know, second sock syndrome...blah blah blah). I've been thinking a lot about the lace knee highs I've been planning to make with the Sliver Moon Farm yarn I got at Rhinebeck.

I started swatching and before I knew it, the socks morphed into a wrap. It's hard to pick up in the pics, but the center area's pattern gives the outlines of hearts. I wish I could say I planned it that way, but it was really just dumb luck when I combined the stitch pattern that way.

I've only frogged a half-repeat to change around the way the pattern works. I'm fighting my urge to change it again. Christy has been really helpful in pointing out my obsessive nature when it comes to designing something myself. I'm trying hard to just go with the flow and let this one happen, but I'm not convinced that I've picked the right border. The center motif feels too angular in comparison to the wavy edges*.

I could always cut the yarn and knit up a couple repeats with another edge for comparison.

I know...I'm hopeless!

* I wrote this post on Friday night, to post this morning. Now that I'm able to look at the pics with a fresh eye, I like the border more. Maybe it wasn't such a bad call after all.

Posted by Jody at 06:10 AM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (12)

I'm sure I'm tempting fate here by planning a wool sweater for Rhinebeck, but I can't seem to stop myself. Apparently I'm not alone.

Lee Ann thinks it's best to be safe and make both a sweater AND a tank top. Just in case.

She's my kind of girl.

And I just might have pushed Kellee into making a sweater too. C'mon Kellee...misery is so much sweeter with company.

As for my sweater, I'm still unsure about the yarn. More on that in a minute. A few of you have asked what I have planned. Here's the center motif I was talking about.

I played around with several tribal tattoos until I got the look I wanted. I've converted it to a knitting pattern with KnitPro and I started a swatch last night.

So, the yarn. I revisited the balls of Whiskey that I picked up and I've changed my mind. It's definitely a DK weight. I knit up a small swatch on 3.75mm needles and it was perfect. So, I'm swatching a portion of the motif to see what I think.

I'm still very hung up on color though.

Sometimes I think I want a neutral sweater and colorful motif (it'd be safer and I could probably wear it for many more seasons without it going out of style or my growing tired of it). Like maybe a dark gray and a black motif. Or a coppery brown with a turquoise/green motif.

Other times I think, go for something like a bright pink with a black motif and make a statement. It's at this point that I wonder if the statement I'm making is knitter trying to recapture her youth.

On a positive note, my travelling companions wouldn't ever be concerned about losing track of where I was. On a negative note, with that sweater on they may just want to ditch me.

Maybe not though, since I will be the one driving.

So what're your thoughts? Neutral and safe? Bright and bold?

Oh, and to add to the mess, I think I'm dyeing my hair a dark black cherry for the fall. So it all needs to coordinate.

Posted by Jody at 08:29 AM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (25)

The yoke is just about done. Just to make sure I tried it on. It's about 3/4" above my tank top at my underarm.

I'm going to do 2 more rows and then cast on underarm stitches and join the body. When I did Somewhat Cowl I joined when I hit the top of my tank top and I found that it got lower afterwards. So I think this will make a slightly better fit. The armhole depth should be about 3/4" shallower than Somewhat Cowl.

As many of you know, I'm obsessed with armhole depth. I think it's one of the crucial measurements that makes or breaks a well-fitting top. Most patterns have armholes that are too deep in my opinion. I'm not sure why. Stylistic preference? Easier for mass-fitting? Lack of knowledge? Or maybe I'm just really short? Not sure.

So, this is one of those measurements I've been paying a lot of attention to in terms of how it will play out in the patterns that I write. I've scoured books and the internet for "standard" body measurements (all over the map!), I've compared sizing of some popular brands (just as many differences) and realized that this is an issue that a lot of designers struggle with getting right.

I've been considering giving 3 sets of directions for armhole and body shaping -- petite, "average", tall. It would mean more work, and it would mean I'd probably opt for a pattern price of $6.50 versus $5 or $5.50. What do you think? Is it worth it to you? I think it would be, but as the one creating it my opinion is far from unbiased.

