Needles & hooks

Spiders and Frogs

I didn’t want to steal Marcel’s weekend thunder, so I didn’t mention that I also managed to finish the principal knitting on Charlotte’s Web on Sunday night (but no pictures because it was close to 10pm when I bound off and I promptly jumped up and packed for the business trip I’m currently on).

I actually bound off twice for it. The first time, I decided it wasn’t stretchy enough. So I tinked the bind off and redid it with a larger crochet hook. Has anyone else noticed that a standard bind off is really just crocheting across all the live stitches? That realization made binding off go so much more quickly for me — no risk of dropping that one stitch.

Anyway, for the 5 hour flight to Los Angeles, my take-along project was the I Do Shrug. When I boarded the plane, I was just about to where the split for the back occurs. When the plane landed, I was two rows away from the end of the right side. And I thought I found an error in the pattern.

Now, I usually knit without a net, but some strange bit of foresight encouraged me to stop in the airport sundry store and buy over-priced, minty dental floss so that I could put in a lifeline. The actual plan was to knit a couple of extra sections across the back so that when I fit it to Jen, I could take them out if needed. But the foresight told me to put one line just before the split as well.

So when I got to the hotel and e-mailed the pattern author about the potential error, I learned that what I thought was an error was actually supposed to be a short row. D’oh! Now, it’s not the end of the world. I could make the other side exactly the same way and it would all be just fine. But it grates at me. I sit in my meetings and hear it taunting me. So sometime before I get back on the plane home, I’ll be frogging it.

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Red faced

I just noticed an error in the pattern for my Clapotis Cap. One so minor that probably no one would notice and so I could have just fixed it and no one would have been the wiser. However, as a science Ph.D. who got straight As in Geometry, I’m ashamed to my very soul. The finished hat should not measure 20 inches in diameter, but in circumference.

*sigh*

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Synchronicity

I’ve been following a Yahoo mailing list for the TKGA Master Knitting program. Because the list contains people working on all 3 levels of the program, I’ve heard about all sorts of different challenges that I will face in levels 2 and 3. And no challenge seems more dreaded than the Bavarian Twisted Stitches.

I don’t know why it took me so long to Google it and find out exactly what this monstrous stitch entails, but I finally looked it up. And the answer? You twist stitches on both knit and purl rows.

That’s it?!

So it seemed so fitting that I managed to finish Marcel’s sweater this weekend, because not a single public stitch on this puppy is untwisted.

Here’s another installment in “Amy and a camera in a mirror”:

And a close-up of the sleeve:

Overall, I’m pleased with it. The size is perfect. I’m a little unhappy with the way the sleeve caps pucker — I think they might be too big over all, but I’m not inclined to redo them. I’m also not happy with how loose the collar is. The stitch pattern changed from mini-cables to a yo/k2tog march to allow more stretch in the collar and I don’t like how loose it ends up. I don’t want to touch it right now, but I’m inclined to either redo it on smaller needles or change back the pattern stitch.

But after a year and a half, I happy to put this one in the “done” pile. Now maybe there will be one more chilly day this spring so I can wear it. And a day with some better light so I can take better photos.

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Knit Club

The first rule of Knit Club is….

(requires Quicktime)

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Weekend Wrap-up

Aside from working up a second hat and writing up and posting the Clapotis Cap pattern, I got a few other things done this past week that I haven’t mentioned yet.

First, I sewed the seam on the second sleeve of Marcel’s Sweater. All that remains is setting in the sleeves. I’d love to knock this off the “Active Projects” list, so hopefully I get a nice chunk of open time this weekend to focus on it.

I also started the I Do shrug from the new spring Knitty. This one is for my friend, Jen, who is getting married in May and wearing a sleeveless gown. She’d talked before about making some sort of shawl to wear during the reception but didn’t get started. When I saw the shrug, I pointed it out to her, but she despaired of making it in time. So I offered to do it for her. I’m making it out of Tahki Cotton Classic in white.

