A Raglan Aran I Made

I thought I’d share a sweater I knitted a while ago, since I just got photos of it. I think I made the sweater the late 1990s, because I made it for my ex-husband, and I don’t think I’d put that much effort into a sweater for him if I knew at the time that he was unhappy in the marriage. You see lovely photos of my friend and singing companion, Bill, modeling the sweater, because the ex didn’t ever wear it (not that he didn’t like it, but he is a warm-blooded Irish fellow and never needs a sweater). Bill chills much more easily, so he is very happy to have something hand-knit and warm. And as a bonus, I get to see the sweater every so often! It all worked out fine. (This contrasts to a Kelly green sweater Aran-style sweater in a sport-weight yarn that I knit in the 1980s for a previous male companion, which I will never see again. I need to look through old photos to see if I took pictures of that one.)

This is one of my favorite things that I’ve made. I used all my favorite techniques: it’s a top-down raglan knit with no seams, and I used real naturally colored wool that I got in Ireland at a little shop in Galway that’s where the people who hand-knit sweaters for wealthy tourists come to bring in their products—I bought some of the wool they use for their sweaters. I also got to use my very favorite complex cable pattern, one that is so wide that you need plenty of stitches to get it to fit. The yarn was not “Aran” weight, but more of a sport/Shetland weight, so I could put lots of stitches on the needles. I also fit the center pattern down the sleeves, and adjusted the raglan shaping to let it go all the way up to the neck. I also like that I used a more interesting pattern than seed stitch on the sides (I guess it’s moss stitch). At the time I was a “thrower,” so seed stitch was a pain in the arm. (I think I switched knitting styles mainly because switching from knit to purl is so much easier with the yarn in my left hand.) I am really happy with the way the pattern on either side of the central motif is balanced. Its simplicity keeps the focus on the majorly complex center.

For sources, I used the Elizabeth Zimmerman Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns book, the one with the cables in it, and Knitting in the Old Way, by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. As I always did, I used Knitting from the Top, by Barbara J. Walker, to help plan the sweater’s construction. The planning is much of the fun of Aran-style sweaters, anyway. I really enjoy picking motifs, figuring out how to balance them, and seeing how I can make them fit the intended recipient. I do quite a few gauge swatches to make sure I don’t end up with something way too big or too small, since cables really affect gauge. This one worked, though!

It’s a little bulky where the arms meet the body, which is an issue with raglans in general, but it still looks really good on Bill. I’d like to make more sweaters like this, but there isn’t much weather in Texas for wearing really warm ones. This year we had a few weeks of good sweater weather, though, and I got out my felted silk garden raglan and good ole Mr. Greenjeans more than once!

I hope you enjoy this little diversion to focus on an oldie but goodie! I am glad my friend John Phelps, who also did many of our wedding photos, took the time to snap a few shots of Bill in the sweater one day when he wore it to church!

Poor Lonely Sock

Spring Cable Sock in Progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I wrote this whole post and lost my connectioni to Flickr, so I am bravely trying again, this time pausing to copy the text every so often.

Anyways...here you see my poor sock that has been on the needles since the beginning of November, back when i was a single person, not a wife, even. The good news is that the sock is now a whole sock, and its friend is getting close to the heel, thanks to three days of time to knit at work, plus time at choir yesterday.

These are actually quite beautiful socks, and this blurry, sorta washed-out picture really does not do them justice. They are made from that Creatively Dyed Luxury yarn i have raved about previously. It is so soft and the colors are so deep and varied--mostly shades of turquoise but also green and burgundies. You probably can't tell, but there is a cable in a seed stitch background on one edge. The second sock will have the cable on the other side. Now I have to decide, inside so I can see them or outside so anyone who happened to look at my foot would see them? (The only people who ever look that closely, of course, are other sock knitters.)

I would love to be able to tell you that I had a wonderful experience grafting the toe of the first sock. But, alas, I got distracted about 3/4 of the way through and got off somehow. had a nice hole. This taught me what my real grafting issue is: I just can't recover if I mess up. I have a horrible time tinking grafts, getting the stitches back in position, and re-doing it. So, never look closely at athat sock.

Now, remain seated. I don't want you to hurt yourself if you faint. But I actually have been working on the orange alpaca sweater. I finished the first arm and am on the second one's border. I learned something from this one, too. It can be hard to figure out what you were doing on a project that you've modified the instructions on. I am doing the sleeves in the round, and had to figure out how I did the first one. They look nice, though, and that saves two long seams to have to carefully do.

