Airing My Linens.

FO! The specs:

Pattern: Bold and Bulky Mini Cardigan by Stephanie Japel (from Fitted Knits, or free from Lionbrand.com)
Yarn: Eskimo by Garnstudio (100% wool), in a Purple Mix
Needles: 8mm, 5mm & 4.5mm circular
Fun Times: Working the button band/edging with super-bulky on 4.5mm. That thing’ll stand up on its own.

All this needs now is buttons and it’s really done, but it’s summer and it’s eighteen bazillion degrees out and that’s super bulky 100% wool no no no no mommy please don’t make me put on the wool sweater. This essentially took me a week of evenings, with the only thing that really slowed it down was undoing a few rows of the body to go back and add more width for the sleeves.

It was an interesting exercise for me, having already done one top-down raglan, and now I feel a lot more educated about sweater constructions and how to make it fit because this pattern had some cool variations on the basic theme that make this A Sweater That Will Fit You. First, it has a nice comfy v-neck which increases at the same time you work the raglan shaping. Essentially you cast on enough for the top of the back and to start the raglan shaping, and then just increase til it fits. Second, there are very nice dart shaping details on every section, with pairs of k2tog/ssk: at the top of the sleeves, underneath the bust, and down the centre of the back. 

The big modifications I made were to make room for the yarn being under gauge. I knit a size L modified for some extra length on the body. It was the first time I’d really off-roaded a pattern, and now this fits pretty much just right. (If I had one more ball of yarn I’d have gone for just one more raglan increase and about an inch more on the body to make it roomier.) It sort of tucks underneath the bust and has a bolero-y fit.

I think this will dress up or down depending on what its worn with. Funnily, this sweater probably  isn’t something I’d have bought if I saw it in the store: usually this kind of thing isn’t me. But I’m looking forward to working on ways to wear it this winter.

Then I recovered my faculties and remembered that it was, um, summer, and went back to more seasonally appropriate projects.

I am (oh I declare I must sit down) finally knitting some linen from the Cloth & Clay closeout. This is wanting to be the Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt from Summer 2007 Interweave Knits. It is giving me gauge issues an education in linen. This is one of those projects I really just want to work out from start to finish, cause I want the thing more than I want to knit it. But fortunately all the stories about working linen are true: it does soften up the more you work with it (read: sweat), which means it does not care how humid and icky and hot it is outside, it loves it and asks you for more. (It is also, oddly, prone to Black Holes of Stockinette, where I think I’ve been knitting forever but it turns out it’s only grown by half an inch.)

Don’t look now, but this post means I actually took two items off my Ravelry queue. Hotcha-cha. This means I can, um, totally cast on for Percy instead of writing up tomorrow’s lecture, right? Yes, I agree.

Retrace Your Steps

1. I’m going to try to recover from a momentary case of blognesia by retracing my steps. It’s always in the last place you look right?

2. After convocation I trucked off for another conference, this time in Windsor, with a gang from my former TA training job. There was no yarn tourism but it turns out not only do educators love a conference, they know how to party. I can’t remember ever laughing harder in my entire life than I did at dinner on our last night. 

3. Retracing my knits, I have one of everything: 1 in the frog pond, 1 FO, and 1 WIP.

4. On conference traveling I worked on Crosswalkers (pdf link), in the Unique Sheep DWB colourway that I won in the YH scavenger hunt. I like the yarn a lot. The pattern looks great. The only problem is it wouldn’t fit over my foot. Whine. Pout. Kick. So they’ve now reverted to a state of yarnly entropy while I figure out if there’s a way to make them fit my size-11 arches. It is really what the yarn wants to be I think.

5. Better luck was had with my second crack at the Lion Brand top-down raglan cardi. 3 skeins Euroflax Merlin from the Cloth & Clay closeout, originally intended for a shawl until I realized it wasn’t enough for anything of a good size. But it was enough for this, by the skin of my ball-bands, hoo boy.

I like this one a lot better than the first. I added some little decreases on the body and back for shaping, and it fits just right. At 50% off the yarn was a great buy. At full price, I don’t know if the advantages of the yarn are enough of a draw. But the merino-linen holds together and is sturdy, doesn’t flop around, and has great stitch definition. Anything with texture or cables would show it off faboo.

6. Inspired by Julie’s version, I’m taking a crack at the Bold & Bulky cardigan from Fitted Knits, by Stephanie Japel. This one is also free on the Lion Brand site. I’m off-roading a little on the pattern since I’m coming in way under gauge with Garnstudio Eskimo (which is cheaper than dirt) and 8mm needles, so stay tuned.

