Whazzat?

Isn't Photoshop cool? Not that I know how to use its many features, but playing around with the levels and the contrast can transform the Leaf Lace Shawl into the ocean.

FO 2005-14: Cross-Country Chullo

Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4ply, color = 741 & 743
Needles: 2X Addi Turbo 3.0mm circular needles
Pattern: Cross-Country Chullo, Knitty Winter 2004

Blocking this was a breeze! I used a steamer, the kind you can get at luggage and travel stores. I put an oven mit on my hand inside the hat and steamed away. The bumps and wrinkles smoothed out instantly, and the hat was dry and ready to go.

Go where? In storage. It's 75 degress outside. But it sure will look good on the slopes in 6 months.

Related posts:

• New WIP: Cross-Country Chullo
  
• Chullo lives!

Unblocked goodness

One week and 4 hours later, we almost have a Leaf Lace Shawl.

Almost because it needs to be blocked and the ends need to be woven.

Speaking of ends, check out how much of the Quarry Hill is left.


Talk about cutting it close. I thought for sure that I'd run out. Thankfully, Spinnity and I came up with a contingency plan at SnB--switch back to Old Rose for the bind off. That gave me the confidence to knit knit knit away. It was looking dicey for a while, but it all came together. Exactly to plan! ;-)

It's beautiful, it's warm, and I can't quite bring myself to take it off to block it. Maybe tomorrow.

IK Fall Preview

IK Fall Preview

There are some nice designs in this issue--I'll probably buy it eventhough there's nothing that I absolutely positively have to make.

But can we stop with the ponchos already? I'm convinced, Martha's to blame.

I need a day off

Thank goodness Monday is a holiday. It's been busy and stressful at work this week, so the 3-day weekend couldn't have come at a better time.

The only good thing about stress is it can result in manic-knitting.

I'm past the mid-point with Leaf Lace. Old Rose is done and now it's a mad dash to the end with Quarry Hill. The shawl is already 50" x 22", so I may not use all of the Quarry Hill--I may be closer than I think!

Already I'm thinking about my next project. Socks? A felted something? The other VK sweater? Or maybe it's time to pick up Threepenny again. Or even rip out Threepenny and make something else... the possibilities are endless.

Maybe Misty's in my future

I've been looking for a project for the yarn left over from the VK Flame Stitch Cardigan, and thought that Misty from the the new issue of MagKnits might be a good candidate.

Cute bag.

But I'm not ready to start a new project right now. My WIP list is down to just a handful of projects and I'm comfortable with that. Besides, Misty would require an additional purchase of Peruvian Collection Highland Wool or similar yarn and I really shouldn't buy more yarn right now.

Leaf Lace is coming together so quickly, it's amazing. I've knit up 2/3's of the first colorway--gotta love that kitchen scale--and now it's time to introduce the second colorway.

I also picked up Shhhhhhhh! again. It got stuffed into its project a few weeks ago because I noticed a flub-ub in the pattern a few rows back. I looked at it for quite a while to see if I could fix it by ripping down and knitting back up, but the pattern was too complicated (or I was too tired). Luckily I've been putting in a lifeline every 10 rows, so today I ripped out about 4 rows.

Chullo is finished except for the blocking. Spinnity suggested steaming it in order not to stretch it, which is a great idea. Did I mention it's really big? Really cute, but really big.

Clogs, Cherry Tree Hill, and Leaf Lace

More stuff!

My DSO bought me these from Full Thread Ahead. A post Launch Party purchase.

That's a pair of Size 8 Sloggers and a hank of Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock Merino in "Life's a Beach". Lovely.

And here are the clogs showing off the pair of first socks that I ever made.

Maahvelous, absolutely maahvelous.

I've been flitting around the house all evening in my Sloggers--they're pretty comfy. When I first tried them on, I wished they came in an 8-1/2. No problem though... Hollis said they stretch out slightly, and that's all l need. The 9's were too big.

