It's a done deal

Lookin' good, huh!  It's bright without being gaudy or loud.  The Cascade 200 Paints pulls it all together.
It's no longer a UFO, but a wearable art textile, a lovely hand-knit sweater which I will wear with joy.

Adding the variegated yarn helped with the 'interest' factor,
I think.  Touches of it on the sleeve to pull it
all together.

I made some changes in the pattern.  

Moved the buttons from shoulder to center right.

Added the attached (knitted on) I-cord around the neck so the neckline would appear more 'finished' and be connected to the rest of the sweater.  Check Nancy Wiseman's The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques.  If you are limited in what you can spend to add to a knitting library, make sure you include this one.  Essential techniques for beginning and ending knitted garments.  Good pictures, too.

I-cord requires DPN's and a fair bit of patience, but
it's worth it for finishing either a neckline or a front
edge, especially if there are no buttons.

I added the Cascade 220 Paints to coordinate with the Cascade 200 Superwash blue.  Paints in the lower ribbing, the yoke, and an accent on the lower sleeve.

In this case I prefer more ribbing to less -- makes for a
fit that is more precise.  This sweater didn't even
approach the 'classical sloppy' look but rather
seemed to be designed for a fitted look.  (IMHO, of course.)

So I will spend this afternoon and evening weaving in ends.  Since the yarn is washable, I will likely throw it all in the laundry (in a large mesh lingerie bag) and then in a low-temp dryer.  How convenient is that.

There are no, underline no, seams.  How wonderful is that.  Knit from the yoke down, this sweater is all done when it's done.  Sleeves are done on DPN's from the yoke with picked up stitches under the arm so there isn't even a tiny seam there!  

But still, all those pesky tails.  

On the special gift front:  I have several folks who are lovers of the garage sale experience.  These friends have been on the lookout for knitting books.  The books arrive by mail or hand delivery (from friends close, geographically.)  

I have books from the 60's and 70's (yes, we did wear some of those awful clothes and colors!)  And today I received two books from 1942.  Every design is classic -- cardigans, car coats, skirts, jackets, even an argyle cardigan.

Reckon I'll make a trip to my LYS -- there are at least three designs that deserve to be knitted in the 21st century.

Embellishing the Hat

Remember when I said the hat was a done deal?  Well . . . it wasn't, not exactly.

Lots of finishing 'chores' to do --

• Weave in all the loose ends on the back side
• Finish a top-knot thingy for the crown of the cap
• Add reverse crochet to the edge of the hat

The top-knot thingy is made of I-cord.  Check YouTube for instructions here.  I decided to make several bits of cord and then loop them in and out of one another as I attached each cord to the top of the hat.  And of course I had to use all three colors that appear in the stripes.

Three different cords, using either one or two colors per cord.

The I-cords look like this.  The solid pink one is already attached to the hat.  The other two have loose threads at each end which I will weave from front right side of the hat to the back to attach the cords to the cap.  (Of course, this process also adds to the number of loose ends that must be woven into the backside to anchor and hide all the threads.)  At the same time I will interlace the cords so the top-knot thingy is interesting and unique.

I-Cord, using DPN and 3 stitches.  Check Nancie Wiseman's
book of Finishing Techniques.  Great book.

I didn't like the bottom edge of the cap.  Just the edge of pink ribbing and it seemed boring.  So I got out Nancie's book and looked up "reverse crochet."  It's a weird stitch because you work it around the edge sort of behind yourself.  Check it out on YouTube where someone will have all the details.  Here's a link to Reverse Single Crochet.

Needs to be steamed a bit but I like the look.

I can now say, truthfully, that the hat really is a done deal.  I have the pile of orts to show for it.  Nancie's book is indispensable, with clear pictures.  Each technique has a list of pros and cons which can help you decide if that technique will work for your item.  Exceptional book, perhaps one of the very best I've ever added to my resource shelf.

My scissors, darning needle, and pile of thread ends
after completing all the weaving in.

The scissors in the pocket are in the cover photo.
My scissors, from Germany, are almost buried in the
pile of thread ends.

Sure am glad this one's finally really over.  It's cure and colorful, but that last bit of work -- weaving in and embellishing -- is just plain tedious.  Nancie even suggests a glass of wine to help the chore seem less a chore.  You gotta do this part or you'll never have a finished item.  But it's my least favorite part of the process.  I think most knitters will agree.

