Legacy Project: Dryad

This one had the project, the yarn, and the instructions, as well as family knowledge of the intended recipient. I was assured that all it needed was the buttons sewn on. I can forgive non-knitters not realizing my sister had stopped in the middle of the buttonhole band to be sure the chosen buttons would match the buttonholes, but apparently no one noticed that the sleeves had not yet been knit.

A good measure of the recipient, a hard look at the instructions, and finishing it was a breeze. The raglan sleeve stitches had been put on holders, and the biggest obstacle was finding the needle that matched my sister's gauge. It's a fantastic pattern for a young person's sweater: hood, pockets, drawstring waist, and cleverly constructed sleeve ends that incorporate the knitted cuff when it's turned back. My only addition was thumb holes.

I think the buttonholes turned out a stitch too big for the buttons, but since the recipient's mother is a whiz with a sewing machine, not to mention being a knitter herself, I think she'll figure out a solution. The buttons are such a good color match that I can see why the sweater had to accommodate them.

Needles: for me, US 3 (3.25 mm) and 4 (3.5 mm)
Yarn: Paintbox Yarns Baby DK in Dusty Lilac 0 lovely to knit with, very soft
Pattern: Galina Shemchuk's Dryad

Legacy Project: Sleeved Shawl

This one was complicated only by the fact that I couldn't visualize what it was meant to be. The knitting was completely finished, and there was no yarn or pattern with it. I had two long sleeves, unattached, and a lacy rectangular shawl with two armhole openings. Fortunately they were slightly offset toward the top, or I'd have sewn them in upside down, I'm sure. I bought a skein of yarn in the same weight and fiber, a little lighter in color, and attached the sleeves. Since no one knew who it was intended for, and it fits KD, it is now hers, and she gets to figure out how best to style the front of it.

Legacy Project: Dish Cloths

The yarn was all stored together. No pattern, but fortunately one had been started, which gave me needle size, number of stitches, and stitch pattern. Wasn't hard to guess that they were meant to be square. Really nice color combination, Mary Maxim Scrub It in Cranberry, Cinnamon, Ginger, Leaf, Red, Blue. More mindless tv knitting: garter stitch over 42 stitches for 70 rows on size 7 needles.

Corrugated Ribbing

To start with, it's an absolutely ridiculous name. Ribbing is corrugated by definition, and corrugated ribbing is actually LESS corrugated than regular ribbing. But no one consulted me in the naming, so I'm moving on.

Corrugated ribbing is ribbing done in two colors, the knit columns in one color and the purl columns in another color. Given that one strand of yarn is doing all the knitting and another all the purling in each row, it has none of the elasticity of regular ribbing. That said, it should be as pliable as regular textured ribbing. When used as the edging for a sock or cuff edge, you want something with quite a bit of stretch to come before it. A rolled edge works really nicely, and fortunately, that's what my pattern called for.

Three rows into the required fifteen rows of corrugated ribbing, my head was about to explode from the tedium of switching colors while switching the yarn from front to back between knitting and purling. I tried holding the yarn in different hands, picking with one and throwing with the other. The end result was lumpy, irregular, and overall displeasing. What to do? Consult the TechKnitter, of course!

My initial reaction to the suggestion of multi-pass knitting was that it would be even more tedious, since you're doubling the number of rows that you work. But because each row is just slip-knit or purl-slip, it went by quickly, and I was quite pleased with the result. See?

Sweater 2 Finale

I had made a doll-sized sweater without a pattern. No reason I couldn't make a full-sized sweater without a pattern, right? And for added fun, I could make it a gift so I couldn't actually try it on the recipient as I went along. It worked out pretty well:

Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Yarn: Cloudborn Fibers Highland Superwash Sock Twist Handpaints in Stormy Skies, 10 skeins
I had wanted to use Berocco Sox in Lidores, but could not find it available anywhere. I quite like this colorway though, much more grey than brown.
Pattern:
I knit up a swatch, washed and blocked it. Recorded my gauge. Did the math. Decided to knit pieces instead of in the round for added structure.
Cast on for the front, knit an inch, purled a turning row, then knit for 15", marked for armhole. Marked 3 center inches, kfb each stitch, split into two halves which I knit simultaneously while making neck decreases. Put shoulders on holders.
Made back the same except for neck opening. Did a few short rows at the back of the neck (but not enough). Attached shoulders with 3-needle bind-off, keeping neck and front edges on holders. Knit the collar.
Picked up sleeve stitches between markers and knit sleeves, doing more math for decreases. Seamed up the sides and sleeves.

It was not as much math as I expected, and pretty simple once I'd decided on dropped shoulders. I did get to measure a favorite sweater of the recipients, which helped with the fit. If I had it to do over I'd make it a little longer, and definitely add more short rows to the back of the neck.

