How to be stupid at knitting

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Last weekend, I got up early on a Saturday morning and decided to do some swatching for my next sweater, Neon by Joji Locatelli.  Here is a photo of Neon:

copyright Joji

copyright Joji

As you can see, the cardigan is knit in a pretty, lacy stitch pattern.  This pattern, Tulle Stitch, is a 2-row repeat.  You can’t get much simpler than a 2-row repeat.  This is my first pattern from Joji, but I can tell you that it is meticulously written.  There is no guesswork involved in a Joji pattern.  She even tells you exactly how many stitches to cast on for your swatch and how to measure it.  So, here I am at 7am on a Saturday.  Doug and Emma had returned home the evening before from Canada.  They are in jet-lag city and are bound to sleep for hours.  Leah is also unlikely to wake early, and if she does, will probably stay shut in her room.  I have literally hours of prime knitting time stretching out before me.  I cast on my swatch before I even make coffee (egads!).

Now the tulle stitch is a 2-row repeat, but since the pattern is offset on every alternate repeat, in the interests of being very thorough, it is charted as 4 rows.  I am sitting on the couch, needles in hand, freshly wound ball of Plucky Sweater yarn at my side, and the Neon pattern on my laptop.  A message pops up saying that my laptop is out of juice and needs to be plugged in immediately, or it will close down.  The cable is upstairs, and not only do I not want to wake Doug up to get it, but I am highly lazy.  So, I grab a piece of paper (the back of a yarn label) and hurriedly scribble down the pattern for the swatch.  I then close down the laptop and cast on for my swatch.  Row 1 of the pattern stitch looks like this:

Row 1: k1, * k1, yo, k1 * to end

This is what I write:

Row 1: k1, * k1, yo, k1

Now for those of you unfamiliar with knitting terminology the star (*) in the pattern means to repeat, in the following sense – you repeat the bit between two stars.  So to knit row one, you would start with a knit stitch, and then do k1, yo, k1 over and over again until you reach the end of the row.  Easy, huh?  But that is not what I wrote.  The star notation is only used in pairs, it makes no sense otherwise.  So the fact that my scribble has a star on row one implies that I need to be repeating something.  This is what I knit:

k1, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, etc. etc.

This means that I am somehow interpreting my scribbled notation as:

Row 1: k1, * k1, yo * , end k1.

Okay, so this is stupid, but not outrageously so, and could easily be done by anyone who has not only neglected to drink their morning coffee before starting a new pattern but is also too lazy to charge their laptop.  Does my stupidity end there?  No, it does not.

After a few rows, I can tell that there is something seriously wrong.  The swatch looks wrong.  There is no rhyme or reason to the pattern.  It does not look pretty.  Furthermore, it is impossible to “read”, which means that even after a few rows, I could not tell where I was supposed to be in the pattern just by looking at the row underneath.  So, I rip it all out, make myself a cup of coffee, and sit down once again, now properly fortified, to knit the swatch again.  And, of course, even though I look at the pattern again and again, I never even realize that it is missing a star, or notice that my brain is automatically filling in the missing star into the equation, and filling it in wrong!

My second attempt at a swatch looks as wrong as the first.  But the lack of any symmetry to the pattern stitch is only part of the problem.  You see, on the second row of the pattern repeat, you are decreasing one stitch out of every three.  Notice, that my mistaken interpretation of the pattern means that on every odd row, I am increasing one stitch for every two, and on every even row, I am decreasing one stitch for every three.  This means that the number of stitches on the needle will keep growing….and growing…and growing.  After only a few rows, my swatch has doubled the number of stitches.  How could this be?

Thoroughly annoyed by now, I run upstairs, grab the cable (waking up Doug in the process), come back downstairs, plug in my laptop, and start reading the pattern.  Clearly, if the tulle stitch is continually multiplying the stitch count, there must be something in the sweater pattern that continually decreases the count.  But no, the pattern has no such stitch-decreasing mania (and is also very well written and organized).

Doug walks into the room.  He is jet-lagged and half asleep.  “I am a stupid knitter!” I say to Doug.  “Un huh,” he says while making himself a coffee, clearly not thinking this topic worthy of comment. (This is like asking “Do I look fat in this?”  A sensible husband will know that no response is a good response.)

