purlsandmurmers

A Knitting Update (from 2022)

A Knitting Update

I promised finished objects.  Finally.

First something simple:  

The headband was started on a whim.  I was attending a brioche workshop.  My single-color brioche swatch was progressing well, and when the instructor mentioned this pattern -- Headband with a Twist -- I just ripped out my swatch and cast on the recommended number of stitches with no thought to gauge or anything else.  It is a pretty simple project, and I am happy with the results, although I do think I could have done this a bit differently.  

My headband is a bit wider than I might prefer.  This headband was knit in Rowan's felted tweed in color Boulder, one of the partial skeins left over from the temperature blanket project.  Although I love felted tweed, and I love this headband, I think I would like a headband in a more tightly spun yarn even better. If I do knit another headband in Felted Tweed, and I might, I also think I would use a smaller needle, and possibly cast on fewer stitches, making it slightly less wide.    I do however love the headband I knit and I will wear it when the weather inevitably cools again.

Luckily this is a fast, fun, mindless knit and I can see myself making a few of them.  I wonder if they would be potential gifts.

There is one error, shown here, which I noticed a few rows after I had made it.  There is a bar across a column of knit stitches, where I forgot to wrap. It would be more obvious in a less fuzzy yarn. I intentionally decided not to tink back and fix it, decided that one error was itself an important statement, a reminder of the imperfection of life, and it is on the inside of the headband anyway.  I can't say that I made no other errors, but I did fix them all.  This is another reason I like this pattern, it is just enough to use as a practice piece, to master brioche until it becomes like second nature, and short enough that I don't become bored with the process.

Second project -- a baby blanket (my last blanket for a while)

This is knit in Blue Sky Sweater Worsted yarn in three colors.  It is a gift for my baby brother's first great-grandchild, Sloane.   Here it is spread out to block, with blocking wires running in every direction to make sure the lines and angles are true:

It is a thicker, more substantial baby blanket, what with a worsted weight yarn and the garter stitch, but I like it anyway and hope it will be received well.   It has a great feel and nice drape, despite its weight and I think it will be sturdy.  One thing I do note is that the yarn created a substantial amount of lint when washed prior to blocking, and upon looking it up on Ravelry I see that others have noted the same thing.   Today I will de-lint, remove the wires and wrap this up for delivery later this month when I will be in Texas.

I promised finished objects.  Finally.

First something simple:  

The headband was started on a whim.  I was attending a brioche workshop.  My single-color brioche swatch was progressing well, and when the instructor mentioned this pattern -- Headband with a Twist -- I just ripped out my swatch and cast on the recommended number of stitches with no thought to gauge or anything else.  It is a pretty simple project, and I am happy with the results, although I do think I could have done this a bit differently.  

My headband is a bit wider than I might prefer.  This headband was knit in Rowan's felted tweed in color Boulder, one of the partial skeins left over from the temperature blanket project.  Although I love felted tweed, and I love this headband, I think I would like a headband in a more tightly spun yarn even better. If I do knit another headband in Felted Tweed, and I might, I also think I would use a smaller needle, and possibly cast on fewer stitches, making it slightly less wide.    I do however love the headband I knit and I will wear it when the weather inevitably cools again.

Luckily this is a fast, fun, mindless knit and I can see myself making a few of them.  I wonder if they would be potential gifts.

There is one error, shown here, which I noticed a few rows after I had made it.  There is a bar across a column of knit stitches, where I forgot to wrap. It would be more obvious in a less fuzzy yarn. I intentionally decided not to tink back and fix it, decided that one error was itself an important statement, a reminder of the imperfection of life, and it is on the inside of the headband anyway.  I can't say that I made no other errors, but I did fix them all.  This is another reason I like this pattern, it is just enough to use as a practice piece, to master brioche until it becomes like second nature, and short enough that I don't become bored with the process.

Second project -- a baby blanket (my last blanket for a while)

This is knit in Blue Sky Sweater Worsted yarn in three colors.  It is a gift for my baby brother's first great-grandchild, Sloane.   Here it is spread out to block, with blocking wires running in every direction to make sure the lines and angles are true:

It is a thicker, more substantial baby blanket, what with a worsted weight yarn and the garter stitch, but I like it anyway and hope it will be received well.   It has a great feel and nice drape, despite its weight and I think it will be sturdy.  One thing I do note is that the yarn created a substantial amount of lint when washed prior to blocking, and upon looking it up on Ravelry I see that others have noted the same thing.   Today I will de-lint, remove the wires and wrap this up for delivery later this month when I will be in Texas.

Temperature Blanket 2022

The Temperature blanket is finally complete!  Although I did not finish it in February as I had originally hoped, I did finish before the end of March and that counts as a success in my book.  This means that it took me slightly over a year, almost 13 months, to knit the blanket, which is is pretty much on schedule, or would have been had I knit one garter ridge a day -- also the original plan.  Of course waiting for a yarn order also slowed things down, and by the time the yarn arrived I was wrapped up in another project.... 