I look forward to getting this done, and feel like then I can start a new sweater (from stash of course) with no guilt. Then I can finish one of my shawls. One new, one finish. I can do that. Sure.

Undercover Escalator Sock, Woo

Undercover Escalator Sock
Originally uploaded by sunasak

OK, for whatever readers I have left, here are pictures of the latest sock. I guess my stuff is so ugly that all my readers are unsubscribing. Probably it is more that I am so boring now that all I do is work, knit on the bus, and fall asleep. In any case, sorry folks. I hope to get more fun soon. I do have a personal blog with family and opinion stuff, so if you want to read it, just send me a message and I'll get it to you.

So...here's the sock. From the side, you can't see that there is a little panel with a left cross surrounded by purls going up the front. It starts on the back at the point where the YOs meet. For reasons only known to me, I stopped with the escalators' rise after 5 inches and put in an inch and a half of double seed stitch. I guess I wanted to see what that did to the relentless camouflage effect. Then there is ribbing. The photo of the back helps you see the center panel better, even if it's a blurry photo taken by my kid. I am getting close to finishing the second sock. It will probably take me until Wednesday, though, so I don 't have to fire up the random number generator again yet.

The reason the socks are going slowly is I am only working on them at lunch and on the bus. I am really trying to finish the Cable Lace top, and only have 1.5" left on the bottom of that until it is as long as the instructions say to make it. Since I will have most of a skein of yarn left, though, I will probably make it a bit longer, since I am long waisted.

I still really like that VK Summer 2008 cover sweater though, so today I used up the rest of a gift certificate at the LYS to buy yarn to make it. I am actually going to make it white. What a concept. The color of the model sweater. I found Cascade Pima Tencel at the shop, and like the way it feels better than 100% cotton. it says it is genuine worsted weight, so I am hoping it will look better in the pattern than the Creative Focus Cotton DK did.

After that one, I think I will go find my pink Rialto and make the cable sweater I got the yarn for last year. It's another thing I can wear in the summer.

Off to knit. Lee is at his dad's, more bad weather is coming (we had hail and where I work got a LOT of damage on Wedneday) so Beccano and I are going to hang out tonight. He will play guitar and I will try to finish that sweater, so there may be a photo tomorrow!

PS: I didn't write much about the latest Interweave Knits, because it was all brown things I would never make. I could possibly make one item in a better color. That's OK, I am in love with the Spring 2008 Vogue Knitting. All those wedding knits, ahhhh!

More on Why I Frogged This

Sideways Cardigan beginning
Originally uploaded by sunasak

You may be wanting more info on why I frogged my start on the sweater on the cover of the Spring 2008 Vogue Knitting. Or not, but I'll tell you anyway.

I found the pattern an interesting challenge, especially the backwards lifted increase, which took me a while to suss out. But, it looked thin and weak in the Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton DK weight yarn (gee whiz, could they have made that yarn name any longer???). I kept looking at it and thinking it was just not as substantial as the picture in the magazine, even though I had the correct gauge. I finally came to the conclusion that I would like it a lot better in a thicker yarn. I had mis-read the pattern in the first place, and thought it called for the yarn I had, which it hadn't.

If you look at the picture, you'll see how thin it is. I tried to convince a friend who was making the #1 pattern in my same yarn, only white, that hers also looked a bit thin. I think she was agreeing with me, as we looked at her swatch.

Then I realized there was another pattern in the same issue that was done at least partially from side to side. And it was lacy. And the yarn used in that sweater was DK weight. It's #29, Lace and Cable top (link is to Ravelry--apologies if you aren't on there). It has a really fun and interesting lace pattern combined with a very fat cable. I am using my metal KnitPicks and really enjoying it. The yarn does split a bit, but the metal makes it go much smoother than the wood versions do. It's slow going because, well, I hate to say it, but I have been so tired in the evenings that I have not been able to knit much at all. Tonight may be a good knitting night, though.

My yarn shop friend didn't want to make this one because it is so full of holes. Let me assure you that, as a middle-aged person, I will be wearing a tank top under this blouse!!! My screamingly white flesh is not something I need to inflict upon the general public!

