In search of a match

This past Christmas, I received 2 skeins of Tilli Tomas' luxury yarns. One I used to embellish Sahara, which I blogged about here.

Faithful readers will remember that I had luckily ordered a silk/wool blend that matched the sequined yarn perfectly. I knew I would use the other skein of TT for a short sleeve version of Sahara, but finding a matching yarn for the body was going to be a little more challenging.

I've got TT Exotica in Stony Mist - a greenish, but slightly bluish silk blend with fun green stone chips. It's beautiful, and I love it more than the Disco Lights.

As a first try, I ordered some Classic Elite Classic Silk in Paris Green from WEBS, but that yarn was too greenish-yellow and did match this at all. I'm keeping though cause it's nubby and nice.

I decided that I was probably going to have to go to my LYS to find a match in person. I don't really go to my LYS that much, mostly because I don't love it and would rather get good deals on the internet.

So a few Fridays ago I decided to go there after work. When I arrived at the LYS, the two co-owners were each helping someone, so I browsed the cotton selection. Not much was jumping out or even coming close to matching. Ugh.

As I was getting ready to leave, one of the co-owners asked if I had found anything, and I said no. She pulled me aside and started digging through the color cards. The other co-owner was now free and she started pulling every green yarn in the store and bringing it over to my skein of Exotica.

The Debbie Bliss pure silk had a PERFECT match, but I didn't want 100% silk - too warm and too droopy for summer.

We ended up finding Jaeger Roma - a bouncy viscose/ nylon blend that was great too. I scooped up 4 balls at $10.50 a piece and went on my merry way.

Out of curiosity, I checked the internet to see what I could have saved had I bought online. WEBS has Roma at closeout for . . . $4.99 a ball. More than half off. Ugh.

My first reaction was to return it and buy from WEBS. But then I started thinking. I never would have ordered this from WEBS anyway, because the colors on their website are never accurate. And after looking at nearly every yarn in the LYS, I realized only 1 or 2 yarns were going to work anyway. It would have taken me many tries and loads of shipping costs to find it if I only ordered online.

I decided to keep the 4 balls. I guess that's what you pay for in the LYS. You help the local economy, keep small businesses going. I don't know if places like WEBS are 'small businesses' or not, but in this case I certainly got what I paid for - excellent service and a perfect match on the first try.

Beau & Cables in Chamonix Finished!

Believe it or not, I finished these suckers over a week ago. I've been dying to post them, but getting pictures of me and Bill in our respective sweaters has been a challenge. During the week, daylight is basically gone by 7 pm and the weekends have been crazy (or rainy). Yesterday we finally got some shots, so here they are.

Pattern: Inspired by Beau from Rowan Vintage Style. Ironically, I ended up borrowing the Beau pattern from Magknits and used the shape of a basic crewneck. I used pics of the Rowan Beau online to help me figure out how the striping and box effect worked.

Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed in a burnt orange color, a little over 5 skeins. Brown 'leather' buttons from Joann's.

Verdict: Bill really likes it! When I still had 1 sleeve to sew in, he said to me, "Are you going to sew that thing in so I can actually wear it tonight?"
I'm happy with how the pattern came out and glad that I managed to improv it. A successful knock-off!

Here's a close-up of the neckline.

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Pattern: Cables in Chamonix from Yarn Girls' Guide to Beyond Basics

Yarn: GGH Savanna in a raspberry color, 8 balls.

Modifications: I decided to do this from the top down instead of in pieces. Since the pattern said to pick up 64 stitches for the neckline, I cast on that many and increased until I had the number of body and sleeve stitches. I ended up frogging several times because it was just too BIG. I added some darts in the back, since I didn't do the cables in the back and added a lot of waist shaping. My gauge was spot on - I knit and blocked a swatch and everything - but I realized that I also only did 3 cables down the front instead of 4 which may explain it.

Verdict: OK. It's a little big around the bust and under the sleeves, but overall it's a cozy winter sweater. I did wear it once to work when it was chilly last week, and I think next winter it will get more wear.

Right now, I have lots of progress on spring projects to show you, but I'll wait a few days. Happy Monday!