7. Said cardigan is also making me wonder why I don’t knit more super-bulky on 8mm, because DAMN I need more sweaters that knit up in 3 nights.

8. We also paid a visit to Steph at Yarnopolis for their closing sale, and treated on a sweater’s worth of Manos del Uruguay wool, and some Noro Iro.

9. Re: 8: That “stash management” delusion of mine is officially fiction. But it’s a pretty fiction.

10. Re: 6, 7, 8, 9: Once I finish two more summer projects I’m going to embark on a sweater kick. I haven’t finished any since last summer’s hourglass and they’re high-volume stash items. I crackle with anticipation. 

11. I have a summer course to lecture starting tomorrow. Watch me as I hide from student emails and writing for as long as I possibly can, with more knitting and a walk out in the sun.

12. And maybe watch this again. Try not to cry I dare you.

 

We’ll definitely call that a FO.

This Friday was the big event in Convocation Hall. I have to admit I was not getting very worked up about it and was thinking more about all the other things I need to get done this week instead, and feeling strange about the degree not knowing what it’s going to lead to next. But the day came and family and friends were there to visit and I was happy to officially call this six-year Work In Progress finished. And there was even sunshine instead of the thunderstorms they called for.

The guy behind me in the procession line was nice enough to snap this pic for me. I got there stupidly late without realizing it and as soon as I got my gown I ran across front campus/King’s College Circle to get to my place in line. (Kinda threw out my knees in the heels but I made it.) 

(Hey, I’m no longer a student. Awesome.)

In knitting FO news, here’s one. I promise I am a special unique individual snowflake and not a sheep and have my very own thoughts and plans and wishes… except for this scarf:

Yup, you guys know the drill: 1×1 rib, 39 stitches, 4.5mm needles, 4 balls of Noro Silk Garden, and knit til it’s all gone. A really rewarding 2 week knit. The tough part was choosing the colours to begin with. I think next time (mwa ha) I would look for deep colours without so much black (I ended up with colourful chunks patched in with black and grey). Here the pink and greens showed up more, but there are a lot of orange/russet patches too. I like it. Point me to the next Noro sale, yah?

There’s a real downpour coming down now. Off I go to look at socks and figure out that next conference paper.

Vancouver Adventures

So today, as we hit day 3 of ridiculous heat, I’m thinking back to earlier this week when my spring jacket wasn’t warm enough for the cool evenings and my wool socks weren’t just for laughing at. Hah-wow.

 

I was there for a conference in my field, part of a pile of other societies meeting in the same place. About 9,000 people flocked into the very roomy UBC campus over the last week. Walking from my dorm to the conference building to the food stops to the bus and back again (and repeat) was more than enough to get a full walking tour of campus. There is plenty of bright glass mixed with grey stone buildings, and green space everywhere which made flowers that much brighter, especially in the overcast days. (Above, the Chan Centre for Performing Arts, below, the Koerner Library and the entrance to the Rose Garden.)

I made a proper visit to Urban Yarns in Point Grey on the afternoon I arrived, looking for something to hold off jet lag with for a few more hours. It’s a very well-kept store with substantial selection: comprehensive Fleece Artist and Noro selections, and Mission Falls & Cascade, Mirasol, Indigo Moon, Rowan, Blue Sky Alpacas, Alchemy, a little bit of just about everything else, and a sale section where you could do serious damage. 

A particularly nice (and unique) item in the store was pre-made hardware kits for making the Noni carpet bags: they have put together handles, clasps, and bag feet all ready for you to start with. (Dude, I looked all over Queen West and still couldn’t find bag feet. Major props.) I had a particular project in mind to find some super-bulky weight wool, and there was a lot to choose from in the sale area. Eventually I went home with some very affordable Eskimo from Garnstudio, a couple gifts, and some Noro Silk Garden to make a striped scarf. 

Glenna’s been posting recently about LYSs and what makes them memorable. I found Urban Yarns a memorable store not just because of their inventory but because of their comfortable store atmosphere and enthusiastic and professional staff. When I mentioned I was visiting from Toronto the owner gave me very friendly a tour of their store, showed me sale items and new additions to the inventory, and showed off sample knits they’d just received in. They know where every piece of their stock is, and could tell me just how many skeins remained of any yarn I’d had my eye on.

Since I knew I would be there for a good browse I put my bag down on a chair and just started pawing through the cubbies while I tried to match yarn to the project I had in mind. I was just off the plane, registered for conference and overstimulated from new travel and took a good little while to settle into the store and relax into looking. Once I got to the Noro shelf, I spent a long time trying to pair up colours for the scarf. I realized later how relaxing this very tiny analytical task was: sitting and focusing on yarn. Not only did the staff let me sit and browse, but when I mentioned the project I wanted, found for me their own store sample and located Brooklyn Tweed’s version on his blog to verify the yardage needed. You just can’t do that in every store. These ladies know their business and know their customers. 

