A finished present, only 6 months after the fact

My lovely mother-in-law turned 70 last August, and as a present I gave her the choice of any knitted item she might like. After a bit of hemming and hawing, she said she wanted a sweater. Off I went to Ravelry to search for a pattern. After a bit of back and forth, she settled on a lovely pattern from Artesano Yarns. And now, several months later, it's all done.

Pattern: Rachel by Ros Wilson
Yarn: Bartlettyarns Fisherman 2-ply in midnight, just under 5 skeins for the 43" size
Needles: US 10/6.0 mm
Gauge: 15 stitches/20 rows per 4 inches
Start/finish: 4 November 2011 - 23 January 2012
Comments and modifications: Of course I changed things up - it's what I do after all. Can't leave well enough alone...

First off - the arms. The sweater is knit from one cuff to the other, casting on stitches for the body when you get there. The pattern calls for some seriously belled sleeves, but Mermaid wanted normally shaped sleeves, so I did a bit of math and off I went. Not a terribly difficult change, all in all, but I did have to take some careful notes to make sure the arms matched (since they were knit 2 months apart!). The only other change that I made in this version was to work a slightly deeper collar, to match the cuff detail.

However...the pattern, as written, is quite compressed, and I found what I interpreted as a number of errors. Nothing too egregious - mostly around the shoulder shaping and the number of rows that needed to be worked to get both sides to match. And a couple of instances where it seemed like an extra row was thrown in that would mean working things on the wrong side. It's entirely possible that it was operator error, so take that critique with a grain of salt. It's hard to complain with a free pattern after all.

If I made this sweater again (which I'm considering - it's nice and cozy), the only additional mods I would make are as follows: make the body a bit shorter - it's quite long in this version. Might be my gauge at issue, but when I tried it on, it came down way past my hips. I'd prefer it a bit shorter. I'd also change the hem. This has a double thickness hem around the bottom which I'm not a real fan of. I'd add a few of the same ridges that are around the sleeve cuffs and neck to make it a bit more cohesive.

The overwhelming upside of this project was the glorious yarn I used. Bartlettyarns are one of the last mule-spun yarns made. This results in a rustic, nubbly, almost-handspun feel that was a pleasure to work with. And as I was seaming up the finished item, I noticed an interesting thing about the yarn after blocking.

See that? The strand on the left is the unwashed yarn I used for seaming, the one on the right is the end of my blocked swatch. There's a bit of difference, no? I love how much the yarn poofs up after finishing, and I'm really glad I washed my swatch before I checked the gauge and cast on. Imagine the disaster otherwise!

So Mermaid: the sweater is finished. It needs one more bath to even out the seaming, and then it can be on it's way to you. It might go via the Far East though, depending on how organized I get. Hope you can wait! But I'll need some better pictures once it makes it to its new home, ok?

The last day of school

And the teacher gifts are finished. Blocked even. I have got to start doing this earlier next year!

Patterns: Lacy Karius, Lacy Baktus, Mezquita Shawl (from left to right)
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Aguas (which is mostly green), Cote d'Azure and Playa (again left to right), less then a full skein for each
Needles: US: 3/3.25 mm, US 2/2.75 mm and US 5/3.75 mm.
Start/finish: 6 June - 27 June, 5 June - 1 July, and 2 July - 4 July
Comments/mods: I started off with the middle scarf, but then thought the variegation of the yarn might look better in the stockinette version (Karius), so I started the left hand scarf and finished it first.

I worked the first and last stitch of every row in garter, hoping to keep it from curling too much, and after blocking it seemed ok. I love the drape of the yarn in stockinette at a larger gauge. I also love this colorway - I'm desperate for a sweater in this yarn, but as the rotational speed of the Earth has not yet slowed, I'm kind of out of luck for the immediate future.

When I went back to the garter stitch version (Baktus), I had more done then I remembered, so I kept on in garter stitch. And it works quite well too, although next time I think I would use a US 3/3.25 mm needle instead of the US 2/2.75 that I started with.

