Miss Me?

I'm done!

Green Superwash Weasley:




I used THIS to get an idea of what I was doing, but made lots of modifications to account for the yarn I was using (Valley Superwash, from Webs). As I said before, the yarn is quite nice -- a little denser than your Cascade 220 Superwash, maybe also a little softer. I put the sweater (or most of it, anyway) through the wash before blocking, and it held up very well.

I like this pattern a lot. And I think what I may like about it the very most is that it is a kids' sweater that can potentially be used for several years. It is quite baggy, giving plenty of room to grow in width.

So the part of the sweater where a kid's rapidly increasing size would really become an issue is the sleeves, maybe the body length. But the sleeves are baggy too, and are knit from the top-down. (I did a rolled bottom sleeve rather than the ribbing that the pattern called for.) All of which means that Mother-of-Y can send the sweater back to me when the sleeves get too short, I can easily add some more length (maybe even that ribbing in a contrasting color), and they get at least another year out of it. Neat.

Scarf for V:




I used THIS to get an idea of what I was doing, but made lots of modifications to account for the fact that I wanted a scarf rather than a hat. (I'll post those mods in a day or so, for those who are interested.) This yarn was great, too -- but it is hard to not like Kureyon. (Although, these colors are also not my favorites! Ever seen Kureyon 170? Now *that* is to die for.)

Now, I have to ask.

Kureyon.

I heard just the other day something that made me think it isn't supposed to be pronounced Cure-E-On.

Which is the only way I've heard it said.

Not that I have heard that many people say, "Kureyon" at all.

Mostly I just see it written.

But really, if you sound it out, using Japanese pronunciation, it is clearly Koo-Ray-On.

Which is the closest the Japanese language can get to the English word "Crayon."

WHICH, AS IT TURNS OUT, IS WHAT KUREYON MEANS.

So my question is, am I the only Noro fan on the block who did not know this?

What I Ought

This is a beginning-of-the-weekend photo. The "Y" -- in fact, the entire front -- is now done.

I'm worried that the whole thing feels drab.

The yarn (Valley Superwash, from Webs) is quite nice, texture-wise. And there haven't been too many knots, etc. Not sure how well it will hold up, of course.

What is really bugging me is the color. (And my messy intarsia, but I'm going to stitch around the edge of the Y, so most of the blechiness will be well hidden.)

As I'm knitting, the color sings to me.

"Blah, blah, blah. I'm so blah. Blah, blah, blah."

It bugs.

Did the Doctor choose the wrong color?

It feels like the wrong color.

But what were the other options?

Though they were cheerier, they were also not right at all. Way too bright.

Also, my own wardrobe features at least one sweater in a similar color.

So either they're both pretty bad, or neither is.

And I just can't tell anymore. (The singing is really distracting.)

The fundamental problem, I think, is that this project really calls for a tweed. A nice mixture of blah and bright. Not too bright. Not too blah. (I love tweed. Can't go wrong with tweed.)

But who makes tweed superwash?

And superwash is key to this sweater being used (or used more than once, anyway) by its intended.

So my plan is to ignore the singing with some "La La LA, I can't hear you!" tunes of my own.

And to finish it as quickly as possible.

I am also concerned that the front might be a scootch longer than the back.

It is extremely hard to measure them -- ALL of the edges curl up something fierce.

They'll calm down well enough after blocking and seaming.

But those things are supposed to happen *after* one knits to approximately the right measurements . . .

So, here's what I'm doing: I'm calling both the front and back "good enough" for now. If, after blocking, the front turns out to be too long, I'll just rip back a few rows.

Simple enough.

Except that the pattern calls for sewing the shoulder seams, and picking up stitches to do the sleeves.

That won't really work here.

Unless I block the front and back before dealing with the seams at all.

But that's not really my style.

So I'm doing the sleeves as separate pieces and will sew them in later.

Sure, that's more seaming than may be strictly necessary.

But seaming is better than heartbreak.

Seaming is better than heartbreak.

Seaming is better than heartbreak.

Seaming is better than heartbreak

And that's my St. Valentine's message to you.

Catch Up

Hey, how ya doing? Long time no blog.

Have answered the question of "Y." ("Because!"):

The increasing and decreasing method blocked out very nicely, but in the end wasn't really what I was looking for. Backstitching looks particularly crappy. But a chain stitch 'round the edge looks real nice.


Have figured out Great-Grand-Mum's afghan:

It was, indeed, double-crochet between the stitches in the row below. No chain stitches between.


Fetching!:

There's another one of these around here somewhere . . . probably holding the camera. I have to say, I never really liked this pattern. Still don't love it. But WOW I was SO COLD! And Fetching is very, very fast.


