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.

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.

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.

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.

Home stretch with Erin - sleeves get smaller each round, especially since I have short arms. I figure I'll end with the mythical beast chart round and a bit of corrugated ribbing. Then add the buttons and done.



Finished organizing and cataloging the yarn stash. This is some of it and yes I said some. Sort of an addiction isn't it?

I love living in Maine. We're close to the coast and love taking drives down tiny back roads and visiting much loved places and sights. A long peninsula stretches out south of Brunswick, Maine. At the end of one finger are the tiny fishing communities of Orr's and Bailey Islands. The very end is appropriately called "Land's End" and is one of my most favorite places in Maine. Gorgeous day, few tourists around, just sat on the rocks and soaked up the sun, sounds of the sea and calls of the birds. It is equally as beautiful in dead of winter - with no tourists! The statue amongst the regosa sea roses is of a lobsterman pegging a lobster's claws. It is a tribute to those who make their living from the sea - and those who have lost their lives there.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep knitting since my brain seems to be disappearing. The sleeves of Erin were going so well. I've rotated the charts so that the sleeves would be knit upside down, thus making the mythical beasts right side when the arm is down. I marked the charts with sleeve decreases so they are being made evenly on both sleeves. So merrily, merrily I knit the first three rows of Chart D to set up the sleeves, then Chart C which in my colors is the turquoise rows. Then my brain took a break and I knit Chart A, the beast, instead of Chart B which is the checkerboard looking band. Since I'm knitting a chart on one sleeve, then the same chart on the second sleeve to keep the sleeves going, I now have both sleeves with beasts done and Chart B skipped. Is this mistake really going to stop Western Civilization?? NO but it sure am disappointed in myself. My dear DH asked me if knitters followed each other around with the patterns, checking to be sure it was slavishly followed. Well NO and as usual he lifted my spirits. I suppose if anyone ever comes up to me and saves there is a chart band missing, I'll just ask them if I could take a look at their Erin

I'm not going to rip out 33 X 2 rows of chart with decreases. I'll put the checkerboard on both sides of the next turquoise chart and call it good. It is a beautiful pattern and is intricate enough that non knitters will never know those rows aren't there.

In the blog post of July 29th, you can see the skipped chart. The first sleeve has the turquoise band which is NOT supposed to have a checkerboard at the top but is supposed to have it at the bottom. Oh well!

Anne

Adventures in Wooly Boarding - maybe we can make this an Olympic Event? After years of lusting after a wooly board and a few attempts at making my own, I finally went up to Halycon Yarns in Bath, Maine today and bought one. Beautiful wood, smooth, perfectly made joins, well varnished to resist water damage. Had to treat the DH to a Chinese buffet for lunch for riding along with me but hurried home as quickly as possible.





The original washing/blocking for my blue Aran FLAK sweater was on towels on the floor and I was never happy with the way it dried as the ribbing ruffled. FLAK is re-washed, spun dry in the washing machine and now drying on the wooly board. Poor cat sort of backed out of the room when she entered and came face to sweater with something standing there.

Don't know why I waited so long for a board but know it will be well used for many years. It's also finally cooling off a bit so let the knitting resume!

Anne

Finished the first pair of socks out of "The Sock Calendar" by Catherine Wingate. The socks are called "Ahoy! Socks" and are in DK weight knit on US size 4 Brittany wooden sock needles. They have a knotted cable and a plaited cord rib and were a lot of fun to knit. Best thing about the socks is they are the same size and they fit. It's just too hot to work on a big sweater though I've been plugging away on the sleeves for Erin.

Janet Szabo's new book "Cables: Volume 1: The Basics" has arrived and been devoured. Having knit Aran cables as long as I have, thought I knew all there was to know - wrong! This is an excellent book on how cables are made, how to change them and how to design new ones. Good book to add to the design library.

