Come Join Us!

Thank you for all of your extremely nice comments about my Forecast. I'm so, so pleased with how it turned out and I'm a huge fan of the pattern. I highly recommend it, especially to those of you who (like me) may not be such a fan of knitting sweaters in pieces and sewing them together. This pattern is easy to follow and is easily adaptable to your own modifications, and the top-down construction eliminates finishing and allows you to try it on as you go. An added bonus is that the yarn the pattern calls for -- Cascade 220 -- is very affordable (as yarns go), comes in numerous shades, and has fantastic yardage. Holly had asked me how much I used in my Forecast, and I'm still amazed that I used only about four and a half skeins, or roughly 990 yards. I think that's probably a pretty conservative estimate, too. This yarn is a great basic wool yarn and is one of my favorites; I have two sweaters' worth in my stash now, iintended for two other Stefanie Japel designs.

If anyone out there is currently knitting or planning to knit Forecast, I'm happy to help you if you encounter any tricky bits or just need another knitter's perspective.

I'm dying to start one of those other sweaters right now (still high from the success of the last one), but for now I'm focusing on socks. I started a pair Sunday night for my future MIL for her birthday (June 17) and I'll soon be starting a pair for my mother's birthday (June 18 -- Mom, if you're reading this, this is your notice that once your socks are started, you will be banned from the blog until after your birthday!), plus I'm still working on my first Knee High to a Grasshopper sock (just into the leg).

I'll be bringing at least one of these socks to the monthy meeting of the Hurricane Knitters tomorrow night, 7-ish at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble. All of you in the greater Pittsburgh area are welcome to join us for knitting and 40 guy watching -- and any of you not from the greater Pittsburgh area who'd like to join us are certainly welcome as well!

I am off to work on one of the aforementioned socks and probably cry my eyes out during the final episode of Gilmore Girls. (Feeling sad already? This will make you nostalgic.)

Finished: Forecast

Pattern: Forecast by Stefanie Japel (winter '05 Knitty)
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% wool), color 8339, approximately 4.5 skeins
Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: April 13/May 10
Mods: a few; I'll get to them below

This sweater was a long time in the making. The yarn was purchased a year ago, but for some reason it lay dormant in the stash for months. The pattern that had so excited me when I first found it kept getting pushed down further and further in the project queue and the yarn got pushed deeper into the stash. Then I bought Fitted Knits and saw two sweaters I was dying to knit -- but I decided that I could not knit either one until I knit Forecast; it had been on hold much too long. I was also inspired by the other versions I saw appearing over on the knitalong blog, so I signed up and cast on.

I made a few modifications to the pattern, the most obvious of which was changing the cable panels. I did not care for the bobbles much, and I thought that the cable as charted in the pattern might look empty without them. I was uncertain about what to do until I saw Carrioke's finished Forecast, and I'll readily admit that I completely ripped off her idea of a braid cable. It perfectly fit the nine stitches used in the cable as written and it's always been among my favorite cables.

I also lengthened the body a bit and started the arm ribbing at the elbow, and I expanded the button bands to have three "stripes" of reverse stockinette to match the areas of reverse stockinette on the rest of the sweater.

The final touch that completed the sweater was the buttons. I spent quite a while in the button aisle at Jo-Ann's, but I think in the end I found the right ones:

So, after sitting on the yarn for a year, having a slight miscabling mishap requiring surgery, and having to sew some buttons on twice (due to my not marking the locations very well the first time around), the result is what J has proclaimed my Best Sweater Yet. I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. It fits like a glove and matches so many things in my wardrobe. Most importantly, it's restored my faith in my ability to knit a garment (other than socks, of course) that actually fits!

I'm really quite sorry it's too warm to wear this and that I'll have to put it away until the fall!

A Quick Update

I just got home and we have friends coming over for dinner soon, but I wanted to post a quick update a couple WIPs that you might see finished over the weekend.