And here is the Leaf Lace shawl that I started at SnB yesterday.


I love how this looks and feels.


It took a couple of tries to get the first 7 sts going, but after that it's been an easy (but not boring) pattern. I think it's time for me to do something easy.

She's out of control

What's better than yarn?

Birthday yarn!

And what's better than Birthday yarn?

Birthday yarn at 15% off.

Thanks Mom & Dad!!!

Here's what you bought me today. The Leaf Lace Shawl pattern from Fiber Trends, and 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill yarn. Isn't it lovely? Believe it or not, it feels as good as it looks.


And then there's the humble 100% washable, 100% extra fine lambswool. 2 balls = 1650 yds.

It looks so unassuming in its dormant state, don't you think? But some day it will be something fabulous.

All of this was purchased at the Full Thread Ahead open house today. Hollis' online shop went live at midnight last night/this morning, and today she opened up her home to local knitters in search of high quality yarn. In addition to the purchases above, I had my eye on the Southwest Trading Company Soy Silk and Bamboo, the hemp, and the clear clogs.

For those of you who can't make it to the open house in person, you can still get 15% off your purchases this weekend and free shipping on orders over $50 (after discount). Visit the main page of Full Thread Ahead for the coupon code that'll get you the discount at checkout.

These were my absolute favorites and I can't wait to get started on the Leaf Lace. [Got to finish Chullo.... must finish Chullo.]

Thanks again Mom & Dad! Oh, and you're also going to buy me some much needed shoes for work, but they won't be as blog-worthy as the yarn-o.

FO 2005-13: Vogue Knitting Flame Stitch Cardigan

Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Collection Highland Wool, color = 3741 Victorian Violet, less than 1000yds
Needles: Denise Needles #9 & #7
Pattern: Flame Stitch Cardigan #9, Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005, size 37-1/2"

Notice the yardage. I had enough yarn in my original purchase to make the sweater, which means the yardage in the pattern is wrong as well. Of course it would have been much worse if they had underestimated the yardage. *sigh*

I don't even care any more. IT'S FINISHED!! Yippeeeeeee!!!

Related posts:

• Mondo Swatch
  
• Flame on, flame off, flame on, and a pattern correction
  
• Errata? or new math?: Front & back shaping
• More pattern corrections and tips: Sloped bind off, managing stich count, and cast on for sleeves
• VK Flame St Cardi Tips #3 & #4: Shoulder seams & working fronts
• VK Flame St Cardi Pattern Correction: Sleeve Cap Shaping
• When does 2x2 rib not equal *k2, p2*?: Rib pattern grief
• 4-3-2-1 to go: Sweater blockiing
• VK Flame Stitch Cardigan Pattern Error: Front Shaping, Crochet join
• Official Errata for Vogue Knitting Flame Stitch Cardigan

FO 2005-12: Zigzag Lace Socks

I like how these socks turned out--the heel fits well, and the lace pattern very pretty. Great working with you Jen, we should do this again!


Yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn, color = Pink Power, less than 2x(50gm)
Needles: Crystal Palace DPNs 3.0mm
Pattern: Figheadh Yarnworks Zigzag Lace Sock

Related posts:
Test Knitting

VK Flame Stitch Cardigan Pattern Error: Front Shaping, Crochet join

Here's another pattern error and a puzzlement.

Thanks to knitty knit knit for pointing out the error. I wrote it down in my notebook but never got around to posting it on the blog. Again, this was discovered while knitting the 37-1/2" size.

The front shaping has this instruction:

*bind off 1 st of next RS row, bind off 2 sts at the beg of next 2 RS rows *; rep between *'s 3 times more

which is a total of 4 times. That's too many repeats.

Instead, rep between the *'s one more time (for a total of 2 times). Bind off 2 st at the beg of the next RS row.

Now, for the puzzlement. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't make heads or tails out of the instructions for joining the ribbing to the body. I tried 4 times to get it right and finally had to come up with my own funktified way of doing it. It's not right though. I'll leave this up to you folks. Leave a comment if you figure out how it's supposed to be done.