I've made myself promise not to start a new sweater until what is on the needles is done, washed and blocked. Right?? OTN isn't too bad right now - 1) Erin, a fair isle cardigan 2) Shirt Tail Hem fair isle pullover 3) Joe's all over rib raglan 4) Hemsdale - Dale of Norway cardigan 5) Spring Forward Aran cardigan. 1,2,3 and 4 are all at sleeve stage. 5 may be ripped back to begin the fronts again. At least I know I'm not alone as a knitter with dread of sleeve finish.

Erin's sleeves are progressing - slowly but in 85-90+ degree heat with high humidity, lucky I'm touching wool at all. Finding that making both sleeves at once, doing one chart on the first sleeve, same chart on the second sleeve, second chart on the first sleeve, etc. my interest is higher. I'll have this one done to wear this fall - if cool weather ever comes again. Really interesting to knit the charts upside down but that way when the arm is beside the body, the mythical beasts will all be the same side up. Brilliant pattern writing by Alice Starmore as always. One day I've got to play with one of her patterns to see if I can make the sleeves set in a bit so they aren't so droopy on my shoulders.

The gardens are spectacular this year with not a lot of maintenance. They are now in their 5th year and so "English style" that the weeds don't have a chance to grow except at the edges. Our first plantings were from White Flower Farm, a mail order nursery in CT.






http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/ . We bought a mix of colored lilies, not knowing what we would get. Each year they suprise us with the brilliance of their colors and how much they have spread.

Bee Balm is one of my favorite garden plants. Yes it gets powdery mildew but the color and smell is just devine and worth putting up with the mildew. This photo is of one patch of bee balm with the back of the house in the background.

Everything has grown well this year as we have had lots of rain and hotter days than usual. The iris were tall and colorful, the deck plants growing well. Always a trial to finally pull them out of the deck pots when fall comes and the frost kills it all.

We are up in Prince Edward Island, Canada on an RV trip and guess what I found today. A WOOLEN MILL!!! I just about fainted when I saw MacAusland's Woolen Mills by the side of the road. Screeching halt in the camper and out I popped to go see what was there. It is a working mill with women tending the yarn as it moves from fleece to yarn spun out on big fat cones. The thinner one ply is used for weaving blankets. The 2 and 3 ply is sold as knitting yarn mostly. I had SWORN that I would not come back from Canada ever again with yarn. Hey nobody but me heard that promise right?



I did manage to get out of the mill with only one sweater worth of yarn - but the info pack with samples was put in with the yarn. I bought 2 ply in a heathered teal. The weight is going to be perfect for an Aran. It is a heavier 2 ply but the knitted samples showed stitches beautifully.



I've been working on a sock while we are RVing and am pleased so far. Using Encore DK and size 4 Britanny wooden sock needles. Won a book on Ebay called "The Sock Calendar - Socks for All Seasons" by Catherine Wingate. I'm making the May sock which is called Ahoy! Socks. Nice cabling and the DK weight is perfect for size.

MacCausland information is
MacAusland's Woolen Mills Ltd.
Bloomfield, PEI
COB 1EO Canada
Toll Free: 1-877-859-3005
web site - www.peisland.com/wool
email - macwool@pei.aibn.com

Our RV travels are at http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com.

The Fair Isle tam is done and stretched out on a 10" plate to dry. It was a fun and quick project and a great way to use up some odds and ends of J&S jumper weight wool. I'm not sure how the final shape is going to look or if I will like wearing it. Here in Maine we generally need something to cover ears in winter, not just perch on top of our heads!

Now back to Erin and Shirt Tail sleeves. Fall isn't that horribly far away and those two sweaters are perfect fall weight to wear without a coat.

Sunset Tam - Helen (BlueDragon) of the online Yahoo knitting group "Mara" has challenged us knit a tam using sunset colors. Maine rarely has the gorgeous sunsets we see in photos of out west in the USA. My inspiration for the tam colors came from the library book cover of "Obsession" by Jonathan Kellerman. Blues, golds, oranges and a tiny hint of purple were in that cover sunset.




