And now for something completely different

The Yoga Hoodie, she is finished! And, more importantly, she fits! First the glamorous photo shoot, then the specs and pattern review:


(Look, at me, I'm FIERCE. Or confused?):

This is the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie from WEBS, which is a $1.49 download. As I mentioned before, I got this pattern with the intention of finally taking the time to measure and try on and calculate to make sure a sweater I make actually fits me. I had to shorten the sleeves by a couple of inches, and I decreased from the 38" size to the 34" under the bust, and although it's very plain, I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'll definitely be wearing it a lot!

This is the first time that I've used one of those cheap download patterns that a lot of the online yarnstores are selling these days, and I'm here to report that you DO get what you pay for. Not to say this is a bad pattern - there were no mistakes in it - but it lacked some things that you expect in a pattern. Pictures of the front of the sweater, for instance, and schematics with measurements. The pattern called for making 2 pockets, which weren't pictured. I had to make one, just to see what it looked like. (I decided it was too small (why have a pocket your hand won't fit into?), plus I couldn't decide exactly where to put it):

Frankly, I bought the pattern because I liked the design on the back, and it was worth $1.49 to me to get that pattern. I think it was also worth $1.49 to realize the shortcomings of the cheap download. The lack of a measurement schematic was annoying since I was trying to modify the fit. Equally irksome was the inconsistancy in the way the stitch count was presented - the sweater is a raglan style, knit top-down in the round, with markers at the raglan increases which divided the sweater into 5 parts (left and right front, left and right sleeve, and back) - at points where the pattern changed, a stitch count would be given, but only for one section, so it was impossible to confirm the count without doing math. I hate math.

It wasn't a grievous burden to do the math, draw the picture, make a pocket, etc., but I have learnt that when you buy a pattern, in a book or magazine, or as a pricier download, you're not just paying for the creator's idea, but also the extra time and work that are required to provide the details that make it as easy as possible for the knitter. Of course, I've also learnt that it's not impossible, even for me, to do the math and make a pattern. (musing on future plans....)

Grrrr!

Wouldn't you know it? The spring semester starts tomorrow* and I'm going to be the head teaching fellow in a large course, so in the midst of running around doing all the start of term administrative nonsense, I worked hard and finished my hoodie so that I could feel extra good for the first day of classes. And so I went downtown today and bought a zipper. And when I got home and had pinned the whole thing in preparatory to sewing... wouldn't you know I bought the wrong kind of zipper? The kind that doesn't separate at the bottom? Sigh. I just hope it's not a sign of how the semester's going to go!

* Yes, the semester does start at the end of January, what of it? Just because everyone else in the universe is sensible and has fall term finals BEFORE Christmas doesn't mean that we have to. This is a venerable institution we're talking about here (starts with H, rhymes with "cardboard"), nearing its 400th anniversary, and if horrible, horrible schedules have worked for that long, well.....

I never promised you a rose garden

But I did promise some non-sock knitting.

First off, my long-term-early-morning-full-concentration-lace-project:

It's the Three Cornered Shawl in Clover Pattern from Victorian Lace Today, knit in Hello Yarn's BFL lace (and of course it's impossible to photograph well since it's very fine yarn, I lack a macro lens, and it's winter, but...). The pattern's fairly simple, but it's slow going because the yarn is so tiny. It's a single-ply lace (strengthened with a little nylon) and it tends to get caught on itself and the stitches hide under each other. I had to switch from my original choice of pattern because it was a true lace and had many areas where there was a single strand of yarn stretching over a great hole, which didn't seem like the best of plans for such a fine yarn! Still, the color is fabulous, and I think I'll actually wear this triangle shawl in it.

This is my semi-endless boring knitting:

As I mentioned ages ago, this is the first sweater I've made in a long time because I've been so disappointed with my efforts in the past. I've just been too lazy to modify the pattern to fit, and so (unsurprisingly), it doesn't. This one (the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie from Webs), I've been trying on at every step, and measuring constantly, and it's very promising. (More on this pattern (and yarn) later! or, What I've Learned about Cheap Downloaded Patterns.) It's also very boring - all stockinette. But I do have a solution for that:

This is the view of my knitting-while-reading setup (with a quick stockinette cap for myself, in Malabrigo (mmmm!)). It's just a cookbook holder, but I can read while I knit this way - get some fun reading done while getting through the dull bits of my knitting. It's perfect. So perfect, once I'm ensconced with it, that's the end, nothing else is getting done that day!

Sock meditations

First off, to all of you who left such kind comments on my last post: thank you! It really means a lot to me that you'd offer your thoughts and prayers to essentially a stranger - though I shouldn't be surprised since I see so much generosity in the knitting community! I'm not at all going to turn this blog into one on his illness and therapy, though with preventative chemo starting up in two weeks, I'm sure it'll sneak in here and there!

