Thanks!

Oops, forgot to say thanks for your input on pattern choices when I wrote that last post!
So, thanks! I really appreciate your pattern comments...Right now I'm between the first pattern and last pattern. I think I'll end up with the last because it will be more unique from the other scarves I've knit my mom.
Now I just have to choose yarn! I'm wavering (of course) between two choices, but I'm making myself choose and wind it tonight so I can get started. :)

wips

1. Miniature mittens...

I'm on a roll with these. It started last night. Funny story. I was cleaning my desk off and managed to clear off exactly 0% of the clutter when I got distracted by some Knit Picks Palette leftovers I found buried under the rubbish. I then decided I needed to make some mini mittens. Got out my stash bins because the color of Palette I really wanted wasn't out and promptly added several more skeins to my already overflowing desk. I then sat down and knit a few mittens. My desk remains in shambles.

2. Purple:

Malabrigo worsted. Cowl in seed stitch. Five button holes. No buttons. Yet.

3. Big mittens:

My current pride and joy. Unfortunately, they'll be too short for the recipient, so eventually I must rip the top of the pictured mitt and re-knit. I've knit the cuff of the second mitten and am hoping to finish these by December 1st. We shall see. A slight problem is that I seem to be running out of yarn. I really really really hope that I don't.

4. Baby sweater knit in...acrylic. I really wanted to use wool, but I knew that machine washable and dryable (dryable not a word, I know) had to take top priority for this gift. At least it's soft?

Some pattern help?

One of my Christmas gifts just isn’t working out.
And unfortunately, this is one of the gifts I can’t fudge on, my mom’s.
I started with some socks using this yarn. I didn’t the like the pooling, and I knew the colors weren’t really my mom’s favorites. Rip rip rip

Next, I moved on to an entrelac scarf with this yarn. Didn’t like the way it looked at all. Rip rip rip.

After that, I used the same yarn to knit a Feather and Fan scarf. For the most part I liked the way it was looking. Then, when I saw Celeste earlier this week, she pointed out something I was surprised I missed. The sides of the Feather and Fan pattern are imbalanced because the first side has two knit stitches (technically k2togs) followed by a YO, the second side has a YO followed by three knit stitches (a knit, and then two k2togs). I knit exactly following the pattern, but the pattern itself had that error in it. Besides that, I’m not sure I really like the actual scarf. The yarn is a very heavy weight with lots of tweed bumps, and the texture is almost a boucle. So it’s a little novelty yarn feeling and looking. The scarf is currently blocking, but I don’t have very high hopes, so in lieu of all this, I’m enlisting you to help me choose a new pattern.

Obviously most of you don't know my mom, but I think any of these patterns would be great for her, so just let me know which one you personally love and why.

1. Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf

Project from Zwaalie
Zwaalie's Flickr

If I made this I'm considering omitting a repeat, but I need to check finished dimensions first.

2. Madli's Shawl

Project from Agata

Agata's Flickr

This is a gorgeous piece. I would also consider making this a repeat or two smaller across.

3. Party Lace Scarf

Project from Kellelynne

kug1's flickr

This project is lovely. My one concern is curling, which has happened with the other scarves I've given her. Maybe a three stitch garter border on each side.

4. Three Sisters Scarves # Two

Project from cindym

clmadden2's Flickr



Love this photo and the project itself.

Any thoughts on these patterns?

My Google Reader is broken. I'm rather depressed about it.
I came home this weekend after a short trip to find 40 unread blogs sitting in it (yes, my blog roll is quite substantial). I wasn't too daunted by this as I had some time on my hands, but as soon as I tried opening a post, Google Reader told me that the feed could not be accessed at this time and to try again in a few seconds. Well I've been "trying again" for the last two days, but to no avail.
Today I finally resigned myself, and added all blogs I read to "blogs I'm following" in my Blogger account. After doing so, I opened every single post in a new tab (I love tabs by the way, so much better than opening new windows) and at this point in time I'm about to start reading.

Wish me luck. I have a lot of tabs to conquer.

Blown Away

Apparently I'm the last to know about the Kim Hargreaves pattern book, Precious (unless I unwittingly faved a pattern on Ravelry without realizing where it originated). But oh my, now I that know...I'm utterly blown away.

I was intrigued by my LYS noting that a new Kim Hargreaves book came into the shop, so I googled Kim and immediately found her gorgeous website and patterns. The knits in her latest collection are just fantastic, and the photography and styling? Stunning.

http://www.kimhargreaves.co.uk/acatalog/Precious_Book.html

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/precious

I love love love the cabled dresses, but this model seems to be a lot slimmer than I'll ever be. Yeah, I work out and I'm definitely in shape, but unfortunately "in shape" and "skinny enough to wear a cabled dress that will add at least a few pounds to one's frame especially to any parts of one's frame that are in constant rebellion against slimming down" aren't exactly synonyms.

Bah. I want me a cabled dress ;(

I won't post the photos directly on this post, but seriously, check these links out if you haven't seen them yet. The photography alone is worth it.

Dusty: http://www.kimhargreaves.co.uk/acatalog/DUSTY.html
I think I gave a little squeak when I saw this one. Can you get cuter than that? I think this one would be a little more forgiving to the hips than the other option: Aaren

http://www.kimhargreaves.co.uk/acatalog/AAREN.html

Roko on Ravelry is currently knitting one of these though and I'm eagerly awaiting the result: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/roko/aaren

Of course either of these dresses would of course take A LOT of yarn to complete. As in, I'd have to starve my stash for a good six months to compensate.