This bit of tedium is right up there with scrubbing grout in the shower -- nothing much fun about it except for the anticipation of a finished, hand-knit item and/or a very clean shower.  Good things come to those who can outlast the tedium.

Hat City -- ta dah!

Hat!  Hat!  Hat!

I like the striping and I like the colors and I'm glad it's finished.  Though it's not quite done yet.  Still have to weave in all the loose ends I tucked inside before I took the picture.  Then I have to steam it a bit and get it into shape.  All the steaming may help even out some of the irregularities in knitting, which is one of the purposes of blocking (shaping into the final shape and size.)  

Final step will be to stuff it into a zip-lock and cram it into a notebook so it can be squashed by its cousins, the swatches, and sent off for 6 Master Knitters to pick over.  Being me, I've already identified some things they'll find -- the ribbing at the bottom may be inside out (explanation too long and not worth belaboring); those color transitions are sloppy; I didn't strictly follow their pattern (10 rows of each color and make sure there's contrast.)

As for the pattern, you can't count the rows using my amateur photo but I actually did 2 rows of cream in between each color change, with 8 rows of dark pink each repeat.  Last time I checked 8 + 2 = 10.  And they did say I could use other colors.

We'll see.

The hat is knit in cylinder shape until it's time to close the crown.  Here are two pix to give you an idea.

Big hole.  Big hole to let in the cold air.  Big hole that defeats
the purpose off the hat.  After several rounds of one of those
get-rid-of-stitches techniques I'm left with only 11 stitches
and a tail of yarn.

Enter the darning needle.  Big eye to accommodate yarn.
Thread the needle and weave the yarn back through each stitch
left on the needle.  Slip the needle out of the stitches and
using the thread tail like a drawstring, gather
all the stitches into a closed star of sorts.

One more swatch -- still avoiding it just because I can.  Right now I'm back to the mohair scarf and the blue shawl.  Both are close to the end so look for pictures soon.

I mentioned the quilt that is making its way to Heather Spence Designs.  One close-up -- this blog is about knitting, not quilting, but I decided to share.

Tonight we will attend the Christmas Concert by the  Choir of the West Pacific Lutheran University.  Always a wonderful musical and seasonal experience.  Finely trained and exquisitely disciplined in their delivery.  Every song, every voice, every note, reminds us that this is the season when we await the greatest gift of all.

Fun hat!

It's no longer driving me crazy.  I think I've conquered the new color transition technique.  The striping is working out nicely.  I'm almost to the crown where I will get rid of stitches on purpose to slowly close the cylinder.  If you get rid of stitches too quickly the crown of the hat looks like the ones worn by garden gnomes.  Cute on a baby, but not for this RP.

The cream stripes show off the darker pink.
TKGA was explicit in asking that contrast be strong.
I think that's a definite and noticeable contrast.

Remember that cream yarn I un-knit?  Soaked it in cold water yesterday and hung it to dry.  Still a bit damp but here's what it looks like after treatment to restore it to original condition -- no squiggles from previously knit stitches and the soft loft of the yarn is preserved.  Will need this for that last swatch I'm avoiding.

I'm really liking the striping -- and the inside shows off the two colors, as well as the mess of loose ends that will have to disappear into the other stitches.

This close-up actually shows a neat backside.
Trust me, there's lots and lots of loose ends.
I hate loose ends.  They mean I'm not done
when I finish knitting.

Meanwhile, despite a promise to myself not to take on impossible-to-finish-without-going-crazy knitted Christmas gifts, I have this one on the needles.  It's from "One Skein Wonders" edited by Judith Durant.  Great book. LYS's from all over the US submitted designs for scarves, shawls, baby things, mittens, bags, etc.  Each one takes one skein/ball of the suggested yarn.  This one is page 55:  Gossamer Shell Scarf.

The yarn has some mohair.  It's variegated so you should
see several colors -- burgundy and blue on the needle and
olive on the ball of yarn.  

I re-discovered the top of the bed in the spare room.  Put several things into UFO boxes, organized needles and other accessories, cleared the top of the sewing machine so I can finish the borders on the latest Mystery Quilt from Heather Spence Designs.  We'll be doing another for spring.  

