purlsandmurmers

Gedifra Vest

Well, the Gedifra vest has been done all weekend and I just got a chance to sneak in a photo, and this one was literally taken in a quick rush to change clothes, snap and photo and rush back to whatever I was doing in a few odd moments.   

I do really like it and the fabric has nice body but I haven't really worked out what I am going to wear it with yet.  I was trying some potential outfits on Saturday, but DH was feeling lonely and and was therefore watching and commenting.  I simply needed time to try things for myself and wasn't ready for company yet, although that may be something I just have to get used to.  Anyway, I quickly grew frustrated with the wardrobe workout until I had a quick few moments to take a picture today.  

I like the collar, although it can be a little overwhelming.  And I like the shape of the vest.  The combination of the shape and the body of the knitted fabric give this a bit of structure and on me I think it works best with a crisper or more tailored outfit, and soft tailored pants or these wider jeans.  Looking at this photo I can get some ideas as to where I was going wrong with my outfit-planning ideas on Saturday.

Basically this is knit just like the pattern in the recommended yarn.  I did need just the tiniest smidge over the recommended amount of yarn, which annoys me no end.  

Sewing the vest together was interesting and I think the designer did a nice job of planning the pieces so that the shaping and the fabric all worked together to provide shape and structure.

This was a fast project that turned out really well and looks promising to be a wardrobe basic for some time to come.

One Wrist Warmer Finished and A Few Changes

Knitting has progressed in fits and starts, with judicious periods of ripping.

The wrist-warmers have been moving along rather quickly, given the limited amount of time I have devoted to knitting them.  I did eagerly stay up one night determined to finish the top hem only to be disappointed in the end result.

They did not look better in the morning:

 

The problem was with the way the opening flared out at the fingers.  It was not attractive and it felt bulky when they were on the hand.  I checked the pattern and I had correctly followed the directions.  I also checked the Vogue Knitting website to see if any corrections had been posted, but there were none.

Then I ripped and redid the hem.  

According to the pattern, the hem at the wrist end was knitted over 44 stitches and then the number of stitches was increased to 66 stitches after finishing the hem.  When it came time to make the hem at the finger end, the total number of stitches had already been decreased to 60 stitches, but it still looked like too many stitches were on the needle for the hem.  So on the first row of the hem I simply repeated a K1, K2tog sequence around the circumference of the glove, ending up with 40 stitches.  Then I knit the hem with and turned it up, sewing the live stitches to the beginning of the hem stitches on the inside.  This was much better.

When I looked at the instructions for picking up the thumb stitches, it looked to me like I was going to have the same problem.  I had 10 stitches on the holder and I was to pick up and knit 14 more stitches for a total of 24.  This looked too bulky to me, but I wasn't sure I wanted to decrease the number of stitches by 1/3 to 16.  I cheated a little bit and knit two stitches together twice on each needle, reducing my stitch count from 8 on each needle to 6 on each needle and a total stitch count of 18.  This worked beautifully.  I probably could have gotten away with 16 stitches also.

Notice that the hem looks much neater here and does not flare out at the finger-end.  

Here is the finished wrist-warmer on my hand.  The fit is much better.

Rhinebeck 2

This week has been slipping by faster than the leaves are falling from the trees.  I would swear it should only be Tuesday..... But I know it isn't true.

I did go back to the fair on Sunday just to wander around.  I really wasn't planning on doing any more shopping, I just wanted to see the sheep and llamas and rabbits, and hit a  few of the many booths G and I had missed.  Sunday was a much quieter day, although still cold.  I didn't mind the chill; I finally had an opportunity to wear sweaters to NY Sheep & Wool.   On Sunday, I wore this oversized Noro cabled sweater that I knit back in 2001.  The pattern is from Debbie Bliss Noro Collection.  I used the pattern for "Lattice and Cable sweater in Iro" although I used Kureyon.  The sweater is huge, 45 inches is the bust measurement on the smallest size and I was smaller then than I am now.  The good news is that the sweater still fits, and is still way to big,  although I am not sure it does all that much for me style-wise.   But I love the sweater anyway so unless I make something more fitted and flattering in the same shade of Kureyon, it will probably stay in my closet for those days when you just want a huge, warm, snuggly sweater.

