Tag Archives: wip

And THIS IS WHY YOU SWATCH

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So after finishing my nice vanilla socks, I decided that I wanted to stretch my legs a bit, metaphorically speaking. I posted a while ago about this sweater (shirt? top? Not sure what to call it).

It’s the Calad Shirt by Jenny Tsung and I just think it’s super cute. Is it something that I’ll wear? Maybe. Have I ever actually, successfully crocheted a garment for myself? No. Do I find crochet patterns above “beginner” basically unreadable? Yes.

Is any of that going to stop me? Absolutely not.

Certainly nothing will go wrong.

Anyway, I dug into my stash and found a couple balls of lace-weight yarn that, honestly, I’m probably never going to use. (I had a big “lace” phase maybe 10 years back, but I don’t have the time or attention to make fancy lace shawls anymore. Maybe when the kids go off to college.) I pulled out a surprisingly tiny crochet hook and went ahead and got swatching. And man, I’m glad I did.

Here’s the swatch. Can you spot what went wrong?

That’s right. It’s supposed to be a rectangle. Not a trapezoid.

I honestly don’t know what I did. I definitely lost stitches somewhere along the line, but where? No idea. And maybe my tension changed, too? Who knows. I’m just glad I didn’t jump right in on the sweater before I got my sea legs. It’s definitely going to take a couple tries to get this pattern figured out. Cross your fingers for me!

Have you ever messed up a swatch as badly as mine?

Loose Ends

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I’m feeling indecisive, or at least indecisive enough that I don’t want to commit to a whole sweater right now. So, I took a dive into my stash and found a project that should be pretty doable. It’s nearly finished, at least, so I should be able to give myself that finished-project-serotonin-boost that I love.

You might remember that I published this pattern a few months ago- super cute Rainbow Socks.

Well, it turns out that I never actually finished the prototype. I got 80% of the way through the socks, wrote up the pattern and decided to go do something else. Typical Allison.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I changed the design a bit to add more rainbows at the heel and toe. I definitely like the more-is-more aspect of the final pattern, but I’m not unraveling anything right now, so I’ll keep these guys as they are, with their boring toes.

I’m determined to finish these socks! Will it take a day? A week? A month? All summer? only time will tell.

What’s the last project that you pulled out of hibernation?

Halfway across the island

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Woo! It’s starting to look more like a sweater! It’s going to need a nice blocking (and assembly) to really see how it looks, but I’m feeling more optimistic that this will be done before my toddler is in high school.

Anyway, here’s the sweater all laid out. Obviously, I haven’t sewed it up yet, but it’s getting there. Despite my best/worst attempts at math, the proportions look more or less correct. And I just love the “little old man” aesthetic for my slow-moving, cheerful, and thoughtful little guy.

One funny thing that happened though, is that the sleeves are literally wider than the body pieces. It’s an oversized sweater with generous sleeves, so it’s not that surprising, but still, when they’re laid out like that… it looks a little funny.

Now I just have to make the other sleeve… and sew it together… and block it. I’m basically done, right?

Are you working on any long-term projects?

Christm-ish

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So, I went back and forth for a while about what color to get to finish off the kid’s sweater. And, while I was leaning toward the nice light green, or a neutral oatmeal/gray, they were adamant that they wanted RED.

I managed to talk them down from RED red, to this nice shade of “Black Cherry.” Not necessarily what I would have picked, but, hey, it’s not my sweater.

It took a while for the yarn to show up, so I haven’t gotten far, but I’ll be honest, I like it more than I thought I would. I figured the red + green would look so Christmassy, that I wouldn’t like it, but I’ve surprised myself that I don’t hate it.

(Would I have preferred not running out of green yarn to begin with? Yes. Would I have picked another color if it had been up to me? Yes. But, such is life with a preschooler.)

What new color combinations have you tried recently?

I’ve Made A Huge Mistake

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OK, not huge. But I’ve definitely underestimated how much yarn I would use for this sweater.

To be fair, I also underestimated how big this sweater was going to be, so it only goes to figure that I’d underestimate the amount of yarn that I’d need. (My kid is 4. I’m pretty sure this will fit them when they’re 12.)

I’ve got maybe a full skein left in total, and I’ve used probably 2-ish skeins already. And, since I’m barely 3 inches into the body and only at elbow-level on the sleeves, I can’t imagine that one skein will be enough to finish up.

To make sure I’m using my yarn as evenly as possible, I had the brilliant idea to work the body from one skein, then work the sleeves from opposite ends of a second skein at the same time. While this might make a lot of sense from a theoretical standpoint, it’s proving to be more trouble than I expected. The amount of time I spend carefully organizing my yarn and untangling it is getting a little out of hand. But, I’ve made my choice, and I don’t feel like going back on my plan.

Anyway, I’m going to have to go get more of this yarn… and I think I’ve got two choices:

  1. Buy the same color, and hope the dye lots are close enough. (I bought the original yarn maybe 10 years ago, so there’s no chance that I will find the same dye lot).
  2. Go for a different color for a two-tone sweater. And, if I go this way, what color should I pick? Play it safe with brown or gray? Go wild with a bright contrasting color? Or monochromatic with a different shade of green?

What would you do?

The Plan

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OK, so. After a nice long sit with my swatch and a stroll through Ravelry, I think I have a plan.

I’m going to go ahead with the kid sweater, but not necessarily set out to felt it, at least not right away. I figure it’s good to know that it has the potential to go through the wash without fully losing its shape, but I’m not sure how many washes it would have before fully disintegrating.

Anyway, here are my inspirations:

First, the In Stillness Mini. Such a lovely sweater- I love the simplicity of the broken rib and the stockinette. I think I’d like a different shoulder, and maybe a longer section of yoke.

