pepperknit

Time to knit this skirt: 2 weeks.

Time to weave in the (many) ends: 2.5 hours.

Time between finishing the knitting and finishing the finishing: 4 months.

When I left for Singapore for Christmas, I brought my skeins of Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, my size 8 needles, and a photocopy of the pattern. My goal was to finish it while on vacation. As it turne dout, I finished up the knitting while on my flights back, and I even went so far as to block it in a jet-lagged hazed at 3:45 the morning I returned home.

I chalked it up to a success, because I had finished the hard part! But then it sat. In truth, it sat in a crumpled heap at the bottom of my closet. But finally, this past weekend, I got my act together and wove in all the ends. Unfortunately, I was about 4 days too late to have Lolly photograph the FO, which really would have been awesome—if only because exactly one year ago I finished my Shocking Skirt and she photographed it for me. We were on a photo-taking rampage last week anyway! Oh well, I made do by myself in the subway.

Snapping Turtle Skirt
Knitting Nature, by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino
Skeins: 1.25
Size: 34″
Modifications: Rather than the zipper, which I think would have been ultimately nonfunctional, I attached each successive row of hexagons continuously so there would be no seam, and then instead of the little rolled waistband, I knit for 9 rows and made a casing for some 1/2-inch elastic.

More skirts are in my future—hopefully more than once a year!

I definitely love the skirt, though it hugs every curve. Luckily, I like my curves.

I actually finished this hat while watching the Superbowl, and have been wearing it daily, but I never got around to taking real FO shots. But look how happy I am with it!

Roman Earflap Hat (pdf)
My pattern, but the original was knit for a friend. Now I have one for me!
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns, Superwash Merino, a whole lot less than 1 skein.
Needles: US 8 . . . I think
Started: I know I re-started it after Rachel was here, because it was initially too small (that’s what happens when you guess at your head’s circumference instead of measuring, even when you have a tape measure in your hand), and she came over on Jan 31, so I’m going to guess Feb 1.
Finished: Feb 3. (Woah, that was fast. Oh, right, I got horribly ill after seeing Rachel.)
Modifications: This yarn was worsted weight, but the yarn I used in the pattern was a little thinner, so I just adjusted the brim by a multiple of 4 and then after the brim I decreased to a multiple of 7. I believe that 7 is crucial for a nice rounded decrease, so that’s the most important factor when modifying the pattern, as far as I’m concerned.

You may notice that something is conspicuously missing from the top of the hat. Yes, I opted to not pom-pom my hat. I made a pom-pom for the end of one tie, but it came out sloppy, and then I lost all interest. This is a constant problem for me—semi-complete a project for myself, start wearing it, and then never put the final touch on. This is why Pam (the cardigan, not the blogger) still doesn’t have—and will never have—buttons. The hat at least doesn’t scream to all who see it that something’s missing the way the buttonholes do!

I also modified the earflaps slightly so that they weren’t too big. I probably could have made them wider, to have a warmer hat, but this one is plenty warm. I love it more than any other hat I’ve ever made for myself!

And for those who heard me complain about the yarn bleeding all the heck over me, I washed it a few times in wool wash and all the color rinsed out—it does not turn my head black/brown when I wear it!

Erm, wait, it IS February. But it seems that the February Sweater bug is making the rounds–do people feel more inspired to knit it during the second month of the year, or is this a fluke? Because Annie just finished hers (we can’t believe she finished before me. Not that I think all knitting is a race, but well, I wanted to win), and Stacey is teasing us with her completed one. These are just two of the blogs that I read; I didn’t dare check Ravelry.

Baby Sweater on Two Needles, or as it’s more commonly called, the February Sweater
Knitter’s Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Liza Souza Super Sport, colorway Can’t Elope
Needles: US 5
Size: Longer than the pattern specifies, by about an inch or an inch and a half–eh, I had more yarn and I figured, why stop now? However, I will venture to say that this additional length reduces the cute factor ever so slightly.
Started: February 4, 2008
Completed: Last end sewn in February 20, 2008
Modifications: Knit the sleeves in the round. Down with seaming!
Notes: The reason this took so “long” compared with other tiny things that I knit is that I debated the closure. EZ calls for buttons, and there are some great examples out there with different button placement. But I wanted something that would up the cute quotient.

