professor sweater

When the Professor pointed out that this year I have made four sweaters for myself and zero sweaters for him…well, it was time to get to work. I had 14 skeins of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes stashed away, in a nice professorial color (camel heather), so all that was left to do was find a pattern.

I looked everywhere, but the answer was right under my nose.

Remember the Ardent Jacket? Only my favorite sweater in the world?

What’s on the page right next to it?

The article is called “K2Tog”. Clearly, it was meant to be.

This in-progress shot captures a critical moment in the creation of the sweater: I stood back to admire my work, only to realize seconds later that I had knit the body in the 42.5″ size and the sleeve in the 45.5″ size. Sigh. Luckily it was the sleeve that needed to be redone (and just to be crystal clear, the error was entirely mine, no fault of the pattern at all), but still. I had to rip out about 3/4 of the sleeve. Let us speak no more of it.

As I write, the sweater is virtually done. I’m hoping to show finished pictures before we leave for England; stay tuned!

spring mix

Last night, the professor and I went out to First Friday, a gallery walk downtown. We were running late, and we needed a quick supper before we left. This fit the bill.

Goat Cheese Salad with Lemon-Honey Vinaigrette

For the dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon honey

salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:

Mixed greens

Half of a pear, roughly chopped

1/3 cup pecan halves

2 oz. goat cheese

1/3 cup dried cherries

Toast the pecans in a dry pan until warm and fragrant. Meanwhile, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Toss the greens with about 1/2 of the dressing mixture (you’ll have enough left over for two more salads). Divide the dressed greens into two bowls and divide the pear, cherries, and goat cheese between the bowls. Add half of the pecans to each bowl. Serves two.

We returned from the gallery walk with a solar etching by Jennifer Li and some chocolates from the shop next door to the gallery. Add some sparkling wine, music, and candlelight…what a lovely night!

OK crochet

Pattern: Econo Shopper Mesh Bag by natalie058 (small size)

Hook: 5.0 mm (US H)

Yarn: Lily Sugar n’ Creme Naturals, 1 skein

Mods: shortened the handles a bit

I am not really very good at crochet, but from time to time I get the urge (kind of like my occasional and unskilled forays into the world of sewing). This bag was fun to make, and it is useful around the house. The pattern was easy for me to understand (with the help of crochet stitch instructional websites, of course), and that’s really saying something, since I am the kind of crocheter who has to look up how do a “HDC” nearly every time it is mentioned in the pattern.

And now I am going to make some pancakes. Happy Sunday morning!

schooled

Pattern: Hey Teach! from Knitty, Summer 2008

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Olivette (I think that’s the color. This was well-aged stash, the ballbands lost to antiquity), 3 skeins

Needles: Addi Natura 32″ US 7 circular (body) and Clover 10″ US 7 straights (sleeves)

Cute sweater, great pattern, but sadly lacking on my part! I didn’t really have enough yarn, so there are a lot of funky spots on the inside where I wove in 2-yard scraps to eke out the last few rows of sleeve. Also, my gauge was a bit too snug; coupled with a choice of 39″ size for negative ease, that produced a sweater that is just a bit too tight for comfort. The armscyes are the worst of it, as you can see a bit in the above photo. Ah, well. They can’t all be Ardent Jackets.

Up next: May, of course! Two possibilities for consideration (and by consideration, I mean I’m going to knit a considerable bit of sweater and then consider whether I should rip it out and knit something else; always entertaining), as well as a distracting foray into the dark jungles of…crochet. Cover me; I’m going in.

ardent devotion

Pattern: Ardent Jacket by Kat Coyle, from the Spring 2009 issue of Twist Collective

Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed (heartbreakingly discontinued) from Webs

Needles: US 7 Addi Natura 32″ circular (back only) and US 7 Clover bamboo 10″ straights

Time to knit: 13 days (it really was finished in March, and I wore it around for about two weeks while I waited for the buttons to arrive from China)

This is my new favorite garment: the fit is perfect, the style is flattering, the neutral color goes with nearly everything, and the yarn is soft, warm and strong (I snagged it on a metal clasp the other day and though it pulled out a loop, it didn’t come close to tearing). I did make a few changes just to suit my personal needs, although Kat’s pattern is perfect as written.  I loved the double lattice pattern so much that I omitted the honeycomb lace and even did an extra repeat of the lattice on the body pieces for an empire line. Otherwise, however, I knit the pattern exactly.

