Picking Up Speed

I have been trying to not let projects linger too long in the knitting basket once the pieces are actually knitted up. I made my peace with seaming some time ago, and I no longer feel as frustrated about picking up stitches. I used to read the pattern directions that would say, for example, "pick up 124 sts." Well, I did my best to mark out increments along the edge and would really try to pick up precisely 124 sts. Inevitably, I'd mess up somewhere, or lose count, or pick up too many stitches in one section and not enough in another, or something.... something that would make me have to start over, usually more than once.

Eventually, it dawned on me that it didn't have to be that difficult. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter exactly how may stitches that you pick up, as long as 1) you distribute the stitches evenly, and 2) you don't cause unintentional flaring or puckering. So what I started doing is pretty much disregarding the number of stitches the pattern tells me to pick up and just picking up stitches as I go along. If I'm working along a horizontal row of stitches, I pick up stitches 1 for 1. If the back neckline is pretty much straight across and is 34 sts wide, I pick up 34 stitches. For vertical columns of stitches, I pick up a ratio based on my stitch gauge vs. row gauge. So if my gauge is 5 stitches to an inch and 7 rows to an inch, I'll pick up 5 stitches for every 7 rows along a vertical column. I'll pick up 2 sts over 2 rows, skip a row, pick up 3 sts over 3 rows, skip a row, and repeat. And that's it!

Sure, sometimes you may need a certain multiple of a number, such as picking up a multiple of 4 sts so that you can do 2x2 ribbing along a neckline. But it's easy to tuck in an extra stitch here or there towards the end.

This all came in handy for picking up stitches along the neckline of Eastlake. I had actually reknit the top portions of the front because it sagged when I first basted the pieces together, so I had to knit fewer rows to make the armhole less deep. Recalculating how many stitches to pick up according to the pattern would have been a headache. Anyway, using this technique made it easy to pick up stitches and finish up the neck for Eastlake in one quick go. This was while I was at knit night, which means I was talking and working in low light at a coffee shop. I could not have been able to do that if I were trying to pick up an exact number of stitches!

So this means that Eastlake is done!


Here's something else that made the neckline go faster: after picking up stitches, I chose to knit it in the round on the wrong side rather than purling in the round from the right side. Zip, zip, zip!

I'm very happy with this sweater! I was worried about wearing an A-line top since I mostly have things that are fitted and have waist shaping. However, this does not feel tent-like at all! That probably has a lot to do with the nice drape of the Cascade Venezia. It is probably my new favorite yarn. It’s very soft and has wonderful stitch definition. Buttah!

More pics and details are in the gallery and on Ravelry.

See-attle

We just got back from a fantastic trip to Seattle and had such a fun vacation! We stayed at the Pan Pacific hotel, which I highly recommend. It's conveniently located, clean, and has good service. The best part? It's beautiful! Let's put it this way: if Habu were a hotel, it would be this one.

We saw and did lots of fun things, but I'll just tell you about my yarn adventures.

First, I went to Tricoter. It was a nice store, and the people there were friendly. There were some really lovely yarns there, but they were arranged by color. If I were the type of person who would say to myself, "I need to make a red sweater," then that would be great. But I'm not. No, I'd rather look at yarns based on their other qualities--content, gauge, feel--and then see if I like one of the available colors. So I did not buy any yarn, but I did buy the Loop-D-Loop Vol 2 booklet there because they had a sample of the mesh-and-rib short-sleeve pullover from the cover knitted up, and it really caught my eye.

Next up was Hilltop Yarn East in nearby Bellevue. They have lovely yarns and are also very nice. There is a fairly extensive collection of patterns and back issues of magazines. I came across the hard-to-find Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Crochet. I think people often get this for the Babette Blanket, but I wanted it for the Pink Frosting tank (Ravelry link). Yummy!

One of the fun things we did was to take a ferry boat over to Bainbridge Island. The views are fantastic, and Bainbridge Island itself has some very charming places to shop. For us yarn addicts, there is Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. Yes, they have teas and teapots, as well as needlepoint supplies in addition to the knitting goodies. And yes, the knitting goodies are good! The yarn selection is very well edited and the shop samples are all really appealing! I came away with Kim Hargreave's Heartfelt Collection.


