Knitter Down

Sorry for the lack of update. Twelve-hour workdays and a 2-day fever don't bode well for knitting and blogging. My knitting is almost exactly where it was a week ago. The Tilted Duster still has about 5 more collar rows, and some seaming to go. My first Autumn Rose sleeve is also still in the works. Despite all that, I thought I'd give you a bit of an update with promises of more to come in the next week.

After boldly jumping head first into Autumn Rose, I got scared. Terrified in fact. My self-doubt took hold and I cast the project aside for a week or two to develop some level of confidence.

I decided to tackle one last stranded warm-up before taking the metaphorical fair-isle plunge. Enter Chrissy Gardiner's Snowflake Socks, also from the new Interweave (I love this issue).


I love how this project is turning out so far. Everything is looking pretty John Dandy. The floats are nice and loose, the yarn was a stash orphan, and the ultimate gratification, they stretch enough to fit over my heel.

So on that optimistic note, I decided to pick up Autumn Rose again. So far I've made it through the first part of the first sleeve. Still a long way to go but it is beautiful and I can't wait to finish the first motif repeat.

My technique is a far cry from being perfect or even being technically correct, but I can live with it for now and I'm already seeing improvements.

Considering the time it has taken to get this far, I expect that this project is one of those long-term type things. The body is going to require some serious project monogamy.

Duster Update

Today's post was supposed to be an Autumn Rose update. Sadly, there were some yarn dominance issues (I had made the wrong colour dominant) which meant that the pretty went for a little dip in the frog pond. Fret not, we've since made up and there should be some meaningful progress to show you all by the weekend.

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you how nicely the duster has grown. She has sleeves and most of a skirt, and is generally not purple (the photo here is more accurate on the colour front). If all goes as planned I should have it blocking by Saturday!

This sweater is going to be cosy and warm. After all the chilly weather we've been having, I can't wait to wear it this fall!

Now it's back to the shetland for me, I have sleeves to knit.

A gander through the WIP pile

After a summer of startitis, I've been trying to get back to some projects that have been languishing. First to be moved from the WIP pile to the FO drawer are these:

My first toe-up socks, more commonly known as Ann Budd's On-Your-Toes socks from the Summer Interweave Knits.

Although tricky at first, the eastern cast-on is genius. I used right and left leaning M1s and they look exactly like a regular top-down toe. I'm still a little lukewarm on the short-row heel thing, I think that I'll tackle a reverse heel flap on my next pair.

I decided to split the skein into two balls since the Colinette Jitterbug only has about 290 yards in a skein. Since my scale is not 100% accurate, I decided to try a different technique. I put the yarn on my swift and counted how many times the yarn was looped around the skein. I then tied a piece of scrap yarn onto the swift and counted the number of times it turned as a wound the ball. About halfway I broke the yarn and started the second ball. My counting was a little off but it still worked out well enough.

In the end it wasn't necessary since I didn't even come close to running out of yarn, even with the fairly respectable length cuff I knit.

I love how these socks turned out. They're cozy and comfortable. I'm certainly not a toe-up convert but at least it's a start. Part of my glee may also be caused by the fact that I officially have one less skein of sock yarn in the stash. I've started a bit of a yarn diet. My stash has substantially outgrown its designated home and I decided it was time to trim the fat, or at least reclaim some closet space (hence the sweater fixation).

As for Autumn Rose, I am still working to get gauge. I hope to have a swatch post for you all later this week.

Give

***Warning: camera happy person post.***

Another FO that, pathetically enough, was finished August 18th! I'm amazed that I haven't gotten around to posting about it until now. This sweater only took me about 2 weeks from cast-on to blocking and cleared up a whopping 800 grams of yarn out of the stash. I forgot how fast worsted yarn flies off the needles after Icarus, MS3 and months worth of socks.

I now present Rosedale United or Rosedale Redux as I call her. Redux because I completely rewrote the pattern down to a 35" bust, I modified the waist shaping, added length on the body, used a different rib stitch and learned the stretchy-est cast-on I've ever come across.

Amy Swenson’s Rosedale United (Fall 2003 Knitty) free pattern available here
Yarn: Noro Kuryeon in colour 207
Amount: 7.75 skeins
Left over: about 25 grams
Size: 36" bust measurement to fit a 35" bust.
Started: July 29, 2007
Finished: August 17, 2007

Since this sweater is knit from the bottom up in the round the cast-off edge ended up at my neck. Right about the time I finished the raglan decreases, I started to realize that the neck opening looked pretty small. Since I have been known to have difficulties fitting my hefty cranium through shirt necks, there was a small amount of panic.

