Eva is done!

Well, here she is!
I am quite pleased with the results, even though I'd make a couple of small changes if I were to make her again.
Pattern: Eva, my own design
Cable panels from Viking Patterns for Knitting by Elsebeth Lavold, instructions adapted from the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd, for a set-in sleeve sweater.
Yarn: Cuffs, hem, button bands and collar: Noro Silk Garden color 201. The rest: Kilcarra of Donegal Irish Tweed, in a blue color (two blues spun together) with cranberry flecks.
What would I do differently, seeing as this was my own experiment? I would have made the sleeves a touch longer. Like 1/2 an inch, or 3 or 4 rows. I'm sure I can block them a bit longer in the next washing though. I think it still looks acceptable though. I would have also made the shawl collar a touch wider. It creeps up a bit, and I keep on pulling it down in place. I guess I'll have to tack it down with the leftovers of the Silk Garden. But this is a flattering fitting sweater, and had none of the sleeve cap issues that Ingrid had. I guess we do learn from our mistakes! Here's the modelled shot.
Not a great shot, but you get the picture. I'll arrange for a better one when I'm feeling less sick, and when my husband isin't out running my errands. Now in a fit of indicisiveness over which project to plow through and finish, and which one to start next, I made a hat out of some of the leftovers from Eva.
This is the Ragna Cap from Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Patterns for Knitting.
Modifications: My row gauge was way off, and there was no way 5 cable panel repeats would fit around my head, so I knit 8 repeats before casting off and grafting the panel ends together. Then I knit the hat in the round, where the instructions say to knit it flat and seam it up. But I kept the same number of stitches and rows for the crown (minus the 2 selvedge stitches) so maybe I should have looked up the errata for this one. Either way, it fits my head pretty well!
Now I have a sort of matching sweater and hat set!

Ivanova

Piece by piece

Eva is coming together. I'm nearly done the shawl collar, and the sleeves are blocking as you can see here.
I can't wait to try it on! I can probably finish the collar tonight if I don't go to the pub for the weekly game of darts. If I do go to the pub, I'll start swatching this
for the next sweater sketched in an earlier post. It's Rowanspun DK, color goblin. I dig the name, and I really don't wear any green, so I figure it's time to start! I figure it'll be a woodsy and rustic cardi (like ALL of my self-designed cardis ?). And this time I'll be smart at BLOCK my gauge swatch before doing the math... it's funny how these little things can make a big difference. I was lazy when I made Ingrid, and didn't block the swatch. It came out 2 inches too wide (yikes!) so I gave her to my mom. I don't want to give her all my sweaters because I need some, so I'll take the time and do this right.

Now for the late urban decay Saturday, this is a graffitied house on the main drag.
It's difficult to tell that it's actually inhabited (it is, I saw a light on in one of the windows). I wonder why so many graffitti artists converged on this building, it's not run down or anything. And, being the 'Oscar the Grouch' that I am, I think it would be pretty cool to live there!

Ivanova

Decisions decisions

I'm blocking the sweater fronts now, so button bands will be added soon, probably within the next week or two. Which brings me to a decision I've been putting off for a while - which buttons will I use? I have two choices seen above on the blocking sweater - the upper one is from a set of bone buttons purchased over Christmas break with no intended purpose, I just thought that they were cool. I really like the way it has swirly patterns on it - like the cables. I adore button-band ornamentation, as can be found on 17th-18th century menswear like in this pic, taken from a collection from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Styles like this can also be seen on Centauri men's jackets on Babylon 5, and to a lesser extent on King Theoden's gear in the Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers. He aso had gold braided rope-like things around the armbands of a velvet cloakey-jackety thing, which I have also included in my sweater. I wonder why the Elves had no knitwear (even though some designers have been inspired to create some), in fact there was surprisingly little knitwear visible on the Humans, and Hobbits (even though other designers have also been inspired...). In fact, the only possibly knitted garment I saw displaying celtic textures (the happiness sign) was on Gandalf, when he had become the white wizard. He was wearing a white hooded cloak, and there were some textured cables around the hood. But the garment didn't look knitted, so I'll bet it was felted, but retained the texture panels. And why hasn't anyone started a LOTR knit-along yet?