You'll have a picture of the work in progress soon, as well as the Frog Explosion sock I am knitting on the bus nowadays. I am over halfway finished with the second sock, so I guess I better photograph the first one, huh. I just haven't been home or awake long enough to take a picture.

Another Walk Down the Path of 80s Knitting Lessons

I posted last time about the nice sweater I made in the 80s that still works and has held up well to the scrutiny of time. Becca commented that she hopes hers old up in the future (no problem--she's doing way better than I did at her age and knitting stage). But, now I have to take you down yet another trip through my knitting memories, so you can see some of my more "interesting" knitting efforts and remember that most of my projects were learning experiences more than fashion projects!

The first sweater we see here was knit in my top-down sweater phase, after buying Knitting from the Top Down and becoming boggled at the possibilities. I thought, "Hey SAK (as I called myself at the time), why not knit a short-sleeved version of the top-down sweater, now that you know the formula?" And then another of my strong instincts kicked in--that endless drive to use up all my stash and any leftover yarn that happened to be lying around. People sure offered me a lot of yarn remnants. And I was a poor grad student. So I took them. Thus, I made the sweater here, which features cotton, acrylic, wool, novelty yarn, and fuzzy stuff. And for "variety" I even put some eyelets in that purple band. Perhaps this is a tad too varied? I think so. It also weighs about 4 pounds. I also wonder what compelled me to put the most itchy, hairy yarn around the edges, where it would bug me the most? I think I was under the impression that this mohair-style acrylic was "soft." Anyway, I ended up with a sweater that fit great, but was appropriate for neither winter, spring, summer nor fall. A learning experience.

Next we see something rather attractive. It's a traditionally knit Fair Isle-style sweater, inspired by my many, many 80s books on traditional patterns. It has those really cool ribbings with the color changes in them, and I even used genuine steeks at the armholes. Interesting, muted colors, aren't they? So, what is wrong with this sweater? Well, it is made of worsted weight wool. This wool, as far as I can tell, was not intended for garments. I think it was remnants from rugs or something. I got it on cones at a place called the "Yarn Barn" that used to be in Columbus, Ohio. I bought many cones for like a dollar each during my semi-annual visits there to visit our friend, Judy, who'd moved there. (She was a great cook, so we drove 5 hours to eat Thanksgiving with her for many years when I was in grad school--she was my gay office-mate Steve's ex girlfriend. Complicated it was.) She'd work the Friday after Thanksgiving, so Steve and my boyfriend and I would go to the yarn place and find "bargains" while she was at work, or go look at river confluences or Amish people in the countryside (we had a minor hobby of looking at Amish people and eating their baked goods--lots near U of I, too).

So, the issue with this sweater is that it's really nice looking, but is only appropriate for wearing outdoors while hiking or skiing in the snow. Too warm for indoors, even in Illinois. As you might predict, it has not been worn even once since I moved to Texas. But, I will never get rid of it. Too many memories!

The next item we see is a vest, which is one of the few examples of early 90s knitting you will see here (I mostly quilted and needlepointed when the kids were infants). Thankfully, it has no long stories about my old friends attached to it. It's actually a very nice vest featuring my former nemesis, the popcorn. It is made out of a very soft wool that may have some mohair in it. Nice quality stuff. The lesson I learned here is that really, I can leave patterns alone. I don't always need to "improve" them. But no, I felt like the back of this one would be too boring in plain stockinette, so I insisted on putting a pattern on it. See it behind the neckline? Yep. It has nothing to do with the front. So, it's a somewhat schizophrenic vest. I actually do wear this one sometimes. It is not too short. Good ole 90s.

Lookee here now. This little item I remember making very well in the mid or early 80s. I got the yarn when I was visiting my parents during a summer in grad school, so it was before Mom died in 1984. The yarn came from that first LYS I ever went to, in Plantation, Florida. The owner had made up this pattern, and I was so excited by the strips of gen-u-ine angora that I had to make it. Plus I thought maybe I could even wear it in Florida! What I learned here was that mitered squares are fun (way ahead of the trend on that one, wasn't I?) and that angora itches me like crazy. It reinforced the lesson from the previous outfit, too. Why did I insist on adding that little extra burst of angora, right near my face, so it could really, REALLY irritate me? I just wanted to knit with that softness a wee bit more, that's all. Another lesson learned, and learned well, was that synthetic fabrics do not breathe. That novelty yarn was HOT. And so was the really icky stuff I used on the ribbing. Ick. I did try to wear this one, but it itched, even with an undershirt under it. Oh well. It was a fun learning experience to make it.

