FO: Ironman's Christmas Aran

Pattern: Heirloom Aran Pullover by Sue Mink
Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Karisma Classic, colorway 16, 120 yds/50 gr, 14 skeins.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm and US 6/4.0 mm circulars.
Gauge: 20 stitches/28 rows in stockinette
Start/finish: 20 October 2010 - 24 January 2011
Comments/modifications: this pdf is quite a minimalist pattern (all of 2 pages) with no charts, which (as a dedicated chart-ist) I found irritating. However, it is a pretty straightforward pattern. The other thing is that I used DK weight instead of worsted weight yarn, so I ended up using US 4/6 needles instead of US 7/9 - I still got gauge, so that was fine.

I started with the sleeves for a couple of reasons. 1) I hate knitting sleeves because they take forever, and 2) I wanted a chance to learn some of the cable patterns before launching into the front and back, particularly as I was changing the big middle cable panel. I think this is the first time I've knit both sleeves at the same time and, while it meant that all the increases and decreases matched up fine, it also took me a month. A solid month of knitting, to get two sleeves. Bah!

I swapped the odd, very in-and-out middle cable panel from the pattern with a much more uniform one from the Harmony Guides (the Lattice Cable, page 162 in cables & arnas if you're curious). Back and fronts went fairly smoothly. The yarn was really nice to work with - a bit stiff in the ball, but lovely and soft once knit up. And extremely economically priced, as these things go.

I blocked all the pieces before seaming and doing the neckband, but then had to reblock as the finished sweater was a bit too close fitting for Himself, and the sleeves were a bit short. Blocking took care of that but I may have to go back and redo the hip band - like a doofus I didn't check my notes on how much ribbing I did on the sleeves, and the waist ribbing is probably an inch too short. It was deemed acceptable by my husband, who has been waiting for this sweater for two Christmases now. But I can't guarantee that I won't be redoing the ribbing and trying to graft knit 1, purl 1 rib at some point in the future. I just couldn't face the prospect right now...Another thing that I would do over: I'd add some short rows at the back to get it to hang a little better. There's just not quite enough fabric coming up to the neck there.

So, Sweater #1 of 2011 is done. Thankfully sweater #2 is up to armholes on both body and sleeves, and might even be done before leaving for our ski trip in a week and a half. Which is good - Devil needs a new sweater!

Finishing

I hate seaming sweaters, but the list of this year's goals has inspired me; I managed to finish up the knitting on the IM Aran last Friday, and for once, I wasted no time in throwing the bits and pieces into some water and laying them out to dry.

 

I pinned out the body pieces to measurement (22 inches across for each), but the sleeves I just laid flat and smoothed out. I pinned the strips for the saddle shoulders down because they were twisting a bit. This proved to be a good idea, since the girls later admitted to going up to the guest room and jumping on the bed.

I've sewed in the sleeves and knit the collar, but a few problems have cropped up. The first is that I obviously miscounted the rows needed for the waistband ribbing, and it's a bit shorter then the ribbing on the sleeves and collar. The second problem is that it turns out I probably should have knit the 46 size, not the 44. I'm hoping I can block it out a bit wider, to meet Himself's specific requirements, but I may be out of luck. Thnakfully I've figured out tentative fixes for both issues: if post-seaming and re-blocking, the ribbing is still too short, I'll pick up the stitches, pick out the cast on edge (groan!) and knit a bit more ribbing. If it's still too narrow through the body, I will not rip out the whole thing and redo it - that would require a good divorce lawyer. Instead, I'll knit two strips of ribbing/seed stitch about an inch wide, and sew them in at the sides. I'll need to carry the gusset up through the armpit and down the sleeves a bit, which might add way too much volume to the sleeve, but we'll wait and see. Blocking first!

Status report

OK, it's January 6th - where do things stand on the January projects?

Item the largest: Falkland spinning. Given the magnitude of this undertaking and the time frame, I've chosen to do a bit of sampling to make sure I get in the same ballpark as the orginal yarn. The sweater was knit in nine natural colors of Shetland 2000, a fingering weight Shetland wool yarn. 190 yds/50 grams, which works out to 1727 ypp. The gauge for the sweater is 32 stitches/32 rows per 4 inches (something has to be wrong with that row gauge, but whatever) on US 4/3.5 mm needles. It has taken me quite a while to figure out how you get 8 sts/inch with fingering weight on US 4 needles, and I've actually given up and moved on.

Sample #1: spun long draw, from top split into four chunks lengthwise, 15:1, plied at same ratio, finished with a soak in Soak and warm water. I knit a swatch with the suggested needle sizes (US 3/3.0 mm and US 4/3.5 mm) and then threw in US 2/2.75 as well. The swatch was then soaked in the same manner as the yarn, and I measured the gauge after it was dry.

Results: 17.5 yds/0.2 oz (7g) = 1326 ypp. Too heavy, although handspun tends to be denser then millspun, so maybe ok. Gauge with US 2/3/4 respectively: 7 sts/10 rows, 6.5 sts/9 rows and 6 sts/9 rows per inch. Hmmm...

Sample #2: spun from the fold, 15:1, short forward draw, drafting against twist. I didn't feel like I was getting very consistent singles with my long draw, so I tried something a bit different. Finsihed yarn as for #1. Swatched with US 1/2.25 mm and US 2/2.75 mm.