Anyways, back to my decision. The upper one is the bone button, and the lower metal one is from a set of Tudor Rose pewter buttons, actually purchased for this sweater. Which one do I pick? I'm torn! Please delurk, and leave me an opinion!

Now here I am, not even finished the current sweater and I'm planning the next one!
Here's a scan of my sketch:
OK, I know I can't draw, but I try anyways. It will be a raglan shaped cardigan, with a deep v-neck, and deep waist ribbing, made from some DK weight tweed I have in the stash. This design was inspired by Elsebeth Lavold's Fjalar, shown below from an old post.
I had highlighted my issues with this sweater. My solution: eliminate the puckered neck by making it a cardigan with hook and eye closures. And the baggy sleeves by making it a raglan sweater. I also switched cable panels because I will be continuing the cables all the way around, and I won't have to graft at the back of the neck if the panels have up-down and left-right symmetry, so the button bands and collar can be knitted in one piece. I chose a linked-ring motif from the same book, Viking Patterns for Knitting. Now to work out the details... I'm so excited I can't wait to cast on!

Ivanova

Some late u.d. and a sweater in progress

Here's a view of the old town wall.
I figure it was built during or after the Thirty-Years War, which would put it's construction somewhere around the 17th-18th century. Some houses were incorporated into the wall, like the one to the right, where the residents served as guards of a sort. The building on the right is still used as an actual house, and one of the residents was sitting on a lawn chair when I took these pictures.

Now others built there houses into the wall to save on bricks and stones, like the one on the left! I think that's pretty cheapskate and decayed ;). Here's a closeup.
Now this building is the only Mexican restaurant in town, and it's pretty good, just don't expect anything to be particularly fiery, like real Mexican food (no Tacos al Pastor on the menu) or even like some Tex-Mex, but I still like it! Here's the side view.
Now for the wip update. I finished one half of the lace and cables capelet, up to the part where it will be joined to the yoke. Not bad for a night's knitting! I am also nearly done the right half of Eva, and started blocking the pieces. Here's the back blocking, and sitting in the remains of today's sunlight.
I'm blocking early because I don't want the seaming and knitting of button bands and collar to take forever! I'm also blocking Shedir, and I have to say it's hard to stretch out a hat! I need to buy a bowl about the size of my head... And I definitely have to get the Vining Knits Collection Volume 2, recently completed by Elsebeth Lavold, check it out here. I love it! As soon as I found out about it, I checked internet retailers, and my only positive hit was an Ebay merchant in the US, where the postage alone is half the price of the book! I guess it'll have to wait till Christmas, so either some UK retailers will carry it (guess where I've been doing my online yarn/pattern/equipment shopping and browsing) or I can have it sent to my dad's house in time to get it when I visit.

Ivanova

An old project revisited...

And note that this is a popular idea! brooklyntweed posted one a full 5 days after Kara and I discussed doing this. I think it's a great idea, because the whole world can see how the yarns we chose several months (or years) ago hold up, and we can revisit our pattern/design choices. So here's my first revisit: a scarf made a little over a year ago from Noro Kureyon using a short-row ribbed scarf pattern from Magknits. I did not blog about this at the time I made it, so it's appropriate that I blog about it know, more than a year after completion.

I was looking at the Noro section in my old LYS, and the self-stripey-goodness called out to me. A lot of the Noro Line was out of my price range, but Silk Garden and Kureyon were within the budget I allocated for a new scarf, so there I was. I found that I was more drawn to the brighter colorways of Kureyon than the subtler colorways of Silk Garden, but now, a year later, I find that my preferences go in the other direction! I asked the LYS employee how many balls I would need, and she said 4, (400 meters or so) so I then narrowed down my choices to colorways that had 4 balls of the same dyelot on the shelf. I walked away with an extremely colorful choice, with many colors present.