And finally, yarn!:

Socks that Rock from Churchmouse, out on Bainbridge Island. Fantastic shop.


You have *no* idea how difficult it was to keep it under the resolved five skeins. I haven't ever seen Socks that Rock, at least not physically, in person. There was this one called "Kryptonite" that I just *had* to have. Only I had to have it slightly less than these other five. Five? Why did I choose five? So hard. But I did it. Nine days in, and I haven't broken the resolution yet.


And when am I ever going to get to knit these? NOW NOW NOW! No. (I am such trouble.) I'm telling myself that if I can finish those handspun socks (my oldest UFO) for Dulaan and one other project (knitter's choice), then I can cast on another pair of socks. Maybe by then, the urge will have passed?

In other news, Aran Knitting hasn't magically showed up. Working on the insurance angle now, although it isn't entirely clear that "theft off the porch, post-delivery" is covered. Am considering buying another copy, but maybe I should make some of those Dulaan Hats first, as a sort of a down-payment on the karma problem . . .

Y, O Y?

Hi.

With the Doctor's help, I selected the right green for the superwash Weasley. It is somewhere between Pine and Frog or Moss, and was deemed by the Doctor to be the most "Harry Pottery" of the available greens.

Have now finished the back, so it is about time I got around to swatching. (Haha!)

Seriously, though, I really do need to swatch now.

Because I haven't got a chart for the letter. (We're doing a "Y" rather than an "H.")

Yes, haven't got a chart. All I've got is this:

Print out of a super-large letter "Y" in some font or other that looked about right.


The main trouble is this: The letter "H" looks fairly good knitted -- even in the Harry Potter font, it is mainly straight lines, vertical and horizontal. So it works with the boxy grid of stitches you get in stockinette. The lines of the letter are all smooth.

The "Y," though, presents issues: two diagonal lines. So, if you do normal intarsia or duplicate stitch (we're aiming for intarsia over here), you get what we'd call in another context visible pixelation. In other words, those diagonal lines are jagged.

If working in a smaller gauge or fuzzier yarn (even a slightly smaller gauge and slightly fuzzier yarn, like I would be if using that dratted not-really-machine-washable Felted Tweed), probably this would be not-too-noticeable. And I could backstitch around the letter's edges to smooth it all out at the end, if necessary.

But superwash is unforgiving in this vein. The gauge is fairly large, the stitches are very defined (who ever imagines that will be a problem?), and I'm not sure but I think that backstitching would add an awful lot of bulk.

So, I'm swatching to find the best solution.

Here's my first shot, made from the other shades of green the Doctor rejected:

Lumpy!


In this attempt, I've tried decreasing and increasing in the background color, adjacent to the lines of the letter, to form the diagonals. Tried many different styles of increasing and decreasing. It does block out better than it looks here, it does get me straight-edged diagonals, and it does have a certain "Mrs. Weasley" charm to it.

But I think it can be improved.

I'm going to try one more version in this style, then probably try the "normal" intarsia with backstitching. The increasing and decreasing produces distortions in the shape of the fabric, so I figure I ought to at least *try* the "obvious" solution.

TTFN

While You Were Drying

The blocking of Freya continues. She must be somewhat dryer than she started (she must, right???), but it sure doesn't feel that way. I had hoped to wear her to a party this coming Saturday, but that is seeming less and less likely.

Possible.

But not likely.

In the meantime, I am kicking around some ideas for other green washable yarn candidates. I swatched and washed the Rowan Felted Tweed, and found that when they say the "gentle" cycle, they really mean it. Probably the stuff should be called "Rowan Only Partially Felted Tweed." It doesn't shrink dramatically or anything like that (at least not on the "gentle" setting), but it clearly wants to be slightly more felted than it is. Which means that if the sweater accidentally went through the regular cycle with everything else . . . disaster. So. Anyone tried the Valley Superwash from Webs?

On another front, the Doctor asked me for a hat, um, a while ago. (Last January!)

I had cast on for a double-knitted hat like Alison's months ago, but the yarn (127 Print) just wasn't working very well with the double-knitting technique. Or at least not with my double-knitting technique, which admittedly is lacking. 127 Print is a single ply, and I kept snagging just a few fibers every time I slipped a stitch. And there's one slip for every single darn stitch. The hat (all one inch of it) was looking pretty ragged. Also note the yarn is not so nice after frogging.

I was so down about the whole thing that I wasn't even considering it to be a real project.

But here I have some time on my hands. (Not really!) So I picked it up again.