 

I love the results.  Admittedly I would have liked a little more color variation in the middle of the blanket, just as I would have liked a little more temperature variation in those middle five months.   Generally however, the blanket turned out well, and the excitement of seeing what the next color would be was both motivating and a bit of a lesson in combining colors as I found myself entrance by color combinations that would not have occurred to me otherwise.

 

I purchased 21 colors of Rowan's Felted Tweed for this blanket and I used 20 of them.  Surprisingly the color I did not use was the warmest color, Rage, which was to indicate days where the high reached 96 degrees Fahrenheit, or greater.  We usually do get a couple of days a year that are that warm, but the highest temperature in 2022 was 95.  Now, we had 5 straight months where the average high was over 80, a bit of a long stretch for us, and 90 days where the temperature was over 85, which puts us right at the top edge of the normal range for this area in terms of heat index.  The extended prolonged heat was actually harder on my garden than the cold snap in December.  So I have to say the blanket was nicely balanced between being relatively mindless while also being fun and educational. 

 

 

I was inspired to knit this by the temperature blanket post at Modern Daily Knitting, and I started roughly, as they suggested with Kaffe Fassett's Garter Stitch Striped Shawl.  Basically that means I used the needle size he recommended and knit the shawl in garter stitch. I knew that my gauge would be looser than the gauge recommended in the pattern because I have knit this yarn before and have knit patterns by Rowan and this designer.    My gauge was 18 stitches and 34 rows to 4 inches (as opposed to the Kaffe Fassett pattern which got 24 stitches and 44 rows to 4 inches.  I liked the fabric created at my gauge, and I love the weight and drape of the blanket.  It does not feel too loosely knitted, in fact it feels quite ideal for my use and my preferences.

 

The finished blanket is 60 inches wide by 96 inches long.   According to my records I used 23 1/2 skeins, or 4509 yards.  I had originally estimated, from my gauge swatch, that the blanket would take 19 or 20 skeins, and I estimated that the border would take 3 1/2 to 4 skeins and both ended up right on point.  Overall I am happy. 

 

via restingmotion.typepad.com

The Temperature blanket is finally complete!  Although I did not finish it in February as I had originally hoped, I did finish before the end of March and that counts as a success in my book.  This means that it took me slightly over a year, almost 13 months, to knit the blanket, which is is pretty much on schedule, or would have been had I knit one garter ridge a day -- also the original plan.  Of course waiting for a yarn order also slowed things down, and by the time the yarn arrived I was wrapped up in another project.... 

 

I love the results.  Admittedly I would have liked a little more color variation in the middle of the blanket, just as I would have liked a little more temperature variation in those middle five months.   Generally however, the blanket turned out well, and the excitement of seeing what the next color would be was both motivating and a bit of a lesson in combining colors as I found myself entrance by color combinations that would not have occurred to me otherwise.

 

I purchased 21 colors of Rowan's Felted Tweed for this blanket and I used 20 of them.  Surprisingly the color I did not use was the warmest color, Rage, which was to indicate days where the high reached 96 degrees Fahrenheit, or greater.  We usually do get a couple of days a year that are that warm, but the highest temperature in 2022 was 95.  Now, we had 5 straight months where the average high was over 80, a bit of a long stretch for us, and 90 days where the temperature was over 85, which puts us right at the top edge of the normal range for this area in terms of heat index.  The extended prolonged heat was actually harder on my garden than the cold snap in December.  So I have to say the blanket was nicely balanced between being relatively mindless while also being fun and educational. 

 

 

I was inspired to knit this by the temperature blanket post at Modern Daily Knitting, and I started roughly, as they suggested with Kaffe Fassett's Garter Stitch Striped Shawl.  Basically that means I used the needle size he recommended and knit the shawl in garter stitch. I knew that my gauge would be looser than the gauge recommended in the pattern because I have knit this yarn before and have knit patterns by Rowan and this designer.    My gauge was 18 stitches and 34 rows to 4 inches (as opposed to the Kaffe Fassett pattern which got 24 stitches and 44 rows to 4 inches.  I liked the fabric created at my gauge, and I love the weight and drape of the blanket.  It does not feel too loosely knitted, in fact it feels quite ideal for my use and my preferences.

 

The finished blanket is 60 inches wide by 96 inches long.   According to my records I used 23 1/2 skeins, or 4509 yards.  I had originally estimated, from my gauge swatch, that the blanket would take 19 or 20 skeins, and I estimated that the border would take 3 1/2 to 4 skeins and both ended up right on point.  Overall I am happy. 

 

2022 in Review

Another double-posting with Restingmotion.  This may be the final post here, or not.  I remain undecided as to whether or not reopening this blog was a good, or an outgrowth of periodic ennui.  

-----------

Another glance over my shoulder perhaps, this time looking at my knitting progress in 2022.

Let's get the statistics out of the way first.  In 2022 I finished 10 projects and used up 71 skeins of yarn totaling 10,909 yards.  On first glance, it looks like I knitted less than the previous year in that there were two fewer finished objects, but the objects were larger and used more yarn.  Technically, it is not about yarn use, although that was one of my goals, or number of finished objects, but both of methods of accounting serve a purpose.

