Swatch-a-thon

 It's been a while again.

A design I proposed was accepted by CastOn magazine and will be published in a few weeks. It took me ALL THE TIME to knit and write the pattern. When I turned it in I was a bit cross-eyed with the effort but I'm glad I did it.

I was not going to propose another design as my husband and I planned to take a holiday and there is a wedding to attend in September. Then, he fell out of the attic and broke his tibia. So, no holiday, but maybe we will still do the wedding. 

So, I put in a proposal for another sweater design. I hope they like it. 

In any event, after I turned in the pattern and sample I did not feel like going back to any of my in-progress projects. Actually, I did not feel like knitting at all for a few days. For me, that is really weird. Then, suddenly, I needed to swatch. I was looking for a diamond pattern that would be suitable for beaded embellishment. I ended up down a quilting/floating stitch rabbit hole. Then, there was one very special discovery - the kind of pattern I live for. 

Let's see what what I did, and what I think about it

This first one is Quilted Lattice from Barbara Walkers first Treasury. My opinion is that it looks better in the photograph than in person. It is really easy, and I could place beads on the floats, but it could weigh them down. That could be good to. It just wasn't what I was looking for exactly.

The very next pattern in the book is the English Diamond Quilting pattern. It is closer to what I was looking for but I don't see an easy way to mount beads. It uses two yo stitches to add yarn for the elongated stitches. It seemed a bit confusing and the stitches seemed sloppy. I could try again with some intentional adjustments to the tension, but I saw how this one works and was ready to move on.

The next turned into a multi-swatch. Starting on the bottom is a modification of the quilted lattice. Instead of offsetting the pattern I just worked the first two rows. It's OK, but I was looking for something a bit more dense. I should probably work it again with beads on the floats and in sport weight yarn. It could make a nice beaded border for a tank or shell. 

Next up is Cluster Quilting from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury.  I do love a two tone pattern and this one has potential. It is worked differently from the English Diamond by using a purl wrapping twice instead of a yo to make the elongated stitches. It also uses a double wrap to sort of hide the intersection of the diamonds. It looks neater in the Walker book. Perhaps, another go, intentionally tightening up those wraps would produce a neater result. That wrapped row is five stitches of the foreground pattern so that one only slips three background stitches. It's pretty clever, as the first and fifth stitches are sort of covered up by the diagonal elongated stitch.

Next up is Cornflower pattern again from the Second Treasury. This one surprised me. I thought it would be too cute, but I actually like it a lot. I can see combining it with some other leaf type motifs for a flower themed texture piece. The little buds could be  arranged to play in a more vertical panel than the spread-out horizontal as written. I could mount a bead on that top center elongated stitch, but that may not add to the pattern effect. It is a bit fussy with a lot of slipping back and forth, but I think it is worth it. 

The top one blew me away. It is also in the Second Treasury and is called Two-tone Lattice. It is effectively a brick type slip stitch with one WS knit row. The RS purl bumps from that row make the diagonal lattice. This is what I love about some knitting patterns. It produces an attractive and complex effect with a very simple and easy to remember pattern.

So, we come to the end of my sharing. Send some comments this way if anyone is reading.

Rayon/Cotton Woes

One of the reasons why I tend to be a monogamous knitter is that I often can't figure out what I was thinking if I put a project aside for a while. How long is a while? Well, right now, it appears to be a few months. That is what happened to this tank I started in September of last year. It was put aside because our move out of Houston went into high activity in November. When life settled down some, I had other knitting priorities, like finishing the TKGA program. 

This tank is a continuation of my many year stash down. I've had this yarn in stash since the early 2000's. It is labeled DK, but is really more a worsted gauge. It is shiny, but also really heavy. I've knit it into a few things, then ripped it out as the multicolor pools and I found it cranky in a lot of applications. It is too heavy for a slip stitch top and I don't have enough for a jacket. What to do? 

Oh, Entrelac. Finally, it is beautiful in entrelac. 

