Jump! Jump! Jump Around!

It occurs to me that except for multiple posts about the Super Purple Girl skirt (which still needs finishing), lately I've been writing about a different project pretty much every time I post on this blog. I really do jump around from project to project a lot, and although it means that I rarely finish anything, at least the knitting stays interesting & I don't have to make any quick decisions. For instance, after knitting an inch or so of the Inamorata tank earlier in the week, I completely lost interest in it just as I am getting to the point where I can determine whether or not my gauge / sizing will work out. Maybe the reason I've set it aside is that I suspect it won't, or maybe that it's just been too hot to focus on cables. I'm tempted to just rip the whole thing out, which could still happen. The yarn is too beautiful to waste on something that isn't going to fit, or that will never be finished.

Another old project that was set aside because I was worried about it is Carrieline. It's probably doubled in length since the last time I wrote about it (months ago), a few rows of straightforward stockinette at a time with a few stitches of i-cord edging on each side. I'm alternating skeins of Sundara Sport to keep the sweater from pooling, which is working beautifully except that when I switch the i-cord edging has tightened up in places. Especially in a place where I knit four rows of one color instead of two. See the puckering here:

So for months, whenever I've picked this up, all I can think about is whether or not I should really rip back hours and hours of work to the puckered spot, or whether I should plan to pick up and knit a buttonband (and somehow cut and tack down the tight spot). All the while, it's gotten more difficult to think about ripping out, because I'm getting farther and farther past the pucker. Recently I realized that before I do anything drastic I should just block that edge and see whether the problem works itself out. So last night, before settling in on the back porch with a glass of rosé, a purple sleeve, and a movie, I soaked that corner. After the movie ("An Education", which I highly recommend), I pinned it out, and here's how it looks this morning:

No ripping back required, no need to plan post-finishing surgery--definitely flat enough for me! It's such a relief that the simple solution, requiring the least amount of effort and intervention, is the one that worked out. This is also good news because this is the only knitting I've got going right now that doesn't require a chart or keeping track of rows or any patterning. I will measure my gauge in the blocked section against the pattern & use it to make sure I'm still on track. I think that I swatched for this, but it can't hurt to use a "real" row gauge to double check that I'm getting enough length.

I am still really loving this yarn, even more so now that I see how beautiful it looks when it's all nice and blocked out. The three photos above, taken in different light at different times of the day, shows how the color shifts from blue to grey in an interesting way. It makes me wish a little that I'd taken a bigger color risk when I bought this yarn (bright red, anyone?), but this is a color that I will wear a lot and that isn't a regular boring grey. Now I just need to knit the other 70% of the sweater, and I'll be all set!

Madrona 2010: The Fair Isle Day

I packed so many good times into last week that I have a feeling that I'm going to be paying for it all this week. First there were two Wilco shows (Portland on Tuesday and then Seattle on Wednesday), and then the Madrona Winter Retreat ran from Thursday - Sunday. My Madrona schedule was a little less jam-packed than last year, which was a good strategy given my sleep-deprived state. I skipped all of the evening events, but had full day classes on Thursday & Sunday and a half day class on Saturday afternoon. It was good to spread things out a little, I felt a lot less rushed / overwhelmed than I have felt in other years, and I had really good luck in my classes--didn't accidentally sit next to a whiner, or someone who through no fault of their own would irritate me. I had great food (& evidently better service than some people had) at Bite restaurant, an easy time getting in and out of Tacoma and parking, and did not overspend at the market. My single complaint for the weekend is that the classroom on Sunday was about 5 degrees warmer than is comfortable. That's it--a relatively minor problem, in the grand scheme of things. And that E___ couldn't make it out for Madrona, due to jury duty, but that's not directly related to Madrona itself. So about the classes . . .

Day 1: Fair Isle Yokes with Janine Bajus

I took a great 3 day class with Janine during the summer of 2008 (see related posts here if you scroll down to the bottom & read from there up), and I jumped at the chance to take another class with her. Especially one that narrows down the infinite possibilities of Fair Isle Knitting to a plain sweater with a patterned yoke. Looking back at photos from the original workshop, I still really like the direction I was headed color-wise, but the idea of planning a whole sweater is still overwhelming to me. I also realize that if I want to make a sweater that I will actually wear in normal, daily life (as opposed to wearing at knitting events), a plain colored body is probably a better idea than the giant motifs I originally swatched.

We spent much of the morning talking about how to build a sweater using the Elizabeth Zimmermann percentage system, before getting into the yarn. It seems pretty straightforward, although it was a little shocking to learn that I'll have to knit almost the whole sweater (body to sleeves + two sleeves) before getting to the colorwork! Shocking, but o.k.--I don't have to make any final color decisions other than the body color for a really long time, unless I want some color around the hem or the cuffs.

Now to the photos:

Top Left: My work area. Note that I worked quite a bit on the Carrieline in the morning, since it's my biggest non-Ravelympics project and this was before the opening ceremonies. I've finished about six inches from the hem. The green was a swatch that I ended up not using, but I used the same yarn in both other classes.

