The final recipient in her sweater:

I had to lighten the picture because it was dark when we took it and the colors didn’t show up very well. She’s really not that washed out in real life! :)  The sweater fits perfectly; the yarn softened wonderfully when washed (I used Dale Falk for it). Finishing wasn’t too bad on it; although lots of ends to weave in.  I really like the neckline on this one - much nicer than a simple crew neck with ribbing.  This project gets an A+ !

I do knit occasionally still :) and I managed to finish a sweater, Bjerk, for my mom:

Mom is visiting later this week, and I’ll get apicture of her actually wearing it. Overall it was a simple sweater to knit, it has some good finishing details (cast on in a different color. The neck detail with the small keyhole type slit) I blocked it before I put the sleeves in, and I thnk that made it slightly easier. I hope it didn’t stretch too much width wise as it fit her perfect before blocking.  We’ll see later this week.

So I have been knitting. Not a lot, but some.  My parents were here visiting for Thanksgiving, and I took advantage of the opportunity to try Bjerk on my mom. It fits perfectly.  SHe even agreed to model it with only one sleeve for the blog:

The length is just right - the sleeve (which i had to knit a bit longer than the pattern called for) is just the right length. Here it’s only basted in; I still have to sew it in for real.  I was hoping that I’d be able to finish it so she could take it back with her, but alas, being sick for the past 3 weeks hasn’t let me feel like doing much knitting. (Not to mention all the work involved in cooking a turkey and associated other food.  Mmm.. pumpkin pie sounds good. Time for lunch!)

I have been so busy lately, that I don’t even know what I’ve been doing to make the time fly by! I have managed to do some minimal knitting. I’m almost done with the front of Bjerk; I have 7 very small rows left to do on one side of it.  There are no pictures because I’m lame, and too busy!  You’ve seen the most exciting part already, the patterning across the chest.   The top of the sweater is knit in the dark blue.  After that I have another 6 or 7 inches on the back, and the back neck shaping; which should go really fast. 

I apparently thought I’d get a lot more done on it because I’ve already pulled out the DPNs for the sleeves and put them in my knitting basket. Wishful thinking I suppose.

I did manage to sneak in a fitting session with my mom when she swooped through town recently.  It’s fitting perfectly and I’m glad I added the extra length in the bottom part of the body.  Based on this fitting, I also have confidence I know how long to make the sleeves. According to the knitting experts in my group, I should just follow the sleeve cap instructions as is, and there are good chances it will work out just fine. I might do a few pre-calculations to see how off my row gauge is, because I typically have to change the rate of increases on the sleeves or they end up too short and fat.

Knit Foundry Update
This update should really be over there, but it’s harder to update there because I need actual web site editing software.  Ah well.  We are getting ready to launch our first offering of products!!  Unfortunately this does not include the software, Knit Visualizer.  That is creeping towards being ready, but isn’t quite yet. I’d rather spend the extra time and get out all the bugs I know are there, than have to release a patch soon after releasing the software.

So what are we going to have for sale? (Again, no pics yet, because these will take a bit more setup to make them look super snazzy)

• The ultimate in DPN storage!  Nothing like a fabric pouch - this is a lightweight, see-through container that lets you store DPNs up to 8" in length. Dividers allow you to store multiple sets of needles without fear of mixing up the different sizes.  Also great for stitch holders, crochet hooks and other accessories. The lid will not come off in your knitting bag, so it’s safe to toss it in any which way.  One end is shaped to allow it to stand up on a flat surface.  We will be offering these in 8" and 6" lengths with at least the following colors: green, blue, raspberry, yellow, red, purple, and white.  Dividers will be white.
• The coolest DPN point protectors you’ve ever seen! (Yes, a picture here would be useful. Soon!)  Hold your DPNs together securely using this elasticized set of point protectors. Works for sock projects, sleeves, anything you use your DPNs for.  The Bright color and funky shape make it easy to find and use.  Standard length is for 8" DPNs, also available via custom order in shorter or longer lengths.
• A new gadget to help you mark your charts while working on them. This one really requires a picture, so I won’t say more now.  Trust me, it’s cool!!!

