Tag Archives: sweater

Inspiration: Babies!

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My friends just had their first baby girl on Saturday!  I’m so happy for them, and I can’t wait to meet little (actually, she’s almost 10 pounds, so she’s not so little) Naomi.

Naomi’s hobbies include sleeping, eating, and pooping.  She enjoys spending time with her family, and is looking forward to when she can sit up on her own.  Her long-term goals include learning to walk, and learning how to read.

Naomi is currently exploring her career options.  Of course, a proper command of English is a required for most of these career paths, but she figures she’ll have that sorted out within a year or two.

Naomi is considering a career in aviation (as soon as her legs are long enough to reach the pedals, of course).

Aviatrix hat by Justine Turner

12_11_19_9653_edited-1_medium2[1]Birds are a lifelong passion of Naomi’s, so she’s been seriously thinking about following a career in ornithology.  (Of course, a lifelong passion is only a few days long right now, but still.)

owlet by Kate Davies

doris2_medium2[1]And, once she gets a handle on the whole “standing up” thing, Naomi is looking forward to pursuing track and field.  She expects to qualify for the 2032 Olympics.

Crochet Baby Converse by Suzanne Resaul

shoes_005_medium2[1]Congratulations to Naomi on being born!  I’m so excited to see what amazing things you do!

Stellar’s Jay Cardigan: That’s All She Wrote

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It’s the end of an era!  The project has been finished and I am just a little bit cozier than I was before. (And just in time for it to start feeling distinctly fall-ish around here.)

I finished my Stellar’s Jay Cardigan.  I added my zipper, and, when my extra yarn arrived, finished up the missing arm and grafted it in place.  I blocked it out and pretty much haven’t taken it off since.

The Knit Picks Swish Worsted is so fluffy, cozy and soft.  And, it’s machine washable, so I don’t worry about wearing it all the time.  The only problem with the yarn is that it’s so soft that it’s already starting to pill in the armpits, but that’s not a huge problem, I can just remove the pills as they come up.

I couldn’t be happier with how this sweater has turned out!

10613109_10204684791023698_4021516135016481273_n(Sorry for the slightly weird photo.  I just spent fifteen minutes trying to take a decent selfie of the sweater.  Let’s just say that there are simply days when photos shouldn’t/won’t happen.  Instead, here’s a snapshot that a friend of ours took of my husband and me.  Maybe if the photography gods smile on me later, I’ll add a more traditional sweater photo later.)

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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Stellar’s Jay Sweater-Shoulders

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Indulge me in a little “do as I say, not as I do.”  The first time I made an EPS sweater, I ignored a step in the shoulders.  It was a vague little instruction where Elizabeth Zimmerman said to “work a few short rows across the shoulders”.  I was so close to being finished, and anyway, I didn’t know what “short rows” were, so they couldn’t be that important.

I ended up with a perfectly fitting sweater, except that if felt like it was trying to choke me.  Constantly.  With Icelandic Wool.

Ha!  That showed me.  I’ve never skipped the short rows on a sweater again.

So, where do short rows come into play for a bottom-up (or a top-down) sweater knit in the round?

It turns out, that, if you look at your neck from the side, it actually points a little forward, instead of pointing straight up.  (It points even further forward if you’re a sloucher, like me.)  See?

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????So, if you make a sweater without any short rows, the neckline will sit parallel to the floor.  This will pull uncomfortably on your throat and make you want to burn your sweater.  Also, it looks kind of dumb.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????What you want, to be comfortable, is a sweater that is higher (by an inch or two) at the back of the neck than the front.  Like this:

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Looks better, right?  So how do you do it?  Usually three or four short rows in the last couple inches of the shoulders are enough to raise the back of the neck enough to make it comfortable.  I am a big fan of doing a simple wrap and turn.

I like to make my first short row go all the way to the points of my shoulders (or a little past).  Then, each short row after the first gets progressively shorter by 8 or so stitches.  It requires a tiny bit of math, but it works out pretty well.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????All I know is, I will never leave out the short rows on a sweater like this again!

Stellar’s Jay Sweater: Joining the Sleeves

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Once I had my sleeves (and body) all knitted up, it was time to join the whole thing together.  On first glance, this seems like it would be difficult to do, cumbersome and fiddly, but it’s not too tricky, actually. Just go slow, and make sure you count your stitches correctly!

The goal is to end up with the sleeves arranged on either side of the body, with active stitches all the way around (so that you can keep  knitting the shoulders).  If you are imagining looking at your sweater from the top down, it would look something like this:

SchematicStart knitting at the beginning of your round (usually the center back of a pullover, or the center front for a cardigan).  Make sure to use a great big circular needle, or you’ll run into trouble in a few minutes! Work your way across the body of the sweater until you reach the armpit.

