Not So Fancy Nancy

Klaralund seamed and worn!

I'm getting a little tired of seaming around here. Don't feel like I can knit until Klaralund and Bunnies are sewn, so I've not knitted in over three days and I'm getting bored with this self-imposed block. But, it's just not right with Easter, spring break and Grandparent's visit around the corner not to finish Bunnies before doing anything for myself. Just not right. But boy would I like to be less responsible right now! Klaralund wore me out. Too much sitting. Way too much fiddling. Got DH to take photos today. Sorry for the mixed quality, but he's new to the camera and I just don't want to change back again (it's 67 and sunny, not sweater weather until evening).

So, here it is. I like this photo because it shows the modified garter rows across the shoulders. It's a nice bit of texture that doesn't show as well in other shots.

I like Klara now, but in honor of full disclosure, I must tell you this baby got WORKED. I blocked the heck out of it only to find that once again, my arms really really really are that short. You'd think I'd finally believe, but I keep trying to extend them through sheer will. Worrying that these sleeves would be too short, I pulled them to the pattern length. Yeah sure. I kept quiet here, but I was having huge doubts when I was sewing as to whether I'd look just bad, or deeply horrible. All that seaming gave me ample time to contemplate how I would blog this failure - maybe a sweater photo only? Finally couldn't wait a second longer to see, so I put it on with the right front bodice unsewn. It was truly comical - that side of the panel dropped down and made it the ultimate nursing sweater. Sorry, no blog pics.

Finished the seaming and found the whole thing just too darned big. Not only am I short, but I'm actually not that wide. Looked like I'd raided my big sister's closet. So, I stuck it in the wash, let it dry flat about 85%, then stuck it in the dryer. A daring and desperate move, but it worked. Took 3" off the bodice and 2" off each sleeve. And it's softer too.

Here are two more pics to show the sleeve treatment. The pattern has you cast on the final number of stitches and knit straight all the way up and across the shoulder to cast off, but I shaped the wrists instead and I'm happy with that. (See my previous post for a blocking photo.) I also shaped the waist, which again I'm happy with. It was a mistake though to open it back up again at the bodice - I'm a little more pear than hourglass. The fit, particularly on the dropped shoulders, would have been better without that extra inch on each side. Please forgive the goofy "STOP in the Name of Love" pose - like I said, these were the best of 15! Laugh at me, but please don't laugh at my sweater - that I couldn't take.

Well, at least I had knitting time!

Thanks for all the good thoughts and kind comments. Again, please forgive me this time for not answering individually. Still trying to get back on track and can't sit for a long time comfortably.

My procedure went well. They forgot to tell me not to eat, so I got to have it without sedation. FYI - I don't recommend being totally awake on the OR table. It's so reassuring to have the support staff discusses their weekends while you have a drill in your spine and the doctor is correcting their drug dosage math and instrument layout. At least my doc was on topic and I got to see the stuff from my disc which was so thoughtfully described by an onlooker as "ewww, looks like a booger". Not the A-team that morning, but my doctor is very good, so I held that thought. Seem to be recuperating well, but at this point only time will tell.

So, I had the first 72 hours post-op to spend "restfully" and got very good at knitting on my back and side. Bunny sweater is on the edging (no pics today - needs blocking), Klaralund is ready for seaming and Clapotis II is done and already worn.

I love how this turned out! I did choose to block it to make it a little wider and shorter since the yarn tended to pull long. It's incredibly light weight and yet cozy across my shoulders.

The Lavold Silky Wool doesn't have the bounce of the merino, but it's got it's own kind of beautiful drape. The yarn handled well and knitted up quickly and while the stitches are intentionally loose (this yarn calls for US 6 needles) they are reasonably consistent for this type of "natural" yarn and the ladders hold well.

When I feel better I will add a photo wearing it. Will also post final measurements in the Finished gallery soon. I followed the pattern and used 3.25 balls of the on US 7's.

