missteps...

You probably think I have the lace denim jacket well underway, maybe close to done…I did spend a couple of days reviewing my design and found a few flaws. I did not plan a hem with that fabulous lace, I was so excited that it worked, I just jumped right into the swatch! I wanted a ‘nothing’ hem, but all those transfers just naturally create a scallop and, trying to reduce that, I added a chain across the bottom on my swatch but it did not do quite what I anticipated. Maybe a reduction in the number of stitches might work? I also had this crazy idea of making a horizontal buttonhole in a tubular band for the fronts because all denim jackets seem to have horizontal buttonholes. I did finally manage one but it certainly did not look as spectacular as my mind had imagined and it was extremely difficult, not worth the effort! I'm not even going to bother telling you how...
I pulled out half of my knitted wardrobe, trying things on to make sure I had the correct length in mind and all that and discovered that I have eight denim-y cardi/hoodies (including Denim Bling, KW#47) that still look pretty good and I began to re-evaluate life in general. I looked at my to-do list. I have had a cardigan for Rhiana at the top since June (not done yet); my niece Karen is having a baby (gender unknown) in November, blanket required; Christmas is coming, socks etc. required; and I’m going out to Vancouver next week to spend Thanksgiving (our Canadian version) with baby sister Marnie - will be gone two weeks! I realized that a new denim cardigan for me would simply be gratuitous knitting! I need to get my priorities in line! I'm back to working on Janet's Church Pullover, planning Rhiana's cardi (may add a dress to that seeing as how it could be her Christmas outfit) and then the rest... 

swatched and ready...

You know me, when I get an idea in my head, it becomes a compulsion – I have to follow through. I figured I may as well tell you all about it.
After my sketch, it became clear to me that I wanted a lace pattern with verticals – you know how I’m always trying to look taller ;-)! I looked through all my stitch pattern books and came up with a couple that I liked, but ruled them out as being too finicky. I am going to do a fashion lace  design which is a little trickier than the plain lace that I most often use with the Silver Reed. Plain lace is as easy to knit as stockinette because the Silver lace carriage transfers and knits at the same time but if you want movement in the lace stitches, similar to full-fashioned decreases, then you need to change the cam setting to P, take the yarn out, transfer according to the pattern (a specific number of rows), rethread, set the cam to Lace (or back to stockinette which I prefer as a safety net – if you happen to be on the wrong row, it will at least knit all the stitches instead of dropping them or messing up what you already have transferred) and knit two rows. Because of this, I like choose a fashion lace pattern that has the same number of transfer rows throughout so that you can develop a rhythm to the knitting of yarn out, transfer 8 rows, yarn in, reset cam, knit 2 rows, yarn out, transfer 8 rows…
I swatched two that looked promising. Keeping in mind I don’t want to be wasting my good yarn and knowing that this 4 ply acrylic, Tamm Trenzi (I am using orange because I am not likely to ever want to knit anything real with this) usually lace knits at T5 without any issue, that’s what I began with. Looking at the bottom of my swatch, I want to say I did this on purpose so you could see what my stitch pattern looked like, but, truth is, I was so excited, I just began knitting lace, without transferring  first – so now you know if this is what your lace knitting looks like, you did something wrong. Realizing I was in error, I knit 2 plain rows and then began the real thing – I did 14 rows in the orange which means, 8 transfers, knit 2 rows, 14X (I did tell you, this is not real quick) and I could see everything was working well, time to throw in some similar cotton! The blue is Bonita, which I have used extensively with my lace carriage so I do know it works but I don’t remember using it for fashion lace. It is working beautifully also at one full number higher (T6 – see Tumbleweed, Knitwords #53). My heart is pounding! I’m so excited. I put in the other pattern (there are 10 transfer rows between each 2 rows of actual knitting) and again in the orange acrylic, things are going smoothly. I switch to the Bonita and all is well. With this one, there is a space in the patterning of 6 plain stitches and I think, that’s kind of boring, how about we try a 2X2 cable in there? It works too, but I decide that would just be asking for trouble or showing off. I knit enough so I can get a good look at the right side and opt for the first one. I’m ready to commit! I love the verticals of lace and the way the transfers are making the biased lines up toward the two-centre-stitch lines. I had been contemplating doing the sleeves in lace also, but I think I’m going to stick with my original sketch for now. I’ll keep you posted!
P.S. I found another small part cone!!! I’m making the real swatch!

regifting...

