Fad Classic-ish

I thought and thought about what to do with the gorgeous Swedish wool I received as a gift from my co-worker and his wife/my friend this summer and I think I've finally got it. I have 700 yards of it, and have been desperately wanting a fall vest since Sophy finished hers, so that choice was easy. But which vest was the major question. I had always liked Knit & Tonic's Fad Classic pattern, but for some reason it didn't dawn on me to use it with this wool for a very long time. Well, ok, "for some reason" was because my yarn is completely the wrong weight, gauge, and fiber content. Then I saw this vest on Ravelry and fell in love. "Oh, what they hay??" I thought. Being too cheap to buy more than one pattern in a week (and realizing I had the wrong weight of yarn for this vest too), I have decided to improvise. The vest I'm making is Fad Classic-ish, but minus the lace pattern (lazy), and plus some ribbing around the waist. I absolutely love how Fad Classic is written -- shoulder straps first, top down, and in the round -- and I'm following the directions for the size L, hoping that my gauge calculations are correct and that it will end up an XS. Actually, because of the top-down-ness, I've been trying it on as I go, and so far so good. I think I may actually love this vest almost as much as I love the yarn!

Res Completae: Whitewater Wristwarmers

Some mitts for me for the Fingerless Mitts for Fall Knitalong! Though I loved the yarn in the skein, the knitted result ended up looking a little bit like...well...dirty oatmeal. It may have just been the wrong pattern for the yarn, but it striped in a weird way, and the stripes weren't defined enough, looking more like oily splotches than color variations. So I took a chance and dyed my mitts with some Kool Aid. They're a little bright, but I like 'em!



Pattern: Whitewater Wristwarmers by Jennifer Meyer for MagKnits
Yarn: Tilli Tomas Voile de la Mer, 3/4 a skein of colorway 249
Needles: US1 Clover bamboo dpns
Start to Finish: October 2-11, 2007

Modifications: I added an extra lace pattern repeat in the cuff (the two repeats called for in the pattern didn't seem to make the cuff as long as in the photos), to start. At the end, I did 1x1 ribbing (knitting through the back loops) for five rows instead of simply knitting through the back loops. I then bound off in the ribbed pattern.

Notes: I quite liked working this pattern, but my little size 1 bamboo dpns were bent and peeling at the tips from all the cable manipulation by the time I was half way done with the first mitt. I ordered some aluminum ones, but unfortunately they didn't arrive until I was completely finished. The same day I finished, actually. I love when that happens.

The whole Kool-Aid dying process was so fun, that I just had to take some pictures. I used the tutorial from Knitty and it was extremely helpful.

My grocery store only had two flavors available: fruit punch and berry blue. I wanted to test them before committing, and was kind of curious if I could make purple by mixing them. So I put three little yarn scraps in each color:



And inspected them after they had been soaked, heated, and washed:



I was too impatient to let them dry, so made a decision on the wet yarn color. Berry Blue it was for my mitts. And here's how the samples looked when dry:



And I dyed the rest of the yarn "cranberry", the combo color:



Not only do I like these colors much better, but the yarn smells fruity, too!

Res Completa: Gretel II

Happily, this Gretel does not attempt to eat my head like the last one.

Pattern: Gretel (slouchy), by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Spectrum hand-dyed wool and tencel from Springwater Fiber Workshop in Alexandria, VA (souvenir yarn) put to good use!
Needles: US7 16" Clover bamboo circular
Start to Finish: September 30 - October 2, 2007

Modifications: Well, it's not really a modification, but I did make one mistake. I realized after having knit the entire ribbed band that I used size 7 needles instead of size 5. I didn't feel like ripping it out, I was a little under gauge, and when i tried it on it seemed to be tight enough, so I left it.

Notes: Having chosen the correct weight of yarn, Gretel II went much more smoothly than Gretel I. Oh, it's such a fun pattern! I loved working the interlocking cables. And I love the yarn -- it was hard to capture the little color variations (there are hints of purple in various places) -- even though it turned my bamboo needles dark grey! I love the hat, too. You see how deliriously happy and almost deranged I look?



Jury's still out as to whether or not I am a hat person. My love for hats is strong and I would wear one every other day if I could, but most of the time I look pretty lame. With Gretel, I can't decide if I look more like a chef or a chic French lady. I wore it to the grocery store the other night and no one looked at me funny, so that's got to be a good sign. Oh well, doesn't matter what other people think anyway, right?


"Euhh, oui? Qu'est-ce que tu veux?!?

Res Originalis: Cabled Baby Sweater

As the last in our series, I present to you my very own Cabled Baby Sweater, made for the unknown-gendered future child of my best friend Sarah:

Pattern: By yours truly
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK, 2 skeins of Bison (728)
Needles: US 6 straight needles for the cabling, US 7 16" circular needle for the body
Notions: 4 small buttons (got mine for a good price at an antique store)
Size: roughly 3-6 months
Start to Finish: September 21-27, 2007

Originally, I was going to write this out and offer it up as a free pattern on The Yarniad. I even went so far as to meticulously record every stitch I made while knitting this sweater. However, when I was done, I realized the construction was so much like that of the Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts that I couldn't send it out into the internet without facing some serious copyright charges. So, instead, here's a brief description of how I made this baby sweater:

I started with the cabled band -- it's the same braided cable as in yesterday's socks -- and knit it vertically. When it was as long as I wanted the sweater to be around, I seamed the ends together and picked up stitches all around the top of the band (which seems to be a little less obvious when using a more felty yarn).



