The Bare Necessities

No one would say that building a house is easy. It is not. It is rather hard. I tell from experience. Several months of experience. Last month was especially difficult for us with various inspections and a gazillion “last minute” things that had to be done. We even had to go to Pennsylvania for one weekend and then come back. The only thing that kept me sane was knitting.

In April I decided to make some clothes that I really needed for a change. The bare necessities, so to speak.

Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife...

I couldn't forget about my worries but I could make something useful and wearable. 

First, I chose Loving by Kim Hargreaves (again, quite a bit of time was spent contemplating the pattern’s name – why “-ing”?  it looks weird to me but maybe I am just bad at English grammar?) inspired by these finished versions of it on Ravelry. It seemed to be simple (only garter stitch with minimal shaping) project that you can take anywhere and that doesn’t require a total concentration. Plus, I had 6 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed DK in my favorite color – clay. If my calculations were correct, it was just enough to make a size S sweater.

And I am loving the result (maybe this is the reason for the pattern’s name – if you make it you are going to be loving it?). It is very well fitting and goes with anything.  And I was able to take it with me everywhere – to the knitting club, to Philadelphia and back. The whole process of making it went so quickly that I didn’t even tire of it. As soon as the sweater was finished I was ready to start another one in cotton – for Florida. But I had to stop myself because of this book.

Have you seen the patterns from this book? When I saw them for the first time I finally understood what was missing in my closet. Actually, several garments were missing, and I absolutely needed them right this second. They are all simple but very stylish and elegant, extremely wearable and useful, and it is really hard to pick the first one to make. Yet, I’ve been making sweaters nonstop for such a long time that a cardigan seemed in order.

But first a couple of words about the yarn that I wanted to use. Normally, I don’t buy artisanal skein-dyed yarn because: 1) it is too easy to miscalculate the amount needed for a pattern (especially, when you keep changing this pattern in mind) and impossible to buy more later; 2) I don’t like the way this yarn looks in a finished garment – too busy and too handmade at the same time (normally, “handmade” has a positive connotation for me, but sometimes it is just a synonym for “amateurish” or “sloppy”). 

I saw this yarn in a yarn store and was immediately attracted to it because of its color. Sounds familiar? Right, because it happens to me too often (which is why I avoid yarn stores and try to buy yarn online). The yarn – Swans Island washable merino wool from Washable Wool Collection – was on sale J))) but there were only 5 skeins of it ((((: 

Still, I grabbed the yarn and took it to Florida with me. I had 900 yards of this beautiful vibrant yarn and I could see myself wearing it as a cardigan. Yet, even a person of my size cannot make a whole cardigan with only 900 yards of sport weight yarn.

Later, I found a Raveler that had one skein of the same yarn in the same color and who agreed to sell it to me. Unfortunately, the color of her skein was slightly different from my first five. So, if I wanted to use this yarn for a cardigan, I had to figure out how to incorporate this one different ball without it being too noticeable.

Since I never worked with this yarn before, I made a big swatch, washed and blocked it to see how it behaves after washing. The result was amazing – the yarn “grew” and became more voluminous.

I thought that Ebony would be the right pattern for this yarn because its design is unpretentious and restrained: a good way to showcase the yarn, its color and structure. Plus, while making the body (back and both fronts are knitted simultaneously) I could alternate threads from two different balls thus incorporating my extra ball of slightly different color.

This little gem of a cardigan looks simple but there are many interesting details that keep your work interesting and result in an excellent fit. It’s all about the fit, this one! 

The directions for the pattern are clear even though some things are kind of implied and left untold. For example, eventually I figured out that all selvedge stitches are supposed to be knit on both sides all the time, but I was already finishing the right front and it was too late to change anything. So keep it mind, if you haven’t started yet. Also I ended up having enough space for only 5 buttonholes on the front edge (the pattern tells you to make 6) but I don’t think that it is a big deal. And I forgot to make eyelet row on my first sleeve (note to myself – do not start a new part of a garment while chatting with friends!) so I just omitted it on the second sleeve. Sorry, no eyelets on sleeves for me this time.

