The Lumpy Sweater

 I have promised to show off my cardigan this week, but I’m still looking for buttons. Meanwhile, I have

• started and finished one cowl
• ripped out the cowl
• used the cowl yarn to start a pair of Spring Forward socks, from the summer issue of Knitty

I’m using my Elizabeth Bennet sock yarn in the Sunshower colorway and honestly, I think that this yarn and pattern are a match made in heaven.

 The pattern is exceptionally simple, one of the easiest that I’ve ever knitted and really looks fabulous. I did, however, narrow the heel from 30 stitches to 24, because my Monkey socks ended up bagging around my narrow heel rather a bit. I’ve reached the gusset decreases and so far it’s looking good.

 Certainly better than the cowl that I tried to knit. It was the Pashmina Cowl from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Get this: the yarn striped. Yes, at 130 stitches, the sock yarn made narrow, soft stripes, but that didn’t bothered me. What bothered me was that the cowl was just too baggy.

 So I ripped out the entire cowl and am now knitting these deliciously smoky colored lace socks with my carefully customized heels. I think this is going to work.

Pattern: My own basic ribbed hat

Yarn: 1-1/3 of skeins of Koigu Kersti

 I’m particularly proud of this hat, because I just winged it. I cast on 112 stitches on my sixteen inch circular, knit until it looked right, and improvised the decreases so that the ribbed look was maintained. I finished it in two days. I don’t know, there’s something magical about hats for me. I always finish them quickly. My Gretel beret took less than a month and my handspun hat took even less.

Ah, adolescence, what a smooth complexion you have bestowed on me—not. Tonight is poetry reading at our local Borders, and after the reading (I participated) I stuffed myself into a leather chair with some knitting magazines and the latest sock that I have started, and which should appear soon.

 When I first showed off my hat to my dad, his mouth twitched slightly.

 ”You know,” he said, “I just don’t think that hat is your kind of hat, Barb.”

 I think it’s because he is convinced that ribbed ski hats and fingerless gloves all belong to hobos or bums. Honestly, it’s really too hot to wear this hat now anyway, but I know that I’ll be glad to have it once autumn rolls around. Last year, I really wasn’t prepared for winter. Now I know that I’ll have a couple hats, some socks, a scarf and (coming to this blog soon) a cardigan to keep me warm.

 Even if I do look like a bum.

I promise that there will be some new finished objects appearing here soon…just busy knitting right now.

For a couple weeks, my basic black cardigan has been completed—but not quite. I needed to seam it together and I have never seamed a sweater before. Let’s put it this way: I have taught myself to purl, knit socks, cable, fair isle (a little) and a lot of other things. I’m not afraid to learn. But no matter how I looked at it, I could not understand seaming.

 In yesterday’s post I showed off my latest yarn purchase, some Dulce sock yarn. This Sunday, I bought that—and I sat down on the couch with Pat and learned how to seam. Business was slow that afternoon so I had a long stretch of afternoon in which Pat showed me the different seams on the in-store sweaters and I could practice making ugly seams. After many, many, many false starts, I finally found something that looked pretty good, one that she showed me how to use.

 Fortunately, this tedious but not very engaging work meant that we could chat about random things and I found out something gratifying: we’re both Alexander Hamilton fans. (Me and another friend have an on-going rivalry: I’m for Hamilton and she’s for Jefferson. A cursory look at history reveals that neither Alex or Jeff got along very well!)

 After a few hours, I was sweating, my back complained and my eyes started to flunk out on me. But I persevered. I want this damn’d sweater finished! (I figure damn’d must be a Shakespearean term, so it doesn’t count as swearing. Like, when you say, John the Bastard, in Much Ado About Nothing. Or, damn’d spirits all, in Midsummer’s Night Dream.)

 And because I’ve always heard from people that the inside should look just as good as the outside, here’s the sweater, inside-out.

 I’ve finished seaming the underside of the sleeve and the side, so I’m moving on to the right sleeve. After that, it will just be the ribbing and any other loose ends to weave in! I started this cardigan in January. If I can finish it in August, then it will be 8 months, start to finish.

