purlsandmurmers

Next: An experiment in sweater fitting

You might recall that back in December I posted a list of what was next in the knitting queue.  I am sticking roughly with that plan except that the gorgeous blue Stacy Charles cashmere has been pulled until next winter.  I just didn't anticipate that it would take me two months to finish the striped cardigan, and I thought the cashmere would be a quickie winter project.  Now I feel it is too late to begin it and actually enjoy wearing it, so I am putting it on hold.  

 Instead of the cashmere I began the Silk Cocoon Cardigan from the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave knits. I am using the recommended yarn, Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca Silk.

I started knitting my swatches right after I finished the previous sweater, but it took me a couple of tries to get the cocoon stitch, which you see on the yoke and the sleeve cuffs right.  The first time I was too tight and was having a terrible time with those repeated "p5 tog" stitches.  Now that is not that unusual, that I knit tighter in the gauge swatch than I do when actually knitting the garment, so having one run through the pattern one time, when I went to larger needles and tried again, the whole thing was too loose and floppy, but at least my fingers got used to the pattern.

 The third try (on the original size 3 needles) worked perfectly.  Here is a close up of the pattern stitch swatch, mostly because it is also fairly close to the right color, at least on my monitor.

On gauge and ready to go, I decided to approach this pattern a little differently than usual.  

I've been working with a shirt muslin and doing so has made me think about fit more.  Now I know knits are different than wovens, and the stretchiness of the knitted fabric makes up for a lot of things, but I wanted to really think about the shape of this garment, the size, and how it would really fit me.  I decided to use the information I have learned in my sewing experiments and see if I could knit an even better sweater.  After measuring, thinking about it, and marking all my changes to the pattern, there were so many cross-outs, starred passages telling me to go to the back of the page, and general rewrites that I figured I just might as well rewrite the pattern the way I was going to knit it.  The whole process, fitting, marking, and rewriting took me the better part of two days.  I don't yet know if it was worth the effort.  The worst thing that can happen? It doesn't work and I learn a lot.

I started with my usual adjustments, which were confirmed as necessary in my fitting class last November:  namely I took out about 3/4 of an inch at the center back, just below the waist, tapering to nothing at the side seams, I do this with short rows.  I also add 3/4 of an inch in length at the center front over the bust, again tapering to nothing at the side seams.

When working on blouses, I also learned that I needed to add 1 inch at the center back above the shoulder blades so the neckline of my shirt would sit at the proper place. Since taking that class I have noticed that many of my sweaters dip to the back in the same way, so I added that dart to the center of my back after I had begun the armhole shaping, at about the level of the scapulas.  

After all this I looked at the actual dimensions of the sweater, and compared them to my actual dimensions.   Inspired by "Mother Daughter Knits"  and my pattern experiments, I checked the shoulder width, the sleeve length, and where the waist shaping occurs in the pattern compared to where it occurs on me.  This led to another series of changes in the pattern, including making the sweater bigger at the hem in back, to cover my bum, which also meant increasing the number of decreased stitches before reaching the waist, and making the fronts comparatively smaller at the hips.

 Now that all the math is done I am finally knitting.  I'm in the middle of the back waist shaping and have just finished the short rows for that scooping-out at the center back.  So far, it is going well.

Will it all yield a better sweater? I honestly don't know, but I hope so.  Call it a grand experiment.

Wearing it.

 I wore the Elaine Striped Cardigan today and I love it. 

These particular pants aren't perfect, but they really are the only things I like with this sweater that I can wear at the moment.   

If I were not losing weight I would make some alterations on the pants, (the folds at the pocket require a simple, but time-consuming, fix) but it is not worth the time at this point.  They will get me through a little more of this season.  Better to spend the time making new pants.  I have a few different shades of maroon wools, and hopefully one will go with this sweater.  I also think a pair of dark khaki or olive green pants would be lovely and I might have something that will work.  Certainly both colors would work with many other things as well. Jeans in a dark wash are another possibility, but again, I have none that fit me now.

I will get there, I'm still working through my priorities, weighing what I want in fit and style, knitting and sewing projects, versus the demands of exercise, trying to eat well, and reaching goal weight.  It is not so much about being a particular weight, or even "thin" but about control and overcoming the penalties of a few years where control went out the window and  stress ruled the day.

At the moment diet and exercise have priority, and everything will follow suit, hopefully in a measured fashion.

Knitscene

I hadn't looked at Knitscene for a while but when a friend brought the winter/spring 2010 issue to knitting group/class a couple of weeks ago I found several patterns I was interested in knitting.

