New Year Blues!

 For a change, I decided to work up some cowls and infinity scarves as the year came to a close. This first one is one skein of Misty Alpaca Chunky, which I overdyed with BlueGum dye. I love the bright blue color, and this one skein project is very easy. On a size 10.5 needle, Cast on 30 sts using a provisional cast on, and knit 30 sts. Turn and knit 30, then turn,* knit 15, wrap and turn, knit 15. Turn, knit 30 sts  4 times, repeat from * . When you have approx a yard of yarn left,and yarn is coming out at opposite end from beginning tail yarn,  remove provisional sts and place live sts on a needle. Here you can either do a 3 needle bind off, or graft by Kitchener stitch for Garter: which is as follows:( set up leave P front, P back), then work across row as follows:
Front needle:K off, P leave
Back needle:K off, P leave.

 Now, this seed stitch cowl was done with size 19 needles and 2 skeins of "Baby", a kind of big wool. A nice warm merino!

 This infinity scarf was made with 3 skeins of Bocciolo, which was a birthday gift from my friend Cara. I love how the yarn's bobbles of bright blue popped out! I used double moss stitch, which was loosely followed, as this was my knit-in-public knitting for a while, and some wine may have been involved. But I love this scarf!

My final project for December, shown here still in progress, was done with "Crazy Sexy Wool" by Wool and the Gang ( www.woolandthegang.com ), which also made the size 19 needles.Talk about instant gratification! This scarf took about 6 hours to knit, and was a lot of fun to watch grow. I have been having fun learning how to graft in seed stitch, and that formula is approximately thus:
front needle: opposite off, same on
back needle: opposite off, same on
with "opposite" meaning the reverse of how the stitch looks to you ( either K or P), and "same" meaning how it appears ( k or P).
So, Happy New Year to all of my faithful readers, and I hope 2012 brings you all health, peace and prosperity, but also joy and delight!

Change of Seasons

Changing seasons here in the NorthEast USA is always a challenge. There is no clear demarcation, so the weather can change from summertime 80 degrees down to chilly 50s in a day. Thus one needs an array of clothes to cover every eventuality! Thus I made 2 similar sweaters, one in linen and one in wool/alpaca to chase away the chills. The top photos are of Waterlily Cosmos, so called because of the waterlily edging and the top down construction like my other Cosmos sweaters. I really enjoyed knitting that one after the unforgiving linen, but the second  sweater, Summer Leaves, has its charms also! It is a variation of the Metamorphosis sweater, with same numbers but different lace patterns. It was a pleasure to play with pattern and texture in both of these, and I am already thinking of more variations.

Holey Cowls

It has gotten cold here in New York, and I wasn't happy with any of the scarves I have. I needed a cowl. What is a cowl, you might ask? I think it is like a big snuggly turtleneck, or maybe a circle of warmth that you pop over your head. Like a scarf, but not dangly. The wool goes where you need it most! It shouldn't take much to make it, so I thought perhaps I could design one quickly. I remembered I had a skein of electric blue Big Wool which I had purchased for $3 at the LYS sale in the summer of 2009. The largest needles I had were 13s though, and I didn't think I wanted to run out in the cold to buy some 15s. Pencils were even too thin to use for DPNs. In the end I went with knitting really loosely on the 10.5 DPNs I had, and switching to my 13 circular when it was big enough.

This idea was a welcome break from the secret project I've been working on, which involves fingering-weight yarn, lace and much smaller needles.I thought it might be fun to make another one, so I got out the Noro Cashmere Island  I bought a while ago. That yarn has long color repeats, as is a feature of Noro yarns, and it was so pretty  that I had been saving it for something special. I thought it might be fun to double strand it  and see how the colors interacted. Plus I could knit on large size 11 needles and have another really fast project.
I decided to call these "Quick Leaf Cowls" although I thought of them as Holey Cowls, but that name has already been used!

The Cashmere Island yarn is 60% wool and 30% casmere with 10% nylon, so it is soft and warm. And my cat loves it! He likes anything Noro, and carries little balls of it around if he gets the chance. I forgot, and left a ball of grey on the table, so it ended up in my bedroom this morning, in a tangle on the floor!

I've uploaded the pattern to my Ravelry store in case you need some instant gratification, too...Now it is back to the Winter Project...

Dear Deer Deer

Last Thursday, the cats and I were mesmerized by this baby deer who hung out in our back yard for several hours.

It was accompanied by its mother, a considerably larger creature!

They were amazing to watch.

Their ears swiveled with the slightest sound, and they stood still as statues. The cats were very intent on watching them, and so was I. Eventually they ran off , and I could finish my sweater:

Now I have to block, obtain a zipper, sew it in and all will be well!

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.