Honestly, I could go on and on. I think I love every piece in this book. Sigh. Off to dream dreams of gorgeous knitwear and completely ignore the reality of my non-selfish Christmas gift knitting experiment.

Francis Revisited-Mods

Disclaimer: In order to make sense of these notes, you’ll probably need to have some familiarity with the “top down raglan” sweater construction. My notes might be a little confusing otherwise, since I didn’t take a lot of notes with this sweater, just enough so that I could repeat the knit later on if I wanted to.

When I began looking at the Francis pattern, I knew immediately that I didn’t want to knit at the large gauge suggested. I made several gauge swatches with my yarn (Patons Classic Merino, a worsted weight) and decided to go with about 5 sts per inch. After I began knitting the actual sweater I realized my gauge had become a looser 4.5 sts per inch, so I ripped the sweater and adjusted my calculations accordingly. Thus, all notes below are for my sweater knit at 4.5sts per inch. As for row gauge, I have 6 rows per inch written on my notes, but I didn't double check that after I began knitting.

Ease:

I ended up with about 1.5” of neg ease around the bust (sweater measures 31.5 at that point) and 2” of positive ease around the waist (sweater measures about 30” at that point).


The Pattern Mods:

I cast on 112 sts and divided them as follows:
40sts for front
2 sts for between increases (the sts that I increased on either side of)
12 sts for sleeve 1
2 sts between increases
40sts for back
2sts between increases
12sts for sleeve 2
2sts between increases

Raglan Increases:
I increased using a “make 1” increase on each side of each 2st increase column. So I increased 8sts each increase round. I knit two plain round and then did an increase round, I prefer the look of a steeper increase slope, but in order to adjust to the large neck opening necessary for the cowl I did the increases every two rows.

Side note: If I were to knit this sweater again, I would change the cast on ratio of front/back/sleeve stitch counts. For this sweater, by the time I was ready to put the sleeves on stitch holders and begin knitting just the front and back, the sleeves were still too small while the front/back sections were growing too large. I would probably subtract about 5sts from the front and 5sts from the back cast on section and add somewhere from 2-4 into the sleeve sections.

I knit in this increase pattern until the sweater measured 6.5”
Stitch counts (not including the 2 sts increase columns, or so my notes read):
Sleeve: 38sts
Front: 66 sts
Back: 66sts

When I removed the sleeve sts to st holders, I added one st from each "two st increase column" on either side of the sleeve (so each sleeve had one st added to each side of it, 40 sts). I also cast on two sts after removing the sleeve stitches to the needles.

Knitting the Front and Back:

Knit until top measures 4.25 from underarm cast on (the sts I cast on in place of the sleeves).
Work decrease row. (decrease 4 sts evenly placed on the sides of the sweater)
Knit until sweater measures 5.5” from underarm cast on.
Work decrease row.
Knit until top measures 9.5” from underarm cast on.
Work increase row. (increase 4 sts evenly placed on the sides of the sweater)
Knit until top measures 11” from underarm cast on.
Work increase row.

At this point my notes disappear. But I continued knitting plain (no more shaping) until the sweater was about 3” shorter than I wanted, and then I worked 3” of 1x1 rib and finished off with a tubular bind off.

Sleeves:

I cast on two sts for the underarm of each sleeve (42sts) and knit until the sleeves reached just to my elbow and then added 2” of 1x1 rib and bound off using a tubular bind off.

Cowl:

The most important part of course!
I picked up all the sts from the original cast on (112) and knit in 1x1 rib for 2.5” with size 8 needles. Every 2.5” I switched to a larger needle size (I used 8’s, 9’s, 10’s, and 10.5’s) and the cowl finished off at about 10”. I bound off with a tubular bind off. The tubular (or kitchener) bind off is the best finish I’ve found for 1x1 rib because it doesn’t give a ruffled edge. You could also use a standard “k2, slip first st over 2nd st” bind off, but I can never make that bind off loose enough.

To finish I just seamed up the underarms and wove in the ends. It’s really a very easy and fun sweater to knit, and I’ve already wore mine quite a bit!

Hope you found these notes helpful!

Francis

Ravelry Project Link
Pattern: Inspired by Francis Revisited
Mods are here

This was a great knit. Even though it's a sweater, it still became my "mindless knitting" project. Just basic stockinette with a little 1x1 rib and some shaping thrown in. I've already worn this a lot. It's really versatile and having the extra warmth around my neck from the cowl is perfect for chilly fall days.

I'd love to make this again someday with a really luxurious yarn, it's a simple enough pattern that a great yarn would really have a chance to shine. The yarn I used for this was Patons Classic Merino (bought before Patons changed the blend to what is essentially "misc wool") and it's holding up really nicely. As I mentioned when I started this project, the yarn was already knit up into a sweater that didn't turn out so well. After I frogged that sweater and washed the yarn, it went back very closely to its original state and appears to have survived the ordeal nicely.

Overall I'm very excited about this sweater and right now it's all I can do to stop myself from casting on for another sweater project. But Christmas presents must come first!