The Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits is not a difficult pattern.  It took me 3 months because I decided to embark on some modifications to the pattern that required learning and trying out new techniques so I could do as little sewing as possible.  At the end, I only needed to sew the shoulder seams.

First it was the turned hem for the bottom of the body.  I consulted with Techknitter’s blog and it was the easiest to learn.  The rest of the body was fairly straight forward; I skipped the increase/decrease stitches around the center cables and knitted more rows before splitting for neck opening so it wasn’ t so large.

The first challenge I encountered was trying to knit the sleeves top down.  I first read about it in Melissa’s blog here and have ever since wanted to try this method so I could avoid the part of finishing a knitted garment I dreaded the most-sewing the set-in sleeves.  But because this was my first time, I had to really study how it was done, calculate carefully how many and which stitches to pick up around the armholes, and review short row knitting that sewing might have actually been quicker.  I am sure though I’d be much faster next time so it was worth investing the time.

The second challenge was finishing the sleeve edges and was the most time consuming.  I could have used the turned hem and be done with it sooner, but again I was so determined not to do any sewing (I would have to sew this time as it was top down instead of bottom up as in the case of knitting the body bottom), I looked up how to knit tubular cast off at the Techknitter’s blog again and Anna’s blog.  The reason this was the most time consuming challenge was that when I tried Anna’s method, the hem flared out a lot.  I then ripped it out and  switched to Techknitter’s method which was a 1×1 ribbing tubular cast off- not  a look I was going for.  Ripped.  I thought then if I used a smaller needle and tried Anna’s method again (which was my preferred method all along), it might not flare.  I went down 2 needle sizes and finished the cast off once again.  Still flared!  Ripped yet again!  There was a lot of debating and analyzing in my head at this point debating whether to consider going back to Techknitter’s method and I think I just took a break from the project for a bit.  Finally I went down another needle size using Anna’s method.  It still flared a bit as you can see in the picture but it’d have to do.  This was a very good learning lesson.  I will remember to use smaller needles in the future and try making the hem deeper (more rows).

The final modification was the Attached I-cord collar and my favorite.   Looked up Attached I-cord at different sources online and went with this one.  I thought it came out beautifully and was a cinch to learn, no ripping.

I learned so much from knitting this project and was happy with how it turned out.  Both my husband and my son approved the look as well.  Yippee!

I can’t believe it’s been 5 months since I last blogged.  I had hoped to keep up even though I took on a temporary job in June last year.  As my job assignment is coming to an end soon, I am finally able to think about other things again besides keeping up with the daily grind of home and work life.

Going back to work was exciting at first.  Get assigned tasks; get them done; get paid.  No resistance, chaos, or disorder, so I thought.  The novelty soon wore off though.   After the initial nice-to-meet-you, what-can-I-help-you-with phase, the familiar competitive, everyone for himself, pointing fingers work environment appeared again.  It reminded me why I left that world 7 years ago and renewed my appreciation for my family.  Still it was nice to make some extra spending money, especially during this economy. 

On the knitting side, I have started quite a few projects with all of them completed at different stages.  They do wonders in clearing my mind of unnecessary worries.   The projects that currently sustain my feelings of calm and peace are:

Revontuli, Kusha-Kusha, Snowball Hat, Gathered Pullover, Calorimetry.

A sweet sweater for multiple seasons and occasions- wear it with just a camisole or a thin T-shirt underneath during spring or fall when the weather is just a bit chilly but too warm for a sweater with a tighter neck opening, or wear it with a turtleneck underneath during winter and the soft merino wool would sure keep your little girl toasty and warm.  The ribbing on top and the heart shape lace pattern lining the bottom edges give it the dress-up feel while the simple shape of the garment keeps it casual.  Pattern offers 2 styles for the neck opening – crocheted collarless edge, or knit rolled edge.

Yarn: Knit Picks Superwash Swish DK, 5 skeins; colorway Cornflower

Needle size: 6

Gauge: 23 sts x 31 rows = 4 inches

Notions: Stitch markers and tapestry needle.

