purlsandmurmers

I lost the motivation to knit on the socks for a while, I was more eager to finish sweaters and life was just busy, busy, busy.

I finally succumbed to the lure of the sock.  She has probably been singing her sock song for some time but I resisted mightily.  Once she was in my hands though, the tune got louder and I am once again her slave progressing:

Instep survival, at least for me, seems to lie in not knitting for long stretches of time but rather picking up the sock and knitting here and there, while waiting for a fax to finish, in those little lulls while making dinner, for brief bits in front of the tele, waiting at the doctors or other places.  I don’t think the sock would survive a long wait, at least not in instep stage, too tedious – but now that the toe is here, the mad knitting urge has once again been rekindled and I can’t keep my hands off her. 

There may be more socks in my future after all.

It really hasn’t been a good knitting week.  I only have a few rows on the front of Posh done and I have been otherwise occupied with other things.  My little bits of sock knitting have helped considerably with general peace of mind in a hectic week however and it reminds me how often I at least need some calming thing to do with my hands while I wait (and wait and wait and... you know the drill), especially when life is particularly hectic or stressed and waiting seems like the most difficult thing to do.

I am also reminded of the refreshing and calming influence of just sitting down and let the hands do the work on a knitting project, allowing the mind a little time to do its own purling, flowing to its own little track.  When I am tired I could plop in front of the tele and watch something but that seems to only deaden the mind and encourage me toward sloth; a little knitting on the other hand is refreshing and revitalizing.  I am not really one to wax philosophical about knitting.  It keeps me from fidgeting, it gives me something to do, knitting cannot bring world peace, although perhaps if more people knitted they would be distracted from other pursuits.  Not likely to happen though.

Look what came...

Look what came in the mail today!!!

First of all there were not one, but two boxes!  The first was from Artfibers and contained the eagerly awaited Tesla.  There was also a box from Elann which contained this lovely angora (shown next to Tesla)

The angora ninety was purchased to make this sweater from Anny Blatt Book 195.

The box from Elann also contained this:

This is destined to become the cover sweater from the Summer 2005 InKnitters:

Pardon the glare on the lower left corner.  I desperately needed a picture and the late afternoon sun is not cooperating -- everything is either too dark or too filled with glare.

I know I am crazy for ordering this.  Wasn’t I just saying that I hate ribbed sweaters and here I am committing to another.   Not only is it ribbed but it is knit on tiny needles using sock yarn.  What is wrong with me???  I AM rather intrigued by the sweater, although I don’t really know if I will like it once I have knit it.  I am not sure the stripes will turn out as nicely as they do in the photo, my more pessimistic self suspects not, but I only know that I need to knit it, or at least make an attempt.  It certainly costs no more than a night at the symphony and will give me many more hours of entertainment and hopefully pleasure (as well as frustration).  If I don’t like it, well I haven’t yet had trouble finding someone willing to accept a hand-knit sweater.  Someone will want it.

Last, but not least, two new knitting magazines: 

I haven’t studied them in depth yet, but i have already noted a few things of interest, although not necessarily in their original form.  Further perusal is definitely warranted. 

All told, a successful run to the Post Office.

Posh

I am waiting for the extra skeins of Tesla to arrive.  They should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.  In the meantime I needed a knitting project. 

The criteria were simple:
    1.    easy fairly mindless knitting as I would need to do it in the car in the dark.   
    2.    skeins that did not need to be wound first.

I chose this project:

The pattern is sweater number 26 from the Spring/Summer 2005 Vogue Knitting.  I am using Stacy Charles's Posh for the body of the sweater but I am using the recommended yarn, "Cosmos" for the border.  This is knitting up very quickly in seed stitch on size 10.25 needles.

Here is my weekend progress:

Sorry, the light is not perfect in this shot and it looks a little greener than it appears in real life.   I really like the color and the way this is turning out.  I see that this will go with many things in my fall werdrobe and I am already looking forward to getting it finished.  Of course, even though this is a spring yarn, the weather has to cool off a bit before I can wear this.

I don't expect to make as fast of progress on the front as it is going to be a busy week.  Besides Tesla will be arriving soon to tempt me away from this project and I am making painfully slow progress on my socks.  So far I guess I am more of a sweater knitter than a sock knitter.

Tesla

It's time to start a new project.  I have been itching to start this:

The yarn is Tesla from Artfibers.  It is a really neat stainless steal cable with cotton nubs throughout.  I have been wanting to knit it since I got it in May, except that I just couldn't get my mind around it...I didn't know what I wanted to knit...it was to hot... it required too much thought... other inspiration hit...and so on.  You know how it is.

After going to the Cooper Hewitt to see the Extreme Textiles exhibit I was reminded that I wanted to knit this by a really neat swatch of knitted stainless steel which we were allowed to touch and fondle.  This experience re-kindled my fingers' need to be knitting Tesla and they have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity.

