jeffknits

2007-12-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

Completed in July 2007: Twisted-float shrug by Annie Modesitt (Vogue Knitting International Fall 2005).

Completed December 2007:

Schoeller-Stahl circular pullover (Winter 2003-2004)

Almost completed: Boatneck sweater by Stefanie Jappel from "Fitted Knits."

In progress: Nancy Marchant's "Brioche stitch sweater" (Interweave Knits Spring 2005)

In progress: Wendy Baker's "Herringbone jacket" from "Knitting for him: 27 projects to keep him warm."

2006-12-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

K1C2 vest/repositioned flowers on Noni pink bag

Below is a picture of a Knit 1 Crochet 2 vest using their Paintbox yarn. This yarn is very similar to Noro Kureyon. Great color variegation, while the wool itself is very scratchy. This is a quick, easy project to make, and the whole thing is made in one peace, with no seams. I completed this project while I was in Vegas for a couple of days for a friend's reunion with her girlfriends. While they got drunk, I was able to finish a vest. Being slightly perfectionistic, I tried to match the color variegation on the panels; for the most part, I was successful.

I have also repositioned the flowers on the Noni pink bag. I decided to put one flower on each side, and I think it looks better than it was before. I am really happy with this bag and it's going into the gift bag for the holidays.

2006-12-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

Large round Noni lattice bag in variegated yarn

I decided to experiment with using variegated yarn for the round Noni lattice bag. I used Cascade 220 for the mc and bought some cheap variegated yarn off eBay from jojoland.com for the cc. I am very pleased with the results. Both yarns felted beautifully and effortlessly in the washer. I lined with duppioni silk in a gold/saffron color, also purchased rather cheaply off eBay. The lining really enlivens the bag because it picks up on the yellows in the variegated yarn. I altered the pattern slightly by adding a row of small contrast-color section towards the top before doing the last two cable sections. The handles are Crystal Palace's that I bought at our local LYS. I think this bag came out beautifully with the combination of yarn, lining and handles. This is also a holiday gift for a friend and I think she will like it very much.

2006-12-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

Finished a Noni square lattice and projects in progess

Below are pictures of the square lattice bag from Noni patterns. A wonderful pattern to knit and great results to boot. I lined mine with orange dupioni silk that I got from fabricfreak at eBay. Gorgeous bag! Nota bene: There is a small error in the square lattice; please check Nora's website (nonipatterns.com) for the correction. Currently, I am knitting a prism bag (large pattern with orange and black yarns) and a circular lattice with variegated yarn as the contrast. We'll see how this last one will work because I chose a very muted pastel color scheme.

The finished square lattice.

The interior lining. I cut out pieces of the fabric, machine-sewed them together and hand-sewed the joined pieces to the bag using invisible thread.
Below are pictures of several projects that I am trying to finish before our annual vacation to Las Vegas in a couple weeks.

First is Annie Modesitt's wonderful circular sweater from the Fall 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. I chose a muted Lorna's Laces shepherd's worsted in "Baltic Sea" and used Lily Chin's "Park Avenue" yarn as the contrast yarn. Almost done, with only the sleeves left to finish. I am half-way finished with one sleeve.

Larger view. I wish I could take better pictures but I am not a good photographer at all.

A closer view with details of the twisted herringbone twine in black. June Hiatt in "Principles of Knitting" offered a few cautionary words about using the herringbone twine over a large area because of all the twisting and untwisting.

This decorative twining is normally used in Scandinavian knitting for the edgings of small hats or mittens and this is the first time that I have seen it used over such a large pattern. Ms. Hiatt offered a trick for dealing with the twining over a large area; however, I was too chicken to try it!

The twining, tangling and untwisting make the knitting very unwieldy and challenging and it requires quite a bit of patience to knit this project. However, the results are stunning and definitely worth it. Plus, I love the fact that Ms. Modesitt dared to use the herringbone twine on such a large pattern (I ended up with close to 600 stitches at the end!). She is truly a knitting heretic!
Another project in progress is the Lily Chin mosaic stitch tunic from her new book "Expressions". This tunic is made using her new "Broadway" and "Central Park" yarns. The "Brodway" yarn is a variegated mohair that lends a stained glass effect to the back and front center panels. This tunic has a few "designery" touches such as the angled edging on either side of the panels and an elegant shoulder shaping technique. Again, my photography skills do not do justice to the project.

2006-10-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Finished: Noni pink and black bag

Following are pictures of the completed pink and black Noni bag with flowers attached and lining sewn in place.

What I really like about the Noni patterns is that they are sophisticated without taking themseves too seriously. There is a certain tongue-in-cheekness about the designs that I like. I've never been tempted to felt anything (much less bags) because a lot of the patterns are either too folksy (an ugly, slouchy, square bag) or too fancy (intarsia flowers, beading, embroidery, french knots (I hate french knots!), etc.).