If you enjoy quilting AND want to help cancer patients cover their always present and always skyrocketing cancer treatment expenses, join Heather's spring MQ.  It's 10 USD and funds go to help offset treatment expenses not covered by insurance.

Heather Spence Designs

Coffee is getting cold

This Level I project, this hat, is making me crazy, while my coffee gets cold.

I added the cream yarn when I began the body of the hat, after the ribbing (yesterday's pictures and post.)

As soon as I got to the end of round 1, back to the cream (remember, I'm knitting around and around, not back and forth), I had to refer to the instructions to discover a new technique.  I applied the new technique and went happily on with round after round of cream yarn.

But each time I encountered the section that included the color transition technique I just knew it was wrong.  Then I tortured myself knitting round after round, each time meeting up with that new technique and just knowing deep down in my knitting bones that it was still wrong.  But maybe one more round of knitting and it will magically come right the next time I encounter it.

Nope.  So the morning was spent taking out rows of cream, adding back a row or two, re-reading the new technique and applying it, and finally! getting to add another color.

Here's the hat after this morning's adventure.

New color, right side and wrong side.

You should see two rows of cream after the pink ribbing.  Then a few rows of a darker mulberry or something.  There's the right side, and just because you might be curious, a bit of the back side showing how the colors interact on the wrong side.











There's always a story in the journey and this trip included several time-consuming detours.

First I realized the transition technique from pink to cream was wrong.  You can see it, I know.

Yucky, there's no other word.  The pink stitch is twisted
and the loose ends are on the right side instead
of cluttering the back.

Also a ruffle of stitches with no needle.  Can't leave this too long.
Danger!

Here's the hat when I took it off the needle to pull out the cream stitches back to the mistake so I could start over from that point.  Scary to have untethered stitches just lying there.  They tend to get lost, tangled, and rearranged.

Stitches with no needles, little loose loops all around the edge.
Can't leave this sit or even think about stuffing it into a
UFO box.  All those loose stitches will come undone.
You've surely had a scarf or glove or sweater unravel?

That was also the time to acknowledge I was running out of cream yarn.  The striping I originally designed would not become a reality.  Knowing I had a new, unused ball of a darker pink/wine, I redesigned the striping.  I pulled out all the cream, back to the first row of this color, put the stitches back on the needle and tried it again.  Just two rows, which means I must use that new color transition technique.

I doubt you'll be able to see it.  It's correct this time and the point is that the transition between one color and the next is 'invisible.'  Here's the close-up -- 

The long white stitch in the center actually takes up
two rows of stitching.  I'll fuss with the nearby stitches
when I steam and block the hat, so they will nestle
into the row the way they need to.

This is just a hat, after all.  It's also a project that Master Knitters will examine closely to evaluate the quality of my knitting, the use of the color transition technique, and my choice of colors for contrast and style.  

Meanwhile, the coffee has gone cold.

The silver lining in this morning's knitting cloud was knowing that I knew how to fix it, to make it right.  We don't get a chance to make it right very often in life.  And seldom, if ever, do we get to pick out the bad parts from before and re-do them.  We just gotta live with our own wonderful, silly, human self.

Round and round we go -- the Hat

Nobody wants a scratchy seam inside their nice hand-made knitted hat.  Solution?  Knit in the round.  Knitters use a combination of two techniques:  knitting with a set of double pointed needles (sticks) and knitting with circular needles.  Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it.  Circular needles have a knitting needle 'cap' on each end of a long flexible-but-not-floppy cord.  Often the needle 'tips' are interchangeable.  You can tuck away a UFO with stitches remaining on the cord, remove the needle 'tips' and attach to another cord, and the next project is ready for casting on.  Quite clever and they come in handy cases; the ultra special wooden ones have their own box.

Enuf, Becky -- on with the hat, please.

I'm using that yummy raspberry pink, think sherbet.  Per the instructions I'm adding other colors and yes, learning another new technique.  Here's the hat with the beginning pink ribbing and a row or two of cream contrast.

The green needle tips -- upper right corner -- are attached
to the cord running thru the stitches.  You can see part
of the card hiding beneath the ball of cream yarn.

