Counterpane Pattern Finalized

I talked about wanting to knit a counterpane recently, and I decided to swatch a little to at least see if it was something I enjoyed enough that I could see myself doing all that knitting. I first did a swatch of a pattern from Mary Thomas's Knitted Counterpanes book.

From Counterpane

I used J&P Coats' Royale Fashion Crochet Thread in Size 3, because that's what I had on hand. I like the size of the block: bigger than I'd expected, but still nice looking, I think. The color is not what I want, of course. I'd like to finish the block as a pillow top if I can find another ball of thread to match.

I next tried a variegated swatch (below left, very small) of Megan's Counterpane, the pattern I showed in the previous post (link above) in a Size 5 thread, again because it was on hand.

From Counterpane

I liked the pattern better, but the variegated color was awful, and made it difficult to 'see' the pattern itself. I went and bought some thread in the same size (5) in Natural to see how I liked it. I also got it in a Size 3, to see how I liked that size thread. I would rather use the larger gauge, as the results will be quicker. Perhaps really slow rather than glacial. In between I also tried a swatch in size 10 thread, which was not good, and I just ripped it right out.

I like the size (3), the color (Natural) and the pattern Megan's Counterpane), so I began in earnest, but haven't gotten very far, as I decided I'd better finally finish up the Verena sweater before I got completely away from it. I only had the front collar to do, and I have struggled. Perhaps it knew it was being cast aside for a new project, but I think I knitted and ripped that thing at least 5 times before I got it going correctly. I counted wrong, I was confused about how many repeats of the pattern I had to get my increases in, I did too many, I did too few, I seemed to have lost my mind in general Everything went beautifully on the whole thing, and suddenly it was the project from hell, I'm in two minds about whether to start on the skirt after this. Probably not immediately anyway. I'm going to block and make up the sweater right away, and see how resilient the yarn is. It may not be terribly suitable for a skirt, and I'd just as soon know now

I've since ripped out the square I'd begun with Natural Size 3 on a 0 needle, and started again on a Size 1 needle, which seems to make all the difference. Since I've been so slow posting all of this (most of it was written on the 5th) I've actually finished the first 'real' square, and here it is!

From Counterpane

It takes a little over 1 ball to make a square, and now I need to figure about how many I need, and order them. They are a no-dye-lot item, which is nice, but I'm not sure that's very trustworthy really, and I'd like to get all of them at once.

Toe-Up Socks and Possible Knitting Adventures

There's a chapter of the Knitting Guild here in Lincoln, and although I've been going to one of their monthly Sit-and-Knit afternoons for probably a year off and on, I'd never made it to one of their 'actual meetings' until Saturday. They're doing several Knit-Alongs this year, and the first is for a Toe-Up sock. Well, I'd tried a toe-up pattern once, and although it worked okay, it wasn't as much fun to knit as the regular top-down variety. However, I was willing to try again, especially since there would be expert advice on which techniques really do work the best.

We're doing The Traveler, A Toe-Up House Sock with Traveling Cables by d-made.com.

It's a worsted-weight sock, which makes for quick results; very suitable for a knit-along. The photo below is my progress so far.
Traveler Sock Progress - Photo Link
We're supposed to do the heel next month at the meeting, so I will probably just do the second one up to this point, and then wait on both of them.

I should say that we didn't do the crochet-chain provisional cast-on called for in the pattern. Instead, we did a Figure-8 cast on, which worked well for me. I'd done the Turkish cast-on before, and it's quite similar, but this seems easier, or maybe I just don't remember the Turkish as well as I should.

I've also suddenly gotten the urge to knit a counterpane, or cotton coverlet. The photo below is something like what I'm thinking of. It shows 4 squares which total about 14" across, so there would be many more before I was done.
Megan's Counterpane
I'm planning to swatch a little bit to see if I really want to use tiny yarn (thread) and very fine needles, or if I want to use a larger yarn for faster results and a very different look (and a different pattern). I've thought about knitting one of these for years. Ever since reading an article in Piecework in about 1996, and would now need a pair for the twin beds in my guest room. So, not only a lot of work once, but twice. You can see why I'm a little hesitant at jumping right in.

