Category Archives: in progress

9:46 am - June 24, 2013 - AngelaH

Little green leaves

You know, monogamous knitting isn’t so bad when your project is this cute. I was trying to explain to L last night about what makes knitting a little dress so entirely captivating and it’s hard to explain in words. I kept sort of giggling and then showing him the little arm holes and how the back will close with a little button and explaining about the leaf lace trim yet to come and, well, he did not get it (although he did concede that small things are cute).

I’m about halfway through the stockinette portion of the skirt. I love how it bubbles out from the little bodice.

Anyway, if you have a baby girl coming into your life, Sproutlette is the dress to knit. The pattern is straightforward, adorable, and easy to modify. To wit, The baby I’m knitting this for was born in March, which makes her about three months old; the pattern offers three sizes: 0-6 months, 6-12 months 12-24 months. For a three-month old baby (who I have not yet met, and thus don’t have proper dimensions for) this is a bit of a puzzle. I want to knit her something that will serve as a little dress in the summer and early fall, and then transition to a tunic when it gets chilly. Ideally, that’s four to six months of wear, depending on how fast she grows and whether her parents are as entranced by this little garment as I am.

Teeny tiny leaves!

So, I’m changing this slightly to fit a baby approximately 3-9 months old. So far, this has been pretty simple. I normally have to go up a needle size to get gauge, so instead of doing that I’ve gone up a size (I’m making the medium) but used the needle recommended in the pattern, giving me a slightly tighter gauge of 30 (instead of 26) sts = 4 inches. I’m working out a couple of other mods, but I’ll explain all those once this is done and they make sense (and I know they work).

When I cast this on I realized all my project bags were occupied, so instead of taking that as a sign, I just sewed up another one. It’s my new favourite I think.

Okay, if I’m going to going to get this finished by Saturday (which really means Friday morning so there’s time to block it) I need to sneak a few rows in before I go to work. it’s funny, because as much as I’m enjoying this knit, I am already looking forward to getting back to Kit, which Cassy has just announced she’s knitting too and, well, now I really just want us both to be finished to see how they look! Is anyone else knitting this tank too?

Categories: in progress, Knitting, Sewing Tags: baby knits

9:12 am - June 20, 2013 - AngelaH

Kit is coming along

There was less of this than I was hoping for, but I snuck in backyard knitting where I could.

Linen! Right? I mean, it’s so sort of rough and crunchy in the skein, but then you start knitting with it and it gets all soft and drapey and wow, I’m a convert. I was worried its stiffness would make my hands hurt or tire out my wrists, but you know, I’m a third of the way through Kit (maybe more than that, actually) and I’m fine.

I will say, though, that the border took forever. I tend to feel like that about edgings (especially when you start with them) but this one really forever. I actually gave serious thought to skipping out early, but then I’d look back at the pattern pictures and admire the wide hem and decide the slog was worth it. And you know, if I can block the thing flat I think it probably will be.

That 2.5 inches of rolled hem represents close to eight hours of work. So sad.

The panel up the back is the same texture, and although some people chose to skip it and just knit the body in stockinette, I really like the detail it gives the piece. I also like how the decreases run up the back, rather than on the sides, making it feel a little swingier and less structured.

My version won’t actually be as swingy as I would have liked because my gauge swatch lied big time. Like, it was off by about six stitches. Sigh. I knit most of this on the train to and from Windsor (about four hours each way, minus sleeping time since we were up early both days) and on the way back, once I was well into the stockinette portion, I decided to check my gauge. With wool, my gauge is the same flat as it is in the round; not so with linen, it seems. I tried on what I had when I got home, though, and the fit is fine, but not quite as airy as the pattern photos.

I really like the fabric I’m getting, though (the stitches are close enough together that I won’t need to layer anything underneath), so to ad drape I’d pretty much have to rip it all back and knit another size. That is, quite frankly, unappealing. So I’m going to keep going, but alter the decreases a bit so it fits nicely across the chest.

It might be a little while before I get there, though, since in a week and a half we’re meeting our friends’ baby for the first time (she was born in March, and gifted this little hat and sweater) and dammit I’m not showing up without an adorable gift. That gives me about a week to turn this (still unwound) skein of Malabrigo Sock into a Sproutlette. That’s doable, right?

Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: baby knits, Kit Camisole

10:21 am - June 14, 2013 - AngelaH

And we’re off! (almost)

This has been a long week. The weather has been off and on and a bunch of side projects all managed to converge at once to result in non-stop work. In the long run, I really don’t mind that (I’m not one to string things out) but that plus rain plus plumbing issues at home made for a week I’m glad to see the end of. Partly, though, it felt like a long week because something fun was waiting at the end of it.

Tomorrow, L and I are going away for a sort of mini-holiday. We’re taking four days to visit his parents and then go down to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to visit his sister and her fiancé. Despite visiting Windsor pretty regularly to see his family, we’ve never gone down through Detroit or into the States from there at all (well, obviously he has, we just haven’t been together). I’ve been wanting to for a while and now we’re going. Exciting!

Even better is that we’re being leisurely and taking the train to and from Windsor. While this does mean we leave at a rather unhappy hour tomorrow morning, it also means neither of us has to drive (it’s four hours) and that we aren’t taking the bus (which takes 6 hours!) and that I’ll have lots of knitting time. Oh glory, what a great way to bookend a trip.

This will become a tank top. Yes it will.

I’ve saved Kit for my trip knitting. I’ve swatched (pre-wash I was three stitches too loose, post-wash I’m one stitch too tight, so I’m calling that gauge) and wound two skeins of Euroflax (the second ball was much more successful) and I’m going to cast on on the train. It’s mostly stockinette, with a little texture, so I think it’ll be good social knitting. In case I decide I need a little more action, though, I’m also going to stow Willowherb in my bag.

I finished the first sock almost two weeks ago and then got distracted by Grace, which is coming along nicely. Willowherb is such a good pattern, honestly, you should knit it. It’s interesting and fun and, despite there being little chart repetition, it builds into a great rhythm. Also, the first sock fits so well it’s crazy. I suspect it’s those little twisted rib inserts, which hug the fabric in that are doing it, but it’s pretty amazing and I can’t wait to have the finished pair on my feet.

So, that’s my wind-down plan. Do you have one? Have you been to Ann Arbour? Are there any must-sees? Any good yarn shops I should be sure to check out? I will report back on the whole adventure early next week!

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: socks, tank, travel, trip knitting, Willowherb

9:23 am - June 7, 2013 - AngelaH

Flip-flop

The weather here has been all over the place. I don’t know what I was expecting (not true, I was expecting summer), but this is not it. One day is hot the next day is so cold I feel justified in still having my wool cardigans in my closet. All of which is to say, as the weather shifts, so does what I want to be knitting.

I was actually going to buy purple, but I even changed my mind about that when I saw the yellow.

Three days ago I was just about ready to put Grace down and wait till the end of the summer to finish. I even went so far as to buy some linen (Louet Euroflax in Goldenrod) to knit myself the Kit Camisole. Then the weather turned and I’m back to Grace and the linen remains unwound.

I was going to take a picture of Grace, but even though it’s bigger than it was, until I actually make some proper headway all the photos will look the same. So instead I present my latest distraction: this lovely skein of 60% seacell/40% silk laceweight that sort of fell into my lap the other day at the shop (truly: it was a gift).

What I want to do with it (knit double into a crescent garter stitch shawl) seems so boring that I’m convinced there’s a pattern out there just waiting for me to find it. I don’t know what’s going on. I have numerous lovely projects on the needles and all I can think about is casting on more. (Even though I rather suspect they’d just languish on the needles too.)

The one bright note is that I finished the first Willowherb sock and it is both lovely and fits well. So that’s something.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Grace, Willowherb, yarn shopping

5:52 pm - June 3, 2013 - AngelaH

Something orange and something blue

This is a new something orange, and it is the reason that I didn’t finish the first of my Willowherb socks this weekend. It’s actually entirely counter-intuitive, because this weekend was so oppressively humid I changed three times on Saturday and I wasn’t doing anything high-energy. Clearly, then, this was the weekend to cast on for Grace. I mean, who doesn’t crave wool cardigans when the humidity is hovering at 100%?

