Geocaching Knitter

2010-11-09T21:02:00.000-05:00

Way way way far behind on my knitting blog. I'm learning lace knitting and having a blast making shawls. Aunt Cecil had given me a bag of Jamieson & Smith two ply jumper weight many years ago. She'd bought it while on a trip to Scotland with Uncle Bubba but never got around to using it. Kept thinking how much fun it would be to make her something from the yarn.

This was the result - Alix's Prayer Shawl - a real beginner project

The second one was Heartland Shawl designed by Evelyn Clark:

Not great photos and they show the shawls being blocked on a mattress.

Next came Tibetan Beaded Shawl which was a bit more ambitions and included beads. The shawl is rectangular and actually is a light lavender not pink. They sure are fun to make.

Also currently working on another shawl and a top down Alice Starmore sweater called "Irish Moss" for an online Knit Along on Ravelry. I'll catch up the other stuff later.

2010-07-10T08:41:00.005-04:00

Temperatures hitting 88-95F are not exactly friendly to knitting worsted weight. St. Margaret is in hiatus until the temps drop a bit. The first sleeve is done and the second was down to the wrist ribbing. Had to rip that back as the decreases weren't matching the other sleeeve and my notes were poor. Note to self "make better notes"! This is first sleeve done.

On a recent short RV trip up to New Brunswick, we camped at Cobscook Bay State Park. Knitting at Cobscook Bay State Park beside the ocean, breezy and not horribly hot was great.

We also camped in St. Andrews and visited Cottage Craft yarns to fill in colors on the one ply for stranded work.

Right to left

#24 St Croix Navy

#30 Horizon Blue

#21 Blue spruce

#9 Meadow Green

#8 Forest Brown

Right to left

#16 Stone

#7 Yellow Birch

#18 Goldenrod Yellow

#25 Scarlet

I'll be knitting along with BlueDragon (Helen) on her Ingvold Aran KAL which is happening until we start a KAL out of the reprint of Alice Starmore's "Aran Knitting" this fall. I've taken her charts and using a simple hat to check the gauge. I'm using US#4 needles and Halycon Victorian sport in a forest green.
Hat Swatch - right side

Charts - right to left

Five Strand Braid, Flat rope, Little Waving cable, Railroad Tracks,

Hat swatch middle

Charts - right to left

Railroad, Ingvold Back Braid, Railroad

Hat swatch left

Charts - right to left

Five strand braid, Seeded double cable

2010-06-13T16:46:00.002-04:00

Still having fun knitting away on Jeri Riggs' "St. Margaret" design. Body is done from neck down to two chart repeats below armholes. First sleeve is 35 rows down. It fits beautifully which is one of the reasons I like top down raglan sweaters so much.

EDITED: Several people wrote and asked where Jeri Rigg's designs can be found. Here is her information:
Her blog is at : http://www.jeririggs.blogspot.com/

Her designs are on Ravlery at http://www.ravelry.com/stores/jeri-rigged-designs
If you don't belong to Ravelry you have to as a knitter - go to http://www.ravelry.com/

On a recent RV ramble through NH and VT, I sort of convinced Joe to wander down into MA to WEBS, a huge yarn warehouse. There is a "Grandpa's Attic" area of orphan yarns, not enough to sell in the catalog or on the floor anymore. This place is amazing and I'm glad it is four hours away. I did pick up some Nashua superwash worsted in a deep purple. It will probably be used this fall in a Starmore KAL top down.

Gardening continues with lots of recent rain so the weeds are happy. We'd just come into the sunroom for a rest and Joe said "Oh look at the moose!". I went, yeah sure until I went to the window. She was HUGE and just sauntered around the yard a bit before disappearing into the woods on the other side of the road. Sure would hate to come face to face with her in the dark.

2010-05-29T19:55:00.000-04:00

I'm privileged to be test knitting Jeri Rigg's new design "St. Margaret". This is an innovative way of knitting from the top down, with raglan sleeves and incorporating a lot of cables. The sweater grows out of the initial back neck and can become a pullover or cardigan.

This is a view of the full sweater to Row 51.

Currently I'm 6 rows away from deciding on cardigan or pullover and probably will keep it a cardigan. Jeri has written this pattern for a finished size 38" chest, using DK weight yarn. I need the sweater larger so am using Briggs & Little Regal, a full bodied worsted weight on a US #8 circular.

Jeri and I have been writing back and forth with a few corrections, suggestions and thoughts on making the design clearer. Her charting is impeccable and easily followed. Lots of fun and the first test knit
I've ever done.

Here's a closer view of the work. It's really exciting to see what comes next and how it will grow below the armholes.

2010-05-03T19:20:00.002-04:00

I so thoroughly enjoy the knitting stitch designs of Annie Maloney of Canada. She is a self published author and her books are available through Unicorn Books. Lots of us on Ravelry had been eagerly awaiting "Aran Lace". Annie has designed 101 stitch combinations of lace and cables. Here's a sample of a mixture of three of the charts - #3, #18 and #72 in the middle. This is a test swatch and I might continue with it for a scarf.

I need to get back to stranded color knitting. Miss it and have too many things on the needles. Also waiting for Ravlery friend BlueDragon to start a KAL (knit a long) for a top down sweater for a summer project. This fall we'll do a KAL for a top down sweater taken from a design for the reprint of Alice Starmore's "Aran Kntting".

2010-04-23T20:17:00.008-04:00

Just back from a camping trip down to VA and NC. Rather than continue with the Ridgeway pullover, I started Alice Starmore's Bodega Bay. The Ridgeway as I was reworking it, just didn't work.

The idea was to use a cable up the center in place of the basketweave and then to run the cable over into the shoulders as they were formed. The cable I used is just way too big and heavy and didn't flow. I'll eventually rip out the Cascade 220 since I like the color and will reuse it. Still like the Ridgeway pattern and one day will knit it as designed - probably why I liked it in the first place!

Bodega Bay is a structured cable sweater with fairly simple cables. I'm knitting it bottom up in Halcyon Yarns Victorian 2 ply which is a DK weight. this must might end up being the camper sweater as the cables are quite repetitive and no need to refer to the charts constantly.

Annie Maloney has just published a new book "Aran Lace". I'm eagerly awaiting my copy and may just throw everything else aside and try knitting lace within cables.

2010-03-24T14:04:00.004-04:00

So what knitting to work on? Looking at all the projects on Ravelry.com leads to being fractured on what comes next. Too much to try for new techniques and fibers. Make a shawl? scarf? sweater? cable or stranded? socks? Too many riches to chose from.

I've packed a box of Jamieson & Smith yarns, needles for that gauge and the book "Knitted Tams" by Mary Rowe to carry in the camper this summer. Figured with 40 colors and graph paper could have endless possibilites for hats and/or tams for Christmas gifts.

The shape of this sweater fascinates me along with the construction of raglan shoulders winged out from the body. It is "Ridgeway #304" by Cabin Fever.

Because I seem incapable of leaving any pattern alone, I'm adding a cable up the front and back and will wing it out into the raglan. The cable is from Melissa Leapman's book "Continuous Cables".

As always it's only knitting and can all be ripped out and reused.

2010-03-10T17:54:00.005-05:00

Oh my! This bag sort of fell into my car today. Unfortunately Ewe & ME, one of our best local yarn stores is closing this week. I went up to say goodbye to the friends I'd made there. Since so few local folk use Jamieson & Smith two ply jumper weight the owner offered me the balance of the stock at a price there was no way I could pass up. Guess I'd better get busy and plan a few projects. Wouldn't this make beautiful Tams for Christmas?

2010-03-10T10:25:00.006-05:00

Canyonville is done! It took just under two months and has a bazillion twisted travelling stitches in it.

One of the Ravelry members Katri63 had made this Alice Starmore dropped shoulder sweater into a raglan. Great inspiration and quite easy to figure out for stitch count thanks to the Sweater Wizard software.

Now to go through the projects in progress to pick one to finish. Also I'm "allowing" myself to start something new and it just might be my first lace project.

2010-03-07T12:58:00.004-05:00

I'm up to the neck, halfway through the front neck decreases headed to the finish. It feels as though the raglan is going to be too long but I'm going to have faith in Sweater Wizard's math and keep going. If it is too long or the neck to tight, I can always rip back to the start of the neck decreases. Still like the design and the yarn.

We took a fast trip over to NH for a RV truck camper repair but mostly an excuse to just get on the road. We stopped in Derry, NH at Yarn & Fiber, one of the best knit stores I've ever been in. The entire back wall of the shop is floor to head height in bins of Cascade 220. They must have every color there is. Forced myself not to buy anything as the home stash is just too large.

No idea what is next on the list. Too many projects swirling around to decide on one or two yet. I'm not happy with the color son the Oversize Panel fair isle - just too pink. I'll look at it again when Canyonville is finished.

2010-02-22T12:50:00.004-05:00

Canyonville progresses, slowly, but progresses. The body and sleeves are now joined for the raglan decreases headed to the neck. It's a lot more awkward to handle than individual pieces but easier to do the decreasing and stay in pattern. Hopefully the underarm decreases will leave me enough fabric around the arms. Time will tell and if it doesn't work - TINK or KNIT backwards back to the raglan join and then change it to a set in sleeve. Still like the Galway Highland Heather yarn on US#5. The fabric is tight and really shows the twisted stitch definition.

Sleeves might be too short but I can always add more ribbing. Next up? Don't know but would like to get back to the Oversize Panel Cardigan and start a small project for a change.

Odd winter. Our ground is close to bare of snow and the temps this past week have been in the upper 30s, low 40s. I detest knitting with cotton so it had better get cold again.

2010-01-31T16:18:00.009-05:00

This has been an unusual January with cold but not a lot of really bad snow storm days. A rare rain storm took the snow pack down by half. This break in the normal weather pattern did let the roof crew install the new steel metal roofing on the garage and the deep north and south valleys. Later snow proved that the snow will slide off those areas and may finally have solved the ice dam problem. Solved is always a relative word when doing any kind of house maintenance.

Since we don't play in the snow any longer, we've had lots of time for hobbies - reading, model trains, planning this years truck camper trips, knitting and trying new recipes. Joe's leg hasn't relapsed so we've got fingers crossed for camping this spring.

Canyonville is progressing nicely. I'm two rows away from the second pattern repeat on the body and then will switch back to work on the sleeves until that second pattern repeat is done. Perhaps this will be a way to get sleeves done - use the body as incentive and not work exclusively on that. Will be interesting to see if I can be happy with both body and sleeve length for when the raglan starts as the pattern has to be on the same row. Stay tuned!

To switch needle sizes and yarn thickness and hopefully keep my hands going, I'm also working still on Oversize Panel Cardigan. Pink is not one of my favorite colors and the photo makes this sweater look very pink. It's not that pink to the human eye but maybe that is the reason it isn't being worked on very much? I need to get at least half way through the second pattern repeat to see if this is doing what I want. Lots of knitting to rip out if so ......

2010-01-15T10:53:00.004-05:00

Canyonville is underway! After all the swatching, I've decided on the Galway Highland Heather in color number #748, a sage green. Ribbing is done and about half of one chart repeat. It will be knit in the round bottom up with raglan shaping.

Still working on the Oversize Panel cardigan, a few rows each night. So much yarn, so little time!

2010-01-10T16:03:00.006-05:00

Received a pair of beautiful yellow socks today from friend Shirley. What a great way to cheer up a cold time of year - lunch and socks! She does such precise work and the socks fit perfectly.

Perhaps I can break out of the "what to make next" doldrums by making some socks? I've been stuck on swatching lately but at least one of the swatches made it into a hat. This is the basic pattern for Starmore's "Inishmaan" sweater but with two of the smaller cables substituted. I used Annie Maloney's "Cable Knitter's Handbook" cables No. 3 and No. 9 and mirrored them around the center Inishmaan big braid. The hat is drying on a balloon so it kept the shape and dried faster. It's from Cottage Crafts 2 ply in Yellow Birch color.

The swatches below for "Canyonville" aren't going to be made into anything. A knit friend said she wished all her swatches were the same size so that she could sew them into a blanket. Good idea! All of the yarn colors are Cascade 220 except for the light green which is Galway Highland Heather. Not sure if I'll proceed to sweater stage but have enjoyed swatching the travelling stitches. The depth effect created by the stitches moving over the fabric is fascinating.

2010-01-04T13:23:00.008-05:00

Starting off the new year with swatching and finishing off Sarah's Lopi. The Lopi was a gift from her mom's trip to England. Sure feels odd to go back and forth from Lopi weight to 2 ply jumper weight but it's a good rest on the hands. It's also time to get back to the Oversize Panel sweater which is a KnitALong on BlueDragon's Yahoo group. This picture shows my "helper" Miss Boots choosing the yarns.

This swatch is from Annie Maloney's "Knitter's Guide to Stitch Design", Cable #112. I'm nesting three of the cables off set with her wrapped stitch where the cable edes meet. The bottom wheat color is Cottage Craft in stone color. The top is MacAusland's worsted weight in a green/teal. The stone color doesn't show the cables well; the green shows the cables but is quite heavy. Not sure I want to knit another heavy sweater right now.