Pom-poms were clearly the answer. And some 3-stitch I-cord pulled it all together perfectly. When I did the yoke increases, the typical twisted M1s were making the rows look a little wonky, so I went with lifting the strand between and making a hole—the slight laciness in the yoke is cute, and that last row of increases was perfect for weaving an I-cord into. I think my I-cord is something like 20″ long.

This is another baby knit that is awaiting its recipient—and let’s all keep our fingers crossed for another girl, ok?

After finishing the dodecahedron on Saturday I planned on starting another, but then I got to thinking about polyhedrons and how easy it would be to make pretty much any shape. So I poked around Wikipedia and decided the icosahedron, a 20-sided shape, would be the way to go. I cast on Sunday morning, and cast off tonight.

It was fun! I used three colors–though I know it looks like just orange and yellow, the cast on and first row of each pyramid is in red. I will take better photos of the pair of toys in daylight soon.

Icosahedron
Yarn: Knit Picks Crayon, in red, orange, and yellow
Needles: US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Started: Sunday, Jan 20
Finished: Tuesday, Jan 22
Notes: Each of these pyramids is built on a triangle–mine were all 7 stitches to a side. I knit 4 rounds between decrease rounds, except for the last, where I knit 3 rounds. Each pyramid took about 20 minutes to make, and were mindless but fun. The last pyramid, however, was rather unpleasant.

Took 45 minutes, and made me want to quit! But I’m very happy I persevered. This toy is so much fun!

Well, there go the New Year’s resolutions. I made a little list for myself, and one of them–”Blog more”–has been woefully ignored. I’m happy to report that I’m keeping up my “10 minutes of straightening up every night” resolution, for the first time ever. So you win some, you lose some.

My biggest resolution for 2008 is to blog WIPs. We’ve all talked about and noticed the push to blog just FOs, and there is something so satisfying about the big reveal, but there will be no blog if I don’t blog WIPs. But first, let’s linger a bit longer on the FOs! 2007 had only 2 more FOs than 2006 (and one of those was freezer paper stenciling), and I’m not sure if I think that’s impressive or pathetic. It’s definitely one or the other. I’ll decide how I feel about it as 08 progresses, I think, as I either come to accept that I can only accomplish about this much in one year, or as I try to outstrip previous years’ results.

As always, I have a lot of little projects. Gosh, remember that time I had 4 FOs in 4 days? That was ridiculous. Many of my biggest accomplishments, knitting-wise, appear in this collection–my Shocking! Skirt, my Twist-Front Top. I’m super thrilled with the Roman Earflap Hat (pdf). And I’m more than a little bit proud to be bringing “sexy back” to knitting, as some of you have put it.

I participated in two swaps this year–my first time venturing into the swapping world. I enjoyed the Sound Swap a lot, but the Single Sock Swap was just genius. Those chalets still wow me. But I’ve learned that I’m a terrible, awful, no-good package mailer. I say that it’s practically pathological, my inability to mail a package in a timely manner. So I will be very selective about participating in swaps in the future. Perhaps this needs to be added to my resolutions . . .

The sleeper hit of the year was my Bainbridge Scarf (pdf), which so many of you made as Christmas presents! That was a true honor.

Biggest observation I can make about 2007? My hair grew really long. I’ll let you in on the secret to this: get only one haircut during the year.

Heading into 2008, I’ve got an incredible project just off the needles (but which needs some additional work to be presentable, so I’ll drag it out with a WIP post), and then this just happened tonight . . .

I didn’t do more than dust it off, thread it up, and fill a bobbin. (A friend mended some clothes.) But it’s going to lead to something, it really is.

It feels as though it’s been forever since I revealed an FO ’round these parts. I’m happy to say that though I didn’t take a photo of the set, these babies are off the needles and on the hands of their recipient.

