stripes

I don't have as much time to knit as I used to or as I'd like, so I suppose it's fitting that my most recent project was on a small scale.  It's a gift for someone who I'm fairly certain doesn't read this blog.  Just in case, though, I'm posting a cryptic in-progress photo so the end result isn't readily apparent.

Cherry red and bright teal were great fun to work with.  Maybe I should incorporate more bright colors into my day on a regular basis.

he's such a good sport

It's been ages since I've posted anything about knitting, eh? For much of the summer, I was working on a sweater for The Awesome Husband as an anniversary gift. I wanted it to be a surprise so I didn't blog about it, obviously, and I didn't work on it when he was in the house. I learned something this summer: he and I don't spend a whole lot of time apart from each other when I'm not working. Certainly not enough time to knit a sweater in less than two months, anyway. So it wasn't ready on time, and -- Awesome Husband that he is -- he didn't make me feel bad about it.

He was also awesome enough to let me take a few pictures now that it's finally complete and wearable.

For those of you who still check in hoping for some knitting chatter, I used a pattern called Joukahainen. The ravelry page is here. You don't need to be a ravelry member to see the pattern here.

... But you do need to know Finnish.

Finished: Stripey Buttony Cardigan

This is a warm and cozy one, for sure. Icelandic wool (purchased in Iceland!) will do that. You know what else it'll do? Require layering. Wow, that's some itchy yarn.

Pattern -- Buttony by Katie Marcus (ravelry page here)
Yarn -- Alafoss Lopi, purchased here.
Needles -- US size 8

Doesn't everyone block sweaters in mixing bowls?

The stripey Icelandic wool sweater is all knit up, the thousand and one ends have been woven in, and I blocked it over the weekend. The yarn is taking its sweet time to dry, and the sleeves are still a little damp. In the meantime, though, I can show you what it looked like while it was soaking in a mixing bowl. Fascinating, I know.








Mmmm, wet wool.

And, just because I was asked so nicely for photographic proof, here are those boots I mentioned the other day. Note: they're lying on a carpet that I have a new found adoration for, now that it's cleaner than it's been in ages. We replaced our old, ineffective vacuum last week with a new model, and I'll admit I may have spent part of the weekend dancing around the house saying things like "our carpets look brand new!" and "this is our best purchase ever!" and "pet hair! it's picking up the PET HAIR!"

But, ahem, here are the boots:

Weekend, hurrah!

This weekend, I'll be doing the following:

- weaving in a thousand and one ends of yarn on that stripey sweater (it's nearly done! must find buttons, too!)

- napping

- trying to figure out how to put a stop to Mr. Cecil's new habit of whining from his crate constantly during the hours of 10:00pm through 4:00am. (The napping makes sense now, right?)

- starting cucumber seeds in little peat pots

- more napping

- eating Girl Scout cookies

- admiring the out-of-the-blue flowers Mr. Wonderful surprised me with the other day:




Happy weekend to everybody!

Speed Knitting

Bulky yarn and larger than normal knitting needles mean I've been flying through this most recent sweater.  I started it last week and have pretty much everything except the sleeves done.  The yarn was purchased in Iceland, and the pattern is Buttony by Katie Marcus.

It's a good thing this one's going quickly.  I'll want to wear it when it's done, and for that I'll need relatively brisk weather... which will be in short supply soon, right?

Right?

Finished: Cotton Candy Cardigan

Remember when I talked incessantly about a super secret gift knitting project I was working on for months, and then I (somewhat anticlimactically) was able to show you the result? Well, if you can believe it, I actually had yarn left over from the 20 linear feet of shawls, and it -- some of it, anyway... I bought a lot of yarn -- has since been turned into a drapey, open-front cardigan... a-like so:

Pattern -- Pretty in Pink by Josée Paquin (ravelry page here)
Yarn -- Patons Grace
Needles -- varied throughout the course of the pattern








I think this might be the first time I've ever knit something in the color suggested, although I didn't use the yarn the pattern calls for so I'm staying true to form on that. And at the risk of stating the obvious, spring and its short sleeve weather can hurry up and get here annnny time now. Ahem.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Part Three

It's the third installment of the Copycat Project, wherein I steer you to blogs you should peruse whilst stubbornly refusing to maintain an updated blogroll. Check out part one and part two while you're here as well.

So you guys all know that I knit quite a bit, even if the majority of the content around here is woefully off topic for what ostensibly once was a knitblog. Jstrizzy, on the other hand, has a much more respectable attention span. A knitblog about knitting (and some sewing for good measure). What a concept! Plus, she's got skills, especially when it comes to lace. Go read about what she's been knitting these days... and ooh and ahh and pick your jaws up off the floor. She's good.

To take a page from Jstrizzy's book, I'll do a proper post about the sweater I finished last week -- the one that two of you wanted to see in greater detail than just the button bands. There's realio, trulio knitting content today, folks.

Pattern: Maude Louise, by Kristen Hanley Cardozo

Yarn: Lett Lopi, by Istex (Yes, very itchy. This is a layering sweater, that's for sure.)

