I'm still knitting Olivia. For the record, that's almost seven inches of fisherman's rib. It has taken me just about all of two skeins of Plucky Primo Aran (more like a light worsted weight that an aran) to get to this point.
It has been a long slog, as you all know, because it's just about all I've blogged about for weeks. But it is so worth it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is as cushy as fisherman's rib and I can't wait to wrap Olivia around my neck. That is, if I ever manage to finish.
It started innocuously enough, with a couple of pretty skeins that I purchased during a trip to a favorite local yarn store in Tuscaloosa. I'd never really thought about chartreuse. It looked like Shrek. And, my Mom never really liked me in green. But those first skeins jumped into my cart over the summer, and suddenly that color was everywhere!
Have you ever developed a color obsession from out of no where? It's not even a trendy, Pantone scale color for 2015. It just suddenly caught my eye. And my needles.
There seems to be no end in sight. I have some coming for a sweater — slightly different, and in different fibers, than the one I already have in progress. And a few skeins for a cowl that will likely be a gift for a friend.
I wonder if it's just me, or if everyone picks up color obsessions over time; only it's magnified for knitters and other crafters who work with color. I would love to hear about your color obsession!
I seem to be having a glut of "welcome to the new year, everything is going crazy" overtime at work and insanity with kids, but despite that, I did find a bit of time to knit over the weekend. And especially, a big thanks to Downton Abbey, when everything in my house comes to a halt and I can knit and indulge.
I devoted my knitting time this past weekend to Olivia. Olivia is the first project I ever cast on in yarn from The Plucky Knitter. It's Primo Aran in the Holloway color, a delicious teal. This is the first time I've ever done a Fisherman's Rib, and the number of mistakes in this project (I've found the rib almost impossible to rib back and make corrections in) attest to my learning process. Although it's slow, I've reached the point where I really enjoy it. I'm about four inches into what needs to be seven inches of rib.
For the next couple of weeks, I'll probably have painstakingly slow photos of "oh look, I've knit another half inch of Fisherman's Rib" to show you, so in an effort to make up for that in advance, I'll share this odd but intriguing cell phone video my daughter shot in her ballet class, because she knew I would like the music. It's grainy and off kilter but really moving. If you're interested, she comes in midway through in a black unitard with a white top and sleeves. Yes, it has absolutely nothing to do with knitting, but imagine all the warm ups you could knit for those dancers, if you really put your mind to it!
The week I go back to work after the holidays is always a bad week for knitting (as much as it is good to be back with good friends and getting the job done). I manage to get in a bit of knitting when I wake up and a bit at night, so this week wasn't a total knitting loss. But progress was slow.
Thea Coleman's Vodka Lemonade pattern is my most challenging project at the moment. It's a sweater pattern knit in The Plucky Knitter's delicious Crew yarn, a merino/cotton blend. That is the collar that you see above. It's knit in seed stitch. I'm in the decided minority of knitters who enjoy knitting it. It's slow going and time consuming, but it's very pretty. At this rate, it will take me quite some time to finish the collar before I get on with the body of the sweater, but I don't mind at all.
Paddle Mitts are a Tin Can Knits pattern. Like the other patterns I've knit from this designer, the pattern is straightforward and the finished item is utilitarian. And I have managed to create a small disaster with what should have been a simple project. I decided to use my favorite skein of yarn, this beautiful skein of Plucky Scholar, which is a worsted weight blend of cashmere and merino in a rustic spin.
That would have been just dandy, had I seriously contemplated the fact that Scholar was a bit heavier than the yarn the pattern was written for and sized down, but no, I did not. That was okay in the body of the hand, where the ribbing made it work. But there was drama with the thumb and I overcompensated with rapid decreases after picking up the stitches for it. I've pulled that all out and am starting over for a thumb that works with the rest of the mitts. This will go into the man-sized pile for gift giving, darn it. I hope I have enough yarn to do a second pair for myself.
When The Plucky Knitter introduced her first collection of patterns, All Bundled Up, last weekend, I enjoyed looking them over and admired several enough to add to my Ravelry queue of patterns to knit this year. I even contemplated buying yarn for one of the sweaters in the near future. But then it hit. The Sugarloaf Infinity Scarf pattern was so tempting. It was written for my favorite yarn, Snug, and it just so happened I had the perfect colorways for it in my stash. So on my needles it went, and it's unusual little rib was an enjoyable knit while we watched a move on TV last night (The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou, which you should watch if you haven't seen it and like slightly snarky, self-indulgent humor).