I knit in the round for a few more inches and, after joining the little arms, started the raglan decreases (every other row). After two decreases, I started the side opening by knitting flat. On the first row (wrong side), I cast on 5 stitches at the very beginning for the button band and knit those 5 stitches on every subsequent row and did the raglan decreases one stitch in from there. I continued the raglan shaping and placed the button holes evenly along the right side edge, the last one being on the very last knit row.



When I got to the point where I thought I was done, I purled a row on the RS to turn. I then knit a few more rows in stockinette and increased a couple of times at the raglan lines (a la Hourglass Sweater). I folded down the little collar and sewed the live stitches into place. I then sewed down the button band, added the buttons, wove in ends, seamed, blocked, and voila!

Res Completa: Braided Cable Baby Socks

A second boy or girl friendly baby item for the shower last Saturday...

Pattern: Better than Booties Baby Socks, Braided Cable variety, by Ann Budd for Interweave Knits Summer 2005
Yarn: Baby Ull, in White (more leftovers from my Norwegian Stockings)
Needles: US1 dpns, Clover bamboo
Start to Finish: July 1-5, 2007

Modifications: It seemed to me that the foot of the sock ended up a waaay too long (about an inch longer than the Ruffle Rib socks I had previously made!), so I took out one repeat of the cable pattern and it was fine.

Notes: This was my second time making an Ann Budd Baby Sock pattern and my love for them only grew. They're so darn cute and they feel a little more substantial than a bootie -- or maybe it's just that I'm inexperienced in the sock world and felt like I was really accomplishing something with all those short rows. Anyway, I hope mama and baby both like them!

Res Completa: Baby Yoga Pants

I went to a fabulous baby shower this weekend in Santa Barbara for one of my best friends, who is due to give birth to her first baby in late November. I had knit a few items for her this summer, but couldn't show them on the blog for fear of ruining the surprise. Now that she has them, I can release them into the ether!



Pattern: Baby's Denim Drawstrings Pants, from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Nashua Creative Focus Cotton, 3 skeins of black (031)
Needles: US5 16" Clover bamboo circular needle, US5 Crystal Palace bamboo dpns
Start to Finish: July 11-27, 2007

Modifications: First of all, I didn't use the shrinking Rowan Denim for this project, so I worked to the post-washing dimensions stated in the pattern. Secondly, I changed the little legs. Instead of the seed stitch cuff, I did the following for a flared leg:
- CO 48 stitches (instead of 41)
- Join for knitting in the round
- Knit 4 rounds
- Purl 1 round for turning
- Knit 9 rounds even
- On next round, k1, k2tog, k to last 2 sts, ssk
- Knit 3 rounds even
- Repeat the last 4 rows 3 times more (8 sts decreased)
- Continue in pattern
Also, instead of making just one hole in the waist band for the drawstring cord, I made two of them, each one of them three stitches on either side of the exact center. Also, my drawstring holes were simple yo/k2tog's -- I tried the method called for in the pattern and didn't like how mine looked.

Notes: I'm very happy with how these turned out. So cute! It wasn't completely without drama, however. After finishing one leg, and thus starting a new skein of yarn, I realized that the skein I had used was completely different than the other two I had bought. It was bizarre (see here for blog entry). So I ripped out that leg and used the weird yarn for the diaper section, which you can't really see in the finished product -- yay! I also actually finished the pants at one point, but the next day when I saw my mom and showed her, she pointed out that I had made the diaper area so small that a be-diapered baby butt would never fit into it. Thus, I ripped out again and added an inch (looking back, I had not followed the pattern directions). Two ripping sessions, but nothing major.

These pants are for a baby whose gender will be unknown until it is born in November. I figured I couldn't go wrong with black pants, and thought the idea of yoga pants for a baby was something that my ultra-hip friend would get a kick out of. I do think she liked them...now I hope they actually fit the baby!

Res Completae: Pumpkin Spice Knucks

Started on Friday morning, I was 75% done with these Knucks for my Mother-In-Law by Saturday morning:


and by Sunday morning I was finished. These are the 4th pair of Knucks I've made, but only the 3rd I've blogged about. They are so fun to make and such a great, straightforward pattern. The felted tweed is so pretty and fall-like. Neill surprised me with a pumpkin spice latte on Sunday morning, and I realized the color of the yarn was exactly how I would visualize "pumpkin spice". Yummm.



Pattern: Knucks, by Pamela Grossman for Knitty Summer '06
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, 1/2 ball of Ginger
Needles: 2 sets of US 4 Clover dpns
Size: Ladies
Start to Finish: September 28-30, 2007
Modifications: Nada.

Notes: Just one thing -- when I first printed out the Knucks pattern last March, I recognized the name of one of the listed photographers. I had gone to high school with someone of the same name. Because there was no picture of her, I couldn't tell if it was her or not, and her website also had no portrait. Even Google couldn't tell me if it was the same gal. I soon gave up and made the decision not to contact her via our alumni webpage, thinking she'd think I was a huge weirdo if it happened not to be her, and it wasn't that unusual a name anyway. Well, it's her. She sent me a message via the Central Valley Knitters group on Ravelry and it all came clear. I just can't get over the coincidence!



One parting shot -- the Pumpkin Spice Knucks with my latte of the same name.