Monthly Archives: November 2010

Today…

I knit quite a bit in the car. I somehow managed to not get carsick in the process. So yay! I’m making great progress on my Garter Yoke Cardi and at the rate I’m going, I might finish a sweater in under 10 days. This would be sweater 10 of 12. If I could focus, I just might make my 12 for NaKniSweMoDo. This idea has me very excited, but I’m trying not to get ahead of myself.

I also cast on a crochet project. I love everything Halloween and creepy and cute all at the same time. So yes, I’m the sort of person who would totally decorate her holiday tree with monster heads. ( I still need to get some wool felt so I can make half-eaten, traumatized gingerbread ornaments and act out their apocalypse. What…?)
Yes.


I am not going to pretend to have a fully formed opinion on this yet, but this week, somewhere on the internet, I ran across the idea of being a Knitter vs. a knitter. This sort of question resonates with me, and this is not the first time such an idea has come up.

I feel differently about knitting then I do about some of my other creative hobbies.
As is sometimes shown here, I dabble in embroidery and sewing/quilting. But neither of these things really resonate with me and stir a passion within. They’re fun to do, but I view them as hobbies. Pastimes, nothing more. If I had to describe myself I wouldn’t put “quilter,” or “embroiderer,” anywhere near the top of that list. If one were to try and start up a conversation about either subject with me, I’d likely chat about it, but I doubt I’d get very excited and I’d do more listening then talking. (Unless talk of the modern quilting movement comes up. Then I do actually get a bit excited, and that’s what drew me back into sewing. Same with zakka-inspired sewing.) These are things that I do, but I do not feel that they describe who I am.
This is where the distinction comes in, I think. Is something an expression of who you are or just a hobby, a way to pass time?
I know this: I knit when I’m happy. I knit when I’m sad. I knit when I need to think more clearly. I knit when I need a distraction. I knit in small grabbed moments of time. I knit when I have a lot of time available. I even dream about knitting and often, thinking about it is what soothes me to sleep.
I’m thinking I’m a Knitter. What about you, kittens? Are you Knitters, Crocheters, Quilters, “fill-in-what-you-are-of-choice-with-a-capital-here”-ers?

….

I have nothing again today. Lots of progress on Garter Yoke, but it’s not exactly exciting to look at yet. This “blog every day,” thing is harder then it sounds.

Lacewing

Kittens, after a month, it is finally done. No more teasers for you. And no more kvetching about how this will never get off of needles.

Pattern: Honeybee Cardigan, Laura Chau (Ravel it)
Yarn: Sundara Sock, Garden of Delight (May 2009 LE)
Needles: US size 6
This took much longer to knit then it should have due to a very slow start, ripping and recasting on due to math fail & brain fog, and an inability to keep moving when I was knitting. I have a couple of theories about why this happened.
As you can see from the date, this Sundara had been sitting in stash for about 18 months, and while I liked the color, I was no longer in love with it and wanted to see it used or rehomed. I wouldn’t consider myself a fickle yarnie, but my color preferences do sway a bit and at the time I purchased this green, I was madly in love with the color. Right now, I’m still liking green, but not rabidly infatuated with it or seeking it out. (This changed as a I actually worked on the sweater. The process helped me refall in love with the colorway.)
The other is something I learned about myself while knitting this. To date, I haven’t had an issue following a knitting pattern or trying to understand what the writer’s instructions are. I’ll get momentarily confused, reread, understand, and move on. It happens. With this knit, I kept tripping up and had to spend better parts of an hour reading and rereading the directions. This was not the fault of the pattern and as far as I can tell, it didn’t have any errors. All of the information was correct. What I learned is that Ms. Chau and I think differently, and this is the first time I’ve encountered that. Portions of the pattern were–to ME–redundant and it confused me, thinking there must be something I was missing in the reading. I discovered that I fill in the blanks on my own and this was tripping me up. They were all silly things that once I got them, I laughed about it, even if I was cussing up a storm and getting irritated at the time. This will not make me avoid her patterns in the future, but it will put me on alert.
Those two things aside, this knit grew on me and I’m quite pleased with it. I learned a slick new technique.

Bottom-up, seamless set-in sleeves. LOVE. How slick is that?! I tend to avoid set-in sleeves because I can never get them to match up properly or look nice. My gauge always varies a bit as I knit separate pieces and no matter how many times I measure, the sleeves never match up with the sleeve holes. To say they frustrate me is an understatement. I have a feeling I’m going to be using this technique quite a bit in the future and will definitely alter patterns with set-in sleeves to attach them this way. I would likely knit nothing but set-in sleeves if they weren’t such a pain in the rear.

