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)

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!

Vodka Gimlet?

Oh, boy.  We now have a serious frontrunner for “Sweater Janelle Will Actually Knit This Winter” – the Vodka Gimlet (Rav link).  I totally stole that photo from the designer’s blog and you should go read all about it and peruse the other photos. 

I spied this on The Plucky Knitter blog – she will offer a kit with her Primo Worsted yarn and the pattern.  I don’t know all the details.  Like.. does the kit only come with the yarn color shown (which is “Barely Birch” and completely lovely) or does one get to choose a colorway (which could take me weeks)?

When I apply what I learned last year from Amy Herzog’s Fit to Flatter course, I think this would be a flattering design on me.  There are some beautiful details, but it also looks like it won’t require 100% of my knitting brainpower (like some all-over cabled sweaters do).  This seems very knittable.

I should do a little homework tonight and figure out what size I would knit… just in case I fall for this when it goes on sale tomorrow morning.

[…like I don’t have enough in my knitting queue already.  A zillion socks I must knit, plus a hat for Knitters’ Day Out and two slouchy fun fall/winter hats for S1, plus finishing my mom’s Pamuya for Christmas and making a Different Lines shawl for myself…]

Thoughts?