2011 sweaters (and other stuff)

At the beginning of this year, I resolved to knit seven sweaters, one of which I designed myself, which turned out to be the only knitting resolution I unequivocally kept (the rest were a flat out failure, or else need to be judged, um, charitably). Though I really enjoyed branching out this year into tiny sock yarn socks and lacy shawls, sweaters have always been my most satisfying knitting projects; also, this year, it's kind of cool to see all the photos of the different places we were living when I finished them! The first sweater is one of the last thing I knit in Japan: Snow White with Noro Cash Iroha. I miss our tiny Japanese backyard. 

After Snow White, things in Japan got too busy for me to knit, and then too hot while I was traveling in Vietnam and India (too hot is also why I whacked off about six inches of hair right before leaving Hanoi). I was in serious knitting withdrawal by the time I got to Iain's house in Scotland, which nonetheless does not explain why I felt the compulsive need to knit this Snowbird sweater in ten freakin' days. But I did. The photo above was taken in Iain's family's backyard the day before I left. Of all the sweaters I made this year, I wear this one the most, though I am quite embarrassed to say that I have still not woven in all the ends. 

I knit this Streamside cardigan in Los Angeles, where - in Iain's absence - I discovered the amazing time suck that is Netflix instant streaming and figured out how to use a remote control on my camera and take photos of myself, myself. I'm so productive when my boyfriend is in another country. 

I never posted about this but this also happened, I swear! I designed it myself and it mostly came out the way I imagined, but it needs a button or something. I have vague plans of fine tuning this and making it into a real pattern, but they're pretty vague. I count this as fulfilling my New Year's resolution because I did wear it out in public once or twice, but it was definitely not my most satisfying knit. 

I liked my first Cecily Macdonald Glowick sweater so much that I made a Goodale too, out of the madtosh pashima that never became a February Lady sweater, and finished it right before we left for Peru. I'm not a huge fan of this sweater. It hangs funny, and I know I keep saying I'll fix it, but I don't really know when that will be. Can't argue with the color, though - yay, Tart! 

Are you seeing sort of a theme with these poses? I have no idea what this pose is - maybe I'm so busy admiring my handiwork I can't be bothered to look at the camera? If I was on America's Next Top Model, the judges would totally mock me for my lack of posing ferocity and I'd be eliminated right away. In any case. Boe was a test knit for the amazingly talented Anke, and I absolutely love it, even though finishing it in Peru meant that I was't really able to wear it in the weather there. Also, I started knitting it in San Francisco on the BART train, and then I dropped the ball and it rolled down the aisles and under seats right as the door to my stop opened and I had to run after it, and it was one of those really frantic moments when I'm pretty sure I looked like a colossal idiot to everyone else on the train. The photo is from our host family's house in Peru, which was still being built. Our lovely host mother told it me was muy linda, and I felt really special. 

The other Peru sweater and probably my favorite of the whole year - a Tea Leaves cardigan in the most beautiful yarn on the planet. Iain took these photos of me in front of an Inca wall, which is probably way cooler than the sweater itself. 

So those were the sweaters of 2011! (I also started this Acer cardigan, but it quickly fell by the wayside when we started backpacking - there was no way I could cram a sweater's worth of yarn into our already crammed full shared rucksack.) In general, they weren't really as satisfying as the sweaters of the year before. So many short sleeved projects made me feel like I was cheating (plus I can't really wear them now that I'm finally in sweater weather), and I'm kind of meh on most of them. Next year I think I just need to make a few long sleeved, worsted weight cardigans that button all the way up that I can actually wear, especially since it's looking like I'll be living someplace cold. 

When I wasn't knitting sweaters, though, I was designing! I published four patterns this year, which doesn't sound like a lot but there was a lot of behind the scenes knitting and unknitting and things that never became patterns, so it did suck up a fair bit of time. The first pattern, published in early January, was Thisbe, above. 

This pattern was actually published in an actual, real-live magazine, and I am so lame about blogging while traveling that I never actually blogged about it until now. SO LAME, I know. And now that issue is long off the shelves. But in any case, these Ivonne mitts appeared in the second issue of the UK magazine Knit Now, and despite my relative radio silence on the matter in blog form, it was one of the most exciting moments in knitting I've ever had, as well as the one that reassured my father, who I was living with at the time, that all that time I spent knitting and vacantly watching Netflix instant streaming was, in fact, productive.  It is worth noting that the photo above is actually my submission picture and that the thumbs have changed, and also that I think I'll be able to sell the pattern myself eventually, so if you like it, you're in luck! 

The other thing I spent a good amount of time working on this summer was this Phaedra hat. Yay, things with leaves. 

