Not So Fancy Nancy

Colinette Wrap Cast Off & Koigu Cast On

Yes, this little race is moving along! OK, OK, I picked the low hanging fruit first, but I thought I could use the kick-start thrill of a FO.

I cast on this Colinette & Classic Elite wrap in April of '04 (pre-blog), knit a bit, then tucked it away. Don't know why really - it just wasn't speaking to me. Then I was looking at my new skirt last week and knew why I'd been attracted to the colors. And this five year old sweater matches the skirt perfectly and there's even a touch of the blue in the wrap. I wish I could say I had it all planned, but it wasn't. Feeling the good vibes around here.

I look so happy because when I came down the stairs my oldest (almost 8) said "WOW!" and just sat there with a big smile on her face, then added "That's the fanciest thing you own, you'd better change clothes after we take the photo." Bless her practical heart - I've taught her well. Add to that the little one napping, which will make her much more cheerful for the afternoon, and you have a happy Wench.

I'm so posed because Rachel really wanted to do the photo, but the camera's a bit heavy and awkward for her. I had to hold still and smile (issuing instructions through gritted teeth) a looong time. This wrap also looks good just draped, but we couldn't get that photo. Maybe I'll post vacation shots of my knitting having a good time in Oregon.

Details:
- Colinette Enigma and Giotto, colorway Caramel 148 (one each) and Classic Elite Avignon Cotton/Silk, color 8189 (three balls)
- 15" x 58" of knitted fabric with 6" of fringe at each end. May block it a tad longer, but this works for me (I'm 5'2"). To see how I cut my fringe, click on the little photo.
- Garter stitch, changed colors every row with the Classic Elite between the Colinettes. No pattern. Not really sure how many I cast on (hey, it was pre-blog remember). Think I followed the recipe from Sally Melville's Knit Stitch book.
- Addi Turbo 6 mm, BO with 10 mm.

One more gratuitous shot of its pink/caramel goodness:

Knew I would be casting off the wrap so I started the Koigu shawl two nights ago ... Sitting here thinking ... this sounds so much like the woman who makes sure she has her next boyfriend (or husband) lined up before she leaves the current one. Yet another knitting as a metaphor for life moment. Fiber really can be therapy in that you can get all your relationship ya yas out while remaining a loving, faithful, dependable spouse -- with honkin' big stash.

Sorry for the bit of blur in the photo - the breeze is gusting today. This is the Shaped Triangle pattern from A Gathering of Lace, but I'm using Koigu on 4 mm's rather than Zephyr on 3.5 mm's. Will stop very short of the finished pattern as I'm only wanting a shoulder wrap. I've got about three balls total weight of Koigu. Two colors here are left over from Charlotte - the pink colorway will be added soon. I like this pattern because it makes long ties and curves over the shoulders. Looked at Yarn Harlot's blog today and from the small bit she's done so far it looks like she's making the same pattern in the Zephyr - we'll see. I'm sure she'll finish the entire shawl before I get halfway!

I'll close with garden shots. Click to enlarge if you choose. Many of the orchids have retreated to their new summer home next to the fountain under the Tipu tree. We're watching, but this seems to make them happy so far. This pink fushia was a bargin buy at Target ($2.50) because it was out of bloom. Not anymore. Finally, my baskets are growing in and making me as happy as is possible when I'm standing at the kitchen sink.

Thanks for all the great comments in support of my little race. One down!

The Race is ON!

Judging by your comments on commenting I'd say many of us are trying to find the ultimate balance of connectivity and sanity. With that in mind, I'm declaring the next 38 days my personal Race to Sanity.

Sanity:  A legal term denoting that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. It is generally defined in terms of the absence of insanity. It is not a medical term ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanity

And just how am I going to achieve sanity in just 38 days? (Yes, the implication here is that I am not of sound mind now.) Well, let us consider situations that may foster sanity:

(1) Experiencing the absence of small children within a 50' radius of ones body.

(2) Going on vacation.

(3) Spending three days alone with ones spouse on said vacation without small children (see #1).

