Delinquent Blogger Returns... footage at 6 (Heather)

Yes, it seems I took a little impromptu blog break. I didn't completely abandon knitting, and I did my best to check up on the blogs every so often, but I didn't have much to say, and in my defense, it was a busy busy month. I am still trying to catch my breath!

I did not finish Salina, nor am I likely to finish the Greek Pullover by June 12th, since I haven't started it. I did finish Evie, so that will have to count as my May sweater:



Evie!
Pattern: Debbie Bliss Stella/Pure Cotton (This is a great book! I already want to knit three more designs)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Stella Colour 15, 7 balls
Comments: a very quick knit, very simple, but with interest. The bulky yarn really makes the knitting zip along, but the yarn is not unpleasantly heavy. The wet-blocking really evened out the stitches and gave the fabric more drape. This was a sample project commissioned by Needles and Pins.

She is already holding court in the window at Needles and Pins. I have to say, it was a really easy, fun, and quick project! It only took a while because I had other things on my plate and knitting projects oddly don't progress very fast when you don't touch them for a week or more.

I am pledging to do better by Amaya.




This is my next store project, and I am loving it even more than Evie! The yarn is Rowan's new Bamboo Tape, and it is absolutely luscious. The feel of silk, but the tape gives it nice elasticity. This wool adherent has found her match!



The pattern is Amaya, from the Bamboo Tape Collection. At first glance it looks as simple as Evie, but there is some really elegant shaping and a neat neck treatment!



I had the back completely finished in less than two days of knitting... I could have laid it out for you to see the shape, but I wanted to portray the luxurious drape for you. It feels like you could pour it through your fingers. And since it is a tape, there is no splittiness. If my addi catches on the yarn, it doesn't catch. I think I am in love! I have the front done except for one side of the v-neck, and then the finishing (which includes the fancy next twist). I think I can have it done before June 12th, and therefore might fulfill my three sweaters in three months vow after all!

On an unrelated note: what the heck are these?



They came with Mike's new dress shirt, and similar ones came with his last shirt. I am really curious, and I feel like I ought to know, but I am clueless! Any help?

Central Park Hoodie (Heather)

Or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Cable

I did sew the last button on this baby at 10 AM on Easter Sunday, finishing it just in time to wear to church (my determination was perhaps fueled by the fact that I had packed no other appropriate outfit) and so I did have my new sweater for that day. Even a bonnet, if you count the hood.

None of my pictures are that helpful for people who want details on the sweater, but really it looks pretty darn exact to the pictures in Knitscene (yay!) but if anyone has questions or want to see a particular part, just let me know.



We may have gotten a little artsy accidentally. Yesterday afternoon we walked up and down Yonge St. and generally had a good time. It was almost dusk when we got off the subway, so we had a short window of time to take a few pictures.


(could I look goofier? must be spring fumes)

One of the things I love most about this sweater is the colour. It is so super-saturated that I am sure I will have to wash it separately all its life, but it is completely worth it. Look at how it pops out from the gray of spring! When I walk down the street in it (and trust me, I throw it on whenever I am leaving the apartment) I feel like I couldn't stand out more from the dreary sidewalks and naked hedges if I were wearing a fluorescent orange vest. Now, my goal is not usually to stand out, but for this sweater I will make a happy exception.

It was a great pattern to knit, some errata, but nothing that I couldn't have figured out on my own. A very fast knit, despite the hood. (note: there is a LOT more knitting in a hood than you think there is. It is the area equivalent to about 2/3 of the back!) The cables are easy-peasy without a cable needle, and with the nice elasticy wool they spring into place and really pop.



So: the details!

Central Park Hoodie
Started: March 12, 2007
Finished: April 8, 2007
Pattern: Knitscene, Fall 2006, from Rosemary!
Needles: This loose knitter used a 3.5mm Addi for everything but the ribbing.
Yarn: Ram Wools Selkirk in Red (120) 4.5 skeins (248m each)

Modifications: I extended the main body (the cable repeats) of the sweater in length. I wanted a size small for snugness, but I am long-waisted and this extension makes the sweater much more wearable than it would have been on me.

I also extended the button bands to 2" instead of 1.5". I don't know if I would do this again, the edges of the button bands flip up a bit, but I haven't actually blocked them yet, so we shall see.

I wet blocked all the main pieces, and it really really improved the wool. This is a rough under-processed wool with lots of vegetable matter in it, but with a fairly even ply. The label says it gets softer with each wash, and I have had no problem with it against my skin so far.

This is a warm snug sweater, and I have been wearing it as a jacket over a tank top in our April weather of 5 degrees. It might be chilly, but the snow is gone and the plants are starting to wake up again!



I have started my next Spring Surge Sweater and am beavering away on my store project. Pictures (yay!) to come.

Sunny Stupor (Heather)

In contrast to the last few warm but distinctly gloomy days, today was brilliantly sunny, but only 0 degrees (Celsius). For those of us in an West-facing apartment, it was a sunny, sleepy afternoon. Phlox needs to work on more flattering napping positions.