I decide to log into Ravelry and search for an answer to this stupid problem.  First, I look at the finished Neon cardigans.  Lots of them, all beautiful.  I notice that the knitters all make comments like “fun pattern” and “easy knit”.  One knitter even said “Thought it was going to take me 2 weeks, but only took me 11 days, not bad.”  Aargh!  I am getting really annoyed now.  I look at the forums searching for other people agonizing over the pattern; surely someone has commented on the fact that the pattern increases exponentially.   Or that it MAKES NO SENSE AND LOOKS STUPID!  Or, maybe it’s just me.  “I really am a stupid knitter!” I yell to Doug.  “Sure, honey,” he says, clearly paying zero attention to my plight.

I make myself yet another cup of coffee (a double shot espresso latte).  I sit at the dining room table.  I very carefully read over the pattern again, the whole pattern, every line.  At some point a light bulb clicks on: “I missed the star!,” I say to Doug.  “I wrote the pattern stitch out wrong!  It is not k1, yo repeat, it is k1, yo, k1 repeat.  Well, jeez, ” I bang my palm to head, “that makes sense!  See, now it increases one stitch out of every three, and then decreases the same number on the alternate rows!”  I shout this, as if I have had an epiphany, on par, perhaps, with Newton and the apple.  “See, Doug, I am NOT a stupid knitter.  I’m just stupid!”  Wisely, Doug doesn’t respond.

Post epiphany, I knit the swatch.  It looks beautiful:

IMG_6372

The pattern is lovely. Furthermore, it is intuitive.  It makes sense.  I can “read” it, from the row beneath.  As for the sweater, once you get past the initial inch or two, the pattern is easy and intuitive.  (The yarn is also gorgeous, but that will be the topic of a subsequent post.)  Here is a progress shot, proving I have indeed advanced from swatch to sweater proper:

IMG_6375

I like to think that sometimes even genius knitters have their stupid moments.  I imagine Elizabeth Zimmerman yelling at her husband “But this pattern makes no sense, Arnold!”.  Or Barbara Walker, tearing her hair out, saying “There’s too many increases here!”  Then, at least I’d be in good company.

Appeasing your inner perfectionist

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I have been working on my Exeter jacket again, after taking time off to knit Livvy.  I finished the sleeves, and washed and blocked them:

IMG_6356The yarn, Shelter from Brooklyn Tweed, undergoes an amazing transformation when it is washed.  I cannot believe how light and airy these sleeves are.  The Shelter feels much rougher and chunkier when knitting.  As soon as I took it out of the water, it seemed to have halved in weight (even while wet).  It is astonishing.  Exeter has a very interesting cable pattern, that combines cables and lace.  Here is a close-up of the cable on the sleeve:

IMG_6360

The cable has a 16 row repeat.  It is not one of those patterns that is instantly memorizable, so you have to pay attention.  For anyone who is planning on knitting this, I have two tips, which will make it easier to navigate the cable.

  1. On the reverse rows (the even rows), you knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches.  The yarn overs are always knit except on pattern Row 6, where they are purled.  As long as you pay attention to the yarn overs on Row 6, the reverse rows are straightforward and need no concentration.
  2. The set-up row at the beginning of the patterning establishes some stitches as knit stitches and some as purl stitches.  While you are cabling, you are crossing stitches in front and behind of other stitches, but it is always the case that knit stitches will be knit and purl stitches will be purled, except on rows 3 and 7. On row 3, a knit stitch becomes a purl when it is is cabled (twice), and on row 7, a purl stitch becomes a knit (also twice).

I really love this.   I especially love the way it looks on the back of the jacket, where there are four columns of cables.   I have only knit a repeat and a bit of the cables on the back, but you can get an idea of how great it looks with the four cable repeatsIMG_6342Here is a closup of the above photo.

IMG_6344Now, dear readers, look carefully at the photo above.  Can you see that I have made a mistake in the cabling?  In the interest of truth in blogging, I will help you out:

mistake detailedOn the left, is the properly executed cable.  On the right, there is a mistake.  I should have a column of two knit stitches travelling to the left, but for three rows, I have purled one of the stitches instead of knitting it.  This is the kind of mistake that is very hard to catch, in fact, one could easily wear the sweater for years before noticing it.  Once you know it is there, however, you see it every single time you look at the sweater, as if it is outlined in purple.  In fact, there is an infamous cover of Vogue Knitting magazine, from a dozen years ago, in which the sweater on the cover has a cable mistake.  I looked at the cover many times without noticing it, but once brought to my attention, it is glaringly obvious.