And finally, there was Naiya, a free alpaca cowl pattern I managed to write in Peru, mostly because I wanted an excuse to use my pretty skein of squishy alpaca yarn from Cusco. And that's it, for 2011! If I didn't have as many satisfying FOs as I would have liked, it's only because I was too busy traveling or designing, and I can't complain about any of that. If you like any of these patterns, use the coupon code happy2012 before January 2nd on Ravelry to get 25% off any pattern! Except for the free ones, because they're already free. Happy knitting, and goodbye to an awesome year! 

FO : tea leaves cardigan

It's done! Actually it was done almost a week ago, but it took me a long time to block, sew buttons and then drag Iain out for some photos in front of the Inca wall on the other side of town. 

Hey look, it's my standard awkward sweater pose! 

I blazed through this sweater because I desperately need another sweater out here in Ollanta, and I can already tell this is a sweater I'll wear all the time (though maybe not here, because something about life in this town thrashes your clothes, and this sweater is too pretty to be thrashed). The pattern was very easy to follow, and  I made very little adjustments to the pattern, just omitting the increases under the arms and knitting at a very slightly tighter gauge to get a slightly more fitted sweater. I also added button holes all the way down, as you can see - I like the fastened at the top look, but I think it'll get more wear through the winter this way.

I really loved everything about using Codex by Sanguine Gryphon (starting with the colorway name - On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl) and am holding my breath to see how it looks after a few wearings. I love single ply yarn, and could easily see this becoming my go-to such yarn for sweaters. The color is difficult to describe, but is absolutely gorgeous. I was a lazy knitter and did not switch skeins, but I think I got away with it? 

Much as I love this sweater, I can't help but feel that the Inca wall steals the show in these photos, because really, how cool is this wall?

Raveled here.

FO: boe

This was a test knit for Anke, whose classic, elegant sweater patterns I have long coveted on Ravelry.  This was the first time I was ever so bold as to volunteer myself as a test knitter, though - shyness aside, I also spent the last month moving myself to a remote mountaintop in the Andes - but I'm so happy I did, because this sweater is gorgeous. I love everything about it - the open, airy gauge, the asymmetry, the floppy neck (which looked better when I first blocked it, but got wrinkled before these photos, in the doorway of our homestay, were taken). 

Though Anke's prototype used a pretty linen yarn, I knit my Boe with less than two skeins of madelinetosh Merino Light, on massive size US 9 needles. There are a few odd bits where I'm not sure I did the short rows correctly, but nothing too obvious. Which is good, because though Ollantaytambo may be too cold, this sweater is perfect for springs back home, so I know it'll get a lot of wear :) I'm not totally sure when this pattern will appear on Ravelry, but when it does, I highly, highly recommend it - I already want to make myself another one in black.

Raveled here. 

FO: Goodale

Despite Iain arriving last weekend (finally! hooray!) I was able to finish up my Goodale cardigan (the reincarnation of an earlier, doomed February Lady) yesterday afternoon, not long after we left Los Angeles for my mother's house in Oakland.

Why yes, those are home grown apples behind me! 

Anyway, Goodale ... sigh. There are so many gorgeous versions of this sweater on Ravelry that I had really high hopes when I began. It definitely turned out better than the February Lady sweater this yarn could have been, but I'm a bit dissatisfied with the end result. The sweater seems really fussy to me, in that everything last to be lying exactly right so as to prevent the pockets from flopping open and looking all weird - as the sweater currently is, I can't really see myself wearing it out much, because I'd never be able to stop worrying that it was all askew. I think what I'll have to do is eventually forgo the pockets, block the thing really carefully and sew the whole thing up so the front lies flat, but I'm just too discouraged by the whole thing to mess with it anymore at the moment.

The yarn I used was Madelinetosh Pashmina, which, despite coming in very tangly skeins and being rather splitty, is still one of my favorite yarns ever. I used size seven needles here, and the fabric has a beautiful drape to it (which may explain why the pockets won't stay put?)

So, that's Goodale for now - I may try and fix up the pockets when I'm in a more problem solving mood, but for now I'm going to put it aside. Just last night I was trying to explain to my mom that I love knitting because it's more forgiving and doesn't demand perfection the way sewing does (much like, to my mind anyway, the way cooking forgives mistakes in ways that baking doesn't - so, knitting is to sewing as cooking is to baking!) - not so much with this sweater, I'm afraid. 

RIP(ped out): february lady sweater

above: this photo is so old, it's from when I still lived in an apartment with tatami! 