4-3-2-1 to go

Buttons that is.

Here's the Flame Stitch Cardigan, sweater #9 from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005.




I'll put it on for the final FO photo. For now, it's 99% done on the completion meter.

Jessica Knits, Scottsdale, AZ

Knitter's Review Forums are great. While in PHX last weekend, I did a search for LYS in AZ and read about Jessica Knits, a relatively new store in Scottsdale.

DSO and I drove out there on Sunday. He's not so much into yarn shopping, but we figured he'd find a place to hang out while I purused the store. It turns out that there wasn't much in the shopping center that sparked his interest. BUT, the yarn shop had a nice area with a comfy couch and chairs and a coffee table complete with non-knitting magazines like Sports Illustrated, New Yorker, Time, and others. Thanks Jessica, good move!

I asked her if she had any Koigu on hand, and she pointed me to the sock yarn section. Ooo, ooo, ooo, Lorna's Laces and Koigu cubbies in the same corner! Whatever is a girl to do? I was introduced to Koigu by Spinnity and her Baby Surprise Jacket, Bias Betty, and Charlotte's Web and I knew I had to experience Koigu for myself.

I latched on to these right away.

Lorna's Laces will have to wait.

From there, I browsed, petted, and rummaged through cubbies and other yarn displays. The entire time I was thinking, "What should I knit next?" You see, I'm one of these knitters who is happiest shopping for yarn with a project in mind. Not that that's a bad thing--it probably saved me some serious $$$.

Jessica Knits has a very nice selection of high quality yarn. Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Cascade, Manos, Fiesta, Art Yarns, Plymouth, Koigu, Lorna's Laces, Regia, and much, much more. It was a real treat to be able to experience some of these yarns that I had only read about.

As I kept grabbing more yarn and showing to DSO--"Isn't this Manos beautiful? And what about this Super Merino? Feel how soft it is."--I noticed that there were knitting magazines and books on the coffee table as well. Now we're talkin'!

I picked up the dreaded Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005 issue and got the yarn requirements for this pattern:


for which I picked Berroco Softwist.

According to the members of Knitter's Review Forums, Softwist may be prone to snagging and splitting. Won't this be fun?

On top to that, you must think I'm a glutton for punishment for considering another VK pattern. The truth is, I really like the designs in VK. C'est la vie.

So that was the extent of the initial shopping trip, but Jessica Knits will be a regular stop for me whenever I visit sunny AZ.

Uh oh. Another Elann order

I just couldn't help myself. I mean come on... microfiber in luscious colors at Elann prices?

Austermann Candy Color in Bumbleberry.

What to make, what to make? I can't picture myself wearing a sweater made out of this, so Clapotis #3 is a possibility.

But first, the WIP list.

The Flame Stitch Cardigan needs 1 sleeve & 1/2 of the collar sewn on and a handful of buttons. A trip to PHX this weekend provided enough time to finish the Zigzag Lace socks (except for sewing down the cuff), as well as a trip to a Scottsdale yarn store.

When does 2x2 rib not equal *k2, p2*?

The pain is almost over.

All of the pieces of the VK Flame Stitch Cardigan are finished. All that remains is the sewing. Will everything fit together? We'll see!

There's a possibility that the bottom ribbing is too long for the buttonband. If that happens, I'll rip out some of the ribbing to make it fit.

Here's something funny. I had a momentary lapse of sanity the other night. I was convinced that the 6" of ribbing had to be ripped out and reknit. The persnickity side of me [and which side isn't persnickity? I'm not answering that!] was not thrilled with how it looked--not smooth, rowing out in spots, Russian join sticking out like a sore thumb, etc., etc.. I was blaming it on my lack of proficiency doing the Continental. Of course it wouldn't be as easy as ripping out and reknitting. I'd have to wind the yarn into hanks and straighten it first.

