Hot time

Summer! It has been blazing hot lately, and all I want to do is knit with linen. I finished a couple of sweaters in lovely linen, and am in the process of designing and knitting several more. Of course, with the heat I haven't worn them much, although with the airconditioning in some buildings, a lacy linen sweater is just the thing.The beige one started out as a square block, then grew into a long strip, then I added the sides and followed my "Medallion Cardigan" pattern. You can see details on my Ravelry project page here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/knitbird/medallion-lace-cardigan-3

The blue one is a version of Cosmos Cardigan, which I really must make time for writing up the pattern! Lazy me...but it is tricky to explain, so I have let that one languish.

 But in the meantime, I have published my "Metamorphosis Sweater" which is the result of our BadCat winter KAL where we designed a custom-fitted to your measurements seamless lace sweater, along with the folks who test knitted the pattern with us. It really is a workshop in a pattern. It runs 30 pages, and is available here:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/metamorphosis-sweater. You need to get the 47 pages of lace charts from BadCatDesigns, though, so in total the package runs $20, but it is a goldmine of step by step information to customize this amazing sweater in 8 sizes, so it can really fit anyone.

I have also started knitting the Back To The Garden Shawl, as part of BadCatDesigns Summer KAL ( http://www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/ )but that one is taking me a while because it is the most complex lace I've done in a while and not suited for watching TV quite yet..but it is so gorgeous I want to do it. It will have to grow slowly though, as I've never been much of a gardener.!

It has been a busy spring, with one son graduating from High School, and with college and jobs and various transitions happening all at once. I am still in the process of trying to sell and to declutter the house, but it isn't easy to part with my stuff....so, that is what I've been doing...

Type A

Happily, I managed to finish my third metamorphosis body, this one using patterns ABCD, and Madeline ToshSock, in an amazingly bright Nikko blue yarn. Again, blocking was magic!

This is the blocked body, lying on the blocking area. I love how the wires curve to allow for some waist shaping. Later I smoothed out the lines by spreading out the sweater and lightly spraying the lines with water and letting it dry.

Here are the unblocked photos for comparison:

Ruler shows length to be about 20 inches. (blocked was more like 29!)
Here is the try-on , unblocked:

I forgot to take blocked try on pics, and went directly to knitting the sleeves, which involves putting the body in a draw-string bag so it won't get in the way while I'm working the sleeves ( in the round, on DPNs).

Unfortunately, last month I developed another episode of repetitive strain symptoms, so I stopped knitting for a couple of weeks. This made me really frustrated! And didn't seem to help much, despite some icing and all the rest. So lately I've been getting physical therapy 3 times a week, with chiropractic, and exercises, heat, ice, etc. It is sort of helpful, but apparently my neck discs are impinging on my nerves,  so that just exascerbates the whole thing. Jane Brody in the  NY Times had an interesting article about tendonopathies: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/health/01brody.html?_r=2&ref=science

So, how could I stop knitting ( or typing)after this? Impossible. So, I'm taking frequent breaks, stretching, icing and trying to knit differently ( knitting backwards instead of purling, doing some rows in continental instead of my usual english style), supporting my arms and using "aircast" arm bands sometimes to isolate the painful muscles. It is slow, but I am determined! And I'm reading more books, which is the one thing I can't seem to do and knit at the same time...so, we shall see. But if you don't hear much from me, it is due to my laying off the typing for a while.I do want to hear from you, though! So, email me!

Greensleeves

Here is the Green Cardigan with the addition of sleeves. They ended up a bit short on my model, but that way they won't get in the way of her violin playing! But I think I could have been more agressive with the blocking.
As I told my son the other day, In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they are not.
Hence the great utility of trying on one's knitting as one works. But the tricky thing with lace is the blocking element, which can sometimes be predicted ( with a good swatch) but sometimes not.
My blue pullover seemed very happy as a tunic, so for now it is merely finished off at the sleeve edges. I still have my third skein in case I decide to add sleeves later, but for now I really like it as a sleeveless tunic.

