Tag Archives: stellar’s jay

Stellar’s Jay Cardigan: Closing Time

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Originally, I had planned to add a typical button band to my cardigan.  But, of course, I changed my mind (because I like to make things difficult for myself).  Once the sweater was nearing completion, it occurred to me that a vertical button band would totally break up the beautiful, simple horizontal lines of the sweater.  So what’s a girl to do?  What could I use to close up my sweater invisibly?

My first thought was to use hooks and eyes.  I bought a couple packs of great big hooks and eyes (sized to be used on a coat), and attached them to the front edge of my sweater.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI sewed 20 stupid little hooks in place, and then I tried it on.  And then, I just about cried.  It looked terrible!  It was all weird and pucker-y.  It pulled at every single hook when I wore it.  (Of course some of the terrible-ness came from me sewing the hooks on incorrectly-too far from the edge, but a part of it was just the nature of the hooks.  Hook-and-eye fastenings work best with stiffer fabrics, not soft, stretchy wool sweaters.)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI immediately cut off the hooks and eyes.  I’ve still got them, so maybe I’ll use them for another project down the line, but definitely not another sweater.

Instead, I bought myself a nice long separating zipper and sewed it carefully by hand along the front plackets. Because the zipper has absolutely no stretch to it, I made sure to sew it in very carefully.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhen I closed up my sweater this time, I was overjoyed with how it turned out. The edges match up perfectly!  There’s no unsightly gap or puckering, and I even managed to make sure the zipper didn’t buckle or pull at the front of the sweater.  Victory!

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Tubular Cast-on and Bind-off in the Wild

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On Friday, I waxed poetic about the tubular cast-on and tubular bind-off.  How they look the same, how they’re perfectly stretchy, and how they are ideal for cuffs and collars.  But, I didn’t show you any examples.

Now, it’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is (metaphorically speaking.  I don’t have enough money laying around to just start eating it).

Behold, the hem and the collar of my (almost finished) Stellar’s Jay Cardigan.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASee how they match perfectly?  The k1p1 ribbing makes a lovely subtle edging, and the tubular cast-on/bind-off stops the sweater from pulling even a little bit.  Sure, my perfect edges are something that only an obsessive knitter would notice, but as a slightly obsessive knitter, they’re something that makes me very happy.

Stellar’s Jay Sweater: Progress!

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Hey!  Look what I managed to get done last week!   It’s an almost-finished Stellar’s Jay Sweater!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIsn’t it amazing what you can get done when you only bring one project on a week-long car trip?

My husband and I spent the week driving up the Oregon Coast.  Well, mostly he drove, and I knit (because I’m a rather nervous driver, especially on those twisty-turny roads).  The Oregon coast is absolutely gorgeous!  If you live within a three-state radius of Oregon, make sure you visit.  There are lush redwood forests, beautiful rocky cliffs teeming with sea birds, gray whales and sea lions frolicking in the ocean, and tide pools full of neon green sea anemones.  It’s a magical place.

Unfortunately, right about when we made it back up to Portland, I ran out of yarn!  That’s why there’s a rather large chunk missing between my left elbow and shoulder.  It’s not me being avant-garde, it’s me being bad at ordering enough yarn to finish a project.

I’ve put the order in, and you’d better believe that as soon as that package hits my front door, I’ll grab my needles and finish up my soon-to-be favorite sweater!

Stellar’s Jay Sweater: Changing Plans

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I’ve been hard at work on my Stellar’s Jay sweater.  The body is almost up to the armpits!

I’m following my pattern as I wrote it, except for a couple (sort-of) minor details.

First, I decided that I didn’t like doing the scallop rows the way I had planned it out, so I modified it a little.  Now, it is slightly shallower (worked over two rows, instead of three), and I think it looks much better.  I’m probably the only one who would ever notice, but I’m picky that way.

Second (and this is a larger change), my pullover had turned into a cardigan.  I don’t know what happened- I was casting on and some knitting spirit whispered in my ear that I needed a cardigan, not a pullover, and one thing led to another.  I’m still following the pattern as I designed it, but instead of working the sweater in the round, I’m knitting it flat.  When I finish up the sweater, I’ll pick up stitches along the selvedge edges and knit on some button bands.  It should look pretty good (I hope!).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s important to remember that regardless of how much planning goes into your knitting, it’s still possible to change plans as you work.  You’re in charge of your project, and being flexible when you don’t like how something is working up will end up giving you a better finished project.

What changes have you made to projects as you knit them?

Stellar’s Jay Sweater: Planning

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In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, I am essentially an 80 year old woman in a 28-year-old’s body.  I love drinking tea, watching procedural cop dramas, puttering around in my garden, and obviously, knitting.  When I was in college, I tried to deny it, but I have given up.  I’m an old lady, and I’m A-OK with it.

As an old lady, I spend an inordinate amount of time watching the birds that are hang around my bird feeders on the back porch.  We get house finches, juncos, chickadees, and squirrels (who have already destroyed two bird feeders).  But my favorite birds by far are the Stellar’s Jays that live in the great big cedar tree in the corner of our garden.stellers_jay[1]I’d never seen these birds until we moved to the PNW.  They are incredibly striking, slightly bigger than a Blue Jay, and their colors are spectacular.   They’re a super dark, rich, black on their top half, and a bright cerulean blue on their bottom half.  They have a great big crest of feathers on the top of their head, which looks like a particularly sassy mohawk.  I love watching them hang out on our porch.

In honor of my favorite bird-feeder visitor, I thought I would make a sweater inspired by their gorgeous plumage.  And, I am going to bring you along on the design and knitting process.

My plan is for a pullover worked with a bold blue-to-black gradient inspired by the Stellar’s Jay plumage.  The design is still a little hazy in my brain right now, but I know it will solidify once I start playing with the yarn.

I’ll start by ordering some of my favorite sweater yarn: Knit Pick’s Swish Worsted.   It’s a super-wash merino wool, so it’s both durable and super cuddly soft.  It comes in about 40 colors and is pretty reasonably priced.

I picked out two skeins of each color:

Black (duh)

23876Delft Heather

24095Dusk25150

Marine Heather24094Gulfstream25137Very Stellar, no?

When my order gets here, I’ll work up some swatches and start playing with math.  But for now, I think I need to go refill my bird feeder.  Stupid squirrels.