Another satisfied knitter

Back in August, out of pure curiosity, I cast on Elizabeth Zimmerman's infamous Baby Surprise Jacket. According to Ravelry there have been over 13,000 of these little baby sweaters knit. I'm sure the reason why is the interesting construction. The little sweater is knit flat in garter stitch (no purling!) and then two little shoulder seams are sewn, buttons are attached, and a sweater magically appears. Here is what it looks like just after cast off (the red stripe is the cast on edge the yellow strip is the bind off edge.)





The weird ruffled shape comes from what, as you're knitting, feels like completely incomprehensibly placed increases and decreases. Then the folding happens. Magically you have something that looks like a sweater.



The seaming didn't take long at all. The seams are sewn from the neck to the end of the sleeve on the top of the shoulders. Buttons took me a little longer. I ordered some great polymer clay buttons from Orly Rabinowitz on etsy. The buttons took a while to get here since Orly is in Israel, but they're so cute and work so well that it was totally worth the wait. Also, I got to procrastinate on finishing without feeling guilty.



The variegated yarn comes from a Knit Picks Sock Blank that was dyed for me by schknitz on Ravelry for a swap. I used two strands together, so it was basically a worsted weight. The contrasting yellow was added as an afterthought when I did the math a realized that I was certainly going to run out of the main color. It's leftover Encore Worsted from way back when I knit a baby sweater for a boss who is a huge Green Bay Packers fan. Here is what the Sock Blank looked like before it was knit.



Now that it's done I have no idea what to do with it... I don't have a baby. I don't know anyone who has a baby. I don't know anyone who is in the process of making a baby. I think I might donate it to one of the charities to support the homeless in Portland. It's starting to get pretty cold here. If Bear can be this cute in the sweater, imagine how adorable it will be when it actually gets wrapped around a baby.

Pride!

I'm so proud of this little project. It's made from my very first skein of handspun yarn.







The pattern is Cherry Garcia by Adrian Bizilia and it's free through ravelry. The second picture shows the color better, but the first shows the cable pattern. I only had enough yarn to make it two cables tall instead of three, but the yarn is so bulky it is the right height anyway.



I'm guessing my handsupn was only about 80 yards because some of it was so bulky. Here is what it looked like in the skein.



It's very hard to take pictures of yourself without making weird faces...





Also, with my face shape, a cowl might not be the most flattering winter garment... it sort of gives me that "fatface" look since it doesn't hug my neck. Fatface aside, I love this project and will be wearing a lot this winter as the temps dip lower.

Great hat pattern

Hi friends, I'm so excited that I can finally share this project with you. It's been done since August, but I'd been sworn to secrecy until the pattern was publish! (Well not really sworn, but asked politely.) This is Bashful, a new hat pattern by Marlaina Bird. I was lucky enough to be a test knitter for the pattern.





It took me about 3 days of mild knitting to finish this hat and it took just one skein of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (though I only had about 1.5 feet of yarn left). The yarn is 45% wool, 35% silk, and 20% nylon. It's nubby and squishy and wonderful. The nubbyness gives the hat a softer look. If you look through the patterns, the lace on some peoples' hats has a much more crisp defined look.



The yarn already has a lot of drape, but when knit on size 8 needles (larger than recommended for DK weight) the result is a very slouchy hat.


I'm always so surprised when I see what my nose looks like in profile!

This is my go-to hat when I'm having a bad hair day, which now that I have bangs seems to be way more frequent... I will probably end up making more in other colors because as it is I have to plan my bad hair days for when the shirts that match this hat are clean. DK is not the most common yarn weight it my stash, so I may have to go yarn shopping... Damn...



By the way, this is the 2nd FO from the challenge I presented myself with back in August... Clearly that didn't motivate me at all... Mostly because I've pretty much decided to buy yarn when I feel like it (without putting myself in the poor house). I live alone, I have 3 jobs, I answer to no one financially, and I can have a closet full of yarn if I want to!

Fiber Adventures

Way back when Sock Summit came to Portland I decided that I wanted to learn to spin. Student loan budgets being what they are, I decided to learn on a drop spindle. I bought the spindle and some fiber that looked pretty.



I didn't get to far with it though... I had a hard time getting a hang of drafting while the spindle was spinning and was getting frustrated. I later learned that Targhee (that's what the fiber was) is knowing for being trickier to draft and isn't the best "learning" fiber. I set it aside for a long time and pretty much gave up on spinning.

Then in August I got the idea into my head that I would tie up all my loose end projects. I got the spinning back out to finish it. Something clicked this time, and I blew through all the fiber and wanted more.

The end result is certainly not perfect, but it was quite fun to make.



This is 3 0z. (I used one oz to make thrummed mittens) of 100% Targhee wool. It ranges it weight from super bulky in places down to light fingering in others.