A while back, Laura quit her blog for various reasons, of most concern to me her hand’s repetitive stress injury. So sad! And then when she posted this picture to Flickr, lamenting her lack of a pair of Endpapers to soother her hand pain, well, I just had to step up and give my friend a hand.

She mailed me her chosen yarn–red (Koigu) and pink (Idon’tknowwhat)–plus two skeins of blue sock yarn for just me to have (thanks!). It couldn’t have arrived at a better time, because I was about to leave for Portland and needed some plane knitting. I had two legs–La Guardia to Chicago, Chicago to Portland. I cast on (using size 3 needles) in La Guardia and had actually come to nearly finished by the time we landed in Chicago, but I wasn’t happy with how it was turning out.

The pattern calls for a purl “seam” stitch on either side, which you can see in the photo above. I guess this is because the design doesn’t actually fit the width of the mitts; it didn’t feel cohesive to me. Plus when you pull the mitts on, it’s hard to get the seam to sit exactly along the sides, and why have this challenge to getting the mitts on attractively? When I got on the plane to Portland I asked the advice of my seatmates, two sweet women who actually weighed in (rather than smiling politely and turning on their iPods), and so I frogged the whole thing and started over. I had finished the first one–well, up to where I needed scissors*–by the time I got to Portland, and that evening I finished the first one entirely and cast on for the second.

I went into a panic that I had knit the first one so fast, so I made a little side trip to Knit/Purl to buy new yarn in case I needed it. (Of course, I only knit a little more during the rest of the weekend so this trip ended up being more for souvenirs.) Knit/Purl is a delightful store, with a large selection of yarn and books and other supplies, plus their own Shi Bui yarn line. I bought two skeins of baby blue Shi Bui.

That glorious wall on the left is the Koigu. I swooned. I took only a quick walk over there and back to my friend’s place, as it was blustery and cold out. I tried to stop by another yarn shop in the area but it was closed.

Anyway, back to the mitts–I decided to nix the purl seam stitch, just let the pattern jog at one side, and I was decently pleased with the result. I knit the second one on the way home–from Portland to Chicago–and then finally wove in the ends and got it in the mail in the second week after Thanksgiving. Laura received them, and they fit great. See her wearing them here.

*Many thanks to Big Alice for pointing out that fingernail clippers are allowed on flights! I brought them with me on this trip to Singapore and they’ve been a lifesaver, as the pattern I’m working on now involves lots of starting and stopping.

From the idea to knit a single sock and swap it with someone else to the pattern and the knitting by Kristy, this pair of socks is bursting with brilliance.

Pattern: Chalet Socks from Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns sock yarn
Skeins: 2
Needles: US 1.5
Received Sock #1: Monday, November 4
Started Sock #2: Tuesday, November 5
Finished Sock #2: Saturday, November 10

Kristy picked a pattern that I probably would have never chosen myself, despite everyone else making it, but that I ultimately have fallen completely in love with. It was a perfectly fine pattern, but never caught my eye. But the traveling twisted knits on the bed of purls? Brilliant. (I’m definitely going to play with designing my own socks based on this technique.) It took me a while to get the hang of the pattern–those charts are unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and I wasn’t “getting it” for the first few rows. When it clicked, though, I was suddenly going like gangbusters. I didn’t swap stitches the way the pattern specified; I considered them like normal cables and worked them using the method for cabling without a cable needle that I first saw on Grumperina’s blog.

Let’s talk a bit about this yarn. I’ve always been someone who lusts after Tess yarns, and spends an inordinate amount of time in that booth at all the fiber festivals I attend. I’ve bought yarn there, but never the sock yarn. I’m a total convert! It’s firm and dense and gives excellent stitch definition (great with this pattern) and is also soft and comfy. And the color Kristy chose!! Pale icy blue ranks very high on my list of favorite colors, and I found picking this sock up every day a true delight.

I don’t know how to thank you enough, Kristy! Actually, stay tuned, folks, because Kristy sent me a copy of Folk Socks (in addition to the tea, chocolates, and small bag featuring yoga-themed fabric), but I already own it. So we’re going to devise some kind of contest in which you win the extra copy.