Oh, February Lady; I don't think I made any progress on you since I took this photo back in ... November, maybe? I don't even remember. Perhaps it was a bit overambitious to fly blind with a much smaller gauge (to say the least of all the many modifications I had in mind). Also apparently I can't count: when - remembering my New Years resolution - I finally got the motivation to sit down with this sweater and finish it last week, a quick stitch count revealed that the two front panels were asymmetrical by like, ten stitches. How did I even do that? 

above: Goodale thus far 

It seemed like a waste to have two pretty skeins of tart sitting unknit and unenjoyed for nearly a year (to say nothing of making a mess of such a pretty pattern). The good news was, the two skeins of madelinetosh pashima were just enough to cast on for a pretty Goodale cardigan instead! Unlike the frogged February Lady misadventure, this time I'm following the pattern exactly, down to the recommended yarn. In two days, I'm already as far into the Goodale cardigan as I ever got into the February Lady, so here's hoping it'll be less drama and more fun than it's predecessor...

FO: bluebird streamside

I finished this awhile ago and have been too busy wearing it all over Los Angeles to blog about it, but, in any case, my Streamside cardigan is finished!

The Pattern: This was my first project by Cecily Glowik MacDonald (I had a terrifically hard time choosing which one I wanted to knit, because I seriously love and would wear almost everything she's designed). I did find those four neck stitches at the top of the shoulder a tiny bit awkward, but maybe that's just my sloppy knitting. In any case, this sweater is gorgeous. I wish I was a better knitter so I could have done the pockets - I actually knit them both, sewed one on, realized it looked terrible, and then spent half an hour picking it back out. I also totally misread the pattern to include about 20 stitches of 1x1 rib along the front, which I suspected was a it off early on, but I liked the way it looked so I kept it, even though I am the slowest 1x1 rib knitter on the planet. Anyway, multiple testaments to my own stupidity aside, this is a fantastic pattern. The shaping on this is so pretty and flattering, and I'd like to try this again while trying a different technique for the super cute little pockets. As I said, I really love this sweater, and have been wearing it out quite a bit already. 

And the yarn: Fiberphile Super Squish Worsted in Bluebird. So much love - a soft, squishy worsted yarn that just gets softer after blocking, and comes in my new favorite blue colorway ever. Bluebird is a seriously gorgeous blue, and the yarn is just variegated enough to add some depth without going all splotchy (it's a delicate balance! I swear!) I knit this a bit loosely with size 8 needles, and love the resulting fabric - I would definitely knit with this again.

Also, I love the buttons, which have pretty little chrysanthemums on them. I'm in LA for the summer, and my dad lives down the street from a sewing supplies store, where I spent ages pouring over all the buttons. They had a few in a slightly closer color, but not enough for my cardigan, so I went with the lighter shade, and now I'm happy I did. Yay, buttons. 

FO: scotland snowbird

Hello from my last day in Aberdeenshire! These last three weeks flew by; despite it being June, it's been cold and rainy most of the time, which left ample time for finishing up my Snowbird sweater. Fortunately the sun came out briefly right after I finished it, so I was able to drag Iain out to take some photos:

I knit this in nine days, which is obscenely fast for me. Once I got started, with little else to do out here, finishing it became a bit of an unhealthy obsession. I knit an entire sleeve in one day and knit 35 cm in another; if I ever get so stupid as to decide to knit something this fast again, I'm definitely going for a shorter sweater with fatter yarn.

My frenetic knitting was made slightly stressful by the fact that this sweater looked like @$*&! while I was knitting it. Fortunately, I steam blocked this rather aggressively with an iron, and am very, very happy to see that steam blocking forgives a number of sins and results in a much softer, much drapier fabric. It's still not perfect, so, um, don't look too closely!

The Pattern: This is a gorgeous sweater, the kind I would buy in a store, and my first purlwise-facing project, which I like quite a bit; the directions are generally easy to follow, though they don't spell things out as much as some others do (something I always appreciate, since if there's a wrong way to do something, that's probably how I'll do it unless firmly ordered otherwise). The construction is not forgiving of mistakes, with some of the seaming or more fiddly bits in very visually central areas, like the shoulders (mine do not look wonderful). The seaming of the back threw me a bit, until some helpful Ravelers pointed out that to do mattress stitch on two different fabrics, you follow mattress stitch directions for stockinette on the stockinette side, and directions for purl-side on the other - a bit obvious when you think about it, but the sort of thing I need pointed out (also I was a bit delirious after my nine day knitting binge and was probably not thinking clearly).

I actually really enjoy seaming, though I'm not very good at it - like I said, I think I may use the last remnants of my yarn to redo the shoulders when I get home - and so I'm less happy with this sweater than others because all the goofs are in the most prominent places of the sweater. But, that's my problem, not the pattern's, and I would definitely recommend this to a confident knitter. And maybe not doing it over nine days!