Remembering Claudia's comments on her sweater knitted out of this same yarn last spring, I started playing around with guage and decided to go much smaller in guage than that recommended on the yarn label.   I ended up knitting on size 7 needles and as the guage got tighter, I kept thinking I would knit the Adrienne Vittadini sweater shown next to the yarn swatch above, from the Summer 2005 book.  It is knit in garter stitch and I like the firmness of the Tesla yarn in garter stitch.  The simplicity of the shape should be nice with this yarn, at least I hope it will.  The biggest advantage is that the bottom of the sweater is knit in the round (yeah no seams) and then the sleeves are knit (flat unfortunately) up to the yoke, at which everything is picked up and knit together in the round to the neckline.  I am hoping this will work really well with this yarn, and if not, well, life is an experiment, right?

Of course, life is not problem free, and I woke up at 3 AM suddenly thinking I might not have enough yarn.  I managed to lure myself back to sleep, but first thing this morning I was in the sewing/knitting room, looking at how much yarn I had and how much yarn I would need.  The nice people at Artfibers tell you right on the label how many yards it takes to knit 1 sq foot in the recommended guage.  Given that information it is easy enough to extrapolate how much yarn I would need in my guage -- bad news.  I have just slightly more than half the yarn I need.    Of course they were getting 12 stitches and 19 rows to 4" whereas I am getting 19 stitches and 33 rows to 4".  It was too early then to call California so I had to wait.

Meanwhile I fretted.  Should I start the sweater anyway, what if the new yarn is too far off in color, if the dye-lots are totally different?  It does have a good bit of hand-dyed variegation in the yarn.  Will the new yarn blend in?  I started looking for a new project.

I did call, more yarn is on the way!  Hoorah!  They think it will not be a problem and now I am back to decisions.  Should I blithely forge ahead with Tesla or should I start something else.  I have decided that Tesla on size 7 needles is not a knit in the dark project, or a knit when not paying attention project either, the little thin strands of steel are too easy to drop.  So another project it is.  Tesla for home and "pay-attention" time.  and another more mindless project for other times.  Project to be announced.

A little bit of fluff

A simple scarf in anticipation of the winter which is yet to come, and we know it will.

Gedifra Barocco, 2 skeins.  Scarf is approximately 7" by 42". Knit on size 15 needles.  Very Fast; no thought required. 

Sometimes that is the best kind of project.

Phildar Shell Finished

It's Done!!! And it looks wonderful. I love the way the ribbed shaping works as well as the sewn-on armbands, although more about that later. 

Matilda is modeling here, so you can get a better view of the side and arm shaping, she is far less modest about pointing cameras at her underarms.

The overall ribbing of the back holds the body nicely (of course it may also show off any asymmetricalities, but it is not as bad as a feared):

Just ignore the sun over my shoulder, you actually get a better view of that shoulder below:

The join at the arm band is not perfect, but I am not going to be that fanatic about the whole thing.  I love the fit of this sweater.  The fit around the arms did not work out as well, for me at least as I had hoped from the pattern.  The two ends of the arm bands were definitely shaped and when they were joined together at the underarm and the shoulder seam the arm band had a definite longer side, to be attached to the sweater, and a shorter side.  Unfortunately on me, it was not quite short enough on the short side and the the arm openings gaped a little lot.  Since most of the gaping was at the bottom and the back I disconnected the bands and reknit the bottom bits using short rows to make the outer edge even shorter than in the original pattern.  I really didn't measure this, I just kind of knit it on Matilda. 

The right shoulder, the one shown above came out very well.  The left actually needs more work, there is still a good bit of gaping at the lower back and upper front of that shoulder, but I was having trouble putting in even more shaping without distorting the lines of the ribbing.  This would need to be completely reknitted.  I have made a note in the pattern for future reference, but it really isn't that bad now.  I am going to see how it goes, wear it a couple of times and see if it bothers me.  My inclination at this point is that it fits pretty well and I am just fretting over details that no one else will notice.

If you take a look at the front and back photos you can see a bit of wobbling in the left armhole edge that indicates where it doesn't lie quite right.

Anchoring the Rambling Mind

Bard Music Festival began this past weekend and I was up there every day, most of every day, from 10 AM to after 11 PM on Saturday, listening to panel discussions and lectures and attending 5 very interesting, musically intense, long concerts.  I really don't know how people do this.  I love it, but I was completely wiped out.  By Sunday morning I was exhausted, Sunday night was another story altogether.  My brain was fried, I had too many pieces of music and ideas floating around in my head, swirling and whirring like my brain had turned in to some giant blender.   I did not have time or energy to write my reflections on all this stimulation so it all got muddled together.

