The semi-secret sweater project

It's not actually a secret. It's Alice Starmore's Inishmore.



I'm knitting it for a fellow Wrimo who wants a big, comfy fisherman's sweater.

I officially started it (read: finally stopped screwing it up after the ribbing) on Jan. 26th and have been zipping along ever since. Well, for a given value of "zipping".

There are good things and bad things about this pattern. The good thing is, the cables aren't difficult to memorize and it's easy to start working with only a cursory glance at the pattern once you've knit a few repeats.

The bad thing is...the cables aren't difficult to memorize. Even mixing it up--back, sleeve, front, sleeve--the pattern starts to become tedious. I'm now about halfway through the second sleeve and am alternating between finding the speedy knitting enjoyable and wanting to throw it out the window.

I'm using KnitPicks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool, and oh boy. Never again, at least not for cable work. It had a terrible tendency to split or untwist when the stitches are moved, which can spell disaster for the look of a cable if the knitter isn't paying enough attention. Fortunately, I haven't had any mishaps that are 1) too hard to fix or 2) grossly noticeable.

Another good thing about the cable pattern? It's easy enough to work on while on the computer. Or, in my case, while playing the new Sims 2 expansion pack. What's not to love about Sims who go to a secret Arts & Crafts lot and talk about knitting? (They do, if you watch closely enough!)

The second primary-colored sock is still on the needles. I finished the gusset during last night's Lost, and will probably end up finishing the sock sometime during the gap between the pre-strike 8 episodes and the post-strike 5, at which point there will be more pictures. (Does anybody else put their knitting down when something pivotal happens to Desmond?)

That's it on the knitting front for now. I shall return, sooner rather than later.

Mood: hungry
Music: The Frames - Sad Songs

Spinning, spinning, spinning (and socks)

That crazy-colored wool I mentioned buying?



Spun like a dream.



Plied like a dream.



And made one really awesome-looking skein.



I'm so proud of this yarn, probably more proud than I should be. It's soft, bouncy, and looks much better than my first couple batches of handspun. I have plans for it to be a funny earflap hat, probably with a pompom. Whatever it ends up being, I'm thinking it'll end up on Etsy.

I ended up plying the plied yarn again because I wanted something thicker, and it made me realize that I need to learn more about plying. Thank God for libraries and Google!

On the knitting side of things, I've been making socks out of the Sockotta yarn I picked up in Kaleidoscope Yarns over the summer. It's been a nice break from all the color work, cabling, and general frustration I've had with my other recent projects.

I didn't like the extremely primary colorway at first, but the little flecks of white in the colors give the finished product a muted, heathery look that's grown on me. Plus, the heel flap on this one looks kind of like an ear of corn, which I found oddly endearing. Sock #2 is on the needles for knitting in lines, in the dark, and whenever Lost is on. (Is anyone else crazy excited about the season 4 premiere next week? Furthermore, has anyone else been playing with find815.com? It's like crack for Lost fans.)

Also on the list for knitting:
-- gloves for my brother, on the needles but the size needs checking
-- the Phoebe pullover for me, sometime in the future
-- a pattern as close as I can get to Marketa's gloves in Once
-- a super-secret design project
-- a semi-secret not-for-me sweater project

I'm about to be a very busy knitter!

Mood: hydrated
Music: Dan Fogelberg - Make Love Stay

Two birds with one stone

Tuesday afternoon, I got to make use of Mike for the first time!

I made a brief sojourn to A Touch of Twist (during which it started to snow like crazy, but I was too stubborn to turn back), bought some fairly inexpensive white wool and some slightly more expensive crazy-colored wool, and returned to the house to spin!

I've only seen someone else use a spinning wheel up close once. The other times I caught glimpses were all through crowds at Rhinebeck. So, being the way I am and liking to teach myself how to do things, I got a stack of spinning books out of the library last week. Before I sat down with Mike and my wool for the first time, I spent a bit of time flipping through them and reading the bits that were pertinent for someone just starting out.

Of course, there's a lot I still don't know about spinning. There's a lot I have to learn and there's a very good chance that I'm doing something wrong. (Did I ever mention that I purled the wrong way for about the first year and a half of my knitting life?)

That said, I really enjoyed myself and produced this:



My first crappy handspun!

So then I had this handspun. It was white. It looked funny. What to do with it? Why, get some Kool-Aid, of course, and make it my first dyeing project!

I had to hunt around to three stores for the Kool-Aid I wanted, which is kind of sad given that I grew up drinking the stuff and every store used to have scads of those little packets. But I did finally locate the colors I wanted.