I’m so sad that I finished so quickly. It was less than a week ago that I was marveling at Kristy’s skilled knitting. In such a short time I magically have a finished pair–and that’s the brilliance of the Single Sock Swap. (Happily, the two socks are nearly identical. Only difference? She did a better job picking up the stitches around the gusset.)

The Twist-Front Top by Adrienne Vittadini is complete! I decided the Met would be the best spot for my photo shoot. It went great, but right as I was finishing up I was informed that if you want to use a tripod at the Met, even one as small as my Gorillapod, you have to check in with Security and get a permission slip. Apparently it’s easy to get permission, but you must seek it. Security guard who told me this? Crabby. No need to get snippy, lady.

I’m thrilled with this knit. Especially after having wanted to make it for more than two years, it’s particularly satisfying to have had it come out just right. Fits perfectly, flattering shaping, great color–what more can I say? I’ll let a bunch of photos tell the story. It was hazy up there on the Roof Garden–ah, October days in the 80s. Oppressive.

I think this top will be great for the winter/late fall under this blazer. The wool of the tank and the necessary camisole underneath (I made a special shopping trip yesterday to get one) actually made me quite warm–it wasn’t just the crazy hot weather. Which means this is a tank top that isn’t just for summer!

Twist-Front Top by Adrienne Vittadini, Spring 2005
Yarn: Brooks Farm Acero, purchased at Maryland Sheep & Wool
Skeins: 2, but I still have quite a bit of the second skein left
Needles: US 3 and US 4, Addi Turbos
Started: Thursday, September 27
Finished: Saturday, October 6
Notes: I did not get the prescribed gauge, but I liked the way the Brooks Farm knit up in this stitch pattern, so I did some math and chose to work the largest size of the pattern. Even with this, I was accounting for a decent amount of negative ease–crucial since this is a lace-based stitch pattern. (Ravelry reviews support this, too.) And the Acero really blossomed when it was washed–grew a decent amount in length and opened up nicely. I think because of the laciness you have a lot of leeway for sizing down. It’s kind of a fluke that mine turned out so very very perfect.

The pattern is definitely for an experienced knitter. This is not to say that anything about knitting this was actually difficult or tricky, but the pattern expects you as an experienced knitter to understand the knitting thoroughly enough that you can accurately process the directions. Let me explain. The decreases that happen along the miter will eventually smack into the lacework. You have to know enough about the lace pattern and the decrease to ensure that you are actually decreasing on those rows (that is, know when to take out a yo). There were some other pattern oddities: When you’re working the two fronts at the same time, they expect you to imagine the work as a continuous piece. So when they say “at the beginning of the next two rows” they really mean “at the armhole edge.” If you decided to work the sides separately (I think it goes faster when you do), you can get very screwed up. While you’re knitting, it’s pretty obvious, but it’s potentially confusing.

The armhole finishing, which I really like the look of, has you pick up stitches, purl back, then immediately cast off. But I think it called for too few stitches be picked up. For the size I knit, it said to pick up 92 stitches, and it felt pinched. I took it out and picked up what seemed like a natural number of stitches, not really counting but aiming to have the same amount on the front and back, and I ultimately picked up about 104.

If I were to do it all over again: I’m very tempted to knit another version in plain stockinette, so that the twist at the front is the focal point and doesn’t get lost in the pattern. If I were to knit this again, either using the pattern or in stockinette, I would:

1. Add a selvedge stitch on both sides. Seaming this up was a little bit of a stab in the dark without them.
2. Start the miter lower and decrease slower, so that the bottom edge of the miter really comes up under the bust. They have all sizes begin the miter 6 inches from the bottom–I’m not sure if that’s really the best way to go.
3. Maybe leave the edges of the miter “live” and use short rows instead of decreases at the edge, so that when you pick up for the left and right fronts, you get a more seamless edge (this wouldn’t work with the lace pattern as written, but would be nice in stockinette, I think).

