Corntastic Equinox

So one of my FLYS had a Labor Day sale this weekend. I have been wanting to knit Kristin Omdahl's Equinox Top, a lovely DK weight top, designed to be knit seamlessly in the round. Oh, I am in love with this top!

I did not have enough yarn in a DK weight to finish the top. Well, okay, I have enough silky merino, but I am afraid that I won't be able to wear the wool. Also Malabrigo does not frog very easily, and knowing my knitting style and the fact that this is my first go at this pattern, I did not want to take any chances that I would ruin the yarn or gain distaste for the pattern if I had to restart it.

So, having a full loyalty card and knowing that all of her "Green" yarns were on sale, I waited (im)patiently for her shop to open on Saturday morning, and sped over to lurk in the yarn aisles. I thought I wanted Bamboo and she had some lovely bamboo and silk yarn that knit 20 sts to 4 inches. Hmm, not exactly DK weight, but I thought I could knit a little tighter and it would be fine. However, I kept looking and something kept drawing me back to the the DK aisle. My eyes fell on the Corntastic Yarn was sitting in the middle of the aisle. One of the ball bands started staring at me and it yelled out "Machine washable and dryable!" (It did, I swear).

So I chose the Steel color and I am now using the 5 skeins that I purchased for the lovely Equinox Top that was begging to be knit. Knitting Life is good.

Max's sweater: Part 2

I've frogged the sweater 4 times - GAH! Something about the Mary Rich Goodwin pattern was throwing me off - perhaps the short rows for the back and the way I was knitting them was creating a hole between the collar and the body. I decided to switch to the Knitting Pure and Simple pattern that I have and so far this is working out. I will knit a Fair Isle motif at the bottom of the body to match the hat that I made for him. I am using a Men's pattern. The smallest size listed is a 38inch chest, knit at a 16 sts per 4 inches. However, I am knitting it at 5 sts per one inch, so I figure that this will take in the pullover enough so that it is not GINORMOUS on him. I am also consoled by the fact that Max is a growing boy; I swear, everytime I see him, he grows half an inch. Soon he will be taller than me!

It won't unravel, I promise

Before I became a Knitter, I was a beader. More specifically, I made beaded jewelry and sold them in shows around my area. It was fun for a while, and I like to think that I what I made was worth what I charged (I figured that if people didn't agree, they would not buy my items). One of the best compliments I got from a customer was that my jewelry was indestructible. She gave an anklet I had made to her sister. Her sister commented that no matter how much abuse she gave it, it did not break. Unfortunately, as is the case with a lot of things that are worn daily, some of the items that I made did break: badgeholders (mostly), and a watch that was supposed to be waterproof but was not (Grrrrrrr). I fixed these items for free, because this is what I felt was the right thing to do, but doing so cost me money and lots and lots of time. This is part of the reason that I stepped away from this creative venue.

When I knit, I think about how to make things "indestructible". I hate the thought of my projects unraveling or falling apart, especially the ones that I spend a lot of time on. I started making sweaters last year and after reading tips on how to prevent unraveling, I connected yarn with the Russian Join: .
I thought, "How perfect! Two yarns that look like one!" Only problem is the bulk that you get in the joined area. Then I started Spit Splicing (also called the Felted Join - less gross term):
. This actually a more satisfactory way of joining for me. However it only works with feltable yarns; Plymouth Encore and other animal/synthetic blends don't felt very well. More often than not, however, I didn't want to take the time to do these "fancy joins" and just started knitting with both strands for 3 stitches (and I tried to do this in the back of a garment if I could, where it was less noticeable). This works fine for animal fibers as they have more spring that disguises the bulk. However, I learned that this is not the case with other less elastic yarns.

This summer, I knit garments with cotton for the first time (after my discovery that parts of my skin do not like alpaca - boo for me). Worse yet, the yarn that I was using had small skeins. Therefore, I had to make several joins in the body of the top. I learned that could not join cotton the way you do with wool. I tried Russian Join (to prevent fraying), the felted join was not even possible, and I tried knitting both strands together. All of these attempts gave me ugly areas. UGLY. To the point that I wanted to cry at my LYS for help. Her daughter gave me a revelation: You don't have to do any of these fancy joins. All I had to do was to just start knitting with the new strand (but leave enough to weave in later). That's it - the knitting and the weaving-in keeps the yarn in place. I took this one step further: I weave the new strand in while I am still knitting with the old strand. When I have about 3 inches left of the old strand, I twist the strands together and start knitting with the new strand, while weaving in the old strand. Not really brilliant...in fact, it felt like a DUH moment, but YAY, no more bulky joins!

