FO: Bea

After lots of math, mismatched dyelots and fear of running out of yarn, Bea has redeemed herself to be a decent FO!

Pattern: My own, inspired by Kim Hargreaves' Bea. I have parts of this written up for a size 34". It has stretched a little and probably would fit a 36", too. There was a lot of math involved, mostly to get the purl knots to match up correctly at the ends of the rows and to get the eyelets to match up across the waist. I used a simple K4, P1 across to get the texture and garter stitch lower body (peplum), sleeves, neckline and button bands. To get the picot effect on the edges, I did a KFB at the end of every other row and then cast off the extra stitch on the following row (I copied this trick from knitternatter Amelia). For the sleeves, I did a picot bind off.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton, color 604. 10 balls exactly, with maybe 1/2 yard to spare.
I made the never-again mistake of getting 5 balls each from 2 different dyelots. The effect was very noticable, but well hidden by changing from stockinette to garter stitch. This is why I have garter stitch sleeves from the elbow down.

Verdict: Since this was only my second attempt at designing a sweater myself, I am happy with it. The finishing touches, like the purple shell buttons and i-cord, really make it work. If I had to do it over again, I would cast on fewer stitches at the neckline and make it just a teeny bit smaller across the chest. It's pulling down towards my shoulders, which is making the raglan seam get big under the arms.

What I Learned: Writing up your own pattern is hard! It does take a lot of time and thinking, so I really do appreciate what desginers go through when they are working out a new pattern. I also learned a cardinal rule of knitting (the hard way): DON'T MIX DYELOTS!

The wool/cotton is a nice yarn to work with, but I find that Debbie Bliss yarns come with lots of knots, and usually only a few yards into the skein. The yarn did bleed a bit when it got blocked, which I was happy to see. I think it helped the dyelots blend a little more. I am going to try wearing this over a collared shirt - the yarn is just a teeny bit itchy on my skin.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help along the way. You all are the best!

No FO, but here's Juno

First, thank you so much for all of the great feedback on the Old Navy sweater. After all of your comments, I've decided to keep it. Many of you said that there are too many patterns out there to knit, and how right you are! It's folded in my closet, waiting to be worn.

This late burst of summer we've had has prevented an FO sighting for the Cable Down Raglan. It's done, and folded in my closet with the Old Navy sweater, waiting for its debut. I think this weekend I might get to wear it.

I'm excited to say that I started Juno last week. Boy, does this project really fly. I finished the back in 2 days. TWO DAYS, people. Now I remember why heavier knits are so satisfying.

I made a few modifications to the back: made it longer and with some slight waist shaping. I'm also knitting the sleeves a bit smaller than the pattern calls for. Sorry for the bad picture, but with daylight disappearing earlier and earlier . . .

Bea is nearing completion, with mixed results. Earlier I mentioned a nasty dyelot issue with this project. My plan was to finish the sleeves by alternating between dyelots every other row. Well, that plan failed. The dye lots are SO different that you could see a striping effect. YUCK. I decided to knit as far as I could with the original dyelot and change the stitch pattern to mask the dyelot change. I'm getting to just above the elbow.

I'm not sure what to do next. I don't really want garter st sleeves from the elbow down. I was thinking of doing a garter st band around the elbow and then going back to the purl dots stitch pattern (Stef Japel does this effect with a lot of her patterns). I don't know.

Here's what it looks like on. See the sleeves? That's the total length I'm getting with the original dyelot (the second sleeve on the arm I'm holding the camera with will get down to the elbow - I just haven't knit it yet). Ideas? Suggestions?

Finally, on Sunday, Bill and I went to a wine festival at Boordy Vineyards in Hydes, MD. There was a lady with two alpacas and a small selection of yarn.

I purchased 2 sport weight skeins of this beautiful, straight-off-the-alpaca yarn. I'm thinking of making Gretel with it. Jenna over at Knits & Pieces made a beautiful version that has totally inspired me. Hope all of your fall projects are going well!

New Bea-ginning

Thank you for all the helpful suggestions on what to do with Rusted Root. I haven't made a decision yet, but I am leaning towards frogging it. I think I'd want to start this one over from the beginning and make some adjustments to the neckline (and that darn nubbin') as well.

In the meantime, I've been working on a long-ignored WIP. Way back last year, I saw cmeknit's beautiful version of Bea, by Kim Hargreaves. For those of you not familiar with Kim's designs, they are done in Rowan yarns are are available in kits only. Patterns cannot be purchased separately.

Bea, from the Kim Hargreaves website.

Well, this got my creative juices flowing, because while I'd love to spend the $100 for the kit, I couldn't justify it. So I studied the pictures available online and started a knock-off version of Bea in February of this year. When spring arrived, I put it aside and ignored it. I was using Debbie Bliss Merino DK and liked the yarn just fine, but it wasn't thrilling me.

A few weeks ago, I saw knitterknatter's version of Bea on Ravelry. It is stunning and renewed my interest in this WIP. I decided to frog what I had started in the Merino DK and start from scratch using some Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton I had picked up at Black Sheep Knittery while on vacation. The original pattern uses Rowan Wool Cotton, so I thought this would make my knock-off even more like the real thing.

Here's how it's progressing. I know I'm not using the same exact stitch pattern (I'm just adding a purl stitch every 5 sts), but I think it's pretty close!

The faux-picot edging. I'm using knitterknatter's technique of doing a KFB on the last stitch and then casting off 1 on the next row, every other row.

