Top-Down Set-In Seamless Sleeves (WHAT?!?!)

Tasha, the stylish genius behind By Gum, By Golly, just may be my new favorite craft blogger. She did not invent this ingenious method for sleeve knitting, but her tutorial is beautifully written and illustrated, and discovering her blog was nothing short of a "Eureka!" moment in the process of designing the Flamingo Cardi.

With all the garter rib pieces finished and seamed together, I found myself faced with large, asymmetrical armholes, and absolutely zero experience shaping set-in sleeves from scratch. Not willing to just wing it on something as structured as a sleeve cap, I googled for days, looking for the right tutorial, the right shaping wizard tool, something designed for knitting, not sewing, although I knew I could manage to convert the basic concepts if really necessary. Nothing I found seemed exactly suitable, especially for the unusually shaped armholes now staring me down.

Somehow, somewhere in there, I stumbled across Tasha's tutorial. And it was like one of those beautiful moments of clarity you read about. The room seemed brighter, music played somewhere.

The basic gist of it is, without stepping on Tasha's toes - because really, you should go to her for this - you pick up stitches around the armhole, and then work short rows centered at the shoulder, increasing one stitch at a time on either side, until you get to a certain marked point near the bottom of your sleeve, and then just start working in the round. It's so simple. And so obvious after the fact, in the "why didn't I think of that, except of course I never would have" kind of way.

It did take a bit of finagling on my part, due to that crazy asymmetry of my sweater design. But I've got one sleeve finished now, and it hangs perfectly. I did the first sleeve entirely on dpns, but I have a few uneven stitches sprinkled through it, probably due to working with a looser gauge that I'm accustomed to. For the second sleeve, I picked up the stitches with dpns but then thought better of it and switched to my circular to shape the cap. I'm ready to work in the round now, and I may have to switch back to dpns soon, since I'll have to start decreasing down the sleeve and my stitches already barely fit on my single size 9 circular. I really should get a second one. Knitting in the round on two circulars is SO much better than dpns.

I also went lace hunting for the trim yesterday morning, and scored the perfect pale pink floral lace. It's a large-patterned lace like on the original sweater, and while it's not a flawless color match for the yarn, it's pretty dang close and I think it's going to look lovely! Better make sure I know where my ballpoint sewing needles are...

Spring is Coming!

The sun is shining more often than not, the flowers are starting to peek out - 'tis the season for knit lace!

Chloe is wearing the Esme pullover knit from Patons Beehive Baby Fingering in the color Vintage Lace - I just love it when the color matches the project so well. :)

Lacy...

I'm blocking a gauge swatch for a new project! Can anyone guess what it's going to be?

I won't really be able to get officially underway until I make another Tanya Cap (maybe to be renamed?) and get the pattern for that written, but once I math it out, I'll be ready to cast on hundreds of stitches!

FO Real!

Woo, another WIP has officially joined the ranks of proud Finished Objects.  And in the end, I decided to try and sell it anyway! The weather is exactly right for it, and Victorianesque things seem to be all over Etsy lately.  Now to find the motivation to keep working on that crocheted bedspread for mom...

 

Now available in my Etsy shop!

Blocking the Lavender Leaves

All done! Hope to get a picture of Audrey wearing it when I give it to her on Tuesday. :D

Spiriting 2009 - The Lavender Leaves Scarf

At our school, we have a holiday ritual of "spiriting" - like Secret Santa, except with three gifts over three days, which must include clues to the giver's identity, and ruthless interrogations on the part of the "spiritees" to ferret out the name of their "spiritors" - all based on the clues, of course. The questioner is not allowed to ask directly, "Are you my spiritor?" and in return, the responder is not allowed to lie, although clever circumlocutions are encouraged if necessary.

At an after-school staff party on the fourth day, everyone brings a thank-you gift for their spiritor, whoever that person may be, and we take turns announcing who we believe our spiritor to be, and amusement ensues, especially if someone guesses wrong.

My spiritor turned out to be Audrey, one of the kindergarten teachers, and someone I actually know better than a lot of them, since she has one of my ESL students in her class. My gift to her was more a promise than a gift - a promise to knit her a scarf in any color and texture she desired. She said she loved purple, especially lavender, and would rather have something girly and lacy over something thick and fuzzy. So, after a quick hunt for something pretty and free to download, I cast on! I'm using the same Cascade Heritage sock yarn that I used for my "Plum Fizz" crocheted top, since I had plenty left over. The main color is "lilac" and there is a brief border in the much darker "plum."

It's the perfect portable project to bring with me on the plane as I fly back to Pennsylvania for the holidays, and with luck, I'll be able to work on it quite a bit while I'm there, and present her with it sometime in early or mid January.

Blocking the Shawl

IT'S DONE!!! Had to learn the "Russian Lace Bind Off." I don't know if I am ever knitting a lace shawl ever again. That's all I have to say about that right now.

Lacy Frustrations

I nearly had a complete meltdown yesterday evening. There were tears; there was muffled screaming; there were unforgivable thoughts of knitticide. (o)ribbit(o)

I've been working on a lace shawl. I know there are people who whip these things up regularly and never think twice about it, but I've never done anything even remotely so complex and difficult, and I'm having a hell of a time with it. The most frustrating part is that the stitches are NOT EVEN difficult. Yarn-overs, k2tog's and ssk's, with the occasional s1k2togpsso thrown in for neatness. Nothing I can't handle. I can even read charts with zero confusion. Heck, I make my own charts!

So what's the problem?

Honestly, I don't know if it's simply a concentration issue or what, but I keep making very simple mistakes - usually it's forgetting a yarn-over - and then I don't notice it until two rows later when I suddenly realize I don't have the correct number of stitches to finish this new row of the chart. Since my lifeline is usually several rows below that, I wind up carefully tinking back, one stitch at a time, down two whole rows, which at this point are just over 100 stitches each. I'm making more progress backward than forward. And so, this shawl that I gave myself seven weeks to make (now six), is perhaps only 10% done.

The only reason I'm even sticking with it is that I told my mom I'd make something fabulous and periodish for this Victorian Holiday Party she and my stepdad have been invited to, and to which they're bringing me. The guests at this party are encouraged to present some sort of performance - a song, a reading, a dramatic interpretation, or, as in my case, a brief talk on a craft or hobby, the accompanying display being, of course, this goddamn shawl. I said I would do it, I want everyone to admire it, so dammit, I'm going to make this farking thing and I'm going to make it on time.

Stubborn pride can be an excellent motivator.