twistedloops

The Phyllo-Yoked Pullover made it’s debut at the KTog Holiday party last Friday, but I never got a good photo of it there.

I love this sweater.  It is very comfortable to wear, and the yarn is smooshy and soft.  I wasn’t sure about the sleeves before I started, but the bell sleeves are one of my favorite things about the sweater now that it’s finished.

Pattern: Phyllo Yoked Pullover
Source: Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Baruffa Merinos Sei (135 yards / 50g)
Quantity: 11 skeins (~1485 yards)
Color: Olive Green
Needles: Denise US5

Started: November 01, 2007
Completed: December 04, 2007

Pattern modifications:

• I shortened the sweater and the sleeves by an inch.  I still wish the sweater was a tiny bit shorter.
• I knit a different edging on the sleeves and body because I did not want a rolled stockinette edge.  I did three rows knit, three rows purl (knit flat).

It’s been a long, hard November. Lots of work = less knitting.

The phyllo-yoked pullover has been progressing slowly. Large pieces of stockinette is fairly boring knitting. My work schedule was really keeping me from knitting, and I started to worry about finishing my sweater in November. However, with four days off over the Thanksgiving weekend, I was sure that I’d be able to make great progress and finish up the sweater in the month of November. I worked on it on Wednesday night and Thursday, sewing the seams of the pieces so I could join it in the round to knit the yoke. Everything was going so well. I sat down on Friday, joined the body and the sleeves, and started knitting. About a round and a half into knitting, disaster happened. My needle snapped just before it joined the cable.

It’d felt tight, but I didn’t think there was that much tension in the process. With the needle free, the cable pulled back and stitches fell everywhere.

I knew from swatching that this was the only needle I had that would meet gauge. It wasn’t even like it would be quick to replace, it’s part of my Denise set. I assumed the project was doomed – there was no way it would be finished in November.

Undeterred by the disaster, I knew that needed to knit to calm my nerves. I pulled out the Mad Color Weave sock, grafted the toe on the first sock, and cast on for sock number two. As can be seen in the photo, I’m most of the way through the leg; only 1.5 more repeats of the pattern until I start the heel.

Luckily, as the weekend progressed, I remembered that Jennifer also has a Denise set. Since we work together, I asked on Monday to borrow one of her size 5 needles, if she wasn’t using them. Luckily, they weren’t in use, and she brought me the needle on Tuesday.

Last night I picked up the fallen stitches and went back to knitting the yoke. The sweater did not seem nearly as tight on the needle as I’d remembered. I still have no idea how I broke the needle. I managed to get a few rows into the yoke before heading to bed last night.

I still think that it will be a real challenge to finish knitting the sweater in November, but I may only go over by a few days. Participating in NaKniSweMo has taught me that knitting a sweater doesn’t have to take a long time. If it wasn’t for this month’s hectic work schedule, I’d have easily finished this project in three to four weeks. Perhaps this will inspire me to knit more sweaters in my future.

Mom has asked for this Drops sweater (Ravelry) for her birthday, December 20th. I’ve considered taking on the challenge, but she hasn’t sent me her measurements yet. I’m not sure I could do it in the worsted weight version, but the bulky version might just be finishable in that timeline.

There has been very slow progress on the NaKniSweMo sweater.  I measured the swatches after blocking, and there were minor changes in size.  The swatch that was closest to the appropriate gauge was the Denise US5 (the middle swatch in the photo).  This was the swatch that had spot on gauge before blocking.  After blocking, the row gauge was still fine, but the stitch gauge was now too big by approximately .25 stitches per 4 inches.

Currently, I’m working on the sleeves.  I have one more set of increases at the top of the sleeve, and then a bit more knitting and they’ll finally be done.  There was a moment, after having worked for a while on the sleeves, where I looked down and noticed that the balls of yarn were getting small.  They appeared to be about a quarter their original size (I started from the outside of the ball).  I checked the pattern, “Knit until sleeve measures 10.5 inches”.  A quick measurement of the sleeves, which were a little over 5 inches in length, and I was confident that I would easily run out of yarn before it was time to begin the increases.  I continued knitting and watching television.  I knit, and knit, and knit.  Finally, after realizing that I had been knitting for quite some time without yet having run out of yarn, I decided to take a look at my knitting.  The sleeves seemed awfully long, and there was still a little yarn remaining.  Out came the measuring tape.  The sleeves were just a tad over 10.5 inches already.  How does this happen?  Am I that terrible at judging the remaining amount of yarn?  Or perhaps this was magic yarn…That’s the theory that I’m sticking with.  It has nothing to do with my knitterly skills; it’s all just yarn issues.