I knitted; not enough granted, but I did knit in lectures and concerts, at least some of the time, I definitely knit at lunch and dinner breaks under a shady tree (it was VERY hot this weekend). I should have knitted more, the concerts I knitted through are more clear in my head than the ones I tried to just sit and listen.  My poor brain can only absorb so much.  Each piece is so intense, one listens, one tries to remember and absorb the music.  One piece ends, another begins.  The concert is 3 hours long, the mind is becoming confused.  One hour to eat, drink, relax and clear the brain before the next concert and onslaught of music.  OH MY.

I don't know how people keep it straight.  Of course, some don't.  I knitted and took notes at the Sunday morning talk.  Four pages of notes.  Finished the Phildar armbands.

They look a little scrunched up and worse for wear.  What can I say?  They spent the weekend in the bottom of my knitting bag under books, and programs and water bottles galore.  They will recover.

AT the above lecture, the woman next to me started off knitting, which made me feel better since we were in the fourth row dead center in front of the speakers.  But then she started doing crossword puzzles.  I am convinced she didn't hear a word after the crosswords began, but perhaps she is just better able to multitask than I.   I always feel guilty knitting in concerts and lectures, as if I would be a better person if I didn't knit and could just sit there and absorb everything like a sponge.  Instead I have to turn the wandering part of my brain off and I do that by letting my fingers do some methodical work like knitting.  I remember much more.  Why do I feel guilty about it?

I had not gotten around to a guage swatch for  a new project and did not want to start guages in the concerts so I brought a simple mindless project, a scarf from a novelty yarn.  The beauty of this project was that I just had to start knitting and knit until I ran out of yarn.  It will be a very quick project on size 15 needles.

Tubular Cast-Off

I had hoped to finish the Phildar shell before the weekend, so I could start a new project for Bard Music.  This is not likely to happen.

It took me a long time to knit the neckband.  Actually, that is not exactly true.  I picked up and knit the neck band one evening and then it took me several hours out of the next evening to cast it off.    Chain bind-off, in all three variations that I know, left the ribbing floppy around the neck edge and was definitely NOT attractive.  Rip, Rip. Two-Row bind-off was better but still not flexible enough and not attractive.  It just did not lie properly around the collarbone.  Finally, balancing both The Principles of Knitting and Knitters Handbook by Montse Stanley on my lap with my knitting, I determine to learn something new.  I decided that since I started with a tubular cast-on, I might as well go whole-hog as it were, and end with a tubular cast-off for double rib. 

Man, did that take time, but I absolutely love it.  Who knows there may even be more ribbing in my future.

Both authors claimed that invisible cast-off for double-rib was only for those who had mastered basic invisible cast-off (not me in other words) but that did not deter me.  It's only knitting after all and had I not already casted off this edge 3 times?  Good thing I have extra yarn as the cotton tends to unply with the unknitting.

In the first book, June Hiatt, wrote that the technique for double-rib was awfully complicated on the needles and she recommended doing this cast-off off the needles on a table using a darning needle.  I was game, so I dutifully went to the table and pulled the needle out of my edge.  I felt very daring, actually only partly daring as I only pulled the needle part way out.   Even with the instructions and the diagrams, I found this technique impossibly complicated and the results were not enchanting.  After about 5 inches the process was not getting any easier, when I pulled the yarn through I would drop the next stitches and lose my place and if I waited too long to pull the yarn, horrible tangles and mess would ensue. 

Hiatt was shoved aside, the edge was unbound and all the stitches were put back on the needle.  I thought there was no hope.  However Montse Stanley, also discussed the Tubular bind-off for double-rib (called invisible) and gave directions for doing it on the needle (hurray!).  Why was this technique too difficult for Hiatt but not for Stanley?  Stanley had clear written directions and, to me at least, less clear pictures, so Hyatt was right it would not have worked easily from pictures alone.

Following Stanley's technique I was able to finish the neckline edge, after a few repetitions I got the hang of the technique and I really like it.  I can't do it without looking at the directions yet, and it may be a very long time before I ever reach that stage, but that's OK.   The neckline lies flat, it is actually kind of stretchy, the way a nice ribbed neckline should be (think of the possibilities) although it does kind of slant to the left.  Well a left-ward slanting view of the world is probably not so bad either.

Circles and Squares

The sock is making SLOW progress.  I am working on the instep, having been working on the instep for what seems like forever, although I know it is not.  This is a very long and boring period of sock knitting.  I DID make great progress yesterday in the car as we went up to Sheffield for a concert.  I am now close to finishing the instep decreases and soon will be able to pick up toward the toes – I am looking forward to the change, roughly 5 or 6 more tedious rows.

