Still Sweatering

My Kuffel pullover has been patiently waiting for me, and I've finally gotten back to it!  I was in the place where the sleeves were about to be separated from the body and the final colorwork section was about to begin and I knew there would be counting and Things That Needed My Full Attention, and I just kept putting it off.  It was easier to grab my other projects than to figure things out with this pullover.  Also, it's an oversized, worsted weight, stranded pullover - it's a little warm to sit under in Texas in June.

Anyway, I did finally take the time to work through everything and it wasn't as bad in reality as I had made it out to be in my head.  The pattern is very well written, and I did have to pay attention, and it did take some time to get through all of that, but I'm on my way again now!  Like all top down sweaters, getting the sleeve stitches on stitch holders so I can just work on the body means each round feels so much faster than before.  

I hope you all have a great weekend!  I'm hoping to finish this last colorwork section (of the body, I'll still have to work it on the sleeves). 

Round and Round

I've gotten through the second colorwork section on my Kuffel pullover!  This is already too big for my longest circular needles, so it looks smushed up and gathered, because it is.  It's moving along nicely and the simple colorwork is easy enough to keep track of while I watch TV.  When this is finished, it's going to be a big, snuggly sweater.  

I am approaching the point where the body divides from the sleeves, and that will make the rounds shorter and a little faster.  This is fun to knit, but because of the size, it completely takes over my lap and can be a bit warm.  I am questioning exactly how much wear I'll get out of it, but that's a problem for future me! 

A New Sweater!

The Eat.Sleep.Knit Second Quarter Craftalong is  based on circular yokes!  I went back and forth trying to decide on long sleeves vs. short sleeves, colorwork vs. texture or lace, and I have looked at oodles of sweaters with circular yoke construction.  Then I saw the Kuffel sweater and it kind of grabbed me and wouldn't let go.  I love the oversized cozy look of the whole thing, as well as the bold, graphic colorwork.

So I'm knitting a Kuffel!  I'm using Berrocco Ultra Alpaca Worsted in Navy and Turquoise Mix.  As you can see in the photo (kind of), I'm through the first colorwork section.  It's knit from the top down and the neck band is added last.  I also must admit that I really like the big, open neckline because I don't like things tight around my neck and also I live in Texas, so we must ventilate in order to not die of heatstroke.  In December!

I hope to be back again later this week with more knitting, but when I tried to blog last week the photo hosting site was down, and what's the point if there aren't any pictures, right?   

A Current Project!

Now that we're all caught up with previously finished projects, I'm ready to show you current projects in progress!  

This is the Sipila pullover and it's actually my second attempt to make this design.  I tried to knit this several years ago, but I wasn't happy with it, so I frogged what I had, and decided to try again later.  The pattern is written to be knit in fingering weight singles yarn (which I generally love by the way), and my first attempt was using Tosh Merino Light from Madelinetosh (a fingering weight singles yarn, in case you're not familiar with it).  I was getting gauge, but as I was completing the colorwork yoke, I just really wasn't happy with the way it looked.  The stitches felt too big for the yarn, they seemed to be slipping around a lot (which sounds weird, but I don't know how else to explain it), and I just didn't like the overall look of the fabric.  I put the project in time out so I could think about it and when I came back I actually steam blocked it just to see what, if anything, that changed, and then I made some decisions.  Despite getting gauge, it just wasn't feeling right to me.  I decided that either I would need to start over and use smaller needles (and refigure the sizing for my new, tighter gauge), or I would need to start over and use sportweight yarn at the original pattern gauge.  Either way, I was going to have to frog and restart the whole thing.  So I frogged it, and set it aside for a few years.  

