HMF on Saturday

It's a Hand Made Friday post on Saturday! Yeah... a day late, but hey, better late than never. Yesterday I was under the weather so I was bundled up and toasty warm in these:

What to do, what to do?

After finishing the Haapsalu shawl, I've been focusing on finishing the Hedera jacket. The sweater has a lot of things going for it--5 color brioche in Cascade 220 that is stunning on the RS and the WS, and... and...

You'd think I could find other things I like about the sweater, but picking it up after such a long time has been challenging.

• My gauge is slightly different than it was when I knit the back.
• After I finished the back & the fronts, I realized that I counted the rows incorrectly for the armhole shaping. Rows are counted differently in brioche. Every other st is worked in a row, then the slipped sts are worked in the return row. That means one "row" equals 2 rows worked. So basically I worked all of the armhole decreases at a faster rate than the pattern specified. I was upset when I realized my mistake, but decided not to do anything about it until I set a sleeve in to see if it was a real issue.

So I worked on the first sleeve and carefully calculated the sleeve cap shaping to make sure I understood what the pattern was calling for, single rows, or brioche rows. After I finished the first sleeve, I basted everything together and discovered my next problem. It had nothing to do with the armhole shaping.


Hedera Jacket
Project details on Ravelry

Get a load of that cuff! It's turned up a full 4 inches and I think it looks sloppy. I should have checked the dimensions of the sleeve before I made it, but if I pick the correct sweater size the sleeves usually fit. If anything they can be too short. Well this is definitely not too short. The schematic showed 4 inches of working even before the sleeve increases, but I assumed (incorrectly) that meant a turned up cuff of 2 inches.

Here's another look at it--


Hedera sleeve cuff

Last night my mind went from one option, to another, to another.

• Rip back to shorten the cuff. That would be about 3 inches short of ripping out the entire sleeve.
• Leave it the way it is and double roll the cuff. Yeah, that wouldn't look sloppy.
• Cut 1-1/2 inches off the cuff and figure out how to and sew a finished edge.

I didn't like any of my options, so I put it in a corner and hoped something good would happen in the morning.

To my surprise, the new day brought a new option and it's a good one. On other sweaters I've made, the sleeve cap shaping started soon after the last sleeve increase. I forgot that this sleeve is different, there are some rows worked even after the sleeve increases and before the cap shaping.


Rows worked even before sleeve cap

The red pin marks the last sleeve increase. I could rip out the sleeve cap and 1-1/2 to 2 inches of the sleeve and then re-knit the sleeve cap. It'll also shift the fattest part of the sleeve up on my arm and I think that will be a good thing.

Wow. I'm so glad I didn't rip the whole sleeve out, because you know that's what was going to happen.

My first Brioche on the needles

I've baked Brioche, but I haven't knit Brioche until now.

I took advantage of the Anniversary Sale at WEBS and bought enough Cascade 220 to make the Hedera Jacket designed by Nancy Marchant from the book Knitting Brioche (click to see a photo).

The jacket is worked in a 5-color Brioche Stockinette stitch. Because I was choosing colors solely by the photos on the web site, I selected 6 colors to give me more options. I never know how the colors will look together until I make a swatch and this was no exception.


Color combo #1
2450 Mystic Purple (lt purple), 8885 Plum, 7811 Eggplant Heather (dk purple), 9454 Rainier Heather (yellow/orange tones), 9449 Midnight Heather (blue with green tones)

I tried the colors above and changed the order a couple of times but I didn't like the results--the combination just didn't gel. For the next attempt I substituted Rainier Heather with the 6th color, Twilight Blue.


Color combo #2
2450 Mystic Purple (lt purple), 8885 Plum, 7811 Eggplant Heather (dk purple), 9568 Twilight Blue (bright blue), 9449 Midnight Heather (blue with green tones)

Now that's something I'd wear.

Here's the entire swatch, front and back. It's time to cast-on.


5-color Stockinette Brioche Stitch swatch (RS)


5-color Stockinette Brioche Stitch swatch (WS)

Oh, the possibilities

Purlescence Yarns is having an end of year sale, 30% off most yarn & bags, 50% off selected yarn, books, and bags, and 60% off dye kits. I did my part to reduce their inventory and brought home a few items that were on sale and (some that weren't):


Cascade Heritage


Cascade Heritage


Cascade Heritage


Cascade Heritage


Abstract Fiber Yak Merino


Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dye Mix and Louet Superwash Wool

Help the Purl Girls out--the more you take home, the less they'll have to count.

Purlescence Yarns
586 South Murphy Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 735-YARN (9276)

They'll be closing early on Thursday, December 31st at 4 PM, and will be closed on Friday, January 1st to spend time with their families.

Available now: Finn-ish Sock pattern

From January 15 to January 31, 2010, 100% of the profits from the sale of this pattern PLUS matching funds will go to Haiti Earthquake Relief through Doctors Without Borders.

ETA: Help for Haiti contributions to Doctors Without Borders totaled $770.00. Thank you everyone!

It debuted at Sock Summit 2009 and now Finn-ish is available for purchase online.


Finn-ish sock pattern, $8.00

	add to shopping cart
	buy it now

The unique motif of Finn-ish is based on a folk knitting technique from Rovaniemi, Finland.

This is truly a different approach to colorwork with elements of weaving, stranded knitting, and intarsia. You may have read about the technique on Yarn Harlot's blog, or perhaps you've experienced it first hand in Susanna Hansson's Lapland Hand Garments class.