The rest of my visiting took me out to a few different neighbourhoods in downtown and the west end. On my last visit to Vancouver I stuck close to downtown and spent most of my time outdoors. This time I buddied up with a friend and had a leisurely look into stores, cafes, and local specialties. In Kitsilano we window-shopped and stopped for a break in Bayswater Tea, where they do not mess around with sampling (below right). The next day we had lunch at Tsunami Sushi on Robson St, (the boats go by at the sushi bar both soothing and helpful in seeing your options) and shared a monster candy apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolates for dessert. One of Michelle’s destinations was Caffe Artigiano at Holby & Robson, for a latte. (She reported the quality met up with what she’d been told, but it’s hard to argue with a drink that looks like that.)

 

On the knitting part of the report, I didn’t expect to have a scarf to go with me this week, but it travelled well and the colours make it satisfying to watch the knitting grow. So with that I’m going to forget that a wool scarf might not be the best project for a heat wave, and try to figure out which kind of tea in my cupboard will taste good iced.

Forest Canopy Shawl (FO)

Still in Vancouver (it’s cool and rainy but there’s sun for breakfast which will hopefully last for sightseeing today), but before I get to making trip posts I have to get this FO post out. Before Glenna and Steph beat me to it and have their shawls finished.

(Note for Sarah, when you are here definitely check out Urban Yarns which is right near campus. It is an easy trip on the 17 or 99 bus. Ask the driver to let you off at Sasamat, especially for the 99 which is an express and doesn’t make many stops. :D)

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, in “Visual Purple” (bought at the Knitter’s Frolic)
Needles: 4.5mm circular
Finished Size: Approx 60″ x 30″ after blocking

Hey, did you know it was possible to knit a shawl that doesn’t take a year and half? What won’t they think of next?

I started this pretty much the day after the Knitter’s Frolic and had most of it done after about 3 weeks, wherein carpal tunnel took me off the needles for another week, then I finished it with a full week’s clearance before Mom’s birthday party this past weekend. (I am trying this new thing where I start gift knitting sooner than, oh, say, 24 hours before the gift deadline. Look at that, it worked!)

Okay, Icarus-as-first-shawl? Whatever, everyone should make this as their first shawl. Or something in this oeuvre, yanno. Short pattern repeat? Check. Easy to memorize? Check. One-skein project? Check. Fingering weight yarn at a gauge that won’t kill your sanity hands? Check check. I think the Flower Basket Shawl would also do this trick. Heck, pick any laceweight project and convert it to sock yarn, done and done.

Smooshy is a very generous skein at 450 yds, and makes a shawl that will cover you past your shoulders. It was satisfying to knit with, springy and not too dense. I found that during blocking it got quite springy and I didn’t get the tips as stretched and pointy as I should have done. Superwash wool feels quite robust and the finished shawl could easily go as a scarf or light coverup. I want one of my very own. Want. (Good thing I bought two skeins of Smooshy at the time.)

Tomorrow I leave for home again so today will be some wandering. Then I will post pics and explain about how I fell down with my money in Urban Yarns. (It involves Noro and stripes and you only get one guess.)

Medrith’s Little Laces (FO)

Finally. Socks!

Pattern: Medrith’s Little Laces from A Gathering of Lace.
Yarn: Jojoland Melody, 100% superwash wool, 2 balls

I started these back in February and relegated them to travel-knitting-and-travel-knitting-only. I got the yarn at Lettuce Knit during Rebecca’s visit, and since my latest delusion strategies for stash knitting is a Last In/First Out operation, I shoved aside the rest of the sock yarn and cast on these first. (And now it’s almost June and who doesn’t want a nice fresh pair of wool socks for the summer? Not me that’s who!)

The yarn has a totally yummy colour gradation going on, really really long repeats. I saw a pile of worsted weight in the store too that looked dreamy, and I’ve definitely rubbernecked some laceweight Jojoland projects on Ravelry. It’s lovely, not stripey at all. The downside of it was I was foolish enough not to check this when I joined the second ball, so I have a pair of fraternal twin socks if ever there were. One got all the purple, and the other got all the red. The red is my favourite. Like raspberry, yum.

If I were to knit this yarn again I’d use a different ball for each sock, do toe-up, and get as tall a sock as I could make. It’d also be really nice for a pullover, with the colour repeats this long. Looking closely, it’s three different colours plied together, and they all fade in and out to get the long blends. I’m not sure why the red all ended up in one end of the ball, but word to the wise when you join.