More specifically, the project breakdown was as follows:

• two blankets
• one soft-sculpture (toy)
• four shawls
• one pair of socks
• two sweaters

Now let's look at that more thoroughly.

There were no photos taken of the two blankets or the toy.  The toy and the first blanket was started in 2021 but never really photographed or blogged.  This was probably because I had mixed feelings about them from the get-go, but I was too pig-headed to give up, rip out, and start something new.  Instead I forced myself to finish both and promptly gave them away. The second blanket was one of those crazy ideas where I decided at the last minute to knit a baby blanket, finished it in a desperate rush, and immediately presented it to the new parents.  I really liked that blanket, but I was too overwhelmed at the time to deal with record-keeping. 

After that experience I decided I would never force myself to finish something again.  I would admit defeat or I would rip and repurpose. Luckily, my remaining projects of the year turned out to be far more satisfying, although admittedly there were some false starts and some ripping out.  Each false start then became a challenge and an opportunity.  Not all of those opportunities have yet been realized as projects, but I have found a certain satisfaction in the simple act of swatching, in letting a yarn tell me what it is, even if that initial exploration does not yield immediate results.

But now that the disappointments are out of the way, what about the successes?

I knitted four shawls, the first three of which were blogged (shown above). Shawlography, (pink, purple, green wool) was started as part of Stephen West's 2021 MKAL.  It was challenging, often fun, and sometimes maddening.  None of the techniques were particularly difficult in and of themselves, but West did put things together in ways I would not necessarily have thought of if left to my own devices.  Knitting this shawl was both fun and a constant struggle.  This was partially due to the fact that my fingers, beset with lingering chemotherap-induced neuropathy, struggled to maintain tension, and partially because I was constantly fretting about my color choices. Half the time I was convinced that the resulting shawl would only be suitable for a clown show, and it was not until I knit the final border that I could admit to being happy with the result. Even so, it gets the least wear of the three, primarily because it makes the boldest statement.  Still I think it was the accomplishment I was most proud of.  I learned a great deal knitting it, mostly because the brioche was not kind to my hands.  The brioche was ripped twice and reknit, even with the ripping and reknitting, I struggled.  The sense of accomplishment I feel for this shawl is primarily due to that brioche section.  Not only did I come to love brioche, I taught myself how to drop down to repair individual errors in brioche without ripping back and entire section, an accomplishment of which I am still proud even though I can honestly say that if the mistakes are many and frequent, it is still easier to simply rip back. Skill-wise, this shawl was my greatest accomplishment of 2022.

The cream striped Nantucket Summer shawl was the biggest shawl I knit in 2022, at 22 x 120 inches.  It is almost a blanket and it has admittedly seen me through many cool evenings on the patio as well as early mornings watching the sun rise, coffee and hand. The yarn was originally intended for a cardigan, but as I have a long-standing aversion to heavy cotton cardigans, I feared it would be a cardigan I would never wear.  The shawl is wonderful and I wrap myself up in it all the time, a perfect choice for me.

My absolute favorite knit of 2022 was the Artyarns silk wrap I named blue wave. This was an absolutely fun knit, full of short rows and changing colors.  It required attention but was not particularly difficult and it was so exciting that I raced through it.  This shawl was completely fun to knit and the results are absolutely gorgeous. Using 766 yards of Artyarns beaded silk and sequins light, knitting this wrap is an indulgence but well worth it.  If I could justify having two versions of such a distinctive wrap, I would happily knit it again.  It was that much fun.  

My final finished project of 2022 was the fourth shawl, seen above.  This shawl was knit in Noro Kakigori, a mostly cotton and silk yarn, using the "Stormy Sky" pattern by Ksenia Naidyon.   Originally purchased for use with another yarn in a different project, it became evident upon swatching that I hated the two yarns together and felt that this yarn was completely unsuitable for its originally intended use.   Upon further swatching I decided that I liked the fabric the yarn created and that it would be lovely as a relatively simple shawl.  It is a not particularly large shawl, with both drape and a touch of crispness, which I think will prove very versatile in Knoxville's climate.  I would happily knit with more Kakigori, because it creates a lovely fabric, although the yarn itself tends to want to twist up on itself while knitting, so it does require a bit of patience.

The one pair of socks knitted in 2022  have proven quite satisfactory.  I intentionally knit them longer than my usual, perhaps a tad too long, but they still get worn. The Mominoki Finnwool, used for the body of the sock, is 100% wool without the nylon usually added for sock yarns.  It was a remnant from Shawlography and put to good use here.   I actually prefer socks that are pure wool without nylon, but they don't tend to wear as well, and so, as it true for so many things in life, represent a trade-off.  These are holding up well, except for a bit of wear at the back of the ankle above the heel.  I suppose it is a bit early to see that much wear after less than a full year's wear, and that area will be mended when the time comes.  I love the socks nonetheless.  

