Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Cotton Fleece in teal, Blue Sky Organic Cotton in sand, AV Allegra in ocean and AV Dianna in...ecru tinged with lime. Enough materials for 4 pieces. Also in the bag: AV spring 2005 and fall 2003 pattern books. I only spent a total of 40 minutes at WEBS, even though with the bounty they had it could easily have been 40 days. I deliberately stayed away from the warehouse and stuck to the store and stuck to my list.
Filed Under: Yarn Stash
Saturday, March 26, 2005
We're off to the Berkshires this weekend where I can get my yarn stashing grooove on. On my list of to-get are Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for the Apricot Jacket (I'm currently using Cotton-Ease but still finding it too stiff), more Cotton Fleece for the Cotton Tank from IK, extra Cotton Fleece for a couple more tanks or jackets to make as gifts, as well as materials for the two sleeveless tops from AV Spring 2005.
I'm almost done with the Eyelet Cardi/Bunny Wrap, but not in time to wear for Easter. It's going to be 40 degrees anyway.
Happy weekend!
Filed Under: Projects
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Blocking the back panel
I have the most ghetto blocking board ever, consisting of an old towel draped over a dismembered cardboard box. Yesterday I broke down and decided to buy a big girl's blocking board from joann.com, because my ruleless board isn't preventing me from blocking my pieces a bit waywardly. This back panel is slanting a bit to the left.
Is it the weekend yet? I am so excited about visiting Webs. Already made a list of materials I'm interested in order to avoid the Overwhelmed-with-All-the-Choices Paralysis upon entering the store. Projects for this spring/summer will include a couple from Adrienne V.'s spring 2005 book, and Webs has the AV yarn called for. If I go for them it'll be the first time I'm not yarn substituting.
 
I'm going to love knitting for summer pieces because none of them will have sleeves which means fast fast fast and finished pieces every week aww yeaaaaah. Knitting is going to make me destitute.
Filed Under: Projects | Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Monday, March 21, 2005
Savanna is finished with her brand-new super skinny arms!
Pattern: Sweater with Cable Patterns #18 from Rebecca 28.
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky, 15 skeins
Gauge: 14 sts and 19 rows to 10 cm, size 10/6mm needles
Gone are the loose and flappy wings. I'm really glad I stuck this out and reconstructed the sleeves because I wouldn't have worn this sweater otherwise. But I wasn't about to let all that yarn and time go to waste. I worked out the math and ended up reducing the number of stitches by 8 (about 2 inches), increased one stitch on each side 10 times instead of 11, bound off the same amount, and ended with 10 stitches for the cap instead of 14. This did not prove to be huge difference when attaching the sleeve to the body, a task WHICH by the way, no longer makes me cry. Even though re-doing the sleeves set me back a week, I now actually understand the whole sleeve shaping voodoo magic. Woot.
Other changes I made: didn't knit the cable pattern for the back; knit only 5 rows of ribbing for the sleeves; did SSK in place of s1, k1, psso as ssk looks more symmetrical with k2tog; knit shorter turtleneck as original pattern would have turtleneck up to eyelids.
So this is the last sweater of the season. In all I completed 3 sweaters in the last 3 months. Not bad, considering I just graduated from scarves in January. I love knitting.
Bring on the Bunny Wrap!!
(yet another name for the Eyelet Cardi)
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Rebecca 28 | Savanna
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Normally I would be totally pissed at the prospect of more snow, especially on the first day of Spring, but then that also means if I finish my Savanna sweater soonish rather than laterish I can still wear it soonish rather than laterish in the yearish. Today's goal is to re-do a single sleeve, re-attach it to the body and see how that looks before I reconstruct the other.
Meanwhile this week I have been working on the Eyelet Cardi. I really love the Lush yarn. I'm hoping to finish it by Easter when we go visit the in-laws in western mass. OOO I've coerced Duck to a sidetrip to the WEBS store in Northampton, and then to Colorful Stitches (beautiful spacious store) in Lenox. Eeeee!