Klaralund is in the final stages. Wow these 28" x 18" sleeves took forever! Actually, as you can see, I did alter the sleeves to add shaping at the wrists. I was terrified I wouldn't have enough yarn (have finished with about 1/2 ball remaining), and also didn't want the sleeves too big on my short body. But, I must admit I still have my fingers crossed as to how this will look on me. Think that's why it's been on my dining table for a day waiting for seaming? This photo is during my wet-block of the sleeves. Couldn't recommend it too highly for this pattern to get the exact measurements before seaming. It's not printed with a schematic, but it's pretty easy to make one. Then you can alter it as I did for your hips and wingspan.

For you experienced knitters this may be obvious, but I want to share my "discovery" -- use a quilter's ruler for blocking. I was using my other favorite find - a freebie paper tape measures from IKEA (I've got one in every knitting bag) - but it got wet and the first inch disintegrated (note to self, paper is water soluble). Grabbed this out of the closet to avoid trudging upstairs to find my sturdier tape measure. Wow! It's perfect for getting two pieces just right and exactly the same. Also helps when tugging the rows straight. Save your Micheal's or JoAnn coupon and get one of these babies!

I soaked the Noro Silk Garden (about which I've complained so much) for several hours in wool wash (the no-rinse kind) and it did loose some of the stray matter and soften nicely. I did a lot of manipulation with the blocking and it seems to have really improved the fabric too.

Here it is ready for seaming. Maybe tonight. That kind of position - sitting and leaning over - isn't very comfortable so I'll do in in stages. For those of you not familiar with the pattern, the sleeves go up and across the bodice and the bind-offs form the neckline. In this photo the back is folded to keep from falling off the table - it's the same as the other side laying flat. It's a cool design. We're supposed to have rain tomorrow so I know I'll kick myself if it's not done - this may be one of my last chances to wear it until next year.

The Bunny Sweater returns

My SIL jolted me into awareness that Easter is early this year and only weeks away. NOW is the time to finish this sweater for Emily. This is the photo from Zoe Mellor's Animal Knits, my version is below. I wanted to call this post Chasing Tail since that does describe the bunnies in this pattern, but then thought of the Google hits and decided I don't need that kind of audience! Knitters only are just fine with me. But, I must tell you a story to remind us all to write as if your mother, your mother's workmates at the library, or your favorite high school teacher are reading because they might just be. Of course I know my mom - the wonderful knitter who got me started - reads this. I also knew she shares it with with fellow knitters at work. What I never expected was an email from my high school history and psychology teacher. Not really sure why I used his full name in my 100 list - guess it was just the natural impulse to give a person you're honoring their due (the opposite of a "who shall remain unnamed" slam). Someone saw it and forwarded it to him (google hits again I suspect). We traded a couple of emails where I was able to clarify my appreciation. I cannot tell you the incredible satisfaction I've had in being able to say thank you 22 years later. Sometimes the net is just plain wonderful.

Yesterday, after six straight days of rain (we're now at the 3rd wettest year on record for San Diego County) I decided it was time to jump in the frog pond. We actually do have frogs in our backyard, which entertains cats and kids to no end. Ripped Rocktorp. Packed up Lara. And dealt with Rogue. Ah Rogue. So glad I put it aside. Knew something was wrong, but on the circs the extent of the issue was not clear. Off the needles it was downright funny. Had to take this Slim Fast photo to show just how far off I was. Excuse the 14-year-old pleated peg-leg pants - these babies were cheapies from the Limited in 1991 and they will not die! They've been my house sweats for 12 years and I've found nothing can hurt this space-age fabric. Took gauge (again), made notes and frogged it all. Very sad to frog cables and that beautiful knitted hem, but there was no saving this. Especially since I'm at my hippiest from not being able to exercise for 1 1/2 years! Good part is that I get to reduce it by 40 stitches so it will go that much faster next time. Still want Rogue and still want it in this yarn. Next year.