Finished size:  chest size 25 inches

Click here for the Valentine pattern.

Before

After

This was my first attempt at knitting a sweater without using a pattern.  I had some ideas, drew them out, knitted some test stitches, took measurements and then started knitting the actual garment itself.  The Before picture is the first “prototype” and the upper arms came out a little too snug despite my taking measurements off an actual shirt that fit her and careful calculation of stitches against the gauge.  The After picture shows the final finished project (I think it’s better, don’t you?) which resulted from multiple adjustments to the top halves of the front and the back, neck, and sleeves spanning over a period of 2 months after the first version was completed.  I think I still have a lot to learn.

Increase stitches, sometimes written as inc in short in patterns, were harder to learn for me than decrease stitches.  I didn’t quite understand how to knit all of them by just reading different instructions; I needed either videos or still pictures taken at the appropriate moments, especially for yarn over (YO).   Here are again my own pictures for my own information (my own “knitting for dummies” if you will) and hopefully they will help some others along the way as well.

YO (yarn over)- I always forgot which direction to bring the yarn around when I first learned and when the instruction said bring yarn forward, I couldn’t decide if it meant forward away and ahead of me which would bring the yarn behind the needle, or if it meant forward in front of the needle.  I needed to look at pictures to confirm so here it is:

 Bring yarn to the front of the needle, and then over the needle.

 Knit the next stitch after the yarn over.  In this picture I just started to knit the next stitch by inserting the right needle tip into the loop.  Notice the YO doesn’t quite look like a complete stitch yet.

 The next stitch is complete.  The YO is the one that is slanted on the needle and is the increased stitch.  Knit it like a normal stitch when you come across it in the next row.

The YO creates a hole in the knitted fabric and is a standard stitch for lace knitting. 

More increase stitches will be added soon.

What’s the point of going back to work after staying home for five and a half years if you can’t indulge a little?  So I treated myself with these!   Remember I was kicking myself for not buying all sizes of dpn’s last time?  I fixed that.  Got them at eBay for $43.50- 8 sets of 5, 7-inch in length, needles in sizes 4-10 1/2.  A word of caution about auctions…before you know it, the bidding price can go so high you might as well buy retail.  I think I came out ahead because the larger size ones can sell up to almost double my auction price per set at a store.

Shortly before I bought the needles I also bought enough yarns from Knit Picks for 3 projects.  If they had all the colors I wanted, I would have bought enough for 5 projects!  I guess I can wait on some of them as I still have a few projects to get to.  I finally caught the “stash” disease.  Never thought it’d happen to me.  But don’t you just love the self-striping sock yarns with such gorgeous colors?  Ever since the shipment arrived, I’ve been itching to start on those even though I was trying hard to finish a project already in progress.  I finally gave in to the urge and did a swatch which satisfied my “appetite” for now. 

The yarns are:

Felici with Provence colorway for Jaywalker socks.

Swish Superwash Worsted weight colorway Wisteria (lavendar) for a shawl.

Comfy colorway  Blackberry for a skirt. 

I am currently knitting sleeves in the round with one circular needle which is what Magic Loop is and  I’d like to share pictures of using this technique.  The Boye Needle Master comes with a connector part that allows the knitter to combine two shorter cables together to make a very long circular needle.  The length is needed so one end of the needle can be manipulated freely .  I personally find using double point needles to knit small tubes easiest.  Using two circular needles would be my next choice.  But since I don’t have size 6 double point needles (I am kicking myself for not buying all sizes the last time I bought a bunch) or 2 sets of size 6 circular needles (I should get another set of Boye Needle Master), I resorted to the Magic Loop. 

This method works because half of the stitches are sitting on a thin cable while you work the other half.  The flexible cable substitutes the extra needles used in double point needle method and allows the stitches on the needle to be more easily accessible- when the stitches are all sitting on 2 needles in the round (well, in parallel actually), they will be bound very tightly and impossible to knit.

It is a very clever way to use the needle except I find that it’s hard to have even tension for all stitches and the progress slower, having to pull the needle and slide the stitches through a long cable for each side of the work.  Also it can be confusing in keeping track of rounds worked.  One distraction, and you can end up working on the wrong half.

Still it is an alternative to buying extra needles and what I have knit so far looks fine.  I might just get the hang of it and keep using this method for more projects!

I have neglected my blog since I started my temporary job.  There are new ideas that I want to write and post here but I just don’t have as much time as before to knit up a demonstration piece and take pictures.  And with Ravelry around to post FO’s, I totally forgot to write about my latest completed project here until now.  Here she is!  My first lace project, a great pleasure to knit.  I modelled it and gave it to mom.  Hope she likes it.  It’s amazing how simply combining yarn-over’s and decrease stitches can turn out countless seemingly complicated and beautiful lace designs.  Now I am really ready for Rowan’s lace vest, Butterfly.

Pattern: Lion Brand Lace Scarf

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy color Flamingo

Needles: size 8

I learned how to knit mostly by looking up intructions online and noticed that while there were plenty of online instructions with step by step schematics, there were not many live images (at least not as easy for me to find at that time) of how individual completed stitches looked.  Because I don’t have 20-30 years of knitting experience or natural talent of forming geometric patterns in my head, I find myself wishing that there were pictures of the different looks created by various types of basic stitches that I could look up quickly on the computer, especially when I wanted to try knitting something on my own without following a pattern.  Sure I can buy books filled with hundreds of stitch and pattern pictures but which one?  Deciding on one will be another project and field trip later.  For now I need the basic ones used in shaping and lace knitting.  I’ll just take the pictures myself!  They are not the best quality pictures but should still show the directions of the stitches.   Indicate in the comment section if any errors are found.

k2tog – knit 2 stitches together the same way 1 stitch is knit.  This decreases 1 stitch in the pattern and creates a right slanting look with the left stitch being on top of the right stitch, see stitch inside box in the picture.

 k2tog

k2tog tbl- knit 2 stitches through the back loops instead of the front loops in normal knit stitches.  This decreases 1 stitch in the pattern and creates a left slanting look with the right stitch being on top of the left stitch and both stitches are twisted.

  k2tog tbl

k1, sl1, psso- knit 1 stitch; slip next stitch as if to knit, then slide the 2 stitches to the left needle as they are; pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch and off the needle; finally slip the knit stitch back to the right needle as if to purl.  This decreases 1 stitch in the pattern and creates a right slanting look with the left stitch being on top of the right stitch and the left stitch is twisted.

 k1,sl1,psso

ssk and skp create the same look -  ssp is slip one stitch as if to knit, repeat the slip for another stitch, then knit the two together by inserting left needle into the front loops of the two slipped stitches and proceed to complete the knit stitch by pulling the working yarn loop through with the right needle; skp is slip one stitch as if to knit, knit the next stitch, then pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch and off the needle. Both decrease 1 stitch in the pattern and create a left slanting look with the right stitch being on top of the left stitch.

 ssk or skp

k3tog-knit 3 stitches together.  This decreases 2 stitches in the pattern and creates a right slanting look with the left most stitch being on top.

 k3tog

sl3, k3togtbl- slip 1 stitch at a time as if to knit for 3 stitches, transfer them back to left needle as they are, and then knit the 3 stitches throug the back loop.  This decreases 2 stitches in the pattern and creates a left slanting look with the right most stitch being on top.

 sl3, k3togtbl

sk2p- slip one stitch as if to knit, knit the next 2 stitches together, then pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch and off the right needle.  This decreases 2 stitches in the pattern and is centered with the center stitch on the bottom.

 sk2p

sl2tog, k1, p2sso- slip 2 stitches at the same time, instead of one by one,  as if to knit 2 together, then knit the next stitch and pass the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch and off the right needle.

 sl2tog, k1, p2sso

I know there are high tech, jewel studded, or cute colorful practical row counters and stitch markers out there but there are no stories behind them.  Nothing is quite the same in generating conversations and sometimes even warming your heart with that fuzzy loving feeling than all things homemade regardless of the quality of said item.  For the environmentally concious people as I try to be, reusing/recycling otherwise wasted materials has even further significance.  Since I don’t venture outside of my immediate neighborhood much and also have been raised to avoid the shopping habit of buying things I don’t necessarily need, creating clutter, I get plenty of chances for homemade “experiments” if I can manage to scrounge up all the required materials at home.

