Sweaters, Coats and Tribbles

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Here's my progress on the Jaeger Tilly pullover. I'm through with the back and last night I knitted the pocket linings twice. Yes, twice since I apparently couldn't read the instructions clearly enough to do the right number of stitches versus rows. They were quick though, even doing them twice. I've begun to cast on for the front now, and it's going well. I like this yarn, it's very soft and seems to be easy to knit with.

I am also quite thrilled with my wide wale corduroy and suede coat project. It's coming right along. I've chosen a pattern, Marfy 1014.

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The side panels, pocket flaps, collar and lapels/front facings will be in the faux suede, and the rest will be corduroy. I'm also shortening it to car coat length. I did a lot of measuring against my old favorite coat that I'm hoping to replace, and this seems to fill the bill, even though it's a bit different in style. I'm starting to get excited about this project, and it's quite a while since I've felt that way, so that's exciting too.


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Here's a cute quickie. It's a little potscrubber called a Tribble. I can see that they could be sort of addictive to knit, so perhaps that's why they're said to multiply so rapidly.
Tribble Pattern

Pinwheel Pattern

I made one more dishcloth from this pattern, the one on the right in PeachesNCreme Gumdrop. The first one is Pink Lemonade. The potholder on the lower left is made with one strand of each held together. I was a little unsure that the colors would work together, but I really like it. It's very multicolored without any predominant color. The potholder is also smaller.

Thank you to everyone who liked this pattern, and I will put it up here. I'm calling it Pinwheel, but there's another, extremely similar, version called Round Dishcloth by Amy Carpenter. Her version has wrapped short rows, which of course is the best method to make them invisible, and it's a good project to learn about short rows. The pattern I'm using does not wrap the short rows, but in my opinion, for a dishcloth, there's really no need. So, if you want to learn the correct short-row method that you can use in other, more 'important' patterns, her pattern is fine. Otherwise, mine is okay. Mine also is a bit smaller, which I like.

Pinwheel Dishcloth
#9 Needle
1 ball cotton yarn such as PeachesNCreme or Sugar&Cream

Cast on 15 stitches.
Row:

1. Knit across, turn.
2. K3, YO, K11, turn. (This leaves 1 stitch on the needle. There will be an increasing number of stitches on the needle on most right side rows.)
3. K back to the beginning, turn.
4. K3, YO, K11, turn.
5. K
6. K3, YO, K11, turn.
7. K
8. BO 3, K2, YO, K8.
9. K
10. K3, YO, K8.
11. K
12. K3, YO, K8.
13. K
14. BO3, K2, YO, K5.
15. K
16. K3, YO, K5.
17. K
18. K3, YO, K5.
19. K
20. BO3, K all stitches, turn and you are ready to begin R1 again.

This makes one section. You will probably do the 20 row section 6 times or so, whatever makes a complete circle for you. You can graft the stitches at the end, BO and seam, crochet together with the CO row, or whatever joining method you may care to use.

Pinwheel Potholder

#9 Needle
2 strands cotton yarn, held together
This is worked the same as the dishcloth, but with the differing stitch counts.

Cast On 12
Row:

1. K
2. K3, YO, K8
3. K
4. K3, YO, K8
5. K
6. K3, YO, K8
7. K
8. BO3, K2, YO, K5
9. K
10. K3, YO, K5
11. K
12. K3, YO, K5
13. K
14. BO3, K2, YO, K3
15. K
16. K3, YO, K3
17. K
18. K3, YO, K3
19. K
20. BO3, K to end. You are ready to begin Row 1 again.

For some unknown reason, the potholder pattern must have red row numbers. Well, I have to go eat dinner, so they'll have to stay that way.

A Coat in My Future? and Books!

 

It's a horribly cold day today, (high of 15) and I went out this afternoon to the grocery store for a few essentials since this is going to be the "warm" day for the next week. Of course I felt compelled to stop at Hancock Fabric for their 5-day sale. There were a few of those 99 cent Simplicity patterns I needed.

Well, I took a quick tour around the store and happened to notice a piece of extremely wide-wale corduroy on the home-dec remnant table. It's my color, a dull gray-green, and I've been looking for a corduroy like this for a couple years to make a coat. There was a little over 3.5 yards, so I can make a car-coat length, which is just what I want. There was also a nice thick, fairly drapey faux suede in a matching color, so I can have a little detailing. Then I happened to find a beautiful stretch moleskin in a very similar color as well. I'm thinking a pair of pants from it, and there may be enough for something else as well. So, my quick look turned into a huge bag that I brought home. I'm really pleased with what I found though. The three pieces are in the photo above. I want a fairly plain style, and I'm going to look through my patterns, as I suspect I have something that will be just perfect. I'm hoping to end up with something similar to a RTW coat that's my everyday do-anything coat. It's getting a little aged now, so a replacement would be fine.

