It might happen...

...I might really finish the Zipped Raglan (from LMKG) for L's birthday, which is a little more than a month away.

It's slow going, but this morning when I threw the pieces on the floor to figure out how it was all going to fit together, I could imagine an actual sweater emerging from the chaos. The major obstacle I foresee right now is overcoming my resistance to making another sleeve. My husband has very long arms.

That, and the zipper of course. I'm taking a huge leap of faith here that I'll be able to somehow attach a zipper to this thing.

One is better than none

So I was going to wait to post the Baudelaire socks until I finished the second, but then I got realistic. My daughter has decided that she no longer likes to nap during the day, so there hasn't been much time for anything, let alone knitting another lacy sock. I have gone so far as to start the toe on the second, so it's not like there won't be a pair at some point in the future. But for now, I figure I'll show you one. One is better than none, right? Plus I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out, considering it's my first sock.



Please don't ask me why the red is completely different in every picture I take of these socks. I've just had to accept that my camera does not do red. In reality they are probably a bit darker than these pictures suggest.

Oh, and here's a little treat for the eyes: Lorna's Laces in Old Rose.



I'll be using it to make the Traveler's Stockings that Grumperina has up on her site, same color and everything. What can I say... when I see something I love, I just have to copy it : ).

Dreaming about lace

So ever since I finished the EZ sweater, I've been dreaming about the next lace project. Seriously, I've been doing yarn overs in my dreams, that's how fixated I am. I have a couple of lace books that I've been studying, and now I'm just trying to decide which project to choose. My favorite pattern from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls is the Kimono Shawl, so I made a swatch of the pattern yesterday just to see how it works. I used some sport weight alpaca that I have left over from a previous project, and size 4 needles.



I think it turned out OK, although there's some uneveness in the size of the yarn over holes and I'm not sure why. Maybe I need to use bigger needles, or thinner yarn. I have some lace weight alpaca coming in the mail, so I will do another swatch with that and see which works better.

I also would love to try Eunny Jang's Print o' the Wave stole. That may be my favorite lace pattern of all, but it looks intimidating.

That's it for now. Still working on L's sweater.

Pretty little thing

I finished the EZ baby sweater last night, and wove in the ends this morning. I keep staring at the garter and gull pattern in wonder as I can't believe that I was able to do that with some needles and wool. While the construction is simple, the pattern did take a lot of concentration--not an easy thing when you have an 11 month old who is teething no less (you can probably guess that most of the sweater was created at night after she went to bed!). Here are the results as of 9 AM today (I still have to block it and sew on the buttons):




I found it challenging to knit a lacy pattern. If I spaced out even for a second, which I tend to do when I'm knitting, it was easy to forget a yarn over. But now that the sweater is finished, I'm in awe of this magical process and eager to take up my next long-term project: a lace shawl.

Update: The sweater was blocked last night and is still drying.



It looks like the washing has clarified the pattern, and also created some extra wiggle room for my quickly growing child. I'm happy to say that she might be able to wear this past her first birthday, after all.

Second update: The sweater is blocked and dry, buttons are sewn, and the best part: it fits the little recipient perfectly!





I now see why everyone loves Elizabeth Zimmermann. The other sweaters I've made for Elsa do not hang well especially in the yoke, but this one drapes on her neck and shoulders perfectly. I am also happy because blocking brought the sleeves to seven inches, so they no longer look short.

(Not so) EZ baby sweater

Finally, I have something to show for my efforts. I've had a hard time getting this one off the ground, but here is the beginning of Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby sweater from the Knitter's Almanac:




The "gull" pattern is really my first attempt to knit lace, and after a few botched attempts (forgetting yarn overs, mostly) I am finally getting the hang of it. I understand the structure of the pattern now, how all the stitches line up, so I know immediately if I've made a mistake. For me, the key to executing any pattern is really understanding how it works from the inside out. Until I understand it, it never comes out right. But it's funny because in order to understand it, I have to mess it up and then piece it back together.

The only thing I'm not so sure about are my ssk's. I checked Knitting Help again to make sure I am doing it correctly, and I am. But the diagnol looks slightly jagged compared to the K2tog's.

I'm doing one pattern modification and I'm pretty sure it will work out: I'm knitting the sleeves in the round rather than flat. I thought the overall effect would be neater, especially since I have no idea how I would seam the lace work. The only question is if knitting the sleeves in the round will be a problem later when I return to the body and have to pick up the cast on stitches on each sleeve. I have thought about it, and it seems that won't make any difference--but I will update when I get to the sweater body.

I'm also placing the buttonholes every 16 rows rather than 8, since I did not want them so close together.

ETA: More modifications: I made the sleeve 6 inches (rather than 5)so it will fit Elsa better, and I knit the garter stitch cuff with size 6 needles to make it a little tighter. I find the sleeves a bit too wide, although I think that is the intended style.

Materials:

Plymouth's Suri Merino (barley color)
Size 7 needles

Giving

The gloves were finished and blocked by Christmas Eve, and I took this picture of them in the morning. The color is actually much richer than this, but my camera seems to have trouble with red.



Later that day.....

Sister's gloves:



Mom's scarf:



Brother-in-law's hat:



Husband's scarf:




Elsa's bunny (upside down!):



(to be added--Dad's hat--when I get a picture)

Everything fit well and the recipients look pleased, don't you think? I have always loved giving presents, but it is even more fulfilling when it is something handmade that is appreciated.

Hand in (one) glove

Well I think it was worth it....




