MYOKB: Baby Cardigan in (slightly faster) Progress

February 26, 2012January 5, 2014 KateLeave a comment

Debbie Bliss "Baby Cardigan," Back, Rakish Angle — Debbie Bliss “Baby Cardigan,” Back, Rakish Angle

After what seemed like several weeks but was only actually a few days, I’ve finished the back of the “Baby Cardigan.” As I’ve mentioned before, I love, love, love the look of seed stitch, but it takes me so long to work. I figure that this pattern would have taken me half as long to make if it were done in stockinette or garter stitch.

To help speed the process along, and in keeping with my goal of trying to expand my repertoire of knitting techniques throughout My Year of Knitting Blissfully, I researched some supposedly faster ways of working seed stitch. I knit in a style I laughingly call “modified-throw Continental” — in other words, I do hold the yarn in my left hand but I don’t use the right-hand needle to “pick” at the yarn, like most Continental knitters do, but instead I kind of “throw” the yarn over the needle, like most English-style knitters do. There’s no wrong way to knit, right? Just ask the divine Annie Modesitt.

The interwebs were all agog about the “Norwegian purl” which supposedly makes it faster for continental-style knitters to work “K1 P1” stitches like ribs and seed stitch. The advantage of this technique is that the yarn is always held at the back of the needles so there’s no need to move the yarn from the front to the back (and back again) after every stitch.

After viewing several videos and tutorials online, I tried several times to make the “Norwegian purl” work with my style of knitting, but no luck. Maybe it’s because of the way I knit, or maybe I didn’t give it enough of a chance.

Debbie Bliss "Baby Cardigan" Back, Photographed Straight-on — Debbie Bliss “Baby Cardigan” Back, Photographed Straight-on

There’s no way I will be finished with this project by the end of my allotted week (which ends today). My first missed deadline. Sigh.

MYOKB: Baby Cardigan in (slow) Progress

February 24, 2012January 8, 2014 KateLeave a comment

And here you have the first half of the front of the “Baby Cardigan” from p. 38 of Debbie Bliss’s A Knitter’s Year. And it’s taken me almost all week to complete. And this is only one-third of the final project… Yikes.

On the plus side — this is going to be GORGEOUS when it’s finished. This bright raspberry color (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino color #340042, sadly discontinued now) is delicious, and it’s made even more delicious in my eyes by the fact that I got in on mega-sale at Little Knits so this whole project is costing my under $10. It’s also making a dent in my stash.

On the minus side — this project is taking me f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Just how long is Debbie Bliss’s week anyway? Basically, the problem is seed stitch itself. Even though it’s one of my favorite stitches in terms of the final result (and it’s reversible!), it’s a slow stitch to work since you have to move the yarn between the front and back of the needles with every stitch.

Maybe it’s time to investigate quicker ways to work seed stitch.

MYOKB: Clothespin Bag Finished! At very last minute!

February 20, 2012March 15, 2014 KateLeave a comment

So, I finished the Clothespin bag at the very last minute last night with some generous help from my talented roommate whose sewing skills vastly out-strip mine. You can see some pictures of the Clothespin bag in its formative stages here and here.

I predicted that I would finish this project with time to spare, but I hadn’t taken into account the time required for finishing. I’m looking forward to the projects coming up since there’s no sewing involved.

The above picture is the completed version with the lining sewn in, the sides crocheted together, and the hanger placed inside. Crocheting the knitted edges together went quite quickly and, in my humble opinion, actually looks better than sewing the edges together on the machine. I also worked a single crochet stitch along the curved edges of the “envelope” (as Debbie Bliss describes it), which I think will give the edges a bit more strength.

With the hanger, I resorted to good old-fashioned elbow grease and a sharp aluminum knitting needle which I used to open up a hole in the fabric and force the hanger hook through. Bliss was (not atypically) maddeningly vague on how exactly to do this part of the finishing.

Sadly, since I live in an apartment, and have no backyard, I don’t have a clothesline from which to hang my new bag. I’ve decided to use it to hold my vast collection of plastic grocery bags awaiting recycling — not a very glamorous use for beautiful handmade bag, but it will look pretty hanging in my utility closet and maybe that will make recycling a happier chore.

MYOKB: Clothespin Bag nears the finish line!

February 17, 2012January 2, 2014 KateLeave a comment

hespin Bag Almost Finished — Clothespin Bag with lining pinned to knitting

At last the knitting is finished, and the finishing begins!