Luckily, I found the stretchiest bind off I've ever seen here and the pending crisis was averted.

Since it's been a comfortable 8 months since my last attempt at any sort of tutorial, I figured I'd share the-bind-off-that-saved-the-day since someone is always looking for a stretchy (but not sloppy bind-off).

Best thing about this technique is that you don't have to worry about making your BO row stitches abnormally loose. It's already perfect, no need to compensate.

As with most bind-off techniques, you begin by knitting the first two stitches in the regular fashion.

Next, insert the left-hand needle as you would to SSK (just the K part not the SS).

Wrap the working yarn counterclockwise around the right-hand needle.

Pull the yarn through the two stitches and then drop the two stitches that have been worked off the left-hand needle.

Knit the next stitch on the left-hand needle and repeat from Step 2 until all of the stitches have been cast-off.

Break the working yarn and pull the tail through the last remaining stitch. Admire your work.

Stretch your work and notice how the bind-off does not restrict the stretch of your fabric at all.

Hopefully that is easy to understand. Thanks to a very productive and amazingly relaxing long weekend, I should have another FO for you later this week.

Not made of stone

Still no FO photos of Rosedale United. They've been taken but I don't foresee a spare minute to upload them in the next few days. There's also no significant progress to report on the Duster since I have some finishing (cue ominous music) to do before I can work on it again.

So instead....I thought I'd distract you with the fact that I started Autumn Rose. Before you judge, look at this.

How could anyone resist such a beautiful pairing of colours. Alright, I have another confession. I also have the yarn for this.

It's been in the stash for the last 8 months or so. I tentatively considered swatching for Venezia one day. After casting on 3 stitches, I became paralysed with fear. Fear of the fine gauge. Fear of the pattern. And fear of fair-isle. Who was I kidding, I knew nothing about fair-isle. I've only made one measly pair of stranded mittens where the floats were, shall we say, a little snug. Snug enough that a sweater knit with that sort of float would have zero stretch and may even stand up unassisted.

Originally, the plan was that I would knit Eunny's Deep-V Argyle Vest first. The two colours, the larger needles, the lack of sleeves all made it seem like a good warm up project. After being hit by some serious yarn fumes, I ended up here.

I've rationalized ignoring Venezia starting with Autumn Rose by convincing myself that it will be easier than Venezia. It has a huge scoop neck that minimizes the need for fabric that has any sort of give, and it only has 1 steek to cut, instead of the 4 on Venezia. Hopefully you won't tell me otherwise.

Alright, I'm terrified all over again where's that Duster?

More almost sweaters

I managed to finish Rosedale last weekend but haven't yet managed to get some decent pictures. I'll post a full FO report on that later this weekend. In the meantime, I decided that I wasn't ready to be finished with the (almost) instant gratification that comes from worsted weight yarn. That realization combined with Liz's comment that Autumn Rose would be one of those commitment type projects led to this.

That blob of stockinette is Norah Gaughan's Tilted Duster from the newest Interweave Knits.

I started this puppy last Saturday night, got perfect row and stitch gauge on my first shot and lunged forward from there. Look at it now.

I've managed to make my way through the body and most of both sleeves. Only a collar and skirt to go!

I *heart* 6.00 mm needles.

Blur

My oh my, where has the time gone?!? And how is it August 17? Am I missing something here...

This week was Stitch n' Pitch. It was a blast! A surprising conclusion given my general avoidance of anything that involves sitting for more than three hours. The other half came along and brought (get this) HIS knitting. I have a couple of photos but they'll have to come off the camera later.

There's also a new sweater. Although this may look like just another Rosedale United, it has undergone significant modifications. I've sized it down from a 38" to a 36", changed the ribbing, went a little free form with the striping and sort of made up my own sleeves. This is basically the only project I've been knitting on the past two weeks. I thought I would have it done by now but as you can see the yoke is not quite up to snuff.

The colourway was a daring choice for me (the above photo is pretty disappointing when it comes to colour accuracy - my camera seems to have a conniption every time it sees red). I'm not generally known as a yellow, orange, green kind of gal and although I'm wavering a little now, I think I'll like the finished sweater.

And Nicole nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award (started by Roberta Ferguson). So the deal is that you; 1) give her credit, 2) put up the badge and 3) add 5 other rockin' girl bloggers to the list. Thanks Nicole!

Here is my list of nominees.

1) Liz, who always has amazing projects to show off.
2) Linz, who discusses interesting things.
3) Susan, who has a way with words.
4) Sian, who always has a new post to read.
5) Elaine, who just finished a gorgeous Icarus.