I have plans this weekend to work on my Olivia wrap, and I wanted to get in more work on Vodka Lemonade's collar, but I'm afraid Sugarloaf has captivated me, and may end up as the attention-getter in whatever time I have this weekend. Fortunately, it's cold outside and there is a lot of appeal to sitting inside where it is warm and this is hot tea and I can knit.
I wanted to catch you all up on the knitting I have planned for the month of January. I've joined The Plucky Knitter WIP Wrangling KAL, the goal being to finish Plucky projects that were started before the new year during the month of January.
I started Olivia at the end of November, but promptly set her aside to get some final holiday knitting done. Fisherman's Rib has been slow going for me, but I really like its plump, cushy effect. I'm hoping to spend some quality time with Olivia and conquer the short row technique necessary to finish her off this month.
Because I'm like this as a knitter, I hit a Cast-On-All-The-Things streak the last two weeks in December and set up a number of other projects to include in the KAL:
Wish me luck, ok? January is always a busy month at work for me, so this may be my knitting for several months, rather than just January. I'm really happy to have it all on my needles and ready to carry with me for delays and lines.
Finally, a sad note to the start of the year. Longtime blog readers (that would be you, Mom), know that we have four cats. Our beloved black cat Squirt, the oldest of our cats, passed away peacefully but suddenly. I'm going to miss his affectionate nature and loving support for my knitting — he enjoyed the holidays and was especially fond of having me sit on the couch for hours at a time and bat balls of yarn around for his pleasure. I'm going to miss him a lot, but am really glad he sat for one last family photo shoot a couple of weeks ago.
Cables and Lace Capelet was a pattern I wanted to knit as soon as I saw it. It had this Outlander/Scottish Highlands vibe and looked like it would be great to throw on as I walked out the door for yoga or coffee with friends. The pattern photo looked great.
(c) Berroco
I walked into this one with my eyes wide open. There were a couple of red flags: The pattern was an older freebie and of the 15 finished projects besides the sample, virtually everyone commented on size problems, as in the finished project was way too small. One commenter said it fit her 10-year old.
When my gauge swatch, properly blocked and all, revealed that I was going to have an extra 10" or so around, I figured that would make the fit just right. And, of course, I was wrong.
It looked good finished and blocking. (Blocking tip: I no longer weave and clip my loose ends before blocking, they will stay in place more firmly and look neater if you wait until after you block. So you can see my tails hanging in various places).
I was still a bit worried about the length, but I was delighted by how the lacework opened up and how good the stitch definition on the cables was. The biggest worry, though, was the collars. I had carefully knit them to pattern legnth, but upon wet blocking, the weight of the yarn seemed to urge them onward into expansion. They looked huge. I carefully patted them back into shape, but they insisted upon growing, no matter what I did.
As it turns out, they're at least twice as long as they should be. And the shoulders too are overlarge. As you can see below, they slip off, instead of giving a nice snug fit.
And I mentioned that the collar had grown ridiculously long, right? It's a horror show.
Despite these flaws, I love the capelet and I love the yarn (Madeline Tosh). And, I'm incredibly glad I didn't do the finishing work on the collar before blocking so that I can try to fix it.
My dilemna is choosing among the two potential solutions I see. The yarn is superwash, so I could just pop it in the dryer and hope for the best. I've never done this before, but I know that it works in theory. My biggest concern doing this is that I'll lose length, which is perfect right now, as opposed to circumference, which is the problem. And, really, does anyone think that donkey ear collar is going to shrink enough? I should have known that a yarn this bulky would expand beyond what the swatch predicted.
My Second option is ripping back to before the start of the collar, faking another lace repeat with reduced stitch count to give me a better fit in the shoulders, and then knitting a collar that is about half what the pattern calls for, knowing it will block out. This is probably the safer option and I'm leaning that direction.
So what would you do, gentle knitters? Any advice about superwash yarns and the folly of knitters who don't trust the pattern and listen to what their gauge is telling them? At least future knitters for this pattern will know that in my case, the pattern was written perfectly and the proper gauge, properly blocked in the small size would have produced a perfect fit for my size medium body.
Although I need to clean up for New Year's Eve company and make myself presentable, there is a lot of knitting/fiber related activity in my house at the moment. It's a good summation of my knitting year, covering all of the bases.
There is blocking. More on this one to come as soon as it's dry. Suffice it to say, it's lovely and I'm very pleased with it, although a bit nervous about how the superwash collar seems to be growing exponentially as it blocks.
There is also (successful) swatching. Dead on gauge. It's a Christmas miracle.
And finally, there is dyeing. Wow, that's very pink isn't it! It's the first dye bath in a three step process, so look for the final result later this week.
Whatever you are up to today, I hope you have a happy yarn/knitting/fiber-ful New Year's Eve and on into the New Year! Happy 2015.