Now this is where we knitters have differing levels of tolerance.  Some knitters will blithely ignore mistakes.  They may fall into the school of thought whereby “mistakes” are charming proofs that the sweater is hand-made.  (The fallacy of this is that machine-made knits are so shoddy these days, that mistakes are rampant.)  Another group of knitters are fanatically anal-compulsive, and will rip out miles of knitting in order to correct any mistake, no matter how small or insignificant.  This school of thought follows the “I will know even if no one else does, and it will forever make me unhappy” principle.  I think the latter camp sometimes revel in their knitting masochism.  I try very hard to fall into the middle.  The sad truth is, I do a lot of frogging because I want things to be just right.  However, I think it is sometimes important to ignore your inner perfectionist.  Or at the very least, learn how to fudge.  Behold!

First, I thread a tapestry needle with a small length of yarn:IMG_6348

Then I insert the needle at the bottom of the mistake, where I  purled instead of knit, and I pull the yarn through.

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Then I make a loop, and pull the yarn through the loop, as in the below photo.  This will have the effect of embroidering a knit stitch on top of the purl.

IMG_6351

When the yarn is pulled tight, we see a knit stitch, exactly where it should be.

IMG_6352

I then repeat twice more:

IMG_6354By the way, what I have done here, is basically the same as what is called duplicate stitch.  However, duplicate stitch is done with a different colour of yarn, and the embroidered knit stitches are put directly on top of knit stitches; this allows you to insert small areas of colour without having to knit them in with intarsia. So you see, a good bag of tricks is a knitter’s best friend.

Here is the final product:

IMG_6355

Perfect!  No one will ever know.  And I didn’t have to rip.  I won’t tell if you won’t.

Lush Livvy

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The title of this post sounds a bit lascivious, but the sweater pattern I have been knitting is called Livvy, and the yarn is called Lush Worsted.  For those of you who have googled me, this is a knitting post and Lush Livvy is a sweater.   This sweater:

IMG_6309I finished this a week ago, but it’s taken me a while to get some photos taken.  Livvy is designed by Tori Gurbisz, a fairly new designer; you can find her website here.  I really found this design appealing, but I have made quite a few modifications to make it suit me and my body type.  Here is one of the pattern photos:

copyright LachesisandCo

copyright LachesisandCo

This photo shows up the design features that I really like.  The collar can be worn up or down, and the cable pattern is reversible.  The cables are slim and elegant, and are made by twisting stitches, thus no need for a cable needle.  The cables run down the middle of the raglan increases and then join under the arm with three additional sets of cables, which then cascade down the sides of the pullover.  I find this striking and elegant.  It’s a very strong, simple statement.  Another interesting feature is that the raglan increases are uneven, with the sleeves increasing more rapidly then the body, and this gives a really nice line along the shoulder.  I think these details add up to a fantastic and intelligent design.

Here is another photo of the pattern:

copyright LachesisandCo

copyright LachesisandCo

While I love the pattern from the waist up, I had some issues with the pattern from the waist down.  I think that Livvy, as written, looks great on the model.  On me, not so much.  First, I am a good 20 years older, and second, quite a bit curvier than the model.  I was also looking for a more elegant pullover for office wear.  I could instantly see the potential in this pattern for modifications that would suit me better.

I made mine alot curvier.  The pattern calls for three gentle sets of waist decreases, followed by three gentle sets of hip increases.  I made six sets of decreases, and seven sets of increases.  This makes for a much more fitted and curvy silhouette.  I also made each set of decreases and each set of increases on the same rows as the twisted cable crosses.  This gives a lovely symmetry to the shaping, and meshes with the cables in an intrinsically pleasing way, as if the decreases and increases are merely extensions of the cascading cable panel.  You can see this in the below photo (taken in the bright sunshine, so the colour is a bit washed out).