February Baby Sweater Finished

Pattern: EZ's February Baby Sweater in Knitter's Almanac

Yarn: Leftovers. I used some Filatura Brilla for the yoke and the Valley Yarns Superwash that was leftover from my mom's first attempted sweater. Simple white buttons found at Joann's.

Verdict: Really cute. This is for a co-worker whose wife is expecting a baby girl next month. I don't know him real well, but I wanted an excuse to make this little one. I've seen it a lot in blogland and it's got that lovely, vintage baby sweater thing going.

Modifications: Zilch. Just the little flower I added to make it even girlier.

What I learned: Nothing too new here, but this was my first official EZ pattern. The real difference that was interesting is the extra stitches she adds under the arms. Most top-down patterns don't incorporate this. I'm not sure yet which is better, if either is, but I think for a baby roomier is probably better. Don't want to squeeze the chubby little arms.

Stay tuned for a (hopefully) finished Beau soon....just in time for spring.

A Race to the FO Line

I am expecting to get 3 of my WIPs to cross the finish line here within the next 2 weeks or so. Here are the leaders:

Currently leading the pack is the February Baby Sweater from EZ's Knitter's Almanac. This is for a co-worker who is expecting a baby girl in April. I can't show you exactly how much is done, but let's say the odds for this to win are pretty darn good (ok, I just have buttons to sew on).

Next up in second place is Beau, for my hubby. I'm not using the 'real' pattern for this sweater, but instead trying to mimic the stitch pattern using a basic crewneck pattern. Beau is a sleeve and some seaming away from being the champ.

But don't count out Cables in Chamonix, who has had a remarkable run lately. There was a minor setback last week when about 10" of the body had to be frogged (it was way too big). Although progress doesn't look great, expect this knit to get some extra attention in the coming week.

A few other WIPs are struggling as they made it just on the needles, but we should expect some progress and improvement on them once these top three are out of the race.

PS. I mentioned a while ago that we are going out west in early May. Well, I just realized that we will be gone during Maryland Sheep & Wool. Clearly I had a major brain fart in scheduling. I live 30 minutes from the Howard County Fairgrounds. Doh!

Cascade 220: What's the word?

Fellow knitters, I am having a pseudo-knitting-dilemma here. I knit up my Forecast in Cascade 220 Tweed. Beautiful color, great to work with, but PILLS like crazy. The sides and underarms of my sweater are the worst. I've worn Forecast about 5 or 6 times.

Here's my dilemma. Before I finished Forecast, I got some really lovely Cascade 220 Heathers in a blue.

I'm going to use it for the Cabled Cardigan out of Vogue's fall issue. I think. After seeing how much Forecast is pilling, I am seriously questioning if I should Cascade 220 again. HELP ME!! I read so many blogs about how everyone loves this yarn.

Could I have gotten a bad batch?

Could it be the tweed line of this yarn?

Does it generally pill?

Do you have a personal experience you'd like to share with the group?

I would appreciate any input on this serious issue! Really, though, if you have a minute to drop a comment or email, thank you in advance.

Cabled Hat Finished

It was an unexpectedly snowy Sunday yesterday, so we decided to take the boys (our dogs) for a walk in the snow. It was so beautiful out. I finished this hat a long time ago, and I was waiting to have the matching scarf done before posting about it. You know, show the whole matching set. Well, with all my WIPs now, I think the scarf might be an over-the-summer knit. So here's the hat in its full glory, snow-covered and keeping my ears warm and toasty.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in Cream, 1 1/2 balls.

Pattern: My own. I made up a cable and bobble pattern over 20 sts and repeated it 4 times around. The decreases at the top aren't great looking, but I don't care.

Verdict: It's a fun little hat that keeps me warm and looks good. For about $9, you can't beat it.

I haven't decided on what scarf pattern to use. My plan was to do a matching pattern, but I really like the Irish Hiking Scarf and Sharfik.

My little snow bunnies, Toby and Oscar.

For the love of Ikea

I've been adding to my stash recently, with some new (but on sale) purchases:

Debbie Bliss Merino DK in lavendar, Filatura 501 in Papaya and Karabella Aurora 8 in Pink. I love pink, and when I saw this stuff on sale (like $5 a ball!) I had to buy it.

