knitting – Page 11 – Behind the Smile

March 1, 2010June 24, 2010

VAILA

I used to hate to purl. It just isn’t my favorite thing ever. Especially great swaths of purling like that which is practically the entire body of Vaila.

Vaila is knit from the bottom up, both the sleeves and body. I, of course, couldn’t be hacked to actually follow the directions. So, I knit it top down.

My aunt has accused me of not being very specific when it comes to talking about the mods I make on my knits, which are plentiful and varied. So here are the mods that I made, just for you, AUNTIE M.

Knit from the top down. I use the 35/15 method: that is, the front and back use 35% of the stitches each and the sleeves use 15% of the stitches each. This means that if you cast on 100 stitches the front will have 35 stitches, the back 35 stitches, the right sleeve 15 stitches, the left sleeve 15 stitches. Place markers at each of these stitches. I can’t quite explain the math because math (especially percentages) breaks my brain, but I can assure you that using this method works. At least for me. I also used the number of stitches at the CAST OFF part of the pattern as a starting point, then knit K2P3 ribbing for an inch. (Should have gone a little longer – and I may carefully rip out the neck ribbing and redo.)
The top-down knit raglans: To get the same look as the raglans in the pattern, the increases you will need to use are: knit to 3 stitches before the marker, “purl front and back in the stitch” (similar to kfb), knit 1, kfb. With these increases you will get the same look as the pattern, which is knit stitches on a sea of purl.
I didn’t convert the lace insert at all. I knit it as is, and it looks pretty much the same no matter which direction it’s pointed.
I knit the sleeves inside out. I couldn’t stomach the thought of all the purl in the round, even though I don’t hate purling anymore. So I knit the sleeves in the round and then turned it right side out and knit the cuffs. If you do this, you should be careful that you make sure to pick up the underarm stitches in the right way so the seem is on the inside of the sweater.

I think that is it in terms of modifications.

Anyway, here are the stats:

Pattern: Vaila from Twist Collective
Yarn: Berroco Vintage (An acrylic/wool blend. I like it.)
Gauge: I dunno
Needles: US 9 29″ circular

Happy Monday (and MARCH, wow), dudes.

So, now I am totally working on another sweater. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I haven’t knit on a sock in three months!

February 27, 2010June 24, 2010

Stitches West 2010

Hey! Look at me! Actually blogging about something that happened THE SAME DAY instead of 6 weeks later! Amazing!

I went to Stitches West yesterday and today, and by “went to Stitches West” I mean I went to the market and didn’t take any classes. I had a budget and LO. I have three whole dollars left and didn’t even get out the credit card.

Here’s what I got:

I mostly bought from Miss Babs this year because she had the nice big skeins of worsted weight, of which I only need two skeins to make a sweater out of. I got two skeins of the “Yowza Whatta Skein” in Blue Teal and Sandi’s Red. I also got a skein of her “Yummy” sock in squash blossom. The other sock yarn I got was from Wabi Sabi and is the colorway Orchid in Glow Sock. I chatted with the lady from Wabi Sabi for a bit; she was really nice. I wish my camera would take a picture of the right color of that yarn because it’s beauuutiful; a deep dark purply orchid color. *love*

My rule re: sock yarn this year, since I have a sick amount of sock yarn, was that I could only buy it in yellow, purple, and red, which are colors I don’t have as much of as the rest. By the time I bought the wabi sabi yarn I had almost run out of money, so I stopped by Chameleon Colorworks and picked up a bottle of the Ravelry-inspired Soak.

It smells really good. Normally I go with the grapefruit Eucalan because it’s way more economical, but I do like Soak and this was with the last of my money for the most part.

After we were done, my mom and I stopped at In N Out Burger with my aunt January. Mmmm, double double/dr pepper!

And now I’m home, watching crime, and about to make some green Thai curry for dinner. Good times!

February 23, 2010June 24, 2010

Up To (No Good)

I’ve spent a good portion of these first two months of 2010 doing nothing but knitting on sweaters and listening to zombies on book-on-CD while I work on some jewelry designs. My place is pretty trashed due to my tragic housekeeping skills, though I did clean my bathroom recently (the other bathroom is my de-facto paper-towel storage center and knit-wear cleaning station). And one of my new years resolutions was to keep more on top of things, and I certainly have in the kitchen, which is where things were most dire. Other places in the house it’s just full of craft-related clutter. The one thing in the kitchen that is throwing me is recycling, like where do I keep that stuff? I don’t even know. Argh.

I’m trying to be a better housekeeper, but…

Honestly, I have better things to do. 😛

So anyway, I have been knitting, and I totally knit this sweater in January:

(hard to take a decent picture of yourself, let alone knitwear by yourself at 10 pm in the middle of winter, you know? oy.)

I like it.

PATTERN: Gathered Pullover, Interweave
YARN: Dream in Color Classy, Happy Forest
MODS: Well, the whole thing is a mod except for the bustline cable. The original pattern has you knit from the bottom up with no ribbings. But that is not how I roll, so I knit it as a top down raglan with 2×2 ribbings. I hate the curly look of stockinette edging. Also, I made 3/4 sleeves instead of long sleeve. I had enough yarn to make long sleeves but I wasn’t feeling it.

IN CONCLUSION:

Here is a picture of the zombie box I made that I found on my harddrive.

Hard to believe that I actually made that like six or seven years ago now! Oh, zombie box. It only lost two of the Barbie arms in my travels.

…I hated sculpture class. I have no aptitude for three dimensional thinking (hence making illustration/drawing my main focus), though I did enjoy ceramics. If I ever find my grotesques I’ll post pictures of those. I have no idea what happened to them – I remember packing them, and then they are just not here anywhere post-Texas. I’ll have to check the shed.