Finished Object: Spring Garden Tee

Pattern: Spring Garden Tee by Alana Dakos
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)
Yarn: Anzula Cricket

Modifications:

• I used a worsted weight instead of a DK weight
• Lengthened straight portion of waist by 1"
• Did a 10% decrease before the garter stitch trim to prevent flaring
• Knit garter stitch trim flat

This was such a fun and easy knit! I was really in the mood to just work from a pattern, not think about maths, and turn off my brain. This pattern really did the trick. The little lacy portion in the sleeves was a fun little distraction from the raglan increases, and after the body (which did seem to go on a little bit long towards the end) I was pleased that I didn't have to go back and knit more on the sleeves.

This is the first short sleeved top I've ever made, so that was kind of new and fun. It also means I have a lot of yarn left over, because I almost always buy a sweater's quantity. I'm thinking of making the Summer Flies shawl with the rest.

The only thing I don't really like about this top is the way the back neck droops. I thought my blocking would help it out, but it didn't do much. Here's an unflattering picture to show what I mean.

But, slight droop aside, it is a very beautiful knit and I know I will be wearing it a LOT. The Anzula Cricket was such a pleasure to knit with and it feels wonderful on my bare skin. (I'm one of those people who thinks wool is itchy. I love to knit with it, but if I wear it I usually put on a long sleeve shirt underneath.) I adore the color ("Madam" was the name of the colorway) and all in all I'm very happy with how fast this knit up.

Happy happy!
:)

Spring Garden Tee

So it's working out!
A little bit of knitting here and there, at work and at home and I finally have some progress to share with you all!

Doesn't it look almost done?

It's not, but when I tried it on I really didn't want to take it off. Truly, my photos don't do it justice. But as much as I love it and wish it were done, it's not.

Quite a bit more to go, as you can see.

But isn't it dang cute!?

I'm working with 2 skeins, thanks to the different dyelots. And I'm working my old swatch into it, which is why my yarn is kinky. Yes, I realize I could have de-kinked it by washing it but I honestly don't care. It is a little bit uneven there, but I think after it's been washed a few times it will work itself out. And like I said, I don't really care. I just can't wait until all the ends are weaved in and it's time to wear it outside in the sun!
Project page here.

Decided to join up with Tamis again today <3

Difficulties...

Apologies for the lack of pictures: you'll find out why in a moment.

So yesterday morning I cast on for the medium size for the Spring Garden Tee, worked all the neckline shaping, joined the piece into the round and knit all of the raglan increases.

And then.
I realized I had joined into the round without checking if there was a twist.

This was the last straw in a string of difficulties involving: My printer refusing to agree that my computer was on, My mom's computer refusing to allow "Dangerous pop-ups" like the pattern I was trying to download from an email I had emailed to myself (I ended up knitting straight off my computer screen), TWO DIFFERENT DYELOTS (I failed to mention that yesterday, but that's why the swatch starts light and ends dark. The middle stripey bit was my attempt to combine them) and miscounting stitches between markers.

So I frogged the whole thing, threw it in my purse, went to work and ignored it entirely.

Ok that's not true. I decided to have a re-do at my first break. I started the cast on and only had enough yarn for 96 stitches (instead of 100). I was like, "PSH a few stitches I care not!" and worked them with every last scrap of tail. (Usually I leave a substantial tail to weave in) I knit half a row before I realized that it was pointless. That little tuft of yarn sticking out was always going to be on the right side and it would always bother me. So I pulled that out too.

Got home at 9:15. The little one was asleep.
I crept onto the bed and started re-working the cast on, happily looking forward to a nice big knit.
And then he POPPED right up and said, "I'm hungry."
WHAT?
It turns out he had taken an incredibly late nap and there was no knitting to be had.

So you might be like, Dang this is just a long story of crap.
BUT the point, and the reason I even mention it here is that I woke up this morning, turned on my computer and immediately heard the printer rear up.

Pattern now in hand, I'm ready for the day.

Super Swatch

If you're a regular reader you'll know that I swatched yesterday. Oh how I swatched.