In the meantime, my brain kept thinking about it, and I definitely still wanted to knit it.  I went through my notes from the previous attempt and decided I'd use sportweight yarn (and avoid the maths).  This time around I'm using Malabrigo Arroyo in Hollyhock and White.  I'm much happier with the look of the knitted fabric, and as you can see, I've knit the colorwork yoke, separated the sleeve stitches from the body stitches and I'm currently knitting the length of the body.  It's to the autopilot phase of the body, so I can pick it up and put it down without a bunch of figuring out where I am right now, and I've definitely taking my time knitting this!  It's good for TV knitting and knitting while brain dead at this point.  That will all change once I get the body finished and start the sleeves, because then we're back to colorwork!  The polka dotted sleeves are one of the reasons I fell in love with this design and I'm looking forward to knitting those, but there's no hurry - it's going to be months before I can even think about wearing something like this!

Pink and Snuggly!

Earlier this year, I finished my Keera pullover that I've shown here in progress.  I knit it in Blue Sky Fibers Extra in the Lei colorway.  This yarn is very similar to Berroco Ultra Alpaca (about half wool, half alpaca) and is just as fun knit with.  It has a bounce to it and it's just a very enjoyable yarn to knit.

This pattern was fun also!  It's worked top down and everything except the back is worked in stockinette.  The back stitch pattern isn't too complicated (I used stitch markers to separate the different sections), and I found it easy to knit while I was watching TV.  I did do the little pockets on the front, not that pockets in knits are super useful (they tend to stretch easily),  but I feel like the world needs more pockets anyway, so I will pretty much always add pockets to everything if given the opportunity!  I could line the pockets with a woven fabric to help them hold their shape if I wanted them to be more useful, but so far I haven't been bothered enough to do that.  (On the other hand, as I'm thinking this through as I write, I do have a scrap of a lovely pink floral paisley Liberty Tana Lawn that would be amazing for pocket linings in this sweater.  I'll have to think about that!)  At this point, the sweater won't be wearable until late October if I'm lucky, so I've got plenty of time to think about whether to line or not to line (the pockets, that is!)

Decisions, decisions...

Something Pink!

Knitting continues here at Chez Pink Lemon.  Often with dog hair, and sometimes with a bit of dog spit too!  I've mostly been working on my Go Go Dynamo Mystery Shawl, which is supposed to be kept behind spoilers until the end of the month.  I'm still "behind" on it, but slow progress is still progress.  We're supposed to avoid spoilers for that design until the end of the month, which means the thing that I'm actually spending most of my knitting time on isn't really good for feeding the blog.

I do have some recent photos of my Keera Pullover though!  I finished the body and in this front view you can see the pockets.  I don't really use knitted pockets - they're too stretchy for any real usefulness - but I feel strongly that everything should have pockets, so I included them anyway.  It occurs to me as I type this that I could sew in some fabric linings and they would be slightly useful.  Hmmm....

Here's a shot of the back (love it!) and of course, you can also see that I'm working on my first sleeve.  I love hand dyed yarns, but it's so nice not to have to alternate skeins sometimes.  This is such a pretty, soft pink, it just makes me happy!

And since I mentioned the dog hair and the dog spit, here's a picture of little Obi dog!  This was right after our walk this morning.  We've figured out that it's easier to bring him and his water outside after a walk so the kitchen doesn't get turned into a swimming pool.  It's less offensive to Mr. Noodle this way too.

A New Sweater

As soon as I finished the Sous Sous pullover I started another sweater.  This one is top down, from a designer whose patterns I've knit before, with a more traditional shaping - so there's no (mostly unnecessary) second guessing on my part.  This is the Keera pullover from Isabell Kraemer.  I'm knitting it in Blue Sky Fibers Extra in the Lei colorway.   The fiber content of the yarn and the feel of it are identical to Berroco Ultra Alpaca.  I haven't compared them side by side (or even the labels) so I don't know if they're the same weight or not.  I've always loved the feel of Ultra Alpaca in my hands while I'm knitting, so it's nice to have a second option with a different color range.

As you can see, the sweater looks pretty simple from the front.

The back has a little more going on!  It's still a simple knit and the lace isn't difficult once you get a few rounds into it so you can see what it's doing.

As it turns out, this is exactly what I need right now because my non knitting life has just gotten crazy.  I'll blog when I can and when I actually have something to show, but I may not be as regular as I try to be around here.

Finished!

