Inspire Me: Cables

Appalachia and Diary of a Diary

Appalachian Mountains at 3722ft.

I've always felt that the Appalachian Mountains are in my blood. No matter where I go, they go with me. But still, I have to admit I had forgotten some of their beauty. Even this time of year, when it's mostly brown and dull, the view of the mountains are the same lovely blue.

I spent a few days down south with family and had a great time getting stuck in a snow storm, eating southern bbq, seeing family, and visiting old familiar haunts.

My mom's knitting is improving and we started her on a new beginner project and visited the local yarn shops. I picked up a beautiful skein of Dream Smooshy in a color that reminds of my mountains.

Dream Smooshy 70% Superwash Merino, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon in Dark Current

There was actually time for lots of knitting by the fire, and a little snow to set the mood.

First morning, fresh snow.

I took the beginnings of ANKESTRICK's Diary with me for travel knitting.

This is one of the most interestingly constructed garments I've come across. It is seamless, as per her usual, and uses the contiguous set-in sleeve method as developed by Susie Myers.

It begins with a provisional cast on at the back of the collar. The collar is worked in both directions for a few inches, then stitches are picked up along one side for the back neck. From here on the piece is worked flat from the top down. The collar- shaped by super easy German short rows, shoulders, back are all worked simultaneously for several inches, then increases are added to create the sleeves. 

Diary's Contiguous Set-in Sleeve

Once the sleeves are put on waste yarn, the design becomes a more typical top-down sweater.... provided that you make it that far.

This is not a pattern for knitting in front of the telly (or during take-off and landing, I could add). There is a lot going on in that yoke, and it's easy to over look something- a short row, a set of increases... To add to the confusion, the pattern has an overwhelming amount of information, and could use some serious editing for the sake of simplification.  It was difficult at times to tell if what you were reading was an instruction, or just guidance. There were, however, a handful of very helpful diagrams and photos and a video link explaining the German short rows to help you out.

Progress

Overall, I am very impressed with what is an ingenious design. The way the collar flips on a pair of knit stitches, the beautiful way the shoulder line falls, the substantial icord edging along the collar edge, the german short row shaping... all make for a truly sculptural piece.

Pattern: Diary by ANKESTRICK
Yarn: Lisa Souza 83% Polwarth, 15% Silk in Pumpkin Bold 6-26-13
Needle: 4.0mm, 3.5mm

Life is like a Pile of Swatches

Actually, no. But right now my life IS a pile of swatches, so I thought now might be a good time to share some of my musing about these lovely, frustrating, unpredictable, beautiful, fantastic, miniature works of art.

Something that I did not fully appreciate until recently- is that there are different types of swatches.  In my world, they boil down to Pattern, Design, and Gauge.

Pattern Swatches
I have found that pattern swatches can be the one of the most inspiring tools in my designing. Most of the time I find myself making these when I have that creatively frustrated feeling when I'm stuck in one project, but don't have the materials or time to start a new project, but I really want to knit SOMETHING. So I pull out one of my stitch dictionaries and flip through until I find something that makes me curious. Then I grab a lonely skein of yarn from my stash, and go to work. I find that typically I can knit up a good 5x5" swatch in about an hour or so (or one tv episode).

I have gotten really fond of making these. I find that the process of learning a new stitch and seeing what kind of fabric it makes almost always gets the gears turning. By the time I'm done, I usually have a few ideas for how the stitch can be used. For example- I may decide that it would be too busy for a sweater, but would be great on a cowl.

Once they are blocked and labeled I add them to the Swatch Collection. Then when I want to design something, I already have a pile of real-life fabrics to consider.

Swatches that I find particularly inspiring go on The Board. Where I admire them and dream about what they will be one day.

Design Swatches
These swatches are miniature representations of design elements within a larger design. Perhaps I'm working out a raglan decrease, or a seamless set-in sleeve, or wondering how the armhole shaping will work with the stitch pattern. I think the best example of this is what I call The Triangle. It's a swatch for a sweater which starts with the rib, then the main stitch pattern, and then decreases or armhole shaping up one side. It gives you all of the basic structure in one swatch.

The Contrarian Knitter's beautiful example of a design swatch of Barbara Walker's simultaneous set-in sleeves.

