It's Been Awhile!

It's been awhile since I last posted.  Think I fell asleep on the job here.  Actually, I had good intentions practically everyday, just that real life thing kept interrupting.  So anyway, back to business!

This one is more of a "good" effort in my designing trials & tribulations.  Made with a white cotton with pastel colored "slubs" throughout.  Again, it is in the round to the arm & neck openings, worked back & forth to the top. 

I chose a lovely lacy stitch for this.  I tried to highlight the openness by putting a dark towel inside so you can see the stitches.  I believe this stitch is called Lace Vines.  Very pretty & feminine, I think. 

Anyway, the sweater was working out wonderfully, I finished & tried it on.  Hmmmm...because of the openness of the lacy stitch, the neckline was a lot wider than I anticipated.  So, to solve that without having to frog, I ran an elastic thread through the neck ribbing.  Perfect! 

Other than the neckline issue, this sweater was a success.  I still wear it, I love it, it gets lots of compliments, especially when folks find out I made it myself!  While the stitch appears very open in the pictures, it is really not too revealing while being worn.  Due to the elastic nature of the stitch, it acts like a ribbing so the eyelets don't expose too much.  Which is a good thing! 

 

Another Sorta Sorta

This is another sorta sorta sweater.  I found this lovely black yarn with purple & green running through it.  It was soft & cuddly, so I thought it would make a great winter sweater.  Another of my own design, I decided on a basic sweater made in Stockinette stitch. 

After starting the ribbing, I decided it might be too plain, so I added some cables to the ribbing.  When I reached the raglan decreases for the sleeves, I added some cables there too, & on the collar ribbing. 

It really worked out nicely, & I really liked the effect. It fit great, was soft & warm & worked great dressed up or down.  I still wear this sweater in the wintertime.  So what's the problem?

It is so dark, you really can't see the lovely cables.  Especially the ones on the raglan decreases.  They look so cool, & my calculations were right on.  You just can't see them. So much for my fancy "dramatic element".

The pictures here don't do the color justice.  Because the sweater is so dark, I used the flash.  It makes it look grey & faded.  I took a close up of the lovely cables in natural light.  Can you see them?  Yeah, I can hardly see them either.  Sigh.

 

In The Meantime

While I'm deciding which flop to show next, here is an update on our backyard birds! 

There was some action in the birdhouse, but it stopped.  Not sure why, so we don't have any tennants in there right now.  But it did inspire me to put out more yarn scraps. I'm glad the neighbors didn't see me standing in the window, cheering the birds on as they started picking up the pieces. 

One little guy had so many pieces sticking out of his beak, I don't know how they all fit.  And he kept trying to go back for more!  It was really making me laugh at how thrilled they were to find it. 

But so far I haven't had any luck finding a nest made with bright blue yarn.  I may hack up a few more scraps today, maybe I can snap a picture of a bird with his beak full!  Simple pleasures for the simple minded! ;)

A Sorta Sorta

Sorta good, sorta bad, that is!  This one is another of my own designs, again made some time ago.  It was a lovely ribbon/tape-type yarn, the first time I worked with anything like it.  I saw it in a Patternworks catalog, along with a photo of a sleeveless sweater I really liked, so I ordered the quantity they specified for their version. 

First mistake! I ran out of yarn which I didn't understand.  My design & theirs were very similar, so I think they had a typo in the quantity needed.  Fortunately, I was able to get another ball of the same dyelot.  Whew!

I'm mad at myself for that mistake, because I have a yarn calculator that I always use, this was the first time I didn't use it.  I never made that mistake again!

So anyway, I chose a stitch pattern that would highlight the yarn.  In the close up you can see the v-stitches, it really shows that the yarn is a flat ribbon/tape thing.  I also carefully calculated the amount of stitches needed for proper fit.  It was great!

Until I got to the shoulders.  I had knit the body in the round, separated for the armholes & neckline, & knit to the shoulders.  I chose to knit them together (I hate to sew!), & the first side went together very well.  The lines of the stitch pattern didn't match up on the second shoulder.  Argh!  I didn't think of that when I was designing it! 