Regarding my back... only 10 days until my percutaneous discectomy! Yippee! Just trying not to hurt myself until then. I've had debilitating sciatica since Oct 03 and during the worst episode last year I was hospitalized because I was unable to move. That sucked. I'll mention it again right before, but I won't be posting for a week or two after March 7th because sitting will be restricted during the initial healing time.

Klaralund has not been forgotten. Got pretty lucky with the sleeve cast ons since these yarns matched right out of the balls. I am changing the sleeves a little with some bell shaping rather than the unshaped kimono sleeves of the pattern. Since I shaped the body I hope it works. Feeling brave and hope to not be feeling stupid. We'll see. Want to finish this soon while they're still predicting more rain. Btw, we're not in any way negatively affected by rain. Our back slope is heavily planted and the retaining wall deeply and solidly footed. That cost us big bucks, but now feels like money well spent.

Also ripped the Gloria swatch. Thought of making another larger swatch since I'm still uncertain about these yarns together, but since I'd gotten gauge that seemed silly. Started a sleeve instead since it uses the alternating garter pattern. I don't think I've ever been this uncertain about yarns. I love both yarns:  the colors, the textures, and the weights. But I keep questioning if they belong in the same sweater. Thought of switching out the Bliss to another color, but nothing else moved me like this periwinkle. It's just such a beautiful shade for spring. Held up next to my face the colors together look good on me, so that's a big positive. It will certainly be unique!

Finally, back to the bunnies:

Started this in spring of '03 before we adopted Emily. Last year it was way too big for her so I left it in stash. It's just her size now and all I have left are the two front panels and trim. Using Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece. Not bad, but it splits very easily and isn't really the best for intarsia, cables or fair isle as you can see. Too late now though! I was hoping two years of additional knitting experience would help, but after picking it up again this morning I can attest that the spliting and lack of stickiness is inherently frustrating. Regardless, Ems is pretty excited about it and woke up telling her Daddy all about her bunny sweater, which confused the heck out of the poor man since he's never seen it. There's a whole lot of estrogen under this roof so he'd better get used to clothes talk. Actually, he can handle that, but he's not looking forward to the boy talk!

Chapter II - In which our knitter learns the true meaning of Swatch

Last week was a very long week on the mommy front. Not worth taking precious post time to describe (and anyway, you don't really want to know since excrement was involved). Suffice it to say I was busy trying to raise two young humans to adulthood without committing myself to an asylum.

But I did knit. I'll start with WIP updates:

Front and back of Klaralund are finished. Realized while doing the bottom border of side two that I'd knitted one ridge too few on side one, so I just adjusted down. Ripping the entire side one flitted through my mind only to be blasted away with a crazy laugh. Not even I would commit that knitting madness. Without these being blocked you can't really tell, but I did slight shaping on the waist.

Also picked up Rowan Birch again. It's just starting to feel like it's going faster thank goodness - these top rows are a long haul. LOVE the Bryspun needles for this and highly recommend them with Kidsilk Haze, which is basically a fuzzy thread. But what lovely thread it is (click this pic to see the shine close-up). This mohair can't be ripped, so it's imperative to get it right the first time and I'm finding that the cream color of the Bryspun helps me see the yarn and the points are perfect for picking stitches. I wrote before I thought they'd be good ... now I know it for sure.

Now, about those swatches...

Here was Rocktorp on Friday. Doesn't it look like a nice basket?

And like a nice basket, it is woven so tightly it could hold water! During all that swatching and deliberating over the stitch pattern I never took gauge. Let's not go there - I've already beaten myself enough. And I entered that knitter's delirium where you lie and delude yourself for far longer than any reasonable person should. I was using the specified needle. It did look like the photo. But, re-read that top paragraph and imagine what my knitting was like last week...

stitch Emily stitch STOP stitch hitting stitch your stitch sister stitch stitch stitch Rachel stitch I stitch don't stitch want stitch to stitch hear stitch that stitch out stitch of your mouth again (looking up from knitting) ...

