(Finally!) Finished: Cambridge Jacket

Pattern: Cambridge Jacket by Ann Budd (summer 2006 Interweave Knits)
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% wool), color 8401, approximately 6.5 skeins
Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) 32" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: approximately January 20/March 18 (save sewing in of zipper, which was done last night)
Mods: only on the collar, which I fudged a bit to make the ribbing match up

This sweater was completed roughly two months ago, but I didn't get a chance to buy a zipper until last weekend, when I made the trip to Jo-Ann's to buy buttons for my Forecast. I bought two options -- one in white that was the full length of the sweater and one in light gray that was just a tad shorter. J selected the gray zipper, not only because it matched, but also because he did not want the neck to zip all the way up (he has sensitive skin and didn't want the wool rubbing against his skin right under his chin). This worked well with the front of the collar, which is angled just a bit at the top. Here you can see what it looks like zipped all the way up (and please excuse J's funny face):

From this view you can see the one part of the sweater with which I'm not 100% pleased -- the sleeves. They're a little big for my taste, but J tells me he likes them, so I'm not about to rip and reknit. The zipper is also still a little wavy, but I have faith it'll smooth out just fine with a little wear.

Here's the back view:

This still needs a good wet blocking to get all the stitches to relax and even out (I only did a spritz-and-pin blocking of the pieces prior to seaming), but then it will be going into storage with the rest of the sweaters until next fall.

The one element of this sweater of which I was unsure as I was knitting was the one edge stitch in garter stitch. It looked odd as it was knit, but look at how nice it looks next to the zipper:

I'm so proud of myself for sewing in the zipper successfully -- my fear of messing the sweater up at this stage was probably the top reason why I put off zipper shopping for so long (and why I waited a whole week after buying the zipper before sewing it in). All in all, it wasn't that hard, just time consuming. I think I still prefer buttons, but at least now I won't immediately discount a pattern that involves a zipper.

Meanwhile, I'm already planning for J's next sweater, which will be an Elizabeth Zimmermann Seamless Hybrid (you can see a great example of one here). Would you believe I already have the yarn for it? We stopped at Knit One today because I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and J picked out a gorgeous charcoal shade of Cascade 220 -- still in keeping with his usual palette of shades of gray and black. I'll use the leftover yarn from the Cambridge Jacket to do the facings of the hems.

The socks in progress continue. I'm past the heel of my second Grasshopper sock, so I expect to have those finished in a day or two. I've been getting more and more unhappy with the socks I've been knitting for my future MIL as I've gone along, however, so I'm going to rip them and do some Embossed Leaves Socks (from Favorite Socks/Interweave Knits) instead. Jenn tells me they're a fast knit, and I've long been wanting to knit them. An added bonus is that I'll learn the pattern to be able to knit myself a pair -- perhaps with the Koigu I picked up today as well?

Where did the weekend go?

I can't believe it's already Sunday night. We had a positively crazy weekend. J got in late on Friday night because of the weather, as a result of which we did not make it to the hockey game (although we did watch it on TV over dinner). Yesterday was spent running all over town, attempting -- unsuccessfully -- to apply for a passport and getting our taxes done. Today basically consisted of eating a late breakfast, doing two loads of laundry, and driving to the airport and back.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, however, I did manage to make a trip to the yarn store and the book store.

I had received a gift certificate to Knit One from some friends for my birthday and we were in the neighborhood on Saturday, so we made a quick stop. Since I was using a gift card, I decided to treat myself -- here's a skein of Colinette Jitterbug, a skein of Austermann Step in blue shades (socks for me this time!), and an orphan skein of Koigu that will make some anklets. The colors are way off in this photo; they're all gorgeous shades of blues, purples, and greens. The book in the background there is Stefanie Japel's latest, Fitted Knits. There are quite a few items I plan on knitting from this book already; most of the designs, like the designs we're all familiar with from her site and online magazines, are seamless top-down constructions. I've realized that I really suck at seaming together sweater pieces.

Speaking of seaming, I finally finished all the work on J's sweater save sewing in the zipper (which still needs to be purchased). I finished up the collar and the crocheted borders this morning, with just enough time for J to model it before he had to leave again for the airport:

We pinned it together so you can get the idea of how it will look. He's quite happy with it. I, on the other hand, am not very happy with how the sleeves turned out. Maybe one day I will figure out the maths required to change the sleeves.

Fortunately the back looks great. Especially with that cute little tushie. Sorry, did I just type that?

What have we here?

Well, first we have some blocking ...

(That's not dirt on the sleeve; those are just wet spots where the spray bottle dripped.)