As the green cardigan is not my size, I thought it was a good idea to start a new cardigan for myself, so I started the Metamorphosis Cardigan Type A. Andrea designed a slight variation on the B lace, which makes a lot of difference in the look. I will add some photos of that next time. You can also see it on Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/knitbird/metamorphosis-3

Whole Lotta Lace

This month has all been about Lace! I worked on my two Metamorphosis sweaters: one, a cardigan in green BB Toes yarn, and the other a tunic in Knitpicks Bare ( silk and Merino) that I dyed myself with a combination of colors including Brilliant Blue, National Blue and golden yellow.
These sweaters were made to illustrate the concepts we have been working on in the Metamorphosis Knit Along ( see http://www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/ for more details).

This green one will have sleeves, which will be shown next week; the other one I left as a sleeveless tunic so I could wear it to Vogue Knitting last month. Here is a shot of the lace hem:

I also released my new pattern ( available at http://www.ravelry.com/ at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/leaf-lace-vest-2) for the Leaf Lace Vest which came out very nicely:

 I sized this one for sizes from 34 to 62 inch chest, as I had worked out the math while doing the Metamorphosis project, and this one works the same way.Or maybe it is the other way around? I designed the Leaf Lace vest in 2007, so it has been percolating a long while.

In other exciting news, I am the featured guest this week in Math4Knitters, a podcast by Lara Neel, available for your listening pleasure here:
http://www.journalgazette.com/article/20110206/BLOGS2601/110209890
So, lots going on lately!
The one good thing about all of the snow and ice storms we have had this winter is the knitting I can work on! I hope it warms up soon, though, as I am tired from all of the shoveling...

Metamorphosis Casts On!

We have been very busy lately knitting swatches and collecting yarn and beads for the Metamorphosis Project, the collaborative effort of Andrea of BadcatDesigns ( http://www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/) and myself. Andrea is designing the gorgeous lace patterns and I am designing the sweaters to go with the lace.

It has been so much fun to watch the ideas manifest in form. I am knitting 2 sweaters to test the concepts, one as a pullover with the yarn above ( for myself! Of course it is blue...) and the other as a cardigan in a lovely green, which happens to fit Andrea's daughter and beautiful model BadKitten.

You can still join the fun by going to BadCat's blog and following the instructions there.

The green cardigan is really lovely, and uses a merino fingering weight yarn called BB Toes, which we all fell in love with at Stitches East. It is available at https://mochasfiber.com/ , and blocks out into a drapey smooth fabric that really shows the stitches well.

Tomorrow we will release the first chart and the instructions for the beginning of the sweater, which is a top-down, seamless raglan style yoke. The beauty of this is how the lace pattern flows seamlessly around.

I have done the calculations to size the sweater from 34 inch chest up to 60 inches, and it has been interesting to see how the design can be upsized. I have kept Andrea busy desinging her amazing charts so we can have shaping and flare in the sweater, and I think it will look lovely on a range of sizes. Being top-down, you can adjust the lengths as you wish.

There are also 3 shawls which will use the same lace patterns and combinations of those, so it is wonderful to see how Andrea has concocted such lovely patterns.

Transformations

What is it about knitting that so appeals to me? I think it is all about transformation and possibility. I love the idea that I can start with an image in my mind and then , through the slow and steady application of a skill, involving problem-solving, geometry, chemistry, or just plain magic, gradually see my imagined idea appear in reality. The transformation of a hank of soft, lovely yarn into a fabric has been very captivating, and I know I'm not alone because there are at least a million folks out there who love this metamorphosis activity so much that they have joined Ravelry.
A few months ago I was invited to participate in a design challenge with Andrea of BadCatDesigns, who blogs at http://www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/ , and designs the most gorgeous lace shawls. I have been following her for some time now, and last summer participated in her Summer Swatch Me project. So Andrea and I are now collaborating on a lace  knitalong idea, which will debut on January 1st, and be called Metamorphosis KAL!