I was able to get Alice Starmore's "American Portraits" (way out of print) from interlibrary loan. There is a beautiful sweater called "Canyonville" in the book. It is all travelling stitches that curve and swirl and looked sculpted almost. One of the knitters on Ravelry made this sweater into a raglan instead of a dropped shoulder. I'm swatching with stash in the house to see what I can come up with.

The Lopi body is done and half of one sleeve. I changed the structure to make it a top down raglan but did preserve the color detail. Been working with thinner weights for so long now, I'd forgotten how quickly a fat yarn knits.

2009-12-12T18:55:00.005-05:00

All done but the cardigan kept saying it wanted to be a vest - so it is.

I-cord was knit all the way around the front edges and neck using a US#8 instead of the US#5 the body used. For the neck, stitches were picked up from the I-cord and eight rows of ribbing were knit.

The armhole edges were left in I-cord.

This was a fun project and I learned a lot as always. Wonder what's next?

2009-12-07T17:46:00.014-05:00

Mid Coast Cardigan is basically done and probably becoming a vest with I-cord edges and no buttons. It has been a fascinating process and learned a lot. Here it is modeled by Joe's mom who is with us recovering from surgery. She's doing great and has had fun watching the knitting.

Part of the learning process was making the shoulder straps and knitting them together with the front and back shoulder stitches in one continuous process. It is detailed in Alice Starmore's "Fishermen's Knits" on Page 121. First shoulder I started with double pointed needles holding the back stitches, the front stitches and the shoulder strap/saddle put onto a provisional cast on. Second shoulder I went to one circular holding the back stitches and strap and a second circular holding the front stitches which was a lot less to manuver.

Start of the process - Provisionally cast on the number of stitches you are going to use for the saddle cable plus two on each side. I knit one plain row and a purl before starting the saddle cable.

As you start to knit the saddle cable, pick up one stitch from the back stitches and knit them together with the first stitch on the saddle needle. The last stitch on the saddle needle will be knit together with the first of the front stitches. Turn and pick up one stitch from the front and purl it together with the first stitch on the saddle needle. The last stitch on the saddle needle is purled with the first stich on the back needle. Etc, etc. until you have knit or purled all of the stitches on the front and back. The saddle is now the same length as the front and back of the sweater/vest. I did figure out the gauge of the #113 cable and decreased some stitches when knitting the last row on the fronts and back to make them more consistent with the saddle gauge.

Progress photos:

This is the finished saddle. It does not look as messy as this photo does. I used K2 together on the right side of the saddle and "slip one knit one pass one over" on the left side. Because you are purling back over these stitches, it just doesn't look as neat as it could but couldn't figure out any other way to do it.

I'm glad I learned how to do this as Starmore uses it often with ganseys. For a heavily cabled sweater, it would have been better to have knit it top down like a FLAK from the start.

Now to decide - cardigan with less densely cabled sleeves? vest with I-cord?

2009-12-02T19:43:00.007-05:00

I was really loving this cardigan and enjoying working on it. Last night, picked up the right front half and started the under arm decreases. That side is the last piece as the back is done and the left front including the shoulder strap. Looked down and what do I see - cables in the wrong order!!

Let’s see if I can illustrate what I’ve done and if anyone has an idea. First is the right front (double click on the photo to enlarge it).

Then the left front (double click on the photo to enlarge it).

The cable sequence from the front opening should be below. The right side is how I wanted the layout.
2 st braid, 6 st braid, #13, 6 st braid, 2 st braid, 4 st braid, cable #89, 4 st braid, #13

The left side sequence is messed up probably because I didn’t have the chart written out in reverse.
6 st braid, 2 st braid, #13, 2 st braid, 6 st braid, 4 st braid, cable #89, 4 st braid, #13

I reversed the left side 2 stitch and 6 stitch and they aren’t even symmetrical! The back is how I wanted.

So….. just finish it as a vest? Rip it and start over bottom up? Rip it and knit top down ala FLAK? Relax and have a nice single malt ? or two?

Would another cable knitter notice this? These photos are early on. I’ve since finished the left side totally including the shoulder strap. The right side is picked up and decreases done. This is what I get for pretending to put my own sweaters together - but it is fun.

2009-11-03T12:43:00.003-05:00

MidCoast cable cardigan is coming along great. Now that Henry VIII is in the mail, it's almost like a weight is off my shoulders. Not fun to knit so many tiny stitches on something you aren't really enjoying. Because I do like to have a stranded project going also, I'll enjoy the Oversize Panel Cardigan. After yet more garden cleanup today, I'll ball up the colors I chose.

2009-11-01T17:51:00.011-05:00

Henry VIII is taking a trip tomorrow to Oregon, winging his way to another home. I just never fell in love with Henry and the colors. The yarns are gorgeous and each one on its own would be incredible in a solid color sweater. But (for me) the sweater was just not colorful enough. Since each row takes about 22 minutes to knit, it was a huge time commitment to keep going on something I didn't love. The pattern is beautifully written as always. My online knit friend Helen in Oregon is now the proud owner of Henry VIII. May he reign her house well.

Helen also moderates a Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mara_class/. The group will be doing a KAL (knit along) and we'll be making any sweater from Alice Starmore's "Book of Fair Isle Knitting" which has just been reprinted. I forced myself to wait to Sunday before getting out all the boxes of J&S two ply jumper weight wool and start the happy search for colors. I've been going back and forth between the "Oversize Panel Cardigan" on Page 136 and the "Child's Panel Gansey" on Page 117 of the reprint of Alice Starmore's "Book of Fair Isle Knitting". I like the vertical lines of the Oversize and the colors of the Child's. Most of the blues I have are fairly dark and most of my completed fair isles are also fairly dark. So... I'm going to make the Oversize in lighter colors similar to the book colors. I miss the sweater schematic like in most of her other books as it's easy to see the sweater construction and figure out what you are going to change.

I have all the colors in stash except for the Jamieson & Smith jumper weight #96 which I've been told is a lot like #66. I have one skein of that but would never dream of using it for the main body of a sweater. I have some Harrisville shetland yellowy beige which will be perfect. It comes on a cone but it's all skeined off and washed ready for use.

I know I'm going to make an inset sleeve and it won't be as long in the body as the pattern. I'll be knitting in the round with a front steek. The neckline will probably end up tighter than hers usually are. I also might not make the darker colors go all the way around the sweater but use more areas of solid light color. That means swatching!

2009-10-19T18:27:00.010-04:00

Why have I named the newest cable/aran sweater on the needles "MidCoast Maine Cardigan"? Because the DH landed in MidCoast Hospital for 13 days with a leg infection called cellulitis. Nasty stuff but he is home, recovering and pretty tired of resting with his leg up most of the day. I started this sweater while sitting with him every day for most of the day and early evening. Took a basic old Candide cardigan bottom up pattern and laid out many of Annie Maloney's beautiful cables until I had a design I liked.

Above is a photo of the front of the sweater. The cables read from the front opening going from the middle to the left as Cable Knitting Handbook (CKH) Cable #13, 4 stitch rope, CKH Cable #89, 4 stitch rope, 6 stitch rope, CKH #13, 6 sttich rope, moss stitch.

Above is a photo of the back of the sweater. The cables read right to left as CKH #13, 6 stitch rope, Knitters Guide to Stitch Design (KGSD) Cable #117, 6 stitch rope, 4 stitch rope, CKH #89, 4 stitch rope, 6 stitch rope, KGSD #117, 6 stitch rope, CKH #13.

There are various purl spaces here and there not listed but that's the basic layout of the sweater. It's being knit in Lion Brand Fishermen's wool in off white. The wool is four ply and a light worsted being knit on US#4 circulars. I'll knit circular up to the armholes and then divide for fronts and back. Probably will pick up armhole stitches and knit the sleeves down as I always get a better fit this way. Original plan was to make the buttonholes inside of the CKH #13 as I knit but that didn't work out. I might just add a small buttonband when done. Also toying with adding a saddle in a different cable to run down the center of the sleeve.

Annie's cables are amazing, so much so that I created a Ravelry group for her. If you are on Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com) come join us on "Annie Maloney & Friends". Lots of hard core cable and lace knitters hang out there.

Her books can be found here:
http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/knitting_books/Cable_Knitting_Handbook.html
http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/knitting_books/Knitters_Guide_to_Stitch_Design.html
http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/knitting_books/Mastering_Lacework.html
http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/knitting_books/Personal_Knitwear_Design.html
http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/knitting_books/Tips_From_A_Knitters_Notebook.html

2009-09-29T18:59:00.010-04:00

St. Brigid proved a bit challenging to make as a FLAK and has been put on hold for now. Not like I don't have anything else on the needles!

Henry VIII is underway but I'm having second thoughts.

Knit friend Shirley suggested taking the project out into the sunshine as it looks so dull inside the house. The Virtual Yarns colors are a lot brighter in the sun and really show their depth but something’s just not working.

I’ve got to confess to not being absolutely in love with Henry to this point. I keep thinking of Ravelry member Kibben’s Henry VIII cardigan and that I’d wear it much more than a pullover. Also know that I’ve got to slightly inset the sleeves as I did with Lismore. Those dropped shoulders and my shape don’t work well. I might just put it aside for a few days and think on it. It’s always painful to rip out what’s done but a lot less painful than finishing the sweater and not wearing it.

I have finished a pair of socks from Melissa Morgan-Oakes "2-at a time Socks" book though I did them one at a time on double points. Not being a long term sock knitter, figured I'd not overly complicate the first pair. I used Ravelry member Susinok's Slackford Yarns, Stalwart sock yarn in "Boots & Jeans" color. Here is her shop on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6946141

Wore them today and they are very comfortable and easy to wear. I did pick up Kathleen Taylor's "Big Book of Socks" at Border's today. I love getting those 30% off coupons.

Joe's "Kangaroo Pockets" sweater is up to the shawl collar start on the front (back is finished). I'll work on it again after I decide what to do with Henry.

2009-09-11T18:53:00.015-04:00

Can I make St. Brigid as a FLAK? Should I? It is such a beautiful sweater as designed in pieces, knit bottom up and then sewn together. FLAK is a method by Janet Szabo of Big Sky Knitting of starting a sweater with the shoulder saddles and knitting down from there. I've made three so far and they fit just right.

First photo shows the blue finished FLAK with pieces of the new lavendar St. Brigid laid on top. The bottom lavendar piece was the original start to St. Brigid and is being used as a swatch (or to be continued if the FLAK doesn't work). The charts for St. Brigid used as written in Cottage Craft worsted yarn work perfectly for the width I want for the finished piece. The yellow Post-It notes are the blue FLAK's width before adding the sleeves.

Second photo shows the two 5" saddles knit using Annie Maloney's cable #8 from "The Cable Knitting Handbook". The center thinner area is Chart D and half of Cable #8 on each side. This makes the neckline 9" instead of the 7-1/2" I'd like but can handle that. Actually as the D cable progresses it should draw in some to match the big swatch. However, there are still a chart B (#8) to add on both sides plus a few stitches such as seed for smoothness.

Here's the whole view:

So what's the hesitation or problem? My cross shoulder measurement is 18", the width of the cables "hung" on the saddles is 19". I don't really want to remove any of the cables as it would spoil the look of St. Brigid. With a FLAK, the sleeves are picked up from the chest area's front and back and then width is added after the added width matches the full width you want on the body. The only way I can see making this is to use the full charts at full width as the original St. Brigid and then pick up the sleeves from that width (no more width added). At this point, might as well make the original sweater from teh bottom up.

Anyone else who makes FLAKs want to weigh in on this. If you belong to Ravelry, a free knitting/fiber discussion group at http://www.ravelry.com take a look at the Big Sky Knitting group at http://www.ravelry.com/groups/big-sky-knitting-designs.
In that group there is discussion of making St. Brigid a FLAK under the heading "I Just Realized" started by another knitter trying the same thing.

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/big-sky-knitting-designs/795690/1-25#5

2009-09-07T10:14:00.005-04:00

Lismore is done and just in time for wearing during our crisp fall New England days. It's a perfect weight for outdoor wear and bet I'll wear it a lot. Here it is drying on the wooly board.

The yarn is Jamieson & Smith two ply jumper weight and was picked out of stash. If you knit or crochet do yourself a favor and join Ravelry on the web at http://www.ravelry.com. It is a world wide community of fiber lovers and the help and encouragement there is amazing. Marina from mid America graciously shared her list of color substitutions for Lismore as the originals are no longer available. Helen from OR told me about insetting the sleeves slightly to get rid of the bulk of a dropped shoulder. Used their ideas to base my Lismore on and couldn't be heppier. Here is a slightly blurred photo of the inset sleeve.

Only Joe's brown sweater on the needles for cable work currently and I need one a bit more complicated to work on also. Thinking of turning Starmore's St. Brigid into a FLAK style knit from the saddle shoulders down. Planning alone will take a while but that's part of the fun. Also will be knitting Henry VIII, another stranded sweater, with a Ravelry group as a knit-a-long starting next week. Hope the beginning arthritis in the hands holds off for many years as there is a lot of yarn still in stash.

