FO: baby sweaters

The baby sweaters for the cousin's babies are finally done. They languished while waiting for a high-performance computing course to end (painful!), zippers to be inserted and ends to be woven in. They're only about 7 months late.

From a distance:

And closeup:

Pattern

The pattern is Baby's First Tattoo out of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation in the 18 month old size.

Yarn

KnitPicks Merino Style and Plymouth Alpaca Boucle from the LYS for the border detail (replaces seed stitch in original pattern) on US 5 needles.

Mods

The original pattern calls for Rowan 4-Ply Soft, which is a fingering weight yarn. I did most of the work on these over the winter break and was impatient, so I decided to go with a larger gauge yarn. I used the pattern dimensions as a guide to recalculate row/stitch counts in DK gauge.

Future Sweater Project Update

Well, now that Menja is nearly done, all I have to do is make the collar, block and sew, I have
started to plan the next sweaters that I will try to cram in before it gets too hot to do anything but lace. Next up is Ragna, for my DH, who loves cable knitting (but not knitting it himself ;) ).
Then, I was contemplating modifying Lavold's Fjalar, but I will put that on the back burner for a later date, even though I have already ordered the yarn, Moss green Merino Style from KnitPicks. I think a nice earth-toned yarn deserves to go into a truly medieval style sweater... something like Trud from Lavold's designer's choice book one, the Viking Knits Collection...
It's cute and medieval all right, but it's just too skirty for those of us who do not wear skirts all that often. Can you picture that number over a pair of jeans with a belt? No way! Too bulky.
My potential solution: get rid of the damn 'skirt' a.k.a. peplum, and make the damn thing a cardigan. And to be more medieval-ish, make the cables go all the way up. Kind of like armour, I guess. And a narrower cable panel so I can still incorporate waist shaping. And LOTS of buttons, but no buttonholes, instead little loops to hook over the buttons. Go ahead and blame that adorable movie no one watched, Tristan and Isolde, I watched it twice in the last two weeks and I feel all inspired. So here is a badly drawn schematic of my vision...
I like the flaps on Ragna, but Ragna is waaay to big and busy for me. And I love lots of buttons.
The cable panel is 'narrow panel with little lattice' shown as a sketch beside the sweater, but I may go for the wider version, 'wide panel with little lattice', I still have to do the math and swatching for this one.

Susan

Vogue Knitting August 2005 lace trim bolero

I finished this thing a long time ago... (January-ish) but I haven't gotten around to posting a picture of it. Here are the pics:


I love this sweater, as soon as I saw it in the magazine, I HAD TO HAVE IT. I used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool 4 skiens, for the medium size, which I think is a bit too big on me. I only needed the 4th skien to finish the lace edging. One thing to note though, is that the instructions say to knit the edging separately and sew it on as you go. WTF? Who would do that? Instead I knitted on the border picking up stitches as I went, as can be done for attaching borders to lace shawls as outlined in Miller's Heirloom knitting.

Now for the catch... as some of you know I've been kinda under the weather for the last 6 months or so, and I've lost a few sizes of girth. So none of my dresses fit. NONE. Waah! So now I have nothing to throw this adorable sweater over! It clearly does NOT go with blue jeans and a tee shirt, as you can see in the lower picture. So I propose giving it to Thrace, wo will treat it lovingly and with care, NOT felt it, keep it far away from her cats, so one day, when I have nice clothes again, I can maybe borrow it? The terms of this adorable sweater adoption are negotiable... And Thrace, if you can think of any of my dresses you'd want (like the black mandarin collared number) let me know too. Blah. I hate replacing all my clothes. :(

Ivanova

FO: Bamboo and berries baby blanket

It's finally done! That's it, about to be packed up for delivery to the doting parents. Between work, a high performance computing course and all the other life stuff, I had to finish the applied i-cord edging during the trip. A couple of notes about the applied i-cord: I found that knitting the picked up stitches through the back loop looked neater, especially when working with strands of different colours.

I also got the idea from Grumperina to pick up yarn loops through the slip stitch selvage at the sides of the blanket, knit the loops, then finally use those slipped stitches to make the applied i-cord. The stitch patterns looked really nice on the wrong side, so no backing was necessary. I wish the picture I took of the wrong side hadn't turned out so blurry, but I was in a hurry. You'll just have to take my word for it.