IMG_6296Note that the above photo also shows a slight colour gradation in the yarn.  I used 5 skeins of The Uncommon Thread Lush Worsted, in the colour Pontus.  This colour is gorgeous and the dye job is really great.  One of the skeins was slightly lighter than the other four and had a bit more variegation; I used this one for the bottom portion of the pullover.  Though it’s noticeable, I don’t think it distracts from the beauty of the finished piece.  The richness of hand-dyed yarn compensates for the slight variegation.

I also made my Livvy shorter.  I find this kind of strange, because I am forever adding inches to sweater patterns; at my age, I don’t want my belly hanging out between my trousers and my top.  I think the length in the sweater pattern makes a bit more of a casual statement than I was looking for.   I wanted a piece I could wear to the office with tailored trousers or a skirt and heels.  I knit mine almost 3 inches shorter than called for.  (This may also be why I was able to knit this with only five skeins of Lush, which has less yardage than called for.)

IMG_6308

The biggest issue for me, however, was the ribbing on the cuffs and waistband of the pullover.  To me, the most interesting feature of the sweater is the panels of twisted stitches running down the sides.  It is elegant and architectural.  I found that the 2×2 ribbing of the cuffs and waistband seriously detracted from this design element; it broke the line and made an otherwise gorgeous feature a little less striking.  I was clear right from the start that I would use some other sort of edging, but I wasn’t quite sure which.  Doug suggested I try an I-cord edging.  This seemed like a good idea, so I originally knit the sleeves with an I-cord bind-off.  This is the only photo I have of the I-cord before I frogged it:

IMG_6294See how it’s starting to roll a bit?  Although it is a normally very elegant finish, I found it to still be just a bit too clunky for the look I wanted.  In the end, I decided to do a hemmed finish for both the sleeves and waistband.  I knit in pattern to the desired length, then purled a row (the turn row),  knit 5 rows and cast off.  I then turned the hem and sewed in place:

IMG_6291I really think that the hemmed edge gives a nice, simple finish to the garment and allows the beauty of the design to shine through.

IMG_6313I made a few other slight modifications to the pattern.  I didn’t use short row shaping on the back neck.  I will admit to you honestly that I left this out solely out of laziness.  I also made fewer decreases on the sleeves.  I can also admit to you honestly that this is due to a mistake.  I made what I thought were 6 sets of decreases on the first sleeve, and then discovered that in two of the “sets” I only decreased on one side and not both.  Thus I decreased from 60 stitches to 50 instead of 48. Did this make my perfectionist inner  knitter leap to the fore and mercilessly rip out the sleeve?  No, I merely repeated the mistakes on the other side to make the sleeves symmetrical.  Sometimes, fudging is a perfectly acceptable response.

I should also point out that I haven’t yet sewn any buttons on.  The collar is designed so that it can be worn down, as I do here, or can be buttoned up to make a turtleneck.  I will eventually put on buttons, when I find just the right ones, but I do think that the collar is a bit tight to actually function as a turtleneck.  It may be that I will need to block it out a bit wider before I can wear it up.

To sum up, Livvy is a great pattern by a new and talented designer;  I have made some modifications to suit me and my body type, which I think enhance a lovely design.  The pattern itself is well-written and tech-edited.  The yarn, Lush Worsted, is lovely – incredibly soft with a beautiful rich tone.  It’s also a really quick knit – this took me three weeks from start to finish.  The only negative thing about this Lush Livvy, is that spring seems to have just now sprung, and I doubt I will get a chance to wear it before fall.  (But I refuse to complain about spring!)

IMG_6321

Knitting is not a competitive sport

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The super-connectivity of modern life has transformed the craft of knitting.  Thirty years ago when I was fanatically knitting in college classes and in coffee shops and on buses, I would rarely encounter another knitter.   Now, I use Ravelry (an online knitting community of 3 million users) to “meet” other knitters, find patterns, get advice, follow trends, get a knitting fix, rant, find out about events, and discuss yarns, patterns, designers and techniques.  I also follow “knitting blogs”; lots of knitting blogs.  It is easy to find fellow fanatics once you get online.

I was taught to knit by my grandmother and mother.  Every knitter I met had learned how to knit this way, from an older, usually female knitter, who would teach the basics and then hopefully be around to help fix up mistakes and provide some guidance.  If you needed any help, the only place to get it was from asking another knitter, usually at the yarn shop, or buying a book and teaching yourself.  Now there is youtube.  If there is any knitting technique you do not know, it is almost certain you can find a video on youtube where it will be explained and demonstrated.   And, unlike asking your grandmother to help you fix your mistake, youtube is never sleeping, nor in California, nor needs her reading glasses to see.  Ravelry and youtube together are like having thousands of grandmothers (and thousands of young, cool, hip fashion stylists) who never sleep and have an answer to every question.