The pattern turned out to be great fun in the end, and helped me learn a lot about lace, and how to read my knitting, along the way. I chose it just because I needed something to do with the yarn, and decided to use one of the books on my shelf instead of sifting through so many online sock patterns. It’s a nested diamond pattern with predictable increases and decreases, and after about three repeats I had it down. When I started the second sock I had an enormous moment of triumph when I realized I’d forgotten the pattern at home but could figure it out all on my own. Lace is MAGIC.

With those crossed off I can now take a new pair of socks with me next week. As soon as I finish my paper, heh.

Make Blog Go.

1. I exist! Still. I promise. Really. Uh. But there was a crippling bout of blog brain freeze, in addition to a more actually crippling bout of carpal tunnel which put me off knitting for a full week, just when I was steps away from finishing a WIP.

2. Said WIP is now finished but I can’t post about it just yet because it’s a gift that hasn’t been opened yet.

3. But let me distract you with one of my favourite numbers from last season’s So You Think You Can Dance, which just started its new season:

4. Glenna celebrated her PhD defense in the most appropriate knitta way, with a party at the Purple Purl. Miko and Jennifer are mad fun and make the best punch you’ve ever tasted. We added purple cauliflower to the veggie plates and hugged a lot of yarn. Kate brought her spinning wheel and showed off her talents, in heels no less. Julie from TeamKnit was wearing the cutest shrug ever, which the next day had me thisclose to going to Michael’s for whatever super bulky weight I could find. Soon though.

  

5. G and I also met up with Kate last weekend at Westfield Heritage Village, where they were staging a reenactment of the Battle of Culloden. (SPOILER: The Jacobites lost.)

6. Knitting wise I am half a foot away of finally making a pair out of the Little Laces from Gathering of Lace, and have been swatching some of my linen to try and shake the curse I’ve brought upon myself (cast on twice for the Ruffle Tank from Best of Interweave, only to be kicked by the gauge fairy).

7. Next week I get on a plan to go to Vancouver and momma needs a fresh knit to take with her. Hopefully all the other WIPs will be history by then.

8. Since it’s so hot out, I’ve decided to make… soup? But it’s making my fingers smell like rosemary. Mmm, rosemary. Stay cool, knittas.

Laptop sleeve (FO)

It’s terrible that even when the only things I have on the go are tiny, I get sidelined with shiny impulse knits. But this one was fun:

Laptop case with exactly two balls (ran out while sewing the end seams) of Manos del Uruguay cotton stria. 12-inch and 8-inch zippers from Len’s Mill Store, cotton lining donated from fabulous Steph’s quilting bin.

I did a tiny swatch and stretched it for measuring stitch count (wanted something that would fit snug), and cast on around 80 stitches in the round on 4.5mm circular. Knitted almost to the top, cast of half the stitches plus 8 more, to leave extra room for unzipping, re-cast on same stitches in the next row, knit for a couple more inches to finish up. Pocket was knit flat in similar way, casting off and casting on enough for a zipper-sized hole.

This is the first time I made up something in my own head. I definitely think it has a look of the handmade about it but it does the job it needs to do so I’m content. My only criteria for it were that it (1) be cotton, not wool, to prevent (massive) accumulation of static electricity (there are oodles of threads about this on Ravelry forums. I also only put it in the case on shutdown mode, not hibernation) and (2) it have a pocket to potentially keep power adapter and other stuff handy. That’s pretty much it.

After a week of use it’s well stretched out to appropriate size and does what it needs to do. If you are going to make one for yourself I recommend blocking a swatch, and measure the lining to fit even if the knitting doesn’t, because the cotton will eventually stretch and sag out to appropriate size. I also liked getting a taste of the Manos cotton. I thought the price was just fine, for the yardage and quality, and it feels surprisingly light, and made me curious what a whole sweater would be like out of it.

Now back to the socks that’ve been on the go since February and that yummy Smooshy.

Random.

1. How much does your yarn love you? This much?

(Camille: Ta Douleur.)

2. I’m knitting on some Dream in Colour Smooshy from the Knitter’s Frolic and oh my lord it is like knitting with a string of marshmallow. I want to eat it it’s so yummy.

3. On my walk down from campus today I passed by the AGO, where construction is coming along nicely. Now, is it:

(a) Artful hockey sticks.
(b) An upside down ship skeleton.
(c) A Resurrection Ship. (Don’t forget. They HAVE A PLAN.)

