Sweater: 2011-12 edition

You know me… I’m a one-sweater-a-year type of knitter.  More than that might interfere with my sock knitting.  I finished knitting this several weeks ago but it took a while to block and even longer to photograph.  But finally, I give you… Vodka Gimlet!

You may recall that this yarn colorway is “Barely Birch,” so I posed in front of an actual birch tree so you can compare.  I think “Barely Birch” is a great name for this shade of greige.This sweater has a basic topdown raglan construction, but the details make it stand out. 

The slipped stitch detail repeats on the neckband, waist, and hem.This 4-ply yarn renders sculptural stitches.  I found myself admiring the simple 2x2 rib at the wrists all day long because it just looks so great in this yarn!

Do I need to repeat that this yarn is awesome?  Once again, this is Plucky Primo Worsted (75% merino, 20% cashmere, 5% nylon) from The Plucky Knitter.  I fell in love with her yarn at Sock Summit 2011 and ordered this online when she released a kit. I am very happy with this knit.  I think I could have stopped the raglan seam increases a little bit sooner than I did… and maybe I should have made the neckband a little bit wider… but it’s still a lovely sweater and I’ll wear it often.  I would not hesitate to buy another sweater’s quantity of Plucky yarn. 

Now, back to our regular sock programming… (to continue the tree theme, I’ll have a Hickory update next time)

Sunday update

I have a bunch of stuff in the pipeline to share, but only a couple of small things have popped out the end of the pipe.

First off, Kris finished the second of Ed’s socks.  She really got the bad end of this deal, as she knit far more stitches than are in the finished sock.  Hey, it’s all about the learning, right?  I packaged the socks up today and they will begin their journey to Texas tomorrow.

I hope Ed loves them.

Secondly, I finished up a quick headband project for my friend Cinda.  It’s the Parisian Twist headband/ear warmer.  It calls for double stranded Malabrigo Worsted, but I couldn’t find any at my LYS.  So I ordered the new Knit Picks Special Reserve yarn, Full Circle, which is a worsted weight single play.  This is the color “Rock,” which is a very, very deep grey. The project was quite quick.  I don’t have the button sewn on yet, but I want to do that in person to ensure the best fit.  So for now, it’s done:

I could have used a similar ear warmer yesterday.  It snowed 2-3” here Friday night, and I took the boys sledding on Saturday afternoon. Turns out you don’t even need a sled to go down a hill!

In other news, the Vodka Gimlet sweater is DONE!  And it’s BLOCKED!  But I don’t have photographs yet.  Patience, my friends…

Later today, I’ll ply the Shetland singles.  Oh, did I even tell you about that yet?  See, lots of stuff in the pipeline…

Status update – Vodka Gimlet

Friends, my math has failed me.  I finished one sleeve but it’s a good 3” too long.  Oops! This is not a fine example of photography (or styling) but you get the idea.  Luckily, this is a top down design, so I can just rip back.  I could:

1. Just turn up the cuff and call it done
2. Rip back the cuff about 3” and bind off again
3. Rip back the sleeve about 9” and start the 6” cuff again

After a bit of mulling, I’ve decided to take route #3.

I’m still not sure if I knit this to the best size.  I think it might be kind of big in the body, and I think maybe I should have put the waist detail a little higher.  But it’s all about the learning, right?

While we were taking photos, S1 said “you know you have some big holes in the back, right?”  WHAT?!??  She said, “yeah, you know, like missing stitches.”  Minor panic.  I told her to photograph the holes.  Here is what she got:Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, that is just where I changed balls and haven’t woven in the ends yet.  No big deal.  But she got my blood pumping for a few minutes there. I do like how this yarn looks knit up.  So pretty in stockinette, and so pretty with the small slipped stitch detail.  And see how the slipped stitches happen on both sides of the neck band?  Nice touch.

I’m briefly turning my attention to the minion hats because my little minions are clamoring for them.  But I will get back to Vodka Gimlet as soon as possible.

Sweater update

When last you saw the Vodka Gimlet, I believe I had just put the waist detail on.  Since then, I’ve finished the body, which includes a turned hem at the bottom.  I have one other sweater with a turned hem and I like the way it lays so flat. Here is the WS where I’m stitching up the hem. The pattern just said to use “waste yarn” to sew. I decided to use some Plucky Primo Fingering left over from Ed’s sock, which is in a similar color, rather than more Plucky Primo Worsted, figuring it would add less bulk and be more smooth. I caught one “v” of each BO stitch and one “purl bump” of reverse stickinette, and you can’t see it from the front at all: By the way, I had to block the hem before doing this, so that the yarn was flat and relaxed.  Primo is a bit lively before its bath.Since then, I picked up stitches for the neckband, which goes all the way from one hem, up around the neck, and down to the hem on the other side.  It is mostly ribbed but features the same slipped stitch detail.  Bonus feature: the slipped stitches appear on both the RS and WS, so no matter how you wear your collar, it will show. Next, I pick up the sleeve stitches which are on cables and knit down.  With luck, I’ll wear this yet this month!

