Zig Zag Sleeves

What do we have here? Sleevage of course.


Here's the pattern along the outer arm, 3 motifs of the Zig Zag pattern separated by pairs of single cables.


Here is the pattern along the inner arm, stockinette with one pair of single cables up the middle. The sleeve increases are done in the stockinette section, so the outer arm pattern will remain the same while the stockinette sections grow.

Again, the flash has obliterated a lot of the cable detail, but you can see some of the detail in the ribbing--it's made up of twisted single cables and pairs of single cables in a field of purl.

The 2s2c method is serving me well now that the sleeves are of some length. It was a bit tricky when they were less than 3-4 inches, especially since the stitches don't move as easily on the Denise Needle cords as they would on Addi Turbos. But I'm quite happy to work them both at the same time so I don't have to work out the shaping twice.

Cool, no?

A little light reading

It's actually quite a bit of reading--the week of blog and knitting forum posts that I didn't want to wade through over a phone line connection. No problem. I'm through the blogs and will tackle the forums tomorrow.

The red-eye flight back was trying. There was one unhappy baby about 4 rows ahead of us. Well, unhappy is an understatement. He was not diggin' what was going on and was determined to let us all know. The crying went on and on and on, and just when you thought he was going to stop from exhaustion, he rallied back and found the strength for another 3 minutes. The poor mother & father were completely bewildered. Nothing they did seemed to help. I don't know how it was finally resolved... I think I fell asleep out of exhaustion.

I didn't knit much in the last week. The most progress was made on the flight out--the Baby Hoodie was knit up to and divided at the armholes, and the ribbing for Zig Zag's sleeves was done. The rest of the time was spent golfing, snorkeling, shopping, and just plain ol' relaxing.

This afternoon I got to see my SnB pals and get some good knitting in on Zig Zag's sleeves. The sleeve increases have just started. I'm working both sleeves at the same time on 2 circulars, so progress is going to be slow and steady. Hopefully I'll have enough yarn for full sleeves. If not, it'll be rip rip rip and a bit of adjusting for 3/4 sleeves.

It's good to be home, but I can't believe I have to go to work tomorrow. I could really use another day.

Aloha!

It's been quiet here at Knit Flix 'cause we've been in Maui for some R&R. No LYS in the area, but who cares?

Learning, always learning

Learning is a good thing. That's what I keep telling myself.

Things I learned with Zig Zag this week:

• If you do the shortrow shoulder technique with a wrap & turn, the wrap will show. It's not good for stockinette shoulders, unless of course you want that look.
  
• Shortrowing a shoulder without the wrap & turn leaves little holes at the turning point. The holes can be sewn up quite easily.
  
• There is a tubular cast off for a 2x2 rib. It's a bit involved, but is do-able and creates a nice, neat, stretchy edge.
  
• My head is huge.

Okay, maybe I didn't learn the last point with Zig Zag, but it was brought to my attention when I finished the neck and tried it on. I could get it on without fear of ripping the sweater or getting stuck (wouldn't that have been a sight?), but it was a bit too snug on the pulldown if you know what I mean.

Snug to the point of squeegee-ing off your makeup. Snug like forget about your hair before, it'll be a mess afterwards. Snug like you wonder if you can get it off. The answer is yes, but any make-up that wasn't scraped off on the pulldown will certainly be caught on the take off. Snug like... oh nevermind, you get it.

The right thing to do is to rip out the neck and increase the number of stitches during the pick-up-and-knit.

*sigh*

I'll do the right thing, just give me some time.

Instead of fixing Zig Zag right away, I'm doing what every self-respecting knitter would do, I'm starting a new project. Remember this?

Bernat Baby Hoodie

It'll be on the needles by this evening.

13 down, 3 on the 28th

I just found a good home for the 13 skeins of Oxford Grey alpaca with Linda V, and Kristi from SnB will be buying the 3 skeins of Celery alpaca a week from Sunday. I feel much better now.

Wow, thanks for the comments

Thanks to everyone who commented on the Zig Zag photo! It's so encouraging to get such positive feedback from fellow stitchers.

