Sugar Maple Spring

Pattern: Sugar Maple
Source: Two-at-a-time Socks
Yarn: Zitron Trekking Hand Art Flame in Costa Rica
Needle: 40″ Size 2 Addi Turbo Circular

This project was slow, occasional and drawn out. It was my first completely successful pair of socks constructed two at a time using magic-loop, and I got a little overwhelmed coming up to the heels. I also had a busy spring, with plenty of time consuming stressful obligations, so knitting fell a bit by the wayside.

What I might love the most about knitting (other than the knitting itself, which is totally zen and essential to mental health) is the way each project absorbs certain memories. One pair of socks can contain a hundred individual little vignettes from every day and not-so-everyday life. It’s like journaling, but more tactile and much more useful.

So, the Sugar Maple socks.
Firstly, this is not new yarn. We’ve been saving our money aggressively and I haven’t bought myself new yarn in months (pat-pat on the back). This skein was actually the first sock yarn I ever bought…I think it was Spring of 09. This was when socks still seemed daunting and honestly a little strange. Why would you spend so much time knitting something at such a teeny tiny gauge, only to stuff the whole thing inside of your shoe? And why so many brightly colored, strangely-hued variegated yarns? I am a lady who appreciates clean lines and large blocks of complimentary colors…the chaotic mixing that happens in sock yarns was almost too much for me to handle. As I learned quickly after picking up my first pair of needles, knitting has a way of fundamentally altering the way you look at color…but I still hadn’t quite found myself accepting the look of variegated yarn.

I came around to the idea of socks themselves last Spring. I was reading an issue of Interweave knits and the little narrative section near the back was on the subject of socks…in particular it detailed the author’s metamorphosis from casual knitter to full-blown knitting on your lunch break, riding on the bus sock knitter. Her description of how emotionally satisfying a pair of socks could be finally made me understand what the appeal really was.

So on the way home from the cabin, I stopped at the yarn shop in Anacortes and grabbed a skein of sock yarn. It was Zitron Hand Art Flame…in this lovely/hideous yellow, pink, olivey/brown colorway. I took it home, wound it into a ball, and promptly buried it in my stash. Apparently, though I’d made an effort, it was going to be a while longer before I accepted this variegated monstrosity as something worth knitting up.

Fast forward to this Spring. I am a full-on sock knitter. I carry my knitting around with my when I move from place to place on Guemes…the yarn shoved in one pocket of my hoodie and the needles in the other. I’ve quit smoking for good, so I take my socks to the bar with me, secure in the knowledge that I won’t be rubbing my smoke fingers all over the yarn.

I cast on for these socks at the boat, where I was covering for Jonah while he and Pete worked at the cabin, putting a new roof in. I worked on them in the mornings and evenings, before Jonah and I set to work tearing up the floors of the cabin, pounding down nails and filling them with wood putty…sanding the planks and replacing the rotten spots with new wood. At first the going was slow…the pattern is a mock cable rib and knitting into the back of a stitch and then the front can be a little dicey if you’re not used to doing it. My hands had to warm to the particular amount of pressure and tilt required to pluck the stitch without splitting the yarn or grabbing the wrong loop.

I took these socks to Camano Island to visit my Great-Grandpa, who told my sister and I all about his twenties on Capitol Hill, when he worked at a diner and served waffles to friendly prostitutes. I showed my knitting around and my mother showed off the laptop cover she made for her Macbook. I oohed and aahed and she promptly slipped it off her computer and onto mine. Thanks, mom. I took the socks up to Camano again after Grandpa passed away, to visit my Nana and watch episodes of Castle while she fell asleep on the couch with her barrel-chested chocolate lab in her lap. That’s where I turned the heels, and I only had to knit backwards once, when I tried to do something fancy during the big murder-mystery reveal at the end of an episode.

I got sick for the first time in years this Spring, and I spent the down time watching episodes of Fringe and Lost and working away at the gussets and the foot. I finally reached the toe last weekend at Guemes and started the final decreases while I was sick for a second time on the couch. I alternated knitting with reading a Michio Kaku book about inflation and string theory.

I woke up yesterday and spent about 20 minutes finishing up the toes and weaving in the ends, before Jonah got home and we climbed in the car to come up to Guemes one last time together before he heads off to Alaska on the 16th.

I’m wearing the socks right now, while it rains outside. It’s unseasonably cruddy today, but I don’t mind too terribly since yesterday was beautiful. Elise had a birthday party at her place by the tide flats and we ate amazing fresh corndogs she made at Anderson’s after she got off work.

Stripes and Stripes and Stripes…Minimalist-ish.

Swinging Stripe Cardigan

Note: This sweater is inspired by the shape of the Minimalist Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Fall 2007. I owe my aesthetic inspiration entirely to Ruthie Nussbaum, but the following pattern notes are all my own. I did not pilfer any part of Ruthie’s pattern and try to pass it off as my own, because that would be really really lame.

That said, here’s how I did it.

I am a sucker for top down raglans, so I started with a simple raglan formula as my “skeleton”. If you’ve seen or knitted my other patterns, you should be familiar with the idea by now. I am knitting this sweater in worsted weight yarn (in Cascade 220…since it’s my favorite go-to yarn). My gauge with this yarn and a size 9 needle is 18 stitches/ 4 inches.

I decided on a neckline that was a little wide, to leave room for the band of stockinette that will be attached later. If I were knitting a complete pullover raglan, I would cast on 90 stitches, to give myself a 20 inch neckline. BUT, we are knitting an open-fronted cardigan.

In the case of a pullover, the cast on amount would be divided into thirds…two thirds would make up the front and the back, and the third third would be split to make the sleeves. (So, during a cast on of 90 stitches, you would CO 30, pm, CO 15, pm, CO30, pm, CO15, pm.)

Since we want an open front, We will leave the front section of the raglan out entirely. Instead, we will cast on only the sleeves and the back, PLUS two stitches on each side of the front to support our first few increases. So, cast on goes like this:

CO2, pm, CO15, pm, CO 30, pm, CO 15, pm, CO2

That’s 64 stitches total cast on.

Knit two rows in stockinette to begin, then proceed with raglan increasing to shape the yoke of the sweater. This means increasing before and after each marker on every RS row. I increased like so:

knit to the second stitch before the marker, kfb (knit front and back), knit, slip marker, knit, kfb, repeat…

Continue increasing this way until your sleeves are the desired width and the yoke is deep enough, making sure to switch your yarn every 14 rows to create nice thick stripes (you can cut your yarn and leave tails to weave in, OR carry your yarn up the rows as you knit.) Make sure to try the sweater on as you go. Once the two stitch markers JUST meet under your arm, you should be good to go. The keyword here is JUST. You don’t want the markers to overlap, or meet in the air a few inches below your underarm. The fit should be snug around the shoulder. Knitting until the underarm is loose will leave you with a much baggier fit.

Once your armholes are large enough, place them on waste yarn, or on spare circular needles, and attach the front to the back of the sweater.
When you come to the two sleeve markers, remove them both and knit the last stitch of the front, and the first stitch of the back together. Place marker again and continue. Repeat on the other side.

Now you are knitting happily away on the body, continuing your stripes. To add a little bit of movement to the sweater, increase before and after the side markers every 14 rows or so. This will give the body a little extra room to swing around.

When you near the end of the body, count your stitches and make sure you have a multiple of 4. If not, add or subtract stitches to get an appropriate amount. When you reach the end of a stripe, switch colors as before and knit two rows in regular stockinette.
On the third row, go down two needle sizes (I used a size 7) and knit in 3×1 rib for 9 rows. On the tenth row, bind off in pattern.

Ta da! Your body is complete! You now have a decision to make. You could either knit your sleeves and THEN the collar, or finish your collar and THEN tackle the sleeves.
I went with the collar first.

COLLAR:
Firstly, you want to be aware of your length. Take a minute and carefully measure your sweater from one front edge, up and around the neckline, and back down to the opposite edge. This is how long you want your collar band to be.

For my collar, I cast on 18 stitches. You want it to be pretty wide, since the edges will roll, even after blocking. Decide which of your two colors you want to use for the collar, and cast on your desired amount. Now knit in stockinette until you can’t knit anymore.

DO NOT knit all the way to the length you noted when you measured your collar. The best way to be sure your collar is exactly the right length is to seam it on while you are still knitting. This is the best way to see how your stitches line up, and how many rows you need to knit in order to get it perfectly lined up. So, knit about ¾ of the way to the length you are shooting for, and then begin to seam the collar onto the body of the sweater.

When you reach the last row, bind off, complete your seaming, and admire your work.

SLEEVES:
The sleeves are very straightforward. No shaping is required, so you will just knit in the stripe pattern until your sleeves reach to just below your elbows. You WILL want to count your stitches and make sure you have a multiple of 4, to plan for the ribbing at the cuff. As with the body, add or subtract stitches to make an appropriate number. When you reach the desired length, switch colors like normal, knit two rows in plain stockinette, 9 in 3×1 rib, and then bind off in pattern. Repeat on the second sleeve.

Finishing:
Weave in all ends and block, paying particular attention to the collar, as the edge will be very keen to roll up on itself.

VOILA! SWEATER!!

Tags: cardigan, Knitting, minimalist, pattern, stripe

Requiem for Missing Hats

Maybe it has something to do with the season…but I’m not sure what’s become of my favorite hats.

My “ten days on Guemes” is MIA…and I didn’t even get my money’s worth before it disappeared. RIP (?) little buddy…

Even more unfortunate, my fave hat to date, the “hobo chic”, is missing as well. What a bummer.

What’s the deal with disappearing knitting? And why don’t the crappy FOs off themselves? Do my favorite hats go to sock heaven, or is there a very special hat heaven?

I’ll be giving up on my stripey hobo hat and knitting another in similar (but different) colors for the fall. And I won’t let it out of my sight.

Star Trek…

…was a beautiful experience. I reviewed it over on Chris’s comic blog. Hopefully I will not have my privileges revoked as a result.

Tags: movies, star trek

Done and Done….

I finished my February Lady Sweater this week…finally.
It seems like every time I have a large project going, I hit this obligatory lull about 2/3 of the way through it. I can’t figure out if it’s boredom or fear of finishing. I think it’s a bit of both.
But I powered through the second sleeve this week and made it happen…weaved in the ends and even blocked it (I have never seriously blocked anything before. Is that wrong of me?)
I think I need to block the sleeves again, because I am impatient and an amateur, but overall, I am quite happy with the finished product. It is both delightfully fancy-schmancy and a perfect office sweater. And when I say office, I mean “slippers and comfy pants time”, not “business casual”.

Here’s the deets:
February Lady Sweater by Flint Knits
in Cascade 220…Summer Sky Heather
Knitted on size 9 Addis and my fave cheapo plastic DPNs.

I made some “mods” (read: I’m terrible at following patterns). I’m so accustomed to my own preferred method of knitting from the top down, that I kind of ignored a lot of the instructions. When it came time to execute the eyelet increases, I decided to leave the sleeve increases out, since I like a nice fitted sleeve, rather that a wizardly bell. I also didn’t cast on any extra stitches when I separated the sleeves from the body, so my sleeve to body ratio was quite a bit more drastic than the original pattern. It worked out quite nicely, though. I ended up with 49 stitches for each sleeve, which is exactly the amount of sleeve I like.
I ended up with a couple inches of negative ease in the bust area, which is what I was shooting for. It stretched to fit during knitting when I tried it on, and post-blocking it fits just right. The shoulders and upper arms are snug, the way I like them to be.
I gave it a little more length than a lot of the versions I’ve seen on Ravelry, which makes me very happy.

Overall, I give it an A+. This pattern is adorable. I like it so much, I’m tempted to make another one in green or black, but that may be a terrible idea…especially since the gull lace was threatening to drive my totally batty near the end there. I should probably hold off for a while…for my own sanity.

Tags: FLS, Knitting, sweater

Thank you, weekend!

