Bits and pieces

Ladies, journey with me now to my dining room table where you will rarely find china, silver, and crystal. Instead, knitting projects hover there waiting to be photographed like a long line of model wannabees.

First up, sisters Theresa and Anita take their stroll down the red tablecloth. These sisters lusted after a Buttoned Wrap Scarf worn by their nephew's girlfriend to a family party last year. 

After much analysis, study, rumination, and shopping, the sisters picked out two bulky-weight yarns with matching buttons. Neither of these creations will be an exact replica of the original, but hopefully they're close enough. Anita chose oatmeal and Theresa selected olive green. Theresa's buttons are another great Etsy find. She bought them from BeckySueCreations, the vendor who made the great buttons for my Under Toad. Becky Sue makes her buttons with very lightweight polymer clay but they really do look like stones.

The Sophisticate is also coming along. After debating how long to make the sweater, I took advice from Linda, an active Knitting at Large Rav group member. She suggested making the sleeves and then deciding on the sweater length. Great idea. I finished the right sleeve except for the cuff and now need to decide whether to make it a folder garter cuff like in the pattern or with a plain garter cuff or ribbing.

I've got several other projects that I want to make - two pairs of mittens, a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend Faith, a pair of socks, and the second Carnation vest, too - but I'm trying to finish something. Anything! Before starting something else.

The Sophisticate moves right along

Just a quick update to show you my progress on the Sophisticate. It's moving right along! Got to love bulky yarn and how quickly it knits up.

As you know, the best thing about knitting a top-down sweater  is that you can try it on. I slipped it over my head last night and was happy with the fit. I've got my waist shaping down pat now; I know just what to do. BTW, I never think of myself as a curvy girl until I make a sweater. Then I see the pictures and the truth and recognize that the damn thing actually fits.

This effort is informing how I'm going to shape the Takoma. The Sophisticate and Takoma are very similar, both being straight-sided, shawl-collared cardigans. But as I've said over and over again, I look better in sweaters with waist shaping. If I made either of these sweaters with straight sides, I'd have to make a much larger size to accommodate my over-ample hips. This would leave me with lots of extra fabric at the bust and waist which would make me look larger.

It's been easy to modify the Sophisticate because I can put the waist shaping wherever I want. But the Takoma is different. I need to work around the fair isle bands; I don't want to break that patterning with decreases. So, I'm going to carefully place my waist decreases before and after the center fair isle band. I put the majority of the Sophisticate decreases in a 14-row span, working four increases every other row, using princess seam shaping. I think I can do something similar with the Takoma, but I may have to move that center band a bit. We'll see.

But for now I'm focusing on finishing up the Sophisticate. Then I'm going to complete the Carnation Aquamarine so that it's done before the official pattern release. Lots of girls are test knitting the Carnation now so it won't be long. I'll blog more about the Carnation later this week. I also want to write about bulky yarn on bulky bodies because I'm breaking the rules prohibiting chunky yarn - and the sweaters look great. More on that topic soon.

Gray day sweater

After a mild, snow-free winter, Mother Nature delivered a bit of everything this morning: snow, sleet, and freezing rain. My apartment complex counter attacked with an army of snow shovelers who are delighted to finally be making some extra dough. The streets and sidewalks are cleared and salted, ready for anyone who wants to venture out. But I'm not going anywhere. It's a gray day worthy of some serious knitting.

I'm actually working on a gray day sweater, Linden Down's Sophisticate, a classic top-down, shawl-collared cardi. Linden designed this pattern years ago for the little ones among us. She upsized her original Baby Sophisticate to adult sizes - and plus-size ones, too.

The enlarged Sophisticate comes in up to 62-inch finished bust sizes and sports Aran weight yarn. Linden knitted her model garment in Knit Picks City Tweed in Brocade, a lovely plum color that looks terrific with her complexion.

I'm making mine with yarn I bought from an Etsy vendor, Yarns of Italy. "I'm an Italian (a REAL one from Turin, Italy) importer whose passion is bringing the best "undiscovered" products of Italy to US customers, and my partner is a woman whose greatest passion in life is YARN," she explains. Works for me. I love undiscovered yarn!

So I bought a bevy of Mafil Corteccia, a truly splendid organic merino/alpaca blend. I wasn't sure how I'd like the yarn when it got here - you never know buying something sight unseen. But this glorious string is worth a wholehearted OMG. It is absolutely beautiful and knits up like butter. Right out of the skein, it looks like it's been blocked! I love it.

Sophisticate uses a top-down, seamless construction with lots of stockinette stitch. In other words, it's easy-peasy. I'm flying through it, mindlessly knitting stitch after stitch, feeling grateful that the larger yarn makes for such a quick knit.

Best of all, it fits perfectly. I added a little shaping past the bust to eliminate some of the extraneous waist (waste?) fabric and will add lots of increases for the mighty derriere. My other planned mod is to make a deeper, more luxurious collar like the one I made for the Waltham. That's one kick-ass collar; it will be perfect for this garment. I'll blog more about its complicated construction that results in the perfect face-framing collar.

