purlsandmurmers

A New Project and Some Complications

After two scarves and one blanket, even if the blanket only involved assembly and borders, I find that I am tired of square rectangular things and am itching to knit another sweater.  After all I was a sweater knitter first and foremost, even my first project was a sweater.  

 

I considered a pair of socks because I need socks, but there are some complications on that front.  Whereas I usually prefer knitting with small needles as they are easier on my arthritic fingers, at the moment my arthritis is not so much an issue as is neuropathy in my hands brought on by the course of paclitaxel (Taxol) I am undergoing as the second phase of my chemotherapy treatment.  At the moment, knitting on anything much smaller than a size US 8, or possibly a US 7 needle is extremely difficult, and even knitting on larger needles is a slow and time consuming process which requires many breaks.

 

Nonetheless, I have started a new project, a sweater I am really looking forward to wearing this fall. 

The pattern is Sweet Confection from L'atelier in Redondo Beach, California.  The body of the sweater is knit with L'Atelier's wool yarn, Wish12, and the sleeves are knit in a lace pattern using both Artyarns Silk Dream and Beaded Silk and Sequins Light.

 

The recommended gauge for this sweater is 19 stitches and 24 rows for four inches in stockinette stitch using Wish12 on size 8 needles, and 18 stitches and 24 rows in lace pattern using Silk Dream on size 7 needles.  Since I typically get gauge in wool yarns, at least stitch gauge if not row gauge, I thought this would be manageable.  The lace pattern on size 7 needles might be a challenge, but the silk yarn is also slippery, and the hope was that I could pull it off.

 

Ahh, but then I ran into problems, minor but atypical problems.  Usually I knit long skinny stitches.  When I was a younger and less experienced knitter I tended to knit very loosely and often had to go down several needle sizes.  This is rare now, but usually I get fewer rows per inch of knitting than is recommended for a given stitch gauge.  The advantage of this is that I often use less yarn than specified.  The disadvantage is that everything must be recalculated.  I've never particularly seen that as a problem though.  The point of knitting something, as opposed to buying an off-the-shelf manufactured sweater is to create something personalized to oneself.  

 

But what is the problem?  The problem here is that my painful and tingly fingers, with this yarn, and probably a small bit of mental frustration added in, are knitting short fat stitches.  As is normal for me, I knit several swatches before preparing to proceed.  Following are the results.

Recommended gauge in Wish12:  19 stitches and 24 rows in 4 inches using stockinette stitch.

Pre-blocking gauge using Wish12:  19 stitches and 24 rows in 4 inches on size US 8 needles.  20 stitches and 28 rows in 4 inches on US 7 needles.  

Post-blocking gauge using Wish12:  16.75 stitches and 21 rows in 4 inches on US 8 needles. 18 stitches and 27 rows in 4 inches on US 7 needles. 

As you can see, the yarn relaxes after washing.  Knitting this yarn on size 7 needles feels a bit tight to me, probably due to finger neuropathy  as much as anything, but the finished fabric, after blocking, which is the fabric that will actually be worn after all, is closer to the specified gauge, and is indeed has a quite lovely hand and drape.  The swatch knit on size 8 needles is too loose and floppy.  I am knitting using the size 7 needles, although this will slow the project down.

 

Recommended gauge in Silk Dream:  18 stitches and 24 rows in lace pattern.  I did not record pre-blocking gauge in the lace pattern as there seemed little point.  Post-blocking my gauge was as follows:

19 stitches and 25.75  rows in 4 inches on US 7 needles. 17 stitches and 24 rows on US  6 needles.  

 

As you can see I am coming up just on either side of the recommended stitch gauge, but right on target with row gauge with the lace pattern on the smaller needles.  Knitting on size 6 needles was more tedious than on the size 7s, but I think I can manage it.  In the worst case scenario, I will have to put off knitting the sleeves until after my treatments, when the neuropathy hopefully has faded.  I say hopefully because nearly one-third of women who experience neuropathy with paclitaxel, and 80% of women do have some degree of neuropathy on this drug, will have some degree of permanent neuropathy following treatment.  This is one of those funny things about chemo, and the way things are explained that annoys me.  Yes, it is true that "most" women recover fully, but most is a vague term at best.