When I started out, my choice of yarn was very limited.  There were a few big companies who produced mass-market yarns.  Now, there are hundreds of specialty yarn producers and dyers.  Many of these are small producers, who try to provide organic, ethical yarns.  Many of them specialize in particular breeds, or in astonishing colours, or in hand painting yarn.  There are huge and very popular knitting and wool shows where small producers can sell their wares.  But their viability as businesses are based on the internet.  (A word here – I love to be able to find small producers on the internet and support their businesses.  I also believe, very passionately, that you should support your local yarn shops.  You can do both.  The world would be a much sadder place without the local specialty shop, be it for yarn or books or vegetables.  And no matter how good, or how convenient, the internet, there is nothing that compares to a fine shop run by knowledgeable staff.)

My life as a knitter has been transformed by the internet.  This transformation has been almost entirely positive.  However, there are certain things I find annoying about the whole inter-connectivity thing (and my reaction to them).  First, it is rather addicting.  I spend an awful lot of time, every day, looking at knitting on the internet.  I check to see what my “friends” are up to, I check to see what patterns are trending, I check to see if there are any interesting discussions taking place, I look at projects and yarn. Sometimes, these forays take a minute or two, but other times much more.  Now, the sad thing about this is – when I am online, I am not knitting.  In fact, I have noticed that there seems to be a trend of knitters getting so sucked into Ravelry that they virtually stop knitting all together.  (You know the type – they have 4 projects on their project page but have written 32,417 posts.)  And, the more time I spend on Ravelry, the less I feel I can lecture my kids to get off of Facebook.

I have a favorite group on Ravelry.  I follow it religiously, every single post, every photo.  It is a group in which the members strive to make 12 completed adult-sized sweaters a year.  There are lots of knitters in this group, about 1500 of them, and a nicer, more supportive bunch of people is not to be found anywhere.  Most of them, like me, never get to their goal of 12 (I knit 7 sweaters in 2011 and 6 in 2012).  Quite a few of them manage to hit their target.  This is a personal goal – there are no prizes, no penalties, just a wonderful group of people cheering you on, and providing advice, and sharing a huge love of the craft.  There are also quite a few fabulous knitters, who not only knit the most amazing, technically-proficient, stylish, well-fitted garments, but who can easily knit 30 or more of them a year.  I love to follow their progress and cheer them on from the sidelines.  Sometimes, however, I look at yet another sweater which seems to have literally flown off the needles of one of these super-knitters, and I find myself thinking “I should knit a bit faster.  Perhaps, if I knit in the car on the way to work….  or, if I knit while I’m stirring the soup….or, if I give up reading and knit instead… or perhaps, if I double my knitting speed… I can knit more sweaters in less time.”

I then have to take a deep breath and remind myself “Knitting is not a competitive sport.”  I knit because I love it, not to be faster or better than anyone else.  I wrote a post last year about my personal history as a knitter (you can find it here), in which I talked about my difficulties with deQuervaine’s tenosynovitis, a repetitive stress disorder, and how it led to surgery and many years of not knitting.  In order to knit again, I had to purposely slow down my knitting, and I also have to purposefully limit the amount of knitting I do each day to avoid hand pain.  Trying to keep up with the super-knitters would be crazy (and, let’s face it, impossible).  To all you super-fast fantastic knitters: I love that you can do this.  I think you are amazing.  In the very back of my mind, I really, really want to knit 38 sweaters a year to your 37.  But, hey, knitting is not a competitive sport.  I will make a sport of watching those beautiful projects trip off your needles.  And I will console myself with the fact that I spend a hell of a lot less money on yarn than you do.

Christmas in April

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On Friday, I came home from work to find a pile of packages at the door.  Among them, were these lovely goodies:

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A big pile of knitting goodness, which I had ordered from three different sources (in three separate months, no less) which all arrived on the same day.  Furthermore, they all arrived on a cold, grey April day in which snow flurries drifted out my window all day.  Christmas in April?  Most certainly.

