Sweater = Done! Top Down, Set In Sleeve, & Seamless

The top-down-set-in-sleeve-sweater I started last month is complete! It was a dream to knit and fits Carol to a tee. You can see how the colors work with her palette. View Carol's artwork here.

The Stats:
Pattern: Top Down Set in Sleeve Method by Tuulia Salmela (no pattern yet, send Tuulia an email saying how much you want it!)
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 6
Started: 3 November 2008
Finished: 28 Dec 2008 (and that is with knitting the sleeves twice to get them to my liking.)
I love love love making a sweater this way. The set in sleeve fits nicely on the shoulders, the faux seams provide structure to the entire sweater. Best of all, you can try-on-as-you knit, to ensure it works!



Hat from the yarn leftovers:

Hat pattern: A modification of my own "Folk Art For Your Head" - but I used the "Lifestyle Top Down Hat" method.
Yarn: Same as the sweater above.
Needle: US 6

Happy Solstice!

 
May you be surrounded with light and love this holiday season!

 

 

Training Wheels

I am bound and determined to get lace right. I have waged a battle with lace for over 20+ years. Friends tell me to give it up, be happy to do texture, two color. But no, I want to get it right.

So, I'm using training wheels to figure out where I am. And they are:
 

1. Highlighter tape on the knit chart so I only work the row I mean to work.
2. Row counter at the beginning of the round, so I remember what row I am on.
3. Stitch markers, placed at each repeat so I double check that I have the correct number of stitches per repeat.
    

This is Anne Hanson's Spiralucious.
Yarn: Frog Tree 100% Alpaca, Type 2310;  Fingering Weight; Made in Bolivia
Needles: Lovely Fixed Harmony Wood, size 3US, from KnitPicks

I'm 50% done. Wish me luck.

Art Imitates Life Imitates Art

The Knitting Mama, aka Katie Kent, shows off her perfect timing with her tilted blocks scarf  (from Lynne Barr's book, Knitting New Scarves) in October 2008. Mother Nature supplied the same colorway as the scarf Katie dyed, spun and knit. MN's tree was sitting in Bellingham, WA.

Apologies for the less than perfect photo -- this was a serendipitious moment on the street when tree and scarf aligned, and only a point-and-shoot camera was at hand.

In other news, progress on current projects:

Spinning - Ain't for the Faint of Heart

Made at bighugelabs, click on the image, and save the big one for computer desktop wallpaper.

Pick 'em up beautifully - Tuulia shows you how

Tuulia walks us through the simplest of ways to pick up stitches and make sure it's beautiful. Take a look at this video:

Thanks Tuulia!

Note: this video is available on Youtube too.

This pick up method is specific to continuing kntting in the opposite direction. In this particular instance, Tuulia is demonstrating picking up stitches at the underarm of the sweater I'm currently knitting using her top-down-set-in-sleeve-seamless sweater method. (Link to previous blog entry about this method.)

Whole Lotta Catching You Up to Do

Work in Progress: Full Sized Top Down Set-in Sleeve Sweater (Women's medium, 40")
The neck will be picked up and knit with a rolled-edge. The sweater starts at the shoulders, then is picked up all the way round, including the sleeve caps and knit in the round, increasing every other row for the sleeve cap. (Link to previous entry about this method.)

Detail:

Finally, getting a Shawl posted that I have let sit in the "to be photographed" pile for too long:

Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl by Laura Chau (click for pattern)
Needles: US 7
Wool: Mixture of Cascade 220 and Paton Classic Merino
Finish: Single crocheted edge with hand dyed Cascade 220. Despite the many many colors available in both these brands, I ended up needing something slightly different and handdyed the edge wool myself.
Notes: Fast mindless knit, blocks beautifully, and certainly there will be more to come. I discovered that if I add buttons, I can wrap the points around my arms and button it up for mock sleeves, they don't get in the way when I'm working and it becomes a shrug.

