Knitting by "The Bean"

So J and I went to Chicago last weekend for a "grown-ups" only getaway- fun! We flew in on Saturday morning and stayed until Monday evening. We did a ton of walking, ate great food (deep dish pizza at Exchequer and more high-end fare at fabulous MK in the River North area), had a drink at the top of the John Hancock Building at night, went to the Art Institute, the Field Museum, and did one of the Chicago Architecture Foundation's architectural boat tours- highly recommended! Our hotel was in a great location, just a block off of Michigan Avenue directly West of Millenium Park. We got some great photos in front of Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean") sculpture. Check out this one with a girl in a very fancy Quiñceanera dress swirling behind me.

For a "trip" project I started a sweet little lace scarf. This is going to be a raffle prize for our Community Fund Drive at work. It's very basic, a feather and fan pattern done up in sock yarn- in this case Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in "Spring Frost."

Nothin' But Trouble

So I started a winter hat for E, the 6-year old and he really wants something "skateboarderish" and so I think Struan by Ysolda will fit the bill. It's a great cabled hat with a small visor- super cute. Man, I'm having trouble! Nothing to do with the pattern, it's all me. First, I cannot figure out this cast-on method that she recommends for the life of me! I finally gave up on that and just cast on in the normal way- not perfect, but I think it will do. So then my next mistake was not measuring the kids' head- dumb! I just sort of assumed he was actually smaller than the smallest size (I guess I thought the pattern was written for adults or something?) So I went down a needle size. Needless so say the hat looks like a slightly (only slightly) oversize condom. Nice! Sensing this probably would not fit on his head, I decided to actually measure it. Lo and behold! The next size up in the pattern (with proper needle size!) should fit fine. Back to square one...

Meanwhile, my current "commuting project" is the Snicket Socks. This is a great free pattern by Sabine Reifler (originally posted on the now defunct Mag Knits, but now easily gotten through Ravelry). I'm using Araucania Ranco in a green colorway that shifts subtly from sort of lime green to yellow to a more grassy color- gorgeous. Socks with cables is a bit time consuming, but I'm enjoying seeing the pattern emerge.

Projects Started and Projects To Do

I just got my Webs catalog in the mail- always a fun thing to peruse. One pattern really caught my eye, the Grey Cables Jacket by Debbie Bliss (photo below). It's done with Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn and in a booklet called Ritalto Classics. Unfortunately, Webs is out of stock of the booklet, and when I went to my LYS they didn't have it either. I'll have to keep searching.

In the meantime, it's not like I really need a new project as I have several other things going, including the Tangled Yoke Cardigan and another version of the February Baby Sweater (a gift for my cousin and his wife's new baby, see photo above). I'm using some stash yarn- Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, not the best for baby clothes since it needs to be handwashed, but the color is gorgeous.
I've also cast on for the Snicket socks with a lovely Araucania Ranco yarn in a slightly varigated green colorway. I'm excited about these.

Finished Object- Turn a Square

While Jason was in Oregon having a "guys weekend" I knit up this winter hat for him. It's the Turn a Square Hat by Brooklyntweed. Its a great basic hat with raglan decreases for the top shaping- making the stripes form these cool squares on top. I used some Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky from the stash (leftover from the Urban Aran Cardigan- hey another Brooklyntweed project!) and some Noro Kuryon. I've been wanting to try Noro yarn for a while but haven't found the right project. This was a nice small one to start with. I like the stripes here, but since I used pretty neutral colors it doesn't have quite the dramatic effect as say something like this. Next up: a hat for the 6-year old and some more socks.

Great Bag!

For my birthday my mother in law Vivien made me this great shopping bag. I'm not sure what pattern she used, but its alot like this. I'm really into reusable shopping bags and so this will really come in handy. I could also see this as a great bag to throw stuff in for the beach or pool in the summer. Nice.

Finally!

I finally finished these socks for the 6-year old. This was a long time coming. The primary issue was my attempt to infuse these with a pirate vibe through a skull and crossbones intarsia design- failure! Read more about that if you wish. Finally, I decided on just some cute basic kids' socks with contrast cuff, heel, and toe. Now I am happy with them, and so is son #1. Here's another photo of him on the first day of first grade-eeks (and showing off his support to boot!)

