Frowsery

Look at this clever knit-oku puzzle that Annie Modesitt created.

She says that she wouldn’t recommend trying to knit it up, but I’m curious! It would take a bit of fudging, perhaps even including an extra knit stitch between every puzzle square, but I’d like to see the mess it would make.

Lorna's Laces Rockwell colorway

I started knitting again around the the time I moved to Chicago, over 4 years ago. My very first luxury yarn purchase was some Lorna’s Laces Lion and Lamb in Uptown. Then, like now, the purple, pink, and electric blue were a bit of a fashion stretch for me; the name of the yarn is what made me buy it, for how better to commemorate moving to a new city than embracing one’s new neighborhood?

I made Knitty’s Clapotis. It was was one of my first non-scarf projects, so it had a few mistakes. I loved it anyway.

A few years later I moved to a new apartment, and to celebrate I acquired some Shepherd’s Sport in Irving Park. It then became a lovely Forest Canpoy Shawl. It was my first triangle shawl and has been my most blocking-intensive lace to date. It is a wonderful scarf during the transitional weather of Spring and Fall in Chicago.

There is one more apartment that hasn’t been commemorated, for there is no Lincoln Square colorway. I figured that I would just be patient and bide my time, and eventually I would be rewarded.

Imagine my pleasure when I discovered that Lorna’s Laces is now making a Rockwell colorway! I know, it’s not an official Chicago Community Area, but it is the name of an L stop, and I’m willing to celebrate my Chicago knitting in many ways.

Now I just need to decide what to knit!

The IK Summer 2009 issue has a sleeper classic that isn’t in the Summer 2009 Preview. It’s Lene Holme Samsøe’s Lace Scarf from Feminine Knits: 22 Timeless Designs,and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

It’s a wispy, lace mohair scarf with a crocheted lace edging in a glossy linen. The sample in the magazine is in a pale pearly pink, and it looks like something you might find in your great-grandmother’s hope chest.

I’ll admit that the crocheted edging scares me a bit, but the lace is dead easy. This is my must-knit of the summer.

I started a new project last friday at Knit Night, a top-down raglan sweater made out of a worsted weight, bright blue, 80/20 cotton/wool yarn.  It was about time to start a new project!

This is loosely based off of Zephyr Style’s Green Gable.  Instead of the mesh that Green Gable is famous for, I’m using an English lace pattern.  I’ll also be doing custom bust and waist shaping, choosing a flattering length, and I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be doing with the sleeves yet.

Last night I brought the Unnamed Blue Sweater to Fashion Wednesday with the intent of making a bit of progress while I watched America’s Next Top Model.  Unfortunately, I managed to become off by a row immediately, which meant that I ended up picking out absolutely everything I did last night, plus a few extra stitches that fell off the needle.

One step forward, two steps back….

I have been eying yoked sweater patterns with radiating ribs, but I haven’t seen a pattern that wouldn’t make me look like a squat circle. At first I thought that Radiate was no exception, but I think that with a few modifications that the pattern could yield something quite flattering.

I wonder if the sample sweater wouldn’t have photographed better in a darker color. I have a feeling that the spring green would look bright and cheerful in person, but in the pattern the ribs look washed out and undefined. I’d make the sweater in a sunny yellow, keeping with the theme of the sun’s rays.

I’d move the neckline up a smidge, and instead of having it roll, I’d start with a 1×1 rib, extending the beam farther up the neck. This would help give my shoulders some definition and prevent the sweater from falling off to one side.

The flare on the pattern as written is cute, but with the radiating rib detailing over my (large) chest and no defined waist, this sweater would look like a potato sack on me.

My modification would be to end the radiating ribs a few inches above the largest part of my chest and switch to plain stockinette stitch. This would minimize the widest part of my bust and provide me with a more flattering line. I’d also include some significant waist shaping, pulling the sweater in under my bust before starting the flared bottom.

The sleeves would end up being 3/4 length, I think. I’m not a fan of sleeves that hit my elbow and I am terrible at knitting short sleeves to a flattering length.

I’m not sure that this will jump up to the top of my queue immediately, but the next time I have an itch to start a sweater with this kind of yoke, I’ll know where to start.

Elemental Boatneack preview from Interweave Knits Summer 2009

The Interweave Knits Summer 2009 previews are up.  I’ve only taken a quick glance, but I must admit that I’m, well, underwhelmed.  To be fair, I haven’t taken a long look at all of the pictures and I haven’t seen the magazine, but it isn’t calling to me.  

Summer is not my favorite knitting season.  I just can’t get behind the idea of knitted skirts.  I know, I know, some knitters claim that it’s possible to knit a skirt that won’t sag and make your butt look like a misshapen mess after an hour, but I have not seen proof.

I’m also not into the lace tank or tunic.  I realize that it’s hard to come up with ideas for warmer weather, but the last time I wore a lace tunic I was in 7th grade, and I was wearing it along with a broomstick skirt.

Hats and bags fill out the preview, and I’m not excited about starting any of those projects either.  There are some cute designs, but nothing I’ll want to cast on.

I like the Ribbons and Lace cardigan, but I never wear cardigans with tie closures.  (I also can’t figure out why they decided to make the main picture a shot of the back of the sweater.)   The Stanwyck Pullover is also lovely and I appreciate the neckline, but it’s nothing I would make for myself.

