How to Make a Sweater

Step 1.  Inspiration

Always a fascinating part of the process, this time it was as simple as a friend saying (with great sincerity and in perfect truth) "you owe me one," and adding (not anywhere near as seriously) "that cute sweater on the Yarn Harlot's blog will do."

Step 2.  Acquire yarn

This took a little longer than usual. I stopped by my LYS, where they had already supplied a number of people with the ingredients for that particular sweater - my friend and I were behind the curve, since we'd been far, far away when it was first brought to the knitting public's notice. They had some possibilities left, and I bought them, because I am easily influenced in store settings, where I don't want to upset the nice person who's been helping me. Rational thought asserted itself when I got home and looked at the shade of green I had blindly purchased. I returned the yarn to my LYS (and bought something else, because, you know, I didn't want them to think I didn't like them any more...).

Mr. Internet was then involved, and a short time later, I had yarn: Cascade 220 Sport in green, black, and white. I then coerced a visiting NKD to act as a swift until it was all wound up.

 Step 3. Cast on and knit the body.

This was fun, mindless knitting. I did Jeny's stretchy slipknot cast-on because it looks so nice when followed by ribbing.

Step 4.  Knit sleeves

One at a time, because they're knit in the round. I like doing both sleeves at once, and I know it's possible in the round, but I've never tried it. Along about now I realized I'd been knitting on a size smaller needles for the ribbing than called for, because my needles were acquired in the Dark Ages when knitters believed what they were told and paid no attention to metric measurements (translation: my size 2 straights are 2.75 mm, not 3mm).

Step 5.  Attach sleeves to body, putting everything on a circular needle.

I am about to make the absolutely stunning discovery that my gauge is different on circulars than it is on straight needles. My straight-needle knitting has a machine-like precision that delights me. And which I apparently cannot duplicate on circulars.

Step 6.  Make sheep yoke.

Despair of ever making smooth color work.  Re-work first set of sheep a few times in pursuit of perfection, give up and soldier on. Toy briefly with the idea of only having three buttons (just through the yoke), buy the perfect buttons, notice there are 5 of them on the card, make button bands to accommodate all 5.

Step 7.  Block.

Procrastinate first, sure that even wet blocking will fail to overcome the deficiencies of my color work skills. Wonder if this is going to involve pinning each little sheep out separately. Plunge knitting into water and have it float back up, sheep now completely and perfectly relaxed. All I had to do was get it wet? Why did no one tell me?!

Step 8.  Make hat to match.

Things you do for the fun of it

I used to have a co-worker whose favorite expression was about doing things for "the sheer, glorious hell of it." Knitting is often like that. I gave up on embroidery decades ago because there was only so much you could do with the finished product besides stare at in admiration. Knitting is so practical. Knitting is so useful.

But, on occasion, knitting is for the sheer, glorious hell of it.

When JLM (my co-worker for whom no one had ever knit anything, the one I taught to knit, who brings me yarn from faraway places) offered me the leftovers from her experiment knitting with Japanese metal yarn, I took her up on it. I was just going to knit the equivalent of a gauge swatch, as I did with some silk hankies she let me try, but there was just enough yardage to tickle my creative fancy.

So I made a chain mail vest for the newest baby in the family.

And you really know all you'll ever need to about my family when I tell you that no one thought this was other than a fantastic idea.

 Yarn:  Habu Textiles A-177 Super Fine Merino
 Habu Textiles A-20 silk-wrapped stainless steel

Pattern: no idea after all this time; some top-down raglan cardigan, just bound off the sleeves right where they split off, continued on with just the metal after the wool ran out, and sewed it up the front making sure there was enough room for the typical baby mega-head. 

Fortuitous mistakes

I ordered the Wrong Yarn a few months back. I thought the sock pattern I had fallen in love with called for sport yarn, so I bought a bunch of gorgeous colors (2 skeins each) of Comfy Sport (cotton) from Knitpicks. I was totally drawn in by the little "goodbye" flags telling me a color - a beautiful, mouth-watering color - was being discontinued.

Turns out, the sock pattern called for fingering weight after all.  Figuring out what to do with a mere 100 grams per color was a challenge that has been at least partially dealt with by whipping up a little red vest for my nephew, Mr. Dimples

I take really awful pictures lately, but here's more or less what it looks like:

  

Now I need to get it in the mail quick, before he outgrows it!

Arrrgyle Vest

Still catching up with this year's gift-knitting, now that the unwrapping is over.

A vest for my littlest niece:

Pattern: Moose's Argyle Vest (non-Ravelry link) from the 2010 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar

Size: 2T-3T (she should be able to wear it for another year at least)

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll Sock Yarn (75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon) in Basalt Heather, African Violet, Carnation, and Dove Heather

Needles: 3.5 mm

Modifications: I adapted the Arrrglye Socks graph (non-Ravelry link) to fit across the front of the vest. It was finicky, but worth it.

This was a fun, fast knit. I had to pick up the neck stitches twice - one look at the opening I was making and I knew no child's head would ever enter. This is a constant mistake I make, but at least I caught it early on this time.

I'm gaining confidence in colorwork. I've learned three important things since those long-ago first efforts in acrylic: 1) Blocking (i.e., making it in a fiber that can be blocked, to start with), 2) Spacing your floats - keep spreading out the stitches on the right-hand needle to stretch out your floats, and 3) Make adjustments as you secure your ends. That last one was the big deal on this piece. I didn't even bother to block it. I did take care with my floats, but some of it still looked crappy until I wove in the ends and pulled a few loose ends snugly into line.

It's a little pink

Pattern: Pinwheel Baby Blanket
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby, Candy Baby

Akasha is going to have a daughter in the fall, an event that has fired up all the family's knitters.

The day I heard the news, I picked up the yarn beside my chair, leftovers from a grandniece's sweater, and started knitting. It was fast and satisfying.

The only problem is, Akasha doesn't like pink (the Akashlette is so far silent on the topic). This would be a minor problem, since what I know about babies is that there are never enough blankets clean at any given moment. Granted, I was doing laundry for twins, but I bet it's still true for singletons. There were many moments when I cared not what the aesthetics or provenance was - if it was clean and warmth-inducing, it would do.

Still, I think a stated preference should be taken into account. Fortunately, there is yet another grandniece on the way. (I am never going to run out of them - my children had 35 first cousins before I quit counting). So this blanket is on its way there, and the Akashlette will have to wait on a more considered offering.