Rotational – knitting round and round

Tags

baby, clothing, dress, family, Germany, stripes, yarn

When our daughter shared a photo of our granddaughter pulling herself up to a standing position I just knew I had to knit her a little dress. We were a bit surprised to see her doing it already as she was six-and-a-half months old at the time. In the picture she had on a little dress and you could see frilly nappy peeping out below. Very cute!

After a bit of virtual consultation (sending Ravelry links via WhatsApp gives you a decent-sized photo in the message with the link below) we decided on Rotational in grey. Younger Soknitsome Daughter has a fondness for black and grey and likes grey clothes for Soknitsome Granddaughter, too. I knitted the dress in dark and very pale grey stripes. The pattern was easy to follow although I must have miscounted somewhere before joining the back and front as I had to add two stitches to get the slip-stitch colour change row to work out properly.

The yarn is Australian Superfine Merino from Cleckheaton. I bought it at a yarn-tasting hosted by the Knitters’ Guild NSW.  Since it’s a superwash yarn,  I was good and knitted and washed quite a large tension square. I then went down a needle size for the dress because I was also aiming for a garment that wouldn’t look too huge on a slim nine-month old baby (this is more a dress for the winter months). The dress actually works well as a tunic later, too so I did knit towards a 12-month size for length as our granddaughter is not short.

You can imagine my alarm when on giving the dress a bath, I could feel it relaxing beneath my fingers! Fortunately, after being laid out flat to dry, it shrank back to the expected dimensions. Mr Soknitsome got to visit them during his business trip to Germany and promptly sent pictures. Although little Soknitsome Granddaughter did pull herself up to stand while he was there, it was never while wearing the dress!

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More stripes

Tags

clothing, Heidi Kirrmaier, jumper, stripes, Sydney

There’s been a lot of knitting but not much posting about it recently. I have been distracted by the ease with which images are shared on Instagram. Fortunately, I have been reading some blogs which is how I came to be the lucky winner in knitthellout’s 600th post! The celebratory giveaway was for one of her patterns plus a skein of Bulletproof Sock by Sweet Georgia Yarns. Cassy’s just released a new sock pattern,  Chevrolicious, which had come up in my Ravelry highlights feed, in this yarn. It looks like such a perfect combination that I chose this pattern and I’m more than delighted to have won! What a lovely surprise for a Sunday morning.

Sunday continued well. We’ve been having a bit of a non-winter here in Sydney. The weather’s been lovely, spring is certainly (almost) here. I’ve just finished this jumper and wore it out yesterday into the Botanic Gardens. Sitting out of the sun I was glad of its warmth. I’m really pleased with the amount of ease. It has just the right amount of casual sloppiness to it.

It’s After the Rain by Heidi Kirrmaier, knitted top-down in the round. The stripes are 6-round stripes and the shaping happens every 9 or 12 rounds which really makes counting easy. I knitted a lot of this while watching the Olympics.

There’s some waist shaping which really stops a loose-fitting jumper from becoming just a baggy sack.

I struggled a bit with my colour changes. I tried jogless stripes by picking up the first stitch from the round below when I was on the second round but it looked a bit bulky. In the end when I started a new stripe, I pulled the last stitch tight from that colour below so that it almost disappeared and then knitted the new stripe.

I also tried to tighten up the SSK, left-leaning decreases too. I can never get these to be as neat as their right-leaning counterparts.

Otherwise, I’m really happy with this jumper. The shaping and fit are good and I’d definitely use the pattern again.

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Yes, I did the unspeakable!

Tags

cardigan, clothing, feather-and-fan, knitting, patterns, Ravelry, summer, texture, yarn

Yes, I did the unspeakable.

I didn’t knit a tension square.

I don’t ever not knit a tension square.

But this time?

This time was different. My yarn was much thinner than those suggested. Knitting with appropriate needles to get gauge would have given me a garment strongly resembling a string-bag!

I decided to trust to luck and I chose to knit two sizes larger than I needed and just got going. I increased through the yoke and then decided that it was too small. I didn’t want to stretch to fit as it would open up the lace pattern more than I like. So I had another look at the stitch count numbers and picked a size even larger than before and started again…

I really like feather-and-fan lace. It’s also known as old shale and makes a lovely border for blankets and shawls, for which it is more commonly used. I like it best when the ridges are close together rather than stretched out, which I feel puts more focus on the holes. That’s why I wanted my Liesl cardigan to be quite densely knit. Why I needed to use thinner needles to suit my thinner yarn.

When I bought this yarn it was like a bright spot calling in the greyness of late winter. I vaguely thought I would knit a tunic-kind of top with lots of dropped stitches but once I got home I realised it would be too similar to this one:

So I thought a little summery cardigan might fit the bill. I looked through the patterns I have and browsed first my favourites on Ravelry and then the rest of Ravelry’s database (a major time-wasting learning experience in itself). Liesl seemed to fit the bill: the ridges of the feather-and-fan would highlight the changes in colour. I’m very pleased with the outcome. I don’t have any buttons. I like the versatility of fastening it at the top or at the middle for a more fitted look, which is easy with a shawl pin.

     

Three weeks and three days

Tags

AIWCC, bind-off, cast-off, clothing, FAWCO, jumper, knitting, patterns, pullover, Ravelry, ribbing, Stitch 'n' Bitch

of speed knitting and I finished my Ravello in time to wear it during a conference in Brussels!

