February seems to be a month of knitalongs for me this year. For the first two weeks of this month, I banged out a sweater, and now I'm joining the Anna Vest Knitalong. I'm so close to finishing the sweater I knit for #bangoutasweater, and yet so far. I knit a whole sweater - and then steeked it. Easy enough. Then I picked up and knit bands from the steeked edge of the sweater. Also easy enough. I decided I would knit the bands to be long enough so they could be folded over the steeked edge and sewn down. The knitting part was perfectly easy, but the sewing down, not so much. I left the band stitches live, and tried sewing them down against the back edge. It's a twisty, tangly mess, and I suspect this is why people don't like knitting with black yarn. It's hard to see which purl bump goes with which stitch, and I can only stand working on it for about ten minutes at a time. I know I probably need to go back to the drawing board, but I'm being stubborn about it. While I let these silly bands marinate in my mind, I'm moving on to something bright and shiny (and with lighter colored yarn)...the Anna Vest. When I bought Farm to Needle last year, I knew I had to knit the Anna Vest. The fact that Karen at Fringe & Co is holding a knitalong - and there was a discount on the yarn - is what convinced me to get my butt in gear and actually knit the thing. I'm using Thirteen Mile yarn in the light gray variegated shade. It's one strand of white and one strand of gray spun together. I usually don't go for marled yarns, but there's so little contrast between the two that it ends up looking like a silvery gray color. This is the first time I've knit with organic yarn. This yarn is crunchy and soft at the same time. It's advertised as a worsted weight, but it really seems like more of a sock weight to me. I was thrown for a big loop when I went to begin the Andalusian stitch pattern called for in the pattern instructions. It turns out the stitch pattern is tucked into the back of the book instead of embedded in the actual pattern itself. I also thought I was having tension problems. After a couple of inches of knitting I had a wobbly mess, but a light steam block while still on the needles smoothed it out just fine. The goal is to have two finished objects by the end of the month...we'll see what happens! xx,
Pamela Even though I went down to a slightly smaller needle to get a snugger fit, knitting the sweater has flown by. It's been ages since I've knit anything with bulky wool or needles bigger than a size 6, so this whole #bangoutasweater business has gone by fast.
After about five hours of knitting, I had a sleeve. After another five hours, another sleeve. Six hours after that, I have the body done to the underarms, and once the sleeves were joined to the body, I had the yoke completed. If you don't feel like doing math, that's 20 hours for most of the size small sweater. The color work on the yoke is most decidedly not a Stopover – instead, I used Anna's Lopapeysa as a starting point, simplifying a few of the color choices and modifying a couple of the color work patterns a bit. If I wanted to just knit a few rounds of ribbing, I would have a sweater, and a pretty nice one at that. But no. After I knit the collar, which is going to be taller than your average lopapeysa, I'm taking my scissors to this baby. I'm going to steek it down the front, knit on bands, and sew in a zipper. Estimated time: unknown. Still, this is probably the fastest I've ever knit a sweater. What's your record time for knitting a sweater? This #bangoutasweater business is fun! The pattern is Stopover, knit with Lettlopi. My yarn was waiting in my mailbox yesterday when I got home from work. The most time consuming part so far has been casting on - and only because I chose to do a tubular cast on instead of a long-tail one. After about five hours of knitting, I have a size small sleeve. It's an inch shorter than the pattern calls for - I have short arms. Some thoughts: The Lettlopi is just a tad scratchier than I expected. I think it will be fine in the sweater, and a good wash might get it closer to my expectations. The colors I chose are three shades of gray and a light turquoise. The two lighter shades are very close to each other. I do like the way they blend to create a gradient. The darker gray is almost black, which brings me to my next thought... What's the big deal about knitting with black yarn? So many knitters avoid knitting with black yarn that it's almost hard to find black yarn. Where did this myth come from that knitting with black yarn is hard to do and is to be avoided at all costs? It doesn't seem to be all that different - especially when knitting in stockinette. I'm using a row counter to count my gauge and a stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round, but that's the same as normal for me. This yarn (shade 005) is technically still a gray - it does have some specks of white in it, but I think it will be a great color for a black sweater. Bring on the black yarn! I've also