So far, I’m about 80 rounds into it. She didn’t like how big the bell sleeves were, so I cast on for only 6 lace repeats and reduced to 5 up to the elbow. I’m now in the section where I’m increasing toward the shoulder. Here’s what I had last night, but lace greatly benefits from blocking and this is no exception:

It’s not quite clear from the photo, but I’m working it magic loop style. I got a 12-inch Addi to use, thinking it would be a lot more mindless. Unfortunately, when they’re that short, the points come together at an angle that’s far too sharp for my style of knitting.

So on Monday, those super-shorts went back to the store. Which I’ll mention by name only because they were having a fantastic sale on 7 huge bins full of old patterns — each only $1! I got 33 pattern books for $33, saving $360! I could knit forever and never need to buy a new book. I’ll probably never even work things out of most of them, but after 2 hours of flipping through the bins, I ceased thinking and just kept putting the pile.

This was my take (and while I don’t usually include photos of my cats on this blog, Chutney had to sniff at the books on her floor):

Many Jaeger and Dalegarn books. Several issues of Katia. A bunch of other random things that caught my fancy in the frenzy.

The sale is on at Woolcott & Company in Cambridge, MA. There’s still TONS left. They have a bunch of yarn at 20% off as well (old stock, much good wool and tons of froo-froo novelty yarns).

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The Waiting is Over

The pattern: The Clapotis Cap

It’s so cute, here’s a few more photos:

In Lorna’s Laces Lion & Lamb (Mixed Berries colorway):

And inverted. Wearing it inside out makes a really cute rolled brim. The only problem is that the seam is very obvious down the back. If you want to wear is this way exclusively, you should sew the seam so the purl side is the right-side out.

Enjoy the pattern. Let me see your photos when you’re done!

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Hello, Bloglines?

Bloglines seems to have fogotten who I am. I can’t log in and no blogs appear in the blogroll in my sidebar. Anyone else having problems?

Update: Seems to be working again. I actually had a few moments of panic about it this morning — how would I ever find all my favorite blogs again?! I let Bloglines worry about all that for me!

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Mess Errata

Some things I forgot to mention what with all the pictures….

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (worsted) and Color Your Own (fingering). Super cheap at $3/220yds and $3.50/440yds respectively. And fast shipping. And because we didn’t start until well after 10pm, we only did one skein each and I have a ton left over.

Microwaving: 3 cycles of 2 mins nuke, 2 mins rest. Leave the ziplock open a bit to let the steam escape. Be careful when pulling it out — it gets HOT!!! This sets the dye and it works really well. When I rinsed my skein later, the water was all clear.

Kool-Aid: Despite having several scientists in the room, we didn’t follow a scientific process at all. So I can’t tell you which colors did what. The murky orange you see near the front of the cup photo is Mango Mango or Pina-Pineapple, and was the orangey color in Steph’s yarn. The murky blue and green (at the front right) were also quite lovely in yarn. I think they were something like Ice Blue something and Arctic Green Apple.

When I get around to dyeing up the rest of the yarn I have, I’ll try to document a little more.

But what’s really needed is some sort of Kool-Aid exchange program, with a single site to visit make requests and trades. Each of us found very different flavors available in the stores near us. I went to 3 different chain grocers and still others found flavors that I couldn’t.

To sum up the experience, Laura says: “Yarn dying is a fascinating, yet incredibly smelly process. When that wet dyed saran wrapped yarn came out of it’s third cycle of the microwave it smelled like a million wet dogs bathed in kool aid and vinegar, then baked in the sun for a million years. But it smelled nice when it dried!”

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What a Mess!

So, a couple of weekends ago some friends of mine had a slumber party where we planned to do Kool-Aid dye and knit. We dubbed it Yarn Fest. Below are pictures from the event, documenting the whole dyeing process. My friend, Laura, is my guest photo-blographer for this post. Sadly, because she took most of these photos, she is not in them.