 

I got a wonderful book for Christmas from my sister. It's the one on the right above, The Art of Knitting: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne. It's quite unusual in its approach, and is mostly photos of various knit techniques, not necessarily handknit techniques, or even regular knitting machine techniques. It is quite inspirational though, and I'm enjoying dipping in and absorbing it slowly.

The other book is The Knitter's Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes of The Knitters Review. I expect to be able to match yarns and patterns more easily with this in hand. I hope so anyway. I imagine a lot will depend on whether I take the advice I'm given, or whether I decide I can make it work anyway. Live and learn!

 

My last new treasures are the Japanese pattern books Pattern Magic 1 & 2. I read on several websites in December that you could order them from AmazonJapan, and they were having a free shipping special so it was the time to order. I'd been wishing for the first one for quite some time, and when this deal came, and both books were available, I bit. Well, they're lovely books, and when you order, no shipping shows in your total. However.....when they come, the shipping is included, and it's slightly more than the cost of the books. I contacted AmazonJapan and they will do nothing about it. So, I'm pleased with the books, but there's a definite bad taste in the mouth as well.

Jaeger Tilly and Hungary

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Here's my progress on the Jaeger pullover (Tilly) that I'm doing in Little Lehigh cotton. I made a gauge swatch that matched the stated gauge, using needles 2 sizes smaller than recommended. I then began the back. Somehow the actual sweater knitting was much different than the swatch, and after a couple inches progress, it was obvious that it was much bigger than I wanted. I ended up going down another 2 needle sizes before I got the correct gauge. Instead of Size 7 & 8 needles, I'm using Size 3 & 4 needles. I continue to wonder how anyone could get the stated gauge with the recommended needles, notwithstanding that I'm using a different yarn than specified. I still don't see how you could do it. Quite a lot of unnecessary messing around in my view anyway. But it's going well now, and I like the texture and feel of it. It's not going to be a particularly fast project since it's about 19 rows to the inch. Oh well, I'm not in any hurry. I'm doing the back in a smaller size than the front, as I often do for sweaters.

You're probably wondering about the mention of Hungary. I was looking through some stats on who reads this blog (I love seeing where people are from!) and even though it's not particularly detailed, and many visitors show no information, I can sometimes tell what country and/or city they're from. Suddenly a couple days ago, I noticed that there were about 30 readers from Hungary! I wondered what brought that about, and found a Forum called Nok Lapja Cafe that linked to this site along with several other sewing blogs I'm familiar with, including Debbie Cook's. I have to assume it's a sewing blog, but you can imagine how disappointed I was when I found that Google Translate doesn't do Hungarian yet! Sigh. I did see a mention of SWAP there, though, so I thought that was quite interesting. Even though I'm not SWAPping this year, I am fully behind the concept, and try to apply it within my wardrobe. I wonder if Julie at Timmel Fabrics has heard from anyone in Hungary?

Before Christmas I walked into a waiting room with my knitting bag, and saw another woman sitting by herself knitting away, so I sat beside her and we had quite a nice talk. She was making a scarf and I was working on the last sleeve of Zachary's Drops Pullover. She kindly offered to give me a pretty dishcloth pattern. I was very pleased to find the next time I went to that office that they had it for me in my file! I decided to make it up quickly, and here it is. It was fast and fun! Pretty wild colors, no?

Fun, Fun, Fun

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Here's the very nicely packed box I received in the mail today from Fuzzy Mabel's. What fun! I've been trying to find a nice, not-horribly-expensive yarn to use for a sweater I've been drooling over from Jaeger JB40, which is a discontinued pattern book for a discontinued yarn, Roma. I found the book at The Yarn Barn, but the yarn is not available in colors I wanted. I finally decided to try a cotton yarn, Kraemer's Little Lehigh, in green and off-white. While looking at Fuzzy Mabel's, I noticed they had a very well-stocked clearance section, including some nice colors of Katia Bolero, a yarn that I used to make a shell a couple years ago, and liked very much. I bought enough Pewter with Gold to make a nice something-or-other.