Modifications: I omitted the seed stitch on the shoulders and stuck with stockinette. Otherwise, I pretty much followed the pattern.

And now for the pictures. The first one highlights the stitches and is pretty true to color. The second one shows off the pattern detail around the waist. There's also a row of those diamonds running down each sleeve, as you'll see (barely) in photo three.

Finished sweater. Bad picture.

It shows the color very well, at least.

This is Kristin Hanley Cardozo's Maude Louise pattern, followed relatively closely... though I did omit a section of seed stitch on the shoulders.  If I had it to knit again (and I suppose I could, but I won't), I'd work the ribbing along the bottom edge with smaller needles, because the bottom isn't as fitted as it should be.  A-line in a sweater is less flattering than it is in a skirt.  I might add some elastic, or I might just wear this one primarily around the house.  It's very cozy and our house is generally on the cold side, so that works.

I can't decide what to make next, which is probably a good thing right now.  If you see me knitting before the end of the year, take the needles out of my hands and give me a taping knife, a sanding sponge, or a paint brush, depending on the day.  I'm hoping we get to the paint brushes soon.

Never-ending Sleeves

I think I mentioned a while back that the latest of my long line of cardigan projects would be the February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne.  I started it and found that the yarn I'm using (Icelandic wool purchased in Icelandisn't the best choice for that pattern. 

Instead, I decided on the Maude Louise cardigan designed by Kristin Hanley Cardozo.  So far so good, but I feel like I've been working on these sleeves forever.  FOREVER!

Ok, maybe not forever

.

Super Secret Gift Knitting

If you hadn't already surmised, the super secret gift knitting project I spent the late winter and spring working on was wedding related: I knit a shawl for each of the lovely women who served as my attendants.  That photo up there shows the finished product, an aggregate twenty-plus feet of shawl.  The photo quality leaves a bit to be desired, but take my word for it that they're a nice shade of pale pink, to coordinate with chocolate brown dresses. 

There actually wasn't much need for the shawls at the wedding (as we had pretty much perfect weather), but hopefully they'll be worn and enjoyed for years to come.  I certainly enyoyed making them... Any moments of monotony (I'll admit, it was an awful lot of stockinette) were more than worth the looks on my friends' faces when I was finally able to give these puppies to their rightful owners. 

Iceland Intermission: Finished Sweaters

You wouldn't know it from my posts lately, but yes, I'm still knitting. Knitting up a storm, in fact, and I've got two finished sweaters to show for it. There's the sweater that I procrastiknit-ed when I didn't want to tackle the wedding planning task of the day (the purple one) and the sweater knit nearly entirely in- or travelling-to-and-from-Iceland (the green one).


Ok! First up, the honeymoon sweater:
Trina, designed by hilary Smith Callis over at The Yarniad. Ravelry page is over here.



And the "Ack! Don't make me think about how many chairs we'll need!" sweater:

Tailored Cardigan, designed by... some nameless person over at Garn Studio, I suppose. Ravelry page thisaway. This might actually be my favorite handknit item ever, even though it doesn't have the intended buttons because I... forgot to knit button holes. Yes, really.







Next up: Pamela Wynne's February Lady Sweater. After this, I really need to stop with the cardigans.

Whisper Cardigan (abbreviated)

Like I'd said earlier, as of Wednesday I'd made substantial progress on the Whisper Cardigan I was knitting. Since then, two things happened: (1) I kept working on it, and (2) I ran out of yarn. So, it's done! It's a little shorter than I would have chosen, and I still need to find the right layering shirt to pair it with. Still, though, ta-dah!

recent observations

In list format:

- Working an extra several hours a week creates a domino effect on my schedule and sense of equilibrium. Running more than once a week, cooking, and blogging fall by the wayside. The paychecks are nice, though.

- A packet of snow pea seeds from 2008 can produce enough pea pods for more stir fry dinners than two people can eat in eight days. It's kind of scary, in a yummy way.

- Even tomato plants in cages can topple over. Multiple times. Only an elaborate network of string supports will stabilize them. Fortunately, said tomato plants can survive said toppling and be full of flowers and tiny tomatoes to boot.

- Keeping a pencil and paper with you to track rows when knitting a sweater is kind of annoying. I almost miss doing endless repeats. Almost.

- Breakfast consisting of a homemade egg sandwich on whole wheat, with a cup of coffee and a super healthy smoothie will keep me from getting hungry until late morning. Trust me, this is an impressive feat.

Guess what?!

I'm knitting something other than a super secret for knitting project! This is big news, people. Like, major.

I can't share any information on the super secret gift yet other than to say that it's done. Once it's been gifted I'll post some photos. And I'll tell you what it is. That might help, too.

Right now, though, I'm psyched to be working on a new sweater: the Whisper Cardigan, by fellow Mainer Hannah Fettig. I have one sleeve done, which in this case means I'm approximately 20% through.

My available knitting time is limited right now, so if I can finish this by the end of the summer, I'll be a happy girl.

Harvest, future and present

Our strawberry plants are doing really well this year.  See all those flowers and teeny yellow berries?  If they can survive the hungry woodland creatures (they're not fenced in) I suspect we'll have a lot more edible strawberries than we did last year. 

