tangled up

Pictures of Perkins

I took Perkins up to Woolwinders on Sunday. They promised to take pictures with buttons and all, and being modeled by Jacqui, whom it should fit perfectly. In the meantime, here are some photos I took in its all but final state:

I'm really pleased with how the collar and button bands came out but this photo really magnifies the unevenness of the single row stripes. I'm still not sure why they are so uneven. My gauge is generally pretty even and the yarn itself did not appear to change consistency -- it's a puzzlement:

Right before I finished knitting the edging -- about 8" before -- my hands finally understood the lace pattern and it went from tedious to fun. I think I'm most pleased about how it looks attached. The instructions say to attach it with slip stitch, which I interpreted to be crocheted slip stitch, and that was a total non-starter. I ultimately did it very carefully with blanket stitch along the edges in such a way that they butt right up to each other (flat along the back).

I love Rowan patterns and this one was very easy to follow. I think my recommendation to anyone else who is thinking about making this sweater: make it easier for yourself by changing the striping pattern, the single row stripes aren't quite worth the effort.

Have a great day!

Crowing

Quite a sense of accomplishment: Perkins is finished! I sewed the final edging on last night and it needs a little steaming around the seam then it's ready to go to Woolwinders. Checking to see what time they open so I can take it there this morning. Will post photos later.

Knitting Withdrawal

Amid a couple of months of very busy weeks, this week feels like the mother of them all.  Still in San Francisco a day after my intended departure; the current plan is to leave on the red-eye tonight.    In the meantime, I've had almost no time to knit.  And on top of that, my Apricot Jacket project is a bit of a disaster.  I've been knitting both sides at the same time and got to the point of creating the diagonal pattern.  Somehow, though, I did the edge stitch on the wrong side or something because the knits and purls aren't working out correctly.  If that sounds confusing, it has totally confused me and I just totally put it aside so I can refocus on it when I get home.

I've done a little better on the  Perkins edging.  This morning I got up 1/2 hour early just to do a little knitting -- it's my own personal yoga or meditation. The edging is now about 30" long (the totalwill be 41") and if I'm not totally spent by the time I get on the plane, I will be able to work as long as the remaining yarn lasts.  Flying back on JetBlue on what seems like a very crowded plane so I'm not exactly confident.  I so want to finish that sweater this weekend.

Gotta get back to my conference call....

stretch-y stretch-y

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends who are really my DC family. With kids as helpers, baked pies and rolls. Not having to do everything left more time for...knitting!

I didn't attain my goal of finishing Perkins. I got about 11" of the lace edging finished after ripping pieces of it out several times. For some reason, I keep making mistakes. I will take it on my flight to San Francisco tomorrow and hopefully between the flight out and the flight back get it done. I dragged the sweater with me to size the edging that way (for SF, I'll have to measure) and used the occasion to get one of the girls to try it on. It really looked nice. If it were anywhere near my size, I think I would just pay for the yarn and keep it. As it is, I really look forward to giving it to Jacqui and seeing it hang in Woolwinders (if you don't notice links here, it's because I've gone on strike making them on the Mac when Movable Type makes it so easy to do on Windows -- I just have to call this up on a Windows machine and add them later).

I also made progress on the Apricot Jacket. The stretch merino gives it a very funny shape that I imagine will change when the wearer is wearing it. The ribbing pulls in much tighter than the stockinette. It's moving pretty quickly. I've started both sides of the front, working them together like sleeves. See how far I get on those this trip.

I'm not going to have much spare time while in SF, but I did notice that ArtFibers, which isn't far from where I'm stayiing, is open until 6 on Saturday. I should be able to get in from the airport, check in and have some time for shopping before they close. Seems like a waste to travel without checking out a local yarn store, especially one so storied as ArtFibers.

For the last couple of years, I've coached my friends daughter and her two friends on their history fair project. They're really serious about it, work hard on it and last year ranked 7th nationally in the documentary category and won the overall African American History prize. We've been working on this year's project for the past month or so and knitting has become a regular topic -- all three want to learn to knit. One of them turns 15 this weekend and I got her a copy of the Teen Knitting Club book -- it's perfect for kids their age, filled with projects they're all really interested in. I'd definitely recommend it.

Unlikely that I'll get to post again until December 2 when I'm back in DC. Hopefully I'll have lots to write about then.

Almost Perkins

This is the longest time for me between posts since I started this blog in August. Travel will do that, I guess. Travel this time gave me little time to knit, so I don't have too much to report, except....

Perkins is just about almost finished. And if I say so myself, she's looking pretty good. All that is left is to complete the lace edging around the bottom (in progress) and attach it. My goal is get the whole thing completed before next weekend so I can take it up or send it up to Jacqui before I start traveling again next Saturday. Jacqui, if you're reading this, start thinking about buttons -- the sweater needs seven.

There will be lots more pictures (maybe incentive to update my photo album), but here's just one in the meantime.

Ugg-a Ugg-a

This weekend wasn't very productive for work or for everything I hoped to do around the house, but I did get a lot of knitting done. In addition to completing Lara, I made some good progress on Perkins -- finished the buttonhole band, the collar, and started knitting the lace edging. I also made some adorable baby booties that will make great gifts and took just a few hours.

