FO: Ivy

Sorry for the crappy photo - my photographer is on an expedition with the kidlets

(boy do I need to clean the bathroom mirror!)

Pattern: Ivy by Glenna C.
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool, color 23, just over 7 skeins
Needles: US size 3
Started/finished: Jan 2007/Feb 2008
Comments/mods: First off, I love this sweater. And I am beyond thrilled to finally have it finished. I started this when I was still pregnant with Boo, and it was going to be my celebratory no-longer-pregnant sweater for this winter. Hopefully, there will still be a few chilly mornings so I can justify wearing it a few times before it gets put away for the summer.

I knit this according to the pattern, but in retrospect there are some changes I would have made. I'm not a big seaming fan, and I think I would have knit this in the round. The only complication is the hole for the waist ties. It would be easy enough to knit in a hole as you were going and continue in the round. The other thing I would have done, and which I highly recommend for anyone contemplating this sweater, is to write out the waist and neck shaping for the fronts line by line. There's a lot of shaping going on, and every time I put this down, I spent a lot of time trying to count the number of neckline decreases I'd done to try and remember where I was in the pattern. I'd also take some time to figure out how to knit the neckband and attach it to the neckline without seaming, just to get rid of that one extra step.

I love this yarn - it's nice to work with, with a fairly soft hand (particularly when knitted up), but has a little bit of crunch from the silk that makes the twisted stitches stand out nicely. I wet blocked the pieces before seaming, and the fabric evened out nicely.

I'm glad it's done, if only to get one project off the plate. Now, given that it's a balmy 70 degrees out, it's time for some summer sweaters.

Irons in the fire

I'm home today with a (not so) sick Boo and decided to take advantage of the lovely weather to get some photos of the current works in progress. There are many.

A new blanket for Devil, to replace the one lost a few weeks ago. I'm through the first border and staring down the barrel of 120+ rows of mindless blue and white intarsia. I'm already pretty certain that I hate intarsia. This is not going to be pretty.

Ivy, 90% seamed, ties done (note: I did not knit the required 52" because then they would be dragging on the ground), neckband left to be knit. The pattern calls for the neckband to be knit separately and then sewn in, but I'd rather knit it to the sweater as I go. Need to think about that a bit more.

The rest of Cricket, my first installment of the Hello Yarn Fiber Club almost a year ago (May 2007). I'm halfway through the hunk I had left over.

Socks for Devil from the Rainbow sock leftovers (there were lots of leftovers, 30+ grams). I started these while waiting for my Blue Moon package, but they are now on hold for a while. There are also the StR socks, of which I've managed to knit and rip most of the foot. Hmmm...hopefully I'll have something finished soon!

Christmas loot

I'm home enjoying some alone time on the holiday, and I was unpacking some boxes that got sent back from New England after Christmas - there's a bunch of stuff that I haven't shared yet.

Although I put a bunch of yarny stuff on a list for Santa, somehow he never got it (hmmm...next time I'll make sure I send that list to Santa myself, rather then relying on Ironman to do it). The only yarn present I got was some lovely brown handspun alpaca from Hampden Hills Alpacas.

There's 148 yds of sportweight, and 414 yds worsted weight, all in a gorgeous rosy greyish brown color. I have no idea what it's going to become yet - maybe a nice cozy hat and scarf combo. Or some mitts - it's a cold wet day today and I could use a pair.

I also had the opportunity to visit Halcyon Yarns in Bath, ME right after New Year's. What an amazing place! I walked in and thought I'd died and gone to yarny heaven. It's a big fiber warehouse, brightly lit and cozy warm. I was accompanied by my mom and my brother, who were very accomodating of my enthusiasm as I wandered aimless, mouth agape in awe. There were aisles and aisles of yarn, for both knitting and weaving, wheels, piles of fiber, patterns, everything you could possibly ask for (as long as you weren't looking for lots of sock yarn). I was especially stuck by the number of local products they stocked - lots of yarns I'd never heard of that were made in Maine, locally made swifts and other such things. They had a separate room full of needles and notions. I managed to restrain myself and only got the following:

a bag of handdyed wool of unknown variety - about a 5 in staple and quite crimpy, maybe Romney?

4 oz of superwash merino and 4 oz of merino-tencel, to play around with dyeing once Boo is weaned,

and one small cone of Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk laceweight in the most gorgeous color ever, for a small lacy scarf somewhere down the road.