been thinking about the issues I have with the pattern, and I think I've made some design decisions. I'm knitting the pattern in a size small on slightly smaller needles. This should get me to a result that is somewhere between a small and extra small. It will be snug on me, but still fit. I'm definitely going to steek it. I'm also going to knit the collar to be quite deep, like a turtleneck. This way, when the sweater is worn open (how I normally wear them), the edges will pull out slightly. This, combined with the snug fit, will get me closer to my preferred v-neck shape without having to perform any olympics of pattern design. I'm leaning towards putting in a zipper. That way, if I get really cold, I can zip the sweater up and be perfectly comfortable. I'm also tempted to put in pockets, but that will depend on whether or not I have enough yarn. I should, but pockets will be a game-time decision. The last decision I have to make is also the hardest: what to do about the colorwork pattern. I've pulled a few ideas for the colorwork onto a Pinterest board. I'm loving colorwork these days, and wouldn't be opposed to working two strands of yarn for a bigger chunk of the sweater. But it could also be lovely to have just a tiny band of colorwork around the neckline, like a tiny necklace. Luckily, I still have a couple of days before I have to make a decision, since I still have one more sleeve and the body of the sweater to knit.... Are you banging out a sweater? How's it going? xx,
Pamela I've already apologized for being late (fashionably, I hope) to the party that is 2015 year-in-review blog posts. There's just so much that happened last year! One of my most exciting accomplishments in 2015 was that I started to design my own sweaters - two with my own handspun! And, while I'd only knit a sweater a year from 2012-2014, in 2015 I made two sweaters and a vest. Not too shabby. I still have a lot to learn about sweater design and fit, but I'm pretty exciting about what I have learned, and I'm loving that I'm taking a more active role in creating my own wardrobe. Scrappy Sweater How I designed it: This sweater is a mishmash of Elizabeth Zimmerman sweaters: the classic EPS, the Brooks, with a v-neck and a shawl collar thrown in. I also designed the colorwork pattern. I wanted subtly shifting colors, without big motifs. What I learned:
This sweater quickly became one of my favorite sweaters - as soon as it was done (and cold enough), I've worn it almost every day. Rest assured, it does get washed, and while it's drying there is a serious hole in my wardrobe. As I mentioned above, I did learn that stranded colorwork stretches vertically when washed and blocked. Of course, I didn't learn that until after knitting the entire sweater, and ended up having to do some surgery on the sleeves to make them shorter. But I do love the long length of the overall sweater because.... I made it too big. This is a roomy sweater, even though (I think) I intended for the result to be more fitted. As I discovered later on in the year, I tend to overestimate what size I need (even after I've measured myself). The Key Takeaways:
Jacob Vest How I designed it: I used an existing vest (like this one) for the initial measurements and worked from there. Added a cable detail at the edges. Pockets + zipper. What I learned:
This vest is extra special to me because it is made from local Jacob wool that I handspun myself. Because there wasn't enough of one color to make a whole vest, I decided to go for an ombre effect. The armholes are a little funky - they're a bit too deep, and at the same time they're too shallow for the edging I chose. I really didn't want to do a knitted-on edging, though that might have worked better. Overall, the coolest thing about this vest are the finishing touches - the zipper and the pockets. They make it a much more wearable item, especially the way I use this vest - as an in-between weathers piece, particularly when hiking. The Key Takeaways:
Old Man Corriedale
How I designed it: This is a mashup of EPS, the measurements of the Jacob vest, and some other sweater design basics. It's not quite done yet, but since all the main pieces were made in 2015, I'm counting it! What I learned:
The body and sleeves of this sweater are made, and I'm almost done seaming the sleeves. The body was made in one piece, and that's where it's fitting a little large. Since it's destined to be a cardigan, I'm planning on lopping off a few inches at the center front before I pick up for the neck band. After that, all that's left are pockets! The Key Takeaways:
So many sweaters, so little time. If you missed Brooklyn Tweed's latest, head on over there. My favorites, on the left and the right, are Tallis (left) and Intersect (right). And from Farm to Needle, the Mysig cardigan.
It doesn't hurt that these sweaters are all shown in my favorite colors, aka, neutral on neutral. All simple, but far from boring. Be still my heart. What's on your radar these days? |
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