I actually cast on twice. Once, on the needles that my gauge swatch told me were the right size, and then again, with a larger needle, when it was clear my swatch had lied. Somehow, I am now getting an even tighter gauge (!?) but rather than rip out again and start with yet another needle size, I’m chalking it up to the knit-ripped-and-reknit yarn being a little tight. It’ll block out, right?

So that’s the orange. The blue is a bit of a surprise, at least to me. Remember all that time ago when I sewed that project bag? Well, I haven’t sewed a thing since, but last week I got it into my head that I was going to make myself some summer clothes. I don’t know what got into me, but I just decided I could do it, without any sort of evidence backing me up.

Yesterday, I went to The Workroom and picked up some fabric (twice as much as I needed, just in case the first attempt didn’t work out) and the pattern I had in mind: the ubiquitous Wiksten Tank.

I got down to business today (I had the day off) and, after five hours I have a shirt! And it even fits. This is the first piece of clothing I’ve ever made, unless you count the boxers I had to make in seventh grade Family Studies (I do not). L isn’t home yet, so proper finished shots will have to wait. In the meantime, check it out:

Ta da! (It’s hanging on a slight angle, it isn’t actually crooked. Promise.)

Not bad, right? I know it isn’t perfect, but most of the faults are hidden when I’m wearing it. And, that print! I love that print. I have lots left, so short of making the exact same thing again, I’m not quite sure what to with it. I’ll come up with something though.

The print is actually bicycle sprockets! I love it. It’s from the Ride collection by Julia Rothman.

For the top, I had planned to make the XL, but after sewing the side seams I tried it on and it was a tent. I based my pattern size on my bust, but since my waist is 10 inches smaller than my chest, it can be tricky. To fix it, I took 3 inches off the width (1.5 inches per side, tapering up to 1 inch at the armpit). I also took two inches off the back neck by adding a box pleat (totally inspired by Linda). This small success has inspired me to start planning more sewing projects. Although, given how long this simple tank took, it may be a while before any of them are seen here.

Edited to add: L got home right after I hit post, so he agreed to take some impromtu shots. Not the best photos of me (I was freezing, in addition to not styling myself at all), but oh well.

Categories: in progress, Knitting, Sewing Tags: Grace, sewing, sweater, tank, Wiksten

8:59 am - May 31, 2013 - AngelaH

No safety pint required

Last weekend I cast on for Willowherb from Coop Knits Socks. It’s one of the orange projects (using Indigordragonfly merino sock in Safety Pin or Safety Pint: Discuss) and I am totally captivated.

Rachel Coopey’s patterns are really beautifully presented, with very clear directions and lots of inspiring pictures. Also, these patterns make beautiful garments. Willowherb combines twisted stitches, switch-back lace work and stockinette panels to make a sock that is super fun to knit and, I suspect, very comfortable to wear. I’m especially enjoying the little inserts of twisted ribbing, which pull the sock in and, I suspect, will prevent any late-in-the-day slippage (I hate the feeling of socks pooling around my ankles, something that rarely happens now that I knit my own).

The stitch pattern also seems designed to prevent boredom. It’s an eight-stitch repeat, which lets you get into a rhythm, but the chart is 54 rows long, so in the enter sock you might only get through it two or two and a half times. I guess this means I have the chart out while knitting, but honestly, you only have to look at it once a row (thanks to the short repeat), so it isn’t as though you’re married to it.

The yarn, it turns out, is a perfect match. It’s springing and almost spongy in that way merino can be, and it’s giving great stitch definition (sadly, to often wonky stitches). Despite the lace, these are pretty dense socks, so they’ll likely see wear all year round. I have several skeins of this yarn in my stash and I’m really excited to see how it looks in other kinds of patterns.

