sweatrrr-knitting is possible… after all

The Sleeve

I have been avoiding sweaters for all the obvious reasons.

They usually don’t fit. And this is obvious only after HOURS of knitting and sewing and blocking and fretting.

But this one fits.

And I love it.

Well, mostly I love the sleeve for it is so blisteringly brilliant. Or at any rate a rather nifty solution to the expected and confirmed yarn shortage.

The rest of the sweater is not too shabby either… including sort-of-intarsia squares.

Knitting was done in the round & top-down, using the brilliant but heavily modified yet still brilliant Tailored Sweater Method by Tuulia Salmela.

Now I shall get busy with writing a pattern and then recruit some speedy, brillliant test knitters.

That’s enough brilliance for one sitting. Back to knitting.

Some facts…

Yarn: Hannah by Posh Yarn (fingering/sock yarn: 80% Merino, 10% Nylon, 10% Cashmere, 366m/400yds/100g) + scraps of contrast yarn (Wollmeise and Posh Yarn Elinor)

Yardage: 1100m/1200 yds (3 skeins)

Needles: 3.5mm & 3mm (US 4 & 3)  circular needles

Construction: top-down, seamless

Knitted in about 10 days

in medias res

I have been knitting a few things. But not posted. As usual.

This is likely for the good not only of me but also everyone else.

(And yes, I dislike incomplete sentences. Too mannered. And yet.)

Now, about Isaura.

I am not quite sure about Isaura. It may grow on me, and it may not. The IDEA was to create a design that ONE shows off the FANTASTIC yarn (Fyberspates Faery Wings).

F. a. n. t . a. s . t. i. c. (Yes, I’ve ordered some more in teal-green-aqua-turquoise-something).

TWO. Is dead easy. Easy peasy.

THREE. Is knitted in one piece, all and everything at once together.

FOUR. Is knit sideways and is semi-circular and has solid patches and has lacy bits.

(I think we’re up to 8?)

That’s about it.

I’ve reknitted the first wedge three times.  As usual. But I won’t bore you with what worked and what didn’t and why or why not. I will, however, post some how-to photos for reading the EASY lace bits and how to coax the first half of the double YO into being knit through the back loop. Easy.

Coming soon to a Ravelry page near you.

20 July @ Posh Yarn!

The Ifigenia kit goes on sale on 20 July at 8pm at Posh Yarn.

I am quite excited to see what colours Dee’s Tony will have invented for the kit. OK, so I’m also verrry excited to even have been asked to design for the lovely Dee of Posh Yarn. I’m just trying to act normal and unbothered, as if it is something I do every day…

(For a beaded shawl, you will need to also get 372 size-8 beads for a 6-wedge shawl, and 434 beads for a 7-wedge shawl.)

I’m going to cast on my second Ifigenia tonight. With this:

Ifigenia — for release in July

Another sideways shawl, yes, but a very different construction (the experiment worked!)

Dee of Posh Yarn lamented a while back that she was bored with loooong, purled rest rows… wherefore Ifigenia has none. In fact, there are no really long rows at all for the shawl is knitted sideways in wedges that become shorter and shorter, and end with only 9 stitches. But neither is there any real rest along the way, just the relief of the rows getting shorter and shorter.

In July the pattern will be made available as a Posh Kit in the Posh Shop.

There will be a good number of kits, so it should not be the kind of frantic madhouse that ensues during the regular Sunday evening Shop updates. (The Posh Group on Ravelry usually shares some of their shopping tricks which can be quite involved (and just short of live sacrifices)).

I admit, Ifigenia was inspired, against all my instincts, by a rather clunky garter-stitch doily I’d seen. It too had the zigzag line that only really emerges after a few wedges have been knit. For Ifigenia I wanted something airy and delicate, so I worked in a mesh pattern below the zigzag and another lace motif toward the top, ending with a delicate, beaded picot border along the lower edge. All knit in one piece.

Truthfully, after the first wedge has been knit, things don’t really look all that promising, but gradually something delicate and decidedly shawl-like emerges. I promise.

To bead or not to bead

Beading. This is a shawl design that will (if all goes to plan) be released as a Limited Edition Kit in June/July (and then, some time next year, downloadable from Ravelry as usual).

Beading. It is … just a little trying for those of us with limited patience. But I do love the deep cobalt blue beads against what must be the perfect purple, a purple that shifts subtly from pale almost silvery lilac to something quite saturated and intense.

Back to beading. Without my pack of Oral-B’s SuperFloss and this technique (but using floss instead of wire) pedagogically and patiently explained and illustrated by the übertalented designer and knitter Rosemary (Romi) Hill, I would be at sea with my beads.

And I must sing the praises of my bead supplier, Pärltorget, a Swedish (online) shop with a rich selection and brilliant selection tools — you can narrow your choice down in all sorts of ways (size, quality, lining, colour, shape, finish). Very useful. Customer service is more than impressive and very friendly. And she is sending me a little, teeny crochet hook. I think beading will be more pleasant with a proper tool like that. And faster, which is good for impatient souls.

