purlsandmurmers

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.

Granite

Granite is done and I love it!

After the initial gauge issues knitting went smoothly and my initial reaction is that I love the look of the sweater and I love the drape of the knitted fabric.  

When I have finished knitting a garment but haven't yet gotten it put together I always panic a little bit, worrying if I made the right design decisions, if I made the correct alterations, if the garment will look as good on me as it did in my mind's eye while I was knitting it.  I know it should work, but there always lurks a little bit of doubt.

Of course I still have to see how it holds up to being worn.  But I am looking forward to the test run.

Model shots to follow.

Almost Done with Granite

It seems I always miscalculate how long it actually takes to finish a sweater after it is knitted.

I cleared about half the sewing room cutting table, enough that I could set up the blocking board or work on some simple sewing projects.  Yesterday I got granite blocked with the idea that I would finish it today.

I am not sure if I actually forget how long assembly takes, or if I just over-estimate the available time.  It is probably a combination of both.

Needless to say the sweater is not completed yet, so there are no finished photos.  The shoulders are seamed and the neckline has been finished.  I need to use the cutting table to sew in the sleeves and the side seams, as I am more comfortable laying those out neatly on a flat surface before seaming.    At the moment another project is occupying the cutting table.  I hope to be able to finish tomorrow.

In the meantime I am drooling over the aqua Gedifra yarn (see last post) and I carried it around with me yesterday but instead I got all wrapped up in the newspapers and reading the business and financial sections.  Then I was trying to sort out all the information in my head, making notes and trying to compile and make sense of everything I read and what I thought of it.  I am the kind of reader who always has to write out passages make notes on things I want to remember.  I don't necessarily save the notes, but it helps me pull my thoughts together.  Anyway, as you can probably surmise, trying to knit my thoughts into a coherent whole was more time consuming than I had planned.  

So, in my usual fashion, I shall just pin great hopes on tomorrow.  I intend to finish sewing up Granite and start the next project.  We'll see what actually happens.

Progress

Now that Granite is going much more smoothly, I have been a knitting fiend.  The US Open and televised coverage of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week have contributed mightily.  I should never have learned about the fashion week coverage.  It was a happy accident.  And it has been good for my knitting, but probably bad for everything else in my house.

The back of Granite is on the blocking board, and the front is moving along quickly.

I have learned a few things:

1.  I much prefer knitting on circular needles.   I suppose I knew that, but I didn't realize how much faster I knit on circulars.  I also think the weight of the yarn on straight needles may have been a contributing factor in my gauge issues.

2.  If I am knitting on straight needles (as I am for the body of this sweater) I knit much more quickly, and much more consistently if I carry my yarn in my left hand and pick, rather than throw the yarn.   I never realized this.  I taught myself to knit either left or right-handed fairly recently.  It never occurred to me that there might be times when it was better to carry in the left, as I naturally gravitate toward using my right hand. Now that I am carrying the yarn in the left, the knitting is speeding along.  Cool.

3.  If I like knitting on circulars, and all my size 7 circulars are occupied in various projects I should either finish some projects or buy some more circular needles.  I don't suppose I have to tell you which option I chose.

Who says Angora sheds??

Some people never learn.

I knew that waiting around was in the cards for today.  I knew that I would be knitting while I waited.

So why did I wear black cotton pants when I knew I was knitting with a lilac angora blend?

The sleeves of Lilac Serenade are now completed -- but not yet on the blocking board.  I can probably still get that to happen tonight.  I had hoped to start putting the sweater together tomorrow, but the sleeves will probably not be dry. 

And it ends up I have another waiting-room spell to attend to tomorrow.  So I spent part of the evening swatching for the next project.  

No I am not finishing a UFO.  At least I am starting something that was on my queue.

Presenting Granite from Rowan 43 in color Amethyst Bamboo Tape.  I even did the math for the (few) alterations.  

At least this won't shed on my clothing.  And I should be able to wear the finished sweater well into Autumn.