And, I started playing with it already:

Sorry for the darkness, but I'm not running upstairs where the lighting is better - I'm watching American Idol, people. But, I have to say - these men aren't too impressive.

Anyway, back to knitting . . . I think I want to make something along the lines of the cabled cardigan in Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits, which I got over the weekend. What a great book. I love it for the recipes she provides for top-down garments in different shapes and textures. So, that's something I'd like to start. But, I gotta knock out some of these WIPs first.

So . . . Ikea. Gotta love it. We went there on Friday to buy a corner TV stand for the GIANT television my husband bought (like 50" or something totally ridiculous). With my stash growing and organization/storage becoming more challenging in my house, I found this perfect little bookcase with some boxes for my yarn and knitting books. I think it's totally cute and totally practical. I even got a compliment from the hubby, who said, "Your knitting thing looks really nice. I like it." But, he also said, looking at the pile of yarn before it was organized into these boxes, "I think you're getting a little obsessive about the knitting." They just don't understand, do they?

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.

Sahara Finished

In all her sparkly fashion, Sahara is finished!

Pattern: Sahara, by Wendy Bernard

Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr DK in Elderberry (50/50 silk/wool), 1 cone; Tilli Tomas Disco Lights in Dusty Purple, less than 1 skein. I lucked out big time that the two yarns are a near perfect match. I ordered them both on the internet and crossed my fingers. Funny thing is, the whole cone of Jaggerspun (1200 yds) cost less ($34.50) than 1 skein of the disco lights ($38). The sparklies were worth it to me, though.

Needles: Size 6 and 4 circulars. My sleeve stitches fit comfortably around the 16" circulars after decreasing, so no DPNs needed! Added bonus.

Modifications: Just a few. I made a size between the S and M. The schematic scared me a bit because even the M was less than 34" around (my usual size). I know negative ease was built into the pattern, but since I was wasn't working with the 100% silk yarn called for, I knew I wouldn't get as much. I got a gauge of 20 sts/4" and in the end, it fits perfect. The other mod was that I made the sleeves longer than specified. I think in the end they were about 19 1/2 " before I started the ribbing. I don't normally make longer sleeves, so this must have been due to how high up under my arm the sleeve started.

Verdict: Great. I really love this one because I can dress it down with jeans and fun earrings to go out casually, or I can glam this up with a saucy skirt. And I love the sparkles, which is what drew me to it in the first place.

What I learned. Short rows, which are a great shaping technique if you are curvy in some areas, or they're great just to create a lovely hem, as in this case. I had never done the diamond rib before. And, I had never knit a garment that picked up stitches to create sleeves - brilliant!

Would I knit this again?

Well, actually, yes. I'm all smiles about this pattern.

I already have a skein of TT Exotica in a light green for a short-sleeve version. But, no yarn for the body yet.

This pattern is freakin' brilliantly written. Wendy is a genious. Sahara has all the features of an expertly designed garment - shaping darts, set in sleeves, shirt-tail hems, and the best part - it required zero finishing. My favorite part was picking up stitches around the armhole and using short rows to create the sleeve cap. So. Smart. No bumpy sewn in sleeve seams!

I started this in mid-December and really took off with it in January. Although I was tempted to just knit away, I did take it off the needles about 3 or 4 times while knitting the body to check the fit. I did one extra decrease at the waist. It only took an extra 15 minutes or so and was worth it to get a custom fit.

Side shot. I heart darts.

Close up of the neckline. I've got a light purple lacy cami thingie on here. I want to find a dark purple one.

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.

Fickle Pants

Some of you may remember a cable v-neck sweater I had started for my mother in the hopes of finishing for her birthday, which was this past Wednesday. Well, shortly after I posted my pictures of the finished Forecast, I continued knitting feverishly on her sweater. I went over to see my mom one night and happened to have the sweater in my bag (since I was knitting it any chance I could get). She saw it, and the conversation went something like this:

Mom: "Oh, that's a thicker sweater than I thought it would be."
Me: "Well, it's an aran weight, so it's not going to be real light, like a lace-weight."
Mom: "Oh, ok."