Filed Under: Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Savanna sweater: had a love fest with tape measure and calculator to come up with new measurements for slimmer sleeves.
Unseamed one of the gigantic sleeves and wept in bitterness as nearly 3 hours of seaming work unraveled.
Eyelet Cardi: returned the ghastly Soft Kid for 4 hanks of Classic Elite Lush, an angora/wool blend, in pink. Girly bunny softness! Have knitted 11 cm of pattern and am in love with Lush.
 New! Apricot Jacket: Been dying to make this
ubiquitous cardigan forever, from Rebecca 27. Finally received English
copy. At same time ordered Jo Sharp Soho Summer as yarn material, in
color that would rename cardigan to Lemon Chiffon Jacket, or Citronade
Jacket. Must have fallen on head prior to order as yarn is 1) wrong
gauge 2) not at all Lemon Chiffon but more Kryptonian Puke in color 3)
stiff as a board 4) splitty as hell. Ducked into yarn shops to feel out
substitutes: Rowan All Seasons Cotton (no), Debbie Bliss Angora Cotton
(no), and discovered all were too inelastic and hard. Returned Soho
Summer. Then ordered Lion Brand Cotton Ease online, in banana cream.
Filed Under: Projects | Rebecca 28 | Rebecca 29
Sunday, March 13, 2005
...I'm amputating the arms and throwing them back in the water.
Why? Because they are so large and disporportionate that I look like Twiggy with gorilla arms. Veebs and his enormous cat bottom could hide inside undetected. I could jump off a cliff arms extended and maintain altitude. But you won't see me modeling it, oh no.
The arms look totally goofy.
Don't see what the big hoo ha's all about? Let's compare the sleeve width with that of my last completed Rebecca sweater:
Savanna cast on more stitches than the previous sweater, which was in a 2x2 rib. So I don't get why the pattern called for a larger width, in stockinette. Puzzled. Befuddled. Frustrated. I want to decrease the width by as much as 12 stitches, but I'd still have to increase enough towards the underarms to maintain 28 cm circumference there. Which means more increases...In order to maintain the sleeve narrowness AND account for the 28 cm at the underarms, can I increase over a shorter number of rows? Increase every 2 rows instead of 8? Will that make the sleeve all flarey towards the top?
I knew my beginner's luck would run out. Anyway, good learning experience. It's all good. Spring's only a week away but luckily (or not), this is New England. There's still plenty of time to wear thick chunky wool sweaters. Just give it to me without the thick chunky wool sleeves, thanks.
Oh I also stopped by at Spark after work on Friday. It was...aight. Yarn selection was minimal. Paper selection was minial. Then again being Costco of crafts is not their M.O. However, creative inspiration is, so it would have been nice to have seen some examples of fine yarn work on display, some examples of hand-stamped invitations on display, something you could admire and touch and say, I want to make THAT. Show me how to make THAT. But aside from some really lovely jewelry pieces, there was very little. It was all just kind of, sparse, rather than spark.
Tall glass of sidecar full of soothing alcohol is a-callin'. Later.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28 | Savanna
Friday, March 11, 2005
OK. As I sit here thinking about knitting rather than working, I've decided to officially give up on the Soft Kid. Not only that, I officially DESPISE Soft Kid! I officially BAN Soft Kid from my life. FOREVER! I spent another several hours last night knitting pathetically little. The Addi's helped somewhat but, I still could not get under both stitches for k2tog and as result of my man-handling, those stitches split and split some more. It couldn't have gotten any fuzzier and therefore more difficult to see. So I ripped and tried to start afresh but even that was nasty. All the little hairs were matted together and it was like trying to remove it from velcro. I had to cut the yarn instead, tried a few rows again, had better results but noticed all the shedding, and just wasn't at all having fun. When that happens, why go on. The whole knitting credo is all about relaxing and enjoying your work is it not?