Now, what to make? A sleeveless top because I live in Texas and it gets hot here. Top down, as I am unsure how long I can make the thing due to the many partial skeins and lost yarn from past failures.

All was going well, but then it was put aside, took many trips in the car, and for some reason just felt too complicated to pick up and figure out. Some stitches came off the needle, and did not get placed back right, and half the progress had to be ripped, then I spent two days figuring out how I needed to set up the triangles to get the armhole closed up. Then, magically, all was good until my wrist became sore. 

I've put it aside for two weeks, and am working with some wool. My wrist feels better now, so I should pick it up again. Now, I wonder how long and how often should I work on it to prevent my wrist from getting sore again?

I have enough yarn for one more row of the multi-colored yarn after the current row of blue. I have some darker navy that will do for all the edging. A new friend suggested that I work it in an open work pattern if I'm concerned about the length. I think that is a great idea.

Where did Swatchy Go?

 It's been a year since my last blog post. A lot has happened.

Good news, first - I passed the TKGA Master Knitter program. I will not say with flying colors, but passing is passing so I now can claim to be a Master Knitter.

Second, I did meet my personal goal of 2021 to get two patterns published. One was a hat for Cast On Magazine and the other was a toddler top published by I Like Knitting, and online magazine. 

Both were star stitch. I was going to start a new star stitch project and my hands went BLEAH. I was done with my new favorite stitch after blathering on about how great it was. 

Other stuff happened as well and now I live in a new place. So there was a lot of packing, painting, house hunting, house marketing, loan qualifying, and form signing. We are mostly settled, just waiting to have some flooring finished. That is the not so good news - for too many reasons the crew hired to paint and install flooring are late. Very late. The guy said it would take three weeks and we are now well past the three month point. Thus, all crafting materials remain in the cardboard boxes they were placed in last October. 

I finished some stuff and started some other stuff. Here are some photos. 

The TKGA L3 sweater

A brioche baby sweater from some stash.

A brioche me sweater from some other stash. 

I've got a new project brewing, but more on that later. 

Obsessed with the Star Stitch

 Well, it is almost February. 

The last few years, I have been binge watching streaming series or binge listening to audio books while I knit.  Since the pandemic, I've spent more time just knitting. My husband is working in our home office, so perhaps I'm embarrassed about how much media I consume. In any event, when I'm knitting without media my mind wanders and I find I'm obsessing about some knitting ideas more than others.

It is a struggle to keep up progress on my TKGA project. However, finishing all the bits for submission this year is a top priority. I've set the armhole steeks, and after the next pink band I'll set the neck. I decided to steek that as well. The picot edge used on the cuffs and waist welt will be echoed on the neckband and I can work a few more rows to cover up the raw edge. 

That is the plan at least. 

So, on to obsessions. There are several but I think I'll cover one at a time. Less overwhelming for me.

The Star Stitch

I'm obsessed with the star stitch. Last year I worked these gloves and was so very excited with how they turned out.

Next, I worked out a hat. My had model friend liked it enough to order one in her choice of colors, so here is hers in what I could call the KZ colorway.

Now, I have a child sized sweater sample done. I don't like the neck, in this sample. While thinking about it I believe I've worked out the solution so that it lays flat. If that works out I'll see if I can get it test knitted in other sizes. 

In a few months, once I've worked through my other two or three obsessions, I'll work out an adult sweater. It is already swatched. 

Note, the slip stitch edging, another obsession, but more on that later. 

I'm also thinking of an infant saque and a tank with a stockinette yoke and bust shaping.

That is six designs for this single orphaned stitch pattern.

I'm not done yet.

 More obsessions next month. 

It's 2021

Well, hello, new year.

I'm still working away on the project for the TKGA Master Knitter certification. Progress is slow, but steady. I'm about half way to the armhole steeks. I'm hoping to have most of the knitting finished by the end of January.

In the mean time, designer brain is still working. I've proposed a few designs for publication and an article. I have to learn to send them out, then let go. Instead I'm pinging my email for responses that will not come for weeks. 

New Schedule

 Well, big news.