Recommendation: Do yourself a favor and purchase an undergarment that is DARK, not light, to produce flattering results. A light one will produce too-high contrast. Skin tone undergarments are a bad idea when the pattern is this open, too; you look like you’re naked. I got a brown V-neck camisole at Express for $7.99 on sale. Perfect.

PS: Rachel, I like to think this is another example of, to use your words, “Minty Makes Somewhat Questionable Knitting Patterns Look Hot” (look at some of the comments and–cough–photos on Ravelry and you might see what I mean).

3 skeins of yarn: 2 brown, 1 blue. A sock pattern that is close to, but not quite, 2:1, is a good idea, but you should realize that toes and heels actually constitute a decent amount of yarn. Which means you will run out of the “1″ before you’re through with the “2.” These socks would have been done a bit sooner, but I had to take out the first one to redo. But I’m thrilled with the ultimate result, so it was all worth it.

Do you see what I did? My little tweak that fixed not only the yarn consumption but created a small optical illusion so that the stripes appear to be essentially the same height? (It’s not exact, I know, but it’s pretty good in my opinion.) My 2:1 “pattern” was to knit 6 rows of brown to 2 rows of blue, until I got to the calf muscle, at which I not only increased stitches but started working 8 rows of brown to 2 rows of blue. I had 31 inches of blue left in the end. Thirty-one!

Stripey Socks
Yarn: Koigu KPM (or however many Ps should be in there)
Needles: US 1 Knitpicks
Method: Short-row toe, short-row heel, toe-up, magic loop
Calf shaping: On the 6th brown band from the heel I increased 6 stitches (2 stitches a row for 3 alternating rows). On the 14th brown band from the heel I increased another 6 stitches, same deal, only I knit that band for 7 rows. All following brown bands were 8 rows high.
Carrying colors: I didn’t bother with any kind of “jogless” trickiness with the color–who cares? I don’t mind that there’s an apparent spot where the rows ended. I just carried the blue up along the inside, putting a tiny bit of slack in so that it wouldn’t pull.
Started: I have no idea. I think I probably officially started them, um, back in April? I went though some nonknitting time in there.
Finished: Wednesday, July 25 (Mom’s bday!)
Nitpicky notes: I really wanted the heel to coincide with a blue stripe, and I’m pretty lucky that the foot length worked out for me to do that! I don’t know how I would have engineered it otherwise.

Not much else to say. Luf!

The Swallowtail Shawl is done! And I wore her to work today (to many wonderful compliments).

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl
Source: Interweave Knits
Yarn: Shelridge Farm “Soft Touch Lace,” 100% wool, 2-ply laceweight
Color: Mandarin
Skeins: Less than 1; a skein is 500 yards
Needles: Addi Turbo size 5 circ, then a size 8, then a size 10
Preblocking size: 34″ wide by 16″ high at the tip
Postblocking size: 54″ wide by 22″ high at the tip
Started: Thursday, May 17 (evening)
Finished: Monday, May 28 (evening)

Modifications: I chose to make the shawl larger, increasing the number of center back motif (”Budding Lace”) repeats. I prefer this proportion–more center motif, with the border qualifying as more of a border. The pattern calls for 14 repeats. In order to match the stitch count up to the next motif properly, the next size up must have 19 repeats. The way this is figured out is that the repeat of the Budding Lace pattern is 6 stitches wide. The repeat for Lily of the Valley border is 10 stitches. Which means you have to increase the Budding Lace by a multiple of 10, and the lowest multiple of 10 that 6 can make is 30, so that makes 5 additional repeats.

Now, what I didn’t pay attention to was that the Peaked Edging repeat is 8 stitches wide. So like someone who is convinced she’s got the theme answer in a crossword puzzle and goes to write it in only to discover the number of boxes is horribly misaligned to the length of the supposed answer, I knit away on the third row of the Peaked Edging (the first row where the stitch count matters) and realized at the end that it was off! By 2 stitches on each half–quite easily remedied. If you do make the larger shawl, you can either sneak two increases at either end of the halves on row 2 (a pf/b [purl front and back] would suffice), or work row 3 as follows (I’m too lazy to make a chart): k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, *k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k1; repeat from *, end k1, yo, k1 yo [this is up to the center stitch–repeat this after the center stitch]. The boldface I used here calls out the two instances where the pattern has been changed. The first k2 should have been an ssk and k1, but because you have fewer stitches, you should leave this one as a knit and pretend you decreased there. Same goes for the k1 on the other side, which should be a k2tog.