Stay Tuned!

Bye bye Summer...

Alas, the days are slightly cooler and the evenings come just a bit sooner. Tomorrow is the first day of school around here, so that means Summer is over. I managed to snap some photos of Fuchsias at my local Plant Nursery, as these are a much better match for the pattern in my sweater. I was thinking of Tulips, but since the sweater is worked top-down, the image is reversed so the flowers hang downwards, just like these Fuchsia flowers. Finally I had  photos to share.

Meanwhile, my Summer Swatch Sampler Sweater is done. I got the buttons on and took some photos. It is as yet unblocked, which I will save for another day. I think Andrea of BadCat Designs(http://www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/ ), who designed the lace which I used to make the sweater, did an amazing job, don't you? Each pattern was such fun to knit. I managed to get all 9 patterns on the sweater, but unfortunately, ran out of yarn before I could do the edging, so that will have to appear somewhere else.

Now I must start to think about wintery sweater knitting...but I still am enjoying the final bits of summer...

Summer Swatch

St Margaret is coming along nicely. I decided to try the braid cable on the bottom, and figured I'd have enough yarn with my last skein....drats! FOILED AGAIN!

I started the edging with an I cord cast on of 17 sts, then began working braid cable, attaching it by SSSK on every RS row. I was moving along pretty well, but ran out of yarn 8 inches before the end! Luckily Ravelry has a stash feature, and generous folks who want to sell or trade their orphan balls sometimes list them in the database. So, I got really lucky, and found someone kind enough to trade a ball of yarn ( same dyelot! Joy!) for a copy of my Ingrid Cardigan pattern....so now I wait until it arrives...

Meanwhile, what to do? I finished Cosmos Cardigan.
I decided to cast on for The Summer Swatch Me Sampler, hosted, created and devised by my friend Andrea of Bad Cat Designs, who blogs at http://www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/ . This is an amazing knit- along, with a sampler stole as the focus of a 9 week extravaganza of lace. There is a Yahoo group for it here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SummerSwatchMe/

So I collected all of the laceweight and sock yarn I had and petted it and thought about what I wanted to knit. But, knowing me, I would never really wear a stole, nor a shawl. I'm currently focussing on sweatery things, as you know....So, what if I knit this as a sideways cardigan, and added sleeves along the way? I found 2 lovely skeins of Great Adirondack laceweight Egyptian cotton that I bought last summer. 1000 yards in total.That might be enough for something lacey...So I cast on provisionally as directed in the project , thinking 5 horizontal repeats on a size 5 needle might give me enough width for something useful. Three vertical repeats ( 25 rows) into the lovely pattern, however, I had about 14 inches in width and 2 1/2 inches in depth.Even with a deep border, this wouldn't be enough to make the 24 inches I'd need for a sideways cardigan.So, hmmm...it would be enough for the back of a top-down, set in sleeve sweater, however. I pondered this idea, not wanting to cut the yarn, as each skein was 500 yards and the knots would be difficult to hide in laceweight. And if it didn't work out, I would be sad to have cut the yarn...
So, here goes craziness! I put in a lifeline, and picked up 12 sts along the 2 garter stitch edge, which brought me back to the provisional edge. I picked up 25 live sts along the provisional edge, being careful to capture the stitches, and leaving the provisional yarn in place in case I need to rip the whole thing back to the lifeline.