Before I started the sweater, I continued to work on the Mad Color Weave sock.  I managed to make it into the gusset before the first of November.  Since then, I haven’t worked on it at all.  The sock did accompany me to KTog this week, and the general consensus was that it looks better in person than in my blog photos.  Even so, I’ll leave you with a picture of the sock progress (just imagine that it looks better than in the photo).

After returning home from my trip to Oregon, I was able to dig in the stash and find an additional skein of the Phildar Leader to finish the February Baby Sweater.  After finishing the knitting and weaving in the ends, I faced an even bigger challenge.  I needed to find buttons.

I don’t have much of a button stash, and from having browsed sites like Ravelry, and the Zimmerman knitalong, I knew that great buttons really make a difference on this sweater.  I checked a few of the local big box craft stores, but was a bit disappointed at the selection. 

So, I decided it was time to try a specialty sewing store.  At the Libertyville Sewing Center, they had a large bucket of buttons.  As the person at the store explained, they’d run out of space to keep buttons on display on cards, so they ripped them all off and stored them in a bucket.  They have a large table that you can dump the bucket onto to help in the sorting of buttons.  While I had fun looking through the bucket, this is not the way to go if you need a lot of buttons or if you don’t have a lot of time.  But, all the buttons in the bucket are only ten cents each, so you can find some deals. What buttons did I find?

It’s a little difficult to capture them accurately in a photo.  They’re round plastic buttons with wood grain finish and a dark purple/maroon shade rubbed in the edges and the detail cuts on the button.  I think that they match the sweater well, and I love that they aren’t too babyish.

I think I understand now why so many knitters have knit this pattern.  Overall, you get a sweater that looks much more complex than the effort put into it.  I thought it was really fun to knit too.  I will definitely be knitting more of these as future baby presents.  Here are some photos of the finished sweater.

Pattern:  February Baby Sweater (a.k.a. Baby Sweater on Two Needles)
Source: Knitters Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn:  Phildar Leader (220 yards / 100g)
Quantity: A little over 1 skein (~300 yards)
Color: Maroon/Eggplant
Needles: Addi Turbo 40″ 3.5mm (US 4)

Started: September 09, 2007
Completed: October 01, 2007

Pattern modifications:

• I used only three button holes in the yoke area for the sweater.  I like the open sweater look.
• I knit the sleeves in the round to avoid seaming at the sweater completion.  This allowed me to pickup stitches instead of casting them on as I continued working the body. 
• My gauge was larger than the pattern gauge of 5 stitches per inch, but this way the baby can grow into the sweater.
• Since I made a slightly larger sweater, I extend the length of the sweater by half an inch.

Pattern tips:

• Elizabeth Zimmerman’s “pithy” patterns leave a lot of room for interpretation.  The instructions for beginning the body after the sleeves and casting-on “4×7″… I’m still not sure I understood them correctly. 
• This pattern is a wonderful example of why you should read an entire pattern before beginning to knit it.  She doesn’t mention buttonholes until you have finished knitting the yoke.  If you wanted yoke buttonholes, you’d be out of luck.

There will be more of this sweater in my future.  I just have to wait now for more news of babies.

I’m on my trip and I finally got in a little knitting.  I continued working on the February Baby Sweater.  So far, I’ve managed to finish about four inches of the body before running out of yarn.  It’s not a complete crisis; there is more yarn back home, so I’ll be able to finish the sweater.  No photos of the sweater today because the hotel lighting is terrible.

No progress has been made on any other project.  I’m just not feeling any inspiration.  It’s funny, because on this trip I’ve had so many yarn opportunities.  There has been yarn at farmer’s markets, and I’ve driven by several yarn stores (just stumbling on them), but nothing seems to help.