And so on and so forth. Ad nauseum (my stomach at least - they seem to bounce right back don't they?) I kept telling myself to loosen up as my arms would start to hurt. Finally, some still sane part of my brain demanded I take gauge. Guess I was running just a little tight. Moved up a size and got gauge perfectly. Just a slight difference eh? Well at least I know this stitch pattern by heart now. Haven't ripped or cast back on, but will soon. Needed to take a little time apart.

With my new respect for gauge I took on Gloria. Thanks for all your very thoughtful comments and recommendations to do a swatch and thanks even more for not adding idiot after (I forgive anyone who even thought it - I did). Hey, it was midnight when I posted and I'd had a margarita. Between comments and emails some of you suggested following the pattern and alternating the yarns. OK, I hadn't actually read the pattern yet (what do you expect from me huh?) and didn't have the book with me at the LYS. Did get gauge on the recommended US 8's.

After taking this shot I got very disciplined (for me) and even knitted some rows with 8's for the Bliss and 7's for the Noro just to check the Noro's tension (being chenille and all). Even did a few rows with both on 7's. Now, my new-found discipline didn't actually extend to going upstairs to find free 7 needles when these were so handy.

See, I do know my WIP and where it's living in my stash, I just choose to ignore it. Going to stick with the 8's.

Please note:  Just spent some time updating my photo albums. Going to start putting yarn specs and pattern info in the finished work album and sometimes the WIP album. Once I define a new project it will be often be referred to by name only, so look in the photo albums and the category list for details. Old items won't have all the details, probably because i don't know them myself any longer. Was googling my heart out yesterday looking for something and I kept being teased by blogs with the yarn/sweater, but not the stats. Decided not to make that pattern, but would have loved to figured out the info sooner. So I will try to do my part to add useful content to the blog world.

Panel 1 of Klaralund done & Pi yarn.

Klaralund is definitely a quick knit. This is a f/b panel, which took two skeins plus just a couple of yards of a third. It's not a flat layout because this was the best light, but it's a basic rectangle with a little shaping I added to the pattern to pull in at the waist. I wanted to get a good close up to show this:

Those are the white bits I mentioned in my last post. This is what I think the spinners among us call over-spun. The twist is so tight that the yarn snakes and curls between my hand and the ball. But... I'm still loving the colors. And it's fast.

That EZ as Pi Along button hasn't been sitting there for nothing. See that giant shawl on the cover of the book? That's Elizabeth Z's famous Pi Shawl. This project won't be so fast, but I know I will love it. Mind you, saying that doesn't mean I don't get to curse it in process. Risa's making one of these and I thought I'd tap into her lace experience (i.e. ride her coat tails). The yarn is Zephyr in Mushroom from FurrYarns, a lace weight of 50% Tussah Silk, 50% Merino Wool. I've got the Knitters lace book which has a version on order, but this is the Zimmerman original. Trying to decide how brave I'll be in the "free" areas between increases.

Need to get the kids to bed, so I'll close with an early Valentine.

Here are some photos from my front yard this afternoon to cheer those of you deep in winter. If they may make you a little green, I'll say it goes both ways - your lovely snow photos do the same to me. Click to enlarge if you'd like.

If you don't swoon at flowers ... how about this:

I usually make muffins or quick bread with the brown bananas, but I've been wanting to learn to frost a cake after my last disaster. We called that one Hagrid's cake, and if you've seen the first Harry Potter film you have an idea just how bad it was. Finally got a proper spatula for the job. Yes, the frosting is homemade buttercream and it's as good as it looks. The spatula helped a lot, but the kids think I need more practice! Say ... every week.

Klaralund? And other thoughts on Noro.

