Yesterday was a gorgeous day; the kind of day that said “Spring is here!” The sun was shining. There were lambs in the fields. The outdoor cafes were filled with happy people. And I got spring yarn in the mail!
This is the yarn that I special ordered weeks ago, in the cold bite of winter, anticipating spring kntting. It is Merino Silk Fingering by The Uncommon Thread, a blend of 50% wool and 50% silk in the shade called Citrus. It is mouth-wateringly yummy, sunshine-y and zesty. It makes me happy.
A few posts ago I was lamenting the fact that I had nothing on my needles; I was on the prowl for some new projects. Now I have three projects for spring. Yesterday, Doug photographed all my new yarn just for you. See how gorgeous and rich the orange is in the sunshine? The secret is that the wool and the silk take up the dye differently, giving amazing depth to the colour. And look at the beautiful Rowan Kidsilk Eclipse – I love how sometimes you can see the metallic sparkle and sometimes you can’t. See the hint of sparkle in the above photo?
And here they are mixing with the heathery grey of the Brooklyn Tweed Loft. Three pretty yarns, three spring sweaters (all for me)! So what am I making? The Loft will be Escher – a lovely lightweight geometric cardigan designed by Alexis Winslow for Brooklyn Tweed. I am knitting it in the same lovely shades of grey (such a shame this beautiful phrase has been co-opted) as the pattern photo:
I love the idea of knitting this in a bright pop of juicy orange. The silk blend will give it drape and swing and fluidity. It’s the perfect cardigan to wear with a pretty summer dress.
What about the Rowan Eclipse? I’ve been busy this week, knitting away:
I am pretty captivated with the yarn which literally knits up light as air. It is a chameleon, changing in every light.
The first step in our Skirt Project is to knit up a sample skirt; a template for the later designs. We want to make sure that the fit is right, and also that we are happy with the chosen yarn, gauge, fabric, drape, shape, style, etc. The initial plan is that I will ponder over the basics involved in designing and knitting the template (and knit it, of course!) while Emma is busy with designing the first series of skirts. Of course it is a much more collaborative process than that implies, since we are bouncing ideas back and forth nearly every day.
There are three major decisions that I have been grappling with: top-down or bottom-up, back-and-forth or in-the-round, and which yarn to use. This post will focus on the yarn selection and I will discuss the other two in the next post in this series.
A skirt needs to have some sturdiness built into it. The skirt has to give and move with your body, but you don’t want it to sag and bag. Essentially, you need to be able to sit and stand, repeatedly, and wash it frequently, and you don’t want it to stretch out or to pill. It needs to have memory, and to “sproing” back into place. I decided that I wanted wool, which has great drape and memory, but with some nylon mixed in to make it tough. Sort of like sock yarn, I pondered. In fact, what I want from the fabric for the skirt is similar to what you want with a sock – it needs to be able to take a lot of abuse and hold up to wear and tear.
The problem with sock yarn is that the gauge is too small. As Emma keeps planning for more and more skirts, I must keep the gauge to something reasonably quick. I thought about it and decided my preferred needle size would be a US5 or 6, and that I would be aiming at 5-6 stitches per inch. After pondering some time on the pros and cons of various types of yarns, I decided that I would try to use a sock yarn but knit with it held double. This serves two purposes – it puts the gauge in the range I want and it also means that I can use a beautiful hand-dyed wool without worrying about pooling.
The Uncommon Thread makes beautiful yarn. I used their worsted weight Lush yarn to make my Livvy sweater and I loved knitting with it. The company is reasonably local to me and is environmentally aware. I can pre-order it from the dyer or can purchase it at my local yarn store (Loop in London), so it is readily available. The sock yarn is very rich and saturated and the colours are beautiful. So, I ordered some of the yarn, called Tough Sock, to make Template Mach 1 (hopefully, there will be no need for a Template Mach 2). I bought three colours for the template skirt – a deep grey (nearly black) called Charred, a very beautiful medium grey with silvery highlights called Plata, and a lovely blue with green and grey tones called Leaden. Here is a photo of the Charred and Leaden colours:
Just as I was about to wind the skeins, I read on the label that the yarns should be washed before using if doing colourwork. I know this of course, but always in my excitement to begin a new project, I neglect this step. This can lead to disastrous consequences (see my earlier post The perils of red for a project gone bad through colour running). So, I washed the skeins and hung them to dry. While this meant that I had to wait a few days before swatching, it also gave me pretty photos of yarn hanging from the line in the breeze; these photos showcase the Plata colour. (By the way, none of the colours bled at all; but we all know that it is better to be safe than sorry.)
The finished swatch is beautiful. The yarn has lots of give, and the colour, with the two strands held together, is even more rich and gorgeous than with a single strand.
I must admit to knitting the swatch back and forth instead of in the round. This means that I can not be 100% certain that the gauge is accurate. (Clever readers may notice the foreshadowing here for the next post.) But I am impatient, and after all, that is why knitting is made to rip! We knitters can be as impetuous as we like, as long as a little ripping doesn’t faze us.
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:
I 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
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
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).
Note 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.)
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:
See 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:
I really think that the hemmed edge gives a nice, simple finish to the garment and allows the beauty of the design to shine through.
I 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!)
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.
I 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.
This 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.)
To 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!
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:
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.
Those 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
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.)
This 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:
What 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
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:
I 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:
I 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.