Three hours later, after I went home:
Phone rings.
Mom: "I was thinking, I really think that sweater's going to be too heavy for me. I think I'm going to get hot in it. Can you make some lighter, like one with holes or something?"

So here's what's left of my mom's sweater:

I returned the unused balls. I figured I could use these for a baby knit or a hat or something.

This led me to thinking. I change my mind a lot, too. Could it be genetic? Or is it some socially learned behavior? Either way, I often think I should rename this blog to Fickle Pants Knits. I did a little re-organizing of my WIP and to-knit list and realized that I don't really love a lot of the patterns I thought I loved a few months ago. I was changing my mind, like my mother.

Every time I picked up my Grannie Smith Cardigan, it would take me like an hour to do 2 rows with the Kidsilk Haze. I think the diamond lace pattern just stumps me. This is the progress I had made on it over 6 months:

The pattern shown is from Luxury Knits by Amanda Griffiths and is what I hope to turn my Kidsilk Haze into. The sweater looks WAY over-sized, but I plan to shrink it down a lot. The lace pattern looks easier and is memorizable, and it calls for two strands of KSH, which should be easier to work with.

And here's what left of the Grannie Smith:

More fickleness: I got some lovely Cascade 220 to make the Bell Sleeve Jacket from the VK Holiday Issue. But now I am being fickle and thinking I want to make the Cabled Cardigan from the Fall Issue instead:

But, just to prove I must have some of my dad's steadfastness in me, I am making great progress on Sahara. Here's a peek:

The Disco Lights are fab! More details later.

PS. My mom picked a lace pattern from Luxury Knits too, to be done in elann's Baby Silk. We'll see.

Forecast Finished

May I present the first FO of the new year: Forecast!

Toby gives a high five - good job, Mom!

Pattern: Stef Japel's Forecast from knitty

Yarn: Cascade 220 Tweed in Dark Purple (color 610, I think). A little less than 4 skeins.

Modifications: The popular ones from the KAL. 3 stitch bobbles instead of 5, starting the ribbing at the elbow and just under the bust. Made it a little longer overall and calculated for a 34" size, between the 32" and 36". And I only added 9 buttons instead of 10, only because there were only 9 buttons left at the store when I bought them.

Verdict: I really like this one, even more than Arisaig. I feel like it's a flattering fit and texturally interesting. The yarn is soft, and I feel like this is one I can wear with jeans or nicer pants, too. The only thing I didn't like was the yarn bleeding on my hands while knitting it and that it's started to pill on me already under the arms and sides :(

What I learned: I had never made bobbles before. They were fun.

Would I knit this again? I'm not one for re-using a pattern when there are so many fabulous ones I haven't done yet, but I would certainly consider this as a gift for someone.

A Happy 2007

Happy new year to all! Hope everyone had a fun time ringing in 2007.

Oscar partied his tail off.

Looking back, 2006 was a great knitting year for me. I had learned how to knit back in 2002, but it wasn't until I discovered all your knitting blogs out there that I really got motivated to take my hobby seriously. Thank you to each of you bloggers out there for being a source of inspiration, approval and help in my knitting journey!

Besides starting this blog in 2006, with the title Fancie Pants inspired by my college roommate who nicknamed me this when I painted clouds on my bedroom ceiling (she now calls me Fance for short), I did manage to knit a good collection of goodies, with some of them never even being photographed, as the blog didn't really get going until summer.

14 hats
1 long sleeve sweater
1 short sleeve sweater
4 sleeveless tops
1 shrug
1 one skein wonder
3 baby sweaters
1 camera case

As you can see, there are zero socks and zero mittens on this list. My knitting resolutions for 2007 include:

1) Give double pointed needles a fair chance. They aren't so bad....right? Maybe I'll make a pair of Fetching and see for sure.

2) Knit something with intarsia

3) Then step it up a notch and knit something in fair isle

4) Instead of being on a yarn diet, allow myself to buy and stash yarn. I am generally a stash-phobic, so this is a good one for me.

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With 2007 now underway, I have two new WIPs to share. The first is a v-neck cabled sweater (free pattern from straw) for my mom. It's knit with Valley Yarns Superwash (gotta love WEBS). Trouble is, this is for her birthday, which is, uh, January 17. Yeah. Two weeks away. Will it get finished???