Landscaping Update

Remember the grass planting from last month? Well, take a look here and here. Yes, we have grass! The side by the house has been planted for almost 5 weeks, and the side by the street for almost 3 weeks. When school finally lets out, I think we'll be able to remove the stakes too. They're tacky, but were totally necessary. After the first day without them there were a dozen footprints scattered among the seeds.

Posted by Jody at 08:53 AM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (26)

Now that I've joined and have knit a few rows in the round I'm feeling confident a bit confident better.

The front neckline has the shape I was hoping for (yay!), and the center diamond will not be too big (I think).

Deadline Check

14 days until baby p's baby shower -- and yes, the blanket still looks pretty much the way it did on march 30th.

17 days until summer

Care to guess which one I'll be knitting on tonight?

Posted by Jody at 08:09 AM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (10)

Last time I wrote about this top I said I wanted to get it done in time to wear for spring.

Well, last week it was in the 90s -- hot and humid -- all week. I had the week off of work and thought I'd do a few days of yard work and then several days of knititng.

No such luck. I didn't get to knit until yesterday.

Looks a little different, right?

I frogged the one I had going. The lace just wasn't right. Instead, I went with a diamond motif. The beginning of the diamond follows the line of the raglan -- a little design element I really like. I wish I could claim great planning, but really, it wasn't until I started knitting that I realized how well it all lined up.

Here's the neckline. I'm going for a wide V.

I'm considering working a single smaller diamond where the V connects. I think I'll have to try it out and see. It might be a little too low for a few eyelets.

The neck edge will need some sort of knitted/crocheted edge to look tidy and lay properly. I'll figure that out when more of the top is done. Maybe an eyelet? Maybe some single crochet followed by reverse single crochet? I'm not really sure.

One thing I am certain of though -- I still love this yarn. It reacts really well to frogging, and is knitting up quite nicely at 4 SPI, even though its stated gauge is 4.5-5 SPI. I went with the larger gauge to lighten it up some more. I usually go the opposite way and knit something tighter than normal so this could all still backfire. My hope is that the larger gauge will be a little more open and therefore lighterweight.

If I need to wear a tank underneath it I'll be fine with that.

And if I have to frog this top again, I'll be less fine with that. Because, damnit, I want to wear this thing!

Countdown - 2 weeks and 4 days til first day of summer.

Posted by Jody at 04:32 PM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (4)

While ruminating on Heidi yarn I decided to go for something a bit different. The right Heidi yarn is out there, I just haven't found it yet.

While at the LYS this weekend I found some Classic Elite Four Seasons. Y'all probably know how much I love Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. Well this might just be the classier cousin from up the road. The yarn has a bit more wool in it (30% instead of 25%) and the plies are much tighter. It reminds me of a slighter lighter weight All Seasons Cotton. The recommended gauge is 4.5 or 5 SPI.

This past week I haven't had much time to really knit (the yard project continues in earnest) but I have had time to play around with stitch patterns. The eyelets you see in the pic are for the sleeves. The front and back are plain -- the sleeves give it plenty of interest. I have a little something planned for later on as well, but I haven't quite figured out the details so I'm going to hold off sharing it for now.

The gauge knits up really fast, and I'm hopeful I'll have this one off the needles before Spring ends (it's the first real spring we've had here in years, and I'd like to have another handknit top to wear during it).

Hmmm...me against mother nature. Care to wager any bets on this one?

Posted by Jody at 07:16 PM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (15)

After working on this for a week I've decided this design is indeed Heidi (Lisa in Chicago -- thanks for the suggestion!)

I've knit the yoke a couple times now. I've changed gauge twice, and decided to give more ease in the top. Here's where I am now.

I'm really happy so far. I've pinned the sleeves and front top to simulate the size once I knit the neckband. I think it's going to work.

I thought a lot about how to size the yoke, and where to put the band that separates it from the bodice. As you all know I'm busty. I went to the mall and tried on a variety of tops and confirmed what I already knew -- if you're busty, you won't want this yoke to go all the way down to the bottom of your bust (well, unless you want to bring new meaning to yarn ho). So the top hits me about 3/4's down my bust. I think this will be a good length for most people (as your bust decreases, it will outline and accentuate it even more.

