Fiber Fool

Remember my “Christmas” sweater from December? Well, it never became my Christmas sweater, not even for the delayed MN Christmas. I should have known that there were still major problems even after recalculating my own sleeve cap numbers. Whenever I procrastinate on something it is a real sign of a problem. The fact that I kept putting off sewing the sleeves on should have tipped me off. I am probably about 80% product knitter and 20% process knitter. When I near the end of a project, especially a larger one, the sight of the finish line propels me forward - often to put in crazy hours.

Despite the unflattering appearance of this sweater I thought some of you may appreciate the problems that make it unflattering. I had a nice round gauge with the Cascade Eco+ I was using. Since time was of the essence if I was to wear it for Christmas I decided to follow some pretty standard numbers when knitting it. I knew my basic measurements (bust, waist and hips) but I did not bother to measure a sweater that fit me in a similar fashion as I was envisioning my Aralia sweater. I just knit onward and while I occasionally voiced my concerns as I was knitting the body it seemed to look okay on Kurki (my duct tape dressform) and friends and family gave it the okay when I tried it on without the sleeves.

In hindsight, I suspect the numbers for larger circumference sweaters in my source skew towards men once a certain chest measurement is reached. At what point the scales tip I’m uncertain, but definitely at 48″ it is skewed towards a male frame. The armholes land almost a full 4 inches below my actual armpit. Combine that with my pretty severe short waistedness and I had set-in “dolman” sleeves that came out of my waist. This hides the slimmest part of my body. There was a pretty good hint that those armholes were going to be a problem when the sleeve cap knit as written came out to be almost a foot long! I recalculated and got that down to about 8 inches. But even for a plus sized sweater that seemed a little over the top. These also caused the bust short rows I put in to not be placed properly and I still end up with the upside down “U” framing my gut in a most unflattering way.

Another problem is the shoulders. They too wide - by about 2″ (clearest in the right portrait oriented photo above). The shoulder seam lands quite a ways down my shoulder. Even fixing just that (with the help of friends to pin it in place, sorry I had no camera handy at that time) made a fairly big difference in the look of the sweater as well. This was one place where Kurki failed me and I failed myself. Because they are stockinette stitch, the shoulder edges curled and I never tried blocking them out or unrolled them when the sleeveless sweater was tried on. Otherwise I would have likely figured out that the across back measurement of the sweater was probably nearly a full 4 inches wider than my body’s.

I’m abandoning this one. At least for now. A different formation of it may make an appearance come fall and the return of cooler temperatures. I had already pushed off some other more pressing projects to get it to this point and I can’t really give it anymore time right now. Plus, I’m thinking the cowl at this sort of gauge didn’t help make it flattering with my chest (it might be fantastic on my sister though). I think I’ll stick to finer gauge cowls on my sweaters in the future.

Speaking of the future, some things I’m going to be certain to do when designing specifically for my body - have handy the most current measurements and more than just your standard chest/waist/hips circumference and arm length. I’m going to also have my armhole depth, nape to waist, nape to high hip, nape to full hip and across back width. Quite probably above and below bust chest circumferences. Oh, and for calculating the short rows (I have a spreadsheet that I use so those measurements were taken into account here as they were already recorded) - neck to waist at the front to compare to nape to waist in the back. I will also quite likely measure some of my sweaters and shirts to get a better ballpark - even if they don’t fit ideally they will give me a jumping off point as well as checkpoints along the way. And lastly, I hope I listen to myself better the next time I procrastinate!

As I mentioned in the teaser earlier this week, I have a new pattern and it is now ready for the general public! Meet Sur la Tête which I knit back in October if memory serves correctly. It was one of those ideas that hit me one night as I was starting to drift off to sleep. It got me so excited I had to get up and sketch it and start pulling together some of the pieces so I could actually sleep. It then took another several months before I settled on the perfect yarn and sunk my teeth into the actual design process.

If you look closer at the crown you can see a slight spiral. The hat is knit from side to side and uses short-rows to form the fully fashioned crown. I chose to knit this side to side so I could use a fun little scalloped edging to automatically create the buttonholes. It also allowed me to use a really great edging motif that you knit as you knit the body! The edging is so great that while I was finalizing test knitting and editing on the pattern two great shawlettes were released that would coordinate quite nicely with this hat — Cedar Leaf and Saroyan.

I had a lot of great help in finalizing Sur la Tête. Amanda not only kindly modeled the hats for me, but she bravely took the first run (the red one pictured) through the pattern before I handed it off to Ann, Anne, Chris and Mia to try out. They provided me with some fantastic feedback and were lightning quick knitters. Unfortunately the weather was a bit against us in getting the final pictures taken which delayed release by a couple weeks. But we managed finally and had great conditions - lots of fresh white fluffy stuff to brighten the gray day while more white fluffy stuff fell from the sky for ambiance.

In testing the pattern it became evident that the amazing drape of Blue Sky Alpaca’s Alpaca Silk yarn allowed two hat styles in one pattern depending upon the fit you chose. If you knit the pattern to have the standard 10% negative ease you get a beanie-style fit (see red hat above), but if you choose to knit one size larger than your head circumference you get a cloche-style fit. The difference isn’t quite as pronounced in the photos as in real life. I decided I liked the larger better so I hope to knit the largest size for myself when time allows. I think Amanda is planning on doing the same and that we are both looking at more spring-like colors.

The fine gauge of 25 sts and 35 rows per 4″ of stockinette stitch combined with the hollow fibers of alpaca and the hat is nearly weightless and a great hat for transitioning into spring! It also does not create hat head! I highly recommend knitting it in an alpaca silk blend or at least a camelid (camel, llama and vicuñas) and engineered fiber (rayon, tencel, bamboo, soy, seacell etc.) blend yarn. If that is out of your reach (or stash) a wool blend will work. I recommend one that contains at least 30% silk or engineered fiber and is not plied hard (yarns that are plied hard don’t really compress and are kind of sproingy along their length, because they don’t compress the short rows would be highly pronounced and the fabric would likely not have the drape intended for this design). Because the hat is knit from side to side row gauge is of the utmost importance for proper fit. Please do not skip swatching, and for the best outcome wash and dry the swatch as you intend to handle the finished hat.

Both Amanda and I chose to make coordinating pearl buttons for our hats from Swarovski Elements Crystal Pearls and headpins. I’ve included written instructions in the PDF on how to do the same and I hope to have a photo tutorial up here at the blog in the next week or so. But you can certainly use 6-8mm vintage or contemporary commercial buttons as well. If you wish to make your own I highly recommend FusionBeads.com as you get free shipping no matter the size of the order so you can order just 1 of several different colors and even sizes or types of beads to get a good match and then place your full order.

What is really exciting about this release is that my designer page at Ravelry is now open to the public - no Ravelry membership required to view or buy my patterns! So just visit the Sur la Tête pattern page. All monetary transactions take place through PayPal, Ravelry is just the delivery vehicle for the 4-page PDF file and does not have access to your credit card or banking information.

So what color and yarn are you going to knit yours in?

A pattern that has been in development for a LONG time (as in I knit the one photographed here back in September or October) is soon going to be available! Here are a couple sneak previews for you kind of evocative of the inspiration behind the design.

Well, over the weekend I went from the body to a body with a cowl on Aralia. Progress has been much slower than I would like, but there are a 101 things to do at Christmas time and even more if you are hosting festivities at your home. Much of late last week was spent running all over town in search of a solution to seat 8 for dinner.

Seating has been solved, but have table linens gone our of vogue? All I can find are specifically Christmas linens, but I want a nice, rich dark chocolate tablecloth and cloth napkins. Aside from Bed Bath and Beyond no one has much of a selection. While I don’t specifically mind synthetics for the table cloth (it sure makes it easier to care for) I do not understand polyester napkins and our BB&B did not have any cotton options. It doesn’t feel pleasant when you wipe your hands on them and they don’t absorb. Unfortunately, it is too late to order but I couldn’t have ordered any earlier because I had no idea what size table we would have. *sigh*

Today will be filled with baking and calculating short row sleeves caps in the in-between time. If I’m lucky I’ll make good progress on sleeve #1 at SnB at my house tonight!

Well, I did cast-on the gorgeous red Cascade Eco+ yarn (8511 Valentine for anyone wondering) over the weekend (Saturday night to be specific). But, I ended up deciding to break out on my own. It is going to be a combo pattern for either a vest or a sweater (I’m knitting the sweater version right now) and the neck line will be either a scoop or a cowl (I’m opting for cowl on this one).

I can’t believe how quickly 4 sts/in knits up! I’m at 9.5″ in length already! I did have a three movie day yesterday to aid in my progress - 12 Men of Christmas with Kristin Chenoweth (cute and fun holiday made-for-TV fluff), The Muppet Christmas Carol;and Julie & Julia. It does have me believing with a DVR full of holiday fluff movies I may have a second annual Christmas sweater (which means 3 handknit sweaters to take home to MN and show off to Grandma at the end of the month)!

This morning I popped it onto my duct tape dressform, Kurki, to check the fit. All looks good. Although I had thought that for a sweater that hits at the high hip on short waisted me that I was up to putting in the short rows. Bust short rows should occur in the realm of 1/2-1 inch below the armholes. It became clear on Kurki that I need at least another inch (probably more like 1.5) in length first.

This is the first that I’ve knit a sweater with Kurki to aid me. Wow, what a difference it makes to be able to put it on and walk all around it and view it from any angle! Trying on as I went with the top down things I’ve knit previously was a challenge for me because we do not have a full-length mirror in the house (and no place for one really either). The mirrors in our bathrooms are odd mid-70’s things with a small 6″ tall mirrored medicine cabinet in the lower part that hits me just wrong so I can never really tell how things fit unless I pull out the step stool and even then a part of me is cut off. I am now more than sold on the 2.5 hours spent making Kurki! It was totally worth it!