Plucky’s yarns are addictive.  Because the shipment of Vodka Gimlet kits was delayed, she had a “private shopping event” open to us with free shipping included.  I held myself back but I couldn’t resist getting something.  Here is what arrived in the mail yesterday: 1 skein of the new Primo Sportweight in colorway “Lincoln.”Same blend as the other Primos: 75/20/5 merino/cashmere/nylon.  I plan to make the popular Kalajoki socks with it.

Updates

There’s a progress shot for Vodka Gimlet – that is the slip stitch detail around the waist.  Now I have to go in stockinette for a while before doing another bit of detail at the hem, and then knit the turned hem.  It’s growing!

In other news, Boy 1’s Crazy Brown Socks are starting to look like something: 15 rounds of sock yarn leftovers separated by 3 rounds of brown.  I’m using the “jogless stripe” technique, but it’s a little soon to say if it is notably successful.  The heels and toes are also to be solid brown.  Just as with Felici socks, I don’t want to interrupt the nice striping pattern, so I’m doing an afterthought heel.  The heel will grow out of a little 3-round brown stripe.  Right here:I knit on these while listening to Margaret Atwood read from her work last night.  What a treat and a thrill.  She’s a knitter, you know!  She SANG us the Mole Day Children’s Hymn from Year of the Flood at the very end of her reading, and conducted us to sing the last word of the refrain with her.  What a wonderful moment.  I will remember it always, and there’s a bit of it knitted into these crazy socks for my boy.

I recently tidied one of the rooms in my house where fiber-ific things tend to pile up, and I found a scarf I made from yarn leftover from this baby bunting project way back in 2005.  The scarf wasn’t very long, so I didn’t really wear it.  I decided to unravel it and repurpose the yarn.  Boy, was that a bigger project than I expected.  There were a lot more stops and starts in that yarn than I remembered (my ends were woven in so well that I couldn’t see them).  Also, I knit with two strands held together (one green, one blue), so the yarns never ended in the same place.  After a couple of hours of frustrating picking – during which S1’s help was required to hold the yarn I  was rewinding – I had a whole lot of ramen:

Nice tidy little nests of ramen, to be exact!  Or, muppet wigs:

I gave them all a nice bath and now I have nice slinky piles of spaghetti:These little skeins aren’t big enough to wind on the ballwinder, so I’ll make little balls by hand.  I’m not even sure if the circles will fit on my swift.  I may need S1’s hands again.

This is worsted weight superwash merino, so I thought maybe I could get some baby hats out of it or something.  We’ll see.

Two balls in

I spent most of my Thanksgiving holiday knitting selfishly (and happily!) on my Vodka Gimlet.  Here’s how it looks after a little more than two balls of yarn:

Yeah, not that impressive when it’s still on the needles and shown on a nine-year-old.  But it serves as proof that I’m finally off and running on this project!

I also dusted off the spinning wheel and started making some yarn.  This is an alpaca/wool blend I got from The Spinning Loft in Michigan (by mail – but wouldn’t it be great to visit there one day?).  I believe it’s this: Louet Eastport Sliver in sea foam green.  And for my knitting readers, “sliver” is pronounced with a long “i” – rhymes with MacGyver. I have neglected my wheel for too long and need to address my fiber stash!  Last year, S1 got me a gift certificate for this shop, a nice generous one that was enough to buy a rare breeds sampler.  But I ended up chickening out and not buying it, because the fiber required carding or combing and I don’t have those tools.  Instead, I just bought a range of other things, including some breed-specific prepared fibers.  All have been marinating in the fiber basket for far too long.  I’m interested in taking Deb Robson’s Rare Wools workshop at MDSW 2012, but I won’t feel worthy unless I spin a fair bit of my stash before then.  So, to the wheel!

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival
West Friendship MD
May 3–6, 2012

A two-day workshop on "An In-Depth Look at Rare Wools." On Saturday and Sunday mornings, I’ll also be doing half-day walk-arounds in the barns! (The Sunday one will end in time for the Parade of Breeds, which I don’t want to miss, either!)

