woolsthorpe

My first adult garment for the year. Completed some weeks ago but it took so long to finish that I didn't think a couple more would hurt.

The Vital Statistics Pattern: Woolsthorpe by Martin Storey from Rowan Classic Vintage, Book 28.
Size: 12
Yarn: 100 per cent wool recycled from a J Crew sweater bought at a thrift store.
Needles: 3.25mm and 4mm.
Start to finish: 17 October 2009 to 21 June 2010 - eight months and I think that I had all but the sleeves and finishing done in the first two weeks. I'm really disappointed that it took a total of eight months because the actual labour ceratinly didn't, it was all of the getting sidetracked and putting it aside to work on something else and whatever that, while it dismays me, seems to be my way of working.
Recycle/stash content: 100 per cent for the yarn, the buttons are from Nancy's Sewing Basket in the Queen Anne neighbourhood of Seattle.

Comments: I knit this garment almost entirely to the pattern. The only modification was to have seven buttons instead of six as I felt they were better spaced that way. There is a lot of 1x1 twisted rib in this cardigan and by the time I finished the ribbing for the back I thought that I may never be able to face it again. That said, the effect is lovely. I worked Vogue single row buttonholes for the first time - very pleased.

Verdict: I can't wait to wear this. I was quite pregnant when I cast on for it - oh wait, that's why it took so long, there was the first six months of a baby's life in there as well - so I was never that confident about the fit but there was nothing to worry about. (It is actually kindly modelled in these photos by my dear friend Anne but it fits me too). It does look decidedly vintage and I am delighted about that. The yarn has produced a luxurious squishy fabric and I love the colour. Very happy.

review

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I unearthed Woolsthorpe - I'm much further along than I had thought. Back, left front, right front, one sleeve - done! And it's half seamed already as well. I seem to have gotten stalled on going upstairs to grab a pair of 3.25mm knitting needles with which to cast on for the second sleeve's cuff. I had thought that I had stalled half-way through the shoulder shaping on one of the fronts - I really dislike that when you have to figure out where you are up to and is it the same as the other side and did you make any changes that you have now completely forgotten about?

I'll be casting on the next sleeve for this pronto. Then there will be the button band, the buttonhole band, collar and one more pocket band. Plus the rest of the seaming. I have also allayed my fears about fit - I was already pregnant when I started knitting this and so chose the size based upon my Wallingford which is from the same pattern book. I'm still pretty buxom but the fit is good and I'm sure that it will button up nicely, ah, sometime in the future. So assessment - doable, in the near future.

And speaking of Wallingford (actually officially called Wallington)- hooray! My project is illustrating the page for this pattern in Ravelry.

I'm particularly delighted about this because a) I was pipped at the post to be the first person to complete this pattern, and b) it is knit from a recycled yarn and I love to promote that.

Next up for review and assessment: a knitted veil in Peruvian wool.

tender buttons

I've had some button luck lately. I bought a Moth cardigan at Value Village the weekend before last. I didn't like the cardigan, but I do love the buttons. As you can see, buttons and garment have since parted ways - now I need to make something that requires four buttons. Ah, any excuse.

And several, several weeks ago, I finally mastered a knit buttonhole that I am happy with - extremely happy in fact. I have never been satisified with the basic 'k2tog yo' buttonhole and upon Di's advice tried the one-row buttonhole which I believe comes from Vogue Knitting: the ultimate knitting book. This is a very neat and tidy buttonhole with good sturdy edges and no stray loops for buttons to get caught in. I heartily recommending having a look at it.

I have put it to good use in the front left side ribbing of my woolsthorpe cardigan. Yes, long neglected but still in the works, as are many of my current knits. The next few posts will be a review and assessment of the current knitting situation.

texture

I have cast on for Woolsthorpe. I'm not going to beat around the bush, claim that I only seem to have cast on, or that I haven't really cast on but am knitting a swatch that closely resembles the front. I was claiming for a while that I was just swatching the ribbing but halfway up the left front this is no longer true. And what else do I have to say for it? Ah, texture!

I have long not been keen on either ribbing or moss stitch, both of which require an endless k1 p1 (that is, knit one purl one) sequence. However, it would seem that my knitting has become more proficient lately because I am really enjoying knitting these fabrics which I would usually otherwise avoid. The ribbing is actually a twisted rib so it's k1tbl p1 (knit one through the back loop purl one) which I hadn't done at all before. And here at this juncture it contrasts nicely with the moss stitch and stocking stitch.

After four finished knitting projects in the red/burgundy/purple colour group, it is also lovely to be working with blue. Again, this is one hundred per cent wool recycled from a J Crew sweater that I bought at the thrift store. I am having a lot of success with recycling this brand and would recommend it to anyone considering upcycling yarn (except people who live in Seattle and frequent the same thrift stores as I do - hands off!).

here comes the sun

... and I say it's all right.





















The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Sunrise Circle Jacket by Kate Gilbert.
Size: Hmm, I mucked around with this quite a bit. I wanted a fitted garment so I cast on for the 86cm size sleeve but increased to the 91cm size and knit that for the front plus six more rows because I wanted it to cover up more tummy when it crossed over. And then I knit some short rows but more about that later.
Yarn: Recycled J Crew 100 per cent 10 ply wool in dark aubergine and burgundy. I want to take the opportunity here to wax lyrical for a bit about recycled yarn. Even though that is mostly what I use, I do still get a thrill walking into a yarn store at all the colour and texture nuances available in commercial yarns. It's all there for you, immediately available and it's easy to forget that with patience and good foraging, that you can find great yarn by unravelling and recycling. Like this J Crew wool that I have been knitting with. The variety of shades in this yarn is really difficult to capture - there are all sorts of other colours hiding in there, sometimes just a single filament but it gives the finished fabric such depth and vibrancy.