Gauge Swatches
The gauge swatch is probably the first thing people think of when they think of swatches, but for me, this is the last swatch that I consider in the design process. I don't think I have to tell you all how extremely important gauge swatches are, and how you simply MUST make one AND wash and block it. But I can tell you how I learned to love the gauge swatch. Mostly because I make my gauge swatches pull double duty. Once they give me correct gauge, I use them as a fabric swatch for that yarn. This works well for me because I tend to have my favorite yarns that I use over and over. So when I am considering using that yarn for a different project, I can pull out the fabric/gauge swatch (even if I have gifted the final object) and reacquaint myself with it's feel, texture, weight, and OH LOOK- I already have a gauge swatch. Brilliant.

Now, that we've talked about the different types of swatches, it's time for the
RULES OF SWATCHING

1. Learn to love swatching.
If you do not love and respect the swatch, knitting will be much more unpleasant for you. If you think of swatches as miniature projects and a path to immediate gratification... you'll be alright.

2. Never judge a swatch until blocked.
When wool hits water, all bets are off. For better or worse, soaking and blocking changes the fabric. If you've ever seen a cushy rib fall flat or lace work open up and show it's beauty, you know this is true. Just wait. Give it a chance to show you what it's really made of. 

3. Swatches need labels. 
Pattern name, yarn brand, name, colorway, needle, gauge, where the pattern came from "Book Title, p 17" or "My own".  I write out the label as I'm casting on. That way I won't forget to do it, and it gives me motivation to finish it, even if I'm unimpressed.

Swatches are fun! And believe me- once you convince yourself that it is fun and not a chore, life gets easier and knitting becomes more enjoyable.

Do you have swatching techniques or rules that you follow? Do you only make gauge swatches or do you make pattern ones as well? What do you do with your swatches after making them? I'm curious how other knitters tackle these little squares.

Inspire Me: Bohus Stickning

More information on the photos in this series can be found here.

Procrastination Station

Deadlines are LOOMING, my friends! Which means sketching, swatching, and boatloads of math, that I have to do twice, because I never trust myself to get it right the first time. It also means that the things I am MOST excited about, I can't share yet.

But that's okay, their day will come, and in the meantime, other things are happening....

Like... LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL!

"AAAAAAA!"

My Addi Clicks! Good thing I was home by myself when these arrived, because I spent the whole afternoon making the choirs-of-angels noise and serenading them with "Getting to Know You" from the Sound of Music. I basically tried to knit four swatches with four different sets of needles simultaneously so I could get a feel for my new toys.

First impression- these are no doubt some smooth needles. But they are a little bit blunter than the needles I'm used to working with, which slows me down a bit, especially on garter, for some reason. There is a small bump where the needle is joined to the cable that at times will get your work caught up on the left hand needle. I found this particularly vexing while trying some lace work. But I'm very pleased with how the needles shuttle along rough yarn. Will keep experimenting...

Also, there was more snow. I've stopped measuring, but if I had to guess, I'd say we still had about 22". To be honest, I could do this for another two months. I want days full of white skies and snow. Every day all day. Who knows, at this rate, I might get my wish.

Yesterday I took a break to go play with my neighbors in the snow and got a chance to romp around with this darling girl: Bella, a 9 week old Bernese Mountain Dog.

Ridiculously cute, this one. Knitting and snow AND puppies... what an awesome day.

And! Since I'm basically just procrastinating, here's some music I've been majorly digging lately: London Grammar. Enjoy!

Nor'easter and a Modern Wrapper

Love walking through town in the snow.

I won't even try to hide it, I LOVE SNOW. The more the better. And it has been quite a winter for snow lovers here in the northeast. We've had at least one snowfall every week since mid-December. This last nor'easter, though, really brought it. We had a good 8-10" left-over from the big snow just last week, and now we have... god knows how much.

In this photo: a patio table, four deck chairs, a grill

 There's so much snow, I couldn't even get it all in one frame. Stephen had to literally shovel us out of the house this morning. Pretty awesome. And we're getting a few more inches tomorrow!

Winchester in his favorite spot

In other news.... Modern Wrapper is complete!

I really wanted to like this cardigan, but here's the truth- it's a tent. A very expensive tent. I have to challenge the claim that this piece is universally flattering. If you happen to be an armless 36" dressform, this is the cardigan for you! But for a woman of my stature it does NO favors. I don't need to look slender, but I do need to look like I have some shape, to which end this cardigan fails big time.