Once I had the yarn, I was a bit flummoxed to come up with a pattern that would work well with the self-striping concept. I didn't want a striped k1p1 or k2p2 scarf, though that is a perfectly acceptable choice for many people. I had heard of people doing entrelac with self-striping yarns (i.e. the Lady Eleanor stole from Scarf Style), but I wasn't ready for that yet.
So in my hunting on the internet, I came across a short-row ribbed scarf on Magknits, and figured that even though it was done with a variegated chunky yarn instead of an aran weight self-striping, it could work. It worked better than I expected, because each short-row section is one color block in the yarn, more or less. Here it is...
Fabulous! My only regrets: I felt I had to use every last scrap of yarn, because the cost was double that of the itchy too-short and too wide scarf I had purchased at the Gap that I wanted to replace. This scarf is ridiculously long, and I tend to wrap it around my neck many times, to not have it sit bulkily under my coat. Picture this: I walk into school, hop on an elevator with a professor who shall remain nameless, then unbutton my coat and start unwinding, and unwinding, and unwinding the scarf (to not roast in the extremely well-heated building). He looks at me and with a snicker says, "Nice scarf". I say, "Thanks! I made it myself!" He says, "oh...".

Anyways, I still love the scarf, even though it has sagged and stretched even longer. I should have knit it at a tighter gauge. And the yarn? It does pill, but not as severely as some store-bought sweaters I have purchased, and the pills are easy to remove. And the colors and ribbing really detract away from the little pills, so it's all good. I'd definitely use Kureyon again for a larger project, if the colorways were a little less like a bunch of crayons and more sophisticated like the Silk Garden line. I know there are a few like that out there, but I'm on a yarn diet, so we'll see what's available in a year or two. And I have seen other Kureyon short-row ribbed scarves out there, some made by friends, and some made by strangers in internet land. But there days, it's all about the tweed for me...
The left front is DONE! Now only 2 pieces to go... and I cast on for the right front in time for the monthly student pub night. (Okay, I know I'm not a student, but I get invited anyways.) The seed sitch hem is better social knitting than any of my other current projects, which all require charts. I'm hoping it will be done in a couple of weeks. Here's a closeup shot to view the color and tweediness more accurately.
I LOVE this yarn - Kilcarra of Donegal tweed, in a blue colorway. If it holds up well with long term use, I will always hace some in the stash for a rainy day sweater. Maybe next time... red. Or green.

Ivanova

My first FO of the year!

Well Menja is finally done and wearable! I do love it, even though the collar still succumbs to gravity, and it's toasty warm too. Good thing too, because we got hit by a cold spell this week, and I really need the wool sweater. Here's a couple of pics:
Pattern: Menja by Elsebeth Lavold, fron the Viking Knits Collection Volume One.
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style color Storm
Mods: none, but I checked the errata at the last minute and I'm glad I did. There was an error in the book about the hemline needle size.
If I could do it again what would I do different?
Well, I didn't like the way the pattern said to do the raglan decreases: decrease 2 sts every 4 rows. I thought it looked bulky and sloppy, but luckily it's all hidden by the enormous collar. I would have decreased 1 st every second row, which I believe is the 'standard' way to do it.
I also would have swatched the collar on needles 1 and 2 sizes smaller, because my collar was much longer than the space around the neckline. I also would have bought an extra ball of yarn, because I ran out while working on the collar, and Thrace totally bailed me out with leftovers from a baby sweater made in the same yarn, same color. I am deeply grateful. So if anyone out there wants to make this one, GET FIBER INSURANCE!!!
Comments about the yarn:
I like it very much. Extremely soft, excellent price, great color, and it shows texture beautifully.
Comments about the garment:
I'm not a big fan of pullovers, but I can live with this one, because of the open neck i.e. I don't feel like I'm being choked by the sweater. But the neckline is extremely open, which means it's harder to get a shirt under there to protect the garment from the dreaded white antiperspirant
stains. I bought a black ballet-style neck extremely tight shirt from H&M in anticipation of this problem, and it's ok... but it's not great. Still, I am not a fashionista, and I care more about preserving the sweater then about some black shirt peeking out around the neckline. I love the drape and waist shaping, and the way the hemline and sleeves are slightly flared. The most important feature: it's warm!