I'm using very little yardage of a lot of Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarns. This is a learning process for me as I'd not made a tam with the double decreases in the crown. The pattern I'm using is from Alice Starmore's "Book of Fair Isle Knitting". The photo of the tam and the pattern don't match, with the written instructions having more areas of plain knit than the photo. Doesn't matter as I always change patterns as I go along anyway. Fun to knit and light weight during these days of higher than usual heat in Maine. If my relatives lived anywhere but in the deep south, they'd all be getting tams for Christmas as this is a fun knit.

The Fair Isle knitting doesn't seem as smooth to me as usual but I don't usually use a 20" circular and carry colors. I think it will block out okay. Also need to find out how to do a jogless color join as the dark to light joins show rather abruptly. The photos are of the tam with the lid of a basket stuffed inside to spread it out.

I'm using all Jamieson & Smith yarn with one exception noted:
Dark blue - 135
Medium blue - FC49
Light blue - 14
Purple - Jamieson 133 Mauve Mix
Dark pink - Salmon 129
Medium pink - 9144
Light pink - 95
Pale pink - 101
Dark yellow - 90
Medium yellow - 207
Pale yellow - 96

Just too hot to knit anything large. Wool yarn just sort of sticks to you and itches! I've been trying to teach myself to knit socks. All kinds of great books out there plus web resources. I splurged a while back and got "Favorite "Socks - 25 Timeless Designs" from interweave. While in VA last week helping out mom both in the hospital and back at the assisted living center, I managed to finish one sock and get a good start on the other which I finished up on the long drive home. They are basically the "eesti Trail Hiking Socks" by Nancy Bush with a different rib top. The yarn is Schoeller superwash Limbo in color 2528, a variegated blue green with some rust in it. They were knit on Brittany 3.5mm double points. I live in a cold climate and want warm feet in the winter. I'd use the Limbo again. The socks are actually the same size - success! but are not blocked yet. Hopefully they won't change size much after washing.





If it ever cools down a bit, I'm going to pick up the second sleeve on Erin. A fellow knitter suggested having both sleeves going at once - do a chart repeat on one sleeve, do the same repeat on the second sleeve. For some reason that really clicked in with me and seems like the answer to having a hard time finishing sleeves. I sure do have enough circular needles to keep two going at once.


The gardens continue to bloom something new daily. The Wigelia is stunning this year. We got home just in time to cut both dark pink and white peonies. The smell is so sweet is almost overwhelming. Missed most of the iris but the yellow loosestrife is in full bloom. Lots of work but the rewards with color and smell are worth the weeding time.

Erin's body is done! I will set it aside to work on the sleeves of the Shirt Tail Hemmed Fair Isle that has been languishing for no reason for a year. I seem to have developed an aversion to sleeves.






The Erin swatch looked fine, the dark red at the bottom of the mythical beast not being out of proportion to the other three reds to oranges. In the entire sweater, the red is WAY too dark and creates a line through the sweater that is distracting. Sometimes swatching just doesn't work right. The button is a blown up photo of the perfect button for Erin. Central Yarn Store in Portland, ME is about the only store left that has a large button selection. Fortunately there were 14 of these buttons so I have a spare. The white going down the front button band is thread set where the buttons go.

Long time since I blogged on this blog but we have been travelling in the RV. Recent trips at http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com/ Can you believe that we made a 3,500 mile trip and never set foot in a yarn store? Too tired at night from all the day activities to knit so not much was done though I did have the Shirt Tailed sweater with me. Also had Joe's all over rib ragland since I can knit on it without watching. Well I should have been watching as the sleeve ragland is a lot smaller than the body raglands. Rip it!

Gardens are spectacular this year and not due to extra attention. They have been established now for six years and the perennials are so massive they choke out the weeds pretty much on their own. So nice to go sit on the deck off the sunroom among the flowers and just enjoy the warm weather and all the bird songs. Even what weeding we are doing is enjoyable.

3 Needle bind off is done on Erin but not without a few rips and reknits. The photo shows the shoulder seam and how the Chart C does not line up.