I started this project with sticks -- a set of 5 double pointed needles (a point on each end).  You distribute all the stitches you need around 4 of the needles and use the 5th one to knit.  When it's full, you'll have another empty one and can turn the work counterclockwise to the next needle full of stitches.  

All the stitches -- 104 for this hat -- are distributed
evenly among 4 of the 5 sticks.  Can you see the small blue ring
at the top of the yarn tail?  That's where the 'round' begins.
You knit round and round but like riding the Merry-Go-Round
you gotta know where you got on and where to get off,
even if you are the one left riding the funny looking llama
when you wanted to ride the unicorn.  Thus the marker.

But how does the knitting work?  Here's a pic showing the four needles with the fifth one doing its work.  In the picture you can label the right hand stick in the foreground as number 5.

It's starting to look like a hat.  Well, use your imagination.
At least it's beginning to be round, no square.
Now what?

So after a bit, when you finish the ribbing, the stitches that keep the hat close to your head and ears, you usually switch to a needle that has a slightly larger diameter.  The sticks above are US5, the green needles on the cord are US7.  And you'll see I've added some cream rows.

This is the current condition of the hat.  At least it now looks
round and is gradually becoming more interesting.
More colors next time.

Sticks or circular?  Right up there with boxers or briefs, I reckon.  Totally a matter of personal preference plus what's available.  I could find the US5 sticks (all 5 of them, which was a miracle in itself!) and then no sticks in US7.  So I removed the US7 needle tips from an ignored UFO and attached them to a new cord.

It's not often we get options in knitting.  The people who began the art many moons ago and their followers thru the years have perfected most of the techniques and continue to enhance and add new ones.  I'm glad for these experts who have been enthralled so completely by the prospect of wrapping wool around sticks to create a garment worthy of a king.

This fine group has gifted us a legacy of creativity, enjoyment, and a fine time for friendly chatter or quiet contemplation.  Pick up some sticks and begin.

Swatch 16: Color (finally!)

Finally I got 'permission' to add a color other than boring beige.  Really, it's a lovely cream, warm like the bit of swirl you sometimes get on a latte when you sit at a table and drink it from a real cup.  Not too much brown to spoil the light that shines in the cream, but just enough to break up an otherwise stark white.

Here's my swatch 16, per instructions.  The Main Color (MC) is a hot pink; the Contrasting Color (CC) is the cream I've used for all the other swatches.

Using different colors translates to very interesting patterns,
though this one is just a few stripes.  Using colors also means
more loose ends to take care of.

This is the first time I've shared the backside of a swatch.  In this case you can see two things:  

1.  How the colors look as the knitter changes from one to the other; and

2.  How many loose ends there really are in this swatch.

Yes, I hate weaving in loose ends.  All knitters do, I think.  Just about the time you consider a project 'good to go' you do one more review and find YALE (not the university, but Yet Another Loose End.)  So you re-take your knitting seat, gather the darning needle with the big eye, and a pair of scissors in anticipation of clipping the last one of the tails after you weave it back and forth into the stitches.  And finally you're done.

Unless another loose tail appears just as you're ready to walk out the door wearing your newest creation.  I don't recommend a staple gun or tape,  Just tuck it somewhere and enjoy the wine and dessert at lunch, plus all the oooh's and aaah's the non-knitters will shower on you and your wonderful work.

According to my progress sheet, I've got two more swatches (one is another do-over; one is a technique I'm avoiding.  I've done it before but it's tedious.)  Then on to the hat.  Will use the cream and hot pink you see above, plus a deep magenta.  Here's the collection:

And speaking of tedious -- that border on the blue shawl.  I have about 15" left and had to set it aside.  Every row of the directions is something different.  Tried to work on it last night while chatting over cocoa with good friend Darliss.  I think I knitted back (read un-knit) at least 30% of the rows I worked on.  

Move this poor puppy to the UFO pile for at least a day or two.  Gotta have a break from the fine yarn, complex directions, and the prospect of several more hours of knitting and eye strain. 

Are we having any fun yet!?!?  Absolutely.  Knitting, like life, is filled with diversity.  The pieces when experienced separately can be challenging or fun, wearying or uplifting -- but as the grandmother says in the movie, Parenthood (Steve Martin), "I like the roller coaster."

Enjoy your ups and downs today.