One Measly Sock

I haven't posted in a while, but alas, have not much to show. I started a pair of socks for 6-year old Emerson a while back. I had grand plans to do an intarsia skull and crossbones in each cuff. I finished one, but thought it looked pretty wonky. Ok, next idea- just do the sock plain and then duplicate stitch the design on later. Um, no. Apparently I don't "get" duplicate stitch because it did not come out at all. Ok, next plan, just a plain old pair of socks. I'm sure he'll wish they had some cool design, but to be honest, I doubt he even remembers I'm making these anymore.

I have done more of my TKGA swatches, so that is some progress- I believe I've done 7 out of the 15 required for Level 1. I've also made some teeny progress on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan (photo tomorrow). I'm enjoying working on it, but have kept it at work for my lunch hour project, so haven't spent much time, mostly just a row here, a row there.

Another Swatch and Another New Project

I've finished my 3rd swatch for the Knitting Guild Master Knitter Program-voila, see it blocking.

Now that I've finished my EZ Baby Sweater (and although I still have a few other things on the needles) I have cast on for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang. This is a fairly intimidating project- a complicated horizontal cable across the yoke, along with lots of stockinette done on fairly small needles. However, I do adore cardigans and I've seen lots of beautiful versions of this sweater on the web (like this one from Stash, Knit, Repeat). I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Although the pattern calls for Rowan Felted Tweed, lots of people have also used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool and found it knits up to the same gauge. My local yarn store (at least the one by my work that I frequent over the lunch hour) doesn't carry Rowan, but they did have the silky wool. I picked up skeins of a beautiful dark blue-green...and away we go!

My First EZ Knit

I have been really intrigued by Elizabeth Zimmermann and have looked at lots of her books and patterns, and projects people have made from her work, but haven't yet had the chance to make something. I just finished my first "EZ" project, the February Baby Sweater on Two Needles. This was a really fun pattern and I love the finished project. Like so many of her patterns, it's knit from the top down with no seaming. This one is a yoked cardigan with a lovely "gull" lace pattern. The lace pattern is super easy to memorize and goes along quite quickly.

I did find her instructions for the sleeves a bit confusing, but using Ravelry (wonderful Ravelry!) I came across Lilomy's revised sleeve instructions (much clearer and easier). For this project I used yarn in my stash (yea!) as well as buttons I had (another yea!). The pattern is a bit of a challenge, sizing-wise, as there are no specific sizes given. I just used the yarn I had and sort of guessed on needle size. This is a gift for my niece's 1st birthday. Hope it fits!

The Nitty Gritty Details
Pattern: February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Rowan Cashcotton DK in Colorway Cashew (619)
Needles: US 6
Started: July 7, 2008
Finished: August 3, 2008

It's Not a Knit

But it is a craft. Its the first thing I've sewn that has actually been wearable! Its a Cute Skirt pattern by Favorite Things. The fabric is by Amy Butler, purchased from Crafty Planet in Northeast Minneapolis. Very easy pattern, quick and simple- 8 panels sewn together with an elastic back waist and plain front waist.

Nether Garment

I finally started Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Sweater on Two Needles which I had been wanting to cast on for quite a while. I started it in some acrylic yarn from my stash but just wasn't happy with the feel. I switched to some other stash yarn- a much nicer one, Rowan Cashcotton. I also used this for Baby M's sweater and I loved the finished project, really soft and a bit fuzzy. More on that (with a photo) shortly.

The pattern is from A Knitter's Almanac which has a project or a few projects for each month of the year. The baby sweater is from a chapter for February (thus is well-known moniker- the "February Baby Sweater"). Another chapter is on nether garments. Ha! I love the name but I am definitely not interested in knitting long johns. Here's the nether garment I knitted instead.

Details:
Lacy Thong by Laura Rinata from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits
Started July 10 and finished July 11
Yarn is Rowan Cashsoft
Knitted on size US 5 circular needle

Finished Cherry

I just finished my Cherry sweater and I love it! The fit is great and the pattern is so cute. At $1.98 per skein, the yarn for this sweater was under $20 total. I really enjoyed this one and made no modifications to the pattern.