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You can see the Jaeger pattern with the proposed yarn below.

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I like the interesting almost houndstooth stitch pattern, and the cute details, like the pocket and the neckline V, and sleeve hems. This will be a spring sweater I think, especially in a cotton yarn.


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I finished the second side of the Waterlily purse yesterday, which you can see above, just in time for the new yarn to arrive today. Now to finish it. I have ideas, but nothing concrete. I'm thinking webbing handles if I can find the right color. I'm calling it the Waterlily purse because it reminds me strongly of some of Monet's Waterlily paintings. This is a torn fabric strip "yarn" and I just love the effect of it. It makes me want to rip up some fabric myself, and see what happens.

We're back to normal around here, and I spent today and yesterday doing all the household stuff that I've been letting slide, like multi-loads of laundry. Luckily, I kind of like to do laundry. The Peeper's thrilled, as he hangs out by the washing machine, so he gets lots of company. There's nothing like a purring cat napping next to you while you fold towels, or sew, or knit.

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Segue Shell is Finished

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I finished this shell last night. This is a photo of it with the Vogue jacket I made some time ago. I think the colors are perfect. After doing the neckline finish twice and finally deciding on a simple crocheted edge. The yarn stands up too much to do the specified picked-up and purled edge which is supposed to roll gently, and usually does (I've made this pattern numerous times). I also did a crocheted finish on the armscyes to make the shoulder area a bit wider at the top. I began at the side seam, just chaining/slipping the yarn along for a few stitches, then one single crochet, then the rest of the way around was half-double until I got to the same level I began, and one single to taper down, and then finish at the side seam again. I do this quite often on shells, as I like to cover those unsightly bits, and I especially don't like to have my bra peeking out. You can see the effect here.

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Anyway, I'm quite pleased with this. It took about 2 1/2 skeins, so I have some left to play with. Not sure what to do, but I'm thinking about a belt with some other yarns. Something will happen anyway, as it's too pretty (and pricey) to just let it go.

Another Nice Knit Top

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Here's another knit top from the same FSG#1960 top pattern with the Vogue collar grafted onto it. This is a very thin mesh knit that I fell in love with for the color and the interesting shadowy leaf print. It was another Wal-Mart $1/yard find, and I made it up almost immediately. I never even thought about the fact that it would match my fleece Haiku Two jacket, which was a "muslin" but I wear it a lot as a casual jacket in winter since it's so nice and warm, and I don't have to worry about anything happening to it.

It may seem silly, but I had a revelation lately about the fact that I'm always cold when I go anywhere. I need to wear more clothes. Not that I don't wear winter clothes in winter, but we keep it warmer in our house than a lot of people do, plus we have a couple humidifiers going all the time, which also makes it more comfortable. Anyway, I've started wearing 2 wool sweaters, or several layers besides just an undershirt and top, for example. My sister took the nicest photo of me the other day when I was wearing 2 sweaters I'd knitted, and I'll put it here. I love the way the colors work together, and of course since I made them both, I like them!


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Just Knitting - Trendsetter Shell & Dishcloths

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I finally chose a pattern to use with this gorgeous ribbon yarn, Trendsetter's Segué. I'm making the Marla shell from Berroco's leaflet #189, Summer Basics. I've made this several times before and I always like it. It has a raised neckline, decorative ridges at the collarbone (which won't show in this yarn) and slightly cut-in armholes. I was hoping to get it out of two skeins, but I think it is probably going to take slightly more. It's a very quick knit though. I started yesterday and this is what I have so far. It's the back. The front is almost the same except the neckline. I like to make the back in a Small and the front in a Large size, tapering the front to a small at the shoulders. This always fits me better than a shell that's symmetrical front and back. Gee, I wonder why?

Here's the quickie, mindless knitting project I was doing while trying to decide what to do with the Segué above. I've been getting low on nice looking dishcloths, so it was time to make more. They're very fast, especially in the size I like them, which is 20st at the widest point, and they fit the hand very nicely. This is just Sugar&Cream cotton yarn. I gave some to my sister and she calls them coasters. They work for that, too.


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Happy New Year!

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I always get a new linen calendar towel each year to hang on the side of the refrigerator, and I think this one is particularly pretty. I am a sucker for poppies in almost any form, and I couldn't resist these.

One of the best things is that I get another pretty tea towel to use from the previous year's calendar when I put up the new one. I have them back to about 1983 I think.

Hope you're having a great year so far too!