Now I worked 25 rows, following the pattern, but adding a stitch at the outside edge, and increasing every 4 rows at the neck edge, so when I was done with the 25 rows, I had 12 edge sts already picked up.This left a bit of a lacey edge, which in retrospect I probably shouldn't have done, as I could have just picked those up, but no matter. I placed an orange marker, and knit across the 24 edge sts which formed the top of the sleeve, around to the back, worked across the back, and then picked up 12 along the other side. Then worked 25 sts across the provisional cast on, and so forth. Voila! Now I had 2 fronts and a back, and sts picked up along the top of the armholes. Not exactly symmetrical, but one row extra isn't going to matter much in this busy yarn and lace pattern. Now, I proceeded to add one stitch on each side of sleeves every RS row, and one every 4 rows to each front, keeping the stitch pattern when possible. Here are some views  to row 48:

I am having too much fun! On a hot summer day, playing with cotton lace is wonderful. Thanks, Andrea!

Column of Leaves #3

Column of Leaves #3 arose out of my wish to test knit my pattern in a larger size, but make it fit me. I had this gorgeous blue cotton yarn I had bought ages ago, and as it is a DK weight, I figured I could use my Column of Leaves pattern for size 42 and have it fit size 38. Of course I went down a needle size, too.I purchased some wonderful polymer clay buttons at the Lyndhurst Craft fair yesterday from Karin Noyes, whose work I have loved for years ( http://www.karinnoyes.com/ ), which just delighted me.
Here is the back of the sweater. I love that there is just one tiny seam at the back of the neck:

This pattern is for sale in my Ravelry ( http://www.ravelry.com/ ) store , Jeri Rigged Designs.

Column of Leaves

So here is the second "Column of leaves" sweater I have knit. I just love this one, especially because I found a way to represent the elements of the lace pattern graphically, so I could figure out how to upsize it and keep the design details intact. Representing it in 5 sizes was a fabulous exercise in geometry and engineering, and I was really thrilled that it worked out!

I love how the back flows organically into the collar:, leaving just a tiny seam at the center back neck.

And I also love how the V neck preserves the design of the lace pattern as it evolves upward:

Figuring out how to make that work while sizing it was dependant on learning the Knit Visualizer ( http://www.knitfoundry.com/ ) software, and thanks to urging from my friend Elizabeth, I finally read the manual! Duh! Great software, very addicting and fun to use.

Now I'm in the midst of writing up my top Down Celtic Raglan sweater, so it is gratifying to have all of this software capability and be able to see this evolve. When my speedy and marvelous test knitters are done, I plan to publish this pattern on Ravelry...

Leaf Lace Yokes

I loved the idea of a sweater called Leaf Yoke Top by Angela Hahn, which was published in Knit.1 magazine, spring 2009 after I saw it on a customer in my LYS, Sticks and Strings. I found the magazine and read over the pattern. It was a delightful concept, the lace yoke, and I'd always liked that idea,  but I wanted  a sweater with sleeves instead of a tank top, and I wanted to use a totally different yarn. I had lots of Sojabama, a soy and bamboo yarn which had marinated in my stash for a year, and I thought this might be a good choice. After using an I-cord cast-on, I knit the lace yoke and then made horizontal I-cord to transition to the stockinette portiion of the sweater. In order to raise the back neck, I used short rows to increase the length in the back, while maintaining yoke increases. This had to be done twice, as I tried to do it in a coffeeshop and got hopelessly confused and had to rip out a bunch! At home with my counter and a diagram, I could keep track and ended up figuring out an elegant way to hide the short rows at the base of the horizontal I cord. Once I had enough depth, I switched to raglan increases until I reached my target size. Then I put sleeve stitches on holders and continued body of sweater, adding 10 sts at underarms, adding bust darts and waist shaping. At the hem I repeated some of the leaf pattern and finished with I-cord bind-off using a size 7 needle to get the proper stretch.
Then I returned to the sleeves and added a small leaf edging at hem, and I-cord bind-off.