I'm thinking of exchanging the remaining skeins for Rowan Calmer. I know I know, not at all the same drape but I think it will still work out ok. Or maybe Rowan Kid Classic? Anything that has more weight and less fuzz.
Filed Under: Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Eyelet Cardi from Rebecca 29 has begun. Also alternatively called the Rebecca Mini Cardi or the Mini Wrap from Rebecca or the Rebecca Wraparound Mini Cardi knit with GGH Soft Kid that is the Bane of My Existence.
I'm officially calling it the Eyelet Cardi. So there.
Look at me, I'm on FIRE.
I knit 5 rows last night and it took me an hour. Murderous. Could not get the needle underneath both stitches for a k2tog to save my life. Today during my lunch break I stopped at Newbury Yarns for a pair of circular Addi's. Hopefully it'll be easier knitting with those.
I've been thinking of substitutions for the Soft Kid, something airy and light and about the same gauge. I think the Peruvian Highland Wool would actually work pretty well, being extremely light and the same gauge the Eyelet Cardi calls for.
There's also Wings from Classic Elite, made from alpaca, silk, and hollow core wool. If that doesn't sound light and airy in a feathery kind of way then I don't know what does. It also has the feel of cashmere so another plus.
I haven't given up on the Soft Kid. Yet. It's always good to have alternatives.
Filed Under: Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi | Yarn Stash
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
For me all hell breaks loose when it rains. Despite being underneath the umbrella my lunch bag became damp enough to rip and thus I had to hold contents of bag (my lunch in various containers) tenuously in my arms while walking to the train. On board the crowded train it was standing room only, my umbrella refused to close, popping open and spraying fellow commuters like a wet dog shaking off its coat. While wrestling with the umbrella to get it closed, the contents of ripped lunch bag clamped in my armpit popped out, and after I retrieving lunch containers from dirty, wet, gritty train floor and finally getting the umbrella shut, my trousers and shirt front were completely blotched in rain water. I looked like I had just given a Saint Bernard his bath. I'll take snow anyday over rain. I hate the rain.
Yesterday on way to grab lunch I stopped at Newbury Yarns for more debbie bliss merino chunky #18, the lights were out and there was an "Be back soon!" post-it taped to the door. What is this, Europe?! America doesn't dooooo lunchtime siestas. I hung around for as long as I could, ducking into Bliss (uh oh saw a tote on sale that I'd been eyeing since the Fall), Fresh, various other boutiques and 30 minuters later the store was still closed. Grrrrrr. I went back a couple of hours later, and wouldn't you know it, she didn't have the yarn! Gave me the "Yeah yeah I have it" brush-off when I tried to give her the dyelot over the phone, and now when I'm in the store she's all, "You should have given me the color number!" Then she proceeded to chastise me for buying it online and it's like Lady, work with me. You don't have the yarn, what am I supposed to do.
After work I visited Woolcott in Harvard Sq. for the GGH Soft Kid. I swear everytime I walk into a yarn store I invariably find myself involved in a very stressful game of Jenga. There has got to be a better way to stock yarn aside from cubbie holes. How about netting? You can see and rummage through it without fear of Every Single Goddamn Ball of Yarn Falling Out.
Luckily in this case Soft Kid was stocked at the very bottom cubbie hole. I came away with 5 skeins in HOT FUSHIA for the Rebecca 29 Minicardi, and now I'm not so sure about the color. It is so HOT, so FUSHIA. Not only am I unsure about the color, I am unsure about the yarn. I tried knitting a row and god. I'm knitting with cobwebs. I'm knitting with unhealthy, weak frizzy hair. Hard to hold, hard to see, breaks easily. Rebecca 29 is coming in the mail today, I'll give it a go and see how one skein turns out...
Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Damnit. I am short one whole sleeve. I say this with much anger and surprise when I should be flogging myself for my lapse in basic arithmetic.