Here’s the link to Deb’s teaching schedule if you’re interested.

I’ve worked a bit more on Boy 1’s Crazy Brown Socks, but I’ll share those with you again next week.

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?  My “musts” include pumpkin pie, that horribly processed green bean casserole (just open cans and heat!), mashed potatoes and gravy, and a dab of cranberry sauce.  I like the good sauce, but I also like the canned stuff I was raised on, ridges and all.

5th on 5

I know you’re all waiting with bated breath to find out how my swatching dilemma turned out.  Bonny, thanks for suggesting I try a different needle material.  That got me unstuck.  I made a 5th swatch on a US 5 METAL needle (my first four swatches were on wood) and I did get slightly different results: 

Stitches over 4”

	US 4	US 5	US 6	US 7
wood	19.25	*18.5	19	18
metal		19

*troublesome outlier!

I decided to do a DIFFERENT kind of math to see where that would get me.  If the recommended gauge of 5 st/in will get me the size I want (38), then what size does my actual gauge of 4.75 st/in get me?  Oh cross-multiplication, I love you so: it gets me a size 36.1.  The pattern includes a size 36, so I will knit that.  At my gauge, I should get a size 38 sweater.  (If I’m horribly wrong about this, please correct me now, before I knit the whole sweater.)

Now the question is: should I knit with a US 5 metal needle, or a US 6 wood needle?  Here are those two swatches: Note that there isn’t much yarn left over from what was originally a hefty 200-yard skein. 

I think I’ll use the US 6 wood needle, as it’ll be easier on my hands.

Now, I just need to wind the other skeins and prepare to cast on.  Hopefully this will be a great project to sink into over Thanksgiving break.

You don’t know how close I came to just starting another sock last night instead of knitting yet another swatch…  Socks are my comfort knitting!

Perplexed

For my Vodka Gimlet, my gauge is supposed to be 5 st/in, or 20 st/4”.  The pattern recommends a US 7 (4.5mm).  I’ve swatched on 4 needles now (US 4-7) and something is decidedly NOT RIGHT.  See?

That blue line should be kind of diagonal.  Maybe a little curvy… but NOT HILLY. Why am I getting fewer stitches with a US 5 (3.75 mm) than with a US 4 (3.5mm)?  That dip at 18.5 makes no sense to me.

I washed all my swatches the same way.  I’m at a loss.  What should I do now?

Sunday Swatches

I’ve been swatching for the Vodka Gimlet sweater.I knit both of these during an incredibly dull school board hearing a couple of weeks ago. It was a hearing for a proposal to build a new middle school.  Only my knitting stopped me from going to the microphone during Q&A time and asking if any of the 6 or so speakers actually liked their jobs… because their presentations were so lackluster and passionless that I couldn’t imagine they had any interest at all in their various professions.  It was bad.  But… the swatches are pretty, yes?

The yarn is Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted, a 4-ply with tight twist that is 75% merino, 20% cashmere, and 5% nylon.  The colorway is a luscious neutral called “Barely Birch.”  The hand is wonderful… and look at the stitch definition up close, won’t you?One of the swatches is knit with a US7/4.5 mm (the one with the orange loop) and one is with a US6/4.0 mm.  I’m supposed to get 5 st and 7 rows per inch – but I’m being a good knitter and measuring over 4 inches, so I’m looking for 20 stitches and 28 rows.  After washing my swatches:

• On a US7, I get 18 stitches and 28 rows in 4”
• On a US6, I get 19 stitches and 28 rows in 4”

So yes, I’m working on a third swatch on a US5 (3.75mm) and we’ll see if I get gauge.  I might have to go to a US4 (3.5mm).  Which wouldn’t surprise me… I’m a loose knitter.  I probably should have started swatching on a smaller needle.  But who minds swatching with yarn as yummy as Plucky’s?

In other knitting news, I’m chugging through S1’s orange Asymmetrical Cables socks – I’m on the heel flap for sock #2 and I hope to finish them this week.  I’m also knitting another office sock you haven’t seen, so I will try to photograph that this week to share.

Hope you’re enjoying the extra hour of knitting time today!

FO: Different Lines

I finally bound off Different Lines at knitting group last night – and I wore it to work today.  This is exactly the right time of year to have a little knitted goodness wrapped up around the neck.

This shawl is a bit tricky to wear, however.  The shape isn’t quite triangular – see? Fortunately, this sock yarn knit on US 5 needles in garter stitch is very stretchy and drapey, so you can pull it out of shape a little bit.