The color is much more like the top photos, a happy pink rather than the muted coral of the last picture.

At that point I pretty much decided that I was hooked on spinning and I jumped into the deep end and bought this:



That is a Babe Fiber Arts Fiber Starter Double Treadle Spinning Wheel. I bought it on eBay. It is made of PVC pipe and a wheelchair wheel. It is perfect for me. Cheap, easy to use and maintain, and pretty near indestructible. The cats have not been able to do any perceptible damage even though they are completely obsessed with the wheel. The wheel came with 8 oz of mystery wool fiber which I promptly spun up. It's way over-spun in some places and pretty thick and thin but it was great fun to make. I'm sure I'll just knit something to felt that way it won't show. I've been stashing fiber ever since.

Last weekend was the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and I somehow managed to convince Ryan that it would be a good idea to take time away from our law school studies to drive an hour over to Canby and spend the whole afternoon looking at yarn and fiber. I think Ryan was expecting a few tables with a few piles of yarn on them since he still has a hard time believed that there are actually people in this world that get super excited over yarn and fiber. It was glorious. Every building of the Canby fairgrounds was packed with booths and the entire lawn/picnic area was covered with outside booths as well. There was easily 250 vendors present. I walked away with a fantastic new fiber stash and, this is the most amazing part, I only spent $75! Yeah for local products!





These are each 4 oz of 70% Merino and 30% Tussah Silk. The top picture is colorway Sea Mist and the bottom picture is colorway Red. This fiber is fantastic. I've heard the phrase "drafts like butter" bandied about on the Ravelry forums but with my Targhee experience I never really believed it... until now.



This is only my second wheel-spun project and it's so even. It's drafting down to almost lace weight. I don't know if I'll ply it or just work with it as a single, it's spinning so evenly it would work well as a single and I would have more yardage. I love the subtlety of this color. "Mist" is the perfect word for it.



This is 4 oz of 70% Merino 30% Tencel blend. The picture makes it look like its silver and that's because it is. Yeah, that's right, SILVER yarn. I don't know how the dye looks so metallic, but it's wonderful.



This is dyed by the same woman. It's 4 oz of 70% Merino 30% Yak. That's right, Yak. It's wonderful. It's harder to draft than the Merino/Silk but easier than the Targhee was. It's on my spindle now. I don't have a picture of it because it lives at Ryan's house so that I have a project to work on when I'm there. Ryan seems to understand that having something for me to work on at his place is necessary for keeping me sane.



This is 8 oz of 60% alpaca 40% wool. It's super soft and I love the earthy colors. This will be interesting to spin since I've never spun from a bat before, only roving.





These are 4 oz each of Blue Faced Leicester. They were $5 each. Amazing deal. I love the colors. They will make something fun to wear during the bleak Portland winters



This is so shiny it's impossible to get a picture of it. It's the softest thing I've ever felt in my life. It's 2 oz of pure silk. I don't think I'll be able to get any real yardage out of it, so I don't know what I'll do with it, but it's worth it just to feel the fiber.

I haven't really don't much knitting. I've finished one project since my last post... (and I can't even show it to you since it was a test knit and the pattern hasn't been released yet.) I have several projects that will only take an hour or two to finish but I can't bring myself to do the boring bits like weaving in ends, sewing on buttons, ribbing, etc. Hopefully, I'll get something off the needles this week that I can show you.

The secret project

Hi all, just wanted to pop in and reveal a project that I finished quite a while ago, but didn't show you since it was meant to go on display at Yarnia. It was a quick fun project and now that it's been revealed at Yarnia, I'll show you all here.



This is my take on Nell by Berroco Design Team. Clearly I took some liberties with the fabric part of the design, but the bodice is crocheted just as the pattern is written.

I am used this Yarnia-blended yarn (sorry I'm not the best photographer of yarn... it always comes out with a glare...) It is two strands of red silk/poly, two strands of red linen, and one strand of a taupe/natural linen. I think the one contrasting strand gives the fabric a lot of interest and a more "rustic" feel.



After I finished crocheting the front and then took the piece to Jo-Ann Fabrics to find fabric for the bottom. I found the absolute perfect fabric to create the look I wanted--something that could be worn in the summer and also work to transition in to fall if worn over long sleeves and leggings.

The pattern is really clearly written and I was able to follow all the stitches without any trouble, even as a very novice crocheter, but I think the gauge instructions are off. I followed the 40" chest directions and even though my single crochet gauge was tighter than recommended my pieces still came out at 22".

If you are going to make this pattern I would be sure to do some math with the gauge you're getting and the total number of stitches to make sure you'll get something that fits.



As the project calls for sewing on a sewing machine anyway, I decided rather than rip all the way back to the beginning and start over, I would serge the seams smaller. For those of you not familiar with sergers, they cut fabric and sew a thread binding around the cut edge as they go. That’s right, I cut my crochet. But look how much better the top fit afterward.