I have finished the Sous Sous Pullover!  It's knit in Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the Fatal Attraction colorway (this is a stunning red!).  I made the Small - it's meant to be oversized, but Fifi is positively swimming in it because she's missing half of her shoulders (no arms).

If you look at the projects on Ravelry and read project notes, there's a lot going on.  I got really freaked out the first time I was knitting this (there was a time deadline) and I quit.  Fortunately, most of the concerns about the pattern aren't actual issues.  The shaping for this sweater is very different from most sweaters, but at least for the small, the directions are overall correct.  (Here is a link to my project page with all of the below notes as well - you will need to be signed into Ravelry to see it.)

That said, I did make a few notes and changes:

• Work the first and last stitches in rib, so the edges match.  The front has this set up for a five stitch edge, which is what I used.  The back has a three stitch edge.  Pick one and stick with it for both pieces so they match.
• Reverse wrap the Yarn Over after the P3tog so it's the same size as it's mate.  Untwist it on the following row.
• Work the twisted stitches in the chart as twisted on both the Right Side and the Wrong Side.
• Work front increases (used for the shaping) as Yarn Overs on Right Side, but twist them on the wrong side to close them up, as either twisted knit or purl in pattern.
• For the back neck - I picked up stitches along the back neck (1 for every 2), then knit the band, attaching it to the back neck, like the edging of a shawl.  Grafted the band to the opposite front when I got there.
• Finally, I sewed the front and back together at the lower sides and then picked up stitches in the round for the sleeves.  I also picked up two fewer stitches than called for to account for the two stitches I would have lost when seaming the sleeves.  Working them in the round seemed easier to my brain than working them flat.

As you can see, there are only minor errata to the actual pattern, that an experienced knitter will correct without a lot of thought.  The pattern itself is correct as far as the big numbers and directions go.  I did knit the front first, marking the beginning of each chart repeat on each side of that row, and when I knit the back I did the same marking of rows.  This helped me count while I was knitting and keep them straight while I was seaming them together.

This was definitely not an auto-pilot sweater, but I'm really happy with the finished garment.  I'm honestly open to knitting it again (I have a dark blue green that I'm thinking about).  I'm glad I stuck with it though and made this!

I've already started another sweater though, and this one is definitely in the auto pilot category!
 

Progress

I have finished the back of Sous Sous, and I've actually got it joined to the front at the shoulders!  (I took this picture before finishing the back neck, but all of those yarns have been woven in now.)  Next up are the sleeves.  The pattern is written to knit them to the body of the sweater, flat, then seam them closed, along with the side seams.  I'm playing with the idea of seaming the sides now and knitting the sleeves in the round.  That would eliminate the sleeve seam and it would feel better to wear.  The sleeves are short little things (the body is wide) and don't need the added structure seaming would give, so I'm pretty sure I can get away with it.  I'm going to think about it a bit, but I'm leaning towards working them in the round.

Either way, I hope to get started on the first sleeve this weekend.  The end of this sweater is in sight!  For my next sweater, I want to work a nice top down thing that doesn't take a lot of thought!

A Little Understanding

Last time I blogged my Sous Sous pullover, I did some rambling about the pattern.  Forget all of that.  I reread the pattern, reread the errata, and found a KAL thread for Sous Sous buried in the Loop London group on Ravelry.  There, in post #740, Norah Gaughan, the designer herself says:

"The front may seem longer than the back, but they should both have the same # of rows. You might want to count rows to double check that.  So that is the same # of rows along the outside edge pre shoulder." (Emphasis is my own.)

This little post clears up everything!  My questions have been answered and the number of repeats in the pattern is correct.  I included links to the quote in my Ravelry page so if this is throwing anyone else for a loop (no pun intended), they can find this information.  Or if I decide to knit this again (the stitch pattern is pretty fun to knit).

Anyway, misunderstandings aside, I'm zipping along on the back.  I'm on my last full repeat before I start the shoulder shaping.  I think I'll actually finish this before the weather cools off!  (That's the end of October, or November around here - unless it's one of those weird Texas days that are warm between November and February.  Texas weather is weird.)