Pattern: Cherry by Anna Bell
Yarn: Elann Sonata in silver sage
Started: May 23
Finished: July 7

It's Summer

It's summer and my knitting and blogging have gone way down. Seems like we're out late in the evening every night, either at T-ball, the park, or just hanging out enjoying the nice weather. I have made quite a bit of progress on my Cherry sweater though, and hope to do some finishing work this weekend. Hopefully I'll have a good photo to share next week. In the meantime, here's a close up of the sweet "little birds" pattern.

I also finished one of E's pirate socks- argggh! I like how it came out, although a friend in my book group asked "Is that a skull or a monkey?" Guess I should work on my intarsia technique. I really want to finish these since I'm anxious to work on another pair of grown-up socks. I have some nice green Knitpicks Essential sock yarn that I think would be perfect for either the Snicket socks or the Waving Lace socks. (these are both Ravelry links).

Swatch #2

I finally finished swatch #2 for the Master Handknitter certification program. Wow, this is taking me a long time! Its not that the swatches are difficult, I've been able to churn them out in about an hour, its primarily that I have trouble tearing myself away from my other projects. Initially I had said I would spend one "knitting period" (evening watching TV, lunchtime at work, etc.) working on this. I've been less than stellar about keeping to that. Ok, I'm going to try harder. I think these will definitely be very appealing once the hot weather of summer hits (which will be, when?) and I need very small projects.

Birthday Fingerless Gloves

For J's birthday his Mom made him a great pair of fingerless gloves. I attempted something similar with my men's version of Fetching, however, Vivien did a great job actually making spots for each of the fingers- with nice little cables along the wrists. I know he'll wear these alot this fall and winter. Nice work!

Happy Birthday to you!

Arrrgh! Pirate Socks Matey.

I started some jolly roger socks for my 5-year old (excuse me, 5 and 3/4 year old). These are just a basic stockinette stitch sock. I'm using red for the main portion of the sock, with a tweedy gray for the cuff, heel, and toe. I'm also doing an intarsia skull and crossbones design on the leg. The yarn is a mix of Berroco Comfort Sock (in true red), Lana Grossa Meilenweit (gray and natural), all purchased at Needlework Unlimited. I am using two size 2 circular needles.

For the design, I found a skull and crossbones chart at Moth Heaven and adapted it for the size of the socks. Moth Heaven also has a great tutorial on doing intarsia in the round. Not an easy feat, but the third time's the charm on this one.

Lovely Cherry

I started a new project recently- Cherry by Anna Bell. This is a sweet, short sleeve cardigan with a "little birds" pattern all over it. I saw the version that tentenknits did, I was inspired! I'm using the same yarn she did, Elann Sonata (mine is in color: silver sage). This yarn is incredibly cheap- less then $20 for the 7 skeins I needed! Its a mercerized cotton. I thought after using the Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Dyed Cotton, I would be done with cotton. However, so far this yarn is pretty nice to work with. (Unfortunately, my photo isn't great). The color of the yarn is actually a beautifully pale gray-sage color with a nice sheen).

Its pretty great to be doing a project with delicate yarn on smallish needles, after the chunky things I've finished of late.

Finished Object- Something Orange

A short lapse since my last post- this is due to my intense desire to post a finished object. I thought this would have been several days ago with my orange Something Red. I had one sleeve to go and one row left on the button band. I quickly finished off the button band over lunch at work when, alas, roadblock. In picking up the stitches for the button band around the front edge of the sweater, I picked up around 170 rather than the required 184. I'm not exactly sure why, but as I did that I thought to myself, oh that won't matter. Wrong! When I finished the button band it pulled up incredibly at the bottom and looked very strange (I don't have a photo because as soon as I realized this problem I ripped that band right out). Ugh.

I finished the second sleeve and went back to that drat buttonband. I decided to pick up more than the required 184 stitches (got this idea from Stitchywitch.) A few people have written about how even with the 184, the band still pulls up a bit. Plus, I think a number divisible by 2, not 4, would be better, as then you'd wind up with two knit stitches at either end, rather than 2 knits on one side and 2 purls on the other. I wasn't really happy with my buttonhole either, so maybe this is a good thing. It just deleyed my "wearing gratification" slightly.

