Tag Archives: sweater

Inspiration: Marriage Equality!

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I do my best to keep this blog as politics- and opinion- free as possible (except my opinions on socks, which are varied and many).  But, sometimes, something happens in the news that is so amazing, so life-changing, so fantastic that you can’t help but celebrate it!

The Supreme Court, just this morning, ruled that same-sex marriage is a right covered by the constitution!  That means that same-sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states!  It makes me so happy that I’m literally tearing up writing this.  It’s an amazing day, and, in my opinion 100% the right decision.

Read this paragraph from their decision (it’s the last paragraph on page 28, if you’re interested):

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.  As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.  It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.  Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.

The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.

It is so ordered

Oh my god.  It’s so beautiful and moving.  Let me go find a Kleenex.

I have friends and relatives in the LGBT community, and I couldn’t be happier for them.  And, frankly, even if I didn’t know anyone in that community, I would still remember this day as a great day for human rights in our country.

(And it’s Seattle Pride this weekend!  What a great week!)

I want to celebrate this historic decision by breaking out the happiest, most Pride-y projects I could find!

Rainbow Dress by Georgie Hallam

Does this come in my size?

sagesrainbow_medium2[1]Rainbow Child by Rebecca Newman

Just kidding… I think I want this hoodie instead!IMG_4996_medium2[1]Monstermitts by Julia Allen

Although, if I wanted to finish a project before this weekend… I might be able to whip up a pair of these.

IMGP8512_medium2[1]Contagious by Deborah Frank

But, no,  I think what I really want is one of these.

contagious_1_medium2[1]Yay, SCOTUS!  You rock (especially Kennedy, Kagan, Sotomayor, Breyer, and my girl, the Notorious RBG).  Keep doing what you’re doing!

Pattern: Baby Weasley Sweater

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A new pattern!  And this one’s the perfect center of the venn diagram of knitting, cute things, and everything Harry Potter.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMrs. Weasley (my favorite character from the Harry Potter books)is known for showing her love for her children through her knitting.  So I can’t think of a better way to welcome a new baby to the world than with a personalized sweater based on Mrs. Weasley’s classic design.  This charming pullover sweater is knit at a slightly large gauge, so it works up in no time into a warm and cozy sweater.  Knit flat, with very simple shaping, the Baby Weasley Sweater is ideal for newer knitters.  And, the letter embellishment is added with the duplicate stitch after the sweater is finished (perfect if you don’t know the baby’s name until after they’re born).  The Baby Weasley Sweater will become a favorite of both the baby and their parents.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAGet the pattern for free here!

Baby Weasley Sweater

Blocking: Sweaters

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You understand how to block something simple (a scarf, a coaster, or maybe even a blanket).  Now, it’s time to do something more complicated.  Something with sleeves.

Let’s block a sweater!  (In this case, a baby sweater, but the same process works for a grown-up sweater, too.)

We’ll start by soaking the sweater in a bowl of warm water for 10-20 minutes.  Make sure it’s nice and soaked through.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThen, just like last time, roll it up in a nice clean towel and squeeze out most of the moisture.  Put out your foam tiles and cover them up with a new clean, dry towel.

Lay out your sweater as best you can  to roughly the right proportions.  When you’re working with a grown-up sized sweater, it can be kind of tricky.  Don’t worry if you don’t get it right away-we’ll rejigger everything in a minute.  Just eyeball it.

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Now, it’s time to measure the sweater and make sure it ends up the size you want it.  Begin with the chest measurement.  Now, since this is a baby sweater, I want the chest to be 9 inches across.

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Close enough.

Now that the chest measurement is about right, I’ll stretch out the body to the right length,  double-checking that the chest measurement doesn’t get stretched out of shape.

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(Did you notice how I’m not using pins for this sweater?  That’s on purpose.  I try not to use pins on sweaters, because they can create little points and weird bumps on a garment like this.  And, in the case of this particular sweater, I’m not far off from my desired size, so I can just stretch the sweater a little bit and count on the friction between the yarn and the towel to keep it in shape.  If I was trying to use blocking to fix something, I would use pins.  For example, if I needed to add more than an inch to the body length, I would stretch the wet sweater out with pins.)

The body is all arranged correctly, so now let’s do the same thing with the sleeves.

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These sleeves should be about 6 inches long. With the sleeves, it’s really important to make sure both sleeves match one another- no one likes lop-sided sleeves.

Once your sweater has the right measurements, stop fussing with it!  Just leave it!  (And make sure any kids/dogs/cats/gremlins you have running around your house don’t mess with it, either.)

Something small, like this baby sweater, won’t take long to dry, but big, adult sweaters can take a while (especially if you live somewhere humid).  So, to speed the process along, try pointing a fan at it for a day or two.

Once the sweater is completely finished, put it on and do a twirl in front of the mirror, admiring your awesome work!

 

Husband Sweater: The Sleeves

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I think it’s high time that this dang sweater stops looking like a muscle shirt when my husband tries it on.  Don’t you agree?