I love this sweater! And the yarn was great to work with. I was very pleased with the final result, and decided to immediately do a similar thing with some lovely alpaca I had stashed, as suddenly the weather turned colder and this sweater is for warm weather! In the meantime, I happened to see a beautiful shawl on a friend, and lusted after it. But it reminded me of something I'd seen before. In perusing my bookshelf, I found The First Book of Modern Lace Knitting, by Marianne Kinzell, and sure enough, her amazing charts ( published initially in 1954, then reprinted by Dover in 1972) included one very similar to the shawl and to the Leaf  Yoke Top laces. The "Primula Design" is fabulous, and to see the interpretations in today's knitting is very exciting.
Thus my next concoction took this a bit further, and here I used a worsted weight alpaca yarn, changed the lace a bit and added a peplum on the bottom, and 3/4 length sleeves. The lace is derived from the same  “Primula Design”  and I recharted it and added a tulip in the spaces between the leaves. I adored this yarn for the amazing color, wonderful softness and warmth, but hated the sparkles. I ended up picking out a lot of them, and wishing I had this yarn in a plain variety, as removing the Stellina fibers took a lot of time. I'm still waffling on the peplum idea, but for now I'm pleased with this sweater!

Blue Medallion Cardigan

Of course, some knitting is still going on! I finished another version of the Medallion Cardigan, this time in Cotton Classic, color 3806, which has been sadly discontinued. I used 7 skeins, size 8 needles, and put 3 rows of single crochet around the whole thing. When I got to the end, I was going to put a button on, but somehow this looked messy, so in the end I crocheted together the top 4 inches, which serves to close the top but preserve a cardigan feel. I'm liking this a lot! It is cool and easy to wear.

Leafy Lace Tunic

Here is what happened to the leaf lace vest I started a while back. I began from the top, using Cotton Classic, size 9 needles, and Leaf lace, and joined in the center to get a pullover. When I got to the waist, I ran out of yarn, but I wanted a longer sweater, so I rummaged around in the stash, and found one skein of a similar color, and two skeins of the darker teal, so I figured that if I changed the lace pattern when I changed yarn colors, it might turn out to be interesting. I used hexagon mesh, then transitioned to an arrowhead pattern, then transitioned to a lace edging #49 from Lavori Artistici a Calza 11. Then I single crocheted two rows around the armholes and a row of SC2, chain3, to make a picot edging , which also finished off the hem. Below is a snapshot of my neice Allie modeling it. I thought it needed something, so I knit an I-cord and added that. Lots of fun to wear, and fun to knit! I have yet to block it, though, as I'm waiting for it to stop raining.

The Little Flower Doily

My friend Andrea, of Bad Cat Designs (www.badcatdesigns.blogspot.com ) shared the pattern for her doily to several of us as test knitters, and here is my version of this beautiful design. Size 10 crochet cotton, 00 needles, 7.5 inches diameter.

Frost Flowers and Leaves Cardigan

I finally finished my Frost Flowers and Leaves Cardigan. I'm so pleased at how it turned out. I used the basic structure of the lace from the square Shawl by Eugen Beugler in "A Gathering of Lace" , but first adapted it for a triangular shawl from the instructions worked out by Kat LeFevre and documented in the Yahoo group on the web, : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frostflowersandleaves/ . It was knit with 9 skeins of Cotton Classic on size 6 needles. The design is based on my diagonal sweater pattern, but here I used the FF&L pattern to create the fabric, so the knitting is on the diagonal. I wanted the leaves motif to run down the front, back, and top of shoulders and sleeves, so the construction followed the pattern nicely. The biggest puzzle was how to create the opening for the neck, and I was delighted to discover that the gague was such that I could move the start of the neck over one repeat, and then short- row along the shoulder edge to get the fronts to line up with the back. Once I understood how the pattern worked, it was fun to figure out how to knit it in the round as well as flat, but it took a lot of concentration and was not something I could do while watching TV. LOL. I really enjoyed making this sweater, and learned a lot during the process. I suppose my only regret was using a garter stitch edging for the front neckline, as it doesn't stretch as much as the rest of the fabric. I am too lazy to try to redo this, but I was tempted! It is comfortable to wear and a great summer concoction. Will I do it again? Perhaps....