Tag

pattern

1
Apr
2015

a week of shawls and swatches

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on.

knitted lace shawl

knitted swatch

Noella - knitted shawl pattern

Not much making this week. Lots of pattern writing & finalizing though.

Ordo, the shawl on top is coming out soon-soon.

The pattern for Noella (the red shawl), is now up on Ravelry – if you’ve been around awhile you might recognize it from a couple years ago, if you don’t recognize it hop on over and check it out.

And because I’m not sure I could ever go a week without knitting, I bound off the secret knitting I’ve been working on, and did some swatching. (because swatching is awesome.)

24
Feb
2015

A handspun, handknit sweater

handspun handknit sweater

handspun sweater

handspun handknit sweater

I love spinning, and took up spinning pretty quickly after I started knitting. This is the first time I’ve ever spun enough yarn for a sweater though.

And while, I probably won’t turn into a knitter who knits exclusively with handspun yarn, going from fiber -> yarn -> sweater was pretty damn amazing.

This is a sweater knit entirely out of handspun yarn. Yesterday I wrote about the process of spinning the yarn, now details about the sweater itself.

handspun handknit sweater

MATERIALS:
Yarn
– 250 yards (228.5 m) – 2 oz (56.5 g) – handspun heavy lace weight grey BFL
– 250 yards (228.5 m) – 3 oz (85 g) – handspun heavy lace weight alpaca
– 500 yards (457 m) – 9 oz (255 g) – handspun worsted weight alpaca

All the yarn are super basic two ply yarns – the lace weights are much more even than the worsted weight, mostly because I’m more comfortable spinning lace weights, but also because the worsted weight was my first experience spinning on a Hansen miniSpinner (it was amazing).

Needles
– US #6s (4.00 mm) circular needles for the lace weight
– US #10s (6.00 mm) circular needles for the worsted weight

PATTERN:
A basic top down raglan pullover, with short row shaping at the back of the neck, to help keep the neckline from pulling up. I striped the two lace weight for the yoke, the bottom half of the sleeves, and a bit around the bottom hem. Then I used the worsted for the main body, and the sleeves.

I wanted a pattern that was simple enough to let the yarn shine, and was flexible enough that if I started running out of yarn I had options.

handspun handknit sweater

WHAT WORKED WELL:
I just had enough yarn, and I loved knitting an entire sweater out of handspun yarn, though I can’t say it’s something I’d do all the time. Grace does it a lot – and I don’t know how she does it.

This is the first sweater I’ve finished that includes short row shaping for the back of the neck, and I have to say I really like it – I’m playing around with it in the purple yoked sweater I’m currently working on, and it’s probably a feature I’ll be adding it to most of my future sweaters.

handspun handknit sweater

WHAT I’D DO DIFFERENTLY:
I’m not sure I’d do anything differently per say, but this is the third top down raglan sweater I’ve finished and I don’t love all of the excess material it produces at the underarm. That material under the yarn ends up bunching weirdly – which I’m not a fan of.

So, I think I’ll lay off the raglan shaping for awhile and explore other types of sweater yoke shaping. I really, really love yoked sweaters (like my boring black sweater & handknit sweater dress), and I want to try some more sweaters with set in sleeves (the Moonstruck Cardigan had sewn in set-in sleeves, and my Versio sweater had seamless set-in sleeves). I’m interested in experimenting some more with seamless set in sleeves – Andi Satterlund’s guide to seamless set-in sleeve sweaters looks interesting.

spindle spun ball of yarn

striped knitting

handspun handknit sweater

16
Jan
2015

sweater amnesia, cold weather & a new shawl pattern – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 24

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels.


Day-162

DAY 162 – JANUARY 9th

Versio Sweater
Black Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings

How do you guys store your sweaters?

Prior to this wardrobe project, I didn’t knit sweaters, so I didn’t need to have a storage system. My sweaters currently live in half of a drawer in my dresser, there are two problems with this 1) they no longer fit in half of a drawer, and 2) some sweaters end up at the bottom of the drawer, and then I forget about them.

The obvious solution is to rearrange my dresser so the sweaters get a full drawer, however I’m not sure that’s going to prevent sweater amnesia. Anyone have a better way of storing their sweaters, and avoiding sweater amnesia?

Day-163

DAY 163 – JANUARY 10th

Moonstruck Cardigan
Boring Black Sweater
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Brown Boots

This is one of those sweaters that got stuck at the bottom of my sweater drawer for awhile.

Day-164

DAY 164 – JANUARY 11th

Hand Knit Sweater Dress
Basic Black Tank
Black Tights
Various Rings

This is the outfit I wear when I don’t have to leave the apartment, and would have preferred staying pjs to getting dressed. Like on Sunday, I spent the day hiding from the cold, knitting, and cutting fabric.

Day-165

DAY 165 – JANUARY 12th

Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
The First of Many Archers
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Long Spinny Necklace
Various Rings

I added the buttons to my first Archer button up shirt last week, and posted a full post about it yesterday! You can read the saga of the mismatched center fronts.

I love this pattern, and am already working on my second Archer. Though, next time (for my 3rd) I’m not doing a plaid. I love a good plaid, but I want to sew a shirt that involves no pattern matching.

Day-166

DAY 166 – JANUARY 13th

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings

When I was designing this Not-So-Straighforward Basic Purple Sweater, I wanted a sweater that would work on it’s own, over a shirt, or under another sweater, and I’m delighted to say this sweater does all three wonderfully.

Day-167

DAY 167 – JANUARY 14th

Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Black Tank Top
Black Scarf
Khaki Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings

And the purple sweater has ended up at the top of my sweater drawer, so I’m wearing it all the time. As for the bi-color scarf, I just took two scarves and twisted them together, I like the contrast against the purple sweater, and love the idea for adding more scarf variety.

Day-168

DAY 168 – JANUARY 15th

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Pocket Watch Necklace
Various Rings

Surprisingly enough I didn’t freeze when I stepped out the door in this. It’s always a tricky balance between not boiling in my overheated NYC apartment (with heat don’t control), and not being cold the minute I step outside my building, and not freezing when walking around on streets that quickly turn into wind tunnels. A tricky balance indeed.


PS. Rosmerta is now available on Ravelry! Rosmerta is a new shawl pattern that I designed, with a mesh & diamond trellis type pattern. It’s knit using Julie Asselin’s lovely Merletto.

I’ll also have hard copy patterns of it at VKLive in NYC this weekend. I’ll be at the Knitty City Booth (#710) Saturday morning at 11am. If you’re in the NYC area, and planning to go, I hope to see you there!

lace shawl hem - pattern "Rosmerta"

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