Amy Herzog said something the other day in her blog, which is so true: because handknit fabric is typically more substantial than the fine machine knits that you might find in a store, your body takes the shape of the sweater, not the other way around.  Even in this case where we have a very light fabric with a decent drape.. it will never take the silhouette of your body if the silhouette of the piece is a giant rectangle.

It will make a very luxurious housecoat, but I don't see myself wearing this out any time soon, unless I can figure out a tactful way to belt it. As much as I love Churchmouse, and can appreciate the construction of this piece, I think I will stick with more shapely pieces in the future.

Modern Wrapper

Ice on the Hudson

It's been REALLY cold.

Even though things are busy and deadlines loom, I just couldn't resist casting on a sweater.  I have been wanting something casually and light to throw on over a long sleeve t-shirt to wear in my chilly studio... when by chance I saw Michelle Wang's stunning version of the Modern Wrapper by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. So lovely! So chic!

But could I pull it off?

I'm always a little unsure of how these drappy cardigans suit me.  Will it look casually elegant? Or sad and dowdy? Hard to say...

To add to that, the Modern Wrapper eats major yardage in two yarns; a fingering weight tweed and a lace weight mohair/silk blend, held together throughout. If you were to purchase the yarn kits from Churchmouse, this project could easily cost you between $172-209.
It just so happened that I had enough Brooklyn Tweed Loft in Fossil in my stash to convince myself that I would just be buying yarn for half a sweater, and that's worth a gamble. Now I just had to find a suitable lace weight!

I'm not crazy about Mohair, so I chose something that was similar, but with less of a halo (and closer to hand at my LYS) Jill Draper Makes Stuff Nimbus, a 70% Angora, 30% Silk blend which runs for about $30 for 50g/435 yds.The colorway is Mourning Dove- a silvery blue which tempers the yellow undertones of Brooklyn Tweed's Targhee-Columbia wool. 
I took the plunge and bought 3 skeins.

I demonstrated my commitment to this project by winding the two yarns into one cake.

The wrapper is knit on 6.0mm (US10) needles, so despite working what is essentially a sport weight, it goes rather quickly. It was obvious from the start that Loft was going to be perfect for this project. Because of the large gauge you need a yarn that is going to puff up or fill in all that empty space with fiber. A sock yarn simply would not cut it. The halo from the mohair (or angora, in my case) goes a long way to fill in some of that space, and the silk gives a slight cool slippery feel to the fabric.

So, confession, I did bollock-up the hem a bit. I think I got the RS and WS confused when working the two rows of garter stitch at the bottom. It should create a purl ridge that theoretically prevents the edge from curling, but having done it right on the front pieces, I am still getting an edge that curls. It might just be doomed to curl. I would find this disappointing of Churchmouse - who have a reputation for their carefully considered designs, but then again, it is quite long... I suppose a little curl won't hurt anything. If it won't stay put after blocking, I might be asking for advice on how to change out a hem....

The right front, seaming and blocking remain on this baby blanket sized wrapper. I'm hoping to have it finished by next weekend, and I will finally know the answer to the question of whether this will make me look like a chic artist or a frumpy housewife. Fingers crossed!

NEW PATTERN: Red Bird Old Fashioned

 

Sometimes I get a little nostalgic in my designs.

I think knitting is, by nature, nostalgic for many of us who grew up learning arts & crafts from relatives. I, like nearly everyone,  learned from my grandmother. She also taught me biscuit making, how to strip a white pine for basket weaving (something I REALLY want to get back into), cross stitch, crochet, how to shell green beans and shuck corn, and (like only a southern grandma can) how to tie your hair in a bandana and make molasses in a big outdoor vat with the rest of the 'relations'.

She also, at Christmastime would have on hand this powdery stick candy from a regional company called Red Bird out of Lexington, North Carolina. They made all kinds, but Peppermint was my favorite. It was like sucking on solid chunk of powdered sugar. It's way too sweet for me now, but as a kid, I was all about it.

I've been working on this tam in, what is probably, the best superwash merino out there. For the sake of liability, you can quote me as saying the best washable merino I've ever laid hands on. Swans Island Organic Washable 100% merino from Maine . It's beautifully dyed, with subtle variations in tone, but chewy and with a slight halo. You would never believe this is a superwash. It lacks the crunchy, stiff nature of most washables I've worked with and is nothing but a pillowy joy to work with.

The point of all this reminiscing is that I chose the Snowy Owl (white) and Malbec (red) which I figured would look rather christmas-y, no matter how I wrangled it-- but I wasn't prepared for it to turn out the exact color of those peppermint candy sticks.