 Damn’d seams!

Pattern: Preemie Hats for Charity

Yarn: Sublime Organic Cotton DK

Needle: Size 5

 I know that I’m going to have an extra skein of this left over from my t-shirt (still working on it!) and I got two hats from one skein. Not too bad.

 These hats are part of a KAL that is happening in one of my Ravelry groups. We’re going to knit baby items for hospitals or charities. I’m not sure if I will be able to donate these two paticular hats because they can’t be machine dried, but it’s practice. Any recommendations about good yarn for preemie hats (non-wool, please, and machine washable-dryable if you know of some) would be greatly appreciated. If hospitals can’t use these, I’ll donate them to my church.

It’s the first time that I’ve knit for charity and I feel good about it. If I find a yarn that’s really good, maybe I can make a hat-sock-blanket set! One person in the group is going to get all the knitted items and then donate it to a local hospital. It’s going to rotate, though, so different hospitals all over the country are going to get donations!

 I started and finished one hat yesterday and one hat today. Being sick gives one time for such mindless knitting.

 I have two major projects coming to a close. First, my first cardigan, which is patiently awaiting a serious seaming session, a button band and some buttons. Secondly, my t-shirt. Yes, my pink t-shirt is nearly finished.

 Spurred on by Michelle’s example, I have completed the front, the first sleeve, and I am 3 or 4 rows away from finishing the second sleeve. (Michelle, I feel a little dense—I actually ended up binding off all the neck stitches, I didn’t feel knowledgable enough to leave them on a holder!)

 Jen is taking things at a slightly more sane rate on her t-shirt.

The front: in an artistic pose that hides the fact that the sunlight bleached my other photos

My one completed sleeve.

Actually, I just looked at the second sleeve. Something is screwed up here. It’s way too short and way too skinny. That’s a reknit.

 The sleeves gave me a little panic; since I’ve been following the directions for a size 40, (but gauge should make it a size 36) I’ve been following the width instructions, but following the size 36 instructions for length, since the row gauge is the same.  This should give me a perfect fit t-shirt.

 But I panicked—I was following the 40 directions for a sleeve, how could I make it the right length and the right shape so that it would fit into the shorter armhole? After some calculations, I figured out that the size 40 sleeve is actually only 4 rows longer than the 36, so I decreased a little more rapidly and it should be OK. Should be.

 But all this flurry, this excitement, this learning-of-seaming…it’s making me sad. And a little scared. Not of the seaming, no. But suddenly, these two projects will be over. I’ve been working on the cardigan since at least December. I knit fast. Longer projects help, because I don’t have to look for another project so soon. Inches of stockinette keeping my fingers busy. There’s an energy required to picking projects that exhausts me.

 Let’s put it this way, I hate starting or picking out projects. Hate it. This might sound weird. I’ll rephrase it; I love the potential, I love the colors, I love wandering into a yarn store with a crisp twenty in my pocket and empty needles at home.

 But deciding is very hard for me. I am so entranced with possibilities that decision is cold and harsh. I hate the emotional energy of deciding that such a yarn becomes such a pattern. That’s why, if I see a yarn or pattern that I must knit, I grab at it. It is so rare that I can simply shrug off my nagging brain and simply DECIDE that I simply obey it, whenever it happens.  (The Sublime Cotton was one of those)

 Sweaters make it easier. Once started, they last for some time, especially in DK weight. No decisions. Just knitting.

 I do have at least one large project. My Seascape wrap, although after completing a swatch, I think I will need lace needles. Other than that…no current projects. Oh, sure, some long abandoned single socks. (Ha!)

 However, I am still excited. I have some lovely new yarn and other things to show you, and it is so hard not to start new projects at once. However, I must resist, and finish all the pieces of my t-shirt first.

 My knitting runs in bursts. Inbetween knitting a t-shirt, starting my first lace wrap, finishing my first pair of Monkeys and learning how to seam my first sweater, you would think that I would learn my lesson and stop starting new projects!

