Page 39 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Blocking Your Swatch: Why You Should

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

With apologies for the bad, hastily snapped photos, I'm going to offer up a case study in why knitters should force themselves to block their swatches. Remember yesterday's debacle with the Moto Vest? It knits up quickly in a bulky yarn, and I approached it with the attitude that the first few inches of the scarf portion were the swatch, since the pattern is more recipe than sized directions. My initial take was that the sizing was off significantly, and I wasn't wrong. But it changed radically with blocking.

[I have to note that the photos do horrible injustice to this yarn, which is a rich deep blue. I promise to get a good glamour shot of it as soon as possible.]

The rib opens up significantly with blocking, and I should point out that this wasn't aggressive, pin it to the limits blocking, this was a gentle hand wash followed by a soft "do your own thing" kind of block. The back piece is almost double in width. I want it to be a bit wider, but will probably add one rib on either side, not the 10 stitches per side I was contemplating. And, the length of the scarf has opened up as well, giving me the correct measurement there.

To recap, had I used the unblocked piece as my swatch, I would have added several inches to the scarf collar and knit a much bigger back, ending up with a piece fit only for Godzilla. As it is, the verdict is still out on my Moto vest. I've picked up more of this yarn off of Plucky destash so I can reknit the back wider, a couple of inches shorter, and perhaps with a bit of cable decoration. And I think it will work.

Trouble In (Knitting) Paradise

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

This will be a weekend for much ripping. Measuring, self-recriminations, re-measuring, perhaps some creative block, and then ripping. Not just one, but two projects.

Glacier, my beautiful cabled sweater, has a beautiful back. But it is too long. Instead of hitting above my hips it is miniskirt length. Why did this happen? Because the yarn is lovely and thick … and heavy. So my gauge swatch under predicted growth in length. I should have seen this one coming. I put the project in time out when I came to this realization so I could CALM down and breath before ripping back (this should be fun with alternating skeins to wind and splice) to before the shaping starts and taking out a repeat or two.

This is a new project, my Moto Vest. It's a clever construction, essentially you knit a big thick scarf before picking up stitches in the middle to knit the back. The pattern is more of a recipe than a pattern. At a glance, my shawl collar isn't long enough (it will eventually get connected to the back) and my back isn't wide enough. I'm knitting with Plucky Bulky, a yarn that is notorious for growth with wet blocking, so I will wet block and remeasure. But I think here as well, I'm headed for the knitting frog pond. My current plan is to lengthen the shawl collar, rip out the back and knit it almost twice as wide, and add some cable detailing on the back for a bit of light shaping at the waist.

Fortunately for both of these projects, I'm still in love with them and am deeply committed to finishing them. Some day.

I'm off to sulk. Hope you are having a better knitting week than I am!

Sweater Progress and New Yarn

Posted on August 15, 2015December 21, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

Thanks to the Americans and Madame Secretary (my grown up kids have introduced me to the concept of binge watching), I've made progress on Glacier and am within a couple of inches of doing shaping for the sleeves on the back piece.

Dingus was a bit surprised to be caught "napping" a/k/a chewing my tape measure in half on it, but he recovered gracefully and spent some time pretending he was helping me.

I got a beautiful box full of yarn from The Plucky Knitter a few days ago and am in the process of debating its future.

This is mostly Bello Worsted, Plucky's 55% Merino/45% Cashmere blend. It's very soft and pretty and I've developed quite the fondness for it. I liked these colors together, and played around with a collage of them, which convinced me I needed a long stripey scarf, sort of a riff on Dr. Who, to put them all together.

I'm going to devote some time to looking at patterns, but have also given some though to coming up with something very simple on my own. I'm not sure if that's happening, but I'm really looking forward to knitting with this yarn!

Glacial Progress

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Glacier. More Cables. Love the pattern. Love the yarn. Contemplating ways to clone myself or time travel so I can knit more.

A Basketful of Quilt Squares (Knitted)

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Although this behavior is frowned up in my family, I finished up the last quilt square for my Barn Raising Quilt at dinner yesterday. Over Pho. I waited to pull it out until the meal was over and we were drinking bubble tea while waiting for the check. Still, this is considered slightly bad manners in my family. But I was so excited, after years and years of knitting one of these squares here and there, to finish up the last one.

Now, I have a lovely basket full of quilt squares, waiting to be edged and sewn together.

They look pretty all laid out, but I need to spend some time putting together a nice variation of color and hue, to make sure it all works. Some time ago, I purchased some black skeins to use for edging/sewing, but as I look at the squares, I think that may be too dark. I'm going to try either a dove gray or something in a buff range.

Evil Kitty Dingus REALLY likes knitting. He likes everything about it — we've never had a cat quite as attentive to the whole process as he is. He sits in my lap and quietly lulls me into the belief that he is not a threat before striking mid-stitch. He was delighted to come across some leftovers tucked into this basket, but a lot less happy when he realized I was onto him. I'm going to have to knit a few yarny toys for him this weekend.

Modeled Shots of My Fair Isle Hat

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

The wonderful thing about teenage girls is that if you catch them in exactly the right moment (i.e. they want the car keys), they will agree to model your knits for you. They won't be able to keep the slightly superior expression off of their faces, but at least they will indulge you.

In case you've forgotten, even though I was so in love with this project that I seem to have blogged every day of its on-the-needles life, this is Peerie Flooers by Kate Davies. I love how it turned out. It is one of my all time favorite projects. I'm pretty fond of the model, too.

Starting A Sweater

Posted on August 4, 2015December 21, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

Glacier, one of the new patterns in Rowan 58, was exactly what I had been dreaming of, and from the moment I saw it, I knew I had to knit it. Even though it's clearly a bit beyond my skill set. Even though I was going to have to do all of that seaming up at the end. Even though I fought to get gauge.

I've cast on the back and am working on the ribbing, a pretty standard K3P2. The instructions suggest you go down two needles sizes for the ribbing, and that is typically really good advice if you don't want ribbing to look like loose strands of noodles (this would be the voice of experience speaking). But, since I am already knitting a bulky yarn on size 7 needles to get gauge, and since I really like the fabric at this gauge, I decided I would use the same size needles for my ribbing.

MISTAKE! Note to self: I am a really loose knitter. I shouldn't freak out about the fact that I knit on much smaller needles that virtually anyone else in the online knitting universe. It's what I need to do to get gauge. Perhaps I am just a very R-E-L-A-X-E-D person and it comes through in my knitting? But, whatever the reason, my ribbing on size 7 needles is just plain sloppy.

After ripping out all of the ribbing and starting over on Size 5 needles, here it is. (That's the cover of Rowan 58 beneath it). Much better. Not sloppy. Glad to have made that change, because as it knits up further, I'm finding that it's big. Hoping there isn't too much positive ease in the size small for me.

In other knitting news this week, it appears that I'm on track to finish the last square in the infamous, in progress just about forever, Barn Raising quilt. I am happy and sad. I think this may be my favorite square of all time, the Koigu yarn is crazy color perfection!