Home now from the MidWest Masters knitting retreat. It's always a great time to hang out with knitters. It even snowed so that I would feel at home, ha.

I have a couple of experiments going. One of them is working with the Saucon Fingering on a large needle. Oh my, does it ever feel nice. It's sock weight yarn but I'm knitting it on a 4.5mm/US7 needle.

It's going to be a drapey summer top which will need to be worn over a camisole. It will be cool to wear in the hot weather. Have you tried any of the light weight sweaters with sock weight yarn on larger needles?

Deb

Pat did a different pattern on the Chunky Mittlets.

I really like them.

A suggestion that was made to me was to take the YO that sits at the end of your double pointed needle and move it in one stitch. Terry pointed out that if you put the mittlet down and pick it up again you could loose the YO. It turns out the moving it one stitch in also makes the increase tighter.

I've incorporated it into the pattern. Sometimes it's the small details that make the difference in a pattern. Thanks Terry.
-Deb

I'm doing a class at the Spring MidWest Masters retreat based on the Need A Plus Cardigan? book so I borrowed the cover cardigan back from Christine to take with me.

And I'm so excited, it's BEEN WORN and not just once either but several times. I couldn't be more pleased. There is nothing worse that seeing something you knit for someone sitting in pristine condition because it's too good to wear! This sweater is no longer in pristine condition. Yay!

I started one for myself several months ago and put it aside but have picked it up again and although it's getting late, I might still get some wear out of it this spring (since it's not quite here yet). I'm going to use it to indicate the body shaping that can be done. The markers are in the waist decreases and now I'm starting the hip increases. The markers make it seem like it's going quicker.

-Deb

How many shapes of sweaters have you tried knitting? What shapes are your favourite to wear, hand knitted or bought off the rack?

 

A-Line shaping where the bottom is wider than the bust in a gradual way.

 

A Straight sweater where the width is equal all the way down.

 

An Hourglass sweater with waist shaping.

 

A Modified A-line which accomodates the hips.

 

Have I missed any? I have every one of these shapes in my wardrobe, as you probably do too. My favourite to knit is the Modified A-line where I make the hip about 3" wider than the bust, because I need to if I want to button it up. But I do love the A-line shape so the striped cardigan I'm knitting is going to be that shape.

-Deb

 

This Top Down has a squarer neckline than a standard raglan,though not perfectly square. The back of the neck is 7" wide and the cast on for the sleeves is 4" wide. A more standard sleeve width would be 1"-2" wide. This changes the neckline, making it a wider rectangle and gives a nice drop to the front and back of the neckline without any fancy short row shaping.

The stripes are continuing. I'm finding that this is a cheerful knit. I smile while I'm knitting.

More Mittlets. Terry came to our Mariposa knit club this morning with her version of the mittlets.

She worked a lace pattern down the back of the hand in two different yarns, as you can see. But she went a litte further . . .

and ran the lace pattern up the thumb. Nice, very nice. All that from a plain mittlet pattern in stockinette stitch. A great idea.
- deb

Why choose to work with stripes in 3 colours? Two colours are easier to choose and easier to work, right?

But there is a beauty to working with 3 colours. The yarn is carried up both edges of your work when working back and forth. For my cardigan, worked top down in one piece, I will carry the yarn down both front edges which will make these front edges even. If I'm a little tight with the yarn carries, I'll be tight on both sides. And picking up the Front bands hides the yarn carries and evens up the Front edges even more.

Also, I don't have to keep track of which colour is coming up next. Once I get going, the colour I need is ready to be worked when I get to the end of each stripe.

Starting from the top, I work 3 rows of light blue, back and forth in stockinette stitch, and drop the yarn. Now work with the dark blue yarn, work 3 rows and drop the yarn.The last stripe is in black and after working 3 rows the yarn is dropped on the edge on the right side of my sample. When I look at my work, the light blue yarn is dangling right there waiting it's turn. I can carry the yarn down and begin my next light blue stripe. No thinking, no mistakes. It's magic.

 

With 3 colours I think you could work any combination of odd numbered rows and it would all work out - 1 x 1 x 1 row, 1 x 3 x 5 rows, 3 x 1 x 3 rows, 7 x 3 x 5 rows, fat stripes, thin stripes. It may be endless, have fun.

-Deb

 

 

Spring is in the air, even though yesterday it snowed a ton and we're back to below freezing weather. Never the less, I'm quite sure it will arrive sometime soon. So I'm knitting myself a spring sweater based on the Summer-time Top from the Button Up Your Top Down book (striped top in centre row).

It begins at the top with a square neck and 3 colours. It has a picked up buttonband so I can put lots of small buttons on it. I'm going to make the sleeves narrower and 3/4 length. I want to put in some body shaping and am leaning towards A-line shaping and a longer length. Then it could be worn as a cardigan or as a buttoned up tunic over capris or summer pants. Then I'll write it up as a pattern. Let's Begin.

I thought I would write this pattern up into the larger Plus sizes. It could easily be knit in one colour but I must say, the stripes are fun to knit. Are stripes a fashtion no, no? Do you wear them?
-Deb