Legacy project: Face Cloths

My sister left some unfinished projects, and I brought them home to see what I could finish. This was the first, and easiest. The yarn was all together, I knew who they were for, and the first one was complete. No pattern needed beyond reading the knitting. They were mindless tv knitting after my  brain was worn smooth by more difficult projects. So here are a dozen face cloths, made of Mary Maxim Scrub It in Sky, Mocha, Cotton, and Harbor, and worked in seed stitch over 36 stitches and 62 rows on size US 8.

I have to say that the care instructions on the yarn were the funniest things I have ever come across: "Wash using gentle/delicate cycle for 2 minutes. Tumble dry using low heat for a maximum of 5 minutes. Remove and lay flat to dry." Can you imagine? I made a tiny swatch (24 stitches, 24 rows) and washed it with my towels - hot water, extra rinse, high dryer setting, and it came out no different than the ones I hadn't washed yet. I would wash them in cold water and low heat to preserve the colors, but that's all the fuss I would make.

Trying Something New

I recently acquired some tiny circular needles "for knitting socks" - not the sets of 2 bendable dpns, which I find delightful, but one very short circular.

I'm not sure how I feel about this:

Two rows later, I frogged it. It may work for some people, but it's not for me.

Ice Gnomes Marching

When J saw my Knubbelchen, she commented on how well it would look as a tomten. Then the Knit Picks catalog arrived and I saw this kit, which seemed like the perfect addition, and my Christmas plans were set.

Tomten

Yarn: Fingering weight leftovers, probably KnitPicks Stroll
Needles: 2.5 mm dpns
Pattern: pezi888’s delightful Knubbelchen
Mods: none

Tomten Pillow

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted in Coal, Cranberry, White, and Oyster Heather
Needles: US 6 (4.00 mm)
Pattern: Kathy Lewinski's Santa Pillow
Mods: I followed the advice to carry the Coal and Oyster Heather up the side instead of cutting and restarting, and finished with this much Oyster Heather remaining:

9 yards left

I had my doubts about it fitting a 20" square pillow, but it was no problem after blocking.

I used the whole project as an exercise in Color Dominance and was really pleased with the results.

Week 12 Progress Report, Sweater 2

This is nice. There's only one problem. One being the operative word.

The Six Swans comes to mind, although my version is found in Andrew Lang's Yellow Fairy Book.

Week 11 Progress Report, Sweater 2

Shoulders:

And collar:

Onward to sleeves!

Week 11, Progress Report, Sweater 1

С криком ура!

Once I find the right buttons, I will have to pry it off her to attach them. Otherwise, it is complete.

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm), US 4 (3.50 mm), US 6 (4.00 mm)

Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Sport in Picante, Army Green, Westpoint Blue Heather, and Colonial Blue Heather

Pattern: alfa knits' 3 in 1 -- I cannot say enough about how well this fairly complicated pattern is written. Everything is broken down into manageable steps, the illustrations are clear, the sizing is color-coded.

Mods:

• the recipient preferred a solid blue yoke instead of continuing the stripes.

• I got stitch gauge right off, but got 28 rows instead of 35 rows to 4". I also needed to shorten it quite a bit for the recipient. I dropped rows 3-12 in the front placket, and another 10 rows at the end of the yoke. That meant I had to adjust the buttonholes, but I had planned to do that anyway because I didn't like the two so close together at the top.

I learned several new techniques -- or brushed up on old ones -- to make the details as nice as possible:

• jogless stripes
• binding off in the middle of a fabric, beginning and end
• a better SSK
• a better p2tog
• better shoulder shaping

Pretty much whenever I wanted a better way of doing something, I checked Techknitter to see if there was one, and was never disappointed.

Week 10 Progress Report, Sweater 2

The back is done to the beginning of the armhole. I've begun to think about sleeve decreases.

Week 10 Progress Report, Sweater 1 - All Over But the Shouting

Or the "collars," as the case may be.

Week 9 Progress Report, Sweater 2

I have made a good start on the back. There is no shaping at all to contend with, just steady row-counting, so I hope to be ready for shoulders next week!

Week 9 Progress Report, Sweater 1

With both sleeves finished, everything finally wound up on one needle. Now the yoke-work begins!

Week 8 Progress Report, Sweater 2

Front, done! On to the back!

Week 8 Progress Report, Sweater 1

Time to think deep math-y thoughts to adjust the pattern to the row gauge I’m getting.

Week 7 Progress Report, Sweater 2

Spinning my wheels...

Re-jiggered my measurements and numbers, which made all the math fall neatly into place. Decided I wanted a wider placket. Then decided I wanted a more finished edge to the placket. But I now have forward momentum again.

Week 7 Progress Report, Sweater 1

A sleeve, an overabundance of sleeve!

I am getting stitch gauge but not row gauge, which means my knitting runs long but not wide. Since it's a long sweater, it didn't much matter on the body, and it's pretty easy to shorten the sleeves. But I can tell that I will have to fiddle with the yoke so that it is not too long. While still working in all the decreases and buttonholes. Hmmm.

