desgraced.com » Knitting

Shawl Collar Vest Done

desiree — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:29:12 +0000

I did finish up this vest just in time for my sisters birthday. It fits her great and she said it’s perfect to wear to the office. But I forgot to get a picture! If I can ever get her to pose for a picture (she hates pictures) I’ll put it up.

Shawl Collar Vest

desiree — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:02:46 +0000

I started this on Friday, I think. I was emboldened by the two baby sweaters I just completed and now I’m making a sweater for myself. Not a whole sweater obviously, a vest doesn’t have sleeves.

The yarn is Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red. The needles are 5 mm.

Sophisticated Baby

desiree — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:46:28 +0000

This is for my sisters new baby, who hasn’t arrived yet. They aren’t telling us whether it’s a boy or girl but I still wanted to have color in it. I think the dark teal can work for either. I haven’t found buttons for it yet, unless you think bright red would do? I’m waffling on the color a bit.

The pattern is Baby Sophisticate by Linden Heflin (ravelry link) and it was a really fast, easy knit. I think this was done in 4 days and I didn’t even knit one of those days. I love the collar! It’s made using short rows, which is super easy in garter stitch.

Raglan Baby Sweater

desiree — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:09:23 +0000

I love non-traditional colors for baby clothes. And I love stripes. And I love my friend Michelle enough to knit her baby a whole sweater. Her baby will be so handsome in this:

I’m done. That’s 3 days of knitting. Gotta love how fast baby sweaters knit up. So fast. And if you make them too big, you know they’ll fit eventually.

This is almost the last of the bulk bag of acrylic yarn from Walmart. So very soft and still machine washable. The pattern is Baby Blueberry Cardigan by Elizabeth Maine.

Soft Scarf Progress

desiree — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:36:15 +0000

This is slow going. I’m knitting this very slowly because I’m so scared the slippery yarn will slide off the needle if I go too fast. And this is on bamboo needles, which are supposed to have a little more grip.
I started by casting on 8 stitches on 6 mm needles, then I kept increasing one stitch every row in stockinette until I had 88 stitches. Then I just knit until it was almost as long as I wanted it. Then I’m decreasing one stitch at the end of every row until I have 8 stitches again. It’ll end up like a long rectangle with a point at each end.
It’s pretty slow, but it’s so pretty. Soft as a cloud and light as air. The color is even cloud-like. Hmm, maybe the soft scarf needs a new name.

Still Working on Those Mittens

desiree — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:24:15 +0000

This is as far as I got on the new mittens before I decided to change the pattern again. After I made the blue and pink one, I felt that the mitten was too long and the thumb was too short. Plus I wanted to define the thumb gusset a little more using the contrasting color. So I drew out the whole thing on graph paper again.

Now I’ve decided that the stripe up the pinky side of my hand and the stripe above and below the thumb gusset is superfluous and distracts from the colorwork pattern. So this mitten is getting frogged. All 41 rows. At least there is only a minimal change to the pattern on paper.

Good thing I’m more of a process knitter than a product knitter!

CastleRock Mitten Pattern Update

desiree — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:20:58 +0000

These would be the new pattern for mittens I’ve been working on lately. They have a corrugated rib cuff and a gusset thumb. The graph for the colorwork pattern should be done soon and then everyone can make super cute mittens!

Soft Soft Scarf

desiree — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:20:29 +0000

I found this really soft kind of fuzzy yarn at dollarama (local dollar store) of all places. It’s probably the thinnest yarn I’ve ever worked with. I’m doing a triangle in stockinette on 6mm needles.
It’s light as air and super soft. I can’t wait to wear it with my spring coat when the snow finishes melting.

More Legwarmers

desiree — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:54:25 +0000

I’ve knit a second pair of legwarmers from my pattern. These are the same yarn as the top of Dejas sweater. I have the perfect pair of shoes to wear with these, I think. The colour will match just right.

This yarn feels like it has some cotton in it, but it’s not heavy or saggy when I wear them.

Make Sure You Swatch!

desiree — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:25:56 +0000

This might be news to some people, it certainly was to me:

Your project is more likely to turn out right if you make sure you’re getting the right gauge by swatching.

Getting the right gauge means you have the same number of stitches per inch and per row as called for in the pattern. Knitting a swatch means you knit a square (usually stockinette) with the yarn and needles you will be using for the project in order to measure your gauge.

If you have too few stitches per inch, you will need to go down a needle size or two. If you have too many stitches per inch, go up a needle size or two. And you will need to make a new swatch with the new needles, so you know you got it right.

Stitches per row is not quite as critical and if it’s a little bit off, you can do more or fewer rows to get the length of garment you want.

It took a lot of non-fitting projects for me to learn my lesson. I used to skip swatching every time, and nothing ever fit. Everything usually turned out too big. This was especially silly since I pretty much never have the exact yarn the pattern calls for.