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Tag: knitting

  • Cheesylove is Finished!

    Cheesylove

    At long last, Cheesylove is finished! This is the Knitty pattern I started well over a year ago. At one point, I completely frogged it back to the beginning and started over (which meant re-casting on A THOUSAND stitches for the ruffle. Do you know how long it takes to do ANYTHING a thousand times? I do.). I was toying with the idea of putting short sleeves on it but in the end I decided I liked it better as a vest

    For the body of the vest, I used Heirloom EasyCare 8-ply. I can’t even remember why; it was that long ago. But it gave me the right gauge and it’s not too scratchy. The hearts are done in Heirloom Aristocrat 12-ply mohair/wool, which makes them stand out nicely. As usual, the Knitty pattern had several problems wrong with it. The biggest was that it told you to mark the side seams and then do your shaping on either side of it, without any indication which increases/decreases to use nor where to place them to ensure the ribbing didn’t get buggered. (This is part of the reason I frogged it back. My initial seamlines looked crap and it bothered me.) In the end, instead of merely marking the seam, I actually used two markers to isolate the actual side rib. Then I made paired increases/decreases in the ribs on either side of it so that they grew or shrank organically while the center rib remained whole. (Yeah, yeah, I know. It was a lot of thinking and planning for what basically amounts to the armpit of a garment. But I’m really happy with how I did it, and quite frankly I get a little thrill out of knowing that I did it the best way possible.) For the armbands, I simply picked up around the holes with the smaller sized needle and knitted 5 rows of K1P1 rib before casting off. (That way it matches the neckband.) It’s not the most stylish garment in the world, but I think I executed the design better than any other pattern I’ve tried before.

  • Knitting Guild

    Oh, and guess what else I did on the weekend? I went to my first ever Knitter’s Guild meeting. Yes, I’m joining an honest-to-goodness guild, like I’m some medieval blacksmith or something. The Inner City group seems pretty cool and I didn’t get too much shit for being a yarn store sell-out…

  • Knitting Geometry

    Knit a representation of two-dimensional space. That’s awesome! I love knitting geometry. (Link via Boring Boring.)

  • Yarn Ho.

    I just discovered the Knitty Shop. Man, I think I really, really need a “Yarn Ho” sweatshirt.

  • Oh. My. God.

    I just got back from giving a knitting lesson to an Academy Award winner! NO SHIT. I am so absolutely flabbergasted right now. Here’s what happened. A few weeks ago Albert mentioned that he’d had a request for a private knitting class, except that the woman wanted to do them in her office (not the shop as usual). He thought that her interests sounded like my type of stuff, so I got the job. He drove me over tonight after work. I didn’t even know the client’s name; I only got the name of her personal assistant. As we pulled up to the address, Albert blurted out, “Holy crap. It’s a friggin’ mansion!” My curiosity was totally piqued. I was ushered in and asked to wait in a lobby. Here’s my inner monologue…

    Hmm. There’s a giant 1920’s Moulin Rouge poster on the wall behind me. And wow, those Indian saris and elephants over there are pretty cool… And hmm, the assistant just mentioned that ‘Catherine’ would be ready for me shortly… Oh my god, could this be Catherine Martin?! There’s no way. There’s no way I’m going to be giving knitting lessons to someone who’s won both Academy and Tony Awards for her costume design. I’m insane. It’s not her.

    So then I met her and we had our lesson and she was really lovely, but the whole time I was still a little unsure. I asked her at one point, “This is a great place. What do you guys do here?” And she’s like, “We’re a film production company, and we live upstairs.” I was like, “Mmm-hmmm(!)” And finally the confirmation: one of the many people buzzing around stuck their head in to discuss something with her, and I finally heard the magic word “Baz.” Afterwards I said, “Okay, that gave it away! I thought I recognized you!” And she was really, really nice about it. How cool is that? I was like, “Wow, I really admire your costume work. I had no idea you were into knitting!” And she’s actually really good at it; we’ve got some interesting and challenging projects to work on. I’m excited!

    Oh, and as I was leaving, the assistant was like, “I know it’s weird, but we need you to sign this confidentiality agreement,” which I was totally expecting. It was all about not mentioning any specific projects or work that I might see while I’m there. And I’m like, “That’s cool; no problem. But one question: Can I tell my friends I’m giving her lessons? Because they’re gonna go nuts!” And she laughed and said it was okay. So that’s all I’m going to say about it, because CM (that’s what her mates call her) is really awesome and I totally respect her privacy and I’m so excited to get to work with her!

    And now I’m going to go eat some dinner and spaz out. Thank you.

  • It’s all about me and the make-up guy.

    Better Homes & Gardens ScreengrabAs you might’ve seen in the comments of the previous post, the “pub knitting” filming I went to last month has finally been televised. I’m not in it very much, but there’s a nice shot of me helping the make-up guy fix his fake-knitting and you can definitely see the “I Heart Knitting” shirt. But yeah, whatever. It’s pretty lame. I can’t believe they used the “First Rule of Knit Club” joke for the commercial bumper. We also filmed a LOT more than they ended up using (which is weird considering they clearly use at least one shot twice). They don’t mention any details about the knitting group and never even name the pub. It was a meaningless bit of filler to promote some stupid novelty blanket pattern in their latest issue. Bah, humbug.