With the Noni bags, one gets bags that are quick to knit, beautifully designed in terms of shape and proportions, and most of all, something that you would be proud to show to your friends instead of hide in the closet. Next up: the whimsical green and turquoise Majolica bag.

Finally, a picture of the two Noni bags so far in a naturalistic setting. I really need to take a photography class. All my photos are coming up too bright!

2006-10-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Second Noni bag: almost finished

Below are pictures of another Noni bag that I am making. This is the dusty pink and black bag from the "In the sculpture garden" leaflet. This is a fun bag to knit and the flowers are really pretty. I decided to make large flowers: 1 with 20 and 16 stitch petals and 2 with 16 and 14 stitch petals. I used leftover pink yarn from the body of the bag to make the bobbles.

I made the ruffles completely in black. The pattern calls for 3 skeins of pink and there should be enough to make the ruffles; somehow, maybe because of the way I knit, I almost ran out of pink yarn by the time I got to the top of the bag. Thus, I decided to make the ruffles in black, which do not affect the overall look of the bag in a negative way.

This bag is lined with the same fabric as my first bag (I'm not being cheap, just frugal!), which I fused to a layer of fast2fuse stiff interfacing. To make the liner even stiffer, I also stitched on a third layer of another stiff interfacing called Peltex by Pellon. Thus, the bag is nice and rigid and can stand upright all by itself.

I attached the Rowan bamboo handles to the lining using strips of the lining fabric that I folded to show only the pink. All the bag needs now is for the lining to be sewn in place, the flowers stitched on, and some sort of closure attached (maybe magnetic). I may just leave it without the magnetic closure because the bamboo handles do keep the bag pretty secure on top.

I am really happy with the way this project turned out. I showed the bag to the ladies at work and everybody wanted one. Thank you Nora!

Interior lining: pretty good job because I hate sewing. I cut out rectangular interfacings and fabric for the body and triangular interfacings and fabric pieces for the sides. After ironing on the fabric to the fusible interfacing, I glued (yes glued!) the three pieces together using sewing glue.
Pre-felted flowers

Felted flowers. Gorgeous!

2006-10-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

Don's cardigan

Finished Don's Jo Sharp "Naples" cardigan. He loves it, which is the most important thing. He loves wearing it around town and showing off the cardigan. I had a great time knitting it, although the finishing was tricky because of all the stripes that need to be matched. I will be knitting him the men's sweater from Elsebeht Lavold's "Book Four" next.

2006-10-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Finishing the Noni

The finished Noni baguette. How cute and adorable!

Below are pictures of the Noni baguette being finished. I followed the author's advice on her website and used plastic needlework canvas to give the bag its stiff shape. Next time, I will use Timtex or Fast2fuse, both very stiff interfacings and are designed for lining bags, making stiff fabric bowls, hat brims, etc . Below, I taped two needlework canvases together because I could not find one large enough.

I taped the one-sided fusible to the canvas and ironed on my lining on the fusible side. No sewing! I can't sew very well; just enough to get me by. I did the same thing to the round ends. I sewed the round ends to the rectangle and eased the whole thing into the bag.

Next came the zipper, which is tricky because one had to carefully match the stripes. I attached the flowers prior to lining and sewing the zipper. I also tacked the flower petals to the bag to spread them out a little.

Last a picture of the lined interior. Pretty good job, considering my sewing skills.

I love this project and the Noni bags and I'm working on another Noni right now. Thanks Nora for the wonderful designs!

2006-10-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

NONI BAG PINK, GREEN AND CREAM

I've decided to join the fray and start felting. I decided on the Noni cute and "sassy" baguette bag with chrysanthemum flowers made with Cascade 220 wool yarns using pale pink, bright pink, cream and green. I thought it was a garish combination, but my other half convinced me otherwise. He said it would be cute for one of our girlfriends to wear in the spring. This bag, along with an in-progress Lily Chin mosaic tunic, will be her birthday gifts in January.

Below are preliminary pictures of the project in progress. Looks like a ginormous striped watermelon. The pattern has a weird way of picking up stitches to do the round ends. I tried and could not figure out the instructions which call for picking up stitches from the wrong side, and then knitting clockwise. I tried to do this, but it was an impossibility; I ended up with reverse stockinette on the right side. Alas, I decided to pick up stitches from the right side like I normally do and managed to finish the round ends with no problem.

Also, there is a mistake in the pattern for the flexible bind-off method. It should say insert needle purlwise through two stitches from right to left; instead, the pattern said to insert knitwise. This is wrong. For reference on this technique, look up Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitting without tears" which has detailed instructions and diagrams of the method on page 23.