If you haven’t checked out Twist Collective, you’ve got to. The designs are stunning, and the pattern I bought was extremely detailed, clear, and error-free. I’ll definitely buy more Twist patterns!

I fortunately happened upon these buttons while poking around on Etsy.

They’re handmade of wood, and they’re absolutely stunning. I got them from Ruth’s shop, and I recommend her highly. She was extremely helpful, super-fast on communication, and she even sent me some extra buttons as a present for my first Etsy purchase!

I also got this lovely Korean gingham ribbon and made a loop to hang the jacket. The color on this photo is terrible (sorry!); the ribbon is dark blue and cream-colored. I think it’s a nice detail, so I also used it to line the button band. I might line the spaces between the buttonholes as well, since I still have some ribbon left.

I can’t believe I took so long to blog this project! I’ve already finished the April almanac sweater (sadly, less successful…but you’ll see).

time marches on

“Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

Well, I haven’t found the six-fingered man or anything, but it’s been a pretty packed month. So many pesky real-life activities that interfere with blogging! You know me well enough, however, to know that nothing can interfere with knitting. And I certainly haven’t forgot about the almanac project.

So that brings us to March’s installment: will I have a finished sweater to show? Yes, I believe I will! Here’s the story so far:

1. I swatched some Classic Elite Skye Tweed. This yarn is Special To Me. I have 17 skeins that I scored in a Webs closeout sale; it is discontinued; it is woolly and tweedy. It is Worthy of a Great Sweater.

2. I knit a swatch on size 7 needles, washed it, and laid it to dry. The gauge measured 17 sts and 26 rows to 4 inches. The fabric was perfect; crisp enough for a jacket, but soft and draping as well.

3. This was not the correct gauge for the Sunrise Circle Jacket (rav link), which was what I was planning to make. It was not even really that close to the correct gauge.

4. I knit, washed, and dried another swatch, this time on size 8 needles. I didn’t like the fabric as well; it was too loosely knit for my taste. It also wasn’t the right gauge for the Sunrise Circle Jacket. It became clear that this yarn and this pattern were just not meant for each other.

5. Then I saw this. The gauge for this stunning pattern, incidentally? 17 sts and 26 rows to 4 inches. It even says it right there on the pattern: “This is what you’ve been saving that perfect tweed yarn for”. Indeed!

You can guess what happened next. Pictures to follow.

new knits noted now

I’d had these in my queue for awhile (they’re the Twisted Tweed Socks, from Schrodinger Knits), not realizing I had already stashed the exact yarn in the exact color called for in the pattern. Last week I wandered upstairs in a fugue state, got the yarn, printed the pattern, pulled the needles right out of a half-finished but sadly ugly sock-in-progress, and cast on. Gorgeous! I’ve never had so much fun being so derivative.

Still not sure what quite what I’m doing here. Inspired by this lovely cap, I unvented a bit. It’s nearly done (and perfect work knitting), but I’m not sure how wearable it will be. Still, since I’ve got so much of this yarn stashed away, I predict a version 2.0. I already know what I’m going to tweak!

I know, it’s unbelievable, but I’m doing it again. Ivy League Vest, I just can’t quit you! This may well be the March almanac installment if I can’t get it together and choose something with sleeves, already. I’ve got a pretty sizable dilemma; I’ll post it tomorrow.

february almanac: veste everest

Pattern: Veste Everest by Veronik Avery, from Interweave Knits, Fall 2005

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Prairie Fire, 3.5 skeins

Needles: Addi Natura size US 7 32″ circular

Size: 34″, with slightly larger gauge (completed vest measures about 31″ unstretched)

Mods: I did 6.5 repeats of the cable pattern before starting the armhole shaping.

