Knitting Update: Works in Progress – Page 15

A Sad Day For Sweaters

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

This really isn't my day for sweater knitting. I've been trying to fight this conclusion over the weekend, but yesterday, I finally conceded the obvious to myself. Despite a good gauge swatch, my Flyaway Hoodie is way too small. In fact, now that I have a back-sized swatch, I measure and learned that it is only 4/5th the size it should be — making it too small for my daughter as well.

The cables are very lovely, aren't they? I've enjoyed knitting it so much! I've been vigilant about switching skeins every other row to ensure there is no deliniation between the hand-dyed skeins. I've meticulously ensured my cables cross the correct direction — each and every time. I'm in love. Now I'm going to frog it.

My poor teensy sweater that was never meant to be.

Postponed Knitting: Is It A Match Or Not?

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

The I've-Run-Out-Of-Yarn disaster I wrote about here is possibly on its way to a fix. I got two skeins of what was supposed to be the same yarn, and set out to dye a near match. When I realized I had a problem, I was optimistic about finding the right yarn, less so about being able to get a precise dye match.

Instead, the opposite occurred. My yarn, which was labeled as a sample skein is a good bit thicker than the skeins I received in the mail. This makes sense, as the yarn I was knitting with looked heavier than a DK weight to me from the get go and that would explain why I ran out, despite having enough yarn for the pattern requirements. I'm going to try and finesse that problem by knitting loosely. I may be fooling myself, but time will tell.

The dye job looks like it may be close enough — I'm not quite willing to commit until I knit a swatch. The dye recipe and process were well documented in my notes, but as a dyer, one worries about the variables you don't always document and can't always control — what was the ambient temperature, how warm was the dye bath (I typically make mine room temperature but I don't measure precisely) and how long did I take to bring the dye bath to the correct temperature. Typically I don't worry about these matters because I get consistent enough runs, but here, a precise match is pretty important.

Visually, the new yarn looks a lot like the yarn I've been knitting with. I'm hopeful. And in the end, these are meant to be warm mittens for cool morning, and not an artistic masterpiece. Still, if I'm going to take the time to knit it I want it to be something wonderful. And I've realized that if the new yarn doesn't work, I can simply start over and knit a new pair, now that I've got a full four ounces to play with. Problem solved. I adore this color!

What Travels With Me?

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I'll give you a hint. It's knitting.

Although my carry on bag also includes whatever work needs to be accomplished on the flight, my knitting is always in there as well. It's a real lifesaver for long flight delays or unscheduled overnight stops! And since I'm a somewhat nervous flyer, it's also great for distraction during bumpy landings.

The current carry on knitting is my Lida lace shawl.

Slightly Obsessed With Blue

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I am utterly in love with and obsessed with blue knitting at the moment. I suppose this is a good thing, having just gone through a spate of dyeing everything I could get my hands on blue.

The Betsy Blue superwash merino I posted about earlier this week is now on the way to becoming a pair of Basic Fingerless Mitts. I love the pattern and this yarn, Wool2dye4's DK Weight Superwash Merino, is perfect for it. I've not dyed it before but had a skein that had been sent as part of a trade and am impressed with both the pattern and the yarn.

And still more blue. Recently, I've discovered the fabulous indie dyer who makes Plucky Yarns. I love her yarn with all of its beautiful, subtle colors. And when she offered blues for sale this morning, well, I was forced to order one of her lovely cashmerino blends in….blue. (Yes, I know. I dye yarn. I dye blue yarn. I have lots of yarn on hand and lots of it is blue, but there is just something about Plucky Wool and her beautiful BLUE colorways that meant I couldn't help myself).

And lastly, this yarn for blue.

I do realize that it is pink at the moment. Honestly I do. But I was so taken with my friend Helen's yarn, (overdyeing discussed in the last post) that I've purchased this lot to dye for myself. The content of Helen's yarn was very different, with a lot of silk in it, so I'm not expecting the result here to be quite as intense, but, well, it will be blue. And right now, that seems to be all it takes to make me very happy.

My Shetland Lace Shawl and the Virtue of Alternating Multiple Skeins When Knitting with Malabrigo

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

When last we visited my Shetland Lace Shawl, I had just realized that I should have been alternating skeins as I knit, because they were clearly different. I immediately commenced a program of switching skeins every four rows. The tip of the scarf definitely has a more "mustardy" appearance than the rest, but I'm hoping that it won't be obvious — at least not to anyone other than me.

Um, it's pretty obvious. I know this, but I keep hoping it will go away. Worst case, I will resort to a gentle overdye to try and unify the colors.

One tip: had I wound all of the skeins into balls before I began, I think I would have been forced to confront reality. In the future (and I've got a red Malabrigo sweater about to come up in my queue), I'm going to wind everything in advance and try to avoid convincing myself it will be okay. You can see from the balls wound that this was never going to work out without alternating the skeins.

However, I'm eternally optimistic, and this project is no exception. I pulled it out of my bag at brunch this morning for knitting show and tell with my Mom, and everyone around us ooh'd and ah'd. Perhaps I caught the problem early enough and it will all work out after all. It is definitely lovely up close!

What Was I Thinking
Subtitle: This Skeins Don’t Match

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

In the whiskey-foxtrot-tango category of bad things I've done as a knitter, comes this unforgiveable mistake when knitting with hand-dyed yarn: not alternating skeins as you knit. I know better. After all, I dye yarn myself and understand that even with great care, handpainted skeins aren't going to be a perfect match. And Malabrigo Yarn, which I love as much as life itself for its beautiful colors, is notorious for throwing skeins that don't match, even in the same dyelot. Which is to say, anyone with an ounce of sense who is knitting with Malabrigo knows to swap skeins every few rows.

But, in my excitement at starting this project, I … forgot. This is Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl, and I have been wanting to knit it for a long time. It's a simple lace pattern, knit in DK weight yarn and I chose the indescribably delicious Arco Iris colorway in Malabrigo's Silky Merino yarn. I had four skeins.

You can see right off in the picture that although it isn't horrible, the second skein down from the top has a lot more bright yellow in it than the rest of its cadre. So, you guessed it, that's the one I started knitting with.

Midway through the fourth repeat, I realized I hadn't changed out skeins. No problem, I told myself, those skeins really were well-matched, and I would be just fine. I would start alternating now. So I pulled out the next skein (as a well prepared knitter I had wound multiple skeins into balls so I could switch off carefully throughout the shawl) and beheld this incredible horror:

They don't even look like the same colorway. The one on the right, the skein I started out with, is not even in the same universe as the one of the left, which I am currently knitting from. Quel disaster!

Here I am, about four rows into the new skein (this photo has the truest colors of any of them — I do love Arco Iris). One could almost convince oneself that it was all going to be okay. That despite carelessness, just this one time, the knitting gods were smiling, and it would all work out.

However, I have learned that such hopes typically get smashed a couple of inches in. I haven't made a mistake like this in years, actually, in seven years, since this sweater, which I knit in 2007, showed a clear line between skeins. You can't see it well in this cleverly staged photo, but particularly in the back, there was a line of demarcation that was as clear as the Berlin Wall.

Already, my thoughts are turning to clever strategies like a gentle, unifying overdye to tone the different skeins into submission. I could, and probably should, frog this back to the first repeat and go forward in a more knitterly fashion. But I'm going to hold my breath and see what happens.

Outlander. Late & Grudgingly. (But Happy About The Knitting!)

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

My Mom has been a huge fan of the Outlander books for at least a decade. I have to confess that I've feigned polite interest, but the plot has never grabbed me enough to convince me to read it.

One word suddenly changed that: Handknit.

Or rather, it didn't convince me to read the books, but instead, to watch the show, because I was told the knitting was beautiful. And it really is! Claire's ubiquitous and stunning cowl is something I had to knit for my Mom, also named Claire, right away. After searching through the available patterns (clearly, it's just a big ring of garter stitch, but I wanted ideas — should it be a mobius, should there be shaping, etc. etc.) I settled upon The Gathering as a good place to start and cast on.

The lovely purple edge is this provisional cast on, which I prefer to the one the pattern suggests. The yarn is Elliebelly Bulky Merino, held triple stranded to give it the necessary bulk. Although the pattern calls for size 50 needles, I didn't have any on hand, so I'm trying it with my size 35 needles, the largest I own. I'm not sure it will give the loose drapey knit of Claire's cowl on the show, but it seemed worth a try.

My plan is to knit until I am just about out of yarn and then use a three needle bind off, rather than Kitchnering, because I'm lazy like that.

This pattern is the easiest possible knit, and seeing how nice it looks now, part way done, I'm pretty sure the biggest challenge will be giving it over to my Mom when it's done.