I happened across the same sweater in two different colours so used the dark aubergine for the jacket and the burgundy for the hems as i was again concerned about running out of yarn. As it is I have a hge cake of the aubergine left over and heaps of burgundy too. Actually, the burgundy is what I used to knit the Columbia Beret.

Which actually brings me to my next point - the light has changed in Seattle and I am finding it very difficult to capture colours. The dark aubergine is much darker than the burgundy, although this is not particularly evident if you compare it with the photos of the Columbia Beret below. Oh well, take my word for it.
Needles: I used both straights and a circular on this project - 4.5mm bamboo and Addi Turbo.
Start to finish: 15 May 2009 to 15 October 2009. Wow, five months exactly. I'm surprised, it didn't seem to be that long. I started knitting it when I finished the knitting on Wallingford, which just goes to show just how long I delayed on the seaming up that project.
Comments: This is a great pattern. I made a few changes, namely making the fronts wider so that there would be more coverage when the garment is closed. I did this at the neckline by simply knitting six rows into the next size. To make the fronts longer I worked six short rows on the front, from the side seam to part way up the front, wrap and turn, back to the side seam; the next one not so far up and back; and again. I also followed the example of some other knitters and didn't cast off the hem stitches but instead kept them live to then sew down. I took this one step further and also did a provisional cast on for each of the pieces and then sewed down the live stitches. Both of these measures were to keep bulk out of the garment.

Fit-wise, I took a lot of care with making sure that the row count on both the front and back sides was identical; ditto for the depth of the raglan sleeves. Nevertheless, I ended up with four stitches extra in the width at the neck which I took up using the same decreases as for the darts in the back, a neat and tidy double decrease achieved by slipping two stitches as if to knit two together, knitting the next stitch and then passing the slip stitches over (s2kp2 in the pattern which was a bit confusing as it makes it seem as though there are purl stitches involved).

I also didn't include any fastenings on the garment, preferring to fasten it with a kilt pin (or a shawl pin) depending on the weather and how tightly I want to pull it around me.

Verdict: I really like this garment, particularly the construction and fit - the back darts are in just the right place for me. It's funny that this is knit in a heavier weight yarn than Wallingford but is nevertheless a sleeker garment. I think that it was a good idea to keep all of those hem stitches live but it made for a painstaking sewing-up process, or rather sewing down stitch by stitch.

So, what next? This garment knitting thing is really addictive. The end results so far have been super and I feel so great wearing a cardigan that I have made myself. Really, I would like to finish my other works-in-progress, if only for the sake of getting them done, but neither socks nor lace is appealing at all at the moment. I may also have knit up the pocket linings for Woolsthorpe last night while watching a dvd, you know, just to check gauge and whatever ...

wallingford

Eeeeeek, I am so incredibly excited - my first complete adult garment!! Finished this very day. Hooray, I finally did it. I can't produce much further ado so here are the details:

The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Wallington by Martin Storey from Rowan Classic Book 28 - Vintage, purchased at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island.
Size: medium
Yarn: 100 per cent wool recycled from a J Crew men's sweater that I purchased at Goodwill in the U District.
Needles: 3.25mm, 3.75mm and 4mm straights.
Start to finish: 4 April 2009 to 29 September 2009.
Comments: I was very motivated with knitting this garment as I thought that I was the only person who was working on it (only person on ravelry - that's all that counts, isn't it?) and that mine would be the very first Wallington to be completed. Little did I know that someone else was working on it in secret and didn't log it until they had finished. That took the wind out of my sails a bit, and after very successfully finishing most of the knitting within five weeks it then took me a further four months to sew the blasted thing up - oh well.















This was also my first attempt at knitting an adult garment using recycled yarn which produced the inevitable 'will-there-be-enough?' anxiety. As it turned out, there was enough. I did substitute in a similar yarn (also recycled J Crew) in burgundy for the facings inside the body and sleeves and for the central portion of the belt. As it turned out though, I chose not to use the belt and wrist straps that I knit - I felt that it would have made the garment just too bulky, so I instead bought some lovely grosgrain ribbon from the ribbon room at Nancy's Sewing Basket which I can tie in nice big floppy bows. This also obviated the need to find three matching buckles for the belt and straps.

I also knit the facings in stocking stitch instead of rib because basically, why bother, they're on the inside and that would have made the garment bulkier still. Yes, 8ply (or dk weight) yarn in my opinion produces bulky.

Verdict: Much ado, much ado. I am, actually to my surprise, really happy with this project. I had all sorts of fears about it not fitting well, not suiting me, not being big/long/wide enough or short/fitted/shapely enough - take your pick. But it's great and I feel immensely proud when I am wearing it. There are still two more patterns that I want to knit from this book, Woolsthorpe (for which I have some more recycled J Crew yarn in a lovely blue just waiting) and Souter (although I'm not sure what to do about the fluted peplum which I don't much like). Sunrise Circle must be finished first though!