TKGA decided to publish a special issue to showcase the 2020 competition entries. We had the option to submit the pattern and since I actually wrote one while I was working up the project, I sent it on. So now, I am officially a published designer. Check it out on Ravelry.

So, design brain is getting in the way of my Master Knitter project, but more on that some other time. I did finish the sleeves before the end of the year. The body is cast on, but I'm still working on the waist edging. I hope to begin the stranded work by the end of the year.

The new schedule is to finish in time for Texas Bluebonnet season 2021. That way, I can take a photo of my beautiful sweater with it's inspiration.

Hats Hats Hats

 Hats, hats, hats.

I've been designing. I blame that contest. While I did not win or place, the process seems to have triggered something and I became somewhat obsessed. The only thing to do was to drop the TKGA masters sweater and give in. 

So, here we go.....

The star stitch pattern has a lot of future designs. I've done a child's size sweater but I'm not yet happy with the neck opening. In the mean time, here is a hat done in KnitPicks Brava sport. 

I thought that even though the Brava is marked as sport weight it worked up more like DK. 

I'm calling this one the Stars Around Hat. 

Then I got into some alpaca and did a lace pattern called Smiling Diamonds. So, it is the Smiling Diamonds Hat.

It took some fiddling to get the crown to work. This hat has a little I-cord top knot, just because. 

The alpaca was ancient, but I think any soft DK weight yarn would work well. 

The picot edge is folded over, and I put an elastic headband inside. That way, the hat will stay put even if the alpaca decides to go saggy. 

Next up is the Migration Hat. It is also alpaca and also has some elastic inside. 

 

It is worked from the top down, and I really like how the crown turned out. It looks almost like a four leaf clover. 

After some futzing around I was able to load them on Ravelry so now I have a little shop there. 

Many thanks to my friend Kendall who modeled for me. She will be getting a Stars Around hat in her own personal colorway.

So much for the schedule

 Well well. 

I planned to beaver away at my beautiful TKGA certification project and complete two sleeves this month. Then that designer bug I had caught got into my head. 

I designed a hat. I may rip apart the band and redo it as the cast off I chose is way too tight. But, the chart is done and instructions are written. I need to take a better picture, but here is an OK one:

Now, I'm working on a child sized pullover with a circular yoke. I want to sprinkle the decreases so that they don't line up. I was worrying about creating an impossibly complicated set of instructions as I worked through the sizes.

Last night my brain figured out how to work out the instructions. It was a blinding flash of the obvious. Turns out that if I choose increments of 18 for the yoke stitch count I can write all the decrease rows the same, adding one new row for each size. Gauge for this design is 5.25 sts/inch so adding 12 sts to the body increases the chest width about 2" which is about one size. 

 So, when I work out the same design for adults, I'll begin with the yoke and work back from there. 

I hope to finish my current design this week at which point I will go make my second sleeve. 

First Sleeve has some ends

I just now finished the knitting for the first sleeve of my TKGA final project. That puts me pretty close to the schedule I made up last week. I do have some ends to work in. 

Earlier today I loaded, unloaded and spread 600 pounds of compost/manure on part of my front yard. I had ground cover before Hurricane Harvey. When the backhoes came to pick up all the stuff that was removed from the house - furniture, doors, drywall, bedding, you know - your whole life on the curb - they scraped up the ground cover too. Two and a half years later it had refused to grow back, so I bought some top soil and planted more Asian jasmine. While it has not died, it has not flourished and I think there is something missing from the top soil. I put that same soil in some porch planters and am having trouble getting things to grow there as well. So, I held back two sacks of manure/compost for the planters and put the rest on the jasmine. We should have some rain later this week so it can start working it's organic magic and maybe in the spring that section of the yard will have recovered. 

In any event, I'm tuckered.

Design Fever

I apparently am quite thrilled about hacking the star stitch. It does not seem like much, but sometimes it seems miraculous. In any event, I'm designing a child's size sweater and beanie now. Yesterday, I went into a frenzy, thinking I could work it up for some random publication deadline. I thought it through, and am calmer now. Maybe there will be pictures of said sweater in the future. 