As I look in my sock drawer, I see that I need more socks, and I am loathe to purchase them.  It seems that there must be sock knitting on the horizon.  I have thought of exploring breed specific wool, looking for hard-wearing wools that hold up better for socks and I may well do that.  In the end, however, I will probably mostly use nylon reinforced sock wool, which comes in many pretty colors.  Although I may struggle with a brightly colored shawl, I have no issue with wearing carnival-colored socks.  The first pair of socks I ever knit are still going strong, after 13 years, knitted with KnitPicks simple stripes, 75% wool yarn, a ringing endorsement if ever there was one. I will admit that the tutti-frutti color palette of that first pair is not one I would chose today, but those socks simply will not die. That specific yarn has been discontinued, but I would think KnitPicks' sock yarn would still be a good economical and hard-wearing option if that is a consideration.  But longevity is not my primary criteria when knitting socks.  I am all for knitting, and wearing, what one loves and we each make the compromises that best suit us. I am fine with balancing practicality with comfort in my sock wardrobe,  but also admit that there is nothing quite as nice as cashmere socks on a cold evening, even if they are not practical for everyday wear.  Perhaps my sock wardrobe needs a touch of softness, as well as an indulgence in frivolous colors.

Even though I was once almost exclusively a garment knitter, I only knot two sweaters in 2022.  The first, a cardigan finished in June, was not really worn until fall, when the temperatures had cooled.   Although it is not a winter cardigan, being knitted with cotton/nylon/polyester novelty yarns, this was not a sweater for hot humid summer heat.  It may have been had I followed the pattern as written, which was for a cardigan with more ease and drape..  After knitting my swatches however, the hand of the resulting fabric reminded me of the kind of light drapey boucle that is often used for soft Chanel-style jackets, and I decided that a short, more fitted cardigan was required.  I altered the pattern accordingly, individualizing it by taking in some of the asymmetry I was finding in my sewing pattern sloper development.  There was some fudging, and some ripping and reknitting, which is not easy when three rather snaggy strands are held together while knitting.  But I am absolutely enamored of the finished cardigan.  This is not a hard-wearing everyday sweater but more of an occasional item.  I need to take care not to catch the rather fine sequined filament that runs through the sweater on buckles, latches, or even rings and other jewelry.  This cardigan wants to be the star of the show in its own understated way.  It is a sweater I can imagine myself wearing for a long time. 

The second sweater was for a wool shell or vest, knitted to be worn as a layering piece.  The pattern was Carol Feller's Trellis top, and I used the recommended yarn, Stolen Stitches Nua Sport.  Even thought I used the designer's yarn I did not quite manage to get gauge, My gauge was slightly tighter in stockinette, but the same as the recommended gauge in the pattern stitch.  Since I wanted to make my sweater a bit more close-fitting than the pattern, this was easy enough to manage.    Aside from size issues, I more or less knit the pattern as written with the exception of the shoulder shaping and the finishing.  The original design is looser and more casual, with  button bands in lieu of seamed sides.  As I was seeking a more classically close-fitting silhouette that could also be worn under a jacket, I simply seamed the sides.  I am very happy with the result and this sweater has already proven to be a favorite.  I wore vests frequently in my 20s and early 30s, did not wear them in the intervening decades, and find I now reach for them again and again, something to consider as I contemplate future knitting.

As to 2023, who knows.

My plan is to begin the year by finishing the temperature blanket I started at the beginning of 2022.  This started as a whim, but I have mostly stuck with it.  I put the blanket aside during the hot months and picked it up after Thanksgiving, trying desperately to catch up.  When the year ended, I had knitted the blanket through the last day of September, or three-quarters through the body of the blanket.

I am determined to finish this blanket before finishing anything else this year.  Since January 1 I have knitted 47 garter ridges, which finished out October and put me half-way through  November.  I should finish the body by early February and then I need to pick up and knit the borders, As you can see from the blanket, spread out on my bed, the borders will be long, and I am thinking now that I do not want them to be particularly narrow, although I am considering the idea that the side borders may be wider, perhaps, than the top and bottom borders. I haven't yet calculated what color the borders should be, but if I am serious about finishing this, I should figure that out and make sure I have the yarn in house before it is needed, simply to avoid further delays.  I do know that should I put it aside, it will be difficult to pick back up again, so best to keep knitting until it is finished.  The blanket itself is fun because I love watching the color patterns unfold.  The border of course will be more tedious, but the reward will be in the joy of curling up under it on chilly evenings.

Also on the schedule for this year is to finish a modular, log-cabin style blanket I started knitting out of Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande,  I do think I will take a short break between blankets, finishing something smaller.  I have another sleeveless cotton sweater on the needles, although I am not devoting much time to it at the  moment.  The cotton sweater is my portable project, but the blanket remains my main focus and the center of all my crafty energies at the moment. Expect that knitting updates may be few and far between at least for the first quarter of the year. 

Swatch Happy

I spent a few days playing with swatches.  Rather than being tedious, I found the process to be quite a bit of fun.