He usually keeps to Mike's lap, but once I got all my other work done and finally got back to CPH, he planted himself firmly on my legs. I had to do some emergency blogging in situ before the sun went down.



So I have about 12 or 13 inches down at this point, and the pattern says to start the armhole shaping at 13.5". I want a longer sweater, so I am going to knit to 15" and then start. I ought to have more than enough yarn to satisfy this modification. Speaking of yarn, I absolutely love it when the yarn cake becomes a yarn nest. See what I mean? It is nice to be working with a sticky, woolly yarn!

We are visiting our Alma Mater this weekend to hear a conference on anger in the ancient world. I don't know how much knitting time this will afford me, but it will be nice to be in our old stomping grounds!

Spring Debate (Heather)

"So, it is pretty warm out there. All the snow is gone"
"Yeah, but it won't last. It never does."
"Oh Phlox, you are such a pessimist."

What? The conversation was obviously taking place. And it mirrors a few dialogues I have held (with humans) in the past two days. Temperatures of 14 degrees do not a spring make, not when the snow will be returning on Friday. Don't rush spring, folks! It will come, it will come.

Against every likelihood I knit another selkirk swatch.



I don't seem to have 3.75mm needles, or more likely I do have them and can't find them anywhere. So I went down to 3.5mm, and it seems to be fine. I measured once, got gauge, then threw it away before it could change.

I cast on the back last night and got the ribbing done this morning. I want to add 2 inches to the length of the sweater, but I decided to add it to the pattern instead of the rib. I like the proportions of the sweater as it is shown, and I think that adding in pattern will least disrupt that. It is cooking along at a fair rate.




I am cabling without a cable needle, and that seems to be working quite well for me. As always with cabled items, I am constantly impressed by how fast it seems to be moving along. I blame it on the mentality of 'well, there are only three more rows until the cable row, so I will just get that far before I put it down'.

The photo is fairly true to the colour (I love our camera) though the yarn is a little less luminous than the photo suggests. It is not a soft wool, but it has great body, and it really makes the cables 'pop'. It doesn't have any tweedy bits (only lots of straw) but I think it is the perfect stash yarn for this project. Serendipity! I bought it from Ram Wools during a Valentine's sale, and am currently very happy that I did.

A Journey of Three Sweaters (Heather)

Starts with the first swatch?

I need to get 17 stitches to 4 inches. I am using a yarn that recommends 19 stitches on 5mm. In my world, a 5mm really means 4mm. For kicks I knit a swatch on 4mm addis and what do I get? 16 sts to 4 inches. I am debating how important this is to me. Note that I made a real 6 inch swatch here! And I washed it and dried it. Take THAT!

248 metres of worsted weight yarn makes for a sizable ball. I had to bring out the plus-sized model for this photo:



Here is the grey yarn I have for Clessidra. To demonstrate the greyness of the yarn, my grey cat thought it was a long lost cousin. Or perhaps a dust bunny (he sees enough of those!).



I did NOT manage to graft the watermelon socks last night or this morning. Perhaps tonight!



It is hard to think of wool socks when for the snow is melting all around. It is nice to see the snow melt because it means spring might be showing its face soon. On the negative size, the street crud that was hiding in huge drifts is percolating towards the sidewalk...



Spring in the city!

Spring Surge (Heather)

Spring does crazy things to a person. It takes those ideas that flit through your head in the wee hours and makes them pop up where you least expect it... like on your blog!

I am feeling the revival of my knitting mojo. I finished the second trekking sock this morning, they only need to be grafted now. All that plain stockinette got my knitting fingers twitchin'. I suspect that a long line of tricky projects requiring far too much fiddling and calculations sucked the joy of knitting right out of me. Three log cabin squares and two stockinette socks have reminded me that it is a pleasure to follow a pattern sometimes.

Also, I had a look at my New Years Knitting resolutions and noted that I have only finished one sweater this year, and that was York, which I had started last August! Clearly though my yarn diet has stayed on track (though that truly pains me today) I have not been honouring the spirit of the yarn diet, and that is knitting some sweaters with the yarn I have been pack-ratting.

So, thanks to a heady mix of spring fever and stock-piled wool fumes, an idea has bored its way into my head.

Spring Sweater Surge!

Starting today, March 12th, I will knit one sweater a month for three months. On June 12th, I will have three new sweaters.

Month One:



Central Park Hoodie. I have lots of Selkirk in a true red colour that will do nicely for this. It is not very soft, but neither is the yarn called for, so it ought to work out well. And if I finish this first, it will do nicely as a spring jacket stand-in.

Month Two:



Greek Pullover in Rowan Kid Classic: I will enjoy picking out the organza for this one! After cabling for the first month, plain stockinette will possibly be a relief?

And finally,

Month Three:



Salina, in Rowan Felted Tweed. I saved the smallest gauge for last, but if it is already stiflingly hot by June, Felted Tweed might save me.

Now, I hope to celebrate some mini-milestones along the way, but if all goes well, I will be celebrating June 12th more than usual!

So. Am I crazy? Crazy like a FOX?

(edited to replace the teeny-weeny Greek Pullover picture with one that you can actually see)