2009-08-26T16:49:00.008-04:00

Where did the summer go? At last in Maine there is sun, heat and lots and lots of weeds. We missed the five weeks of rain since we were on a RV trip out west. Love living here and seeing all the season changes. We are back from working with the siblings at cleaning out mom's condo, readying it for sale. 32 big bags of beautiful clothing in extra petite size went to the church clothes closet for use by women's shelters, women just starting work and whoever else can use them. Over 30 bags went to a church readying their biannual yard sale. We certainly were thankful that mom's goods would be put to good use.

While cleaning closets and drawers, I gathered up all the sweaters I'd made her through the years. She wore some constantly so they must have been liked. The white aran doesn't look like it was ever worn. Should have fit her as it was a 34" - maybe too big but it was too small for anyone else in the family. I brought it home to recreate it in a larger size.

Here's what I found - all donated to church except the white aran.

This is mostly in a salmon with highlights of pink and white. She must have liked it as the cuffs were almost worn out.

Wonder how much she wore this Lopi? VA winters aren't that cold.

This one was almost worn out, had a lot of small wear holes. I can remember her wearing this like a jacket.

Love this old Candide pattern but it had little wear as it must have been hot even as she got older and was always cold.

Finished the first sleeve of Lismore last night and plan on picking up the second sleeve tonight. Our Knit-A-Long for Henry VIII starts mid September. I really want to be done with Lismore before then. Note to self - do NOT START ANYTHING ELSE.

2009-07-24T14:59:00.005-04:00

Rain again. The day lilies are blooming and are gorgeous. All the perennials did well this year with the extra water. We however are rusting. Went to Portland today and finally got off of I-295 and took back roads as the crazy drivers weren't slowing down for the heavy rain. There are times I miss the ammenities of a city but don't want to live in one again. Today I watched the three red fox pups wrestling in the field across our road. Don't see that in a city!

Lismore is coming along well. Picked up 3 out of 4 sleeve edge stitches and am about four inches down. I have this love/hate thing with sleeves so really have to force myself to finish them.

Miss Boots the Cat was happy today as I've got piles of quilt fabric all over the work room floor. I want to make a quilt for the camper before fall (HA!). Have the dinette cushion from the camper in the house to guide in color choices. I think it will end up being a cream/white/beige/tan scrap background and a simple 9 patch block with batiks. "Combing through the Scraps" by Karen Combs is a good inspiration and a way to use up some of the fabric in this house.

2009-07-18T21:38:00.007-04:00

Knitting again! Home from our western trip and the weeding is almost caught up. Those five weeks away and Maine had rain almost every day. The weeds were huge and dug in tight. Yard really looks good and the day lilies are starting to pop in all their glorious colors.

Joe's brown sweater got ripped back 3" the other night. Simple pattern means you don't pay as much attention so sometimes a cable doesn't get crossed when it should. The back is almost done.

On one of the Ravelry knit groups we've been discussing steeks. There are a lot of ways of making a steek but this is what I do. I make my steeks pretty wide, usually a total of nine stitches with the two outside rows being the darkest colors so I can use those to pick up neck and button bands. I crochet my steeks leaving one full stitch between where I’m crocheting. That stitch is cut exactly in half vertically. This makes a nice neat edge that folds over to the inside easily. This example is Lismore being made with Jamieson & Smith two ply jumper weight wool which is quite sticky. I know many of you just cut and let the edge remain as cut but I like the look of the crocheted edge. I’d also probably wake up at night and listen for the sounds of unravelling coming from my closet if I didn’t finish the edge.

The first photo shows the crochet hook picking up the two adjacent stitch edges. The black vertical line is the crochet edge.

Second photo shows the steek being cut with very sharp scissors with a small blade so they don’t get away from you. Take your time!

Third photo shows the steek cut open with the tight finished edge.

The shoulders are now together using three needle bind off. Next comes the dreaded pickup for the sleeves. Trying to get this one finished as the Ravelry group will be starting another Knit A Long mid September for Henry VIII, a Starmore design.

2009-07-08T21:56:00.004-04:00

The Kangaroo Pockets from "Guy Knits" is progressing. I really like the Berroco Ultra Alpaca in the brown color called Potting Soil. The photo is the back which has a bad cable cross way down about 3” from the bottom. This is one time the mistake is going to stay. The yarn does shed some but is just beautiful. Reviews I’ve read on the yarn says it does stretch lengthwise a bit so I’m making the sweater an inch shorter to compensate. The color is much prettier in person. The photo makes it look washed out. The panels of trinity stitch are smooth, not pucketed as they are appearing. It's a very simple pattern that is perfect for knitting while riding in the truck or watching movies.

I’d started that old panic we all do as in “Do I have enough yardage????”. However I’m not quite through the third ball and have started the arm decreases for the back. I have/had 13 skeins so should have enough even though he has long arms. Right?

2009-06-11T00:03:00.004-04:00

Not a lot of time to knit on this trip as we are doing so much and seeing the sights of the west and west coast. Follow the trip at

What knitting time there has been has been good. I like the Berroco Ultra Alpaca and the pattern out of "Guy Knits" as written. Plus best of all is Joe is a captive audience so I can measure it against him often!

Almost finished with one repeat and the pattern is going to work out okay.

2009-06-04T23:05:00.005-04:00

June 4 - Fort Peck to Great Falls, MT

Morning came early again and we spent the time before places opened, doing basic maintenance on the TC. The gas hot water heater was not working, giving a constant reset light. Joe called our TC friend Mikeee who can fix just about anything in the HVAC line. Joe had already done most of what Mike suggested but he gave a few more hints and one of them worked. Probably a loose wire by the tank where I had put in paper towels - where I wasn't supposed to store anything. Well paper towels are light right? Mike's "payment" of a box of Klondike Bars will go to him next we see him.

We toured the Fort Peck dam area and learned the story of how the dam was built during the 1930s depression. There was a catastrophic and deadly collapse before it was finished. At the base of the dam is the Fort Peck Interpretive Center which lays out the discovery of dinosaur remains and traces their history and the ecology and geography of the area. Excellent exhibits and well worth the time to go there.

There was also an art and sculpture exhibit. I liked this one thinking of all
our TC friends who hike deep into the wilderness.

We travel led on Route 2 today and whoever said this part of Montana is called the Big Empty was absolutely correct. Between Big Sky and Big Empty there is nothing but grass, horses and cattle. We think the vast planted fields are wheat but not sure. You have to be a hearty soul to live out here especially during the winter.

At Malta we stopped at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum. They had one real intact skeleton which was interesting but what was more so was the county museum. There were photos loaned by local families from early pioneer times through the Great Depression up to current farming. Quilts, a roster of those who have served in the wars, class photos, exhibits of old kitchens, parlors, etc. Fascinating to tour and you felt as though you were sitting in your grandmother's parlor looking at family history.

At Havre, we switched over to Route 87 south to go to Great Falls. This road is two lane, no shoulders and 70 mph. I have to hand it to those who live here and put up with the tourists who know one wrong twitch of the hands and you end up in a ditch. Actually not bad driving, much more civil people who pass a TC going 62. The tip of their hat is better than the hand wave back east.

We're in a tiny campground just prior to Great Falls but amazingly there is internet. We're feasting on corn husk covered tamales, fresh salsa that is a bit hotter than we are used to and local nacho chips. When in the country, eat like a native.

Tomorrow our choices are the Memhke Steam Museum (tractors not trains), the CM Russell Museum Complex, Malmstrom Air Force Base museum and a second Lewis and Clark Center. We are close to museum done and time to head for Glacier. I keep checking the "Going to the Sun Road" and know it is not open yet. But there is so much else to see, do and hike that it won't matter in the long run. We'll take 89 north and wander to see what there is to see.

2009-06-04T22:28:00.005-04:00

We're on a truck camper RV trek out west and was able to meet up with an online knitter friend in Fargo, North Dakota. Here we are in her favorite local yarn shop, Boucle Yarn Studio. It is a fabulous shop and I wish I were about 1,500 miles closer. Maureen is on the left, I'm on the right.

Of course I didn't get out of the shop without a book and yarn. The project I'd brought with me to work on isn't doing what I wanted. I now have "Guy Knits" an XRX Best of Knitter's book and some luscious Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I've started the "Kangeroo Pockets" men's sweater for Joe and it is working up wonderfully.

Thanks Maureen for taking the time to meet up. If anyone wants to follow the adventure it is at http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com.

2009-05-23T16:00:00.010-04:00

These kilt hose were fun! Here is a pair of really handsome legs showing off the cuff and start of the leg. I think Joe would win the ugly knee contest but he enjoyed trying on the hose as they were knit. These are "He' mo Leanan Kilt Hose" by Anne Carroll Gilmour of Park City, Utah. My uncle in South Carolina has received them, they fit and he will wear them to a pipe band concert on Memorial Day.

I've not really been missing - just camping again. We had another truck camper RV rally near Sturbridge, MA. Lots of fun though rainy and cold for four days. Lots of knitters there and we sat under a big party tent and knit sweaters, socks, etc. I even had a friend Kitchner the end of the second kilt sock.

I wrote asking for the Dragon Boat pattern which has been long out of print

and got the PDF back the following morning. This pattern so looks like a jacket to me I might knit it in Lion Brand Fishermen yarn in brown and white. I get 7 sts to an inch on US #2. Nice tight fabric that would be very warm. I've also been working on the top down raglan in Cottage Crafts worsted weight (see the blog post of April 7th). Top is all done in a basketweave down to the start of the sleeves which are now on a thread. Body is started with big wide flat cables. I tried it on and it will fit though a bit big. I bet it will block smaller.

We're going to take another long RV trip this summer, going out to Glacier National Park. I've got to figure out a fairly easy pattern to take so I can knit at night. I'm not taking Henry VIII so I won't start it early!

2009-05-05T12:48:00.003-04:00

Henry VIII was waiting in our mailbox today when we got back from errands. I ordered the kit from Virtual Yarns, Alice Starmore's company in Lewis, Scotland. It came in a good size box that stuck out of the mailbox. Fortunately it hadn’t started raining. Amazing I didn’t have to sign for the box.

The box is heavy cardboard, carefully wrapped in brown paper with royal mail stamps and customs voucher. Inside the yarn is wrapped in tissue paper and has a Starmore seal holding the tissue paper closed. The yarn has an AS lable on each group of colors. There are many different sizes of skeins with no indication of yardage or weight.

The colors are just glorious with intermixed flecks of color in each skein. As a super treat to myself, this is worth the price for the kit. There is also a heavy stock paper pattern card in color with all sizes.

Is it mid September yet when the KAL (knit along) is going to start? I will try very hard to not even wind a skein because once that is done, I'll start to swatch and once I swatch, I'll start to knit. Henry's been put into a cloth box and set on the bookcase, in sight but out of reach - for now.

2009-04-30T19:09:00.005-04:00

Long time since I've caught up on the blog. It has been a sad time in our family but in addition to mourning, we celebrated the life of our mother. Mom passed away on Sunday, April 19th after a good life of 89 years. April 9th, we had traveled to Virginia for a visit with her and family and spent five days taking mom out of the assisted living center. The stand out was Easter dinner at brother's home where we shared a meal with family and got to sit out in the very warm southern sun. We took her to several of her favorite places for seafood lunches, a drive through some of the national civil war parks and, best for me, a ride across the ferry at Scotland Wharf to Jamestown, VA. Mom seemed to get stronger every day, more talkative and physically stronger. We left for the Mid-Atlantic Truck Camper Rally at Tall Pines Harbor in Sanford, VA telling her we would see her again in about ten days. After three years of declining health, she just passed in her sleep on the 19th after a last great day out with my sister. She was an amazingly strong woman who loved life, the sunshine, her native VA and her family. She is missed.

The extended family came in from Maine to Florida for the funeral. The gathering gave us the opportunity to talk about mom's life from childhood to her working life to her older years. Her two sisters who are 70 and 90 years old, cousins and friends all shared many stories of our VERY large family going back to great-grandmother times. The funeral service, burial and church reception were attended by many family members and friends. The old southern traditions are very comforting.

Rather then continue with our camping trip, we chose to return to Maine. We've been clearing up winter yard debris, getting the camper and truck cleaned up and ready for the next trip.

I knitted quite a bit while on this trip. The mindless top down raglan with a basketweave design is close to the division for sleeves. It wasn't totally mindless as it got ripped often since I kept forgetting the increases.

My uncle from SC came for the funeral so got to try on the kilt hose himself. The measurements were right on and he was quite pleased with them. He'd love to have them for a bagpipe concert Memorial Day but the first one is not even done yet. Great pattern, fun knit and I've learned a lot. Doubt I'll get the DH to wear a kilt but he'd look "cute" in shorts and kilt hose.

2009-04-07T16:41:00.004-04:00

You know how sometime you just need a really easy project? I've always kept a list of projects to do one day and ran through the list looking. In Knitter's Magazine #57, Winter 1999, there is a cabled sweater called "Dressed Alike Cables" by Traci Bunkers. Sweater is sized for both kids and moms.

This is an easy set in sleeve pullover with big flat cables to the armhole and then an easy V gansey type pattern at the top. I went through every one of [mzannieknits](person) books, all the other design books and the web looking for something a little more interesting for the cable. As designed it was an eight stitch cable
crossed every ten rows. I've substituted "Double Twisted Cable" from "The Harmony Guide - 440 More Knitting Stitches" as it had a bit more interest. the double twisted is over 8 stitches, 22 rows and has triple crosses with 13 flat rows in between. I'll be able to knit this one without looking at cable charts - just what is needed for knitting around the fire at nights.