It really was a fabulous place. As I was heading to the register, I came across the display of Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I practically fell over from color overload, and grabbed a skein to take home with me. But it's not exactly soft in the skein, so I asked the lady at the register (who might have been Halcyon herself, but I don't know) if she'd used it yet, and whether or not it softened up much after washing. She allowed as how she hadn't made socks with it yet, but another customer had used it. The socks had softened up some with washing, but she was not particularly enthusiastic about it. I've read elsewhere that it does soften up considerably after washing and (gasp!) drying, but she more or less said she wouldn't use it for socks. And it was another $20 I wasn't sure I wanted to spend just then. So I didn't get any. How many yarn store owners/employees would be that honest about their products? Now I'm pretty sure I'll get some, based on what I've read about others experiences, and I'll be getting it from Halcyon.

One last bit of news to update:

Ivy is now done (except for two 52 inch ribbed ties - crap!) and is soaking before being blocked. I love the smell of Eucalan! And I'm looking forward to a new sweater as soon as I knit up 87" of ties.

ETA: Here are some pictures from Halcyon Yarn at Deb's blog - sounds like she had the same reaction I did!

Was it good for you too?

Done. Finis. With two hours to spare. I've impressed myself this time.

Pattern: EZ's baby surplice sweater from Vogue Spring/Summer 2007 (Rav link)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Top (discontinued), 50/50 wool/cotton, (less then) two skeins, approximately 300 yds
Needles: US7
Comments/mods: the yarn I used is an aran or heavy worsted weight instead of the ~DK weight called for by the pattern. I rationalized my way around this issue by knitting the smaller of the two sizes in the pattern, and guessing that the intended recipient will still fit into in next winter (since he/she certainly won't be big enough for it this winter) (I hope). Finished chest measurement when laid flat is about 22 in, but it can be adjusted as needed by wrapping more or less.

Instead of buttons I put 3 stitch I-cords on the front corners of the jacket. Easier to do, plus I didn't have any suitable buttons floating around at work. I hope I made them long enough that they'll be usable as the babe gets bigger.

I used a lifted bar increase on the arms, and I like the subtle line it makes in the garter stitch. It is pretty unobtrusive in fact, and I like how it matches with the slight break seen along the front edging.

The yarn was slightly tough to work with, particularly under a time crunch - I'm not such a big fan of cotton, and this blend was particularly stiff feeling for only being 50% cotton. This is the same yarn I used for the now snoozing Basalt Tank, and I don't remember it being this tough to work with. Of course, I didn't knit for three days straight without stopping on the Basalt Tank either, so that might have something to do with it. I'm very pleased this is done, and I hope the mom-to-be likes it!

Just in case you've forgotten, I'm also working on my Rainbow Socks. Let me rephrase, on someone's Rainbow socks, because there is no way in hell these suckers are going to fit me. But I'm having fun with all the short rows!

note: finished sock still doesn't have the toe grafted because I finished it on the bus, and had to start the other one immediately (to avoid dreaded SSS). And even though I've done a fair bit of grafting in my time, I'm not crazy enough to do it without reviewing the directions at least once. So sock #2 is getting worked on 4 dpns instead of 5, until I get around to Kitchnering the damn thing.

Deadlines

Tomorrow is D-day, the day of my friend's baby shower. And I forgot about it completely until Monday afternoon, when, in a sudden crystalline moment of realization, I said "Oh shit!" I racked my brains for a quick baby knit, while trying to maintain some semblance of productivity. It wasn't until I was staring at the bottom of the pool later that evening that I had a revelation: An EZ baby surplice (Rav link)! In stash yarn! I could feel the beams of light streaming down from the heavens even though it was a) dark and b) completely overcast even if the sun had been up.

So Monday night I cast on. The yarn I'm using (discontinued Cotton Top that arrived on my doorstep in a bag of dirt) is bigger then what is called for in the pattern, but I think that will work out well. I'm knitting the smaller size, and I think it will end up about 6 month size when I'm done. Given that my friend is on the small size, and the massive expandability of this particular pattern, I'm hoping that it will still work for her little one next winter.

Of course, having said that, I now realize that I've never met her husband. He's probably a 6'5" Oklahoma linebacker, and she's going to give birth to an 11 lb baby. It doesn't seem likely, but you never know.

Time to get back to knitting work.