September in Colorado ... in ...

... in the latest KnitCircus ... cool eh?

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

Yarn post ....

What's more fun than knitting?

Getting yarn or knitting books in the mail, of course!

I've been getting rid of some of my knitting books and receiving yarn in return ... as well as some yarn from a dear friend who was buried under (and I'm always willing to help in similar situations -- I know, I'm a living saint!) ....

Anyway, the fun thing about getting bits of yarn from others is the ability to really go wild with designing.  And earlier this week, I received the perfect book for knitting on the wild side:  Anna Zilboorg's Magnificent Mittens and Socks . This book is wonderful -- fun to read and learn new techniques and the color combinations are spectacular!  I like how she explains just how much yarn you'd need (like 50 yards of each or 10 yards of bits) .... which is great, especially for stash-busting knitting like I want to do.  And I love the style of these mittens -- big cuffs that go over jackets to keep wrists and sleeves warm and dry.

Another great book for playing with "oddments" is Color by Kristin: How to Design Your Own Beautiful Knits, by color-knitter extraordinaire, Kristin Nicholas.  (For a full review of this book, click here.)  Or how about some of the Fair Isle (including Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting or The Art of Fair Isle Knitting: History, Technique, Color and Pattern by Ann Feitelson) or Norwegian books (Norwegian Handknits is gorgeous and I'm anxiously awaiting the publication of Lucinda Guy's newest, Northern Knits)  that are available now? 

Color-knitting is fun to play with yarns ... especially when you get them in trades or gifting from other knitters!

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

And, it's finished!

All done ...

but the tucking in of ends .... and with a seamless sweater the only "sewing" is for the underarms ...

Here's a close-up of the yoke patterning.

I think I"ll call this one "September" ... the final days of green blending into the browns, golds and yellows of Fall. I knit this one using Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool in: daffodil, freesia, malt heather, nutmeg heather and cedar with just a touch of natural I had left over from another project. The colors blend so beautifully, don't they? I used a US 7 for the body (and a 3 for the ribbings).

Here's the swatch cap I did when I first started out. This swatch gives me an accurate gauge because it's knit in the round (just as I'll do for the sweater) and then the plain knitting is using the correct needles. Also, doing a swatch cap shows what the final pattern will look like "off paper". You'll notice the patterning is different -- I decided I didn't like the original patterning, so I recharted it. And here's the third benefit to a swatch cap -- I can donate it to the Dulaan Project or other charity knitting project....

Yoke Sweater -- almost there ....

Well, I've finally got all the pieces joined for my EZ Yoke Sweater -- I had to do the second sleeve AGAIN because I had forgotten to switch from the rib needle to the body needle (from a 3 to a 7 -- BIG difference in gauge!). And, yes, I had done this earlier on the body so I wasn't too pleased with myself for doing it yet AGAIN!

But, thanks to football playoffs -- boohoo Saints lost, YAY that the Colts won -- I got a lot knitted yesterday. So here's the sweater to date:

I've just got a few more yoke rows, than I get to do my first dec round (going from 240 to 180 will make the rows seem so SHORT!) and then the colorwork -- which always seems to go so fast. I spent Friday and Saturday morning choosing motifs and charting them in preparation for the moment when I get to stop the boring (but mindless) plain green and go to the colorwork.

The charts are a combination of charts from the wonderful resource 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts. I like this book because the charts are done in color and it's easy to see the repeats. The only downside is that many of the really cool charts have more than 2 colors per row -- a no-no for a "traditional fair isle" sweater.

I have a software program from Knitting Software called Stitch and Motif Maker that makes charting very easy -- either in color or black/white with symbols. They have some great knitting software -- for designing sweaters, socks, whatever -- so you might want to check out that site anyway!

I'll post when I'm done with this sweater -- it's getting close now....

Too busy visiting the frog pond to post

...yep, I'm in the midst of doing my best to knit a sweater for ME. Santa actually brought some beautiful Elann wool in shades of browns and yellows with a rich green for the background. I even did a cap swatch to ensure the colors blend well and to get a true, in the round, gauge.

My PLAN is to do an EZ fairisle sweater but with a henley style opening (the 3 buttons at the yoke) ... I started it once with a hem and didn't like that so .... rip it, rip it, rip it....

Then I re-started with a ribbed waistband (actually I think I'm going to make it long enough to have it sit on my hips) that uses the five background colors -- cream, yellow, gold, light brown, dark brown. I was going great guns, increased for the body using the green -- but FORGOT TO CHANGE THE NEEDLES ... this is a problem as I go 4 or 5 sizes down for the ribbing needles and so I was using 3s instead of 7s! A difference in gauge of 6.5 vs 4.25 per inch! So ... rip it, rip it, rip it ...

NOW, I think I finally have it back to working well ... I was able to get a few hours last night to do the mindless, all-one-color knitting that in the round is a blast becuase it's ALL knit without counting or changing colors or anything....

Keep your fingers crossed, though -- just in case!