Note that the pattern says, “The shawl can be made larger by working it with fingering, sport, or worsted-weight yarn on larger needles.” At first, I didn’t realize why it seemed to take the easy way out for making it larger! Ahh, it’s because you can’t just do more repeats like with other patterns!

I’m really happy with the modified size. If I hadn’t it would have been miniscule. I’m not sure if my yarn is a lot thinner than what people usually use (I didn’t do a gauge swatch because, well, I didn’t really care to test it that closely), but it wouldn’t even have wrapped around my shoulders if I hadn’t increased. It’s about the same size as my Kiri, maybe just a tad smaller, even with the increase in size. I think maybe three repeats of the Lily of the Valley border would be my next step for increasing the size–it’s got more than enough of the Budding Lace, I think. To do this, my guess is that you would work Lily of the Valley Border 1, then Lily of the Valley Border 2, then Border 1 again before moving on to the Peaked Edging.

Now, my decrease modifications. Let’s start with the nupps. A p5tog is nigh-on impossible to execute. But slip 2, p3tog, psso is exactly the same (think about it), and decently straightforward to enact, so that’s what I did (thanks to those who reminded me that this is the the way to do it!). I really wish I’d had the Addi Lace needles, though, because even getting the needle into the 3 was sometimes finicky. At times, I used a size 2 Knitpicks needle, which is nice and pointy, and just dragged the new stitch immediately onto the working needles. Since I knew that sl2, p3tog, psso is the same as a p5tog, I also knew that sl4, p1, psso would also be the same (or sl3, p2tog, psso), but that wasn’t any easier–I tried. The real issue was the fact that the stitch just following the nupp is a yo. So of course the yo gets out of place and overlaps the nupp stitches, making getting the needle into the correct stitches a pain, and to add to the problems, the yo pulls at the very last stitch, making it tighter around the needle. There were times when I’d forgotten to do the yo, and it was much easier–and it’s easy to just pick up between stitches to create the yo that was missing. I think if I were to knit Swallowtail again I would not make either yo on the sides of the nupps on the knit row, and just insert them on the purl row. I didn’t do it here because I hadn’t been doing it consistently, and I didn’t want the yo size to be erratic throughout.

The other decrease modification I made was to the “sk2p” (sl1 kwise, k2tog, psso). I decided I didn’t want the stitches to be passed over each other at all–which creates a direction–and instead I wanted a centered double decrease, where the “middle” stitch seems to travel straight up and down with the other two tucked behind it. When I first “discovered” this decrease I used the cabling w/o a cable needle technique to reverse the order of the first two stitches (and twist the second one), but in the edging pattern (of course, only at the END of the knitting!) it occurred to me that there was an easier way. So, I reveal the centered double decrease that I made up but which probably exists in plenty of other books, but I didn’t see it there:

Slip 2 stitches at once as if to k2tog. Slip without any further twisting back to the left needle, then k3tog tbl.

Another modification was for the edging. Just like for my Kiri, I wanted to ensure that the bottom edge was scalloped nicely–no gentle curves or the hint of a scallop for me. To do this, I used a size 8 needle to purl the last row of the Peaked Edging, then a size 10 needle for all the final rows per the pattern (2 rows before the bindoff). I think it was the perfect choice.

I knit the Swallowtail with no particular event in mind–I was just in the mood to knit lace. But I will be attending a black tie wedding in November, and the dress I will probably wear is a simple black sheath, so it will go nicely with that. I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking buying orange laceweight yarn, but I really enjoyed having the lapful of sunshine to knit on. And that’s good because I have another whole skein (and the remainder of this one!) to knit something else.