An old project, finally finished ... and a new one, too

I spent lots of hours this past weekend on finishing work – if I have to weave in one more yarn end anytime in the next week, I may actually run screaming into the streets! When will I learn to weave in some of those ends along the way, instead of saving all 8000 of them (there were 8000, weren’t there?) until the end? Or maybe learn to spit splice to eliminate some of the ends? Luckily, TCM was running a Paul Newman marathon, so I recorded several movies I’d never seen before. Watching Torn Curtain while I worked made all that weaving quite a bit less painful.

The end result of all those hours of sewing and weaving was two finished sweaters. First, an old project finally done. I started the Urban Aran Cardigan way back in March, and got most of it done within a month or two. But once the weather turned warm, I set is aside for something lighter weight. I picked it up again in September, and finished all of the knitting three or four weeks ago. I kept procrastinating on the finishing, though, because I was intimidated by the zipper.

Most of the sweaters I’ve knit have been pullovers. There have been a couple of button-front cardigans (the Tangled Yoke and Nantucket Jacket), but I never put a zipper into a handknit sweater before. And I was awfully nervous about it. I started obsessing about it almost from the day I first cast on. Should I hand sew it? That might not be strong enough. Machine sew it? All my hours of knitting could get mangled up in the sewing machine.

So I started searching the internet for zipper installation tutorials, and found some really helpful ones. In the end, I followed the instructions here, at Pickin’ and Throwin.’ For anyone about to tackle a zipper, I highly recommend using the Wash-A-Way Wonder Tape she recommends to help position the zipper. That tape made it easy to line up the two front pieces, press them down onto the tape, and then unzip before pinning into place. Then I hand-stitched the zipper, using a backstitch from the wrong side.

So here’s the finished product:

And here are the details:
Pattern: Urban Aran sweater, converted from pullover to cardigan following the example of Brooklyn Tweed.
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky in chestnut. The color of this yarn is gorgeous, much richer than you can see on your computer monitor. I bought 24 skeins (so long ago, I can’t remember how I calculated that amount), and I’ve got a lot left over.
Needles: sizes 10 and 10.5
Zipper: 2-way separating zipper, shortened to fit at the fabric store. The sweater is fairly long, so I wanted to be able to unzip it from the bottom when I sit down.

Now for finished project number 2. This one only took about 9 days from start to finish, because it’s knit in a very bulky yarn, and has no sleeves. Here’s the v-neck slipover from the cover of the new Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine.

I fell in love with this sweater as soon as I saw it. A good friend of mine has been knitting Twinkle patterns lately using the super-bulky Twinkle Soft Chunky yarn, so I was inspired to try something in a heavier weight than I ordinarily use. I love the big cable up the front of this sweater, and the moss stitch shows up beautifully at this gauge. Now I just have to find a very lightweight top to put under it so that I can wear it here in Virginia without overheating.

The details:
Pattern: V-Neck Slipover from Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine, fall/winter 2008-10-14
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Como in gray, 13 balls
Needles: size 13.
Gauge: The pattern calls a gauge of 3 stitches to the inch. I had to go down to a size 11 needle to get gauge, and thought the fabric was too stiff at that gauge. So I used the size 13s, and went down one pattern size to compensate.

A few baby gifts, finally finished

I finally got some baby gifts finished and packaged for shipping. For some reason, these projects having taken me ages to get finished. First, there are two pinwheel blankets:













































These are knit from the pinwheel blanket pattern in the book knitalong. The yarn is superwash merino from Tess' Designer Yarns.


And this little Baby Surprise Jacket has been 98% finished for months -- all I needed to do was to sew up the seams at the tops of the arms, and add buttons. The baby it was originally intended for has probably long since outgrown it, but luckily there's a new baby in the family that I'm going to give it to. Maybe I should stick with blankets, since they can't be outgrown?!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

This year's vacation wasn't terrribly exotic, but it was fun and relaxing ... and I had lots of time to knit, sew, and read. We spent nine days on the coast of Maine, enjoying the sunshine, the cool temperatures, and the beautiful ocean views. We did a little bit of sightseeing every day, but spent lots of time just hanging out. That gave me time to finish the Harry Potter socks that I started for my daughter ages ago. These are knit from a hand-dyed self-striping yarn that I bought on etsy. The cuffs are a basic 2x2 rib, and the toe is the star-shaped toe from Sensational Knitted Socks.