In a moment of weakness I bought this kit (scroll down). So what do you think, should I go for it after this current sweater is off the needles or should I cop out and start Norah Gaughan's Tilted Duster from the cover of the new Interweave (also exciting)?

Oh, and I FINALLY fixed the broken link from my last post, now you can go inspect that seam if you wish. Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my sweater.

Let's just say it's been a busy week.

Trust Norah

Remember this? Well after three months of finishing avoidance and a weekend of actual finishing it now looks like this:

Taadaa...she's done, finished, finito. It's almost like magic, all 8 pieces, 11 seams and 37 woven ends have come together to push my Sand Dollar Pullover firmly into the FO pile.

Looking at the pretty now, it's hard to believe that I ever had doubts about how everything would come together. Suffice to say that I'd just finished reading Knitting in Plain English and in the heavily stylized photo in Knitting Nature the model was slouched on a tree branch. The sleeves were waaay too short for her and her stomach was still showing despite the fact that her skirt was hiked-up high above her waist.

This initial concern wasn't helped by my shoddy gauge swatch. Yeah I swatched, but since I didn't want a mega-low-cut, high-riding sweater with 5" of ease I wasn't too concerned about completely missing gauge (plus gauge swatches lie, right?). I was ready to accept horrible failure and call it a process knit if need be.

Then there were the pieces, so many pieces, none of which were even close to the measurements in the schematics. There was no way that they were all going to fit together and still make a sweater.

I was wrong, Norah Gaughan was right. She's a genius, I will never second guess her ever again! Her pattern makes a gorgeous sweater despite the million ways that it could have all ended with tears.

See how pretty it is? Look at this center medallion! I am smitten with the construction of this sweater, Norah's use of bias makes the whole thing so darn flattering.

I used exactly 4 skeins of Posh Yarn's Victoria in the lagoon colourway. It's a gorgeous cashmere, cotton, silk blend. So soft and it has excellent stitch definition, and a fabulous drape. I knit the smallest size (40" bust), but thanks to the artistic license I took with my gauge it ended up being more like a 34" bust. I started it in September 2006 and finished it today!!

And here's my very first set-in sleeve. I'm pretty proud of my seaming skills on this. I had no idea what I was doing but thanks to Norah and her amazing design it looks flawless.

And lastly what you all really care about, what it looks like when you wear it... ;-) (click to big-ify).

Thoughts

It has been awhile now hasn't it? I've been constantly torn between knitting and blogging lately. I hate not blogging but have little to say without the knitting. Needless to say I've had to be selective with use of my limited free time. Although there's some "bad blogger" guilt, there's also been lots of knitting and that makes up for everything, right?

First up there's MS3:

I've managed to get through the first half of Clue 4. I love the stole. The design is beautiful, challenging, and interesting. As I pour endless hours of precious knitting time into this project I become less able to sit back and enjoy it as I once did. While considering the rationale behind this sentiment, I realized that boredom and distraction weren't at issue but that I missed engaging with the creative process instrumental to my knitting.

How is MS3 different from following any other pattern? Well, the mystery factor meant that I put all of my faith in Melanie and followed her suggestions. I used the suggested yarn, in one of the two suggested shades, and have refused to even consider any changes to the pattern since they would be decisions based on what I view as inadequate information. That is not to say I'll never finish, but that it is firmly seated on the back burner for the next little while.

I don't regret deciding to sign up since it's taught me that what I love most about knitting is making decisions and seeing how those decisions affect the finished product and make it into something of my very own. I am firmly of the belief that Melanie is a genius disguised as a wonderful, and generous person for both having developed and administered this massive undertaking in such an effective and gracious manner.

To counteract the blasé I am knitting this, completely resizing it and changing parts of the silhouette. It excites me to no end (pictures to come).

If you are looking for some more reading I found this post to be very interesting. It is an excellent reflection on some common perceptions of knitters. The whole issue of when it is socially acceptable to knit in public is something that I've often grappled with. I agree with Linz when she says that often times people look at knitters who are knitting while engaging with their external environment as either rude or inconsiderate. I don't have an answer but really enjoyed tossing it around in my head for a day or two. Hopefully you might as well.

More knitting updates soon!

Icarus!

Finally, some decent FO photos (except for the background scenery of course). It's been impossible finding time for daytime photos.

Surprisingly enough, I am getting tons of wear out of this shawl (much more than I had originally thought). The silk makes it both lightweight and very warm for the chilly evenings we've been having as of late. As previously mentioned a few dozen times, I'm in love with this shawl. A 100% satisfaction FO.