Speaking of the sleeves, this was the one “major” change to the pattern I made. Rather then a 12″ 3/4 sleeve, I wanted a short one. This decision was first made to make this as quick a knit as possible, but later I realized it was a good one. Alabama is not exactly cold most of the year and with short sleeves, this is adorable over dresses.

And that i-cord finish for the neckline? Such a simple–but pretty–way to finish the knit off. It was putzy and took forever, but well worth it.

My arm may fall off from all of the back patting I’m about to do. How beautiful are those picked up stitches for the button band?! After 3 years of knitting, I finally feel proficient in the technique and like I really understand it. Nice, neat, and even. No more uneven pick-ups varying between two different columns of stitches because I could not figure out how to see where to place my needle.

The buttons were some freebies thrown in my last order from GreenRayProd on Etsy. Jodi has some fabulous vintage buttons in her shop and always includes interesting information about them. Imagine my surprise when I saw these had been tossed in as a bonus. And how perfect they were for this sweater!
Lacewing is sweater 09 of 12 for IntSweMoDo. Unless I can pump out 03 sweaters in the next six weeks, I won’t make it. But I’ll be close!

Because I am a Tease….


This might just be a fully finished button band and finished off icord neckline.

And this just might be a seamed shoulder, one of two finished.

And my Honeybee, known on my Ravelry page as “Lacewing,” might just be soaking as I type this out.

Garter Yoke…

So, this seems to be the most popular option. But I have another question, kittens: do I leave it as a cardigan, or convert it to a pullover to make it more like Cobblestone? I love that Garter Yoke is knit from the top-down, making it easy to get the fit right and it should be simple enough to convert and improvise as I go.

"The Best Laid Plans of Mice and…

bloggers, often go awry.” Or so the saying should have gone.

It wasn’t until I remembered that The Husband had an evening shift that I realized that my original plan for a blog entry today would not work. It will have to be done this weekend. So I’ve been spending most of my day debating what I should blog about instead… I did not want another cop out post like I gave you yesterday, kittens. That would be cruel.
I’m still chugging along on my Honeybee, but have made a fair amount of progress on it today. I reached the double sleeve decreases and have a couple front ones left. The number of stitches on needles are quickly reducing and I can see an actual sleeve shape. I shall be finishing it soon and I’m itching (haha!) to cast on something that I’m more excited about.
Enter the yarn:

Shelter. Brooklyn Tweed. The most awesome gray ever, named “Sweatshirt.” It is fab and I’ve been thinking about it constantly since it arrived. This was the second shipment sent to me, since the first was lost. I’ve been vainly hoping ever since that the first would make its way here and I’d have double the sheepy awesomeness, but alas, after 6 weeks, it’s still missing. I’m going to have to accept that it’s not coming. If it would arrive, I had FABULOUS plans for it.

Here’s where the problem comes in. I can not decide what to cast on. I’ve been a little MEH about cardigans right now and am itching (haha!²) to do some pullovers. However, this yarn is not merino and has a bit of an itch factor to it. Not terribly bad, but just enough that I would not want it touching more sensitive areas of my body.

Using Ravelry’s fantastic pattern searching options, these are my top contenders that I already have the patterns for. (I’ve already taken yardage into consideration before choosing.)

Garter Yoke Cardigan, Melissa LaBarre. I like the simplicity of the knit and it’s very similar to Mr. Tweed’s own Cobblestone Pullover pattern. So it seems fitting.

Heather Raglan Pullover, Cecily Glowik MacDonald. I really like this for the same reasons that I like the last one. It’s simple and would look fantastic in a tweedy gray. As a bonus, no button bands!

Then there is the option of free patterns. I’m trying very hard not to purchase additional patterns right now. I’m a collector of them.

This is from Coats & Clark, originally written for cotton. But I can definitely see it in gray tweed and it has potential. The simple lace pattern gives it some interest factor and would help prevent boredom while knitting.

So what are your opinions, kittens? Any of these strike your fancy for the yarn?

…

Not much to say today. I’ve been trying to think of something worthwhile to blog, and I keep coming up empty. Even if not super productive, I have continued to meet/exceed my low daily goal for the two knits on my needles, and progress is slowly revealing herself to me.

I promise to come up with something better for tomorrow, kittens. Today, I’m sort of a bum.
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