When I was trying it on while working on it the cardigan seemed to be tiny and at some point I was a little bit worried if I was making the right size. But that was the only size that I could possibly make with this amount of yarn so I soldiered on hoping for the best.  I was right because in the end it grew after washing and became the most adorable cardigan that I ever made. This pattern is what Kim Hargreaves usually calls “understated” but its color is enough to make a statement. It is short, not too warm, looks great with skirts and dresses, and goes with all my clothes (that are mostly black, or grey, or white).

The yarn is absolutely one of my favorite now. I would love to make more things from it for sure.

And I used my new label that I also like a lot. They are made from leather by a small Canadian company Orange Bridge Supply Co

One more thing. While traveling to Philadelphia and back I was wearing (again!) my Bo sweater. Making it was such a drag and I wrote all about it but I never wrote how often I wear this garment and how useful it is. And I felt bad about it and thought that this pattern needs some additional “promotion” because, if made from the right yarn, it is incredibly flattering, practical, and comfortable, especially while traveling. And when we returned to Florida, I asked my husband to take more pictures of me wearing it and put them on Instagram and on my pattern page on Ravelry. Check it out.

Meanwhile I started another project from Helga Isager’sbook. It is called Pearls. I am using the same Rowan fine tweed that I used for my Christmas sweater but in different color. I figured that all these bubbles can hide the yarn’s irregularities and imperfections.

As a result now I am leaving not in one but with many tiny bubbles. Can’t wait to see the end result. Hopefully, in Pennsylvania, where I am flying next week, I’ll have as much time for knitting as I had in Florida.

March Madness

-          - Do I look like a clown?

-          - Yes, but in a good way.

-          - What do you mean?

-         -  Like a cute and stylish one.

(from conversations with my husband)

Project: Sunshine

Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in four colors

Needles: 2,5 mm and 3 mm 

Many years ago I fell in love with Alice Starmore’s designs. To be exact, it wasn’t so much love as admiration and awe. Never before could I even imagine using so many different colors while creating one garment. And the end result – oh, where to find words to describe it! It was like a painting or a tapestry, work of art – unique and priceless. The models looked stunning with mountains, lakes, or colorful fields as background. The steeks and knitting in the round without seams were well explained and seemed easy to implement.

I started collecting Alice Starmore’s books and bought yarn in all possible colors. I didn’t order the original yarn since it was either discontinued or too expensive for me, so I had to settle for something much cheaper. And then the fun began. I made several Starmore’s designs religiously following all her directions with steeks and yarn cutting. The finished projects looked pretty and unique but, unfortunately, I didn’t look pretty in them. Rather the opposite. They were too large, long, and oversized. I looked awful – like a shapeless midget with no legs, waist, or shoulders. Plus, they were very hard to wear – imagine wearing a tapestry or painting to a supermarket or class. They were not versatile garments at all. I gave away or donated almost all of them but one, which is still collecting dust in my closet but is never worn.

After that I started wondering why my knits didn’t look on me like on the models in Starmore’s books. At first, I blamed the yarn. I promised myself to splurge on well made English yarn as soon as I get a well-paid job (never happened, because as soon as I got a job I almost didn’t have time for knitting). Then, a couple of top-down seamless garments that didn’t fit later, it dawned on me that maybe the reason was the construction itself.

Seamless top-down sweaters, so popular now with Ravelry knitters, don’t look well on me. To get a good fit I need seams and structure. Otherwise, knit fabric just hugs my body at every protruding point in a very unflattering way. And it stretches a lot with wearing and washing. More it stretches, more shapeless and unflattering it becomes. Until one day I just bite the bullet and unravel it. Only you cannot unravel a multicolored concoction with steeks – remember, the yarn was cut. That is why for a while I didn’t do fair isle at all, or, occasionally, I would make a hat, scarf, or gloves (you can find great design for small fair isle projects), or even a vest (this one was made in pieces, without steeks, didn’t stretch, and is still wearable).