I'm using some of the [Cottage Craft](yarn) in Copper. Swatch looked good for fabric feel and I got the gauge I wanted. I'll convert it to knitting in the round up to the armholes - unless I decide to further change the pattern and knit it as a raglan top down. Can't leave anything alone can I? At least I can attribute the idea to the author.

Also working on a more complicated project called "He'mo Leanan Kilt Hose" by Anne Carroll Gilmour. My sock knowledge is low but since my cable skills are high, this is a great learning project. The cuff is made first and the sock is knit down from the cuff. Here is Joe modeling what is knit to date. These hose will go with us camping this summer but will need some attention paid to the charts. These are being made for Uncle Wayne to wear while he is pipeing in the bag pipe marching band. Hope they don't turn out too hot to wear

2009-03-14T10:34:00.010-04:00

Both Lismore and Shalor are progressing. The colors in Lismore are just beautiful and are working out well. They remind me of standing on the rocky coast of Maine in the fall - ocean and leaves. The white line at the bottom of the ribbing is just a cotton yarn backstitched on to keep the ribbing flat until it is blocked.

The sleeves on Shalor are almost ready to put on a holder thread. They will be put aside until the back is finished. Then I'll string them all together on a long thread and try it against Joe. For some reason the sleeves look too wide but I have to remember it is a raglan and the sleeve top is part of the upper body.

We've been discussing yarn storage on the Ravelry groups especially in the Starmore Junkies section. When we finished off the room over the garage, we built in wooden storage bins to the slope under the eaves. The top serves as great storage for books and some baskets of yarn, needles, etc. The bins were built to accomodate big tubs for quilt fabric, yarn, batting, etc. In my usual OC mode, I put everything on a spread sheet so I could find it by looking at the index rather than having to go through each bin. Cascade 220 in red in Bin 1, Blarney Spun in Bin 2, etc. The hardest part now is keeping the spread sheet updated when I use something.

The Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarns plus a lot of the stash already dedicated to projects are stored in canvas bags I got at Christmas Tree Shops. Very inexpensive but they still stack well. The boxes contain the yarn for the project, copy of the pattern, notes, etc. I have a large stash, but nothing like some of the Ravelry folks. This will last me way until heaven - or I'd better save some of the thinner stuff to knit if I end up in the other place.

2009-03-05T18:26:00.003-05:00

Catching up on what is on the needles and in progress:

DH's "Shalor Pullover" is on the second sleeve which is up to the elbow. I can knit on this while watching TV in the evening including shows like "24" and "American Idol". Those are pretty mindless, just background noise, so don't have to reference the charts very often.

Below is the progress on "Lismore" which I'm doing in J&S jumper weight yarns, not in the original Rowan yarns which are long gone. The chart is 50 rows and is like popcorn - hard to stop at "just one more row". The white thread at the bottom is just a cotton yarn sewn on to keep the bottom from curling. The top photo shows the pattern better but the colors are washed out; the bottom shows the true colors a bit better. This is a stranded work with bands of horizontal colors but has enough vertical patterning so that it doesn't appear to be juts going round and round.

I remembered starting Starmore's "St. Brigid" before the holidays but couldn't remember where it was. I'd stopped to do some holiday gift knitting. Found it today and remembered that I'd substituted one of Annie Maloney's cables in place of the generic horseshoe. It's now moved out of its hiding place and out where I can easily reach it. I like having more than one project and different types of projects going at one time.

2009-02-23T19:19:00.010-05:00

Below is a photo of two corrugated ribs, both of which show the little blips of color that occur when you first start the ribbing on the purl stitches. I’ve read every where I can on how to prevent this but closest I can come is Meg Swenson’s PWYC (purl when you can) method. I’m probably not understnading something as I cannot figure out how to prevent those little blips of color when you change from one purl color to another.

I've started "Lismore" in Jamieson & Smith colors. The top rib is the start of Lismore. Still working on laying out a more vertical stranded sweater but it isn't as easy as I thought it might be. Lismore is large charts so doesn't look as horizontally striped. This photo is my internet knitting friend Junie's Lismore from a few years ago. I won't make the high turtleneck and my colors are a bit more muted but the design charts are the same.

2009-02-16T12:45:00.005-05:00

Time to start a new stranded project and I've been searching for a panel type (vertical) instead of horizontal bands. There are some excellent examples of knit designs on Ravelry plus I've been pulling out all the design books and magazines for ideas. I want a pullover but one where I can hopefully create a modified set in instead of a drop shoulder. Don't need all that bulk under my arms as I'm feeling shorter all the time.

Here is one I'm previewing since I'm trying to use stash and not buy one single solitary skein of yarn for this. The larger photo in the book does not look quite as horizontal stripe. Recently all the skeins and balls of Jamieson & Smith, Jamieson and Harrisville in two ply jumper weight were laid out on the floor and sorted by color. I kept one skein of each color out and put those in a canvas box like you would for a box of crayons. Easier to see the colors this way rather than have to sort through tubs of yarn looking for similar blues for example.

One of the better examples of a stranded work that looks vertical is "Whalsay Jumper" out of Ann Feitelson's "The Art of Fair Isle Knitting - History, Technique, Color & Patterns". When I first bought this book, this sweater was among the ones I liked the most and I had collected the browns, tans and peachy/lavender colors for it. Even though my hair is getting grayer all the time, it's basically brown and I would have washed out in this sweater.

It calls for J&S in these colors. The color names are Feitelson's but they give an idea of what the color looks like.

143 Chestnut Brown
80 Dark Brown
72 Light red heather
134 Maroon
1281 Yellow-orange heather
1288 Red-orange heather
1289 Orange heather
FC45 Medium dull gold
133 Medium Red-violet

Had all in stash except for 1281 and FC45 but, with help of the color card, came fairly close with FC50 and 78.

Here are my substitutions in J&S but in the green and blue color ways rather than the brown and orange-purple. These color names are mine for description purposes. The top row in each color is the original called for, the bottom row is the substitution.

143 = FC48 Deep Ocean Blue
80 = 21 Dark Navy
72 = FC24 Lightest green/gold heather
134 = 58 Dark Green
1281/FC50 = FC62 LightGreen/bluish heather
1288 = 29 Medium green/goldish heather
1289 = 1293 Darker green/goldish heather
FC45/78 = FC37 Medium blue/purple heather
133 = 1295 Darkest green/goldish heather

Since I'm also a quilter I had a set of the red and green colored squares to look through. These take out the color and leaves just intensity (darkness/lightness). These colors match up quite well in intensity. Since my favorite colors are blues and greens, this just might work.

Swatching next?

2009-02-15T12:42:00.004-05:00

Town & Country is finished! It came out the right size from measurements taken with sister this Christmas. All that is left is to wash and block and send it off. Very happy with the color, the Cascade 220 wool and the finishing. Here's hoping she gets a lot of use out of it before hot weather hits Virginia.

Not sure what is next for knitting. I'm slowly working on Joe's "Shalor" but I think there is a problem with the sleeve size. Might have to rethink how I'm approaching that one.

Also anxious to get another stranded work on the needles and am looking at "Lismore", a Starmore pattern. I managed to pull all the J&S substitute colors from stash so maybe that is a sign to go for it? My colors are a tiny bit more subdued in the reds but I haven't swatched yet so not sure if my reds will go in there or not. This photo is of Junieanne's Lismore in the original Starmore yarns and colors.

2009-01-25T10:19:00.002-05:00

This Cottage Craft Black Cherry yarn sure is sturdy! It's been ripped and ripped again and again. The top down raglan with the big swinging cable didn't work because it should have been all purl with just the cables instead of a line of purl to start the cable. Didn't look right and never would have. RIPPPPPPP

Restarted Shalor with the Black Cherry and the original patterns. Joe asked where the V shapes were. RIPPPPPPPPPP. Out come Annie Maloney's cable chart books and there were the right shapes. #95 is the cable to the far right. Parts of #71 make up the V shape. The Black Cherry is showing the cables, the gauge feels good on US#5 needles and the sweater is finally a go. This is part of the sleeve which I keep trying up against his arm. Looks big but so far it fits well.

2009-01-21T13:02:00.006-05:00

The Cottage Craft Black Cherry is not going to work for Shalor. I went to "Sweater Wizard" and got the dimensions for a simple raglan top down that would give a finished chest of 54". Of course I cannot leave anything simple so am seeing if one of Melissa Leapmann's "Continuous Cables" will work on the front and back.

I may have to put this on a long cord and wash it to see if the division between the knits and purls where the chart starts will lay flatter. If not, I'll rip back to there and just do some vertical cables. The purple "Town and Country" sweater is going well. The back is almost done so time to decide on how to do the sleeves - top down or as designed.

Lots and lots of snow lately. Last one was 18" and as you can see, it's getting a bit deep!

2009-01-14T13:46:00.010-05:00

Cold? You betcha ya'll and it has a long way to go before it bottoms out. Got probably 18" of snow settled on the ground but more coming. 10F here now but it was 22F this morning and the wind has picked up and here comes the Alberta Clipper. House is staying at its usual 63F but you can hear the oil burner kicking in a lot. So the remedy is hot soup and knitting.

The purple Town and Country is proceeding well and I really like working with the Cascade 220. It will be finished long before our next visit south. The sweater in the round is done to the armholes, right front is done and the left 2/3 done. Next will be the back and then deciding how to proceed with the sleeves. I'll probably try knitting the shoulder saddles and then picking up the stitches for the sleeves. I do much better with sleeves top down.

Joe threw me a loop today and asked for a cabled sweater. This from a man who has not worn a sweater in our 26 years of marriage. Same person who can usually go one day on a flannel shirt in the winter before it really needs a wash. Fantastic man, love him immensely but does this sound like a wool Aran in his future. ????? Joe is 6’2” with a 52 inch chest (not a big belly) and long arms with a line backer football player neck.

The other day he found me with books, pamphlets, patterns, charts all over the knit room and got really interested. He picked out 3-4 he really liked and then pointed out things he liked and didn’t like about each one. He says due to the house being kept a lot cooler and his “age” he’s not as warm as he wants to be. Does he realize by the time this is done, it will be July?

The one he likes the best is Shalor by Penny Straker.

This is an older pattern, recently updated with more cables on the sleeves and larger sizes. It is a raglan that would be knit in pieces and sewn up. He likes the honeycomb front but doesn’t like the “O” between thin lines on each side of the honeycomb. He thinks it should have a “V” instead. The side and sleeve heavy cables he likes a lot.

Couple of years ago we had picked up some Cottage Crafts 2 ply light worsted weight wool on one of our RV trips up into New Brunswick. I'd started a raglan then but never finished it. I've been ripping it out, re-skeining the Medusa looking curled yarn, washing and then re-balling. Nice wool and worth the time to do it.

I've been making a good sized swatch so that the cables can be individually measured for size. I'm substituting two of Annie Maloney's cables, #117 which is called Celtic Cable and a smaller #84 V shape. At first I didn't think the cables would show up well in this Black Cherry color but it does. Phew or I would have had to order more yan. What a shame that would be right?

2008-12-29T09:56:00.006-05:00

We're back from Christmas with family and had a wonderful time. Mom was able to participate in a lot of events, meals and travelling a bit while we were there. She really enjoyed being out of the assisted living center and with all of us. Sure wish we lived closer.

The sweater for sister was way, way, way too big for her. It just seemed to keep growing in length as well as the sleeves being monsterous. I've reclaimed it for myself and started adjusting by taking 4" off the bottom and knitting tighter ribbing andthen taking about 3" off the sleeves and making tighter ribbing there. Last was to rip the rolled collar and put in a graduated ribbing to tighten up the neck.

Not sure what to do about the underarms near the body but am thinking of basting a curved line from the elbow to 2-3" down the body to see if that will get rid of some of the bulk. If it does, will machine sew and then cut out the excess. At least the cables look good.

I've started "Town & Country" from Lisa Lloyd's book "A Fine Fleece" in purple Cascade 220. That will be her very late Christmas present. And yes we remeasured her to be sure this one fits. The yellow one was in too heavy a yarn (Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride) and it dragged the sweater too much to hold it's shape. Oh well!

2008-12-09T18:54:00.016-05:00

It's done! Sister's sweater is drying on the wooly board. It turned out larger than I wanted as my gauge changed part way through the bottom. Oh well - if she doesn't wnat it, I'll take it home to cold, winter Maine. I doubt she will pass it up as it will make a great outdoor VA winter sweater.

Met up with friend Shirley and her DH today for lunch. She gifted me with a gorgeous pair of mittens and a bag of home made ginger snaps. The mittens will be well used.

The next project might be another stranded/fair isle sweater. I went stash shopping today and pulled every single of the 20 colors for Lismore, an Alice Starmore design from "The Celtic Collection". Here is a link to another knitter's photos in progress to see the basic colors - http://theraineysisters.com/?cat=19 . The original pattern called for Rowan yarns, long out of production. An internet friend who is a master AS fair isle knitter sent me her yarn conversion list to Jamieson & Smith jumper weight yarns. I changed out a couple but mostly liked what she had done. I'll leave them laid out for a few days to see if they grow on me or not as this will be a very long knit and I've got to really like it.