So, with further ado, here is the finished Something Red (in orange).

Pattern: Something Red by Wendy Bernard

Needles: Size 7

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Dyed Cotton in Pumpkin

Started: April 16, 2008

Finished: May 23, 2008

Modifications: Picked up stitches for the buttonband with a ratio of around 3 out of every 4 rows, instead of 184 as specified in the pattern. Made two buttonholes instead of one.

Modifications I wish I'd made: A different increase for the ribbing section at the bottom. I'm not that happy with how you can sort of see the increase row. Plus I would have done the increases in the middle of the ribs, not at the end. Also, I would have done smaller raglan increases as I feel like the sleeves are pretty large. In fact, next time I might do the whole thing on smaller needles to get a smaller, more fitted sweater

Simple & Sweet

This past weekend I knit up this simple and sweet Sundance Make-Up Bag. This was a free pattern from Classic Elite Yarns. I used some Cascade 220 Superwash in the stash, as well as a button I had on hand. I think it will be a great little tote for make-up, knitting notions, or other sundries.

A Great Mother's Day

These photos epitomize how I spent my Mother's Day. First, relaxing on the sunny porch, eating a delicious pastry from Rustica Bakery, drinking coffee, and knitting. Lovely!

Next, gardening! I managed to put petunias, pansies, geraniums, osteospermum, licorice plant, and spikes into pots and window boxes. I also planted eggplant, tomatoes, basil, mint, hot peppers, and bell peppers. Spring is finally here!

I also received a great knitting book from my Mom, Knitalong: Celebrating the Art of Knitting Together by Larissa Golden Brown and Martin John Brown, and an adorable necklace from "the boys". It has a little lion and a heart on it in honor of both of the little guys being Leos. So cute!

Happy Mothers' Day!

In honor of Mothers' Day I thought I'd post some photos of my boys in their various hand-knits (apparently I like knitting hats!). Love you guys!

Socks Do Soar on Two Circulars!

After the first disaster I had trying the second of my Jaywalker socks on two circulars, I changed to the right needle size and now its going swimmingly. Amazing how using the same needle size on both socks makes a difference- hmm!

I also cast on for a mystery project for my swap partner. Through Ravelry I signed up for the Knitter's Treasure Swap organized by Winnita. Each partner creates a package of 2 skeins of yarn, 2 knitting items, a beverage/goodies pack, a handmade item, and a surprise! My partner is Karyn. I've only done one other swap- Sockapalooza, organized by Alison, which was great. This one seems like alot of fun. I'll post the completed project once my swap partner has received it. The yarn is Plymouth Galway Paint in reds and pinks. That's all I'll say for now.

My Something Orange has not been attended to lately, but once May is over, its right back to it!

A Better Swatch

Here's my second attempt at the swatch. Better, yes? Not perfect, however. I took the advice to pull the yarn tightly when switching from a knit to a purl, and back to a knit. It helped, but I think I still need some practice.

Becoming a Master Knitter

I've decided to take the plunge and embark on the Master Hand Knitter certification program through The Knitters Guild of America. What is involved? There are three levels, each one with a series of knitting tasks you have to master, as well as some questions to answer and a report. The first level requires the knitting of various swatches to demonstrate basic knitting techniques, including increasing, decreasing, cables, etc. as well as demonstrating even tension and stitch size. There is also a hat project. I'm not sure what is involved in the second level yet, but I know that one part of it is knitting a fair isle vest and an argyle sock. The third level includes, among many other things, I'm sure, designing and knitting an aran sweater and hat.

Why do this (especially when there are so many other fun things to knit- right now my queue on Ravelry is at 42, and I have 90 favorites marked!)? I generally consider myself sort of a "slapdash" knitter- I make mistakes but normally just keep on going. I'm trying to improve, but mainly through trial and error. This seems like a great way to really improve in a systematic way and get really, really comfortable with a variety of techniques.

