Saturday, October 31, 2009

Old Skill is New Again

I have actually been forced to learn one of the oldest sewing/knitting skills...darning. One of my hand knit socks (Retro Ribs) finally developed the "dreaded hole in the heel". Funny how it wasn't even one of my oldest pairs...according to my Ravelry project page it was finished in February of 2008. Anyway I decided that since the hole was pretty small I should try fixing it. How hard could darning really be for goodness sake...turns out not too hard at all. It took me less than 30 minutes to repair the damage. If I do say so myself it looks pretty darn good.

Supplies
--blunt needle,
--yarn of the same thickness...I even had some Jitterbug left
--something hard & round (wooden egg) to weave against and that's it.

I turned the sock inside out, but it really doesn't matter too much although the "neater side" is away from you on. I just thought I'd prefer the neater appearance on the outside of the sock.

What I did:
  1. Thread the needle with a fairly long piece of yarn...~2 yards so there's no break in the yarn.
  2. Pick a starting point a few good stitches down & away from the hole & use a running stitch up to a few good stitches past the hole. You continue weaving the needle & yarn up & down the heel...over the hole the yarn should not be tight. Once you run all the way across and continue past the hole until you've reached good stitches.
  3. Turn the sock 90 degrees and weave the needle & yarn over & under your previous work. Continue until the entire hole area has been filled with the patchwork.
Cut both ends of yarn which should felt into place with wearing. Turn the sock right side out and there you have it a patch where a hole used to be...it's not perfect, but it's wearable.




Of course there's always videos of darning socks on the Internet...what I thought would be difficult really wasn't bad at all & I still have a pair of socks that I'll still be able to wear.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Another Knit from Chick

I have yet another of Ms. Bonnie Marie Burns's Chicknit Patterns on the needles. How many have I started? Well if you include the Mystery Hat KAL this would be number 3 in the last couple of months that I have cast on. My first was Cassidy, followed by that little side trip to knit up a Mondo Cable Cap then two weeks ago I cast on for Miss BB. I still have Twist & Mondo Cable Shell/Vest to go...I may have a problem.

Ravelry's Chicknit group has a KAL going on for Miss BB so I thought I'd go ahead and join in the fun...so far have been started. It's been going very quickly...the back's done as are both fronts. I've started knitting the sleeves. I'm doing both at once so that I have the increases/decreases & length all in the same place. Let's hope it ends up as planned...I keep getting tangled up in the many balls of yarn I have going. Why so many? Unfortunately the Classic Elite's Waterlily I'm using was bought 3-4 years ago for another project, Nicole...which ended up being knitted out of something else. Waterlily has since sat in the stash waiting to be something. I kept looking at patterns & tossing the Waterlily aside & hanging on to it until the "perfect pattern" could be found.

About a year or so ago I was afraid that the original 12 balls wouldn't be quite enough for anything else so I bought 4 more balls..."just in case". I always figured that I could use the off lot for the sleeves...so now I have multiple balls being knitted in order to keep the differences minimal. I have not noticed any garish differences & the "watercolor" effect of Waterlily is beautiful. The yarn has great stitch definition, a very soft touch & the 'watercolor effect' is making Miss BB look terrific...one draw back is the occasional yarn splitting, but it hasn't been affecting my enjoyment in the least.

I guess I don't have to say that I really enjoy knitting Chicknit patterns. I have knit quite a few (Ribby Shell, Cassidy, Mondo Cable Cap, Miss BB)...all have been well designed, the designer is very willing to address problems or questions along the way and so far everything I've knitted looks very sharp & stylish. What's not to like.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

My Cassidy

I adore this sweater. Absolutely loved knitting it, especially the yarn chosen which I wrote about a few days ago. My only 'uh oooh' moments were with those darn button bands. I knitted them at least 4 times...may have been more 'cause I've blocked the number of times at this point. On my first attempt I picked up way more stitches than I really should have and paid the price. A really wonky looking button band that puckered & waved...so it was frogged.

The second time I attempted to use a little math to figure out how many stitches to pick up. The method was based on one of Knitty's articles about picking up stitches which I found very helpful. Funny that it worked out okay even though I didn't have enough info from the pattern to calculate it out perfectly. Not the fault of the designer it was all due to the changes I made to the pattern...not fond of hoods on my sweaters so I changed the designed hood to a cabled collar.

I had no idea how many stitches were to be be picked up for doing just the button bands. I decided to take the numbers provided for picking up for the hood and down each front & subtract out the stitches for the hood. This left me with a number I could use to plug into the formula. I played around with my stitch markers, measured the fronts & put all the info into Knitty's formula. All of this left me with a number to pick up...97 stitches.

Finally, I was back on track...well almost anyway. I had a small problem with the edge curving out at the buttons. I'd knit the band, but when I added the buttons I'd get a fairly dramatic curving outward, but only at the buttons & especially noticeable when buttoned. First I thought the problem had to do with how I knit the button holes so I frogged it & re-knit the button holes on the wrong side...still had a problem although it was somewhat better. At this point I was stymied as to what I need to do...started thinking about ditching my buttons for a zipper.