I've already covered the pattern details. In hindsight, there are a couple of things I'd do differently with the border: I'd use a provisional cast-on for the i-cord instead of knitting a few extra rows (picking out the cast-on and getting those loops is a bitch), and I'd knit the i-cord starting with the wrong side facing forward (that way less of the underlying colour shows on the right side).

There was a little time for shopping in Vancouver, so I dragged the SO to Urban Yarns. They have a nice little sitting area, so he didn't suffer much. Since I'm trying very hard to be disciplined with money, I only bought a couple of balls of Cathay to try out with Glampyre's One Skein Wonder and something new from Elsebeth Lavold:



I haven't found her products locally yet, so I decided to get a ball of her Hempathy to see how it knits up and what it might be good for.

A vote on a future project

I mentioned in my last post that I was torn between a few project ideas for a reasonable quantity of Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies in color black purl. Here is a picture I pulled off the web of that colorway.
Nice and somber... sedate yet refined. Now for the potential projects..

#1 A very nice worsted weight lace shawl from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005.
Pros: If I do it, I'll have a non-laceweight shawl. Perfect for those cold seasons. I also think that
pictures of this shawl are as refined and sophisticated as the yarn.
Cons: It's hard to keep a shawl under a coat, so if it becomes a shawl, it won't get worn as much
as a sweater would. Not nearly as versatile.

#2. A cute sweater from Holiday 2005 Vogue Knitting.
Pros: It's shapely and feminine, nice bell sleeves and wide collar, reminiscent of the Victorian era.
Cons: I'm not that sure the amount of varigation in the yarn will go with this style. I guess I'll have to swatch a fair bit of it to be sure.

#3. The Fjalar sweater from the Viking book by Elsebeth Lavold. I adore this book, and in my opinion this sewater is the most feminine one of the lot that would fit a petite frame well.
Unfortunately I have a few issues with the design which I illlustrated in this photo.
I hate the drop sleeve, and the ribbing at the wrist. It makes the girl's arms look funny. And I hate the way the neckline puckers, I have seen the same think on the small number of finished
Fjalars posted on people's blogs. The solution: turn it into a set-in sleeve V-necked wrap-front
cardigan, illustrated below.
Bear in mind that this is hand-drawn by me, and I can't draw worth a damn! I would keep the cable panels on the sleeves, but do away with the ribbing. I would try to make the sleeves as straight as possible, which is not illustrated very well. Issues: how would I close it? Buttons don't seem like the best option. Snaps? Sassy little ties? A belt? Suggestions please!
Pros: It would be a shapely feminine sassy little number, slightly medieval looking to boot (never a bad thing).
Cons: It will be a fair amount of work to swatch, figure out measurements, etc..

Votes Please!

Ivanova

Remember this?

I snapped a shot of my friend's baby, wearing the "Childhood" cardigan from Knitty that I made last November. Isn't he cuuuute?

Yaaargh!

There, I released my barbaric yargh. Fans of Dead Poets Society anyone? Anyways,
I am swamped. Here is my progress so far...
1. Thesis: 2.5 Chapters to go
2. Job for when I'm done: Check
3. Preparing defense: No
4. Submitted Publication (that's been hangin' around for nearly a year (!)): No
5. Taxes: No

Finished objects since last post: 2. The cute mini-sweater from VK International (August 05)
and some cabled Armwarmers made from Lamb's Pride Worsted. I did them so it was a small project to try out LPW, and my conclusions are: a) it is a joy to knit with, b) it's itchy!

Now for my knitting progress, on the needles:
1. Flirty (Rowan Summer 2005 (number 37 I think)). My conclusions: The gauge they give is
in RIBBING! It inconveniently coincides with the gauge on the label for stocking sitch. How do they figure that eh? So I knit a fair bit, thought it was way too small, checked the gauge on the
pattern, and discovered that I will never achieve it. So now it's just hanging around, occupying
my number 3 needles. Yargh. I am seriously tempted to donate it to you, Thrace, so you can take this litle burden off my shoulders. Or maybe I'll change my mind when warmer weather approaches and I get tired of handling wool.

2. The stupid freakin' baby blanket mentioned below, ripped out and restarted as a Kiri.
I hate it. Why do SOME people have TWINS when I'm so freakin' busy? Yargh. I'm about 2/3 of the way there, and my main incentive to finish is to free up my US6 needles for a future project (See below).