The most interesting stop was at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in the international district (thanks for the tip, Janet!). If you have any interest whatsoever in Japanese craft books, this is the place to go in Seattle! I bought 2 booklets, but I was tempted by so many. Who cares if I don't read Japanese! Many of the designs are just inspirational to have. I would have bought some stitch dictionaries, but I had the kids with me and didn't really have a chance to go through them properly, so it'll just have to wait for another visit. I also found myself drawn to several crochet books and a number of sewing books, especially Pattern Magic, volumes 1 and 2. I could go on and on!


And in case you're curious, yes, I did buy yarn as well. That happened at Little Knits. Some of you may have ordered from them online before, as I have. Going to the store is a whole new experience. We drove out to West Seattle and followed the GPS directions. At first, I thought I must have entered in something wrong because the directions led us to the middle of what looked like a residential neighborhood, and there were no signs anywhere. Turns out, though, that the directions were right. It's in a house that is bursting at the seams with yarn, yarn, and more yarn. They were shipping out internet sale orders, so things were a little chaotic, but Sue and Erica could not be nicer! There are only 2 "retail days" on Thursday and Saturday, but as long as you understand and can tolerate the setup, you are welcome on any day that they are there (ie. not Friday or Sunday). I picked up some olive-brown Katia Bamboo for a Pintuck T-shirt and some gray Barufffa Cashwool and pink Malabrigo Lace--one of these is intended for a Butterfly Tank and the other will be in the stash for the next time some lace inspiration strikes.


Although I never get to do as much knitting as I'd like to on vacation, I did manage to do enough to finish up the front of Eastlake (sans eyeletes) and am up to the armhole bindoff on the back.


I love the design but am getting a wee bit nervous about how this shape will actually look on me, so I'm pausing to seam up what I have and try it on before going further. Another reason I loved the hotel is that I was able to actually block the front piece after I finished knitting it up. This meant that 1) the tub was super clean and I had no reservations about using it, 2) the towels were nice and cushy and absorbent to soak up the excess water, 3) there was enough room on the coffee table to lay out the piece on a towel, and 4) the housekeeping staff respected the "Do Not Disturb" sign I put on it.

All in all, a great trip! :-)

Me Do Redo

Have you ever had a pattern that absolutely called out to you? For me, it's Eastlake, from Norah Gaughan Vol 3. As soon as I saw it, I knew I just had to make it. I stalked my LYS for the booklet, and when it arrived, I picked it up as soon as I could. I poked around in the store for awhile and found a lovely yarn--Cascade Venezia. It's a blend of merino and silk and knits up like a dream!

I started on the front first because that's where most of the action is. There are a few minor errors, but nothing to detract from the project:

The pattern doesn't tell you when to switch to the larger needles after having cast on with smaller needles. I'm assuming it's the same as the instructions given for the back

The pattern essentially calls for 8 rows of ribbing for the front and only 7 rows for the back, so this has to be adjusted one way or the other

Row 17 of the leaf pattern has a missing yo

Here's what I have so far:


I did think far enough in advance to cast on 2 sts less than the pattern suggests so that the k2p2 ribbing both starts and ends with a k2 for easier seaming. The pattern panel is really beautiful and fun to knit. The thing is, I decided that those yarn overs on either side of the "stalk" will be too revealing to be able to wear to work without another layer underneath. I wouldn't be opposed to fixing this by dropping a whole lotta stitches, but then there are also the decreases across the last row of ribbing. If you look to the left of the pattern panel, you can hardly notice where I did decreases because I tucked them into the purl ribs. But if you look to the right...


...it's a lot more obvious because 2 of the decreases had to be done on the knit ribs, and I don't like it. I'm going to go back and redistribute the decreases a little differently than the pattern suggests so that all of the decreases will fall in the purl ribs.

Also slated for frogging is Fifi. I mentioned before that I was going to frog back to fix some sizing issues, but I never got around to it. I'm actually going to frog all the way back because I also don't like how the neck curls and a crochet edge doesn't entirely take care of it. I like the pattern well enough, though, to work on it again and don't plan to abandon it.