I don’t think I have had a weekend this productive and fruitful in years. On Friday, Jonah and I visited my sister in Wallingford. We brought the dog and loafed around all evening. Devi has this amazing Magic Genie electric organ in her living room, and I spent a big chunk of the night providing an appropriately space-age soundtrack for Barbarella-on-mute. It made me miss having something with keys in my house.
Our old place on Capitol Hill had an adorable baby blue upright piano that Chris inherited from a coworker. When we picked it up, we had to move it down a couple flights of stairs out of an apartment on Broadway and John. It took about six of us, plus two drunk hobos, a sheet of cardboard and a blanket to get it out of the apartment, into the truck, and up into our living room. I hated to leave it when we moved last year, and I would have brought it with me to the new house, but I sadly do not possess the powers of teleportation.

Saturday I woke up and bought Jonah breakfast at Mae’s, which was delicious, and after I walked the dog and spent some time on my FLS (that’s code), Jonah drove me back over to Devi’s. We had plans to see Watchmen for the second time, with Merlin, who would be seeing it for the first time and hates everything.
(Un?)fortunately, Merlin begged out in favor of loitering downtown at Sakuracon, drinking vodka out of a water bottle and taking photos with people dressed up as anime characters. I couldn’t really blame him. Devi and I spent our afternoon in the movie eating popcorn and sour patch kids and were left thoroughly satisfied. When we got out, we started up the hill, only to be abducted by Jonah, who drove by in the Toyota as we were crossing I-5. We crammed into the cab of the truck and Jonah whisked us away to the Canterbury, where we met up with our friends Lisa and Brendan, and eventually Merlin, for beer and food and a tiny bit of shenanigans (sorry, Canterbury).

Sunday was Easter, and I spent most of the day in bed, recovering from Friday and Saturday. I wasn’t dying or anything, I just thought I could use it. I’m not a big drinker, and nowadays I usually get to bed before 10, so after two late nights in a row plus beer, I thought a little recharging was in order. In the afternoon, I was resurrected and we headed to Jonah’s family Easter. At dinner, I mentioned that I was going to start scouring Craigslist for used organs, and Dylan reminded that he had an old Rhodes sitting in his basement getting almost no use. Jonah agreed to stop by Dylan’s house on the way home to pick it up, and the two of them used their considerable might to get it out of the basement, up the stairs, and into the truck. Not nearly as bad as the old piano, but still labor intensive enough to make me feel a teensy bit guilty.
When we got it home and set up, I assessed the damage…The piano is in great condition, but it’s obvious the thing hasn’t been tuned or maintained in decades. Some of the keys don’t work, the whole sound is a little muted, and the amplifier has seen better days. BUT, all things considered, it’s in amazing condition…for a Rhodes. I surfed the web until I found the only Rhodes repairman in Washington State (there aren’t many of them…shocking, I know). He’s in Kennewick, which is 3.5 hours away, but Jonah is excited to make a little road trip of it. Which reminds me that I love him very much. Because he could care less about getting an old electric piano fixed, but he knows it would make me happy. I’ve been emailing with the repair guy, and it sounds like he is prepared to cut me a very sweet deal. I don’t think he’s getting much business lately. I think “restore vintage hobby instrument” is being crossed off many peoples’ spending priority lists these days.
For now, it’s set up in the living room, next to the record shelf, and it fits in quite nicely:

I’ve been playing it, and despite the bum keys and little bit of crackling, it’s been a whole lot of fun.

On Monday, I went over to West Seattle and finished Jonah’s taxes, which felt great. Dylan video taped me and Jonah talking about ourselves and our role in the fishing business. The Discovery Channel and National Geographic are making some program about family businesses and they want us to be one of the main features. Weird. And potentially mortifying, but probably good for business, so I’ll buy in.
I ordered a new phone to replace the one I left in the grass at the cabin for a week (it died), and we took off from West Seattle, stopping on the way home in Wallingford to buy a doggy bike chariot from a man and his 14 year old daughter (thanks, magical Craigslist!). The chariot is our ingenious solution to the Guemes Island Ferry haul-out that’s happening next week, right when we’re planning to be up there for ten days. Jonah is at Guemes now, stocking our cupboards and stashing most of our supplies (including my knitting bag, which is weird…it’s so far away from me…) and on Friday when we head up, we’ll just leave the truck in the parking lot and take our bikes, the dog, and her chariot across on the the passenger only ferry. We’ll spend the week toting her around that way, and we even have vague plans to venture out to some other islands. Now that we have a doggy chariot, the world is really our oyster. I should get plenty of use out of it this summer when I’m riding to the post office and back. I can take Snickers along and make morning pit stops at the park.
Of course, she’ll have to get used to it first. I rode her around in it last night, going up and down our street, and she looked a little miserable. This is pretty much what she thinks of the whole thing:

But I think she’ll warm up to it once she starts associating it with dog parks and fun vacation times. And if she doesn’t…tough. That’s why I’m the boss.