Part of the reason my mom's gift may not get finished is my absolute infatuation with this:

Not sure how it happened, but I managed to perfectly match up some Jaggerspun with some Tilli Tomas color-wise to make Sahara by ordering over the internet. They are pretty much exactly the same. I was hoping for a general color coordination, but this was a Christmas wish come true. Ok, I'm being dramatic, but I'm excited! This pattern is way fun to knit and I am SO excited to see how it looks when the disco lights are added at the edges.

Hope this year is prosperous and happy for all you bloggers knitwise, and in life generally!

Block-a-thon

I decided to take the week between Christmas and New Years off from work this year. I've never done it before, and it's been a great week so far. I had some back-burnered projects that I wanted to finish, like some scrapbooking and a few home improvement things, but so far all I've done is slept in, knit, shopped and ate (not in that order, necessarily).

Wednesday I had what I'd like to call a block-a-thon. I finished knitting Forecast and she was ready for a good blocking. I've never worked with a yarn this squishy before, nor one that bled so much! I ended up not working on it if I knew I would be leaving the house later because the yarn left my hands purple and it took work to get it off.

So in the kitchen sink she went:

I added some vinegar in hopes of setting the dye. The water didn't turn too purple, just a little, and since I didn't want it to smell, I rinsed it out and re-dunked it with some Woolite.

LOOK OUT!

The suds made it bleed. big. time. Without agitating, I pressed the suds through and rinsed again. Then, I rinsed it with more vinegar again. So it wouldn't smell (again), I rinsed it with a little fabric softener.

That makes 4 rinsings total.

And, here she lies:

Just need to add buttons and sew in a few loose ends. Phew!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

Yay! A semi-cold front came through earlier in the week, and although it's not cold enough for snow, at least I'm not feeling like it's September around here anymore. The colder weather brought enough of a Christmas-y feel that I knocked out the very last hat for Christmas. Here's one I finished about 10 days ago and already gifted to its recipient:

Penultimate hat: Fun little J. Crew inspired hat with a single cable.

And the very last hat is also a first. It's for my hubby and is the very first thing I have ever knit for him. When I was wrapping up the Redskins' hats I made for my nephews, he grabbed the little one and tried to put it on. I knew he really wanted it, so I am trying to be a good wife for Christmas and have knitted it up while he's been out of the house, so he doesn't know it's done (let's hope he hasn't started reading the ol' blog!)

Last hat: Redskins for the Redskins fanatic. Too bad they are having a sucky season, but the Ravens aren't!

(Hehehehe, we have a little rivalry between me/my Dad/my brother and my hubby/my BIL. I am a born and raised Baltimore girl. Hence, I am a Ravens fan. My hubby was born and raised in Western Maryland where they get Washington DC channels, so they grew up watching the Redskins. And my dad and brother can real SOBs about it!)

With the Christmas knitting DONE, I have gotten back to a little knitting for moi. Well, at least for now. My mom's birthday is January 17 and I am going to attempt to knit her a sweater, though it surely won't be done in time. The yarn is still on its way from UPS. But, Forecast is moving along just swimmingly:

The oh-so fab bathroom, contorted arm shot.

It's hard to see the details since the yarn is so dark, but all I've got left is one sleeve and one side of the button band. And the buttons to sew on. And boy does this baby need a serious blocking. I'm thinking this might be the last FO of 2006. Or, the first FO of 2007. Either way, yay for a FO!

It's hard to feel Christmas-y when

It's 74 freaking degrees when the normal temperature is in the high 40s. I baked some snowmen and Christmas tree cookies over the weekend while it was 65 degrees in the hopes of feeling more Christmas-y. I'm listening to Christmas music at work. I wrapped presents and put them under the tree.

But,

All I want for Chistmas is a cold front....

Starting off slow

Thanks for the advice on the whole top-down-seamless-EZ-can-I-knit-a-collar-on debacle. I've decided to start off with an easy seamless project before delving into a complicated one. Since I've never knit my husband a sweater (or anything for that matter), I don't think it would be fair to have his first knitted object from me be a complete experiment and possibly a disaster. So, I am going to use the real pattern for Beau and save the experimentation and/or disaster for myself.