So last night I got out the ribbing and a big stainless steel bowl and was about to make a big pile of ramen. But wait, let me compare it with the buttonband/collar ribbing. Well lookie here, there's just as much unevenness in my English knitting as there is in my Continental knitting.

The good news: I'm not going to reknit the ribbing.

The bad news: My 2x2 ribbing sucks.

Oh and by the way, if you're knitting this sweater, don't do what I did. I read "Knit in 2x2 rib pattern" and translated that to mean *k2, p2* across the row. WRONG. There are instructions for the 2x2 rib at the beginning of the pattern. Who knew? Obviously not me. Their 2x2 rib has a k1 selvedge at each end. As I was binding off, the instructions referred to this mysterious selvedge stitch. I immediately thought it was another pattern mistake. Luckily I saw it was user error before I fired off yet another email to VK.

VK Flame St Cardi Pattern Correction: Sleeve Cap Shaping

Flame Stitch Cardigan #9, Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005, Size = M (37-1/2")

It's coming together! (A minor miracle given the issues with the pattern.)

The ribbing is going slow because I've decided to knit it Continental. Probably not the best decision since I don't have that much experience knitting that way, but there's no turning back now.

On to the correction.

Are you all just as tired of reading these as I am writing them? Harumph.

Surprise, surprise, the sleeve cap shaping stitch and row count isn't correct as written in the pattern. Here's what the pattern says. I've provided a stitch count in parenthesis:

Starting with 68 st, bind off 3 st at the beginning of the next 4 rows, (56st)
2 st at the beg of next 2 rows, (52st)
*1 st at beg of next 2 rows, 2 st at beg of next 2 rows*; rep between *'s 4 times--18 st (22 st)

I interpreted the last instruction to mean "rep between *'s 4 more times." To take care of the extra 4 sts, bind off 2 st at the beginning of the next 2 rows. It's only 2 more rows, and you end up with 18 st.

Although the photo above doesn't show it, I sewed in one of the sleeves and it fits like a charm. I got that goin' for me.

Test knitting

Jen at Figheadh put out a call for test knitters on Knitter's Review Forums, so I threw my hat in the ring.

May I present the soon-to-be-finished Zigzag Lace sock.


Pink! Pink Power Pink! It's Patons Kroy sock yarn that I picked up at Elann.

So how is test knitting? Well, it's a bit of a challenge to read a pattern so closely and to think about how other knitters would interpret the pattern. It's also out of character for me to knit these types of socks on DPN's. Normally I'd knit 2 socks on 2 circulars. Other than that, it's fine. I get a free pattern out of the deal, and Jen gets some feedback.

(As Emy implied in her last comment, I'm not shy about giving feedback! :-) )

But, it's nice to know that Jen is welcoming the feedback... unlike Vogue Knitting who hasn't responded to (or posted) any of the pattern corrections for the Flame St Cardigan.

Speaking of Flame St Cardi corrections, the sleeve decreases are wrong in the pattern as well. Nothing major, just annoying. At least I don't think it's anything major. I haven't sewed them onto the body yet. *sigh*

Chullo lives!

I haven't posted for a while 'cause it's our busy time at work. I've been knitting, but at a much slower pace than usual.

I've been carrying this project around in my bag for 3 months now. Yikes. Time to pick it up.

For a while now, I've been meaning to ask my DS to teach me the 2 handed technique for knitting fair isle, but never seemed to get around to it--until a few weeks ago. She also helped me with Continental knitting which really improved my technique. Thanks big sis!

In no time, I've completed another 2 inches of the Cross-country Chullo and am ready to start the ear flaps.


But the project has stalled again.

I'm looking at the areas where I switched from one circular to another and am wondering if I should rip down and reknit those columns of stitches to fix some of the anomalies. Oh bother. Consensus at SnB last weekend was most of what I was seeing would be minimized with blocking.

I'll let this stew for a bit while I continue with another project, some test knitting for Jen at Figheadh. Following a pattern to the letter will be a challenge, but providing feedback should be right up my alley.