I swatched and swatched and I sent a picture of said swatch to my boyfriend when I was 3/4 done with it and even HE said, "That's a big swatch."

YO's indicate needle size.

Ok so we all agree. The swatch is huge. It could clothe a small baby, because I knit it in the round. Actually, due to the varying gauges it made an interesting hat that tapered toward the top before I washed it and it grew.

I always have to drop down a needle size or two, always. But I honestly thought that Alana Dakos and I must have some intangible kinship- that my listening to her podcast since it began has somehow made me in tune with her and that my gauge was going to be spot on with the suggested size six's. Oh how wrong I was.

I was aiming for a gauge of 24 stitches and 32 rows per four inches with dk weight yarn.
Pre-blocked measurements of my swatch were:
(measured over 4")
US 6
21 st & 29 rows

US 5
21 st & 30 rows

US 4
22.5 st & 32 rows

US 3
23 st & 30 rows

And I WOULD HAVE KEPT GOING. If my interchangeable needle set had smaller sizes I might still be swatching right now, even though it was obvious I wasn't going to get gauge unless I knit so tight the fabric would stand up on its own. So then I washed the behemoth, because I'm a good knitter like that- and I must note that the Anzula Cricket did bleed a little in the wash- and set it out to dry overnight.

So this morning I re-measured.
(measured over 4")
US 6
19 st & 24 rows

US 5
21.5 st &24 rows

US 4
22 st &26 rows

US 3
22 st &27 rows

I measured this huge swatch to within an inch of its life.

The length is 24."
(I feel this is an appropriate mention to add that this swatch is in the round.)

 I have no idea why going down a needle size sometimes give me no discernible difference in stitch gauge. (This isn't the first time I've made an epic swatch like this)

So then at breakfast (I did do a search on Ravelry for 22st/4 inch gauge but something inside me is NOT GIVING UP on the Spring Garden Tee) I got out a pen and paper to do some simple arithmetic. I thought, maybe I could get away with doing the smallest size and my loose gauge would bring it up to my size.

Original pattern is 6 stitches per inch, my tightest gauge was 5.5 stitches per inch. If I did the smallest size that would give me a 30" sweater (too much negative ease) if I did the next size up it would give me a 34.9" sweater... which would probably be OK.

So that's an option.

But I'm still digging around on Ravelry. ;)

Wednesday

Hello. I'm happy to say I have the day off! My son is a little sick- just sick enough that he wants to snuggle up on the couch and do inside games like puzzles and stories.

So while we do that, I've been working up a little swatch with my Anzula Cricket from Stitches. It's such a nice yarn and I really can't wait to have a finished garment out of it.

I'm starting my swatch on size 6's (the recommended size for Alana Dakos' Spring Garden Tee) but from what I'm looking at so far I think I'll end up going down a few sizes if I want to knit that one. Which I think I do. I'm going to work a few swatches with different needle sizes and pick which drape I like the best and do a Ravelry search for that gauge, but I really like the neckline of the Spring Garden Tee and I like that it's just a touch of lace. We'll see what ends up happening. This is my favorite part of knitting an object! Swatching, imagining, and working out the math.

In other news, I finished my niece's sweater. I picked up and knit the neck last night while watching Dinosaur Hunters with the little man: I decided on a simple crew neck instead of the side split collar I was imagining. It turned out nicely, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. (I want to send it through the wash before I do that.) I think I will do what I did with my brother's sweater and gift it with strings dangling at the wrists so I can easily adjust the sleeve length. Expect an updated picture of that sweater soon!

Happy knitting!

Stitches loot & stuff

I actually made it out of Stitches West with very little yarn. Last year was my first time and so I was a little overwhelmed by all the booths: the pretty colors, the yarn fumes, and delightful accessories. So this time I had a little bit of an idea of what to expect, what to go for, and what to avoid.

I had a budget, which I carried with me in cash...I bet a lot of knitters do this, and that tons of robbers are missing out on the knowledge that these knitting events are a great way to get lots of cash. Anyway, that was sort of my "preliminary budget," and I still had wiggle room since I had my cards with me. But I had a secret strategy with me- the yarn I bought at Stitches West last year. It was in my purse- the sweater I cast on only a few months ago, a constant reminder that I don't really need more yarn.