Then came time to piece the fabric bottom together. The pattern instructions say to take two large piece of fabric, sew them together into a tube, gather up the top of the tube, and sew that to the bodice.

This creates the babydoll look that you can see in the pattern pictures and in many people’s projects on Ravelry. I think I mentioned before that, while this is a great look for some women, it is not the most flattering look on me. What I may not have mentioned is that I LOVE sundresses. They are probably my single favorite piece of clothing and one of the saddest things about living in the Pacific Northwest is that the weather often precludes wearing them until well into June. I decided to add to my sundress collection.



I’m sorry I didn’t stop to take lots of pictures during the construction of the dress. It was one of those situations where I just started working and didn’t look up until I had a dress. Here is what I did:

Since the bodice fits around the widest part of the chest (which on me is the widest part until my hips) I measured the circumference of the bodice and cut two strips of fabric half that circumference plus 1 inch (the half inch is for the seam allowance) and as long as the dress I wanted (for me this was knee-length).

Next. I tried on the bodice and measured how far from where the bodice ended to where my hips are. This is because I needed to add extra fabric at the hip, both because my hips are my biggest part and because I wanted the skirt of my dress to flair.

After a rough measurement to my hips I seamed the two strips of fabric to that measured length. This means that the dress is just a straight tube from where it attaches to the body down to roughly my hips.

To add fabric to the hip of the dress and make it flair I inserted two wedge shaped pieces of fabric into either side of the tube. To do this I measured the length of the unseamed bottom part of my tube – for my dress this was roughly the distance from my hips to my knees. This became the side length of my triangle inserts. The bottom of the triangle was the total extra width I wanted the bottom of the skirt to have divided by 2 (because there is one insert on each side).

Once my two triangles were cut out, I sewed each long side of the triangle into the opening left on the sides of my tube. (if you have ever had occasion to turn a pair of jeans into bellbottoms this process is exactly the same.)



I hemmed the whole thing around the bottom and I was finished… I thought. Then my boyfriend came over and I proudly showed him my finished dress. He praised my craftyness and took pictures for me, but he said he felt like the dress was “missing something.”

When I asked him what it could possibly be missing he said, “I don’t know, maybe some white lace around the bottom?” This was an exceptionally strange suggestion coming from a man who usually appreciates my craftiness from a safe distance refusing to participate in “which color/texture/hemline/sleeve-length/etc. looks better” conversations.

I was skeptical at first… white lace on a dress with such deep colors… I was unsure. But, figuring I had nothing to lose and I could always take it off again, I went back to the fabric store for some lace trim.

After sewing the lace to the dress I instantly was amazed at the result. It looked like it was meant to be there. It completely pulled the dress together and made it look “finished.” I am so glad I decided to try the unusual suggestion.

Lastly, because I wanted to accentuate my waist without having to go through the bother of adding waist shaping to the dress, I made a quick tie to cinch in the waist of the dress. I crocheted 3 really long chains—long enough to wrap loosely around my waist twice—then braided the chains together. It is just the right length to tie into a bow at my waist bringing the dress in and also carrying the crochet into the body of the garment.



All in all I would say that this pattern has major issues in the gauge department (you do the math, this time it really wasn’t me!), and I would have preferred not to have serged seams running through my crochet, but I love the end result and I love that this pattern inspired me to mix my two favorite hobbies -- yarnplay and sewing.

This is currently hanging up in Yarnia on display to give browsers pattern ideas. I'll get it back in the middle of winter (when no one is thinking about knitting or wearing summer clothes...) which means that I'll probably be wearing it all the time next summer.

The estimation game

OK friends I have come up with a crazy game to play with myself to hopefully help me get some of those WIPs off the needs. Here is my plan: I am going to estimate how many days of knitting it will take to finish each of my WIPs. I will try to pick something that is a bit challenging but (hopefully) reasonable. For each WIP that I finish within the allotted amount of time I can spend $15 on yarn. That is a potential of $165 I would allow myself to splurge!

The rules:

1) I must knit some each day. If I don't knit one day one of my projects will still have to take a strike.

2) Each day will be allocated to one project. If I knit on more than one project I will have to choose which one takes the day.

3) Any new cast-ons (with the one exception I will explain later) will not count. If I waste days playing with new projects I may have to give up getting some new yarn.

4) Finished means completely finished. As in off the needles, blocked, seamed, buttons applied, etc. Ready to be worn/used.

5) No money can be spent on yarn, needles, notions, ect. until this challenge is over, i.e. all the days have been used up.