 

 

Now I am excited about knitting new things, even if some of these particular swatches don't end up leading directly to specific projects.  The whole process made me think about saving my swatches, about starting a notebook with information regarding yarns and fibers and notes about ideas.  I've never been consistently good at this.  I start, then abandon the attempt and toss everything away.  Why?  I really don't have an answer but suspect it lies along the spectrum of not taking my creative explorations seriously enough.  That has changed, and so perhaps has my need to just play and record ideas, successful or not.    In the past, my need to declutter, to not be overwhelmed by stuff, won out over the need for maintaining notebooks and swatch ideas.  Perhaps that dynamic is shifting.  At the moment I am as happy with the processes of exploring the nature of knitted fabrics, planning, and techniques as I am with the actual making of wearable garments.

 

But onto swatches.

The whole thing started with these two -- Noro Yukata (pink) and Nora Kakigori (blue-purple).  When I f first saw the Yukata, I thought of Stephen West's Spectra scarf, which I have been itching to knit again, and I bought the Kakigori to use with it in that project.  The Yukata is classified as a sport-weight yarn and the Kakigori as DK.  I thought the combination would give a rustically casual vibe to the wrap.  Since I was uncertain, however, and the scarf is knit in garter stitch, I decided to go the swatch route rather than just plunging in and starting the shawl.  I am happy I swatched.

 

The Yukata, ended up knitting into a thicker fabric and a larger gauge than the Kakigori, the opposite of what I expected.  Also, upon wet-blocking, the Yukata grew even larger, and softer, which is good for a wrap, but the Kakigori maintained its size, shape and drape.  Since the Yukata sections would be surrounded by the smaller Kakigori, I ended up not liking the way these yarns would work in this project.  Yukata, might work nicely on a larger needle, perhaps a size 6  or a 7 instead of a 4 with a different DK or worsted weight yarn.  I am thinking Mad Tosh now, but this project is on hold because I also decided that although I love both of the swatches, neither of them says "Spectra" to me, and they are destined for different paths.

 

I have decided the Yukata wants to be a sweater.  Although I have noted a couple of ideas, I have not yet moved forward on those. I do know that I am not fond of the Yukata in garter stitch, at least at this gauge, although I may find it acceptable on larger needles.    

 

As to the Kakigori, I loved the garter stitch swatch, love the weight and the drape and think it would make a wonderful fall cardigan or pullover that would work for many of the cooler months in Tennessee because of its predominantly cotton base.  I spent some combing through my pattern books, hoping to find a pattern that was similar to the idea in my head, and in the end just decided to do the math and come up with my own pattern.  I determined that I needed one more skein of Kakigori, but alas another skein of my colorway was not available.  The other colors in my local yarn shop do not shout cardigan to me, so, for the moment, this project is on hold. I am going to keep my swatch page with my various notes though.  In the meantime I have found another shawl that I think will work and will use my one, roughly 700 yard skein.

 

 

And so, no current project yet in hand, I moved on to other swatches.  The photo above is of Nua Sport by Stolen Stitches.  I purchased the yarn in the spring of 2020 to make the Trellis Top by Carol Feller, and it has been at the top of my Ravelry Queue ever since, even though I had developed mixed feelings about the project.  Swatching seemed the best place to begin.  I started with size 4 needles because I once knit loosely, although that is not always the case today.  Carol Feller recommends a gauge of 22 stitches and 33 rows to 4" in this yarn in stockinette.  I got 24 stitches and 33 rows.  Woo Hoo, I got row gauge, which is rare.  I liked the fabric but worried that it was perhaps slightly too firm.  I knitted another swatch on size 5 needles and got 22 stitches and 29 rows to 4" in stockinette.  This fabric felt too loose.  I thought that switching needle materials might make a difference.  The first two swatches were knit on Signature Metal needles, and I thought I would try them on a wooden needle, but my only non-metal circular in a size 4, a knitters pride dreamz, was otherwise occupied.  I wondered if trying different metal needles would make a difference.  It is possible. Sometimes I see a difference, sometimes I do not.  This is why I like to have multiple needles in multiple materials.

 

But I dithered and couldn't make up my mind, so I just decided to knit the pattern stitch swatch on the same size 4 needles and see where that got me.  I ended up getting gauge:  26 stitches and 33 rows to 4 inches.  Since the bulk of the sweater is in pattern, and I actually would prefer the final garment to be slightly smaller than the listed dimensions for my size, I decided further swatching was not necessary and I could move forward with this project.

Between those two sets of swatches I also swatched another Noro yarn,  the aran weight Uchiwa. This yarn is a combination of cotton/viscose/and silk and knit to a light and lovely fabric in stockinette on size 7 needles.  The yarn is lightly plied and does bias but is light and wearable.  I would not use it in a particularly fitted garment but in something with more ease and drape, and I have a project in mind.

 

But first, the Trellis Top in Nua Sport. More to come.

Nantucket Shawl

The Nantucket cotton wrap is done. 

Yarn:  L'Atelier Joy

Fiber: cotton

Pattern:  None really.  Stripes consisted of alternating 16 rows of white with 8-row stripes of the colors.  I had twice as much navy as the other two blues, so the navy was alternated between each color.

Gauge: roughly  15 stitches and 16 rows to 4" on size 10 1/2 needles in seed stitch

Finished Dimensions: 22" by  120".