I really don't have anything inspiring or creative to share about Rhinebeck this year.  I didn't run into anyone I know, or whose blog I read, and that did strike me as a little odd, and our knitting group didn't get together at the show either so it was just me wandering around, sans camera as usual.  

I ended up with far more yarn than anticipated:  

While I was at The Fold, I did look at the sock yarn, and bought one skein even though I have a box full of sock yarn.  I actually have been wearing socks more this year and it has become evident that I need to knit socks again.  

I hauled out my boots this fall, and bought some new ones too, and I have been wearing socks with the boots.  I used to be more sensitive to the criticism that my boots were "too western" or too something or another and this year I am just wearing what I want. And what I want is boots.  I replaced a pair of old engineer boots that I hadn't worn for years (decades???) which were cracked and too small, and now I need socks to wear with them.  I had forgotten how much I prefer a pair of sturdy boots to tromp around in, and sturdy boots need socks. In my boots I feel firmly planted and impervious to all the sh** that falls in my path, be it at a barn or elsewhere.

We also stopped at the Windy Valley Muskox booth, where G fell in love with a sweater and a yarn and treated me to enough for a sweater.   This yarn is the Majestic Blend which is only 15% qiviut, but it is quite nice with a lovely merino base.  The yarn is actually a little deeper in color than it appears in this photograph, the picture on the website looks more accurate.  We got 9 skeins and a pattern for a pretty little lacy pattern.  I am looking forward to knitting this, but not right away, there are several things that are higher on my list.

We also both loved a beautiful deep blue in the Qiviut Royal Blend, which is much more special 50% qiviut, and 50% merino.  G couldn't imagine this in the sweater pattern he liked as the yarn is a little shiny and he liked the subtlety of the matt texture of the mostly merino yarn.  But he still liked this yarn and thought I should get some.  We picked three skeins so I could knit a scarf and gloves from a pattern they had at the booth and I was pretty thrilled.  G is pretty picky about yarns and quality, he absorbed a lot of that from his mom and growing up around the yarn business, and he is usually underwhelmed by most of what we see at the sheep and wool fesitval.  It was surprising to see him this excited about anything he saw.

But wait.  Did you notice that there are 4 skeins of Royal Qiviut?  G purchased 3.  When we got home I realized that if I got 3 more skeins there would be enough to knit a particular pattern that has been sitting at the back of my mind.  The color would be perfect and the fabric would feel sinfully wonderful next to my skin.  My first stop on Sunday was to go back to Windy Valley Muskox to see if they still had some of this blue yarn.  They did.  It was mine.

Then I just wandered about a bit without any intentions to buy more.  And yet, I happened to stumble on a couple of other things. I have vague plans for all these yarns but I shall leave the details for whenever they actually appear in a project.

Remember that Gedifra Highland Alpaca that was supposed to arrive Tuesday?  It just arrived.  I guess I am not the only one who has misplaced part of this week.  Must go knit.  I have projects to finish.

Almost

I have knitted up every last scrap of the Gedifra Highland Alpaca.

There is not enough yarn.  

When I started the second piece I had doubts.  When I finished the first of the two remaining balls of yarn I was convinced there would not be enough, but I talked myself into going a little further before deciding.

For a brief moment I thought there would be enough.  Then I fussed and worried and wondered if I had lost control over my gauge again, wondered if I could rip and reknit and possibly just get by.  I don't believe so.  The two pieces match each other perfectly for size.  Today, after unknitting my swatches and knitting them into the sweater, I broke down and ordered the final skein.

Luckily Colorful Stitches is pretty close and UPS tells me the new skein will be here tomorrow.

Rhinebeck 1

The first day of Rhinebeck 2008, otherwise known as NY Sheep and Wool is over and done.  It was also our 22nd wedding anniversary.

It has proven to be a fabulous day.