Below is a picture of the felted project. Bev Galeskas, in her book "Felted Knits" warned against letting a felted project go through the spin cycle. Thus, even though the pattern said to do this, I decided to skip this part. I am lucky to have a front loading Maytag Neptune washer with automatic water level sensor and the ability to be stopped so that I could check the felting process.

I got the dimensions called for in the pattern after repeating the agitating process three times. I used a linen wash by Yves Delorme (a minuscule amount) and simply rinsed the project under cold runnning water after felting was completed.

Surprise! Surprise! I have no conception of size whatsoever. The pattern said the project would measure 16" in length by 19" diameter. I got these measurements, but was quite shocked at how big this actually turned out to be. Oh well! I'm sure this will not be a problem; at least, I hope so.

I used t-pins to shut the project together for drying and placed two Polish china plates to maintain the round ends. I still need to sew on a zipper, attach bamboo handles, knit and felt the flowers and line the bag. I won't get these done until next week when I'll be making another trip to our LYS to get the supplies.

2006-09-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Almost finishes

Below are a couple of projects that I am almost finished with. First is a man's sweater done from the top town using K1C2's Paint Box yarn. The yarn is very woolly and has a felted feel (like Noro Kureyon's) and so does not feel very good against the skin. However, this sweater will be worn on top of something, so this is not a big issue. Pattern is from page 76 of Mary Rich Goodwin's book on seamless top-down sweaters called "Sweaters for everyone: Kids to Adults".

Second is a Jo Sharp cardigan using her fabulous New Zealand dk wool yarn. This yarn is like butter to work with. Done flat in pieces, it has a fifty row pattern repeat and frequent color changes in stripes. I have to say that I love doing colorwork, but stripes done flat is my least favorite. Even carrying the yarns on the sides do not eliminate all the ends that will have to be darned in later. Nonetheless, this has turned out to be a great cardigan and I can't wait to finish it.

2006-08-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

DISASTER: Schoeller-Stahl Excellent mouliné sweater

I saw the picture above in Interweave knits and was captivated by it. I went to our yarn store and bought the Schoeller-Stahl Winter 2003-2004 book that contains this pattern. The pattern is interesting in that it contains a circular front and back knitted on 10.75 double pointed needles. Apparently, this is an unusual size for dpns; fortunately, Brittany makes them and I was able to get them at our yarn store. I heard now that Crystal Palace is also carrying this size dpns.

The original pattern in the Schoeller-Stahl book is useless and should be avoided at all costs. The instructions were plain wrong and I actually had to frog my sweater a couple of times, thinking it was my error (see below). The way the instructions are written, the sweater is not turning out like the model in the picture. In frustration, I brought the pattern and my knitting to the yarn store for assistance. None of the teachers could figure out the pattern. The owner, who is a native of Germany, said that even the German instructions of the pattern do not make sense!

Finally, the owner decided to contact Skacel, who now owns the pattern for some reason. She was faxed over new instructions for the pattern that are unlike the original that is in the book. I have yet to go back and reknit the project using the Skacel instructions; it still boggles me how a company like Schoeller-Stahl could put out such a defective pattern. They should pay me for the cost of the book. The instructions from Skacel also specify easier to find size 10.5 or 11 dpns.

The lesson here is if any of you are taken in by the pattern while perusing a knitting magazine, DO NOT use the pattern in the original Schoeller-Stahl book. Have your yarn store contact Skacel to email or fax you the correct pattern.

2006-08-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

Lace

Below is a picture of a lace shawl that I completed recently. Pattern is from Cheryl Oberle's magnificent book "Folk Shawls". This is the "Wool Peddler" shawl that is on the cover of the book. I used Mountain Colors' "Wool Crepe" yarn for this project. This is a yarn that consists of a nubby, springy strand wound around a straight strand. This gives the yarn a very springy quality and texture.

Knitting lace with this yarn was rather challenging. If I had to start all over, I would choose a plain fingering or dk yarn. Because of the yarn's nubby, springy quality, it was rather difficult for me to see the stitches and yarn-overs and align the motifs properly. The colors also made the whole project challenging. However, persistence paid off in a shawl that has a great drape to it; it just hangs off the shoulders when worn and the stitches stretch out all by themselves. As a result, I found it unnecessary to block the finished shawl. The shawl is quite big and I had trouble fitting it into my camera view finder as a result.

Below is a quick lacy project that came out of the summer 2006 issue of Knitter's. This is the "Morning Glory" capelet designed by Rick Mondragon. I changed the edging for the capelet; the original had little short-row triangles that made the capelet look like Kermit the Frog's cape. I changed it to a simple feather and fan edging. The body of the capelet is gorgeous though and the lace pattern is not difficult to do. I used an Interlacements yarn for this capelet.

As you may have noticed, I like intense colors in my projects. I hope the recipients of these projects would not object to the colors.