Lemonade and tropical punch, respectively. It only occurred to me after I made a complete mess of the stove that I probably should have suspended the yarn over the pan on a spoon handle or something. Ah well, live and learn!



After the obligatory rinsing and drying, the yarn miraculously looked less odd, at least to me. To me, it suddenly looked less like crappy, over-twisted first handspun and more like some of the deliberately uneven yarns on the market.

I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. I'm thinking a hat, if there's enough. If not?



There's always batch #2 from today!

Mood: accomplished
Music: The Frames - Your Face (live)

New Toy

This is Mike.



Mike is an Ashford Traveller, purchased last week from The Woolery and assembled this morning with a little aid from Dad.

The decision to buy Mike was a fairly easy one, despite my dinky budget. I've found spinning fascinating for a while, having seen someone in the local Stitch 'n' Bitch spinning llama yarn, and watching a friend learn to use a drop spindle a couple years back.

But the thing that really caught my interest was reading Barbara Albright's The Natural Knitter. It was the first book I ever read that specifically discussed fibers and their characteristics, and one of the few non-fiction books I've ever read with enthusiasm. The focus on natural/organic fibers and dye processes fit with the mindset that my entire family has been moving toward in the last few years, and the idea of getting back to nature with knitting made me seriously start to contemplate learning to spin.

I didn't want to start small. I wanted to pull out the big guns, so to speak, and learn to spin on a wheel. Thus, after several weeks of frantic saving and budget readjustment, Mike was purchased.

I am so. So. Excited. As soon as I can, I'm going to go out and visit A Touch of Twist in Pattersonville and get my very first fiber. I know there are places on the internet that I could just as easily order from without leaving the house, but I want to be able to see and touch the first thing I'm going to spin before I buy it.

In other awesome fiber news,



the Red Sweater of Doom has been vanquished! Here it is, blocking a bit to even out the seed stitch. Seventeen months of agonizing knitting, frustration, and setting it aside and trying to pretend it didn't exist...and now it's done! I'm glad I listened to my whim and picked it up again. It's nice to have it off my back, and Mom will finally have her sweater. Honestly, that's the only reason I kept plugging along with it at all. Had it been for me, I would have given up and frogged it long ago.

A word on the yarn: unless you don't mind tough, non-elastic yarn that has a tendency to split, I suggest staying away from Saucy Sport. It has wonderful strength, I'll give it that, but it feels and behaves rather like twine.

As for the pattern...if you're a knitting masochist, give it a try. If you value your sanity, stay far, far away!

Onward and upward to other things! *bounces away*

Mood: excited
Music: They Might Be Giants - Feign Amnesia

The dawn of a new knitting year

Here I am, back in the blogsphere after a whirlwind of a holiday season. I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that it's 2008 (where did 2007 go?); that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's have passed; and that my vacation is very nearly over.

You would think two weeks off from work would give a girl ample knitting, writing, blogging, and all-around goof-off time, right? Wrong.

Well, sort of wrong. Shortly before the start of my vacation time, I was cursed with what seemed like a winter cold. Said cold was annoyingly persistent, so my doctor put me on medication, which eased the symptoms a bit, but didn't kill them entirely. So I'm stuck with the remnants of the cold (or whatever it is), which include a nasty cough that has landed me in bed more than once doing little aside from chatting and watching unhealthy amounts of Jeeves & Wooster. So I haven't done much that's productive.

I did, however, work on the circus sweater--er, the Mirepoix--over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The whole steeking business has, so far, been easier than I thought it would be, albeit more time-consuming. (That's the front neck steek in the picture.) Cutting them open when the time comes still makes me uneasy, but since other knitters have been using steeks literally for centuries, I suppose I shouldn't be worried.

I'm finished with the armhole and neck decreases and am now on to the bit where I have to knit miles and miles of the exceedingly ugly circus colors until the armholes are the right size. On the upside, I have found someone who doesn't think the colors are deathly offensive, and so the sweater will be shipped off to her when all's said and done.

I'll probably knit the pattern again for myself at some point in the future, but definitely not any time soon. Fair Isle is fun to knit, and it's fascinating to watch the color pattern come together, but it also takes a really long time. For now, I'd rather knit something I can work on easily without having it take all of my attention.

And, *gasp* what's that? That's right, it's the Red Sweater of Doom, back again!

I got the weird urge to work on this last week, so I got out the size 5 needle tips and went to it. I haven't hit a point where I can't stand it yet, so I'm going to keep at it until I do. Hopefully the urge won't run out before the sweater is done.

I think this is the best picture I've taken of it so far. The color is a little lighter than the yarn looks in real life, but it's very close, and you can finally see the cables clearly. These are just the small ones; the leaf motif doesn't start for another 20 rows yet. I'm hoping to get to it today, or at least finish the little cables.