To begin with, the colors are fabulous this year, and I have not begun to capture their beauty and intensity in this photograph.  In fact I have been awed by the beauty around me for past several days and keep forgetting to carry a camera.  When I do have a camera, it doesn't seem to capture the depth and glow of the colors.  This is by the far the best year of the past few.  I don't think the reds are as vibrant as they are in some years, but the yellows are truly breathaking.  They seem to have an inner glow, and when you see an expanse of yellow trees, mixed with red and orange the sun seems to make them glow with a light all their own. They simply steal the show, leaving one slack-jawed in awe and envy.  

And this year, I believe the peak is this weekend, if not already past. There are stretches where more leaves are on the ground than on the trees, but then one turns a corner and the trees are a riot of color again and there are even bits of green, as in deciduous green, not just the evergreens.

G went with me to the sheep festival after days of telling me he didn't want to go.  We had a good time.  I was determined to get there early and get to The Fold while there was still a good bit of stock in the store.   I was hoping that one of the Raven Clan colors by Socks that Rock would be perfect for a project that has been fermenting in the back of my brain, and I was hoping to get to look at a couple of the colorways before making a decision.  It provided to be a fortuitous stop as they had exactly what I was looking for in a more-or-less sport weight yarn called WooBu in color Valkerie (pardon the flash photo, it was after dark by the time I had time to take this and no other photo began to capture the colors).  It was a good thing I looked as the color I was most attracted to from the photos on my computer monitor (Korpii) was far too dark and somber for me to pull off and this color was perfect, although I would never have chosen it solely based on the computer image.

After our hour or more in the lines at the Fold, where I was knitting away happily on my fingerless mitts with my yarn safely held in Knitty Walker that I purchased from Christine Johnson last year, we were finally free to explore.  Several people commented on the Knitty Walker, and I extolled its virtues, so hopefully Christine will get a few orders, but considering how few people read this blog, I suspect it is unlikely.

We wandered around a few more hours, made a few more purchases (more about that later) and headed home for a late lunch, a nap for G, and some last minute sewing alterations for me.

We drove up to Saugerties for dinner at our favorite local (???) restaurant, Cafe Tamayo, where we had the fabulous Duck Confit.  Cafe Tamayo has the best duck confit I have ever had anywhere and it is rare that I am seduced away from it by anything else on the menu.  Although we knew we were having the duck I was not inspired by the wines this time, and although I usually opt for one of the fine Rhone wines, it wasn't what I wanted tonight.  I asked Rickie for help and she pointed me to an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon I had not tried,  Heartland, and it was just perfect:  somewhat full-bodied, rich, and warming.  It seemed to be the perfect wine for a crisp cool night when I wanted a wine with a bit more body  to take the chill off. It was also fruity enough, but with a  fairly tight structure,  that it was just perfect with the duck.    I was so happy I was smiling that silly goonish smile I always get when I am profoundly happy.  

Fiddle

There I have done it, I have messed up again.

This time however I am not going to rip it out.  

I was knitting away and it came time to make a cross in the cable pattern.  It is a pretty simple pattern, and it was quite easy to remember, well I thought it was quite easy to remember.  I had the pattern with me but it was out in the car and I was much to lazy to get up and walk outside and get it so I just did the second cable cross in the pattern the same way I had done the first.  Mistake.  My cable is not as interesting as the original -- I should have reversed the direction of the crosses.   By the time I noticed I was ready for the next cross.

But these are still looking nice and will be appreciated by the recipient, who really will not notice that the cable is not the one I originally intended.  So I am going ahead.  

I am enjoying knitting these so much anyway that I might even make another pair.  Perhaps I will do the crosses properly and then it will be like knitting an entirely different pattern.

Knitting Update

I believe I implied the other day that there was nothing to show on the knitting front. That was not exactly true.  Work on the Gedifra vest has been progressing well.  I was just a bit cautious because I wanted to avoid excess ripping should there still be a problem with the gauge.  

I didn't want to get very far on the front until I had the back on the blocking board and could confirm that the final measurements and gauge were still on target.  Once I got the back blocked, I was more than ready to knit the front and it went quickly.  

Here are both pieces, although only half of the back is visible in this photograph.

