knitting

I can knit laceweight now!

by Ivete Tecedor on May 26, 2009

in knitting, Yarn

Hold the presses everyone! This is MAJOR news!

After an entire knitting career where I couldn’t hold a strand of yarn much thinner than fingering weight, as of yesterday afternoon I can knit with laceweight yarn! The picture above is yet another Leila sample (I’m insane, I know!), this time knit with Malabrigo Laceweight on size 3 needles. This lace yarn is the ONLY laceweight yarn in my stash, bought solely because it was so gorgeous I couldn’t NOT buy it. The color (it’s 92 – Little Lovely) spoke to me and said “buy me just to look at me!” and I just couldn’t resist. I even wound one ball, just to see how the colors would play together in the actual knitting, but then I stuck the yarn on a shelf and never intended to try to knit with it, ever.

Fast-forward to yesterday, when I was trying to edit the full-size version of the Leila pattern and I got stuck. After getting really annoyed with myself, I decided there was no way around knitting the full-size version again to double-check the pattern before sending it to the testers . . . but then I realized I had nothing in the stash that was the same gauge as the Fleece Artist Cashlana I had used other than the exact same color Cashlana. And there was no way I was knitting the exact same shawl with the exact same yarn and color! Even in the interest of an error-free pattern, that was too much for me. So I went digging for something else in the “thinner than fingering” category and found these two skeins of laceweight and thought I might as well try it.

[continue reading …]

{ 4 comments }

Progress on Memories but distracted by a shiny new pattern!

by Ivete Tecedor on May 2, 2009

in knitting

I just stumbled across a new pattern that was so cool, I had to buy the PDF immediately! It’s Kim by Perl Grey (aside: how many patterns are named after generic girl’s names? You’d think people could at least come up with unusual girl’s names to name their designs . . .) and I just could not resist! See how cute?

I don’t know how much of the love-at-first sight was due to the gorgeous color and the serene photo, but I just had to have it RIGHT NOW! It’s absolutely not sweater weather anymore, but I don’t care! Besides, with the crazy weather swings we’ve had lately, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it got cold again before summer really starts . . .

This sweater’s made with some Fleece Artist yarn I’ve never heard of, either, which is called River. It’s an alpaca/silk/Merino blend and sounds quite lovely, I bet many people will really enjoy knitting with that yarn. Me, I don’t much like alpaca, so I’ll be substituting . . . ideally with something in the stash. Knit at 4.25 sts/inch, there should be plenty to pick from in my stash pile, right?

I’m not starting it yet though, because I’m well on my way with Memories of Ukraine. The swatch came out perfectly on-gauge (what a nice surprise!) so I cast on right away. I started with 96 stitches, which is how many you have after doing the first set of increases if you follow the pattern as written. Since I’m taking off the funnel neck, I started with that stitch count to make more of  a crew neck. Here’s what I have so far:

I’m only a few rows away from splitting for the arms & body! I’m doing 2 or 3-row jogs to keep the colors blended well, as even though my 2 skeins were puchased at the same time and look very similar, because I know from experience that Schaefer’s yarns usually come out with a very visible difference from skein-to-skein unless you mix them up. I like the color distribution so far, but  there have been some splotchy parts . . . hopefully that won’t be too bad on the body itself, where it would be more noticeable. I’m always nervous knitting anything with handpainted yarns if there are various parts with different sittch counts — you’re very liable to having striped sleeves or spiraling waistlines when the stitch count changes! Or, worse  yet, a plaid effect . . .

Surprisingly, my hands are handling this cotton knitting just fine! I don’t know if it’s the combination of nice Turbo needles and mercerized cotton, which are both very slippery, or if maybe I’ve finally figure out how to knit cotton without pulling so much? Either way, I’m happily surprised to see that I can knit on this project for long periods of time with no fatigue or pain! And since I have the lace memorized already, this one should come off the needles in no time. I’m going to need to go shopping for an undershirt to wear underneath though, this sweater would definitely be obscene to wear without something underneath! I’m thinking I’d like to find a pink to match the rosy pink in there, to provide a nice contrast to the lace . . .

PS – if it seems like I’m doing everything BUT finishing the Leila pattern, it’s because it’s true. It’s in time out while I get over my frustration with it. I hope to get back to it soon, but not sure exactly when that will be at this point.

