WIP Designs | Page 3

WIP Wednesday: Dream Sweater

I finally got a chance to get started on my new sweater design! (See this post for details.)

I am completely in love with this project. The Tosh TML is amazing to knit and to look at, and the pattern has just the right amount of juggling to keep me interested (the twisted rib on the back, raglan increases, and neck increases).

We’ll see if I still love it later….

Socks! Well, sort of.

I finished a huge and tedious design project in laceweight a few days ago (yippee!) and was itching to get my hands on some worsted-weight yarn.

This lovely has been marinating in the stash for a while:

Malabrigo Rios in Indecita

And since my new place is rather drafty on the feet (even in the 100 degree + weather we’ve been having), I decided to whip myself up a pair of slippers!

I’ve only ever knit two pairs of actual socks (meaning, ones that can go in shoes, made with actual sock-weight yarn). Those were enough to show me that while I like the idea of hand-knitted socks, the amount of time they take and the rapidity with which I wear through them don’t work for me.

I really enjoy top-down sock construction, though. So when I found this pattern (Arwen Slipper Socks, Rav link) on Ravelry, I decided to (uncharacteristically) forgo designing my own chunky socks and just settle down for some relaxing direction-following.

It’s great so far:

Look at the yummy heel flap–somehow they always look cooler to me in a chunkier yarn:

The pattern says the socks require about 200 yards and I’ve got 210… but I’ve also got size 9.5 feet! Here’s hoping I don’t run out….

WIP Wednesday: Blue Betty

I’ve got a colorwork design in beautiful Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage to show you today! As of this afternoon, I have the body and both sleeves finished:

I was originally planning to do a smaller version of the body motif for the cuffs, but it’s a 22 stitch repeat and would have made the sleeves too hard to size up or down, so I went with a simple 5 stitch repeat that (hopefully) does a good job of echoing the main pattern instead:

Usually I have trouble coming up with clever names for my designs, but this time I think I have a good one. The colorway is called Betty Draper’s Blues, so I’m calling the sweater Blue Betty. Perfect, isn’t it? :-)

Now, on to the yoke!

Happy Easter!

I’m having a very good day :-)

Luck ‘o the Irish

I bought some new yarn for a design yesterday.

That’s Madelinetosh Prairie in Thyme–my first purchase of Tosh laceweight. I am, of course, in love.

I’m also cranking away on my WIP sweater design:

Green just happens to be my favorite color. I’m one very happy (half) Irish girl :-)

WIP Wednesday

I’m working on a new sweater design! Top-down raglan with fun cable details:

The yarn is Araucania Toconao (totally had to look up that spelling, yeesh), which I purchased at Little Knits for an astonishing 78% off. I couldn’t NOT buy it. And guess what? They still have some: http://www.littleknits.com/products.php?cat=1123. You’re welcome. :-)

The yarn reminds me most of Madelinetosh Vintage (my fave). It’s light and very elastic, so cables show up fantastically well. I’m really having a blast knitting this sweater. More to come about it later!

Cables always inspire me to take artsy pictures….

TILT: Blocking

Thing I Love Today: the magic of blocking!

The baby blanket is done. I’ll have better pictures by Friday, but I thought a walk through my blocking process might be interesting.

I use these foam mats I bought at the hardware store to block everything. They were cheap and they do the job. The only problem is that they have some kind of magnetic attraction for one of my cats, so after two years they all look pretty much like this:

All four mats, with guilty cat for scale

Here’s the blanket as it came off the needles: crumpled and narrow. This pattern (my own) includes quite a bit of 1×1 ribbing, so this was to be expected.

Size before blocking: 22" by 32"

Then I measured carefully and spent waaay too much time using every pin I own to stretch it to size.

Kitty inspecting my work. She doesn't look impressed, does she?

I got a nifty new steam iron a few weeks ago. It does vertical steaming as well as horizontal, which is awesome for quick sweater touchups before photoshoots.

Steaming/spraying in progress:

And here’s the finished blanket drying. See how well the pattern opened up?

Non-iPhone pics coming soon!

Work-in-progress: Baby Blanket

Sigh… so I was hoping to have this as an FO for today, but that definitely isn’t happening, so I thought I’d do a post about its progress.

This is a blanket for my best friend, due to have her first baby (a girl!) in May. (Kari, I don’t think you read this blog–but on the off chance you do, act surprised when I give it to you, okay?)

The yarn is Knit Picks Simply Cotton in Duchess Heather. I’ve been on a Knit Picks kick recently–can you tell? The mama-to-be (who doesn’t know anything about the blanket) informed me a few days ago that she’s painting the baby’s room lavender, so I think it’ll go nicely. She also registered for mostly organic clothes and blankets, so the fact that this yarn is 100% organic cotton is a bonus.

The design is my own, a heavily-modified version of a stitch pattern from one of my design books. It’s an easy-to-memorize 16 row repeat, interesting enough to keep my attention but not enough to be frustrating. I’m about 75% done, and only now starting to get sick of the pattern–that’s pretty good for me. Blankets of any size usually drive me up the wall. They’re basically just giant swatches, right? Makes me long for some shaping.

Stay tuned for the pattern, coming soon to a Ravelry store near you….

Aiiieeeee…

I’m starting a new category: things I definitely don’t like ever (TIDDLE for short, cause somehow that helps).

I was happily knitting away on the back piece of my current sweater design. I had knit about 10 inches when I noticed something awful.

Bottom of front piece. See where the pattern begins?

Bottom of back piece on which I'd already knit 10 FRICKING INCHES

Do you see it? I started the cable pattern two rows earlier on the back piece.

Now, this is a rolled edge, so ordinarily I’d just try to fudge it when sewing up, confident that it’d be hidden in the roll anyway. But the big problem is that I counted from the edge when doing the waist decreases.

This means the (paired) decreases on the front and back pieces, the ones I purposely intended to be visible at the sides of the sweater, aren’t going to line up. And the cable motif won’t line up either. The mistake would definitely be noticeable.

I wanted to cry. But instead I ripped out all 10 inches and came here to whine about it. And oddly, I feel a little better. So I’m off to start the back over again. Thanks for “listening”. :-)