Stitch In My Side

Not a stitch

I have not been knitting lately, have not even picked up needles or thought about a project for nearly a month.

The last project that I finished was a set of Christmas stockings comissioned by one of Justin's bosses. I was to replicate a pattern that her mother-in-law had used to make stockings for all of her grandchildren, and a couple of children had been born since her death. I started with counting every stitch and rewriting the pattern, then had to make a couple of stockings. It was a tedious project, and in the end took far more time and energy then I was expecting. I was trying to complete them for her to send off for Christmaas, and running up against that deadline was not helping my frustration. In the end I sent them off with Justin without even taking pictures of them, so I don't have anything to show for the work that went into them, but that's OK. In the end, I am glad to have made them for her. Knowing that I was able to help extend a family tradition is pretty wonderful in its own right, whatever frustrations that I had along the way pale in comparison.

I was expecting to start a new knitting project right away when the stockings were done, to get the juices flowing and get back into working on something I was inspired by. Instead, I got back into the bathroom renovation (bottom photo) in full force, working on it for as many hours as I could stand it, in hopes that it would be finished some time soon. Between the exhaustion of physical labor and the mounds of construction dust that were accumulating in every nook and cranny of the house I just never got up the energy to start a new project, or to shrink wrap it every night so that it would remain workable. Now as the bathroom coming closer to being finished, I am contemplating what my next knitting project will be.

Leyla

Today I spent a lovely day in Washington DC, at the baby shower that Sarah hosted for Leyla at the Sulgrave Club. She was a consummate hostess, planning everything beautifully and making all of us feel welcome. We were even treated with little pink tea cakes that she had brought all the way from Denver for the occasion. It was fantastic to meet some of the women in Leyla's life, some totally new ones and some whose names I was finally able to put faces to. We lived up to the occasion, and showered her with gifts, all teeny tiny and so sweet to behold. I tried to get over my shyness and take pictures of people, but for the most part my favorites are still the inanimate objects. The whole series can be found here.

For the baby, I knit a couple of alpaca sweaters. They are both Debbie Bliss patterns, but very different styles.

The first is the Beaded Fair Isle sweater from "The Baby Knits Book". I knit this on size 2 and 3 needles with Blue Sky 100% Alpaca.

The pattern as it is written frankly sucks. It is done in several pieces, full of unnecessary seaming, and requires picking up stitches in order to do the fair isle yoke. The pictures in the book are easy to overlook, but upon closer inspection you can see the sleeve and yoke seams, which seems like a shame. I worked the pattern to the underarm seam the way it was written, then knit the arms and calculated how I could finish the sweater as a single piece. My chicken scratch notes are not very useful as they are, but I am planning on rewriting them for future reference. When I do, I'll post them.

The whole sweater:

Front yoke and button detail:

Back yoke detail:

Inner fair isle detail:

The second sweater is the Chevron Jacket from "Number Five". I knit this on number 5 needles with Blue Sky 100% Alpaca. This time I followed the pattern as it was written. My only complaint about this pattern is that the finishing is horrendous! There were about a hundred ends to weave in, which seemd like an awful lot for such a tiny little garment. It was well worth it, though. I LOVE this jacket, love it so much that I would quite happily make one for myself if I wasn't so lazy about having to do the finish work on a big-human sized garment.

The full view:

The artsy detail views:

Summer

Sunday was the perfect summer day. After a slow, leisurely waking Justin and I wandered over to a waffle brunch in Waverly, where we met a bunch of lovely new folks. With full bellies, we headed back to the house for the pool bag and headed off to Coldspring with Marc and Lynn, where we were later joined by new friends Rebecca and Eric. We were there for the entire day, and had pink skin and sore legs (from all of the cannonballs) to show for it that night. After a feast of veggie burgers and corn on the cob, we were treated to Marc and Lynn's wedding and travel albums (complete with blow-by-blow, thanks Marc) before stumbling home and falling into bed and sleeping that deep sleep that only comes after a day of sun and movement.

In knitting news, I have frogged my first attempt at a sleeve for Bonnie, and thanks to a misplaced needle was prevented from picking it back up again for a couple of days. Yesterday I scoured my house and finally found the needle, so I'll be starting again with a new plan.

This is a gauge swatch for the next project, a rib and cable sweater for my cousin's 15 month old who is currently trying to stay warm in New Zealand.

I am leaving tomorrow for Australia, to visit my family for a couple of weeks. Justin has taken to calling me Mary Poppins, for my habit of disappearing to cooler climes whenever the heat index gets above 105 degrees. Can you really blame me?

Bonnie update pt.2

Bonnie is coming along nicely- I only had to tear out and redo the neckline a couple of times, which is several less than I was expecting, frankly!

The only thing that I am unhappy with is that the reverse stockinette ribbing looks much better when I was knitting in the round. When I reached the armhole shaping I started to knit back and forth for the remainder of the garment, and I can see a difference in my stitching here. I could have done everything flat, but didn't want the added bulk of seams in the smocking.

The neckline is nothing spectacular, but I really want the smocking to be the focal point of the garment, so I left everything else very simple. I will finish it off with a chain-stitch edge, so that it mirrors the lines of the ribbing.

Only the sleeves to go now!

(Edited to add: Um, hi. Due to Technical difficulties at Typepad HQ this post was here, and then it went away. Poof! Just like that. So, I guess we're back in business now. Welcome back, and hi to the curious folks that the lovely Kate sent my way.)

Bonnie update

Bonnie is coming along nicely, I am actually finishing up the back today, and will post some updated pictures when that is done. The smocking came out well, I just had to remember not to pull the linking strands too tight, or I wouldn't be able to fit into the finished product. The ribbing is easy to do, it's basically reverse stockinette with a stitch thrown in every so often. I'm a bit bored with it, having just finished "Rambling Rose", which was also mostly stockinette on size 2 needles. I think I'll do some lace work, or at least work on bigger needles for the next project. Following is a picture of the smocking in progress:

Bonnie

Introducing: Bonnie. I came across this picture of Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie and Clyde" recently and immediately thought, "I must knit that!". So here I am, venturing into the unknown and trying to make it up as I go. I have figured out how to do the smocking, and have finished a gauge swatch and done some basic numbers. I am now a whole 13 rows into the project. If this little endeavor is successful I will write a pattern and post it, but don't hold your breath. Even in the best case scenario it will be several months! I'll post a progress update when I get past landmarks or into trouble, whichever comes first.

Rambling Rose

Well, folks. Two months and some serious finger cramping later, it's finally finished! Introducing Rambling Rose from Rowan Magazine 39. I love it- it's very Donna Reed, but I think it's gorgeous.

I love this photo- probably partly because I can't see myself, but also because it looks like something from a magazine. Props to Justin for taking it.

And because every knitter has to have a token cat photo somewhere on their blog...

And a detail shot, just because this piece is all about the detail. Thanks to Claudia and Justin for helping me pick out the ribbon.

This shot doesn't have the artsy light of the others, but you can see the finished piece a bit better.

Preview of rambling rose

Well, after a couple of months, I am almost done with the cardigan.

The pattern is Rambling Rose from Rowan Magazine 39. I knit it with 4 ply cotton in a lovely sky blue on size 1 and 2 needles.

A detail photo of the rambling rose part- the pink markers are where the roses are to be sewed on when it is finished:

All of the pieces, being blocked:

I have now seamed it, and have the buttonhole and neck edging to finish. More photos to come when it is all put together.