{ 0 comments }

Swatching for Memories of Ukraine

by Ivete Tecedor on April 30, 2009

in knitting

My friend Lidia Karabinech contributed a sweater pattern to Barbara Albright’s wonderful (and sadly, last) book The Natural Knitter. Her sweater’s called “Memories of Ukraine” and features her favorite one-piece construction. Here’s the picture from the book:

The book’s version is knit in linen, and Lidia knit herself a version in silk straw (very weird yarn, Habu-like even!), and one for her daughter from Koigu. Since it’s such a textural pattern it really looks drastically different depending on what yarn you use, and having seen it in a few versions I knew I wanted to use something close to the original linen. After going stash diving, I found some Schaefer Susan in the color Althea Gibson and thought PERFECT! Here’s the pre-blocking swatch:

This picture came out a little dark, the middle color is more like straw than the brown that it looks here, but you get the idea. I only have 2 skeins of this yarn, so not enough for the sweater in the 2nd size (36.5″ bust), but I’m planning to take off the funnel neck and see if that does it . . . if not, I’ll shorten the sleeves too!

The swatch is drying on the window sill so I’m not yet sure whether I got gauge, but it looks pretty good so far . . .

{ 1 comment }

Nevermind on that hat.

by Ivete Tecedor on April 23, 2009

in Arnold the dachshund, knitting

The just-started hat I showed you 2 days ago is no more. When I got to the end and tried it on, it was all wrong — too narrow, too long, and the earflaps were too shallow. This is what happens sometimes when you just cast on and start knitting without any plans! Oh well, at least it was nice yarn to work with! I’ve reskeined it and put it back in the stash for later . . . I’m sure a better project will come up eventually for such gorgeous yarn!

Speaking of gorgeous, the weather’s finally better today! It was so sunny when I woke up that I thought it would also be super-warm outside, so I wore flip-flops when I took the dog out this morning, but that turned out to be a mistake — it was only 40 degrees outside! It’s warmed up a bit since and it’s still sunny outside, so my mood is better than it’s been the last few days. Even the dog is in a better mood, I think he “inherited” my weather-dependent moods!

Speaking of Arnold, how cute is this picture I took of him the other day? It’s my new favorite!

I’m really struggling to get the Leila pattern out to you all . . . it’s turned out to be a much harder pattern to write than I expected based on how symmetrical and simple the lace pattern is. I’m still hoping to have it out sooner rather than later, but I don’t know exactly when that will be at this point . . .

Oh, and you know what’s for dinner tomorrow night? Baked wings! Yeah!

{ 0 comments }

New Yarn & New Project

by Ivete Tecedor on April 21, 2009

in knitting, Yarn

Sunday was a gorgeous day so I headed out to the closest Farmer’s Market, which unfortunately is still kind of far away from our apartment. I didn’t find anything I really wanted to buy there, but I did end up going to Knitty City since it’s only a few blocks away from the market, and of course I left with some new yarn! Above are two skeins of Claudia Hand Painted Yarns’ Chunky Merino in the color Hawaii — I just could not resist the colors in this yarn! I’ve never worked with any Claudia yarns before, and didn’t even know she MADE a chunky weight wool, but when I saw this I just had to have it.

This wool is not labeled superwash, and thankfully doesn’t FEEL like superwash either. It’s got a great twist to it and is a very round yarn, so my stitches are coming out beautifully even in stockinette. I’m making a top-down earflap hat, and I’m loving the way the colors are flashing and pooling. Strangely enough, when I tried doing a 2-row jog with this yarn like I do when knitting with just about any handpaint, the colors pooled MORE, not less! So I am just working from the one ball and hoping the transition to ball #2 won’t be so bad — it’s going to happen near the hem, which will be in garter stitch and will therefore help disguise any color change, so I’m pretty confident it should look ok.

What’s that you say? You don’t believe I walked out of a yarn shop with only 2 skeins of yarn?

Well, you’re right!

These beauties also came home with me! This is Punta del Este Mericash Handpainted, which is another yarn I’ve never seen before. I’ve worked with some other Punta del Este yarns and really loved both the yarn and the finished projects, so when I saw this gorgeous color and felt how soft the yarn is, I really couldn’t leave it on the shelf. Had there been more matching skeins, I probably would have bought more! In this picture you can see that the 2nd-from-the-right skein is a little off in color, but these 4 were the best I could do in matching the skeins . . . I expect that a little 2-row-jog action should yield a perfectly acceptable color distribution.

I’m picturing a pullover with a wide neckline and maybe some directional changes to play with the yarn’s color . . . I wonder if the rain we had all day yesterday and so far today is to blame for my winter-ish knitting? You’d think I would be looking forward to hot weather and knitting a cotton something, but all I can think about right now is wrapping up in something wooly cozy and staying indoors out of the rain!

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries