Twisty Neck

Pattern: With-a-Twist Turtleneck from The Purl Stitch, size small
Yarn: ggh Goa in black
Needles: US sizes 9 and 10.5
Recipient: A real paying customer!
Modifications: I lengthened the torso by an inch because the customer said that she "didn't want her belly showing." I wouldn't want my belly showing either. And of course, I did a 3-needle bind off on the shoulder seams.
Comments: A straight-forward knit, except for the collar. The collar is a mobius that is knit flat and sewn together in a loop. Then, the collar is sewn onto the neckline. Sewing a curvy, twisty collar on a flat neckline is not easy or intuitive. I futzed with it quite a bit and redid it a couple of times before I decided to call it done. Sorry for the bad photos, black is not easy to photograph--even with a flash!

A Day at the Races

Thank you all for your kind words about Grace! I appreciated every comment. For those of you who commented on how fast I knit, I'll tell you my secret. I'm one of those weird knitters who has the ability and the desire to concentrate on one project at a time. Sure I knit Grace in a little over two weeks, but I didn't knit anything else during that time. (Oh wait, I knit that Cupcake hat, but that only took a few hours.)

This morning, Peter dragged me out of bed at 4:30 to go to a race with him. The 20K race is managed by Peter's running team, so he was volunteering before and after the race. He bribed me with a purple t-shirt to get me to volunteer with him. So, we had to get to the race course by 5:30 (that's 5:30 AM, folks) to help distribute ChampionChips to the runners. Once that was done, Peter went off to run the race and I went to hunt for coffee and then staked out a spectating and knitting spot.

The course is three loops around the downtown-ish area in Houston. Peter finished the first lap in good time (he's the shirtless one):

Then, my Secret Project and I waited for Peter to come by on the second lap (note other runners in the background):

By the second lap, Peter was running by himself. (I'm going to have to learn how to take better "action" and "distance" photos.)

Then, my knitting and I went to the finish line to do the second half of the volunteer work. For this work, I had to help collect the ChampionChips from the runners after they finished. ChampionChips are little computer chips placed inside plastic holders. Runners attach these chips to their shoes with zip ties. Mats with chip detectors are placed at the start and finish lines of a race. When a runner steps on the mat, a computer records his or her time. The computer then calculates the runners exact race time and spits out race results. (Pretty nifty, if you ask me--but I'm a geek.) I had some time to knit and enjoy my purple shirt before the runners started arriving:

Anyway, I soon learned that ChampionChip collection is nasty business. To get the chips from the runners, you have to cut the zip ties from the runners' shoes. Some runners also use their shoelaces to attach the chips, so you have to untie their shoes to get the chip. Either way, you have to touch another person's shoe. The race is a 20K. That's 12.4 miles for you nonmetric types. People who finish running 12.4 miles in the Houston heat are way past perspiring. "Sweating buckets" is a much more accurate description. I won't go into more details.
Here comes my first ChampionChip customer:

Peter finished in 1 hour and 15 minutes (and some seconds), was the 18th finisher overall, and 6th in his age group. He improved his time and place from last year, so he was pretty pleased.

Amazing Grace!

(unusually large photo, I know)
Pattern: Grace from Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora book, size small
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 in color 25, 100% merino wool, 16 balls (and only one knot!)
Needles: US sizes 7 and 8
Modifications: Did a three-needle bind off for the shoulder seams. Didn't bind off the back neck stitches so that I could knit the collar on directly without picking up stitches or otherwise creating a seam. (However, I did have to pick up one stitch at each shoulder seam to close up holes and to make the ribbing work out properly.)
Comments: I love this sweater. Love it! Why?
1. The fit is exactly what I wanted. It's relatively close-fitting, enough room for a short-sleeved shirt underneath.
2. The sleeves come down just past my wrists so I don't have to fold up the cuffs.
3. The yarn is perfect for this sweater. It holds the cables and the ribbing perfectly and the sweater is relatively light for the amount of yarn that's in it. I think the cotton angora would not have shown the cables well and would have been heavier and would have stretched over time. The yarn is also soft enough to wear next to the skin.
4. It's the sweater I've always dreamed about: cardigan, cables, not over-sized
5. It's pink!

Witty Title TK

Did you know that in the editorial world the letters TK mean "to come?" So whenever you need to write something but don't want to be bothered with it at the moment you just write "blah blah blah TK." Don't ask me why the abbreviation isn't TC. The only possible explanation that I've come up with is that TC used to stand for something else.

But I digress, this is supposed to be about knitting. So, on to the good stuff. First, I received more loot:


Pretty stitch markers in a surprise package from Helen! Thank you so much Helen, they are the most attractive stitch markers that I own. Now I don't have to stare enviously at Monkee's stitch markers.

Second, I finished all the knitting on Grace. I finished it all in two weeks! (Oh okay, two weeks and one day.) I'm deep into seaming mode right now.


Thank goodness Peter and I decided to buy a mostly useless dining room table to fill up our mostly unused dining room. Who knew that it would become the best place to finish sweaters? The dining room is now used more for knitting projects than it is for eating. The whole sweater should be complete in a few days. Now it just needs to get cold here. (Wishful thinking.)

Finally, I got a knitting commission! I'm going to be knitting a ribbed tank top using ggh Goa. Goa appears to be bulky weight Bali. I'm kinda bummed that my customer picked a cotton blend because I'm getting tried of working with cotton. She also picked black--ugh. But hey! I'm getting paid! I can't argue with that.

Loot and Answering Comments

I've been so negligent at answering questions and responding to comments, so here's a bunch of answers.

About the Cupcake hat:
Joanna said: I can't believe your first dpn attempt involved ribbing and ruffles. Well, I've never been known do anything the easy way if I know of a much more interesting way. Fearless knitting is much more fun.
Stephanie said: The story of you dropping your dpn's combined with the picture of the cat reminded me of when I got my first puppy. I had only ever had cats in my life. When you are done holding a cat you can pretty much just let go. It lands gently on all fours and then strolls away. Puppies - yeah not so much. Poor puppy! Survived with no injuries thank goodness! Uhh... I did that, too. With my friend's puppy. I have a problem with dropping things.

About Grace:
Christina asked: I have yet to knit with Aurora 8. What is it you like so much about this yarn? The yarn is very soft and not a bit scratchy like some wools are. It's very light and springy so it's easy to knit with. It also has great stitch definition, holds cables and ribbing well, and it isn't very splitty despite being made up of eight plys. Plus, my yarn is pink. Really pink.

About the eggs:
Agnes said: Wow ... those eggs are HUGE! No, not really. Here's a better comparison photo that I took right before eating the last of the eggs. It shows a store-bought egg, a quarter, and one of my fresh (and now eaten) eggs.

I promised you loot. Here it is:


Sorry it's a bit washed out. I wanted to get Elly in the photo and when I want to take a photo of Elly, it is easier to bring the props to Elly than it is to bring Elly to the props. I have two Oat Couture patterns, the new issue of Knitscene (which isn't terribly exciting), three balls of Kathmandu Aran for a Dad hat, two Addis, and two hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn for *gasp* socks.

Grace update:
I finished the right front of Grace and cast on for the sleeves. As usual, I'm doing both at the same time. I decided to make the cables go the same way as the cables on the body. I decided to do it this way, not because it was easier, but because I would be annoyed to have cables going two different ways. However, if I had noticed the cable issue before I was halfway finished with the back, I would have inverted all the cables because I like the look of the braid going in the other direction better.

We've got Trouble! Right here in Bayou City!

It's not really trouble, just another pattern oddity that I noticed when I was studying the photo of Grace. Before you ask: Yes, I did look for pattern errata before I started knitting. Debbie Bliss has not posted any corrections for this pattern despite the fact that there IS an obvious error in the pattern. According to the pattern, the collar is never attached to the back of the sweater.

There are two cable patterns on this sweater: a braid pattern and a horseshoe pattern. Now, look at the braids in the close-up photo of the shoulder. The braid on the sleeves is going in the opposite direction than the braid on the body!

I read the pattern carefully and saw that the instructions have the braided cable going in the same direction on both the body panels and the sleeves. A quick check of MJ's and Jenifer's completed Graces confirmed this.

So here's the million dollar question: do I knit the sleeves according to the pattern or according to the photo? What do you think?

Photobucket news: Apparently, the issue is NOT with Photobucket, but with some big computer companies. Photobucket is just an unfortunate victim. Don't blame Photobucket, they are doing their best to work around the petty bickering of some computer megacorporations. If you can't see my photos, please be patient. I hope a solution will come soon.

Everything Free in America!

Ok, everything is NOT free, but some of the best stuff is free. Some great free stuff: sunshine, Knitty Patterns, advice and encouragement from fellow knitters, and fresh eggs!


These are eggs are from Monkee's chickens. Monkee's mom gave them to me last night at the SnB. I poached three of them this morning and they were very, very tasty. The eggs are smaller than the eggs that I buy from the grocery store. I put the Matchbox Mini Cooper in the photo for scale. The Matchbox Mini (a gift from Monkee) is longer than a couple of the eggs. But we all know that smaller is better. (Says the short person who drives a Mini.) Thanks Monkee, Monkee's chickens, and Monkee's mother!

Cable-love
I love cables. Yet, I've never made a cabled sweater for myself until now. (Unless you count the Rebecca sweater, which I don't count because it doesn't have cables all over.) Knitting with Aurora 8 is so enjoyable and fast that I never want to put the project down. So, here's a week's worth of knitting. If I hadn't knit that baby hat or taken a road trip this weekend, I'd probably be done with the right front, too.


However . . . I discovered something about the pattern. More later.

BTW: My images are hosted on Photobucket and today Photobucket is acting weird. Sometimes I can't see any photos or even reach the Photobucket site. So, if you can't see my images, I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do. :(

Babies: Valuable Knitting Tools

If you ever want to see something funny, watch someone who has never knitted with straight needles try to learn how to use double-pointed needles. Prior to this weekend, all my small diameter projects were knit on two circulars or with the magic loop method. I avoided DPNs like the plague. But when I received several sets of DPN from Mrs. Stranger and I decided to face the scary porcupine and actually make something with DPNs.

I'm sure all you DPN-experts would have busted a gut laughing at me this weekend. I couldn't figure out how to hold the work with all those needles sticking out. I had to constantly check to make sure no stitches were inadvertently liberated from a needle. And I had a hard time keeping the needles in my hand. You see, when I get to the end of the row using circular needles, I usually drop the needle in my right hand and pass the needle in my left hand over. Well, as I soon discovered, when you drop a DPN--it actually drops! It falls down! It doesn't stay attached to your work like a circular needle does. Imagine that.

Anyway, to tie this comedy of errors in with the title of this entry, look what I made!


Pattern: Cupcake hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease in pale yellow, sparkly white, and red
Needles: US size 8 DPN
Cat: Scout
Recipient: My niece Eva
Lessons learned: DPNs drop when you let go of them. Babies are great guinea pigs for trying new knitting techniques. Babies are small and they don't care if their clothes are a little odd or funny looking.

Speaking of gifts
I gave Rosa to my MIL this weekend. She LOVED it. It fit perfectly. Even the arms were long enough, which is apparently something that is often problematic for her. She thought the colors went well together. She got a kick out of the stripes on the sleeves. So, the sweater was a success even though I didn't like making it.

T-shirt contest

PumpkinMama is having a T-shirt contest (but not a wet T-shirt contest)


This is the front of my favorite T-shirt. I bought it after I ran the Disney 1/2 Marathon. Nine months prior to this race I was a total couch potato. I thought sweating was icky. But Peter had decided that he was going to run the Disney Marathon and convinced me that I should try the 1/2 marathon. ("What else are you going to do while I'm running?" he said.) I love this T-shirt because shows that I am capable of doing something that is very hard for me to do. I also love the T-shirt because of what it says on the back. (Note: Donald Duck is the race mascot.)


Thanks Agnes!
Remember the Chinese scroll in my house? I sent a photo of it to Agnes, and she gave me a translation and lots of info about it. So cool!

This is a very famous poem ... almost everyone who has studied Chinese
literature would have known it. However, I am afraid my translation would not be
too accurate ... so I searched on the web and found an English translation. It
is an honest translation,which would give you an idea of the literal meaning of
the poem:
http://www.chinapage.com/poet-e/zhangji2e.html
Then, the following link will take you to pictures of the actual location in the poem: http://pws.prserv.net/hiroyuki/b5_code/hanshi2_b5.html
Then, I'd like to give you some simple background information so that you
can better understand the poem. The poet was thousand miles away from home, in the capital of the country to take part in a national examination (which was
very important to academia because that was the way for them to be able to get a
job in the government). However, he failed in the examination. On his way home
on a boat, he arrived at this town (Suzhou). The poem described what he saw,
what he heard, and how he felt during that night ...when he suffered from
insomnia (due to his failure? maybe). The poet is not a very prominent figure in
Chinese literature ... however, this poem won him a place there. I hope what I
gave you here helps. Enjoy.

In the Pink

What better way to celebrate finishing a sweater that I didn't like?

This is the start of Grace from Debbie Bliss's Cotton Angora book. I have been wanting to make this sweater for ages. I'm using squishy and soft Karabella Aurora 8 and I'm loving it. I'm cabling without a cable needle which makes knitting very fast. I wonder why I didn't learn to do this sooner. Last night at the SnB, I showed Monkee's mother how to do a cable without an extra needle. She was horrified when she saw the stitches hanging in mid-air. :-)

The Amazing Race started last night--yay! I'm a little disappointed to see that the entire race may take place in the United States for this season. Where's the fun of seeing self-centered Americans make fools of themselves in other countries? I wonder if we will be getting a history lesson and be overwhelmed with patriotism during this race. I would find that annoying.

Rosa aka Rosa Reef aka Rosa Rita

aka The Sweater of Misery


Pattern: Rosa Reef from Rowan #31, size Large
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton DK
Needles: US size 3 and 5
Modifications: I knit the collar in the round instead of flat with a seam. I also made the collar skinnier because I didn't want to bother joining a new ball of yarn (and I thought that joining a new ball would look ugly)
Recipient: Mother in law
General thoughts: I hated knitting this sweater. I hated the yarn. I hated the pattern.
Need a cat photo? Need a modeling photo? The sweater is too big for me and would have been too small for Peter to model. (Not that he would agree to modeling it).

Cat: Scout
(If anyone can read that Chinese scroll in the background, let me know!)

Laura's Rules for Knitting for Other People
If you ever think about offering to knit a sweater for someone, please keep the following rules in mind.

1. Know your "customer." Everyone has his or her own taste in clothing. The person that you want to knit for may not like the kinds of clothes that you like. Look at the clothes that your customer owns. Does he or she have brightly colored and patterned clothing? If so, the customer will probably like a fair-isle or an intarsia sweater. Does the customer like simple, neutral-colored clothing? If so, he or she would probably ask for a beige, stockinette sweater. Consider the customer's taste in clothing before even offering to knit a sweater of his or her choosing. If you don't want to do intarsia, don't ask the person who always wears floral-patterned clothes if she wants a sweater.

2. Do not hand your customer a stack of knitting patterns and say, "Pick which ever one you like." If you do this, your customer will invaribly select the one sweater that you never, ever want to knit. Instead, hand-select patterns that you want to knit and only show those sweaters to your customer. However, be sure to consider the customer's tastes when selecting patterns. If you select a bunch of patterns the customer doesn't like, the customer may suddenly start browsing other patterns and find that one sweater that you never, ever want to knit.

3. After the customer has selected a pattern, do not immediately run the customer to a yarn shop to purchase yarn. If you do this you many end up knitting a sweater with yarn that you hate, and who wants to knit with icky yarn? Instead, study the pattern and research yarns. Identify 1-3 different yarns that you would like to work with and tell your customer that "these are the best yarns to use for your sweater." Your customer probably doesn't know anything about yarns. He or she probably doesn't know that there may be 50 other types of yarns appropriate for the sweater. He or she probably doesn't know what makes one yarn better than another. When a nonknitter is picking yarns, only two things are important: texture and color. Nonknitters don't care about the resiliency, feltability, loft, squishiness, etc of a yarn. Nonknitters just want a soft sweater in a color that they like.

4. Consider making a "gift sweater" instead of making a "made-to-order sweater." Dangerous? Possibly. But at least you will enjoy knitting the sweater!

Hurricanes are good for something

I finished knitting the pieces of Rosa during all the hurricane down time. Maybe I should rename the sweater Rosa Rita in honor of our disappointing storm. Scout wouldn't look up for this photo. She's too exhausted from all the hurricane hype.


Speaking of hurricane hype, I was thinking about writing about how all the annoying news coverage was before, during, and after this nonevent but someone beat me to it. And he summed it up very well. Basically, all the media coverage in Houston caused mass hysteria throughout the city and prompted many people who didn't need to evacuate to rush the gas stations and spend many brutal hours sitting in traffic that barely moved. The state and city officials can declare the evacuation a "success" all they want--in my opinion the evacuation was a disaster. Twenty-three people died for no reason. That's a fact that everyone seems to be overlooking. The nursing home where those people were residing really wasn't in any serious danger, even if a category 5 hurricane had hit Galveston directly.

I should have final photos of Rosa by Tuesday.

Not blown away after all!

I'm ok!

The most exciting things that happened is that the power flickered on an off during the storm and that the cats got nervous. I don't even have any exciting photos of the storm to show you. It's still windy and rainy here, but we have electricity, water, and internet access. And a heck of a lot of nonperishable food. PB and J sandwiches for days!!!

Now I have to wait for the annoying local news to stop with their 24-hour coverage of the storm so I can watch normal TV. (I missed Survivor on Thursday--grr!)

Thanks for all the good wishes! More later.

Rita?

A couple of the neighbors are boarding up:
Should I be scared? I don't know. Peter says that we shouldn't panic because
(1) we're 30 or so miles inland
(2) we're above sea level
(3) so far, it doesn't look like the storm will hit the Houston area directly
(4) we had absolutely no flooding during freak Tropical Storm Allison (the storm that hit Houston on a Tuesday, moved inland, turned around and hit Houston again on Friday, causing massive flooding throughout the city)

We're not evacuating before the storm but we are planning. We have food, we're going to store water (I guess I'd better clean the bathtub tonight!), and we know where we are going if we have to evacuate after the storm.

Having never been through a hurricane before, I'm not sure if I should be panicking or worrying right now. Of course the media is all hyped up, but I think its because the local media desperately wants the "big one" to hit Houston and because of all of the Katrina aftermath. Interestingly, the mayor of Houston is conveniently using the possible Rita hit as an excuse to move all of the Katrina evacuees out of Houston. The ones that were still in the shelters are now being shipped out of state.

So, I'm trying to ignore the local media and I'm just tracking the storm through NOAA. I love the NOAA website. I use it all the time for research for my job. You can find lots of interesting tidbits of information on that website. Did you know that hurricane names are recycled? I'll have to wait until 2008 for a hurricane Laura.

Knitting Content?
Proof that I am a process knitter: When I was mentally listing the things I wanted to take if we did evacuate, tops on my list were my cello and my yarn. I didn't even think about taking my finished objects until I started thinking about clothes to take. Tops on my clothes to take list? Underwear, jeans, shorts, t-shirts. No knitware.

Somewhere in My Youth or Childhood . . .

. . . I must have done something good.

My name is listed as a contact on the main Houston SnB webpage. So, I occasionally get knitting related emails from people who I don't know. But the email I received on Thursday was a bit different (with some edits):

Hi Laura,
...I'm not interested in joining [your] knitting group, since unfortunately, after knitting for 50 years I'm unable to do so anymore I'm contacting you, because I have "tons" of german yarn that I've accumulated over the years and I would like to give it to someone that is capable of using it the way it should be. There is not cost involved (other than you having to pick it up at my house). Please let me know if you're interested.
(signed) Complete Stranger

Hello! Am I interested? You betcha! I emailed Mrs. Stranger to set up a pick up time. In her return email she mentioned that she also had a "ton" of knitting books, some in German. Did I know any knitter who could read German? she asked. Well, because I am an American-born Chinese-Filipino, naturally the only other language that I know is German. Weee!

Peter and I drove over to Mrs. Stranger's house the morning and came home with this:


And this:

(The biggest prize: Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns)
And this:

Straights, DPN, circulars including some Addis and Inox needles.

Most of the yarn are full balls, complete with ball bands. A lot of cotton blends, lots of mohair blends, acrylic stuff, stuff with lurex, and a some novelty yarns. I found ten balls of a lovely 55%cotton/45% tussah silk yarn, a heck of a lot of orange Regia sock yarn, some delicious 55% cotton/45% wool yarn, interesting looking novelty yarn, bags of cotton/linen yarn still in its original packaging, and some gigantic balls of fuzzy blue mystery yarn (Scout used for scale):


I have no idea what I'm going to do with it all. I'll probably trade or give a lot of it away. Maybe I will get it organized and invite the people in my SnB to paw through it and take what they want. Maybe I will send boxes of random yarn to people I know. Right now I'm just completely overwhelmed!

Stripes!

I'm not too sure about these sleeves . . .



This is the start of Rosa's sleeves. I just started the blue stripe. After that stripe, the colors repeat in the same order. The sleeves (being knit at the same time) look a little garish to me. The colors look nice together in the flower pattern but are a little to stark in this wide stripe pattern. I guess that must be why the designer choose drab colors in the original design. I hope my MIL likes it. I don't have enough yarn to make the sleeves a solid color--unless I made one sleeve one color and the other sleeve a different color :-)

Sisterly love
I took this photo of Cleo and Scout this afternoon.


I think that it's the closest that Scout has ever slept with one of her sisters. Believe it or not, Cleo and Elly are not big fans of Scout. I think Elly actually hates Scout but has taken a "if I ignore it, it will go away" attitude toward Scout. But if Scout gets to close to Elly, Elly will growl and hiss. At least Scout has learned that playing with Elly's tail is a bad thing. Incidentally, my girls are not actually related in anyway. They were each adopted separately.

Thanks for all your advice and support about my job situation. I'm still struggling with what to do with myself, but I'll try not to bore you with all of my anxieties too often.

How do you know what you want . . .

. . . 'til you get what you want and you see if you like it?
I haven't done anything thing with the Rebecca sleeves yet. I can't decide what I want because I don't know how other sleeves will look. I guess at some point, I will just have to close my eyes and take a leap of faith. And hopefully, I will like it when it's finished.

Right now, I'm facing a similar tough decision in my nonknitting life. I used to think that my job was perfect for me. I loved nearly everything about it. I even cheerfully worked overtime because I felt that it was a small price to pay for such a wonderful job. But now, for various reasons, I think that it is time for me to leave. Unfortunately, I don't know what sort of career I want to pursue next.

Jobs that I am qualified for and that I have done in the past:
1. High school or middle school science teacher. I have a lifetime teaching certificate in chemistry, physics, and physical science. But I was miserable when I was teaching.
2. Research Associate in a molecular biology lab. Same low pay as teaching with much less stress. Also much more boredom.
3. Freelance writer for educational publishers. Uneven work and uneven pay. May be difficult to make freelancing a full-time job that pays well.

Jobs that I think I would like to do but have drawbacks associated with them:
1. Professional knitter. I have never seen such a job advertised. Plus, I wonder if I would start to dislike knitting if I depended on it for money and if spent all my time knitting for other people.
2. Pastry chef. I'd want to work in a froo-froo bakery, not a restaurant. I'd have to go to culinary school and I've heard that the work is quite grueling.
3. Adoption counselor in an animal shelter. When these jobs exist, they tend to be volunteer jobs.
4. Patent agent. I'd need to take the patent bar exam (not a big deal) and I'm not sure I'd like working in an office again.
5. Food scientist. I'm not sure exactly what a food scientist does, but it sounds interesting. I'd have to go back to school for a third Master's degree.

You want to hear about knitting now?
I started a secret project. You will not see photos on this blog. All I will say is that I'm using RYC Cashsoft and that I'm making cables without a cable needle.

Also, I finished the back of Rosa and started the front. The front is identical to the back except for the neck shaping. This sweater (for my MIL) seems enormous to me. I'm am making the right size for her, but she's larger than I am and the sweater has quite a bit of ease.

Pondering Sleeves

As I said before, I'm not sure the puffy sleeves on Rebecca are working for me. I asked for the opinions of the fine (and opinionated) people in the Knitty Coffeeshop and the reaction was mixed. However, Gretchen suggested that I wear the sweater a few times as it before deciding on what to do. And that's exactly what I am going to do.

But of course, I have been thinking about how to fix the sleeves if I decide to do so. The easiest solution that I see would be to frog the sleeves from the bottom up until I undo all of the cabling part. Then, I would cast off and add the picot edging as before. I think and hope that this process will result in cute little flutter sleeves. Sorta like this:

I think shorter sleeves will help immensely and I think the fullness of the flutter sleeves will compliment the fullness of the bottom "peplum." Creating flutter sleeves will also allow me to avoid undoing all the seams and undoing the bottom crocheted edging. (ugh!) If the flutter sleeve idea doesn't fly, I guess I will design and knit new straight sleeves. But I have to wear the sweater a few times before I do anything rash!

Additional Rebecca Error Alert
Yesterday, I was studying the photo of the sweater in the Rebecca magazine and I realized that the pattern had the wrong cable chart for the sleeves as well. One row of cable crossings is missing. So, Rebecca is 0 for 2 as far as charts go. However, if that additional cable row was incorporated, the sleeves would be another 0.5 to 0.75 inches longer! eep! I think they are too long as they current are.

Two sweater in two days: Rebecca is finished, too.

Rebecca is not X-rated, but it may be rated PG.

Pattern: Sweater with Honeycomb Pattern from Rebecca 29, size small
Yarn: ggh Bali, 7 balls (see note below)
Needles: US size 6 and my smaller crochet hook (I only own two crochet hooks)
Modifications: For modesty's sake, I slightly closed up the bottom of the V-neck. I also added a row of single crochet to the neckline before doing the picot edging to close the neckline up some more. I also omitted the crocheted sash. It looked silly to me.
Pattern Error: The chart for the diamond motif that was published in the magazine is incorrect. The chart produces a diamond that is smaller than the diamond shown in the magazine photo. I corrected this error by simply continuing the established pattern. Only after I made my corrections did I discover that Rebecca has a corrected chart available on their website.
Yarn Warning: The pattern says that the size small of the sweater can be made with 6 balls of Bali. I finished the 6th ball when I finished knitting the pieces. If I had only purchased 6 balls, I would not have had any yarn to do the edgings. Luckily, I always buy an extra ball of yarn. But if you plan on making this sweater--I'd suggest buying extra.
Random Thoughts: Is it a winner or a loser? I can't decide. I'm not sure the puffy sleeves are doing anything for me. I do like how the cable pattern from the front is repeated on the sleeves--but that's what makes the sleeves puffy. (The cable pattern gathers the fabric.)

Maybe the sweater is too fussy for my tastes. Compare it to Tivoli from yesterday. Tivoli is simple and clean, Rebecca is . . . I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a pirate shirt? Thank goodness for the plunging neckline--if the neckline were too high the sweater would look horribly prudish.

Tivoli!!!

Yes, I know you all were expecting the Rebecca sweater. But it's not here yet. Wednesday afternoon, at the same moment that I discovered that the latest issue of Magknits was up, I was stricken by a very unusual case of knitting ADHD. I put down my nearly finished Rebecca sweater to cast on for Tivoli.


Pattern: Picovoli (Tivoli) by Grumperina, 32 inch size
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay in pink (color 12009) and ivory (color 12002)
Needles: US size 5
Time to knit: 4 days
My personal touch: Single crochet "piping" on all edges in a contrasting color.
Cat: Elly (see photo below)
Other thoughts: I really love the picot edging that Kathy added to this pattern for Magknits. However, I had been planning the contrasting edging for some time now that I wanted to do it my way first. If I make the sweater again, I will do the picots.
Less squinty, indoor photo:

By the way, the Rebecca sweater is finished, too. However, the crochet edging needed a bit of taming so the sweater is now pinned to my blocking board with soaking wet edgings.