Tags: Dogs, FLS, rhodes

Stashtastic…

I will readily admit that I sat down at my desk early on the morning of April 1st to get my interweb yarn shopping on. I’ve never been that sort of lady, but the deals….THE DEALS. Yesterday afternoon, the nice UPS man who waits for me outside my fence (since Snickers is such a ferocious beast) delivered a box full of sweaters. Now all I have to do is knit them…
Easy, right?

I love these colors so much it almost makes me wish that summer would hold off just a little longer. Spring has already been decidedly wintry and my knitting brain is not complaining.

There is only one problem. One tiny problem that has only been getting bigger with time.
It’s this pile of yarn in my closet. And by pile I mean two large containers, a couple bags…It’s getting to the point of being ridiculous. I’m like one of those crazy hoarders who live in mazes constructed out of newspaper and empty bottles of dish soap. At least my clutter is aesthetically pleasing.
I would sell a lot of the yarn I have, but most of my balls have lost their labels, or aren’t worth selling. I still have a stash of Bernat acrylic that I stocked up on when I first started knitting. I have vague plans to make a blanket out of it, but I’m not really looking forward to a whole blanket’s worth of scratchy acrylic passing through my fingers. That shit is just not comfortable.

I am considering, if anyone shows even the slightest bit of interest, starting a weekly knitting night at my house for friends who knit and friends who do not knit. I would love to have more knit-addicted friends, and it would make sense for me to take things into my own hands. That would take care of the acrylic stash problem. If I started people on afghan squares, it would help them practice different stitch patterns, and we could eventually seam it all together into one big lumpy communal blanket.
That would eat up a considerable chunk of my stash. Of course, I would first have to find some unwitting victims…

Tags: Knitting, stash, yarn

What’s the Haps?

1.

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Flint Knits

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Summer Sky Heather

I love this pattern. Not surprising, considering it has over 5,000 active projects on Ravelry. I’m such a bandwagon knitter.

2.

Pattern: Silk Kerchief by Kate Gagnon of zeitgeistyarns

Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Dusty Rose and Lettuce

Holy hell, this is slow going. I picked up the yarn at the Fiber Gallery in Greenwood  many months ago when I saw a sign for **NEW** Malabrigo Sock Yarn!! Exciting! I saw two of my favorite colors and snatched them up. It wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the label said “lace”, not “sock”. Woops. It’s been my therapy knitting. My brainrut knitting. My “I don’t want to think, I just want to knit for days” knitting. And I’m still only 25% done, tops. At this rate, I’ll have a lovely scarf/shawl to drape over my shoulders by the beginning of 2011. Oh lace yarn…why you gotta do me like that?

I think these are seriously my only two active projects. Which I’m proud of. Of course, I do have a box of 220 coming in the mail tomorrow, courtesy of the Webs Spring sale. I couldn’t resist. I had to do it.

5 Skiens each of “mystic purple” (ooooh…), “turtle” (cute), and “straw”.

To add, of course, to the three skiens each I’ve got hibernating upstairs of “pumpkin spice” and “baby rose heather”.

Yarn names. Yeesh.

Oh Dear God

Nothing like setting up a blog to make me feel about 90% less computer-savvy than I assumed I was. Yikes.