And finally, today's parade of ancient knits ends on a happier note. This vest is made from a cotton/acrylic novelty yarn that was quite enjoyable to use. This one was another early 90s model, and I got the yarn from my friend's shop in Champaign. I think I used my last "Hand Knit by Sue Ann" label on it, too. I like this one. And I wear it a couple of times a year. At least I learned that neutral colors hold up better than ugly pastels (this is gray, even though it looks sort of blue). And I learned I really like V-necks. I have quite a collection of V-necks with cable panels, don't I?

So, there are some more lessons I learned through my knitting history. Too bad some of the nicer things I made can't be photographed (because I gave them away). I hope you learn from my experiences and go on to make your own knitting history! Show me some of YOUR past products--don't be shy!

PS: spell check isn't working on Blogger today, but I'll fix typos later. Must go rescue my Amish friendship bread. I have Amish on the brain today.

A Lasting Pattern

Wool Cable Sweater
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Here's a sweater I made in the 1980s at some point. It's still very wearable, since it is one of the first wool sweaters I ever made. Germantown Wool was the best stuff you could get back then. This sweater is maroon heather, and the pattern has cables and a lace pattern between each cable. It's also repeated on the sleeves. it's a little short, like all my 80s models, but still works fine.

Why does this blast from the past get its own post? Because it has a story. I found the sweater in my closet this week while looking for old items to photograph for Ravelry. I realized it's still in good shape and tried it on for Lee.

Then, yesterday I spent some time at the LYS (escaping barking dogs). I was working on the alpaca sweater when two women came in and spent a lot of time looking at patterns and yarn. I thought to myself, "Hmm, looks like that lady made her sweater." Then I looked more closely. It was my maroon sweater, only in dark green. Sure enough, it's the same exact sweater. She said hers was at least 20 years old, from Germantown wool. She remembered that the pattern book had a smocked sweater in it, too. I bet I still have it, if I can find it in the craft closet. That inspires me to try to clean that out...some time. Funny enough, she also had recently rediscovered her sweater and started wearing it again! What a coincidence!

It just shows you that classic patterns made from good yarn can have long lives. And it's nice to think that some of our current projects, which we work so hard on, won't look silly in a couple of decades.

Progress Report A: Mr. Greenjeans in Red

Mr. Greenjeans in Red, progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Today will mostly be progress reports on what I got done, or didn't get done, over the weekend. Most of the weekend was spent on Mr. Greenjeans in Red, pictured here. My insistence on knitting things at a finer gauge than some people would means that there is a lot of yarn in my knitting. Whew. I feel like I have been knitting on this forever, and was really relieved when I got to the cable rib border, because it is less mind-numbing than row after row of back-and-forth stockinette.

I got 1/3 the way through with the border. It needs to be 12 inches long, and I have 4 inches (60 cm/20cm to metric people). I sure like the way it looks, and it should be nice and warm. The Cascade 220 hand painted does seem to attract hair like a magnet. Both dog hair and people hair.

My guess is that by the end of next weekend this will be done, since I have very long bus rides and lots of sitting around to do for a lengthy band trip on Saturday. I'll keep plugging away whenever I am home this week, and get another skein of yarn, just in case I need it.

Glacier Lake Socks Are FOs!

Glacier Lake Socks
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Yes, there are now two Glacier Lake socks, and they are Finished Objects (FOs). I actually finished them Friday, but could not find the camera until today. Wow are these comfortable--I like the yarn a lot, but don't think that the vendor (our pal Ray at Knitivity) will be using it any more. I hope the new yarns are equally soft and pleasant to wear and knit with. In any case, I haven't knitted a pair of socks so quickly in quite some time--less than a week! And it was nice enough yesterday to wear them with my turquoise Birkenstocks to the yarn store, where they were praised universally.

I also wore Juliet, which they had not seen yet--wow that is one nice-looking top--but unfortunately a cute li'l beagle puppy dug his sharp claws into it, so some "repair" is in order. Well, you really can't turn down a chance to hold a happy little puppy not even two months old.