I love the modern, asymmetrical look – but human bodies are symmetrical, so keeping this thing on takes a bit of doing.  Still, I adore these colors and I’m really pleased with the final result.  Knitting it was mindless fun, too.In other news, my Vodka Gimlet yarn arrived this week.  I need to photograph it so I can share.

Different lines, different shape

Isn’t the shape of this WIP intriguing?  This pattern is brilliantly simple.  I cast on at the top of the photo, at the blue tip.  I’ve been increasing one stitch every 2 rows down the right side of this.  Since it’s garter stitch, that gives me a neat 45 degree angle.  But the short rows cause the whole thing to curve.  Notice how the green stripes aren’t “rows” so much as “wedges.”  At the short end of the wedges, each stripe is one garter ridge wide – the stripes are equal.  See?But because the fabric keeps increasing, the wedges must grow wider to get to the other end:I have 3 more green wedges to go, and then the whole thing will be capped off with a nice, deep, blue edge.

Ingenious.  I just love this pattern.  Different Lines by Veera Välimäki.  Just another great way to use sock yarn.

One Sock for Ed

I haven’t posted in a while, but I have been knitting – honest!  One of my biggest challenges is photography.  We’ve had some funky weather here lately with loads of rain – complete with flash flooding and other fun things.  I came home at lunch on Friday to find the ceiling leaking on two floors PLUS water pouring into the basement through the walls.  Our ground is completely saturated.  Today was dry, so I tried to photo this sock for Ed.

I used the Stepping Stones pattern from Clara Parkes’ forthcoming The Knitter’s Book of Socks.  The pattern is written for worsted weight yarn, so I converted it.  Believe it or not, this is the first sock I’ve ever knit for a man.  I may have gone a bit overboard.  The leg is 8.5” long from the top of the heel flap to the cuff edge.  I knit the top of the leg on a 2.25 mm needle so it would be stretchier, then moved down to my usual 2.0 mm needle.

Notice how the stitch pattern changes slightly on the top of the foot.  I guess this is to make it comfier inside a shoe.

The yarn is Plucky Knitter’s Primo Fingering, a luscious 4-ply blend of 75/20/5% merino/cashmere/nylon with a very tight twist. The color is called M.A.S.H. Tent, and it is a wonderful brownish grey.  The subtle handpainted variations in color kept me entertained, but overall, this is a brown sock. The true color is like the picture against the white background (my front door).

I did a test fitting on Dan last weekend (that’s what you get when you come to brunch with a knitter).  Dan’s foot is 1/8” shorter than Ed’s, so I could do my toe decrease calculations perfectly on him.  But I digress.  The moment the sock came out of the bag, Dan said “oooooo, that is a nice sock!”  I consider that man-approval.  (And you know, complimenting my socks will end up getting some knit for you sooner or later, so it was a good move on Dan’s part.)

I have 41 grams of yarn remaining from the 101 gram skein, so I used about 60 grams.  Kris was right to insist we buy two.  But I have a good bit left for some other project down the road.

Now, the only problem/challenge is getting the second sock – knit by Kris – to match the first one.  At least a little.  Ah, gauge.

New sock

Next project: a sock for Ed, Kris’s and my Portland host.  We are each knitting one sock of the pair.  As you can see, this is a quite plain but manly sock in a very neutral color called “MASH Tent.”  The yarn is Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering (75/20/5 merino/cashmere/nylon) with 4 plies and a very tight twist.  It is round and bouncy and lovely to work with.

We’re knitting the Stepping Stones Socks from Clara Parkes’ forthcoming The Knitter’s Book of Socks – I got the pattern in a promotional thingie at Sock Summit.  It’s wonderfully simple.  After a 1x1 rib cuff, the stitch pattern alternates between one row of k1p1 and another row of k3p3.  You know I’m a sucker for rib variations.This photo is terrible (thank you, convention center lighting) but stands as proof that I actually have a pattern:

You know, after all the dozens of pairs of socks I’ve knit, this is the first time I’ve knit a man-sized sock.  It is BIG.  Because the stitch pattern repeats over 6 stitches, I wanted something that divided nicely into it.  We went with a 72-stitch cast-on.  And to make sure it’s roomy and stretchy enough at the top, I’m knitting on 2.25mm needles now.  I’ll transition to 2.0 mm at some point soon.

I also continue to work on Mom’s Pamuya shawl, but unless I move it onto waste yarn or a really long cable, you will not benefit from a new photo – so there is none today.  It gets 4 stitches bigger every other row, which means it gets slower and slower to knit.  Or at least, it seems so.

Kris, have you started the sock yet?  Bug me to send you the details so we can matchy matchy!