Last are a couple of rectangular shawls I am making. The first is the wonderful Victorian shawl from the cover of the same issue of Knitter's. I am using Karabella's "Lace Mohair" for this project.

The second is a feather and fan shawl from an Interlacements pattern, using one of their gorgeous hand-painted yarns. I am not sure when I will finish these two projects. I am knitting a cardigan for my other half and he has been urging me to finish that one first before finishing anything else because fall is fast approaching!

2006-08-22T10:38:00.001-07:00

TAMS

Below are pictures of tams that I finished last year. Both are from Vogue Knitting on the Go's "Hats" book. This is a great series of knitting books. I really do not care for the magazine itself; most of the patterns in Vogue Knitting magazine are overly trendy (perhaps to compete with its more prestigious sister publication Vogue) and would go out of fashion before one could spell schädenfreude. However, the Vogue Knitting on the Go books are great and are highly recommended.

Below is the fair isle tam from the cover of the book. A wonderful pattern and very soothing to knit. I substituted the yarns because our knitting shop does not carry the specified Harrisville yarns. So I used a combination of Silja and another sock yarn. There is a mistake at the top of the tam when I got the white yarn mixed in with the turquoise yarn. I thought about doing a duplicate stitch to cover up my mistake. But then, I decided to leave the mistakes in because I do not believe that every knitting project must be 100% perfect.

Below is an intarsia tam from the same book. Also a fun project. I made a minor boo-boo as a result of not reading the pattern carefully. The pattern specifed a decrease towards the top every other row. I did my decrease every row. Not a major error; the sample in the shop has a more conical shape because of the slower decrease. Mine has more of a dome and traditional tam shape because of the faster decrease. I also knitted this project using the Silja sock yarns. Because of the Silja yarns, both tams can be thrown into a cold washer.

Dyeing adventure

2006-08-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

I began knitting in November 2004. I haven't stopped since then, and I have knitted many things that I have given away as gifts. The reason for this blog is a way for me to document my knitting, before I send them off to friends and loved ones.

Recently, I began to think maybe I should dye my own yarn. I received a hank of yarn from www.wool2dye4.com along with a beautiful DK bluefaced leicester that I bought. The proprietress of wool2dye4, Sheila Mahone, is a wonderful woman who also enclosed a couple packages of Kool Aid and instructions on dyeing with Kool Aid along with my purchase.

This is a picture from my first attempt. The yarn, a wonderfully soft Kona superwash fingering weight, is being scoured by soaking in a bowl of warm water and a couple tiny squirts of dishwashing liquid. I did not use vinegar because Kool Aid already has acid in it. On other blogs and web sites, I have noticed people adding a few "glug-glugs" of vinegar to the scouring process to ensure better dyeing results when dyeing with Kool Aid.

Next, the yarn is being dyed. I mixed four ounces of water with one package of Kool Aid Jamaica (red) and four ounces of water with a package of Kool Aid mango (orange). To achieve the green avocado color, I simply mixed two ounces of the mango with two drops each of green and blue McCormick's food coloring.

Kool Aid works like an acid dye. The acid (I believe it's citric in this case) is already mixed in with the Kool Aid powder. The acid causes a reaction with the protein fiber when heated, thus allowing the dye to bond with the wool. All that one has to do is dissolve one package in 4 oz of water, dye the cleaned and dampened wool and heat to set the dye into the fiber. Once dyed, the wool is color-fast and does not fade at all. This is a surprise to me, considering that Kool Aid is something that one drinks. Please make sure to use the unsweetened variety of Kool Aids. Apparently, the sugared ones will cause your yarn to glop together hopelessly.

Below is a picture of the dyed yarn being placed in a microwave-safe bowl and covered with plastic wrap. I'm thinking next time I should not fold the yarn on top of itself like this. Following the instructions, I micowaved for 2 minutes, let rest for 2 minutes, and microwaved for another 2 minutes. One can also steam the yarn. Once cooled to room temperature, I very, very gently squeezed the water out of the yarn. The liquid that came out was slightly milky, meaning that all the dyes had been absorbed or "exhausted" by the yarn. No wasted dye!

Next, a picture of the yarn after drying. There are mistakes, being that this is my first attempt. For one, I didn't secure the hank of yarn carefully. So after drying, I noticed that a few strands of yarn that should have been dyed red were dyed green. Also, I did not use sufficient quantities of dye for this project, so I ended up with strands of undyed yarn. Next time, I will double the recipe.

Next is a picture of the yarn after I wound it up. Last is a 4" x 4 " swatch that I made. As you can see, the white strands of yarn did not hurt the swatch and in fact breaks up the intensity of the colors. I am currently knitting a pair of socks with the yarn. I will post the finished picture of the socks.