All three patterns by Connie Chang Chinchio caught my eye:

 A lovely hoodie, although I never use the hood for more than decoration.

 A nice casual knock-around sweater with great wrist detail.

 An interesting cardigan out of Malabrigo lace.  This attracts me even though I don't usually like cardigans or jackets without fixed closures.

Then there is more.  

 A lovely lacy top by Teva Durham in cotton and silk.

 A cute little vest with a lovely multicolor cowl -- a dash of color at the face without the dangling ends and shifting folds of a scarf.

 And another cardigan, this one with a lovely cabled yoke. 

Finally!! Finished!!

The Elaine Striped Cardigan is done!

 And I am happy with it and like it on, which is surprising only because right about the time I started setting in the sleeves I really did not like this sweater and was ready to throw it into the "to be unravelled and redone" pile.  But I persevered and I am glad.

I tried it on last night and happily danced around the house a little bit before throwing it in the wash.  The various parts were in various states, some having been blocked, others not, and the sweater had served as a lovely sleeping blanket for the cats while I dithered and dallied and put off sewing in those sleeves.  Here it is on the blocking board.  It is supposed to be cold and gray with a promise of snow so I don't expect it to dry quickly.  Of course given the lack of snowfall in this area so far this winter, it may just turn out to be sunny and dry, yet again.

Slow to dry may be a good thing though as I have broken my #1 rule of "No More Orphans".  I have nothing to wear with this, or at least nothing that fits.  Oh I can wear it with jeans, but I don't really like it with jeans; the sweater already has so much color in it, and none of them are blues, grays or blacks, which I feel I could work into the denim theme.  For me, I like my contrast to be a little more coordinated.  The pants I was going to wear with this sweater when I started it are now too big.  I have a couple of things that I may be able to alter to fit, and I have fabric, so something will turn up soon.

 In the meantime, in the absence of modeled shots, here is a close-up of the lovely wooden buttons.  These were in my stash, obviously just waiting for this sweater.  The top button is a little small, and tends to roll around, but it works, and it is nice to actually be able to use something from the button collection on an actual garment.  I am always amazed at how I can have so many jars of buttons and nothing to go on a given project.

Warm Up!

The blanket is finally done.  I think it turned out well considering the raw materials.

 

Actually, once I got back into the rhythm of the crochet, the border, which is quite slim, went very quickly, quickly enough that I considered going around again and making it wider.  

I had a minor set-back after I finished the border because I decided to wash the thing before turning it in since my cats have thought it was the perfect lounging blanket while I was working on it, and before all the blocks were sewn.  When I pulled the thing out of the dryer there as a big hole, where one of the blocks had come unraveled in the center.  It seems the knitter just carried the yarn behind a few stitches when beginning a new piece in the middle of the block and since acrylic does not "grab" the yarn simply unravelled.  She (I am assuming the knitter was a she but I could be wrong) should have changed yarns at the side and knotted it.  If I had looked more closely, I might have just unraveled that particular square and reknit it as it was too large and floppy and I had a terrible time gathering it up to fit in with the surrounding squares while I was sewing it up.

Anyway, I did manage a passable, but not superb, job of darning the hole with enough extra yarn to tie a tiny little knot, hide it behind a stitch, and dab it with the teeniest bit of fray block, to keep it from unravelling again when Its owner throws it in the wash.

So much for my education in blankets.  I am reminding myself just to knit enough blocks for an entire blanket next year and donate a completely finished blanket to save someone the trouble.  That way I have complete control....

There is enough yarn left for me to knit a few blocks for this year's knit-in on May 2, although not enough for me to make a blanket, and I want to knit my own projects.  I will also use some of the gray yarn to knit a few blocks for the kitties to play with since Moisés would keep steeling a block and running around the house with it.   What do you think?  I'm inclined to think the knitting he is supposed to play with is never as enticing as the forbidden yarn, but it will not take so long to knit a block and see.

Two winter collections from Rowan

While I am occupied with adding a crocheted border to a "Warm Up America" blanket, I thought I would update my pattern database and share a few recent additions to the pattern library.

Both of these books are from the fall/winter collections for Rowan, although I just got around to purchasing them in January.

 Both books feature classic, somewhat rustic, what I would call, "country" sweaters, although there are certainly sweaters in both books that could be at home almost anywhere, city or country, depending on one's style.  Or am I completely out of date in thinking that t here is such a thing as "city style" and "country style" anymore?

