Needles & hooks

Proud Parents

I finally got a picture of The Blanket with the glowing recipients. Here’s Laura and Terrill:

The photo also happens to have great lighting and rich color and shows off the detail of some of the squares much better than my shots did.

One of the keys to making this all come together was control over the yarn used. I picked out the yarn (and fully tested it as I mentioned before). I made sure the colors coordinated and were the same dyelot. So then, no matter how diverse the individual squares, there was a coherent whole.

I knitted some swatches in the size I was hoping for and weighed them carefully. Then I used a kitchen scale and my ball winder to wind off balls twice the size needed. This allowed for differences in gauge among individual knitters or crocheters. I asked for extras back and used them to join the squares (so I was glad to have all the colors) and also for the edging. I didn’t have to break into any new balls to finish it.

Blocking was essential to even out any variety in sizes. Using a wool yarn made the whole thing more forgiving and amenable to forced resizing.

I made small string tags that I attached to each square with the name of the creator on it. These tags stayed with their squares throughout the whole process (although they didn’t get dunked in the blocking wash, but were instead pinned alongside their squares on the blocking board). These allowed me to make a map listing who made each square. Laura really appreciated that.

In the end, the hardest thing was begging for all the squares. You can set deadlines, but people really do need to be badgered and reminded. Life creeps in. But it certainly made checking the daily mail lots of fun!

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Mysterious

Okay, so I could tell you what this, but I thought I’d have fun seeing what you guess:

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Mystery Revealed

The mystery project was presented to the recipient last night, so I can tell you all about it.

I was working on coordinating a group baby blanket for a friend of mine, Laura. We both went to Bryn Mawr College and we’re friends through the college’s on-line alumnae community. Putting the blanket together involved:

• Figuring out who knits or crochets and soliciting participants
• Mailing out yarn and badgering people for squares
• Arranging the squares and assembling the blanket

I mailed out the yarn at the end of January. Every participant got a ball of off-white and a ball of one of 4 colors. She could knit or crochet a 6-inch square in any stitch and color pattern she chose. By the beginning of May, I got 48 squares from 30 women. I was able to lay out a perfect set of 12-square quandrants, one of each color. I assembled the squares (with some help) and added a crochet border.

Here’s the blanket:

And here’s a page with close-ups of the squares. No, I have no idea how some of those squares were accomplished. If I’d thought about it, I would have asked for patterns to be submitted with the squares. The mom has asked for patterns and if I get them, I’ll try to post them.

Along with the yarn, I sent out white cards for people to return with a message for the mother. Those I put into a scrapbook with some pretty papers. This page has photos of the pages.

As luck would have it, no hint of the secret was revealed to Laura. She was totally surprised last night when it was presented to her at a gathering near San Francisco and everyone at the gathering was in awe of it. I desperately wanted to be there, and even looked into airfares, but yesterday was also the wedding I made the I Do Shrug for (more on that later).

You might wonder what yarn was used: Cascade 220 Superwash. I wanted something that a new mom wouldn’t have to worry about and that was a nice quality. I auditioned the yarn carefully and this one washed well and was very soft. I’ll try to make some specific notes for this project soon, in case you’re thinking of attempting this yourself!

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Some Comments on I Do

There’s a bit of confusion over the “slit” in the shrug and so I thought I would try to explain a little better.

Mascarasnake asked why there was a need for embroidery floss if it’s supposed to be kitchenered together. Well, a shrug is essentially two sleeves that are sewn together. This is where the kitchener is used — to join the left side to the right side. If you use kitchener, then it looks like you created one continuous piece of fabric across the back. I did the same thing with my Elf Attire Shrug. I did complete the kitchener before blocking I Do — it’s symmetrical in the photo. But you don’t kitchener the slit…

Vicki asked what the slit is for. I admit, I was confused by it as well, and I think there might be a better choice of words there. Really, the “slit” is the main opening where you put it on. A shrug is little more than two sleeves. But if you just make sleeves, you have one long tube and no way to put your torso into it. So at some point you have to stop knitting in the round and knit flat. But with no other shaping, you don’t alter the essence of the tube.

Some shrugs have shaping to reduce the amount of fabric at the neck and add more along the back. I certainly would do that for the Elf Shrug if I were to make another. But I Do has no torso shaping, so if you fold it over and lay the “neckline” alongside the “bottom hem”, you end up with a slit along the tube the joins the sleeves. But only if you lay it out this way.

