Neither Hip Nor Funky

We all spend a lot of time fretting as we are knitting. Will it fit?  Will it be flattering? Will all the ends unweave themselves and the whole thing fall apart? (Okay, maybe that one is just me.  I always worry about this even though it has never happened.) Will I ever be finished with this damn thing?

The longer it takes, the more we might worry that the fears will come true.  For me, I am fine for the first 60-75% of the knitting. I try on as I go and just focus on the process.  That last 25% is where I start the questioning, especially if I am doing something I said I would never do (like knit a dress).

But sometimes:

Well, sometimes it turns out looking and feeling exactly as you imagined in your head.

Pattern: Little Black Dress by Gudrun Johnson/Shetland Trader (This pattern made me change my mind about knitting a dress as soon as I saw it)
Yarn: Hempathy in Red Roses #013  (discontinued color), 13 balls
Needles: Addi Turbos US4 and US 3

Mods: I have a long torso and was knitting at a tighter gauge, so I lengthened each section a bit. I added in a extra repeat before joining the top. In the skirt, for the first panel, I added an extra repeat of the Jacquard stitch pattern in the 4 stitch, 5 stitch, and 6 stitch sections. For the second and third panels, I added an extra repeat in the 5 stitch and 6 stitch sections. (If you are looking at the pattern, this should make sense.)  I was low on yarn near the end, so I decided to add a picot edge to the arms instead of the short row ribbing.

Notes: If have also said you would never knit a dress, consider this one. The swingy skirt is flattering, and the use of hempathy means you can wash it and have it pop back into shape. The combo of the two means no saggy butt.

While I originally planned to have this dress finished much sooner, I did have it finished in time to wear to Sock Summit and the Ravelry party.  Obviously, I did wear it to show it off a bit because where else would people understand the work that went into it?  However, I was not prepared for the response.  I was quite overwhelmed. Flattering, don’t get me wrong, but…um, wow. Thanks!  (I did actually change before the after party b/c I just am not used to that much attention.  I can be kind of shy at times.)

More Sock Summit in next post b/c…I got to take a class with Nancy Bush!

Wow, I sure have been hiding for awhile now.  I haven’t really been doing anything exciting like assuming a new identity or eluding the police as I have been hiding….still just knitting and working and eating and living.  It doesn’t sound like all that when I write it that way, but, personally, I’m a big fan of it.

But really, if you are still reading this, you just want to know what I’ve been knitting and probably aren’t so interested in my work or eating.  So here goes:

I made some Luminosity Bubbles.

I was starting to lose a little bit of knitting steam, when this yarn from the Luminosity Club from Pigeonroof Studios arrived. I had to use it right away, and I had just seen Cherry Fizz in the then new issue of Twist Collective. Ten days later, I had this.

Pattern: Cherry Fizz by Kate Gilbert, Twist Collective Spring ‘09 (rav)
Yarn: Pigeonroof Studios 50 Merino/ 50 Silk Ruby Rose
Needles: US 8

Now, on the opposite side. I made this.

I love it, and it is very wearable. However, I have to admit that it was a bit of a slog to knit, especially compared to the rediscovered love of knitting with the Pigeonroof. I love the subtle shades in the yarn I used for Whisper, but I whole lot of lace weight stockinette becomes a bit….oh, I don’t know….BORing.

Pattern: Whisper by Hannah Fettig, Interweave Spring ‘09
Yarn: Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks Naturally Dyed Lace, Stumptown Brown (the sweater is hanging as a store sample at Abundant currently)
Needles: US4 and US2 (I had to decrease a few needle sizes to get gauge)
mods: I knit with the yarn held doubled, still making a nice squishy lightweight sweater. I cannot claim some great reason for this mod. Honestly, I misread it when making my swatch, thinking that it told me to hold the yarn doubled, and I did not go back and reread when starting the pattern.
pattern notes: The pattern is well written, however it appears that some of the numbers are wrong in the pattern. If you look at the gauge, it is 6st per inch. It has the bicep circumference listed as 10”, which would be 60st. However, you have 76st around. (It looks like the mistake is because they based the numbers on the st count after you bind off for the under arm. Then you have 60st left, but that is not the bicep circumference.) I’m not sure if anyone has fixed this yet, or which way (10” or around 13”) is the original intent of the designer.  Basically, it works well if you have thicker upper arms like myself, but if yours are more slender, you probably want to have fewer stitches.

Next up: some socks

but look: A sweater!

Pattern: Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood
Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed (from addknitter destash)
Needles: US7

I had a different gauge, so I adjusted the stitch count for a 42″ chest.

I love this color. Phil wanted this sweater in some sort of clay color since the neck reminded him of pottery.

I was initially a little disappointed that he did like this yarn b/c I wanted a sweater for myself out of it.

Good thing that I ended up with 7 balls leftover. Just one ball shy of being able to make this for myself. So I am going to start and track down an extra ball of 1285. Any of you have one?

I’m really going to have to make sure we don’t wear the sweaters at the same time.

Okay, so this first one is cheating because I finished spinning it in January, but I am so proud of it:

Papaya 50 merino/ 50 soysilk from Pigeonroof Studios

Then I started on a lovely batt from Funky Carolina. This was one of my first attempts at spinning for certain project, and I was really worried for awhile that I had spun it too thick.

However, it ended up pairing up perfectly with the Shetland DK I have, and I have started making a striped vest with the two yarns.

This last one has been a bit more of a process (and it is still going):

I was aiming for a worsted weight, and I didn’t realize how off I was until I ended up with a 3ply fingering weight. Ami and Kelly gave me good recommendations to cable-ply it for a worsted. It worked fairly well for me, but it ate up a lot of yarn. I finally had to admit to myself that I would not have enough for the Habitat that I wished to make.

I could switch to a Turn a Square hat paired with some other handspun, but cables really pop in this yarn so I’m not sure I want to do stockinette with it.  Although I forced it on a US8 for Habitat, it is really more of a chunky yarn that wants to be on a US9 or US10.   Any ideas for a cabled hat with chunky yarn?

I know I can always design my own, but I do love pattern browsing.

Come join us for more Handspun February goodness.

Thanks for all your kind words about my mom’s tablecloth; she really appreciated the gift.

I have one last set of Christmas gifts which segue nicely into the title of this post.I made a couple of gifts for my niece that weren’t originally meant to be a set, but definitely went together well in her mind.

First, this colored pencil roll from Last Minute Quilted Gifts:

This thing was insanely fun to make. It was also well-received, which was great since you never really know with gifts for a four year old.

I also made her a beret from my handspun:

This was spun from Pigeonroof Studios SW Merino in Pink Lady. The pattern was just made up as I went along. It definitely needs some elastic in the ribbing.

When my dad joked like he was putting on the hat, my niece responded in an exasperated tone “No, Papu, it’s for my artist.”*

Good thing we train them in stereotypes early

This leads me into Handspun February. I started a group over on Flickr to concentrate on working with handspun this February. Fight off that winter ennui with some fluffy fibery goodness. The group is for spinners and non-spinners alike. Make yourself some goals for February, whether it is knitting with handspun, spinning more, or concentrating on spinning for particular projects, and come join us.

*She later told me the hat was stinky. This seemed odd at first until I remembered that I had wetblocked it at my in-laws house where the water smells like sulphur. I love how young ‘uns tell you the truth.