I was wearing my Graceful Pullover yesterday, and have often thought the stitch pattern (Frost Flower) is so pretty that I should use it for something else. Well, maybe a coverlet would be a fine place.
Photo Link
The sweater is worsted, which is very pretty, and if I did the coverlet in worsted, it would go fairly fast, and I could do the main pattern once down the middle with cables and eyelets at the sides, or more probably twice down the top, with one or two of the sleeve cables in the center. Then for the 'fall' on each side I could either do another pattern repeat, or something much simpler. I would seam it at each edge of the top, and I can see putting ribbons through the eyelet rows (columns). Anyway, I need to finish the Verena sweater I'm knitting now before I begin anything major. I'm on the back collar now, so it will soon be done. I was going to make a matching skirt though, and I suppose I still can. We shall see.

It was a beautiful day here today, and I hope the weatherman is completely wrong about tomorrow, and they're saying it's going to be bitterly cold, with possible freezing rain, etc. I'm probably driving to Omaha tomorrow, so I'm hoping for another 45 degree day like today.

Knitting Progress - Verena Veronique

You may remember that before Christmas, I was beginning to knit the Veronique top from the Fall 2010 Verena knitting magazine. I'm still working on it, and I'm now finished with the main sweater pieces, and am working on the collar. It's done a little differently than any other sweater I've made. Usually you sew the pieces together, and then pick up the stitches for the collar and knit it in the round. Well, in this case, you do the front and back collar on the front and back before you stitch everything together. I can only think this must be because of the shaping of the collar since it has to fit down around the shoulders, and there's a lot of shaping to it as you knit. Anyway, it's different, and we shall see. Here is the front with the collar started.

Photo Link

Since it's only taken me about 2 months to mostly finish the top, I'm fairly sure I can get the skirt done as well. I hope so anyway, although now that I've read the skirt pattern seriously, I see that it's done on much smaller needles than the top, so that means more stitches, and longer to do it. Oh well, I need a project, I guess. I do seem to be doing more knitting than sewing though, and I'd like to change that.

I did alter some older turtleneck tops the first of the month. Quick and easy, but nice to have them to wear. These were much too big, and not even ones I'd made, and I had been not wearing them unless I needed something for scooping snow, etc. I'm glad to be able to wear them 'for real' now, as they're great for layering under things, and the colors are ones I like (Surprise!) I just put them on and pinned in the sides, and under the arms, then took them off, marked on the inside, trued things up, stitched and cut off the excess. I didn't even use my serger, just a very narrow, longish zigzag. 0.5 x 3.0 is what my machine shows. Pfaff's IDF system really is a wonder on knits.

Veronique In-Progress

Photo Link

I've been working on the Veronique pullover from the Fall 2010 Verena magazine. I found some lovely gray yarn that was just what I was looking for. Almost anyway, as it was spun by a friend with 2 plies. I have been taking the plies apart and using a single to knit this to get the gauge I needed. I like the way it's turning out, and it's been a fun pattern to knit so far. This is the back. I'm not sure I'll ever get the skirt done to match it, but I'd like to try, and I think I have plenty of yarn to do both the pullover and the skirt.

Verena Fall Knitting

I think I mentioned before that I subscribed to the digital version of Verena Knitting beginning with this issue, simply because I loved Pattern #1, a pullover and skirt. The link will take you to their Flash Player, and this should be the first one, it's in gray with a diamond-lattice pattern. I've been sort of looking for some yarn for this, and found some lovely stuff that a friend had. She was donating it to the church knitting group, so I traded them for some nice yarn I had that I wasn't going to make up, so we're all happy. This is a 2-strand yarn, and I'm splitting it into a single strand. So far, I've done the lower edge on the back, so there's a ways to go yet, but it's interesting. I'm hoping to get it all done before gray is no longer an 'in' color.

That's my progress so far, and as you can see, it's pretty meager. This is a size 4 needle, but I'm about to change to a 2 for the body of it. The pattern calls for a 6 and a 4, so this is my usual go-down-two-sizes change. I'm always surprised about this, as I don't think I really knit that loosely, and I can't imagine knitting so tightly that I could go up 2 needle sizes and get the right gauge. I guess I'm a relaxed knitter.

I took a photo of the latest Ruffled Shawl too. It's a mystery content yarn from Mangelson's. I'd bet on a high cotton content though. It's more of a DK weight than a worsted, so it's very drapey. The ruffle doesn't stand quite as well as the worsted yarns have. I love the colors.



I woke up at 4am this morning out of a sound sleep and was instantly alert and getting an early start on my worrying. You know what those kind of nights are like. I got up and decided to sew after about 45 minutes. I cut out and did the first step of the pockets on 2 pairs of narrow pants last week and then stalled. I finished them both this morning except for the elastic, which I will try to do tonight. I'm excited to have them in my wardrobe. I'm a little short on casual pants, and these are going to be nice. Photos when they're done.