Project Specs: Icarus
Yarn: Handmaiden Lace Silk in Bronze
Amount: 1 hank
Left over: 125 yards
Needles: 3.25 mm circs
Completed: July 10 2007
Modifications: None

Aside from plotting Icarus photo-ops, I've also been drooling over the Fall 2007 Interweave knits preview, and made some progress on both MS3 and the toe-up sock. Photos of those to come.

Chain reaction

Here we have...a finished Icarus blocking on the bed (better photos to come this weekend). I bought some blocking wires for the occasion. Although they were a little awkward at first (sticky wet silk and all), they ended up doing a fantastic job of the shawl.

See what I mean. Look at this edging! I'm obsessed. Icarus has definitely exceeded my expectations. I love when that happens. The colour in this picture is more accurate than in the previous one.

And here's what's been keeping me from progressing on MS3 (still only about 2 rows into the third clue). Meet my very first toe-up sock. It's Ann Budd's on-you-toes sock from the summer Interweave. I have no idea what possessed me to start this little guy. I just reached into the stash Friday morning on my way to work, found some Jitterbug and threw the mag into my bag for the commute.

That tricky European cast-on took me more than a few tries, but it was worth in the end. I made a few changes to it, namely I alternated right and left leaning M1s to keep things symmetrical and got rid of the first knit round on the toe since I felt it looked too pointy. Here's where things were Friday evening.

And Saturday afternoon.

Sunday evening.

And lastly, a sad, neglected MS3 just before I finished off the second clue. I've just picked it up again, so hopefully I'll make it through Clue 3 sometime next week. I love the mystery thing but I'm still not sure how I feel about the summer-long project monogamy that comes with it.

I also made my way back to the wheel this weekend, hopefully by the end of next week I'll finally finish the seaside singles I've been working on so I can start plying. Fine spinning is fun but slow...

Eight things

Wow, I managed to make it through my first week as an paid labourer. Hopefully this having a regular job thing will mean that I can settle into a better routine on the blogging front.

Since Sian has tagged me to list off eight random things about myself, I suppose I'll start with that.

1) I am an only child. That meant that as a youngster, I would play board games with myself. Sounds sad but I had fun with it at the time.

2) I only eat one type of food at a time. This is such an extreme subconscious urge that when eating trail mix or another sort of mixed food, I'll eat all of the raisins first, then all of the sunflower seeds, etc until I make it through my portion. As a child, I would eat plain spaghetti and then plain sauce on the side. Even now, unless I force myself to move around the plate a little, I won't do it.

3) I love getting mail. The love extends to all mail that is addressed to me. Even bills make me smile when I open up the mailbox and find them sitting there.

4) When I have something to do that is hanging over like a text book that needs to be read, I'll physically carry it with me at all times. This is true even if I know that I won't have a chance to open it up. It makes me feel better about avoiding it somehow. Case in point. I brought along a business law text to my first date with the other half (he still teases me).

5) I don't really believe in mementos or keeping things that remind me of the past. I don't attach memories to things and generally see the objects that most people treasure as clutter. I was happy to pass off my baby blanket to a younger cousin when the time came.

6) I have an easier time finding things if my house is a disaster than if everything is neatly put away. I can look at a messy floor and point to the piles that things live in. When everything is in it's rightful and logical place I have no idea where to start looking. Since I try to keep a clean house, this is sometimes a problem.

7) Since I refuse to wear a watch and I am terrible at estimating how long it will take me to get somewhere or do something, I am almost always late. In order to compensate I have set every clock in my house to different times so I never really know what time it is. One is over 30 minutes fast and others are only five. This strategy is also less than perfect since I am still late (I've recently started leaving myself ridiculous amounts of time to do things and that has helped).

8) I love alone time. Although I also love spending time with other people, I get really excited when I know that I get an evening to stay at home alone and just be, ya know?

How did the goals from last weekend pan out? Pretty well in fact. Icarus is finished (FO photos to come when I find someone to take some nice ones) and the mystery stole is comfortably through Clue 2 (I'm ignoring the fact that Clue 3 was posted Friday). I'll post an update on that later this week. I've also started yet another pair of socks. I know there are already two other pairs on the go but I promise these ones are different.

The Promise of a Weekend

Things have been unbelievably busy these last few weeks. I've been completing my professional responsibility course. This being the last hoop we have to jump through before the law society trusts us in the real world.

I'm away for the weekend again and on Monday, I start working and officially give up my student status for the first time in my life. A little scary, no?

On the knitting front, I've been slowly plugging away at the thousands of projects (or maybe more like 4) currently on the needles with no real progress to show. Icarus still has another 10 rows to go until she's finished. It WILL get done this weekend while at the cottage (don't laugh).