Last night I finished one shoulder and the shaping adds more inches to the upper arm/chest area, so the horizontal motifs will be a little lower on the chest. Good thing, I was a bit worried that the armholes would be too tight once the sleeves were added.

Anyway, I finished one shoulder but am going to rip it out and redo it. I tried something new for me, shortrow shaping the shoulder and then seaming with a 3 needle bind-off. One suggestion was that you could wrap and turn to avoid potential holes.... well, I did a wrap & turn and didn't realize the wraps would show so much. So, I'll be ripping and reknitting without the W&T and I don't think I'm going to have holes at the turning point.

In spite of my knit-rip-knit experience with the shoulders, I would highly recommend shortrow shaping. You eliminate the challenge of seaming stair-stepped shoulder edges.

Stéphane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz

Stéphane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz (***+)

If you're a fan of swing or jazz, you'll enjoy this DVD. It's a look at the life of Stéphane Grappelli, the virtuoso violinist. The footage of the Hot Club Quintet with Django Reinhardt is very cool.

How cool is this?

I'm just about to start the shoulder shaping on Zig Zag.

SnB Nation & ASA yarn

Eureka, I found it!

I stopped in at the LYS, The Rug & Yarn Hut, before the SnB meeting today and they had SnB Nation. I bought it, and got to share it with the knitters today. We're on page 191. Very cool.

While I was there, I also picked up some Wildfoote sock yarn for the A Step Above socks from Knitters 75, Summer 2004. The colorway is called Brown Sugar.


Spinnity has a photo of her completed ASA sock on her blog, and I think it looks fantastic. I'll be going to her for assistance when I cast these on, that's for sure.

Zig Zag progress & pattern corrections

Update: Sorry folks, the pattern correction needed a correction. See the first bullet at the bottom of the post. I highlighted the change in red.

After making the decision to continue with Zig Zag, it's progressing well.

I divided for the front & back, and finished one repeat of the horizontal zig zag motif. One more, and it's stockinette shoulders and then the collar.

If you're interested in the yarn consumption of this sweater, I'm on balls 9-12. So far, it's right on target with the yarn hog estimate from last month.




If you're interested in making this sweater, there are 2 corrections to the pattern that haven't been published in Knitty.

• Knit one row (RS) before beginning row 1 of Chart B.
• Chart B is one st off for size small. Begin the pattern where instructed, but there will be one more stitch at the end of the row.

SnB SJSC made the book!

I haven't seen it yet, but Ilona says that SnB SJSC is on page 191 of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. How exciting! I'm off to Borders tomorrow to see if they have it in stock.

BBBB: frog->knit->wash->dry

The funky shape of the BBBB bothered me, so I ripped out the last 20 rows of seed st border and reknit it. That tightened it all up without making the stockinette/garter sections pucker. Whew!

After a quick wash and dry, the Lion Brand Baby Soft yarn softened up nicely.

Here it is again, the BBBB:



Yarn: 400gm of Lion Brand Baby Soft, Color = Twinkle
Needles: Denise #10
Pattern: Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook

Bay Area Knitters' ring

A new ring started today for Bay Area Knitters. How could I resist? After all, I've lived in the Bay Area since I was 1 year old, so I've been here a really really long time. LOL

So much for alpaca

*sigh*

Guess what? I'm allergic to alpaca. Figures.

The red flag first popped up last Sunday when Emy brought her oh-so-soft sweater that's knit out of the same yarn to SnB. After petting the WIP for a while, I felt a little scratchy. But, I attributed it to the fact that Emy has a cat... yes, I'm allergic to cats... AND angora... and now alpaca.

So a couple of days later, I took out a skein of the Peruvian Collection Pure Alpaca and of course I got the same scratchy feeling. It's not a severe allergy, I'd describe it as mild. Regardless, I can't use the yarn.

I think I've found a home for the grey, and Ilona said she might be interested in the green if no one here wants it. Hopefully I'll be able to place all the soft cuddly yarn after this week's SnB meeting.

Harumph.

Elann's the bomb

Today was a tough day, but Elann offered some cheer in the way of a big pile of yarn:


Maybe the pile doesn't look so big in the photo, but that's because you can't see the other 10 skeins still in the box. (!)