Back-ing Away, But Not Backing Off!

I'm working away on the back of my Sous Sous pullover.   It's moving along nicely and the other day I sat down with the pattern and counted the rest of it out.  First I figured out how many more rows in total the pattern called for, then after comparing to the total number of rows in the front, I figured out how many rows I actually needed to do and I made more notes.  I will be adding all of my notes to my project page on Ravelry, as well as here when I finish knitting this (and have confirmed that the changes I've made do work), but I'm only mathing out the first size for this.  I have no idea what changes the other two sizes will need.  

What I find extremely confusing are the projects that specifically say they knit this exactly as the pattern calls for and had no problems.  How did that work?  I love the look of the finished sweater, which is why I've kept going.  I've checked for errata and/or updates, and I have no clue how this is knit-able per the pattern.  I literally just had a thought while I was typing this and there is a Loop London group on Ravelry and they did a Sous Sous KAL.  There are just under 900 posts in the thread, but maybe the answers are somewhere in there.  I guess I know what I'll be doing this week!  

Right now I've got to go because Little Obi Dog is licking the wall.  (Why????!!?)  I'll throw in a recent picture of him just for fun before I go!

ETA:  I've figured out what's going on and the pattern is correct as far as row counts.  I'll explain later with another post and update my Ravelry project page when I've finished the project, but wanted to leave a note here to disregard my rambling in case someone is thinking about knitting this pattern and stumbled across this post.

It's a Front!

I have finished the front of my Sous Sous pullover!  Sorry about the really bad photo, it was pouring rain and then Obi decided to help, by standing in what light I had.  The shoulder stitches are on holders, but I don't have holders long enough to hold them smoothly, so they look gathered.  Mickael looked at the picture this morning and thought I'd made a pair of upside down shorts.  So, yeah, bad picture.

Anyway, I am actually finished with the front.  I have kept very careful notes.  I have marked each repeat as I started it, and I'm ready to begin the back.  I think.  I'm going to read through the directions for the back again first, but I hope to cast on later today.  Wish me luck.

In the meantime, while I was working on the front, Caleb came home from spring semester, but has now gone back to summer semester and we've had a few storms.  We've been fortunate so far, especially compared to some, but I will not be sad to see the end of the spring storms (we do need the rain though).  I hope you're all safe and healthy.

A New Sweater!

Some of you may remember a couple of years ago I attempted to knit the Sous Sous pullover.  According to project comments, there may (or may not) be errors in the pattern, and at the time I didn't have time to sort through everything that might or might not have been going on.  I ended up frogging what I had, which was most of the back, and worked on something else.  I've never been able to get the sweater out of my head though and I've decided to give it another try.

I sat down and re-read all the notes I'd made on the first attempt, and read through the project notes of those who had already knit the sweater.  The weird thing is, there are people who say there are issues with the pattern and make corrections, and people who say they knit it as directed and had no trouble at all.  Some of the latter are probably experienced knitters who are just automatically correcting things as they go because they see what the pattern should have said, but the biggest problem I see noted is that the number of repeats don't match up between the front and the back (the sweater is seamed so front and back are knit separately).  The pattern directions begin with the back and that's how I started last time, but this time around I decided to start with the front.  I'm also marking the first and last stitch of the first row of each repeat.  This will help me count repeats, but it will also help with seaming later.

I'm knitting this in Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Fatal Attraction - a gorgeous, rich, slightly cool red.  I've just gotten to the place where the neckline splits the front, so I'll be working both halves at once as I continue.  There is shaping to the front that makes the raised hemline, but it also does the shoulder shaping, so that's why the piece is angled downwards on the sides.  I'm optimistic that I'll get this done this time, and I'm keeping copious notes, which I'll add to my project page, to either help out or confuse future knitters.  (Or so I can knit it again someday if I love it!)

A Finished Sweater and A Birthday!

