Knitting and Crochet

I’m thinking about #NAKNISWEMO2016 already

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I’m one of those people who gets annoyed at seeing Christmas decorations come out right after Halloween.  I like my holidays low key and in discrete, small chunks.

But uncharacteristically, I’m getting excited about a holiday early this year. A knitting holiday — NAKNISWEMO: National Knit a Sweater Month.

It all started when the Brooklyn Tweed Fall 2016 collection came out earlier this week.  I am in love with the men’s sweaters in this collection. Specifically:

Auster (His) by Michele Wang

A gloriously cabled body and simple sleeves. A little challenge. But the sleeves give me a bit of a break with something relatively easy. Those look like saddle shoulders. I really enjoy sewing together sweaters with this kind of shoulder. Much easier than set-in sleeves.

auster_his_02_medium2

Image as seen on Ravelry: 

Mohr (His) by Norah Gaughan

This one has diamond cables that look like so much fun to knit, combined with an all-over texture that extends down the sleeves. This one features drop shoulders, so once again I would get out of doing  a set-in sleeve (yay!).

One of these two sweaters is definitely going to be my NaKniSweMo2016 project. I just can’t choose which one. I have a month and a half to figure it out and acquire my yarn.

Any one else want to start celebrating/obsessing early with me?

I really want spring to come, and soon. So says my Ravelry queue.

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Here in Minnesota mother nature has it in for us. She really does. She likes to tease us with a few days of 50s and 60s, followed by a week of heavy wet snow, high winds, and temps in the 20s and 30s. Rinse and repeat.

The only place in my world where spring has officially come to stay is on my Ravelry queue.

Green Apple, by Amy Palmer

The Summer issue of KnitScene is going to land in my mail box any day now and it’s this pattern that has me on tenterhooks. This drapey, crisscross backed tank tickles all my warm weather knitting pleasure centers. Wearable simplicity in the front,  serious drama in the back.

The pattern calls for Berroco Folio™, an alpaca/rayon blend. I’ll have to keep that in mind when choosing a yarn. Nothing with too much structure. I need fiber that just wants to hang and slither.

Photo by Knitscene/Harper Point Photography. Used with permission. As seen on Ravelry.

Reflectance by Inna M.

Can you tell I have a thing for dramatic details? Number two in my list is a luxurious silk top knitted in lace weight yarn. And just look at that sophisticated use of color work. I mean really, look at it. That’s what I call a killer detail. It just makes the pattern sing.

Here’s one more thing to love. It’s a free pattern! The original was in Russian, but thankfully for me, there is an English translation. Here’s hoping the translation is well done, because I really, really, really want to knit this top.

Used with permission. As seen on Ravelry.

Serendipity (the cardigan and the pullover) by Jodie Gordon Lucas

I honestly don’t know which one of these I like more, the cardigan or the pullover.  Both feature a cunning octagon design and approachable raglan sleeves.

And get this: Both patterns are written such that you can use any yarn weight you choose. The pattern comes with worksheets that will guide you through calculations based on your yarn weight, gauge, size, etc…

I know, I know. Technically such worksheets shouldn’t be necessary and knitters should be able and willing to do their own calculations. But I appreciate a designer who’s willing to help her users along. This sort of pattern could be a good confidence-builder for a knitter who isn’t sure if they’re ready to do the math.

Used with permission. As seen on Ravelry.

Used with permission. As seen on Ravelry.

Seaboard by Tanis Lavallee

An airy, lightweight tank. Perfect for someone with a small bust (like me) and toned arms to show off (which are on my to-do list). If only knitting built arm muscle. Maybe if i did it while standing and wearing wrist weights.

This pattern calls for lace weight merino. Excellent! I have some lovely stuff in my stash just begging to become this tank.

Used with permission. As seen on Ravelry.

I’ve been wearing this cardigan too often to photograph it properly

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I’ve been meaning to blog about my new Raspberry Stripes Cardigan. But this cardigan just doesn’t want to hold still. All it wants to do is go out to dinner, attend a concert, go for a walk, and even do chores around the house. Couldn’t get near it with a camera.

I love its drapey simplicity

The pattern is Caramel by Isabell Kraemer. The basic cardigan is pretty simple, but it has spawned all sorts of wild and inspiring variations.

My inspiration for this particular color combination came from memories of my recent visit to Eugene, OR. If you go there, you must buy the berries. Ever seen three colors of raspberries in one stall? Each stripe of this cardigan is the color of one type of natural raspberry: red, black (purple) and golden.