Love it. 13 skeins of Peruvian Collection Pure Alpaca in Oxford Grey for Sitcom Chic, 3 skeins in Celery for whatever, and 4 skeins of Schoeller Stahl Morea in Vintage Orchid to finish Zig Zag.

Now if I could only find some time to knit. *sigh*

Blue Skies

Blue Skies (****)

What could be better than seeing Fred Astaire's signature number, "Puttin' on the Ritz"? Not much, I'll tell you. But add in a score by Irving Berlin and crooner Bing Crosby, and you've got a musical classic.

Fred Astaire is flawless and wonderfully elegant. I could watch him dance all day.

FO 25: BBBB

It's finished and is ready for the washer. My tension wasn't quite consistent throughout the project. Rip & fix? Maybe. We'll see after it's washed.

Disappointed

I can't even put into words how disappointed I am in the American public. How bad does it have to get before we as a nation stand up and demand a change? Apparently it's not bad enough for 51% of the voters.

More on the cellphone cozy

Jeni asked about the cellphone cozy design. I made it up, with a little help from SnB.

I wanted to avoid seaming, so the cozy was knit in the round except for the top flap.

It started with measuring the cellphone's circumference and translating that measurement into an even number of stitches. My cellphone is 5" around, and my gauge is 9st/2in, so I cast on 24 st. What I should have done was cast on fewer st (like 20) so the cozy would have been tighter around the phone.

Knit in the round until the cozy is as tall as the phone.

For the flap, cast off one side, plus 2 st on the other side to create a notch for the antenna. Knit 2 rows of the flap and then cast on 2 st on the antenna side to complete the notch. Knit the flap to desired length and cast off.

Seam the bottom, add a closure, and you're done.

About the closure, well, I haven't quite finished that yet. I've attached a piece of yarn that I wrap around the cozy to keep it closed. At some point I hope to come up with a more permanent solution. Maybe the same closure as Charcoal Sophie?

Related post: Too small to advance the FO counter?

OH OH

At this hour, they're reporting that it all comes down to Ohio. But true to form, FOX News is reporting that OH goes to Bush.

10 days before they begin to count the provisional ballots. This could take a while.

Too small to advance the FO counter?

My cellphone gave up on me, so I bought a new one. That provided an opportunity to knit another cozy!



I hesitate to advance the FO counter because it was so quick and easy. In fact, I was racing to see if I could finish the cozy before the phone got a full charge. The phone won, but only by a couple of minutes.

Related posts: More on the cellphone cozy

Upcoming BB project

The BBBB is almost finished, and I have the next baby project lined up:


Bernat Baby Hoodie

How cute is that?

It has been decided

I made my decision on what to do with Zig Zag.

Here are the points for and against ripping out Zig Zag and knitting single stranded or finding a different project for the yarn:

• Pattern accuracy--I'm holding a grudge against the pattern/designer for being 30% off in the yarn estimate, especially when my gauge is right on.
  - 1 vote for ripping out Zig Zag.
  
• Yarn in hand--I have enough yarn in hand for more than 1 sweater, single stranded of course.
  - 1 vote for ripping out Zig Zag.
  
• Ripping out the work so far and separating the strands--this was no fun for the 5"x3" double strand swatch.
  - 1 vote for continuing Zig Zag.
  
• Work in hand--I'm 1/3 finished with the front & back. Start all over again? I'd rather not.
  - 1 vote for continuing Zig Zag.
  
• The single strand swatch doesn't look so hot, more yarn is available, and I'll have the opportunity to buy more yarn to maximize my yarn-to-shipping charges ratio.
  - 10 votes for continuing Zig Zag.

Looks like that's 12 to 2 in favor of buying more yarn--ah, I mean continuing Zig Zag.

The Elann order is in. More Schoeller Stahl Morea for Zig Zag, and enough Peruvian Collection Pure Alpaca in Oxford Grey to make Sitcom Chic:



And 3 skeins for Peruvian Collection Pure Alpaca in Celery to make whatever.

Thanks to Ilona for introducing me to the Peruvian Alpaaacaa.

Why did it take so long to make the decision? I guess I wasn't thinking clearly yesterday.