I would just love to consider myself a "real" knitter, not just a dabbler. Plus, I love having goals to work towards (part of the reason I enjoy running and training for races as well). As one of my first endeavors on the journey, I've purchased two books which I've wanted for a while, and which I know will be helpful along the way: Vogue Knitting and Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. I've also gotten some yarn to work with: Berrocco Pure Merino in off-white.

As you can see from the swatch above, however, its not quite ready to pass muster. I asked some questions about the quality of the swatches on Ravelry, and got lots of help. Specifically Arenda (who is a Master Knitter and on the judging committee) offered to take a look at a photo and give me some advice, which she did. I love Ravelry!

Hopefully I'll be able to post a new and improved swatch shortly.

Jaywalkers on Two Circulars-disaster.

I started the second Jaywalker using the two circular needles described in Cat Bordhi's book, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. I'm not sure if doing one sock with dpns and one with circulars is a good idea, but we'll see. She recommends the Addi Turbo needles, at around $12-$13 each, however, after doing a bit of research and reading about peoples' experiences with socks on two circulars (such as this review at She Knits Shizknits), I decided to try the Knitpicks Options Harmony needles- much less expensive at only around $4 per needle!

After a couple of mis-starts, so far I really like them, and this technique. The joins aren't as quite as smooth as I'd like, but the cables are nice and flexible. After a few times casting on and having some trouble remembering where the starting point was, I added a stitch marker to mark the start of the round. Now the sock does seem to be going quite quickly with this method. I'm a bit nervous about what will happen when I get to the heel, but hopefully things will just make sense as I go along.

I will admit, I tried out the magic loop technique before the two circulars. Argh! It truly was like wrangling an octopus!

Update: I started this post and then thought, hey, maybe I should check to make sure these socks are the same size/gauge. Um, they're not, which you can clearly see in the above photo. Ugh.

Update number two: Ok, I thought maybe I should check needle size. Let's see, sock number one is knit on size 1s, sock number two on size 2s. Geez, what a surprise that the gauge is off. At least I can most likely switch to the two circular methods for the second sock. I just need to make sure they're the right size. Duh.

Urban Aran Cardigan- done!

Yes, it's done! I finally installed the zipper in the Urban Aran Cardigan. I think it turned out well. I looked at a couple of zipper-installation tutorials, such as the one on Kristin Nicholas's blog and the one at And She Knits Too!

Both were really helpful. In the end I just lined up the zipper and took my time, no fancy tricks or techniques. Jason wore the sweater yesterday. Its warm. You'd think that he might not need it now that its just about May, but I actually saw snow this morning! Blech.

Sock Yarn Blankie

A few nights ago at our book club meeting, one of our members pulled out a baggie full of small sock yarn remnants. She has started knitting a blanket inspired by The Heathen Housewife's sock yarn blankie. This is an amazing project, an entire, full size blanket made up of squares knit from sock yarn remnants. Check out the photos and description on her blog- amazing. Imagine all the seaming and ends to weave in! She's a more patient person than I am...

Speaking of book club, we discussed What is the What by Dave Eggers. A fictionalized version of the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. The book is amazingly sad and powerful. A very worthwhile read.

For the Love of Knitting

My mother in law recently sent me as a gift the book For the Love of Knitting, a beautiful book filled with wonderful essays about the history and culture of knitting. Not a pattern book, but rather an illustrated cultural history (some might say coffee-table book) with wonderful photographs, vintage illustrations and advertisements, and essays by some of the biggest names in knitting, including Elizabeth Zimmermann, Kaffe Fassett, Meg Swansen, Teva Durham, Melanie Falick, and many others, it is truly an ode to the craft of knitting. Thank you Vivien!

Cast on for Something Red (Orange)

A few days ago I cast on for my next project- Something Red by Wendy Bernard. I am using the yarn recommended, Blue Sky Alpcas Organic Cotton, but in orange (actually "pumpkin") rather than red. I really enjoyed the process of making Baby M's striped sweater with a fun top-down raglan pattern, and this short sleeve women's cardigan with the same kind of construction really appealed to me. The raglan increases are done using yarn overs which creates a really cool sort of lacy effect. Although I haven't knit much with cotton, so far its going well and I love the color. I hope this project will go quickly so I can wear it this spring!