Of course I spent many hours of my precious life picking out the just-right buttons for this project. I stumbled onto these handmade pewter ones on the button-box-of-all-button-boxes, Etsy. They are gorgeous, exactly the same color as the yarn, and just perfect.

Now I'm off to spend this gray day making the optimal gray day sweater. The weather outside is frightful, but the gas fireplace is so delightful. And since I've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

That pattern I'm making...

I've had several requests to share the name of the round-yoke pattern I'm making. It's called the Open Jacket from Plymouth Yarn.

Here are the particulars:

• Comes in sizes up to 48 inches but can easily be upsized
• Is knitted top down with no sleeves (I can hear you all cheering from here)
• Is made with bulky weight yarn
• Calls for 800 yards of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande for size 48 (I'm using Berroco Campus)
• Has straight sides (I'm going to add waist shaping and expand for the mighty derriere)
• Is easy-peasy and knits up fast

The pattern is available in yarn shops and is not downloadable; Webs offers the pattern for sale online. For more information, see the Plymouth Yarns website. 

Saving the best for last

Yesterday we had a mini-reunion of the Knitting at Large meetup. Thanks to Brenda's kind invitation, Dottie and I headed to Brenda's home in Winchester, VA for a day of pizza, yarn shopping, and used book perusal. Brenda's friends Marilyn (who also attended our initial Knitting at Large event) and Janet came along, too. We had FUN.

I dragged three totebags of yarn to Brenda's house and came home with four, I'm embarrassed to say. We raided Never Enough Yarn, a charming little yarn store in downtown Winchester. Three steps in the door, I spied a really cute and easy-to-make round-yoke vest. I asked for the pattern and was given a lackluster one-pager from Plymouth Yarns. If I'd seen this on Rav or in a magazine, I'd never have given it a second look. But the model garment is orders of magnitude more interesting than this drab pattern. The model garment also features a deeper yoke.

I lucked out and found some firey Berroco Campus on clearance - 30% off. As my BFF says, cha-ching! The wool blend spins together red, burgundy, orange, purple and lavender. I contemplated green but Dottie vetoed me and sent me back to red where I belong.

I was so anxious to try the new yarn out, I cast on for the neckline on the drive back to Germantown. On 10.5 needles, I made quick work of the yoke. My mods include: ensuring the yoke is deep enough; making the skirt wider and A-shaped to accommodate the might derriere; and adding button bands so that I can button the vest up at least at the bottom (I'm still an awod belly gape avoider).

I'm hoping I can whip this baby up quickly so I can go back to the large variety of other sweaters I haven't finished yet. :-S Have I told you lately that I'm ridiculous?

But I've saved the very best for last. As I rummaged around this little Winchester yarn store at least two hours away from my home, I came across this dark blue, mottled mitten sitting on a little shelf. I did a double-take. I had mittens just like that. Did I wear those today? I didn't think so, but my goodness they looked the same. I examined the tag on the mittens: Bodacious Borealis Mittens. OMG! Let me say that again... O M G. Those were my mittens! Made with a free pattern I posted on Rav and knitted up as display pieces for this little shop. I started doing the Snoopy happy dance right there and then. My own pattern! In a yarn store! And according the manager, much beloved by the many customers who had made my very own mitten pattern. A completely unexpected thrill. BIG SMILE.

If you'd like to make a pair of uber-easy, uber-quick Bodacious Borealis Mittens, download the free pattern and get started. Please post pics when you're done. I'd love to see how yours turn out.

Many thanks to Brenda and Richard for their kind hospitality. What a great day!

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Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Meet Mechelle, newest member of the Knitting at Large Hall of Fame

Mechelle amazes. If I gave out trophies, she would most certainly receive the Most Improved Knitter award. She's earned it.

I met this lovely Brit on Rav when she asked me to do a Fit to Flatter analysis. She sent me her pictures and we discussed what she could do to make the most of her figure.

Next thing I know, Mechelle has turned herself into Miss America (or Miss UK?) with a fabulous makeover. Her gorgeous red dress and black shrug turned every head in town. Wowwweeee! Best F2F implementation I've ever seen. You go, girl!

Then Mechelle started applying her new skills to her knitting. She made several cute sweaters, including the great adaption of the Buttercup using Sirdar Simply Recycled in sage. (I like her little kitty, too.)

Mechelle recently finished a triumphant, highly customized Emelie that fits her PERFECTLY. She asked me lots of questions about sizing and fit and then cast on for a larger size on this bottom-up sweater. Then she changed to the next smaller size when she reached the underarms so that it would better fit her through the shoulders. It's just amazing. With this well-fitting cardigan, she looks curvy and thin and busty. Excellent work.

The back also fits well. I envy her lack of the mighty derriere!

For all these reasons, especially the tremendous progress towards making a sweater that truly fits and flatters, I am happy to induct Mechelle to the Knitting at Large Hall of Fame. As I said, Mechelle amazes. And her sweaters do, too.