Now, because I Do is all lace, it needs a really good blocking stretch. And because you want the vertical blocking to be uniform, you want to stretch out a tube. The pattern suggests pinning the slit closed. I thought the embroidery floss was a sturdier way to accomplish that.

Vicki also said she was suprised by the tea dyeing turning out pink. I have to admit I was a little suprised by it myself. Now, it’s not a soft baby pink, but there’s definitely red tones there. The thing that surprised me the most, though, was that I got the opposite results I expected. The Earl Grey tea was slighly yellow when I put a thin layer on a white plate; the Lemon Zinger was reddish. I’m pretty sure I didn’t mix them up, but because I’ve abandoned the tea-dyeing idea, I’m not going to run a second test.

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I Done!

Tonight I finished the I Do Shrug.

All the ends are woven in and it’s blocking:

The yellow thread you see in the photo is some embroidery thread I used to sew the slit across the back closed for blocking. This was the best thing I could come up with to allow me to stretch it fully and yet not put a bunch of pins in across the middle that might have a weird effect on the other side of the tube.

Unfortunately, it’s a little too long for my blocking board, so I couldn’t pin the ends of the sleeves out the way I’d like. After the back dries, I may re-wet the end and block those by themselves.

My tea-dyeing experiments were dismal failures, so I think I’ll leave well enough alone. The Lipton Earl Grey gave the test swatch a distinctly pink hue. The Lemon Zinger was very subtle but gave an overall muddy impression.

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Back to Public Knitting

The secret project is all finished. I have to do a small amount of paper crafting, then I can put it in a box and mail it off tomorrow. But pictures still have to wait.

After that was done, I got cracking on the I Do Shrug. Jen came over and tried the one sleeve on. Fits very well, should fit better after blocking. We’re a little concerned that it’s stark white while her dress is very, very slightly cream. But it’s made out of a number of fabrics, so we don’t think it will really be a problem unless you’re close up and anal. I may play around with a very weak tea mixture and a swatch or two. Not to try to match the cream, but maybe to dull the glaring white a little.

Here’s a picture of where I was early today when there was good light:

That’s one sleeve and the start of the other. When I put it down to write this and make dinner, I was past the dreaded Row 60 and into the Flat section. I’ve got 5 or 6 more Flat repeats to do and then I can join them. Hopefully I’ll make a big dent in that tonight so I can finish it tomorrow.

Here’s a close-up of the lace (the yellow line is a bit of embroidery thread I used as a lifeline in case what I’d worked was too big for Jen):

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I Do Shrug notes

I’ve had a few rounds with the pattern author about what happens after Row 60 of the shrug pattern. There’s definitely an error in the pattern and a few people have needed some handholding working through this section. I’ve posted some detailed help over on the KnitAlong Page that will eventually make it into my project notes for the shrug. Until then go read them over there.

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Radio Silence

Sorry there hasn’t been much new content from me. I’m working on a secret project. I’d tell you all about it, but the recipient reads this and she can’t know. (Now, hopefully, I’ve got you all wondering if it could be you!). So my knitting time is taken up with finishing this project and I can’t post any photos.

But what I can tell you is that I’ve been thinking about dropped stitches quite a bit. The Clapotis and Clapotis Cap experiences have given me lots of ideas. After I finish this project and the I Do Shrug for Jen’s wedding this month, I’ll start playing with them. Keep your eyes out for swatches.

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International Woman of Knitting

With many thanks to Ines, my Clapotis Cap is now available in German…..

The Clapotis Cap - German/Deutsche

Ines also put pictures of her fiery red cap on her blog. You have to go look, even if you can’t read German.

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We had a little sun over the weekend (although precious little) so I was able to lay out Charlotte and take a photo:

She needs crochet edging, blocking, and fringe. Don’t know if I’ll make it by Mother’s Day. Especially as our bed is the best blocking location, and, well, we sleep in it.

In other news, I got my first photos from someone who completed a Clapotis Cap. These are pictures of the one made by Ann from Ohama. Fantastic colors:

As for my own knitting progress, after ripping back the flat shoulder section of the I Do Shrug, I reknit it twice. I still think there’s something a little wonky in the pattern after Row 60. I discussed it more thoroughly in an entry on the knit-along page. I’m waiting on a response from the pattern author, but if you’re working in on it, pay attention to your knitting. I think if you do Flat Row 6/7 twice after Row 60 that you end up doing to reverse-stockinette repeats on the public side.

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