Spring Ahead!

Spring has sprung upon us, with sunny skies and warm sunshine. Bulbs are springing up all over my yard. Time to get the deer fence up again, and break out the spring sweaters. I knit and designed this sweater which I called Column of Leaves Cardigan in 2007, and have enjoyed wearing it . Folks have been asking for the pattern, but it always seemed way beyond my skills to write up.Funny how things can be easier to do than to describe, but the problem is sizing it for other people! Because of the nature of the construction I used ( seamless yoke) and the lace pattern, it is almost a different sweater and has to be figured out anew for each size. But I loved how the back came together:

So I've been crunching out the numbers, making charts, swatching and making little paper models to figure out the sizing and I think I've almost nailed it! Then it is off to my test knitters, and hopefully I can publish it soon....

In other news, my son returned from college with is stuff which is now in boxes all over the living room. What does he have? Here is one box of treasures:

He can actually solve all of those! Amazing!

Ingrid Cardigan, part 2

So, the most challenging part of working a top down set in sleeve cardigan is, of course, incorporating all of the cables and shaping as you are knitting it. I find I must have an image in my mind of what I want it to look like when finished, and work towards that. It is naturally easier to knit from the bottom up, as you have all of the main cables established, and the shaping for armholes and sleeves and such occurs by decreasing mainly, so you don't have as much to keep track of. Of the other hand, you don't get the fun of watching things emerge from nowhere either, so there is that. Also the piece can be tried on as you go, so adjustments for length and proportion can be done on the fly.

So, here I was last night, having divided for sleeves and knitting merrily along. I am liking how it is coming out, but decided I needed to add a rope cable at the armhole edge of the fronts and backs. This meant doing a bit of surgery, by unknitting the 6 sts at the edges of the armholes and reknitting them as 4 knits of cable and 2 purls. Doing this 4 times took a couple of hours, but I was very pleased with how that came out. Writing that into the pattern ensued. Now the pattern is probably complete, and most of the details worked out except for sizing. I'm going to wait on that until I finish knitting this one, in case of surprises.

Here is another view of the front:

And here are two more views after a bunch of more knitting:

And the front:

I'm really liking how this is coming out, fortunately!

.

Kaitlin's Scarf

Here is Kaitlin's Scarf. A Double Moss , 2x2 cable , which is completely reversible.

Here is the pattern:

2 skeins of Misti Alpaca chunky, on size 11 needles,

3 stitch markers ( the safety-pin kind work best), cable needle.
Use the 3rd stitch marker as a row marker to keep track of when to cable next by hanging it off one of the selvedge loops. As the scarf is reversible, it makes it easier to tell when you are on the correct side for cabling if you don't want to look at the pattern, and then you can just read your knitting instead of counting rows. Also,I knit the first stitch of every row and slip the last stitch with yarn in front to make a chained edge.
57 X 6 1/2 inches
SM= slip marker
Cast on 24 stitches. Place a marker after stitch 8 and after stitch 16.
Row1: * K2,P2* 11 times,P1, Slip 1 with yarn in front.
Row 2: K1,*K2,P2* 11 times, slip1, WYIF
Row 3: K1, P1, K2,P2,K2, SM,*K2, P2 * twice, SM, P2, K2, P2, K1, S1 wyif
Row 4: K1, p1, K2,P2,K2, SM, *,K2,P2* twice, SM,P2, K2, P2, K1,S1 wyif
Row 5:: same as row 1
Row 6: same as row 2
Row 7: same as row 3
Row 8:K1,P1,K2,P2,K2,SM,place first four sts on cable needle, hold to front. Knit2,P2, then K2,P2 from Cable needle, SM, P2,K2,P2,K1,S1wyif
Mark the row you cable on to make it easier to keep track, and repeat rows 1-8 for pattern . Cast off in pattern, weave in ends, block and enjoy.

On this scarf, I actually cabled every 6 rows, but I think it is easier to keep track of on every 8 rows, and makes a looser cable.

Enjoy!

Celtic Braid Cardigan

In October, I made the now yearly pilgrimage to Rhinebeck for the NY State Sheep and Wool Festival. What a euphoric extravaganza of delightful fiber! It was fantastic to walk through the vendors offerings, touching and fondling and oohing and ahhing. I found a glorious skein of beautiful brilliant blue yarn at the Decadent Fibers booth, and I had to have it. This skein was 490 yards, huge, but to make the sweater I envisioned, with cables and flourishes, I thought I'd need 3 skeins probably. They happened to have 3, and although they were hand dyed by the same dyers, of course it is very challenging to get them exactly the same, so there were differences in the intensity and value of the color. However, I didn't care, so I bought them! This yarn is 50%merino, 30% silk and 20% mohair. I was a little worried about the itchiness of the mohair, which I usually don't like, but this yarn was soft and slightly fuzzy with a bit of a sheen.
This cardigan was fun to knit. I started with a top down raglan with some idea of the cables I wanted to use ( mainly the saxon braid and a simple 4 stitch cable) and kind of winged it from there, trying on as I went, to get the fit. It was a lot of fun to design, and despite the slightly differing colors of the skeins, it is fine to my eye. The zipper makes it a close hug of a sweater, perfect for those cold days, but the comfortable yarn makes it soft and light weight. And of course, it is blue! I ended up using only about 1200 yards, so I still have around 300 left.