The front and back are not reverse images so no way they would ever meet up. I decided to do a few rows of Chart B at the shoulder. It is such a simple pattern it lines up. Kept dropping stitches during the 3 needle bind off which is why there are still safety pins on two stitches to go back and pick up - again. Neck stitches are picked up and ready to go for the neck ribbing.

The closeup photo shows how even the edge is when you crochet the steek. It takes a long time to do the crochet but, to me, it is worth it. The steek will be folded under when the edge stitch is picked up to be knit for the buttonhole band.

Erin is a joyous knit, it just flies along. Started this sweater on April 5th, just over a month ago. I'm 6 rows away from the neck shaping and thoroughly enjoying this sweater.

The fabric is so smooth. Perhaps this is due to the number of rows that go by without color changes. Most of the other Fair Isles I've knit changed color about every third row; this one can go 6-8 rows before change. Or perhaps it is smooth because I've finally gotten two handed, two color knitting so it is second nature. As always, this pattern of Alice Starmore's is so well written there is no doubt on the next step. My row gauge is a bit long but that is okay since the body of the sweater as designed would have been too short for how I like to wear my sweaters. If you see black spots on the sweater it is probably just Miss Boots, The Cat's hair. She also likes this sweater and, if allowed, will burrow into the body opening. Bad cat Boots, bad cat.

Spring is here in Maine at last. It was summer actually today with 83 degree temps, blooming forsythia, jonquils and the grass was finally long enough to cut. Wonder how much knitting I'll get done tonight while watching American Idol? Hands hurt as we washed all the second floor windows inside and out, put on the screens, took everything out of the garage, cleaned the garage and put it all back in - and weed whacked two of the long stone walls and cut the grass. I seem genetically incapable of sitting quietly without my hands doing something. I'll try to knit slow.

Check http://otrafrommaine.blogspot.com for our RV travels. Hopefully we will find some more of those tiny tucked away yarn stores that are so much fun to explore.

Erin progresses. It is difficult to photograph and is much more colorful than shown here. The darkest red is not that glazed looking and the blue/turquoises don't jump out at you in person. There are actually two orange/reds in the mythical beast's head area. The white line across the ribbing is a basting thread to hold the ribbing from rolling until the sweater is blocked.

I am truly enjoying this design of Alice Starmore's in "The Celtic Collection". That book is one of the few still in print and fairly easily available. Lots more in the book I'd like to eventually make. It (for me) is one of those have to own books.

Today we finished de-winterizing the truck camper and loading all the gear for this season's travels. Went through the canvas bag holding the "Sweaters from Camp" Shirt Tail Hemmed Fair Isle pullover and made sure the pattern, all balls of yarn, needles, notes, etc. were in there. That project and one pair of socks with Socketta yarn are what will be worked on in the camping evenings. This sweater is going to get finished!

Erin progresses and probably will a lot more over the next two days if this huge Nor'easter storm is anything like it is predicted to be. All the storm supplies like candles, Coleman Lanterns, flush water buckets, generator etc. are all tested and ready. If we are lucky the storm will blow past us and out to sea. If we aren't lucky, we'll get slammed with 4-8" of snow with heavy rain on top of it. At least most of the ice is out of the rivers and streams so flooding might not be a problem. We live by a very pretty babbling brook but it would have to come up 12-15' to get anywhere near the house. Roof is clear of snow so no ice dam problems with edge of roof leaks.

I like the colors I'm using for Erin. Major blind trust to use the turquoise colors as they looked so bright in the skeins but they are really pretty knit up. Finally can see the mythical beast in the FI pattern. It is hard to spot on the chart but fairly easy to see in the colored knitting. I'll finish Chart C and then knit 2" on the Shirt Tail Hemmed Cardigan. Alternating is the only way to make myself finish the Shirt Tail Sleeves. I'm also actually reading the manual for the Stitch Motif software and will be working on charting out my own Aran design. I'd like an Aran in one color to knit while RVing this spring and summer - if those seasons ever show up!