 

 

I actually finished knitting it about a week ago, but the time from completion to photo session dragged on for several reasons.  The wrap occupied much of the length of library for several days while blocking.  The thick cotton was not the fastest to dry, but I also must admit I did enjoy just admiring it while it lay there, and I may have delayed unpinning slightly longer than was necessary.  By the time I did release it from its bonds, my energy for a photo shoot may have waned, although not because I was at all unhappy with the shawl.

. 

 

It is unusually large and bulky for a wrap.  Wider and shorter and it would have been a blanket.   And in fact it may still fulfill a blanket-like role as an oversized snuggly wrap for evenings at home.  I love it anyway even if I am not necessarily convinced it will see tons of wear outside the house.  It may.  I don't yet know.   It is long enough that its function, while providing warmth, would fill the role more of a statement piece than an accessory. 

In fact, I would have made it a foot longer given my druthers, not necessarily due to a wish for additional length, but merely to use up more yarn.  One full skein of the white remains. It was the navy that petered out.  In fact I was able to knit 3 fewer rows of navy than of white per skein.  Assuming the skeins were the same weight this means that the navy was heavier than the white, and yielded fewer yards per skein.  This is not particularly unusual for dark-hued yarns, at least in that it has happened to me enough in the past that I am not surprised.  But my math did not account for this, although I did weigh the initial usage in the stripe sequencing.  Based on weight, I calculated that I could get one more navy stripe and one more medium blue stripe (for which I do have enough yarn) as well as two more long white stripes. This would have left me with less than half a skein of white, and only small bits of the three other colors.  The best laid plans.

 

Never mind.  It is a deliciously cool morning, and I enjoyed my first espresso of the morning, wrapped in this new shawl, watching the sun rise.

 

The Joys of Mindless Knitting

I found myself caught between projects upon completion of the Blue Wave Wrap.  I had a bag of yarn for a project I really wanted to knit, based solely on the yarns and colors, but I did not yet have a pattern.  I had other projects as well, but that bag of colored yarns was calling my name.  

In the meantime, it was not like I didn't have other projects crying out for attention after all.  Three of then to be exact.  I picked up the cotton wrap I started in order to have a portable, easy, project that could be be knitted while chatting with others.  You can see the full progression of the colors in the swatch above.  The colors remind me of Nantucket, and Nantucket can easily be cool enough in the morning or evening to require a wrap, so I am calling it Nantucket Summer.  Even though I am not in Nantucket, knitting this project brings back many happy memories of lazy days and walks on that island.  I've used up two of my eight skeins of the background color and gotten one full color repeat; I can state that this length will work and the wrap is therefore about a quarter done.  I will end up having some of the lighter blue-gray and blue-green yarns left over but should use up everything else.  

 

As much as I am happy with the cotton wrap however, my attentions were also pulled back to the temperature blanket.  I had put it aside just as I began knitting April.  Even though I didn't start this project until March, it has become abundantly evident that I am not the kind of person who can routinely knit one garter ridge a day. I am more of an all-in, or all-out kind of person.  I knit and knit and knit and knit, until I am bored with something and then I work on something else.  

Truthfully this has been true my whole life.  I do finish things, but I don't necessarily work on them at an even pace straight through.  In fact the only thing I consistently manage to accomplish in a routine, orderly, evenly-paced way is housekeeping, and that only because doing so allows me more time for my passions.  That doesn't mean that housework doesn't fall by the wayside; everything fell by the wayside over the past two years between falls, and cardiac irregularities and cancer, and I am just beginning to get myself back on an even keel.  

 

But, blankets.  Above is April.  The project is fun because it is fun to see what is going to happen next.  I get long calming rows of garter stitch, a great meditative and relaxing knit, and I get fun color changes. Well, I also love knitting with Rowan's felted tweed.   I was so excited about knitting April that I thought I could knit straight through and get caught up, at least until the end of June.  

 

I finished May in 5 days, 34 garter rows, or 68 rows total.  There are three ridges at the end of each month representing the average high for that month.  As you can see, May is warmer, more pink rows heading into red.  In fact the average high in May 2022 was 10 degrees higher than our historical average high for May.  Knitting this blanket is bringing all kinds of interesting information into my head.  

May 2022 was as hot as May 2012, my first year here, the year I thought we had been crazy to move here from New York and I terribly missed the cold.  I don't think it even got below 50 in January or February that year, and I was in shock.  Perhaps I still am, although there have been colder winters and milder springs.  Every year in the past 10 years has been above our historical average, although there have occasionally been wide temperature swings.  But that is not just true of Knoxville.  The phenomenon is much more widespread. For me, a person who does not thrive in the sun and who hates heat (yes I know I grew up in Texas), all I can do is bear up and remind myself it could be worse. Actually, there have been worse years, heat-wise at least, here since I moved here.  

 

It would be fascinating to knit a series of temperature blankets over the course of a person's life, at least if that person stayed in one place as their home base.  Moving could be problematic.  Regional differences would not be terribly significant, but wider moves would throw everything off, at least if one was comparing one blanket to the previous one as there would be no fixed comparison point.  I've moved too much, although given the internet, one could get that information for any locale.  Just random thoughts, I am not (yet) contemplating knitting a series of blankets.  