(4) Listening to Stephanie, aka Yarn Harlot, read from her book, then buying another copy and actually reading it, as one was a benevolent daughter and gave ones copy to ones mother before finishing even half of it. Again, without small children (see #1). 

(5) Looking a the sun (or candlelight) shining through a glass of red wine, then looking down to admire ones completed knitting project being worn on ones body. Obviously #1 in play.

Now, in 38 days I've got numbers 1-4 lined up. We're all heading up to Portland Oregon. We'll spend the first day exploring Portland with the kids, then drive to my in-laws' home in the Redmond/Bend/Sisters triangle. Then, for four days and three nights in the middle of that visit we will drive away ... alone! Back to Portland and the Willamette Valley wine country. On the very day I turn 40 I will visit a winery or two, a yarn store or three, art galleries, restaurants and Powells where Harlot is scheduled to read. This may take some of the sting out of the day.

So that just leaves #5. Which requires at least one COMPLETED knitting project. Because I'm currently insane, I'm going for three, maybe four ... or seven. What drove me to this craziness? Yesterday I knitted three different swatches and looked through countless books and magazines. I bounced around and felt so frustrated I couldn't settle on anything or even knit on open projects. The gnawing anxiety that this trip would arrive and I'd have 10 unfinished projects sitting home - half of them off-season - while I wore my new clothes sans knitting actually kept me up last night. Let's not discuss this - I know it's pathetic; you know it's pathetic; it's pathetic. Yes, I know there are much more important things in the world that should keep me up every night that don't. What can I say, this happens to fit my personal profile for anxiety-producing situations. I even dreamed I'd missed a plane flight - you know, running lost through the strange airport, etc etc. The classic Freudian metaphor for anxiety about unfinished knitting.

To resolve #5 I'm throwing down my (yet to be knitted) gauntlet - this is war. Such violent terms for such a gentle (and gentile) sport, but I'm trying to get the needles fired up around here. Here are the seven projects with their corresponding new skirts. I haven't bought summer clothes in several years so my wardrobe was truly frayed around the edges. A little spree was required.

High priority

- Rowan Deli
- Koigu Shawl (pattern to be determined)
- Colinette Wrap

 

Medium priority

- Shapely Tee w/Sleeves by White Lies Designs in Rowan Handknit DK. (Thanks for the pattern idea Sydney!)
- Rowan Birch in Kidsilk Haze

Low priority

- Maggi Knits Linen something ???
- Cobweb in Rowan Kidsilk Haze
- Pi Shawl

For the next 38 days I will knit (along with my other duties - you know - wife, mother, etc). I will update this blog with progress photos, but little else. For the new projects listed above details will be forthcoming at CO. General comments of support will be read and thoroughly enjoyed, but only questions answered. I'll be reading blogs, but not commenting much. Saving my wrists and arms for battle.

Let the race begin!

Gonna wrap myself in ...

If you've been to enough Kindergarten recitals, you've probably heard this song. This and the chorus in Beethoven's 9th are guaranteed to bring tears to my eyes. Our music teacher always works this into the K-3 performances and the sight of all those little hands doing the gestures with great passion but totally out of sync gets me every year.

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper;
I'm gonna dab myself with glue.
Stick some stamps on top of my head;
I'm gonna mail myself to you!

When you see me in your mailbox,
cut the string and let me out.
Wipe the glue off my fingers,
and stick some bubblegum in my mouth!

So, why was I singing this song this morning? Well, while engaging a very relaxing KID FREE (school's back in session - yippee) game of Nancy the Knit Stylist (my dream career you know) I couldn't stop that song in my head and it morphed to I'm gonna wrap myself in Colinette, Rowan and Koigu...

Koigu Charlotte's Web is almost complete! Just started merging the last ball on the right. After 10 more merged rows there will be 16 rows of just the blue and then I'll be done. Of course, as many of you know, it gets much slower at the end. Not planning on doing fringe, so I still need to pick my bindoff pattern, which may add a little knit time. I'm weighing each ball after that color is done and will post my totals when finished so those of you with leftover sock yarn can see if it might work into a Charlotte somehow. I think by forgoing fringe one might get two, or at least close to two, Charlotte's out of 5 skeins.