Time to do some serious knitting. It’s looking good!
I need to prove to sceptics that beaded shawls are nothing like those beaded (for special occasions) granny hair nets. Oh, but maybe it is a little hair-net-like, after all… Eek!

seduced by silk

Meet Atalanta, named after the (sassy) character in the Händel opera, Xerxes:

Alchemy Silk Purse (Dragon)

 

She comes with a bold, funky, almost chunky border, but unlike the character, is less trouble than meets the eye. This is a simple knit with a pattern that repeats over only 4 rows, two of which are plain knitting. Still, the border is satisfying in a strange way as it seems to produce an almost chunky fringe or instant lace without any real lace knitting. (And yes, it’s another sideways shawl, knitted from end to end.)

It is possible that I have knitted a few more… (in fact, I can’t seem to stop and am just off to try to get my hands on some Sanguine Gryphon for my next one… that I’ve already started (and almost finished) one in SG Sappho II doesn’t really count.

Oh, and then there’s the grrrreeeen one in Wollmeise 100% Superwash… and…

asatricosa, on Flickr”>

it’s getting cold…

It’s getting cold (correction: it is cold).

Christmas and other depressi festive and gift-giving holidays are approaching fast.

Therefore: a small cashmere quickie, as in

• instant warmth

• incredibly quick knit — even quicker in DK or Worsted

• Thank You — to those who have bought some of my previous patterns in my first year as part-time pattern maker-upper (see Ravelry page for details)

Oh, and it comes with matching or non-matching mitts, too.

I used 1 skein (200yds) of Posh Yarn Sophia 4ply (100% cashmere) and 4 mm needles for the cowl (3mm for the mitts).
The cowl may have to become wimple. After all, it’s only November and we already have snow. In the meantime I’m knitting a thicker version in Worsted weight (Heaven’s Hand Wool Classic from Hamilton Yarns):

a small gathering of semeles

Yarn: 2 skeins of Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply in GoldBrownSilver (silk/merino) — gorgeous, silky drape

Yarn: A single skein (400 m) of Handmaiden Sea Silk

There will be more scarflettes like this one, good quick present size — perhaps in Yarn Addict‘s Ocean Silk. And I really want to try Blue Moon Fibre Art‘s sea silk — especially in the fantastically named colourway, Pond Scum.

more sideways knitting

Semele is another sideways shawl, knit in one piece from tip to tip.  The stitch pattern is a traditional edging, sometimes called Great-Grandmother’s edging.

I love sideways. I do.

The drape of Posh Yarn Eva 4ply (cashmere/silk),  is simply gorgeous. Other versions are in the works… different weights and kinds of yarn. I’ve started too many even to list.

Some inkling:

Above: small, narrower scarfletty version in Handmaiden SeaSilk. Of necessity small. I have only one skein. A little strangely squeaky to knit with, but drapes beautifully.

An autumn scarf in FyberSpates Scrumptious 4 ply (silk/wool):

And some random attempts:

(left: Posh Yarn Sophia 2ply, right: Indigo Moon Nature’s Harvest Silk)

This can be done…

… in three days.

Alceste knit with The Yarn Yard Crannog, a lace-weight 100% merino superwash(150 g/750 m). This laaaarge shawl  (almost 3 metres long) is knit with 1 skein.

Deadlines work

The beautiful new lace yarn — Crannog in Beetroot by Natalie of The Yarn Yard — arrived on a Friday. Knitting began Friday evening. Three days later  – a (huuuuuge) shawl (it grew mightily in blocking…).

Criteria: lace or mesh pattern must have rest rows, charts must be super easy to memorize. Quick, quick decisions –  a curved shawl shape rather than a rectangle? Yes.

The construction is, yet again, a sideways shawl knit in one piece. I like these for at least two reasons.

1. No endless rows — towards the end when you might be losing faith and want to cast on for something entirely different, the rows are getting shorter and shorter and the knitting speeds up

2. You know you will have enough yarn because you simply turn when half of it is gone (or when you think the shawl is half of what it ought to be, or when you get bored — well, ideally halfway before you get so bored you want to do anything but finish)

I wouldn’t say this was a particularly interesting knit, given the repetitiveness of the pattern. But I do love the result. The 8-row lacy border worked enough as an incentive for me to keep going… one more border repeat, one more… one more. Well, that and the deadline.

Details:

Stitch pattern for the body: Barbara Walker’s version of traditional Star Rib Mesh. It repeats over 4 stitches and 4 rows, but is really a 2-row pattern that shifts sideways (purled rows on the wrong side)

Border: open, airy lace points and a faggoting column inside

Edge: picots and a simple yo column just inside it

I didn’t want any thick borders or dividing lines between the body and the edges, so the increases and decreases are worked into the first stitch “really” belonging to the faggoting column. Likewise between the column and the border.

I think I will make a stole version of the pattern as well.