Today, I resorted my priorities and went back to the TKGA masters sweater. I decided upon a schedule - work the sleeves in October, the body in November and December. January will be finishing and reviewing my written work.  

I am a few rows from finishing the first sleeve repeat and I'm pretty happy. I remeasured gauge and needed to tweak some numbers, but not so much that ripping or a major rewrite was involved. 

Then I made Chap Jae for Neighbors night out. 

Almost October

 Hmmm, haven't posted since April. Blogger looks different. Stuff happens when you don't pay attention. 

Pandemic depression. I spent a few months not doing much of anything but knitting and working Sudoku puzzles. I hope most of that is over. I'm riding my bicycle a few times a week and trying to walk the other days weather permitting. 

I was so glad that Laura and Sally landed east of us. Beta was some welcome rain, but now the bicycle path is flooded. 

Oh, and I'm working on some designs. 

Maybe I'll be posting less and focusing on designs. Maybe. 

First, is the TKGA masters certificate sweater. I just cast on. I did the swatch way back in May or June. It took a while to get it right and then for KnitPicks to restock the colors I wanted. 

Here is the swatch. Tell me it is pretty.

I also entered some gloves into the TKGA contest. I wrote the pattern so if someone wants to test knit it to check I'll send it onto the first person who asks. 

My husband took the photos. I think they are great.

 

Too Early for the Victory Lap

Ahem.

Last week I thought I was about to stick a pin into the worsted weight stash down.

Then I swatched some vintage wool and shetland wool and found it worked to 20 sts/inch which is worsted. I have the same sort of vintage yarn by other makers and they work to DK gauges nicely. I did a bit more research and learned that this particular brand plays better as worsted.

Then I found a few friends in the worsted category that also had been hiding in the DK bin.

On the bright side, this is a really great color and I tried working it with KnitPicks wool of the Andes. They play together very well. I do have my next two projects already picked out, so this will go into the queue for a few months.

In the mean time, I'll be inspecting and resorting the stash. It got moved around a bit in the past few years and the hanks need to be placed back with their friends of the same weight. I need to also look out for more of this particular brand.

Almost There

FWIW, I have been on a quest to work through my stash of worsted wool for several years. I have strayed from that quest from time to time but since 2012 it has been the focus of most of my knitting projects.

I'm getting really close to calling it done. I've been thinking about what that really means as we all know that there is always that odd little ball of wool that is too large to put away, but not large enough to do much with.

I just evaluated the remainder, and bagged two sets of coordinating oddballs for another two toddler sized sweaters - about 250 grams a bag.

This bag was in the last stash photo. A parchment/tan, red and some dark brown.












I had a good amount of blue and I thought the orange would make a nice pop for edges or something.

After that, I think I'll call it done.

This guy is finished except for buttons:

I really like the slip stitch pattern here.

What day is it?

Like many, I'm losing time with this shut down. Totally forgot to update here last week.

Last I visited this blog I was finishing a little sweater. It is done now.

I made a note to not work this pattern again. The cables are nice but the shaping is not to my liking.











I'm working on another toddler sized stash sweater. This one uses five colors in a slip stitch pattern that I am enjoying very much.






I'm also pleased with the stash reduction. Here is a picture from September:

And this is the picture today:

So, I've almost finished a toddler sweater from the leftovers of my previous project. It is a pattern that I have used before - Trellis from Knitty.

I'm not feeling the mojo to take a photo of it. Perhaps next week when it is finished.

I have succeeded in learning bead crochet. I made a few bangles as a gift for a friend who is joining the D.A.R.

Other than that, I'm trying to manage grocery shopping in the time of pandemic. I had a small curbside order pick up today and did not get the rice or lemon drink that was ordered. Seems there has been a major run on rice in my area.

Still, most of my troubles are minor and we are all well still.

Another Finish

Smaller worsted oddballs make for the smaller projects I've been working lately. I still like the big sweaters, and here is a new finish.