My predictions:

1) First spinning attempt. I bought a drop spindle and some Targhee wool at sock summit last August and started spinning away. I actually got to the point where my spinning was pretty even but then I got distracted with school and didn't pick it up for 11 months. Now I am at it again and am getting somewhat even results... For a first attempt I'm pretty happy. Anyway, about 1 oz. of the 3.8 oz braid was used in my thrummed mittens. The rest is on it's way to becoming yarn. According to my Knit Picks yarn scale (so wonderful to have!) I have 0.78 oz left. I'm going to be a little generous with this one and give myself 5 days to finish since I'm so new to spinning. I think two days for spinning, two days for plying, and one day for washing, drying and skeining.



2) Op Art. I have four stripes left on this blanket. That sounds pretty manageable, until I think about how each stripe contains both more rows that the stripe before and more stitches per row. I'm going to push myself and give myself 20 days here. right now it's taking me about 35 minutes to do one row. I'm guessing I have 60 hours left on this puppy so I'm going to have to give it 3 hours each of it's days. This is going to be my biggest challenge.



3) Hope for Change socks. My oldest WIP to date. I love the way this pattern looks, it's just not my favorite to knit. One sock is complete the other sock is about 2/3 up my instep (knit from toe up). I'm only giving myself 3 days to finish these babies. One day to get past the heel, two days for the leg and cuff.



4) Mojo socks. These are so close to being done I can taste it. I have 45 rows left. These get one day.



5) Yeah for Fall (Green Gable sweater). This went so quickly when I was working on it. I knit the whole body in about a week. I'm going to give it one more week. 3 days to finish the sleeves, 3 days to finish the yoke and hood, and 1 day for blocking.



5) Birthday socks (Air Raid socks). The first sock is finished. The second sock has one repeat of 6 done on the leg (knit from the top down). The first sock went very fast. There is no real reason these have taken so long other than they are my "purse" project and I haven't had to wait very often (knock on wood). I will give these 5 days.



6) Selbu Mittens. One mitten is half done. These take complete attention because I have to follow the colorwork chart carefully. With school starting on the 30th complete attention is going to be hard to give. I'm going to be a bit lax with these and give them 14 days since full devotion will be hard to muster.



7) Baby Surprise Jacket. This will go quickly once I turn my attention to it, I have just been focusing on other things recently. I am giving this 3 days.



8) Victorian Scarf. Lace, like colorwork takes a lot of attention. Also, this project is pretty huge. I have 3 repeats of 42 done, plus the center panel, which is skinny but looooooong. I am going to give this project 18 days. That is 3 repeats a day for 14 days then 3 days for the center panel and 1 for blocking.



9) Pomatomous Socks. These are fun to knit but all of the twisted stitches are slow going for me. I am 1/3 through the leg (knit top down) on the first sock. I'm going to say 10 days for these socks.



10) Test Knit - Bashful. I can't show you a picture of this one, but I'm test knitting a hat for Marly Bird aka Yarnthing on Ravelry. The hat is slouchy and DK weight but I can't tell you anything about it until the pattern is released. So far all I have knit is the ribbing. I'm giving it 2 days since it's a hat and hats are smallish quickish projects.

11) Test Knit - Whirligig bolero. This is a test knit for Stephanie Japel to help her up-size a pattern that was originally only in baby/toddler sizes. She is going to re-release it with bigger child and adult sizes. I'm testing one of the child sizes. It will either go to one of my cousins' kids or to charity, but when the pattern is release I will have the adult sizes muahahaha. I haven't actually gotten the pattern yet or my assigned size (supposed to come out today) but it has to be done within 3 weeks so I'm going to give myself 21 days.

That is 108 days to finish all my projects. That means on November 25 I will be done with this little adventure. That gives me one month to do any Christmas knitting I need... More than enough right...

WIPs march of shame (part seven - the finale)

Hello friends! I have one last WIP to show you and then you are all caught up on my knitting exploits (except for one project that I can't share with you until I finish completely because it is somewhat secret).

Anyway, you'll never guess what this is.





I know it's impossible to tell from that tiny little strip but that is the infamous Baby Surprise Jacket by the infamous Elizabeth Zimmerman. I am knitting mine from this:



It is a Knit Picks Sock Blank that was dyed for me in the Dyed Sock Blank Swap on ravelry. This blank was dyed for me by schknitz of ravelry. I think it looks like a watercolor of a sunset when knit up.

I started this on a whim (wanted to make one of the great patterns and thought it would go fast--I'm knitting with two strands held together) but haven't made much progress as you can see. It's not that there's anything wrong with the pattern, I happen to love garter stitch. It has, however, become painfully obvious to me after looking at other people's renditions of this sweater that I'm going to run out of yarn.

Rather than undo what little I've already done, I think I'll add stripes as so many before me have done. I'm just not sure what will stripe well with this yet... I'll have to spend some time with the stash and pull out something more neutral to tone down the loud colors.

Recently, most of my attention has been devoted to the secret project which I will let you all know about shortly.