This poor Colinette wrap has been on the needles since last spring, so I think it deserves to be finished up. I've made it my car knitting now, which should help. No pattern, I just CO a bunch of stitches on 10's and am alternating Colinette Giotto (1 hank) and Colinette Enigma (1 hank) with Classic Elite Avignon Cotton Silk (3 balls) running between each row of the Colinettes (whose name I've been misspelling with two L's all this time! Sorry, will change). It's all garter stitch and I'm just knitting until the yarn runs out. Couldn't be easier, but now I'm thinking of doing short rows to shape the shoulders so it hangs better. Can't have things too easy huh?

Cozy in Rowan Summer Tweed has not been forgotten either.

Doesn't it look nice against our spiffy new chair? Married over 8 years and we finally bought living room chairs! We agreed immediately on them and the sale was made in about 10 minutes with the kids in tow - miracles do happen!

I'm almost finished with the fifth ball with three remaining, but may stop if I feel it's gotten to a length I like. Jen on the Cozy KAL posted a photo of her Summer Tweed version using only six balls and it made a perfect shoulder wrap when fixed with a pin.

Oh heck, let's put all this talk of design aside and tell the truth - after ball six I'll stop when I'm so sick of it I can't imagine another repeat. Pathetic but true.

Jen reports that it does indeed wash to a softer hand, which I've heard elsewhere about Summer Tweed. Also planning to block it hard to bring out the pattern.

Finally, a wrap to be:

A very kind knitblogger sent this Zephyr laceweight silk/wool to me. The amazing thing is that I'd just ordered Fiber Trends' Pacific Northwest Shawl pattern. Karma? Serendipity? Athena is happy with me? All I know is that it looked so beautiful on August the orange boy lounging in the morning sun, until...

Point Five closure

Thank you all for your kind comments on my Point 5 sweater. I've been wearing it ever since and do love it. I'm so, so glad I finished it. We're in the middle of a "Pineapple Express" storm and it's been wonderfully cozy to wear around our cold house. I did have my DH take a photo earlier. Sorry for the bright "here's my sweater" pose (which does such a wonderful job of showing how my cats and kids treat my white sofa), but it's too dark for natural light photos.

 

Got the ultimate knitter's compliment today. I was shopping when an elderly, elegantly dressed Japanese lady approached me quietly and gently touched my arm. She told me my sweater was beautiful and asked where I got it. When I told her I'd made it she smiled and nodded, saying it had caught her eye because it was so different from what everyone else was wearing. That made my day.

A couple of additional comments... I kept thinking about changing the approach on the arm-shoulder joins, but I tried to take the straight path. Yet again I've been reminded why I often bend rules. But, by using my unorthodox technique (aka, beat the hell out of it until it works or dies) I manged to get a wearable sweater. This sweater should have been picked up at the shoulder and knitted down. If you are considering using this yarn, I'd suggest thinking about all the ways to reduce bulk at the joins before you knit.

Also wore it to my LYS today. In talking about the finishing with the owner she mentioned that they see all kinds of changes in the items they get for trunk shows. The instructions say one thing, but the items photographed and sent to them are more expertly finished. She said the patterns are often written to the lowest common denominator, but the experienced knitters who actually realize the patterns do what they know looks better. My mom and I had the same discussion when talking about how the big designers usually only make swatches - no surprise the real knitters make changes. Guess you've got to trust your instincts.

Now, if I could only learn to get gauge! More on that another day...

Caution: Images of a sewing on knitting below

The following entry has images that may be traumatizing or at least downright appalling to some knitters. Viewer discretion is advised. For those of you who love to twist your necks at knitting crashes with a "for the grace of God go I" attitude, read on...

For six days the Colinette sweater lay on our dinning table. I walked by it throughout each day, ignoring it as best I could. I started Rogue. I started Mindful Sweater. Occasionally I would give it my attention, only to turn away in fear.

Now, I'm not scared of joining any more. I've joined entrelac seamlessly at the shoulders (took a break there to pat myself on the back for my ingenuity), I've joined patternwork. I am not a weenie. Really. But I knew this would be bad.