I tried to figure a way around it, make the neckline shorter or fudge it somehow, but in the end, I just knit them together.  I'm disappointed in the way it is, but its not really noticable while being worn.  Mistake #2.

I do like the way the collar turned out.  It is open & comfy, & I think rather feminine.  I also LOVE the buttons I used.  The pictures don't do them justice, they are a lovely marbled mother of pearl.  I trimmed the sleeves in a reverse single crochet, which turned out nicely, I thought. 

All in all, it was a great fit, I loved the feel of the material & all.  However, this is a very heavy yarn & while it is meant to be a summer sweater, it is heavy & warm to wear, even though it is cotton.  Mistake #3, Live & learn.  I still wear this sweater occasionally, on cooler spring days!

From Under The Rock

I'm Baa-ack!  Almost to normal, too!  Ugh, the doctor said it could have been the start of pnuemonia.  No wonder I felt like I was run over by a big truck! 

Anyway, let's continue with Spunknit's flops.  In the pictures above is a vest I made some time ago.  I found this fabulous white & black marled yarn, I just had to have it.  It was so soft & I loved the play of the black woven throughout.  It was a number of years before I decided what to do with it, though! :)

I decided on a vest, which is not something I wear very often, but I figured it would be a good accessory piece for the wardrobe.  It would be my own design, how hard could it be to make a vest?  I played with stitch patterns, cause I didn't want plain stockinette.  I settled on a basket weave stitch, which I absolutely loved (still do!).

I made the body in one piece to the armholes, & kept working to the top of the shoulders.  I knitted the shoulder seam together, which worked well on this piece.  Then I trimed the whole thing in a black yarn attached I cord.  However, now I think the black is just too dark.  Flop #1.

As you can see, the vest is a basic rectangular shape.  Ack, bad move on the old bod!  It made me look frumpy & shapeless.  It obviously needed some body shaping.  Rather than frog & re-knit, I've thought about adding a back belt/strap/tie-thing that I have on a store-bought vest.  I thought it might pull in the sides a bit & give it some shape.  I just haven't done it yet. 

Why not?  Because the shoulders also needed shaping.  They are finished off straight across the top, which made me look like a linebacker for the Cleveland Browns.  Hmm...not quite what I was going for. 

All in all, I just don't have the heart to frog it, I just figure it is a lesson learned in my "designing" phase.  I guess I keep it as a reminder...don't do THAT again!!

Just Shoot Me

To be continued when I return to the land of the living.  Currently, I am way sick, so see you when I feel better...ugh! 

Two Good Ones

Shown in the pictures are two successful sweaters.  The pink one is older.  It was made from a published pattern, in a heathery pink cotton yarn.  It is a great fit, still looks terrific after 12 years or so, & it is fun to wear with jeans or dressy clothes.  The first picture shows the actual color, the other two pics make it look very orange! 

The pattern called for the sleeves to have the same lacy blocks knitted on them as well, but I chose to work them plain.  The bottom is reverse stockingnette stitch, the top & sleeves are regular stockingnette.  A fun, easy lacy stitch adds a lot of interest.  The only thing I don't like about this sweater is the boat neckline.  It sort of chokes me when I wear it, but that is the nature of that type neckline.  I've worn this one very often on more casual days.  One of my favs! 

The green sweater was probably the first I made using the EZ method.  It is knit in the round from the bottom to the top, using the percentage method.  I threw in the black diamonds to add interest, otherwise it would have been really boring!  It has a raglan type sleeve, which is shown in the closeup.  I like the way the decreases look "feathered". 

It was a great fit, longer to cover the backside (it was the style back then!), in a very soft yarn.  A very cozy sweater, sadly it doesn't fit anymore...sigh. 

I was very careful to follow the percentages & I felt it was a success for a first try.  I felt encouraged to do more, then the trouble began.  Stay tuned to see some fabulous flops in the next few days!