It Is Finished!

My Vine Lace Cardi is all finished! It felt really good to sew the last button on this and I can't wait to wear it! This is my first ever sweater from my handspun. All the details: The yarn was spun from Spinner's Hill batts, one ply was blue green, and the other was a blue, somewhere between royal and denim. I alternated skeins throughout the entire sweater to blend them together and make spinning differences less obvious. I used the traditional Vine Lace stitch pattern and found an edging stitch pattern for the neck band and front bands. The edging pattern came from a Classic Elite leaflet and the best part was that you end up with a YO in the center of each point which you can use as a buttonhole or just leave as a decorative YO.
This meant I didn't have to figure out how many buttons I wanted and where I wanted them before hand. As you can see from the top picture, I stopped the buttons part way up instead of going all the way to the top. I did this for a couple of reasons: I won't wear it buttoned higher than the highest button, and this sweater is so lightweight, I was afraid if I took the buttons all the way to the top it might make the neckline flop down on that side. (BTW, the buttons are photographing slightly lighter than they are in real life because of the flash - they actually blend much better.) So, how light is this sweater? Well, when I weighed it before I sewed the buttons on, it weighed 5 5/8 ounces (159.75 grams).
Here is one last picture, the lace in the window artsy shot.

Oh, Look! Another Squinky Looking Sleeve Thing!

Yes, this is the second sleeve from the Vine Lace Cardi or, as I'm sure we're all beginning to think of it, The-When-Will-It-Ever-End? I'm about 8 rows from the beginning of the sleeve cap shaping and I really, REALLY hope to get the silly thing finished today. It would be great if I could get both sleeves blocked out today, but with the timeline that this cardi is taking, that should probably be saved for next week.

I don't think I've ever said it, and I don't know if you've realized it, but this is actually the first sweater I've ever done with my handspun. I bought the spinning batts from Spinner's Hill at MDS&W two years ago and got the yarn spun up before last year's show. Then it marinated in the stash until I decided what I was going to do with it, and now it's finally being knitted up. I do have another sweater's worth of handspun sitting in the stash that was actually spun before I spun this - it's undyed white Falkland spun to around a worsted weight (I haven't tried a gauge swatch yet).

OK, that's about all I have to say today. I promise, if you haven't given up on reading this blog, I will have something interesting tomorrow. It might be Finn and Ramius (not together, Heaven forbid) but it will be better than a sleeve part laying on the carpet looking all shrivelled and sad.

Finished Things That Are Still Not Finished

I did finish my first sleeve for the Vine Lace Cardi and it fits nicely into the armhole! (Or it will once it's blocked.) I'm going to wait to block it with the second sleeve so I get them the same size - always a nice touch with sleeves. Thanks for all the comments on finishing this sweater, but I forgot to mention one crucial piece of information - I don't crochet. At all. I can make a chain for a provisional cast on, but I would even mess that up before I learned to work it over the needle. Second most important piece of information here - I really have no interest in learning to crochet. I've seen some crochet that is really pretty and I know it can be useful to know even as a knitter, but for some reason I am crochet resistant. And since crochet is not the Borg, resistance is not futile. It's worked pretty well for me so far.

Today's big event will be working on the second sleeve. I feel like I might be able to get it done since these sleeves are really pretty quick. Then I can devote all my energy to finding the perfect bands for the buttons and neck of this sweater. If it doesn't warm up around here soon, I might need this for MDS&W!

In other things that are finished but not finished, I got the foot done and all the toe decreases worked on my first Twisted Flower Sock. As you can see above, all I have left to do here is Kitchener Stitch the toe closed and knit a second sock. That's when we'll find out if the notes I made about the changes I made to the pattern on the first sock are clear enough to repeat for the second sock. It's always an adventure around here!

Finally, I don't know if I'll be blogging tomorrow (how many sleeves and pink sock parts can you really handle?). In addition to working on the second sleeve and possibly starting a new sock, I have some ideas for some new patterns. One of them is potentially Mystery Stole 3 - no, I don't know when it will start, no I don't have a group set up for it, no I don't know what the yardage needed will be or anything else yet. I promise that I will let you all know just as soon as I know though - sound good?

The second idea is for a very simple stole, possibly ideal for a first lace project, and I'm trying to come up with something that works up pretty quickly. I periodically get an email from people who have an event/gift/some occasion in 3-5 weeks and want to know if one of my shawl patterns is doable in that time frame. My plan with this second design is to come up with something simple that uses great yarn and is doable in a very short time frame. Oh, and one other teaser, every time I sit down to doodle ideas and put patterns together, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville is going through my head.