I still wanted the functionality of double-knitting -- although I didn't need the double-knit stripes; my yarn would do that for me. But I wanted the hat to be two layers thick, reversible, and I wanted my cast-on edge to have all the stitches (extra stretchy) rather than later picking up another set of stitches for the inner hat / lining.

I figured I would have just enough time to re-start and finish this in perfect time for Freya to dry.

But I'm already done.

Two hats in one!
The Doctor likes the teal side best, but I'm partial to the black.


And . . . Freya is still quite damp.

But she could be dry any time now. (Really, she could!)

So I really can't start working on anything too big.

I'm actually considering weaving in some of those ends on that pink and green mitered square baby blanket . . .

Anything, really to avoid working on that scarf for V.

(Most of our "Winter Gift Exchange 2006" is actually happening in early 2007, so I've got plenty of quality procrastination ahead.)

Enough to Cheer *Anyone* Up

So . . . no green yarn. Will have to think about next steps. My snit is over, but I'm still quite frustrated. What I really want to do is go to an LYS and, you know, "get some" (I think you all know what I mean). But I would have done this in the first place if it were an easy option. All my regular haunts don't carry Cascade 220 at all, or don't carry the Superwash. (I guess everyone is into felting these days.)

Poo!

There are three basic choices:

1.) Mail order some more yarn, but from a different vendor.

2.) Search high-and-low. Again.

3.) Give up on the "Superwash," and make it out of Rowan Felted Tweed. That stuff *can* go in the wash (albeit carefully and on the "gentle" setting). But not in the dryer. But nicer yarn. But no dryer. But nicer yarn. But no dryer. (This is the debate that led me to the Cascade 220 Superwash in the first place.)

Will have to think about this for a few days. (Which, conveniently, may just give me enough time to finish up Freya. Wow! I can't believe that, really.)

But here's the good stuff! Remember these?




Check it out:

Still too big. (Or is it that the twins are too wee? Yes, I rather think it is their fault.)



When I made them (the sweaters, not the babies) I was hoping they'd be right for late spring / summer. That timing might work . . . but babies grow fast. (That, too, is their fault, I'm sure.)




Squee!

Bad Mood

So the reason my green yarn hasn't arrived is apparently that it has arrived.

Yeah.

According to the giant package-tracking database, it was delivered a week ago.

Only I don't seem to have it.

I am hoping, hoping, hoping that it was delivered and that it was delivered on a bad-weather day.

Because if it was cold, wet and miserable, then the postman might have decided to not leave the package at the front door (which is not sheltered) and instead put it in some other obscure (but dry) place. (He really is a nice guy.)

So there is a possibility that if I get home today before it gets dark, and I hunt around a bit, the yarn might magically appear.

Otherwise, it is just plain lost in the mails. (Or stolen from my front door.)

Of course I called the vendor about it.

They "can't help."

Blah, blah, blah.

The explanation goes something like, "If we replaced every shipment of yarn that got lost in the post . . . ."

You know the song.

So, if the package isn't hidden in some cozy nook somewhere, my only recourse will be to "make a claim" with the postal service.

Which will take weeks.

And won't actually result in my getting the yarn.

Which means that in order to make this sweater (assuming the shipment is lost), I need to find appropriate yarn from somewhere else.

You can't blame me for not immediately re-ordering from the same people, right?

All of which is to say . . . bad mood.

EXTREMELY BAD MOOD.

(You probably don't want to talk to me right now.)

The Wages of Impatience

I am awaiting a delivery of several skeins of green Cascade 220 Superwash for a sweater. Not this one, as you might imagine. Something more like this. (No, sadly, not for me. It will be much too small.)

But I am impatient, and I don't want to work on that scarf, or [insert any one of the shameful number of other ongoing projects here], etc. I want to work on a sweater. One for me, frankly. That would be ideal. But Posy just won't cut it, since there's no way that I'm wearing that for months (cotton lace, in winter?). And what I like best about this sweater idea is the fantasy of wearing the thing very, very soon. (I say "fantasy," because when have I ever finished any new project "very, very soon?")

So . . . I've started Elsebeth Lavold's Freya. (Or Freja, depending on where you're from.) Pattern is in Viking Patterns for Knitting. There aren't a whole lot of examples of this one in the blogosphere, but here's one over at Fiber Dreams, if you're curious about what it's supposed to look like. (Mine, of course, will be yellow.)




I've sped through the back already. Just started a sleeve. My working theory is that if I finish the not-so-interesting pieces first (the back and sleeves are almost entirely stockinette), then I won't drop the project for months and months once I'm done with the extremely interesting fronts. We'll see how that goes.

I guess I'll worry later about what to do when that green yarn arrives.