This year in Florida, surrounded by bright, cheerful colors, my appetite for color work was reawakened. After making Juno and getting many colorful balls of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply, I wanted to try my hand in creating something unique and special. Yet, this time I wanted it to be wearable and well fitting. Which meant no knitting in the round or steeks. And the rest is history, as they say.

I was happily finishing my yellow and white asymmetrical sweater when one day, coming from my daily walk, I looked at the sweater’s parts laying on the couch and got rooted to the spot: What was I thinking?!!!! Yes, I managed to make a whole sweater with only 5 balls of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in yellow, but I definitely won’t be able to wear it any time soon. If ever. Where would you wear something like this?

Surprisingly enough, I got an unexpected encouragement and support from my husband, who usually doesn’t even notice what I am wearing. He is not into clothes or fashion, to put it mildly. Yet, this time he stopped and said: “Look, this one fits you really well! Congrats!” I blame the yellow – it is extremely noticeable.

Anyway, I decided to keep it for now (my first impulse was to send it to my daughter in New York), but switch to making more traditional stuff in less conspicuous color. See what I mean? Something versatile, that I can wear anytime anywhere.

Love at first sight

Do you believe in love at first sight? This question seemed to be of utmost importance to me and my friends when we were in high school. I remember one answer by a clever and prematurely wise guy who said: “I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in a new sight. When you look at someone for maybe a hundredth time and all of a sudden notice something that you’d never noticed before. And you fall in love with it.”

This, my friends, is the best definition of inspiration. At least from my point of view. I can go through my daily routine when all of a sudden my eye catches something unusual that I might have seen a hundred times but never noticed before and this new sight stirs something inside of me.  

For example, I had walked on the same road many times before I noticed these trees.

One day I looked at them and all I could see were cables, asymmetrical, lusty, sculptural cables… Immediately I had an idea of making something like this from tweed – white with grey and brown speckles. At home I went through my stash looking for the appropriate yarn and found 12 balls of Rowan Cashcotton DK that I bought many years ago in Edinburgh. My older daughter was studying at Edinburgh University then not so sure what to do with her life and where to go after finishing school. Obviously, it took her less time to make this important decision than me to choose a project for this yarn. It is not tweed, but still its color and structure give off a sort of organic, earthy vibe of growth and warmth. So it happened again – I looked at a very familiar object and saw it differently.

At the time I was making a sweater from an old Phildar magazine and kept looking at the magazine spread. Next to my chosen pattern was another sweater. At first I didn’t give it any attention – it seemed unusually ugly and overdesigned.

But after a while I looked at it again and imagined it in one color. Boom! It reminded me of the trees that I saw while walking. Or, maybe, the trees made me see this sweater differently. Anyway, I decided to try and make it.

I made some changes to the original pattern but not too many (besides the major change – making it in one color). All of them I described on my Ravelry page.J))). And since the yarn is smooth and silky, it is not too bulky. I made it longer and a little bit A-shaped, tunic-like.

My biggest worry was the sleeves. I was afraid that with all the cabling my arms would look huge and too muscular for my frame. So I picked stitches for the smallest size and changed the cable pattern a bit to preserve cables along the seam and raglan decreases.

I like the finished sweater very much. Even though it wasn’t a love at first sight, I definitely became very fond of this pattern.

 We didn’t have time to change clothes while photographing it so you have to believe me. It looks great with a skirt as well (with or without a belt). Kim Hargreaves would have approved:)))

While making this sweater I was watching Patriot (free streaming with Amazon Prime) and the main character was wearing a similar cabled sweater (made of dark green wool) in several episodes. Since I really enjoyed the show (and its soundtrack!), I decided to call this sweater Patriot.

As I said earlier, inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t. Here are some other examples of things that inspired me to start my next project:

I had 5 balls of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in yellow that I used for Juno and my Blue Improvisation sweater. I’ve been thinking about a whole sweater in this color but, obviously, I didn’t have enough yarn for it. To solve this problem I decided to add another color: mostly white, but I also interspersed it with dark and light blue (because – why not, if you go color, you might go all the way, right?). I really, truly didn’t want any flowers, snowflakes, deer, or other traditional fair isle patterns and was looking for something geometrical instead. I found the right design in this book (I gave it to myself as a Christmas present, because I am worth it!!!).