Now for the WIPs:
Here's the blue cabled tweed sweater. I think I should name it, how bout Eva? From now on, it's Eva. This is the left front, and I think I could finish it today. Then the plan is to do the right front, and while finishing the right sleeve, block and seam the back and fronts. then while the sleeves are blocking, finish the button bands and shawl collar. I think I may be able to finish it in a month or so, now that I've finished the back it's a pretty fast knit. Now I have to decide which of the buttons I've aquired over the Christmas break will look best with this sweater. Tudor rose metal buttons or really old-looking bone buttons with knotwork-style carved in detail. More on that later, when it's time to work the buttonholes. Maybe I'll hold a vote, to try
to lure some of you out of lurking.

Now for a flash of some stash:
These are what I aquired from virtual yarns, the hank at the back is Alice Starmore Hebridean 3ply (DK weight) color Erica from the Moor and Mountain collection. This hank is my fiber insurance for Shedir, and the color is fabulous. Slightly tweedy, with flecks of grey and fuschia with some cream halo. I love this yarn, it is a complete pleasure to work with. The next two hanks from the back to the front are Hebridean 2 ply (fingering weight), colors Mara and Pebble Beach from the Sea and Shoreline collection. Mara is not tweedy, and Pebble Beach has fabulous flecks of bluish and reddish tones. They are destined to become Eunny's Endpaper Mitts some time in the next year.

That purple tweed cabled number I made last year that I gave to my mom, and was stolen by my grandmother (nobody minds because she loves it), is causing quite the stir at the post-retirement facility she is settling into. People are noticing the unusual design and interesting cable patterns!

Ivanova

Sock yarn is OK to buy, right?

According to the rules of 'knit from your stash', anyways... Well, I was concerned I didn't have enough of the Rowan 4-ply tweed that I bought over the holidays, for the intended project, Shedir from Knitty. And, since I bought the wrong weight of yarn (stupid jet lag!) I would have had to hold it doubled. So now I have cast on for a new (mystery) project, and I still don't think I have enough. So... I broke down and bought 2 more balls. This way I won't have to make it shorter, or anything like that. Here's a decent photo of the yarn. Finally, some decent natural light was streaming in the bedroom window.
The yarn in real life is a touch more purple, but this picture gives you the idea well enough. The
color is claret (013). Here's a much better detail shot, but it's only half way through I pattern repeat, anyways.
I like it so much, I want to make it full length, hence the extra sock yarn purchase. Now, I am NOT a color knitter (no fair isle here, posted by me), but I don't dislike the look of it. For example I find most of Alice Starmore's work, not to mention Eunny Jang, among others, color work absolutely stunning. I guess that I am just intimidated by dealing with many strands of skinny yarn on tiny needles. But it's so beautiful! Well, since sock yarn is OK, I purchased enough sock yarn (2 ply) from Virtual Yarns to make Eunny's Endpaper Mitts. I figure a small project that is practical and wearable (and relatively inexpensive compared to a whole sweater, like the Venezia pullover) is a decent way to start color knitting. I saw the Venezia pullover in the Winter 2006 Interweave knits, and I thought it was absolutely stunning. And I would look fabulous in it. But colorwork AND steeking? Well, let's see how I feel next year, when I've completed my first colorwork project, and I'm off the yarn diet. Oh, and BTW, for those of us on this blog who are interested in aquiring tweedy 4-ply yarn in sweater quantities, Virtual Yarns offers free shipping for orders larger than 12 pounds anywhere in the world. So their yarn might not be the best deal pricewise, but shipping a pound or two worth of yarn across the atlantic might make a reasonable difference in pricing a project. I will report on the yarn when I recieve it.

So what about the hat which prompted my decision to purchase a sock yarn? Well, as I was investigating my Rowan options, I found out that not all of the colors available in the 4 ply are available in other weights. Count on me to gravitate towards one of them. Harrumph! I found a very similar shade in the Virtual Yarns 3 ply (approximately DK weight), so I got enough for the hat. I don't consider it a breaking of the yarn diet, because it's a small quantity, the color I liked would never have been at the lys in the right weight (or anywhere in the world), and I planned this project well before the New Year anyways. So there.