Now I'd like to talk a bit about socks and sock books. I want to talk specifically about Cat Bordhi's newest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, vol. 1. I don't tend to give book reviews, but I got very excited when I got this book - I (however boringly) knit mostly socks, and this book gave me a whole new way to look at them. Your basic sock is like a blank canvas - once you have mastered knitting in the round and understand the heel and toe, you can simply fill in any pattern on the leg and foot of the sock. It's intensely and satisfyingly simple, as has been capitalized upon in the Sensational Knitted Socks books.

In New Pathways, Bordhi lays out architectures that approach sock construction in whole new ways, mostly to do with the increases and decreases around the heel turn/gusset area - by moving these increases to new places (on the top of the foot in rows, in a spiral, in an expanding v shape), she entirely changes the types of stitch pattern that can be incorporated into a sock and expands the creativity a designer can build into her creation. It's not only an exciting development in design options, but she also includes endless numbers of good knitting tips - better ways to conceal the wraps in a short row, more hidden increases, etc - that can add to anyone's repertoire. Below is my first attempt at her "Sky Architecture," where the increases start at the center of the ankle in the front and move downwards in an inverted V shape (as you can see on the right foot). It's in Woolly Boully merino sock in Kelp Seahorse:

Here I will insert my caveat about the book: it's really not for beginners. Nor is it particularly for someone who just wants to knit some socks and not design their own. If you were to work just from her patterns (as I did here) rather than involving yourself in learning the architectures and applying them to your own work, you'd find yourself rather irritated. The patterns are intended to show you how to do it yourself, essentially, and constantly refer you to other sections of the book for heel constructions, gussets, toes, and how-to details for her special increases, etc. It'd drive a girl batty to just sit down to make a sock and have to do so much work for it (and most of the patterns are not really exploiting the full potential of the architecture either, just displaying it). Still, it's pure genius. Let a sock maker look at this heel and not be amazed - it's so entirely new:

Thanks for listening as I blather on about my sock crush! I hope it's of interest to others who knit too many socks. I _am_ working on non-sock items too, which I'll hopefully post about soon, weather conditions permitting!

It's been a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad month

Well, I knew December was going to get crazy, what with the holidays and trying to finish up my prospectus for my dissertation (which has now been accepted - yay!), but I didn't account for finding out in late November that my 34 year old husband had colon cancer and needed surgery ASAP. That threw us and our families for quite a loop, and I didn't quite feel up to blogging about it at the time. He had his surgery on the 17th of December and was home for Christmas. He is now so well recovered that he is back to walking the dog and doing all the cooking (I do believe he couldn't handle any more of my ham-handed kitchen attempts). He is still going to be getting chemotherapy in the new year, but the doctors are very positive about his recovery and future health. That, and his swift recovery from intrusive abdominal surgery has made things seem more manageable, and I plan to be back on a more regular posting schedule. I hope no one missed me too too much. ;) I missed all of you and all the bloggers I haven't been keeping up with - I have about 500 posts to read now, so I've got my work cut out for me!!

I have been busy all this time, so I'll have a few photos to share over the next few posts. Here's some merino from the Yarn Wench that I spun into a nice, even fingering weight yarn:

I believe the colorway was Squash, or maybe Squash Blossom, but I was too hasty in tidying up my labels. I've wanted to make Laila's Socks from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia ever since I saw them, in their original orange and white incarnation, and I think that this yarn may be the perfect choice for that. I'm very excited, though I'm worried about colorwork and socks - I haven't had too much luck making colorwork fit over my heel... Still, it's worth a shot!

This is Zen String superwash merino in Splendor:

Ever-kind Angelina surprised me with an extra 4 oz. of this when I ordered it, due to a shipping delay, so I have enough for a scarf - I'm thinking linen stitch - which I can't wait to start on as the yarn is sooo soft and colorful.

Finally, I feel terrible that I lied on a post a while back - the things down at the bottom that I said weren't socks? Yeah, they totally were. Here they are, in fact:

They're Bellatrix socks from Socktopia/Gigi Silva (whose site seems to be down at this post), knit from Zen String Bambewe in the Blissed colorway. I love how the yarn behaved with the funny yarnovers in the pattern.

Anyway - I'll be back soon, and hope you have a happy new years!

My Mom went to Tibet...

...and "all" I got was this crazy yarn:

It's a laceweight (2 giant hanks of it - what to make? so many possibilities!), with a halo sort of like mohair, but it sticks to itself more and is a little coarser. And it's probably yak, though there was a bit of a communications issue - apparently not a whole lot of western tourists in Tibet want to buy yarn! Silly them.

It does smell a bit like a yak (I guess), and something about it drove the cat nuts:

I set in on the floor for a minute and she came running in and started licking and biting it, like it was coated in catnip. She's a fan of yarn, but not usually like this!

Apologies for the short posts this month! It's that time of year! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday! (Both our pumpkin pie (which I made) and the cranberry tart (by the BikeJerk) were delicious, though the tart got eaten days ahead of the pie!)