Of note, this project represents the last over 300 gram worsted weight yarn left in my stash. 

Another note, I was so anxious  about yarn chicken that I overbought the background color. Drat!

Next week, you may see a child-sized cardigan made from the overage.

Yikes! I've been lazy about keeping up the blog.

I made a few more baby sweaters.

This first one was a remake of a baby puzzle sweater that I did many years ago. I made some notes about the pattern and I'm happy with the improvements. It's still way too small. I increased the stitches a lot and still ended up with a newborn size. I'm wondering if I'm interested enough to continue to tweak this pattern.


This one is an oddball inspired by the northern lights. It ended up about 24" so should be a 9 month-12 month size.







I also finished the grid jacket. I think it turned out pretty well.

Neck Trek

A few years ago I went through all my projects and finished, frogged, or tossed them all. I have been mostly monogamous since then. I like finishing things.

For a few reasons, I have strayed from that habit. I currently have three adult sized sweaters on the needles and a few baby/child sized projects in mind.

Last week two sweater bodies were at the neck stage and I discovered earlier a problem with the neck from a previous sweater. Thus, last week was neck week.

The problem neck was from the Milo sweater I made a few years ago. Not only was it too tight, but there was a dropped stitch right at the base. You can see the before and after pictures below. I probably ought to reblock it and give those rib stitches a yank. They look kind of sloppy.  I'm super glad that I still had a bit of that dark blue in the stash.

The Drops project was next. Alas, I did not take a photo of it with the neck, and I don't feel like taking out the sweater and the camera again, so a neckless body will have to do for today.

I also began a sweater in a yarn called Brilla purchased from Elann in my binge-purchase days. It is a cotton/rayon mix and is decent to work with. I became obsessed with a pattern called "Mulberry Grid" from Knitters magazine that came out while I was living outside of the U.S. I was able to backward-engineer the pattern so I could try making the little jacket. Since I have a limited amount of material and no reliable way to get more I started with the body and cropped it a bit. I feel that I have enough skeins to make full-length sleeves.

I was pleased with how fast the body of this sweater worked up. Logically, it makes sense since it is mostly big holes. If anyone is looking at this blog and wants to know how I did it I will discuss it here. You would have to leave a comment.

These two green beauties should be finished up in March.

So Much Math

I made this sweet bunting many years ago. Since I'm in a baby sweater mode, I decided to make another. Well, this is not entirely because of the recent baby sweater obsession. I'm considering how to make this into an adult design.

I'm glad I reworked it according to pattern. One of the things I dislike about yoke sweaters is the need to do short-rows to work the back of the neck, or fiddle with calculations to create a nice dip in the front. When I blocked this, I realized that the zig-zag of the yoke pattern naturally creates a neck dip. I'm thinking that short rows to fill in some of the back can work very nicely.

The next part of this project will be to chart it. I'm not so good a visualization, especially when it comes to lace. The directions are seventy-something rows of line by line directions. A chart will help me a lot.

Next, I need to decide what to do with the body and arms. The first time I worked the project, I continued the lace. This lace does have bias, and I recall not being entirely pleased with the result. Perhaps a line of yo below the last repeat, then moving back to stockinette would be better. I'll have to work some swatches to figure out how that will work.

Last, what weight yarn? This one is in sport weight. The weight is very nice, but I will need to make sure the increases calculate out properly. My next stash objective is the DK stuff and I think I have enough magenta and enough red to make an adult sweater in either color.

I'm not ready to put pencil to paper and work out all those decisions right now.

In the mean time, I'll go back to my current active project. It is an openwork cardigan and looks like a mess right now. Perhaps next week I will have the body completed and will be able to block it out and see how well my gauge swatch matches what I ended up with.

Mittens!

I'm enjoying these little projects. Oddballs are getting smaller. I suppose I could have made these adult size, but I have not made mittens for a very long time. I was looking through some of my vintage pattern books and this pattern pulled me in.

I'm switching back to baby sweaters and continuing to work on the larger Drops project.