 

Although the plan is to knit this sweater while I am still in treatment and still experiencing neuropathy, I have put off doing the sleeve math at this time.  We are also doing everything we can to avoid permanent neuropathy, and have reduced my chemo dosage for the last two treatments, so hopefully all will go well, even though I know I cannot count on this.

 

As noted above, on size 7 needles, I am getting one more stitch over the course of 4 inches than is specified the pattern.  This means that my sweater would be approximately 2 inches bigger than specified if I used the pattern recommendations.  This also falls in between two sizes on the pattern so I cannot simply knit a smaller size.  Since this sweater is not meant to be closely fitted, the calculation remains pretty simple however.  

 

The difference in row gauge is slightly more problematic, although not so much in terms of design as much in terms of necessary materials. The pattern calls for 5 skeins of Wish12, but I will have to knit approximately 13 extra rows on each piece of the body of the sweater.  If I rip out my swatches and add the yarn back into the sweater I would have enough yarn to add 11 rows to one piece, which would mean I would still need an extra skein of yarn.  I do not know however that one skein extra would still give me enough yarn to complete the back neck finishing.  I am also not convinced that I want to rip out my swatches.  I have been erratic in the past concerning knitting records, but am thinking right now that a more detailed knitting project book, including notes and swatches, might be useful.  I decided to order two extra skeins of Wish12.  Better to be safe than sorry.

 

 

Above is a photo of the back piece on the needles.  I am actually a bit further along than shown in this particular photo.  The pattern   specifies casting on with Silk Dream and knitting one row before switching to Wish12. Based on past experience and my own preferences, I decided that I wanted a slightly thicker band of Silk Dream at the bottom of the sweater, and knit three rows.  Given the yardage on the Silk Dream,  and that I almost always knit sleeves smaller than specified in most patterns, I believe this may be manageable without needing additional yarn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colorossimo Scarf

And now for current projects.

Upon finishing up the purple sweater and coordinating scarf, I was filled with ambitious plans to attack the stash of pending projects.  The first thing I grabbed was a project from one of the early boxes from L'Atelier's magical mystery box tour, which I wrote about here.  I have failed miserably both in terms of knitting the projects from this knit-along and in keeping you up to date on the more recent box additions.  I hope to do better in the future. 

In mid July I had great plans.  I figured I could knit up this scarf in a week or two, and that I could barrel through some other small projects as well.  Never a good idea to count your chickens before they hatch, as they used to say.  The scarf is not difficult, but it is a little fiddly.  Above is the photo of the scarf from the L'Atelier website.  As you can see there are areas of the scarf knit in the Colorissimo, and contrasting (or coordinating) areas knit in the Beaded Silk and Sequins Light.  I remember loving the combination of yarns as seen in the skein, and loving my imagined version of this scarf, based on my memory from the zoom reveal, and the two skeins of yarn, as seen above.  

 

I cast on July 17th, filled with hope.  I soon became frustrated.  For one thing, I had started a new chemotherapy regimen, paclitaxel, and although I initially felt much better than on the previous regimen, I was very quickly hit with neuropathy, first in my feet and then in my hands.  I am managing this, better and first, and now less well, with drugs, and since the effects of the chemotherapy are cumulative, I am quite hopeful that we will be soon adjusting my medications as I have the third, and penultimate, dose of paclitaxel next week.    Anyway, I found that I could knit, but could only knit very slowly, needing to rest my hands every couple of rows or so.  