Snowed again today but the temperature keeps going up and rain will follow. The roof ice dam electric cables worked well so maybe we can prevent ice dams this year

2008-12-05T12:27:00.005-05:00

Racing to the end of the yellow sweater. Not a great photo but it shows the bottom down 10". Hope I'm not knitting on the drive to mom's for Christmas.

First good sized snow storm supposed to come in early next week. We've finished and wrapped holiday gifts. A few will go into the mail today. House is decorated in the minor manner we do so all we need is a bit of snow to get into the mood.

2008-11-30T12:45:00.008-05:00

Winter keeps trying to come but, here near the coast, we keep getting inches of rain. Suppose that is a good thing rather than feet of snow. Not to worry - our turn will come and probably a lot sooner than we think.

What good friends we have from the Truck Camper travels. Mike and Cathie T from Peabody sent us a gorgeous LL Bean Christmas wreath as a thanks for their recent visit. Quite the extravagent gift and well appreciated. It's hanging with pride on our entry door and should last well into the cold season.

Sister Mepes sent me a fall arrangement of fresh flowers for my birthday and our Thanksgiving as she has done for many years. This year they were especially beautiful and are lasting well. I used to have to keep them high to keep Patter Cat from chewing on the flowers but sadly this year he's not with us any longer. I still miss him a lot. Miss Boots The Cat doesn't eat flowers, just my house plants!

Racing along on the yellow sweater gift for Christmas. Figure I have 60 more rows in pattern and then some way to end it. I don't think a rolled rib will go well on the bottom but not sure how regular rib would look since the neck and sleeves are rolled. I know what I'll do !!! I'll ask the Ravelry group. They can answer anything.

2008-11-26T18:48:00.004-05:00

We're all ready for Thanksgiving and have a lot to be thankful for even with the horrible economy. Still glad we retired earlier than we could have and that our hobbies keep us busy. We miss the camper and the friends/travels of a bit warmer weather.

The yellow gift sweater is progressing. Look what I found today? See the cable to the left of the safety pin. It's crossed incorrectly but no way am I ripping out 6" of knitting in the round. I'll try a couple of the online tricks for repairing a cable by sewing over it with yarn in the right direction. No one else but me would ever see this mistake but I want the sweater as perfect as I can get it for sister.

2008-11-19T11:02:00.004-05:00

11/19 Second sleeve is done! Why are they so slow? Body stitches picked up and ready to race to the bottom. Sleeves will be adjusted when sister tries it on. Now the race is on to finish before Christmas. Desperately trying not to work on a Shedir cap in Alpaca Twist and a pair of socks in Rio de la Plata. Both yarns were bought during a recent trip to Halcyon Yarns with camper friends. Put it down Anne and walk but to the Christmas present.

History of the sweater to date.

9/10/08 Designing cable sweater using Annie Maloney’s “Knitter’s Guide to Stitch Design” and “The Cable Knitter’s Handbook” and Barbara Walker’s “Third Treasury”. I’m using Janet Szabo’s “Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong” (FLAK) method of top down knitting starting with saddles. First attempt was totally ripped. Last three photos show what was ripped. Center cable is #115, side is “Windblown Cable” from B. Walker #3.

9/24/08 Second attempt is much more flowing and am happily knitting along. Side cable is “Dancing Ribbon” from B. Walker #3, next is part of Annie’s #62, center is Annie’s #115. Second from bottom photo shows cable crossed incorrectly - right at the start of the back. Think I’ll be cutting this one as too complicated to rip back.

10/1/08 ripped the entire thing and started totally over again. using Annie’s #31 full size for the saddle. Sweater reads right to left - Dancing Ribbon, 4 stitch braid, half of Annie’s #62, all of #115 and then reversed. Flows much better. Actually done back to armhole and front of pullover to 3” depth. Hard to rip almost an entire skein but so glad I did.

10/4/08 Visiting my mom in her assisted living center is giving me lots of time to sit and knit. We talk, she sleeps, I knit. Top two photos show that the front is almost to the length of the back. I want to pick up one sleeve before starting that long drive back home. Pretty cable dense sweater but it is what I wanted.

10/10/08 After the drive home, I had completely knit a ribbed collar BUT didn’t try it on as I knit. Proved too tight, puffy and just didn’t flow well with the sweater. Ripped and did a simple rolled neck which is what Sister wanted to start with. First sleeve is down about 3 inches from the body add on.

10/31/08 First sleeve finished. Second sleeve started and down about 3”. Still like this project.

2008-10-12T10:50:00.003-04:00

Sweater is progressing well. I'd knit an entire neck ribbing, running the cables up into the rib. It looked okay but was a bit confusing with all the cable bulk below. Decided to go simpler and make just a rolled ribbing. MUCH better (or at least I think so). First sleeve is well under way after adding 2" width to the body.

Gorgeous fall weather here in Maine. Leaves are the prettiest they have been in years and we'll go out for a ride today. Fall garden cleanup is well underway with many of the day lilies and hostae cut back and mulched. Torn leg muscle is hindering long work sessions but a little at a time and it will get done - eventually.

2008-10-04T17:00:00.006-04:00

Knitting is coming along on another FLAK style sweater. If any of you who read this blog do not have Janet Szabo’s directions for this way of knitting top down, you have to. Go to and look in the patterns section.

All the work from previous blog posts was ripped out. Saddles were too narrow and short and the cable layout just wasn't working. The layout is now double moss side, one K1B stitch, a simple 4 stitch braid, Barbara Walker's "Dancing Ribbon", half of Annie Maloney's cable #62, all of her cable #115, other half of #62 mirrored, mirror of Dancing Ribbon, mirror of braid, moss. The saddle is Annie's #31. I'm so much happier with it now and have worked a lot on it this past week. Twelve more rows to go to have front and back even and a start to the first sleeve. Hopefully I'll get the sleeve picked up before the drive back to Maine.

This is for my sister as a Christmas present. I wanted it to be a suprise but didn’t have her FLAK measurements. Since I’ve been spending time with her in Virginia this week, broke down, showed her the sweater and got her exact measurements. Fingers crossed it will be done to use as a gift but it is really flying along.

2008-09-10T20:20:00.007-04:00

Design work in placing cables for sister's sweater is done. Knitting has started and it is working out well. The color is actually a sunny yellow in Brown Sheep Nature Spun worsted. Double click on the second photo to see cable detail.

The right outside cable is "Short Swing Braid" from Barbara Walker's Third Treasury. Left outside cable was reversed to mirror. Second cable from right is a simple four stitch rope. Third cable from right is part of Annie Maloney's #62 from "The Cable Knitting Handbook". Center cable is used exactly as Annie designed it, #115 from "The Knitter's Guide To Stitch Design". I absolutely love these books!

Both sides mirror into the center. This is being knit top down starting with shoulder saddles per Janet Szabo's "FLAK - Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong" method. Hard work is done in deciding which cables to use and making the math work. Fun part is started - the knitting!

2008-09-06T16:02:00.009-04:00

We've had so much fun this summer camping that my knitting is getting WAY WAY behind. Holiday gifts that were once a breeze to finish are now looming much closer.

This is the swatch for a gift for my sister. It's in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, being knit top down FLAK style and using many of Annie Maloney's cables from her books "Cable Knitting Handbook" and "Knitters Guide to Stitch Design".

Of course I've changed a few things since the swatch but it is now underway. Someone on one of my knitting groups asked about how I handle large cable charts. I take the books to the photocopier and blow the charts up so these aging eyes can see them better. I used to tape the charts together and put them on a metal cookie sheet with magnets. However Miss Boots the Cat likes to lie down and sleep beside me and she was always in the middle of the cookie sheet. Can't see through a cat! I've now switched to a plastic standup cookbook holder with clamps to hold a piece of cardboard just above the row I'm knitting.

This works well since it is up out of her way and now I can knit in peace.

On a recent trip up to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, I stopped in at Cottage Crafts yarns. Picked up eight skeins on one ply, one each of the colors I liked. It is similar in weight to Jamieson & Smith jumper weight but not as hairy. Will be good for hats and gloves.

2008-08-12T08:56:00.005-04:00

The winter hat made with left over VY yarns from the Oregon sweater is done. This is a hat not a tam so the top of the hat is not made to lie flat. Seeing me in a tam is a hysterical sight. I made one once and promptly reverted to hats. Besides, tams don't stay on in snow storms!

The bottom of the hat is the corrugated ribbing and six of the leaves from the Oregon charts, knit in the original chart colors. The top is an adaptation of the trees. I lightened up the colors at the top using more of the golder yarns.

This was my Ravelympics project so the team has one hash mark on our score board. I've now gone back to knitting on Fulmar which will never be finished by end of Olympics but at least some work is getting done on it. My hands sure can tell when working on US#2 needles and gansey yarn. They ached this morning or is that just from the month of rain we have had - and are still having!

2008-08-11T17:52:00.004-04:00

Need to take a photo of the winter cap made with the left over yarns from Oregon Autumn. It was my Ravelympics project and knit in about a third of the time I thought it would take. So to keep going with the Starmore theme of Team Starmore Junkies, I hauled out Fulmar. This is such a beautiful design. Don't regret changing it from a bottom up in pieces sweater to a top down knit as one piece via Janet Szabo's FLAK method. However it is a long, long knit as it is in Wendy Guernsey on US#2 needles.

Last night I picked up all the stitches across the front, back and under both arms, putting them all on a 40" circular needle. There are 488 stitches and it is slow going. Only knit three rows last night but at least it is underway again. headed for the goal line of the waist ribbing. No time limit on this one as it is for me - for a change!

2008-07-31T16:20:00.005-04:00

Oregon in the autumn colorway is done! It was a fun fair isle knit designed by Alice Starmore and recently re-published in Vogue Magazine.

In addition to this beautiful knit, there is a LOT of the Virtual Yarn left over. I bought the kit from Junie, a good online friend. It was for the large size but I made the medium sweater as a crew neck cardigan, not even as a V neck. There would have been ample yarn for the large size. Wonder what I'll do with the left overs?

2008-07-31T16:18:00.000-04:00

So what to do when we aren't out seeing North America? Why work around the house and gardens of course. As we get older they both seem to get bigger and need more care. We had the man who built our house come back and insulate and sheetrock the garage to hopefully help with heating the room above the garage. Since it is a garage the sheetrock had to be fire rock which is quite heavy. Didn't think we would do well up on ladders hanging fire rock so just hired it out. We're doing the taping and painting and it is about half done. Using left over paint cause it is a garage right!

When we aren't working on the garage we spend some time weeding and just enjoying the gardens. This year they are just gorgeous due to the abundant rain and high temps. Veggies didn't do as well so they got ripped up but the perennials are great.

Getting really itchy to go truck camping again. Enough with the paint and weeds!

2008-07-09T20:28:00.005-04:00

Home from our five week trip to the western states. What great memories the places visited will be through the years. Utah is spectacular, with the scenery changing around every bend in the road. Here's a link to our travel blog if anyone is interested: http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com

Never stepped into a yarn shop, never bought an inch of yarn or a pattern, just too busy during the day sightseeing and too tired at night. Maybe next time?

Finished the Trinity vest for mom. It's all washed, blocked on the wooly board and ready to give to her for fall. Decided to use Encore washable since it will need to go into a washing machine and dryer. Also will not put any buttons on it since those are hard for her to handle. This is just to be worn over a blouse. It was hard to block on the wooly board as the chest measurement is so small and I had to sew it together with cotton thread to keep it flat.

Now back to working on Oregon second sleeve. It was all picked up, decreases done and 15 rows knit when I realized I'd forgotten to turn the chart upside down. Since upside down trees wouldn't quite cut it, ripped it and now started over. I'll have to sit down in the next day or two and try to line up the fall and winter projects.

2008-05-27T17:49:00.005-04:00

First sleeve on Oregon is done. I cut the front steek after crocheting the edges in order to try on the sweater for sleeve length. Fits well. It will be set aside a while since we're going to be travelling in our RV truck camper some and handling all those color changes is a bit much. I packed St. Brigid in Country Craft "Fundy Fog" color. It's up about 8 inches and I may try to make it a slightly inset sleeve instead of the usual box shape. Also have startd "Trinity", a vest from Lisa Lloyd's new book "A Fine Fleece". It's being made out of Encore so that it will be easily washable for my mom in an assisted living center. Nice bright red cheerful color.

Hope on our trip out west we'll bump into great yarn shops and meet new knitting friends along the way.

2008-04-30T14:41:00.006-04:00

Have I been knitting a lot lately? NO! and I miss it greatly. We've been busy with mother care, a camping trip and the start of yard cleanup after a heavy winter. Thankfully we did the major cleanup in the fall so this is just leaf pickup and mulching.

I did recently purchase the book "A Fine Fleece" by Lisa Lloyd and it is a must have book. Two chapters give information on the different breeds of sheep, their characteristics and how to use their fleece for hand spun yarn. I'm not a spinner but I learned a lot about how yarn works. The rest of the book is a superb collection of cable sweaters, hats and socks. There isn't one that I wouldn't make. I think this book is going to be a classic.

