Prime Time Knitter

Sumer Is Icumin In

The hot week we had a month ago, and the sporadic hot days that have been interspersed with some cool, rainy weather and some quite delightful days have kept this tune in my head.  Until I checked Wikipedia for a link, I thought it meant “summer is coming” and that it was a madrigal.  (And when my college chorus learned this song, our conductor did not enlighten us about the flatulent stag.)  Well, regardless, my thoughts have turned to summer projects, and it beats having some dumb advertising jingle stuck in my head.

The Cherry Tree Hill Rustic Silk in linen stitch blocked out well, and it will definitely work for a July-August project.  I need to try out edging and decide on the sweater shape, so it is still in the planning stage.

A better project to knit now is Thora, but I think the design will need some massive changes to fit me.  Blocking my “perfect” seed-stitch swatch made it less perfect.  It is no longer 4 inches wide, but nearly 5 inches.  

I don’t know why this works.  I usually knit a medium size sweater for me.  If I’m not getting gauge, I find that if I knit the number of stitches for the small size, I get the finished size I want.  A quick check of the pattern instructions shows that this will be the case for Thora too, but the row gauge also isn’t working out, and it matters.  The cable motif that goes down the back, front, and arms will help me adjust.  According to the instructions, those cables should be 1 inch for each repeat, and I’m getting about 2 ¼ inches for two repeats.  So I’ll need to shorten.  But once I do this, and draw a much more careful schematic than appeared in Knitter’s Arans and Celtics, I will be ready to cast on.  Zara is thin yarn (it says DK, but I’m knitting it on size 1’s), so it will be ok as a summer project until the heat and humidity descend.  It looks as if this will be NaKniSweMoDo Sweater #4, unless I finally get inspired and finish a WIP. 

I’ve decided to practice project polygamy, and not stick to one sweater only for the summer.   One reason is that I can suit the project to the temperature.  Another is that I’m ready to tackle a major intarsia sweater. 

This is Susan Duckworth’s Deco sweater, which I had fiddled with before. 

The colors in the photo don’t look much like the heavenly colors of the yarn, which is a mix of Rowan Designer DK (the discontinued variety) and Kid Silk (not Kid-Silk Haze, but a DK weight).  You can see the fuzziness in the swatch, which is a mix of the DK and the Kid Silk.  The swatch is a little crude, but I learned a lot about the yarn tension from knitting it, and I didn't take the trouble to weave in the ends.

 

Aside from being boxy, the pattern comes in only one size with a 51-inch chest circumference.  That is bigger than any bathrobe I’m likely to own, and so after some deft adjustment of the motifs and sleeve shaping, I came up with what looked like a plan (my crude, pasted up schematic).  I’ve also spent the last few weeks studying Lucy Neatby’s DVDs on intarsia knitting, and she wisely recommends knitting intarsia only for a short time, when you can pay attention to the work.  And so, this can’t be my only project. 

These projects were planned before my Japanese stitch dictionaries arrived, so also on my Official Swatch List are yarns that have enough yardage for trying out many different stitch patterns.

The maroon is Brooks Farm Acero, the pearl gray is Jo Sharp Alpaca-Silk Georgette, the light pink is Tess Designer Yarns Silk&Ivory, and the rose is Brooks Farm Solo Silk (merino-silk).  And on the bottom is some purple Blue-Faced Leicester yarn I got at Maryland Sheep & Wool two years ago, from Spinning Flock Farm (unfortunately, no web site).  I had considered for some time knitting a simple sweater in the BFL with edging from one of Nicky Epstein’s books, and that is still possible.  Although mostly (or all) wool, at least a couple of these should get me through the summer.

One thing that is not disagreeable about summer is my garden.  This is the first year I managed to keep my spinach from succumbing to leaf miners. We’ve been pigging out on fresh spinach salads for a week, with a few more to come. 

I spent most of the weekend weeding and thinning beets and carrots, planting herbs, and watering. And I started two flats of summer lettuce to replace the spinach (150 plants—I’m planning to eat a lot of salads). 

Ed has been working on our massive new cage to protect not only our tomatoes from the deer, but pole beans, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants, and peppers. 

Row covers (with the boards to hold them down) are protecting two rows of broccoli and lettuce (bottom left), one row of mustard greens, and my spinach (upper right). The rows that don't look like much yet have beets, carrots, and herbs (chives, sage, parsley, and basil).  

Solving Puzzles

I’m captivated by puzzles.  I’ve loved the plastic mazes with ball bearings since I was a child.  I start each day with a sudoku or crossword.  And so, the problem of adjusting the Susan Duckworth sweater so it would fit me was one I could not leave alone.  Yes, it is true that I studied the pattern before without a solution, but I lacked the commitment to actually knit it.

On those past occasions, I considered what the sweater would look like if I cut a half pattern from each side edge.  Given the measurements in the instructions, this would get me a 43-inch bust circumference—far more suitable than the 51 inches of the pattern.  Also, there are things about the sweater that bothered me, even in its unaltered state.  I want my seams to look invisible, and the design has obvious joins.  It is not easy to see this in the picture, but the squares with circles abut at the edges and do not have the dividing line that separates the rest of the squares—and so you’d always see the seam in the finished sweater.  The same situation arises at the shoulders.  You can see where the edge is at the join. 