There is one sweater that stands out to me.   The Elemental Boatneck appeals to me because of the lace neckline and the wonderful green color of the sample.  Of course, I also just cast on for a sweater that has a lace neckline, so maybe I just have that on the brain.

(Did you catch that? I actually cast on for a project. It’s been months since I’ve knit anything, since before my trip to Argentina!)

Noro striped hat with lining, right side out

Originally uploaded by aruzin

I finished the lining for the Noro Striped Hat. It felt like I knit eons on that liner, endless rows of stockinette on size 2 needles, but I got there eventually!

The lining and the hat are exactly the same size — that’s one good thing about knitting the lining directly from the hat — and I’m told it’s much better at keeping the wind out and looks extremely professional.

Lesson learned from this project: if you’re adding a lining to a hat after the fact, and said hat has been worn for a few months, you might want to wash the hat before knitting on the lining. Once the lining is in place, you’re probably going to want to steam block the whole thing to smooth out the decreases, and it turns out that hot steam really activates any odors that may have accumulated in the garment from normal wear. Just a suggestion, folks.

Despite the USPS Chicago branch’s best efforts, I just received my Spring 2009 Interweave Knits. Unlike some issues, there weren’t that many patterns that called out to me. The ones that did all fell into a theme that was pretty easily identifiable.

The Soap Bubble Wrap that I mentioned earlier has stuck in my head.  It hasn’t jumped to the top of my queue, but I really like the asymmetric lace placement.

The Lace Cocoon Cardigan is a lighter, dantier, symmetrical wrap that may border on fussy.  I like that the shoulders are lace, I like that it’s shown in pink, and I like that it reminds me that Spring is coming.  I think it’s the placement of the fussy little details that I’m drawn to, like the ribbing that falls in bewteen the stockinette and the lace.  

(One of my coworkers has a sweater with some detailing around the shoulders, cuffs, side seams, and elbow patches, and I try to reverse engineer the pattern every time he wears it.  Is that weird?)

There’s more pink and more lace with the Millefiori Cardigan.  I don’t often make cardigans, since I like fitted shirts but don’t like the way that buttoned shirts gap in the front.  The slight scalloping of the button band on this cardigan really takes that defect and makes it a feature that I embrace warmly.  I love the clam stitch and the placement on the body, and the sweet little detail of one row of clam stitch just above the cuff makes the pattern more special.  I’m  not sure I love the twisted rib, but that’s no reason not to knit this.

The Diminishing Rib Cardigan is neither lacy or pink, but it is textured and feminine.  The only reservation I have based on the picture on the cover of IK; if it looks frumpy and shapeless on the model, it’s going to look frumpy and shapeless on me.  The images in the magazine and online look a lot more shaped and fitted, which gives me some hope.  I wouldn’t make it in beige, and I’d consider adding a fastener or two.  Then again, I could take the ideas of the ribbing and the peplum and go in a different direction.

Even with all of these lovely reminders that the weather will get warmer and the sun will return to Chicago — and a heat wave last week — I’m still in cold weather knitting mode.  Maybe my upcoming adventures in warmer climes will inspire me to start something a little lighter.

Noro Striped Hat

Originally uploaded by aruzin

Picking up stitches for a liner

Originally uploaded by aruzin

This hat is a variation on Jared Flood’s Turn a Square (Ravelry link), except instead of alternating the Noro with a solid and doing a 3×2 pattern, I followed the same 2×2 with 2 colorful yarns. It was made for a friend to go along with the Noro striped scarf. Both were given to the recipient early this winter and have been worn with pride.

You may notice a slight color differential between the two garments. That’s because the second scarf was actually a replacement for the first. The “neutral” yarn in the hat and first scarf was a colorway of tans and browns and muted greens and blues, but when I went to Loopy Yarns to pick up the replacement yarn, they were out. I ended up using a neutral of tans and browns and creams. The pictures don’t show it, but the two items really do still look good together.

It seems that this winter has been colder than usual in Chicago, and although I took care to make the hat long enough to cover one’s ears and knit a dense fabric, I’ve been told that the hat lets the bitter cold wind in. I’m not one to let a potential knitting challenge go unrecognized, and my knitterly pride is hurt by seeing other inferior hats get worn.

I’m using Misti Alpaca Worsted for the liner, which should be super soft and warm and toasty. I’m knitting the liner on size 2 needles, which should make for a nice dense fabric that isn’t too thick.

In order to attach the liner, I picked up the first row of stitches on the inside of the hat, not including where I originally bound off. This a ridge from the bind off row on the “right” side of the hat, forcing the liner to stay flat against the inside, without causing folding.

After blocking the original hat, I got 4 stitches/inch. When I swatched for the liner, I was getting 7 stitches/inch. In order to prevent puckering, on my first round I [kfb, kfb, kfb, k1], repeating until the end of the round. Now all I have to do is knit for another 6 inches, and then calculate what I need to do for the crown decreases, which should be straightforward.

Unfortunately, while it took me less than a day to crank out the hat the first time around, it’s going to take me quite a bit longer to knit the liner. There’ll be about twice as many stitches in the liner than there are in the exterior hat, and without the fun of the color transitions my attention may falter. It’s a good thing for knitterly pride, because otherwise this hat might sit until next winter!

Hint: It's not the sock

Now that I have a functional camera, I’m excited to show off what I did over my Christmas vacation. This is just a teaser picture from my phone, but there will be more pictures to come. Oh, yes, there will.