Way back in the day, I got sucked into the Mystery Stole 3 vortex after reading this on Nicole's blog. Since the start date was looming I went out to buy some suitable yarn last week. Don't look at me like that, there was nothing that would work in the stash. I swear.

Zephyr wool/silk in a colour called Pewter. I love that it's neither grey nor white.

Here's what I've managed to finish so far. Hopefully I'll also get caught up over the weekend since I'm only halfway through Clue 1 and Clue 2 was posted this morning.

So far I sort of like not knowing what the finished product will look like exactly. I also love the pressure of having to keep up with the clues. This should force me to get my act together.

Does anyone else have a series of unrealistic goals to be met this weekend? I can't help but feel that weekends are a type of magical time-warp where I will finally get caught up with everything (you can laugh at this one...I'm laughing too.)

Always

A beautiful sky.

A finished pair of socks.

And a new sock on the go.

Wishing all my Canadian friends a happy long weekend.

New Ground

Boy do I ever feel out of touch with the blogging world! Things have been very busy this past week and a half. Between family, convocation, the bar admissions course, and a weekend away I haven't had any spare time.

There has been some progress on the fiber front but I warn you it's limited. Up first there is a convocation gift from my grandmother...a washed fleece.

I'm not exactly sure how much this puppy weighs but it seems to be a reasonable size (read: it isn't overwhelmingly large). Also included in the photo are some lovely student handcarders I purchased for the occasion.

Here's what my first carding attempt looks like.

Has anyone done any carding before? If so, do these rolags look like something I might be able to spin at some point? This whole process is a bit of a mystery to me.

I also started swatching for Stephanie Japel's Cable-Down Raglan, featured in the Spring '07 Interweave mag. The yarn is from Oceanwind Knits. I love the way the colour varies from a baby blue to a deep ocean blue.

Before you judge me too harshly for starting something new while neglecting all of the other lovely projects in my knitting basket look at these.

They're progressing, I swear! I still have a bunch of foot left to knit but I have high hopes that these socks will come off the needles later this week with Icarus to follow shortly thereafter.

Pretty

The family arrived yesterday to attend my convocation (later this afternoon). When my mother showed up, she brought me a parcel that I've been eagerly anticipating. It's the prize Nicole sent me from her Birthday Blog Bash, and can I just say yum, yum, yum!

I am in love with those stitch markers! They are delicate and beautiful. The yarn is KnitPicks sock yarn in a colourway called Cape Cod. It's so smooshy and colours are lovely together, I can't help but bury my face in it every now and then. The other half agrees since he's already decided that the yarn is destined to become "socks he can wear to work". Thank you Nicole, I am touched by your generosity.

In other knitting news, these last few days have also seen the end of Chart 3 on the Icarus front. The calculator says that I'm 77.7% of the way through this beast. The rows are starting to drag a little so it will likely be a few more weeks until this beauty comes off the needles.

On the (neglected) spinning front, the wheel and I have made up after a long hiatus. This is the (almost-full) first of two bobbins of singles. I can't decide if I should ply this bobbin now or spin up the second bobbin of singles first. I'm really excited to see the end result, but am also afraid that I won't be able to keep things consistent if I stop now.

Lucy is also progressing. Part of me is starting to worry that I'll run out of yarn since my row gauge is slightly off. To compensate, I've irrationally starting knitting one of the sleeves to get a better sense of how much yarn those will eat up.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Diamonds

Boy are these little diamonds ever addictive! The pattern is pretty and very easy to memorize. I'm loving the worsted weight yarn and the lack of YOs. It's nice to have something completely different from Icarus for a little while.

Hopefully I'll make it through the rest of the body later this week so I can get a move on the sleeves. For now, however, I'm off to rekindle a relationship with my neglected wheel.

Weekend Away

Last Friday I managed to finish Chart 1 of Icarus while being stranded on a runway for a number of hours waiting for the torrential downpour to stop. That's right, all 178 rows of that puppy are but a distant memory. Can you tell that I'm excited?

Once I finally managed to make it back from a whirlwind one-day trip home, it was time to repack my bags and spend a weekend vineyard hopping, knitting and relaxing before starting the Law Society's version of summer school today.

All of this dedicated knitting time ensured that progress on Icarus continued at breakneck speeds. This is what she looks like after you make it through Chart 2.

My sheer glee at having accomplished the knitting equivalent of a few hours on the treadmill, combined with the lovely result had me a little photo happy. I began taking pictures of Chart 2 as it admired the gorgeous weather.

And, as it contemplated the view of the lake and trees of Toronto's downtown.

I also made some progress on Lucy but since Chart 3 is inching along, you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that.

The new Knitty is up and as always, it's well worth the click.