I was going to post instructions at some point, but here's a recipe (a more formal pattern is coming):

Cast on 12 or 14 stitches in the magic cast-on, figure-8 cast on, backward loop then pick up in the backs cast on, or other seamless toe method. Use magic loop, two circulars or DPNs, whatever you like. Increase on each end of each side every other row until you have 64 stitches. Do p2, K3 ribbing, ending with a P2 for 4 rows, then one row of purl on the instep and stockinette on the sole. Stop at 2.25 inches less than how long you want the foot, then work the heel in the Coupling pattern in the current Knitty, only over 4 more stitches (this is what I need to write down). When that's done, increase one stitch somewhere and proceed to do p2 K3 ribbing for four rows, then purl a row until you are done. End with at least two rows of ribbing. Sure, you can figure out the sock from that. Or, heck, you can do the same thing in a standard top-down, just realizing you need to decrease 1 stitch before you start your heel.

I just like the way the pattern looks with the hand-dyed yarn. It breaks up the tendency to have spiral stripes.

And next...

Now, I decided after all that thinking to do the Tofutsie yarn in Wendy Johnson's toe-up feather and fan pattern. I even did the short-row toe and heel. My short-row heel sure seems, um, short to me. But, the colorway of Tofutsie (purple, dark blue and turquoise with a bit of light green) is prettier than I thought it would be, even if it is, sigh BLUE.

I'm heading up the leg and enjoying the nice, simple feather and fan. These will go quickly. Which is good, because there was a sale at the LYS and I was encouraged by Pilar the Enabler to get Silky Wook in an incredible grape-y purple to make a sleeveless top. I think I look awful in sleeveless tops, but granted I looked OK in hers. The pattern is called Molly Ringwald and it's from the KnitSimple at the end of 2006, the one with all those Spanish items in it. Pilar's was very light and airy and felt good. Plus the yarn was less than $20 on sale!

Um, I also got two sock yarns. Details later.

Louisa Harding and Suna

Louisa Harding and Suna
Originally uploaded by sunasak

So, finally here's a photo of my brush with fame at the LYS. This is me and Louisa Harding, from when she visited here and did a little workshop last month (and I carry my sock in progress in the bag I made there, every day). I am wearing my Shiny Green Sweater.

I am so glad that Sarah, the LYS owner's daughter, finally got around to sending me these photos, because I was woefully disappointed in how the sweater looked in the earlier pictures I posted. It's not THAT ugly, honest! I still haven't re-blocked it, but I will one of these days, now that the frenzy of home improvement projects has ended. I hope you enjoy these slightly better pix!

I even managed to sort all my loose knitting instructions, Internet printouts and small project booklets by topic and filed them neatly into binders, all set in a lovely basket in our new media room. I had to use the biggest binder for the sock patterns. It's obvious where my love lies. Lace items came in second (I have more books of that, I think).

My next project will be to find all the patterns I have written up, make them PDF and post them here on the blog. I have sold some copies on the Internet and at the LYS, but none of them are so fancy that I feel the need to make a profit from them. They are just fun things I made and want to share. So, look for them in a sidebar near you, and soon!

In knitting progress, I started Glacier Lake sock #2 and am almost to the start of the gusset. I figure I will get a bit of that done at Chicks with Sticks tonight, and be ready for the next sock...I mean, ready to get back to other projects this weekend!

Juliet's Done!

Juliet
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Two finished objects in two days, so I am blogging like crazy here. It's Juliet, all nice and finished. I enjoyed making the border bands. It is such a neatly finished top. And it fits. For once, I did not make something too big. Congratulations to me. It may need a smidgen of blocking around the neckline, but otherwise is really good.

I did a reasonable job on the raglan seams, too, even though I was talking to Jody and Lee while I was doing it.

Check the Flickr links at left for some photos of awesome lace knttting that Jody AKA Killerpeach completed for our yarn shop. I will blog some of them later, if I have time. (Since she doesn't post her stuff lately, I will just do it for her, hee hee.)

Off to vacation/work trip, where I will try to quickly finish sock #2 so I can move on to "Coupling" from Knitty, in a lovely Jitterbug colorway.

Shiny Green Sweater, Slightly Better

Shiny Green Sweater
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I'd been promising a better photo of the Shiny Green Sweater I finished a few weeks ago, but the one that a friend took last week still hasn't been sent to me. So, I took one for myself, in the bathroom mirror. I'd hoped the "special undergarment" I bought would look nice, but nope. I think I will get either a solid black or solid white 3/4 sleeve shirt to wear under it.