Had a wicked case of post-partem knitting blues after finishing Clapotis. Spent my creative time Thursday just puttering with stash and doing a needle inventory. Now I'll admit, I'm a person who rearranges deck chairs. My house may be in chaos, but my needles are well-ordered thank you very much. Since I spent way too much time on this chart that organizes by size, material and company. I'll be glad to share. If you want a copy just comment and I'll email you the MS Word doc. If you're scratching your head and thinking I'm crazy, well that's true, but I used to do this for a living so for me it's mindlessly engaging. I keep a copy tucked in my wallet for use at the LYS.

After a day off, I awoke refreshed and ready for a new knitting challenge. But I didn't expect this much of a challenge.... CO for the Noro Rocktorp in a medium and got to knitting just happy as could be. I tend to knit over gauge and I wanted a M+, so I figured it would work out. What I didn't figure is that the stitch instructions would proved to be so frickin unclear.

The instructions for "tweed stitch" (as she calls it) in this pattern do not specify where to carry the  secondary yarn - front or back. Makes a huge difference.

To back up, first I started by slipping knitwise, and by the fourth row my arms were hurting so much I couldn't imagine knitting this sweater. Looked in the books and found the obvious issue there - always slip purlwise to keep the stitch untwisted. OK, maybe common knowledge, but I argue that it's not a big deal to add the clarifying notation "purlwise". Anyway, I accept that as my problem.

I ripped and consulted books and the net for tweed and linen stitch instructions. Seemed that maybe I should be carrying the yarn in front. CO again and the sample below is what came from that. (Let's not talk too much about why I didn't swatch.) Not good huh?

Ripped again, did a swatch (yeah, at least not a three-time idiot), and determined the yarn should be carried in the back at all times, which looked like the back side of the attempt above. CO again and here's where I am. Still not sure... The book photo is not perfectly clear and there's no close-up, but I think this looks right.

If you have a strong feeling this is NOT right, please say it now or forever hold your peace.

So, what did a really really need after that? A mindless project! Straightforward knitting. Not lace, no tricky patterning, nothing new to learn. Just knitting.

My mailman delivered a solution. Ten skeins of Noro Silk Garden arrived from an ebay buy. Love this subtle colorway. I typically go for reds and strong colors and I want to break out of my comfort zone.

Silk Garden #88 for Klaralund

Not on the agenda, not in the stash, but yet here it is. Klaralund is on the needles. Got smart and pulled up the centers to evaluate the color order of each ball before CO. Don't care about the body matching, but I like the sleeve striping to be somewhat aligned so I paired the balls with the best matches and saved those for the sleeves. Here's the first ball knitted up.

Now, one final issue. Silk Garden has changed. My guess is that Noro's success has meant they've sought out other yarn providers who aren't as good as their primary mill(s). Or they've decided to cut costs. Something happened. I remember last summer/fall no one had any Noro and everyone was back-ordered. I'm sure they were busting ass to meet the demand. Sad result is inferior product.

Three years ago I bought SG for the Debbie Bliss Enrelac sweater I've been wearing ever since. In that yarn the silk part of the blend is gorgeous - better than this photo can show. It's got that lovely silk shine that makes it stand out from the more subtle wool and mohair. The noticeable silk slubs only add to the rough beauty. The mohair gives a light, attractive halo. Overall the yarn is soft and there was virtually no rough matter - sticks, unspun fibers, etc.

That was then. Still love the dying, but this is low-quality yarn. Not sure I would have bought this in a store and I'm so glad I got an ebay deal on it, but it's still not cheap - it just feels like it. No shine or smoothness to the silk, no mohair fuzz - in fact you'd be hard pressed to say either fiber was used by just casually looking at it. Sticks and hay throughout. Little white kinky fibers falling out of every skein. I've had two knots already I'm just starting the second ball. Total crap. Just did a little googling and it seems from the WiseNeedle reviews that I'm not the only one who's gotten a bad batch. Thankfully the colors still say Noro.

So, my suggestion would be to touch your Silk Garden before buying if you think this would bother you. Next time I'm in my LYSs I'm going to see if any SG in stock looks good. I'll let you know.