And, some photos of previously posted items, modeled by Marie:

Pictures, top to bottom (left to right as you go) - links to previous blog entries on these items:

Dew Rag (eggplant hat); Kauni Beret (blue green colorwork hat); Dew Rag, back view; Kauni Beret view 2; Verdant Scarf (green hand spun); Transition Gloves - Wow, guess I never posted about these!

Pattern: Transition Gloves by Kerin Dimeler
Wool: GGH Merino Soft, 1 skein each color

Photos continued:
My So Called Scarf (warm colors); Shadow Tam (warm color shadow stitching)

Autumn

From the Allspunup fiber challenge Oct - Nov 2008 (on Ravelry, consolidated photo page here.)

Finished fiber stats: Wraps per inch: 18-20 | 8 ounces | ~ 800-900 yards | thinnest I’ve spun thus far

The sample on the notecard is navajo-plied, but the skein is 2 ply. I plan to knit a wrap with this beautiful stuff.

If you spin, run-don't-walk to Kristin's shop and get some of the goodness from her hands. You can afford it, yes you can.

Recent Additions to the House of Hats

 

 
 

 

Above:
Pattern: Lifestyle Top Down Hats, Pillbox hat; Fingerless mitts: I made up the design as I went
Yarn: Dyed Romney fiber,  colors combined by the Knitting Mama (who also happens to be a spinning mama), then sold to me; I spun it into a thick/thin single, then plied it with an almost lace weight single, black mystery wool (probaby Romney too.).
Needles: 7 US
Notes: This is my favorite hat shape to knit. I love knitting from the top down. It just works!


 

 

 

Above:
Pattern: Vivian Hoxbro Rainbow Tam
Yarn: Jamieson's Spindrift, 4  skeins: Madder, Poppy, Ginger, and I think the last one was Curry
Needle: US 1
Notes: This required a lot of attention, but developed a rhythm as I got into it. I did it to see if I could work with Jamieson's for long (Shetland is not terribly soft, but it is hard wearing), and to see if I could meet the requirement of constant attention to a chart. I want to make the Rainbow cardigan by Vivian Hoxbro. I have all the wool, now I just need the will.
 

You can never have too many....

One more hat and scarf.


 

 

Hat pattern: Just Like a Peasant Cap by Amber Daniels-Cook (click for pattern - this is an Adobe PDF file.)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, 2 skeins
Needle: Size 6 US
Notes: Very easy to knit. Note, VERY warm in alpaca!

 

 

Scarf notes:
Merino roving. I dyed it with Jacquard dyes in blues and browns. (It was beautiful.)
Spinning: I spun thick/thin singles, then set the yarn in hot water. When I went to pull the skein out, the color was gone.
So, back to the drawing board. All blue was gone. I had an striated oatmeal/brown skein. I dunked it in a chartruese dyebath. And, presto, I have a verdant woodland skein.
Knitting pattern: K1P1. The front and back of the scarf are the same. Slip the first stitch, purl the last stitch, every row.
Size needles: US 4
It's so lovely. Soft. Green. Yum.

A Brilliant way to knit a sweater - make it fit, make it seamless.

Last weekend I spent it with the YaYa sisterhood and we had a good time.

     We laughed and we knit:

     We were bandits and we knit:

     We were daughters and we knit:

And we were amazed at the method that Tuulia Salmela has come up with to make a sweater from the top down, that fits, that has a set in sleeve, and WORKS!

Yes, Martha, this REALLY is knit in one piece and you can try it on as you go. Look for a pattern from Tuulia in the near future.

We also did a bit of enjoying of the Fall, and went to a Northwest Regional Spinner's Annual Spin-In and, of course, visited all the local yarn shops!

   

Update 7 November 2008 | Finished the Sweater Sample from this class

 

 

 

I've already knit a swatch to get an adult sweater going with this method. I'm jazzed!

My ever-present Ben