I am getting really excited about this project, although I am beginning to fret about the available yarn and fear that I may run out before the project is finished.   I have 2 skeins left of the original 8.  Each front piece seems to be bigger than half of the back, so I am thinking that I will need more than 1/4 of the original yarn. There are also two leftover bits from previous skeins, combined they weigh another 25 grams (each skein is 100 grams).  I can also harvest another 25 grams of yarn from the two swatches, but the problem with this last 50 grams is that it is in four pieces so I might loose a little bit at the joins, unless I am really good with my spit-splicing.  250 grams ought to do it, don't you think?

As I mentioned in my last post, I have also started another project, this one on size 3 needles.  It is a relief from the size 13 needles I am using for the Gedifra Vest.

I'm calling them Lemonade Wrist Warmers because I hate the term "arm cozies".  The color isn't quite lemonade color, but that is the closest thing I can think of.

Isn't the gauge contrast wonderful?

Vogue Knitting Holiday 2008

The new Vogue Knitting arrived last weekend and I have been looking through it daily, reading it a little here and there, looking at the pictures and patterns, perusing the ads (I always love studying the ads) and just generally entertaining myself.  

I find that I am getting much more focused in terms of my pattern choices. And these "arm cozies" or fingerless mitts immediately caught my eye.  

Just days before the magazine arrived I had purchased some Plymouth Baby Alpaca DK in color 1300, which is a light bright yellow green with the intention of knitting a scarf and some gloves or mitts as a gift.  The timing was perfect, and I started a swatch almost immediately.  It took me a week to actually get started simply due to gauge issues.  It seems I did not own any size 3 double point needles.  I started with size 2, since I am usually such a loosey-goosey knitter that I have to go down a size.  The swatch was too small, way to small.  So I tried the size 4's in my stash.  Too large.   After a run to the store I finally got a working swatch and cast on yesterday.  These will be worked alternately with the Gedifra vest, because the smaller needles are much easier on my hands.

The second sweater that really leapt out at me, and the one that I think is my hands-down favorite sweater in this issue is Laura Bryant's opera coat. There is a part of me that just wants to stop everything and get that yarn. But I know it would take  a while and I can't imagine knitting the sweater in some  other yarn.  That is not surprising considering how much I love Prism yarns and just ooh and ahh over Laura Bryant's colors.  But it will have to wait.  There is no Laura Bryant opera coat in my immediate future, except in the land of dreams.  But have not doubts that the opportunity will arise and I will make it someday.

So what are the more practical options?

I love both of these sweaters.  Tanis Gray's sweater with the swallows would look fabulous on me now, but as I am actively working on loosing weight I am not sure if it would be the right size or look as good on me then.  I don't mind knitting for the current me, but I don't want to start something that may be questionable by the time I finish.  This sweater would have looked good on the younger thinner me, but one thing I have learned is that the new thinner post-menopausal me, is not necessarily going to be arranged the same as my youthful predecessor.  So on this one I will wait.  

 Shiri Mor's fabulous cabled loopy cardigan is something that I truly adore and it reminds me of a sweater I once had.  At this point in my weight loss, this is not my best sweater choice, but it is possible that it will look good after a few more pounds.  It is certainly worth saving for inspiration and encouragement.

This stunning fair isle with the bell sleeves and the peplum is something that will look good on me now and will probably look good in the future too.   I think I keep saying that I need sweaters in variations on this shape and this one is certainly worthy of adding to the queue.  

Did you think I didn't notice the Brandon Mably? Shame on you.  I love this sweater, and it has shaping.  It would look good on me now.  It would have looked good on my pre-weight gain, pre-menopausal self.  I don't yet know if it will look good on my post-weight-loss-post-menopausal self, primarily because I have come to terms with the fact that the new me is simply going to be bustier than the old me, no matter what happens to my weight (well perhaps not if I became truly scrawny, but I enjoy cooking and eating too much for that to ever happen).  So again this is a pattern worth waiting for.   And I love the idea that Vogue put of a photo showing alternate colorways, as that is always the kind of thing that I spend hours and hours mulling over.  

I love the photo of the different colorways as well and find them very inspiring.  At the moment I am drawn to the magenta version but it would have to be worn with just the right thing, and the turquoise is also thrilling.    I wish I was able to find that information about the colorways and additional commentary by Mably that Vogue says can be found on the website, but I just can't find it.  I don't really need to find the exact colors anyway, I just love the picture because it inspires me to think of colors I might not have chosen previously.