It's all wrinkled because I hadn't folded it well. I think when I am all settled from home improvements and travel in a week or two, I will reblock this, and see if I can get it to be more the size it was when it came off the needles--the sleeves hugged my arm, and the bottom hugged my hips. I think in trying to make sure the lace was well blocked, the rest stretched out.

Live and learn, only this is live and learn on expensive yarn!

In other progress, I began a cable rib top to my sock, only to find that the cable I was using made the sock not put-on-able. So, 2x2 rib it is. A nice, wearable sock. And this way I can zoom through sock #2 in planes, cars and airports, and try something fun for the next pair. One of the new ones in Knitty maybe.

As for my hair. Well, I got it re-colored yesterday and allowed my new hairdresser to put me in rollers and "set" it. I ended up looking a bit like Tammy Wynette. This photo is after it calmed down considerably. I must say it is silky and smooth.

Vogue Knitting Sent Me Email!

Vogue Knitting Sweater, back
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Probably this has happened to others of you, but it made me happy during a pretty sad day--I got a Flickr email from the people at Vogue Knitting saying they'd like to put this image of a sweater I made in 2005 on their website in a gallery of projects people have made from their magazine. I'd be pleased to appear there--and I think this is the only VK project I've knitted that I have photos of (others have worn out (like a big black and red sweater coat I made in the 80s) or were gifts).

So, here is the Circular Sweater. There have been other similar items coming out lately, I've noticed, including crochet versions. I saw a sleeveless vest version that I think I'd enjoy doing.

This one is in Lorna's Laces worsted weight yarn in a variegated blue, a gray and a black. Plus there's Lorna's Laces boucle in a very dark grey for trim (boy howdy, I got tired of getting my needles stuck in the little loops--but it ended up so pretty!).

This sweater was pretty difficult to knit. It would have been easy if it were just knitting in the round, but there were many rows that alternated colors and you had to twist one around the other a certain way, because it made a rope pattern on the other side (yes, the purl side is the right side on this sweater). Your yarn would get all twisted together by the end of a row, especially toward the end. But then, a row later you'd twist the other way and end up just fine--if you could manage knitting with all the twists in the meantime.

But, it was a fun challenge and I like wearing it. You can wear it as pictured, or flip it and have a much bigger "collar" and more of a bolero length. I fasten it with a big pin in the front.

In other knitting news, thanks to spending quite a bit of time knitting last night at Chicks with Sticks, I am close to finishing the second sleeve on Juliet, and thinking of what technique to use on the cuff of the sock. I am thinking a cable instead of ribbing, but picot edgings also sound nice.

I think I'll dedicate these socks to the memory of Carole, who never mastered socks before her untimely passing this week. I wish things could have been different.

Slow Going

glamordog
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Since I am spending a lot of time decluttering and rearranging things in my house, the knitting is going more slowly than usual. The off-white garter stitch rectangle is very pretty, though, and I knitted a bit of it in a traffic jam, which made that awful experience slightly better. I love the Debbie Bliss Rialto. Such lovely wool yarn.

The house rearranging has a knitting-related ultimate goal, because my hope is to get a fairly large wardrobe-like object to put in our new media room and hold my stash, rather than having the scary sock yarn explosion as a "decor item" in my bedroom, and the equally scary plastic drawers that are bursting their seams in there (um, not to mention the stuff hiding under the bed or in my former knitting closet). Soon, all yarn will be in its place. All patterns will be, too, because I emptied out a bunch of notebooks that held periodicals, saving the magazine holders. They will look lovely with patterns filed by type in them!

So, what's the picture of? It's the most popular item I made on display at the LYS. Little children love to play with and pet the doggie with the fab sweater on. The pattern is on the cover of one of the books of dog sweaters that came out a couple of years ago: Knitting for Dogs: Irresistible Patterns for Your Favorite Pup -- and You! by Kristi Porter. I used it in teaching a class on "create your own dog sweater," which was fun. I made my pug a pink and yellow fair isle sweater. He has worn it ONCE. I'll post that at some point, too. Anyway, the yarn is Berocco Qwest along with Laser FX. One skein each. It is an easy pattern, too--would look really cute on a small doggie.