Still, I plan to include instructions on how to lengthen/shorten the yoke area. It's a simple adjustment and gets to one of my primary goals for my patterns -- explaining where and how to change fit.

I'm also concerned about making my patterns too complicated and therefore cause someone to feel overwhelmed (can you tell I've been thinking about this a lot?). So I've been working on the layout and structure of the pattern. I want to strike the right balance.

OK, off to knit the neckband!

Posted by Jody at 06:03 PM in Heidi, original designs | Permalink | Comments (13)

So I thought about it all day yesterday and decided to take Jayme's advice and prewash a skein.

Here's the before and after

It definitely fluffed up. When it came out of the washing machine it was all stuck to itself and I was sure I was going to have to throw it away. But after it dried most of the tangles worked out easily.

I will have to wind it my hand first, and then via the winder. Too many of the strands have stuck to each other and I haven't been able to hand-comb them out very easily.

Has anyone else tried pre-washing linen yarn? After I took it out of the washer I realized I should have put it in a lingerie bag to help with the tangles. I'll give that a try on my next hank.

The New Blog

So, whaddya think? I've had this domain for over two years. Sheer laziness prevented me from doing it sooner.

I've checked it in IE and Firefox and I know that Firefox is missing the gray bar on the right. Otherwise things are looking good. I still need to update the other templates and I'll do that over the next week. I know the comments page needs to be able to take bigger images. Let me know if the main template is behaving badly for you. I'm particularly concerned about Mac browsers because I don't have access to a Mac.

Gallery

I still have to decide what kind of gallery I want to implement. Any suggestions? I could do a separate page on this site, I could add an FO category and just link to that page, or setup a Flickr account. Any others? What have you seen that you really liked?

Updating Your Feeds

If you use newsgator or bloglines you can click the buttons below.

Posted by Jody at 06:06 AM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (25)

When I was in grade school I made a lot of my clothing. I think I started around the sixth grade. I don't even remember a time when I didn't know how to sew, or even learning how to sew.

My mom is an excellent seamstress and she was thrilled to have a willing pupil. My older sister wanted no part of it, so she really loved teaching me the details that make all the difference -- how a little tuck here or a gentle curve there makes all the difference.

You know how we knitters struggle with sewing in our first set-in sleeve? Seamstresses do too. I couldn't properly sew a set-in sleeve until the eighth grade. Until then, my mom had to do all my sleeves for me. I think the time I finally got it all on my own was bittersweet for her -- I had progressed, but it also meant I didn't need her quite as much. Mom, I have news for you...I still need you and I'm 34!

You might be wondering why I'm sharing all of this with you. Well, it gets to the essence of why I knit, how my knitting has evolved, and where I want to go with it.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how knitting patterns are created, the lines they have, and the technical details that make them work. All those years of sewing have helped me understand things like what a sleeve should look like, or how to use short rows to get that perfect fit.

And what this is leading up to is this. I've decided to take the plunge and design a few patterns.

Am I nervous? You bet. But if I don't try this I'll always wonder what I might have been able to do. Worst case, I'll have myself a few really well-fitting tops.

So here's my first design. She's yet unnamed.

Drape is important for this design in order to get a nice fluid line from the empire waist. And, with its wide neck and short sleeves, it's definitely for the warm weather. So, I'm using Euroflax Linen.

The swatch has gone through one round of washing and drying. The "yarn" starts out feeling like string. Twine, even. But after it gets washed it softens and blooms and makes a lightweight, drapey fabric.

The 2 strands on the right show the difference -- the top is before-washing and the bottom is after. The after shot shows you just what happens. It gets fluffier, develops a bit of a white halo, and the plies come together to make a single strand of yarn.

Knitting with this yarn takes a leap of faith. Fitting for my first design, no?

Posted by Jody at 05:12 PM in original designs | Permalink | Comments (19)