  • Works in Progress

    As you can see, I’ve currently got three projects on the needles. The first is a sample pair of socks for the shop using some new self-patterning wool we got. It’s “Jigsaw” and it’s from Heirloom (though it’s not made in Bendigo; it’s an Italian import). We’ve got eight colors and this is the one that caught my attention first. I’m following the supplied pattern and I’m really happy with how it’s turning out. There’s no way that calf would fit on my chubby leg, but it still looks cool, right? I’m using 2.25mm double-pointed needles. Normally I’d do them on two circulars but Albert wanted me to try out the new rosewood DPNs. I’m ambivalent about them so far. I’ve already snapped one and I think they might be too fragile (at least in the very small diameters) for my admittedly tight tension.

    Jigsaw Sock

    The second is the Cheesylove sweater from Knitty that I started almost exactly a year ago. (I recently frogged it back and started over.) I was really unhappy with the pattern (which is why I put it aside in the first place). The big problem was the decreases and increases along the side seams. The pattern just says to do them on either side of the marker, which seriously messes up the nice K2P1 ribbing. So I frogged the whole damn thing back and started from scratch. I even did the ruffle all in one go this time, which meant I had to cast on 1,008 stitches. Yes, FOUR DIGITS WORTH. It was insane. Then the Snook had a brainstorming session with me to work out the best way to do the shaping. I decided instead of a single marker on each side, I’d mark the actual rib that was the side seam. Then I’d mirror my increases/decreases in the ribs on either side so they’d grow or diminish organically. I know, I know; nobody will ever notice (especially since it’s in black 8-ply, and under my arm to boot), but dammit, I will know! So I’m doing it right. I’m actually through with the shaping now and I’m up to the actual fairisle hearts design around the chest. The body of the sweater is done in Heirloom EasyCare 8-ply, while the hearts are worked in Heirloom Aristocrat 12-ply mohair. (The mohair’s a little thicker, but I kinda like the effect. Makes it stand out more.) I haven’t decided yet what to do about the sleeves. I’d almost like to make it short-sleeved but that isn’t one of the pattern options. I’d have to wing it myself.

    Cheesylove

    And the third is a cabled throw of my own invention. I lifted the cables themselves from a sweater pattern and laid them out in a new arrangement for this blanket. I’m knitting it out of some lovely (discontinued) Cleckheaton Alpaca/Wool 50/50 blend 8-ply. It’s going to look terrific on the back of our shagadelic brown couch, don’t you think?

    Cable Throw

  • Freedom Poncho Über Alles

    Man, Martha’s poncho is everywhere! Thank God she’s not popular in Australia, though. I have enough poncho requests as it is. (Links courtesy of Manda.)

  • Martha’s Poncho

    Oh, good grief. Knit Martha’s poncho. I am disgusted to admit we’re planning a poncho window display for the shop. (Link courtesy of Amy.)

  • Eggbert the Easter Chick

    Eggbert the Easter Chick

    Check out my new favorite holiday creation! A nice lady came in the shop the other day looking for wool to duplicate a little knitted chick a friend had given her. I squealed like a girl, especially once I turned the chick over. How cute is that? The lady told me I could copy her handwritten pattern if I wanted. That night I whipped up a prototype and set to altering the pattern (so as not to infringe copyright; I don’t know where the customer’s friend got the pattern in the first place). My version has a slightly rounder head and short rows in the tail to make it flip up. The pattern is currently available for free in the shop, but I’ll reproduce it here for the rest of the world. They’re really quick to make; I’ve done four already. Hooray for stash-busting! Happy knitting…You need:

    • scraps of 8-ply (worsted weight) yarn
    • 3.75mm needles
    • cotton ball or other stuffing for head
    • bodkin or wool needle for sewing up
    • cardboard for beak
    • egg, chocolate or real!

    Cast on 32 stitches.

    Row 1: K1, increase 1, K to end.
    Repeat first row until you have 44 stitches on the needle.
    Knit four rows plain.

    Short row tail:
    Row 1: K4, slip next stitch as if to purl, yfwd, move slipped stitch back to left needle. Turn.
    Row 2: K4 to end.
    Row 3: K3, slip next stitch as if to purl, yfwd, move slipped stitch back to left needle. Turn.
    Row 4: K3 to end.
    Row 5: Cast off 15 stitches, K to end.

    Repeat previous five rows for the other side. You should end with fourteen stitches left in the center of your knitting.

    Head:
    Knit three rows plain.
    Row 4: K1, K2tog, K to last three stitches, K2tog, K1.
    Row 5-6: Same as Row 4.
    Knit two rows plain.

    You should now have eight stitches remaining on your needle. Cut the working wool leaving a footlong tail. Thread the tail onto your sewing needle and run it through the remaining stitches, cinching them tight. Then use the tail to sew up the head, back, and underside of the duck (leaving a hole to insert your egg!). Stuff the head and use some scrap wool to cinch the neck. I used contrasting wool to make knots for the eyes, and the beak is a sewn on piece of cardboard. You can get pretty creative embellishing these things! Have fun…