Then we also have some seaming ...

So far, the shoulders are sewn together, both sleeves have been sewn in, and one sleeve has been seamed. Tonight I'm hoping to get the other sleeve and the sides done. If I'm really fast (and can stay awake), I'll start the collar as well. Perhaps this weekend we'll have a chance to pick up a zipper and I can finish.

I was so worried that by the time I finished the sweater it would be too warm for J to wear it. Don't you know? We're supposed to get 1-3" of snow tomorrow. Figures.

In the Home Stretch

Thank you for all of your birthday wishes and for your fiber pushing. I did indeed order myself some STR lightweight as a birthday gift for myself -- in colorways Lemongrass, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Lucy, and Ruby Slippers. I tried to pick out colorways that weren't too loud but were also a little outside of my normal palette. I did use my coupon from the first sock club shipment and, as I consider my birthday to be a special occasion (one that truly comes but once a year), this purchase falls entirely within the scope of The Rules and so does not count against the yarn diet.

We did have a lovely, busy weekend, although unfortunately J spent much of it on the phone or the computer. The plus side of this was that at least the two of us were in the same room for most of the weekend and, while he worked, I knit. I finished up the first sleeve to his Cambridge Jacket and started the second along with working on the first STR sock and starting another. I will finish the second sleeve tonight; depending on how long that takes, there may be some blocking action as well. (I think I've decided to block by pinning the pieces into place and giving them a good spritzing; I'd originally planned to wet block, but now I'm worried about the pieces stretching too much out of shape if I gave them a full bath.)


This evening I came home and discovered my latest My Points reward -- a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card -- waiting for me. I was impressed with how quickly it got to me, as I'd just redeemed the points last week. I already know what I'm going to get with it. Take a wild guess what it is. I have all that sock yarn coming to me and still a lot to work through in the stash -- it's only right that I get some new sock patterns to go with it!

This week it's back to the regular schedule -- normal work week, J is gone until Friday evening. We have plans to go to the hockey game(!) Friday night; perhaps I'll make like Lolly and take my knitting to the game.

P.S. You've heard the big news, right?

It's That Day Again...

Yep, it's my birthday. I'm turning 20-something again. (I like the age I've been for the past year, so I've decided I'm just going to stay that age for a while. When my kid brother called me to wish me a happy birthday, he informed me that I won't be "old" until I'm at least 70 and I'm not really a grown-up until I'm at least 35 -- not even if I have kids before then. Thanks, brother!)

J came home a day early to spend the day with me (I luckily had the day off from work, too) and we are heading out for dinner soon, so today's post comes in bulleted list form.

• Last night I finished the first sleeve of J's sweater, although it was not without drama. I finished the increases as called for in the pattern on Wednesday night and, when I spread it out to look at it, discovered that not only had I increased once on the wrong row, it was also an inch longer than it should have been. So I spent the entire hour of Lost tinking back to where the mistake was, remeasuring, and refiguring the increases to get the correct length. Then, of course, I had to do a bit of math to work the shoulder shaping to account for the fact that I'd done less increases than I should have. Fortunately I had the foresight to write down what I did so when it comes to the second sleeve I'll do it right. Theoretically. The second sleeve is started, but did you really want to see more gray stockinette? I didn't think so.
  
  
  
• Finally, after nearly two weeks, my Sockret Pal spoilee got her final/reveal package from me last night. I was spoiling Rebecca, and judging from her post I did a pretty good job. It's a good thing I checked my e-mail this morning to see that she got it before I was up and about this morning, because otherwise I might have gone straight to the post office and been not very nice to the people there.
  
• I got an e-mail from my Sockret Pal this morning telling me that not only is my final package soon to be sent out, she also sent me something for my birthday! I can't wait to find out who she is!
  
• As my birthday treat to myself this morning, I cast on for my first Rockin' Sock Club sock.

Wow, is this yarn ever cushy. Would it be very wrong to break my yarn diet in order to buy myself some more STR as a birthday present?

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming ...

Now that the flurry of sock knitting that was February has passed and the sock-knitting demon that possessed me seems to have let me be myself again, it's time to return to the other WIPs that have been patiently waiting for my attention. Foremost among these is J's Cambridge Jacket, since spring is coming quickly and if I don't finish soon, he'll have to wait until next fall to show it off.

When last we saw this sweater, the back and two fronts had been completed and the first sleeve had been started:

I am into the second section of increases (every fourth row, or every other RS row), which means I won't have to pay such close attention to counting rows from here on out. This should make for some good knitting while I watch my latest Netflix movie this evening.