Yarns Used:

Spin Guilt

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After several months of no spinning, I’m back with a vengeance. And before I’m allowed to spin any new singles, I’ve tasked myself with plying the singles I’ve already spun. I need to free up some bobbins. Perhaps not the most artistically inspiring mission statement. But sometimes pretty things spring from necessity.

First came this 2-ply blue merino. 886 yards. One strand of tonal blue. One strand of a more variegated fiber in ocean colors.

blue merino cropped

 

Next came this rainbow Corriedale from Gale’s Art. I spun these fine singles for a class last summer, then never used them. I split the roving into thin strips so I would have lots of short color repeats. I spun the singles chain-ply to retain the stripes. 606 yards.It looks vaguely Koigu-ish.

colored corriedale cropped

Last of all came this golden brown BFL/silk. The singles had been sitting on the bobbin for a long time waiting for inspiration to strike. But I’d never been able to find something else appropriate to ply with them. So I decided the best thing to do was to ply them with themselves (chain ply) and move on.

BFL silk cropped

Spinning woolen like it’s worsted

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Tried a new experiment this week. I had a bunch of hand carded Corriedale left over from a previous spinning project. I decided to try spinning it worsted.

I know, I know. Why go to all that effort to card it by hand only to ruin it by spinning it the wrong way?

I don’t think I ruined it.

Right now a problem I have with my worsted spinning is keeping it from getting too dense. Sometimes a gal wants to knit a hat that won’t drown her if she falls into the lake.

I also wanted to see how spinning the same prepared fiber would behave with this other technique. Really see it, not just believe in the physics of it.

Here are my results.

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Plump but not poofy three ply. Sturdy but not heavy. I wouldn’t knit socks with it. But a sweater would work. And in the aforementioned lake scenario I probably wouldn’t drown.

The Stupid Button Band Betrayed Me

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It’s hard to conceal my ire. I was so proud of how this Reverb cardigan was turning out. The purple yarn was lovely. The pattern was easy to follow. I knew the cardigan would look super-hip on, and would go with most of my wardrobe. But the button band betrayed me.

I don’t have any experience with button bands. So far, I’ve managed to avoid knitting cardigans that require buttons. I pretended that I preferred the open look. But the truth is, I was afraid of the button band. And now I know I was right. Button bands are pure evil.

  • Button bands stretch unpredictably and throw off your measurements. 4 inches between button holes. Oops, looks like you have 5. 5 is ok right?
  • Button bands lull you into thinking five buttons will do…until you try on the cardigan and realize you really need seven.
  • Button bands keep you from appreciating your brand new very pretty cardigan because something is just slightly “off”.
  • Button bands are so hard to satisfy. Put the button too far to one side, and the whole thing stretches like a scallop. Which would be nice if that was something I wanted. An artistic statement, prehaps. But it’s NOT.
  • Button bands wait until you have the cardigan all blocked, with the ends woven in, to speak up and tell you something is wrong.
  • Button bands remind you that your stomach is not as flat and firm as your dress dummy’s stomach. They’re rude little buggers.

Stupid riggin’, friggin’ button band.

Here’s the cardigan. You can see the issues I’m talking about.

I guess it’s time to remove the button bands, reknit them, and do the finishing all over again.

But not now. Not today. Today I shake my fist at the universe.

Tomorrow I’ll take apart my cardigan.

A troubling hat trend

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I said I wouldn’t overdo it this Christmas. You know, with the whole knitting thing. Last Christmas I made myself a little crazy and I swore I wasn’t going to do that to myself this year.

But somehow I can’t seem to stop myself from knitting hats. They’re so cute. They’re so quick. They’re like little woolly potato chips.  (Okay, that sounds pretty gross. Did anyone else just image an old sticky potato chip found in your cardigan pocket?)

It all started with my husband’s Christmas hat. He gets a new one every year.

Made from handspun yarn.

Made from handspun yarn.

 

I’m hoping this is going to be our “thing.” When he’s 80 he’s going to have a mountain of hats. He has this habit of not losing things. At some point, that may become a problem. Maybe senility will kick in and help us out with the hat problem.

  • Anyway, it started out with my husband’s Christmas hat.
  • Then I knitted a couple more because I had some scrap yarn in my stash that was just right for hats.
  • Then I decided to knit a hat for my niece. I knitted that hat like I was a jazz musician. Total improv cables. It turned out great.
  • Then I realized my new little nephew needed a hat too, so I cast one on. He may need multiple hats. Babies lose hats all the time, right?

This is a troubling hat trend.