And this adorable little sweater (Harry by Liudmyla Babintseva). I really like the vibe of this one, but I’m not feeling the fancy ribbing/cables right now, especially if I intend to felt this up down the line. I’d hate to do all that work and lose it by sending it through the wash. I love a Henley collar for kids’ sweaters. They look so fancy, and are great for fitting over gigantic melon heads.

So here’s my plan: I’m going to make a crew-neck/Henley sweater with set-in sleeves and a yoke of broken rib that goes just past the armpits. I want to make it as a top-down sweater so that I can use every last inch of my yarn (I’m about 90% sure that I have enough, but it’s going to be tight either way). I think I’m going to reach for my favorite Ann Budd pattern book since my kid is finally big enough to qualify for the kids’ sizes, and because I’m a basic b who pretty much just makes the same sweater over and over again.

What’s your favorite thing to knit for the kids in your life?

And Something Else Different

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I’ve *technically* finished my crochet sweater, but I just am not sure about it. Maybe the sleeves need to be shorter… or longer? Or maybe it’s just not the sweater for me. I don’t know. But either way, it’s in time out for a minute. I’ll show it to you later, don’t worry.

Anyway, I was looking for something else to work on. Something simple and brightly colored and something that is sure to be successful. I dug around and found, in the bottom of my WIP box, this just-started sock. It’s just a regular-degular sock in Felici from a couple years ago. I could make it in my sleep, which makes it easy to pick back up again.

It was about three inches long when I found it, and now I’m fully around the heel. It’s funny though, I truly don’t know when I started it. Last year? Maybe. Longer? Could be.

But, I suppose that’s the good thing about knitting, you can put it down and pick it up again months (or even years) later.

What’s the longest you’ve had a project in hibernation before you started working on it again?

Slow and Steady(ish)

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I know I keep saying “Wow! Crochet is so fast!” And it is. But that’s only when I actually sit down and do it.

Which is why, even though crochet is super fast, compared to knitting, I’ve only gotten… about an inch and a half more put on my sweater since the last time I talked to you about it… weeks ago.

It’s a combination of things. I’ve been super busy with the kids (the big one is being very Four and need lots of help with big feelings, and the little one has decided that 5:00 is a great time to get up in the morning). I’ve got a new project in the works with Knit Picks that I can’t talk to you about… yet. And, when I actually have a little time to myself I’m more likely to sit down and want to scroll on my phone than actually do work (even if it’s fun “work”).

All that’s to say, when I do work on it, this sweater is going quick. I just haven’t been actually working on it. Fingers crossed something will change soon and I’ll get a little more bandwidth to finish it up… I’m so close!

Do you have any projects wasting away in your to-be-knit pile?

A tale of two (one) sweater(s)

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I’m of two minds about this sweater. But what’s new?

First, I’m excited about how fast it’s going, which isn’t usually the case at this point in the process. Most of the time when I’m three-quarters of the way in, I’m very frustrated and not seeing much progress. I’m just not used to how fast crochet is. I had a 2-hour Zoom meeting last night, and managed to get through 4 repeats- almost 6 inches of sweater! (I know it doesn’t look like I’m going that fast compared to last week, but that’s mostly because I bought myself a paint-by-number kit that’s taking up most of my attention. I have no regrets.) And, I even like the way the fabric is turning out. I think it’s going to be cute- I love the bobbles (even if they’re a pain to make).

However, I’m real skeptical that this is going to be a cute sweater. It’s just so… rectangular. To be fair, it is a style that I’m not too familiar with (drop shoulder, cropped, oversized sweaters aren’t usually my bag), so maybe this is how it’s supposed to look. Maybe it’ll turn out amazing after I seam it up and put it on, and I’ll never want to take it off. But right now I don’t have a lot of faith in the finished sweater.

Either way, I guess I’ll just keep trucking along and trust the process. I like the finished picture in the pattern- fingers crossed that it turns out that cute!

When’s the last time you were skeptical of a pattern halfway through?

Trying something completely different

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OK. I gave up on the striped sweater. I’m sure I’ll come back to it, but right now, it’s not “sparking joy.” So, into the hibernation pile it goes.

I thought for a while about what I wanted to make next- I wanted something quick (or at least quicker than the striped sweater) and I wanted to use my stashed yarn. I thought maybe a scarf or a hat, but none of my yarn was exciting me, and I couldn’t find a pattern that spoke to me.

But I do have a sweater-quantity of fingering weight yarn that I thrifted from our local craft-supply-resale shop (Seattle Recreative… it’s really amazing, if you’re ever in town). It’s in two lovely shades of blue-gray. I like it, and want to make something with it, but I don’t want to knit a sweater with fingering yarn. In fact, that’s the whole reason I am looking for a new project!

Then it hit me! I don’t want to knit a sweater, but maybe I want to… crochet? It’s been a minute since I pulled out my hooks, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually crocheted a garment (maybe some hats in high school?). I took to Ravelry to look up crochet sweater patterns, and dang! Crochet patterns have gotten cute since I last looked at them!

It was a tough choice, but I settled on The Goldfinch Sweater by Hailey Bailey, a super-cute, boxy, lightly cropped pullover with lots of texture.

I got to work, and within an evening, I already had several inches worked! It’s wild how fast crochet is compared to knitting (especially knitting on tiny needles).

It took me a bit to figure out how to read the crochet pattern- I truly don’t know the last time I crocheted (let alone used a pattern), but I’m figuring it out. It’s actually kind of fun to re-learn a new “language.” I already love the results, and can’t wait to keep going!

Have you tried any “new” crafts lately?