Week 6 Progress Report, Sweater 2

Placket! And neck decreases, done carefully inside the placket edge, mathematically spaced, and using a neat new-to-me trick to tighten up the SSKs to look as nice as the K2TOGs. So much jargon, But seriously, if there's ever a detail in your knitting that makes you wish there was a better way, check out techknitter's index and learn something new!

I'm pleased with the placket and look forward to finishing the front so I can get cracking on the back.

Week 6 Progress Report, Sweater 1

What's that? Is that - yes! We have a sleeve!

The second sleeve will go much more quickly, since I am done dithering over whether to make jogless stripes. (Yes. Yes, you should.)

I swear that these photos are in focus when I take them, because I check. Something awful happens in the process of getting them onto the blog. I've pretty much given up trying to figure it out.

Week 5 Progress Report, Sweater 2

The elusive 15" has been reached at last (and my row gauge is spot on). Time to divide for the front placket!

Week 5 Progress Report, Sweater 1

Stop! The instructions announce firmly. Put down the sweater. Go make the sleeves. Huzzah!

Week 4 Progress Report, Sweater 2

A little backwards progress this week. It had become obvious that the flashing and pooling was a real issue. Like most knitting issues, if I had accepted reality a little earlier, it would have been a quicker fix. There are several ways to deal with flashing and pooling, and the best way here was to back up to the start of the new skein and alternate two skeins.

All of the skeins are the same dye lot. For reasons that remain mysterious, the first skein did not pool. I tried a randomized sample of the other skeins, and they all pooled. So alternating skeins was the answer.

I'm not sure it's completely clear in these close ups, but in the first picture above, the original fabric, when viewed from a distance, created large blue blobs all over the sweater. Breaking up that pooling with the other skein gave me the more randomized result in the second picture, which is much more what I was going for.

And I bet you anything I will have to continue doing this up the sleeves and on either side of the front. Because while the other way to deal with pooling is to change the number of stitches, I don't believe for a moment that the number of stitches I drop down to will stripe in a nice, randomized manner.

Week 4 Progress Report, Sweater 1

This week's exciting discovery was that the increases occur almost four times as rapidly as I thought they did, which means that I am already halfway done with them. And when they're done - next week - I get to start the sleeves!

I realize it looks about the same as last time. And I keep having to move further away to get it all in the frame. But it really is growing!

Week 3 Progress Report, Sweater 2

I have nearly achieved the elusive 15 inches. I am knitting exactly to gauge, and could just count rows, but I'm taking a belt-and-suspenders approach, and measuring as well. I am also using up the yarn at about the rate I expected to, which is nice.

New yarn has been arriving, which makes sticking to projects that are in the boring stage a bit difficult. Onward!

Week 3 Progress Report, Sweater 1

First waist increase done. This is definitely the boring part.

Meanwhile, I made some facecloths. I'm really sorry that Bernat Gloucester has been discontinued. It was a nice soft cotton with no excess plant matter in it at all.

The pattern is nalhcib's Pearl Brioche Dishcloth #12, which was easily memorized and produced a lovely squishy fabric. I chose to work it on US 8 (5.00 mm) because I find a more openwork cotton cloth dries more thoroughly.

Week 2 Progress Report, Sweater 2

Coming along, slowly but surely. I'm almost through the second skein. It's maddening that identical dye lots knit up differently on the same number of stitches, same needles, and despite countless efforts to start at the same place in the color scheme.

Week 2 Progress Report, Sweater 1

Waist decreases done, now working on the main body of the sweater. Stripes and the occasional increase are the only things happening until I reach the bottom of the neck opening. But it's going fast.

And when it's time to start the sleeves, I get to start over with the rust and green again!

Week 1 Progress Report, Sweater 2

Moving right along, but smaller gauge and flat pieces means it will take a little longer than the other. I do love the color changes in the yarn.

I moved it off onto a circular needle right after I took the picture; it clearly needed more room to breathe. I'm getting gauge, though. No surprise, after actually making a swatch.

The stitch markers are serving as hemming pins - I was going to sew the hem, then decided to sew the side seams first. I have no idea why. Not having a pattern means I can do what I want.

Week 1 Progress Report, Sweater 1

I have completed stage 1:

and stage 2:

It looks a little bit like a whale, I think.  It's a fantastic pattern, very clearly written and illustrated. When I misread an instruction as "with both right sides facing" instead of reading ahead to the next line, which added "you," it was my own fault. And no harm done, since at no time did I think it really wanted me to do the former.

I also discover that this poor designer has had her pattern hijacked and cheap knock-offs of the sweater are advertised on FB scam ads which - adding insult to injury - use one of the photos from someone on Ravelry who has made the sweater. Intellectual property theft from two different knitters.

New Beginnings

How long does it take to knit a sweater? How about two? Requests for sweaters in hand, with no expectation on anyone's part that I will finish before Christmas, we begin.

Yarn purchased:

Yarn wound:

Let the wild rumpus commence! (I'm not taking sides in the "start vs. begin" quote war brought on by different editions of a children's classic. Life is too short.)

And you're quite right, that lovely rust is not enough for the first sweater. Other colors will appear in due course.