I placed an order months ago for five skeins of Plucky Sweater in the scrumptious colour called Kissin’ Valentino.  It was a pre-order, sold as a kit for the sweater pattern Neon, by Joji Locatelli.   This means that you order the yarn before it’s been dyed, and then have to wait for it to arrive on your doorstep.  In this case, that took even longer than anticipated since the yarn was held up first by Customs, and then by the Easter holiday.  I had wavered quite a bit about between red and green for this cardigan, and even once I settled on red, there were a number of different reds available.  Red is always hard to capture properly in a photo, so when you order it from a photo on your computer screen, it can be a gamble.  Well, this gamble paid off.  The colour is smashing:

IMG_6277This yarn is destined for Neon, a beautiful, lacy, summer cardigan:

copyright Joji

copyright Joji

I also received an order of completely lovely Skein yarn.  I ordered this from Loop, in London, who as always were very helpful.  This is Merino Silk Sport, hand dyed 50% Merino, 50% silk in two colourways, Fig and Outlaw:

IMG_6280Isn’t it gorgeous?  I have a great project lined up for this yarn, but as there’s a story behind it, I will keep it a secret for now.  You will have to check back later to see it knit up.  The colours are spectacular, very rich and yet soft at the same time, like an old painting.

I also received a copy of Amy Herzog’s book, Knit to Flatter.  I am really looking forward to reading it; I have always admired Amy’s blog.  Perhaps I will post a review of it soon.  In the meantime, I’ve got lots of knitting lined up……

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Style and age

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Last week, the Guardian online published a list, with photos and commentary, on the 50 best-dressed over 50s.  This is a twist on standard best-dressed lists which tend to favor the young and beautiful, who can usually look good in anything:

“[w]hen youth and beauty are taken out of the equation, the best-dressed competition becomes a little fairer, and more interesting…. Beauty fades; style becomes more important….because style over 50 has a depth of character with which no youngster can compete, however good she may look in hotpants.”

This list is ostensibly not about beauty but about style (though many on the list are very beautiful).  It’s about finding a style that works for you, and then working it.   I can’t say I agree with all of their choices, but I love the fact that they are celebrating people who have confidence in the way they dress and the way they look as they age.

(I also like some of their snarky commentary.  On Judi Dench: “Owning the pixie cut since before Anne Hathaway was born”; on Carine Roitfeld: “The only woman on Earth who looks a bit like Iggy Pop, but in a good way”; on Nick Cave: “He always, always has one too many buttons undone on his shirt, but it works.”; on Kirsty Wark: “Proving night after night that, contrary to popular opinion, a woman who knows her Miu Miu from her Mulberry can, astoundingly, still have sufficient brainpower left over to be well informed on other important issues”.)

What really struck me, however, were comments from two women who made the list.  The first, from Iris Apfel, age 91:

“No amount of money can buy you style …If someone says, ‘Buy this – you’ll be stylish’, you won’t be stylish because you won’t be you. You have to learn who you are first and that’s painful.”

I think I’m still trying to learn who I am, and hope by the time I get to be Iris’ age, I’ve figured it out and can make it work.  (In the meantime, I’d love to sit next to Iris at a dinner party.)

The second comment was from Diana Athill, 95, a literary editor, novelist and memoirist.  She had the most sensible, honest insight into style and aging that I have yet heard:

“However old one is, one still feels inside like the person one used to be. It’s a foolish mistake to try too hard to look like that person, but it would be a bit sad to look very much like something else.”

I think this shows real wisdom.  I also think this balancing act is one that many women get wrong.  I know my fashion misses almost always come from trying to be who I used to be, or from not paying attention to who I am.  Style takes confidence and self-knowledge.   I’m going to try to take these words to heart, and to grow older with style and wisdom.

Lush is Lush

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I am happily knitting away on my newest project using Lush Worsted, from The Uncommon Thread.  This yarn is a blend, 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon.  It is also an example of Truth in Advertising.  Lush is Lush.

IMG_6271I love everything about this yarn.  It is so soft and luxurious, and feels so good that I want to knit all day long.  Unlike Malabrigo Merino Worsted, that other famously soft wool, it is plied and has resilience and elasticity and bounce.  I also imagine that it will not pill like Malabrigo (though that remains to be seen).  The colour saturation is also fantastic.