I did indeed cast on for a new sock after posting last night, a plain stockinette one out of some self-patterning yarn. It's a basic superwash/nylon blend, but after the Austermann Step it feels incredibly scratchy and rough. Thus begins the return of the fingertip callouses ...

I got all excited this evening when I got home and saw a big box sitting on the front stoop. I thought I was going to have two days in a row of knitting packages, as my Knit Picks box finally came yesterday (after sitting in Leetsdale since noon on Saturday); I was convinced this would be my first shipment from the Rockin' Sock Club, which was due to be sent out this past Monday. Unfortunately, there was no sock yarn in this box, only an engagement gift from some family friends (very nice in its own right, but not as soft as Socks That Rock). Sigh. Perhaps tomorrow.

Finished: Child's First Sock

Pattern: Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon), colorway 25ns/mint, two skeins (with plenty of leftovers for a pair or two of baby socks!)
Needles: Two 12" US 1 Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: February 18/February 24
Mods: picked up an extra couple of stitches for the gussets, thus completing a couple extra gusset decreases (my usual mod)

Here's a detail shot of the beautiful stitch pattern. Obviously yarning over the right way was the key to making this pattern work. These fit perfectly and the color is so cheerful (in real life, much brighter than it appears here). And if you're counting, this is my fourth pair of socks finished this month.

This pair will come in handy, since I opened my sock drawer on Friday morning only to discover a terrible tragedy -- my favorite socks had become a casualty of war(drobe):

The sock on the left has a weak spot (up near the top), while the right sock has a full-blown hole. I'm going to try to darn these with the little bit of yarn I have left, but they are wearing out quickly. I have another skein of this yarn (cotton/lycra blend from Greenwood Fiberworks), so I suppose those will be my next pair of socks.

I did a great deal of knitting this weekend. In addition to finishing up the socks (completing the entire foot of the second sock alone yesterday), I made good progress on J's Cambridge Jacket. I took a vacation day on Friday, and since J was in town but at work most of the day, I caught up on my knitting podcasts and knit away, finishing up the right front and starting the first sleeve. The sleeves are all stockinette, so they should be pretty fast.

After finishing up the second sock for myself last night, of course I immediately had to cast on for a new one. I've done the last couple pairs I knit for myself, so I thought the next pair should be for J. To change things up, I decided to go with the toe-up Widdershins pattern from the summer '06 Knitty. As these are for J -- who you know is rather boring/unexciting in his taste in sock patterns -- I'm doing the plain version. However, I was worried that the pattern as written would be too small, so I did some calculations to make the sock larger by eight stitches.

This yarn is Austermann Step, which contains aloe and jojoba oil. It's a tad bit slick on metal needles, but it's nice and smooth and actually seems to be softening my dry fingertips as I knit. J is also really liking the subtle striping effect (shades of gray -- are you surprised?). These were cast on at about 10 p.m. last night and you can see how quickly they knit up. The toe up gusset/heel flap formula is intriguing, although I'm not sure I like it as well as cuff-down construction. This will see some action tonight during the Oscars!

The Return of 40 Guy

So last night was our monthly knit night and I met up with Jen, Jenn, Besty, and later Lori in the Barnes & Noble cafe. While we were waiting for our favorite eccentric, we also noticed a teenage girl with a brand-new tattoo and jeans so low we saw ass cleavage. We started to worry that 40 guy wasn't going to show, as he seemed to be running a little late. Plus, there was a cop wandering through the store who seemed to be particularly interested in the cafe area, and we all started theorizing that perhaps 40 Guy had gotten his 40 by ripping off a liquor store and wasn't showing up because he knew he was going to be busted if he did.

We needn't have worried:

Ah, 40 guy. He never disappoints. Unfortunately, I think he may be onto us, as I caught him looking at us several times. We may need to lay low with the pictures and so forth for the next month or two, just to put him off our scent. (And for the record, I took this shot very sneakily, pretending I was showing pictures already on the camera to Jenn and turning off the flash.)

Meanwhile, I did get some knitting done while keeping an eye out for 40 Guy. First I finished off a sock that had been started last Sunday:

This is the Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks. You may recall that I tried this pattern once before, but ran into an issue with fit as a result of not knowing how to YO correctly. No problem this time; it's a perfect fit, and half of the leg of the second sock is already done.

These socks are only one of several WIPs I've still got going. I started Shedir last weekend with the Brooks Farm Four Play and it's coming along slowly. Hats usually are a relatively fast knit, but this pattern has cabling every other row and rounds that are 128 stitches around (this is worsted weight yarn worked on US 3 needles).