Starting off slowly, I am using some GGH Savanna to knit the Yarn Girls' Cables in Chamonix.

The pattern calls for picking up 64 stitches around the neck line for the turtleneck, so I cast on that many onto a circular needle. I used a provisional cast on so I can knit the turtleneck last with some short row shaping. The pattern says that before armhole shaping, the sleeves end up with 48 stitches each and the front and back with 64 each, which yields 224 stitches all around (before yoke shaping). Subtracting out the 64 stitches I already cast on leaves 160, which is how many I would have to increase to get from the neck down to the yoke. So, I split up my 64 stitches into 24 each for the front and back and 8 for each sleeve. I incorporated the cable pattern and am now just increasing every other round until I get to my 224 stitches. We'll see how it goes! If I am able to get a decent looking sweater, I might tackle the Karabella one. But I am prepared to buy the pattern too!

In other news, I ordered some Jaggerspun Zephyr to knit either the Simple Knitted Bodice or Sahara or something from Stefanie's book Fitted Knits (which is on my Christmas list, even though it doesn't come out til spring). I also asked for 1 skein of Tilli Tomas disco lights from Santa to match the wool/silk I bought in Elderberry:

I've noticed that I have color phases with my knitting. Over the summer and into fall, it was a pink phase with 2 pink tank tops (Prosperous Plum and Eyelet V-Neck) and Arisaig. Now, I'm in a purply phase with Forecast, the Cables in Chamonix and this purple stuff in Zephyr. Hmm, I'm thinking green or blue next . . .

Should I Elizabeth Zimmermann it?

I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears in which she provides a recipe for creating seamless sweaters in the round. It really is so brilliant and so simple (I think). The basic premise is that you figure out what size around you want the sweater to be (bust size, basically) and then figure out based on gauge how many stitches you need to get that size. Then, everything else, like the number of stitches for sleeves and number of stitches for the neck, is just a percentage of this. I've been very intrigued with trying this out for several reasons:

1. By-night, I am a knitter, but by-day I am in a quantitative arena (I'm a biostatistician), so I like that knitting involves some math every now and then (sorry, yes I am dorky).
2. My husband likes Beau in Rowan Vintage Style, but the pattern booklet is like $25 and I don't love enough of the other patterns to justify the purchase. This will be tricky to do in a seamless way, though, because of the collar and the squares in the yoke.
3. I saw this on kpixie.com:

It's a Karabella Aurora pattern and costs $5. I am tempted to buy it, but I feel like it's a great candidate for the Elizabeth Zimmermann seamless yoke approach. It would be easy to replicate the shape, but I can't tell what the exact ribbing and cablings are.

But, I do already have a sketch out for my knock off of Bea that is a top-down seamless approach. I wrote it before I read Knitting Without Tears, so I need to check that my percentages are correct! Maybe I'll just wait and try that one first. I can spare $5. In the meantime, I'll start sketching out Beau . . . anyone have ideas for how to incorporate the collar into a top-down approach?

Some more Christmas FOs

Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. Thanks for all the nice comments about Arisaig. I wore it to work on Monday and my co-workers really liked it.

I am SO SO happy to report that I am almost done my Christmas knitting! The Thanksgiving long weekend gave me some free time to finish up some of that stuff, so first I present the Girlfriend Shrug:

It's for my seven year old niece. I used Knitpicks Swish in aloe, sunshine, bubblegum and ballerina. The sleeves are trimmed with some girly, eyelashy yarn I had in my stash.

Next up are hats #6 and #7. They are for a brother and sister:
Again, used Knitpicks swish. The girl hat was done using Grumperina's Odessa pattern and I added some little flowers all the way around. The boy hat was done in charcoal, sunshine, red pepper and capri blue. Am I sick of Swish yet? Not quite, but almost. It does knit up really nicely with even stitches and it's really soft.

And, last but not least, I did find time to start a new project for me . . . one I've been dying to start: Forecast.

I'm using Cascade 220 tweed in a dark purple. This picture really shows the little flecks of blue, red, yellow and green. I'm almost done the yoke. Boy, does this part go slooooow. Over 200 sts on the needle. I should reach the underarm tonight!