It is easy to remember, blends colors well, and works for the asymmetrical part of my garment. Since – again, no surprise here – I picked an asymmetrical pattern from a Phildar magazine. This time the pattern is made in one color and I decided to reinvent it with added color work.

I am making it flat which slows the process down significantly. Fair isle is much easier when done in the round with only knit stitches. Yet, when knitting it flat (like in the old times, when I had no idea about doing it in the round) it gives you much more freedom with the shape and form of a garment. For me shape is essential and more important than the easiness and speed of the process. But I’d better explain it all later when I finish this crazy difficult asymmetrical thing.

Problems and solutions

-          -When will I see a refrigerator in our new kitchen?

-         - This is a problem that still has no solution.

(from conversations with my husband)

Knitting is inherently full of problems. There is always something that goes wrong even with the best patterns. Yet, years of knitting taught me that for every problem there is a solution, and if there is not, you can always unravel your work and start all over which could be also called a solution albeit on a radical side.

When the idea of the Blue improvisation sweater was born I imagined it like this.

Yes, I drew a sketch, like a real pro. Because it helped to visualize better how I wanted my sweater to look: with a cabled body and multicolored sleeves. Both techniques – fair isle and aran – are old and traditional, but combined in one garment – become more modern and, dare I say, extravagant. And almost everything went well. At least till I reached the neck line. It turned out to be a real pain in the neck.

I followed the original directions for the Iron Work Sweater and its neck line was too low and too wide for my liking (keep it in mind if you decide to use this pattern!). Problem # 1. Solution - I picked up stitches around the neckline with the leftover blue yarn and smaller needles and started working in the round in 1x1 rib (all knit stitches through the back loop) while gradually decreasing the number of stitches. I put all decreases around the seams so they would look as continuation of the blue seams on the sleeves. Unfortunately I didn’t have a lot of yarn left.

The last ball of Rowan Pure Wool 4Ply in Indigo in my possession was of a little bit different hue (how that could happen?!). That is why I couldn’t possibly have the turtleneck collar from my initial sketch. Problem # 2. Solution – I turned the collar, joined the last ball, and started increasing stitches mirroring the decreases (all the details are on my Ravelry page). There is a visible line at the place where a new ball was attached, yet, this line is inside the garment and no one knows about it besides me (and you).

Even though the sweater doesn’t look like on my initial sketch, I like it. The collar is stretchy and comfortable, it is much higher than it would have been if I followed the directions for the original pattern, and it looks right for this particular project.

The photographs were taken on Valentine’s day. We went boating – my husband and I, just the two of us. Funny, but for many years we didn’t even think of celebrating such silly things as wedding anniversary or Valentine’s day. Now, with kids gone, we are getting more and more sentimental. Or, maybe, we appreciate more our time together, or what is left of it.

Anyway, I was very pleased with this sweater. It feels soft and is weightless, fits me well and is warm enough. This whole experience – from the initial idea of a mixed techniques sweater till the final result – had a strange effect on me. It “freed” me from the directions’ constraints, so to speak, made me realize that I can do more than just follow directions. Something sort of snapped inside and released some creative potential that I never suspected to be there in the first place. Like a genie was freed from a bottle. And I started sketching, and looking for inspiration, and sketching again. That is how at the moment I got not one but two EXTREMELY challenging projects on my needles simultaneously.

One – a symphony of cables, big, luscious, and almost three-dimensional. Reminds me of succulents.

Two – another asymmetrical design, with a twist.

Both are not finished yet, and I am not sure how they will turn out. So I’d better write about them later, when they are done.

Meanwhile, I finished one little garment in between (it was my “to go” project that I could take to the knitting group with me). To make it I used Drops Recycled Cotton from my unraveled sweater. Why I unraveled it? I didn’t wear it, even once. Funny, because the wool version of the same pattern I wore so much it became almost unwearable.