I also knew that my DH would not let another weekend go by without commenting upon this elephant in our dinning room. He was totally quiet all week as we ate every dinner at the kitchen table (not normal for us). But I knew I had to face it or it was going to end up back in the closet again.

So, yesterday I arrived at the battlefield prepared. I was going to emerge victorious. Several books for seaming tips, measuring tape, pins and hot tea were at my side. I straightened out the sweater and sleeves, oh so carefully adjusting and pinning the caps for perfect alignment. I was honoring the process. Treating the sweater with respect. Approaching with reverence. (Yes, this is vacillating wildly between war and religious imagery).

Trust that I followed normal procedures for sewing cap to body. But this is no normal cap or body. The yarn is knitting on #17 US and is thick/thin. Per manufacturer's instructions, I had alternated between several balls of yarn all the way up the body front and back, leaving thick streams of carried yarn at the edges. It does break the color pooling, but at a cost. This is what my correctly joined executed seam looked like:

All well and good, except for this:

Gakkkk. There's bulk and there's BULK!

This just didn't seem good. How could this be good? But I soldiered on. (we've dropped the reverence now, this is a battle) I went ahead and did the other side too. I got some sustenance to carry me through. A vendor from Italy sent a huge gift basket to my DH. He shared most with his people, but a few items found their way home. OH MY, but these are good. Super rich milk chocolate with a hazelnut layer. Why are off-the-shelf European chocolates so much better? We are a nation that has ruined out taste buds with crappy food and accept candy with the descriptions like "chocolaty taste" and "chocolate flavored" as sad substitutes.

Anyway, here are both sleeves from the inside in all their gory glory. BTW, sorry about the imperfect photos, but a slightly blurry natural light photo is sometimes easier to read visually than an over-lit flash photo. I would like a new camera... but...

So, at this point I was still denying what my eyes told me and going forward. Hey I thought, maybe if I sew up the sleeves and try it on there'll be no issue right? Comfortable as can be (with a rope under your armpit) right? Now the sleeves are another matter. I was able to use a half-stitch method of joining to reduce bulk. I've been wanting to try this technique since the knitting maven at my LYS suggested it for something else. Rather than picking between rows, you pick 1/2 of a stitch on each side to make one. I will be using it on my current Mindful Sweater. It would have been much better with tighter, more uniform edge stitches, but it worked OK here. Not perfect, but good enough and not too bulk to wear.

Now, afterward I think it was a bit silly to do the sleeve before what I did next, but I wasn't thinking, I was forging ahead. I was going to get done that night. I was going to finish.

BTW, I did try to undo one shoulder up to the top join (I use the start at the center top seaming technique) and grab only 1/2 stitch from the sides, but there was just too much weirdness to overcome. That experiment still shows on the final product, but only to me (I hope).

So, with one arm done, I put it on and - OH SURPRISE - the shoulder fit was horrible. Ill-fitting, strangely shaped, just plain &$*%^ ugly. This would not do. So in a fit of temper, I got out my sewing machine (to the delight of my youngest child who never tires of mom's new dramas) and proceeded to sew my sweater seams. This is not the calm sewing of a quilt shop. Nothing about this sewing was right and I know I did it very badly. Don't care. Nothing was going to stop me at that point.

After much cursing under my breath, tugging, pulling and forgetting to put the machine arm down (I hate when I do that!) I had sewed the living #$#%% out of the shoulder joins. Had to undo a bit of the sleeve on the one arm, but that was no big deal. Should I have blocked first? Yeah, probably. Should I have tried joining with a thinner yarn? Yeah, of course. Should I have thought about how to sew it properly? Yeah, certainly. But delay would have likely landed this puppy back in the closet for eternity. Instead I got to take the scissors to my nemesis and throw this away! YEAH - take that!

After stitching and bitching my way through the shoulders I joined the sleeves fully. Took the extra yarn from the joins and whip stitched around the sewn shoulder because, yes, full disclosure here, things were not all caught perfectly. A little reinforcement was required. This is a pic of the side, arm and shoulders seams as they ended up.

So, there's a happy ending to this tale of woe. It fits and is comfortable to wear. My husband said it looked good on me. And it's no longer on our dinning table but rather in my closet.