So I only bought 4 skeins of yarn. 4 VERY pretty skeins of Anzula Cricket in colorway Madaam.

That's 1000 yards of DK I can do pretty much whatever I want with, but I'm leaning towards a plain-ish top. Like this one. But then part of me is like, DUDE you spent all that money on yarn, why not use up every last yard and get something with sleeves. Like this one. So those are the two contenders right now. I wound the yarn earlier this evening and I plan on making my decision after I swatch.

Meanwhile, I'm finishing my niece's sweater very soon:

Really it's just the weaving in and the collar. The sleeves are probably too short but I'm going to wait until she tries it on. I imagine that by then I won't be sick of knitting it anymore.

So I did get one other thing at Stitches (and still under budget! Probably because I kept reminding myself that my son might want to go to college some day.) and it is this:

Now this may look like a magazine to the untrained eye.
But it isn't. This is a free issue of Cast On that came with my membership to The Knitting Guild Association. I think I mentioned at some point that I plan on doing the Master Knitting program? Well I have long decided that for my upcoming birthday, what with me being a quarter of a century and all, I'm going to join the Basics Basics Basics course. The goal is to finish the entire Master Knitting Program by the time I'm 30, which until now was a kind of floating up in the air kind of goal. But now I shelled out and got the membership and it has to happen.

So that's it! I drove all the way to Santa Clara to go to Stitches and I came back with 1000 yards of DK weight and a magazine. But I had a good time, saw a few familiar faces, and basked in the glory of not being at work.

Oh.
And then I got home and found this:

Yes! I love having a subscription to a magazine I love!

And that's that. I'm going to go and read The Little Red Caboose now for the 8 billionth time.
Good night.

Progress...

I deal with problems in the worst possible way: I ignore them. I procrastinate. I pretend they never happened. You can imagine what kinds of disasters this causes in my personal life, but in my knitting it has never caused a problem.

I live happily among scores of abandoned knitting projects and they never judge me for abandoning them. Never do I receive a late fee for not frogging that sweater I swore I'd frog, and never do I get a second notice phone call saying, "Did you forget entirely about that sock with the funky cable?"

Knitting is great- it stays in the same state of completion until you're ready to assess the situation and deal with your problems. You may have noticed that I haven't posted in a while. The reason, dear readers, is simple: I had a problem with my current WIP. And working full time means I actually only have 1 (one) work in progress (for me, this is amazing miracle news) so it having a problem means I had absolutely nothing to tell you guys.

Except that I'm making stitch markers. But they're not done yet so Shhhh.

So the sweater.

The first sleeve is done. I finished the first sleeve, put the needle on for the second sleeve, assured myself that it was HORRIBLE and it wasn't working out at all and then put it in a basket for weeks while I lamented over the disaster I had created.

Do you know what I was freaking out over?

The sleeve.
I was utterly convinced that the body was extra fitted and the sleeve was glaringly, obviously oversized. I was also "sure" that the body was too short and I was going to have to snip a stitch and work downward at least one more cable repeat.

Well I tried it on today and um.... I made a mountain out of a mole hill. All in all, it's fine. I might go back and lengthen the sleeve another half inch or so, but other than that it's really fine.

I don't know why I freak out like that, but I'm glad knitting doesn't brew in it's basket and get worse and worse like everything else seems to.

In other news, I'm super excited because STITCHES WEST!!!
GAH!
I can't even explain my excitement. Last year I went with some friends but this year I'm hoping I can go all by myself so I can wander all I like and go home when I'm tired. I'm still not sure if I'm going Saturday or Sunday. Seems like all the Tiny Owl Knits posse is going on Saturday so I suppose I'll try to meet up with some of them. And you know what I'm most excited about? Casting on something new to work on while I'm there! The only thing I'm not happy about, as far as driving there myself? Can't knit on the way. Boo....

Anyways. Quick update. Happy knitting!