This doesn't look like much, but the pattern is much more apparent when it's stretched out.

the yarn is delightfully silky and soft. It can be a bit fiddly when working the cables as it has a tendency to stick to itself. This was an issue when I wound it into a center-pull ball; I never actually got it on the swift, but instead had to manually unwind it from the hank and then wind it on the ball winder. I'm doing these cables without a cable needle to speed things along, but I have to be careful that I don't drop the stitches when I do.

Finally, there's J's Cambridge Jacket, which is moving steadily along. Here we are as of last night -- back complete, left front complete, right front started, and Elmer for scale:

For some reason I've been finding it hard to maintain progress on this project, and I think I've finally discovered the reason -- I'm fine with the knitting of the sweater, but I'm worried of ruining it with shoddy finishing. I still haven't gotten over the disaster of the first sweater, and it would just devastate me to have finally knit J a sweater and have it be another mess. Fortunately the order I placed with Knit Picks yesterday (which contained absolutely NO YARN, I will have you know!) contains what might prove to be my savior: Finishing Techniques for Hand Knitters. That title pretty much says it all, doesn't it? I also ordered Nancy Bush's Folk Socks, a set of US 9 dpns, and a chart holder, since I seem to be so into lace socks these days. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed those knitters in Leetsdale don't get their hands on the package ...

Finished: Log Cabin Baby Blanket

Meet Elmer, the newest elephant in the family.

Pattern: Log Cabin Baby Blanket; section width determined by random number generator
Yarn: recycled from an Old Navy cardigan; 10% wool, 90% acrylic
Needles: US 7 Addi Turbo circs
Dimensions: 27.5" x 28.5" before blocking, 30.5" x 32" after blocking
Recipient: my coworker's baby, born at 2:30 a.m. Monday morning

Not much else to say about this one. It was an easy and straightforward knit, although it was getting awfully heavy toward the end. This was the perfect use for this yarn; it's soft and machine washable, so very baby friendly.

* * * * *

Thank you all for your compliments on the socks! I'm hoping to get them and some other goodies out to my Sockret Pal this weekend so that she can soon model them on her own feet. To answer Carrie's question, I don't know how drafty they are. I only had them on for a couple of minutes to take the photos -- and to be perfectly honest, we shot them right after I got out of the shower, so everything was a bit drafty. They are wool, though, so I would think they'd keep your feet warm but also let them breathe a bit (do you ever have that problem where your feet sweat even when you're cold?).

Like many others in the Midwest and Northeast, we're cleaning up from that big ice storm. J did manage to get in from Chicago today, so we're laying low and keeping warm and hoping the cars will start in the morning. If ever there was a time to sit with a big pile of wool in one's lap, this would be it -- and J is particularly happy about that, as (now that the baby blanket is finished) that pile of wool is his sweater once again.

Happy Valentine's Day! I leave you with a shot of a couple of the roses J surprised me with at work yesterday (they were delivered a day early because the store was apparently worried they wouldn't make it out today).

Forward Progress

I'm back and feeling better, so rest assured this post will be much more cheerful than the last!

As you may have heard, we're in the midst of a deep freeze here in the northeast. When I left for work this morning it was -2 degrees outside without wind chill. Brrr. It was only slightly warmer over the weekend, so we spent much of it inside, venturing out on Saturday just to breakfast and then to Pittsburgh Mills to Sears Grand to get a new dishwasher (one that won't spit out water on my feet when it runs!) A great upside to staying inside was that I got plenty of knitting done. I finished the back of J's Cambridge Jacket and started one of the fronts:

It's looking great (and the right size!) so far, and J finally seems to be getting excited about it. When I talked to him earlier this evening, he specifically asked if I was going to working on it this evening.

I've also been flying on his Valentine's socks, which should be done in plenty of time. I finished up the first one and cast on for the second during the Super Bowl last night:

I had a slight hiccup on these in the toe decreases; I discovered that watching the game in a room full of people is not conducive to paying attention to my decreasing, and I wound up with two more stitches on the instep than on the sole. I did an extra round to decrease those last two, keeping the sole stitches even, before grafting the toe stitches together. I don't think you can tell, and J certainly won't know any difference. He did try it on as soon as the ends were woven in and praised it as perfect.

I also did a wee bit of swatching this weekend for Forecast, which I am determined to finally get to once J's sweater is done. All this cold weather has had me wearing the same sweaters over and over again, so I could use another one to work into my wardrobe. I've had the hardest time getting gauge, however. I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern (Cascade 220), but using the needles called for (US 7s) I wound up with too many stitches. So it looks like I'll be using a US 8, which just mystifies me, because I always seem to need to go down a needle size to get gauge. But whatever it takes is fine, as I've got the needles in the right sizes.

