08.17.08
Slow going
I started knitting this swirly baby hat, only to find out that it takes me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to knit. This is the progress after 6 bus rides (about 4 hours).
I decided to rip back the swirly pattern and just knit in stockinette stitch on US2s. Here’s how that looks:
Not nearly as cute, but now there’s a chance I’ll actually finish the hat before the baby is born. The work above took about 1 hour.
08.14.08
Jellyfish or blanket?
I’ve made some more Ravelympics progress…
My Hemlock Ring blanket is one step closer to being done. Now I just have to weave in the ends and block it. I have my doubts as to whether this pile of knitting that resembles a jellyfish can be blocked into more of a blanket shape… I think that’s why it took me so long to finish it. It’s hard to motivate myself to finish things that are at risk of falling short of my expectations. Had it not been for the Ravelympics this may not have been getting blocked until 2 days before Christmas. (It’s a Christmas gift).
A sort of productive day
This is what I did on Sunday.
I accomplished a lot while sitting in the Toronto airport ALL DAY. ALL. DAY. We were supposed to have a 1.5 hour direct flight from Toronto to home, but it was canceled due to mechanical problems. We spent 13 hours in various airports on Sunday, and about 6 hours on airplanes. Airplanes are not my favorite place in the world to be. There are not a lot of options to pass the time. So I knit. And knit some more. And pretty soon I my foliage hat nearly done. I would’ve finished it but I didn’t have the US5 dpns I needed for the ribbing.
07.21.08
Quant, take 2
A while back I finished knitting a Quant for a Christmas gift and it looked like I had enough left over for a second Quant. Here it is:
The ball of yarn is decreasing at an alarming rate. I used just slightly over half the yarn on the first Quant, and I had planned on making this one a little smaller anyway, so I’m pretty sure it will be enough. Pretty sure. I knit the i-cord extra long in case it ends up being even shorter than I intended.
04.29.08
WIP: Bath puffy
I picked up this handspun hemp yarn at Loopy Yarns while I was in Chicago last summer.
I thought about knitting it up into a bracelet or cuff, but I finally decided to turn it into a bath puffy from the One Skein book.
I made the right decision. The yarn is thick-and-thin, very stiff and it sheds a lot. I am knitting it on US7 needles (2 sizes smaller than what was called for in the pattern) and I cannot imagine knitting it on a smaller needle… so no bracelet will be made out of this yarn in the future. Because the yarn is so stiff it is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to knit, I am only about halfway done after working on it for probably 5 hours. I cast on this project because I thought it would be a quick knit and after a couple failures on other projects I just wanted to finish SOMETHING. I was WRONG. This project is going to take a long time. The good news, though, is that since it is made out of hemp it will last a super long time and I will not need to knit a replacement for a very, very long while.
04.28.08
Socks in progress
I’ve been working on another pair of toe-up socks using the Knitty universal toe-up sock pattern, this time with 60 stitches on US2s from Knitpicks. The yarn is Crystal Palace Maizy, which is 82% corn fiber and 18% elastic. I am really liking the elasticity of the yarn, I think it’s going to make a very cushy pair of socks. I am not so fond of the fact that the variegation on the socks looks quite a bit different, even though the yarn is from the same dyelot and both socks have the exact same number of stitches. (I counted. Many times.) But I think the differences in variegation will grow on me, just like it did last time.
This is my first pair of socks on the Knitpicks needles, and I have to say they are working quite well. The cable is really flexible and doesn’t kink, and the joins of the cable with the needles are pretty smooth. Definitely a good value for the price!
04.04.08
Leaf tshirt
After that last post about the leaf tshirt I tried on the sweater and the short rows did not look right. The short rows were too long (starting directly below the center of the arm holes) and they were too far below the arm holes. So I had added a bunch of fabric below my bust, and wider than my bust, which makes for a really awful looking sweater. Unfortunately this problem did not reveal itself until I had knit a significant amount PAST the short rows. When I tried the shirt on immediately after the short rows it looked great. I guess that to see how the short row shaping is going to look you need to knit an inch or so past the short rows, then try the garment on. Lesson learned.
When I began the short rows I was thinking about them as if they were exactly like darts in a dress shirt. There are some key differences between the pseudo-darts made by short rows and the darts in dress shirts:
- Darts in dress shirts are there to SUBTRACT FABRIC to make the waist of a shirt smaller than the bust. Short rows are there to ADD FABRIC to make the bust larger.
- The placement of darts and short rows are different. Darts in dress shirts start a few inches directly under the center of the arm hole (at the side seam) at the bottom of the bust, and they angle up to the center of the bust. The darts in dress shirts are much, much longer than the pseudo-darts made by short rows. The pseudo-darts made by short rows do not angle up, they go straight across the garment. The first stitch of your short rows should start an inch or more in from your armpits and about halfway down the bust.
- Darts on a dress shirt lay flat and look nice when the shirt is hanging or folded. Short rows do not lay flat and your shirt will look a little wonky when hanging or folded. (See picture below)
I moved the short rows up and in an inch, and the shirt fits a million times better. Yay!
03.17.08
Leaf T
I’ve been working on a Leaf T lately. I’m using Knitpicks Cotlin yarn, of which I have 6 balls. So far I’ve made three modifications to the pattern: doing a 1×1 rib for a few rows of the neck, casting on a few stitches in the armpit rather than simply joining the front and back together at the bottom of the armhole, and doing some short row bust shaping. My theory is that the short row bust shaping will eliminate a coupla problems I’ve had with previous sweaters: the front of the neckline creeping up while the back of the neckline creeps downward, the fabric puckering a bit under the arms, and the need to decrease a bunch of stitches for the waist. I’m hoping that with the short row bust shaping this tshirt won’t need any waist or hip shaping. We’ll see.
There may be a few more modifications in store for this tshirt. I’ve yet to decide if I want to keep it sleeveless, add cap sleeves or 3/4 sleeves. That depends on how much yarn the body of the sweater takes. I’m intending to make the sweater pretty long, and maybe into a sort of tunic with slits in the sides or short row shaping to make a shirttail-like hem line. Again, we’ll see. Right now I’m on my second ball of yarn and just past the bust shaping, so I have a long way to go.
03.06.08
Lily of the valley
This is what was soaking in the cup yesterday… a Perdita bracelet. This is the Lily of the Valley version. Lily of the valley are one of my favorite flowers. I love the way they smell. I love that they look so delicate, and yet they are poisonous. Not that I’m especially fond of poisonous things, but it’s the poisonous-ness that keeps the wildlife from eating them, and therefore keeps them coming back every year.
Anywho, I made this bracelet with DMC pearl cotton yarn and some glass beads with size US1 needles. It didn’t take very long… maybe 3 movies worth of knitting. All that’s left is to crochet some button holes and attach buttons. And to wait for the weather to be warm enough to wear a short sleeve shirt so I can show off my new bracelet… there is still at least a foot of snow in our yard so it might be a while :/