The only problem is that he’s not a fan of the fairly over-sized sleeves that the original pattern calls for.  Ugh.  Nothing is ever simple.

So, it’s time to get out my scratch paper (or rather, the back of the pattern), my calculator and start figuring out what I need to do.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOK.  Before I even have to start doing math I know a few things:

1.  I have 82 stitches (about 20 inches) at the top of the sleeve, set aside from when I split the body for sleeves.

2.  I need to get down to about 40 stitches (about 10 inches) at the top of the cuff.

3.  My sleeve needs to be about 15 inches (about 105 rows) from where I’ll pick up my stitches to the top of the cuff.  (I based this on my husband’s arm length, and the length of the sleeves of his favorite sweater.)

Now it’s math time.

If I need to go from 82 to 40 stitches, I need to do 42 decreases somewhere on the sleeve.

(82 sts at the shoulder-40 sts at the cuff=42 decreases)

I’ll do two decreases per decrease row, so I’ll need to do 21 decrease rows.

(42 decreases/2 decreases per row=21 decrease rows)

And, I want to space those decreases out evenly over 105 rows, so I’ll work a decrease row every 5th row.

(105 rows/21 decrease rows=5 rows per decrease row)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASo that means, I’ll knit four rows evenly (while still making sure the stripe pattern matches up with the body), then I’ll work a decrease row (knitting all stitches, except for working two decreases at the underarm).  Easy!

Hopefully, this’ll look good.  It’s a more extreme decrease than I usually use for sleeves, but it might work.  Luckily, I’ll be able to finish one sleeve, have the husband try it on, and get his approval for the next sleeve (or, heaven forbid, find out I have to redo the sleeve!  Cross your fingers for me).OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHave you ever had to rejigger part of a pattern?  How did it turn out for you?

Pattern Spotlight: Human Beans Sweater

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Just when I thought that my Human Beans couldn’t get any cuter, the folks over at Knit Picks had to go and do this:sweater_girl1[1]I mean, seriously?  How cute is that?  A tiny, pink cabled sweater on a tiny doll with red shoes, sitting on a tiny wicker chair.  Honestly.

They modified this free pattern, changing the shoulders slightly, since the Human Beans don’t really have shoulders.

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This pretty pink sweater was worked up for a middle-sized doll, but you could totally modify it for the larger or smaller dolls, simply by changing the gauge.

sweater_girl2[1]Thanks, Knit Picks folks!  You’ve totally made my day with this ridiculous little sweater.

Husband Sweater: Button (er- Zipper) Band

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I feel like it’s been a hot minute since I gave you an update on the sweater I’m working on for my husband.  Oof- actually it’s been almost a month.  (Sorry, husband!  Hopefully I’ll have it finished by August at this rate!)

Anyway, this time, I knit up the button band (or rather, the zipper band).  Instead of using the pattern, I used my own standard button band (mostly because I lost my paper copy of the pattern).

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My button bands actually start when I’m knitting up the sweater body.  I always slip the first stitch of each row.  This creates a nice, neat edge that makes it easy to pick up stitches evenly all the way around.  And I’ve found that picking up one stitch for every two rows makes a button band with just the right tension.  This way, you don’t even have to count, except for making sure you have an even number of stitches to make your ribbing come out right.

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I worked the button band on this sweater for about an inch, in a 2×2 rib.  This is a little narrower than my usual button bands, but that’s because I’ll be using a zipper, not buttons.  If you use buttons, the button bands will overlap, so you’ll need a wider band.  If you use a zipper, the bands don’t overlap, so you need a narrower one.

Next up-I’ll start working on the sleeves!

350 (yards)

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It’s my 350th post!  That means I’ve written almost enough posts for you to read one every day for a year (if you wanted to go back and re-read them, I suppose.  Though why would you?).  I’ve got some awesome things planned for the next few months, and I can’t wait to show them to you (hopefully I’ll have time to realize all my ideas.  That’s always the problem.  Too many ideas and not enough time).

I’ve even got three free patterns churning around in various stages of not-quite-finished yet.  In the meantime, here are three awesome patterns from Ravelry that use about 350 yards of yarn (See what I did there?).

In the next couple weeks, I should have a very cool shawl/scarf pattern (not this one) finished up.  I just need to take some pictures and do some formatting on the final pattern.

TGV (High Speed Knitting) by Susan Ashcroft

rainbow_10_medium2[1]I’m working on baby sweater for a friend that’s expecting.  Once she gets her present, I’ll be posting the pattern I designed for her.  It’s not as fancy as this one, but still pretty cute.  (And, sorry to be vague.  I think she reads the blog.)

Latte Baby Coat by Lisa Chemery

DSC_0414_medium2[1]And, this one you know about.  We’re getting dangerously close to casting on our Design Series Socks.  I can’t wait!  (But, I suppose these are cute, too.)

Simple Garter Stitch Slippers by handepande

DSC_6605_medium2[1]Thanks for being patient!  I am excited about these upcoming projects (and other ideas bouncing through my head.  Soon, guys!  Soon!

