autumn
Friday, October 29, 2004
Winter is a-coming
Even though the weather is still hotter than usual for this time of year, I no longer can wait. It's time to knit wool. So I've got a few new projects on the needles finally. There's a Nancy Wiseman diamond type cardigan bought at Stitches East in '98. Yarn is Noro Kureopatora which is 100% wool and is a worsted wt. 50 gram ball=110 meters and needle size is approx 4.5. I'm using 4mm. People have been telling me that this is just another modular kit like the Horst Schulz stuff, but to me it's not more of the same. The whole idea is to CO an uneven # of sts (I's using 21 sts) and you dec 2 sts in the center on every knit row by sl 2, k1 and psso. It's fun and fast. When you reach just one stitch left you put it on a safety pin and continue picking up more sts from the row below. In order to make sure it comes out the right size I begin with a sleeve as now my DD has told me she likes it. I recall buying 2 extra balls just in case she wanted it.
Monday, October 18, 2004
wips
I'm really busy at my knitting. I've got the Crosscountry aran designed by Janet Szabo (Twists and turns, vol.1, 2001) finished with just the sleeves to go now. This is done in Reynolds Cantata which is a cotton yarn with some nylon and now discontinued (sigh). Great yarn with such wonderful spring to it. I bought it in offwhite and also in a periwinkle blue. The sweater won't show up well with a picture. I am knitting it according to the instructions from the neck down having done the saddle shoulders first. Now I'm supposed to pick up the sts from the saddle and also additonal sts from the sides and start knitting it down. Of course, I managed to mess it up because I picked up from the bottom also where the sleeve is supposed to be sewn so have to restart.
Since this bothers me, I pulled out another stalled wip. This from Knitters fall '96 called Skill-building entrelac designed by Bette Ann Lampers. The big reason I stalled on it before was because it is written for a 13 stitch entrelac and I'm doing the medium size of 14 sts so each section has to be thought out in order to get it right which means there's an extra stitch to work in on each row and two extra rows for the entrelac section. Maybe having finished a few more entrelacs in the meantime it's now easier for me.
I also wrote to May Hagiwara and she read my scan of the Japanese yarn labels and told me what they're made of. I also started a new project with the Kanebo Mogol which I found to be the most puzzling one of all the yarns as the swatch in st st looked pretty awful. I ended up being happy doing it in garter stitch. So that's on the needles. I never do just one project at a time. What? finish them? are we supposed to?
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Entrelac vest
Tonight I finished the back for a vest for myself from yarn I bought some years ago at John Lewis in London. This was Novita alpaca made in Finland and it is very good quality and soft. Originally it was meant to be fairisle, but when swatched I saw it would be much too heavy and warm so I switched to a plain entrelac. I always check the entrelac instructions in the Harmony books. This one is a 10 stitch repeat and the back is about 22" wide and about 20" long. I may decide to add ribbing. I really wanted to make it into a v-neck cardi but discovered tonight I don't have enough of some of the colors so it will become a pullover vest. Neckline most likely a modified v-neck.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Kureyon cotton sweater pattern
How did I do this? Arghhhhh. I knit this sweater by starting off with 20 stitches and apparently never bothered to write down my own instructions. We snapped it just before I left for the airport heading home to Israel. Doesn't she look great? Anyway, here's what I recall doing:
Finished sweater: 48" chest.25" length. Arm length 19" and 19" width at top. Need 12 balls of Noro Kureyon. 50 grams=100 meters. col: 16. Circ needles #4mm and 3.75mm (for ribbing) Gauge: 4 sts=1 inch.
I took #4mm needles and CO 12 sts. I worked st st and at the beg of every row slipped the first stitch kwise or pwise (for back). I did a total of 140 rows which came to about 20". Using the same needles, I picked up every slip stitch on the left side (70). This number is very important as you need to pick up the same number every time. At the bottom I cast on 20 sts and began the next strip connecting it to the first one. Again each row begins with a slip stitch. But on the rev side you p2tog using the last st on your row and the last stitch you picked up from the first strip. Continue as on the first strip until you have run out of sts. You can put the sts at the top on a holding yarn at this point.
For the third strip you can do a different multiple. I just kept on doing 12,20, etc. I decided to make it 24" wide and when I had my finished piece the whole thing was put on a waiting yarn.
The next piece is done the same way except that I wanted to match the back and front stripes at the shoulder so I had to reverse them so that they would match at the top.
Third section is the 3" at the top. I started by deciding I wanted my neck to be 8.5" wide. So the stitches for the front are now put back on the needle in this way:
After you decide how many sts are for the front neck, divide the remainder into two sections plus approx 1/4 of the center neck sts. Beginning with the right shoulder I knit the sts on the first row and started my gradual neck dec continuing until I had it 3" in length. do the same for the left shoulder. The front neck sts can remain on a separate thread.
Back neck: Knit the sts on the left shoulder and CO for the back neck 8.5" worth of sts or whatever width you need plus the number of sts cast off on the front neck decrease. Continue the row by knitting the sts from the right shoulder first casting on the decreased sts on this side. Now knit for 3".