And now its going through your head too!

No, It Didn't Get Abducted By Aliens

I haven't lost the Vine Lace Cardi, in case you're wondering. I had to do some re figuring on the sleeves because I just guessed at my arm measurements when I started figuring them out. Guessing at arm measurements is almost never a good idea. So, like the heel flap on the socks for yesterday, I had to have some time to sit down and think clearly (without Ramius trying to climb in my lap, Finn trying to attack Caleb, or Caleb standing next to me singing the James Bond theme and telling me he's bored). I finally got that time yesterday, but Ramius did end up helping - he's helped before on knitting stuff though so we have kind of a system.

As you see above, I got quite a bit done on the first sleeve after I did my re figuring. I'm 8 rows away from starting the sleeve cap shaping (must remember to put in a life line). I hope to finish the sleeve cap today and then I can check to see if it fits into the armhole of the sweater before I knit the second sleeve.

I've got to decide what kind of front and neck edgings I'm going to use on this. They have to be narrow because this sweater is so lightweight and the lace makes it look even more open, wide or heavy looking bands will look terrible. Any ideas?

Vine Lace Cardigan

Last night I finished the fronts and back of the Vine Lace Cardigan. It desperately needs blocking and that will be the next thing it does. It's smoothed out a bit on the carpet in this picture so you can kind of see the shape, but as soon as I pick it up it bounces into a tiny little vest shaped thing. It weighs next to nothing so just for fun I put it on my scale and sure enough, what you see above is exactly 3 ounces. I have no idea how this is possible, but I'm sure it will be wonderful to wear all summer. Next up are the sleeves and I think I'm going to knit them flat so I can knit them both at once and get this all finished up. I will be putting in lifelines before I start the sleeve cap shaping in case I have to frog the sleeve caps for a better fit, but otherwise I don't anticipate any trouble.

Have a great weekend!

Vine Lace Cardi

As you can see, its getting bigger! It measures 14 inches long now and I'm ready to divide for armholes. The original plan was to add raglan sleeves and knit the whole thing in as close to one piece as possible. I've never designed raglan shaping, so I pulled out Deborah Newton's Designing Knitwear.* In the section on raglan sleeves, she says something about raglan sleeves being some of the most difficult to design successfully. Being a sensible Pink Lemon who doesn't really know how her handspun will react to repeated froggings, I made a hasty retreat from the raglan battlefield and will now be making set in sleeves. But wait, you say, set in sleeves are also difficult what with the matching up of the armsceye and sleeve cap and the curves that must be carefully eased into place. Yes, dear reader, that's true, but the Pink Lemon has designed for set in sleeves before and while they are scary, Ms. Newton has a set of 7 or 8 rules for designing set in sleeves - and they work! Raglan sleeves have no set of rules - its like swimming with pirhanas. Set in sleeves are like swimming with baby pirhanas with no sense of direction - yeah, that's it.

So last night, along with my calculator of knitwear design, a bag of M&M's (have you seen the Easter one's? They have sheep!), and the ever helpful Finn doggy, I figured out armsceye shaping and most of the sleeve cap shaping. Usually Ramius is the one to help me with sweater design, but he was napping and Finn was pretty sure he could be helpful and he smelled food, so he volunteered for the job. (Yes, I am aware that chocolate is poisonous to dogs. He didn't get any.)

*Designing Knitwear is my favorite book about designing for knitting. It is full of helpful tips for all kinds of styles and shapes, if you can get past the sample garments - the book was published in the early 1990's, so you can imagine the kind of large shoulder pads and even larger drop sleeve measurements. The technical information in this book is timeless and useful for any style of knitwear design, IMHO.

100% More Vine Lace Cardi - Than Ever Before!

