Today, my husband informed me…
You live in a David Byrne universe. You should write a book. Maybe then people could understand you.
Ok.
Archive for June, 2007
Eris cardigan progress
As I mentioned yesterday, I picked up Eris, a cardigan that I started, gosh, over a year ago. This is a few rows past where I left off:
I love the pattern, it’s amazingly well written and so detailed I don’t know how anyone could mess it up. I went through the forty pages with a highlighter for everything I need to do, and as I go along, I highlight each step that I’ve completed. It was a breeze to see where I left off in the pattern and pick it up right away.
The yarn though – it’s bothering my allergies a little. It’s a heathered yarn, Elann’s Peruvian Aran. It’s got these red threads running through it that are a little stiff, and they itch me a little. My eyes start to water after an hour or so. I have to take an antihistamine to keep my eyes from running and I want to scratch my skin.
I know it will be okay after I wash and block the sweater, because I did that with my swatches (the ton of swatches I made) and they were a lot smoother and comfortable after the bath. But now, eh.
This is where I left off on Friday. I did a lot more on Sunday during the trip to the Lavender Fields. I think I’ll be able to finish this if I bring it with me on vacation next week.
Heirloom Lace Jacket – almost done sleeve one
I really got into the rhythm of the pattern last week and made some real progress.
I had put it down for a while while I worked on the Jaywalker socks and swatched for another cardigan that I have been mulling over for a while in my brain. In fact, I hadn’t been knitting for a while at home, I was playing with new toys, racing my husband on XBOX, reading a book or three, and just wasn’t feeling it.
But a few weeks ago, I picked it back up again and really cranked along and got to the top of the sleeve, all 18″ of it, and bound off on each side and started the shaping. I followed the directions, and suddenly I was done! But it didn’t make sense. I got out my calculator and did a little math and realized it really didn’t make sense. So I put it down for a bit and wrote to the yahoo group for White Lies Designs, hoping someone had an update version of the pattern that had the correct calculations.
I waited for a few days and didn’t hear anything, so I finally wrote to the designer directly and appealed for help. I bought the pattern back in 2003 or so, and she agreed that there had been a few corrections since then. She sent me the corrections and now I can get back on my way.
But meanwhile, while I was waiting, I was in such a knitty mood after signing up in Ravelry and putting in my done/half-done/dreams of projects, that I spied another member’s Eris cardigan and decided to pick that up. I’ll show some of that tomorrow, as I’ve been cruising along on that sweater, and since it’s with Aran weight it’ll be done in no time!
Meanwhile, take a gander at the lace and edging on the Heirloom Lace Jacket. I love the color, the yarn, the lace, I am having a hard time deciding between the two patterns.
Smell me something good!
My husband and I went on a little field trip today down to Valley Center, CA to the Lavender Fields.
It was a small farm at the end of a dirt road with a number of different varieties of lavender. My favorite is this one – Lavendula x intermedia cv. Provence Lavender.
It has wonderful long stalks that you can use to make wands. I’m going to try and get some of these for my backyard. Right now we only have a single plant, and it’s Spanish Lavender, so I want to try a few other varieties, especially this one.
I learned to make this wand today; pretty good for a first-timer, eh? It was quite easy. If we lived closer to the farm, I would have bought a bundle of flowers but I was afraid they would dry out too soon on the way home, and they need to be pretty flexible to make the wands without breaking the stems. I’ll just have to grow my own.
At the entrance to the building where I made the wand, there was a woman spinning some wool, and so I stepped inside the “Wool Cottage” and picked up a couple of skeins of wool. It smells so good!
We only stayed about an hour, and I get the feeling they were a bit overwhelmed by the number of people that showed up because we were there only an hour after they opened, and the lemonade stand was sold out! They must have done quite well based on the number of people there and the lines in the stores. We also got some lavender infused honey. It looked like they weren’t affected by CCD, as there were tons of bees, the plants were humming with them.
It was worth the trip, I think if I can’t get a few plants going myself, we’ll have to go back next summer and plan ahead so I can get a few bundles of flowers and have plenty to make more wands to stash in my stash!
2 of 5
Pattern: Jaywalker. But no, I couldn’t stop there, I had to get all difficult, and do the toe-up version, and in a size that wasn’t part of the original pattern.
Yarn: Regia Schatten color 5163 – Jeans. I’ve used Regia sock yarns before, and it’s fine. This yarn was perfect for these socks with the way the stripes work. Loved it for this pattern.
Needles: Assorted 2mm, 2.25mm dpn’s and circulars.
Method:Started as two socks on 2 needles, a la Cat Bordhi. Then one at a time on a single circular needle, then on dpn, as I got bored with what I was working with.
And that’s when the trouble started. I like my soles to be on size 0 (2mm) because I like a nice tight sole. And, having read all over the net that this pattern is a little small on the foot, and having honking huge feet, I decided to use the smallest needle, but the largest size, figuring it would all come out in the wash.
I started by knitting 2 on 2 circs, since I have such a short attention span and will never remember what I’ve done enough to replicate it. So, I knit both feet and then had to split onto separate needles to do the heel turn.
I got to the first heel turn, tried the sock on, and holy crap it was tooooo long. Ripped back to before the increases started, and back one more inch. Started again, got back to the heel turn, tried it on, and it was not as long, but now it’s too wide, I like it a little more snug. So, I decided to rip out the whole thing and start from the beginning on the next size down, and then I’d increase when I get to the ankle if needed.
That worked, so after finishing the heel, I increased to 100 stitches, knit the whole thing, and tried to try it on. Sigh. A little too tight in the cuff, but I figured it would stretch out.
Then I ripped out the second half-sock and started again, the same way as the last time, but this time when I got to the cuff, I increased to 100 stitches and also switched to 2.25 mm needles. On the cuff, it doesn’t need to be so smooth like the sole. This sock fit much better.
So, I ripped out the first one, back to the start of the cuff, and re-knit it like the second (fourth?) sock and finally had a comfortable pair of completed Jaywalkers.
After I washed them they fit better, but now I think the cuffs are a little too loose.
If I knit them again (which I doubt) I think I’ll use a size 0 on the sole and size 1 on the top and follow the pattern for the third size. That might come out a little better.
I think the real problem for me was the heel. I don’t really like the method in the pattern, it doesn’t really have the little short-row cup like the bottom of a top-down sock, instead it has a pretty long flap, and I think that’s where I went wrong. Maybe I’ll knit another pair and try to replicate that little short-row cup instead. I’ve got a boatload of sock yarn, so I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
Other than my preference for a different heel, there were no problems with any of the patterns. I’m sure they have been knitted enough times that all errors have been worked out by now. One thing I did notice – knitting them toe-up makes the points point in the opposite direction from the cuff down. One way to spot toe-up vs. toe-down amongst your knitting pals.