And I was able to knit another pair of socks for myself, too. (all those hours of driving back and forth to Maine allowed for plenty of knitting!) These are knit with a self-striping Lorna's Laces sock yarn that I bought at purl. The pattern is the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe, with ribbing all the way down to the ankle and a slight modification at the toe (after doing half the toe decreases, I started decreasing every row rather than every other row, in order to make a less pointy toe).




And I got a good start on the blocks for a quilt that I'm working on, from Alabama Stitch.


















































What a shame to be back at work, instead of making things! Oh well, the weekend's coming.

Some knitting, some jewelry, some fiber madness

Let's start with the knitting. I finished my Tangled Yoke Cardigan from the fall Interweave Knits. It's no exaggeration to say that this may be my all-time favorite knitted sweater. The tweedy green yarn is a beautiful color, and the cabling around the shoulders is gorgeous. I like the deep ribbing on the body and sleeves, especially since the garter rib doesn't pull in tight the way that a regular 2x2 rib would. And for once, I made a sweater that's lightweight enough to wear in Virginia.





Even Zoe likes it. But then, she's not very discriminating -- she firmly believes that all wool was intended to become a cat bed.



Pattern: Eunny Jang's Twisted Yoke Cardigan, Fall IK
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, 9 skeins of "herb"

As for the jewelry, the recent mention of my stitch markers and pendants in Knitty has been great for business, as you might imagine. I've had a number of sales (from Australia even!), and have gotten some wonderful feedback. Thanks everyone! I'd better get another batch made up quick ... stock has run low again.

And as for the fiber madness, I've got two fiber-related weekends coming up! This coming weekend, I'll be taking classes at Stitches East in Baltimore. I'll be in Two Hands Two Colors, Freeform Potpourri, and Fair Isle Knitting. Two of these classes will be put to immediate use, as I've already bought the yarn for Eunny Jang's Autumn Rose pullover. And then, the next weekend, I'm going to Rhinebeck. I hadn't been planning to go, but then I found out from a friend about a reunion of our high school class -- that same weekend, and only 100 miles away. I almost had to go then, right?!

Quidditch Sweater for A Crafty Daughter

I promised my daughter a Quidditch sweater to wear to "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," and I delivered it just in the nick of time. I wove in the last yarn end about three hours before we left for the movie. And true to her word, Crafty Daughter wore the sweater to the movie, despite the sweltering summer heat. Here it is:



The pattern is from Charmed Knits, by Alison Hansel. I adjusted the size to halfway between the small and medium. I made one other modification, as well -- I knit the sleeves in 2x2 ribbing throughout, rather than doing a 1x1 ribbing at the cuffs as called for by the pattern.

The yarn is the huggably soft Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. The red is aran weight, color #611, and the yellow is DK weight, color #12. The yellow wasn't available in aran, so I had to mix two different gauge yarns to get the perfect Gryffindor color combination. I knit a swatch first to see if they were compatible, and was very happy to find that the combination worked beautifully.

The sweater is scheduled for its next wearing at the Harry Potter 7 release party this Friday night -- I hope Borders is very well air-conditioned!

My first original design

Don’t you love the Noni bag patterns? If you’re not nodding enthusiastically right now, it must be because you haven’t seen them yet – so go check out Noni Patterns.

On the past two Saturdays, my friend R. and I took a wonderful class with Noni herself (Nora Bellows), called “Design Your Own Felted Bag.” And that’s exactly what we did. Nora talked us through the process of looking for inspiration, sketching ideas, and then translating those ideas into knitting patterns. At the second meeting, she shared her tips for finishing – that critical step that makes all her bags look so beautifully handcrafted. And with Nora’s help, I made this beautiful bag:


Here's a photo of the other side, where the colors are somewhat different:


I’m beaming with pride at how well it turned out, and can’t wait to use it. Look at the beautiful silk brocade lining:


and the nifty magnetic snap closure and pocket:


It’s even got feet!



Thanks Nora!

Suzanne’s Felted Lattice Bag
Yarn: 4 skeins of Classic Elite Lush, 4 skeins of Noro Kureyon
Needles: size 11, knitted with 2 strands held together