Now the inspiration to complete number two: I will do it better than the first because hopefully I won't make the same silly mistakes.

Funny little bunny

Who'll be my funny little bunny, hey hey, pretty babe?


My favorite part by far is the big floppy ear, inlaid with pink angora:

Little Gifts

A few days later, here's the Ballband Dishcloth in its finished form:



After looking at some comments on the Mason Dixon KAL, I've decided that these could be used as washcloths too, so I'm going to knit up a few more for holiday gifts and wrap them around luxurious bars of soap. Yesterday I went to Michael's and enhanced my Sugar and Cream stash, so now I have many color combination possibilities. I also got some colored pencils so I can plan out my designs on graph paper.

The latest WIP is Elsa's holiday present: a little white bunny (knit with a double strand of Blue Sky Alpaca DK White) with pink angora ears. The pattern is from Hoverson's book (again!), and it's been really fun to watch it take shape. I am changing the pattern a bit and knitting with DPN's rather than two circular needles, as she suggests. This allowed me to knit more pieces in the round, so there will be fewer seams at the end. The only snag I came across was the transition from the two legs (knit separately) to the body. I was able to solve the problem by knitting the last round of each leg as if they were on straight needles to open up the circle. Then I was able to join both legs together on dpn's and close up the circle again, but it did leave a gap in the crotch area, which I sewed together this morning.

I also hit a small snag when I shaped the shoulders because it was my first time doing an ssk (a left slanting decrease)combined with a k2tog (right slanting decrease). It took me a while to figure out how the pattern was working, but with this handy visual aid I was able to pull it off:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/decrease.php

Here's an unintentionally eerie picture of the bunny in progress:



I decided to stuff the legs and belly this morning before I get too far along on the head. Oh boy, that was fun...and now it's really starting to look and feel like a toy. Can't wait to give this to Elsa.

Reflections on a dishcloth

Started this yesterday while Elsa slept in the car:



It's the Ballband Dishcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting. It's a ton of fun and looks much more complicated than it is. Think I might make a bunch of these with the Sugar and Cream cotton. Gotta love those $1 skeins, a much needed compensation for my excesses at Purl.

As I slowly construct the Ballband Dishcloth brick by brick, I can't but help notice that it's the kitschy equivalent of a modernist grid. I feel like Agnes Martin as I knit, though she would probably never use such bright colors. The colors are Mondrian, but the pattern is Martin.



The beauty of the dishcloth, though, is that it approaches abstraction, but is still grounded in reality. It is meant to be wiped along the back of a wet plate.

Webs

This is my first adventure with lace, based on another pattern in Hoverson's book. It's a little cobwebby scarf made with Rowan Kidsilk Mohair (Candy) and size 10 needles. A bit of dark pink fluff goes a long way, especially against the steeliness of a cloudy day.

I must admit that I do find it difficult to work with lace-weight yarn. Everything feels so slippery and when I do drop a stitch the mending requires micro-surgery. I'm also finding that it's important to keep the stitches loose because when I pull too tight the piece twists as I knit. So I feel like I'm knitting on the edge with this one, and not completely happy with the results. But I do like the challenge.

I'm also venturing into the delightful but very tangled web of fair isle knitting. Last night, I made a swatch for a baby-sized cardigan with a diamond pattern:



At first, I found it difficult to manage both colors, but once I understood the structure of the pattern, I was switching between them pretty easily. I did have a lot of tangling, and I'm not sure if that is something I'm doing wrong, or just one of the messy side effects of fair isle knitting. [eta: I received some generous guidance from a fellow knitter at the Angel Yarns Knitting Forum who recommended looking at http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2006/01/yarn_dominance.html. Now I think I know why my yarns were tangling. Hopefully this will solve the problem, if I can follow the instructions.]

I'm really excited to knit this one for Elsa.

For the love of hats (and a pair of gloves)

Hats. I love to make hats. They are small, manageable projects, with infinite possibilites. And nothing compares to the climactic satisfaction of decreasing the final rows, when the whole thing starts to come together. Everything speeds up as the stitches get fewer and fewer until they are down to almost nothing. I'll even suffer through making a pair of gloves just so they can be companions to a hat.

My inspiration

No words necessary.

A beginning: Two FO's

Hello fellow knitters, mamas, and anyone else interested in my handmade creations. Every beginning is really a middle, so I thought I'd start with my most recent creations: a luxurious scarf made with a cashmere blend wool and two strands of colorful mohair, and a pair of lovely fingerless gloves made with Koigu merino wool. Both of these projects were inspired by patterns from Joelle Hoverson's beautiful book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

The scarf was knit with 2 skeins of Debbie Bliss superchunky cashmerino (red), 1 skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze Mohair (marmelade), 1 skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze Mohair (candy) on size 11 straight needles. The whole scarf is knit in an easy rib pattern (ki, p1), and all three yarns are twisted together to create a luxurious, textured effect. I am tempted to keep this one for myself, but I will part with it and give it to my mother for a holiday gift.






The gloves were knit with Koigu merino wool on size 3 double pointed needles. The pattern is a bit tricky; it's actually a k2, p2 rib pattern that gets pushed over one every four stitches, creating a coiling effect. Almost looks like cables, without the sweat. This yarn was very thin and sometimes difficult to work with, especially on the dp needles, but the effort was worth it. These gloves will be perfect for driving, or typing on a cold winter's night. Plus they're practical for mamas who need all of their fingers available.