Perversity thy name is Three-Needle-Bind-Off

So, 3-needle-bind-off is supposed to be a good thing, which it is. And a time-saver, which it usually is. I know it is. But it has vexed me just about every knitting moment for the past three days. But I was going to use it no matter what.

When last I showed you Colinette Point 5 it was ripped back and ready for a new neckline and shoulders. Well, it has them again, but I’m not sure anything’s different. For every thing I fixed, I think I added a new mistake. Did something good in that I added about 3" in length (I had gone short worrying about yarn quantity). Ended up with an extra ball after the sleeves, so when I ripped I took the opportunity to split that ball between the front and back. The sleeve are folded up in this photo - see now that the yarn camouflages the folds and makes it look short-sleeved.

Did all this while hanging out with the family, which of course means I counted rows and stitches far too many times. Then I decided that I would do the sloped shoulders with short rows and a three-needle bind off. This is essentially a good approach to reduce bulk with this yarn. But it's insane to do it sitting on a sofa watching Mary Poppins, complete with family singing and Emily dancing. I had big fat needles slipping and flying everywhere. This photo was taken when I came back from the bathroom and saw my insanity for what it was. Could have waited, but of course I HAD TO FINISH. What is it that comes over me sometimes? Don’t answer. Did finish and it’s all good enough. Now for joining the sleeves. Maybe tomorrow.

Since I was a little tired of Point 5 and itching to start Rogue … I did. Been waiting for some quiet time so I could look over the pattern and make my adjustments and found my window on Sunday afternoon. I’m short with short arms, but a 38 bust, so there are always critical adjustments, especially if I don’t want to turn up the sleeves. This pattern had to be manipulated carefully to keep the cables and the proportions, especially since I wanted it boxy.

That done I cast on 216 stitches in the round and started knitting happy as could be. Except when five rows into the hem I saw that I was supposed to be either doing a single rib or twisted knit stitch. Ooops. So, this is when my true personality comes out. I went researching hems and reading her on-line FAQs, etc and decided to reduce the hem from 12 rows to 6 (from 2” to 1” turned under) and not worry about the stitch style. Then got it in my head that I would attach the hem while knitting a round. Too bad I didn't use a provisional cast on, but I figured I'd get by. This meant picking up the cast on loops – all 216 of them. This photo shows the cast on being picked up on #3 circs (the hem was knitted on #6 and the body is on #8). I did a purl row for the turn row.

Now for the fun. I’ve come to admire deeply all the knitters through history who’ve knitted the hem in place with three needles. Of course my first stitches had to be across the cable pattern that runs up each side. Now, yesterday I did think about the biggest danger and made a mental note to be careful (what silliness on my part – mental note!). Imagine me, bent over carefully matching the front to back stitches one for one while figuring out how to pick up the tight and twisted CO stitches and the front stitch in both K and P stitches. So deep in that zone of concentration that I forgot something… CABLES! Duh! 15 stitches had become 23 over those 6 rows. Got all the way through the cable pattern and into the body before the skewing became apparent with about 10 body stitches. Looked ok from the front, but the back was so torqued. Rip. (btw, that little "I love you" note was brought to me by my daughter after being punished with room time - she's learning some tiny bit of charm from her younger sister.)

Once I spread the pick ups symmetrically across the cable band it all lined up great. But oh boy did it take some time to do 216 three needle picks. And it was all very fidgety and always felt on the edge of disaster. Something was always sticking or slipping. This photo shows about 75% done which is when I felt almost under control (and only because the end was in sight). Still, nice to think I have this technique to add to my repertoire. Sorry for all these flash photos, but it's been raining all day. Perfect for knitting. (Also sorry is this photo and the next are placed strangly on your screen. I'm still trying to get used to using a floating width.)

Oh, but it looks so good. And more importantly, IT’S DONE!!! The sleeves will be cake after this.

I'm going to every other day or so for posting - need to balance.

Point Five has ... issues

A little knitting therapy is required for my P5 sweater.