I have finally finished my Sammensat T.  I started this back in December and it really should have been done much more quickly.  The knitting itself is very easy, and once you're through the short row neck shaping and the yoke, it's just straight knitting.  This is a perfect project for complex, hand dyed yarn (I'm seriously considering some hand spun for a second one of these), and it's also good for times when life gets more complex and all you can do is stockinette (which is why it took me so long to get it finished).  This is definitely something that I will do again, whether in hand spun or commercial yarn.  

The pattern photos show this as a short sleeved top, but the pattern includes directions for a long sleeved top as well.  Obviously, I chose the long sleeves, hoping for a post-holiday pullover to wear in January and February before it got very warm.  Naturally, this year we hit 80 degrees in February and I still wasn't finished with it.  Fortunately, I'll wear pink year round.

One of the things that I liked about the pattern was the minimal edgings.  You start with a Chinese Waitress Cast On (above), and at the end of each section, you do a Chinese Waitress Bind Off (below).  I didn't even know that Chinese Waitress Bind Off was a thing, but I really like how it looks (and I adore the cast on).  I was a little concerned about my edges rolling, but I went down a couple of needle sizes for the last inch or so of knitting, and after steam blocking, everything is lying nicely.  Different yarns, different fiber content, and different levels of twist could mean more issues with rolling at the edge.  If I had had rolling issues, I had planned to work an i-cord bind off.  It would have meant a more substantial edge, but it would have given a similar look.  I used Malabrigo Arroyo in Rosalinda for this project.

In other big news, Obi had his first birthday late last week!  He's now a dog!  I don't know for sure how big he is now, but when he saw the vet at 11 months (ear infection, yeah early spring!), he was 80 pounds.  When he went in January for a booster shot, he weighed 76 pounds, so while we've slowed down quite a bit (thank heavens!), he's still growing.  At this point he probably has the majority of his full size, he'll just do some filling out over the next year.  He stands taller than Logan did (Logan was 80-85 pounds) and conveniently (for Obi), he can easily rest his chin on our kitchen table.  He's doing pretty well learning all the weird human things we've been teaching him, and Mr. Noodle has decided that he's old enough to be disciplined.  When he was younger, Mr. Noodle would just walk away when he got fed up with Obi's puppy shenanigans.  Now Mr. Noodle employs the paw of justice, and to really get the pup to pay attention, he bites.  We're not sure if the kitty has actually made contact with his teeth, but seeing those teeth coming at him, Obi backs up quickly and shows Mr. Noodle some respect. 

Still Sleeving Over Here

I'm working on my second sleeve now!  Second sleeves always go faster for me because I already have all the decreases and the number of rounds before binding off figured out and written down.  I use a row/round counter pretty obsessively and it really pays off in speed of second sleeves (and second socks).  Also, I don't think I've woven in a single end as I've knit this, so there will definitely be some finishing time with this sweater when I finally get this sleeve done.

At this point in the year, I probably won't be able to wear this until fall.  Spring came a little early and it's already warming up around here. 

There was a question on the last blog post about the number of stitches I cast on for the hidden gnome socks and I have knit the socks exactly as the pattern is written.  I do plan to use my usual toe (I don't know it's official name), but that's the only change I'll be making.  If I knit these again, I will slip the stitches at the edges of the heel flap, but that's only because I think it's easier to pick up later from slipped stitches than the garter stitches the pattern has you work at the edge.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

The Sleeving!

So apparently, I was under the impression that this pattern only had directions for short sleeves.  I knew that I wanted long sleeves and figured I could just wing it.  I've knit enough long sleeved sweaters that I know the general idea by now.  

Once I actually got to the point of knitting the sleeves I looked at the pattern (always a good idea) and there, under the short sleeved directions, were directions for long sleeves!  So, long story short, I didn't have to figure anything out after all.  I will need to try the whole thing on soon to see how much longer I need to knit, but I have to do that with every sweater I knit.

In non-knitting news, at almost 11 months old, apparently Obi is old enough to get the kitty discipline.  Mr. Noodle has started slapping at Obi's beak, WITH CLAWS OUT, very slowly.  So, I think Mr. Noodle has the general idea, but doing it as slowly as he is, it really doesn't matter that the claws are out.  On the other hand, Obi is clearly understanding Mr. Noodle's intent and will back away when the paw of justice is coming at him, and breaks eye contact to look away.  It's still a pretty weird relationship to watch though.