First, we tore open dozens of Kool-Aid packets and mixed up some colors. We also set off some Paas Easter Egg pellets. Each color went into a little cup with some vinegar and water, a straw to stir, and a short loop of yarn to see the color. The Kool-Aid cups all have their flavor names sitting under them.

Then we each grabbed a skein of yarn and got it wet. I had one book suggest not to, so I tried it dry. Dyeing might work better dry if you’re going for a lot of control in dyeing a small number of strands. It sucks with a full skein. Here’s Steph soaking her yarn:

Then we started painting. Here I am using a foam paint brush and purple easter egg dye. We later figured out that spoons worked much better.

Here’s Sarah with her yarn:

And Rachel:

And Heather:

After we were finished painting, we wrapped each skein in plastic wrap and stuck it in a giant ziplock back for several trips through the microwave. Here’s Heather carefully laying her plastic-skein in a bag.

And Steph’s yarn all ready to go into the microwave:

Because the kitchen was pretty crowded with all the dye, I was the Master of the Microwave. Here Steph is watching me prep her yarn for a trip in. The crumpled bag you see next to it is one that is hot and “resting”. They got really, really hot!

And this is what all our carefully arranged cups look like after a night of dyeing fun. Looks a little illicit…cups of strange colored beverages…discarded wrappers….a box of latex gloves…

After the microwaving, hot yarn was left to cool in the tub. When it was touchable, we rinsed our skeins and then hung them up to dry. Here’s what Steph’s final yarn looked like (worsted weight):

And my own (fingering weight):

Later I wound mine up into a cake:

And swatched it up. It’s mostly pastel purple, blue, and green. Those were all Paas colors. I really wanted a nice purple and I wasn’t too keen on the Grape Kool-Aid so I’m pleased with this one. However, I thought a punch of red might be nice. I maybe gave it one punch too many. But these will make some fun socks. And maybe also some gloves. It certainly is soft.

In addition to the dyeing, we had lots of other fiber fun. I brought my ball winder and swift. The crowd was amazed. And I think I’m now required to bring it to all future gatherings, no matter whether yarn will be attending or not.

Here’s Rachel proudly showing off her first knitting project. She’s going through some tough times and wanted something to keep her busy in the evenings, so I taught her how to knit. She’s very happy with her first fiber creation. She says that looking over her progress you can actually see the nights that were most stressful for her.

And here I am the next morning, working on the first Clap Cap prototype (note the Knitty pattern below my hands in my lap). So this is what I look like knitting. Hmm.

And finally, here’s a lovely close up of Steph’s dog Gus, with Rachel hard at work on her second scarf in the background.

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Clap Cap Update

I typed up my pattern over the weekend and knitted a second cap to test it out. Good thing I did, because I had some random extra rows in there! I also saw my photographer friend who took some great shots of me in both caps, despite not having any natural light to work with (and using the flash just hides the beauty of the cap).

I got home late last night, so no time to download the photos or polish the pattern up and post it. You’ll probably have to wait until the weekend for that.

But in the meantime, for those of you who want to make this hat to go along with your Clapotis scarf/shawl, I’ll tell you how much yarn I used so you can hold some aside. Ideally, you’d make the hat first and then you could just use all the remaining yarn to make the scarf/shawl in whatever size that works out to. However, I know most of you are already deep into your Clapoti or have finished them.

The cap I showed in my last post is made with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted (in the Lakeview colorway). I used 55 grams which works out to about 110 yards of yarn. The second cap I made this weekend is made with Lorna’s Laces Lion & Lamb (the pattern yarn). I used 53 grams, which also works out to about 110 yards of yarn. Both were made with size 8 needles at the pattern gauge of 4.5 stitches/inch (although perhaps on the large size, you really have to pull the stitches tight to the needle to get L&L to work up that gauge on size 8s). This will make a cap that is about 20 inches in diameter.

In the meantime, I’ve updated my Clapotis project notes, collecting my technique posts into one place and describing how I made the test swatches I used to figure out the twists and mirrored twists. Take a look.

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