Page 42 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Starting to Look Like A Sweater

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Here is Vodka Lemonade, starting to look like a real sweater.

Apparently, all of the math-fu I did to get the gauge and the fit right is working, because so far, it seems to be spot on. I'm very excited!

It's slow going. There never seems to be enough time! I knit a few rows at night, but I've been burning the candle at both ends, so you're going to be seeing this one in progress for a long time, I'm afraid. I'll probably cast on a couple of projects so I have enough to carry around on several trips later this month and in July. Like always, I'm doomed to be an attention-deficit knitter, working on several projects at once, instead of finishing the one on the needles.

If I had any spare time at the moment, I would lavish it on dyeing yarn in colors inspired by my garden. It's gorgeous out there, and I'm drinking it all in, because we've got to redo our back deck later this summer, which is going to cause lots of dislocation, if not outright carnage. I've taken a few pictures to remind me of the colors when I do find some time to dye. In addition to the lovely flowers above, I'm amazed by this Borage.

And by the bee drinking up nectar from my Asclepias.

Have you ever seen anything prettier? Nature is putting on an amazing show for us this year.

Vodka Lemonade

Posted on June 7, 2015December 28, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

No, it's not an alien mutant or a sweater for a small elf in Santa's workshop. It's the adolescent phase of my Vodka Lemonade. It looks a bit wonky, with the collar unblocked, the sleeves partially done for later pick up, and only a couple of inches worked on the body. But it's P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S and I'm really happy with it. I'm hoping that it will blossom as I get a bit more work done and become the sweater of my dreams.

On the plus side, this color, The Plucky Knitter's Fiona on Crew, is everything I could have hoped for!

My decision to alternate two skeins was a good one. The yarn has just enough variation that not alternating would have been an issue. I think it might have been even better with three skeins in the rotation. It has been relatively easy to get a nice, clean, edge, carefully bringing the alternating skeins up the side of the project. And the color looks lovely knit up like this!

Aster

Posted on May 31, 2015December 28, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

Knitting with linen is always tricky. Swatching isn't as exact, because your fabric with ease up significantly with repeat washings and lengthen if the garment has any weight at all to it. And, because I have a very loose gauge from the get go, swatching is even riskier business for me on linen.

My first swatch for Aster was on size 8 needles. The pattern recommends 9. And it was huge. Very pretty but huge. I would have knit a monster size garment.

I went down to size 6 needles and after washing, blocking and stretching the swatch (to imitate normal wear), I had gauge. Or at least, I had stitch gauge. My row gauge is off for the garter stitch piece. Interestingly, the pattern suggests going down a size when you hit the garter stitch block at the top, and that gives me row gauge. But not stitch gauge. So I'll do some math-fu on that part.

After swatching, I was distracted by two sweet little stray kittens who came to live with us this week. Aren't they cute? They ADORE knitting. This is not a good thing.

This pattern calls for negative ease, and I'm knitting it for my daughter, so I chose the 31.5" size. The next size up, at 34" would have been far too large. The start is stockinette stitch, and you can see that it rolls. The roll up at the bottom concerned me, but looking at the pattern photos I saw a slight roll. I'm hopeful that as the garment grows in size, its weight will work on that.

I'm not sure that hope is going to work out, because I'm past the first set of decreases, but I still have a roll of linen. And on the gauge front, as I thought might happen, even with my best efforts to knit tightly, I'm still getting enough fewer stitches over time that I'm please with the choice of the 31.5" size. It's too early to tell if that will hold up, but as of right now, even with the stretching that is inevitable as the garment grows, I think I should get a good fit.

Finally, a word about the yarn. This is Quince and Co's linen tape yarn, Kestrel. I love their sport weight linen, Sparrow, which is a typically spun yarn, and which I used for Lida last summer.

The verdict is still out on Kestrel. I had a knot in the first skein after knitting three rows, which did not get us off to a friendly start together. But this is a good project to test it out on and see how it performs.

The Zissou Hat

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

If you know someone who loves Wes Anderson movies, then this is the perfect Father's Day (or any day) gift.

Anderson's movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a comedic take on Jacques Cousteau, sea explorer and icon of my childhood (oh the Sunday afternoons spent watching Jacques take on creatures in exciting underwater locales!) And this hat, the classic Cousteau/Zissou hat, is a lovely reminder that even guys with no fashion sense whatsoever can sometimes start a trend.

Since "guy with no fashion sense" is pretty much the guy I married, this hat should be perfect for him (she said lovingly). Modeled here by one of our boys, it's sweet and charming, and just a little bit silly. Everything a good hat should be.

Hold your breath along with me — he's notoriously picky about presents. I'm hoping this one will make the cut!

Aster and Zissou the Life Aquatic

Posted on May 27, 2015December 28, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm shamelessly ignoring Vodka Lemonade, she of the miles of stockinette (and I haven't even reached the sleeves) to get started on Aster and knit up the Zissou hat.

Zissou is fast! Just a couple more inches and I'll be ready to decrease. Although it wasn't the perfect cast on for this odd 3 knits and 2 purls rib, I got a reasonably good result out of a modified alternating cable cast on, and it's a lot of fun to do. Good directions for alternating rib here and for modifying it for ribs other than 1×1 here.

Aster was a problem for me to swatch. I've gone down several needles size and will have to switch sizes for garter and stockinette to get the fabric I like. Here's to hoping my math-fu is faithful enough to account for my wonky gauge. The intended recipient certainly seems happy with it!

I'm excited about these two new projects.

New Knitting

Posted on May 26, 2015December 28, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm violating the rule of "one project off the needles means one new one on" this week. My Frostline is finished, but I've started two more projects.

First, a Zissou Hat. It's for the Judge for Father's Day. Ssssh. Don't tell him (I'm pretty sure he doesn't read my blog). I've got some lovely red Plucky Knitter Bello Worsted yarn and I've played with the math-fu to convert a pattern meant for a much finer weight cotton yarn. This probably means d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r, but I'm game. When finished, it will (hopefully) look something like this.

Reminder: If you haven't seen Wes Anderson's movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, DO! Just drop whatever you are doing right now (take along your knitting) and get it on Netflix or Amazon.

Second new project, and still in the swatching stage, is a (hopefully) quick tank top I want to knit for the ballerina before she goes off to her summer program.

The yarn is a fascinating Linen tape yarn from Quince, one of my favorite yarn makers and definitely my favorite for all things linen. This will require me to sew pieces together with mattress stitch, which will likely take more time than all of the knitting combined. I'm already trotting out my mantra: I love finishing up my knitting projects. Because really, like most knitters, I'm a bit adverse to finishing. But, having managed to weave in untold ends on my Frostline, I think it was something like 24 ends, this should be cake.

Frostline, Finished!

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm pleased with Frostline. It was worth all of the miles of stockinette to get here. And, the lace border, which looked indescribably poor when I finished knitting, sprang right into shape with a gentle block.

It is one of my most colorful knits ever and I adore it. I'm going to find way to wear it, even during summer!