Modifications: I didn't modify anything, except to knit one sleeve inside out (I knit the other sleeve entirely in purls; not surprisingly, it took three days where the other took one) and then pop it rightside out when I got to the cuffs. So much easier, so much nicer looking. I also purled the last row on the cuffs before binding off knit-wise to minimize rolling, and then blocked it with an iron (like, literally ironed it - not something I think you're supposed to do? but it worked for me) to flatten it even more. I'm not a big fan of curling.

The yarn: I honestly don't remember why I choose this yarn or the color - I seem to remember it being a decent price, though it doesn't fit any of my usual criteria for yarn (either ridiculously soft, or a crazy vibrant color that doesn't actually match anything I own).  Hence, it was a bit boring and scratchy to knit with, but after blocking has transformed into a softer, much drapier fabric that I like much, much more. Though I'm still toying with the idea of dying the whole thing black (it'd cover up all those mistakes in the shoulders!),  I do have to admit that oatmeal, while not the most striking color, definitely goes with almost everything.

PS, The knitting of Snowbird would probably have gone even faster were it not for this grouchy old lady, who developed an instant need to sit on my lap or stand on my project whenever I broke it out. Here she is studying the pattern. 

now that i have time to play on the internet again...

... my Ravelry queue is spiraling out of control towards unrealistically ambitious levels. Also, I want to knit everything designed by Cecily Glowik Macdonald and Gudrun Johnson. That is all. 

Snow White

... is finished! Yay for the first sweater of 2011! Knitting endless rounds of 2x2 ribbing may not have been the most exciting thing, but things got much more interesting once I got to the raglan decreases - I've never seen a sweater knit quite like this, with either sides of the shoulder worked separately and then joined via kitchener stitch, but I love the shrug-like quality of the neck and the general flattering-ness of the pattern! The 2x2 decreases in the front give a nice illusion of curves I don't actually have. Yay.

As an added bonus, it covers the small tattoo at the base of my neck, which means I can wear it to work in tattoo-phobic Japan! 

Other thoughts on:

The Pattern: Snow White by Ysolda Teague. This pattern has a unique construction that made the last few hours of knitting quite interesting. As many other people on Ravelry observed, just follow the instructions and everything will make sense. I didn't make any modifications other than making the sleeves shorter by exactly one round (they are quite long), and I also rather lazily bound off the neck stitches in a regular bind-off, to no apparent disadvantage. Though I can be a bit of a sloppy knitter, I think the directions are thorough and the pattern is forgiving enough that it looks quite finished. The only thing I wasn't able to totally pull off successfully was the tubular cast on, which - while stretchy - felt rather tight, and pulls the flared sleeves inwards a bit, though not overly noticeably. I'm guessing I must have done something wrong? In any case, you barely notice when it's on, it's just a bit tight when you pull it over your head.

The Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha in dark teal, 8.5 skeins. This single-ply yarn is so soft and almost pearlescent; I fell in love with the color over a year ago when I saw an unwound skein of it hanging from the wall in a Berkeley yarn shop, so I'm happy I finally made something with it. I haven't blocked this yet, so I can't say anything yet about the performance over time (though if the Thisbe hat I made for my sister is any indication, it'll just soften up more?). My only complaint is that virtually every ball had a knot in it, which means I had to weave in twice as many ends :-(

Raveled here.

wip: snow white

I'll admit I'm slowing down a bit on the second sleeve of Snow White - why is that 2x2 rib feels more monotonous than plain stockinette? 

However, having finished the body, I figured I'd see if that tubular cast on was indeed too tight, and so - following a helpful comment on an earlier post (thanks, Julie!), I ended up removing the circular tips of my Knitpicks interchangeables, and threading a length of embroidery floss through either of the holes typically used for lifelines so I could extend the existing circle. This way, I can be lazy and only have to replace a fraction of the live stitches back on the needles.

View from the back

The cast on *is* a bit tight, but the body fits perfectly so I'm not fussed. And the yarn is gorgeous! The color is a bit greener than these photos would suggest.

fingers crossed...

Having vowed to get seven sweaters done this year, I figured I should start by doing one that's been in my queue for ages now: Snow White. I bought the yarn for this in April last year but have been quite embarrassingly put off by the tubular cast on. It makes no sense: I love knitting, and so should be happy to do anything knitting related ... except for the provisional cast on required to start a tubular cast on, apparently. I really don't know why it took me so long, because once I got started, the tubular cast on wasn't that bad at all. Only then I took one look at the extremely skinny tube I was knitting, and realized there was no way in hell it would ever fit around my waist, stretchy cast on or no. So I got to do it all over again, one size up. It really does go faster the second time around.

So that's the progress on Snow White so far ...Still a bit small, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will fit in the end. And yes, I am photographing the project on our tiny little bookshelf because the rest of the house is just too damn messy to be anywhere near a camera. Sad, but true.