Best thing about this sweater (and the only thing that isn't "of Doom" about it)? The edges are all in seed stitch, so it'll seam in no time.

In other news, I finally got to see the acclaimed movie, Once, shortly before Christmas. I had read and heard so much about it over the months between when it was released in theatres and when the DVD came out, that I was practically bursting when it hit store and rental shelves. I had already fallen deeply in love with the soundtrack when I bought it back in September, and was well-acquainted with the music by the time I ran out and rented the DVD.

Guys...see this movie. If you love music or play music, see it. If you've ever completely lost track of time while doing something you love, see it. If you now or have ever loved someone who has music in their soul, see it. See it with them. See it with friends. And keep some tissues handy. It's different, it's bittersweet, and the music is amazing. The fact that Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (the leading Guy and Girl, respectively) wrote and performed all the music on the soundtrack makes it that much better.

Believe it or not, there is actually a knitting-related connection here. There are some fun knitted things hiding in this movie, most notably (to me, anyway), Marketa's gloves. Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting has a cable charted that's very similar to the one on the back of the gloves, and I have plans to work out a pattern for them using that as a guide. When I do, I'll post it here so we can all knit cute mitts!

That's all the knitterly news for now. I'll try to be a little more consistent with my posting now that the busy holiday season is over!

Happy 2008, everyone!

Mood: sick
Music: They Might Be Giants - I Can't Hide From My Mind

"But it looked so pretty on the website!"

I have come to a sad realization about the Mirepoix.



Although the knitting itself looks just fine, and the fair isle bit isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be,



it's ugly as sin. This color scheme could not be uglier if a circus threw up on it.

It looked fine on the website. When I was ordering the yarn, the colors looked far more muted, like they'd blend into each other and create something close to what was in the original pattern, but in more of a fog-and-sky sort of theme.

As you can see, they're not muted. They're louder than a marauding air horn. I've been trying to tell myself for weeks that there's nothing really wrong with them, that it'll all work out because it's set against dark blue, but the plain, honest truth is that there is something wrong with them, and that something is that they are ugly, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Next time, I'm buying a color card first.

Mood: angry
Music: The Frames - Falling Slowly

Ho Meets Harlot, and other tales of Rhinebeck

This was definitely the coolest thing about Rhinebeck today:



The Yarn Harlot and I, "making a statement with our shirts", as she put it. I'm not sure what statement she's making, but I think mine screams that I'm a big, geeky knitter and proud of it! Knitting and geekery, in my opinion, go very well together. (Said the woman who knits by the light of her monitor while RPing at 3am.)

This is today's loot:



Just shy of 2,000 yards total of lace weight of various compositions. The blue is kid mohair, red/yellow/orange is merino, grey is superfine alpaca. Basically, I showed little restraint until I came to the end of my limited budget.

Overall, a fun day. I'm incredibly exhausted now, and will probably sleep like a brick for about 12 hours. And next year I want to go both days?

Ahahaha.

Why is nothing ever my size?

Behold, the start of Mirepoix!



Pictures will improve once I learn how to use the setting for closeups on my new camera.

It has been an age since I've done any mindless knitting. I think the last thing I worked on that required little or not attention was my dad's Father's Day sweater. Everything else I've done lately has had either cables or lace.

I know what you're thinking. "But Sam, Mirepoix has a freakin' huge fair isle section! With steeks!" I'm thinking it, too. But for now, it's lovely k2p2 ribbing for miles and miles. Knitting that can be done in the dark or by the light of a monitor screen is much valued during 2am RPG sessions!

Technical tomfoolery thus far: I'm using size US4 and US5 needles and DK weight yarn rather than the 3 and 4 with sport that the pattern calls for. I know myself; I knit very tightly. I just so happened to have some KnitPicks Merino Style in the stash and, on an impulse, swatched some up on a size 4. Yep, gauge. It's kind of sad how it took me three years to figure this out about my knitting.

Mild pattern gripery: Nothing, I repeat, nothing I knit in my bust size has armholes or sleeves the right size. Since we're all knitters here, I'll spill; I'm a 36". This means medium sizes, right? Right.

Except for armholes and sleeves.

For some reason, almost every single pattern I've ever knit from in a 36" bust size (or the closest size the pattern has) either has 14" or 16" armholes and 18" sleeves. Even with drop shoulders, neither of these is big enough for me. My arms? 21" from underarm to wrist. Hence the necessity to resize everything.