When I first started knitting, row counter was not even a concept… didn’t know such a thing existed.  I finished knitting scarves, socks, hats, even sweaters without ever needing one.  As I progressed to larger, more complicated patterns though, the desire to use it arose.  The main benefit would be efficiency, saving time.  I could put a project down and come back some time, and it could be months, later knowing exactly what point to pick up without reviewing or counting the pattern all over again.  Not surprisingly, a person who didn’t go out much, such as moi, would not find stitch markers and row counters at the few stores she frequented.   As luck would have it, I eventually saw some markers and counters in a yarn catalog I received in the mail and they look “homemakable.”  So…..

Enough talk and let’s look at the darn homemade row counter already!  It’s light weight and hangs right on the project, bright and colorful, and easy to read.   It works so well for me, I thought it would be fun to share it with people.  All it took was some leftover wires and beads that came with my kids’ rock painting kits.  Here are the step by step pictures.  It cannot be easier and would be a fun project for kids too.

  figure 1

Cut a 5-6″ wire.  Twist it around a pen along the middle of the wire to form a loop.  Put the number of beads you need through one end.  I put in 10 beads to keep track of multiples of up to 10-row repeating patterns.  To keep track of total number of rows knitted on a project, make more counters with larger beads, each denoting 5, 10, or more rows, to use together with the first counter. 

figure 2

Close the loop by twisting the ends of the wire together.  Make sure the cut ends are twisted to the inside of the loop to avoid snagging the yarn when you hang the counter on the needle.  I have never had a problem with this wire maybe because of the plastic coating.

 figure 3 figure 4

Done!   Use a permanent marker ( I used black)  to make a mark near the bottom on one side of the loop as the side counting the completed rows (see figure 3).  If you don’t do this, later you won’t be able to tell right away without re-examining your project and the pattern which side is telling you how many rows you have done.

How to use:

 I usually place the counter, which can be used as a stitch marker at the same time when needed, onto the needle when I work up to the middle of the row, sliding one bead over to the marked side of the counter indicating row 1.  When you come upon the counter again as the knitting progresses, take the counter and slide one more bead over to the marked side to indicate one more row completed.  Then slip the counter as if it were a yarn stitch, or as you would for a stitch marker, onto the right needle and continue knitting.  In figure 4, I have completed the second row of a lace pattern that repeats over 8 rows.  In this case,  I wouldn’t be sliding over all 10 beads before repeating from row 1 again. 

By using two counters side by side, one counting by 1 bead = 1 row and the other 1 bead = 10 rows for example, one can keep track of over 100 rows, if one ever needs to.  A even more helpful use for me is when I need to cast on projects with over 100, 200, or more stitches.  Just slip on the counters as stitch counters at whatever intervals that are convenient as you cast on (for me, usually after every 50 stitches or so using 1 bead as 10 stitches) and there would be no need to double check the number of stitches all the way back from stitch 1.  Let’s say one of your little ones is calling you to the bathroom to help her wipe after #2, in the middle of casting on 144 stitches.  No problem.  Just go ahead and finish that important duty then come back to your needle and recount from the last counter you placed.  The counters can be taken out when row 1 is being worked on.  

After thought:

Many other small items around the house can also be used as stitch markers.  Figure 4 above includes dangling earring parts ( blue boy and pink girl figurings) that I don’t wear anymore doubling as stitch markers now.  Small o-ring is another example of improvised stitch marker.  I am sure there are a lot of creative people out there doing the same thing.  I hope they comment and share what kinds of interesting materials they have used to aid their knitting.