Icarus Shawl (The big honkin’ FO post)

Pattern: Icarus Shawl, by Miriam Felton. Summer 2006 Interweave Knits. (Also now in Best of Interweave Knits)
Cast on: February 4, 2007. Cast off: April 24, 2008.
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Laceweight, 2 skeins plus a bit. (Used enough of 3rd skein to do last 15+ rows and bind off)
Needles: 3.25mm circular, Knitpicks. (Very pointy tips, nice and smooth.)
Modifications: 1 extra repeat of Chart 1. Otherwise I would have used just the two skeins.
Finished Measurements: 70 inches x 36 inches (at widest & tallest points, after blocking)

(DUDE I AM FINISHED. HOLLA.)

This was an enormous learning project for me, in so many ways I didn’t expect. When I bought the yarn it was a treat and something I just took the plunge on not knowing exactly what I was in for, but knowing was a pretty knit, something I’ve never tried before and that it would be a whole new challenge. Before this, the only lace project I’d tried was Branching Out. I knew the basics of lace and how to read a chart, and that for a triangular shawl you had to increase 4 stitches on every RS row, and that was about it. I had no idea people knit shawls. I had no idea people wore shawls. And here I was trying it out.

Talking to people and reading other knitters’ posts along the way helped me learn. It was also intimidating to learn as I went the kind of challenge I realized I was in for. I heard horror stories of people who ran out of yarn while they were binding off, or people who finished and blocked it only to have their cats shred it the next morning, or Rebecca who got to the tips only to find out she’d made a mistake deep in the centre rib. (Oh, hon.)

If I brought it along with me to a knitting night, experienced knitters would have something to say, and I learned things I didn’t find on my own. Tips like putting in lifelines (sweet Lords of Kobol, yes), and how to block if you don’t have blocking wires. The more I learned about other people doing laceweight shawls the more I learned how common and do-able this was, but I also felt like I’d found the tip of some tangly lacy iceberg. Knitters who hadn’t done laceweight before would ooh and ahh at the project and I’d get all mumbly. (Like Linz put it, people would think I’m a better knitter than I actually am.)

A metric ton of people have recommended this as a good beginner shawl. I’m still undecided. In terms of technique, I don’t think it would be any more challenging than learning fair isle. If you can follow a chart and, like Rochelle told me, if you can do yo’s, k2tog’s and ssk’s, you can knit lace. The hard parts were doing it all on laceweight for the first time, and doing it on a pattern that doesn’t always have a plain stockinette pattern on alternate rows. The Chart 1 sections were good once I got into a groove, but it took me 3 or 4 repeats to get there. Chart 4 was a whole lot of concentrating. My last rows were over 600 stitches long, and started to get hard on my wrists. Binding off took about 3 hours.

If I was going to sell other people on lace knitting it would be on cost. The knitting hours don’t make it a quick fix but the price certainly does: two skeins of Misti Alpaca is cheaper than most sock yarns out there.

It also helped to have other small lace projects to practice on as I went: the Small Capitals socks from Sensational Knitted Socks, the Gossamer Shell Scarf from One Skein Wonders, and Medrith’s Little Lace socks from A Gathering of Lace (still on the needles). I’d recommend trying lacy socks to anyone who wanted a starter project, because they’re small project and the charts have enough repetition to get you really comfortable with the stitches. Branching Out was helpful because it had a centre rib, just like a shawl, and enough complicated decreases to learn on, but learning the pattern was harder. In fact, I think the Medrith’s Little Lace socks were the project I learned the most on, and they were the ones I cast on toward the end of Icarus. Somehow, the charts and technique all clicked. For me it was more than about knowing the techniques but being able to read my knitting and understand what it was all doing.

But blocking, okay, blocking is pretty fantastic. They don’t lie about that. Anything that takes a squishy, matted blob and turns it into this, is awesome.

I followed the pattern’s alternate instructions and strung a piece of cotton (Patons Grace) along the top and centre rib. Gave it all a good soak, cotton and all, with Eucalan and spread it all out on the futon, covered with a sheet. To get it really tight I tied both ends of the cotton to the futon arms and pinned it straight. One pin for each tip. I left it out before bed and by this morning it was dry. Wore it out to the Knitter’s Frolic in Toronto to show it a good time. It was well pleased.

Now that it’s done I’m glad I can finally wear it and move on to my next project. I kind of can’t believe I actually… did that. For beginner knitters I feel like we always downplay the challenges of projects because if you don’t you risk scaring them off. This wasn’t easy but I learned and I worked and I did it and I’m pleased. There’s a whole subset of knitting that doesn’t scare me any more. So if you want to do Icarus (or any shawl, really), and you think you can do it, you can. It’s hard but you can do it. I think it might be that simple.