However, I've been thinking on Mirepoix and have decided that going up a bust size was, for once, possibly not the best move. Big, for this sweater, apparently equals bad. So I'm thinking of doing an equivalent of the increase row for the 35" size and knitting the fair isle section in that size. But because 1) I've put a lot of time into it already and 2) I am not itty bitty, never have been itty bitty, and don't have any illusions of being itty bitty, I'm doing the rest in the 38.5" size.

Methinks I'm going to need a highlighter.

Mood: contemplative
Music: Arlo Guthrie - The City of New Orleans

Revelate, revelate

Thanks to a quick blocking job with the help of a high-powered fan,



it's done! The only thing I changed after taking the picture was to sew an inch or so of the neckline shut so that it draped better.

Complaints:
-- While the aran-weight yarn got gauge well enough, it's a bit light and so the shoulders don't always stay up properly.

-- The sizing on this pattern is a bit convoluted. I made the body at the closest to the correct bust size there was, and it's still a little big. The corresponding sleeves, however, were both too small around and too short. The sleeves for the modified armhole where the right size, but also too short. This is probably more of the fault of my broad shoulders than the pattern.

Likes:
-- The yarn is really soft. Yet another thing I wish I could afford regularly. (JoSharp Silkroad Aran, in case I forgot to mention it before.)

-- It's warm without being too warm, and nicely light. Also looks good with jeans. I'll probably be wearing it to Rhinebeck this weekend.

I am so excited for Rhinebeck! I really wish I could go Saturday, but I have a gig on Saturday night and walking around all day beforehand would not be conducive to putting on a good performance. So Sunday it is, all day long, in all its fiber-filled glory.

This has, however, turned out to be a good thing, in that I will finally get to meet the Yarn Harlot! I will try not to geek out too much, but it's always exciting to be able to meet people whose work you enjoy. I love reading Stephanie's books and blog, and I admire the way she can make me laugh at a regular, everyday scenario that has never before struck me as funny. I'd say she's well on her way to becoming the Terry Pratchett of the knitting world.

That's all for now. Next time, whatever progress I manage to make on Mirepoix!

Mood: way beyond tired
Music: The Frames - Revelate

Yey and Oy

Yey for





finished Pomatomus!

Oy for



Cherie Amour.

Knitting Pomatomus has put me permanently in love with both Cookie A.'s designs and Koigu KPPPM yarn. When knitting with it, it doesn't seem to feel too different than other sock yarns I've used, but wearing it...merino on feet is delicious.

Cherie Amour...urgh. It's such a beautiful, simple design. The design and I are cool with each other. However, the pattern and I are waging all-out war.

A sample, taken from my Ravelry notebook:

9/23, 12:30am -- Just had to rip out two day's worth of knitting because every single decrease was *backwards*. This was due to my stupid inability to pay attention to charts rather than anything being wrong with the pattern.

9/26 -- After about a billion restarts, I've got this going nicely again! It's not a bad pattern; I'm not really sure what my problem with it has been. Might be suddenly knitting on size 13 needles after doing socks for so long!

9/30 -- My goodness, this thing is a horror show. Right now I'd place the blame about 60/40 on me/the pattern...

I was briefly mollified over the weekend. Lulled, you might say:

10/6 -- Zipping right along! Finally, I feel confident about this thing.

Confident, yes. Still confident, in fact. But today I realized that confident little me got cocky and knit an entire sleeve without thinking of the fact that I resized the armhole. So confident little me got a sleeve measuring 14 inches across the top...for a 17-inch armhole.

Why is it that so many patterns assume that people with a 36" bust have arms that will fit in a 14" armhole? Or are sized for sleeves 18" long? I don't think of myself as big, but I am a broad-shouldered, longish-limbed woman. I nearly always end up having to buy a large in women's shirts and jackets because, even if it fits in all other respects, a medium will inevitably be too short in the sleeves or too tight across the back.

So along come patterns like Cherie Amour, or that ribbon-yarn tank top I knit a while back from a book of "hip" patterns and ended up having to rip out, that have measurements that I'm sure fit someone, but that someone is not me. And so I made adjustments, thinking myself clever and in tune with my knitting...and then I do something dumb like forget to resize the sleeve. The especially dumb thing in this case? 17" is an actual armhole measurement in a larger size of the Cherie Amour pattern. The directions are already there. If someone had been keeping score, I think this pattern would have trounced me a long time ago.

And that's the knitterly drama that's been going on in my life. I'll keep chugging along, but I think I'll give lace a rest after this.

Next up? Mirepoix Bodice from Interweave Knits fall '07. Currently eying a blue/grey/white/black theme. New stuff to tackle: large swatch of colorwork and *gulp* steeking!