Clip ‘n’ Save! (or, What I Learned From This Project)

• Shaping: the instructions do not include any subtraction/addition of stitches for waist shaping because the stitch pattern takes care of it for you! The ribbing is so delightfully elastic that it hugs your curves all by itself. The key is selecting a size that has enough negative ease. Believe it or not, the above photos show a vest with about 8″ of negative ease. This is completely comfortable, and the vest could stretch further.
• Horizontal Stretch vs. Vertical Shrinkage: When a knitted fabric is stretched in one direction, it contracts in the other (I learned this rather obvious factoid by knitting a pullover that was a perfect fit, except that it exposed my bellybutton. No, I’m not going to post a photo). Since I was expecting such a large amount of horizontal stretch, I knew I would need to add some length so that my vest wouldn’t be too short. Since I wanted a vest that ended about 13″ (stretched) below my armpits, I ended up knitting to 14″ (unstretched) before starting the armholes. The armhole edging added an extra 1/2″, so the unstretched vest (shown below in an absolutely terrible photo), measures about 14.5″ inches below the armpit. To figure out how much longer I needed to knit, I simply stretched the piece to my desired width and measured it that way, to see how long it would be when on my body.

• Seaming with Negative Ease: I used a slipped-stitch edging on the vest pieces to make the seaming easier. Alas, this ended up backfiring! The mattress stitch that is so clean on a drapey or unstretched knit looked absolutely terrible when I stretched it out. So, I switched to (gasp) a whipstitch seam. It still doesn’t look quite as clean as if I had knitted the vest in the round (which I would do if I made it again), but it isn’t noticable when I’m wearing the vest.
• Binding Off at the Back of the Neck: I think the pattern suggests that you put the neck stitches on a holder, but I chose to bind them off and pick them up later, because I think it makes for more stable, sturdy neckline. Also, I think it matches the rest of the neck edging better, since this way all of the neck edging stitches have been picked up and knit.
• Picking Up Stitches: To make the armhole and neck edgings, I had to pick up and knit stitches. For me, the most difficult part of this procedure is getting the right number of stitches picked up and knit, since there is never a 1:1 ratio between available edge stitches and the number you need to pick up and knit. I found that picking up one stitch for every bound-off stitch (at the bottoms of the armholes and back of the neck) and about 4 stitches for every 3 slipped selvedge stitches. Since you can’t pick up a stitch that isn’t there, I just used a yarn-over increase as follows: [pick up and knit 3, yo] repeating.
• Binding Off the Edgings: The pattern instructs you to bind off “in patt”, but this is a little ambiguous. Should you bind off in rib or twisted rib? I didn’t like the idea of twisted bind-off stitches, so I simply bound off in rib, making sure to do it loosely.

Now: what to do about March? I’ll post some ideas soon…

brioche french toast

This is what we ate for breakfast yesterday morning. Utterly delicious, and unlike pancakes or muffins, it took about ten minutes from thought to plate. Want to make your own? Here’s what I did:

Brioche French Toast (serves one or two)

Ingredients:

• four slices of brioche (I used day-old from this lovely bakery, but you can make your own…)
• four eggs
• a splash of vanilla
• cinnamon-sugar (I mix this myself, but I think you can buy it as well)
• a bit of butter
• blackberries for serving, or some other fruit or sauce of your choice

To Make:

1. Heat a nonstick skillet or frying pan to medium heat, until water droplets sizzle before they evaporate
2. Beat the eggs and vanilla together in a wide shallow dish.
3. For each piece of french toast, dredge both sides of the brioche slice in the egg batter and fry in the pan, flipping once, until lightly browned on both sides. Remove to a warm plate, spread one side lightly with butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.
4. Continue until you have run out of brioche slices (you can easily increase this recipe; I used one egg for every slice of brioche).
5. Eat quickly, topped with blackberries or something else delicious!

I suggest coffee with this (as you can see from the photograph).

mailbag: bizzaro world edition

I’m not even sure what to say about this. It came in an envelope with a bunch of other coupons for craft-related items.

It’s really special that they felt the need to specify “loving female/male relationships.” Also the line about “stimulat[ing] the imagination”; I guess that makes this emotional pornography?

Moving on.

Thanks for the comments about the Autumn Rose swatch. I’ve since heard back from a Knitpicks representative, who said that most of the new colors will be non-heathers (blast!), but there will be a few “neutral” heathers (insert ray of hope here). Since the neutrals might be just what I need, I’ll probably hold off for now.

Veste Everest update: one little armhole edging to go! I’m going to do a much more detailed “finished object” post for this one than I normally do, in part because there is a knitalong for this sweater on Ravelry right now, and also because I have a surprising amount to say about things like negative ease and seaming. If the minutiae of vest-knitting intrigues you, stay tuned!