Glove Love

I enjoyed making these warm and dense gloves!I started with Ann Budd's amazing "Knitter's handy Book of Patterns" basic glove pattern, using worsted weight alpaca yarn knit on size 3 needles to get 6 sts/inch, and plugged a 24-stitch celtic cable from The Knitter’s Bible into the back of the gloves, which provided interest and extra warmth. I modified the basic pattern also in length to give longer cuffs and tried on the gloves as I knit to customize the finger length to fit me. I also found that using kitchener to finish the tips after a round of K2 tog gave a nicer tip, and putting the ” resting” hand stitches on a small circular needle while knitting the fingers in sequence made things less fiddly and more fun. I love the color and warmth of this alpaca yarn, and removed most of the sparkles as I did on the sweater I made last month.

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!

Crop Sleeve Raglan

I don't usually knit a pattern exactly as written, but this sweater called to me. "Crop Sleeve Raglan" by Gayle Bunn, from Knit 'N Style, August 2005. Yarn: ggh Bali, a cotton/acrylic blend. Usually I avoid acrylics, but this was on sale and also it didn't feel squeaky or icky. It had the added advantage of being sproingy and lighter than 100% cotton would be, so a good mix.
This was a fun sweater to knit. Of course, I knit it in the round and seamlessly, despite it being written in pieces, as I love the possibility of trying it on as I go along.
After establishing the pattern, it was very easy to keep track of and turned into my favorite summer drag-along project. The yarn I used was very stretchy, so it was a challenge to get gauge. I tried it on every inch on the way up the body to make sure it would fit! I modified the pattern to be knit seamlessly in the round, and used seed stitch instead of moss stitch on sleeves and ribs, adding a bit of width in the bust area, and 2 inches in length to the sleeves for a bit more coverage. .


A very comfortable summer project!

Diagonal Triangle Tank

I started this tank top last summer, thinking it would be a great wearable piece, but got into counting trouble and had to let it rest. This tank languished all winter, but I finally picked it up again and finished it. I added a purl row every so often to make a garter/ stockinette stripe, which enhances the plain yarn a lot. I’m pleased with this, even though I made some mistakes and had to redo the shoulders. I knit one sleeve, but didn’t like how it was sitting on my shoulder, so opted to make it sleeveless. I knit this one in the round and so had no seams at the end. Cotton Classic, size 7 needles, 5 1/2 skeins ( around 600 yards) Pattern: Iris Schreier's P90 Diagonal/Triangle Tank http://www.artyarns.com/newsite/patterns_main.htm

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.

Medallion Lace jacket

Yarn: Queensland Collection "Cotolino": 60% cotton, 40% linen, size 8 needles, approx 650 yards.
Knit sideways from the center back. I provisionally cast on 81 stitches ( 8 repeats plus 1 of Medallion Lace from Evelyn Clark’s book “Knitting Lace Triangles”) and knit 9 inches, then put 31 stitches on waste yarn hold for sleeves, continued knitting 10 inches or so to center front, bind off. Then undid provisional cast on, knit another 9 inches in other direction, waste yarn sleeve stitches, finish front. Then seam shoulders, pick up sleeve stitches, knit in round to 3/4 length, bind off. Single crochet around fronts, bottom edge, center back.
A wearable and cool summer jacket. My cat loved the sweater, for some reason, and wouldn't leave me alone while I was knitting it! Here she is trying to get in the photo!

Winter Knitting

Here is mysecond take on Alice Starmore's St Brigid sweater, this time done as a top-down raglan. I really enjoyed how this one came together, although I wished I had a bit more yarn, as it is a "cropped" length, which sometimes I like and sometimes I don't like. But I'm too lazy to order another skein or rip out the prevvious sweater which is a bit too long! I have already cast on for another one...

Here is a pullover version of my Top Down Diamond Alpaca sweater, this time with V neck.Reynolds Regal Alpaca, size 9 needles, 8 skeins exactly. I have been wearing this one every day since I made it, as it has been really cold for New York springtime...I'm finally warm enough with this sweater on! ( and two cats who adore alpaca also).