Since I was due for a trip to Blacksburg for a meeting with my Unraveled group I held off the decision so I could get their advice...everyone basically said I was nuts (no news there) to be worrying about the band. It made me feel better, but I was still not pleased that it wasn't looking the way I wanted. I must thank Sandy from Mosaic for bailing me out once again with another one of her tricks. She said that "there's always a way to fix it"...thank goodness she was willing to show me what I needed to do. All it involved was a crochet hook, a little yarn and a few minutes to add a slipped stitch edge to both bands. A perfect fix. The ends have now been woven in and Cassidy has been out & about in the cool weather...I'll say it again I love this sweater and the yarn's not half bad either.

Details:
Pattern:
Cassidy by Bonnie Marie Burns (Chicknits). Ravelry has knit.

Yarn: 100% Montana grown Cormo Wool by Elsa Wool Company, spinning system: woolen, 2 ply, worsted, 237 yds/4 oz in a light gray. I used 5 skeins plus 2 3/4 oz of another skein.

Needles: Addi Turbo, 40" circular, sizes US 6 and US 7

Gauge: 19 stitches per 4 inches

Size: chest 40"

Modifications: Rather than do the shoulder shaping as designed I decided to rework the pattern to include short row shaping. It worked out well and did not disrupt the cable patterns as much as I feared. Three needle bind off at the shoulders in my opinion goes together so much smoother & easier than the 'stair step' results of binding off the fronts & backs.

Buttons: 7 mother of pearl "smoke" buttons, size 3/4" from The Yarn Lounge

**pics to follow once my camera returns**

Friday, October 16, 2009

Remember When

Remember back a few months when I knit my Mom's first sweater...Mr. Greenjeans? Well it now looks totally different. I spent the rainy day ripping it apart into 6 nice sized balls of yarn. After 4 hours of ripping out alternating skeins I'm pleased that I did not end up with a totally tangled mess.

All I have to do now is to get it on the swift to re-skein & set it in a nice bath so it can relaaax. Sad to rip out a perfectly good sweater, but it wasn't gonna fit anyone I knew. It seemed to be a waste of some perfectly nice yarn to have it sitting around in that sweater. Now what to do with 4 skeins of Schaefer's Miss Priss...maybe I should give it back to Mom so she can knit something out of it.

I'm sorta over this adventure in knitting or rather unknitting adventure as it turned out.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

A Very Fast Knit

Just what I needed to break up my knitting...something fun on the needles that almost knit itself. A couple of weeks ago I was offered the chance to participate in Chicknits Mystery Hat KAL. Ms. Chicknits (Bonnie Marie Burns) herself sent out a set of 3 clues over the last few Mondays to knit a hat. I finished the last clue last night...not too bad since I didn't cast on until after the 2nd clue had been received.

The cap was such fun & so quick I'm thinking I may need to look through the stash and knit a few more to match my sweaters. My only concern is that after blocking the yarn has bloomed a good bit so that the ribbed edge feels looser than I'd like. Another opportunity to use a technique that I was shown just this past weekend. Thanks to Sandy at Mosaic I think I can make this cap a wee bit tighter. Her trick was so simple too...using a crochet hook and a bit of yarn you just hook around the edge skipping a stitch or two as you go pulling the edge inward.

Sandy said that it's useful for any edging from neckline, to hems, cuffs, & button bands. Especially useful on that infamous button band from Cassidy. It worked perfectly on my sweater & happy to know I have another trick in the bag for my future projects.

Details:
Pattern: Mondo Cable Cap by Bonnie Marie Burns (Chicknits). Ravelry link has knitted to date.


Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca (50% Alpaca, 50% Wool, 215 yds/200 grams), in the color pumpkin puree (6226). I used 3/4 of the skein to complete my hat.


Needles: Knitpicks Harmony Options 24" circular size 5, Options 24"circular size 8, and Boye DPN's size 8.

Gauge: 18 sts/24 rows in 4 inches of stockinette

Size: 23" head circumference

Modifications: None other than tightening the ribbed edge

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Cassidy...the New Favorite

Can I just say that I love this sweater? Specifically I loved the yarn I used to knit the sweater although the pattern has easily become one of my favorites. I enjoyed beyond words knitting with this yarn from Elsa Wool Co. Originally my plan at the Yarn Lounge was to buy a totally different yarn to do this sweater, but one touch and I was swooning. After I purchased 7 skeins I found that Knitter's Review had a nice write up about Elsa's yarns. Which pleased me to no end to see that I wasn't the only person to find this yarn absolutely stunning. I ended up with the 'woolen' variety of 100% Montana grown Pure Cormo wool that is as squishy & soft as can be which really made these cables pop. I finally matched pattern to yarn perfectly!

Of course I changed a few things in the pattern to make it more mine...specifically I left off the hood and added a collar. I knew I'd never use the hood & the added bulk would drive me crazier than I already am. I even was able to find the perfect buttons at the Yarn Lounge. Of course these led to a problem...you knew there would be one...after I attached the buttons. My button band is all wavy...right where the buttonholes happen to be. Now I have to ask..design element or real problem. After a light steam and much hand wringing I'm leaning towards "real problem". I just am not happy with the overall look...so what do I do about it?

Stay tuned as I ponder solutions...do I frog the button band, pick up fewer stitches & redo the holes more toward the edge...do I need to frog the collar too?

What no pictures? Sorry, you will have to wait 'cause the camera is elsewhere...too bad you need to see these cables...the button band not so much.