I'm getting a sugar high just looking at this.

Now it has me daydreaming about Christmas and snow and the Appalachian Mountains... and wanting a sugar bomb.

The hat itself (there is a hat in all this daydreaming!) was an experiment in taking Estonian and Latvian knitting motifs and seeing how they would react to systematic decreases.  I love these motifs, with their tiny repetitive checks and crosses. They are linear and geometric and very small- often worked in fingering weight in miniscule repeats over a piece the size of a mitten. I do believe that the larger Norwegian patterns lend themselves better to sweaters, but I wanted to see if these Estonian and Latvian patterns could work on something slightly larger than a mitten, say... a tam? I did choose one of the larger motifs, but was satisfied with the overall effect. Now I want to experiment with some lighter weight yarns, smaller gauges, and smaller motifs. Just to see what happens when you try to turn them into a six pointed snowflake.

RED BIRD OLD FASHIONED
Yarn: Swans Island Organic Washable in Snowy Owl, Malbec (1 skein each)
Needles: 3.5mm circular
Gauge: 7st and 7 rows = 1"
Pattern Available as a PDF download for $3.50

Studio North Ravelry Group

There is now a Studio North ravelry group! 

Husband calls it a 'knittery' which I thought was a rather good word. 

I'm still developing my idea of what I want this space to look like, but I do know that it will be a central location for updates, design releases, test knitting, pattern discussion, and pattern modifications. 

Designing, in my mind, is a community effort, which involves fiber producers, designers, test knitters, tech editors, and knitters who take our designs and make them their own. I like the idea of having a place (a knittery, if you will ;>) where ideas, inspiration, and work can blossom. Because nothing is more fun to me, than seeing all the pieces come together into one beautiful work of wearable art.

I hope that if you are interested in my designs (past and future) you will stop by and share what you have knit, and have a chat, and join in the creative process!

NEW PATTERN: TAIGA

What's a beanie without a pompom, I ask you?

I'm excited to introduce a new pattern: TAIGA! 

I designed Taiga to be a satisfying knit for someone who is just beginning stranded colorwork.  The pattern is visually interesting, but uses simple pairs of colors worked over frequent pattern repeats and uses very short floats. This method reduces risk of problems associated with tension, and allows the beginner to focus more on the larger task at hand- managing two colors at once.

Even better for the beginner- this hat can be knit using scraps of fingering or sock weight yarn for the contrasting colors. You'll need only 5-10 grams of each contrasting color.

Taiga comes in two sizes, and adult medium and adult large. The medium has a brim circumference of 22", and the large, 23"

 

 TAIGA is now available as a PDF download for $3.50

Pattern Name: Taiga

Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Loft in Woodsmoke, Meteorite, Wool Socks, Almanac, and Birdbook

Needles: 3.5mm circular (magic loop)

North New Jersey Fiber Arts Festival

My mother, a needle-felter, came to visit this past weekend, which just happened to coincide with the North New Jersey Fiber Arts Festival held in lovely Ridgewood, NJ. I don't do much felting, and she is just learning the knit stitch, but there is common ground there in the pawing of much wool and oogling of many colors.

My beautiful mother, the needle-felter.

The festival was perfect for us- being a celebration of all types of fiber arts, and not just a big yarn orgy.

There was lace-making....

and spinning...

Cheryl Merritt of June Pryce Fiber Arts

and hooking.

Color...

 

 

and Texture...

...I was even inspired to try my hand at needle-felting!

I made sheep, of course!

AMERICAN FIBER: Hudson Valley Sheep & Wool Co.

Hudson Valley Sheep & Wool Co is located in Red Hook, NY, in the gorgeous Hudson Valley just a stone's throw from Rhinebeck, home of the famed New York State Sheep & Wool Festival.
They are a small farm who raise Icelandic, Shetland, and Mohair sheep and produce all their fiber on site.

On Saturday morning, I popped over for cider and doughnuts, to check out the sheep, and of course bring home an armful of locally produced fiber.

Shetland Ewe

Shetland Rams

Fleece on the drying racks.

Icelandic Lopi produced in-house.

Shetland Ewe

Freshly dyed

Local spinners enjoy the fantastic fall weather.

Lovely view of the farm.

Fleece waiting to be processed.

Icelandic Ram

And Goodies!

Shetland 3-ply Bulky

Merino Top for Spinning