Schematic 1Then, pick up your sleeve and knit around the outside of the sleeve, leaving its armpit unworked.  Leave the active armpit stitches on a piece of scrap yarn or a stitch holder.

Schematic 2Switch back to knitting the body, and work your way all the way across the back (or front) of your sweater.

Schematic 3Then, repeat the process for the other sleeve, knitting around the outside of the sleeve, while leaving the armpit alone.

Schematic 4The final step is to close up the armpits.  Attach the sleeve armpit stitches to the body armpit stitches on either side.  I like to use the Kitchener stitch, but you could also use a 3-needle bind-off, if that’s your favorite.

Schematic finalNow you’re all set up for the knitting the shoulders on your bottom-up sweater!  Just keep going in the round (if you’re making a pullover), or turn the work and go back the other direction (if you’re making a cardigan).  Simple!

Inspiration: Cables

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Oh, KnitPicks sales…. You cause me so many problems.   There I was, reading my email, minding my own business, when that dang KnitPicks Ad showed up.  One thing led to another, and the next thing I know, I have a dozen skeins of heathered camel-colored wool.

Whoops.

So, now I guess I have to figure out a pattern worthy of my lovely new yarn.  I’m thinking something with cables.

Flat/Shawl Collar Cardigan 7065 by Hayfield:  I like this sweater, but it seems a little too old-fashioned.

hayfield7065main_medium2[1]Antler Cardigan by tincanknits:  This sweater is super pretty, too.  But I was hoping for a more all-over cable pattern.

PK-antler-10_medium2[1]Persistence is Key by Amanda Woeger:  This might be the perfect sweater!  It’s got enough cables to keep me interested, but it’s modern enough to satisfy my current sweater whims.  I think I have a winner!

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Stellar’s Jay Sweater- Sleeves

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My Stellar’s Jay Sweater is roughly based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s EPS (Elizabeth’s Percentage System) sweaters.  EPS sweaters are based on the idea that the size of someone’s arm is roughly proportional to their bust size, which is roughly proportional to their neck size.  It’s not perfect for people with more unusual body types, but I’ve found that most people can make the EPS work for them on the whole.  It’s a great basic sweater recipe that you can customize, tweak and otherwise futz with to make yourself the sweater you’ve always dreamed of.

My Stellar’s Jay Cardigan is knit from the bottom up, which means that make the body first, from hem to armpits.  Then I cast on the sleeves at the cuffs, and knit up the arm.

I wanted a slightly fitted, tapered sleeve, so I cast on 22% of the stitches I used for my torso.  It sounds weird, but EZ spent years perfecting her formulas, until she figured out that a cuff should measure about 20-25% of the torso in diameter.  (Crazy, right?)

Then I slowly increased (increasing 2 stitches every 8 rows in a line along the inside of the arm) until I reached 64 stitches, which was my planned upper arm measurement (about 35% of my torso measurement).  Then, I knit along, without any more increases, until my sleeve was long enough for my arm.

The result was a gently tapered sleeve, that perfectly fit my arm.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe next thing to do was to join the arms to the body.

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: Stagnation

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So, I have this spreadsheet that I use to plan out my blog posts (because I am a nerd, and like to be organized).  Today I was supposed to tell you about how I knit up the arms on my Stellar’s Jay Cardigan.  It was going to be a nice little post, to give you an update on my progress, and tell you about how well everything was going.

Well.   It turns out that today’s post will actually be a little different.  It will be about how I forgot to work on my sweater at all since you last saw it, over a month ago.

It’s sitting in its little project bag, between my stash of sock yarn and my little chest of finished projects.  I look at it every couple days and think, “I should probably pick that up and knit a row or two.”  But, still it sits there, forlorn and neglected.

I could make excuses, pleading that I have been too busy with other projects (which is sort of true).  I could say that I have been busy with work, or getting ready for summer.  But the truth of it is, I’m just not feeling inspired by my little blue sweater.

I’m sure I’ll pick it up again, one of these days.  I’ll suddenly get the urge to finish it, and I’ll dive back in head first, but for right now, I’m happy chugging away on some other projects I’ve got in the works.  It’ll be waiting for me  when I get back to it.

Do you ever put a project on hold?  What do you do to get your inspiration back?

Inspiration: Father’s Day

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It’s Father’s Day this weekend, and that means it’s time for lame Father’s Day gifts.  Every year it’s the same old same old: ties, golf balls and barbecue tongs.  Does your dad really want that?  I don’t think so.

How about doing something epic?  Something awesome.  Something that I totally should have planned out months ago, instead of the Friday before Father’s Day.

A hand-knit sweater, that your dad would actually wear.

Here are a couple of my favorite men’s sweaters:

Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood

871051258_9bada4cb0f_z[1]Ranger by Jared Flood

Ranger1_medium2[1]Guston by Ann Budd

Guston2_medium2[1](By the way, Happy Father’s Day, Dad!)