The original pattern calls for the knitted part to be machine-sewn together when the lining is attached, but machine-sewing the lining to the knitted piece and then crocheting the knitted sides together seemed so much easier. Crocheting is so much easier and faster, and allows me to really control the seaming. The navy blue cotton tie you see at the top of the fold marks the center where the hook of the hanger will go through.

My friend Deborah, who is something of an expert seamstress, helped me with the lining and the machine sewing. I must admit, sewing machines still intimidate me a little bit. The fabric is some old calico-style print I bought on sale years ago — so long ago, in fact, that I can’t remember where or when. It matches well with the sage color of the yarn though.

Clothespin Bag Fabric Lining Close-up — Close-up of the fabric lining of the Clothespin Bag

Here’s the bag folded into the proper shape (note the fancy camera angle I learned in my recent “how to photograph knitting” class at Wildfiber in Santa Monica):

Clothspin Bag Almost Finished — Clothespin Bag, folded into proper shape, photographed at a rakish angle

And here’s the same bag photograph straight-on (as I would have done it before I took this class):

As soon as the lining is sewn on, I can begin using single crochet (size H hook) to bind the sides together. I have chosen a short, padded wooden hanger to hang the Clothespin Bag from. It should look quite sweet when done.

MYOKB: Clothespin bag in progress

February 14, 2012January 2, 2014 KateLeave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Here we have the “Clothespin Bag” in progress, from p. 48 of Debbie Bliss’s book The Knitter’s Year. The yarn I’ve chosen is Knit One Crochet Too Cotonade, color 832, “light moss.” It’s a sturdy, worsted-weight 100% cotton with a second, much thinner cotton thread intertwined with the main strand; this intertwining creates a kind of nubby “zig zag” effect that looks great with a simply textured stitch like this one.

By the way — just between you, me and the lamppost — Cotonade is exactly the same yarn as Cascade Luna and Suss Cotton. The latter is absolutely interchangeable with Cotonade; they even use some of the same color names. Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush…

The knitted pattern basically alternates between one row of seed stitch and one row of stockinette, so this is great, mindless zen knitting. There’s some minor shaping at the beginning and end of the piece to create the concave edges.

And here’s a close-up:

I’m making great progress and I expect to have this one done with time to spare.

MYOKB, Week One: “Booties Trio” Finished!

February 12, 2012January 2, 2014 KateLeave a comment

Again, at the very last minute, I have completed the “Booties Trio,” my first project in my series taken from Debbie Bliss’s A Knitter’s Year–“My Year of Knitting Blissfully” (from here on, referred to as MYOKB).

At first, I couldn’t decide if I was only “required” to do one pair of booties, or if I had to knit all three. Then I realized — duh! — I didn’t “have to” do anything. Like the line in Chariots of Fire says: “We are the committee.” In other words, I am in charge of deciding what counts, so I decided to go for it. And now that we’ve all got that theme song running through our heads…

Now to get these in the mail on the way to my sister-in-law who is expecting a little girl practically any day now. I’d personally like her to arrive on February 29th so she can be a leap-year baby, but my SIL is in the “dog days” of pregnancy and I think she’d like the baby to come as soon as possible. Either way, this will be one of the best-shod babies around town.

MYOKB: Booties Trio in Progress

February 10, 2012January 2, 2014 KateLeave a comment

The Knitter's Year Cover — Cover of Debbie Bliss’s *The Knitter’s Year*

Here’s my progress so far on the “Booties with Lacy Top” from the “Booties Trio” from Debbie Bliss’s The Knitter’s Year. This is my first project from my year-long project to knit all 52 projects in that book, a project otherwise known as “My Year of Knitting Blissfully” or “MYOKB” for short.

These are going to be a gift for my new niece who is expected to make her appearance at the end of this month. Personally, I’m hoping she’s born on February 29th so she will be a leap year baby. I’m just weird that way.

Basically, I’ve completed all the actual knitting (except for a small bit on the second “Bootie with Lacy Top”) and now I have to weave in all the ends and do the seaming and finishing:

Booties with Striped Instep, in progress, cuff unfolded

And here are both of them, still unseamed, but with the cuffs folded down:

Booties with Striped Instep 002 — Booties with Striped Instep, cuffs folded

And the final entry in the trio, “Booties with Striped Foot”:

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate seaming? Blurgh. And I have to make some “shoelaces” for the “Lacy Top” booties. Double blurgh.

The dark pink and light green are two different (discontinued) colors of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (340042 and 340018 respectively), and the white in the “Striped Inset” and “Striped Foot” versions is Karabella Aurora 4. The white in the “Lacy Top” version is Suss Love in ivory.