My friend and Stitch ‘n’ Bitch co-leader and I were attending a day of the annual FAWCO conference. We’d already met women from the clubs within our region but this was an exciting opportunity to learn more about FAWCO and connect with women from around the globe. As one of the co-leaders for Stitch ‘n’ Bitch at the American International Women’s Club of Cologne, I already have a bit of a reputation for “wearing something knitted” at AIWCC events. So it seemed only natural to be aiming to wear my new Ravello.

At one point, I’d had visions of sewing up the ends on the train but fortunately I was finished before that and even got to give the jumper a bit of a press. There were moments when I actually despaired of finishing. The bottom ribbing was done twice, the cast-off three times.

One of the projects on Ravelry that I really liked had the ribbing in broken rib to avoid pulling in the jumper quite as much as happens with regular ribbing. I liked this idea but casting off was tricky. It looked untidy. I undid it.

I had used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off on the neck and found it to be a neat edge after my four rows of ribbed neckband. (The pattern has an option for an unfinished edge but this would have left my bony collar-bones exposed!) However, when I tried doing this bind-off at the bottom, it really didn’t match the knit 2, purl 1 ribbing at all.

So then I reknitted the bottom third of the ribbing as regular knit 1, purl 1 ribbing and tried to do a tubular bind-off…very unsuccessfully. So it was back to the internet again to check out other suitable cast-offs.

In the end I ripped back half my ribbed band, reknitted with new yarn and used an adapted version of the Russian bind off from Wendy Johnson’s website. It looked a bit flared out but the edge was very even so I just had to hope for the best. After a damp press on the wrong side it looked fine. I decided to do the sleeves the same way. At least then it would all look ‘meant’.

Three weeks and three days after my second cast on (yes, there were hurdles right from the start!) I finished. I have never knitted a jumper this quickly before. I probably shouldn’t ever attempt to do it again either!

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Will I or won’t I? … continued

Tags

clothing, jumper, knitting, patterns, pullover, Ravelry, stripes, Zitron

There have been some set-backs (like knitting and frogging and knitting and frogging) and some making-do but with just a lot of ends to finish off I’m feeling positive!

You can read about my project-pondering here

Will I or won’t I?

Tags

clothing, jumper, KAL, knitting, patterns, pullover, Ravelry, socks, Socks with Sarah, Stitch 'n' Bitch, stripes, Zitron

On Tuesday last week my knitting looked like this:

I cast on this top-down jumper/pullover on Sunday and was raring to go at Stitch ‘n’ Bitch on Monday. But my purl m1 stitches were loose and the increases looked very ugly. So I focussed on being sociable and ripped it all back, knowing I’d get on better at home.

I got to spend the greater part of Saturday afternoon knitting and then on Sunday I briefly  wondered whether, if I knitted really fast, I could wear this in Brussels, mid-March! Now the idea won’t let go of me and I waver between wanting to give it a good go and knowing it won’t happen in a million years… So I’ve been knitting like one possessed.

My KAL socks (Socks with Sarah) have been demoted to the bare minimum: a-round-a-day.  And now there’s just a ‘bit’ of the body still to do before I move onto the sleeves. These will be slower; what with the stripes and shaping. After that I’ll just have to finish off the neck and deal with all the ends. Oh, and block it, of course!

Perhaps I’m in with a chance! What do you think?

 The pattern is Isabelle Kraemer’s ravello and the yarn is Zitron Patina

Desk Job!

Tags

bargain, cardigan, clothing, FO Friday, knitting, mistake, patterns, projects, Ravelry, shrug, simple, yarn

In the past I have often wrinkled my brow at sleeveless chunky knits. If you need a bulky sweater to keep you warm, why skimp on the sleeves? One of the drawbacks of sitting at a desk for long hours, is the wear and tear on jumper sleeves, particularly if there’s a fair bit of mouse-usage involved. (Light bulb moment) Perhaps some kind of vest or sleeveless pullover is a good idea after all! (Browses patterns on Ravelry) Factor in some ill-considered bargain 4-ply (fingering/sock) yarn and suddenly there’s a meaningful, practical, stash-busting result!

So here’s my Desk Job! It gives me just that extra bit of warmth I need when I’m sitting for longer periods of time. I used two strands of yarn together and by pairing large stripe with small stripe I’ve got rid of the prominent bands of colour that put me off the yarn after I’d bought it. I can wear it casually open or pin the fronts shut for extra warmth. It feels cosier than a traditional waistcoat or vest – is that because of the  sleeve caps?

FO Friday Summary: a simple quick knit that makes satisfying use of less-loved yarn! Pattern modifications ravelled here

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My first WIP Wednesday

Tags

clothing, gift, knitting, projects, socks, WIP, WIP Wednesday, yarn

Older daughter chose this lovely purply-grey wool from my stash and then wished for plain stocking stitch socks.

Easy to knit but a tad boring… so here’s where I’m getting a thrill!

Knitting for a Wee One

Tags

cardigan, clothing, gift, knitting, projects, Ravelry

Knitting on a small scale is very satisfying! Click on the photo for project details.

The thinner the better!

Tags

clothing, knitting, Ravelry, shawls, yarn

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating skeletal young girls starving themselves to be the next supermodels. I’m talking about yarn (what else?)! I really enjoyed knitting my newest cardigan but it was a bit strange to be back working with thicker yarn. I do like knitting with thinner yarn and needles. This ball of loveliness just happened to jump into my arms when I was in a wool shop, helping a friend to pick out some yarn! Then it sat in my stash for ages awaiting inspiration. One ball didn’t actually seem like a lot. Of course  spending a few hours trawling a quick visit to Ravelry soon had me picking up my needles! The pattern is Teardrops by Kieran Foley.