 Ha.

 However, this story has a happy ending. Remember this yarn? Named Wood Elves, it instantly brought to mind the play that my older sister is starring in. She is playing the role of Hermia in Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare.

 Yes, that is a finished object. A hat. 

Pattern: The Sand and Sea Tam

Yarn: Handspun from Enchanted Knoll Farm Pencil Roving

Colorway: Wood Elves

 I love the colors. I think I could pass as one of Titania or Oberon’s fairies or as a short, stumpy and odd looking elf in Middle Earth.

OK, maybe not. But a girl can dream. After all, they stuck around for 4 months after the bloody council before they left. That’s plenty of time for me to work my…wiles.

 Friday before last, I showed off some beautiful grey laceweight yarn that I bought for the Seascape wrap. I’ve never knitted so much lace before, but it seemed like a good time to start. Meanwhile, I moodled around a bit, looking at the other patterns by Kieran Foley, the designer.

 Finally, I decided that I needed to know more about this mysterious designer of lace. So I shot off a quick message to Mr. Foley, asking if he wouldn’t mind doing a little interview for my blog. (I’ll confess, I was trembling a little; I don’t usually talk to a Real Live Designer.) Fortunately, this real life designer was extremely obliging, and so you get to read the first ever interview on the Lumpy Sweater.

(enter: Kieran Foley, designer of the Seascape Wrap. He lives in Dublin, Ireland, and has been knitting since before his interviewer, Barbara, was born!)

 Barbara:  Before I delve into questions about your designs, I’d love to know a little bit more about your background in knitting. Did you teach yourself to knit or did someone else?

 Kieran: I learned to knit from my mother when I was 8 or 9. She used to knit and sew clothes for us. At the time I made an egg-cosy, and did some stranded work as well.

 Barbara:  Following up that question, what prompted you to take up knitting?

 Kieran: A couple of years ago I decided to make myself a hat, looked around for a pattern, and discovered the virtual world of knitting. 

 Barbara: Have you ever experienced odd reactions from people because you are a man who knits? Many people still consider the province of lace and knitting to be strictly female occupation.

 Kieran: No - but I don’t kip! [Knit in Public, gentle readers!]

 Barbara: Seascape, your lace wrap design that was just released in the Summer issue of Knitty, has attracted a lot of attention from the knitting community. What is different about Seascape, in your mind, that sets it apart from the many other lace shawl patterns?

 Kieran: I haven’t thought about this before…..I didn’t approach the design from that angle. It has a big repeat and quite a lot of plain knitting. You could say it is more linear than textural.

 Barbara: For someone who is very much new to knitting lace, the idea of designing lace is even more intimidating—and fascinating! From concept to finished shawl, how long did it take to design Seascape?

 Kieran: “Arctic Lace” by Donna Druchunas introduced me to the basic stitches and techniques, and the concept of charting. Seascape started out as something very different - it was going to be called Sensibility Stole and look like something that a Jane Austen character might wear. It had a much more complicated border which I knit and frogged a couple of times, and eventually gave up on as the Knitty deadline. The current wave pattern is an exaggerated version of part of that original design. It probably took a month from start to finish.

 Barbara:  Were you inspired by a paticular character or book by Austen?

 Kieran: I was thinking in general (and without much concern for historical accuracy) about the kind of embroidered shawls that were imported from India around that time, with richly decorated borders at each end, and a central medallion on a plain ground.

 Barbara: A knit-a-long for the wrap has already been created on Ravelry.com. How has Ravelry affected your ability as a designer to communicate with people knitting your design? How does it affect your ability to see how people are interpreting your design?

 Kieran:  It was very exciting to see the reaction on Ravelry when Knitty was published and the knit-a-long started. It’s very interesting to see the yarn choices, and to watch the projects develop.

 Barbara: One of my personal favorites is the woman who is knitting a red-hot Seascape out of fingering weight yarn, rather than lace weight.

 Kieran:  I love that one too.