Several projects on the needles:

Test knitting a scarf for color pooling as Annie Maloney shows on the "Annie Maloney & Friends" Ravelry group. Interesting technique but glad I'm using an inexpensive Paton's variegated wool for a test since you have to cut each row so the colors will line up. I'd hesitate to use a really expensive yarn until the technique was down pat.

Oregon in the original kit from Virtual yarns is going well. I'm 2/3 done with the first sleeve, body is done of course. Still in love with the colors and the feel of the fabric.

"Airy Aran" is high on my list for continuing. I need to watch the chart for this one so cannot take it camping.

I've also started Starmore's "St. Brigid" in Cottage Craft 2 ply worsted weight in Fundy Fog color, a light lavender. This one is pretty easy so might make the transition to the RV.

There are other works in canvas bags stuck here and there all over my craft room. I fondle them occasionally. Got to get over my start-itis.

2008-04-05T17:14:00.003-04:00

Knitting away on "Airy Aran" which is what I'm calling the cable sweater using Annie Maloney's cables #61 and #28 revised. Well actually both of them are revised a bit but they are definately sourced from her. I almost stopped as the Victorian sport from Halycon Yarns just felt to stiff. Then an online friend reminded me that I had a big swatch all washed. Dug it out and yes, it was a lot softer and bloomed a bit. Not a lot of bloom but enough to make me happy again. I'm on Row 45 of the 48/24 chart repeat though I started with row 13 on the #28 cable. I'll base the sweater design on a basic slightly inset sleeve using Sweater Wizard.

First photo shows the cables run down into the ribbing from the three nested #61s.

Second photo shows the #28 over on the right just after a rope cable and check rib on the sides.

Knitting away on "Airy Aran" which is what I'm calling the cable sweater using Annie Maloney's cables #61 and #28 revised. Well actually both of them are revised a bit but they are definately sourced from her. I almost stopped as the Victorian sport from Halycon Yarns just felt to stiff. Then an online friend reminded me that I had a big swatch all washed. Dug it out and yes, it was a lot softer and bloomed a bit. Not a lot of bloom but enough to make me happy again. I'm on Row 45 of the 48/24 chart repeat though I started with row 13 on the #28 cable. I'll base the sweater design on a basic slightly inset sleeve using Sweater Wizard.

Oregon Autumn fair isle's body is done with a regular round neck instead of a V. The first sleeve is down about 7" and going quickly.

Also previewing fiber for St. Brigid, a heavily cabled outdoor aran I've always admired. I'll probably end up with dark purple Cascade 220 as there is enough of it already in stash, the color is lovely, and gauge is spot on.

2008-03-26T18:14:00.004-04:00

I think/hope the swatching for the Aran cable sweater is finally done.
It turned out nothing like I thought it would. Most of my Arans are
made with fairly heavy cables such as the one centered on the blue
sweater below.

Ever since purchasing Annie Maloney's book on cable design "The Cable
Knitting Handbook" I've been more or less obsessed with putting some
of her cables into a sweater. I found myself drawn to the lighter,
airy type of cables. No 61 is a diamond shape with many tiny
crossings. I nested three of them so they offset each other and then
knit a test swatch in off white Briggs & Little Regal, a heavy DK
weight. Next I worked on adding side cables and kept coming back to
No 28 which is a more open diamond shape but with the same tiny
crossings. Not able to leave well enough alone, I added the center
portion of No 74 to both sides of the No 28 and put a two stitch rope
on each side. The line up was 1 purl, rope,1 purl, 74, 1 purl,28,1
purl, 74, 1 purl, rope, 1 purl. Of course this was starting to look
both pretty busy and pretty wide especially in the Regal DK. More
swatching with a rust colored Halcyon Victorian sport weight. I don't
really like swatching but having finally made a sweater than fit me
perfectly using Janet Szabo's FLAK method, I knew to swatch each
individual cable or cable group or pay the consequences. Janet teaches
how to make the sweater actually fit!

Finally decided to lay the cable swatches on top of the blue FLAK I
wear a lot. Out went the No 74s or there would have been no plainer
side stitches to give the eye a rest.

In the photo, the No 74 with rope cables is on the right with the
three No 61s in the center. Picture the No 74 on the left and
that takes up most of the fabric width. On the blue FLAK, I ran a
cable down from the underarm to waist and might end up doing this with
the partial No 74. The No 28 swatch isn't wasted since it will end up
as a saddle. Last piece of the puzzle will be graphing out on a
photocopy of the 61s exactly where the neck stitches will have to be
added to get to the start of the front body. Sounds complicated but it
really isn't. Janet's blog is at www.bigskyknitting.com , the
pattern is under Downloads. The small cost of the FLAK pattern is
worth every penny.

More discussion on this sweater is on the Ravelry group Annie Maloney
& Friends - www.ravelry.com/groups/annie-maloney--friends

Interesting exercise and one I've worked on quite a bit and really
want to get knitting on it. However there is still work already on the
needles. Oregon Autumn, the fair isle, is two inches down on the first
sleeve. Fulmar has the body joined onto a big circular. Poor Shirt
Tail Hemmed pullover still sits in her canvas bag.

2008-03-20T17:04:00.003-04:00

Oregon Autumn is up to the sholder join. I am not happy with it at all but am not going to rip it back to the underarms and start over. My friend Shirley is making the same size as I am and the shoulders look the same. We think it is where the division for the armhole steek starts that is not proportionate.

It is a beautiful sweater and will be worn a lot I'm sure. The colors are beautiful and the quality of the Virtual Yarns yarn is outstanding. I wish I'd taken the time to double check the chart layout to see if the shoulders would match but just never thought about doing so. The photo is the armhole steek crocheted, cut open and the shoulder join done using three needle bind off. I chose to just use the background color called for and do two rows of solid color.

2008-03-06T17:11:00.007-05:00

This is the swatch I'm working on for my first self put together Aran. The cables are from Annie Maloney's "The Cable Knitting Handbook". This is the test knit for two of the cables. The far right cable will be repeated on the left of the next three cables which are hour glasses and not finished yet. Doing a wide swatch gives you the true stitches per inch in your cable so that you can plan the width of the sweater properly. I'm experimenting with different ways to fill in the arms of the right hand cable which looks like an X at the moment but is really a diamond. Lots of possibilities! The yarn is Briggs & Little "Regal" and is being knit on US#5.

We are discussing Annie's work on the Ravelry group "Annie Maloney & Friends".
Come join us if you are a Ravelry member. If not - join!!! It is an amazing wealth of information for knitters.

2008-03-05T19:48:00.004-05:00

Oregon continues to be a fun knit. I'm one row past having put the underarm stitches on holders and started the sleeve steek.

Long, cold, rain/sleet/hail day with ice build up on the trees. So far we still have power and probably will be okay since it has finally stopped. We've kept the roofs shoveled best we could but the warmer weather next few days will help. I don't know where we are going to put any more snow. That little figure is Joe clearing outside the garage door. The room over the garage is my knitting/quilting room.

2008-03-01T11:32:00.003-05:00

Since I didn't want to ruin this nice snowy day by doing something dumb like vacumning, decided to get out possible yarn choices for either St. Brigid or the sweater using Annie Maloney's cables.

I've decided to use the Irish Ewe wool from Ireland. Bought this at The Irish Ewe shop in Norway, Maine. Dagny and her mom Deb import some really luscious fiber and this is a very authentic weight and ply for cabling. That yarn is in the left front corner of the photo. The other wools are on the right Cascade 220 in Christmas red, gold and a deep purple. Center top is Galway aran in a yellowish green. Left top is Country Craft in Fundy Fog and Blackberry. The blue knitted fiber is Cleckheaton Country 8 ply.

2008-02-29T19:54:00.003-05:00

I'm up to row 48 on Oregon and done with the second sleeve (except ribbing) on Fulmar. Oregon is such a pretty sweater and the colors just glow in a subdued fall feeling, not bright like either the original pattern leaflet from VY or the Vogue photo. I actually like it better.

More snow tomorrow - 10 to 14" but it is very cold so it will be light, not that heavy, water laden mess like the last storm. Tomorrow is available as a knitting day so I might even make it up the armholes for Oregon and start the shaping. Doubt I ever make another dropped shoulder fair isle as there is just too much fabric at the armholes for me.

Think we have snow? This is our camper off the truck waiting for spring. Come on spring!

2008-02-22T17:05:00.005-05:00

The Oregon Autumn sweater is coming along so well. The yarn is a joy to work with and the colors just glow. These are pretty difficult colors to photograph well. I like steeks that might be a cople of stitches wider than most but I do crocheted steeks and like them this way. Still haven't decided whether to keep it as a V neck as designed or go to a crew neck which I'm sure I'll wear more.

Yesterday we drove up to Halcyon Yarns and bought two 900 yard cones of Harrisville Shetland in off white. I have a great collection of Jamieson & Smith jumper wool in color but nothing in light. Today I skeined off the yardage and washed it to make it bloom. The coned wool is not pre-washed. The skeins are now on the wooly board drying. They bloomed and now look like J&S weight. My "Knit from Stash yarn diet" obviously didn't last long!

2008-02-18T14:47:00.003-05:00

Somehow I felt that Saturday would be the delivery day for the box of Jamieson and Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarn in the discontinued colors. However we had to go out before the mailman came. Of course, when we got home, there was the postal slip saying to come to the post office on Tuesday to pick it up since we weren’t home to sign for the box. Monday is an American federal government holiday so the postal workers were not delivering and I was really anxious for the box. I called the number on the slip and a clerk did answer as they were still working behind the closed counter windows. She took pity on me and called the carrier on his cell phone to see where he was on his route. I ended up driving about five miles to meet up with him but I got the box!!!

Forced myself to wait to open it until I’d gotten the notes out on who had ordered which colors and how many. A couple of us had ordered together to hold down the shipping costs.

Ripped open the box with assistance from Miss Boots, The Cat, and there was the PILE of beautifully packaged colors. Thanks go out to S. Johnson, the shipping room clerk, for a great job on packaging and carefully checking the yarn against the invoice.

I had a great time sitting out in my sunroom spreading out the colors and sorting them into piles. Every color we ordered was available and all the counts and colors were correct. Last photo shows the split up orders all ready to go to the happy knitters. The biggest box is mine

2008-02-14T18:37:00.003-05:00

Enough snow already! We shoveled roofs, chopped ice, tried to throw it up over the huge mountains near the house. We lost power and internet last night but only for three hours unlike many who are still without power. It is beautiful though with the ice hanging on the trees and the snow so white and unbroken. This is our back porch.

Finally the neck ribbing of Fulmar is done except for the bind off. I
wanted to look at it a bit more before the final binding. The neck
fits well, is a good height and finally the cables went up into the
rib without a lot of stress. The change was in picking up the row
BELOW the cast on stitches across the front and back. I was quite
careful to have the picked up stitches the same in each section side
to side and front to rear. There are a couple of small holes that
could have been picked up better but there is this marvelous invention
called a blunt tapestry needle and a piece of the red yarn to fill in
the holes from the inside. Now that the neck trauma is over, I will
get back to knitting on Oregon Autumn Fair Isle which is a very
soothing knit. Thanks to all for the hand holding.

2008-02-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

What a struggle on the neck for Fulmar. I've not had this much trouble before but usually neck ribs are knit up from the body on live stitches. This is being done FLAK style so I'm picking up the stitches from cast on edges. First photo is the neck as originally knit in K1b,P1 rib which of course spiraled when knit in the round.

Annie Maloney just posted an informative post on the "Annie Maloney & Friends" Ravelry group about neckbands. I ripped the neck and sectioned it off by cable count and then ripped it again.

Now I'm at the point of wanting to rip again. See the last photo which shows where you can really see the line of picked up stitches and the attempt to add cables into the neck rib. I don't like the visual stop where the body goes to the rib. I'm beginning to think of a sewn on cable round like on Starmore's St. Brigid but wonder if that would be too heavy. At least I have enough of the Wendy Guernsey yarn that when all this ripping disintegrates the neck yarn I have enough for new yarn.

2008-02-07T18:37:00.000-05:00

Oregon Fall version is up to row 17 on Chart A. No way does the photo even come close to the richness of these colors.

Still working with the cables in Annie Maloney's "The Cable Knitting Handbook" to revise and design the center panel for an aran sweater. This is chart #77 with revised #56 on each side separated by a cluster stitch. You can see that on the right side I've laddered down and replaced the knit stitch with a purl stitch on each side of the cluster stitch. The chart is only about half done in heighth so will be interesting to see if this works or not. Click on the photo to read the photo labels.

2008-02-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

Oregon Autumn KAL has started and I've got the corrugated ribbing done and the divisions for Chart A set up. The colors show a lot more muted than the Vogue photo or the original VY pattern but they are so beautiful. As usual, the color progression as set up by Alice Starmore just leads you along as you knit.

The second sleeve of Fulmar keeps growing. Arans on US#2 grow slowly.

When I get tired of larger projects, I've been making a second pair of Selbuvotter mittens. This is pair NHM #8 and is being made in Cottage Craft one ply white and Harrisville jumper weight.