First of all, Forecast is finished. It's still a tad bit damp, and it's still sans buttons, but it's done and it fits and it's wonderful. J had proclaimed it my Best Sweater Yet. Three cheers for seamless construction!

I'm also almost done with my latest pair of Jaywalkers, although I'm convinced that I'm going to run out of yarn. There's very little left and I still have an inch and a half of foot before starting the toe. Damn my big feet! I guess this pair will be one of a kind, as one sock will have a contrasting toe -- or maybe I ought to rip out the toe of the first one and make them both contrasting? Opinions, please!

Watch this space for some FO reports this weekend. Happy Friday!

80 degrees? Bring on the wool!

Spring appears to be in full force and it is HOT, especially on the third floor of my house, from which I'm blogging. It's not really the ideal condition in which to be working with wool -- but I just can't help myself. Last night I finished the second sleeve of my Forecast. All that's left is to weave in the ends (a couple of which you can see in this picture) and knit the button bands.

I'm aware that the ribbing at the bottom of the body and sleeves makes this sweater look quite mishapen; I'm planning on giving this garment a severe blocking when it's all done. I've planned for this to be a very fitted sweater, but I also want it to be able to button in front and not flare in strange places. If J is amenable, we may make a trip to Jo-Ann's this weekend to buy buttons and perhaps a zipper to finally finish off his sweater!

The two pairs of socks I have on the needles are progressing, though at drastically different rates. I don't think I've mentioned my latest pair of Jaywalkers, done in Socks That Rock. The first sock was finished shortly after returning from Chicago and the second is only a few rows away from the heel. Meanwhile, my Grasshopper socks, which I'd only just started before we went away, were frogged and restarted while waiting to board the plane because I thought they were working out too large. I did several repeats of the stitch pattern before putting it down; I'm a nervous flyer, and the p2togs are hard enough without my hands being shaky and sweaty and the plane moving around. I'll pick the sock up again once the second Jaywalker is done.

Today I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home, besides the gorgeous weather for the ride.

I'd ordered these on Amazon last week and received an e-mail that the box had shipped on Monday. Despite Amazon's tracking function predicting I'd receive the package next Monday, it was sitting on my doorstep today. Do you think they purposely overestimate their shipping time so that you'll be extra pleased with their service when it arrives earlier? I wonder ...

I'm taking my knitting down at least one floor, where it's cool enough to work on it.

Finished: Most Boring Socks

Pattern: Stockinette with 2x2 ribbed cuffs and short row heels and toes
Yarn: Greenwood Fiberworks handpainted cotton/lycra sock yarn, colorway Winter Sky, one skein
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) 12" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: April 12/April 27*

I am so relieved that these are finally done. As I mentioned before, this yarn is less than exciting to knit with; fortunately this skein didn't shed the way the first skein did. The real reason for knitting this yarn was that I knew these socks would soon become among my favorites once I finally finished them. I throw these in the washing machine and the dryer; they shrink up a bit but them stretch nicely to hug the foot, and they're the most cushion-y, squishy socks to wear.

One thing I did love about this yarn is that it behaved extremely well for a variegated colorway. It's hard to capture the full range of color on camera -- there are shades of pinkish purple, periwinkle, turquoise-y blue, and very pale blue -- but there was absolutely no pooling with this yarn. You can see that the overall tone is purple, and I have to say that the color does remind me of a winter sky (ever notice that in the winter, when it's been snowing, the light is kind of purplish?). These are ready to go in the wash in anticipation of their first wearing.

I took a day off yesterday and got half of the second sleeve of my Forecast done after finishing these socks. I was planning to try to finish it this weekend, but it looks like I'll be turning all my attention (for the time being) to the Baby Surprise Jacket -- we heard this morning that my cousins had a baby boy! I'm glad I put the BSJ aside for a bit; now I'll know which side to put the buttonholes on and I can make some boyish accessories to go with it. I have a new cousin, yay!


*Further evidence that these socks were the equivalent of a black hole of knitting -- since when does it take me more than two weeks to finish a pair of simple stockinette socks?!

Filler

Knitting progress is being made here in the Knit/Wit house, although knitting time is competing with walking time now that the weather is cooperating again. J and I went down to the "jail trail" (a paved trail that begins at the county jail and runs between Second Avenue and the Parkway East) on Saturday. He rollerbladed while I walked the equivalent of a 5K and tried to ignore the catcalls coming from clearly bored drivers sitting in construction traffic on the parkway (listening to episodes of Lime and Violet helped). I went out to walk again after J left on Sunday evening, this time through the hilly terrain of the cemetery across the street, with soundtrack provided by the latest episode of Cast On.

If anything, the warmer weather has been serving as good motivation to finish knitting a heavy, 100% wool sweater. Forecast is moving along; we've now got half a sleeve, which will see lots of ribbing action tonight.

It's a little hard to see, but I've made a mod that seems to be pretty popular among participants in the knitalong -- starting the ribbing a little higher on the arm than called for in the pattern. In my case, I'm starting it roughly at the elbow.

As usual, I also have a pair of traveling socks going (as I do at all times). Unfortunately my current socks have seem to have become Most Boring Socks Ever. They're a basic stockinette with short-row heels and toes, which usually isn't an issue for me, since I can knit stockinette very quickly without looking.

I think the problem with these might be the yarn. This is Greenwood Fiberworks cotton/lycra blend, which is my absolute favorite to wear (you may recall that I wore out my first pair knitted with this yarn). While I love how soft and squishy these socks are once they're done and on my feet, I've come to realize that I just don't care for knitting with this yarn. It's a tad bit fussy (especially when you try grafting with it or trying to weave in the ends) and because of the elasticity of the lycra the stitches squinch down on themselves, meaning that the number of rows per inch is a lot higher than I'm used to, meaning these are taking forEVer to knit. I am determined to finish these in the next few days, if only to be done with them once and for all, but also because my next Rockin' Sock Club shipment should be on its way this week.

Aside from this knitting, I've been enjoying another pasttime. Can you keep a secret? I've been reading again. If you've been reading this blog from the beginning (or perhaps gone back and read old entries), you'll know that I used to read all the time for pleasure. Then I started my new job, for which I read all day. And for about the first year, the last thing I wanted to do was read; that's probably one reason why I started knitting so obsessively. In the past few months, however, I've been able to read for a little bit each night. At first it was Elizabeth Zimmermann and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Then, lately, I've been moving back into more serious (read: non-knitting) books. I finished Mockingbird, a biography of Harper Lee, the other night. To Kill a Mockingbird has long been one of my favorite books, and I loved getting an inside view of the woman behind it.

Inside the Sweater ER

*****Warning: Picture heavy post ahead!*****

You will remember that at knit night on Wednesday I made a most unfortunate discovery -- a mis-crossed cable near the top of my Forecast. Frogging was not an option, as far as I was concerned, nor was unraveling/dropping the stitches in the cable and reknitting them the Weirdy Pants way. The only option was the take out the scissors and do some sweater surgery.

To prepare, I studied Cara's post in which she performed a similar procedure, then I practiced on a swatch. This practice procedure was, in my eyes, completely successful. I challenge you to find the cable that was fixed in this after picture:

Need a hint? I knit both cables in this swatch with the same mistake, but only fixed one of them. Here was the before picture:

Having successfully repaired my swatch, I prepared to do the real deal on my Forecast. I set up for the surgery as follows:

I isolated the row of stitches that would be unraveled by putting a spare dpn underneath it. Using some smooth scrap yarn (in this case some discloth cotton), I installed some lifelines through the stitches in the rows directly above and below the row to be unravled. I had at the ready my embroidery scissors (small, exact blades to ensure I only cut what I wanted to cut) and a length of sweater yarn on a yarn needle.

Next, I cut exactly one leg of the center stitch of the row to be unraveled ...