The Purelife Winter Collection features sweaters for men and women designed by Marie Wallin.  Since G doesn't want sweaters, I am mostly interested in the women's patterns.   The designs use Rowans British Sheep breeds Chunky and DK wools or Organic Wool DK. There are three patterns in this book which I like, all in DK weight. 

 Windemere is a lovely, classic, cabled turtleneck sweater that I think is somewhat elegant, but which I will never knit.  I have, somewhat reluctantly,  come to accept that for the most part I should avoid high turtlenecks sweaters unless they are being worn as layering pieces with other shapes and necklines to add interest.  A simple turtleneck sweater like this is simply not my friend.

Luckily there are two other sweaters that I am itching to make and wear.

 Ulveston is a lovely tunic with a lace and cables pattern that would be perfect for layering, worn with a shirt as shown here, or with that turtleneck and perhaps a scarf or long necklace.  

 The third pattern, Kendall, is not a layering sweater, and although it does have a cowl, the drape makes it much more wearable and flattering.  The illustrated sweater is knitted from bluefaced leicester, one of the natural wools in the British Sheep Breeds collection, which is fitting as bluefaced leicester is a soft  with a nice drape and a bit of luster as well, features to remember when choosing a yarn for this project as it is meant to be worn against the skin.  Softness and the soft luster of the wool add elegance to the sweater.

 The second winter book I purchased was Rowan's Classic Heartland which features designs by Martin Storey, using Rowan's aran weight wool-silk blend, Silky Tweed.

Continuing with my recent fascination with colorwork patterns, two of my choices in this book use stranded colorwork using the fairisle technique.  This means, of course that with the aran weight yarn, they will be toasty warm sweaters, much like the much striped cardigan I am currently working on, although slightly less bulky as I am using an aran weight yarn and a bulky yarn in that sweater.

 Considering that I am constantly cold this winter, it is no surprise thought that I am attracted to cozy warm sweaters.

Lowri fits the bill for warm and cozy, and pretty too.  I love the pattern and the subtle colors as much as I love the deep ribbing.  This pullover is knit to what would be called "mid length" in the Sally Melville book Mother-Daughter knits, and the deep ribbing can be knit to the perfect length so that the colorwork begins at one's "short sweater length" which would give an attractive silhouette and increase the styling and wearing options.  

I don't know anything about the yarn, although I did see at least one comment on Ravelry that it might work best at a tighter gauge than recommended on the label (19 stitches = 4").  The stranding might help this, but at 20.5 stitches to 4" this is not much tighter.  I might sub a different yarn or a different weight yarn.  Since Rowan's charts tend to be tiny and difficult for my middle-aged eyes to see, I always end up recharting the patter anyway, so it probably wouldn't be that difficult to convert it to DK.

 The other colorwork sweater, Dilys, is knit more tightly, at 22 stitches to 4 inches.  I am sure this is because this sweater is meant for layering and the designer wants a stiffer hand with less drape.   I certainly am attracted to just these qualities in this sweater:  the shape, the layering possibilities.  This sweater combines my love of color, but in a rather sophisticated way, with the short cropped silhouette that I have learned works so well with my long torso.

This is definitely a must-knit, although I don't see how it will get on the needles before next season.

 The last sweater is a lovely cardigan with a tailored appeal, Braith. There is nothing fancy here stitch-wise, it is just a classic, simple, wearable cardigan, and probably just what my wardrobe is waiting for.

At Last...

I didn't quite make it by the end of January, but the sleeves were completed last night and blocked this afternoon.  The body of the sweater has already been assembled so I just need to knit the collar/neckline and button loops.  I need to look for buttons as well.  I'm hoping there are some in my extensive button stash.

 My intention had been to knit finish the knitting this morning, after errands and while I was sitting in yet another doctor's office, but I brought the yarn and the knitting needle and left the sweater at home.

Instead I started a sock, a plain simple stockinette sock, top down, with a picot edge hem at the top.  I'm just past knitting the hem in place and continuing to the body of the leg.  The yarn was originally to be used in a different pair of socks, shown here, but I didn't like the way this flecked yarn looked in the lace pattern so I ripped them out during my last ripping frenzy.  Simple socks will be much better.  Besides, socks make a nice, easy, carry-along project.

I need to do some swatching for the next project/projects and crochet an edging on a blanket and it is cold and dark enough that I expect the sleeves to take a couple of days to dry.  Finished objects should be coming up soon.