Filled With Accomplishment

This past weekend I had a great feeling of accomplishment, as I finished not only the first of the Jaywalkers, but also the Urban Aran Cardigan, excepting the zipper. It still needs to be blocked, but I'm pleased with it. I especially like how the collar turned out. I wanted a stiffer, more turtleneck-y collar and so, using suggestions from Streets and YOs, Aesthetic Entanglementz, and Brooklyn Tweed, I came up with some modifications that worked well.

Here's basically what I did:

1. Using smaller (size 9) needles, picked up the "correct" amount of stitches, as specified in the pattern, however, I did a basic ribbed pattern, rather than following pattern panel A up the collar.

2. Knit for about 1 ".

3. Did strategic P2togs and K2togs so that the collar was K2 P2 ribbing all around

4. Knit this ribbing for about another 1"

5. Switched to smaller needles (size 8s), and did all of the P2s as P2togs around

6. Knit the rest of the collar as K2 P1 ribbing to the top

7. Cast off

Next challenge: installing the zipper!

Socks!

Here is one Jaywalker sock, almost done. This is a really fun pattern, I love seeing the zig-zag appear. However, it has taken quite a while (started on February 20). Part of this is due to the fact that these have been my "commuter" project- pretty much only worked on during the car ride to and from work (which is not long) and occasionally over lunch. I think they look really good however, and now that I have knit a few socks I'm feeling much more comfortable with the whole process. In fact, last year when my mother in law gave me Cat Bordhi's book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, I opened it and was totally overwhelmed, and immediately put it aside. Now I think I could handle it. I'm thinking about trying Jaywalker number 2 with this method.


I'm also feeling sock-inspired by a book I checked out from the library recently, Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. I've been wanting to find a pattern to make socks for J and I think the Retro Ribs are a great option for a men's sock. Check out these beauties on Stick Legged Girl. Also, I noticed that Alison just posted about the next Sockapalooza, yea more socks (perfect for summer knitting- if summer ever arrives in Minnesota-I mean look at this picture, its mid-April)!

Mom's Felted Bag

Since I have no finished objects to show at the moment (although the sleeves on J's cardigan are just about done- really!) I thought I'd share this photo of a cute felted purse made by my Mom. She used the basic pattern in One Skein by Leigh Radford for a small clutch and made it larger with longer handles. The only thing she'd do differently: make it deeper.

In Like a Lion- Sigh

On Monday I took a much needed mental health break (aka vacation day) from work to stay home with the kiddies. I was really hoping for a nice, early spring day, maybe a run or walk outside...alas, this is what it looked like. Needless to say, we stayed in all day, I did get some knitting done though, so that was a bonus. Here's my progress on round two of the Urban Aran sleeves, going much better this time. Can't wait until these puppies are done! Can anyone say "sick of gray!"?

To feed my need for spring (sunshine, flowers, bright colors, etc.), I purchased the yarn (from Webs) for my next project- Knit and Tonic's Something Red (a nice sassy spring/summer sweater), a welcome change from the gray, wintry, wool cardigan. Mine will be something orange though, with this nice, upbeat Blue Sky Alpacas dyed cotton in pumpkin- it looks like sunshine!

Yes...It Fits!

After some serious blocking, it looks like the Urban Aran Cardigan will fit- yea! I was seriously concerned that the many hours of knitting would be all for naught. After a bit of figuring out how to make them fit within the revised, larger armholes, I started the sleeves. I decided to do both at once so as to avoid the dreaded 2nd sock/sleeve syndrome. Although I haven't had much time to work on them, I think once I get going it should go pretty quickly, especially since I'm already really familiar with the cable pattern from working on the body.

Ok, update. I started this post a while ago, made some good progress on the sleeves (knitting both at once) and then realized I had made a major error way back at about row 6. As I made the increases on the sleeves I failed to keep them in pattern, so there was a big area of stockinette stitch at the back, rather than ribbing. Ugh. I frogged them back to row 6 and started in again. Here are two photos, one before the frogging, one after. When doing both sleeves at once, if its going well its great, if you make an error (in both of course), it pretty much sucks.