(And don’t forget to enter your name into the drawing for a copy of Cute, Cuter, Cutest! I’ll be picking a winner on Friday!)

Inspiration: Divergent

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I watch quite a bit of TV and more than a few movies, I admit.  But, what else am I supposed to do while I knit?  Honestly.

Sometimes those movies aren’t great (like Divergent).  But, sometimes those movies have great knitwear (coincidentally, like Divergent).

Divergent is a less-coherent cousin to the Hunger Games.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not great cinema.  If you look at it a little too closely, it kind of stops making sense.

So, in a not-so-distant future where America has become a post-apocolyptic wasteland, the last bastion of civilization is Chicago.  (Because… who knows.)  In Future Chicago, everyone has been divided up into five factions (they all have names, but I don’t remember them. In my head, they’re “The Smart Ones,” “The Bad Asses,” “The Truth-y Folks,” “The People Who Take Giving To Charity A Little Too Seriously,” and “The Fifth Group That I’ve Forgotten About.”).  When kids in Future Chicago come of age, they take a very complicated test that involves mind control and hallucinogenic drugs (because Science Fiction) which sorts them into the faction that’s right for them.  (Think: Harry Potter meets The Giver, but more complicated.)  The heroine ends up getting a result that says she could belong to any faction, and she has to go into hiding because Kate Winslet wants to kill her.  Or something.

And this all happens in the first 20 minutes of a more than 2-hour movie.

Like I said-it’s not great with the logic.  (Which is a shame.  I always root for good sci-fi with female leads.)  But, it does have some great knitwear.

Look at this sweater that the main character wears during her hallucinogen-fueled Sorting Ceremony.  From the front, it’s a light, simple pullover.

Divergent2From the back, it’s totally cool and modern.DivergentYou could totally wear a light sweater like this over jeans and a tank-top, or with a sundress.  It would be a perfect coverup for chilly summer nights, or a nice, thin layer under a denim jacket in the fall.

I’m kind of in love (and I don’t even like angora).

I couldn’t find a perfect match to the Divergent sweater, but these could come close with a few tweaks.

#102 Comfy Pullover Lite by Phoenix Bess

Mohair_Pullover_Lite__medium2[1]Spook by Sarah Hatton

2329365350_573f2e0371_z[1]Hawkmoth Pullover by Debbie O’Neill

KS_hawkmoth-pullover_medium[1]Have you seen Divergent?  What did you think?

Husband Sweater: The Hood

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I admit, it’s been a while since I updated you on the sweater situation (almost a month-eek!).  I’ve been busy with some dog stuff, some quilting, and generally catching up with other projects around the house (I even tried my hand at some very simple woodworking- I made a slightly wobbly window seat for the dog!).

But, I’m back on track with my husband’s sweater, and have the hood all finished!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATa-da!

I actually went off-pattern for this hood, because if you remember, the one outlined by the pattern was a little, well, big:

uploadedImage_medium2[1]Instead, I based the shape of the hood off of my husband’s favorite hoodie.  I measured the height of the hood from the neck to the crown.  This was the total height of my finished hood.  Then, I measured the hood from the neck to the start of the head-shaped curve.  This was how far I would knit before starting my decreases.

The hood ended up looking like this:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI picked up stitches from the neck, and knit even (in pattern) for about 8 inches.  Then, I marked the center back of the hood and started decreasing on either side of the mark.  At first I decreased every fourth round, then every other round, then right at the top of the head, I decreased every round.  Finally, I grafted the hood together  at the top of the head to make a seamless-looking hood that fits my husband (almost) perfectly.

Phew!

Next, I’ll start working on the button band, once I get up the energy to pick up all those stitches!

Have you ever changed a part of a pattern?  What did you change and why?

 

Inspiration San Diego

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I just got back from a trip to San Diego with my husband and his family.  We ate a lot of good food, drank a lot of good beer, and generally had too much fun.  (I’m a little crispy around the edges, even though I spent half my time applying and re-applying sunscreen.  I guess that’s what happens when you take a white girl from Seattle and put her on a beach in southern California.)

We spent the week beach combing, (attempting to) body surf, and generally being beach bums.  And as nice as the weather was in the daytime (70s and 80s-sorry everyone in the Great White North!), the evenings got quite chilly.  You need a sweater at night in San Diego.

Luckily, I specialize in sweaters.  Let’s take a look at some beach-appropriate sweaters that I will definitely be knitting before my next trip south.

This light pullover would be perfect for wearing on your morning walk, sipping coffee and examining the beach for treasures that washed up overnight.

San Diego Pullover by Kimberly K. McAlindin

tcb_197_medium2[1]This sweater should be worn while sipping margaritas and eating guacamole at an outdoor cafe overlooking the ocean.

California Dreamin’ by Ilga LejaCalifornia_Dreamin__Main_Image_medium2[1]

And this is the sweater I want to wear while sitting around a campfire on the beach, listening to the waves and looking at the stars.

driftwood by Isabell Kraemer

DSCN0355_medium2[1]What knitwear do you like to pack when you travel?