In the end, if I knit a sweater for myself from this issue, and I probably will eventually, the most likely candidate is one that I actually passed over in my first perusal of the magazine.  It was so simple, versatile, and wearable that it just disappeared behind all the more dramatic styles.

This little scooped neck, ribbed top is just fabulous.  It is the kind of think that I would, and do, wear all the time, but also the kind of thing I just rarely think of knitting.  I am always drawn to the fun patterns, not necessarily to the practical patterns.  I should knit it.  I think I will knit it.  I increasingly love my own knits more than anything I can buy, so it seems obvious that I should knit the kind of things that I love to wear.  

It is simple enough to knit that it should go rather  quickly.   I will have to lengthen it, but that does not take any particularly difficult math.   And it will always look good.   A woman needs a few basic sweaters that will always look good after all.

MIndful or Mindless

It seems that gauge issues continue to plague my knitting life and once again I have spent the late hours of the evening (or wee hours of the morning depending on how you look at it) ripping.

Normally, a Sunday night ripping of a project begun on the previous Thursday would rank fairly low on the trauma scale.  

But the Gedifra vest is knit on very large needles (although obviously in my case too large) and moves quickly.    I had finished the back and was half done with the the first front piece when I decided to begin again, and that is what maddens me the most.  

I don't mind ripping and starting over.  Well there is always a bit of frustration over the process, but usually the rewards far outweigh the pain of starting over.  But this time I was particularly annoyed because I had just spent most of  the evening knitting, and I had been harboring doubts all that time that the knitting just looked too big.  Damn.  One should probably always listen to those niggling little voices in the back of the head.  They are usually right.  Especially of interest was that there were two voices:  the one saying "it's too big" and the one saying "you have used far more than half the yarn, something is wrong".  

Hence the idea of mindfulness.  If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that things seemed off and I would have heeded that small voice.  But instead I was determined to retreat into my knitting like an ostrich sticking her head in the sand, just wanting to knit and relax and regardless of the consequences -- pure mindless knitting.

There is always a price to be paid.

I actually did a gauge swatch.  I think I have mentioned before that my gauge swatches are often much tighter than my actual knitting.  There is always much to learn from history.  Blindly forging forward on pure emotion, instinct and adrenaline often yield lessons along the lines of "what not to do".

I had mentioned with Granite that I had gauge issues to begin with so one might think I would be wary with this project.  But no.  I seem to need to remind myself that knitting is more than just solace in a turbulent world.  Although this project was chosen partly for its transformative, mindless knitting possibilities, the underlying structure must still be maintained.

And so we begin again:  with swatches.

Yummy Plum Sweater Debuts

So far Granite is holding up beautifully to a day of wear -- no stretching, pulling, sagging, or pilling.  I had wondered about whether the bamboo tape would sag and stretch during the day, the "growth factor" is sometimes a factor with rayon tapes, but the recommended gauge for this pattern seems to make a dense enough fabric that it holds up well and still drapes fabulously. I think I am going to get a lot of wear out of it this fall.  

I am really impressed with how nicely this yarn knits up and the rich sensuous weight and drape of the final fabric.  I think I need to knit something else out of this yarn.

I envisioned the sweater as something to wear with turtlenecks and jeans and it works perfectly well.  It would also look nice with a simple tee, but unfortunately all the tees that go, color wise are either v-necks that don't look right or the neckline ends just at the same point as the top button band which I don't find particularly inspiring -- ok, but not fabulous.  I think it would be better with a bit more scoop on the underlying tee with a little strip of skin between sweater and under layer.  

This time I happened to have the perfect button in the stash:

This one is glass with a lilac swirl in it.  It provides just a touch of decorative accent without drawing too much attention to itself.  

The button is round and it causes a problem if I want to wear a necklace with the sweater, as I would think that I would want a pendant or necklace to hit right at the point of the button.  Anyway I haven't been as happy with anything I have tried as I am with just the plain sweater so at the moment it is not a problem.  Anyway it gives me an excuse to pile on the bangles instead.