Too Much Wool

been too busy knitting to blog about it...

Reason #1 I've not been blogging:

Handspun socks in blue, fiber from Franquemont Fibers, spun to a 2 ply fingering weight and knit on 2.5mm needles. Finished in time for the most recent cold snap and worn at least every other day since.

Reason #2:

Handspun again, the pattern is Gretel from Ysolda. This is the third time I've made this hat, but this one's out of handspun. Its also been getting almost constant wear around here with the weather we've been having.

Reason #3:

The "damn socks" are done. These are the socks I started in September, and found at finishing the first of the pair that there was barely enough yarn for a 4"/10cm cuff leg and a size 7/37 women's foot. But they're done. Also, the burgundy ran which sort of pinkified the white in the printed yarn. Nevertheless, c'est fini.

Reason #4:

Arms for Amelia. (And here you thought all this other knitting was just sleeve-avoidance, didn't you? Admit it.)

And .... #5:

A truly crappy picture, but I started Nancy Bush's Norwegian Wedding Gloves from the Nov/Dec issue of Piecework. It's an absolutely gorgeous pattern, and I'm knitting with fingering weight Canopy from the Fiber Company. Mmmm....

There's actually more, but I think this is enough for now. I've been spinning (almost ready to ply some sock yarn), and knitting a plain pair of rolled-cuff socks on the train. I've also been working my butt off - I haven't had 36 hours off from work in three weeks, and although that's good in some ways, its really been exhausting in others. I'm looking forward to a three day weekend coming up, the first I've had in what seems like ages.

There will be more posts soon. I had honestly considered the blog so totally sidelined for a while now that I was considering giving it up (not too seriously considering), and then I got hit with the bill for the next year's worth of Typepad-ing, so I remain committed - financially and mentally, the latter following the former.

There is one mystery that I can't explain. Is there some correlation between not-blogging and massive amounts of knitting? Because it used to be the other way around, I'd knit more because I was showing it off on the blog. Hmm... I'll have to think about that.

not the gnome

Having just returned from a trip out into the frigid arctic air mass that is hovering over NYC right now, I have come to a realization. I have got to knit some sleeves.

All right, I know. Its a recurrent theme here, which anyone who's been around for any length of time knows full well. Why it always surprises me is one of life's great mysteries.

In order to put it all out on the table (literally and figuratively), in hopes that I will be spurred into some sort of guilt (or remorse, or embarassment), it's time to play catch-up on the current project. [Not that there's only one, gods forbid, but there is one that I think of as the current project ... oh, nevermind....]

(click for bigger)

This is Amelia by Laura Chau, from the current issue of Knitty. Yep, another Cosmicpluto pattern - I told you I liked Laura's patterns. I started this sweater right before New Year's - was knitting on it at the break of midnight that night, actually. I had hoped to have a more ... um... shall we say finished, sweater by now. But as per usual, the sleevageness of things kind of got to me.

However, I do have some sleeve to show:

I've got about 3/4 of the first sleeve finished. Mostly in the last couple of days, actually. I figured that if I posted about it, it might help it to ... um... help me to get it done. And no, this isn't a photo shoot for the gnome, but he's hanging around (a Christmas gift) and I thought he looked kinda cute in the picture.

Referring back to my last post, about yarns and wear -- this yarn could be a total crap shoot. It's Schoeller + Stahl Edelweiss, a yarn that was almost precisely 5 years in my stash when I pulled it out and started this project. I've never knit anything with it before, had very little luck finding projects on Ravelry using it. So, we'll just have to wait and see how this holds up. In the meantime, its knitting up rather nicely, feels nice to handle, and that's about all I can ask for from something in progress.

And now, considering the weather, I should get back to knitting that sleeve .... stay warm everyone.

looking back...

I've decided to do a few posts, here and there, about finished knits I've made and how they've stood the test of wear, time, style and fit. So without further introduction...

To date I've made two sweaters from Cosmicpluto Laura's patterns. The first was the Callie Cardigan, finished in October of 2007.

This picture (the color is really off) was taken at 8am this morning. You can see a few of the almost-finished pictures of the sweater in progress here - I'm afraid I never got a really good finished object shot of this project.

The specs are this: Callie Cardigan by Laura Chau, the yarn is Louet MerLin (merino/linen blend). I knit it to the smallest size, without thinking too much, and thought I had messed up in a major kind of way because there was no way this thing was ever going to button over my chest. I solved this "small" problem by skipping buttonholes entirely and just going for a single pewter clasp closure.

Now for the breakdown: This sweater is the one I wear the most often. The yarn has just softened with wear, has almost zero pilling, and drapes beautifully. To put it simply, it gets more compliments than any other article of clothing that I own. This in spite of being a super-simple pattern. The drape and fit are excellent, the color is notable ... I think the combination of all of these factors make it the most successful sweater I've ever made.

And did I mention how well the yarn has held up? Which leads me to ...

Well, another Cosmicpluto pattern sweater. The Lucy in the Sky cardigan. This is a project I finished in April '08, mainly with the intention of having a simple wool cardigan to take with me to Iceland. You can see a few finished object pics of it here (minus buttons).

And here is a picture of the sweater today (also 8am this morning):

(notice anything?)

Specs: Lucy in the Sky by Cosmicpluto (linked above). The yarn I used was Paton's Classic Merino - a yarn I happened to have four skeins of, and out of which I managed to eke out a slightly shorter sweater than I would have wanted. I was just using what was to hand when I got a sudden urge to start this pattern.

And the breakdown... This is an extremely wearable sweater. Soft. Comfortable. The pattern was fun to knit. But (as I hope you noticed in the above picture), the yarn has not held up. At. all. I no longer wear this sweater out of the house, because it essentially looks like crap due to pilling. Truth be told, I haven't shaved off the pills recently, so it can be improved somewhat from what you see above.

The funniest thing is, when this first started its extraordinary pilling process, I was spinning orange fiber, and I thought all that ... stuff ... on the sweater was loose silk and merino fibers.

Alas .. this is just the pilling of the heathered fiber in the yarn. While I loved the pattern (and actually fully intend to make it again, slightly longer and in a better yarn), the sweater has just not held up as presentable wear. Comfortable and well-fitting, yes. But the pilling is egregious. I feel like I'm wearing a shag rug when I wear it.

I decided I'd start writing some posts on this subject after reading a recent post by Claudia about wear and tear on her handknit socks. I'm sure I'll have something to say about socks and sock yarns sooner rather than later. But I wanted to start with sweaters. I've got a few more sweaters to talk about. Sweaters that were not at the top of the heap because .. well, they don't fit as well as these two, or perhaps just don't get worn as often. Different sweaters, different problems. And while I'm sure we've all got sweaters lurking in our closets, finished but not often worn, I'm trying to do a retrospective (in honor of the new year) of what's worked and what didn't. In hopes of maybe getting a better handle on what I wear and what works for me. The goal being to improve my pattern (and yarn) choices for future projects.

Couldn't hurt, could it?