Oh, and I am wearing my beautiful modular motif vest in the picture. I will post about that one soon, too. I LOVE doing those modular patterns!

Still Here, Still Knitting

redsweater
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I didn't post much this week because I have been feeling sick and didn't have much energy to do much other than sit and...knit (of course!). I only have ten more lace rounds on the Slimy...er...Shiny Green Sweater, then a ribbed edge and that one will be done! So, look for a photo this weekend, I hope (we ARE doing a lot of home improvements to our "new" media room this weekend, so I may not knit much, but I will finally have a knitting corner again, so my stash will look pretty). I have enjoyed doing the lace section of this sweater immensely--it has completely made up for the less-than-fun boring stockinette sleeves and body.

PHOTO: Ooh, I found the Rebecca Magazine site and here is a link to the page with a photo of Slimy Green Sweater. It is the first one on the left. Imagine it in grass green.

Today's photo is the sweater I am wearing today, only it looks a lot better on me today, with reddish hair and about 15 fewer pounds. Thank goodness for all that exercise and dieting of the past year and a half!

The sweater is one we had a sample of in the LYS, but in a black cotton. I made it in March 2006 with Gedifra TopSoft, which is a microfiber blend that feels really nice and soft, but, sigh, snags if you look at it funny (like Slimy Green will). It's a Berocco pattern and I have to say is a WEIRD one. The decorative eyelet and cable edgings to the neck, side vents and sleeve (insertion) were really not fun to knit--very counter-intuitive, but they look neat and interesting on the finished product.

Another not -fun aspect was way too much boring plain knitting than I like, plus not being circular (I must note that my seams are beautiful, though I did a couple of them more than once to get them perfect.) I made the arms a little longer than the ones in the instructions. Note to self: don't do that again. The arms hit an inch below my elbow, which makes the sleeves curl up.

Nonetheless, I enjoy wearing this one a lot. Today I have a black tank top under it, and my strapless bra so I won't be so concerned about it sliding off my shoulders. I need to get little snaps or something to keep it up. But, I won't.

Another thing about this one is that, at list price, it would have cost over $100 to make! I am thankful for a discount AND the generosity of the people who gave me a gift certificate for my birthday that allowed me to get it as a gift! The moment I got the certificate, I ran over and grabbed my balls of yarn--I knew what I wanted!

Holiday Weekend Progress

No new photos today, since my kids took the camera with them on a trip, so here's my favorite purse. I made two, one that lives in the yarn shop and this one, which I carried for so long that the handle came off (haven't had a chance to fix it). I guess I made this last year some time or in late 2005. What fun, though! These were my first entrelac projects and I had a BLAST with them. I also made a little holder with a triangular flap for my Palm Pilot in smaller squares, which has been used for lots of other stuff, too. I should write up that pattern. The pattern is from a Berrocco one that's out of print, I believe. I will treasure my copy!

I have been he**-bent on finishing the shiny green top this weekend, and yesterday, in a marathon of congestion incuded restful knitting, I got the body done. Then I looked at it. ICK, it looked just AWFUL. In the shiny (slimy) cotton/viscose blend Mytsik, every knitting irregularity glared back at me--slightly large stitches, slightly twisted sections (how do I do that?), the place where the stitches unraveled because I didn't have a stitch holder and the item was as large as my needles...blah blah blah. I said to myself that I didn't want to waste my time on this item if it was gonna look so bad. So, I stuck it in the sink and soaked it. I pulled and tugged a bit (hey, it's cotton!), then I wrapped it in a towel to get some of the water off.

When I laid it down, just a bit more stretching revealed a whole new sweater body. Yes, there are a few stitches that are a bit large, but it's way more even, lays flat, and is quite acceptable now. So, it's a-drying while I work on the sleeves. I am halfway through sleeve #2 (it is a short-sleeved top). I am knitting it in the round instead of in pieces, too. I hate seams. There will be short underarm seams, but that's all. Once I am done with sleeve #2, I will put the sleeves and body all on one needle and do the yoke. The fun part; the lacy part. Yay.

Also, I did the body on Addi bamboo needles, and I switched to Knitpicks for the sleeves. I am getting much more even tension on the sleeves, so I'm sticking with the Knitpicks for the yoke. The ribbing on the sleeves also looks better, thanks to my new Knitpicks 2.75 cm needle. I am so happy they made ALL the small sizes now. My socks will also be happy with more choices in needle size.