 

Anyway, as I finished knitting May, I was hit by a case of ennui.  I still wish, on an intellectual level at least, to finish June, but I am less thrilled about the prospect.  There will be wider swaths of a single color. Although not changing colors will be slightly faster, it will also be more boring. Therefore I do not believe I will be as devoted to the project and finish it up in another five days, although it is possible I could surprise myself.

Artyarns Rectangular Wrap

There is nothing quite like a wonderful wrap.  I love shawls and wraps and scarves, but I haven't always knitted them.  I tended to find them boring to knit, even with cables or patterns, and I am usually tired of them long before I am finished.  Stephen West changed that for me to some extent, and yet although I loved Shawlography, I found it a challenge mostly because my hands and fingers were not working correctly due to chemotherapy induced neuropathy, and my brain wasn't in peak form either due to arrhythmias, which I suspect were aggravated by a complex interaction between chemotherapy and my congenital heart defect.  

 

Part of my goal then, this spring, is to learn how to adapt.  Even as my fingers have grown far more functional I am not the knitter I was 10 years ago.  Well, none of are what we were 10 years ago.

 

Presenting the Artyarns wrap:

I absolutely loved knitting this!   The stitches are simple and the pattern both complex enough to be interesting and yet also clear enough that one easily gets the hang of it and knows what to expect and how to read your knitting.  Only two yarns are used, a multi-colored yarn and a solid, and aside from one stitch on the leading right side edge, only one yarn is knit on each row. 

Above is the scarf stretched out on the blocking board last weekend.  In order to highlight the design it is important that there the two yarns work well together without any overlapping colors. 

 

This was purchased as a kit from L'Atelier in Redondo Beach, California, in concert with Iris Schreier of Artyarns.   You can see a very similar pattern, same design but different gauge, on Ravelry where it is listed as "Neon 2022 rectangle".  It appears to be part of a series of limited edition patterns that are available only as kits through participating stores.  I am not sure if it was a limited time offering or is still available.  ....  (updated to add that the pattern is available on Ravelry as part of a compilation of 3 patterns)

The pattern on Ravelry uses a different yarn and is knit at a different gauge.  The pattern and kit I received was written and knit using Beaded Silk and Sequins Light, a silk yarn from Artyarns that also has small glass beads and sequins scattered throughout the yarn.  The pattern I received was part of a limited edition club; I have had several names for this project on Ravelry, but have finally settled on calling it "blue wave".

 

I started the project with 400 grams of each yarn, the navy and the blue/green multi yarn, equalling roughly 440  yards each, or 880 yards total.   I had 75 grams of the navy blue remaining after completing the sweater and 26 grams of the blue/green/lilac multi-color.  Converted to yardage, I used slightly under 356 yards of the navy and 412 yards of the multi-color yarn, for a total of 768 yards.

 

Because the yarn is 100% silk, the finished scarf is actually quite light and wearable and I suspect I could wear it on all but perhaps the hottest or coldest of days. In fact while I was walking over to the studio to photograph the scarf I was wearing it on a hot humid day and I did not suffer while playing toss with Garbo for a few minutes.  This would not have happened with even the lightest woolen scarf, and I adore wool and would knit it exclusively if I could.  Well maybe not exclusively.  I love this yarn and will certainly be knitting more with it.

 

I may also knit the pattern again, now that I have it.  It would not be difficult to knit a winter version, such as the one shown on Ravelry in Merino Cloud or some other soft wooly yarn.  On the other hand, my knitting mojo has been rekindled and there are more things I want to knit that in is physically possible in one lifetime, so that may never happen.   

Update

Another month, another blog post.  Not my intent, but hey.

 

The photo above was taken at the very end of June, when I finished knitting the first part of this scarf, which I had in fact been quite obsessed with for a week. I momentarily had hopes that this would be a two-week project, but I was distracted by other things after that first, almost-compulsive push, where I wanted to do nothing but knit and had to force myself away.   I probably spent less time in the actual knitting with the second part though, you know, being more familiar with the pattern and the design and all.  In this pattern two pieces are knit and kept live.  Then they are joined together.

 

It was really an incredibly fun knit, and terribly addictive as well.  There wasn't anything particularly difficult, German short rows, perhaps, if you have not done them before, but mostly the challenge, and the fun was in the layout of the pattern.  I actually finished knitting it and got it blocked on Saturday, so you will be seeing a final post on this soon, where I will go into the details.

 

While I was knitting this project I also started going to a knitting afternoon/night at my local yarn shop, which I am really enjoying.  I finished up the knitting of the New Orleans cardigan from my last post there, and I had already finished the first piece of this scarf before I got back.  I realized pretty quickly that, fun as this pattern is, it is not a good knitting group project as you do have to pay attention to your counts and your place in the pattern. I can be far too easily distracted.