 Barbara: With all the buzz surrounding Seascape, does that make you even more enthusiastic about your next design project?

 Kieran: The buzz is very much a Knitty buzz. Designs introduced on my own website get less fanfare.

 Barbara: I’ve browsed your website, kieranfoley.com, and noticed some lovely Fair Isle charts and designs of yours. Also, you mentioned in your Knitty biography that you love Scandinavian mittens. Any chance that we might be seeing something along those lines in the future?

 Kieran: Yes, my current design projects are stranded. In the future I’d like to do a stranded sock.

 With that tantalizing statement, I’m sure that there are plenty of us that will be keeping our eye on Mr. Foley’s future designs!

 Meanwhile, I’m working my fingers over my own Seascape wrap, which I’ve rather predictably dubbed, “Grey Sea,” and which has been (at least for my limited lace skills) a trial in patience. The adamant advice of friends, (LIFE-LINE, YOU FOOLS! PUT IN A LIFE-LINE! IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR YOUR SORRY SOUL!) has helped a lot.

 The redeeming factor, as it usually is with my more difficult projects, is the yarn. The Silky Alpaca feels very light and soft. You might think that the silk would make it difficult to knit with, but the alpaca adds a nice grabbiness to the yarn that makes it less prone to slip.  

 Yet, somehow, this makes no difference when I have ripped out the same 8 rows over and over and over and over and…yes. I have the stupids.

 But when I smooth out the few, soft inches, it somehow…

makes me a heck of a lot glad that I’ve got a darn lifeline in it!

 If I close my eyes and wish really hard, I can imagine that the entire front of my nothing but a t-shirt is done. I’m almost to the neck shaping now, so I’m not too far away.

 Michelle has a jump on me, however, and has an entire sleeve finished!

 Jen doesn’t have updates on her t-shirt, but she does have a lovely scarf that she knitted in public last Saturday, and she actually got to teach someone to knit!

 This coming week should be jam-packed with pictures and more pictures—new yarn, new projects, a mysterious finished object and, well, a little extra surprise on Monday. Cheers!

 Somehow, LeAnne keeps wandering into my blog posts, but this week’s project update is largely due to her help, so…

 The orange sweater is now seamed—partly. Last Saturday was Knit in Public day, and it provided the perfect excuse to go the yarn store.  Feeling inspired, I brought a treat, because lately, I keep seeing cupcakes on knitting blogs. Tienne and her daughter make cupcakes from scratch (curse them and their skills!) and Ysolda makes healthy and deliciously cute mini cupcakes on her blog. She also has a recipe!

 However, I have no such skills. I bought a box of white cake mix, some generic vanilla frosting and waltzed into the store with two bags on one arm and two plates of cupcakes balanced on my hands. Someone, seeing my plight through the big glass window, kindly opened the door.

 Perhaps the bribe helped, but when I helplessly gestured to my bag, full of the pieces of my Basic Black cardigan, Leanne put aside her afghan square to help. Secretly, it may have also had to do with the fact that the stitch pattern for the square wasn’t working out. Instead of looking like cute little leaves, it looked rather like an afghan square decorated with bobbly nipples–sorry, Leanne! Anyway, I pulled out my tapestry needle, the smell of incense filled the air and I woke a few hours later, with this in my numb hands…

 Actually, there was no incense, but it did seem like magic when Leanne showed me how to seam the shoulder parts together.

Also, despite their humble origins, the cupcakes went over rather well.  A steady stream of shoppers meant that I didn’t have to bring home too many. Ah, Betty Crocker, we worship at thy cardboard altar! Even the older woman who cheerfully referred to me as “kid,” seemed to enjoy her cupcake. (Also; since when did old people call people ‘kid’? Doesn’t that just happen in movies?)

 I have officially declared my missing six 6 needle dead. I wept, and then bought another pair of them, bamboo, to match the old ones. Wednesday I will update the t-shirt KAL. Thank goodness for DK weight…my struggles with laceweight, well…they’ll make another blog post…filled with fake swears…