The Finn-ish pattern has detailed instructions on how to prepare 11 small butterflies of contrasting color and how to work the motif. Most importantly, there are instructions on how to manage the butterflies so you have a tangle free knitting experience.

Size
Women’s Medium [Large]
Finished measurements
Foot circumference: 6.5 [7.5]” (16.5 [19] cm) relaxed
Foot length: Approx 9 [10]” (23 [25.5] cm) relaxed

Materials
Cascade Yarns, Heritage (75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon; 100 gm / 437 yd)
MC: 1 [2*] hank(s) #5602 Steel
* A pair of large socks from 1 hank MC is possible by shortening the cuff and working fewer motif repeats, depending on foot length.
CC1: 65 yd (60 m) #5608 Pine
CC2: 65 yd (60 m) #5604 Denim
CC3: 50 yd (46 m) #5618 Snow
1 set of US 0 (2.0 mm) dpns, or size needed to achieve gauge
1 straight needle 10” (25 cm) or longer, preferably US size 5 (3.75 mm) or thinner
Point protector or cork
2 stitch markers
Tapestry needle

Sock Summit!

Can you feel it? Can you feel the excitement and intensity building? I can and it's driving me crazy.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, click on the banner above... but if you haven't heard of Sock Summit, you probably don't care that much about sock knitting (or you've been under a rock).

Here's how I'm participating in Sock Summit--


Finn-ish Sock pattern, $8.00

	add to shopping cart
	buy it now

Booth 216, Crafting for the Peanut Gallery


I'm so excited and I'm not even going.

I'll be following my friends' FB/Twitter updates as well as the Sock Summit Tweets.

Have fun everyone! I wish I could be with you.

ETA: Links to purchase the pattern online.

Finn-ish Sock Pattern at Sock Summit 2009 (and at SnP Tacoma this week!)

Announcing Finn-ish!


Finn-ish sock pattern, $8.00

	add to shopping cart
	buy it now

The unique motif of Finn-ish is based on a folk knitting technique from Rovaniemi, Finland.

This is truly a different approach to colorwork with elements of weaving, stranded knitting, and intarsia. You may have read about the technique on Yarn Harlot's blog, or perhaps you've experienced it first hand in Susanna Hansson's Lapland Hand Garments class.

The Finn-ish pattern has instructions on how to prepare 11 small butterflies of contrasting color and how to work the motif. Most importantly, there are instructions on how to manage the butterflies so you have a tangle free knitting experience.

This sock features the distinctive Rovaniemi zig-zag pattern down the front of the sock to the tip of the toe, and the back of the sock is ribbed for a comfortable fit.


Finn-ish sock

Mel of Stick Chick Knits (thank you Mel!) will have the pattern for sale and a sample sock on display at:

Stitch 'n Pitch, Tacoma Rainiers
July 22
Cheney Stadium, Tacoma, WA
Stick Chick Knits table

and

Sock Summit
August 6-9
Portland Convention Center, Portland, OR
Booth 216, Crafting for the Peanut Gallery

Many thanks to Susanna for making the technique accessible to knitters outside Finland and for motivating and encouraging me to publish this pattern in time for Sock Summit.

For those who aren't going to Sock Summit, watch this blog for more information about how to buy the pattern.

ETA: Links to purchase the pattern.

FO: Mystery Stole 3

Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk, Color = Ecru
Needles: US6 / 4.0 mm
Beads: Just a little over 30 gms of 4 mm cube beads
Pattern: Mystery Stole #3 by Melanie Gibbons

I hadn't participated in the previous Mystery Stole Knitalongs and wasn't planning on it this year until Stephanie pointed out that I wouldn't like it if everyone was having fun without me.

That's when I signed up and I'm glad I did. Swan Lake was the theme of this year's Mystery Stole and Melanie designed a unique asymmetric stole complete with wing.


Mystery Stole 3

Each week we received a new clue and I looked forward to each one. It was interesting concentrating on one project for a couple of days and then being forced to put it down because I couldn't go any further. I found myself fitting in whatever knitting I could between clues but saved my weekends for MS3.

Susan at Crystal Palace Yarns supplied the Panda Silk, a new fingering weight yarn which is coming to a yarn store near you this winter. It's a beautiful, soft, springy yarn consisting of 52% bamboo, 43% machine washable merino wool, and 5% combed silk that suited this project to a T.

The stole was designed for a lace weight yarn, so mine is probably larger then those knit with the suggested yarn, Zephyr Wool-Silk. The blocked size of the stole is 20-1/2" x 87-1/2", and when worn it stretches a bit more under the weight of the yarn and beads.

It is lovely. Thank you Melanie and thank you Stephanie.


Mystery Stole 3

If you'd like to participate in the next Mystery Stole knitalong and also hear about Melanie's latest patterns including when the pattern for this stole will be available, subscribe to her Yahoo!Group, PinkLemonKnits.

On second thought, 2006-19 & 2006-20

Why make the recipients wait for their clogs to dry?

Before


After

Pattern: Fiber Trends Felt Clogs
Left: sized up to a Men's XL; Middle & Right: Women's size M
Yarn: Lots of Cascade 220
Needles: Denise #15

Happy Holidays everyone!

99% finished - 2 pairs of Fiber Trends Clogs

Pattern: Fiber Trends Felt Clogs
Left: sized up to a Men's XL; Middle & Right: Women's size M
Yarn: Lots of Cascade 220
Needles: Denise #15

There are 2 complete pairs in the photo--each clog has the mate stuffed inside for shaping.

This is the extent of my Christmas knitting. They'll be felted after being gifted, so the recipients can experience the magic of felting.