Fiber Fool

Well, I thought I was way ahead on my new design because of the snow we got on Saturday (see pics above and below). But it seems it made me a bit cocky to have completed my bust short rows by day’s end on Sunday. As I went to my various knitting engagements on Monday I was thinking I had a great chance at being done by the end of this week (as in Friday, not Sunday - Sunday *may* still be doable).

Because of the snowiness most of the weekend was spent indoors (aside from photographing), often watching television of movies. Saturday we had a John Hughes double feature of The Breakfast Club and Weird Science. Movie and/or television watching means much progress for me. Oddly, I seem to knit faster if I have that distraction.

Now, why am I not going to be done on Friday even though I was past the bust on Sunday night before bed? Well, because I jumped almost immediately into the waist decreases upon finishing the short rows. I didn’t stop to ponder that a). because this is a close fitting tee the armhole depth is not that of past sweaters and b). this is a finer gauge yarn which means more rounds per inch. When I got home Monday night from SnB and finally moved it to waste yarn to try on I discovered I had finished all my waist decreases, yet hadn’t quite cleared my bust…

I frogged about 2 inches, back to the end of the short rows. I was able to regain about an inch of that on Tuesday evening and another inch this afternoon. I will be starting the decreases for the second time this evening. I think my waist will land at my waist this time. I know I’m *very* short-waisted, but not quite as short as attempt number one was, LOL! I should have pondered my next leap like Emma did in the snow.

An important lesson was learned, however — when you are knitting top down so that you can knit to fit, try it on often. Don’t get lazy and make assumptions. I would have saved much time (and grief and frustration) if I had just taken the time to try it on at the end of the short rows instead of just plowing ahead.

I was pulling together some spring and summer proposals a few weeks ago and fell in love with Pebbles from Classic Elite (on Rav). It is one of few cotton yarns that does not bother my hands. I am a semi-tight knitter and it seems when I work with cottons which have little give in the yarn that I get cramping on the back of my left hand. But there is enough nylon content in Pebbles that along with the spin used to give it texture it has more give than your traditional cotton yarns (but not as much as Fixation which causes gauge nightmares). I’m working with one of the new colors for this year called Blue Canoe. It makes me think of the land of 10,000 lakes :-)

Forgive me if I’m absent from the blog more now that the photographic week is over. I’ll just be in my corner knitting at 5.5 sts/in on a plus sized sweater… ;-)

I’m excited to announce some fun classes for early 2009. In addition to teaching at My Sister Knits in Fort Collins, I will now also be teaching at Nanytutu’s in Wellington, CO.

Some of the classes on the schedule:

• Archimedes 3-in-1 Hat - learn top-down, no-swatch techniques for hat and beret knitting, including a variety of techniques for starting and finishing a top-down hat.
• February Lady Sweater - for those who don’t want to spend hours reading through forums on Ravelry to help choose the right size and modification, sign up for the class and I’ll help you make the decisions right for your body.
• Triple-T Socks - for those with second sock syndrome, learn to knit two socks on two circs from the toe-up.
• EZ’s Miters - explore different methods of increasing and decreasing to create miters, then choose your favorites to make Elizabeth Zimmermann’s mitered mittens and ganomy hat from Knitter’s Almanac.
• Colorwork Hat Workshop - wanting to learn more about two-handed colorwork knitting? Learn the tips and tricks of fair isle knitting while working up a hat in this all-day workshop.

Get more detailed descriptions and the schedule on the Fiber Arts Classes page. Also, for those who use Google Calendar or other calendar or scheduling software you can view the teaching schedule in HTML (and add relevant events to your own Google Calendar), XML, or iCal formats.

Pattern: Wisteria
Designer: Kate Gilbert
Source: Twist Collective, Fall 2008
Yarn: Brown Sheep Prairie Silks in Jeweled Moss (18 3/4 skeins ~1655 yds)
Needles: US8 Turbo
Size: 51″ (w/ mods)
Completion Date: December 23rd, 10pm (nothing like cutting it close, LOL!)
Modifications: Many, keep reading for details.

I previously wrote about wanting to put in short rows. I opted to start them at 1 inch below the armholes with the shortest short rows and progress to longer ones. I worked 5 pairs which added ~ 1.75 inches (the average of the various sources and measurements I saw on figuring out how much to put in). I was going to show you a picture with lifelines marking the short rows, but the sweater, light and camera never came together. Perhaps on the next sweater. But, that did put the shortest of the short rows at the crest of my bust which was what I was aiming for. I am quite happy with the addition of the short rows and this was a great pattern for doing so since the center section was all stockinette stitch.

Originally, short rows were the only mod I was going to make. But as I knit on the sweater and looked more and more at the schematic the more I realized that it was going to become a dress on me and that the “waist” would hit at my high hip. I was also worried that it could be even worse if my washed and blocked gauge swatch lied to me as we all know they can do. So, once I finished the short rows I immediately set about recalculating all the shaping of the torso area. The result was to raise the waist by ~1.5 inches (I’m quite short waisted - like my hip bones nearly touch my lowest ribs short waisted - no lie). Then I decided since I was making mods I should take a closer look at the hip area. There was a leap of two chart repeats between the second largest and largest size at the bottom of the sweater. I decided to split the difference and work 18 charts around the bottom rather than the 17 stated for my size. In retrospect, I probably could have skipped that mod, but it isn’t bad as it is either. Doing that also changed my shaping in the mid section.

As I was knitting the bottom chart I realized that if I completed the chart it was still going to be a bit long, so I cut out a vertical repeat. This had the added benefit of lightening the hip area which was a good thing for my shape. I prefer it to leaving the cabling out all together as some people have done. To me what really made the pattern was the repetition of the organic looking cables. I did the same to the sleeves which I’m glad I did as they would have also been too long even though I started the sleeve chart as soon as I was at the proper stitch count. And while I normally would consider the sleeves as they are to be too long they aren’t. They are nice and fitted so they stay put and don’t seem to get in the way at all.

The yarn worked quite well. Despite it being a singles yarn with mohair the stitch definition of the cables is great. I matched stitch and row gauge right off the bat. The 88-yd skeins were somewhat annoying, especially when 4 of the 19 hanks I broke into had knots in them too. The yarn is not next to the skin soft. I do have to wear a turtleneck underneath which isn’t really required as the sweater itself is quite warm. But that mohair in there just gets annoying after too long. But overall the final sweater is great and I am sure will get plenty of wear even with a turtleneck underneath since I tend to run cold in the winter.

I loved knitting this pattern. I loved that it is visually interesting (and the knitting of it was interesting too) yet still allowed for lots of modifications to make it fit my body and its idiosyncrasies. I am no longer scared about making modifications to patterns so that they fit well. As I told my mom, “It looks as though someone knit it just to fit me!” :-) Just what I was aiming for! Nothing is more flattering than a good fit! All-in-all, not a bad FO for ringing out the old year! And, I now can dream about my first sweater of 2009, LOL! What will it be?