I picked an old Adrienne Vittadini pattern that was made for a winter garment. I am a big fan of Adrienne Vittadini, I used to buy her books and yarn when she was in business. Many of her patterns are stylish, classy, and look surprisingly modern. I made a couple of them then – not everything worked well for me, but my experience with Vittadini certainly left me wanting more. This particular pattern was in my mental queue for the longest time. And I decided to try it in cotton with short sleeves – more practical for the life on a subtropical island.

What can I say? This t-shirt fits me like a glove, goes with everything, and will be worn a lot. And I like it. Yet, I didn’t get as much excitement from the process of making it, or from wearing it, as I did with my experimental blue sweater. No adrenaline rush, no jitters (Am I doing it right? Do I need to unravel and start over again?), no decisions to make. Just follow the pattern and enjoy the result. No fun at all.

Meanwhile my “blue” period is officially over and I don’t have a name for the new one. Maybe “green”??? 

Oh, and speaking of names. Now I got so much appreciation for people who find names for things. Like Sherwin-Williams paint colors. There are many colors at Sherwin-Williams, and every one of them has a name: “After the Rain”, “Blueblood”, “Hyperblue” – these are just few examples. I would love to meet a person who came up with these names. I confess, my imagination isn’t that wild. Actually, it stops working when it comes to naming a project. “Blue improvisation” is no better than “blue disaster”. How to deal with this problem? I need to find a precise spot somewhere between pretentious and bland. Or maybe the name is not that important? After all “What’s in the name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet”, right? Or, as a possible solution, just go to the Sherwin-Williams website and borrow a name there?

Winter blues

As you probably guessed from my previous post, I started going to a knitting club again. It is a great experience and I enjoy it very much, but talking or listening to other people talk don’t help with concentration. Unfortunately, almost at the same time in January I started an EXTREMELY challenging project.

Here is a teaser:))))

I am still not used to documenting my knitting in details, yet, this time I decided to write down everything – just to understand the process better. It was painful and, at times, I reminded myself Dory, the fish with short-term memory loss, walking around and repeating things before I forget them. You can find most of my notes on Ravelry’s pattern page and Instagram.

My inspiration for this project was this incredible design as well as many Pinterest pictures of sweaters with mixed patterns.

The Iron Work pattern by Madeline Lee that I used for the body had been in my wish list for a while. It looks really beautiful but when I bought and downloaded the pattern I discovered that it had no charts for the cables and no schematics whatsoever. Just words, words, words. Do you like knitting a complicated cable design from row by row explanations? I don’t. I need a picture that is worth a thousand words, at least for me. Plus for this pattern almost all stitches are knit through the back loop (right and wrong side) which slows the work down and usually is painful for my hands.

Yet, one day I just sat down and started deciphering the row-by-row explanation. After several hours and false starts, I finally memorized all the abbreviations and was able to see the inner logic of the cables.

Actually, this is the reason why I love cables so much. Not only they look good on a finished garment and make it warmer, they are extremely logical. Even though I hate life’s randomness and unpredictability, I know that it cannot be helped (I go with statistics and science on this one). However, there is nothing random or unpredictable in cables which make them so endearing to me… When you’ve got to cross stitches to the left, you cross them to the left no matter what till the end. Isn’t it great?

Anyway, as soon as I figured the cables, I started thinking about simplifying the pattern. Because I like going out of my comfort zone but up to a point. In general, I like comfort more than discomfort, and I have a hunch I am not alone. Knitting all stitches through the back loop and making some other twists and turns that are not critical to the overall design seemed just too much (I tried to explain better on my Ravelry page). So I just didn’t do it. And the cables still looked good to me.

For the sleeves I picked the fair isle pattern that I have already used a couple of times. It is from the same old French magazine that inspired me to knit my Blue disaster cardigan.

 I made this sweater in fair isle pattern all over many years ago. Unfortunately, the yarn I used for it was cheap, extremely scratchy, and the colors would run if washed. In other words, I spent several months making a sweater that was impossible to wear. It was a BIG lesson for me – not to make a difficult pattern from cheap untested yarn.