I did not have access to the pattern photo when I began the project, only the written pattern, but I mostly liked what I saw.  At least until I got to the first repeat of the Artyarns Beaded Silk and Sequins Light.   The pattern directions were to cast on with the Artyarns, and then switch to the Colorissimo.  To finish, one would pick up the cast on and repeat a lace repeat at the bottom of the scarf, which one can see clearly in the L'atelier photo shown above.  The problem was that, although I had no issues with the way the cast on row appeared on the scarf, I took a strong disliking to the insertion of the Artyarns into the Colorissimo.  The color was not far off, but just enough to make me troubled, and I strongly disliked the combination of these particular textures, even though I often love  contrasting, and even disconcerting contrasts.  Looking back on the L'Atelier photo now, I am not surprised at my reaction, and think that had I had access to the photo, I would have simply left out the Artyarns from the beginning.  But there is no point of fretting over these things; one of the constant challenges in knitting, is the process of moving from the imagined interpretation of what we see and the actual realization of the finished product.  Knitting then is a very good metaphor, and training practice for life:  If one is not open to stopping, reconsidering, moving backward perhaps, and starting again, one is never going to get anywhere.

 

I ripped out the Artyarns and continued with Colorissimo alone.  That took a while because my fingers were not working well, and the slippery yarn, combined with those adorable little sequins, which snag on everything,  would have been slightly problematic in the best of circumstances.  

I adored the scarf as it progressed however, adored the simple, 4-row, lace pattern.  The problem was that my fingers did not adore the pattern as much as I did, although I suspect that generally my fingers are simply not up for anything at all fiddly at the moment. The two rows of garter stitch were a problem.  The problem was with the wrap and cross section of the pattern, which is actually not difficult.  It took me over half of the sweater for me to figure out a way that my constantly numb and tingling fingers could actually hold and cross the stitches consistently and evenly.  Even so that did not speed up the knitting.

In the end however, no matter how long this took me to knit, I love the final result.   It is light and airy, and  hopefully it will be warm, but not too warm for Tennessee.  But then, Tennessee winters are highly variable, so like all woolen things, there may be winters of heavy rotation and winters where wool rarely shows its head.  As of yet, I have become probably a bit more warm-blooded, but not yet as warm blooded as the natives.  Of course that may have changed completely after this cancer season as well.  Who knows.

 

Anyway, if you look closely at the scarf above, you will notice that I pulled the initial cast-on with the Artyarns Silk and Sequins Light out, picked up the Colorissimo and knit a new end border in garter stitch. This is somewhat different than the pattern, but I am happy with it.  I am very happy indeed.

Purple Dreams

Still catching up.  

 

About the same time I finished, or semi-finished, the striped sweater called blueberry season, I also finished the purple cashmere cardigan knit from a L'Atelier pattern called Back to the Future.  I wrote about the progress of this sweater here, here, and here before my temporary abandonment of this blog.

The yarn was also from L'Atelier, their Classica DK cashmere.  I had yardage for the large, 9 skeins, although I actually ended up knitting the medium, which called for 8 skeins.  I used 7 skeins probably for two reasons:  my row gauge was a little on the long side meaning I get fewer rows per inch, which is not unusual for me; and I knit the sleeves to my preference, which is narrower and slightly shorter than the pattern specified.

I am actually quite happy with the cardigan.  When I started it I was one size, and although I intended to lose weight I was not quite sure how quickly or consistently I would do that.  This was before my cancer diagnosis. By the time I finished I was another size, and although I liked the fit of this cardigan when it was finished in July, my only caution at the. moment is whether I will still like it in November, when it is likely to be worn.  Of course in July I tried it on over a sundress.  In November there may quite well be a bulkier sweater underneath and I will be done with chemotherapy so I am not quite sure where I will be size-wise.

But I am not going to worry about the future right now.  I am quite happy with this sweater and I am looking forward to wearing it.

As I noted above, I had two skeins of yarn left over.  I also had one skein of the same yarn in a teal green left over after knitting a pullover in 2019, a pullover which I apparently never blogged about, but which I have loved wearing.  Initially I thought I would knit a hat from the purple cashmere and use the green, plus a bag of color samples of this yarn to make a coordinating scarf.  I started with the scarf, thank goodness, because I quickly realized I would not have enough yarn unless I also incorporated the purple.  There were a few false starts as I basically made up the striping sequence for the scarf, but in the end I am very happy with the results.  I used up most of the yarn; all that remains is half a skein, or roughly 77 yards of purple DK cashmere. 