My local knitting group (aka, "The Market Research Group") is very excited about these products, and so am I.  I’m going through the final process of setting everthing up to be able to sell them on the website, hopefully starting October 1st.  More updates soon!

Continuing along August’s theme - "Finishing Stuff I’ve Started", I’m back to working on Bjerk. I’ve got a deadline of late November for it, so need to get cracking!  Here’s my progress:

I’m about 1/4 of the way done if you count the body as 2 units of work and the sleeves as 1 unit of work each.  It measures 14" long and 20" across here.  I’m very pleased that the colorwork doesn’t appear to be drawing in much at all, even considering I was using three colors for part of it. It does have a bit of puckering in the fair isle sections, but not much, and given how well Hardangervidda blocked out I have a reasonable expectation that this one will block just as well.  (I’m using the same kind of yarn and the same basic technique).

For the rows that used three colors, it took me about three rows to figure out how to not have a huge tangled mess.  Having each yarn in a particular location and picking up and dropping the right yarns at the right time, and not catching any floats were the key.  I’m sure I learned the same lesson earlier in the first patterned section, but since it’s been so long since I did that - I had forgotten all those hard earned lessons!

I’m now working on the front and back of the body, each worked flat after dividing.  The sweater has set in sleeves, which is a technique I’ve not used before in a knitted garment (and I really wouldn’t count any of the set in sleeves I may or may not have done in home-ec classes in high school).  To divide front from back, the pattern has you cast off a number of stitches at each side, then removes more stitches at each armhole edge by casting off in a stair step fashion.  Knowing I won’t like the way a stair step looks or how hard it will be to sew in a sleeve against it, I decided to use decreases at the sleeve edge instead of casting off. It works out to the same number of stitches, and will only look slightly different if you get up close. Given that it’s in the armpit area, I’m pretty confident nobody is going to look too closely!

I briefly considered leaving all the stitches live, but the sleeve is worked from the cuff up instead of armhole down.  Since it’s my first time doing a set-in sleeve I’ll at least follow the pattern on that part.  I’m currently doing both front and back at the same time, that way I only have to keep track of the decreases once instead of a second time when I get to the other side.  This will work until I have to divide again for the front neckline, and then I’ll finish off the front before finishing the back.

The sweater is knitting up quickly, and I’m really enjoying the colors involved (we made up our own colorway based on the preferences of the intended recipient).  I know I have a lot of work ahead.  I haven’t had to rip it out yet, so I’m already ahead of where I was with Hardangervidda.  I do expect to do some ripping on the sleeve cap, but maybe I’ll get lucky and only have to do it once :)

Bjerk

I have managed to make progress on some of my projects.   Here’s Bjerk at stage 1:

and stage 2:

Look how fast it grew!

Given how little I’ve worked on it, it really has grown quickly.  I think I like the way the dark green is showing up as the spots. I went ahead and stranded here (using three colors at once. Ugh) instead of doing duplicate stitch like I thought. It just seemed faster, and I won’t have to go back and finish it.

I’ll probably be setting this aside for a short time (sorry mom!) to work on The Nanny Sweater.  Once I get going on that I’ll flip back and forth a bit. There is a LOT of moss/seed stitch in TNS. A lot. I’ll probably get sick of it after a while and need a break. Bjerk has lots of stockinette. Perfect for mindless movie knitting!

Brioche Scarf

The colors shown here aren’t really very true. It’s a bit more sky-blue than in real life. (it’s more of a dusty blue).  But, you can see the pattern. It looks a lot like plain ribbing, but it’s Brioche stitch. I really like the feel of this fabric. Super drapey/scrunchy/yummy feeling! The yarn is really soft too - Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

For Bjerk, I wanted to do a sanity check when I got a few inches in.

It looks like it’ll be just right.  This is unstretched, and the final measurements should be around 41" - 42" around for just enough ease.  I still have to figure out lengths and things. I’m making the size Small in the pattern for the width, but am not sure it will have sleeves long enough if I just blindly follow those measurements.  Unfortunately I don’t have the recipient here to try it on, so I’ll definately have to be relying on my tape measure for this one.

Michelle asked in a comment:

… Mine seems lumpy in the fair isle parts. Has that ever happened to you? Is that normal? Most important, is there a way to fix it? It’s my first fair isle so I expected a bit of lumpiness but I’m hoping it’s not permanent lumpiness.