So with the aid of my copier, I decided to reproduce the chart and paste the copies in a way that both makes the sweater smaller and improves the seam placement.  This required shifting the pattern by one block on the back so that it continued the same color repeats as the front. 

It is hard to see how the colors will play out on this mock up until I shade them in, but if I cut a half pattern at the shoulders, I can have a complete motif spanning the front and back (where the DPN is in the photo).  And, if I make this adjustment and cut a half pattern from each side, I can have the side seam in the center of a motif:

In fact, I may not even have a side seam.  I’m thinking of constructing the fronts and backs together until the armhole and then dividing.  Should I try for some waist shaping?  I’m not sure yet.  Notice too, that I have a modified fitted sleeve instead of the pure drop sleeve.  I ought to paste up the sleeve to be sure this will work, but first I want to swatch.

I have some Rowan DK left from my first intarsia project knit last year

and I can use it as a first pass to see what size needles I’d need and how big each square will be.  Then I’ll need to swatch with the Kid Silk and practice a corrugated rib (something I’ve never done).  It will be a while before I’m ready to really cast on.

But last night, I didn’t just knit in my mind.  I cast on and knit the bottom of the right front of the Devonshire jacket.  I did a bit more on the sock on SuperBowl Sunday and swatched for Hedera.  I don’t like the way this yarn is working out for Hedera, and so I plan to try Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid this week.

But now that the puzzle-solving bug has bitten me, I want to clear some WIPs out of the way so I can get started with something complicated.

Keeping Focused

Last week my mind did more knitting than my fingers.  One reason was that there was quite decent TV on and it eroded my evening knitting time.  I actually sat and watched Mansfield Park, the new episode of The Wire, the airing of the movie Breach on HBO, and one of the Oscar-winning movies on the Turner Classic Movie Channel that I’d never seen—Gandhi.  Luckily this coming week there is little TV of that caliber, and I can go back to my regularly scheduled knitting.

I did accomplish something noteworthy.  I always liked the way Charlene Schurch knitted the heel flaps on her socks, and I managed to follow the very easy directions in Sensational Knitted Socks and do them myself.  There is a 3-stitch garter stitch edge on each side of the flap.  It gives a neat edge for picking up the gusset stitches and leaves you without the hole at the top.  But this is about all I did.

And so my mind began to wander.  It occurred to me that the person who has been waiting so patiently for her Norwegian mittens might actually prefer something she might wear before next winter, and in rummaging through my sock yarn box I found this yarn. 

It is from Joslyn’s Fiber Farm.  Long before I even knew blogs existed and about the time I realized that U.S. sheep farms and fiber artists were offering gorgeous yarn, I bought the book Handpaint Country (copyright 2002).  Through this book, I discovered such vendors as Joslyn, Ellen’s Half Pint Farm, and Cherry Tree Hill, and I was able to see and touch some of the yarns at my first trip to Rhinebeck.  We’re now so used to seeing yarns like these from so many vendors that it hardly seems possible that the book took my breath away.  But it is still a great book to browse, and the vendors listed are still among the best for hand dyed and hand painted yarn.  My problem with the yarn from Joslyn is that it isn’t exactly the right color for me (too green for my sallow complexion—I have almost no green clothes), but it is perfect for the person I’ll be knitting for.  I also wanted to try one of Cookie A’s sock designs, and so if I get gauge, I’ll use the yarn for Hedera.  (The Super Bowl is for swatching.  I have to be reasonably quiet so I don’t say anything too dumb, and this will be perfect for tonight.)

But when I get as little knitting as I did this week done, I become dangerous and I drag out projects that really should stay in their plastic boxes.  One that has intrigued me for years is this Susan Duckworth design, which I have as a Rowan kit. 

I love the 1920s look of this sweater, but it has serious problems.  For one, there is only one size and it measures 51 inches across the bust.  These kits seem to be designed for someone who is a foot taller than I am and probably bigger boned.  Reducing the chest to what probably should be 44” at most for me will require some tinkering with the pattern.  The pattern is not set up for these adjustments, and I may have to rechart it.  I also suspect the sweater is too long.  And I’d prefer fitted or modified fitted sleeves to the drop sleeves.  So when I examine the pattern, I see my notes from earlier studies and try to figure out if I’m up to the challenge.

What captivates me most about this is the fabulous yarn.  It is a mix of Kid Silk and Rowan DK (this is not the Kid Silk Haze for shawl knitting that is available now—it is a DK weight, probably discontinued).  The Kid Silk colors are on the left, and the DK is black and a deep red. 

I’d like to knit one of my many Rowan kits this year in an effort to destash, but the amount of work on this one will be more than I’m willing to spend in the next few months.  Plus I have Jean Frost’s Devonshire jacket about half done and I would like to get Elsebeth Lavold’s Thora on the needles.  Then I know Ed will be asking about Ed-2 (the not-yet-designed sweater in three natural colors of WEBS’ Stockbridge). 

Aleta restarted the February Is for Finishing KAL, which got me to finish two ancient UFOs last year.  This year I’d like to do the Hedera socks—which although not a UFO is an outstanding obligation.  And I’d like to finish Liv (fix the sleeves that are too long).  Those are modest goals—or so they seem to be now.  If I can only stay focused, I can probably manage it.