... and unraveled the three stitches in this row. The stitches in the row above and below remained safe on the scrap yarn.

I placed the stitches on the scrap yarn onto two size 6 dpns (smaller than what I'd used to knit this portion of the sweater). Then, carefully, I eased the dpns under the band of stitches that were previously the bottom part of the cable.

Essentially what you're doing here is taking the stitches that were in the front of the cable cross and pulling them behind to the back.

Here you see the two dps and the tails of the yarn that was cut are all pulled to the wrong side of the fabric:

Now came time to suture the wound. I picked up my yarn needle with the length of sweater yarn and grafted the stitches on the dpns together ...

... and finally wove in all the ends. I turned the sweater to the right side again to admire my handiwork:

Success! Many thanks to Cara for her very helpful tutorial; I followed her instructions to the letter, and you can see they worked beautifully.

Now that that is behind me, I am ready to pick up on this baby where I left off. I finished the body Thursday night and am now ready to begin the sleeves -- you can bet I'll be watching my cables closely from now on!

Gah!

I was planning a really happy post this evening about how wonderfully my Forecast was knitting up and how gnomes must be at work because it was knitting up so quickly. I was planning to be all sunshine and daisies and Ain't Life Grand, waxing poetic about how fabulous this sweater was and what a genius I was for making the modifications.

That's what I was planning. That is not what this post is going to be like.

Why the change, you ask? Well, last night at knitting, I made the fatal error of laying out the sweater for a big-picture look at my progress before packing the thing up to go home. And that's when I saw it:

Looks fine to you? Let's just zoom in a bit at the offending part:

NOOOOOOOOOOO! You would think I would have missed crossed a cable further down (keep in mind this is a top-down construction), when I was supposedly so used to the pattern that I didn't need to pay attention. Apparently not. Apparently my brain decided to shut off right as I was starting the cabling and fail me on my third cable turn -- and then apparently fail again and again to the point that I didn't even notice this mis-crossed cable every time I came to it.

Fortunately this discovery was made in the presence of Jenn, Fixer of Mis-Crossed Cables Extraordinaire. She reminded me of how she had documented the fix she performed on an errant cable cross in The MWP's sweater, a post that later wound up in an issue of Yarnival. When I expressed concern that I couldn't unravel and reknit the way she did on account of the cable being right along the edge, she reminded me that the very talented Cara had actually taken scissors to her cable and had documented it on her blog.

So, tonight there will be swatching and practice surgery in preparation for the real thing (kind of like how Christina had Burke practice surgery on chickens on Grey's). I will be documenting the whole process here, so all you faint of heart, be prepared.

Weekend Forecast: Cloudy with a Chance of Wool

We are back from a super-speedy trip to Cleveland (we left at about 11:30 on Saturday morning and were back by 2 on Sunday) for J's cousin's Bat Mitzvah. It was a fun, somewhat crazy weekend, including such good times as me trying to walk in about an inch of slushy snow in heels.

The plus side of all the driving -- which, I should add, was done by J -- is that I had between four and five solid hours of knitting time. I decided to forgo the remaining WIPs in favor of starting a new project that has long been in the queue. On Friday night, I finally cast on for Forecast. I completed all of the yoke during the trip and divided for the sleeves last night. Here is the progress thus far:

As you can see, I've already modified the cable pattern. I decided that bobbles just weren't for me (too nipply for my taste) and I thought the cable would look empty without them, so I substituted a braid cable instead and am very please with how it's working.

My one concern right now is that it looks rather small. I've remeasured and I am getting stitch gauge, so I'm hoping it will open up with blocking and the stretchiness of the fabric in general. I also keep reminding myself that the button bands are yet to be knitted on, which will give me another inch or so in width.

I'm going to knit away on this tonight while watching my latest Netflix DVD. There's still snow in the forecast for at least the next day, so I may even be able to wear this baby once this year if I can finish it quickly enough.