You may have noticed that I've been doing some housecleaning with the blog -- new year, new look and so forth. I'm doing it a little at a time, since I'm certainly no expert in Web design and my technology guru (J, that is) is only home on the weekends and usually spends much of that time working. Let me know if you have any thoughts! And I will be trying to get some new thumbnails up of my FOs, but J has to make those in Photoshop, so I'll have to wait until he has time.

On tap tonight is some hard-core knitting on the baby blanket, which has been put to the side since last week. It's getting to be very near completion, and the baby is due this Wednesday, so I'm anxious to finish it up for her -- she will certainly need it in this weather!

A Quick Peek

I'm still sick (I think the cold has progressed to a sinus infection) and I'm developing an awful headache, so I'll make this quick -- just a quick peek at a couple of the WIPs:

That big gray square is the back to J's Cambridge Jacket, about two rows away from the beginning of the armhole shaping. Up top is the cuff of the sock I started this morning to kick of the start of Sock a Month 3. These are for J, too, hopefully to be completed in time to be his Valentine's Day gift. As almost always, it's the regular pattern I knit for him, the Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. I think I could probably knit this sock in my sleep by now; I started that one this morning and have only spent about two hours on it, and you can see how much is done. Just wait until I get to the stockinette portion.

I know I'm just so full of sunshine tonight, so I'll call that a wrap. More when I'm feeling more cheerful and have something more to show you.

A Tale of WIPs and Swatches

Forgive the boring title; I've been a bit under the weather the past few days and it's all I could come up with right now. So as far as this post is concerned, you'll get exactly what you're expecting.

I've been working on a number of projects lately without making significant progress (sort of) on any one in particular, so I haven't had much in the way of FO-age to show you. I thought instead I'd give you a little peek at the WIPs, if only so that certain people continue to think of me as the Knitting Queen. *laugh*snort* So here you are:

The past day or two the WIP that's seen the most attention is the socks on the left. Those are my Jaywalkers; the second sock has about three more inches of foot to go before the toe, and my goal is to finish the pair this weekend.

In the center, that big purple blob, is the sweater I've been knitting for my coworker. It's Wendy's Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Cardigan, which as you see is getting very close to being finished. I finished knitting the first sleeve the other day. The body is done, so all that's left to do is the second sleeve, the button bands, and the weaving in of ends and tacking down of hems. The lighting is this photo is awful, so you can't really see how gorgeous the yarn (Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed) is. Once this sucker is done, I'll do my best to get some natural lighting for the FO photo shoot.

Finally, on the right, is my mother's tube scarf, which I literally haven't touched since last year (Christmas, probably). I have a sinking feeling that this is going to go the way of my tube scarf, which languished in the FO pile for nearly a year. My mother hasn't asked about it, and she's gotten another hand knit scarf since she asked for this one, so I may be able to get away with ignoring it for a while.

There's another WIP not in this picture, and that's the first of the pair of socks for my Sockret Pal. I started it the night before I left for Chicago and got through the cuff and one lace repeat. The morning of my flight, I realized I'd missed the two knit rows between the two sections, tinked back twelve rows, and then knit the two rows and the first lace section again at the airport. I thought it best to not work on lace while on the airplane (anxiety and turbulence not making for ideal lace knitting conditions), so I switched over to the Jaywalkers and haven't gone back. Once I finish the second sock for myself, I'm going to force myself to go back to that first lace sock.

In the meantime, I can't wait to get started on the next project. I didn't make it to knit night on Wednesday as I was feeling icky (didn't want to spread my germs and didn't feel like going back out in the cold), but I felt just well enough to wind the Cascade 220 for J's Cambridge Jacket. Last night I felt ickier, but found enough strength to do some swatching:

I started out with the size 9 needles called for in the pattern, but got nowhere near gauge (19.5 sts and 27 rows over four inches) and didn't particularly care for the quality of the fabric either. So I went down a size and was much more pleased with the results: a drapey fabric, but not too loose -- not to mention spot-on stitch gauge. My row gauge is slightly off (26 rows rather than 27 over four inches), but that's easier to fix. I've got to remeasure J's chest once more, as I seem to have forgotten to write it down when I did the original measurement, and then I'm all set to go. Before I take on the sweater curse, however, I've decided that I really must finish my coworker's sweater. Right sleeve, here I come!