3. A diamond trellis lace shawl, my own design, in a yarn I love (handpaintedyarn.com's lace pure wool, color little lovely). This one is pretty fun to knit, and I want to submit the pattern when it's all done to the Anti-Craft. I hope they'll dig it, but I haven't heard anything about my previous submission yet, so who knows.

Future Knitting:
1. A portion of another baby blanket. Yargh. If anyone else gets pregnant, I will scream. Or go to Baby Gap instead of knitting. Or scream at Baby Gap. You get the picture. (Note: this does not apply to you, Thrace. Feel free to have children, to get our mother off my back about having grandkids. But you won't get any knitted gifts :). )

2. Ragna. I recently aquired Lavold's Viking book, and I adore it. Most of all, I love Ragna, so I will make it for my dear sweet husband, who has been tolerating the accumulation of yarn admirably.

3. Menja from Lavold's designer collection book 1. I think it's the cutest sweater EVER and I HAVE to have it. The yarn is already waiting for me to free up those US6 needles! Yargh.

4. My congragulatory/depression yarn gift to myself is a bunch of Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies. I am torn between a lacy/cabled zippered cardigan with a wide collar in VK Holiday 2005 and a leafy lace shawl (made from cashmere! yargh) in VK fall 2005. Votes please....

I'll post pictures as soon as I get less swamped, I promise. Shame on me, I am a very bad blogger.

Ivanova

Coronet #2

So, I liked this pattern enough to make a second one. I made this one for myself. I used Naturally Sensation (70% Merino, 30% Angora) in lavender and it's really soft. I really enjoyed knitting with it since it's very springy (helloooo cables). I did some math to figure out how many stitches I needed, changed the cable pattern to one I found on an aran toque (5-fold braid) and used the Kittyville hat decrease (with more stitches) instead of the one in the Coronet pattern. I actually think that I would have been better off using the Coronet decrease. The goal in using the Kittyville decrease was to make it less puckered at the top, but I think that it ended up looking worse... But tolerable. I couldn't be too picky since I also needed a warm hat because of the bone chilling temperatures outside.

I also should have mentioned that I didn't make the hat anywhere near as long before decreasing as described in the Coronet pattern. Working 9.5 inches from the bottom band for hat #1 would only have worked if my sister's boyfriend was one of the Coneheads.

Coronet #1

Well, it was supposed to be one of my many handmade Christmas gifts, but this one didn't get finished in time. I completed it in January and gave it to my sister's boyfriend before taking a picture of it. In my haste, I forgot to... I was rushing since, well, baby it was cold outside and he had no hat. Anyway, I had them over to my place a few weeks ago to watch a few episodes of Smallville (one of my few guilty pleasures) which gave me an opportunity to finally snap a shot. I wanted a photo reminiscent of a hilarious shot I saw on "you knit what".


Except that he looks really happy instead of scared and dejected. Probably because the hat's just so amazing. Yeah... That's it....

Anyway, the pattern is Coronet from Knitty. I used the yarn specified in the pattern, which is Lamb's Pride Worsted. This was my first attempt at cabling and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Hey! I thought this was a knitting blog!

I have been knitting a lot, but have failed to post regularly to the blog (shame on me). But I do have a photo of a doily I made for my mother. Maybe I should think about doing the geologically sound thing next time and put a penny beside it for scale. It's actually fairly small. Truly I do make too many things for other people, but I'm now working on stuff for myself which I'll blog about later. The unfortunate thing about making stuff for people who don't do crafts (like my mother) is that they now expect that you can whip off 7 more without it being too much trouble (!)

While I don't mind making the odd thing for my mother, crochet with cotton thread and a 1.5 mm hook doesn't really yank my crank, if you know what I mean. I'd much rather be knitting!

Bamboo and berries baby blanket progress

As you can see, I've made it to the second colour set (the colours here are a little dark compared to real life). I think this pattern is working out pretty well.






This picture links to a closeup of the stitch pattern. The bamboo rib and berries stitch make for a nice thick yet airy and flexible fabric. Considering that the recipient lives in Vancouver, this should be about right for the damp, chilly but not really cold climate.

FO: Bunny Hat

I knit the bunny hat for the SO's brand new niece (as requested by her Mom). This was knit in the larger size using Rowan Wool Cotton with embroidery done in Lion Brand MicroSpun.