Michelle is talking about Bjerk, which is also in the same book as Hardangervidda. Like Hardangervidda, it has a higher proportion of stockinette to it than fair isle. In Bjerk, there are quite a few three color rows, and that is a lot of yarn to be carrying along the back of your sweater. If you have a lot of twisting of your yarns, you could definately get some lumpiness.

Another thing to look out for is the tension of your floats on the back of the work. I can’t claim I’m very good at it yet, but I’m getting better with practice! If you’ll look at this picture of Hardangervidda you’ll see how the fair isle part is drawn in a bit more than the stockinette portion below it:

I’m hoping that blocking will help some of this out, as I don’t feel that the draw in is too drastic. The best advice I’ve been given on this is to spread out the stitches on your right hand needle before you switch back to the next color. This way the float is long enough. On really really long floats, you might twist your yarns to catch the long float as you go. Somtimes I do this, and sometimes I don’t. Maybe I’ll be brave and take a picture of the inside of the sweater :)

For Bjerk, I think I’ll duplicate stitch the third color. There really aren’t that many areas for that third color and the floats required to do so are really long.

I put off casting on for Hardangervidda’s sleeves for a few days (shame on me!). So what did I do in the meantime? A swatch for Bjerk:

I tried several times to get the colors to show up fairly true and not wash out because of the photo. Overall I’m fairly pleased with the color combinations on this. The contrast between the dark blue & the dark purple is a bit more subtle than I would like (We’ve got two colors that are exactly the same value). You have to have exactly the right lighting to really see it well. If you look at the 2nd colorway shown in the book (green/brown/green) the contrast is much higher. The contrast is more subtle in the first colorway (terra cotta/burgandy/red), but still higher than what I’ve picked out. The questions is: Will the pattern stand out enough, or be lost? The pattern is really the high point of the sweater, so I want to make sure and do it right. I’m wondering if I should do a larger swatch (also to verify the spot color isn’t too overwhelming). Hmm..

I did start Hardangervidda’s sleeve:

And here is Katie’s sock:

I have high hopes that both Hardangervidda and katie’s socks (a full pair!) will be done before winter hits us.

I finally had a moment to sit down with digital camera, computer and a few minutes to write about what’s going on in my knitting life. I started back to work this week and haven’t has as much time to knit as I’d like. I’m too tired in the evening to do much but get the kids into bed and then maybe knit a few stitches if I haven’t already spent all my awake time on boring stuff like chores. Even so, I’ve managed to make a tiny bit of progress.

I know you’re all anxiously awaiting to see what Hardangervidda looks like now. Well here he is in all his glory:

The picture is a tiny bit fuzzy, I had to turn off the flash and try to hold the camera very still while it took a long exposure. This sweater is better photographed with indirect daylight - but there wasn’t any around when I had time to take the picture. I’m very happy with how this sweater is coming out. I might start cursing again while I’m trying to figure out the first sleeve, but I have hope :)

I also previously mentioned my new project, Bjerk. My mom and I chose colors together, and here’s what we think will look just fab:

The dark purple is the bottom of the sweater, the lighter purple (going clockwise) is the top of the sweater, the blue is the "flower" pattern in between and the red/burgandyish color is the POW in the flowers, what I’m calling the "spot" color. I will be doing a test run of the colors soon so you’ll get to see the swatch. I’m worried the blue won’t be dark enough, but I think it will be pretty stunning overall.

Tipping update
I was able to talk to a friend of mine that knows people who work at one of the restaurants we frequently order to-go food from. To his knowledge, it’s the kitchen staff that prepares the food into the to-go containers and then the waiter/hostess person simply puts it in a bag and walks it to your car. In my opinion, that’s only worth like a buck tip if they are really friendly and don’t make you wait past the time they said it would be ready. Otherwise "No Tip For You!" (Think Soup Nazi from Seinfeld). As a side note, I always tip minimum 15% when dining in (unless they were inexcusably rude and then we’d ask for the manager) and 20%+ most of the time. Hooray for wait-people that understand you need your bread very quickly to keep the little ones happy while waiting for the rest of the food!

And then….
Tune in tomorrow to see what the wonderful UPS man brought me!