Candi Jensen has a couple of books of crochet patterns for babies and tots that have miniature versions of cool, popular clothing items. I even bought one of the them, Candy Babies, to see if I could convert some of them into knitting patterns. Well, it seems she's already done that, at least with a couple of them. Available on the DIY Network, these Ugg booties and a matching hat were part of a show that she did. The construction is simple and ingenious. They use Suede and Plush yarns by Berroco, which knit up to look exactly like their names. The pattern for the booties is here and the hat is here and here.

Planes, Trains...

What a difference a weekend makes. I had two flights (roundtrip to Boston) and two train rides (roundtrip to NY) this week and used a good part of them to weave in the many ends of Perkins. What I didn't finish while traveling I finished this weekend.

Moving right along, I blocked both Lara and Perkins with a steam iron pinned to the rug in my den. Not the perfect set up but it worked. I intended to take pictures to document the process but I was downstairs, the camera was upstairs and I just plain spaced. Both sweaters looked so nice stretched out flat in their various shapes.

I didn't stop there. I attached the lace edging to the sleeves. The pattern calls for a slip stitch, but I tried it twice and it looked terrible. I ended up sewing them on and I think they look fine. Next came sewing up one of the shoulders -- I need to learn how to do short rows for the shoulder edges to avoid the ladder effect. Then came the button band, which was relatively painless. Finally, at least for this evening, setting in sleeve #1. I did get the camera at this juncture -- here's the construction site:

Hopefully, the end of this week will see the completion of Perkins except for the edging and possibly the sewing up of Lara. I'm making progress on my travel project -- the Koigu scarf is half finished now. Have to start thinking in terms of holiday presents.

VOTE TODAY!!

I've noticed that a lot of the knitting blogs I read regularly are posting about the election tomorrow. I've been very impressed by the thoughtful nature of the postings and the strong spirit that drives people to advocate voting and voting for John Kerry. I'll be at my polling place tomorrow at 7 a.m.

When I started my blog, I had in mind to keep it to just knitting; although I live in a world that is heavily focused on politics, I think of it as really separate from my knitting world. I haven't even gotten the knitting part totally down yet, but can't help but post occasionally just pointing people to political stuff they might not see elsewhere. If you were in Cleveland tonight like my friend Eric waiting for Springsteen and Kerry to show up, you might have seen this:

I'm headed up to Boston in the morning. If Kerry wins, no, WHEN Kerry wins, I'll stay a few days to help out. Don't expect to have much time to knit, but won't travel anymore without taking a couple of different projects with me. If nothing else, I'll knit on the plane. For this trip:

(1) my current traveling project, a Koigu scarf in the (simple) alligator wrap stitch pattern

(2) a ruffled scarf from the new Scarf Style book, using Tahki Bunny in a dusty lavender color

(3) the Perkins sleeves with a needle for weaving in the ends

My accomplishment before leaving (thanks to the pre-election Sunday shows): the knitting on my Lara is complete. This picture was taken before I finished the final cuff and I didn't have time to take another, so it will have to do for now. I'm excited to block and sew her up and ship her down to Georgia for my sister.

Hopefully at my next writing, there will be a new President-elect....

If a Tree Falls...

...in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? if I knit and don't blog about it, has it really happened?

My schedule has been tough again so far this week but I have gotten some knitting done. Haven't had time to take photos so I'll have to post them next time.

(1) Perkins is almost complete. Only the bottom edging band remains, plus weaving in all the ends, plus blocking it, plus sewing. Well, I said almost. I spent the afternoon at Woolwinders at Saturday hanging out and knitting. I did purchase a pile of Koigu, which will merit a photo when I get to it.

(2) The Big Kureyon multi-directional scarf that was my project at work is finished (there have been a lot of conference calls). It just needs blocking and ends woven in.

(3) I've started a scarf out of Koigu that will be a truncated version of the Alligator Wrap. I hadn't knit Koigu on size 3 needles before (I work the Charlottes on size 6), but it's going smoothly.

(4) Lara has benefitted from the World Series and I'm down to the final ribbed cuff. It has been a breeze to do.

On Sunday, I had a family occasion in Baltimore and looking on the map, there was a yarn store on my way home open on Sundays until 5. I don't know what it is with me and yarn lately, but I stopped by and fell in love with some mohair from Wool in the Woods. The colors are luscious. Now they're mine.

So Much Yarn...

So little time. Here's a photo of the three items that have arrived in the mail this week -- the Silk Garden, the Diarufuran and the Koigu Fancy. It's pretty easy to tell which is which.

The construction of the Diarufuran is really interesting -- it's chained. The color is truer in the photo above, but this gives a clearer sense of the texture:

And here are the gifts from my Secret Pal -- there's no way I'm giving that card away....

Last night during the game, I finished one Perkins sleeve and I'm halfway through the second. The knitting is going very quickly now, though I still dread weaving in the ends. Hope to finish the knitting this week, except for the edging around the bottom. My current idea is to weave in the ends, block each piece, sew it together, then do that last piece of edging so that it fits exactly right. As for the Big Kureyon scarf at work, it's halfway through, judging by the two-skein method.