By scarf 3, I was tired of the Baktus/Karius deal, so I found a lovely shawl pattern with a construction similar to the pattern I used for last year's teacher gifts. I cast on with a needle 3 sizes smaller then called for, and the scarf was still going to be monstrous (and take forever!), so I cut the number of repeats almost in half - from 36 down to 20. I should have done something in the middle - maybe 27 - because this mini version is really mini. Blocked out, it sits very nicely over my shoulders, but there isn't really enough extra to wrap loosely. I'm hoping the fact that the recipient is smaller then me will help that problem.

Right, now that the pesky deadline knitting is done with, it's back to the spinning wheel! WIth assistance from my little buddy of course...

Nana cheated

She opened her birthday present early. Of course, we were talking on Skype, and she did ask me if it was ok. After ascertaining that it was cold enough in the mornings to need some hand covering when she walks the dog, I said it was ok.

Pattern: Triskele Mittens by Violet Green
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Rainforest Heather and some unknown color of Jamesons Spindrift taken off of knitlet's hands in a stash swap back in Houston. Maybe 1/3 of a ball of the Palette and 25 gr of Spindrift? Not sure, but not much yarn at all.
Needles: US 2/2.75 mm bamboo dpns
Start/finish: 5 Sept - 13 Sept 2010
Comments/mods: A really nice pattern - reasonably quick for colorwork, and interesting enough to take some attention. I could work on them while watching TV as long as I didn't need to pay attention to every second of whatever was on (or even most seconds). I used fingering weight yarn instead of the DK weight indicated in the pattern. But Mom has small hands, so that worked out ok - I could get them on, but there wasn't any extra room in there.

I love the wavy palms, and the mirroring of the pattern in the left and right mittens.

Now that these are done, I'm ready to jump in to another pair of colorwork mittens, only this time with handspun. Yee haw!

New projects

Writing down a list has definitely helped me prioritize my knitting activities. For example,

The finished prototype for the hat in my three piece collection. I did this a bit differently from my usual design process, which is think up an idea and knit it, then go back and try to write it up after the fact. That procedure usually results in my having to knit another item after I've finished writing the pattern, just to make sure I've got it right. This time I put a bit more thought into the pattern ahead of time, did the chart and then knit from that. I've still got to finish up the pattern writing, but having the chart done ahead of time meant that I could knit the hat as a test knit of the chart.

Priority #2: Ironman's Aran. When I went back to my parents' a few weeks ago, I scored a huge stash of new needles. My aunt, who has previously sent me destash stuff in a potting soil bag, had brought up a bunch of needles and yarn she wanted to pass on. None of the yarn was particularly useful for me, but the needles...

Oh yeah...in addition to this absolute honking pile of straight needles, there was a bag of circulars and crochet hooks. And stitch markers. And stitch holders. Etc, etc. You get the idea. As a result, I now have a new favorite type of needle.

Nylon. Molded in one piece, with no joins at all, bendy, flexible, comfy. My only complaint is that they're not very pointy, but I was so enamored that I immediately used them for a swatch.

Drops Karisma, on US 7, 8 and 9 needles. None of which are quite right - 7s give me 5 sts/inch, 8s and 9s give me 4.5 sts/inch, and what I'm supposed to get for the pattern is 4 sts/inch. However, given that Mr. Fussy Mc-Wool-Is-Itchy-pants has okayed this yarn, I think I'll just knit a bigger size on smaller needles and hope for the best. Good plan, right? Right...(famous last words).

I also threw design-work to the wind last night, and started a birthday present for my Mom. I'm one third of the way into the first of two, and it's cranking along. Hopefully I can get them finished up by the end of next week and send them off. Should be do-able - school starts tomorrow, so my commuting time is about to take a drastic leap upwards. Hooray!

Annis update

So...it's now T = -9 days and I have three out of six Annis done (two blocked even!) and have started #4. Things that I have learned along the way:

Backwards loop cast on is a good stretchy edge, but makes the first row a bit dodgy
Malabrigo lace is gorgeous soft stuff, but can make some really impressive yarn barf
Just say no to nupps (at least when you're going for speed)

And finally...my husband really doesn't understand how important it is that I not be required to drive anywhere for the next week plus. That's key knitting time!

waves and dives back into lace knitting/short row fray, not to be heard from again until Le Tour starts