The only issue so far with this knit is dye lots. I purchased 5 balls of the wool/cotton at Black Sheep Knittery and when I decided to make Bea, I knew I needed more. Because it is a discontinued yarn, I found what seemed like last 5 at Tropical Yarns's website. The batches of 5 and 5 are from different dye lots . . . you know where this is heading.

They are VERY different in shade. I know this because I started a new dye lot while still in stockinette - the effect was very obvious. To hide it, I knit from the beginning with 4 balls from 1 dyelot and reached the point when I would begin the garter stitch from the waist to the bottom hem. I switched to a new dye lot and garter stitch at the same time. The change from smooth stockinette to garter ridges really masks the shade change - see picture above.

But, I still have the sleeves to contend with. I have 1 ball of the original dye lot left and will probably alternate between dye lots while knitting the sleeves to gradually change, but I'll worry about that when I get there!

A little frogging and frustration

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments about Sahara. I am thrilled with it and was even more thrilled to get such awesome feedback from all of you!

I have been knitting a lot lately . . . and frogging, too. One of my WIP was an attempted re-creation of Karabella's cabled, ribbed yoke cardigan. Well, I have learned that when trying to do these knock-off designs, it is important to first swatch the stitch pattern you think is used in the original design. I started off knitting this from the top down using a k1, p1 rib and increasing 4 times up to a k1, p5 rib. I know that this wasn't exactly the way it was done in the real version, but I thought it would be close enough. I got to the underarm, divided for the sleeves and did a few rows of the cable pattern. And I realized that I really, really, really did not like it.

I didn't like the way the ribbing looked, and the transition to the cable (which you really can't see here) looked weird. So, I frogged.

Then I decided this yarn might be a good candidate for the knock-off of Bea, from Kim Hargreaves, that I'd been thinking about. Long story short, after about 5 or 6 attempts to try and mimic the stitch pattern in Bea, I couldn't figure it out. It looks like some kind of crossover, and I think I was close, but everything I did looked weird.

So I've settled for a simple stockinette with a decorative raglan increase. I think this will look very nice with the pretty buttons I've got.

I am not abandoning the attempted knock-offs, because they are fun to figure out and ultimately, I think I am learning something. All that frogging, re-knitting, frogging, re-knitting does get a little frustrating, but I think in the end I will have some successes under my belt.

Up for the challenge

Boy have I been busy lately. At work, when it rains, it pours. Everyone is done with the holiday festivities and late January they all come beating down my door. At home, things are the same, but my husband has been super busy at work and stressed out, and on top of that, things like this happen (the woman in the article was his law client) and he has put his work aside to address them.

Things are starting to calm down. We've booked a vacation for early May!! We're gonna do one of those out-west things that I never did as a kid. Right now, we're flying into Phoenix, seeing the Grand Canyon and then hitting Vegas for a few days. After that, we're still not sure. We have about a week between Vegas and when we fly out of San Diego. We want to see Los Angeles, but aren't sure yet what's worth seeing....

On to knitting. Sahara is done, ends woven in, blocked and folded in my closet. Hopefully Saturday I can get my photographer outside with me to take some pics.

In the meantime, I've cast on for 2 new projects. I contemplated doing knock offs of these a while back, and have decided I am up for the challenge. Part of the fun is figuring it all out, right? Well, first I am making a version of a cabled yoke cardigan from Karabella. I drew out a schematic and have hopefully calculated it all correctly. There's not much progress to show, but I am working from the top down and am ribbing away at the yoke.

I like the buttons though. They were $3.99 for 2 at Joann's, so I only bought 2 with a coupon. I'm waiting for a sale or more coupons to come in the mail. Am I cheapo?

The other new WIP is Beau, for my beau. I decided to make this one easy on myself and follow a basic crew neck sweater pattern for a guy and add in the stitch details. Here's my sketch of what I think it should be. I spent time zooming in on pictures on the internet and counting stitches and rows with my pencil tapping along the monitor screen.

And here's what it looks like so far.

I will surely show more of these when they get more interesting. American Idol and 24 have helped increase my knitting time, and there will be even more when Lost comes back next week.

A dose of reality and some finished hats

I'm trying to figure out if I'm on track to finish my Christmas hats in time or not. I've got 3 complete and 7 to go. Looking at the calendar, there are 9 full weeks left until December 25, but really, I'm going to be giving some of these hats as gifts before the actual holiday. I also remembered that I was going to knit a long-sleeve version of the one-skein wonder for my niece. I also heard from my pregnant friend Katie (recipient of the in-progress Daydream and yet-to-be-started Miss Dashwood) who is almost 32 weeks into her pregnancy. I didn't realize she was that far along! I also thought I would be almost done Arisaig by now, but I am slowing making through the 1st sleeve.

So. It's been a dose of knitting reality for me these days that I am not going to finish things as fast as I planned and I must give myself a break. My goal now is to still complete the gifts, which is totally do-able, but also to not set goals for the projects for me. It's so hard not to plan ahead with all of the new patterns coming out, but I must be patient. Knitting is a hobby, it's therapy, it's supposed to be fun. Not stress. I must put the fun back into it, or else I might ruin my love of knitting.

Ok, the updates. Here are the 3 hats thus far completed.

Hat #1. For my brother, knit with the grey and stripes of blue and green mixed in. Sorry the picture is so dark.


Hat #2. For my friend, Jen. I was going to give this to another friend, but I saw Odessa and thought that would be really cute for her and a matching one for her daughter.


Hat #3. For my 18 month old nephew. This one is my totally my favorite one so far. I love how the stripes came out.

And, I picked up some Cotton Fleece to make my knock-off of Bea. But that's not til end of winter, early spring at best. No pressure! No time constraints!