IMG_6274This colour is called Pontus, which derives from the Greek word for sea, and it really carries in it all of the shades of a beautiful blue sea.  (Pontus also described a part of the coastline of the Black Sea, now in Turkey, where the Amazons resided in Greek mythology.)  The colour has movement and texture without too much variegation; it is rich with great depth but doesn’t pool.  (Can you tell that I like this yarn?)  The stitch definition is also wonderful, and this pattern, which combines a peaceful canvas of stockinette with a twisted stitch detail, shows up this stitch definition perfectly.  The above photo captures the simple but lovely pattern detail that flows down the sides of this sweater.  Also note the collar, in the top photo, where the twisted stitch pattern is reversible and can be buttoned up or left open.  As mentioned in my last post, the pattern is the Livvy Pullover, designed by Tori Gurbisz.  I am planning a number of modifications to the pattern, which I will blog about soon, but so far am knitting as written.

I started this one less than a week ago, and am powering through despite having to do some frogging.  (I knit about four inches into the body, tried it on and decided that it was a bit too tight under the arms, so I ripped back to before the sleeve separation, and added four rows without raglan increases.  I then foolishly decided to attempt a different cast-on method for the stitches under the arms.  After a few rows, I realized that they didn’t look as neat as my usual method, so I ripped back again, which involved separating off the sleeves for a third time.  When I tried it on again last night, I wished I had added 6 extra rows instead of 4, but I’m not frogging again.)

IMG_6267To sum up, this yarn is amazing.  Lush IS lush.  Resistance is futile.  Despite the bitter cold this holiday weekend, I am happy.   I would like to post more, but Lush is calling to me and my fingers are itching to knit.  Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring to you all!

Background and foreground knitting

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The Exeter jacket has taken on the role of background knitting.  This is the piece that I work on a bit here and there, when I have a quiet, peaceful moment and can concentrate on the pattern.  There is an awful lot of knitting ahead and instead of powering through, I am allowing myself to get distracted along the way.  I think I am now aiming to finish it sometime in the fall.  Here is a progress shot; I have finished one sleeve and begun the next:

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As Exeter chugs along in the background, I have any number of foreground pieces commanding my attention.  First, there was the Arleen T-shirt which I finished and blogged about last weekend.  Then, I decided to cast on a Haruni shawl.    I bought the wool for this shawl, a skein of Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash, at Knit Nation 2010 in London.  The colour is called “Granatapfel”  (pomegranate).  I bought it before I realized that I love variegated yarn much better in the skein than in the project.  I have been knitting away on the shawl this week, but am still not sure if I like the way the colour looks.  I think Haruni would be gorgeous in a very saturated pure shade.  I am going to give it a try anyway and hope when it is blocked the colour will look more organic and not fractured.

IMG_6234Those of you who are familiar with the Haruni shawl will immediately notice that I am knitting the “plain” version of the shawl.  Haruni, designed by Emily Ross, is a very popular pattern that has over the years developed two major offshoot versions, and within those three versions there are lots of smaller variations.  I will blog about these once I get to the lace section, but for now, here is a teaser photo of the pattern:

copyright Emily Ross

copyright Emily Ross

The weather in England is ghastly this week.  It may be spring but you can’t tell by looking out the window.  There has been snow, power outages, ice, sleet, and also  flooding and landslides.  On Friday, we drove home in the freezing cold, to find the postman had left me a present. (Yarn in a plastic bag does not make for a good photo.  I climbed up on a wet and frozen chair to get this photo, while holding a camera; my feet slipped and flew out from under me and only with luck did I manage to avoid breaking my neck.  After all that trouble, I decided the photo stays.)