It was an easy project and I'd probably make it again, except that I hate, hate! embroidery. It's over now.

Pattern mods: There's a small mistake in the instructions for the larger size. Also, I knit the ears in the round using half-assed two-colour stranding to keep the brown yarn in play while knitting the pink section. I like the way the ears turned out; they're stiffer than in the original pattern, which looked like crap when sewn together.

Baby blanket

This is my second start on this blanket (using KnitPicks Merino Style). It started out as a Big Bad Baby blanket variant, but then I got bored. A couple of baby sweaters I made recently (which I'll post once they're finished) were done in stockinette. I'm tired of stockinette.

So I changed the red panel to Berry stitch from Walker's Second Treasury. It's hard to see the detail in this photo, but it looks really cute. About 30 rows in however, I found that the stockinette/reverse stockinette sections were too stiff to work well with the Berry stitch. Arrgh.

After a few evenings of head pounding, I found a scarf pattern in Odd Ball Knitting (a gift from the SO's sister) done in Bamboo rib. It produces a flexible yet dense fabric that contrasts nicely with the berries. I'll post updates once I switch to the next colour set.

A New Year and New FO's

Happy New Year everyone! I got loads of knitting done over the break with the very long train rides to visit family and in-laws, so here are a bunch of new f.o.'s...
First up is my Kiri by Polly. I LOVE her, and I raced to get her done in time for New Year's eve and succeeded. I made her from handpaintedyarn.com's burgundy wool laceweight, this burgundy is my new favourite color. I knitted beads into the points following instructions in Evelyn Clark's Leaf Lace Shawl from Fiber Trends. The beads are Czech crystal beads, just under 1/4 inch long, in a cranberry color. They may be hard to see in the photo. I did 12 repeats
of the pattern, and it blocked to about 6 ft. wide and about 2.5 ft. deep. But then when I was done, I was like 'What do I do with the leftover 200 yds or so of this gorgeous yarn?'. So I came
up with these...


Lace muffatees! With a ruffle! And they're especially perfect because the shawl edge comes to my elbow.. see below. Unfortunately my hb says I look like a goth-knitting-superhero when I wear them together... what does he know anyway?

Unfortunately I had to frog the Flower Basket baby blanket because I made a HUGE mistake (I hang my head in shame) so now I'm making my cousin Kiri #2. Why waste the part of my brain that has memorized Kiri? And I also HAD to make the lace trim bolero from Vogue Knitting International that came out in the summer... I'm almost finished that too... just another couple of evenings. And I think I'll make cabled muffatees with the fiber insurance I bought that it looks like I won't need... cabled with a ruffle, all the way to the elbow...

Susan

Some new pictures!

So here I am, ready to leave town, and I realized that I haven't blogged in ages!
I finished the Branching out from Knitty http://www.knitty.com
in the leftover Alpaca Cloud from Knitpicks that I made my grandmother's shawl out of.
I reall like the way it looks, but if I'd had more time, I would have added a pointy edging to the top and bottom edges. It wasn't super easy like the leaf lace or cobweb shawls, but once I got going it went wuickly enough.

And here's a picture of the newest mom in my family wearing the baby shawl/blanket that I completed just in time for the baby shower. This picture was taken at the baby shower. It's the leaf lace shawl from Fiber Trends, and as you can see, it's not very big. I went one repeat over the smallest size. If I make it for myself, I'll make a large one 'cause I like my shawls to be BIG.

Has anyone checked out the Fall 2005 Vogue knitting? Lovely shawl patterns... I'm particularly drawn to the green wavy lace one, knitted out of 10 balls of cashmere (patttern #15). But seriously folks... CASHMERE ?!!? I know it's luxury and wonderful and all that stuff, but when you do the math, it turns out to be a nearly $400 shawl and you still have to put the labor in!
I think the KnitPicks Wool of the Andes will be a reasonable substitute, they certainly have the color choice (I'm thinking Fern) and at $1.79 a ball for 110 yards I'll need about 15-16 balls so that's a less than $40 project. Yikes!

And I also love the Holiday 2005 issue with the victorian-inspired glam and stuff, but it'll have to wait. Sigh. Back to the thesis...

Susan

Only 20 days to finish...