Shiny Top in Progress

Shiny Top in Progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Here's the other thing I am currently working on. When this extremly "grass green" yarn came in, I just had to get it, and that same day I saw a top in a Rebecca magazine with a round lace yoke in it, which I really loved. It looked like I could wear such a thing a lot. So, rather than the silk called for in the pattern, I am using this nylon/cotton blend, whose name escapes me, but I will add later.

The yarn is a bit "snaggy," and it is very hard to knit evenly on it, but that adds to the "handmade" look I guess. I am getting close to the intreesting part on this. I stopped it to work on the Fiesta Sweater, but will re-embark this week, alternating with the Myrtle Shawl.

Fiesta Sweater Complete

Fiesta Sweater
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Not the best picture, since it was taken at night, but it shows that the Fiesta Sweater ended up with arms and a neckline!

This one was a big experiment for me, to make teaching top-down sweaters more interesting. I made up the rounded V neck because I didn't want a total V. When I had finished the sweater, I edged it with a picot hem, which worked out fine--it's not folding out nor in (I have a shirt on under the sweater).

There was some fun pooling on the sleeves and a couple of places on the body. I like pooling, so sue me! Sleeves are in the columnar pattern that the bottom of the sweater is (from an old lace book I had), only in the green. And the insertion can be found in Knitting on the Edge or many other pattern books. It's common.

Why is this sweater in two unrelated colorways? Well, ya see, I ordered three large skeins of this wool, cashmere, and angora blend. They are big skeins (all the orange is one skein), but it turns out not quite enough to make a sleeved sweater. The other ball (yellow and blue) I think will be a vest of some sort. So, I mixed and matched. It looks very Hippie Chic I think.

What has surprised me is that the Fiesta Sweater doesn't look too bad at all on me! I don't look gigantic and it doesn't wash me out (thanks to my festively colored hair I guess.

My hope is to post a more clear photo of this later, when it is not rainy or dark. It is both today. On the Flikr stream, there's a picture of the back, too.

Fiesta Sweater Close Up

Fiesta Close Up
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Here's a close-up of the Fiesta Sweater so you can see the patterns I used. The top shows a simple yarnover grid. It was fun and easy, except boy howdy it was hard to keep from forgetting to do one. There's also a hole-free zone in the front that I'd accidentally put holes in sometimes (I did this because, of course, the pattern didn't work out evenly, since I winged it.

The middle is the leaf insertion. I got it fairly smooth by joining two body stitches every third right-side row, then when picking up on the bottom, adding those stitches back. I like the leaf pattern a lot. It's a lot easier than it looks. It's fun to add an inserted element like that!

The bottom was supposed to be slightly wavy, but didn't come out that way. It's a yo, k3tog pattern, like a mini feather and fan, but too mii, I think. It did add the verticle lines I'd hoped for. The idea is that it would make my hips look smaller (as if the insertion didn't make my waist look bigger). The same pattern repeats on the arms, where I let it get bigger and bigger for a few rows at the end, to make a slight bell. The garter stitch edging at the bottom was going to be something more interesting, but since I ran out of the orange-ish yarn I couldn't repeat a more interesting thing on the sleeves. So, oh well.

An experiment that was not a total failure!

Fiesta Sweater, in Progress

Fiesta Sweater, in Progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak.

Yes, it's bright. Yes, those colors don't really go together. It's a long story. I'll give more details when it is finished, but, to whet your appetite, this sweater is made from wool/cashmere/angora blend that I got with Jody got in a co-op purchase. It's from Alaska; that's all I remember. There's a Schaeffer product that is the same blend that the LYS sells for $96 a skein (big skeins).

Why did I make this? I was teaching a top-down sweater class and did not want to make another plain one (here's a link to the previous one) even though the Silk Garden one is lovely. So, I put in a hole pattern I saw in Vogue Knitting on a totally different sweater, then made up an interesting (to me) neckline. Since I knew there was not enough yarn to make the whole sweater, I added a leaf insertion from an old lace book I had (found it in Knitting on the Edge, too). As you can see I also did a different pattern on the bottom and arms. Whee.

I do like top-down knitting. I hate seams, even though I am finally good at mattress stitching after over 40 years of knitting!