I've doubled what I had on the Vine Lace Cardi the other day. I'm really loving the way this is looking and the way it feels. Its going to be perfect for a light sweater this Spring and Summer. The color is actually a bit darker than it photographed here, so I will probably even be able to wear it into early Fall! I don't remember if I've mentioned how I spun the yarn lately, so I'll just mention it again for anyone who wasn't reading a year ago (which is around when I actually did the spinning). This is a basic two ply spun from batts I purchased at MDS$W in 2005. I first picked the green color, but they didn't have enough for a sweater. So I got some of the blue color and when I spun them, I spun them the same weight and plied them together. That's why the knitted fabric seems to shift a bit between a teal green and a soft royal blue. You could easily do this with any spinning fiber, just pick two analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel) that are the same value (degree of lightness or darkness) and ply them together and you get this almost iridescent look. If you don't choose analogous colors or you choose one light and one dark, you'll get a barber pole effect on your yarn and your knitted fabric won't have the subtle color shifts, it will be more of a speckled look. There's nothing wrong with a speckled look, if that's what you want of course. The huge range of solid colored Merino and Corriedale tops that are available would give you a pretty great palette to play with.

Working on this cardi has gotten me thinking about yarn/pattern compatibility. The thing I have to constantly remind myself of in knitting is that just because I can get gauge with a particular yarn, doesn't mean that it should be used for a particular pattern. I'm a huge fan of changing yarns a pattern calls for. Sometimes my yarn changing habits don't work out. When I started knitting this yarn, I was doing the Grannie Smith cardi. It calls for Rowan's Kid Silk Haze. (I love Kid Silk Haze. I could wallow in it for hours, if I had any sitting around here to wallow in.) I have no Kid Silk Haze in my stash right now (my birthday is coming up though!) so I thought I would use my handspun which I was sure I could get gauge on. I did get gauge, but my handspun yarn was losing all its personality and it just didn't feel right. By switching to a different pattern (alright, its not really a pattern at all, its just me winging it) I was able to work with the yarn instead of in spite of it, and by not forcing it to become something it isn't, I'm getting much better results.

The point of all this is (yes, there is a point), I got to thinking last night about the Rosemarkie vest. I'm concerned that using a cabled yarn might not be right for it. If you look at traditional Fair Isle knitting, you'll see that the stitches kind of blend together. That is a combination of the knitter's skill with controlling tension on two yarns at once and the soft, fuzzy, 2 ply Shetland yarn. While I'm not concerned with the loss of fuzz by not using Shetland, I am concerned by the density and crispness of the cabled yarn. The yarns traditionally called for are light and squishy, so when they are knitted together, they expand against each other to create a cohesive fabric. This weekend I'm going to spin a tiny amount of blue cabled yarn and try a swatch with the white. My gut is telling me that just because I can get gauge with these yarns, that doesn't mean I'll like the way they look in a stranded knitting design. So once I get a swatch knitted up, I'll post it to the blog and we'll see what we think.

Have a great weekend.

A Change of Plans

Remember how a few weeks ago I started the lovely Grannie Smith Cardi with my handspun? Well, after knitting more than half of one front, I realized that while I was getting gauge, and the pattern was showing up well, the yarn just wasn't right for the pattern. There wasn't enough drape to the knitting, even with the weight of the hem. I was using US 1's (2.25mm) to get gauge and it was just too dense of a fabric. Washing and blocking should have given it more drape (this yarn really looked lovely in the washed gauge swatch), but I just didn't think it would be right. So I unravelled it, wound it back up and started Plan B. Above, you can see Plan B and its already feeling and acting much more like the fabric I was hoping this yarn would become.

So, what is Plan B? Its a Vine Lace* Cardi, knit on US 4's, circular needles. I'm making up the pattern as I go but I'm planning on knitting up to the armholes, knitting the arms, then finishing the whole thing together with raglan shaping. I think this will make it easier for me to deal with knitting from two balls at once. (I'm still knitting two rows from each ball of yarn, then switching. The little floats as I switch balls will be hidden when I pick up stitches along the front edges for the button bands.) I haven't done very much with raglan shaping and while I have a general understanding of how it works, I've never designed with it, so that should offer me a challenge when I get to it, or tip me right over the edge of sanity, depending on what else is going on that week.

Just a note, I updated the list of Fiber Enablers on my sidebar yesterday and added Franquemont Fibers - you'll be seeing some of Abby's beautiful spinning fibers later this week, and Blue Moon Fiber Arts, home of the highly desirable Socks That Rock yarn. I really can't tell you enough good things about either company's products - try them out sometime.

*Vine Lace is a simple 4 row pattern, easy to memorize, that gives you points at the lower edge and makes a lacy vertical stripe pattern when knitted. Who among us does not love the vertical stripe? Directions are in Barbara G. Walker's first book or, because its a traditional pattern that's been around forever, if you use your Google skills, you can find it on the Internets (I found a tea cozy, an afghan, and something that used it knitted in the round without putting any real effort into the search.)