It’s a good thing! Especially when you were the original giftor and are now the giftee! Here’s the back story…Several years ago, when Yeoman Yarns denim cotton 4 ply was plentiful and life was good, I sent my friend Cindy two part cones (same dyelot, 550g total) of said yarn with the thought that she would have plenty to make ‘Denim Chick’ From Knitwords No 34. It was my design/pattern for what I thought at the time was like a denim jacket/cardigan in a tuck rib stitch. When we were in Monroe in July, while I was modelling my 'Dreamcoat'  [ http://knitwords.blogspot.ca/2010/09/september-update.html ],


Denim Chick #34

I said that yarn was probably my all-time favourite and I really missed it as it had been discontinued shortly after, around 2005. I had used it in 8 or 9 garments in Knitwords but was surprised after checking the index that I hadn't used it for lace - mostly stockinette, tuck and tuck rib - was I not so in love with lace then or did I love tuck rib too much? Who knows? Obviously I still had a bit of a stash because I made the 'Dreamcoat' in 2010 but that was pretty much the end of my stash. Cindy, being the good friend that she is felt bad that she had not knit up my fave and gave it back to me, after checking that I would not be offended! OMG!
All the way home from St Cloud, I've been running design ideas through my head. When I got back, I found, to my amazement, another small cone, (same dyelot!!!) so I have about 700g.

Here’s my preliminary sketch of my current ideas – now, I need to swatch up some lace and see which one suits my fancy!  Of course I won’t be wasting my good denim yarn in the swatching – I’ll use something else to play around with and only revert to the good stuff when I’ve finalized my lace pattern. And who knows what other textures may show up - notice, I said preliminary...
I’ve have plenty of time to mull things over as I finish up Janet’s Church Pullover!

use it or lose it....

Gosh, I feel like I’ve been sweating over that freakin’ pattern for the Church Cardi for the whole darn month! What’s the big deal? Between visitors, our crappy summer and family stuff, it’s been hard to concentrate and when I look back, it’s been a while since I’ve actually written a pattern from scratch. It was like I forgot what to do. I almost gave up but that’s not my nature and I did promise, so I knew I had to deliver. I was having trouble deciding on the sizing and then my numbers weren’t adding up. The break-through? Yesterday, it dawned on me! Just draw the darn thing out and you’ll be able to see what the problem is – oh man, then it was a cake walk! I used the full width KR half scale paper that is charted in half scale centimetres for the Silver Reed charting device and had green, black, blue and red ink lines for each of the four sizes and I feel so good and virtuous – this pattern will be perfect!
I even knit a sleeve to check the final lace pattern details and I know you’ll be happy with all the extras! Truth, of course, I didn’t just happen to have enough of the same yarn just laying around and, I didn’t want another one for me, but, since sister Janet booked our next hiking holiday to Ireland for next June, you know it…Janet is getting a Church Pullover for Christmas! ;-) I’d hate to waste a good sleeve! I’ve had this huge cone of cashmere/wool in ivory – yeah, I know it’s not her favourite colour but if she really doesn’t like it, I’ll dye it for her and likely, she’ll love it just because it fits! You may remember, she’s a little vertically challenged and before I started knitting for her, she’d never had a sweater that had the right sleeve length!
I know you might not have the exact yarn either so here’s my stashbusters tip. My original yarn is Cascade Ultra Pima, a 100% mercerised cotton with a beautiful drape and sheen that I used at T3.5 stockinette for a gauge of 23 sts and 30 rows to 10 cm. This is an unknown cone that I’ve had for eons and who knows what yardage or whatever it is, but it looks like about the same thickness. I knit 3 swatches, starting with T4 (because I could go up or down from there) and it seemed a little tight to knit and I didn’t want to have to sweat that much, so I made one at T4.5. After I washed and dried those I saw I still had a little leeway – T5 proved to be the magic number – my gauge is exact, it was smooth to knit and the finished, washed swatch is lovely, with a nice drape, so that’s what Janet is getting! I know I’ll be regretting giving up this lovely yarn but there should be an expiry date on some of this stuff anyway!
The Church Cardi/Pullover pattern is ready! I’ll post it here for sale, next week when I get back from St Cloud!