Results: 14.2 yds/0.176 oz (5 g), 1291 ypp - not surprisingly, the more worsted style of drafting gave me a denser yarn. Gauges: 7.5 sts/12 rows and 7.5 sts/11 rows respectively, but the swatch is a bit bulletproof. Which led to

Sample #3: spun from the fold on my highest ratio (17:1), but plied at 12:1. Drafting was more of a short forward draw, but I still tried to draft against twist. The singles were definitely finer - closer to 55-60 wpi then the 40 wpi I got with #2. Swatched with US 1 and 2 again.

Results: Wiktory! (I think) 12.75 yds/0.14 oz (4g), 1475 ypp. Gauges: just over 8 sts/6 rows and just under 8 sts/10 rows per inch. The swatch is still fairly soft and bares no resemblance to Kevlar. Or elica82's socks.

One thing I have learned is that this Falkland reacts like a puffball mushroom when it hits water - poooooof! I suspect that my gauge will loosen up a bit with the colorwork, so now I need to come to terms that I may be knitting an entire men's sweater on 2.75 mm needles. Thankfully, the chest size has gone down quite a bit from my first estimate, so I'm not worried about running out of fiber. My problem is going to be running out of time!

Ok, on to other projects:

Smaug socks - 5 repeats and a heel flap done as of 5 January 2011 (Tomorrow Never Dies gave me a good opportunity to get ahead).

And the IM Aran front: five repeats of the main cable done as of last night.

So tonight - throw the kids in bed by 7:30, knit 12 rows of cabled goodness and then spin, spin, spin.

Note: everyone reading who has not posted a comment on my list for 2011 better go do so: otherwise JoAnna will be getting a large package of wooly goodies all by her lonesome! I'm looking at all y'all down there in Houston (or in Switaly as the case may be), you and you in Chicago and you who are related to me (Mom!). It's really easy - just click on the comment button and tell me your goals for 2011, knitting or otherwise.

In over my head

So...it's only the third day of the new year, and I'm thinking I might be in a bit of a pickle. To say the least.

I've got the first socks underway - two thirds of the way down the leg of sock #1. The plan is one repeat (12 rows) or the equivalent (i.e. heel flap/turn) every night. That should get me done by the end of the month, easy, not including knitting on my commute. Sweater #1 (Himself's Christmas present) has sleeves and a back. Front is started, and again - one repeat a night (also 12 rows. Synergy I haz it) should get it done in a couple of weeks. It's a bit of a cheat since it was 75% done before 2011, but it's got cabling on every right side row and 130 stitches. It totally counts.

So everything is going swimmingly until I take stock of the first Really. Huge. Project. That would be number 6 on the Eleven in Twenty Eleven list: the River Run pullover. This is a gorgeous men's sweater - stranded colorwork in nine different natural shades of Shetland wool. Un-freaking-believable. The largest size requires approximately 3400 yds of heavy fingering weight yarn. The grist is 1727 ypp, meaning I'd need 1.97 lbs of yarn. I've been wanting to make this for a long time, but I don't have 2 lbs of Shetland wool in nine shades lying around. What I do have is 2 lbs of white Falkland wool sitting in my lair, and a metric fuckton of dye. So here's my evening schedule for the rest of this month:

1. Knit one repeat/equivalent on socks
2. Knit one repeat on sweater
3. Spin white Falkland until my fingers fall off the bone or I end up face down in a pile of roving, drooling and snoring softly.

At the end of the month, I'll start plying my little brains out, and hope for the best with the dye pots. The original is done in black, white, three shades of grey and four shades of brown. Black, white and grey are all good - I might shift the browns to blues just for mine/the recipient's aesthetic pleasure.

The real pisser of it all is that I've got a deadline for this project: it needs to be done by early March. Seeing as it took me six months to spin my last specific sweater project, I'm not feeling too optimistic. On the other hand, there will only be one plying stage (2-ply vs. 4-ply cabled yarn). I will spin woolen, with a high ratio, in order to bang out as much yardage as possible.  The last time I spun Falkland, I did a pound in approximately 6 days (plying and all). It was a bit thicker, more DK weight then sport/fingering, and I certainly wasn't doing anything else, so I think I could get the yarn spun by the end of January. Right?

Right?

*crickets*

Hmmmm...I'd better get sampling then.

Eleven projects for 2011

Insane porpoise is insane. Ehem.

1. Eleven pairs of socks - a la Yarn Harlot, I've pulled out and bagged 11 socks-worth of yarn (making a significant dent in my sock yarn stash, glory be!), and chosen patterns to go with them. I'm only budgeting 11 because a) one pattern is a pair of knee highs and b) ten days of the month of June I'm expecting to be knitting-free.
2. Eleven sweaters, including (not in any particular order)

• 3. Pas de Valse
• 4. Handspun Vine Yoke Cardigan
• 5. Rollneck sweater for Devil
• 6. The River Run Pullover (Rav link), for which I will also spin the yarn*.

7. Spin more during the 2011 Tour de Fleece then I did in 2010 (39.4 oz)
8. Get my first full fleece (figuring out what to do with it is 2012's project)
9. Design a shawl
10. Submit a design to Knitty
11. Design a spinning/knitting project for Ennea Collective

OK. Now that it's all down on (virtual) paper, I'll be peering out the window every time the doorbell rings to see if the nice men in white coats have come to take me away. What a completely ludicrous list. However, if you don't aim high, you don't make as spectacular a puddle when you crash land.

What about the rest of you? What are your fibery goals for 2011? Let me know in the comments, and I'll send some lucky random person a goody from my stash (handspun anyone?). Post your comments by midnight CST on January 8th, and I'll draw numbers. Happy New Year everyone!

* I need a little lie down and a stiff drink just contemplating this project. It needs to be done in March. Approximately 2000 yds of yarn in 9 different colors. Fuck me sideways with a chain saw. That is all.