IMG_6237This is five skeins of Lush Worsted in Pontus by The Uncommon Thread.  I have been reading about this company for some time and wanted to try their yarn.  The Uncommon Thread is a local (UK) environmentally-aware company that hand-dyes in small batches.  They source British breed yarns from small flocks, which are also spun locally,  thus cutting back on “wool miles”.  When I was able to put in a pre-order for this wool, I leapt at the chance.  I must say that I am extremely enamored of it.  This is a luxury buy; it is not cheap in sweater quantities.  But the colour is gorgeous, and the feel of this yarn is indescribably lush.  I cannot put it down.  It is the most lovely wool to knit with that I have had on my needles in a long time.  It is a blend; 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon.  The colour is hard to capture, but here is an attempt:

IMG_6245What do I plan to make with it, you may ask?  This is destined to be a Livvy pullover, designed by Tori Gurbisz.  Here is a photo of the pattern:

copyright LachesisandCo

copyright LachesisandCo

My original plan was to wait until fall to start knitting this, because it is now the end of March and I should start some spring knitting.  But, as this is the view out my back window right now:

IMG_6247I am not getting a spring-like vibe.  Thus, I decided to cast on yet another distractor from my Exeter jacket.  (In fact, this is only a partial explanation.  The truth is, this yarn is FANTASTIC.  I must knit with it. NOW.)  Here is the collar:

IMG_6254I have a feeling both the Exeter and the Haruni will be shoved aside this week, while Livvy takes the foreground.  Luckily, I foresee a lot of knitting in my immediate future.  The university will be closed for 5 days over Easter.  During this same period, the train station in my city is being closed for repairs, and the weather is due to remain cold and snowy. This may be a recipe for misery for thousands of holiday-makers during Spring Break, but we knitters can find joy in being housebound.

Hello, Arleen

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In this recent post, called “Goodbye, Levenwick”, I showed photos of my poor, departed Levenwick cardigan.  Despite my love for the pattern, it didn’t fit, it looked sloppy, the fabric bunched and I never wore it.  When I discovered a moth hole in it, I took my scissors and started to rip.  Well, it’s Goodbye Levenwick….Hello Arleen:

IMG_6212Arleen is a simple T-shirt pattern designed by Dona Knits (Ravelry link here).  I was in the mood for a fast, simple knit and this fit the bill.  I didn’t even have to knit a gauge swatch since it has the same gauge as Levenwick, so as soon as I finished ripping, I cast on and started knitting.

IMG_6209Arleen is a top-down raglan, knit in the round.  I made three small modifications.  FIrst, I didn’t like the way the pattern makes the raglan increases (with a kfb, kbf), so I used M1, k1, slip marker, k1, m1.   This makes a much neater raglan, at least for me.  Second, the pattern says to start waist decreases at 7 inches after the sleeve separation.  I don’t know about you, but I am considerably higher waisted than that; I started the waist decreases at 4″.  Then, I made an extra set of waist decreases, offset by an extra set of hip increases.  This makes a lovely, shapely sweater, that is not too fitted.

IMG_6197This T-shirt took me 12 days from start to finish, including blocking.  I am sure there are knitters out there who could whip it out in a couple of days.  If you are looking for something fast, cute and comfortable, this definitely fits the bill.  (Another plus, the pattern is available for free.)

However, the very best thing about this sweater is that it perfectly matches my Stripe Study Shawl:

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This shawl was the topic of my very first blog post in October 2011.  It was desiged by the talented Veera Välimäki.  I knit it with two skeins of Wollweise “Pure” 100% Merino Superwash.  I don’t seem to have recorded the colour of the brown, but the blue is called “Aquarius” and is an astoundingly good match for the Cascade 220 in colour 2433 with which I knit Arleen.

IMG_6226I think I will get a lot more use out of this than I did out of Levenwick.  In fact, since I finished it, I keep thinking of making another one, say in black, and maybe a red one, and fuschia would look good, perhaps emerald, oh I know, rust, or navy,  maybe charcoal……..

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Cold comfort

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Today an icy wind blew across the UK, bringing snow flurries and gale winds and cold.  Leah bounded down the stairs this morning wearing not one, but two, hand knits.  Be still, my knitter’s heart!

IMG_6176I immediately rushed her out the door to take photos. In the freezing cold.   Even before breakfast.  (My family are amazingly tolerant of my blogging demands.)  She is wearing the lovely February scarf which I just finished knitting last week.  I had actually fretted that I finished it too late in the season to get any wear this winter, but the weather accomodated me.

She is also wearing the wonderfully cozy ‘owls’ sweater, designed by Kate Davies.  I made this sweater for Leah four years ago this month, in March 2009, when she was 14 years old.  It has been worn countless times.  Leah has grown since I made it, and it is now a bit snug and the sleeves are a good 3 inches too short, but she still says it’s the best thing to wear on a cold day.  Go ahead cold, do your worst!

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