We've already harvested some edible veggies.  There's been enough baby spinach for a couple salads, leaving behind plenty to keep growing.  And the radishes -- oh, the radishes.  I plant rows of them every year because they grow quickly and gardening is more fun when things grow quickly.  I'm not a huge fan, though, especially when they've matured enough to be quite spicy.  For now, we've been putting them in salads, but we've barely made a dent in the crop.  Must research other ways to use them up, or start giving them away to friends and family, as we did last year with cucumbers.

I really wish I had a knitting "harvest" to share as well, but alas, I do not.  Super-secret Gift Knitting project is about 80% done, so I feel like I'm almost, *almost* in the home stretch.  When that's behind me, I can knit something new and different!  Rejoice!  I predict a twirly happy dance of celebration... followed by complete and utter indecision.

Finished!

I've finished a sweater!

Remember how I said I was making a highly modified version of the Mirabella Cardigan? Here's what it looks like as a pullover... with long sleeves... and a different neckline... at a tighter gauge.



Now I need to return my focus to the super-secret gift knitting endeavor I'm halfway through. It should take about two more months, if I can stop making the foolish mistakes that have been slowing me down.

... and if gardening, running, socializing, cooking, etc. don't get in the way. That too.

I knit like I cook.

As I think I may have mentioned, oh, every time I talk about cooking, I'm not the best at following recipes. Measuring is time-consuming (and it results in more dishes to wash, I would say unnecessarily), so I usually don't do it. I often don't have every suggested ingredient on hand, and depending on what the missing element is, I forge ahead anyway. Even when I do have all the right ingredients, I'm likely to use less of some (oil, for instance) and more of others (recipes never call for enough cinnamon, ever).

And yes, I approach knitting in much the same way. I'm about as incapable of following a pattern as I am at adhering to a recipe. Right now, I'm working on the Mirabella Cardigan from the spring 2008 issue of Interweave Knits (clearly I conquered the what-to-knit-next decision that had me stumped last week). I'm making a rough approximation of it, anyway.

First, I decided to use a finer gauge than the pattern calls for and knit a larger size to arrive at the dimensions I'll need. Next, as I always do, I opted for knitting in the round rather than knitting flat. At that point, I figured I might as well knit it as a pullover instead of a cardigan, and lengthen the short sleeves to full length. The jury's still out on whether I'll change the neckline.

Here's what I've got so far:

Year in Review (yarn version)

I feel like I should post something before we trade in 2009 for 2010. Some sort of retrospective account of the rollercoaster that was the previous twelve months, progress made, hurdles cleared, that sort of thing. To be honest, though, I'm not feelin' it today, so instead I'll give you a retrospective of a much more narrow scope: That Which I've Knit in 2009.

2009 was less prolific than 2008 (the sweater-a-month year), but the sweater obsession continued. I finished Thermal early in the year, so I suppose it should be included in the tally, even though that feels like ages ago. Francis Revisited has proven to be one of my most wearable sweaters, as the pilling along the sides of the torso shows (sigh). On days that I'm not likely to be eating or drinking anything that would stain if/when spilled, Surface, in white, has been getting some time in the wardrobe rotation.

Two sweaters were knit to the very end, never to see the light of day and be worn out of the house. Picovoli, knit in black cotton with long sleeves, was probably my favorite knit item ever, were it not for the neckline. The yarn drapes beautifully, the shaping and fit were perfect, but the neck edging curled too much even for me. It's been ripped out, and I'm halfway through a second attempt. Camden is suffering a similar, unwearable fate: the raglan cap sleeves are too... roomy, for lack of a better word, and the fabric bunches where it should be snug. I'll either rip this out too, or attempt some sort of sewing/steeking/hail mary rescue project.

Towards the end of the year, I knit this version of the Mrs. Darcy cardigan, and I wear it as often as I can get away with. I heart it. I also heart my second Coachella, but there haven't been too many opportunities to put it to use since it was finished at the end of the summer.

Right, and there was the Waist-Cincher Top, which I've already told you was a feeble success at best, to put it diplomatically.

So. That was my year of knitting. For the forseeable future (well, not really, but it feels that way), I'll be working on a surprise knitted gift of epic proportions -- we're talking 4500 yards of yarn here, people -- so the knitting updates will be nil for a while.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to take a nap so I'll be able to stay awake and ring in the new year by dancing my tail off this evening. Best to you all for a happy and healthy 2010!

Not every item is a success.

So, that project I mentioned I was working on recently? The Waist Cincher Top? It's been done for a few weeks now. I've put off posting about it because this is the only remotely acceptable picture I could finagle.



... and even this is the result of some careful contorting of my torso and cropping of the photo.

I definitely love the pattern concept. And I love the yarn. They even might work well together on someone else's frame. On mine, I'd need to find some other combination of accompanying garments before I'd be convinced I can wear this out of the house.

Hopefully the next sweater will be more flattering. It might be a while, though, because I've got some pretty extensive gift knitting on my plate. The yarn I need for that is set to be delivered at the end of this week, so I've been hesitant to get my little knitting heart set on a project for myself.