Those Christmas knitting projects! So far, I've temporarily turfed the Spanish Peacock Shawl from a Gathering of lace, because I ran out of yarn AGAIN! Waah! It will definitely have to wait till the new year. I'm still working on the Flower Basket Shawl for baby #2, and I'm about 40% there. I've started a Branching Out for a good friend out of the leftover Alpaca Cloud, and I've started a Kiri for myself, because I deserve something nice too, don't I? Well, I've got lots to do and not enough time, as usual, not to mention that end-of-term marking. Yuck. Well, best of luck to Delenn, who is now in beatiful San Francisco, good luck at the conference!

Susan

Just a quick one...

Just had to say that sometimes students really suck. It seems like the whiniest ones who suck up all your time are the ones who need it the least because all the do is run away and squander your advice with their whiny attention getting ways. It's the ones who never come to you for help, but who you know almost almost get it from the work that they hand in to you that break your heart. I know I need to not think this way in order to get through, but really, the whole process of marking and evaluation is just making me cry right now. Really it is. I guess that's kind of sad. Maybe I need to find another line of work.

On a knitting related note, I am working up the trim on this manos vest that I've been making for many many months now, and I am really just loving the way it's looking. As soon as I find my camera cable, I promise a pic. I'll look when I'm not totally dead dead tired. I am quite proud of this one, and I have just the outfit to wear it with. I've also been working on a beaded cabled hat. I'm not so sure about the yarn (which is variegated) and the cables ... that's generally a no no. I'm really enjoying the way the beads are all going in.

Oh yeah ... I always thought about doing something like this, but never had the real burning urge, the attention span, or the guts. Not to mention the sense of humour. Check out You Knit What. I laughed for hours last Friday at some of the selections they had. Hopefully I never see any of my stuff there, but if I do I hope I have the good sense to take it with humour.

Cheers. I must tumble to bed now ... after I cast off this neckline!

Sam.

Kids these days...

So I went to an informal seminar talk given by a junior graduate student in my area of experimental physics. In this talk (which was mostly mumbling I might add) some graphs were presented displaying some very nice power-law scalings for a couple of runs. But as far as I could see there were no error bars on the experimentally measured data points, and no uncertainties expressed in the power-law scaling relations. I asked him about it during the questions and he gave an uncertainty of less than 10% which is pretty darned good. To get an error of less than 10% is difficult in most experiments and worth advertising. Anyways, after the talk he said "Count on you to ask about technica details". I was stunned. Measurement uncertainties are a TECHNICAL DETAIL? For an EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICIST? Shame... Shame... Kids these days... what can ya do?

Susan

Leaf Lace Shawl/Baby Blanket Done!

Whew! It's done just in time for the baby shower. It is Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Shawl, knit in KnitPicks Sock Garden in color Hollyberry, on size 6 (US) needles. I did one extra repeat over the small size. And the edges DO NOT curl! I followed the advice on yahoo's Lace for All Seasons group for the Kiri (http://alltangledup.com ) edging and used a bigger US 8 needle for the bind off. I'll be making Kiri after I'm done the Fiber Trends Flower Basket Shawl for baby blanket #2. My cousin's wife is having twins, but they'll have to wait till Christmas for the second shawl/baby blanket. Luckily this one was pretty easy, I honestly did not break a sweat knitting this one until the edging, because I was running out of time, however it's not my fault, the babies are being delivered a couple of weeks early with a caesarian section. This was a 3-4 week on and off the kneedles project, and completely gratifying to block. I know I complained earlier about the fabric seeming too tight, but after the pre-blocking wash and soak, it expanded very nicely. It had a lot of stretch, and still has some spring in it yet! I didn't block the cr*p out of it because it is a baby blanket and not an adult shawl. I shouldn't be surprised by the blocking of a shawl at my current level of experience, but it was like, wow.

Susan

Childhood

I finally finished "Childhood" from Knitty. I used Lemongrass and Maize Mission Falls cotton. Unfortunately, since I'm a bit of a n00b, the finished dimensions didn't really work out. The striped bands at the front are supposed to overlap. If I did that, I think that I would end up choking my friend's baby. So I found some metal clasps and I think that it still looks pretty nice. I think that it ended up longer than it was wide since the pattern asks you to knit for a certain length before shaping the armholes. Clearly I screwed up the gauge across. Oh, well... For a first attempt at something with pieces that I had to sew together, I'm pretty happy with the result.

Delenn