Now for the blue tweed sweater progress shot:
Here are the back and the left sleeve. The colors are quite accurate in the picture. At first, I was
a bit worried about how the sleeve would look with only one cable panel (okay, surrounded by a braid on each side) because it's so wide, but now that it's done, and can be viewed with the back, I think it looks good. And it's a quick knit, I finished the sleeve in less than 2 weeks, because of all the reverse stockinette. And, holding up the sleeve up to the back, I figure I don't have the sleeve cap problems I had with the purple sweater. So for the time being, the mystery project will be my thinking knit, and the blue sweater left front will be my easy knit.

Ivanova

Sleeve Progress and needles...

Here's how far I got over the Christmas break and yesterday night - I discovered a mistake in the swallowtail shawl, so I brought this along to a party instead. One panel and a bit done, 2 and a bit to go! I decided the sleeve would not be narrow at the wrists because I thought it looked a bit dorky on the last sweater I made. So it's straight up till the armhole decreases... I'll just have to wait and see how it looks, I guess.

Now, about the needles. I used my Denise interchangeables for the plane ride (no issues with airport security whatsoever). Note that one woman in the lounge area near the gate came up to me and said, "They let you through with that? How?". I told her that I read the airline's page of
banned items, and *all* knitting needles are allowed, however the airline has a preference for plastic and wooden needles (I guess bamboo counts as wood) and for circular needles with a short cable. She said "thanks", so I guess that she was a knitter who hadn't looked into the issue of knitting on airplanes. So out of fear that my brand spanking new Addi Turbos (which are quite a bit cheaper in Germany - duh!) would be confiscated, I used plastic Denise needles. Now I found that my knitting gets all jammed up at the join. All the time, even going up to a US 10.5 with an aran weight wool. I know I'm a tight knitter but this is ridiculous.
Now for the Addis, which I'm currently using. I think this is the smoothest join I have ever come across! But I find them a touch too slippery compared to cheapo aluminum needles. Will I ever be satisfied? Has anyone out there tried the Knitpicks Options needles? Please comment if you have tried them!

Ivanova

A late Urban Decay Saturday

Well, first let's say a big hello to our newest collaborator, Tasha Yar (yarknits)! Hello! Now this is the last Saturday of the year, so I figured I'd post something seasonal. I visited my inlaws, and was told about a great nativity scene set up downtown, so I took a swing by and took some photos. Dig the non-traditional colors on Mary and Joseph. Also note that the baby doll depicting Jesus is under plexiglass - very urban decay! And if you look real close, you can see that someone stuck some gum on the right side of Joseph's head... also quite urban decay.

Now, as I'm sure you can all guess, I took a swing by my old LYS - I really miss seeing many brands of yarn in one place! I aquired some new yarn, and got a lovely yarn gift, so here are some pics. First: some Harris Tweed from Rowan in a fuschia-ish color. I don't know the name, and it was difficult to photograph well. This is meant for Shedir from the Fall 2004 Knitty surprise issue, but I got sock weight by accident. I figure I can make it if I hold it doubled, and omit some repeats like Eunny did, I think she used a DK weight yarn. Or I can beg a North American to send me an extra ball, or I could Ebay it. We'll see...
Now Delenn gave a truly fabulous gift, 2 hanks of Hand Maiden Silk Cashmere. Truly luxurious, the first thought that ran through my head was Evelyn Clarke's Swallow Tail Shawl from the Fall 2006 IK, or maybe the Trellis scarf that Thrace just finished... we'll see. I promise to take better photos of this yarn when I cast on!

Also, I finally cast off the back of the blue tweed cabled number I've not been working on this Holiday season. I finished Delenn't mitts (she had better post photos - prod prod) so I managed to finish off the back one evening. I have also cast on for the sleeves, which I hope will see major progress on the plane ride home.
My final yarn purchase was more Noro Silk Garden in the same dye lot, to make Siv in the near future, from one of Lavold's Viking Collection books. I will have to work out the math because NSG is aran weight and Lavold Silky wool is DK weight, but I know it can be done and look fabulous becase Carter has already done it. It will be a twin-set of sorts... I LOVE twin sets, even non-traditional ones. I splurged because Noro anything is cheaper in North America, and the quality of the spinning seems to be better, but I will report on that in full, when I get around to casting on for it. Now I'm ready for 2007, the year of knitting from one's stash according to Wendy of Wendyknits. Happy New Year!

Ivanova