Canyonville Sleeve

New project - Canyonville from Alice Starmore, American Portraits.  I bought the booklet when I saw one made up in a knitting shop over twenty years ago.  I think I swatched it several times, but could not get the gauge.

This time, I just decided to rework the pattern to the gauge I got.  I also prefer the raglan sleeve treatment that several of the people on Ravelry have used.

I'm using very vintage Bear Brand Deluxe Knitting Worsted that was purchased on eBay.  eBay purchases are of course why I have way too much yarn upstairs.

Hedera is done

So, here we are.  I spent Thursday working on it so that she could be washed and dried before needlework Monday.

The sweater fits nicely, however the sleeves are way too long.  They were meant to be turned back, but as pictured, they are double cuffed.

I wanted to put a closure on this, but I am reconsidering.  It looks great open, and seems to settle properly as well.

If I was to make it again, I would shorten the sleeves.  Other than that, a nice knit.

It is January 2013 now.

My yarn stash is all over the guest room, and has been for several months now.  I would like to have less yarn around, but when I go to thin out the stash, I end up loving it again.  Even the bright yellow worsted.

I have found that I prefer working in the smaller gauges.  I have also found that working outside of my likes increases my feeling of creativity.  If reducing volume is my goal, then this is the year of worsted weight.

To kick off, I offer the swatch for an almost finished Hedera jacket.  Hedera is from the Nancy Marchant Knitting Brioche book.  All the pieces are knit, and I started sewing it together on Monday. 

We are up to the armpits here, and looking good.

Vegan girl was on a field trip last week, and took her orange sweater. Now kids are uploading their pictures, and I can see that she really did wear it. It looks good, but maybe that is just me being proud.

I also took the orange sweater to my knitting group to show off. That was fun too. It was turned it inside out to examine the stranding, and to search for the seams that were not there. The other knitters in the group don't seem to do a lot of mulit color work. I bask in the admiration.

All done, and it fits. There is still enough cool weather, that vegan girl may wear it before the spring really happens here.

You can see, if you look that the body is tapered a bit.

I messed up the yoke a bit. Stupid, really. It was important to craft a decrease method to line the pattern up along the raglan lines. That meant three decreases every five rows. Like a moron, I just started out doing the every other row decrease that seems to magically work on raglan shapes. The little spots were growing farther apart. So, I ripped it out, and did it again.

I started my next sweater yesterday during the final games of 6 Nations rugby. We were in a pub with some friendly pub regulars, who all wore kilts to watch Scotland lose to England. Then we stayed for the Wales/Ireland game. Many beers later, we were escorted to a very nice restaurant by a friendly kilt guy - I had mentioned that I was craving French Fries. This restaurant had the best steak I have eaten in France. Then we returned to the pub for another cocktail, and then off to the train before service ended for the evening.

Oh, back to the knitting, I completed the 5 cm of ribbing, but it is just 5 cm of black ribbing. I will photograph it when there is something real to see.

Happy March

The orange sweater is comming right along. The sleeves are finished, and the body needs a little over one more patter repeat before I'm at the armholes. This is to be a raglan, so everyone becomes attached at that point.

I was in a panic when I finished the arms. Each one took just under a ball of orange to complete. I calculated that I had to be two balls short. Turns out, I was wrong, and I should have just enough.

I spent today weaving in the ends for the arms and body, in anticipation of putting the pieces together. For some reason, I had it in my head that I wanted the sleeves cleaned up before I attached them to the body. Since I don't really like doing this job, I feel very good about the project now.

This is what happens when you let a teenager choose colors. I like it.

This is the yarn I purchased in Germany. I've been able to get a tighter gauge than the ball band indicates, which suits me just fine.

I've had some not so successful experiences with cotton/cotton blends. With a sleeve finished, I think that this one will work out well.