First, the good part:  Actually followed the pattern yesterday to finish the sleeves (what a concept huh?). Discovered the part of the problem was that I  cast off the sleeves straight across rather than creating a modified cap. Here's what I have now:

So, I start examining the arm holes, knowing it was going to be a little more challenging to sew them with the sides joined. Still, I was going to try, idiot adventurer that I am. Yeah, I know Yarn Harlot uses the cross-through (so well), but it's on my tool bar too, so it's open game). (If somehow you don't read Yarn Harlot, go there right now... I would say I'll wait, but you'll probably forget whatever you were doing to read her archives. Anyway...

While examining the seams I found ugly, strange and total unexplainable joining that (and this is the deal breaker) would show when worn. I would always look at that big twisted hole in the shoulder and berate myself for my slothful ways. So yes, I frogged all the seams. Decided it was best to just start over.

Just finished steaming all the pieces (after these photos) and am going now to reload the live stitches on the needles. Plan to actually follow the instructions just like with the sleeves. Wow, meeting two NY  resolutions (finish things, follow instructions) a day early! How disciplined can you get?

Colinette Point 5 reborn

Went to put something in the coat closet and found this:

Time to face the issue and deal with it. Knitted this sweater about 3 years ago (very early in my knitting life) and did something funky with the sleeves. Doesn't really matter what, but the end result is that they're about 4 inches off at the top of the sleeve. Didn't know diddly about design then, so I probably didn't measure across the top to check it against the schematic. Anyway, at the time I just sewed it all together, pulling at the arms a bit to make them fit and, voila, a lovely sweater that pulled up so far under my arms it made them stand out like a scarecrow. Finally ripped it, but then put the mess in a box in my coat closet.

Until now. That ruler above marks where I've ripped the side seam to it's proper dimensions. Last night I sat down and ripped back to an even point on both forearms and worked out my increases.

Both sleeves are on the needles now. Hope to finish today or tomorrow. It took three years, but I refuse to have another rainy, cold weekend go by with me still wearing my old ratty Eddie Bauer sweater around the house -- I'm a knitter gosh darn-it and it's just plain wrong not to be wearing this instead!

Big Kureyon & Day of Reckoning for Colinette Projects

Very fiber focused day, which has been nice. Made progress on the Cozy this morning, but will do a bit more before photographing again. Got gauge on Lara too after going from wooden to metal needles. Then went to the LYS to exchange those mohair balls. So now I've got six of the mohair in olive for the new Interweave sweater (see yesterday). I think I can squeeze by because I will shorten the sleeves and length to make it a petite medium.

That left me with four of the blue mohair. Hummm, how about a felted bag? Went nosing around the yarn store looking for likely combos and this Noro Big Kureyon just did it for me.

Love the brightness, which I wouldn't wear, but love to look at. Since I was returning some leftover yarn, the cost was minimal. I was feeling pretty bad today - lots of nerve pain that kept giving me unexpected electric shocks (not nice) - so this was the only errand I managed on my list. Good thinking to go to the yarn store first.

Came home, checked the Booga Bag pattern (need to switch to #13's for Big Kureyon), and went searching for my #13's. Found two sad & sorry yarn messes in a box in the coat closet (not where I usually store yarn - this has been on hold for rewinding forever). No #13's, but I got a sudden sense of responsibility and took on the tasks. First, the Colinette disaster:

This was a very early knitting project. Loved the colors and textures, but I had no idea how to knit. All attitude and no technique. Made the whole darned thing, blocked it even, but nothing could overcome the wrongness of it all. Bad fit, bad design, just bad. So now I'm finally ripping, joining and winding. Thinking of a "Fabulous Throw" (I've got the pattern already), but maybe pulling the mohair out with a wool for something felted. Will check the yield when I'm done. Just went to Colinette's website and they've really changed it since my last visit long ago. Might have to do a bit of browsing before deciding what to make.

Now this other Colinette Point Five "disaster", well this one has hope. This is from an early Point Five book The whole thing was done at one time, but the sleeves were taken off because they were just too darned tight at the seaming and nothing could be done to improve except rip. I was going to rip the whole thing since it didn't fit around the body either, but I'm a bit thinner now (at least 15 lbs since knitting this) and now it's just fine. Think I will simply rework the sleeves and keep this one.

Back to the ball winder.