2008-02-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

Back from a week in VA visiting family. Knitted on Fulmar both ways from ME to VA so got a bit more done on the second sleeve. It's probably at a third done and still a fun knit. The red is such a beautiful color and the Wendy Guernsey is going to wear like iron.

Today I'm going through all my stranded knitting books looking at projects that I truly want to make. Jamieson & Smith is discontinuing some of their colors as they are slow sellers. I'll see what is used in those sweaters I want to make and place an order.

The Oregon Autumn KAL started today and I'm already swatching for size. Both of the finished Starmore Fair Isles, Erin and Marina, were made with J&S and ended up at 7 stitches to 4" after being washed and blocked. Oregon will be my first Virtual Yarns sweater and it just feels heavier to my hand. Swatching we will go since today is going to be snow/sleet/rain/yuck.

2008-01-21T12:10:00.000-05:00

The Celtic Knot pillow top is done. Finished knitting it while watching the football games yesterday. It was a fun project but I think I will either knit a plain back or make a quilt fabric back rather than knit a duplicate knot for the back. I used an old yarn in stash, Christopher Farms 3 ply, and it was pretty hard on the hands. The pillow measures 13" across. Made in a really fine yarn this could be used as a medallion on a sweater.

Fighting with myself not to start knitting samples of the cables in Annie Maloney's books. I think they would be like Pringles where you mean to eat one and eat the whole can instead. The cables are unlike any I've seen before and her process to create them is fascinating.

2008-01-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

All ready to start the Oregon Autumn KAL on February 1st. Helen, our
knit along mom, asked us how we got ready for a project. I keep all my
projects in separate canvas boxes or canvas bags. We have a shop in
New England called the Christmas Tree Shop and I often can find fabric
boxes with Velcro straps to hold them closed. They are great size for
both yarn storage and projects.

For Oregon, I have all the Virtual Yarns yarn in the box with one
skein of each color wound into center pull balls. I've separated out
the colors that go into the corrugated ribbing into bags with pattern
colors in one and background in the other. That might help keep them
in good order. My little tool box has a pair of sharp scissors, a
blunt tapestry needle, couple of yards of white yarn to use as section
holders, tape measure, couple of barrel row counters, two small
crochet hooks, safety pins to capture a stitch that might have been
dropped and I didn't notice it, two boxes of markers in various sizes
and a stitch gauge. I also put the circular needles I think I'll need
in the box. Right now I have 40" size 2.75, 3.0 and 3.25 in there as I
haven't swatched yet. I generally don't make the ribbing on a smaller
needle but use the body needle.

I have both the VY Oregon Autumn pattern and the Vogue Holiday
pattern. I've made copies of both with color copies of the sweater
photo. The copies are used for notes and to mark as I knit along. When
the sweater is done, I'll store the copy with the original pattern. I
never thought about keeping a few yards of the yarns used with the
pattern for repairs. I do keep the ball bands so I know what I've used
up.

My box is all set up and staring at me from a nearby table. So far
I've resisted starting. Should I assume that swatching is starting?
Hmmmmm.... maybe that is exempt?

2008-01-19T09:47:00.000-05:00

The Annie Maloney cable design books came in the mail today - or rather I had to drive up to the post office on very icy roads to get them. Why else would you go out on such a horrible weather day?

I bought “The Cable Knitting Handbook - 101 Original Stitch Designs, plus theory, techniques, design tips, borders, and much more”. I also got “The Knitter’s Guide to Stitch Design - 150 original stitch patterns plus learn how to plan your own designs”. They are spiral bound books printed on heavy paper with designs in both charted and written words.

I am in awe of the complexity of the cable work and how she has combined cables with interior stitches within the cables. I have barely cracked open the books and my mind is spinning with the possibilities. I have absolutely no affiliation with the author but cannot recommend the books more highly. Now with Janet Szabo’s FLAK method of fitting the sweater top down to your own true measurements and Annie’s cables, I’ll be able to finally start on the design of my own designed cabled sweater.

For those looking for the books, The author is Annie Maloney from the province of Ontario, Canada. The books are self published and are available from The Needle Arts Book Shop (www.needleartsbookshop.com), The Yarn Source (www.yarnsource.ca) and Unicorn Books and Crafts (www.unicornbooks.com).

We'd been discussion Celtic Knots on the Ravelry and Yahoo knit groups and I thought I'd try to knit one. Janet Szabo's Twist & Turns Newsletter from Winter, 2003 has a round cable pillow. In the spirit of using up stash during 2008, I'm using some Christopher Farms 3 ply in Fiddler's Green. It's probably too heavy for the project but it is working. Had to rip 10 rows yesterday as I'd totally missed the right cross on a cable. It was much easier to rip than ladder.

2008-01-15T16:27:00.000-05:00

First sleeve on Fulmar is done down to the wrist ribbing. Second sleeve is picked up and started. Still love woring on this sweater. Being knit from the top down, it is easy to try on and be sure the fit is staying what I want. So far, so good.

In order to use up some of the vast stash in the house, I'm going to keep several smaller projects going. There were single balls of many colors of Lite Lopi. I'm knitting a Peruvian style hat from Kathleen Taylor's "Knit One, Felt Two". It will be felted so looks pretty sloppy at the moment. I'm knitting this one while on the exercise bicycle.

Last is my first circular Celtic knot project. Janet Szabo's "Twist and Turns Newsletter" issue Winter 2003 has a pattern for the "Hilton of Cadbol" pillow. It is basically a 12" diameter circular Aran/Celtic knot. Using up some Christopher Farms heavy worsted weight and hoping I have enough. The photo is just the cast on and start. Going to call this my American Idol project and vow to have it done before the final night.

2008-01-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

For once I listened to a book author and did what she said. I bought "Knit One, Felt Too" by Kathleen Taylor. I got it as a way to use up some of the yarn stash in the house in a good way. Thinking ahead of gifts through the coming year where I'm on the "2008 Use Up Stash" diet. Kathleen had emphasized swatching each yarn and then felting the swatch to see what happens. I figured that 100% wool would always felt right? NOT! I have 8-10 balls of an old Maine wool called Christopher Farms and wanted to make multicolored felted bags.

This sample shows that not all wool will felt. The sample done on #10-1/2 needles measured 7-1/2" tall by 6-1/4" wide prior to felting. The sample went into a mesh bag and through two hot wash cycles along with two loads of laundry - not going to waste that hot water! Swatch was then soaked in hot water and hand agitated for a bit more. It now measures 6-1/4" tall and a variety of widths depending on the color. Brown is 5-3/4", brick is 5-7/8" and the beige is 6-1/2" actually wider than it started. Christopher Farms went back in the stash and another yarn will be swatched and washed. I don't want to break up the number of skeins that are enough for a sweater where there probably is a good felting wool. Onward!

2008-01-07T18:52:00.000-05:00

Annemore #13 Selbuvotter mittens are done and just about dry. Great tip from the author of the Selbuvotter book to dry them on a cookie rack. They fit perfectly and, other than forgetting Chart A on the cuff, look like the antique ones in the book. These are great fun to make and are a small project to go along with all the large sweater knitting. A bit too warm in Maine right now to wear wool mittens but not to worry, it will snow and be cold again very soon.

2008-01-02T16:39:00.000-05:00

2/3 done on the first sleve of Fulmar. Still very enthused about knitting this Alice Starmore Aran but from top down. I ripped out the first sleeve start as it just wasn't working easily in the round. Now knitting it flat and just cruising along. The white yarn markers on the sides are the sleeve decreases. Every eight row should get me the right length before the wrist ribbing. Still have to pull out the neck ribbing - again.

Selbuvotter mittens - one is done except for the thumb, other is half knit. Fun small project easy to carry along. Desperately trying NOT to wind off skeins for the Oregon Autumn KAL starting February 1st.

2007-12-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

Socks!!! We were blessed yesterday with being able to join my friend Shirley and her whole family for Christmas dinner at her beautiful home. Nine adults ate way too much, talked a lot and got to share stories of our various childhoods at Christmas. She gave us a basket of what I thought were cookies when we left. Much to my surprise, when we got home and emptied the basket, buried under the various baggies of cookies were a new catnip mouse for Miss Boots AND a glorious pair of blue and white socks in an intricate Norwegian pattern for me. They fit perfectly and will be worn a lot. The basket is a perfect size for a sock project though I doubt I ever attempt anything as ambitious as what she gifted. Since she also used to make baskets, I'll have to ask if she made that also. Thanks Shirley!

2007-12-23T19:43:00.000-05:00

Fun with some smaller projects while I work away on Fulmar. Finished two Booga Bags in some left over Nuro Kureyon which just was not working as a sweater. The color run was very short and the sweater looked like it had spots! The bags are knitted loosely on US#10-1/2 needles and then felted. Even though they were knit to the same size, they felted differently. Found a nice piece of batik fabric in my quilt fabric stash and made linings for the bags. No idea what I'll use them for or who will get them as a gift but they were fun to make.

Also making my first pair of Selbuvotter mittens, pattern Annemore #13 using Briggs & Little one ply wool in white and Harrisville Shetland in dark grey on US #2 double points. This is a learning process but that is part of the fun. The book
has over 30 patterns for mittens and gloves.

I'm up to the decreases at the top of the mitten. Comparing what I'd done to the photo in the book, did discover I'd left off one whole chart repeat on the cuff but this is my learning pair - right?

2007-12-19T16:43:00.000-05:00

First sleeve on Fulmar is started. I added 2-1/2" to the right side of the sweater (front and back) and now are knitting the sleeve in the round. The actual round starts at the white marker. The decreases will be taken off the bottom of the sleeve rather than beside the cables. Hopefully I haven't added too many cables beside the main one running down from the saddle but I love heavily cabled sweaters.

2007-12-14T21:41:00.001-05:00

Vernonia, OR just about got wiped out with a recent violent rain and wind storm. The river rose and the town was extensively flooded with lose of homes and personal possessions. One of our very caring online knitters, Helen B, known as the list mom for the Mara_Class Yahoo knit group (BrightHavens.blogspot.com or Bluedragon on Ravelry) suggested we go through our yarn stashes and donate what we won't use. What a caring woman and a great gift for those who have lost all.

If like me, you have way too much of most everything to do with knitting (and quilting), go through your stash and send off a box to the town doctor. She'll get the items to those who can use it to knit, crochet or quilt and take their mind of their surroundings for a while. The address is:

Dr. Phyllis Gilmore
c/o Community Center
Vernonia, OR, 97064

Here's my box going off tomorrow - yarn, needles and a variety of patterns.

2007-12-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

Fulmar continues to be a fun knit but quite slow as it is on very small needles. It takes about 45 minutes to do one front side cable row and one back side row. The front and back are knit down from the saddles to the armholes and put on holders. We were in VA again this past week and I didn't get a lot of knitting done. Mindless knitting on the Booga Bags was pretty easy while made that 840 mile drive down. Found I can even knit at night with no lights on! However, Fulmar is not a light less knit.

The neck ribbing has now been knit four times and may be ripped out again. Ended up with K1b,P1 as I just could not seem to pick up the cable patterns well enough to carry them up into the neck ribbing. First try, picked up way way too many stitches and the neck bloused out. Second time, very poor pickup and the cables didn't flow well. Third time was close to flowing but too big again. Fourth is now on the neck, is the right size and doesn't show the pickup row too badly. Perhaps next time I do a sweater top down in the FLAK method, I might try to cast on over waste yarn and leave the stitches live.

May rip, may not, but will leave it alone a while and think about it. The rib does bias to the right a bit due to being knit in the round with a tightly twisted yarn. Also while riding, I could pick up the side stitches to start the sleeves. Did a 3 out of 4 ratio but haven't measured yet.

2007-11-28T10:42:00.001-05:00

I am a most fortunate knitter in that a good internet friend Junie parted with her Virtual Yarns kit for the Autumn Oregon cardigan. She felt it was too far back in her knitting queue to ever get to and sold it to me. Thanks again Junie! I wonder if I can force myself not to start this sweater until the KnitALong for it starts in January? Ha! The colors are truly amazing with tiny twists of complementary colors inside each skein. The yarn also feels a tiny bit thicker than the Jamieson&Smith I've been using for fair isles. Patience woman! Get through the holidays and then sit by your fireplace and knit those blizzards away.

2007-11-28T09:05:00.000-05:00

Hemsdale, a Dale of Norway, cardigan is done and drying on the wooly board. It was started as a Knit-A-Long on a Yahoo knitting group last January but it was put aside all summer as it is a very heavy sweater. It is knit out of Heilo for everything except the camel color which is Tiur. Needle size was US#4. The sleeve steeks were knit wider, not the one stitch commonly used with Dale sweaters and were reinforced with two lines of machine sewing. The button holes are crocheted loops instead of set in button holes. This will be a Christmas gift for my daughter who lives in North Carolina where I doubt it will ever get cold enough for her to wear the sweater. Who knows? Maybe she will one day move somewhere colder.

2007-11-26T19:06:00.001-05:00

Fulmar is going to be a pullover. Once I really looked over the sweaters I wear a lot, pullover won the race as those are the sweaters I wear the most. Fronts of the saddles are picked up, knit down to bottom of the neck and stitches cast on. The front is now about 6 rows down below the neck.