Top Right: My initial color selections lined up on the color wheel. The lighter blue (Spindrift 322, Lomond) will be the body color, and I picked some red oranges and yellow oranges in a split complementary color scheme. Note that when I was googling this to make sure I had that term right, I found the following quote: "The split-complimentary color scheme is often a good choice for beginners, because it is difficult to mess up." I'm not sure I like what that implies, but I can't really argue with my results, so maybe it's totally accurate.

Bottom Left: The swatch beginning. The pattern I'm working with is a combination of several traditional banded patterns. Janine designed three yokes for us to choose from, and this set of patterns really appealed to me--possibly because I think that this is the direction I should have gone with my first swatch. I think that the yellowy section photographs better than it reads in person, but I do like the colors together. I may swatch this again, flipping the yellows with the red-oranges. I started to get really excited with the next section, with blues and red-oranges, which shows the pattern more clearly.

Bottom Right: My swatch as of yesterday. I took a little detour in the blue and red-orange section (I'm still not sure how), so I reknit it per the pattern after getting home on Thursday evening. Since taking this photo, I've swatched a little more--I've almost gone through the extra yarn from class, but I still want to test some things out before knitting a bigger swatch with all of the yoke patterns.

Today, after calling all of the local places to see if they had enough of the body color for my sweater, and checking in with several online places, I ordered it online from Schoolhouse Press, along with the other colors I used. Fingers crossed that they've got plenty of 322 Lomond in a single dye lot, or can get it in relatively short order. I guess I shouldn't be totally surprised that only one of the colors (the darkest gold) overlaps with my 2008 swatch, but I wish that more did so I could keep swatching! I probably won't start the sweater body until after the Olympics (or at least until my main WIP is done), but I'm really anxious to have the yarn in hand. Before I lose my nerve, I suppose.

I'll try to fit the rest of my Madrona posts (and maybe a Ravelympics post) in later this week, but this is certainly the meatiest class I took, and the one I'm most excited about. There's just something awesome about seeing all of the Elemental Affects & Spindrift colors all together, and how different people combine them. A good number of the students had taken Janine's fair isle class before (there were at least four of us from my workshop), so I am definitely not the only person who feels this way.

January Made Me Shiver *

January started out so promising for blogging and knitting, but hit a tailspin mid-month. Out of town guests, crazy amounts of work, and a constant feeling that I'm just barely keeping my grip on things took higher priority. I'm back, for now, but a new whirlwind is starting up next week (most likely to be paid for in the weeks after).

A quick recap of what I HAVE been managing to do, clockwise from top left:

Photo #1: Started a new cardigan, using Sundara Yarn sport. I know, I know, it's a really big financial commitment to knit a whole sweater out of it, and I have a poor track record with sweater finishing. But I'm keeping this simple, and hoping it will work out. The pattern is Ysolda Teague's Coraline, a bottom up cardigan with a smocking-patterned yoke. My two concerns at this point are whether or not my gauge is correct, and whether or not this will be the right size when it's finished. Gauge is one variable, but the other is that I'm not totally sure what I will weigh once this sweater is finished. I've been running really regularly since mid-November and have lost about 20lbs, and am planning to lose more. Technically, I have total control over both of these variables, but that's really too many moving parts for me to accurately predict. I will state for the record that I will not deliberately gain weight in order to wear this sweater, but that I'm not sure that I have the nerve to rip it out if it's too big (or too small).

Photo #2: After finishing a week in which I nearly "lost my shit" (as the kids say) pretty much every day, I decided to go to Boise to see Langhorne Slim on the spur of the moment. Yes, I went by myself, and no, I don't know anyone in Boise. There were so many ways I could have been disappointed by this trip, but it was incredibly fun and just exactly what I needed. I've seen Langhorne Slim a few times before, so I knew that the show would be great, especially in a smaller setting, but travelling last minute & without a lot of planning carries a fair amount of risk with it--where to stay, how to get around, are people going to be friendly, etc. Really, I knew that everything was going to be fine when I stepped off the plane & saw six fantastic pinball machines in the waiting area. Awesome. And the bar had Addams family pinball, my old favorite/nemisis from Sundays at the Bow & Arrow in Harvard Square. In my sheer delight at being in a place where I felt so at home (it even smelled like my 20's--people still smoke in bars in Boise), I was a little overfriendly with the locals (and the musicians). I'm not sure that bringing it up here will ease my embarassment, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Photo #3: I've been working on another Ysolda pattern, the Peak's Island Hood, in Cascade Soft Spun. It's a scarf that has a hood built into it and that buttons under the neck. Not so practical for the 50 degree weather we're having here, and it will probably be warmer still before I finish! I'm hoping to find some nice vintagey buttons at the Sewing Expo at the end of the month (or in the sewing room in my house--I suppose I should look their first).

Photo #4: This is where I stayed in Boise--look at the snow! I really dressed for warmer weather, but brought along the socks that E___ knit for me last year. It was a wise choice, my feet were nice and warm on the way home.

So next week is all about Wilco (Tuesday in Portland and Wednesday in Seattle), Knitting (Madrona starts on Thursday, Ravelympics starts on Friday), and trying to keep things moving forward. Wish me luck!

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* Yes, it's the wrong month, but it fits.