Assuming I don’t get distracted by orange project no. 2 this weekend, I may well have a finished Willowherb by Monday. Honestly, you try putting down a project that’s this much fun.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Indigodragonfly, Rachel Coopey, socks, Willowherb

9:41 am - May 17, 2013 - AngelaH

Wild Monkeys

After knitting nothing but garter stitch for two weeks (and such a lot of garter stitch it was) I needed something entirely different. Naturally, my attention turned to socks. I actually cast on after finishing the fourth repeat of my shawl (so, okay, not two weeks of nothing but garter stitch, but pretty close). I didn’t yet have my copy of Coop Knits Socks, so I couldn’t start Willowherb, but I have had Cookie A.’s Monkey in my queue for almost a year now, so they seemed a suitable choice.

I’m using SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Honey Fig.

I’ve mentioned before that I wear socks year round. Not every day in the summer, of course, but if I’m wearing my Chucks, I’m wearing socks. Spring, especially, is sock weather, since although it’s warm when I go to work (averaging 20C these days) the temperature is still falling to around 8C by the time I leave, and that is too cold to not have socks and shoes on while waiting for the bus.

This weather is perfect for lace socks. All that pretty patterning that is impractical when there’s snow on the ground is ideal right now, and will continue to be for the next few months. For all the socks I’ve knit for myself, though, I really only have two pairs of lace patterned socks. Not enough, clearly, so for the next few months I’m going to work on that portion of my sock drawer, which means lots of fun new patterns.

These Monkeys were a great place to start. They’re pretty much knitting themselves (I knit half the ribbing when I cast on last week, the rest of the knitting has been in the last couple of days) and are a perfect canvast for this yarn. I’m knitting the classic, with-purls version of the pattern (from Knitty), and although I might knit no-purl Monkeys in the future, the texture of knits and purls is doing wonderful things to break up flashing and pooling, which I can see happening on the sole, where it doesn’t matter.

Summer socks – I guess you have to be a knitter to get excited about such a thing, but man, is it too nerdy to say I can’t wait?

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Monkeys, socks

9:27 am - May 7, 2013 - AngelaH

Very looooong stripes

At this gauge, the garter stitch is so wonderfully plump.

I have been knitting my Sweet Street shawl very diligently since I cast on last Saturday night and managed to finish repeats three and four this weekend, despite spending most of the two days outside enjoying the glorious and unseasonably warm temperatures. Despite all my hard work and attempts at focus, though, I am slowing down.

As with all top-down shawls, the more you knit, the more there is to knit, because the rows get longer and longer as you progress. In the case of this shawl, where each repeat adds 84 stitches to the overall count, that meant I finished section 3 with 350 stitches on my needles. Now, the finished wingspan of this shawl is listed as 3 metres, which is basically enormous. My gauge tends to be a little tighter than Veera’s, but even if I only have it to 2 metres, that’s still a pretty big shawl.

I have no idea how big it is.

So, while I’m not surprised by the length of each row, I am a little dismayed at how long it’s taking to knit them. I have one repeat and and the edge to knit before I’m done and a week until my birthday, when I’d like to be wearing this, and I’m honestly not sure if I can make it. I’m going to knit like the wind, but these rows aren’t getting any shorter.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: shawl, Sweet Street

10:14 am - April 29, 2013 - AngelaH

Sweet Street

I have been planning to knit a second Colour Affection for a while now. I wear mine all the time and every time I wear it someone compliments it. Since I knit the fingering-weight one last time, I thought I’d knit it in laceweight for the second go round for a little more versatility and so it isn’t just the same thing again. Then, Veera Valimaki went and released Happy Street and, well, my plans sort of changed.

Super Sweet Sock in Luna.

Like Colour Affection, Sweet Street is a striped, garter stitch crescent shawl in three colours, but that’s basically where the similarities end. These stripes are wider and, because of some seriously clever short-rows, this shawl looks more like two colours striping over a solid background.

Super Sweet Sock in Early Spring.

Saturday was the DKC Knitter’s Frolic in Toronto, so I hit up the marketplace with this shawl in mind. My original plan was to do the bright stripe in chartreuse and then choose contrasting colours based on that, but when I arrived at the booth for Sweet Fiber Yarns, that plan went straight out the window.

Super Sweet Sock in Spanish Coin.