3-needle bindoff: The back (first strip piece knit) is now put on a straight needle and a standard 3 needle bind off is done with those and the sts coming from the neck you've just finished. You must have the same number of sts on each needle.
Neck rib: I knit up my neck picking up sts from the front and back and usually one stitch for every row along the sides (use smaller circ needle)
sleeves: CO 10-11" worth of sts and gradually inc until about 19". My sleeve was also 19" long (looks too long in the photo; hmmm). I decided not to have any ribbing but just have the bottom roll in.
Body rib of sweater: This is the final section. Pick up sts from the bottom on front and back pieces and rib for as long as you want. Swatch first to see how many rib sts you want.
Sew in sleeves and side seams.
I still want to sew in beads as I found some great beads in Hongkong but found them after I had already done most of the sweater.
cMarian Poller. Not for commercial use.
Finished sweater: 48" chest.25" length. Arm length 19" and 19" width at top. Need 12 balls of Noro Kureyon. 50 grams=100 meters. col: 16. Circ needles #4mm and 3.75mm (for ribbing) Gauge: 4 sts=1 inch.
I took #4mm needles and CO 12 sts. I worked st st and at the beg of every row slipped the first stitch kwise or pwise (for back). I did a total of 140 rows which came to about 20". Using the same needles, I picked up every slip stitch on the left side (70). This number is very important as you need to pick up the same number every time. At the bottom I cast on 20 sts and began the next strip connecting it to the first one. Again each row begins with a slip stitch. But on the rev side you p2tog using the last st on your row and the last stitch you picked up from the first strip. Continue as on the first strip until you have run out of sts. You can put the sts at the top on a holding yarn at this point.
For the third strip you can do a different multiple. I just kept on doing 12,20, etc. I decided to make it 24" wide and when I had my finished piece the whole thing was put on a waiting yarn.
The next piece is done the same way except that I wanted to match the back and front stripes at the shoulder so I had to reverse them so that they would match at the top.
Third section is the 3" at the top. I started by deciding I wanted my neck to be 8.5" wide. So the stitches for the front are now put back on the needle in this way:
After you decide how many sts are for the front neck, divide the remainder into two sections plus approx 1/4 of the center neck sts. Beginning with the right shoulder I knit the sts on the first row and started my gradual neck dec continuing until I had it 3" in length. do the same for the left shoulder. The front neck sts can remain on a separate thread.
Back neck: Knit the sts on the left shoulder and CO for the back neck 8.5" worth of sts or whatever width you need plus the number of sts cast off on the front neck decrease. Continue the row by knitting the sts from the right shoulder first casting on the decreased sts on this side. Now knit for 3".
3-needle bindoff: The back (first strip piece knit) is now put on a straight needle and a standard 3 needle bind off is done with those and the sts coming from the neck you've just finished. You must have the same number of sts on each needle.
Neck rib: I knit up my neck picking up sts from the front and back and usually one stitch for every row along the sides (use smaller circ needle)
sleeves: CO 10-11" worth of sts and gradually inc until about 19". My sleeve was also 19" long (looks too long in the photo; hmmm). I decided not to have any ribbing but just have the bottom roll in.
Body rib of sweater: This is the final section. Pick up sts from the bottom on front and back pieces and rib for as long as you want. Swatch first to see how many rib sts you want.
Sew in sleeves and side seams.
I still want to sew in beads as I found some great beads in Hongkong but found them after I had already done most of the sweater.
cMarian Poller. Not for commercial use.
Dim sum
I just got a photo taken last week at a Dim sum restaurant in Hongkong with Eva, Marjorie and Siowchin (left to right).After that we shopped in Kowloon at 3 LYS and then on to the bead center one last time. We said our goodbyes for now and I hope we will be together again. All three are great knitters and bloggers.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Hongkong journey
I just got home from a month visiting my daughter in Hongkong where I had a great time adding to my stash and making 3 new girlfriends. We also went to Tokyo and to Beijing. I was able to find yarnstores everywhere and mostly bought yarns and equipment I'd never seen before. I'm also getting interested in beads so I found bead stores everywhere and I think what I bought is definitely superior to what I bought here before my trip. I'm hoping to return in a year after I get through my stash additions!
I made 3 knitting girlfriends in Hongkong: Eva, Marjorie and Siow Chin. We spent many hours together exploring the yarnstores in Hongkong and Kowloon and the delights of dim sum and tea shops. We found a common interest in our knitting as they are all avid knitters and they asked me to help them with fair isle which is of course my very favorite type of knitting.
I made 3 knitting girlfriends in Hongkong: Eva, Marjorie and Siow Chin. We spent many hours together exploring the yarnstores in Hongkong and Kowloon and the delights of dim sum and tea shops. We found a common interest in our knitting as they are all avid knitters and they asked me to help them with fair isle which is of course my very favorite type of knitting.
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