Going into this I already knew I was short 3 skeins, and thought no problem, I'll get that yardage back by not cabling the back. 3 skeins did not sound like a lot to my little brain, but do the math and 3 skeins of merino chunky equals....(calculating)...164 yards which equals nearly 500 feet of yarn I don't have, and therefore I was clearly stupid to think I could get that back by simply not cabling a panel.
Not wanting to order online and wait wait wait, I called every yarn store nearby to see if they had any merino chunky dyelot #18 in stock and only one store did, but being busy with a customer she didn't actually check it in person. Tomorrow I'll break from work to walk to Newbury Yarns and hope she's not a dirty liar. I'm so close to finishing!
3-needle bind-off, so beautiful in the sun.
The good news is: I left the shoulder stitches live so I could try the 3-needle bind-off. A little clunky with such large needles, but it turned out brilliant. Now the front and back panels are joined at the shoulders. Anything to cut seaming down.
But there's enough yarn for the turtleneck.
If you look to the left, you will see a ghastly PSSO gone horribly awry.
The pass-over stitch is way loose. Meant to do an SSK but forgot.
(Now that I've told you to look closely, try not to next time.)
In the meantime I'm going to finish up the turtleneck.
Speaking of. The instructions for this pattern is in really garbly English. For example, the instructions for the neck says:
Pick up around neck edge with circular needles the 23 sts. off each holder = 76 sts.
Er...There are 12 sts on front holder and 18 on back holder, not 23. The 23 they're referring to is the number to pick up on each neck edge.
23+23+12+18 = 76.
Just thinking now, I could have just gone and cabled the back afterall. Not cabling it really only saved me at most half a skein of yardage. And maybe it wouldn't have looked too busy...Ah, always second-guessing. Next time.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28 | Savanna
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Front and back in the pre-blocked state
Before I forget how I did this, some notes on knitting the back. I did not follow the pattern (I don't think I ever have followed any pattern once 100%...), replacing the cable pattern for straight stockinette stitch. As a result, I had to reduce the number of total stitches in order to get the same gauge as the cabled front. I reduced the number to cast on from 66 to 56, in order to get total width of about 40 cm.
So to make sure this number would all add up with the amount of decreases necessary, I started calculated backwards, beginning with the initial estimation of 56 stitches to obtain gauge.
I skipped the part where you bind off at the neck edge to give a slight slope ("At neck edge bind off on every 2nd row 4 sts once and 2 sts once"). Doing that would throw the width off, as you would need more stitches to account for the decrease. I don't think it would be horrible if omitted, so I planned on knitting the final row straight through.
When all the decreases were completed for the armhole, it was important that I still came out with a final number of stitches that would add up to:
12 stitches for left shoulder
18 center stitches for neck
12 stitches for right shoulder
= 42 final stitches
The number of shoulder stitches had to match the front, so that couldn't change.
The number of decreases for the armhole totaled 16 stitches (3x2 bind-off + 5x2 decrease = 16).
But 56 - 16 = 40. I need to end up with 42.
So cast on 58 instead.
Now the babies are blocking and I'll be starting on the sleeves. No math invovled thankfully.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28
Saturday, March 05, 2005
I really need to get out more. Or at least join a REAL knitting circle.
Even though it's been a crazy week at work, I've been able to make huge progress on the 2nd Rebecca sweater - "Sweater with Cable Patterns". It is such a fast knit. Oh yeah I'm calling it "Savanna." The front and back of Savanna are all knitted up. I ditched the cable pattern for the back in order to save yarn, and also because the cabling is rather intricate and it would look too busy and "irish" if the back were cabled as well. So the back is just plain ole stockinette stitch.
Now will cast on the sleeves tonight during one of this week's Netflix pix: A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, and Elf. It will be the first time watching The Godfather. Tragic.
If all goes well I will have another sweater by this weekend. I say this knowing full well that seaming ends up taking 100x's more time than I think it will. I'm feeling optimistic, again.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28 | Savanna
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