Sweet Fibre is new to me, and I was totally taken by their colours. I honestly wanted one of each, but I was very controlled and only bought three – all for this shawl. I was very tempted to go with a cashmere-merino blend, but then I remembered that there was a whole marketplace to shop in, so I needed to be smart (the rest of my purchases will get their own post). I was, of course, immediately drawn to the gold colour, and then to the smoky purple beside it. For the third colour (the background) I went with a grey that seemed to have some purple undertones. My Colour Affection is bright, and I wanted this one to be more subtle while still offering a pop.

Sweet Street

I am in love. The purple and the grey are a little closer in tone than I was imagining, but I think as this grows they’ll gain better definition. The gold does exactly what I intended. I’m finished one fifth of the shawl (in repeats, not size), and the rows are already really long (over 200 stitches, I’d guess), but there’s something hypnotic and addicting about garter stitch stripes. My goal is to have this finished for my birthday, which gives me two weeks. That is rather optimistic I think, but who doesn’t like a challenge?

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: shawl, Sweet Street

10:00 am - April 15, 2013 - AngelaH

The week that was

Plain socks, knit in Koigu KPPPM #P123. Apparently these colours are not out of my system yet.

I can hardly believe it’s Monday, because I’m still in recovery mode from last week (also because I worked yesterday). Last week my section of the paper went live with a new program that totally changes our workflow and, in small ways, everything about how we do our jobs. The basics of the job (design news pages, edit stories, write headlines, etc.) is the same, but the way we do it has changed, and like any big change, this one has been hard. It’s new technology, with fewer people in-house, and last week was a bit chaotic. The paper made it out close to on time every night, so it was okay, but I got home every night totally wiped (and late, since new systems tend to take longer, at least at the beginning).

It was one of those weeks that makes you glad you’re a knitter. Every knitter I know has, at some point or another, talked up the stress-relief of knitting, and I really needed that last week. Of course, as is often the case, I didn’t really have time to knit. I did pick up my needles and work a few stitches here and there, but there wasn’t time for more.

Hunter St. Cowl. Lace always looks bad before it’s blocked, but I am loving this pattern (and this colour). I think I managed to knit four rows on this last week. Part of me thought it would be done by now.

By the end of the week, I realized (in part) why that was: I didn’t have anything plain on the needles. Everything I was knitting had a chart of some sort, and even an easy to memorize chart like the one for the Hunter St. cowl requires just enough counting to not be mindless. Often, I enjoy charted knitting when I’m stressed. For one, it makes me feel a little clever, even when I’m just executing the same set of rows over and over, but it also forces me to stop thinking about whatever is on my mind (last week, page layouts – I actually dreamt about nothing but page layouts two nights in a row) and focus on something else. When I have the time, this is awesome, when I only have time for a row or two, it’s not the same.

The second Hummingbird sock, which I’m knitting Hedgehog Fibres sock, which might just be my new favourite sock yarn.

It took me the entire week to realize this, so on Saturday, after running around for most of the day, I finally fished some fun Koigu out of my stash cast on a pair of plain socks (at the top of the post). Sometimes stockinette bores me to tears and sometimes it feels like magic. These are magic socks. I knit most of them while we hosted friends for dinner on Saturday, and a little more last night, and I’m going to try and squeeze in a few rows before I go to work.

Part of a pocket for my Woodstove Season cardigan. After wearing it a few times without pockets, I’m actually reconsidering my plan, so I might put these away for now. They can always go on later if I change my mind.

L sometimes teases me about how much yarn we have in the house, but honestly, this is what my stash is for. I definitely did not have time to go to the yarn shop this weekend, but luckily I had already planned for such a moment and had what I needed at home. These socks will likely sit on my needles for a while since stockinette socks are nice to have around but rarely hold my attention long enough to be a primary project. That’s okay, though, because they’ll be there when I need them.

Edited to add: After a couple of people asked about the needles I’m using for my socks, I thought I’d post a link. I treated myself to some Signature Needles after Christmas and holy, they are awesome. They are a bit of a splurge, but when you think of how often you use your needles, and factor in that good metal ones will last forever, I decided it was worth it. I bought three sets (2.25mm, 2.5mm, and 2.75mm) and am seriously considering getting another set in 3.25mm (for worsted-weight socks).

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: cowl, Koigu, socks, stash