Garter Stitch Swingy-Sweater

Requested by some nice folks on Ravelry…

Yarn: Vanna’s Choice Solid…or any worsted weight yarn you prefer.
(late) ETA: A note about blocking…
This pattern is knit entirely in garter stitch, and was originally knit in acrylic yarn…meaning it’s nearly impossible to block. The sproingy-ness of acrylic actually suits this pattern very well, as it helps to keep the yoke and underarm of the sweater snug and fitted, without feeling restrictive.
If you follow the directions as written, knitting in wool, remember that garter stitch will expand considerably when blocked. You may knit the garment to fit, finish the whole thing, block, and discover that the shoulders and yoke appear saggy and larger than you intended.
It will help to keep this in mind when you try the garment on as you go. If you intend to block, make sure when you fit the yoke, that you don’t have extra room. It should not be too easy to fit the arm sections around your underarms when you try the yoke on. Keep in mind that the fabric will expand.
If you are knitting with acrylic, or if you plan to forgo blocking, knit as written, but you should still be sure that you don’t have too much extra room at the underarms for a nice snug fit.

Gauge: Approximately 17 stitches in 4 inches…
**Gauge in this project is not terribly important, as the sweater is a knit-to fit deal. I would suggest knitting a swatch in garter stitch with the yarn and needles you would like to use. Cast on amount and increases can be adjusted according to your gauge and the size you would like the sweater to be.**

The following is a description of the process I used to construct my own version of this sweater. This is another simple top-down raglan that can easily be customized to fit your own measurements.

The Simple Top-Down Raglan Formula:

Your first order of business is to knit a swatch and figure out your gauge. Once you have this, you can do the math and find out how many stitches you need to cast on for your neckline. (I am a size XS or S in most patterns–34 inch bust–and I cast on 90 stitches for a semi-wide boatneck.)

To make your calculations extra simple, make your cast on amount a multiple of three. When the total cast on amount is divided by three, one third will make up the front of the garment, one third will be the back, and the last third will be split to make the arms, like so:

M x x x x x x x x x x M
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
M x x x x x x x x x x M

This diagram shows stitches (x) and markers (M) as they would be placed for a raglan beginning with 30 cast on stitches. The front and back are made up of 10 stitches each, and the sleeves are made up of 5 stitches each.
(**The formatting on this diagram is giving me trouble…so please just imagine that it makes a nice neat rectangle :)**)

This basic formula works as the beginning of just about any sweater you could imagine.

Swingy Sweater Instructions:

CO 90 Stitches (or your preferred amount, divisible by three)

Row 1: Knit (RS)
Row 2: Purl (WS)
Row 3 (Set Up Row): K8, PM, K15, PM, K30, PM, K15, PM, 22
Row 4: Purl
**To make a nice even edge, slip the first stitch of each row, beginning with row two**

Begin Increase Rows:
Row 5 (and all RS rows): K to two stitches before first marker, KFB, K, slip marker, KFB…repeat these instructions at each marker.
Row 6 (and all WS rows): K to end

Continue Raglan increases until sleeve sections fit comfortably around your upper arms. This sweater is super easy to try on as you go. When you think you’ve gone far enough, transfer sleeves to waste yarn (or some spare circular needles, if you have them). To transfer sleeves, knit like so:
Beginning with a RS row: K to first marker, slip marker, move all stitches between marker one and two onto waste yarn or spare needle, remove marker 2, knit all stitches until you come to marker 3, slip marker, move all stitches between markers 3 and 4 to waste yarn or spare needle, remove marker four, knit to end.

Body: Knit every row until garment is as long as you’d like, remembering to slip the first stitch of every row to maintain a clean edge. When you reach the desired length, work 4 rows in Stockinette stitch to make a nice rolled edge. Bind off loosely.

Sleeves:

Divide sleeve stitches evenly between DPNS and work in garter stitch until sleeves are nearly the desired length (I made mine elbow-length). On a knit row, decrease by evenly spacing K2tog’s over your total stitch count. You should have roughly 5-8 stitches between decreases, depending on your size. This will give you a nice semi-puffed, rounded sleeve opening. After decreasing, work 4 rows in stockinette and bind off loosely.

Repeat for second sleeve.

Finishing:

Attach two or three buttons at the bust, then pick up three stitches and knit an i-cord across from each button. Use yarn needle to attach i-cord ends to the edge of the sweater. Weave in all ends, block if desired, or just wear right on out of the house.

TAH DAH!!!

Tags: Knitting, patterns, sweaters