Have a great weekend!

Success!

I finished the body of my Sammensat T, learned to do a Chinese Waitress Bind Off (perfectly matches the Chinese Waitress Cast On, which I already know and love), and I gave the sweater a little steam block.  The edges are laying flat and not rolling!  Last time I blogged about this sweater I wasn't sure what the edges would do, but it seems like I'm OK and won't have to add an extra edging to keep them from rolling.  (I had narrowed it down to a simple crochet edging or an I-cord edging if I had needed it.)

I'm now ready to start the sleeves, which will probably be long sleeves.  (The pattern has short sleeves, but I think I should be able to fix that easily.

Have a great weekend!

Winter Sunrise

Back in December, I started knitting a pullover.  I was hoping to have it finished by now, but things happened and I'm still working on it.  This is the Sammensat T pullover and I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Arroyo in Rosalinda.  I'm going to make either 3/4 length or long sleeves, but right now I'm at a place in the body where I need to try it on to check the body length.

The original pattern uses a mostly cotton yarn and I'm using 100% superwash wool.  The pattern is written for practically no edgings, just a good blocking at the neck, hem, and cuffs.  I'm not sure that will work in this yarn and I won't know until I get it finished and blocked (or at least finish the body and block the neck and hem edges at that point), so right now I have no idea how my edges will be finished.  My back up plan, if everything rolls on me, is to do a simple crochet edge, as narrow as I can get away with since the minimal edges were something that I liked about the design.

So to sum up, I'm knitting a pullover and have no idea how much farther I have to go on the body (until I try it on), I have no idea what my edges will look like exactly (until I have blocked them), and I don't have concrete directions for the sleeves beyond the short sleeve length written in the pattern.  This sweater is kind of a metaphor for my life right now - I kind of have a plan, but I'm basically winging it and I have no idea if any of it is going to work.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  We're supposed to get some rain, so we'll probably spend the weekend alternating between lazing around in pajamas and cleaning up Obi's feet!

A Finished Sweater

A couple of years ago, I purchased the Cocoknits Sweater Workshop book.  I flipped through it and looked at the designs, but I was busy knitting other things at the time, so I didn't knit anything from it immediately.  This fall I decided to knit one of the designs and see what the Cocoknits system was all about.  Also, I needed a fairly simple, worsted weight, pullover design to use with a sweater quantity of Malabrigo Rios in Whale's Road.

I finished knitting my Molly, Version B and I'm very happy with it.  There are definitely some techniques from the Cocoknits method that I will use on other sweaters, but the full system itself basically has to be written into the pattern design in order to use it.  Fortunately, there is a decent sized library of Cocoknits patterns available.  I'm not going to limit myself exclusively to these patterns moving forward, but now that I have a basic understanding of it I will be able to knit them.  

I'm very happy with my finished pullover and I think the design lets the colors in the yarn really sing.

Have a great weekend!  We're excited around here because Caleb is in the middle of finals now and will be heading home for Christmas break next week!

Progress!

Good news!  I did finally get out of the knitting black hole and was able to finish the body of my Molly, Version B pullover.  I went ahead and finished the neckline, and now I'm working on the first sleeve.  Hopefully, it won't be too much longer now before it's finished.  Then I will need to weave in the ends.  There are so many ends on this thing, it will probably take me a day just to get them all woven in - but at least I'm seeing progress again as I knit.

Also, can I mention that I love that this was one of those years where Thanksgiving was a little earlier in November.  When it's at the very end of November (like it will be next year) it always seems like I don't have a chance to catch my breath between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the next time I look up, it's New Year's Eve.  This week feels like the calm before the storm (in addition to the regular winter holidays, we have a bunch of family birthdays starting in December and running through the first week of January), and I'm loving it.

We are planning on getting the Christmas tree up this week.  It's Obi's first Christmas and he'll probably need to bark at it for a couple of weeks.