Seams easy: Seaming videos

If you have been following my knitting exploits, you are well aware of my anxiety towards the idea of seaming my projects. My library is FULL of top-down and seamless projects. I do love the many patterns that are not written this way...but if I like the project enough, I will refigure the stitch-counts to make the pattern seamless. It's a sickness, I know. More often than not however, this backfires and I wind up giving up on the project and move onto another (seamless) project.

Anyhow...I have decided that I have to learn how to seam projects properly. I talked to one of my FLYS owners yesterday and she mentioned that you seam from the front. Huh, really???? That is probably why mine look really really bad. So I went onto Youtube this morning and found TONS of knitters seaming! OMG SO EASY!!!!

This is where I am compiling them. As of this date (8/27/2010) I have included 4, including the shoulder seam.

OMG I think I feel another project calling me - seamed! I can't wait.

Max's sweater

I cast on for Max's sweater. I will be using a pattern by Mary Rich Goodwin called Circumnavigate. Instead of the different colors, I will use the fair isle pattern that I used for his hat. I may have to change it a little depending on how many stitches I will have for the body.

Stay tuned...

Some Twisted Charm

I frogged my Leaf T-Shirt. It was a top down design. Just simple raglan shaping with a lace pattern going down the center. I was not liking the way it was turning out...the top was curling and I think I was getting bored with it. It was a nice enough pattern and well written. I guess I could have added some shaping to it for more flair. But I've been "adding the pattern" more often than not lately and I just didn't feel like it this time around.

I am making another Leaf Yoke Top, like the one I made with the Malabrigo cotton. I shrunk the one with Mal Cotton accidentally and it broke my heart. I can't believe that I did that - I meant to take it out of the wash after it was clean and have it dry flat. It still fits, but not as well as it did, unshrunk... I am considering frogging the hemline and making it longer...Maybe I can just undo the hem altogether...hmmm that's a thought...

Anyway, I am using the Cotton Twist that I had originally purchased for the Athos Top from Norah Gaughan. I am still not crazy about this yarn...I like the sheen, the color is nice enough, the price was good, no knots. It's holding up to my numerous frogs. However, the yardage stinks, it splits terribly, and there are places where I've accidentally pulled the rayon so there are loops where there shouldn't be. Pulling on them on the wrong side is a bandaid, but I am going to hate wearing any jewelry with any top that I make with this yarn. The only reason I am knitting with it is because it is cotton and I don't want to waste it.

This is the third project for this yarn and I hope it is true what they say - Third Time is a Charm.

Woohoo Fair Isle Fabulous

I am really proud of myself. I finished my first ever Fair Isle project. It's a gift so I am hesitant to post a picture in case the intended recipient sees it. I will probably post it on Ravelry. In case you are prone to guessing (Claudia - teehee) it is the Fake Isle Hat from Ravelry that you mentioned a few months ago. It was SO EASY, although it was a challenge to get into the groove with the Philosopher's Wool trick that I learned a few months ago. This site is definitely something you should check out if you want to do a Fair Isle project. Knitting-With-Two-Hands sounds difficult, but I promise (and I don't make these kinds of promises online very often) that you will feel VERY proud of yourself too when you actually finish a project this way. You may even impress your significant other who may pooh-pooh your fiber and yarn addiction...

Anyway, back to the hat... There were a few rows that had twisted stitches because I was still getting used to the two-hand knitting trick, but this was easily adjusted by knitting into the back loop, instead of the front. I want to make another one for my daughter and niece but with a different motif. I played around last night with my handy dandy gridded paper and created a heart motif. I am trying my hardest to make things that I will not have to buy more yarn for, and hats are great for this. I did buy just 2 skeins of white and off-white Plymouth Encore for the contrast colors, and I am going to use these with the other colors of Encore that I have. Hats are definitely in order for gifts this year. I only wish that my husband wore hats. If you spent as much time on your hair as my husband spends on his, I guess you wouldn't either. Haha.