And I am very happy with the scarf.  It goes well with the cardigan, of course, but also with one of my most commonly used winter coats.   

Both of these were satisfying projects.  I have yarn to knit a shell that is meant to go with the cardigan, also in DK cashmere.  But at the moment I am happy with scarves and cardigans.  I want to finish chemo and give myself time for my weight to settle before I start knitting anything that needs to be more closely fitted.

And this catches you up with my interim knitting.  Next up will be a recently finished project.

 

 

 

 

Oops. Catch-Up Time.

Sometime since the last, April, post, I made a stupid decision.  I decided not to maintain separate blogs, and abandoned this blog soon after just having started up again.  I realize now this was a mistake, a mistake brought on more by my exhaustion and frustration going through chemo than anything about either blogging or knitting. Throughout this process, my thoughts and impulses are all over the map.  

I realize now that this was simply due to the fact that I was overwhelmed and sick and feeling incapable of maintaining much of anything.  I was sick pretty much for six weeks, exhausted, unable to breathe and mostly unable to do much.  It is possible that the tide has turned, and my turn with Taxol will be easier.  The first two weeks were hell, but then I was also sick with a bacterial infection and my body was simply overwhelmed.  Yet I am still here, still fighting. I have to endure five more weeks of poison and then perhaps things will start to fall back into place.  Perhaps some of that, like this blog, can start now.

 

Conveniently, I can pick up right where I left off, with the sweater called Blueberry Season.

 

When last I wrote, I had just begun this sweater, had only knit a few inches of the body.  Despite the fact that it was knit on large, size 13 needles, I did not finish until the end of June, happily knitting two or four rows each evening, but often too tired to manage more than that small amount. 

 

I did run out of some of the yarns after finishing the body,  and only had very limited amounts remaining of some others, so I weighed and divided the remaining yarns in order to guarantee that the sleeves would be balanced and have the same striping sequence.  Even if they did not exactly match the body of the sweater, they could, at least, match each other.  

 

That worked out well, although there were a couple of yarns which I just barely stretched across the necessary knitting, ending up with only a couple of inches, just enough to weave in perhaps, at the end of a row.  As challenging as this was, it was also thrilling and a relief.  What a joy to use every last inch of something!

And yet, although the sweater is technically "finished", or at least I have declared it so on both Ravelry and the other, more general blog, it is not really finished.  Something feels unsettled, and I am not happy. with the finishing.  The sweater has not been put in my sweater drawer where it can patiently await fall.  Instead, it is languishing in a messy pile on the loveseat in the sewing room. 

 

I mentioned the finishing.  That is somewhat misleading.  I love the narrow knitted band, and it is the most successful of several variations on knitted bands I tried.  I wish I had noted them and shared them with you, but I did not, and I cannot resurrect that data now.  My issue is actually with the inside finishing.  There are many many threads, many which cannot be safely woven in without also being knotted, many that threaten to escape their bounds and drive me crazy.  

 

I contemplate a facing, thinking that will make the sweater feel more polished.  It may also help it to hang more gracefully.  When I contemplate the facing I then also wonder if I should face the hem as well.  That would require a wider facing than the front band.  A faced hem would mean that the bottom would not roll up as it does now.  A part of me likes the roll, another part of me hates it, and at this point no side has really won, but I am leaning toward straighter and more polish.  I wonder if I should perhaps simply line the entire sweater, making into more of a jacket than a slouchy old thing.  Or am I actually yearning for something this sweater can never achieve?  I admitted at the beginning that it was going to be possessed of more slouch than polish,  Did I misjudge my own sartorial inclinations, or have they too evolved as it seems every other part of me has evolved over the last few months.

 

I have managed to avoid these issues for nearly two months now, but I do actually want to wear this sweater.  It is nearly September and autumnal weather will eventually arrive.  Granted I did not really venture into the sewing room for a couple of months.  I had some lymphatic cord issues after surgery and could not lift an iron for two months, could not stand at the table and cut or pin, certainly not press.  For a while I was too exhausted and too out of breath to climb the stairs.  Convenient excuses to avoid indecision. But that has changed.  Now to move forward.