I am taking a short break from Fulmar to finish up Hemsdale. Body is totally done, steeked and ready to sew the finished sleeves in. Add the buttons and button loops and put on the wooly board and it's done for a Christmas gift.

2007-11-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

Fulmar back panel is done and put on a holder. It measures just over 9-1/2" and is 3-1/2 repeats of Chart E. Now to pick up the fronts and knit down until the front matches the back in length. At that point, width can be added to the body and front and back joined and then knit in the round. Knitting from the top down in this method was created by Janet Szabo and is called FLAK. I can get a bit further before deciding whether to make a pullover or a cardigan. I should go through all my sweaters and see which ones are worn the most and that I like the m ost. That count will help the decision process.

2007-11-14T17:19:00.000-05:00

Well that taught me a lesson. Do NOT take a sweater like Fulmar on a camping trip. Knitting without paying strict attention (like knitting with a headlight) just doesn't work. Tonight I was so close to putting the back on a thread and picking up one of the fronts. Last check of the cables. I'm usually so good about double checking over/under/over/under on the cables like Chart C. Thought I had been checking but there EIGHT rows back is a wrong cross right in the middle of the cable.

Laddered back but all 20 stitches have to be laddered and it is not going to knit back correctly. I decided to just go ahead and pull the whole eight rows. I'd already laddered back on the first Cable B to fix a bad cross and that one looked sorta okay but not great.

Moral of the story??? Every time you do a cable cross, double check to be sure it is going the right way. Not every 3-4 rows but every row. Laddering just doesn't work well when the gauge is so tight.

Sigh....at least there is no deadline on this one. The small white ring marks another cross that is incorrect but it is NOT going to be corrected. If ever I'll try the method of cutting the thread, reknitting the tiny cross and sewing it.

2007-11-06T19:33:00.000-05:00

Erin is totally done and worn for the first time today. Our local library has a knit hour twice a week. Today the librarian and I were the only ones there and we had a super time just yakking and knitting. Not sure she believed that Erin was a hand made sweater.

It was a fun knit. Not sure I would put 13 buttons on a sweater again as buttonholes aren' t my favorite thing. I will reblock the arms as I stretched them too long on the woolyboard. Scottish wool is pretty forgiving so it should block back a bit.

What's next? Working on Fulmar. Half a chart repeat to go to have the top of the back long enough. Next will be to pick up the front saddles and start the top of the cardigan fronts.

2007-11-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Gave the Symbolic Knots sweater pictured on September 18th post to my daughter today. The body fit her perfectly and the green color really looked good on her. I thought the arms were too long but she like it - and also has a friend who can rip them back and rebind off if needed. Got 5-6 rows of Fulmar knit last night while watching "The Next Iron Chef". Hope there aren't any errors when I look at it tonight.

2007-11-04T19:28:00.000-05:00

Erin is DONE! 13 buttons sewn on with a spare on the back of the button band. What few ends hadn't been spit spliced were sewn in. It's washed and on the wooly board but it is too dark tonight to get a good photo. As usual, the Starmore charts and directions were super. Next time I make a Starmore dropped shoulder sweater, I'll be cutting back on the sidth of the upper arms as there is just too much fabric for these short arms. Photos tomorrow.

2007-10-26T09:54:00.000-04:00

Fulmar is started fairly well. I like the cables but might have substituted something else for the little hourglass cable.

Not sure I like all the purl stitches surrounding it but the sweater is so densely cabled it probably needs this relief. I'm up to 28 rows knitting FLAK style down the back. Really like the cable on the saddles and the back picked up well from there. Almost have the cables memorized so this might turn into a car knit after all. I still haven't decided to make this a pullover or a cardigan but leaning to a cardigan but not a V-neck. Plan as you go?

2007-10-18T17:21:00.000-04:00

Time to catch up on what is going on in my knitting life. The theme is FINISH, FINISH, FINISH before I start Fulmar. Well Fulmar IS started but I'm trying to get the On The Needle projects done before spending time with Fulmar.

DONE - Symbolic Knot pullover from "The Best of Knitter's Arans & Celtics" made in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted on a US #7. The front and back were knit separately, three needle bind off at the shoulders and the neckband picked up and knitted. The sleeves were supposed to be knit from the cuff up but I picked up from the body and knit down in order to get the length exact. This is a heavy sweater, has that sheen to it since Lamb's Pride is 85% wool and 15% mohair. The sweater was knit in five weeks mostly in car travel back and forth to VA to visit family. It is not the complicated Aran I love to knit but it does have that big central knot on the front. It was knit for my daughter to use as a Maine outdoor winter sweater.

CLOSE TO DONE - I really wanted to knit Erin from the moment I first saw the photo. It is one of Alice Starmore's fair isles in a cardigan, using 15 colors in Botany and Donegal yarns which are long out of production. Did the best I could to recreate the colors by comparing colors online, talking with other knitters who had made the sweater and substituting with Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper wool. There are a group of online knitters making the sweater at the same time as a KAL - knitalong. Helen (Greendragon) is doing a super job shepherding us along. I have 13 rows on the longer of the two sleeves to finish plus the ribbing and about 50 rows on the other. Trying really, really hard to finish this sweater before getting deeply into Fulmar, an Aran pullover.

STARTING - Fulmar is another Alice Starmore Aran design. It is a very tightly knit all over cable, drop shoulder pullover. It is supposed to be knit in pieces from the bottom up and sewn together. I'm going to knit this as a FLAK sweater, from the top down in the round. FLAK means Follow The Leader Aran Knitalong. Janet Szabo developed a method of fitting the sweater to yourself. I need shorter arms and wider body and do not need the amount of fabric a drop shoulder usually creates under the arm.

BEFORE CHRISTMAS - Finish "Hemsdale", a Dale of Norway cardigan that fits the taller daughter. All that needs finishing is adding to the length of sleeves. She tried it on in April and we measured what needs to be added. The photo is from a magazine. My Hemsdale is in browns, golds and rusts and I don't have a good photo right now.

GOT TO FINISH - The Fair Isle pullover called "Shirt Tail Hemmed Cardigan" from "Sweaters from Camp" is on hold. The body is done including all the ribbing. One sleeve is picked up but I'm still figuring out short rows on a cap. What I did does not look as good as the rest of the sweater. Need to get help at a knit shop for this one.

BACK BURNER - "Spring Forward" is a Janet Szabo Aran cardigan. I tried to add more cables to the V-neck front and it is not working. This sweater is knit from the top down from saddles across the shoulders. Need to rip out the front and redo.

JOE'S SWEATER - This is a simple all over rib raglan pullover made in Cottage Craft wool. Front and back are done, bottom of both sleeves are done, need to do raglan caps on both and sew together. Joe asked for this sweater but he hasn't worn a sweater in the 25 years we've been together so there isn't a rush to finish this one. It's pretty boring which is why it isn't finished.

So much that I want to do - so little time. But it is all just one stitch at a time isn't it?

2007-09-23T16:51:00.000-04:00

Photo of sleeve on finished FLAK sweater. Click on photo for larger size. It shows the inset of the sleeve and also the amount of knitting added below the sleeve to make the body of the sweater larger. Again, I think every knitter should send a big round of applause to Janet Szabo of Big Sky Knitting for coming up with this method of top down sweater design.

2007-09-22T19:39:00.001-04:00

Why can't I ever just knit a pattern exactly as designed? Spent a few hours today playing around with knitting Fulmar as a top down cardigan in the style of Janet Szabo's FLAK. I like being able to control the sleeve length and definitely do not need a drop shoulder sweater than comes half way down my arm. My arms are short enough not to need that bulk under the sleeve area.

I used the swatch shown in the post of September 18th and measured each cable both sideways and depth. Thought I had the math worked out and pulled out a blue FLAK knit last year to compare the measurements. Was very surprised to see that my neck opening on the blue FLAK was 9"!! I decided to go from a personal measurement of 17" cross shoulder to the 20.5" on the blue FLAK which is very comfortable to wear on the shoulders.

Next I knit a saddle using Chart C with 2 purl stitches on each side added. One purl will be to pick up and the other to define the cable. In 6 1/2" of Chart C, I got 64 rows which meant 64 stitches to pick up easily. Two 6-1/2" saddles equals 13" which left 7-1/2" for the back neck opening. I will pick up 64 stitches on the saddle, cast on 72 stitches for the middle of the back, pick up 64 stitches on the other saddle for a total of 200 stitches.

The Chart layout would be from right to left with the saddles on the bottom, B,C,D,E,B,C,D,E,B,C,D. This centers the C exactly in the middle of the back. In order to be sure it all worked out, I cut up photocopies of the charts and actually scotch taped them in order to a large piece of paper. The saddles were lined up on each side of the chart layout and the math proved right. Sometimes seeing is believing and as long as my gauge doesn't change as I knit a bigger piece, this should work.

The front of the sweater is picked up from the other side of the saddle. Stitches are cast on for the front either as a crew neck (which will be what I do) or a V neck. More width is added to the sweater once the back and front are knit to the depth of the armhole and the sweater is then knit in the round. This added width can be in cable repeats or in check rib. I'll probably do some of each. For those of you who aren't familiar with Janet's method, FLAK can be found at http://bigskyknitting.com/FLAK/knitalong.html. The lessons she presented are printed off and hole punched in their own folder. I keep one clean copy in case those files every disappear off the net.

Now that I've got my mind wrapped around how to approach Fulmar as a FLAK, I can get back to my daughter's Symbolic Knot's sweater. Body is done and one sleeve picked up. Only seed stitch left to do so it will be hard to finish.

2007-09-18T17:09:00.000-04:00

The test swatch for Fulmar is done, washed and measured. Did you notice it is red, not blue? I have so many sweaters in blue and none in red so switched to crimson Wendy Guernsey five ply using a 2.75mm Inox circular. For the test, I knit 18 stitches in check rib, 18 stitches in Chart B, 20 stitches in Chart C, 18 stitches in Chart D (reverse of B) and 16 stitches in Chart E for a total of 90 stitches. The swatch after washing is 10".

The check rib measured 2-1/2"
Chart B is 1-3/4"
Chart C is 2"
Chart D is 1-3/4"
Chart E is 2"
Amazingly enough it adds up to 10".

Note in the photo below that the ribbing does flow into the body of the sweater. In order to make it work, I did NOT increase between the ribbing and the body. As I'm "hippy", having the ribbing and the body the same number of stitches doesn't bother me at all

The knitting sequence on the sweater goes Check rib, B,C,D,E,B,C,D,E,B,C,D,Check rib. Using the measurements I got for each chart,the sweater front (or back) would measure 25-1/2" or 51" total. I'm knitting the small which is supposed to measure 45" and I'll be getting 51". The only way to control this would be to cut way back on number of stitches in the check rib.

So I'm pretty set for the Knit Along starting on October 1st. I've wanted to make this sweater for a long time and thanks to Theresa, the KAL list mom, I'm going to make it.

2007-09-03T18:29:00.000-04:00

Fulmar is a tightly knit Aran sweater by Alice Starmore and is found in the out of print book "Aran Knitting". The original yarn was Scottish Fleet which knits to 30 sts and 40 rows per 4". Photos of the finished sweater can be seen on Wendy Johnson's Blog. She lists her finished sweaters here: http://wendyknits.net/wendy/knitting.htm

I want to be Wendy when I grow up. She has completed TWO Fulmars. TWO!!. First one is in green http://wendyknits.net/knit/fulmar.htm and is knit with Frangipani. Second one is in blue http://wendyjohnson.net/knit/fulmar.htm and knit in Bovidae Farm Sportweight.

I've been playing with swatching Fulmar in Wendy Guernsey. I have it in white, medium blue and soon in crimson red. What else do you do with yard sale money but buy yarn? The swatch has 2 purl edge stitches, 18 stitches of Chart B (the right twist cable with side oval cables), 2 purl divider stitches, 20 stitches of Chart C (the braid) and 2 purl edge stitches. Total of 44 stitches on Size US#2 or 2.75mm circular Inox/Prym needle.

Chart B measures 2 1/8" wide. Chart C measures 2 3/8" wide. 24 rows which is two chart repeats measured 2 3/4" in height. The check rib swatch measures out as 2 1/4" for 18 stitches.

so.....
Check rib 2 1/4
Chart B 2 1/8
Chart C 2 3/8
Chart D 2 1/8
Chart E 2
Chart B 2 1/8
Chart C 2 3/8
Chart D 2 1/8
Chart E 2
Chart B 2 1/8
Chart C 2 3/8
Chart D 2 1/8
Check rib 2 1/4

Total = 26-19/8 or 28-3/8" for ONE HALF of the sweater or 56-3/4" wide for total.

OH OH. If you look closely at the photo (double click for large size photo), the oval cable running alongside the 6 stitch cable is a twisted stitch cable. I do not like this cable as a twisted stitch as it looks and feels hard and, for me, looks odd. Part of this is probably from using a 5 ply twisted yarn to start with. I might skip the twisted stitch with this wool.

I'm going to have to think about what I'm doing wrong. I got spot on gauge with this yarn on 2.75mm needles in the check rib. I like my sweaters a bit oversized but this one would swim on my hubby.