I used Rowan pure wool 4ply that I tried first making Juno and liked it a lot. The yarn is discontinued but I managed to find quite a bit of it in different colors. It has a very good stitch definition, is soft and squishy at the same time, and the colors are not bright, a little bit subdued, dull, which makes the colorwork interesting but not showy or flashy.

The only drawback was that I couldn’t possibly take this project with me to the knitting club. To solve this problem I had to start something simple but useful. This is why in January I was working on several projects at the same time – shocking, I know!

First, I had to use up the leftovers from my Blue disaster cardigan (I had 6 balls left). I found this simple elegant camisole and finished it very quickly.

I didn’t change anything in the pattern, but the finished garment turned out to be too revealing for my taste (or, maybe, I turned out to be too prudish for this garment), so, to avoid showing too much of my bras, I stitched the seams much higher than in the original pattern.

Then, I had 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cathay in an amazing purple color. I used the same yarn for Beloved last summer and was really disappointed at how much it stretched after washing. My first instinct was to use cables to prevent it from stretching. And then I decided to think outside of the box (our living room/the only room was covered with boxes at the time so it was rather easy to do) and to go with the yarn. If the yarn wanted to stretch let it stretch.

I made a big swatch, washed it, and stretched as much as I could. When it dried I calculated my gauge and started a simple garter stitch t-shirt. The body is knit from side to side with some decreases/increases for neck shaping.

When finished, front and back were sewn together and I picked up stitches for sleeves that were knit flat. I had just enough yarn for the collar.

This t-shirt is very light and airy, perfect cover up for subtropical winter weather. And the color is to die for.

The pine cone was found under a palm tree – a big mystery where it came from! Moreover, the pine cone looks like it was trying to disguise itself as a pineapple which makes sense – pineapples are much more common here than pine cones.

Meanwhile, my work on the blue sweater is almost done (I’ll post pictures and final notes soon) and I am already planning my next project from this yarn. It seems that when a designer uses same materials and same patterns for different garments they become a collection. I am not a designer, but I think I can say that I am working on my own collection of sweaters and cardigans from Rowan pure wool 4ply. And I love every minute of it!

WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM...

… to introduce a knitter extraordinaire and an amazing person Carol (seajean on Ravelry). Carol make shawls, huge beautiful shawls from the finest yarn in the world on the tiniest possible needles. I am not a big fan of superheroes mythology but Carol is a superhero in my book.

You see, I’ve made quite a lot of shawls myself years ago. And – to be completely honest - I hated every minute of it! Little by little rows become longer till at some point they are so long that I’d fall asleep in the middle of one. But sleep is impossible – you’ve got to keep focused and alert because it’s lace and you are bound to make a mistake if you stop paying attention even for a second. Sometimes you can breathe a little while making a wrong side row, yet, sometimes a pattern asks you to do something even then. Just kill me now!

No TV, no books or magazines reading, no talking, nothing… Plus at the end, you’ve got to spend quite a lot of time blocking the shawl which – and everyone who did it at least once would agree – is not easy. And then – ta-da! (insert a drum roll) – I would give this object of torture to someone as a gift. Not only because I don’t wear handmade shawls anymore (only store bought scarves) but because I couldn’t even look at it without cringing inside from unpleasant memories. I think with time I developed a sort of allergy to making shawls. That is why I am in awe of Carol and her crafty hands.

I believe knitters need to know and respect their heroes. We all have "special powers", as one woman in my knitting club said. Carol "special power" is making incredible intricate shawls. She hasn’t any finished project pages on her Ravelry profile but you can see some of her creations here (Carol gave me permission to publish her projects' photos).

Aren’t they amazing? If you believe Dostoyevsky (and, being Russian, I certainly do), beauty will save the world. Don’t you agree that our troubled world is in dire need of beauty and saving? And please, go to Ravelry and write a note to Carol. Maybe this will encourage her to get out of a “knitter’s closet” and start sharing her masterpieces with us.