Although the sock opening is more or less circular it look more like a rectangle or square here.  Actually it looks like the open jaws of some horrible knitted sucking beast that are going to clamp down on any errant hands or fingers that happen its way.  Perhaps my mental comparison of the sock to some great-jawed beast is what is slowing its progress. 

On the trip back from Sheffield, since I cannot work on tiny wool stitches on size 0 needles in a dark car on a bumpy road,  I worked on this:

It’s a square for the John Glick Memorial Afghan project organized by Annie.  The tweedy yarn does not show pattern really well, but it also looks kind of boring in plain knit, and I wanted to do something a little more special.  This is a pattern called Brick Rib from the Harmony Guide, Volume 2, page 47.  It is not all that stretchy and I think it will be fine when blocked.  I think the block has an interesting textural quality combining the tweed and the odd rib stitch.

It is kind of strange making squares for a blanket for a person I never met, but no stranger actually than many other charitable endeavors that we all undertake.   I have started reading Kerstin's and Annie’s blogs although I don’t correspond with them and don’t believe I have ever even commented on their blogs either.  Still by reading their blogs I am acting as something of a participant, if not a voyeur, into part of their lives and submitted a square or two seems like the least I can do.

I may make another, I have one planned.  I also need to finish the Phildar shell as I do not want to be working on it at Bard Music next weekend.  I will have a lot of sitting time tomorrow as I wait around for George who is having some routine tests done at the hospital.  If I get frustrated with Phildar I can work on block #2.  I plan on sending one or both blocks off by the middle of the week. 

Meanwhile much of today seems like it will be taken up with filling the trench I dug across the iris bed with gravel and a French Drain.  I would like to get as much done as possible.

Friday brought an unexpected stretch of knitting time when George suggested that we take a spur-of-the-moment trip into NYC to the Cooper Hewitt (National Design Museum) to see the extreme textiles exhibit.  I was more than willing, even though I had hoped to finish sewing a pair of pants that day, and we took off.

I managed to knit the entire trip, coming and going, four hours of knitting and daydreaming as I watched the Hudson River go by.  It was pure heaven.  I finished the last shoulder just 5 minutes before we pulled into the Poughkeepsie Station.

Unfortunately my sparse knitting time over the remainder of the weekend consisted of  frogging and reknitting – not what I knit on the train but earlier problems.  This project is not that complicated, it is rather simple really, but still it has been plagued by simple errors. The good news is that I have now gotten quite comfortable dropping a stitch or even a section of stitches down multiple rows and reknitting just one section, even if decreases and patterns are involved in the section in question.  I always knew it could be done but I approached dropping a stitch INTENTIONALLY with trepidation.  I would rather just unknit the whole part of the sweater back to the mistake and start over.  I really can’t say why this bothered me so much.  I have no problem cutting knitting and putting in a steek, or cutting a sleeve and lengthening it above a cuff lets say and grafting the pieces together.  Why this fear of dropping stitches?  Am I afraid that once the dropped the stitch will run on and on and I will never catch up? Rather neanderthal of me don’t you think.  No more! 

The sweater did not automatically take the shape shown above.  When I finished the front I proudly brought it into the house and looked at it next to the back and I COULDN’T FIGURE OUT HOW THEY WENT TOGETHER!  The pattern clearly said to sew  the front to the back at the shoulders but I certainly couldn’t match them up.  It was late and I was tired so I opted for one of my favorite problem-solving techniques: going to bed.

When I looked at the back the next morning it was clear I had made a mistake when finishing the shoulders of the back.  You can easily see the mistake in this photo:

As you can see, I cast off for the shoulders from the armscye edge not the neck edge.  Hmmm..  Now I was probably tired when I read the instructions because they really weren’t that obtuse.  In fact the English translation of the French pattern is pretty good.  The problem is the pictures and diagrams aren’t included in the translation and I wasn’t looking a the actual pattern book, just the translation.  And I was tired too remember.

So I reknit the back neck opening and shoulders.  No problem really.  I ended up with what you see here:

Now technically I should not need to block a ribbed sweater, and in fact most of the sweater does not need blocking, but that neck edge was rolling all over the place, and those narrow shoulders, well they were rolling up like jelly rolls and twisting like mad.  I could see myself doing something stupid.  So I blocked them, and sewed the shoulders together with the pieces on the blocking board.

Normally I enjoy sewing shoulder seams.  You would think a two stitch shoulder would be easy – yeah! It’s short! But that is precisely the problem.  Your first stitch is your penultimate stitch and it is hard to keep that little seam looking neat and finished. Remember, that when seaming, you usually lose the outer two half stitches in the edge, but here that is half the seam.  It took me a little bit of effort to make it look pretty. Of course it may have been a waste of time because once I pick up stitches for the neck and the armband there will be precious little to see – just a little point at the center of the shoulder.  Well, at least it will lay flat and smooth while I pick up those stitches.