So another wrap was born.  I have the two blankets at home, but somehow I didn't feel like carrying either of them around with me in the 90 degree heat, even the short distance from car to yarn shop. I also had this  bulky weight but fairly lightly-plied cotton which was originally intended to be a cardigan, a cardigan I neither feel like knitting or wearing.  So I decided to knit a wrap.  I like the weight and drape of the fabric being created by the seed stitch on size 10 needles.  Now that I have a nice sized piece of knitted fabric, I can see that it would indeed make a lovely cardigan, but I think I will get far more use and joy out of the wrap.

 

More later.

 

 

Sweater Love

The sweater called New Orleans is finished. I had hoped to finish it while I was actually in New Orleans for a sewing workshop but I overestimated my energy levels following full days of cutting, sewing, and muslin making.  I have no regrets.

 

 

I adore this sweater. 

Button detail.  Brass strawberries, already in stash.  These were one of two choices that I found that I liked in my extensive button stash, a simple mother of pearl, which was elegant but ultimately too small, and these.  I both love these and had misgivings.  Once they were sewed on, however, I think they shine.

 

 

This has worked out to be everything I wanted it to be.  It is closely fitted but not too much so, I like the 3/4 sleeves.  The shoulder shaping works and the cardigan fits well, stays where I want it to stay.  All in all a success.

 

Yarn:  Lana Grossa About Berlin Spotty in color 7, two strands held together along with a single strand of Lana Grossa Diamante.  The original pattern was written as a rather straight, boxy cardigan, but since the pattern came with only instructions for the lace stripes, a loose guideline, and no diagrams or pictures, I quickly decided to make this the way I wanted.  This meant a more fitted cardigan.

 

The original pattern also called for 5 rows of garter stitch at the hem, which I did not use.  Once I decided to opt for the fitted cardigan, I realized that, given the length I desired, adding the five rows of garter stitch would either make the cardigan too long, or place the lace bands in positions that would be difficult for either fitting, or matching at the seams.  I did add garter stitch hems on the sleeves.  The sweater hem was finished with a row of single crochet followed by a row of crab stitch, the same as the front bands.  I am quite happy with this result.

I am also happy with the matching of the horizontal lace bands, which match at side seams and sleeves.  You may notice that the distance between these bands appears further apart above and below the bust, which is true.  Short rows were added, making the center front longer than the side seams.  This allows the bands to meet at the side seams, the stripes continuing horizontally even across the bust without curving up due to the need for extra length.    I was kind of guessing at much of this as I went along, knitting, measuring, occasionally ripping and re-knitting, but I am very happy with the result.

 

 

New Orleans Cardigan, Part One

I had hoped to have another project finished by the end of May, but that isn't happening. This isn't really a problem because I am really pretty happy with the way my current project, a cardigan, is turning out, even though I am pretty much making up the pattern as I go.

 

I am calling this project New Orleans although that is not the name of the pattern.  I'm not really following the pattern anyway, or I am using it as a only rough guide so I suppose this project is a bit of a collaborative mix.

 

 

In the photo above you can see a glimpse of the cardigan in its current state.  The body has been sewn together and the first sleeve knit and inserted.  I am currently knitting the second sleeve, after which I will figure out how I wish to finish the edges and place the buttons.

 

This is the sweater I started in April and fretted about ripping out in this post,.  It is knit with three strands of yarn held together, two strands of Lana Grossa's novelty cotton blend, About Berlin Spotty, and one strand of a sequined nylon thread, also by Lana Grossa, called Diamante.  I am knitting it at a fairly loose gauge on size 10 needles.  I picked it up again the second week of May, reknit my gauge swatches, and redesigned the sweater, keeping only the pattern stitch.  

 

The original is a fairly straight boxy sweater, which sounds lovely, but I wanted something more fitted.  There are basically two reasons for this.  First, although the loose gauge makes this sweater wearable in our hotter Tennessee weather, it also tends to snag and I am terrible about snagging sweaters.  Secondly the fabric, although open, is also heavy and I did not like the way the sweater hung.  One thing I have learned is that although I don't mind loose, boxy, or flowy clothes, I want them to stay in place, wherever that place may be.

 

Because I was experimenting with a more fitted sweater, I also experimented with some fitting ideas, using a draft of the fit muslin I was working on for sewing projects.  I made the back fairly close fitting, taking a vertical dart in the center back at the waist, which I have done before.  But I also did a few things that were new, namely using a stitch marker to mark the center back which is asymmetrical, and I made the armscye and shoulder shaping different on each side, corresponding to my actual body.

 

 

You can see the back, pinned for blocking above.  As you may see in the photo above, much of the difference between the right and left back is taken up in the difference of the armscye shaping.  

 

 

The fronts were easier, more equivalent in size, although the armscye shaping was different on each side.  I also added short row shaping at the front above and below that eyelet pattern that runs across the bust line.  This was done so that the eyelet stripe would continue horizontally across the front, matching the back, and not pulling up due to the need for additional length.  I think my final result looks pretty good so far, although it took me a couple of attempts to get something that worked and looked balanced.  I suspect that there will be some fiddling with the front edge and button placement as well, but I am happy enough with how this is coming along that I am looking forward to the challenge.